It is the twelfth year of the reign of the Glorious Son of Heaven, Si Fang, the fifth Emperor of the Seventh Dynasty, and the Dragon Empire is largely prosperous. Certainly, the roads are a tad more dangerous to travel than they were during the previous Emperor’s reign, and pirates both native and foreign plague the sapphire seas, but all in all, things are quite wonderful.
But these factors matter little to those who pursue the path of the chivalrous warrior, whose lives in the wulin are growing more and more hectic of late. Rumors spread of an ancient medallion and map bearing the markings of the illustrious Solar Emperor, whose martial arts transcended those of all others of his time. Many suspect that this map, said to be in the hands of a renegade apprentice of one of the upright sects, leads to the treasure chamber or even tomb of the Solar Emperor.
Now a great hunt for the holder of the map and medallion has begun across the Empire, and even the old seat of the Dynasty, Zhenzhu, the City of Pearls, has been infected with the Solar Emperor hysteria.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not Chinese, nor am I by any means an expert on either wuxia or Chinese history, though I am passing familiar with both. If you see something that you think should be corrected, just let me know!
With that out of the way, I'm secondling, and I'm relatively new here. I'd like to see whether anyone would be interested in the above prompt, with the idea that I'll continue developing the prompt and campaign as I get interest and character submissions. Hopefully I'm doing this correctly. xD
Anyways, if you want to express interest, please, by all means do so. Tell me what sort of character sparks your inspiration, and what sort of thing interests you about this genre, and I'll see what I can do. Thanks in advance for the interest!
I'll update the OP when I get more ideas.
UPDATE I - The City of Zhenzhu:
The initial setting will be on the southeastern coast of the Dragon Empire, in the cosmopolitan and sharply divided City of Pearls, Zhenzhu. The city is divided into two broad sections. First, the High Districts, home to scholar-officials, landowners, and all manner of highbrow entertainment, as well as the old Royal Palace and the governmental and temple districts. The Lower Wards, meanwhile, are home to merchants, beggars, gangs, and worse. The Lower Wards are also where the Docks are, and the homes of the not-soul-crushingly poor, but its most infamous ward is best known as "the Pit," which is as wretched a place as you might imagine. Next update, I'll get into some of the better-known factions in the wulin.
UPDATE II - Sects, Clans, Schools, and Cults of the Jianghu:
There are many groupings of martial artists in the Dragon Empire. Sects are generally the largest and most ambitious of the types of groups, with numerous disciples and a few masters, as well as a leader overseeing the whole thing. They may have religious or (more rarely) political motivations and loyalties, but more often they pursue goals restricted to the Jianghu. Schools tend to be both smaller and less ambitious than Sects, focusing more on passing on traditions than fulfilling ambitions. Clans are as they sound - primarily focused on family groupings passing on secret martial arts. They are the group most likely to have some overlap in membership with the other grouping types. Cults are generally fringe groups of zealous religious fervor, and tend to be feared and scorned for their often morally dubious actions. As with all things, there are exceptions to these general rules, but all in all, they are general rules for a reason.
Below is a list of various groups that are powerful in the wulin of the Dragon Empire.
- The Eagle Talons – The Emperor’s personal agents in the Jianghu are widely feared for their fanatical loyalty to the Son of Heaven, their fearsome martial arts, and their significant abilities in the arts of disguise and infiltration. Not a school, nor a sect, nor a cult, but taking aspects of all three of them, the Eagle Talons are truly terrible foes to those who would dare break the Emperor’s law, or worse, foment treason.
- Skyward Ascent Temple – The largest and most prestigious sect that follows the Way of Balance, Skyward Ascent Temple is located in a mountain valley in the Heartlands of the Empire. Its disciples, both men and women alike, follow the teachings of the Old Masters.
- Reflective Pool Sanctuary – The greatest and most famous sect that follows the Middle Path, the monks of Reflective Pool Sanctuary study both the ancient sutras from beyond the Dragon Empire and martial arts, and many believe that they are one of the great pillars of the wulin.
- The Five-Sword Mountain Sect – Once an informal alliance between five different schools of swordsmanship, it was unified by one ambitious headmaster over fifty years ago, after the five schools worked together to fight against and destroy the vile Demon Warriors.
- The Fraternity of Beggars – Perhaps the most widespread sect in all the Dragon Empire, the Beggars’ Brotherhood, despite its name, welcomes the poor of all genders. Subtle and hidden in plain sight, the sect is both an expert at collecting information and at appearing harmless. However, there is a deep-rooted loyalty to the Empire in the Fraternity, which pushes past patriotism and into nationalism – anyone not of the dominant culture group is often snubbed or kept in the lower ranks, if not outright refused membership in the sect.
