Primer: The Five Lands

In ages long past, dozens of territories waged war across the Southern Lands. With the impassable mountains to the north-west and the wild seas to the east and south, the nations that called the land home vied for control of the limited resources therein. Emperors, kings, barons, and bandits made their claims and brought armies to bear when challenged by their neighbors. They used Shinobi, highly trained and deadly warriors, to advance their agendas and devastate the ranks of their opponents. Hundreds of powerful ninja bloodlines were produced as the 'nobles' continued to cut each other down and erase their lineages from the scrolls of history. Eventually, blood soaked the ground in crimson, and the creatures and spirits fled the carnage, leaving the land to the humans that ravaged it with greed.

Two hundred years ago, when the fighting finally stopped, the remaining nobles looked upon the lands that they and their ancestors had destroyed and wept with grief. In an effort to bring balance to the continent which they helped to devastate, they divided the Southern Lands into five sections and elevated new noble families to guide them. They themselves stepped down and chose to live common lives as penance for their deeds. Each land had access to a unique biome that gave it its own resources. This brought the balance that they sought. One was given rivers plentiful with fish and fresh water. One was given rich fields, the remains of great forests ideal for planting and the harvesting of food. One was given the beginnings of the north-western mountains, where raw materials for building were limitless. One was given the land where the mindful creatures once lived, and the animals left behind became their charge. And one was given the harsh crags, peaks, and twisting valleys where clay, pitch, silt, and oil could be drawn from the ground.

With that, the lands were divided, yet unified by mutual trade that kept diplomatic relations necessary and balanced. And without the amassing of resources by any one land, full-scale conflict became unlikely. The ninja, once meant only for war, became a force for peace and protection against those who still craved chaos in a world fighting for balance. Each land created its own Hidden Village to train these powerful protectors.



Land of Stones

Shogun: Chishi Kurasa
Exports: Stone, brick, gems, precious metals, and ores.
Hidden Village: Higakure (Village Hidden in the Sun)

The Land of Stones, located in the north-west, is a nation of mountains. With over eighty percent of its holdings within the enormous mountain-range that isolates the Southern Lands, its people are used to high altitudes, long climbs, and winding roads. The various villages are generally located with quite some distance between each other, drilled into the rock-face wherever mines produce the richest yields, and are connected by long trade routes that dip, weave, bridge, and circle around and through the peaks in a confusing mess that only the locals ever seem to understand. The hot sun beats down here for more hours per day than average. Many of the most bountiful villages are also located above the clouds, and thanks to some ancient, unknown jutsu cast during the ages of war, cold winds rarely blow through the mountains. The temperature in some areas can rise above 110 degrees (Fahrenheit) for months at a time with little shade. But that hardly seems to bother the industrious and rugged people of the Land of Stones. Unfortunately, the bandits and rogue ninjas that use the mountains for cover feel the same way.

While the Land of Stones has a close relationship with the Land of Crags, trading them a great deal of ore for refined metals and their technologies, the people of the mountains use gadgets only sparingly. The culture of the land is that hard work brings positive results. Their villages are built with stone that they quarry themselves, their mines are dug with hand tools, and their bridges are some of the most impressive works of craftsmanship in the Southern Lands, some spanning thousands of feet between mountains. Unfortunately, there is little fertile land, few fish-laden rivers, and the goats, birds, and reptiles make poor targets for game hunting. Thus, the villagers are often navigating the mountains with wagon-trains full of stones and ores to trade for sustenance. 

The people of the Land of Stones can be recognized by their often-tanned skin and their near-universal willingness to eat just about anything. They are rarely suited to the cold, have a particular distrust towards bandits, and are sometimes hotheaded in their stubbornness.

