Note: Xinguang is a proper noun that refers to the nation, while Xinguan is a nationality / adjective
One of the main nations of Novrand.
History
Ancient history (pre-Banishing War)
Warring tribes
Xinguang has been settled by ancient tribes for hundreds of years before the Banishing War.
These tribes were small and primitive (most of them less than 200 in population) and fought against each other over land and resources when they were not fighting off monsters.
Without a strong unified resistance against them, the threat of monsters kept growing, until it became too big to ignore.
Unification by Ardia
Some 50 years before the Banishing War, Ardia manifested Himself in one of the largest tribes, the Xiao, taking the form of a blessed sword-wielding warrior.
This physical manifestation of Ardia taught the Xiao tribe the ways of advanced warfare and marched across the land to unite it under one banner.
Any opposition to Ardia and the Xiao tribe was quickly extinguished thanks to Ardia’s inhuman displays of martial prowess. According to the legend, Ardia was capable of felling a hundred veteran warriors with one swing of his sword, without killing a single one of them. Such miracles were proof of Ardia’s divine nature and as a result, the great unification of Xinguang was almost bloodless.
Soon Ardia had united the tribes of ancient Xinguang, a never-before-seen wave of monsters began to wash over Xinguang, which heralded the start of the Banishing War.
Old history (Banishing War to 100 years ago)
Banishing War
When the Banishing War began, Ardia vanished from the physical world to do battle with Versa on the spiritual realm, leaving the defense of the region to the united people.
The war against the monsters was brutal and lasted for years. This was because humanity’s war effort was actively sabotaged by a lieutenant of Versa called Sha Zhe, or in common tongue, Shadow Weaver.
Shadow Weaver’s true form was never revealed, if it even had one, for this calamity operated by taking over the minds of its victims. While possessing the minds of military commanders, Shadow Weaver forced the army of ancient Xinguan to continuously commit strategic mistakes.
It took many months for the ancient Xinguans to even understand the threat that they were facing from within. Even when the existence of Shadow Weaver was finally discovered, it took over the mind of its current host’s executioner, allowing it to continue wreaking havoc without the people realizing that the threat was still active.
However, humans gradually grew wise to Shadow Weaver’s trickery while Shadow Weaver grew more and more reckless. The calamity was finally defeated by Bai Cheng, a leader of a scouting unit, who drank a vial of slow poison moments before ambushing and killing an entire platoon of her countrymen in a narrow pass. Bai Cheng’s testament containing an explanation of her actions was later discovered next to her corpse.
By sacrificing the platoon along with herself, Bai Cheng finally rid the ancient Xinguans of the calamity’s influence. This moment was a turning point in the war and it rallied people to victory over the monsters, who were scattered and driven away. The ancient Xinguans had won their own Banishing War.
Warring Nations and the Founding of Xinguang
The united nation stood only for less than 100 years after the Banishing War. The sudden disappearance of Ardia, along with the absence of a strong external threat, began to slowly unravel the nation from within.
Xinguang fractured into five smaller warring nations in a “war of succession”: Kongyuan, Mengshan, Laohe, Xuangfeng and Hanli.
After 200 years of warfare between the five nations, the nation of Xuangfeng emerged victorious and reunited the nation under its banner, although not without considerable bloodshed. The leader of Xuangfeng, Xun Xiuying, became the ruler of the unified nation, the First Emperor. After a hard-won victory over his rivals, the emperor was certain of his divine favor and renamed the nation Xinguang (New Dawn) in honor of Ardia and renamed himself Xun Tianming (Mandate of Heaven of the Xun).
Golden Age
300 years after the end of the Banishing War, the nation of Xinguang had finally found lasting stability under the First Emperor Xun Tianming.
The emperor surrounded himself with loyal advisors from multiple walks of life and with their help, began to steer the nation towards prosperity through societal reform, research and innovation.
For the next 600 years, Xinguang experienced rapid growth due to breakthroughs in medicine and agriculture. Most historians agree that during the first 300 years of this period, Xinguang was the envy of the entire world.
Recent history (100 years ago to now)
Growing pains
Xinguan innovations in key areas made the country the most populous one in the world by far, but this growing population, along with access to modern technology such as the printing press, presented the nation with new challenges.
Over the last 100 years, the rulers of Xinguang foresaw that with such a large population, dangerous and secessionist ideas can find fertile ground, if they are not pre-emptively weeded out.
