Cathay
Royal splendor, born of conceit
Cathay is a nation in the Western Continent. It makes up much of the western border of the Western Continent. It borders the Dragon Kingdom, Mujmal, and Nestoria. Beyond its western shoreline is the great Dragon Sea.
The capital city of Cathay, Karakorum
Cathay is a land of green and lush plains, grand expanses of temperate woods and bamboo forests, along with tall spires of stone and steep cliffs. Great rivers carve into the landscape, providing easy channels for transport and travel as well as a food source for the local Cathanese people. Summers in Cathay are warm and humid, with generally gentle snows during their chilly winters. The western shore of Cathay is generally rocky or elevated in a number of seaside cliffs. There are sandy beaches in Cathay, but they are relatively rare in comparison to other coastal nations.
It was around this time that the aforementioned Romanorans, having emerged victorious from the First Primordial War had begun their ambitious westward expansion across Arda. The Romanorans, following the rumors of new civilizations and lands to the west to conquer had swiftly brought the neighboring Nestorians under their control, and soon would be at the Cathanese doorstep. Thus, the early elves of Cathay built lines of defense and gathered as many of their kinsmen to defend against the Romanorans.
Despite their best laid efforts, the elves of early Cathay were ill-equipped to face the well-developed and disciplined troops of the Romanorans. Town after town feel to their advance, breaking the resolve of the Cathanese. By the end of their advance, most of the remaining towns and tribes in the area surrendered to the Romanorans. The Romanorans, their goals to have an empire from sea to sea was now realized, had begun to shift their focus on developing their new territorial holdings. In this time, the Romanorans began to build new towns and fortresses in the region. New elven and dwarven settlers came to the lands of early Cathay, and taught the local Cathanese the technologies and engineering they had brought with them from the Eastern Continent.
These acts of good faith on the part of the Romanorans endeared them to the Cathanese, making them largely proud of their elven heritage, seeing as their eastern counterparts having been so wildly successful. They compared the success of the Romanoran elves to that to the others - such as the orcs, duergar, and even their allied dwarves. Thus, did the first seeds of elven conceit grow in the hearts of the elves of the west, and which would ultimately bear a bad harvest for the Romanorans.
The lands of early Cathay continued to grow and prosper under Romanoran occupation, becoming more developed than their immediate neighbors in Nestoria, and almost as much as they were in the Eastern Continent. From the Romanoran stronghold in Karakorum, they were oversee the development of new settlements, technologies and magics, ultimately growing bold enough to expand on their own ambitions. Soon, there was little need to staff the Romanoran fortresses with eastern soldiers, as the Cathanese brought plenty of their own. As time went on, the Heavens sent their next "gifts" - the halflings and gnomes. The Cathanese, now budding elven supremacists, looked down on the eastern Romanorans for allowing them equal part in their empire.
Not long after the birth of the gnomes and halfings upon Arda did the Second Primordial War break out, which would eventually prove to be disastrous to the Romanoran Empire. Facing ever-bolder assaults upon their heartland, the Romanorans pulled back their remaining soldiers in the west, and requested aid from their peoples in early Cathay. The Cathanese, well-developed and already largely independent militarily and economically saw little need to come to the aid of their former benefactors. To them, it was the natural course for those Romanorans who had entrusted their great elven empire and heritage to the "lesser" dwarves, halfings, and gnomes.
By the time of the Last of the Primordial Wars, the Cathanese had driven out most of the remaining Romanoran sympathizers. With the Romanorans now largely out of the picture in the west, they split off to form their own nation, Cathay. They consider themselves to be the "true" successors of the great Romanoran Empire of old. Now truly independent, they began to flex their military muscle, expanding at the expense of their neighbors much like the Romanorans of old. In this manner, they too became an empire, elevating a distant relative of the Romanoran emperor, a scholar and philosopher Qiu Fuzi, to the throne of their new nation.
