Asaguni

From BluWiki

(under construction)

[edit] Geography

On the north-east coast of Avisia, extending for some 1500 miles along the coast and reaching up into the mountains, about 2000mi long (compare- Japan=1200mi, China=3000mi wide)

[edit] Culture

The name Asaguni means "Morning Country," and comes from the belief that the people were born of the sun. It is ruled over by a god-empress, the Sumeragigami (lit. emperor god), the latest in a dynasty descended directly from the sun-goddess.

[edit] Language

The official language of Asaguni is Meigo (=bright speech) and is used across the country with various dialectic variations.

There is a courtly, ultra-polite version of Meigo, called Terashi-gatari (=shining speech), which is used in all official dealings, court proceedings, discussions between courtiers, nobles and priests, and there is an extra polite set of verb declensions and humble/respectful personal pronouns to be used if addressing the empress.

In Meigo, Asagunians refer to themselves as either Chojin or Asahito, both of which translate as "morning people".

Language note: Meigo is essentially Japanese, so for pronunciation guidelines you should refer to <Japanese pron link>. Instead of regular vocabulary, I'm using archaic or made-up terms for stylistic reasons and to distinguish the fictional concepts from real-world concepts, eg taishou (general) instead of shogun, even though strictly speaking the position might be more accurately described as shogun.

[edit] God-Empress

[edit] Addressing

The Sumeramikoto (lit. emperor), as she is usually called, may also be referred to as Sumeragigami (lit. emperor god), particularly when referring to her as a divine being superior to mortal humans; or Himiko (lit. sun priestess or sun daughter), used when discussing her position as the religious ruler of the nation.

Individual empresses will have the title suffix of -no-mikoto appended to the end of their name, which is chosen by the empress and bestowed upon her when she gains the throne, replacing her original name.

When in the presence of the empress, one must always refer to her as Go-sei-shou-sama (lit. honourable shining on the world), and is oftened referred to in this way outside her presence in polite speech as well.

[edit] Descendancy from the Sun Kami

[edit] Succession

There are four major clans who claim direct descendancy from the sun divinity, and another ten to fifteen clans who can make some indirect claim. The Sumeramikoto must be chosen from one of the females in these clans if there is no direct heir, with daughters of the major clans having priority in the decision. The heir is declared by the reigning Sumeramikoto in a type of will, and the heir-apparent may actually change several times before the death of the reigning monarch, as various contenders prove their worth, disgrace themselves, reveal greater levels of legitimacy due to their divine descendancy, or otherwise gain and lose imperial favour. In some cases the Sumeramikoto has in fact rejected her own daughter in favour of a more suitable heir.

The four noble houses which dominate the throne are the Takemoto-han, Yamanomiya-han, Fujikawa-han and Matsubara-han (han=clan). They also tend to dominate the choice for the position of Taishou, Head Priest and most court and government positions.

When a woman ascends the throne, she must give up her worldly position and attachment to mortal concerns. This means, in particular, that she is no longer considered as part of her clan, so leaves her husband and family behind. Therefore the husband does not become emperor-consort, instead retaining his original position in his clan. The eldest daughter, however, may be considered to be next-in-line, at least until the Sumeramikoto states otherwise, or until she bears a daughter while serving as empress.

The new Sumeramikoto goes to live in the Indigo City, the Rankyujo, essentially a forbidden city, where she is waited upon by 5000 hand-maidens (miko). The only male allowed into the Indigo City is the Head Priest (Guji) of the country, and he serves the role of consort to the god-head. Any male children born of this union are sent either to the military orders or the priesthood, and otherwise raised as orphans with no right to inheritance. A female child is made heir-apparent, and takes priority over any clan daughters, indeed even over older daughters of the Sumeramikoto born before her ascendancy.

[edit] Duties and Rituals

The Sumeramikoto has several roles- she is leader of the government, the head of state, the religious leader of the nation, and also a demigod who can control the elements to an extent to bring prosperity to the nation.

Her last two roles demand that she perform various rituals to ensure divine protection of the nation- failing to perform them properly is often blamed as the cause of any woes that befall the country. Some of these are daily rituals, others are performed according to the various calendars and almanacs maintained by the astrologers of the priesthood. These may include participation in various festivals or visits to particular shrines at the right times of year, and often demand that she be away from the capital to perform these duties.