Afraid of the Xinguan people slowly beginning to fracture into ideologically separate groups, the leaders of Xinguang opted to take drastic measures to keep the nation unified. While good-intentioned, over dozens of years these unification policies have slowly warped into tools of tyranny: control of news, censorship, and purges of minor religions and cultures.
Current day
The current ruler of Xinguang, empress Xun Zhen was the only child of the previous emperor Xun Xia. Xun Zhen’s mother Jiang My died during childbirth and when Xun Zhen was 10, the emperor developed a rare illness which, within a year, first took away his ability to move, then the ability to speak, and finally the ability to breathe.
Xun Zhen was taught by dozens of realm-renowned advisors in the ways of statecraft, the lessons of which she took seriously. Xun Zhen displayed all the signs of becoming the enlightened and just ruler that Xinguang desperately needed, but then a great tragedy struck.
Certain activist groups in Xinguan had longed for freedom from ever-creeping state control for years before Xun Zhen was even born, and they saw all autocrats, including the new empress, as a potential threat that they needed to remove while they still had the chance.
At age 20, Xun Zhen lost both her 2-year-old son Xun Wen and her 23-year-old husband Wen Cai in a failed coup attempt spearheaded by voidtouched assassins that snuck into the royal palace. These assassins were later found to have Versa cultist tattoos on them. During the final moments of the attack, as Xun Zhen was holding her dying husband in her arms, her life was saved by her old mentor and the mother Xun Zhen never had. This woman, Mao He, a priestess of Ardia, threw herself in front of a poisoned dagger meant for Xun Zhen. It is rumoured that during her final moments, the priestess whispered something to Xun Zhen, but no official records support this.
From this point on, Xinguan state censorship and news control begins to really take over. There are two stories existing side by side: the official truth as given by the state and the commonly accepted truth (one that's seldom voiced) believed by most common people who are not fervently pro-state.
| Official story | Commonly accepted truth |
| The empress’s survival of the assassination attempt was proof of her divine favor and a sign from Ardia that she was meant to achieve great deeds. | The trauma of the event drove the empress into paranoid madness fanned by religious fervor. |
| It was Ardia’s plan that Xun Zhen would deliver the nation of Xinguang from the threat of cultists and all aspects of Versa, including the curse of voidtouch. | Xun Zhen’s paranoia initially targeted Versa cults, but as the years went by, the anti-cultist institutions she set in place spun out of control and became the very monsters they were hunting. They began to persecute ordinary voidtouched citizens. |
| Xun Zhen hears the voice of Ardia, guiding her to steer the great nation of Xinguang into prosperity. | Xun Zhen hears voices telling her to purge the voidtouched from Xinguang, but these are merely the product of her own broken mind. |
| Some voidtouched are unwitting servants of Versa. They are walking time bombs just waiting to go off at the worst possible time.
By keeping potentially dangerous voidtouched separated from the public, the ordinary citizens of Xinguang will be able to live long and prosperous lives in service to Ardia. |
The institutions set in place by the empress are so out of control that they consider every voidtouched person a threat to the nation. |
| The voidtouched are never arrested without heavy reason, and all of them receive a fair trial. | All voidtouched are actively being hunted by the state. They receive a sham trial (if they receive one at all) and often die in “accidents” during imprisonment.
The authorities are so corrupt that they would order the arrest of even non-voidtouched citizens, if they can personally benefit from doing so. |
| Voidtouched cults have made multiple attempts at the empress’s life over the years, but her divine favor protects her from all harm. | There are constant assassination attempts, but they all keep failing due to Xun Zhen surrounding herself with an army of bodyguards and body doubles.
These failed assassination attempts have only served to make the empress even more paranoid. |
| Under the enlightened rule of empress Xun Zhen, Xinguang has entered a new golden age and is once again the beacon of light that guides mankind to greatness. | The empress’s madness and the corrupt sycophants that she has raised to power are tearing the country apart. These people are willing to do anything to maintain their lives of luxury and privilege, even if it means purging their fellow citizens. |
| The nation of Xinguang has never before been this united in purpose. | It’s only a matter of time before Xinguang enters a bloody civil war. |
Culture
Objects of worship
Ardia
Ardia is worshipped as the creator god of mankind and as the manifested divine warrior that united the ancient tribes of Xinguang against the monsters before the Banishing War.
