Past Events

Year 385
Bayushi Atsuki, fresh from Gempukku, decides that the Emperor should be protected from rule. His writings on the subject are kept hidden by the Scorpion, and he receives a reprimand. His punishment is kept a secret from the Empire at large, but eventually he is declared suitably “re-educated” and fit for service.

Year 387
Conflicts arise between the Crab and Crane over settlements in Kenkai Hanto.

For the last century, the Crane have used their position in the courts, and their sway over the Imperial Family, to divert funds from the Crab due to an ancient slight. The Crab Champion, hoping to free the Emperor of the Crane's influence and break their stronghold over the economic strong-arming of their clan, begins to build several fortresses along the borders of Crane Lands in Kenkai Hanto. The Yasuki Daimyo, in secret, asks the Crab for assistance in defense of the peninsula, making a mercantile agreement with the Crab to placate them. This serves to the chagrin of the Crane Champion, Doji Mizobu, who admonishes the Yasuki for this action. Existing tensions between the Yasuki and the Doji family escalate the matter. Minor skirmishes mark the border, but there is no open bloodshed yet.

Month of the Rat
Bayushi Atsuki becomes Imperial Spymaster, the youngest to ever hold the title.

Month of the Boar
The Heir of Rokugan, Hantei Kusada, is kidnapped by bandits at age 5 on his way to Winter Court with his mother. He and the Imperial Consort are held prisoner by bandits. The Emerald Magistrates are unsuccessful in their attempts to recover the Emperor's family.

Month of the Rat
Hantei the 5th, acting under the advice of the Imperial Advisor and the court Spymaster, seeks out the bandits personally to demonstrate sincerity in an attempt to save his family.

To get his son and wife back, he makes several strange concessions and gives the bandits a large deposit of Iron.

After the heir is released, the bandits are again sought by the Emerald Magistrates, but they are hindered by the winter season and the bandits are never found. The Emperor, acting under the advice of his Advisor, takes extreme measures to protect his son, including giving the Spymaster the power to conduct investigations into any person, and superior testimony power over anyone other than the Emperor's immediate family, the Emperor himself, and the Chosen.

The Imperial Chancellor, Otomo Tohojatsu, is made regent-in-waiting.

Month of the Ox
The Emerald Champion, unsuccessful in his attempts to bring the bandits who kidnapped the heir to justice, commits seppuku (technically hari-kari, as it was without his lord's permission) in shame.

Month of the Hare
Kakita Kenzoshin becomes Emerald Champion.

Year 396
The Lion Champion, Akodo Mitsuyuki, forms a political alliance with the Crab Clan and gains the open approval of the Emperor, causing the Crane Champion to grow paranoid of an invasion. The Crane begin to rely upon the Yasuki spies for warning signs of a Crab-led invasion of their lands, and make preparations.

Year 397
The conflicts between the Crab and the Crane escalate, encouraged by hidden political forces. The territory and trade disputes finally break into full-scale combat as the Crab launches an attack on the peninsula, seizing the Yasuki lands for their own.

The Crane retaliate by slandering the Crab in court, and the Phoenix carry the words to the people. Because it was the Crab who attacked, and because they'd killed Crane peasants on their way in, and because the attack resulted in a sudden market inflation, the Crab becomes extremely unpopular. This shamed the Crab, not the Crane, for they had attacked first, and public turned against the Crab and regarded them as bullies. The Lion Champion did not support the Crab in this war effort, lest the Lion suffer from the same loss of face, causing their new alliance to break.

Thus, the Crab trades with the other clans were all cut. Without anything to fuel their war, the Crab began to suffer, and the Daidoji Iron Cranes began to push them from the lands in a sudden counterattack.

Month of the Goat
The Crane Champion's son, Doji Raigu, has a son of his own, a young man who would eventually be Doji Bosai.

Month of the Rooster
The Emperor attempts to garner support for the Crab, and in doing so, accidentally disgraces himself in the eyes of his followers.

Year 389
Throughout the year, the Emperor attempts, many times, to end the conflict between the Crab and the Crane. He is unsuccessful, as Bushido demands he commit to his his previous attempt to garner support for the Crab, and he has already thwarted any attempt he could make to directly intervene and save face. Some whisper that the blood of the Hantei runs thinly in his veins.

