Blog:Buddhism and Empire

On Omentis there are four major impacts and the planet during its history. One is the Mrāŋ an the spread of Mrāŋ Buddhism, the other is the lack of adoption of it by the northern people of Chika, really only a minor impact relatively, the pseudo-imperialism of Southerm Randis and the advancement of the people of Siilo.

=Chika=

The Mrāŋ
Buddhism originally came from a group of people who called their language 'alăi and called themselves "mrāŋ". The Mrāŋ are a group of people who came together in the East Asian areas of Earth to create a form of Buddhism they believed fulfilled their anti-hierarchical ideas as well as fit in with real-life, interactual situations as well as allowing for the achievement of enlightenment while at the same time creating a unified Buddhism language in which all texts could be translated and read. They used Sanskrit and Tibetan, along with elements from a further researched Proto-Sino-Tibetan as the basis for the language. Words for people, language, unity and so on, things that linked people with each other in real-life were taken from Proto-Sino-Tibetan while metaphysical words were taken from Sanskrit fit into a Tibetan phonology while the rest of the vocabulary was overridingly Tibetan.

Mrāŋ Buddhism
Through the clan-phraty system combined with the general nature and cultural beliefs of the vast majority of the planet's people, the vast majority of people were interconnected. Due to this interconnectedness it was easy for metaphysical ideas to spread around and, as they very rarely affected the other real-world ideas held by the people, thy wer easily accepted by a clan over a period of time.

Over time and through marriage, their way of life spread through the clan-phratry system over most of Chika and Laana and eventually over the oceans to the other continents who had long distance trade links with Laana and Chika, mostly by means of small islands which traded between themselves with the outlying islands trading with the continents.

It held the ideas of anti-hierarchy but also of peace and living a middle way, a view held by the majority of the planet's peoples. It did, however, have different views regarding the eating of meat as well as hunting, blood-culture and war. The Mrāŋ did not eat meat, but instead used animals only as transport and labour in agricultural work. This was easily adapted by the majority of people who saw the great numbers of the Mrāŋ as an advantage in self-reliance but also in increasing connections across great areas. The phratry areas began to be filled with larger trading settlements for merchants but they also took on agricultural hinterlands. The clan-phratry system began to break down and a freer system of movement become available in which a husband and wife could choose where to live. The focus on arranged marriages ended and people began to marry for love, working as they saw fir where they pleased. Blood culture ended in all circumstances but weddings in which a couple showed a commitment to work in unison thorugh the sharing of blood and they worked on achieving enlightenment by knowing each other and knowing themselves through each other.

The view on warfare was changed. Intead of being anti-war, a position held by almost all of the people of Omentis, the threat seen by the Mrāŋ from Randisan traders caused them to develop a form of self-defence against them, very similar to that of Shaolin monks on Earth. The self-defence methods were taught primarily as a way of training the mind and body in a way which would allow the achievement of enlightenment first but allow for the preservation of life and of freddom second. Weapons were developed from agriculture and carpentry tools as well as other items, allowing each item available to have a second, defensive, purpose. Training was a communal event, taking place every day and for every person.

Northern Chika
The Mrāŋ form of Buddhism seemed perfectly suited for the majority of the planet, minus Siilo and a few enclaves of people in the northern areas of the planet who sought to come to the planet to preserve a way of life, not to adopt a new one, the reason why it never spread to Randis and the northern peoples of Chika.

Unlike the Randis, the people of Northern Chika came to the planet as an attempt to preserve their language and their way of life and as such were resistant to the idea of adopting Mrāŋ Buddhism in place of the more traditional religious and cultural beliefs. Despite this, however, they were very much aware from the tales told by the people of Chika of the threat from the Randis Empire, but unlike in Mrāŋ Buddhism, warfare was not a defensive mechanism in some of these cultures. With the news of the threat some settlements began to develop small bands of armed men, borrowing martial arts training from nearby Chikan peoples and continued to train and grow their armies and developing new military technology from what was already available, namely the use of the horse and the bow and arrow, as well as tracking knowledge and mass bush-burning.

=Randis=

They were very rarely in contact with anyone and the southern people of Randis showed from early on, no desire to stop agricultural expansion at the point the Sangi people had done and instead eventually created a pseudo-empire, more along the lines of a more unified people without a clan-phratry system.

