Discussion of everything related to the fictional country of Khandanyang featured in the World of Assassination trilogy. Anything from info present in the games to ideas and speculations by players. Glory to the Heavenly Leader! (no actual political commentary intended ;-))
Would we say Khandanyang is a communicst country? From everything weāve heard of it I highly doubt it. Sun Po seems to be quite explicitly their āGod Kingā
Edit: NK isnāt communist either
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He is the Sun and the Moon, you Capitalists!
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Now Iām just reading up on the symbology of the North Korean flag 
weird start to the day
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Ah, shame. IĀ“m really curious about it. Looks like something out of Southeast Asia and definitely fits there very well. I also like the outline of the flag and colours you chose 
As someone from an ex-communist country, trust me, thatĀ“s a symbol IĀ“m more than familiar with 
Yeah, thatĀ“s the questionā¦ While heavily inspired by NK, it is heavily implied that it is a monarchy. And communism and monarchies donĀ“t really fit well togetherā¦ Of course it could be that Jin/Sun Po (who so far seem to be the same person) got to power as a member/leader of a Marxist junta or something like that and then just proclaimed himself king. WouldnĀ“t be far-fetchedā¦ (think something like the Central African Empire under Jean-BĆ©del Bokassa, but with the one allowed party being communist 
)
Also, if the Khandanyang gold bars are anything to go by, then the five-pointed star is indeed a legitimate symbol of the country:
Nevertheless, my ācriticismā of the star was mainly because of its positioning on the flag. ItĀ“s a bit weird to have it all alone in the upper stripe. DonĀ“t think IĀ“ve seen something similar IRL
???
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From what I understand itās basically working out of a communist template but rebranded itself and refuses to call itself communism
But letās be real, how many are actually properly communist?
Edit: ahhhh, forgot about the bars!
Funnily enough the hangul and the star with circle in it are just straight rip offs of NK 
Edit 2: also best I can tell the flower is a cherry blossom, which in my mind makes me think of Japan, but they do have them in Korea too so
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Indeed, thereĀ“s communism and ācommunismā, but as long as itĀ“s called a PeopleĀ“s Democratic Republic, itĀ“s communist to me 
And letĀ“s face it, NK is as Stalinist as they come
Yeah, these two (especially the hangul) are probably the most obvious NK elements about it 
Ah, shame on me! Of course, sakuraā¦ YouĀ“re totally right! ThatĀ“s why it seemed so familiarā¦ I see it all the time here and it didnĀ“t even cross my mind one bit Not sure where (if) I saw this particular one though. Dunno why I had it associated with SEAā¦
EDIT: I think the SEA mishap was because of the colour scheme of the flag. It resembles the ASEAN one 
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Iāve been trying to think of alternative designs incorporating the star with the circle in from the gold bar. Cause itās safe to assume thatād be the main symbol of their flag if itās on their gold (right?)
And all I can say is I definitely donāt envy anyone whose job this is 
mind you thereās a whole subreddit just for flag design so
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I thought this country was more like Brunei rather than NK
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IĀ“d say it has those elements as well. It pretty much comes out as a mix of North Korea, Southeast Asian, and Central Asian authocracies (which is what makes it so interesting - for me anyway). ItĀ“s just that the NK inspirations have been arguably the most prominent so far.
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Yeah but other than ādear leaderā I donāt see much of NK, unless I missed something. Going by the Brunei inspiration, Iād see more possible that the son of the sultan went to the IAGO meeting for example. While someone from NKās goverment family would be detained the moment they entered France, I donāt think they be around anyway.
One of the major bits are the gold bars in New York with a misspelled (iirc from what one of the Korean users said on this topic on the old forum) Khandanyang written in Korean hangul on them. Plus the five-pointed stars.
Yes, there are the Heavenly Leader/The Sun and the Moon titles, which is very much like what Kim Jong-il had, plus the fact that the country is a dictatorship ran by a family dynasty (a very much NK thing, though in NK itĀ“s in a monarchy-like manner, whereas Khandanyang actually seems to be a monarchy). And the Heavenly Guard/7th Special Forces Group, with their specialization in infiltration, kidnappings, and assassinations, are very much like what a North Korean special forces unit does/would do.
But theyĀ“re not NK proper Plus IĀ“d say Tren Po probably kept his entry to the country secret.
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Also, itās mentioned in Re Thakās bio that her family is of Chinese heritage which is more in line with NK (shares a border with China) than Beirut
Edit: great points Rim
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Then of course there are the bits that point to other inspirations, such as Khandanyang having jungle areas and indigenous tribes (something IĀ“d associate with Southeast Asia), or the Tungan Valley which has a somewhat Central Asian sound to me (apparently, Dungan or Tungan is actually a term used to refer to muslim people of Hui origin in Central Asia and Xinjiang, if one can trust Wikipedia on that matter).
Brunei
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Donāt mind me, just gonna jump off a cliff
Also references to indigenous tribes?
Come on, be creative. Say youĀ“re on your phone and blame autocorrect
In Miami, Sierra makes several phonecalls after the race in the paddock. Two of them regarding KronstadtĀ“s dealings with Khandanyang. In one of them, she talks with the KHA ambassador about a shipment of missiles. The ambassador says theyĀ“ll be testing them in the coastline areas which are only inhabited by some indigenous tribes (I donĀ“t recall the conversation exactly, but basically SierraĀ“s worried that the tests might attract unwanted attention and the ambassador mentions them in his answer).
I mean technically is true, I typed āberiutā and my phone autocorrect that
I love how much detail these games have 
Edit:
Also I canāt like anything! This new site is killing me
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You are not helping yourself
Right? I only discovered these a few months ago when I realized I had never bothered to eavesdrop on Sierra in the paddock Highly recommend doing so. One of the calls has a few nice Sapienza references
Hang in there. It wonĀ“t last much longer
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Btw, you do realize that the blue circle / white star / red circle combination was the roundel of the US Army Air Corps, right?
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Sun Po is a member of the US Air Corps? Interesting 
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