The Jade Sea Fleet at anchor off Nippon, Shen Changfeng watching from the shore
Crest of the Jade Sea Fleet

Total War: WARHAMMER III · Faction mod

NIPPON EXPEDITIONThe Jade Sea Fleet

Shen Changfeng leads her fleet east to Nippon, where she must carve out a foothold on new soil.

The English text is AI-translated. Corrections welcome in the comments.

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Latestv1.1.1 · 2026-10-17Changelog →

Overview

  • A new playable Grand Cathay faction
  • 1 Legendary Lord, 4 Legendary Heroes, 2 generic lords, 1 generic hero, 17 new units, 1 new spell lore
  • Relocates vanilla legendary lords to Nippon and the lands around it (can be switched off in MCT)
Optional submods8

Tap a card to open it on the Steam Workshop

Requires MIXER and IEE: Immortal Empires Expanded and Mixu's Unlocker; optional Mod Configuration Tool

New Lords and Heroes

  • Shen Changfeng, the Uncrowned Admiral

    New Legendary Lord

    Shen Changfeng, the Uncrowned Admiral

    A nomadic faction with its own mechanics. Casts from the Lore of the Deep and the Lore of Yang. Can use the Cloud Sails leap.

    Details →
  • Tachibana NaotoraSayoSerenaIbuki

    Four Legendary Heroes

    Recruited through the Expedition Companions system.

  • Samurai Taisho

    Generic lord

    Samurai Taisho

    A Nipponese commander granting unique bonuses to Nipponese units. Mountable on a Kirin.

    Details →
  • Miko

    Generic hero

    Miko

    A shrine maiden serving Nippon's gods, with an entirely new Miko spell lore.

    Details →
  • Fleet Admiral

    Generic lord

    Fleet Admiral

    A Cathayan naval commander, recruitable by every Cathay faction. Every major city port you control raises your recruitment capacity; comes with a flagship building tree of his own.

    Details →

Expedition Companions

Companions of very different backgrounds join the expedition along the way. Muster them from a dedicated Expedition Companions panel, advance their chapter quests, raise their bond.

Four bond tiers

Bound → Trusted → Sworn → Devoted

  • Each tier unlocks that companion's units and bonuses
  • Renown: spend it in the panel to buy the units you have unlocked
  • Chapter quest lines: four separate chains. Complete them to raise the bond tier

  • Tachibana Naotora, the Ghost

    Chapter quests

    1. IA Single Exchange
    2. IILady Oni-Mask
    3. IIIThunder-Drawing Peak
    4. IVDaughter of Raijin

  • Sayo, the Onmyo Miko

    Chapter quests

    1. IThe Bell in the Ruined Shrine
    2. IIThe Last Miko
    3. IIIThe Sanctum of the Divine Beast
    4. IVBeneath the Great Shrine

  • Serena

    Chapter quests

    1. IHalf a Mask
    2. IIThe Shadow of Jakken
    3. IIIThe Star Compass
    4. IVWangshu Serena Gu

  • Ibuki

    Chapter quests

    1. IOath of the Dawn
    2. IIA Wanderer's Resolve
    3. IIIThe Nameless Odachi
    4. IVBlade of the Dawn

Units

Fleet

Nippon

Akatsuki-shu

Codex →

Buildings

  • The flagship building tree

    The Jade Sea Fleet's flagship is itself a building tree.

  • Five Nippon landmarks

    Thunder-Drawing Peak, Hikariya Forge, Yari Dojo, Divine Beast Sanctum and the Vim-To Shrine, each with its own bonuses or units.

  • Shrine chain (3 levels)

    Inari Shrine → Inari Kagura Hall → Inari Grand Shrine → Divine Beast Sanctuary. Unlocks the Inari Fox Emissary, the Miko, the Misaki Crow and the Kirin in turn.

  • Samurai Hall chain (3 levels)

    Watch Post → Samurai Hall → Hatamoto Guard. Unlocks Yari Samurai, Teppo Samurai, then Thunderblade Hatamoto.

Victory Objectives

The short victory is the shared prerequisite for both long victories. The two long routes run in parallel, not either-or — a single campaign can finish both, one after the other.

Short Victory

Foothold in Nippon

The pirates Shen Changfeng had chased were only the part of the wreck showing above water. Nippon bows to the Holy Sun Court in name alone: the daimyo never lay down their arms, Chaos has put down poisoned roots, and foreign warlords hold land of their own. To root herself in the eastern sea, she must first teach this burning archipelago the word order again.

