Tributary system of Imperial Daxia: Difference between revisions

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 tge most moderate estimates of learned scholars). 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 Barbarian]] 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 Barbarian]] 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.