Sapphire Ambassadors

Work now, but a quick moment to toss this up and say thanks. Both to folks whose interactions made Sriyani’s game and the ones her player got to watch at a bit more distance.

What prompted this character?

Yes, and I want her full backstory!!!

Form questions inbound!

1. Did she throw you any curveballs?
2. What was your favorite presentation she made?
3. Your favorite scene with her?


Less-form questions:

As the pilot of the only PC she seemed to actively dislike (and boy howdy, I get why she's not a fan, even if he thinks she's overreacting), was there anyone else she formed a broadly negative view of?

What do you see happening with her life, long-term?

Doji Nadeshiko wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 6:15 pm

Yes, and I want her full backstory!!!

Fukurokujin wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 4:24 pm

What prompted this character?

These go together, and my explanations get long since I tend to accrete layers on an initial seed for these. But I'll try cutting away the more egregious tangents.

I don't know why I looked at the premise and my brain went 'Unicorn'. I suspect it's some buried in the brain-library bits of The Bride's Tale and all the gorgeous textile art and jewelry.

So then, thinking about what art to do, I pretty naturally came to Meishodo and how well that would translate onward to jewelry. I do like playing shugenja, and have been meaning to try out Meishodo.

The Horiuchi are variably available as a family, but it *is* their school to start with, so I went with that. They're a family of orphans, which started a whole other thought process, ending with a Nomad tribe wiped out by another tribe or bandits (that part didn't matter much, so I left it unknown), with the baby surviving thanks to that infant sleep of the dead (I've seen them at ren faire sleep through everything but a cannon-boom) and the shielding of some protective adult. Of course, that would have probably just meant dying horribly to predators or thirst if a trade caravan hadn't heard her crying. They brought her home and passed her to the Horiuchi to join the other orphans.

Her phobia of horses comes from there. Sleeping infant memory of the thunder of hooves just before her world went horribly awry.

So there she is in the least prestigious family of the clan that's sometimes still considered a bit of an outsider. A shugenja, so slightly more important in the eyes of most Rokugani, but not by a lot. I wanted her to have something that the competition would change depending on placing/winning/etc. and hit on the Bitter Betrothal.

Cue an Isawa who noticed some of her work that had been gifted to someone, made inquiries, and decided that a kami-gifted, artistically-inclined bride for his socially awful youngest son would make a nice ribbon around a nice trade agreement and provide his family with her artwork to gift and trade in. His son, Isawa Hachi, is a fire tensai brimming with Isawa arrogance. He's powerful, but unsuited for the courts, and saw getting saddled with a much less powerful woman from a not very prestigious family as insulting. They didn't get along well.

Becoming a Sapphire Ambassador would provide the status to possibly renegotiate that agreement a bit. Obviously she'd be moving into court circles and ought to have a husband who wouldn't be an embarrassment...maybe one of the less awful sons? Though when realizing she was the only Unicorn in the competition, this might have actually prompted the Unicorn to hang onto her as their only representative in the group.

Sapphire Champion would provide the status to go 'no, she won't be marrying out,' and another reason for the Unicorn to hang onto her. So she had some incentives beyond fame and fortune.

Bayushi Choudai wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 9:14 pm

Form questions inbound!

1. Did she throw you any curveballs?

I was actually a bit surprised by how many levels she hated that meat presentation on. XD Initially just the courtly embarrassment of being highlighted as alien and having to either make a scene or go along with it. But it kept building.

2. What was your favorite presentation she made?

Duty. Finding a way to 'adorn' a sword worked better than I'd initially thought, and was the first step in really tying things together, which had been a strong theme in Compassion, but needed some help to work elsewhere. Being able to use the sword here meant the obvious symbolism of the wakizashi for Honor was going to work nicely to highlight connections between the days.

3. Your favorite scene with her?

I sort of love her and Nadeshiko both being 'oh gods, my presentation yesterday was so cringe.' Plus tattoos, dalliances, and generally being girly.

Also, tea with Yoshiaki, that led farther in time, but this was a start. It was also where her initial "oh...fiance will _hate_ a tattoo" idea got pushed into perspective, and started her thinking about what she'd want for her...not just out of spite.

