Bachuan

Bachuan

(Nation)

Alignment

Lawful neutral

Capital

Peijia

Ruler

Grandmother Pei

Government

Communist dictatorship

Adjective

Bachuan

Languages

Tien

Religions

None (atheism)

Images of Bachuan

Source: Dragon Empires Gazetteer, pg(s). 19

A Successor State of once-great Imperial Lung Wa on the continent of Tian Xia, Bachuan (formerly known as Pen Wa) is a dictatorship run according to a strict communist philosophy that opposes private ownership of property, enforces state control of production and distribution of wealth, and forbids religion.

Government

Bachuan is a communist state in which all citizens, at least in theory, are equal. The state manages the production and distribution of resources. The government is managed by the Sun Chamber, a council of bureaucrats headed by the nation's dictator, Grandmother Pei. Beneath the Sun Chamber are numerous ministries, most infamously the Ministry of Peace and Harmony. The Sun Chamber runs re-education camps to force its ideology on dissenters, and has in recent years begun ideological purges to root out those who are not sufficiently zealous for Grandmother's tastes.

In keeping with Grandmother's dream of spreading the secular gospel of communism to every corner of Tian Xia, Bachuan has begun aggressive diplomacy with its neighboring states. This aggression has turned outright hostile with its southern neighbor, Hwanggot, developing into a cold war that has not yet claimed any lives, though many believe all-out war is only a matter of time.

Flag

The flag of Bachuan depicts a blue field with a tiger chasing an imperial dragon around a yellow sun. The tiger represents the indigenous people, while the dragon represents the oppressive government of Lung Wa. The emblem was chosen by Grandfather Pei during the Bachuan Revolution.

History

The city-state of Bachuan was founded in 589 AR by merchants from the empire of Yixing to control trade with the aquatic races of Xidao. In 3080 AR, following the collapse of Yixing, Bachuan seized the southern Benchu Bay region and expanded into much of Yixing's former territory.

In 4302 AR, Bachuan was annexed by Imperial Lung Wa and renamed Pen Wa Province. For centuries, Pen Wa suffered under greedy bureaucrats who sucked the province dry of all its resources.

Following Lung Wa's collapse in 4606 AR, the rich bureaucrats, with the aid of a corrupt clergy, struggled to control the restless populace. In this era of political turmoil, Grandfather Pei, a scholar from a peasant background, began spreading the philosophy of communism, preaching the equality of all humanoids and that prosperity should be shared equally among all citizens. Gathering an army of peasants, workers, and other downtrodden folk, Grandfather overthrew the corrupt government and its puppets in the clergy in the Bachuan Revolution. Thus independent, Grandfather restored to Pen Wa its original name—Bachuan.

Though Grandfather Pei intended to bring a new era of peace and prosperity to Bachuan, the new communist system proved much harder to implement than planned, leading to an authoritarian government, suppression of religion, ideological purges, and the establishment of re-education camps. When Grandfather died in 4668 AR, his young widow, Pu Yae Men, better known as Grandmother Pei, took the government's excessive methods to new heights, implementing an even harsher vision of communism with revolutionary zeal. Not content with just her own republic, Grandmother seeks to spread the ideology of communism beyond Bachuan's borders, and has begun making aggressive overtures toward the republic's southern neighbor, Hwanggot. Though the conflict has thus far remained bloodless, total war looms on the horizon.

With the ever-increasing excess of Bachuan's government, counter-revolutionaries and anarchists have quietly begun to make waves, especially in the capital city of Peijia. Rumor in Hwanggot has it that Bachuan agents have been kidnapping Tian-Hwans and turning them into undead assassins, but the Hwanggot government denies such conspiracies.

Inhabitants

The people of Bachaun are predominantly humans of the Tian-Shu ethnicity. The majority of Bachuan's citizens are farmers, fishers (mostly along Benchu Bay and the Sea of Ghosts in the north), or miners (in the Szaezan Crags).

The Szaezan Crags are also inhabited by a growing population of ogres.

Geography

Bachuan lies along Tian Xia's eastern coast, sharing a great peninsula with the nation of Hwanggot to the south; to the west, on the mainland, is the nation of Po Li. Bachuan's eastern reach is mainly flat land, while the Szaezan Crags take up its western third. The Shuidao River forms its border with Hwanggot in the south.

Settlements

• Gowbei
• Li Dowloon
• Naijing
• Peijia

Geographical features

• Benchu Bay
• Chang Liao Jungle
• Naikang Bay
• Sea of Ghosts
• Shuidao River
• Szaezan Crags

Other sites

• Ten Thousand Summer Palace

References

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