Onshi

Location of Onshi

### Religion

Predominantly Kanidism, followed by Orthodox Christianity, Matirism, Lutheran Christianity and Kashitism

**Onshi**, also known as **Onshitama** and officially named the **Republic of Onshi**, is a country within the Nesarian Empire. Its head of government is the Prime Minister, a position chosen by general election every four years, though the country has no true head of state. Its national animal is the Tawasho Bat, although the fox is also a common symbol of the city of Onshi itself. Onshi is the only Imperial Country to have no state religion, but the Kanidite branch of Atonaki plays an important role in governance.

Despite its relatively small land area, Onshi is the most populated country of the Empire; as of the 2018 census it had 96,448,210 citizens, or 14% of the entire population of the Empire. Onshi is by far the most urbanised Imperial Country, a result of its prime location for trade which has always given the country the ability to import massive quantites of food. Written and archaeological sources generally indicate that the city of Onshi has held the position of the most populated city on the continent since at least 1000BC (500 INC) due to its ideal position as a trade hub, being in the centre of Inecuria and bridging the gap between the continent's two halves.

Though it was founded as a kingdom, Onshi overthrew its monarchy and established itself as a republic in approximately 642BC (858 INC), and has maintained its republican and mostly-democratic institutions ever since - though they have undergone several revisions over the centuries. Though Onshi has not been truly sovereign since its conquest by the Nesarian Empire in 81-82 AD (1581-1582 INC) - in other words, for most of its existence - it is generally credited as the longest-lasting democratic republic in world history, even if historians frequently debate how democratic some phases of the republic really were.

## Kingdom of Onshi

Onshi was initially a kingdom, established by the legendary founder King Ichekara Karashima Eshitepa, often nicknamed simply as King Eshitepa. The traditional date of Onshi's foundation is 1200BC (300 INC), though archaeological evidence suggests the site of Onshi has been inhabited since at least 1400BC. Onshi rapidly grew into a major trading hub, and used the wealth from this to fund large, well-organised armies to steadily expand the reach of the Kingdom.

By the time fo the rise of Kashita and Matiro in the early 900s BC, the Kingdom of Onshi covered the entire region of Kiti, and had established allies and vassals in the southern regions of Rishi and Ahika. Onshi settled numerous colonies across what would become known as Onshitama, spreading Onshian political influence and culture - though the Onshification of the region is a topic that remains poorly understood due to a lack of evidence, and it remains disputed whether Onshian identity merely came to dominate peoples who were already linguistically and culturally similar, or whether Onshian language, culture and religion replaced pre-existing Heguomin traditions.

The Onshian Parliament (sometimes called the Onshian Senate, but Parliament has always been the preferred English translation) was created by King Eshitepa alongside the kingdom, and steadily grew in influence as the kingdom's wars of expansion enriched warrior-aristocrats and reduced the relative power of the King. Initially existing merely as an advisory body, the Parliament steadily grew in deliberative power and successfully convinced the kings to grant more legislative power to the citizens of Onshi through popular assemblies.

The greatest reforms came under King Hakaro Karashima Konteko, often regarded as one of the greatest Kings alongside the founder King Eshitepa, who established several new popular assemblies and empowered existing ones - though largely to undermine the power of Parliament by appealing directly to the citizenry, rather than any genuine desire for democracy. King Hakaro was also responsible for conquering the southern isthmus and founding the city of Kyogoshi in the 970s BC, which would soon become a second major trade hub and would grow to become Onshitama's second-largest city. The plunder and slaves acquired during King Hakaro's campaigns were used to rebuild Onshi itself, re-organising the waterways and reclaiming great swathes of land.

The Kingdom of Onshi eventually came to an end under the reign of the tyrannical and possibly insane King Daicho Karashima Mutekana. King Daicho aimed to centralise power under the crown and severely weakened the popular assemblies, but his attempt to dissolve the Parliament was a step too far and led to Atsoku Kesadawo Zaite leading a revolution that overthrew the monarchy and established the Republic in 642BC. The political turmoil caused the empire of the Onshians to almost completely crumble in a few short years, mostly because subject cities felt they had no obligations to the Republic when they had sworn fealty to the King. The Republic of Onshi, subsequently, had to spend almost two centuries conquering Onshitama all over again.

## Divisions in the Republic

Though it enjoyed many years of unity in the afterglow of its revolution, the Republic of Onshi soon found itself increasingly torn apart by internal factions as the state steadily expanded to reclaim Onshitama, and as the city of Onshi grew in size and the republican aristocracy grew in wealth.

