Arc Five: Regional Situation (Reference Map Included)

In both technological level and culture, things sit roughly around the Edo period, though there appears to be no Edo itself. A handful of dungeons, the library-city dungeon among them, produce the fruits of advanced technology, but constraints in the industrial base mean these can be neither mass-produced nor even maintained, so they have not spread.

[The Library-City Dungeon]

A tower-type dungeon in the uninhabited wasteland of "Adachi," standing atop a hill a little over 100 m high: many libraries stacked one upon another, reaching into the stratosphere.

The defeat of Tsukuba Naiyaku-no-jō triggered a dungeon disaster and caused it to swell to enormous size. While expanding the dungeon's sphere of influence, it is forming a vast agricultural belt around itself.

The residents are mostly human. The population is a little over 2,000.

[The Land of Musashi]

Spreads from the vicinity of the library-city dungeon across the whole of the west. The region nearest the dungeon is Iruma. Its capital is Fuchū in Tama; the lord of the realm is the Musashi-no-kami. Daikan are stationed by region, in Iruma, Hiki, and so on. Some castles, such as Matsuyama and Kawagoe, are ruled not by a Daikan but by a castle-lord.

"Musashi" is written with phonetic substitute characters and its origin is wholly unknown. As an insult: "filthy" = musai, and the like.

The residents are largely human. The population is about 1.6 million. Being a desert, its productive power is poor and population density is low.

[The Land of Sō]

Lies to the southeast. Its capital is Kōnodai in Katsushika; the lord of the realm is the Kazusa-no-suke.

The residents are mostly human, with some Beasts and Asura. The population is about 1.1 million. The Chiba clan and the Yūki clan dwell here. The land extends long from Kōnodai, north and south and to the east.

Near Kōnodai there is a farm-dungeon, "Nakayama Racecourse," but since its essence is in fact not a farm, it is gradually declining.

In the east there is a large-scale water-attribute dungeon that produces fish, so dried fish is famous there. Unfortunately the water is salt water, so it can't be used for agriculture. The salt water overflowing from the dungeon has become a natural salt field, but in this region salt isn't anything particularly precious.

[The Land of Ke]

Lies to the north. Its capital is Sōja in Gunma County; the lord of the realm is the Kōzuke-no-suke. There is a custom of permitting those especially skilled in some single art to style themselves Kōzuke-no-suke.

The residents are the people of Ke, that is, mostly Beasts. The population is about 1 million. The Utsunomiya clan and the Oyama clan dwell here. The land extends long from east to west, and its northern side is a sparsely populated mountainous region.

In the east there is a vast land of salt, "Nasu-Shiobara."

[The Eastern Land]

Lies to the east. Strictly speaking it is across the far side of the northern part of Sō, but the boundary is vague. The state of confusion is such that even the extent of its counties is unknown. The rightful lord of the realm is the Hitachi-no-suke, but at present it is a state of affairs where powerful figures style themselves so.

With Tsukuba Naiyaku-no-jō struck down, the confusion has grown even worse. The Oda clan and the Satake clan dwell here.

The residents are mostly human, with some Beasts and Asura, but the east is nearly all human. The population is unknown (roughly 600,000 or so).

[The Land of Sumō]

Lies to the south of Musashi. It is not Sagami, but it does produce gazami (crabs). Its capital is in Yorogi.

The population is about 350,000.

There is a forest-dungeon, "Tanzawa Hills," but it teems with unpleasant blood-sucking creatures.

[The Land of Awa]

Lies to the south of Sō. Culturally it is of the southern sort, made up of many ethnic groups.

The residents are human, Asura, and Beast. The tanuki-beastfolk are famous. The population is about 600,000.

Its main products are sugar, citron, and dyes such as indigo. Some say its sweet potatoes are tastier than Kawagoe potatoes.

[The Land of Kō]

Lies to the west of Musashi. From an agricultural standpoint it is poor land riddled with endemic disease, but it is rich in mountain produce.

In numbers the residents are mostly human, but the ones who thrive are the Pretas. The population is about 350,000.

[The Land of Shina]

A mountainous region lying to the west of Musashi.

The residents include human, Asura, Beast, and Preta alike, but in numbers they are mostly human. The population is about 900,000.

It has many dungeons producing food, timber, mineral resources, and the like, so there are many adventurers as well.

[The Land of Koshi]

Lies still farther north than the Land of Ke, beyond the mountains.

The population numbers 3 million.