Courts of the Crane Clan

http://imperialassembly.com/news.php?news=119

In which the Crane receive the Gift of the Emperor.

A mixed blessing, to be sure, embarrassing the Emperor almost immediately after his coronation in exchange for the glory the Crane would reap in Onyx for having a weapon to bring to bear against the darkness. At least it would tie well with the path the clan has chosen, doing what we must.

I'm glad though at us being portrayed as artistic, with our artisans tending the Imperial gardens, and well-connected, making friends with the Phoenix, Unicorn and Mantis. Happy that Makoto got some screen time as well.

Which Doji could the Crane offer Shikei though that we would take offense at him choosing the sister of the Matsu daimyo instead? Dainagon?

Didn't seem like offense so much as bewilderment.

Well there ya go, you get your dynamite back. Make sure you point it in the right direction from now on.

Oh no, I'm running out of things to complain about!

This is a fiasco for the Crane.

In response to Yurei's request, Seiken says that sure, the Daidoji can use gunpowder, just so long as... a) they don't use it against other Rokugani (i.e. the people against whom the Harriers were universally employed) and b) no-one ever finds out about it. In other words, nothing has changed. If the Crane wanted to revive the Harriers, they were more than capable of doing so before now, and they would have had to operate under exactly the same condition. This Imperial "boon" has given the Crane nothing. And in exchange for it, the Crane:

- Gave up the political opportunity presented by the Emperor's Gift.
- Lost the services of the man who won the tournament of the Emperor's Gift, whose skills and renown could otherwise have been usefully employed for all sorts of things.
- Lost face in the eyes of the new Emperor, who already has reason to dislike us (and oh, by the way, admitted to treason within hearing of the Crab Champion's brother).
- Gave Seiken enormous political leverage over us - if Seiken ever feels like leaning on the Crane for anything, he can simply threaten to anonymously leak the Daidoji's gunpowder experiments to the Empire at large and then sit back while the entire rest of the Empire obliterates the Crane.

We've complained before about the Crane carrying the idiot ball in their political conduct. The Crane have just proudly rushed down the field carrying the idiot ball and scored a spectacular own goal with it.

So, what else happened... a bunch of decent shout-outs to things that happened at Winter Court IV, and at the Gencon LARP. A lot of them felt more like brief recaps of stories from elsewhere, but still, it's nice to see roleplaying events and achievements getting story recognition.

I agree with Tacticus- Sama, this is a fiasco and has me still questioning why the Crane are still supporting the Iweko Dynasty? I mean I know on the face we must be shown to be doing so, but they keep slapping us in the face and we must keep on smiling back.

Lets face it the Iweko Dynasty started terribly for us, being left out of the Imperial edict, this has been the start of the downward slope for Crane and what used to be a political power house.

Now our marriages are being rejected by those who hold the most power. Both Seikan and Shikei have passed on Crane ladies in favour of less refined more brutish choices. How long must we endure these insults? During the rule of the Hantei Dynasty out of the 19 known spouses to the Emporer(ess), 15 were Crane. I don't think it would be an over estimate to assume that most of the 20 unknown spouses were Crane too. During the Hantei dynasty we were loved and respected, it was a great honor to have a Doji partner, no one would have passed the offer in the past.#

Oh how I long for a Hantei to sit on the thrown again.

(I do enjoy the story and the subjects, it was a good read, even with the ramifications! Most of my comment is from the views I have while Roleplaying and I couldn't care less about the Harriers or gunpowder, boring choices for a Crane!)

I actually don't fault Seiken for his actions here (and anyone who's seen me comment on Seiken in the past knows that my opinion of him is not high). The Crane (a Clan that worked furiously to see his brother become Emperor instead of him) walk in, admit to having committed high treason in the past, and ask for permission to do it again... so he turns it around on them and "grants" the request in way that costs him nothing and expands his political power. That's all very sensible politics.

No, my issue here is with the Crane, because being the masters of politics in the Empire, they should have known this. The Crane are politically on the outs with the Iweko, between having backed the losing brother, failed in the Imperial Consort race, etc. What made Makoto think that this was a good time to attempt something like this? This is a move that would require enormous goodwill and political capital to pull off successfully, or at minimum a really compelling need that can only be addressed by giving the Crane what they want. The Crane case here was "well... we'd like it?" It is not even slightly surprising that they came out with nothing to show for it.

The story left a very bad taste in my mouth. I don't know if it was Matsu Karoko (a carded personality with chi 2) speaking like an expert courtier, the fact that the Phoenix gifted the Emperor something that has always been a Crane thing (I know that there is a story where the Phoenix found one of the tears, but it still bothers me) or the fact that the Dragon dared to offer him the Empire (however you put it, it remains an insult. First of all it is not theirs to give. Besides that, gifts in Rokugan have to be worthless or they are seen as an insult. Do the Dragon think that the Empire is worthless or did they want to insult the Emperor?) and later on managed to have Seiken agree that the Kitsuki are his eyes (this can become a very major commintment even if it was agreed on the fly).

Plus everything Tacticus and Kilava said. A total political failure regarding a major thing made by the clan of politics. The Scorpion managed to be re instituted due to a similar situation in the past and we managed to make Daidoji Uji a traitor for a matter that Makoto could just have taken the responsibility for with the exact same results minus the loss of Yurei and the still owed request to the Emperor.

This is a cross post from l5r.com....but I don't think this is so bad.

It's not so bad a move for a couple of reasons.

1) IF another clan were to learn that the Crane had gunpowder...not use, just have, it would not reflect badly on the Champion for allowing it to exist, since he has permission from the Emperor. That other clan may choose to go to war over it, or try to blackmail the Crane with it, or whatever, and the Emperor would not intervene. But before, if another Clan knew, the Champion would be required to disown/disavow all knowledge of it and have executed or allow to commit seppuku all Daidoji who were aware in order to save face...and, frankly, for the sake of his own honor. Now he has permission.
2) It does allow the Crane to use gunpowder against enemies of the Empire. Considering the number of hideous evil invasions that have occurred in the last century to Crane lands, and how many of them happened in the heart of Crane Lands, this is a legitimate thing for the Crane to want to have. The power of gunpowder doesn't much compare with the power ascribed to many shugenja in the story, true, but the Crane generally try not to use the Asahina for warfare so having this as a weapon against oni is good for the Champion as a way of letting the Asahina remain non-violent. Well, not as violent. Yurei's seppuku makes up for any future use of this sort.
3) It is tough that all the existing Dadoji harriers who haven't already been killed or committed seppuku will be considered traitors, but the Emperor hasn't asked for further consequences on the Crane, specifically from the Champion. (Though I think that Doji Domotai has already had a few rounds of seppukus ont he subject...she was raised Lion.) If the Dragon ever do advertise their discovery of the gunpowder in the past, or if the Scorpion learn that it happened, Makoto can honestly say that the Emperor had been informed, it was traitors who had did this, and he was in the process of making sure they any remaining were "caught and brought to justice." That turns it into an embarrassment rather than a blackmail worthy wound to the Crane honor, since all the 'events' were in the past. Any future actions of the new harriers have nothing to do with those old treasonous harriers, since the new harriers are acting with Imperial authority. The Dragon would not need to be informed about that new program, naturally.

Finally...and this I didn't post...this move appeases the conscience of our Champions. That's worth something. We have honorable leaders who are leading through really horrible times. They don't want to disobey the empire, but they want to bring the tools they have to bear on the the truly evil things that have attacked the Crane. Now, they can do that and not feel torn about it. I think that counts for something...especially to the Crane.

Kakita Kaori
Golden Petal Village