Pseudo-Imperialism
The pseudo-imperial views of the people of Randis were based on the idea of a quite strict class system similar to that of Imperial Japan. At the head of the Empire were two emperors, one for the Finns and one for the Sami. Within the dual-empire was the two imperial families, who over time essentially merged through inter-marriage between them but rarely belw them. Uner the imperial families were the noble houses, the people who has long ago managed to rise above other local peoples and taken control of their lands. Below these were the military houses, usually offshots of the noble houses, descended often from the second son of a nobleman. Below these were the religious houses, the heads of religious ceremonies but also servants of the state, creating an imperial cult. Overall there were many layers within the Randis Dual-Empire with a complex system of imperial, noble, military, religious, lower-noble and peasant classes all inter-related and working towards the creation of order within the empire. The structure can be drawn as such:

Emperor |                                        Imperial Family |                                         Noble Houses ______________________________|______________________________________                 |                             |                                     |         Lower-Noble Houses               Military Houses                    Religious Houses ______|_________________        ______|______                ___________|__________            |            |         |         |           |                |                    |       Artisans>>>Merchants>>>Land Owners<<<Warriors   Embassadors++++++Travelling Monks<<<Monasticals |                            Free Farmers |                                Serfs |                                Slave

Movement up the scale was only allowed for women and as such a woman could never become Emperor because she could never marry above the Emperors. Slaves could be owned by anyone, but could only become serfs, not free farmers. A serf was tied to the land and the land-owner, much like they had been tied to their owners in other classes. A serf, though, could become a free farmer if he were given the land by the land owner or had bought it from the land owner. A free farmer could become a land owner if he could by the land of a serf from another land owner. Warriors could become land-owners, as could merchants, but it was not possible to go the other way. A warrior became a land-owner at the age of 40, but his children were still considered warrior class, not land-owner class. A merchant could become a land-owner if he had emassed enough wealth to become one. Artisans could become merchants if they were able to travel away from their craft-centre. Merchants, Artisans and Land-Owners were all considered Lesser Nobles, a subgroup of the Lower Nobles who were not of Noble descent. The Lower Noble Houses were originally the unoccupied sons of the Noble Houses, those who had not gone on into the military or religious establishments but who did not have enough influence and wealth to be a true Noble House.

The Military Houses were descended from the second sons of the Noble Houses and divided into three sections. The Militray House Proper, who recieved a military education but were still nobility, warriors, the descendants of second sons who went on to fight and the embassadors, the descendents of final sons who went on to recieve a basic military education as well as a religous one bing considered too weak to fight.

The Religous Houses are similar to the Military Houses in being divided into three sections. The Religious House Proper, essentially the religious elite who provide continuity in the belief in the imperial cult, the travelling monks, middle sons of the religious elite who had the education to spread the idea of the imperial cult and the monasticals, the final sons of the elite who received a lower level of religious education and maintained a more local religious influence. With enough training a monastical could become a travelling monk and a travelling monk could become an embassador and vice-versa.

The Noble Houses were those who seeded the other three lower houses and controlled large areas of land, wealth and people. They lived essentially off the taxes of the others and the service of those below them. A Noble House was created when ordained by the two Emperors, distinguishing themselves from the lower houses who were ordained only by one. A Noble House could not fall but only cease to exist through the death of its final male member. Lower Noble Houses were usually the descendents of members of Noble Houses and lineage could be traced allowed for one of them to replace the Noble House which died.

The Imperial Family is a small but powerful group, providing positions to the Noble Houses while also gaining service from them through the idea that through them they may one day have a member of their family become one of the two Emperors. This meant that the Noble Houses fought amongst themselves to provide a wife for the Emperors first son. The Emperor himself was never to be seen and was considered divine by the people. The Noble Houses and even the Imperial Family, those closest to him, believed this to be true.

