Bushan

History

The Suzerainty of Bushan is a large island realm in the southwestern Threshold, a week’s sail south of the Imperial Navy station at Sushima. It has long been settled, but beneath the notice of the Realm and the Shogunate before it, its people subsisting as they had for centuries on fishing and what agriculture could be managed on plots hacked from the native jungles.

When the Contagion struck, the population was devastated here as in the rest of Creation. It was at this time that Immaculate tales tell the god residing in the island’s towering volcano made the ground tremble and announced his presence, demanding worship and obedience lest he strike down all who still survived. The people, unable to resist this violation of the Perfected Hierarchy, bowed down and accepted the rule of the wayward divinity.

Under the rule of their volcano god, the people of Bushan suffered greatly, their lives dominated by a cycle of prayer and sacrifice to their deity, but its totalitarian rule did bring order to Bushan. Driven to find ever more slaves and treasures to sate their volcanic master, the people of Bushan began to build ever larger boats, culminating in ornately-carved two-hulled war canoes filled with hardened warriors venturing on raids to surrounding islands.

Over a century ago, tales of this god-ruled isle reached the ears of Gentle Flame, an itinerant Immaculate monk journeying the southwest to spread the truth of the Immaculate doctrine. Flame could not sit by and let a god violate its proper place in such a manner, and so he journeyed to the volcano of Bushan to confront the deviant deity. Their battle is still remembered vividly in the local art of Bushan... smoke blackened the sky and the glow of molten rock lit the volcano. For two days they fought, but in the end no lava or ash could stop blows blessed by the Immaculate Hesiesh, and the volcano god was felled. Gentle Flame descended to the watching people of Bushan, leading them to raise a temple and teaching them of Immaculate doctrine... though some who had been favoured by the fallen god resisted, many welcomed freedom from divine tyranny, and the faith remains strong in Bushan to this day.

The Realm then came to Bushan, finding jade on the slopes of the now-dormant volcano. The leaders of the island bowed to the Scarlet Empress, and she declared the land a satrapy in care of House Peleps, who eagerly exploited the jade. This wealth was not to last, however, for the veins were not deep and soon ran dry... having little use for the satrapy, Peleps left it to subsist as a forgotten backwater for many decades. That changed with the formation of House V’neef sixty years ago... Bushan was amongst the satrapies granted to the new house, and V’neef has wasted little time in seeking ways to render the holding profitable. Today, Bushan’s war canoes grow more numerous, and with V’neef encouragement its rulers have begun to think beyond slave raids to occupation of surrounding islands.

Politics & Military

Bushan’s ruling class is made up of dozens of noble families, whose members can be easily identified by their blue facial tattoos. Each family is large, with its affairs administered by a council of its eldest members and ultimate authority invested in the family war leader, chosen through a largely democratic process punctuated by ritual combat when a single candidate cannot be agreed upon. The war leader holds the title of Suzerain if her family rules Bushan, leads the family fleet in war, and approves marriages for family members.

Such marriages are inevitably complex. In Bushan, children of a marriage take up the lowest caste amongst their parents, so the only means for a noble family to produce subsequent generations is to secure mates from other noble families... over many generations, this has significantly narrowed the breeding pool for Bushan’s nobility. Marriage between Bushan’s upper castes and un-tattooed foreigners is all but unheard of, though an exception to the rule exists for those who are divine or god-blessed, including the Exalted, who can be granted the privilege of blue tattoos by a family’s war leader so their potent blood might invigorate the line. Because of this, there are occasional Terrestrial Exaltations amongst the noble families, as well as a number of godblooded originating from dalliances between nobles and the once-dominant volcano god of the island.

