Sharing the love - Nasami, L5R, and SAMURAI 7
I made a new banner! For anyone who really wants to be uber cool and help me promote my SAMURAI 7 story... here it is! Not bad for a first try!
And here's the other one I did today...
BTW - for the fans of TSotS, did you know that it's now available as an "Interest" for LJ? (Yep, I added both Nasami and "Sword of the Soul" as interests, so them's that want to spread the word, do the same!)
I was also going through my gaming files last night while looking for stuff for my upcoming website SAMURAIKOPRODUCTIONS.COM and found a list of the "Great Gaming Quotes" from my husband's 'Legend of the Five Rings' campaign (where Nasami was first introduced). Knowing how folks on here enjoy a good laugh (and knowing that some of you are also gamers), here's a quick bit about the world of L5R, and a collection of the best quotes from the game.
A thousand years ago, when the world was young, Lord Moon and Lady Sun had nine children - Hantei, Hida, Doji, Togashi, Akodo, Shiba, Bayushi, Shinjo, and Fu Leng. Lord Moon, fearing his children’s power, consumed each of them, save Hantei, who was hidden by his mother. Later, Hantei slew his father, and he and his siblings tumbled down from Heaven and fell to earth. Fu Leng fell apart from his siblings, into the dark and twisted underworld, and thus became dark and twisted himself. He corrupted his part of the world, turning it into the Shadowlands.
The remaining eight, finding humanity and losing their own immortality, decided to hold a series of contests to determine which among them would rule. Togashi did not compete, knowing the final outcome, but the other seven fought, and Hantei emerged victorious. The other seven swore allegiance to him, and founded the Seven Clans - Lord Hida, the strong and brutish Crab; Lady Doji, the cultured and sophisticated Crane; Lord Togashi, the enigmatic and reclusive Dragon; Lord Akodo, the fierce and proud Lion; Lord Shiba, the passive and magical Phoenix; Lord Bayushi, the secretive and cunning Scorpion; and Lady Shinjo, the outspoken and "barbarian" Unicorn. The people of Rokugan joined the Seven Clans, and the Emerald Empire was created.
Each Clan embodied the characteristics of its progenitor, and from them, the world of the Emerald Empire was born. The Clans developed and expanded, and history progressed. Minor Clans were formed, the Unicorn left Rokugan and returned eight hundred years later. Battles were fought, alliances formed and broken, the Shadowlands rose in power and the Clans rose up to drive them back, until the present day, where Hantei XXXVIII sits on the Emerald Throne.
The cast of characters goes like this:
Dramatis Personae:
James Bernardin - Isawa Iruko, Phoenix Clan healer and general a**-saver
William Bowman - Isawa Ujiro, pyromaniac Phoenix Clan tactical nuke
Erika Hitsman - Yogo Ashiro, snobby Scorpion Clan chick and Battle Maiden wannabe
Edward Murray - Togashi Hiryu, the not-quite-non-violent tattooed Dragon Clan monk
Chris Pell- Hida Kaminari, Crab Clan Oni-Hunter, leader of the group
John Travis - Mirumoto Kuroshin, Dragon Clan weed-whacker and GM
Michelle Nersesian Travis - Kakita Nasami, Crane Clan Bodyguard and trouble magnet
Craig Walker - Mirumoto Kori, half-Scorpion-half-Lion-once-ronin-now-Dragon Clan naginata expert formerly known as Hirana
Ujiro: "HALT!"
Bandit: *running down the street*
Ujiro: "I SAID HALT!"
*bandit keeps running*
Bill (Ujiro’s player) OOC: "Oh, the hell with this..."
*Bill makes neat sound effect of a fireball going off while rolling dice and attacking*
GM: "What did you roll for damage?"
Bill: "Ummmmmmm..."
*long pause while Bill counts*
Bill: "A lot."
GM: "He’s not dead... yet... although he certainly wishes he were and he might be by the time you get there."
Bill: "Must remember that one."
Four Lion bushi follow Kakita Nasami and her comrade Mirumoto Kuroshin, and when confronted, start an insult contest.
Lion bushi: "Did you not know it can be... dangerous for a Crane here in Lion territory?"
Nasami: "I did not find the last Lions I encountered to be of any threat."
