13_CBS
2008-02-22, 11:25 PM
Since my game's fluff has grown too large for one thread, I have moved it here.
Fluffy fluff, with a firm, rich texture
Current situation:
The world seems to be a peaceful place. The five major nations are not at war with one another, trading is moving along smoothly, and the gods seem to smile upon the land, giving rich harvests to the farmers. Not much of a place for adventure, is it?
But take a closer look into the lands, and you shall see the truth.
To the North, the Empire of Gold stands firm in the cold, brutal steppes. They are fine horsemen and are tough as steel down to the last child, but the brutality of the steppes often seeps into their hearts. Now, parties from the Empire of Gold raid the southern Empire of Knowledge for food and plunder, and the court of Wisdom is scrambling about to solve this problem.
Further South lies the Empire of Knowledge. This land, founded on a rebellion, is doing its best to keep out the “barbarians” in the north. Although the land is rich and powerful, many scholars, including the direct descendants of its founders, are noting its growing corruption.
To the East lies Dangun, a land currently divided into three smaller kingdoms that are at war with one another. The Jejo, the Sangum, and the Jundam kingdoms vie for control over their tiny land, all the while offering tribute to their stronger cousin further East. A small group of nations, the kingdoms of Dangun have nonetheless managed to survive, and even prosper, due to the high psionic proficiency that the natives exhibit. Many of these psions are, however, using their powers to destroy their neighbors rather than using them to benefit their nation.
Beyond Dangun is the Kinpatsu Shogunate, which rules over the land of Yama. A land always plunged in civil war, Yama is now held under the iron fist of Shogun Misato of the Kinpatsu clan. Yet another rebellious clan, the Mayama clan, is gathering strength...
To the South of the Empire of Knowledge lies Mahayana Empire, a small empire thought of as exotic as the jungles that it inhabits. A highly spiritual place, it is nonetheless plagued by vile cults intent on raising whatever dark god they worship to a greater divine status. The current court, however, seems to be growing darker and less benevolent as it used to be.
The nations:
Empire of Knowledge:
An empire founded 400 years ago through conquest by a once small nation of engineers. With their new crossbow and siege technology, the former vassal state took over its old master, the Empire of Silver, and expanded that empire’s boundaries. Now, however, the Empire of Gold threatens to do the same.
History: The Empire of Knowledge was once the Jin province under the old Empire of Silver (EoS). EoS’s former academies and engineering schools were located there, along with a fair number of its factories. Many of the scholars were elves, while many of the engineers were dwarves
Once the EoS fell into decline due to external pressures (such as the failed, but devastating, invasion by Shinjuku Shogunate) and, of course, internal corruption (much of it caused by spies planted in the Silver court), it began over taxing its people to help fill the coffers of both the decaying empire and the greedy officials who ruled it. At first there was a coup by the military, which barely failed due to internal squabbling, followed by a huge riot caused by peasants angry with the failed government that was taxing them and the soldiers that pillaged their farms. The peasants seemed to have the upper hand over the land while the united court and military struggled against the growing movement...
Until the scholars of Jin stepped in.
During the Shinjuku invasion, Jin’s scholars and engineers had been ordered to begin researching and manufacturing weapons, such as more crossbows and even repeating crossbows (but no gunpowder yet!). Some of these weapons had helped turn the tide of the war, but others were left unfinished as the Shinjuku forces retreated. The Jin scholars wisely continued production and research, bribing authorities to look the other way. This peasant rebellion seemed like a good time to...perform a field test.
With the new technology in hand, the court, the military, and the scholars utterly crushed the peasants and put most of them to death, sparing enough for the next year’s harvest. During the victory feast, however, bribed soldiers and many of Jin’s mercenaries assassinated all of the court and the military’s leaders and convinced most of their followers to follow the scholars of Jin, whose knowledge put the country back into order. Thus, Jin province, now the Empire of Knowledge, became the greatest Empire in the world.
For 400 years, the combined knowledge of the scholars and the technology of the engineers kept the country under despotic, if benevolent, rule, with the entire Empire running like clockwork. About ten years ago, however, a large number of horsemen from the North, wielding bows never seen before by the EoK, quickly ate up a large chunk of the Northern provinces and established something like a nation, which the EoK refuses to recognize as an Empire of any sort.
Recently, an important dwarven engineering official has been found assassinated. Many fingers point toward an elven scholar...
Demographics:
30% elven
30% dwarven
15% human
10% half-bloods (half elves, half orcs, etc.)
5% orcish
5% gnomish
5% Halfling
Currently, dwarves and elves are 1st class citizens, while the rest are 2nd class. Though the 2nd class is not cruelly subjugated, they do lack rights given to 1st class citizens, such the right to hold a seat in the local High Council (though 2nd classers may hold seats in the Common Council).
Major industries:
Heavy industries
Farming
Construction
Weapons manufacturing
Financial focus:
Up until the recent invasion by the Empire of Gold, scientific research
Today, military training, defensive architecture, iron/steel manufacturing
General financial status: Very rich
Currency: the Shin (basically a gp)
Government:
National: Dual Imperial; two emperors, one elven (for the scholars) and one dwarven (for the engineers) rule the Empire with almost absolute authority, though very few have abused their power. A council of 13 members, from any race, advises them. This council is only advisory, and members are elected for life by the Emperors.
Local: Any given city (a community number more than 1,000) will be ruled by 1 mayor, a high council, and a common council. 1st classers can be elected by other 1st classers to the high council, while the 2nd classers vote other 2nd classers to the common council. The high council may elect anyone of any class to mayorship, though mayors are usually dwarves or elves.
Provinces:
Jin (now the Imperial province)
Qin
Yuan
Tang
Zhou
Yu
Military:
Combat style:
The EoK’s soldiers prefer reactive, defensive fighting, relying on their high walls during sieges and their protective armor during battles to win the day. In pitched battles, they prefer to place legions of crossbowmen behind walls of spearmen and shoot the enemy to death. Light cavalry mercenaries do the mop up work.
Army size:
~30,000 heavy infantry
~60,000 crossbow infantry
~10,000 cavalry
~5,000 support troops
Major cities:
The Forbidden City: The palace of the two emperors and their advisors. This is where national decisions are made. It is quite a splendid area, which is not surprising since the rules of the richest and most powerful empire in the world resides here.
Population: 300 (includes the emperors, their councilors, and all the servants of the palace).
Province: Jin
Golden Library: This is actually a civilian city and not just a library, though the Golden Library itself is the city’s major attraction. The GL is EoK’s biggest and best university. Scholars who graduate from this academy tend to almost always attain important positions in the government.
Population: 100,000
Province: Zhou
Silver Library: Another misnamed civilian city, this is EoK’s second best university. It is similar in all ways to GL, though it is of lesser quality.
Population: 60,000
Province: Yu
There are two more major universities: the Jade Library and the Lacquered Library.
Shang Ju: A relatively small town on the coast, it is EoK’s one and only trading port with the Shoguns to the East.
Population: 2,000
Province: Tang
Empire of Gold:
This empire was once a rabble of tribesmen that lived and fought in the harsh steppes of the North. Though these tribals were some of the finest warriors, they could not bring their full might to bear on the other nations due to their squabbling tendencies.
Two decades ago, however, the tribes assembled themselves into a fairly loose confederacy that mostly revolved around, “you help me raid, I give you plunder”. Some of the tribesmen have come to call this new nation the Empire of Gold, a name given much derision from the highly cultured citizens of the Empire of Knowledge.
History:
As mentioned before, the Empire of Gold was a plot of landed inhabited by barbaric tribesmen, called the Tungusk. These horsemasters, skilled in the use of the lance, killed and raided one another for sustenance and survival. No one else in the world could possibly outmatch their horsemanship skills.
Life was fairly routine in those lands. You woke up, cleaned yourself with horse urine, took care of the animals, had your meals, and watched out for any signs of steppe dust aroused by a horde of horses. But then, one day, a group of elders from several tribes came together and decided that the Empire of Knowledge in the south was fat and ripe for plundering.
“But who can scale their mighty walls?” asked the others.
The elders answered, “We do not need to.”
The land of Dangum, a vassal state east of the Empire, was protected by a very weak wall, one made of only earth and bits of wood. The defenses were ill equipped, lazy, and disorganized. The full might of the gathered tribes quickly broke it, and after a bit of hunting, all of the guards were rounded up and killed. The rest of the warriors swept through a narrow patch of land that made up the border between Dangum and the Empire of Knowledge. Thus, the Empire of Knowledge knew of the invasion far too late.
The armies quickly secured much of the area behind the northernmost walls and, learning a thing or two about architecture from captured scholars, built their own fortifications. The Empire of Knowledge’s armies were too small and too spread out at the time to do much, and the fledgling Empire of Gold seemed to be content with the chunk of land it had recently gained, so both sides signed a quick peace treaty of, “Don’t step on our land” and let it be. Lately, though, both sides seem to be gearing up for another war.
There are two factions within the Empire of Gold: one wishes to make the Empire civilized, an equal of the cultured Empire of Knowledge. This faction is the current leader of the Empire. Another faction wishes to keep the tribes as it is and stick to the old, tribal ways. Why should the Tungusk become weak and pale like the Imperials to the south? Why not simply raid them into the ground?
Demographics:
80% Human
5% Orcish
1% Dwarven (captured engineer, usually)
1% Elven (captured scholar, usually)
3% Mixed blood
Major Industries:
Pelts
Weaponry (lances)
Horses
Cattle (sheep, cows, horses)
Minor textiles
Financial Focus:
Military
Construction (the Empire of Gold is trying to make itself somewhat civilized)
General Financial Status: Weak
Since the Empire of Gold has only recently taken its tentative steps out of a trade-based economy, its financial status is quite weak. It has enough funds to build new cities and such, however.
