Holdings

Each clan always has a maximum number of holdings equal to its number of families + 1. The maximum number of Holdings can be increased with the Municipal Holdings background. None of these backgrounds are limited to 5 dots. Holdings that use resources can be upgraded (if appropriate) at any time; talk to staff.

Resource Holdings
This includes Agricultural and Material Holdings. Every dot of a Resource Holding Background provides precisely one Holding with a single output. That output can be modified by improving certain Structural Holdings. For example, an Agricultural Holding might be, "Izugawa Rice Plantation," which can be detailed to a greater or lesser degree on the owning clan's wikipage, may have character backgrounds attached it, may be involved in stories, and so on; that Holding would produce one unit of Rice. Another might be, "Emerald Hills Mine," which produces Iron.


 * When resources are spent on projects, they are locked until that project is complete.
 * When resources are spent on military units, they are locked until that unit disbands.
 * When resources are spent on settlements, those resources are permanently locked until the settlement is destroyed or annexed.


 * General Resources:Food, Textiles, Material, Ore, and Gems. Other Holdings refer to these resources when any Common Resource in the given category will do (e.g. when "Food" is required, any of Rice, Fish, Fruit, etc. can fill that need).
 * Common Resources:Any individual resources produced from Resource Holdings. So generically, Stone, Fish, Wood, Meat, etc. are considered "Common," but will be referred to specifically (i.e. "you need 2 Fish" requires Fish producing holdings, not ones that produce Rice).
 * Fine Resources:Refined versions of Common resources, requiring an artisan's workshop of some sort. For purposes of simplicity, these are referred to simply as "Fine" and are the product of specific Clan Holdings (i.e. "Fine Silk" as opposed to just "Silk").

Agriculture
Agricultural Holdings provide food and farm products, as well as those collected from the results of animal husbandry, hunting, fishing, and gathering. When creating a Holding, the clan must decide what they would like it to produce or output. That output should fall into one of these three categories:


 * Food (to eat: Rice, Apple, Fish, Meat, etc.)
 * Textiles (to wear: Wool, Silk, Leather, Fur, etc.)
 * Materials (to use: Bone, Ivory, Beeswax, Wood, etc.)

All output from an Agricultural holding is considered to be raw or of average quality at best. For fine silk, for example, one would need to purchase a Clan Holding that produces such a thing.


 * Other Uses:Agricultural Holdings allow clans to feed their troops and villages. They also allow clans to trade for other resources, items, or equipment.

Mineral
Mineral Holdings provide raw mineral resources. When creating a Holding, the clan must decide what they would like it to produce or output. That output should fall into one of these three categories:


 * Ore (Iron, Tin, Gold, Silver, etc.)
 * Gems (Jade, Onyx, Emerald, Lapis Lazuli, etc.)
 * Materials (Clay, Stone, Marble, Salt, etc.)

All output from Mineral Holdings are considered to be raw or of average quality at best. For fine steel, for example, one would need to purchase a Clan Holding that produces such a thing. For normal smelted iron, however, no additional Holding is required.

Mineral Holdings (along with Agricultural Holdings) provide a basis for the other holdings, allowing you to supply your troops and keep your shops stocked. They may also be used to "buy" (as the Resources background) things from other clans (or groups similar to clans), though you risk either depriving yourself of resources or impoverishing your miners, etc. in the process.


 * Other Uses:Mineral Holdings allow clans to improve their clan infrastructure. They also allow clans to trade for other resources, items, or equipment.

Structural Holdings
This includes Clan and Infrastructure Holdings. Every dot of a Structural Holding Background provides precisely one Holding that maintains a single building or piece of infrastructure. That Holding then provides the clan some kind of tangible benefit. For example, a Clan Holding might be "The Magnificent Citadel of the Jade Tortoise," which could grant all clan members a +1 to all social rolls when in or near the structure, reduce nearby resource costs by 1, and improve all nearby Honor gains by +1 point. An Infrastructure Holding might be "The Kappa River Road," which might allow 1 Military Holding to move between other Holdings on that road (at a time), grant a +1 output to a Holding along that road, or add +1 to the clan's military rating when defending their territory.


 * Note: In character generation, Structural Holdings may be built with loaned or traded resources provided there is a compelling reason for it. (For example, a clan may be loaned resources to sign a continuing agreement, to become a vassal clan, or they may trade to represent past agreements.) Background dots must still be purchased.

Clan
Clan Holdings are statements of your clan's position within the world. This includes palaces and other luxury buildings, artisan workshops, fine textile mills, and so on. Each holding grants the clan either some kind of tangible (usually location-based) benefit, the gravity of which is largely determined by the kind of resources that go into building that Holding, or an a Fine-quality version of a resource.

