The Day of Thunder

[Jiyo Sora]

Game hasn't even started yet, but here we are!

I am...a very terrible lyricist but here we go:

I am the very model of a Makime Family Daimyo
With my skills at battle, I could best any other stratego.
I know all the philosophies of the noble Lord Akodo
From Jin to Makoto, every single word of this Bushido.

I'm very well versed with every ploy strategic and tactical,
But most especially love to discuss all things logistical!
I know all varied formations both the standard and oblique.
And able to pull victories from battles even the most bleak!

And able to pull victories from battles even the most bleak!
And able to pull victories from battles even the most bleak!
And able to pull victories from battles even the most bleaaaaak!

I know the courtly arts of both divas, Doji and Yuzuru.
Even if I think those two don't really even have a clue.
The rules of social life I find it only partly bearable,
And against those of battle they are mostly incomparable.

That's why often my choice is to the battlefield I prefer go,
I am the very model of a Makime Family Daimyo

Weaving and dyeing, I possess a little bit of mastery.
Which both my parents found really quite unsatisfactory.
Even in matters commerce, my own daughter is much better at.
I know only what is done by our new army commissariat

I've really had to become read in matters most nautical
After Lord Akodo's jaunty little mermaid sabbatical
While I curb my growing desire to do some grotesque violence
Over that damn braggart Ikoma's hatred of any silence
Over that damn braggart Ikoma's hatred of any silence
Over that damn braggart Ikoma's hatred of any sileeence

Then I can write a book on the important art of Leadership.
Though frankly it is very hard to tell who is the readership.
But as a writing it was almost certainly why you may know
I am the very model of a Makime Family Daimyo

In fact that I know every single column by their files and ranks,
When I can tell at sight other Clans' armies even from the flanks.
And not any single surprise leaves me very more wary than.
What ever that fool monk Shinsei and his pet crow is on again.

And when I have learned the ways to fight all these dream demonkin
And send them running all back to those pits they make their living in
In short when I have developed an anti-oni strategy
You'll say a better daimyo has never led a clan family!

But for my spiritual knowledge only long held apathy
And information on Jigoku barely at capacity.
However even still you will find that I will not be laid low
I am the very model of a Makime Family Daimyo

[Otomo Akutou]

Look how young everyone was then...

Except Sora, right?

[Togashi Satsuki]

Subject: Almost There [D0, Afternoon]

Hikaru was busy handsomely brooding, but as one of Doji's retainers, he was all too aware of when a family daimyo was demanding his attention. He turned sharply, looking at Makime. For just a moment, his lips parted, only to press together, stopping the very confused what from escaping his lips.

Still, he definitely thought it. What?

"I..." Hikaru began, blinking. "From behind a tree, or rock, or somesuch, right at the very edge of what vision the fog allows." His voice was deep and soft as he spoke. "I suppose even tall grass would do. Let me be upon..." Hikaru grimaced, "-us, before we knew what was happening."

Still frowning, Hikaru looked around suddenly, as though wondering if such an attack might be coming.

I wonder if this skill is taught by Nanzi or Doji among the Crane in this timeline.

[Jiyo Sora]

This entire thread promises to be such a delightful trainwreck.

In the best and most intentional of ways, I hasten to add.

[Kaiu Tai]

Shoju spittin' some truths.

Tai is going to *hate* her tribe's ideas of necessary sacrifice. But assessment of the Empire? mmhmm.

viewtopic.php?p=2630#p2630

[Canary]

Shoju spittin' some truths.

Tai is going to *hate* her tribe's ideas of necessary sacrifice. But assessment of the Empire? mmhmm.

viewtopic.php?p=2630#p2630

Oh. Oof. Uh, hm.

So, IC, characters can have all kinds of wild opinions about what went down with the founding of the Empire. Characters go through some stuff that can color their perceptions. However, since this was highlighted OOC, I am concerned that there are some OOC misapprehensions that need to be cleared up.

It's certainly an imperialist absolute monarchy, but it's more of a "velvet glove" variety. Below are some sources from the timeline.

