Shan Refugee Movement

The **Shan Refugee Movement** was the widespread relocation and representation of both Miranen and mishu individuals who came under persecution in Mi-Fe Cie and the surrounding areas during the Cien Cleanse.

## Background

Within Miranen society, there is little tolerance for individuals, actions, and beliefs that fall outside the norm. Following folk tales like that of Mishue and the Seven Stars, it is widely believed and felt that anyone who could be considered other is something to be avoided.

While it might be a common belief, that line of thought mostly translates into individuals who would be considered different becoming social pariahs. That can be true of people who are Miranen but have some physical or mental disability or deformity, or individuals who genuinely are *mishu* or *shan*.

When Fushinara was coronated in Tehare 1, she began to radically change the way that the law addressed people who violated what she would call "social law," in that they existed within Miranen society without the acceptance of the majority of other citizens. The legal changes she implemented turned many of these individuals from being outcasts to being criminals, often for characteristics that were out of their control.

The Cien Cleanse saw these laws being enforced with brutal results. Individuals who violated the new social laws were gathered up and executed. The laws left little grey area for interpretation and often targeted individuals who would not ordinarily have been seen as violating any accepted social norms. With few resources for escape and no experience with this type of persecution, most were easy targets.

## Creation of a Movement

As a central witness to many of the horrifying changes being carried out within the city, Fii Giriin was the first to devise the idea of creating refuges for people in need. The Order of Scripts had a long history of helping people who were on the fringes of Miranen society and they were also accustomed to hiding those who wanted to avoid detection. Working with the Order, Fii created the first camps by relocating people who were in immediate danger to shrines within Curse.

While the first relocations were limited to a few individuals, it quickly became apparent that they would need to establish a location that could function as communal housing. This led to the establishment of the first so-called "outcast camp," which took the form of a small village on the outskirts of Curse. The buildings were a mixture of traditional Miranen dome houses and more eclectic buildings created to deal with the challenges presented by the forest. The village was several miles from Mi-Fe Cie, a short distance but enough that it guaranteed that the *gopari* were unlikely to travel to the area for any reason other than a direct order.

Working with connections both inside Mi-Fe Cie and within the Order of Scripts, Fii and other willing individuals evacuated as many at-risk individuals and families as they could manage without attracting the attention of the Ura de. These included some notable figures, including Hange-Runec Ikaera III.

## Camp Expansion

What began with a single community expanded to a total of eight, varying in size from a few dozen families to over 100. By the time the Cien Cleanse had ended, the camps were home to roughly 6% of Mi-Fe Cie's original population.

## After the Cleanse

When Fushinara Ikaera was killed, the harsh legal views that she had championed were quickly discarded by both the Council of Leaders and the community as a whole. Some former residents of Mi-Fe Cie opted to return to their former homes, but many opted to stay in the outcast camps. So much time had passed that many had built lives and established farm land around the camps, which made it difficult to return to property they had not tended for more than a decade.

The Cleanse had decimated the region's Miranen population. Families who returned to their original homesteads often expanded their properties to include neighboring land that no longer had tenants. This resulted in a city with a much more fluid organization than it had originally contained.