In city, smelly, smelly city — what humans eat? Just curious. Yes, Te’Ka is not to be saying anything bad about humans. Just curious if they eat dung or just smell of it. So city: Old Mir’ Id’ Tus say not city. Just town. Eh. Same-same. In town of human stench we to meet our companions of the road. We are directed to Kurooda, old man. 

Enter his house to see woman making bow to old man. She bow so low-low her hair touches ground. Hmm. Te’Ka’Mok great shaman of Third Whisker not a bow-bow. Small tilt of the head; a nod to say “I acknowledge my equal.” Yes-yes. That is the plan. Human girl leave and he turns to us. “Ah yes! Here is our healer! Te’Ka’Mok, your skills and fame proceed you like the lark announces the breaking of the day. You do honor us with your skills.” (Old humans talk like this, I guess) And he bow low-low to me.
“Ah. Yes. As humans say, ‘Many thanks yous.’ for the nice-nice words, Kurooda. I honored by the company and merely want to serve Rokugan.” I bow low-low.  Yes, I bow to human. So what? He say nice-nice-nice things to my face.

He make nice welcome to Mir’ Id’ Tus and Gami-Gami. Not as nice as my greeting, as it should be, but nice. We meet others. Nya and Tatsuoh, one Scorpion and one Lion. We meet Neiki, she who bowed so low to old Kurooda. She spirit folk, no wonder I no smell her! Very nice.

Kurooda invite us to slurp tea with him. Human thing, this tea slurping. Eh, tea taste OK. A bit gnaw-gnaw for me. Too much and I can feel eyeballs in my head moving apart. Happen to you, maybe? Slurping tea is good excuse to look at new companions of the road. Even Nezumi know this trick. I look at shiny helmet man, name Tatsuoh. His name not easy to say. I say “Tats-swoll.” Make Gami-Gami laugh when I do it wrong. Nice-nice armor. Old-old sword. Sharp and cruel. I feel the spirits that cling to the blade. Shiver at sight. Scorpion woman beside him name Nya. Easy name for not easy woman. She dress like man! How to be knowing the females, yes?

We tell our stories and slurp.

I talk about Grandpa show fingerbone and they nod. Talk about geas laid on Te’Ka’s heart by Grandpa. They nod. Talk about the gift of Gami-Gami and her muscle. They nod…… Not strange? Not magical, mystical, mysterious?!  Humans! Bah, they no care about Nezumi. But, no one care about great Kaiu Umasu Grandpa? Fine. I let old Mir’ Id’ Tus talk talk. He so sweet and speak gooden to them.

Tomorrow we go to new place. Meyo Gesi to get bride. Matsu Lion wed Kaiu Crab and all make nice-nice friend diplomat. We go to get beautiful human girl and Grandpa daughter-daughter Kaiu Dei. She not travel light. We hear she need wagon and supplies and chap-her-on named Jazuki. Chap-her-on special human word for body guard. Te’ka’Mok knows this. Read many lots of books. Human girl cannot trust human boy. Lust-lust and they go into heat, I guess. Odd.

We start journey tomorrow. Te’Ka’Mok needs rest and for to read spells. Nezumi bad memory unless you Squeaky Eyeball tribe. So I to be study and write-write spells. Maybe trouble find us on the road and great Shaman of Third Whisker tribe save the humans eh?

They looked amazing and I wanted to show off a few of them….

Close up of a dragon column

The full temple

I happened to have a few of our old friends to use as props inside the temple

More odd alien-like creatures we would have encountered

Aw crap, is that a dragon?

One of my favorites - an amazing fountain.

There's more than one dragon....?

It is a pleasure to hold this book in your hands. The pages are thick and smooth and the art work, layout and design are superb. Oh, yeah and the content….. it surpasses the physical aspects of the book.

Let’s talk about what’s inside of Enemies of the Empire…..  Creatures, history, lore, adventure ideas, NPC builds, advice on rolling a non-human PC and more.

The book devotes just a few pages to the bestiary. A scant handful of pages lay out some of the beasts you and your players will encounter in Rokugan.

