Celestial Empire - Dan Dio Suoxi

The Celestial Empire is one of the largest human nations and perhaps the most populous nation in Gloria-Etalia. This is due to their effectively urban-agrarian model of production, where people don’t own or live in the land they work, but rather in centralized towns and cities, and are assigned to different fields or infrastructure work by the local administrators. The Empire was the fruit of the attempts to maintain control over the large conquests of a warlord, and ended up divided in macro regions that were mostly autonomous and ruled by the local Lord Generals with an iron fist. The Celestial Emperor lives in Celestia and while formally he has full authority over the empire, the sheer travel time between the edges of his domain means he can’t enforce his wishes in far flung regions. Instead the Emperor is content to rule the central province and collect tributes on the rest but insists in maintaining a tight, crushing bureaucratic and public service in all his lands. A common joke is that the Emperor wears the crown, the generals wave the sword but Celestia is ruled by bureaucrats.

### **Organization**

#### Caste System

##### The Divine Caste

Only the Imperial Family and those who can prove descendants from one of the reigning dynasties of the past (though not the ones found 'Fallen' by the priests) belong to this Caste. To harm or kill a divine is a crime punishable by death by live entombing. The highest sin and crime in Celestial society, those proven to be guilty of such will have their names stricken from every record after their entombing and a ban will be enforced. Simply acknowledging the existence of such a person is a crime on its own, including to their families. The immediate descendants of one who commit such a crime are forever tossed to the untouchable caste. As such, Divine Caste members are almost never punished by any crime with more than house arrest for none want to invoke the fury of the Heaven Father by spilling their blood. Not even other divine Caste members.

##### The Noble Caste

The caste from were the Lord-Generals who ruled over each province hail from and includes their families and descendants. Not all nobles are governors, and some noble families are without a domain, yet they live out of the grace of the Divine Emperor/Empress in the court until such a moment where they have appointed a region to rule. Often the sons, cousins and brothers of a Lord-General are given fortress cities to command and rule.

##### The Priestly Caste

Monk and Warrior-Monks, Holy-Assassins and Scholars belong to the priestly caste. Only those born in the Divine, Noble and Warrior caste may become a priest, as entry is barred to those of lower birth. Priests know how to speak the three main languages of Celestia and are in charge of history keeping, spiritual guidance and many priests also command holy orders, including Holy-Assassins who do the bidding of the Imperial Family and the Faith by eliminating heretics, dissidents and other threats to the Realm Spiritual Safety. Priests are very influential and most Lord-Generals, City-Governors and even the Emperor usually has a court spiritual advisor, assuring the Faith has the ears of the nobility. Faith plays a big role in selling the idea of the united Suoxi Empire to the common folk and nobility alike.

##### The Warrior Caste

Soldiers in Celestia do not get recruited (though militias exist), and don't work in times of peace. Soldiers are born of soldiers and each province has a standing army, the largest one being located in the Central Province under the Imperial Family direct control. At the age of 13, any child of a soldier family is sent to a military academy for the next 2 years. Those who show more promise or come from officer families stay for 3 more years and graduate as officers, while the rest will be given equipment paid by the Provincial Governor and following an Imperial standard, training, and a position in court. Soldiers spend their life patrolling, training and keeping the peace when the kingdom is not at war. Their livelihoods are guaranteed by the work of the lower castes.

##### The Administrative Caste

The public employees and workers that do all the stamping, parchment-pushing, signing and book-keeping of the empire. Both at the Imperial, provincial and local level. Nobody is born to the administrative case, instead, at 13, 15 and 19 and 21, men and women born of the noble, worker and craftsman caste, as well as women born in the soldier caste, may take Imperial Exams. If one grade in the exam are good enough, they may join the Imperial Administration, and those who take multiple exams may rise in rank. Administrators are often sent to different provinces than the ones they took exams in. A large part of them work in copying documents to the Imperial Archives. Through a complex organization system that is nothing short of labyrinthian, each provincial capital is suppose to hold a copy of every important imperial document, allowing, in case of necessity, to recover lost documents or double-check tampering and fraud. Documents report anything from requisitions to the army, battle reports, taxation, harvest and all imperial affairs. Administrators do the actual heavy lifting of the empire, which means many provinces are 'self-ruling', and the role of Lord-Generals is to protect the province and make big decisions such as infrastructure projects.

