Tosan

Tosan, officially the Empire of Tosan (Tosanese: 東汕帝國 Tosan Tankoku), is a  in Sinju. It is located east of Jeongmi.

Tosan is divided into 34 prefectures and six autonomous prefectures. It is compromised primarily of the mainland and a small archipelago to its west. The capital, Imperial Residence, and its biggest city is Tankyo, with 6.2 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area.

WIP

Etymology
Tosan’s name is comprised of the characters 東 (To, meaning "east"), and 汕 (San). It is meant to indicate that Tosan is X.

Prehistory


Tosan was previously inhabited by proto-Yeongju peoples until around 1000 BCE, when proto-Fusenic peoples started migrating by sea to the Tosanese coast. Due to their mastery of advanced agricultural practices, they quickly expanded across the region in the following 750 years, displacing and/or mixing with the natives, often with conflict.

Around 250 BCE, the western and eastern proto-Tosanic peoples diverged so drastically that their languages diverged into different branches of the Tosanic branch of the language family. Tosanese became the main language of the Western Tosanic sub-branch, whilst Shoyo and Taimo constitute the main languages that originated from the Eastern Tosanic sub-branch.

The proto-Tosanic peoples brought their proto-Shinto beliefs, organizing themselves into villages headed by proto-Shinto priests. By 100 BCE, various petty kingdoms arose, with their ruling clan's kami providing religious legitimacy. As the population increased, these petty kingdoms went to war with each other to capture farmland and expand their territory.

Pre-Tosan Period


Cheonjean scholars began to investigate the petty kingdoms of Tosan around 200 AD, categorizing them and opening up trade links between Cheonje and these realms. It is at this time when Cheonjean influences spread to Tosan.

The Cheonjeans cataloged several petty kingdoms. These included the main powers of this era: Tangami (天岸), Shidegami (北岸), Yonmori (永水) and Yokoku (大国). They all adopted and ideas. Tangami in particular wrote the Chidayishi (地大歴史; 'Great History of the Land') in 550 AD, a record of the history of the region up to that time with a bias aiming to legitimize the Tangami royal family's rule. It was written in Cheonjean characters, but a translation with the modern Tosanese Kana script was made in 1200 AD. Despite some of its more legendary aspects that were written to validate the royal bloodline, the Chidayishi remains one of the most important literary and historical works of the era.

Out of all the petty kingdoms, Tangami was the one which conquered them all. In 600 AD, Tangami conquered the last of the main powers, Shidegami, establishing itself as the sole ruler of western Tosan.

(First) Period


When Tangami unified all the western kingdoms into one, it renamed itself as "Tosan". This move was symbolic not only due to the fact that it was the crossroads of Sinju and Yeongju, but because taking such a general name for the area signified that Tosan's government was the sole ruler of the lands in question.

Two years after the conquest, the first Emperor of Tosan, Dohasho, declared the Empire into being. It was part of a wider push to emulate the Cheonjean Empire, as Tosan imported Cheonjean customs, culture, philosophy, administration and technology. During the (First) Period, Tosan's Imperial court was extremely Cheonjephile, even going to the extent of paying lip service to the Cheonjean Emperor despite elevating their monarchical title to be the equal of the Cheonjeans. This was done to improve ties with them.

When the Cheonjean Empire collapsed, Tosan permitted nobles from the crumbling state to come and settle in its lands. The Emperor of the era married a noble distantly related to the last Cheonjean dynasty by blood, and thus the monarchs not only claimed to be descendants of powerful kami, but also of the Emperors of Cheonje.

Over the years, a rift opened between the royal family and the noble clans. The noble families that hailed from the lands that were only recently conquered by the former Tangami were the ones most hostile to the central government and to its project of centralizing power through Confucian and Cheonje-style reforms. The [First Noble] Uprising exploded these tensions. Whilst the rebelling nobles were defeated, this war strained the relationship between the Emperor and the various noble clans. Given the central government's dependence on noble-raised armies during the rebellion, the authority of Tankyo and of the imperial court over the whole country sharply declined at the end of this period. A military coup, with the support of a pretentious prince who compromised with his co-conspirators to surrender most of the throne's power, shifted authority from the royal house to a military aristocracy in the 900s, leading to the (Second) Period in Tosanese history.

