Campaign Setting

[jemmus]

Campaign Setting
It is the year 1179 C.E. in Nippon. The divine Emperor Takakura reigns in Kyoto. But for a few generations the throne has been controlled by the Fujiwara clan of aristocrats. They have married their daughters to the Emperors and but their grandchildren on the throne.

But threats to Fujiwara power have arisen. To the east, the Minamoto clan and its cadet clans. To the west, the Taira clan and its cadets. Both are descendants of the sons of Emperors, younger sons who were not eligible to succeed to the throne. Years ago an Emperor gave them extensive lands in the provinces and sent them away to tend them. Over the years, the Minamoto and Taira became warrior clans. Their numbers have grown vastly, as have their armored and mounted samurai armies and their control of the countryside and its wealth.

At the same time, the wealth and power of the great temples in and around Kyoto has steadily grown. Long ago, and Emperor exponent of the newly-arrived Buddhist religion gave its temples, rather than subsidies from Imperial wealth, tax-free status and vast tracts of lands in the distant countryside. Later Emperors and their Regents came to regret that. The temples control great wealth, and enjoy the devotion of believers of all ranks, but urban and rural. And each has multitudes of fierce sohei soldier-monks for its defense. Or otherwise.

So now, the Taira have grown so powerful as to be able to compete with the Fujiwara as controllers of the throne. Their ambitious clan leader Taira no Kiyomori has cleverly and unscrupulously played retired Emperors and their lines against the current Emperor Takakura, and so manipulated himself into the office of Daijō Daijin, the Regent and de facto administrator of the Imperial realm. The jealous Minamoto did not fail to notice.

This is the land of Nippon that the rather motley band of fellow travelers set out on, seeking practice at their professions, wealth perhaps, honor and glory. For this one, a sword quest, to test his mettle against the weapons and claws of all of the world. For that one, an escape from the dull, crass life of a merchant. For another, something beyond a life spent in a gambling den, hustling for coins every day and surrendering most of them to the bosses, the gang, and the local rulers and their samurai police. And for yet others, perhaps a chance to erase the family’s shame at their lord’s defeat in battle, and become not criminals, but samurai once again.

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Fuujin, the Wind God
Fuujin is the god of the wind. He's portrayed as a male o-bakemono in a just a loincloth. "He" (really, "it," because the kami has a supra-human, elemental psyche that is nothing like a human's) has 80,000 of manifestation of himself on Tenka ("under Heaven," Earth), all of the time, it is thought. They run through the air releasing the winds from the bags carried over their shoulders. Tens of thousands of them my dash at Nippon from sea to shore at once, to create a typhoon. Fuujin releases his avatars and his winds from the sky, without regard to what's below. Sea, land, mountain, town. Becalmed or driven shipwrecked ship, roofless village in winter. Churning seas and fish unable to feed, birds' nests and egg blown away. No matter.

"You and your kids knew what you were in for and decided to grow up, didn't you? If you decide not to, no matter to me, is it?" But that's putting words into the the spirit of the wind itself.

Fuujin's sibling is Raijen, Kami of Thunder and Lightning. They're twins-- well, litter mates maybe. Neither is greater than the other, but they don't care. Fuujin has 80,000 manifestation, Raijin only 10,000. It's enough. Fuujin's winds appear everyday. Usually in Nippon there's just a soft a steady rain. But when Raijin joins in, it becomes a festival to cleanse all of Tenka. Dark moonlit clouds sweep low over Nippon. Thunder, from far away and now close, booms, echoes, and fades. Until the next one. Samurai, their wives, children, and servants huddle under blankets, eyes wide listening. Born samurai recall the old saying, "I'm not afraid of anything at all! Except for dad's anger and thunder."

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The province of Shinano is a little east of the center of the map.


A mountainous area, like most of Nippon.

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NPC and PC Names
Only landowning samurai and ronin have family names. For example, Neno no Saburo ("Saburo of Neno," with Neno being the name of a place). It's the same as aristocratic European names (de Tocqueville, von Richthofen, etc.) Other castes have only a given name ("Saburo")

Gakusho and other characters who are members Buddhist temples have Buddhist names. For example, Kakuon ("Awakening Sound"). http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVLPages/ZenPag ... es1.html#K If they are samurai or ronin, they also have a family name, e.g. Neno no Kakuon.

[jemmus]

The Aristocracy, and Social Ranks in Nippon
The kuge are the hereditary aristocracy of Nippon. They are very sophisticated socialites and far beyond the word "snobby." Non-kuge, including samurai, are not much more than beasts to them. They consider the samurai their soldiers and servants. Indeed, the word samurai means "a servant; and inferior who waits on a superior." They disdain the provinces and live in the capital of Kyoto, though a few eccentric ones still live in the old capital of Nara.

