Tsan-Chan

The Tsan-Chan Empire is a fictional future Terran empire created by the late American author H. P. Lovecraft and first mentioned in his 1919 short story "Beyond the Wall of Sleep".
==In Lovecraft's Fiction==
During a conversation between the unnamed narrator and the cosmic being inhabiting the body of Joe Slater, the narrator is told that "we are all roamers of vast spaces and travellers in many ages. Next year I may be dwelling in the dark Egypt which you call ancient, or in the cruel empire of Tsan-Chan which is to come three thousand years hence" (placing that date in the year 4900 AD).
Whether Lovecraft intended Tsan-Chan to refer to an individual emperor, a dynasty, or even a geographical region is uncertain.
==In the Expanded Mythos==
===The Cruel Empire of Tsan Chan===
Chaosium's 2010 Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game supplement The Cruel Empire of Tsan Chan greatly expands on the Tsan Chan Empire. In this interpretation, it is an empire which rules what used to be China and Korea, plus great parts of Thailand, Vietnam, and Myanmar. Tsan Chan is not a Chinese empire but it does exist as if it was a fever dream of ancient China. The architecture is similar to that of ancient China, and so are the fashions and diet. The language has drifted due to mixing with other groups and the naming conventions are to a degree Chinese. The empire prosecuted several wars against the forces of the Cthulhu Mythos, including the Tcho-Tcho people and the Star Spawn, and have made such diverse allies as the Ghouls and Tsathoggua.
Using Deathless and Serpent magic in conjunction with the technology of the Elder Things, the Tsan Chang suceeded in forging a more powerful and effective Interdiction (a form of enormous Elder Sign), turning it into a colossal wall which surrounds the empire. God-Trap technology warns away those powerful predator races of the Mythos. Dreamers and Tcho-Tcho are kept away by mine-fields, barbed wire, and gun turret emplacements. Weapons that employ the technology of the Elder Things includes beam cannons that fire an invisible beam which creates an Elder Sign, lethal toward Mythos creatures.
The Mighty Children which survived the war became the Empire's nobility, it's new rulers. To prevent them from summoning their parents and other entities to the Earth, the Serpents closed every interdimensional and interplanetary portal within the empire. The Deathless became the priests of the empire. The Empire is presently campaigning in Antarctica against the Shoggoth, as part of their alliance with the Elder Things. It's currently ruled by the Empress, the greatest of the Mighty Children. The masses of the empire follow the "Way", a kind of philosophy, religion, and discipline created by the Deathless to keep the Dreamless sane, and prevent them from committing suicide or starting revolutions. The Dreamless pray to their gods and make animal sacrifices. While the Mighty Children barter with Hastur and his minions, and make human sacrifices.
In addition to warring with the legions of Cthulhu (the Star Spawn, the Deep Ones, the Tcho-Tcho, and the Dreamers) and the Shoggoth, the empire of Tsan Chan is also warring with the Mi-Go in the Himalayas (as the empire claims it as part of their domain). It also sends expeditions to other parts of the world, to gather intelligence or find lost artifacts that may help them. Ultimately what the empire of Tsan-Chan hopes to do is survive the era of Cthulhu. Their goal is to continue resisting the Dream and hold out until Cthulhu tires of Earth and leaves it for another world or dimension. They have glimpsed into the future, where the human civilization of Zothique existed on a dying Earth, and that gives Tsan Chan hope.
Category:Organisations Originating From Lovecraft Circle Works