Shár Empire

The Shár Empire - also known as Hong Dynasty or Hong Empire after the ruling dynasty - is one of the most prominent states in the Orient. The dominant race of the empire is the Limjiang people, with only one tribunary state being dominated by a different race.

The current Emperor Hong Tsai Kat is too young to rule, so the official regent Empress Dowager Hong Lingmei rules in his stead. As a matter of fact, she also secretly held power during much of the Jingwei-era.

Tribunary states
As of 831 AEKE, the Shár Empire happens to have seven different entities as vassals or tribunaries - the Kingdom of Strba and six Sak tribes: the Ryung, the Shit, the Räl, the Gyô, and the Mô.

Out of these, the Kingdom of Strba is the most unique one, as it is the only part of the vast Shár Empire that doesn't have a Limjiang majority - Strba has a unique culture and language that is distinct from - albeit distantly related to - that of the Shár and Sak. Strba was traditionally a feudal monarchy - similiar to Etrand - but under milenia of Shár influence, it started adopting the imperial-bureaucratic ways of administration from the Shár, as well as allowing the religion of Ten Heavenly Principles to spread into Strba lands.

The six Sak tribes formerly formed a tribal confederation that invaded the Shár Empire between 12 and 43 AEKE. After 43, a new Sak-led dynasty, the Bur dynasty would rule the Shár Empire until 122 AEKE, when the Great Ngiong Rebellion happened that not only overthrew the Bur dynasty - replacing it with the Jiuk dynasty, a native Shár dynasty - but also led to the Shár vassalization of the Sak states. In 718, the Jiuk dynasty was replaced by the Hong dynasty, however, the Sak states remained vassals.

Race
The majority of the population - outside Strba - is of the Limjiang race.

Religion

 * 30% of the population subscribes to Imperial Cult
 * 39% of the Shár population practices both the Ten Heavenly Principles and the Shár folk religion together.
 * 13% of the Shár population practices only the Ten Heavenly Principles
 * 16.3% of the population practices only the Shár folk religion
 * 1% practices both the Ten Heavenly Principles and Sak Shamanism together.
 * 0.7% practices only Sak Shamanism.