Qushu League of Free Cities
The disparate but united lands of the Xiaosha Sands, forged in the fires of oppression into a land of freedom
Structure
Governmental Structure
The Governmental Structure of the Qushu League was designed to be flexible and adaptable at each level, able to be broken down and divided up in case of civil war, infighting, or emergencies that would require the country to function as a more disparate collection of city-states as opposed to a country led by a singular ruler. With a focus on people-driven government, Qushu's government is designed to ensure that no singular figure exists without checks and balances - a more refined version of the governmental notions founded in the lands of Dhara to the north that created the first notions of a people-driven government. Rais - Publically elected leader of the League. They serve as the face of the League and handle its decision-making at the highest level - responsible for uniting the countless disparate peoples of the league, their personality and raw charisma is required to let them serve as the glue that holds the various cities and peoples together under the league's banner. It is their job to handle all manner of political and societal disputes the league has, both internally and externally, though in the past has been abused by figures who wished to turn the country into a facist dictatorship. Kivuli - The mysterious head of all the nomadic mega-caravans that prowl the sands. A seat tangentially related and/or comparable to the seat of Rais, as the two keep in contact to govern the two halves of the country. Referred to by the Qushani nomads as "The Shadow". Little is known about them. Watu - Representatives who hold seats in the Qushani Senate and the Qushani High Court. They represent the various cities and the territories that surround them, though how exactly they are decided upon is left up to that same city and its controlled lands - typically done by election, though trials by combat or communal decision are also common. They hold seats in the Senate and High Court, where they hold various powers to check the power of the Rais and, in turn, are checked BY the power of the Rais. They serve 2 year terms in the Senate and technically hold their offices in the High Court "for as long as they remain in the good graces of the people they serve", meaning they serve for life in the High Court until removal or their willing abdication. Elder - The individual "Masters" of each nomadic mega-caravan that slowly prowls across the Xiaosha sands, subordinate to the Kivuli. They carry on the ancient ways and traditions of the Qushani people, and eschew civilization in favor of the old nomadic ways. The exact means by which they are chosen aren't known specifically, but they are believed to be more communally-decided upon than the Mwami who rule the cities of the league. Mwami - Publically elected leaders of the League's individual cities. Equal in power and position to the Elders who rule the mega-caravans, they are elected by the cities they represent and are given the authority and autonomy to decide city policy, ratify laws, and so on. They serve in four year terms and are elected by the citizens and Kiti of the cities they are trying to rule over. Kiti - Locally elected members of the various city councils and other minor governmental bodies of the league's various cities. They serve four year terms and are elected similarly to the Mwami, by the citizens of the cities they are working to get elected in. Askari - A position similar to a knight or duke, put in charge of outlying villages to serve as a voice for those higher up in the country. They sit in on the village elder's meetings with the villagefolk under them, offering insight and keeping in contact with the local Mwami to ensure the disparate villages of the League stay cohesive. They are typically assigned based on votes carried out by the Kiti in the various cities of the League.Societal Structure
Society in the Qushu League is divided up into two extremely simple categories - the only two categories that matter to the Qushani People, and barely at that. Beyond these categories, they consider themselves one single, united people. Dwellers: Those who live in the cities of the Qushu league - an eclectic mix of nomads and the original foreigners that came to Qushu centuries ago to escape persecution, who over time settled down and began to develop cities thanks to the influence of the foreign refugees who had come from more civilized areas. While they have lost some of their ability to live outside the walls in the harsh desert sand, not all have gone completely native - and to many preservation of their heritage yet remains an important thing. However, they have been indelibly changed by their adoption of civilization - marking them a whole different breed than the hardy nomads who survive on their wits and the desert sands alone. Nomads: They who live outside the cities of the Qushu league, clinging more to the traditions of the past and their ancient history and culture in the face of the many foreigners that came to the Xiaosha sands long ago to escape persecution during the Age of Conquest. They retain and stay true to their nomadic heritage, living in gigantic wagon-trains that occasionally form the legendary "Tent-cities" that Qushu has become somewhat famous for - living their lives as their ancestors did, accepting all into their folds as family and living alongside countless others of both foreign and native ancestry. Moreso than the dwellers, they are much more adapted to dealing with the dangers of the desert than their Dweller kin.Culture
Public Agenda
Despite its distant location from many of the other nations of Zheng-Kitar, the Qushu League's public agenda sees it stand up against oppression in any form - making it a very outspoken country on the world stage despite its location. They are motivated by their desires to see a free world, and operate accordingly - and while many of their foreign policies can be misunderstood as smothering and extremist, such actions come from the heart of a people united by a shared oppression in times past and who yearn to ensure no others go through the same traumas.