Land of Fields

Shogun: Rin Onagai
Exports: Fruits, vegetables, legumes, light woods, and medicines.
Hidden Village: Nunogakure (Village Hidden in the Cloth)

The Land of Fields, located in the north-east, is a nation of forests and hills. With an ocean on its eastern border and a well-developed irrigation system from its winding rivers, as well as plenty of fertile soil, it is the ideal place for almost any crop to grow. Villages dot the hillsides, filled with farmers and tradesmen that harvest the produce, cut the wood of the forest, and make their living from the land. Open roads travel for miles, connecting the smaller farms with their larger communities before continuing on to the other lands. With cool winds that blow from the sea and ample sunshine to ensure the plants grow tall and strong, it is an often-idyllic place. Nevertheless, even it holds scars from the ages of war, and the remains of vast forested lands cut and burnt to the ground are still being converted into usable farmland two hundred years later. And with plenty of trees left in which to hide, bandits and other seedy characters prey on the traveling caravans. Others search the open landscape for secrets lost to time.

A great deal of the Land of Field's produce is traded to the Land of Herds, who, in return, send beasts of burden that the villagers use to help them with their tasks and fertilizer to enhance their yields—not to mention milk, eggs, and honey for their foods. The faraway Land of Crags is mostly utilized for their silt, which is used to grow specific fungi and medicine, as well as technologies to make foresting and general life more convenient. Brick is the most common building material that the villagers use, which is shipped in from the mountains, and fish and salt enhance their foods from the south. The people of the fields understand the importance of what they do, and many take great pride in the produce that they grow or the kind of wood that they cut. They see themselves as part of a larger organism that works towards the betterment of their own land and the Southern Lands as a whole.

The people of the Land of Fields can be recognized by a fūinjutsu they all share, branded onto their tongues at birth. It prevents them from revealing the location of the land's Hidden Village to anyone without that same seal. They are otherwise very hospitable, are rarely comfortable in small spaces, and have a sincere sense of community.

Land of Herds

Shogun: Temuro Eneguri
Exports: Domesticated animals, wild animals, fertilizer, and other animal products.
Hidden Village: Muregakure (Village Hidden in the Flock)

The Land of Herds, located in the central area of the Southern Lands, is a nation of plains and small mountains. The western border ends where the peaks get too dangerous to travel, and it is well-known that communities of intelligent animals and spirits now call those places home. They fled the Southern Lands after humans devastated their numbers and destroyed their homes in their countless wars. Over the past two centuries, the people of the herds have taken care of the animals left behind, and some have earned the trust of their sentient cousins. Villages in the plains tend to be focused on rearing animals, hunting, and tanning leather for clothes. The mountain villages raise goats, messenger birds, and commune with the spirits and animal Shinobi for mutual benefit. Almost all of the summoning jutsu in the Southern Lands are developed in these settlements, and some receive ninja visitors from faraway places who hope to attune themselves to an animal species. Unfortunately, some animals simply cannot forgive or trust the humans after the devastation their ancestors wrought, and attacks on outlying roads can be all too common.

Because the vast majority of livestock belongs to the Land of Herds, and their pacts with many sentient animals are valued, they treat their animals with the utmost respect. Beasts of burden are chosen selectively and are generally traded to the Land of Fields and the Land of Rivers, both of whom send their own foodstuffs in return. The other two nations ask mostly for animal products and butchered meats. The technologies from the south are helpful in easing the burden of work and providing creature comforts when necessary. The crags also provide clay, which, combined with stone and brick from the north, make up most of the buildings in the many villages of the herd. All the while, those who raise the animals, feed them, and handle their products spend their days loving the creatures that they oversee. This has instilled a deep level of respect for life that few other cultures could ever hope to match. Even the animals raised for food are treated like family, and every part of them is used after their passing.

The people of the Land of Herds can be recognized by their generally light hair and eyes. Many of them are also in possession of a pet or animal companion of some kind. Dogs, cats, and hundreds of other animals have been bred, trained, and even miniaturized by the villages to act as personal pets, and some never travel without having theirs in tow.

