He Shi Bi

Little is known about the true history of the almost legendary continent He Shi Bi, which many tribes scattered throughout the world claim as their origin. Between similarities in tales and lore, the generally accepted version has become as such: The inhospitable continent to the far east known as He Shi Bi, whose blackened, charred and generally corrupt surface makes it nigh-impossible for most living beings to survive for any appreciable amount of time, was once a very advanced civilization. With a variety of different cultures that developed due to its size and geographical factors, it was known for periods of intense warring in its early days, but was eventually united under the Hé Dynasty, who soon after their rise came to be considered as living gods.

Under their guidance, advanced methods of agriculture were introduced and the arts had a sudden renaissance: ancient paintings, carvings, furniture or even literature from Hé are still considered priceless all over the world. Both their magic and means of war were as exotic as they were intricate.

This is generally accepted as true, though there are strong voices that suggest that cultural nostalgia may be exaggerating the positives. After all, He Shi Bi is as 'dead' as an entire continent can possible be. The story of its destruction goes like this:

A thousand years ago, when the Great Beasts still walked the lands, the Jade Disk of Hé became the battleground for their greatest conflict. The Beast of Calamity, sometimes called the Great Dragon (though it is said that it is not actually a dragon as per our understanding of the term), fought against six other of the Beasts who sought to contain its evil rather than let it destroy the world. It it said that they did destroy it, but that its death forever turned Hé into a scar upon the face of the world, with untold numbers of the population losing their lives -- most who survived fled and became nomads and wanderers, though some smaller civilizations sprung up on the less-affected islands around Hé.

Those humans who bear the features associated with this heritage are called 'The People of Hé', though they may of course count themselves as any nationality. Generally, those who emigrated to the Western Continent are looked down upon by members of those new cultures who remained on the islands. Nonetheless, many human peoples across the world have some small quantity of Heian blood in their veins.