These are the defined ranks of the people living in Nippon.
-Rank 4 - The divine Emperor, descended from the god Izangi and the goddess Izanami
-Ranks 1-3 - The three ranks of the kuge aristocrats
-Samurai
-Heimin farmers. Wealth is based on food, and they produce the food. And besides, they're the most populous group. So they're the to-ranked heimin.
-Heimin artisans. They produce things of value to civilization.
-Heimin merchants. Grubbing for money is so undignified. Besides, Ranks 1-3 and the samurai sometimes have to borrow money from them, and keeping them in their place is good business strategy.
-Eta. People whose livelihoods are earned by doing the dirty work of handling impure things.
-Captured criminals. People who have the misfortune of being assigned this rank usually don't live to not enjoy it for long.

The rank of Buddhist clergy is relative to the situation. They're somewhat outside of the system, with a defined internal ranking of their own. Heimin generally look up to them, kuge down on them. Samurai may accord them respect, depending on the individual samurai's devotion to Buddhism.

Shinto priests and shrine maidens are accorded respect by about everyone. They keep Nippon pure, and show the people's respect for the many, many kami (gods, spirits, demiurges) great and small that reside throughout Nippon. Everyone is superstitious, and no on wants to mess with the kami.

Foreigners are a wild card. If official visitors, they could be pampered and feted as Rank 1 to 3. If not, they'll be treated as captured criminal rank on up the spectrum to heimin farmer, depending on the sensibilities of the perplexed individual or mob.

We'll be following the Bushido rulebook's rules on Personal Status and Encounters. But each character in the world is a member of several Groups. Example: A Heimin Bushi is a member of the Bushi group. When interacting with other Bushi, his Group Status will be pretty low. But if he's interacting with other Heimin and he's from farmer stock, his Group Status will be relative high compared to artisans and merchants. I might add or subtract a low percentage, maybe + or - 5%. Sometimes that makes all of the difference, though.

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Ikko-Ikki, Militant Religious Order
The Ikko-Ikki are a militant Buddhist religious order, originally comprised of samurai small landowners rebelling against provincial daimyo seizing their lands. Later, many absconding serf peasants joined them. They've come to dominate the province of Noto on the north coast of Japan. They have a strong fortress there and many, many ashigaru and sohei monks. The kuge and samurai despise the Ikko-Ikki, and fear that they will encourage other peasants to rebel. But there is nothing they can do. Professional armies that have been sent against them have returned defeated. The Ikko-Ikki are just too many, and they fight with savagery and no regard for the concept of honor.

The Ikko-Ikki are famous for the story of the hair rope. They were building a huge temple, and the main roof beam was so massive that it couldn't be lifted with an ordinary straw rope. So the Ikko-Ikki women shaved their heads and donated their beautiful black hair to the sect and the Buddha. It was woven into an incredibly strong rope about about a yard in diameter, and the beam was raised into its place.

[Enoch]

I get the sense that there's a lot of mythology around women's hair in feudal Japan.

[jemmus]

Yeah, women's hair was a big thing. It was considered their main beauty point. (Along with the backs of their necks). That makes the story of the Ikko-Ikki women so famous. They sacrificed what they'd been growing and carefully tending for years. You can still see the rope in the Hongan-ji temple in Osaka. (In Nippon the Ikko-Ikki are just in Noto. In real Japan there were strongholds at various places around the country).

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Stealth Assassins
Ninja ("one who endures") and shinobi ("hiding one") are two names for the same professional spy-assassin. In modern Japan shinobi is used more.

Historically, ninja originated as autonomous small landowner samurai bushi. When the Shogunate tried to expand its power over their territory, they rebelled and became guerilla fighters. Over the years they be came expert guerillas and "dirty tricks" fighters, and developed ninjutsu/shinobi-jutsu. (Historically, they're two names for the same jutsu). Eventually the guerillas were dispersed and driven underground, but they passed ninjutsu on to their heirs. The daimyo found their skills useful, mostly for spying and infiltration, and for defense against both. But occasionally they were given assassination missions.

The most famous of the ninja clans were the Iga clan of Iga and the Koga clan of Mino. I would assume their styles of ninjutsu were very different.

In Japanese folklore, ninja did various hand postures just before setting out on a dangerous action. They're called the kuji-kiri (nine cuts/seals). Some people believe they were to focus the mind, similar to the mudra hand postures used in Buddhist meditation. Others believe they were instead a kind of sinister magic.

