The most significant event of the first year of the war was the Battle at Beiden Pass. Unless you understood the geography of Rokugan, you wouldn't know why it was called "the crossroads of the Empire" It is a mountainous region with a great crevasse, separating the north from the south and the east from the west. If an army wished to circumnavigate the Pass, they would have to move over a hundred miles out of their way to do so. It is no wonder that this region was so important to the first months of the war.

The battle began only weeks after the infamous battle at Kakita Castle, where the traitor Doji Hoturi led an army of Shadowlands madmen against his own Clansmen. It was his army that turned the tide against the Crane, and the advancing army led by Crab samurai Hida Sukune burned the oldest Crane castle to the ground. Only the sudden arrival of a rogue Dragon army, led by the ronin Toturi forced Sukune to retreat back to Beiden Pass. It was there that this mighty war would take place

Sukune reinforced his position with his younger brother Yakamo keeping his armies in reserve in the west. Toturi attacked with his Dragon army (supported by a small band of Unicorn cavalry), and while his initial attacks were unsuccessful, Toturi still caused heavy Crab casualties with his own army escaping relatively unscathed. After the second day, an army from the Lion Clan arrived.

After hearing that Toturi was leading the Dragon army, they did not wish to miss the opportunity of killing the fallen Champion to gain favor in the Emperor's eyes. On the following day, however, a small army of Phoenix arrived led by the samurai-rnaiden Shiba Tsukune. She engaged the Lion army with reckless abandon and personally killed the official representative of the Lion Clan. The Lion army retreated, and Toturi attacked once again with the Phoenix shugenja as support. Hida Sukune was ready for the Dragon, but he was not ready for a Dragon army led by the Empire's greatest tactician, supported by the magic of the Phoenix. He retreated back to the Crab fortress in shame.

But Toturi did not stop there. Leaving Shinjo Yasamura behind to guard the pass, he led the first army in a thousand years to invade Crab territory. "The Great Bear" Hida Kisada knew that he would need reinforcements to do battle with Toturi. He could find no allies in the east among the Clans, and so Kisada has turned his eyes to the west, to the Shadowlands.

Meanwhile, Bayushi Kachiko recently held the Test of the Emerald Champion. A duelling contest was held to determine who would wear the armor of the Emerald Champion. Many samurai arrived for the opportunily to become the Emperor's Champion, but when Kakita Toshimoko arrived, all who were in attendance said a heavy cloak of silence fell over the crowd. Even though he was recently wounded by a nearly fatal ninja attack, the Iaijutsu Master faced sixteen other samurai and each of them fell before his blade. Yes, Kakita Toshimoko is now the Emperor's Emerald Champion.

I will be bringing you more news from the Empire in a few months (although I know you already have learned much through contact from your own Clans). May the seven fortunes be with you!

Thanks

Special thanks to the fine folks at IQ Games for the Battle at Beiden Pass tournament and the one hundred and eleven players who showed up for The Test of the Emerald Champion at OrCon.You're making the story happen folks. Thanks again!

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