Subject:  	Re: geography
Date: 	Sat, 15 Mar 1997 00:27:28 -0600 (CST)
From: 	Scott Johnson 
To: 	David Melik 



The message has been sent - sorry for forgetting about it for so long. 
:-)  As far as groups go, I'd definitely like to volunteer to be in the
Jikushiru group - I know a fair bit about China, but more about Japan, and
most of my ideas are forming around Jikushiru anyway.  It does occur to
me, though, that we'll still need to coordinate things between groups,
especially the events concerning both - for instance, the proposed defeat
of the Emperor of Cheung-Eun by the First Empress, Himiko, requires there
to be a reason for the Emperor to invade Jikushiru in his true Dragon
form, and that the event be the end of his 'dynasty.' But we'll cross that
bridge when we come to it, hopefully. 

Just to get in an obligatory bit of original content, I'd like to get some
opinions on just what period or equivalent people think Jikushiru should
be in as of the 'current' time.  I personally think it would be most
interesting to have a state not quite analogous to any in Japan's history,
but close, with appropriate legendary/historical resonances.
Specifically...

For quite some time now, perhaps generations, the Empress has been little
more than a figurehead sovereign.  Politics in the court and between the
great families of the land have reduced her power to nearly nothing - she
still has her ceremonial duties, and her duties as the official head of
the MShinto religion, and furthermore some of the nobles still pay
courteous respect to her opinions, but by and large the days of great
Imperial power are past.  For quite some time now, the daimyos - heads of
households, with armies of samurai and other warriors at their command -
have feuded among themselves for land, power, wealth, or honor.  While one
might not exactly call Jikushiru a war-ravaged land, it has had its
difficulties, to be sure. 

But now, one of the daimyos, with the Empress's blessing, has managed to
unite most of them under her rule, with the title of shogun.  (The word
means, roughly, general, or commander of the army.  The full title was
originally 'Seii Taishogun,' or 'Barbarian-Suppressing High General,'
referring to the office's original duties of suppressing Hinu unrest in
the north.)  Technically, the shogun rules only as a delegate of the
Empress - holding only whatever powers she chooses to grant - but in
practice, the Empress has granted rather broad powers, and it is expected
that it would be difficult for her to deny a request of the shogun. 

Fortunately, the shogun is a wise and just woman.  She has worked only for
the greater good of Jikushiru, and has been more than fair to the just
daimyos, while showing the greedy, aggressive, and corrupt ones no mercy.
The arts have flourished under her reign, as has a certain amount of trade
and interaction with foreign cultures.

The problem is that the shogun is dying.  She has perhaps a few years left
in her yet, perhaps less - but all the efforts of the best MShinto priests
and priests of Rohindartha have been to no avail in curing her illness.
And the likely successors to the shogunate look far from as promising as
she was - a strict, insular isolationist willing to let the daimyos fight
among themselves in the name of tradition, an aggressive expansionist who
wants to smash the last resisting daimyos and provinces, then lead
Jikushiru on a war of conquest into MManchuria, MKorea, and perhaps even
beyond, and a few others who would be more likely to let the shogunate
collapse completely than sustain it.  Jikushiru is currently a dynamic,
growing, exciting place to live... but its fate is shrouded in haze...

Any comments or further ideas?  Any fellow developers interested in
becoming Jikushiru specialists?

--
Scott Johnson |
zagyg@io.com  |           This space intentionally left blank.