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The Current Court and Politics

This is a long read and completely elective. You don't need to read it to keep up with what happens to the PCs in the game. This may remind some people of Game of Thrones or the English War of the Roses, but it's mostly real history.

Characters
Emperor Takakura – Emperor of Nippon, Son of Heaven
Fujiwara family – A powerful family of kuge aristocrats who for many years manipulated Imperial successions
Taira clan - Descendants of royal princes sent away to the provinces to avoid having too many rival heirs in the capital
Minamoto clan – Also rural descendants of princes, sent away the same as the Taira

In this year of 1179, Takakura is the divine Emperor of Nippon. He lives in Kyoto in great luxury. He has many concubines and kuge mistresses, as well as his official wife consort. He is the Son of Heaven, the embodiment of the Nipponese people and its soul, at the pinnacle of Nipponese culture, which is superior to all others.

But for many years now, most of the Emperors have been only symbols of the state, not real rulers. The real power is with the Regents from the Kyoto kuge aristocracy. They administer the Empire on behalf of the Son of Heaven. They provide the Emperor with a very ample stipend and maintain his splendid palace and gardens, but they have the actual control of the wealth of the Empire. It is a both a very lucrative and very powerful position to be in.

But the regents haven’t stopped there. They’ve maneuvered to have their daughters married to the Emperor and they’ve put the sons of the daughters on the Imperial throne. For many years, the Fujiwara family of kuge outmaneuvered all rivals and made the post of Regent unofficially hereditary to them. But plotting and power plays by rival kuge families ceased never ceased. The Fujiwara rule by intrigue required that each successor to power always be as cunning and capable as his predecessor. For the Fujiwara, the moment of the weak successor eventually and came.

A member of the Taira clan made his move. Taira no Kiyomori was a man of great cleverness and talent. He was also a man of limitless ambition and one who was completely unhindered by naïve notions of fairness, conscience or honor. In league with many kuge, he was able to wreck the Fujiwara Regent’s reputation through innuendos, almost-true rumors and various entrapments. He was able to have him removed and take the position for himself.

Taira no Kiyomori

That was 23 years ago. In the years since Kiyomori has greatly grown the Taira’s wealth and placed its members and its allies in powerful positions, both in the capital and in the provinces. The rival clan the Minamoto and many of the kuge feel that the Taira have increased their wealth and power at their own expense. With the devious cleverness of the Fujiwara, but without their exquisite subtlety, the samurai-kuge Kiyomori has perhaps pushed too hard and too fast. The other elites see his brazen advancement of his own and his clan’s power not only as outrageously avaricious, but as insulting to themselves.

Among the common people, there is fear in Nippon that the balance of things in the Land of the Rising Sun has been disturbed. No one dares say it openly, but there is concern that disrupted the equanimity of the natural relationship between Son of Heaven and the people of Nippon. The Emperor may even be being disrespected. Only four months ago in the spring, tornado (a “dragon reel/winder,” a very rare thing in Nippon) descended from the sky and cut a path of destruction through the Imperial capital of Kyoto itself. There is a feeling that violence, assassination, purges or even war are coming. People are reminded of the saying, “When men war on men, only the gods of fire and hunger and the demons can smile.”

[jemmus]

The Post System
Nippon has a post and postal system, at least in the central part of the country. Every 15 to 20 miles on major roads are travelers' post stations. There are inns for room and board, and in larger towns, a separate post office for sending and receiving mail. At smaller posts/villages, the inn serves as the post office. The cost for sending a scroll is generally 10 silver per province (i.e. 10 sp to send to the next province, 20 sp to send to the next province after that, etc.) Mailing to a post within the province generally costs 5 sp. Parcels cost more. Deliveries to wilder, less civilized areas or to private residences generally aren't done. An exception is delivery to an easily identifiable residence, such as to a village o-ninyo's residence or a prominent merchant's shop.

PCs can expect to lodge in an inn at the end of every day; they shouldn't have to camp in the open unless they're in Rough or Mountainous terrain. In fact, doing so in plain site on Major Roads, Minor Roads, or in Clear terrain will arouse suspicion. Samurai of any rank my lose On if they're seen roughing it in the open. In most places, if a post can't be reached by the time for sleeping, there is usually the option of staying in a commoner's home. Personal Status can be used to try to compel a reluctant commoner to provide food and lodging. Even if compelled to house the PC, the commoner will expect reasonable compensation. If travelers don't do so, the commoner would probably complain the local o-ninyo samurai manager.

