Campaign Background 2

The Toturi Emperors and the Gaijin Plague
Following the events in Rokugan known as the War Against the Shadow, the Jade Empire settled into a century of peace under the Toturi Emperors. The Toturi produced a line of rulers known for their keen understanding of the people of Rokugan, and justly balanced the prosperity of both the peasants and the nobility.

The Great Clans, under the firm leadership of the Toturi Emperors, worked toward peace. Conflicts gradually ceased along Clan borders, although the Shadowlands, still lacking in any centralized leadership after the fall of the Demon God Fu Leng, continued to attack the Carpenter’s Wall. However, with the Crab able to focus on their ancestral duty, the Tainted creatures from the south were contained. A great festival was held in the imperial city of Otosan Uchi to celebrate the first centennial of the Toturi’s Empire, presided over by Emperor Toturi IV. The future of Rokugan looked bright, until the festival’s final day...

No one knows where the strange Gaijin ships came from. As the fog lifted from the shore of Otosan Uchi on the final day of the festival, they were beached upon the shore. Two strange ships, tall of mast and broad of keel. No one answered a call, no form stirred upon their decks, no men clung to the tattered rigging or worked the ragged sails. After the initial fear had passed, the revelers moved to explore the ships. But they found only death. A death that could not be escaped.

It was a fever matched with a discoloration of the skin around the throat. It could lurk for days before appearing, following the revelers home to every corner of the empire before striking them down. No shugenja’s magic, no monk’s cure, no wise man’s herbs could stop it. Within a year, the land was in chaos. Whole towns were gone. Population centers emptied, as peasants fled to the hills and mountains. Field lay fallow. Bandits roamed en-masse, taking what they would. Brief battles flared as Clan blamed Clan, but quickly fizzled as entire armies deserted or fell ill. The illness claimed weak peasant and powerful champion alike.

In the second year of the plague, it began to disappear. The Clans struggled to pull themselves together. Many great leaders had been lost to the Black Collar, as the plague was also known. Members young and old had to step forward to take the reigns. Every Clan worked to consolidate their power, abandoning provinces to rebellious peasants, petty bandit lords, or disgruntled ronin.

Having expelled the peasants of the outer city, Otosan Uchi reopens its gates. Toturi IV sends out a call for the leaders of the Clans to come and discuss the future of the Empire. The Emerald Champion has died of the Plague that winter. She must be replaced. Provinces must be brought back under control. The lawlessness must be stamped out. Nemuranai, the ancestral magic items, lost to plague and panic must be recovered. Alliances and trade must be reforged. The Empire must be reborn.