The latest episode of the Strange Assembly podcast is now available for download! L5R Continuity Editor Fred Wan joins Chris to talk about some more Legend of the Five Rings historical and background setting topics. This time up, it’s the nature of the Scorpion (actual and perceived) and that whole Tamori/Agasha thing.
Strange Assembly – Episode 173 – Scorpion Fan Service
Programming Note: Due to work commitments, it will likely be several weeks until another episode of the podcast drops.
I realize this is old now, but I wanted to comment. It’s always great to hear Fred talk about the story, and I always think it’s impressive that the story team comes on the podcast. One issue I had: Fred stated that the Scorpion are theoretically that need to be done. The problem, is that this perspective is only valid from the Emperor’s state. Eta touch dead things, as is their job, but it doesn’t make them worthy of respect in the eyes of most samurai. The problem with that line of thinking is that it’s just not necessary to have an entire great clan devoted to once every 20 or 30 years killing one person (who honestly could be easily enough dealt with through duels etc). If the Scorpion are supposed to be pruning out problems at the behest of the Emperor, we’d actually need to heel waaaaay too much to be respected.
Similarly, if the Scorpion are supposed to be villains, I’d love to hear how they get political power. You can’t derive power just because everyone is afraid of you saying something nasty about them. They would have a huge credibility problem. It’s a bit of a stretch for a clan to wear a mask to let everyone know they are lying, and then somehow have everyone treat them as though they were as credible as anyone else.
My basic complaint about the Scorpion is that they can’t operate all by just threats and blackmail. They need to be providing actual positive benefits (in exchange for favors), and would need to do so the vast majority of the time, otherwise everyone would avoid them and disregard their comments. If you know one clan slanders people constantly, their slander is going to have less and less of an impact. People in Rokugan keep grudges, and the Scorpion would have to be very careful to not over-extend themselves.
Similarly, if the Scorpion were supposed to keep Rokugan safe from threats that aren’t yet seen, I think this needs to be captured more often in the story. I realize brand has some mandates, but having Lion find the Yodotai (and no one really catching on about Pan-Ku long enough to take precautionary measures) kind of erodes their clan’s “job”, especially seeing as how incredibly narrow their role really is.