The Hinterlands around Kyuden Ikoma are fairly developed. Large villages dot the landscape, each tied economically to one or more of the areas of production that allow the Lion clan to thrive. To the south, the hills are mined for precious metals, especially copper. To both east and west, vast rice paddies and wheatfields stretch, farmed communally by hundreds of peasants as they have been for hundreds of years.

There is a special hunting reserve for lord Ikoma's retainers, seldom used this year. It ought to be teeming with game, but between Lord Ikoma's distraction and the Empress' illness, no one has scheduled an official hunting expedition for the court.