The first daily ritual is performed at sun-up, and is an offering of a cup of uncooked rice, a cup of salt and a cup of fresh water, made from the Sun Shrine which stands atop the cliffs facing east over the ocean, each poured into the sea below. In the evening, a cup of cooked rice and a cup of sake are offered from the western terrace of the palace, symbolically thanking the sun for her hard day's work.

[edit] Han (Clans)

There are over 300 clans ruling the countryside, although the exact number is in constant flux as clans are disbanded, due to transgressions by their lord or interclan warfare, or created, by subdividing larger ones to grant to favoured sons or nobles. As this is over an area comparable to the size of modern China, many of these clan-holdings are quite large.

[edit] Yondaiban

The four major clans (often just refered to as the Yondaiban) that control the reins of Asaguni succession and government do so with their own claims to descent from divinity. They compete with each other for imperial favour, their power base ascending and descending from one generation to the next depending on which han the ruling Sumeramikoto was born from.

[edit] Takemoto-han

This clan claims descent from the kami of a bamboo grove set near a natural spring.

[edit] Yamanomiya-han

This clan is said to be descended from the great spirit of the Asaguni mountain range.

[edit] Fujikawa-han

The Fujikawa clan is descended from a divine river spirit who appeared as a wysteria vine to seduce its founding mother.

[edit] Matsubara-han

Matsubara-han source their divinity from the kami of the pine forest.

[edit] Odaira-han

The elephant clan is a large and powerful family, Odaira-han, located some way from the capital in a large fertile plains region. Many generations ago they first came in contact with elephants through traders and explorers who brought them from the west. As they discovered the elephants' psychic abilities they sent expeditions to bring back more until they had a large-enough breeding population. Such expeditions are now rare but occassionally necessary, perhaps after some attrition due to disease or war casualties.

They discovered the elephants' psychic powers by accident, perhaps noticing that when an isolated elephant suffered pain, other elephants some distance away also responded to it. This led to extensive experimentation with the elephants and fact-finding missions to Ubantu to find out more about the phenomenon, eventually leading to the breeding program and establishment of an elephant corps.

Some humans were found with psychic potential, so they were trained as elephant handlers and riders. These psychics eventually came to rule the clan, and now the bloodline is noted for their psychic powers and affinity to the elephants. Young Odaira warriors are sent to the monks of Amagoyama Temple, the family temple high in the nearby mountains, for training in their psychic powers and martial arts for a number of years, before being allowed to return to the clan as full-fledged warriors and clan members.

The elephants are not domesticated as such, in terms of being used for forest work, pushing over trees, hauling logs, etc. And neither are they pacifist, as their Ubantu cousins are, for they are bred and raised to increase their ferocity and combat ability. They are generally violent and difficult to handle by any but their psychic handlers, who keep them firmly in check by forceful psychic chains.

[edit] Elephant Psionics

As we don't have many guidelines yet for how powerful and creative you can get with psionic powers in this world, I can't expand much on how they perform on the battlefield. However, at the higher power level, I imagine this sort of situation- the elephants supply brute psychic power, while their riders work in gestalt with them to utilise and guide their psychic effects. These could include a terror-based effect, with their enemies seeing the charging elephants as 40-foot high fire breathing monsters, the image enhanced by the demonic-style masks and armour the mounts are dressed with. A guided telekinetic attack might be done by launching heavy telegraph-pole sized wooden spikes at their enemies from baskets on their backs. Area-effect mind blasts with enough strength to cripple massed ranks of opposing soldiers. Beams of glowing psi-force blasting out from the elephants' foreheads, that sort of stuff.

At lower levels of psionic power, the elephant corps would still be quite formidable as large violent beasts covered in steel plates and spikes charging across the battlefield in perfect formation under direct control of their masters.

[edit] Campaign/Adventure Ideas

[edit] Elephant Emancipation

The Ubantu elephants or humans become aware of the cruel treatment suffered by their eastern brethren, so they make various subtle and not so subtle attempts to bring down the clan. As the clan is part of another nation, this could eventually lead to an all-out war between Ubantu and Asaguni, with thousands of free elephants lined up against their mind-controlled cousins on the battlefield.

