What's the Setting about?
Izen is a setting inspired by Japanese tales of ghosts, monsters, and holy magic. It focuses not on armies or courtiers but on villagers and those mysterious souls who are "only passing through." The world is dark and deep, a cloak of forests tumbled amid a sea of tearlike mist. Emerald mountains are ruled by spirits, people suffer from supernatural illnesses and parasites. In the world at the edge of a noontime shadow, countless angels dance.
Though based closely upon it, Izen is not historical Japan. In contrast to the primeval forests ruled by ancient spirits, the castletowns are mechanized, airborne, or floating on the waves; these are mobile, fortified cities. In the passing of the smoke of war, the fields scorched black by warriors' thunder have ventured a return to green. Still yet, farming villages, planted by necessity in the earth, are precious commodities, easily dashed by the samurai's wars. As a consequence, many left are hidden or not easily reached. In the upheaval, wanderers are common, as are hungry ghosts, and sometimes it is difficult to tell apart the two. Izen birthes tales of both ghostly and mechanized horrors, some of the most unexpected possessing hearts that yearn, love, and die.
Setting Archetypes
The ghosthunter/demonqueller disguised as a traveling peddler, the miko (shrine maiden/channeler) who purifies polluting energies, the wandering blademaster or fortune-seeker, the monster who preys on those who trespass on the mountain, the child made outcast for its relation to ghosts, monsters, or perhaps (from the other perspective) for its connection to humans.
Story Seeds
Focal conflicts will be "identify B" (mystery conflict) or "how can A+B coexist?" (war story conflict), not "A vs B" (action conflict).
Is one's strange behavior the result of a haunting? What reasons lay in the hidden past?
Prejudice where a ghost is adopted by humans or a human lives among youma
A living forest shrivels in evening and shoots up overnight a little farther down the mountain. Where is it going? Who is the mysterious person always at its center?
Why do monsters spill from the village shrine? (Typical JRPG plot)
A strange illness endows the infected with a strange gift.
A feud between wolves and boars shake the mountain stones onto a human town.
Oni routinely collect people from an island town, claiming to spare the town from a dragon god's tsunamis. Where do they go?
2 ancient weapons made to kill each other's wielders have many memories...
Ever since a girl washed ashore, the fishing village has been spared great storm. Then her wind god father comes to collect her, for a storm outside his control is coming...
A miko says a dragon god will visit the shrine above the city in 12 days. The typhoon grows nearer and nearer...
Derelict airships drift the skies or crash into Ne or other provinces. Some people dive into their mazed hulls for treasure. Shipwrecks and water-filled caves swell with haunted treasure.
An old monastery or shrine holds a guardian spirit in the form of an ascetic. It is not there during the day, but at night a candle lights in a certain room. The building holds a mighty cure, but the guardian tests those who would attain it.
It is not the wind that blows through those mountain passes, but the echoes of the those who perished there in the daimyos' past wars.
Is one's strange behavior the result of a haunting? What reasons lay in the hidden past?
Prejudice where a ghost is adopted by humans or a human lives among youma
A living forest shrivels in evening and shoots up overnight a little farther down the mountain. Where is it going? Who is the mysterious person always at its center?
Why do monsters spill from the village shrine? (Typical JRPG plot)
A strange illness endows the infected with a strange gift.
A feud between wolves and boars shake the mountain stones onto a human town.
Oni routinely collect people from an island town, claiming to spare the town from a dragon god's tsunamis. Where do they go?
2 ancient weapons made to kill each other's wielders have many memories...
Ever since a girl washed ashore, the fishing village has been spared great storm. Then her wind god father comes to collect her, for a storm outside his control is coming...
A miko says a dragon god will visit the shrine above the city in 12 days. The typhoon grows nearer and nearer...
Derelict airships drift the skies or crash into Ne or other provinces. Some people dive into their mazed hulls for treasure. Shipwrecks and water-filled caves swell with haunted treasure.
An old monastery or shrine holds a guardian spirit in the form of an ascetic. It is not there during the day, but at night a candle lights in a certain room. The building holds a mighty cure, but the guardian tests those who would attain it.
It is not the wind that blows through those mountain passes, but the echoes of the those who perished there in the daimyos' past wars.
