seiro writeup

Seiro:
A city in Crane lands, east/northeast of the Esteemed Palaces of the Crane, ancestral home of the Doji family. It's a port city, devastated in the recent tsunami, but rebuilding. I've included some information I picked up about the location from my informants in the region, and why I think that any loose fish will swim downstream to Seiro.

The lady of the city is Doji Yuuko, who rules out of the castle Seiro-jo. She has ruled the city for thirty years, and has three children. She has always viewed her purpose in the city to ensure that trade flows through it to enrich the Doji family, though the devastation of the ocean has dampened that significantly. Your papers to operate in the city have been approved, but if you want their help you'll need to ingratiate yourselves to her.

There are three major active criminal organizations in Seiro. The Samon clan is a yakuza organization, and it's relatively old. They operate out of the northern city districts, on the north side of the river. The Nakahara clan is relatively new, run by its second oyabun, and they've boldly set up their operations in the districts surrounding the castle. Lastly, piracy has become a major problem in the region since the tsunami, and so expect to find informants for the pirates in the city and the pirates themselves somewhere along the coastline.

Seiro is an ideal point for a fleeing smuggler to make an escape due to its presence outside of Imperial lands, but close enough to reach on foot relatively soon. Its ports trade all up and down the coast, and a smuggler could flee as far as Earthquake Fish Bay in Crab lands on a trading ship. Be warned though, Doji Yuuko is not my ally and resents that I have dispatched magistrates to her lands. You could spend your time ingratiating yourself to her, or you could build connections among the criminal organizations in order to more quickly catch your fish. I leave the specifics to you, my Yoriki, but remember that your goal is to catch samurai involved in the smuggling operation. Catching heimin smugglers is barely worth the effort.

Good Luck

Seppun Gen'ichi