But ask yourself a question, what do we get from calling them Khadi? We change a lot: flavor, creatures summoned, background...
I don't, I generally refer to them as FF-Kahdi when I'm talking about the base civ. The name I was thinking would be the Tetsujin (Japanese for Philosopher) since the focus of the people (rather than the leader) is all about the animistic/demi-Shinto belief system.
One of the reasons I keep bringing up the FF-Kahdi is because I do like the back-story to the civ. As I previously posted, even with three leaders, you can have a lot of stuff going on with them. They simply aren't just another Civ with just Asian unit graphics. First off, the type of naturalist philosophy of the East also tends to be rather pacifistic, either in India, China or in Japan. As I pointed out, that tends to make for poor game play. Even when trying to with a religious, cultural or Tower victory, the other Civs of Erebus are going to come knocking with armies. So why would a mostly pacifistic culture go martial. Sure they have their warrior monks but everyone who has watched the movies and read the manga, those "Grasshopper" monks wondering around don't WANT to fight you; they only do it if they have to.
So, my thinking is that in comes (insert appropriate name of Leader here) who finds the Tetsujin and through his/her charisma sort of inspires them...or hijacks their culture depending on the alignment. In this way, the leader is similar to Malakim, but in this case there is a sinister force at work.
Again, it can be easily dropped, but it makes the Civ more unique, still keeping it very much in the history of Erebus (the fight between Gods and their 'angelic' disciples) and also gives them a world spell that gives the potential for a lot of differences in game play depending on whether the player gives into or rejects temptation.
[*]confusion for the players - they play Khadi in FF and then they decide to try them in Orbis.
Well since they would have a different name, I don't see the problem. Plus, on your download page, you could easily write something like, "The Tetsujin! A new Asian flavored Civ loosely based on FF Kahdi civilization but with..."
If people get confused...well at first you don't succeed, read the manual/download instructions. If that doesn't work, follow them.
I agree, Zen is even most often associated with Japan even if it orginated in China. But I think there is a space for more than one civ, and I want one that focuses on Taoist thinking.
Don't forget that Shinto is also very Japanese and as Wikipedia says:
Shinto can be seen as a form of animism and may be regarded as a variant of shamanist religion. The afterlife is not a primary concern in Shinto; much more emphasis is placed on fitting into this world, instead of preparing for the next.
Shaman are traditionally see using more 'basic' elements of magic and thus would fit into more the idea that they are very in touch with the elements and the Divine in them. Plus, again it would make the Tetsujin not really an agnostic Civ, but one not really involved with the Deities that have form. Thus, going with the idea from the base FF-Kahdi, the charismatic leader would have an easier time inspiring them since they aren't looking to a God for that role.
Japan one would be more Samurai/ninja thing, with highly trained, elite troops (though I do not think samurais were that much better trained than European knights, plus no one will ever convince me that katana was better than European swords or hussar sabre
)
Agreed. Plus, the samurai were products of their environment and since they mostly only fought each other, their weapons matched that. When the Portuguese showed up with their sword fighting style based on swords with points, they were regarded as some nasty opponents by the Japanese because they weren't used to way of sword fighting. Plus as a long time SCA type, I've seen many a scholarly article pointing out that on soldier to soldier level, your average Viking's vikingsverd was stronger than your average Japanese katana due to how it was made.
To me, most of the 'normal' units fit fine with just a change in the animation. Ashigaru spearman for warrior, Ashigaru swordsmen for the swordsmen, Ashigaru naginata for axemen and the same for bowmen, Japanese longbowmen and horsemen.
What would be different, I think, is less of the Japanese samurai but more of the Chinese/Korean warrior monks. Guys steeped in mysticism, iron discipline and the like so they don't need weapons or armor; they
are the weapon.
That being said, it does bring up the idea that perhaps we need two Civs. One would be a 'classic' Japanese Civ, steeped in the martial tradition of Bushido, with a lineage going back to before the Age of Winter. A leader and people who sort of look down on the other Civs because they lost so much during the Age of Winter and this race feels that they survived with their culture intact. Perhaps one of their civ 'powers' is they sort of get an advanced start or something to show that they managed (somehow) to keep one of their cities going through the Age of Winter. These are the guys who would be like the Chinese Emperor who referred to Queen Victoria as a mere 'barbarian queen"
Then you could have the still have Tetsujin who would rely more on their elemental troops and warrior monk heros and shaman/priests. They would be more pacifistic and geared more toward reconciliation. Of course that sort of makes them like the Elohim but I'm sure we all can come up with something better.
So if we can 'stand' another combat Civ.
p) maybe we can kill two desires here at once. First we could have the Japanese Civ (the Senshi? Gunjin? - both mean soldier/warrior or warrior's camp) which would all be about Bushido and Daimyo's with large armies of Ashigaru with those cool flags on their backs and then the more Chinese/Tibetan/Indian Civ (the Prajari? I can't seem to find any good Chinese/Tibetan translators right now) which would be the naturalistic/shamanistic Civ using shrines to summon elementals to help their warrior-monks.
).
), which is a mysterious faction that many people have disagreements about. Most novels I read portrayed them as good, but with some evil followers. They may take the side of evil or good based on their agenda.
