Utaku Mai
Unicorn Clan 
*Battle Maiden* *Paragon of Honor* *Goddamn Rockstar*
Posts: 484
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Post by Utaku Mai on Jan 20, 2012 9:36:28 GMT -5
phew, transcribing is hard work! I'm nowhere near done, but I figured 9 pages should be enough to sate everyone for a while. It's very rough, but should give a decent idea of what's going on.
IM: Isawa Mitsuru
UM: Utaku Mai
BS: Bayushi Senshi (let's all point and laugh ;D)
BH: Bayushi Haruka
IM: So, I think the first question I have for Senshi is, Why did you, on Emerald Empire, decide to play a scorpion character?
BS: I had to think back on this one for a while, because it’s actually been over a year now, a year and a couple months…when I first got exposed to L5R by my best friend who actually plays Morito Mori on Emerald Empire, the ox clan champon…he kind of dragged me kicking and screaming into L5R, and the very first character I made was named Bayushi Jun, who for all intents and purpses, is Senshi. In the tabletop game we played, his story was vastly different then of course what happened to Bayushi Senshi. And Bayushi Senshi actually started off as Bayushi Jun, until he had an epiphany and changed his name to Bayushi Senshi.
IM: Ah, yes a second gempukku if you will
BS: Yes..
IM: Good times. What attracted you to the scorpion clan, though?
BS: I’m not sure, actually. I think I just really became attracted to the Bayushi Bushi school more so than I was attracted to the scorpion clan. It was more the essence of exploring, being able to play something else. I’ve spent a great deal of time, as an actor and as a writer, dealing with characterization and getting into character, and I find that hey, there’s another avenue for me to explore the character I’m creating in the table game, why not? I kind of just dove head first into the Bayushi Bushi, and then kind of realized there are a lot of things I liked about it, and that’s kind of why I got into the Scorpion clan, and then I discovered through playing Senshi that I absolutely love the scorpion clan.
IM: Ah yes, I see
UM: This is my secret theory, is that everybody secretly wants to play a Scorpion. I think that’s why there so popular on the forum. I wanna be a scorpion, I have played scorpions, they’re pretty rockin’.
BS: Has anyone ever seen the youtube video….it’s just a seven-second clip of Wolverine from the cartoon going, “I’m covered in Scorpions!”
UM: I saw that!
IM: I’ve also seen that, yes. Even Wolverine cannot deny the power of the Scorpion Clan.
UM: I had a quick question also, maybe not so quick, but…I’ve been following the forum since about June or July, and I know that you guys’s stories have been going on for quite a bit before than. I for one would love to hear a kind of very basic, hopefully not too long sort of plot summary, of where you guys started compared to where you are right now…
BS: oooh, wow…
BH: oh, me too, huh? All right, okay. Well, considering I started out completely clueless about a year ago, starting in January of last year, so pretty much, it’s been a year. I started off not really having a clue much about this game. Setsuro’s the one who technically bothered me into it,, and I figured, all right fine, they’ve got horses, I’ll play a unicorn, this’ll be fun, they’re like the nice people, this’ll be right up your alley…
BS: She in particular has a fascination with female empowerment, so, Utaku Battle Maiden is like a shoe-in for her.
UM: I know because they’re like the feminists!
BH: So you could choose to be a feminist, or you could be like Haruka, and not be a complete asshole.
IM: oooh…
BS: Did you just call her an asshole?
BH: You could say the utaku battle maidens can be a little rough.
UM: I don’t know where you get that.
BH: Well, let’s just put it this way: of all the guys I’ve ever talked to who know anything about L5R, nobody can resist an Utaku Battle Maiden.
UM: Oh my gosh, yes! I’ve been flirted with by, like, every single man I’ve come across on the forum!
BS: Girls, girls, girls! So…back on the topic…
UM: sorry…
BS: Long story short, too late: we met at Setsuro’s ascension party to champion. And senshi sees this Utaku and raises an eyebrow. Akodo Tomatsu, the Lion clan champion, endeavors to get the two of them introduced to one another, and Senshi for entirely political purposes at the time, goes…I want that one. Akodo Tomatsu had a mother who was distantly related to Otaku, that meant that Utaku Haruka is of course, Utaku, that meant that through a very, very, very long distant relative, If I married Haruka I could secure a very profitable alliance with the Scorpion and Unicorn clans and also just, ingratiate myself that much closer to Senshi’s friend Akodo Tomatsu, and the sense of hey, now we’re distantly, distantly related!
IM: It’s perfect!
