Matsunagayama

The Dire Boars

Matsunagayama Maretsu, Chief Kannushi of the clan.
Source: Marvel Studios

The most powerful and populous of the Eastern Highland clans, Matsunagayama territory extends across much of the haunted Asura's Wall mountain range, which they guard fiercely against both the the Arakh tribes of the Skylands as well as the mountains' own legions of ghosts and yōkai. Hard drinkers, fierce warriors and expert storytellers, much of Dire Boar "diplomacy" involves browbeating other clans for insufficient support defending the eastern border. Some clans are skeptical, rebutting that both the arakh and monsters are happy where they are.

Clan Status: Major

Totem Kami: The Dire Boar

Colours: Deep oranges, browns, leathers, bronzes; rustic northern fashions

First Kannushi: Matsunagayama Maretsu

Vassal Clans: Kuwabara (Bison), Wakabayashi (Sea Eagle), Oloro (Boreal Ibex), Kanada (Dire Goose)

Reputation: Fierce, strong, combative, loud, emotional, expressive, single-minded, hardy drinkers and talented storytellers

Preferred classes: Samurai, barbarian, ranger, bard, druid

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Imagery: Matsunagayama Fashion & Scenery Image Gallery (External)

A dwarven warrior of the Oloro clan, vassals to the Matsunagayama.

Still the wealthiest and most powerful tribe of the eastern Highlands, the Matsunagayama’s political standing has nonetheless been slowly eroded by Shan and Setsu maneuverings in recent decades, as well as defection by their former vassals the Morō. This has made an already scrappy clan even more ill-tempered, but nonetheless their taverns are happy to take the coin of travelers and their bards are among the finest on the continent.

Hardy but guileless, the Matsunagayama boast the highest support rate, by population, of Asura's Wall: a sworn responsibility of all clans of the Commonwealth, to guard against the threat of the Skylands Arakh and their God-Chieftains, as well as the haunted denizens of the mountains themselves. They use this as a beating stick in their unsubtle manner of diplomacy (to which most clans sniffingly mutter that it’s mostly just a matter of proximity), and actively send agents to recruit criminals from the labour camps of cooperating clans.

In fact, the Dire Boars are so invested in the Skylands Cold War that they consider the recent calm between the Skylanders and the Setsu Shōgunate intolerable, and are actively colluding with the Shan to steal or destroy arakh ancestral items simply to maintain enmity between the two sides (though a share of the acquisitions isn't bad either). They're unaware that the Great Ravens' true reason for the plundering is more complex than booty or glory...

The Dwarves of Oloraan

See full article: The Oloro Clan

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Most dwarves in Marai are found amongst the Matsunagayama, known as the Oloro Clan or the Dwarven Diaspora as their ancestors fled an unsustainable war against the demons, estrié, drow and wayangs of their ancestral home, the Mazes of Oloraan.

Geography

The Commonwealth of Marai

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Including the Skylands to the east and the Kula'wongai to the Voidwest. Map covers Waking Materia's Lower Alpha and Upper Beta Quadrants.