Bia Thin

Artistic depiction of Bia Thin and Ilan Qulun.

Bīa Thin is a nation on the eastern coasts, even further east than Kilan-Tal. It is often incorrectly assumed to be part of Hakland. It borders Ilan Qurun in the north, Asatta in the east and the jungles of Melukka in the far south. The mythical island of Mu and the island nation of Tenijima can be found in the seas bordering Bia Thin.

## History

As with many others, the true origin of the Buêrêng and Bia Thin are shrouded in mystery and contradictions. Some of the oldest writings insist that the people of Bia Thin arrived in "a floating city", which was doomed to fall into the ocean. Sages and wise-ones point at the lack of debris or ruins of said floating city, at least those outside of Bia Thin. The time before the first proper settlements is called the Liulang (wanderer) period.

The true beginning of their history (as in, the Bia Thin calendar) is the Wo period. Buêrêng settlers quickly claimed the fertile lands around them, wandered from mountain range to coast, from snowy hills to jungles in the far south. Towns popped up everywhere, fed on game, wild millet, fruits and whatever else settlers could procure quickly. Due to the monsters threatening those wandering alone towns soon becamed small walled fortifications, and the more prosperous they got the more they began to eye what neighbors had jealously. Eventually these towns evolved into full blown citystates, with their own colors, symbols and even dialects - known as Bǎolěi. It was Jin Wo the Bold, leader of one of those Bǎolěi, who conquered his neighbors and thus gave birth to the Bǎolěi wars - and the Bǎolěi period.

After Jin Wo had conquered a quarter of the land when resistence became too strong - the remaining Bǎolěi had formed alliances, a time usually called the *fragment stalemate*. Forced to seek another way to exert his hold on the land he founded the city of Chéngshì, with a temple dedicated to the Sovereign Court as centerpiece. Jin Wo did not live to see its completion but his sons took on the mantle of leadership as the Triumvirate Lords, who used combat, guile, assassination and bribery to increase their power.

## Name

One of the Continent's most diverse regions, it is home to myriads of ethnicities (including non-humans), each speaking their own language or dialect thereof. In the logographic writing system shared by nearly all cultures that inhabit it, the area is known as **貝國**, which can be roughly translated as *The Land of Cowrie Shells*. **Bīa Thin**, or **Bîia Tìn**, is how the name is read in the southwestern area of the region; some of the other variants include **Bi-guêd** and **Bối Quốc** (in the languages spoken in the southern interior and along the southeastern coast), **Buói-guók** and **Pòe-kok** (in the language predominant in the central and eastern regions), and **Bèiguó** (in the northernmost areas). In Bia Thin's prestige language, the so-called "Imperial Speech", the name is read as **Buêgog**.

It is said that the country was named after its abundance of shells, used as a currency since the Conjunction. The first human settlers brought with them ancient logograms, the origin of which is shrouded by many a myth. Each symbol represents a word or a morpheme, providing an efficient way for Bia Thinese to communicate across the language barrier.

## Notes

* The region is meant to be inspired primarily by cultures of Southern China and mainland Southeast Asia; Han Mandarin inspired peoples are present, but primarily in northern areas and the interior, thus relatively unknown to Nordlings and Nilfgaardians. Bīa Thin's northern neighbors however might be more familiar with cultures of the interior and likely call the area "Bèiguó".
* The prestige language, so-called "Imperial Speech" (帝話, *Dìuê*), was the official dialect back when Bīa Thin was united as single empire. To this day, educated people of the area are expected to learn it. When writing Bia Thinese names as they would be pronounced in Imperial Speech, use the Teochew dialect of Chaoshan.
* Real-world origins for each reading of 貝國:
	+ *Bīa Thin*: Lao
	+ *Bîia Tìn*: Thai
	+ *Bi-guêd*: Meixian dialect of Hakka
	+ *Buói-guók*: Min Dong
	+ *Bối Quốc*: Vietnamese
	+ *Pòe-kok*: Hokkien
	+ *Bèiguó*: Hànyǔ Pinyin (Standard Mandarin)
	+ *Buêgog*: Teochew