Claiming the
Mao Sho NPC area, writing up a societal description now. - it should be up for grabs right?
Anyone, if what I do is too contrary to the surroundings, let me know, I have four hours from now to finish my country within the time extension. Sorry for being so problematic, it's a combination of being very busy and being very interested in partaking in this.
I also have difficulties getting an overview from reading the thread. I am doing it now, but there's a lot of text I don't need, and I'm having trouble telling (currently) relevant from (currently) irrelevant. If anyone can answer the below questions, I'd really appreciate it, even if I'm reading up on it right now:
- Has anyone written anything about Mao Sho' bay?
- What are the greater religious movements in Jiadau?
- The peninsula above the bay seems like a mess. I'd like to know more about it, and this is where I have trouble parsing information. Also a lot of the map claims people have made are... kind of small, it's difficult to tell where the claims are. If anyone has the time I'd love to see the posts that specifically concern themselves about the peninsula.
- What is the peninsula's name?
Thanks all. Post will be updated soon with details.
EDIT: I'm continually editing this post with details as I write them, so people can correct it underway if I type something stupid.
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The Grand Thaumaturgy of Sengkan / Angst
The Grand Thaumaturgy of Sengkan - often called simply Mao Sho after its capital, or mockingly the Zang den Busai, which literally means the Scientists of Zang/Grand Scientists but audibly is a pun on "Brass Donkeys" - is a wealthy country with a strong scientific tradition deeply centered in mystic beliefs. It greatly benefits from controlling the lower Zang river and is a significant local trade power while also being the progenitor of many technologies, with an academic tradition that produces tons of thought daily. While scientifically impressive and boasting a famous brass music tradition, its internal structures complicate from being politically divided between religious alchemist guilds as well as worker syndicates.
The inhabitants of the Zang river are known as just that – Zang peoples – which goes for both Mao Sho and its neighbours.
Colour: The current map colour is fine but if I do manage to become a significant power, I'll probably request a more evocative RGB, probably combined with a significant political reform so it makes sense at that time.
Their actual flag is red:
(Click
here for textureless,
here for large textured. I have the flag in a vector editor, ask me if you want anything in particular.
I'll probably get around to doing the other countries' flags soonish.)
Government/Ruler: Technocratic mystic plutocracy complex, see under values / Grand Mong Daokan
Religion: Kengdai chi mysticism is the primary religion of the region and it is kind of interwoven with the Imperial pantheon. Kengdai chi kind of has the same role as Confucianism as it is not technically just a religion but kind of a paradigm that influences every part of Zang spiritual and political life, but it is also a religion. The Imperial gods – any and all gods – are seen as subservient to the kengdai chi cosmology that integrates a lot of things into religion that have nothing to do with divinity. It's a complex of a thing that is described further below. It would absorb native religions in a different way than what the Imperial Pantheon did, but it would still absorb religions.
Values: The below is a detailed writing about everything thaumaturgical.
The Grand Thaumaturgy doesn't actually consist of wizards, but rather an elite court of mystics and chemists. Structurally, the political and economical spheres of the country overlap each other in the form of alchemist guilds. These guilds perform the bulk of the country's organizational services whether it comes to trade, religious services or political proceedings. Power within Mao Sho is centered in Mao Sho itself, the country's capital, and particularly the court of alchemists and its governor, the “zang mong” - Englishized as Grand Mong as we have no equivalent of the word Mong, although you could abstract it to “ph.d. in everything”. (And yes, Zang means Great, which means that the Mao Sho river's literal name is “Great River”.)
Basically all areas of the country's workforce are involved with the guilds through some form of written allegiance, but the farmers and wrights organize themselves in a near-syndicalist system and have significant control over the local production. This means that the guild affliation, while going all the way to the top of the country, is often fleeting, with relatively significant power schewed towards the less fortunate. This high degree of individual freedom within the local organizations means that entrepreneurs migrating to Mao Sho is not unheard of, and it certainly serves an effecient market where a lot of wealth is concentrated with the lower class, allowing for high demand at all times, stimulating the economy and being one of the prime motors for the country's significant wealth, even with the elite.
The farmers and wrights have, however, very little influence over the upper class' sphere of practices, which is a very complicated entity, as a lot of concepts that we see as separate are abstracted as one holistic thing. This way of thinking unifies fields such as economy, trade, polticis, aesthetics, religion, ritualism, the arts, social services, science, law, diplomacy, philosophy, warfare, education and medicine, as well as what we would call alchemy, astrology, thaumaturgy, necromancy, divination, necromancy, healing, shamanism, witchcraft and so on. All of these things, whether beliefs or practices, are considered one sphere of ideas called “kengdai chi”, meaning something akin to wondrous spirit or wondrous magic. Everything is interwoen tightly, and the entities cannot be separate from each other, similar to how philosophy was treated in the OTL West until it crystallized into lesser entities such as science, theology and the humanities - for the Zang, education, religion, statecraft, magic and science are the same thing. Our OTL distinction between science and traditionalism as near-antonyms doesn't even make sense to insert in this culture as science is so interwoven with traditionalist practices - scientific experimentation is one of the core tenets of kengdai chi, but it is also an incredibly traditionalist value.
