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Cathay

2023-01-26T23:29:24Z

2607:FB90:3FDC:EF48:A851:E929:23AB:7B83:

[[File:Warhammer-the-old-world-grand-cathay-580x334.jpg|thumb|right|580px|Insert Bamboo flute and Erhu music here.]]
{{Topquote|Goddamn <s>Mongorians</s> Hungs! Stop tearing down my shitty warr''!|What the Cathayans have to say roughly 12 times every hour or so}}
{{Topquote|Those in other nations may deny it, but all mortals desire control. To be controlled, that is. Why else would they conjure these northern Gods that obsess in dominating the very creatures that brought them into being?|Yuan Bo, The Jade Dragon, Ruler of the Central Provinces and the Celestial Court}}

'''Cathay''', often '''Grand Cathay''', is the uninspired name for the analogue to [[China]] in the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] universe. That said, it is at least marginally more inspired than their name for the Japan analogue (and only because [[Nippon]] is a better-known name for Japan than Cathay is for China in Europe).

Until 2021, we had next to no information about them beyond token mentions in old novels and rulebooks. This all changed with [https://www.totalwar.com/blog/total-war-warhammer-iii-faq/ Total War Warhammer 3] finally fleshing out the faction.

==Forge World Sneak Peak==
''[[Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos]]'', a book from [[Forge World|Forge World's]] fantasy line, quite surprisingly contains a battle scene where the forces of Cathay are involved. This is the first time Cathay's forces are shown in a major way. A chaos sorcerer dupes a Beastman army into attacking the Tower of Ashshair, a Cathayan watchtower outpost at the edge of the [[Ogre Kingdoms]] which it uses to scry on the Old World. Its defenders included fancy bronze cannon that shoot harpoons, "crow-men", stone "temple dogs", elite warriors with back-banners and "thousand-folded" swords, and "Dragon-blooded Shugengan" who wield elemental magics (fire, water, earth, air and wood). In other words, your usual collection of oriental cliches, [[Derp|mostly Japanese]].

Prior to Total War: Warhammer III (and the faction's impending backport to The Old World), this was the closest thing we got to an official Cathay army list along with the mention of them having elementals under their control in the Vampire Genevieve books.

But then, things get interesting when the Tower's garrison started to get overwhelmed by the [[Beastmen]]'s numbers. The Tower turns the tide by dropping a frikking' [[Warhammer_Magic#Celestial: Wind of Azyr, Lore of the Heavens |Comet of Casandora]] into the horde, then starts sending "strange creatures of living stone" that can swim through the ground and minotaur-suplexing "living statues of onyx" to beat the shit out of the survivors.

==How come all this lore is new?==
Grand Cathay has been listed in Warhammer's Lore since the early days, a location that was referenced on numerous occasions. A vast human Empire standing against chaos on the Eastern End of the primary continent with a role in the history of the world. It is based on a real-life civilization whose history and mythology could easily be mined for inspiration as Medieval France or Early Modern Germany or Norse and Egyptian mythology and the general melange of 20th-century fantasy. The setting could have been easily expanded with new stories and armies by developing Cathay, all without upsetting the stuff which people liked.

But until 2021 Games Workshop did not.

Despite being both vast, wealthy and powerful Cathay was just a background element. A land which was almost exclusively referenced indirectly in regards to other races (Hellstorm Rocket Batteries were based on Cathayan fireworks, Cathay once sent a fleet to Lustria that fought the lizardmen, etc) and with only a few scant scraps of lore to itself. We did not even have as much as a mercenary unit in The Dogs of War.

Exactly why this was the case is up in the air. Maybe the original GW guys were not into Chinese history and mythology. Maybe they could not get worthwhile reference material (a large part of this was pre-internet and what print material you could get on Imperial China in the 1980s was not as good as what we have now). Maybe they had it in a to-do list that just kept growing. Maybe they did not feel that Cathay was particularly relevant to the stories they wanted to tell. Maybe they were afraid of it turning out like the [[Pygmies (Warhammer Fantasy)|Pygmies]]. Maybe it was some combination of these and other elements.

Similar to the world building of Song of Ice and Fire, where the further East on a map a location is the more strange and unknown things get, details about Cathay remained shrouded in mystery and speculation.

[[Awesome|Fortunately, this has now changed.]]

==Final Mentions in Rulebooks==
According to the eight ed BRB, the Kurgans once mounted a massive raid on Cathay's Great Bastion. Which is funny, because Kurgans are basically Chaos-Turko Slavs to the Norscan's Chaos Vikings. [[Derp|Funnily enough, even though TWWH3 is responsible for bringing the fluff to life for the first time, the Kurgans that attack the Great Bastion every 5 turns or so in-game are Norscan (complete with Mammoths), rather than the Turkic Chaos Warriors they're described as in fluff.]]

In the [[End Times|end times]], they are invaded by Chaos and [[skaven]]. Remarkably, the dragon emperor drives out the Skaven and stalemates the forces of chaos, but ultimately loses to [[Grimgor Ironhide|Grimgor's]] massive WAAAGH! The ruins of Cathay become the stage for an endless battle between the orcs and the remaining forces of chaos. Grimgor himself gets teleported away as he had become Incarnate of Beasts, and when the last effort to save the world fails, Cathay is destroyed along with the rest of the planet, revealed in [[Age of Sigmar]] to have been called Mallus. The exact fate of the Dragon Emperor and his family are unknown.

== Old Mentions from Novels ==
In the novel Beasts in Velvet, and the short story Red Thirst there is a Cathayan character named Dien Ch'ing (狄恩青/Di En Qing). He is secretly a Tzeenchian cultist who impersonated a Cathayan ambassador (which he had murdered and taken the name from). He is also a celestial wizard and is capable of using the classic five elemental magic (which are Tzeetch demons who disguised as those elements). From the same novel, it also tells the story of how when the monkey king was but a young prince he was able to trick the 5 elemental demons into fighting one another.

According to the novel '''Guardian of the Forest''', the knight featured in the novel: '''Leofric Carrard''' traveled to Cathay and slew the '''Jade Dragon''' of the '''Emerald River''', and saved the wives of the '''Emperor Zhang-Jimou''' from decapitation by the Executioner Cult of the '''Jade Pearl'''.

In the [[Nagash]]'s novel, it was mentioned that back when Lahmia was not crawling with vampires, they were rich due to its geographic locations that they were able to trade with the Cathayan through seaborne. Notable items like silk were a common trade in Lahmia and were fancied among the Lahmian nobles and its royalties. The Cathayan eat spicy seafood just like in real life, and the Lahmians enjoyed their cuisine during important events.

The Cathayan were brilliant schemers that they made a deal with Neferata's dad '''Lamasheptra''', who was desperate to save his sister Neferem from Nagash by paying them lots of gold every year (or by land, the city of Lahmia if they couldn't pay) in exchange to acquire Cathayan's cutting edge gunpowder weaponry. As a result, the Cathayan not only profit from this, they made a new deal a few years later after Lamasheptra's death with Neferata now in charge, telling her that they had found a new gold mine in one of their provinces, forcing the Lahmian to pay more gold to keep up with the new deal.

Unfortunately for the Cathayan, Neferata had given some of her vampire potion to erase the debt. The man she gave the potion to: '''Prince Xian Ha Feng''', one of the Dragon Emperor's sons sent to negotiate with Lahmia, not only drank the potion but also bought some of it back to Cathay where the vampire corruption soon spread. With enough immortal bloodsuckers (and probably some of [[Ushoran]]'s spies), Xian started a civil war against his father. This angers the Dragon Emperor so much that he ordered them to close their borders with ALL foreigners. The Dragon Emperor apparently died in a freak accident sometime after the civil war according to Ushoran's spies (perhaps has to do with the monkey king? that or is just one of the dragon children since the original dragon daddy is confirmed to be absent during this period) and a new Emperor was enthroned because of this. Under this new Emperor's reign, the trade with the Nekeharan has opened once again because the new Emperor cares little about the [[Nehekhara|Nehekharans]]. Although Prince Xian Ha Feng was never heard of after this, the vampire corruption remains still in Cathay.

Many known vampires had at least travelled to Cathay once. [[Neferata]] had lived there for 7 years in order to infiltrate its bureaucracy and become a ruler of her own once again. However, Cathayan background politics is an "eye-opener" that she was forced to run away again. [[Abhorash]] was noted by Neferata to have probably been to Cathay (probably to study its local martial arts, unsurprisingly). [[Vlad von Carstein|Lord Ankhat]] had assumed the persona of an immortal sorcerer prince there who helped the Dragon Emperor to drive back the [[Norsca|Hungs]] from breaching the great bastion, but was forced to escape after his vampiric nature was found out by a secret society of courtesan (aka mama dragon's spy). [[Genevieve Sandrine du Pointe du Lac Dieudonné|Genevieve]] was said to have become a trader and travelled to Cathay through the Silk Road for a hundred years or so. There she met a '''Master Po''' guy and learned to control her bloodlust as well as martial arts from him. Master Po is said to be important enough that he went to teach Cathayan military officers afterwards.

==[[Total War: WARHAMMER|Total Warhammer 3 AKA: "HOLY SHIT WE'RE ACTUALLY GETTING SOMETHING FOR CATHAY"]]==
[[File:Total-war-cathay trailer map.png|thumb|400 px|A new challenger appear!]]
[[File:Cathay Warhammer 3.png|right|400px|thumb|Cathay finally arrives on the scene]]
During the announcement of Total Warhammer 3, CA confirmed that Cathay will be one of the 6 playable factions. They'd been working with GW in bringing the faction to life and making them one of the core races in the game. This is also great news for anyone hoping for Cathay in [[Warhammer: The Old World]]. More info pending, but this minor faction is finally getting the fleshing out it deserves. Perhaps the most enticing detail to surface is GW confirming they essentially wrote an entire Cathay army book according to 8th Edition rules, complete with characters and background lore. That's where most of the new info on this page comes from, but it has only come out in drips and drabs from interviews. So far GW has announced no plans to actually release the new army book, but one can hope it's coming. Between Cathay and [[Kislev]], this is all a lore [[grognard]]'s wet dream.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=033FWxL22A0 With the Reveal trailer], [https://www.totalwar.com/blog/total-war-warhammer-3-grand-cathay-faq/ the first CA FAQ] [https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/09/14/watch-grand-cathay-come-to-life-in-an-epic-collaboration-for-total-war-warhammer-iii/ and GW discussion on Cathay's design + background] we finally get our first proper looks at Cathay.

Front and centre is [[Miao Ying]], daughter of the Celestial Dragon and his wife, and commander of the Northern Bastion (meaning that when Sayl attacked the wall it was her forces that drove him off). She's a dragon that can take a human form like her parents and its been shown that the Celestial Dragon spends his time in the Celestial city and overseeing Cathay while his children take direct control of different provinces (like a certain [[Emperor of Mankind|golden giant]] and his [[Primarch|kids]]) as her brother Zhao Ming commands the western province and will be the other playable lord.

In the trailer we see rocket batteries, war balloons and those suplexing statues from [[Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos|the Tamurkhan book]], in addition to regular human infantry and some lady earth bending. To help establish Cathay's playstyle GW themselves made rules for each unit and for the army (using 8th edition) to aid CA to understand how Cathay should act in-game. [[Rage|Yes there are currently rules for 8th edition Cathay and GW are just sitting on them and not releasing them.]]

An interesting thing to note is that both [[Miao Ying]] and [[Zhao Ming]] seem to be based on the Four Dragons from Chinese mythology, who are four children born to the "King of the Dragons" each of whom were granted their own land in a cardinal direction and are associated with an element. Zhao is The White Iron Dragon and the ruler of the Western province (because metal is an element according to the ancient Chinese) and Miao is the Black Storm Dragon and ruler of the Northern province, both of these line up with the four dragons mythology.

The three other active Dragon children have since been named, while four others have been confirmed to be AWOL and used as juicy plot hooks for any future expansions. Yuan Bo rules the Central Provinces as the Administrator of the Realm, Yin-Yin rules the Eastern Provinces as the Admiral of the Grand Dragon Fleet, and Li Dao rules the Southern Provinces against the raids of the Monkey King and the Beastmen tribes from Ind.

==New Canon Lore==
===History===
So once upon a time, [[The Dragon Emperor]] and his wife lived on the world before the Old Ones came, where it was mostly a frozen wasteland. Eventually, the space hypnotoads came and did their thing, terraforming the planet and creating all of the little races of the Warhammer World. When humans started to show up, The Dragon Emperor learned to take human shape and gathered a few tribes under his banner. When Chaos eventually came, more tribes flocked to him in order to protect their new empire, eventually creating the Great Bastion himself and instilling a section of his magic in order to prevent the Chaos Hordes from breaking into Cathay. Once Cathay started to take shape, The emperor and his wife decided they were happy with the lands they have and decided to settle down to defend them.

The Dragon pair and their kids would eventually rule over the land and teach them the ways of Harmony, to be one with themselves and the land around them and find their natural place in the world. The Dragons aren't tyrants but act more like teachers and wardens to the humans that are beneath them, as they feel they need the humans on their good side to fight Chaos. They've gotten so used to being with humans that they spend most of their time in human form, only going dragon in an emergency. They don't wish to be worshipped as gods, but it usually happens anyway, and the people of Cathay [[Imperial Creed|treat them with such reverence]] that talking shit about them is a good way to get murdered, especially if you're a foreigner.

===Modern times===
Unfortunately for big D, while he seems to have done a decent job of instilling harmony in the people of Cathay, [[Primarch|he hasn't done a good job of it with his kids because they all fucking hate each other.]] There are a confirmed nine children, but four of them are missing who knows where.

Miao Ying the Storm Dragon is the most favoured and powerful of the Dragon kids, which has given her a massive superiority complex. She's been given the north to rule, which also happens to have Daddies very essence tied to it.

Zhao Ming, the Iron Dragon, is viewed as too experimental with his magic and many fear he is losing his mind due to how much time he spends around the Great Maw, snorting lines of warpstone and actually treating his subjects like human beings. He rules the west, and has the favor of his mother to back him up.

The Dragon of the South is called Li Dao. He is the Fire Dragon and despises Miao Ying as well. He constantly has to deal with invasions from the Southlands from the Monkey King and Naga.

The Dragon of the East is Yin Yin, the Azure Dragon, the only one with an expansionist mindset. She's the one who fought Dark Elves who made their way over the boiling sea. She also tried conquering Araby and once got stranded in Lustria, so Mrs Worldwide.

The Final Dragon we know of is the Jade Dragon, Yuan Bo, who rules the centre of Cathay and spends most of his time hating that he is surrounded by idiots and trying to tell his siblings to listen to Daddy. Evidently, they all spoil for mom and dad's attention and bicker a lot.

There is also the slight problem that Tzeentch cults hold a massive amount of power in the empire and has caused no shortage of problems. It's no help that even humans plot to either gain the favour of the dragons or usurp them.

This all came to a head when the Dragon Emperor and his wife disappeared, leaving the kids alone to watch the place. This resulted in Time of Darkness and Disharmony (Cathay's [[Horus Heresy|version of the Warring States]]), as they fight for the throne while Cathay endures an invasion from the North and South. The Dragon Emperor was also said to be working on his own [[Webway|secret project]], which may or may not help the people of Cathay against Chaos.

Eventually, the Dragon Emperor and his wife came home from their four-century vacation to find their kids fighting, Chaos armies rampaging in their lands and the throne occupied by a god damn monkey.

The Monkey King had used the chaos to take over the country and installed a Clan Eshin Warlord as one of his advisors. Appalled by the idea of Skaven of all things issuing edicts, this finally convinced the other Dragon kids to put aside their differences and fight him, until dad came home and won the war.

===Overview===
So on paper, we have a utopian society of harmony where Dragons and Humans act as one and stand defiant against the forces of Chaos in peace and tranquillity. Once you look closer though, we have a landmass led by spoiled children at each other's throats and only held in line by their parents, along with a fanatical population who are willing to kill any who so much as slightly criticize their rule, and is only held together because of the power and charisma of a single, semi god-like being.

Of other note is the extreme arrogance and pride of Cathay. It is mentioned in new lore and flavor text that the reason why the Ambassador to Altdorf has a crude grasp of Reikspeil is because the Empire is viewed as "barbaric, uncivilized and savage", and therefore it is likely that she never bothered to learn much Reikspeil at all. Cathay continues to be arrogant in its lore, mentioning that the tiny cogs used in the clockwork crossbows of Cathay are "The envy of the world" according to the Cathayans themselves, and that "none other can match"; The Dwarfs would likely disagree.

Basically, Cathay is a jack of all trades, master of none.

In other words, pretty much what the [[Imperium]] would have become if Big E wasn't put on the golden toilet seat, was smart enough to not just ban religion and redirect faith towards something else (ancestor worship), was a slightly better dad and the primarchs hadn't been scattered.

==Geography==
[[File:Cathay Map-TOW.jpg|thumb|right|450px|The most accurate map on Cathay since 1990.]]
The country is huge (as in the case with a certain real-world country), much bigger than the Empire and the other western lands. To the north is the <s>Mongolian steppes</s> [[Eastern Steppes]] and regions of chaos, which are held at bay by the huge-ass Great <s>Wall</s> Bastion of <s>China</s> Cathay which prevents the hordes from pillaging. Why the Empire never took this up themselves isn't explained. Probably it's because the Elector Counts could not work together for long enough to get it built.

(IRL China's Great Wall isnt a single, continuous fortifaction, but a massive series of fortresses and successive (it's defence in depth, with fall back positions) walls; whenever possible, they built along and in addition to the highlands of Northern China, so you have mountains and impassable terrain, with fortresses dotted all over, and walls maybe connecting them if there's flat enough land for it. In contrast, Eastern Europe is very flat, with Poland the Ukraine being so relatively flat that the German and Russian Empires realized that in times of war, they needed Poland/Ukraine as a buffer, because anyone could roll straight through them if they tried hard enough. Fantasy Empire is the same, with Kislev being based on Russia, but is used as the Poland/Ukrainian buffer by the Empire)

To the west is the Mountains of Mourn, the [[warpstone]] deserts and the Great Maw. Incidentally, you can blame the Cathayans for the Great Maw’s existence as the Dragon Emperor had his celestial wizards summon the thing to punish the Ogres for eating some of his citizens. Although recently there has been some evidence Tzeentch had a hand in how tits up it went. To the south is a mysterious jungle where the lost city of the old ones is. Eastwards is the sea, with [[Nippon]] and the [[Lost Isles of Elithis]].

===Cities and Provinces===
* '''Northern Provinces''' - Consisting mainly of the Great Bastion and its supplying towns, its other notable aspect is being home to the river that in Cathayan mythos leads to the underworld. Rumoured to be trapped under this river is the lost Spirit Dragon, a child of the Dragon Emperor and the Moon Empress. Ruled by the Storm Dragon, Miao Ying.
**'''Nan-Gau''' – The major city of the north, known as the city of smoke. A 9 walled fortress city linked to the Great Bastion, it has never fallen to any invader. The Lords of Nan-Gau are not as deferent to the Dragons as the ruling classes in other cities. This is because the city is home to countless forges and workshops that furnish the armies of the empire with weapons and provide countless war machines for the defence of the Great Bastion. So, the Lords are powerful, granted more independence than most and have occasionally even dared to challenge Miao Ying, the Dragon nominally in charge. She does quickly exert her power to make them fall in line when needed.
**'''Po-Mei''' - Another manufacturing city in the north and Nan-Gau's main rival. While their rivalry used to be mostly friendly, things flared up when it came down to who would get the credit for inventing Cathay's flying warships. This lead to a political feud that lead to people being maimed, killed and airship prototypes "mysteriously" falling out of the sky. Miao Ying caught wind of this when the supplies for the Bastion started dropping and was NOT happy. So in the middle of an altitude race between the two cities, she caused a massive storm, slapped the two balloons out of the sky and told the cities to play nice or she'll get really angry next time. There seems to have been no blood between the cities since.

* '''The Great Bastion''' - The Great Wall of <s>China</s> Cathay. In history there is a mythic telling of how it was built by the dragons: Every brick fashioned by the Iron Dragon, breathed upon by the Fire Dragon, Blessed by the Emperor. In reality, thousands of people were used to build the wall. It has 10 small fortresses built into it, each a miniature city in scale and population. The Dragon Emperor has tied his very essence to the wall, so if it ever fell he would die too. He almost died when [[Lord_Mazdamundi|a certain hypnotoad]] slapped the plates of the planet around, causing the walls to be royally messed up for a while. Ruled by Miao Ying, showing the level of trust and/or favouritism the Dragon Emperor has for his number one daughter. has the claim of having never failed, but still got ''breached'' a few times by chaos forces.
**'''Dragon Gate ''' – The Centermost gate and the one closest to Po-Mei
**'''Snake Gate ''' – The Westernmost gate and the one closest to Nan-Gau. Due to its proximity to the city it gets constant restocks of weapons and supplies, making it extremely hardy. The part of the Bastion Miao Ying defends the most.
**'''Turtle Gate''' – The Easternmost gate and the one closest to Wei-Jin and the Celestial City.

