hoplitejoe
Top fun-poster
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- Mar 22, 2010
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Islamic Native Americans 
Also the story is definitely worth the wait
Also the story is definitely worth the wait
The Celestial Bureaucracy
- Thread starter Tomorrow's Dawn
- Start date
Mosher
Mushroom dad
Great update. 
Civ'ed
I ain't gotta explain a thing
for that, have this • delicious Ulmer cookie!
Yoshiegg737
Jungo Jungo
Those Native American's are awesome 
Optical
The Fall of the Eleventh
Seriously awesome, yet again. 
Tomorrow's Dawn
Heroes Never Die
This is the final update of the first season. You'll find more of my personal comments at the bottom when you've finished reading this chapter.
The Reality Of It
After the first day of contact, the crew of the Lan Ye Hua had settled down into an extended two week stay.
The sailors simply didn’t want to leave and the researchers were still simply ecstatic at all the “new” discoveries being made everyday. Bai herself was taken on numerous tours of the forest by the friendly scouts from the village. And she soon gained an appreciation for the abundance of life that called this land home. She could really see why the sailors took to calling the continent Meizhou.
Their stay here produced some concerns for her though. Specifically, they all regarded her junior researcher, Azuma. Strangely enough, every night Azuma returned to the ship, he looked completely drained of energy.
The other Nao Caste researchers constantly hounded his door, begging him to come out and assist them with translating native descriptions of all of the new flora & fauna they had found. But he wouldn’t open the door. Every morning, he left at the exact same time to apparently give Vermillion some Mandarin lessons. The only time Bai saw him anymore was at the raucous feasts that Father Wolf held. He was always there, dancing with Vermillion and not paying any attention to anything else.
Lady Bai had enough of the sailors mistreating her student. Last night, he didn’t even dance so badly! And yet, the sailors still continued to laugh at him. As she held seniority, she had a right mind to berate the seamen for their transgressions. In the morning, the astronomer walked up to Azuma’s lead tormentor, a burly Han sailor in charge of maintaining hull integrity. He was passed out on the deck along with a number of the other sailors and a few native women who decided to bring the party to the deck. She woke him up by pulling hard on his ear and dragging him away from the railing.
“Aaagghhh!!!” the sailor cried out as he awoke.
Bai was standing over him while tapping on the planks impatiently with her foot.
She appeared cross as she folded her arms.
“Get up!” she commanded.
“It’s so early, Bai, what do you want?” he protested groggily.
“The kid was just trying to have fun and learn something new and you’re not even going to give him a break?” the astronomer berated him. “For shame!”
“Whoa, whoa, alright, come on Bai, get off my case. You can’t blame me! Even if it wasn’t the kid and it was anyone else, you’re going to tell me that I’m not supposed to laugh when I see anyone dance by themselves like that?”
Bai took a moment to register that. She shook her head and continued to grill the seaman.
“What are you talking about? He was dancing with Vermillion Waters the whole time!”
“Who?” the sailor asked, completely puzzled.
“Vermillion Waters.” Bai repeated again.
“Well, I spent the first night with a Vermillion Sky and last night with an Ivory Waters, but I haven’t met anyone named Vermillion Waters,” the sailor spoke as he slicked back his long black hair.
Although at this point of the conversation, Bai began to suspect something was wrong.
“You know, Walker in Sunfire & Vermillion Waters, one of the two natives we met at the beach? One man and one girl?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the sailor shrugged.
“We only ever met one person on the beach, Bai. And it was a man. Don’t you remember?”
The sailor tried to go back to sleep as it took Bai a moment to soak it in.
She came to a startling revelation.
“I have to go! I’ll be back later!” she said as she stormed off, as if the seaman were still awake to hear it.
Elimination of the Kampuchean remnants on the Phillippines well underway.
Bai descended from the junk to scour the beach. But they weren’t there. No, they weren’t farther up the beach either. Bai then went to the First Nation settlement and attempted to ask around there but no one there could give her any answers. All that remained now was the wood. Without hesitation, the Han woman ran straight in by herself, in hope of finding her pupil. Eventually, as she made it deeper into the forest, the liveliness of the environment around her gradually faded until not a sound could be heard, save for her own footsteps as she trampled on the fallen leaves.
It was strange. In every part of the forest she had traversed through with the First Nation guides, there was no shortage of animal life. Birds could be heard chirping almost incessantly and mule deer were extraordinarily abundant to the point of being common. Here where she stood, there was almost an eerie absence of life in contrast to the near-bursting populations she witnessed elsewhere before.
Her own primal instinct told every fiber of her being not to enter the cave but in her mind, she knew that this was the clear indicator that she was on the right track. With great difficulty, the astronomer hefted herself over the stones and descended into the black.
While the depths of the cavern were quite dark, Bai’s hawkish brown eyes could make out faint silhouettes and rock formations across the way. As she continued to navigate through the labyrinthine passage, her nose perked at the sudden change in scent. The cavern walls were covered in blood. Specifically, the blood was patterned to display numerous characters and letters from various languages from the old continent. Bai recognized some of them as Arabic and Tartar script. As she went along and followed the trails of blood writing, they became more varied. These were all the languages that her young pupil knew.
Thankfully, from the scent, Bai could discern that it was all animal blood that had been smeared on the wall, and not Azuma’s. Traversing further through the damp cavern, she could see that the ground was littered with animal bones and residual tissues from decayed half-eaten carcasses. Had she not known any better, Bai would have assumed that it was the lair of some local variety of beast. It was worse. The skeletons of large cats and even bears could be seen dotting the macabre landscape of the tunnel.
