[A-Z April Blogging] [I] Immortals of Kūnlún

Not only do almost all Chinese religions firmly believe in the existence of Immortals, but most of them also have provisions for becoming an Immortal (Daoism especially so): in China, emperors, peasants, merchants and soldiers share a belief in and the possibility of attaining eternal life. In Chinese Folk religion, with its many apotheosised local heroes, the distinction is very blurred between such heroes and Immortals.

So except for the heavenly members of the Celestial Bureaucracy, who are also immortal, the largest concentration of Immortals is supposed to be on top of the Kūnlún Mountains (Kūnlún Shān 崑崙山), a great mountain range spanning from Amdo to south of the Tarim Basin, Ladakh, and ending in Bactria. The Kūnlún Mountains are the paradisiacal abode of the Immortals (xiān and yǔrén), a utopian place where shamans travel to learn their rites, where Daoist hermits have retired, where fantastic creatures dwell, and where fabled plants grow. Here the Queen Mother of the West (Xī Wángmǔ) reigns supreme. Ascending this mountain is forbidden to mortals, and it is heavily guarded by many fantastic guardians. Feroucious tribes of dark-skinned barbarians live at its foot. Ancient gods and heroes retire here in mysterious cities hidden amidst the lofty mountains. Despite the forbidding altitude, the temperature is always pleasant.


The Immortals of Kūnlún are rumoured to have amassed vast quantities of esoteric tomes of knowledge, magic items, and alchemical formulae over time.

According to some sources, the Immortals do not live on the mountain, but within the mountain, because it is hollow.

The Kūnlún Mountains are situated at the extreme western end of the Chinese 'known world'; they have a counterpart at the extreme eastern end of the world: Pénglái Island (Pénglái Xiāndǎo 蓬萊仙島) in the Yellow Sea. The Immortals of Kūnlún and the Immortals of Pénglái are separated by a bitter rivalry.

In gaming terms, only characters who have reached and accepted Daoist, Heterodox or Shamanistic apotheosis (p65 of The Celestial Empire) may travel unhindered to the mountain and meet the Immortals of Kūnlún. Of course, the Immortals do sometimes invite special mortals to meet them; in this case, they usually send a crane, a bì'àn or a tianmǎ to transport the lucky mortal.

[A-Z April Blogging] [H] Huāláng

Historically, the Huāláng (花郎, "Flowery Gentlemen") were a society of young and beautiful aristocrats from the Korean kingdom of Silla (Xīnluó 新羅), contemporary of Táng China. This is the only hard fact that can be historically confirmed, given the paucity of the sources. Little writing has survived from Silla Korea; anything else is pure speculation.

Later on, the term Huāláng came to mean: in the 13th century, 'travelling entertainer'; in the 16th century: 'male prostitute'; in the 19th century: 'boy dancer'. In the 20th century, a Korean martial arts known as Huālángdào developed, mostly in reaction to foreign martial arts. As a result, a whole Huāláng mythology was 'retro-developed' to be used as a historical basis and justification for the latter-day Huāláng (practitioners of Huālángdào). Little of this 20th-century Huāláng-mythmaking has any historical evidence whatsoever. However, gaming being gaming, we'll try and incorporate much of this more recent Huāláng mythology into The Celestial Empire.

The Huāláng started as a military band in the Silla era. The Huāláng were chosen from the young sons of the nobility; they entered a kind of chivalric corps whose aim was to uphold the ideals of complete loyalty to the nation, righteousness, and bravery: the five huāláng commandments were: serve the king with loyalty, serve parents with piety, be faithful to friends, never retreat in battle, preserve life when possible. The Huāláng were dressed up in black jackets and red skirts. Besides their martial training, they were trained to attack and drive out disease demons through exorcism. [Note: this latter skill may actually stem from a linguistic confusion between the terms huāláng‒ flower knight and huāláng‒ husband of a female shaman, so we'll ignore it in the description of the Huāláng profession below. Should the GM allow this ability, the Necromancy skill should be added to the roster of primary or secondary skills of the Huāláng profession]. The Huāláng carry wooden sticks representing swords. They are supposed to have a power to heal. They have a taboo concerning water.

