foggyautumn
Chieftain
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2024
- Messages
- 20
Plugging my niche favorite Chinese emperor, Huizong of Song; consummate sophisticate polymath who spent his lifetime indulging in culture and luxury. He had immense personal talent in arts and music, collecting and creating thousands of paintings, instruments, and pieces of calligraphy. Most notably, he created a signature new style of "slender-gold" calligraphy, and during his reign, new styles of painting such as the "blue-green landscape" gained popularity under his patronage.
As a leader, he proclaimed his imperial legitimacy through his promotion of art and Taoism. He established court examinations specifically for artists and established the 萬琴堂 (10,000 Harp Hall) and the 翰林畫院 (Hanlin Painting House) to expand the influence and technique of these arts. Over the course of his reign he sent hundreds of complex new musical instruments to tributary states, including over 400 instruments to the Goryeo court, helping expand the influence of Song court music abroad. In another move of the imperial might via culture, he performed recastings of ancient Shang-dynasty imperial bronzes.
His reign ended with complete failures to respond to Jurchen invasions from the north. The Jurchens were originally a subject tribe of the Liao Dynasty, who formed their own Jin Dynasty against the Liao. Huizong and his Song court originally allied with the Jin rebellion to topple the Liao completely - but during these military maneuvers the Jin observed the weaknesses of the Song dynasty and subsequently broke the alliance and turned against the Song. Huizong was captured, and abdicated for his son to assume the throne; the Song surrendered northern territories to the Jurchen-led Jin and escaped to the South, thus marking the transition between the "Northern Song" and the "Southern Song".
Mechanics
While the Song dynasty at its peak was probably one of the more scientific focused dynasties (in Civ categorization), I like Huizong for his controversial "porcelain tower" reign, choosing to revel in sophistication and opulence, becoming truly influential on future Chinese art on his own personal talent and imperial patronage, while mismanaging military campaigns that ultimately toppled his dynasty's power and led him to die in captivity.
I see him as a similar character to Civ 6 Eleanor of Aquitaine, with major bonuses to the creation and collection of Great Works, exporting culture and religion through trade, and maybe even giving some maluses to military. In the same way that Eleanor's kit kind of invented a completely new pacifist domination-via-culture playstyle, I could see a similar thing with Huizong of Song. I'm not sure if the Loyalty system is carried over into 7 but maybe Huizong can have major interplay between culture and diplo that enables him to engage with those systems in a novel way that makes him overpowered in that field but weak and exposed to military invasion.
As a leader, he proclaimed his imperial legitimacy through his promotion of art and Taoism. He established court examinations specifically for artists and established the 萬琴堂 (10,000 Harp Hall) and the 翰林畫院 (Hanlin Painting House) to expand the influence and technique of these arts. Over the course of his reign he sent hundreds of complex new musical instruments to tributary states, including over 400 instruments to the Goryeo court, helping expand the influence of Song court music abroad. In another move of the imperial might via culture, he performed recastings of ancient Shang-dynasty imperial bronzes.
His reign ended with complete failures to respond to Jurchen invasions from the north. The Jurchens were originally a subject tribe of the Liao Dynasty, who formed their own Jin Dynasty against the Liao. Huizong and his Song court originally allied with the Jin rebellion to topple the Liao completely - but during these military maneuvers the Jin observed the weaknesses of the Song dynasty and subsequently broke the alliance and turned against the Song. Huizong was captured, and abdicated for his son to assume the throne; the Song surrendered northern territories to the Jurchen-led Jin and escaped to the South, thus marking the transition between the "Northern Song" and the "Southern Song".
Mechanics
While the Song dynasty at its peak was probably one of the more scientific focused dynasties (in Civ categorization), I like Huizong for his controversial "porcelain tower" reign, choosing to revel in sophistication and opulence, becoming truly influential on future Chinese art on his own personal talent and imperial patronage, while mismanaging military campaigns that ultimately toppled his dynasty's power and led him to die in captivity.
I see him as a similar character to Civ 6 Eleanor of Aquitaine, with major bonuses to the creation and collection of Great Works, exporting culture and religion through trade, and maybe even giving some maluses to military. In the same way that Eleanor's kit kind of invented a completely new pacifist domination-via-culture playstyle, I could see a similar thing with Huizong of Song. I'm not sure if the Loyalty system is carried over into 7 but maybe Huizong can have major interplay between culture and diplo that enables him to engage with those systems in a novel way that makes him overpowered in that field but weak and exposed to military invasion.
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