The most important duty of the noble families is the commissioning and maintenance of Bushan’s ornate, double-hulled war canoes. Only those of a noble family are permitted to commission construction of such vessels (as well as the Scarlet Empress, who demanded that right when Bushan became a satrapy of the Realm and delegated the authority to her Satrap). The cost of building a war canoe is significant, and the process is long: each canoe consists of two hulls, each carved from a single tree of a species specific to Bushan. Before cutting, the surrounding jungle must be cleared and proper prayers said to the appropriate divinities, the bark on one side of the tree stripped so it can begin a natural process of weathering which takes at least one year. After this, the base of the tree is weakened by fire and cutting can begin with hand axes, a week-long process. The felled trunk is then carefully hauled to river or shore for transport to the shipyard in Handae, where the finest of Bushan’s shipwrights and woodcarvers begin the work of shaping the hull, linked to another by way of a covered wooden deck topped with a sail mast. Each hull is fitted with large head and tailboards, and all parts of the boat are covered in elaborate carvings depicting the history of the family that commissioned it in stylized fashion. This carving takes several years before it is completed, with some war canoes having spent a decade undergoing the process. The head board of the canoe is further decorated by being covered in a thin sheet of precious metal, gold for the wealthiest families and polished brass for poorer ones, carefully pressed against the wood to reveal the carvings beneath. The natural oils within the wood prevent warping and preserve the completed war canoe... such boats can, if properly maintained, last for over a century.

War canoes range between twenty and forty feet in length, with crews of between 25 and one hundred warriors (marked by red facial tattoos), who also serve as rowers. The canoes are used as whaling vessels, with the strongest arms on the crew taking the honour of throwing harpoons tied to brightly-coloured air bladders... the bladders can be followed as the whale is chased, and eventually it will be too tired to resist a killing blow and will be tied to the canoe and towed back to port. They are also used as raiders, the warriors rowing the canoe up onto beaches before spilling over the sides with spears and boomerangs.

Combat between the war canoe fleets of various families is an important part of Bushan politics, deciding which family will take the throne. While raiding or whaling fleets might consist of canoes from a large number of families, the goal of a battle for the throne is to prove the strength of one’s own family, and therefore use of allied boats is unheard of. Usually the family with the largest fleet will be accepted by other families as Suzerain, without need for combat, though when two families are close to even in fleet size, or a lesser family falls under leadership of an impressive war leader, battle ensues. War canoes with good rowers can be fast, but they are not open-ocean ships of war, their structure ill-suited to mount ranged weapons or to break other ships through ramming. Indeed, destroying a war canoe is viewed poorly by many in Bushan given their value and the artistry involved in their construction. Because of this, combat usually consists of running alongside a rival war canoe at speed to break its oars and force it to surrender, or to lasso its head and tail boards so it can be pulled close and boarded.

While only noble families can own war canoes, and their war leaders command Bushan’s fleets, not all boats are captained by nobles. Often, a family of the red-tattooed warrior caste will become hereditary captains for a specific canoe.

For foreigners, identifying Bushan’s noble families can be a difficult thing: the families do not have distinct names, with Bushan natives knowing family associations as a matter of course and through identifying subtle patterns amongst their tattoos. Typically where a name is required, the name of the family’s war leader is used.

The Realm is represented in Bushan by Imperial Satrap V'neef Mahara Ashiko. She stands at the lead of several departments of the Imperial government.

Office of the Imperial Satrap: The personal staff of the satrap herself, consisting of the satrap and mortal clerks.

Humble and Upright Collectors of Taxes and Tribute: Subdivision of the Wise and Knowledgeable Advisors of Foreign Tributaries, though distance means the branch is able to operate with some autonomy. Tax collectors responsible for gathering and counting tribute from the satrapy, and sending the accounted tribute back to the Realm coffers on the Blessed Isle. Most collectors are mortal, though the head of the Collectors is a Dragonblooded.

Infallible Couriers of Communicatives and Missives: A subdivision of the Imperial Post. Responsible for communications, the Couriers employ local boats and runners to deliver missives to local recipients, as well as exchanging communications with the Blessed Isle via regular courier trimaran. Many such communications are encrypted and decoded by the cipher section of the Couriers to ensure security. In a distant satrapy like Bushan, the presence of the Post is small.

Honourable and Precise Division of Auditing and Accountability: Subdivision of the Imperial Treasury. Small in numbers but great in power, responsible for investigating and punishing graft and corruption within the Thousand Scales in the satrapy.

