|
 |
|
|
|
Short Name: Zongguo (Z-ahn-goo-oh)
Full Name: The Celestial Empire of Zongguo, Holy Empire of Zongguo
Population: ~240 million
Governmental Type: Absolute Monarchy
Head of State: Emperor Sun Li
Major religions: 'National Teachings' (97.5%), Shinto (2.5%)
National Languages: English, Zongguoese
The flag: The Empire actually has two officially sanctioned flags, for use depending on the context and situation. Most commonly seen to foreigners would be the national flag, which is used for diplomatic and sporting events, as well as non-governmental buildings and operations. Referred to as the 'sun flag', it features a red sun on a gold field (gold being the color of the Imperial family), with blue bars in the upper left and lower right corners.
Zongguo's 'national' flag.
For governmental buildings, events at which the Emperor is present, and military functions, a separate flag is used. This is the Imperial Banner, considered a more direct representation of the Emperor's will or the Emperor himself. On this banner can be seen a blue celestial dragon (representing the Emperor and Zongguo) atop a modified union jack. The jack is used to represent the influence of English language in Zongguo, and the fusion of traditional Zongguo ways with western modernization.
The Imperial Banner.
Government: The federal government is headed by the Emperor, who is the ultimate decision-maker; the Emperor's will is law. All answer to the Imperial throne, no matter their occupation or service. Of course, the Emperor is not only the head of the government, but also fulfills a religious signifigance as well. It taught in the dominant theology that the Emperor is the direct connection between the earth and Heaven; he rules by virtue of the Mandate of Heaven. If ever an Emperor loses the Mandate of Heaven, he usually is removed from the Imperial throne by the Heavens' will one way or another. Most often, this is by what western observers would describe as 'unexplained circumstances', and is quite sudden.
Assisting the Emperor in day-to-day governance of the Empire is the Council of State, on which sit the presiding heads of each ministry. The Emperor's chief advisor is the Chancellor, who is the chief authority on domestic and internal affairs in Zongguo. Also on the Council to advise the Emperor are the heads of the Imperial Ministries of Trade, Justice, Foreign Relations, and Spiritual Matters. Also on this Council is the head of the Order for Domestic Harmony (ODH), the national law enforcement bureau that oversees all policing actions from traffic laws to narcotics and murder. Rounding out the Council is the Imperial Chief of Staff, the head of the Imperial Armed Forces.
Each ministry has offices of its own, and all government officials gain their positions based on merit, rather than station alone. While Zongguo has an aristocracy, the Emperor can at will elevate a family or render them commoners. Foreigners may be surprised to learn that Zongguo maintains a government-regulated form of slavery. Laws are in place ensuring a certain treatment of slaves, however, and offenders are quickly brought to justice by the ODH. Slaves may buy their freedom if they are a certain perecent native Zongguoese, and are given slight monetary compensation by owners.
Strict laws are in place to also prevent overpopulation, such as limitations on the amount of children a family can have and other controls. For this reason, though the Empire has many years of history, the population remains at 240 million for the moment. Immigration is strictly controlled as well, and regulations on who can enter the Empire's borders are in place (for instance, non-human species, should they exist, are barred from immigrating, becoming citizens, etc.)
The military: Zongguo's Imperial Armed Forces total about 1% of the population (2.4 million military personnel in total), and are fairly modern in terms of technology. The largest of the branches is the Imperial Zongguo Army (50% of active personnel), followed by the Imperial Zongguo Navy (30%) and the Imperial Zongguo Air Force (20%). Funding of the branches takes similar allocation - the IZA, IZN, and IZAF getting priority in that order.
While the Imperial Armed Forces are mostly integrated in terms of gender, the Imperial Navy remains an exception. The IZN surface fleet (mostly corvettes or cruisers/destroyers) is integrated, but the undersea fleet remains segregated. Attempts at integration failed, causing more problems than was seen as desirable. Accordingly, the IZN's submarine crews are always entirely male or entirely female; the number of male vs female submarines is split roughly 50/50 at the time of this writing.
While isolationinst in its early history in order to preserve national solidarity, the Empire began to expand in its past two centuries. The aim had been to spread Zongguoese culture and civilization to conquered peoples, though some conquered peoples who weren't ethnically Zongguoese were made into slaves or removed from their lands. At a time, the Imperial Navy was of comparable size to the Army, and boasted three large (Wa-class) battleships; these ships saw only limited action during the expansionist period, and by now have all been decommissioned.
Military service is mandatory for all Zongguoese when they reach age 17, and the government decides which branch of service they enter. This can be determined by testing, among other methods.
Other history: The Zongguoese people hold in their national teachings (some observers would call it mythology) that long ago they were part of a larger group, formerly nomads. Most of the larger group's members declared they wished to form a government to be decided by popular voting. However, the Heavens told the Zongguoese that this would be an unfortunate decision, and that the Gods had chosen an Imperial line to lead them to prominence. This led the original Zongguoese (around 1 million in total, it is estimated) to leave the larger group, and arrive in a region known popularly as 'The Armpit of the NS-World'.
There, they formed a new nation, under the current Sun dynasty, and evolved into the nation known today as Zongguo. Along with this story, there is talk of 'the Cousins Who Shall Not be Named' (literal translation from Zongguoese), who many believe still exist as a modern nation-state somewhere in the world. Eventually, Zongguo's Heaven-mandated expansion in the 'Armpit' was brought to a close by an event of celestial signifigance. This also signaled that it was time to locate the Empire in a new region; Atlantian Oceania was determined to be the region the Gods of the Heavens wished Zongguo to settle itself. And so the Empire moved to AO, amidst domestic rumors of the 'Cousins' possibly being in the region.
More details to come, perhaps in other areas. |
 |
|
|
|
Zongguo |
|
Scribe in Training |
 |
|
|
|
Posts: 15 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
, |
 |
Track this topic
Receive email notification when a reply has been made to this topic and you are not active on the board.
Subscribe to this forum
Receive email notification when a new topic is posted in this forum and you are not active on the board.
Download / Print this Topic
Download this topic in different formats or view a printer friendly version.
[ Script Execution time: 0.0178 ] [ 14 queries used ] [ GZIP Enabled ]
|
Close Topic Options
