Makime Ayano wrote: ↑Sat May 29, 2021 5:25 pm
Politics being what they are personal relationships are likely to be superseded by the greater needs of the clan.
Yeah. I think this is actually the period where we start to see this coming to pass. An ever increasing number of individuals are rising within the ranks whose focus is more on the clan's needs than on the personal agendas that brought them to the events of the first two games. It's still not as fully fleshed out as it would be centuries later, and quite a large body of older characters have personal takes on individuals that transcend clan attitudes (though not necessarily clan needs) because they knew each other outside of clan boundaries. However, the clan mindset is a thing that is coming into focus.
Which is actually part of what's happening here, with the founding of the tradition of winter courts and the Imperial Court itself as an entity.
Characters like Nozomi, whose attitudes are entirely singular and not tied to clan agendas (she has concerns that will mesh with the needs of the nascent monastic orders, but Nozomi is basically here on her own for her own purposes), are becoming an increasing minority within the empire. In a lot of ways, this was always part of her story. She was one of the last gasps of tribal mentality, aware that the old ways were dying out and trying to catch up. Now, she's one of those last solitary individualists watching as the empire forms around her, and knowing that she represents another era, one that will end soon.
It's sort of fascinating to watch interactions as these things form, rather than with them already set in stone. I enjoy observing the connections between those who are already deeply clan centered, and those who still sort of struggle with it.