After discussing the situation with the remaining tribes with Shinjo, Shiba brings in his other siblings to meet and discuss how to handle the remaining tribes. Eventually, Doji proposes an elegant solution – trade with the tribes, and set up a system that essentially encourages them to eventually become absorbed into the Clans near them. Shiba sets his siblings to this task over the next several years.

https://dayofthunder.fallenash.com/view ... p?p=19#p19

As cultural assimilation goes, it's more insidious than brutal. It was basically a matter of, "Hey, look at us. Our cool followers have extra food that lets them specialize. Have enough to eat! Pursue your dreams beyond subsistence farming!"

The Haka family (not necessarily the tribe), in particular, actually opted in with a bit of Scorpion sliminess and manipulation in the mix a year after the prior point. In particular, as noted below, the practices of the Shoji were why Bayushi recruited Haka. While twin sacrifice wouldn't have made the cut, a lot of other stuff would.

Bayushi brings Haka into the Scorpion, allowing her to form her own family. He claims this is in reward for her efforts with the expedition, but the truth is that he is interested in her connection with the Void and how it and her tribes’ dealings with the Spirit Realms can potentially be leveraged.

I mean, the raid-happy Hikaru remnants got a fairly gentle invite, and they were an active nuisance.

After returning to Scorpion lands, Bayushi Umeno seeks out an audience with Bayushi to discuss the issue of the Hikaru Tribe. Taking care to listen to her concerns, the Kami decides to send a small group of envoys to seek out the leader and begin negotiations. When they arrive in the mountains, the Hikaru lie waiting in ambush, but before it can be sprung, the envoys stop, place all their provisions on the ground, then immediately leave the area. Though initially suspicious of a trap, the starving Hikaru eventually tear into the unattended rations, allowing the envoys to circle back and catch the tribesmen by surprise. Though no violence is offered against them, the demonstration is a grim example of the tactics the Scorpion are willing to use to remove the thorn of the Hikaru, and their leader agrees to meet with the Kami Bayushi. An agreement is reached, and the last of the Hikaru are enfolded into the Scorpion, extending Bayushi's influence to the mountains they call home.

The only ones who got militarily strongarmed in this timeline's canon were the Noriaki (bossman killed by Kinsen, herself a Noriaki, challenging for the tribe's leadership, leading them to basically split between Stag and Spider) and the Hikaru (bossman killed by Kozan/Koyama- who was himself a Hikaru, challenging for the tribe's leadership, leading most of them into the Ki-Rin, with a few holdouts going bandit and getting recruited into the Scorpion)

In general, tribes were led into the Kami's service by their own members.

Additionally, as part of the Imperial/Crane friction is Yuzuru's efforts to maintain Ayakashi customs in the face of Doji's notions of etiquette, safe to say tribal customs aren't dismissed as inherently backward out of hand.

I think this is important to note, because, OOC, we should all be playing the same game. It's possible it's my fault for not making things more clear in materials beyond the timeline. All the more reason we need a proper splat book, eh?

[Kaiu Tai]

I'm not sure I read most of that as a history of forceable assimilation so much as a very powerful culture next to less powerful ones and...change happens that not everyone is going to be happy about. Meanwhile, thanks to not really having a reason to see things from the less powerful perspective, some things will inevitably seem high-handed when the more powerful one does them.

Add in some existential threat that's only come along after these kami arrived, and the general perception of "these guys said things would be better with them in charge and...well years of nightmares and madness are not better." Whether or not they're actually to blame for it. The US president gets blamed for gas prices whether or not he has much to do with them.

The Crab just have the extra bit of displacement to add to any negative opinions members may have. But generally? Good luck finding regular people singing their government's praises, even when they mostly like and agree with them.

[Nanzi Ai]

Subject: Almost There [D0, Afternoon]

"I have no use for a 'font of wisdom' that spews deliberately confusing riddles." The contempt was pretty evident in Makime's voice. "Unclear information is often worse than no information. Maybe for sanctimonious philosophers who would spend their days navel gazing it's profound." She flicked her hand in a gesture mimicking the tossing of garbage. "For war leaders like me it just risks lives unnecessarily."

Subject: Almost There [D0, Afternoon]

"Fog is like the land, not entirely in my control." The Lioness sighed, "If a messenger fails to arrive. Misfortune. If fog descends unexpectedly. Misfortune. If scouts miscount or lose their bearing. Mistake. These are all things that can happen, you have to be flexible and adapt."

"However, babbling some nonsense about the 'stream flows backwards at dawn, follow the red heron to the land of plentiful enlightenment by the place in which the monkey contemplates the wisdom of the beetle' is just deliberately inane garbage that is supposed to make you sound clever. Give me silence over that utter vomit."

