Laotse Empire of the Sun (lao-tss-eh)

The Laotse are one of the most enimagtic humans in Arthan Uthyl. Moved by honor and an conduit of extreme obedience to their superiors. Most Lao-Tse worship only one god: Their own emperor. There has also been an increase lately of Klaar Worshippers.
The emperor is hereditarily succeeded, but lives way more than a normal human, which turns him into an immortal for human eyes. No one knows why this happens. The current emperor is Gohzien Tse the IV, the Eternal, and succeeded his ancestor more then a hundred springs ago.
Directly linked with the emperor's life longevity, the Laotse society lives in a gerontocratic system, thus, the old ones rule.
There are two great social classes in this society: the samurai and the mob. The samurai are nobles, generals and warlords (daimyos), belonging to powerful clans and holders of some land. They always have a daishyo, which is their nobility symbol and consists of a katana and wakizachi. They follow the code of honor known as the bushido. To be easily recognisable, they usually dress with the color patterns and heraldry of their clan.
The mob consists of any clanless person, this includes the merchant and artisan castes.
This society is extremely patriarchical and, as a consequence to this, chauvinist. Women are seen with respect in some roles, like a courtier, but they options and freedom are quite restricted.
Some women achieve the rare feat of entering the military. For this rare thing to happen, she must be related to a noble and be taught the diverse martial arts and learned the bushido code. A successful woman in this field gets the title of Onna-bugeisha. A great distinction that gives the title holder a place of power in her clan.
The geography of this nation is divided by clans. Each micro-region is governed by a clan. It consists of a numerous, wealthy family of noblemen, with an education above the mob. There are a total of fourteen clans and each clan tries to specialize in something different.
The Laotse are a very disciplined nation. This, allied with good physical resistance and extreme martial tradition makes them a well respected folk in the field of battle. Their weapons are forged with immense precision and their warriors are known to use them in deadly and clinical strokes.
This nation doesn't fight just with weapons. Known to have a strong unarmed fighting tradition, their most pious warriors reject the use of weapons, treating their fists as a hammer, spear, and blade, with deadly efficiency.
Just like their neighbors, the Laotse also have a tradition of warrior monks and their monks are known for being fearless and powerful in battle.
For millennia they were surrounded by mountains, giving them a knowledge of ore above any nation in the human lands, perfecting their steel to the very limits of human capability.
The Great Deluge shattered their mountains and made these people adapt to a new life by the sea. Former mountain folk became fishermen and the nation soon became a full fledged sea faring nation. With their speedy boats navigating the shorelines in search of an abundant source of food, fish, but also their once poor fields have since become ideal for rice paddies.
Besides the change in geography and lifestyle, they have continued to endure as prized weapon smiths and paints. Their knack hasn't faded with the Great Deluge and the soil is still rich with ores for artisans to continue their skilled trade.
Economically, their earth is rich in minerals, making the now vast patches of agriculture quite efficient. They mainly harvest rice.
Education is quite strict in this region. Since childhood, everyone is trained to develop a strong will, making them very "do or die" characters. The art of war is omnipresent in their education. The young ones are taught how to manage several weapons, but also how to be good tacticians.
As hobbies, everyone is encouraged to practice painting and sculpture. This arts are seen as ways of reaching harmony of spirit and balances the heavy warlike discipline.
Their main rivals are the Minzao and the Ulnuc. They have good relations with their neighbors of Sullia and Meynari, and further with Rubran and the Kaastian Dukedoms of Gama and Orange, all of whom they have commercial agreements. They have a mutual alliance with the meynari. While the Duchy of da Gama introduced them to firearms and Klaar, the Duchy of van Orange reinforced the firearms presence and helped spread the Klaar religion.
A Lao-Tse has between 1.60m and 1.80m tall, dark hair, and slanted eyes. Their skin tone goes from bronze to pure white. Noblemen usually have a ponytail tied on top of their head, while mob usually have their hair shaved on the sides. Women are usually quite vain and use a lot of make-up, flowered clothing and prepped up hair.