Soon, Azuma came into view. The linguist sat near the wall in a trance, dabbing his fingers into the warm flesh of a fresh bear carcass, writing red hanzi all across the wall. Draped across his shoulders was the lovely Vermillion Waters, whispering unintelligible nothings into his ear as he continued to write.
The astronomer attempted to sneak off to the side in order to gain a better view, but the way her robe dragged on the floor dragged a wayside skeleton underneath her, causing Bai step on the rotting spine of some rodent-like creature. The echo that came out as a result of her mishap was resounding.
“Who’s that?” Azuma said at the sound of bones snapping. The way that he slurred his speech indicated that he was under very heavy influence.
“It’s just a guest, sweetie. I’ll go see what she wants,”
“Come back soon, then,” Azuma said as he continued to paint characters onto the wall.
Vermillion Waters walked towards Bai slowly in a cautious, deliberate gait.
Her lush brown hair fell to one side as she cocked her head in curiosity
“You good? Here for reason, is that?” The girl said in completely butchered & broken Mandarin.
Bai was not amused. “I know how to speak English. And write it too,”
“Ah, that makes things easier then,” Vermillion said as she switched her speech.
“You’ll have to excuse me, I’ve only just been learning Mandarin these past few days. It’s a beautiful language,”
“Release Azuma,” the robed woman stated flatly, cutting to the chase.
“Now why would I do that?
I’m everything he could have ever wanted,
Is that such a crime?
You can ask him yourself.
He doesn’t want to go back onto that nasty ship and deal with all those roughneck sailors every day.
Not when he can stay here in this beautiful land with the girl of his dreams.
He’s happy here. Why would you disturb him?”
“Because you’re not natural. And by the looks of all of this,” Bai continued as she glanced towards the macabre script covering the walls of the cavern. “I doubt Azuma’s welfare and happiness are at the top of your list of priorities,”
“I don’t know what your agenda is but I am demanding you to release my pupil,” Bai asserted again.
“That’s insulting,” Vermillion frowned. “I’m all-natural, I swear,”
She even perked up her bust with one hand to prove her point.
“But if you’re going to continue to persist, well…I’m sorry, I really am,”
The girl’s eyes flared for a moment, shining in the darkness only to be followed by a lightning-quick leap that caught Bai off-guard. Before the astronomer knew what hit her, Vermillion Waters had pinned Bai to the cold, damp floor and slashed Bai’s face with her nails, leaving a hideous gash on the elder woman’s face. In desperation, Bai was able to get the girl off of her with a swift kick just above the groin region. As the girl reeled, Bai took advantage of the opportunity afforded to her to escape. The Han woman’s blood trailed behind her though as she sought respite from her hunter.
As Bai dodged from the girl’s feral pounces, she was able to lose her for a second and took refuge behind a corner to escape from Vermillion’s rampage. Nearby was the skeleton of a puma, with numerous teeth still intact. Bai quickly dislodged its canine as quietly as she could then held her breath as she waited for Vermillion’s approach.
“COME OUT!!” Vermillion screeched as she plowed her way through a thick stalagmite in search of Bai.
The steps grew louder and the wreckage grew nearer as she continued to swing into the dozens of stalagmites that dotted the landscape.
Spinning around from the corner with the intent of plunging the canine down into Vermillion’s shoulder, Bai revealed herself and plunged her arm downwards. The younger girl caught Bai’s attack right as it was about to come down and with a look of satisfaction on her face, backhanded the astronomer, further exacerbating the pain of her face wound and sending her flying across the cave. Bai barely missed being impaled onto the tip of a stalagmite, much to her adversary’s ire.
As she got back onto her feet, she attempted to punch Vermillion in the face, only to be parried aside.
Why can’t I hit her?
With the momentum, Bai swung her body in an arc to roundhouse kick her assailant.
This time, Vermillion caught her foot.
It doesn’t make any sense!
The astronomer was knocked back onto the floor with ease.
I don’t detect anything wrong with this girl, it just…wait…
Bai barely caught a glint in Vermillion’s eyes before she rolled out of the way of a decapitating strike.
Oh.
She understood.
Change of plans.
Bai moved onto her feet with double-time and ran further down the cavern without looking back.
“Where are you going?!” the brunette shrieked as she gave chase.
She soon arrived in the deepest chamber of the cavern. Here the stench of rotting animals and congealed fats was the strongest. But that wasn’t what she was sniffing for.
It was here. She could smell it.
The smell of sudden alarm and unease.
But she didn’t want to show her hand just yet.
Fairly soon, Vermillion stalked into the chamber after her, kicking aside a boar skeleton as she brandished her elongated nails.
Bai turned about-face to meet her adversary. Her flight had come to an end.
“Nowhere else to run now, is there?”
“It doesn’t matter now. I win.” Bai muttered.
“What’s that? I can’t hear you, speak up,” Vermillion asked quizzically.
“I win.” The matured woman stated again.
“Win what? I don’t understand, hag,” she taunted derisively. “You think this is a game?”
“It is a game. A game that cowards play, one that you’ve been playing very well,” Bai said.
“How fitting that you want to talk about cowardice when you’ve been hiding from me continually all this time,” Vermillion snickered as she tussled her hair some more.
“I’m not a coward. Not like you, Walker,” she said.
Vermillion’s violet eyes widened as she realized what Bai had just said. But it was too late.
