CatJones
Amateur Weeb
A Feudal Era Tale
The Village of Kenkawa
1598. The country if Japan has only recently ended one of the longest and bloodiest civil wars in its history. In the seat of the Shogun sits Toyotomi Hideyoshi, ailing and old. He was an upstart in every sense of the word. He had begun his career as a sandal bearer to the lord of the Oda, Oda Nobunaga, before proving himself as a man of many talents. He had once built a fortress overnight at the foot of an enemy castle. He founded secret routes in to enemy territory. He could convince enemy lords to leave the service of their daimyo. But the mainland, that was what had done him in. In his efforts to bring stability to a nation full of warriors with no other skills during an outbreak of peace, he had plotted to take over the peninsula of Korea.
What a grand plan it had been, two birds with one stone. The samurai and daimyo would have a common enemy to fight so he could fix the infrastructure of their island nation. But it was not to be. All of the great clans, and a a great many of the smaller ones, had come together to form Japans first united military since the Mongolians had invaded three hundred years prior. The combined arms of hundreds of thousands of skilled warriors, generals, strategists, sailors, craftsmen, spies, everything Japan could throw into making an Empire out of a nation. Only for it to be dashed upon the rocks.
Six years of war. Six long years of setback after setback, loss followed by victory, victory followed by loss, then loss after loss. The people's spirit had broken long before they had run out of men to throw into battle. It wasn't the land war they were losing but the sea. Even the Mori, great shipbuilders and master sailors, were at a loss for words at the notion of being swept away by the tide of Korean ships. Worse yet, even the Gods abandoned them. The invasion was canceled after one final push. The daimyo were complaining that they had expended the majority of their armies holding up the war front. They were expended. He would have to pull the army back less there be no one to protect Japan from outsiders.
On the return voyage, a great storm came about, out of season and out of the nightmares of any sailor. The entire fleet was destroyed; not a single ship returned from the failed Korean invasion. With the new laws in place, peasants were exempt from military service, they couldn't even own a weapon. The daimyo of Japan only had their personal guards to keep the peace of the nation. Even he, the Shogun, had only his very tiny number of reserves to keep the clans in line. Overnight the clans began to squabble again, peasants were once more drafted into the military and given arms. Everything was back on the precipice of disaster, 40 years of work almost undone in six.
Bandits roam the countryside in swarms. Rouge daimyo aim to replace the failed Shogun. The nation is on the brink. Yet, it is in the fires of war and disaster that tales of humanity rising up to face the overwhelming cruelty of reality shine the brightest. This is one such tale.
It is the tale of a village preyed upon by bandits seeking to take what they cannot create by their own will alone. Or perhaps, there is something more valuable in this tiny village? The village is offering food, lodging and a less-then-meager pay to protect them from bandits. In a time where the clans don't trust each other, the majority of the military age populace has been recruited, and the law either abandoned or ignored, such a job is a stroke of amazing luck.
Hello! Welcome to my RP. Taking inspiration from the classic Japanese action movies of Kurosawa, video games like Ghost of Tsushima, a few other more historically accurate sources, and a little convincing from a certain person, I've decided to try and run a samurai based RP. There will be action, a story and a few side quests involved. This is a work of historical fiction, obviously, but I've taken some liberties with certain things to make a more uniquely chaotic Japan. We will be looking for about five to six people. I know I already have one person interested in joining.
First, some basic ground rules. Obviously the RPNation rules apply by default. However, the following apply as well:
- Minimum of a paragraph for a post. Its understandable that we all have lives off the site. However, its equally easy to sit down and hammer out a paragraph. I would of course prefer some elegance and eloquence with you prose but I'm not asking you to rewrite Hamlet with each post.
- No power/god moding. This RP will have plenty of moments for you to show off being a badass, don't worry. Don't try and control other peoples characters and understand that no matter how skilled your character is, they can still get hurt. Death will be reserved for doing something understandably stupid in the heat of the moment, but I'll be fair enough to let you know that maybe jumping off a small cliff to do a super sick stealth assassination might not be good for your internal organs.
- Don't be that guy. If you're joining this you have some love for the idea of either Japan, samurai or both. But someone else might not be as well researched as you are in some things. I know that if you wanted me to describe tea ceremony I would just shrug my shoulders and say 'don't know'. This isn't reason to talk down to someone. This isn't a historical recreation. If someone used the wrong word or a concept that isn't time period accurate, just roll with it.
- Have fun.
That being said, there is also a few other small things to go over in regards to this alternate Japan. Firstly, women are just going to be shuffled into being samurai and other classes. I'm aware of onna-bugeisha. But I'm going to make it easier and just say that women can be samurai without a unique name for them. Men will still make up the majority of the samurai class. Secondly, guns are going to be a no go (Fite me). I understand they were there and were a major part of Japanese warfare but this RP will roll a lot better without them. Third, no gaijin. I know that this is before the start of Japans isolation period but this is meant to be about samurai and Japan. Fourth, this RP will be using anime or realistically drawn characters to portray what the character looks like. Lastly, this is not a supernatural RP, so if you want to play a character who can jump six stories or kill five men just by unsheathing his sword, you might want to look elsewhere.
There will be a simple class system, kind of like a archetype for your character. This will change what gear will be available for your character as some classes are not not designed for the same kind of combat as others. The classes will be further explained in the character creation sheets but if you have any burning questions that just can't wait to be answered, feel free to ask them.
Classes:
Samurai
Ronin
Ninja
Sohei
Thief/Bandit
Ashigaru
Peasant
Geisha
Merchant
With all of this being said, I hope I've caught your attention and you're interested enough to join this wild ride. Thank you for your time.
MocaPoka
