Ju Kingdom

Ju is one of three members of the triple kingdom, alongside Dhi and Kuan. It has a weak monarchy kept in check by a strong aristocracy, system of Yani monks and wealthy monasteries, and an emerging middle class. Though influenced and sometimes invaded throughout its history by its Diao and Kuan neighbors, the Ju people maintain a distinct and unique cultural identity.

In Sokan, the language spoken on the peninsula, *ju* simply means kingdom or, as a suffix, indicates a ruler. The name emerged when, during an initial meeting, a Seprum diplomat asked natives what they called their land and received the answer *ju* in response. In the kingdom itself, natives refer to their country as Daekon or Daekon Ju.

Ju are proud of their long history of research and discovery. The first and best temancers are born or trained in Ju. Ju cooks are admired across the Spiral Empire and the best are recruited to live in Makkada, Seprum, and Kuan.

## Geography

Ju is situated on a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by Forest and penned in by a desert on the fourth. Despite this geographic isolation, they have traded with Dhi and especially Diao throughout their long history, occasionally fighting their neighbors, occasionally allying with them against the Kuan or Diao. Though small, the nearby Forest means Ju experiences a variety of climates, from cold, snowy winters in the north to sweltering hot summers and temperate winters in the south. Ju experiences hurricanes, not monsoons, generally in autumn. The west tends to be more humid than the east.

Important native animals include the eighteen balanced animals: the leopard cat, royal crane, sun eagle, musk deer, Diao black bear, tripler wolf, magpie, pigeon, board, giant hornet, bumble bee, hunched vulture, goral, tiger, fox, raccoon dog, otter, and badger. In Yani and Ju tradition, each year in an eighteen-year cycle is represented by an animal with a balanced composition of Wild and Order. Arguably, the animals already had local significance when Yanism spread throughout Ju and Yani honja adopted them for ease of conversion.

## History

### Four Chiefs

Ju society began as a series of clans, each with an animal totem. Over time, clans consolidated beneath local chiefs, who fought with their neighbors until four larger chiefdoms had emerged c. 1250 PS: Fei, Weo, Daecon, Gyeong. The four chiefdoms lasted until unification in 547 PS, often going to war with one another or allying against Diao incursions.

### Unification

The smallest chiefdom, Weo, recruited the help of the Diao military in 564 PS to invade its much larger neighbor, Gyeong. When that succeeded, they continued on to Fei. Sensing the threat was imminent, a Daecon general convinced the Weo that the Diao were a larger threat. In a feat of military prowess still celebrated to the modern day, General Tokko launched a surprise attack on the Diao army, leaving it too weak to continue fighting. They retreated back to Diao and, by the time they had regrouped for a second attack, the Weo and Daecon chiefs had voluntarily unified to present a united front on the border, holding them back. The peninsula was united at last.

#### Ju Identity

Throughout the four chiefdoms period and after unification, the peninsula maintained a strong impression of having a unified, Ju identity. Citizens recognized that they were distinct from Dhi and Diao and made efforts to maintain their own culture and language. Even during the four chiefdoms period, chiefs often commissioned Ju-specific works of art, or paintings made in a distinctly Ju style. However, most farmers and crafters identified more with their local town, their lords, or their chiefdom than with Ju as a whole.

In a unified Ju, the sense of Ju identity spread to all classes. Because many farmers in the early days of the Ju Kingdom were itinerant, moving from place to place to escape high taxes and cruel lords, poorer citizens stopped identifying so much with the land they worked and more as Ju in the abstract.

### Kuan Invasion

The Kuan army invaded twice in quick succession, first in 46 PS. The Ju capital fell in 43 PS and Tsasi Saj slaughtered all members of the aristocracy who refused to bow to his command. The Kuan army spared most monasteries and made sure not to harm honja during the invasion, though some were relocated when they repurposed Yani land as farmland or locations for military bases. During the First Spiral War, Ju revolted, casting out the Kuan army in 26 PS, but a Kuan-Seprum army retook the peninsula in 12 SE.

## Diao Influence

Ju exists on a peninsula, separated from Kuan by a desert but sharing a long border with Diao. Throughout the course of its history, Diao has influenced Ju government, culture, and philosophy. During the four chiefs period, Diao rulers generally viewed Ju as barbarians who needed to be conquered and educated. After unification, they treated the kingdom more as a potential ally and trading partner.