The Houses
The "family tree" of the social structure of the Radis Empire would be this:

Emperor-Empress __________|_____                  |              |           Imperial Heir   Imperials Sons _________|_______                       |               |                Imperial Houses    High Nobles _______________________________|_______________________________________________________________________        |                     |                                        |                                      | Noble House Proper   Lower Noble Houses                          Military Houses                       Religious Houses _____|____                   _______________|____________                     _______|______                        |        |                    |                |         |                     |            |    Lower Noble House Proper   Land-Owners   Military House Proper   Warriors   Embassadors   Travelling Monks   Monastics

The Emperor's first son and his first sons and so on would make up the Imperial Heirs while his other sons would go on to make up the Imperial Houses while his daughters would provide the continuation of the Noble Houses. The Noble Houses would have originally provided the basis for the three Lesser Noble Houses with the second son going into the military and the third becoming a member of the religous elite. The first son of a Noble House would become a High Noble also. It was the lower sons of the High Nobles who originally led to the Lower Noble Houses who's second and other sons became the land-owners. The first sons of the Military House went on the continue the Military House while the second fed the warrior class and the third the embassador class with the same process occuring in the Religious House with the Travelling Monks and Monastics.

These Houses later went on to grow, with all descendents belonging to the class of their ancestors, at least in the lines related, apparently, to the first two of the two Emperors. The Noble Houses are the descendents of the first sons of the Imperial Sons who fell outside the Imperial Houses, the Military Houses are made up of the descendents of the first sons of the second sons of the High Nobles and the Religious Houses the first sons of the third sons of the Noble Houses, etc.

The Houses can be listed as such (using only the Finnish names):

Imperial Heir
1. Keisarillinen Perijä

2. Keisarilliset Perijät

The Four Imperial Houses of the Finnish (Neljät Keisarilliset Huoneet Suomelaisen)
1. Keisarillinen Huone Karhun (The Imperial House of the Bear)

2. Keisarillinen Huone Kotkan (House of the Eagle)

3. Keisarillinen Huone Suden (The Imperial House of the Grey Wolf)

4. Keisarillinen Huone Hukan (The Imperial House of the Wolf)

The Three Imperial Houses of the Saami (Kolmet Keisarilliset Huoneet Saamelaisen)
1. Keisarillinen Huone Hirven (The Imperial House of the Elk)

2. Keisarillinen Huone Ilveksen (The Imperial House of the Lynx)

3. Keisarillinen Huone Joutsenen (The Imperial House of the Swan)

Keisarillinen Huone Kotkan and Keisarillinen Huone Suden both have similar meanings because the were descended from twin sons of the Finn Emperor.

The Thirty-Four Noble Houses (Kolmetkymmenetneljät Ylevät Huoneet)
The Noble Houses are divided into groups based on which of the Imperial Houses they descend from.

The Four Noble Houses of the Bear (Neljät Ylevät Huoneet Karhun)
1. Ylevä Huone Suuren Karhun (The Noble House of the Great Bear)

2. Ylevä Huone Valkean Karhun (The Noble House of the White Bear)

3. Ylevä Huone Taivaallisen Karhun (The Noble House of the Heavenly Bear)

4. Ylevä Huone Mustan Karhun (The Noble House of the Black Bear)

The Three Noble Houses of the Eagle (Kolmet Ylevät Huoneet Kotkan)
1. Ylevä Huone Kultaisen Kotkan (The Noble House of the Golden Eagle)

2. Ylevä Huone Purjalenton Kotkan (The Noble House of the Soaring Eagle)

3. Ylevä Huone Lentävän Kotkan (The Noble House of the Flying Eagle)

The Six Noble Houses of the Grey Wolf (Kuudet Ylevät Huoneet Suden)
1. Ylevä Huone Mustan Suden (The House of the Black Wolf)

2. Ylevä Huone Valkean Suden (The House of the White Wolf)

3. Ylevä Huone Punaisem Suden (The House of the Red Wolf)

4. Ylevä Huone Harmaan Suden (The House of the Grey Wolf)

5. Ylevä Huone Sinisen Suden (The House of the Blue Wolf)

6. Ylevä Huone Hopeisen Suden (The House of the Silver Wolf)

The Five Noble Houses of the Wolf (Viidet Ylevät Huoneet Hukan)
1. Ylevä Huone Mustan Hukan (The House of the Black Wolf)

2. Ylevä Huone Valkean Hukan (The House of the White Wolf)

3. Ylevä Huone Harmaan Hukan (The House of the Grey Wolf)

4. Ylevä Huone Sinisen Hukan (The House of the Blue Wolf)

5. Ylevä Huone Hopeisen Hukan (The House of the Silver Wolf)

Notice how the names of 5 of the Noble Houses of the Grey Wolf are identical in English to those of the Noble Houses of the Wolf.

