Phoenix Lands - Red Horn Village

[Vutall]

Red Horn Village
Located in the southeastern corner of the Dragon Heart Plains, Red Horn Village is a center of trade and diplomacy, albeit a small one. Visitors from the Lion, the Unicorn, and the Phoenix (whose constant presence gives the town its name) travel through the town frequently, and the road that leads through it connects to several more heavily populated parts of the Empire. The Isawa maintain a permanent embassy and trade center called the House of the Jade Dawn in the unassuming village. Red Horn is also something of a festive destination for certain types of outsiders, as it boasts several gambling houses A commons, a hinin village, and several noble houses complete the picture of a burgeoning and bustling town.

The trade center and embassy is just a façade, by and large, despite its high volume of legitimate business. “Jade Dawn” is an oblique reference to the Sun Goddess, not in homage but referring to her as the greatest enemy of humankind. The sect known as the Kolat inhabits the village, and nearly every permanent resident plays a part in the conspiracy, whether knowingly or not, from hinin to Isawa and Shinjo nobility. Kolat members carefully scrutinize each samurai who comes into the village, subjecting them to a number of subtle questions to determine their piety and loyalty to the Emperor—and thereby gauging their potential use to the conspiracy.

Like the Empire, the Kolat was born from the Kami’s fall to Rokugan. While others bow to the might of Heaven, the Kolat chafe at being ruled by those descended from gods. The ultimate goal of the Kolat is nothing less than the overthrow of the Hantei Dynasty, and a humankind that rules itself, free of the strictures and bloodlines of the order founded by the Kami. To this end, they long ago established a network of spies, secret cells, and deadly assassins, and they protect their communication by using ciphers.

Among the Kolat’s most terrible weapons are sleeper agents, who may operate under an assumed identity for years, even decades, collecting information and awaiting the call to more severe deeds. These consummate spies are conditioned to resist torture. Red Horn Village, despite its small and innocuous nature, could be the grand nerve center of a conspiracy that covers all Rokugan, but none know how far the Kolat’s reach truly extends.