- The Hungry Ghost Sect – Led by the White Walker of the North, this sect is deeply concerned with the proper rites and respects to the dead. Those who dishonor one’s ancestors or who defile the dead often find these wu xia hunting them down and teaching them a lesson. The Hungry Ghosts are a Sect with dark rumors hovering about them – some suggest their leader is a necromancer.
- The Nameless Sons – The most reviled sect in the Jianghu, the members of the Nameless Sons were once motley and varied groups of bandits and rogue martial artists of all sorts. Then, a decade ago, a warrior known only as the Bastard of Blades challenged and killed his sifu, himself a mighty warrior, before starting to wander the Jianghu. Since that time, his martial arts prowess and total lack of morals has gathered a veritable horde of would-be apprentices and disciples to his banner. Receiving the name Nameless Sons, this group adheres to no guiding moral code, has no single principle that leads them when they need it – instead, they live in a bleak world where the strong devour the weak. Due to their outright rejection of the honor of a warrior, they are utterly reviled by the other warriors of the Jianghu, while peasants live in total dread of their predations.
- The Starfall Sword School – A swordsmanship-focused school that was once a dominant power in the wulin, but has since faded into a fairly reclusive group. Two years ago, the milky-white bladed jian that gave its name to the school was stolen by an apprentice taken in off the streets, and the shame has yet to fade from over the school as a whole.
- The Sun and Moon Harmony School – Founded by a pair of lovers cast out of the Skyward Ascent Temple for their perceived promiscuity, the Sun and Moon Harmony School pursues what it sees as True Balance, unaffected by the hypocrisy of their older “sibling.”
- The Fangs of the Deep – A clan of pirates based in the southeastern Archipelago of Sun and Storm, the Fangs of the Deep raid the countryside and shipping of the area alike.
- The Hongmen Clan – A large clan based in Zhenzhu, whose leader, Hong Wei, is a famous hero of the wulin, and whose prestige has uplifted the entire clan into a powerful family in the Empire.
- The Scions of the Heavenly Dragon – If one word could be used to describe the clan known as the Scions of the Heavenly Dragon, it would be “Pride”. If a few more words could be spared, it would be “Pride to the point of Arrogance.” Not only does the family dare take the title of Dragon – which ought only be able to describe the mighty Emperor and his family – but they are absolute in their belief in their own righteousness and position at the top of the wulin. Now, they would have long been wiped out by the Eagle Claws, if not the Imperial Army itself, had they been all talk. The Scions of the Heavenly Dragon claim descent from the Dragon of Heaven itself, and their martial arts back up this claim. Direct, balanced, and above all potent, the Scions’ martial arts are potent enough to survive both Imperial wrath and the annoyance and challenges of other martial artists. Furthermore, their righteousness is strictly true – if a tad on the conservative side of what is righteous. They cripple and cast out any who they catch stepping out of line in a meaningful way, to prevent the secrets of their martial arts from doing evil and from being spread to non members of the bloodline.
Update III – The Solar Emperor:
The fifth Emperor of the Third Dynasty ruled the Empire over a millennium ago. With a strong sense of justice and an uncanny sense for other people’s intentions and natures, Emperor Ren Ming reigned for over sixty years, guiding the Empire to a golden age of peace and prosperity.
However, these reasons alone are not why the Solar Emperor remains a famous figure even to this day. No, he was a peerless martial artist, who wandered the wulin personally in his youth. From the time he was sixteen until the time he was twenty, Ren Ming crossed the boundaries of school and sect, learning more martial arts than most Masters do. He continued practicing once he inherited the Throne, once even personally dispatching an attempted coup.
Throughout his life, Ren Ming collected hundreds upon hundreds of martial arts scrolls, tomes, and weapons of legend. Most of these were kept in the then-capital, Taiyang, but were lost when Taiyang fell to barbarian invaders from the north, a century after his death.
However, at fifty, the Solar Emperor took a tour of his Empire, and it is during this tour that most stories claim he hid his most potent martial arts manuals and deadliest weapons of legend. Other stories, more popular outside the wulin, suggest that he hid a trove of more mundane treasures, whether in addition to or instead of his martial arts wisdom.
The location (or possibly locations) of this mythic treasure has been long lost to time, but with the recent and widespread rumors of a discovery of a medallion and a map bearing the marks of his authority, many among the Jianghu have begun searching for the treasure of the Solar Emperor.
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