Land of Crags

Shogun: Amenji Kurogawa
Exports: Oil, pitch, silt, clay, weapons, and technologies.
Hidden Village: Kemurigakure (Village Hidden in the Fumes)

The Land of Crags, located in the south-west where the mountains meet the ocean, is a nation of sharp valleys and cliffs. Volcanoes, steam vents, and mud-pits riddle the land and have made the people experienced in getting the most out of their surroundings. It is said that, before the Ages of War, the cliffs were covered in trees and flowers bloomed as far as the eye could see. All that remains is a place so scorched that few wished to settle it when the Southern Lands were divided. But now, after two centuries of hard work, the Land of Crags has blossomed under hardship. Villages of all shapes and sizes have sprouted up near the abundant natural resources, and technologies created out of necessity have allowed life to become comfortable and work to remain safe and productive. Even the more dangerous areas where heat erupts from the earth are utilized for their natural fuels. Unfortunately, the land is perfect for bandits, who use the harsh landscape to strike at weary traders. And ancient battle scars sometimes hide long-forgotten dangers.

With nothing close to fertile land, trade with the Lands of Rivers, Herds, and Fields is constant and expensive. Luckily, technologies and the various hard-to-collect resources are conversely abundant between the crags, and they are valuable enough to keep the nation running. It is well-worth the cost of keeping the roads protected to ensure that hunger never becomes an issue. Ores are traded from the Land of Stones in great quantity. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement, as the hot fires in the ground provide an easy way to smelt and temper the metals. For each shipment of ore, a percentage is returned in metal form and the rest is kept. There are entire villages that specialize in creating weapons from these metals. Luckily for everyone, the people of the Land of Crags are peaceful. Instead of becoming jaded by the hardships of their land, they have developed great pride, and know what they and their ancestors have accomplished. They are also distinctly aware of the devastation that could be brought on by war.

The people of the Land of Crags can be recognized by their tendency to be pale with darker hair colors, spending the majority of their time indoors, away from the sun. They are almost universal users of more modern technologies in their day-to-day lives, and while they do not judge others for remaining traditional, they can sometimes get uncomfortable when 'roughing it' for long periods of time.

Land of Rivers

Shogun: Etsu Kincho
Exports: Fish, water animals, fresh water, dark woods, and salt.
Hidden Village: Ashigakure (Village Hidden in the Reeds)

The Land of Rivers, located in the south-east, is a nation of forests, deltas, swamps, and islands. The largest river in the Southern Lands, which separates the Land of Stones, the Land of Fields, and the Land of Herds far to the north, continues its long journey into this nation and divides into dozens of divergent paths, fueling the sweeping forests and swamps that cover the landscape. Fish are plentiful in both the freshwater and saltwater, and villages sprouted to take advantage of the food sources. The thick trees can be cut down to make boats that sail the seas and cut trade times in half between the lands along the river paths. Several islands sit just off of the coast, reachable by boat, that are home to villages that make a living off of the sea. The people respect the water above all else. Still, pirates are all too common, and ancient ruins sometimes appear under the waves, remnants of the Ages of War. Many come to seek these treasures and lose their lives to fortune-hungry pirates.

Those that live in the Land of Rivers know that their hold on the sea is not as solid as some of the other nation's monopolies. Rivers are everywhere, and two other lands border on the ocean. But their skill in fishing and their boat-making techniques make them far more efficient, and their variety of sea-life, access to salt, and ability to ship their fish long distances by way of water makes them the only one able to effectively trade in that resource. With the help of shipments from the Land of Fields and the Land of Herds, they hold claim to the greatest culinary culture in the Southern Lands, and travelers have been known to visit the islands in particular for vacations in paradise. Although the weather is far cooler in the south thanks to the ocean winds and the shorter days, it is usually comfortable outside of its sometimes brutal winters, and the technologies from the Land of Crags and insulating brick from the Land of Stones allow some villages to fare quite well. The darker woods harvested from the nation's forests are used for both housing and ship-building.

The people of the Land of Rivers can be recognized by their heavier clothing, made to withstand the harsh water-winds and the cold winters and for protection against the bugs of the swamps. They are rarely comfortable sitting still for long. It is also exceedingly unusual for someone from the Land of Rivers to not travel regularly by boat.