BH: you want to know the truth about the real reason why that happened, and not all this political stuff?
BS: I forgot what the real reason was…
BH: because I was the only female on the forum!
BS: Yes, she was the only female on the forums.
BH: yeah, it was kind of slim pickings, in all truth and honesty…
UM: What you didn’t want to play with that Matsu girl who was played by a boy…?
BH: Lions are scary! Ill be honest, the big clans scare the daylights…the Mantis are all big fuggy pirates, Lion were too good for their britches, the Scorpion were evil bastards, and I was terrified of them at first …the crab clan are like, “crab clan crab clan…”
UM: I bet you’re doing that thing with you’re hands as you’re talking…
BS: The same way that I got dragged kicking and screaming into the Scorpion clan, and Utaku Haruka, they dragged her kicking and screaming, with the “you should be in the scorpion clan!” And since then, the plot has rolled into exposing her to the ways of the Scorpion, even though she’s an extraordinarily compassionate soul. The two of us, running around and falling romantically in love…the actual wedding itself…
UM: Which I thought was really lovely. I’ve gone back and read that – I thought it was really sweet and cool…
BS: Kiso was fantastic for that role. He’s…if you want to really et into really get into someone who’s really into his character…James who plays Kiso, hes been playing Kiso for fifteen years, sixteen years.
BH: Basically, the game.
BS: He’s been playing that character so long as there’s been L5R. So, there’s the wedding, and what was immediately after that I think everyone’s story got a wrench in their plan in the Civil War…I’m sorry, it’s being properly referred to as the Crane War…
BH: Right, right, sure, because only the Crane are suffering right now…bastards. I mean, nah… we love the Crane…
IM: It’s okay, we still love the Crane, they have all their nice…silk or what have you…
BH: Secretly, I’m a pocket crane. Secretly, I love the Crane.
BS: And the…Crane War… that’s had a lot more obvious effect on this whole thing, totally and politically…the scorpion clan forums pale only in comparison to the Unicorn forums…
UM: Come, join the Unicorn, we have opinions!
BS: But after a while, we eventually got to a point where everyone was satisfied. Through our not wanting to make a decision, and our debating and going back and forth…by taking so long, we didn’t join a side until all the other clans had chosen which direction they were marching, meaning the Scorpion would not be attacked. So we’re like, wait a minute…Win!
UM: I loved it!
BS: and then there as the whole… and this really added a lot of great material for us, of Haruka not losing her original loyalty…
BH: well that was a big critical point, Senshi was going, okay, I’ve got to do this. He had to make that decision as a player, obviously, to commit to the decision to support your own clan. So, you made this big drastic show of it, which of course…you write a paragraph…and I always rag on about this…you write these small little dinky things and everyone’s like OH MY GOSH! And I’m like, well, yeah that's great, and everyone thinks you’re a literary genius…
BS: I prefer to think that I’m succinct and to the point, whereas there are some authors out there who write walls of text…
BH: Well, I’m no Yushihime, but…
UM: Oh my gosh, I can barely get through that kind of stuff…not like it’s not great when I do…
BS: We love Yushihime.
BS: We do. We hung out when we had Winter Court.
UM: I want to talk about that a little bit, actually (Re: the scorpion and the civil war). Because I think that was just awesome. It was this great, wonderful example of how the forum, and the game, and the whole l5R setting , it just sort of came together, and it was beautiful. And I said more than once, Jay, you are an effing genius for making that the final decision, the whole…the phoenix ambassador having an assassination attempt, and then, people having to lay down their lives for that final vote. I loved it.
BS: There was something Jay said that was absolutely genius, and I have to look it up and it was that hilarious. Something about the Scorpion clan…
BH: What I should say, while you’re doing that…what’s been happening with the character in a very general sense. We’ve been seeing Haruka immediately delving right into the Scorpion. She was never really a normal unicorn, because I don't play normal characters. I mean, they have some traits… but, she just latched onto it. The problem we’re seeing now is that she’s devolving away from her compassionate nature, and her gentler nature, the way she was when he met her. Not necessarily to say that that’s what he loves about her, but now she’s getting involved with the Spider clan, and this other stuff. She has a moment where she rides out, and shows a moment of compassion just like she should, which turns everyone on their heads, like, what the f**k is wrong with you? They just all looked at me…and that all progressed from there, which got Shoju involved. And that’s just been this progressive story, where Senshi is trying to do everything right for the empire and for her and all this good stuff, and she’s continually having these horrible interactions with these people. I’m sure the spider clan love her support secretly but… There’s this sort of falling from grace factor…and I’ve played around with a few possibilities, where she could become all the way tainted, she could be…I mean, people are offering me immortality, and things like that and I’m like, well, I don’t really want to go that route, no, I can’t go that far…
I’m really just trying to have a heartbreaking Shakespearean story now. The sister, who was found at the last possible moment, and I actually had that little plot, actually had that hidden in my bio. I had a sister who had been missing for several years. And Shoju, he didn’t know about this, I let him know and he’s like, (fake accent) “You have a sister? Oooh, I’m totally getting in on this!” I’m sorry, that’s not what Shoju sounds like, I’m just inventing…
UM: Because he has a Spanish grandmother, he must talk like a stereotypical Mexican?
