Kemurigakure no Sato
The Village Hidden in the Smoke
Topography & Village
People and Culture
Military
Politics
Quote:Located on a large plateau in the Northern Center of Iron Country, the village of Kemurigakure no Sato serves two purposes: acting as a defensive stronghold in the northern aspects of Iron Country, and acting as a training & home base for the Special Operations Battalion for Iron Country's military. Due to this, it is actually divided into two parts; the "upper" portion of Kemurigakure which is the visible aspect of the village on the plateau, and the "lower" portion of Kemurigakure which is hidden within the plateau itself. The plateau itself is roughly a mile in height, and several miles in diameters, giving a fair amount of space for both Upper and Lower Kemurigakure. The face of the plateau is barren, a straight face of rock and stone with little features or growth. In the land surrounding the plateau, there is a jagged landscape. The ground was forcibly upended, turning what was a lush forest into a hazardous landscape that is difficult to navigate. While Kemurigakure has set out specific pathways to the village, much of the landscape is violent and hostile, meant to deter invasions and attackers due to the challenge in negotiating it. There is plant life here, shrubs and tall grasses for the most part, but many of the fallen trees have began their regrowth from a horizontal position, creating little coverage. Like most if Iron, Kemurigakure is cold most of the year, receiving snow for around half of the year. Rarely is it exceedingly hot, and rain is a rarity as it favors snow.Topography & Village
Notably, there is a small mountainous area just east of Kemurigakure, which has a large outflow of water due to the melting snow. One of the rivers moves directly to Kemurigakure, and is the primary provider of fresh water to the village, however there are several underwater wells that also can be tapped into for supporting the village for extended dry periods.
Upper Kemurigakure consists of several large, interlocking buildings that are enormous in size. Iron Country architecture is specialized for subterranean use, so external architecture mimics this by utilizing enormous buildings that fulfill a variety of purposes. Due to this monolithic appearance and being situated on a plateau, Upper Kemurigakure is often compared to a castle. There are several external aspects of the village, however, and people spend much of their time in Upper Kemurigakure outside, or moving between spaces within a single building externally anyways. The buildings do resemble castle architecture though, with large towers that can house multiple levels, arching windows that let in a lot of natural light and direct air flow to passively cool the interior. And smoke the constantly billows out from the various forges and smitheries set around grounds. Oftentimes from the distance, the sound of metal and samurai training shouts can be heard from the various external training grounds that dot upper Kemurigakure.
Lower Kemurigakure, built into the plateau the village sits upon, is very similar to Sanrou. Long winding hallways lead to various rooms, areas, barracks and spaces. The plateau is artfully hollowed out, leaving enough internal support to not compromise the integrity of the plateau, but cleared to make from for an entire city. The massive plateau allows for several layers, with each deeper layer becoming more complex and intricate in order to serve the purpose of the village. Here, large spaces are reinforced with metal and stone to create training arenas, shops and homes are tucked away into corners. And entire underground farms are carefully kept after to cater to the entire village. Much like Sanrou, Lower Kemurigakure is carefully planned out with every detail accounted for, every pebble placed exactly where it needs to be.
Quote:Iron Country as a whole is a military society, and Kemurigakure is no exception to that. Within the village there are 3 classes of people: Samurai, Citizens, and Laborers. This is not a hierarchal relationship, and none are considered more prestigous or important than the other, each class simply delineates the individuals relationship within Iron Country, and the types of responsibilities they may have. Thus, these people intermingle, intermarry, can be in the same family units, can be well-off or not, and fulfill virtually any social role. Discrimination based off class is extremely rare, and given the value placed in strength and honor socially, witnessing discrimination of this nature would be received quite poorly.People and Culture
SamuraiShow
The Samurai in Kemurigakure are the literal military fighting force. More about the specific role of the samurai in Kemurigakure will be explained in the Military section, but socially the samurai are treated with respect and support. As the role of a samurai is purely to be a samurai, rarely will you find a samurai working in any other type of position. Their responsibility is in training, and becoming an expert fighter. Samurai in Kemurigakure typically have two homes: their familial home and their barracks. Based on their training schedules, some samurai elect to stay in the barracks for extended periods, while others will often switch back and forth based off of need. Samurai are provided with housing for free as citizens of Iron, are given a monthly stipend for food and expenses, have their healthcare covered through their service, and virtually any other need covered. This approach to prioritizing the social and psychological welfare of their samurai is considered to be integral to the historical military success of Iron Country.
While culturally, samurai are highly respected due to their role, all samurai do have a secondary responsibility. There is no police force within Kemurigakure (as this would be viewed as siphoning talent, resources and ability from the military). Instead, every samurai is expected to be an enforcer of law and order. While crime is relatively rare in such a strict military society, certain petty crime (public drunkedness, assault, and in the case of teens in particular things like petty theft, destruction of property, etc) is more commonplace. It is understood that any samurai can, and is expected to, address crime when witnessed, support victims of crime, and hold any person who is found committing a crime responsible to their most direct leader. Thus, to many, a samurai is expected to be a trustworthy individual.
