Qi-Fu

Country Name: Qi-Fu

Population: 50% Qi-Fu Human, 15% oni, 10% hobgoblin, 20% goblin, 5% other

Capital: Mie-Liz

Goverment: Empire

### **Culture**

An ancient, dogmatic empire clearly rotting from the inside out, Qi-Fu has lasted far longer than anyone would suspect due to the nation's founding Suoxi principles of discipline, tradition, and respect for authority. However, increasingly large portions of the population have given up hope in the status quo, leading to shadowy forces being able to corrupt the nation from within.

The largest portion of the population are humans of Qi-Fu ancestry. A mix of Suoxi migrants with various conquered peoples, the Qi-Fu tend to have pale skin, black hair, and dark, slanted eyes. Despite a certain lack of physical resemblance, culturally, the Qi-Fu are an almost identical people. They hold Suoxi culture in the highest respect, and copy any new cultural change that comes out of the Celestial Empire. Traditionally the Qi-Fu saw themselves as superior to other peoples of the northeastern subcontinents, but over time many of their human, goblin, and hobgoblin vassals were able to separate. These days, the Qi-Fu find themselves increasingly subservient to the oni, and even to their former slave races since many of the oni prefer hobgoblin and goblin servants to humans.

The oni have always occupied a strange place in Qi-Fu society. Officially subservient to the Qi-Fu humans, many unofficially exercised great power on behalf of absentee nobles and bureaucrats, or as merchant princes. As long as they didn't enslave Qi-Fu humans, and paid lip service to Qi-Fu nobles, they could essentially do whatever they wanted. However, increasingly even these two rules are being ignored, and many feel it is only a matter of time before they come to dominate the nation, similar to their cousins in Dou Qian.

Hobgoblins in Qi-Fu are the carefully bred descendants of oni-human hybrids and vassal humans. Similar to other hobgoblins, many have fled servitude over the centuries, but large numbers still remain in Qi-Fu as law enforcers, shock troops, and body guards. Although technically many are slaves, they typically belong to large organizations like the military that treat them with respect. Lately, many have been shifting their loyalties to the oni cults, perhaps sensing that oni domination of Qi-Fu is inevitable.

Goblins have typically occupied the bottom rungs of Qi-Fu society. Descended from a strange mix of oni (typically the smaller subraces), humans, hobgoblins, and trolls, they seem to inherit the worse traits of all their lineages, and are treated as a dumb, weak, short, and ugly substandard beings by the other races. However, they are often slavishly loyal to those that treat them well, a fact that oni are increasingly taking advantage of.

### **Religion**

The Celestial Faith has traditionally been the dominant religion within Qi-Fu, however, as more and more people lose faith in their traditional way of life, worship of the Oni as representatives of a greater power has become increasingly common.

### **Organization**

In theory the nation is ruled by a hereditary Emperor, via a complex web of appointed regional governors, generals, and municipal bureaucrats. In practice, the meritocratic systems that once made Qi-Fu a major Empire have withered to almost nothing. Many official positions of power are now held by hereditary nobles who care for little other than how to use their positions to maximize their profits. Actual power is held by a shadowy web of oni religious cults, hobgoblin enforcers, drug dealing criminal organizations, shady foreign merchants, and even darker souls.

### **Origin**

Qi-Fu was first founded long ago in the times of myth by Suoxi and oni migrants from the Celestia Subcontinent. Once settled in the Eastralia region, Qi-Fu was able to form a massive empire, thanks to its large, organized armies, Suoxi bureaucratic and cultural traditions, superior technology, use of hobgoblin slave soldiers, use of oni magic, and the sheer heroics of dozens of now legendary generals, warriors, spies, mages, and diplomats. However, the ruling elite became increasingly detached from the common people, with the descendants of the original conquering nobles handing over power to oni and human viziers and hobgoblin, human, and oni generals and bureaucrats in order to focus on living lives of carefree luxury. Gradually the Qi-Fu lost control of the more sparsely inhabited areas in the west to nomads and elves, and even the more established eastern region began to break up into separate nations. However, the core of the Qi-Fu Empire, centered on the Eastralia peninsula, stayed stable for far longer than anyone would suspect, thanks to the deeply ingrained respect for authority present in Qi-Fu culture, inherited from the Suoxi.