##### The Craftsman Caste

This is the caste for those whose families have been working in the same trade or craft for generations. Their surname reflects their family occupation and rather than working the fields or building projects, they are allowed to work in their family shop. Blacksmiths, carpenters, boat makers, architects, masons and all sort of skilled craftsman reside here. Since Imperial universities only teach administrative business, it's the craftsmans caste that deals with preserving and advancing the knowledge of material production.

##### The Worker Caste (Also called The Commons)

People born in this caste have nothing to call their own. Their homes belong to the estate and are 'loaned' to them as long as they live in the province. Every week they are given a task to work in a field, imperial construction project, maintenance, transport of goods or other equally menial and back-breaking tasks, by the local Administrative officer. They are not farmers for will not always farm the same field, and one week they could be working in harvest, and the next they will work in the building. They are fed by the local administration officers with rations distributed to them, clothed in the same manner and have little hopes to advance in life, save for those who somehow can learn enough of writing and math to pass an Imperial Exam.

##### The Slaves

Slaves are like workers but much worse. They live in large communal housing, are given less of everything, and often overworked by whip. No one is born a slave in celestial lands but one may easily become a slave through contracting too much debt, petty theft, religious blasphemy and other minor crimes. Killing a slave is punished with a financial fine, for example, rather than treated as murder. The bones of slaves are ground won to be used as part of the recipe for Celestial Mortar.

##### The Untouchables

These people have it worse than slaves. They aren't allowed to live or work near any celestial cities and killing them carries no penalty. They are those who the priests have declared 'Fallen'. They are already dead in the eyes of the gods. Untouchables are often family members of those who committed crimes against the imperial family, or those who by one reason or another, are found to 'foul' to even enslave. A slave who hurt a master or flees captivity often becomes untouchable

#### Imperial level

These institutions exist in the capital of most provinces but report, at least in theory, to their headquarters at Celestia.

##### Imperial Archive

The Imperial Archive deals with the keeping, copying, reproducing and tracking of documents produced by every other branch of the Administration

##### Imperial Cartography Chamber

This institution collects all maps, geological prospecting reports and anything else related to the land. Due to Celestial culture being very focused inwards, they have way more maps of the Empire than anything out of it, and the Empire isn't keen on navigating, though there are rumors that old rare maps may lay hidden in the depts of the ICC vaults in Celestia.

##### Imperial University

This trains administrative works and conducts the exams for those who'd be admitted into such positions at an Imperial Level. The Imperial University also functions as a center of meta-administration. Here, the high-ranking members of the Public Service may discuss and debate matters to improve the administration itself.

##### Imperial Tax Office

Makes sure every province, city and port is paying taxes, keeps track of debt, interest and loans to the crown, as well as the circulation of currency.

##### Imperial Religious Chamber

Makes sure temples are cared for, names and assign priests to each court, temple and city, as well as deal with the calendar and religious rituals and holidays.

##### Imperial Admiralty

Regulate the construction of ships, the fleet, maintenance of ports and harbors and maintain control of all traffic around the Empire's cast

##### Imperial Army

Oversee payment, equipment, the housing of soldiers working directly for the crown, known as the Imperial Guard, and oversees the function of all provincial Military Academies.

##### Imperial Justice Chamber

Oversee all matters of justice that aren't handled at provincial level.

#### Provincial Level

##### Provincial Legion

Oversee payment, training, housing, food and logistics of all soldiers in the province.

##### Provincial Administration

Oversee other provincial organs to make sure they are working properly, and distribute workers to other provincial offices. Also coordinates documents with the Imperial Archive

##### Provincial Tax Office

Collects, taxes and regulates the flow of currency and goods in the province, and makes payments to the Imperial Tax Office.