Lion bushi: "And which Lion would those be?"
Nasami: "The force that fought at the Battle of Lost Retribution... and lost."
(Note: the BoLR was where the Lion tried and failed to retake Violence Behind Courtliness City, since the Nasami and the Crane were aided by a handful of Phoenix shugenja and bushi, along with several hundred Dragon).
(bushi = warrior)
Kaminari: "Nobody slanders my yoriki. Only *I* get to do that."
(yoriki = underlings)
Nasami greeting friends: "Greetings, honored, dishonored... oh, the hell with it, y’all present."
Chris on John’s hack-and-slashing: "I’ve got a Mirumoto outboard - just wrap a cord around his head and pull."
As the GM remarks, [the big, bad ugly oni] smells like wet, diseased, burned cat.
(oni = demon)
Hiruma Makasu: *just prior to his death* "We have lost! We cannot stop the Shadowlands!"
Nasami: "You are not opening that gate, Makasu-sama."
Makasu: *screaming* "Can’t you see, you damned Crane??? Are you blind, this situation is hopeless!"
*pause*
Nasami: "Only the dead are without hope."
*Both swing, both miss, then Nasami steps forward and cuts him down. As he collapses, she kneels.*
Nasami: "I see two things, Makasu-sama. I see a coward in the shell of an honorable man."
*she beheads him*
Nasami: "And I see a gate that stayed closed."
(sama = suffix of respect when addressing one of higher rank than oneself)
Kaminari: "Kill, injure, maim... it’s all the same to a Crab."
Nasami: "We Daidoji are not called ‘the strong arm of the Crane’ without reason."
*rubs her left arm and leg absently*
Nasami: "Or price."
Jim on his less-than-successful spellcasting: "Osano-Wo’s shocking finger!"
Michelle: "I’m the only person to encounter the Shadow and survive?"
GM: "Yep."
Michelle: "And the Unicorn KNOW that NO ONE ever walks away from this thing?"
GM: "Yep."
*pause*
Michelle: "So what does this mean?"
GM: "It means that as far as the Unicorn are concerned, you have the disadvantage of Bad Reputation: Survivor."
Michelle: "Oh."
Chris making fun of John’s description of something: "I couldn’t just fight a parfait... everybody likes parfait."
Jim: "Well, doing the whole roast-Scorpion thing would be kinda difficult, I mean, it’s not like any well respected Rokugani cookbook has a section on it. ("Lemme see, 101 ways to make sushi, fun with seaweed, ah, here we are, so long and thanks for all the scorpion.")"
Nasami: "Lady Sun, weep for us... for I fear this is the end."
Moron bandit: "Stay back, or… or…"
*bandit looks around frantically, then grabs an eta child and holds a knife to his throat*
Moron bandit: "… or I’ll slit his throat!"
*Kaminari looks from the bandit to the child and back, sheathes his sword and advances with his bare hands*
Kaminari: "You’re too stupid to dirty my blade with."
(eta = the unclean, lowest caste in Rokugan)
Michelle: "Some Winter Court this is turning out to be. Ujiro and the Centipede heiress are showing each other their "fire spells", Kaminari and the Mantis karo are having little tête-à-têtes, Kori’s getting married to a snow maiden... What about me?"
GM: "What, a duel for your life and an attempted assassination wasn’t enough for you?"
Michelle: "I was talking about love."
(karo = second in command)
Bill on Chris nearly getting killed: "If you’re in two pieces, you’re not really functional."
Nasami’s death haiku: "Mamorimasu / I Die So Others Might Live / No Life is Too Small."
Nasami: "I had an exquisitely crafted retort, full of subtlety and literary allusion, but you wouldn’t understand it, so I won’t say it."
Ed being weird: "Hey, cool, Taint porn sites!"
Nasami: "I am not merely a samurai, merely a bushi, merely a Crane, merely a woman… these are only labels. I am all of these, some of these, none of these."
(samurai = literally "servant", member of the warrior caste)
(after provoking Craig into calling him a "you… you f***ing bastard" 23 times in a row…)
John: "Yes, I AM a f***ing bastard. So?"
Kaminari’s death haiku: "Born To Guard The Wall / A Sworn Duty, Never Failed / My Watch Ends This Day."