(Second) Period
In 900 AD, disgruntled military and civil aristocrats conducted a coup d'etat, elevating a claimant to the Imperial throne. The (Second) Period had begun. In this period, Tosanchi radically altered its structure, rejecting most foreign influences and turning increasingly xenophobic, but paradoxically also embraced Confucian values more. Civil service examinations were revoked, the Imperial court promoted native traditions and customs over foreign ones but also did this with a strong Confucian outlook. A military dictatorship ruled nominally in the Emperor's name for 200 years, although the Emperor was just a puppet in reality. The (Second) Period was incredibly bloody, as various noble clans raised armies to depose various Emperors, who were just puppets of the reigning military clan at the time. The government turned increasingly unpopular, and revolts against conscription also occurred.

Initially, it was the [Clanhere] clan and their allies who ruled. With their collaborationist Emperor marrying noblewomen from their families, they obtained control of the throne by blood. However, 50 years into their reign, the [Clanhere2] clan and its allies, who were sidelined and marginalized by the Imperial court, finally rose up. They got their chance when public discontent over a famine and high taxes earned them popular support, and thus their rebellion promised to cut the taxes for the peasantry. Upon winning the war, the pro-[Clanhere] Emperor was deposed in favour of a distantly-related prince that was married to a [Clanhere2] noblewoman.

There were some achievements, however. Tosan expanded to its east, eliminating several Eastern Tosanic petty kingdoms and incorporating them into its realm. Tosan fought with [Basanreseri dynasty here] for territory during this periodz with several wars leaving the border in a constant flux until it stabilized to what it is today. Tosan also achieved the submission of the Taimo Confederacy, a coalition of petty kingdoms ruled over an Overlord elected amongst the various Kings and Princes. Colonists spread out east, settling the newly-acquired territories and mixing and/or fighting with the eastern peoples. Due to a large number of these colonists being prisoners sent to penal colonies, the east acquired a stereotype for lawlessness and banditry that lasted until the 15th century.

The royal family was left powerless as rival noble clans fought to control the throne and thus rule by proxy. This period was finally brought to a halt when a Confuciophile coalition of clans and the royal family won the (Second Period) War against the ruling (Shogunhere) clan.

(Third) Period
The (Third) Period began in 1100, as the Emperor was formally restored to the throne with its imperial powers. Reconnecting with the wider Sinju world, the (Third) Period saw a complete reversal of the policies of the previous military governments. The Imperial court took special interest in Jeongmi, seeking to adopt their policies just as Tosan had done in the (First) Period with Cheonje. It is at this time when Tosanchi adopted a modified version of the Fusenese script for their own use. As a result, Tosanchinese Kana is markedly different from the original, still making use of otherwise obsolete Kana and creating Tosanese-specific Kana in order to adapt the script for the phonology found in Tosanese, which differs from the language.

It is at this time where an upper-middle class of bureaucrats and scholars began to develop extensively. As the civil service examination was restored and now open to all regardless of lineage, certain villages began to raise funds to educate their brightest children. It was expected that a person who got into the civil service in this fashion to repay their village in prestige and increased government attention. Unlike the noble clans, the bureaucracy (the part that was not noble, that is) did not have many lasting bloodlines, although they did try. Members of the bureaucracy would often invest heavily into the tutelage of their children to improve their chances of succeeding them in their jobs. Whilst some lineages of bureaucratic prestige did surface, they often lasted a couple of centuries in the most extreme of cases. The longest-lasting bloodline was the Heikawa family, a series of succeeding bureaucrats which emerged in the beginning of the 13th century. This bureaucratic lineage ended in 1871, when the last consecutive Heikawa bureaucrat died.