### Writing

For almost the entirety of its history, Ju scholars used Diao characters to write. This created complications because, while Diao writing uses characters to represent words or ideas, Ju adopted those characters to make sounds, more like the Makkadi or Seprum writing system. For hundreds of years, proof of education in Ju was the ability to speak Sokan fluently but to write and compose in Diao—and, for spiromancers, in the scripting language Luó. In 18 SE, Queen Ryu unveiled the first, Ju-specific writing system, which used letters to represent sounds instead of words or ideas.

Most members of the Ju intelligentsia can read and write fluently in Diao. However, styles of calligraphy have shifted to be more inclusive of the Ju writing system. New investments in playwriting, poetry, and Makkadi-style rhetoric competitions by Queen Paek have led to a dramatic increase in the number of Ju works of written art.

### Examinations

Three chiefdoms, Gyeong, Daecon, and Fei, adopted Diao-style examination systems to staff the government and the Ju Kingdom maintained the practice. However, whereas Diao opened the examinations to all citizens, Ju restricted theirs to aristocrats only. The caste system emerged from separate levels of tests, such that only Ju of a certain rank could sit for certain tests. This was eventually codified in the branch system.

## Government

### Monarch

Ju is a weak, matriarchal monarchy that more often has a queen than a king or monarch. It is kept in check by a powerful aristocracy, who control a great deal of land, and members of the Yani clergy. These three often opposing forces make it difficult for the central government to accomplish anything substantial and most governing is left to local leaders, who are often low-ranking members of the aristocracy or members of the local community they serve. In recent years, efforts by the queen to create a better-educated population has produced a fourth force in government: a wealthy middle class with a stranglehold on the kingdom's universities.

All land in Ju belongs to the queen, but she gifts it to aristocrats and monasteries, either permanently or for a set amount of time. Certain positions in government, such as the chief of staff, come with attached parcels of land, which may change hands frequently. Periodically throughout Ju history, when monarchs gain enough power to do so, they take back all permanently gifted land and redistribute it as they see fit.

The current queen, Queen Paek, took the throne in 45 SE when her mother, Queen Ryu, passed away. She has two children, Princess Ko and Heir Jung.

### Bureaucracy

The government is split into ministries, each led by a minister, often with the help of a deputy. Temporary departments may be created to accomplish a specific goal, such as the Ministry of Food Surveillance, which was disbanded after a group of chefs and bureaucrats completed the survey. Every three years, the ministers choose a chief of staff from amongst their departments or the tribal parliament, who is responsible for bringing matters of importance to the attention of the queen and enacting her will across the other ministries. A chief of staff cannot serve twice in a row.

The Ju government currently has twelve ministries:

1. Revenue
2. Rituals
3. Military
4. Forest
5. Supply
6. Board of Censors
7. Personnel
8. Public Works
9. Foreign Relations
10. Justice
11. Spiromancy
12. Towers

There is also a temporary ministry to construct a public garden in the secondary capital.

The ranks of the ministries are filled by aristocrats who score highly in the examinations. Only the monarchy is an inherited position, although because only high-ranking aristocrats are eligible for the most prestigious positions, children often take the positions of their parents.

#### Board of Censors

The board of censors is a unique Ju ministry responsible for rooting out corruption and waste in the central government. Each watchdog in the ministry is assigned to a department or province and must be given access to all files but personal letters. Over the years, watchdogs have revealed bribery scandals, nepotism, attempted assassinations, and cheating during the examinations. Though the ministry is relatively new, scholars of Ju politics believe it may reduce the power of the aristocracy and monasteries over time, resulting in a better-functioning government.

#### Census

An important role of the Ministry of Revenue is to conduct the census, which happens every eighteen years. Census officials try to find every Ju citizen between the ages of 18 and 60 and record where they live and how much land they work. At the end of the census, land is redistributed to maximize efficiency.

Until recently, census officials did not record the presence of merchants and moneylenders, who are viewed with disdain for providing no value to society. However, Queen Paek moved to include them to get a better understanding of the total population and possibly recruit them to more useful careers, like farmers, tour guides, or chefs.

