The Spawning Ground

Legend of the Five Rings card from Diamond Edition, Ambition's Debt, Gold Edition, Soul of the Empire, Promotional–Diamond, Training Grounds, Promotional–Jade

Card Type

Stronghold

Province Strength

7

Gold Production

3

Starting Family Honor

-19

Clan

Shadowlands

Card Text

You do not gain or lose Honor; this is not negation.
You may not take Political actions or actions that cause other players unconditional Honor losses.
Negate all Fear effects upon your cards.
Ogre, Oni, and Troll Personalities you own, in and out of play, have +1F/+1C.

Legality

Four Winds (Gold), Hidden Emperor (Jade), Rain of Blood (Diamond)

Deck

Pre-Game

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "The Spawning Ground 7PS 3GP -19FH You cannot gain or lose Honor. You cannot take Political actions or actions that cause unconditional Honor losses to other players. Your Personalities will not swear fealty. Your cards are immune to Fear. Each Ogre, Oni, and Troll Personality you own gains +1F/+1C." [MRP, Diamond Edition, 27 October 2003] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 152
• Cards referring to Yogo Junzo's Army or the Shadowlands Horde also refer to it. [Rulebook] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 152
• The +1/+1 bonus applies continually to all appropriate cards under your control and in your deck, Provinces, hand, and discard piles. A card which changes controllers may gain or lose this bonus. [FAQ 3.10] Accumulated Rulings, February 8, 2000, p. 68
• In Search of the Future: 1) Reduces all Force bonuses currently active on cards in the current battle to 0 except those provided to or by a directly attached card. [card text] The following bonuses are all reduced: Bonuses from Strongholds, such as the Spawning Grounds. Bonuses from most non-Follower tokens (since only Follower tokens automatically count as both tokens and cards). Bonuses that cards give themselves, such as Matsu Domotai and the Celestial Swords. Bonuses from Tattoos (Tattoos are often attached as a reminder, but this is technically incorrect; they are played, have a permanent effect on the Personality, then get discarded). 2) Will not reduce the bonus that an Item gives to its Personality, but will reduce any bonuses that Item gives to itself first. For example, a Celestial Sword's own bonus to itself will be reduced to 0, and it will then only give +0F to its Personality. 3) Is instantaneous. It affects only bonuses active when it's played. 4) The phrase "in this battle" describes which cards are affected, not the duration of the reduction. Any bonus reduced to 0 stays 0 until end of the turn, no matter where the card may move afterwards, and cards moved into the battle after In Search... is played will not suffer any reduction. 5) A variable or conditional bonus that counts other cards does not come from those cards. It comes from the card it's written on. 6) A card that adjusts its own Force and has a printed Force of "*" is not considered to be giving itself a bonus unless the word "bonus" is used in its text. The Imperial Herald, Vol. 2, No. 4, p. 19
• Q: Speaking of Sensei, are my Kolat and Ratlings Shadowlands cards if a Shadowlands player brings them into play using Kage Sensei or Ak'tok'tuk Sensei? A: No. They gain the "Shadowlands Horde" trait. This term is not separable and is not equivalent to "Shadowlands." This is true if you're playing Sepulcher of Bone and The Spawning Ground, too, not just the Shadowlands Horde Stronghold itself. The Imperial Herald, Issue 16, p. 12
• Q: When do I start applying the +1/+1 bonus from the Spawning Grounds and the Shadowlands trait from the Kitsu Tombs? Which cards do they affect? A: These effects are continuous and apply to all appropriate cards on your side of the table – in your deck, Provinces, discard pile, etc. as well as in play. They are not just applied once, at the start of the game; cards which change controller will gain or lose these changes. The Imperial Herald, Issue 13, p. 34

