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Yan
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Yan, formally known as Great Yan, is a Terran country located at its easternmost border, neighboring Higashi, Kazdel, and Ursus. It is an imperial monarchy ruled by an emperor titled the "True Lung", with a large, centralized bureaucracy of mandarins operating under the Six Ministries. As a vast empire, the Lung people govern multiple races whose ancestry traces back to the Hundred Clans, united under the emperor.
One of the classical nations that have existed since ancient times, Yan is well-known for its history and rich, diverse traditional culture, shaped by its extraordinary natural scenery and bustling cities that support a robust economy. The current dynasty rose in the aftermath of the Great Hunt against the godlike Feranmuts, affirming the "mandate of heaven” as belonging only to mortals. Its victory over the "gods” ushered in a long period of social stability and allowed it to remain distanced from the tumultuous Terran heartland until its opening-up in the Crystal Age.
Yan balances leniency and strictness in its social governance, guided by its highly venerated legalism, or Yanlü. The government demonstrates tolerance and even endorsement of racial diversity within its borders.[2] While its treatment of the Infected is relatively lenient, restrictions on their freedom of mobility remain in place, as is common in other nations.[3] Though Yan has not been active in military activities thanks to its apparent stability, its military might remains formidable, owing to constant vigilance against the Feranmuts.
History[edit]
The Hundred Clans[edit]
Since ancient times, before the common era, the eastern side of Terra was home to several tribes along the fertile Liangjiang region. The foundation of the Yanese dynasty could be traced back to the Tribe of Yan under the leadership of its eponymous leader, Yan the Chieftain, who was anointed as the first True Lung. Together with his wife, Yan brought civilization to the tribes by teaching languages and distributing lands to the Hundred Clans, the Baishi (百氏), under his rule. For many years, the Hundred Clans obeyed Yan's authority, providing tributes and military services through the local lords governing the clans.[4] Among the known clans, the clans of the Lung were given the leadership among other clans, and the Kylin clans were nominated to become the leading sorcerers who spread the knowledge of Arts to the common folks.[5]
Unfortunately, Yan suddenly passed away after exhausting his Elder trait for building civilization. His collapse brought along a ferocious civil war, later known by historians as the "Hundred Clan Rebellion (百氏之乱; Baishi-zhi-luan)". With the chieftain’s leadership gone, the old feudal system disintegrated, and the lords fiercely competed for control over vast swathes of land. Amidst the chaos, a rising True Lung claimed himself as the new emperor over the lords. Through a combination of a formidable army and sharp political reforms, he succeeded in reuniting the Hundred Clans under a single sovereign, thereby ending the civil war. Following this war, the centralized imperial system was established which persists in the modern era through generations of bureaucratic rearrangement.[4][6]
The Hundred Clans Rebellion left a profound impact on the Yanese. It marked the abandonment of feudalism, which had fragmented both land and government. In its place arose a centralized imperial court loyal to the True Lung, uniting the Hundred Clans. This centralized bureaucracy remains a defining feature of Yan's governance to this day.
The Great Hunt[edit]
- Main article: Great Hunt
The "Great Hunt" was a legendary historical event in which Yanese imperial troops launched a grand conquest against the prideful "gods," the primordial and godlike Feranmuts. Historically, Yan had an enduring and complex relationship with the Feranmuts. Out of fear of Their power, the Yanese once worshiped them as almighty and wrathful beings. However, the imperial court had shattered this belief following the rise of an energetic, notable, yet controversial True Lung.[7]
The young emperor cultivated the idea of subjugating the "gods," believing that the misfortunes of the mortals stemmed from Their neglect and that the mortals had the right to govern themselves. Among all the "deities," Sui held the longest history of interaction with Yan, and Its disdainful and prideful manner further reinforced the emperor's conviction. Despite this, the True Lung strategically borrowed Their power for political purposes while awaiting the right moment. For instance, he utilized Sui's power during the Hundred Clan Rebellion to quench the conflict and test Its loyalty, carefully biding his time.[8]
The discovery of the "Remains of a God," where Yanese scholars uncovered bones of the Feranmuts, further reinforced the emperor's belief that those "deities" were not completely immortal.[9] After centuries of preparation, the young emperor embarked on the "Great Hunt." Under the pretense of an autumn ancestral ritual, he lured Them to the festival while covertly assembling his loyal army to surround Them. The hunt began with the slaying of a weaker Feranmut, quickly escalating into a full-scale war. To everyone's surprise, Sui betrayed Its kin and joined the emperor's forces, driven by Its own selfish interest. However, the perceptive emperor anticipated Sui's duplicity and ultimately turned his blade against It, punishing It for Its manipulation.[10]
