No, not "until you need them". They work just fine when you do.
It's just a pain to try and keep all range bands between everything on the field up to date at once.
So don't. Only actually "calculate" the bands when someone tries to do something. 

I'm working on putting together a podcast focusing entirely on the Challenge, Focus, Strike! adventure seed format. Episodes would be under 5 minutes each, and I want to amplify voices of lots of different members of the community. If you're interested in contributing (writer or narrator), please visit the (bare-bones) CFS website. We also have a twitter account www.twitter.com/CFSPod
 

https://www.cardboardrepublic.com/articles/dave-of-the-five-rings/dotr-chapter-forty-seven
Wherein I discuss March 2020, the first two packs of the Dominion Cycle, the postponement of the Kotei season, and Skirmish L5R LCG.

https://print-and-play.asmodee.fun/files/aconyte/l5r_curse_of_honor_en.pdf

If Hotaru ordered the murder then yes it would be less legitimate.
It actually would be admissible as it was written by Kachiko in her own hand of her own volition.  Hotaru destroying it would count as obstruction of justice as she is destroying material evidence which aids in the concealment of a crime, and by not immediately turning Kachiko over to authorities (or at the very least notifying them of her crimes) she runs the risk of becoming an accessory after the fact.
Rather then trusting Wikipedia I would look here.
https://www.upcounsel.com/legal-def-confession

Yeah no that doesn't hold water.  Arasou was killed in combat while assaulting a fortified position that Hotaru was defending.  Toturi was reading in his study when Kachiko sent Aramoro and 3 goons to attack and kill him.  Appropriate political violence is provoking a reaction to force an opponent into a no win situation and usually force a duel or for your opponent to back down from a claim, not stab them from behind while they are reading at their desk.
Under a modern legal system Kachiko's voluntarily written confession is very much relevant evidence that the court would be able to consider.  Also there is plenty of physical evidence as Ishikawa found one of Aramoro's poison darts lodged in Toturi's desk and there was no time to clean up the mess that was made of his office during the skirmish (so signs of a struggle and lots of blood on the scene) before Aramoro and his one surviving shinobi fled.  Now in the end Toturi did survive so it would only be attempted murder, but attempted murder is still a murder charge, and in Kachiko's case as the one who ordered it would be likely to get a conspiracy to commit murder which can carry as heavy a charge as murder even if the deed didn't follow through.  And Hotaru gets the accessory after the fact since she willfully destroyed evidence (the voluntarily written confession of Kachiko) thus is actively helping her cover up for her crime.  The right to not self incriminate just means that Kachiko couldn't be compelled to testify in her defense at trial, but doesn't negate her own confession if made willfully outside of a court setting and Hotaru's actions in concealing that evidence would be very relevant.

You've got nothing else in response to a detailed and well thought out response than to mock its introductory paragraph?
There's nothing wrong with first setting out what Enlightenment means in respect to the rest of their answer.
I'd stand in as their champion, if our guest from the Sands wanted to duel you over that insult.

Greetings from the Sands, Evil-Smelling Brother-in-Law of a Camel!
  Introductory remarks: The excerpts comes from the Book of Void (4th) p109-110. As it is 4th edition material, it might not be current.
Before tackling the issues at hands, I will try to answer a question the OP haven't asked but that might be relevant: what is Enlightenment.
"Enlightenment is something no one agrees on, but almost everyone recognizes. Enlightened individuals are clearly and recognizably serene, humble, and compassionate, yet possess an inner strength and stoicism that seems impossible by human standards. An Enlightened soul is wise and insightful, never seems angry or hateful, does not desire anything or cling to anything in the mortal world. Yet Enlightened individuals do not lose their personalities, nor do they “assimilate” into some singular worldview."
Back to the OP questions.
Both have been known to happen.
 
"It is also known that anyone can become Enlightened. Lineage, status, and station are unnecessary. It may not even be required for one to follow Shinsei’s teachings – Shinsei himself did not have the benefit of his own teachings, after all!"
In 4th lore a nezumi has reached Enlighenment, and a Hinin girl has been chosen to become Oracle of Fire.
 
"Those who have awakened have purified themselves of all earthly desires, banished all delusions, and thereby shattered the cycle of reincarnation and worldly suffering."
That's about it, where they go afterward ii is not said.
 
There is no conclusive lore about it, you will have to decide what apply to your game.
 
Shinsei was unique because he (allegedly) was the first Human to achieve it. Other have been known to follow in its step, including some Grand Master of the Elements, but there are a precious few.
 
