Wall of the Shou

The Wall of the Shou is the massive stone wall that divides the Shou Empire in the east from the Eastern Wastes, in the west. The wall spans thousands of miles, and is perhaps the most impressive work of engineering and architecture in the world. Built into its slinking, serpentine form are numerous gates, garrisons, guard towers, signal towers, and even barracks.
The massive barrier was commissioned in –1,995, when the first emperor of the Shou Empire, Emperor Kang, discovered that the cultures to the west were just as “unenlightened” as the Ryukan people were, if not more so. The Wall of the Shou, asides for protecting the fledgling empire, would also prevent culture diffusion from the barbarians to the west and the Shou people. Eleven years later, in –1,984, the construction on the wall ended. Celestials sent by the Celestial Emperor were bound into the wall to protect it, and the Shou Empire, during ceremonies marking the completion of the massive wall.
In –1,982, after consulting with his advisors, Emperor Kang II declares all men and women west of the Wall of the Shou to be “unclean” and “tainted” by exposure to non-Shou concepts and ideas. All of those who had ventured west of it were banished, and the wall prevented all from the west from entering into the Shou Empire. Eventually, in 540, Emperor Pao Ting reversed this imperial decree, and had the Gate of Illustrious Commerce commissioned to mark the momentous event.