Editing Gloria-Etalia (section)

== Suoxi-Dan Dio [Celestial Empire] ==
[[File:Celestial Empire.png|thumb|Celestial Empire]]
The Celestial Empire is one of the largest human nations and perhaps the most populous nation in Gloria-Etalia. This is due to their effectively urban-agrarian model of production, where people don’t own or live in the land they work, but rather in centralized towns and cities, and are assigned to different fields or infrastructure work by the local administrators. The Empire was the fruit of the attempts to maintain control over the large conquests of a warlord, and ended up divided in macro regions that were mostly autonomous and ruled by the local Lord Generals with an iron fist. The Celestial Emperor lives in Celestia and while formally he has full authority over the empire, the sheer travel time between the edges of his domain means he can’t enforce his wishes in far flung regions. Instead the Emperor is content to rule the central province and collect tributes on the rest but insists in maintaining a tight, crushing bureaucratic and public service in all his lands. A common joke is that the Emperor wears the crown, the generals wave the sword but Celestia is ruled by bureaucrats.

=== Culture ===
	The empire is quite xenophobic and view any non Dan Dio’s as barbarians. The population is quite wary of any newcomers or foreigners and views them as inferior to their grand and powerful nation. 
Overtime in the celestial empire the expression 'glass coin' emerged, coming from the ‘glass payment’ that the merchant empire makes to the emperor every year. It means something that's guaranteed to give you good returns over a long period of time. The citizens of the empire are intrigued by these forgien goods and trade deals, and because of this development and interest in economics has recently exploded across all levels of society. Ideas like ‘glass policies’ have gripped the government as it has become increasingly trendy to produce taxes and laws that will pay off in the long run. In the military, a new branch of thought has appeared called ‘glass warfare’. Even the peasants have become interested. The barter system is being rapidly pushed out of favor in exchange for paying for goods at a set price (usually with glass) and a new idea has formed called ‘glass deals’, where someone will pay cash upfront to a person, with the expectation that they will receive that money back and more in a few years. (The peasantry invented the idea of investments). 
Their empire has a high percentage of literate people (for a pre-modern society standard) and three official languages. High-Celestia to be spoken by the Emperor, his court and high ranking nobility, Low-Celestia that is taught to everyone, and Holy-speech, which is closer to the original, now forgotten Celestian tongue, and is used by the priesthood since it's grammar allows them to understand the holy texts. Those languages really related of course, and sem from the same root language. High-Celestian was  intentionally changed from Low-Celestian so nobility and high ranking could differentiate themselves from the rest.
Technologically, they have aqueducts, sewers and everything that involves massive human cost infrastructure because the empire use said projects as an excuse to move the slaves and military around the country so they are often in unfamiliar terrain and less likely to revolt (or to succeed if they do, vs local forces who know the place). This means roads are abundant and wide, forts and dams are present even more than needed.
Physically they are tall, caramel to ochre colored skin, white hair and asian eyes. Their material culture is really into intricate geometric patterns, and the colors red and black are associated with wealth and earthly power, white and gold are associated with religion and the heavens, and other colors, but especially blue and green, as 'poor' colors. They are traditional and a bit stagnant culturally since their massive empire is built upon culture.

