Concerns and Tribulations (D8, Early Afternoon)

Mindshred · **Joined:** Sat Dec 07, 2019 7:24 am **Posts:** 1559

Discussion in the Blue Tiled Room takes an unsurprising turn as the matter of the Steel Chrysanthemum and the Empire's future once again comes to the forefront...

[Influence Attempts can be made in this thread.]

Togashi Iko · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:00 am **Posts:** 408

Iko arrived early to the court, hoping to say her piece before too many samurai arrived.

Her speech was impassioned, poignant and well structured, much more well organized than the thoughts she had put together, eventually boiling down into a simple point.

"Is a leader like the Steel Chrysanthemum truly so horrible, that we would throw so many lives away to resist him?"

D8 EA Influence Traditional 5 raises TN40: 7d10o10k4 47

Yasuki Daisuke · **Joined:** Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:34 am **Posts:** 45

"Yes. Yes he is." The slender Yasuki spoke up in response to the Dragon, clapping his fan closed against his palm as he moved to address the court. "He was awful enough that he has returned from the realm of slaughter, and unnaturally walks with the living. He lacks the tenet of compassion, and allowed himself to slaughter his own family." The young Carp looked about to those gathered, his eyes narrowed in concentration and the emotion in his speech.

"He is so awful that we absolutely must resist, and dedicate forces and reaources to stop him, otherwise, we ourselves are guilty of abandoning the tenet of courage. And I know I would sooner die than give up courage to stop resisting that monster."

D8 - Concerns and Tribulations - Influence - Imperialist (Awareness 4, Courtier 3, Rhetoric Emphasis, +1k0 Prodigy, +1k1 VP, 2 raises, TN25): 9d10ro1o10k5 46 3 Imperialist Points

Togashi Iko · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:00 am **Posts:** 408

"How many will die in this war compared to how many would die if he claimed the throne? If he wants to rule, then he needs an Empire to rule over, yes? It is in his best interest to keep the Empire intact."

Iko stared down the Yasuki and shook her head. "I'm not saying it is the best situation, but one that should at least be considered before we light the Empire ablaze in war."

Yasuki Daisuke · **Joined:** Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:34 am **Posts:** 45

"It is in the best interest to not murder one's own family. To not strike against the Emperor. Yet this monster has done so, in two lifetimes." Daisuke met the gaze of Iko, standing tall and as immovable as the great Kaiu wall.

"The difference is with his rule, the innocent would die with no cause, only at the whims of a madman. Standing against him, the Heavens would decide who is right and true."

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

The libraries were a public place, and there might have been rumor and talk of texts being packed up to get out of harm's way this evening. It was a last opportunity to get in reading, even for a ronin such as her. Mari was in attendance, then, respectfully bowing to any samurai who happened to be present. At first, however, she kept her mouth shut around the others, unless approached. A scroll was in front of her, and she was looking it over, paying occasional attention to the conversation being held by her betters.

She knew better than to jam her clanless nose into this conversation unless someone actually asked her opinion, but damned if she hadn't wished she'd come here earlier in the day because there was a remote chance someone might actually do just that. She was trying not to stick out that much, after all. Nails that stuck out got pounded down, after all.

(No roll for now.)

Togashi Iko · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:00 am **Posts:** 408

Yasuki Daisuke wrote:

"It is in the best interest to not murder one's own family. To not strike against the Emperor. Yet this monster has done so, in two lifetimes." Daisuke met the gaze of Iko, standing tall and as immovable as the great Kaiu wall.

"The difference is with his rule, the innocent would die with no cause, only at the whims of a madman. Standing against him, the Heavens would decide who is right and true."

"How many tens of thousands on innocents do you think die in a war like this conflict threatens?"
Iko asks, before a smirk crosses her lips.

"Does Yasuki-san wish to leave this to the will of the Heavens?" She asks as she twists her lower body slightly to adopt a positioning that any student of iaijutsu would recognize.

Bayushi Degarashi · **Joined:** Fri Apr 03, 2020 7:02 pm **Posts:** 1027

When Degarashi arrived, there was already a full blown debate going on, this time with an impassioned speaker in favor of the Steel Chrysanthemum. Unwilling to insert himself into such business with so little information, he stood aside and observed, drawing in the arguments of both sides.