Following the Last of the Primordial Wars, the Cathanese had pushed the borders of Nestoria, expanded into the lands of early Mujmal, and now pressed to the seemingly abandoned lands to the north, looking for easy conquests. Much to their surprise, the lands were not abandoned after all. The mountainous lands and peninsula were in fact home to numerous dragons. The elves, overly confident and set in their beliefs of their superiority began an invasion of the lands now known as the Dragon Kingdom. However, they greatly underestimated the strength and ferocity of these dragons, and army after army of elves were sent to slaughter. The Cathanese, now severely weakened, gave up on the campaign. Skirmishes continue on their border to this day, but nothing as great as they had decades ago.
In more recent years, the Cathanese have been licking their wounds; rebuilding their armies, developing new anti-dragon weapons and defenses, and building new fortresses. This has given Cathay's neighbors - Ado, Mujmal, and Nestoria - a little time to breathe while Cathay is distracted, as they brace themselves for Cathay's next round of expansion.
Life for elves is good here. Most will dedicate their long lives to a particular craft, warfare, magical art or literary art such as writing or poetry. Elves view these as worthy goals, and consider acts such as farming, mining, or cleaning to be beneath them. Comprehensive education for elves is common to learn their history and instill their sense of conceit. Thus do these elves become extremely skilled in their arts, but are almost entirely supported by a servant class of non-elves who do the vast majority of manual labor in Cathay.
As previously stated, life for non-elves is a life of hard and often unfulfilling labor, working on farms, mines, or as servants to the elves. Such lives are barely a step above slavery, and such non-elves can be killed largely without impunity, as non-elves aren't protected by their laws. Most are kept just content enough to not leave their lands, and those that do try to leave are often punished or even killed. Some can find fulfilling lives as merchants or soldiers, but no matter how much success they garner, they will always be seen as lesser than their elven counterparts.
Half-elves, often the result of trysts between an elven master and their servants, are often treated the harshest. In the best-case scenario, they are kept hidden in the manors of the powerful elves as their illegitimate heirs. Others may be forced to live with their human parent - living lives filled with contempt by their fellow humans who resent them, often (wrongly) believing that even a half-elf is treated better than they are. Some are cast out of their homes or even others abandoned at birth. Most half-elves will attempt to pass themselves off as elves or humans, or attempt to flee to less hostile nations such as Nestoria or Ado.
In the darkest of legends about Cathay, it is said that some elves, in their search for perfection, have taken on supernatural and evil properties. Such stories tell of elves who hunt Men in the night, drinking their life essence. Others tell of elves who had the blood drained of their young servants, believing that bathing in their blood would be the route to immortality. It is unclear if such stories are actually true or simply fiction spread by the elves to instill fear in their servants.
Religion is not currently promoted in Cathay, and thus is not included in their census. In the early days of Cathay, the elven nomads who had roamed the lands had followed veneration of the Heavens. This veneration continued well into Romanorum occupation, and the Romanorans built a number of churches and cathedrals in their styles, some of which still stand in Cathay today. Most of these remaining houses of worship are either abandoned or have been repurposed to new uses. The ones that remain in user are bereft of elven followers. The few remaining faithful in Cathay are largely the non-human population in Cathay.
The elves of Cathay came to shun religion not long after the start of the Second Primordial War. From the words of the same single elven philosopher, Qiu Fuzi, a new code was brought into being. The elves of Cathay began to question the judgment of the Heavens in creating gnomes or halflings. In their eyes, and in the words of the philosopher, they saw the elves as the perfect people. "If the elves were perfect, then why create the gnomes and halflings?" Instead of doubting elven perfection, the elves believed the power of the Heavens was too weak to create any more perfect beings, and they felt even more vindicated in that belief after the Heaven's last "gift" - the humans.
In theory, this would mean that Cathay would be ripe for conversion by clerics of the Primordial Lords. Yet, this failed on two accounts. The first was that most of the clerics were peoples that the Cathanese viewed as inferior - orcs, kobolds, duergar, etc, and thus the Cathanese would not consider demeaning themselves to the religion of such imperfect peoples, no matter how powerful they or their deities might appear. The second was that access to Primordial power could not only be accessed by worship of the Primordials, but also by the binding or pacts made with Primordial spirits. Thus, the proud elves would much rather form a contract with a spirit rather than lower themselves to worship.
