After seeing Merlkir's historical writing on TEATRC's universe, I just had to try my hand at it. I got really bored tonight and decided to write this on the Long Guo Empire, considering I'm Chinese it was a logical choice on my part
. Its a long read, unfortunately, but I consider it at least mediocre!
A Brief History of the Xi People:
The Founding of the Long Guo Empire:
In the beginning of the modern era, a people known collectively as the Xi resided on the coast of the Gulf of Daugavirva. Physically, there is little difference between them and their neighbors such as the Mylesians, the Kara Khitan, and the Khergits. What defines their culture is the universal monopoly these people shared with access to the fertile coast line of the Gulf of Daugavira, and their need to band together to preserve their way of life from the many pastoral nomadic people that surrounded them, as well as their unique mindset that focused on logic rather than religion.
Early in their history, the people of the Xi found themselves in an era of prosperity. The Gulf of Daugavirva is one of the largest fresh water reserves in the known world, and this made the coast of this geographic feature unparalleled in potential when the technology of agriculture began to spread throughout the world. Because of this, there are many historians that believe that the rise of cities and organized societies first came into being due to the Xi people. However, many scholars of the Lion Throne protest this theory adamantly, insisting that Ellis was the seed of civilization, pointing out the fertile lowlands.
For a time, the Xi people concentrated around the banners of various city states that squabbled amongst each other. However they soon had greater concerns than that of ancient tribal rivals that sometimes drew these fractured city states into conflict: the neighbors of the Xi, almost exclusively nomadic people whose primary source of food was cattle, constantly struggled under the demanding circumstances that the bare steppes imposed on them. They soon looked toward the fertile plains of Daugavirva as rich grazing lands that they could rely on for generations to come, and with their united power flung themselves into conflict with the Xi agriculturalists.
At first the individual city states attempted to resist, but soon no one could deny that any single power on the Coast of Daugavirva could stand against the power of the nomadic peoples. An emergency council was called by the many city states based on the western side of the Daugavirva Gulf, those in greatest need to stave off the nomadic invasion. In the major city of Long Guo, a council made up of every major ruler, representative, and warlord who held power in the Daugavirva region unanimously approved of the formation of a major alliance to defend their homes from the massive horde of nomadic people flooding out of the steppes in the west. This would be the founding of the Daugavirva League, which would evolve into the Long Guo Empire.
The Rise of Xiao Ming Dun:
Following the formation of this alliance, a Commander of Arms was appointed to lead the unified armies of the Daugavirva League against the Steppe Horde. Because of the council’s general suspicion of one another, the Commander of Arms was not allowed to be a general of any of the city states that took part. Instead, Xiao Ming Dun, a mercenary company leader renowned for his strategic and tactical brilliance, was given this position and the mandate to defend the member states of the Daugavirva League. Xiao Ming Dun’s brilliant military mind and demand for discipline in the Daugavirva League’s armies allowed for the creation of an unmatched professional army along with the defeat of the Steppe Horde that threatened the Daugavirva League.
Xiao Ming Dun was honored by the council for his near flawless defense of the Daugavirva League by being elected as the first Head of the Council in the coalition’s history. He swiftly began a flurry of administrative and bureaucratic reforms that gradually transformed the fractured coalition into an organized state. He left the application of the reforms to his friend Xan De Wen, and left with his armies to the east on a mission of reprisal and revenge to cripple the three semi-organized nomadic states that had formed from the fragments of the Steppe Horde. For the next ten years Daugavirva continued to advance and grow into world power as Xiao Ming Dun burned and salted the earth as he drove from south to north through the territories of the Kara-Khitan Confederation, Mylesia, and the Khergit Khanate.
But while the fighting was difficult during this campaign due to the hardy nature of nomadic steppe people, there was no true opposition that had any hope of defeating Xiao Ming Dun. During this time, the Council Leader of the Daugavirva League worked painstakingly on a problem he had come to realize when he set off on this campaign, which was the role of succession once his death. While officially the leader of the Daugavirva League was suppose to be voted into power by the various council members every 3 years, this formality had been completely forgotten as Xiao Ming Dun showed his competence of governing the League as a whole. He knew all too well that the coalition would crumble into chaos once he died, as they would grow to rely upon his character that is far too rare in human beings. The next ten years of campaigning would also be a battle for him to create a Dynasty that could last the tests of time.
On the tenth year of the campaign, Xiao Ming Dun and his armies returned to the now transformed city of Long Guo, victorious and welcomed. Before any other business was attended to, Xiao Ming Dun walked into the council chamber and declared the founding of the Long Guo Empire. Along with this establishment he also raised the tenants of what was to be regarded by some as one of the most successful succession systems in history. Xiao Ming Dun’s system of succession was for each of his heirs, once they reach the age of 15 years, to be given governing powers over one of the poorest city states in the Long Guo Empire.
