The lands Hida and his followers claimed at the dawn of the Empire are not by any means the most beautiful in Rokugan, nor are they the most fertile or resource-rich. Hida did not choose these lands for their value but for their proximity to the Shadowlands. As a result, the lands
of the Crab are a hodgepodge of terrains and conditions, with the only unifying factor being their inhabitants. For that matter, the people of the Crab may seem outwardly to be as much a jumble of contrasts as their lands, for every family and every group is different. But all are focused on a single goal: the defense of the Empire.
The peasants of the Crab are a hearty breed, often larger and tougher than the peasants of other clans, and while they are extremely respectful of samurai they are not always as deferential to their Crab lords as might be expected. This is because they view themselves as junior partners in the clan’s great struggle against the forces of Jigoku. Indeed, the peasants of the Crab are unique position in Empire in that their lords encourage them to learn to fight and defend themselves with the implements they use to farm. There have been several times in the history of the Crab that a battle with the Shadowlands was won because peasants turned out to fight and managed to distract or flank an enemy force.
Taken as a whole, the lands of the Crab are not particularly fertile. There are portions of the lands where productive farming is indeed possible, but in many provinces the villages are barely able to grow enough to sustain themselves. One food the Crab do have in plenty is fish, thanks to their proximity to Earthquake Fish Bay, and much of the food eaten by the Crab armies is dried or pickled fish. However, since the Crab field one of the largest armies in the Empire – rivaled in size only by the Lion – they face a perpetual food deficit. The Yasuki make up for this deficit through shrewd commercial dealings with the other clans. The principle Crab export is iron – the mines in Crab lands, especially in the Wall Above the Ocean Mountains, produce an abundance of fine quality iron ore. Moreover, since the Kaiu are able to forge that ore into magnificent steel, the export value of the metal is even higher than it might be otherwise. For their part, the Yasuki themselves export a variety of other goods both practical and luxurious, especially sake, which the Crab brew in abundance.
Much of the Crab territory is a patchwork of forests, mountains, plains, and barren rocky uplands. There are a few places in the Crab lands where cherry blossom trees grow, where spring sees the hills covered in beautiful arrays of white and pink, but these are far more the exception than the rule. And there are some places so barren that all that grows there are stunted thorn bushes and brown weeds… not to mention the Kuni wastelands, where all forms of natural life have been purged, or the Tainted lands which have fallen to the Shadowlands over the centuries.