Without a single monarch to bind them together, the division between the Matirites and Kashitites became increasingly pronounced and bitter - and both across and within these two major groups, aristocratic dynasties jostled for political and financial power, often inflaming tensions between the Matirites and Kashitites for the sake of personal gain. The Republic was split not only by religion and family, but also by class; with their newfound power in the people's assemblies, the common people of Onshi gained some limited power to push back against aristocratic abuses, and as a class they were able to make their voices more clearly heard. However, the reforming efforts of populist politicians - known as *Sabeito*, lit. "people-defender(s)" - were frequently undermined by religious tension and slanderous accusations of revolution and ambitions of tyranny.

It is a testament to the resilience of the Republic of Onshi that it survived and even prospered through such intense internal strife. The mostly-democratic system of government was often capable of substantially smoothing out issues by converting potentially catastrophic battles into peaceful (if heated) public debates, and the ancient Divine Compromise established by Atsoku Kesadawo Zaite forced the bitterly divided Matirites and Kashitites to co-operate with one another in Parliament. A shared belief in the righteousness of their Republic and a strong pride in their nation also held the Onshians together, particularly whenever Onshi was faced with an external threat that all the differing factions had to unite against.

The Divine Compromise could not completely prevent bloodshed and, in the end, did not stop Onshi from coming close to civil war on the issue - but it took six centuries to come to that point, whereas comparable religious situations elsewhere in pre-Imperial Inecuria - such as the Amekizite-Shurite conflict amongst Nakkalites - frequently erupted into extreme violence. The Republic is often favourably contrasted against the far less democratic Republic of Nesaria, which ended in an open civil war as Emperor Mathados IV arose as the people's champion against an increasingly corrupt plutocracy, as the system provided no peaceful means of resisting or countering abuses by the elite.

The Matirite-Kashitite conflict came to a head in the 1st century AD and threatened to break Onshian society completely, but the looming threat of civil war was cut short mostly by a single man - Reishu Eshikana Kaniko. Though Reishu initially found himself heavily opposed by the aristocracy, his populist rhetoric and harsh criticisms of aristocrats inflaming religious tensions for their own ends strongly resonated with the moderate silent majority. With the aid of sympathetic members of parliament, he was eventually elected as Lord Protector of the Republic - a temporary autocratic position designed to resolve crises, similar to (but not the same as) the ancient Roman office of *Dictator*.

It was not merely Reishu's politics that united Onshi, but also his preaching; he spread the Kanidite teaching to Onshi, which had previously only been followed by the Suzhao monks of Heguo, as well as coining the term Kanidite (*Kanida*) itself. Kanidism quickly attracted many adherents, though historians have long debated whether the massive crowd of new followers were genuine believers in Kanidite theology or whether they were - as one historian described it - "simply caught up in the spirit of unity", adhering to Kanidism ideologically rather than religiously, believing in its message of popular unity against over-zealous aristocrats.

In any case, Reishu's preaching began the end of the Matirite-Kashitite conflict; though it would take several more generations to die completely, it was eventually overshadowed into irrelevance by the fact that the overwhelming majority of Onshians had become Kanidites, who had no tolerance for street violence and terrorism between religious extremists.

## Military History

Onshi has a rich history of military innovation, to compensate for the region's total lack of magic users. Onshian engineers, over the centuries, became masters of constructing fortifications, the most exalted example being the walls of Onshi itself. Most of their military devices were such well-kept secrets that all the knowledge of how they were made comes from modern reconstructions, for no contemporary source exists.

Onshi sported many unique military devices which helped them defeat superior (and magical) enemies, but easily the three most famous were the Repeating Crossbow, the Bolt-Spewer and the War-Balloon, each of which was used to great effect.

The Repeating Crossbow and Bolt-Spewer are essentially the same device, except that the Repeating Crossbow is handheld, and the Bolt-Spewer is a much larger artillery piece. Both are essentially self-loading repeating crossbows capable of shooting significantly faster than a normal crossbow or ballista, feeding bolts into the mechanism through a magazine. Similar devices did exist elsewhere - such as the rapid fire crossbow designed by Leonardo da Vinci, and the Polybolos invented by Dionysus of Alexandria. However, both of these are niche examples which never saw widespread adoption, due to the complexity and cost of their designs. The Onshians, however, by mass-producing these extremely complex devices, significantly reduced the average cost of a single unit.

The War-Balloon is essentially what it sounds like; balloons used for war. The Onshians extensively used balloons for travel and trading, and initially their use in war was limited to reconnaissance, but in the late 2nd century BC, larger balloons began to be used as mobile weapon platforms, carrying soldiers armed with repeating crossbows or even small artillery pieces. They are also recorded as being used to bypass walls in sieges, but this was an extremely risky move as the balloons were prone to being destroyed on their descent, usually by being set alight. These balloons were filled with Jadegas, named after its deep green colour, a non-flammable natural gas plentiful in the Onshian Mountains which is lighter than air. They were propelled chiefly by the air magic of Harpies, who were sometimes slaves but were mostly paid freemen. However, there were a few notable examples of the balloons being propelled by clockwork engines, and after the Industrial Revolution, steam and combustion engines began to be used.