Bai’s arm contorted behind her as it shot out and stopped something dead in its tracks. It was Walker in Sunfire, poised behind her with a carving blade raised above his head. Her hand phased through Walker in Sunfire’s forested chest like a ghost, and then re-materialized again. The resulting paradox of two different masses sharing the same point of space was graphic. Walker’s chest exploded into great red chunks of hair and tissue as he stumbled backwards. Her own hand disintegrated from the stunt but from the cold, steely look on her face, it didn’t seem to matter. At that exact moment, the slender body of Vermillion Waters went limp like a discarded marionette.
“…How did you?…What are you?!” he mouthed as he fell to the floor.
“I should be asking you the same thing,” she said as she ripped his heart out with her good hand.
Despite having his heart ripped out, Walker still writhed on the ground, slowly breathing as he backed away from the steadily approaching woman.
“You underestimated me, and that’s too bad. Now it’s time to talk,”
The Han woman croaked as she staggered towards the wounded man.
“What did you need Azuma for and how did you know to specifically target him?”
Walker howled various obscenities as he scurried backwards.
“Wrong answer,” Bai responded.
Bai took her good hand and with her thumb and pinkie finger, was ready to take out the wounded man’s eyeballs. Walker shut his eyes in anticipation; as if it would save him. She simply phased through and invoked paradox, causing great rivers of blood to burst forth from his forced-open eyelids. Walker screamed and cried out, but only tears of blood welled up to the surface, dribbling down from the sides of his face.
“I’m going to find out, sooner or later,” she threatened.
“You’re not getting a damn thing from me, whatever you are!” the bearded man squealed.
“Have it your way then,” Bai said as she finished him off as she drew the puma canine with her three good fingers and savaged him alive as he kicked and screamed. But no one was around to hear him.
As the blood trickled down across the cavern floor, Bai could see Walker’s body transmutating back to its original form. Something bestial, with canine-features. It was still bipedal and human in most regards such as the limbs, but its head was clearly that of a wolf’s.
She understood almost immediately and knew that she very well could have died if things were any different. If the creature hadn’t exerted itself so much in maintaining its cloak and spell, well, she hated to think about it but he would have certainly easily overpowered her in this form. Bai then approached the limp body of the girl sprawled across the ground. She was definitely real, all right. And most certainly mortal, if only altered a little, given the striking violet irises and the razor-sharp nails that she had grown earlier. From further observation, it seemed that her nails had retracted to normal size. It was nearly indistinguishable before, but whatever Walker did to make this girl invisible to mundane eyes seemed to have dissipated.
She looked at the bloody stump where her right hand once was.
And the awkward looking three-fingered left hand she was left with.
Now that wasn’t suspicious at all. She would have to do something about it
With the puma canine, she began to carve up Walker in Sunfire’s body.
He was too big to devour whole after all. Bai unhinged her jaw.
“I told you I was going to find out sooner or later,” Bai said to herself as she prepared to devour Walker’s brain.
After Bai had finished gorging herself on Walker’s carcass, her fingers & hand reshaped, good as new. The hideous gash that Vermillion had inflicted on her porcelain face also regenerated herself. All that was left of Walker now was just a half-finished leg and several bones.
“Garou, huh…”
Bai shot a glance towards the unconscious girl and wiped her mouth clean of the monster’s blood.
After learning what she had, the astronomer could not help but feel a pang of sympathy for the girl overcome her. The girl was stolen away a long time ago and modified only to serve as a tool. Bai picked up Vermillion’s body and checked her pulse. Good. She was still breathing. Although she would most likely suffer a great deal of shock upon awakening. The older woman picked up the unconscious girl into her arms, and then curiously enough, crouched over Walker’s carcass to take his leg as well. It might not work, and it was certainly one of the dumber ideas she had, but she couldn’t think of anything else. There weren’t many ways she could explain Walker in Sunfire’s disappearance without arousing suspicion.
As Bai made her way back towards the blood script chambers near the entrance way of the cavern, she found Azuma still scribbling away like a lunatic with the bear blood.
Azuma was still under whatever compulsion Walker had put on him but at least it made him more agreeable to whatever Bai asked of him. The young linguist was ordered to carry Vermillion’s unconscious body as they made their way out the cave. As she turned back to look at towards the mouth of the cave, she thought about the possibility that some native or…one of them might stumble onto this place. There was no way to seal it…for now. Guess it meant that Bai was making a return trip after the expedition was over.
Bai led Azuma out of the dead zone of the forest back into the lively groves that surrounded the area. It was here that she would have to try and test her gambit.
“Wait here,” she told Azuma as she left the grove in some wayward direction.
This was absolutely and incredibly stupid, Bai thought to herself as she spun Walker’s leg in her hand.
Azuma stood still in the grove for what seemed like an eternity. Not that he was in a state of mind to be bothered by that anyway. Several birds had already begun to use him as a resting post. The sun passed overhead, signifying that noon had passed and he was still standing there. The birds were startled suddenly though by a voice.
“Azuma.”
It was faint.
“Azuma!”
Getting closer.
“AZUMA!!!”
The dream was over.
“Wh-huh? Lady Bai, is that you? Wait, why am I carrying Vermillion? What happened to her?!”
“No time! I’ll explain later! Now run!” she screamed as she sprinted past the confused linguist.
Turning to look behind him, Azuma gasped and followed his mentor with adrenaline pumping through his veins as a giant bear came barreling out of the grove behind him, intent on mauling someone.
The foundings of Chongqing and Kunming followed the power-vacuum created by the absences of the Kampucheans and Manchurians respectively.
