16th Century Italian Engravings of Chinese People

From Cesare Vecellio's Habiti antichi et moderni di tutto il mondo, Venice, 1590

A Chinese Man [of "mediocre condition"]

A Chinese Woman

A Chinese Nobleman [a mandarin?]

A Chinese Noblewoman [the wife of a mandarin?]

The Grand Heist

In Joseon Korea, ice was a very valuable commodity, and its trade was a state monopoly. In the 2012 Korean film The Grand Heist, a gang of con artists and thieves decide to steal a large amount of ice. Here is the Korean trailer:


And here's the European trailer, which really looks like they're presenting a party of adventurers!

Wind of the Steppe Will Blow You Away!

In several instances, the text of The Celestial Empire makes passing references to “a future extension dedicated to the nomad peoples of Inner Asia”. TCE was published in 2010 and, at the time, this supplement was really in its infancy. Well, four years on, I am thrilled to announce that Wind of the Steppe should be available through Alephtar Games at the end of this year, or at the beginning of the next at the very latest.

Much more than a mere extension, Wind of the Steppe will actually be a fully-fledged, stand-alone role-playing game (still based on the Basic Role-Playing System by the Chaosium) that will enable you to adventure into the harsh world of the steppe nomads. The game will still be compatible with TCE, and retain some of the mechanisms at its core, such as the Allegiance rules. But let me pass on the virtual pen to Olivier Dubreuil, the main author of WoS:

How To Be a Good Nomad:

• Demonstrate blind loyalty to the leader you believe deserves it. You can die for him. When called by your khan for war, do not ask for any compensation, even as a noyan, but follow his orders without hesitation.
• Be efficient: you learnt that all that you do is dictated by the best efficiency. “Chivalrous” does not belong to your vocabulary. If you have to flee, flee and come back later. If you have to die, die. If slaughtering people yields any benefit, do it. If skills from other people can be useful, use them. Exploits are made for duty, vengeance, ambition, to gain the favour of your fellow clansmen or of the spirits, or for any other benefits, not for sport.
• Be patient, wait for the optimal conditions whenever possible.
• Life is valuable when useful. Spare your fellow tribesmen but don’t be overburdened with unnecessary prisoners: slaughter them in cold blood when asked to or whenever it is useful.
• Be open to other religions, philosophies and knowledge: foreign wise men and craftsmen can bring you what you’re missing. Despise other settled people.
• Use slaves and despise them.
• Help your clan.
• Be fair to your anda [blood brother], even if you’re fighting on opposite sides.
• Fear the spirits, avoid making them angry. Some words may attract them.
• Do not boast about your own exploits; you have to thank the spirits, who may become upset or jealous.
• Be thankful to the good spirits.
• Observe the taboos.
• Don’t fear enemies. Don’t fear death either: it is a shame not to die on horseback and you’ll join your ancestors. But die usefully.
• Avenge your clansmen and tribesmen.
• Be proud of your clan.
• Travel with several horses.
• Be frugal, but get completely drunk on occasions. Eat whatever meat is edible. Eyes are delicious.
• Be welcoming to the friendly traveller. Don’t hesitate to ask for shelter from friendly or neutral nomads encountered whilst travelling.
• Share your hunt with anybody coming until you have attached it to your saddle.
• Ask the shamans for advice. Shamans are not holy but have scary powers and knowledge beyond your understanding: fear them.
• Take care of your mount: you can’t survive without it.
• Don’t bathe in a river or a lake. In your country, this often means don’t bathe at all.
• Keep your bows dry.
• Be disciplined in battle; do not plunder until the enemy is utterly destroyed.
• Plan your actions as you would prepare a hunt.
• Scout an unknown land instead of blindly getting there.

Inner Asian Nomads are Tengriist animists. They believe in spirits and in the powers of nature, first and foremost the sky god Tengri, the celestial deity who created the world and rules over it.

Numerous deities or spirits live under Tengri’s authority: superior spirits (fertility, thunder…), natural spirits (wood, sources, fire…) or evil spirits –the üör– (disease, insanity…). Some tribes worship Tengri in a quasi-monotheistic way, but even these never completely forget the spirits. They are very respectful of nature spirits.

The world is split into three planes: the lower plane where malevolent spirits dwell, the middle plane where humans and natural spirits live, and the upper plane where the celestial spirits reign. Every event is reputedly caused by spirits: a good hunt, disease, the rain… The Nomad fears them. It is necessary to please them and to make them friendly: this is the duty of the shamans.

