Soul of the Empire

Legend of the Five Rings card from Soul of the Empire

Card Type

Event

Keywords

Unique

Card Text

After you reveal cards in your Provinces at the start of your turn, if this Event is face-up in one of them, bow all non-Stronghold Ninja cards.

Legality

Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Is Winds of Change going to be an oversized set like Soul of the Empire and Time of the Void, seeing as how it's an "end of arc" set?
  A: It will be normal-sized. This should tell you something about the story. Jeff Alexander, "post for 19 May 2003", 21 May 2003
• Q: *****
  Is the Gold Edition card "Deathseeker Technique" the same or a different card than the similarly but not identically named Soul of the Empire card "Death-Seeker Technique"?
  Same card. Hyphenated words count the same as a non-hyphenated version of the same word. Page 33, Gold rulebook.
  A: Right answer, wrong reason. That rule says you can't use the parts of a hyphenated word as individual keywords.
  This card was renamed as a stylistic fix. Jeff Alexander, "replies to 15-20 July", 26 Jul 2001
• Q: Is the Gold Edition card "Deathseeker Technique" the same or a different card than the similarly but not identically named Soul of the Empire card "Death-Seeker Technique"?
  A: Same card. Hyphenated words count the same as a non-hyphenated version of the same word. Page 33, Gold rulebook. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for", 19 Jul 2001
• Q: This "wanker", if such a single person truly ever existed, did nothing more than point out that this is exactly what the Soul of the Empire rulebook says on p. 37. It even uses being sent home bowed and dishonored as an example.
  Exactly. A new paragraph 'appears' in the rulebook, and the wankers descend. You should have just said, "Disregard that, it was added in error. We'll let you know when we figure out if we want to change it for real."
  A: I could not disregard it out of hand because it *was* a completely natural extension of the "all effects are separate" rule as applied by someone unbiased by past ruling conventions. Furthermore, if you're going to argue with her interpretation of the grammar, it's only fair I should point out that grammar is this woman's job. You might have the confidence to assert that she's just reading things wrong. I don't. Jeff Alexander, "Rulings for 29 March 2001", 5 Apr 2001
• Q: In either Spirit Wars or Soul of the Empire, there was a card that indicated that the Council of Five had they're meeting table destroyed by Shiba Tsukune. She wanted the table to be remade with 6 seats to allow the champion(her) to sit at it. Yet, the promo card The Council Reforms definitely indicates that the table was recreated with only 5 seats. What caused the motion Tsukune put forth to fail? Was there a specific reason, or was it just a ploy to get out the promo card? Anyone out there know the story? Please tell!
  A: The Council of Five refused to follow her command, basically. The Phoenix have always had clashes of authority between the Shiba, the family of the founding Kami, and the Isawa, the family that holds the true power behind the clan. She said, "Make it seat six!" and they said, "No." The flavor text describes some of their reasoning. Jeff Alexander, "Rulings for 6 March 2001", 18 Mar 2001
• Q: Although the Soul of the Empire Bayushi Goshiu XP3 has different text than has been previewed for the EE Bayushi Rentatsu (Soul of Goshiu XP3), this question applies to both versions.
  Bayushi Goshiu XP3 Scorpion Clan Diplomat - Experienced 3 - Unique Goshiu can remain bowed Limited: Bow Goshiu to target a player. Until Goshiu straightens or leaves play, the player loses 2 Honor immediately before each of your turns.
  Bayushi Rentatsu Scorpion Clan - Courtier - Unique - Soul of Bayushi Goshiu Experienced 3 Limited: Bow Rentatsu: While Rentatsu remains bowed, you may negate his straightening and after each of your turns begins, choose a player: he loses 2 Honor.
  Okay. A plain reading of these cards suggests that they way they "should" work is simple: you bow him. Every turn, you can either straighten him like a normal person, or leave him bowed and ping your opponent's honor. But the sequence of play suggests that might not be how this works. In both cases, the timing of the honor loss occurs before the straighten phase (either "before ... your turn[]" for Goshiu or in the somewhat saner "after ... your turn[] begins" for Rentatsu). So, using Rentatsu's timing here because it makes more sense, your turn looks something like this:
  1. Opponent ends his turn. 2. Your turn begins. 3. The delayed effect created by Rentatsu's action (used on the previous turn) triggers ("...after each of your turns begins..."). 4. You choose a player. 5. That player loses 2 Honor. 6. Your straighten phase begins. 7. The delayed effect created by Rentatsu's action triggers ("you may negate his straightening"). 8. You choose not to employ this delayed effect; Rentatsu straightens. 9. You proceed with the rest of your turn. Rentatsu does a variety of Courtier-ish things while unbowed, without bowing. 10. You bow Rentatsu for his printed action.
  Ignoring the minor details of the rest of your turn and anything your opponent does other than end his sad, hypothetical turn ... is there any reason this would not go back directly to step 1? If so, is it intended that Goshiu XP3/Rentatsu need not actually negate his straighten-phase straightening in order to cause Honor loss? If not, why not?
  A: As far as I know we're still in the "not answering questions based on EE cards, even spoiled ones" stage, but the timing you've laid out is correct, Bayushi Goshiu exp3 would in fact cause his honor loss before determining whether or not he wished to straighten during that turn's straighten phase. Jon Palmer, "Bayushi Goshiu XP3 / Bayushi Rentatsu and timing", 8 Dec 2011