Breaking Up Rokugan/The Rokugan Archipelago

Legend of the Five Rings has gone through 6 editions with 2 being D&D editions (3E-3E/Oriental Adventures and Adventures in Rokugan-5E).

For clarity, will be focusing on Lot5R 5E, which was by Fantasy Flight Games and then Edge Studios after Asmodee was done gutting any sort of content out of it.

 

One of the core problems Legend of the Five Rings had back in AEC days was that it started as Japanese fantasy, as written by people (especially John Wick) who had never read anything more detailed than movie subtitles and happily shoved all kinds of anachronistic, stereotypes or frankly foreign ideas into it. And then compounded it by deciding not to fix it but claim it was instead pan-Asian, when it really meant 90% pop-culture Japan and 10% whatever could be opportunistically claimed otherwise.

In some ways that was a good idea. Fantasy RPGs can get bound to real-life pastiches too easily and especially true for Asian-themed RPGs. Due to a combination of the unknowledgeable copying out chunks of books (infamously TSR) or the somewhat language-locked bent of many domestic Asian RPG markets.

 

So, I wanted to try and repivot to a more Japanese theme, but without just becoming Sengoku the RPG. I had already implied an archipelago Rokugan in my Worldbuild24 setting, but that was too wrapped up in D&Dism for this cleaner discussion. My attempt to find a fantasy map for a Japanese setting which wasn’t blatantly Japan was similarly stymied. I’m going to have to couch everything in vague terms and let the imagination fill the gaps. This is mostly just rambling, a little bit of reworking and a lot of restatement.

I heavily relied on this site to fill some language gaps grandfathered into the RPG:
https://craneclan.weebly.com/renaming-the-gods.html

 

In general, my island version of Rokugan is a bit more like Japan in the first two Shogunates; Kamakura and Muromachi/Ashikaga. Somewhere between the eclipse of the Imperial Court of the Heian period and the descent into complete violence of the Sengoku period, following the Ōnin War. While it has more the Imperial intrigue that categorized the Kamakura shogunate, to represent the more active Imperial centre of Rokugan. The archipelago is already beginning to slip into the warlordism of the Daimyos, as the Muromachi/Ashikaga shogunate went on.

The most obvious change is the armour. Think not of the all-wrapping colourful lacquer bands and instead think of looser cloth and large rectangular guards. While not the social dynamism of the Azuchi–Momoyama period, where anyone who could stab their way to the top became respected. There is still some degree of social mobility, mostly through violence and patronage.

 

Rokugan is the foreign name, one used by traders as one approaches the archipelago.

In the beginning of history, the archipelago was full of tribes. Some were arrivals and some were preexisting, both practised the worship of powerful spirits. Of the clans at the time, the victorious coalition were the Uji Clans, those which patroned the Ujigami, who patroned and bolstered their kin group. Depending on the translation were either the future Major Kami of Rokugan or animal spirits, hence their attached names. The Central Provinces was their final home.

Fenghoo: Shiba no Kami

Imperial Family: Hantei no Kami, but ultimately from Ohisama no Omikami

Kani: Hida no Kami

Ki-Ren: Shinjo no Kami

Ku-Ren: Douji no Kami

Ryu: Togashi no Kami
Sasori: Bayushi no Kami

Tora: Akodo no Kami

These clans served the Imperial Court and supplied the officials dispatched to rule over the uncounted minor clans of the further provinces which had been subsumed. Mysticas called Shugenja communed with the spirits in the correct non-barbarian way. There were many wars with the Yobanjin to the north and similarly in the south. Though the southern people may not have been people and may have had their own Ujigami.

The southern island and in many places were home to increasingly dangerous spirits and if there were truly people there, they soon were considered lost to the dreadful evil of the Shadowlands. Akugawa-Sama was that dreadful presence and his wrath remains throughout the archipelago. Of course, it’s possible that many of the Shadowlands centre on the territories of those people who sought to turn back the Rokugan clans. The non-humans persist in their territories and avoided in general by the humans.

