The expert in warfare says:
Rather than dare make the attack
I’d take the attack;
rather than dare advance an inch
I’d retreat a foot.
—Laozi, Tao Te Ching (tl. Ursula K. LeGuin and J. P. Seaton)
Much of this information is synthesized and paraphrased from the corebook and Across the Eight Directions (with some additions and modifications based on what has been discussed in the server) as a primer.
Kin, Land, and Spirit
Mountainous Vaneha is a land literally blessed by its geography. Nestled between the Yellow and Maruto Rivers like a babe in its mother’s arms, its people settle beside upland lakes, in fertile valleys, and across foothills. Many peaks are sites of power or abodes to spirits, but foremost among them is sacred Ama-Ni-Traya, at whose foot the capital Jibei stands. A site of tremendous geomantic power, Vanehans say it is the center of the world.
The people living in Vaneha’s valleys and mountains group themselves into clans, most of them older than the name of Vaneha itself. Each clan consists of all the families and people who call its native region home and venerates one of the Ninety-Nine Stars, the gods that watch over Vaneha, as its tutelary deity and spiritual parent. Each clan is responsible for its region’s prosperity and enforcing the decrees of Sword Prince Gensuji, whose patron is The First and Hundredth, foremost among the Ninety-Nine. Gensuji rules Vaneha as a whole by divine right, embodied in his possession of the Imperial Daiklave—and by the hostage-guests from each clan’s ruling family that he entertains in the capital.
The hostages’ lavish mansions account for an outsized portion of Jibei’s area, compared to their part in its population. No doubt this accounts in part for the City of the Sword’s fabled beauty even among other Vanehan cities. Soldiers drill and common folk conduct their business on plazas and thoroughfares cleverly threaded between less prestigious estates or under balconies, hidden behind hedges or overhangs up close and picturesquely frenetic when viewed at a distance from the prince’s dragon-backed manse or the immediately surrounding manors of his most trusted clans. Jibei’s architects are masters of their trade, for the city’s layout is also geomantic, directing Ama-Ni-Traya’s essence through the sanctums of clan gods and safely into the water of Agate Lake.
Looking Outward
As long as there have been Sword Princes, they have turned their swords to conquest, for a sword demands to be wielded. Most recently, this has been internal, as Gensuji’s grandfather Tenraji reunited the empire just over three decades ago after nearly two centuries of civil war between the clans. But Vaneha was a conquering power once, and the Imperial Daiklave sings with Gensuji’s ambition to make it so again.
His first project of conquest is the currently ongoing siege of Nathir, a city-state at the confluence of the Maruto and Yellow and the only land between the rivers and the great palisade not currently under the sword. As such, and being both a major trade port and home to a lodge of demonologists, it is a crucial testing ground for the viability of Gensuji’s ambitions. While the city is unquestionably the underdog in this conflict, it is not a soft target, and an embarrassment here would be a political disaster for the Sword Prince.
To the north, across the Yellow River, lie the Hundred Kingdoms. Vaneha has at times ruled the south of this region, and Gensuji’s ultimate dream is to conquer them all. These squabbling principalities can agree on little, but none of them fancies being ruled by somebody else’s prince. Doubtlessly they are moving to prepare for an invasion and watching the siege of Nathir closely, foremost of them all Theris, whose eponymous capital is just across the river but a few dozen miles upstream of Nathir. Taking this fledgling republic would grant Vaneha a chokehold on river trade heading from the eastern stretch of the Yellow to the River Province and vice versa.
The only direction in which Vaneha does not possess natural defenses is east, where the foothills of its mountains become lost in the beginnings of the great eastern forest. Vanehans call this area in its entirety the Scantling Territories, but it is home to many distinct peoples including the vulture-warriors of Lot; the Hetaki grass-lizard folk; the mercenary nonbeastfolk princedoms of Bijun; and Vanehan refugees. To deter raids, historically common during Vaneha’s weaker periods, a Great Palisade is constantly being built, repaired, and expanded—forced labor on the Palisade is a common punishment for criminals and debtors.
South across the Maruto, but east of the Sandy River, lie the diverse Serpoletic city-states, whose noble families intermarry with supernatural entities to infuse their bloodlines with power. This custom is strange to Vanehans, though godbloods aren’t unheard of among the clans and some believe the imperial line itself carries the First and Hundredth’s blood. Regardless, Vaneha’s princes have historically sought trade more than conquest to the south. Taking the Hundred Kingdoms is a matter of pride and the higher priority, though who knows where Gensuji’s gaze might turn should the north fall? For their part, cities such as Nechara and Meresh have their own problems in the raiders of the Anathema-backed Broken Horn tribe.
Finally, cross not the Maruto west of Isgari, where the Sandy River joins it. Beyond lie only the Pox Plains of Dead Laris. This lamentable province was long ago razed by remnants of First-Age weaponry and sorcerous defenses no less terrible than the destruction they were to guard against. Hungry ghosts and barely-functional automata are the main inhabitants of its ruined cities now and the Fair Folk haunt wyld-twisted wilderness. Nomadic bands or small settlements with nowhere better to live and wildlife hardy or terrible enough to survive make up the mortal population. But it is also a destination for scavenger lords with more dreams than sense in their heads—some of them in Gensuji’s off-the-record employ.
The Dragons
The Immaculate Philosophy holds no great cachet in Vaneha, though many who live in trade cities know of it in the abstract. Both Lookshy and the Realm are far away, and it’s hard to imagine a creed less compatible with the layout of the Vanehan state.
But nobody can totally ignore the Princes of the Earth. While any Immaculate sermonizing is strenuously rejected, direct trade with distant Greyfalls is minor but welcomed with open arms. And Immaculates who don’t get caught preaching can sometimes find an open ear among those who chafe under the current order.
Vaneha’s history with Lookshy is more complicated, though the city lies nearly two thousand miles downriver. Lookshy has in the past maintained military contracts with some of Vaneha’s enemies, including Nathir, and during one particularly weak period the Seventh Legion even briefly annexed several Vanehan cities.
The Guild
Though no cities within Vaneha are hub cities, the Guild does brisk trade in Vaneha, bringing luxury imports and distributing Vanehan wine, qat, and weapons across the East—though exports of weaponry have all but ceased in recent years, being redirected to Gensuji’s armies.
During the centuries of civil war, the Guild gained a massive foothold facilitating trade between clans and with the outside world. While the Sword Prince would love to curb its influence and has solicited protectionist policy proposals from his advisors in the past, he can ill afford to antagonize the merchants too much lest Nathir or his political opponents face a sudden windfall of resources.
One thing Vaneha neither buys nor sells is slaves. The palisade is built by captives or criminals and rarely suffers labor shortages. And while the clan heads and princes have no particular compunction about extracting forced labor domestically, the idea of Vanehans being enslaved to non-Vanehans is distasteful to them.