=== Foreign Policy ===
	Due to the mountainous borders that separate them from the westrasi and the northern wastes, they only deal with two other nations on a regular basis. The first is the raiders, a nation and people that only reinforces their xenophobic views. Warlords have small livies posted along the border to drive off any large incursion, but small raids are still a common occurrence. The second nation is the Merchant Empire. In the past, the Celestial Emperor got impressed with an exotic good: colored glass. The merchant empire offered to sell this to them, and the emperor agreed. To go around the bureaucratic process of adding an exception to their isolationist trade policies, the Emperor sold a small island of the coast of the mainland called Yisuxi to the merchant empire in exchange for a large fixed amount of colored glass goods to be paid directly to the empire  every year. This tribute eventually became a bit clumsy to pay so they started to pay the agreed value in coins. The Merchant Empire always pays on time, because the island makes them so much money they easily make a profit. The two empires refer to that as the 'glass payment'. 
=== History ===
=== Religion ===
Celestial religion sees the Emperor as a minor deity, or the living avatar of the All-Father or Heaven-King, the main deity of the Celestial Pantheon. Celestial Religion is a mix between Polytheism and Animism, where they believe there's a pantheon of nine deities (Two Major Deities and seven 'minor' ones), but also that the six essential elements have a minor shared conscience and many things have a 'spirit' inside them, who receive local worship.<br>
Heaven-King is represented as a sage with long white beard, clad in golden scaled armor and holding a shepherd scepter in one hand, and a pair of orbs in the other. He's the God of Rulers, family, order, and the Empire itself.<br>
The second major deity is his wife, the serpent-dragon. Mythos say the serpent-dragon had no gender, and the Heaven-King carved her female parts so that she could lay the egg that became the world. They believe that's why women bleed on their first time, that the male having sex with them is finishing to 'carve' her into a full fledge women, and that's why the bleed monthly too. A wound from the Sky-Father sword never heals. Even through generations.
The seven smaller deities are:
# . '''Kryzhan''': His long white hair is the snow of white and cover the mountains in ice. He is the first born of the Heaven-King, after the world was made.
# . '''Sha-Xuan''': The Night and Darkness. She's Kryzhan's twin, both after him. This is why nights are longer in winter, she takes longer to go away when she can stare at the twins he misses. This is also why snow accumulates in high mountains, Kryzhar wanna be closer to his sister.
# . '''Din-Zhu''': The First Human and patron of cities and craftsman. He molded clay into his wife, Taisha.
# . '''Taisha''': Wife of Din-Zhu. She's the goddess of fertility as from her womb spawned the race of men.
# . '''Krokotan''': Foreign deity adopted long ago, included as a major deity now. It's literally a huge humanoid crocodile. Celestians believe he will one day eat the Serpent Dragon and the Egg of the World.
# . '''Guan Jin''': First born of Taisha. Is the patron of soldiers and warriors.
# . '''Zin Wan''': The spirit of the wind and patron of sailors, Guan Jin younger brother, he gave his body do the race of men could eat. Without a body, he became the wind.
====Origin ====
The Celestian Empire grew along the Heaven's Tongue (Dan-Fo) River. the flood plains surrounding most of the river were home to many small settlements of shepherds, while nomad pasture roaming tribes existed around them. For thousands of years this cultures coexisted, raiding and fighting for territory. As tool craftsmanship evolved, the sedentary communities near the river diversified into agriculture and grew in numbers, forming several city-states and micro kingdoms, while the nomad's technological advancements came mostly from trading with these cities. Centuries of stability in the region led to the parallel development of these communities, until one of the nomad tribes introduced as the new breed of horse bred for war, and the long bamboo lance. Those two inventions together allowed them to defeat most other tribes in battle, and eventually built into a sufficiently strong army to threaten the River Kingdoms, as they were called. The conquest of the River Kingdoms by the nomad warlord Dan Su-Do led to the first unification of the Suoxi humans in the region. These kingdom would grow and splinter into two smaller kingdoms at Dan Su-Do's death. In the centuries following, the civilization in the area flourished in several large kingdoms. It would be six hundred years after Dan Su-Do's death that a second great King would united the region, this time his edge being not technological warfare, but the riches from Emerald trade allowing him to hire tribal mercenaries from the neighbouring regions to subdue his neighbours, and settle said mercenaries into the newly conquered lands, allowing them and their families to move in. These man's magnitude of conquest was unrivaled, and for many years, stories about him were deemed fable in far away kingdoms. But Tinq Kisari was very real. By the time of his death, after forty years of mostly successful campaigns, his domain occupied half of the current extent of the Celestial Empire.