Month of the Dog
It is discovered that the Yasuki Daimyo has been secretly sending supplies to the Crab armies. This is an act of treason and betrayal, and the Crane Champion Doji Mizobu demands that the Yasuki Daimyo fall on his sword. They defect, and the Crab takes them in. With the Yasuki backing them with illegal supplies, the Crab have the ability to fight back, and the war turns extremely violent just before the Winter begins.

The Daidoji family declares a blood feud with the Yasuki family.

Month of the Boar
The Crane Champion is ambushed on his way to winter court by Crab samurai, and in the ensuing battle, he is slain. Doji Raigu becomes champion, wearing his hatred of the Crab openly.

The Yasuki and Doji become bitter enemies during this year's Winter Court, waging a political war to deny one-another resources and allies.

Month of the Hare
During a session of the Imperial Winter Court, a heated argument between the Doji and Yasuki families in open court results in 27 lethal duels of honor. In one of those duels, a Doji calls in a favor, and the Emerald Champion himself faces a revered Crab general and a friend of the Emperor, cutting him down in the duel.

After this event, it becomes apparent to all at the Winter Court that if the Yasuki War continues, the burden on the Empire will cause it to break. The Emperor is faced with a great crisis; if he cannot end the war, the feuding clans will destroy the fragile unity of his Empire, and many will starve from the broken economy. Unsure of what to do, he holds an Imperial Council with all members of his Chosen, the first time in the Empire's history that such a thing has been done. For the vast remainder of the Imperial Winter Court, the Emperor and his Chosen remain sequestered in debate and meditation.

At the end of the Winter Court, as Spring dawns, the Emperor calls all of his Champions to the council. Negotiations for peace are forced upon the Crane and Crab through an Imperial Edict banning large-scale warfare between the Clans. For the first time since his power waned, every Champion bows to the will of the Emperor.

Month of the Dragon
The Imperial Edict ends the war between the Crab and Crane. A Writ of Requisition demanded that both sides, as punishment, turn over a portion of their lands to the Imperial Territories. For the first time in years, the Crab and Crane work together to select the most barren, harshest, and unusable land they could afford to lose, finally selecting a rocky terrain of hills to the west of Doji provinces, overlooking the Golden Sun Plains.

During negotiations, Doji Suzume, the son of a very wealthy and haughty Crane named Doji Onegano, commits a faux pas before the Crab and Crane embassies. This eventually results in The Creation of the Sparrow Clan.

Month of the Horse
The Sparrow Clan is officially founded. Hundreds of monks and commoners flock to the banner of Doji Suzume, much to his open confusion.

Month of the Rooster
Late this year, Hantei V mysteriously takes ill and dies, leaving Otomo Tohojatsu as ruling power until Hantei VI comes of age. He is mourned throughout the Empire.

Year 401
Chuda Tamihei's father, the Snake Clan Champion, always of frail health, takes a turn for the worse. It is not long before he passes away in his bed. As the new champion, Tamihei sends for all members of the Chuda family to return to their home in the Dragon Heart Plain.

The Month of the Monkey
Curious about the state of the Phoenix's Snake cousins, the Phoenix Champion's sister, Shiba Fujiwe, travels to the Dragon Heart Plain with her Asako scribe companion.

She is never heard from again.

Month of the Serpent
Without preamble, announcement, explaination, or permission, a small army of Phoenix Clan Shugenja and their Shiba Yojimbo arrive at the Dragons Heart Plain, led by the Elemental Masters of Air, Fire, and Void. They are met by a Snake Clan embassy. The embassy is cut down without a word.

The Phoenix are then confronted by an army of hired Ronin and Snake Clan samurai. The Master of Air pulls the air from their lungs and the entire army is defeated by a single overwhelming show of power.

As night falls, the Phoenix descend into the villages surrounding Kyuden Chuda and slaughter every single member of the Chuda family. Heimin and Buke alike are slain over the course of five days. The Champion of the Snake is found fleeing with his family by a nearby cave and confronted. He, too, is slain, as are all members of his family. Shiba Fujiwe's Asako companion is discovered and given to the custody of the Elemental Masters; it is not known what becomes of her.

After all have been slaughtered, the temples in the Snake lands are desecrated and the Dragons Heart Plain is razed. The plume of smoke rising from Snake lands is a distant alarm to all within the Empire that the Snake Clan has fallen. And just as abruptly as they arrived, the Phoenix left, only ashes in their wake.

This event comes to be known as the Five Nights of Shame.