The Great Hunt succeeded in subjugating the Feranmuts, elevating Yan as one of the few Terran nations that dared to challenge the "gods." Those "deities" who dared to stand against the emperor were either brutally slain or banished from the empire forever. Sui, in particular, was condemned to imprisonment underground. Despite the victory, the campaign came at a great cost. Countless innocent lives were lost, and the Yanese army suffered severe casualties, with three-tenths of its forces obliterated.[11] Moreover, the northern regions of Yan fell to corruption due to the northern demons, the Collapsals whose fragments were enhanced by the army's struggle against Sui, forcing Yan to build heavy fortifications to guard against further psychic pollution.[12]
Pre-modern era[edit]
For millennia, Yan remained distant from the political heart of Terra, largely due to its distant location. As a result, it avoided involvement in any large-scale conflict for much of its history. Instead, Yan focused its geopolitical affairs on the eastern side of Terra. In 631, during the Higashi North-South War, Yan acted as a mediator when the warring factions sought help. The True Lung urged both sides to calm their hostilities, condemning the Oniayame's disloyalty to the Kougon.[13]
The Yanese imperial court utilized its stable geopolitics surrounding the empire to develop its technology and infrastructure. The country's contact with the outside world on the other hand was minimal, occasionally receiving visits or gifts sent from foreign envoys, including the introduction of a Gaulish grape variety in 628,[14] and a visit from Iberian explorer Francisco de León.[15] Its first major interaction with the outside world began around the year 695 when the Tianshi were dispatched to the Londinium Witenagemot in Victoria to obtain the latest knowledge of science in the western world. These diplomats then brought their accounts back to their motherland which ushered in an era of development. The centuries-old Tianshi Bureau met its first reformation in 698, three years after the Council of Sages, and the imperial court implemented its first sixty-year infrastructure plan in 713 which nourished many of its mega-projects such as the construction of its national highway, the Chidao, in 790 and the fortification of its northern border in the Saibei region in 855.[16]
Modernization era[edit]
Entering the Crystal Age, Yan ushered in its modern era in the year 845 when it dispatched imperial envoys to various nations, a signal of the end of its isolationism.[17] Not only did it open up Yan's border that unveiled the mystery of the east to the Terran heartland, but also, Yan became active in the geopolitics of Terra as a diplomatic and economic partner with the heartland nations in the next two centuries. Notably after the Bloodpeak Campaign of 1072, Yan once again played its role as mediator by easing the tension between Ursus and Higashi, and it poured huge investment in rebuilding Higashi's infrastructure.[18]
Despite its success, Yan continues to face several drawbacks that might threaten its prosperity and hegemony in the eastern region. Aside from the subjugated Sui chained beneath Its mausoleum outside the imperial capital of Baizao, Yan constantly faces development and educational inequalities in its undeveloped rural areas and political plots among the various mandarins and political interest groups vying for their own benefits. With countless efforts, the imperial court has been implementing beneficial degrees and building new infrastructures and industries to ensure Yan is catching up with the modern era.
Among the leading figures of the Yanese modernization was the previous True Lung of Yan, the father of Crown Prince Yan Wu and the current ruling emperor. In his early years of reign, he led the empire to enter the era of industrialization in the Crystal Age.[19] One of his most remarkable achievements was a nation-wide educational reformation of 1054 under the persuasion of the previous Grand Preceptor, allowing the masses to easily gain access to schools and promoting fair meritocracy regardless of background, and through this new policy, more than a few thousand scholars from rural areas were able to enter Baizao and study in its imperial academy.[20]
The Baizao coup[edit]
Despite his grand visions, the previous True Lung's reign descended into infamy when he unfortunately contracted Oripathy. Plagued by his illness, the old emperor suddenly became despotic and irrational, with many of his new policies straying into harmful bias. As the mandarins of the imperial court worried about his condition, Prince Yan Wu plotted a coup d'état with the collaboration of the previous Grand Preceptor and Yan Wu's younger brother, having the intention to force the bed-ridden emperor be abdicated. In an early April night of 1062, Prince Yan Wu personally marched towards the palace alone with his weapon in hand, forcing the guards to make way for him.[19][21] Nobody except the crown prince himself knows exactly what happened that night, but it ultimately resulted in the sudden death of the True Lung.
