At the start of the game, the player whose Clan is at the top of the Honor track takes the deck of Political Mandates to play the first Mandate Turn.

At the start of the following Seasons, the first player to perform a Mandate Turn is the one to the left of the player who performed the last Mandate Turn on the previous Season. To easily remember this, make sure to keep the deck of Political Mandates close to the player who will play it next.

During a Mandate Turn, the player currently in possession of the deck of Political Mandates draws the top 4 Mandate tiles and looks at them in secret. They choose 1 of the Political Mandates and returns the other 3, facedown, to the top of the deck, without reshuffling. They then place the chosen Political Mandate faceup on the first available Political Mandate slot on the board (from left to right) for all players to see what Mandate will be executed this turn.

EXAMPLE: The current player draws 4 tiles from the top of the Mandate deck.

EXAMPLE: The current player decides to play Recruit, returning the rest facedown to the top of the deck.

The chosen Political Mandate is performed by all players, starting with the player to the left of the player who selected it and proceeding clockwise. The player who selects a Mandate will therefore be the last to perform it (except for the Train Mandate, see Train). The effects of each Political Mandate are summarized on the Political tile each player has behind their Clan screen. Except for the Betray Mandate, all Mandates have 2 components: One part that ALL PLAYERS may perform and one Bonus part that only the CURRENT PLAYER AND THEIR ALLY (if they have any) may perform.

One by one, in clockwise order, each player performs the chosen Mandate. Only the player who selected it and their Ally are allowed to also perform the Mandate’s Bonus. This goes on until all players have performed the Mandate.

Once the current Mandate Turn is over, the current player passes the facedown deck of remaining Political Mandates to the player to their left, who becomes the next current player and executes the next Mandate Turn (unless the Political Track indicates a Kami Turn must be performed next, see Kami Turns).

NOTE: All events of a Mandate are considered to happen in a single moment. During a Harvest Mandate, if you gain multiple Coins or VPs from different Provinces, it is considered a single instance of gaining those rewards for triggering abilities. Effects that take place at the end of a Mandate only occur after all players have executed that Mandate.

There are 5 Political Mandates a player may be able to select:

• Recruit

• Marshal

• Train

• Harvest

• Betray