Okay, put down one for Tom Ramirez.

The other Clan write ups are en route shortly, I imagine? I'm curious to see them! The idea of the primer was to convey a general atmosphere for the Age of Ruin. That meant focusing on certain factions over others. Fear not, though! All the clans have at least their own full-page summary in one document. http://winter-court.com/docs/The_Current_States_of_Clans_and_Factions.pdf

Checking with our guy now.

Good news everyone! The primer for character creation in the Age of Ruin is now posted. There are answers, yes, but also questions- Question for which you must seek the truth. http://www.winter-court.com/wc5/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=98 Also, the Out of Character boards as well as the Clan private forums are now open to players.

Okay, Winter Courtiers. After another core staff meeting, the Out of Character boards will open next Sunday 12/11 for those creating homebrew characters as well as make connections. Canon PCs will have their character stats with biographies along with super secret confidential information.

In my opinion, the most playable and most socially acceptable Spider Clan was a result of the Winter Court IV efforts of the Spider Clan playerbase. We managed to wrangle both Pro-Taint and Anti-Taint players into the same house, and got everyone to pretty much agree on two goals: 1) The wedding of the Imperial line to Daigotsu's line, and 2) Serving the Empire as the demons it unleashes on its enemies. Army of Yodotai ghost soldiers invading? Send in the Spider. Need someone to hunt the Dark Oracle of Fire in Yobanjin lands? Send in the Spider. Need the monster-filled ruins of a fallen civilization conquered and brought to heel? Send in the Spider. Sndwurks and I were both proud to be a part of that group and we hoped it would lead to many great ideas for Spider characters. As much as we were pariahs, we managed to build a strong and eclectic mix of archetypes: Non-nonchalant swaggering duelist who still cares about children- Daigotsu Atsushi Embittered sociopath who tag teams with his demure and genuinely kind-hearted wife- Susumu Naoru and Yuna A weapons-smith whose gruff demeanor belies his talent at creating incredible works of art.- Gyushi Kageto A well-traveled writer who finds noble service among even the most dastardly lot.- Susumu Naishi A courageous soul who seeks, at times desperately, to harmonize her world's demon's with its better nature.- Daigotsu Tsubaki These were about half the examples and should by no means be considered the limit to what kind of Spider character you introduce. Making well-developed characters is part of the fun of any roleplaying experience. Placing a Spider Samurai in your party just requires more consideration than a GM is typically adapted to.

The Winter Court 5 Rules forum has been updated with the code of conduct, a cost chart for NPC allies and the Gyushi Shugenja school added to New Mechanics in the House Rules section. http://www.winter-court.com/wc5/viewforum.php?f=58

The Answers to "Ask the GMs Anything" Round 4 are now up! http://www.winter-court.com/wc5/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=11

You're stroking Sean Fisk's ego. He's purring now. We, the Winter Court 5 Staff, look forward to entertaining you all in the months ahead.

Point of note: The Enemies of the Empire supplement is also part of the list of banned books and will be corrected soon in the document. The excepted mechanics in that book are already part of the document.

The moment you've been waiting for. The Winter Court 5 staff presents The house rule for game mechanics! Read carefully and thoroughly, because some of this will be VERY relevant to your character. http://www.winter-court.com/wc5/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=10

Samurai of Rokugan, The Winter Court 5 staff has completed its application review process and emails have been sent to all applicants that we received an application for to the email address listed in the application itself (so hopefully you used an actual email address there). If you have NOT received an email from applications@winter-court.com titled "WC5 Application Decision Letter" as the subject, please email that email address and let us know and the GM staff shall check the email inbox to ensure that the application was originally received. UTZ!

The Spiders already got to them.

We, the Winter Court 5 staff have completed our review process. Acceptance letters will be mailed shortly to the respective email addresses submitted by the players. The letter will contain faction and character assignments. UTZ!

In his infinite wisdom, the Emperor has determined to extend the player application deadline for Winter Court 5 by one week. Applications will be due on October 21st at 11:59pm US Eastern time. http://winter-court.com/docs/applications/Player_Application_fillable.pdf