Kou Empire

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**Kou Empire** (煌帝国 *Kō Teikoku*) is a mighty militaristic country in the Far East. Thanks to its numerous Dungeon Conquerors and armies, it rose to be one of the most powerful countries in the world. The Empire's High Priest Judar was one of the four magi. Its capital is Rakushou.

## Locations

 Forbidden City (禁城)
 Magic Research Facility (魔導研究施設)
 Kanan Plain (華安平原)
 Tenzan Mountains (天山山脈)
 Yellow Sea Coast (黄海沿岸)
 Youshuu (陽州)
 Yuushuu (悠州)
 Samon Island (沙門島)

The capital, Rakushou.Forbidden City, the imperial palace.The Throne Room.
## History

The three kingdoms of the Tenka (天華) region – Kou, Gai, and Gou – were united by Hakutoku and his sons into the Kou Empire and began their conquest of other countries. During this time, Hakutoku, Hakuyuu, and Hakuren imparted their dearest wish to their younger cousin, Kouen. They wished to unite the world under one banner and vanquish war as a force forever. Unfortunately, due to the influence and movements of Al-Thamen, the three men were killed, leaving the throne vacant.

During the dispute for the next ruler, Hakuryuu was 6 years old and badly injured from the fire that killed his brothers, leaving no one to take the throne except his uncle, Koutoku. This caused an immediate rift between Hakuryuu and his cousins, as he felt robbed of his chance for the throne. His mother Gyokuen then married Koutoku "to keep her children safe." Over the next ten years, the magi, Judar, assisted in the rapid expansion of Kou's borders. The children of the Emperor spent this time planning their moves both against and with Al-Thamen in order to maintain the Empire without evil's influence.

Emperor Koutoku dies of sickness some 10 years later, possibly because of natural sickness, or possibly because of poisoning. His will instates Gyokuen as the next Empress, causing shock and dissension. Hakuryuu throws his support behind her and further divides the palace.

Eventually, Hakuryuu comes back and kills Gyokuen with the help of Judar and two djinns: Zagan and Belial. With her gone, he declares himself Emperor, inviting Kouen to challenge him and setting off the Kou Civil War. The country becomes divided into two factions: Western Army, led by Kouen with Balbadd as its capital, and Eastern Army, led by Hakuryuu from Rakushou. At the end of the war, Hakuryuu wins the throne. Koumei and Kouha are exiled, and Kouen follows after a false execution.

Hakuryuu rules for a year before disappearing to escape Sinbad, abdicating the throne and leaving it to Kougyoku, the only available Ren sibling left.

Following the 3-year timeskip, the Kou Empire is reduced to shambles, a mere shadow of its former glory. Bandits roam the countryside, people starve in the streets, and Fifth Empress Kougyoku struggles to raise her country from the pits of despair. The ecomonic problems are caused by the International Alliance that has forbidden the militarism and slavery that Kou's economy had relied on. After an intervention from Alibaba, who smuggles her brother, Koumei, back into the country, Kou is back on the uptick. It soon becomes a flourishing country, much to the annoyance of Sinbad, who wishes to see it fall under his sway once and for all. A company called Fanfan Trading Company is formed in order to market Kou products.

## Imperial House

*Main article: Ren family.*
Kou is ruled by the Ren family that have been in power for centuries. The united empire was founded by Emperor Hakutoku Ren, who had four children with his wife Gyokuen.

When Hakutoku and his two eldest sons died in a rebellion, the throne was taken by Hakutoku's brother Koutoku Ren. Koutoku had ten children with multiple women. The throne should have gone to Hakutoku's youngest son Hakuryuu, but he was still young and under a threat of dying from the wounds he got in the rebellion. Koutoku adopted Hakutoku's two surviving children and married Gyokuen. After Koutoku's death, Gyokuen becomes Empress, as stated in Koutoku's will. She is overthrown and killed by her own son Hakuryuu, who takes back the throne that would have been his.

After ruling the empire for a year, Hakuryuu willingly gives the throne to Koutoku's youngest daughter, Kougyoku Ren.

### Rulers

The ruling Emperors of the united Kou Empire:

1. Hakutoku Ren (formed the empire, ruled for an unknown amount of years)
2. Koutoku Ren (ruled for 11 years)
3. Gyokuen Ren (ruled for a year)
4. Hakuryuu Ren (ruled for a year)
5. Kougyoku Ren (current emperor, has ruled for two years)

## Politics

### World conquest

Kou Empire was born when the three countries of the Tenka region united. Emperor Hakutoku wished to unite the countries because violent wars had been fought between them for centuries. The first three emperors had the goal of conquering the whole world under one country in order to stop wars. Therefore, the cultures of the regions conquered by Kou were quickly suppressed and "Kou-ified". The fourth Emperor, Hakuryuu, ends this practice after rising to power and allows those regions to regain the independence that they so demanded with protests.

