Chiyo Family fluff (Imperial)

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Ko
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Chiyo Family fluff (Imperial)

Post by Ko » Fri Jun 19, 2020 10:53 am

It Has Been Pointed Out that while the players of Tsubo and Kara (me, that latter one is me :? ) wrote up all the Chiyo Family and School mechanics after the end of Dawn 1, we didn't actually do flavor text for the family itself. So we got our act together!

There's no "Chiyo Family" yet as of Heavenfall, just a loose affiliation of Kara and Tsubo's friends and proteges. After a 10-15 year time jump, though, the family will actually formally exist; Chiyo will be about 19-24 years old and will have taken up the administrative side while her parents step back. So there could actually be "Chiyo Family" player characters. Here's what we've got:
The Chiyo Family: +1 Reflexes
Founded by a bushi and shugenja couple who became friends and confidants of Shiba, the members of the Chiyo family are united in purpose and philosophy despite their different styles of training. While the Jiyo protect the Emperor’s body and the Yuzuru counsel peace and unity in his courts, a Chiyo samurai’s duty is to nurture the Imperial Families’ connection with all of Rokugan, from the land itself on up. Chiyo priests are often found tending shrines in the new Imperial Capital, but many members of the family also travel extensively, visiting remote shrines and villages and collecting information about regional conditions, natural disasters and fortuitous occurrences, and the mood of local nature spirits. If a province is suffering from bandits or famine, expect a Chiyo scout to arrive to gather the news--or a Chiyo shugenja to enlist the help of the local kami. Although it may be many years until Shiba’s Empire has a formal place for “magistrates,” some Chiyo samurai are also called upon to investigate and arbitrate problems in the course of their travels.

Recent historical details (probably still relevant to PCs in Dawn 3, less so a few more decades on): Besides his consort-to-be Yuzuru, two other Ayakashi tribesfolk followed Shiba in the wake of the Tournament of the Kami: Tsubo, a kind and practical woodsman, and Karanoko, a spiritually enlightened mystic and weaver. During the early years of Shiba’s reign, Karanoko and Tsubo supplied support and counsel to the growing Imperial household, encouraging Shiba to ground himself in the physical and spiritual landscape of the Protected Lands that would be Rokugan. The informal group of shugenja, scouts, and emissaries that formed around the pair was eventually organized as a Family under the leadership of their eldest daughter Chiyo, born in the same year the Kami fell to earth. Chiyo became a precocious shugenja under her mother’s tutelage, while her younger sister Niko, who was only a little older than the Emperor’s eldest child, learned the ways of the land and self-defense from their father.
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Togashi Saruko
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Re: Chiyo Family fluff (Imperial)

Post by Togashi Saruko » Fri Jun 19, 2020 11:04 am

Nice! I like it a lot. Very Miya and particular the Emperor's Blessing vibes. <3

With the Ayakashi twist too. :D
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Ongaku no Ryoko
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Re: Chiyo Family fluff (Imperial)

Post by Ongaku no Ryoko » Fri Jun 19, 2020 11:17 am

This has been approved?

If so, interesting. It looks like they're becoming a sort of wandering magistrate/priest family that keeps the spiritual situation under control?
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Ko
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Re: Chiyo Family fluff (Imperial)

Post by Ko » Fri Jun 19, 2020 1:35 pm

Ongaku no Ryoko wrote:
Fri Jun 19, 2020 11:17 am
This has been approved?

If so, interesting. It looks like they're becoming a sort of wandering magistrate/priest family that keeps the spiritual situation under control?
It was a goal/achievement thing from Dawn 1. We just figured that given our thoughts about how the family would take shape organically, it shouldn't actually be a player option yet in 2. Canary has all GM veto powers as ever, but this is more or less just the fluffing-out of the family themes we'd already set in the Chiyo Shugenja school & Chiyo Waywatcher path (which were options this game, though understandably nobody played them... techs that are all about familiarizing and harmonizing with the natural world around you would be a pretty poor choice for the Shadowlands :lol: ).
Togashi Saruko wrote:
Fri Jun 19, 2020 11:04 am
Nice! I like it a lot. Very Miya and particular the Emperor's Blessing vibes. <3

With the Ayakashi twist too. :D
Yep, we were trying to suit the feel of an Empire ruled by a Kami for whom material/spiritual and "human affairs"/"nature" aren't all that separate, so harmony or disharmony on one side of those divides affects the other side. Vanilla L5R does this a bit with the religious piety of the Seppun, but that's not particularly emphasized compared to their other functions. Thought it might be fun to give that aspect a bit more prominence in Shiba's Rokugan, with a twist from the very practical animism of Ayakashi spirituality.

It sounds like we have ogre mailmen confirmed, which perhaps means the Chiyo won't need to fully do the 'herald' part of the Miya role, no doubt to the relief of both Kara and Tsubo. Neither of them were much for being the center of attention... they'd much rather observe, map, and synthesize.
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Status: 1.0 ✖ Glory: 1.0 ✖ Reputation: Bad, real bad ✖ Character description

Wears: Simple clothing, pearl and coral jewelry, copper coin bracelet; light armor when expecting danger.
Carries: Walking staff or yumi (or both); knives; jade, pack with misc fishing & survival tools and small daily items. Warclub (tetsubo) when needed.

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Kyosei of the Isawa
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Re: Chiyo Family fluff (Imperial)

Post by Kyosei of the Isawa » Fri Jun 19, 2020 1:46 pm

So, instead of one Miya, there will be a small party of Chiyo - apparent lead an Ogre, while the real lead is observing, and the rest are doing the rebuilding, with the Ogre doing the heavy lifting?
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Ko
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Re: Chiyo Family fluff (Imperial)

Post by Ko » Fri Jun 19, 2020 1:57 pm

I think that might be "wait and see" as I've absolutely no idea what Ryoko's finished goal actually looks like.

Singletons or small parties of circuit-riding shugenja and surveyors from the family (plus some who stay in place at significant sites/shrines as keepers and observers) is about what we'd pictured. There are probably a few out there informally keeping tabs for Shiba already, unless that conflicts with Canary's imaginings; in another 10-15 years more of them will have learned the Chiyo techs and started using the family name.
Shore People ✖ 'Bushi? That sounds right' ✖ Stone-tool-user ✖ Awkward ✖ On A Quest
Status: 1.0 ✖ Glory: 1.0 ✖ Reputation: Bad, real bad ✖ Character description

Wears: Simple clothing, pearl and coral jewelry, copper coin bracelet; light armor when expecting danger.
Carries: Walking staff or yumi (or both); knives; jade, pack with misc fishing & survival tools and small daily items. Warclub (tetsubo) when needed.

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Ongaku no Ryoko
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Re: Chiyo Family fluff (Imperial)

Post by Ongaku no Ryoko » Sat Jun 20, 2020 1:51 am

I'm not sure either - it was approved, but Canary will decide how and what to reveal in the timeline update.
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