Forces Gather for the Clan Wars

With the Emperor dead and his heirs missing, the Emerald Empire’s thousand years of peace have come to a brutal end as the rival clans’ tensions boil over into open war. Amid the conflict, disparate heroes from the clans embark on an epic quest to save their realm from a returning ancient evil that’s more powerful than ever.

The Clan Wars saga follows powerful samurai clans warring for supremacy as shadowy forces sow chaos and discord in a fantastical world inspired by feudal Japan. The story will be based on the original Legend of the Five Rings storyline drawn from the tournaments and player choices of the beloved series of games in the ’90s—a story that grew in the telling and was only fleshed out in later games and books. Specifically, it draws inspiration from the oral histories and storyline choices of the early years of Alderac Entertainment Group’s collectible card game, as well as some of those decided by the players of the Living Card Game. However, this will not be the exact same story from the AEG days, nor is it a direct continuation of the tale told alongside Fantasy Flight Games’ LCG.

Last year, we announced that the story of the Clan Wars will be told through different media, including a board game from Monolith, four issues of comic books from Dark Horse, and a series of novels from Aconyte Books. Today, we’re excited to preview some of the fantastic minis from the board game, reveal the creators who will be working on the comic, share an interview with the authors of the Clan Wars novel, and offer a sneak peek of the novel’s opening pages!

Champions of Rokugan

Take on the role of the Emerald Empire’s greatest heroes in Champions of Rokugan, the upcoming board game from Monolith featuring a huge range of highly detailed miniatures. The initial lineup will include your favorite characters from the Great Clans, fiendish villains from the Shadowlands Horde, and a bevy of monsters and nonhuman creatures. In this cooperative game, it will fall to you and your friends to determine the victor in hard-fought clashes between warring samurai clans, as well as undertake legendary quests to stop an ancient evil from conquering the Emerald Empire.

Monolith is best known for their beautiful, high-end miniatures-based board games, including Conan and Batman: Gotham City Chronicles, and today we have more sculpts to share from the upcoming Kickstarter campaign, including never-before-seen art for Hida Yakamo, Mirumoto Hitomi, and Shiba Tsukune! Click here to check out more previews from Champions of Rokugan.

Comics from Dark Horse

Part of the Clan Wars saga will also be told across a limited series of comics from Dark Horse, coming soon. We’re excited to be able to announce that the issues will be written by Amy Chu with art by Soo Lee, the Bram Stoker Award–winning pair known for their work on Carmilla: The First Vampire.

Novels from Aconyte Books

The new Clan Wars saga will be reimagined for a modern audience and explored in more detail than ever before, and we’re extremely lucky to have Julie Kagawa and J.T. Nicholas authoring the first novel, as they are both longtime fans of Legend of the Five Rings and have a deep understanding of the setting’s unique lore. Julie Kagawa is the New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Fey, Blood of Eden, Talon, and Shadow of the Fox series, and J.T. Nicholas is the author of numerous science fiction and neo-noir novels.

We were able to catch up with the authors to ask them what it’s been like to work on the first novel, and their background with L5R more generally. You can read their letter below!

Hey, everyone!

We were super surprised and super excited to hear from Aconyte Books about contributing to a reimagining of the Clan Wars saga. So excited, in fact, that when we first heard from the good folks at Aconyte we had to immediately send them a picture of our game shelf, with L5R books dating back to the first edition of the game and marching right on through to the current edition. Needless to say, we leaped at the opportunity to become part of the amazing world of the Emerald Empire.

It’s always a little scary jumping into a beloved setting, particularly one with such a long history and so full of intricate lore.  In some ways, that was even harder with L5R – after all, “our Rokugan, our way” (in which we’ve been playing games for nearly two decades), has always looked a little different from the “official” version. And, in revisiting and reimaging such a well-known and important part of the story of Rokugan… well, we knew that we might be treading on territory that was sacred to the fans.

