Minor Clan Poll: The Fate of the Fox

[Kitsune Takeo]

Just considered this, taking into account the results of this poll and the Unicorn poll.

If the Crab are to find out about the Unicorn's deal with the onyx champion and go to war with them. (A future possibility I feel.) Fox lands are awfully close to Crab lands, and really far away from Unicorn.

Can't wait until we enlist the citizens of Chikushudo to help us drive back the darkness!

[Matsu Yurio]

Just considered this, taking into account the results of this poll and the Unicorn poll.

If the Crab are to find out about the Unicorn's deal with the onyx champion and go to war with them. (A future possibility I feel.) Fox lands are awfully close to Crab lands, and really far away from Unicorn.

Can't wait until we enlist the citizens of Chikushudo to help us drive back the darkness!

Except last time the darkness descended on the Kitsune Mori the denizens of Chikushudo left the Fox to their fate . . .

[Kitsu Takashi]

Just considered this, taking into account the results of this poll and the Unicorn poll.

If the Crab are to find out about the Unicorn's deal with the onyx champion and go to war with them. (A future possibility I feel.) Fox lands are awfully close to Crab lands, and really far away from Unicorn.

But depending on the Crab vote, if they're "preemptively" attacking Shadowlands, they may not have troops available to attack the foolish Unicorn.

[Yogo Yuichi]

With this result I wonder if the Iuchi will develop their shugenja traditions as canon or they will keep only as Meishodo users while the Kitsune become the shugie family of the Unicorn.

[Ide Samai]

Does this mean mah wicked desire to get Fairuz into Unicorn might not work

[Miya Mei]

I think it still could. The Unicorn desperately need more numbers, They are only the size of a Minor Clan right now (though with a lot more Samurai)

[Fairuz Kaiya]

:(

Does this mean mah wicked desire to get Fairuz into Unicorn might not work

No, the Unicorn must join House Fairuz.

[Iuchi Saksaha]

I think it still could. The Unicorn desperately need more numbers, They are only the size of a Minor Clan right now (though with a lot more Samurai)

Commoners are ready what the ponies need at the moment it seems; more samurai just equals more mouths not engaged in productive labor to feed. Though I guess at least absorbing a whole minor clan means your newcomers are self-sufficient.

Fortunately (?) commoners are somewhat more fungible than samurai anyway . There'll probably be some natural migration from Lion and Scorpion lands into Unicorn ones over time, especially as the Lion have apparently condensed their whole peasant population into their new, smaller territory--that's gotta create a fair amount of dislocation and movement, almost certainly exceeding the capacity of a medieval government to control completely. (Dragon are neighbors too and might bleed a few landless peasant families, but my sense is they have a smaller and maybe less easily mobile population.)

Anyway, given the Unicorn have just promised 10 years of their dead as meat shields for Evil, maybe quickly pumping up their population isn't the best move right now anyway.

[Miya Mei]

Well, how many people do you think die in 10 years?

They started as 400k population?

[Kitsune Takeo]

I wonder if we'll get a time skip at some point in the HT universe?

[Soshi Yuuru]

A lot of variables to assume... especially with a nomadic people.

Fairly even distribution of age and life expectancy at around 50-60?

1/5 or 1/6 of that 400,000.

Plus more...

[Ichiro Daisuke]

The other part of my speculation, is where the crab war on the Unicorn, Kato steps in to put a stop to it. He is now owed a big favor from the Unicorn. Which comes as him asking for the hand of Shinjo in marriage.

[Kitsune Takeo]

The other part of my speculation, is where the crab war on the Unicorn, Kato steps in to put a stop to it. He is now owed a big favor from the Unicorn. Which comes as him asking for the hand of Shinjo in marriage.

I don't think Shinjo would go on with that, since she sees through deception so easily?

[Ichiro Daisuke]

We can't say what state of mind she would be in after her ordeal. Also Kato would of actually helped the Unicorn, and on the off chance he is emperor it could help bring the Unicorn into the fold.

[Iuchi Saksaha]

A lot of variables to assume... especially with a nomadic people.

Fairly even distribution of age and life expectancy at around 50-60?

1/5 or 1/6 of that 400,000.

Plus more...

Considering the past twenty years of hard travel, the last five of which were through the Lying Darkness version of the Shadowlands, I'd guess the population would be balanced much more toward younger and middle-aged adults, with fewer than average young children and elderly people. Probably not much of a baby boom during the Dark Ride, or even the 15 years before it when resources were devoted to covering ground quickly, and the fluff on elderly Unicorn is that many choose their own time to ride off alone and become one with the wilderness when they feel they're no longer of service to the tribe, which might be a bit more keenly felt under emergency conditions. (It's not at all clear to me how this interacts with Rokugan's "burn the bodies, always!" ground rule, but that's another story.)

Anyway, all statistically-informed guesses will be utterly irrelevant once MS drops three wars and a Shadowlands plague on our heads.