The Arashi League

[Gato Blanco]

What we know

-Desert dwellers
-Government is "Largely independent and heterogeneous city states"
-Scavengers
-Culturally derrived from western Europe
-At war with the Guild
-Colours are rust and white
-Symbol is the vulture


So they’re at war with the Guild.  It makes sense, looking at the map, it has the most direct routes between 2 nations (2), neither of which has a large impassable body of water in between.  In fact, Caldos and Hikagebashi are on opposite sides of a tiny lake (Devs, is there any way we can download a bigger map of the world?)

One of my big questions is “Why?”  Why do the southwestern cities still live in the desert, if it’s so hard?  They have airships, they can move about.  Why are the other independent towns not a part of the league, which is made up of independent towns?  Strength in numbers, right?  They’re a desert scavenger society that doesn’t seem to have an edge technology- or infrastructure-wise.  I can see the eastern settlements near water being lively places.

Culturally based on western Europe, so I’m thinking, where able, they would try to build stone buildings with tiled roofs, things that can last for ages (In North America, 100 years is a long time, in Europe, 100km is a long distance). 

I’m no expert on European geography, but I don’t believe that there are any deserts in western Europe, so how they would adapt would be interesting to see.  Many European countries are by the ocean (Germany, France, Spain, Greece, Italy, etc...) so the cities there could have different buildings based on different cities in different countries, like Nice, Barcelona, even Venice.

Political interactions- the League could have many languages, and for average citizens to speak several languages would be the norm.  For example, 2-3 League languages and 1-2 non league languages, on top of “Common”, if there is a universal language.
-The Guild-Hates the guild for being expansionists.  Member states near the water are at the most risk of being taken by the guild, the others are at less of a risk due to lack of resources.
-The Empire- Don’t really like the Empire, since they want to convert them, and they don’t understand their way of doing things.  They are, however, their best trading partner, buying up a lot of what they scavenge.
-The Republic-Very good, though they’re rather far away, they would need to cross through Empire territory to trade with them.  The Republic doesn’t always want what the League has to sell, since they can plunder locally, but often when an Arashi ship bearing raw materials comes along, they will usually buy it.  They rarely raid the Arashi league due to the distance needed to raid Arashi territory, and almost never take Arashi thralls (Lord Dick, explain the other reason xD).  Anglean craftsmanship is highly valued by the Arashi, due to its quality and durability, though some adjustments are made for dealing with hot, dry or moist, salty environments.  Therefore, it is not uncommon for Angleans to make the trip to the League, knowing that they will be sure to sell out whatever they have
-The Baronies-Good.  I can see them often hiring the Arashi as mercenaries for their desert campaigns; the League is too far away from the Baronies to be worried about an invasion.  They both readily trade by sea, and some lords in the Baronies have winter homes in some of the port cities of the League
-The Order-Good.  Though they rarely have use for the products of Chaladonian science, the Order’s universities and research bodies are keen on picking up any and all ancient technology that the desert hides, as well as buying rare ingredients found only in the desert.

[Ofiach]

I was thinking it's something along the lines of the Yaqui tribes that used to live in northern Mexico and southern Arizona. They enjoyed the desert, it was a natural barrier against enemies and it was very easy for them to survive because they knew the desert. Maybe even a religious mythos could spring up about the gods giving them a homeleand that tests their worthiness.

I really see these guys as highly motivated to keep their homeland safe and their culture intact. Something about the rough living of desert cultures, it builds hard stubborn people. I really do see them as hunters by necessity and having all the skills required to make an animal kill useful all the way down to guts for string.

Also concerning the relationship between Arashi and Anglea, perhaps skilled engineers from Arashi sometimes decide to trek to Anglea to learn more or perhaps just volunteer to join their engineering corps to get away from the heat?

Also Desert dwellers at constant war with a superior enemy, they would probably be very wary of any outsiders.

[Lord Dick Tim]

The Arashi joke,

Why do Arashi always sell for more at market?
Because of how much it costs to clean them.

I hadn't even considered the language barriers, that along would make almost every city almost a nation onto itself with vastly different cultural norms.
Maybe my love for Esperanto, as it was more in use around ww1, would still be alive a a trade language between the tribes.  Will give it that ultra RP angle shared by some in the EvE community who had adapted swahili as the minmatar language.

[Gato Blanco]

xD love your jokes Tim.

I came up with this for the Mercantile post, that they would export tobacco or opium, shisha even (Thought that may be more the Order's cup of tea (oh god, bad joke....I'll just see myself out)).  Though they may not have the most fertile of land, it may be an alternative to growing their own food, by producing a high value comodity that can be transported well (as in, not get damaged from moving it), something that sells on the grey or black market of Yesha or the black market of the Guild.

[Lord Dick Tim]

Ooo, the league could potentially be a big trader and illicit goods across the world, another thing I hadn't considered.

[Squidslinger Gilder]

Surprised no one has ever pointed out that the word Arashi means storm in Japanese. When I saw the name I would have never labeled them as former Europeans. The name is just too synonymous with Japan. I kinda hope they eventually add a backstory there as to why a European group has that name.

[Moo]

Yeah, there's a famous Japanese pop group called Arashi, so I was amused when I first saw Arashi League on the map

[Clara Skyborn]

The Mercantile Guild named the desert, but the Arashi were stuck living in it.

[Gato Blanco]

That indicates that the Guild might have been there first (souteastern settlements at least), and that the League were the agressors, gaining a small amount of territory.  The other nations (Yesha and Chaladon in particular) might not have gotten involved during the Arashi annexation.  They might have openly justified this as giving the Arashi people a better chance of survival in the hars environment, giving them some territory near water, whereas their true intentions for non-action might have been to weaken the League.

[Squidslinger Gilder]

But wouldn't they change that name if they hate the guild so much?

[Clara Skyborn]

They don't hate the Guild that much. Arashi and the Guild are involved in a few, relatively recent skirmishes, but they're not sworn enemies. I know our update might have given that impression, but it was one incident, almost a historical footnote, that happened to get mentioned and featured prominently. Relations may certainly continue to devolve in the future, but they don't have a ton of history of bad blood yet.

[Clara Skyborn]

Also, just repeating it here to clear up the misconception: the Guild and the League are not behind the Nalm—Sylka war in Battle on the Dunes, Eric misspoke in the video. That fight is between two independent towns. The main conflict between the Guild and the League at this point is the little Caidos—Hikagebashi dustup, which I might tell you about someday.

[Lord Dick Tim]

I kinda figured the sunshine bridge would be the conflict point.  Its why I centered my speculative second opening for Desert Asp at that point.

[Squidslinger Gilder]

Awesome. Thanks for clearing that up.

[Clara Skyborn]

I kinda figured the sunshine bridge would be the conflict point.  Its why I centered my speculative second opening for Desert Asp at that point.

Tim, I've just had an interesting conversation with Gomidog, our resident Japanese translator. I was translating Hikagebashi as "Shadow Bridge," so I was surprised to hear you referring to it as "Sunshine Bridge." She clarified that it's more literally "Sun-Shadow Bridge," as in "shade from the sun," so there's definitely a bit of dark/light duality there. Veeery interesting.

This also led to the possible alternative translation "Shady Bridge," which we agreed sounds like a retirement home for old airship captains.