* '''Imperial Provinces''' - Located just southeast of Northern Provinces. It is a region ruled by Emperor and Empress directly.
** '''Wei-Jin''' - The Capital of Cathay that normal mortals can enter. Oddly despite being the capital, it's the city we know the least about.
*** '''The Celestial City''' - in the clouds above Wei-Jin; Home of the Jade Court. Location of the Wu Zing Compass, through which the Emperor directs the winds of magic to strengthen different areas of the empire in need.

* '''Western Provinces''' – Other than the city of Shang-Yang and the Iron Dragon, there is a place called the Tower of Ashshair, which was featured all the way back in [[Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos]], as well as the warpstone desert. In this desert, caravans have to use [[Sigvald|mirrored shields]] to protect from chaos radiation. Also home of the Great Maw.
** '''Shang-Yang''' - It is the largest city in the west, a bustling metropolis full of foreign traders despite its location in the middle of the Warpstone Desert. Sometimes invaded by Ogres, Hobgoblins and Skaven. The door between the Old World and Cathay; Estalians, Tileans and Empire travellers and ambassadors all have permanent quarters within the city. It also draws in cabals of alchemists and hedge wizards, who use the city as a base for their expeditions into the desert. Since it's all unofficial and unsanctioned, a lot of warpstone and other elements get used in ways that aren't exactly the safest. Home of the Iron Dragon.

* '''Central Provinces''' – Breadbasket of empire. Ruled by Yuan Bo. It is reasonably safe. If you want to live in the Warhammer world, this is a pretty good choice. [[Beastmen|Even here though, forests are risky]].
** '''Shang Wu''' - The most important city in Central Cathay. It is the seat of the Jade Dragon, Yuan Bo, who rules Central Cathay. Shang Wu lies where the Great River and other rivers meet and is also where the Broken Road and the Great Road meet, making it an incredibly important trade hub. The city is located near rich farmland.
** '''the Grand Observatory of Xing Po''' - A massive observatory where the kings astromancers are trained, study the heavens and divine the future.

* '''Eastern Provinces''' - The wealthiest region, with numerous major cities and lots of trade. It even has a large high elf population, as well as other races from across the world. Home of Dragon Fleets which guard against [[Dark_Elves_(Warhammer_Fantasy)|those pesky emos]] and Nippon. Ruled and protected by Yin-Yin the Sea Dragon.
** '''Fu-Chow''' - A cosmopolitan sea trade city located in the east. The palace of the Sea Dragon is there. This city is full of ghettos for different races. It's possibly the most metropolitan place in the world, eclipsing even Marienburg and Lothern.
** '''Bei Chai''' – Another eastern city, having a dark reputation for harbouring the cults of Tzeentch. Mention of a Cult of the Painted Skin growing here. Other chaos gods struggle to get a foothold in Cathay mainly due to this lot. Despite several attempts by Yin-Yin to purge the city, Tzeentch Cults somehow keep finding their way back. Why they don't just burn the whole place to ashes at this point is a mystery.

* '''Southern Provinces''' – lots of foothills rolling into the Mountains of Heaven. It contains lots of tribes and is an unruly region due to the Monkey Kings presence. Also, there is the "[[Furry|occasional tiger man village]]”. Home of the Fire Dragon, Li Dao.
**'''Fu-Hung''' - Known as the chanting city. It is the home of the Phoenix Temple, a great structure shaped like a giant vermilion warbird, close to the Mountains of Heaven. Whilst religion dedicated to deities and the Dragons isn't allowed, ancestor worship and veneration of local items of interest are tolerated. Vermillion warbirds are smaller phoenixes native to Cathay and very important in Cathayan culture.

*'''The Mountains of Heaven''' - Whilst technically in Cathay, it is functionally an autonomous region ruled by the Monkey King. The only reason for this is due to the constant threat from the [[Kingdoms_of_Ind|Kingdoms of Ind]] and the Naga from [[Khuresh|the Hinterlands of Khuresh]] which mean any invasion to deal with the Monkey King would result in the weakened army being taken out by Cathay's enemies. So he lives [[Farsight#Farsight_Enclaves|as an autonomous zone where the ruling class wish to destroy him. However, they cannot commit to destroying them without foreign invaders capitalising on the new war]].

==Who Rules Cathay?==

{{Topquote|Oh child, I watched your Emperor and Empress mate, I was there...drinking it in|N'kari, in Total War, reminding the rulers of Cathay they were there during their conception in the grossest way possible}}

The dragon emperor and his wife the moon empress (both of which were around when the Old Ones were alive) are the official rulers of Cathay, and both have equal say in how to run the nation. The Emperor is pretty hands-off, [[The_God-Emperor_of_Mankind|spending his time on some unknowable plan which he hasn't told his children about, because that has never bitten any other Warhammer character directly on the ass cheek]]. His wife likes to go around pretending to be a regular human to check on things, and also root out cults of Tzeentch (other chaos gods don't seem to have gained much sway in Cathay). The emperor has nine children and four are missing. One is strongly hinted to be trapped under a river in the north of Cathay, and another one is hinted to be the one [[Archaon]] ripped apart in older lore. '''Shen-Zoo''', the daughter that was responsible for maintaining the balance of Harmony, had disappeared somewhere in the [[Chaos Wastes]] ([[Sigmar|haven't]] [[Miska the Slaughterer|seen that]] [[Grimnir|before, huh]]), is the focus of Cathayan storyline in TWW3. One is still completely unaccounted for. The five remaining each rule a piece of Cathay.

===[[Miao Ying]]===
The Storm Dragon. She rules the north and [[Rogal Dorn|has the duty of protecting the Great Bastion]]. She's the oldest and is also [[Horus Lupercal|daddy's favourite]]. This makes all her siblings jealous of her. She's known for being [[Lion El'Jonson|cold and aloof]], beyond the normal Dragon Children level, which might be from having to watch thousands of her subjects constantly die due to chaos attacking the Great Bastion every other Tuesday.

===[[Zhao Ming]]===
The Iron Dragon. [[Vulkan|The nice one who likes who smithing and might be going crazy.]] This guy rules the west which borders the warpstone desert. He has a green rock in his hat, right over his forehead. During an interview Andy Hall, lead writer of the [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] series, was asked if this rock was jade or [[warpstone]]. Andy refused to say which one it was. While his siblings are quite aloof towards their human subjects, Zhao is far more friendly and sociable to them and most of the Dragon-blooded trace their ancestry to him, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIMwLxglN3E as well as all of the Longma]. Whether he legitimately cares for his subjects or just does it to piss off his siblings is unclear. Zhao also has an interest in alchemy. Fun fact: Real Life Daoist alchemists were interested in cinnabar (which was a frequent ingredient in their attempts to make an elixir of immortality), so Chinese alchemists messing around with poison stuff in ways they shouldn't do has real-life precedent. Also, Zhao's siblings think his mental health has declined, with his friendliness towards humans being considered some of the evidence of this. He's protected by his mother though, being her favourite. So you end up with a guy snorting lines of warpstone, partying with his subjects and getting it on with cute alchemist girls. A true hero of the Cathayan people. Has a friendship with [[Greasus Goldtooth]] on the basis of both of them having gigantic daddy issues.

===[[Li Dao]]===
The Fire Dragon (master of the burning winds and lord of the phoenix) - Male Ruler of the South, described as [[Perturabo|bitter that Miao Ying gets all the attention for defending the north when he has the challenging and thankless task of protecting the empire from Ind and Kuresh]]. Also has to deal with the Monkey King the most out of all the Dragon Siblings, who basically constantly trolls him from Warhammer Nepal. Being stuck as the second best and second favourite behind Miao Ying whilst constantly getting dunked on by some overgrown furry has left him with some [[Rage|unresolved issues]]. How original to make the fire-themed character a hothead (Even though that is literally the canon effect the Wind of Fire tends to channel in its users). According to an Andy Hall interview, he and the Jade Dragon teamed up to stop [[Ku'Gath]] from paying Cathay a little visit.

===[[Yin-Yin]]===
The Sea Dragon, Female Ruler of the East, admiral of the Grand Dragon Fleet. Apparently, she’s more impulsive than the others and has an oddly expansionist outlook. In the past, she led a failed naval invasion of the Southlands and Lustria, so she was in charge during the old lore where Cathay got absolutely destroyed by Lizardmen. She also got wrecked by Araby when she tried invading them. As a result of wasting so many Cathayan lives, she is the least popular of her siblings with both the parents and her brothers and sister. So she has the [[Battle of Phall|navy]] and [[Iron Warriors|tends to waste a lot of Cathayan lives in her battles]]. Plus is a [[Perturabo|jobber who's hated by her siblings and subordinates]]. Guess we can expect her and Miao Ying to re-enact the [[Perturabo#Iron_Cage_Trolling|Iron Cage]] at some point then...

When not being defeated by every other faction, she spends most of her time dealing with the Dark Elves raiding her coasts and Nippon looking angrily at Cathay. [[Fulgrim|A quote in Warhammer 3 states that she wonders if the High Elf Dragonships are named after her, meaning she is either extremely arrogant, really dumb, or deliberately snubbing Ulthuan]].

In older lore, it was a different Dragon Emperor who supposedly led the fleet to the Southlands, but in the CA-written lore, it was retconned to her, while the older name of the Dragon Emperor ended up as one of Xen Huong's titles being misinterpreted in Imperial records.

===[[Yuan Bo]]===
The Jade Dragon. [[Roboute Guilliman|The boring middle child. He rules over central Cathay and is in charge of the main bureaucracy]]. He spends most of his time telling the rest of his siblings to shut up and listen to Daddy, whereupon the rest of his siblings tell him to shut his nerd ass up. He then cries to his parents who pretend to listen, and then send him back down because he's the only one who can be bothered to figure out all this 'administration' business that's needed to run a nation. Despite this, he is still the most 'liked' among the siblings, if only because no one truly hates him in comparison to some of the other sibling relationships. Considering that he prefers paperwork to fighting and rules over the part of Cathay with the least conflict he is likely the least powerful of his siblings, though he's still a dragon and can still whoop the ass of most mortal warriors. He's is quoted on the loading screens of TWW3, and they imply he is some sort of head propagandist in Cathay. Some other quotes attributed to him in WH3 paint him as one of the dragons most ambivalent towards humans, viewing them as expendable resources who yearn to be controlled. He's also stated to be the most magically gifted of the Dragon Siblings.

==Missing Dragons==
===Shen-Zoo===
Known as the 'Bringer of Light and Hope' she ventured into the mountains of Norsca and disappeared. She is younger than Miao Ying, but where this places her in the age range isn't narrowed down as Miao Ying is the oldest child. Cathay in Warhammer 3 gets involved in trying to save Ursun to interrogate the god to find this Dragon.

===The Spirit Dragon===
Currently unnamed, this dragon is rumoured to be trapped under the Dragon River. (Very creative names here). This river leads to the underworld according to Cathayan mythos. She was presumably involved with death rituals even before, considering her name and possible fate. The Warhammer Fantasy RPG mentions in the Doom of Kavzar that tells the Skaven were vomited out from the gigantic maw of the Great Black Dragon that lives coiled inside the earth, which could also possibly be her.

===First Unknown Child===
Possibly the Flamefang, Yien-Ya-Long, a massive serpentine Chaos dragon sworn to Tzeentch. Archaon spent many years hunting and being hunted by this dragon, eventually slaying it and claiming the eye of Sheerian from its body.

===Second Unknown Child===
The only dragon left with no lore hints. Possibly a chance for [[Your_Dudes|your own custom dragon sibling]].

Potentially could be Prince Xian Ha Feng, a supposed son of the Dragon Emperor who was sent to Lamia as an emissary and who Neferata wanted to use to get a foothold in Cathay, but ended up accidentally causing a civil war. Might explain why no one mentions him if he's dead and/or a vampire.

==Other Notable Characters==
These are characters who don't actually rule over any official part of Cathay, but still play an important role in their history and lore.

===Monkey King===
While not one of the official rulers of Cathay, the (currently unnamed) Monkey King rules over the Mountains of Heaven and the Monkey Warriors, the second largest population in Cathay. During the Time of Darkness and Disharmony, he took over the country while the Dragon Emperor was away and his kids were fighting, installing a Clan Eshin Warlord as an advisor. This pissed off the Dragon Kids for obvious reasons, and they unified against him and knocked him back to the Mountains when dad came home. Understandably, the Dragons all hate his guts and the only reason they haven't exterminated him and the rest of his furries is because it would weaken their forces against other, bigger threats to the south.

The Monkey King does help defend Southern Cathay alongside Li Dao, and by that I mean he annoys the fuck out of him, though it is implied his warriors also serve as mercenaries for others willing to pay for them. It is also unknown if he and his monkey warrior count as servants of chaos like all beastman, that or the fact it has four arms just like that monkey statue from [[Gotrek & Felix|Vampire Slayer]].

According to an in-game lore quote in Total War: Warhammer 3, the Monkey King is known for 4 depictions in different parts of Cathay that all sound Chaosy. [[Khorne|A Bloodthirsty Gorilla in the north]], [[Slaanesh|A beautiful Baboon with flowing blond hair whose always in heat in the west]], [[Nurgle| a fat Orangutan with boils on his stomach in the east]], and a [[Tzeentch| deceptive Spider Monkey in the south]]. According to Andy Hall, this is propaganda spread by Tzeentch to stop Cathay and the Monkey King from fully uniting. Fun fact, none of these animals live in real-life China.

===Shi-Hong===
Once a peasant living in the shittier parts of Nan-Gau, Shi-Hong had of hobby of making complicated mechanical toys to amuse his friends and family. The Artificer Guild in Nan-Gau thought he showed promise and took him in, where he quite rapidly rose through the ranks to become one of the Masters of the guild. He came up with an idea to ease the amount of strain the Bastion was facing against Chaos, mainly boiling down to "What if we just killed them before they actually got to the walls in sufficient numbers?" He installed mechanical platforms to allow Crane Gunners to snipe more accurately from further away and was credited for the creation of the weaponized airships. He is referred to as "The Blind Master", though whether he was born blind or was blinded in an accident or as an act of sabotage from a rival group is unknown.

== Relations ==
Cathay has always been a very insular and isolationist nation, as such they never really interact too heavily with foreign powers aside from trade unless they feel like they need to. That said caravans and ambassadors have been sent out to other nations of the world, and they have plenty of enemies at their borders, which gives us some clues as to how they view the rest of the world.

*'''Western Human Nations''': According to older lore (which may or may not be decanonised now), Cathay was first discovered by Tilean adventurer Marco Polare (sounds familiar, right?), who managed to establish trade between Cathay and [[Tilea]]. Like pretty much everyone else in the world, they trade with [[Marienburg]]... and that's pretty much it. The Nagash novel dispute the above statement by making [[Nehekhara#Devil.27s_Backbone|Lahmia]], a port city in the Nehekhara east to be their first trade partner in the ancient past (though granted, Lahmia and Nehekara in general had a [[Tomb Kings|teeny]] [[Vampire Counts|tiny]] pair of problems that precluded diplomatic stability). Overall, they think VERY little of the Western human nations, to the point where the Cathayan Ambassador only learned enough Reikspiel to mention how backwards they were.
**'''Empire''': Western Empire is easily the country with which Cathay interacts most, up to the point of having an official ambassador. Still, the distance between two countries essentially means that they are pretty much on their own most of the time.
**'''Bretonnia''': Not counting old Leofric Carrard novels (in which Bretonnian knight simply roamed the world searching for adventures), there is nothing to say about their relations.
**'''Kislev''': Same as Bretonnia, if you don't count [[Total War: WARHAMMER|Total War: WARHAMMER III]].
**'''Ancient Nehekharan''': According to Nagash novel, the Lahmians were the only Nehekharan Cathay has been interacted for the most part. From their trades, the Lahmian gained a lot of goodies from them like silks, spices, candles, incense, tea and firearms (that last one requires the entire city of Lahmia as payment if there were no gold left). Because of this, Lahmian were the foremost [[weeaboo]] nation ever existed in warhammer at that times. Although both gained a lot from the trade, it does not prevent them from scheming against each other, which results in Neferata having enough of their shit, convinced one of their officer into vampirism, resulting the spread of vampirism in great Cathay. The Dragon Emperor (or whoever was in charged at the time) was pissed off of course, and cancelled the trade with Lahmian, only to re-sign the agreement after the said Emperor (once again, might not be the real one if the newest lore were to believe) was killed and replaced by his inheritor. However, we all knew how Lahmia got it ass handed to Alcadizzar and his armies, so no contacts were made after that. Though it was not mentioned if Alcadizzar ever tried to rebuilt Lahmia in order to trade with Cathay, but it doesn't matter since the entirely of Nehekhara were later nuked and its inhabitant replaced with [[Tomb Kings|ancient walking corpses]] by [[Nagash|that shitty manchild lich]]. Those with living fresh of course are smart to leave the walking dead alone, and Cathayans were no exception. Although it would be hilarious if they at least tried to trade something with them for a joke, and [[Khalida]] would be their most likely just because her city Lybaras positioned near the same east coast as Lahmia.
**'''[[Araby]]''': [[Araby]] was one of the targets for [[Yin-Yin|Yin-Yin's]] plan of Cathayan expansion, and, as you know, it ended badly.
**'''[[Kingdoms of Ind]]''': Ind are seen as some sort of threat for Cathay (probably because of the tiger beastmen living there), alongside [[Khuresh]].
*'''Eastern Human Nations''': [[Nippon]] is described as a rival naval nation, which isn't elaborated for now.
*'''Chaos''': Like any other Ordered civilization, Cathay hates [[Chaos]], to the point of building Great Bastion to protect their lands from Daemons and marauders (mostly Hungs and Kurgans). However, unlike most of the world, [[Tzeentch|Blue Weeaboo Bird]] is strongest here, corrupting aristocracy of some cities and creating weird cults. Likely due to the scheming and backstabbing nature of Cathayan politics and Tzeentch's hatred of Cathay's dynasty. Oh, and also you can find [[Beastmen]] there.
*'''Dwarfs''': Both Cathay and Karaz Ankor are too remote and too isolated to have any meaningful collaboration between each other. Honestly Dwarfs may have a bit of respect for Cathay for their ancestor worship and use of similar weapons and tactics
**'''Chaos Dwarfs''': Same as their non-Chaotic kin up to the [[End Times]], when they assisted Chaos in invading Cathay.
*'''Elves''':
**'''High Elves''': Cathay and Asur established trade with each other early, about 1700 years before End Times, but since then not much has changed in relations between these nations. High Elves are also the main minority living in the Eastern ports of the empire. Safe to assume they both like to mention how inferior the other is during et togethers.
**'''Dark Elves''': Druchii (especially Fellheart family) are know to raid the shit out of everything, and Cathay is not an exception, with several cities being destroyed by Black Arcs. They are also easily the main naval danger for Cathayan fleet.
**'''Wood Elves''': Not much info on the Elves themselves, but evidently a group of ancient spirits from [[Athel Loren]] did use the World Roots to colonize a forest known as the Jungles of [[Tzeentch|Chi'an]]. They apparently have an antagonistic relationship with the local Monkey People, and are otherwise only notable [[Drycha|because they're all malevolent like a certain other genocidal tree]].
*'''Vampires''': Cathay has its own version of Vampires which were long a subject of canonicity debates - [[Jade-Blooded]]. And while they were confirmed to exist recently, their lore is so outdated that we can't say for sure how Dragon family feels about them (probably hostile since who in the right mind would be edgy enough to accept dead people that eats the living?).
**Again, if Nagash's novel were to believe, Cathay is big on the no vampire policy due to Neferata's action that caused vampirism to first spread in Cathay. And as for the Jade-Blooded, they might be founded by the descendants of the first Cathayan Vampire whom Neferata had corrupt: '''Prince Xian Ha Feng'''.
***In Neferata and W'soran's novel, it was revealed that at least three of the major vampire: Neferata, Abhorash and Lord Ankhat (aka [[Vlad von Carstein]]). Neferata went there to start a new life after she was cast out of her city. She tried to make herself a new home by infiltrate and seize it's power in politics, but realized she was a noob compare to the Cathayan at court scheme and was chased away (again, the moon Empress might had a hand in this). Abhorash went there to learn its local martial arts, but no mentioned of him causing trouble (then again, he has self restrain and is not a complete arsehole like the rest of the rest of the vampires), not to mentioned his novels was canned so we don't gets to hear about his badass adventures. Ankhat like Neferata also wanted to make himself big in Cathay and thus he studied W'soran's magic scrolls and disguised as a wizard prince to help the Cathayan against the shitty Chaos invaders at the Great Bastions. Again, because of how competent the security in Cathay was, Ankhat was chased out and assume the life of [[pirate|piracy]].
*'''Skaven''': Aside from Ogres, this is the race that interacts (or interacted) with Cathay the most. [[Clan Eshin]] learned ninja technics here (or in Nippon), and Under-Empire has a major presence in Cathay, up to being co-rulers of it alongside Monkey King when Big D disappeared. They also have a sizeable presence in the Warpstone Desert for reasons that should be self evident.
*'''Lizardmen''': Yin-Yin tried to invade [[Southlands]] during her expansion attempts, but failed. While they aren't outright hostile to each other, they aren't fond of one another either. The Dragons largely blame the Old Ones for why the world went to shit, and the Lizards don't considered the Dragon Emperor's shenanigans as part of the Great Plan. They will fight alongside one another if Chaos is pulling shit, though.
*'''Ogre Kingdoms''': Ogres are very linked to Cathay - most of their backstory relies on Big D pulling a comet out of space to prevent them from eating his subjects. Ogres work as mercenaries there (especially in [[Zhao Ming|Zhao Ming's]] army), but generally they aren't interested in Celestial Empire due to their westward migration.
*'''Greenskins''': They mostly don't live in [[Eastern Lands]], and the only time they interacted beyond the occasional WAAAGH is when [[Grimgor Ironhide|Grimgor's]] horde destroyed Cathay in the End Times. The main exception being the Hobgoblin Khanate lead by Hobgobla Khan to the north of Cathay, who occasionally assault the Great Bastion, much like Chaos. Needless to say, they view the Orcs and Goblins like pretty much everyone else does, kill on sight.