“Please, we need help!” Bai cried in Mandarin as she ran out from the woods into the First Nation settlement. She appeared panicked and when crew members who were present came to console her, she could only speak in nonsensical rapid-fire speech.
“We found this girl in the forest being attacked a bear! Walker in Sunfire tried to help, but ended up being eaten. It was so horrible, I don’t know how to-“ Bai pretended to break down.
“What?” a nearby sailor frowned. “You’re not making any sense!”
The frown immediately turned into a look of horror though, as Azuma trailed behind with an unconscious girl in his arms. True to Bai’s word, a large bear came tumbling out of the wood after them, with a man’s foot still sticking out of its gaping mouth. The hunters, shocked at such rare audacity from a woodland beast were paralyzed for a second but snapped out of it and darted forward to meet the challenge of the bear. With bows and spears in their hands, they let loose with everything they had and brought the bear to heel.
“Father Wolf, you have to save Vermillion!” Azuma pleaded as he held her in his arms.
The wizened chief examined the girl and then placed a hand on Azuma’s shoulder.
“She is fine, but I do not understand why you address her to me like so; I do not know this girl,”
“What do you mean?” Azuma asked, confused.
“Azuma, this girl is not of our tribe,” Father Wolf re-iterated.
“What?” the young Yamato man was shocked.
“Hm, I know of one other temporary settlement in this region. I will send a message to their Chief to see if this girl is one of theirs’,”
More tribals were rushing to the scene to haul off the bear or simply chatter to each other incredulously at what had just transpired. Bai sighed in relief. To the onlookers, she was only expressing relief at having escaped a life-or-death situation. In the confines of her own mind, she couldn’t believe that gambit actually worked. It wasn’t easy to find a sleeping bear, stick Walker’s remains in its mouth, wake it & run all the way back to Azuma and make sure all three of them came out of the wood safe.
Another week had passed and word arrived from the neighboring tribals that the girl was not one of theirs.
Azuma was still confused at the recent events that transpired.
Walker in Sunfire was devoured by a bear?
Vermillion Waters isn’t from the tribe?
What was he doing so deep in the forest anyway?
And why was Lady Bai there too?
None of it made any sense to him.
Vermillion had awoken by now but exhibited the tendency to scream or shudder at the sight of everything except himself and Bai.
It appeared to him that she had a real hard case of amnesia. She didn’t know her own name, she didn’t know Azuma’s name, she didn’t even know her brother’s name.
She wasn’t the playful, coquettish girl she was a few days ago, but rather a frightened, shaky soul thrust into an alien world. Perhaps it was just the death of her brother that traumatized her to this point.
Yes, that must be it. But it didn’t exactly feel right to him.
His memory of what had transpired in the past two weeks had grown extremely fuzzy.
Yet, the time that he spent with Vermillion on that first night was still crystal-clear to him.
Azuma didn’t really know what to believe anymore.
Kampuchea falls at last.
It was agreed that the crew of the Lan Ye Hua would take custody of Vermillion.
The Nao Caste cabal onboard were more than happy at the prospect of being able to bring a live native back with them to the Empire.
The First Nation tribals after all, did not want to take her in.
Talk in the settlement regarded her sudden appearance as a bad omen and wanted nothing to do with her.
Azuma was contented at the news but genuinely worried at the same time.
He was infatuated with her, but it seemed wrong to take her with them, far from the land of her birth.
There was nothing he could do about it though.
In a few days, the expedition set sail. As a farewell gift, the villagers helped restock the junk with much-needed supplies, food & fresh water. Techniques and recipes for preserving red meat for extended periods of time were also bequeathed to the crew’s resident cook and quartermaster. The Chinese were also told to sail south along the coast. Eventually they would reach Aztlán and Màayapáan. They were warned however. Aztlán, while housing the Holy City of Islam to which all faithful Muslims prayed in the direction to, was notorious for having an aggressive streak towards outsiders. Màayapáan was recommended as their next destination though as they were considerably more amiable than their northern neighbors. The Imperial Chinese and the First Nation tribals then parted on good terms on the promise of continued contact.
Thoughts from the Changeling.
They always warned her not to wander too close to the edge of the woods.
Who were they?
She couldn’t remember.
Not the faces of her parents or the members of her old tribe.
Only the pair of eyes at the bottom of the rabbit hole.
They told her they needed her. That she would be useful.
And before she could give an answer, she was tipped down into the abyss.
Every day after that, it was as if she walked in a waking dream.
The world was painted in soft blurs and cloudy shapes.
People seemed to pass her by.
She couldn’t speak to anyone if she tried.
And when she touched them, they disappeared into dust.
But everything was solid and concrete now.
Everything.
The past few days onboard the ship were mentally taxing.
She was having difficulty adjusting to people again.
But as long as those two were here, it felt like she could eventually find her way back to normalcy.
There is this woman onboard the ship.
She smiles warmly towards her and even though she can’t understand what she’s saying, it makes her feel at home.
Something in the back of her head gnaws at her and tells her that she owes the woman a debt.
It’s too hard to think about that now though.
The cold, salty-sea breeze tickling her beautiful face.
The light of the stars that dotted the night sky.
The awkward, but genuinely worried face that gazes at her.
It’s comforting.
She rested her head against him and placed a hand against his chest.
Something warm in him told her that she was finally safe at last.
He is real.
This is real.
I am real.