Statues of Ardia are found all over Xinguang. In fact, not having a prominent status or symbol of Ardia in a household is considered suspicious.
Bai Cheng the Martyr
Bai Cheng is worshipped as the slayer of Shadow Weaver and the savior of ancient Xinguang during the Banishing War.
Several statues of her exist in around Xinguang, including a major one near the entrance to the imperial palace.
Empress Xun Zhen
Xun Zhen is worshipped as the current enlightened ruler of Xinguang that enjoys Ardia’s divine favor.
As a result of this favor, she cannot commit mistakes of any kind. Her every act, even if it would seem nonsensical at first, is guaranteed to benefit the nation of Xinguang in the long term.
Statues of the empress exist in all major cities and having a painting or picture of the empress in all buildings is, while not legally required, basically mandatory to avoid suspicion.
Taboos
Seditious language
Any criticism aimed at the objects of worship or state institutions is extremely dangerous, and will get an individual reported to the authorities, often followed by a sudden disappearance.
Voidtouched
The voidtouched in Xinguang do everything they can to hide their powers so that they are not discovered by the state. Any and all voidtouched, when discovered, are quickly arrested under flimsy accusations, and they are rarely seen again, as they are very prone to having accidents during their imprisonment.
People avoid talking about voidtouched as much as possible to avoid attracting unwanted attention, even if someone suspected of being a voidtouched is taken into custody by the authorities right in front of them. The people remaining immediately start behaving as if that person never existed.
Non-Ardianist religions
The Church of Ardia is one of the major pillars of unity of Xinguang and as a result, owning any items that are associated with other religions or items that are even remotely heretical in the eyes of the Church is highly dangerous.
It’s well-known that the state has long been engaging in a massive campaign of purging other non-Ardianist religions from Xinguang. The last remaining bastions of religious resistance are in the northern mountains. The people of the mountains who are attempting to cling to their own religion are branded by the state as either dangerous heretics or Versa cultists.
War propaganda
According to Xinguan war propaganda…
- Lux Sanctus is controlled by a Versa cult that’s attempting to take over Xinguang in order to doom the world
- Lucia is merely a pretty figurehead meant to conceal the true dark intentions of this cult
- the Xinguan army has been completely demolishing the Luxan army at every engagement and is just about to kick out the Luxans from their country for good
Most citizens know that the official propaganda is not to be believed, but almost everyone acts as if it’s the unvarnished truth. Not fully buying into Xinguan war propaganda is a sure way of getting arrested under suspicion of being a Luxan spy.
Philosophy
For Greater Good
“Sacrifice of innocent lives is justified in the name of greater good”.
This philosophy, which manifested in the deeds of Bai Cheng, may have saved the nation of Xinguang 1000 years ago, but in the current day, it’s used to justify oppression of the citizens.
Another form of this philosophy is: “If the hand rebels against the body, cut it off. It is better to live crippled in unity than to have two hands and perish in discord”.
Watch Your Neighbor
“Dangerous cultists can be everywhere, even right next door. It is your duty as citizen to watch your neighbors and report suspicious activity to the officials”
In the last 100 years, Xinguang has gradually turned into a heavily controlled low-trust society, where not only the state spies on its citizens, but even ordinary citizens spy on each other constantly in order to profit from someone else’s downfall and to keep themselves in good graces of the authorities.
The state handsomely rewards individuals who report suspected cultists to the authorities, which has led to an absurd situation where citizens are incentivized to turn on each other.
Example: A shopkeeper who wants to get rid of their competitor plants heretical items in the competitor’s warehouse and reports them to the authorities under suspicion of smuggling items for cultists. When the competitor is taken away, the original shopkeeper buys their store at a great discount. The police receive a cut from participating in this scheme. As a result, a completely innocent person is sent to jail and robbed of their wealth.
With the way the scheme is set up, it is starting to become a rational choice to “backstab your fellow citizen first, before they do it to you”. People who’ve known each other for a dozen years and are all smiles when they meet can immediately turn on each other when the right opportunity presents itself.
Symbology
Lotus flower
The lotus is a highly symbolic flower in Xinguan culture, as it is a beautiful flower that blooms on the surface of muddy waters. The lotus flower symbolizes rising above challenges, while emerging beautiful and untainted.
It also ties into the philosophy of For Greater Good. The muddy water represents sacrifice and the bloom represents unity.