Lorram Ippson pt I

	Hello, dear readers, I have heard your incessant cries for new tales of adventure that you didn't even know you desired. Rest assured, that I, Lorram Ippson, intrepid scholar of cultures and places far and wide, have spared no personal expense, and even left my lovely wife behind, to bring to you tales of places that could only be dreamed of, until you have seen them for yourself.
	With no further ado, I shall start describing this batch of travels. Hearing of settlements being raised to the north, I followed the coast north of the Spill and past the ever-iconic Mount Crucible, until I found myself and my hardy crew sailing into a quaint place indeed. Great fortune to find a place that was not yet on the maps, and greater fortune still that we shared a language, or at least enough to make sense of their distinctly foreign accents.
	They call themselves Clan Seiryuu, and apparently spent many long years with their entire nation packed into sailing vessels and barges, seeking safe shores far removed from the civil war that was ravaging their original homeland. Surprised to see their primary city, a place they call Hagakure, so well developed I quickly learned that many of their ships also served as building materials where necessary.
	In my excitement it would seem that I have completely missed an important factor to these discussions at all, for while humans like you or I do make up a significant portion of the country, the nobility and ruling families in the clan are composed of a species that appears similar to ours, yet distinctly alien as well. They're called "Longwei" and as was explained to me by my host, a pleasant young man named Rio, their people were believed to be descended from dragons. Certainly the story has some credence lended to it by the scaled nature of their hands and feet, as well as the reptilian tails. In fact what appears to be skin on the rest of the body is simply a lighter layer of scales, which creates a soft and fleshy-looking exterior, making their similarities to their human peasantry even more notable.
	Their society is feudal, which may not come as a surprise, though the fact that there are literally no humans amongst the nobility did in fact come as a surprise. As well as the fact that no humans were included in their military, or even some of their more impressive industry. Despite this, there did not seem to be any whispers of dissention at all among the humans I spoke with, from the wealthiest merchants to the lowest fishmonger. Of course one's mind goes immediately to some form of magical control, which my guide Rio laughed at immensely. The nation possesses no mages, and from one of the earliest displays I saw of some of Rio's retainers and soldiers practicing in their yard, one would believe they hardly need to. Each movement is made with an inhuman degree of elegance, and even the most simple sparring drills made with curious, curved wooden swords and spears was like watching the sensuous and enthralling dances from the desert lands that I described in most thorough detail in my last book, 'Ippson: Pathfinding in the Pathless Sands, and Other Adventures of Scientific Interest' now available at wherever books with good taste are sold.
	The Longwei's elegance seems to exist far beyond just their grace with a weapon as over the course of several days I was allowed to see numerous craftspeople, artists, and even human peasants, pursing artistic endeavors. One would hardly think that Clan Seiryuu has a warrior culture, when everything is designed with beauty in grace in mind, from the simplest house to the grandest mansion, and speaking of grand mansions, none is grander than that of Lord Geira Kamanasu, the clan's leader. A man of prodigious luxury and girth. From what I could tell, apparently he was blessed with another type of girth, as when I met him, he was surrounded by a dozen beautiful young women, a mixture of Longwei and humans both, that were his consorts and courtesans.
	I believe Lord Kamanasu took a liking to me and my endeavor, as he welcomed me to remain in the city for as long as I liked, as a guest of the Nagamaki family, of which I came to realize my guide Rio was the leader of. Being one of the more influential, if not larger families, my guide graciously agreed, and as a parting gift, Lord Kamanasu gave me a cucumber from his gardens. While more of a meat and potatoes fan myself, I did accept, and the produce indeed tasted fantastic, though there was a certain flavor to it that I could not quite place.
	With many introductions to some of Hagakure and Clan Seiryuu's basic principles firmly imprinted upon my nubile mind, it was time to really start investigating the true core of the nation, which of course meant that I would have to uncover the clan's history, through my guide, Rio Nagamaki. A very polite, and well-mannered young lord, Rio graciously walked me through the history as while our spoken language may be the same, the written language is a bit different, and often prone to prose. I told him, that I was also prone to prose, and that it would do very little to deter my vast intellect and wit, and he laughed once more, agreeing with me.
	Clan Seiryuu was founded many years ago, on the distant continent mentioned in the pages before this. The core concept of the nation came from four people of different creeds, races, and backgrounds, and eventually banded together despite their differences. Some wars against neighboring powers naturally occured, but in the end, the combined clans held a territory that was largely safe from any outsiders interference and bountiful within, until the lands of the southern clan suffered cataclysmic drought and famine. When the other clans, fearful of running out of their own supplies did not provide any, the southern clans sought to steal it from them, and setting the stage for a period of heightened tension followed by civil war. Clan Seiryuu through superior strategy and terrain on their part, left their lands largely untouched by the fighting, leading the uneasy peace afterward to paint themselves as an enemy to unite against. Thus the clan decided the best and easiest way to solve the loss of life involved with such an event was to simply leave it all behind and seek a new place to start anew, which of course is what brings them to our shores today.
	To to summarize Hagakure so far, it is a feudal society, run by noble families of Longwei, scaled humanoids with a disposition towards the both the arts and the art of war, leading the human commonfolk into a new land, which they are seeking to establish a corner of as their own to regain the grandeur of their former home.
	But how does a populace that has very little say in any of the high-level functions or even the military be as happy and content with their lot as the peasants of Clan Seiryuu? That and more I shall reveal to you, the next chapter of I, Lorram Ippson's newest title: 'The East in the North' (title pending).