Vendetta
The courts of Hachigoku, where daimyo rule and their whim is law, where secrets kill, where the only true armor you keep is your honor and wits, are as dangerous as any battlefield. Here a campaign of whispers and insinuations may test the loyalty of your staunchest allies and puts those closest to you in danger. This occurs when simple disagreement, argument, and political maneuvering gives way to a ruthless quest for the ruination of the another's reputation, or worse. The target finds himself enmeshed within a Vendetta.
And he might succumb to a lust for vengeance himself.
Much like a Battle, a Vendetta is an overarching conflict, bigger than a single Scene or even Story. Unlike a Battle, most of the action takes place offstage, before, between, and after the Stories themselves. While a Battle tests the physical and strategic might of small or large forces, the Vendetta tests the wits and reputation of its contestants and those closest to them. Some Vendetta occur at the instigation of a wronged or cruel samurai intent on destroying something more important than a samurai's life. The enemy is out to destroy his honor and sense of duty. Most occur at the behest of a superior, using the Vendetta as yet another weapon in his faction's arsenal to protect itself or further its aims. Untangling the various strands of a Vendetta to discover the true face of your enemy is a demanding task.
Some players may not wish to engage in such an abstract form of social combat. If vengeance or orders to take down their daimyo's enemy demand such tasks, they would prefer to micromanage the operation and engage the target directly. That's perfectly fine. They may just want to walk up to the object of their ire, challenge them, and finish them in a duel. Or manipulate someone else into doing so. Again, perfectly fine. They might want to consider, however, the chance that the target is a better duelist than themselves or a surrogate. They might want to consider the dangers of so openly involving themselves in a quest for vengeance, in terms of reputation and retribution.
And if it's at the daimyo's request, the consequences of revealing the daimyo's hand. Of allowing others to see you barreling through enemies to achieve his goals. That might fit some uji. It defintely would anger others.
More importantly, if you micromanage a Vendetta yourself, you will be either waiting for chance opportunity or demanding the spotlight of the game for your vengeance. One isn't much fun for you; the other may not be fun for everybody else.
“Certainly, no samurai fears death. But all men fear suffering.” So said Shinsei. The dead do not suffer in this life, and the Vendetta is about suffering. If a pound of flesh is taken, the Vendetta demands a soul as payment.
As a samurai loses friends, lovers, family, duties, and finally reputation... then he will know pain. Then he will suffer.
When you no longer fear tarnishing your Honor, keeping your hands clean is simple. Refined. Cultured. Civilized.
Here's how Hachigoku carries out a Vendetta.
Declaration
First you must select a target. You can only target characters with Namae status; there's no point wasting you vengeance and ruthlessness on unnamed Yowamushi.
This may be a personal enmity, or merely business. If it's business, your superior requested you make the target's life miserable, for whatever reason. He may or may not reveal that reason to you, trusting you to serve your faction to your utmost. If it's personal, you'll need to ask your superior for permission with a Politics/Awareness roll (TN 10 x the Glory Rank of the target). If you succeed, the Vendetta can progress as normal.
If you fail the roll your superior denies your petition, but you can still embark upon the Vendetta. Doing so in defiance of your superior costs you an Honor Rank. After all, going against the wishes of your superior is highly dishonorable.
If you do not have a superior, then engaging in a Vendetta is a highly personal and costly affair. You're committing to engage in underhanded dealing, with no restraint and for purely selfish ends. You lose an Honor Rank in this case, too.
There is a way to negate the Honor loss: declare to your target you're coming after him. This doesn't have to be an upfront, personal conversation. It doesn't even have to be public. In fact, declaring ti publicly would be shameful, and certainly violate the tenet of Courtesy at the very least. Vendetta is about cloaking your steel in silk, as the Bayushi say. Be subtle, but clear. Write a letter. Perform a play, with obvious allusions to the target. Beat them in a duel, but refuse to draw blood, letting them know quietly that your victory will be much, much more costly than to them than mere blood.
The important thing is that the target know he's embroiled in a Vendetta. If there's any doubt, you have not negated the Honor loss.
A target who knows his peril may choose to retaliate by announcing his own Vendetta. In this case, he does not need to convince his superior or lose an Honor Rank to initiate his own Vendetta.
All of this needs to be done during a Story or at the end of a Season. If at the end of a Season, you must spend a Season Action, one that was otherwise dedicated at the beginning of the Season, nursing your grudge, gathering conspirators, perhaps negotiating with your superior, and even cleverly revealing your intentions to the victim. Whatever it was originally spent for is canceled.
