Sunday 17 April 2016

Khitan Customs

Khitan Hunters - National Palace Museum in Taiwan
Khitan are a mongolic tribe federation which founded an empire in northern China in the 10th Century, before being driven out by the Jurchen. This sino-mongolic empire was called the Liao Kingdom and is mentionned page 130 of Wind on the Steppes.

Gianni Vacca, the prolific rpg-blog-runner and author of The Celestial Empire sent me a link to a blog dedicated to languages. The linked entry is about the Khitan and provides the full translation of a chinese text describing many of their customs: "Record of the Lands North of Yan". This text has been written in 1058 by Wáng Yì 王易, an envoy of the Song. It is a superb source of material to bring credibility, colour, amazement and ideas in your game.