From Board Game Geek:
Gaffa
AEG had been around for years before they ever came up with L5R. They were originally a small indie RPG company, probably most famous back then for publishing the indie game magazine Shadis, which had a respectably long run for a small RPG magazine that wasn't backed by TSR or White Wolf. In fact, the "roll and keep" dice mechanic was originally used as the AEG house mechanic in a number of articles in Shadis before being ported over to the L5R RPG. For that matter, the Kolat first appeared in Shadis in their original form as well, as a bunch of monk/assassin dual classed characters for a D&D campaign.
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From Shadis, Issue 17 (January-February 1995):
The Bad
Tera Nightshade
by John Zinser
Occupation: Kolat Monk
Skills: Stealth, HTH Combat, Weapons
Motivation: World Domination
Weaknesses: Fear of Magic
The Kolat Monks are a secret organization of warriors dedicated to the eventual takeover of the civilized world. Tera Nightshade is a Terrorist; she and Dejal travel the world enforcing the Kolat's rule through terrorist activities such as assasinations, kidnappings, infiltration of local governments, bribery etc. As a member of the Kolat she is a master of disguise and deception and she uses this to the best of her abilities.
She currently has lovers in riding parties of seven major kingdoms and she uses these men to manipulate activities in the governments to help the Kolat. She and Dejal are wanted in almost every kingdom, under various names.
She currently has her sights set on the crown jewels. They plan to use them to bribe a Dragon into attacking and destroying the castle of Lord Keltar who has been causing quite a bit of trouble for the Kolat lately.
by John Zinser
Occupation: Kolat Monk, Assassin
Skills: Martial Arts,Stealth, Thieving Skills
Motivation: To become Grand Master
Weaknesses: Loyalty to Tera
Dejal is one of the few masters who has been trained both as a Monk and an Assassin. He is personally responsible for over 20 political assassinations, including three within the Kolat organization itself which furthered his quest to become Grand Master of the Kolat. Dejal is a lawful warrior and prides himself on the fact that innocent people are never harmed during his assassinations and other terrorist activities.
For the past three years he has been working with Tera and has grown to like and respect her. Unfortunately, she is two ranks higher in the organization than he is and killing her is a sure way to create an opportunity to battle for leadership of the Kolat. He and Tera often use other criminals in their schemes as scapegoats as they did with Quaglern; almost half of their crimes get blamed on other people.
He is currently involved in a elaborate sceme to set up a Baron: he plans to kill the Baron's wife and leave the Baron holding the murder weapon and the blame.
The Ugly
Quaglern
by John Zinser
Type: Ogre
Skills: Ferocious fighter
Motivation: Revenge
Weaknesses: Fear of Cats
Quaglarn was the chieftain of a large ogre tribe that prospered raiding small villages and towns. On one of these raids he met the adventuring pair of Tera and Dejal.
They struck a deal with the Ogre, talking him into using his tribe to attack a small keep, which they would let his warriors into during the night. The attack turned out to be a double-cross. Tera and Dejal made off with thousands in gold and gems while the ogres were all captured or killed. Quaglern was sold into slavery and ended up in a pit-fighting arena where he would often be pitted against tigers and lions.
He escaped the arena and now travels the lands in search of Tera and Dejal: he plans a slow and painful death for both of them. He survives by thieving from human villages or joining wandering adventurers (Good or Evil) and working as a mercenary warrior. But no matter how good the work is, he always leaves to continues his search for the Kolat masters who betrayed him.
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The following text is from Wikipedia:
Shadis
Shadis is an independent gaming magazine that was published in 1990–1998 by Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG). It initially focused on role-playing games.
Shadis was conceived and started by Jolly Blackburn[1] as an independent gaming fanzine in 1990. In 1993, Blackburn formed AEG to publish Shadis as a quality small-press magazine, and brought on John Zinser and David Seay as partners. Printing of the first three issues was paid for by Frank Van Hoose, a friend of Jolly's, who also wrote for the magazine. A year later, in late 1994, the magazine received its biggest success by including a random Magic: The Gathering card in each issue at a time when booster packs of the new card game were scarce; many players bought multiple copies of each issue hoping to find a rare or out-of-print card. Many readers were also drawn to a small comic strip, Knights of the Dinner Table,[1] which was initially a filler, intended to fill a blank spot in the magazine, but later took on a life of its own.[2]
In 1995, Blackburn left AEG because he felt that Zinser and Seay were too focused on the new collectible card game (CCG) industry while he wanted to keep the company fun and small and focus on Knights of the Dinner Table.[3]: 263 Blackburn departed with the rights to Knights of the Dinner Table and a few other properties.[4] In a 2000 interview on the Gaming Outpost website, Zinser explained that he had wanted the in-debt company to grow at a faster pace than Blackburn was comfortable with, hence Blackburn's departure.[4]
In 1998, Shadis went "on hiatus" and publication ceased.[5]
In drawing lessons from this magazine's demise, Wolfgang Baur, the editor-in-chief of Kobold Quarterly, thought it was a mistake for Shadis to rely too heavily on content that was not focused on fantasy in general and Dungeons & Dragons in particular.[6]
Alderac Entertainment Group
Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG) is a publisher of family board game products. AEG was formed by Jolly Blackburn[1] in 1993. Blackburn left the company in 1995 and the majority of the company is now owned by President & CEO John Zinser. The company is virtual and does not have a physical headquarters but it is legally domiciled in the city of Henderson, Nevada.
AEG's first product was Shadis Magazine (winner of the 1994, 1995, and 1996 Origins Awards for Best Professional Gaming Magazine[2][3][4]). In 1994 the company began working on the development of the Legend of the Five Rings Collectible Card Game; that game was published in 1995. Throughout the 1990s AEG expanded its CCG offerings and began designing and publishing Role-Playing Game and Miniatures Wargame Game products as well. The company has exited the CCG, RPG and Miniatures Wargame categories and now exclusively publishes family board games.