Government:
National: A council made up of the chiefs of all the Tungusk tribes rules the Empire of Gold. Race, gender, bloodline, etc. do not bar someone from becoming a chieftain and, therefore, a member of the council.
Local: The village headsman, another position not barred by race, gender, or bloodline, rules the village with the help of a council of elders. The elders usually choose the headsman based on merit and, quite often, whether he/she passes a trial set by the elders.
Provinces: None.
Military:
Combat Style:
The Golden warriors favor fairly mobile warfare. Their light cavalry, armed with throwing weapons such as spears and axes, harass the enemy until the heavily armed and armored lancers arrive. The heavy cavalry then wipes out the enemy with repeated, irresistible charges. Each horseman, both light and heavy, are equipped with javelins to break up ranks of spearmen.
Army Size:
50,000 heavy cavalry
30,000 light cavalry
9,000 conscripted infantry
Major Cities:
Bulgan: This is the Empire of Gold’s capital. It is directly north of one of the Empire of Knowledge’s former walls, and is thus protected by it. It is quite splendid in a rough, tribal way, with a richly decorated tent-like palace housing the Great Council of Chiefs. Bulgan also contains what passes for the Empire of Gold’s university.
Population: 40,000
Hongor: This is the strongest border fortress that guards the Knowledge/Gold border. Manned by thousands of trained men, it is a heavily modified former EoK fort redesigned to quickly let hordes of cavalry out of the gates.
Population: 4,000 (almost all military personnel)
Ulan: The Empire of Gold has taken steps towards trading, and it now deals with the Kinpatsu clan (it has yet to hear much of the Mahayana Empire). The Kinpatsu nobles enjoy their cheap fur, while the Tungusk make good use of the timber that the Kinpatsu export. Ulan, which is on the coast, is the EoG’s primary trading port.
Population: 6,000
The rest of the population maintain their nomadic herding villages scattered throughout the old Tungusk lands and the newly conquered territories.
Yama
History: Yama is an ancient land, the first landmasses raised from the ocean floor by the powers of the Infernal Bureaucracy. For thousands of years its mortal inhabitants have fought demons, devils, and each other, constantly honing their war skills. The natives of Yama are well known for their sense of duty and honor; many maintain that they do so to mentally fight off the constant demonic corruption.
For hundreds of years, Yama played little part in international affairs due to most of its citizens getting eaten by or fighting supernatural creatures. Though they developed trade relations with Dangun and the old Empires (enough to get their hands on a steady supply of metals and food), the people of Yama kept mostly to the businesses of their own lands. Some of Yama’s culture came from the bits and pieces of Dangun culture that leaked in via merchants, and thus the two nations’ languages tend to share a few cognates.
Due to its tumultuous and warlike landscape, Yama has never been easy to fully control. Several powerful clans in the past have managed to gain control of the majority of the (mortal populated) territories, but since it takes so much effort to juggle the frequent demon/devil incursions, scheming nobles, and constant warfare, these Shogunates rarely last for long.
The greatest of these Shogunates was the Shinjuku Shogunate, which, under Yishaki Shinjuku, exterminated the last of the fiendish presences on Yama and firmly established the beginnings of a great Empire. So firm and secure was the Shinjuku’s rule that the Shoguns felt confident enough to attack the Empire of Silver, which was in its waning days. The invasion went perfectly until the scholars of Jin and their technology forced the war into a stalemate. A sudden outburst of demonic and infernal raids back on Yama forced the Shogun to recall all troops, ending the invasion.
This abrupt outpouring of demonic hordes, called the Second Shadow, annihilated the exhausted Shinjuku forces and even the Shogun himself, and the total destruction of Yama seemed imminent. Then, a group of holy warrior monks, led by the orcish abbot Ikko of the Ikki monastery, assassinated several of the demon generals and sold their souls to buy off the devils, thus saving the mortals of Yama. Despite their great sacrifice, Ikko and his monks still scream in agony in the Ninth Palace of Judgement in the Underworld.
Today, Yama has reverted back to much of what it once was; a land torn apart by demons and tyrannized by devils. Most of the fiendish presences have been contained to relatively small patches of land in the northern reaches of Yama, and the fiends seem to be contenting themselves with their slaves, the Soku clans (humanoid clans who have been under the yoke of the fiends for centuries). The Kinpatsu Shogunate, though somewhat weak, has managed to provide most of the citizens of Yama a general sense of peace and security.
Note that Yama has an unusual concentration of spiritual creatures. The first among these are the Ogres. Though most of them are stupid and somewhat easily tricked by mortals into giving up their riches, others are quite intelligent and can even practice magic. Some possess magical clubs that can create any mundane object that they wish several times a day.
Another species of note are the Tailed Ones, also called the kitsune. These fox-like spirits, as honorable and noble as they are mischievous and sly, travel around the countryside offering martial help to villages. Others travel about as minstrels, entertaining the children and teaching them clever tricks to play on their parents. Especially powerful Tailed Ones may give away their tails as powerful charms against evil, though few do this as this is quite dangerous and draining for the Tailed One.
Demographics:
40% Orcish
45% Human
10% Supernatural (ogres, other spiritual creatures)
2% Demonic
1% Infernal
1% Dwarven
1% Elven
Currently, the orcish Shogun Jakumoto Kinpatsu holds the highest seat of authority on Yama. Each Shogun is chosen by succession, or, if there are several heirs available, based on merit. In either case, the old Shogun decides who becomes his successor. If the Shogun dies before naming an heir, clans try to meet and debate among themselves to decide who becomes the next Shogun, but this usually results in yet another bitter conflict.
Major industries:
Military training
Weaponry
Agriculture
Supernatural body parts (ogre horns, Tailed One tails, etc.)
Note that adventurers who wish to test their mettle often come to Yama to fight the demons and spirits there.
Financial focus:
As usual, military training
Some funds go towards building monasteries to train future priests
General financial status: Average
Currency: the Koku (basically a gp)
Government:
National: Shogunate; a Shogun is chosen by the previous Shogun based on either merit or lineage. The Shogun, in theory, has absolute power over all aspects of his lands. He is advised by an unofficial but often powerful council.
Local: Feudal; the Shogun divides his lands among several Daimyo, who in turn divide their lands among Taicho. Each Taicho is expected to develop his lands and provide food, men, or gold to the Daimyo (the head of a clan) as a form of tax. The Daimyo, in turn, is expected to give some of his earnings to the Shogun. Each Daimyo and Taicho is given absolute authority over his lands. All Shogun, Daimyo, and Taicho are male; female rulers are forbidden, though many mistresses and concubines have set up their male lords as puppets.
Provinces:
Each province is ruled by a Daimyo, and thus by a clan. Note that not all Yamans belong to a clan; only nobles tend to claim that they are from a certain clan.
Iga: Zaku clan
Sen: Hori clan
Kyaku: Namura clan
Minnasa: Satsu clan
Yomi: Dancho clan
Ran: Banzai clan (this clan is love to scream their clan name as a war cry)
Kin: Kinpatsu clan (the Shogun’s more distant family rules over the old Kinpatsu territory)
Military:
Combat style:
The people of Yama, in order to fight demons, have become the masters of spear and polearm fighting. Yaman soldiers prefer to keep the opponents in melee range but also at several arms’ reach away. They are also skilled in the use of the bow, and although their infantry archers are inferior to that of Dangun’s, their horse archers are without peer.
Note that, although Yama's swords are considered to be especially well made, and though many Yamans regard swords with an almost religious reverence, in practice relatively few swords are used in warfare.
Army size:
~10,000 heavy infantry, swordsmen
~50,000 heavy infantry, polearms
~10,000 horse archers
~5,000 heavy cavalry
Major places of civilization:
Mon: The seat of the Shogun’s power. Unlike the EoK’s Forbidden City, the city of Mon is an actual city and not simply a fancy place for the Shogun’s court. The towering pagoda-shaped buildings, many garnished by cherry blossom trees, make for a dazzling sight.
Population: 60,000 (includes the Shogun, his councilors, and all the servants of the palace).
Province: Kin
Rinja: Rinja, a somewhat large city on top of a tall, rocky hill, is the site of Yama’s greatest military training school. It has weathered Yama’s darkest times and countless fiendish and ogrish invasions. Yishaki Shinjuku graduated from Rinja’s academy with top honors.
Population: 56,000
Province: Ran
Yami: More of a town than an actual city, this is the dark counterpart to Rinja. Yami is where Yama’s finest ninja, spies, and assassins are trained. They say that for every kill a Yami graduate makes, a notch is cut on the village headman’s front porch. Although this cannot be confirmed, the village headman tends to order a new front porch built once every week.
Population: 2,000
Province: Yomi
Yamato Monastery: Yama’s greatest monastery. This is where Yama’s best monks and other spiritual masters are trained. Ikko himself was an abbot of this monastery before his sacrifice. Yamato is located on top of Yama’s second highest peak, Amaterasu-san (Peak of the Sun).
Population: 500
Province: N/A: Yamato is its own, independent “province” ruled by no one other than the abbot. No Shogun has ever been foolish enough to challenge this independence.
Soku villages: The Soku people, humanoids of various races bound to the dark wills of the fiends for generations, live in the far northern reaches of Yama. They are desperate yet hopeless, knowing that no matter what they try, their foul masters will foil their plans. Most of the Soku belong to the demons, which use them for entertainment and food, while the rest are thralls to the Dark Bureaucracy. They experienced a brief period of freedom when the Shunjuku Shogunate drove out the demons, but after the Second Shadow, their lives have been more miserable than ever. Most Yamans regard the Soku with either pity of contempt.
