Legend of the Five Rings 4th edition Interest Check and Game Premise

[Marie Reynolds]

Try the core or Imperial Histories.

[Teo Torriatte]

I'd love to give this a go! Working on a Tessen school ronin. 

[Muse]

  I wonder if we can get anyone to play a ronin shugenja?  Will be interesting to see how it works if we don't have one.  :) 

[Marie Reynolds]

Yep but I am not going to close it right away so we have time.

[Lidian]

Very intrested, maybe play a Ronin Bushi of maybe shugenja of Unicorn descent.... If that would be possible. If not, maybe Crab or something. I'd have to do some serious research into the cities cause I don't know much about them.

[Teo Torriatte]

Name:      Saki
School:   Tessen

EXP   75/0

Insight   148

Air      3
--Reflexes      3
--Awareness      3

Earth      3
--Stamina      3
--Willpower      3

Fire:      2
--Agility      2
--Intelligence   2

Water      2
--Strength      2
--Perception      2

Void      3/3

Advantages
(7)  Paragon of Duty
(3)  Quick Healer
(2)  Strength of the Earth

Disadvantages: 
(2)  Lecherous
(3)  Small
(3)  Social Disadvantage: Ronin

Skills: 
*Battle         1
*Defense         2
Etiquette         1
Horsemanship      1
Iajutsu         1
*Investigation      2
*Jiujutsu         1
*Kenjutsu         2
*Meditation         2
Performer: Dancing   2
*War Fans         3


School Techniques: 
Technique: Folds of the Iron Fan – Few in Rokugan have mastered the facets of the iron fan with the same fluency as the Tessen. When wielding a war fan in your off hand, you suffer no penalties for attacks made with that hand.  You also add your rank in War Fans to the total of your Armor TN at all times while wielding a war fan.


History: 
   Saki grew up with Hiiro, a ronin she believed to be her uncle, and his wife Taki.  They owned a small tea house.  Hiiro was rarely present at night when she was a child, for he patrolled and protected the neighborhood with other ronin using iron fans. 

   The spirited girl desired to learn her uncle’s art and protect the people with him.  He told her it was better she stay safe at the restaurant.  Taki started her dancing lessons, then, making sure she learned to use her fans to fight as well as dance. 
   
   When Saki was fourteen, she dressed as a boy and followed her uncle out on his patrol.  Interfering with a mugging, she defeated 2 of the 5 before they caught her and held her down. 

   Hiiro saved her before she could be badly injured.  Seeing now her fighting spirit, he agreed to teach Saki his full art.  He also gave her a daisho—that she was not to carry within city limits—and said it was her fathers.

[ShadowFox89]

 Are we all going to take lechery? xD

[Pumpkin Seeds]

I won't be.

[Marie Reynolds]

Lidian a shugenja would be appreciated but I wont demand it of you either.

[Jr]

Whew. For a minute there, I thought I'd be the only one without it.

[Muse]

New draft: 

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Name:   Katsu
Clan:      Ronin (Of Lion Descent)
School:   Kenku Kensei

Age:      17
Birthday:   Unknown (Sometime in Autumn.) 
Height:   5’7” 
Weight:   175lbs
Build:      Trim
Skin:      Golden
Hair:      Black and very long, but somewhat tattered from where is sensei sliced off locks when he made particularly stupid mistakes. 
Eyes:      Dark chestnut. 
Style:      Blue Kimono and slippers.  Black hakima and obi.  No mon.  A single large crow’s feather is braided into his hair with twine.  He owns two, both of cotton.  Traveling, he dons clogs, a straw cloak, and straw hat. 

EXP:     75/0
Insight:   151

Air:        3
--Reflexes      3
--Awareness      3

Earth:     3
--Stamina      3
--Willpower      3

Fire:      2
--Agility      2
--Intelligence   2

Water      2
--Strength      2
--Perception      2

Void      3/3


Skills: 
Athletics         1
Battle            1
*Defense         1
Divination         1
Etiquette         1
*Hunting         1
Iajutsu         1
Investigation      2
*Jiujutsu         2
*Kenjutsu         3   Katana
Lore: Kenku Culture   1
*Lore: Spirit Realms   1
Medicine         1
*Meditation         2
Perform: Shamisen      1
*Tea Ceremony      1