Most of the Legend of the Five Rings history happened, if heavily embellished, retroactively altered and possible stretched or scrunched to fit the stories. The first 3 centuries would be mostly mythic conjecture but treated as historical fact. By the end of the 4^th recorded century, the Ki-Ren clans was mostly involved in overseas trade, shamanistic worship and foreign structural cosmology was codified into teachings of Shinsei and attempts to reform society under the Genji Reforms. Creating the Emerald Magistrates as a position.

Land reform encouraged the growth of large-scale manors, the Shōen, as landowners and 5^th century temples expanded their holdings, when it was meant for all cultivators. Though the heyday of court culture, many became tax-exempt and encouraged the subsuming of peasant holdings into them in return for lighter rents. These land-owners in turn became responsible for the security of the provinces under the Kokushi (civil governor).

Divisions within the Imperial Family resulted in the creation of cadet branches; the Miya, Otomo and Seppun clans, which provided more of the officials and opportunities for the Uji Clans to intermarry into power. The Ku-Ren, Fenghoo and Sasori managed to gain control of the Imperial Family and their heirs through these intermarriages and isolated the court under the Gozuku cabal. Foreign trade flourished, but all these combined to set the stage for the first major war.

Rokugan had long tried to pursue its wars with the nimble Yobanjin, but with a shrinking tax base and fewer eligible conscripts, found it increasingly simpler to hire those private warriors and warrior-farmers. The wealthy, self-funded and vastly more effective horse-archers. Expanding the control and adding yet more land to be gobbled up by retainers of the Uji Clans. The court-aligned armies of foreign-style foot soldiers declined.

The Emperor had long sought to balance the powerful major clans with the creation of minor Uji Clans. These minor clans were often in strategic locations and were nominally independent of the older clans. They retained the animal-naming system, even after the Uji Clans ceased to have meaning.

This cumulated in the Time of Treachery across the 6^th century. The Gozuku had fostered the heirs of the Emperor within their clans, but the youngest girl went to the Tora. Yugozohime was raised to be fierce and masterful, cumulating in her direct deposing of her brother and overthrow of the Gozuku. This Warrior-Queen in turn pursued a much more martial approach, purging the court of perceived decadence and barring foreign merchants. This resulted in both invasion and the death of Empress Yugozohime, triggering mass civil unrest. Any holdings of the Ki-Ren vanished from the archipelago, and the Uji Clan broke into factions, using their preferred heir to control the throne and their inter-related retainers to do battle. Mass incursions from Shadowlands and heretical magic gripped the south and into the central provinces under Iuchiban, the Blood Sorcerer.

Ultimately the Uji Clans as a concept disintegrated as their retainers achieved political power, marrying into the leadership of each. The winner was the Douji clan, who had previously been members of the Ku-Ren and secured their victory by marrying into the Imperial family directly and consistently since. They exercised vassalage based on the older Uji Clan loyalties, weakening as time passed.

Since then, the retainers have become the new governing nobility. The Emperor continues to enforce his decrees through the Emerald Magistrate, minor clan creation and the Kokushi. Yet the Emerald Magistrate is the office of the Bushi warrior caste and who in turn appoints Shugo military governors to rule provinces alongside the Kokushi. Warrior clans pay allegiance to the Emerald Champion first to manage their Shōen and employ retainers of their own, samurai.

The Douji military government lost most of what control it had in the 8^th century. A fresh wave of Shadowland incursions began, heralding the return of the undead Iuchiban. Invasions from across the sea led to the return of the Ki-Rin, who had been absorbing many foreign customs. The Douji government has clung to their return as a lifeline. Installing them in former and new territories as a counterweight. The Emperor even managed to regain some of his authority and now the title of Emerald Champion can change, though the Douji remain the mothers of the Emperor and the de facto government.

Political control has only decreased since. Wars remain dominated by local clans, who exercise local authority over increasingly personalised Shōen and draw in the more powerful regional lords when their Shugo and tax revenue is disrupted. Who cultivate personal vassalage via wealth sharing as Shugo-Daimyōs. These Shugo have in turn absorbed much of the Kokushis’ authority as so much land is in their hands. The Perfect Land Sect has risen, inflaming the peasants and petty land-owning Jizamurai, who have banded together to form uprisings in ikki leagues.

The Kolat, a fringe philosophical sect dominated by a mixture of peasant anger, merchant frustration and similar Shinsei teachings has grown to ensnare many who feel trapped with a caste system that denies them promotions. It promises to overthrow the social order and replace it with authority based on wealth and skill.

