This account relays the results of the Kotei 2010 victories for the first week of the season, as well as the results of the online Imperial Assembly votes associated with the 2010 Mega-Game.
The State of the Empire
An Account of the Divine Empress’ Subjects’ Activities during This Time of War
The Second Week of the Month of the Tiger, year 1171
My most divine Empress,
At your request, I have spent considerable time over the past ten days compiling as many reports as have been received in an attempt to gain some measure of idea what the status of your loyal subjects is at this point in time. I know that reports come in to the Imperial City at a steady pace, but these are from a variety of sources and can often be in conflict with one another over even events of significant importance. Toward this end, to gain as impartial a measure of the Empire’s status as possible, I am depending solely upon the eyewitness accounts of my own Miya heralds. If this in any way displeases you, Divine One, I will of course use whatever means you prefer. I hope that you will agree this is likely our most accurate available information, however.
I suppose it goes without saying that the battles in the northern and southern reaches of the Empire are at present our most pressing concerns. The renewed Army of Fire presses in the north, but slowly. The Dragon and Phoenix are still recovering from the previous war last year, and we can but thank the Heavens that the toll your armies took upon the Army of Fire was so great that now our enemies must move carefully. It would seem they have can no longer spare forces for the insane suicide assaults that hurt the Dragon and Phoenix so badly before. At the insistence of the Dragon officers with whom my herald conferred during his time in the north, I am to report that the Badger and Ox clans have both contributed as much as possible to the effort to stymie the Army of Fire as well. The Ox emerged from the first war remarkably intact, but the Badger have suffered greatly, and are able to contribute very little. Still, what they have, they send, and they have not requested Imperial aid. They are a hardy people, and I think it is this trait that bonds them so with the Dragon Clan during this time of strife.
Notable incidents that have recently taken place in the north are largely related to the continued insertion of the Dark Oracle of Fire’s forces into the Empire. Two larger groups attempted to circumvent the northern clans’ blockade this week. One managed to slip past the sparse guards and reach the Dragon Heart Plain, but Ox scouts detected them and informed the Phoenix. My herald reports that the Champion herself removed the unit known as the Legion of Flame and risked leaving the Phoenix border weakened to intercept and destroy these gaijin before they could reach the Empire’s interior. I praise the Fortunes that Tsukimi-sama and her men were able to return to the Phoenix front before the Dark Oracle could capitalize upon their absence!
A large scouting force of the Army of Fire pushed forward into the central Dragon lands, but were successfully caught in pincer attack by two relatively young Mirumoto officers, Mirumoto Bokusui, and Mirumoto Hojatsu. Reports indicate that the southern half of the Dragon forces, led by Bokusui after his superior fell in battle, was aided by a number of sohei monks not of the Togashi order. In fact, my herald reports that Bokusui allowed the sohei to commandeer the supplies of the fallen gaijin for their own use, which appears to have been a point of contention between the two Dragon officers. Although not of superior rank, it seems that Hojatsu took great issue with Bokusui’s actions in this regard, and my herald feared for a moment that the victory might be spoiled by a duel. Thankfully, that did not occur. I currently have a herald dispatched to the Brotherhood of Shinsei to determine what exactly the purpose of this exchange of supplies was, but I will likely not hear back from Tanari for at least a few weeks.
The southern front continues to be some of the fiercest fighting that I have seen in my lifetime, despite the horrible conflicts I have already witnessed. Some among my younger heralds who have traveled to the southern front have been horribly traumatized by the sight of the war being waged, and while they remain dutiful, I am deeply troubled by how detrimental the war may be to the samurai fighting it, if my heralds could be so affected so quickly. Now that the Destroyers have pushed farther into the Empire, it seems that they are more willing to send splinter units in an attempt to penetrate the interior, rather than the unified assault that they have been waging up until this point. My agents returned with information concerning military units from the Destroyers that have attempted to gain entrance to as yet unoccupied regions. One was halted by a truly fearsome Crab detachment known as Amoro’s Legion, a group that my herald insisted was the only thing in the mortal realm that he fears more than the gajin demons he witnessed among the Destroyers. The other was intercepted by an elite unit of Tsuruchi archers led by Tsuruchi Nobumoto himself. I am told that Nobumoto-sama is advised by a vassal of the Imperial Treasurer, a man named Yoritomo Tatsuhiko. I do not know what interest your distinguished Treasurer has in such a conflict, but fortunately such matters are not for a simple herald such as myself.
I would be greatly comforted if I could but report that while these terrible battles are being waged, the central Empire is at peace. Unfortunately, my Empress, I cannot do so, for the Empire is troubled throughout. The continued spread of the plague that has vexed Rokugan so badly remains unchecked, and is of particular concern in the lands of the Crane and Scorpion clans. Both are taking extreme measures to control the spread within their lands, and it is my hope that, once they have done so, they will secure their borders to ensure the infection does not spread further.
It is possibly because of their actions in containing the disease, or perhaps because of the tragic but absolutely necessary fate of the Horiuchi family, that the Unicorn have been forced to deal with a small scale uprising of the lower castes within their own lands. From what my herald has told me, it seems that the people feared that the appearance of the plague in their village would result in the entire village being ruthlessly sacrificed, and they fought to prevent such a fate. Unfortunately in doing so it seems they brought such a fate to pass, as the Khan had not choice but to sanction the village for treason as well as disease. I fear it will not be the last such tragedy.
There appear to be those within the Empire who are attempting to exploit the current situation to their own advantage, as nauseating as such an act might be. With the Lion forces so heavily deployed in the south, a large force of bandits attempted to raid one of the clan’s storehouses along their western border. Unfortunately for the filth, a single Matsu samurai-ko named Mari, along with a dozen Ikoma guardsmen, proved more than equal to the task of eradicating more than two dozen bandits. What troubles me even more than such predation, however, is the indication Mari-san discovered that there was a much larger force of bandits preparing for a potential raid into the Crab villages near the front line, where they believed they could easily acquire large amounts of military supplies. Mari-san and one of my heralds took a force to intercept these individuals near the Shinomen, but discovered the entire force of bandits slaughtered to a man. The individual that the Lion believe was the bandit lord had a war banner driven through his chest and was left to die slowly on the field of battle. The banner bore the mon of the Spider Clan. I do not know what you wish to come of this information, but Matsu Mari has sworn her patrol to silence upon pain of death, and I have reassigned the herald involved into historical research so that he might not pass on the information, even if inadvertently. I await your command in this matter, my Empress.
This is the account of the Empire in the second year of the reign of Empress Iweko I, the Divine Child of Heaven, noted by her loyal and unworthy subject Miya Shoin, the Imperial Herald of Rokugan.
