Cathay

Cathay (also known as Imperial Cathay, the Empire of the Celestial Dragon, the Kingdom of the Dragon, Grand Cathay, Great Cathay, Grand Empire of Cathay and the Celestial Empire) is a populous nation of humans located in the Far East of the world, beyond the Dark Lands and the Mountains of Mourn. To the north, with the Great Bastion as border, lie the Eastern Steppes and the Hung and Kurgan territories within the Chaos Wastes. To the east are the island realm of Nippon and the Far Sea, and beyond that the Boiling Sea and Naggaroth. To the south are the Kingdoms of Ind and Khuresh.

Overview
Past the Worlds Edge Mountains and across the Great Skull Lands, on the other side of the Mountains of Mourn and the vast steppes, begin the uncharted lands. Only a single path travels to the east, known as the Silk Road. It runs through the untamed steppes until its destination, the fabled kingdom of Cathay. The lure of the Silk Road is great to the merchant houses of Tilea and the Burgomeisters of the Empire, as well as the traders of Araby. But the road is far from safe: roving bandits, steppe nomads, and the vast Hobgoblin hordes of Hobgobla-Khan who rule the steppes are an ever-present threat, and one that cannot be taken too lightly. Only one caravan out of ten makes the trip safely.

The travellers that return from Cathay tell tales of great golden pagodas and the inexhaustible armies of the eastern despots. They bring exotic spices and finest silks, gleaming gold, luxurious porcelain vases and all manner of strange and wonderful items from the Kingdom of the Dragon, glimpses of the mysterious glory of the distant and rich orient.

They also bring tales of jade cities and high temples where mystics probe the movements of the heavenly bodies and the positions of the stars, of the scholars who inscribe every word ever uttered by their divine Emperor. Many strange creatures are said to live in the land of Cathay, from serpentine dragons to gigantic living stone dogs which guard the temples of the multitudinous gods of Cathay.

Records of travellers tell of the thousand, thousand footsoldiers of the Emperor, the mystic brotherhoods of monks who can kill you with a touch of their hand, and the strange monkey warriors living high in the Mountains of Heaven.

Most of these tales are highly fanciful, but certainly the Empire of the Celestial Dragon must be a wondrous and rich place, but until the trade routes to the east are safe it will remain a realm of legend.

Cities
Not much is known about the population hubs of Cathay - some describe them as jade cities, while forts take the form of tall pagodas, rising up tier upon tier on a massive stone foundation.


 * Beichai - In this city the aristocracy fell under the sway of Chi'an Chi (Tzeentch) around -1200 IC. It isn't known whether this cult still is allowed.


 * Fu-Chow - Here captain Yin-Tuan had an Imperial Dragon tattooed on his back at an opium house.


 * Fu-Hung - In this place (likely a monastery) live chanting monks.


 * Khairith Irlean - This unfortunate port, known in Druchii Eltharin as Khairith Irlean, "the Place of a Thousand Bloody Delights", was encircled by Dark Elves and assaulted by Witch Elves. When the armies of the Dragon Emperor arrived, the Dark Elves had already returned to sea. In their wake, they left a town empty but for heaps of dismembered and charred corpses, writhing with flies and disease. The stones of the buildings were stained red with blood. So disturbing was the scene that the town was razed utterly and all mention of it was stricken from maps and records.


 * Mount Li - Here stands another monastery, where Yin-Tuan retired as an aged sage after serving as commander of the Palace Guard and wrote down the story of his journey through Lustria and the Southlands.


 * Shang-Yang - This is the westernmost Cathayan fortress. Since Ricco and Robbio's expedition's arrival in 1699 IC a mercantile quarter exists here to house Old Worlder caravans and merchants.


 * Tower of Ashshair - A watchtower and outpost of far Cathay amid the Stone Lands to the northwest. This jade-green tower - a thing as much of magic as stone - sits high and all but unassailable upon a jagged promontory of rock overlooking the ancient Silk Road that leads from the gates of the Great Bastion to the south-east, and the inhospitable mountain passes of the Ogre Kingdoms to the west. From here the servants of the Eternal Dragon Emperor surveyed the great road and kept watch for signs and portents of woe and threats from distant lands. It was unsuccessfully attacked around 2509 IC by Sayl the Faithless, a Tzeentchite Chaos Sorcerer under the orders of Tamurkhan the Maggot Lord.


 * Wei-jin - This great city, located on the eastern side of the Great Bastion according to some maps, has an underground Skaven lair (most likely Eshin), which was spied by Tilean explorer Marco Polare in 1247 IC.


 * Nan Gau - Nothing is known of this city, other than it appears on the western side of the Great Bastion in the same maps as Wei-jin.