[edit] Secrets of Amagoyama

The Amagoyama Temple is actually the heart of the Odaira clan, as it is the repository of the clan's secrets- their psychic techniques; details of the breeding program; data on what powers the elephants actually have, as this secret is a matter of mystery and speculation among the other clans. Thus, the temple could be a target of rival clans in various intrigues.

[edit] Expedition to Ubantu/Asaguni Raiders

An expedition to bring back more elephants is required. The PCs could belong to the Odaira clan, and have to travel many weeks to the west, find a number of suitable specimens, catch them, then bring their catch back safely home without losing too many. Hazards would include the travel and terrain itself- finding a suitable path through treacherous mountains and ravines or across raging rivers, all with elephants in tow, Ubantu natives (human and elephant) opposed to their kidnapping missions, and other sundry monsters and encounters. The rewards from the clan would include great wealth and prestige. Or the PCs could be the Ubantu, desperately chasing the Asaguni kidnappers/slavers before they make it back to their homeland.

[edit] Dragon Clans

1100 years ago, there was a dragon with ambitions for the throne. He disguised himself as a human and wooed the crown princess and married her. When she ascended to the throne they had 12 sons, who went on to establish 12 new houses in the royal family. At this point, for he had been very patient and biding his time, he revealed himself as a dragon and, with the support of his sons, made an attempt to overthrow the empress. The human clans banded against them, with the help perhaps of other supernaturals, leading to a bloody and protracted war before the coup was eventually put down.

The dragon father was slain and the sons realised their treachery and dishonour in turning weapons against their empress and mother. In repentance they swore an eternal oath of loyalty to the imperial bloodline. The empress showed them mercy and their clans were re-admitted to the imperial house, although with restrictions on their holdings, such as a limit of 1000 retainers, payment of hefty tributes, a limit on their farm holdings, etc. Fantasy elements could include that they have given over their heart-pearls to the empress's keeping, so she can keep them in check; that they can only revert to their full dragon form on new year's day; that they serve as intermediaries to the weather spirits on behalf of the empress- I haven't thought about these ideas much yet.

This is the commonly known version of the story, the truth is actually a bit more sinister, and potentially embarrassing. It was the ambition of a princess who was actually some way from the throne that led her to seek out a dragon, to gain his assistance in clearing the way to her inheriting the crown. In return for this she agreed to bear his children and establish them as clan chiefs and give them a place in the empire, which is why there was a suspiciously long time before he was revealed as being a dragon.

This allows for some politicking, with some of the dragon-lords still harbouring their father's ambitions, trying to escape their eternal oath (by installing a new dynasty perhaps), or just to increase their power base within their imposed restrictions. The story can also be an allegory for Confucian-style fealty to the mother-figure.

[edit] Draft information

All the below is still a draft.

[edit] Overview

(possibly with a bit of steam punk, maybe even a difference engine, low magic)

Myukweishou (flag is coronal/blurred orange sun on a blue field)

ruled by a god-empresses (japan was originally a matriarchy, long ago), who is the scion of the granddaughter of the sun-goddess, her great-aunt is the rice goddess. lives in a forbidden city.

20+ noble clans in a feudal system

civilian government, prime minister and diet, mirror system with right (by empress) and left (by clan) positions (Prime Minister of the Left). huge bureaucratic meritocracy bases on confucian style ethics

the army and navy contend with each other, but both serve the empress and the gov't. the clans have their own armies. NOT peaceful - frequent clan wars even civil wars.

non-humans:

Kamijin, the spirit folk/elves: sky/star - one race that changes nature daily forest - changes seasonally cloud/rain/snow - gets extra powers via weather mountain-male only, unchanging paired to moon moon-female only, changes monthly river-male or female but only mates with sea type sea-male or female, but only mates with river

you can be 1/2kamijin (Issei), 1/4(Nisei) or mixed type (Tsunsei)

Hengeyokai - kitsune foxes (city) and tanuki beardogs (rural) only

Li Bu Lung - human sized bipedal Lung Dragons, twelve "clans" based on chinese zodiac, not mortal, but do get "promoted" to heaven, totally integrated into cities

Orders of Knights: Knights are commanders in armies, have their own garrisons and troops, each specializing in one type of warfare (infantry, calvalry, marines, etc)

Crane Chrysanthemum Violet Stag Phoenix Fugu (pufferfish)

The Floating World: the social and criminal world of the cities, with their Poet-Saints, Geisha, Ninja (who are now character assassins and secret steals), Opium dens, Artists, etc