Worship of the Celestial Bureaucracy takes hold in the Kingdom of Oceania as Chinese "holy men" are documented to have arrived and performed strange wonders in demonstration of the power of the shen, astonishing the superstitious locals. While no priests were sanctioned to spread worship by the Emperor or any religious leaders, it was generally agreed upon that this was a boon for the Empire as this was the start to forge shared cultural links between their peoples.
Bureau Report #057
Agent Qilin reporting,
First contact with a USB and the expedition was only just two weeks into landfall.
The USB had put a student of my civilian guise under compulsion and I went to investigate.
As there were no witnesses present in occupying the immediate vicinity and its surroundings, I judged it to be appropriate to exercise the usage of my ichor gifts.
The USB was neutralized and promptly devoured afterward.
From that act, I have gained a wealth of knowledge pertaining to the USB’s nature and physiology although there were mental protections in place that I could not crack, leaving me with several gaps of understanding.
Here is what I managed to find out though:
The USB in question had a name for itself and those of its’ kind.
They call themselves the Garou.
The particular Garou I neutralized possessed an expert mastery of certain sorceries. Namely divination, possession & illusion. One thing I am certain of was that he was stationed here on the coast to watch for arrival from the Old World. He knew of our arrival well in advance and prepared to exploit my pupil’s weaknesses, as to extract Old World languages from him. For what purpose, I could not discern.
Regarding Legacy Sites under their possession, the Garou have access to the former **r ***c* ***e* in the **l***d* **u***i* ****e, ***a ** and the b***e** located beneath the ***m** **e***a* *a**t***. They are assumed to be heavily fortified but from what I was able to retrieve from the target’s memories, most of the equipment has degraded and they have few working artifacts at their disposal.
Compared to the capabilities of the Elohists, the Garou are much more physically dangerous.
By my estimates and evaluations of their capabilities from examining the cadaver, it would take an average of five to ten Elohists to match a single Garou in pitched hostilities.
Organizational structure seems to differ immensely from that of the Elohim though.
It appears to be pack-oriented with a more bottom-up approach to governance, with no permanent leaders,
as opposed to the Elohim’s top-heavy feudal structure.
Garou also appear to not require humans as sustenance, although they are perfectly capable and willing to metabolize them if necessary.
Apart from their differences, they do have similarities.
The central focus to an Abrahamic religion remains the glue that holds the members together.
Their territory is vast. The Garou have both continents almost completely covered, ranging from the *o***r ****e* *t***s all the way down to where the *o* made their last stands during the A****t o* *h* *q***i** *g*.
A more detailed report is in order and will be filed in a separate attachment.
It’s ironic.
Between us, the Garou and the Elohim, we’re all the same.
We’re all wolves in sheep’s clothing.
And who knows what other monsters are out there.
Glory to Nü Wa.
Agent Qilin, over and out.
Season 1 closing commentary will be posted shortly.
I was going to post it here, but apparently, I went over the word limit for a post.
The Reality Of It
After the first day of contact, the crew of the Lan Ye Hua had settled down into an extended two week stay.
The sailors simply didn’t want to leave and the researchers were still simply ecstatic at all the “new” discoveries being made everyday. Bai herself was taken on numerous tours of the forest by the friendly scouts from the village. And she soon gained an appreciation for the abundance of life that called this land home. She could really see why the sailors took to calling the continent Meizhou.
Their stay here produced some concerns for her though. Specifically, they all regarded her junior researcher, Azuma. Strangely enough, every night Azuma returned to the ship, he looked completely drained of energy.
The other Nao Caste researchers constantly hounded his door, begging him to come out and assist them with translating native descriptions of all of the new flora & fauna they had found. But he wouldn’t open the door. Every morning, he left at the exact same time to apparently give Vermillion some Mandarin lessons. The only time Bai saw him anymore was at the raucous feasts that Father Wolf held. He was always there, dancing with Vermillion and not paying any attention to anything else.
Lady Bai had enough of the sailors mistreating her student. Last night, he didn’t even dance so badly! And yet, the sailors still continued to laugh at him. As she held seniority, she had a right mind to berate the seamen for their transgressions. In the morning, the astronomer walked up to Azuma’s lead tormentor, a burly Han sailor in charge of maintaining hull integrity. He was passed out on the deck along with a number of the other sailors and a few native women who decided to bring the party to the deck. She woke him up by pulling hard on his ear and dragging him away from the railing.
“Aaagghhh!!!” the sailor cried out as he awoke.
Bai was standing over him while tapping on the planks impatiently with her foot.
She appeared cross as she folded her arms.
“Get up!” she commanded.
“It’s so early, Bai, what do you want?” he protested groggily.
“The kid was just trying to have fun and learn something new and you’re not even going to give him a break?” the astronomer berated him. “For shame!”
“Whoa, whoa, alright, come on Bai, get off my case. You can’t blame me! Even if it wasn’t the kid and it was anyone else, you’re going to tell me that I’m not supposed to laugh when I see anyone dance by themselves like that?”
Bai took a moment to register that. She shook her head and continued to grill the seaman.
“What are you talking about? He was dancing with Vermillion Waters the whole time!”
“Who?” the sailor asked, completely puzzled.
“Vermillion Waters.” Bai repeated again.
“Well, I spent the first night with a Vermillion Sky and last night with an Ivory Waters, but I haven’t met anyone named Vermillion Waters,” the sailor spoke as he slicked back his long black hair.
Although at this point of the conversation, Bai began to suspect something was wrong.
“You know, Walker in Sunfire & Vermillion Waters, one of the two natives we met at the beach? One man and one girl?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the sailor shrugged.