Additionally, legends talk about a subterranean world where supernatural telluric magical creatures live, like giants or ogres. This world is not to be confused with the lower plane where spirits live. It is separated from the surface world, but some gateways between the two worlds do exist in deep chasms or unfathomable caverns.

There is no organised clergy and church, but instead a class of more or less hereditary wise men or women: the shamans. Shamans are the mediators between humans and supernatural beings, and hold a special place in the social order. They have no specific hierarchy beyond the authority bestowed by power, reputation or social status. Their function is more practical than priestly, since they do not necessarily lead worship ceremonies. They are however central in the animist belief.

“In the Steppe, a man without friends is thinner than a finger; a man with friends is bigger than the Steppe itself”

Tentative Table of Contents of Wind of the Steppe:
  Foreword
SETTING
  Introduction
  Background
  Daily Life
  Warfare
RULES
  Character Creation
  Shamans
  Spirits
  Heroes
CAMPAIGN
  Peoples and Tribes
  The Silk Road
  Cities of the Nomads
  Bestiary
Appendices
  When the Wolves Wake Up
  Glossary

Copper vs Silver Standard in Qīng China

NOT a government official

I am currently reading an interesting French book titled Bâtisseurs d'empires, Russie, Chine et Inde à la croisée des mondes, XVe-XIXe siècle, that compares the way the three major Eurasian empires of the modern age: Mughal, Russian, Qīng, were created and run.

With regards to the way the Qīng empire managed the problems related with the (bi)metallic currency standard that had plagued the Míng, the author explains that, basically, the Qīng had privatised the management of the silver currency but kept as a public monopoly the minting and issuing of the copper currency.

Hence the influx of the various New World silver dollars (see my earlier blog entry) under the Qīng; this also explains why such a bewildering array of different coins were allowed to circulate: they were mostly used amongst merchants and traders, who were responsible to each other for the value attached to these coins.

Another interesting fact from the book is that copper strings ended up being the backbone of an integrated, centralised, should we say public, internal market, whereas the silver dollars ended up being used in various regional trading centres whose main trading partners were overseas.

D100 Dread Family Secrets

Elfmaids & Octopi (EMO) is one of my favourite blogs. Its author posts very often, almost daily, and each and every post is oozing with re-usable ideas, usually on the gonzo side. As a result, I usually steal from EMO for my science fantasy or Second Age Gloranthan games, but certainly not for my historically accurate East Asian games.

Yet the latest EMO blog entry, titled D100 Dread Family Secrets, can probably be enjoyed in a semi-historical Chinese game, what with the importance of kin and ancestor worship.

I am presenting a slightly revised version of the table below that takes into account the East Asian background of The Celestial Empire:

Prominent clans/NPCs/PCs of your campaign game may warrant a 1D100 roll once (or even twice!) on the following table to determine a dread family secret:

D100 | Dread Family Secret
01 | Parents are siblings, family history of incest, your own sibling loves you
02 | Bànyāo ancestor in family (see p112 of The Celestial Empire)
03 | Necromancer ancestor after descendants bodies to be reborn
04 | Hǎiruò in distant ancestry
05 | Family member is a famous wanted outlaw in secret
06 | A Xié Daoist in family (see p98 of TCE)
07 | Secret society in family (see p102 of TCE)
08 | A serial killer in the family
09 | Generations of inter sibling violence
10 | Ancestral ghost nags descendants to perform horrible acts
11 | Ancestral ghost nags descendants to avenge some forgotten crime
12 | Ancestral ghost nags descendants for libations of wine
13 | Ancestral ghost nags descendants to marry into better bloodline
14 | Ancestral ghost nags descendants to sacrifice silver ingots to family burial plot
15 | Ancestral ghost nags descendants to follow their favourite cult
16 | Dread mìngmó is ancestor (see p117 of TCE)
17 | Famous yaksha is ancestor (see p126 of TCE)
18 | Ancient vixen spirit is ancestor (see p112 of TCE)
19 | Ancestor served a god who meddles in family affairs
20 | Cannibalism practised by some members till recently
21 | Ancestors stole a relic or artefact which they keep hidden
22 | Ancestral blood feud with other clan over land
23 | Ancestral blood feud with other clan over over runaway missing lovers
24 | Ancestral blood feud with other clan over missing legendary weapon
25 | Ancestral blood feud with other clan over over battlefield betrayal during inter-dynastic period
26 | Ancestral blood feud with other clan over murder of prominent ancestor
27 | Ancestor famously declined office in the imperial bureaucracy
28 | Ancestor famously refused summons to imperial court
29 | Rumoured to have immortal ancestry
30 | Rumoured to have guǐ-creatures in ancestry
31 | Rumoured to have yāoguài in family
32 | Family keeps many mad members of clan locked in family home
33 | Family home has many hidden corpses and rumours of phantoms in estate
34 | Ancestor made pact with foreign cult to maintain the clan
35 | Family really broke on edge of complete ruin
36 | Family famous misers
37 | Ancestor served foreign ruler as right hand man
38 | Famous ancestor late with message triggered disaster
39 | Famous traitor ancestor joined nomads in war at crucial moment
40 | Ancestor famous sexual pervert people tell stories of to scare children
41 | Cruel ancestor ruled a village terrorising locals for a generation
42 | Ancestor was cursed by gods for blasphemy, curse still carried by clan head
43 | Ancestor murdered children to attain control of clan
44 | Ancestor was a famous poisoner
45 | Ancestor disappeared in cave with important official documents
46 | Ancestor famous amateur torturer, victims bodies still found in family home
47 | Cats hate family and go crazy when near
48 | Dogs hate family and go crazy when near
49 | Horses hate family and go crazy when near
50 | Birds hate family and go crazy when near
51 | Family exterminated another family to get land
52 | Family usurped title and land of original owners
53 | Ancestor a notorious grave robber
54 | Ancestor a Xié Daoist who was sentenced to death after public trial
55 | Ancestors were low-status Ritual Masters
56 | Ancestor Xié Daoist was hunted and killed by mob, swore vengeance on whole village
57 | Ancestor a famous thief of long lost goods owners still want
58 | Ancestor lived in now haunted temple or manor that locals have sealed up and shunned
59 | Ancestor famous slanderer whose malicious lies about other clans still believed today
60 | Family home built on a non-Hàn burial ground or temple site
61 | Many believe under family home are catacombs with horrible secrets
62 | Ancestor linked to foreign cult, strange pilgrims always visiting
63 | Ancestor a famous slaver who killed hundreds cruelly
64 | Ancestor a famous drug fiend who ruined other clans with vice
65 | Ancestor a famous rake and seducer, hated by many other clans
66 | Ancestor a famous popular harlot who was murdered by persons unknown
67 | Ancestor rumoured to have had otherworldly evil lover
68 | Clan famed for being thieving lying money grabbers
69 | Family stalked by unknown murderers for generations
70 | Family mentioned in evil prophecy so changed name in past
71 | Family full of rakes and harlots, full of bastard children
72 | Everyone thinks family has hidden treasure from looting in troubled times
73 | A doomed immortal of clan assumes identity of descendants for legal reasons
74 | Family has taint of wǎngliǎng blood (p115 of TCE), famous brutes
75 | Ancestor famously went into forest for secret rites with yāoguài
76 | A famous clumsy idiot of clan caused a huge disaster people still not over
77 | Ancestor begotten by a huòmó (p118 of TCE)
78 | Ancestor notoriously partied with (Roll 1D6) 1: foreign cultists, 2-4: outlaws, 5-6: nomads
79 | A famous spouse murderer had 3D4+3 partners before killed by enemies
80 | A famous ancestor slandered the emperor who had most of the clan killed
81 | A famous ancestor collected heterodox books and ancestors then disappeared
82 | A famous cruel ship captain was marooned by crew somewhere
83 | A famous martial artist kidnapped and killed local maidens
84 | Ancestor was rumoured to have been to the Ten Courts of Hell and back somehow
85 | Family have a horrible evil motto most think disgraceful today
86 | Famous ancestor last seen riding into hole in hill with demons, a stone slab in place today
87 | Ancestor had an affair with an imperial concubine and was horribly murdered by rivals and enemies
88 | Ancestor started a cult which was outlawed by the local magistrate after their death
89 | At a certain night ghosts appear at clan temple to condemn all for villainy
90 | Ancestor rumoured to have illicit sex with animals, family maintain just enemy slander
91 | Ancestor built a strange folly which locals avoid and fear
92 | Ancestor was of non-Hàn ethnicity so changed name in past
93 | Ancestor collected funds for temple then drunk and gambled and whored funds away
94 | Started a doomed ethnic war that resulted in thousands dead and bitter inter-ethnic resentment
95 | Briefly an ancestor held top position in imperial bureaucracy before being murdered by staff
96 | Briefly an ancestor held top position in imperial bureaucracy before being murdered by rivals
97 | Ancestor rumoured to have been evil wizard, torn apart by invisible demons in market square
98 | Ancestor rumoured to have been demon cultist or offspring, killed by animals in village
99 | Ancestor famous magician, crackpots harass clan for magic hidden secrets
00 | Ancestor famous martial artist, crackpots harass clan for hidden martial arts treatise