  • Destroy the Cult of Tsien-Tsin, the Okumoto Clan, Grimgor Ironhide and Skarbrand the Exiled
  • Control Koyashu Isles, Stormy Coast, Shotaku Marshes, Koteishu and Isle of Heaven by occupation, vassalage or military alliance

To the daimyo of Nippon itself, Shen Changfeng remains an outsider; to those weary of war, she is already the only one who can deliver order.

Both can be finished

  • Long Victory · Route A

    Overseas Empire

    The eastern seas have long had no master: warlords and raiders hold the harbours, and the trade routes are cut. An empire that truly stands cannot be built on one anchorage. The wider seas must answer to the Jade Sea Fleet.

    • Destroy Clan Skully in northern Nippon, plus five foreign powers that seized land in the chaos
    • Control Aotsukishu, Taigenshu, The Darkwoods, Goshinmori, Narumi, North Isle, the Lost Isles of Elithis, the Hundred Counties, Nam Khosun, the Primal Labyrinth and the Great Enveloping Swamp

    The far eastern seas have a common master at last. What the future holds for this rising empire and for ancient Grand Cathay remains to be seen.

  • Long Victory · Route B

    Bulwark of the Far East

    Pirates strike from the east, ratmen gnaw at the southern border, and Chaos stirs along the frontier. The old charges against Shen Changfeng are not lifted, but the danger will not settle itself. She must make Wei-jin admit by force of arms that the Jade Sea Fleet is still a bulwark Grand Cathay cannot do without.

    • Destroy the Spirit of the Jungle, The Tormentors, Clan Eshin, Clan Skully and The Blessed Dread
    • Control Aotsukishu, the Plains of Xen, the Jade River Delta, Mount Li, The Great Canal, the Serpent Estuary and the Jungles of Chi'an

    Pirates, the Skaven blight and the foes of the frontier have been beaten back one after another, and the borders of Cathay have found peace at last.

Relocated Legendary Lords

Nippon and the powers around it have been reshuffled, relocating a number of legendary lords. Switchable off in MCT.

LordLands at
Grimgor IronhideThe Great Shrine (Nippon)
Skarbrand the ExiledUkiyo (Nippon)
EpidemiusDai Loa (Primal Labyrinth)
N'KariTower of the Setting Moon (Lost Isles of Elithis)
Lord SkrolkSanmal (Great Enveloping Swamp)
RakarthHaneuri (Hundred Counties)
Skrag the SlaughtererMount Haneulja (Noleu Highlands)

Lord Reinforcement

Nippon is a poor island chain, so the AI there has been given a hand up.

  • Relocated lords and island clans get a large AI boost: Grimgor Ironhide and Skarbrand the Exiled, relocated to the isles, plus the native Okumoto and Sanyo Clans, have their upkeep, construction and recruitment costs, replenishment and experience raised to the level of vanilla's strongest AI legendary factions, so they still hold ground when you land mid-campaign
  • The Okumoto and Sanyo Clan AI prioritise the Samurai Hall and Inari Shrine chains. Their capitals start at level 4 with a Hatamoto Guard built.
  • The Okumoto and Sanyo Clan leaders are replaced with immortal Samurai Taisho

Want more: subscribe toNippon Expedition · Stronger Surrounding AI. It strengthens the AI across the whole map, with extra tuning for Nippon and the lands around Cathay.

Compatibility and Known Issues

  • Conflicts with other mods using the same MIXER reserved slot: this mod currently runs on mixer_nip_nipponese_expedition
  • NotePlayable alongside Nippon, Land of the Rising Sun: install the optional NRS compatibility patch and the Jade Sea Fleet moves to a different faction slot, so the two mods stop overwriting each other's legendary lord. You do not need it otherwise. Jade Sea Fleet saves made before installing it will no longer load.
  • May conflict with mods that change Nippon's region ownership or factions (e.g. other mods that relocate lords there)
  • Bug reports: please include your mod list, load order, and script_log_*.txt from next to Warhammer3.exe

Credits and Third-Party Assets

Some art assets and techniques here are adapted from the following mods. My thanks to their authors:

If you are the author of any of this material and object to its use here, tell me in the comments and I will take it down or replace it.