Nasami’s gempukku haiku: "From Force and Finesse / Kakita and Daidoji / Comes My Strength of Soul."
Chris praying to his ancestors: "Help me Hida Banuken, you’re my only hope!"
Chris on Ed: "Ise zumi, the FlameThrower!"
Nasami: "I am Kakita Nasami, yoriki to Hida Kaminari-sama, companion to Mirumoto Kuroshin, Mirumoto Kori, and Isawa Ujiro. I am the Wandering Crane, traveling Rokugan and assisting where needed in times of trouble, generally getting into trouble, or at the very least, courting or causing trouble."
Kori (once known as the ronin Hirana): "I am a ronin... my word of honor means nothing to no one. But you may have it anyway."
(GM throws an Oni at the two Dragon and one of the Isawa shugenja... the name escapes me, but you hit it, it splits in two, you hit them, they split in two, and so forth. Took an hour of game time to kill the damn thing.)
Craig: "So what was that thing’s name?"
Chris: "Oni no Whack-a-mole."
*group falls about laughing*
Kaminari: "Nasami, you are NOT leaping off the second story of this building."
GM: "The Crab gets off you, stands up, and appears to be waiting for you."
Michelle: "To do what?"
GM: "Judging by his stance, you and he are going to duel. And Hida Yakamo is watching you... as is the entire room."
Michelle: "Dust myself off, get up, and take up my stance."
GM: "First strike?"
Michelle: "We’ll make it fair for him... first blood."
*kenjutsu duel, rolling for initiative, I win*
Michelle: "Fine, we’ll duel Daidoji style... do what the opponent does not expect. The katana comes out and I slam the edge of the tsuka in his face."
GM: "He shrugs off the damage."
Michelle: "No he doesn’t."
GM: "Oh, damn, forgot about that. Well, he wipes what he thinks is sweat from his eyes until he realizes it’s blood from you slicing open his forehead. Then he smiles and bows. Yakamo is smiling too and nods to Kaminari."
(Nasami's school technique allowed her to negate OTHER school techniques... including the legendary Crab ability to ignore damage.)
Michelle: "That’s what Etiquette is for, which is short for, ‘I’m samurai, now get the hell out of my way.’"
(the Overconfident samurai on being ordered to retreat…)
Kuroshin: "I did retreat, Kaminari-sama... one step."
(after listening to a Dragon spend ten minutes answering a question without answering it)
Kaminari: *through gritted teeth and at full volume* "YES OR NO?!"
(one of the best shots in the whole campaign - stunning an ogre with an arrow to the forehead)
Nasami: "My arrow went where? Really? THAT must have hurt."
Kaminari to a female Lion samurai: "Get out of my way, kitten, today is not your day to die."
Nasami: "Let it never be said that I failed to act because I was afraid."
Bill: "You’re right, four raises on Katana of Fire is pretentious..."
*sh-whoosh sound effect as a Katana of Fire appears in Ujiro’s hand*
Bill: "Five on the other hand is downright f***ing intimidating."
(raises in "Legend of the Five Rings" represent you boosting the skill involved in an action)
(on Nasami getting raked across the face by the equivalent of a fistful of glass shards)
Chris: "Don’t feel bad, scars mean that as far as the Crab are concerned, you just became marriage material."
(on the not-quite-non-violent tattooed man trying to be sneaky and knock out the guys we were following)
Yogo Ashiro: "You just killed two of our best leads."
Togashi Hiryu: "Ummmmm..."
The GM and Michelle are in a separate room discussing what is happening inside her character’s head during a hideous dream sequence while the rest of the gaming group is munching on pizza in the next room.
GM: "He holds out one hand to you, and darkness swirls around it. A pointed spike of pure shadow leaps from his hand and shoots straight at you, too fast for you to dodge. You don’t know what this is, but you know that this can’t be good."
*the GM then gets up to leave the room*
Michelle: "Hey, wait a minute, what the hell kind of message is that? What happens next?"
GM: "Well, you won’t know that ‘til your character wakes up."
Michelle: "I thought you said I can’t wake up until the rest of the party figures out how to heal me!"
GM: "You’re right, you can’t."
Michelle: "So what happens now?"
GM: "I’m going to get some pizza."
(Three gaming sessions later, the group figures out literally at the last minute how to heal Nasami and save her soul from being corrupted by the Living Darkness.)
