#minnan

Establishment of the crown

In 1784 DOH (Day Of the Hand) (2170 IC) during the fall of the Iskarin Empire, the continent of Gestade lost all contact with the outside world.

The Iskarin Empire that fell into Solshade, Gaun, and Minnan no longer supported the colonies which quickly fell into a depression. This was caused by a sudden lack of resources needed to sow fields, craft clothing, and produce goods.

The colony was dying slowly. After three years of decay, a Lord who had stayed loyal to the colony found a massive store of iron during the mountain surveys he ordered with his dwindling funds.

Once found he organized the people to start mining immediately. As they mined Lord Hunrack negotiated with Gaun, a newly formed isand-based nation, for a favorable deal. It was through these deals that it was finally decided that Minnan was to be the name of the nation continues.

Through these trade routes, the colony once more grew and continued to grow after more surveys revealed massive amounts of metal deposits.

By this time the people started to hail Lord Hunrack as the great savior of their time. It was through this that the newly created nation decided that he was to truly rule them. But it was not this that secured hereditary rule. That would be set by his son Lord Nedine.

As he grew he was taught by his father and his council how to rule, and he did it well when his time came with overwhelming support. He negotiated good deals, helped the people organize into proper cities, and ensured that their navy became feared throughout the world.

At the age of thirty-seven on the day of his son's birth, he revealed that he would be a Crown Prince, and the first Minnish King his son King Bernard I.

The beginning of a new age

Name:

Minnan

Location:

Gestade

Gov't type:

Absolute Monarchy

Reign:

2176(IC)-2651(IC)

Current leader:

King Darrin of the Cobalt dynasty

In 2169(IC) during the fall of the Iskarin Empire, the continent of Gestade lost all contact with the outside world. The Iskarin Empire that fell into Solshade, Gaun, and Minnan no longer supported the colonies which quickly fell into a depression.

This was caused by a sudden lack of resources needed to sow fields, craft clothing, and produce goods. The colony was dying slowly. After three years of decay, a Lord who had stayed loyal to the colony found a massive store of iron during the mountain surveys he ordered with his dwindling funds. Once found he organized the people to start mining immediately.

As they mined Lord Hunrack negotiated with Gaun, a newly formed island-based nation, for a favorable deal. Through this, the colony once more grew and continued to grow after more surveys revealed massive amounts of metal deposits.

By this time the people started to hail Lord Hunrack as the great savior of their time. It was through this that the newly created nation decided that he was to truly rule them. But it was not this that secured hereditary rule. That would be set by his son Nedine. As he grew he was taught by his father and his council how to rule, and he did it well. He negotiated good deals, helped the people organize into proper cities, and ensured that their navy became feared throughout the world. At the age of thirty-seven on the day of his son's birth, he revealed that he would be a Crown Prince, and his son the first Minnish King, King Bernard I.

Governing system:

All government policy must be passed through for the king's seal of approval, and though a council was formed in 2259(IC) and all nobles given a seat, it is the king who still must ultimately agree.

Generally, lawmaking happens due to a noble house pitching a tright based on the caste in question, a castrite as many call them. Depending on the king this will then turn into a debate where the king will preside over who speaks when.

A nobility lasts three generations not counting the generation which gained the nobility.

All citizens if Minnan are separated into [] castes.

Ruling: The caste of world leaders. These are the equals of the king.

Governance: Those keeping the peace of a set territory that possesses a population.

Nobility: For those who gain nobility, but have no people who depend on their input.

Military: Serving or those who have served in combat.

Citizen: It is meant to be the caste of all remaining citizens, but in recent times there has been increasing input to create a caste for the poor and homeless.

Lost: Albert Heddle (Circa 2647(IC) to the kings court.)

I often always argue that Chinese is not the largest language in the world, because that would be like saying "Latin is the language of Europe."

That's not true. The Roman established Latin as the lingua franca of the Roman Empire thousands of years ago when they expanded and conquered Europe. But the locals who lived in the Western Roman Empire were speaking old French, Italian, Romanian, Portuguese, German, English, etc. And then it breaks into many dialects and accents from city to city and provinces. You have the guy with the Scottish, Irish, English and Welsh accent, and they all pronounce words differently, but they all live on the British Isle.

The same is true with Chinese. The Mandarin, Cantonese, Minnan, Xiang, Gan, Hakka, Yunnanese, etc. etc. and many of them are not even fluent in Mandarin Chinese at all. It's a very poor polling they do when they count languages, and gives everyone a blanket term that they all speak Chinese, when in different provinces and regions, Mandarin isn't their first language.

"You live in Chinatown, and you ask your neighbor for some sugar, and they won't even understand you. You go to the next neighbor, and you won't understand him."

"It's because of Communism in her country" -FOTB

And it is. It's the political Nationalism on a global scale that they created to give the illusion they want the world to see them as. Drive 1000 miles out of Beijing, and everyone starts speaking funny, or even a different language, like Shanghainese, Tsingtao, Korean or even Mongolian.

I was aware that the National Language Policy, or the practice of forcing-those-islanders-to-stop-speaking-Japanese-and-awful-Mǐnnán-and-start-speaking-the-proper-one, was vigorously and mercilessly practiced by the KMT for several decades, and as a result, Mǐnnán (閩南語) as a lect has been losing the number of its speakers rapidly and will become a "minor" language on the island in a matter of years. (Although now they finally became willing to compromise a bit in favor of Taiwanese, which can be a start.)

But I didn't realize such a policy has led to an interesting result that now there are different variations of Mandarin in Taiwan, and that they can be (roughly) categorized in two, one being Taiwanese Guóyǔ (國語) and Taiwanese Mandarin -- the former being a by-product of switching the default mode of the communication pretty much overnight and the people struggling to get by, and the latter somewhat a desired result that the KMT long wanted to make happen.