ReignWulin:Dali

Company Stats

• Might: 4
• Treasure: 4
• Influence: 3
  • Entangling Alliance (Song Empire): +2 to Influence when dealing with the Song Empire; the Song Empire recieves +2 to Influence when dealing with Dali Kingdom.
• Territory: 4
  • Defensible Terrain: +2 to Might+Territory rolls to defend their land whenever attackers come in through the mountain passes.
• Sovereignty: 4

History

• 902: Overthrow of the Nanzhao Dynasty.
• 937: Dali Kingdom established by Duan Siping.
• 1064: Gao Zhisheng named "Grand Protector", given a hereditary Marquis position, for his military victory against a rebellion. The Gao family wields great influence as generals and advisors in Dali from this point forward.
• 1080: King Duan Lianyi is assassinated by the traitor official Yang Yizhen. Gao Zhisheng has Yang Yizhen killed. King Duan Linyi's son, Prince Yanqing, is missing, presumed killed by Yang Yizhen, so Gao Zhisheng instead has Duan Lianyi's nephew, Duan Shouhui, ascend to the throne.
• 1116: The Song Emperor recognizes the current Dali King, Duan Zhengyan, as "King of Dali".
• 1119: Several internal rebellions which the armies are not entirely successful in quelling.
• 1172: Duan Zhixing ascends the throne.
• 1200: Duan Zhixing abdicates from the throne in order to become a monk.
• 1205: Duan Zhixiang, the current King of Dali, ascends the throne.

Culture

The 11th king of Nanzhao established Buddhism as the state religion. Ten of the 22 kings of Dali gave up the throne and became monks.

The Dali Kingdom actively modeled its architecture, language, literature, mathematics, clothing, customs, and military equipment and tactics on the Song dynasty. The official written script was Chinese ('Han') characters, although numerous variant characters were used. Similarly, the standard spoken language of the elite was Chinese ('Han'), but with an accent and local variations in vocabulary.

They aren't very territorially invasive, and their national religion was Buddhism, which seemed to make their country not have any thoughts about snatching land from their neighbours. Unlike the Xia kings who called themselves emperors (huangdi) from 1038 onwards, Dali kings were content with the title of king (wang), and thus did not present a challenge to the Song ideology that there can only be one emperor in the world. Thus Dali was regarded as a vassal kingdom by the Song court, rather than a rival and competitor like Liao or Xia.

Erhai Lake is an important food source for the local people, who are famous for their fishing method: their trained cormorants catch fish and return them to fishmongers. The birds are prevented from swallowing their fish by rings fixed around their neck.

Dali is also famous for the many types of marble it produces, which are used primarily in construction and for decorative objects. In fact, Dali is so famous for the stone that the name of marble in Chinese is literally "Dali Stone"

Military

Despite their military prowess and superior numbers, the Mongols cannot breach the defences of the Erhai valley, which is so suited to defense that even just a few defenders can hold out for years.

High-ranking officers wear ceremonial rhino-hide armor.

