Gurr Out: Howcny Dua or tut Mioour Kncoon ENAPTER OME: HUNGRY DEAD OF FNE MIDDLE KInNCDOM The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide, Thus has it ever been. Luio Guanzhong, Romance of the Three Kingdoms Wam Kiuei scholars uncovered the following seven doc ments after the destruction of the short-lived Hall ofthe Black Tonoise in Karakorum. Wan Kuei penned most of these documents, but the cache also included a seemingly Purloined report from a Nezumi rat-changer to his Beast Court. To- ether, they paint a vivid picture of life, both mortal and immortal, at he end of the Fourth Age, during the time of Southern Songdynasty in China (what Westerners would call the end ofthe | 2th centery ofthe common era)..Appended to several ofthese documents, most especially the two.written by 4 disciple of the Court of Linan named Lu Feng, were commentaries by several prominent Wan Kuei ofthe time TEACH|NGS ON THE Nicur People ‘A Treatise by Lu Feng, South Wind of the Flitting Hummingbird Wu The world is not as itonce was, andiWe are not as we once were. Many @mong us refuse to accepttthis as fact, and I do not exaggerate when I say that by doing so they purtheir bodies and soulsat risk. A three-year-old mortal child would not walk forward while looking backward, for he knows that he would come to harm: in the attempt. Nevertheless, my ancestors and contemporaries glance backward to the glorious days of the Third Age while the Fourth Age pushes gallingly onward. Before they get into the habit of looking forward, I imagine that some of them will trip and fall. Indeed, many already have, To the reader, welcome. Iam Lu Fen, Third Archivist ofthe Yellow Emperor, South Wind of the Flitting Hum mingbird wu and a Demon of Linan, the richest and most glorious city of the Song Empire. I serve the ancestors of the Court ofthe Yellow Emperor, a role I have filled since my Second Breath some 20 years ago. The sheaf you hold is intended to bring you, presumably a hin trying to join ur society, into a full awareness of our true nature and history. Some of it — suchas the historical treat just before reaching disciple status — is rather poorly written; though I was a scholar in life, I have since had decades to refine my art. Take from it what you can. The Faun It is undoubtedly already clear to you that you muuustet; surely you remember ‘Wan, the Thousand Hells. Pethaps you remember some of the torment dispensed by the minions of the Yama Kings, the hells’ overlords. But you have many questions. el wrote 1c of your time in YomiWhar We Are We are the Wan Kuei, the Ten Thotsand Deinoni We are born of mortal women, we live our lives as mortal men and women, and we die and go to Hell. Something drives us to Yomi Wan. No man finds himselfin the Thousand Hells without belonging here, Perhaps one is a vicious killer; perhaps another aban- doned his familial duties to live in the city withthe immoral and the unjust. Each of us broke the eternal laws in some fashion while alive and was cursed to Hell as punishment. But strength brings us back. We are unwilling to remain in the hands of the Yama Kings, and our wills are strong, so we retum to the lands above. We stride into cour mortal bodies, take the Second Breath and return to the living world. We ate the strongest of the dead; the common. thief does not have sufficient fortitude to withstand the torment of Yori Wan and still shout “I will not bow!” Andsoweescapethe Yama Kings, but our defiance — “will not bow!” — caw only take us so far. The August Personage of Jade-has,cursed us for our predecessors! madness, and his strength far outmatches ours, We can- not stand the light of the sun; we must steal life from ‘mortals to remain partof this world; and our darksoul, out P'ajlhasigained a voice. I lied a moment ago. You will find, student, that your elders lie to you every day. Sometimes, they wish tohhide'the truth, and other times, they wish to teach you to hearlies ahd seek truth. [lie because it aids my narrative. We did not escape the Yama Kings, at least not if theirdemon servants are ro be believed. They let us Teave Yomi Wan, because we serve their desires better here in the world than in Hell. However, true demons lie even more frequently than Wan Kuei do; do not believe thar the Yama Kings simply let us leave their domain. ‘Whatever the truth may be, we can never entirely escape the Lords