You get me wrong. The reason why I emphasize “so-called” is precisely because I know that these ethnic groups are also Chinese citizens now, but what we are discussing is the past. A few centuries ago, these peoples would probably not have been considered “Chinese” by both themselves and Chinese.
Native Americans are also citizens of the United States, but would you use their chiefs as heroes of American civilization? Tusi and its people were not the main group in China, and the Chinese civ in the game is based on the Dynasties in China proper instead of the tribes and chiefdoms ruled by the Tusi. What I am emphasizing is, it is too much, too biased to use Tusi as the hero unit that is considered as the core of characteristics of a civ, unless the civ is just based on their entities, their the people of their tribes and chiefdoms.
Tusi “are” natives, not who from the Chinese dynasties to establish alliances with natives. Their entities were not just simply border towns of the Chine dynasties, but their own native tribes.
They are chieftains of native tribes, accepting titles “Tusi” from the Chinese dynasties and agreeing to the nominal rule of the dynasties in exchange for autonomy and peace. It is described in many sources that they effectively formed numerous autonomous petty dynasties under the suzerainty of the central court. In other words, they were essentially chiefdoms allied with the dynasty, not directly part of the dynasty.
Even if later there were chieftains with Han ancestry or Sinicization, which might not be common, they were still the people from the tribes and not to the people from the dynasties. It would not change the fact that Tusi and its people were essentially local natives, not outlanders, while in the game, we are outlanders to construt a new settlement. The immigration of Han people is probably not Tusi’s job, and it is even more likely not what Tusi likes to see, especially when the Tusi is a pure native.
The fact is that when Han immigration increased and reached a point, they lost their autonomy and were forcibly annexed by the dynasty. The Ming began its colonization of the southwest in the 1370s. By the beginning of the 17th century, there were only a few Tusi entities. Finally, the Qing Dynasty invaded these areas with force and ended this system. To be the feature of a civ in the game, the timing of Tusi isn’t decent either.
Anyway, the Chinese civ that the player plays as is colonizers to the native autonomy that already exists. So how can such a civ have a native chieftain as a hero? When the map is the Carolinas, do you make the Cherokee chief the hero of the civ? Also, policing the tribe may have been part of Tusi’s responsibilities, but its main duty is to stabilize the relationship between the tribe and the dynasty. It was the dynasty that needed support and asked them to send out private troops. This is basically what a minor civ looks like. It’s not much better as a hero of the civ than the Monk.
I don’t hate them. But the fact is that many Western countries, especially Britain, France and the United States, have had a profound impact on China’s modernization. Germany was not the only one, and not even the most important. It is too late that they came to China and started their business, accounting for only a small part of the entire timeline of the game.
This is far from a problem. Vietnamese also had implemented the Tusi system. What’s more, when it is to be a minor civ, it represents the ethnic groups in southwest China and the interior of Southeast Asia, under the name of the shamanism of their traditional beliefs, and the Tusi system is just a technology of it.
Even if it were to be renamed Chinese Explorer, I wouldn’t mind at all, because that means it does fit the role of the hero in the game. It’s absolutely thematically appropriate that they explore, establish trade relationships, build settlements, and return benefits to their home cities. In particular, because they need to travel long distances, the caravans would be armed and hire convoys to escort them. These convoys and convoy companies are an important part of Chinese Wuxia culture and appear in Chinese fantasy literature and entertainment works. It should be also appropriate for them to appear in a game that is also an entertainment work.