All-Seeing Eye: The secret service of the Realm, independent of the Thousand Scales, has suffered greatly in the absence of the Empress, with many of its agents ferreted out or forced into hiding and others turning their assets to personal ends. In Bushan, the Eye is a small organization whose members are responsible for monitoring the loyalty of local Dynasts directly, and for running networks of local informants to track signs of rebellion or ill will in the local government and population. The Eye has not fallen to petty fiefdoms in Bushan, though House V’neef has managed to exert some influence over the local cell and the satrap now receives Eye reports.

Immaculate Order: The Immaculate Order has a presence in Bushan, including a well-appointed temple in the capital whose nestor serves as head of the Order in the Satrapy. A number of mortal monks care for the temple and proselytize the faith amongst the locals, amongst whom there is widespread adherence. As there are few Dragonblooded in Bushan, the Order expects all to answer the call to join the Wyld Hunt should an Anathema appear in the satrapy.

Merchant Marine: House V’neef controls the Realm’s merchant marine, the merchant shipping owned directly by the Realm. The marine serves not only the commercial needs of the Realm but military ones as well (such as Legion transport, supply, and privateering), and is also responsible for the collection of tariffs and customs duties from cargos bound for the Blessed Isle. Bushan is home to a small naval station and docks under direct control of the Realm, too small to service the heavy patrol vessels of the Imperial Navy but useful for the smaller V’neef patrol cutters and commerce raiders. Defending the port, and serving to provide armed strength to the satrap and local tax collectors are infantry units drawn from merchant marine boarding crews... not as effective on the field as the troops of the Imperial Legions, they are nevertheless quite capable. Lacking significant Legion forces of its own, House V’neef has been bolstering such forces extensively as the possibility of conflict over the Empty Throne looms large.

Culture

The locals decorate their faces and necks with tattoos, whose quantity and detail display wealth and whose colour indicates the bearer’s place in the system of social castes (their permanency pointing out the lack of social mobility).

- Blue: the upper nobility, rulers and owners of many ships and lands.
- Red: the lesser nobility, traditionally those who owned the large whaling or war canoes (though in modern times many own much more).
- Black: the soldiery and sailors, crews of Bushan’s canoes.
- Green: commoners, merchants and craftsmen.
- Yellow: underclasses, miners and those who work sifting foul-smelling sulfur from the island’s rivers.
- White: not used for basic tattooing, white marks across existing tattoos mark an individual as having committed a crime.

See also: Bushanese Cuisine

Geography

The island of Bushan is large, but much of it is undeveloped, covered in thick jungle rising to hills around a central volcano. The jungles provide wood and fruit to the locals, and in some areas clearcutting has made room for fields of rice and yams, though the soil does not remain fertile for many harvests and such agriculture must frequently be moved to new-cleared spaces. Fish and shellfish are a major part of the local diet, with whales most favoured in the local cuisine.

The capital of Bushan, and its only major urban center, is Handae City. The City is a sprawling area of wood and mud buildings, home to the government of Bushan, the shipyards for carving its distinct war canoes, the representatives of the Realm, and over half of the islands population (for a total of about 60,000 residents present in the city).

-- Royal Palace of Bushan: Residence of Bushan’s ruling family, as well as home to government offices. Fire-aspected manse.

-- Port of Handae: Docks for Bushan’s military and civilian shipping, primarily fishing vessels with some heavier whaling and war canoes as well as independent trading vessels. Alongside the docks is a shipyard for the construction of ships including war canoes, though it lacks the capacity for larger vessels capable of longer ocean journeys.

-- Warehouse District: District of large, low buildings for storage of trade goods leaving and entering Bushan.

-- Old Market: An area of streets crammed with stalls and storefronts, alongside artisan’s workshops. The Old Market is the place to come for locally-produced goods and household products, as well as the daily catch of Bushan’s fishermen. Sulfur products are also sold here.

-- Poor Districts: City slums, home to the urban poor who live in one or two-storey family dwellings of mud brick. The Poor Districts lack much in the way of urban planning, the roads between dwellings twisted and narrow, often filled with refuse.

