Elysia Orient Origins
Doing some research on the origins of some of the nations that may or may not be in the orient supplement for Elysia.
For the Japanese equivalent land on Elysia I planned for the lands to begin being populated between Japan's Yayoi and Heian period. So the basic tenants of Japan are well established. I personally would like to call Elysia's Japanese land, Yamato after the Yamato kingdom. Of course the Yamato lands would have had several influxes of culture and ideas for another thousand years or so.
The Shang dynasty is considered the first true Chinese kingdom. It was around the Bronze age in China and their technology was primitive though they apparently invented writing during this age. They practiced a kind of primitive divination using etched fired bones. They also apparently worshiped a supreme god that they referred to as Shang Ti.
The Zhou dynasty started when former nomads overthrew the Shang. The Zhou believed in a concept called The Mandate of Heaven (tian tianming) which effectively meant might makes right. Basically the victors are chosen by heaven and therefore had the celestial right to power. They introduced the feudal system to China. They also banned the practice of human sacrifice. What finally destroyed the Zhou were the barbarians to the north that continually defeated them indicating that the Zhou government was weak in the eyes of heaven as per the Mandate of Heaven. This sent several states into war with each other over who should rule.
During the war period, Confucianism, Taoism and many other philosophies and technologies such as Iron were developed that lead to the Qin dynasty which ran on a philosophy of legalism. The other states were Zhao, Han Wei, Yan, Chu and Qi.
The Qin dynasty conquered all of the other states and effectively unified China. This is where the word China (our land) was created. The beginning of the Qin dynasty is where the movie Hero is set. The Qin dynasty standardized language, writing, built the great wall and were responsible for the famous terra cotta army. Cavalry started to emerge on the battlefield. It didn't last long though and after the probably insane emperor died, the country went back to war which ended up into the Han dynasty which lasted till about 220 AD.
Prince Liu Bang (great name) after defeating the Qin, started the famous silk road and introduced Confucianism into the Han government. It of course also fell due to many political problems and due to several peasant revolts started by a group called the yellow turbins, warring factions united to defeat them. All this led to the downfall of the Han and led to the age of the three kingdoms.
The Wei, Shin and Wu Kingdoms lasted till about 265 AD. These three, dominated mostly by the Wu kingdom warred constantly for unification under their rule.
After 265 AD the Chin dynasty unified China once again but due to an act to disband the armies and ban weapons, things became unstable and it all went to crap again around 289 AD. The Huns defeated the chin dynasty. What's interesting is the Huns claimed to be descendants of the original Han dynasty.
During Europe's early middle ages, China was split into northern and southern dynasties. In the north we had the Wei, the Eastern Wei, the Western Wei, the Northern Qi and the Northern Zhou. In the south were the Song, the Qi, the Liang and the Chen. All in the order of their rise and fall from 386 AD to 588 AD.
Under the Sui dynasty, (580 AD) China was again united.
Suffice it to say, the Sui dynasty fell because of...you guessed it spending too much on war. They tried to expand to Korea four times and were defeated, splitting the country into warring states again. Tea which was generally medicinal before became popular as a beverage and item of currency during this period.
The last dynasty to fall within Elysia's age of the silver gates would be the T'ang dynasty. Ok so technically the age would have been slightly into the Song dynasty but I'm tired now and not going there. The T'ang seemed fair about distributing land to the peasants. They worked up a proper census and dramatically increased rice production. They apparently were the only dynasty to have a female empress who was pretty nasty to the peasants. The T'ang dynasty ended with a successful peasant revolt which was called the Ch'i dynasty and barely lasted 20-30 years.
Ok so that wasn't the last dynasty under the age of the silver gates. Before the rise of the Song dynasty there were the Five dynasties. The five dynasties age saw excellent advances in movable type as well as the barbaric practice of female foot binding. paper money was first introduced and Buddhism was persecuted.
Whew.
Anyway that was a long and mostly useless overview of Chinese history up to about 960 AD.