Main Hub

Kyo

Situated on the eastern side of the country, The capital is known for it's openness for foreign ships to land and trade in their docks.
Here is also the where the palace of the Sun Emperor is located as well as the main monk school of the country.

Maps

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  Map of Daiju and the Laotse Empire

  Here lies the land where the sun first rises and falls. A simple map showing where each clan resides in the Laotse Empire.
  For more information about the region of Daiju check: For more information about the Laotse Empire check:

Laotse Empire of the Sun Traits

Lethal Swordsmen

+1+⅕ their level to craft (swords) skill checks. While using eastern swords, they get +1+⅕ their level their level to confirm critical hits.

Clear Mind

+1 to will checks. This bonus increases to +2 at level 8 and +3 at level 16.

Eastern Armor Mastery

While using Eastern Armor: +1 to Dodge AC and Max Dex Bonus and reduce any Armor Check Penalty to skills by 1. This bonuses increases to +2 at level 7 and +3 at level 16.

Eastern Restrictions

Characters with this trait can only use Eastern Weaponry and Armor, and may not use shields. They can use normal simple weapons, firearms, bows and crossbows, if they are proficient with it.

Laotse Mastery over...

Choose one:

• Archery : Proficient with bows. Bows critical threat is from 19-20, instead of 20.

• Katana : Proficient with katanas. Katanas have finesse and on a critical hit change their damage die to d10.

• Chains : Proficient with rope dart, meteor hammer, double chained kama, flying blade, spiked chain and kusarigama. +2 to attack rolls and dodge AC while using any of these.

• Ninja-to : Proficient with Wakizachi. +2 to Attack rolls and on a critical hit change their damage die to d8.

• Empty Palm : +2 to damage rolls and dodge AC while using either unarmed strikes and/or monk weapons.

Laotse Clan of...

Choose one:

• Chosoka : Samurai using Bows deal x4 damage instead of x3 on a successful critical hit.

• Shima : Samurai using Katana add a +1d8 to their katana damage on a successful critical hit.

• Nori : +1+⅕ their level to attack and damage rolls when fighting in ships, and to profession (sailor) and swim skill checks.

• Yattori : +1+⅕ their level to stealth checks. Ninjas get: a bonus ninja trick every three levels and +1+⅕ their level to damage rolls with thrown weapons.

• Oga : +1+⅕ their level to damage rolls with simple weapons.

• Tojinaga : +1+⅕ their level to diplomacy checks. Ninjas get: a bonus ninja trick and a bonus teamwork feat at every 4 levels.

• Taneko : +1+⅕ their level to Attack and damage rolls while mounted and to ride checks.

• Gojo : Proficient with culverins. +1+⅕ their level to damage rolls with this weapon and to knowledge engineering checks. Gojo characters may start the game with a battered culverin (worth 20gp to a vendor). If they choose so, deduct it's worth from their initial gold.

• Uesawa : Monks treat naginatas as a monk weapon and deal +1+⅕ their level their level to attack rolls with weapons from the polearm, staff or spear family.

• Kade : Samurai are proficient with tetsubo and nodashi. These Samurai deal +1+⅕ their level to damage rolls with two-handed weapons

• Motodo : Must worship Klaar. Proficient with Arquebus. +1+⅕ their level to damage rolls with this weapon. Motodo characters may start the game with a battered arquebus (worth 20gp to a vendor). If they choose so, deduct it's worth from their initial gold.

• Iraki : Must worship the Laotse Pantheon. Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat. If they already have it, they get an Improved Combat Maneuver Feat instead. And +1+⅕ their level to damage rolls with unarmed strikes. Clerics, Inquisitors, Paladins and Warpriests get +1+⅕ their level to their spells DC.

• Nangu : Arcane casters get +1+⅕ their level to their spells DC.

• Asakuya : Samurai get +1+⅕ their level to damage rolls with weapons from the polearm or spear family.