Elysia 恵 幸

"Ruin, Disorder, Provocation, Hate; these are tools of the Defiler.
Construction, Order, Cooperation, Love; these are tools of the Sanctifier.
Gone are the days of the Mad Emperor, and herein lies those days of sakura without a sword, for we raise none against man beisde, nor god above; only beast below."

-- Her Iridescence Tennō Seion Sendora, the Celestial Descendant, in 540 AB (1140 AI), at the onset of the Period of Willful Peace.

Elysia is a land of saturation. There is plenty beyond scale, there are spirits beyond understanding, there are beauties beyond imagination; however, there are demons beyond counting, there are troubles beyond paradise, and there are shadowed sides to every heart. Elysia is a colorful land, and though Evandyr was once the continent of the Deceiver Of The Old World, Avernus, and his Defilement lurks still at the edge of the colorful lands of Elysia; the beginning of the end for all other peoples was the beginning of glory for Elysia.

Creation

The Celestial Descendant, the First Emperor of the Hikarima, and Divine-Being-Heir-To-All-Being, Tennō Kizen Sakura, in his great and eternal wisdom, saw within the stars both fallen and falling, still, the Signs-Sixteen. The Ju'ro-kui'ro 十六色 occult tradition and religion, alike, written in the Hikari Kai in the later days of the Sakura Era 巋桜, led the First Emperor to form alliances and confederations, armies and banners of heroes, and within five decades demarcated the land between the Demon's Rut and Sen-noumi 錢 の 海 (Sea of Coin) as the Dynasty of the Hikarima. After this, the Tennō ascended into the Tapestry within and behind the sky, scattering across the Realms Celestial like shooting stars for all the ancestors to one day join.
At least, so go the fables.
Concrete proof of such history was lost in the Tarnished Years and the Succession Secessions, but the effect of the Imbuing is felt both spiritually and socio-politically in the modern day. Wherever the Dynasty extends its borders, growing or shrinking, the holy tree of the Tennō, the Sakura, blossoms without end. Petals fall and grow anew. Where formerly there was a symbol of life and its quickly forgotten and missed seconds, of the sanctity of a life well-lived before it vanishes, there became eternal growth under the Emperor. Additionally, at the Imbuing that created this blessing, the Immortal Blades were forged, eternal and ever-sharp, so that each and every Daimyo and Emperor following the First would be able to use their ghostial powers to bind the defeated foes into eternal post-mortem servitude.
Indeed, each and every Emperor bears the most renowned Immortal Blade, and at their call come the penitent souls that gave way to the one true Celestial Descendant. Ghosts and wisdom, alike, for all Emperors must die upon such a blade in their later years, so that their souls, too, may advise the Tennō ensuing.

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Culture

In addition to the rich culture promoting co-operation, the spreading of wisdom, the understanding of spirituality within and without through occultism (and the Ju'ru-kui'ro), Elysia is home to a tradition of a fierce warrior-class going back to its days not under the Dynasty, but as vassals and slaves to the Avernal Regimes. While in modern Elysia, those above are the willing and honored subjects of those peoples beneath them, in the days of the sin-spewing overlords, this was certainly not so. However, even in this time, these people proved themselves as warriors cunning and quick, able to out-match even demonic foes given the right tools... and so these they were given. Such was a mistake.
In 2855 BBE, these proto-Elysian peoples turned upon their own captors, taking advantage of the Regime's war with the Host of the Enlightened Eyes and offering their services as trained black magic monster-hunters. These skills they honed over decades fighting with the God-King's people, and when the time came, when the founder of occultism had penned the Six Books of Mystery, when the Bronze Hunters of the Crucible had made fell pact with angel, archon; devil and demon, the hunters rose and fought against the cthonic evil in turn. They would sell their souls, binding themselves with magicks fatal and eldritch forces that would destroy them, in order to fight with occult powers beyond those mortal men they wished to protect... and so the occult traditions of mortalkind were born... out of the God-King's own eldritch cursework and black magic.
Though these hunters would all die during the fall of the Avernal Regimes, their practices would live on, and in millennia at the founding of the Dynasty, they would be re-constituted at Mount Kauzen, forming these hunters bronze once again.

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Due to Elysia's constant struggle against foes beyond the mortal coil, there exist a number of honorable rules for these peoples. In essence, honor and duty are incredibly strong motifs in their society, as they play their parts willingly and believe the ancestors to paint the sixteen colors upon the world's Tapestry to create each and every moment. From the first sixteen peoples created by the whirling nebulae of the Realms Celestial; all peoples are descended.
-- While this is technically a humano-centric definition, in the modern day the sixteen colors are defined as those of thematic heritage, and as such include those peoples who later came to Elysia, such as the Cospian, Kaya-shi, Erini elves, as well as Avernal races.

