Journey to Tien Bae (Inactive)

Game Master Theinyore

This is supposed to be a fun campaign sort of based on Journey to the West (the awesome Chinese story) but taking out the focus on religion and more about Kung-fu deities. It's a 3.5 game which may end up being gestalt and should include lots of interesting character types in an over the top Oriental setting.

So below is a spoiler with the information regarding the accepted religion of the country your in, the country details will follow:

The Celestial Bureaucracy:

The world of Daimyo is governed by a system of celestial entities all far above mortal comprehension. With this system there is an order, beginning with the Celestial Emperor Susano-o and working down a scale of agents to the pages of the gods, often mortals given direct connection to one of the Celestial Bureaucrats. Each millennia a new ruler of the dictatorship is announced and after a series of tests brought into office in an event known as the Cosmic Progression. The ruler is dictated by the Mandate of Heaven, an over arching set of laws and regulations over 66,000 items long which must be followed directly and to the letter to achieve control of the Bureaucracy. While the rule of the Celestial Emperor is not absolute due to a system of checks and balances among different members of the Bureaucracy, the Emperor wields the most power in the heavens and is considered the highest authority regarding the Mandate of Heaven and the will of the Cosmos.

The fall of Amaterasu was actually dictated by her breach of the Mandate of Heaven and resulted in the last thousand years of darkness on earth. It is said that in the next few years during the next Cosmic Progression, Amaterasu will be lifted back upon wings of light and granted domain over the heavens once more as the new Celestial Emperor.

The Fall of Amaterasu: Long ago, before the creation of the Celestial Bureaucracy only four gods existed. The first was Fujin, God of winds, who longed for a companion and equal. From his longing was created Tsukiyomi, the moon. But his failed attempt meant that he was still alone with but the moon in the sky and the world beneath him. There in the cold dark of nothingness, the two deities strove together and created Amaterasu, goddess of the Sun, and with her birth, life spread across the world. Fujin and Tsukiyomi both loved Amaterasu deeply, as did all other beings in the world and sought to gain her favor. So it came to pass that Tsukiyomi was granted her love and became her betrothed.

His rejection enraged Fujin, and so he split the lovers, tasking Tsukiyomi to light the day in Amaterasu's absence and balance the day and night. Fujin was far mightier then Tsukiyomi and he had no choice but to agree to save the world from perpetual torment (for what can survive without night and day). Thus, each day as Amaterasu would rise, Tsukiyomi would fall and so they would forever be unable to complete their matrimony. Fujin's goal was complete and he created Susano-o to make sure the two would never meet again.

After eons of time apart, Amaterasu's heart was broken and she decided that there was no place for her within the heavens, lighting the world at her expense. She knew that she could never be with her beloved, for the Mandate of Heaven demanded there be both night and day, but she could not let this pass any longer. In desperation she fought off the mighty Fujin and crossed the world to join with her lover. As the sun and moon touched for the first time, and great star fell from the sky. The corpse of Amaterasu, once deity of light and life, crashed upon the south and warped and twisted the world as she crashed. Where she touched down nothing but death remained, and those caught in her wake became foul demons, Oni and undead abominations twisted by the death of the goddess.

For days Fujin and Tsukiyomi wept as the eclipse continued before a plan was devised. Susano-o decided that to save the world from the pending darkness they would create a new order, a bureaucracy which would protect the living from the damned and restore order to the world. Together the deities created hundreds of Kami (gods) and other spirits to fill the roles needed to sustain life in the absence of love. Thus began the first millennium of the Celestial Bureaucracy which has been in place for the last 997 years. In that time Susano-o has pushed back the tides of darkness and helped the mortals build their own kingdoms to defend themselves. Taking over as the sun he has sought to sustain the light of the world and defend against the encroachments of the dead from the realm of Amaterasu.

Tamiyo:

Nestled on the northern continent is the fertile land of Tamiyo, ruled over for the past 150 years by Emperor Han and his family as ordained by the Celestial Bureaucracy. It was not always this way however. When first Amaterasu descended from her lofty realm the mortals of the south became corrupted and strove north to spread the taint of her evil to each man woman and child. In this time, the Vashara were created, twisted humans who had been corrupted by their the first kingdom of the land who ruled for nearly 450 years. In this time period all knowledge was burned, those who did not fit into the regime of the dark emperor Wen Xi were prosecuted and hunted by his agents, martial artists sworn to nothing more then causing pain and destroying their lords enemies. It was in this time that many of the modern martial orders were created, secretly, and used as weapons against the Vashara Lords. These small uprisings eventually led to the rule of Emperor Pang, appointed by a secret conference between the monastic orders of Elemental Spirit and the way of the Enduring Fist who personally defeated and overthrew Wen Xi and his elite guards. The Vashara were cast into the great Western wastelands and eventually became the barbarians known as the Mal Ju Nim.

In the years that followed, Emperor Pang proved to be all that was hoped of him and more. His descendants would establish a common language among the people of the land and establish the first Dynasty. The Pang Dynasty lasted nearly 200 years and represented growth and the development of technology and magic throughout the land. New irrigation techniques were developed and over time the people managed to recover from the dark rule of the Vashara.

In 729 the Pang dynasty came under attack from an until then unknown threat. While the Isle of Tears are each almost visible from the slopes and cliffs of Tamiyo, they were thought to be myths, areas beleaguered in legend and song and perhaps even the birthplace of dragons. However, this would soon be proved untrue with the landing of the first of the Ryukyans. They landed with armies from afar, wielding strange weapons and even stranger strategies and devastated the coasts. While this raged on to the north, Emperor Pang was held busy trying to contain an invasion by the western horselords hordes. After several years of attrition between the forces of the Isle of Tears and the horselords, the Pang dynasty fell and the land was tossed into chaos.

It was in the year 845 that Emperor Han was blessed by the Order of Elemental Spirits and began his crusade against the chaos that had claimed his land. After driving out the western barbarians with the help of the newly founded Disciples of the Celestial Bureaucracy, he made peace with the northern Ryukyans and formed Tamiyo, the modern country which now sits upon the northern coast. In the 150 years that have followed the emperor has aged little and had seven sons, each of whom has become either a great warrior or philosopher in their own right. While they all seem to age faster then the emperor himself, they all vie to outdo and outlive their brothers and become the next emperor of the Han Dynasty.