EdgeOfHeaven/CampaignLoresheet

Edge of Heaven (Destiny 0)

This is the loresheet for the Edge of Heaven campaign. Unless otherwise noted, there is no cost to gain access to the loresheet elements below.

Locations

Blazing Beacon

The old walls have seen better days. The gates were torn down for scrap half a century ago. The old market quarter is a ghost town, home to vermin and rubble, but no trade. The old Magistrate’s Residence, sitting on the shore of Waning Moon Lake, has been boarded up longer than anyone can remember, and anything valuable in there was stolen long ago. The willow district, once the finest on the Path, is closed for business. The stately homes of the Hill Song District are now ramshackle residences, three or four families per. The oases that once made the town an agricultural miracle still support the few hundred souls that live here, but most of the fertile land lies untended.

Of all the things that made Blazing Beacon great, only two are still standing: the great brass brazier on its stonework tower in the center of town, and the Emperor's Rest Teahouse. The latter is — for now, anyway — the first and last choice in restaurants, teahouses, taverns and brothels. It’s a makeshift town hall, to boot; it’s Duke Ko’s place, and when the Duke thinks there’s something the needs to be discussed, that’s where it gets discussed.

• 0 Bonus: All characters begin with 1 Involvement in Blazing Beacon.
• 1+ Involvement: Perhaps you're here to make a name for yourself, or to see civilization returned, or propriety restored, or what have you. You're in the mix in the soon-to-be-booming town.
  • 1-2 Status: You’ve already made a name for yourself in town; have you done a good deed for the people, are you a friend of Duke Ko’s? If you’re new in town, how have you gotten such notice so quickly?
• 2 Destiny: Duke Ko has, by hook and by crook, kept this town alive through the lean years, and he’s bound and determined to keep his position in the town. Whether a local or a newcomer, your destiny is intertwined with his.
• 2 Fortune: Though still a small town, already a trickle of refugees from the east arrive, and soon the trickle will become a flood. Once per story, declare any newcomer to the town to be someone you know from 'back east'.

Jade Gate

A great fortress built by the Han to control the Hungry Pass, it has long sat unoccupied. The peoples of Huangdi's Path had neither the numbers nor the training to take advantage of the location, while the nomads of the Empty Hand desert did not wish to attach themselves to a single place. The Qilin mountains run to the south, while the sandy foothills of the Tian Shan range approach from the northwest. It is about one day's hard ride to the west of Blazing Beacon; the nearest oasis in the Empty Hand is a few days' ride southwest.

• 3 Fortune: The official story of how, when and why the Owl Legion left the Jade Gate is not the real one; you’ll discover the real story, and, as is usually the case in Shen Zhou, the past isn’t dead; it ain’t even past.
• 2+ Treasure: You’ve visited the old fortress ahead of the returning Legion, and you’ve found something quite valuable — maybe a special weapon, maybe a relic, or combat manuals.
• 1+ Involvement: You’re involved with the return of the Owl Legion, either as an advanced scout, or to aid in procurement of goods and services, or perhaps you’re a veteran yourself.
  • 1-3 Fortune: You have contacts within the Legion, and can usually find out what they’re up to.

The Silk Road

• 1-5 Involvement: You are a player in the reopened Silk Road trading routes.
  • 0 Bonus: You gain a +5 Survival Specialty Bonus: Silk Road
• 1-3 Status: You are known and respected among merchants and officials as a Player in the Silk Road Trade.
• 2 Fortune: Once per story, declare a person or organization to be another player in the Silk Road trade.
• 3+ Treasure: The Silk Road brings exotic goods of all kinds from strange lands — gold, silver, jade, glassware, strange wines, spices, beasts otherwise unknown to Shen Zhou, and more. One of these treasures has found its way into your possession.

Master Jun's Library

When the Silk Road caravans were making regular stops in Blazing Beacon, they brought with them more than just the exotic wares of the west; they also brought their strange ideas and philosophies. While the Confucian and Legalist establishment took great pains to keep these ideas quarantined in the market quarter, there was a heterodox Daoist scholar who took great pains to learn whatever the foreign merchants had to say — whether it was something as trivial as weather reports, or as earth-shattering as a powerful form of kung fu. The rumors of what it contains are grandiose: sutras of a strange western two-faced god; the true Devil-Deflecting Blade Style; barbarian prayers that grant immunity in battle ... and those are the more plausible suggestions.

• 5 Destiny: You will discover one of the secrets of Master Jun’s Library. Maybe you have clues to its location already, or maybe serendipity will put you in its path.
  • -2: You are not alone in your search for the secret, and there is no guarantee that you will be the only one to discover it.
  • 10 Technique: The secret you will find is a long-lost, or perhaps never-known, style of Kung Fu.
  • 5+ Secret: As above, but the secret you discover is an Extraordinary Technique.
• 8 Victory: It is one thing to find the library, it is another to become its master. To become the Librarian is to have strange secrets at your disposal, but also the responsibility for its safeguarding.