Known fauna
In Cathay there are bears not unlike those of the Old World and the New World - large, powerful beasts whose skins are prized by all races. In the depths of the forests there are also boars. Giant Leeches can be found in the jungles, and Giant Spiders in the forests. Wolves have been nearly exterminated, while horses are domesticated in north and east Cathay. Leopards and panthers live in the Southlands and parts of western Cathay, whilst tigers are exclusive to the Far East. Some Griffons and Hippogryphs have been sighted in Cathay too.

Many legends talk about several dozen Dragons living in Cathay, but their description varies greatly - some say they are serpentine, others mention bejewelled Gold Dragons. There are even tales that tell their Dragon Emperor is actually an immortal Dragon in human shape, and the Shugengan wizards are described as "Dragon-blooded".

Another magical beast typical of Cathay and the Far East is the Ki-rin, flying unicorns with long, flowing manes spun with sparks of silver lightning that ride the roaring winds and storm clouds, bellowing and sceaming great cracks of lightning through the disturbed air. They are occasionally ridden by powerful heroes.

There are also Jade Lions, which are revered for their courage and level-headedness. Occasionally a warrior may be found carrying the likeness of one of these as an amulet, and they still contain some of their power, although showing cowardice will cause the magic to depart.

Timeline

 * -2750: A titanic warpstone meteorite plummets from the sky above for Cathay slams into the homelands of the Ogre tribes preying upon that great nation. Hundreds of thousands of Ogres die in the ensuing impact. When the dust clears, a great fang-lined maw hundreds of leagues across dominates the lands all about. Some scholars believe the terrible disaster that befell the Ogres was due to the displeasure of the Chaos Gods, others that the Ogres had preyed too long on the children of the Cathayan empire and that the astromancers of that land took their revenge.


 * -1800: The Dragon Emperor unites the entire civilisation of Grand Cathay in a great task that is to change the destiny of his nation forever. The Great Bastion, also known as the Dragon's Spine, is completed in under a century - an impenetrable fortress wall, a quarter of a mile high, that spans league upon league across the border of Cathay. In this way Cathay protects itself from Chaos invasion.


 * -1666: The World's Edge Mountains are riven by earthquakes, sending much of the Dwarf empire into jeopardy. At the same time, sections of the Great Bastion collapse, allowing rampaging northern tribes to spill into Cathay.


 * ca -1450 to -1400: The wandering clans establish the first Skaven strongholds in the areas later known as Troll Country, the Southlands, Araby and the Dark Lands. Lord Visktrin, mortally injured by a Dragon in the Mountains of Mourn, instructs Clan Eshin to establish their stronghold in far Cathay. Their arrival is described in Cathay as if they had been vomited out from the gigantic maw of the Great Black Dragon that lives coiled inside the earth.


 * -1200: The cult of Chi'an Chi (known to the mortals of the Old World as Tzeentch) gains favour amongst the aristocracy of Beichai in far Cathay.


 * -1163 to -1152: Nagash declares war upon the Priest Kings of Nehekhara. Alongside other foul creatures, the Vampires lead Nagash's armies. The Priest Kings are united under King Alcadizaar the Conqueror, and his formidable leadership defeats Nagash's first assault. The Vampire W'soran stays with Nagash and dares his wrath, whilst the other Vampires flee to escape the Great Necromancer's anger. Maatmeses, the very fat and very corrupt chief justice of Lahmia, and Harakhte, the brilliant and sinister court vizier of Neferata, vanished out of history, though there are rumours of Vampires in far Cathay and the Southlands who may be of their lost bloodlines. Many centuries later, Marco Polare’s writings of Cathay included legends of immortal eunuch sorcerers that drink the souls of men, who perhaps are the children of Maatmeses or Harakhte.


 * -87: Dark Elf Black Arks start raiding the coasts of the eastern lands.


 * ca 500: Assassin-adepts of the Clan Eshin return from Cathay to work for the Council of the Thirteen Lords of Decay. Many clans are quickly brought to heel by the assassination of their Warlords, and the civil war between the Council and the Plague Lords of Clan Pestilens grinds to a halt. Some sources claim this happened circa 100 IC.


 * 699: Representatives of the Phoenix King Aethis arrive in Cathay. They return laden with silk, jade and spices. Trade between east and west begins to flourish.


 * 702: Some Ogres travel to the far east where they learn that the great horned trophies worn on many of their helmets are highly valued in far off lands. The resultant transaction gives a new name to the road to the east - the Ivory Road.


 * 860: The Black Ark Talon of Agony is overturned and sunk by a gigantic magical tidal wave off the coast of Cathay.


 * 1103: Laithikir Fellheart shadows High Elf fleets around Cathay and Nippon and begins a century of merciless raids that see the Fellheart family rise to great power. With her charts, other Dark Elf fleets maraud with much success along the rich coasts of Ind and Cathay.


 * 1247: Tilean explorer Marco Polare reaches Cathay, and writes of spying the Skaven under the great city of Wei-jin.


