Alex’s Fief

   Alex’s Fief is a modest mountain valley, approximately six miles long and with an area of roughly 20 square miles. Sadly, with a cold climate and rocky ground, even with the plentiful water supplies and hunting in the wooded areas and the surrounding mountainsides, the valley can only support about three hundred people at the most. While there are no known major mineral resources, the small forests (perhaps two square miles in total) provide plenty of wood and a fair amount of fruit from the cultivated forests near the Shrine. The Tamori family castle lies some twenty miles to the northeast, beyond another couple of valley-fiefs. The base of the valley narrows to Lionsgate Gorge (so called because it opens on the plains, near the Lion Clan lands, and is a common target for small raids by young hotheads), a narrow pass above the small river which flows out of the valley, from its headwaters in glacial meltwater and mountain springs. At one time a pass led deeper into the mountians from near the village, but that route is currently blocked by the magma from the Flaming Mountain. At one point a small monastery stood by the banks of the Starmere – a mountain lake so pure, cold, and calm that the light of the stars was said to become lost in its depths, shining there still even on nights when the stars were shrouded. Unfortunately, since the Demon Winter, no one has remained there to contemplate the waters. The Peak Trail winds up the mountainside behind the fief manor, eventually reaching a small tower set atop the highest nearby peak – an observation point atop which a warning fire can be set to signal any invasion.

   The Flaming Mountain is – thanks to the rise of the new Oracle of Fire – a recent addition, as is the Shrine of Kitantaro, the Kami of Vacations. While the loss of one pass, and of a part of the hunting grounds previously available, is regrettable, so far the peasants are finding the plentiful supply of hot water and free heat for winter quarters to be well worthwhile. A few of them are even beginning to wonder if the infusion of fire into the earth may have produced any valuable mineral resources there – although any such seeking will have to wait until a reliable way to soothe the fire kami now dwelling there.

Statistics for the Fief are

Size 10

Holding Assets:

• Garrison I (15 troops available, mostly Ashigaru. 2 points)
• Fortifications I (manor wall, 2 points)
• Outworks I (pass defenses, 2 points)
• Chokepoints III (between the passes, bridges, bluffs, and rivers, its almost impossible to bring the force of numbers to bear on the fief, 8 points).

Political Assets:

• Location (Dragon Clan borderlands, 2 points)

Production Assets:

• Farms I (2 points)
• Forests I (2 points)

Religious Assets:

• Temple/Shrine I (2 points)
• Enchantment III (thanks to the patronage of Kitantaro, the shrine is a major nexus of travel magic, 2 ponts).
• Wards I (Alex has been spending great amounts of time and energy laying wards everywhere, 2 points).