## Geography

Onshitama can be separated into several distinct areas which each have their own character.

### Onshi Proper

Onshi Proper, or simply Onshi, is the name given to the metropolitan area that is the city of Onshi. This consists of the northern isthmus connecting eastern and western Inecuria. The natural environment of Onshi Proper is marshland, which struggled to sustain large-scale civilisation until approximately 1200BC, when King Ichekara Karashima unified the tribes of Onshi and built a large stone temple to Isha, the mother spirit which the Onshians worshipped prior to the rise of Kashita and Matiro. Onshi grew over the centuries to become a large city wrought of stone. Buildings and roads sprawled over the solid ground, but where there were soft bogs, pools or streams, it was simply impossible to construct structures.

By the time of the rise of Kashita and Matiro in the mid-900s BC, the Kingdom of Onshi had become wealthy by conquering and colonising the surrounding lands and taxing the growing trade between eastern and western Inecuria. The campaign of King Hakaro Karashima in the south of what is now Onshitama in the 970s BC secured the southern isthmus, ensuring future revenues, but the war itself also brought in great amounts of plunder - both money and slaves. Using this newfound wealth and manpower, King Hakaro instituted a grand land reclamation program to fill in all the land possible, only leaving empty the areas of water which were too deep to be filled in.

Grand architectural projects largely ceased following the republican revolution of Atsoku Kesadawo in the mid-700s BC, due to the economic turmoil and the unwillingness of the political factions in the Parliament to work with each other. However, in the early 500s BC, during the time known as the First Matirite Tyranny, the Matirites established themselves as a significant majority both amongst the Onshian population and in the Parliament. They were able to institute a program known as the Ordering of the Water, a process which took over two decades and caused major disruption to the city but by the end had organised the canals and waterways into a much more streamlined pattern, and had carved the huge Grand Canal through the centre of Onshi which even smaller merchant ships and warships could sail through - provided they took down their masts in order to get under the bridges. The basic pattern of Onshi has not changed since then.

The first evidence of fortifications surrounding Onshi proper comes from 1000BC, though it is likely that these were merely made of wood - although still well-organised and multi-layered - until the building projects of King Hakaro following his military campaign in the 970s. This wall was extended out multiple times as the city grew beyond its limits. The last expansion of the walls took place under the Second Matirite Tyranny of the late 1st century BC, where they remain to this day - albeit with many sections missing. These walls were not as impressive in terms of sheer size as the Great Wall of Ascaria, but were far more complex and arguably far more effective as an actual military fortification; the single, ludicrously tall wall of Ascaria was formidable, but in truth mostly served the purpose of intimidation, warding off enemy attacks. The Great Wall was only besieged twice, by Emperor Mathados IV and the Cosmovores, and both times the wall was overcome. The smaller but multi-layered walls of Onshi, on the other hand, peppered with guard towers and small forts, were attacked many times but only breached twice, first by Emperor Athdus III, who got in through deception, and the Cosmovores, whose numbers were so incomprehensibly vast that they simply climbed on top of each other to ascend the walls and overwhelm the defences.

### Onshian Sea

The Onshian Sea is a slightly salty and generally shallow inland sea. It is renowned for its very clear waters and vibrant coral reefs, as well as the sheer number and diversity of creatures that dwell within the dense reefs. It is a very popular scuba diving destination, but in recent times severe restrictions on diving have had to be put in place due to damage from tourists, and the water has begun to warm with the rest of the planet, threatening the sustainability of the reefs. Although there are many vibrant and unique creatures living in the sea, the most famous of them all (which has become a kind of mascot for the sea) is the Tiger Octopus.

The Onshian Sea is not rich in large fish like the Elvish Sea or Lake Jerutina, but it is abundant in shellfish, small fish and cephalopods, which greatly influenced Onshian cuisine - and, by extension, the cuisine of the Empire as a whole. The demand for marine creatures from the Onshian sea is huge, but fishing has been carefully controlled since time immemorial to avoid threatening the ecosystem.

## Flag

The flag of Onshi is a bat (specifically a Tawasho) atop a quartered background, with two maroon squares and two very light yellow squares.

* The bat is the national animal of Onshi and is strongly associated with the country. It is seen as a bringer of peace and happiness.
* The maroon colour is also strongly associated with Onshi and has frequently featured in Onshi since ancient times. The reason for this is unknown, but it is probably related to the blood of warriors, as red usually signifies this.
* The very light yellow colour represents the sandy beaches of the Onshian Sea.