Babilawa

"*Years ago, the powerful shogun of the island of Babilawa held a feast in his camp celebrating the defeat of the last opposing samurai general.  He reveled with his men as they all drank deeply, the shogun most of all.  He was now the ruler of the whole island of Babilawa.  But he had lost his edge with time, had grown fat in drinking and celebrating, and has lost the keenness he once had in his eye for treachery.  That night when he slept, a dagger found his neck.  The dagger cut deeply through his and the necks of all his generals the island over.  When the shogun's men woke the next morning, wondering what would happen now that all their enemies had been defeated, the shogun's wife and her secret clan of assassins had an answer for them.*"
― Master Saigo

A lonely island to the north of the eastern Links  and the farthest reaching island of the Empire of Aragnee .  The steel it produces is held to be some of the best steel in the world.  For this purpose it was acquired as a territory of the Empire of Aragnee, but it is unlike most other islands having a much different history, government, and culture being so isolated from the rest of the Links.

## Geography

The capital city of Ramaja lies at the center of the island, but is still accessable by water as it is at the end of the Sound of Seitan, a large ocean inlet.  This makes it the major trading hub of the island, and is also home to the Shogun's Palace, the seat of the island's government.  The broad mountain close to the city of Ramaja provides some resources, but none so refined as the iron found in Mount Namaiwa to the island's west coast.  On the north side of this mountain sits the city of Sujime, the main producer of the island's famed steel.  Both the large cities of Sujime and Ramaja benefit from the large, farmable planes around them but this luxury is not enjoyed by the farming cities of the east coast.  Dotted across the feet of the Kamiha Mountains, these small villages make up most of the island's population but most only work to feed themselves as best they can from what they can fish from the ocean.

## History

Being so rich in iron, the settlers of this island found iron and soon steel weapons abound.  Farming has always been dificult on the island as little grows in the soil here beyond rice and grasses.  This made the land very valuable especially around rivers and coasts.  Yet those that grew rich off good farmland or waterways often had little means of defence to those who held control of iron production.  The history of this island is rife with war and territorial conflicts, mostly between men who commanded sizable armies of well trained soldiers known as samurai.  The particular style of fighting of these samurai stems from the types of weapons produced by the finer methods of steel production and the fierce culture of the island.  One samurai general was able to defeat many other opponents forming his seat at Ramaja and declaring himself shogun of the island.  Over time he defeated all other opposing samurai generals gaining full reign over the island.  But in the evening of his final victory, his wife murdered the shogun when he went to sleep as the clan of assasins she had been leading and teaching for some time killed all the higher leadership of the shogun's army.  The speed of this coup shocked the armies of the late shogun, and without leadership they could not organize before the shogun's wife claimed power naming herself queen of this island.  The new queen then banned the teaching of new samurai and sent her clan of assasins to hunt down every teacher of the old way.  One last school of samurai was left as a sort of commemoration of the island's history in the north of the island, up in the Kamiha Mountains.  Isolated, this school was not seen as a threat, but abated the anger of citizens of the island who would not look kindly on the complete destruction of part of thier culture.