The Five Houses of the Elk (Viidet Ylevät Huoreet Hirven)
1. Ylevä Huone Suuremman Hirven (The Noble House of the Greater Elk)

2. Ylevä Huone Pienamman Hirven (The Noble House of the Lesser Elk)

3. Ylevä Huone Paimentavan Hirven (The Noble House of the Herding Elk)

4. Ylevä Huone Hyökkäävän Hirven (The Noble House of the Attacking Elk)

5. Ylevä Huone Liikkumatomman Hirven (The Noble House of the Still Elk)

The Six Houses of the Lynx (Kuudet Ylevät Huoreet Ilveksen)
1. Ylevä Huone

2. Ylevä Huone

3. Ylevä Huone

4. Ylevä Huone

5. Ylevä Huone

6. Ylevä Huone

The Five Houses of the Swan (Viidet Ylevät Huoreet Joutsenen)
1. Ylevä Huone

2. Ylevä Huone

3. Ylevä Huone

4. Ylevä Huone

5. Ylevä Huone

The Lower Noble Houses (Ylhäiset Huoneet)
The Lower Noble Houses draw descent from the Noble Houses and show it in their names. Examples of Lower Noble House names are the "Fifth Lower Noble House of the Black Wolf" (Viides Ylhäinen Huone Mustan Suden) and the "Third Lower Noble House of the Attacking Elk" (Kolmas Ylhäinen Huone ) etc.

The names of the Military Houses and Religious Houses are formed a in similar manner but with the "Ylhäinen" element replaced with the words "Sotilaallinen" and "Uskonnollinen" respectively. Below this, non-Noble members of the same classes that can be occupied by the Noble Housed classes (Huonelainen) which are the Land-Owners (Maaomistajat) are called "Ilman Huonetta" meaning "Without a House". It is impossible for a Huonelainen to become an Ilman Huonetta and vice versa. With this in mind you can see why a House can never fall but only die. A House which can no longer support itself, for whatever reason, will force its members to become "Palvelijat Ylimykset" or "Servant Nobles". A Palvelija Ylimys may own a slave, however and retains his Noble title yet he does not own land and must serve under a related House who will then take over their lands.

A Lesser Nobles (Pienemmat Ylimysket)
The Lesser Nobles or "Pienemmat Ylimysket" are those members of the Lower Nobility who have an occuption. Within the Military Houses these are the Warrior Class and the Embassador Class, within the Religious Houses these are the Travelling Monks and the Monastics and in the Lower Noble Houses these are the Artisans, Merchants and Land-Owners.

This section of the nobility has a much more flexible structure with the members of a House not being restricted to a specific section. An Artisan may become a Merchant and a Merchant may become a Land-Owner. The reverse processes are not generally allowed, although in some circumstances a Merchant can become an Artisan then a Land-Owner and an Artisan may go straight to being a Land-Owner, but a Land-Owner can never change class, once a Land-Owner, always a Land-Owner, so the choice to become one is sometimes difficult. Warriors automatically become a Land-Owner around the age of 30 to 40, but it can be sooner depending on the rank of the Warrior and the number of battles he has fought. Monastics can become Travelling Monks given enough training and Embassadors and Travelling Monks can freely change occupations between each other. This movement is not allowed amongst the Land-Owners of the Lower Classes because it is only possible for a serf to become a Land-Owner and with Land-Owners never changin position, without the expressed permission of the Emperors, they can never become Artisans or Merchants.

The Lower Classes (Alaluokkat)
The Alaluokkat consist of the Slaves (Orjat), the Serfs (Maaorjat) and the Free Farmers (Vapaat Maanviljelijät). These are known as the Alaluokkat because they are the only three classes which cannot be occupied by a member of the nobility. A Lower Class Land-Owner is a member of a class known as the "Vapaat Miehet" or "Free Men" who have no tie to the land other than their owning of it, yet they are only free to move within the confines of the area controlled by the local Lower Nobles.

