Ancient Land

Bengal52

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Nov 5, 2003
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I've been thinking about a new idea for a role play and was looking for some interested people.

I've looked over the thread here and we tend to stay in Europe/America or there's the China Inn. I have been study some parts of Japan in a class here so I start to think about the Samurai. I am looking to start a role play based on the house of a certain Daimyo (or to those of us from Europe/America: Warlord). The house will not only involve his house but also his lands. Daimyos were very powerful.

This will leave openings for a couple samurai and several servants. Of course there will be female parts, since both Daimyo's and samurai did marry. Is anyone interested in playing any of this with me?

Before you think this will be a domination rp or something along those lines, Japanese women did not have to be completely submissive. They were not the rulers and workers but they did have power over some people.

The only role I am reserving is the Daimyo will be me. I would ask any women interested in playing the wife of the man in charge of this small ruling area to please pm for my ideas involving her. Thank you for listening to my idea. Please post any responses you have, no matter how bad. I would love to know if you all think this is the worst idea ever.
 
It sounds like a very interesting idea to explore. You understand, though, that you will probably have to take a very strong lead role if such an SRP is to survive. Most of us are fairly ignorant on the subject of Japanese society and culture of that period.
 
Part of the idea was to involve a bit of understanding for those interested. By being involved in the thread, we would be gaining an understandin into Japanese culture of the era. I'm not an expert by any stretch of hte imagination, so unless a real expert shows up, I think we can be a bit liberal in our interpretation. I was more just looking for a completely new idea for Lit.
 
Well, male servants were actually quite common. As were craftsmen. All Samurai were male. The only female part I have mention so far is the wife of the daimyo. (as a mater of point, daimyo is a title, not a name.) So, there would be a normal staff of a house. Mind you, there were not many servants. The wife and other women were actually in charge of most of the duties european servants would do. We also could have any kind of craftsman, which was dominated by men but women could achieve a certain status in some crafts. Japan is not without prostitution during this era either.
 
I will not keep anyone from playing a role. I would prefer the servants kept to a minium tho. No more than 2-4 please. Once we get arround three-four people with characters I will post a thread. Post your character's bio here. just post anything about your character. Mine will be up within a couple of days.
 
I am Matthiah :D I come from the rural province in northarn japan, i have a very manly voice and my intense eyes, i am fairly good looking, i might post more later
 
Alright. It sounds like it could work. I'm cautiously interested. :)

The character I have in mind is a very highly skilled mercenary warrior. Something like a member of a ninja clan, but without all the idiocy modern people associate with ninjas. :) People like him usually worked in whole clans, making a living off their art, however, his clan, as it sometimes happened, was almost entirely wiped out over the course of several brutal feuds. The survivers scattered, and he ended up coming to the door of the Daimyo Bengal plays.

The Daimyo, always looking for skilled fighters, took him in, giving him a good pay and everything else he wanted. In return, he served the Daimyo and trained his samurai warriors.

However, for all his value he still remained a hired fighter without a clan in a world where blood relations ment a lot. For that he tried his hardest to prove his loyalty to the Daimyo and be "adopted" as his son. Or, if we get someone to play the appropriate role, to marry his daughter and thus become related by blood.
 
great characters. Now we just need a couple of women. If CrimsonMaiden posts a character here, we have her but that's it. We could use a couple more females. I will wiat for a couple of females to join in. Remember that although Japan was a male dominated society, females were still strong, just in a different fasion than today.
 
Have a question that needs answered before I post a bio about my character. Approx what time period/century are we going to be dealing with? Any particular or are we just going to kind of combine things from different centuries? Seems the warlords span several of them.
 
I really hadn't decided that far. The idea of a daimyo sort of was in a long part in Japanese history. Do any of you have an imput on it?
 
I'd say we do it somewhere between 1200 and 1600 because in 1603, the daimyos fell under the government of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

To keep the daimyo subservient, the third Tokugawa Shogun, Iemitsu, instituted "Sankin Kotai," which forced the daimyo lords to reside in Edo during part of every other year. To comply with the shogun's edict, the daimyo traveled to Edo in elaborate and costly processions. These placed a large burden on the daimyo's finances, as did their lavish Edo residences.

http://www.pbs.org/empires/japan/enteredo_4.html is where I found that info. It's a good site for some information.

I'd say go before that started so the Daimyo will not have to answer to the shogunate. Just my opinion.
 