Month of the Horse
Hantei Kusada, the Imperial Scion, demands an audience with the Phoenix Clan Elemental Masters over the destruction of the Snake. It is widely believed that he will convince the Imperial Regent to enforce the Imperial Edict that forbids fighting between the clans.

Shocking the rest of Rokugan, Kusada leaves the meeting with the Masters without any intention to punish them. Instead, he orders that the Chuda family name be removed from the Imperial records. It is not known what was said between the Masters and the young Prince.

The Phoenix Clan is reviled by the other Minor Clans for this precedent.

Month of the Rooster
Doji Sekidera is born, the Second Son of the Crane Champion.

Year 403
Hantei Kusada, at the age of 17, becomes the Sixth Emperor of Rokugan. He completes his Gempukku and Tohojatsu bows down, relinquishing the throne to the Son of Heaven.

The Imperial Court is chosen: Otomo Reju, the Imperial Chancellor, Bayushi Atsuki, the Imperial Spymaster, Shiba Gaijushiko, the Imperial Scribe, Seppun Retsu, the Captain of the Hidden Guard, Miya Kioshi, the Voice of the Emperor, and Doji Raigu, the Imperial Advisor.

In the same year, Kusada takes childhood friend Doji Kishime as his bride.

Month of the Dragon
Kusada's first child is a girl. The Emperor despairs; she will be no heir to the throne. What is normally a great festival of an Imperial Birth is instead a very quiet and subdued celebration. Her birth is unannounced to the Empire at large, and only those close to the Imperial Family are ever aware of her birth.

Astrologers note that 406 is a "Fire" year, and the girl, being born in the Month of the Dragon, would therefore have a cheerful, passionate, and charismatic personality, but that she would be brash and possibly destructive. For these reasons, she is primarily raised by Imperial Retainers, not her actual family.

(Note: There has never before been an Empress of Rokugan; tradition therefore dictates the heir must be a male. It is a tradition that is, perhaps, destined to be shattered…)

Month of the Serpent
Under the advice of the Chancellor, Hantei Kusada takes a concubine by the name of Otomo Jiko. The underlying concern motivating this is the belief that the Imperial Consort, Doji Kishime, cannot provide a male heir. It is whispered that the Emperor did not want to complicate his personal life with another consort, but that his Duty to provide an heir moved his steps.

A quiet power struggle between the two women begins.

Month of the Serpent
Early this year, Kusada's second child is born to his wife and Imperial Consort; it is a son! His birth is announced by the Imperial Herald and the Empire erupts into grand festivals. Born in a Fire year and in the Month of the Snake, it is believed that he will have an attentive, intelligent, and cheerful personality. Looking to the heavens, the court diviners predict that the day he ascends to the Throne will change the Empire for the better.

Doji Kishime's position as Imperial Consort is thusly cemented.

The very same month, the Lion Champion Akodo Mituyuki also has a son.

Month of the Horse
Otomo Jiko bares a son to the Emperor. He is taken into the Imperial Household as his third child, and is raised with his brother. Jiko is retained as a concubine for the Emperor, out of respect for this service, but whispers say that she has fallen out of the Emperor's favor.

Month of the Tiger
Kusada's fourth child, a daughter, is born. Doji Kishime is affirmed to be the mother. Like the birth of his first daughter, this one is largely overlooked.

Month of the Monkey
Under orders from the Lion Clan Champion, a Lion army attempts to invade the Phoenix lands through Kiken Roka. The pass is held due to the life of a noble Phoenix shugenja, and the Lion are repelled. The general commits seppuku out of shame for his failure. Emperor Kusada punishes the Lion Clan by forcing them to pay the Phoenix reparations, enforcing the Imperial Edict of his father. The Lion Champion, Akodo Mituyuki, is publicly disgraced, and does nothing to defend himself from scrutiny.

Month of the Hare
Lion Clan Champion Akodo Mituyuki suddenly and abruptly retires at the age of 36, cutting off his topknot 9 years before it is customary to do so. His son is too young to take the Championship, and so the Matsu Daimyo, Matsu Itagi, assumes championship temporarily. Mituyuki is retained as an honored sensei.

Courtiers whisper that Mituyuki, ironically called "The Grey Akodo," retired early out of shame.

Month of the Goat
Imperial records show that Hantei Kusada is given a daughter by Otomo Jiko. However, she dies in childbirth. This is his fifth child, and his second child from Otomo Jiko.

