The Spiritworld, or Shen Shi, as it is called in Chinese, is another of the new realities to join the Possibility Wars. It is a land of myths, terror, and ghosts, reminiscent of some of the more grim Chinese folk tales. Life here is hard and uncertain. It makes an unpleasant addition to the raging wars.
Contents:
The history of Shen Shi
The Spiritworld, or Shen Shi in Chinese, is an alternate world from the legends and myths of China and Japan. It is dark, ominous, brooding, and populated with strange monsters and stranger people. The Emporer, Wang Mo Choy (Devil King Choy,) rules the entire land from behind the scenes; he seldom emerges from his royal temple, the Huo (misfortune) Palace. Politically, the Spiritworld is a fuedal state, and the commoners supply Choy with everything he and his governors need from their hard existence tilling the land. Even though the rivers flood annualy, spreading silt from the mountains across the fields, the soil in the Spiritworld is poor and tainted with the blood (and less healthy ichors) of the men and monsters who have died there since the dawn of time.
The Cosm of the Spiritworld is not a planet as much as it is a plane. It exists “to the side” of the real world, and it is rumoured to be the afterlife of some huge cosm, although if the peasants were once people in this other cosm, they have long forgotten it. They live in a state just short of despair, trying to make it from day to day. In most ways, the Spiritworld is identical to medieval China or Japan: sons are preferred over daughters, the land is the life, and the rich own the best lands next to the rivers. The only difference is that the supernatural are in abundance here, as are the martial arts.
While most of the populace compose of normal peasants, the roads and forests are peopled by wandering martial artists and Samurai, somewhat resembling Aysle in terms of its quest nature. They help fight the never ending battle against the ghosts and creatures of the night which help to give the Spiritworld its name.
Ecologically, the Spiritworld is a place of extremes: in the mountains it is possible to find scenes of majestic beauty, while in the lowlands bushes are scraggly and sparse. In all of the Spiritworld the sky is constantly overcast with a reddish tint, the source of which is unknown, but is said to be from the blood-red sun. A fine mist hangs over everything, allowing only a short distance of sight -- about ten miles at best. Away from the river valleys are huge, impenetrable forests roamed by the most hideous monsters and ghosts.
World Rules and Axioms
The Axioms of the Spiritworld reflect this magical, medieval existence. They are as follows:
Technological: 13 Social: 10 Spiritual: 17 Magical: 17
The Technological axiom allows for gunpowder, mirrors, inks, acids, clocks, and compasses. The Social axiom is 10 for purposes of money. Very little other aspects of this level of social axioms is in existence. The Spiritual axiom permits large bodies of people to form churches and miracles, but Emporer Choy does not permit this, as it gives too much power to the people of the land. Despite this, the gods often wander the Spiritworld in human form, trying to affect the people, and the Social axiom permits this. The Magical axiom allows even peasants to cast minor cantrips, although these, too, are forbidden. Another facet of this Magical level is that monsters and the supernatural are in abundance.
There are three World rules: the Law of Honor, the Law of Corruption, and the Law of Despair.
The Law of Honor: This is identical to the Law of Honor from the Aysle realm, except that is need not be shown. Unlike Aysle, those who follow good can still appear evil. Each add gives the same advantage as listed in the Aysle sourcebook.
The Law of Corruption: Just like the Law of Honor, it is the same as the Law fo Corruption from Aysle, with the only exception being that corrupt creatures need not necessarily be openly identifiable as such. Each add gives the same advantage as listed in the Aysle sourcebook.
The Law of Despair: This Law states that all persons in the Spiritworld feel the effects of the inhospitality of the cosm and it changes the way they look at life. While in the Spiritworld, it is harder to feel as though an individual has power over his or her own destiny, and that each life is doomed to a miserable existence. This never becomes bad enough to cause a person to kill his or herself. It is unconscious and cannot be fought. In game rules, this means players are required to lose one card in their hand, dropping the total to three for the duration they are in the Spritworld.