BH: That’s what I can envision for that…but he jumps on that. Her sister gets killed, or dies rather, and is resurrected, with this power feuled by the Taint…then, for some reason, and I still don't know the logic, but hey, we rolled with it, he decides to come right on back and go, “Hey, here’s your sister! I’ve brought back Tenshi!” and I’m like, wtf are you doing here, I’m going to have to kill you now.”
And then Senshi gets to kill Shoju…
UM: which doesn’t stick.
BS: I’d like to thank Chad for allowing me to do that, because that was actually, from what I understand, the first player vs player combat in forum threads that resulted in the actual death of a character. However, Shoju being Shoju, he’s not really dead.
BH: It’s like the good guys, the good bad people…
BS: I don’t want to call myself a good guy
BH: No, you’re not a good guy!
UM: No way.
BH: The only good quality about you as far as Western writing and stuff like that, is that you have this undying sense of, you can’t let Haruka go, you can’t punish her too much, but you still let her know her place. You weren’t willing to let her just throw her life away. That’s the character’s motivation beyond all else. All this s**t’s happening, her sister’s back from the dead, shes running around doing stupid stuff, and in the end he’s still going to turn around and take her down. It’s not going to be all smiles and giggles, but at the end of the day he’s still going to lay it on the line. So, we have this progressive fall from grace…
BS: And Shoju is always…he’s the Noritoshi to my Jinen. That’s absolutely one of my favorite blood feuds in L5R, is Emerald Champion Shiro Jinen and Kikita daimyo Noritoshi. Shoju’s great, we get along famously well, I bet you wouldn't know it by looking at us..
BH: Out of character, we’re all really quite good…
IM: It occurs to me, that in order to role play together as well as you do, even in conflict, you really do need to be able to get along well with these people outside of the game.
BS: Yep.
BH: Yeah, it works quite well, nine times out of ten. Occasionally, people take things their own way, and do their own thing.
BS: One of my favorite moments of Senshi’s…part of this plot between Haruka and Senshi. When he finally rides to Toshi Ranbo, to speak with emperor Hantei, and he finds Haruka there. She’s just suffered from…an arrow to the knee, is that it?
(laughter)
BH: damnit…
BS: She used to be an adventurer…
UM: Congratulations, you were the first of that meme.
BS: Well, there she is.
UM: She’s hurt.
BS: Wounded, yes. After being specifically told not to endanger his son…
BH: Well, I don’t listen to you…
BS: This is a moment were…I got made fun of about this a lot for about two whole days, where Senshi actually smacked Haruka. And, oh man, he womanizing jokes I got. He slapped her with his right hand. And from there, he storms straight into a discussion with the emperor, where he proceeds, under the escort of the Lion…the Crane were kind enough to escort me, but I really wanted Senshi to maintain his dignity as much as he could, because he felt that he was making a choice that was grating and personally hurtful to him, and an insult to this whole big plan as well…so under Lion escort of Akodo Taiyo, who was fantastic…he walks straight into this meeting with the Hantei and torched off my right hand.
UM: yeah.
BS: I specifically, and this that kind of goes over a lot of people’s heads…I specifically torched off the same hand that I used to slap Haruka with.
BH: and that goes along the lines of this obsessive caring for the character
BS: And here, the intent being: he caused this harm to something he found precious and beautiful, and he could no longer call the hand his own anyway. And all he had to prove to the emperor that everything he had belonged to him. And since this hand no longer belonged to Senshi and no longer wanted to be attached to it anyway, then…roast. And this starts a very fun and interesting fascination with fire.
BH: And in all fairness, your now-dead brother had fire…
BS: Yes. Senshi’s brother torched himself rather than become tainted.
BH: Then we had Tenshi’s ending in fire.
BS: Yeah, we had that entire scene wreathed in fire, thanks to Shodai.