Status, of course, is another benefit. For example, an artisan's workshops can serve to improve (or at least change) your clan's image. Having a notable jade-crafter who creates infinitely delicate nested carvings is something any socially-minded daimyo might want, whereas one of a more militant bent might have a renowned swordsmith in his employ.

Building Clan Holdings utilizes resources produced by Agricultural Holdings, Mineral Holdings, and other Clan Holdings. For example, "The Magnificent Citadel of the Jade Tortoise" might require 2 Common Resources (like Rice for workers to eat, and Stone for the construction), 1 Fine Marble, and 1 Fine Jade to be built. The "1 Fine Marble" and "1 Fine Jade" indicate that refined resources are required, and these can only be created through other Clan Holdings. So if the clan who wants to build this palace do not have those resources, they will need to trade for them.

Refining Holdings are artisan workshops that produce Fine quality items. So in a Jade Workshop, "Fine Jade," is the produced resource, but that jade could functionally be used for anything from jade carvings to jade earrings. Likewise, a "Sandalwood Refinery" produces "Fine Sandalwood," but that resource could be purposed as fine wood for building or incense. We're trying not to get too granular here.

Generically speaking, "Food" and "Material" as General Resources can be substituted instead of specific Common resources since usually any Food and building Material will do. Talk to staff.

Typically, Clan Holdings are demarcated in a way similar to this (with variability as appropriate):


 * Refining Holding: 2 Common Resources (like Rice and Wood), and the resource that needs to be refined (like Jade).
 * Low Quality Holding: 3 Common Resources (like Fish, Vegetables, and Tea).
 * This might be a popular restaurant or trading house known for its Red Snapper.
 * Medium Quality Holding: 2 Common resources (like Wood and Stone), and 1 Fine Resource (like Fine Tea)
 * This might be an established tea house known for its Red Tiger tea blend; or perhaps a Geisha House or Noh theater of fine construction.
 * High Quality Holding: 2 Common Resources and 2 Fine Resources.
 * This might be a Clan Palace, such as the Magnificent Citadel of the Jade Tortoise above.

There is also an in-game time element involved in the building of these holdings, which will be determined by staff. Generally:


 * Small Building: A week or so.
 * Medium Building: Several weeks to a month.
 * Large building: Months.

Generally speaking, Clan Holdings help players, and provide contextual benefits to their rolls (such as +Socialize or +Intimidate rolls while entertaining or holding court in or near your palace, +Craft rolls in renowned workshops, +War, +Occult, and/or +Lore rolls from libraries, and so on); provide NPCs for training purposes (see Character Advancement); produce fine Equipment, and so on.

Exactly what kind of Holding and what benefit it provides should be considered when purchasing a point in this background, and then discussed with staff to determine the kind of resources that will be required to build it.

Infrastructure
Infrastructure Holdings are the glue that keep everything else together. Roads, clerks, storage, messengers, priests--without infrastructure, other clan holdings are effectively isolated from each other and the world around them. Each Holding grants the clan either some kind of tangible (usually location-based) benefit, the gravity of which is largely determined by the kind of resources that go into building that Holding, a bonus to their military rating in some way, or improvements to other holdings.

Status, of course, is another benefit. A magnificent marble aqueduct not only provides infrastructure benefits, but also improves the clan's image. A more militant-minded daimyo might instead build a reinforced stone wall with impressive marble colonnades.

Building Infrastructure Holdings utilize resources produced by Agricultural Holdings, Mineral Holdings, and other Clan Holdings. For example, "The White-Gold Aqueduct" might require 2 Common Resources (like Rice to feed workers and Stone for construction), 1 Fine Marble, and 1 Fine Quartz to be built. The "1 Fine Marble" and "1 Fine Quartz" indicate that refined resources are required, and these can only be created through Clan Holdings. So if the clan who wants to build this aqueduct do not have those resources, they will need to trade for them.

Generically speaking, "Food" and "Material" as General Resources can be substituted instead of specific Common resources since usually any Food and building Material will do. Talk to staff.

Typically, Infrastructure Holdings are demarcated in a way similar to this (with variability as appropriate):


 * Simple Holding: 2 Common Resources (like Rice and Stone)
 * This might be a stable.
 * Low Quality Holding: 3 Common resources (like Fish, Wood, and Iron)
 * This might be a harbor.
 * Medium Quality Holding: 2 Common Resources (like Fruit and Stone), and a Fine Resource (like Fine Marble)
 * This might be a city wall or military garrison.
 * High Quality Holding: 2 Common Resources and 2 Fine Resources.
 * See the "The White-Gold Aqueduct" above.

There is also an in-game time element involved in the building of these holdings, which will be determined by staff. Generally:


 * Small structure: A week or so.
 * Medium structure: Several weeks to a month.
 * Large or long structure: Months.

Generally speaking, Infrastructure Holdings help other holdings, and provide resource output increases or output diversity; military output increases; bonuses to clan military rating through fortifications and ease of travel; swifter travel times, and so on.