Population: Total, 5,000
Province: N/A, located beyond the boundaries of the Kinpatsu Shogunate
Languages:
Empire of Knowledge:
Spoken languages:
High Imperial (mostly court/official speak)
Low Imperial (common language, known by all, usually used among city citizens)
Local Imperial dialects (known by backwater villagers)
Written Languages:
High Imperial script (complex and poetic, used for poems and legal documents)
Low Imperial script (simple, easy to understand, usually used for personal messages and everyday writing)
Empire of Gold:
Spoken languages:
Tungusk (common language known by all Tungusk tribesmen)
Local Tungusk dialects (used by the scattered nomads, mostly)
Written languages:
High Imperial (the Tungusk have had little use for a written language until now)
Dangun:
Spoken languages:
Dangun (common language used by all native Dangunites; officials use a more formal kind)
Written languages:
High Imperial (as a vassal state, Dangun has used Imperial script, though some scholars are trying to come up with an original Dangun written language)
Low Imperial
Yama:
Spoken languages:
Yaman (common language used by all native Yamans; officials use a more formal kind)
Demonic, Infernal (due to Yama's unusual fiendish concentrations, demonic and infernal are sometimes known by diplomats and rulers among the humanoid population)
Soku (language known by a Northern barbarian tribe, long enslaved by demons--sounds a bit like Yaman corrupted by Demonic)
Written languages:
Yaman (used by all)
Yamanto (written language specifically designed for use in poetry)
Demonic, Infernal
Mahayana:
Spoken languages:
Therava (higher, more complex language used by the clergy and the court)
Mahaya (common, more simple language used by the commoners)
Batang (vulgar, almost crude language used by the Exiles--more on them later)
Written languages:
Therava (usually used for religious texts)
Mahaya (for everything else--even the Exiles use a form of Mahaya for their written script)
Only the most backwater peasants of any given nation will be unfamiliar with Low Imperial (think of Low Imperial and its written form as "Common").
High Imperial is, of course, based off of ancient Chinese. Due to its complexity, at least 13 INT is required to learn both the spoken and written form of it.
Yamans are encouraged to know enough Demonic or Infernal to say, "PLEASE DON'T EAT ME!!!"
Dangun can be hard to learn since subtle parts of it require psionic flashes of emotion to fully communicate a person's meanings. No mechanical changes are necessary, but unless your character is psionic, that character may come off as kind of monotonous if he/she tries to speak Dangun.
A character automatically knows at least 1 local dialect (if applicable), Low Imperial, and 1 more language from their nation.
Be careful! Therava is considered to be a holy language by many Mahayans. Using it in an insulting, vulgar manner can lead to trouble.
Tungusk, Low Imperial, and the spoken parts of Dangun sound somewhat similar. The spoken parts of Dangun and Yaman also share a few cognates.
The Gods and Supernaturals:
The Gods of this land are as varied the land itself; there are ordered groups of gods, such as the leaders of the Celestial Bureaucracy and the Dark Bureaucracy, and there are less organized groups of gods, such as the leaders of the Akuma Hordes and the dragons. Gods vary in power and morals as well; some gods are neutral and could care less about the plight of mortals and others. Other gods are utterly evil and delight in torment and suffering. The rest are benevolent and try, whenever they can, to assist the innocent and the weak.
Not all gods grant powers to mortals, and some gods must be worshipped as one group rather than individually. The two Bureaucracies, for instance, must usually be worshipped as whole beings. Worshipping individuals within those two organizations will grant little to no power, unless the individual leaders of each group is worshipped.
Some gods and their minions are earth-bound, meaning that they are considered a part of the natural world. Thus, magic designed to affect only the fiend-bound (demons and devils ) or sky-bound (celestials) will not affect the earth-bound gods.
Origins:
In the beginning, when all was but darkness and shadow, there were only the Yokai. There was no light to bind these creatures, no brightness to drive them back, so they flourished in the murky oceans of the proto-world.
At first, these Yokai were of one mind, reveling in the evil that poisoned all. A handful, however, nine to be precise, found the endless revelry to be tiresome and lacking purpose. These Yokai organized themselves into the first, and only, Dark Bureaucracy, bringing tyrannical order to the vileness of the world. The original four brought a few thousand of their followers with them and set up their organization in order to bring law and stability to the lightless world. Most of the original Yokai spiraled deeper into revelry and became the Akuma Hordes, while the Dark Bureaucracy took control of the remaining Yokai. Almost all Yokai eventually fell into those two camps or were slain; the handful Yokai that remain today are but nigh-forgotten myths.
Given their inherent evil, it was probably inevitable that the Akuma and the Bureaucracy began warring against one another. The Hordes, while more numerous, lacked the discipline, quality, and strategy of the Bureaucracy, while the Bureaucracy had to make every single advantage count to hold back the endless legions of demons. During this conflict, some of the fiends began questioning precisely why they were fighting, and why the actual fighting was even necessary.
Many of these pariahs were killed almost as soon as they voiced their objections to the First War. The few who were wise enough to maintain their silence eventually broke off from their respective camps and united in a far corner of the world where no one would bother them. After centuries of debate, violent clashes, and shouting, these exiles managed to work out a co-existence of sorts. Over the years, this co-existence would evolve into mutual respect and eventually bonds of camaraderie. They worked together to create their own world above the dark seas, the heavens (luckily for them, the Hordes and the Dark Bureaucracy were to busy fighting one another to really notice). About half of these exiles, mostly descendants of former Bureaucracy members, formed the Celestial Bureaucracy and ruled with just and fair laws from the new heavens. The rest peacefully split off and created the more freedom-loving Guardians of the Tao and maintained a liberal (some might accusingly say “lackadaisical”), independence-minded society in another corner of the heavens.
Of course, the fiends were not completely oblivious to these new developments, though at first they simply shrugged off these exiles as fools and weaklings and went on with their wars. Eventually, though, they noted that the Light grew ever stronger while the Shadow continually weakened itself with bloody wars, and so the fiends turned their attention to the heavens.
Unfortunately for the dark ones, the Celestials, who were originally Yokai, knew of the weaknesses of the demons and devils. The demons and devils, however, did not, and since the fiends were too used to fighting each other, it took them a while to adapt to this new enemy. The forces of Heaven, though outnumbered, exploited every one of its advantages and came fairly close to eliminating the Darkness permanently.
In an act of desperation, the Dark Bureaucracy created a buffer zone between Heaven and Hell, and thus created the landmasses of Yama. Now, the Celestials were forced to traverse new and unfamiliar territory with rules set by the Dark Bureaucracy to reach the home territories of the forces of Hell. The new land, Yama, became utterly torn by the many battles waged there, and eventually, heaven sued for a cease-fire. The heavenly hosts would abandon direct presence on Yama, while the fiends could maintain small holdings around the land closest to their biggest planar portals. And so the Second War ended.
Then the heaven-bound and the pit-bound were left with an odd buffer state between them. There were no rules aside from strict boundaries that decided who could enter where, and so the four factions went about going around this rule. The Celestial Bureaucracy created larger landmasses, where the future three Empires would eventually flourish, and upon these lands they established the Dragons, spirits of the new material realm made to guard and nurture the lands they are bound to. Some of these dragons remained noble and pure, while others grew into arrogance and apathy. Still others became vile and wicked as the demons and evils themselves. But each of these dragons is duty bound to their piece of land. Some were bound to rivers, others were bound to deserts, but the most powerful were bound to oceans and mountains.
The Guardians of the Tao created the Tailed Ones, minors spirits made to be more populous and mobile than the dragons. They were tasked to help keep the lands free of evil and corruption in any way they saw fit; some Tailed Ones became great warriors, using might and skill to ward off the darkness, while others became minstrels and artists, bringing joy to the heavenly Gods who created them.
The Akuma Hordes created the Oni, hulking brutes of great strength but little wit. Some of these, the Oh-Oni, were created alongside their lesser brethren to provide the intellect and magic required to lead the Oni into prosperity. These creatures the Akuma set loose upon the world to make havok. The Tailed Ones and the Oni have been at each others’ throats almost since the day they were created.
The Dark Bureaucracy created the humanoid races, progenitors of the humans, orcs, dwarves, elves, gnomes, Halflings, and others that would later establish the great Empires of today. These, the first true mortals, were designed to be a lesser race that the Bureaucracy could easily dominate and bend to their wills, but during production a minor devil confused an order and forgot to instill into mortals inherent evil. Because they were designed with neither inherent evil nor good, the humanoids were forever destined to be able to make choices for themselves. The Bureaucracy would have discarded these fleshlings as failures had a team of Tailed Ones and benevolent dragons not rescued the first prototypes and set them loose upon the world to populate it. The two factions of heaven, seeing an opportunity to frustrate the plans of Evil, decided to help the mortals flourish and protected them as much as they could from the furious Dark Bureaucracy.
Eventually, leftover energies from the raising of landmasses led to the creation of minor nature spirits, such as the spirits of trees, rocks, and streams. Other energies that leaked from either Heaven or Hell grew into lesser gods that some humanoids found out about and worshipped, among them the two deities of the Sun and Moon, Yoshiyomi and Hoshiyomi, and the Thunder Duke, Raijin. And as mortals became civilized and interacted with one another, other gods sprang up, such as the God of Battle, Guan Yu, and the God of Commerce, Puan Yin.
And so the world and its inhabitants were made.
The Gods:
The Dark Bureaucracy:
The first of the out-bound factions (out-bound meaning either heaven-bound or pit-bound) to arise, the Dark Bureaucracy has forever been an oppressive, tyrannical society obsessed with expansion and power. The first four Yokai founders, each equal to one another in power, serve as the ruling council of the Bureaucracy. The Black Council’s authority is absolute.
