PROVINCES

                                              

All of our proud and magnificent cities are built upon the roosts of the six great dragons, which each reprsent a quality and the faith of the cities is extricably bound up with the characteristis-cs of their respective dragon.

 

Wejin

Wejin is one of the northern districts of Cathay and in the north its for ever in snow covered peaks rise higher then the clouds. And where the mountains change into hills, the soil becomes richer and the farms become larger in number.

The capital is the mighty temple city of Wejin, it stands there as a monument to wisdom and skill. It is built on the roost from Ashaki the great ice dragon, a symbol of wisdom and skill. The city itself is carved out of a rough mountain to city beautiful to see and great to live in. When Hai-Yu-Tjang, the foundator of Wejin came and saw the great mountains, he must have been inspired by his father who was a great stonecutter and a wonderful artisan and to honour him, he and his relatives built this magnificent city. As most people know, there is not much to do in the mountains, so the people of Wejin perfectionated there fighting skills in there famous dojo’s  and they studied in their tall towers. And even now the wisest men from whole Cathay come from Wejin, and not only the wisest men, also the best fighters are trained in Wejin and their different brotherhoods are known all over the country as well as the Chiang-hou swordsmen, all trained in their own dojo’s. There is some sort of competition between these different dojo’s, as they all want to train the best fighters, perhaps the most impressive of all temples is the one where Chan-su-Wang teaches the martial arts to the best fighters of all three dojo’s and where he guards the book of ages behind the fifty feet tall metal doors.

The mountains of Wejin are inhabited by many strange creatures, but the strangest of them is perhaps a subspecies of men, the so-called monkey warriors. They are men who left the ideas men used to have far behind them and instead, they have built up a strong band with nature itself. They prefer to be left alone, but when the evil in the northern provinces awakens, the monkey warriors will fight along with men to protect the nature, as it will become horribly mutated and destroyed as evil comes over her. The monkey warriors have always proved trustful allies in battle as long as the Cathayans respected nature. And once, when the province of Wejin was attacked by the plundering hordes of Shuuto, an Indian warlord, the monkey warriors came to help the Cathayans and with their help, the Cathayans broke through the forces who assaulted the city of Wejin. The current king of the monkey warriors, Yuck-Fou is a close friend from the emperor and the monkey warriors live in peace.

 

Shang-Yang

Shang-Yang is the most eastern city in Cathay, except for Fushion, and it is also the economical capital of Cathay, since the opening of the silk road by Ricco and Robbio. It is built upon the roost of Itakiwe, the gold dragon who is a symbol for wealth and luvk.

The city of Shang-Yang is the final destination for the caravanes which depart from the Old World in the hope to see the empire of the celestial dragon. The great bronze gates from Shang-Yang, which close the eagle pass are the strongest in whole Cathay and thousands of Hobgoblins crushed their skulls on these mighty doors. The city of Shang-Yang was built in the war against the Hobgoblins, to guard the eagle pass, which is the only passage through the Dragon Mountains. Sad enough it didn’t make any difference in the beginning, but after a while, the city gained enough strength to defend itself against these foul invaders. The greater part of this strength came from Ahn-Yu-Ming, an old and wise man, who experimented with use of potions, and after several long years of intensive research, he found a potion which exploded when it hit the ground or an other target. With the help of these potions, the Citizens of Shang-Yang repulsed the evil Hobgoblins, gaining their first victory in battle. This was also the start of a long and strong tradition of alchemists and now, not only the original exploding potions are used in battle since the research of the alchemists didn’t  stop after this one kind and many different alchemists discovered their own potions such as : fire bombs, poison cloud potions an many different varieties.

But this doesn’t leave any less glory for the Tilean mercenaries, who are always a welcome help in the everlasting war against the foul Hobgoblins. The Tilean hirelings were first hired by emperor Wu, after they had proven their valour  in a small skirmish against the imperial troops. It is true that the Tileans are much ruder and less skilled then the Cathayans, but they are tougher and stronger and their pikes are an extremely useful weapon against the Hobgoblins on their wolves.

 

Xuzin

The lands of Xuzin are dry and tough lands, extremely difficult o live in, but the Xuzin people are strong, tall and they like the sense of pain. In Xuzin the women as well as the men take up their weapons to defend their beloved homes and slaughter their attackers.

