The land is Sung (SOONG), the people are Sungese (soong-EASE). The coast faces the Silk Isles, on the Silken Sea.

The ruler is His Imperial Majesty, Emperor of the Known World, Arbiter of Fate, Lord of the Seven Seas, Chosen of Heaven. However, since Sung has no empire, it is really a kingdom.

Admission into the ranks of government officials (a well-paid job for life) is by competitive examination. Students can sit the exams as many times as they like. The poorest villages are always ready to club together to buy an education for their brightest children, saying that, "Hunger passes, but a son in the tax department is an advantage for life."

Government concerns itself with every aspect of life: it is a stultifying bureaucracy, but the land is usually administered well. Officials are often somewhat corrupt, but this is expected, and a too-greedy official will soon be assassinated, either by the people he oppresses, or by his superiors, who watch their own fortunes fall as he drains the area he administers.

This degree of government requires many documents, and advanced mathematics. Sung has adopted the foreign phonetic writing for rough notes, but still keeps permanent records in the traditional pictograms. They have decimal numbers, understand the uses of zero, and have invented the abacus.

This is a largely static society, where change is kept to a minimum: high government officials only adopt innovations after long consideration. Even so, Sung builds some of the most advanced water-mills and windmills, while their iron is superior to that produced anywhere else.

Marriages are arranged, with professional marriage-brokers smoothing the negotiations between families. Women go to live with their husbands, where they remain subservient to his mother, while she lives.

Men are allowed up to four wives, but as many concubines as they wish. Village headmen may have two wives, other peasants only one. An official displays his status by the number of wives he has, and the richness with which he clothes them. Nobles usually have only one wife, but many concubines, although if the wife proves barren, the noble will marry the most fertile of his concubines, to ensure his succession. Only the son of a wife can inherit titles, although an estate can be divided as the maker of the will desires. This occasionally results in an impoverished noble, with a very rich half-brother.

In a society where many men are unable to buy themselves a wife, prostitutes are highly regarded in towns. Students studying to become officials are usually unable to afford to support a wife, and patronize the slaves hired out by tavern-keepers. Even wealthy men occasionally go to the most highly skilled courtesans.

The temples (especially those of Pi Kan) offer free education to any boy of six to sixteen, although his family or village must support him. Girls are educated at home in the crafts they will need.

When a boy is 16, he can start the long training necessary to become a government official. This lasts at least 10 years, and is not free. Many men in their thirties and even forties are still taking the stiff examinations in composing strictly metrical traditional poems, and arguing a legal case from both sides.

Cats are everywhere, and highly regarded because they keep down the rodents that would otherwise destroy the rice-stocks. However, if a cat jumps over a coffin before it can be buried, the corpse is thought to turn into a kind of vampire, which leaps through the night searching for victims.

Rice, fish, ginseng and iron are exported to Xyra, or sold to Poeni traders. It is forbidden to trade with Hurral, but this is sometimes done anyway. The major imports are gold, silver and gems, as well as silk from the Silk Isles. Much silk is re-exported to Xyra and Poeni traders.

The stable social structure has enabled a very high proportion of the population to be freed from food-production: up to 20% live in cities.

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