The Theme

Sakura no Aware (pronounced *Sah-koo-rah no ah-wah-ray*) is intended to be a role playing, political, narrative-heavy game focused on the building of societies, and then playing within those societies to live firsthand the consequences of leadership. While there will likely be combat and other player-versus-player opposition, this is not intended to be a rules-heavy, dice-heavy game, despite our desire to clarify rules across the wikia (we do this for posterity to prevent confusion). Thus, individuals who enjoy focusing on character statistics at the expense of role playing and story will not find this the most conducive gaming environment (but if you enjoy doing both, there's plenty of room for that).

## Game Feel

"Sakura" is the Japanese cherry blossom, often a symbol in Japanese poetry of something delicate and impermanent. "Aware," on the other hand, is a complicated idiomatic expression translating roughly to "pathos" or "sensitivity". Together, they describe our theme of exploring the struggle to create and maintain something meaningful and permanent that may inevitably be worn down by time and circumstance, not unlike building a sand castle at the edge of a rising ocean surf. It's a lofty theme, but one we hope will be fun and remain interesting and colorful over time.

We present this theme by combining the society-building elements of **Exalted** 2nd edition with the robust society and setting detailed in the **Legend of the Five Rings** (L5R) 4th edition. Generally speaking, this game runs the Exalted rules, but we have pulled over a great deal of individual mechanics from L5R and adapted them to those rules. We've also tweaked a great many small things, and created quite a few house rules of our own, so be sure to read over those if you're interested in seeing how we've altered things.

Other Influences:

* G.R.R. Martin's *A Game of Thrones* and related books.
* The Twelve Kingdoms

## Game Setting

New players will first be allowed to create a Kashin character, which is the analogue of a heroic mortal in Exalted (or normal player-characters in L5R), to play in a world with clans and societies created by Daimyo player-characters, who are our analogue to Exalts (demi-gods, essentially). Once players have become accustomed to our setting and mechanics, they will then be allowed to play their own Daimyo and potentially create their own clan, rule over their own society, and affect the game's politics-at-large. It is also possible that Kashin may reach a level where they, too, can lead significant forces, and we hope for that kind of emergent game-play and robust narrative.

The setting itself takes place in a richly supernatural world reminiscent of medieval Japan, which is recovering from a cataclysm that shattered the previous Empire. A new Empire is now recreating itself, and the direction and makeup of that Empire will largely be at the whim of players. How they choose to expand, colonize, annex, build, and so on will be documented in the game's history and populated on the game's map. For more information, see The World and Kuniumi.

### Initial Story Hooks

* The Jade Tortoise Clan is all that remains of the original Empire, and if they have their way, they will have the Empire recreated in its previous form, by political force, if necessary.
* Minor clans have begun to appear and carve out territory for themselves, jockeying for political power to perhaps one day join the Jade Tortoise as a Major Clan and dictate the future of the Empire.
* The Imperial Sanctum within the Imperial Court has not been entered since the Tenpenchii cataclysm, as the Jade Tortoise have been waiting for divine sanction to do so. With the rise of the Ōmijin, that time may have arrived.
* Within the Forbidden Districts of Amatsu-Kyo, a force of Youkai remain from the original attack on the city a hundred years ago. As the Jade Tortoise did not have the resources to defeat them, the great Jade Wall was built to keep them contained. But they will not remain contained forever.
* Children of Yomi have begun to appear and are causing all sorts of problems for the fledgling Empire.
	+ See the Black Walkers Clan.
* Since the Tenpenchii cataclysm, Youkai have begun to enter the world in great numbers, causing great strife and difficulties to the world's survivors.

## Getting Started

Naturally, our administration will be keeping an eye on things to make sure our rules are followed, and that the game's course remains steady and interesting through the involvement of NPC Antagonists, natural phenomena, and other story elements. We also fully intend to allow for PC Antagonists (with some caveats) and player-run stories.

If you are still interested in participating in this game, please click over to our welcome letter and check out the Kashin Generation page. How to Apply details the application process.

### Knowing Exalted

If you are unfamiliar with Exalted, a good first step is to start here with the caveat that we do not use the base Exalted setting. Other good resources are listed as follows.

* Wikipedia article on Exalted
* White Wolf's wiki on Exalted
* 1d4chan's amusing summary on Exalted

### Knowing Legend of the Five Rings

If you are unfamiliar with Legend of the Five Rings (often abbreviated as L5R), a good first step is to start here with the caveat that we do not use the base L5R setting (but are heavily influenced by it). Other good resources are listed as follows.

* Wikipedia article on L5R
* L5R wikia
* 1d4chan's amusing summary on L5R