By Aaron Medwin

Konichi-wa, travelers. I see you have met my most esteemed colleague, Yasuki Garou. His tales are wondrous, are they not? The Diamond Empire, such a fantastic place. The tales to be told there are truly magnificent. Has he told you the one about the prophet and the princess falling in love? Or the ogre posing as a man? Ahh... I see. You know of the Diamond Empire.

It was not always so. I'm sure you've heard of the Shadow Wars, where terrible armies of Oni invaded Rokugan, and the Empire was saved only by the sacrifice of an entire clan. It was a dark time, but not the darkest - they still had records of what had gone before. History is a valuable asset, you know. Battles can be won with the tactics of long-dead generals, and science can progress greatly on the notes of the previous generation, just as example.

The Shadow Wars destroyed all that.

Let me take you to a time of desperate heroes and terrified people. Let me show you what the future has forgotten, what they do not know, and refuse to know. They will not believe that the first Crab governor to lose his lands was a hero, no, he was simply a failure. They would not understand that mankind knowingly killed a kami of light, no matter the reason. They do not want to hear that the Elemental Council failed, and cost Rokugan much of it's mystical heritage. They cannot know the truth behind an Oni, and that the good in an evil being is sometimes stronger than any dark kansen - and that Rokugan's existence is owed to a demon of Jigoku.

Come, my friends. Come and journey into the Shadow Wars, the time that life forgot.