Then we get to the heart of the book — the real enemies. I mean sure a panther might be a threat to you or a village, but it is not actively trying to destroy your world. Bloodspeakers on the other hand….. or members of the Kolat…. they have an agenda.

When you begin to turn the pages and realize that the world is so vast and intricate, it is easy to get overwhelmed. New players especially could feel like just closing the book and going back to playing Halo instead.

It is more than worth your time to explore the world of Rokugan, however. The people and the history of this delicate world are as real and three-dimensional as our own. Everyone has motivations, alliances and entanglements — complications, if you will.

Of course this book is designed primarily for your GM, but players like myself benefit from its pages too. We are planning our new campaign now — finishing up our time in Serenity — and this supplemental book will give players a deep well to draw for back stories, if nothing else. And there is so much else!

Imagine that you want to play one of the non-human races. I am considering Nezumi, actually and wow, does the book go into depth about these guys. There are 30+ pages devoted to their history (prehistory, really), their customs, language, names and tribes. Do I want to be part of the Crooked Tail tribe or the Tattered Ear? Each has their advantages and as a player I have to weigh them carefully. The book has such depth about each of the enemies (or friends, depending on the race — probably not going to have any Oni player characters — big scary demon things. Some of them have lots of teeth. Nightmare-worthy, any one of them.)

The world of Rokugan is incredibly complex. The mechanics of honor are tangled up with the Taint of the Shadowlands and the politics of the Clans. Fighting Oni, for example, is the thankless job of the Crab Clan. It sounds as glamorous as being a garbage collector — and just as prestigious. So navigating this world as an adventurer requires a deftness that is missing from your average dungeon crawl.  As they say in the pages about the Oni, going around boasting that you have killed an Oni is likely going to get you a one-way ticket out of town because who wants to be around someone touched by the Taint of the Shadowlands? Thanks for the assist, now move along and don’t touch me.

There are some familiar faces too. Goblins, animated skeletons,undead, naga, assassins and the like. But each of them has a special place in the rigid world of Rokugan. Goblins are the kobold of this world. Plentiful, varied in their strength and fighting ability and none too bright.

Enemies of the Empire is a worthy addition to the Legend of the Five Rings world. It adds variety, nuance and depth to an already intricate world. Players who are looking for more depth for a back story will find much fodder here. GMs who want to change up their campaigns will dive into these pages and not surface for weeks. New players (like me) can find out even more about the world that they are inhabiting during their game sessions.

Sarah used tarot cards to lay out a random town for us to explore. That was very fun.

That way we (gulp!) split the party and all did our own thing. Roark went to a strip club. Brigid, Maggie and Prudence went to the rendezvous at the casino. (Prudence went for the Faro game) And Swei and Lu went in search of pawn shops. You never know what kind of parts you’ll stumble on…. Which might have been what Roark was thinking, too.

While Lu and I were on the tram in town, this oddly dressed man approached us. His name was David? — the question mark is there to denote the odd upward inflection in his voice when he said his name. He represented a group of travelers who wanted to get to the planet Angel. They had money and well, what the hell do Swei and Lu know about sizing up people? So we told David? to meet us at D-VA first thing in the morning. His group was pretty odd, what with the robes and the hats. But they were quiet and their credits were real.

Brigid is always ready to throw a party for people and cult members are no exception. Everyone had to sit for tea and petit fours (which Swei loves, so she changed into clean clothes for the party).

The cult members passed out one of their newsletters. Swei’s had writing on it.

What floored Swei was that the words on the newsletter were her brother’s Spacebook user name. This is her brother who was wrongly imprisoned. The cult member who handed Swei the newsletter was named Steve! (note the inflection). And he was the shortest of the bunch, by far. Swei invited Steve! to tour the engine room.

Another member, Celeste. (you can tell she’s a serious one by the full stop after her name) came along, which annoyed Swei. She had wanted to have Steve! alone. She improvised a note to Steve! to meet her at midnight to talk.

When midnight came and no Steve!, Swei listened in to the bay where the cult members were bunked down. There was an unnatural sounding snore mixed in with the other sounds. Swei and Roark decided to check it out. What if the cult members were secretly arming themselves to take over the ship or something? But, what they discovered was nothing…. Everyone appeared to be sleeping soundly.

