EdgeOfHeaven
When the Han lost the Mandate of Heaven, their legions abandoned the western border forts in an attempt — ultimately futile — to turn back the Xiongnu invaders. For the towns of Huangdi’s Path, the corridor formed by the Qilin Mountains and the westernmost section of the Great Wall, this spelled disaster. Raiders from the Empty Hand desert, long held in check by the legion based at the Jade Gate fortress, now preyed on both the Silk Road caravans and the towns the caravans passed through. Blazing Beacon, the town closest to the Jade Gate, was among the hardest hit. The raiders drove away the caravans; without the caravans, the populace fled Blazing Beacon; with fewer people, Blazing Beacon could not defend itself, and invited and emboldened the raiders.
This death spiral turned a prosperous, vibrant city into a veritable ghost town; eventually, Blazing Beacon was forgotten by the Empire, the caravans, and the raiders alike. The people who remained are a hardy, no-nonsense, even pessimistic folk. The oasis around which the town was built provides enough land for the few hundred inhabitants to sustain themselves, and though the Silk Road has found other (less profitable, but safer) routes into the heartland of Tian Xia, Huangdi’s Road is an ideal route for smugglers. Not enough for a life of luxury, but enough to survive.
But now messengers spread the news among the Silk Road caravans: “Await the reopening of Huangdi’s Path.” The Emperor, it seems, has set his sights on reopening the Jade Gate. An imperial concubine has been promised to the Kaagan of the Ten-Thousand Tribes in return for peace along the border, while the imperial palace hums with plans to transplant not only a new legion, not only governmental officials, but also thousands — maybe tens of thousands — of drought-ravaged families from the east. Blazing Beacon, long forgotten, is now remembered; its people, fiercely proud and independent, may not look upon the return of the caravans with favor if it means kowtowing to imperial grandees, paying imperial taxes and obeying imperial laws.
This is the wiki for The Edge of Heaven, a play-by-post Legends of the Wulin campaign.