-- Old City: In ages past, Handae was a much smaller settlement, surrounded by a fortified wall. As it grew, the Old City’s proximity to the Royal Palace made it the favoured spot for the estates of Bushan’s upper classes. Modern times have seen a shift, with tributary status to the Realm seeing those of wealth instead gravitating to estates closer to the Satrap’s residence, but the Old City remains inhabited by noble families less supportive of the Realm or more traditionally-minded.

-- Palace Wall: Wall with a base of earth topped with a wooden palisade reinforced with woven mats. The wall has several entrances with carved wooden gates left open save in times of siege, and is manned by patrols of royal guards.

-- Old City Wall: Large fortification, with earthworks topped by a wooden palisade covered in packed mud, and a ditch along the outside. The wall is no longer patrolled or maintained, and its outer ditch is now used as part of a gutter system to (with limited success) drain refuse from the abutting slums.

-- River Ferry: Large ferry barges make crossings of the Yellow River that divides Handae on a regular basis, with a smaller (and more costly) covered barge making crossings carrying wealthier residents.

-- Palace of Dancing Waters: Palace of the Imperial Satrap, built on land claimed by the Realm when Bushan became a tributary as the most geomantically auspicious location for the overseer’s residence. The Palace of Dancing Waters contains residences for the Satrap and offices for her staff, but is dominated by a series of interlocking water gardens and open-air pavilions, often used to host social gatherings for local Dynasts and Bushan’s elite. Water-aspected manse.

-- Realm District: Area surrounding the Satrap’s palace, home to the estates of Dynastic residents in the satrapy, as well as smaller homes of patricians and servants and the officers for Satrapy bureaucrats.

-- Marine Guard Garrison: Barracks, armory, drill yard, and maintenance workshop for the elements of V’neef’s 2nd Marine Guard garrison stationed in Bushan.

-- Realm Docks: Formerly an Imperial Navy station, the Realm Docks were too small for regular operations by Navy warships, and have transitioned to serve as docks for Dynastic vessels and ships of House V’neef’s merchant marine.

-- Seawall: Breakwater of heavy stones, protecting the Realm Docks from inclement weather. Topped by an arm of the Satrap’s Wall.

-- Satrap’s Wall: Wall of polished black stone, surrounding the Realm district and the Palace of Dancing Waters. Manned by elements of the 2nd Marine Guard.

-- New Market: Market of wide boulevards lined with storefronts featuring goods imported from the Blessed Isle as well as the work of Bushan’s finest craftsmen including elaborate wood carvings and sulfur-inlaid furniture. Tattoo artists, highly acclaimed in the culture of Bushan, also keep workshops in the New Market.

-- Waterfront District: A broad cobbled boulevard following the shoreline, its eastern side providing fine views of the Bay of Emerald Bliss and its western side lined with Bushan’s finest restaurants and teahouses.

-- New Districts: Districts of well-maintained houses for the merchants and more prosperous artisans of Handae, as well as the estates of noble families supportive of the Realm’s presence in Bushan.

-- Yellow District: Home to those artisans in Handae who work with sulfur, the Yellow District contains workshops for production of Sulfur-Inlay Furniture and artwork, as well as drying pools for extracting sulfur from river water and packing houses for preparation of sulfur to be transported elsewhere. The stench of sulfur is a constant presence in the district, which has been expanding rapidly year-on-year since RY765 as the export market has exploded.

-- Barge Docks: Docks jutting into the Yellow River, where river barges can unload goods carried downriver: foodstuffs, lumber, and volcanic rock.

-- Temple of the Dragon’s Flame Ascendant: Immaculate Temple, dedicated primarily to the Fire Dragon Hesiesh. Headquarters of the Immaculate Order in Bushan, this large temple constructed of polished volcanic rock holds regular services for the common folk of Handae, and includes private prayer and exercise rooms for Dynasts and local nobility as well as residences for the city’s Immaculate monks.

At the foot of the central volcano, west of Handae, is the geomantic treasure of Bushan, the wood-aspected war manse known as the Manse of Unyielding Mahogany, currently being repaired by House V'neef.