"Making the Future of Rokugan"
By Aaron Medwin

(The following setting and adventure hooks are set during the time of the Shadow Wars, 106 years before Diamond Empire, unless otherwise noted.)

Every soul in Rokugan (and many outside of the Empire) knows about YogoTech. Its trademark logo is stamped on everything from affordable automobiles to mass-produced katana, from the newly revised War Standard of the Scorpion Clan to the gates of the Imperial City itself. In just five short years, YogoTech has become a household name in every nation in the world. The Emperor himself requests YogoTech merchandise, and it's logo can be found wherever modern technology is allowed to encroach - and even some places where it is not.

But it was not always so. Five years ago, YogoTech was a small clan-owned maker of transistor radios. It manufactured mediocre products at competitive prices, and turned just enough profit each year to survive. Seventeen workers labored for months to improve their few products with little success. The company was a joke, and seemed destined for an eternity of near-bankruptcy.

All that changed three years ago, when a team of Isawa scientists discovered the secrets to a new form of magic. This new magic was repeatable and reliable, and yet still capable of far more than ordinary technology. The possibilities were seemingly endless, and the five Phoenix made headlines in every newspaper from Otosan-Uchi to the Grey City for the first new major magic in over six hundred years. The researchers, in an unusually poetic mood, called it tetsukami, literally, 'iron spirits'.

The Agasha family of the Phoenix and the Tamori family of the Dragon decided to research it more fully, and they began to make a number of new advances. The Dragon Tamori, however, refused to share their discoveries to their brothers and sisters of the Phoenix, and on their enigmatic champion's orders, classified all Dragon advances in tetsukami. The Phoenix then turned to a philosophy known in some circles as open-source development, and soon the Iuchi, the Kuni, and even a few Asahina were expanding on this new art, discovering the hidden secrets that bound spirit to steel. (Editor's Note: Later in the Shadow Wars, the Agasha return to the Dragon Clan, re-absorbing their Tamori descendants.)

The Moshi family of the Mantis and the hidebound Kitsu refused any involvement, and returned to their homelands, turning up their noses - the children of Matsu did not like tetsukami at all.

Officially, the Yogo had no desire to assist the Phoenix in this new endeavor, but a shugenja named Yogo Hacharui found tetsukami of great interest. He was an exchange student of the Isawa Shugenja Academy, and an apprentice to one of the five shugenja who discovered the process. He called favors in from his Bayushi cousins and soon acquired the exclusive rights to market tetsukami. Within a year, all five of the original discovery team were disgraced and their names were stricken from the Halls of the Isawa Shugenja-ryu as a result of the masterful Scorpion plot, and Yogo Hacharui went into business with YogoTech.

Nowadays, he is known as the savior of YogoTech, and the father of tetsukami. He has, to the consternation of many, taken on only one apprentice of his own, a young woman named Iuchi Arumiko. He keeps his own counsel, and answers only to his superiors at YogoTech as well as Bayushi Yamato, the Scorpion Clan Champion.

Editor's note: At this time (during the Shadow Wars), rumors abounded of the possibility of maho use at Yogotech. Many, especially the Kitsu, felt that the shackling of kami in material objects was very similar to the use of maho. As of this time, none of these rumors have been substantiated. Yogo Hacharui has repeatedly proven himself a fine, upstanding citizen of the Scorpion.

Sample tetsukami items

(It should be noted that during the time of the Shadow Wars, the following items were relatively rare. Rokugan's technology followed a path much like our own in those times, but the following were anomalies that allowed those that took advantage of YogoTech tetsukami certain advantages)

Bayushi's Glasses
This common piece of eye wear was created by Yogo Hacharui himself as the first tetsukami product for mass use. Designed to be the eye wear of choice by any soldier in the field, they also passed spectacularly as proof of YogoTech's usefulness to the Scorpion armed forces. The glasses are commonly to be mirror shades that wrap around the soldier's face. When worn, they provide the wearer with a display that shows every being within sight clearly, identifying any weaknesses that can be exploited in combat. The glasses also grant the wearer excellent night vision. While wearing Bayushi' s Glasses, the TN to hit an opponent in melee combat is reduced by 5.

Ureisteel Armor
This armor was designed for Scorpion heavy infantry. Stone kami are bound into the armor to grant it protective value beyond standard Heavy Armor. A character in Ureisteel armor has a +15 bonus to his TN to be Hit, while suffering only a +3 to physical TNs, as opposed to standard Heavy Armor's +5 penalty. (Ureisteel counts as Heavy Armor)

Tangen .33
This is a small gun used for combat against unarmored foes. Surprisingly, firing the gun is not augmented at all by the tetsukami enhancements. The weapon is quick to be drawn, however. No roll is needed to fast-draw this gun.