Next day, they arrived at Angel, where Brigid was to bid on a shipment of water that the casino owner wanted. He couldn’t make the auction himself, so Brigid was to bid in his stead. And if we lost the bid, we had a map of the house where the water would be so we could steal it.

Bidding was fierce at first. Five groups were bidding on three casks of water. Shoulda known something wasn’t right.

Things continued to be hot. Brigid’s bid is the gray block. The auctioneer allowed that people could also bid for lots using the promise of future jobs. So to extend our cash, Brigid offered over 700 credits in jobs.

When at last the gavel fell, the water was ours!

Swei, Maggie and Lu were at the ship. The cult members had taken off and the others went to the auction.

Once we had the water and a side job to perform as part of the auction bid, we were ready to take off for water delivery!

When Roark arrived he didn’t come in the mule. “Something wrong with the stabilizer, Swei. I bet when we plopped down, something snapped. I brought a grav-cart. Will that do? What are we haulin?”
“Um, well –”
“We’re hauling Brigid, actually. The grav-cart will do.” The Doc nodded curtly.

They scrambled up on to the cart, the Doc, Prudence and Miss V. I waved at them from the ground. “I’m good. I’m good here on the ground. Besides, we’re going the long way. Lu here promised to show me the new jail. She says its real pretty. Y’all go on.”

I waved them on and Roark slowly got the cart moving. Those things are designed off an Earth That Was tool called a wheelbarrow. Clever design, but maybe not the best for haulin’ livestock, as they say. I heard later from Prudence that they hadn’t gotten far when Miss V just plum fell oft the back of the cart. Landed flat on her back in the dust.Roark was moving at a right good clip and he was a good 300 meters past by the time he slowed the cart down!

They finally made it to the hardware store, to Bailey Sacketts, but we were just a few minutes behind ‘em and we took our time! I was right pleased with what I got at the store. Lots of fine, barely used parts for D-VA. 

Lu helped me bring it back with a borrowed grav. Along the way I asked her about her immediate and future plans. “Space life ain’t bad, you know. I could use me a good assistant. Big strong girl like you, shame to leave you to dry rot on this rock.”

“Well,” she said, “when I woke up this morning, I didn’t know rightly what I was gonna do. I got about three credits to my name and I thought ‘Lu, the Lord will provide. He will guide your steps this day.’ He guides my steps every day, mind, but today felt different. Special, like.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I was called to the port. I thought it was cause I could maybe minister to the miners. That Mister McKlaren there — him that was supposed to be landin’ only it was you folk — would maybe give me a job as camp minister.” She paused. “I think though, that the Lord’s called me to work with you fine folk.”
“Is that a yes, then? I like you Lu. We’re gonna get along just fine!”

Mr. Sackett came at dusk to get the ice. Me and Lu’d done a good job of getting the D-VA back on line so we didn’t lose too much ice to meltage, as they say.

He said he’d be back in the morning with our pay chitty. That made me nervous, but Miss V (looking very pretty in a new frock — she’d washed up after her tumble in the dust) allowed it. Saying, “This cargo is going to melt. Better to get it where it’s going and we’ll worry about the pay later.” Bailey winked at her. “I like doin’ bizness with a smart lady!” He finished securing the last barrel.
“Say, you wouldn’t want to help a man out, would you?”
“I’m not a companion, Mr. Sackett. Many people make that mistake; it’s my –”
“I need help with the horse carriage tomorrow and –” They both stopped and stared at the other.
“You were saying?……” Miss V’s eyes got all steely like they do sometimes and Sackett was no fool. “Yes ‘em. If your man (he motioned to Roark) has a mind, I could use a hand with the ceremonial carriage tomorrow.”
The Doc stepped forward. “I can drive a team. I’m happy to help.”
Sackett looked at her face and said “Well, um, young lady, I do appreciate it. All of Regina appreciates it. Yes sir, Bob. And the parade starts right near here, so I’ll come collect you in the morning and bring your payday.”