Less-form questions:

As the pilot of the only PC she seemed to actively dislike (and boy howdy, I get why she's not a fan, even if he thinks she's overreacting), was there anyone else she formed a broadly negative view of?

I don't think so. My schedule meant not really getting to see some things, or Kojiro might have generated more dislike...a bit too close to her unwanted fiance in spots.

What do you see happening with her life, long-term?

Even with the Champion bit being only a year's appointment, this firmly settles her back into the Unicorn and on the map as an artist. After some chat with Sai, I think she'll aim to confer with her own clan's courtiers to assist with that learning curve and provide logistical experience, probably with another match settled over the next winter, since she really is at an age where they'd be pushing for it and the clan would want to take advantage of her 15 minutes of fame. Who that will be is a mystery for now.

Longer term growth as an artist and priestess will see her work digging deeper theologically in time, with symbolic language designed to appeal to the kami in ways that have not really been mainstream for jewelry in the past.

So how much research behind the screen went into your art posts? Because, as I mentioned before, I think that + having them be a complete set/there being a meta-connection between her works was probably THE major selling point for her as champion (and I think she fits for various different reasons, so definitely congrats here )

But...there must have been some work and planning involved behind the scenes. Was there?

Matsu Inori wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 05, 2022 5:15 am

So how much research behind the screen went into your art posts? Because, as I mentioned before, I think that + having them be a complete set/there being a meta-connection between her works was probably THE major selling point for her as champion (and I think she fits for various different reasons, so definitely congrats here )

But...there must have been some work and planning involved behind the scenes. Was there?

Thanks for the congratulations.

and...*wobbles hand* I let my subconscious do a certain amount of the work and then figure out what it was doing later.

Research entailed reading the description of the tenets in the corebook and making notes in a word doc. As ideas bubbled up I tossed them there as well. Actually pulling it together into a post was day by day.

Tying them together was not fully planned from the start, though the idea was in there as I considered the way Compassion merged with other tenets (protecting peasants intersects Courage and Duty, providing food is also Courteous, etc.) and built that one as a display with a 'weaving through everything' sort of vibe. I also wanted the depiction of Emma-O threaded throughout as a reminder of the judgement that awaited based on living up to these ideals, and a general tie to the way her piety found its way into her art.

The difficulty in prying apart certain tenets to show the core of either and the way that tenets could easily conflict in real life were scattered in the notes and back of my head, but didn't really start coalescing into a feel for how they could actually be pulled together until a bit past midway. Yoshiaki's mirror tattoo actually precipitated out a few ideas of what I wanted to do with the last day but was having trouble visualizing. A mirror was perfect for hitting the points I was trying to make, reflecting the other pieces to tie them together more, and letting her again ping Shinjo (via reference to her mirror) and those historical symbols.

I wasn't particularly concerned with winning (and usually the dice plus sub-optimal builds mean I'm unlikely to). The mechanic made getting the Ambassador baseline a reasonably easy bar. But the subjective nature of judge picks and size of the field meant that it was going to be hard for anyone to really pull ahead, and made that 'best of show' an outsized award. So hitting that crystallization point halfway through meant thinking about that final pick as a possibility. As it turned out, I was decently placed for points as well, so that felt like a reasonable choice. Add in Nadeshiko's thread of divine intervention, and some actually reasonable Crane politic notes, and it fits pretty well. XD

God no wonder Nadeshiko wants to super duper kill Kojiro. I didn't put two and two together but she would have, and Yoshino's just as sweet, charming, and kinda orphaned :( as Sriyani, so it's like... a chance to maybe actually do something.

1. Did you have fun?
2. What thing from this game would you like to see in future games?
3. What thing from this game would you like to not see in future games?

Saibankan wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 05, 2022 8:24 pm

1. Did you have fun?

I did! I'm getting better at managing my expectations around my schedule/posting time allotment. It was a generally relaxed game to wander around in.

2. What thing from this game would you like to see in future games?

As noted, the panic/ranked-choice voting mechanism. Kept things close, but I can also see the Otako-backing coalition possibly feeling less thrilled with it, since the rule was hidden to begin with. I think having that open from the start is a better bet.

