|
Post by Stu Venable on Nov 18, 2013 22:10:33 GMT -8
Kimi is the final arbiter of what happened after session 14. She can post the details here.
|
|
|
Post by Kimi on Nov 20, 2013 13:51:31 GMT -8
Ikume continued her training as a shugenja in the years following Ranjiro’s rise to power. She became known for her honor and wisdom, and became a well-respected figure at court. Despite this, the time she spent in the Crane capital started to dwindle very quickly, and she often found reasons to be away from her homeland. Though she always honored and paid homage to Ranjiro, she could never forget the dishonor that helped to free him and the part she had played in that night. Being in his presence and seeing her old adventuring companions often felt like an oil stain on her honor and her soul. For this reason, she never again ventured out with Nikoma, Roukai, or Misashi. In fact, it was noted that she was never again seen in their private company, although nobody knew why. After a few years of this, Ranjiro decided that it was time for Ikume to marry so that she could perhaps find happiness with a fresh start. He quickly orchestrated a union between her and a great daimyo of the Mantis Clan, who was overjoyed to have such a powerful shugenja and renowned Lady for his bride. This union was made to honor the sacrifice made by the Mantis Clan members who aided in freeing Ranjiro, but had the added benefit of improving the shipping and trade of the Asahina grains from the Crane lands. Ikume accepted her duty, said farewell to her family members, and boarded a ship to the Isles of Spice and Silk. Ikume found some measure of peace in the Mantis Clan. She and her husband ruled over a large holding, and she created a garden with a great collection of exotic birds that was renowned throughout the region. This garden is where she seemed happiest, and she often could be found wandering its paths in solitude. She used her knowledge of court life to improve trade with many clans, and brought great wealth to the Mantis Clan. The White Mantis (as Ikume became known due to her hair color) became an honored figure throughout the empire, and the people of the Mantis Islands believed that seeing her brought good fortune. Ikume travel widely, but while she visited many clans and courts, she never again went adventuring. Ikume had three children. Tamura, a son and the first child is destined to inherit the family holdings. A lovely daughter, Koruhiku,was born next, and resembled her mother in appearance except with raven black hair. Finally, about ten years after leaving crane lands, Ikume gave birth to her youngest son, Kitano. It was a difficult birth, and Ikume died before she was able to hold her new son. All of Mantis lands mourned her loss, and many other clans sent representatives to her funeral. An elderly Ranjiro sent a Kyushu bird from his collection to be added to Ikume’s garden in her memory.
|
|
fredrix
Master Douchebag
Posts: 2,142
Preferred Game Systems: Fate, L5R, Pendragon, Gumshoe, Feng Shui
Currently Playing: Pendragon, Song of Ice and Fire, L5R, Feng Shui, Traveller
Currently Running: Fate, Coriolis, Nights Black Agents
Favorite Species of Monkey: 1970's NTV, dubbed by the BBC (though The Water Margin beats it)
|
Post by fredrix on Nov 20, 2013 14:29:54 GMT -8
That Mantis boy should obviously be played by Tyler. (Great epilogue by the way Kimi )
|
|
|
Post by joecrak on Nov 21, 2013 4:15:18 GMT -8
Kiki gets all the drama die. If there were official drama die.
|
|
|
Post by John Drake on Nov 21, 2013 11:43:58 GMT -8
Heyas, I really loved your epilogue Kimi. Sorry if you think I'm being nosy, but here are some possible character and plot seed ideas that I think would work well with Ikume's decedent.
Ikume's kid could easily incorporate her birds into their character. In the Enemies of the Empire source book there's the 2 point advantage, Inheritance:Trained Falcon, that could be RP fluffed into a more exotic bird. Also in the Second City: The People book there's an alternate path called Aerie Falcon that lets you order your pet to attack as a free action(normally a simple action). If you keep the core l5r book falcon stats they can be pretty nasty in combat. They roll 5k4(6k4 if you have the inheritance advantage) for attacking and do 3k2 damage. If they do at least 10 points of damage they temporally blind their targets till they get medical attention. If they do over 20 damage then they completely destroy the eyes and permanently blind the enemy.
If you favor Mantis heritage over Crane here's a possible path. The Mantis clan tends to get stereotyped as a bunch of nouveau riche merchants and sailors who bought their way into nobility. However that is mostly only true of the Yoritomo family. With the Kitsune family, you have everything you need to play a great eastern flavored Ranger or Druid type character. The Kitsune family is much more in touch with nature than most other families, especially most other samurai. Like the fox spirit they're named after some members of the family are also sly tricksters.
A Kitsune family member has access to schools that make can easily reproduce most of the DnD standard ranger types with the current L5r 4th ed books. The Yoritomo bushi school focuses on dual weapon fighting and is mechanically one of the best skirmishers in the game. The Tsuruchi Archer bushi school is lore-wise the most renowned archer school in Rokugan. In The Great Clans book, there is the Tsuruchi Bounty Hunter school which is good at tracking, investigating, gives a RP reason to be out traveling and can be built to be a fairly good archer or melee character. Also in The Great Clans is a Kitsune ancestor advantage that lets you talk to animals as long as you never willingly kill an animal except out of self-defense.