In Tinq Kisari's death, his generals elected among themselves a 'High General' called Qung Lao to continue to command the growing army into further conquests, and this became a tradition. This era is known as the Commander's Tent (Xin-On) Era, as the 'Emperors' of that time (they did not use that title yet), were generals ruling from their campaign tents. Eventually the conquests were so fast, the generals had to splinter their armies to double back and crush rebellions as the main body of the army marched on. Years of this led to the division of the Empire in macro regions where each Lord-General would rule as governor, establishing forts and managing the local army. Once the Empire reach the natural limits of the mountains and plains, the Xin-On era ended, and the High General moved back to Tinq Kisari's home city by the Dan-Fo delta, naming it the City of the Celestial Heavens and Many Great Things, or Celestia as foreigners would translate it. The High General named himself Emperor and established the basis of the modern empire. A standing army fed and paid for by the work of the urban population. An agrarian system where the population lived in towns and cities, rather than the fields they worked in. They worked the fields who belonged to the local Lord General, effectively the governor, and were assigned different plots everyday, and even infrastructure projects in others. Fields hands were expected to know the basics of earth work and construction and were used as a massive labor force by the estate. City dwellers who knew a craft belonged to a higher caste, free from field work, but still would need to use their skills for the benefit of the empire if asked. To keep track of obligations, a extensive public service of bureaucrats slowly developed, and they became their own social class in time, almost as prestigious as the lower ranking officers of the standing army.

==== The Nine Golden Heads ====
The Nine Golden Heads are nine High generals of the Celestial Empire from the Xi-On era that each were defeated and killed in conflicts relating to the Magna Orde.

1. Xu-Fan Who first attempted conquest of the ethnic Tnz in the north. He believed in the "Pursuit of the Peak" a belief that the Celestial culture was destined to reach the Izil Mountains. Aetl's defeat and slaying of Xu-Fan was a major reason why he was able to amass the political power to form the Second Great Orde.

2. Me-Fong was a defensive general who decided to consolidate past conquests instead of pursuing Xu-Fan's foolishness. Aeetle led an army of raiders on Lionback down the Dan-Fo river and burned Ion-Dan to the ground. The ash run off from the river causes crops to wilt for a full two years. Me-Fong was assinated by her own guards and her head was presented to the great Han in tribute.

3. Xaan-Du lead the Celestial Empire at a time where it almost collapsed. They were fortunate in that the decentralized system of kingdoms and fifes prevented a total conquest by the Magna Orde unlike the Tnz who had a strong link of culture and identity to hew to, most Celestial petty kingdoms had no strong ties so the Great Han could basically conquer a village at a time. Xaan-Du claimed the title of High General but really only had the loyalty of the most prosperous cities in the south east. Aetl Han spent ten years hunting down the general until he met them in single combat and fed them to the Giant Lion Az-To.

4. Gan-Ru is widely held as the worst "emperor" in celestial history. In fear of the Great Orde they bought off the raids with massive amounts of gold and tribute. This bankrolled The Magna Orde's conquests across the great plains and let the Orde become the greatest empire of its era. The tribute demands caused massive economic depression in the celestial empire and Gan-Ru was killed by an uprising in his "Golden Tent"

5. Ton-Zu was a military genius who was born a peasant in the central Celestial subcontinent. He amassed loyal followers and was able to band several generals under his command. He led a counter strike deep into the heart of Orde territory and was considered by Aeetl to be "My fondest enemy." On the eve of an epic campaign to clash with the assembled might of three Orde batllaiins of Lion Chariots, Tom-Zu died of a heart attack.