Advantages: 
(4)   Blood of Osano’wo
(7)   Paragon of Compassion
(12)   Prodigy
(2)   Strength of the Earth

(--)   Compulsion (DC 15) Perform
(3)   Compulsion (DC 20) Visit every major temple I pass. 
(4)   Cursed by the Realm: Gaki’do
(4)   Cursed by the Realm: Sakaku
(1)   Fascination: The old races. 
(4)   Failure of Bushido: Sincerity
(2)   Idealistic
(2)   Lechery
(3)   Social Disadvantage: Ronin
(2)   Unlucky

Techniques: 
RANK 1: WING OF THUNDER
The kenku bushi has learned to harness the speed of the wind itself, and can draw that element into himself. You may add the total of your Reflexes and School Rank to your Armor TN against any enemy with lower Initiative.

RANK 2: HEAVEN’S CLAW
The bushi has tapped the power of the thunderbolt, striking hard at his enemy’s weaknesses. Any time you inflict more than 10 points of damage with a single attack, your opponent loses one Void Point. Against opponents with no Void Points remaining (or no Void), you may instead re-roll a single damage die and take the better of the two results.

Glory:         0/0
Honor:         4/0
Status            0/0
Shadowlands Taint      0/0

Attacks: 
Katana
Attack Roll:      6k2 Favored
Damage Roll   5k2

Unarmed
Attack Roll:      5k2
Damage Roll   2k1

Wakasashi
Attack Roll      6k2
Damage Roll   4k2


Defense:   20, +5 with light armor.  +5 with initiative. 
Reduction   0, 3 with light armor. 

Initiative:  5k3

Wounds: 
Healthy +0      15/0
Nicked +0      6/0
Grazed +2      6/0
Hurt +7      6/0
Injured +12      6/0
Crippled +17   6/0
Down +37      6/0
Out         6/0


Daisho
Light Armor
Traveling Pack
--Backpack
--Blanket
--Bottle of Water
--Chopsticks
--Coin Purse
--Cooking Pot
--Daisho Stand
--Divination Kit:  Yarrow Sticks
--Flint and Tinder
--Lantern
--Shamisen
--Shovel
--Small Statue (Spirit revered at the temple where I grew up.) 
--Spare Kimono and Sandals
--Straw Cloak
--Tea Set
--Walking Stick
--Week’s Rations
--Wide Brimmed Straw Hat

Koku:   2
Bu:   2
Zeni:   6



History: 
   Nineteen years ago, a cabal of majo users in the crane lands began raiding lion provinces and falling back across the border to avoid repercussions.

   A small band of young samurai, including Moto Hikari, quietly crossed the border without political sanction to dispatch them.  As Hikari’s grandfather had warned her, the undead minions of the majo clan saught her out above all other targets.  The covert war was long, and the samurai often driven into hiding for weeks at a time.  Hikari swelled with a child her husband had planted in her before they left.  She had two companions left when a country midwife delivered their son.  She named him Katsu, but deliberately did not pronounce upon him a family name, in hopes that the family curse would not fall upon him and the undead would not seek him out. 

   In the next few months, more and more undead descended upon the Lionesses.  The remaining majo users were desperate, and using the curse on Hikari to help track them. 

   Before the babe was weaned, Hikari was the last of them.  In Katsu’s fourth month of life, his mother took a bite that infected and she knew that—without magical medicine—she would soon die. 

   She found a small shrine, kept by an aging bachelor named Ko.  She dared to stay one night with Ko, then hardened her heart and told the old man, “I found this child alone in a village burned out by bandits.  I can take him no further.  I pray you, find him a good home.” 

   Then she left.   Though it is only recorded in the most confused of songs, Hikari fought her way through the undead and slew the leader of the majo cult before wound fever took her, and she was buried with honors by the farmers she liberated. 

   Now Ko was a wise man and an admirer of the feminine form.  He could tell before Hikari left that she was both sick and the mother of the child, but a samurai would not lie without very good reason, so he honored her words as if they were the truth.  With the help of a village woman for a wet nurse, he raised Katsu as his own grandson. 

   Nine years later, running an errand in town, Katsu encountered five older boys casting stones and insults at a feeble old beggar.  Without thought, he threw himself between them and demanded that they leave him alone. 

