Difference between revisions of "The Book of Five Rings"
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===Five Rings Intelligence Service (FRIS)=== | ===Five Rings Intelligence Service (FRIS)=== | ||
| − | The FRIS, or more commonly known as "the ninjas", is the government body responsible for everything that requires intelligence gathering, and many jurisdictions having to do with it. They have no known headquarters or any known physical establishments. | + | The FRIS, or more commonly known as "the ninjas", is the government body responsible for everything that requires intelligence gathering, and many jurisdictions having to do with it. They have no known headquarters or any known physical establishments. There are only three known ways to contact them: |
1. Through the office of the Sovereign Shogun.<br> | 1. Through the office of the Sovereign Shogun.<br> | ||
2. By becoming a Sovereign Shogun.<br> | 2. By becoming a Sovereign Shogun.<br> | ||
| − | 3. By having | + | 3. By having one or more ninjas approach you. |
In the entire history of The Book of Five Rings, the ninjas were never known to have approached any outsider on their own. Traditionally, only close associates of the Sovereign Shogun can use the office of the Sovereign Shogun to contact the ninjas. | In the entire history of The Book of Five Rings, the ninjas were never known to have approached any outsider on their own. Traditionally, only close associates of the Sovereign Shogun can use the office of the Sovereign Shogun to contact the ninjas. | ||
Revision as of 18:46, 19 February 2007
| |
| Flag of The Book of Five Rings | |
| Motto: No Design. No Concept. | |
| [Map URL] (No Map Available Yet) | |
| Region | Wysteria |
|---|---|
| Capital | Capital |
| Official Language(s) | Language(s) |
| Leader | Sovereign Shogun Yamato Hagakure |
| Population | see here |
| Currency | Niten Ichiryu |
| NS Sunset XML | |
Read the real-life Book of Five Rings here
The Book of Five Rings is currently a modern-tech nation (more precisely, modern +20, i.e. all technologies available in modern eras and theoretical technologies that may become reality in the next 20 years), as per Wysterian standards.
Contents
Administrative Divisions
The Book of Five Rings is divided into five provinces. Each province is then divided into six prefectures. Below the prefectures are the municipalities, i.e. towns, cities, etc. The following are the overall summaries of the provinces and their respective prefectures:
Government
The Sovereign Shogun acts as the head of state. Each province is then governed by a Premier Shogun, and each prefecture by a Governor Shogun. While the Sovereign, Premier, and Governor Shoguns have not always been members of the military, they frequently are. Each Shogun responds to a popularly elected unicameral legislature, called the (Federal / Provincial / Prefectural) House of Magistrates. The Premier and Governor Shoguns are also popularly elected. The size and constituency placements of each House of Magistrates depend on the population size and movements of their respective jurisdictions.
The Sovereign Shogun, however, is not elected. Every five years, the Sovereign Shogun Trials (SST) will be held in one of areas of the Fire Province under the highest level of security. All who have been approved by the office of their local municipality is eligible to participate (historically, acquiring such approvals was not considered to be difficult). The contest consists of two events: the Trial of Wits and the Trial of Arms. Each contestant's performance is graded by a panel of judges whose identities have always been the source of much of speculation, but never made available for public consumption. The one contestant with the best scores will come out as the next Sovereign Shogun. Other contestants who survived the contest usually have many stories to tell; humorous failures, gruesome deaths, emotional moments, etc. The SST of any given year is never the same as the previous one. If a Sovereign Shogun decides to write about his or her ordeals in the SST, the resultant publication usually becomes a national bestseller for some time. The current Sovereign Shogun, Yamato Hagakure, has currently decided against writing about his particular SST. Although, in retrospect, the citizens of The Book of Five Rings have not always considered all the Sovereign Shoguns to be as equally competent, each Sovereign Shogun commanded tremendous prestige in the nation in their times.
The Sovereign Shogun also has access to communication with the Five Rings Intelligence Service (FRIS).
Five Rings Intelligence Service (FRIS)
The FRIS, or more commonly known as "the ninjas", is the government body responsible for everything that requires intelligence gathering, and many jurisdictions having to do with it. They have no known headquarters or any known physical establishments. There are only three known ways to contact them:
1. Through the office of the Sovereign Shogun.
2. By becoming a Sovereign Shogun.
3. By having one or more ninjas approach you.
In the entire history of The Book of Five Rings, the ninjas were never known to have approached any outsider on their own. Traditionally, only close associates of the Sovereign Shogun can use the office of the Sovereign Shogun to contact the ninjas.
Budgetary Priorities
Although provincial and prefectural government budgets tend to vary, the federal government has openly stated, on several occasions, that it intends to keep the combined spending on Law-and-Order and Defense at no less than 80% of the budget, and that it will strive to keep approximately (if not exactly) 5% of the budget on environmental spending <OOC> because, you can't have a good samurai country without some clean and untamed wilderness to have a deathmatch in, amirite?! hur hur hur </OOC>. The rest usually goes to Commerce, but currently 2% of the federal budget is set aside for Religion and Spirituality.
The government uses Retrograde data for its official budget publications.
Currency
The currency of The Book of Five Rings is the Niten Ichiryu. During the ancient and medieval periods its physical representation was essentially a shuriken-like medallion made of gold or silver depicting a cross formed by a katana and a wakizashi. Now the same katana-and-wakizashi symbol is featured on copper coins or paper money to serve as legal tender. Occasionally, the Five Rings Central Bank (FRCB), the top government agency that administers monetary policy, still mints the medallions in their original form with various types of metals (precious or common) to celebrate the cultural heritage of the nation. The medallions minted by the FRCB also have legal tender powers.
The FRCB uses Retrograde for the official exchange rate data of the Niten Ichiryu.
National Animal
The national animal of the Book of Five Rings is the Red Leaf. It is a bird whose size, shape, feathers, and way of gliding in the air while flying make it resemble a drifting reddened maple leaf. Ancient and medieval swordsmen in the Book of Five Rings were thought to have developed a striking technique with the sword to disarm their opponents of their melee weapons. This technique was named the Red Lead Cut in honor of the bird. It was originally named the Way so as to invoke its symbolic role as a path to knowledge, but the government later decided to use the more descriptive name, Red Leaf.
Since its modernization, The Book of Five Rings has lifted the government ban on eating Red Leafs. Eating them, although not unknown, is still considered bad form by most, however.