== Cathay's Army ==
[[File:Cathay-Warhammer-Fantasy-David-Gallagher.jpg|thumb|right|400px|thumb|Until 2021, this was literally the only image we had, except some White Dwarf conversions.]]
All that we know about Cathay's army comes from their [[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Grand Cathay|army roster]] in Total War Warhammer 3 pre any DLC, so this probably isn't even their entire list. Given that they are coming to [[Warhammer: The Old World]] we'll split them up into Cores, Special and Rare units once we know who goes where.

===Generic Characters===
*'''Dragon-Blooded Shugengan Lord''': These guys are what happens when a member of the Dragon family gets really bored, spots one of their human subjects and decides "Meh, I'd fuck that." They're the highest ranking officials in Cathay aside from the Dragons themselves, being incredible spellcasters and warriors in their own right. They also tend to be arrogant twats and their lesser human nobles hate them out of envy. Sadly since they aren't full blooded Dragons they can't transform but they can use the Lores of Yin and Yang, which are exclusive to Dragons.

*'''Lord Magistrate''': The normal human nobles in Cathay, they are the high ranking generals or lords that run Cathay's cities. They aren't nearly as strong as the Shugengan but they are more numerous. They mainly specialize in commanding armies and directing their troops to perfection after years of practice. Important ones come into battle aboard a Sky Lantern in order to get a view of the battle from the air and to direct troops with flags and to bring out the best in their soldiers.

*'''Alchemists''': The secretive sorcerer cabal in Cathay, they flock to Shang Yang as Zhao Ming is the only dragon who wants to have them around. Guy pretty much runs his own cult of metal benders and only gets away with it because he's mama's favorite. They have grown into a surprisingly powerful cabal that while technically not allowed, still gets hired by generals due to their skill in the Lore of Metal and their potion making in order to assist troops in battle.

*'''Astromancer''': This is the actually accepted group of sorcerers in Cathay who specialize in Lore of Heavens, as it is the Dragon Emperor's favorite. The highest ranking officials spend much of their time assisting Big D with his secret project as often serve as his messengers and advisors. [[Fail|This is also the group who accidentally nuked the Ogres]] but when they aren't doing that they are assisting Cathay's armies with magic and the Wu-Xing War Compass.

==="Core"===
(Or at least our best guess given what we know)
[[File:Jade Warrior.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Your basic Cathayan Grunt, the Jade Warrior]]

*'''Peasant Long Spearman''': Also known as the "Warriors of Wind and Field", the Dragons realized that they have a crap load of people living in Cathay and said "Hey, we can use these guys!" They're only really used for numbers and are not only expected to run, but are often encouraged to so that the better warriors can deal with stuff they can't handle. Small towns who can't afford to have standing regiments of Jade Warriors mostly have these guys as defense.

*'''Peasant Archer''': Evidently the Moon Empress loves ranged weapons and young girls are taught how to use a bow at an early age to honor her. Again, pretty much only used to fill out numbers.

*'''Peasant Horsemen''': Due to the massive size of the country, Peasants often learn how to ride in order to carry information or commercial goods across massive territories. As such, they often fill the role of scouts or flanking harass in Cathayan armies.

*'''Jade Warriors''': These guys are the actual trained soldiers of Cathay. Their main job is to hold the front line so that the guns and ranged units have a chance to shoot. Can be equipped with Swords, Halberds and Crossbows. They mostly serve as the military and police in larger cities who can afford to house large numbers of them

*'''Jade Lancers''': The most common heavy cav in Cathay, they are slower but much tankier than most other knights.

===Others===
*'''Celestial Dragon Guard''': The Elites of the Cathayan Army, raised to a higher standard to the standard rank and file with better weapons and armor. Can be armed with swords, halberds or crossbows.

*'''Monkey Warriors''': The soldiers of the Monkey King. We don't know what they do or how they fight, but we know they exist.

*'''Iron Hail Gunners ''': Ladies with Chinese themed blunderbusses. Don't quite have the range of Empire guns but since they wield old timey shotguns they can rip apart enemy formations at a very close range.

*'''Crane Gunners''': Sniper teams with a long ass gun where one person mans the gun and the other mans a shield and reloads. Whether these guys ripped off the Skaven or vice versa isn't explained. However, considering the Skaven's habit of <strike> stealing </strike> appropriating stuff from other cultures, like Clan Eshin learning how to be ninjas from Nippon, there can be a case for the latter.

*'''Great Longma Riders''': Minor nobles who became nobles by their great-grandpa shtupping a dragon, who ride Dragon Horses. They're the elite cavalry force of Cathay and are usually used to give them aerial dominance and to cover for the war balloons.

*'''Terracotta Sentinels''': The Celestial Dragon Emperor's action figures that come to life to defend Cathay much like the Tomb Kings constructs. Said to [[Wraithguard|contain the souls of ancient warriors]] who fought for the Dragon during the first Chaos Incursion. Stand sentinel around Cathay until invaders comes.

===War Machines/Artillery===
*'''Sky Lantern''': A flying balloon piloted by sniper ladies, it acts as a forward scout for Cathay's armies. Also used by Magistrates to find enemy positions, discover ambushes and to provide motivation to the troops below.

*'''Sky-Junk''': A heavier flying balloon powered by a smaller phoenix, this acts as a mobile flying artillery piece. Armed with a Fire Rain Rocket and multiple bombs they can tear entire battle formations apart.

*'''Grand Cannon''': A cannon that is pulled by oxen making it surprisingly fast, that fires firey globes into the enemy.

*'''Wu-Xing War Compass''': A miniature version of the Celestial Compass which the Dragon Emperor uses to slap magic into various places of Cathay, it greatly boosts the magical capacity of mages riding one or simply its presence on the field.

*'''Fire Rain Rocket''': What inspired the Helstorm rocket battery in lore, it acts functionally the same. Fires multiple rockets at once that, while inaccurate, can cause devastation on the battlefield.

==Gallery==
Originally the only images we've had of Cathay and its people were a single picture in the Warhammer rule books and from a White Dwarf article where they showed off somebody's converted army. Suffice to say the converter did a great job, and the pictures are included below. Later on [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] and [[Total War: Warhammer]] had their own stabs at what Cathay should look like.
<gallery>
Cathay-Page-1.jpg
Cathay-Page-2.jpg
Cathay-Page-3.jpg
Cathay-Page-4.jpg
Cathay-Page-5.jpg
Cathay-Page-6.jpg
File:WFRP 4th-Yabo Chao.png|Yabo Chao, an ambassador from Cathay in [[Altdorf]].
</gallery>

==Links==
*[https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_Redi9cZJ5iLVNoQWR2MVBQWms/view Cathay fandex]
*[[Warhammer Army Project/Cathay/8th|Tactica of the above fandex]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5G5v4W7omc Cathay's roster in a nutshell], because [[Fallout|Geedubs...]][[Space Wolves|Geeddubs never changes.]]

{{Regions and areas of the Old World}}
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Cathay]]

Cathay

2023-01-26T23:28:57Z

2607:FB90:3FDC:EF48:A851:E929:23AB:7B83:

[[File:Warhammer-the-old-world-grand-cathay-580x334.jpg|thumb|right|580px|Insert Bamboo flute and Erhu music here.]]
{{Topquote|Goddamn <s>Mongolians</s> Hungs! Stop tearing down my shitty warr''!|What the Cathayans have to say roughly 12 times every hour or so}}
{{Topquote|Those in other nations may deny it, but all mortals desire control. To be controlled, that is. Why else would they conjure these northern Gods that obsess in dominating the very creatures that brought them into being?|Yuan Bo, The Jade Dragon, Ruler of the Central Provinces and the Celestial Court}}

'''Cathay''', often '''Grand Cathay''', is the uninspired name for the analogue to [[China]] in the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] universe. That said, it is at least marginally more inspired than their name for the Japan analogue (and only because [[Nippon]] is a better-known name for Japan than Cathay is for China in Europe).

Until 2021, we had next to no information about them beyond token mentions in old novels and rulebooks. This all changed with [https://www.totalwar.com/blog/total-war-warhammer-iii-faq/ Total War Warhammer 3] finally fleshing out the faction.

==Forge World Sneak Peak==
''[[Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos]]'', a book from [[Forge World|Forge World's]] fantasy line, quite surprisingly contains a battle scene where the forces of Cathay are involved. This is the first time Cathay's forces are shown in a major way. A chaos sorcerer dupes a Beastman army into attacking the Tower of Ashshair, a Cathayan watchtower outpost at the edge of the [[Ogre Kingdoms]] which it uses to scry on the Old World. Its defenders included fancy bronze cannon that shoot harpoons, "crow-men", stone "temple dogs", elite warriors with back-banners and "thousand-folded" swords, and "Dragon-blooded Shugengan" who wield elemental magics (fire, water, earth, air and wood). In other words, your usual collection of oriental cliches, [[Derp|mostly Japanese]].

Prior to Total War: Warhammer III (and the faction's impending backport to The Old World), this was the closest thing we got to an official Cathay army list along with the mention of them having elementals under their control in the Vampire Genevieve books.

But then, things get interesting when the Tower's garrison started to get overwhelmed by the [[Beastmen]]'s numbers. The Tower turns the tide by dropping a frikking' [[Warhammer_Magic#Celestial: Wind of Azyr, Lore of the Heavens |Comet of Casandora]] into the horde, then starts sending "strange creatures of living stone" that can swim through the ground and minotaur-suplexing "living statues of onyx" to beat the shit out of the survivors.

==How come all this lore is new?==
Grand Cathay has been listed in Warhammer's Lore since the early days, a location that was referenced on numerous occasions. A vast human Empire standing against chaos on the Eastern End of the primary continent with a role in the history of the world. It is based on a real-life civilization whose history and mythology could easily be mined for inspiration as Medieval France or Early Modern Germany or Norse and Egyptian mythology and the general melange of 20th-century fantasy. The setting could have been easily expanded with new stories and armies by developing Cathay, all without upsetting the stuff which people liked.

But until 2021 Games Workshop did not.

Despite being both vast, wealthy and powerful Cathay was just a background element. A land which was almost exclusively referenced indirectly in regards to other races (Hellstorm Rocket Batteries were based on Cathayan fireworks, Cathay once sent a fleet to Lustria that fought the lizardmen, etc) and with only a few scant scraps of lore to itself. We did not even have as much as a mercenary unit in The Dogs of War.

Exactly why this was the case is up in the air. Maybe the original GW guys were not into Chinese history and mythology. Maybe they could not get worthwhile reference material (a large part of this was pre-internet and what print material you could get on Imperial China in the 1980s was not as good as what we have now). Maybe they had it in a to-do list that just kept growing. Maybe they did not feel that Cathay was particularly relevant to the stories they wanted to tell. Maybe they were afraid of it turning out like the [[Pygmies (Warhammer Fantasy)|Pygmies]]. Maybe it was some combination of these and other elements.

Similar to the world building of Song of Ice and Fire, where the further East on a map a location is the more strange and unknown things get, details about Cathay remained shrouded in mystery and speculation.

[[Awesome|Fortunately, this has now changed.]]

==Final Mentions in Rulebooks==
According to the eight ed BRB, the Kurgans once mounted a massive raid on Cathay's Great Bastion. Which is funny, because Kurgans are basically Chaos-Turko Slavs to the Norscan's Chaos Vikings. [[Derp|Funnily enough, even though TWWH3 is responsible for bringing the fluff to life for the first time, the Kurgans that attack the Great Bastion every 5 turns or so in-game are Norscan (complete with Mammoths), rather than the Turkic Chaos Warriors they're described as in fluff.]]

In the [[End Times|end times]], they are invaded by Chaos and [[skaven]]. Remarkably, the dragon emperor drives out the Skaven and stalemates the forces of chaos, but ultimately loses to [[Grimgor Ironhide|Grimgor's]] massive WAAAGH! The ruins of Cathay become the stage for an endless battle between the orcs and the remaining forces of chaos. Grimgor himself gets teleported away as he had become Incarnate of Beasts, and when the last effort to save the world fails, Cathay is destroyed along with the rest of the planet, revealed in [[Age of Sigmar]] to have been called Mallus. The exact fate of the Dragon Emperor and his family are unknown.

== Old Mentions from Novels ==
In the novel Beasts in Velvet, and the short story Red Thirst there is a Cathayan character named Dien Ch'ing (狄恩青/Di En Qing). He is secretly a Tzeenchian cultist who impersonated a Cathayan ambassador (which he had murdered and taken the name from). He is also a celestial wizard and is capable of using the classic five elemental magic (which are Tzeetch demons who disguised as those elements). From the same novel, it also tells the story of how when the monkey king was but a young prince he was able to trick the 5 elemental demons into fighting one another.

According to the novel '''Guardian of the Forest''', the knight featured in the novel: '''Leofric Carrard''' traveled to Cathay and slew the '''Jade Dragon''' of the '''Emerald River''', and saved the wives of the '''Emperor Zhang-Jimou''' from decapitation by the Executioner Cult of the '''Jade Pearl'''.

In the [[Nagash]]'s novel, it was mentioned that back when Lahmia was not crawling with vampires, they were rich due to its geographic locations that they were able to trade with the Cathayan through seaborne. Notable items like silk were a common trade in Lahmia and were fancied among the Lahmian nobles and its royalties. The Cathayan eat spicy seafood just like in real life, and the Lahmians enjoyed their cuisine during important events.

The Cathayan were brilliant schemers that they made a deal with Neferata's dad '''Lamasheptra''', who was desperate to save his sister Neferem from Nagash by paying them lots of gold every year (or by land, the city of Lahmia if they couldn't pay) in exchange to acquire Cathayan's cutting edge gunpowder weaponry. As a result, the Cathayan not only profit from this, they made a new deal a few years later after Lamasheptra's death with Neferata now in charge, telling her that they had found a new gold mine in one of their provinces, forcing the Lahmian to pay more gold to keep up with the new deal.

Unfortunately for the Cathayan, Neferata had given some of her vampire potion to erase the debt. The man she gave the potion to: '''Prince Xian Ha Feng''', one of the Dragon Emperor's sons sent to negotiate with Lahmia, not only drank the potion but also bought some of it back to Cathay where the vampire corruption soon spread. With enough immortal bloodsuckers (and probably some of [[Ushoran]]'s spies), Xian started a civil war against his father. This angers the Dragon Emperor so much that he ordered them to close their borders with ALL foreigners. The Dragon Emperor apparently died in a freak accident sometime after the civil war according to Ushoran's spies (perhaps has to do with the monkey king? that or is just one of the dragon children since the original dragon daddy is confirmed to be absent during this period) and a new Emperor was enthroned because of this. Under this new Emperor's reign, the trade with the Nekeharan has opened once again because the new Emperor cares little about the [[Nehekhara|Nehekharans]]. Although Prince Xian Ha Feng was never heard of after this, the vampire corruption remains still in Cathay.

Many known vampires had at least travelled to Cathay once. [[Neferata]] had lived there for 7 years in order to infiltrate its bureaucracy and become a ruler of her own once again. However, Cathayan background politics is an "eye-opener" that she was forced to run away again. [[Abhorash]] was noted by Neferata to have probably been to Cathay (probably to study its local martial arts, unsurprisingly). [[Vlad von Carstein|Lord Ankhat]] had assumed the persona of an immortal sorcerer prince there who helped the Dragon Emperor to drive back the [[Norsca|Hungs]] from breaching the great bastion, but was forced to escape after his vampiric nature was found out by a secret society of courtesan (aka mama dragon's spy). [[Genevieve Sandrine du Pointe du Lac Dieudonné|Genevieve]] was said to have become a trader and travelled to Cathay through the Silk Road for a hundred years or so. There she met a '''Master Po''' guy and learned to control her bloodlust as well as martial arts from him. Master Po is said to be important enough that he went to teach Cathayan military officers afterwards.

==[[Total War: WARHAMMER|Total Warhammer 3 AKA: "HOLY SHIT WE'RE ACTUALLY GETTING SOMETHING FOR CATHAY"]]==
[[File:Total-war-cathay trailer map.png|thumb|400 px|A new challenger appear!]]
[[File:Cathay Warhammer 3.png|right|400px|thumb|Cathay finally arrives on the scene]]
During the announcement of Total Warhammer 3, CA confirmed that Cathay will be one of the 6 playable factions. They'd been working with GW in bringing the faction to life and making them one of the core races in the game. This is also great news for anyone hoping for Cathay in [[Warhammer: The Old World]]. More info pending, but this minor faction is finally getting the fleshing out it deserves. Perhaps the most enticing detail to surface is GW confirming they essentially wrote an entire Cathay army book according to 8th Edition rules, complete with characters and background lore. That's where most of the new info on this page comes from, but it has only come out in drips and drabs from interviews. So far GW has announced no plans to actually release the new army book, but one can hope it's coming. Between Cathay and [[Kislev]], this is all a lore [[grognard]]'s wet dream.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=033FWxL22A0 With the Reveal trailer], [https://www.totalwar.com/blog/total-war-warhammer-3-grand-cathay-faq/ the first CA FAQ] [https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/09/14/watch-grand-cathay-come-to-life-in-an-epic-collaboration-for-total-war-warhammer-iii/ and GW discussion on Cathay's design + background] we finally get our first proper looks at Cathay.

Front and centre is [[Miao Ying]], daughter of the Celestial Dragon and his wife, and commander of the Northern Bastion (meaning that when Sayl attacked the wall it was her forces that drove him off). She's a dragon that can take a human form like her parents and its been shown that the Celestial Dragon spends his time in the Celestial city and overseeing Cathay while his children take direct control of different provinces (like a certain [[Emperor of Mankind|golden giant]] and his [[Primarch|kids]]) as her brother Zhao Ming commands the western province and will be the other playable lord.

In the trailer we see rocket batteries, war balloons and those suplexing statues from [[Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos|the Tamurkhan book]], in addition to regular human infantry and some lady earth bending. To help establish Cathay's playstyle GW themselves made rules for each unit and for the army (using 8th edition) to aid CA to understand how Cathay should act in-game. [[Rage|Yes there are currently rules for 8th edition Cathay and GW are just sitting on them and not releasing them.]]

An interesting thing to note is that both [[Miao Ying]] and [[Zhao Ming]] seem to be based on the Four Dragons from Chinese mythology, who are four children born to the "King of the Dragons" each of whom were granted their own land in a cardinal direction and are associated with an element. Zhao is The White Iron Dragon and the ruler of the Western province (because metal is an element according to the ancient Chinese) and Miao is the Black Storm Dragon and ruler of the Northern province, both of these line up with the four dragons mythology.

The three other active Dragon children have since been named, while four others have been confirmed to be AWOL and used as juicy plot hooks for any future expansions. Yuan Bo rules the Central Provinces as the Administrator of the Realm, Yin-Yin rules the Eastern Provinces as the Admiral of the Grand Dragon Fleet, and Li Dao rules the Southern Provinces against the raids of the Monkey King and the Beastmen tribes from Ind.

==New Canon Lore==
===History===
So once upon a time, [[The Dragon Emperor]] and his wife lived on the world before the Old Ones came, where it was mostly a frozen wasteland. Eventually, the space hypnotoads came and did their thing, terraforming the planet and creating all of the little races of the Warhammer World. When humans started to show up, The Dragon Emperor learned to take human shape and gathered a few tribes under his banner. When Chaos eventually came, more tribes flocked to him in order to protect their new empire, eventually creating the Great Bastion himself and instilling a section of his magic in order to prevent the Chaos Hordes from breaking into Cathay. Once Cathay started to take shape, The emperor and his wife decided they were happy with the lands they have and decided to settle down to defend them.

