Typhoons are common in Hsou especially on the coast. The coastline is on the Sea of Death.

Many customs in Hsou (h’SOO) are the same as those of Sung.

Artists of all descriptions are greatly admired, and their productions are one of the country’s major exports. Hsou means Land of Art. Hsou is a Kingdom, ruled by the Great King, Sword of Heaven. The people are called Hsounese (h’soo-

Any major crime is an offence against the Balance, punishable by death. (Major crimes are theft, insubordination, disturbing the public peace, cheating the tax-gatherers, murder and kidnapping. Violence and rape are only crimes if they include insubordination.) Very occasionally magistrates commute the sentence to a large fine and mutilation. Otherwise criminals convicted of major crimes are beheaded. Any noble or official can appeal to the Great King, if he feels a magistrate was unfair. If the appeal is heard, one of them - magistrate who delivered the judgement or person making the appeal - will be beheaded, for wasting the Great King’s time.

Officials are more likely to be corrupt than those of Sung are, because the checks and balances are no longer functioning properly: it has been a couple of hundred years since the last strong Great King.

Minor crimes are punished with whipping, branding or mutilation. A person who has been wrongly accused of a crime is likely to escape (with help from their friends) and flee to the wilderness, becoming an outlaw. Raids by these outlaws on the lands of officials they think wronged them are a major problem.

Saving someone’s life makes them the responsibility of the person who saved them. This is one of the reasons magistrates are reluctant to commute the normal sentence of death on a criminal.

All temples keep a flock of white doves, which are sacred creatures, sacrificed to read the omens.

Hsou and Sung divided on the question of religion, but the peasants still worship their ancestors as fervently as ever, and even intellectuals do not neglect the rites for the dead.

The official religion is a Yin Yang philosophy, a statement of the necessity for everything to be balanced, if the world is not to fall into chaos. There are no official Gods, though every village has a shrine to its favorite of the old Gods.

Over the years, Hsou has absorbed Vailand’s belief that it is an honor for an ancestor’s body to remain active after death. Great families have zombies of their ancestors, bought from necromancers. However, it is still illegal to learn or teach the spell Necromancy.

There are temples where people pray and make offerings, but they are not dedicated to any God. They are more like universities, maintained by public subscription and some allowance from the state.

The capital is Pan Ku, which is the largest city in the world, having over 1.5 million inhabitants, but only about 10% of the population of Hsou live in cities, the rest farm.

Most slaves are zombies bought from Vailand, and programmed to obey their new masters. Apart from the Poeni, Hsou is the only nation that allows trading with Vailand.

The army is frequently mobilized to fend off raids from Vailand, and sometimes pushes on over the border to make sure the raiders have learned their lesson. However, the border of Hsou is now further east than it was originally, indicating that Vailand will eventually, with no more than border skirmishes, absorb Hsou.

This is the land that teaches Tai Hsou, a simple martial art. Nearly all the adult population knows Tai Hsou and practicing it is a popular sport.

The peasants are reputed to eat almost anything.

Return to main page. Return to Introduction. Return to Sea of Death. Return to top of page.