##### Provincial Roads and Bridges Chamber

Oversee the construction and maintenance of roads, bridges and ferries, as well as collecting toll for city gates, bridges, ferries and cargo lifts.

##### Provincial Water and Waste

Oversee the construction of sewers, drainage, aqueduct and all sorts of waterworks.

##### Provincial Livestock and Crops Chamber

Directly coordinate with farmers to manage food supplies, also oversee stock of grain on granaries.

##### Provincial Labour Office

Distribute workers and slaves between the PRB, PWW and PLCC and mediate disputes. It's also in charge of registering slaves, capturing runaways and other tasks.

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=====Provincial Justice Chamber =====

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Hunt down criminals, pass judgment, declare fines and prison time.

### **Culture**

The empire is quite xenophobic and view any non Dan Dio’s as barbarians. The population is quite wary of any newcomers or foreigners and views them as inferior to their grand and powerful nation. Overtime in the celestial empire the expression 'glass coin' emerged, coming from the ‘glass payment’ that the Honorable Ecinevian League makes to the emperor every year. It means something that's guaranteed to give you good returns over a long period of time. The citizens of the empire are intrigued by these forgien goods and trade deals, and because of this development and interest in economics has recently exploded across all levels of society. Ideas like ‘glass policies’ have gripped the government as it has become increasingly trendy to produce taxes and laws that will pay off in the long run. In the military, a new branch of thought has appeared called ‘glass warfare’. Even the peasants have become interested. The barter system is being rapidly pushed out of favor in exchange for paying for goods at a set price (usually with glass) and a new idea has formed called ‘glass deals’, where someone will pay cash upfront to a person, with the expectation that they will receive that money back and more in a few years. (The peasantry invented the idea of investments). Their empire has a high percentage of literate people (for a pre-modern society standard) and three official languages. High-Celestia to be spoken by the Emperor, his court and high ranking nobility, Low-Celestia that is taught to everyone, and Holy-speech, which is closer to the original, now forgotten Celestian tongue, and is used by the priesthood since it's grammar allows them to understand the holy texts. Those languages really related of course, and sem from the same root language. High-Celestian was intentionally changed from Low-Celestian so nobility and high ranking could differentiate themselves from the rest. Technologically, they have aqueducts, sewers and everything that involves massive human cost infrastructure because the empire use said projects as an excuse to move the slaves and military around the country so they are often in unfamiliar terrain and less likely to revolt (or to succeed if they do, vs local forces who know the place). This means roads are abundant and wide, forts and dams are present even more than needed. Physically they are tall, caramel to ochre colored skin, white hair and asian eyes. Their material culture is really into intricate geometric patterns, and the colors red and black are associated with wealth and earthly power, white and gold are associated with religion and the heavens, and other colors, but especially blue and green, as 'poor' colors. They are traditional and a bit stagnant culturally since their massive empire is built upon culture.

##### **Martial Arts of the Celestial Empire**

Celestial Empire has a lot of martial arts. The real ones that actually can be used in combat are taught in the Celestial Fighting Academies, since soldiers come from a warrior caste and Celestials have a standing army, every soldier goes through a fighting academy. They teach mostly marching drills, how to read flag signals from the commanding officers, and very basic survival stuff like navigation and so, to allow scattered troops to find their way back. But aside from that, the 2 year training also includes usages of the long spear and the straight sword, the Celestial infantrymen main weapon. Those from rich families in the warrior caste learn horseback riding and fighting with the sword and the spear as well as how to use the celestial naginata.

Temples dedicated to the patron god of the warriors teach fancier fighting techniques which are good for duelling but not super effective in pitched battles. These warrior monks are still often skilled fighters though.