I liked the main game not being entirely dependent on points, but being able to funnel those points into a side game. The teahouse one was flavorful, but I think some events around those would have enlivened that race.

3. What thing from this game would you like to not see in future games?

Nothing I'm super opposed to. The subjective choices going toward a the final outcome did make for a lot of interesting event posts, but probably works better as a side game vs. the main game.

Figured I'd posit this question to some other players, too:

With the Naishou timeline coming to a close, are there any regrets or any unfinished business, either on this character, others, or in general?

Not really. I don't tend to build for reprisal. One part habit, after years of NPCs, and one part years of watching characters kind of get shoehorned into games in ways that I'd find harder to play and stay engaged with.

The level of game engagement I get to have with my small posting windows, plus missing the first few games, means that I've never been too invested in the metaplot of Naishou. I have some vague idea that it had to do with the realm of dreams and that's about it. So it's hard to feel any worries about anything unfinished there.

An epilogue. Posting here since the IC spaces are supposed to be shut down.

Spring

Dressed simply, Sriyani was up early this morning with offerings for the river. She’d sensed this one’s spirit was likely to be most active as the sun slipped over the hills to light it up. Catch it in a good mood and she might get to record its name. Currently, the moon still lit it with silver as the sky began to lighten.

She looked at her wavering, distorted reflection in the running water, beside the warped moon. Not a bad symbol of how changed she was from when she’d last left home, or last spring. Here she was slipping from a lover’s tent before the dawn…instead of curled beside the husband she’d have predicted last spring, or traveling to finalize arrangements for an autumn wedding. Smiling, she can already see him as he’ll be when she returns with that early light…the haze of waking still soft in his eyes, welcoming her back into his arms for a time before rising to begin the day.

Reaching, she stirs the water with a finger, wondering when he settled in beside her every thought like this. When her mind had started shying away from awareness of how soon they’d reach that spot on the map where he turned aside to his home, and she and Nadeshiko (and their servants and baggage) continued on into Unicorn lands.

After a moment, she stands and looks at the distant peaks beginning to glow where the light struck them first, the line slipping slowly down the slopes, and then she turns. There were other rivers along the way, but only a few more dawns to greet with her gentle moth.

*********************

There wasn’t much that remained to organize before she left home again, maybe for good this time. She doubted Shiro Ide would be permanent either, but it was a better place to settle this year, where she could find advice and assistance as she wrote and coordinated and collaborated.

She shakes her head as one of the shrine’s servants tries adding a box to the stack of goods and equipment leaving with her. “That one stays. I don’t know if they’ll chose to display it, but I want my first piece from the competition to stay here. Horiuchi-dono already expects that one, if someone can run it over today.”

Sometime next week, they’d head out. She’d even mostly caught up on the letters that had been waiting for her when she arrived. Settling at her writing desk, she scans the one from the nakodo again, and the charcoal notes scratched on scrap paper to organize her words before setting brush to ink.

Looking out the window beside her writing desk, she smiles to see Nadeshiko chatting with Hanzou and his wife. No surprise that they’d get along. She got along with absolutely everyone; which was very likely to make her the Ambassador everyone remembered when there were stories about this first group someday.

The surprise had been how little it hurt to see him. It was even a comfort to see him happy, hear they were already expecting. She’d see children with his eyes someday, after all, they just wouldn’t be hers. The past few weeks had eased pained resignation into acceptance it seemed.

They deserved a different letter before she left. And…she thought, watching Nadeshiko shade her eyes against the sun of their plains…she needed to find a good parasol or three before they continued on. But first she ground her best ink and began, Honored Ide Tomoshiko-sama, I should urgently like to speak with you upon my arrival in Shiro Ide, most pressingly about the change in my own circumstances with the ending of the Sapphire Championship…

**********************

Summer

She would always associate Shiro Ide with whirlwinds. Between the literal ones playing with the air more commonly than she’d seen elsewhere and the swirl of things to do in those first weeks. Celebrating with plum wine beneath a new moon when the letter formally (and politely, almost apologetically) dissolving her betrothal arrived was a highlight. She was afraid they really needed to better disguise the caricature of Hachi they’d cacklingly flung through a subplot of disasters that night if it ever made it into a book.