As a result, moral codes are the most common "religion" among the Cathanese peoples. These moral codes are largely based off the words of philosophers, namely the works of Qiu Fuzi, who would later ascend to the throne as the first Cathanese emperor. Such works tell the elves to live lives in search of ambitious self-perfection, regardless of the cost to others, with the belief that once one has reached ultimate perfection that they will become immortal. The elves readily took to the message, using their ambition to become powerful and influential in Cathay and beyond.
Cathay is an empire, much akin to the Romanorans who once ruled them. Since their independence, they have mirrored a number of Romanoran institutions, chiefly that of the office of the emperor. The first Cathanese emperor was a distant relative of the Romanoran emperor, and his leadership was the basis for the elves claiming that they are the "true" successors of the Romanoran Emperor.
However, unlike the current Romanorans, the Cathanese have no Senate. The Cathanese emperor is attended by a number of powerful elven families of Cathay, the descendants of those who originally installed the emperor to power. While the emperor is seen as the ultimate authority in Cathay, the office owes much to these other noble elven families, and as a result, such families wield incredible amounts of power and influence in the nation.
The Cathanese, like many of the other developed nations has a well-developed military much like that of the Romanorans of old. The primary differences between the two was that the Cathanese favored the development and deployment of battlemages to serve in the the Cathanese Legions. The elves, with long lifespans, have become formidable soldiers, and their mages are masters of control and evocation. Woe to those who would have to face the formidable armies of Cathay on an open field.
The only serious threat to Cathanese military supremacy in the Western Continent is the dragons of the Dragon Kingdom. Regardless of their decades to centuries of training and experience, the elves are not nearly enough to face dozens, if not hundreds of dragons when the Dragon Kingdom is cohesive enough to go to war. Such wars have been devastating to the conceited and foolhardy elves, who constantly regard the dragons as no more than barbaric beasts, despite a number of failed invasions into the Dragon Kingdom.
The elves of Cathay are a rich people. Having lived for hundreds of years, many have amassed a great hoard of wealth. Along with their long lifetimes, many have mastered numerous crafts, producing artistic and artisanal masterpieces that fetch mighty sums in foreign markets the world over. In addition, Cathay is the only land where silk is produced and woven. It is a jealously-guarded secret of the Cathanese elves, and any non-elves who learn of the process are swiftly put to death. Silk, the preferred fabric of royal families in nearly every nation, is prized by powerful merchants and the markets of the east.
The Cathanese's primary trading partner is Nestoria, but have been known to sail to Ado, Mujmal, or even distant Dunlain for markets for their wares. This is rare, however, as most Cathanese elves see sailing as the work of peasants, and rarely trust their non-elven servants to do trade on their behalf (or not flee). Thus, most of the east-west trade is funneled through Nestoria, who trades it to the markets of the Eastern Continent. While most Nestorians are wary of the objectives of the Cathanese, they can rarely resist the mercantile potential of the finely-wrought goods of their western neighbors.
Cathay has no truly friendly nations, nor does Cathay see any other nation even as worthy allies. The world in their eyes, was their birthright, and often claim that it was stolen from them by the other peoples of the world. As a result, most of their neighbors are well-aware of the potential threat the Cathanese present. Cathay views Nestoria as a necessary evil (with Nestorians reciprocating the feeling) - as it is both a way to access distant markets and as to act as buffer state between them and their powerful competitors - namely, the original Romanorans.
The Cathanese hold no such niceties for their other nearby nations, namely Ado and Mujmal. Cathay and Ado remain in a cold war, with Ado dedicated to liberating the non-elves of Cathay, but being safely away from Cathay's poorly-developed navy. Mujmal is not as lucky. Having a great deal of land but a relatively small population which puts them at a serious disadvantage to the Cathanese, who are particularly incensed that Mujmal treats their elves not unlike how they themselves treat their non-elves. Thankfully for Cathay's neighbors, Cathay has been drained from their unsuccessful war with the Dragon Kingdom.