From a religious point of view, the Huāláng were taught a strange mix of orthodox Confucianism and Esoteric Buddhism. This makes them all the more similar to the Japanese Ninja (the unavowed model of 20th century Huāláng), whose religious tenets were also based on Esoteric Buddhism.

Despite their Confucian upbringing, the Huāláng are mostly homosexual. This is not surprising;  many groups of closely-knit warriors in the past were homosexual.

The Huāláng: a new profession for Korean PCs only
Wealth: Affluent
Status: 60%
Allegiance: Confucianism 5 points, Esoteric Buddhism 15 points
Primary skills: Climb, Etiquette, Melee Weapon (any), Missile Weapon (any), Perform (Dance), Ride (Horse)
Secondary Skills: Command, Dodge, Grapple, Hide, Jump, Knowledge (Religion: Esoteric Buddhism), Martial Arts, Melee Weapon (Quarterstaff), Persuade, Spot, Stealth
Suggested Power: Battle Magic ‒ suggested spell: Heal; Buddhist Magic ‒ suggested spells: Diamond Dagger, Sword of Wisdom.
Equipment: A set of weapons corresponding to the character's combat skills. Expensive clothes. Horse. Roll-up ladder.
Miscellaneous:
 - To qualify as a Huāláng, the player character must be a member of the Korean nobility
 - SIZ is to be rolled using 2D6+6

[A-Z April Blogging] [G] Girl Lovely

Girl Lovely (Nǚ Wā 女媧) is a semi-historical figure mentioned in the Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shānhǎi Jīng 山海經) as a daughter of the Flame Emperor (Yándì 炎帝). She used to live in the northern regions and died by drowning in the East Sea, after which she was apotheosised and became a water goddess, worshipped by both the ancient Chinese and the Miáo. However, in the time periods contemplated by The Celestial Empire, Girl Lovely is not worshipped as a goddess any longer; she is rather considered as a mythological creature from the ancient past, much like the Droughtghoul (Hànbá, p118 of TCE) or the Plain Girl (p121 of TCE).

Girl Lovely is also considered as the sister and wife of Fúxī (伏羲), one of the semi-mythological rulers of ancient China. As sister and wife of Fúxī, she is often depicted with him as two embracing siren-like or snake-like beings with interlocked tails.

Even though Girl Lovely wasn't a goddess any longer in historical times, she still held great power. The downfall of the Shāng dynasty, for instance, is said to have been caused by the last Shāng ruler disrespecting her statue. She then sent the evil vixen spirit Dájǐ wreak havoc at the court of King Zhòu. These events are told in the Míng dynasty novel The Investiture of the Gods.

The GM can use Girl Lovely as an actual creature, a lamia-like temptress who tries to bewitch one of the characters and set him on the others. Or, as in The Investiture of the Gods, the PCs may stumble upon an ancient temple of Girl Lovely, and unwittingly call some curse upon themselves by reading some forbidden scripture; the rest of the adventure would consist in lifting the curse by fulfilling some quest for the goddess.

[April A-Z Blogging] [F] the Fǎxiàngzōng school

The following is in addition to the Buddhist sects presented in p90-4 of The Celestial Empire.

Period of time
Táng

Description
The Fǎxiàngzōng school (法相宗) is a minor Buddhist sect established by Xuánzàng (602-664), the great Táng Chinese monk, scholar, and traveller, and by his disciple Kuījī (632-682). The sect is also known as the Wéishízōng school (唯識宗). The sect is, like the Huáyán School (p93 of TCE), very much scholarly-oriented, but remains less famous than its rival. The Fǎxiàngzōng school does not survive the anti-Buddhist persecutions in the 9th century.

