Jousai Tengai



Jousai Tengai, the Furthest Fortress or Farthest Fortress, was built into the side of the great Tenkenniyoru Yama, the second largest mountain in Rokugan, within the Great Wall of the North. It was the most remote outpost of the Dragon Clan.

Garrison
Although ostensibly a Togashi holding, the fortress was staffed by members of all Dragon families in small numbers. Despite its relatively large size, its total contingent seldom numbers more than about three dozen or so at the most. The true purpose of the fortress was to house a large vault concealed deep within its innermost recesses.

Design
It was designed by a direct ancestor of the Tamori family, the high walls of the ancient castle resembled a sheer cliffside, and the single winding path leading to its gates was lined with the assorted shifting detritus of a hundred passing caravans and rockslides caused by the partial yearly thawing of the snows above. It was a testament to the most powerful of the Tamori family's gifts: the ability to coax the earth into sustaining life where it seemed unsustainable.

Secluded
Furthest Fortress was conceived and designed to be extremely difficult for anyone unfamiliar with its location to even see it, much less reach it. The very walls of the fortress blended in seamlessly with the rocks around them, so much so that the uneducated or unperceptive onlooker might easily assume the entire structure was nothing more than an oddly shaped rock outcropping and continue about their business (as if anyone could have legitimate business so high in the Great Wall of the North Mountains).

The Vault
A staircase spiraled narrowly into the mountain, surrounded by a tunnel twice the height a man and capable of fitting three armored samurai shoulder-to-shoulder. At the staircase's base, a pair of massive steel and iron doors stood, emblazoned with the mon of the Dragon Clan. A complex system of metal bars, bubbling liquids, and strange magical wards surrounded the doors, forming a massive lock to hold them shut. The vault doors had this puzzle, elaborate design that required specific knowledge in order to enter. Some believed only the Dragon Clan Champion knew how to open these doors and the vault behind them, known as the Final Riddle, while others believed no one at all knew how to open it. Its contents were unknown for outsiders, and some in the clan claimed it contained nothing at all.

Final Riddle
This vault was the reason for this fortress, the reason why the Clan tributed thousands of koku each year to maintain this outpost. There was nothing there, but a lesson. The vault was empty because that lesson had yet to be taught.

Fortress Lords
Mirumoto Haru was given stewardship of Jousai Tengai after he shaved his head.