6. La-Mi was the claimed daughter of Ton-Zu and led the brunt of the bloodiest battles between the Empire and the Great Orde . By this time Aetl has decided to focus on governing his massive advanced empire instead of dealing with further conquests. She signed a peace with Yne Great Orde and many belive they had a relationship.
7. Tanz -Han was the first leader of wider Celestial civilization with known foriegn blood. Called "the Bronze bastard" he led a civil war against his Mother La-Mi that raged at the same time the Magna Orde was being invaded by the Kara Khanate. The armies of Tanz-Han and La-Mi devasted themselves and both were proclaimed dead. (Traditionally held to be the same day Aetl Han died in battle against Kara Khan)

8. Qi-Chon was a peaceful and gentle minded general who saw the fall of the great Horde to the west as an opportunity for peace. Unfortunately every minor Han saw invading the east as a way to gain acclaim and be seen as the next Great Han. Qi-Chin survived 40 raids and assorted assassination attempts until they died from suicide from the stress.

9. Baal-Zchrun was a wizard in the employ to Qi-Chon that rose to power via dark magics learned from imported magic texts from the west. Their reign of blood fear and terror stabilized the Celestial Empire and lead to the first new conquests in most of living history . They were the first Celestial Leader to gain permanent land in Tnz Territory but this dark power came at a price and they went mad from mystic influence.

===Nation===
==== Dandio'Orda ====
Conquored Tnz'rans who are native to the northern Celestial Empire. They are the predominant ethnic group there, but are fiercely loyal and have little separatist ambitions currently. They pride themselves in the loyalty to the Siouxians and see themselves as equals to them. Other Ordes see them as just another Orde "allied" to the Celestials and treat them as such. The other Ordes represent them as a separate state on their maps and demand to discuss political issues with a Dandio'Orda representative instead of an imperial representative when dealing with their northern territory.

=== Kingdom of Ivory ===
The Ivory Kingdom occupies a peninsula covered in jungles and swamps, laid with a thousand rivers. In cities of stone surrounded by rice paddies, the Taj lords and ladies enrich themselves with the commerce of silk, jungle spices and a drug called the Fiend-Kiss, a powerful narcotic that causes relaxation and lethargy when burned and inhaled like incense.

====Culture====
Ivory Kingdom natives are called Nangi, out of the kingdom's native word for itself. Nangi is a highly patriarchal culture, a warrior like society that values cunning, the ability to acquire and maintain wealth and status, and honor. It's best to die a honorable Nangi than live as a dishonorable pariah. However, only the ruling caste is thought to have 'honor'. You are born with it and may lose it entirely, ceasing to be a noble. Though great deeds are understood to 'increase' one's one. It's not measurable but there's a social consensus of who has more and less. This unofficial count plays a big role in the corts.

====Religion====
Half of Nangi follow foreigner religions brought by traders from the west, and Celestian pantheon. The other half follow the ancestral worship of the Nagas, the race of serpent people, godlike and immortal, and their serpent gods.

====Organization====
The Taj-Mai rules the Ivory kingdom from the Ivory Throne. The Taj-Nang rule their own fortress cities (nangs), almost fully independently. Taj lords always ride into battle astride an elephant

====Origin====
Founded around the year 3400 as the local cities were united in conquest by the first Taj-Mai

====Diplomacy====
The jungles are the only thing protecting them from the Ordes. The Ivory kingdom enjoys trading relations with many kingdoms, including the Merchant Empire. They are, however, suspicious of outsiders when not trading.

====Geography====
Low land jungles covered in rivers, with swamps white sand beaches. The kingdom is almost flat, except for rocky low hills in the jungle. 

=====The Gulf of Nang=====
The Gulf of Nang off the coast of the Kingdom of Ivory is usually a placid place. It's shallow warm and dotted with small islands. Most are little more than sand bars, uninhabitable due to the lack of freshwater, but near the port of Dan-Nang the islands are tall pillars of limestone, festooned with forests and fed by the yearly monsoons.
Once a year on a quiet summer evening when the moon is full the giant moon jellyfish of the southern ocean gather to spawn. These jellies are known to be both sentient and telepathic, but outside this short period when they breed they are hardly ever seen.
The psychic backwash from the spawning event is supposedly considerable but is rarely felt by anyone on the mainland. The local fishermen like to take their wives out with them fishing on these nights, but for some reason, the catch usually seems to be great down compared to normal.