Rokugan qn re dead bodies

[hong]

So anyway, in Rokugan, samurai and other members of the noble caste aren't supposed to touch dead bodies, because they'll get dead person cooties. This is fair enough.

In Way of the Samurai, they describe the gempukku of various clans. In particular, there's a piece on how Crab samurai are supposed to go into the Shadowlands, off some bakemono, and return with their heads. And in the main Rokugan book itself, there's a paragraph on the Crab tradition of a "20-goblin winter", where any ronin who comes back with 20 heads gets to join the clan.

How do you reconcile these? Do Shadowlands monsters not count for the purposes of dead person cooties?

 

[Ace32]

Hirelings

 

[Teflon Billy]

I agree...leave it to the Eta.

and bring some long for just that purpose. Treat them like equipment: you bring a sword for killing things, you bring a backpack for carrying your gear, you bring rations to eat and you bring eta to carry severed heads.

 

[faete]

there was a post on this somewhere before, but i'll cover the basics (as i remember them, from the original posters):

the heads are treated as trophies, not as bodies. if you take the sword of a fallen enemy as a trophy (not to sell, since that is looting & IIRC also not right), then there is nothing wrong with taking the head.

there was another post about japanese (IIRC) culture that said defeated samauri would allow their heads to be removed, and often would go to the effort of having their hair styled and their faces painted for the occasion.

 

[Xeriar]

They count alright. It is more appropriate to say however that the Crab don't care much for 'social niceties' - this and battle has some glory in it.

All though there is far less glory in battling the shadowlands.

When someone touches a dead body (even accidentally) they are considered 'temporarily eta' until they go through a cleaning ritual. No honor is lost if it was something absolutely necessary (such as the Crab gempukku) or unavoidable (one L5R module has a group of villians tossing dead fish at the samurai).

Looting bodies is a serious no-no - leave it to the eta. The Crab don't like risking the loss of life, even eta, however (since it is all too likely that they will just grow the shadowlands horde if they die).

 

[Hand of Vecna]

The Crab Clan itself is also something of an exception to the "no touchie the dead thing" rule. Near the back of the OA book, where it's talking in-depth about each clan, it says the Crab are less "squeamish" about touching dead things, b/c they deal with Tainted Shadowlands critters all the frellin' time, and so don't worry about "dead person cooties" nearly as much as, say, a Crane or Dragon would.

If I had my OA book in front of me, I'd quote chapter and verse, but alas...

 

[Shawn Carman]

Re: Bodies in Rokugan

To some extent, one of the previous posters is corrent in that the Crab don't care all that much about cultural taboos. The killing and beheading of the goblins is a necessity, and is usually carried out by either students who are trying to reach their gempukku or by ronin who are trying to gain fealty into the clan. In either case, they do it, then undergo a ritual of purification.

War is a noble pursuit. Those who fight for their clan are valiant warriors bringing glory and honor to their family name. Getting blood on you or even claiming a trophy from a defeated enemy (such as a head, which is stored in a special bag just for the occasion called (if I recall correctly) a bundori bag) is considered acceptible provided that the samurai in question undergo a purification ritual shortly thereafter.

Purification rituals, btw, involve a shugenja, a 15 minute incantation, and the passage of the offending party underneath a torii arch.

However, looting dead bodies is unacceptable. In some cases, magistrates may have their eta servants inspect a fallen body in order to find information, or sometimes a warrior will recover a fallen samurai's daisho to return to his family, but anyone who loots a corpse for profit is commiting a heinous faux pas that, if continued, will result in enormous dishonor and punishment. In Rokugan, someone who touches the dead is like someone who vomits on their own clothing and doesn't bother to clean it off.

Neat image, eh?

Shawn Carman
L5R Story Team

 

[hong]

Thanks for the clarification, Shawn. Just seemed a bit odd to me.

I love the stuff in Rokugan and Way of the Samurai, BTW. Even if some of the prestige classes are a bit... over the top, shall we say. The writing is absolutely great, and there's lots of ideas and crunchy bits to steal for other campaigns.

You know, I'd never have given a second glance at L5R if it hadn't been for the d20 material you guys put out. An excellent business decision all round!

 

[Shawn Carman]

Thanks for the kind words, and I'm glad you enjoyed the book. If you're interested in more cultural aberrations like the Crab/dead flesh thing, you might want to check out the recently released Way of the Ninja. There's all -sorts- of things in there you're not supposed to do. Enjoy!

Shawn Carman
L5R Story Team

 

[Xeriar]

Thanks for the clarification, Shawn. Just seemed a bit odd to me.

I love the stuff in Rokugan and Way of the Samurai, BTW. Even if some of the prestige classes are a bit... over the top, shall we say. The writing is absolutely great, and there's lots of ideas and crunchy bits to steal for other campaigns.

You know, I'd never have given a second glance at L5R if it hadn't been for the d20 material you guys put out. An excellent business decision all round!

Even if you are not interested in the 'mainstream' L5R RPG, I would highly reccomend checking out the various 'Way of the Clans' books. There are a couple of pretty silly points (John Wick's defense of the long sword's 40-pound weight in the Unicorn book comes to mind...) - but there is a lot of feel in there.

Bearers of Jade (book of the Shadowlands Volume II) is an awesome read, and the Otasan Uchi boxed set has an overwhelming amount of detail for a city...

But, I've just suggested around $300 of material, so I'll shut up now