Kuroshin to Nasami: "You and I got these herbs which are basically concentrated caffeine... Ujiro on the other hand just got a scroll of dirty pictures."
(This led to Ujiro building a collection of pornography rivaled only by Master Roshi’s from "Dragonball Z")
Nasami on the Crab: "That is why I respect the Crab as much as I do. Not because they give Rokugan protection. But because they give Rokugan hope."
Kaminari: "A good solid shot in the mouth provides ever so much satisfaction without the red tape of arranging for a duel (witness, daimyo’s permission, etc.). If he then wishes to challenge a duel for my having struck him... well, that’s his mistake."
Nasami: "I will offer you this solution, Matsu-san... you and I will both meet while traversing the roads of Rokugan, and perhaps we will meet the ronin Dairya on the road. You may denounce him for being dishonorable. I will not. You may insult him for betraying his lord or having no lord. I will not. You may challenge him, I will not. We will see who continues our walk down the road when it is over."
(What else would you expect from a guy nicknamed "Cartoon Man/Sound Effects Man?")
John on taking damage in the middle of a battle [In best Bugs Bunny voice]: "Ooohh, Agony... Aa--Go--Neeeee!!"
(I think this one came about because of a goblin shugenja who, in trying to blast another PC, ended up frying one of his own guys, thus saving Craig’s life)
Michelle and Erika: "Have you accepted Garg as your personal savior?"
Nasami: "Kuroshin-san, you’re dead on your feet, what in the world are you doing here?"
Kuroshin: "Kaminari-sama took me to visit a healer, but he didn’t tell me to stay there."
Erika: "He’s the mercenary missionary… his goal is to convert you or kill you, he gets paid either way."
Last words of a bandit: "A ronin talking about honor? Hah!" *before Mirumoto Kori, the Dragon formerly known as the ronin Hirana kills him*
(ronin = a samurai with no lord, wanderer, literally "wave-man", one who rides the tides of fortune)
Michelle on throwing Ed, the not-quite-non-violent tattooed man into the fray: "What we need is an Ed-launcher!"
(Nasami is busy defending the city walls against enemies trying to scale it. Unfortunately, there are more enemies than there are defenders, so one gets through and is standing on the battlements. Nasami turns and sees him standing there ready to leap down into the fray and open the gates from the inside.)
Michelle: "I drop my bow, draw my katana, and swing at him to knock him over the side of the wall."
*she hits him and the GM rules that he falls… straight down into the fray as he’d intended*
Michelle: "I MEANT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WALL, YOU IDIOT!"
Kaminari: "Kill a Lion, drag Nasami, kill a Lion, drag Nasami..."
(on Nasami preparing to duel a very big, very drunk Crab bushi)
Iruko: *leaping onto the nearest table* "I’ve got three koku on the Crane!"
Nasami trades insults with a Crab: *sigh* "I realize living near the Wall may have deadened your sense of smell to all but the proverbial Shadowlands stench, but I’m surprised that the smell of unbathed Crab hasn’t just completely drowned it out by now."
(Doesn’t every game have a moment like this one?)
Kaminari: "NASAMI, DON’T GO THROUGH THE --"
*Nasami steps through the door as the Oni in the other room throws an enormous wooden chest at her, catching her square in the torso and sending her flying back through the door*
Kaminari: "--- door."
Anonymous Yasuki merchant, who fails to recognize her Clan, to Nasami, who fails her subsequent Willpower roll: "Honorable samurai, allow me to show you some of my..." *WHAM*
Nasami: "Flattery will get you everywhere, dear Ryoi-san, except where I think you might be trying to go."
Erika on the importance of looking good in battle: "I AM the Bushi House of Style."
(She was. Annoyingly so, actually.)
(How to handle a murder scene… and how NOT to handle a murder scene)
GM (to Nasami): "As you approach the six members of the Thunder Guard, who are standing around the body and directing the eta, the heimin who let you in clears his throat respectfully to get their attention. The leader turns impatiently, looks at you and his eyes widen as he shouts to his men and all draw weapons and charge toward you... and past you, since well... they look over your shoulder and they see Hirana trying to sneak over the wall. So what do you do?"