Assets
The Qushu League is a moderately wealthy country, thanks to the various resources that dwell deep beneath the sandy dunes of the Xiaosha sands - especially the likes of gold, silver, salt, and more. As such, while not as wealthy and rich in resources as the likes of Kingdom of Tarthus-Tetsu, the Qushu League's collectively amassed wealth from each of its constituent cities has pooled together into quite the nest egg - though it is perhaps more accurately described as "resource-rich for its size and population" rather than all-around wealthy.
History
Though the ancient nomadic peoples of the Qusheg have existed in the Xiaosha Sands for hundreds if not thousands of years, it is only recently that the "Qushani" people truly came into their own and emerged onto the world stage with the arrival of countless foreign refugees from the eastern lands of Zheng-Kitar, fleeing west to escape imperial persecution in their homelands to seek asylum amongst the desert nomads. Though tensions initially ran high, these Veshani people soon merged with the Quseg nomads to form the Qushani people as they are known today - becoming a multicultural people of countless origins that dwell in the Xiaosha Sands.
For more information on the history of the Qushu League, see the page for the Qushani people.
Demography and Population
As one of the most diverse lands of the world alongside the likes of the Ustanan Concord, the Qushu League is home to a great many races and cultures - most commonly Sanctor, Humans, Half-Orcs, and Orcs serving as the most common species while species such as Warbreed, Urqet, Eldragi, Othraka, Desert Elves as well as many others are present but not as populous.
Territories
The lands of the Qushu League, at their height, once covered all the lands of the Xiaosha Sands, the grasslands beyond it, to even the entire Haishulao Wood, demarcated by the town of Ouritz in the east, Mobayane in the north, Zalu in the south, and the capital Manzibuta in the west - though in recent years during the reign of Siwatu Kalejaiye's authoritarian predecessor the Haishulao Wood had to be abandoned alongside the town of Ouritz due to the extreme pressure it put on the league's supply caravans to make the journey.
The lands of the League were once the ancestral ground of the nomadic Quseg people, with the grasslands and forest beyond having been colonized in mostly peaceful expansions.
With the league's abandonment of the Haishulao Wood and the distant town of Ouritz in decades past, these previous occupied lands have returned to a more tribal heritage - though the ultimate fate of the town of Ouritz is poorly understood or documented outside of irregular trading caravan visits to the town that bring back reports of a town living alongside beasts and monsters in a fashion unheard of anywhere else in the world.
Military
The military of the Qushu League is a surprisingly well-crafted and thought out creation honed over decades of experience - and while the League has not had any major wars, their armies have been tested time and again against the hordes of monsters and barbaric tribesmen who seek to destroy their lands and pillage them. As such, the League's military is divided into the following "branches":
- The Quilters: The town guard and scout force of the Qushu League, typically trained and fielded by the nomads who prowl the sands in their enormous mega-caravans. They serve as a check from the nomads to the dwellers, and handle the internal defense of the league's cities as well as scouting operations out in the hot desert sands, and are named for their beautiful multicolor outfits they wear in the traditional Quseg style - akin to walking quilts. They have outposts in most major cities and across the desert sands, and also serve as the country's military reserve.
- The Uwindaji: The military and standing army of the League, trained and fielded by the dwellers in their cities to serve as a check from the dwellers to the nomads, as well as a more formal and traditional army that the nomads have had difficulty fielding in centuries past. They are formally trained in desert warfare and group tactics as opposed to the Quilters' small team or solo tactics, and fight as a single, cohesive force - typically placed around the various borders of the league as well as notorious monster hotspots to keep the country safe from bandits, barbarians, and monsters. They quite famously employ Urqet and Lamia in a formal capacity in their legions due to standing aggreements made with local tribes, which helps them not only fight back but defeat monstrous tribes in the area. They are not, however, to be considered "weak" without their monster help - they have long recieved accolades even from foreign powers due to their overwhelming battle prowess and valor in combat which sees them fight towering monsters and bloodthirsty barbarians with little armor, favoring quick cloth and their own dexterity to see them through combat as opposed to the heavy metallic armors of other nations' militaries. They favor enormous, curved blades and quick, dextrous movements in absolute unison with their battle-brethren - moving as a single, cohesive hunting force across the desert dunes like a horde of sandskimming hunting dogs from which they also derive their name.
- Bullsblood Legion: The elite honor guard of the Qushu League, maintained since ancient times when the Veshani People first united with the Quseg nomads - said to have been formed during this union as the migrating Veshani refugees brought their more formal eastern military experience to bear in the service of the nomads who had accepted them, offering up their best and brightest to serve as the honor guard to the Quseg Leaders, while the Quseg in turn put their best scouts and survivalists to use ensuring their new friends would not starve and die in their new environment. This agreement, while moot now, has stood and given rise to the Bullsblood Legion - the mightiest warriors of the League who act in service to the Rais as their honor guard - though they have been formally abused by previous Rais' who sought to use them as a personal military. Disgraced yet more powerful than ever thanks to the terror campaigns of the previous Rais, they are hungry to prove themselves in the service of their new master Siwatu Kalejaiye. They are given signature white cloaks with bullshead medallions as well as golden armor and weapons.