The poorest cities would be listed, according to how many sons there were, and the poorest given to the eldest. So the fifth poorest city in the Empire would be given to the fifth son of the ruler. Once given their appropriate cities, they would be responsible entirely in its well being and essentially treat it as their own kingdom. They were to make the most effective government system, keep their people happy, and raise their own armies. Upon the death of the dynasty’s former ruler, the sons will battle amongst each other with their cities as their weapons. When only one son is left alive, he becomes the new ruler.
Xiao Ming Dun created this system because he realized that the most skilled leaders were created by conflict and strife, and the most naïve and ineffective were created in times of peace. In order to create a hardened ruler for the Long Guo Empire, he had to simulate a time of strife for his many heirs in order to harden their souls and force them to prove themselves worthy of power. By restricting each of his sons to a single city, he spared the Empire from full scale civil wars that could weaken it beyond repair. Xiao Ming Dun knew his succession right was radical, but was prepared to defend it for the preservation of the Xi people.
The Gem of Daugavirva:
However, upon finishing his proclamation, the council passed the measure with thunderous applause. Unbeknownst to Xiao Ming Dun, Xan De Wen had not been idle during these past 10 years in creating the thriving Long Guo Empire he had returned to. Along with the inner structuring of the Empire, Xan De Wen’s effective government institutions were followed up by a Logic Cult that he himself had instigated. Unlike other people at the time, the Xi people began looked to the power of logic and the universe as a whole as a being, instead of praising an omnipotent god or a pantheon. This helped destroy the tribal bonds that had divided the Xi people, as this new thinking helped forge the cultural identity the Xi people now pride themselves on. As the Xi people reaped the rewards of the effective government they now found themselves under thanks to the logical leaders Xiao Ming Dun and Xan De Wen, it was not long for a Stoic culture to develop in the Long Guo Empire and for logic to reign supreme. In this sense it is not surprising that we see the scholars of the Xi, not the warriors, become the class elite in the Long Guo Empire. Xiao Ming Dun’s succession rights were seen as both logical and efficient, and were passed without protest.
This was the founding of the Long Guo Empire, and Xiao Ming Dun’s succession rights proved to be effective beyond belief. The combination of competent rulers and the logical mindset of the citizenry in the Long Guo Empire began an age of prosperity that lasted for countless generations, with the Long Guo becoming the technological capital of the world. Improved metal crafting and weapons such as the crossbow were invented by the Long Guo, and they also created many advanced sailing technologies that are still in use today such as sails and the compass. Their Empire grew massive in size, equal to that of the Ellis Empire in the west, who they frequently came into conflict with. They created a massive string of fortifications know as the Battlement of the Scholar and the Strategist that stretching from the Sea of Kara-Khitan to the cold northern Halmar mountain ranges that created an unassailable barrier between themselves and the Ellis. The Legions of the Ellis Empire tried many times to create breaches in this vast string of fortifications, but generations would pass until the Long Guo fell from grace.
Fall of the Jade Throne:
It was Shun Du, possible heir to the Jade Throne that caused the demise of the only Empire that could at the time call itself an equal to the Ellis. During his childhood, he was used as a political hostage and exchanged to the Ellis so that a peace treaty could be conducted following the 4th Dual Imperial War. He would spend three years in the care of the Ellisian Imperial Court, and this unusually piece of his childhood would affect him in a way that no one could have guessed.
He returned to the Long Guo Empire following the conclusion of the negotiations at the age of 15, and received his city to govern, at the edge of the frontier with the Ellisian Empire. To any observer, nothing was amiss, but Shun Du had learned much from the cruel court of the Ellisian Senate. At this time the Ellisian Empire had a string of Emperors and also a senate body that, unlike the Long Guo Council, could only act in an advisory role and held no real power. Despite this, senate positions were extremely sought after and both political and physical back stabbings were frequent and common place in Ellis politics. Shun Du did not care for taking the Jade Throne through legitimate means, and instead decided to follow the teachings of his Ellisian tutors.
On the day of the death of Hyung Khi the Last, his many sons gathered their armies together and marched to war to decide the fate of the Jade Throne. Shun Du, however, did the unthinkable: he sided with Ellis and opened his portion of the Battlement of the Scholar and the Strategist, letting the innumerable Legions of Ellis poor into the vulnerable countryside of the Long Guo Empire. The war was quick, bloody, and decisive. The Long Guo were an extremely powerful Empire, but even their military might was no match for the Ellisian Legions without the advantage of their key defense.
