Winter Court 1122

[Vutall]

Need to create these polls still

Winter Court at Kyuden Doji
It has been two years since a terrible tsunami struck Crane lands, and one year since a massive typhoon hit the southern coast. The once high-and-mighty Crane have begun to feel the pain of two successive failed harvests, although based upon the beauty and marvels on display at this year’s Winter Court, a guest could scarcely guess the Crane had fallen on hard times. For the Crane, it is imperative that they continue to seem unaffected. If the Crane Clan falters, the Lion Clan is waiting to swoop in and reclaim the Osari Plains and the city of Toshi Ranbo, which have been contested for generations.

To that end, the Lion Clan seeks to drive a wedge between its enemy––the Crane––and the Mantis. The Crane and Mantis have strained relations—the Crane suspect the Mantis are behind several pirate attacks on their coast, while the Mantis are frustrated with the Crane’s traditionalism. The Lion’s Ikoma family, namely Ambassador Ikoma Ujiaki, knows the Lion Clan can benefit from inflaming tensions between the Crane and Mantis Clans. To foster hostilities, an Ikoma shinobi forged an invitation for the Mantis Clan to attend the Winter Court at Kyūden Doji, the Esteemed Palaces of the Crane. The Imperial Herald—who issues invitations on the host’s behalf and received the Mantis’ acceptance letter— convinced the Emperor to add the Mantis to the guest list rather than publicly shame them. With the Mantis’ presence at the court secured, the Lion hope things will naturally fall apart between the Mantis and Crane. What they do not realize is the extent of the Mantis’ opportunism.

To further complicate these tensions, the crown prince will soon achieve his gempuku and be betrothed. That the Emperor has chosen to winter with the Crane this year is a favorable sign toward the Doji family, who hope one of their own will become the future Empress. However, the Crane are not the only clan seeking to install one of their daughters in the house of Hantei.

The Mantis hope to seize the stage at the Winter Court to put forward one of their own for that role.


The Crab
The Crab Clan is always looking to supply its war effort. As attacks on the Wall increase in frequency and intensity, food, armaments, jade, and warriors are becoming even more precious. The Crab’s focus is to secure as much material and as many warriors as possible. Any quantity of koku would be a boon: 20,000 would go a long way, but 50,000 would help them tremendously. They have little to spare in exchange, relying instead on other samurai to grasp the importance of their cause.

The River of Gold, which runs between Crab and Crane lands, has been flooding since the fall monsoons, disproportionately affecting the Crab lands, which lack any wetlands to absorb the extra rainfall. The Crab shugenja are too busy dealing with the danger at the Wall, so it falls to you to enlist the Crane’s Asahina to help quell the angry river kami, either by direct intervention or by teaching you or other Crab how to soothe the spirit.

-Who does the Crab clan seek out for koku to help with their war effore, without having much to offer other than the reliance of clans recognizing the importance of the Crabs duty?
-Are the Crab able to gain the support of Asahina shugenja to handle the floods?


The Crane
As the clan hosting the court at Kyūden Doji, the Crane Clan has the largest delegation, with an entire palace of servants and guards at their disposal. Ostensibly, their aim is to provide a comfortable place to stay for the Emperor and his guests, while at the same time impressing all with their fine arts, their delicate performances, and the magnificent beauty of their gardens. In reality, the Crane Clan’s primary goal is to preserve the appearance that they are influential in Rokugani politics and are important allies for the other clans to have, despite their failing fortunes. This year, the Crane have only 50,000 koku to trade for alliances and other boons, which is less than half their usual supply

-Who do the Crane primarily support with their excess koku?
-Are the Crane able to maintain face that nothing is wrong with their production after the Tsunami as well as maintain the dominance in influencing politics and culture


The Dragon
The winters have grown longer and harder, and there are fewer people in the Dragon lands to cultivate the fields. What the clan needs most this year is rice: 10,000 koku’s worth to feed its samurai, or 30,000 total to feed the peasants as well. In exchange, the Dragon can accept students to the Mirumoto and Kitsuki schools, and they can spare a few Mirumoto-trained yōjimbō and monks of the Togashi Tattooed Order to serve in a court for a year.

The Dragon seek out marriages, preferably one of lower status so they marry into the clan with many children from a previous marriage. The Dragon Clan desperately needs more samurai to protect its borders

-Who does the Dragon clan seek out for koku, in return providing mirumoto and togashi monks as yojimbo?
-Who do the Dragon attempt to gain marriage promises with to help with their failing birth rate?


The Lion
The Lion Clan wants nothing more than to see their rivals, the Crane, brought down. Anything that can set the Crane on their back foot—or better yet, see them humiliated before the esteemed company of the Winter Court—only strengthens Clan Champion Akodo Arasou. If the opportunity arises for the clan to regain the city of Toshi Ranbo in the north or the Osari Plains on their southwest border shared with the Crane, they will stop at nothing to seize it. In the meantime, the Lion are seeking 40,000 koku to supply their war effort.

The peasants of the Crane have taken to fishing in the Lake of Sorrows, which shares a border with the Lion Clan and is sometimes haunted by the spirits of the nearby Red Lake. This sacrilege cannot be borne silently, and the Crane must forbid their vassals from continuing to disturb the sacred waters. The Lion Clan would gladly take stewardship of the lake shore villages to ensure these peasants are properly supplied, so they no longer need to fish for themselves

-Who does the Lion clan seek out for koku? They have little to offer in return except for promises of lesser hostility over territory disputes
-Are the Lion able to take control of the villages around Red Lake from the Crane to stop their peasants from fishing in the sacred waters and disturbing the kami?