Another great book for inspiration is "Musashi", describing the life of the great japanese swordmaster in the 17th century. The book is set after the events in "Shogun", as it begins on the battlefield of Sekigahara, which is only forecast in "Shogun", and where Minoshi Toranaga defeats the Osaka party. The characters in Clavell's book have historical models (Toranaga is Ieyasu Tokugawa, founder of a dynasty, his opponent Ishido is Ishida Mitsunari, Blackthorn is William Adams).
Both books have scenes of daily life and customs, how folks interacted with each other and give an idea of the provinces and their administration. Aside from that I found them good reading
In the book the christians are Blackthorne's enemies (although not the psychopathic and maniacal sort), because he is a protestant in their catholic circles. Replace them with a D&D cult and you have an idea how they might act and to what purposes.
The five members of the regent's council have all a different personality and goals (bound together by their dead master's will), albeit only Toranaga and Ishido are highlighted. I found it interesting how the lords pursue their goals without ever openly breaking vows or protocols, and how they disguise their true goals by denying them
(In one of the last scenes Toranaga mentions again in his war council that he must lose, if the heir's banner is raised against him, as he cannot break his vow and kill their dead lords son. The only purpose of that speech can be to tell his followers without saying it, that they must do what he cannot order them to do - slay the heir and allowing him to take the throne.)
Another good book to read is "Daughter of the Empire", by R. Feist and J. Wurts, set into a fantasy setting with strong japanese features. It is part one of a trilogy, which I consider the best of both authors books. One could even write the story into a campaign, where the players take the roles of Mara's followers or retainers...tempting idea, but maybe too ambitious
I'll check them out. I'll start work on clans here (more to come).political/group responsibility
I think if characters are part of an organization, their actions will have more intrigue surrounding them. One character may serve a lord who sends him messages every story arc in regard to certain goals he must accomplish on the side (which will probably give some clue to the main mystery at some point, or if the DM feels naughty, will result in the player working against the other players without realizing it).
Equipment
Treat boars and wolves as any other character, but armor is in the form of patterns drawn on body (can be changed during any rest). They wield their natural weapons, or one made by the gifted human smiths, mounted upon their backs or wielded in their jaws. (For donning, they have a helper, as when a human is dressed in armor.) Some tribes have been known to pass on their natural weapon by attaching it after death to a haft.
Tribes
Boar (proud warriors) [MM35]
Size: M
+2 Str, +2 Con
+2 Endurance, +2 Perception
Speed 6
Boar Fury: +attack while bloodied (see Dragonborn Fury)
Boar Resilience: surge as minor (see dwarven resilience PHB 36)
Stand Your Ground: forced movement lessened (see PHB 36)
[missing 3 more things]
Tribal feats: Death Strike, Furious Charge (MM 35), Thunderfury
Fox (Kitsune)
Human (artisans, builders; from PHB)
Wolf (loyal hunters) [MM264]
+2 Dex, +2 Con
+2 Nature/Athletics, +2 Perception
Speed 7
Low-light Vision
Group Awareness (see elf PHB 40)
Wild Step (elf)
Howl-Standard-Encounter
All enemies within 5 grant combat advantage to you and your allies until the end of your next turn.
[missing 1 more thing]
Tribal feats: Frightful Howl (MM 265); Combat Advantage (If you have combat advantage, you knock your target prone on a hit.)
Size: M
+2 Str, +2 Con
+2 Endurance, +2 Perception
Speed 6
Boar Fury: +attack while bloodied (see Dragonborn Fury)
Boar Resilience: surge as minor (see dwarven resilience PHB 36)
Stand Your Ground: forced movement lessened (see PHB 36)
[missing 3 more things]
Tribal feats: Death Strike, Furious Charge (MM 35), Thunderfury
Fox (Kitsune)
Human (artisans, builders; from PHB)
Wolf (loyal hunters) [MM264]
+2 Dex, +2 Con
+2 Nature/Athletics, +2 Perception
Speed 7
Low-light Vision
Group Awareness (see elf PHB 40)
Wild Step (elf)
Howl-Standard-Encounter
All enemies within 5 grant combat advantage to you and your allies until the end of your next turn.