   The biggest boy punched Katsu in the stomach harder and faster than he could block, and he doubled over in pain.  “How you going to make us, Katsu?  Just because the old fool named you Victory doesn’t mean you can take us.” 

   Katsu gasped and straightened up, “Leave him alone.  Can’t you see you’re killing him?” 

   “What, he’s just a beggar.  What are you going to do, stop us?  Shave your head, Katsu, and punch the ground to start an earthquake.” 

   Katsu swallowed and straightened up.  He did, in fact, know some jiujutsu from his grandfather, but knew he couldn’t take five! 

   He glanced back at the bloody old man, then shouted, “Fine, let’s go!”  And kicked one boy’s feet out from under him, then hammered a fist into another boy’s solar plexus… 

   And was promptly grabbed and made a punching bag of for the next fifteen minutes. 

   He wasn’t really conscious when the bullies screamed and fled. 

   When he woke up again, he was home—with the tofu he’d never been able to pick up—and a monk of the brotherhood of Osano’wo was tending his wounds.  The monk smiled when he asked if the beggars wounds had also been tended, he nodded vaguely and replied, “That was very brave what you did. Your mother would be proud.  Sleep now.”   

   When he woke again, he felt much better, and the monk offered to teach him Jiyujutsu. 

   They studied Jiyujutsu for two years before the monk first offered him a shinai and showed him how all he’d learned about how to move and how to think and how to breathe could make him a great swordsman. 

   On his fourteenth birthday, the monk presented him with his mother’s daisho.  Katsu asked who his mother had been, and he simply replied, “A hero.”  Then he diverted the topic by assuming his true form—that of a kenku, a humanoid crow—and saying, “now we must begin your training in earnest.  Come at me with these, and do not hold back…” 

*   *   *

Ancestors: 
Your maternal ancestor took part in a battle that was a defeat for the Lion which is now used to teach Students at the War College you Lose 1.0 Glory but Gain .5 honor. 

Your paternal ancestor was a famous Ikoma Bard and you posses a great many of her traits you may take the Sansation Advantage for 1 less point but you love the adulation of the audience and gain the disadvantage compulsion perform 2 points as well

[ShadowFox89]

 Thinking about this for my character's picture: http://gelbooru.com/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=1893504

[Marie Reynolds]

Very nice Shadowfox, So looks like we have a Nodachi Wielder.

[ShadowFox89]

 Well the plan is for her to have a bit of weaponsmithing skill.... I was planning on taking a bow, but could drop kyoujutsu and the bow

[Marie Reynolds]

Do not need to the sword in the pic just looks like a Nodachi that's all and if your smith could be any number of reasons why she is holding one. Are you going with the Tsi Smiths?

[ShadowFox89]

 Tsi Smiths? Sorry, I'm not very proficient in Rokugan Lore >.>

[Marie Reynolds]

The Tsi Family originated from a Gaijin Weaponsmtih that impressed Emperor Hantei so much he made a Rokugani on the spot and Later a Ronin took the name and impressed Hantei with  his skill as a smith that he granted minor clan status and created the Oriole minor clan.

[ShadowFox89]

 I was planning on making her a Kakita who has opted to hone her skills as a ronin for a time.... I think I read that a samurai can opt to become a ronin without losing their honor?

[Pumpkin Seeds]

As some sort of pilgrimage and such they are able to. 

[ShadowFox89]

http://l5r.wikia.com/wiki/Musha_Shugyo

Would rely on Marie's approval of course....

[Marie Reynolds]

Um actually your supposed to be descended from someone who rent on that Pilgrimage and do to reasons beyond their control where not able to return to there clan.

[ShadowFox89]

 Oh, we are? There's nothing indicating that in the first post >.>

[Marie Reynolds]

Also on top of what ever Ronin creation choice you make have an additional 25 experience points. Also in your background Include a secret kept from you of descendance from a Major clan.
Empress Iweko is on the Throne.

Yes there was and above is were it stated that you need to have been descended from a Major Clan that Pilgrimage was the reason why you were born as ronin.