Baku Cannon
This is a large anti-tank weapon. It is designed to be carried and operated by one man, and it appears to be a normal gun of remarkably large caliber. However, some of the junior designers at YogoTech determined a way for simple light to damage, if concentrated enough. In another time and place, it would be called a laser. In the Rokugan of the Shadow Wars, it's the Baku Cannon, and it's the most effective (and secret) weapon the Scorpion army has.

Tetsukami-based spells

Expunge (Water)
Base TN: 40
Casting Time: 1 minute
Duration: Permanent
Mastery Level: 8
Concentration: None
Raises: None

Effect: Ritual. This devastating ritual is one of the most despised spells any Tetsukai can possess. In one stroke, the spirits of metal and the spirits of the elements are cast out of their joint home, leaving the tetsukami creation powerless and non-functional. Some skilled tetsukami specialists believe that the spirits are left to die in the hostile environment of man; the creation of tetsukami forever altering the spirit. Those same shugenja whisper of the horrible possibility that spirits could be "used up" - if tetsukami production continues, the world's magic could suffer a horrible fate.

The Scorpion Clan denies those rumors, but it is pointed out that those who start such rumors are also of the Scorpion Clan.

Blood and Energy (Maho)
Base TN: 10
Casting Time: 3
Duration: 5 minutes
Mastery Level/Wounds Required: 4(Wounds Required is special, see spell description)
Concentration: None
Raises: Casting Time, Duration

Effect: Tetsukami require power, this is a given. Small batteries are common but of a limited duration, some of the original devices draw on power from the spirits, but the flow of power is highly intermittent, unacceptable for devices that must be in operation at all times. YogoTech has a solution to this problem, but inquiries are referred to their Customer Service department, where one will be assured that it is quite reliable and totally harmless. Still, if none of these are available, there is an alternative -the caster's blood. For the duration of the spell, each minute of use will cause one Wound to the caster, which cannot be prevented by any Technique, spell, ancestor, advantage, or kiho.

Shadow Wars Adventure Hook:

Challenge: The daimyo of one of the PCs(Scorpion, if possible) is in trouble. He owes a lot of money to someone else, and it's not just a gambling debt that can be cleared up with a little judicious application of the discrepancies in the class system. He owes money to a corporation of another clan. He calls on the PCs to deliver his payment to the debtors - a scroll case they are told to never, ever open. The way is highly treacherous. The Shadowlands have taken this area of the Empire and made it theirs, and the only way to reach the debtors is a days long journey through the dark lands.

Focus: When the PCs finally arrive, they find out that they have just handed over the clan's entire military roster. The scrolls contain complete information on the strengths of the PC's clan. That's sound information for an ally to have in wartime. The PCs are thanked and shown the way out.

Strike: That's the point when you tell them (make them roll Perception for it, if you're feeling cruel) that the man they met is wearing no jade, crystal, or greenstone. Whatever he is, he's very likely Tainted, possibly not human at all. The PCs must save their clan from Shadowlands forces or be eradicated. Then casually mention that the PCs saw the clan's tetsukami advances detailed on the scrolls; advances that can easily be turned to tetsukansen.

Diamond Empire Adventure Hook:

Challenge: One of the shugenja PC's cousins, a magistrate at one of the Hub Villages of Otosan-Uchi, calls the PC for a favor. Strange magical happenings are occurring, and thanks to the ever-present Scorpion anti-magic propaganda, the magistrates are forbidden from "wasting their time". It's the job of the PC's to figure out what's going on and solve it.

Focus: When the PCs get to the village, they are met by a young child who claims to know of their coming. The child tours them around the village, which is falling into ruin quickly. During the long and depressing tour, he identifies himself as a kami seeking the assistance against a foul shugenja working terrible arts. The PCs are charged with destroying the shugenja.

Strike: The shugenja is actually an honorable Phoenix man, newly graduated from the Isawa shugenja academy. He found a large crate in the village with an unfamiliar label on it. It identified itself as the property of a company called "YogoTech", but since that company does not exist, he claimed the contents (military equipment from the Shadow Wars) for himself and began to analyze them. However, the items destroy themselves as he tries to study them, and the destruction rips the spirits apart, killing them. In anguish, other nearby spirits lash out randomly. The Isawa man will not stop on his own - he feels that the ends justify the means (and he is making progress) - but the spirits' activity is only getting worse. Something must be done.