Tributary system of Imperial Daxia: Difference between revisions

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 The military dimension of the tributary system was more arbitrary; support for a vassal was never guaranteed just as it was not guaranteed would be as extensive as required. Imperial armies dispatched to aid tributaries had their own supplies but usually these were a reserve, they expected to be fed and housed by the vassal with its own means. In times of imperial crisis, vassals pleas for help would go unanswered or be firmly replied with stern admonishments to handle the matter themselves. Sometimes in lieu of an army, the empire would send diplomats with bribes for those attacking the vassal, this was particularly effective with many nomad and migratory confederations; the bribes paid to secure peace of mind were tacked on to the yearly tribute to be repaid, the were not gifts.
 ===Rituals===
-Maintaining the tributary system involved much feting and entertaining dignataries from all across the continent and the Daxians observed certain rituals and formal ceremonies at various stages of the process. As the receiving of tribute was considered a joyful and auspicious occasion, the caravans carrying the imperial tribute were accompanied by musical bands playing trumpets and drums, each local governor had a duty to organize and pay for these music bands and see that they remained while the caravans were in the province. The foreign delegates all had to wear clothing of the same color, and not one vassal state was assigned the same color. This was done for issues of identification and to warn people away from interfering with the caravans (or fraternizing). The ritual obeisance before the Emperor and his court was the most important moment, on the first year of the compact the ruler and vassal-to-be traveled himself to the capital and ritually kowtowed seven times, as seven was a number that signified good luck. Afterwards came the solemn session of bargaining and haggling before the Tribunal of Accounts, where the ruler was completely alone and could have no ledgers or documents to aid him; he had to come prepared with a sufficient knowledge of his realm's products and figures or else risk being pummeled into a very disadvantageous tributary arrangement.
+Maintaining the tributary system involved much feting and entertaining dignataries from all across the continent and the Daxians observed certain rituals and formal ceremonies at various stages of the process. As the receiving of tribute was considered a joyful and auspicious occasion, the caravans carrying the imperial tribute were accompanied by musical bands playing trumpets and drums, each local governor had a duty to organize and pay for these music bands and see that they remained while the caravans were in the province. The foreign delegates all had to wear clothing of the same color, and not one vassal state was assigned the same color. This was done for issues of identification and to warn people away from interfering with the caravans (or fraternizing). The ritual obeisance before the Emperor and his court was the most important moment, on the first year of the compact the ruler and vassal-to-be traveled himself to the capital and ritually kowtowed seven times, as seven was a number that signified good luck. He was then given an ornate silver scepter topped with the effigy of a peacock to signify his new status as a vassal under the empire. Afterwards came the solemn session of bargaining and haggling before the Tribunal of Accounts, where the ruler was completely alone and could have no ledgers or documents to aid him; he had to come prepared with a sufficient knowledge of his realm's products and figures or else risk being pummeled into a very disadvantageous tributary arrangement.
 ===Status===
 In the [[Zhangwo]] conception of Daxians as the peerless ideal of humanity, all other nations were lacking and inferior. There are many terms in the Daxian language for outsiders, foreigners and barbarians; epithets applied to most nations that eventually found themselves in thrall to the empire. But giving tribute was seen as a way out, and upwards. Coming under the wing of the greatest civilization and being cognizant of their own inadequacy and inferiority by obeisance and tribute was the first step towards an enlightenment. These nations went from ''Kakun'' and ''Hurd'' to the [[Good Barbarians]], peoples on the path to joining the Daxians at the pinnacle (a journey that would take them hundreds of thousands of years, by the most generous estimates of learned scholars of the time). The [[Good Barbarians]] could be lavished with titles of some consecuence and meaning, with resplendent robes and scepters of office, with tablets engraved with solemn declarations of authority and friendship and if worthy and loyal enough, with the strength of arms of imperial armies. The term of the [[Good Barbarians]] is tangentially related to the myth of the 'noble savage' espoused by some Levantian authors when discussing the native [[Crona]]ns, but in the case of the [[Good Barbarians]] all of the positive moral attributes of a people seen as innately inferior were entirely dependent on their subservient attitudes, like a light switch they could be turned off if tribute stopped and they would be relegated once more to the offal pile in the eyes of imperial authorities.