[Jr]

Name: Daisuke
Clan: True Ronin, Option 1 (Doesn't know he's descended from the Crab Clan.)
School: Eyes of Nanashi

EXP:     99/0
Insight:   152

Traits

Air: 2
--Reflexes 2
--Awareness 2

Earth: 2
--Stamina 2
--Willpower 2

Fire: 2
--Agility 2
--Intelligence 2

Water 4
--Strength 4
--Perception 4

Void 2/2

Skills

Athletics (Throwing) 4
Etiquette 3
Heavy Weapons (Tetsubo) 4
Horsemanship 1
Hunting 4
Investigation 4
Jiujutsu (Martial Arts) 4
Lore: Law 3
Medicine 1
Sincerity 1

Advantages & Disadvantages

Advantages
(4) Elemental Blessing (Water)
(6) Chosen by the Oracles (Water)
(6) Hands of Stone
(2) Hero of the People
(4) Large (6'3")
(3) Quick Healer
(2) Strength of the Earth
(5) Touch of the Spirit Realms (Gaki-Do)
(3) Virtuous

Disadvantages
(4) Antisocial
(3) Bad Fortune: Disfigurement (Pointed birthmarks on forehead, usually covered by headband)
(4) Compulsion: Alcoholism
(3) Disturbing Countenance (Ogre-like face)
(1) Fascination: The various alcoholic beverages of Rokugan
(3) Lost Love (Father)
(3) Obtuse
(3) Seven Fortunes' Curse: Fukurokujin's Curse
(3) Social Disadvantage: Ronin
(6) Sworn Enemy: 1 Rank higher, kharmic nemesis
(3) Touch of the Void
(6) Unlucky

Belongings

Daisho
Light Armor
Tattered Clothing
Traveling Pack (Blanket, Bottle of Sake, Bottle of Shochu, Bottle of Water, Chopsticks, Cooking Pot, Fishing Pole, Flint & Tinder, Rope 50', Small Tent)
Koku: 0

Villagers sing his praises, petty thugs curse his name in frustration, some tavern owners offer prayers to him. They call him the kind ogre, the man with one name, the god of sake, Daisuke. Alas, Daisuke is not an ogre or a god. He is merely a man of great misfortune. His mother died giving birth to her exceptionally large firstborn son. His father, a bushi of the Hida family, fell so deep into his drinking that he disgraced himself out of the clan. Little Daisuke was too young to remember leaving the family estate and only knew life on the road with his father. He was 16 when they first went to the tavern together, but his father didn't take him there simply to act as a drinking buddy. A few cups in, the aging ronin pointed to a table that was harrassing their serving girl. What started out as simple lecherous remarks was escalating to unwelcome touches and tugs at her clothing. Daisuke's father urged his son to watch and learn as he rose from his seat to approach the table. All it took to set the cowards off was a polite suggestion that they show the lady some respect. They threw the first punch and what followed next was the most glorious display of violence young Daisuke had ever seen up to that point. One man, very nearly old and prematurely gray, punching out four younger opponents like their skulls were paper lanterns.

It was the first of many lessons, not only on how to fight, but when. Daisuke was also instructed in the use of the tetsubo, though he never had a proper one to practice with. A skillfully carved club provided much the same feel at considerably less cost. Unfortunately, such good times couldn't last forever. The old man's heroics caught up with him years later when his drink was poisoned one night. Daisuke woke the next morning to find his father still in his futon, covered in blood as though it had spilled from every orifice. It was time to leave town. He hastily packed his things, as well as his father's only finding out at the next night's camp that there was a cloth-wrapped daisho and a set of light armor among them. The tools of a samurai, how would he get a hold of such things? It was of no matter by that point. Daisuke's father was dead and he had a legacy to carry on. From that point forward, he would find a tavern with troubles and "adopt" it, taking out unsavory elements and living off food or drink provided out of gratitude until his welcome was worn out or he was clearly needed elsewhere. Unlike his father, his attentions caught the attention of the right people and another ronin found him, offering training in the Eyes of Nanashi school technique. Daisuke went under his tutelage and, despite his difficulty with academia, learned much about the laws of the land.

He also learned what it meant to be a ronin, one who uses the tools of the samurai without the title, who acts with honor when no court will honor him, who follows the code even if he never learned to read it. Soon enough, Daisuke's tutelage under the mysterious ronin ended and fond farewells were said. This was only a year before the beginning of the campaign. Daisuke is now 23.

