Shiyan Loyalty

??

Advantage

Advantage is loyalty to yourself: your own pleasure, safety, and ambition. Criminals, demons, and royalty are often ruled by desire for advantage. To some you are selfish, but to others you are simply practical. Advantage is seen as a vice in Shiyan, and is associated with 'hell'. Self sacrifice and begging are breaches of advantage.

??

Authority

Authority is loyalty to the current government in Shiyan, the Ching empire. Judges, officials, and soldiers are often ruled by desire for authority. To some you are mindlessly submissive, but to others you are ethical and righteous. Obedience to authority is a cardinal virtue in Shiyan, so much so that following an evil order is considered a more ethical act than disobeying. Community and family are considered lesser forms of this greater concept. Authority is associated with 'wind'. Complaining and disobedience are breaches of authority.

Before the cataclysm it is said that Prince Shin Wue possessed a magical blade that was said to be invincible if 99 willing lives were sacrificed on it. He had only 99 followers at this time, including his family, and refused to perform the ritual. His mother pinned him as he held the sword, and people hurled themselves onto his blade one after another, until to his horror his mother herself became the ninety ninth victim. They had done their duty, and then Prince Wue did his duty, using the sword to conquer all the kingdoms and become the first ever Emperor.

Community

Community is loyalty to your home. Usually that home is the city or village you were born or raised. It is possible to adopt a new home, but you lose all loyalty gained and return to 1 when you do so. You may associate a province or ethnic group with your home. Rebels, patrons, and politicians are often ruled by desire for community. To some you are bigoted, but to others you are a patriotic citizen. Community is no longer a cardinal virtue in Shiyan, but remains one of the eight pillars. It is associated with 'earth'. Betrayal and assimilation are breaches of community.

??

Decorum

Decorum is loyalty to appearances. Courtesy, manners, ritual, and compliance with Shuchew tradition are all bound up in this ideal. However the Shuchew principles that govern decorum require strict gender and racial roles, and increasingly seen as oppressive to women and non-Humans. Poets, servants, and wives are often ruled by desire for decorum. To some you are shallow, but to others you are pleasant and civilized. Decorum is seen as a cardinal virtue in Shyan, and is associated with 'sun'. Irreverance and scandal are breaches of decorum.

Tales are told of a beautiful young Ming maiden from many centuries ago. She was virtuous and popular, and sure to marry well. Ching barbarians raided her village, and began to rape and pillage. Rather than be sullied, the girl scarred her own face and mutilated herself to avoid their vile attentions. Tales of her purity moved the Emperor himself, and he summoned her to the capital where she become a concubine.

Family

Family is loyalty to your blood relations and marital bonds. Particularly deep friendship may turn into blood bonds that carry the same weight as marriage, and family bonds do not dissolve with death. Anyone might be ruled by a desire for family, even monsters and the dead. To some you are preferential and biased, but to others you are caring. Family is no longer a cardinal virtue in Shiyan, but it remains one of the eight pillars. It is associated with 'wood'. Abuse and denial are breaches of family.

Many familial concepts in Shiyan stem from early tribal and ancestral worship. A proper person is dutiful to dead family members as well as living ones. The world of the spirits is filled with items destroyed in the real world. You might burn your grandfather's favorite chair so that he may enjoy it in the afterlife. Commonly food or money is burned on anniversaries to please the spirits of ancestors and make their afterlife more comfortable. Disrespected ancestors have been known to curse later generations, either with misfortune or haunting.

Gain

(Wealth)

Harmony

Harmony is loyalty to a higher order. At the heart of most Shiyan belief systems is the notion that there is a harmonic design to the world, and everything has its place. This harmony is maintained by each person performing his or her own role and allowing others to perform theirs. This notion of order keeps peasants oppressed, but also allows various religions to exist side by side without conflict. Monks, priests, and scholars are often ruled by desire for harmony. To some you are haughty or passive, but to others you are pious and serene. Harmony is seen as a cardinal virtue in Shiyan, and is associated with 'heaven'. Desire and revolution are breaches of harmony.

A monk was tasked with climbing a tiger infested mountain to clean the small shrine at the top. On the way a tiger appeared, and told him it was his destiny to be eaten that day, and asked if he would submit. The monk did not wish to be eaten, and claimed he had to clean the shrine first as an excuse. The tiger nodded solemnly and let him go. While cleaning the shrine, the monk disturbed a seal and released thirteen terrible monsters into the world. Too late, the monk realized that the tiger would have prevented all this evil.

Ingenuity

Ingenuity is loyalty to creativity and intelligence. Engineers, pilots, and spies are often ruled by desire for ingenuity. Government positions are nominally filled by merit only, proven through education and rigorous examinations. Not only is the system corrupt, but it only favors the regurgitation of traditionally accepted teachings. Any effort to update theories or improve upon them is treated as disruptive and dangerous. To some you are radical, but to others you are clearly brilliant. Despite the value of higher learning in Shiyan ingenuity is almost considered a vice. It remains one of the eight pillars, and is associated with 'fire'. Deceit and regression are breaches of ingenuity.

An ancient scholar once built a sedan chair covered in firework rockets. He seated himself and lit the fuses in a grand display, and with a crack of thunder he and the chair disappeared. It is still taught that the device worked, and the scholar was transported straight to the heavens to become a great sage there. With much work later mortals were eventually able to adapt similar concepts into the current Rocket Hoppers, more suitable for transportation between worldly locations.

Justice

Justice is loyalty to a personal sense of right and wrong. Justice is not about law, although the two may coincide. In Shiyan, justice is usually synonymous with revenge and retribution. Detectives, judges, and warriors are often ruled by desire for justice. Some see you as obstinate, but others see you as staunchly righteous. Justice is a cardinal virtue in Shiyan, and is associated with 'water'. This can be volatile, since justice may conflict with authority, decorum, and harmony and yet still be considered virtuous. Apathy and mercy are breaches of justice.

Wuelin still tell tales of an incomparable warrior who cut off his fiercest enemy's arm in a duel. Defeated but righteous, the enemy accused the warrior of needing to use poison to win. When the warrior discovered that his lover had indeed poisoned the enemy, he first cut off her arm, and then his own.

Liberty

(Freedom)

Passion

(Love)

Prowess

Prowess is loyalty to excellence. Physical skills and the hard work required to achieve them are highly respected, especially within the Wuelin. The highest levels of prowess are usually deadly, and bitter rivalries form as practitioners stop at nothing to be the best. Doctors, pilots, and warriors are often ruled by desire for prowess. Some see you as obsessed, but others see you as disciplined. Prowess is seen as a virtue in Shiyan, and is associated with 'metal'. Allowing insults and showing fear are breaches of prowess.

A thug led a small gang attacking a superior Wuelin fighting man. Half the gang was killed immediately, and the other half fled...except for the thug. Respecting the thug's discipline, the fighting man made him an offer: if the thug could survive three blows the fighting man would take him on as a student. The third blow killed the thug, but the Wuelin respect his commitment and honor to this day.

Version 2.5.0
©2014 Frameworks Games

This is outdated content. Update Needed!