The Jade Gate Spring
This small town is one of the lesser gates of the Dragonwall. Here the gates open onto a little used trail through the Quoya desert to the Horseshoe Temple Oasis and the Merket Oasis. The town is fortified on all sides, forming a citadel that grows out of the Dragonwall. The majority of the inhabitants are human and native to Shou Lung, but the magistrate of the town has allowed barbarians to settle here.
In particular, there is a small colony of korobokuru. These little people have formed a separate town within Jade Gate Spring itself. Here they tend groves of peaches and oranges. Generally they do not mingle with the humans, viewing them with a mixture of fear and dislike.
The magistrate has also “civilized” some of the nomadic tribesmen of the region, inducing them to settle just outside the walls. These barbarians are not allowed to live within Shou Lung, but can enter the town during the day. The civilized barbarians are considered Shou by the true nomads of the plains. The magistrate does make some use of these people as scouts and spies, to keep him informed of barbarian activity.
Although the town is now a small backwater, it was once the starting point for many caravans and travelers who followed the old trail across the Quoya Desert to the west. Jade Gate Spring is the setting for many sorrowful ballads, poems, and dramas. The three gates of the town have romantic names: the Door of Necessity, a small gate used for everyday business; the Jade Gate, which leads to Shou Lung; and the Gate of Sighs, the grimmest of them all. Here, in story, lovers part, exiled princes depart, and soldiers march to their doom.
''Although the town of Jade Gate Spring was untouched during the Horde invasion, the magistrate took no chances. When news of the disastrous collapse of the frontier came, he ordered the massacre of all the “civilized” barbarians outside the walls and the expulsion of the korobokuru. Many of the barbarians, escaped and fled to the camps of the Tuigan where they served as scouts and interpreters. Following the expulsion, the magistrate confiscated all the property he could and has used this wealth to raise a private mercenary army. Now thoroughly corrupt, he rules Jade Gate Spring and the surrounding lands with a despotic hand. The Emperor, still recovering from the invasion, has yet to deal with this self-styled warlord.''