The royal family's newly-acquired power did not last long, as the clans once more took control over time. By the 1300s, the Emperor was a puppet once more of whatever noble faction dominated the court.

(Fourth) Period
The (Fourth) Period was initially characterized by a succession crisis where the nobles took the advantage to act as regents for three successive Emperors, each a puppet to whatever noble clan was most powerful at the time. However, by the 1350s, there was a shift in power to the royal family as X Emperor asserted his authority over the Imperial court. He was not able to obtain absolute control like in years past for other Emperors, and thus he was forced to compromise, creating the Tosanese Parliament. To this day, it is one of the oldest legislative institutions of its kind, albeit it has undergone significant changes since the 1350s (obviously). It was a body that "advised" the Emperor on lawmaking and policy at first, with the various noble families sending their representatives to the court.

Tosan in the 1500s began to expand its trading influence, and in the 1600s it was exploring the world for new trade routes and influence.

Geography
TBD

Government
Tosan is a constitutional monarchy. The Emperor holds little, if any, power, and is only the ceremonial Head of State of the country. Executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister and their cabinet. This makes the Prime Minister the Head of Government.

The unicameral national legislature of Tosan is called the Parliament of Tosan. Comprised of 498 seats, 246 of them are elected through single-district elections and 252 are awarded based on the national popular vote. Should a party exceed its share of the national vote in parliament, no more national seats shall be awarded. This makes the voting system of the parliament Mixed-Member Proportional. District seats are not divided nationally, but they are allocated based on a prefecture's population. For example, Tankyo is allocated 31 seats.

Imperial Family
The Imperial Family is the reigning house of Tosan, and it is the longest-consecutively ruling dynasty in the world that still exists today, having ruled in some way or form for over 1,500 years. The current Emperor is His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Sukutaliro, who ascended the throne in 2020 after his father's untimely demise. He adopted the era name of Ronsu (栄秀; ろんす), therefore officially being known as the Ronsu Emperor (Tosanese: 栄秀天君, ろんす たんきじ, Ronsu Tankishi; 栄秀帝, ろんすてい, Ronsu-Tei).

Judiciary TBD

Administrative Divisions
Tosan is divided into 34 prefectures and 6 autonomous prefectures. The most populous prefecture is Tankyo, with 6,202,294 residents as of the latest census. Prefectures themselves are divided into sub-prefectures, which are further divided into municipalities.

Foreign Relations
TBD

Military
TBD

Obscene Publications
There are no laws regarding the censorship of Obscene Publications in Tosan (-;)

Economy
Tosan is a high-income, developed nation in Sinju. TBD

Infrastructure
High quality maybe

Population
Tosan is a nation with around 60.3 million residents. Most of Tosan, especially the western prefectures, are relatively homogeneous apart from major cities such as Tankyo, which have small immigrant communities. The east of the country is different: most of Tosan's various minorities inhabit the eastern prefectures, and the area is not as monolithic as the west.

The largest ethnic group are the Tosan, or Tosanese, a Japonic people comprising more than 77.1% of the population. The largest ethnic minority are the Shoyo, another Japonic people that make up almost 6.79% of the population. Most ethnic groups native to these lands are either of Japonic or Yeongju origin. The largest Yeongju minority, the Háatlag, are around 5.05% of the population.

Life expectancy high, elderly stuff, etc

Religion
Something something state Shinto 8.0

Languages
The Tosan language, a Japonic tounge, is the dominant method of communication in the country. Almost all the citizens of the country are fluent in Tosanese. Despite this, the ethnic minorities do have their own languages.

The Shoyo and Taimo languages are both Japonic, closely related to Tosanese. Some Tosanese ultranationalists go so far as to state that these are just dialects of Tosanese, but linguists believe that Tosanese comprises its own branch of the Japonic family. Shoyo and Taimo are categorized into their own branch of the Japonic languages, and have been influenced more by their Yeongju neighbours than Tosanese has been.