As the mortals went about the earth, the two Bureaucracies came up with a deal: if mortals do bad deeds in life, they must be judged by the Dark Bureaucracy. If mortals do good deeds in life, they shall go to paradise with the Celestial Bureaucracy. Thus, mortals who commit sins in the eyes of the two Bureaucracies must go to their respective afterlives. The Akuma Hordes and the Guardians of the Tao were quite furious that even their followers would be judged in this manner, but by that time the Bureaucracies had too much combined power for the more chaotic out-bound factions to do much more than complain. Souls condemned to the Dark Bureaucracy suffer punishment at the appropriate department; such souls are sometimes given the opportunity to choose to become a devil and escape from their misery.
The four rulers are as follows:
Ni Mian: The Minister of Greed. Those who were quite greedy, envious, and avaricious in life are sentenced to be pounded to pieces by giant golden hammers by day and regenerated whole, painfully, by night, for eternity.
Tou Ma: The Minister of Hatred. Those who were excessively angry and hateful to others are sentenced to eternal warfare in a huge gladiatorial ring for the amusement of the Dark Bureaucracy. By day, they must kill one another in the most painful way possible (usually with the dull weapons that the punished receive), and by night they must renourish themselves with the putrid, rotting flesh of the very souls they had killed. When day returns, those who were slain are vomited out from the bowels of their consumers, and the fight begins anew.
Izanami: The Minister of Lust. Those who committed vile sexual acts (such as rape and forcing others into prostitution) in life are sentenced to be eternally burned in ever-burning fires, the fires of their own passion. The flesh of the punished forever regenerate and never completely burn away.
Ji-Ok: The Minister of Oblivion. Those who commit excessive cold murders in the name of an unjust cause, such as hired assassins, are sentenced to eternal oblivion; for the rest of eternity, they are strapped to a rack and tortured while all senses, except for that of touch, are utterly eradicated. For an eternity these condemned feel nothing but pain, pain so awful that they can think of nothing else. All else is oblivion.
Domains of the Dark Bureaucracy: Evil, Law, Death
The Guardians of the Tao:
The Guardians of the Tao were once disgruntled Akuma who decided that a life of evil and violence was dull. This disinterest led to their exile, during which that disinterest turned into disgust and a desire to become better, with purpose. The Guardians of the Tao maintain the following creeds:
1) Respect your fellow mortals. How you do this is up to you.
2) Go with the flow; it is better to play the fool and let things go by as it is than to actively try to change things. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, and if you see fit to break this code, do so.
3) Above all, respect the freedom of others to do as they like.
Of course, these rules are not iron clad, and many interpret these rules in their own personal way. By introducing this philosophy the Guardians hoped to lead mortals to a more peaceful existence without the necessity of stuffy rules.
The Guardians are somewhat turned off by bustling, crowded cities and favor the simple, peaceful rural life, free of stress and filled with good, honest work. Some Guardians prefer the followers of the Way to be ascetics, while others think the Way is meant for wanderers who take whatever path is set before them.
The Guardians are loosely organized, though all Guardians tend to respect the wisdom of their founder, Lao Tzu.
Lao Tzu: The de facto “leader” of the Guardians, Lao Tzu was the former Akuma who came up with the idea of, “just let it be”. His “worshippers” do not truly worship him as most others do for other gods; as long as one follows the Way with all their heart, mind, and soul, he grants them blessings (spells).
Followers of the Way eventually end up at the realms of the Celestial Bureaucracy. Few of the Followers complain or protest, however, for their Way guarantees them a spot in the Heavens, and if the rules up there are too oppressive, they will simply find a way around it.
Domains: Travel or Trickery (not both), Good, Strength
Dragons:
The Dragons were created by the Celestial Bureaucracy to protect and nurture the material realm itself. For the most part, the larger the aspect of land that they are bound to is, the more powerful the dragon. The dragon of a small river, for example, may be no stronger than a particularly powerful mortal, while the dragon of the raging Serpent River near the Forbidden City matches the power of some of the highest Ministers in the Bureaucracies.
For the most part, dragons that live in pleasant, hospitable areas tend towards good. Dragons of rivers, plains, and forests are usually pleasant creatures, and though most will not go about helping every single mortal they encounter, they may provide temporary food and shelter for lost travelers and other desperates. Dragons who live in dangerous but not inhospitable terrain, such as jungles, certain marshes, and mountains, tend towards apathy or neutrality. If mortals do not bother the land, the dragon will not bother them. The dragons of mountains and oceans are always the most powerful of all dragons. Dragons who live in inhospitable terrain, terrain such as deserts, foul marshes, and volcanoes, tend to be rather evil.
All dragons have one distinct feature; on their forehead lies a large pearl, and whoever receives this pearl as a gift from a dragon may use it to create a blessing. Minor dragons can provide a good year of harvest or end a drought, for example, while greater dragons can provide powerful, world-altering wishes. Doing so greatly weakens the dragon, however, and so far no major dragon has ever granted its pearl to a mere mortal.
Worshipping dragons does not grant mortals any powers, except for the following three:
Li Long, Dragon of the Serpen’s Tears: This huge, five-hundred foot long serpentine dragon lives in the world’s longest river, Serpent’s Tears River (the Forbidden City is built on its banks). Li Long acts like a kindly, doting grandmother figure, and delights in children (she loves taking them for rides across the countryside). Granny Li, as the kids call her, usually resides in a small cottage by the river, weaving little bits of clothing and baking sweet yams. Her domains are over Good, Protection, and Healing.
Shen Long, Dragon of the Unending Blue: Shen Long is also a huge, five-hundred foot long serpentine dragon. He lives, however, under the oceans in a large coral palace, attended by merpeople. Shen Long may order his minions to rescue floundering vessels, but the rescued folk are expected to repay Shen Long’s mercy at a future date lest misfortune fall upon them. This dragon is quite stern and hates it when mortals take too much out of the seas. His domains are over Law, Water, and Travel.
Zu Long, Dragon of the White Fields: Zu Long is a rather selfish, sadistic dragon who lives in the frigid lands in the north, farther north than even the Tungusk tribes dare to go. Centuries of isolation and the dark knowledge he has gathered have driven him to madness, though the bravest of scholars and shamans seek him out to learn from him. He is surprisingly small at only 100 feet long, and is quite thin and wretched looking. Despite this, he is probably more powerful than Li Long and Shen Long due to his vast knowledge of magic and the world. Agents of the Dark Bureaucracy have tried to seduce him to the will of the Four Ministers, but such devils tend to get eaten quickly. The few who do make pacts with him are advised to be very careful of the fine print; Zu Long may be insane, but his mind is still as sharp as his teeth. His domains are over Knowledge, Magic, and Evil.
Celestial Bureaucracy:
When the exiled fiends gathered together at the far reaches of the primordial world, some of them, mostly former members of the Dark Bureaucracy, decided that order, justice, and honor would bring peace and prosperity to all. Such thinkers decided that a Celestial Bureaucracy, one that administers to the good of all, would be the best way to implement this order and justice. The founder of the Celestial Bureaucracy, a former devil of oppression-turned celestial of justice, was elected August Minister of Justice and was charged with managing this new Bureaucracy.
The August Minister of Supereme Justice is served by two slightly lesser officials, the Minister of Mortal Justice and the Minister of Supernatural Justice. These two minister deal with, as their titles suggest, mortals and supernaturals (including gods and dragons). The rest of the Bureaucracy falls under these two departments.
One of the most popular laws created by the Celestial Bureaucracy was Nirvana, the Eternal Paradise. Though evil souls went to the domains of the Four Ministers, good souls went under the direct care of the August Minister himself. Souls are merged into one, endless glass-like sea where each mind thinks up of its own eternal paradise. At this Nirvana, all is at peace.
Domains of the Celestial Bureaucracy:
Good, Law, Protection, Earth, Air
Oni:
Oni are the embodiments of carnage and evil might. Created by the leaders of the Akuma Hordes, these foul beasts are manifestations of carnage, chaos, and destruction. Their leaders, the Oh-Oni (Great Ogres) barely keep their lesser kin under control through sheer force of might.
Over the millennia, most of the ogres have come to focus more on destruction and chaos rather than pure evil. Luckily for mortals, most Oni are quite stupid, and Tailed Ones are often on hand to assist unlucky humanoids who run into these brutes. The Oh-Oni, however, are not to be trifled with, for not only are they masters of the blade but they are also mages of great power.
The typical ogre looks like a large, hunched man with elongated features and a filthy, stupid countenance. Most carry crude clubs or worn swords and all are quite strong. A few carry magical clubs that can summon mundane objects (such as food, a hut, drink, but not money or magical items) three times a day. Some clever mortals get their hands on such wonderful clubs, but those who do are hunted down, often by Oh-Oni.
The greatest of all Oni is also the Spirit of Carnage. Some barbarians and all ogres worship him for his great power.
Spirit of Carnage, King of all Oni: The Spirit of Carnage looks like an enormous, blue-skinned elf wielding an impossibly large sword. He looks surprisingly calm and graceful, especially for an Oni, but his eyes are a constant, swirling chaos of colors and emotions. Many a Tailed One has fallen to his sword.
Domains: Chaos, Strength, Destruction
Akuma Hordes:
In one sense, this nigh-endless horde is the ideological opposite of the Dark Bureaucracy. Where the Bureau oppresses, the Hordes revolt. Where the Bureau smothers, the Hordes annihilate. Where the Bureau is law, the Hordes are chaos incarnate. They were, after all, born as such. The Hordes is a collection of former Yokai that became addicted to chaos and evil, organized by only might-is-right. The strongest demons stay on top, while the weakest stay on the bottom.
If the primary goal of the Dark Bureaucracy is to subjugate all of existence, then the primary goal of the Hordes is to return all to what it once was, a dark, swirling chaos of darkness and evil. Luckily for all of creation, the three major out-bound factions oppose the Akuma Hordes.
Asura, the Overdemon: Asura is the current ruler of all demons. As the top demon, she decides where and what the hordes go and attack. Lately, the demons of Yama have been rather quiet; no doubt this is a calm before whatever storm Asura plans on unleashing upon creation.
