A large portion of the story of The Legend of the Five Rings can be found in the rulebooks of the game itself. Each time a new set is released, more of the story unfolds. Now that L5R is about 2 years old, we are starting to see players who have not read the stories in the earlier rulebooks. If you are one of these players, or one who has just forgotten what they said, fear not. The Dragon have been here since the beginning, and all has been seen by our eyes.

Ok, here it is, the history for Legend of the Five Rings. I run into so many new players who all want to know what has happened to lead up to the events happening currently in the storyline. It is a long and involved story that can be hard and long to explain to players, especially over the net. I have seen for a long time the existence of the clan letters posted online. I have always felt this was an invaluable resource for players interested in the story. Each clan has someone who is in charge of keeping the letters for their clan. But I have not found anyone who is keeping the journal of events that are occurring in Rokugan. Well, for the first time, here it is for all the new/non-imperial assembly members to enjoy.

In the very first Imperial Herald, an excerpt was printed from the never published novel, Distant Thunder by John Wick. This article presented for the first time a lot of the information about what had gone on just before the events in the card game. This is still one of my favorite background pieces, and I wish this novel would eventually see print. The excerpt was called 'Twilight of the Emerald Empire'. Also here is another text which bares remarkable similarity to this text. It was found on the Phoenix site, but our scholors have made it much easier to read.

Clan Letters. These are one of the easiest things to find on the net, and as such, are only linked to here. If you are a player who hasn't yet read them, I much advise you to do so. They give much insight as to what has gone on in the story so far. I advise that you read all the first letters before reading the second letters and so on. This way, they will make more sense to you.

The Time of the Void is the conclusion of first major L5R story arc. Included in the set are new stronghold cards for each of the twelve previously introduced clans. A good part of the story is told on the backs of each of these cards. Well, collected here are the stories of the twelve factions in the War of the Thunders and what happens to them in Time of the Void. I have tried to collate them into chronological order to facilitate a more flowing story. Unfortunately, this wasn't totally possible as they weren't written in a linear format. But this really doesn't matter; they are truly awesome.