[Writer's Caveat: All this may change with the release of the lore book, nothing mentioned in this article is final GCT print. Besides Takashi Hida's death. There's no backing out of that one.]
This is a look at the current situation that the various factions in the
Jwar Isles find themselves in. As with most examinations of contemporary
events, there will be some analysis and recounting of past events. We will first examine the samurai clans of the Jwar Isles.
The Prefecture of Ryu finds itself on shaky ground. Rocked by multiple
crises at once, the ruling Takashi clan must adapt swiftly to survive. The
major crises are as follows: the succession of Takashi Hida; a tsunami; and finally,
the unexpected resurgence of the Shiho clan.
With the death of the ambitious and capable daimyo of the clan, Takashi Hida, the Takashi clan has splintered into two factions. Each faction is aligned with a different member of the ruling family. Normally primogeniture would grant Takashi Hiro, the eldest surviving son of Hida, the title of clan daimyo. As with many other succession crises, primogeniture can give way to powerful advisors and another family member simply being in the right place.
Takashi Hiro rules from Eddo, where he is daimyo of the home of the Takashi clan, but the capital of the Prefecture of Ryu is the city of Ryu. It is in the capital where Hida died, and the powerful samurai there rallied behind Hiro's cousin, Takashi Hagane; the daughter of the famed Takashi Hiroshi - the victor of the Battle of Hendai. Hagane has already addressed a number of state issues on behalf of the clan, but until the succession is firmly cemented in one way or another, the Takashi will remain divided.
A succession crisis is already an issue that can threaten a clan's survival, but the kami seem to have voiced their displeasure with a great tsunami sweeping over the fertile farmlands of eastern Jwar. Huge swathes of farmland were destroyed, not to mention the loss of long-term stores. Food shortages have become commonplace, and already frosty relations with the Minimoto clan have frayed badly.
The greatest symbolic threat to the Takashi clan is the return of Shiho Hiroto, the infamous Black Eagle. Despite his past as a renowned drunkard and conspicuous absence during the Dragon Wars, Hiroto’s return has both revitalised old loyalists and captured the public imagination. Hiroto has also brought a new warfare doctrine with him: guerrilla warfare. While this type of conflict is not unknown, it flies in the face of the more traditional form of pitched battle or formalised conflict practiced by the honourable samurai clans of the Golden Empire. The Shiho refuse any definitive single battle and instead whittle away at the Takashi clan at the fringes of their domain.
Luckily for the Takashi, those who could exploit these events have problems
of their own. The Minimoto could have used this opportunity to either seize
hegemony or force concessions from the Takashi. But the Minimoto lack one
critical resource: food.
The origin of this problem begins with the opening battle of the Dragon Wars: the Battle of Segwan. A small detachment of Minimoto were led by Takashi Akira, the daimyo’s eldest son. It was at this battle that Akira was slain by Shiho forces. Akira had been groomed as Hida’s heir and his death was a great personal blow to Hida – one that he would never forgive, and forever lay the blame at the feet of the Minimoto for not protecting his son.
At the conclusion of the Dragon Wars, the Minimoto returned to their mountain strongholds. Such terrain might be defensible but they are a far cry from the fertile farmlands of eastern Jwar when it comes to feeding the population. Traditionally the Minimoto have traded precious gems and fine metalwork for long-term food supplies such as barley.
It is this reliance on imported grain that Hida would exploit as an act of spiteful revenge. Shipments began to shrink in size, and larger amounts diverted to the imperial stores. It is important to note that imperial stores are property of the Golden Empire, and thus the Emperor. They can only be used in times of emergency and their release must be authorised by a direct imperial agent or the daimyo of the prefecture where such stores are located. Thus, a line of full, but inaccessible, storehouses began to appear at the borders of Minimoto lands.
While this served as a diplomatic irritation at best during times of peace, it has come to a head with the dual blows of tsunami and Takashi Hida’s demise. The food shortages in the east have simply halted food shipments to the Minimoto, and with no prefectural daimyo to release the imperial stores, the Minimoto have started to realise just how depleted their own reserves have become. They face the difficult choice of starving or breaking imperial law to seize the imperial stores that lie unused at the edges of their land.
One should make a careful note of where the Minimoto’s greatest source of expenditures lies: the Garrison of the Damned. By imperial edict the Garrison must maintain the open breach into the realms of the bakemono, a task that brings no glory and is greatly demanding in terms of resources. With the dwindling of food supplies, the Garrison has begun to weaken, something the seemingly endless bakemono are sure to exploit.
The last great threat to Takashi hegemony lies across the Silver Strait, the Ito clan. Famed for their treachery and cunning, these are the same traits that continue to turn the clan in on itself. The main barrier to an assault on Takashi holdings is simply the Silver Strait itself. It provides a natural bulwark against any Ito assault on Jwar. A secondary barrier to the Ito is a political one: they simply do not have permission to land armed forces on Jwar. Especially as the Ito have announced their split from the Prefecture of Ryu. Should they move any significant force to Jwar, the Ito are very likely to face imperial censure.
These barriers may be formidable, but they can be overcome. The Ito’s last impediment is one that is self-inflicted. Conflicts within the clan between the Orochi faithful and the older traditionalists grow each day. Ito Takuya enacts period purges against those who would threaten his position, but his heir, Itsunagi, has proven to be the closest thing to a messiah to the great serpent kami. This gives the younger Ito a large, but unstable, power base.
Takuya works to enforce this instability, continually reminding the shisai that it was not one of their number that fulfilled the prophecies to awaken Orochi. Instead, it was the work of Itsunagi that has empowered the great kami. This has proven to be a real thorn to the sisterhood that sits atop the temple of Orochi as Itsunagi does not care for their more measured approach, deeming it indecisive and weak. This situation continues to prove that the tripod is the most unstable of political structures.
