Tsaiyun

Tsaiyun is an eastern realm, often isolated from wider Vala. Its lands are dominated by the Sho, the Imperial Elves. Tsaiyun is the sleeping body of Xolm, the Red Dragon of Autumn. Tsaiyun was little known to Alteans until the continent came into outsize focus during the catastrophic Eastern Wars at the end of the Third Age.
=== Geography ===
Tsaiyun is smaller than Altea, though not significantly so. The continent’s interior is mountainous, and these mountains are surrounded by dusty plains. Northern Tsaiyun is cold taiga, while the coasts are temperate. Southern Tsaiyun is warm and wet and covered in jungle. Much of the continent is unknown, and few expeditions have penetrated further than the coastal regions. Indeed, many attempts to explore Tsaiyun have ended in failure. For example, the party sent by Emperor Thari (r. 2582-2604) was slain by the 'eyeless men of Ochoi' when attempting to cross Green Serpent Mountains.
==== History ====
Like the continent itself, Tsaiyun’s history is obscured. The land was home to human tribes in Age Zero, as well as other less-defined beings. The Azlan did not seem to have much interest in exploring the continent, though this might have been due to the fierce natives. When the Tower Spell hurled the maedi into the Abyss, some of the exiles chose to follow Baishi, the enigmatic Grey Master. His teachings are difficult to determine, as his followers, the Sho, are infamously secretive, even by maedi standards. What is known is that Baishi brought his people to Tsaiyun, and there founded Selang, the House of Peace. He gave governance of this realm to the Qong Yad, a theocratic order tasked with ‘making right the foundations of the world.’ Baishi set up his ‘Empty Throne’ in Pensha, capital of Selang, and then ‘rejoined Iloun, the One Source.’
Selang has presented itself as the supreme and singular power in Tsaiyun since Altean envoys first visited the court of the Qong Yad. The Sho insist that only a few ‘intransigent barbarians’ continue to defy their rule, and that the great majority of humans live in peace and security under the serene dominion of the Empty Throne. Indeed, envoys found it exceedingly difficult to see anything of the continent besides the port of Kun-Jilan, the only port permitted to foreigners, and the ‘Hall of the Outer World,’ the only place in Pensha where envoys could stay. After several highly-ritualistic audiences with the Qong Yad, the envoy was made to partake in a ‘flower offering to the four corners of the House of Peace,’ and then spirited back to Kun-Jilan and placed on the first available ship. Any foreigner who did not pass through Kun-Jilan, or failed to secure the correct documents, would be swiftly executed by the Zun Yasha, the ‘deviltigers,’ masked enforcers of the Qong Yad.
The Sho vigorously guarded the shores of Tsaiyun for centuries, though a few intrepid merchants did contact other Tsaiyuans, such as the humans that dwelled on the ‘Four Lands’ of Jingu, islands that had resisted Sho efforts to ‘enlighten’ them. The yeti tribes of frigid Mukdan proved more elusive, so much so that today nobody is sure what a ‘yeti’ exactly is. Meanwhile, the savages of the Layasan jungles slaughtered three different Altean expeditions before it was determined that they wished to be left alone.
Tsaiyun was thus of limited interest to wider Altea, and apart from the occasional intrepid merchant seeking exotic goods, few crossed the Glass Sea. This changed in the Third Age. In 3051 IR, gigantic Sho fleets landed in the Sunlands, eastern armies sweeping across Khanaan. Much of Altea was soon drawn into a devastating conflict, spurred on by Zahak, the Phoenix Prophet. Zahak’s exact nature is unclear, but it is believed that he presented himself as a reincarnation of Baishi, and the ‘totality of the aspects.’ Zahak intended to retake Navarao for some obscure purpose, but his gambit ultimately failed. In 3077, Emperor Curates led a counter-invasion of Tsaiyun, planning to march on Pensha and force Zahak to surrender. Instead, the Phoenix Prophet went to meet the westerners at the Yellow Plains, calling forth terrible powers. Zahak was consumed by the Beast, and the resultant magical cataclysm blew a gigantic crater into the plains and obliterated both armies. The few westerners who escaped from Tsaiyun spoke of hellish evils, and many assumed that the whole continent had been obliterated. In truth, Tsaiyun recovered, though it was more insular than ever before. Little was seen of it in the Fourth Age, and it can be imagined that once more the continent is afflicted with many calamities, as the rest of the world is.
=== People ===
The people of Tsaiyun are manifold, though little seen, with contradictory accounts purporting to describe them. The most prominent natives are of course the Sho, the so-called High Elves who followed Baishi out of the Abyss. The Sho are a deeply xenophobic people, and do all they can to keep foreign influence from their shores. They practice a strange form of ‘ink magic,’ where they bind anima into ‘living tattoos’ that confer various enchantments when adhered to the skin. Not all these enchantments are beneficial. Some turn the inscribed individual into a mindless thrall, and many of these tattooed slaves are used on the gigantic civil engineering projects that the Sho are forever undertaking, building walls within walls to keep the outside world at bay.