The Dragon pair and their kids would eventually rule over the land and teach them the ways of Harmony, to be one with themselves and the land around them and find their natural place in the world. The Dragons aren't tyrants but act more like teachers and wardens to the humans that are beneath them, as they feel they need the humans on their good side to fight Chaos. They've gotten so used to being with humans that they spend most of their time in human form, only going dragon in an emergency. They don't wish to be worshipped as gods, but it usually happens anyway, and the people of Cathay [[Imperial Creed|treat them with such reverence]] that talking shit about them is a good way to get murdered, especially if you're a foreigner.

===Modern times===
Unfortunately for big D, while he seems to have done a decent job of instilling harmony in the people of Cathay, [[Primarch|he hasn't done a good job of it with his kids because they all fucking hate each other.]] There are a confirmed nine children, but four of them are missing who knows where.

Miao Ying the Storm Dragon is the most favoured and powerful of the Dragon kids, which has given her a massive superiority complex. She's been given the north to rule, which also happens to have Daddies very essence tied to it.

Zhao Ming, the Iron Dragon, is viewed as too experimental with his magic and many fear he is losing his mind due to how much time he spends around the Great Maw, snorting lines of warpstone and actually treating his subjects like human beings. He rules the west, and has the favor of his mother to back him up.

The Dragon of the South is called Li Dao. He is the Fire Dragon and despises Miao Ying as well. He constantly has to deal with invasions from the Southlands from the Monkey King and Naga.

The Dragon of the East is Yin Yin, the Azure Dragon, the only one with an expansionist mindset. She's the one who fought Dark Elves who made their way over the boiling sea. She also tried conquering Araby and once got stranded in Lustria, so Mrs Worldwide.

The Final Dragon we know of is the Jade Dragon, Yuan Bo, who rules the centre of Cathay and spends most of his time hating that he is surrounded by idiots and trying to tell his siblings to listen to Daddy. Evidently, they all spoil for mom and dad's attention and bicker a lot.

There is also the slight problem that Tzeentch cults hold a massive amount of power in the empire and has caused no shortage of problems. It's no help that even humans plot to either gain the favour of the dragons or usurp them.

This all came to a head when the Dragon Emperor and his wife disappeared, leaving the kids alone to watch the place. This resulted in Time of Darkness and Disharmony (Cathay's [[Horus Heresy|version of the Warring States]]), as they fight for the throne while Cathay endures an invasion from the North and South. The Dragon Emperor was also said to be working on his own [[Webway|secret project]], which may or may not help the people of Cathay against Chaos.

Eventually, the Dragon Emperor and his wife came home from their four-century vacation to find their kids fighting, Chaos armies rampaging in their lands and the throne occupied by a god damn monkey.

The Monkey King had used the chaos to take over the country and installed a Clan Eshin Warlord as one of his advisors. Appalled by the idea of Skaven of all things issuing edicts, this finally convinced the other Dragon kids to put aside their differences and fight him, until dad came home and won the war.

===Overview===
So on paper, we have a utopian society of harmony where Dragons and Humans act as one and stand defiant against the forces of Chaos in peace and tranquillity. Once you look closer though, we have a landmass led by spoiled children at each other's throats and only held in line by their parents, along with a fanatical population who are willing to kill any who so much as slightly criticize their rule, and is only held together because of the power and charisma of a single, semi god-like being.

Of other note is the extreme arrogance and pride of Cathay. It is mentioned in new lore and flavor text that the reason why the Ambassador to Altdorf has a crude grasp of Reikspeil is because the Empire is viewed as "barbaric, uncivilized and savage", and therefore it is likely that she never bothered to learn much Reikspeil at all. Cathay continues to be arrogant in its lore, mentioning that the tiny cogs used in the clockwork crossbows of Cathay are "The envy of the world" according to the Cathayans themselves, and that "none other can match"; The Dwarfs would likely disagree.

Basically, Cathay is a jack of all trades, master of none.

In other words, pretty much what the [[Imperium]] would have become if Big E wasn't put on the golden toilet seat, was smart enough to not just ban religion and redirect faith towards something else (ancestor worship), was a slightly better dad and the primarchs hadn't been scattered.

==Geography==
[[File:Cathay Map-TOW.jpg|thumb|right|450px|The most accurate map on Cathay since 1990.]]
The country is huge (as in the case with a certain real-world country), much bigger than the Empire and the other western lands. To the north is the <s>Mongolian steppes</s> [[Eastern Steppes]] and regions of chaos, which are held at bay by the huge-ass Great <s>Wall</s> Bastion of <s>China</s> Cathay which prevents the hordes from pillaging. Why the Empire never took this up themselves isn't explained. Probably it's because the Elector Counts could not work together for long enough to get it built.

(IRL China's Great Wall isnt a single, continuous fortifaction, but a massive series of fortresses and successive (it's defence in depth, with fall back positions) walls; whenever possible, they built along and in addition to the highlands of Northern China, so you have mountains and impassable terrain, with fortresses dotted all over, and walls maybe connecting them if there's flat enough land for it. In contrast, Eastern Europe is very flat, with Poland the Ukraine being so relatively flat that the German and Russian Empires realized that in times of war, they needed Poland/Ukraine as a buffer, because anyone could roll straight through them if they tried hard enough. Fantasy Empire is the same, with Kislev being based on Russia, but is used as the Poland/Ukrainian buffer by the Empire)

To the west is the Mountains of Mourn, the [[warpstone]] deserts and the Great Maw. Incidentally, you can blame the Cathayans for the Great Maw’s existence as the Dragon Emperor had his celestial wizards summon the thing to punish the Ogres for eating some of his citizens. Although recently there has been some evidence Tzeentch had a hand in how tits up it went. To the south is a mysterious jungle where the lost city of the old ones is. Eastwards is the sea, with [[Nippon]] and the [[Lost Isles of Elithis]].

===Cities and Provinces===
* '''Northern Provinces''' - Consisting mainly of the Great Bastion and its supplying towns, its other notable aspect is being home to the river that in Cathayan mythos leads to the underworld. Rumoured to be trapped under this river is the lost Spirit Dragon, a child of the Dragon Emperor and the Moon Empress. Ruled by the Storm Dragon, Miao Ying.
**'''Nan-Gau''' – The major city of the north, known as the city of smoke. A 9 walled fortress city linked to the Great Bastion, it has never fallen to any invader. The Lords of Nan-Gau are not as deferent to the Dragons as the ruling classes in other cities. This is because the city is home to countless forges and workshops that furnish the armies of the empire with weapons and provide countless war machines for the defence of the Great Bastion. So, the Lords are powerful, granted more independence than most and have occasionally even dared to challenge Miao Ying, the Dragon nominally in charge. She does quickly exert her power to make them fall in line when needed.
**'''Po-Mei''' - Another manufacturing city in the north and Nan-Gau's main rival. While their rivalry used to be mostly friendly, things flared up when it came down to who would get the credit for inventing Cathay's flying warships. This lead to a political feud that lead to people being maimed, killed and airship prototypes "mysteriously" falling out of the sky. Miao Ying caught wind of this when the supplies for the Bastion started dropping and was NOT happy. So in the middle of an altitude race between the two cities, she caused a massive storm, slapped the two balloons out of the sky and told the cities to play nice or she'll get really angry next time. There seems to have been no blood between the cities since.

* '''The Great Bastion''' - The Great Wall of <s>China</s> Cathay. In history there is a mythic telling of how it was built by the dragons: Every brick fashioned by the Iron Dragon, breathed upon by the Fire Dragon, Blessed by the Emperor. In reality, thousands of people were used to build the wall. It has 10 small fortresses built into it, each a miniature city in scale and population. The Dragon Emperor has tied his very essence to the wall, so if it ever fell he would die too. He almost died when [[Lord_Mazdamundi|a certain hypnotoad]] slapped the plates of the planet around, causing the walls to be royally messed up for a while. Ruled by Miao Ying, showing the level of trust and/or favouritism the Dragon Emperor has for his number one daughter. has the claim of having never failed, but still got ''breached'' a few times by chaos forces.
**'''Dragon Gate ''' – The Centermost gate and the one closest to Po-Mei
**'''Snake Gate ''' – The Westernmost gate and the one closest to Nan-Gau. Due to its proximity to the city it gets constant restocks of weapons and supplies, making it extremely hardy. The part of the Bastion Miao Ying defends the most.
**'''Turtle Gate''' – The Easternmost gate and the one closest to Wei-Jin and the Celestial City.

* '''Imperial Provinces''' - Located just southeast of Northern Provinces. It is a region ruled by Emperor and Empress directly.
** '''Wei-Jin''' - The Capital of Cathay that normal mortals can enter. Oddly despite being the capital, it's the city we know the least about.
*** '''The Celestial City''' - in the clouds above Wei-Jin; Home of the Jade Court. Location of the Wu Zing Compass, through which the Emperor directs the winds of magic to strengthen different areas of the empire in need.

* '''Western Provinces''' – Other than the city of Shang-Yang and the Iron Dragon, there is a place called the Tower of Ashshair, which was featured all the way back in [[Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos]], as well as the warpstone desert. In this desert, caravans have to use [[Sigvald|mirrored shields]] to protect from chaos radiation. Also home of the Great Maw.
** '''Shang-Yang''' - It is the largest city in the west, a bustling metropolis full of foreign traders despite its location in the middle of the Warpstone Desert. Sometimes invaded by Ogres, Hobgoblins and Skaven. The door between the Old World and Cathay; Estalians, Tileans and Empire travellers and ambassadors all have permanent quarters within the city. It also draws in cabals of alchemists and hedge wizards, who use the city as a base for their expeditions into the desert. Since it's all unofficial and unsanctioned, a lot of warpstone and other elements get used in ways that aren't exactly the safest. Home of the Iron Dragon.

* '''Central Provinces''' – Breadbasket of empire. Ruled by Yuan Bo. It is reasonably safe. If you want to live in the Warhammer world, this is a pretty good choice. [[Beastmen|Even here though, forests are risky]].
** '''Shang Wu''' - The most important city in Central Cathay. It is the seat of the Jade Dragon, Yuan Bo, who rules Central Cathay. Shang Wu lies where the Great River and other rivers meet and is also where the Broken Road and the Great Road meet, making it an incredibly important trade hub. The city is located near rich farmland.
** '''the Grand Observatory of Xing Po''' - A massive observatory where the kings astromancers are trained, study the heavens and divine the future.

* '''Eastern Provinces''' - The wealthiest region, with numerous major cities and lots of trade. It even has a large high elf population, as well as other races from across the world. Home of Dragon Fleets which guard against [[Dark_Elves_(Warhammer_Fantasy)|those pesky emos]] and Nippon. Ruled and protected by Yin-Yin the Sea Dragon.
** '''Fu-Chow''' - A cosmopolitan sea trade city located in the east. The palace of the Sea Dragon is there. This city is full of ghettos for different races. It's possibly the most metropolitan place in the world, eclipsing even Marienburg and Lothern.
** '''Bei Chai''' – Another eastern city, having a dark reputation for harbouring the cults of Tzeentch. Mention of a Cult of the Painted Skin growing here. Other chaos gods struggle to get a foothold in Cathay mainly due to this lot. Despite several attempts by Yin-Yin to purge the city, Tzeentch Cults somehow keep finding their way back. Why they don't just burn the whole place to ashes at this point is a mystery.

* '''Southern Provinces''' – lots of foothills rolling into the Mountains of Heaven. It contains lots of tribes and is an unruly region due to the Monkey Kings presence. Also, there is the "[[Furry|occasional tiger man village]]”. Home of the Fire Dragon, Li Dao.
**'''Fu-Hung''' - Known as the chanting city. It is the home of the Phoenix Temple, a great structure shaped like a giant vermilion warbird, close to the Mountains of Heaven. Whilst religion dedicated to deities and the Dragons isn't allowed, ancestor worship and veneration of local items of interest are tolerated. Vermillion warbirds are smaller phoenixes native to Cathay and very important in Cathayan culture.

*'''The Mountains of Heaven''' - Whilst technically in Cathay, it is functionally an autonomous region ruled by the Monkey King. The only reason for this is due to the constant threat from the [[Kingdoms_of_Ind|Kingdoms of Ind]] and the Naga from [[Khuresh|the Hinterlands of Khuresh]] which mean any invasion to deal with the Monkey King would result in the weakened army being taken out by Cathay's enemies. So he lives [[Farsight#Farsight_Enclaves|as an autonomous zone where the ruling class wish to destroy him. However, they cannot commit to destroying them without foreign invaders capitalising on the new war]].

==Who Rules Cathay?==

{{Topquote|Oh child, I watched your Emperor and Empress mate, I was there...drinking it in|N'kari, in Total War, reminding the rulers of Cathay they were there during their conception in the grossest way possible}}

The dragon emperor and his wife the moon empress (both of which were around when the Old Ones were alive) are the official rulers of Cathay, and both have equal say in how to run the nation. The Emperor is pretty hands-off, [[The_God-Emperor_of_Mankind|spending his time on some unknowable plan which he hasn't told his children about, because that has never bitten any other Warhammer character directly on the ass cheek]]. His wife likes to go around pretending to be a regular human to check on things, and also root out cults of Tzeentch (other chaos gods don't seem to have gained much sway in Cathay). The emperor has nine children and four are missing. One is strongly hinted to be trapped under a river in the north of Cathay, and another one is hinted to be the one [[Archaon]] ripped apart in older lore. '''Shen-Zoo''', the daughter that was responsible for maintaining the balance of Harmony, had disappeared somewhere in the [[Chaos Wastes]] ([[Sigmar|haven't]] [[Miska the Slaughterer|seen that]] [[Grimnir|before, huh]]), is the focus of Cathayan storyline in TWW3. One is still completely unaccounted for. The five remaining each rule a piece of Cathay.

===[[Miao Ying]]===
The Storm Dragon. She rules the north and [[Rogal Dorn|has the duty of protecting the Great Bastion]]. She's the oldest and is also [[Horus Lupercal|daddy's favourite]]. This makes all her siblings jealous of her. She's known for being [[Lion El'Jonson|cold and aloof]], beyond the normal Dragon Children level, which might be from having to watch thousands of her subjects constantly die due to chaos attacking the Great Bastion every other Tuesday.

===[[Zhao Ming]]===
The Iron Dragon. [[Vulkan|The nice one who likes who smithing and might be going crazy.]] This guy rules the west which borders the warpstone desert. He has a green rock in his hat, right over his forehead. During an interview Andy Hall, lead writer of the [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] series, was asked if this rock was jade or [[warpstone]]. Andy refused to say which one it was. While his siblings are quite aloof towards their human subjects, Zhao is far more friendly and sociable to them and most of the Dragon-blooded trace their ancestry to him, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIMwLxglN3E as well as all of the Longma]. Whether he legitimately cares for his subjects or just does it to piss off his siblings is unclear. Zhao also has an interest in alchemy. Fun fact: Real Life Daoist alchemists were interested in cinnabar (which was a frequent ingredient in their attempts to make an elixir of immortality), so Chinese alchemists messing around with poison stuff in ways they shouldn't do has real-life precedent. Also, Zhao's siblings think his mental health has declined, with his friendliness towards humans being considered some of the evidence of this. He's protected by his mother though, being her favourite. So you end up with a guy snorting lines of warpstone, partying with his subjects and getting it on with cute alchemist girls. A true hero of the Cathayan people. Has a friendship with [[Greasus Goldtooth]] on the basis of both of them having gigantic daddy issues.

===[[Li Dao]]===
The Fire Dragon (master of the burning winds and lord of the phoenix) - Male Ruler of the South, described as [[Perturabo|bitter that Miao Ying gets all the attention for defending the north when he has the challenging and thankless task of protecting the empire from Ind and Kuresh]]. Also has to deal with the Monkey King the most out of all the Dragon Siblings, who basically constantly trolls him from Warhammer Nepal. Being stuck as the second best and second favourite behind Miao Ying whilst constantly getting dunked on by some overgrown furry has left him with some [[Rage|unresolved issues]]. How original to make the fire-themed character a hothead (Even though that is literally the canon effect the Wind of Fire tends to channel in its users). According to an Andy Hall interview, he and the Jade Dragon teamed up to stop [[Ku'Gath]] from paying Cathay a little visit.

===[[Yin-Yin]]===
The Sea Dragon, Female Ruler of the East, admiral of the Grand Dragon Fleet. Apparently, she’s more impulsive than the others and has an oddly expansionist outlook. In the past, she led a failed naval invasion of the Southlands and Lustria, so she was in charge during the old lore where Cathay got absolutely destroyed by Lizardmen. She also got wrecked by Araby when she tried invading them. As a result of wasting so many Cathayan lives, she is the least popular of her siblings with both the parents and her brothers and sister. So she has the [[Battle of Phall|navy]] and [[Iron Warriors|tends to waste a lot of Cathayan lives in her battles]]. Plus is a [[Perturabo|jobber who's hated by her siblings and subordinates]]. Guess we can expect her and Miao Ying to re-enact the [[Perturabo#Iron_Cage_Trolling|Iron Cage]] at some point then...

When not being defeated by every other faction, she spends most of her time dealing with the Dark Elves raiding her coasts and Nippon looking angrily at Cathay. [[Fulgrim|A quote in Warhammer 3 states that she wonders if the High Elf Dragonships are named after her, meaning she is either extremely arrogant, really dumb, or deliberately snubbing Ulthuan]].

In older lore, it was a different Dragon Emperor who supposedly led the fleet to the Southlands, but in the CA-written lore, it was retconned to her, while the older name of the Dragon Emperor ended up as one of Xen Huong's titles being misinterpreted in Imperial records.

===[[Yuan Bo]]===
The Jade Dragon. [[Roboute Guilliman|The boring middle child. He rules over central Cathay and is in charge of the main bureaucracy]]. He spends most of his time telling the rest of his siblings to shut up and listen to Daddy, whereupon the rest of his siblings tell him to shut his nerd ass up. He then cries to his parents who pretend to listen, and then send him back down because he's the only one who can be bothered to figure out all this 'administration' business that's needed to run a nation. Despite this, he is still the most 'liked' among the siblings, if only because no one truly hates him in comparison to some of the other sibling relationships. Considering that he prefers paperwork to fighting and rules over the part of Cathay with the least conflict he is likely the least powerful of his siblings, though he's still a dragon and can still whoop the ass of most mortal warriors. He's is quoted on the loading screens of TWW3, and they imply he is some sort of head propagandist in Cathay. Some other quotes attributed to him in WH3 paint him as one of the dragons most ambivalent towards humans, viewing them as expendable resources who yearn to be controlled. He's also stated to be the most magically gifted of the Dragon Siblings.

==Missing Dragons==
===Shen-Zoo===
Known as the 'Bringer of Light and Hope' she ventured into the mountains of Norsca and disappeared. She is younger than Miao Ying, but where this places her in the age range isn't narrowed down as Miao Ying is the oldest child. Cathay in Warhammer 3 gets involved in trying to save Ursun to interrogate the god to find this Dragon.

===The Spirit Dragon===
Currently unnamed, this dragon is rumoured to be trapped under the Dragon River. (Very creative names here). This river leads to the underworld according to Cathayan mythos. She was presumably involved with death rituals even before, considering her name and possible fate. The Warhammer Fantasy RPG mentions in the Doom of Kavzar that tells the Skaven were vomited out from the gigantic maw of the Great Black Dragon that lives coiled inside the earth, which could also possibly be her.

===First Unknown Child===
Possibly the Flamefang, Yien-Ya-Long, a massive serpentine Chaos dragon sworn to Tzeentch. Archaon spent many years hunting and being hunted by this dragon, eventually slaying it and claiming the eye of Sheerian from its body.

===Second Unknown Child===
The only dragon left with no lore hints. Possibly a chance for [[Your_Dudes|your own custom dragon sibling]].

Potentially could be Prince Xian Ha Feng, a supposed son of the Dragon Emperor who was sent to Lamia as an emissary and who Neferata wanted to use to get a foothold in Cathay, but ended up accidentally causing a civil war. Might explain why no one mentions him if he's dead and/or a vampire.

==Other Notable Characters==
These are characters who don't actually rule over any official part of Cathay, but still play an important role in their history and lore.

===Monkey King===
While not one of the official rulers of Cathay, the (currently unnamed) Monkey King rules over the Mountains of Heaven and the Monkey Warriors, the second largest population in Cathay. During the Time of Darkness and Disharmony, he took over the country while the Dragon Emperor was away and his kids were fighting, installing a Clan Eshin Warlord as an advisor. This pissed off the Dragon Kids for obvious reasons, and they unified against him and knocked him back to the Mountains when dad came home. Understandably, the Dragons all hate his guts and the only reason they haven't exterminated him and the rest of his furries is because it would weaken their forces against other, bigger threats to the south.

The Monkey King does help defend Southern Cathay alongside Li Dao, and by that I mean he annoys the fuck out of him, though it is implied his warriors also serve as mercenaries for others willing to pay for them. It is also unknown if he and his monkey warrior count as servants of chaos like all beastman, that or the fact it has four arms just like that monkey statue from [[Gotrek & Felix|Vampire Slayer]].

