Qufu

Qufu is a planet of the Virasana Empire, famous for the production of insect silks and its opressively strict social customs. Qufu silk is known all over the Empire as highest quality wares.

## Climate

* verdant, earthlike
* faszinating mixture of terran and native species in one of the better examples of terraforming
* large population of insectoid species, barely any mammals

## History

* Originally settled by House Tô-Genji
* When Shang Zhou became too industrialized to support the traditional Tô-Genji lifestyle, much of its cultural landmarks, values and even people were moved to Qufu to be preserved.
* Often considered a museum - or rather a themepark - as most attempts of any sort of actual living culture are violently oppressed.
* Access to Qufu is heavily restricted. Landing permit requires invitation by a local noble, which is only given after personally petitioning said noble. As those nobles rarely leave their planet, that is ... difficult.
* Except for the main spaceport and a handful of enclaves, commoners are not allowed on Qufu; everyone is either a nobles, has been personally invited by a noble, or is a priest or serf. Travel is highly restricted.
* Only a handful of priests are living on Qufu, all of them having sworn not to meddle with the social structures and local customs.
* Technology is restricted to the nobility, everything beyond a mechanical loom is considered contraband. Even for nobles, the use of technology is expected to be conducted discreetly, 'under the moonlight'.
* Interregional transport happens via hovercraft for nobles, but only as in 'one noble visiting another'. All other transport happens either by foot, horse, cart or sedan chair.

## Culture

*Quote from the Memoirs of Empress Lilitu*

> "If, in this universe, there is a point to where all tradition gravitates, where it condenses and hardens into immutable facts, then it is on Qufu, where I was born. Here, the caste you are born into determins every aspect of your life - your education, your profession, your food, your spouse, your home and the place you will be buried. Born to a silk weaver, you are a silk weaver. Unless, of course, you have the misfortune of being a woman. Then you are nothing but a silk weaver's daughter, a silk weaver's wife, and many a young silk weavers' mother."
>
>

Due to the history of Qufu as 'family heirloom' of House Tô-Genji, it has a highly rigid caste system even for Kyothari standarts, and it is both revered and reviled for the strict social mores its people uphold.

Consequentially, music on Qufu is as strictly regulated as everything else. Only traditional pieces for harp and flute may be performed in public, as well as religious chants and gospel music.

Food is strictly allocated by caste, allowing only certain ingredients at certain times of the year for certain people. Accordingly, the local cuisine is as familiar as it is uninteresting, relying on root vegetables and fruits. The only exception is a variety of teas, which are carefully grown and prepared and exported throughout the empire. Notably, the Black Olives of Quum, a fruit growing exclusively on Qufu, are considered a particular delicacy and are encouraged to be part of every meal, though the culinary value of these seem to be undecipherable by non-natives.

The only visual art form condoned is painting, though only as long as it is for religious purposes, the worship of ancestors or landscape art praising the planet's natural beauty. While highly skilled, Qufu paintings are of little artistic interest, though every generation or so one artist manages to sneak a bit of brilliant subterfuge into their art - those pieces garner highest prices all over the empire.

Poetry is highly priced, as well, but only as long as it follows the traditional forms and regulations - naturally requiring an amount of education and refinement that only nobles could possibly possess.

Sports and any leisurly activities are strongly discouraged.

As to be expected on a planet with such an encompassing focus on the past, ghost stories abound; with 'The Lamenting Maidens' Lake' and 'The Cursed Loom' only the most popular among them.

The Qufi euphemism of 'doing things under the moonlight' as a way to say that it is something 'we all agree not to notice so we can keep face' is widely in use all across the empire.

There are only a handful of priests on Qufu, all of them sworn not to meddle within the social structures that have been carefully set up and maintained over centuries.

## Snippets

* Two famous Qufi teas are the fragrant Hoh'Dong and the delicate Kuan'Tian

## Notable Qufi

 Li Lan Tô-Genji Lilitu Quetzal Mahout Veruda Quetzal