Ren-Guo
Ren-Guo is an ancient nation, founded thousands of years ago, when the Golden Emperor Ji conquered all the surrounding tribes. Tradition, formality, and refinement are central to this nation's culture. Nothing is more sacred, more untouchable, than one's ancestors, and the rules of the ancients live on through the generations. Swords are still commonly used, and haven't changed in design in over seven-hundred years. The Ren, as they are commonly known, believe themselves to already be perfect, so change is rarely tolerated unless out of absolute necessity.
Geography
In red
The Ren-Guo empire has several capital cities:
-Yijing, the oldest city in the region, is home to the emperor's palace, the royal library, and the royal guard. The majority of buildings in this city are government run, and occupied by various officials, relatives, dignitaries, and servants. Needless to say, it is the cleanest and most beautiful of all Ren-Guo cities.
-Erjing is Yijing's sister city. Very similar in design, it serves as a second home to the emperor, but is home to more commoners. This city has seen the largest population growth in the past few years, with a great many new industries and projects popping up at all times.
-Hei is the industrial capital of Ren-Guo. The city is full of factories and sweatshops, with a booming slave industry. The sun can only be seen after a rainy day, due to it otherwise being obscured by smoke and soot. The outskirts of the city are spotted with mines and pits. After Erjing, Hei is Ren-Guo's fastest growing city.
-Junjing is the empire's military capital. Half of all residents in this city are employed by the Ren-Guo military, and the rest are there to sell things to the soldiers.
-Baijing, the trade capital of the empire, maintains a constant stream of traders and ships flowing through it. It is here that the empire makes the majority of its money.
-Haijing is a fortified naval base, in the northern seas above Zhong. It is where the royal navy is based and maintained.
History
Several thousand years ago, the mythical warlord Ji, king of the Jin tribe, united the fourty tribes of the traditional Zhong region. Over the centuries, these tribes merged together into one massive metropolitan cultural soup, where all notions of unique culture were largely lost, leaving only very basic distinctions between the ethnicities. All that remained was a central dogma, upheld by the state, simply called the "Golden Code". Central to this code was the notion of ancestor worship, and the ideal of societal standards being more important than the individual. Human life became more than the sum of itself, with each individual acting as a representative for their entire family, and the rules of the "Zhong Family" being the most sacred of all.
Years later, the empire added a series of surrounding islands to itself, slowly absorbing them into the universal family of Zhong. As the ages passed, this too faded into mythology.
Ren-Guo carried on, virtually unchanged for thousands of years, upholding the same standards of honour and tradition, until new industrial technologies began entering public discourse, from outside nations. Finally, at the precipice of modernization, the long-isolated empire of Ren-Guo opened its gates. Now the empire, lead by its totalitarian government, is rapidly transforming into an industrial superpower, in command of one of the largest trade fleets in the world. Day and night, the devout workers of Zhong labour away, in the countless factories and shipyards, utterly convinced that global monopoly will bring honour to their ancestors.
Society
Ren-Guo is a staunch, traditionalist theocracy. Men wear plane, formal suits at all times. Women wear long, mono-coloured dresses. Only the emperor himself is allowed to dress lavishly. Houses are small and uncomfortable, and work-days are long and laborious. Interaction with the outside world is still generally frowned upon, with exceptions made for trade and military cooperation.
The upper class consists of a small number of families, with historical ties to the royal family itself. The vast majority of the population are poor, uneducated peasants. Literacy is common, but not universal, and diseases are common among those who can't afford a doctor.
Music and culture are celebrated, with many national holidays, honouring various legends, customs, and even individual songs. The young celebrate these events with fireworks, while the old prefer to assemble and light candles in ritualistic patterns.
Every village in the empire has a patron deity, with a shrine dedicated to them. These shrines act as community hubs, for people to socialize and organize. Needless to say, they are heavily monitored by the government, to ensure no organization is taking place against the crown's interest.
Economy/Industry
Ren-Guo bases its economy on a booming mining industry. The heavily mountainous region of Zhong is home to a surplus of subterranean resources, ripe for the picking. These resources are refined at the great factories of the province of Hei, where the sky is perpetually black with soot. The empire utilizes as much of its supply as it can, and trades the rest for lumber, in order to expand its navy. The more ships that are built, the more trade networks are established, and onward the economic growth continues.
Ren-Guo's second largest industry is agriculture. Due simply to the age of the empire, countless miles of natural landscape have been converted into farmland, to support the constantly growing population. With space being a limited resource, the biggest internal difficulty the nation faces is balancing urban development with agricultural growth, so that people have somewhere to live as well as something to eat.
Military
In spite of Ren-Guo's great advances in industrialization, its military is still comparably primitive. Muskets are still not universally distributed among army personnel. The standard weapons for ground-combat remain the pike and sword. Fortunately, the empire is able to make up for this shortcoming through sheer numbers alone. The entire region is heavily overpopulated, with more than enough worthless peasants willing to sacrifice their lives for the crown. When facing an opponent with superior technology, the army simply continues throwing bodies at them until they run out of ammunition. While heartless, this tactic has been supremely effective for Ren-Guo.
Air travel is very limited, and the emperor has very little interest in expanding a national air force at present. He has a small fleet of blimps, who defensively patrol the capital city at all times. In reality, they're little more than decorations.
Where Ren-Guo really shines is with its navy, which consists of countless, massive, armour-plated galleons, each outfitted with dozens of Ren-Guo iron cannons. Songs and legends have been crafted in honour of the Ren-Guo imperial fleet, who are said to summon the wrath of the heavens themselves upon their targets.
Demographics
Ren-Guo is inhabited by 42 different ethnic groups. Fourty of them are the traditional mainlanders of Ren-Guo. The other two come from the island nations Ren-Guo has since conquered. Together, they all identify as Ren, and uphold the universal customs of the nation, however there are minor differences between them all.
The largest tribe, known as the Jin-Ren, are slightly taller than the rest of the population (which isn't saying much, given that Ren tend to be about a foot shorter than most races), and slightly lighter in skin-tone. They are known to be more brutish and short-tempered, and traditionally carry weapons with them at all times.
The second largest tribe of Ren are known as the Yin-Ren, and they are considerably shorter than most Ren, with darker skin and softer features. They are known for speaking softly, and smiling often.
The third largest 'tribe' is composed of many nomadic and rural groups, mainly residing in the mountains of central Ren-Guo. They are called the Mon-Ren. These stout, burly individuals, are the only Ren known to have facial hair. In popular media, they are seen as the keepers of tradition, and are often encouraged to pursue roles in society that promote culture and religion.
The fourth largest group in Ren-Guo are known as the Wa-Ren (often just called "Wa"). These people are generally very slender and pale, with long, fair faces, appearing almost elf-like. Their origins trace back to the distant islands Ren-Guo conquered many centuries ago. They usually keep to themselves, and aren't viewed as proper Ren by the majority of the population. Among themselves, they are exceptionally formal and polite. In Ren-Guo's oldest surviving text, the Golden Emperor himself referred to the Wa as "constructs of stone and metal, masquerading as living beings".
Member
Marik
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