The coup, however, did not end well as envisioned. Following the event, Prince Yan Wu and the eighteen Imperial Guards pledging loyalty to him quietly fled the imperial capital of Baizao and never returned. Out of fear of political instability with the demise of the old emperor, the imperial court quickly installed the unwilling younger prince as the ruling True Lung. To prevent news of the coup from leaking out from the palace, the new emperor conducted violent political purges against any opposing factions. One notable victim of the purge was the previous Grand Preceptor, a wise and respectable figure who promoted educational reform. To keep the new True Lung's slate clean, the Grand Preceptor was falsely scapegoated of plotting treason and instigating the coup. This led her to commit suicide, and thereafter all twenty-eight of her family members were either imprisoned or sent into exile, evoking wide-spread lamentation among the Yanese scholars and bureaucrats.[19][22]
Since then, the Baizao coup has been classified as a top national secret, leading authorities to censor much of the information even within its own archives, resulting in several purges and even an arson of its imperial library. It became taboo to even discuss the Grand Preceptor, and her name was struck from many records. Within its official history books, it simply ends with the summary of "The Grand Preceptor incited the prince to regicide."[19]
Revival of Sui[edit]
After Yan's victory against Sui the Feranmut, Its body was imprisoned within a mausoleum beneath Baizao. Over the course of several millennia, Its consciousness split into multiple fragments that began roaming around the mortal realm. However, in the year 982, Jie and Wang, the two avatars of Sui, attempted to enter the Tomb to face the hibernating Sui and eliminate It, but it ended in the tragic death of Jie and, consequently, the gradual revival of the bestial Sui.[21]
Yan has long been prepared for another fight against the bestial Sui, but unfortunately, the increasingly complicated geopolitics of Terra makes it unfavorable for Yan to fully utilize its military. On one hand, a war would result in countless deaths and unimaginable destruction, just like during the Great Hunt. On the other hand, many within the imperial court believe that now is the right time to eradicate the Sui problem once and for all. To ensure Yan's political stability, the mandarins conducted a secret meeting in 1101, resulting in the decree of the "Twenty-Eight Policies". Within this new policy, there are two additional decrees hidden from the public in response to the ongoing supernatural threat: the Collapsals of the north which triggered the Dahuang demonic pollution incident, and the unforeseen danger of the Seaborn along its southern coastlines.[23]
In preparation of the war, the northern garrison city of Yumen has been commandeered back to Baizao, with thousands of soldiers and Tianshis ready to be deployed.[24] That said, the current True Lung considers Sui's fragments as citizens of Yan, who have contributed much to the country's development. As part of efforts to keep the Sui fragments from disappearing in the aftermath of the war, the "Twelve Pagodas and Five Cities" project was kickstarted in Dahuang.[25][26] Then, in September 1102, the emperor orders the Imperial Guard to redirect seven-tenths of Baizao's energy to open the Tomb of Sui while preparing themselves to defeat their ancient enemy.[21]
Notable people[edit]
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Expatriates[edit]
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Mythological figures[edit]
Historical figures[edit]
Other notable people[edit]
- Bai Dingshan
- Meng
- Ruan Weiwei
- Lien Tzu-hsu☠ (廉子虚; Pinyin: Lian Zixu): An old lady who was Mr. Nothing's martial art master and the head of the descending Lien clan. Targeted by the local authorities, she was "murdered" by her competitors through a forced suicide.[27] She also had a close tie with Uncle Tung in Lungmen.
Places[edit]
Districts/settlements[edit]
- Baizao
- Dahuang
- Lungmen
- Mangshan
- Moushan
- P'o-shan
- Shangshu
- Yumen
- Dusk City: A city located close to Mount T'ien. According to legend, it was formerly the village where the Dusk Beauty came from, and was later named after the Dusk River that flows next to the city's edge.[28]
- Jiangqi (姜齐): A major northeastern Yanese city known for its harsh winter, river settlements, and its alcohol culture where the inhabitants are heavy drinkers. The city has also been infamous for its water banditry where bandit clans build water fortresses and rob local authorities on boats, one of which including Quibai's father.[29] The banditry resulted in a bloody purge that dismantled the village.
- Jiangqi might be a reference to the State of Qi and the Qilu culture in modern Shandong.
