Timeline for 5th Edition

[sgawrit 7]

I wasn't able to participate in the Beta for 5th edition, but I was curious if there was any official statement regarding the timeline of this edition in regards to previous editions? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[llamaman88 430]

It's a rebooted/modified timeline set in what old fans would recognize as pre Scorpion Clan Coup.

[sgawrit 7]

Do you have any recommendations regarding some of the more narrative-based books which would still be applicable? A long time ago, I read the novels (I think they were named after the clans), and I did read the lastest Novella to try to get a sense of who's doing what. Thank you so much!

[Coyote Walks 641]

The Year is 1123.

The name of the Place is Otosan Uchi!

(queue Babylon 5 music)

[Tonbo Karasu 2,606]

15 minutes ago, sgawrit said:

Do you have any recommendations regarding some of the more narrative-based books which would still be applicable? A long time ago, I read the novels (I think they were named after the clans), and I did read the lastest Novella to try to get a sense of who's doing what. Thank you so much!

There is only the new novella as a narrative book.  However, there are a whole bunch of short fictions that have been released either with cards or online.  They are very useful for this.  @Manchu keeps a listing of it all in the L5R LCG Lore sub-forum: 

 

[sgawrit 7]

Great! Thank you very much!

Maybe there is a thread already for this, but is there a listing of all the major NPCs by Clan who are referenced?

Edited August 31, 2018 by sgawrit

[Hida Jitenno 586]

14 minutes ago, sgawrit said:

Great! Thank you very much!

Maybe there is a thread already for this, but is there a listing of all the major NPCs by Clan who are referenced?

First link in the post that Tonbo-san just shared.

 

[sgawrit 7]

That is incredible! Thank you for pointing that out.

[Tonbo Karasu 2,606]

1 minute ago, sgawrit said:

That is incredible! Thank you for pointing that out.

Thank you for the compliment.  We do try our best.

[Ni Fang 265]

Let me see if I can get this right, 4th edition was post Four Winds Saga {1158-1160} with hte game timeline set at 1161, so this new editikon {IE what many are calling 5th edition L5R} will put it back about 35+ years from this point ? {I love the time period of Four Winds Saga, so much turmoil and strife happening!}

[Mirith 1,304]

13 hours ago, Ni Fang said:

Let me see if I can get this right, 4th edition was post Four Winds Saga {1158-1160} with hte game timeline set at 1161, so this new editikon {IE what many are calling 5th edition L5R} will put it back about 35+ years from this point ? {I love the time period of Four Winds Saga, so much turmoil and strife happening!}

It is before the opening events of the original CCG, technically.  Far before (Narratively at least) the 2nd Day of thunder, and as referenced above, before the Scorpion Clan Coup.  Hantei the 38th is currently on the throne (He was the one killed by Shoju during the Coup), but is in poor health.

[Hida Jitenno 586]

9 minutes ago, Mirith said:

It is before the opening events of the original CCG, technically.  Far before (Narratively at least) the 2nd Day of thunder, and as referenced above, before the Scorpion Clan Coup.  Hantei the 38th is currently on the throne (He was the one killed by Shoju during the Coup), but is in poor health.

Do we know in which month A Tiger Stalks His Prey happened? We're in 1123, which is the same year as the Coup in the prior storyline. Then, it was the seventh month, Rooster. I know some fictions have given us months, but I didn't see one on either TSHP or AST.

[llamaman88 430]

One of the writers confirmed we're past the old timeline's coup on the discord channel a few days ago.

[Hida Jitenno 586]

Super!

In the old story, I was pro-Pincer Alliance, but I'm really excited to see where the new story goes. I feel like I did when I was watching Captain America: Winter Soldier for the first time. They took the story in such a different direction than the comics did, and I loved that I stopped knowing what all to expect.

I feel the same excitement about this.

[Nheko 205]

The hype is real!!! ?

[llamaman88 430]

I think the story will have beats that are a nod to the old time line, like Shoju being regent. Briefly in charge of the Empire. Maybe it will again be Kisada who drags him down. But it won't be a coup where they slaughter the Hantei line. It excites me too, Winter Soldier is a perfect example of how good it can be to see the same characters and story told in a very different way.