There are many kinds of humans in Tsaiyun as well. Tattooed savages with filed teeth live in the jungles. These people make their clothes from plant fiber and practice cannibalism. The Sho pretend the savages do not exist. The strange Ochoi, or ‘eyeless men,’ live in the foothills of Green Serpent Mountains. The Ochoi are like ordinary men, save that their eye sockets are covered by flesh. This does not seem to be an impediment, as the Ochoi navigate the world with little difficulty and have a thriving society. Alas, their culture is quite impenetrable, and they have slain several envoys who unknowingly broke some taboo, of which there are many among the eyeless men. For example, once a month, on a day determined by extensive auguries, all Ochoi keep a vow of silence. Anyone who speaks is slain by sorcerers, who move invisibly among the populace to ensure that the ritual is observed. Failing to strictly adhere to these rituals will apparently release 'the teeth below the mountains,' that the Ochoi fear greatly. 
Attash, the Fire Plains, host the tribes that descend from Wanyi, the fearsome ‘wild man’ who challenged Xolm himself. These tribes, the Jurga, are frequently at war with Selang. The Jurgas are called ‘fire-hairs’ for their coloring, though there is some confusion as to whether they are skilled, human horsemen, or in fact centaurs. Sources provide different descriptions, and it is possible that the Jurgas are in fact a cultural group, not an ethnic one, and that they are all those folk who defy the authority of the Qong Yad and live beyond its reach.  
The island of Jingu, really four islands and a scattering of islets, is home to a proudly independent human nation. The Jingans have driven away several Sho invasions intended to ‘enlighten’ them, and now the ‘Four Lands,’ as Jingu is known, is a site of exile, where Sho are banished to be inevitably slain by the barbarous humans who dwell there. Jingans have no central government. Instead, the islands are a patchwork of baronies centered around a dozen or so ‘daimyo,’ mighty warlords who constantly battle each other. The only voice that all daimyo heed is that of the Sintei, the ‘divine vessel,’ a priestess who dwells within a huge ritual complex and is rarely seen. This priestess is allegedly a descendant of Himoja, the mother of all Jingans.  
Other human groups are mentioned in passing by those explorers who dared to travel beyond the ‘sanctioned port’ of Kun-Jilan. Salvio Sanbenito, a Praesian, records a tribe of women that married ‘green tigers’ from the ‘invisible jungle that grew within a jade temple carved into the side of a mountain.’ There were no men in the tribe, and all children were taken away by the tigers at age three. Another tribe lived in 'tower-high trees' and communicated only in song, banishing any tribesman that touched the ground, which was considered impure. Yet a different group, who ‘dwelled in a fortress carved from a single, gargantuan boulder,’ wore only white and believed that they were the only living beings in the world. All other creatures were shades, illusions, or demons seeking to devour them. When the ‘White Garment People’ met Salvio, they tried to chase him away with incense and chanting, and when that failed to work they ignored him as if he were not there. Salvio was able to wander around their boulder fortress for several days as a ‘ghost’ before he departed.  
Other beings mentioned by explorers are the yetis, enigmatic creatures that are variously described as ‘snow dwarves,’ ‘immensely tall, hairy and kind men,’ or ‘ape-demons that sleep beneath lake ice.’ It is possible that all these beings and more dwell in the vast, frozen expanse in the north of Tsaiyun, which the Sho consider a wasteland populated by monsters and vampiric spirits.
The volcanic mountains of Dolg are said to host a race of ‘dwarfs’ with obsidian skin, hair of corundum and eyes of glowing rubies. These Hujin are said to be hunted by the Jurgas, who tear out their eyes and scalp them, selling the bounty to merchants on the borders of Selang. But the Hujin are hardly innocent, having a taste for roasted human flesh. They are possibly a type of gnome, doing the work of Xolm just as the gnomes of Altea serve Druna. The Hujin have a ‘circular city’ that winds up the sides of Mount Firestar, the largest volcano in the Dolg range. Firestar is said to lead directly into the subterranean realm of Xolm.
In the Yendu Jungle, several explorers report the existence of a city contained within 'walls of impenetrable porcelain.' The city is divided into five wards, and each ward holds a different tribe. The tribes are all human, but with unusual skin colors: red, green, blue, purple and orange. The tribes all speak different tongues and claim that their neighbors are latter arrivals to the city, which was made by a 'holy immortal' to shelter the 'original' tribe. All tribes of course insist they are native to the city, which is called Min-fei-yak. This is just one of the many strange wonders hidden within the vast, mysterious realm of Tsaiyun. 
Category:Continents