Unicorn Lands - Khanbulak: The City of the Khan

[Vutall]

Khanbulak
The City of the Khan—Khanbulak—is the chief city of the Moto family, the beginning of the Sand Road, and the westernmost terminus of Rokugan. Because half of the city technically lies outside the boundaries of the Empire, it is one of the only places where gaijin merchants can trade their goods. Khanbulak is at least as large as the Shinjo capital, and its prestige and prosperity have facilitated the growth of the Moto’s military and political power. Other clan courtiers have begun to wonder if the Moto will attempt to claim the mantle of clan champion, currently held by the Shinjo.

The shining white walls of the square city look out on the empty wastelands that eventually give way to the Burning Sands, al-Zawira, and the Ivory Kingdoms. The city is the terminus of the Sand Road to the Burning Sands and the Ki-Rin’s Road to the Ivory Kingdoms, receiving overland caravans from both. It is the seat of the Moto family and the White Guard, which patrols the official Rokugani border.

Behind the city walls, dreamlike tapestries stretch high into the sky, suspended by massive columns: these are the walls of the palace of the Moto, from which the Unicorn defend Rokugan from outside threats. Despite being the seat of the Moto’s pow-er—or perhaps because of it—Khanbulak is a hardship posting for Utaku or Ide samurai, who consider them-selves closer to Rokugani society. The rare ambassadors to Khanbulak from the other Great Clans consider the city a dead end for their career. With the exception of Dragon and Crab Clan representatives, most are forced to find new lives for themselves in the city when their tenure ends, for those who do return are met with extreme disdain by their fellow clan members. For all the trade value of Khanbulak, Rokugan is still an insular society, and an outward-facing city is an aberration in the Emerald Empire.

A Tent City
In addition to the dangerous and uncouth samurai of the Moto family, Khanbulak hosts a vast and shifting tent city on the lands outside the walls, with banners bearing a thousand different crests and sigils. This is primarily a place for merchants, both from the Empire and from foreign lands, especially the lands along the Sand Road and Ki-Rin’s Road but extending far beyond. These disparate groups mingle freely with the Moto. The Moto also station many of their more hot-blooded soldiers here, recognizing in their fiery temper and fierce passions, though they may at times offend the more traditional families of the clan, a deep communion with their steppe heritage.

Khanbulak, then, is a place where the civilized and the uncivilized mix and harmonize, much as the Moto family does at large. Despite being samurai, the Moto barter with passing merchants, just as their ancestors did. Foreign goods and mysterious strangers pass through the gates of the city every day

When the sun sets, all foreigners to Rokugan must move outside the walls of Khanbulak. This includes tribes of the Ujik who have not yet sworn themselves to the Moto family khan and officially accepted the Kami Shinjo’s offer to join her clan, as well as traders from the Burning Sands and beyond. It is a demand of honor, but also a demand of practicality, for it makes the city far easier to guard.

This is more than a polite fiction: gaijin are harshly treated in the Emerald Empire and are, technically speaking, barred from the entire country. The city’s authority only officially extends to its walls, and local priests bless the city every morning, proclaiming that all within the walls are citizens of the Empire in homage to the first Hantei. Any gaijin found inside the walls after dark are, officially, to be killed without mercy.