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Inmoecnon INTRODULTION This night of no moon There is no way to meet him. 1 rise in longing — My breast pounds, a leaping flame, My heart is consumed in fire —Ono no Komachi, Kokinshu Wetcome To THE Fourth AcE ‘As Christians would reckon it, the year is 1197, European kings wage their wars and embark on their cerusadesutterly unaware that civilizations olderand greater than their own rule the day —and the night — in distant lands. Farto the East lies the Middle Kingdom, or China and the many cultures that surround it. For millennia, this area has been a centerof culture and empire, its influence spreading far and wide However, itis now atime of change and chaos, Great ‘China stands reduced in the form of the Southern Song dynasty, which rulés but half of the empire's traditional Jands. Nihon (what we would call Japan) i just emerging from a bloody civil war whose wounds have yet to heal ‘And in thenorth, the Mongol horde is bua few decades from riding forchand lashing outatthe neat totality ofthe known world. For mortal men and women of the Middle Kingdom, uvese troubled tintes axe but another shi ix fortunes avd dynasty —troubling perhaps, but not unprecedented. For the shen — the vampires, shapechangers and spirits who inhabic the Asian night — these troubled times herald the turning of the Age, the end of their era and the beginning of another, more terrible time. Tht Hungry Dean Millennia ago, in the legendary Third Age, the August Personage of Jade elevated men and women to divinity. These Ten Thousand Immortals — or Wan Xian — were warrior-poets and philosopher-kings, battling demons and creating a golden age. But the ‘Wan Xian became greedy and fell from grace, feeding from their mortal charges in order to gain ever more power. At the end'of the Third Age, the August Personage cursed the Wan Xian forall time, shattered their legendary home on Mount Meru and turned his back on them. Now, they are the Ten Thousand Demons, the Wan Kuei. Mortals who have earned a sojourn in Hell, but who are strong enough to escape it, return to their bodies as Wan Kuei. They live by night, feeding on the blood and breath of humans. In theory, they seck enlightenment and redemption but, all too often, play, power games and indulge in corrupt practices, just like their predecessors. Ae AB REE aS UR Pe SBS Orners The Wan Kuet are pethaps the pfedominant force among the shen, but they are hardly alone. Far from the urban homes of these vampires, theshapechanging Xiong Ren — the Ferocious People — rule. Betrayed by che Wan Xian in ages past, they do not trust the demons and blame them for the turning of the Age. The hsien, descendants of the August Personage’s agents aban- doned on Earth, also hold a mighty grudge. Magi — known as chi'n ca — and. ghosts also move about the Middle Kingdom. ‘And deep in the shadows lurk the Yama Kings, who rule the Thousand Hells, and their agents, Many are those willing to sell theirsouls to the masters of Hell, including the Kumo Goblin Spiders, the depraved Kura Sau of the hsien and the hidden akuma of che Wan Kuei Tue Turning Ace The Fourth Age — known as the Age of Beautiful ‘Sadness — has been one of melancholy and growth. As human society burgeoned around them, the HungryDead. developed their courtsand Dharmas, finding glimmers of hope. Now the Great Wheel ispreparingtotum againand bring the Age of Darkness to bear. Wavesof fearand worry flow through the night courts, What will the new Age bring? Who will come out on top? It ig.a time of change and anxiety, when the young ‘grab what they can and the old hold on to what they have. Away from the eyes of man, the night is covered in silk... and bathed in blood. How ro Use Tujs Boor World of Darkness: Blood & Silk opens up the endof the Fourth Age and the medieval Asian night as a setting foryour chronicles. Itprovidesyouwith the toolsnecessary to tell stories in this faraway time, including historical and geographical information, many new and adapted game systems, character creation tips and much more, Principally, Blood & Silk is a historical supple ment for Kindred of the Bast. It focuses on the Wan’ Kuei — Asian vampires — and their activities and assumes they will be the characters players portray. Although Blood & Silk can, be read alone, where material is unchanged from Kindred of the East we have not repeated it (there are only so many pages in the book!). So to get the full Disciplines, Iraits and game mechanics of the Wan Kuei you will need a copy of Kindred of the East. As with that book, you will also need a copy of the core Storyteller gaine mechanics, preferably (but not necessarily) Vampire: The Mas- querade or Vampire: The Dark Ages. Although the Wan Kuei are the “stars,” Blood & ‘Silk appears under the “World of Darkness” banner and contains material for other games. Chapter Six deals explicitly with using Blood & Silk with other World of Dans Some 6fithe dates that appear in Blood & are given as “the XXth year of the Foo dynasty,” which becomes rather cumbersome for, the Western reader. However, it is equally im- plausible for the Wan Kuei'hatrators of the his torical sections forgive dates: in years CE and BCE. Therefore, consider the following table of dates: > Event Xia Kingdom begins Shang dynasty begins Zhou dynasty'begins Qin dynasty begins Han dynasty begins “Three Kingdoms era begins “Fin dynasty begins ‘North and South dynasties begin Sui dynasty begins Tang dynasty begins Five Dynastiesand Ten Kingdoms-era begins Song dynasty begins Southern Song dynasty begins The present day “c.1750.BCE Darkness games and goes into the status of the various shenof the Fourth Age, including A sian changing breeds, mages and changelings. Both Chapter One (the setting) and Chapter Four (the systems) are also useful for non- vampiric chronicles. Wuar Broop & Six js Nor Most importantly, Blood & Silk is not an academic text on medieval Asia. Although we have done our very best to make things as accurate as possible, this is a work if fiction about vampires and other monsters. With lim- ited space, we also could cover only somuch of the Asian night. Those who want or need more information on the realities of the:time should look to the recommended reading list, Blood & Silk is also nota standalone product that provides the final word on the Asian World of Darkness at this time. Blood & Silk deals almost exclusively with ‘Chinaand Japan atthe endofthe Fourth Age. Korea, Indi Tibet and Southeast Asia all get passing references (some longer than others), butspace limitations meant we had to ‘concentrate on the core of the Middle Kingdom. CHapter BY CHaPTEeR ‘Chapter One: Hungry Dead of the Middle Kingdom isthe meat ofthe book from asource material standpoint Through a Series of documents written by Wan Kuei and eropucrion others, this chapter explores the world of the lace Fourth. Age. The basics of the Wan Kuei, the mortal history ofthe Middle Kingdom, the various courts of the Hungry Dead. and the lands of spirit are all part ofthis chapter. Chapter Two: Many Roads Back explores the beliefs of che Hungry Dead atthe time of Blood & Silk. Each of the five Dharmas defined by Grand Arhat Xue gets a new treatment for the period. The chapter also examines the Fivéfold Way and the role of heresy at this time. Chapter Three: Taking the Second Breath cakes you through the process of character creation in the late Fourth Age. Of course, many of the ba the same as ‘onsare only briefly There are differencesin the dead of this Age, however, and they get the most attention. Chapter Four: Ways Under Heaven is a grab bag of ‘Traits and game systems useful forthe Fourth Age. These include (among other things) new Abilities and Po Natures, a new set of Disciplines and new guidelines for spirit travel. This chapter also includes a wide variety of systems useful for representing mundane and supernatural situations typical ofthe period. New weapons and combat systems also,appear here. Chapter Five: Tales of Silk builds on the storytelling material in Kindred of the East and provides you with ways to evoke the atmosphere and themes of a faraway time and place. 7 Chapter Six: Barbarians and Shen explores the other inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom and the World cof Darkness in general. Xiong Ren shapechangers, Asian hosts and mysterious hsien all get coverage. These sec tions servé booth as tools for those running chronicles featuring Wan Kuei and as historical appendices to other modern Asian supplements like Hengeyokai, Land of Eight Million Dreams and Dark Kingdom of Jade."This chapter also provides guidelines for bringing Western characters (and, through them, Vampire: The Dark ‘Ages and Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade chronicles) into the Middle Kingdom of the late Fourth Age Appendix: Cities of the Dead provides details on a series ofities scattered throughout the Middle Kingdom. Each ean serye asthe center ofachronicleoraplace worth visiting during its course LExjcon The following brief lexicon includes terms used throughout Blood & Silk and provides a quick reference. You can also consult the much larger lexicon in Kindred. of the East, most of which is equally appropriate to Blood & Silk. Age of Beautiful Sadness: The Fourth Age in the Great Cycle, and the one coming to an end at the time of Blood & Silk. Age of Darkness: The Fifth Age of the Great Cycle, and the one on the horizon at the time of Blood & Sil

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