Port Minato
Demographics
Port Minato is a bustling and vibrant town, with many different peoples of many different ethnicities. There are Chonsi sailors, the northern coastal neighbors of Hokkai, piloting massive Laozi junks, filled with the treasures of the Eastern and Western hemispheres. Before the war, the Laozi people who lived in Port Minato were traders or foreign diplomats, but now, the Laozi population is almost entirely military, bringing an extra 6000 souls into the city... for now. Though the port has been closed to outside travellers by the occupying Laozi, there are some foreigners stranded here- merchants and diplomats who couldn't secure passage home from the Laozi bureaucrats now running the port. Among them are: members of the ruddy Vedic people, decked out in their finery to the point of gaudiness; the more conservative, though elegant Sharyian ambassadors from the Ashalan wastes; some very pale people, with flaxen hair who speak a strange, harsh language, who are known broadly as "Occideans."
Government
Port Minato is governed, usually, by the Daimyo of the Crab Clan, Junnosuke Kani. However, in the current time of war, it is instead governed by the Laozi Army, more specifically Captain [Xian Wu]
and the current puppet governor [Ren Hui.]
In times of peace, the taxes and tarriffs levied on goods coming in and going out of Port Minato help keep up the machinery of the trade- both mechanical and human- and provide the services necessary to keep the town going. A portion of this coinage is delivered to the emperor once per year, as their imperial dues.
Defences
Having the natural defense of the bay, Port Minato also has a large city wall on the opposite side. There are watchtowers with sentries, and a main gate. The Laozi have constructed artificial islands at the edge of Wan Bay, and posted guard towers on those as well. These towers have large chains strung between them that can be tightened or slackened to prevent or allow ship traffic, and is one of the main two ways in which the Laozi have tightened their grip on the settlement. The other, of course, is the Laozi naval blockade.
Industry & Trade
The Hokkaidan people have very fertile land great for growing rice, a staple food in the eastern hemisphere, as well as rich deposits of quality iron. These goods have a high demand all across the eastern- and more recently the western- hemisphere, and Port Minato is where it all happens. They also export some luxury goods, such as fine silks, rice wine, and bamboo- used for making fine tools.
Infrastructure
Port Minato is a shipping town, with large cranes and ramps dotting the many docks that criss-cross the natural bay on which it is built. Beyond the quays, there are vendors selling all manner of domestic and foreign goods: Minato is a hub of multicultral trade, and there is always something interesting to buy.
Districts
There are several districts in Port Minato:
One enters the town in a sort of artisan's/tradesman's quarter. These people mostly serve the permanent inhabitants of Port Minato, providing necessities such as food, clothing, and other domestic services.
Exiting the tradesman's quarter, one comes to a crossroads:
To the left is the noble quarter, where the wealthiest of Port Minato live and oversee the spoils of their industry. There is also a church quarter in this section, where various different denominations of worshippers may come to pray for safe journeys, or thank their faraway gods for keeping a watchful eye over them.
Straight ahead is the shipping quarter, where most of the business of Port Minato is done. Constructed in a u-shape, to fit the natural contours of Wan Bay, the shipping quarter is the beating heart of Port Minato.
To the right is the common and residential quarters. This is where most of the people, permanent or otherwise, stay whilst in Port Minato. Because of its metropolitan nature, the forms of architecture in this quarter vary widely from the normal Hokkaidan sloped roofs and rice paper doors.
Guilds and Factions
The Crab clan are merchants by trade, and so have come to dominate the policies of the settlement.
History
Port Minato was originally owned by the Heron Clan (when it went under the name of Port Natomi, after a progenitor of the Heron.) During the War of 10 Shoguns, the Heron backed Hattori Hanzo's main enemy, Hirohito Oda at first. But about halfway through the war, they switched sides after realizing that Hanzo was going to win, not wishing to be destroyed underfoot like their allies. But Hanzo could not trust the Heron after that, and stripped them of ownership of the settlement, giving it to the newly incorporated Crab Clan, who aided Hanzo's acension to the throne by secretly supplying his armies with fish and other goods by small boats.
Points of interest
The Temple District is quite a thing to see: nowhere else in Hokkai would you see any foreign temples, and these are quite beautiful. The Jade Fox is the city's premiere hotel and bathhouse, used to entertain foreign dignitaries and other VIPs who visit there. It's run by Inari Kobashi, Tsuki's mother, who is in actuality a kitsune living amongst the humans, using her wiles and talent subterfuge to help the shinobi underground push back against the Laozi invasion as best she can.
Architecture
Profits from trading are reinvested into the community, albiet in a few specific places first, so the architecture of Port Minato is rather ostentatious the average Hokkaidan: strings of ornate paper lanterns between buildings provide evening lighting, and the roads are fully paved with cobblestone, unlike your traditional earthen pathways of most Hokkaidan townships. The wood and paper which comprise the buildings are of a fine quality, as the Crab take a certain percentage of the other clans' material goods for improving the city and feeding its people. This is one of the two metropolises that the kingdom possesses, and the only one that is this open and unrestricted: Tengoku is the seat of power in the empire, and thus is only open to those who have attained favor of the imperial house.
Geography
Lying on the westernmost point of Hokkai, Port Minato offers spectacular views of the Eastern Sea, and on a clear day sometimes neighboring Chonshi can even be seen. The sunsets of Port Minato have captured the imaginations of poets for generations, and many a sailor's shanty speaks of the blood-red skies and twinkling waters of Wan Bay and the seas beyond.
Climate
Port Minato is rather balmy with cool sea breezes for most of the year, being in the confluence of jet stream currents that encircle the Eastern Sea. It does have seasonal monsoon rainstorm, but nothing so far that has threatened the city for more than a few days.
Natural Resources
Port Minato does not, itself, have many natural resources, though commercial fishing does happen in the waters surrounding it. It relies rather heavily on the exports passing throug the city: leaders of the other clans know that the Crab takes its cut of product to sustain themselves, in exchange for paying a small portion of the imperial tithes for each other clan in foreign gold, rather than domestic product. They do have a constant source of fresh water from a nearby lake, however.
Type
Metropolis
Population
30000
Included Locations
Owner/Ruler
Ruling/Owning Rank
Owning Organization
Characters in Location
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