The Xuzin are a nomadic people, who learn the art of  riding on horseback at a very young age. When they are five years old, every Xuzin gets his own foal and when they become adults, at their twentieth birthday, every man gets another horse, their future steed to ride of in battle. The horses of Xuzin are  renowned  for  their  legendary  strength

and  stamina,  unlike  all  the  other  Cathayans, the

 Xuzin ride mares, choosing speed and nimbleness above the strength of a stallion. This speed is also more useful in their Hobgoblin hunting games. These hunts are organised in small groups, who seek the Hobgoblin encampments with the help of a specially trained eagle, which can spot these creatures while he is floating two hundred feet above their heads, the group who has collected the most Hobgoblin skulls at the end of the day wins. Of course not all of the Xuzin ride on horseback twenty-four hours a day, the horses need to rest as well as the riders and so it comes that the Xuzin are not only masters in riding on horseback, they are also very skilled with the bow and are excellent scouts.

The current leader of Xuzin is Yin the hunter, he is a hard-working, strong and wise warrior. He has trained his own band of hunters, the Whit Fangs, fierce and strong Xuzin men and women, all with a burning hatred against Hobgoblins, real Xuzin barbarians as the other Cathayans would call them, but unlike the other Cathayans think, Xuzin is a land full of culture and a home to very wise men, almost as wise as the priests of Chengu, the only difference is that not every word these men utter is written down by hundreds of scholars and they aren’t as arrogant as most wise man, but instead they work hard and teach their wisdom to young men.

 

Fuzhou

The port city of Fuzhou in the south of Cathay is for the greater part inhabited by fishermen. Most of the people here live near the shores because the plains are dry and there isn’t anything to eat. When in the early ages the Elves came to cathay, they landed in Fuzhou and tough their smiths how to make weapons, they taught their builders new techniques and from Fuzhou the whole elven art and culture spreaded over the empire. The city itself was built upon the roost of Aikari, the sea dragon, who protects the city from any harm from within the sea.

Even now the artisans, craftsmen and smiths from Fuzhou are the best from whole the country, their work is almost as finely as that from the Elves. Fuzhou had much to endure from Dark Elf raids, tsunami’s and storms, but now Fuzhou has an immensely strong fleet with which they can let the Dark Elves pay for their shameless attacks and there is the Jade wall, which ensures that no tsunami will ever hit the town. The Cathaian ships are small, wooden ships, which move much faster then the large and slow Dark elf black arcs and aboard of these ships stands the naval guard of Fuzhou, strong and fierce men who are as skilled with the falchion as with their special designed rocket launchers, the rockets of these rockets don’t explode as normal rockets would do, but instead they burn a massive hole in the hull of the ship until it reaches the water line. As you can see, the fleet of Fuzhou is extremely effective, deadly effective and for the last fifty years there, no Dark Elf is ever seen in Cathaian waters.

But now, Fuzhou is no longer the economical capital of Cathay, since long time ago the Elves abandoned the greater part of their colonies and trading posts. It wasn’t this that made that Fuzhou had to give it’s title to Shang-Yang, since there were still some Elves who came and there were also the Norman, actually it was the opening of the silk road which gave the final blow. The current Phoenix King Finubar the Seafarer stimulates the trade, but even for the Elves the trip to Cathay has becomen mystical and dangerous. The Elves who do travel to Fuzhou however return with the most wonderful stories to their fair isle, stories about a culture, which has almost developed to the same level as their culture.

 

Hizou

Hizou is the largest isle in Cathay and the most loyal to the emperor, it’s soil isn’t fertile and the cruel mountains are hard to live in. In the Mountains of Thunder, there live also monkey warriors, but in much smaller communities then these from the Mountains of Heaven, the mountains of Thunder are more renowned for the legendary phoenix who lives here.

The original inhabitants of Hizou were darker brown of skin and they wore strange red hats. When the first Cathayans came to Hizou the first they were first attacked from the mountains and their cruel weapons which they wielded extremely efficient were the ancients forms of the falchion which is now the most popular weapon in whole Cathay, this is also the reason why the falchioneers wear these hats.