Domains: Destruction, Evil, Chaos, Trickery
Fluffy fluff, with a firm, rich texture
Current situation:
The world seems to be a peaceful place. The five major nations are not at war with one another, trading is moving along smoothly, and the gods seem to smile upon the land, giving rich harvests to the farmers. Not much of a place for adventure, is it?
But take a closer look into the lands, and you shall see the truth.
To the North, the Empire of Gold stands firm in the cold, brutal steppes. They are fine horsemen and are tough as steel down to the last child, but the brutality of the steppes often seeps into their hearts. Now, parties from the Empire of Gold raid the southern Empire of Knowledge for food and plunder, and the court of Wisdom is scrambling about to solve this problem.
Further South lies the Empire of Knowledge. This land, founded on a rebellion, is doing its best to keep out the “barbarians” in the north. Although the land is rich and powerful, many scholars, including the direct descendants of its founders, are noting its growing corruption.
To the East lies Dangun, a land currently divided into three smaller kingdoms that are at war with one another. The Jejo, the Sangum, and the Jundam kingdoms vie for control over their tiny land, all the while offering tribute to their stronger cousin further East. A small group of nations, the kingdoms of Dangun have nonetheless managed to survive, and even prosper, due to the high psionic proficiency that the natives exhibit. Many of these psions are, however, using their powers to destroy their neighbors rather than using them to benefit their nation.
Beyond Dangun is the Kinpatsu Shogunate, which rules over the land of Yama. A land always plunged in civil war, Yama is now held under the iron fist of Shogun Misato of the Kinpatsu clan. Yet another rebellious clan, the Mayama clan, is gathering strength...
To the South of the Empire of Knowledge lies Mahayana Empire, a small empire thought of as exotic as the jungles that it inhabits. A highly spiritual place, it is nonetheless plagued by vile cults intent on raising whatever dark god they worship to a greater divine status. The current court, however, seems to be growing darker and less benevolent as it used to be.
The nations:
Empire of Knowledge:
An empire founded 400 years ago through conquest by a once small nation of engineers. With their new crossbow and siege technology, the former vassal state took over its old master, the Empire of Silver, and expanded that empire’s boundaries. Now, however, the Empire of Gold threatens to do the same.
History: The Empire of Knowledge was once the Jin province under the old Empire of Silver (EoS). EoS’s former academies and engineering schools were located there, along with a fair number of its factories. Many of the scholars were elves, while many of the engineers were dwarves
Once the EoS fell into decline due to external pressures (such as the failed, but devastating, invasion by Shinjuku Shogunate) and, of course, internal corruption (much of it caused by spies planted in the Silver court), it began over taxing its people to help fill the coffers of both the decaying empire and the greedy officials who ruled it. At first there was a coup by the military, which barely failed due to internal squabbling, followed by a huge riot caused by peasants angry with the failed government that was taxing them and the soldiers that pillaged their farms. The peasants seemed to have the upper hand over the land while the united court and military struggled against the growing movement...
Until the scholars of Jin stepped in.
During the Shinjuku invasion, Jin’s scholars and engineers had been ordered to begin researching and manufacturing weapons, such as more crossbows and even repeating crossbows (but no gunpowder yet!). Some of these weapons had helped turn the tide of the war, but others were left unfinished as the Shinjuku forces retreated. The Jin scholars wisely continued production and research, bribing authorities to look the other way. This peasant rebellion seemed like a good time to...perform a field test.
With the new technology in hand, the court, the military, and the scholars utterly crushed the peasants and put most of them to death, sparing enough for the next year’s harvest. During the victory feast, however, bribed soldiers and many of Jin’s mercenaries assassinated all of the court and the military’s leaders and convinced most of their followers to follow the scholars of Jin, whose knowledge put the country back into order. Thus, Jin province, now the Empire of Knowledge, became the greatest Empire in the world.
For 400 years, the combined knowledge of the scholars and the technology of the engineers kept the country under despotic, if benevolent, rule, with the entire Empire running like clockwork. About ten years ago, however, a large number of horsemen from the North, wielding bows never seen before by the EoK, quickly ate up a large chunk of the Northern provinces and established something like a nation, which the EoK refuses to recognize as an Empire of any sort.
Recently, an important dwarven engineering official has been found assassinated. Many fingers point toward an elven scholar...
Demographics:
30% elven
30% dwarven
15% human
10% half-bloods (half elves, half orcs, etc.)
5% orcish
5% gnomish
5% Halfling
Currently, dwarves and elves are 1st class citizens, while the rest are 2nd class. Though the 2nd class is not cruelly subjugated, they do lack rights given to 1st class citizens, such the right to hold a seat in the local High Council (though 2nd classers may hold seats in the Common Council).
Major industries:
Heavy industries
Farming
Construction
Weapons manufacturing
Financial focus:
Up until the recent invasion by the Empire of Gold, scientific research
Today, military training, defensive architecture, iron/steel manufacturing
General financial status: Very rich
Currency: the Shin (basically a gp)
Government:
National: Dual Imperial; two emperors, one elven (for the scholars) and one dwarven (for the engineers) rule the Empire with almost absolute authority, though very few have abused their power. A council of 13 members, from any race, advises them. This council is only advisory, and members are elected for life by the Emperors.
Local: Any given city (a community number more than 1,000) will be ruled by 1 mayor, a high council, and a common council. 1st classers can be elected by other 1st classers to the high council, while the 2nd classers vote other 2nd classers to the common council. The high council may elect anyone of any class to mayorship, though mayors are usually dwarves or elves.
Provinces:
Jin (now the Imperial province)
Qin
Yuan
Tang
Zhou
Yu
Military:
Combat style:
The EoK’s soldiers prefer reactive, defensive fighting, relying on their high walls during sieges and their protective armor during battles to win the day. In pitched battles, they prefer to place legions of crossbowmen behind walls of spearmen and shoot the enemy to death. Light cavalry mercenaries do the mop up work.
Army size:
~30,000 heavy infantry
~60,000 crossbow infantry
~10,000 cavalry
~5,000 support troops
Major cities:
The Forbidden City: The palace of the two emperors and their advisors. This is where national decisions are made. It is quite a splendid area, which is not surprising since the rules of the richest and most powerful empire in the world resides here.
Population: 300 (includes the emperors, their councilors, and all the servants of the palace).
Province: Jin
Golden Library: This is actually a civilian city and not just a library, though the Golden Library itself is the city’s major attraction. The GL is EoK’s biggest and best university. Scholars who graduate from this academy tend to almost always attain important positions in the government.
Population: 100,000
Province: Zhou
Silver Library: Another misnamed civilian city, this is EoK’s second best university. It is similar in all ways to GL, though it is of lesser quality.
Population: 60,000
Province: Yu
There are two more major universities: the Jade Library and the Lacquered Library.
Shang Ju: A relatively small town on the coast, it is EoK’s one and only trading port with the Shoguns to the East.
Population: 2,000
Province: Tang
Empire of Gold:
This empire was once a rabble of tribesmen that lived and fought in the harsh steppes of the North. Though these tribals were some of the finest warriors, they could not bring their full might to bear on the other nations due to their squabbling tendencies.
Two decades ago, however, the tribes assembled themselves into a fairly loose confederacy that mostly revolved around, “you help me raid, I give you plunder”. Some of the tribesmen have come to call this new nation the Empire of Gold, a name given much derision from the highly cultured citizens of the Empire of Knowledge.
History:
As mentioned before, the Empire of Gold was a plot of landed inhabited by barbaric tribesmen, called the Tungusk. These horsemasters, skilled in the use of the lance, killed and raided one another for sustenance and survival. No one else in the world could possibly outmatch their horsemanship skills.
Life was fairly routine in those lands. You woke up, cleaned yourself with horse urine, took care of the animals, had your meals, and watched out for any signs of steppe dust aroused by a horde of horses. But then, one day, a group of elders from several tribes came together and decided that the Empire of Knowledge in the south was fat and ripe for plundering.
“But who can scale their mighty walls?” asked the others.
The elders answered, “We do not need to.”
The land of Dangum, a vassal state east of the Empire, was protected by a very weak wall, one made of only earth and bits of wood. The defenses were ill equipped, lazy, and disorganized. The full might of the gathered tribes quickly broke it, and after a bit of hunting, all of the guards were rounded up and killed. The rest of the warriors swept through a narrow patch of land that made up the border between Dangum and the Empire of Knowledge. Thus, the Empire of Knowledge knew of the invasion far too late.
The armies quickly secured much of the area behind the northernmost walls and, learning a thing or two about architecture from captured scholars, built their own fortifications. The Empire of Knowledge’s armies were too small and too spread out at the time to do much, and the fledgling Empire of Gold seemed to be content with the chunk of land it had recently gained, so both sides signed a quick peace treaty of, “Don’t step on our land” and let it be. Lately, though, both sides seem to be gearing up for another war.
There are two factions within the Empire of Gold: one wishes to make the Empire civilized, an equal of the cultured Empire of Knowledge. This faction is the current leader of the Empire. Another faction wishes to keep the tribes as it is and stick to the old, tribal ways. Why should the Tungusk become weak and pale like the Imperials to the south? Why not simply raid them into the ground?
Demographics:
80% Human
5% Orcish
1% Dwarven (captured engineer, usually)
1% Elven (captured scholar, usually)
3% Mixed blood
Major Industries:
Pelts
Weaponry (lances)
Horses
Cattle (sheep, cows, horses)
Minor textiles
Financial Focus:
Military
Construction (the Empire of Gold is trying to make itself somewhat civilized)
General Financial Status: Weak
Since the Empire of Gold has only recently taken its tentative steps out of a trade-based economy, its financial status is quite weak. It has enough funds to build new cities and such, however.
