Red Fox Publishing (赤狐出版社 akagitsune ) is the most powerful publishing house in the Yamato Kingdom, facilitating both modern movable type printing and classical woodblock printing.
They specialize in publishing postcards (葉書 hagaki), illustrated sightseeing guides (名所図絵 meishozue), renku (連句 "linked verses") and haikai no renga (俳諧の連歌, "comic linked verse"), which are both forms of collaborative poetic anthologies, historical dramas, and fantasy tales focused on Yamato folklore.
2684 Words
Winning story of The Publishing Houses of Aqualon!
Woodblock Printing and Movable Type
While more expensive and cumbersome in the making, the stunning illustrations of woodblock prints, and especially colored woodblock prints, have been one of the reasons the medium has endured throughout the centuries. Additionally, the complex character writing system used in the Yamato Kingdom was not optimal for use with movable type, until Kobayashi Keigen worked together with Fulgurite printing experts in the 430s GE to create the first proper Yamato type font, Heichôtai (平朝体), which has remained in use to this day. While woodblocks can be used for a large volume of print before becoming too warped, and especially hagaki and meishozue have enjoyed perpetual popularity for their joint art and curiosity value, the blocks can warp or crack when subject to high humidity, and each booklet requires one block per page, meaning much storage space is required in the long run.Popular RFP Published Short Stories
A Tale of Fire and Ice
2684 Words
Winning story of The Publishing Houses of Aqualon!
Popular RFP Published Poems
Lost Spirits
Shuffling through the fields of snow,
Two orbs of blue that gently glow,
Yet nothing else there to be seen,
Invisible, a taunting dream.
A chiming laugh, more like a snicker,
Atop the snow a hat of wicker,
Hides the streams of white.
But never closer will we step,
To us the snow, the white is death,
The purest, tainted blight.
海岸万里一条铁，
Hǎi'àn wànlǐ yītiáo tiě,
海中反映山和月。
Hǎizhōng fǎnyìng shān hé yuè.
古道旁边飞蝴蝶，
Gǔdào pángbiān fēi húdié,
道边死尸流鲜血。
Dào biān sǐshī liú xiānxiě.
南山东面资江开，
Nánshān dōng miàn zī jiāng kāi,
山顶纯雪白又白，
shāndǐng chún xuěbái yòu bái,
岸边船长望大海，
àn biān chuánzhǎng wàng dàhǎi,
远处港口海里在。
yuǎn chù gǎngkǒu hǎilǐ zài.
蝴蝶翅膀像半夜，
Húdié chìbǎng xiàng bànyè,
船长眼睛望着月，
chuánzhǎng yǎnjīng wàngzhe yuè,
蓝鸟坐在树上歇，
lán niǎo zuò zài shù shàng xiē,
船长灯被东风灭。
chuánzhǎng dēng bèi dōngfēng miè.
毒药掉到船长前，
Dúyào diào dào chuánzhǎng qián,
船长慌慌望着天。
chuánzhǎng huāng huāng wàngzhe tiān.
身体麻痹头脑癫,
Shēntǐ mábì tóunǎo diān,
紫色蝴蝶在河边。
zǐsè húdié zài hé biān.
中了毒昏迷不醒,
Zhōngle dú hūnmí bù xǐng,
船长躺在河边病，
chuánzhǎng tǎng zài hé biān bìng,
蝴蝶下来从山岭，
húdié xiàlái cóng shānlǐng,
鲜血流从他的心。
xiānxiě liú cóng tā de xīn.
海岸万里一条铁，
Hǎi'àn wànlǐ yītiáo tiě,
海中反映山和月。
hǎizhōng fǎnyìng shān hé yuè.
古道旁边飞蝴蝶，
Gǔdào pángbiān fēi húdié,
道边芳草沾满血。
dào biān fāng cǎo zhān mǎn xuè.Lament for the Captain
The coast is a strip of iron for ten thousand li,
The sea reflects the mountains and the moon.
Butterflies fly next to the ancient road,
Next to the road is a bloody corpse.
Zijiang cuts the east face of the South Mountain,
The mountain's pure snow is whiter than white.
The captain on the shore looks at the sea,
The port is in the distance seen.
The butterfly's wings are like midnight,
The captain’s eyes gaze at the moon,
The bluebirds sit upon the trees,
The east wind extinguishes the captain's lamp.
The poison fell towards the captain,
The captain panicked eyes look at the sky.
The body is paralyzed, the mind in panic,
The purple butterfly is at the river.
Once poisoned, one is comatose*
The captain lies sick by the river,
The butterfly comes down from mountain,
Blood now gushes from his heart.
The coast is a strip of iron for ten thousand li,
The sea reflects the mountains and the moon.
Butterflies fly next to the ancient road,
The roadside grass is stained red with blood.
*昏迷不醒 literally means "drowsy sleep never wakes", is a four word idiom for being comatose
Structure
Red Fox Publishing was founded by the Yôkogi Family, a branch family of the Yoshitsune Clan, and the company is still run by the descendants of that family. Marriages of convenience and smart political gambits in the Yamato Kingdom have turned Red Fox Publishing into a successful publishing empire with branch offices in all major Yamato cities. Furthermore, their strong ties to the Yoshitsune Clan has afforded them a successful branch office in Aquaris in the Middle Lands.
Public Agenda
The company is not as heavily invested in finding new talents as other publishing companies. Rather, RFP is more interested in what they call "preserving the beauty, art, and literary tradition of Yamato culture", focusing on old and established poets and authors and reprinting new editions of classical works and postcards. The best way for new talents to get into the RFP roster is to win writing prizes in one of the larger Yamato newspaper organizations.