of Hell. We would make good servants and better slaves; the Yama Kings may tempt you with, promises of power or threaten your existence in order to acquite your services. We cal those of the Wan Kuei who serve the Yama Kings akuma, and they have no place in our society. Do not bring an accusation of trafficking with the Yama Kings without proof, for a false claim of such corruption is likely to mean your own destruction. Akuma are strong, hide well and are thankfully rare. (Our society is simple one, stitched together at the lowest level and leaving decision-making power in the handsofthe eldest and wisest ancestors. When yourelders deem you, ahin, worthy, they shall assign you toa wu, of corpse family. Like the mortals all around us, we put great stock in the value ofancient, established families. The Bai Shi Jia (Hundred Corpse Families) are the oldest, most powerful wn in the Middle Kingdom, but the passing of Biocon & Sux i E time has given us more Wan Kuei than can ¢asily fic into a hundred families of five: Each wu lives within the confines of one of the five ‘August Courts. In the northern lands of Xixia, Jin, Manchu and the barbarian tribes, the unliving obey the dictates of the Court of the Black Tortoise. To the east, the blood-drinking warlords of Nihon and Koryo dance 1 delicate cirele around one another in the Court of the ‘Azure Dragon. The jungles of the south bear witness to the screams of mortals atthe hands of the demons of the Court of the Scarlet Phoenix. The Court of the White Tiger dominates the west, and all pay heed to the Court of the Yellow Emperor in Changan, the heart of the Middle Kingdom. In tur, the ancestors of each area host théiriown. courts, While the ancestors ofLinan, forinstanice, are part of the Court ofthe Yellow Emperor, its rare indeed that the court imposes its dictates directly on a city's Wan Kueic The eldest and wisest among us dominate the Five August Courts; inva perfeet world, their merest sugges- tions would be seen as law by those less enlightened. This is no perfect world, but it is rare for the ancestors of a region to come into open conflict with each other oF the rulers of their August Court, When it does come, it is terrifying indeed. Some Wan Kuei are predisposed toward warfare, while others prefer subtler’ means of resolving disagree- ments. The Grand ArhatXueyin his travels thousands of yearsago, distilled the essence of Wan Kuei existence into five Dharmic paths. Those who see strength and courage inbottle,forinstance, tendtowardthe Devil-Tiger Dharma (although Ihave seen warriors on all five paths) Xue created —orperhaps discovered —five Dharmic paths near the end of the Third Age. The Resplendent Cranes are Wan Kuei of honor and justice, while the vampires ofthe Howl of the Devil-Tiger seek masteryover the world through their inner demons. Vampires of the Song of the Shadow Dharma (also called Bone Dancers) seek solace in the tranquility of death, while Thrashing Dragons exalt the echo of life we retain. And the Thou- sand Whispers Dharma attempts to balance these polar extremes, not by denying any of them, but by embracing them all, over time. The Resplendent Cranes and Devil-Tigers stand ‘opposite each other, the Cranes to the northiand the Tigers to the south. The Cranes pursue the dictates of the Hun, the higher, nobler impulse ineach Wan Kuei. The Howl of the Devil-Tigerfollows the drive of theP’, the raging, animal impulse. Thisdoes not prevenemem- bers of the two Dharmas from getting along: indeed, each typically possesses insights that can aid the other. Similarly, ThrashingDragons and Bone Dancers align as opposites; though they are not enemies. The Thrashing Dragons stand to the east and are clad in the strength of Yang, the male impulse, thesenergy of life. The Bone Dancersare inthe west direction; they draw their strength(Chupren Qua: Hungry Dea oF rae Mivous Kincncn from the Yin impulse, the female-oriented energy of death. and decay. ‘The’ Thousand Whispers Dharma occupies the cen- ter of this cross. A properly balanced wu will consist of a Wan Kuei from each direction, though circumstances sometimes prevent this. Unbalanced wu rarely last for long, as internal and external stresses'will shear such @ group apart. ‘From the Commentaries of Li Citan: » THe URITER SPERHS ONLY OF FIVE « | DHARMAS. BUT HE IS MISTAHEN IN THINKING THAT THOSE ARE THE ONLY ONES