Out of Game Notes: Art by Brian Fields
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City of the Rich Frog

The City of the Rich Frog was one of the most vital river ports in all of Rokugan, located at the junction of the Three Sides River and the Drowned Merchant River. The city facilitated trade between the Dragon, Lion, Unicorn, and the Dragonfly Clans, which considered the city as being of vital strategic and economic importance.

Strategic City

The City of the Rich Frog was one of the most vital river ports in all of Rokugan, as it was located at the junction of two major rivers and three Great Clans’ domains. Despite being neutral territory according to official imperial records, the Dragon, Lion, and Unicorn clans had all claimed a city district for their own. The sole exception was the imperial governor’s manor, located on an island at the center of the river junction, from whence the governor’s agents collected taxes and issue tariffs on behalf of the Emperor himself.

Ronin Enforcers

In what was seen by many as an unusual arrangement, the city governor relied on ronin deputies instead of clan samurai to ensure that law and order was maintained in the city. As there was no shortage of conflict to be found there, several generations of ronin had been able to serve the governor and their magistrates. They had claimed the family name Kaeru for themselves over the years, and they accepted capable warriors and administrators into their ranks no matter their past. For it took talented swordsmen and bureaucrats to survive in a city that, even at its most peaceful, was a powder keg.

City Layout

The city had three clan-controlled districts. The Imperial Governor’s manor was on an island at the center of the river junction, and it was the governor’s Imperial agents who collected taxes and issued tariffs. The island housed Rokugan’s largest and oldest willow tree, named Saibanshoki.

Unicorn District

The Unicorn Clan controlled the entire western bank of the Three Sides River. Its impressive wharf was made of polished black granite with softwood inlays for traction. They maintained a handful of violet-roofed stone buildings, including a single tall tower at the southern end of the wharf.

Lion District

Along the east bank of the Three Sides River south of the Drowned Merchant River lies the Lion’s district and one of their most important trade hubs. They traded foodstuffs and clothing for iron and stone used in construction and arms. The river banks were marked with a defensive wall that dated from the port’s violent history. Instead of a wharf, there were a half-dozen canal gates, a canal network that used the river current to move goods to massive storage complexes for foodstuffs and textiles that straddled the canals farther inland.

Dragon District

The Dragon granted use of their profitable riverbank lands to the Dragonfly and focused on a strange collection of shrines at the junction of the two rivers. Fifty soldiers garrisoned near the shrines. On the northern and eastern banks of the Drowned Merchant River lies a modest wharf that occasionally saw use by travelers from the Phoenix Clan, who floated their goods downriver toward the sea, to the place known as Phoenix’s Nest, where they were shipped up the coast back to Phoenix lands. On the north side of the Drowned Merchant River, west of the Phoenix wharf, was a sizable artificial basin with eleven wharfs and one open side, forming a dodecagon. Each side corresponded to a month of the year, featuring identifying animal statuary and iconography. A large lantern was moved one bollard clockwise each sunrise, acting as a communal calendar.

Donoha Notes

The month of Shinjo in 1123 the City of the Rich Frog was attacked by Oni and the forces of the Shadowlands. The fate of the city is unknown at this time.