Tuujaimaa

Title Pending (AU Naruto)

There will be no Uchiha in Yamagakure. The Sharingan is very offensive to Fuujin.

Title Pending (AU Naruto)

History

Yamagakure, formerly Kumogakure and its outlying lands, was formed when Hyakune, Ra and the priestess known as Windspeaker Touho took over Kumogakure in a Coup d'etat, backed heavily by the general populace. Around the time of the nine Bijuu roaming free, the former leader of Kumogakure heavily taxed and oppressed his people, claiming the funds and customs necessary to protect them from the threat that the Bijuu posed. Several members of the High Council saw through the ruse, but were executed for treason and the village was placed in a state of martial law. Ra and Windspeaker Touho led a rebellion around thirty three years into this oppressive regime, and have ruled ever since.

With the threat of the Bijuu eliminated, Yamagakure have slightly decreased their military presence - though only slightly - and have opened up new trading routes with Kirigakure and Kyokujitsugakure, and have begun to fortify their land after the acquisition of the Land of Frost.

Geographical Description

Yamagakure is an extremely difficult land to traverse, generally being somewhat mountainous, but most of the larger mountains are resigned to very specific areas - there are a set of three concentric rings of mountains in the center of the land, each of which acts as a natural barrier for the village in the centre, and beyond that there are many outcrops that hold rich mineral deposits. The land that is not taken over by mountains is fairly flat, with a slight incline towards the village. Yamagakure's land is strangely fertile due to the strange weather cycles and the leaching of minerals down from the mountains into the basins formed by the concentric rings of mountains, and there are rivers that run through each of the basins to supply it with water. Irrigation has improved upon the naturally occurring rivers and the humid climate allows crops to be grown easily, though due to the high mineral content of the soil there are only a select few crops that grow well - but those few crops that can be grown are grown extraordinarily well.

The areas outside the central basin are steeper than those within, and there are no mountains to offer shelter from the northern and southern winds, so agriculture is more difficult but the people of Yamagakure have perfected the art of farming the land they have, allowing them to feed their population comfortably, but not having much left over to export. The areas not turned into farmland are most often mines, with a vast quantity of exceptionally pure iron being Yamagakure's primary resource. There are strange currents of chakra that flow through the ground, said to be left by the ten-tailed beast long ago, that allow the metal that Yamagakure smiths to be easily imbued with elemental chakra, though it can also be imbued with other chakra easily to achieve potent effects.

Political Structure

Yamagakure's ruling body is comprised of the Kage, the Windspeaker, and the Beneficent Council. The Kage and Windspeaker each hold a higher percentage of votes than any member of the Beneficent Council, and have ultimate legislative authority, but the opinions of the Beneficent Council are highly regarded and are unlikely to be overturned without drastic cause.

The Beneficent Council is chosen by annual election, with three trials given to each prospective member - A trial of Warfare, a trial of Humility and a trial of Knowledge. Those that complete all three trials are offered the opportunity to become members of the Beneficent Council, and unlike most councils it has no set limit on members, though each additional member diminishes the quantity of votes each other member gets. After five years on the council, members can choose to resign or undertake a single trial again to prove themselves worthy of their place. the Beneficent Council is largely independent from the desires of the Kage and the Windspeaker, and always vote for the good of the people, which has led to an exceptionally content population.

The Military, under command of Windspeaker Touho, have some element of sway and can overrule the Beneficent Council in times of warfare, though it is very rare that the Beneficent Council's advice is ignored.

Religion

Windspeaker Touho and the military are fairly religious, and have taken to worship of the Bijuu sealed away in the shrines - though their religion focuses on the bijuu as aspects of Fūjin, the Wind God, and neglects to call them the Seishin. The religion focuses on asceticism and self-reflection, leading to Yamagakure's military being largely comprised of monks that try to keep the peace rather than enforce any real laws. Most members of Yamagakure consider themselves agnostic, but worship of Fūjin has been embedded into the culture and all of Yamagakure's holidays and festivals are in their name.

Economy

Yamagakure has a strong but not fantastic economy due to its vast amounts of high-quality exports and its abundance of certain crops. It imports some food, though not much, and does not import anything else. If ties to other villages were to be severed, Yamagakure would be able to survive as a standalone village for a long time, a claim that some villages are unable to make. Yamagakure's coffers are also extremely full due to the rich mineral deposits scattered around the land, one of the main components of which is gold.

Title Pending (AU Naruto)

You can't just go shamelessly plug your thread like that Taylor, oh my god.

On a completely unrelated note, this is a great idea that I certainly have not had any involvement in and am completely justified in proclaiming that it is wonderful and that everyone should join.

Against the gods, Against the world! Open-World Fantasy Adventure

"Thine mouth speaks of questions thine brain has already seen fit to answer, young one." came the reply, soft and warm, yet with slight crackles of varying depth. Everything about the Satyr screamed "Fire!", from the torch ritually forged with his head and the smoky tones of his voice, and though Eli could not appreciate the significance of such seemingly minor things yet, destiny had a strange way of unfurling itself in strange ways - something the younger inhabitants of Tailteann rarely understoof.

