Post Game Epilogue
Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2020 6:13 pm
Following the wedding in the Crab lands the Empress to be left Fire Shrimp Village on the Mantis ship of the Sea Fox, not a war vessel, but sturdy and swift it takes the head of the small fleet of Crab ships and heads north. Eventually joined by ships of the Crane and even more Mantis craft they sail into the bay of the Capitol under her banner causing quite the stir as Yuahime had decided to not have the Miya announce her arrival.
In the shadows her elder sibling, Oturi Toturi went into hiding but made himself known once his sister made her grand entrance. Imperial Court was thrown into disarray as the Prince-Regent now had to contend with now true heir to the Empire. The siblings went into seclusion, along with the Emerald Champion and Fuzake Hifumi, in her role as advisor and seer, to hash out the future of the Empire. Yuahime would be Empress but she would have to live with the knowledge that her eldest brother tried to have her murdered and frame Toturi for the deed.
The Emerald Champion voted for death and was eager to deal out justice but the Empress stayed her hand and followed the advice of Hifumi granting her brother amnesty, it made her uneasy to gloss over such treachery but the stability of the realm was at stake and any infighting would be used as a weapon against them by those in the Great Clans and Imperial Families still loyal to the Hantei dynasty. At the end they decide that he forsake all claims to the throne and would be given a post with the Otomo of station but little power or consequence.
The Emerald Champion does not agree with the decision, instead she posts her best agents within the Otomo to monitor the betrayer and root out further agents of the conspiracy… the Imperial Shadow War has begun.
With succession handled the Court turns to the matter of longevity for the Oturi dynasty and begins looking for proper spouses for Oturi II, but after months of meetings she spurns her choices and chooses to forego a spouse deciding to keep company with the Lion bard, Ikoma Ren, and the Crane Magistrate, Kakita Knohamaru. It is unclear if they are her official consorts or just good friends, but they are often frequent visitors to her court. This does little to cool tensions between the Lion and the Crane.
Meanwhile back in the lands of the Crab many months after the wedding in Fire Shrimp Village, a peasant woman named Jun presents her young child to the Lord of Bronze Carp Caste and claims her son was fathered by her brother and was born under an auspicious sign. Hida Kitusuchi has the child examined and consults the stars and finds the truth in her words. She brings the child and mother into her family and swears he will be trained as the Hida just as her own newborn daughter and now half-cousin of her brother’s child.
In the summer the Crab calls for aid from the Empress as their forces are stretched thin from a new offensive from the South. Oturi II takes to the field, against the wishes of her advisors, and marches south to bolster the Crab and show they will not be forgotten under her reign or the reign of the Oturi dynasty. Not long after her forces arrive in the South news comes from the lands of the Phoenix and Crane of raids by foreign devils, appearing as gaijin men, who strike like lightning and then retreat to the seas as swiftly as they arrive. The attacks escalate the clans of the Phoenix, Unicorn, and Lion request that if the Emerald Champion is unable to aid them then the position of Shogun should be reinstated to counter this foreign threat.
By late fall Shiba Gojiyasu is chosen as the Shogun to lead the effort against the Umi no Kami, he moves swiftly to enlist the Clans, Great and Minor, to counter this growing threat. This coalition begins to make a difference but still the attacks continue long into the winter, something that the Rokugani were not prepared for as this was the season of waiting and court. Speaking of Court, Imperial Court is held in the Scorpion lands but the Empress remains at the Wall to counter the Shadowlands threat, her brother Toturi and the Chancellor are the guests of honor, which the Scorpion take as a slight against them and blame the Crab and Crane for.
As Spring of 1179 sets in the Mantis step up their patrols to counter the Umi no Akuma working directly with the Shogun to control the Rokugani seas and make life harder for the foreign monsters disguised as gaijin of the seas. This brings a sense of peace and normalcy to the region allowing the Shogun to bring security to the lands of the Crane and Phoenix and deter further incursions from the disparate raiders from the seas. The season brings renewed conflict from within as well as frictions between the Unicorn and Lion break out into skirmishes along their borders, their lands least affected by the sea raiders who seem to have scaled back their conflicts significantly.
By fall the attacks are a rarity and many within the clans consider the threat to have passed and the clans look to internal matters and old scores while the Empress continues her campaign in the south against the Shadowlands, though by the end of the fall the forces of darkness seem scattered and leaderless, the Crab celebrate the reprieve and the Imperial Court is relieved to see the Empress return to the Capitol briefly before she leaves to attend Winter Court with the Mantis.
Meanwhile a young Lion samurai, Akodo Itachi, emboldened by the successes of the Shogun gathers a small warband of samurai who wish to strike back at the gaijin invaders and sets off without the sanction of their lords. Most consider this a fool’s errand, and that the Empire should focus on internal matters and that these wayward sea barbarians were now scattered.