However, Shun Du’s s agreement would never come to pass. He had been guaranteed the Long Guo Empire, and in exchange he had promised the Ellisian Emperor many land concessions as well as a normalization of relations between the factions. But the Ellisian Empire had no need for a puppet regime when they could simply destroy their competition forever. Ellis conquered Long Guo in five months, and while they left it in a state of semi-autonomy, this was in all affects the end of the Long Guo as they became subjects of the Ellisian Emperor. They swiftly put Shun Du to death and eradicated the blood line of Xiao Ming Dun, the Jade Throne remains vacant to this day.
Following their conquest by the Ellis, they would remain subjects of the Ellisian Emperor until the Empire began to decay. Following the Ellis abandonment of the eastern provinces, the Khergit nomadic people swiftly subjugated the Xi people as well as many of the former Ellisian eastern provinces. They would gain some political freedoms that they had previously not received under the rule of the Ellis with the promise of their troops to the Khergit cause. However any hope of eventually gaining full independence, and perhaps a rebirth of the past glory of the Long Guo Empire ended at the Battle of Shiri Malik Fields.
The Battle of Shiri Malik Fields:
The Khergits, believing the Lion Throne to be weak following its incursion into Calradia, launched an invasion of its Eastern Province with all of its military might and that of the Long Guo, leaving the Ormeli to occupy the north. The Pope of the Lion Throne is said to have laughed at the news of the Khergit Horde marching towards Mylesia, calling them heretical fools and that God had guaranteed their demise. He called forth King Priest Horso Kirpato to crush the infidels and gave him an army of monstrous proportions to defeat them, an army that was a mere drop in the bucket for the war machine of the Lion Throne.
The Two forces clashed just outside the Mylesian border near the settlement of Shiri Malik, the Lion Throne arrayed their massive army in its splendor on the field. However, while it was large, there was still a possibility of victory for the Khergit Khan. The army was mainly comprised of Brigadiers, Eastern Auxiliaries, and a large force from Gunther Piedmont. Also accompanying them was four entire Legions of Ellisian Legionaries. The 2nd, 19th, 34th, and 26th Legios were the least damaged following the fall of the Ellis Empire, and they were bolstered in numbers by survivors of less fortunate Legios to make them full in number. King Priest Horso Kirpato arrayed his formation so that the Ellisian Legions held the right flank of his formation, while the center was held fast by his Brigadiers and the left anchored by the Gunners of Gunther Piedmont. The Eastern Auxiliaries were to be used as screeners.
Sanjar Khan realized that the Lion Throne army lacked a large quantity of heavy horsemen that would have canceled out his large banners of lancers. He decided to launch continued charges of heavy horse into the center of the Lion Throne army, hoping to trample down the predominantly sword armed Brigadiers. However, he also realized the Ellis could provide an extremely potent threat to his cavalry with their long spears and iron discipline, and decided to prevent their forces from shifting by sending the armies of Long Guo against the spear walls of the Ellisian Legions.
What took place was a great battle that spanned the entire day, with great loss on both sides. Sanjar Khan’s heavy lancers smashed into the center of King Priest Horso’s line relentlessly, withering away at the shining blocks of steel that were the Brigadiers. On the right flank of the Lion Throne army, a vicious melee took place for the entire day, with the Ellisian Legionaries and Long Guo Halberdiers slaughtering each other in a horrendous meat grinder. Old rivalries die hard, as even though both their empires had crumbled before them, their hatred for their enemy drove them on with the ferocity of demons. The Kara Khitan archers were supposed to support the Ellisians with their composite bows, but they found them to be ineffective against the Long Guo segmented scale mail. They were slaughtered by volley after volley of Long Guo Dragon Crossbows.
As the battle wore on, King Priest Horso realized that his lack of heavy cavalry could spell his defeat. His infantry would soon be overrun by the continuous charge of the Khergit Lancers. Attempts by the Mylesian horsemen to counter the Khergit proved disastrous as they simply could not match their impervious armor and heavy horse. His only hope was to smash the enemy with all his forces as they reformed and reorganized to charge, for it was at this point that they were most vulnerable. However, Sanjar Khan knew this and always charged with half of his heavy lancer corps, having the other half already formed up in position and resting for the next assault. If the Lion Throne attacked, the second charge would assault and prevent them from striking the decisive blow they needed. He prayed to Filaharn for a victory, for he knew his cause to be just.
The Gunners of Gunther Piedmont continued to repulse skirmishing horse archers on their flank, their gunfire continuous throughout the day. At the darkest hour of the battle, when it appeared the Brigadiers in the center of the line would be massacred in but a few more charges, a miracle took place. The wind, which had previously been blowing north, began to blow west. Huge clouds of smoke from the musket fire of the Gunther Piedmont contingent suddenly drifted between the two armies and shrouded the Lion Throne forces from the watchful eyes of Sanjar Khan.