- Kou-wu (勾吴; Pinyin: Gouwu): The city where Mr. Nothing tried to escape from and the hometown of the dead Lien clan. According to Dusk, the inhabitants have a culture of fine delicacy and scalebass fishing during late autumn.[30]
- Kou-wu might be a reference to the State of Wu and the Wuye culture in modern Jiangnan region.
- Ni-Weng (泥翁; Pinyin: Niweng): A village under the foot of Mount Hui-ch'i; famous for its jade.[31]
- Danyan (丹燕): An agrarian city located in northern Yan. At one point the Imperial Court ordered the suspension of all activities due to the harsh winter season. Luckily, Wan Qincheng, then a Tianshi apprentice, managed to rescue the people trapped in the nearby villages and towns by ramming through the Originium ice crystals using one of Danyan's plots.[32]
- Danyan is named after the State of Yan encompassing the Bohai and the Liaodong Peninsula and one of its crown princes, Crown Prince Dan of Yan.
- Langyi (琅珆): The city where Gu Quan comes from.[33] Years ago, the local magistrate was impeached following the accusation of Yu Cheng's fabrication of evidences regarding the murder spree of the Gu family.[34]
- Langyi is named after the historical Langya Commandery in southeastern Shandong spanning from the Qin dynasty to the Tang dynasty.
- Changji (常稷): The city where the famous Jifu Academy is located as the "City of Academy."[35] During her fifth month as a registrar of the Judicial Review Office, Leizi exposed the local academy's examination fraud that led to the arest of over a hundred involved mandarins, including a second-rank officer.[36]
- Changji is named after the historical Jixia Academy (稷下学宫), a school founded by Duke Huan of Tian Qi in the State of Qi during the Warring States period.
Landmarks[edit]
- Mount Hui-ch'i (灰齐山; Pinyin: Huiqi): A mountain that is close to Ni-Weng Village; the place where Dusk hides herself.
- Mount Hui-ch'i is a Wu Chinese rendering of Mount Kuaiji in Zhejiang.
- Mount T'ien (天岳; Pinyin: Tianyue): The tallest mountain in Yan. According to the legend of the Dusk Beauty, this was where she ascended onto the moons.[28]
- K'u-t'an River (苦潭江; Pinyin: Kutan): The "River of Sorrow;" the place where young Saga's master was saved by Dusk.[27][37]
- Boulder of Pei-hsïan (北悬巨石; Pinyin: Beixuan): A famous natural site in Yan in which a huge boulder hung itself in midair. Acoording to a legend, the boulder suddenly stood itself after the ascending of an emperor, leading the people to believe that it was a good omen. Sadly, it was destroyed by a Catastrophe a few years ago.[38]
Architecture[edit]
- Chamber of Heaven's Designs (天机阁; Tianjige): A series of fortifications located at the Northland guarded by numerous soldiers and Tianshi. For thousands of years, it acts as a wall defending the nation against the invasion of the northern Collapsal.
- The Chamber is an analogue to the Great Wall of China.
Gallery[edit]
A traditional Yanese village on the mountains
A downtown square in a modernized Yanese city at night
A street in a Yanese city during the day
The inside of a Yanese inn
The room of a Yanese guest house
The guestroom of a classical Yanese mansion
A Yanese supermarket
A room inside a Yanese house
A combat arena in a Yanese city
A cell in a Yanese prison
A shabby house in Yan
People[edit]
A male Yanese Forte citizen
A female Yanese Caprinae citizen
A male Yanese Perro villager
A female Yanese Feline villager
An elderly Yanese Feline man
An elderly Yanese Liberi with a brown coat and a cane
An elderly Yanese Feline woman
Another one wearing a brown coat
A young Yanese Kuranta boy
A young Yanese Kuranta girl
A Yanese Liberi thug
A male Yanese Perro mandarin wearing a blue yuanlingpao
A male Yanese Feline mandarin wearing a red yuanlingpao and a cape
A female Yanese Zalak mandarin wearing a blue yuanlingpao
A female Yanese Kuranta mandarin wearing a red yuanlingpao and a cape
Note[edit]
- ↑ The standard Yanese is based on Mandarin Chinese, while its dialects are based on the varieties of Chinese. The official English localization romanized Yanese words with the Wade-Giles romanization for ancient subjects and Yanese regions whose dialects are based on Southern Chinese variants, and the Pinyin romanization anywhere else.