Lhasa: Map and Storyline

Well then, let's see.

If the Empire is based on Rome with fantasy influences, then.... I nominate the Tang Dynasty for official influence of the Lhasa area!

Tang is where much of the more fashionable Asian history originates, and was massive influence on the surrounding cultures. From what I understand, many of the quintessential Japanese, Korean, and of course all the later Chinese tropes have their roots in Tang-ear China. Or vice versa?

Anyhoo, China in this era seems fairly cosmopolitan and ... (I hate this word, it's hard to get more subjective in a single word)... progressive. Lots of foreign culture pouring in and being disseminated, altered, cut to fit. Women are fond of fancy hairstyles, dresses are more comfortable and looser, and wearing men's clothing is not the taboo it will be later on.

Also they exist around the same time as Rome so + 1 for getting the empires all time-synchronized.

Here's a fashion timeline. For women's clothes. Men tend to care a little less about their fashion history, so dedicated pages for "Tang Dynastymen's fashion" are hard to come by.

However, a quick Google of "mens tang dynasty clothing" pulls up results like this:


   

Almost elven, no?

Or... maybe the other way around?

And the armor: two swords, woven scale, topknot. The bracers and greaves are solid instead of splint, and there are definitely boots at the bottom, not sandals, and the swords, though single-edged are straight... but you can see the resemblance? 

From the timeline and culture sharing, I suspect the proto-samurai got a few of his dress and weapon ques from these chines soldiers. Obviously there are differences with the evolution over time, and the Japanese went down a path the Chinese did not but still it's close enough to make me wonder.

Also this picture will be relevant.



Trust me.

So, my idea for this land is that; with a Tang base-culture (If indeed the Empire has a Roman base-culture, and the Northmen have a Nordic base-culture), we see each province governed by a wizard of the golden dragon.

Each wizard is more or less free to make laws in his realm, so long as they do not conflict with the wishes of the dragon and so we have a range of regional quirks.

In classic fantasy culture-blend style, to get distinct province flavors I would mix cultures into the base-Tang dependent on geography.


Nanyang is mostly pine woods, and it is somewhat isolated. I would take the black forest tropes, and a dash of Stranger Things and put them in Tang to make a sleepy logging province, who's wizard being far from the dragon, dabbles in the darker magics. The policeman/investigator is a classic character in Chinese opera, so picture the investigator from house of flying knives, except instead of looking for rebels, he's on the trail of secret government-summoned entities.




Each province could be abstracted in this way:

A wizard, a theme, folklore, blended with Tang.

Xianyao could have Rhineland Germany mixed with Tang: people in river valley, defending the borders, plate-armored knights etched with dragon symbols and with silk surcoats.



He already has dragon wings on his helmet: he's halfway there!

Now the hairstyle picture reminded me of 17-century France with the fancy clothes and the powder and the big hair. 

 

And since the Empire has some more modern additions, (sword hilt finger rings, medieval theocratic elements, steel, etc) and is the most powerful empire, so I'm thinking that the current trend in Lhasa is that Imperial stuff is fashionable. You see more and more Roman elements mixing with the culture, perhaps the younger people are in silk togas with scarves and whatnot, or you can find amorphae of gaurm in the local market, maybe Imperial is a second language for many of them, or there are temple of Paragon here and there?

And perhaps the elves get their fashion ques from (to them) distant and exotic Lhasa? Long hair on men, straight single-edged swords, silk - all becoming more popular with the younger elves?

I say this before seeing what the diplomatic status is, so take it with a grain of salt.


Basically I want to avoid the idea that this particular fantasy china is fated to become Han Dynasty, or Communist or what not, and that it isn't just transplanted historical China and really belongs in a world with Imperials, and ancient machines, and Witches, and Elves.

I'd picture the coastal cities to be a bit more urbane, something like Dreamworks Thebes:




These cities are going to be where all of the foreign trade first comes in and so you're going to see a lot of wealth and a lot of whatever is most new in the world.


On the lower levels you have bazaars, marktplatzes, and all kinds of people from elves to imperials and perhaps the odd gold-masked undead all mingling in throngs of sailors, fishermen, and merchant captains from all around the world. 




If you were going to find the "massive fantasy bazaar" trope in this world, I think you'd find it in Tangjian. There is no Arabian mirror culture in this world, and I think that being right in between the preferable route from Silverleaf to Paragon would make Tangjian a blend of cultures that could look pretty close. I say preferable route because sailing down a warm summer coast seams preferable to rounding the top of the world and going through dark ice-ridden straights near the abandoned forest and the lands of the northmen.

That, and shipping is always going to be more efficient and faster than land travel. The boat moves 24/7 as long as there is wind and a night shift, and it carries much more cargo and needs less food than horses and oxen. If you want to get 350 tons of sugar from Silverleaf to paragon, you're not going to use a bunch of horse-drawn carts; it could take years, and all the desert and bandits and mountains you'd have to walk and feed the horses through. Nope, boat is better, and on a long trip from here to there there's a 60% chance of stopping at Tangjian.

You may even have ships that only run to Tangjian, and swap cargo there so that the respective crews get to go home more frequently.

Anyhoo, the city would be kind of tiered. Palaces of the merchants and nobles up high on hills and mountains or within walled complexes in the town connected by bridges, and underneath there would be the shops and stalls and roads for the common people and traffic.



It wouldn't be uncommon to walk past a pillared Imperial palace, a decadent Elven manor, and an elegant Lhasa home on the same street. With all of the trade I'd see canals being the cheapest and cleanest (relatively) method of distributing cargo about the city warehouses.

So, picture a tall Venice, with Chinese woodworking topping roman masonry, filled with all different kinds of people trading and bustling about from one job to another under the watchful eye of armored guards with bright uniforms.

You walk down the street brushing past some native nobles in stylish garments, bumping into few short-sleeved empire sailors, and brushing away an dirt-stained elven beggar who could be 20 or 200 for all you know. You cross a bridge over a canal, underneath of another bridge connecting a palace with an administrative building, and step into a tavern selling local Sake and Bai-jo in tin tankards with the mark of a Silverleaf smith.

How does that sound?

i found this on googled and thought it looked pretty cool, perhaps they can be enchanted jade or terra cotta statues that guard the temples and other structures

Well, I'm thinking while animated Terracotta warriors are classic fantasy Chinese fare, in Lhasa they would be limited in use.

There are so many people, humans would be cheaper for levy forces. I am thinking that some mages may use animated statues as heavy guards or for use in magical experimentation performing tasks dangerous to humans. The magical constructs would be stronger, less tiring and possibly more durable than humans. Possibly even faster and harder to kill depending on individual construction.

Warriors of Jade are easy to animate and last a long time, but are expensive and difficult to carve.
Terracotta Animi are easy to form and mold, but wear out with use, and are a bit harder to animate. The Terracotta forms also invite experimentation, so for example an Animi could be made using mostly wet clay with only the important runes fired; this form could dry out and wouldn't last long, but it could also reform limbs and absorb blows and stabs into the wet clay.

Another could be a suit of steel armor with a brass armature and clay inside. Heavier and more intelligent than animated armor, more durable and hard-hitting than an animated statue. The only downside is of course that it's as expensive as the armor that you use for it, and it's difficult to repair and expensive to replace if destroyed.

The hobgoblins might keep human peasants in their place after conquests and rule over them, with the caveat that humans are of a lower social class than the native hobgoblins.

I sense Oni themes in this.