Kyūden Shika

Kyūden Shika, the ancestral seat of power of the Deer Clan, was renowned for the forest that surrounded the palace, the spirit-haunted Aokami Forest. Courts of Stone, pp. 39, 44
== Appearance ==
Kyūden Shika was a palace of immeasurable beauty covered in delicate gypsum carvings, Courts of Stone, p. 82 with roofs of brown tile, and alabaster fixtures. Within the grounds, three Rokugani cedars, each one several millennia old and the shintai of a forest kami, stood amid manicured gardens and ornamental pools. Inside the outer bailey were a ryokan and its attendant hot-spring baths; yashiki for guests; auxiliary buildings where servants, artisans, and Shinseist priests lived and worked; and the speardancers' dōjō. Kyūden Shika's name featured prominently in Rokugani literature, from romantic poems to scandalous novels. Kyūden Shika shared the reputation of a virtue and vice place, the ideal site to court one's soulmate, as well as a den of hedonism and iniquity. Kyūden Shika was the most efficient tool of Shika Matchmakers for affecting the balance of power in Rokugan, for drawing friends into unbreakable alliances and ensnaring their enemies in webs of intrigue. Courts of Stone, p. 44-45
=== Defenses ===
Kyūden Shika was slightly defended, with a small outer wall with very small ishigaki and occasional guard towers. Only the central keep was particularly fortified. The keep's first story had a great hall used for receptions and social functions, and the higher floors were reserved for Deer Clan members and invited guests. The palace's main defenses was the Aokami Forest that surrounded it, where speardancers performed aggressive counterattacks through the woods in case of attack, and the Deer Clan shugenja called their close allies, the forest kami who made the forest their home. The castle grounds and the buildings' and keep's interiors were all uncommonly roomy and spacious. Kyūden Shika's open spaces allowed speardancers to control an entire hallway with ease. 
=== Fun and Entertainment ===
Kyūden Shika focused on up-and-coming artists who did not yet have fame or a following, giving many rising stars their big break. It also had a lower threshold for propriety than many other castles: plays that were just a little too lascivious, politically charged, passionate, or high concept for some audiences fpund a happy home there. 
=== Library ===
Beneath Kyūden Shika were caves containing a vast library of coded information about nearly every major noble in Rokugan dating back to the sixth century. 
== Notable Locations ==
* Temple of Musubi
== Known Castellans ==
* Shika Katsuteru
*