Return of the Fallen Lord

The original Clan War storyline for Legend of the Five Rings collectible card game featured the return of Rokugan’s greatest villain, the fallen god Fu Leng. Though he had been sealed away a thousand years ago by heroes from the Great Clans, those seals were coming undone one by one, unleashing his dark ambition upon the realm. In one of the tournaments held during the game’s first year, the winner would determine which of the clans would take a starring role in recovering one of those seals. In today’s article, we explore the Return of the Fallen Lord story prize and the infamous Black Scrolls that kept Fu Leng prisoner for centuries.

The First War and the Black Scrolls

The earliest history of Rokugan comes from the “Twilight of the Emerald Empire” story written by John Wick and originally published in Imperial Herald Volume 1 Issue 1. When the empire was still in its infancy, the samurai of the Great Clans waged a terrible war against the forces of the Shadowlands, which were led by the evil god Fu Leng. Even though Rokugan sent its strongest and bravest warriors, few returned. The clans were on the verge of defeat when a mysterious wise man by the name of Shinsei appeared at the emperor’s court and offered wisdom that would help them defeat the Dark Lord.

Isawa, the most powerful spellcaster in the land, devised a way to seal Fu Leng’s essence into twelve scrolls of power. Together with the other Thunders—heroes from each of the seven Great Clans—Isawa managed to trap Fu Leng inside the scrolls, which were brought back to the empire and hidden away at great cost. If one of these scrolls were to be opened, it would unleash calamity upon the realm. If all twelve scrolls were ever opened, Fu Leng would return to Rokugan.

A thousand years later, dark forces were set in motion, and the Black Scrolls that should have been protected fell into the clutches of evil. When the first scroll was opened, Yogo Junzo unwittingly unleashed “The Wasting Disease,” a terrible curse that transformed him into a zombie and afflicted the rest of Rokugan with plague. One by one, more scrolls were opened. Rumors of the ninth scroll’s whereabouts surfaced, and only time would tell whether it would be rescued by one of the noble samurai of the Great Clans, or be seized by the agents of the Shadowlands.

In the collectible card game, the Black Scrolls were extremely powerful spells, but including them in your deck could “corrupt” them in terms of affecting how the story prize played out. The first four Black Scrolls were included in the Shadowlands set, the first expansion to the CCG released in early 1996. Six more were released in the subsequent expansion set, Forbidden Knowledge. The final two scrolls, “The Doom of Fu Leng” and “The 12^th Black Scroll,” were released in the Anvil of Despair expansion in fall 1996 and the Time of the Void expansion in late summer 1997, respectively.

Return of the Fallen Lord Tournament

The first time the Black Scrolls featured prominently in the storyline was the Return of the Fallen Lord tournament, hosted by BenCon ’96 in Denver, Colorado. This event was likely a pre-release tournament that previewed the next expansion. As a sealed deck tournament, players had to construct their deck at the event using one of the legal starter decks (choosing a stronghold from one of the six original clans, plus the recently released Scorpion and Naga) as well as booster packs from the forthcoming Forbidden Knowledge set.

The deck being played by the winner would determine which clan would recover the ninth Black Scroll, a powerful necromantic ritual known as “Return of the Fallen Lord.” By sacrificing one’s own spellcasters, the player conducting the ritual would be able to resurrect a dead personality, bringing them out of either player’s discard pile and back into play under the caster’s control.

A Phoenix Clan deck came in fourth place in the tournament, while a Crab came in third. The top two players both ran Lion decks, so the Black Scroll was recovered by a Lion Clan player known as Kitsu Washi within the L5R community. Unfortunately, this tournament was early enough in the game’s history that few records remain, and we do not have the names of the players who participated in this epic confrontation, nor the identity of Kitsu Washi themself. (We extend our appreciation to Kitsu Sei aka Neil Laughlin, fan archivist of the Lion Clan, for recording what information we do have for posterity.)

A Fallen Lord Rises

After the Lion Clan recovered the ninth Black Scroll, they tragically did not hold on to it for long. During the Clan War storyline, the Lion Clan, led by Matsu Tsuko, were fiercely devoted to serving the emperor, and so the Lion offered the scroll to Empress Kachiko for safekeeping. Kachiko gave the scroll to Soshi Bantaro, one of her clan’s most trusted spellcasters, but forbade him from using it to return her late husband, the traitor Bayushi Shoju, to life. It seems the temptation was too great for Bantaro, and he ultimately did open the scroll and used its power to resurrect his dead lord, but it seemed the spell only reanimated the man’s rotting corpse.

The Black Scrolls were potent but dangerous spells that proved to be some of the most iconic magic items of the Legend of the Five Rings universe. This is not the last we’ll hear of them as we continue to cover the tales of the early Clan Wars tournaments story prizes!