Longguo

Literally "Dragon Country," the name finds a rough translation as "the Dragon Throne" beyond its borders, but the empire that earned this name no longer stands. The ten states of Longguo have kept themselves historically segregated by the subspecies of dragon from which they inherit their scales and affinities, but travel, cooperation, and even immigration are not uncommon. Alliances and prejudices have shifted between dragonborn of the various colors to suit expedience and circumstance.

The dragonborn have a proverb: "The kingdom, long united, must divide; long divided, must unite," and they have made good on the promise over several millenia of bloody history. But in light of the events of its recent division, it is difficult to imagine a new unification.

The fall of the last Dragon Emperor, Zhao Shenghuo, (the year 2419 by their calender) is now nearly 300 years past, but remains a source of repressed tension between the red Kingdom of the Crimson Scale, intent on reunification of the empire by any means, and the numerous tribes of the blue, unable to consolidate even their own people, but powerful and vast despite their internal schisms.

Pronounciation Guide
The nomenclature of Longguo is based loosely off of Mandarin Chinese, and will be written minus the tonal accents. This is a list of some of the standard sounds to help clarify pronunciations.
 * 'q' is pronounced 'ch', as in "chair."
 * 'zh' is pronounced as a 'ge' sound with the tongue in the back of the mouth, as in "refrigerate."
 * 'c' is pronounced 'ts', and there is no actual word in English that utilizes the proper sound, but it is best approximated by pretending to extinguish a candle wick with wet fingers. The tongue begins just barely against the palate, and quickly withdraws to make the sibilant.
 * 'ch', 'sh', and 'x' are very similar sounds, and are best explained by the position of the tongue. Respectively, they are the "sh" sounds in English with the tongue curled back in the mouth (ch), relaxed (sh), and touching the bottom teeth (x).
 * '-ih' ending a word is an unstressed sound, effectively a short, voiced syllable with the tongue curled back in the mouth, resulting in something like "uh" with the barest hint of an 'r.'

General Religion: the Primordial Dragons and the Ur-Dragons
Religion in Longguo is little considered by most people. With minor variations, there is a common belief that the world is made from the bodies of the primordial dragons and that they will reawaken someday, unraveling it, and preside in final judgment over the souls that inhabited it. The precise number and nature of these creation spirits is a matter of dispute between religions and sects, but seldom does this dispute translate into hostilities between nations.

Despite its name, there are few true dragons within the borders of the Dragon Throne. This is no accident. Longguo is home to the oldest dragons in the world, the Shangbeilong or "ancestral- or ur-dragons," ten ancient wyrms revered by the dragonborn as the manifestations of the will of heaven. There is a pact between them, sometimes amicable, sometimes frought, allowing only a single additional dragon of each respective subspecies within the realm for the purposes of taking consorts or fostering heirs. Each of the Shangbeilong are effectively immortal where age is concerned through some device of enchantment.

Whether the Shangbeilong believe they have any obligations to their devotees is uncertain; they are, at the best of times, reluctant to proffer guidance, and never directly intervene in the conflicts between states. They have never been known to advise or meet with dragonborn that do not share their subspecies, with a single exception. During periods of imperial unity, an emperor was expected to meet with and obtain the blessing of at least three of the Shangbeilong.

The Chromatic Shangbeilong
Black - Yun De Sang the Leviathan ("The Voice of the Abyss")

Red - Yixia ("The First Flame")

Green - Bufengzhuoying ("To Chase the Wind and Clutch at Shadows")

White - Shuofeng ("The North Wind")

Blue - Dianguangtian ("The Shimmering Sky")

The Metallic Shangbeilong
Silver - Zhenjih ("The Truth")

Gold - Man Tian Fan Xing ("All the Sky Full of Stars")

Brass - Fengsha ("The Sandstorm")

Copper - Rishen ("Spirit of the Sun")

Bronze - Xiangshuishan ("The Drowsing Mountain")

General Culture: Tianjaoism, Honor, and Styles
For approximately 700 years, the Dragon Throne has operated (with minor regional differences during periods of disunity) under the model of Tianjiaoism, the prescriptions laid out by the emperor Tianjiao Chuanqi for propriety in accordance with the will of heaven. Each prescription is called a "li," and serves as a rule by which to govern a specific action or interaction. Because proper adherence to the Tianjiaoist li ensures the perfect society, the Classics of Ceremony and Culture include no criminal punishments. Rather than promote a merciful and compassionate society, this has been understood as an invitation for each figure of authority to measure out their own punishments to inflict, usually measured against what punishments they can expect to receive from their own superiors should fate go against them. The hierarchy of government is rigid, with proofs of office issued for identification, as lower ranking officials often have never met their greater superiors.

A parallel of government, social, and military hierarchy can be found in the world of wuxia, the "way of honorable warriors." There is nothing barring a xiake, a follower of wuxia, from belonging to another sphere of order, but what defines the xiake's standing as a warrior is the names of the xiake they have defeated or under whom they have studied. Accordingly, rivalries between styles frequently arise, with students engaging in cordial hatred of one another. Masters who make their living by instructing students depend strongly upon the reputation of their style, and thus are often loathe to put their style to a conclusive test.

