WPD Wrote:I was curious as to why the prerequisite for a shoten was changed...
[SIZE="3"]Could you elaborate?[/SIZE]
FPW
FAQ
"It means 'Ask the next question.' Ask the next question, and the one that follows that, and the one that follows that. It's the symbol of everything humanity has ever created." Theodore Sturgeon.
WPD Wrote:Well, in Black Wind, a shoten had to be a child, the best shotens being mongrels. Using children for shoten was a large part of what made the Kakureta Kao so ruthless. I was wondering why in By the Sword, adults or virtually anybody could be a shoten.If I remember correctly, in BLACKWIND, they hadn't found all the scrolls which told how to make the elixer which would enable them to make a Shoten of anyone -- so they used children. By the time BY THE SWORD takes place, the Kakureta Kao had finally rediscovered how to make the elixer, so using children wasn't necessary.
Ken V.
Ken Valentine Wrote:If I remember correctly, in BLACKWIND, they hadn't found all the scrolls which told how to make the elixer which would enable them to make a Shoten of anyone -- so they used children. By the time BY THE SWORD takes place, the Kakureta Kao had finally rediscovered how to make the elixer, so using children wasn't necessary.
Ken V.
Yes, I know, but I was curious as to why FPW decided to make that change.
Ken Valentine Wrote:If I remember correctly, in BLACKWIND, they hadn't found all the scrolls which told how to make the elixer which would enable them to make a Shoten of anyone -- so they used children. By the time BY THE SWORD takes place, the Kakureta Kao had finally rediscovered how to make the elixer, so using children wasn't necessary.
Ken V.
True in Black Wind, the scroll fragmets that Hiroki found were incomplete, but what they did find always mentioned children. Also, there was a scene in BW where the Kakureta Kao used a small child in a wicker basket against Kubla Khan. This predated the scrolls being hidden.
WPD Wrote:True in Black Wind, the scroll fragmets that Hiroki found were incomplete, but what they did find always mentioned children. Also, there was a scene in BW where the Kakureta Kao used a small child in a wicker basket against Kubla Khan. This predated the scrolls being hidden.It's been a while since I have read BLACKWIND, so I could be mistaken. I have the impression that the Mongol invasion was stopped by an actual storm in the Inland Sea, (this was the second invasion attempt, which encountered a typhoon and spawned the belief in a Kamikaze, or Divine Wind) and that the earliest use of the Kakureta Kao-generated Blackwind was in a land battle during the Toyotomi (or was it Nobunaga) "unification" of Japan.
Ken V.
[SIZE="3"]Ah, yes. Back in the 80s I was uncomfortable with what was necessary to turn a child into a shoten, and on revisiting the rituals realized I was even more so now. A change in personal aesthetics went a long way toward that change. [/SIZE]
FPW
FAQ
"It means 'Ask the next question.' Ask the next question, and the one that follows that, and the one that follows that. It's the symbol of everything humanity has ever created." Theodore Sturgeon.
fpw Wrote:[SIZE="3"]Ah, yes. Back in the 80s I was uncomfortable with what was necessary to turn a child into a shoten, and on revisiting the rituals realized I was even more so now. A change in personal aesthetics went a long way toward that change. [/SIZE]
Ahh, a moment of weakness caused by a warm heart. You should never let that interfere with your work when dealing with the abyss
WPD Wrote:Ahh, a moment of weakness caused by a warm heart. You should never let that interfere with your work when dealing with the abyss
Naow here's ol' WPD tellin' Paulie haow t' wroite his books!
Will he be tellin' the Pope haow t' say Mass next?
:p