“We only ever met one person on the beach, Bai. And it was a man. Don’t you remember?”
The sailor tried to go back to sleep as it took Bai a moment to soak it in.
She came to a startling revelation.
“I have to go! I’ll be back later!” she said as she stormed off, as if the seaman were still awake to hear it.
Elimination of the Kampuchean remnants on the Phillippines well underway.
Bai descended from the junk to scour the beach. But they weren’t there. No, they weren’t farther up the beach either. Bai then went to the First Nation settlement and attempted to ask around there but no one there could give her any answers. All that remained now was the wood. Without hesitation, the Han woman ran straight in by herself, in hope of finding her pupil. Eventually, as she made it deeper into the forest, the liveliness of the environment around her gradually faded until not a sound could be heard, save for her own footsteps as she trampled on the fallen leaves.
It was strange. In every part of the forest she had traversed through with the First Nation guides, there was no shortage of animal life. Birds could be heard chirping almost incessantly and mule deer were extraordinarily abundant to the point of being common. Here where she stood, there was almost an eerie absence of life in contrast to the near-bursting populations she witnessed elsewhere before.
Her own primal instinct told every fiber of her being not to enter the cave but in her mind, she knew that this was the clear indicator that she was on the right track. With great difficulty, the astronomer hefted herself over the stones and descended into the black.
While the depths of the cavern were quite dark, Bai’s hawkish brown eyes could make out faint silhouettes and rock formations across the way. As she continued to navigate through the labyrinthine passage, her nose perked at the sudden change in scent. The cavern walls were covered in blood. Specifically, the blood was patterned to display numerous characters and letters from various languages from the old continent. Bai recognized some of them as Arabic and Tartar script. As she went along and followed the trails of blood writing, they became more varied. These were all the languages that her young pupil knew.
Thankfully, from the scent, Bai could discern that it was all animal blood that had been smeared on the wall, and not Azuma’s. Traversing further through the damp cavern, she could see that the ground was littered with animal bones and residual tissues from decayed half-eaten carcasses. Had she not known any better, Bai would have assumed that it was the lair of some local variety of beast. It was worse. The skeletons of large cats and even bears could be seen dotting the macabre landscape of the tunnel.
Soon, Azuma came into view. The linguist sat near the wall in a trance, dabbing his fingers into the warm flesh of a fresh bear carcass, writing red hanzi all across the wall. Draped across his shoulders was the lovely Vermillion Waters, whispering unintelligible nothings into his ear as he continued to write.
The astronomer attempted to sneak off to the side in order to gain a better view, but the way her robe dragged on the floor dragged a wayside skeleton underneath her, causing Bai step on the rotting spine of some rodent-like creature. The echo that came out as a result of her mishap was resounding.
“Who’s that?” Azuma said at the sound of bones snapping. The way that he slurred his speech indicated that he was under very heavy influence.
“It’s just a guest, sweetie. I’ll go see what she wants,”
“Come back soon, then,” Azuma said as he continued to paint characters onto the wall.
Vermillion Waters walked towards Bai slowly in a cautious, deliberate gait.
Her lush brown hair fell to one side as she cocked her head in curiosity
“You good? Here for reason, is that?” The girl said in completely butchered & broken Mandarin.
Bai was not amused. “I know how to speak English. And write it too,”
“Ah, that makes things easier then,” Vermillion said as she switched her speech.
“You’ll have to excuse me, I’ve only just been learning Mandarin these past few days. It’s a beautiful language,”
“Release Azuma,” the robed woman stated flatly, cutting to the chase.
“Now why would I do that?
I’m everything he could have ever wanted,
Is that such a crime?
You can ask him yourself.
He doesn’t want to go back onto that nasty ship and deal with all those roughneck sailors every day.
Not when he can stay here in this beautiful land with the girl of his dreams.
He’s happy here. Why would you disturb him?”
“Because you’re not natural. And by the looks of all of this,” Bai continued as she glanced towards the macabre script covering the walls of the cavern. “I doubt Azuma’s welfare and happiness are at the top of your list of priorities,”
“I don’t know what your agenda is but I am demanding you to release my pupil,” Bai asserted again.
“That’s insulting,” Vermillion frowned. “I’m all-natural, I swear,”
She even perked up her bust with one hand to prove her point.
“But if you’re going to continue to persist, well…I’m sorry, I really am,”
The girl’s eyes flared for a moment, shining in the darkness only to be followed by a lightning-quick leap that caught Bai off-guard. Before the astronomer knew what hit her, Vermillion Waters had pinned Bai to the cold, damp floor and slashed Bai’s face with her nails, leaving a hideous gash on the elder woman’s face. In desperation, Bai was able to get the girl off of her with a swift kick just above the groin region. As the girl reeled, Bai took advantage of the opportunity afforded to her to escape. The Han woman’s blood trailed behind her though as she sought respite from her hunter.
As Bai dodged from the girl’s feral pounces, she was able to lose her for a second and took refuge behind a corner to escape from Vermillion’s rampage. Nearby was the skeleton of a puma, with numerous teeth still intact. Bai quickly dislodged its canine as quietly as she could then held her breath as she waited for Vermillion’s approach.
“COME OUT!!” Vermillion screeched as she plowed her way through a thick stalagmite in search of Bai.
The steps grew louder and the wreckage grew nearer as she continued to swing into the dozens of stalagmites that dotted the landscape.