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Kai Province and Map Distances
Nippon isn't a very big place. This map shows towns and posts along the main highway through Kai province. It might seem like a spoiler, but the PCs are from Nippon and they know about how far towns and villages are, in this mountainous region of Nippon, at least. Kai, Shinano, and surrounding central provinces are all the same--mountain ridges, flat valleys with rivers, rice paddies, and roads threading between between them. In flatter, more "urban" places such as around Kyoto and the old capital of Nara, the PCs guess that villages become towns, and towns become close to cities.

Throughout Nippon, no one can truly be confident about having a permanent right to earn a living or income from a spot of land. The Emperor, great temples, kuge nobles, samurai governors , militant armed Buddhist families, rebel bushi strongmen-- they all wanted the land. It was the source of wealth and power. A slight shift in the balance of power, and a rapid redistribution of control of spots of land. The heimin farmers know that, whoever the owner, they're still needed to work the land. But when intrigues shift into open, all-out war, their troubles begin. Groups of marauding samurai, ashigaru or ronin don't see peasants as valuable farm workers. They see them as helpless resources to be exploited.

[jemmus]

Shinto Devotions
Some Shinto devotions that I know of:
-Washing the face and hands and rinsing out the mouth with water, to cleanse oneself of any evil, pollutions or sins. Well water is preferred, especially water from a well near a shrine or a kami rock or tree. Salt is also used in place of water. (Salt is an important Shinto purifying agent).
-Presenting consumables at a shrine or kami place. Examples: Rice, rice cakes, vegetables, seaweed, fruit, salt, sake, water.
-Chanting a formal liturgy. I think it's a little different than a prayer establishing communion with a kami or making a request of it. Instead, it's using the spiritual potency of the spoken word to further purify oneself and the area.

Travelers in settled area of Nippon should come across a shrine in each day's travel. In wilder places, they should sometimes come across kami stones or trees. They're easily identified by anyone by the zigzag folded white paper adorning them.


If a well, salt, shrine or kami rock or tree aren't available, a place in nature that feels "right" to the Shintoist can be used. It will usually be a place with a certain distinct character. Perhaps it has a picturesque view, or the sight and sound of a mountain stream or an ocean. It can even be in a gloomier place, such as in the shadow of a great cold rock. Any good place can assist a Shintoist with cleansing themselves of the day's pollution and becoming pure in body, mind and heart.

[Marullus]

A Shinto Gakusho must perform prayers at dawn with a clear view of the sun (this is when they regain their Power).

Code: Select all

Expended Power may be recovered by Gakusho at sunrise, as is
the Power of the Shugenja. Shinto priests must be in clear sight of the
dawn sky, since their Power derives from Amaterasu, Goddess of the
Sun.

This was a good reference that helped me with symbols and terms:
https://www.tsunagujapan.com/shinto-sym ... d-history/

Most of the things are about purity and pollution. You cleanse yourself, then you enter a secret space where a Kami is known to live which is demarcated by a Torii gate, special trees, or ropes with the hanging signs.

It is similar to other nature worship, as Kami are part of nature and spirits of the natural world, living in rocks, trees, etc.

The setting differentiates Shinto as dealing with the living world and this life, including the Kami who are spirits of nature bound to the physical realm, while Buddhism addresses issues of the soul, life/death, Karma, and reincarnation.

[jemmus]

Sumi-e
One of the fine arts in Bushido is sumi-e ["ink picture"]. It's a very tricky style of painting. Like Western watercolors, once the pigment is applied to the paper, it can't be erased. And trying to touch it up much will make the painting look muddy. Sumi-e may be even more tricky than watercolors, because often shading must be done with one stroke. The artist wets the brush with lighter (more diluted with water) ink toward the base of its hairs, then darker ink in the middle, then darkest ink at the tip. The three liquids will naturally blend at their boundaries, so that a spectrum of shades of gray to black pigment is in the brush. The problem is, the artist can't really see the shades of light to dark are loaded into her brush.

The artist then makes the stroke on the paper, smoothly and without stopping, do or die. If he stops or hesitates, the ink will accumulate at that spot, make an obvious darker spot there, and spoil the painting. For that reason, samurai often compared sumi-e and ink calligraphy to kenjutsu swordsmanship. In all of them, calm, smooth and fearless action is needed. If you worry and hesitate at any point, you will fail at the painting/be cut down and die.

[jemmus]

[jemmus]

Kofu Shrines, Temples and Schools
Here's a link to information on Kofu's places for study, from the Honor Bound module. https://www.dropbox.com/s/6h25a1rjd15ty ... s.pdf?dl=0

The descriptions of the facilities assign each NPC teacher a letter. Then after each skill available for learning are the letters of who teaches it. (In the example below, I haven't figured out what the "(11)" means as yet.