The Highlord, Wang Mo Choy
Wang Mo Choy was once the kindest of all Emporers. He ruled, along with the rest of his family, from their Palace of the Sun in Kungshu province. Then one day, while he was strolling in the massive palace gardens, he happened upon a pond where some Koi were swimming in tranquility. As he made to sit down beside the pond, one of the Koi came to the surface and spoke to him, saying it knew where Choy could find a treasure greater than any of his own. Choy scoffed at the fish. No one in all the land had finer treasures and art than the Imperial family! It beckoned him to follow it, and so he did, stripping off his gown and wading into the pool.
The fish led him beneath a bridge into a mossy cave which extended back some distance. Choy never knew there was so much to his garden! The fish led on, and Choy emerged from the cave in a strange land, where the cloudy sky glowed red and the dead were impaled on posts beside every road. At first shocked by this, he followed the Koi to the edge of the pond, where he could see a magnificent palace. There appeared to be nobody about, so Choy walked into the palace. There, upon a velvet cushion, sat a great black dragon statue, which seemed to speak to him as though with its own voice. He took the statue back with him through the cave to his palace. The magicians there warned him not to have anything to do with it; to take it back through the cave and put it back in the mysterious palace.
At first, he thought nothing could come of it, then as he began to be swayed by the Darkness Device, which called itself “Feng,” and receive powers from it, he became afraid. He tried to return it, but the talking fish was gone and the cave now led only a few yards back. In a short while, Feng began to change the way the young Emporer thought and the land began to show this. Strange monsters, seeming to come straight from superstition, began to arise in the land. The earth gave less, even when tilled more. Clouds covered the sky as the sun changed subtly in color. And before he knew it, Wang Mo Choy was the Emporer of the Spiritworld.
Today, Wang Mo Choy is old and withered, but he is still as spry as when he was a young man, two thousand years ago. The peasants do not question his immortality, nor do his servants and governors. He is very tall, and dresses in the finest embroideries in the world. His palace in the cosm of the Spiritworld is a maze through which only his closest advisor, servants, and himself know the way. He has taken up residence in the majestic palace in Peking. The axiom wash transformed huge portions within its walls into a labyrinthe which is haunted by horrible creatures.
Wang Mo Choy, the Emporer
DEXTERITY 15
Beast Riding 19, Dodge 22, Melee Weapons 24, Missile Weapons 20, Stealth 23
Unarmed Combat 22, Martial Arts (Shaolin Kung Fu) 25, Martial Arts
(An Ch’i) 27, Martial Arts (Ninjutsu) 25
STRENGTH 15
TOUGHNESS 14
PERCEPTION 16
Alteration Magic 23, Divination Magic 22, Language 19
Evidence analysis 22, Find 24, Scholar (the Spiritworld) 26, Trick 23
MIND 17
Apportation Magic 21, Conjuration Magic 25, Willpower 25, Holdout 25
CHARISMA 7
Persuasion 15, Taunt 13
SPIRIT 16
Faith (Spirit Zen) 24, Focus 20, Intimidation 26, Reality 25
Shaolin Maneuveres: Arm Lock, Back Kick, Feint, Hook Kick, Jump Kick,
Kicking, Spin Kick, Weaponmaster (Three part staff)
An Ch’i Maneuveres: Hit Location, Feint, weaponmaster (shuriken)
Ninjutsu Maneuveres: Block/strike, Lighting Fist, Missile Dodge, Felling the
Oak, Invisibility, True Invisibility, Weaponmaster (short bow)
Arcane Knowledges: Death, True Knowledge, Darkness, Folk, Fire
Possibilities: 60
Equipment: Choy wears a Yin/Yang pendant which gives him two powers: first,
he can erase all effects of KO and shock damage each round. Second, he can
cause either a K result or ten shock points of damage in one character per round.
The Darkness Device, Feng
The Darkness Device is named Feng, which means leprous or insane. It is a table-sized statue of a Chinese Dragon, curling around and around. It has a menacing grin. It is still black, although Feng has touched it up with some red paint and gilded scales. The maelstrom bridge appears as a beam of light shining into the Emporer’s palace from a rend in the sky. The stelae come in many shapes, but most are Samurai helmets, swords, or (most common) stone lanterns.