Members
Monks only, especially those interested in original Indian Mahāyāna texts, and in particular those of the Yogācāra tradition. Gaming-wise, it should be restricted to NPCs.

Requisites
- Knowledge (Religion: Buddhism) at 75% at least.
- Language (Sanskrit) at 50% at least.
- Literacy (South Asian alphabets) at 50% at least.
- Persuade at 50% at least.
- Willingness to travel.

Benefits
Members of this school have access to a variety of Indian manuscripts, whose perusal gives a 25% of adding +1D6% to the Knowledge (Religion: Buddhism) skill once per month of scholarly activities, e.g., translating Indian texts to Chinese.
Members of this school have access to sympathetic Buddhist organisations for food and shelter in Bactria, Sogdiana, Dzungaria, the Tarim Basin, Inner Manchuria, Korea, and Japan.

Obligations
Members of this school are dedicated to the spread of original Mahāyāna thought to East Asia, and are hence often found travelling west to India through Inner Asia (to gather new Indian texts), or east to Korea and Japan (to spread the Yogācāra tradition).
Members with a good knowledge of Sanskrit and Chinese (both above 90%) must devote at least 10% of their time translating Indian texts to Chinese.

[April A-Z Blogging] [E] the Éméi Sect

As written on p103 of The Celestial Empire, fictional organisations are a staple of Chinese myth and legend. The monks of Shàolín, for instance, may have an origin in real history, but the way they've evolved in the national Chinese psyche makes them closer to superheroes than to historical figures.

Something similar has happened with the Éméi Sect (Éméi Pài 峨嵋派). Wikipedia describes it as a fictional martial arts sect from Jīn Yōng's works, whereas the web-site of the Confucius Institute describes it as a real-world sect. Given the fanciful material in the article from the latter source, I am more inclined to side with wikipedia. Anyway, this is not too important in a role-playing setting; if it's fun, it must be included.

The Éméi Sect is briefly mentioned in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: when Zhāng Zǐyí's character smashes the furniture in the inn whilst single-handedly defeating numerous opponents she says: "I am the Invincible Sword Goddess, armed with the Green Destiny that knows no equal! Be you Lǐ or Southern Crane, bow your head and ask for mercy! I am the dragon from the desert! Who comes from nowhere and leaves no trace! Today I fly over Éméi. Tomorrow... I topple Mount Wǔdāng!".

Éméi Pài 峨嵋派 ("the Éméi Sect")
The Éméi Pài is one of the leading righteous sects in the world of the Wǔlín (p9 of TCE). It is named after the place where it is based, Mount Éméi (p25 of TCE), one of the Four Great Mountains of Buddhism. Although it is a Buddhist sect, the Éméi Pài has been described as working hand in hand with Daoist righteous martial artists in Chinese fiction. Again in Chinese fiction, the Éméi Pài is said to enrol both male and female recruits. It can be used by the GM as a vessel to introduce female (N)PCs to the game, thus ignoring the usual restrictions listed on p10 of TCE.

Period of time: Yuán to Qīng
Allegiance: Buddhism
Style: external (yáng)
Powers: same as Éméiquán (p69 of TCE)
Other Powers taught: Buddhist Magic — Mantra of Bhaisajyaguru
Special: in case of dire emergency, members of the Éméi Pài in good standing within the sect, and with a Buddhism Allegiance score of 70 at the least, may request succour from the leaders of the Sect. This request needn't be carried out by a messenger: the person sending out the request may do so through a successful Meditation skill roll  — the request will then telepathically be received on Éméi Shān. The GM will have to judge whether the request is or is not justified. Should it be justified and in line with the activities of the sect, Mount Éméi will provide appropriate help in the form of a group of Éméi Pài martial artists who will travel from the nearest available location to the threat. This will require of course some wotk from the GM (size and location of the party, statting its members...)