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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 2214027" data-attributes="member: 3285">I just finished reading 1421: The Year China Discovered America: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/006054094X/michaeltrescaA/" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/006054094X/michaeltrescaA/</a>It's a breathtaking look at the theory that China actually colonized the world long before Europeans.  From my review:It occured to me that this plot would make a really cool Oriental Adventures Meets the Rest of the World plot.  The treasure fleets were backed by all the resources China could muster, with concubines, merchants, and every expert imaginable brought along for the ride.  This could provide a wide diversity of character concepts, discovering new lands and introducing new character races.Alternately, what happens if the PCs are one of the "discovered" countries?  Do they pay tribute?  Do they take on the awesome cannons and gunpowder of the Chinese?  The Chinese also seem to have a parallel in the elven nation; a powerful nation of exotic peoples that could easily conquer the world if they so chose but instead decides to retreat to their homeland, shutting out all outsiders.  What if it were elven ships instead of Chinese?  And what happens to the elves left behind?The book was a bit of a dry read, but I thought the concepts were compelling enough for a campaign and just had to share.</blockquote>