A part of Geography and Regions See Also
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Geography
Cathay is a land of green and lush plains, grand expanses of temperate woods and bamboo forests, along with tall spires of stone and steep cliffs. Great rivers carve into the landscape, providing easy channels for transport and travel as well as a food source for the local Cathanese people. Summers in Cathay are warm and humid, with generally gentle snows during their chilly winters. The western shore of Cathay is generally rocky or elevated in a number of seaside cliffs. There are sandy beaches in Cathay, but they are relatively rare in comparison to other coastal nations.
History
Cathay was one of the last lands in the Western Continent to be settled by the early elves. Hugging the opposite shore across from the lands of the first elves, it took generations of the early elven nomads to slowly discover and migrate to the lands that would become Cathay. For those who had migrated to these lands, they found it to be both beautiful and bountiful and soon settled down making small but prosperous communities across the banks of the many rivers that flow through Cathay. By the time of the First Primordial Wars, the elves began to form a semblance of government, much as they had in the early days of Romanorum.It was around this time that the aforementioned Romanorans, having emerged victorious from the First Primordial War had begun their ambitious westward expansion across Arda. The Romanorans, following the rumors of new civilizations and lands to the west to conquer had swiftly brought the neighboring Nestorians under their control, and soon would be at the Cathanese doorstep. Thus, the early elves of Cathay built lines of defense and gathered as many of their kinsmen to defend against the Romanorans.
Despite their best laid efforts, the elves of early Cathay were ill-equipped to face the well-developed and disciplined troops of the Romanorans. Town after town feel to their advance, breaking the resolve of the Cathanese. By the end of their advance, most of the remaining towns and tribes in the area surrendered to the Romanorans. The Romanorans, their goals to have an empire from sea to sea was now realized, had begun to shift their focus on developing their new territorial holdings. In this time, the Romanorans began to build new towns and fortresses in the region. New elven and dwarven settlers came to the lands of early Cathay, and taught the local Cathanese the technologies and engineering they had brought with them from the Eastern Continent.
These acts of good faith on the part of the Romanorans endeared them to the Cathanese, making them largely proud of their elven heritage, seeing as their eastern counterparts having been so wildly successful. They compared the success of the Romanoran elves to that to the others - such as the orcs, duergar, and even their allied dwarves. Thus, did the first seeds of elven conceit grow in the hearts of the elves of the west, and which would ultimately bear a bad harvest for the Romanorans.
The lands of early Cathay continued to grow and prosper under Romanoran occupation, becoming more developed than their immediate neighbors in Nestoria, and almost as much as they were in the Eastern Continent. From the Romanoran stronghold in Karakorum, they were oversee the development of new settlements, technologies and magics, ultimately growing bold enough to expand on their own ambitions. Soon, there was little need to staff the Romanoran fortresses with eastern soldiers, as the Cathanese brought plenty of their own. As time went on, the Heavens sent their next "gifts" - the halflings and gnomes. The Cathanese, now budding elven supremacists, looked down on the eastern Romanorans for allowing them equal part in their empire.
Not long after the birth of the gnomes and halfings upon Arda did the Second Primordial War break out, which would eventually prove to be disastrous to the Romanoran Empire. Facing ever-bolder assaults upon their heartland, the Romanorans pulled back their remaining soldiers in the west, and requested aid from their peoples in early Cathay. The Cathanese, well-developed and already largely independent militarily and economically saw little need to come to the aid of their former benefactors. To them, it was the natural course for those Romanorans who had entrusted their great elven empire and heritage to the "lesser" dwarves, halfings, and gnomes.
By the time of the Last of the Primordial Wars, the Cathanese had driven out most of the remaining Romanoran sympathizers. With the Romanorans now largely out of the picture in the west, they split off to form their own nation, Cathay. They consider themselves to be the "true" successors of the great Romanoran Empire of old. Now truly independent, they began to flex their military muscle, expanding at the expense of their neighbors much like the Romanorans of old. In this manner, they too became an empire, elevating a distant relative of the Romanoran emperor, a scholar and philosopher Qiu Fuzi, to the throne of their new nation.
