Day 24

[Canary]

Day 17-23: Marching

Day 24: Epilogue

Location:
Dà Shānchéngì - Great Mountain City

The Anjing family’s growing capital sits on the northern border of the tribe’s lands. By southern standards it is incredibly flat land and the fertile soil is increasingly turned over to agriculture as the tribe is able to farm in safety for the first time in generations.

However, the actual settlement is embedded in the side of a towering mountain, the tallest land formation for two days travel in any direction. This is Dà Shānchéngì, the Great Mountain City. For the Seidou it is their new capital and the promise of a future free from the threats of invasion and famine under the stewardship of the Kami Hida.

Anjing’s small birth village was isolated at the top of the great mountain, a wooden palisade surrounding the tribe’s huddled homes and workplaces. 5 years of immigration and the momentous infrastructure program embarked on by the newly formed Crab Clan’s leaders have seen the settlement shifted towards the base of the mountain where a high stone wall surrounds its base. The original village has been replaced by Carpenter Castle, so named in honour of the brilliant engineer ‘Kaiu’ who works alongside Hida to construct the first true fortress of the south.

The castle radiates solidity as it looks down on the city below. Its walls, wrought from the earth of the great mountain, helps it blend into the land, to the point where the castle seems hewn directly into the mountain. The message is clear, an assault is pointless, the mountain does not move.

[Credit: Anjing Xia]

Weather:
The weather is even warmer than it was when you left, with late spring turning into summer. The bright sun and drier air feels like a blessing after the horrors you recently experienced. Everything feels alive and pure here.