The Swift Sword

Come Yobanjin Edition, my support is for Seiken's faction!

No, stop cheering! You don't want to ... Aw, jeez. Now it's too late.

Man, the only thing that could make him more likely to die an ignoble death in this arc would be if he only had one more day left on the job before retirement.

Hopefully when he is summarily run over by the plot bus his brutal murder won't involve a magi-nuclear inferno - that should really remain a Toturi Dynasty thing for the sake of posterity.

- Marty Lund

Yeah! That worked well

_________________
-

I would like to note:

I am exceedingly proud of the grace with which Lion players accepted the consequences of our decisions during the megagame.

_________________
Swift Sword Forum Rules

You mean, saving the Empire at the cost of our homelands and brothers?

It meant that the Lion got to exterminate one of their enemies. Sure, Dragonfly were Minor, but maybe we can do Crane this time?

_________________
A samurai's greatest strength is not what he is,
but what he can be. - Akodo

We really need to regroup on a Lion Clan Enmity Flowchart at some point. I think the Crane may have actually fallen out of the Top 5 on the "kill list."

Right now it goes something like this:

1.) The Spider Clan
2.) Shadowlands Beasts (seems redundant)
3.) Gaijin
4.) Mantis Clan (seems redundant)
5.) Unicorn Clan (deja vu all over again)

While Scorpion and Crane are historically reviled recent marriages and a lack of direct antagonism have kept things relatively calm. You'd think we'd have more of a grudge against the Dragon and the Phoenix considering our recent wars against them (War of Fire and Snow, Aikune's Betrayal, City of the Rich Frog) never had any satisfaction or political fence-mending afterwards.

At the bottom of the heap are the Crab. We really don't beef with the Crab that much.

- Marty Lund

oh boy, if that's the list we definitely need a revision! i'd like to see:

1.) powder blue
2.) sneaky mask guys
3.) those white haired dudes
4.) chagatai (and his descendants)
5.) the crane. seriously.

i really want that rivalry back. i LOVED hating the crane.

_________________


RUN KEPPO IN YOUR SCOUT DECK!

The problem with that is such a rivalry would make the Lion look very foolish and short-sighted.

Even historically it is basically a track-record of the Scorpion and/or the Otomo disposing of the not-too-bright and easily manipulated Lion Clan. The benefits of experience from the Clan Wars and rolling Toturi's Army into the Lion Clan should really make that slightly less prone to happening.

In the modern setting making the Crane the Lion's primary rival is ill-conceived because of the presence of the Mantis Clan, Spider Clan, and Moto Family. In the Hantei Dynasty the Lion and Crane were the two great powers publicly vying for the Emperor's ear with two philosophies clashing for dominance in Rokugani culture. In the Iweko Dynasty the Dragon represent a more direct line to the throne, the Mantis and Spider Clans represent much larger cultural affronts to the Lion, and the Unicorn have the most recent combo-chain of Lion Daimyo kills.

There needs to be a lot more to a credible enmity than "I miss beating up sissies of ambiguous gender in pastel dresses."

- Marty Lund

since when? i don't need credible, they were so much fun to hate.

_________________


RUN KEPPO IN YOUR SCOUT DECK!

I got bored with the Crane rivalry... over a decade ago. Damn.

_________________
Swift Sword Forum Rules

Our long-standing enmity with the Crane, which we pursue out of reverence for our glorious ancestors, is so much more than politics.





In addition, the Lion Clan needs a blue-water port, and the Crane own the closest ones to our heartland.

As regards enemy #1, I think it's the Dynasty. Iweko has shown that she regards "survival" - that is, life as a coward - as the priority of her regime. This is utterly unacceptable to the Lion. It means the death of Rokugan. I'm pretty sure that the Scorpion will sign up for that old "seize-the-capital-and-dare-the-other-clans-to-take-it-back" game, provided that someone can be found as a compromise Emperor. Hantei restoration, perhaps?

_________________
A samurai's greatest strength is not what he is,
but what he can be. - Akodo

chagatai tried that business and it didn't go well for him.

_________________


RUN KEPPO IN YOUR SCOUT DECK!

Chumandomo was delivered to us, and Nimuro made peace. I would make the same argument that it would be spitting on his memory to start it up again that I made about the duel/shono/shigetoshi mashup. Been there, done that.
The Crane would need to do something new for us to start up a new rivalry. The old one is done and over.


Arguably, you could say she chose the lesser of two evils to save her empire. In one stroke, she banished our greatest enemey to a foreign land, and protected future generations from the horrors of the Taint. Not the outcome I would have chosen, but it could be much worse. The only way to restore the Hantei dynasty would be to put Kanpeki on the throne. Um, NO.

_________________
North American Taisa of the White Lion

"I may die for my choice, but I shall die pure."

You know who else should be royally disgruntled with the Empresses's resolution of that situation? The Shiba Family. It's their family motto, for Pete's sake!



I'm seeing Cthullu for President bumper-stickers: "Why settle for the lesser of two evils?"

- Marty Lund