Life within the city was about to become exceedingly difficult, if the heat between these speakers was anything to judge by.

((No roll for now))

Nagiko · **Joined:** Fri Apr 03, 2020 6:07 pm **Posts:** 310

Nagiko once again was where the discussion about Hantei XVI was happening. She still have not made much about her own political position about the subject. Not that her own opinion was that much influential.

She was a minor clan member and a regular samurai.

Yet she still wanted to assess all the opinions until she reach a personal conclusion. Nonetheless things seemed to be becoming a bit too hot between those that were talking in more positive terms about Hantei XVI.

Nagiko observes the tension between Iko and a Crab.

Yasuki Daisuke · **Joined:** Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:34 am **Posts:** 45

"Less than those that would die with those who cowered to evil, unwilling to stand up for what was right." He watched as the Togashi adopted her stance. His head tilted slightly.

"I am willing to let my words stand against steel. I would ask that I find someone to match your skill with their own. After all, I would hate for your honor to be sullied by simply killing someone not trained in the art as you."

Togashi Iko · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:00 am **Posts:** 408

"In accordance with The Sword, the treatise that details the accepted method of resolution, you have three days Yasuki-san. I have seen many of your clansmen around town, I'm sure that won't prove difficult for you."

Iko offers Daisuke a formal bow and turns her back on him to move across the room and lean against one of the room's pillars.

Nagiko · **Joined:** Fri Apr 03, 2020 6:07 pm **Posts:** 310

Well, that escalated rapidly... Nagiko wonders as Iko and the Yasuki were now embroiled in a duel, to death apparently.

It was not of any concerns for her though, so she continues to listen to the arguments in favour or against Hantei XVI

*************************

[OOC]

Poke me in discord or PM here if approached

Yogo Aya · **Joined:** Sun Apr 05, 2020 12:42 am **Posts:** 719

She had somehow made it back to town...perhaps the enemy forces had determined just how little threat she posed.

She somehow gave a report....well, or perhaps the utter lack of black scrolls, or travelling companions or the haunted, hollowed out expression was pretty readable by her fellow Yogo.

She wanted to go back to her room, and wait for the end. But there was a letter there.

So she staggered in to the court. A bunch of people seemed to be talking. She didn't care. She just moved to the middle of the room.

"The Empire is doomed. Even the Lion aren't united behind the Empress. We might as well support the Steel Chrysanthemum. Maybe he can figure something out."

Everyone seemed more interested in debating other points instead of the Doom of the Empire. 13 v. 15 Fail

Aya didn't even wait for a response, and staggered back out of the hall.

/exit!

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

That... had escalated quickly. Mari was decidedly less comfortable than she had been in coming here to begin with. The Yasuki could go and find someone to stand in as his second, but a misplaced word here might have some other brash, hot-headed soul pulling steel. Kami, but she hated court. This was just reminding her of one of the thousand reasons she'd asked that Matsu to give her time to think about being hired long term. She wanted her in court every flipping day!

For the moment, she was finding this treatise on ... fish hatcheries absolutely fucking fascinating. Wow. So, that's what carp ate! Riveting stuff.

...

Also much less lethal.

Bayushi Degarashi · **Joined:** Fri Apr 03, 2020 7:02 pm **Posts:** 1027

Yogo Aya wrote:

She had somehow made it back to town...perhaps the enemy forces had determined just how little threat she posed.

She somehow gave a report....well, or perhaps the utter lack of black scrolls, or travelling companions or the haunted, hollowed out expression was pretty readable by her fellow Yogo.

She wanted to go back to her room, and wait for the end. But there was a letter there.

So she staggered in to the court. A bunch of people seemed to be talking. She didn't care. She just moved to the middle of the room.

"The Empire is doomed. Even the Lion aren't united behind the Empress. We might as well support the Steel Chrysanthemum. Maybe he can figure something out."

Everyone seemed more interested in debating other points instead of the Doom of the Empire. 13 v. 15 Fail

Aya didn't even wait for a response, and staggered back out of the hall.

/exit!

Degarashi blinked when he saw Aya enter the court, disheveled and haunted. Word hadn't reached about the mission from the prior day, and while he'd only known that his brother had left on it, it would make sense for Norikami and Aya to embark on such a journey.