Following the Last of the Primordial Wars, the Cathanese had pushed the borders of Nestoria, expanded into the lands of early Mujmal, and now pressed to the seemingly abandoned lands to the north, looking for easy conquests. Much to their surprise, the lands were not abandoned after all. The mountainous lands and peninsula were in fact home to numerous dragons. The elves, overly confident and set in their beliefs of their superiority began an invasion of the lands now known as the Dragon Kingdom. However, they greatly underestimated the strength and ferocity of these dragons, and army after army of elves were sent to slaughter. The Cathanese, now severely weakened, gave up on the campaign. Skirmishes continue on their border to this day, but nothing as great as they had decades ago.
In more recent years, the Cathanese have been licking their wounds; rebuilding their armies, developing new anti-dragon weapons and defenses, and building new fortresses. This has given Cathay's neighbors - Ado, Mujmal, and Nestoria - a little time to breathe while Cathay is distracted, as they brace themselves for Cathay's next round of expansion.
People and Culture
Cathay is seen as a land of elves - for elves and by elves. Other peoples - such as men, dwarves, and kobolds do live in Cathay, but most are seen as "lesser" by the ruling elves. The elves see themselves as the top of the social pyramid, believing themselves superior to their contemporaries; better in nearly every way, and even to other elves who live outside of Cathay. They have little concept of how non-elves can contribute to society in way other than as manual laborers for their elven lords.Life for elves is good here. Most will dedicate their long lives to a particular craft, warfare, magical art or literary art such as writing or poetry. Elves view these as worthy goals, and consider acts such as farming, mining, or cleaning to be beneath them. Comprehensive education for elves is common to learn their history and instill their sense of conceit. Thus do these elves become extremely skilled in their arts, but are almost entirely supported by a servant class of non-elves who do the vast majority of manual labor in Cathay.
As previously stated, life for non-elves is a life of hard and often unfulfilling labor, working on farms, mines, or as servants to the elves. Such lives are barely a step above slavery, and such non-elves can be killed largely without impunity, as non-elves aren't protected by their laws. Most are kept just content enough to not leave their lands, and those that do try to leave are often punished or even killed. Some can find fulfilling lives as merchants or soldiers, but no matter how much success they garner, they will always be seen as lesser than their elven counterparts.
Half-elves, often the result of trysts between an elven master and their servants, are often treated the harshest. In the best-case scenario, they are kept hidden in the manors of the powerful elves as their illegitimate heirs. Others may be forced to live with their human parent - living lives filled with contempt by their fellow humans who resent them, often (wrongly) believing that even a half-elf is treated better than they are. Some are cast out of their homes or even others abandoned at birth. Most half-elves will attempt to pass themselves off as elves or humans, or attempt to flee to less hostile nations such as Nestoria or Ado.
In the darkest of legends about Cathay, it is said that some elves, in their search for perfection, have taken on supernatural and evil properties. Such stories tell of elves who hunt Men in the night, drinking their life essence. Others tell of elves who had the blood drained of their young servants, believing that bathing in their blood would be the route to immortality. It is unclear if such stories are actually true or simply fiction spread by the elves to instill fear in their servants.
Religion
Religion is not currently promoted in Cathay, and thus is not included in their census. In the early days of Cathay, the elven nomads who had roamed the lands had followed veneration of the Heavens. This veneration continued well into Romanorum occupation, and the Romanorans built a number of churches and cathedrals in their styles, some of which still stand in Cathay today. Most of these remaining houses of worship are either abandoned or have been repurposed to new uses. The ones that remain in user are bereft of elven followers. The few remaining faithful in Cathay are largely the non-human population in Cathay.
The elves of Cathay came to shun religion not long after the start of the Second Primordial War. From the words of the same single elven philosopher, Qiu Fuzi, a new code was brought into being. The elves of Cathay began to question the judgment of the Heavens in creating gnomes or halflings. In their eyes, and in the words of the philosopher, they saw the elves as the perfect people. "If the elves were perfect, then why create the gnomes and halflings?" Instead of doubting elven perfection, the elves believed the power of the Heavens was too weak to create any more perfect beings, and they felt even more vindicated in that belief after the Heaven's last "gift" - the humans.