### Tribal Parliament

The tribal parliament is an ancient practice from before the four chiefdoms period, when tribal leaders met to discuss issues and make decisions. Traditionally, parliaments met until they came to a unanimous decision, though the modern parliament relies on a simple majority to make decisions.

Parliament can send laws to the queen for approval and move to overturn judicial decisions. They also make staffing decisions in the upper echelons of government and oversee the examinations.

#### Castes

When the Kuan-Seprum army placed Queen Ryu on the throne, she overturned the caste system and attempted to disband parliament, though she ultimately failed in that goal. Previously, Ju citizens were born into a position in the branch system: fruit, leaf, branch, trunk, bark, flower, or root. The positions were meant to represent a person's purpose in society and dictated the jobs they could hold, who they could marry, and which examinations they could take. Though it no longer technically exists, most aristocrats know what their branch rank would be, if it did exist, and keep each other in their proper places.

### Army

Ju only recently began to separate its army from its administration. Each province has two governors, one military leader and one administrator, who generally live in the provincial capital. The provincial capitals include bases for armed forces, who have, upon multiple occasions, forcibly removed governors from their positions.

Soldiers wear two-colored uniforms, one color to indicate their province, the other to indicate rank. They organize similarly to the Kuan army so they may integrate as necessary in case of attack, which means they operate in groups of ten, one hundred, and one thousand. Though the military was not disbanded after the second invasion by the Kuan-Seprum army, it diminished in importance and now all generals fall under the command of the queen, lest they draw the ire of the Kuen Empire.

#### Knights

Ju has a long tradition of knights, but they have grown in importance with the decline of the military. Knights are trained at one of two Ju academies, one high in the mountains near Seong and one near the edge of the desert, where General Tokko trained before he united the peninsula.

Academies are open to all three genders, though in general, it is expected that men train in combat, women in spiromancy, and wiferes in religion. Most instructors at the academies are Yani monks or retired military officials. Once graduated, knights are expected to travel the country in groups of three, one fighter, one mage, and one monk, solving problems where they see them and defending the land against invaders.

Knights live under a tight code of conduct, which includes showing proper respect to their parents and queen; remaining faithful to all promises; never retreating in a just battle; and showing mercy, even to those who commit crimes. Some monks claim showing mercy to the guilty is a subtle sign of Parai influence in Ju culture and argue for stricter punishments. In Hafya, mercy is still considered a virtue.

## Religion

Ju is a predominately Yanist and Sudha country. Though Yan was likely born in Dhi, the religion has more power in Ju, due to Dhi's liberal land recycling policies, which prevent monasteries and Yani religious leaders, called honja, from gaining too much land and influence. By far the largest land holders in Ju are the Yani monasteries. Monarchs and aristocrats gift land to monasteries and honja frequently to curry favor and gain influence. Many eldest children, especially wifere, are expected to become monks, though unlike in Dhi, this does not mean giving up inheritances and titles.

The most influential sect of Yanism in Ju is Hafya, which focuses on transcription, the act of creation, and states of flow. Monks train by transcribing books and learn painting, sculpting, and Ju calligraphy.

Since the first Mauzji merchants arrived in Ju in 2036, the country has seen a heavy Sudha influence as well, especially on the southern coast. While approximately ten percent of the Ju population identifies as Sudha, the religion itself has far less political power and therefore, its temples and elai control little land. Unlike in Hafya, where donating money and time to monasteries is encouraged, Sudha believers are supposed to help the poor rather than the religion as an institution.

Theism still exists throughout the country, but especially in the rural areas and eastern side, farther from Mauzji trade routes. Pantheons in Ju tend to be distinct from those in Seprum and share some similarities with those in Dhi.

Queen Paek has suggested instituting a tax on Sudha in Ju, in response to the tax the Makkadi government places on Yani in Makkada. The idea of a tax has a lot of support amongst the aristocracy and honja, though the Kuan Empire does not support it, making it unlikely to be enacted.

### Geomancy

Geomancy is the practice of ranking landscapes on two axes: decay to prosperity and goodness to evil. Prosperous, good landscapes make good locations for houses and palaces and decaying, evil locations are good for temples. Though the practice itself was meant to be politically neutral, most geomancers are monks and aristocrats, who often claim the best land has decaying energy, thereby forcing the monarch to gift it to a monastery or face political consequences.

