Land of Crushing Fragrance
The Land of Crushing Fragrance is aregion of the Southwestern Threshold, north of An-Teng across the River of Ever-Flowing Blood, bordered to the west by the Great Western Ocean and to the east by Blood River. It is an area of jungle swamps and floodplains, fertile but sparsely-inhabited.
The history of the Land is one of refugees and violence. Its earliest battles date from the Primordial War, when the armies of the Dragon Kings met the armies oft he Lintha in the Primordial War. The scars of those battles seem healed, buried beneath silt and roots, but here and there a ruin can be found which dates from this time. After the war, humanity spread into the area, filling the now-empty jungles under administration of An-Teng, growing food for export elsewhere in Creation. This was a time of peace, though not completely: the jungle was difficult to penetrate, and there were tales of feral demon-blooded who survived in their darkest depths.
Over successive generations, the land has recieved wave after wave of refugees. The Usurpation brought those who had backed the Solar Exalted, fearful of Dragonblooded retribution. The Shogunate saw factions and families loyal to various daimyo forced out when the political winds shifted, and the coming of the Scarlet Empire to An-Teng pushed loyalists of The Seven Tigers to flee into the Land's jungles. The years that followed saw refugees from the Realm's wars and those faced with violence for their nationalistic sentiments to flee here as well... and as long as An-Teng has had noble families, those who lose out on the most intense political games are left nowhere else to retreat but the Land of Crushing Fragrance.
The Land of Crushing Fragrance has no unified government, its inhabitants dwelling in small villages or bands and rarely cooperating. Traditionally their houses are built atop stilts to avoid flooding, with hills and outcrops sometimes riddled with tight tunnels for use as shelter. Its economy is mostly subsistence, growing various fruits and vegetables along with Fragrant Rice. The Land is home to several rare herbs and flowers, prompting outsiders to sometimes venture into its jungles, but these face great difficulty.
The military of Crushing Fragrance is simply village militias and bandit gangs, usually armed with farming implements and spears... some more complex weapons have been found, Dragon King crystal blades and bronze axes brought by Blood River artisans fleeing the Realm's invasion in decades long past, but these are very rare. Elephants are employed as work beasts and sometimes brought to war, usually mounted by a single rider with javelins and heavy chopping blade. But it is not in open battle that the Land's defenses lie.
The local people have a dislike of outsiders, and a seemingly overwhelming hatred of foreign rule or influence over their homes. Those who attempt to conquer the land are faced with a population that seems entirely unified behind the effort to drive them out: warriors atop elephants descend on supply caravans, peasant girls lay masterful traps along jungle paths, and no quantity of bribes or concessions seems able to convince them to cease. They resisted the armies of the Shogunate, the Imperial Legions, and the elephantries of An-Teng, forcing each foe to suffer until at last it gave in and withdrew. The people are masters of traps and poisons suited to their jungle homes, and are a potent foe on their own turf... only once have the armies of the Land ever marched outside their borders, when a warlord amongst them united many gangs and villages behind him, claiming to be Diamond Mandarin and King-of-Kings who would wipe out An-Teng and the Realm. The army raised crossed into An-Teng and was crushed, its leader dead on the field of war, but the Tengese who pursued the scattered retreat in hopes of ending the threat once and for all found they, like all those before, could not hold the land in thrall.
Some poets speak of the Land of Crushing Fragrance as the flip side of An-Teng's coin... where An-Teng is docile and accepting of domination, the Land is active and unflinching in its resistance; where An-Teng is stabilized by tradition and hierarchy, the Land is chaotic without bond or allegiance. It is as if, some say, fate itself sends all such chaos and resistance flowing from An-Teng into the Land of Crushing Fragrance... a clever turn of phrase to amuse a modern audience, but perhaps more true than any truly know... given the powers of the Solar Exalted and their deep manipulations of An-Teng, who can say what mechanisms they imposed to further their designs?
The only port of note in the Land of Crushing Fragrance is the Isle of Breaching Sharks, which some do not consider to be part of the Land at all.