-- Tienhaan Chromatica, the Endless Dragon.
In all of Elysia, the tale of Tienhaan and the Honorable One is well-recounted.
In the time of rime-filled skies and blood-caked earth, when Avernus walked the earth and slumbered only between slaughters, there were warriors few who took up arms against the Regimes. They would not, however, ever hope to defeat their foe. Despite the invasions of a third foe, these hunters bronze knew they would not survive the battles that would save their peoples. Their sacrifice would be in vain if the survivors did not escape to a place safe from both the evils below and the evils beyond, and as the last of these hunters perished, they did so in an honorable duel with the Overlord Fel Zharrdroth, a demon of razors and lacerations. As they fell, they beheld a dragon in the sky that had long flew too high for the demons and avernal children of the Regimes to harm. A dragon of clouds and colors, a dragon whose name sang with hues visible and invisible.
This warrior, who died in a duel most honorable for their people, would take on the name of the Honorable One. Whether the Honorable One existed as a gestalt conglomeration of honor and resistance and battle before this event or began to exist with its first incarnation is a matter of much debate, the result is the same. When one achieves a state of perfect honor and sacrifice, of heroism and prowess, of tranquility and compassion, the Honorable One will come unto them and their blades will be one.
And it is known. When the Honorable One comes; you get out of its fucking way.
The Avernal Regimes, with some millions of demons and avernal children engaged in war with the forces of the Host, found itself beset by an army with no precendent, for it was no army. It was the Honorable One, alone. And wet with demons blood were the soul of the devils that day who sent evils unto the world, wet with the dying antithesis of the God-King's last nightmares.
Tienhaan Chromatica, its ally now at war, flew above the people of Elysia, visible at all times above treetops or volcanic smoke, through spectral haze or the clouds of night, and they led these proto-Elysian peoples to the sea and beyond... so that they may one day come into their own. And such was the day that Tienhaan became the immortal guardian and guide for the people of Elysia... and the Honorable One an example for each and every one to follow.

-- The Honors of Elysia span these peoples' cultures at a macro scale... but they differ in the different regions of Elysia.

Elysia may have once been homogeneous, but over one-and-a-half millennia it has forged several distinct cultures. In the west lies Old Elysia 古 恵 幸, untouched by the passing of time and adhering strongly to a warrior-led culture aligning with the hunters of old. They stand against invaders from the Fens of Shargath and beyond to the north, as well as those demons from beneath. In the south lies those prefectures once influenced strongly by Caesia Thiir, in modernday Cospia, with many having been conquered by High Cospia or the Consortium in days past. There, nature, kami, and oni alike grow with abundancy, forming rolling steppes of verdant woods and lavender fields, alike, with up-side down woods and a cratered basin of spirits and history that tells itself through whispering winds.
At the western sea lies the Land of Black Roses 玄 薔 薇, which once seen rulership by every nearby faction, learning or stealing their greatest skills, and which has betrayed nearly every ally it held at one point in history. There lies industry and magic, fields of roses which grow with the fetid black blood of the Somaru Canal, tainted with artefact-water as to run with darkness unfit to drink. Upon the sea and the Darkwater Bay lies Seidopolis, its capital and home to the factories, cityscapes, and both the wonders and horrors that man can perform when they have power over the mortal coil.
At the center of Elysia lies the Dynasty of the Hikarima 光, which once claimed all of Elysia and land further, still, but has since seen a trend towards willful peace over outright imperialism. Here, the sakura blossoms evermore and the Interior Ministry connects all peoples with the Willow Wisp Lanterns, creating a sort of news through occult possession, allowing information and entertainment to be spread across the land through the Twilight. Here, elemental locomotives run through the streets of Ryokado, and more than half the worlds trade runs through the Kaseniro and Sen-noumi.

Government:
Tennō, the Emperor of the Hikarima. Known as a "your Iridescence". Sits upon the Prismatic Throne.
Daimyo - Lord and master of an individual prefecture, such as Eida'ri or Kinra.
Minister - A high office in the Interior Ministry. It is unknown if it is the highest.
Daikan - Local governor, used for villages or city districts.
Grand Marshall - Highest marshall in command of the defense forces of a region. Used historically, and only in the Dynasty in the modern day.
Bushi - member of warrior class, known as samurai in Ninporo.
Kazoku/Regent - Noble, can be referred to as Regent if it is a permanent/respected position and not just lineage or wealth.
Ji'ro:
Saishu - Supreme Priest of the Onaka Shrine.
Miko - Priestess.
Shinkan - Priest.
Wisepeople:
Seijin 聖人 (せいじん) - wise and virtuous person (esp. in Confucianism great religious teacher; Saint. (refined sake)
Keijin 賢人 (けんじん) - wise person; virtuous person; sage (unrefined sake)
Jitong/Tongji is a person believed to have been chosen by a particular kami 神 "god; spirit" as the earthly vehicle for divine expression.
El-jira - Lorekeepers
Classes:
Emperor
Shogun/Daimyo
Ministry (in Dynasty)
Religion
Ministry (In Old Elysia)
Regency (noble/hero/diplomat class)
Samurai (warrior class)
Peasants and craftsmen
Merchants (produce no goods)