While culturally, samurai are highly respected due to their role, all samurai do have a secondary responsibility. There is no police force within Kemurigakure (as this would be viewed as siphoning talent, resources and ability from the military). Instead, every samurai is expected to be an enforcer of law and order. While crime is relatively rare in such a strict military society, certain petty crime (public drunkedness, assault, and in the case of teens in particular things like petty theft, destruction of property, etc) is more commonplace. It is understood that any samurai can, and is expected to, address crime when witnessed, support victims of crime, and hold any person who is found committing a crime responsible to their most direct leader. Thus, to many, a samurai is expected to be a trustworthy individual.
CitizensShow
Anyone born to a parent who is a citizen of Iron Country is also a citizen of Iron Country. Additionally, anyone who joins the Iron Country military, or completes their service as Laborers is granted citizenship. Citizenship is granted solely through the permission of the Taishou and his generals, however, meaning it can be revoked at any time, or granted outside these conditions in specific circumstances. Citizens of Iron Country are the lifeblood of the country. They are the smiths and farmers, architects and doctors, and virtually any other role one could think of. In Kemurigakure, every citizen works. There are no stay at home mothers, few elderly, and children over the age of 6 are expected to be apprenticing, in school, or in training. Limited in capacity, Kemurigakure is a well-oiled machine and every person plays their role. Citizens pay taxes on any earnings, though some of the work that citizens do is not necessarily income baring. Much of the work citizens do is in suppot of the military, and the communal nature of the culture means everyone fulfills different tasks. Through the taxes government provides stipends for supportives services that are not income baring, and like with samurai covers housing expenses, healthcare, and general basic needs.
LaborersShow
Given the limited population of Iron Country, Kemurigakure was formed largely through the use of purchased slave labor. Laborers are purchased and contracted to work for 5 years within Kemurigakure. At the end of their 5 years of labor, they are given the choice to join the village as a citizen, being granted official citizenship to Iron Country, or they will be granted passage out of the country with a small stipend to support them starting their life outside the borders, never permitted to return. Many laborers elect to become citizens, finding the life of Iron preferable to their previous lives. For those with family, citizenship means they are able to bring in their families from other countries, which is viewed as a major bonus. Even laborers who have left Kemurigakure and Iron all-together spread word of how fortunate slaves would be to be sold to Iron.
Laborers handle much of the physical labor of Kemurigakure, tending to crops, doing the mining, supporting building projects. Some, however, will be brought to care for families and children, tend to the grounds, and the like. Laborers are not looked down upon, in fact they are often treated with much respect and appreciation for their work. Rather than be paid for their work, all laborers are assigned to a samurai they answer to. That samurai is responsible for that laborers wellfare and needs, and thus the well-being of an assigned laborer is often used as a representation of the samurai's honor, which only further ensures they are respected and well taken care of. While some samurai choose to pay their assigned laborers, many will simply take care of any needs they have. Like citizens and samurai, healthcare for laborers is free in Iron Country.
Laborers handle much of the physical labor of Kemurigakure, tending to crops, doing the mining, supporting building projects. Some, however, will be brought to care for families and children, tend to the grounds, and the like. Laborers are not looked down upon, in fact they are often treated with much respect and appreciation for their work. Rather than be paid for their work, all laborers are assigned to a samurai they answer to. That samurai is responsible for that laborers wellfare and needs, and thus the well-being of an assigned laborer is often used as a representation of the samurai's honor, which only further ensures they are respected and well taken care of. While some samurai choose to pay their assigned laborers, many will simply take care of any needs they have. Like citizens and samurai, healthcare for laborers is free in Iron Country.
Secondary to honor is transparency, which takes a unique form in Kemurigakure. Due to the presence of the Taishou's swarm in Kemurigakure, everyone in the village is under it's effects and consequently has access to an innate chakra sensory ability. While the village provides - at no cost of course - weapons, armor and jewelry that mask one's chakra signature to protect against this sensory ability, many view this form of transparency as a verification of honor. If you are ever doubted or questioned, the means exist to read your very essence by simply removing your cap and allowing your neighbor to do so. Compelling someone to be read in this nature is considered wildly dishonorable in Kemurigakure, making it practically taboo to request someone remove anything that masks their chakra. Conversely though, allowing someone to read you this way is considered an act of great trust.
This, however, also serves as an enormous cultural and defensive boon. Anyone not native to Kemurigakure, any outsiders, or any attempt at invading the village is very easily perceived by a village full of adept sensors. While some visitors may be offered the means to mask their chakra, those who are not are able to be monitored by literally every occupant in the village. This is especially meaningful given the deep sense of responsibility shared by the vast majority of occupants.