 * 1310: A series of earthquakes cause part of the Great Bastion of Cathay to collapse. A truly colossal invasion ensues as scores of the battle-hungry Kurgan tribes that roam the steppes flood into that rich and ancient empire. Hordes of Chaos Warriors battle legions of terracotta automatons attempting to shore up the Great Wall with their own clay bodies, mutated War Mammoths gore and trample whole regiments of one-horned Ogres, and in the skies above Daemon Princes duel with bejewelled Gold Dragons. The Cathayans ultimately blunt the invasion, but not before the Chaos horde has carved a bloody path into the heartland of the orient.


 * ca 1690: Emperor Wu launches a great invasion fleet to conquer the Southlands, but it is destroyed by two typhoons. Cathayan Yin-Tuan, having lost his course, makes an epic journey across Lustria and the Southlands. He narrowly escapes sacrifice in Zlatlan, and is the only survivor of the whole expedition.


 * 1699: Ricco and Robbio trek east along the Silk Road and are received at the court of Emperor Wu of Cathay.


 * 2377: The Monkey King seizes power in Cathay. He installs Warlord Kishkik of Clan Eshin as an advisor, and begins trade with the Skaven Under-Empire.


 * ca 2509: Tamurkhan the Maggot Lord marches south along the eastern side of the Mountains of Mourn in order to recruit followers to invade the Empire from the Border Princes. Before reaching the Ogre Kingdoms, his lieutenant Sayl the Faithless attacks the Tower of Ashshair and is defeated. By this time there is again a Dragon Emperor in power.

Chaos
Cathay maintains hostile relations with the Forces of Chaos that roam the Eastern Steppes to the north since at least -1800 IC, when the Dragon Emperor united Cathay and built the Great Bastion to stop their invasions.

This great fortress has been breached at least twice. In the 15th century before the founding of the Empire in the Old World, the adjustments of the tectonic plates by the Slann and the explosion of a great machine in Skavenblight caused earthquakes across the world, breaching many Dwarf holds in the World's Edge Mountains and toppling sections of the Great Bastion, allowing rampaging northern tribes to spill into Cathay. Much later, in 1310 IC, a series of earthquakes caused part of the Great Bastion to collapse, and a truly colossal invasion ensued as scores of the battle-hungry Kurgan tribes that roamed the steppes flooded into that rich and ancient empire. Hordes of Chaos Warriors battled legions of terracotta automatons attempting to shore up the Great Wall with their own clay bodies, mutated War Mammoths gore and trample whole regiments of one-horned Ogres, and in the skies above Daemon Princes duel with bejewelled Gold Dragons. The Cathayans ultimately blunted the invasion, but not before the Chaos horde had carved a bloody path into the heartland of the orient.

The Cathayans' position on the Chaos Gods' worship isn't clear, although it is known that in -1200 the cult of Tzeentch (known as Chi'an Chi in Cathay) gained favour amongst the aristocracy of Beichai.

The Beastmen of the Mountains of Mourn are known to fight both the armies of the Ogre Kingdoms and Cathay, and several fortresses keep watch on any armies approaching from the north, such as the Tower of Ashshair.

Ogres
Many thousands of years ago, the Ogres lived far to the east of the Mountains of Mourn, in the great sweeping steppes on the borders of far Cathay. Their homelands were fertile and rolling grasslands spread from horizon to horizon, with grazing gnubeast and lumbering yak providing an ever-replenishing supply of fresh meat.

With no natural barriers to divide their kingdoms, the majority of the Ogre tribes lived as nomads, trading almost as often as fighting. The great secret of fire was passed to them by their Cathayan neighbours, who in return begun to recruit the more intelligent Ogres into the Grand Imperial Army. Tribe upon tribe prowled the rolling steppes as their numbers grew. However, the barbarian Ogre civilisation prospered to such an extent that Ogre raids soon begun to stray into Cathay itself, preying on the simple peasant children working in the rice fields. Before long many Ogres had acquired a taste for Cathayan flesh. This was something which His Most Excellent Majesty Xen Huong, Celestial Dragon Emperor of the Imperial Palace of Grand Cathay, took a very dim view of indeed.

Whether Xen Huong's coven of ancient astromancers had anything to do with the catastrophe that befell the Ogres remains speculation, but not too long after the children of that land began to go missing and bloodied bones littered the paddy fields, a great burning light appeared in the sky. It increased in brightness and size with every passing day until eclipsed even the great spheres of Morrslieb and Mannslieb. Over the weeks, it grew to be a baleful, glowering orb that crackled and spat above the plains, turning night into day and driving the wildlife of the steppes mad with fear. A corona of sickly green light came into focus around the comet as it grew ever closer, and fanciful observers even claimed that this new celestial body had a face, or more accurately, a mouth.

