Phoenix Lands - Kyūden Asako

[Vutall]

Kyūden Asako
Kyūden Asako rises from the site of a much older castle, one built thousands of years ago, before Rokugan’s founding. The earliest foundation stones are said to have been set by a local ruler, positioned according to the counsel of traveling scholars from the Land of Four Rivers, and indeed, several stones are marked with the words and motifs of that distant land. Some of the ancient castle structures—raised wooden buildings and a thatch-roofed watchtower rising into the mist—survive to this day, carefully preserved and restored. Surrounding these monuments to history is a beautiful palace of gleaming pale walls and rich red tile roofs

Kyūden Asako was built on a series of hills in a volcanically active region where hot springs dispense mineral-rich water into natural basins. The palace, which encompasses some of the springs, is devoted to leisure, comfort, and healing, offering a counter-point to the trauma, violence, and stress that define many samurai lives. Historical scholarship, always a Phoenix Clan passion, thrives there. Still, among the healers, scholars, entertainers, and servants lurk spies and blackmailers waiting to catch powerful nobles with their guard down. There is trouble in paradise

Strengths and Weaknesses
Kyūden Asako’s original site was a classic ancient castle location: a craggy hill surrounded by wetlands that could easily be transformed into rice paddies. The castle’s early occupants kept a wide ring of wetlands around the castle site intact, however. Legend has it that an ancient king who lived there vowed to leave the wetlands undisturbed after a turtle saved his child from drowning; of course, it is equally plausible that earlier inhabitants hoped the marshes would impede attackers. Unless they travel on one of the high roads approaching the castle, large parties—especially mounted ones—cannot avoid slogging through the muck, where defenders’ arrows can pick them off easily

However, because of the hills’ low rise and the marshy ground, Kyūden Asako’s physical defenses are less elaborate than those of many military castles. The palace has outer curtain walls and a central keep, but most of its structures are built as yashiki (single-floor mansions) rather than fortresses

Asako Shieldbearers
Half of Kyūden Asako’s palace guards are convention-ally armed and armored archers and spearfighters. The other half may look to outsiders like historical curiosities to go with the handful of ancient structures in the palace center. Called Shieldbearers, they train for hours every day in the use of shields that many samurai would view as archaic, armor, and tsurugi. They maintain this regimen in part to keep a nearly extinct martial art alive and in part because of their highly specialized role, their environment, and their dedication to their history. However, their seemingly outdated armaments are not truly bronze and iron: they are modern steel wrought in ancient patterns by skilled smiths. The Shieldbearers use the round shield and tsurugi as both offensive and defensive weapons, striking and bashing with the shield and parrying deftly with the straight sword, which is a far more apt defensive tool than longer and heavier tachi or katana.

On the rare occasions the palace has faced violence, its attackers have found its defenders’ simple and adaptable weapons confusing to fight against. The traditional armaments are also highly effective at helping defenders maintain control over the natural choke points that the elevated paths above the rice paddies create while archers rain death from the roof-tops. Kyūden Asako’s Shieldbearers are highly sought after as yōjimbō.

Kyūden Asako’s greatest defense is neither edifice nor environment, nor human. It is the certainty of social censure that attackers would face should they wage war against it. The palace is seen primarily as a place of healing and as a resort location. Every samurai in Rokugan who has ever enjoyed relaxing at Kyūden Asako or has recuperated from illness or injury there would vow revenge, as would every scholar of history who respects what Kyūden Asako represents. The diversity of factions with spies at the palace also functions as a deterrent: why upset the board when a trusted resource is already in play?

Fun and Entertainment
Kyūden Asako’s natural hot springs are pools of fresh mineral water, naturally heated to various temperatures, that both feel soothing and aid in healing. The palace’s attendants include an order of priests who study naturopathic restorative methods as an expression of Shinseist devotion. The priests use massage therapy and herbal remedies in their healing. They also guide visitors in discussion, meditation, therapeutic calisthenics, and the practice of arts such as painting and poetry in order to help them process stress, the horrors of war, and other demands placed on the samurai mind. The palace’s permanent staff include tea masters and chefs as well, many of whom specialize in the intersection of cuisine and preventative medicine

Kyūden Asako also features a rotating series of artists in residence, representing every form of entertainment popular among samurai. Nō and Kabuki troupes, puppeteers, champion kemari teams, musicians, and dancers perform and teach master classes daily. Flower arrangers, gardeners, and visual artists from calligraphers to sculptors display their work in the palace’s chambers. The only common form of entertainment not found there is hunting, which does not agree with the swampy terrain. Competition among artists for residency is intense

Finally, Kyūden Asako’s library is excellent. Built into the central keep to guard against both attack and inclement weather, it has texts that date from the dawn of recorded Rokugani history, including a trove of books written on bamboo strips and uncovered by Phoenix archaeologists. The library’s historians are of a conservative bent, preferring silk scrolls to paper for their resistance to moisture damage. The palace’s collection of medical texts is particularly robust.