What a roller coaster.
For the Japanese equivalent land on Elysia I planned for the lands to begin being populated between Japan's Yayoi and Heian period. So the basic tenants of Japan are well established. I personally would like to call Elysia's Japanese land, Yamato after the Yamato kingdom. Of course the Yamato lands would have had several influxes of culture and ideas for another thousand years or so.
The Shang dynasty is considered the first true Chinese kingdom. It was around the Bronze age in China and their technology was primitive though they apparently invented writing during this age. They practiced a kind of primitive divination using etched fired bones. They also apparently worshiped a supreme god that they referred to as Shang Ti.
The Zhou dynasty started when former nomads overthrew the Shang. The Zhou believed in a concept called The Mandate of Heaven (tian tianming) which effectively meant might makes right. Basically the victors are chosen by heaven and therefore had the celestial right to power. They introduced the feudal system to China. They also banned the practice of human sacrifice. What finally destroyed the Zhou were the barbarians to the north that continually defeated them indicating that the Zhou government was weak in the eyes of heaven as per the Mandate of Heaven. This sent several states into war with each other over who should rule.
During the war period, Confucianism, Taoism and many other philosophies and technologies such as Iron were developed that lead to the Qin dynasty which ran on a philosophy of legalism. The other states were Zhao, Han Wei, Yan, Chu and Qi.
The Qin dynasty conquered all of the other states and effectively unified China. This is where the word China (our land) was created. The beginning of the Qin dynasty is where the movie Hero is set. The Qin dynasty standardized language, writing, built the great wall and were responsible for the famous terra cotta army. Cavalry started to emerge on the battlefield. It didn't last long though and after the probably insane emperor died, the country went back to war which ended up into the Han dynasty which lasted till about 220 AD.
Prince Liu Bang (great name) after defeating the Qin, started the famous silk road and introduced Confucianism into the Han government. It of course also fell due to many political problems and due to several peasant revolts started by a group called the yellow turbins, warring factions united to defeat them. All this led to the downfall of the Han and led to the age of the three kingdoms.
The Wei, Shin and Wu Kingdoms lasted till about 265 AD. These three, dominated mostly by the Wu kingdom warred constantly for unification under their rule.
After 265 AD the Chin dynasty unified China once again but due to an act to disband the armies and ban weapons, things became unstable and it all went to crap again around 289 AD. The Huns defeated the chin dynasty. What's interesting is the Huns claimed to be descendants of the original Han dynasty.
During Europe's early middle ages, China was split into northern and southern dynasties. In the north we had the Wei, the Eastern Wei, the Western Wei, the Northern Qi and the Northern Zhou. In the south were the Song, the Qi, the Liang and the Chen. All in the order of their rise and fall from 386 AD to 588 AD.
Under the Sui dynasty, (580 AD) China was again united.
Suffice it to say, the Sui dynasty fell because of...you guessed it spending too much on war. They tried to expand to Korea four times and were defeated, splitting the country into warring states again. Tea which was generally medicinal before became popular as a beverage and item of currency during this period.
The last dynasty to fall within Elysia's age of the silver gates would be the T'ang dynasty. Ok so technically the age would have been slightly into the Song dynasty but I'm tired now and not going there. The T'ang seemed fair about distributing land to the peasants. They worked up a proper census and dramatically increased rice production. They apparently were the only dynasty to have a female empress who was pretty nasty to the peasants. The T'ang dynasty ended with a successful peasant revolt which was called the Ch'i dynasty and barely lasted 20-30 years.
Ok so that wasn't the last dynasty under the age of the silver gates. Before the rise of the Song dynasty there were the Five dynasties. The five dynasties age saw excellent advances in movable type as well as the barbaric practice of female foot binding. paper money was first introduced and Buddhism was persecuted.
Whew.
Anyway that was a long and mostly useless overview of Chinese history up to about 960 AD.
What a roller coaster.