Senior Staff: Sato Tetsuya (B) and Kudo Hideo (C (Level 6 Gakusho); Takahashi Yutaka (Level 5; D); Sasaki Satoru (E) and Ito Masashi (F) (Level 4); Watanabe Yoshi (Level 3; G); Kimura Zoki (Level 2; H).
Divination A, B, C, D, E, F (11).

These are rolled teachers (not from the module)
Name Saburo Iwataki no Ryusuke Noriko
School No name dojo No name dojo Her home
Caste Middle heimin (farmer) Middle ronin High heimin (artisan)
Level 4 3 5
Skill Kenjutsu, tantojutsu Kyujutsu Shugendo, All Schools
Master Yes No No
(99 skill)

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The Takeda Clan
The Takeda are an historical samurai clan famed for their horses and horsemen. Both were the best in Japan. In the 1500s their daimyo of Kai Takeda Shingen achieved fame as perhaps the best battlefield general in the country. But he lacked in real wealth, and strength on the battlefield turned away from samurai cavalry and toward well-trained ashigaru with expensive arquebus firearms. Sadly, Shingen's son wasn't as insightful as dad, and the Battle of Nagashino saw the end of the age of the horse and the beginning of the real age of tech and firearms.

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Genpei War Battles
In this era, the bushi's primary weapon is his bow. Samurai bushi are almost all mounted. Battles between armies are simple-- the two sides ride up to each other, and individual bushi ride forward and issue challenges. "I am Ikeda no Tsuneyoshi, son of Ikeda no Tsunehiro, who took six heads at the Battle of Uji Bridge. My grandfather was Seta no Hideteru, who slew the great earth spider of Izumo. I challenge any one of you to single combat!" Someone from the other side rides forward, recites his own pedigree, and accepts the challenge. The two ride at each other shooting arrows. If that doesn't finish one of them off, they go at each other with katana from horseback. Often they end up grappling each other and falling to the ground, where one finishes the other with a tanto or aiguchi and removes his head and carries it back to his troop as a trophy.

After two or three rounds of these, the vengeance of kinsmen of the slain can't wait, many, many arrows fly, and the horsemen charge each other. The foot samurai and ashigaru follow and it becomes a general melee.* The battle continues until one side knows it can't win. They withdraw if they can, or they rout, with pursuit by the enemy intent on taking heads. At that point, it became utter chaos. A common story is a fleeing wounded bushi gets chased down on a mountainside or in a clearing in a bamboo grove. He desperately attacks (Somebody of Some Clan) and wounds him in the thigh. But (Another Somebody of Some Clan) charges from the side, stabs him with a yari, and takes his head. When the battle is finally done, the bushi wash the heads, arrange their hair, and one by one present to them to their general as proof of their valor in combat.

*Bushido's ashigaru aren't exactly historically accurate for this period (1180 C.E., Heian Period, Genpei War). Around 150 years later they appeared as thugs in the capital who were armed and armored for fighting among various political factions. But it wasn't until around 1500 that they became organized units of soldiers for field battles. But this is Nippon, not historical Japan. Bushido takes the most interesting things from different periods and nicely mixes them together for a more interesting game. I can't begin to imagine how they found all of the information on details of feudal Japan back then. There weren't that many popular press books on it in English, and there was no internet. Maybe they used their library cards and inter-library loan, waited, and took good notes.

[jemmus]

Head Divination

I forgot all about this until I was looking at one of my Japan popular press samurai history books (that I honestly can't read very well. Literacy BCS around maybe around 4 or so. ). When a bushi took a head in battle, the expression on the face was a portent. Top row, left to right, then bottom row, left to right.

Buddha expression - Peace for the taker and victim. 10% chance.
Looking toward Heaven - Good fortune for the taker. (Except for the Takeda, who considered it bad fortune). 17% chance.
Looking toward Earth - Bad fortune for the taker. (Takeda also the exception here). 17% chance.
Grinding teeth, on eye closed, one looking to the left - Bad trouble for the taker. He should burn incense by the head and pray for it's peaceful repose. And hope that works. 10% chance.
Eyes left - Good fortune for the victim's clan/battle allies. 23% chance.
Eyes right - Good fortune for the taker's clan/battle allies. 23% chance.

If either of the bushi want to retroactively roll for their heads, they can do that. Good luck effects and bad luck effects are cumulative, up to max of +1 or -1 to BCSes and STs. Effects last for a season (3 months). Effects are removable by successful gakusho spells.

Or we can skip this nasty grisliness.