Imperial Herald #13: The Naga And Shashakar Deck

The Naga

And Shashakar Deck

by Edward Bolme

The Naga are a race of amphibious serpent people, with green skin, slitted eyes, tails up to thirty yards long, and an unnerving awareness of the world. It is said that their females can change shape, sometimes appearing with a long tail, and other times appearing with legs. They live deep in the Shinomen Forest and are perhaps the greatest archers the samurai of the Emerald Empire have ever encountered, and their pearl magic defies human understanding.

When the Empire was founded at the beginning of time (at least by human reckoning), the Naga were already an ancient race. For centuries humans were not aware of them, for the entire Naga race slept dreaming, in the decaying ruins of their civilization. Their collective racial consciousness was turned into itself in a meditative manner, and was content to remain that way.

It was not until the Scorpion Clan Coup that the Naga began to awaken, for it was shortly after the Coup that Yogo Junzo, a Scorpion Clan shugenja, opened the first of the Black Scrolls and began to unwittingly unleash Fu Leng's power into the world. The Naga felt these horrid tremors in their dreams, and grew concerned.

Slowly the Naga began to awaken, and scouts began to filter out of Shinomen forest. To their amazement an entire civilization of squabbling upright leg-walking 'humans' had arisen as if overnight. Although the initial contacts with humans were very tentative, the Naga did at last encounter Mirumoto Daini, a Dragon Clan samurai who made a sincere effort to understand their race. Together they realized that they indeed have a common enemy: the Shadowlands, whose power was growing while the Great Clans warred amongst themselves.

Mirumoto Daini was instrumental in bringing together the Dragon Clan, the Naga, and Toturi's Army of ronin, all of whom agreed to put petty politicking aside and concentrate their power against Fu Leng and his now-corrupt servant Yogo Junzo. Daini, known as "The Daini" among the Naga, finally recognized that the Naga do not in fact have names, as they are all part of one great Akasha consciousness. They have titles, which describe the duties and specializations of the individual.

The Naga fought side by side with the Great Clans at the Day of Thunder, and Emperor Toturi the First formally recognized them as allies and friends of the Emerald Empire.

After the Day of Thunder, the Naga joined with the Crab Clan, intending to help them reclaim territory lost to the Shadowlands over the years. Side by side they fought, eventually helping to retake Hiruma Castle, but suddenly, in a moment of great need, they abandoned the Crab and moved swiftly towards Dragon lands.

Deep in the Dragon strongholds, they could tell that Hitomi, the champion of the Dragon, was experimenting with The Shadow, the only thing that had been left unnamed at the beginning of time. The Shadow itself had the power to unname that which it had in its grasp, a power that could ultimately lead to the unmaking of the world. The Naga would not allow this, and with the help of the Brotherhood of Shinsei, they laid siege to Hitomi's fortress on Sleeping Mountain. Mirumoto Daini turned his back upon his clan and joined with the Naga, himself believing that Hitomi was working evil.

The Dragon appealed to the Empire for help, and Toturi's Army, formerly his band of battle-hardened ronin and now h personal Imperial Army, allied with the Dragon Clan, claimir the Naga had broken the treaty Toturi had signed with them.

In the end, the Naga siege was broken. The Naga opened a portal back to the Shinomen forest and stepped through. Fro] there, they moved quickly south to Crab lands, where the Crz were preparing to cremate Hida Yakamo, their champion, wh had been killed in the Shadowlands. The Naga interrupted tE funeral and took Yakamo's body from the pyre, telling the assembled Crab samurai that Yakarno must not be destroyed They took him back to the forests of Shinomen, and broug him before the Shashakar, the greatest of the Naga shugenja. "If we cannot defeat Hitomi," they reasoned, "we must create warrior who can defeat The Shadow."

The Shashakar took a black pearl, the rarest and most powerful of pearls, and performed an arcane ritual. This ritual restored life to Hida Yakamo, but at a great cost: it permaner ly removed the Shashakar's soul from the Naga Akasha, nev( to be reborn.

Now known as The Yakamo, the towering Crab champion has the slitted pupils of the Naga in his eyes and the echo of the Shashakar in his soul. He is a part of the Akasha, neither fully serpent nor fully human. Yet he brings the Naga and the Crab together in a powerful alliance, for the grim fortitude of the Crab and the powerful magic of the Naga is a combination that is all but unstoppable.

Naga Deck

Shashakar

This Open-format Naga deck is a different look than most; 75% of the personalities are shugenja. This gives the central shugenja, Qakar, a lot of chi to work with.

Qakar is the linchpin of the deck. Give him a bloodsword, and he is a dueling maniac. Whether issuing challenges like Hitomi or making someone face their devils, he can't be stopped. And, given the Power of Incompleteness, he can crush provinces single-handedly.

The River Deltas are included to give Qakar and the other shugenja some shielding against ranged attacks. Losing followers is inconsequential; losing shugenja is this deck's Achilles heel. The Dragonfly fortresses also help protect your shugenja against various chi-reduction tricks.

Rares and Fixed Cards Used

The Naga Stronghold is the easiest to get; given the amount of Siege that sold, I doubt these are all being used; you should be able to pick them up for next to nothing. Very few people seem to like this stronghold, but I find it useful for this deck; it lets you flush mercilessly at the start of the game without permanently losing key cards like Qamar.

Dashmar is around to allow you a de facto honor victory, but this deck can be pretty potent militarily, so he is not entirely necessary. If you don't have him, add in an experienced Radakast who can eat the cursed jackals. The Naga Abomination is just around for fun. He can easily be canned and replaced with another shugenja.

Ancient Spear of the Naga is a heavy bonus, but is not necessary. If you draw it, give it to Radakast. If you don't have one, replace it with the Black Pearl, plus scrap the Radakasts and add more shugenja.

The Tao of the Naga is helpful when facing high- honor decks, and should be hunted down if you don't have it. It's in Pearl, so getting it should not be too difficult.

Qamar is probably the most important card here, because he allows you to straighten your heavy hitters. In an ideal world, you send Radakast off to attack with the Ancient Spear, let him take his free challenge to boA the most powerful opponent, then after he wrecks the province, Qamar gives him a quart of Gatorade and he's ready to defend you against all attacks. That combo alone handily won a 4-player game for an early incarnation of this deck.

Kuro's Fire is from Ambition's Debt. Again, it is not necessary, but once you get a Qakar with a juicy bloodsword, the threat of 30 points of ranged attacks split any way you like is pretty intimidating.

Deck Format Variants

Sorry, not much to do here. You could try to do this deck in jade format with just a bunch of Naga cards and the Ancient Spear, but then you're pinning your entire deck strategy on a single card. Best have that Imperial Gift and three copies of Walking the Way.

"Shashakar"

The Naga Stronghold No Sensei Card

Dynasty Deck (40 cards)

Personalities

Holdings

Regions

River Delta 2

Events

Fate Deck (40 cards)

Actions

Followers

Naga Apprentice 3

Items

Kihos

Spells

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