According to an in-game lore quote in Total War: Warhammer 3, the Monkey King is known for 4 depictions in different parts of Cathay that all sound Chaosy. [[Khorne|A Bloodthirsty Gorilla in the north]], [[Slaanesh|A beautiful Baboon with flowing blond hair whose always in heat in the west]], [[Nurgle| a fat Orangutan with boils on his stomach in the east]], and a [[Tzeentch| deceptive Spider Monkey in the south]]. According to Andy Hall, this is propaganda spread by Tzeentch to stop Cathay and the Monkey King from fully uniting. Fun fact, none of these animals live in real-life China.

===Shi-Hong===
Once a peasant living in the shittier parts of Nan-Gau, Shi-Hong had of hobby of making complicated mechanical toys to amuse his friends and family. The Artificer Guild in Nan-Gau thought he showed promise and took him in, where he quite rapidly rose through the ranks to become one of the Masters of the guild. He came up with an idea to ease the amount of strain the Bastion was facing against Chaos, mainly boiling down to "What if we just killed them before they actually got to the walls in sufficient numbers?" He installed mechanical platforms to allow Crane Gunners to snipe more accurately from further away and was credited for the creation of the weaponized airships. He is referred to as "The Blind Master", though whether he was born blind or was blinded in an accident or as an act of sabotage from a rival group is unknown.

== Relations ==
Cathay has always been a very insular and isolationist nation, as such they never really interact too heavily with foreign powers aside from trade unless they feel like they need to. That said caravans and ambassadors have been sent out to other nations of the world, and they have plenty of enemies at their borders, which gives us some clues as to how they view the rest of the world.

*'''Western Human Nations''': According to older lore (which may or may not be decanonised now), Cathay was first discovered by Tilean adventurer Marco Polare (sounds familiar, right?), who managed to establish trade between Cathay and [[Tilea]]. Like pretty much everyone else in the world, they trade with [[Marienburg]]... and that's pretty much it. The Nagash novel dispute the above statement by making [[Nehekhara#Devil.27s_Backbone|Lahmia]], a port city in the Nehekhara east to be their first trade partner in the ancient past (though granted, Lahmia and Nehekara in general had a [[Tomb Kings|teeny]] [[Vampire Counts|tiny]] pair of problems that precluded diplomatic stability). Overall, they think VERY little of the Western human nations, to the point where the Cathayan Ambassador only learned enough Reikspiel to mention how backwards they were.
**'''Empire''': Western Empire is easily the country with which Cathay interacts most, up to the point of having an official ambassador. Still, the distance between two countries essentially means that they are pretty much on their own most of the time.
**'''Bretonnia''': Not counting old Leofric Carrard novels (in which Bretonnian knight simply roamed the world searching for adventures), there is nothing to say about their relations.
**'''Kislev''': Same as Bretonnia, if you don't count [[Total War: WARHAMMER|Total War: WARHAMMER III]].
**'''Ancient Nehekharan''': According to Nagash novel, the Lahmians were the only Nehekharan Cathay has been interacted for the most part. From their trades, the Lahmian gained a lot of goodies from them like silks, spices, candles, incense, tea and firearms (that last one requires the entire city of Lahmia as payment if there were no gold left). Because of this, Lahmian were the foremost [[weeaboo]] nation ever existed in warhammer at that times. Although both gained a lot from the trade, it does not prevent them from scheming against each other, which results in Neferata having enough of their shit, convinced one of their officer into vampirism, resulting the spread of vampirism in great Cathay. The Dragon Emperor (or whoever was in charged at the time) was pissed off of course, and cancelled the trade with Lahmian, only to re-sign the agreement after the said Emperor (once again, might not be the real one if the newest lore were to believe) was killed and replaced by his inheritor. However, we all knew how Lahmia got it ass handed to Alcadizzar and his armies, so no contacts were made after that. Though it was not mentioned if Alcadizzar ever tried to rebuilt Lahmia in order to trade with Cathay, but it doesn't matter since the entirely of Nehekhara were later nuked and its inhabitant replaced with [[Tomb Kings|ancient walking corpses]] by [[Nagash|that shitty manchild lich]]. Those with living fresh of course are smart to leave the walking dead alone, and Cathayans were no exception. Although it would be hilarious if they at least tried to trade something with them for a joke, and [[Khalida]] would be their most likely just because her city Lybaras positioned near the same east coast as Lahmia.
**'''[[Araby]]''': [[Araby]] was one of the targets for [[Yin-Yin|Yin-Yin's]] plan of Cathayan expansion, and, as you know, it ended badly.
**'''[[Kingdoms of Ind]]''': Ind are seen as some sort of threat for Cathay (probably because of the tiger beastmen living there), alongside [[Khuresh]].
*'''Eastern Human Nations''': [[Nippon]] is described as a rival naval nation, which isn't elaborated for now.
*'''Chaos''': Like any other Ordered civilization, Cathay hates [[Chaos]], to the point of building Great Bastion to protect their lands from Daemons and marauders (mostly Hungs and Kurgans). However, unlike most of the world, [[Tzeentch|Blue Weeaboo Bird]] is strongest here, corrupting aristocracy of some cities and creating weird cults. Likely due to the scheming and backstabbing nature of Cathayan politics and Tzeentch's hatred of Cathay's dynasty. Oh, and also you can find [[Beastmen]] there.
*'''Dwarfs''': Both Cathay and Karaz Ankor are too remote and too isolated to have any meaningful collaboration between each other. Honestly Dwarfs may have a bit of respect for Cathay for their ancestor worship and use of similar weapons and tactics
**'''Chaos Dwarfs''': Same as their non-Chaotic kin up to the [[End Times]], when they assisted Chaos in invading Cathay.
*'''Elves''':
**'''High Elves''': Cathay and Asur established trade with each other early, about 1700 years before End Times, but since then not much has changed in relations between these nations. High Elves are also the main minority living in the Eastern ports of the empire. Safe to assume they both like to mention how inferior the other is during et togethers.
**'''Dark Elves''': Druchii (especially Fellheart family) are know to raid the shit out of everything, and Cathay is not an exception, with several cities being destroyed by Black Arcs. They are also easily the main naval danger for Cathayan fleet.
**'''Wood Elves''': Not much info on the Elves themselves, but evidently a group of ancient spirits from [[Athel Loren]] did use the World Roots to colonize a forest known as the Jungles of [[Tzeentch|Chi'an]]. They apparently have an antagonistic relationship with the local Monkey People, and are otherwise only notable [[Drycha|because they're all malevolent like a certain other genocidal tree]].
*'''Vampires''': Cathay has its own version of Vampires which were long a subject of canonicity debates - [[Jade-Blooded]]. And while they were confirmed to exist recently, their lore is so outdated that we can't say for sure how Dragon family feels about them (probably hostile since who in the right mind would be edgy enough to accept dead people that eats the living?).
**Again, if Nagash's novel were to believe, Cathay is big on the no vampire policy due to Neferata's action that caused vampirism to first spread in Cathay. And as for the Jade-Blooded, they might be founded by the descendants of the first Cathayan Vampire whom Neferata had corrupt: '''Prince Xian Ha Feng'''.
***In Neferata and W'soran's novel, it was revealed that at least three of the major vampire: Neferata, Abhorash and Lord Ankhat (aka [[Vlad von Carstein]]). Neferata went there to start a new life after she was cast out of her city. She tried to make herself a new home by infiltrate and seize it's power in politics, but realized she was a noob compare to the Cathayan at court scheme and was chased away (again, the moon Empress might had a hand in this). Abhorash went there to learn its local martial arts, but no mentioned of him causing trouble (then again, he has self restrain and is not a complete arsehole like the rest of the rest of the vampires), not to mentioned his novels was canned so we don't gets to hear about his badass adventures. Ankhat like Neferata also wanted to make himself big in Cathay and thus he studied W'soran's magic scrolls and disguised as a wizard prince to help the Cathayan against the shitty Chaos invaders at the Great Bastions. Again, because of how competent the security in Cathay was, Ankhat was chased out and assume the life of [[pirate|piracy]].
*'''Skaven''': Aside from Ogres, this is the race that interacts (or interacted) with Cathay the most. [[Clan Eshin]] learned ninja technics here (or in Nippon), and Under-Empire has a major presence in Cathay, up to being co-rulers of it alongside Monkey King when Big D disappeared. They also have a sizeable presence in the Warpstone Desert for reasons that should be self evident.
*'''Lizardmen''': Yin-Yin tried to invade [[Southlands]] during her expansion attempts, but failed. While they aren't outright hostile to each other, they aren't fond of one another either. The Dragons largely blame the Old Ones for why the world went to shit, and the Lizards don't considered the Dragon Emperor's shenanigans as part of the Great Plan. They will fight alongside one another if Chaos is pulling shit, though.
*'''Ogre Kingdoms''': Ogres are very linked to Cathay - most of their backstory relies on Big D pulling a comet out of space to prevent them from eating his subjects. Ogres work as mercenaries there (especially in [[Zhao Ming|Zhao Ming's]] army), but generally they aren't interested in Celestial Empire due to their westward migration.
*'''Greenskins''': They mostly don't live in [[Eastern Lands]], and the only time they interacted beyond the occasional WAAAGH is when [[Grimgor Ironhide|Grimgor's]] horde destroyed Cathay in the End Times. The main exception being the Hobgoblin Khanate lead by Hobgobla Khan to the north of Cathay, who occasionally assault the Great Bastion, much like Chaos. Needless to say, they view the Orcs and Goblins like pretty much everyone else does, kill on sight.

== Cathay's Army ==
[[File:Cathay-Warhammer-Fantasy-David-Gallagher.jpg|thumb|right|400px|thumb|Until 2021, this was literally the only image we had, except some White Dwarf conversions.]]
All that we know about Cathay's army comes from their [[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Grand Cathay|army roster]] in Total War Warhammer 3 pre any DLC, so this probably isn't even their entire list. Given that they are coming to [[Warhammer: The Old World]] we'll split them up into Cores, Special and Rare units once we know who goes where.

===Generic Characters===
*'''Dragon-Blooded Shugengan Lord''': These guys are what happens when a member of the Dragon family gets really bored, spots one of their human subjects and decides "Meh, I'd fuck that." They're the highest ranking officials in Cathay aside from the Dragons themselves, being incredible spellcasters and warriors in their own right. They also tend to be arrogant twats and their lesser human nobles hate them out of envy. Sadly since they aren't full blooded Dragons they can't transform but they can use the Lores of Yin and Yang, which are exclusive to Dragons.

*'''Lord Magistrate''': The normal human nobles in Cathay, they are the high ranking generals or lords that run Cathay's cities. They aren't nearly as strong as the Shugengan but they are more numerous. They mainly specialize in commanding armies and directing their troops to perfection after years of practice. Important ones come into battle aboard a Sky Lantern in order to get a view of the battle from the air and to direct troops with flags and to bring out the best in their soldiers.

*'''Alchemists''': The secretive sorcerer cabal in Cathay, they flock to Shang Yang as Zhao Ming is the only dragon who wants to have them around. Guy pretty much runs his own cult of metal benders and only gets away with it because he's mama's favorite. They have grown into a surprisingly powerful cabal that while technically not allowed, still gets hired by generals due to their skill in the Lore of Metal and their potion making in order to assist troops in battle.

*'''Astromancer''': This is the actually accepted group of sorcerers in Cathay who specialize in Lore of Heavens, as it is the Dragon Emperor's favorite. The highest ranking officials spend much of their time assisting Big D with his secret project as often serve as his messengers and advisors. [[Fail|This is also the group who accidentally nuked the Ogres]] but when they aren't doing that they are assisting Cathay's armies with magic and the Wu-Xing War Compass.

==="Core"===
(Or at least our best guess given what we know)
[[File:Jade Warrior.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Your basic Cathayan Grunt, the Jade Warrior]]

*'''Peasant Long Spearman''': Also known as the "Warriors of Wind and Field", the Dragons realized that they have a crap load of people living in Cathay and said "Hey, we can use these guys!" They're only really used for numbers and are not only expected to run, but are often encouraged to so that the better warriors can deal with stuff they can't handle. Small towns who can't afford to have standing regiments of Jade Warriors mostly have these guys as defense.

*'''Peasant Archer''': Evidently the Moon Empress loves ranged weapons and young girls are taught how to use a bow at an early age to honor her. Again, pretty much only used to fill out numbers.

*'''Peasant Horsemen''': Due to the massive size of the country, Peasants often learn how to ride in order to carry information or commercial goods across massive territories. As such, they often fill the role of scouts or flanking harass in Cathayan armies.

*'''Jade Warriors''': These guys are the actual trained soldiers of Cathay. Their main job is to hold the front line so that the guns and ranged units have a chance to shoot. Can be equipped with Swords, Halberds and Crossbows. They mostly serve as the military and police in larger cities who can afford to house large numbers of them

*'''Jade Lancers''': The most common heavy cav in Cathay, they are slower but much tankier than most other knights.

===Others===
*'''Celestial Dragon Guard''': The Elites of the Cathayan Army, raised to a higher standard to the standard rank and file with better weapons and armor. Can be armed with swords, halberds or crossbows.

*'''Monkey Warriors''': The soldiers of the Monkey King. We don't know what they do or how they fight, but we know they exist.

*'''Iron Hail Gunners ''': Ladies with Chinese themed blunderbusses. Don't quite have the range of Empire guns but since they wield old timey shotguns they can rip apart enemy formations at a very close range.

*'''Crane Gunners''': Sniper teams with a long ass gun where one person mans the gun and the other mans a shield and reloads. Whether these guys ripped off the Skaven or vice versa isn't explained. However, considering the Skaven's habit of <strike> stealing </strike> appropriating stuff from other cultures, like Clan Eshin learning how to be ninjas from Nippon, there can be a case for the latter.

*'''Great Longma Riders''': Minor nobles who became nobles by their great-grandpa shtupping a dragon, who ride Dragon Horses. They're the elite cavalry force of Cathay and are usually used to give them aerial dominance and to cover for the war balloons.

*'''Terracotta Sentinels''': The Celestial Dragon Emperor's action figures that come to life to defend Cathay much like the Tomb Kings constructs. Said to [[Wraithguard|contain the souls of ancient warriors]] who fought for the Dragon during the first Chaos Incursion. Stand sentinel around Cathay until invaders comes.

===War Machines/Artillery===
*'''Sky Lantern''': A flying balloon piloted by sniper ladies, it acts as a forward scout for Cathay's armies. Also used by Magistrates to find enemy positions, discover ambushes and to provide motivation to the troops below.

*'''Sky-Junk''': A heavier flying balloon powered by a smaller phoenix, this acts as a mobile flying artillery piece. Armed with a Fire Rain Rocket and multiple bombs they can tear entire battle formations apart.

*'''Grand Cannon''': A cannon that is pulled by oxen making it surprisingly fast, that fires firey globes into the enemy.

*'''Wu-Xing War Compass''': A miniature version of the Celestial Compass which the Dragon Emperor uses to slap magic into various places of Cathay, it greatly boosts the magical capacity of mages riding one or simply its presence on the field.

*'''Fire Rain Rocket''': What inspired the Helstorm rocket battery in lore, it acts functionally the same. Fires multiple rockets at once that, while inaccurate, can cause devastation on the battlefield.

==Gallery==
Originally the only images we've had of Cathay and its people were a single picture in the Warhammer rule books and from a White Dwarf article where they showed off somebody's converted army. Suffice to say the converter did a great job, and the pictures are included below. Later on [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] and [[Total War: Warhammer]] had their own stabs at what Cathay should look like.
<gallery>
Cathay-Page-1.jpg
Cathay-Page-2.jpg
Cathay-Page-3.jpg
Cathay-Page-4.jpg
Cathay-Page-5.jpg
Cathay-Page-6.jpg
File:WFRP 4th-Yabo Chao.png|Yabo Chao, an ambassador from Cathay in [[Altdorf]].
</gallery>

==Links==
*[https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_Redi9cZJ5iLVNoQWR2MVBQWms/view Cathay fandex]
*[[Warhammer Army Project/Cathay/8th|Tactica of the above fandex]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5G5v4W7omc Cathay's roster in a nutshell], because [[Fallout|Geedubs...]][[Space Wolves|Geeddubs never changes.]]

{{Regions and areas of the Old World}}
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Cathay]]

China

2023-01-26T23:25:43Z

2607:FB90:3FDC:EF48:A851:E929:23AB:7B83: /* Late Imperial China */

{{NeedsImages}}

[[File: China map.gif |280px|right|thumb| Noodle land in all its majestic glory]]

{{topquote|China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese.|Charles de Gaulle}}

'''China''' is probably the oldest semi-continual polity in the world that anyone actually gives a shit about. Over the course of twelve major dynasties, a shitload of smaller ones, a bunch of big civil war punch-ups, one Communist dictatorship, and its current, ongoing, post-Communist oligarchy, this huge blob of East Asian grasslands/steppes/jungle/desert/mountains/everything and its b[[Hive World|az]]illion inhabitants has had a tremendous, outsized effect on the world economy and the culture of surrounding nations.

Naturally, this has made it fertile fodder for tabletop gaming. From the [[Forgotten Realms]] to [[Pathfinder Roleplaying Game|Golarion]], few are the fantasy gaming settings ''without'' a "medieval China"-equivalent somewhere in the world. However, quite often, these Sure-Fine brand not! Chinas are about as well-researched and accurate as, well, [[Medieval Stasis|their European counterparts]], taking the broad cultural outline of a big empire ruled by a centralized bureaucracy and an all-powerful Emperor ([[God-Emperor of Mankind|who may or may not be a god / demigod]]) and a few specific trappings of architecture and dress to make what amounts to a China-based theme park for the adventurers to roam around in, seeing the sites, taking pictures, and fighting their way through that bestiary full of East-Asian monsters you never get to use. There's nothing ''wrong'' with this, really, but there's nothing particularly interesting about it either beyond the novelty of playing a bunch of slack-jawed tourists in your adventuring campaign.

However, the ''other'' major influence China has had on tabletop gaming is through the medium of ''wuxia'', material from a Chinese perspective that spills into the Western market. (Its cousin, ''xianxia'', is popular among sweaty Internet nerds who like ''isekai'' [[anime]], but has not penetrated nearly as deeply into the Western consciousness.)

== [[Wuxia]] ==
{{topquote|'Wu' means martial arts, which signifies action, 'Xia' conveys chivalry. Wuxia. Say it gently... 'whooshah'... and it's like a breath of serenity embracing you. Say it with force, 'WuSHA!', and you can feel its power.|Samuel L. Jackson, "The Art of Action: Martial Arts in the Movies"}}

Thank you, Reverend Jackson.

Wuxia is what China has instead of Tolkien. Just as the Western fantasy setting has got your dwarves and your elves and your dark lords leading armies to conquer the world, China has Jianghu, literally "the Land of Rivers and Lakes", implying a sense of freedom from both normal familial obligations and the tyrannic representatives of the [[Emperor]]. In the settings, corrupt civil authority forces noble wandering heroes to live like outlaws as they fight to restore order, learn secret techniques from old masters, are forced to battle their former best friends, etc. Just like Western fantasy, there's a lot of high-brow, literary stuff, but there's also a lot of entertaining trash pumped out to fill a public appetite for it. For instance, those cheap Shaw Bros. kung fu movies are wuxia, but so are films like ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' and ''Hero''.

And, naturally, this genre has its own tabletop games.

The biggest success is probably ''[[Exalted]]'', [[White Wolf]]'s epic fantasy role-playing game. While there are, obviously, a shitload of other influences, from a corrupt cosmic bureaucracy and physical Realm in need of heroes to fix things to the super-martial arts and flowery naming conventions, Creation would simply not be recognizable without the trappings of wuxia. This is true even in a subtler sense: wuxia often focuses on tragedy and deeply-flawed heroes whose best intentions turn on them. Thanks to the Great Curse, all the exalts are, unless they do their utmost to defy their fates, doomed to destroy all they love.

Other games, like ''[[Legends of the Wulin]]'' and ''[[Feng Shui]]'' draw on the genre more overtly. Even if the latter is more about aping the whole spectrum of Hong Kong cinema than wuxia specifically, even the later "heroic bloodshed" films are basically wuxia pictures set in the modern day with guns instead of swords, cities instead of forests, and cops and triads instead of heroes and bandits. The "69 A.D." Juncture ''is'' pure wuxia though, with an Imperial Court strangled by the machinations of the evil eunuch-sorcerers known as the Eaters of the Lotus and a countryside lousy with their supernatural and mortal henchmen terrorizing the nation. And the text notes that the heroic Dragons are frequently destroyed and remade, heroes born beneath stars of tragedy who often go out fighting the good fight.

Wizards actually tried their own hand at a ''wuxia'' setting, the awesomely-named ''[[Dragon Fist]]''. Running on an early, jury-rigged d20 engine with a lot of leftover AD&D parts, it was barely-functional, but fun as hell, and set in the land of Tlanguo, though it got no support at all after the initial release. (Boooo!)