Disciplines

Solitary Yang Finger

• "Wu Santong saw that she was heading into the kiln, and raised his right hand, and pointed a finger at one of her pressure points, and unleashed 'Solitary Yang Finger' at her. Though his 'Solitary Yang Finger' wasn’t fast enough to hit a pressure point, the move had many changes, and had to be avoided."
• The Duan family awed the martial arts world with their Yi Yang Finger（一阳指), a martial art which had evolved through the Duan family's own unique way of striking acupuncture points. The highest level of the Yi Yang Finger could emit lethal qi from one's fingers.
• The technique of sealing pressure points using the “Solitary Yang Finger” is completely different than conventional pressure point sealing; it is extremely difficult for others to unseal it so Zhu Ziliu went over to him and tapped his sides a few times, circulating his chi to unseal his pressure point.
• Yang Guo saw his index finger moving around and though it was coming at him at a fairly slow speed, all the major pressure points of his upper body were covered within the finger’s range leaving him guessing which pressure point was being targeted. As he was trying to figure it out, he realized all nine of his major pressure points were being threatened.
• Years ago, Reverend Yi Deng had used the “Divine One Yang Finger” to cure Huang Rong’s injury by circulating energy and clearing all her pressure points in pretty much the same way. The difference was that using the One Yang Finger to cure an illness ravenously consumed a lot of Reverend Yi Deng’s internal energy but hence lead to a quick recovery.
• Then he stepped forward and touched the sword blade with his finger. Heat shot through Yang Guo’s left arm, and his black iron sword was immediately brushed aside.
• If I wasn’t injured, I could use my “One Yang Finger” to temporarily stop the poisons so we could go search for the antidote.
• Fawang was about to turn around to parry any attack that came his way; but then he heard a light sound coming towards him. A luxuriant but gentle energy force was surging towards his face. Reverend Yideng had used his renowned “Solitary Yang Finger” to block Jinlun Fawang. Fawang had not considered this monk to be an expert; little did he realize that the energy released from his index finger was that powerful. Reverend Yideng’s level of the “Solitary Yang Finger” had reached the level of ultimate proficiency and perfection, the god-like energy released was pure, gentle but also abundant and forceful; impossible to block.
• My martial brother's Solitary 'Yang' Finger hit him on the eyebrow and broke his many years of training of the 'ha ma gong' [the toad stance].
• By this time Guo Jing’s martial art knowledge and experience was already incomparable to the past. He stood on the side watching Yideng’s finger move slowly, his arm floating in the air. He hit these thirty acupoints with thirty different acupoint sealing techniques. Each one was a mind opening technique; admittedly the Six Freaks of Jiangnan had never taught him this kind of technique, the ‘sealing acupoint section’ in the Nine Yin Manual also did not contain this technique. He had never seen anything like this before, he had never even heard about it. He was having a blurred vision just by watching; his tongue tied.

People

Diancang Yuyin

• The Wu brothers took the pair of metal oars that their Marshal Uncle used to him. Diancang Yuyin held them under his arms and went to the middle of the hall.
• Diancang Yuyin’s natural strength was already high; when he was serving Reverend Yideng he lived in secret in Xiangxi, he used his irons oars to row upstream against the current everyday, his arms became like steel.
• His natural ability was lacking, his internal energy couldn’t compare with Zhu Ziliu’s. However, his external hard skills were extremely powerful. Right now, the two were competing with their external hard skills, his strong point; his oars flew up and down as he attacked. Each metal oar was about fifty kilos (110+lbs) but he lifted them up as if they were light, he was as fluid as normal people with sabers or swords that weighed a few kilos.
• Guo Jing saw that man was about forty years old, his face was black like the bottom of a pot, full with beards and whiskers sprouting out like wire brush. (during LOCH)
• Former Admiral of Dali

Duan Zhixiang

As Zhixiang put increasing numbers of worthy and talented individuals in his administration, peace and prosperity grew.

Indian Dude

• Yang Guo looked at the person closely and saw that he was dark faced with a tall nose and deep set eyes; his appearance was similar to that of Nimoxing, and he had short, curly white hair, a man of old age. Yang Guo knew that Wu Santong was a disciple of the Reverend Yideng but he didn’t know that he also had an Indian Martial Uncle.
• Wu Santong said with joy, “My martial uncle is a great Indian sage; when it comes to healing wounds and curing poison, he’s probably the world’s best."
• The Indian monk did not understand what he was saying and went over to Yang Guo and checked his pulse. Wu Santong said, “Oh yes!” He quickly went to get Zhu Ziliu. Zhu Ziliu was well versed in Sanskrit and he was the only person who could communicate with the Indian monk.
• If released, the Indian monk would be all right because he didn’t know kungfu.
• “My Martial Uncle can usually withstand heat and cold much better than I can, but this time...”
• In his effort to cure poison induced illness, the Divine Indian Monk had tested many-many types of poison on his own body. Quite naturally, his body developed an immunity to poisons.