One more thing: a Vendetta is a consuming exercise, even if it remains at the fringes of your activity during a Story. You cannot pursue more than a single Vendetta at any one time.
Vendetta begins.
Gather Your Force
At the beginning of the Season, you first need to gather your conspirators in the Vendetta together. There's no need to prosecute a Vendetta all alone. However, there are limitations on who can assist you. There are two broad categories of who can join your Vendetta “force.”
The first are your close associates. These can only be characters of Namae status as well, and are limited to immediate family members, a Lover, an Ally, or a member of your Wa. Those who participate in your Vendetta cannot draft others into actively participating as well; an Ally of an Ally cannot help out, nor can the Lover of a Wa comrade.
The second group may be Namae or Yowamushi. These are your subordinates, up to and including anyone who owes you their direct fealty. There must be a direct line of subordination, however. These cannot just be samurai “on loan” to your service by another, although they may be personally assigned to aid you, such as a yojimbo or political advisor. The subordinates of your Namae conspirators cannot involve themselves either, unless they too are yours.
Yes, any subordinate. Those who wish to embark on a Vendetta against a daimyo are either brave or foolhardy in the extreme.
The size of your force is limited by your Glory + Awareness.
All those who participate in your Vendetta are also legitimate targets for any retaliation by the Vendetta's victim.
Gather Your Spies
Once you gather your force, it's time to start digging up the details of your target's life. You probably already know certain facts about the target, but this is a chance to know more, and how to best utilize that information. Even how to defend yourself from retaliation. In a testimony-based culture, other people are the best source of information, of course.
“Foreknowledge cannot be gotten from ghosts and spirits, cannot be had by analogy, cannot be found out by calculation. It must be obtained from people, people who know the conditions of the enemy.”
Sun Tao, The Art of War
At the beginning of the Season you must spend Season Actions to employ spies. These spies are not just hired hands. They represent the various types of contacts and correspondence gained by meetings, conversations, gifts, favors traded, or other less honorable methods you may have at your disposal.
They probably don't include ninja. Probably.
Each member of your force must spend at least 1 Season Action procuring one of Sun Tao's Five Spies, although they can spend more. You are required to spend at least 1 Season Action, of course, and any one who declines to spend a Season Action is no longer part of the force.
If your target is aware of your Vendetta against them and engages in their own Vendetta against you, then all known members of their force become legitimate targets as well. Even if not engaged in a Vendetta, any known member's of an enemy's Wa are considered enemies as well. It's only a matter of time, really, before the Wa becomes involved.
The Local Spy: Local spies know the home territory of the target. These are often lower caste citizens of an area, who are more attentive to their surroundings than their samurai masters assume. The information they transmit it broad but still helpful.
Each local spy grants you a +1k0 bonus to your Vendetta roll at the end of the Season.
The Inside Spy: Inside spies are close to the target, including everyone from household servants and yojimbo to close friends and family members. They follow the web of interactions that compose the target's life.
Each inside spy grants you the name and description of a target's Ally, Lover, Dependent, Servant, or Wa comrade. The spy can also grant you the name and description of someone the target holds under the Blackmail Quality.
The Reverse Spy: The reverse spy is not originally yours. This spy was sent by your enemy, but through bribery, coercion, or overwhelming humanity has been brought to your side, unbeknownst to their original employer. Spending a Season Action to recruit a reverse spy does not automatically grant you one; it only changes a spy sent by the enemy into one of yours. Thus you spending a Season Action for one at the beginning of the Season reserves a spot for a reverse spy at the end of the season, a spot only filled if someone else (likely the target) has initiated a Vendetta against you. The order in which the spot fills is determined by the importance of the enemy spy in the following order: local spy, inside spy, dead spy, then finally living spy. Once the enemy spy becomes a reverse spy you gain their original benefit for yourself.
In addition, any reverse spy reveals whether or not the enemy is aware of your Vendetta and has launched one of his own against you and your force. He reveals the name of every member of the enemy's force. If your target is aware of your Vendetta against them and engages in their own Vendetta against you, then all the members of their force become legitimate targets for Vendetta Actions.
If no one sent any spies against you, the Season Action spent reserving this spot is wasted. You cannot, it should be noted, attempt to recruit reverse spies outside of Vendetta activity, holding them in reserve as a possible defense against the unknown.
The Dead Spy: It takes a particularly ruthless person to recruit a dead spy. These spies do not return. They feed false information to the enemy at the cost of their own life, or are otherwise sent to gather information or commit sabotage with little to no hope of rescue or escape.
Each dead spy grants you the name and rank of any one Holding the target can leverage.