We’ve tried to hold true to the spirit of those original tales while leaving enough creative room to do more than rehash a story that’s already been told. We strove to make Rokugan feel familiar to those vested in the lore, but with surprises hidden around as many corners as we could find. And, just as importantly, we wanted to try and make the lengthy history of the Legend of the Five Rings accessible to new readers and new fans. We don’t want to give too much away – and the book isn’t 100% done yet – but we think that this novel will bring a smile to the faces of veterans of the Emerald Empire and newcomers to the world of Rokugan alike.

The rich and wonderful world of Legend of the Five Rings has been an inspiration to both of us in our writing lives from the very beginning. In many ways, it has been a dream come true to be given the opportunity to add to the story that has brought us so much joy (and one, or two, or twenty dice-related frustrations) over the years. We hope that we can bring all of you a small measure of that same joy in the pages to come.

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering… Julie is a Scorpion and J.T. is a Crane.

Read on for an excerpt of the first chapter of the Clan Wars novel by Julie Kagawa and J.T. Nicholas from Aconyte Books, or download it as a PDF here.

Chapter One

by Julie Kagawa and J.T. Nicholas

“Are you one of the bad men?”

The rōnin looked down at the boy, who stared back with an expression of equal parts wonder, excitement, and fear. The child had emerged from the bean fields at the edge of the village, his tousled black hair waving above the green fronds like a banner. He fell in step with the warrior, taking two strides for each one the rōnin made, their footfalls raising puffs of dust from the packed-earth path that served as the village’s main street. The boy wore simple peasant garb: short, loose-fitting trousers and a sleeveless tunic, both woven of undyed hemp. His arms and legs thrust out of the garments like the spindly limbs of a scarecrow that had lost its stuffing, and the boy himself looked nearly as underfed.

It took courage for a peasant boy to approach anyone carrying the daishō – the paired katana and wakizashi that only the samurai were permitted to wear – even one as tattered and travel-stained as the rōnin. For a moment, as he pondered the warring emotions flicking across the boy’s face, he felt an ache deep in his chest. His failure, his shame, meant that he would never wed, never have children of his own. Never get to instill such courage in another.

He crushed the thought beneath the discipline that had been ingrained into him in the monastery of the Dragon, forcing his mind away from the past, from a future that would never be.

“Are you? One of the bad men, I mean?” the boy asked again, interrupting his reverie.

“What bad men are those, boy?” His voice sounded rough to his own ears, gravelly from disuse. They had passed the first line of houses now, and the rōnin took a moment to truly see the village. The buildings all had their sliding shutters closed, transforming the modest homes into nondescript wooden shacks. The shutters kept the people safe from the ravages of storms; perhaps they hoped they would also keep them safe from the ravages of men.

The rōnin knew better.

Few people moved in the streets, and those that did kept their heads downcast and walked with a furtive haste that spoke more of fear than industry. They did not meet his eyes, gave no sign that could be taken as courtesy… or challenge. In fact, one might be convinced they paid him no mind at all, if it were not for the wide bubble through which he moved, and the occasional worried glances at the boy walking beside him.

“My mother says the bad men are bandits!” the boy exclaimed, his eyes guileless and bright with the excitement of it all. “Bandits come to make the village pay trib… tribu…”

“Tribute.”

The boy nodded. “What’s tribute?”

“A failure by those tasked with protecting you,” the rōnin muttered. He felt his hands tightening into fists. These lands had been under his protection, once. All the Empire had been under his protection. It was the duty of the samurai to protect the peasants, just as it was the peasants’ duty to work the land, coaxing forth the crops needed to ensure everyone’s survival. That balance, that harmony, handed down from Heaven itself, was fundamental to the structure and well-being of the Emerald Empire. To allow one of the villages under your protection to be tormented by armed thugs was shameful. And in the lands of the Lion? He clenched his jaw. Were he Clan Champion, he would have more than harsh words for whichever samurai claimed this village as their own.

But he was not Clan Champion.

Not anymore.

Be sure to bookmark LegendoftheFiveRings.com or follow us on Facebook to get the latest updates on the Clan Wars! You can also receive all our news directly in your inbox by signing up for our L5R newsletter here!