Spinning around from the corner with the intent of plunging the canine down into Vermillion’s shoulder, Bai revealed herself and plunged her arm downwards. The younger girl caught Bai’s attack right as it was about to come down and with a look of satisfaction on her face, backhanded the astronomer, further exacerbating the pain of her face wound and sending her flying across the cave. Bai barely missed being impaled onto the tip of a stalagmite, much to her adversary’s ire.
As she got back onto her feet, she attempted to punch Vermillion in the face, only to be parried aside.
Why can’t I hit her?
With the momentum, Bai swung her body in an arc to roundhouse kick her assailant.
This time, Vermillion caught her foot.
It doesn’t make any sense!
The astronomer was knocked back onto the floor with ease.
I don’t detect anything wrong with this girl, it just…wait…
Bai barely caught a glint in Vermillion’s eyes before she rolled out of the way of a decapitating strike.
Oh.
She understood.
Change of plans.
Bai moved onto her feet with double-time and ran further down the cavern without looking back.
“Where are you going?!” the brunette shrieked as she gave chase.
She soon arrived in the deepest chamber of the cavern. Here the stench of rotting animals and congealed fats was the strongest. But that wasn’t what she was sniffing for.
It was here. She could smell it.
The smell of sudden alarm and unease.
But she didn’t want to show her hand just yet.
Fairly soon, Vermillion stalked into the chamber after her, kicking aside a boar skeleton as she brandished her elongated nails.
Bai turned about-face to meet her adversary. Her flight had come to an end.
“Nowhere else to run now, is there?”
“It doesn’t matter now. I win.” Bai muttered.
“What’s that? I can’t hear you, speak up,” Vermillion asked quizzically.
“I win.” The matured woman stated again.
“Win what? I don’t understand, hag,” she taunted derisively. “You think this is a game?”
“It is a game. A game that cowards play, one that you’ve been playing very well,” Bai said.
“How fitting that you want to talk about cowardice when you’ve been hiding from me continually all this time,” Vermillion snickered as she tussled her hair some more.
“I’m not a coward. Not like you, Walker,” she said.
Vermillion’s violet eyes widened as she realized what Bai had just said. But it was too late.
Bai’s arm contorted behind her as it shot out and stopped something dead in its tracks. It was Walker in Sunfire, poised behind her with a carving blade raised above his head. Her hand phased through Walker in Sunfire’s forested chest like a ghost, and then re-materialized again. The resulting paradox of two different masses sharing the same point of space was graphic. Walker’s chest exploded into great red chunks of hair and tissue as he stumbled backwards. Her own hand disintegrated from the stunt but from the cold, steely look on her face, it didn’t seem to matter. At that exact moment, the slender body of Vermillion Waters went limp like a discarded marionette.
“…How did you?…What are you?!” he mouthed as he fell to the floor.
“I should be asking you the same thing,” she said as she ripped his heart out with her good hand.
Despite having his heart ripped out, Walker still writhed on the ground, slowly breathing as he backed away from the steadily approaching woman.
“You underestimated me, and that’s too bad. Now it’s time to talk,”
The Han woman croaked as she staggered towards the wounded man.
“What did you need Azuma for and how did you know to specifically target him?”
Walker howled various obscenities as he scurried backwards.
“Wrong answer,” Bai responded.
Bai took her good hand and with her thumb and pinkie finger, was ready to take out the wounded man’s eyeballs. Walker shut his eyes in anticipation; as if it would save him. She simply phased through and invoked paradox, causing great rivers of blood to burst forth from his forced-open eyelids. Walker screamed and cried out, but only tears of blood welled up to the surface, dribbling down from the sides of his face.
“I’m going to find out, sooner or later,” she threatened.
“You’re not getting a damn thing from me, whatever you are!” the bearded man squealed.
“Have it your way then,” Bai said as she finished him off as she drew the puma canine with her three good fingers and savaged him alive as he kicked and screamed. But no one was around to hear him.
As the blood trickled down across the cavern floor, Bai could see Walker’s body transmutating back to its original form. Something bestial, with canine-features. It was still bipedal and human in most regards such as the limbs, but its head was clearly that of a wolf’s.
She understood almost immediately and knew that she very well could have died if things were any different. If the creature hadn’t exerted itself so much in maintaining its cloak and spell, well, she hated to think about it but he would have certainly easily overpowered her in this form. Bai then approached the limp body of the girl sprawled across the ground. She was definitely real, all right. And most certainly mortal, if only altered a little, given the striking violet irises and the razor-sharp nails that she had grown earlier. From further observation, it seemed that her nails had retracted to normal size. It was nearly indistinguishable before, but whatever Walker did to make this girl invisible to mundane eyes seemed to have dissipated.
She looked at the bloody stump where her right hand once was.
And the awkward looking three-fingered left hand she was left with.
Now that wasn’t suspicious at all. She would have to do something about it
With the puma canine, she began to carve up Walker in Sunfire’s body.
He was too big to devour whole after all. Bai unhinged her jaw.
“I told you I was going to find out sooner or later,” Bai said to herself as she prepared to devour Walker’s brain.
After Bai had finished gorging herself on Walker’s carcass, her fingers & hand reshaped, good as new. The hideous gash that Vermillion had inflicted on her porcelain face also regenerated herself. All that was left of Walker now was just a half-finished leg and several bones.
“Garou, huh…”
Bai shot a glance towards the unconscious girl and wiped her mouth clean of the monster’s blood.