"Perhaps nobles sitting complacent on their silk cushions would offer more coin, young one, but there are commodities and crafts more valuable to one of mine own nature than one of thine could perhaps appreciate. Coin does not buy favour with the Ashen God - rituals and prayers do. This is a service mine self is providing for all parties' mutual benefit." he added, still keeping his eyes closed and his hand conspicuously at his side, idly grasping the blackened hilt of Perdition's Flame. It was not uncommon for thieves to attempt to steal the beautiful weapon - it was even less uncommon for them to leave with burned-in scars in the shape of the hilt. Still, the motion was not inherently threatening, and looked almost subconscious, as if it were something that Phanyx had gotten so used to doing in careful, co-ordinated movements that his body remembered and practiced them without taxing his consciousness.

It was then that he opened his eyes and turned to the owner of the gruff voice, looking up and down him before settling his eyes briefly on the bracers that he wore.

"Thine flesh is young, but perhaps thine blood is not, hmm? In mine homeland, the Runecarved Deadlands, before the collapse of the old satyric society smiths oft created pieces of armour that could change their shape. Mine sense tingle in thine presence, young one, that thine body has given way to the ancient beasts' blood... Useful, that thine bracers do not fragment under the weight of thine transformation." he added, turning back to his original stance of eyes closed and facing forwards.

Against the gods, Against the world! Open-World Fantasy Adventure

I don't know if I can forgive you for ditching us for Lost. :(

Against the gods, Against the world! Open-World Fantasy Adventure

"It is done, then. Bring thine bodies to the pyre and we shall perform the last rites - if thou wish for more of mine services, ask for Phanyx at the altar and we shall oblige you as best as we are able." was all that Eli would have been able to gleam from the time he reached the bar. Still, that one sentence was filled with troves of barely visible information, of connotations and allusions and macabre implications as to the satyr's purpose in Port Samhain. As one of the men known for his combat prowess, should Eli have thought about it, it might have seemed obvious that there tended to be a few too many bodies to simply up and bury - shallow graves would not keep the corpses away from the prying eyes of the law, and hiring people to dig deeper graves was going to cut into the profit that the avarice-stricken masters of the games so desperately craved. Whatever Phanyx could offer seemed to be something that was valuable enough to be less expensive than digging graves - it left plenty to the imagination, but only if one could think of prices that were deeper than gold.

"May the Ashen God's flame burn within thine soul until you too join him in death." Phanyx added, briefly nodding to the barkeep, before taking a swig from a small flask kept by his side - an action his fellow mimicked by taking a drink of his own, though it was likely whatever the satyr was drinking was far more dubious. In a tavern like the one they were in, that was a dire thought indeed. As the barkeep shifted his attention away from the satyr, he simply sat in silence, eyes closed, and his brow furrowed slightly with the thoughts that ran through his mind. There were several rituals to prepare for the cremation of a considerable number of corpses, and there was also the payment to be discussed - if anyone in the tavern was well read enough to have heard of the Cult of the Ashen God (they almost definitely were not) they would know that it was rare for them to accept something as petty as gold. In the world of the arcane, there were things far more valuable to one so evidently and deeply practiced in the esoteric arts that were called magic.

Against the gods, Against the world! Open-World Fantasy Adventure

My long bio is too long to fit on a single post on RPGuild now. :(

Against the gods, Against the world! Open-World Fantasy Adventure

The shady tavern was filled with the same sights and smells that most of its ilk were - a smoky sort of musk that only barely held back the smell of stale piss, vomit, and sawdust - and the typical sorts of miscreants that one would find in a tavern suited for those not among the uppermost rungs of the metaphorical societal ladder. Phanyx definitely fit the description of the latter, and as his satyric form entered into the inn it drew forth the attention of most of the inhabitants, before the shock faded and they returned to whatever shady business it was that they were planning. Phanyx had long ago gotten accustomed to people shying away from his heathenistic appearance - he looked like what most people envisioned gods of the darker arts looked like, and that was something he was fine with. He was, after all, likely the closest they would ever get to a true deity.

"Word reached mine ears that thine establishment requires an undertaker of sorts..." the sooty, raspy voice of the ancient satyr came forth, not loud enough to pierce the conversational veil that the inhabitants provided, but enough to pique the interest of the bartender and potentially of those relatively near the bar. From that point on, the finer details were discussed more quietly to avoid more prying, though if one were to lean closely in it might have been possible to gleam new insights into the direction the macabre conversation was heading in. Whether or not the satyr minded was a different matter entirely, but his appearance was one that made it seem wiser to avoid his ire.

Against the gods, Against the world! Open-World Fantasy Adventure

Sorry it's so short - I got distracted. XD

Against the gods, Against the world! Open-World Fantasy Adventure

Posting it up now. c: