Mikai Dynasty

Era beginning/end

The Golden Age of Xiang Feng. A time of great expansion, development and expression. Such growth was not sustainable however, as the land eventually fell into complacency and corruption, and eventually, madness.

A Golden Age for Xiang Feng, the Minkai Dynasty was a time of expansion and development. The threat of Xhalandar was forgotten and the meticulous regulations of the Xidao dynasty were no more. The Minkai provided a distraction for the general populous in the form of encouraging them into the armies to help bring the outlaying lands under control. Even the boarder regions with Dath were colonized to improve defense and grant access to more exotic minerals.   This era also gave rise to numerous schools across the land. Training, the martial, spiritual, and even arcane arts became formalized. No more were arcanists subject to persecution, and were instead seen as an asset in Xiang Feng's defense.   After the initial laissez-faire policies of previous rulers, the ambitious Emperor Wu brought the empire to its zenith. To consolidate his power, the Way, which emphasizes stability and order in a well-structured society, was given exclusive patronage to be the guiding philosophical thoughts and moral principles of the empire. Imperial Universities were established to support its study and further development, while other schools of thought were discouraged.   After Emperor Wu, the empire slipped into gradual stagnation and decline. Economically, the state treasury was strained by excessive campaigns and projects, while land acquisitions by elite families gradually drained the tax base. Various consort clans exerted increasing control over strings of incompetent emperors and eventually the dynasty collapsed during the Night of Madness.