Factions

Mountain Heart Sect

Concept: Austere and withdrawn monks relentlessly pursuing enlightenment
Most Buddhists of Shen Zhou have learned to accomodate a certain amount of worldiness in their practices; it is the price of spreading their teachings wide across the land. The monks of the Mountain Heart Sect make no such allowances. They spurn other philosophies, keep themselves aloof from matters of politics, and demand detachment in their adherents from the (as they have it) merely illusory concerns of everyday life. Following the practices of their founder, they all undergo a long apprenticeship in stonemasonry: it inculcates in initiates humility and diligence.

Thousand Boddhisatva Caves
The culmination of the decade-long process of initiation into the Sect is the carving of a Buddha into the cave walls. It represents the removal of all that is superfluous to enlightenment and the elevation of a common worker’s practice into a form of meditation, to say nothing of the diligence required to perform such a task. It is said that to look upon a monk’s carving is to gain insight into his very essence; each stone Buddha is distinct, and bears the signature of its maker.

• 3 Fortune: You have visited the grottoes of the Mountain Heart Sect and studied the stone Busas found there. Once per story, declare that you have seen the statue of a member of the Mountain Heart Sect; if you find yourself in opposition to him, you will always laugh at his actions, and never fear them.
• 5 Fortune: Meditation among the stone Busas has affected you deeply. The example of the Mountain Heart sculptors has paved a path toward greater enlightenment and inner harmony. Work with your Sage to design a Minor Cultivation Hyperactivity that rewards you when you act in accord with Mountain Heart teachings.
  

The Empty Sutras
The distinguishing feature of Mountain Heart philosophy is its rigorous focus on illusion as the cause for suffering and evil in the world. Nowhere is that philosophy more completely explicated than in the so-called Empty Sutras, which purport to be the records of conversations of the sect’s founder with his first disciples as they discuss the teachings of the Buddha and, somewhat incongruously, the practice of stonemasonry. It is thought that careful study of the Sutras, access to which is restricted to the longest-serving members of the Sect, will lead finally to the re-discovery of the Veil Rent Asunder, the transcendent style said to be the apogee of the Sect’s practices and beliefs.

• 3 Destiny: The Empty Sutras will play a role in your story. Perhaps you have been sent to learn them by the Little Forest Sect, or perhaps you seek them of your own accord. Whatever the case, it is no mean feat for an outsider to gain access to them.
• 8 Victory: You are to rediscover the Veil Rent Asunder transcendent style; if you are a member of the Sect, surely this will elevate you to the very heights of admiration and respect. If you are not, things might be a little more complicated …
  • -2: The rediscovery of the style will cost you something very dear to you; work with your sage to find an appropriate price.

The Third Mason
The founder of the Mountain Heart Sect was an unlettered mason; legend has it that he worked in Blazing Beacon, one of many workers tasked with building a marvelous Buddhist temple. He overheard the monks’ teachings to their students and their disputations among themselves. Despite his lack of education (or perhaps because of it!) he saw through the needless filigree with which the monks decorated the teachings of the Buddha. When the temple was completed, he laid down his tools before the refined monks, rebuked them for their ostentatious displays and asked them to follow him to the mountains so that they could meditate and remove from themselves the illusions that had led them all so far astray.

Each man to ascend to the leadership of the Sect abandons his name; as their founder is known by no other moniker than “the Mason,” they have taken the same name for themselves. The current holder of the name is revered for and distinguished by his kindness and eagerness to help initiates; he can often be found wandering the grottoes, engaging even the newest disciplines in protracted and congenial conversation.

• 3 Fortune: The Third Mason has met and taken an interest in you. If you are a member of the Sect, perhaps he has seen something promising in you — perhaps he even sees you as a potential successor! If you are not of the Sect, how did you meet the Mason, and what does he see in you?
  • 0 Bonus: Among the Mountain Heart Sect, you have 2 Status: A Friend of the Mason; this gives you access to the Sect that outsiders otherwise do not enjoy

10 Destiny/Victory: The tenure of the Third Mason approaches its end. You will play a vital role in determining his successor — or you will be his successor!

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Ten-Thousand Clan Pact

• 4 Destiny: One of the Emperor's Concubines has been promised to the Kaagan; your story will intersect with hers. Will you be the one to make sure she is brought to his palace in distant Kashgar and preserve the newly-won peace, or will you save her from a life in a strange and distant court, consequences be damned?
• 5+ Fortune: The Kaagan of the Ten-Thousand Clan Pact owes you a favor! What have you (or your ancestors) done to earn such a benison? He commands the clever merchants of the Crimson Hills Clan, the tireless warriors of the Sky Wheel Clan, and the peerless lords of the Moon Clan; his are the tent cities along the Dragons Blood Mountains in the north, and his are the ingenious Garden Cities along the Golden Peaks in the south. Work with your Sage to determine why such a powerful figure owes you a favor, and what kind of repayment you can expect in return.