The Crane School teaches how to fighting with naginata

The Boar school teaches how to fight with the celestial square axe

The Tiger school teaches how to fight with the sword

The hawk school teaches how to fight with the butterfly knives

And the Wasp School is for archers. Teaches firing the bow but also techniques to 'survive' in melee and try to get out

### **Foreign Policy**

Due to the mountainous borders that separate them from the westrasi and the northern wastes, they only deal with two other nations on a regular basis. The first is the raiders, a nation and people that only reinforces their xenophobic views. Warlords have small livies posted along the border to drive off any large incursion, but small raids are still a common occurrence. The second nation is the Honorable Ecinevian League. In the past, the Celestial Emperor got impressed with an exotic good: colored glass. The Honorable Ecinevian League offered to sell this to them, and the emperor agreed. To go around the bureaucratic process of adding an exception to their isolationist trade policies, the Emperor sold a small island of the coast of the mainland called Yisuxi to the Honorable Ecinevian League in exchange for a large fixed amount of colored glass goods to be paid directly to the empire every year. This tribute eventually became a bit clumsy to pay so they started to pay the agreed value in coins. The Honorable Ecinevian League always pays on time, because the island makes them so much money they easily make a profit. The two empires refer to that as the 'glass payment'.

### **Religion**

Celestial religion sees the Emperor as a minor deity, or the living avatar of the All-Father or Heaven-King, the main deity of the Celestial Pantheon. Celestial Religion is a mix between Polytheism and Animism, where they believe there's a pantheon of nine deities (Two Major Deities and seven 'minor' ones), but also that the six essential elements have a minor shared conscience and many things have a 'spirit' inside them, who receive local worship.

Heaven-King is represented as a sage with long white beard, clad in golden scaled armor and holding a shepherd scepter in one hand, and a pair of orbs in the other. He's the God of Rulers, family, order, and the Empire itself.

The second major deity is his wife, the serpent-dragon. Mythos say the serpent-dragon had no gender, and the Heaven-King carved her female parts so that she could lay the egg that became the world. They believe that's why women bleed on their first time, that the male having sex with them is finishing to 'carve' her into a full fledge women, and that's why the bleed monthly too. A wound from the Sky-Father sword never heals. Even through generations. The seven smaller deities are:

1. . **Kryzhan**: His long white hair is the snow of white and cover the mountains in ice. He is the first born of the Heaven-King, after the world was made.
2. . **Sha-Xuan**: The Night and Darkness. She's Kryzhan's twin, both after him. This is why nights are longer in winter, she takes longer to go away when she can stare at the twins he misses. This is also why snow accumulates in high mountains, Kryzhar wanna be closer to his sister.
3. . **Din-Zhu**: The First Human and patron of cities and craftsman. He molded clay into his wife, Taisha.
4. . **Taisha**: Wife of Din-Zhu. She's the goddess of fertility as from her womb spawned the race of men.
5. . **Krokotan**: Foreign deity adopted long ago, included as a major deity now. It's literally a huge humanoid crocodile. Celestians believe he will one day eat the Serpent Dragon and the Egg of the World.
6. . **Guan Jin**: First born of Taisha. Is the patron of soldiers and warriors.
7. . **Zin Wan**: The spirit of the wind and patron of sailors, Guan Jin younger brother, he gave his body do the race of men could eat. Without a body, he became the wind.

#### **Origin**

##### **Pre-Imperial Period**

The Celestian Empire grew along the Heaven's Tongue (Dan-Fo) River. the flood plains surrounding most of the river were home to many small settlements of shepherds, while nomad pasture roaming tribes existed around them. For thousands of years this cultures coexisted, raiding and fighting for territory. As tool craftsmanship evolved, the sedentary communities near the river diversified into agriculture and grew in numbers, forming several city-states and micro kingdoms such as the Souxi, Dan, and Dao, while the nomad's technological advancements came mostly from trading with these cities. Centuries of stability in the region led to the parallel development of these communities, who by 1350 were frequently forced to ally with each other and other regional powers like the First Orde against the Treant Empire, and later against the treacherous First Orde in 1850. This delicate balance shifted in the late 1900s when one of the nomad tribes introduced a new fighting technique based around a the new breed of horse bred for war, and the long bamboo lance. Those two inventions together allowed them to defeat most other tribes in battle, and eventually built into a sufficiently strong army to threaten the River Kingdoms, as they were called. The conquest of the River Kingdoms by the nomad warlord Dan Su-Do (circa 2000) led to the first unification of the Suoxi humans in the region. These kingdom would grow and splinter into two smaller kingdoms at Dan Su-Do's death. In the centuries following, the civilization in the area flourished in several large kingdoms. It would be six hundred years after Dan Su-Do's death that a second great King would united the region, this time his edge being not technological warfare, but the riches from Emerald trade allowing him to hire tribal mercenaries from the neighbouring regions to subdue his neighbours, and settle said mercenaries into the newly conquered lands, allowing them and their families to move in. These man's magnitude of conquest was unrivaled, and for many years, stories about him were deemed fable in far away kingdoms. But Tinq Kisari was very real. By the time of his death, after forty years of mostly successful campaigns, his domain occupied half of the current extent of the Celestial Empire.