While the practicioners and believers of this concept encompass the whole population, only the constellation of high-ranking “chi tunga” - literally chemists/alchemists/scientists, chi tung i singular - is allowed to be authorities on kengdai chi. This means that in order to be a ruling politician of any guild, you must first be part of an alchemist guild, then you need a long education, then you will need to be knowledgable on both science, religion and trade, and then you may be allowed to govern depending on what the court decides for you individually. The traditions and cultural qualifiers means that the rulers will almost always be from a wealthy plutocratic family, they will be throughoutly educated in both philosophy, theology and politics, they will perform alchemy recreationally and they will be particularly traditionalist, devout people.
The court of Mao Sho is a complex one where all its inclusions are qualitative, as such there are no formal requirements other than being part of a guild, but being of a higher guild rank is usually a huge factor for whether you will be allowed into the court. There are numerous guilds which each have different ranks, but a lot of them are based on the Kaoling systems initiated during Imperial rule. Below is an attempted Englishification/gross appropriation of each individual rank so it can be somewhat understood from a non-kengdai point of view.
Member - Chi tung – Alchemist (You are always this rank in addition to the below)
Student - Keng - Mage
Examplary student - Sai keng - Beautiful mage
Bachelor's degree student - Dao keng - Illustrious mage
Master's degree student - Dao sao - Illustrious prodigy
Lecturer - Chao den Tin - Master of divinity (This rank is usually skipped however, people of this rank are often teased for not being good enough to archieve mong)
Professor - Mong - No literal translation. Could be associated as a divining politician with a ph.d. in everything.
Post-doctorate professor - Long mong - Arch mong. Basically the level above a person with a ph.d. in everything.
Prime minister - Zang mong - Great mong. This is the leader of Mao Sho's court and therefore the ruler of the nation.
It might be relevant to very shortly touch upon the experimental practices of the alchemists. Contrary to OTL Greek conception of body and medicine, kengdai chi considers bodily fluids to be good things, spiritually equated with the bountiful wealth of the Zang river. Distilling blood, urine and faeces is common practice – it is infact believed by the Zang that they developed gunpowder before the Empire due to local experiments with urine and salt peter, even if they did not manage to weaponize the technology properly. Technology is actually an export of Mao Sho, even if unconventional of the times, where foreign merchants buy small inventions or strange medicines. However, the reason this business model is feasible is also because of the ethics standard of the alchemists, in that they can be quite cruel, even for medieval standards. Murderers are stripped of rights when captive, and they often disappear from prisons, and it's kind of a public secret that their bodies are used for vivisections. Some of these criminals may have injections with painful, primitive needle-like tools, they may be forcibly poisoned or having their limbs separated. Also, in the vein of alchemist mysticism, some experiments are performed in the belief that blood may coagulate into gold, which leads to a lot of painful, futile experiments. All this is done recreationally by the Zang elite, and all of it is done on live people in particular because the living body is seen as a natural form to be investigated only as alive, similar to the bountiful flow of the live Zang river. While torture is often used as punishment in this time period, this intricate, crude, yet relaxed relation to bodily fluids and organs isn't always that well-received in other countries. However, the foreign relations aren't that terrible, especially with the medicine exports that a lot of the time actually work, because of this research.
Military: Because of the significant power of the lower class, mass drafting or martial law is close to impossible to force through. In face of the lower class' power, the Mao Sho government offers several benefits to the people that volunteer into the national army as well as granting compensation to a dead soldier's family. While the morale and quality of the national army is therefore exceptionally high, it is a particularly expensive army, so for a lot of the legwork, the relies on mercenaries.
Stability: Only the Zang Mong may grant executive orders to the army and Mao Sho's mercenaries, and only the Zang Mong may own mercenaries at all within Mao Sho. But he isn't allowed to pay for the army himself, rather it is funded by the plutocratic alchemist guilds in the court at large. This means that while the Zang Mong has control, he can be veto'd. This checks out to balance power hungry alchemists in the court - there is a lot of transparent accountability between the numerous parties of the country. Unless the Zang Mong carries through too many orders without internal support, the nation has difficulty becoming unruly. But on the other hand it's not always that hasty at carrying out significant decisions.