Adopt me mommy.

[Nanzi Ai]

Very Important Thread: https://dayofthunder.fallenash.com/view ... f=19&t=282

[Jiyo Sora]

I am pleased by this.

[Sukuna]

Anjing’s response is so funny to me.

[Kaiu Tai]

https://dayofthunder.fallenash.com/view ... 4928#p4928

Glad all the cussing has inspired this

[Togashi Satsuki]

https://dayofthunder.fallenash.com/view ... 4928#p4928

Glad all the cussing has inspired this

Xiaochen is too precious to be let near Sora or Hoto-Hori. <3

[Togashi Satsuki]

After Shinsei's explanation, Ranmaru had a sickening realization. This small woman, along with all the other small women, were probably misled by destiny to come here!

WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE WOMEN?!

[Nanzi Ai]

Harbinger spotted - https://dayofthunder.fallenash.com/view ... f=26&t=367

[Togashi Satsuki]

Ayako dreamed....

ShinseisRock.png

Ayako was attending the revered teacher's speech again, but for some reason Shinsei didn't seem to be speaking. Instead, the rock that Shinsei was seated on opened its eyes and mouth and began to speak.

"Ayaaaaaakooooo," the rock groaned in its low, gravelly voice. "Dooooon't forgettttt to doooooo the thiiiiiiing."

"What? What thing?!" Ayako said in her dream. She was supposed to do something, but she couldn't remember what! Looking to either side, the other members of the crowd listening to Shinsei were just an indistinct blur. No help there.

"Doooo the thing...!" the rock moaned again.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" Ayako wailed. She was failing at something, but she wasn't sure what. This was awful!

[Ryoshun Yukara]

https://dayofthunder.fallenash.com/view ... 6516#p6516

Truly I wish I could bring Chihaya across universes to join the grumpy vet betting pool.

[Togashi Satsuki]

Some of the rituals of the Ayakashi splinter tribe with whom Otaku was born and spent her childhood were at least as elaborate as this one, but--she reflects as she considers the misshapen blob of weeds and kindling with a straw hat perched crookedly on its 'head,' waiting to be maimed--none of them were violent in quite this way. As for Shinjo's household, the rituals of the Kami were many but also generally less, uh, literal.

Still, the peoples of the Ki-rin Clan are as yet a pretty diverse lot, and Otaku has learned to go along to get along, provided nobody asks her to do anything that touches her own honor. So she takes her place in the ritual with sober politeness.

What does she fear? Courage requires that she know the answer to that question, and she does know it well and of old. Failing her. Failing them. On the scrap of paper, she slashes 'defeat' in two bold characters, not lingering over the composition, then dispatches the poor effigy even more efficiently (and with greater elegance).

She spares the hat. It's a perfectly fine hat; maybe somebody can still use it when this is done with.

Praise be, the hat lives!

[Doji Hikaru]

I know this is technically OOC, but the IC nature of these suggestions gave me a good laugh:

1. Steal something shiny from your love interest and reflect the stars in it.
2. Set something on fire. Fire is shiny! Preferably something of theirs.
3. Tap a shiny thing against an even shiner thing. Especially if they're not yours. Improves the sound quality.

[Hisomu Tadaka]

Given she hadn't slept for more than a few minutes the previous night, Anjing was a little apprehensive as she settled down in her tent. Another sleepless night and she's probably rip the head off whoever greeted her in the morning.

It looked like the enemy had similar ideas. As soon as she closed her eyes she felt her sleeping self dragged towards a strange and brutal nightmare with skies tinted red and enemies on all sides.



An urge from all around thrummed in her head. She could refight the past, win it this time. Wasn't that what she deserved? Any dream was possible here, after all. She just had to go inside.

It was tempting, dangerously so. But her promise echoed in her head. She'd sworn for now to leave the past in the past. And awake or asleep, Anjing did not break a promise lightly.

With an effort of will she wrenches herself away, falling instead into a peaceful dreamless sleep, although she could have sworn she heard a distant chuckle as she did so.


Day 2 Sleep Event: Horrific Nightmares

Roll 1: TN 20 Willpower Roll | 3k3 ⇒ 28 (TN: 20)

Just beautiful.