Country of Shaoh

Country of Shaoh
Location Information
Overseer	King of Shaoh & Shrine Maiden of Shaoh
Series Information
First Appearance	Volume 5: Chapter 14

The country of Shaoh (砂 (シャ) 欧 (オウ) , Shaou^?) is a minor setting in The Apothecary Diaries.

Geography

Shaoh is bordered by the Country of Li on its east side and borders Hokuaren on its north side. The south side is bordered by a mountain range. Like the Western Province, Shaoh has a desert-like climate.

History

The government of Shaoh is upheld by two pillars, the King of Shaoh and the Shrine Maiden of Shaoh. The basic qualification for becoming a shrine maiden is that one is a girl who has yet to menstruate. This usually means that the maiden is a young girl who has not yet reached the age of menstruation, but sometimes there are exceptions. The Shrine Maiden is aided by an attendant known as the Oracle, who interprets the maiden's actions.

Shaoh is known for having a tendency to keep to itself, not allying itself to any neighboring nations.

An envoy from Shaoh once visited Li and was entranced by a beautiful woman he saw dancing in the moonlight. Fifty years later, his granddaughters also visited Li as envoys, and were treated to the same performance following a banquet. One of the envoys, Ayla, was determined to become a consort of the Emperor. Failing this, she decided to make a deal with the Shi clan to trade them feifas.

Economy

As the trade junction for countries located east, west, and north of it, Shaoh's economy is based around commerce and has access to several trading ports.

Culture

Women have more political influence in Shaoh due to the fact that the Shrine Maiden holds a considerable amount of power in the government.

Shaohnese people are said to be quite tall and beautiful, due to intermarriage between different ethnic groups. Blond and red hair are common characteristics in Shaoh, and people typically have green or blue eyes. On rare occasions, some individuals are born albino.

Notes

• Shaoh contains the characters for 'sand' (砂) and 'Europe' (欧).
• It is possible that Shaoh is some version of a country in western Asia around present day southeastern Kazakhstan, but it is not clear. Since Shaoh is considered a desert country, it could be near modern day Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan. It would likely have been some sort of significant waypoint on the "silk road". The people of Shaoh do have an analog called the Kipchaks who lived west of Tibet and were known to have spread from the area of modern day Romania to as far east as east Kazakhstan. The Kipchaks were described as having "blond or red hair, blue or green eyes".