They plotted out how many of the artisan schools they could realistically visit. Those seemed like good touchpoints to build a year’s activity around. The nakodo were kept appraised of their schedules, the better to facilitate meetings along the way, even if Sriyani already suspected who she’d like to wed, if given the choice. Regardless of eventual marriages, this was a chance to make all kinds of connections…new friends, artistic collaborators, eventual allies in court someday.

Heading into summer, this small whirlwind began to seem tame.

**************************

Autumn

It seemed odd to be traveling into the Phoenix mountains in the autumn despite her canceled wedding. It would have been a bit earlier in the season, but she felt the echoes of what might have been with a small shudder that had little to do with the chill in Phoenix lands.

The Bon Festival as celebrated at the Shiba Tejina Academy would be something to see, they’d been told when the invitation arrived for the Sapphire Champion and Ambassador to join them.

As the shrines and marker stones were cleaned, illusory tales filled visiting ancestors in on their descendants’ fortunes. The trees and flowers wore a light gloss of illusory magics, just enough to make them a bit unreal, a bit brighter as family chatted, cleaned, and shared food among the stones. It was lively, and a bit magical among the autumn trees. Sriyani had only seen such colorful forests in paintings before.

In the evening, illusions augmented the traditional costumes and dance. Even the vendors of traditional sweets added non-magical tricks to their trade, with clever decorations that could change with the light or the angle one saw them. Eventually, lanternlight flickering to life on the river nearby, guiding the beloved dead with images and memory to call them along and back to the doorways to Meido.

They shared the trailing ends of the evening with a collection of Tejina and bottles of warm sake beneath a sliver of moon, placing bets on which lantern would be the last out of sight. The remaining few were marked by their hosts with different colors glowing along their upper edges, courtesy of the air kami who seemed to delight in answering their every request. The gathering was, by now, quietly cheery as those with recent losses eased into the quiet left after their lanterns floated away, and those with fewer to mourn refrained from making things raucous.

She’d bet a full box of persimmon mochi on Nadeshiko’s blue-tinted lantern. It was leading away at least one spirit who’d wish a few more moments to linger, she was sure. Her own was among those lit for the visiting dead who no longer had anyone to remember them. Seeing as she doubted her own ancestors came so far from the Sands, they wouldn’t need her attention.

Her shoulder rested against her friend’s as they watched and chatted. On her other side, Shiba Hideyoshi, one of their Tejina hosts, leaned closer. “I understand I’ve you to thank for my little sister’s wedding last week.”

The lack of context, long day, and half a bottle of sake left her blinking at him in confusion until Nadeshiko’s “what?” laced with already building outrage kicked her into a logical conclusion.

“Ohhh? They certainly moved fast to get Isawa-san a new match. Um…my condolences…” Her hand flew to her mouth, eyes wide. There were…more tactful ways to have put that.

Thankfully, he laughed, raised his cup in a toast. “No, no…though I understand why you’d say that. Hanako’s pleased to join the Isawa. An even trade for mom, she says. And she’s gunning for Acolyte of Water, so they get along surprisingly well.” A pool of lanternlight on the table swirled up into an abstract fiery shape and abstract watery one dancing across the table to dissolve into the darkness near its edge. “He’s none too pleased at the way we,” he gestures around at his fellow Tejina, “fritter away the kami’s gifts. But it’s not me as needs to live with him.”

Downing the sake, he adds, “just as well, tooootally not my type.” Someone downtable snorts. “Thought your type was breathin,’ Yoshi.”

Sriyani missed the the rest, as the name set her wishing she could share this with another Yoshi. Perhaps some other year….

A bump at her shoulder brings her back to the moment as Nadeshiko whispers, “two left.” Her blue, and the soft green of one of the older Tejina. As they watch, the tiny mote of green fades into the distant dark. Everyone is silent for a few long breaths as the blue dwindles and vanishes as well. Sriyani reaches to squeeze her friend’s hand in the quiet, until the cool breeze gusts just enough to rustle the leaves overhead, prompting all the wagered sweets and drinks to collect before them to end up opened and shared around until the moon set.