[Magnus Grendel 11,672]

10 hours ago, llamaman88 said:

But it won't be a coup where they slaughter the Hantei line. It excites me too, Winter Soldier is a perfect example of how good it can be to see the same characters and story told in a very different way.

Indeed. I can see a civil war potentially brewing regardless, but exactly what happens we'll have to see. There are a lot of new elements (like the perfect land sect) as well as stuff we recognise. And a lot of civil war level tensions bubbling to a head

• Hantei is cutting Sotorii out of the succession in favour of Daisetsu as he abdicates.
  • Fine, he's the Emperor, son of heaven and fulcrum about which the whole darn celestial order turns. So he can do that, right?
  • He's Emperor, hence his judgement is beyond question, so if he takes it upon himself to modify the order of things, he must be right to do so. Which makes Daisetsu the rightful heir.
  • Except.....if at the same time he's abdicating, because he's worried his judgment is becoming or has become compromised....then shouldn't the established precedence of the celestial order hold... Which makes Sotorii the rightful heir.
• The Crane Clan has the potential to implode soon-ish
  • Hotaru versus Kuwanan - not necessarily a knives-out civil war, but one is convinced that their father was murdered and there was a cover-up and the other...doesn't exactly care but sees a lot of problems higher on the list to deal with
  • Kunawan has been captured and released by the Lion Clan and seems to be heading off with the mindset of "And Now I'm Going To Find Out Exactly How The Scorpion Clan Did It"
  • Hotaru has meanwhile accepted the Imperial Magistrate's findings of natural causes, and - being extremely close to Kachiko - will not take kindly to accusations that she was responsible.
  • To make matters worse, Doji Satsume was murdered, and there was a cover-up but for once it wasn't a Scorpion conspiracy.
  • What do you think the odds are that Kunawan will find evidence proving the former but not the latter?

[TheHobgoblyn 352]

A Daitsetsu vs. Sotori civil war?

So... do you want to serve the Dark God or the servant of that same Dark God who is actually way more dangerous than that Dark God because he has invulnerable plot armor being the key central figure to an entire game faction that cannot exist without him?

[Tonbo Karasu 2,606]

57 minutes ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

A Daitsetsu vs. Sotori civil war?

So... do you want to serve the Dark God or the servant of that same Dark God who is actually way more dangerous than that Dark God because he has invulnerable plot armor being the key central figure to an entire game faction that cannot exist without him?

Alternatively, make Daisetsu emperor to prevent the Spider from existing.

[Ni Fang 265]

So we dont need to worry of the Four Winds saga ? Or did the Scorpion Coup already occur as stated in this thread ?

[TheHobgoblyn 352]

18 minutes ago, Ni Fang said:

So we dont need to worry of the Four Winds saga ? Or did the Scorpion Coup already occur as stated in this thread ?

 

Neither event occurs in this timeline. And there is no guarantee that events that were retconned (maybe a harsher word than intended) into the past of the setting after the setting timeline started aren't things that necessarily took place.

But the Scorpion never did their coup in this timeline, or... in the very least they are taking their sweet time with it compared to the previous continuity.

And the Four Winds saga? Yeah, if the Scorpion Clan Coup doesn't happen, that is like certainly never going to happen. That was when the guy who took the throne after the Scorpion Clan coup got lost for the second time and left behind 4 children to fight for his throne without any of them being named heir.

So that's most definitely something you need not worry about. That is like 4-5 story arcs after the event that didn't even take place in the new timeline.

 

The game basically got reset to the most status-quo condition, right before things went to **** in the previous timeline, and instead it has been much smaller and narrower impact things that have been introduced as the disruptions to the status quo rather than a big "throw the whole empire into chaos and war" event as they kicked off with in the previous timeline.

Basically all of the previous continuity can be COMPLETELY ignored... but, as this is an RPG, you are also free to include any pieces you really liked.

[llamaman88 430]

It's a reimagining of the 1st edition setting. If that helps. An alternate timeline. There are changes to the setting, both minor and major. You do not need to know anything about the old game to enjoy the new one, but if you do know about the old clan wars it adds to the excitement. 

