Kaiphranos
Donor
Maryland: The Paraguay of North America! I like the sound of that...
Anyway, I've got one I've been saving for this occasion. Sort of a sequel to this one.
Three thousand years ago, a few bands of wanderers from the Eurasian steppes made a long trek by way of the Gansu Corridor and came to a land that would never be called China. Over time, others followed those first few adventurers, carving out kingdoms for themselves along the Yellow River. Cities burned, armies clashed, generations lived and died. For centuries they warred with the decaying empire of the Shang, until at last the newcomers gained the upper hand. The first kings and conquerors faded into memory and then into myth as their descendants made this land their home, melding with the inhabitants like tin and copper coming together to make bronze--something new, and stronger than either: Heilan.
The Heilanic people were originally a hybrid culture, an Indo-European stratum overlaid on a mainly Huaxia population. Genetically, the Huaxia won out, although a few features--light eyes, brown or reddish hair--still sometimes appear, particularly in the western regions. Linguistically, the new arrivals dominated, although modern Heilanic dialects have diverged immensely from their Indo-European ancestor (and from each other) thanks to millennia of near-isolation, close contact with Sinitic languages, and plain old linguistic drift. Archeological evidence suggests that the native Shang script remained in use for several centuries after the conquest, but was eventually replaced by a new syllabary better suited to the Heilanic languages.
Historically, the greatest rivals of the Heilanic kingdoms have been the Yuht, to their south. In contrast to the varied agriculture of the Heilanics, the Yuht civilization is primarily based on the intensive cultivation of rice. Unsurprisingly given their long history, there has been a great deal of cultural interchange between the Heilan and the Yuht and a number of the smaller kingdoms along the Huai and Yangtze Rivers show the influence of both groups.
To the north and west of the Heilanic kingdoms are the domains of the various nomadic tribes. These tend to be rather ephemeral, but at times their influence has covered much or all of the Heilanic zone. Currently the Tuvans are the most powerful and organized of them. The kingdoms of the Korean peninsula have generally maintained an independent identity; at the moment the mainland kingdom is under some pressure from its Heilanic neighbor to the north. They share the Japanese islands with a number of Ainu states, which have had intermittent contact with the Heilanic states of the mainland since roughly 500 BC.
Technologically, Asia is in somewhat ahead of our timeline's 1500 AD. Gunpowder is known and used, mostly in the form of cannon and matchlock muskets, but bow-armed light horsemen and heavy cavalry are still found in many armies, particularly in the north and west, in a manner reminiscent of 17th century Poland or Russia. Water power is widely used where applicable; a few primitive steam engines are being used in coal mines. Some forms of printing have been in use for centuries, but movable type has not been widely adopted. Naval technology is also more advanced, though the Yuht and the Ainu are the forerunners in those areas.
Contact with the rest of the world varies. Trade networks connect much of the west Pacific and Indian Oceans. India and Persia are often heard of, but rarely visited. The Kingdom of Lat in the distant west is a mere legend of a place where the streets are paved with jade but granite is worth its weight in gold. These stories, together with tales from the Yuht countries about a vast new continent to the south, have sparked an era of exploration, though one somewhat more cautious and so far less rewarding than our worlds'. A few outposts are maintained along the western coast of North America, but for those who want to live a endless forest full of unhappy natives, Siberia is much closer. The rich kingdoms of the south have been weakened by disease, but are still too far away for any potential conquistadors. Traders from the West Coast colonies do visit occasionally, offering silk and iron for chilis, chocolate, and precious metals.
As for what will happen next, only time will tell...