I cannot remember an instance of a "fallen enlightened", the closer thing we have is "enlightened madness".
From The Great Clan (4th) p96
"Enlightened Madness is the Dragon Clan’s term for what happens when an individual finds enlightenment but is unable to accept or endure the burden of clarity and truth which it places on the mind and spirit."
"It may be noted, in passing, that Enlightened Madness is not the same thing as normal insanity [...] Rather, Enlightened Madness is a specific response to the unique burdens of the enlightened state. Those who become enlightened attain great spiritual insight, but if they have any imbalances in their soul or body, these can sometimes become magnifi ed to the point of danger"
"Why this afflicts some and not others is not well known—plenty of flawed individuals have attained enlightenment without ill effects"
"Regardless, those who succumb to Enlightened Madness generally live brief and tragic lives, as these poor souls kill themselves or are killed by others during spasms of mad and destructive behavior, spurred by their minds’ inability to fully handle their potent new vision of the world."
"Their heightened perceptions and unbalanced minds may cause them to succumb to the whispered voices of kansen, embracing the Taint and its powers. All of these things and more have befallen those whose minds snapped under the impact of enlightenment."
 
Since Shinsei himself gathered the Seven Thunders to kick Fu-Leng ***, I would suppose some voilence is acceptable.
However, enlightened are said to be serene and compassionate, so I would possit that for enlightened violence isn't the preferred mode of action.

My, no need to get agitated here.
@robothedino  Thank you for your list of realistic religious disagreements. They sound like nice starting points for side adventures with a more philosophically inclined group.
And thank you, @Lord of the Seal, for one possible set of answers to those questions. They provide nice possible positions with their explanations thst e.g. an in-game authority like a priest or daimyo might take.
I found both posts useful.
 

Dear OP,
For once I will not be using my semi-humorous introduction from Pratchett.
You did ask several questions abour enlightenment.
Since enlightenment there is no empirical evidence of enlightenment in Real World, I tried to clarify the debate by using a quote from the rulebook to provide us with a common starting point for the debate.
It goes without saying that, had you made a query on rain or gravity I would not have bothered since I assume we all are well acquaintaned with the concept.
That been said, in my answer I merely tried to:
1. Provide a Recap: I happen to have a large collection of L5R book/pdf and I assume everyone doesn't bother to buy obscure book from previous edition especially new players. I just try to share.
2. Give you my point of view, which you can obviously disregard.
 
In the end I would like to point out that:
1. This is a public forum. You might not be interested, but it is not all about YOU. The questions were interesting, and might make a good starting point for an adventure. I just try to provide the community, especially the newer player, with a bit of lore.
2. If you do not agree with my views, stay calm, it isn't a problem. You and your group will play the game as you want to play it. No one will care. Neither FFG, nor I, will send a squad of inquisitors into your house to tell you how to play it. As long as your gaming group have fun, well kudos ! That's the point !
3. I have a nasty feeling this thread will end up like your previous Crab/Hiruma thread. Please keep in mind in mind that for most of us it a game, we are doing for leisure, to have fun.
Have a good game, and remember, have fun.

Glad you found these stimulating, verbage aside. My usual policy when working with historical (or historically-based) settings is to maintain the vocabulary of the times; to do otherwise, to me, risks whitewashing the real horrors of these times and places. (There's a much bigger conversation one could have about the ethics of the samurai genre as a whole, inasmuch as it romanticizes a fascistic caste-based kleptocracy, but that's for another time and place). All that said, since this is indeed an out-of-character document, your point is taken, and the offending vocabulary has been amended. Cheers!

It’s because you are no longer a new member. That happened to me back in January, I started replying to threads and noticing that no one would address me, then I saw that all my posts and threads would be invisible until a moderator gave the ok and removed me from supervision. It took over a week because after 3 days I realized I needed to badger moderators.

Just realized the OP posted in February 12 and he was just removed from moderator purgatory today. FFG needs to find a better solution to this. I had do keep badgering moderators for a week to finally have it cleared up for me.
Unless, of course, their plan is to get only stubborn, relentless people joining.

Yeah, saying that Toshimoko attempted murder against Hotaru is silly. You could argue that sparring drunk is idiotic and I totally agree but if indeed Toshimoko killed her, it would have been an accident. He never intended to kill her, he intended to bring a reaction from her and show that if he wanted to, he could definitely kill her. I mean, by modern society standards that’s really dangerous but I can totally see certain samurai teaching lessons to others like this. Anyway, everyone is entitled to their opinion, my opinion is that the only way Hotaru and Kachiko get BOTH alive out of this is by them becoming ronin and fleeing to a really far away place and even then, that’s iffy.
As others have said, her not telling Shoju about what happened puts her in the conspiracy.

No because at the time she is the acting authority on the matter and she isn't letting the murder go free since as per the adventure the culprit should have been either caught, and she is "investigating" the mastermind who should have been behind them.

