Courts of the Crane Clan

Do we really want the deaths of a Voice and Emerald Champion on our hands, just on the off-chance that we win the relevant tournament? As much Hida Kozan's demise would make me happy (seriously, who in-setting thought he made a good spokesman for the Throne? WHO?), I have to assume that his death would have some connection to us, and that would be a bad look in a time when our Imperial connections are looking awfully shaky to begin with.

The same goes for the Otomo bigwigs, of course, but... they are actually our enemies right now, and killing them has a definite payoff, not just an 11% chance of one.

What's the downside? Will it weaken our connection to the throne? Will it agitate the political gnomes?

Again, this is strictly my personal opinion - we need to remind the playerbase at large (and AEG) that this is our sandbox they are letting these kids play in, and that we want that damn shovel even if we need to thrash their sandcastles and give them a black eye so that mommy sends us to bed early without pudding.

If we don't remind them occasionally what is our birthright, they'll think we don't mind that they took it from us.

The downside is that we will be known as the Clan that murders the Emperor's Chosen. Forever. You don't think that's a problematic reputation to have? You don't think it's the sort of thing that would weaken our connection to Emperors present and future, knowing that if a non-Crane gets a job the Crane will murder him if given half a chance? Out of spite, basically, since we will be only one of nine factions competing for the job when it's assigned again, and killing them won't change the fact that our Crane-iness does not confer a competitive advantage at winning these prizes.

You know, killing people because reasons is what honorable samurai do sometimes. I am sure the Crane wouldn't just murder them, they would be perfectly justified. Seiken needs a reminder that he can't treat us like he treated Kanpeki, an object lesson in realpolitik, if you like. Call it deterrence, or a reminder that we are serious about being the Left Hand.

Edit: If you balk at the thought of killing them, why not corrupt them? That should remove them from office as well. I kind of thought that would be less merciful, but I would be fine with that too.

Fair point that it wouldn't necessarily be strictly murder. Two counterpoints I would raise, however...

1) The Emerald Champion is, well, the Emerald Champion. Fair and square. Killing him because we don't like who won the tournament seems like an act of deep petulance to me. Not the act of a political force to be treated with respect.

2) The description of what's about to happen and what it means to "kill" someone - "doom them to death before the story of Onyx Edition truly begins", all while seals are breaking and Jigoku is being unleashed - does not fill me with confidence that everything will be 100% legal and airtight. And even if it is... use the Empire's collapse in the face of ultimate evil as an occasion to kill one of the Emperor's advisors, and I think a lot of people would very legitimately look at that and go "man, what a bunch of petty jackasses. No wonder Seiken doesn't want them in his government."

I don't mind when someone wins the Emerald Championship because that is a test of skill and sometimes someone's just going to get lucky and beat a Kakita. I definitely want to see Kozan killed or corrupted. The Abbot is next on my list to die, then Yoritomo Raiden because the Kolat are a tired bunch of has-beens.

To be clear, it's not them dying I have a particular problem with, it's the dirty hands. Chosen come, Chosen go, ho hum. A reputation for disloyalty? That's much harder to shake.

The existence of non-Crane Emerald Champions simply shows how much the Crane have inspired others to improve themselves in hopes of occasionally matching their excellence.

Are you planning to duel the Emperor? Because it's his decision that it ultimately comes down to, and if his view of the Crane is "those jerks who murder their comrades in the middle of the apocalypse"... is he going to be much inclined to appoint Crane to do anything?