Kwanlai

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Kwanlai

(Nation)

Alignment

Chaotic neutral

Capital

Hisuikarasu

Ruler

Lady Sutarai-Gongen

Government

Clan confederation under a benevolent autocrat

Demonym

Ootoyans

Adjective

Ootoyan

Languages

Minkaian, Tengu, Tien

Religions

Desna, Hei Feng, Lao Shu Po, Sun Wukong

Images of Kwanlai

Source: Dragon Empires Gazetteer, pg(s). 29 (1E)
Tian Xia World Guide, pg(s). 114–121 (2E)

Kwanlai (pronounced Kwahn-lie) is an unstable tengu nation, located on the east coast of the main continental land mass of Tian Xia.

History

The region of modern Kwanlai is the ancestral home of tengu where, for many years, the fractious relationship between clans prevented any unity. After the Shu Empire empire collapsed in 4036 AR, the Nureba clan rose to power and formed the state of Ootoya, ruled with a delicate balance of clan elders. The City of Whistling Swords became the capital of this new nation.

In 4280 AR, Imperial Lung Wa conquered the nation, murdered the council, and razed the capital. The absorbed land, which was renamed Kwanlai, was initially founded as a province for its tengu citizens. However, the support needed was never provided by the corrupt officials of the court. Over the centuries imperial taxes on Ootoyans brought them to starvation and soon Kwanlai came to be treated as effectively little more than a prison colony and unrest grew. Wary of sparking rebellion, imperial officials chose not to kill those who people might rally around but instead exile criminals and dissidents from across the empire to Kwanlai, hoping that they would foment distrust and create more divisions in Kwanlai society. Instead rebels joined the local clans.

Life for the tengu people, who still called themselves Ootoyans, became intolerable, leading to the Feather and Starlight Rebellion in 4606 AR, which was led by priests of Hei Feng and Desna and succeeded in capturing the Lung Wa-appointed Lord Som Heu Wa and forcing his abdication. This act would have certainly drawn massive and violent retribution from Imperial Lung Wa had the empire not collapsed later that year. A group of Hei Fengan priests known as the Sunderstorm Covenant was instrumental in the rebellion, though they are now seen as contributing to Kwanlai's instability.

After the fall of Lung Wa, the task became how to govern a people who had spent the past millennia as vassals of other nations. This proved difficult given the tengu tendency of bringing dramatic flourishes and fiery rhetoric to such debates.

Already in its barely 100-year-long history, Kwanlai has seen three huge clan wars, not including the Autumn of Iron Tears, a conflict between the thieves' guilds of the cities Seidoyaji and Todorokaze that escalated into a full-blown proxy war. With the rise of Lady Sutarai-Gongen, Kwanlai seems poised to become more unified and prosperous than ever before.

Geography

Kwanlai is located west of Xidao and the Xidao Gulf, its waters providing access to the trade ships that are the country's lifeblood. Xidao is considered Kwanlai's only true ally. Across the gulf is the important trade partner of Minkai. The Kimu Mountains define Kwanlai's border with the idyllic empyrean kingdom of Tianjing to the south and southwest of Kwanlai; this mountain range is considered to be entirely within Kwanlai's borders.

To the west Kwanlai shares a land border with Linvarre, formerly the Taldan colony of Amanadar, which recently expanded to annex lands formerly of the monster-haunted land of Shenmen that had also bordered Kwanlai.

To the north is the kraken-controlled wetlands of Wanshou, aggressive neighbours who have twice attempted large-scale invasions of Kwanlai. This border region is now dotted with stone forts, defensive walls, and drained swampland to try to hinder any invading force; the region is also home to the closest thing Kwanlai has to a standing army.

Government

Kwanlai is held together by its tengu inhabitants' shared history of oppression and the ongoing threat of being returned to such a state by foreign aggressors. Traditionally, it has always been more a fractious region, rather than a true nation, but recently the rise of the beloved Lady Sutarai-Gongen in the capital of Hisuikarasu has helped make Kwanlai a more unified land. Lady Sutarai-Gongen has proved so popular that she even has the support of all five of the fractious and highly antagonistic major tengu clans.

Foreign affairs

Kwanlai enjoys a strong trade relationship with athamarus of the neighbouring aquatic kingdom of Xidao, who have a partly underwater embassy in the city of Hisuikarasu, and a strong positive relationship with the neighbouring empyrean kingdom of Tianjing. However, their relationship with the human kingdom of Linvarre is more ambiguous, as the tengu have long suffered under the yoke of human imperialist oppression. The people of Kwanlai are downright hostile toward Wanshou to the north as they have faced multiple invasions from the swampland nation since it fell under the sway of the elder kraken Zhanagorr. Takoyaki as also become a favorite national snake since the attacks.

Given the hostility of Wanshou, and the barrier of the Kimu Mountains with its other neighbors of Linvarre, Tianjing, and Shenmen, Xidao is the nation's strongest ally, though Minkai is also an important trade partner. Over centuries, the alliance with Xidao has led to seafood becoming more affordable and popular in in the impoverished nation of Kwanlai.

Inhabitants

The large majority of the population are tengu, as it is part of their ancestral homelands, and is the largest population of tengu across Golarion. These tengu are a people of strong passions and contradictions, proud of their country and its achievements, while dwelling in what most people would consider slums. They are renowned for their strong sense of community that has helped them to endure centuries of oppression and struggle. Some ratfolk also live in the City of Whistling Swords alongside oni and other spirits.

Religion

Faith in Hei Feng is prominent in Kwanlai. While Hei Fengans often serve as a destabilizing influence among the tengu, their alliance with Desnans is also responsible for the Feather and Starlight Rebellion and celebrated annually in the Starlight Evening festival. With the rise of Lady Sutarai-Gongen as the nation's de facto ruler, Hei Feng's worship has received a noticeable boost as Lady Sutarai-Gongen is a devotee of the Duke of Thunder. As of 7224 IC, worship of Desna and Hei Feng exceeds that of all other faiths.

Beyond these two deities, Sun Wukong, the Monkey King and renowned trickster god; the Old Rat Woman Lao Shu Po; and tengu goddess of liminal spaces (and former wife of Hei Feng) Lady Jingxi are also widely worshipped in Kwanlai.

References

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