Michelle: "Two things - one, fake ignorance of Hirana. Two... try not to laugh."
(heimin = the laborers, one step up from eta)
Nasami on realizing she has been deceived by the Lying Darkness: "Kuroshin, I get the feeling we’re not in Otosan Uchi anymore."
Ujiro: "As long as I get to kill Lions, I don’t care where we go."
(sorry, what game are we playing tonight?)
Nasami *waving one hand*: "These are not the Oni you’re looking for."
(Michelle TOLD him he should be synching with Nasami…)
Chris to Craig: "Why is it that at least half the time when I synch with your character, you can’t roll Initiative worth a damn?"
Kakita Nasami traveled with five men (and for a long time, she was the only woman, without even a chaperone). That provided some great discussions for a while, since she considers at least four of them attractive. Once the whispers started in Winter Court, Michelle asked the others what they would do if someone made an indiscreet comment.
Chris (Hida Kaminari): "Punch out half their teeth and ask them to repeat the question."
Craig (Mirumoto Kori): (disbelieving look) "Like I’d sleep with YOU?!?"
Bill (Isawa Ujiro): "All right, barbecued courtier! You want that medium rare or well done?"
Jim (Isawa Iruko): "Provoke them into a duel, and choose you as my champion."
John (Mirumoto Kuroshin): "Use them for iaijutsu practice."
(iaijutsu = dueling)
(having just come back from seeing some movie or another)
Chris on the blobby Oni that Craig was fighting: "Oni no Fandango! Look out! Raah!"
Erika following Chris’s punning: "It’s Oni no Fear!"
(repeat ad nauseum)
Michelle and John on the same Oni: *singing* "It’s the many eyed, no horned, crawling purple people eater..."
Michelle on Craig sticking the yari into the Oni: *a la Shrek* "There’s a yari in your butt!"
(yari = spear)
John on Craig sticking the yari into the Oni: "You’ve never heard a garbage disposal scream before."
Erika as a rather vain Scorpion on her near miss by the flying Oni: *a la Spaceballs* "My hair! It hit my hair! That son-of-a-b****!"
(This got one of the biggest laughs of the night)
Chris on the two Isawa (Jim and Bill) launching Heart of the Inferno and Jade Strike simultaneously: "Isawa Twin Powers, activate! Form of Fireball! Shape of Jade Strike!"
John and Chris on Kuroshin riding the back of the Oni while beating it about the head with Hunger: *a la Yosemite Sam with the camel* "YAH, ONI, YAH!"
(Hunger = a very powerful sword that Kuroshin carried around)
Erika on Kuroshin hitting the Oni with Hunger: "Hey, it’s Kuroshin’s Oni Obedience School!"
Kuroshin on his nearly suicidal riding the Oni: "It’s a bushi thing."
Chris on him and Craig running to climb onto the Oni to try and get Kuroshin: *singing* "The bushi went over the Oni, the bushi went over the Oni, the bushi went over the Oni, to see what the f*** Kuroshin was doing!"
Among other things, I also make AMVs and collect sound files and stuff. I've done a few SAMURAI 7 videos by now, so I thought I would share. The videos can be found on my website at:
http://www.andthegreatestofthese.com/Multimedia.html
Of course, I did another video that I didn't put on my website...
Death Comes to Kanna
However, for those of you who haven't seen the FUNimation dub of SAMURAI 7, here are links to a few things you might enjoy!
Gorobei and Katsushiro Meet
Katsushiro's Confession and Kikuchiyo's Rant
Rikichi's Confession
Shichiroji and Yukino (a two parter, edited together)
The Betrayal of the Samurai (long, but so worth it!)
Gorobei's Farewell
Heihachi and Katsushiro (NEW - this one's for you, EK!)
Heihachi and Kambei (NEW - this one is for the anonymous requester from the
Samurai_7 community)
Kikuchiyo and the boys (NEW - and just because I LIKE IT!)
Katsushiro and Kyuzo (NEW - but it's a SPOILER!)
Komachi and her Kiku (NEW - and it's also a SPOILER, but I just love it!)
And my personal favorite... I have to apologize a bit for the quality, but this has got to be one of the best damned trailers FUNimation has released yet. I was just in awe... and spazzing out, too, to say the least!
The Final Trailer for SAMURAI 7