The Khan was not taken back, however, and thought of this as an opportunity. He believed the Lion Throne would wait to see if the heavy lancers would charge again before deciding what to do with the current situation, and instead of doing so decided to use the time to organize his lancers into one massive spear point that would break the back of the Lion Throne army once and for all. He sent messengers out silently to all the lancer commanders to reorganize the formation.
But King Priest Horso took this as a sign of divine intervention, and knew that Filaharn smiled on him. He clutched his rosary that dangled from his neck and steeled his heart, ordering the entire center and left wing of the army to charge forward in the name of Filaharn and crush the invaders. He knew he was taking a gamble, for if his army ran into a Khergit charge it was sure to be crushed, caught in the open and out of its defensive formation, but he had faith in his cause. The men of Gunther Piedmont raised the one banner of the army, the Radiant Cross, atop a great war machine that had only just barely held the left flank. It was hauled by half a dozen behemoth elephants draped in armor and bristled with over three score of cannon. With the fell of his hand, King Priest Horso ordered the massive charge.
From the gunnery smoke emerged the full force of the Lion Throne, a fanatical charge of unequaled fury. The Khergits were still in the middle of organizing their formation, and effective resistance proved impossible as the power of the Radiant Cross slammed into them. The war machine of Gunther Piedmont lead the charge in the very center of the formation, blasting apart the cavalry banners of the Khergits as if it were an avatar of the anger of Filaharn itself. The cannons of the Khergits quickly attempted to reposition to meet the new threat. They had previously prevented this monstrosity from joining the battle to a large extent by forcing it to stay out of their effective range, but they had now been placed on the flanks of the cavalry force to support its attack. But not a single round scratched the surface of the Lion Throne war machine, as the Mylesian cavalry swiftly overran their positions.
Sanjar Khan knew his army was doomed at this point, the proud cavalrymen of the Khergit Empire being torn from their horses and slaughtered. He nearly fled with his bodyguard, but a cannon shot that many believe was guided by the faith of King Priest Horso struck near him and cracked apart, throwing shrapnel into his mount. It collapsed on top of him, and he would later be captured.
But the Long Guo continued to fight on, not because of their loyalty to their masters, but their hate for their enemies. Hated enemy against hated enemy, the Ellis and the Long Guo tore each other apart, completely forgetting about the reasons why they were here and the commands of their generals. They nearly wiped each other out to the man until King Priest Horso himself returned to the battlefield, allowing the Brigadiers and Mylesians to drive the Khergits further off the field but bringing the Gunners of Gunther Piedmont and surrounded what remained of the Long Guo and the Ellisians. With much hesitation the Ellisians withdrew from the mound of corpses they had been fighting over, and what remained of the once proud army of Long Guo stood before the might of the Lion Throne.
But King Priest Horso did not wish them destroyed, he rode up to them with the banner of parley beside him. He pleaded for their surrender and promised them an end to Khergit rule and a new life under the righteous authority of the Lion Throne, all he asked was their conversion to the Filaharn faith. King Priest Horso obviously did not know of the past of Long Guo and their views towards religion, and as he handed the administrator of the army his copy of the holy writings of Filaharn, he was without doubt that they would see the light and forsake their heretical ways.
It is worth noting that the Long Guo are not only known for their persistence when searching for logical conclusions, but also their stubbornness against those who see the world in a different light. In a final act defiance against the ignorant ways of religion, Zhang Yu Fa, Administrator of the Long Guo army, acquired his scribing pen and began
correcting the many logical fallacies that he discovered in the holy text. This act of utter blasphemy left King Priest Horso pale, he said nothing more and rode away, dooming the Long Guo to their heathen deaths by the musket fire of the Gunners of Gunther Piedmont.
The Long Guo territories still exist in Khergit territory, but with the rise of the Ormeli and their loss of their once large military, it can be said that it will not be long until they are fully integrated into what is left of the Khergit Khante. That is, if the Lion Throne does not conquer them first and begins ruthless purges against the Xi people for the blasphemy shown on Shiri Malik field. Following the battle, it was found that the Ellisian Legions that had walked proudly into the field of war left it broken and destroyed. The mutual slaughter on the right flank of the Lion Throne army left the Long Guo utterly destroyed, but also made the Ellisian Legions virtually useless. Of the four full Legios that entered the battle, scarcely half of a single legion was left. That is to say that the Ellisians suffered over 87% casualties in the battle. King Priest Horso decided to combine the survivors into what was left of 2nd Legio and return them to their homeland in Calradia, where they could act as a police force near their ancient capital rather than a full military force. The future of the Xi people looks bleak, and it is more than possible that no further history shall be written of them after this.
I'll upload it here as soon as I have it scanned. Not that it'll be anywere near as utterly stunning as Jan_Boruta's work, but I'm sure none of you were expecting that. 
