Tamori Foundries

The Agasha Foundries were created by the Agasha when they learned that the secrets of their art had more practical uses. Agasha Trade Schools soon branched off from the Agasha Shugenja school, and each as jealous with their secrets as the shugenja had been. Calling themselves foundries rather than schools, they experimented with metallurgy and other natural processes.

Steel Foundries
The Agasha were the first to experiment with steel successfully. Previous attempts had failed due to the trouble of finding steel that had the virtues of both a soft and a hard metal. Soft metal would keep a keen edge but break easily, and a hard metal would not break easily but dull quickly. The Agasha Foundries would solve this problem by taking two sheets of metal, one of soft metal and one of hard metal, and heat both until they were white hot, and fold the two metals together repeatedly until the steel had the virtues from both the hard and the soft. Agasha swords quickly gained a reputation throughout Rokugan as being the finest available, being sharper and more supple than any others. The Agasha kept their secret for many years until suddenly all the other clans began using the same process. The Agasha suspected the Scorpion Clan had leaked their secret, but the Scorpion of course deflected any questions regarding the matter.

Agriculture Foundries
The students of the Farming Foundries produced the most productive and hardiest crops, with large and tasty vegetables and fruits. Their produce became highly sought after, and the Agasha would even harvest seeds from their crops which any farmer would consider himself fortunate to recieve as a gift.

Protecting the Secrets
Rumors spread again of the many secrets held by the Agasha, and some would seek them out attempting to gain insight into the Agasha methods. Those who returned from seeking out the Dragon stronghold would speak of strange monster guardians lurking in the thick forests, and those who heard whispers of the Agasha secrets suspected that they had created such abominations.