Courts of the Crane Clan

Spooky, the last Cranes who really interested me were Noritoshi, Yasuyo, and Matabei. All were duelists, all were fairly recent. But they have no legacy, no current Cranes who carry on the attitude they represented. One thing that no one considers any Crane anymore is DANGEROUS. Those three were dangerous individuals because of their dueling prowess. Our duelists were what defined our ability to fight our own battles. Conversations about Crane were always "They're all a bunch of pooftahs, except for [Insert Duelist Here]. Or once upon a time, some of the harriers like Uji. I want us to have a diplomatic side that is well-developed and interesting and accomplishes things, but I also want the side where when push comes to shove, we can defend ourselves. The current scouts don't do it, and Akeha has basically not existed.

The Scorpion would be our natural enemies if court stories had satisfying outcomes. The closest we've had to interesting interaction with the Scorpion was Noritoshi/Jimen, and that was soured by the bribery. We could have had some very cool interactions between Hachi and Sunetra, but that Story team dropped the ball hard wasting that. Our ACTUAL enemies are the Lion clan. For a thousand years. Because Matsu was an ass and Kakita put her in her place, so she declared war on us. Again, for a THOUSAND YEARS. And I'd point out that not having the Lion conflict was an opening that allowed Nancy to take away our Harriers just to amuse herself.

Nancy claimed responsibility publicly last week, for that very reason.

Martino, you are wrong. I dunno what Nancy supposedly posted, but I can tell you firsthand that we on the Story Team cannot do things to the story "just to amuse ourselves," as we have numerous tiers of AEG folks that we have to answer to, editors who see our work, marketers, the story lead, design considerations, etc. As volunteers, we don't have the authority to just write whatever amuses us. My fictions need approval before I can even submit a Rough Draft. We don't even put the fictions up ourselves when they are done. Honestly, a lot of players should probably breathe sighs of relief that I'm not allowed to just do as I please...

Now, I wasn't on the team when the Harriers were disbanded, so I can’t speak for Story in regards to why that decision was made. I can say that if anyone thinks Story Team members can just do whatever we want and answer only to our own amusement, you’re mistaken. As someone who goes through the process on a regular basis, I can assert that with authority.

A former employee antagonized customers in a public place about a topic that has been touchy for like eight years, offending many customers. Most companies would see this as inviting some dialogue with players for the first time ever about it. I've been asking politely for that dialogue the entire time.

So I'll try again one more time. I apologize for reacting to Nancy's comments which offended me a lot. Could a member of the story team, or if they cannot an AEG representative empowered to do so, speak to us candidly about this topic in the spirit of transparency that they have recently claimed they want to pursue?

For what it's worth, I have very fond memories of Nancy's stories, and I have always said so - and I am not one to mince my words with regards to anybody's writing.

However, Shawn, this begs the question why you ordered her to get rid of the Harriers? Out of setting, please. We know the in-setting reasons because Nancy has conveyed them very effectively.