The city of Fushion was actually foundated by a small community of discontent miners who went to Fushion, hoping that life was better on that far island and the unthinkable happened, the mountains around Fushion seemed to contain enormous amounts of gold, silver and copper, but since the city was foundated on the roost of Karachi, the black dragon, a symbol of greed their abundance grew as wel as  their arrogance grew too an although several priests warned them for their arrogance, they didn’t mind at all, they made their doorsteps out of gold and they wore the finest silk available. They had no fear as their city was protected against earthquakes and they had a massive army, but the real evil was growing inside the city, a Dark Elf spy had sneaked into the city and although he was a Dark Elf, he still had his remarkable elfish looks and so it came that he married to a women, who she gave him a child. When the child grow up, his father raised him and when his wife saw that he adorated the gods of Chaos, she died of trouble, but no-one else  noticed

since they were far too busy with themselves and when  he   became  a  grown-up  man,  he gathered an army and with that army he conquered the whole isle of Hizou. The tyranny was a hard time for the people of Hizou, since the tyrant isolated their fair isle from the rest of Cathay. The people of Hizou revolted, but any revolt was nipped in the bud. The tyrant was even so confident of himself that he rode of in the mountains to torture some innocent peasants, but he never returned, most people think that it was the legendary phoenix who killed him, after his death the city was evacuated and for months priests and monks held ceremonies to repel the demons from the city.

Now the city is a rather small city to Cathaian measures ( which is still as large as Altdorf ), but the city is healing slowly, but now the people know the consequences of their arrogance and although they try to regain their former wealth, they aren’t as arrogant as before.

 

Shantun

The province of Shantun lies next to the province of Fuzhou and so it looks rather poor. It’s a dry land, except near the river and the people of Shantun are for the greater part farmers and woodcutters and the river Tien is a thankful help to irrigate their farmlands. It is also in the lands of Shantun, where the wonderful Kisenge trees grow, who are excellent for making bows as well as the small boats with which these people sail on the river. The city is built on the roost of Charati, the ivory dragon who is a symbol for toughness and resilience.

The people of Shantun are often called the Misaku, since Misaku is the Cathaian word for axe, the most preferred weapon in Shantun as they are traditional woodcutters. The Misaku do not look as finely equipped as their fellow Cathayans ( except for the Xuzin of course ), with their crude axes instead of the keen swords and falchions, but the strength of Shantun are not their combat troops, but their finely balanced rocket launchers. The rocket launchers of Shantun are famous over whole Cathay, they are made from the Kisenge trees and weigh so light that they are the most mobile artillery in the whole world. These rocket launchers have also the advantage that they never burst into flames when a rocket explodes, their wood is as resistant as stone. It were also the Misaku who discovered the gunpowder, they were searching for a new  and faster way to cut trees and they found it, it was not very efficient to cut trees since the wood was too badly damaged, but it is a magnificent weapon and from Shantun there is a enormous export of rocket launchers over whole Cathay. The most important in the lives of the Misaku is Aji, a god, who is believed to live into the river Tien, so every year the Misaku hold a celebration for him and it is always splendid to see. On these ceremonies there is also a competition to see who can make the most fabulous rockets, so you will believe me if I say that it is a fantastic competition to see,  with rockets which change into dragons as they explode, and others who rain wine after a multi-coloured explosion. At these ceremonies the new boats are also consecrated.

The city of Shantun itself is a beautiful port city, built over the river Tien with as original purpose to keep off the rebellions in that area. The fantastic gates in the river with beautiful relief’s of Aji, wrestling with a sea dragon are fantastic works of art, made by the famous craftsman Do-Jime. The dock of Shantun is the so large that there can lie two hundred twenty ships at once and there is still plenty of place to manoeuvre and for the daily boat races.

 

Xizang

Xizang is the central province of Cathay, it consists for the greater part of steppes and grassland. The city of Xizang is the capital of Cathay, where the emperor lives in his palace. The imperial gardens of Xizang with its large number of trees are famous over whole the country, these collection of trees contains as well the most normal trees as the great and famous Mahim-Coucho a great Kisenge tree with more then three hundred trunks.

The city of Xizang rises out of the plains as an enormous and impregnable rock and when the city was first built, many hobgoblin attackers smashed themselves up against these great jade walls. The city is built atop of the roost from Matawi, the great dragon who represents nobility and proud. The imperial guard of Xizang is renowned over whole the country and young man come from everywhere to receive the honour to join the ranks of these magnificent warriors, their current captain, Chao-Lang is a brave man from Shantun who led a division of Misaku axeman in the battle of the splitten skulls, where an enourmous army of hobgoblins was defeated by a coalition from armies from over whole the country. The city of Xizang is built in an oasis of green in the steppes, which surround it. This valley where the city stands was struck by a meteor which the gods send to indicate where the city should be built. The city itself is an architectural wonder, created by Chan-su-Wang, he combined a stunning beauty with incredible defences, these defences are famous over whole the country, the walls are invulnerable and so smooth that it is impossible to find any grip, they also lean slightly over near the top so it is easier to shoot on the enemies and throw them of their ladders. In this magnificent city  stands the famous golden pagoda in honour of Jiamusi, the god of harmony.