Education
Education is held in high regard in Tosan. 20-30% of the national government's annual budget usually goes towards funding education, with prefectures and other administrative divisions providing more. This well-funded public education system provides generous benefits, such as tutors for children who request or need it, high salaries for teachers, excellent school infrastructure and conditions, among other educational amenities. The Tosanese state encourages highly-educated teachers through a system of high salaries and subsidies for people who want to follow the career, even providing scholarships for intelligent college students to study in the country's most prestigious universities or abroad if they so wish. The Tosanese Education Directory, which is independent of the executive, constantly sets targets to improve the quality of its education system, providing a report to the legislature on its plans to surpass other countries in terms of education. When Tosan performs well academically globally, the Directory gets rewarded with bonuses for all of its personnel.

Education policy is mostly apolitical. Long-term education planning is controlled by the less partisan Council of State and the Directory, with the Parliament only being able to override the CoS decisions by a 60+% majority and the Directory's decisions by a two-thirds majority.

Teikau
The Imperial Test (Tosanese: 帝考, Teikau) is the country's university admissions test. The Teikau is very specialized, with the possibility of being able to take career-specific Teikau or the more general test. For example, if you want to go into a branch of Engineering, it might be more beneficial to take the Engineering Teikau if you aim for a top university in the country. Passing the Teikau is indispensable towards attaining higher education, as failing the test sees you barred from university admissions in practice. All other considerations are often secondary. As a result, many families pressure their children to study and take advantage of the educational resources provided by the state. The Teikau is often given in summer vacation, and, unlike other countries, it is compulsory to take the exam. Once taken, a Teikau test score is permanent. The student can opt to take other Teikau in the winter break to improve their score, but the older Teikau score will still stand, with the new winter Teikau score being added to provide a total average (say you got 1500 in the summer Teikau and 1600 in the winter Teikau. Then you have an average of 1550). Critics decry the extreme stress this test places on Tosanese students, whilst supporters argue that the test encourages meritocracy given that all students are afforded all the opportunities to succeed due to generous government funding.

On the day of a summer Teikau test, Tosanese cities fall silent, and that is by design, as the government orders most businesses closed for the test and heavily curtail traffic, banning short-distance trips made by private cars, buses, trains, trucks and airplanes that do not transport students to Teikau test sites until the test is over. If a student is somehow unable to take the test due to a legitimate excuse, their test is re-scheduled at a later date. If the student lives in a remote area, social workers just take the test to the student's residence and supervise them there.

Health
Excellent by global standards, TBD

Musical Poetry
Musical poetry is an unique Tosanchinese tradition. The genre makes use of instruments only. Sounds are utilized to represent certain feelings and intentions, and the organization of the tone and instruments matter. The longer an instrument is played in a musical poem, the more intense an emotion or intention is perceived to be. Some examples include: - For example, a musical poem including a disorganized cacophany of drums may appear to be gibberish, but it often represents fury in the Tosanchinese tradition. - On the other hand, a drum being played at a repetitive pace symbolizes a certain fear if played fast, and an attempt to intimidate another person if played slowly. - A flute being played slowly and at a sombre tone may represent regret. - A zither being played fast but in a repetitive is meant to represent happiness. If played fast whilst disorganized, it means a general feeling of disorder. If played slowly, a zither's sound represented patience, usually the person waiting for something or someone.

Colours also symbolized something. If a performer wishes to direct a melody towards a specific person, they would pick the respondent's favourite color if they knew it, and the colour of their birth date if not. They would either dress in that hue, hold a card of the same colour whilst playing an instrument if it was possible, or otherwise portray the colour in a noticeable fashion. For example, if your preferred red and the artist is performing a disorganized cacophany with the drums whilst noticeably displaying red by having a red textile covering said instrument, it means that the performer is directing that feeling towards you (i.e., they're angry at you).