I want to repeat since you keep glossing over it Kachiko has confessed to MURDERING THE EMERALD CHAMPION.  Even if Hotaru has reason to believe Toturi survived (which lets be honest she probably shouldn't) just the fact that Kachiko has acted in open rebellion of Imperial authority is enough to condemn her, and Hotaru going along with it and by burning her confession and not bringing the information she is now aware of to Shoju is what nets her a place in the conspiracy (which even in modern times would be the case as aiding someone to cover up a murder after the fact makes you an accessory to the crime and potentially subject to the same punishment as the murderer)

While I can appreciate the Crane view on why their "occupation" of Toshi Ranbo is for the betterment of the Empire, this is the section that I have to strongly disagree with.  While everything Kachiko had done up to a point in "covering" up the murder of the Emperor by Sotorii was the right call in the circumstances I agree, and while "attempted" murder by way of duels is common in the empire that is a far cry from what occurred with Toturi.  She was well aware that Sotorii had been passed up as heir in favor of his brother (after all Sotorii had just told her that himself) so her duty at that point should have been to make the body presentable and then have the Edict read the next day and allow Sotorii to "retire" to a monastary as his intended.  But since Toturi, to the best of her knowledge at the time, was the only other person aware of that fact she made the calculation instead to place a pliable Prince on the throne.  Since she didn't tell even Satoshi why Sotorii had murdered his father just that he had been the one to do it in a fit of rage.  Her calculation was, in her own words, to ensure that the Sotorii would ascend to the throne and be in the Scorpions debt and to achieve that goal a lose end (Toturi) needed to be cleaned up.  
Kachiko has admitted to being in defiance of the Imperial Edict banning shinobi (even if all the clans do the same, the key is that they maintain plausible deniability between their leadership and the agents) when she ordered Aramoro to assassinate Toturi which alone should be enough to **** her, but even worse she was ordering the murder of the EMERALD CHAMPION for purely political gains. 
As a Clan Champion it is very much Hotaru's duty to enforce Imperial Law in this regard as Kachiko has committed treason against the crown by ordering the assassination of the Emperor's personal champion and chief magistrate of the Empire for her clans own personal gain (note that there was nothing in the need to murder Toturi that was for the better of the Empire and it was wholly so that Kachiko could place Sotorii on the throne as her puppet since she knew the entire reason he killed his father was that he had been passed over), and we have to assume has admitted that she failed to notify Shoju of those actions since she was telling Hotaru EVERYTHING she had done. 
Even if Hotaru weren't to publicly proclaim those actions, at the very least she should have been notifying Shoju as both Kachiko's Clan Champion, husband and Regent to the Throne of the high treason that his wife has committed so that he can make the proper judgement on how to proceed (in the best case her just being ordered to commit seppuku and the most likely answer to that being a short trip for Kachiko to so some tree viewing).  Instead she has decided that it is better not to share that tidbit and in making that decision has now made herself part of Kachiko's conspiracy and a traitor to the Empire.

For the love of...
CUSTOM DICE ARE NOT A MONEY GRAB!
I've been hearing that same line of baloney since the Edge of the Empire Beta.  If you don't like the dice, I totally get that.  They're weird and they're an extra expense, and they have all kinds of crazy results.  But they're not raking in the cash on these things.  Each group is going to buy a few sets, and that's going to be about it.  They cost about double what a normal set of polyhedral dice cost, and you get about twice as many dice, and it's not your standard set.  They have to be very careful about over- or under-producing, and every step of their production costs money.  Are they pulling a profit on them? I sure hope so, but it ain't a big one.
Now then, as to the tired old argument of continuing with the same system as 4e: It's a terrible idea.  The d10 R+K system was finished.  It wasn't bad, and it wasn't dead, but it was basically complete.  I played a bit of 3e, and it was pretty good.  My general understanding is that 1e was new and interesting, but pretty wonky, 2e was a terrible misstep trying to fix 1e, 3e was finally in the right direction, and 4e was basically as good as it's going to get.  They released numerous sourcebooks, covering almost every aspect of the Emerald Empire, with options for following the card game's metaplot or ignoring it as you will.  That's fantastic.  Wrap it up, put a bow on it, it's done.
Buying an IP just to try and reproduce the same thing would be stupid.  You have to try something new.  Even if you blow it, you tried to innovate.  5e has a lot of issues, but it also has a lot of people enjoying it, and this is their first try.  Don't forget, AEG needed four tries to really nail it.
If you don't like 5e, we get it.  You're welcome to hit the forums for story ideas and discussions, so long as you're not snotty about it.  Just remember that trying something new is NOT disrespectful to what came before.  FFG clearly has more respect for L5R than the people who threw it away to make Space Base and Tiny Towns.