Woodcutter

• Huang Rong noticed this man’s face was grand and heroic, his appearance like that of a tiger’s. The way he lifted his hand or took a step carried an impressive power like that of an army general. If he wasn’t wearing coarse clothes and chopping woods in this secluded mountain, he surely gave an impression as the general who is in charge of a large army. Huang Rong’s heart was stirred, “Shifu said that the Southern Emperor, Emperor Duan is actually an emperor of Dali in Yunnan; could it be that this woodcutter was actually his general?"
• Former General of Dali

Wu Santong

• Disciple of Yideng
• When he was younger, love wasn’t kind to him and because of this, every time he saw a handsome young man, he would feel a bit of revulsion towards them.
• "The ox weighs approximately three hundred catties [about 300 lbs or 150 kg]; looks like that rock is not lighter that the ox. Even though half of the rock is leaning on the hillside, yet looking at his steady feet, this man has an astonishing strength.”
• Former Chief of Yideng's Household Guard

Yideng

The Duan family were traditionally deeply devoted Buddhists and once Duan Zhixing realised what he had done he was shaken to the core of his being. He therefore tidied up his affairs and decided to follow an ancient tradition of the royal family - becoming a monk. His Buddhist name was Yideng, meaning Solitary Light, possibly an allusion to his art. For decades afterwards Yideng did not involve himself in any affairs outside of his monkish contemplation. His good friend Hong Qigong was present at his initiation so word was spread out to Jianghu not to disturb the Southern Emperor anymore.

Duan Zhixing inspired such devotion from his subjects that four of his most trusted ministers resigned their posts to become Duan's monkish disciples. They could thus continue protecting and serving the man who would always be their lord and master. Their former posts include Chancellor of State and Commander of the Royal Guard.

• Reverend Yideng of Dali has four disciples: ‘Fisherman, Woodsman, Farmer, and Scholar’.
• The ones that have arrived for the ‘Heroes Feast’ today are the Fisherman, Si Shuiyuyin and the Scholar, Zhu Ziliu.
• Whenever Huang Rong and Zhu Ziliu meet, they start to battle with their wits. They haven’t seen each other for over ten years and as soon as they saw each other, they were at it again.
• One had long white eyebrows, with a benign face.
• He knew that Yideng was now using the “Voice Transmitting Over 1000 Li” skill. Of course Yideng was not literally 1000 li away, but if there was no mountain in the way, someone with high martial arts could project his voice over several li and yet sound very near. The higher the internal energy, the gentler the voice would sound. Yang Guo only heard these two sentences and was full of admiration and admitted to himself that this monk’s internal energy was so profound and refined that the monk was superior to him.
• Yideng was a monk and he had read all kind of books.
• Guo Jing asked around and found out that they had arrived within Taoyuan County border. Quickly he took the white pouch and cut the thread. Inside he found a map with two lines of characters which read, “Follow the route shown on the map. At the end of the road you will find a waterfall with a thatched hut next to it. Open the red pouch when you arrive there.”
• The other monk was wearing a robe made of coarse cloth; his white eyebrows so long that they drooped down from the corner of his eyes. His face was gentle; although his eyes showed a trace of sadness, at a glance his overall expression was that of a graceful and majestic person.
• Although Yideng was wearing a kassaya [Buddhist robe], but in Guo Jing’s eyes he did not look like a monk who followed the three-treasure way, but an emperor, ruler of tens of thousands people.