An Orja can be owned by any person who is not an Orja, though very rarely by the Maaorjat. The Orja usually come from the Maaorjat and are taken into slavery by the Land-Owners who train them up to be "Korkeat Orjat" (High Slaves) who are then passed up to through the nobility. An Orja may either become a Vapaa Maanviljelijä, a "Vapaa Mies Ilman Maata" (Free Man Without Land) or a Maaorjat depending on how high the Orja rose amongst the nobility and what the nobility gave them. A low level Orja, serving only a Land-Owner, Artisan or a Monastic will usually become a Maaorja. One serving a Travelling Monk, Merchant or a member of one of the parts of the Military Houses will usually become a Vapaa Mies Ilman Maata. This class is similar to merchants, can be traders of information or work as an instructor in basic military arts. They earn a living essentially trading experience, while others will become Vapaa Maanviljelijä. An Orja serving a member of the Lower Nobility Proper or even the Noble Houses and the Imperial Family will either be given special treatment until there deaths, remaining in essence a slave but close to a close friend, or may become a Vapaat Maanviljelijät or a Land-Owner themselves.

A Maaorja can become a Vapaa Maanviljelijä when he is able to buy his land. However, this is only a single plot. To rise to the level of other Land-Owners he must amass the wealth to buy from other Land-Owners themselves, taking on Maaorjat and from them, Orjat. With these lands bought he will go from being a Vapaa Maanviljelijä to a fully-fledged Land-Owner, free from the toil of working the land to feed himself.

Women (Naiset)
Women are generally considered somewhat classless. Outside of the Lower Classes a woman will have no occupation and but they are all considered to be off the same class as their fathers or husbands. Women are also the only members of society who can move freely among the class system, including upwards, although this is uncommon amongst the nobility who usually only marry between houses. The Imperial Heirs will usally only marry women from the Noble Houses belonging to their side of the Dual Empire, so an heir to the Finn Imperial Throne will marry a woman from the thirty-four Noble Houses from the same side of the Dual Empire. The members of the Imperial Family will marry members of the Noble houses from both sides as well as marrying women from the Military Houses, to provide a connection to military power. The male members of the Noble Houses will either marry women of the other thirty-three Noble Houses or marry women from the Lower Nobles. Lower Nobles will generally marry women born into Lower Noble Houses or women who come from a class in which the men may move into their class, e.g. A member of the Military Houses will marry either a women of the Military Houses or a woman born to a Travelling Monk and a member of the Lower Nobles will marry either a woman of the Lower Noble Houses or a woman born to a Warrior. Occupational Lower Nobility members tend to marry women of any class, sometimes even slaves, although this is very rare. The most widespread marriage between nobility and non-nobility is within the realms of the Occupational Lower Nobility and the Free Men Land-Owners. A Land-Owner, especially a Free Man will often marry amongst other Free Men Land-Owners or serfs, and rarely slaves while serfs tend to marry serfs with the male and female offspring of a serf and a slave always starting off as a slave. So a woman seems only important in bridging the gap between the nobility and the non-nobility, although no downward movement exists so it is only used to provide new breeding material for the nobility, and in defining who is a slave from birth, i.e. if your mother was a slave and your father was a serf you are automatically a slave.

Imperial Heir = Eighteen or Sixteen of the Thirty-Four Noble House depending on the throne to inherit Imperial Houses = Thirty-three of the Thirty Four Noble Houses = Military Houses Proper Thirty-Four Noble Houses = Thirty-three of the Thrity Four Noble Houses = Lower Nobles Lower Nobles Houses Proper = Lower Noble Houses = Warrior Military Houses = Lower Noble Houses = Travelling Monk Religious Houses = Lower Noble Houses = Emassador Occupational Nobles = Occupational Nobles = Lower Classes (most often Free Men Land-Owners) Free Men Land-Owners = Lower Classes Free Farmers & Free-Men Without Land = Free Men Without Land = Free Farmers = Serfs = Slaves Serfs = Serfs = Slaves Slaves = Slaves

As you can see, the further up the social ladder the man is, the fewer choices in the women he can marry. Rather conveniently, though, the further up the social scale you go, the fewer men there actually are. So at each level a man will marry a woman from either his level or from one or more levels below him who will likely be descended from a woman lower down than that and so on. So, the Imperial Heir may in fact marry a woman who is descended at some stage from a slave, possibly no more than six or seven generations if with each generation a woman moves up in society from a slave to a serf to a Free Farmer to a Land-Owner to a Lower Noble to a Noble Family then finally marrying an Imperial Heir. With this, it can be seen overall that the social mobility and mixing of classes and gene pools is provided exclusively by women.