Having played all previous editions, using custom dice was really the way to go for dynamic rolling. It's the better solution in comparison to rolling separate numerical dice for strife, success, or opportunity. Anyone ever play 1st edition Alternity? Yikes. I question the authenticity of anyone who really thinks new dice = money grabbing. I don't miss raises, free raises, and static bonuses which complicated even simple checks. Roll and keep is a signature of L5R and 5e does it so much better. Sure, sometimes I want opportunity to mean more to a roll, and sometimes I just want to resolve something quickly, but at least it's there for those pivotal moments. Back to topic, I hope whatever changes occur continue to be for the better, and maybe come with an errata to update all the books that were released.

"Kata can be used in duels and skirmishes, and in other types  of conflicts as common sense and the GM's discretion dictate."  If your GM allowed it to be used while identifying a bow, that is their discretion, but I wouldn't allow it.  Just like I wouldn't allow somebody to use Crashing Wave Style to make someone resist Bleeding while they were identifying a sword.

I don't think FFG is all that interested in having a revolving door of BBE's (Big Bad Evil). I don't know this for SURE, but I've seen nothing at all to suggest they intend to do that--and that's good, because that was one way in which the AEG setting didn't work all that well for me, either. I think we were going to try to wind that down and concentrate more on human drama--that was my preference, as Brand Lead--but then AEG sold the game, so whatever might have come with L5R in the old setting will just remain "the path not taken".

My point is that we should avoid having big cataclysmic events every 10-20 years where theoretically, lots of people died and plenty of lands got devastated just so we can have a new big conflict involving some of the former leadership and introducing the new generation so eventually they can take over to keep selling cards.
This, for me, was the most annoying part of the old timeline. Fu Leng returns and it almost brought the Empire down. 5 years later now it’s the Lying Darkness and it is worse than Fu Leng. Now we have overpopulation because dead people came back and it’s a multi- generational fight like you’ve never seen between revived spirits and the ones living presently, and then 30 years later we technically have a Third Day of Thunder with the new Champion of Jigoku, Kali-ma.
All these events happening in a 40 years interval. I mean, can we bring down to the “Thousand Years of Peace” where the clans only engaged in *cough* border skirmishes? We can have enough engaging stories without the need of having the Empire almost destroyed every decade.
You can create engaging stories AND keep selling cards (and books) without all this “bigger badder eviller villain” than before happening over and over.

I would disagree that that's obvious. You might recall their previous behaviour, but doing so is irrelevant if you don't notice the difference: 'spotting stuff' by non-supernatural means is either analyse or survey, depending on how wide or specific you are casting  your gaze.
Earth checks might be useful, but not if you can't pass the survey (Or have a high enough vigilance to have them fail) in the first place 

Hihi, this sounds like a bait for Avatar... (This might not mean anything to you, but it will.)
1. Because there are way less Hit Points equivalent than in other systems, many techniques may come across as OP for a DM new to L5R. A combat where one opponent doesn't even get to act is not all that uncommon. Give it time, that is often not problematic. The Eastern setting lives from the one-strike-kill suspense.
That being said, e.g. a Hida Defender in heavy armor and Earth stance may come across as invulnerable to a new GM.
2. Water Stance especially needs a firm grasp of the rules, as you have two actions that cannot have the same keywords (Attack, Scheme, Movement, Support), and since quite some actions have multiple keywords, this can lead to "you cannot do Y, you did X already" "But I wanted to do Y, can we undo X?" The other three stances are relatively easier to play correctly. Also keep in mind the rules for spiritual backlash, otherwise your shugenja may seem incredible powerful.
Also, avoid pitting a group of PC against a single enemy, whether in skirmish or intrigue, at least at first. The side with more actons has an unfair advantage.
3. I agree that Mass Combat has design flaws that leads me to avoid it. I think skirmish and duels are sound, as are intigues if you avoid a many-vs-one scenario.
4. New players have sometimes troubles dealing with playing an honorable character, feeling either restricted like a D&D 3rd Ed paladin or alternatively trying to rationalize any despicable action as super-honorable.
Some players are confused that you literally cannot buy things and thus need no loot. But that is a feature, not a bug, it shows you that you entered a very different world.
Players tend to be confused what the school tables mean: They do NOT tell you which techniques you can learn, they tell you which ones are counted 100% towards progressions (and which ones you can learn early).
5. I have a few house-rules, but none I would consider mandatory.

... and here I thought I was supposed to create an interesting story for my friends to enjoy.
So that's what I've been doing wrong all these decades! I was just supposed to pose a challenging conflict.
... which could be done with any old boardgame, really.

We get it.  Please stop derailing every thread by endlessly repeating the same things over and over.  I would like to use these forums to get information to build a better campaign involving ronin and the outskirts of the Emerald Empire, but all I am getting is yet another thread about how a few people do not like certain aspects of the conflict and gear systems.  Is there anything I can do to get my questions answered without having to listen to a rehash of the same points that have been on every thread for the last year?