Yanmashima

The Dragonfly Isles

Pronunciation: YANN-mah-SHEE-ma

Term for People: Yans, Hito, Dragonflies, Bushi

Names for Groups: Clans, Bannermen, Buzoku, Ichimon, Island, Shogunate

Masks: Kabuki, Mempo, Men-yoroi, Oni-Masks, Uchikatsugi

Most Popular Event: Yurei Matsuri

The archipelago is rife with the swish of sails, the clash of swords and the whisper of the brush. Territories abundant in flatlands with farming potential or coastline ripe for fishing are rare in the archipelago – often overcome or poisoned with shifting miasma, or impenetrably studded with mountains and dense forest. Shoguns and warlords vy for the best lands, training warriors and spies for the purpose of conquering, and installing magistrates to wield the scythe upon victory. The cycle of battle dictates that forests are carved apart for war walls, new tinctures and constructs are researched, and Great Beasts lured to unknowingly aid with wiping out rival clans. Shoguns are as deft in military tactics as they are in diplomacy and subterfuge – warriors, spies and assassins that work under them are often more loyal and honour-bound than their masters. Often ships double as city halls, with great barges and floating towns functioning as entertainment districts where no viable land can be found to house them. Though the fighting may be quick and brutal, the courtly procession afterwards is long, intricate and meditative – no issue too small, and no ceremony left undone. 

The hard work of the Yans inspires harder play, and Art across the archipelago is vibrant, prized and excessive, with being a patron to the arts a point of personal pride, and being an artist or performer of any small renown treated with utmost respect. Magic is practised like dance or opera, with many battle mages using a combination between martial forms and high art, using swords to draw caligraphic bloodstains across enemies. Likewise, crafters, mages and artificers are just as honoured. Their creations walk the many Islands of Yanmashima; moving constructs of bamboo and mountain rock – experiments of maddening brilliance that have been commissioned or cast aside by warlords, often left alone to hunt the hulking oni and yokai that hide in the seablown mists.