Warfare
The view regarding warfare by the Randis Dual Empire was that is was necessarily for defence and possible future expansion, something which the Mrāŋ were becoming increasingly afraid of over time with the increase in Randis trading ships and the ever increasing military presence upon them. With no way of comfortably living in the far north where the Baltics lived, the Randis Dual Empire went on to expand southwards into the uninhabited islands between Randis and Kachka, increasing agricultural land, living space as well as resources for further military expansion. The successful take-over of these territories prompted the two Emperors to develop a slightly nationalistic ideology in which the Randis Dual Empire had arisen from a single people, as evident in the similarities in language the strict social structure which showed a more orderly society with rules and regulations and discipline. This ideology was passed down to the very lowest people and allowed for the strict orderly control of the territories under the control of the Imperial Thrones.

After the ideological system had been in place for about four generations, the then Emperors decided that a second bout of expansion was necessary to test the strength of the people, now expanding into habitated territories on Kachka and North-West Chika. There was of course resistance from the local people who had been preparing for almost six generations against this possible attack but the armies of the Randis Dual Empire successfully took over coastal areas. After continued expansion along the nothern coasts of both Kachka and Chika, the Randis army came into contact with the non-Buddhists of Chika, who began actively attacking the Randis army, whose techniques had been developed to fight a thoroughly offensive war and lacked any really defensive techniques. These people successfully halted Randis expansion along the northen coast Chika for several generations but the focus of the expansion began to be the interior, at the heartland of Mrāŋ Buddhism.

Seeing the Randis armies gradual push inwards the entire force of the Mrāŋ followers were collected from Kachka, Laana and Chika in a push against the expanding empire. Creating a relatively thick wall the entire fighting force of the Mrāŋ followers began to march coastwards, pushing back the expanding army in a disciplined, unified line. The Non-Mrāŋ helped, using its small fighting force to attack at the heart of the Randis Dual Empire, disrupting communications and attacking members of the Military Houses as well as, on one occassion, capturing a member of the Imperial Heir and then using him to get the Emperors to pull back from the heartland of Mrāŋ Buddhism and the northern coast. This allowed the Mrāŋ to move even further forward, gaining number along the way from liberated Mrāŋ slaves and serfs as well as Randis slaves and serfs who were eventually convinced of their Empire's misdeeds and weakness as well as the lack of divinity of the Emperor.

Eventually the Randis Empire was pushed back to Randis causing uproar amongst the lower classes and confusion in the courts and the near collapse of the Randis ideology. Widespread revolution, brought about by liberated Randis slaves and serfs on Chika and Kachka who were trained in fighting methods and educated to a necessary degree, began to sweep the Empire, bringing down the Military Houses and the control of the Religious Houses over the minds of people. The Lower Nobles began to join the Lower Classes in their fights, most likely as a form of self-preservation but some out of pure kindness and compassion. Eventually the Emperors came out of their permanent isolation and were forced to alter the structure of the Randis Empire and relinquish absolute control in place of a dual system which a democratically elected government as well as retaining the Noble Houses, but removing their controls. Over time the slaves and serfs were freed and the Occupations once only available to the Lower Nobles and the Military and Religious Houses were open to all, irrelevant of background. The Emperors and the Noble Houses were allowed to suggest rules and reforms, but it had to go through the Elected Government who then looked at it, changed it to be more in line with the ideas of the people who had a say on what went on in the ruling of the state and then back to the Noble Houses until a decision was made between these three and then finally it was given to the two Emperors who had no final say in the matter but to pass the law or reform. The role of the Emperors and the Imperial Families were reduced to mere ceremony, but they were still the Heads of State and a symbol of the unity of Randis.