The lands which surround Xizang are for the greater part steppes and there live a few people. The people who do live there are mostly proud horse-salesmen, who raise their horses in the steppes and make them used to the cold winds and difficulty to find grass and other herbs, and so it comes that the stallions from Xizang are strong and tough creatures who are excellent in surviving a campaign in tough and bare lands, of course they aren’t as well-trained as the Xuzin horses, who are the best in whole Cathay. The horses of Xizang are mostly used for the heavy cavalry, since they are more used to the barding then their Xuzin brothers.

 

The mystic woods of Mitasuke

The mystic woods of Mitasuke are perhaps the strangest place in whole Cathay. The great Kisenge trees, who stand here have some kind of a magical aura around them, the only Cathayans who dare to enter these strange woods are the Misaku and then only they enter the borders of this almighty forest as some kind of respect, because the trees who are seen here are more beautiful then any other tree who has ever seen the Cathaian sun. It are not only the trees from this forest who are most impressive, also the creatures who live here are creatures who are often creatures only seen in heaven, by the gods and the other creatures are much stronger and wiser forms from the creatures who live in the rest of Cathay.

These woods are also well-known for the great tree on which the whole Cathaian history is inscribed, who stands in the middle of them. No-one knows who inscribed these words and no-one knows who continues writing them, because every thing of any importance that happens in Cathay appears to become inscribed  on the tree. Although the Cathayans are afraid of the forest, there is a great ceremony to honour these magnificent woods every year, for this ceremony people come from over whole Cathay to  eat and celebrate around the great tree and every year there are people who claim to have wandering forest spirits, but most of them are not believed. It is a fact that there is someone who lives in the forest and most people believe it are not wandering forest spirits, but Mia-Chung, the mistress of the forest  is believed to have been a god who was banished from heaven because she brought against all rules life from earth  to heaven in the form of a tree and she guarded it as her treasure, but Jiamusi found out what she was hiding and now she is doomed to live forever between the trees on earth. And when she came to earth, the place she saw first were the woods of Mitasuke and she decided that while she was staying on earth that this place should be the most appropriate place to live and she made the woods as beautiful as her skilled hands could craft them and she created the most wondrous creatures to live in these magnificent forests, of which the most famous is surely Chu-Laong, a great living tree who knows everything that happened and everything that will happen. And although no-one has actually seen the Mystic Lady, everyone knows for sure that she exists since her voice is heard in the streams who flow through the forest and her tears are seen every morning on the places were trees were cut the day before.

 

The isles of Ellithis

The once fair and proud old elven colonies on the Ellithis isles are now abandoned and taken over by pirates, rebels, and other low-hearted scum. These pirates are a real plague for the Cathaian seafarers and everyone else who tries to reach Cathay over sea. These pirates live on this isle for a long time and it has been used as a place to send criminals and traitors, who were send banished from Cathay. The pirates on this isle live in the now ruined, but once proud elven colonies and although they are ruined it is still hard to besiege them and that is the main reason why the pirates are left alone, the other reason is less important, but it has always been a help for the pirates are the monstrous creatures, who live in these waters, these creatures are possibly even worse then the cruel sea dragons who swarm around the Dark Elf Black Arcs. These beasts are raised in every pirate fortress and the different pirate tribes hold competition of who could raise and train the strongest, largest and most cruel monster. Every tribe has also his own kind of monster, so for example has the tribe of Chau-Hujo sea snakes which attack with highly toxic vomit and lightning bolts and the tribe of Simakuti has great fishes with wings, who attack their opponents from the air with their fiery breath.

The most famous of the fortresses on this island where these corrupted men live is Chau-Hujo, the ancient elven colony of  Tol Essil. It is a great hideout for these pirates and it is the best defended fortress on all the islands. In the whole Cathaian history, only one has ever been able to sneak into this impregnable lair of evil and managed to come out alive and this man was Chan-su-Wang, but this is to be told in a different story. The fortress of Chau-Hujo is a very well defended place and even better, because it has an enormous machine that constantly vomits  foul toxins and into the water, making it a place impossible to live, for any other creature then the foul sea snakes they raise. These sea-snakes are the most intelligent of all of the pirate clan bests, they grab enemy boats and pull them to the bottom of the sea, where they take everything of value, which they give to their masters.