The Living Spy: Living spies are those who are sent out by you, loyal to you, and return with the most sensitive information. Their dedication and skill at ferreting out the enemy's most hidden faults and darkest secrets is uncanny. While any spy can be recruited by your force, only you can recruit living spies.
Each living spy grants you 2 Free Raises to your Vendetta roll at the end of the Season.
Story Effects
Now you go on about your business, enjoying your Stories. There's no guarantee you will come into contact with your Vendetta. In fact, for several reasons it might be best you manage to avoid each other.
But the Fortunes are fickle.
If you do encounter your Vendetta enemy (or enemies) in the course of the Story, and they are aware of your activities against them, they gain a Free Raise on all contested rolls involving you. Whether they are aware or not, the trickle of information flowing in about them grants you a Free Raise in all contested rolls involving them.
If either of you die during the course of the Story, or are otherwise incapacitated, the Vendetta doesn't end immediately. Schemes have been set in motion that will run their course without your direct guidance, or even the need for a definite target.
Vendetta Actions
At the end of the Season, after all other Season Actions have resolved, the fruits of your Vendetta are harvested. Yes, even if you or the enemy are dead. A Vendetta does not respect the grave.
You make a Vendetta roll. This is a contested roll against the enemy, using your Politics/Awareness versus their Etiquette/Awareness. You may make Raises, with each Raise granting you an additional Vendetta Action.
If you win the Vendetta roll, you can execute a number of Vendetta Actions against the enemy. You can also attempt to disguise your involvement (and your conspirators) by making a contested Sincerity/Intelligence roll versus their Investigation/Intelligence. If you win that, the enemy is aware of the effects of the Vendetta Actions, but remains unaware of their true source, although they may suspect a Vendetta was launched against them. If you lose the second roll, your machinations are revealed, and you lose 1 Glory Rank.
If you fail the Vendetta roll, you gain no Vendetta Actions. The information you gained is still yours to keep, however, and you can still make the contested roll to conceal your involvement.
Vendetta Actions include:
Bonus Effect: You can establish facts about an enemy equal to your Awareness as if they were bonus effects created by Raises.
Change Blackmail to Ally: You can free one individual the enemy has power over through the Blackmail Quality from their insidious influence. The document is lost, the damning witness silenced, the fraudulent claim exposed... any number of ways out of dishonor and insult are discovered. In thanks, the former victim of blackmail becomes your Ally.
Destroy Ally's Trust: You can sow dissension between the enemy and a comrade he has through the Ally Quality. This Ally is lost, and while the relationship may later be mended, they can never be made Allies again. You have twisted the dagger too deep.
Destroy a Romance: Not all love can survive meddling. You lay enough hints of disinterest or infidelity, if not outright bribery or other enticement, to cause the enemy's Lover abandon the relationship. If only one Vendetta Action is spent, the Romance ends honorably. If two Vendetta Actions are spent on this effect, the Romance ends dishonorably.
Kill or Steal Dependent: You can choose to arrange the death of an enemy's Dependent, or instead bring them into your control, either as a hostage or, if you're truly cruel, by enticing them into your protection and poisoning them against their former defender.
Kill or Steal Servant: You can choose to arrange the death of an enemy's Servant, or instead bring them into your service through bribery, charisma, or even seduction.
Lower Glory Rank: You directly attack the Glory of your enemy, spreading tales of cowardice and dishonor (which may or may not be true), lowering their Glory Rank by 1.
Lower Holding Rank: This can only be done if you have sent a dead spy. Target a Holding that the enemy can leverage and lower its Rank by 1.
The Vicious Cycle of a Vendetta
The Vendetta has ended for a Season. But of course, this may not be the end. The enemy may not have suffered enough, either by your own estimation or the judgment of your superior. Or the enemy may have discovered your role in his misfortunes, and vowed to repay you in kind.
If your superior orders you to end the Vendetta, for whatever reason, but you continue, you face the same dilemma as before the whole affair began, and the same consequences for your choice. Whether or not you continue a Vendetta likewise places no limitation on the enemy engaging in one against you.
If you refuse to engage or continue in a Vendetta as ordered, lose 1 Honor Rank. Any competent daimyo will not waste his time pressing the issue. Any competent daimyo, at least.
Finally, the most important aspect of the Vendetta may be its flexibility. It may not necessarily represent a bitter cycle vengeance. It can also approximate a long-running criminal investigation or accusation, an intense trade war between rival merchants, or even tense, drawn-out diplomatic negotiations between warring factions. Each act of damage and each relationship fundamentally altered is another koku laid down at the high stakes game of dice being played between over Glory in Hachigoku.
Play your game. Play your opponent. Play to win.
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