I agree, but in this case the jisamurai has added status in that he is the "warden" of the village (I do not remember what the official name of the title was). They are already invested with some authority and expected to, among other things, represent the clan and organize the defense.

I was about to comment that there was one instance of a peasant with a sword, but you did make that one caveat . The Seven Samurai is an apt illustration, good call! In that case, though, the peasants took weapons that weren't theirs and disturbed the honorable dead samurai for personal gain. I can definitely see this being an issue for the more idealistic ronin - it just ain't right! At the same time, though, in a war I find it hard to imagine that the armor and weapons would just be left lying there - if nothing else, samurai don't want thieves and peasants getting their hands on it. Instead, I expect that commoners taken by the winning army as support personnel would be sent to secure the gear of the fallen and round up the bodies for cremation.-The gear of their own samurai would be purified and returned to their families. Presumably that of the enemies will be taken as trophy or returned after the war (possibly "ransomed" or in mutual exchanges). At any rate, they cannot just leave it there. This is what made me curious what the situation would be in this skirmish. In this case, it is a bandit attack with some ronin who threw in their lot with the bandits - definitely not honorable foes and they have no famiies to return the gear to. There is also a samurai in charge who represents the clan and can make an official decision. So in that case, what happens to the weapons? The samurai warden will not allow them to just disappear (or at least will try to). I would expect the "rightful owner" is the clan that owns these lands and he will try to make sure they end up there. In a situation with regular samurai, that would be that. However, how much leeway do you think they have in case, say, he decides to gift some of that gear to one of those that helped in the fight? It is the clan's property, but he is the clan representative.

Thanks for the answer! I can definitely see any ronin who look like Dragon samurai material and want to join being considered for adoption (or marriage, there was a recent war and quite a few samurai have been ... made eligible). However, I think the Dragon are looking for a certain kind of Samurai for their ranks and not every PC would be a good match. Generally, would the village warden immediately claim all of the bandits' gear as property of the clan , and how big of a deal would you see the swords being in this case? Would a jisamurai as the warden have the authority to allow the ronin to take something or even gift them something for their valiant fighting in defense of the clan's holdings and people? My initial idea is that he won't care too much for any spears, axes, bows etc but will probably make sure that all swords are missing and not give any out, though I'm not sure. The PCs haven't expressed any interest yet, but I suppose that for a ronin a "spare" daisho or just a wakizashi could be a Very Big Deal.

Hi, I am running a somewhat informal 4E game set in the 1130s. I have a small party of ronin and monks trekking who ended up helping to defend an out-of-the way village in the southern Dragon lands (Kitsuki territory) from a group of bandits led by a few ronin. I am not sure if the players appreciated the irony, but either way there are now some thirty dead bandits and three ronin. The PCs gave the village advanced warning and acquitted themselves well in the defense, so they have secured their own shelter for the upcoming winter (it is late autumn and that played a big role in why the bandits wanted to attack). The jisamurai warden is the only Dragon representative and this late in the autumn, no patrols are expected until spring. So, at this point the local burakumin (actually the village is fairly small and I'm not sure it would have any, but let's say it does) will dispose of the bodies. However, I expect that the local jisamurai will want them to gather and present all the serviceable weapons and armor, as well as the ronin's swords. The question is, what do you think would happen to them? I expect any light armor or spears that are fit for ashigaru will either be stored in his house to be used if the villagers should be mustered or handed over to the dragon armories. Yet the swords are a more interesting case, since they are the mark of a samurai. I expect the ronin will be allowed to help themselves to any "lesser" gear (things get lost) but what happens with the three daisho? I would expect that any captured samurai weapons would belong to the clan, yet on the other hand I am not sure the clan would care for the weapons of bandits and murderers, except maybe as waste to be reforged. I know the Dragon clan is short on samurai, but I'm not sure if it is short on weapons. Meanwhile, I can see a ronin being quite interested in acquiring a second pair of swords - less for their monetary value (still conceivable) and more because it's an extra pair of swords for their family - an extra pair they can gift to a sibling or another child. Also, how big of a deal would that be to the local junior Kitsuki magistrate who learns about it next spring? Would s/he want to make sure all weapons and gear are accounted for or would they not care much about that and focus on the issue of the bandits.