Meanwhile the Imperial families have not been idle consolidating power in the name of the Empress they work quickly to show their loyalty and devotion to the Oturi dynasty; rooting out so-called traitors, securing loyalty from well-established Clan lineages, and being sure to secure the best samurai of the generation for their families in strategic marriages. Among these political movements is an upswell of support for a young Imperial scion named, Otomo Saisei, having aligned himself with the Crane and the Brotherhood. The Crane feel that they should keep close ties with the Imperial families especially one with a lineage descending from the Hantei and the Brother hood as many traditional monks see a union between the Hantei and Oturi as blessed and would serve to unify the Empire, something the Empress seems sympathetic to but also cautious given the role that Saisei’s mentor played in her ascension.
During Winter Court they spend some time together but nothing firm is made of any future arrangements and some note complications between the interactions of the Otomo scion and the Emerald Champion, who spares no chance to remind the young Otomo of just where his mentor stood.
Meanwhile in the waning days of winter during the first nights of the New Year celebration a large fleet of ships attacks the Capitol and if not for the timely intervention of the Tortoise the city would have been lost. Though vastly outnumbered the clan stood as one and met the enemy in battle and fought to the last buying precious time for reinforcements to route the forces but their sacrifice destroys the clan, with Kasuga Hajime launching a suicide run with his ship on fire in the name of the Emperor. Hajime was the last Kasuga, but the line held, and the Capitol did not fall.
Northern villages in the Crane and Phoenix were not so lucky and for the first time in centuries foreign invaders held control of the Empire’s land. The invasion launched in the name of High Queen Astrid Gunhilddottir was perhaps one of the largest seaborne invasions the Empire had faced. The Empress and the Emerald Champion began their campaign to reclaim the lost territories while it was decided that the Shogun would lead a strike force to put pressure on the homelands of these monsters. The campaign is hard going but a boon presents itself in the return of Akodo Itachi and some of his band of warriors along with gaijin who wished to resist the rule of the High Queen, this provides a great deal of intelligence support to the Shogun as they launch their invasion in the late Spring to coincide with the campaigns led by the Empress.
The fighting is hard as the forces land on rugged foreign soil, even in the late spring the lands are cold and harsh but after a month of conflict they find safe passage in a village of gaijin rebels who resist the rule of the High Queen and it quickly becomes a base of operations for the Shogun and his forces but the alliance is uneasy as cultures clash new prejudices arise. Can the Empire find common ground with the monsters of the sea or is this joint venture destined for failure?
In the shadows her elder sibling, Oturi Toturi went into hiding but made himself known once his sister made her grand entrance. Imperial Court was thrown into disarray as the Prince-Regent now had to contend with now true heir to the Empire. The siblings went into seclusion, along with the Emerald Champion and Fuzake Hifumi, in her role as advisor and seer, to hash out the future of the Empire. Yuahime would be Empress but she would have to live with the knowledge that her eldest brother tried to have her murdered and frame Toturi for the deed.
The Emerald Champion voted for death and was eager to deal out justice but the Empress stayed her hand and followed the advice of Hifumi granting her brother amnesty, it made her uneasy to gloss over such treachery but the stability of the realm was at stake and any infighting would be used as a weapon against them by those in the Great Clans and Imperial Families still loyal to the Hantei dynasty. At the end they decide that he forsake all claims to the throne and would be given a post with the Otomo of station but little power or consequence.
The Emerald Champion does not agree with the decision, instead she posts her best agents within the Otomo to monitor the betrayer and root out further agents of the conspiracy… the Imperial Shadow War has begun.
With succession handled the Court turns to the matter of longevity for the Oturi dynasty and begins looking for proper spouses for Oturi II, but after months of meetings she spurns her choices and chooses to forego a spouse deciding to keep company with the Lion bard, Ikoma Ren, and the Crane Magistrate, Kakita Knohamaru. It is unclear if they are her official consorts or just good friends, but they are often frequent visitors to her court. This does little to cool tensions between the Lion and the Crane.
Meanwhile back in the lands of the Crab many months after the wedding in Fire Shrimp Village, a peasant woman named Jun presents her young child to the Lord of Bronze Carp Caste and claims her son was fathered by her brother and was born under an auspicious sign. Hida Kitusuchi has the child examined and consults the stars and finds the truth in her words. She brings the child and mother into her family and swears he will be trained as the Hida just as her own newborn daughter and now half-cousin of her brother’s child.