Rules Q&A

• Q: Hi all
  Player A is playing The Spawning Grounds and has a Iuchiban in play. Iuchiban is 7/7 due to the Spawning Ground effect Player B is playing The Spawning Grounds and plays Egg of P'an Ku on his opponent's Iuchiban.
  IS the new Iuchiban: a-7/7 cause the +1/+1 bonus from The Spawning Grounds is a permanent one b-6/6 cause the +1/+1 bonus from The Spawning Grounds is not a permanent one c-7/7 because of b and because player B is playing The Spawning Grounds as his Stronghold d-8/8 because of a and because player B is playing The Spawning Grounds as his Stronghold
  A: c.
  The Spawning Grounds bonus is not permanent. Its duration is, effectively, "while the card is owned by you and has the Oni, Ogre, or Troll trait". Jeff Alexander, "rules for 26 March 2004", 29 Mar 2004
• Q: (this OWN sound similar to the Spawning Ground, but with unit instead of personality)
  A: There is a subtle but significant grammatical difference between "I own that Personality" and "That Personality is my own." In the first sentence, "own" is the game term found in the Glossary. In the second, it's largely meaningless. The sentence is essentially identical to, "That Personality is mine." The word "own" merely reinforces the idea that it's mine as opposed to someone else's. That's the meaning used on Encircled Terrain as well: the word clarifies that each Personality chosen must belong to the player doing the choosing. Jeff Alexander, "post for 20 November 2002", 21 Nov 2002
• Q: I'm assuming this has been asked already....
  Friend of mine wants to play Baku no Oni and use Forgotten Tomb with Spawning Ground.
  It should come out like this correct?
  Baku no Oni goes under Forgotten Tomb, he has 0 force, so he comes out immediately, gains the force/chi = 1/2 the # of fate cards in players hand and then gains the +1/+1 from the Spawning Ground.
  A: Wrong.
  The Spawning Ground, by MRP in Gold Edition, applies a +1/+1 bonus to all cards you own. It's always on during the game, wherever your cards are. Baku no Oni is a 1/1 before entering play and would have to wait a turn. Jeff Alexander, "post for 7 June 2002", 8 Jun 2002
• Q: If Omoni is in play and I'm using The Spawning Ground <---stronghold. It reads Your Goblin, Ogre, Oni, and troll personalities each gain +1F/+1C since oni is in Omoni's name do I gain +1/+1 for him being a goblin and +1/+1 for him having oni in his name?
  A: The Spawning Ground either gives its bonus or it doesn't. There's no way to get +2/+2 from it. And, no, "Omoni" is not an oni. You can't break up words like this. [AOF rulebook p. 33] Jeff Alexander, "post for 16 January 2002", 17 Jan 2002
• Q: Player 1 (me): Shadowlands (The Spawning Ground) Player 2 :Crab Player 3:Crane
  I recently played a multi- game and the following occured:
  During my turn, I initiated an attack vs. the Crane provinces. My Stronghold, not containing any caveats for allying or asking to ally, allows me to ask the Crab for help in pulverizing the Crane.
  Province 1: My entire army + Crab allying support gets sent home w/o bowing (Bridged Pass). Province 2: I play Accessible terrain (after the defender passes).
  Q: Does the allying attacker gain the ability printed on Accessible Terrain?
  A: No. He is an "attacking player" and an "attacking ally", but you and ONLY you are the "Attacker". "Attacker" and "Defender" are rigid terms. Normally, there is exactly one of each. Jeff Alexander, "post for 11 January 2002", 12 Jan 2002
• Q: Also, are the Shosuro Gardens only allowed to target legal targets, or when someone targets my attacking samurai with Refugees, can I redirect it to another samurai at home?
  As long as they're unbowed yes.
  A: Sorry, no. When redirecting an action, you are bound by, and ONLY by, the action's original targeting requirements (plus the redirecting action's own restrictions, of course). Shosuro Gardens can redirect a Refugees to any of your own Personalities, bowed or unbowed, in the current battle who have no Followers. Jeff Alexander, "post for 18 December 2001", 19 Dec 2001
• Q: Can you ISotF the +1/+1 from the Spawning Ground?
  A: Just the +1F. Jeff Alexander, "post for 2 November 2001", 3 Nov 2001
• Q: - lobby for the Favor with less honor than my opponent if I'm playing with the Ruined Fortress and he with the Spawning Ground?
  A: No. As of Gold Edition, you may not lobby unless you have more Honor than each other player. Who has which Stronghold doesn't matter. Jeff Alexander, "replies to 22-23 September 2001", 24 Sep 2001
• Q: Yes. The Spawning ground force bonus doesn't happen until you control the card. You only control cards in play, and the Forgotten Tomb specifically implies that the cards under it are not in play yet ("You may bring cards under the Forgotten Tomb into play..."). A 0f Oni (for example) could be placed under the Tomb, and then get brought into play immediately at 1f.
  Actually, looking at the current wording of the Spawning Ground, it says it refers to Oni/goblins/etc that you own, not control. Own is different from Control in L5R, isn't it?
  A: Ah, you are correct! I had taken the wording from the Archive, which is apparently off by one key word. It's usually easier to steal wording from the Archive, because none of the online databases have adjusted for Gold wording changes, and I don't have a set of GE (and I hate grabbing my cards to chack wording anyways - too much walking).
  Anyways, you're right. Given that the GE Spawning Ground does indeed say own and not control, the force bonus *is* given to Oni, Goblins, and Trolls that are not yet in play. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for August 22 (Part One)", 22 Aug 2001
• Q: The Gold Edition Stronghold, The Spawning Ground, prohibits that player from taking Political actions. But it says nothing of allying.
  A: It never has. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 2-7 August 2001", 9 Aug 2001
• Q: You can use the action on Hantei XVI's card, even if you cannot normally lose honor. However, because the lowering of your honor isn't an honor loss, it still happens, and a Shadowlands player would instantly drop to -39, losing the game.
  I thought I'd already ruled on this, Vaughn: the Spawning Ground and Horde cannot take Hantei XVI because they cannot change their honor from -19.
  A: Yeah. Mea Culpa. For whatever reason, I'm just having trouble kicking the answer I got on this during playtest out of my head. :/ Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for January 6th", 6 Jan 2001
• Q: Lets say, my Opponent has Ik'krt (who is 1C) and Te'tik'kir (Experienced 2) on the table. i kill my chimamire no oni.
  Quote:
  Reaction: If your Stronghold is the Spawning Ground, after Chimamire no oni is destroyed, put a -1C token on up to two Personalities.
  and his reaction kicks in. and i throw the -1C token to Ik'krt who dies due to 0C. Thus he hit the discard Pile. as a result, the token is destroyed. can my opponent now use Te'tik'kir (Experienced 2)'s ability(as show below) to bring back Ik'krt ? and can i use Chimamire no oni's rection and put two -1C token on one personality? or i can only put one on each personality
  A: It says to put ONE token on each of up to 2 Personalities. You can't chose Ik'krt twice. Martin Lund, "another series of questions", 25 Mar 2005