### Slavery

Slavery is legal in Kou and the countries under its power. They regard their slavery system as "humane" because the slave is freed after five years of service. The mistreatment of slaves is illegal.

Kou is forced to give up slavery once it joins the International Alliance, which prohibits it.

### Class division

Kou has traditionally had a clear division among the different social classes. Members of different classes can be recognized by the colour of their clothing: white for nobles, green for the commoners, and brown for the slaves. Wearing clothes with these colours is mandatory.

### Political marriage

Arranged political marriages were practised by Emperor Koutoku, who married all of the princesses off to the rulers of other countries with the exception of Hakuei and Kougyoku. According to tradition, the two spouses are not allowed to see each other before the ceremony.

### Al-Thamen

By pretending to be imperial priests, and maneuvering their leader Gyokuen into the position of Empress, Al-Thamen gains political power in the imperial court. They organized the assassinations of the first emperor and his two eldest sons. Hakuryuu and his armies manage to overthrow Al-Thamen by killing Gyokuen and enslaving the rest.

## Economy

Huang is paper currency used in Kou and its allied countries. The huang had a much fluctuating value. It made the countries that used it dependant on Kou due to lage amounts of debt. This was a way Kou used to economically submit countries it sook to conquer.

Years later, Kou ends up in similar problems it had caused to others with its huang currency. The Kou economy relied heavily on self-sufficiency, slavery and militarism, and when the International Alliance forbade the latter two in its member states, the effects on Kou's economy where disastrous. Kou couldn't compete in international trade and ended up in a debt cycle to the International Alliance and in danger of falling under the Alliance's control due to this. However, Kou's economy was able to be turned for the positive after new trading methods and goods were invented.

The Fanfan Trading Company was founded as a national trading company to trade goods abroad. The company, originally named the Kou Imperial Trading Company, was initially received with skepticism in other countries in fears that it was another one of Kou's attempts at economic conquest. However, after a name change, adveritising, and some rebranding, the views on the company and its merchandise became more lenient.

## Magic research

Many of Kou's citizenry seem to fear magic. Ling Li said that back home, many children cried because they had powers. However, Second Prince Koumei Ren understood the importance of magic in future warfare even before the appearance of dungeons and ordered a magic research facility to be founded. The facility is located underground in the mountains outside Rakushou. There, the military does research on qi or magoi, metal and household vessels, dungeon creatures, and magic of different types.

At the facility, the following inventions have been made, among others:

* Communication devices that function with Clairvoyance Magic and have the same reach as the devices invented in Magnostadt (9000 ri)[note] ,
* Transferring organs of dungeon monsters to humans (70% chance of success, earlier only 20%),
* Slowing down or speeding up the assimilation of Household Vessels of Eighth type of magic,
* The Eight Trigrams Talismans and their mass-production,
* Teleporting items and people to different continents between pre-installed transportation magic circles.

They are working on reviving people from the dead with Heaven Talismans so that soldiers can keep on fighting even after their death. The living dead soldiers were supposed to be used for conquering Reim.

According to Alibaba, the research in Kou might even exceed that of Magnostadt's, and he thinks that if Koumei were just a bit older and the research started sooner, Kou could have actually conquered the whole world with it.

In the new world, Magnostadt and Kou decide to form a new research facility together.

## Notes

* 里, in Chinese lǐ and in Japanese ri, is a traditional Chinese unit of distance. Its values have changed over the millenia, alternating between 323–645 meters. Japan first officially adopted the Tang dynasty measurement. In the measurement of that time period (323 m), 9000 ri would be approximately 2907 kilometers. In later times, the distance of one lǐ/ri was longer.

## Trivia

* Kou 煌 means "glittering".
	+ The Chinese pronunciation of 煌 is Huáng, giving the name to the country's currency.
	+ The Japanese katakana writing of huáng is fan, giving the name to the Fanfan Trading Company. This fanfan is written by repeating the Kou character twice (煌煌), creating the additional meaning of a lot of glitter/gleaming.
	+ The name of the region, Tenka 天華, means "heavenly flower".
* Kou Empire is based on Imperial China.
	+ Just like the Imperial Palace in Beijing, Kou's Palace is located in what is called the Forbidden City.
	+ The Tenzan mountains are based on the Tian Shan mountains, called Tenzan in Japanese.
	+ Similarly, the Yellow Sea at the south of the Empire is based on the Yellow Sea.

## References

1. ↑ Night 146, Page 16.
2. ↑ Night 54 Page 96
3. ↑ Night 161, Page 55.