In Tinq Kisari's death, his generals elected among themselves a 'High General' called Qung Lao to continue to command the growing army into further conquests, and this became a tradition. This era is known as the Commander's Tent (Xin-On) Era, as the 'Emperors' of that time (they did not use that title yet), were generals ruling from their campaign tents. Eventually the conquests were so fast, the generals had to splinter their armies to double back and crush rebellions as the main body of the army marched on. Years of this led to the division of the Empire in macro regions where each Lord-General would rule as governor, establishing forts and managing the local army. Once the Empire reach the natural limits of the mountains and plains (circa 4440), the Xin-On era began to draw to a close, and likely would have shifted to a more centralized government if it hadn't been for the invasion by the Magna Orde in 4450. This lead to one of the most conflict filled periods in the Celestia Subcontinent's history, often known locally as The Nine Golden Heads Period:

##### **The Nine Golden Heads**

The Nine Golden Heads are nine High generals of the Celestial Empire from the Xi-On era that each were defeated and killed in conflicts relating to the Magna Orde.

1. Xu-Fan Who first attempted conquest of the ethnic Tnz in the north. He believed in the "Pursuit of the Peak" a belief that the Celestial culture was destined to reach the Izil Mountains. Aetl's defeat and slaying of Xu-Fan was a major reason why he was able to amass the political power to form the Second Great Orde.

2. Me-Fong was a defensive general who decided to consolidate past conquests instead of pursuing Xu-Fan's foolishness. Aetl led an army of raiders on Lionback down the Dan-Fo river and burned Ion-Dan to the ground. The ash run off from the river causes crops to wilt for a full two years. Me-Fong was assassinated by her own guards and her head was presented to the great Han in tribute.

3. Xaan-Du lead the Celestial Empire at a time where it almost collapsed. They were fortunate in that the decentralized system of kingdoms and fifes prevented a total conquest by the Magna Orde. Unlike the Tnz who had a strong link of culture and identity to hew to, most Celestial petty kingdoms had no strong ties so the Great Han could basically conquer one village at a time. Xaan-Du claimed the title of High General but really only had the loyalty of the most prosperous cities in the south east. Aetl Han spent ten years hunting down the general until he met them in single combat and fed them to the Giant Lion Az-To.

4. Gan-Ru is widely held as the worst "Emperor" in Celestial history. In fear of the Great Orde they bought off the raids with massive amounts of gold and tribute. This bankrolled The Magna Orde's conquests across the great plains and let the Orde become the greatest empire of its era. The tribute demands caused massive economic depression in the Celestia Subcontinent and Gan-Ru was killed by an uprising in his "Golden Tent"

5. Ton-Zu was a military genius who was born a peasant in the central Celestial subcontinent. He amassed loyal followers and was able to band several generals under his command. He led a counter strike deep into the heart of Orde territory and was considered by Aetl to be "My fondest enemy." On the eve of an epic campaign to clash with the assembled might of three Orde batllaiins of Lion Chariots, Tom-Zu died of a heart attack.

6. La-Mi was the claimed daughter of Ton-Zu and led the brunt of the bloodiest battles between the Empire and the Great Orde. By this time Aetl has decided to focus on governing his massive advanced empire instead of dealing with further conquests. She signed a peace with The Great Orde and many believe they had a relationship.