Storm Brother Clan

(The status and related options can be used as a template for other clans in the Pact.)

• 1-2 Status: You were either born into one of the clans of the Pact, or adopted into one. Work with your sage to detail which Clan you were affiliated with, and why you're no longer with them.
  • 0 Bonus: You have a +5 Survival Specialty: the Empty Hand Desert.
  • 0/5 Disadvantage: Ostracized. Whatever your past with the Storm Brothers, they have cast you out. None among them may offer you hospitality or aid of any kind, and will likely be hostile toward you on any pretext — a truly dangerous status in the Empty Hands Desert.
• 2 Fortune: You have contacts within the otherwise clannish and insular Storm Brothers, and can serve as a go-between with them and your people.
• 5 Destiny: The Storm Brother Clan shares a long, secret and tempestuous history with the Xiongnu invaders who became the Jin Dynasty; you will play an important role in the coming conflict between them, whether as a peace-maker, as the one who tips the balance of power, or the curse that befalls both houses.

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The Four Devil Ring

While the departure of the Old Owl Legion and the subsequent fall of the Jade Gate fortress essentially closed Huangdi's Path to the Silk Road, the corridor remained the fastest and most convenient route from the western lands into the heart of Shen Zhou. As a result, smuggling became a viable and often immensely profitable activity for those who still lived in the towns of the region; it was also very dangerous, and prone to create gang wars that made the Warring States period look pacific. In time, order emerged from the chaos of competing gangs and criminal overlords. A syndicate of gangs, one representing each of the three major towns along the Path, plus a gang of outlaws from the barbarian Storm Brother Clan, formed and has controlled the smuggling routes for the past generation. The members are: the Hell Riders (from the desert); the Stone Pig Gang (Blazing Beacon); Bloodwine Brotherhood (Wine Springs); and the Trackless Friends (Bronze Horse).

With the return of the legions and the Silk Road caravans, their 'business model' is very much in danger. But they know the territory, and the gangs command loyalty and respect in their respective towns. Surely they must have something up their sleeves to survive this change in circumstance!

• 2 Bonus: You know the ways of the Four Devils Ring as well as any member, and quite a bit better than most. You get a +5 bonus to any social action involving the Four Devils Ring, including the Courtier's Arts.
• 3 Fortune: Somehow, you have learned of the Ring's plans for surviving - and thriving - once imperial government returns to the Path. Secrets like that can be dangerous ... both for you and them.

The Stone Pigs

Blazing Beacon's own "Devil," and by an impartial reckoning, the strongest individual gang of the four. In addition to their criminal enterprises in the region (including, but not limited to, smuggling, theft, extortion, and murder), they also serve, often quite capably, as the police, the firemen, the militia and all-around civil servants of the town. Few would call their governance merciful or enlightened, and to wear the blue sash that marks membership in the gang is to be immune to what passes for law, but that hardly distinguishes them from many places that enjoy the protection of the Emperor.

It's something of an open secret that Duke Ko, the boss-in-all-but-name of the town, is their chief.

• 1+ Involvement: Your tale will intertwine with the Stone Pigs Gang; perhaps you will set them on a righteous path, or perhaps you'll come to lead them.
• 2 Status: You're not a member of the gang, but you're known and liked and/or respected by them. Senior members of the gang will treat you with respect, while junior members who treat you disrespectfully will suffer censure behind closed doors.
  • 0 Bonus: No one knows the region better than the Stone Pigs do, and you've absorbed much of their knowledge. You gain a +5 Bonus to any survival rolls in and around Blazing Beacon.

Relationships

Sifu/Disciple

Among the Wulin, one's sifu is due the kind of reverence and respect otherwise reserved for fathers and rulers. And like those relationships, one often inherits the blessings and the sins of one's teacher — her feuds become your feuds, the respect she has earned redounds to you. Those who share the same sifu can be bitterest rivals, but there can exist at the same time a bond, a sameness of vision that transcends rivalry and opposition.

• 1 Status: A portion of your Sifu's fame is reflected in you, and you are known among the Wulin as a "Student of (Sifu)."
• 3+ Destiny/Involvement: Either you already are, or will soon be, embroiled in the schemes, feuds, and fortunes of your Sifu.
  • 3+ Technique: Your sifu has taught you his signature move. Work with your Sage to craft it.
• 5 Fortune: Once per story, you may declare that an NPC has a (positive) history with your Sifu.
• 0/5 Disadvantage: Justly or unjustly, you sifu is anathema among the Wulin. Perhaps she is baneful, or has committed some great crime, but whatever the cause, it's serious enough to stain her and her students — you included — alike.