Government:
National: A council made up of the chiefs of all the Tungusk tribes rules the Empire of Gold. Race, gender, bloodline, etc. do not bar someone from becoming a chieftain and, therefore, a member of the council.
Local: The village headsman, another position not barred by race, gender, or bloodline, rules the village with the help of a council of elders. The elders usually choose the headsman based on merit and, quite often, whether he/she passes a trial set by the elders.
Provinces: None.
Military:
Combat Style:
The Golden warriors favor fairly mobile warfare. Their light cavalry, armed with throwing weapons such as spears and axes, harass the enemy until the heavily armed and armored lancers arrive. The heavy cavalry then wipes out the enemy with repeated, irresistible charges. Each horseman, both light and heavy, are equipped with javelins to break up ranks of spearmen.
Army Size:
50,000 heavy cavalry
30,000 light cavalry
9,000 conscripted infantry
Major Cities:
Bulgan: This is the Empire of Gold’s capital. It is directly north of one of the Empire of Knowledge’s former walls, and is thus protected by it. It is quite splendid in a rough, tribal way, with a richly decorated tent-like palace housing the Great Council of Chiefs. Bulgan also contains what passes for the Empire of Gold’s university.
Population: 40,000
Hongor: This is the strongest border fortress that guards the Knowledge/Gold border. Manned by thousands of trained men, it is a heavily modified former EoK fort redesigned to quickly let hordes of cavalry out of the gates.
Population: 4,000 (almost all military personnel)
Ulan: The Empire of Gold has taken steps towards trading, and it now deals with the Kinpatsu clan (it has yet to hear much of the Mahayana Empire). The Kinpatsu nobles enjoy their cheap fur, while the Tungusk make good use of the timber that the Kinpatsu export. Ulan, which is on the coast, is the EoG’s primary trading port.
Population: 6,000
The rest of the population maintain their nomadic herding villages scattered throughout the old Tungusk lands and the newly conquered territories.
Yama
History: Yama is an ancient land, the first landmasses raised from the ocean floor by the powers of the Infernal Bureaucracy. For thousands of years its mortal inhabitants have fought demons, devils, and each other, constantly honing their war skills. The natives of Yama are well known for their sense of duty and honor; many maintain that they do so to mentally fight off the constant demonic corruption.
For hundreds of years, Yama played little part in international affairs due to most of its citizens getting eaten by or fighting supernatural creatures. Though they developed trade relations with Dangun and the old Empires (enough to get their hands on a steady supply of metals and food), the people of Yama kept mostly to the businesses of their own lands. Some of Yama’s culture came from the bits and pieces of Dangun culture that leaked in via merchants, and thus the two nations’ languages tend to share a few cognates.
Due to its tumultuous and warlike landscape, Yama has never been easy to fully control. Several powerful clans in the past have managed to gain control of the majority of the (mortal populated) territories, but since it takes so much effort to juggle the frequent demon/devil incursions, scheming nobles, and constant warfare, these Shogunates rarely last for long.
The greatest of these Shogunates was the Shinjuku Shogunate, which, under Yishaki Shinjuku, exterminated the last of the fiendish presences on Yama and firmly established the beginnings of a great Empire. So firm and secure was the Shinjuku’s rule that the Shoguns felt confident enough to attack the Empire of Silver, which was in its waning days. The invasion went perfectly until the scholars of Jin and their technology forced the war into a stalemate. A sudden outburst of demonic and infernal raids back on Yama forced the Shogun to recall all troops, ending the invasion.
This abrupt outpouring of demonic hordes, called the Second Shadow, annihilated the exhausted Shinjuku forces and even the Shogun himself, and the total destruction of Yama seemed imminent. Then, a group of holy warrior monks, led by the orcish abbot Ikko of the Ikki monastery, assassinated several of the demon generals and sold their souls to buy off the devils, thus saving the mortals of Yama. Despite their great sacrifice, Ikko and his monks still scream in agony in the Ninth Palace of Judgement in the Underworld.
Today, Yama has reverted back to much of what it once was; a land torn apart by demons and tyrannized by devils. Most of the fiendish presences have been contained to relatively small patches of land in the northern reaches of Yama, and the fiends seem to be contenting themselves with their slaves, the Soku clans (humanoid clans who have been under the yoke of the fiends for centuries). The Kinpatsu Shogunate, though somewhat weak, has managed to provide most of the citizens of Yama a general sense of peace and security.
Note that Yama has an unusual concentration of spiritual creatures. The first among these are the Ogres. Though most of them are stupid and somewhat easily tricked by mortals into giving up their riches, others are quite intelligent and can even practice magic. Some possess magical clubs that can create any mundane object that they wish several times a day.
Another species of note are the Tailed Ones, also called the kitsune. These fox-like spirits, as honorable and noble as they are mischievous and sly, travel around the countryside offering martial help to villages. Others travel about as minstrels, entertaining the children and teaching them clever tricks to play on their parents. Especially powerful Tailed Ones may give away their tails as powerful charms against evil, though few do this as this is quite dangerous and draining for the Tailed One.
Demographics:
40% Orcish
45% Human
10% Supernatural (ogres, other spiritual creatures)
2% Demonic
1% Infernal
1% Dwarven
1% Elven
Currently, the orcish Shogun Jakumoto Kinpatsu holds the highest seat of authority on Yama. Each Shogun is chosen by succession, or, if there are several heirs available, based on merit. In either case, the old Shogun decides who becomes his successor. If the Shogun dies before naming an heir, clans try to meet and debate among themselves to decide who becomes the next Shogun, but this usually results in yet another bitter conflict.
Major industries:
Military training
Weaponry
Agriculture
Supernatural body parts (ogre horns, Tailed One tails, etc.)
Note that adventurers who wish to test their mettle often come to Yama to fight the demons and spirits there.
Financial focus:
As usual, military training
Some funds go towards building monasteries to train future priests
General financial status: Average
Currency: the Koku (basically a gp)
Government:
National: Shogunate; a Shogun is chosen by the previous Shogun based on either merit or lineage. The Shogun, in theory, has absolute power over all aspects of his lands. He is advised by an unofficial but often powerful council.
Local: Feudal; the Shogun divides his lands among several Daimyo, who in turn divide their lands among Taicho. Each Taicho is expected to develop his lands and provide food, men, or gold to the Daimyo (the head of a clan) as a form of tax. The Daimyo, in turn, is expected to give some of his earnings to the Shogun. Each Daimyo and Taicho is given absolute authority over his lands. All Shogun, Daimyo, and Taicho are male; female rulers are forbidden, though many mistresses and concubines have set up their male lords as puppets.
Provinces:
Each province is ruled by a Daimyo, and thus by a clan. Note that not all Yamans belong to a clan; only nobles tend to claim that they are from a certain clan.
Iga: Zaku clan
Sen: Hori clan
Kyaku: Namura clan
Minnasa: Satsu clan
Yomi: Dancho clan
Ran: Banzai clan (this clan is love to scream their clan name as a war cry)
Kin: Kinpatsu clan (the Shogun’s more distant family rules over the old Kinpatsu territory)
Military:
Combat style:
The people of Yama, in order to fight demons, have become the masters of spear and polearm fighting. Yaman soldiers prefer to keep the opponents in melee range but also at several arms’ reach away. They are also skilled in the use of the bow, and although their infantry archers are inferior to that of Dangun’s, their horse archers are without peer.
Note that, although Yama's swords are considered to be especially well made, and though many Yamans regard swords with an almost religious reverence, in practice relatively few swords are used in warfare.
Army size:
~10,000 heavy infantry, swordsmen
~50,000 heavy infantry, polearms
~10,000 horse archers
~5,000 heavy cavalry
Major places of civilization:
Mon: The seat of the Shogun’s power. Unlike the EoK’s Forbidden City, the city of Mon is an actual city and not simply a fancy place for the Shogun’s court. The towering pagoda-shaped buildings, many garnished by cherry blossom trees, make for a dazzling sight.
Population: 60,000 (includes the Shogun, his councilors, and all the servants of the palace).
Province: Kin
Rinja: Rinja, a somewhat large city on top of a tall, rocky hill, is the site of Yama’s greatest military training school. It has weathered Yama’s darkest times and countless fiendish and ogrish invasions. Yishaki Shinjuku graduated from Rinja’s academy with top honors.
Population: 56,000
Province: Ran
Yami: More of a town than an actual city, this is the dark counterpart to Rinja. Yami is where Yama’s finest ninja, spies, and assassins are trained. They say that for every kill a Yami graduate makes, a notch is cut on the village headman’s front porch. Although this cannot be confirmed, the village headman tends to order a new front porch built once every week.
Population: 2,000
Province: Yomi
Yamato Monastery: Yama’s greatest monastery. This is where Yama’s best monks and other spiritual masters are trained. Ikko himself was an abbot of this monastery before his sacrifice. Yamato is located on top of Yama’s second highest peak, Amaterasu-san (Peak of the Sun).
Population: 500
Province: N/A: Yamato is its own, independent “province” ruled by no one other than the abbot. No Shogun has ever been foolish enough to challenge this independence.
Soku villages: The Soku people, humanoids of various races bound to the dark wills of the fiends for generations, live in the far northern reaches of Yama. They are desperate yet hopeless, knowing that no matter what they try, their foul masters will foil their plans. Most of the Soku belong to the demons, which use them for entertainment and food, while the rest are thralls to the Dark Bureaucracy. They experienced a brief period of freedom when the Shunjuku Shogunate drove out the demons, but after the Second Shadow, their lives have been more miserable than ever. Most Yamans regard the Soku with either pity of contempt.
