Lord's Crossing Dominion

Geography

One of only two dominions established in the Realm, this region is centered around it's eponymous city. Resting within the Dragon's Nest mountain range, the dominion includes lush mountain valleys at heads of pure rivers. Many of the settlements within Lord's Crossing are at their heart the remnants of great, Shogunate-era cities. The surrounding mountains are replete with jade, making even the most remote and inhospitable mountainside mining village more prosperous than those found elsewhere.

The one weakness of the dominion is its landlocked location... while this and proximity to the Imperial Mountain mean its weather is eternally even and calm save atop the higher mountain peaks, it means movement of goods is expensive. A river to the sea would be a great boon, but the Serpentine River is blocked by massive dams and too rocky for navigation, while House Ledaal has denied House Tepet permission to use the Caracal River for trade goods without paying exorbitant transit fees (9/10ths of the value of goods transported, charged only on goods moved by or produced from Tepet interests). Three major roads allow overland movement: the Broad and Twisting Tail of the Dragon (known as the Eagle Highway) heads west to Eagle’s Launch, the High and Winding Spine of the Dragon (known as the Cloud Highway or the Air Dragon Road) pushes across the mountains to Juche, and the True and Turning Root of the Dragon (known as the Short Highway or Fire Dragon Road) winds through Traiter Pass into Endless Bounty Prefecture and eventually to the source of the Caracal River.

Places of Note include:

Lord's Crossing (city): Prefectural capital, this ancient city dates back to the distant days of the Shogunate.

Towers of Thunder – Fortress-manse controlled by House Tepet amidst the high peaks surrounding the Imperial Mountain, along the Air Dragon Road.

Ashwick – Farming village

Sherem – Town in the southeast of Lord's Crossing Dominion along the Fire Dragon Road linking Lord's Crossing with the headwaters of the Caracal River. Notable for the presence of the Castle of Shattered Peaks, a Tepet fortress-manse.

Castle of Morning Mists - Fortress-manse controlled by House Tepet amidst the rocky foothills of the Imperial Mountain.

Castle of the Phoenix in Flight - Fortress-manse controlled by House Tepet along the Eagle Highway as it heads west out of Lord's Crossing Dominion.

Portee: Town known for its breeds of lapdogs.

Traiter: Town known for its breeds of guard dogs.

Fort Cykaris – Farming village surrounding a Legion fort in the fertile Cykaris Valley southwest of Lord’s Crossing.

Rose Valley - Valley estate in southeastern Lord's Crossing, near the Traiter Pass and Orchard Hills. Controlled by House Cynis.

Orchard Hills - A fertile area of apple orchards at the southeastern corner of the Dominion. The area includes a salt well, of great value to local peasants. The Orchard Hills is bordered by two small villages: East Orchard and West Orchard, served by a central Immaculate shrine.

Flowering Acanthus Retreat - Secluded manse-estate northwest of the Traiter Pass, controlled by House Tepet.

Economy

Lord's Crossing is an agricultural powerhouse, vast fields of rice stretching in steps up the slopes of fertile river valleys, plantations of tea bushes and mulberry trees rising from open fields. While most of the Blessed Isle boasts not one harvest a year but five, the Dominion beats even this spectacular number by producing SIX harvests of rice every year. Though the peasants and House Tepet are supportive of the bounty, the Immaculate order is far less pleased, the extra harvest disrupting their carefully balanced calendar of harvest and planting prayers... it is the duty of the associated gods to produce five harvests, the sixth is excessive and the associated prayers granted them equally so. Naturally this disconnect has left the peasants of the Dominion rather secular in outlook compared to those elsewhere on the Isle. In addition to rice and tea, vast forests of mulberry trees host the sensitive silkworms vital to production of silk, and most of the cloth used in Dynastic and patrician finery has its origins in the silk mills of Lord's Crossing.

While not so rich in minerals as Juche, Lord's Crossing produces significant amounts of jade as well as metals and stone for construction, including a rainbow palette of marble.

Lord's Crossing is also known as the home of two very popular breeds of dog: Portee Ivories of Portee are small lap-dogs, trendy pets for patricians and Dynasts; Blackstar mastiffs were bred by and remain solely the province of the Starlight family of Traiter, popular as guard dogs for their strength and viciousness.

Lord's Crossing is also popular for it's bed-and-breakfast establishments, which go to great lengths to please their patrician and Dragon-Blooded visitors.

Politics

Prefect: Carpenter Reason

Lord's Crossing is considered the ancestral home of House Tepet, that origin predating even the Scarlet Empire. The five branches of the House all maintain their seats here, ruling over the dominion's major fortresses. Tepets and their allies dominate most of the positions atop the Thousand Scales here, though some powerful patrician families were able to hold an independent course and have achieved increased power in this new period of Tepet weakness.

Military

Once, Lord's Crossing was home to significant numbers of Legion officers and soldiers. THe cream of its youth and most of its Dynasts were lost to the Bull of the North, and violet ribbons are still seen decorating most outfits and homes. It is now defended by the understrength 9th Legion of the Realm.