In theory, this would mean that Cathay would be ripe for conversion by clerics of the Primordial Lords. Yet, this failed on two accounts. The first was that most of the clerics were peoples that the Cathanese viewed as inferior - orcs, kobolds, duergar, etc, and thus the Cathanese would not consider demeaning themselves to the religion of such imperfect peoples, no matter how powerful they or their deities might appear. The second was that access to Primordial power could not only be accessed by worship of the Primordials, but also by the binding or pacts made with Primordial spirits. Thus, the proud elves would much rather form a contract with a spirit rather than lower themselves to worship.
As a result, moral codes are the most common "religion" among the Cathanese peoples. These moral codes are largely based off the words of philosophers, namely the works of Qiu Fuzi, who would later ascend to the throne as the first Cathanese emperor. Such works tell the elves to live lives in search of ambitious self-perfection, regardless of the cost to others, with the belief that once one has reached ultimate perfection that they will become immortal. The elves readily took to the message, using their ambition to become powerful and influential in Cathay and beyond.
Government
Cathay is an empire, much akin to the Romanorans who once ruled them. Since their independence, they have mirrored a number of Romanoran institutions, chiefly that of the office of the emperor. The first Cathanese emperor was a distant relative of the Romanoran emperor, and his leadership was the basis for the elves claiming that they are the "true" successors of the Romanoran Emperor.
However, unlike the current Romanorans, the Cathanese have no Senate. The Cathanese emperor is attended by a number of powerful elven families of Cathay, the descendants of those who originally installed the emperor to power. While the emperor is seen as the ultimate authority in Cathay, the office owes much to these other noble elven families, and as a result, such families wield incredible amounts of power and influence in the nation.
Military
The Cathanese, like many of the other developed nations has a well-developed military much like that of the Romanorans of old. The primary differences between the two was that the Cathanese favored the development and deployment of battlemages to serve in the the Cathanese Legions. The elves, with long lifespans, have become formidable soldiers, and their mages are masters of control and evocation. Woe to those who would have to face the formidable armies of Cathay on an open field.
The only serious threat to Cathanese military supremacy in the Western Continent is the dragons of the Dragon Kingdom. Regardless of their decades to centuries of training and experience, the elves are not nearly enough to face dozens, if not hundreds of dragons when the Dragon Kingdom is cohesive enough to go to war. Such wars have been devastating to the conceited and foolhardy elves, who constantly regard the dragons as no more than barbaric beasts, despite a number of failed invasions into the Dragon Kingdom.
Organizations
- Cathanese Legion - In many ways did the independent Cathanese model their nation after the Romanorans of old. Often considered the counterpart to their eastern cousins, the Cathanese Legions are just as powerful, if not more so. The long lives of the elves have made them into highly-trained and elite troops, many of whom are powerful spellcasters in addition to their martial prowess. Despite their skill and training, many of their number died in the recent invasion of the Dragon Kingdom.
- The Eight Noble Houses - During the events that led up to the Second Primordial War, many of the elven houses of Cathay began following the dogma of the elven philosopher, Qiu Fuzi. Entranced by his concept of "immortality through perfection", eight of these particularly devoted houses schemed to place him on the throne of their fledgling nation. The houses dedicated themselves to Qiu Fuzi, and ultimately directed the efforts that would lead to Qiu Fuzi's ascension. In thanks, the new Cathanese emperor elevated these houses into nobility, the first in Cathanese (or Romanoran) history. Today, these noble families still wield tremendous power, wealth and influence in Cathay.