One sweltering night of -2750 IC, the comet slammed into the Ogre homelands with such force that it was felt on the other side of the world. All life around it boiled away in an instant; two-thirds of the Ogre population were annihilated as the steppes liquefied under the hammerblow of an angry god. The raging, blinding firestorms that followed the comet's fall incinerated everything for miles around. Had there been any survivors left to peer into the massive crater left by the comet's descent, they would have seen that the comet had not stopped on contact but instead burrowed deep into the heart of the world.

For the devastated tribes of the Ogres, the worst was yet to come. Their verdant homelands had been reduced to a searing desert of howling sandstorms and baleful energies that stripped the skin from their bones. Other than the remnants of the Ogre population, only a few species of insect had the resilience to survive the disaster, and starvation quickly set in. The surviving tribes degenerated into cannibalism, falling upon each other in fear and hunger as the drought and lack of food gnawed away at their once-full bellies. To the Ogres it seemed that a vengeful deity had fallen upon them, consuming all before it; a Great Maw that existed purely to feed. Thus the insatiable and merciless god of the Ogres was born.

The strongest and hardiest Ogres, even after having eaten their weaker brethren, found that the gnawing hunger visited upon them at the time of the Great Maw's landing would not leave. No longer able to cross into Cathay due to the poisonous desolation left in the comet's wake, the majority of the survivors migrated into the mountain ranges to the west in search of new homelands and respite from the great drought. However, one of the oldest legends tells of Groth Onefinger, who led his tribe further into the deadly desert with the intention of offering sacrifice to this new and powerful god. What he found has since been depicted on a thousand gut-plates and banners, and is forever etched into the legends of the Ogre race. Before Groth stretched a gigantic, gaping crater the size of an inland sea, filled with ridge upon ridge of jagged teeth and rippling, convulsing muscle that stretched down and down into nothingness; a gullet so huge it could swallow a race like the Ogres and still hunger for more. It exists there even now, a vile, pulsing god visited upon the face of the world by the vengeful heavens.

Nevertheless, millennia later Ogres still serve in the Cathayan armies as Maneaters, wearing fine cloth under lacquered bamboo armour and wielding finely balanced Cathayan longswords, master-crafted blades that are of great value to the Ogres because they will remain eternally sharp. With the strength of an Ogre behind them, these blades can cause one hell of a mess. One famous mercenary in Cathay was Bannaga, a deaf Butcher who owned the Bangstick.

In 702 IC, some Ogres travelled to the far east where they learn that the great horned trophies worn on many of their helmets were highly valued in far off lands. The resultant transaction gave a new name to the road to the east - the Ivory Road.

In 1310 IC, the armies that confronted the Chaos invasion were said to include whole regiments of one-horned Ogres, but it is unclear whether this refers to a new breed of Ogres, or maybe to horned helmets.

Nippon
Not much is known of the relationship between Cathay and the island nation of Nippon to the east, although it is also described as an ordered civilisation.

The Cathayan armies are said to be exceptionally powerful in order to deal not only with Hobgoblins and Chaos Marauders, but also the might of the island race of Nippon.

Skaven
The first Skaven to arrive to Cathay, believed there to have been vomited out from the gigantic maw of the Great Black Dragon that lives coiled inside the earth, belonged to Clan Eshin. This clan had been led eastwards through the Dark Lands by Lord Visktrin, who died after battling against a Dragon in the Mountains of Mourn and charged his successor with establishing a stronghold further east, and so passed beyond the knowledge of the rest of the Under-Empire and reached Cathay.

[Work In Progress]

Greenskins
[Work In Progress]

Dark Elves
[Work In Progress]

High Elves
[Work In Progress]

Lizardmen
[Work In Progress]

Araby
[Work In Progress]

Old World
[Work In Progress]

Vampires
[Work In Progress]

Military
[Work In Progress]

Other facts about Cathay

 * Merchants who trade in Cathay often return with silks, gold, porcelain vases, and magical artifacts and items.


 * There are great temples where mystics study the heavens and monks study martial arts. Although Cathay also has many gods, few are mentioned by name or description.


 * The most famous such mystics are the Vimtose monks, who follow the Orange Simca.


 * Gunpowder is known in Cathay and employed, among others, in warfare.


 * Strange creatures abound, from serpentine dragons and tribes of monkey warriors living in the Mountains of Heaven to gigantic, living stone dogs that guard the holy temples of the empire.


 * Cathay is at constant war with the armies of the Grand Khanate of the Hobgoblins.


 * Cathay has huge armies full of well trained soldiers, powerful mages and monks, high-tech guns, ninjas and mighty beasts. Terracotta automatons also fight with monkey tribesmen. Cathay's leaders are masters of all forms in the art of war.


 * There is very little poverty in Cathay.

Trivia
Cathay is based on real-world Ancient China. In fact "Cathay" is the archaic English word for China.