Hidden Leaf
Old forest country to the east, ruled by the Hokage. Proposed the training pact with Time; sends more students than any other village. If you grew up reading the source material, this is the village that will feel most familiar.
the world
Cosmos Country.
Hidden Time at its heart.
Cosmos Country sits at the center of everything. At its heart, Hidden Time, founded by the first Uchuukage. Around it, the older villages that send their hopefuls here to train.
how the country got its name
A few feudal lords, one wide plain, a clear night sky.
The lords who joined their lands together met out in the open plains, hammering out the terms over weeks of talks. One night, looking up at the stars, one of them said he could see the whole cosmos from where he stood. The name stuck. Cosmos Country was born.
A small country surrounded by larger ones doesn't last long without something at its center, so Hidden Time was founded near the country's middle. It got its name from the first Uchuukage, who spent his life studying how Ninjutsu might bend time. He never finished the work. He did, however, train a generation of shinobi sharp enough to hold the village together when bandits and rogue ninja came for it. He died buying them that footing.
The five great hidden villages had been watching. Losing Cosmos Country would have torn a hole in every one of their defensive lines, so the Hokage proposed (and the Raikage and Tsuchikage seconded) sending students to Hidden Time to train alongside their own. Hidden Sound joined the arrangement later, on its own terms. Years on, the pact still holds. Most of the players you meet started somewhere else and came here to learn.
the map
Cosmos Country, drawn by hand.
The country at the center, the six origin villages spread around it, and the wilds in between. Updated this month.
Cosmos Country occupies the center of the continent, with the Hidden Village of Time near its geographic heart, ruled by the Uchuukage. Six origin villages ring the country and send their hopefuls to Time to train: Hidden Leaf to the east, Hidden Sand to the south through desert, Hidden Mist on the coast to the southwest, Hidden Cloud high in the northern peaks, Hidden Stone in the western mountains, and Hidden Sound in the rocky lowlands. Between the villages: borderlands, training grounds, abandoned shrines, mountain passes, factional outposts, and stretches of wilderness where the rule of any single Kage thins out.
the six origin villages
Where players come from before they come here.
Pick one at character creation. It shapes who teaches you, where you start, and which other players you already share a flag with.
Hidden Sand
Desert village in the south, ruled by the Kazekage. Lean roster, tough wind-country geography, a tradition of close-knit teams. Hopefuls who train here arrive in Time already used to harsh climate.
Hidden Mist
Coastal village on the southwestern reach, ruled by the Mizukage. Water-country shinobi with a reputation for blade work and quiet entries. The fog never quite lifts off their borders.
Hidden Cloud
Mountain village high in the northern peaks, ruled by the Raikage. One of the three Kage who seconded the Hidden Time training pact. Lightning country, thin air, long sight lines.
Hidden Stone
Western mountain village, ruled by the Tsuchikage. Earth-country shinobi, slow to provoke and slower to forgive. The third Kage who backed the training arrangement with Time.
Hidden Sound
The youngest of the six. Lowland village built into the rocks, no single fixed seat of power, complicated history with the other five. Sends hopefuls anyway. Time takes them.
places worth finding
A few corners of the map, by name.
There are about fifty distinct areas in the world, built by fifteen different builders over the years. Here are a handful that give a sense of the range.
Hidden Time
Uchuugakure
The capital. The Uchuukage's seat, the academy where every new shinobi takes their first ranking tests, the hospital, the markets, the missions board. Off one of the inner halls of the Uchuukage's residence, an armory-museum collects the older weapons and the scrolls of jutsu rarely seen anymore.
the mountain
Hyakkimaru
Where the First Uchuukage made his last stand against the rogue ninja and bandits trying to break the young country. He died there buying his students the time to hold the line. The mountain itself was lost to common maps in the years after; the bridge across it still ices over every winter, and his staff and other relics are said to still rest somewhere in the snow.
the shrine
Yamayuki Village
A village in the hills south of the mountain, contested ground these days. In its square stands the Hyakkimaru Sacrifice, a shrine to the First Uchuukage raised here because the actual battlefield could no longer be found. Locals tend it even as Riyoku patrols sweep the streets.
the temple
Atsusugi Temple
Carved into the walls of a desert chasm, hewn from the stone itself. Once a temple; the Riyoku hold it now. Their Dragon Squad walks the halls. Bring a light.
the ruin
The Burnt Mansion
A great burned-out estate at the end of a long, shadowy forest path. A guard still keeps the gate, though the night shift slacks. Inside the grounds: puppets, thieves, whatever else didn't burn. Bring company. Bring a light.
a note on cosmos
The energy in the name.
Cosmos infuses shooting stars. The Third Uchuukage was famous for his Kuukan Sori (Space Warp). Other techniques like the Ryuuseiken pull on the same source, ignited by the battle cry Burn, Cosmos!. The country borrowed the word from the sky, and a few of its shinobi learned to borrow the rest of it back.
the year on the map
Some weeks the world fights back.
Seasonal events sweep through the world a few times a year. The Pumpkin Gang's Halloween Invasion is the loudest one, a country-wide raid the staff orchestrates while the players improvise the defense. The Christmas Caper runs colder and stranger. There are smaller ones too, the kind you only catch if you happen to be logged in the right night.
walk it