Cien Cleanse

The **Cien Cleanse** is the name of the massacre of Miranen, *mishu* and *shan* peoples perpetrated throughout Miran under legislation established when Fushinara Ikaera ascended the throne. During her short reign, Miranen populations fell by as much as 80%.

## Background

The Miranen justice system does not operate on shades of gray. Regardless of the crime, convicted criminals are executed. If found innocent, they are set free. Despite the legislation treating all crimes with capital punishment, punishments have rarely followed the letter of the law. Common sense and decency typically result in criminals being punished both moderately and appropriately for the crime that has been committed, typically through decisions made by community leaders.

In Lar 19, Fushinara Ikaera was instated as the *Ura de Miran* after the untimely disappearance and suspected death of her twin sister, Kidari Shinem-Ikaera. Her appointment was very unconventional as she was *eilora* (her intended-by-law had died before reaching Mi-Fe Cie) and had no formal training in Miranen law or culture. There was also widespread suspicion that she might have been involved with Kiden's disappearance. Until that time, Fushinara was never anticipated to take the throne, and was woefully unprepared to handle the responsibility that came with her new title.

One of her first acts as *Ura de Miran* was to re-establish capital punishment for all crimes and to reinforce that punishment regardless of the severity of the crime. She also clarified public decency laws, putting common culture in the law books and asserting that anyone who defied the laws would be executed without a trial. Many of the laws she put into place were hypocritical, as she herself was guilty of a great number of crimes under traditional Miranen law.

## Modesty Laws

Some of the most controversial laws put into place by Fushinara included a set of modesty laws governing the way Miranen men and women were supposed to dress. These specified things such as belt-width for unmarried girls and what women could wear if they had previously been an *asheindae*.

Examples of these famously include a declaration that "*no woman formerly of the Order may be seen on property not belonging to the Order of Scripts while wearing the ritual beads of a practicing asheindae*," and also that former *majuyue* could no longer wear the traditional kerchiefs, called *benaha,* as it might lead others around them to believe that they were still a formal part of the Order of Scripts.

As cultural traditions vary widely from one Miranen town to another these laws caused considerable trouble, doubly so since many former members of the Order of Scripts felt bound by their religion to adopt manners of dress which often went against the modesty laws that had been put into place. Notable among these is Liras Geshe, who was executed after refusing to remove her *shiveren* beads even though she was no longer actively serving in the Order.

## Execution Methods

Individuals convicted of a crime could be executed in one of three ways: beheading (by guillotine), hanging, or drowning. During the Cien Cleanse, only two individuals were drowned. The majority were beheaded with roughly a third being hanged. The bodies were buried in mass graves in the mountains to the west of Mi-Fe Cie.

Worth noting is the reason why more individuals weren't drowned, especially considering the readily available bodies of water surrounding Mi-Fe Cie. While not typically superstitious, Fushinara Ikaera had been warned by an Order of Scripts *mujayue* that death could pollute the water and would cause her to fall ill. After that incident, drowning was never used as a method of capital punishment again during her reign.

## Controversy

While the punishments divvied out as a result of the Cleanse were certainly extreme, a more controversial note remains in that Fushinara Ikaera did not create most of the laws which resulted in executions. She simply reinstated existing laws, placing emphasis on legislation that had been set into place centuries before without considering the context. The traditional punishment for any crime was already capital. However, they were rarely enforced and had no serious backing, relying instead on community and martial justice owing to the largely rural nature of Miran.