In the summer the Crab calls for aid from the Empress as their forces are stretched thin from a new offensive from the South. Oturi II takes to the field, against the wishes of her advisors, and marches south to bolster the Crab and show they will not be forgotten under her reign or the reign of the Oturi dynasty. Not long after her forces arrive in the South news comes from the lands of the Phoenix and Crane of raids by foreign devils, appearing as gaijin men, who strike like lightning and then retreat to the seas as swiftly as they arrive. The attacks escalate the clans of the Phoenix, Unicorn, and Lion request that if the Emerald Champion is unable to aid them then the position of Shogun should be reinstated to counter this foreign threat.
By late fall Shiba Gojiyasu is chosen as the Shogun to lead the effort against the Umi no Kami, he moves swiftly to enlist the Clans, Great and Minor, to counter this growing threat. This coalition begins to make a difference but still the attacks continue long into the winter, something that the Rokugani were not prepared for as this was the season of waiting and court. Speaking of Court, Imperial Court is held in the Scorpion lands but the Empress remains at the Wall to counter the Shadowlands threat, her brother Toturi and the Chancellor are the guests of honor, which the Scorpion take as a slight against them and blame the Crab and Crane for.
As Spring of 1179 sets in the Mantis step up their patrols to counter the Umi no Akuma working directly with the Shogun to control the Rokugani seas and make life harder for the foreign monsters disguised as gaijin of the seas. This brings a sense of peace and normalcy to the region allowing the Shogun to bring security to the lands of the Crane and Phoenix and deter further incursions from the disparate raiders from the seas. The season brings renewed conflict from within as well as frictions between the Unicorn and Lion break out into skirmishes along their borders, their lands least affected by the sea raiders who seem to have scaled back their conflicts significantly.
By fall the attacks are a rarity and many within the clans consider the threat to have passed and the clans look to internal matters and old scores while the Empress continues her campaign in the south against the Shadowlands, though by the end of the fall the forces of darkness seem scattered and leaderless, the Crab celebrate the reprieve and the Imperial Court is relieved to see the Empress return to the Capitol briefly before she leaves to attend Winter Court with the Mantis.
Meanwhile a young Lion samurai, Akodo Itachi, emboldened by the successes of the Shogun gathers a small warband of samurai who wish to strike back at the gaijin invaders and sets off without the sanction of their lords. Most consider this a fool’s errand, and that the Empire should focus on internal matters and that these wayward sea barbarians were now scattered.
Meanwhile the Imperial families have not been idle consolidating power in the name of the Empress they work quickly to show their loyalty and devotion to the Oturi dynasty; rooting out so-called traitors, securing loyalty from well-established Clan lineages, and being sure to secure the best samurai of the generation for their families in strategic marriages. Among these political movements is an upswell of support for a young Imperial scion named, Otomo Saisei, having aligned himself with the Crane and the Brotherhood. The Crane feel that they should keep close ties with the Imperial families especially one with a lineage descending from the Hantei and the Brother hood as many traditional monks see a union between the Hantei and Oturi as blessed and would serve to unify the Empire, something the Empress seems sympathetic to but also cautious given the role that Saisei’s mentor played in her ascension.
During Winter Court they spend some time together but nothing firm is made of any future arrangements and some note complications between the interactions of the Otomo scion and the Emerald Champion, who spares no chance to remind the young Otomo of just where his mentor stood.
Meanwhile in the waning days of winter during the first nights of the New Year celebration a large fleet of ships attacks the Capitol and if not for the timely intervention of the Tortoise the city would have been lost. Though vastly outnumbered the clan stood as one and met the enemy in battle and fought to the last buying precious time for reinforcements to route the forces but their sacrifice destroys the clan, with Kasuga Hajime launching a suicide run with his ship on fire in the name of the Emperor. Hajime was the last Kasuga, but the line held, and the Capitol did not fall.
Northern villages in the Crane and Phoenix were not so lucky and for the first time in centuries foreign invaders held control of the Empire’s land. The invasion launched in the name of High Queen Astrid Gunhilddottir was perhaps one of the largest seaborne invasions the Empire had faced. The Empress and the Emerald Champion began their campaign to reclaim the lost territories while it was decided that the Shogun would lead a strike force to put pressure on the homelands of these monsters. The campaign is hard going but a boon presents itself in the return of Akodo Itachi and some of his band of warriors along with gaijin who wished to resist the rule of the High Queen, this provides a great deal of intelligence support to the Shogun as they launch their invasion in the late Spring to coincide with the campaigns led by the Empress.
The fighting is hard as the forces land on rugged foreign soil, even in the late spring the lands are cold and harsh but after a month of conflict they find safe passage in a village of gaijin rebels who resist the rule of the High Queen and it quickly becomes a base of operations for the Shogun and his forces but the alliance is uneasy as cultures clash new prejudices arise. Can the Empire find common ground with the monsters of the sea or is this joint venture destined for failure?