Actually, the daimyo still had to submit to the shogun before that. Tokugawa Iemitsu centralized teh power with more strength. Everyone in Japan still had to submit to the tenno (emperor). Maybe we could start with the daimyo coming back from an audience with the emperor.
 
Well, I knew they still answered to the emperor, but from the little research I've done so far, it wasn't as iron-fisted as later on.

I'm assuming the Daimyo in our thread will be one of the most powerful ones with his own castle and lots of land and subjects?

Coming back from Emperor sounds like a good place to start.


Edited to add: From what I have read so far, after 1600, the Daimyo's wife and children were held in Edo the majority of the time as a way to ensure the loyalty of the Daimyo and to prevent rebellion. I don't think this would serve the purposes of our thread very well. I haven't been able to establish so far how long they had to stay in Edo. I'm not sure if it was only part of the time or if it was an all the time thing.
 
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I was thinking of him being one of the more powerful ones. Before the Tokugawa era, the emperor was actually more powerful. During the late Heian Period, the emperor's power was weakened by the shogunate and turned more into a puppet ruler. He could call for a samurai to kill hiimself before and after all this...
 
Bengal, which atmosphere are you going for, a relatively peaceful life-as-usual one or troubled times when there is danger and uncertainty hanging in the air? For the latter, a good place to set it up, I think, would be 1281 when the mongols ruling over China gathered an enormous army and attempted to invade. Stormy seas foiled their attempt in reality, but I imagine Japan lived through a lot of nail-biting months knowing a 160,000 strong army is coming after them.

Just an idea.
 
I was thinking of a more peaceful but that doesn't matter. Japan never really was peaceful. If there wasn't an invading country, other daimyos would be invading.... So, peace isn't really an option. I was more thinking of late Nara period. other than that, I wasn't sure yet.
 
Very true! If there aren't enemies, your neighbours will cause trouble enough. What's a poor warlord to do? ;)

So, late 8th century is the late Nara period if I'm not mistaken. There probably wouldn't be much contact with the outside world during this age, correct?
 
The only outside contact until much later was with China and the rest of SE Asia. During the Nara period, Chinese and Korean musicians started the Japanese court music, called gogaku.

I was sort of think of beginning the story as the daimyo coming back from the Tenno's later than the people of the house had been expecting. He will have been attacked and been one, with a few of his elite guards, of hte very few survivors. The will have taken refuge in a small outlying peasant's house. Something along the lines of a woman whose husband was killed in the battle. She will be bring him in.
 
Sounds like a good setup. Do you see the story starting from him returning to the castle or from the point he gets to the peasant house? It seems stories often tend to stay in the same location time where they started off, and I'd love to play some in the castle where the Daimyo's daughter may be courted. :)

By the way, was it socially acceptable for high ranking respected warriors to court and marry the Daimyo's daughters? Or was it like in Europe where a knight can be the greatest suitor and fighter in the world, but he'll never get the marry a Duke's daughter?
 
I was sort of thinking of it being when he gets back to the castle with the peasant. someone had already asked about being the peasant. That way, the daimyo would be in a sour mood but still not completely ready for revenge.

That idea of courting was probably the case, I'm not sure. It would have been much more structured tho. Out of marriage relations would proably force the samurai to either take his own head or offer it to the daimyo. Honor was teh most important thing to samurai. Boshudo (sp.?), the order of the samurai, was quite strict. Keep that in mind before you think on courting....
 
Oh, of course, naturally, the "courting" in that time period would be done not through the lady in question, but through her parents. :) Daimyo, in this case. As for out of marriage relations with the Daimyo's daughter, I'd have to be crazy to even consider it. We're talking about the guy who has the power to tell his samurai to commit seppoku (i.e. ritual suicide), and the samurai would do it! This isn't even like sleeping with a big bosses daughter, this like sleeping with a diety's daughter. ;)

I was thinking we would have a marriage ceremony a little later into the game, after my character has saved the Daimyo's life via extreme heroism. Something less would probably not deserve the hand of his daughter. Say, he was with the Daimyo when they came under attack and was the sole surviver among his guards, but also the most heroic fighter. What do you think?
 
Perhaps not the only survivor but the only samurai to survive? The samurai would have been the leader of the elites. The elites could have been the only survivors and only because of how well the samurai led them.

This would complex my earlier idea since I was going to have the elites stay behind for a day or two to make the travel of the daimyo easier to hide. Perhaps your samurai could be one of the few elites to have led the farmer, dressed as the daimyo down another path and have incountered the enemies again, thus forced into combat again. Then your character would be doubly honored and thus have a chance at your idea.
 
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