The Day of Thunder

[Anjing]

Thank you as always to everyone who helped make so many of Anjing's scenes enjoyable. I really appreciated it, especially the chance to RP with such a diverse group of characters. And of course, special thanks to Tyrus for running those combats! There was a lot on and I think they worked really well, maps are always a plus.

It's always an interesting challenge to play a character who has become significantly older (and maybe wiser) off-screen. Lots of questions to ponder regarding how their personality, their world view and even their vocabulary might have changed. Imagining Anjing as an auntie was really quite fun and there were plenty of opportunities to doll out advice and sage counsel, at least as she sees it. The younger generation are a bit odd, but they've got what it takes to carry the empire forward.

Of course, like any good auntie, Anjing was also capable of whacking a problem over the head until it was no longer a problem. So I very much appreciated the chance to participate in the Graveyard and Harbinger fights. Great job to everyone there and solid coordination, the system just worked.

Anjing's actions going forward will probably depend a bit on how the empire shakes out after all of this, and what the Crab's place in it looks like. Seidou veterans are on their disaster in living memory, after all.

Questions, comments and feedback are all welcome

[Hiruma Naraku]

Loved Anjing, absolutely loved her.

Any thoughts about your sociopath Hiruma?

[Otomo Akutou]

Is there anything you would have liked to have done with the character that you didn't get to do?

[Nanzi Ai]

Murder Grandma was always a fave.

[Doji Hikaru]

Oh, Anjing. Thank you for some great scenes and some great advice! Not to pat us on the back too much, but I think we got some great stuff!

Can you chart for us the path that brought us from Dawn 1 Anjing to Dawn 4 Anjing?

[Saru Ranmaru]

It must have been fun to change a character so drastically via so much time.

Besides the obvious choice in Hida, who was her favorite Kami of them all? Could she have ever followed another?

[Anjing]

Loved Anjing, absolutely loved her.

Any thoughts about your sociopath Hiruma?

Haha, well he turned out to be a good boy in the end. Also maybe part snake? She doesn't know about that, but snakes eat pests and so are welcome anytime. And of course Naraku was part of the gang that directly saved the world, which gets further brownie points What do you see in Naraku's future with regard to the Crab?

Is there anything you would have liked to have done with the character that you didn't get to do?

Hmmm, good question! Surprisingly, probably not, she got to check in on her family, offer some advice, beat some people up and even talk to Shiba. Good results there. What about on Akutou's end?

Murder Grandma was always a fave.

And she's glad cousin Ai was only mostly dead! Any future plans for Ai/Naraku? Marriage or just very close?

Oh, Anjing. Thank you for some great scenes and some great advice! Not to pat us on the back too much, but I think we got some great stuff!

Can you chart for us the path that brought us from Dawn 1 Anjing to Dawn 4 Anjing?

Hikaru is sort of the nega-Anjing as a young idealistic and honourable man with excellent manners and a good appreciation for fine culture. Very fun to bounce off him indeed both for serious and not so serious scene!

I think Dawn 1 Anjing she's young and determined, but that determination is masking a deep worry. Her people are in danger and she needs to do something to save them. The Kami are that something and Hida's strength was the promise of a better tomorrow. So she ended that game more confident, things were going to turn around.

Dawn 2 was obviously a different story, just like those Crab players had put points into all the Crab projects, Anjing had been pouring her heart and soul into getting the tribe together and strong enough to start pushing back at their enemies. But then obviously the Clan got absolutely blown up and forcibly relocated several thousand miles north. That's when she's at her lowest. All that time and effort invested in blown up out of nowhere and if anything her people are now in worse shape, exiled to some barren land they've never seen to garrison the largest mountain range in the world.

Dawn 3 is over the second rebuild. Other clans send help and the Crab start adapting, learning what grows in those lands and what they can hunt. It's hard but Anjing is absolutely desperate for it not to end like this. Slowly but surely they find their footing but there's tremendous bitterness within the Clan and within Anjing. A sense of betrayal at Shiba and also the whole empire, the majority of whom supported the Long March. She's working long nights, no sleep for years, her relationship with Hida is strained and the future is uncertain again.

Dawn 4 and the Crab are now mostly secure. They're still doing it hard but they aren't starving to death, and they are recruiting plenty of hardy mountain folk. Anjing's bitterness is quieter now, not a driver of her actions but a passenger who sits quietly beside her. Now she has a chance to think to the future. Will her kids be alright? What about the greater Clan? Can Hida ever get his groove back? There are lots of questions. But even though the Village itself was pretty cursed, the warriors she met there were by and large good people. The end of the world is in a week, maybe it's time to move on? She connects with few old frenemies, sees her extended family doing well, meets strangers from distant lands and watches her fellow Crab perform valiantly. Maybe, just maybe, it will be alright.

[Otomo Akutou]

Is there anything you would have liked to have done with the character that you didn't get to do?

Hmmm, good question! Surprisingly, probably not, she got to check in on her family, offer some advice, beat some people up and even talk to Shiba. Good results there. What about on Akutou's end?

*laughs uproariously*

[Canary]

Hey, I know things were tense for a bit, but thank you for coming back. Anjing was a ball this game. I loved reading her scenes (when I had time between losing my damn mind).

[Anjing]

It must have been fun to change a character so drastically via so much time.