Magic: Psychic monks Taoist Alchemists, now in a technomagic revolution Shinto/Animist Priests

[edit] D?-zukai

D?-zukai means "users of the way". D? in this context means that instead of worshipping one particular god or pantheon, practitioners realise the place gods have in the cosmos and can tap into that more primordial force of creation. Thus instead of channelling godly power from the astral plane through a god to his worshippers, D?-zukai can directly channel forces from the astral and sub-astral plane to achieve magical effects. They believe that all life and matter is made of a mixture of light elements and dark elements, and achieving a balance of these in one's life is a worthwhile aim and the way to inner peace and blessedness. When they do magic then, they also do not tap just one astral plane, but use the combined power of astral and sub-astral energies to create a greater result than the sum of the parts.

Similarly, in their alchemical endeavours, D?-zukai try to mix potions and medicines using the right balance of light and dark elements and energies to create a synergistic result.

[edit] Alchemy

Ssungto Alchemy

symbol: a blue and black yin-yang, with a fuzzy orange sun in the blue part and a patterned creme moon in the black part

the five elements: earth, metal, wood, fire and water

Ssungto alchemy is a strange blend of magic and catalytic chemistry. they even have something like a periodic table. they can distill, make acids, even basic bakelite plastic. they can distill with heat, but also with sunlight and moonlight. they also make fireworks, but not gunpowder, which doesn't work in this world. they have long been fascinated by lightening, and have many lightening rods on their monasteries.

200yrs ago, the monks of the 5th mountain monastery witnessed a strange sight: a falling star crashed into the mountain facing their temple, and started a wildfire. days later, when they investigated, they found a boulder of star metal, known to their sect and deeply sacred. this particular rock was much denser than any others known, and was taken to secret labs for analysis. decades later, they discovered a new type of metal, via the technique of lightening distillation. it was incredibly hard and dull grey. they called it Lightening Metal, Hakkin. Hakkin, if powdered then heated and allowed to cool in dry conditions, would cause water to boil and produce very flammable gas, but would then become useless. 75yrs ago, a inventive monk can up with a way of impregnating black pearls with Hakkin, which could be regenerated in a kiln rather than loosing their power after reacting with water. this ushered in a new phase of alchemy of great power, which coincided with other discoveries.

three decades ago, the great inventor Liu Khan-tzu was summoned by the Grandmaster of Elements of the Ssungto sect. he was shown the Hakkinshinshyu and allowed to work with them. 5 years later he produced the prototype of the fuel cell that modern environmentalists only dream of. it turns pure water directly into electricity, and can be recharged by subjecting the Hakkinshinshyu to intense dry heat. Liu Khan-tzu, who had spent his life day dreaming of flying and walking machines (and making detailed drawings) finished his magnum opus just before ascending into heaven to be come the patron saint of inventors: the electric motor.

the geomancers of Ssungto have managed to locate one and only one natural source of Hakkin, deep in the mountains. the location is an Imperial secret, the mine is deep, the Mountain Kamijin are NOT friendly, but it is producing (about 10kg/year). now the quest is on: anyone who finds a new source of Hakkin becomes an instant noble, owning that area, with his own clan (and a 50% imperial tithe of Hakkin).

[edit] Li Bu Lung

They are Middle Kingdom of the Celestial Emperor - midway between the Great Lung and the Animals, and midway between the Heavens and Hells . Li Bu Lung look like lemurs with dragon heads. The have semi-prehensile hind limbs and tails. Midlings have scaly skin with localized hair - crests, manes, beards, etc. The location of the hair, along with skin coloration, serves to divide the Midlings into twelve Clans, each taking after one of the months of the zodiac. Six of these are Yang (females) and six are Yin (male). A Midling's clan is based on which month it is born, not on it's parentage. They are trisexual - it takes three in a Clan specific combination, to cause one of the Yins (the oldest) to generate a Pearl, while one of the Yangs (the youngest) incubates the Pearl into Opal, which is carried in a pouch by the remaining member to be then Blessed by the Emperor before returning it to the Creche, where it will hatch some years later. Li Bu Lung are longlived and unaging, but not exactly immortal - after a few centuries of life, they feel compelled to retire to a lamasery and seek enlightenment, after which they are promoted into heaven.