However, in the past few decades, a string of events have increased the rate of Qi-Fu's decline. Several decades ago, massive environmental damage caused by the dragon Trasha in western Qi-Fu caused a near total collapse in Qi-Fu's higher end livestock industries, leading to civil unrest, an increase in the power of criminal elements, and major cutbacks to government spending on military and governance. This weakened state is what allowed Belara to defeat Qi-Fu in the Cape Wars and led to the lost of the Ta-Li Hold. Five years ago, Qi-Fu suffered an even larger setback when most of western Qi-Fu was conquered by the Uruzataar Khanate, a war that has continued to this day.

As a result, Qi-Fu is known as "the sick man of Easterasi" due to their weakness, especially in comparison to the strong Celestial Empire, which shares a common heritage.

With the official government weak, the oni cults, criminal societies, and other questionable organizations have steadily increased their power. Many of these groups are ultimately affiliated with The Oni Twins of the two cities No-Rex and So-Xen, who are considered by many to already be the true power within Qi-Fu. The Twins dream of sweeping away the last bastions of the old human nobility and The Celestial Faith in order to create a dynasty of oni emperors, ruling over a nation free from the petty morality, and based on the export of slaves, xuxu beans, and other illegal goods. Some believe their goals go further than that, and there are whispers that oni savants have taken an interest in finding the true intersection of the ley lines in northern Qi-Fu.

### **Diplomacy**

Ta-Li Hold was once a part of Qi-Fu, but is now part of the Kingdom of Belara. Although many common folk still hate Belara for this conquest, the incompetent and isolationist noble class has come to rely on Belara for almost all international trade. The rising Oni sorcerer class seems to accept that good relations with Belara must continue, for now at least. Ta-Li Hold is also controversial with Qi-Fu citizenry since it is the source of xexe beans into Qi-Fu. Although recognized as a social ill, the oni, and their allies within the government and the criminal underworld rely partially on xexe beans to ensure the loyalty of their pawns, servants, and foot soldiers.

Qi-Fu has a long history of trying to maintain a colony in Mai-Xi, far to the south. About 40 years ago, a revolt forced the Qi-Fu colonial administration to surrender much of its power to indigenous peoples, causing many to leave. However, as Qi-Fu itself continues to collapse, some see Mai-Xi as a potential fall back point if the entire Eastralia subcontinent is lost.

Relations with the Khanate are extremely poor, not surprisingly since the two nations are currently at war. The Khanate has recently taken control of western Qi-Fu, but a strong insurgency movement still exists, and most believe that if the Khanate were to fall into civil war, as has often happened to their people, the area could be easily liberated. Others hope that an even larger portion of the Khanate may one day fall under the rule of a stronger Qi-Fu Nation, particularly those nations with strong cultural ties to Qi-Fu, but perhaps all of what is now Khanate land, after all, much of it was once ruled by Qi-Fu at its peak. However, the upcoming showdown between the remaining traditionalist Qi-Fu humans, and the oni and their allies means it is unlikely that Qi-Fu will expand until one faction comes out on top.

### **Geography**

Qi-Fu has traditionally relied on its western half (now controlled by the Khanate) to provide most of its grains. The eastern part is dominated by carefully managed forests and parklands for the use of the nobility, separated by vegetable and animal farms, fishing villages, and market towns. The frigid northern coast is sparsely inhabited, except for a few heavily fortified cities, though Qi-Fu has blocked any attempts by arctic peoples to settle in this area.

#### The Fifth Splendour: Qi-Fu Underworld

This massive system of karst caves extending under much of the region is number five on Laelaz's list of natural splendours.

### **Economy**

Qi-Fu has had a rather weak economy for the past couple of decades. Although famous for exotic goods like Mountain Pollen and Curtain Silk which fetch high prices in foreign lands, much of the population is impoverished, and barely scraps by growing enough rice, vegetables, and pork to feed themselves. Trade monopolies (particularly the pseudo-legal importation of xexe beans) mean that the Kingdom of Belara is sucking most of the wealth out of the nation not already being hoarded by oni and the nobility.

One of the backbones of Qi-Fu's economy was the harvest of Tarrow Weed, a grass propagated through the Great Plains that increases muscle and fat in livestock in large amounts. Qi-Fu's western territory was traditionally the main source of Tarrow Weed for the more densely populated eastern half, who used it as the main food source for high value livestock like horses, oxen, fear roaches, and shadow dolphins. The loss of much of the Tarrow Weed crop to Tharsa was a major economic shock, and the conquest of western Qi-Fu by the Khanate several years ago has caused major problems for the long term viability of Qi-Fu's exotic livestock industry.