Musical poetry first originated amongst the youth as a way to profess their love to a romantic interest whilst being able to claim that the performance meant nothing due to how vague it was. As the practice was standardized and expanded to cover other topics. Some members of the aristocracy took interest and became quite proficient in this art. Musical poetry was used sometimes in the Imperial court to convey threats or assurances. For instance, if your political rival at court wore your favourite colour and started playing a drum in a repetitive tone, they were attempting to intimidate you by asserting their authority and superiority to intimidate.

Colour in Tosanchinese culture
TBD

Funeral processions


Funeral processions in Tosan are heavily influenced by Tanishan, otherwise known as Konminism. Tosan is notorious for having drawnout funeral traditions. All attendants must wear white, a traditional symbol of mourning. However, the spouse of the deceased can wear light blue, should they hope their former partner reaches Heaven.

A typical funeral procession commences in the morning. The corpse is carried on a white and lifted high up, symbolizing the wish of the mourners of the deceased for said person's soul to reach high up to the Heavens. Four priests surround the litter, praying from all directions in the hope that the soul receives heavenly favour. Two banner bearers march in the front of the litter. The two banners display the of the paternal and maternal families. If one of these families has no mon, then their Chinese characters or Tosanese Kana painted on a white background often suffices.

If the dead person requested it in their will, the procession shall go to their favourite place and the four priests shall pray there, blessing the auspicious place and pleasing the soul of the corpse.

The procession goes to a temple, where a white and tall altar is located. All those in attendance stay at the foot of the altar, often taking their seats on white chairs made out of fine wood. Those carrying the litter climb up the stairs, as well as the priests and the banner bearers. The banner bearers stand to face the audience. The litter is then placed in the centre of the altar, and the priests begin to pray until sundown. The audience is expected to pray as well, but they also tend to socialize, traditionally speaking well of the dead. Conversing ill of the deceased is considered a sin unless it can be proven without a shadow of a doubt by the speaker that the criticism is genuine.

Once sundown comes and the Moon begins to rise, the curtains enclosing the body are lifted, religiously permitting the soul to leave before the burial. According to tradition, the soul travels to the Moon, the place where all souls await their transfer to the Heavens, where it shall be judged. After four minutes, the litter is closed again. The procession then proceeds to bury the body at a temple cementery, preferably on a section containing the ancestors of the deceased unless specifically requested by the person on their will.

Rujahai (裸字絵)


Rujahai (lit. meaning "bare character painting") is a Tosanese artistic genre. It originated in the late 1800s in response to (insert Romantic/Vanguard genre here). It's main premise was that one could demonstrate emotion in art whilst being orderly and concise. As a result, Rujahai painters disavowed the developing surreal trends, instead focusing on abstract interpretations of.

Some guidelines for an orthodox Rujahai painting include:

- Clean, straight lines enclosing certain areas. The preferred angles were 45° for non-horizontal strokes, 90° for vertical strokes and 180° for horizontal strokes.

- The use of colours to represent an emotion or idea. Any personification (as in, painting faces, animals, objects and whatnot) is discouraged.

- No blurs in the lines nor in the colours. This violates the principles of perfection and order that Rujahai artists prized. No shadow nor any colour blurring is to be permitted.

- If possible, limit the amount of colours in a painting to four.

- Titles of the painting must be limited to four characters or less.

The most famous artist of this movement was Golekowa Tanmoto, a Tosanese nobleman and the brother of the head of the Tanmoto noble clan of the time. He painted Woheshīn (我へ心), an acclaimed piece of art in the country.

Crying in Tosanese Culture
There are no special characteristics in regards to crying in Tosanese culture.

Music
TBD

Originally written in the NS app (OG Tosanchi)
A Japonic nation, Tosan was settled by Japonic settlers in antiquity, which developed their own branch of the Japonic language family. A bureaucratic monarchy, Tosan had a wealthy class of noble landowners as well as an upper middle class of bureaucrats. The Tosan civil service examination was open to everyone, and it was a tradition for villages to fund their brightest to take said tests, and thus the bureaucrats do not have any extensive hereditary lineage.