IM: yeah, there was just a little bit of fire in that particular thread…
BS: Then there’s Yun, torturing me in my dreams with fire. He even asked me, what would really torture me, and I said, use lots of fire.
BH: He said a lot. I told him to go darker, I said, Hell, you go as dark as you want., we’re already pretty dark, go for it.
BS:: And the death of Tenshi was one of those scenes that was just so mentally, vividly there for me. I could picture every moment. I actually found a picture that works really well, if you ever see me on the cbox, that kind of feral grin with flames licking at his face, and in his eyes a reflection of fire. I feel that screams the mental image of him.
And that’s where they are now – Senshi’s now aware that Haruka had given one of Senshi’s sons to tenshi, just in case Haruka died in the war, and thereby, therego… Senshi has actually killed his own son. He’s now riding back to Ryoko Owari on an Utaku steed…
BH: Riku, who’s this great comic relief, who I love riding…
BS: He’s a fun little character. So, using Shoju’s cell phone crystal, he’s like, “Haruka, what the hell? OMG…”
So that’s where he is. Haruka has currently gotten Yun/Zeure in her little web of protection.
BH: Yeah, she was going to turn him against Shoju. I mean, that didn’t quite happen as well as it could have, but there were other fun things, as always.
BS: And that’s where we are now.
UM: Well, I’d actually like to talk about that a little bit, because I was incredibly impressed by that madness thread…as I think many people were… and I really loved how you were willing to go there in many ways. Going there in a way where you’re not exactly morally on top in this situation, and that’s not something you shrank away from. And I really appreciated it, that you were willing to be the asshole in that whole thing.
BS: If there’s anything I’ve learned about the Scorpion…it lacks any and all honor. The Scorpion get the job done, and when the foe has no honor, then there’s no quarter, there’s absolutely no reason to hold back. And this is one of those rare instances where the Scorpion can show more strength in the battlefield than their foe, and I saw no reason for it not to be a massacre. That was definitely Senshi’s mindset, especially when Shodai…the always awesome Shodai…went “here you go, new arm” and I went, hmm, well this could be useful!
IM: Speaking of a new arm…one of the things that was kind of interesting to me was that on your side-forum list of traits thing, you have Kensai listed out. Why is that, or rather, how do you as a player justify Senshi being a kensai type character in the game?
BS: With only one arm? Well, I hold a tanto in my teeth! Actually, Senshi started out as a kensai, and this actually spawned from my friend Mike…Morito Mori…he played from the current Celestial Edition he played bitter lies kensai deck. And I play against that deck in about 99% of my games. It’s an incredible deck to, but that aside…Senshi is definitely a bushi, and it made sense for me to go the way of the Kensai, considering that was the theme of the time. And actually, I wasn’t the first one to call Senshi a kensai, that was one of the Lennon brothers…not the guy who originally played Isawa Tanaka, but one of the minor clan characters. He started the card forum where he started making card art for everyone before Keisuke took over, and he made a card for Senshi that had the kensai trait. And I went, you know what, that's fitting, so I sort of ran with it.
IM: So you kind of feel that using the kensai trait is a reflection of Senshi’s skill with the sword, and his dedication to really being a warrior?
BS: Absolutely, yes. He feels about himself, very smugly if I do say so, that he is the greatest kenjutsu master in Rokugan.
UM: So that’s why you want the kenjutsu contest to happen again?
BS: oh, so badly, so so badly…I want that kenjutsu…I only got clan seduction up to forty…I’m not going to win any male beauty pageants any time soon.
UM: I have another question relating to what you said about being a kensai and bushi and stuff…I actually found it really interesting,… there was a lot of political stuff that you had a hand in with the whole scorpion voting and stuff. It seemed that, and maybe I didn’t read as much as I should have, but it seemed that you were trying to play the courtier in some ways? What was that experience like for you?
BS: Oh… Senshi being in court is usually bad news. Thank god he’s the clan champion and has a high status, because otherwise he’d just be getting everyone into trouble. He’s very blunt, straightforward, direct kind of guy, not something a lot of people would expect from a scorpion, and because of that, he tends to put people off guard and off balance. He’s just “I want this! do it, do it now! “ And that’s how he treats court situations. He walks in and starts waving around this big I’m-a-champion hand.
IM: So secretly, Senshi got accepted into the Bitter lies school, but the scholarships were better at the Bayushi Bushi school?
BS: Yes, exactly.
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- Chuda Yun 
- Bob 
- Kakita Battou