Yinggu

• Former wife of Duan Zhixing.
• Uses "Yin Frost Arrow Palm".
• Years ago when Yideng was the King of Dali, Yinggu was one of his concubines. She had an affair with Zhou Botong and had a son by him. Later Qiu Qianren used his Iron Palms to injure their son severely but King Duan (Yideng) refused to save the child and he died.
• Yinggu’s martial arts skill was inferior to Huang Rong’s, but she was trained in the ‘Loach Maneuvers’ [ni qiu gong]; therefore, she was very good at evading and dodging.
• On the ground squatted a grey-haired lady, her clothes were made from coarse fabric. Under the lamp light they saw that lady’s countenance to be thin and pallid, as if she did not have any blood; they felt compassionate toward her.
• After exchanging several moves Guo Jing realized that Ying Gu’s martial art was purely ‘yin’ [negative, female] in character, from the ‘soft’ side. Obviously she did not have a single frontal strike, but each one of her moves contained a lethal counter-strike; if Guo Jing did not know mutual hands combat, he would have been injured early on.
• Her acupoint sealing technique was excellent.
• “Day in and day out my concubines saw I train martial arts. Some were interested and expressed their desire to learn. So I casually gave directions to one or two of them. I thought by learning martial arts they would be healthier and might have a longer life. Among them a concubine surnamed Liu was the most gifted. She was so smart that each time I taught her something she would understand everything right off.
• “When she started training with Shifu, we have already been under his tutelage for a long time. How can her martial art exceed ours? In this last dozen of years or so, where did she go to learn such a marvelous skill?”
• She was determined to avenge the death of her son; she fully realized Reverend Yideng’s finger skill was very fierce, thereupon she spent a great deal of time and energy to find a method to subdue that skill. She was very skillful in embroidery, so she found her inspiration from the wonderful needlework technique. She wore a tiny golden hoop on the tip of her right hand index finger; on the hoop was a three-fen (about 1 cm) long golden needle, which tip was dipped in poison. Her vision was excellent, her hand was steady; after training hard for several years she was able to prick a fly flying in the air. This time fighting the enemy she was able to prick the scholar’s index finger.
• Ying Gu had lived on the Black Marsh for more than ten years. Her Loach Maneuver was developed based on watching loach diving and moving around in the mud. Fighting on land she was exceptionally slippery, how much more in the mud?
• At first she studied mathematics with the intention of rescuing Zhou Botong; but later on she was captivated with this complex yet mysterious subject. The further she dug into it, the more fascinated she became that sometimes she forgot to eat or sleep, and could not stop even if she wanted to. She knew perfectly well that even if she could solve these problems, compared to Huang Yaoshi’s, her skill would still be like heaven from earth.

Zhu Ziliu

• The ones that have arrived for the ‘Heroes Feast’ today are the Fisherman, Si Shuiyuyin and the Scholar, Zhu Ziliu.
• Whenever Huang Rong and Zhu Ziliu meet, they start to battle with their wits. They haven’t seen each other for over ten years and as soon as they saw each other, they were at it again.
• Years ago, Zhu Ziliu had been a lawyer and a governor in Dali; he was an educated and intelligent man. The martial arts of the school of the Mu Li Duan’s rely on one’s understanding. When Zhu Ziliu first entered the tutelage of the Southern Emperor, his kung fu was the worst out of the four disciples ‘Fisherman, Woodsman, Farmer, Scholar’; ten years later he moved up to second place, now his martial arts were much higher than his three older apprentice brothers.
• Zhu Ziliu wrote the word ‘pen’ in the air and laughed as he said, “In my life I have always been associated with a pen; how would I know how to use other weapons?”
• Zhu Ziliu is the number one calligrapher of the northern sky, though he practices martial arts he hadn’t stopped studying literature, in the end, the more he practiced his kung fu the further refined it became and eventually the two arts became connected to each other. The “Solitary Yang Finger” and calligraphy became one. This kung fu was his own invention; if the opponent was stronger but didn’t have a background in literature, it would be extremely difficult for them to defend against this martial art. From literature and literature on martial arts came a kung fu where both literature and martial arts have reached an extremely advanced state.
• Zhu Ziliu’s “Solitary Yang Book Finger” uses a pen as the finger; every stance was measured and cautious, like a pen writing a book.
• Well versed in Sanskrit
• Yang Guo had to admire him. He was stranded here for a long time but still kept calm as if everything was normal. Even in crisis, he could still be mirthful.
• Zhu Ziliu was a scholar and because of his association with his master, he was also familiar with different kinds of scriptures.
• Huang Rong took a good look on that scholar; he looked to be around forty years of age, ‘xiao yao jin’ [scholar hat] on his head, a folding fan in his hand, a long black beard under his chin, truly he had a scholar’s appearance. [during LOCH]
• "Turned out Sir was the Zhuang Yuan [number one scholar, the title conferred to a person who came out first in the highest imperial examination] of the Xin Wei year.”
• The scholar’s sword technique suddenly changed; his long sword vibrated, creating a continuously buzzing noise. His sword turned into six swords on the top, six swords on the bottom, six swords on the front, six swords on the back, six swords on the left and six swords on the right, successively stabbing like six by six, thirty six swords altogether. It was the Yunnan’s ‘ai lao shan’ [Mount Ailao] thirty-six sword; considered one of the best offensive sword techniques in the world.
• It goes without saying that he was a good schemer and tactician; he had been the prime minister of Dali kingdom for more than a dozen of years.