[dragon] Loyalty

[gareth hanrahan]

>>Seriously, we don't have a lot of information to go on,
considering
>>that the Appendix II in WotS appears to be a complete
fabrication,
That's what they *want* you to think.
The following sentence is true.
The previous sentence was false.

>so
>are we going to assume that the ninja are good guys or are they
>bad
>guys?
>
>While this may seem off-topic, it's still something that should
be
>talked about on this server. Least I think so.
>
>Reading over various flavor texts, old stories, and the general
attitude
>of how things are going in lovely Rokugan, I've come to a
conclusion:
>
>Of the Kolat and the Ninja, one is a shadowy group of badguys
trying to
>undo all of Rokugan for their own reasons. The other is a
shadowy group
>of not-so-bad-guys trying to stop the other.
>
>Now, I'm slightly in favor of the Ninja being the lesser of the
two
>baddies. Yes, I may be a little biased, but there's also this:
Shosuro
>has returned, and she recruits Ninja to her cause. Shosuro was
a
>Thunder, and like the First Scorpion, her loyalty was to the
Empire
>above all else. For this simple fact, I'm currently placing my
money on
>the Ninjas, but the reasoning is a tad weak for now.


Firstly, we don't know if it really is Shosuro, as in THE
Shosuro. Even if it is, she faced Fu Leng and would be corr -
ah, so THAT's why Shosuro, alone of the thunders, survived
facing the Dark Lord and returned untainted. She wore the
Obsidian Hand.
Anyway, the Scorpion aren't loyal to the Empire, they're loyal
to their Daimyo. They followed Shoju during the coup. Shosuro
could be trying to bring the Empire down in revenge for the
banishment of the Scorpion clan.

Secondly, the rpg rulebook mentions that the Kolat originated
during the Yasuki/Crane breach. To me, this suggests that
they're dedicated to maintaining the balance in the Empire.
Rokugan hasn't really changed in 1000 years. That's not natural.
I think the Kolat are basically a conspiracy of high-ranking
members of each clan who work together to ensure the Empire
endures, a conspiracy that holds itself above law, bushido, Clan
ties, maybe even the Emperor.

If the Kolat were trying to "undo all of Rokugan", you'd think
they'd have suceeded by now. I mean, they're even better than
the ninja at concealing themselves. They've been around for
centuries, and it's only now that anyone knows about them. Akodo
Kage was the most respected Lion in Rokugan, and he was a Kolat
Master. If you have Way of the Lion, read the last paragraph on
p. 63. It basically says that Kage is honourable, but will do
anything if, in the final analysis, it is good for the Empire.
That's how, IMHO, the Kolat work.

To drag this back to the mountains, if the Kolat are a secretive
organisation who work for the good of the Empire, is it
acceptable to use Kolat cards in a Light Dragon deck? I'm
currently keeping a Kolat Assassin in Kyuden Hitomi...

Gareth
Dragon Clan Illuminatus



>Well, that, and if the Ninja are really bad bad guys, Amadan...
well...
>it won't be happy. And no one wants that!
>
>>|P.S. it is with absolutely no regret that I announce my
emmanent
>>departure from the ranks of the celibate.
>
>Perhaps you could have worded that a -teensy- bit differently?
>
>>Since I will most likely also receive my Masters in Political
>Science
>at that time,  I was wondering if my friends here could
>suggest a new
>role for me.  Afterall, calling myself an un-retired >Phoenix
Bushi just
>doesn't have that ring to it... :)
>
>Are you coming out of retirement into the Dragon, or back to
the
>Phoenix? Either way, Magistrate or Ambassador seems to fit near
>perfectly.
>
>Togashi Amadan
>Dragon Clan Good Bad Good Guy
>
>
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