This monastery finances most of the Winter Sects' operations on both sides of the ocean by providing a place of seclusion where accomplished artisans, wizards and warriors may retreat to perfect their craft. To this end the temple runs a sideline business of procuring rare materials.
For two obvious reasons, only accomplished artisans, wizards and warriors are received. The first is that fledgling artisans, wizards and warriors would not survive the perilous journey to and from the monastery. The second is that vacations at the monastery are far too costly for neophytes.
Hu-Su, one of the Winter Sects' few masters, oversees the operation of the monastery. The monastery has 15 of Hu-Su's students.
The caretaker of the temples' minyan is the priest Sapori and his 20 acolytes. Together they maintain the monastery and cater to the guests. Sapori runs the rare materials business for the monastery.
The monastery defenses are run by Tagoni-Soki and his retinue of soldiers. Tagoni-Soki is a masterless Samurai (Ronin) who befriended Hu-Su and has found the monastery a suitable home.
Winter's Retreat, named after Hu-Su's monastic sect, is located over 100 miles East by North-East (as the eagle flies) of Elsie's Spire. It is a large well defended and relatively inaccessible fortress high in the mountains.
The forbidding terrain not-withstanding, the privacy of the monastery is assured by the perils of overland travel. In particular, it sits between two large populations of Giants and Trolls. The result is that in order to reach the monastery a battleground between giants and trolls must be traversed.