Thread: Kaminoyama {Zella and Alan23}

A VERY brief history of Kaminoyama In 1522, towards the end of the Feudal Period in Imperial Japan, a Warlord known as Mazuma Kioto, victor of many wars of expansion, fell foul of the Emperor. As far as is known, he seems to have been too successful, to the extent that the Emperor felt he might be a threat. Upon certain pretexts he was exiled, with the entire population of his state a population of some 6000 men, women and children, including close to 700 warriors being supplied with supplies, and essentially told to vanish and never return. The small entourage embarked upon a heroic trek, through the lands of what are now the Southern Russian states such as Kyrozsstan, Uzbekestan and various areas of wilderness, arriving eventually after being harassed by bandits and local tribesmen al lthe way to the Eastern shore sof what we call the Caspian Sea, though they called it Kioto Sea after their leader , who had died of a fever en route. There were something like 200 of them left, mostly women and invalids, and they set out to cross the sea in a series of boats they had jerry built from locally available materials. For many generations they lived a primitive, pioneering life, earning their living by the domestication of local wild goats and sheep. However, they had brought books and scrolls with them, and still had the knowledge of the culture they had left behind. As time went on they discovered various precious metals in the mountains to the South of their new land, domesticated the local ponies and developed the lumbar industry. As time passed, various discoveries were made, noticeably that of solar power. By the late eighteenth century, they had already established a thriving industry, with pony-drawn vehicles, which they used in agriculture and industry. By the late Victorian era their isolated culture was one of the most advanced in the world, comparable to that of Britain and Western Europe. In some things they lagged behind, in others they were extremely advanced, such as the development of force fields which prevented them being discovered by explorers. These force fields were to ensure their survival. The Third 1963-66 and Fourth 1980 world wars, the former of which was fought with primitive nuclear weapons, the latter almost entirely a nuclear conflict, wiped out most of Europe. What lies beyond their own boundaries is now uncertain, most of the less intelligent people credit the whole world is full of ghosts and mutants, those few who have been travelling report that it is mostly wasteland. The Nuclear Winter of 1980-2000 is a time they hate to talk about, though their technology enabled them to survive it. Modern Culture Modern Kaminoyama has only one city, called Kioto, a high-tech wonderland fuelled entirely by solar power, with all menial work carried on by androids and gynoids. It is a mark of being an aristocrat that you can hire real humans to do what the poor have to use robots for, such as house-servants, geishas, prostitutes. The social classes are Aristocrats Usually those who can trace their ancestry back to those who held high position before the group left Japan. This includes the Imperial Family, and many who married into them in the early days. The Priesthood When the group first arrived in their new land, the only surviving person with any religious knowledge was a scholar known as Kazo Mazanuka. As a scholar he had made a detailed study of Egyptian beliefs, and during his life he founded a school teaching the religion of the new land - a mix of Shintoism and Ancient Egyptian beliefs - eventually founding the religion known as Mazanism. This is now the official state religion, and the priesthood have as much power as the aristicrats. The middle classes Prestigious trades include poets, scribes, artists, Geisha both genders, high-class chefs, high-ranking soldiers such as Samurai, and designers of technology, clothing or architecture. The working class Just about anyone else, the bulk of the population. Attitude towards women Essentially, three classes of women are recognised. Yamato Nadeshiko Essentially the quintessentially helpless perfect lady. Known by her long nails, extremely tight kimonos and general air of shyness and modesty, such women are the children of aristocrats or priests, though the middle classes also try to encourage their daughters to behave this way. They are taught many accomplishments such as silk painting, writing simple poetry or how to perform tea ceremonies, but nothing of any use. They are essentially beautiful but useless, and expected to make a good match. Such women are hyper-modest many of them do not even know where babies come from and defer to men in every way. Ninjai Note - the term Ninja is never applied to a male - more or less the opposite of the above, these are women who refuse to behave in the submissive Yamato way, which often means they are cast out by their families or in some cases accepted, and encouraged to learn masculine trades. Some even serve as warriors. Such women even wear shock clothing that shows their arms and legs, or even swimsuits! Shika Essentially a working class woman. Usually prematurely aged by child bearing, hard work and poverty. The only way out is to either marry a peasant and at least get a farm of their own, or affect the manners and looks of a Yamato Nadeshiko, and work as a prostitute or Geisha, eventually attracting a rich aristocratic, priestly or high-artistic patronhusband. Men Aristocratic men are a strange mix of the effete and badass. Many of them form the officer class of the army, which is used to defend the lands beyond the force field from the mutant tribesmen if they exist. The army claim they do and the priesthood support them! Others become artists, writers, etc. but do not ever sell their work, instead forming schools from which they teach art, poetry, philosophy etc. Working class boys Many of them live their whole lives as agricultural workers though this is not as bad as it sounds since this is mostly done by machines or mechanics, builders, low-ranking soldiers etc. A poor boy can work his way up by being aapprenticed to the army, the priesthood or to an artistic school. Most do not make it. The middle class males are essentially poor boys who have thus succeeded, and eventually been able to form their own schools. Technology The nation relies entirely upon solar power for their electricity, including heating, motive power and just about everything. In The city or towns, much domestic work is carried on by robots, either humanoid or otherwise though on farms, which are truly poor their is still some manual labour. The poor can get many of the luxuries available to the rich, but from androids or gynoids instead of real people. Thus a poor man can visit a robot prostitute, be attended by a robot geisha, have a robot body servant, etc, but not a human one. It is a mark of high status and prestige to have a human servant of any kind.