The people of the Shi-Huang-Ti: Short overview
The following pages explain the people of the Shi-Huang-Ti (or the Shi, in short). Here one finds a detailed insight into their culture, their traditions, their worries and wishes, their organization and their inner and foreign politics, too.
History:
The strategic nuclear submarine of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, the Shi-Huang-Ti, armed with 23 medium range nuclear warheads, lay hidden on October 23rd 2077, the day of the Great War – in the San Francisco Bay. As they received their launch order for the attack on the San Francisco metropolitan area and surfaced in the bay of San Francisco, they were hit by the EMP of one of the three most potent nuclear weapons of the People's Liberation Army, that – for whateverreason – had been transported by ICBM to San Francisco.
All systems on board were crippled by the EMP. With some, the main computer for example, it sufficed to replace fuses, many others were however impossible to repair. The boat drifted for three days without propulsion, until the frantic emergency repairs allowed the crew to resume their way
–albeit very limited. Without the possibility to enter the high seas but with the certainty, that there was no more home for them to return to, the Captain of the Shi-Huang-Ti ordered his crew to land on the beaches of San Francisco, to abandon the boat and salvage all that could somehow be valuable.
Ironically, the first scouts found that of all places Chinatown was the least destroyed by the nuke. The first few days the military discipline that can naturally be expected in the most modern submarine of the People's Liberation Army Navy, held, but the Captain knew that this would not be a lasting solution. For one thing, his crew was more than just angry at the Chinese government – for another, the first few survivors of San Francisco's Chinatown had hesitantly started to join his people. Since they really did not consider themselves Americans and also didn't consider themselves Chinese anymore, the Captain proclaimed, after 5 months ashore, the independent people's republic of the Shi-Huang-Ti – in short, the people of the Shi.
Although the Shi remained a high technology people, they had a harsh fight for survival in the first few years, just like everyone else who hadn't the fortune of being in a functioning Vault. It helped, that the Shi went ashore with a ship's surgeon trained in treating radiation damage and five sick bay attendants – not to mention a crew of nuclear engineers.
Disciplined and orderly, the Shi began creating their new home. Food sources were developed (at first, pre War depots and super markets in San Francisco), the Emperor's Palace was built. Until he
died of old age in 2096, the Captain of the Shi-Huang-Ti, Lee Feng, reigned. Knowing how
important traditions and formalities were, he had designed the constitution of the Shi already in
2084 and had held the title of Prime Minister of His Imperial Majesty since then.
Governmental system:
The Shi have developed a rather uncommon governmental system. Lee Feng had the clear purpose of founding a new society, one which was a confluence of quite diverse sources. On the one hand, he had a crew full of former Chinese citizens – actually soldiers of the People's Liberation Army Navy. On the other hand he had ethnic Chinese, that survived in San Francisco's Chinatown and thathad been raised in the USA – and also a few people that had absolutely no Chinese ancestry, but joined the Shi anyhow.
At the top of the government Lee Feng placed the Prime Minister of the Emperor. The Emperor himself was the main computer of the Shi-Huang-Ti, probably one of the two or three most
powerful super computers worldwide that survived the Great War. The Emperor himself did not
make decisions – but he helped with his wisdom (or highly developed prediction algorithms, choose
whatever sounds better) to choose the best course of action.
The Prime Minister has a Minister Council beneath him, a combination one chamber parliament and
cabinet. Votes come from the occupational groups of the Shi. One minister each for the:
- Researchers
- Security (Soldiers and internal security forces)
- Other public officers
- Traders
- Fishermen and dock workers
- Service providers
- Manufacturers
The whole system gets complex because the Minister Council as a chamber has no veto right, but singular ministers must approve decisions that intrude into their area. The Prime Minister on the
other hand can relieve Ministers, if they do not wish to approve his course – unless all other
Ministers veto that decision. Ministers are voted for life.
The single Ministers impart the guidelines and rules of the Prime Minister to their “constituency”,
as they represent their interests to the rest of the Council and the Prime Minister.
Standard of living:
In 2277 the harsh fight for survival is long past for the Shi. The populace grows steadily and naturally and the Shi enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the Wasteland. There is enough food for everyone, an excellent common school system and the possibility of further educatio
nthat's certainly as good as that offered by the Followers or the Brotherhood. Of course not everything is light and sunshine and like people everywhere, the Shi enjoy their occasional lament. But they truly have less reason to lament than for example the denizens of the Den.
Culture:
The Shi are not Chinese, but strongly influenced by two separate Chinese cultures: the one of the crew of the Shi-Huang-Ti as they went ashore and that of the original Chinatown of San Francisco.
Mixed with a pinch of different influences and the harshness of the first years after the Great War as
a melting pot and something new developed.
The Shi speak Chinese, they wear typical Chinese clothing and keep a special, Chinese love to
formalities. While all this distinguishes them from the rest of the denizens of California, they are
not hostile to foreigners. People who visit San Francisco for the first time, get eyeballed a bit, but
usually that's over pretty quickly.
Especially worth a trip for tourists, enthusiasts and rubbernecks is of course the martial art of the Shi. Nearly daily one finds two fighters trained in Kung-Fu, that will meet in the central ring in the market place and fight each other for the entertainment of the masses and the glory of their school.
Contacts with other fractions:
The Shi transact most of their trade with the NCR. Both are benevolently neutral to each other. While the NCR would without a doubt to like to annex the Shi, everyone knows how much a war of
conquest would cost, how much it would destroy and in general what an incredibly stupid idea it
would be. Instead, they keep up the trade and cultural exchange.
The Shi have been negotiating with the Brotherhood of Steel for a few years, over the collective building of Vertibirds. Those negotiations keep coming to a stop however, since both parties lack confidence in the other, when it comes to technology transfers.
The Followers of the Apocalypse out of the NCR are mostly left out of the general trade and exchange. The Shi have no interest in giving away their knowledge for free for the benefit of humankind – especially not to an organization, that is regarded as nearly radical and anarchistic by it's own government. Followers that try to hard to get information about certain technologies, are expelled from the city.
Current goals:
Right now, the Shi wish to build tidal plants in the bay, a technology that once produced, might even be exported into the Boneyard. Furthermore, they want to improve their method to win ethanol out of algae and continue large scale production.
To summarize all that: they want to remain established as a peaceful, but military fit and rich economic power and rather expand through a rising birth rate.