Help needed!!

[gaijin]

Hi guys,

Some of you might remeber me from the old boards as 'f'. During the Emperor Edition I had a break from l5r due to various reasons. Now I'm back but because of my hiatus, I'm completely out of the loop as to what's happening in the Empire and what has happened since I left the game.

Initially, I intended to read all the fictions I missed in EE, but there's just to many of them, or rather I have much more interesting things to do and decided that I'm gonna skip those and start with the IvE stories.

So, with the above in mind, I have a request for those of you who are well-versed in the history of Rokugan: could you briefly update me on what was going on when I was out of town? To make it easier for you, the last fiction I read before leaving was 'Goddesses, part 4' (when Kali-ma was vanquished, Daigotsu fell on his sword, and the Empress said 'Go forth, and fornicate in my name' (or was it 'conquer?' )), and the first I'm going to read now will be 'The Age of Ivory, part 1'. As regards the period in between, I would be specifically interested in the following:

REGARDING EMPEROR EDITION

- key events/dramas and how they've been resolved (you know, wars (and how they ended and with what consequences for the parties involved), alliances, daimyo/champion deaths, other significant events/plots or whatever)

REGARDING IVORY EDITION

- how the situation looks like at the dawn of the new age, i.e. any current wars (with a short explanation why they were started, who's winning etc.), any current significant alliances (and the reasons they were formed), who likes who in general and who is generally disliked by whom (clan-wise obviously), the balance of power, the key posts and clans which held them (Emerald Champ, Jade Champ etc), the key plots etc.

REGARDING THE CRANE

- what happened in our clan since the end of the Destroyer War? the las time I checked, our chmpion was Domotai, Noritoshi was daimyoing the Kakita and hunting down some no-name Scorpion poison master ;D, the Asahina were becoming corrupt (or their daimyo was) and the Daidoji were being punished or rather doing penance for their harrier past; now, everything seems to look different, so what happened?

I know it seems like a lot but it really doesn't have to be very detailed. Also, throughout the years, I've learned that I could always count on my powder-blue brothers, and I'm sure I won't be disappointed this time.

So come and show off your limitless knowledge of the history of Rokugan:)

Thanks in advance!

[Kakita Kasukaru]

REGARDING EMPEROR/IVORY EDITION
Mostly three wars (plus several shadow wars and courtly conflicts):
* Second City civil war between the Governor (Otomo Suikihime) and the Imperial Legion + Kuni Renyu Crab forces. Ended up in the near destruction of the city and a semi-victory for Renyu, but other events allowed the governor to return and the two sides to be forced to work together.
* Mantis-Crane war at sea and on the river down and up to Twin-Fork City. For similar reasons to the civil war, ended in a kind of pat, although the Crane forces probably lost more men and ships than the Mantis ones (barely).
* Lion and Unicorn war against Yodotai forces in the desert. Ended in the eradication of Yodotai general Legulus and the extermination of his legion, but some of their scouts got away, which is not good...

There was a major conflict between the Mad Dragon Pan'Ku (and his mad followers) and the forces of Rokugan not fallen to his appeal, particularly the Fudo cult. Although the Fudo cult helped eradicating the Madness threat, their heresy was condemned and they were forced into hiding. A combined intervention of both Imperial heirs and the Phoenix Masters actually ended the conflict, this particular event is the one which also forced the end of the Second City Civil War AND the Crane-Mantis War.

There was also a conflict between Imperial and Emerald Legions and the forces of the Dark Naga (an abomination). The Dark Naga lost but it costed the life of First Magistrate Doji Hakuseki and many other samurai. Also the Dark Naga managed to escape with some forces. At least his hold on the minds of sleeping Naga seem to have been ended (or reduced).

There was mostly a shadow war between Scorpion and Spider ninjas. There were also several small intensity conflicts between Crab and Spider and Lion and Spider. There was a drama between the Dragon and Unicorn about the breaking of the engagement between both their leaders. That's about it.

REGARDING THE CRANE:
Doji Makoto, Domotai's son, is the new daimyo. Noritoshi died poisoned while killing poison-master Jimen. The Asahina are not corrupt (although their indeed corrupt daimyo was killed) but they were shamed for helping the Fudo Cult, even though they are not fudoist themselves. The Daidoji are the strongest Crane at the moment (mostly because our Scout decks shone) but our position in the courts isn't too bad either. All of this could change as a result of the current meta game. We have to take a decision on how to spend the points we won there and that (as well as other Clan decisions) could change everything.

[gaijin]

Cool, thanks for that, Kasukaru.

Could you, or anyone else, add a short who-is-who in Ivory? I mean, I know the Empress is Iweko, but who are the heirs? Who fathered them? Why are they conflicted? Who occupies other important positions (as I mentioned in the first post, e.g. the emerald champion, the jade champion etc)? What are current notable Crane personalities (both in the empire as a whole and in the clan, e.g. our daimyos)?

Also, which clans are currently strongest and which are weakest (not in terms of decks but in terms of the story)? What happened to the Spider after Daigotsu died? What was all this 'fallen' thing? Is it equivalent to 'mad'? Are those people really mad or was it just a temporary thing to justify the course of events? (e.g. is Hideo permanently mad/fallen, or has the 'disease' passed?)

[Kakita Kasukaru]

Fallen is indeed mad. Some of them managed to fight it off, but that's not a majority. As far as we know, Hideo never recovered. We know very little about our family daimyos, beyond the names. You should check the wikia for that.

[Kakita Shiro]