It only took the spark of dynastic murder to fan the flames of clan war.

 

At the time of the current Clan Wars. Rokugan is divided between 43 clans. I was going to reiterate what each clan does, but you readers wouldn’t be digesting this if you didn’t already know.

Outer Islands: The most southernly islands are home to minor clans, placed there to ensure the flow of goods and ideas can be measured and changed at the Emperor or Emerald Champion’s will. Being so isolated, piracy is almost a given for the Kamakiri and Koumori Clans.

South Island: About as barbaric as Rokugan can get and still be a part of society, the land is old, and the spirits are restless. The Hida clan controls the northern and eastern coasts, claiming descent from the old Kani Ujigami. Their relatives, the Hiruma clan hold the haunted highlands. The sparse eastern coast is home to the Hayabusa minor clan, previously were the Toritaka retainer family. The Iuchi clan occupies the rest. Combining using strength and foreign mysticism to try and contain the Shadowlands in the mountain forests. Here the river of evil flows swiftly and the darkest of fortresses lie within. Such forces have already swallowed up the legendary Yamakujira clan or Heichi family of the Kani Uji Clan. Whose lands were emptied in the early 6^th century.

Middle Island: Thinly populated, with mountainous forests hiding all manner of evil. Considered to be the home of nothing more than pirates and hermits. The north coast is the territory of the Yasuki clan. The southern coast is home to the Kaito Clan.

Western Arm of the Mainland: Following the arc of the mountains divides these provinces into a more cosmopolitan side and a dryer side. The drier side is home to the Kaiu clan, Asahina clan, who rule their vital temple. To the north and almost surrounding of them is the strange Utaku clan on the dry plain. Of the famed Shiotome Battle Maidens.

At the tip and flowing into the underarm is the Katika clan. The Shosuro clan is scandalously renowned for its patronage of actors an control of the large city Ryoko Owari. In contrast, the eastern adjoining Kitsu clan has a reputation of not just detailed recordings of their genealogy but being able to have their ancestors speak through them. In the mountains is the impoverished minor Suzume clan.

The Central Provinces: Here is the capital and the greatest cities, the most holy mountains and the greatest extent of civilisation. The roads roll up into the current capital of Otosan Uchi. Which the Soshi Clan has persuaded the current Emperor to make his home among their lavish domain. The surrounding islands and land spurs belong to the Kame clan, a disreputable minor clan previously known as the Kasuga. Being the largest and richest of cities. Beyond lie the old capitals, the previous and still more luxurious is the heartland of the Douji clan, who are rich, sophisticated and bent on maintaining their authority over the Emperor and his heirs through marriage and court appointments. The capital before them is governed by the Asako clan. Both are populated by the three court families, which now serve ceremonial roles in the civil government. Along with the highly connected, if otherwise minor Shika and Uguisa clans. Mountainous oni-haunts and yokai are kept at bay by the Kuni clan, the Tondo minor clan and the Togashi Order. Who blends bushi principles and Shinsei like the Asako, but with continental martial arts. The Tondo also serves as a first point of contact with the order. Their lands being first along the mountain road.

The forests where the plain meets the mountains are home to the Kitsune clan. The last remnants of the Ki-Rin who are seen as uncanny, with many past alliances. Above them in the river pass deep into the Highland Provinces is the Usagi clan. A minor clan which specialises in fighting maho. Much feared is the ruins of the minor Kuma clan, which turned to maho during the turbulent times in the 7^th century and were so extinguished.

The Highland Provinces: Rough and untamed, these thinly inhabited mountain forests are a persistent problem for every type of Rokugan government, due to their isolation and hence individualism. Petty wars and banditry are rife here, and rumours long circle that some samurai or jizamurai families have formed leagues of self-governance and mercenary bands, the Ninja schools. Worse is the vast Shinomen Forest which stretches from here up into the central spine of the mainland, full of hostile spirits and monsters. Much of the coast until a north-eastern spur belongs to the Mirumoto clan, the spur in question is part of the great highland territory of the Bayushi clan, who are ill-regarded yet one of the most senior survivors of the Sasori Uji Clan.