He was glancing around for Norikami when he heard Aya attempt to speak over the tumult. Barely anyone paid her any mind, and when she spoke her piece, she left as quickly as she'd come.

Something in Degarashi's stomach dropped, and before he knew what was going on, he found himself chasing after Aya, dreading the answers she might have to his questions.

/ exit following Aya

Togashi Myo-en · **Joined:** Mon Apr 06, 2020 4:27 am **Posts:** 418

Myo-en was hoping to look at some of the books here, but instead, as she slips in, she finds the salon thick with both people and tension. What is going on?

What had this poor innocent intellectual forum ever done to deserve being turned into a court?

"Nothing has changed since yesterday or the day before," she comments to some Phoenix and Lion once they've kindly explained the gist of the situation to her. "Whatever was right then is still right now. And some threads of fate are always in the hands of mortal humans. This change of heart is... hard to understand. My heart is not changed, at least."

--
D7 EA Influence (Imperialist)--Courtier/Awa, adding 4 of 6 bonus dice from Crane tattoo, VP, 3 raises (TN 30): 9d10o10k4 44

+4 Imperialist

Please poke OOC if you engage Myo-en here!

Kanade · **Joined:** Tue Mar 31, 2020 10:32 pm **Posts:** 129

Seeing the familiar mon of the Carp on blue, and hearing the Yasuki speak brought Kanade into action. Any who looked close would see she wore that same Carp over her heart to this day.

"So you would hand the Empire over to any whom threaten, murder and bully their way to the throne,Togashi-sama?" She did her best to hide her disgust. She noticed the stance having seen Rei take it on more than one occasion, yet she stood tall, coming to stand next to the Yasuki.

imperialist, 2 raises=25

Shosuro Kitamaru · **Joined:** Thu Apr 16, 2020 9:12 pm **Posts:** 265

The performer would handle the Yogo, it seemed. Yogo often make noise at the wrong moment, but the Bayushi would get answers and be certain her words were known.

That was good.

Kitamaru continued to listen, largely unnoticed.

Togashi Iko · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:00 am **Posts:** 408

Kanade wrote:

"So you would hand the Empire over to any whom threaten, murder and bully their way to the throne,Togashi-sama?" She did her best to hide her disgust. She noticed the stance having seen Rei take it on more than one occasion, yet she stood tall, coming to stand next to the Yasuki.

"I would say the matter needs more discussion and consideration. If he was not worthy of having the Throne, would the Heavens have sat him on it previously?" Iko responded unintimidated by the team-up tactics.

Soshi Tameaki · **Joined:** Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:36 pm **Posts:** 234

A new face appears in the room - a figure who carries himself with an air of self-assured authority. Before he speaks, he scans the room, noting the people who have already spoken and the positions they have presented. Then, after clearing his throat, he begins...

"I am Soshi Tameaki, a magistrate of the Scorpion descended from the first magistrate himself. The law, as he recorded it with the approval of the Emperor of his time," he says, "is quite clear on the matter of the Imperial succession. Upon the death of an Emperor, the throne passes to his eldest child, or to one of the late Emperor's choosing if he is given reason to make such a selection. In this circumstance, it is quite clear that the spirit claiming to be the Steel Chrysanthemum was indeed not chosen by the very Emperor he assassinated, and as such he has no legal claim on the throne. Having held the position before gives him no claim - no Emperor has ever reclaimed the throne even after emerging from retirement, let alone returning from the dead. Those who wish to press the Steel Chrysanthemum's claim based on 'tradition' should look to that precedent, if they wish their arguments to be taken seriously.

"Additionally, the nature of the man's return is itself nearly unprecedented, and indeed unnatural," he continues. "Until this point, it has been the Will of the Heavens that the living rule the land of the living, and the dead pass on to the realms of the dead. Barring intervention from the Heavens themselves, I would say that the very claim he has made on the throne is in conflict with the Celestial Order, and to allow him to press it, let alone to take it, threatens our world with grave instabilities."

With that, the judge bows and withdraws - his opinion stated, with no room for questions.

(Courtier/Awareness with a Void point, calling 2 raises. A roll of 40 clears the TN easily, granting the Imperialist side 3 points.)

(PM if you'd like to approach in this thread, please.)

Concerns and Tribulations (D8, Early Afternoon)

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