[missing 1 more thing]
Tribal feats: Frightful Howl (MM 265); Combat Advantage (If you have combat advantage, you knock your target prone on a hit.)
Thank you very much!
Clans
Distant Thunder (Tooi Kaminari)
Wind's End (Kazé no Haté)
So.. are each of the clans going to be based on a different 4E race?
I'd like to know how the animal clans live, are they much the same as real animals or can they build and use tools?
1. you don't have to be x species to be x clan, and
2. clan feats don't depend on species traits
I have to come up with themes, but I'll probably loot liberally from racial abilities and feats for some: if I offer (Elven) Precision as a clan feat, I can offer the improvement as one, too.
The tribes are as real animals with some changes. Foxes and tanuki (think Totoro) often use sorcery, and can also shapeshift. There has been similar rumor about cats, especially concerning the use of necromancy.
Mainly monkeys & humans use tools; it's their racial shtick. Boars, in addition to being strong, tough, and nigh-unmovable, make and use war paint (which they apply to each other with their noses). Wolves are mobile and inhabit all sorts of shelters (caves, abandoned villages, airship wrecks, thickets); they might carry toys around but little else. I'm toying with the idea that boars could wear armor and wolves mount blades at their sides to side-swipe enemies without stopping. I don't think they smith those themselves, though. I do want players to be able to play as these tribes if they like, but I have to see how gameplay works for those without opposable thumbs. See "Peoples>Buried Treasure" at top.
I haven't gotten to attack powers yet because I'm using pre-existing classes, but I have looked to Samurai Spirits/Shodown for some flavor & setting ideas.
In storehouses across Izen one might find discover collected tales and histories of the areas. Through these ghostly scrolls, the nameless and named voices lost to darkness trail their voices into light. (These are just my fumblings around to get an idea of the setting.)
The ancients record that, in a younger world, a young prince and a beast held battle upon a sea of reeds. Black was the youkai, whose deathly vapors clung about its shuddering frame, fair was the prince, whose dark hair framed his face like a full moon upon the night. Red. Deep and dark, the crimson that spilled in that fatal embrace.
Upon that spot troubles did not cease until Airen planted a seedling there. The village water bearer, Airen. The tree grew wide, and it was marked with a holy rope (shimenawa).
So you've been told of the tree of Airen Shrine, a small wooden house on the edge of the thorp of Namidaki. Birds chirp in the boughs under dappled sunlight as a stream babbles sweet whispers nearby, yet farmers speak of roots, bleeding saltwater, pushing up their fields.
The young kannushi at the shrine says the spirit in the tree would speak to his departed grandmother, but to him it has remained silent, detrimenting anyone getting, as it were, to the root of the problem.
There is a boarded well near the shrine; nobody remembers if it was polluted or dried, but it has been that way for years. If unboarded, the PCs may use a fastened rope to descend into the darkness at the bottom. Feet will find dry earth and, curiously, a faint wind. If the PCs break the wall at the bottom of the well, they will find a hollow passage with rough, earthen walls. This short passage gives way abruptly to wooden floor and the walls & ceiling of plaster and beams.
The passage leads to an underground shrine haunted by a shade-like monster. Once defeated, the shade lifts, revealing itself as the god of this shrine, which has lain forgotten for years from when it and the village who had known it were covered in a vast mudslide. It had seeped upward in its wailing, monstrous before but was sent back by the prince and never uncovered. If the shrine above is dedicated also to this shrine, the trouble will cease. The honden must be carried up and given to the priest there. It contains a simple, broken ceramic plate.
Transforming foxes are now under Tribes! Am I taking my time on Provinces…
The setting isn't just Shintoism & Japanese monsters; it's also occult & science-fantasy, so don't be intimidated! I've appreciated all the posts so far (tho' I still don't know what a Nurikama is 
), but the muse: she hungers!Some unearthed curios: Vampire Princess Miyu has some beautifully lonely & dark music from Japanese occult (Y, Z). Hiroshige's ukiyo prints might help for province ideas. There is another tabletop RPG that has a setting reminiscent of mine. The Oboro Muramasa site has a painted array of things that would pop up in such a setting. Japanese bestiary! (Use unicode text encoding if the text doesn't appear properly.)