[[Legend of the Five Rings]] is usually seen as a more "Japanese" setting than a Chinese one, and it's true that there's plenty of ''jidei geki'' DNA in Rokugani society, from its strict, stratified class system and militarism to its overtly-Japanese names and weapons, to subtle things like "void" replacing "metal" as one of the Five Elements. But, there's still plenty of Chinese flavor there. Various periods in Rokugani history were far more friendly to the wuxia mien, with bands of heroic ronin fighting the power against a corrupt shogunate in the hands of the Shadowlands. In particular, the Phoenix Clan endorses a philosophy that has far more similarities to daoism than anything recognizably Japanese, and Rokugan itself, as a land-bound empire that relies on a coastal breadbasket to feed a less-productive inland and a Great Wall along a border with a dangerous and barbaric foreign power to keep the heartland safe, is much more like China than any period in Japanese history.

==History==

{{topquote|The Empire, long divided, must unite. Long united, it must divide. Thus it has ever been.|Opening lines of Romance of the Three Kingdoms}}
{{topquote|China is whole again...then it broke again.|Bill Wurtz, summarizing Chinese history}}
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_China A brief timeline]

===Ancient China===
* ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xia_dynasty Pre-History Stuff]'': A confederation of early-agricultural peoples who will later be known as the "Han" settle in the valley of the Yellow River. Confusingly, a dynasty of the same name is also coming up (it's because they named themselves after that particular dynasty). The Han built one of the first civilizations on Earth, with block writing, metalworking, and advanced farming techniques.
* Xia: There is fuckall known about the Xia dynasty for certain, as this period had no permanent writing and exists largely as a folk story told by later generations. The Xia period is held with a sort of Arthurian reverence, with tales of bravery and dragons. Due to how China views history, these are considered historical fact, despite their fantastic elements and lack of corroborating evidence. What few records exists revolve around towns made of dirt and logs, but there is certainly a campaign or two to be had from a time of Gods, Heroes and Dragons. Also, millet and noodles; if the Erlitou theory should hold up.
*''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shang_dynasty Shang]'': Led by the Yin family, the Shang had bronze, which, to use technical military parlance, made them the meanest bitches on the block for a long time. They worshipped a celestial god Huangdi. The Yin lords and ladies were ''obsessed'' with divination, going through huge heaps of bones and turtle shells for fortune-telling purposes whenever anyone did anything. So, yay: literacy, at last! Their nobles also had a habit of honoring ancestors by burying hundreds of slaves in their tombs. All par for the course for Early Bronze Age society - as witness the [[Maya]], [[Gilgamesh]], and the "Iphigenia" legend from Greece. Eventually, the Shang became [[Imperium of Man|engaged in too many wars]], before being overthrown by...

===The Zhou===
The Zhou were a family from out west in the boonies that moved onto Shang land and became vassals to the Shang until they... weren't.

Unlike the Shang, whose culture has to be gathered from myth and scattered nonliterary documents, Linear B style; the Zhou culture actually produced a literature, although that got transmitted through layers of copying and redaction. Still, Chinese culture is [https://razib.substack.com/p/3000-years-of-chinese-history remarkably continuous from the Zhou].

To justify their rebellion, and then their rule, the Zhou introduced the concept of a "Mandate of Heaven" (''tian ming'' in modern Mandarin orthography) issued not by the mercurial gods but by the cosmic forces of rightness, to which even gods must bow. It was brilliant, in its own way: theoretically, each dynasty ruled by the Mandate. When they didn't do so well or justly, Heaven would withdraw the Mandate and give it to someone else who'd overthrown them. And the Zhou stopped their subjects from sacrificing each other, which was a major step forward.

More-cynically, this Mandate meant that a ''successful'' rebellion was "proof" that Heaven had turned its back on the old order, and an ''unsuccessful'' one was "proof" that it wasn't time yet; this system of ''ex post facto'' justification has proven to be much more durable than the western concept of the ''divine right of kings'' and persists to this day (if not in name). It also didn't hurt that the Zhou showed mercy upon the Yin family who'd run the Shang, allowing them to keep a fief in the Song duchy. Confucius himself was of the Yin / Song ex-Shang.

Anyway, the Zhou had a good run, but the state's vassals started pulling apart during [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_and_Autumn_period Spring and Autumn period], and eventually the whole thing fractured into a mess of warring states fighting for supremacy. This was known as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warring_States_period Warring States period]. At the same time, constant conflict and the need to innovate culminated in to the "Hundred Schools". The origin of both Confucianism (under the sovereign-again Song/Yin) and Daoism in some of their earliest forms was observed.

===Early Imperial China===
* ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_dynasty Qin]'': Probably the shortest dynasty that people actually remember and care about, but it had the great emperor Qin Shi Huangdi. Yes, this motherfucker had the nads literally to name himself "God". Uniting the nation by military force, the so-called "First Emperor" invented probably the first modern nation-state, standardizing culture, weights, measures, roads, and countless other things to ensure that the Chinese stopped thinking of themselves as being from Lu, Jin, or Wei and started thinking of themselves as Chinese. He's got a bad reputation as a crazed mass-murderer too, but that was mostly because he made enemies with the Confucians and the Confucians wrote the history books for two millenia and some change to come. He also "abolished history" by burning all the books not containing useful technical information (and occasionally their authors as well), keeping only a copy of each one in his private library for the leader's personal use, which was promptly lost after his death - which happened sooner than it should have, because he thought that [[fail|chugging mercury would make him immortal]]. What he built barely survived him, but there's a reason the modern nation still bears his name. (...It's pronounced "chin." Goddamn pinyin.)
* ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_dynasty Han]'': This one's so important it's still what the Chinese call themselves as an ethnic group. Roughly contemporaneous with the Roman Empire, with each being aware of the other without ever quite meeting (partly because the Parthian Empire was really anal about playing middle-man on the Silk Road). They seemed to think of themselves as opposite versions of themselves on opposite ends of the world. The Han was founded by a former Qin Sheriff who lost some of his prisoners during a convoy; realizing that the punishment would be death, he decided that he already had nothing to lose and instigated a successful rebellion against the Qin (this is why there is such a thing as too severe a punishment when it ceases to be a deterrent). Introduced the concept of a centralized bureaucracy offering positions to applicants who were judged by local officials based on the Confucian classics, the latter of which would survive until the Sui initiated reforms and the ''former'' of which didn't go away until the Emperor did. A hugely-prosperous, technologically-skilled, highly-advanced society, with a new coinage standard that, unfortunately, as part of a running theme, began to fall into weakness and decadence. First, the eunuchs, always resentful of their snipping, tried seizing power for themselves, only for military officers to storm the capital and slaughter them all, leading first to a tenuous military dictatorship, and then to, well...
* ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Kingdoms Three Kingdoms], and the Romancing Thereof'': The late Han dynasty and generation shortly thereafter was a great and heroic age. It was a time of larger-than-life personalities, brave generals, brilliant strategists, and masterful politicians. It is worthy of study both for historical/entertainment value and for inspiration in any good tabletop campaign that wants to have a military-political element. And it is the subject of one of the Four Classical Novels, the historical epic usually translated into "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in English, this being the reason of its fame. Unfortunately, it is also ''bastard complicated'', so let's just say that one of the Three Kingdoms finally usurped the Han after using them as a puppet state for a while, and then conquered the others a generation later, all the while, after successive underage emperors, being a puppet to the founders of the next dynasty. Most gamers in the west know this period due to the Dynasty Warriors series and the [https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Total_War#Total_War:_Three_Kingdoms Total War: Three Kingdoms] game.

===[[Age of Strife]]===
* ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_dynasty_%28265%E2%80%93420%29 Jin]'': Backstabbing, political maneuverings, coups d'état, internal conflict, corruption, political turmoil followed by clashes and war; successful and unsuccesful throne usurpings, military revolts, paranoia among royal family, more revolts and end to Jin rule.
* ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_and_Southern_dynasties Northern and Southern]'': An age of civil war and political chaos complemented by a time of flourishing arts and culture, advancement in technology, and the spread of Mahayana Buddhism and Daoism. It should be noted that the Northern Dynasties were essentially [[Warriors of Chaos|barbarians]] and most of the Han fled south. Key technological advances occurred during this period, but more important was the spread of agricultural tech to the south, cementing their status as major taxgivers. The invention of the stirrup during the earlier Jin dynasty (265–420) helped to ignite the development of heavy cavalry. Advances in medicine, astronomy, mathematics, and cartography are observed by historians.

===Medieval Imperial China===
* ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sui_dynasty Sui]'': The good: they reunited a divided China, and 1) successfully undertook such vast internal-improvement projects as the Grand Canal connecting the city of Beijing in the north to the city of Hangzhou in the south, a thousand miles away; 2) initiated the test reforms, which will slowly change China into the model state in Voltaire's eyes in the course of five hundred years. The bad: they were extravagant assholes and control freaks whose projects were built on a foundation of peasant bones mortared with blood. Fell apart after the second emperor's repeated attempts to conquer Korea against dogged resistance and interference from the top broke the back of the army.
* ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_dynasty Tang]'': The Emperor Li Yuan, who seized the capital from the Sui, is his dynasty in microcosm. When he took power, the people thought he would be the greatest emperor in their nation's history; energetic, brilliant, skilled at all manner of government, military, and artistic tasks. He stabilized the shaking nation. Then he turned into a paranoid, murderous asshole as he got older until he finally got deposed. Sounds about right. This is the age in which the Chinese invented gunpowder, and, at its height, it was also the richest, most-advanced, most-cosmopolitan society on Earth, rolfstomping basically every thing that crossed the great houses of the dynasty. Problem is such conquest was completed by governor-generals that can tax their lands, which allowed them to rebel quite easily. The Tang dynasty also had the only officially recognized empress regnant (i.e. a woman who rules as a monarch in her own right, not as the wife of the emperor) in the history of Imperial China, Wu Zetian. Once things started falling apart, a radical sect of Confucianism began attempting to purge China of "outside influences" and restore China to the good old days through teaching and circulating their works, and also encouraging persecution and robbery of said outside influences, including Christianity and Buddhism. Buddhism survived, Christianity (Nestorians) did not.

===Second Age of Strife===
* ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Dynasties_and_Ten_Kingdoms_period Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms]'': The period of political disunity between the Tang and the Song, known as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. During this period, five states quickly succeeded one another in the Chinese Central Plain, while more than a dozen concurrent states were established elsewhere, mainly in south China. During this half-century, China was in all respects a multi-state system.
* ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Song_dynasty Song]'': Invading barbarians devastated a Tang dynasty that was already eating itself alive from within. After a brief but invigorating series of civil wars and abortive wanna-be dynasts, an opportunistic general seized control of a splinter state that begun uniting China, and would go on to overlap with the Yuan for a while until the Mongols finally finished 'em off. The Song dynasty was, no bones about it, a cultural and economic powerhouse. They invented such modern marvels as paper money, steam and water-powered industry, and mass production. They also created beautiful and marvelous art, like pots depicting ponds on which fish appeared when water was poured in, or rice that smelled like flowers while it was cooking. However, they were ''also'' weak politically and militarily, and their ongoing "sour grapes" stance toward most of their neighbors, combined with Neo-Confucian abhorrence at the thought of allowing ''merchants'' to do the fighting, prevented them from properly leveraging the economic advantages of their hyper-advanced economy to dominate them with "soft power," and their underdeveloped understanding of economics meant many of these advances were eventually abandoned by a society not ready for their consequences. Ultimately gave in to...
* ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan_dynasty Yuan]'': Goddamn Mongolians. Technically "started" by Genghis Khan himself, it only really became a Chinese-style dynasty when his grandson, Kublai Khan, set up his capital in Khanbaliq (later Dadu, modern Beijing). Like the Greeks and the Romans, the "conquering" Mongolians slowly resembled their Chinese subjects. Culturally, this was the beginning of the modern Chinese novel and drama, though always with the wary eye of Imperial censors lurking over the writers' shoulders. (This was nothing new, incidentally, though the volume sure was.) This was also the dynasty that brought China to the West's attention, partly due to the Mongol invasions threatening Eastern Europe, and partly due to Marco Polo's accounts of the reign of Kublai Khan. The Mongols generally imported nobles rather than using locals, so a variety of Middle Easterners were brought in to manage and police the Chinese nation, while Chinese bureaucrats were sent to the Middle East to manage and police it. This is the origin of the Hui people, Muslim descendants of intermarrying foreign officials and soldiers who maintain their faith today and served as some of the most disciplined and feared of all Chinese soldiers in future wars. Eventually, the Yuan proved how "Chinese" they'd become by going out in the traditional Chinese way: collapsing into a mass of squabbling warlords and decadence because of fiscal disaster. Notably, the fleeing Khan took the ancient Imperial Seal dating all the way back to ol' Qin Shi Huangdi himself with him when he went back to Mongolia, and no one's ever found where he stashed it, according to legends anyway.

===Late Imperial China===
* ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_dynasty Ming]'': Founded by an illiterate peasant-turned-warlord, Zhu Yuanzhang, who stands aside such figures as Oliver Cromwell of England, Jeanne d'Arc of France, Toussaint L'Ouverture of Haiti, and the Prophet Muhammad of Arabia as one of the great completely self-taught military minds of human history, the Ming dominated the remains of the decaying Yuan empire with a mixture of [[Orks|brutal cunning]] and [[Creed|tactical genius]]. He went the way of Li Yuan by the end, but the dynasty he founded was the stablest and most-powerful China ruled by the Chinese in generations. It combined the economic power of the Song with the military might of the Yuan and the cultural sophistication of both into one of the grandest empires in human history. Politically, of course, they were rather repressive and authoritarian, hence ''[[Flash_Gordon|Flash! AHOWWW]]''. But it was ''also'' a very literate society for its time, with openly-female writers and readers getting lots of cred. This dynasty also saw the absolutely ''epic'' world-journey of the eunuch-admiral Zheng He, that was the closest the real-world ever got to a sea-based ''Dungeons & Dragons'' campaign. Unfortunately, due to the influence of the Neo-Confucians, their own self-sufficiency and comparative sophistication compared to the rest of the world, and good ol' fashioned racist jingoism, Ming China was very isolationist and arrogant. This, combined with long-term peace, led to a decay of military strength, especially as they insisted on inventing their own kinds of [[firearm]] rather than importing cheaper European models, and pervasive corruption and eunuch-influence at the top rotted everything it touched. Humiliatingly, after three centuries, the dynasty came to an end not when the next one stepped up to the plate, but when a ''fucking peasant revolt'' got there first (China's treasury was completely empty after years of excessive spending and corruption, and since the peasant rebellion meant that taxes could no longer be collected, the government was unable to pay or support any armed force to stop the revolt), and the Emperor committed suicide, leaving a gap for the Manchus to back right into.
* ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qing_dynasty Qing]'': [[File:Eight-Nation-Alliance.jpg |300px|right|thumb|And in 15 years they'll all be at war.]]As mentioned above, the semi-nomadic Manchu invaded China from beyond the Great Wall and took over as the Qing dynasty. When you learn about the Opium Wars, the Boxer Rebellion, and Spheres of Influence in middle school, this is the dynasty it all happened in. Under the Manchu emperors, China expanded to the largest size in history, occupying Mongolia, Tibet, and much of Central Asia that had not been controlled by China since the Tang dynasty. As the last dynasty, the Qing basically reached a point of such decadence and corruption that military budgets were spent on building palaces, and attempts to modernize and "Westernize" China as Meiji Japan did were met with unremitting hostility by entrenched political factions within the Imperial palace. Into this, a series of flooding disasters destroyed harvests and left the common Chinese and the military angry at pretty much everyone. Violent rebellions began appearing, aiming to '''Make China Great Again''' by getting rid of all the foreigners. One of the revolts was the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Rebellion] caused by a man who thought he was the brother of Jesus and that the Manchu were demons, resulting in somewhere between twenty to thirty million deaths. This provoked a brief invasion by, well, everyone. Literally. Virtually '''ALL''' the European powers plus America and Japan sent troops to save their citizens (and more importantly, their colonial holdings). Some weren't so quick about leaving. With China basically becoming a big cake being sliced up by stronger colonial powers, a young Chinese-American Anglican named Sun Yixian/Sun Yat-Sen decided it was time to get rid of the imperial dynasties and establish a modern, Westernized, democratic republic. In 1912, the 7-year old Emperor abdicated (though he retained part of the Forbidden City and was paid an annual stipend), and the line of dynasties came to an end.

===THIRD Age of Strife===
*'''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China_(1912%E2%80%9349) Republic of China (1912-1915)]'': Sun Yat-Sen only became president with the help of Yuan Shikai, a Qing general who forced the Republicans to name him president if he made the Qing Emperor step down, with the support of most of the modernized Qing armies stationed in northern China and around the capital of Beijing. As promised, Yuan Shikai was made the new President of the Republic. A year later, having won national elections and taken control of parliament, Yuan further increased his power, such as making him able to name a successor ''by law''. Sun Yat-Sen's chosen successor was assassinated by "persons unknown", and the same fate would befall those suspected by investigators of having some role in the assassination. All things pointed to Yuan Shikai being responsible, but no charges could be filed as all potential suspects and witnesses were dead. With an abortive revolt crushed in Southern China, and the mechanisms of government in his hands, nothing much could be done when Yuan declared himself the Hongxian Emperor.
* ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warlord_Era Warlord Era]'': Yuan Shikai's short-lived dynasty was defeated by a coalition of anti-monarchist armies from the south, and Yuan died shortly thereafter. However, rather than re-establishing the Republic, Yuan's defeat and death simply saw many of his followers take their own portions of the army and establish warlord states throughout northern China. One of these factions became known as the Beiyang Government and claimed itself the legitimate government of the Republic of China. Sun Yat-Sen's Nationalists retreated to the south and became warlords themselves, calling for war against the autocratic Beiyang. Dozens of lesser warlords proliferated throughout China's provinces, and the Beiyang government joined the Allies in World War I in the hopes of recovering territories taken by Germany and Austria-Hungary during the Qing Dynasty, mainly Shandong.
*''Nanking Government of the Republic of China'': Starting in 1927, over the course of one year, the Nationalist army broke the back of three major warlords of the north, nominally unifying China under one government. The remaining warlords resisted Nanjing/Nanking's concentration of power, causing even more bloodshed. Making things more complicated, the Japanese controlled Shandong, having taken it from the Germans after WW1, and nobody in China liked that.

===Modern China===
''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China People's Republic (aka Communist China)]'': This is the era of history that, for better or worse, most Westerners are familiar with. To make a long, winding, and rather complicated story short, nearly everything in China nowadays can be traced to the efforts of one man; Mao Zedong, the leader of the then-outlawed Communist Party of China. Beginning in 1927, he warred against the nationalist government under Jiang Jieshi/Chiang Kai-Shek. Although they put their war on hold to kick the Japanese out of their country during the Second World War, by 1949, the nationalist government was pushed back to Taiwan (where they still rule today and claim to be the true government of China), and mainland China was unified under the communist red flag. For the next 50 or so years, the Chinese would play an interesting role in the Cold War between the USA and USSR; first as allies to the Russians until the Sino-Soviet split in '69, then as sort of-friends to the US after Nixon negotiated an agreement with them. As for Mao, historians are notably [[Skub|divided on his record as a politician]]. While it is agreed the man was a brilliant general, literally writing the book ''On Guerrilla Warfare'', the mixed reaction comes from his rather disastrous socio-economic policies. (and by that, we mean left around 72 million Chinese dead, from a mixture of starvation, political purges, and a ten-year period of anarchy that made the Reign of Terror look like a birthday party because it was legal for people to tell armies to hand over their weapons). His detractors will claim utopian stupidity, malicious tyranny, or a mix of both, while his supporters usually will make the claim that he just made honest mistakes. Nevertheless, his successors felt that the country was going to implode if they pursued any of Mao's hard left policies any further, so now we're in a weird state of limbo where a country that's still being ruled by the authoritarian Communist Party is more capitalist than it had ever been in any previous part of its history.

But don't suggest China will become a democracy anytime soon. The last time they tried that in AD 1989, things [[Baneblade|went badly]] for everyone involved, especially at Tiananmen Square (which also provided an iconic meme of the little guy standing up the big guy with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man Tank Man]). Since then, the Chinese [[1984|Ministry of Truth]] is trying to make sure that no one knows that anything happened back then. Additionally, the current president, Xi Jinping, is easily the strongest of China's leaders since Mao and has taken the country to a notably more authoritarian direction, to the point that presidential term limits were removed and he was allowed to write his political thoughts into the constitution, which are now being studied just like Mao's Little Red Book was back in the day. Even worse, he's even taken a leaf from [[Nazi|certain]] [[Imperial Truth|other]] dictators with the treatment of China's Uyghur Muslims under his regime (complete with forcing them, at gunpoint, onto trains bound for prison camps). When COVID-19 was first discovered in the city of Wuhan, several scientists studying the virus realized it had the potential to become a pandemic and warned the government, [[Noblebright|some even suggesting they also warn other countries of the potential risk]]. The government responded by imprisoning several of them (some of who have never been seen since) and covering up COVID-19... until it became a global pandemic and intrepid truth-seekers revealed the point of origin and the cover-up.