Tosan arose as an entity following the unification of various petty kingdoms. The Emperor (or Tankishi, 天君, "Heavenly Ruler") legitimized his rule by claiming a mandate of heaven, confirmed by the Tanishan religion (天道, "Heavenly Road"). In the Tanishan religion, heaven is ruled by Konmin (神, "God"), a monotheistic all-powerful deity that grants the divine right to rule due to the Emperor being of divine blood (in the ancient legends, Konmin created the first humans out of the soil, but the deity created the first Emperor from its toenails, symbolizing the Emperor's subservience to Konmin's will). Unlike Japan, where the Emperor was worshipped as a living god once, Tonsāchi never did, as despite the Emperor being of divine blood, the Tanishan religion demands that all heavenly praise go to Konmin, and no one else. The Emperor is the Son of Heaven, and as a good descendant, he must follow his filial piety by fulfilling Konmin's will as its divine steward. This led to periods of court factionalism, as aristocrats sought power in the Imperial Court. Sometimes, and especially in the Haiya period, Emperors were even deposed in favour of other royal relatives in either peasant or aristocratic rebellions.

Tonsānchi sought to emulate Cheonje, sending emisaries to study the nation and forge diplomatic links. This led to the Jinmi Period in the 600s-900s, where Tonsāchi sought to imitate Cheonjean (and then Jeongmian) statecraft and beliefs to an extent.

The Jinmi period ended when a succession crisis triggered a civil war. The new Emperor reformed the state, discouraging Confucianism and promoting traditional Tonsānchi culture more in order to appeal to the commoner populace. The Sāchi period was characterized by a militaristic aristocracy and isolationism that lasted until the 1100s, when a Jeongmi-phile faction of the Imperial Court seized control. The new Haiya period was characterized not only by a resurgence in Jeongmian concepts (especially since this was a golden age in Jeongmian culture), but also on new influence from Fusen, with Tonsānchi adopting a modified Kana script for the languages spoken in its realm during this period. Unlike the Jinmi period, the Haiya court walked a fine line between adopting foreign cultures and concepts and maintaining Tonsānchi traditions. It also revived the civil service examinations abandoned in the Sāchi period. Unlike the ancient Jinmi period, it was not royal power that dominated, but noble families, whom exterted influence and made the Emperor essentially a puppet to be fought over between the aristocratic clans of the Empire. These power plays led to sporadic but more common civil wars and rebellions, as clans often fought with each other to influence or even depose Emperors.

This mildly chaotic era lasted until the 1500s, when the royal family and its allied nobility finally took control from the waning clan system in the Arinaga War. In order to placate the nobility, the Emperor granted this class a concession by allowing them to assemble and pass laws with the consent of the Emperor. The Imperial Parliament (貴族会, Konshekushun, "Nobility Meeting") was born in the Tankonshe period, which lasted from the 1500s until the 1800s. In this era, the small kingdoms of Shoyokue and Taimohen were also conquered.

The 1800s saw Tonsānchi modernise, and new ideas sprung to life. The industrialization of the country saw a new urban working class and the rise of a middle class, both of which demanded greater rights and representation. The aristocracy was also altered, especially in the latter half of the 19th century, as business tycoons of commoner backgrounds joined the ranks of nobles in terms of power and prestige and even surpassed them.

The Imperial Court initially reacted brutally against dissent, censoring, imprisoning and even executing all those who pushed against the monarchy's power, but, especially after seeing the abolition of the monarchy in Jeongmi and growing anti-establishment sentiment, the Imperial Court relented. Tosan underwent major reforms in the late 19th century. The nation became a democratic constitutional monarchy, instituted compulsory public education, granted workers more rights, better healthcare, etc. Initially, elections were only open to the wealthy and those persons who could pass the Voting Registration Examination, but the early 1900s did away with the latter, as the general public demanded greater representation.

Today, Tosan is a relatively prosperous and democratic Sinju constitutional monarchy. The Emperor holds little to no power today.