The mountain-bracketed strip of coastline where the Highland and Mountain Provinces meet is split between several minor clans. The Mukade, also known as the Moshi family of retainers to the old Fenghoo Uji Clan. It used to be home to the ancestors of the Shiba clan and gives them control of vital shrines. The Ashinagabachi clan, formerly the famed archers retainers of the Tsuruchi family. Is wedged between the Bayushi and the Central Provinces. Created by a Douji Emerald Champion to spite the Bayushi and descending from the mountains to the flatland.

The Mountain Provinces: The central spine of Rokugan continues to divide the territory into thin valleys and coastal flatland. Though the highland grasslands and meadows support herds of horses and other beasts, surreptitiously eaten as needed. The Yogo clan haunts the valleys of the western side, rumoured to be cursed. The rest of the rugged western coast is the land of the Agasha clan, which once strengthen authority against the Yobanjin. Infamously, the Tanuki clan, a minor clan of Shinonmen Forest explorers once existed here. But fell from the Bushi and now apparently exist as sake brewers.

Much of the coast and highlands above the riverine flats is the domain of the Aokodo clan. Fiercest and most valiant of the warriors, they have long grown tired of the Douji’s control over the court and their patronage of the Shinjo clan. For the returning Shinjo were appointed shugo of the highland plateaus and meadows to raise their calvary. But both clans maintain a reputation for honour and exercise it well on the battlefield. The minor clan Saru, formerly the Toku retainers, independently maintains the pass between the Yogo and Akodo with their fortress. Amid the flatlands are the perfunctory holdings of the Kawauso clan. Their base from which to make the long coastal journey to the waterways of other island regions.

Of note is the northern island of Kaigen, an otherwise forgotten place is the minor clan of the Nekoma. Using the relative freedom of their isolation to patron unorthodox theatre and acrobatics. Still, they are as dangerous as any clan.

The River Plain: This was the mightiest of lands, where the Emerald Champion was forged and the Tora Uji Clan carved out territory against the Yobanjin. Much of the plain is swampy and unfit for defensive works, but the drier sections are well controlled. In the highalnds and along the upper portions of river is the Ikoma clan, who masterminded victories in past days. The southern western portions are the stronghold of the Dai-Douji clan, closely related to the main clan to the west. Once the centre of the Douji and capital of Rokugan during their early domination. It is now merely a major centre of rice and warriors. The perceptive Kitsuki clan maintain a few temples and settlements along the east coast, almost squashed into the swamps. Their settlements also share many members of the Ide clan, who have taken up much of the eastern half of the region to herd their horses or cultivate gardens.

The Northern Provinces: Wild and untamed is how most the population of Rokugan see the northern provinces. It is far colder and far less populated. Endless forests and mountains plunge into foaming waters. Rumours speak of villages of Yobanjin hidden away and ready to kill any who come across them. The peasant too, as frequently suspected of being disgruntled Yobanjin with only the faintest veneer of civility. For this reason, the three clans appointed as shugo were chosen for their approach. The eastern Matsu clan bring violence; they both are masters of their land and extort their retainers to more glory elsewhere. The western Moto clan were appointed for being strange and foreign, they both are barbarians and have no links but to the southern clans. The Isawa clan brings religious authority of the south. But rumours circulate they are Yobanjin in disguise.

Compounding fears of barbarians is the fate of the minor Hebi clan, an otherwise loyal southern anchor. Though served well by their valley home, they fell into the use of maho by a corrupting yokai. Following their discovery and purge, the valley was given to an ambitious member of the Shinjo clan as the minor Ushi clan. Their more northernly minor neighbours, the Anaguma clan, formerly the Ichiro retainers of the Kani and Ki-Rin were the first Rokugan forces to establish a foothold in the north and the least successful.

Far Islands: Beyond the north is the wilder islands where the Yobanjin still live and resist. Here is where the Shiba clan have carved out territory along the coast to extract the valuable furs, timber and animist spirits. They do descend from the Fenghoo Uji Clan but have close links with the Isawa since their move north. The Fureheshu retainers of the Anaguma clan have also joined in the colonisation efforts. It is thought that they might seek to be raised to that of a minor clan to prevent the Shiba from laying claim to the entire region.