On a lighter note, in recent history, Xi has gone full grouchy old man and decided that kids these days spend too much time playing video games, defining ''too much'' as three hours '''a week'''. AKA, Operation Touch Grass by some.

[[image:Game_Store_in_Taiwan.jpeg|thumb|150px|right|♫Some times you wanna go, where everybody knows your game...♫]]
*As a quick side note, that island Chiang Kai-Shek took over, Taiwan, or the Republic of China as it's officially called by the local government, is actually doing fine. It's a liberal democracy which is very much capable of [[Team Yankee|defending its position]]. If you like Chinese food, crowded cities, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and winding rural mountain roads its a perfectly nice place to visit; they even play ''Warhammer'' (apparently mostly ''40k''). Taiwan is also notable for being the place where majority of the entire world's semiconductors are produced, which gives them major global influence as all countries both big and small are dependent on them. The majority of Taiwanese view Chiang Kai-Shek sort of like the Americans who wrote the majority of this article think about George Washington, or even the Puritans at Massachusetts Bay, as a [[Creed|hardcore leader]] who did some dubious, hypocritical things but was historically significant nonetheless and ultimately was the father of their country even if he killed a lot of people to get there and believed shit they find repulsive. However, opinion on Taiwan in China is [[Skub|heavily controversial and, if non-critical, can get you blacklisted from certain places (mere mention of Taiwan can be enough to do so)]], so be careful who you talk to about it. It's become a running gag that American celebrities are often forced by their corporate masters to publicly apologize, sometimes in badly-pronounced Chinese, whenever they mention Taiwan existing, or outright support the Chinese government's more infamous actions (shit like the conquest and puppeteering of Hong Kong or even the massacre at Tiananmen Square that they still deny happened and if it did they deserved it) to avoid losing access to the mass-est mass market in the world.

==Military Stuff before the 20th century==
As a general rule China has not been big on the idea on the idea of warriors as a class unto themselves. There were charioteers back during the Warring States Period and Manchu bannermen a long, long time after that, but otherwise there was nothing equivalent to the sort of warrior society that you saw in feudal Europe or pre-modern Japan. To give you an idea of the standing of warriors in Ancient China, let it be said that the world was made up of Four Categories of People (analogous to the Three Orders of feudal Europe): Scholars, Farmers, Artisans, and Merchants. The Scholars, known as ''shi'', replaced the warrior-charioteers around the time Rome invented the pyrrhic victory, and resembled the Roman prefects in terms of their duties and authority. In later eras, soldiers and warriors were considered beneath these four categories and ranked alongside [[Bard|entertainers]], [[Sharess|prostitutes]], [[Maid RPG|domestic servants]], and [[Commorragh Slaves|slaves]]. Basically, they were fightier eunuchs.

Owing to the low status of the profession, if you wanted to raise an army in China you didn't have a hereditary caste of men trained in the arts of war from childhood, like knights or samurai. Trust us, many rulers tried and failed to establish such a caste. Instead, you'd get a whole bunch of peasants together, equip them, and send them out to do your fighting for you under the command of a noble trained and educated to be a general. Armies would thus vary in quality, from solidly professional soldiers to badly-trained and ill-equipped conscripts, depending on region and era.

In general Chinese armies were more missile oriented than their medieval or classical European contemporaries with a mix of close quarters soldiers and missile troops. Beginning with the Warring States period, crossbows were a big deal because it meant that your conscripted peasants could easily be trained to saturate the enemy with projectiles.

A few words on weaponry...

Ancient China recognized four major melee weapons: staff, spear (although their concept of spear includes a wide variety of polearms), single edged swords (dao), and double edged swords (jian); and of the two swords the jian was held in much higher regard than the dao. Infantry, cavalry, and pirates use the dao because it's [[choppa|an unsophisticated choppy thing for hacking your enemies to bits]] (and more importantly, as a tool for chopping bamboo). Anybody who's anybody fights with the jian because it's stabby, and stabby is the gentlemanly way to fight. If you have a curved sword in a Chinese setting you are a walk-on nobody or a filthy barbarian (either japanese or mongol) and you exist to get slapped around.

==Culture==
There's a lot of it, and it's surprisingly relevant.

In Western antiquity, there were supposedly four "classical elements," namely air, fire, water, and earth (The Greeks also included aether, but because was an ethereal material that existed beyond earth it was usually left out). You know this. Don't pretend you don't, it's in ''fucking everything''. But, in classical China, there were ''five'': fire, water, earth, ''wood'', and ''metal''. And, just as all of Europe copied the Greeks, all of Asia copied China, with varying degrees of fidelity. Japan, for instance, had void instead of metal and air instead of wood. This more-or-less introduced the idea of "opposing" elements and elemental weaknesses, [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/FiveElementsCycleBalanceImbalance_02_plain.svg via a complex web of interactions]. Think how boring and tactically-flat so many games would be if certain kinds of damage didn't work better on certain enemies!

Many games play with this alternate elemental system. Aside from ''Legend of the Five Rings'', ''Pathfinder'' and the ''[[Dresden Files RPG]]'' both offer variant rules using it instead of the classics. It certainly makes for an interesting change.

==Religion==

Meanwhile, let's talk about religion. While Christianity has its own traditions of warrior-monks, usually represented as [[cleric|clerics]] or [[paladin|paladins]], the Chinese tradition is arguably the most distinctive. Two of the three major Chinese religions/philosophies, taoism and buddhism, emphasize meditation and discipline, which is strenuous to both the body and mind. Thus, they invented systems of exercises to strengthen both, called "kung fu," or, literally, "hard work."

Then, when they needed to act as local militias defending against marauding bandits, it turned out having intense mental focus and physical stamina made them damn good fighters, and the rest is history. And that, ladies and gentlemen is where the modern ''D&D'' [[monk]] came from.

In particular, taoist practices emphasize the existence of a kind of underlying substance of which everything is made, called ''qi''. ''Qi'' is a kind of... energy field, created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds [[Star Wars|you get where this joke is going, right]]? Anyway, in ''Exalted'', qi and essence are almost literally the same thing, and the monk and its various similar classes in ''D&D'' have "ki pools" that offer fancy new abilities.

Anyway, the Chinese ''also'' envisioned Heaven as containing a system, a Celestial Bureaucracy mirroring the one on Earth, that kept the world running according to various agreements and contracts between the gods, and even with mortal rulers via the "mandate of heaven" (a very complex concept that essentially boils down to "success and failure are self justifying"). Most tabletop settings have similar rules, regulations, and restrictions on the gods to explain why they subcontract out to adventurers, and though most of the gods and personalities of, say, the average ''D&D'' campaign setting have more to do with Western paganism than anything recognizably Chinese, the ''system'' of how they operate is more Chinese than Western simply because they ''can't'' just do as they please.

In more general terms, Chinese religion is a pretty mixed bag that leaves most outsiders confused. Yes, there are the three "main" religions of Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, but they're all considered inclusive of one another, so it's possible to be a practitioner of all three. At a very high level, Taoism is concerned with the nature of existence (and is by far the most vague of the three), while Buddhism is more concerned with the reasoning individual and the trajectory of the soul, and Confucianism focuses on the proper ordering of society (and of the three is the most prescriptive). Traditionally, Chinese society has seen the three as complementary rather than mutually-exclusive, like many Pagan societies, though this has not stopped fundamentalist versions of one (in particular) of the three from trying to wipe out the other two whenever it becomes ascendant (''*cough* the CCP are Confuscians *cough*'').

Furthermore, you've got the myriad traditions of the ancient folk religion, largely assimilated into Taoism and Confucianism to varying degrees, centered around heaven and ancestor worship. Even after the communist purges, ancient folklore and superstition still has a strong influence among the common people, a fixation on luck being one such example, as you can see from the various lucky charms and statues in your local mom and pop American Chinese restaurant. Another such superstition lead to the creation of "[[Jiangshi|hopping vampires]]"... which are exactly what they sound like. Okay, they're more like zombies with extreme rigor mortis, but you get the idea. Anyways, if you want something that deviates from Western mythological values and religious struggles, the Chinese have an interesting set of ideas.

There are several other religious established in China of both native and foreign origins. Since the Seventh Century there have been enclaves of Christians in regions in China (and was bolstered during the age of sail) and Islam had become well established in the western regions of the Empire by the Ming Dynasty. Hinduism is established in China, but has been on the decline. There was even a Jewish enclave in the city of Kaifeng.

==See also==
[[Cathay]]

[[Category: History]]

Nazi

2023-01-26T22:18:26Z

2607:FB90:3FDC:EF48:A851:E929:23AB:7B83: /* Overview */

{{flamewar}}
{{Fail}}
{{heresy}}
{{sick|Fucking Nazis.}}
{{Topquote|I have in this War a burning private grudge—which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.|[[J.R.R. Tolkien]], being a boss}}
{{Topquote|1=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHFtbSZ3KRE YOU UTTER FOOL! GERMAN SCIENCE IS THE FINEST IN ZE WORLD!!!]|2=[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure|Stroheim, an over the top Nazi and the first Guile]]}}

[[File:Nazi.png|frameless|center]]

[[Image:Nazi uniforms.gif|thumb|right|150px|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L21dPTqSjpQ God''damn'' it, Nazis! Why are you so fashionable, you ''evil fucking bastards''?!]]]
'''Nazi''' is the commonly used shorthand version of ''Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (National Socialist German Workers' Party), a political party which took over Germany <s>for a 1,000 years</s> from 1933 to 1945. It also refers to people who belonged to said party, their ideology, and their regime in Germany during said period of time. Led by Adolf Hitler, the Nazi Party emerged from the uncertainty and political upheaval caused by the Red Scare, the end of the German Empire after the Great War, myths, promoted by the army, that the military had been on the cusp of victory before being "stabbed in the back" by the civil government, resentment at unfair conditions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, economic uncertainties due to the stock market crash of 1929, German ethnic nationalism, a desire to blame things on scapegoats, and a belief in militarism popular among many returning veterans. They were also aided by their invention of modern campaigning and propaganda, wide-spread dissatisfaction with the status quo, the strategic seizure of the political positions that controlled the police force, the intimidation or murder of political opponents and journalists using glorified street thugs, and more dumb luck than anyone has any right to have, let alone a bunch of genocidal [[Racial Holy War|loons]].

==Overview==
[[File:German_Bratwurst.gif|right|thumb|Historically Accurate (if you consider checzia polish)]]
The Nazis' initial success can be attributed to the image of glorious economic recovery, part of which they accomplished by keeping Germany's economy running during the Great Depression. They presented this to the rest of the world, making many people believe the little mustachioed guy couldn't be that crazy since he'd made his country recover brilliantly in very little time. And while Germany did indeed recover, the whole thing was helped and held upright by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mefo_bills MEFO bills]: basically a Ponzi scheme that allowed the government to loan money on the sly through a front company about metallurgy research (the ''Metallurgische Forschungsgesellschaft'', or MEFO in short). This allowed them to work at a much higher level of debt flotation than allowed by international regulation, and the idea was to pay back the loans with seized gold and valuables from Jews at first, and then directly from conquered nations after the war, since even [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_bond state created debt bonds] are exactly that: debt, credit, which is trust. Eventually the creditor will want something in exchange (or at the very least get his investment back) or the debtor's credibility will be shattered, stopping the money flow.

To give you a clearer idea of what happened: You are defeated and poor, but are fuming for revenge. To keep you down, your victorious neighbors don't lend you a dime to produce guns and make sure your already meager income is only spent on debt and basic necessities. So what do you do? You decide to spend money in the form of credit, raise the debt higher and higher (making the rest of the world believe you are rich), and keep the charade until the debt becomes irrelevant (who needs to pay the creditor he will declare war on?). So you make up a credit card called Mefocard ("MEtallurgische FOrschungsgesellschaft" - Metallurgy R&D sounds civilian and peaceful, so the world markets play along), borrow even more wildly to look opulent, and to create weapons on the sly promise that you'll pay the debt back... Then attempt to kill the lenders and subjugate their families to share the debt you have. It was simply a continent wide, all-or-nothing robbery attempt even wilder than WW1's trench-fighting Imperial duel.

The Ponzi schemes weren't limited to national/corporate level shenanigans, but extended to the German people as well. The famous Beetle was developed to be a cheap family car (hence “volkswagen”, or “people’s car”), and a part of selling the German public on the idea of an idyllic, cheap-and-cheerful family life, along with things like state-sponsored vacation villages. An elaborate layaway scheme allowed average German families to give the government a few Reichsmark a day in exchange for the promise of a new Beetle and a seaside vacation package. However, all that money actually went into rebuilding the German military, and war began before any of the promises had to be delivered on. Because the [[Tzeentch|illusion of a better future and hope is always easier]] than just taxing the population directly. And, lastly, the Holocaust itself was also an important pillar of the German economy, especially when the war started in earnest. Jewish (and other undesirables', particularly Slavic intelligentsia) property and land was being confiscated on a scale never before seen or even conceived of. Not even their dead bodies were safe: glasses were taken apart and reused for scopes or similar, hair was used as fabrics for the textile industry, and gold teeth were taken and melted down by the millions. Massive amounts of gold, hard currency and other valuable things like works of art were stolen from Jewish museums, synagogues, households and bank accounts (hence keeping up the Mefo bill's token payments to creditors). They even had to pay for their own transit into the death camps, which would almost be hilarious if it wasn't so unbelievably evil. This ruthless, industrialized way of executing a massive genocide made the Holocaust the standard many people associate the word "genocide" with today - ironically, the Holocaust was in its methods the exception. No other genocide in history built an entire branch of government and industry centered around the mass murder of human beings, not to mention devoting vital manpower and military resources bullets to the project that the overstretched front lines of Germany desperately needed; in essence, [[Fail|the Nazis sabotaged their own war machine, just to kill Jews.]]

They were also fantastic proponents of lies and propaganda, ranging from race theory (fake archaeology was a particular favorite), to manufactured pretexts for war (the trigger for invading Poland was an obvious false-flag operation- something Japan had used 2 years previously), to simply overstating their successes. For example, the old line that goes "say what you want about them, but the Nazis/Hitler did make the trains run on time"? They didn't. Train service was as bad or worse under fascist leadership as it had been immediately before their rise to power. But they realized that they only had to ''say'' the trains were running on time, and strongarm anyone inside Germany who dared to publicly disagree. Doubly funny is that it was ''Mussolini'''s Italy that had trains running on time, and even then, it was because of pre-fascism era personnel improving it. In fact, the entire political/industrial structure of Nazi Germany was a nightmarish tangle of private businesses, government organizations, bureaucrats, and ambitious officials with overlapping portfolios and responsibilities. Hitler frequently gave out contradictory orders and deliberately pitted his subordinates against each other as part of his social Darwinist beliefs; the strongest and best would naturally rise to the top through competition while the others were weeded out, thus improving the whole. In practice, this system was dysfunctional, inefficient, unresponsive, wasteful, and full of more backstabbing bastardry than an average game of [[Diplomacy]]. People became too scared to make decisions without Hitler around, companies and factories wasted precious time and materials on design contracts that were ultimately awarded to other firms, there was an ongoing multi-way fight between the army, Kriegsmarine, Luftwaffe, and Waffen-SS for resources, manpower, and money throughout the war, and people like Himmler and Goering carved out their own private spheres of influence in the middle of it all, further splintering the government.

Needless to say, this situation was the reason why the scenario of not waging war (like in Hearts of Iron or some alternate reality stories) simply wasn't a realistic option. Despite their multiple annexations of territory, the Nazis couldn't sustain their charade without the influx of riches, heavy machinery (they stripped Poland, Czechoslovakia, and other conquered territories to the bone, grabbing civilian factories' machinery, bolts, nuts and even the metallic building materials like [[Blood Ravens]] on meth, literally, Nazis loved their amphetamines) and material from other conquered territories to pay the MEFO bills. So they soon mobilized their armies and launched a war of expansion on the rest of the world, starting with Poland. (The question is still open among historians as whether they annexed and plundered enough reserves with Czechoslovakia to keep the charade up "peacefully" long enough to let their Red "ally" make the opening move instead, but that's a discussion for another place and time.)

Their goal (next to getting gold and industrial materials to pay the enormous gambling debt of an empire) was to impose their militaristic Social Darwinist ideology across Europe, outlaw any dissenting school of thought, enslave all the "sub-human" Slavs (after starving to death more than half of them to make room for German settlers in accordance to Generalplan Ost and assimilating anyone believed to be sufficiently Germanic), and exterminate any "undesirables" (Jews, Roma, homosexuals, etc) on which they blamed all their problems because they felt that they were superhumans without any flaws. Any problem which they suffered had to be the fault of some subversive "other" from outside who tried to cause the Master Race misery according to the Nazi philosophy of believing all ethnicities are a hivemind loyal to themselves and they all collectively fight over resources, therefore "weaker" races resort to social corruption (LGBT, porn, discouraging women from reproducing) of the glorious German master race to get ahead of them. But due to some severe strategic fuck ups from Hitler <s>who often overruled his military leadership</s> and his generals (the situation is more nuanced than that and would be too long and boring to explain fully; basically there was mutual mistrust and both sides routinely fucked up, but after the war the generals used Hitler as a scapegoat because the history is written by the living), Germany ended up in a three-way war with the Soviet Union (who provided blood), Great Britain (military intelligence, enough naval force projection to strangle all Axis naval trade and pure fucking grit) & the United States (more armaments than you can possibly dream of with an extra helping on top), while their allies such as Romania (the dudes with the European oil fields), Hungary (some light tanks and cavalry) & Italy (...more of a liability than bonus, so...) surrendered during the middle years of the war, Finland was doing their own thing the entire time and barely gave a shit about the Nazis beyond asking for supplies, and resource-starved Japan could do little more than be a distraction.

While Germany may have had some areas of technological/industrial advantage (at least initially, and this is often overstated), by the end of the war they were crippled by a lack of many strategic resources and widespread destruction of production lines and reverted to some crude and/or untested/outlandish solutions like using coal liquefaction as an oil substitute, potato alcohol for V-2 rockets and meth-filled chocolate bars for Eastern Front troopers (when they decided to use the logistic volume for ammo rather than thick clothes which they '''had''' but decided to workaround with untested drugs-typical Hitlerite solution-). Their situation was made worse by their late-war obsession with Wunderwaffen ("wonder weapons"), such as "flying wing" aircraft, the world's first ballistic missiles, multi-charge megacannons and retardedly big tanks, all of which wasted time, materials, and engineering effort that could have instead been used to churn out more regular tanks, artillery pieces, and aircraft, along with a chronic shortage of oil other than a trickle from Romania, which meant that the panzer divisions were routinely grinding to a halt for lack of fuel by the end. Because of all this, there was no hope of repulsing both the Western Allies and the Soviet Union at the same time; thus the Nazi regime finally met its end when the Russians marched into Berlin and Hitler {{*BLAM*}}med himself along with his mad-as-a-hatter common-law wife. While their hate-wagon managed to go far and temporarily overrun most of Europe, it simply had too much war to fight on multiple fronts, a lack of effective strategic planning in the form of Hitler and his cronies, and the fact that most powerful nations of the time opposed them either because they cherished their political freedoms, saw their economies fail, or simply were on the Nazi "to-exterminate" list.

So with all that baggage, how the hell did they manage to conquer most of Europe?

Two words: operational flexibility. Or "knockout artistry", whichever you prefer. In the early half of the war, the German military operated on a principle they called "mission tactics" (auftragstaktik) or "selbstandigkeit der Unterfuhrer" (independence of the subordinate commander). The field commanders were given clear overall goals (such as: secure this location by such and such time), and then given free rein in HOW they accomplished the goal. Left to their own devices, the German commanders in the field were creative and flexible, using everything they had at their disposal and making high risk, high reward maneuvers. They also entered the war with radios in every tank and the best close air support in the world (at the time). They also had a tactical/strategic philosophy called "Bewegungskrieg" (war of movement) that emphasized mobile operations and front-loaded shock assaults and sought to avoid getting stuck into prolonged fights, since they knew from experience that they couldn't win a "Stellungskrieg", a static war of positional fighting like WWI had been. This paid off brilliantly at first, since they blew through Poland, Belgium, France, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, the Balkans, Greece, and the British army (twice) without much trouble.

The French and British had stronger tanks, excellent defensive positions, and equivalent numbers, but it didn't matter. The Allies were expecting a war where both sides show up and shoot at each other, while the Germans had worked out that moving fast, surrounding the enemy, and smashing them from all sides was much easier and less costly than the kind of slow, grinding warfare that had bled them dry in WWI. One French general famously spent several days celebrating his promotion to the role of leading the defense, only to finally arrive at his command center and find the Germans one river away from Paris.

