Chu Ye

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Chu Ye
Flag of Chu Ye.
(Nation)

Alignment
Capital
Ruler
Government
Oni shogunate
Languages
Religions
Source: Dragon Empires Gazetteer, pg(s). 20

A successor state of Imperial Lung Wa on the continent of Tian Xia, Chu Ye is a nation ruled by the malevolent shapechanging spirits known as oni.1

History

Chu Ye was originally founded as a province of Imperial Yixing in 302 AR. This was a because of one man, Soong Bai, a gifted but eccentric hermit who had a chance encounter with an explorer from Yixing. The explorer had been wounded by a diseased boar but Soong Bai was able to save him via the use of acupuncture, an art unknown in Yixing at that time. When word of this miraculous new healing method reached the courts of Yixing, it was decided that the empire needed some sort of presence in the area. Thus was born the nation now known as Chu Ye.2

The fate of Chu Ye changed rapidly after the fall of Imperial Lung Wa in 4606 AR. Chu Ye was distant enough from the empire's core that it was shielded from the worst repercussions its collapse only to be assailed by something far worse. Unbeknownst to Chu Ye's human inhabitants, the land was infested with oni. Accounts at the time make it seem as though almost every other man, woman, and child transformed into an oni. In reality, these fiends made up less than five percent of the population but with their incredible supernatural abilities this was still more than enough to overthrow the former rulers of Chu Ye in a single week.1 In 4613 AR, the nation fell into the grasp of the oni2 and for the first year the vicious fiends treated the nation as their bloody playground. After a year of terrible slaughter a void yai oni warlord called Shogun Tsuneni managed to gain control of the nation and the violence settled down somewhat. Shogun Tsuneni still rules Chu Ye to this day.1

Inhabitants

Before the fall of Lung Wa, Chu Ye was well-known for its healers and acupuncturists. After the fall of Lung Wa and its subsequent conquest by the oni, many of Chu Ye's healers fled.3 Even under the oni, humans kept in slavery by their oni masters practice their traditions in secret.4 Humans serve only as slaves within Chu Ye, conditions are brutal and humans are forbidden from owning weapons. The corrupt rule and nature of the oni has also attracted many evil giants to settle in Chu Ye.5

Chu Ye is one of the few places where cambions can achieve real power in Tian Xia. Oni are rumored to sell some of their human slaves to the fiends of the Lower Planes, and the cambion offspring of the few who survive are returned to Chu Ye and incorporated into the nation's power structure.6

Religion

Chu Ye is home to the most powerful oni daimyo in all Tian Xia, a three-eyed, four-armed creature known as Inma. Inma's stronghold is the Nightford Shrine located within the Nightford Mountains; the shrine's dungeons delve so deep that they reach all the way down to the Darklands below.7 Due to the number of oni that dwell within Chu Ye, the nation serves as a centre of worship for Fumeiyoshi, the Lord of Envy, god of dishonour and patron deity of the oni.8

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 James Jacobs, et al. “Regions of the Dragon Empires” in Dragon Empires Gazetteer, 20. Paizo Inc., 2011
  2. 2.0 2.1 James Jacobs, et al. “Regions of the Dragon Empires” in Dragon Empires Gazetteer, 16. Paizo Inc., 2011
  3. John Compton, et al. Imperial Lung Wa” in Blood of the Ancients, 20. Paizo Inc., 2018
  4. Alexander Augunas, et al. Healer's Handbook. Paizo Inc., 2017
  5. Colin McComb & Tim Hitchcock. “The Dragon Empires” in Dragon Empires Primer, 11. Paizo Inc., 2012
  6. Colin McComb & Hal Maclean. “Blood of Fiends” in Blood of Fiends, 8. Paizo Inc., 2012
  7. Paizo Inc., et al. “Chapter 1: Fiendish Divinities” in Book of the Damned, 126. Paizo Inc., 2017
  8. James Jacobs, et al. “Life in the Dragon Empires” in Dragon Empires Gazetteer, 59. Paizo Inc., 2011