Quote:Kemurigakure is at it's very core a samurai village no different than Sanrou. Many of the military practices used by Sanrou are replicated on a smaller scale in Kemurigakure. The samurai in the village are trained on a constant basis, run battle simulations regularly, work in formations, practice new combat styles, and continually work and learn. However, they deviate from the traditional samurai militia in one major one: the utilization of chakra. Kemurigakure was formed to be the Special & Covert Operations training commend, meant specifically to address the rising shinobi threat. While Iron Country has a long history of rebuking shinobi and being highly skilled at managing shinobi conflict, Kemurigakure adopts shinobi skills to more directly counteract them. Given it's young age, much of Kemurigakure's current force is siphoned from Iron Country's previous (albeit smaller) Special Operations unit, and has adopted other samurai who are particularly attuned to chakra. However, young children from Iron who were slated to join the military but showed capacity for chakra had their families moved to Kemurigakure to begin training them.Military
Kemurigakure's samurai academy functions similar to a shinobi academy, though it adopts many practices from it's samurai predecessor. Children are trained both in the history of Iron Country and in general education. They are also taught basic chakra control, combat mechanics, and trained to be skilled samurai and shinobi simultaneously. The Kemurigakure Academy is designed to be completed in 3 years, one year for general education, one year for learning shinobi arts, and one year for specialized combat training. The entire three years is special doing samurai training alongside these delineations. At the end of the second year, the child is matched to a specialization based on their skillset, and placed into teams where they do their specialized training. At the end of the 3 years, the student is expected to be as equally skilled in sword fighting as any samurai from Sanrou but also at genin-ranking in the use of ninjutsu or some shinobi art. Thus, in order to graduate, students are paired against a recent graduate from Sanrou and face them in combat. Graduation is contingent on winning this bout, and it is seen as mutually beneficial as the student is allowed to test their use of shinobi skills, and the samurai from Sanrou is given their first taste of what a shinobi may be capable of.
While there are a variety of specializations that a samurai from Kemurigakure may use, they most often fall into three: Ninpou, Fuuinjutsu, and Genjutsu. All samurai from Kemurigakure are cross disciplinary, every single samurai is expected to incorporate their specialization into how they function as a samurai. Part of the function of the Special and Covert Operations is to be able to embed any samurai from Kemurigakure into a unit in Sanrou, thus they must not only understand how samurai units function but be a fully realized samurai in their own right. Not all samurai from Kemurigakure are meant for all situations however, and each samurai is assigned to a Special and Covert Operations squad based on their talent and ability.
Counter and Subjugation SquadsShow
This type of squads are put together with the primary purpose of counteracting shinobi squads. They often have highly specialized skillsets within them such as Tenkujutsu, specific elements, Iijutsu, Sensory and other skills that allow them to directly engage with shinobi without incurring the same risk that a standard samurai unit may have. These squads are meant to quickly and completely subjugate shinobi forces to minimize their area of effect.
Covert, Elimination, and Erasure SquadsShow
This type of squad is put together for the primary purpose of completely highly sensitive, covert, and secret missions or tasks. They often consist of multiple genjutsu users, sensory, and samurai skilled in stealth based styles. Most often, they are sent on missions to eliminate singular threats, get rid of information, or complete a task without being seen or recognized. Arbiters of highly sensitive information, these squads are meant to get in and out of situations quickly.
Destabilization UnitsShow
This type of squad is put together to function as a show of force and military action deterrent. Often only dispatched for highly dangerous situations or when a conflict needs to be ended totally and completely, Destabilization Units are capable of causing mass destruction, death on a large scale, and otherwise being highly dangerous. A destabilization unit is rarely comprised of more than three individuals, and each is highly dangerous in their own right. Every destabilization unit trains alongside the Taishou, which in-and-of itself is a reflection of the power contained within the units. It is expected that a single destabilization unit could destroy entire villages, and kill multiple shinobi squads with relative ease
Quote:Given that Iron Country as a whole is a military society, Kemurigakure does not have much in the way of it's own internal politics. Every citizen is in Kemurigakure based on a relation to a samurai, and thus they fall to the command of their samurai's command - may they be the samurai's spouse, child, or assigned laborer. Democratic to a degree, all citizens and samurai have a right to vote on certain matters, most often issues that will effect the country as a whole, what to do with excess tax money, and similar decisions. However, leadership is left solely to the discretion of the Taishou, who selects his generals based off merit and talent, and defers many decisions to them.Politics
Politically Kemurigakure (and Iron) are largely communal, resources for samurai, citizens and laborers alike are provided by the country. Little personal expense is spent on things like housing, land, healthcare and basic needs as a function of sustaining a powerful army.