Koryo Koryo , formerly known as Choson , was a loose association of three kingdoms all descended from the Han people . The kingdom was ruled by a strong king , the warlord , Wanang Sun . Names & Etymology . The land was formerly known as " Choson " , a name that translated to " morning calm " . After King Wanang Sun reformed the Sillan Empire into the Empire of Koryo , the land became known as simply " Koryo " . Language . Koryoans spoke the Koryo language , which descended from the ancient Han language , with many loanwords from Wa - an and Kao te Shou borrowed over centuries . Owing to its similarities with other languages , it was easy to find Koryoan translators for many languages , though few learned Kozauran , owing to enmity between the peoples . Environment & Geography . The land of Koryo stood isolated on the two prongs of the very southern end of the great Koryo Peninsula , which swept down from northeastern Kara - Tur to the rugged islands claimed by Wa and Kozakura . The terrain was rough and mountainous , dominated by the Vorkani Mountains that arced around the end of the peninsula . On the right flank spread the great Quang Muku Forest . It was seen as a dark and twisted wood , but many strange and potent herbs and a variety of woods were harvested here . Between the two prongs lay Kang Bay , which held a few islands , like Quelpart and Kanko , a volcano that had once devastated the land . The long Kuangchiu Road linked Koryo to Shou Lung overland . It ran around the great northeastern arc of Kara - Tur around the Yellow Sea , through the Koryo Peninsula , the Ama Basin , and the Koryaz Mountains , joining with Kangste in Chukei . Climate . Koryo was a cold , northern land . The winter months were particularly stormy and bitterly cold . Government . The land of Choson originally comprised three separate and only loosely associated kingdoms : Koguryo , Saishu , and Silla . However , in the early 14th century DR , the kingdom of Silla conquered Koguryo and Saishu , swelling into the Sillan Empire , also called the Choson Empire . The Sillan Empire was ruled by the despotic king of Silla , until he abdicated and fled the throne around 1350 DR . Wanang Sun , a general of Silla , took the throne after him as a warlord , but bound the three kingdoms and their factions together under his strong leadership . He reformed the Sillan Empire into the Empire of Koryo . Around 1357 DR , King Wanang Sun administered his realm via royal appointment of governors to each of the 21 city districts of Koryo . Most appointments were made for political reasons , both to solidify Sun ' s support and to strengthen relations with Koguryo and Saishu , but a few chosen governors were personal friends or advisors . The governors acted autonomously , handling their districts as they chose , but they answered directly to the king . The wily Wanang Sun was not above engineering these appointments and creating custom posts . For example , governorship of Foo Nakar was much sought after in court , but he preferred Pouri Lam ' s existing unofficial leadership . Thus he named a close friend as governor , but moved the position to the capital on a permanent basis , and instead created the post of First Emissary for Pouri in order that she continue her " de facto " governance . He permitted the former leader of Saishu to stay on as governor , with the honorary title of " Master of Cheju " . Meo Yungdo of Xai Chung was one of Sun ' s top advisors , and Sun also consulted the shukenja Korax of Manchar on magical and scholarly matters . Ruling from the capital city of Xi Hulang , he held court only with his governors , trusted advisors , and important dignitaries . As a former general , Sun ran his government and kingdom like an army , maintaining supply lines , constructing defenses , and establishing and enforcing strict laws and regulations , including curfews , licenses , and annual censuses . Sun was strongly supported by his governors , but he feared that , after his passing , the old petty lords of each city and subkingdom would try to revolt and reclaim their former independence . Therefore , he played a long game as well , focusing on bettering the peasants ' lot in life and attracting the people to his rule , so that any future rebellion would likely fail . Twice or thrice a year , he went out among the people of Xi Hulang and listened carefully to their views and received their complaints , before correcting their misconceptions