Choy uses Gospog more than the average Highlord. In the first stage, they appear, as usual, in their vegatable-like form. In the second stage, they still look the same, but now wear the armour of the Imperial Guard. In the third stage, they take the form of a huge tiger the size of a horse. The fourth planting is a Nue, a Japanese monster with the body of a badger, the head of a monkey, the paws of a tiger, the wings of an eagle, and the tail of a serpent. The fifth and final planting results in the Gospog as a massive, snaky Dragon.
People and Places of Shen Shi Note: this section is incomplete. Spirit Zen Note: this section is incomplete. One day I would like to create even more of these miracles, but until them, these will work great.
Zen is the term for a quisi-religious system of thinking, which is something of a mix between Tao and Buddhism. It is present in many, many cosms, but nowhere is it as influential as in the Spiritworld. The Spiritworld’s dominant religion is Spirit Zen, which is a combination of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Shintoism. Quite different from Core Earth zen, it is a combination of lessons about balance and inner peace as well as a belief about death.
Spirit Zen has no one god or devil that is worshipped; instead, it leaves room for wide worship of dieties. That is to be left up to the needs of the individual. It simply lays down a guideline about how and when to offer worship. For game purposes, though, a character with Spirit Zen has a strong sense of balance and understands the need for both good and evil. The Yin/Yang symbol represents the essence of Spirit Zen.
Zen Miracles Even though Spirit Zen gets its power not from a diety, but from the mind of the user, Spirit Zen still has its own miracles. They work exactly the same as regular miracles. There is no community rating available, though, since Zen is so much an individual religion.
Aside from the following, Spirit Zen has access to all the miracles in the rulebook.
Meditation Clarity of Mind Inner Strength Spiritual Rating: 5 3 7 Difficulty: 8 10 10 Range: self touch touch Duration: 24 hours 24 hours 24 hours Effect: Gives character +1 Character gains +3 The recipient recieves +3 to to martial arts skill. to MIN or PER skills. resist charm, intimidation, taunt, test, and trick. Balance Extra Sense Future Sight Spiritual Rating: 9 10 12 Difficulty: 12 12 13 Range: touch self effect total in days Duration: 24 hours effect total minutes instant Effect: Character gains +3 No penalties to find Allows character to see one to DEX skills. skill. possible event in the future. Tipping the Scales Nature Union Show the Way Spiritual Rating: 9 5 10 Difficulty: 13 5 15 Range: effect total in km touch self Duration: instant 12 hours instant Effect: Gives character Character can eat Shows character one correct vision of event that any plant or animal, choice to make when unsure is changing the fu- or drink any water, which action to take. ture. ignoring poisons, impurities, or bacteria.Martial Arts in Shen Shi
Note: this section is incomplete. We have come up with an entirely new (and better) system of martial arts, mut unfortunately, at the time of this last editing I do not have the file. Watch this spot in the future and maybe we can get it in here. Until then...
Running the Spiritworld in Torg 2000
The Spiritworld can be one of the most difficult realities to make adventures for, especially if you really don't know anything about China or its religions. The best thing to do is remember The Spiritworld and Aysle are very similar in their settings and "attitude." Instead of knights there are Samurai. Instead of Tolkeinesque dragons there are snaky "oriental" dragons. Instead of minotaurs and hydra and centaurs there are kirin and ghosts. In all other respects they are the same -- both have farmers, medieval cities, quests, magic weapons, powerful sorcerers, and dangerous dungeons.
A good thing to do would be to go down to the library and look up what you can on chinese mythology. A good book could be all that is needed to add believability to the realm. Also don't forget the realm may be fantasy like Aysle, but it is a lot more grim. The characters' lives should be marked by hopelessness and fear, borrowing somewhat from the atmosphere of Orrorsh.
Recommended Materials: Movies: Mortal Kombat I and II Mulan Drunken Master I and II A Chinese Ghost Story Big Trouble in Little China Books: The Good Earth (Anything I missed? Send me an e-mail!)
• Return to the Realms page.