Population: Total, 5,000
Province: N/A, located beyond the boundaries of the Kinpatsu Shogunate
Languages:
Empire of Knowledge:
Spoken languages:
High Imperial (mostly court/official speak)
Low Imperial (common language, known by all, usually used among city citizens)
Local Imperial dialects (known by backwater villagers)
Written Languages:
High Imperial script (complex and poetic, used for poems and legal documents)
Low Imperial script (simple, easy to understand, usually used for personal messages and everyday writing)
Empire of Gold:
Spoken languages:
Tungusk (common language known by all Tungusk tribesmen)
Local Tungusk dialects (used by the scattered nomads, mostly)
Written languages:
High Imperial (the Tungusk have had little use for a written language until now)
Dangun:
Spoken languages:
Dangun (common language used by all native Dangunites; officials use a more formal kind)
Written languages:
High Imperial (as a vassal state, Dangun has used Imperial script, though some scholars are trying to come up with an original Dangun written language)
Low Imperial
Yama:
Spoken languages:
Yaman (common language used by all native Yamans; officials use a more formal kind)
Demonic, Infernal (due to Yama's unusual fiendish concentrations, demonic and infernal are sometimes known by diplomats and rulers among the humanoid population)
Soku (language known by a Northern barbarian tribe, long enslaved by demons--sounds a bit like Yaman corrupted by Demonic)
Written languages:
Yaman (used by all)
Yamanto (written language specifically designed for use in poetry)
Demonic, Infernal
Mahayana:
Spoken languages:
Therava (higher, more complex language used by the clergy and the court)
Mahaya (common, more simple language used by the commoners)
Batang (vulgar, almost crude language used by the Exiles--more on them later)
Written languages:
Therava (usually used for religious texts)
Mahaya (for everything else--even the Exiles use a form of Mahaya for their written script)
Only the most backwater peasants of any given nation will be unfamiliar with Low Imperial (think of Low Imperial and its written form as "Common").
High Imperial is, of course, based off of ancient Chinese. Due to its complexity, at least 13 INT is required to learn both the spoken and written form of it.
Yamans are encouraged to know enough Demonic or Infernal to say, "PLEASE DON'T EAT ME!!!"
Dangun can be hard to learn since subtle parts of it require psionic flashes of emotion to fully communicate a person's meanings. No mechanical changes are necessary, but unless your character is psionic, that character may come off as kind of monotonous if he/she tries to speak Dangun.
A character automatically knows at least 1 local dialect (if applicable), Low Imperial, and 1 more language from their nation.
Be careful! Therava is considered to be a holy language by many Mahayans. Using it in an insulting, vulgar manner can lead to trouble.
Tungusk, Low Imperial, and the spoken parts of Dangun sound somewhat similar. The spoken parts of Dangun and Yaman also share a few cognates.
The Gods and Supernaturals:
The Gods of this land are as varied the land itself; there are ordered groups of gods, such as the leaders of the Celestial Bureaucracy and the Dark Bureaucracy, and there are less organized groups of gods, such as the leaders of the Akuma Hordes and the dragons. Gods vary in power and morals as well; some gods are neutral and could care less about the plight of mortals and others. Other gods are utterly evil and delight in torment and suffering. The rest are benevolent and try, whenever they can, to assist the innocent and the weak.
Not all gods grant powers to mortals, and some gods must be worshipped as one group rather than individually. The two Bureaucracies, for instance, must usually be worshipped as whole beings. Worshipping individuals within those two organizations will grant little to no power, unless the individual leaders of each group is worshipped.
Some gods and their minions are earth-bound, meaning that they are considered a part of the natural world. Thus, magic designed to affect only the fiend-bound (demons and devils ) or sky-bound (celestials) will not affect the earth-bound gods.
Origins:
In the beginning, when all was but darkness and shadow, there were only the Yokai. There was no light to bind these creatures, no brightness to drive them back, so they flourished in the murky oceans of the proto-world.
At first, these Yokai were of one mind, reveling in the evil that poisoned all. A handful, however, nine to be precise, found the endless revelry to be tiresome and lacking purpose. These Yokai organized themselves into the first, and only, Dark Bureaucracy, bringing tyrannical order to the vileness of the world. The original four brought a few thousand of their followers with them and set up their organization in order to bring law and stability to the lightless world. Most of the original Yokai spiraled deeper into revelry and became the Akuma Hordes, while the Dark Bureaucracy took control of the remaining Yokai. Almost all Yokai eventually fell into those two camps or were slain; the handful Yokai that remain today are but nigh-forgotten myths.
Given their inherent evil, it was probably inevitable that the Akuma and the Bureaucracy began warring against one another. The Hordes, while more numerous, lacked the discipline, quality, and strategy of the Bureaucracy, while the Bureaucracy had to make every single advantage count to hold back the endless legions of demons. During this conflict, some of the fiends began questioning precisely why they were fighting, and why the actual fighting was even necessary.
Many of these pariahs were killed almost as soon as they voiced their objections to the First War. The few who were wise enough to maintain their silence eventually broke off from their respective camps and united in a far corner of the world where no one would bother them. After centuries of debate, violent clashes, and shouting, these exiles managed to work out a co-existence of sorts. Over the years, this co-existence would evolve into mutual respect and eventually bonds of camaraderie. They worked together to create their own world above the dark seas, the heavens (luckily for them, the Hordes and the Dark Bureaucracy were to busy fighting one another to really notice). About half of these exiles, mostly descendants of former Bureaucracy members, formed the Celestial Bureaucracy and ruled with just and fair laws from the new heavens. The rest peacefully split off and created the more freedom-loving Guardians of the Tao and maintained a liberal (some might accusingly say “lackadaisical”), independence-minded society in another corner of the heavens.
Of course, the fiends were not completely oblivious to these new developments, though at first they simply shrugged off these exiles as fools and weaklings and went on with their wars. Eventually, though, they noted that the Light grew ever stronger while the Shadow continually weakened itself with bloody wars, and so the fiends turned their attention to the heavens.
Unfortunately for the dark ones, the Celestials, who were originally Yokai, knew of the weaknesses of the demons and devils. The demons and devils, however, did not, and since the fiends were too used to fighting each other, it took them a while to adapt to this new enemy. The forces of Heaven, though outnumbered, exploited every one of its advantages and came fairly close to eliminating the Darkness permanently.
In an act of desperation, the Dark Bureaucracy created a buffer zone between Heaven and Hell, and thus created the landmasses of Yama. Now, the Celestials were forced to traverse new and unfamiliar territory with rules set by the Dark Bureaucracy to reach the home territories of the forces of Hell. The new land, Yama, became utterly torn by the many battles waged there, and eventually, heaven sued for a cease-fire. The heavenly hosts would abandon direct presence on Yama, while the fiends could maintain small holdings around the land closest to their biggest planar portals. And so the Second War ended.
Then the heaven-bound and the pit-bound were left with an odd buffer state between them. There were no rules aside from strict boundaries that decided who could enter where, and so the four factions went about going around this rule. The Celestial Bureaucracy created larger landmasses, where the future three Empires would eventually flourish, and upon these lands they established the Dragons, spirits of the new material realm made to guard and nurture the lands they are bound to. Some of these dragons remained noble and pure, while others grew into arrogance and apathy. Still others became vile and wicked as the demons and evils themselves. But each of these dragons is duty bound to their piece of land. Some were bound to rivers, others were bound to deserts, but the most powerful were bound to oceans and mountains.
The Guardians of the Tao created the Tailed Ones, minors spirits made to be more populous and mobile than the dragons. They were tasked to help keep the lands free of evil and corruption in any way they saw fit; some Tailed Ones became great warriors, using might and skill to ward off the darkness, while others became minstrels and artists, bringing joy to the heavenly Gods who created them.
The Akuma Hordes created the Oni, hulking brutes of great strength but little wit. Some of these, the Oh-Oni, were created alongside their lesser brethren to provide the intellect and magic required to lead the Oni into prosperity. These creatures the Akuma set loose upon the world to make havok. The Tailed Ones and the Oni have been at each others’ throats almost since the day they were created.
The Dark Bureaucracy created the humanoid races, progenitors of the humans, orcs, dwarves, elves, gnomes, Halflings, and others that would later establish the great Empires of today. These, the first true mortals, were designed to be a lesser race that the Bureaucracy could easily dominate and bend to their wills, but during production a minor devil confused an order and forgot to instill into mortals inherent evil. Because they were designed with neither inherent evil nor good, the humanoids were forever destined to be able to make choices for themselves. The Bureaucracy would have discarded these fleshlings as failures had a team of Tailed Ones and benevolent dragons not rescued the first prototypes and set them loose upon the world to populate it. The two factions of heaven, seeing an opportunity to frustrate the plans of Evil, decided to help the mortals flourish and protected them as much as they could from the furious Dark Bureaucracy.
Eventually, leftover energies from the raising of landmasses led to the creation of minor nature spirits, such as the spirits of trees, rocks, and streams. Other energies that leaked from either Heaven or Hell grew into lesser gods that some humanoids found out about and worshipped, among them the two deities of the Sun and Moon, Yoshiyomi and Hoshiyomi, and the Thunder Duke, Raijin. And as mortals became civilized and interacted with one another, other gods sprang up, such as the God of Battle, Guan Yu, and the God of Commerce, Puan Yin.
And so the world and its inhabitants were made.
The Gods:
The Dark Bureaucracy:
The first of the out-bound factions (out-bound meaning either heaven-bound or pit-bound) to arise, the Dark Bureaucracy has forever been an oppressive, tyrannical society obsessed with expansion and power. The first four Yokai founders, each equal to one another in power, serve as the ruling council of the Bureaucracy. The Black Council’s authority is absolute.
As the mortals went about the earth, the two Bureaucracies came up with a deal: if mortals do bad deeds in life, they must be judged by the Dark Bureaucracy. If mortals do good deeds in life, they shall go to paradise with the Celestial Bureaucracy. Thus, mortals who commit sins in the eyes of the two Bureaucracies must go to their respective afterlives. The Akuma Hordes and the Guardians of the Tao were quite furious that even their followers would be judged in this manner, but by that time the Bureaucracies had too much combined power for the more chaotic out-bound factions to do much more than complain. Souls condemned to the Dark Bureaucracy suffer punishment at the appropriate department; such souls are sometimes given the opportunity to choose to become a devil and escape from their misery.