Lore Specific to Longguo
The following lores/knowledge skills may be taken for information specific to the setting of Longguo:
 * Xie'e. There is no central devil figure in the superstitions and mythologies of Longguo, but there are a number of demons and malevolent spirits. Xie'e is the occult study of the nefarious and supernatural forces that are the causes of corruption, wickedness, and disease. Students of medicine often supplement their medical knowledge with an understanding of the malicious evils of the universe.
 * Wuxia. The trials and travails of the myriad, masterless gungfu warriors are the stuff of popular entertainment. Knowledge of the Wuxia underworld is nothing short of the measure of one's fandom in following the latest information, but also allows for the recognition of martial arts styles.

Styles Under L5R Rules
As with kata, characters may purchase martial arts styles. These styles can be found under the descriptions for dragonborn subraces, divided as they find their homes within these nations, though knowledge of these styles does disseminate, and it may be possible to find a teacher of a style outside of the realm in which it was founded.

A style does not need to be activated, it is a fundamental element of a character's martial education, and its properties alter the rules available for a character in combat.

A style may be purchased for its XP cost assuming the following rules are met:
 * A character has the listed requirements fulfilled.
 * A character does not already have a number of styles equal to their Insight Rank divided by 2.
 * A character has access to either a manual or a teacher of that style and may study with it/them for a length of weeks equal to 12 - their Void Ring + their Earth Ring if it is a "hard" style or their Air Ring if it is a "soft" style.

The Dragonborn
The dragonborn, as a collective race, average in height between 6 and 8 feet, weighing between 200 and 400 pounds. Like true dragons, they can be divided into ten subspecies (and their respective kingdoms), between two subsets:

Chromatic Dragonborn
Red - Xuehonglin Diguo ("Kingdom of the Crimson Scale")

Blue - Qianwanjin ("The Countless Gold")

Black - Shenan ("The Far Dark/The Deep Dark/The Secret Depths")

Green - Piaowu ru Wuzhe Lu ("The Land of Falling Flowers")

White - Bingxuejing ("Capital of the Ice")

Metallic Dragonborn
Gold - Tiandiguo ("The Celestial Empire/Kingdom of the Supreme Ruler")

Silver - Qu ("Solitude")

Copper - Sanluoren ("The Scattered People")

Brass - Lingluoren ("The Withered People/The Fallen People")

Bronze - Bijingguo ("The Unavoidable Country/The True Works")

All dragonborn are capable of utilizing a breath weapon, details about which are specified under each subset of dragonborn. All dragonborn breath weapons adhere to the following rules:
 * Using a breath weapon expends 2 Void points.
 * Using a breath weapon is a complex action.
 * The attack roll for a breath weapon is (Athletics + Agility)k(Agility)
 * After using a breath weapon, a dragonborn is considered Fatigued, suffering a +5 TN penalty to all skill, physical trait, and spellcasting rolls, cumulatively until they rest. They may still take a Full Attack Stance, however.

Active Defense
In order to facilitate a sense of heroic action, and to tone down (just somewhat) the chanbara-style combat implicit to L5R, I'm instituting a system of active defense, the rules of which I lay out below:
 * Every character has a pool of Qi, equal to their Stamina + their Willpower.

Blocking: Common sense applies here. Unless you can creatively argue for why you are able to block an axe with your arm, you are not--or you may be losing an arm. Blocking reduces the incoming damage by (2xWater)k1. The number of kept dice can be increased by items used to block. A shield's Reduction value applies to the damage done to it. Blocking a 52 damage attack with a wooden shield means that the shield, itself, takes 32 (52-20) damage. Damage to the blocking character is then reduced by (2xWater)k3.
 * Taking any of the following three actions costs 1 point of Qi: Attacking, blocking, or dodging.
 * You recover 1 point of Qi at the start of your turn, after selecting your stance.
 * If you have a school rank power granting you the ability to make melee attacks as simple actions, you recover 1 additional point of Qi at the start of your turn.
 * If you are in Center stance, you recover 1 additional point of Qi.
 * When attacked, you may respond to block or dodge if you have the Qi to spend.
 * If you attempt to dodge and fail, you may still block, but at the cost of another point of Qi (for a total of 3) and the amount of damage reduction will be reduced by half.
 * Improvised items (e.g. furniture) give a bonus of +0k1. As a general rule, treat improvised items as having 20 wounds before they are reduced to unusable debris.
 * Wooden shields give a bonus of +0k2. As a general rule, treat wooden shields as having Reduction 20, and 40 wounds before they are reduced to unusable debris.
 * Metal shields give a bonus of +1k3. As a general rule, treat metal shields as having Reduction 40, and 60 wounds before they are reduced to unusable debris. Blocking with a metal shield costs 2 points of Qi.
 * Heavy weapons may be used to block, and give a bonus of +1k1. As a general rule, treat heavy weapons as having Reduction 40, and 100 wounds before they are reduced to unusable debris. Blocking with a heavy weapon costs 2 points of Qi if the blocking character's Strength is less than 6.

Dodging: Parrying effectively falls under the header of a dodge in this simplified system. Dodging attemps to completely deflect or avoid an attack. When dodging, add (Air)k(Air) to your armor TN for one attack. For each attempted dodge, your total allowable movement on the following turn is reduced by 5'