If there are is a four winds saga it is a long ways away. 

[Magnus Grendel 11,672]

9 hours ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

Neither event occurs in this timeline. And there is no guarantee that events that were retconned (maybe a harsher word than intended) into the past of the setting after the setting timeline started aren't things that necessarily took place.

But the Scorpion never did their coup in this timeline, or... in the very least they are taking their sweet time with it compared to the previous continuity

Indeed. I think FFG are trying to avoid any 'destroy a faction' level decisions. The closest we've had so far was the story decision for the Emperor to ban Meishodo or not (which would presumably have impacted the Unicorn's ability to use the Meishodo Wielder card in the core set somehow), and to kill or not a character who's significant (Hotaru's brother) but not actually in the LCG as a card.

Splitting the imperial succession lets you create a serious amount of tension up to and including actual war without either side necessarily going "and now darkness will engulf the world! Muahahahaha......" - if both have a defensible claim to the throne it justifies even splits within a clan over the subject without either side necessarily being 'the bad guys'.

Of course, you might well see the scorpion being accused of a coup. In recent times, they have:

• 'Murdered the Emerald Champion' - according to some of the Doji's private suspicions, anyway
• Tried to 'steal' the Emerald Championship with their own replacement - first by trying to talk the Emperor into forgoing the championship, then by trying to cheat in the tournament itself
• Talked the Emperor into handing the most important city in the empire outside Otosan Uchi to them, to administer 'on behalf of the empire'
• Talked the Emperor into  cutting the legal heir out of the succession, seceding with immediate effect and making the Scorpion Clan champion Regent.

If everything had gone to plan (from the perspective of an outsider), the Scorpions would have control Toshi Ranbo and the Regency and the Emerald Championate (hence the magistrature and army), and the Imperial Advisory, with the Emperor being an impressionable youth, access to whom was controlled by Bayushi Shoju and whose decisions (when allowed to make them) would be influenced by Bayushi Kachiko. The only other clan member of significance would be Kakita Yoshi, as chancellor, and he's not done too well against Kachiko even with the current Emperor.

At that point, who would actually need a coup? Just nail a scorpion mon to the doors of the palace and tell the other clans to bugger off home....

 

9 hours ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

Alternatively, make Daisetsu emperor to prevent the Spider from existing.

The presence of a spider clan mon avatar for the forums - see @sndwurks account - implies FFG plan to do something with that badge at some point, but I imagine it might just become a generic label for the shadowland forces, or specifically the lost, rather than necessarily them getting recognised as an imperially sanctioned clan, which was just a bit odd.

Edited October 10, 2018 by Magnus Grendel

[ExplodingJoe 131]

The hardest part of writing L5R plots, for me, has always been that the price of frivolous war is the end of the entire empire, so I appreciate things being more subtle.

Really though, if Hotaru and Toturi don't bury the hatchet, the Scorpion control the empire. No coup necessary. I want to speculate that the RPG's lack of a definitive "bushi" flavored school means the Scorpion won't take to open combat on the field, but will only trade blows in court. They live in a swamp surrounded by mountains... who's really going to invade that?

Edited October 10, 2018 by ExplodingJoe

[sndwurks 1,257]

5 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

The presence of a spider clan mon avatar for the forums - see @sndwurks account - implies FFG plan to do something with that badge at some point, but I imagine it might just become a generic label for the shadowland forces, or specifically the lost, rather than necessarily them getting recognised as an imperially sanctioned clan, which was just a bit odd.

With the current storyline, and the way of the game at the end of the last? If FFG does anything with the Spider Clan (and does not just consign it to the dustbin of Edition Change), it will be likely a renegade Imperial faction led by Hantei Daisetsu of infiltrators and dissidents looking to modernize Rokugan by any means necessary, which will be formally split from the Shadowlands Horde. Neither the old Horde players nor the more modern Spider Clan players saw the faction as a unified front, and many of us were pushing for a more formal split... provided that this split did not mean making the non-Shadowlands Spider Clan suddenly "good guys".