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The Ten Thousand Fortunes [1] comprised the pantheon of gods and divine spirits worshipped within Rokugan. [2] The most important Fortunes lived in Tengoku, the Celestial Heavens. [3]

Creation of the Fortunes[]

The Three Nameless Gods created two Gods, the first man and woman, and sent them out to give shape to the world. The first man and woman descended to the earth and named it. They also gained their own names, Onnotangu and Amaterasu, the Moon and Sun. The life in the world began, and new gods, the Fortunes, appeared. [4]

Fortunism[]

The people of Rokugan revered and appeased the elemental spirits of nature, agriculture, and other domains. This worship of the spirits and gods who dwelled in Tengoku and the myriad lesser spirits dwelling in Ningen-dō was known as Fortunism. Shugenja could hear and speak to these spirits, and their invocations to the Fortunes and the elemental kami could produce miraculous effects. [5] Fortunism was made up of hundreds of localized traditions that were unified by their mythology and a general agreement on foundational beliefs. [6]

Fortunes[]

A Fortune was a type of powerful kami that governed a concept rather than a place or natural feature: strength, cats, crafts, and the like. The appellation "Fortune" was a contraction of their full, proper title, which might be translated "God of Fortune" or "Lucky God." Fortunes descended to Ningen-dō via places sacred to them, such as shrines, or regions that expressed their purviews. They often made their earthly homes in natural, geographical, or human-built features called shintai, which were the focus of many shrines. Folk tradition maintained that Fortunes could take human form as one of these shintai. [7] There were the seven major deities (generally referred to as the "Seven Fortunes") often invoked by most people within Rokugan and a veritable legion of minor Fortunes and animistic place spirits. It was the sacred right of the Hantei to declare a new Fortune, elevating deceased former mortals to the ranks of divinity. [8]

Sun and Moon[]

The Great Fortunes[]

The Eight Great Fortunes [5] received a disproportionate amount of worship and obeisance, but their purviews were treasured above all others in Rokugan. [9] Greater Fortune had a primary shrine, from which all others devoted to that Fortune derived their layout and teachings. [10]

Minor Fortunes[]

Merged[]

During the rule of Hantei Genji the religion of the Fortunes, the ancestor worship, and the Shinseism, the words of the Tao were merged. [5]

References

  1. Court Games (The Chrysanthemum Throne fiction), by D. G. Laderoute
  2. Her Father's Daughter, by D. G. Laderoute
  3. Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 135
  4. Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 8
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 14
  6. Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 145
  7. Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 140
  8. Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 15
  9. Legend of the Five Rings: Roleplaying Game (Beta), p. 8
  10. Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 155


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