## Science

### Paleontology

Ju scholars have long been fascinated by ancient bones uncovered by the desert wind. Initially, they believed, as the Diao did, that the bones belonged to dragons and other mythical beasts. Over time, and through dedicated reconstruction efforts, they realized that most of the skeletons bore resemblance to modern-day animals, sometimes even down to the number of wrist bones.

Wealthy Ju purchase complete skeletons and display them prominently on their estates. Queen Paek has an entire menagerie in the palace, including fake fences and cages for the long-dead animals. Because no other kingdom places worth on fossils, skeleton collections are generally left alone during invasions. In recent times, Makkadi tourists have taken some interest in the fossils, especially those of species now extinct, and may pay lavishly to bring them to museums in Makkada.

### Botany

A Gyeong philosopher was the first to suggest that all animal and plant life comes from the same source. He named the source of animal life *dyong* and the source of plant life *sing*. In his view, while the Forest was filled with *sing*, the spiral was filled with *dyong* and the edges of the Forest existed in a state of balance between the two. His ideas remained widely respected until after unification, when they fell out of favor to the theory of slow change, which also held that animals and plants were related to one another in important ways, but added a third category, fungi. Ko assigned each a gender: women were animals, men were plants, and wifere were fungi. Guk suggested that, just as a woman changes over her lifetime, the kingdom of animals changes over its lifetime, as do plants and fungi. Gong provided the crucial missing mechanism by observing bees pollinating flowers. She compared the shapes, colors, and sizes of her orchids to the Diao zhuge, designed to best an earlier, simpler crossbow. Might flowers also be in an arms race? Larger flowers, or those that smelled better, received more visits from bees, which made them more likely to reproduce.

Thus emerged a the theory of slow change. If plants with favorable features were more likely to reproduce, it implied a slow, but inexorable, change in how plants expressed themselves. She concluded her theory by suggested the spiral was the mechanism by which animals saved successful features to pass to the next generation and the Forest for plants. Unsure where fungi fit in, she concluded they must not change over time, which was why lichens, molds, and mushrooms came in only a few varieties.

Her theory sparked great interest in the field of botany especially, which was easier to study than biology. Ju botanists breed fabulous plants and trees that grow multiple types of fruit. One such tree produces eight different fruits and is a common tourist destination, especially for Kuan. Their spiromancers learned from and improved Dhi runes for growing and have taken slow change into their hands, changing the underlying nature of plants so that they might grow hardier or yield more food. Their frequent surpluses make them excellent trading partners for Dhi, which often does not have enough food.

Ju expertise in this area makes them valuable to Makkadi traders. The wealthiest caravans have one or two dedicated botanists, who read the plants and trees to determine future weather patterns and spot approaching threats. The Kuan army impresses Ju botanists to serve a similar purpose in their campaigns against the Ma'hea.

### Cuisine

While Dhi spiromancers lavished most of their attention on growing potatoes, Ju spiros and botanists aim to produce a variety of delicious and filling foods. In recent years, this has led to great advances in their cuisine. They cook with three types of rice but show a preference for short-grain brown rice. Rice accompanies most meals, of which there are two or three a day. Chefs also make frequent use of bean paste, soy sauce, spices from Makkada—pepper flakes, chili peppers, and onion—and cabbage. Most Ju households make their own noodles, which they eat alongside spiced meat or in spicy soups.

Seafood from Seprum is a new delicacy, available only to the rich. Ju chefs can mimic Seprum styles, often preferred by Kuan diners, but have also created their own unique Ju-Seprum fusion, which adds rice, sesame, soy sauce, bok choy, and cabbage to seafood dishes like calamari, crab, and fish.

In Ju, dumpling-making is taken seriously and most families have their own recipes. Regional variation is large, and a government commission in 78 SE sent trained chefs to all ten Ju provinces to learn from the aristocracy and the farmers their unique styles. Seafood dumplings are especially prized for their novelty.

Kimchi, or fermented vegetables, is served at almost each meal. The name is misleadings, as kimchi actually encompasses a wide variety of dishes, spice palettes, and vegetables. Again, regional variations are large. Because kimchi is less well-known to outsiders, the government is less invested in collecting the different types. Chef Gu suggested that each family might have their own traditional spice mixture, which suggests a beguiling number of unique recipes for kimchi alone.