and explaining why he would not alter his rules . The workers of the city respected and admired him for this . He was known to be open - minded , proactive , and dismissive of pomp and ceremony . Nevertheless , Sun could be underhanded as well . His spies were rife in crime - ridden Ojy - do and the floating city of Tu Pe . He also established the hichikung nio , a secret society of skilled people placed in key posts in local and regional bureaucracies . Their aim was to improve the lives of the peasantry through the established system . Relations . The Koryoans seemed to be always holding off and repelling Kozakuran invaders , but had launched at least one attempted invasion of Kozakura themselves under the king of Silla . This long history of conflict led them to despise the Kozakuran people , their culture , and even their language . Trade with Kozakura was banned and its currency was not accepted ; nevertheless , criminals maintained an illicit trade with that land . Tu Pe ' s floating city was thought to be the center of this , but Kozakurans were sighted there only very rarely . Around 1357 DR , the two peoples were at war . Koryo ' s defenders also regularly beat back invasions by the wild tribes of the northern Koryo Peninsula . Shou Lung made no serious attempts to expand its empire into Koryo , finding the mountainous terrain too rough and difficult , and the land itself too distant . Thus Koryo remained independent . In the mid - 1300s DR , Shou Lung considered Koryo to be a collection of petty kingdoms that were tributary states of the empire . In Shou Lung , at least , it was said that when the emperor stamped his foot in Kuo Te ' Lung , the earth trembled in Koryo . Some of Shou Lung described the Koryoans as " unlearned savages " , a description more telling of the Shou than of Koryo . Koryo was on peaceful terms with neighboring Wa , with Wanese traders and their currency were seen in Ansong and Tu Pe . Meanwhile , Koryoan merchants , sailors , workers , and dignitaries appeared in Nakamaru in Wa . Defenses . Always guarding against invasion , Koryo was battle - ready and its defenses strong against external threats . The kingdom ' s fleet was based out of the fortress at Quelpart , off the coast of Tu Pe . The city itself was particularly well - defended , and could muster sizeable armies without resorting to conscription . Mounted forces patrolled the coasts on the lookout for invaders . Economy . The Koryoans adopted the Shou Lung model for currency , using the copper fen and yuan , the paper ch ' ao , and the silver tael and ch ' ien . In exchange rates , Koryoan currency was worth half the amount of Shou currency , but was equal to Wa ' s currency . The coin of Kozakura was not even treated as legal tender . People . The Koryoan people tended to have black hair and high cheekbones , and had moderate heights and builds ; they most closely resembled the people of Chukei province in northern Shou Lung . They were sometimes nicknamed " Cold Koryoans " . They were a proud folk , known to be fearless in a fight and exuberant in a celebration . However , the people were molded by a history of war and invasion and of living under threats of such . They were always alert , but tended toward xenophobia , preferring to trust a fellow Koryoan over a stranger . It wasn ' t unknown for one to wrongly blame a foreigner for some crime , rather than suspect or doubt one of their own people . Culture . Koryoan folk of both genders commonly wore linen tunics and pants , all in white . These served as their daily work - wear . Silk was expensive and hard to come by , so only the wealthiest could afford it ; rich women wore ornate satin dresses of satin with silk veils . Warriors usually wore a heavy padded armor that kept them warm in winter . Noble scions could be kept cloistered in family mansions , learning such things as calligraphy , courtly etiquette , languages , and poetry . Many were sent at a young age to military academies like the Do Jang of Won Kwang , where they learned the arts of war , armed and unarmed martial arts , history ( especially military history ) , animal husbandry , geography and other knowledge of the kingdom , and meditation , as well as calligraphy and courtly etiquette . Koryoans of all classes and walks of life tended to learn history . All Koryoan men trained in the " foot and fist " martial art of tae kwon do , which had a number of different styles and forms . Archery