Unicorn Lands - Hyōzenshō

[Vutall]

Hyōzenshō
Kōbaku Province is a hard, desolate plain even at the height of summer. In the winter, the ground freezes sol-id and snow comes off the mountains to the east, driven by howling winds. In this least hospitable of Unicorn holdings sits Hyōzenshō, the Outpost of Ice.

Unlike other way stations across the Empire, Hyōzenshō doesn’t overlook a road or conventional trade route, and it rarely plays host to Imperial agents. Instead, it sits on a small rise—barely a hill, but enough to set the outpost above the sprawling plain.

During the summer months, the way station sees relatively little use. The cycle of freeze and thaw makes the landscape deceptively treacherous, with sudden soft patches to break a horse’s ankle or even swallow horse and rider whole. Most of the native vegetation is tough grass barely suitable for grazing, unlike on the fertile plains to the south and west. An occasion-al messenger comes through the outpost in need of a fresh steed and a warm meal: luxuries the warden, Utaku Sabuteki, does his best to provide, rationing out meager stores of rice supplemented with birds hunted out on the moor. The smell of burning peat fills the air but does little to drive away the lingering chill

In the winters, the Battle Maidens arrive, and the thunder of their hooves fills the plain like mighty drums. They bring with them carts of coal for the outpost and rations to last the year, as well as wood for arrows and iron to shoe the horses.

The empty wastes provide a perfect training ground as the elite Utaku cavalry practice wheeling and charging in formation. They are terrible, the beauty of brutality given human form. Led by the fearless Utaku Kamoko, the maidens are ever ready for war.

Thanks to the needs of the Battle Maidens, Hyōzen-shō has grown immensely, adding outbuildings like a smithy and extensive stables to what was once a simple watchtower on ground solid enough to pitch tents. Even though it stands nearly empty for most of the year, it could make for a staging area for a major military operation—such as a strike against the Lion to the south. Most clans would be deterred from that approach by the wide stretch of trackless wilderness between Dark Edge Village and the Drowned Merchant River, but such areas are highways for the Uni-corn. A mounted force like the Battle Maidens, well supplied with steeds, could cover the stretch in a night and a day and still strike with fresh mounts.