7. Tanz -Han was the first leader of wider Celestial civilization with known foreign blood. Called "the Bronze bastard" he led a civil war against his Mother La-Mi that raged at the same time the Magna Orde was being invaded by the Kara Khanate. The armies of Tanz-Han and La-Mi devasted themselves and both were proclaimed dead. (Traditionally held to be the same day Aetl Han died in battle against Kara Khan)

8. Qi-Chon was a peaceful and gentle minded general who saw the fall of the Great Orde to the west as an opportunity for peace. Unfortunately every minor Han saw invading the Celestia Subcontinent as a way to gain acclaim and be seen as the next Great Han. Qi-Chin survived 40 raids and assorted assassination attempts until they died from suicide from the stress.

9. Baal-Zchrun was a wizard in the employ to Qi-Chon that rose to power via dark magics learned from imported magic texts from the west. Their reign of blood fear and terror stabilized the Celestial Empire and lead to the first new conquests in most of living history . They were the first Celestial Leader to gain permanent land in Tnz Territory but this dark power came at a price and they went mad from mystic influence.

##### **The Modern Empire**

Baal-Zchrun was replaced as High General by Ea-Chon, who moved back to Tinq Kisari's home city by the Dan-Fo delta, naming it the City of the Celestial Heavens and Many Great Things, or Celestia as foreigners would translate it. High General Ea-Chon named himself Emperor and established the basis of the modern empire. A standing army fed and paid for by the work of the urban population. An agrarian system where the population lived in towns and cities, rather than the fields they worked in. They worked the fields who belonged to the local Lord General, effectively the governor, and were assigned different plots everyday, and even infrastructure projects in others. Fields hands were expected to know the basics of earth work and construction and were used as a massive labor force by the estate. City dwellers who knew a craft belonged to a higher caste, free from field work, but still would need to use their skills for the benefit of the empire if asked. To keep track of obligations, a extensive public service of bureaucrats slowly developed, and they became their own social class in time, almost as prestigious as the lower ranking officers of the standing army.

## Territories

When Xin Ea-Chon completed the conquest of the Dandio'Orde and unified the modern Celestial Empire, he knew his newfound empire would need a firm basis in nation building.

In addition to commissioning the creation of three new languages , Ea-Chon divived the enw found empire into six territroie with and additional seventh to be the seat of the emprie itself.

The territories allowed a consolidation of government power and allowed him to strength allies and weaken enemies. Parcels of the Tnz territory were cut and given to rival governor-generals and traditional cultural states were legitimated with territorial boundaries.

Today each of the six outer territories is ruled by a Governor General who acts mostly independent of the central empire. Each assigns a representative in the capitol to advise the Empress. While they nominally serve the throne, most of the time they act to push the interests of their homelands in the capitol and many have had heavy sway.

### Xiaxia

Capital:Xiaxia
A border territory constantlly dealing with poor land and outside threats. Its borderes were designed by Ea-Chon as both a buffer against invasion and as a way to weaken his rivals in the South.

### Daodao

Capital:Ting Daodao

The farthest north territory and a hardy land thought to hold hardy people. The current husband of the empress is the Governor of this territory and his support was a major reason why she could claim the throne. Daodao also oversees the land of the mountain monestaries

### Ion Dan

Capital: Ion Dan
Built over the former old city of Dan, Ion Dan is the most culturally rich of the Souxi lands and hosts ruins from many ancient river kingdoms

### Zarinan

Capital:Zarinan
The most rural of the territories, it is usually used for framing and lumber. Zarinan is the smallest of the territorial capitals and ther largest attraction is the Trade Bazaar in the High Hills by which Celestia trades with Westrasi markets

### Celestia

The capital of the empire, formed in the homeland of Ting Kisari, it's territory is the onyl land in Celestia under the full and total contract of the Imperial throne.

### **Yoxi**

Capital:Yoxi Danan

One of the oldest civilizations within the empire, Yoxi has a longstanding history as a source of Souxi Culture.

