Jinin

From PathfinderWiki
Jinin
Flag of Jinin.
(Nation)

Land
Alignment
Capital
Ruler
Government
Shogunate
Adjective
Jininese
Languages
Religions
Source: Dragon Empires Gazetteer, pg(s). 27

The elves of the nation of Jinin are descended from refugees who fled the Mierani Forest in Avistan before Earthfall. After arriving in Tian Xia hundreds of years later, in -4843 AR,1 they founded a country that later adopted the samurai tradition from Minkai.2

History

The elves of Jinin are descended from the same group of elves who refused to flee to Sovyrian as Earthfall approached, fled underground, and became the drow. As the refugee elves delved deeper into the Darklands, one of them—an oracle named Jininsiel—received a vision that they would find their salvation and a new home by following the roots of a silver tree and back to the surface. Most of the elves, however, believed that they would only survive by fleeing even deeper into the earth, leading to the refugees separating into two groups—those that followed Jininsiel's vision and went east, and the majority who continued their descent towards their eventual transformation into the dark elves of Sekamina.2

Jininsiel's followers traveled under Golarion's surface for centuries, picking their way cautiously and slowly amidst the natural hazards and hostile natives of the Darklands. Eventually, they reached a thick, winding vein of mithral ore strongly reminiscent of the roots of a tree. Concluding that this was the tree from Jininsiel's vision, the elves followed it upwards and emerged in central Tian Xia. Jininsiel passed away shortly thereafter, content that her people had found a new home, and the elves named their new nation Jinin in her honor.2

In 3691 AR, Tian-Min explorers from Minkai contacted Jinin. The elves were greatly impressed by the honour, courtesy, and dutiful lifestyles of the samurai, and chose to adopt many of Minkai's cultural and political traditions, becoming a shogunate themselves.32

Geography

Jinin sits just to the north of the centre of the continent of Tian Xia. To Jinin's west it is bordered by both the Sea of Eels to the south and, to the north, the aggressively hostile hobgoblin nation of Kaoling. To the north-east sits Zi Ha, Jinin's borders with the samsaran nation lying along the foothills of the Zi Ha Mountains. To the south-east sits the Taldan-influenced nation of Amanandar. Finally, directly south of Jinin lies Shokuro, another samurai nation. The kingdom of Jinin also stretches beneath the earth as the Mithral Roots—the mithral-laced caverns that Jininsiel used to lead the elves to the surface—are still an important part of the nation. As an entrance to the Darklands, it is heavily guarded by the elves but the Mithral Roots is also still an active mine. The rulers of Jinin keep the amount of mithral that is mined strictly limited, they only extract enough of the metal to keep their people comfortably prosperous.2

Inhabitants

Jinin is an elven kingdom and the main inhabitants of Jinin are, without a doubt, the elves. Jininsiel led the elves from distant Avistan in the aftermath of Earthfall and the Age of Darkness to the land of Jinin. Even though this occurred thousands of years ago, the elves and their kingdom have still managed to maintain an air of mystery to this day. While the elves are not exclusionary, those of other races are normally allowed only to visit Jinin and are not encouraged to remain. That said the capital city of Ayajinbo is said to be so beautiful that people will travel thousands of miles for a mere handful of hours in the wondrous city.2

Culture

The elves of Jinin are noticeably more strict, organized, and orderly than their kin in Kyonin, traits due to the social and moral codes they adopted from the samurai, and to their eventual learning of the fall of their kin, the drow, into chaos and evil. They greatly value tradition and personal honor.2

Religion

The most widely worshipped deities in Jinin are all good deities but the people of Jinin no longer worship the traditional gods of the elven pantheon, instead, they have adopted the gods of Tian Xia. The most commonly worshipped deities are: Desna, Goddess of the North Star; Qi Zhong, the Master of Medicine; Shelyn, the Lady of Chrysanthemums; Shizuru, the Empress of Heaven; and Tsukiyo, Prince of the Moon.2

References

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

  1. James Jacobs, et al. “Regions of the Dragon Empires” in Dragon Empires Gazetteer, 15. Paizo Inc., 2011
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 James Jacobs, et al. “Regions of the Dragon Empires” in Dragon Empires Gazetteer, 27. Paizo Inc., 2011
  3. James Jacobs, et al. “Regions of the Dragon Empires” in Dragon Empires Gazetteer, 17. Paizo Inc., 2011