Min (6.0)

**Min** (Burmese: မင်း; MLCTS: *Mainn*), is a monastic state situated in Southeast Asia, within the borders of former Burma and Thailand. Great Min shares a border with Bhutan, as well as is located near the Monastic State of Laos and the Matriarchy of Yunnan. The capital of Min is located within the city of Popa, within the walls of the Taung Kalat castle-monastery which sits elegantly at the peak of Mount Popa, never to be touched by the floodwaters for as long as land shall exist.

The floodwaters caused by the inventions of the decadent west annihilated any semblance of contemporary civilization which may once have existed in central Burma; Yangon had succumbed to the Andaman in a matter of weeks, resulting in the immediate death of hundreds of thousands and the displacement of millions across Southeast Asia, with most Bamar escaping into the highlands of Mandalay and Shan as to not risk a second devastating deracination. Any form of colonial governance — be it British or Japanese — quickly disappeared as the ports overflowed and the few airports became uprooted from general mayhem. Authority — be it minuscule — passed nominally to the hands of the 30 Comrades like a hot potato for some years, as no man wanted the responsibility of assessing a situation as dire as this, and the ball was eventually dropped on the few Comrades who thought some semblance of hope was possible.

It was not until 1953 that the State of Burma was declared under the Thazi Agreement, which officialized a Burmese government and military to occupy the newly-formed Mandalay Bay regions; though the government and military had little backing from those who still held any capital, and the few educated lawmakers nominally sided with those who could pay there way through law instead of their contemporaries who declared such law. Such a system was bound to collapse, and the fledgling State of Burma only collapsed from slow-coming economic malnutrition and widespread corruption in the mid-70s, with most politicians and military officials fleeing into self-administered exile or establishing themselves as mountain warlords in the north; the state of Burma was that of peaceful, unmoving anarchy. Those who had power — usually in the form of land — kept their grounds; serfs and did not make an effort to establish an advanced society, and those who did not have power or education stayed obedient to those that did. Such a system of feudal anarchy would continue to this day if not for the monastic schools which dotted the countryside, and had only grown larger since the deplatformization of organized society. Monk schools were the only places where laymen could hope to be educated to any degree, and thousand-year-old monasteries were the only refuge for those who were forced to live in tin shacks near their landlord’s rice paddy. In this the comparably-wealthy landowners, being devout Buddhists like any other man in Burma, spent their capital efforts in establishing more Buddhist infrastructure along the Mandalay Bay to replace that which had been lost in the floods, and such infrastructure allowed for an increase of membership in the large monk orders of Burma, further increasing the quality of life for those who sought basic education and spiritual purpose. It was within this time that a pro-bono government of sorts gradually established itself throughout Mandalay Bay, with the primary goal of upkeep of the monk order by laymen who sought enlightenment through charity, which quickly became a small — but mandatory — land and goods tax which applied to all working families which utilized the monastic facilities run by the monks — mostly that of the free schooling.

In the modern era, the monastic order of Theravada Buddhism is an untouchable entity. The monks, while docile politically, are still monumental in their influence, as those who disrespect the monks effectively denounce the entire nation and its people who have worked so hard to get here. There is no set ideology of Min, other than to simply live and disallow the invasion by any foreign power that may deplatform Buddhism. With these basic principles, the Layman Organization — a volunteer force that operates any tax collecting and meager military endeavors — keeps a steady but massively benevolent hold over the lands which they nominally occupy alongside the monastic orders.

Ultimately, it is peace that reigns over the lofty farmlands of Burma, and the people which carry it are those who are destined for enlightenment.