was also commonly practiced and respected , and treated as a competitive art . Koryoan warriors could be heroic and stalwarts defenders of the homeland , trained to hold firm against being overrun by onrushing enemies . Some were hardy folk , as resilient and rugged as the mountains , and especially hard to kill . According to Shou Lung sources , Koryoan culture was only slightly influenced by Shou culture . Religion . Koryo lay within the sphere of godly influence of the Celestial Bureaucracy of Kara - Tur , and so fell within the dominion of the Celestial Emperor and the Nine Immortals . As a result , the Spirit World was present in Koryo , and replaced the Astral Plane there . A spirit representative of the Celestial Empire would appear beside King Wanang Sun to consecrate his rule under their guidance in the annual ceremony on Wei Do Peak . Numerous local spirits were found within Koryo , such as the Cosalla Huin To in the Quang Muku Forest and the frightful spirits of the deep pits of Dang Caverns . There were also some itinerant shukenja of the Way , such as the holy man Korax of Manchar . Classes . Koryoan adventurers favored the fighter class . As in other civilizations of Kara - Tur , shaman s were usually found among the common people , working as elders , healers , and midwives , even local leaders . Shugenja , meanwhile , often served as spiritual advisors among the nobility . Some Koryoans followed the prestigious paths of the bear warrior , blade dancer , henshin mystic , ninja spy , shapeshifter , shintao monk , tattooed monk , weapon master , witch hunter , and yakuza . There were also a number of ninja . They trained at certain do jang ( martial arts schools ) that taught ninja techniques and were shunned and considered dishonorable by the wider community . These ninja gathered into brotherhoods , sometimes called " night brotherhoods " or " nameless ones " . Parents used them as boogeymen to get their children to behave . They engaged in theft , assassination , and kidnapping , and battled each other over dark secrets , leaving their bodies in the streets . They were whispered to have strange powers , to climb like a spider or be unable to feel heat or cold , and they used sleep powders to knock out their targets . There were many different night brotherhoods in Koryo , like the Soretyo , the Vi ' oontu , and the Panthers of Xi . History . The history of Koryo is largely unknown , pieced together from disconnected legends . Prehistory . Legend told that after the creation of the land of Kara - Tur , the gods themselves handed down the Han language to the Han people . Han magicians crafted a number of legendary vessels of power , each of which would play an important role in later Koryoan history . The Wo - ha Ui - jung were ten vessels that each bestowed great and strange powers to those who used them . These became separated over the centuries and some were lost . Another was the Hu ' i Wing , a huge brazier that granted visions of the future . The Han people once fled invasion by the forces of Shou Lung . Much later , it was told that they ' d hidden a great hoard of jade somewhere in the Sillan Mountains . When the Kanko volcano rose up out of Kang Bay and erupted , it was said that the very skies over Koryo caught fire . The land was devastated ; the city of Old Bejung , closest to Kanko , was engulfed in poisonous gas that killed all the people , before the city itself was obliterated in a matter of seconds and buried in ash . According to legend , the entire Han clan sought shelter in the vast Dang Caverns . An ancient civilization once stood in the Quang Muku Forest , remembered only in local myths of a lost city of temples and men who stood 8 feet ( 2 . 4 meters ) tall . By the 14th century DR , the ancient people lived on as forest - dwelling tribes , known to the Koryoans as savages and strange cannibals . One branch or descendants of the Han were the Chinhan people . History recorded them as the last to hold the " coiled dragon " , the greatest of the Wo - ha Ui - jung , in around the 7th century before Dalereckoning . The descendants of the Han people became the Koryoans , who founded the three kingdoms of Koryo . An offshoot branch of this mainland people were thought to have been settled the island realms of Wa and Kozakura , lying to the south of the Koryo Peninsula , in ancient times Early history . During the heyday of the trade city of Balanzia ( 422 – 1153 DR ) in T ' u Lung