Trade: Mao Sho is famous for its medicine and drugs. The alchemist mass all experiment with things other than biology, especially liquids, and while industrial espionage exists, medicine components are usually kept secret, giving the alchemists monopoly on hundreds of types of medicine.
The country is a significant exporter of fireworks and strange alchemical brews that entertain at parties. For example, a particularly important alchemist export is bu fo xi, which is produced by herb mogul Saoteng; this grayish liquid gives off an awesome sharp green flame when set alight and its gases drug the surrounding crowd, increasing heart rate and give dream-like visions. The substance is a hugely popular component for upper class parties on the Emong peninsula. (That one peninsula which is the southern third of Dofangdau.) Additionally, some of the older available substances have been leaked to the population since ancient times, and infact some of the farmers grow herbs that have hallucinogenic properties, herbs that have a difficult time growing in other geographic locations.
Other than that, the banks of the river Zang are very rich in nutrients and Mao Sho and the other Zang countries act as a bread basket for hungry neighbours, especially those cold or dry.
While Mao Sho produces most of the alchemic products, they are usually exported through Marala (when trading with the Watu city states and western Emong) or through Accatta (when trading with eastern Emong and the Dutchies), granting those countries economic benefits from Zang inventions. Some Eamo merchants import directly from Mao Sho. All of these countries are very close knit due to the trading ties between them.
Sample names:
City names: Mao Sho is the capital. Other than that, Mengdei, Se chung, Mongseng, Daiseng.
Names are usually not gender coded, but some are. The g sound sounds very effeminate to Zang peoples, while Ch is usually used at the beginning of guys' names.
Any: Lang, Ze, Zang, Tei, Song
Male: Cho, Chai, Chong, Mei.
Female: Lugei, Migi, Taigei, Sou.
History: The concrete events here are supposed to be canon, but the outlined chronology might need some work, don't consider the actual years canon yet. It might be appropriate for Decamper to decide the years for each event.
Oh, I also renamed my neighbours slightly. I'd love if the changes could be used.
Gravas = Geng Lavas
Marala = Mala Leng
Manaso = Mao Nang Sho
Ealik = Emang Likong
The Zang river used to house an ancient line of kingdoms with varying degrees of unification, with an unwritten history that has probably lasted a couple of thousand years. After writing was developed, a more definite chronicle of the region has been outlined. About a thousand years ago, the Zang peoples were unified from Geng Lavas, but with a significant slave force of the Zang ethnicity itself, which eventually collapsed from the inside. After a few centuries with warring states, eventually a new kingdom brought unification to the Zang valley, this time Emang Likong was the center of civilization. However, the slavery situation was even more severe. While Great Likong was exceptionally prosperous, it suppressed several spiritual movements and installed a cruel blood god as the arch authority, this cruel god still below the divine king who performed several atrocities towards the region as well as building the marble palace in Mao Sho city that currently holds the country's court.
When the Qeng Xo arrived at the region, they joined with the slaves, the farmers and the clergy, which brought a firm end to all royalty of the region after a very bloody civil war. The blood god was so behated that rather than being included in the Imperial Pantheon, he became a regional Satan-like entity who has been used as a boogeyman to scare children to this day. The Qeng Xo divided the Zang imperial provinces into Geng Lavas, Mala Leng, Ma Nang Sho and Emang Likong, the current borders of Mao Sho being divided amongst them along the river. All the slaves were liberated - infact the Zang peoples experienced surprisingly benevolent treatment under the first Qeng Xo, as the Empire needed to be benevolent in order to appease those that had risen against their rulers. It was during this time that the pseudo-syndicates of the lower class were established. These regional gatherings answered directly to Imperial provincial rule, and the clergy's surpressed spirituality slowly developed into the holistic construct that kengdai chi is now. As the Empire slowly crumbled, the Zang upper class established itself as a de facto plutocratic governship, and when the Empire enforced ill treatment and rights restrictions, the workers and alchemists began to undermine the empire together. The Empire performed several crackdowns which only lead to more dissatisfaction until the provincial military offered its services as mercenaries to the Kaoling family rather than being slaughtered in the deathbed of the Zang valley. The combined forces brought down the Imperial army. After taking control of the region, the Kaoling were forced by both the guilds and the syndicates to step down and form a government, which developed into the Thaumaturgy of Sengkan and its neighbours.
Claims and Capital City: Mao Sho's capital city is Mao Sho itself. Mao Sho is infact just the shorthand monicker for the nation, it's true name is The Grand Thaumaturgy of Sengkan after all. Sengkan, by the way, is the name of the small bay that Mao Sho encompasses, it is a heavily trafficed bay.