THAT EXIST. Most Crnsss Liaw Hust aGRes THAT ONLY Huss SVE PATHS HOLD THE PATH TO SALVATION, DUTOTHER, HERETICAL DHARMAS 5 SMIST AND S55M 10 HEEP THEIR PRACTITIONERS AT LENET A STEP ADOVE THE CANNIDALISTIC cu. i Waar We Were ‘At the beginning of this lesson, I stated that we are not as we once were. When the August Personage of Jade created the universe thousands of years ago, he granted the most worthy humans immortality and vast power. “These were known as the Wan Xian, the Ten Thousand Immortals. They could move mountains, it issaid. They had the wisdom of gods and the beautiful spiraling music of the heavens followed them as they strode across the earth, Consider the tragic love of Wang Yuanfengand Yu Xiaocui: Beautiful and wise immortal Xiaocui fell in love ‘with Wang Yuanfeng, the farmer's son, even though he ‘wasan idiot, barely capable of speech. Xiaocui loved him enough to heal his mind and usher him through the tests the August Personage demanded of those who wished to become immortal. She brought him into the great family of the Wan Xian, and their love brought joy to the very stones of the earth. ‘After two. centuries, the dragon princess Cai Wai lured Yuanfengawayfromhiseternallove, and YuXiaocui's weeping drove hundreds ofstarsto-extinguish themselves in the sea from sorrow. And when Xiaocui, overcome by jealousy struck atCai Wai, Wang Yuanfeng declared war onhis former lover. Like many warsamongthe Wan Xian, this one caused greathardship. Using the rivers and seas of the Kingdom of Fu Yas weapons against one another, ‘Wang Yuanfengand Yu Xiaoeui flooded the Diyang Plain were common in the Age of Legengl, forthe loves of the Wan Xian could shake the heavens. The immortals warred over which mortal they loved or hated, which child they most adored and whom they would marry. Those were fiery days. The Wan Xian were as wiseas they were passionate: The AugustPersonage ofade tookthe wisest oftheminto Heaven to serve him directly, and he left doorways in the world for mortals to join the ranks of the immortals. Pethaps it was in this that the August Personage planted the seeds of our ancestors’ downfall. He did not handpick the new immortals; any mortal who could pass the trials he placed in the world gained the power of the Wan Xian. The fewiancestors I speak to about this time period tell of sadness and loss and slowly dying rage. The Wan Xian integrated the newcomers into their society, and as more of the eldest. immortals were taken to Heaven to directly serve the August Personage, the younger gen ‘rations rose to positions of leadership and respect. With ‘each successive century, fewer ofthe Celestial Emperor's handpicked immortals remained in the world. This cycle repeated itself over thousands of years, until the wise kings of the Wan Xian gave way to lusty despots. Scholars who once searched for hidden poetic ‘meaning in the fall of rain plumbed the depths of Yomi ‘Wan for secret black magies and stole the Chi of mortals and servants of the Celestial Bureaucracy. The August Personage of Jade had created tests across the world to ensuretthat only the strongest, most moral and cleverest could cast off the chains of mortality, but unethical mortals subverted his true intentions and “solved” the tests without truly proving themselves worthy. Finally, Tien Lu plucked the last blossom from the Tree of Immortality and three of the four remaining original Wan Xian, resigned to the coming fire, strode into Heaven before the August Personage of Jade levied his curse upon the rest of the Ten Thousand Immortals. They became the Wan Kuei, the Ten Thousand Demons. ‘From the Commentaries of Lun Ouran: Many refuse to speak of it. but wihen the August Personage of Jade began to cast is curse douin on the Ulan ian. four of the fist chosen immortals remainedin the world. Three of those entered Heaven the cure was complete and so were spared. The fourth, Bao Zhong, entered Yomi Lan instead and sowias aliospared —orsoitseemed. Bao Zhon feaghticvrl battles against the Yama Kings anv ir servants; after countless years of fighting. he dedared himself. a Yama King and his new realm the Hell of Never-Dying Sorrow. Rememberaluaysthat even the greatest can fall, Lu Feng should be cautious in his unniings, hou ‘ever, To mention the children is tactless and without enlightenment. Never repeat such stories; they are better left in the past