in southern Shou Lung , " Cold Koryoans " from the far north were regular visitors , coming to trade . In Koryo ' s history , great noble houses and kingdoms have been known to be brought low by a certain love potion from the Quang Muku Forest . Under its effects , Queen Ki Hiar of the kingdom of Saishu fell in love with a pirate from Wa , and Prince Du - yang of the kingdom of Silla was slain by the jealous husband of a plotting woman . The famed general Huat Rhu of the kingdom of Koguryo once led his forces into the Naktong Moor s , and they were never seen again . In the year Koryo 812 , the hero Niofu Sangto defeated the Kozakuran navy at the Battle of Wui Eyong , with the aid of the " sitting dog " of the Wo - ha Ui - jung . In 925 DR , Won Kwang established the famous Do Jang of Won Kwang in Pyong Do , teaching martial arts , warfare , courtly skills , and other matters . Kozakuran forces once ruled the Koryoan city of Karak and built a subterranean fortress beneath the city . Some ten generations before 1357 DR , these Kozakurans stole the Hu ' i Wing , a sacred relic in the town of Goisho , and carried it off to Karak , where they built it into the fortress . Around the year 1200 by Koryoan reckoning , a great many refugees fled Karak by junk s , journeying down the coast to the city of Tu Pe . They moored their ships at the Long Pier , creating a neverending traffic jam that grew into a veritable " floating city " . Modern history . In the early 14th century , Silla was at war with both Koguryo and Saishu . Instrumental in Silla ' s campaign was General Wanang Sun , a master of strategy who , even as he aided the king of Silla in overcoming the other kingdoms , plotted to become king himself and lay the foundation for a more secure and prosperous realm . In the 1330s DR , the king of Silla conquered the rival kingdoms of Koguryo and Saishu , unifying the whole land of Choson into the Sillan Empire and defending against all threats . However , the Sillan king proved to be a tyrant , inflicting crippling taxes and martial law on Saishu , occupying it with Sillan troops . However , Wanang Sun protected Dan Zor , king of Saishu , even arranging a marriage between their families . Over the next fifteen years , the king of Silla began to plot an invasion of Kozakura , and in secret assembled a fleet of ships for the purpose . Around 1350 DR , the king of Silla ordered " nameless ones " to kidnap the teenaged children of Meo Yungdo , a noble of Xai Chung . His reason remains unknown ; it may have been leverage against Yungdo , or in cruel revenge over some perceived offense . Meo Cha and Meo Li managed to escape , and stowed away on a ship that , rather than being bound for Xai Chung , was in fact part of the king ' s own secret invasion fleet , now underway for Kozakura . Ultimately , a tsunami wrecked the whole armada , and the Meo children were washed ashore , alive and well , in Shou Lung . This catastrophe saw the end of the king of Silla ' s reign ; he abdicated and fled . In his place , General Wanang Sun seized the throne , becoming king and reforming the Sillan Empire into the Empire of Koryo . He welded the old factions of Choson into a unified nation . He granted Dan Zor governorship on Saishu , lifted the martial law , and cut taxes , winning the support of both Zor and the Saishu people . However , the former king of Silla and his most loyal supporters escaped to Dang Caverns . There , in secret , he mustered an army with which to reconquer Koryo , apparently paid for with looted treasures and gem s mined in the caverns . He also made pacts with wicked wu jen and dreadful spirits of the deep pits for their aid . Around 1356 DR , in Shou eyes , Koryo was seen as a collection of petty kingdoms who paid tribute to the Shou Lung empire . By 1357 DR , Koryo was at war with Kozakura . Karak was at the center of an ongoing war for territory between the kingdom of Koryo and advance forces of Kozakura . The war left many innocent people injured , and around a thousand people fled north to Singye and camped outside that city . One morning , the bodies of fifteen black - clad ninja were discovered in the streets of Karak , and they were seen as evidence of Kozakuran encroachment . King Wanang Sun considered dispatching more soldiers to the area . The city of Tu Pe kept vigilant with patrols along the southern coast to Karak to watch out for invaders . Appendix . Behind the scenes . Koryo was modeled after .