Alchem Clan Estate
The Alchem Clan Estate is the portion of Iwagakure No Sato cordoned off for the Alchem Clan. To describe it as extensive would be an understatement. It extends from one edge of the village out several miles to the cliffs and crags which border the village on all sides. The grounds were razed by the Akatsuki during the Akatsuki Invasion, and they remained mostly untouched for some time after. As of present day, it has been taken over by a dense woodland.
The Forest
The forest was created by Alchem Sanji's experiments with Mokuton ninjutsu, specifically by the Art of the Grand Forest, and, as such, began its life as a dense and very diverse but otherwise mundane forest, populated only by plants and pollinating insects. However, it has, over time, become a good deal more than that, and mundane is the last word that one might use to describe it. Once described by Hyuuga Yatako as "The Mortal Forest", the woodland exhibits a vitality which is not fully explained by its origin. Certainly, Sanji, and, to a lesser degree, Syaoran, are able to commune with it on some level, due to the jutsu used to create it. At some point, the forest acquired a full ecosystem of its own, with animals of all kinds, from doves to caribou, inhabiting it. How these animals - many of which are not native to Tsuchi no Kuni at all - arrived in the forest is a very good question.
It is watered by a system of brooks and streams which have their origin just below the Treehouse, in an alchemically-created spring - which makes the presence of fish further down in the stream system even more perplexing. There are abundant water features, some of them the natural result of erosion and some of them little pieces of Sanji-art, including a waterfall into a large, deep pool, which is on the path system and treated by the clan-members and their guests as essentially a private swimming pool.
There is a system of paths running throughout the forest, upon which the forest does not impinge, and which anyone can follow - these paths lead to the village, the Treehouse and the waterfall, with the Treehouse being the hub. To stray far from these paths is ill-advised; it is very easy to get lost. This is the last and greatest mystery of the forest - while one is on the beaten path, this fact is well-hidden, but Sanji's forest is bigger on the inside than the outside.
The Treehouse
- See the main article at Alchem Clan Treehouse
Gallery
The forest spans a large expanse of land, with hills and terrain, though throughout it all signs of the ruins it grew on top of can be found.
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The small lake near the main path. -
The trees are dense, narrow and tall throughout the forest. -
A waterfall in the small lake near the main path. -
The forest in the rain.
