This is the first part of a concise, if necessarily imprecise, history of Rokugan. (Imperial Herald #14)
At the dawn of time, the nine children of the Sun and Moon fell to earth, becoming at that moment less than gods, but still far more than mortals. Eight of them fell together; the ninth, Fu Leng, fell some distance from the others. The first eight formed an empire, installing Hantei I as the Emperor. The other seven brothers and sisters gathered clans about themselves, naming them the Crab, the Crane, the Dragon, the Lion, the Phoenix, the Scorpion, and the Unicorn.
Suddenly Fu Leng reappeared at the border of the Empire leading a huge army of goblins, undead, and foul creatures from the Shadowlands, the dark place where he had fallen. Fu Leng's army attacked the fledgling Empire, defeating the clan armies again and again.
When complete defeat looked inevitable, a mortal man named Shinsei approached Emperor Hantei and asked for seven mortals, one from each clan, to follow him into the Shadowlands to defeat Fu Leng. These seven brave warriors became known as the Seven Thunders, and, together with Shinsei, they embarked upon their hopeless quest.
Fu Leng's forces continued to crush all opposition, but when they reached the gates of Otosan Uchi, Hantei's capital, they suddenly faltered. The Thunders had acheived their goal! The Shadowlands forces broke and fled back to their miserable home.
Of the Seven Thunders and Shinsei, only the Scorpion Thunder returned, near death and bearing twelve Black Scrolls. "Guard these carefully," he said as he died, "for they were the defeat of Fu Leng."
Scorpion Clan Coup (Scrolls 1-3)
The Emerald Empire of Rokugan had existed in relative peace for a thousand years since the defeat of Fu Leng. But the Scorpion Clan daimyo Bayushi Shoju came to believe that the ancient prophecies of Uikku indicated that the 38th Hantei Emperor would bring forth a consuming evil that would destroy Rokugan. Those days, people saw the imperial line as weak, and this helped Shoju decide how to save the Empire from its doom.
In a daring coup, Shoju killed the Emperor and seized control of the imperial capital Otosan Uchi. For days his forces fended off the massed armies of the other clans. He tried to explain his actions, but the clan emissaries would hear none of his "Scorpion lies."
John Wick's version of the L5R History up to the Clan War.
Part 1: The History Part 2: The Clans Part 3: Fall of the Scorpion Part 4: Distant Thunder