[Lidian]

Picture

Her Story So Far

Iuchi Shika was devoted to her clan. That could not be argued. When a conflict with the lion clan absolutely had to come to a close, for the betterment of both clans Iuchi Shika volunteered herself to act as a hostage to the Akoda family. Shika was a talented, young, and most of all kind woman who was gifted in hearing the voice of the Kami around her. Akoda Yuudai was certainly not kind, nor was he sober most nights. Grieved by the early death of his wife Yuudai over indulged in drink, which lead to fits of rage that blew like a violent twister, tearing and destroying all in his path and Shika quickly became his favored scapegoat. His wife had been killed by a stray arrow in the conflict, that, while it could of easily came from either side he believed that the Unicorn were to blame for her untimely death. He tormented the woman, he beat her, he disgraced and humiliated her in every way his sake fueled mind could even conceive. Until one night he finally crossed a line that he even came to regret once the morning came and the drink had worked itself out of his system. He had forced himself on Shika. For the few months he could not bear to look at the woman, or even hear about her from the servants. It was not that he felt any particular sorrow for the anguish he had caused her, he was shamed by the very idea that he had lain with her and in his mind, disgraced his departed wife.
   Meanwhile, Shika embraced the time that Yuudai avoided her, and over the months she would come to realize with growing terror that she was with child and there was only one horrifying possibility as to whom the father could possibly be. He knew he’d be furious if he were to find out, and that neither she nor her unborn child would survive his rage. She did her best to hide the pregnancy from the members of the Akoda household, and the servants. Luckily, Shika was clever, and managed to conceal the pregnancy for a good deal of time, but it couldn’t last. One of the Servants loyal to the Akoda caught a glimpse of her now prominent stomach and brought the news straight to Yuudai. Another servant came to Shika and warned her of what was to come and helped her flee the estate with all the money the woman could find. Luckily, the Akoda was far too drunk to start off right after her, giving her a head start of a few precious hours. With the found Koku she hired two Ronin to help her escape.
   A young shugenja named Iwao and his yojimbo Hisao agreed to help her. They made the best of their time advantage against the Akoda, but as they ran Shika felt herself going into labor. She prayed and ran as long as she could, Iwao moving ahead with her and Hisao staying back to fight off Yuudai as long as he could. Shika prayed to the Kami, to the ancestors, and eventually as fever and delirium overtook her as she birthed her child anyone whom would listen to her prayers. Hisao slayed Yuudai who was barely sober enough to stay on his horse, no less cross swords with even a lowly Ronin and managed to fight off the two bodyguards who had come with the Akoda leaving him exhausted, even as he ran to the nearest village for help. Shika’s prayers did not fall on death ears, despite having been born early the child was relatively healthy other than due to the circumstances and stress of Shika’s pregnancy being blind. A fortune had smiled on this child, and someone’s ancestor, even if it was not her own had smiled on her and left his mark on her shoulder. Iwao was certain that it looked just like the Mon of the Toku of all things… though, when he contemplated it later it made sense. This child and her mother whom had fled and ended up in Monkey Lands perhaps drew sympathy.
   Shika, on her dying breath begged Iwao to care for the child, and see that she grows up safe and happy and that the girl never learn of the horrible circumstances of her birth. Iwao waited with Shika for Enma-O to come for her. In her final moments she bid him to take her Kimono and all she had to give to her daughter. Once she was gone he performed the funeral rites, and put her body and soul to rest, and headed to town with the child. There, He and Hisao settled in a monkey Village to watch over the child whom Iwao believed the Kami had lead him to for a reason that he didn’t quite understand yet.
   Iwao had named her Hotaru, and despite her blindness she was a clever and capable child who took to his impromptu tutoring well. Hisao tried as he could to teach the girl to compensate for her lack of sight. Both of the men raised her which suited both of them fine seeing as they had never quite taken to having wives. Hotaru was loved by the village and never wanted for a friend or someone to help her. Though Iwao made it a point to raise her to be humble and not let the village’s favor of her go to her head. The Kami spoke to her freely, and her lack of sight gave her a trouble in recognizing who was human and who was a spirit leaving her all the more open to the perception of the kami. Eventually, she’d take her mother’s Kimono and staff, leaving the village in the dark of the night because of an unshakeable feeling that it was something she absolutely must do. Traveling from Temple to Temple, begging, doing odd jobs, and telling fortunes to support herself on her journey of self-discovery and inward contemplation.

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