- Tu Fei - The Tu Fei are the underworld hands of the elves of Cathay. In some ways, they are not unlike the Secret League of Yew - "S.L.Y." in the sense that they orchestrate espionage, sabotage, and assassinations. However, even among two organizations of powerful cutthroats, the Tu Fei are particularly feared, as they are also complicit in numerous such crimes as kidnapping, slavery, and human trafficking which S.L.Y. has not traditionally been linked with. They are especially menacing in the nations that neighbor Cathay, such as Ado, Mujmal, or Nestoria where their agents can kill or abduct, then leave nearly without a trace. It is not particularly known if the Tu Fei act independently for profit as S.L.Y. does, or if it is affiliated with one or more of the Eight Noble Houses.
Economy
The elves of Cathay are a rich people. Having lived for hundreds of years, many have amassed a great hoard of wealth. Along with their long lifetimes, many have mastered numerous crafts, producing artistic and artisanal masterpieces that fetch mighty sums in foreign markets the world over. In addition, Cathay is the only land where silk is produced and woven. It is a jealously-guarded secret of the Cathanese elves, and any non-elves who learn of the process are swiftly put to death. Silk, the preferred fabric of royal families in nearly every nation, is prized by powerful merchants and the markets of the east.
The Cathanese's primary trading partner is Nestoria, but have been known to sail to Ado, Mujmal, or even distant Dunlain for markets for their wares. This is rare, however, as most Cathanese elves see sailing as the work of peasants, and rarely trust their non-elven servants to do trade on their behalf (or not flee). Thus, most of the east-west trade is funneled through Nestoria, who trades it to the markets of the Eastern Continent. While most Nestorians are wary of the objectives of the Cathanese, they can rarely resist the mercantile potential of the finely-wrought goods of their western neighbors.
Relations
Cathay has no truly friendly nations, nor does Cathay see any other nation even as worthy allies. The world in their eyes, was their birthright, and often claim that it was stolen from them by the other peoples of the world. As a result, most of their neighbors are well-aware of the potential threat the Cathanese present. Cathay views Nestoria as a necessary evil (with Nestorians reciprocating the feeling) - as it is both a way to access distant markets and as to act as buffer state between them and their powerful competitors - namely, the original Romanorans.
The Cathanese hold no such niceties for their other nearby nations, namely Ado and Mujmal. Cathay and Ado remain in a cold war, with Ado dedicated to liberating the non-elves of Cathay, but being safely away from Cathay's poorly-developed navy. Mujmal is not as lucky. Having a great deal of land but a relatively small population which puts them at a serious disadvantage to the Cathanese, who are particularly incensed that Mujmal treats their elves not unlike how they themselves treat their non-elves. Thankfully for Cathay's neighbors, Cathay has been drained from their unsuccessful war with the Dragon Kingdom.
Locations of Interest
- Karakorum - The capital of Cathay, and the seat of the Cathanese Emperor. Built along the banks of cascading waterfalls, it is both expansive and well-protected from outside attack. It is from this focal point does the Emperor and the Eight Noble Families direct the resources of Cathay.
- Sichou - A trade city located in eastern Cathay. Elven craftsmen frequently their crafts here, generally in great flair and style in large open markets that occur here several times a year. Nestorian merchants or other foreigners can also attend, but they require special clearance from the border guards of the nearby border fortress town of Baolai. It is uncommon for a non-elf to get such a pass.
- The Red Road - The craggy mountain road that leads to the now defunct forward camp of the Cathanese invasion of the Dragon Kingdom. According to folk legend, the cobblestones and soil of the road are stained permanently red, supposedly from that of the wounded and dying as they fled the counterattack of the Dragon Kingdom. To call the road by that name is at best faux pass or an insult to the local elves, and a non-elf would be punished for saying it in earshot of their elven masters.
Trivia
- Cathay is loosely based on medieval imperial China.
- The name "Cathay" was the name assigned to China by late medieval Europeans.
See Also
A part of Geography and Regions See Also
Quick Reference
Type
Region
Region: Western Continent
Government: Empire
National Language: Cathanese Elvish
Ancestry: 70% Elf, 10% Men, 5% Half-Elf, 5% Dwarf, 5% Kobold, 5% Other or un-described mixed ancestry
Religion: None Official
General Alignment: Lawful Evil
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