The first ancestral heirlooms the returning defenders will discover are forged, carved, casted and refined to represent the indigenous materials and traditional style of the region they first arrive in, Qi’an.
Qi = Hope An = Peace
🇰🇷 (기, gi) 🇰🇷 (안, an)
🇯🇵 (祈, ki, inoru) 🇯🇵 (安, an)
🇨🇳 (祈, qi) 🇨🇳 (安, an)
Qi’an is one of many self-governing regions within the realm of Samhan, comprised of geo-politically aligned city states. Defenders returning to samhan will be free to travel within Qi’an without official documentation, but can not travel past its clearly defined borders unless they are leaving Samhan and returning to the mainland.
Within Qi’an are two capitals, Haebang (riverlands) and Seasong (coastline), along with the villages, vassalages and wild areas surrounding them.
Haebang = Liberate, set free
🇰🇷 (해, hae) 🇰🇷 (방, bang)
🇯🇵 (解, kai) 🇯🇵 ( 放, hō)
🇨🇳 (解, jiě) 🇨🇳 (放, fàng)
Haebang is the diplomatic capital, where the reigning class oversees the economic operations of all Qi’an. It is ornamental, preserved and perceived as cold compared to other cities in the region. Defenders who are new to Samhan will find its grid-like urbanscape intuitive to navigate, and will quickly discover that underneath the formality of military and regal protocol are friends eager to support their prosperity.
Seasong = Boundless Expression
🇰🇷 (해, hae) 🇰🇷 (가, ga)
🇯🇵 (海, umi) 🇯🇵 ( 歌, uta)
🇨🇳 (海, hǎi) 🇨🇳 (歌, gē)
Attributed to its ocean shipping ports and transitional seafaring population, Seasong is heralded as the artistic capital of Qi’an. It’s architecture crafts a bohemian mosaic of culture and progress, this dichotomy evident between the highly congested inner-city and sprawling mansions nearest to the coastline. Some locals even have difficulty navigating its winding avenues and corridors, bustling with life through the day and all night long.
Future Capitals of Qi’an
Haebang is surrounded by sprawling forests and a web of river systems that have traditionally fortified its borders. Travelling southeast through the riverlands by foot or longboat will lead to the other capital, Seasong. Its ocean coast is Qi’an’s easternmost border, with densely wooded vale to the north and the prominent Haebang Rockylands providing natural protection to its east and southern boundaries. All residents of Qi’an must claim one of the two current capitals as their home, even if they naturally reside in the rural areas of the region, like the rockies.
The Haebang rockies serves as the commonground between Haebang and Seasong ensuring shared exploration, excavation and agricultural rights to all of its citizens. Its boundaries are characterized by the tapering of the rivers and forest in the north east, the quarry mines in the south and the foot of Mount Haebang in the west.
It is the region most dangerous to explore, entirely overrun by discordant elemental forces that destroy eachother as well risk the wellbeing of anyone it encounters. Defenders will largely train within the rockies in their early development in its caverns, boroughs and nests to refine their skills under their path trainers guidance.
A third capital is rumored to thrive atop the snowy peaks of mount haebang, however its residents are highly skeptical of any outsiders intentions to call it home. Culturally this community revolves around the understanding and expression of elemental energy, profoundly respecting the hereditary knowledge of the defenders and their ability to harness it.
Although there are certainly inhabitants who work and live at that altitude, it would take a mass migration of newcomers and the acceptance of its people to raise its status to a full capital. There are many other areas nestled within the spawling expanse of Qi’an that can similarly rise to power with enough population to support its aspirations.