The concubine receives a small shrine in respect to giving her life for an Imperial Heir.

Month of the Horse
Matsu Itagi, an idealistic and confident Lion Champion, who has known only success and has never been tempered by failure, arrives in Crab Lands and announces to the Crab Clan Champion Hida Tadaka that he will enter the Shadowlands and seal up the Pit of Fu Leng. He is warned against this action but he does not listen. The Crab let him go into the Shadowlands to attempt the task.

25 days later, Matsu Oki, the sister of Itagi and leader of the Lion's Pride, arrives at Kyuden Hida and demands to know where her brother is. Knowing that the Crab have always had a grudge against the Lion ever since the Lion pulled their support in the Yasuki War, and believing the Crab to have little understanding of Honor, she came to the conclusion that the Crab were holding him hostage. If the Crab to not produce him, she will declare war on the Hida. Explaining the situation would cause the Crab, who are already severely politically weakened by the Crane and Scorpion alliance, to lose much face. Neither can they afford to fight the Lion. So the Crab Champion decides there is only one choice to make, and he stoically enters the Shadowlands alone to find Itagi.

Tadaka's young daughter, Hida Azami, stalled the Lion army as long as she could, until at last Matsu Oki would wait no longer. Now believing her brother to be dead, she declares a blood feud on the Hida family and readies her armies, again disregarding Imperial Edict. But just before the initial confrontation, Tadaka arrives from the Shadowlands with Itagi's body. Rushing to her brother's side, she hears his last words just before he dies, "We were not defeated." Tadaka, also injured, dies from his wounds shortly after Itagi.

Now the new interim Lion Champion, Oki formally apologies to the Hida and leaves with her brother's ashes. Both of their remains were scattered together in the Golden Sun Plains and tombs were erected in their honor at Otosan Uchi.

Year 414
In observance of the edicts and promises made by Hantei the 5th as a part of what ended the Yasuki War, The Emperor's children are all fostered to the Great Clans. Tearfully, Doji Kishime watches as all five of her children are taken away from her.

The Emperor's three sons are taken by the Scorpion, Crane, and Phoenix. The Eldest of these, a young man who would one day take the name Hantei Toson, is fostered by the Crane. He is trained in the courtly arts under their guiding hand. It is not known what became of the Hantei’s daughters.

Year 423
Matsu Oki steps down as Temporary Lion Clan Champion, allowing Akodo Kurojin, the son of the disgraced Mituyuki, to become the rightful Daimyo. At the age of 16, he takes to leading the Lion Armies.

Year 428
Emperor Kusada, sensing that the Heaven's favor is drifting, attempts to increase the influence of Religion and Philosophy throughout the Empire. He openly studies the Tao and creates 24 new temples in places of religious significance. He attempts to unite the worship of the Fortunes and the study of the Tao under one national religion.

He meets with the Brotherhood of Shinsei on numerous occasions, and the Monks of the Brotherhood enjoy new Imperial privileges. Soon, there is a Monk of the Brotherhood within every court in the land, and the Emperor makes Gaman, the Master of The Four Temples, Rokugan’s first Minister of Religion, inducing him into The Chosen. It is the first promotion Emperor Kusada has ever performed in person, a great honor.

Month of the Rooster
Gusai, the leader of a group of Ronin calling themselves the Mantis, attempts to lobby the Emperor for the position of Minor Clan. His audacity is the subject of legend, but the Emperor hears him regardless. Gusai's case rests on his own strength: he insists that he is the strongest person at the court, and a lord has to be strong. Word and deed are the same, he says, and steel is yet stronger than honor.

The Emperor gives Gusai an ultimatum: "Show me that Steel is stronger than Honor, and I will make you Daimyo within my court."

Gusai, who had hidden a blade in his kimono, drew it and held it to the Emperor's throat, faster than the guards could respond.

The Emperor acknowledges Gusai's point and concedes, granting Gusai his own family and naming him the first Champion of the Mantis. However, the Emperor then says that he will refute Gusai's point. "I will demonstrate to you how much stronger a man's words can be." With only a stroke of his brush, Kusada signed Gusai's Writ of Execution, and the man was put to death. Gusai’s son becomes Mantis Clan Champion.

Year 430
The 401st Topaz Championship begins in Tsuma. Unknown to all, a small group of attending students are destined to change the course of Empire's future…

…for better or for worse…