The German army did its best work when their commanders were allowed to make the most out of their situation and assets, and only started to suffer when they were micromanaged and squandered in operations that didn't play to their advantages in mobility (even Sun Tzu 2,500 years ago advised against armchair micromanagement and to let field commanders make decisions for themselves). Ironically, their primary enemy, the Soviets, experienced the opposite, going from a crippled military hampered by commissars being suspicious of the officers and meddling with everything due to undeserved authority bestowed by Stalin to Stalin learning to take a backseat and being content with focusing on allocating resources for the better military minds make use of as they saw fit, while he collected the lion's share of the credit like a master politician. This is really only partially true, however.

The problem was that the German generals of the period had inherited the traditional Prussian mindset of "when all else fails, just attack the fuckers" and "proper logistical planning is for pansies and Frenchmen". Also, for all its celebrated flexibility, ''auftragstaktik'' also meant that there wasn't much in the way of backup planning, since orders were supposed to be short, simple, and delivered verbally whenever possible, rather than being written down. In turn, this meant that when things inevitably went off the rails, the officers on the scene had to improvise, and not always with good results. For example, Erwin Rommel was basically allowed to do his own thing in Africa because the rest of the German high command was busy trying to stem the bleeding in Russia. While he had some successes early on, he outran his supply lines so often that he had to steal from the British to keep his troops fed and vehicles gassed up. This worked until the Brits got their shit together and kicked his ass at El Alamein. In the aftermath, he had to abandon many of his vehicles for lack of fuel and then made a series of bad decisions that got his army smashed into a bloody mess before being taken prisoner en masse. This same mindset led other German generals to do shit like feed division after division into the urban nightmare that was Stalingrad and beat their heads against the wall in the Caucasus while their overworked and poorly structured logistics pipeline struggled just to keep the troops fed and armed, let alone adequately replace losses in men and vehicles. Hitler and his dumbshittery didn't help any, to be sure, but the German army had exactly one tool in their box and didn't stop using it even when it was patently no longer working.

==Neo Nazis==
Despite everything there are still some people out there which subscribe to the Nazi worldview, or at least something which has a lot of it in it's DNA. Yes, there is often some differences between these guys and the Nazi Party of old as well as differences between groups but this is only to be expected. There is no overarching body attempting to enforce a party discipline among Neo-Nazi groups and many people apply it to their context with local leaders putting their own spin on things.

Why do people end up here? Well there were some Nazis which did not give up on the cause even after the Third Reich went down and these guys were still an issue in Germany even after Nazism was formally banned (see the Socialist Reich Party in 1949-52, German Reich Party in 50-66 and a few more "no we are totally not Nazis even though Hitler had some good ideas..." far-right german parties). There are also a few people which by their own are pushed towards Nazism, often with similar fears. The McCarthy era Red Scare produced a number of American Neo-Nazis as a byproduct. Even so, most get led into established groups.

One source of recruits for neo-nazis has been edgelords which get off offending society and can't tell the difference between yelling "Fart Butt!" at a school assembly and "Sieg Heil!" at a Jewish Wedding. In of itself that does not mean one is actually a Nazi, but legit Nazis can hide among these jerks and try to funnel people towards them. Usually they find success with people in that category who are dealing with a lot of emotional issues and have some fears and lead them that way, usually step by step with different levels of radicalization and a spoon feeding of ideology.

To outline one path people have fallen down, it starts with things like "the allies were not pure saints"1 or "those uniforms were cool". Points which are, in of themselves, not wrong. But in the specific context that are used by can be used to bridge other dodgier talking points ("victor's history", "you're not getting the whole story") especially those that make the Nazis look better ("Rommel and Manstein was the Great Generals of the War", "1 Tiger Beats 5 Shermans") and the Allies look worse ("Russians only won through human waves", "Dresden Bombings were needlessly cruel"). If they find someone which can accepts these claims, other less savoury points and active white-washing ("The Cruel Treaty of Versailles") can be added to the mix. Add in some "Jokes" which get more and more hateful, Rinse and repeat. Of course, not everyone will fall for it and even if someone falls for the first round there is a difference between buying into some Wehraboo BS and going full Goebbels. But some get drawn deeper and deeper until they end up unironically believing the whole steaming nazi load. The fact that as people go deeper down the rabbit hole they end up alienating themselves from friends and family more and more aids the process.

1 ''Definitely true, even leaving aside Stalin. See the Bengal Famine of 1943, Japanese Internment and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study for stuff done by the US and Americans. Even so, these pale in comparison to the atrocities committed by the Nazis or those they had planned.''

==Nazi Portrayals in Fiction==

Nazis are portrayed as an over the top wacky military who like leading extermination wars against the Jews (and other people) and build secret bases on the moon, under water, or some other silly place. Their technology is frequently exaggerated with [[Dieselpunk|laser weapons, armored suits, giant robots, walking tanks, and/or Robo-Hitler]]. Some vidya portrayals even goes so far as to put it all together in a big ball of [[LOLWUT]] and add a touch of magical [[Lovecraft]]ian shit because Nazi propaganda had a weird love for the occult.

Varying opinions on the perceived Nazi character allows them to be looked at from varying points of view, developing their character all the more. Take the [[Imperium of Man]], for example, which tends to blend German-fascist iconography with Soviet politics and a Roman-Catholic aesthetic sense. Some will say that the Imperium's a nuthouse since they're willing to allow an Inquisitor to turn an entire hive spire into a towering inferno if he so happens to find a single heretic in{{*BLAM*}} {{BLAM|SPEAKING ILL OF THE IMPERIUM IS EXTRA HERESY.}}

Others will say that the Imperium's just being pragmatic, and such an action is justifiable as the Imperium is constantly beset by merciless foes who will not think twice to bring them down, making their methods for survival cruel but necessary. Which, given the fact that daemons really do exist and can corrupt entire planets in a short amount of time and rape every corrupted soul forever and ever, is pretty justifiable. Even the Imperium's xenophobia is justifiable given how nearly [[Orks|all]] the [[Necrons|major]] [[Tyranids|races]] pretty much want to wipe everyone else out or [[Dark Eldar|enslave them to be tortured to death as sustenance]].

But that doesn't change the fact that these reasons are often just used as an excuse to torture and kill anyone who's even s{{BLAM}}

The idea of Nazi Germany being an advanced, sophisticated war machine has been heavily reevaluated in recent years to the point where it's now viewed as propagandistic bullshit. Closer examination of the war has shown that while advanced tactics and technology were used, the actual moment by moment commanding (WITH exceptions of course) wasn't especially fantastic, but relied on one-trick, all or nothing ponies like demoralizing the target country into surrender; it's one thing to knock out France on the brink of communist civil war or run roughshod over small, unprepared countries like Poland or Denmark and another entirely to conquer a country the size of Russia. Plus the same issue of logistics that ended up as the Wehrmacht's undoing during the Russian campaign had been happening since day one. The Third Reich had just assumed that once the Russians were beaten back to the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line they'd roll over and collapse, emphasis on THINKING, PRESUMING which should spell "Doom" by day one. It just wasn't readily apparent previously because all their campaigns up to that point were over fast enough that their lack of a well-organized logistical structure and reliance on front-loaded shock-and-awe assaults hadn't been a huge problem. We're talking about an army that refused to upgrade their paratroopers with steerable parachutes (which is WAY more important for a paratrooper then you would think)! Plus one can't ignore the fact most countries successfully invaded were either very minor powers or horribly horribly mismanaged or technologically stunted as far as the military was concerned. The view of the Wehrmacht as a mechanized force has also been dismantled in recent years. The popular image of the German military as a mechanized juggernaut was fostered by those same biographies mentioned above and below and by the cottage industry of writers, wargamers, and filmmakers who took those men at their word. Only about 20% of the German army was mechanized, mostly its elite divisions, and even they had lost most or all of their tanks and transports by the end of the war; by 1945 it wasn't uncommon for a so-called panzer division to contain few, if any, actual panzers. The majority of the army that invaded the USSR during Operation Barbarossa walked in, and their supplies and artillery pieces were pulled by horses. They didn't have anything like the insane levels of mechanization found in some of their enemies. Even the USSR, with American aid at first, and panic-driven manufacturing later, started outproducing the Wehrmacht around '43 in terms of supply trucks and troop transports.

This view of Germany as this massive intimidating force was mostly put in place by the biographies written by the German generals (Maybe you've heard of this before. "If Hitler just listened to his generals...") and the fact that perpetuating the myths benefited both Germany and the Western Allies. Germany got to feel like the war was a fair fight and all its failings could be blamed on that funny Austrian guy, in no small part due to Nazi officials wanting to clear their names after the war. Many of these men continued to work in the West German government way into the 60s and 70s, with one of them, Kurt Georg Kiesinger, even rising to the office of Chancellor in 1966. The British, meanwhile, got to feel better about the fact that the Wehrmacht had booted them out of France and Greece and nearly did the same in Africa, while America got to feel like the heroes who'd swept in to give those danged Natzees a righteous ass-kicking. And that's just the civilian side. The first generation of generals for the Bundeswehr were exclusively recruited from Wehrmacht and SS officers, many of them war criminals who'd done time in prison after the war, while the Allies just looked the other way because they thought they were assets, while America and Britain convinced the public that Germany could be a impressive threat. Even against a certain group of communists over the border...

===Impact on Fantasy===

In terms of military personnel, the Germans had hands down one of the best armies of the time, highly disciplined and well-trained with experienced mid-level officers and NCOs; this combined with borderline insane levels of morale at the start of the war due to years of giving the middle finger to the war-weary western nations which capitulated to their demands combined with revanchism from WW1, turned Germany into an unholy juggernaut. The Germans were known to have some of the best tanks in the war, the best darn LMG of the war, and somewhat pioneered several advanced technologies during their time. They also had the inheritance of the Prussian military tradition of relentless aggression and independence in the field. Tactics-wise, their eagerness to experiment with encirclement and mobile warfare while the Allies initially stagnated in Great War formations of firing lines gave them an incredible headstart and utterly broke the back of the French and British armies, shocking the whole world. Even Hitler expected a million Germans to die in the French war, yet France capitulated in weeks and the Germans lost at most 45,000 men KIA in the entire campaign, whereas they'd have lost that many in the last war just trying to take a random village along the Somme.

This, combined with their infamous cruelty have spawned the Nazi-esque villain template where the villains are both powerful and [[Eldrad|gigantic dicks]] to everyone else, making them completely despicable. This is because if the villain is significantly weaker than the protagonist of the setting, most people will still feel a few grains of sympathy towards the former or make them a laughing stock. But, when you make the villain both an enormous asshole and just as or more powerful than the protagonist, all bets are off and he's fair game.

Of course, the weaknesses of Nazism also need to be taken into account, in that a lot of their supposedly superior technology turned out to be highly unstable or otherwise impractical (such as behemoth tank designs that wasted time and resources that would have been better spent on dozens of more reasonable tanks), and would frequently be outclassed and definitely outnumbered by Allied designs once the latter got their shit together. This was even true at the start of the war: British Matilda IIs were all but immune to German tank fire (from the early Panzers, before the later Tigers), and a column of them almost stopped Rommel at the Battle of Arras. Add poorly managed industry and the fact that supplies at times were delivered by horse (which was not actually that atypical, since only America and early war Britain were that ridiculously mechanized), and you have a faction that is the epitome of [[Chaos Space Marines|style over substance]]. This really bit them in the ass later when the Allies, [[Imperial Guard|focusing on production and strategy over science fiction and "tactics"]], managed to get a leg up on the Third Reich, and battle-hardened Allied soldiers became the top dogs without question. To illustrate, by 1945 the typical American ''infantry'' division could expect to have as many tanks as a Nazi ''armored'' division, and an American armored division could simply zerg-rush their Nazi counterpart (and hell, the Panzer divisions frequently operated at less than half strength, even since the beginning of Barbarossa, let alone after having the country incinerated by firebombing and supply lines fucked by pissed off partisans who understandably did not want to leave the mass murder unanswered).

In fiction, expect the Nazi villains to eventually have their technology and logistics outclassed (FPS and RTS games like Call of Duty, Warfront: Turning Point or Company of Heroes), made irrelevant via gimmicks (Sniper Elite, Commandos, Velvet Assassin) or at least stolen and turned against them (Wolfenstein), and the hardened heroes to turn Nazi soldiers into cannon fodder.

Nazis are the progenitors of all acceptable targets where human bad guys are concerned. Be it in vidya games or movies, nobody has a problem with Nazis getting gunned down by the hundreds by the heroes, and they don't even have to resort to the dehumanizing full helmets that most other villain goons have to wear to make slaughtering them okay.

A more comedic take on Nazis in fiction owes to wartime cartoons, where the soldiers and Nazi command are all bumbling idiots, with comedy brought to you by Walt Disney and Warner Bros. Hitler today has essentially been turned into a punchline with all the gags centered around him, which is kinda awesome when you think about it, as dictators that wish to be feared would never want to be remembered as a joke, just watch any Downfall movie parody (Bruno Ganz's excellent performance in particular has become memetic for having Hitler rant about random things or meta rants about how he was reduced to a joke). The one exception would be Göring, who'd been a morphine addict since the Beer Hall Putsch and was so narcissistic that he thought people making jokes about him sitting on his belly for dinner and taking baths in admirals' uniforms were signs of popularity. Every other high level Nazi, especially Himmler (a failed chicken farmer who spent his last-resort field command in 1944 sleeping until noon, eating, drinking, jacking off and getting massages from a man in a special train) and Goebbels (who basically created all the modern populist tactics of dictators and was born crippled on account of a deformed leg, making him the most obviously hypocritical big name Nazi), took jokes at their expense only slightly better than Hitler did. So joke away and spit on the memory of the fools who bled the world dry.

===Examples===
*The [[Skaven]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and later [[Age of Sigmar]] borrow many Nazi-esque elements, which in turn makes them the most vile and evil race in the World That Was... Only it's taken to its logical extreme, as with many things Warhammer. Nazis had a hatred for what they believed was untermenschen and believed the "Aryan" race was most pure, while the Skaven hate all other living things, including their own race, with each individual believing only themselves to be worth anything. Pack in some advanced Wunderwaffen, magical nuclear power in the form of Warpstone and chemical weapons as well and you have a solid, if over-the-top, Nazi fantasy faction.

*The [[Imperium]], to the point where they're commonly described as "Catholic '''Space-Nazis'''". Complete with gratuitous use of Nazi imagery, a doctine of racial purity and absolute hatred for the "untermenschen" (mutants, psykers, and xenos), rising to power as part of a miraculous socio-economic recovery in the wake of a catastrophe ([[Age of Strife]]/[[Great Crusade]]), a "glorious rebirth" myth harkening back to a lost golden age [[Dark Age of Technology]], numerous military structures with parallel chains of command that are all at each other's throat due to a culture-wide policy of social Darwinism, an army run by absolute fanatics with horrendously inefficient war machines they barely understand, an SS analogue in the form of the [[Adepta Sororitas]] (who coincidentally tend to be depicted as fair-haired, though skin color varies and not all orders dye their hair white). Not to mention the Imperium's justification for xenocide is almost word-for-word the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stab-in-the-back_myth| stab-in-the-back-myth] the Nazis used to try and justify their treatment of Jews and the Holocaust, only replace "Aryan" with "human" and "Jew" with "xenos".

*The Thalmor from Skyrim are a fantasy equivalent of the NSDAP, with robes that look like SS uniforms, racism, genocide of "impure elves" and religious persecution of an enemy people in a conquered realm.

*The most extensive take on the theme of Space Nazis would be the Helghast from ''Killzone'', where the people of Helgan see the ISA as Imperialist gits who forced them out of their planet for refusing their rule. Although by Shadow Fall, they become akin to Communist East Germans, being filled with political radicals and separated by a wall and all.

*If you have a fantasy/sci-fi world, it will almost certainly have some sort of Nazi analogue floating around. At the same time, Nazis also figure into a lot of [[Alternate History|alternate history]] fiction: Nazis invading England, Nazis invading America, Nazis successfully conquering the USSR, Nazis getting the Bomb first, Nazis creating an army of mutant uber-troopers, Nazis on the Moon, Nazis using occult powers to summon demons to aid them, Nazi zombies, all of these have been done. The Nazi obsession in alternate history is largely due to the fact that we consider them evil (for the right reasons), and our modern world is the result of an Allied victory. A Nazi victory would have been an mitigated disaster. That said, most people know the history of Nazi Germany in the broad strokes and can work out some of what that would mean. You might make an interesting story about a world where (for example) Toyotomi Hideyoshi conquered Korea, but most people in North America don't know a whole lot about the Imjin War or late 16th century East-Asia.

==Nazis and [[/tg/]]==
Long ago, /tg/ realized something that most competent GMs have: Nazis represent a great liberating force for any GM, for they represent a force that any player need not feel any remorse over resorting to violence against, because Nazis are the textbook template for villains in most settings. They desire world domination, see themselves as the apex species and view most others with utter contempt, wanton disregard for common life, have an industry primarily geared towards war, are the most powerful warmongers, and they have that evil-yet-sublime aesthetic to their armies. Nazis are a modern setting variant of using [[slavery|slavers]] as your enemy in a fantasy game: they have little to no redeeming values, so they're great enemy fodder.

The association gives the players a motivation and creates the understanding that these people are Completely Evil™, allowing the GM to focus on other aspects of the story. Indeed, one can get similar results by simply providing details that lead us to conclude that any group you are facing off against are this universe's version of Nazis. That said, that same context makes using Nazis a double-edged sword, and a lazy GM (or author, script writer, or whatever; this is hardly unique to roleplaying) can royally screw up if one uses them incorrectly. Used incorrectly, Nazis become a kitten-eating one-dimensional caricature of villains descended into self-parody, which ''can'' work if the world is built for it. Kitten-eating Nazis work best in "goofy" settings where it's fully possible, and indeed expected for the final boss to be Hitler himself riding a cyborg dinosaur, but in a setting trying to take itself seriously, such flat villains do just that - fall flat and fail to incite the proper emotional reaction. Remember that the '''key''' to successful Nazi use is that emotional reaction. That exportation of real world baggage is the point, perhaps the sole point to use Nazis over some other villain. Nazis have the additional problem of not even needing to be exaggerated that much to make the worst of them into something like this. So care must be taken when one plays the Nazi card, or it will come off as trite.

Entire stretches of [[d20 Modern|d20 Past]] are shown various ways to implement ''Indiana Jones''-style Nazis into any campaign during the early 1900s, and [[Savage Worlds]] has an entire supplement devoted to thwarting Nazi super-soldier plans during WWII. More clever GMs can do even more interesting things with it, such as backing up the savagery of the Nazis with [[Fist of the North Star|a humanizing element to make them more understandable, even if antagonists]], whilst another interesting setting, proposed for [[GURPS]], starts the players off ''as'' Nazis and has them turn against their former comrades as the movement becomes harder and harder to justify. It's also worth remembering that Nazis can be used for comedy as well; they ''ARE'' Germans after all, and when they're not conquering the world they're prancing around in lederhosen, drinking beer from steins and boots, and churning out hardcore bdsm pornography. All of these lead to some pretty great storytelling, just so long as the GM knows how to play them correctly and prevent them from becoming a wackier version of an [[Ork]].

...And then you have [[Racial Holy War|this bullshit]], which misses the point entirely and renders us all stupider for the knowledge of its existence.

==Nazi Gear, Weapons, and Vehicles==
If you decide to use Nazis as your bad guys at tonight's game, the link below is a brief run down of basic information on Nazi equipment. If you're planning to play them as protagonists, either make sure it's either just a historically neutral such as a combat oriented Axis and Allies game, or [[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure|well written with an enemy that rivals or]] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Domination ''surpasses'' their evil], or you're likely playing [[Racial Holy War]] and should thoroughly reconsider your life choices.

''Main Article: [[Nazi Equipment]]''

== See Also ==
* [[/pol/]]: Having fanatical adherents who would ironically be the first to be exterminated for being physically frail weebs or obese neckbeards.
** [[SJW]]: /pol/s almost exact opposite in theory, some SJWs frequently accuse their opponents of being secret Nazis. We couldn't possibly comment.
* [[Communism]], which Nazism so heavily opposed that some of the features of the Nazi regime cannot be explained except by its complete opposition to, or imitation of, the Soviet Union or Marxism-Leninism. 
* [[Fascist Italy]], Diet Nazi Germany.
* The [[Skaven]], who play straight some of the Nazi tropes like the concept of the Master Race and seeing all the other races as inferior "things".
* The [[Imperium of Man]], which despite what most people think is not Fascist, barring planets ruled by [[Ecclesiarchy|shitheads]]. This does not stop Neo-Nazis from fawning over it, which just shows how little they know of their own ideology, Imperium, or the fact Imperium is supposed to be evil (if the lesser one) and not something to aspire for. Neo-Nazis will try to co-opt anything which could, out of context, be spun as pro-nazi.

[[Category:History]][[Category:Not related]][[Category:Pure Evil]]