The boats of these pirates are boats built up from the wreckage of other ships and skeletons of the men and creatures they kill are used as decoration for the hulls of their horrible ships of which  the flags they carry are known over whole Cathay as a sign of evil and doom. These pirates do not only ravage the seas, they also attack the little towns on the coasts of Cathay and then sail fast away, before      anyone  can  warn  the  imperial  troops.

 

The Hinterlands of Khuresh

The hinterlands of Khuresh are crude and bare lands to the north of Cathay. These lands are inhabited with many strange and evil creatures, but the most evil of them are the Hobgoblins. Their current  leader,  Hobgobla  Kahn,  has  a  policy  of

constant attacks on everyone who tries to think to lightly of his tyranny over these lands, which means the people of Xuzin and Shang-Yang, since he is a close friend of the Maharaja of Tchantuki, the most important of the kingdoms of Ind. The Hobgoblins are a real plague for every town and village on the other side of the mountains and that is the reason why there are small, hidden barracks all over Xuzin, with small bands of hunters on horseback stationed in them. These men do really a great job, but the Hobgoblins always find sneaky ways to get past them and to burn down a village if they want to. Of course there do not only live Hobgoblins in these lands, there are also the eagles for which these lands are famous, they have eyes which are better then that from the Elves and their vicious attacks with their talons and razor-sharp beak can easily slay a men and that is the reason why they are used that much used in fights against the Hobgoblins by the men of Xuzin.

The Hinterlands of Khuresh are lands, which in long and forgotten times, once belonged to prouder, stronger and wiser men then the world has ever seen,  from which Chan-su-Wang is the last who remains and still the great stone guards, who’s torches lit the area for miles stand next to the old phoenix passage, as a sign that Hobgoblins can not rule everything,  because for these magnificent statues, they had some kind of fear and although they tried to destroy these men with their grim expressions which they hated so hardly, they never managed to even scratch it, as it was the will of the gods that the work of men would not all go lost by the hands of these foul creatures. These statues are still a sign of hope for the caravanes, which travel over the silk road since it is one of the little safe places in these lands because of the fear these men of stone cause into the hearts of the Hobgoblins and they stay away of the “burning fires of the stone giants” as they call this place. Sadly enough this is the only monument that remains of the once proud lands of Khuresh, they once were inhabited by proud and strong men, who were close friends to the Cathayans, but when the Great Khan unleashed the fury of the hobgoblins in these lands, it did not take a long time until all these once so proud men were swallowed by the anger and fury of these greenskinned creatures.

 

The Kingdoms of Ind

The lands of Ind are divided into many different kingdoms, which are governed by the maharajas who are worshipped like gods and live in gigantic palaces, while most of their people live in small wooden huts. The covering of Ind consists mostly of great and dense woods in which many dangerous creatures live of  which the most renowned is the great Indian snakes or the Whutan snakes, their poisonous teeth have already made many victims and their toxins are used by the maharajas to eliminate the other Maharajas, who do not listen to them as well as the civilians who do not want to be exploited any longer. This is also the reason why the rebellion movement Jotchu is founded. These rebels are a group of young men and women who are against the maharajas and they live in underground hideouts, with many sneaky ways to attack where they are least suspected. The idea to create such a movement came from Cathaian shinobis who spread among the discontent people of Ind and whispered them that if they fought long enough the cruel tyrant would finally have have no other choice, but  surrendering and the Indians taught this was a good idea and many men gathered  their bows, swords or any other weapon they could fight  to fight and perhaps die for their freedom.

The armies of the Indian maharajas are very inspired by the gods of Chaos and that is the reason why they are constantly fighting with each other as well as with  Cathay. The Indian swords are bent so it is very difficult to predict from which angle they will slash. The Tilean caravanes have much suffered from these cruel men, who are not even after their merchandise, but just attack them because of their burning desire to kill. The elite Indian units are the infamous Jetties, who can thrust a nail into someone’s head using nothing else but their bare hands. In battle, these men are equipped with the best armoury the maharaja could gather for them, this combination of their natural strength and toughness with this armour makes them real killing machines, capable of wiping out whole units, before falling themselves. The ability of thrusting a nail into someone’s head, is not used in battle, but it is one of their favourite torture techniques, it is also the way how you can become a Jetty, if you survive this extremely painful process, you can join their order, many men died, when they tried to join them, but many more died because they were tortured and refused to tell the where their comrades were hiding.