The Story Begins
by Kakita Kaori
Every village in Crane lands has a story, for it is Story that defines us. The Crane are said to have created the culture of Rokugan. But it was the storytellers that wove that culture, that invented those symbols. The artisans took them up, turning them into works of poetry and beauty. The courtiers popularized those works and encouraged others to look to them. And the swordsmen defended them until they were strong enough to stand on their own. And so it was that the Crane created a culture for the Empire. And so they create a world.
Every village in Crane lands has a story.
Golden Petal Village lay an hour’s ride south of the gates of the Kakita Academy. In that village, it used to be said, that, in the very first days of the Empire, the youngest son of Ameterasu walked across the Empire to see the land he had arrived in. One night, he shook out his cloak before resting for the evening on the green fields where the village lay. The drops of heaven's light that clung still to his cloak fell to earth there, and from each drop, a tree grew, a cassia, abundant with flowers as golden as Ameterasu's smile and leaves that never fall.
Each summer the people of the village would gather up the seed pods of the Cassia, save for but a few for replanting. After all, if the trees were allowed to grow everywhere, how would the samurai of the Empire know where the Son of Heaven trod?
So it was that Golden Petal village, its few streets lined with the ancient cassia trees, shone in the late summer with Heaven’s own light. Its villagers had great pride in their homes and the blessings of Tengoku that came with it.
Over time, stories grow in old places. New events unfold. New characters are introduced. New sorrows fall. New victories are won. And like the villagers of Golden Petal, it is the story tellers that pick up the events as they fall, leaving some to grow and take root, discarding the rest. Until the story of a village becomes the history of a province. And the history of a province becomes the legend of an Empire.
Every village in Crane lands has a story, for it is Story that defines us. The Crane are said to have created the culture of Rokugan. But it was the storytellers that wove that culture, that invented those symbols. The artisans took them up, turning them into works of poetry and beauty. The courtiers popularized those works and encouraged others to look to them. And the swordsmen defended them until they were strong enough to stand on their own. And so it was that the Crane created a culture for the Empire. And so they create a world.
Every village in Crane lands has a story.
Golden Petal Village lay an hour’s ride south of the gates of the Kakita Academy. In that village, it used to be said, that, in the very first days of the Empire, the youngest son of Ameterasu walked across the Empire to see the land he had arrived in. One night, he shook out his cloak before resting for the evening on the green fields where the village lay. The drops of heaven's light that clung still to his cloak fell to earth there, and from each drop, a tree grew, a cassia, abundant with flowers as golden as Ameterasu's smile and leaves that never fall.
Each summer the people of the village would gather up the seed pods of the Cassia, save for but a few for replanting. After all, if the trees were allowed to grow everywhere, how would the samurai of the Empire know where the Son of Heaven trod?
So it was that Golden Petal village, its few streets lined with the ancient cassia trees, shone in the late summer with Heaven’s own light. Its villagers had great pride in their homes and the blessings of Tengoku that came with it.
Over time, stories grow in old places. New events unfold. New characters are introduced. New sorrows fall. New victories are won. And like the villagers of Golden Petal, it is the story tellers that pick up the events as they fall, leaving some to grow and take root, discarding the rest. Until the story of a village becomes the history of a province. And the history of a province becomes the legend of an Empire.
