The Northern Provinces is a playable 
Grand Cathay faction introduced in Total War: Warhammer III. It is led by Miao Ying.
Background[]
The Northern Provinces are the northernmost section of Cathay, lying just south of the Eastern Steppes, this region is ruled by the Storm Dragon Miao Ying. In the northwest lies Nan-Gau, the city of smoke, which has countless forges and workshops producing arms and machines for Cathay's armies, such as the Sky-junk. The Lords of Nan-Gau are granted more independence than most, due to Nan-Gau’s importance to the empire.
The most notable feature of the Northern Provinces is the Great Bastion, a huge and ancient fortification which stretches along most of Cathay’s northern border, protecting it from the Hobgoblin Khanate, forces of Chaos, and other attackers from the Eastern Steppes. Along its length are gates, guarded by mighty fortresses. The Great Bastion has a mysterious, magical connection to the Dragon Emperor himself. On rare occasions it has been breached, and the forces of Chaos have cut a bloody swath into the heartland of Cathay, but it has never fallen entirely.
How they play[]
- To be announced
Legendary Lord[]
| Name | Lord Effects | Starting Army - Immortal Empires | Starting Army - The Realm of Chaos |
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 Supreme Matriarch: "I bring the storm winds!"
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Starting territory[]
The Realm of Chaos
- Nan-Gau, Gunpowder Road (map)
Immortal Empires
- Nan-Gau, Gunpowder Road (map)
Darkness & Disharmony
- Nan-Gau, Gunpowder Road
Faction effects[]
- Defensive supplies: +300 (all regions)
- Construction cost: -20% for Grand Bastion buildings (factionwide)
Corruption: -2- Leadership: +10 when fighting against Daemons of Chaos, Warriors of Chaos, Chaos Dwarfs and Norsca
- Ammunition: +20% for missile units
Victory objectives[]
The Realm of Chaos[]
Forge of Souls[]
Complete the survival battle for each Chaos Realm and then win the final battle
Immortal Empires[]
Short Campaign Victory[]
- Occupy, loot, raze, or sack 30 different settlements
- Control the following provinces either by direct ownership or through vassals and military allies: Gunpowder Road, Lands of Stone and Steel, Imperial Road, Western Great Bastion, Central Great Bastion, Eastern Great Bastion
Long Campaign Victory[]
- Occupy, loot, raze, or sack 70 different settlements
- Control the following provinces either by direct ownership or through vassals and military allies: Western Great Bastion, Central Great Bastion, Eastern Great Bastion
- Destroy the following factions: Rebel Lords of Nan-Yang, Dissenter Lords of Jinshen, Puppets of Misrule, Heralds of the Tempest, The Blessed Dread, Clan Eshin
Diplomacy[]
Diplomatic traits[]
- Protective
- Bastion Defender
- Caravan Master
The Realm of Chaos[]
- Non-aggression pact with Celestial Loyalists
- War with: Rebel Lords of Nan-Yan, Dissenter Lords of Jinshen, Kurgan Warband, Sarthorael's Watchers, Dreaded Wo, Khazag
Immortal Empires[]
- Non-aggression pact with Imperial Wardens
- War with Rebel Lords of Nan-Yang
- War with Kurgan Warband
Strategy[]
The Realm of Chaos[]
The Rebel Lords of Nan-Yang will be your initial opponent, a thorn to your plans to defend the Great Bastion. Defeat them and prevent them from adding to your burdens.
You must focus your efforts to rebuild broken sections of the Great Bastion. When you need caravans to fund your mission, make sure they are armed with a sturdy formation of infantry and anti-large units, especially when dealing with Ogres that may threaten to eat precious troops. Defeating Ogres during the caravan will also aid your efforts with some loot gained from the slain Ogre Lord.
Occasionally, Chaos-aligned warlords will emerge at the middle of Cathay while you defend the Great Bastion, and vice versa when Chaos warlords will approach the Great Bastion with reinforcements. Train another Lord and arm him or her with powerful troops to keep the Chaos Lords busy while you handle the current threat, and make sure you have enough sources of income.
Immortal Empires[]
If you embed your Alchemist starting hero and upgrade Increase Mobility after the first battle, you should have enough movement range to take each of your starting enemy's settlements one turn after the other, preventing them from building up any kind of response and leaving you in control of two complete provinces after four turns. Be aware of the Beastman tribe that starts just south of your position - it may be wise to double back and recruit in Nan-Li or Weng Chang, waiting for them to break cover so you can quickly wipe them out.
You start in a reasonably sheltered position, but that won't last. Miao Ying has three serious threats to contend with - The Warhost of Zharr, Puppets of Misrule, and Clan Eshin - and dealing with them is a careful game of isolating each and striking at the right time. Clan Eshin is likely to wind up at war with a lot of the factions surrounding them, including The Western Provinces, so if you feel confident the Bastion can do without you for the time being it may make the most sense to pile in on them and get rid of the rat infestation as quickly as possible.
This is contingent on the other two not bashing down the minor Cathay faction holding the wall early and declaring war on you, though. The interesting wrinkle with the Chaos Dwarfs and Tzeentch is that they mutually dislike each other enough that they are almost as likely to fight each other as you. Keep an eye on their relations and if you notice they're at war, that's an ideal opportunity for you to peace out with one or both and either focus down one (Ideally Vilitch, who can be a huge pain with Changing of the Ways), or concentrate on other matters. Note that much of the Chaos Dwarfs' roster is resistant to the fire damage your Sky-Junk does - the Luminark Lens will help you out with this.
The Blessed Dread will also become a problem sooner or later, but hopefully by the time they do you should be big enough that they don't pose much of one. Aim to confederate the Celestial Loyalists and claim Wei-Jin before they do, though, and wherever possible engage their main forces out of range of their Black Arks.
Kurgan Warbands will intermittently spawn and attack the Bastion, raiding your territory if they get through. Well-upgraded gates are usually strong enough to defeat them. Note that though they are coded to prioritise sieging the gates, if you own the territory north of the Bastion they will attack this as well. As this is Chaos Wastes climate and almost completely worthless to you, you can simply raze everything east of The Volary and spare yourself the hassle - as a Rogue Army the Kurgans can't ruin dwell. Have an army in the vicinity when the threat bar climbs high to mop them up. Using the threat reduction edict on each gate will significantly reduce how often you have to deal with it.
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