NB: From now on, I might be less detailed, but don't think it less complex. It's simply because of time restraints as I want to deliver before deadline. The most important part of the nation is kengdai chi which I deem finished. 
Neighbours:
Here's a overlook of the neighbouring cities, and a lesser fix of the regional borders, please copy it to the map.
http://i.imgur.com/eoXxRiu.png
Again, I'd love if you could rename the contries.
Gravas = Geng Lavas
Marala = Mala Leng
Manaso = Mao Nang Sho
Ealik = Emang Likong
Each nation is conveniently named after their capital. I will eventually write out the lesser cities, probably after the update.
The Zang countries encompass the countries of Zang ethnic origin, which has been a constant at least since the recorded unification under Geng Lavas. Most Zang peoples adhere to kengdai chi's cosmology, although particularly western Mala Leng has a significant Juunjia following. Most of the kengdai chi tradition and its row of alchemists rings true for the surrounding countries, but the respective governments usually differ from Mao Sho's concrete version. Here are the differences in detail:
Geng Lavas: Geng Lavas doesn't have a scientific tradition tied into their kengdai chi, and its government is mostly concerned with keeping western Jamhay nomads off their borders. Rather than having a full guild structure, Geng Lavas has fewer families vying for power, making it more an aristocracy than the technocracy of Mao Sho. The country is actively subjugating Inuk in order to gain control of precious metals, and rather than a Grand Mong, the ruler is stylized as Regent. They have quite terrible relations with their neighbours, as the semiaristocratic regency keeps other Zang alchemist guilds out of the region. It suffers heavily from trade problems as everything travels through Mao Nang Sho, Mao Sho and Mala Leng, they pretty much only export grain and the only neighbours in good spirit toward them are Mao Nang Sho, that are allied with them, and the Athlaq.
Mala Leng: the least Zang-ish Zang country, it doesn't even have alchemists. Mala Leng is a peaceful thalassocracy with a long coast, plenty of traders, a huge fleet and peace-minded rulers. Its council are much more democratically oriented than Mao Sho and actively votes new members into it rather than arranging new inclusions in the respective guilds. Mala Leng is incredibly influenced by both the Emong peninsula and the Juunjia countries and prefers to stay allied with everyone. Their only enemy is the Jamhay nomads that often raid the southwestern border.
Mao Nang Sho: “The other science nation”, Mao Nang Sho has a experimental culture similar to Mao Sho, but it doesn't concern itself with human bodies, instead focusing on animals. The country has a perculiar variety of wildlife, actually, with several species that exist nowhere else in the world, especially birds. However, it is a divided nation, its cities exist long from each other on different parts of the Zang river. Rather than only having one court, it has two, one in western Mao Nang Sho and one in eastern Mangaleng. Still, it also profits from trading herbs and has several farmers growing exotic drugs that its alchemists develop.
Emang Likong: Emang Likong's alchemist tradition mostly concerns itself with existential and mysticist problems, and it is the most religious of the Zang nations, sending missionaries in all directions and boasting several beautiful temples and a devout group of syndicates that internalize the faith daily. Particularly Athlaq has a love-hate relationship with Emang Likong as several of Athlaq's inhabitants embrace kengdai chi, while others fear its encroachment and loathe it significantly. Its piety is endeared by the rest of the Zang countries, however, that greedily import its poetry and texts regarding the nature of goodness, gods and the human spirit. Furthermore, Emang Likang is in love with the sky, and it has several observatories that chart the universe's stars.
Jamhay: While Jamhay owns a huge territory and controls a dangerous steppe military under a powerful Emperor, infact the largest military of all its neighbours, its borders are never drawn the same size on different maps, as they change from day to day. It is simply an unstable entity that is constantly fluctuating because of the power vacuum after the Qeng Xo Empire. The Jamhay's military is raiding all of its borders to huge effect as all neighbouring countries are trying to put themselves on their feet following the Imperial collapse. However, there is a southern emnity towards the Jamhay emperor which Geng Lavas and Mala Leng in particular capitulates upon, and the nation is slowly collapsing under its own iron boots. Chances are that the south will soon declare independence and the north will focus its warhorses in one direction, destroying one of its neighbours before collapsing completely.
Inuk: A small tribal federation that however boasts a hugely effective resistance against Geng Lavas. It has several mines of precious metals and gems that all of its neighbours prey upon with either trading cartels or soldiers. It is the only nation that is on good terms with the Jamhay.
Athlaq: Athlaq's culture is something completely different from the Zang, and their population is concentrated in the east, but it contains a large kengdai chi minority that is spreading the religion eastwards. The local version of the religion isn't as holistic, however, and moreso concerns itself with existentialist and theological problems than scientific ones.
I think it's a reasonable thing however and I think you'll like it!)
