[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.