Later History
With the adoption of a Constitutional dual imperial monarchy, more power was given to the people. In terms of religion, the imperial cult died with the religious leaders now coming from the former Lower Classes who had converted to Mrāŋ Buddhism during the Wars and this religion became universal in all but the Imperial Family and the Noble Houses who instead worshipped the first Emperors with a mix of Mrāŋ Buddhism brought into the family by the women who married into them. The treatment of women became much fairer, with women being able to take up the same occupations as men, although the Imperial Inheritence was still only allowed for men. Eventually, the military class died out due to a lack of necessity thanks to the now generally anti-war nature of the planet. The Law of Imperial Inheritence was later changed, restricted who was eligible to rise to the throne, limiting it to member of the Seven Imperial Houses and the Imperial Heirs only. After a time, the Imperial Houses became smaller with some members abdicating their right to ascension in favour of a life among the people they had once oppressed and giving up the worship of their ancestors. Over time the male lines in the Imperial Houses began to dwindle and eventually the Imperial Heirs as a group died out with new heirs being found in successive Imperial Houses, but eventually the Imperial Houses died out leaving only the Noble Houses, a small handful of aristocrats, left in the once large Imperial Court, now the second buidling in the Governmental House. With no seen need for the Noble Houses, they were later abolished leaving only the direct bottom-up democracy placed long ago in the minds of the slaves and serfs found on Chika by the Mrāŋ followers during the Wars. Over time, the vast majority of Non-Mrāŋ followers in Northen Chika, replacing the old cultural beliefs that had allowed for the development of the army which helped the Mrāŋ defeat the Randis armies.

Eventually, the original aim of the colonisation of the planet was met. A planet unified in belief and culture with no war or anger through the teachings of self-disciple, compassion, charity, the Middle Way and a single driving goal, the goal of enlightenment. The one unpredicatable event was this, the near total extinction of the entire human population of the planet in the desire the achieve enlightenment. Literally everyone on the planet became so driven to reach enlightenment that many became celibate, causing the birth rates to fall drastically, yet everyone was so driven they didn't notice. Eventually only a handful of thousand human beings were left on the planet, a set of non-practitioners who saw the teachings as a way of living life, not as a means to an end, had managed to survive throughout this mass enlightenment-caused extinction event. They existed in small isolated communities in Siilo. The collapse of the governing religious body through their deaths had left them worried about the extent to which people had taken the teachings of the Buddha and moved into secluded settlements at the bases of mountains where resources were plentiful enough for them to be free of want but they still lived the Middle Way. As a result, they reverted to mere garden agriculture, living peacefully and calmly amongst themselves, essentially unchanging for the rest of their history, which due to their beliefs was never written but spread only by word of mouth.

=Siilo=

Siilo, from its very beginnings was intended to be a purely Buddhist culture following several forms of Buddhism in accordance with the idea that the Buddha taught that each method to achieve enlightenment was correct as long as each person was following the path that was right for them. Essentially, only three "classes" exist on Siilo, the laymen, the people who live as the Buddha taught but still marry and reproduce, the monks, those who train beyond basic Buddhist teachings and actively try to obtain enlightenment while giving up marriage and sex, essentially removing themselves from future society and finally the religious "elite", technically those who have reached a certain level within the Buddhist teachings they follow and can begin to teach others.

Due to the isolation of Siilo from the rest of the planet, as a result of strong sea currents around large number of small bordering islands, it became a haven for Buddhism to develop in many different forms but also for the people to form a united nation, despite linguistic variation, similar to Bhutan or Tibet. Unlike Tibet or Bhutan, however, there is no single Head of State. Instead there exists a religio-state governemt made up of a representative of the the head practioners of a particular sect of Buddhism chosen from amongst the head practitioners and by the head practioners. The lack of a need to deal with outside peoples means that no single representative for the entire nation is needed as all issues are of course internal.

Family is a loose term in Siilo society. With only about two thirds of the population ever going on to marry and reproduce, and many of these later going on to practice Buddhist training later in life, family was seen as an extension of the Middle Way for those who were not able to go on to practice the life of a Buddhist Monk fully, instead living out life according to the Buddha as best they could. With this in mind, the government actually had very little need to intervene in the lives of the people but instead met for more philosophical matters in order to retain religious and secular unity within Siilo.