Did you ever think how awesome it would be to be a Samurai Druid? The Kitsune Family has all the fluff and mechanics in place to make this happen. The Kitsune Shugenja School, from the minor clans section of the core book, works with animal spirits as well as the elemental kami other shugenja use. Animal spirits are more direct while communing with them compared to the mercurial kami. In the Book of Earth and the Second City:The People books there are higher level Kitsune Shugenja options that allow them to become animals or summon animal spirits to aid and fight for them. If you want more of nuking druid, the Moshi Shugenja school is great at doing thunder and fire based damage. The Yoritomo Shugenja School is also available in The Great Clans book if you want to be a druid that controls the weather.
Here's the abbreviated history of Kitsune family if you want more background information. Since long before joining Mantis, the Fox Clan has been one of the oldest and most respected minor clans. After the split with Unicorn Clan, they spent a few decades being clever farmers and had a very nice patch of land. The Lion clan this bountiful land and wanted more land for their own peasants to farm. In the brief war that followed, the Lions nearly annihilated the Foxes. The Emperor wanted to preserve what was left of the Fox Clan by getting them away from the Lion clan. He told them to go south over the Spine of the World mountains to a heavily forested area. So now we have a bunch of war weary farmers stuck in the woods with little usable land to farm. The mystical animal spirits in the region came to their aid and a Kitsune fox spirit even took human form and married into the family. The Fox Clan renamed themselves the Kitsune Clan in honor of the animal spirits who came to their aid. The marriage with non-humans has left several of the Kitsune Clan with a supernatural affinity with Chikushudo, the spirit Realm of Animals.(Side Note: Except for Mantis, any member of a Great Clan who can trace their lineage back to the clan founder isn't 100% human either. The Kitsune are just odd for having Animal Spirits in their background.)
The Kitsune Clan has spent over a thousand years largely isolated in their forests, communing with nature and and mostly just minding their own business. For the last 50 years of the official 4th ed L5r timeline, Kitsune has been forced to come out of the woods. Mainly, about 40 years ago Yoritomo first asked the Kitsune to join Mantis, the Kitsune refused because they wanted to stay an independent clan. They formed an alliance Crane after the Crane Civil War. Giant demon spiders attacked their forests and the Kitsune got decimated again. The Crane were blamed for the spiders so the alliance was broken. Only a few years ago did the Kitsune Clan suck up their pride and got folded into the Mantis Clan as the Kitsune Family.
Here are some possible plot threads and background that could be included into the campaign continuation. Ikume's marriage could've been a part of Crane's efforts to make peace with Kitsune. If not, the Kitsune still have a grudge with Crane and could be giving Ikume's kid grief about it. If the husband wasn't Kitsune then maybe there was a Kistune grand parent from when they first joined Mantis Clan. Also Kitsune still hasn't forgiven Lion for driving them off their ancestral land. This could cause some friction or just a good natured rivalry if anyone plays a Lion based character.
Damn, I really only meant this to be a brief post about the birds. I got a wee bit side tracked when I remembered the Kitsune were now apart of Mantis.
|
|
|
Post by Kimi on Nov 21, 2013 13:00:16 GMT -8
Great stuff John! I really love the idea of a druid-type character, and that seems to fit with how Ikume would raise her children. I really tried to leave the specifics about the family and children characters very open ended on purpose to give the next player lots of choice. They get to pick the family Ikume married into, gender, type of character, and since Ikume died while they were young, a large portion of their back story. In my head all three children have very different personalities and talents. I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHO WILL PLAY THEM AND WHAT THEY COME UP WITH!!!
|
|
|
Post by rickno7 on Nov 21, 2013 16:42:22 GMT -8
I also voted Tyler.
In my other polls, in general, I voted to give players change ups in their character.
Tyler played a "solve the problem by smashing it with a big stick" kind of character. I want to see him play a shugenja(sp) and have to rely on less up front ways to get things done.
Also, I think it would be really awesome if her Air spirit was inherited by the child that never knew their mother. That way they have a little bit of a connection. I know that kind of chooses the character's elemental affinity, but still, I think it would be really cool.
|
|
SirGuido
Supporter
Drizztmas Santa
Ask me about the Drizztmas Exchange!
Posts: 2,127
Preferred Game Systems: L5R, Traveller, Fate Accelerated, Masks
Currently Playing: Nothing.
Currently Running: Nothing.
Favorite Species of Monkey: Anything in a Cage.
|
Post by SirGuido on Nov 21, 2013 19:05:28 GMT -8
Apparently, if the other polls are to be believed, Kimi should just play all the roles!
I also enjoyed this epilogue Kimi, and it shows a nice grasp of the setting as well.
|
|
Bakomusha
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 52
Preferred Game Systems: Pathfinder, 40k RPGs, Scion, Shadowrun,Savage Worlds.
|
Post by Bakomusha on Nov 22, 2013 20:23:23 GMT -8
WOW! How differently does my mind work then yours Kimi!? XD Death by childbirth is not something I would have expected a player to elect happen to them, as I see that death as one reserved for NPCs and PCs mothers. (to give them a grimdark i have no family loner archetype)
|
|
|
Post by jughead5187 on Nov 24, 2013 16:14:40 GMT -8
i think Stork should play it. And i think it should be a crab shugenja
|
|