What Attracts Visitors
Kyūden Asako’s on-site shrine honors Benten, the For-tune of Arts and Letters, whose intellect blesses the flowing waters there. While Great Clan samurai and Imperial nobles are the palace’s primary clientele, Rokugani from all walks of life make pilgrimages to Kyūden Asako to honor Benten and carry her blessing back to the waterways serving their homes. A peculiar love-hate relationship exists between the locals, the pilgrims, and the noble visitors. The nobles and pilgrims chafe at one another’s company, but they must treat one another respectfully in the context of religion. The locals resent the visitors, who treat them like servants regardless of their station, but they recognize that the visitors’ commerce and offerings are their home’s livelihood. While the pilgrims are generally earnest in their devotion, they are far less economically beneficial than noble guests, who lavish Kyūden Asako with generous donations each year.

Kyūden Asako is also a hotbed of espionage, both amateur and professional. Despite the garrison’s best efforts, spies from outside can easily sneak in and out among the pilgrims, visiting artists, and noble patrons. Some of the spies are shinobi or similar professional infiltrators. The majority, though, are simply folk with penchants for skulduggery and greedy hearts, taking advantage of Kyūden Asako’s heavy traffic and distractions to gather information on unwitting samurai. Many visitors are wealthy, successful, well positioned, and surrounded by the palace’s soothing waters and healers with calming bedside manners, they let their guard down. Those in a position to listen, through infiltrating the palace staff or taking the waters themselves, can gain great insight into such visitors’ character and business. A listener should keep in mind, however, that anyone around them may be there to learn their own secrets.

Supernatural Phenomenon
Each of Kyūden Asako’s dark caves and restorative hot springs are sealed for part of the day or night at the order of the priests who oversee the maintenance of the springs. If guests ask, they are told the springs need to be physically and spiritually cleansed between uses—which they do. But the real reason for this cycling of use is Kyūden Asako’s frequent alignment with various Spirit Reams—and the unusual guests who tend to arrive during these cosmic confluences.

On misty evenings, ancestor spirits descend from Yomi on cloud palanquins. Set at ease by the archaic architecture, the spirits bathe in the waters and reminisce together about their time walking the earth. In the dead of night, the administrators of Jigoku and the employees of Emma-Ō and his Kings of Hell make the long climb from far beneath the earth to unwind from their stressful jobs judging and processing the dead. Sometimes they find themselves joined by wicked demons and hungry ghosts from the less reputable regions of the underworld; the higher of station among even these foul creatures like to relax in hot water as well as any noble ancestor. Strange, shapeless creatures from Yume-dō, the Realm of Dreams, mingle with capricious animal spirits from Chikushō-dō and Sakkaku. Setting aside their day-to-day struggles, at Kyūden Asako, cosmic forces good, evil, and esoteric are often polite enough with one another to soak in the same tub or enjoy a round of shōgi. At other times, they can barely keep from one another’s throats.

The presence of these spirit guests is often whispered about among the servants on Kyūden Asako’s grounds, but few see them directly. Any bath attendant with several years of service, however, has likely noticed the strange footprints, heard the unearthly sounds, or even been sent by a priest to deliver sake to a “distinguished guest” upon whose face they must not gaze

Kyūden Asako Inhabitants
The prototypical Kyūden Asako resident is studious and observant, a careful student of human nature. Having spent significant time placing others’ needs above their own, they listen more than they speak. When they do speak, they know what questions to ask to tease troubles, worries, and pains out of their interlocutor. They can use these skills to talk an enemy into revealing their vulnerabilities without even realizing it or to support an ally who suffers in silence. Many are as comfortable around books as they are around people, having spent time in the libraries studying medical texts or the classics

Kyūden Asako dwellers sometimes struggle when swift, bold action must trump careful contemplation. Instead of listening to their intuition, they may wait, question, and gather information until the iron is no longer hot. They sometimes chafe when they have to work with impetuous peers who assume they have nothing to say just because they prefer to wait before asserting themselves. Moreover, they may be so used to putting others’ needs first, that they bottle up their feelings and opinions to an unhealthy degree. Their allies would do well to learn from their thoughtful and perceptive approach to people and problems, treating them as they treat others to help them reach their full potential