The four rulers are as follows:
Ni Mian: The Minister of Greed. Those who were quite greedy, envious, and avaricious in life are sentenced to be pounded to pieces by giant golden hammers by day and regenerated whole, painfully, by night, for eternity.
Tou Ma: The Minister of Hatred. Those who were excessively angry and hateful to others are sentenced to eternal warfare in a huge gladiatorial ring for the amusement of the Dark Bureaucracy. By day, they must kill one another in the most painful way possible (usually with the dull weapons that the punished receive), and by night they must renourish themselves with the putrid, rotting flesh of the very souls they had killed. When day returns, those who were slain are vomited out from the bowels of their consumers, and the fight begins anew.
Izanami: The Minister of Lust. Those who committed vile sexual acts (such as rape and forcing others into prostitution) in life are sentenced to be eternally burned in ever-burning fires, the fires of their own passion. The flesh of the punished forever regenerate and never completely burn away.
Ji-Ok: The Minister of Oblivion. Those who commit excessive cold murders in the name of an unjust cause, such as hired assassins, are sentenced to eternal oblivion; for the rest of eternity, they are strapped to a rack and tortured while all senses, except for that of touch, are utterly eradicated. For an eternity these condemned feel nothing but pain, pain so awful that they can think of nothing else. All else is oblivion.
Domains of the Dark Bureaucracy: Evil, Law, Death
The Guardians of the Tao:
The Guardians of the Tao were once disgruntled Akuma who decided that a life of evil and violence was dull. This disinterest led to their exile, during which that disinterest turned into disgust and a desire to become better, with purpose. The Guardians of the Tao maintain the following creeds:
1) Respect your fellow mortals. How you do this is up to you.
2) Go with the flow; it is better to play the fool and let things go by as it is than to actively try to change things. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, and if you see fit to break this code, do so.
3) Above all, respect the freedom of others to do as they like.
Of course, these rules are not iron clad, and many interpret these rules in their own personal way. By introducing this philosophy the Guardians hoped to lead mortals to a more peaceful existence without the necessity of stuffy rules.
The Guardians are somewhat turned off by bustling, crowded cities and favor the simple, peaceful rural life, free of stress and filled with good, honest work. Some Guardians prefer the followers of the Way to be ascetics, while others think the Way is meant for wanderers who take whatever path is set before them.
The Guardians are loosely organized, though all Guardians tend to respect the wisdom of their founder, Lao Tzu.
Lao Tzu: The de facto “leader” of the Guardians, Lao Tzu was the former Akuma who came up with the idea of, “just let it be”. His “worshippers” do not truly worship him as most others do for other gods; as long as one follows the Way with all their heart, mind, and soul, he grants them blessings (spells).
Followers of the Way eventually end up at the realms of the Celestial Bureaucracy. Few of the Followers complain or protest, however, for their Way guarantees them a spot in the Heavens, and if the rules up there are too oppressive, they will simply find a way around it.
Domains: Travel or Trickery (not both), Good, Strength
Dragons:
The Dragons were created by the Celestial Bureaucracy to protect and nurture the material realm itself. For the most part, the larger the aspect of land that they are bound to is, the more powerful the dragon. The dragon of a small river, for example, may be no stronger than a particularly powerful mortal, while the dragon of the raging Serpent River near the Forbidden City matches the power of some of the highest Ministers in the Bureaucracies.
For the most part, dragons that live in pleasant, hospitable areas tend towards good. Dragons of rivers, plains, and forests are usually pleasant creatures, and though most will not go about helping every single mortal they encounter, they may provide temporary food and shelter for lost travelers and other desperates. Dragons who live in dangerous but not inhospitable terrain, such as jungles, certain marshes, and mountains, tend towards apathy or neutrality. If mortals do not bother the land, the dragon will not bother them. The dragons of mountains and oceans are always the most powerful of all dragons. Dragons who live in inhospitable terrain, terrain such as deserts, foul marshes, and volcanoes, tend to be rather evil.
All dragons have one distinct feature; on their forehead lies a large pearl, and whoever receives this pearl as a gift from a dragon may use it to create a blessing. Minor dragons can provide a good year of harvest or end a drought, for example, while greater dragons can provide powerful, world-altering wishes. Doing so greatly weakens the dragon, however, and so far no major dragon has ever granted its pearl to a mere mortal.
Worshipping dragons does not grant mortals any powers, except for the following three:
Li Long, Dragon of the Serpen’s Tears: This huge, five-hundred foot long serpentine dragon lives in the world’s longest river, Serpent’s Tears River (the Forbidden City is built on its banks). Li Long acts like a kindly, doting grandmother figure, and delights in children (she loves taking them for rides across the countryside). Granny Li, as the kids call her, usually resides in a small cottage by the river, weaving little bits of clothing and baking sweet yams. Her domains are over Good, Protection, and Healing.
Shen Long, Dragon of the Unending Blue: Shen Long is also a huge, five-hundred foot long serpentine dragon. He lives, however, under the oceans in a large coral palace, attended by merpeople. Shen Long may order his minions to rescue floundering vessels, but the rescued folk are expected to repay Shen Long’s mercy at a future date lest misfortune fall upon them. This dragon is quite stern and hates it when mortals take too much out of the seas. His domains are over Law, Water, and Travel.
Zu Long, Dragon of the White Fields: Zu Long is a rather selfish, sadistic dragon who lives in the frigid lands in the north, farther north than even the Tungusk tribes dare to go. Centuries of isolation and the dark knowledge he has gathered have driven him to madness, though the bravest of scholars and shamans seek him out to learn from him. He is surprisingly small at only 100 feet long, and is quite thin and wretched looking. Despite this, he is probably more powerful than Li Long and Shen Long due to his vast knowledge of magic and the world. Agents of the Dark Bureaucracy have tried to seduce him to the will of the Four Ministers, but such devils tend to get eaten quickly. The few who do make pacts with him are advised to be very careful of the fine print; Zu Long may be insane, but his mind is still as sharp as his teeth. His domains are over Knowledge, Magic, and Evil.
Celestial Bureaucracy:
When the exiled fiends gathered together at the far reaches of the primordial world, some of them, mostly former members of the Dark Bureaucracy, decided that order, justice, and honor would bring peace and prosperity to all. Such thinkers decided that a Celestial Bureaucracy, one that administers to the good of all, would be the best way to implement this order and justice. The founder of the Celestial Bureaucracy, a former devil of oppression-turned celestial of justice, was elected August Minister of Justice and was charged with managing this new Bureaucracy.
The August Minister of Supereme Justice is served by two slightly lesser officials, the Minister of Mortal Justice and the Minister of Supernatural Justice. These two minister deal with, as their titles suggest, mortals and supernaturals (including gods and dragons). The rest of the Bureaucracy falls under these two departments.
One of the most popular laws created by the Celestial Bureaucracy was Nirvana, the Eternal Paradise. Though evil souls went to the domains of the Four Ministers, good souls went under the direct care of the August Minister himself. Souls are merged into one, endless glass-like sea where each mind thinks up of its own eternal paradise. At this Nirvana, all is at peace.
Domains of the Celestial Bureaucracy:
Good, Law, Protection, Earth, Air
Oni:
Oni are the embodiments of carnage and evil might. Created by the leaders of the Akuma Hordes, these foul beasts are manifestations of carnage, chaos, and destruction. Their leaders, the Oh-Oni (Great Ogres) barely keep their lesser kin under control through sheer force of might.
Over the millennia, most of the ogres have come to focus more on destruction and chaos rather than pure evil. Luckily for mortals, most Oni are quite stupid, and Tailed Ones are often on hand to assist unlucky humanoids who run into these brutes. The Oh-Oni, however, are not to be trifled with, for not only are they masters of the blade but they are also mages of great power.
The typical ogre looks like a large, hunched man with elongated features and a filthy, stupid countenance. Most carry crude clubs or worn swords and all are quite strong. A few carry magical clubs that can summon mundane objects (such as food, a hut, drink, but not money or magical items) three times a day. Some clever mortals get their hands on such wonderful clubs, but those who do are hunted down, often by Oh-Oni.
The greatest of all Oni is also the Spirit of Carnage. Some barbarians and all ogres worship him for his great power.
Spirit of Carnage, King of all Oni: The Spirit of Carnage looks like an enormous, blue-skinned elf wielding an impossibly large sword. He looks surprisingly calm and graceful, especially for an Oni, but his eyes are a constant, swirling chaos of colors and emotions. Many a Tailed One has fallen to his sword.
Domains: Chaos, Strength, Destruction
Akuma Hordes:
In one sense, this nigh-endless horde is the ideological opposite of the Dark Bureaucracy. Where the Bureau oppresses, the Hordes revolt. Where the Bureau smothers, the Hordes annihilate. Where the Bureau is law, the Hordes are chaos incarnate. They were, after all, born as such. The Hordes is a collection of former Yokai that became addicted to chaos and evil, organized by only might-is-right. The strongest demons stay on top, while the weakest stay on the bottom.
If the primary goal of the Dark Bureaucracy is to subjugate all of existence, then the primary goal of the Hordes is to return all to what it once was, a dark, swirling chaos of darkness and evil. Luckily for all of creation, the three major out-bound factions oppose the Akuma Hordes.
Asura, the Overdemon: Asura is the current ruler of all demons. As the top demon, she decides where and what the hordes go and attack. Lately, the demons of Yama have been rather quiet; no doubt this is a calm before whatever storm Asura plans on unleashing upon creation.
Domains: Destruction, Evil, Chaos, Trickery