Exactly what kind of Holding and what benefit it provides should be considered when purchasing a point in this background, and then discussed with staff to determine the kind of resources that will be required to build it.

Personnel Holdings
This includes Municipal and Military Holdings. Every dot of a Personnel Holding Background provides precisely one Holding that maintains a unit of personnel, be that unit a military one, or the citizens of a particular village. That Holding then provides your clan the ability to expand and protect its other holdings. For example, a Municipal Holding might be, "The Hidden Cloud Village," which could provide the clan itself 1 dot in the Followers background, and then provide the governing necessary to support 2 Holdings. A Military Holding might be, "The Scarlet Brigade," a squadron the protects one additional holding, or has the cavalry ability.

Municipal
Every dot of Municipal Holdings affords the clan the ability to maintain a settlement of the following size (as they can upkeep lawmen, priests to keep local Kami happy, a steady food supply and so on). Each dot purchased can either build upon a previous a Holding (turning a modest village into a substantial one), or create a new Holding. A Holding maxes out its ability to support a population at 5 dots. Nomadic Municipal Holdings are still presumed to have stationary Holdings they check on even if the population moves around.


 * 1 dot: Modest village or small nomadic tribe.
 * 2 dots: Substantial village or modest tribe.
 * 3 dots: Small city or a substantial tribe.
 * 4 dots: Average city or an exceptionally large tribe.
 * 5 dots: Large city or a Mongoloid horde.

Municipal Holdings are important because all Holdings require a centralized governance to run effectively; these Holdings provide that order and so dictate the maximum number of total Holdings a clan may have. Municipal Holdings never count towards a clan's total Holdings. The below bonuses are cumulative by level (a level 2 holding will give a total of +4 holdings).


 * 1-dot Holding: + 2 Holdings
 * 2-dot Holding: + 2 additional Holdings
 * 3-dot Holding: + 3 additional Holdings
 * 4-dot Holding: + 4 additional Holdings
 * 5-dot Holding: + 5 additional Holdings

Further, these Holdings require resources like any other; here's a brief sketch of their needs:


 * 1-dot Holding: No requirements. Self-sufficient.
 * 2-dot Holding: 1 Food
 * 3-dot Holding: 2 Food
 * 4-dot Holding: 2 Food, 1 Material
 * 5-dot Holding: 3 Food, 2 Material

Finally, replacing "Food" or "Material" above with a Fine version will grant the Holding a measurable bonus (such as with the "Hidden Cloud Village" above). These bonuses should be worked out with staff, but generally are some kind of clan bonus to the backgrounds allies, contacts, cult, or followers, or provide additional Holdings.

Military
Military Holdings determine the strength of your army, be it in general numbers, quality of equipment, or a mix of the two. Each dot represents a single squadron of military units, be they Samurai, Shugenja, or a mix of the two as is appropriate for a Clan's theme. One's total dots in Military Holdings represents one's base military rating. (For Military Infrastructure improvements, see Infrastructure Holdings, above.)

Other Holdings that are not protected by Military Holdings are open to being freely annexed by other Clans or NPCs. One squadron can effectively patrol 2 Holdings and keep them safe from blatant annexation or environmental issues (bandits, raiders, bad weather, avalanches, or the like).

Military Holdings require a minimum of 1 Food, but Military Holdings that do not have good supplies (such as quality weapons) are more likely to disband or be routed by environmental events. Whether a unit disbands or is routed will be determined by staff over the course of the event. Routed units become exhausted and take a period of time to recover before they can be used (also dictated by staff). See the below chart for the benefits of supplying Military Holdings.


 * 1 Food = Required to sustain a unit. A unit without Food disbands. Exhaustion remains an issue.
 * 1 Food + 1 Material = No exhaustion from environmental effects (like bandits or even mass combat).
 * 1 Food + 1 Material + 1 additional Food/Material = Small bonus.
 * 1 Fine Food/Material + 1 Common Food/Material = Moderate bonus.
 * 1 Fine Food + 1 Fine Material = Large bonus.

These bonuses listed above should be worked out with staff, but generally are some kind of clan bonus to mass combat, the ability to protect more Holdings, a bonus to the clan military rating, and bonuses to appropriate rolls (combat or otherwise) when working with or near the Holding in question.

Example Mass Combat Bonuses:


 * Absent (+some Ability) = The ability can be used even if the unit is not at the battle.
 * Calvary = The unit can move between Holdings even if there are no roads, etc. to let them to get to a battle within a reasonable distance.
 * Fear = Reduces enemy general's Military Rating.
 * Heroic = Increases general's Military Rating.

Clan Warfare
When clans attack each other, they compare effective military ratings to determine circumstantial bonuses (or detriments) before the conflict is roleplayed out, typically in a mass combat scene. These bonuses will be determined by staff at a later time.