Besides the obvious choice in Hida, who was her favorite Kami of them all? Could she have ever followed another?

Oooh, another interesting question. She was mainly looking for someone to protect her people so anyone capable of that. Not sure she would have got on with Akodo but she liked Bayushi, he seemed to not take himself too seriously. Bayushi would probably be the number two, Shinjo in third?

Hey, I know things were tense for a bit, but thank you for coming back. Anjing was a ball this game. I loved reading her scenes (when I had time between losing my damn mind).

Glad to finish the chapter and be here for the finale I know there was an awful lot of stuff on, and I appreciate you making some time for Anjing!

[Jiyo Sora]

FORM QUESTIONS INBOUND!


1. Biggest curveball Anjing threw you?
2. Biggest curveball the game threw you?
3. Favorite moment?
4. Biggest missed opportunity?
5. Any secrets Anjing has that never came up?


Less-formy:

1. Did you have as much fun with their... reconciliation seems a bit strong, but nothing else really sounds better... thread as I did?

[Akodo Kenji]

Anjing was great fun to play alongside. She had a lot of "I've raised a lot of troublesome kids" energy.

I really enjoyed our threads and Kenji really did want to fight negashinsay with her.

[Togashi Satsuki]

Happy to see Auntie Anjing show up for the end of the world! Satsuki was glad to see her here, especially since it gave us some time to fill in what the neighbourhood in the north has been like since the Crab moved up there. Really enjoyed establishing that the families of Togashi and Hida have been much closer with eachother in the later years because of that, with the Dragon helping the Crab out here and there.

Seeing two of her nieces finding love, has that spurred on any ideas of seeing her own kids getting married soon? xD

[Anjing]

FORM QUESTIONS INBOUND!


1. Biggest curveball Anjing threw you?
2. Biggest curveball the game threw you?
3. Favorite moment?
4. Biggest missed opportunity?
5. Any secrets Anjing has that never came up?


Less-formy:

1. Did you have as much fun with their... reconciliation seems a bit strong, but nothing else really sounds better... thread as I did?

Biggest curveball would definitely be how to channel her previous fire and love for smashing things into an older self who has lots of responsibilities. Trying to show she had matured a bit but was still her same old self was a challenge!

Biggest curveball from the game might be how she winds up leaving? If not happy then at least satisfied.

Favourite moments are hard, I had some really fun threads. But probably my lizard brain says it was throwing down with the Harbinger in a no-holds barred brawl.

Biggest missed opportunity might be there were still a few folks I’d have loved the chance to meet. Ah well, busy game!

Hmmm. Nothing super secret about Anjing, she’s isn’t much one for subtlety? Only one I can think of is that she’s a pretty direct problem solver. Family and friends get the love, but if you’re putting them in danger she’ll resolve it with her club and sleep like a baby (or as well as you can sleep in haunted dream village)

I really enjoyed her and Sora finally burying the hatchet at the end of the day they’ve been taken in radically different directions. But I always got the feel that deep down they were motivated by the same things. Memories of the hard times before and a drive to protect what was important however they could. So to have them finally go “we’re old and frankly, not really even opposed”’was great fun

[Anjing]

Anjing was great fun to play alongside. She had a lot of "I've raised a lot of troublesome kids" energy.

I really enjoyed our threads and Kenji really did want to fight negashinsay with her.

Some troublesome kids with god blood and her own stubbornness!

The threads were excellent and negaShinsei would not have been prepared for the smack down.

[Anjing]

Happy to see Auntie Anjing show up for the end of the world! Satsuki was glad to see her here, especially since it gave us some time to fill in what the neighbourhood in the north has been like since the Crab moved up there. Really enjoyed establishing that the families of Togashi and Hida have been much closer with eachother in the later years because of that, with the Dragon helping the Crab out here and there.

Seeing two of her nieces finding love, has that spurred on any ideas of seeing her own kids getting married soon? xD

A fun opportunity to build out those dynamics a bit and think on what would have been going down!

Now that everybody is getting married for love and the Crab’s future seems secure (thank you Shiba) Anjing might relax enough to let her kids follow their hearts. She’ll still be vetting any matches though. They have to be at least equal to Hikaru quality.

[Makime]

I enjoyed our interactions quite a bit. Anjing felt like the more human and empathetic when they were working together. A good counter balance to Makime's often cold logic and gruff manner.

She really was the motherly figure of the daimyo council. The mother that would kick your ass for stepping out of line, but in a friendly way.

[Jiyo Sora]

But I always got the feel that deep down they were motivated by the same things. Memories of the hard times before and a drive to protect what was important however they could. So to have them finally go “we’re old and frankly, not really even opposed”’was great fun

I admit to enjoying it mightily.

[Anjing]

I enjoyed our interactions quite a bit. Anjing felt like the more human and empathetic when they were working together. A good counter balance to Makime's often cold logic and gruff manner.

She really was the motherly figure of the daimyo council. The mother that would kick your ass for stepping out of line, but in a friendly way.

Like Fire and Water you might say. Makes a lot of sense giving their approaches. Anjing holds a lot of respect for Makime as someone who gets things done not for personal glory but because they simply need to be. Radically different approaches, but you’re not going to make good decisions only listening to people with the same world view.

The Council of Aunties was a lot of fun with everybodys’ different approach. But there was strength in unity and Anjing liked them all.