I think they had something like that for every "ultimate" spell in 2E WFRP . Then again, considering how magic works in WFRP and that many pinnacle spells require a lot of power drawn, there was a good reason for that. Sure, shugenja in Rokugan are far more respected and basically talk to the gods and spirits, but there are some things that you don't do lightly.

Actually, wouldn't the last part make him more willing to take on another warrior clan like the Unicorn, rather than the Crane where the outcome of the war may well be decided in court? I cannot remember just who mentioned it, but I think I came across an opinion in 4th that some of the older Lions are happy the clan actually has a serious rival rather than just minor clans to bully or the crane or scorpion, who would much retaliate with intrigue rather than on the battlefield. It struck me as a very interesting perspective.

Right, for me the mistakes in negotiating the marriage terms were too egregious. The "we don't know the norms" doesn't fly after several hundred years, and considering the status of who is being married and the political implications you'd expect both sides to be going over the terms with a fine-toothed comb. I was also a bit nonnplussed at the lions trying a rather obvious ploy - weren't they supposedly the honorable ones? - but the Ikoma can be pretty cunning on the down low. Even for an "idiot ball" moment it seemed a bit too much, to the point it is immersion-breaking. What's next, a great clan bushi not having heard that you're not supposed to touch another samurai's swords without permission?

It probably made sense two and a half centuries ago, but after ten generations of courtiers, they probably would have picked up enough basic marriage customs, yeah. It sounded like a stupid "gotcha" from the Lions that shouldn't have worked. I admit, it wasn't my favorite lore piece. I wasn't too impressed by the Phoenix in that story either.

Was there some mentions of what happened BEFORE Curved Blades? The main premise sounded rather far-fetched. The Unicorn is marrying a clan champion away into a lower-ranking nobleAND giving off a dowry for a rather nebulous promise of peace. The Unicorn have been in Rokugan for "just" a few centuries for their diplomats to be blindsided by that. That sounds like they lost a war, but they don't seem to be too wary of starting one.

Interesting, I hadn't seen anything on the topic. I noticed that the English version featured a lot of The Great Clans quotes, so I though the basics of the 4E diplomacy held unless something in 5E specifically conflicted them. The Crab and Unicorns are both seen as somewhat unusual and barbaric by most. Naturally, viewpoints can vary across the clans. There are likely Crabs still annoyed about the 9th century incident, just as there are possibly others who have far more recent issues with the Crane and have less than zero interest in joining a fight alongside the Lions who seem more interested in throwing their weight around rather than helping them fight the war that actually matters.

Right, in the previous timeline they had initially cursed the Moto for abandoning them, but a Moto hero (I do not remember which one at the moment) was able to propitiate them and arrange for them to "join" the Rokugani system by working for Emma-O and being recognized as fortunes. However, I am not sure this is still the case in fluff. One of the 5E fluff pieces, "Rule from Horseback" indicates that some Moto still venerate them in this continuity. Moto Chagatai thinks of something as an omen from the Lords of Death. An Ujik shamaness from a vassal family to theirs is even more upfront: "I serve the Lords of Death,” she snapped. “Nothing I do is for your benefit, Moto Chagatai.” The family name was a reminder: Khojin’s mother was no Moto, no kin to him. Ujin Hogelun came from one of the lesser Ujik families. They were nominal vassals to the Moto, although in the free-spirited Unicorn Clan, such bonds of vassalage were mainly theoretical." Plus, the same story features Moto Chagatai's sister having a household including two husbands and another wife - something unthinkable to most of Rokugan. It is likely that the other Moto in the hinterlands have adopted little of the traditional Rokugani culture or left their traditional religion wholly behind.

As far as I am aware, the Crab and Unicorn are generally on fairly amicable terms. Yes, the Dark Moto incident was a big issue, but it is also the Moto's greatest shame and one they would die to get rid of (and many do). In the meantime, the Unicorn have mended fences and tend to give the Crab a fair bit of respect. Both clans tend to be seen as somewhat of outsiders among Rokugan's high society (which iirc causes a fair bit of friction between the Unicorn and Crane courtiers, despite the good start of their relationship). After all, the Crane embody Rokugan's mainstream culture, which the Unicorn challenges. I do not know how much of the 4E clan stereotypes were changed in 5E, but in the the 4E core book, in the "clan view" section for the crab has them talk about the Unicorn as the closest allies among the major clans, while the Unicorns are mentioned to appreciate the Crab's lack of prejudice against them.