For exactly 800 years the city has been home to the Chrysanthemum Throne as well as serving as the cultural and economic capital of the Sudibin people. Unfortunately, the cataclysm of recent events has overshadowed its remarkable history. Due to its proximity to the Egyebrech invasion, the Sudibin nation sustained the brunt of the initial violence of the horde. Yarisuto--the city renowned for its ability to withstand great sieges--had been surrounded by the enemy for less than six months before it collapsed as a result of internal treachery in 10038. In addition, much of the city's population of sixty or seventy thousand had fled in the preceding months, primarily to the great port cities of the Republic and western Confederacy creating a refugee problem of considerable proportions.

After the Egyebrech withdrew from western and northern Vyrica in 10040, adventurers and settlers began to return slowly to the remains of their ancestral homes and treasures. By 10044 a small measure of reconstruction had been completed, but the city was dominated by poor squatters, scheming confidence men, and perfidious grave robbers--many stories circulate of the discovery and theft of great family fortunes that had been hidden away in forests and caves before the arrival of the enemy.

Despite the spoliation, Yarisuto holds a dominant position on the coast and in the hearts of its citizens; few doubt that it will rise again to the height it enjoyed in the past.

Yarisuto rose to modern prominence in 9238 when Komori Mataichi, flushed with victory over his primary warlord rival Neko Torame (of Nara) paraded the Chrysanthemum Throne over one thousand miles on a snaking path through his entire domain in order to allow it to make a triumphant entry into his new capital city of Yarisuto. Historians have seen the Komori-Neko conflict in large part as the conflict of the sea and the land; Yarisuto has always looked seaward; advances in shipbuilding gave the Komori clan a definite advantage in transportation, communication, and commerce which their inland rivals lacked. One historian has gone so far as to suggest that Neko was defeated for no other reason but that Komori was able to obtain higher quality weapons on credit from the merchants of southern Pavimentum. This thesis was highly controversial, but has been generally discarded as ignorant of the true economic conditions of the day.

It does seem clear, however, that the Komori clan waned as Pavimentum's sea power rose. Coincident with that zenith that allowed Mickelgarth to embark on the Colonization in the early 9500s, the various city states began to clash more frequently with Sudibin navies and merchants over rights to the sea. Human shipwrights and seamen carried the day and the Komori clan was dethroned by a more traditional dynasty, the Ishikawa, in 9588. They emphasized a return to the strict religion and social order of the Sudibin Empire; in line with this policy they expelled foreigners from their lands and greatly restricted the movements of their own citizens. Merchant ships were required to employ imperial censors who would check the behavior of their crews in foreign ports. Despite their policies, Yarisuto continued to increase in size and power until it eclipsed all possible rivals among her sister cities, in particular the past capitals of Nara and Hakodate.

When the Ishikawa clan was removed from power following the Battle of Fukuoka in 9723, the victorious Jitsutaro clan moved from its traditional home of Okudo to Yarisuto, testifying to the city's preeminence, which it maintained until the present day under their control.

The city was famed for its architectural wonders and private collections of art; unfortunately, many of the former have been destroyed and many of the latter committed to a diaspora. The remaining glories include the Bridge of Humility and the Temple of the Golden Pavilion.

Despite the Empire's ferocity, the island prospered under its rule; its masts, ships, and sailors came to be in great demand across the world and Yarmouthian youths formed the backbone of the Empire's sea power. This ascent is attributable to the new principles of science and government brought to Yarmouth from the mainland. Yarmouth survived the dissolution of the first Empire and became the dominant power in the Western Ocean (the invading allies' navies were confined to the Eastern Ocean). It even began aggrandizing itself by invading Sioux Island and the plains between the Aranian Mountains and the coast.

The rise of the Second Orcish Empire, centered as it was in the Eastern Ocean, affected Yarmouth's fortunes very little. More significant were its clashes with the allied orcs and gnomes of Iceland and the growing sea power of Mickelgarth and the other city states of Pavimentum. None of these three powers could rival the Vyrican Empire and their competition prevented any of them from becoming sufficiently large to do so. It is known that foreign orcs sold themselves as mercenaries to various city states of Pavimentum, Delmaruntha and Porte Darthur being the most prominent, and it is generally thought that this was one of Yarmouth's primary exports.

At the twilight of the Second Oricsh Empire, Yarmouth was in much the same position as it had been 600 years earlier; like many other regions, its history during the Ninth Millenium is nearly non-existant. Sources become adequate again only after 9300 when Pavimentum turned an eye of colonization to the inviting (and apparently depopulated) shore of Ilico. It is clear that the intervening thousand years saw Pavimentum grow in power and Yarmouth recede, but the cause remains a source of contention, debate, and inquiry.

When human settlers began to arrive in 9516, the orcish civilizations of the mainland (and Yarisuto) were still badly split and it may be that the permanent intentions of the colonists were not clear. In two years' time, however, they were, and the so-called Orc and Gnomish War began. The orcs of Yarmouth and Iceland put aside their differences and fought the men on both sea and land: The (relatively) minor piracy of the Yarmouthian orcs became a serious naval war ending in 9520 with the complete defeat of the orcs at the battle of Edirne where fifty-five ships went to the bottom. With the seas relatively clear and supply lines reconnected, the Colonists had no trouble putting an end to the land war in late 9521, expelling the Icelandic orcs farther south. History would repeat itself as the humans pushed farther south establishing Malmo in 9605, Milton in 9620, and Jacketz in 9720.

Yarmouth had recovered sufficiently wage a series of wars centered on the Yarmouth Strait between 9650 and 9666, primarily against human encroachment on their mineral resources in the northern tip of the Aranian mountains; these were inconclusive, but bloody. By now the settlers had declared their independence and their mother cities refused to provide their sons and swords for free to defend the rebels, but the orcs' weapons and magical resources were far scantier. The fighting eventually ended, but there were no treaties signed. Yarmouth accepted human dominance of Ilico as fact and, by the mid-9700s was prepared to trade, primarily lumber for food and ore. Relations were never good, though, and small raiding parties remain a feature of Aranian life down to the present day.

All that remains of orcish inhabitation of the islands are Yarmouth, Shang, sections of Sioux, and--until the War of the Egyebrech--a small community on Ilum Beta.

Yarmouth participated in the Second War of Ilican Succession, attempting to regain a foothold on the continent by sacking Distown and Dattown and landing troops near Zork. They had early successes, but were eventually repulsed and, following the war, subjected to the harshest measures of any defeated state or area, being forced to sign a treaty of "perpetual peace" and to pay a large fine denominated in lumber and ships.

There are two major cities on Yarmouth, Ankey and Maygar.

His magnum opus is an (incomplete) 24-volume autobiography Nitoryu; to him, the work was a chronicle of his physical and spiritual development toward perfection in the art of swordsmanship, but it is more valuable to modern day scholars for its glimpse into the attitudes, policies, and people of the Sudibin nation, The Second Orcish Empire, and the minor kingdoms of Vyrica and Southern Ilico. The earlier books (I through VIII) are generally more polished and are addressed to an (unnamed) young apprentice. The later books (IX through XXIII) have a first-person chronicle point of view.

He fought literally hundreds of duels against the best warriors he could find--some, including a pair of brothers from Gailinia, sought him out--and won each one. It is generally thought that he was killed (or committed suicide after losing) what became his final duel in 7321. His opponent was not recorded.

Yoshinobu is also known for developing the style of fencing with two swords, nitoryu, from a thuggish technique of banditry, to an art form.