The guild of chefs certifies Ju chefs for serving outsiders. Because Ju cuisine is in such high demand, most are hired upon certification and sent to Kuan, Makkada, or Seprum to cook for wealthy families or run a restaurant. When Queen Paek realized the best talent was leaving Ju, she instituted a recruitment campaign, hiring some of the best chefs to work in her palace or the houses of political allies. She also created permanent positions in government for traveling chefs, who go from province to province, offering their services to the people for free during holidays, and food scientists, who create new dishes.

### Meteorology

Ju was the first civilization in the Spiral Empire to set about rigorously studying the weather through both physical and magical methods. Today, they have a series a rain gauges set up across the kingdom, which measure daily rainfall. Accountants tabulate averages and look at the depth of lakes and rivers to predict future famines or droughts. Ju temancers can predict when storms will arrive and how strong the wind, rain, and hail will be by observing clouds form above the Forest.

## Culture and the Arts

### Music and Ritual

Music and rituals are intricately connected. Some rituals have a spiritual component, such as a song and dance designed to create a good harvest; a religious component, such as the hymns that YanI monks chant; or cultural component, including rituals for coming of age, marriage, and death.

All rituals involve musical instruments, and many also include singing, chanting, or dancing. Some can be done with relatively few people and others, like the one around the harvest, require most of a village. Rituals may change in scale—the queen's marriage involves much more pomp than that of a farmer, though the basics of the ritual remain the same in both.

The ministry of rituals is responsible for improving musical instruments or importing new ones, training musicians, and promoting the study of music theory. They also maintain a distinctly Ju style of music, with notes represented in the Sokan script as opposed to Diao's.

### Calligraphy

Calligraphy is a required skill for a scholar and for members of the aristocracy. Unlike in Makkada, it is one intricately connected to painting, and paintings generally feature writing heavily. The practice of calligraphy likely stems from rune-craft, which places an emphasis on precision and saving space.

Professional painters and calligraphers are seen as less valuable because they have tainted an art form with the need to create a profit. In general, they supply pictures for court and woodcuts for books. Most feature landscapes rather than people. It is common to copy previous works of art that are considered exceptional and often, a painters skill is judged by how well they mimic the greats.

Amateur painters and calligraphers do not sign their works—only professionals do so, as it tarnishes the value of a painting. Generally members of the aristocracy instead of the working class, their skills are admired because they came from hard work and internal motivation, rather than the need to sell their creations. All scholars should strive for excellence in calligraphy and painting. Civil servants from lower ranks have some leeway in this area, but ministers and deputies are expected to be good artists.

### Clothing

Ju men and wifere of all classes wear pants, a jacket, an overcoat, and a hat if they are in the civil service or military. The pants are narrow and tied at the end with a cord. Women wear skirts, jackets, and overcoats. When riding, women will wear pants, either instead of or beneath the skirt. Most outfits also include a belt, shoes, and potentially another overcoat for warmth. The length of the jacket varies over time, though currently, short, tight sleeves and a long waist are in fashion. High collars and large cuffs, made of a different color of fabric, are also in style.

#### Clothes at Court

At formal events, women wear a *hanbok*, a two-part dress made of silk, hemp, or linen and dyed bright colors. Men and wifere wear skirts or robes. They also don hats, generally black.

Civil servants wear clothes based on their ranks. The head of a ministry is considered rank one, their deputy rank two, and so on. Ministers and deputies wear red robes, those above rank eight wear green robes, and those below rank eight wear blue.

Aristocrats wear jackets or robes with symbols sewn onto the hem to indicate rank. Certain colors and animals are reserved for the queen, such as gold and the tiger. They may also embroider symbols that represent good luck and wealth onto the sleeves and bodies of clothes. In recent years, the Makkadi practice of sewing precious metals into clothes has also taken hold in the capital.

The queen and her direct relatives wear ceremonial dresses: a one-part shift, pants, jacket, skirt, knee covers, and robe. Their jewelry emphasizes jade and gold. The queen and her heir may also wear crowns and hold ceremonial tablets.