****************************

Winter

It hardly seemed right to treat such an opulent room like this…

The thought floated in the back of her mind as she swept her worktable’s contents to the floor after an hour of stewing, rather than concentrating. Tools, beads of all sorts of materials, and worst, several open tins of colored lacquers scattered across the tatami.

She’d been so happy yesterday, arriving at court a few days before the official start to settle in; wandering the castle grounds bundled up in wide-eyed wonder with Nadeshiko, describing the gardens already dusted with blinding snow; finding Yoshiaki as they grew familiar with the castle’s hallways; spending the night getting delightfully reacquainted before confessions led to realizations and argument, sharp words to trouble the dawn.

He was being unreasonable. There was no reason he couldn’t still create his tattoos from Unicorn lands. His canvases could come to him, or…they were close enough that he could visit quite regularly. It wouldn’t be disruptive at all…

Except that he’d need a supply of special inks for those empowered tattoos…which maybe couldn’t be made elsewhere.

And risked them being stolen if he carried them with him like that.

And certainly would make the Dragon nervous about their secret techniques slipping out from their grasp…

Completely unreasonable when he knew the Unicorn weren’t going to let her leave…not like she’d be a good monk anyway. And so maddeningly calm about it. Not happy, but the calm just fed her anger, and tears.

Her sleeves were damp, eyes red and puffy, when she began the task of picking everything back up to organize. Her mind still as frustrated and cluttered as ever.

******************

There’s both contentment and sorrow in the thought that she’d like to get used to waking like this, curled against the taller Dragon. It didn’t seem entirely fair to win herself free, and find someone she’d happily share everything with, only to find that wasn’t his path, and all of their wishing couldn’t change that. It had only taken her two days to accept that it wasn't worth staying mad at him all winter and wasting the time they *could* have.

Maybe someday she would feel the call to climb into the mountains and find the High House of Light, but she was too honest to say that day was here. She trails that marvelous, silver hair through her fingers, feeling him stir at the touch, or maybe just attuned to the shift in her breathing. The long nights of winter were a blessing, and dawn was still hours off.

She’ll talk to the nakodo tomorrow, letting them know plans have changed. The pressure is still on to capitalize on her moment of fame. But for the moment, she stretches sleepily into a soft kiss, before drifting back in to sleep together, enjoying the time they have, knowing there will be other seasons scattered along the years.


***************

Spring again

It was her first time seeing Phoenix lands in this season, but now only summer remained before she could say she’d seen them all. Turning to Hideyoshi, she asks, “Do you think there will be other Tejina competing?”

“Aiko was certainly lobbying for the honor last year,” the slight man at her side answered, brushing pollen from purple sleeves. “But that’s no challenge. She’s competent, but lacks the playfulness the air kami really respond to.” He grins, “the tanuki in the background of Inari’s Frozen Blessings was their work, not mine…”

“Oh?” She smooths her own robes over the gentle swell that’s already blessed a marriage begun when the snow had barely thawed. The clan was able to strengthen ties to the Phoenix through her after all. It just took a bit longer than initially planned. “I thought they were an especially clever touch. Breaks up all that white a bit.”

“Sorry to set aside your title soon, Lady Sapphire?” He asks with a smile.

She shakes her head, accompanied by the usual jingle and clatter…though there’s a good deal more blue among her jewelry and ornaments these days. “No. I could do with a little less travel this year. A little more time in the studio too.” She pauses, thinking. “Though I’d travel with you a bit if you’re the one to claim the Championship.”

“Maybe not to Crab lands?” his grin is a bit sly as he asks.

Laughing, she shakes her head. “No, I’ll stay home and catch up on letters so nobody feels they need to fill me in on whose bed you’re slipping away from in the dawn. Just don’t let the ones you fancy break you.”

Pretending to pout a bit he says, “there’s hardly a point in courting men who can snap you in half if there’s not at least a little chance that they might…”

“No diplomatic incidents, unless it’s on account of your art…that’s the rule!” Her tone is only mock serious, as conversation devolves into teasing over the sort of art that could incite a Hida court to offense.

The spring sun is still cool up here, and there are moments of memory laced all around heading to another Sapphire competition. She wonders if it will change lives in the same way the first one had. Well…they’d find out soon enough.