Liang

Liang (Liang: 亮國, Liànggúo), officially the Great Liang Republic (Liang: 大亮民國, Dàliàng Mínguó), is a sovereign country located in Escar. With a total area of nearly 45,000 kilometres squared, it is the 19th largest country in the world. It is bordered by Chanha in the west, East Kuiju to the north, and Arshavat and Dai Hoa to the east. It also shares maritime borders with Shojin, Yeongseon, and Masuka. Liang's population of over 75 million people is mostly made up of the Liang people, one of the two major Huaxia ethnic groups, but it also has sizeable, , and minorities. The official language is, but several minority languages have official recognition in certain provinces and prefectures. Siddhism is the dominant religion in Liang, but there are also smaller Hanif and Ezranite communities. The country consists of fourteen provinces, three autonomous regions, and five urban prefectures. The capital city of the republic is Shenzhou, while its largest metropolitan area and financial centre is the Greater Zhongmen Area.

The first civilisation to emerge in Liang was the Yi people centred around the Huai river valley. The Yi spoke and are considered the ancestors of the modern. The Hua people of the Lianhe valley to the west were a major influence on the Yi, who adopted much of their culture. The Hua Zhao dynasty rapidly expanded out of the Lianhe valley around 200 CE, pushing the Yi to the easternmost reaches of southern Liang but failing to conquer them before the dynasty fell apart due to civil war. The Liang dynasty emerged as the first imperial dynasty in the 600s CE and expanded the Hua civilisation by assimilating the Yi up to the Cuulong and the people of Qieli. The Can dynasty succeeded the Liang and, while they were not able to reestablish Hua rule over the easternmost Yi, they extended Hua influence to include all of of modern Chanha and much of northern Liang. The imperial era suddenly ended in the early 1300s with the invasion of the Kuijuan Grand Ejenate from the north and the fall of Can.

The Kuijuan Liao dynasty, which succeeded the Grand Ejenate in the south, conquered much of eastern Huaxia but was unable to defeat the coastal states in the west. This led to the split of the Hua people into two distinct ethnic groups: the western Can, who claim direct descent from the Can dynasty and remained free of Liao influence, and the eastern Liang, who claim descent from the earlier Liang dynasty. Liao rule over eastern Huaxia lasted for several centuries, during which the developed as a Hua dialect group distinct from the western Can language groups. While several ethnic groups existed under the Liao dynasty, the ruling family adopted the customs of the Liang people and assimilated into Hua culture by the mid fifteenth century. Foreign rule was ended by Sun Hongji, a Siddhist monk turned rebel general, who established the Jin dynasty. The new state promoted a single Liang identity (in contrast to their previous Kuijuan rulers) and several emperors attempted to assimilate the ethnic minorities of Liang.

Liang is a one-party absolutist state governed by the Absolutist Party of Liang (APL); though it is formally organised as a unitary presidential republic, its constitution also formally enshrines the supremacy of the APL. While the state severely limits political liberties, such as freedom of speech and voting rights, it is also one of the most progressive absolutist states. For instance, Liang was one of the first Escaric countries to mandate free compulsory education and to adopt publicly-funded healthcare. Accordingly, some political scientists consider Liang a. It is a with a powerful economy and high standard of living, boasting the third-highest GDP per capita and second-highest HDI in Escar. A member of the Ordic League, Liang is internationally aligned with the Collectivist Bloc: it is a founding member of CODEX and FETO and also helped found several more regional collectivist organisations like the Crosswind Cooperation Community, the Interstate Development Bank, and the East Escar Infrastructure Fund.