Yoxi was one of the first lands conquered by the Dan Su Do and he used the wide tracts of land as center of horse breeding for his armie. When his empire split into the northern and southern portions, Yoxi became the heart of a mighty SOuxi Kingdom whose culutral influence pioneered calavary tactics.

To this day Yoxi hosts the Great Games, in which horse riders joust in the manner of their ancient ancestors with bamboo lance.

### **Sing Ong**

Capital: Sing Ong
The middle bend of the Dan-Fo river was a valued site for civilizations of the subcontinet for milinea.

When the First Orde conquered much of the north east, the antigenic Sin Ong kings managed to push them back at the river and force the ordes forces downstream to do battle at Ion Dan.

In the Xin-On era Sin Ong became known as the "Jeweled Nut" its conquest was attempted by many Xin but few got close.

Sin Ong itself was a major reason why the southern kingdoms couldnt recapture the Dandio'Orde for so long. Any attempt to move on the orde would see Sin Ong flanking the Xin's forces from the rear.

Sin Ong finally fell to Xin Baal-Zchrun, who imported magical texts from the Bezel Khanate and bonded his flesh and mind to demonic magics.

The Sin Ong fork turned dark red when Baal took it and it was said you could hear his screams in the flames.

With Sin Ong captured , Baal was able to make firm holds in Tnz lands for the first time in over a thousand years. The Xin never cemented his conquest, as after his first victory in Tnz lands, his soul was swallowed alive by insidious forces from within and beyond. For this he was seen as the last of the Nine Golden Heads, the final 9 Xin who fell to the Ordes before the rise of the modern empire.

Baal's successor Ea-Chon would finish the Souxi conquest of the subcontinent. In a political move, Baal's initial conquered lands were added to Sin Ong territory to form a buffer area.

In modern times Sing Ong remains a powerful force in the North, matched only by Ting Daodao due to that regions govenor being married to the Empress.

The governor and culture of Sin Ong is notoriously inexpedient minded so most Imperial regimes have seen fit to leave them alone, less the "Golden Nut" regrow its shell.

### **Dandio'Orda**

Conquored Tnz'rans who are native to the northern Celestial Empire. They are the predominant ethnic group there, but are fiercely loyal and have little separatist ambitions currently. They pride themselves in the loyalty to the Siouxians and see themselves as equals to them. Other Ordes see them as just another Orde "allied" to the Celestials and treat them as such. The other Ordes represent them as a separate state on their maps and demand to discuss political issues with a Dandio'Orda representative instead of an imperial representative when dealing with their northern territory.

## **Plot Hooks**

#### **Her Divine's Grace Secret Service:**

Empress Dan Ning is young and many question her place ruling the great Empire, however none would there to openly speak about doubting her divinity. The Imperial Office of Whispers has sent the party to the province of Zan, to infiltrate the court of High-Lord-General Yng Don. Under the guise of merchants or travellers, they actually must figure if there's truth to the rumours questioning Yng Don's allegiance to the throne. Or if he is conspiring with the Empress cousin to enforce his weak claim on the Heavenly Throne.

Twist 1 ~~Early investigation reveals there's actually 2 people actively conspiring through correspondence and agents in the province. They go by different code names, a time honored tradition in subterfuge in the Empire: The Red Crane and the Black Spider. The Red Crane has been urging others to join the pretender and presenting arguments in favour of a civil war. The Black Spider instead is urging different generals to not cause a civil war and asking the pretender himself to go into exile.~~

Twist 2 ~~Once the player breaks into the General's office, they can find the Black Spide Seal. Meaning the general is actually the one urging some lords not to join the Pretender, and thus a loyalist.~~

Twist 3 ~~A failed assassination attempt by the party has the assassin carrying an order of payment with the Seal of the Red Crane. The assassin is a foreigner from the Tnz'qran tribes.~~

Twist 4 ~~The General was Both Red Crane and Black Spider. He meant to cause a civil war between loyalists and pretenders, weaken Imperial Military and then use the Tnz'qran raiders as a military forces, letting them invade the Empire and sit himself on the Heavenly Throne in exchange to returning a big chunk of lands to the Tnz'qran Orde.~~