.jpg)
aka Last Breath Castle
The Matsu family cares nothing for diplomacy, nothing for art or delicacy or commerce. Some would claim they also care little for courtesy, and certainly Shiro Matsu is notorious for its stark ascetic décor and the blunt attitudes of its masters. Courtiers from the Doji, Bayushi, or Phoenix consider an assignment to Shiro Matsu to be an outright punishment. The Matsu family home is certainly not designed with the welfare of guests in mind. For example, each morning guests are awakened by a violent and cacophonous noise as hundreds, sometimes thousands, of young samurai train in the courtyards outside.
The structure itself is immense, the main keep standing over a hundred feet tall, the outer stone walls looming nearly forty feet high. The caste and surrounding area are capable of housing nearly 100,000 troops. In truth, if the Matsu wished it they could easily upgrade their home to meet the requirements of a Kyuden, but the very design of the castle proclaims to all that this has never been the family’s goal.
The city of Shiro Matsu Toshi, the largest settlement in Lion lands, surrounds the castle. It boasts thousands of heimin craftsmen, farmers, and workers, all serving the needs of the Matsu. Samurai of the Akodo, Ikoma, and Kitsu families have their own holdings here, and sensei from nearly every school in the Lion Clan have dojo here as well. Numerous shrines are found within the city as well, including not one but two shrines of Bushido, dedicated to Makoto and Rei.