Contested Crane/Lion Lands - Toshi Ranbo wo Shien Shite Reigisaho: Violence Behind Courtliness City

[Vutall]

Toshi Ranbo
Toshi Ranbo wo Shien Shite Reigisaho, or Violence Behind Courtliness City, was built around a modest castle of only four stories. Yet, the settlement has been a focal point of Lion-Crane conflict for centuries, and has grown impressively to match its importance. Its very name is the result of these ongoing clashes, which spurred numerous diplomatic gatherings to settle dis-agreements and sign peace treaties.

Physically, the castle complex is fairly standard for a medium-sized fortress on flat lands. It consists of a four-story keep with a modest assortment of support buildings: barracks, guesthouses, a small court chamber (added by the Crane), an ancestral shrine, and impressive shrines to Hachiman and Bishamon, the whole surrounded by a wall with two towers. Beyond this inner fortress, a larger walled compound with its own gates and towers houses additional barracks, training grounds, dōjō, officers’ quarters, and servants’ quarters.

A Bloody History
How did a minor castle in the northern Lion lands become so fought over? An accident of the Empire’s early history granted the Crane Clan control of the Kintani, the Golden Valley, an isolated but valuable holding near the Imperial City. In the fifth century, the Lion Clan built a castle called Kita no Yosa (Northern For-tress) to keep an eye on the nearby Crane. Rule of the castle was granted to a new vassal family, the Goseki, who fought the Crane many times over the next half millennium. A peak in conflict took place at the dawn of the seventh century, with the Crane twice making major attacks (including capturing the town for eight days, although the castle held out) and the Lion retaliating with an offensive of their own, which fell just short of capturing the Kintani outright

The castle town thrived enough to become city-sized and gain its famous name, but by the twelfth century, a new round of fighting caused it to shrink back down to a modest village with only a few hundred inhabitants. It was this small settlement—almost a mockery of the name bestowed by earlier generations—that fell to Tsume no Doji Retsu, the ruler of the Kintani and daimyō of the Crane Clan’s Tsume vassal family. Seizing the castle in a daring surprise assault, he eradicated the Goseki vassal family and claimed Toshi Ranbo for the Crane, a claim subsequently upheld due to the Crane Clan’s dominance of the Imperial Court. The Daidoji family assumed control of the castle and, anticipating Lion counterattacks, improved the castle’s defenses and added a set of gated walls around the village, ensuring control of the primary road through the province.

Contested Truths
A number of servants within the castle retain their age-old loyalty to the Lion Clan and await an opportunity to sabotage the Crane defenders from within.

Toshi Ranbo contains a number of significant documents and items that were hidden away when ownership of the castle changed hands violently.

Restless ancestral spirits sometimes wander the halls of the keep and the battlefields where they died many years ago.

Subsequent Lion campaigns to retake the holding were thwarted as much by Crane political maneuvering as by battlefield action; both sides escalated their commitments, culminating in a major battle in the year 1123 that took the life of Lion Clan Champion Akodo Arasou. Toshi Ranbo thus exercises a grossly outsized influence on current events in Rokugan, far out of pro-portion to its actual size or strategic importance