Sadan

A sadan (Dreamprint: 社團) is a social corporation characteristic of eastern Outer Ausarea, particularly Serony. A Serno-Tasgolene term (a calque of 'social corporation'), the definition of 'sadan' encompasses tonghway, bunphai, and chongchok, along with other less common types of institutions. Considered classical examples of social corporations, sadans have considerable weight in Sernic life, and are often the primary and most important political and social units, especially over the more transient and fluid governmental structure of the compact that has prevailed in the modern era – which in turn is primarily conceived of as being formed by sadans.

Origins
The use of the term generally surrounds study of the development and transformation of social corporations adversarial to authorities in Sernic and wider eastern Ausarean history. In this sense even though the groups identified as sadans today have existed at latest since the turn of the 1st millennium, they had not yet entered such a role, being mostly tribal associations or social clubs with little independent political agency. The First Hierocaust however imbued them with power as locals, drawing on such groups, re-imposed order in the wake of chaos. With new communities marked by their membership in a sadan they were to become increasingly important for their members as well as society. However even after the Second Hierocaust and towards the early Liong Empire those that could be known as sadans were usually no more than secret societies typically only holding power in peripheral communities, though these soon became notorious as havens from the rule of law. The quasi-tribal chongchok however found the scope of familial favours steadily expanding, while bunphai began acquiring more and more followers and support among the vulnerable of society; in these aspects they had began to challenge state authority to a significant level as well.

With practically the entire continent coming under its domination, the Liong Empire had opened up a great deal of commercial opportunities and more generally, cultural exchange across the region, allowing social traditions to be seeded in large networks. At the same time its reliance on assertive regional governors both forced local society to organise in response but also opened up opportunities for sadans to expand their influence. With this a rich culture of secret societies in Serony had emerged by the turn of the 2nd millennium, gaining increasing influence in many areas depending on type and background. Both elites such as the homun and common populations (seen with a much greater variety of examples) had become associated closely with such groups. The centrifugation and collapse of the empire was when they decisively made their move in implanting themselves as a fundamental element of many areas' political life as well, as regional conflicts became exacerbated by the disintegration of the political-economic system.

Post-Liong
The Sernic polity of the post-Liong period (and indeed for a long time during the late Liong) was marked by the sundering of authority between the ritual, official one, held by the rulers whose offices descended from the Liong bureaucracy and/or military, and the popular, secret one, represented by the sadan. The next few centuries is generally remembered as a struggle between the archetypal 'military aristocrat' that had prevailed in Serony as the representative of the lofty, arms-bearing celebrant since the Selean Empire, and the diverse group of sadans whose character became simply defined as what was opposite of or beyond the former. The compact became increasingly important in constituting polities to formalize sadan groups into blocs able to act in concert and resolve their own disputes. Their relationship with the official eventually settled down into the recognition of separate spheres of life each claimed jurisdiction over, with the latter acting as a mediator and arbitrator for the compact, finally resolving the late-Liong crisis, and more or less establishing the compact as the single political unit for much of Serony. However, outside of areas like Lian, where the authority of Hainism was observed openly by the masses, much of sadan culture remained initiatory, at least to the public, even though the proportion of members to the population was increasing. The sadan imposed a sort of local order and commanded respect of locals, but many would still be regarded as being outside of its membership.

Though popularly thought of as continuing to the present-day, the post-Liong arrangement of sadans in society was actually seriously challenged starting in the 18th century, when the restoration of a centralized bureaucracy came about alongside intensified competition between compact polities. As the demands of exerting the compact in such conflicts increased the interests of member groups diverged, the military aristocrat in his arbitrating role progressively gaining more power. It was in these circumstances that Ausarean political thinkers such as Yang Woo began to conceptualize the compact in itself, and as the foundation for society that should be defended against such central overreach. Implicit then in these theorizations was the membership of all in one sadan or another. But the trend of the reasserting sovereign had triumphed with the consequence of depletion or devastation in regional wars in the late 18th century, the conquest of Serony by the Yiu Empire, and a second round of destruction in the Great Sernic War. The northern para-Sernic states of Tasgol and Eliyny also regarded themselves as outside of this sadan-defined world, with their central states securely ensconcing itself without the disaster of the Yiu reunification, and the general power of sadans in their societies becoming weakened.