Religion
The League is quite protective of its religious freedoms - but with the fall of the previous Rais who used the faith of Nieri-Jou the Shackler as his own personal terror squads, the faith of Nieri-Jou the Shackler has been banned entirely from the Qushu League - the only one to be banned from the country outright.
Foreign Relations
The League's relations with its close neighbors, the Dharan Alliance and the Ustanan Concord, is relatively peaceful and close - though such relationships are not perfect thanks to the league's outspoken nature, the three countries form a loose tripartite alliance(Unofficially) that have stood strong in the face of adversity quite well through the decades - an unofficial alliance which was only recently renewed with the ascension of Siwatu Kalejaiye to the seat of Rais over his previous authoritarian counterpart, whom had damaged the league's relations with these neighbors quite severely.
Outside of these neighbors, the League has few allies - viewing its more distant Imperialist Neighbors such as The Narixian Empire, the Kingdom of Seoghar, and more as bullies that the world would better off fleeing from, as they once did. With the likes of the City-State of Axiom, however, they remain mostly neutral - a valued trading partner who is not quite entirely authoritarian, but not quite entirely free.
Agriculture & Industry
Most of the agriculture of the Qushu League happens along the coasts where water is plentiful, or near lakes or the mountains where water can be collected from such basins or mountain runoffs - and while not overly plentiful, allows the Qushu League to mostly stay self-sufficient barring some regular imports from their neighbors in the Dharan Alliance.
Their other industries are far more advanced - their vast and monolithic salt mines are the stuff of legend, while their gold and silver mines are some of the most plentiful and efficient on mainland Zheng-Kitar.
Trade & Transport
Trade and transport within the league is accomplished with the help of the Nomads, who dwell outside its major cities and prowl the lands in their massive caravans - they help both other nomads, city dwellers, as well as even visitors to move from place to place within the league, acting as a transport service for goods and people and more as well as the "roads" of the country.
Education
Education in the Qushu League is done primarily through word of mouth, through lectures from nomadic shamans or local elders - otherwise, there is no formal education system...though the current Rais Siwatu Kalejaiye is working to change that.
Freedom Unto Death! Free to our Final Breath!
Founding Date
4388 ASK
Type
Geopolitical, Country
Alternative Names
The League, Qushu League, The League of Free Cities, Qushu
Demonym
Leader
Leader Title
Head of State
Head of Government
Government System
Democracy, Presidential
Power Structure
Federation
Economic System
Gift economy
Currency
The Nomads of the Qushu League do not typically use a currency, instead utilizing a system similar to a gift economy - where services or goods are given without an agreement as to a suitable payment or trade to be made in return, where others are repayed with favors, invitations, help, and the like instead of hard currency. When pressed, they occasionally can find use for coins of the three-coin system but typically prefer to exchange gifts for items and the like.
The Dwellers of the Qushu League also tend to use this system, but abide more closely to the traditional three-coin system of Gold, Silver, and Copper.
Major Exports
Salt, Gold, Silver, Jewelry, Minerals/Ores, Fish
Major Imports
Grain, Wine, Marble, Animal Hides, Weapons and Armor
Legislative Body
The Qushani Senate is the highest legislative body in the country, voting on and writing the various laws of the League with its many representatives, though each city and territory in the league has its own, lower senate to decide upon local matters.
Judicial Body
The Qushani High Court is the highest judicial body in the country - its members serving for life and serving as the highest court in the land when important issues require decisions that lower courts cannot decide upon, or on issues that require national attention.
Executive Body
The Rais of the Qushu League is the publically elected executive that runs the League and holds executive power to check the various other aspects of the government and are themselves in turn checked by the others as well. They enforce the laws and serve as the public face of the League.
Neighboring Nations
Related Ethnicities
Close Allies
Dhara and Qushu are excellent allies and strong neighbors - as Dhara heavily influenced Qushu's democratic government and both countries staunchly support freedom and people-driven government, they are natural allies who have recently renewed their vows after Siwatu Kalejaiye rose to power in Qushu and drove the previous Tyrant out of office, renewing the two country's ties in a grand ceremony.
Allies
Though the relationship of the Qushu League and the Ustanan Concord is rough at times due to the Concord's more capitalistic and greed-based society, the two nations nonetheless consider themselves close allies and staunch advocates of freedom. They have several standing pacts and agreements of mutual support and more which have lasted throughout decades - despite the occasional rough spot in their relationship.
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