The Phoenix
The Phoenix wish to learn whether other clans have been suffering from elemental imbalances of the kami without alerting the others to the imbalances affecting Phoenix lands. (Sometimes, the Isawa shugenja have been unable to commune with the kami of one element, while the kami of another element have responded forcefully and violently.) The Phoenix usually have surplus koku to trade, but this year, it is seeking to raise 20,000 koku to restore its shrines in an attempt to placate the disquieted kami. The more it can raise, the grander the renovations can be.

The Phoenix has safeguarded a small, gemlike egg for generations. Recently, the iridescent shell has begun to shine like sunlight reflecting off waves. They are communing with the spirit within the egg and then taking it to hatch beneath the watchful gaze of the statue of Suitengu, the Fortune of the Sea, at the sunken Sea-King’s Palace, but such a place is taboo to samurai from outside the Crane Clan.

In a recent fire at a shrine to Kaze-no-Kami, the Fortune of the Wind, rare scrolls from the fourth century were lost and must be replaced. The Crane’s Asahina family should have copies, as its founder was Isawa Asahina, a Phoenix Master of Air in the fourth century. However, like most shugenja families, the Asahina are reluctant to let others into their libraries—much less to allow them to transcribe copies.


-Who does the Phoenix clan seek out for koku?
-Are the Phoenix able to gain the support of the Asahina to recover their lost texts?
-Are the Phoenix able to secure the hatching site for the gemmed egg?


The Scorpion
Newly ascendant in the Forbidden City, the Scorpion are interested in maintaining and expanding their influence, and Winter Court offers them an unparalleled opportunity to do so. For the first time in living memory, the clan has more surplus to offer in trade and gifts than even the Crane: 60,000 koku’s worth. Besides brokering alliances, the Scorpion’s primary purposes at the Winter Court are to gather intelligence (especially bases for blackmail) and to act swiftly to counter any immediate threats to their political hegemony—such as a rise in Crane Clan fortunes.

The Scorpion have targeted Kakita Ryoku, a prominent political mover for the Crane. Kakita Ryoku has been laid low throughout the year, but she must not be allowed to rise to prominence in the Imperial Court again. The clan prevent her from achieving any public success, and thwart her private schemes as well

-Who do the Scorpion primarily support with their koku, gaining political sway and blackmail over them?
-Are the Scorpion able to bring low a prominent thorn in their side, Kakita Ryoku, preventing her from regaining her political clout?


The Unicorn
The Unicorn seek allies and, more importantly, acceptance of their ways. Unicorn khans are tired of being treated like outsiders, especially when their hordes could easily defeat many of the armies fielded by the other Great Clans. At the same time, the Unicorn Clan has suffered too-hot summers and too-cold winters for many years now, and although great wealth pours into Khanbulak from the west, 20,000 extra koku’s worth of grain would help ensure the health of their stable hands and herds. The Unicorn delegation has 20,000 koku's worth of luxuries from the Ivory Kingdoms and beyond available to trade, including wool, calicoes, and saltpeter (used for preserving food on the Sand Road and, less commonly, in alchemical experiments)

A band of criminals has fled into the Seikitsu Mountains to escape justice. Winter is only beginning, and they will inevitably journey to the mountainside villages to restock their supplies. The Unicorn are trying to secure the Lion Clan’s assistance in capturing these fugitives and delivering them to your clan.

-Who does the Unicorn clan seek out for koku, in return granting them most of their luxury goods?
-Are the Unicorn able to gain Lion assistance in hunting down a dangerous group of criminals that are on contested borders between the two clans?


The Mantis
The Mantis want to be considered equal in status to the Great Clans and to be recognized for their contributions to the Empire. In the pursuit of this goal, Yoritomo is attempting to install a Mantis as Empress, but the only members of the delegation who know this are Lady Magami and Susano-o no Izen. In addition, the Mantis have 30,000 koku’s worth of silk, spices, and other luxury goods to trade with the other clans, which they hope to trade for koku to use toward funding the continuous buildup of their Storm Fleet navy.

The Mantis seek to establish an embassy along the Crane coast—a small parcel of land where they can abide by their own authority and be governed by their own laws. Lonely Shore City and the Port That Never Sleeps are prime locations for this outpost.

-Who do the Mantis use their luxury goods with to gain more favor from?
-Are the Mantis able to gain permission to construct an Embassy in Crane lands, either in Lonely Shore City and the Port That Never Sleeps?


Imperial
The Imperial contingent pursues the same agenda that it usually does during Winter Courts: to keep the Great Clans’ attention focused on each other so that no clan can rise to pose a threat to the Hantei line, and to dole out enough boons to the Great Clans that they continue to see the Imperial families favorably. The Imperials must play the game of appearing exclusive enough that their attention seems special, while at the same time remaining approachable. For the most part, they get to enjoy the entertainments of the host clan as well as the goodwill of the clans seeking to curry favor with the Emperor.

The Miya Cartographers have the most extensive map collection in all of Rokugan. Copies of the clan's historical maps of the Osari Plains would be invaluable in resolving the dispute between the Lion and the Crane over this regi

-Are the Miya able to distribute historical copies of maps of the Osari Plains, to help ease tension between the Lion and Crane?

-Which clan is the most successful in gaining the Emperors favor for a potential bride for the Crown Prince, Hantei Sotorii. The two most favorable over the winter are the niece of the Crane Champion, Doji Chiyoe, and the niece of the Mantis Champion, Lady Magami


General
At Kyūden Doji, the Crane Clan has in their possession a fan whose silk was made from the robes of a great prophet and is said to possess miraculous healing abilities. Someone could be fully healed of a lasting injury if they could be touched by this legendary nemuranai.

-Which clan is able to make a deal with the Crane Clan to gain a powerful nemurani, a fan known to have mystical healing powers for any who are touched by it