After learning what she had, the astronomer could not help but feel a pang of sympathy for the girl overcome her. The girl was stolen away a long time ago and modified only to serve as a tool. Bai picked up Vermillion’s body and checked her pulse. Good. She was still breathing. Although she would most likely suffer a great deal of shock upon awakening. The older woman picked up the unconscious girl into her arms, and then curiously enough, crouched over Walker’s carcass to take his leg as well. It might not work, and it was certainly one of the dumber ideas she had, but she couldn’t think of anything else. There weren’t many ways she could explain Walker in Sunfire’s disappearance without arousing suspicion.
As Bai made her way back towards the blood script chambers near the entrance way of the cavern, she found Azuma still scribbling away like a lunatic with the bear blood.
Azuma was still under whatever compulsion Walker had put on him but at least it made him more agreeable to whatever Bai asked of him. The young linguist was ordered to carry Vermillion’s unconscious body as they made their way out the cave. As she turned back to look at towards the mouth of the cave, she thought about the possibility that some native or…one of them might stumble onto this place. There was no way to seal it…for now. Guess it meant that Bai was making a return trip after the expedition was over.
Bai led Azuma out of the dead zone of the forest back into the lively groves that surrounded the area. It was here that she would have to try and test her gambit.
“Wait here,” she told Azuma as she left the grove in some wayward direction.
This was absolutely and incredibly stupid, Bai thought to herself as she spun Walker’s leg in her hand.
Azuma stood still in the grove for what seemed like an eternity. Not that he was in a state of mind to be bothered by that anyway. Several birds had already begun to use him as a resting post. The sun passed overhead, signifying that noon had passed and he was still standing there. The birds were startled suddenly though by a voice.
“Azuma.”
It was faint.
“Azuma!”
Getting closer.
“AZUMA!!!”
The dream was over.
“Wh-huh? Lady Bai, is that you? Wait, why am I carrying Vermillion? What happened to her?!”
“No time! I’ll explain later! Now run!” she screamed as she sprinted past the confused linguist.
Turning to look behind him, Azuma gasped and followed his mentor with adrenaline pumping through his veins as a giant bear came barreling out of the grove behind him, intent on mauling someone.
The foundings of Chongqing and Kunming followed the power-vacuum created by the absences of the Kampucheans and Manchurians respectively.
“Please, we need help!” Bai cried in Mandarin as she ran out from the woods into the First Nation settlement. She appeared panicked and when crew members who were present came to console her, she could only speak in nonsensical rapid-fire speech.
“We found this girl in the forest being attacked a bear! Walker in Sunfire tried to help, but ended up being eaten. It was so horrible, I don’t know how to-“ Bai pretended to break down.
“What?” a nearby sailor frowned. “You’re not making any sense!”
The frown immediately turned into a look of horror though, as Azuma trailed behind with an unconscious girl in his arms. True to Bai’s word, a large bear came tumbling out of the wood after them, with a man’s foot still sticking out of its gaping mouth. The hunters, shocked at such rare audacity from a woodland beast were paralyzed for a second but snapped out of it and darted forward to meet the challenge of the bear. With bows and spears in their hands, they let loose with everything they had and brought the bear to heel.
“Father Wolf, you have to save Vermillion!” Azuma pleaded as he held her in his arms.
The wizened chief examined the girl and then placed a hand on Azuma’s shoulder.
“She is fine, but I do not understand why you address her to me like so; I do not know this girl,”
“What do you mean?” Azuma asked, confused.
“Azuma, this girl is not of our tribe,” Father Wolf re-iterated.
“What?” the young Yamato man was shocked.
“Hm, I know of one other temporary settlement in this region. I will send a message to their Chief to see if this girl is one of theirs’,”
More tribals were rushing to the scene to haul off the bear or simply chatter to each other incredulously at what had just transpired. Bai sighed in relief. To the onlookers, she was only expressing relief at having escaped a life-or-death situation. In the confines of her own mind, she couldn’t believe that gambit actually worked. It wasn’t easy to find a sleeping bear, stick Walker’s remains in its mouth, wake it & run all the way back to Azuma and make sure all three of them came out of the wood safe.
Another week had passed and word arrived from the neighboring tribals that the girl was not one of theirs.
Azuma was still confused at the recent events that transpired.
Walker in Sunfire was devoured by a bear?
Vermillion Waters isn’t from the tribe?
What was he doing so deep in the forest anyway?
And why was Lady Bai there too?
None of it made any sense to him.
Vermillion had awoken by now but exhibited the tendency to scream or shudder at the sight of everything except himself and Bai.
It appeared to him that she had a real hard case of amnesia. She didn’t know her own name, she didn’t know Azuma’s name, she didn’t even know her brother’s name.
She wasn’t the playful, coquettish girl she was a few days ago, but rather a frightened, shaky soul thrust into an alien world. Perhaps it was just the death of her brother that traumatized her to this point.
Yes, that must be it. But it didn’t exactly feel right to him.
His memory of what had transpired in the past two weeks had grown extremely fuzzy.
Yet, the time that he spent with Vermillion on that first night was still crystal-clear to him.
Azuma didn’t really know what to believe anymore.
Kampuchea falls at last.
It was agreed that the crew of the Lan Ye Hua would take custody of Vermillion.
The Nao Caste cabal onboard were more than happy at the prospect of being able to bring a live native back with them to the Empire.
The First Nation tribals after all, did not want to take her in.
Talk in the settlement regarded her sudden appearance as a bad omen and wanted nothing to do with her.
Azuma was contented at the news but genuinely worried at the same time.
He was infatuated with her, but it seemed wrong to take her with them, far from the land of her birth.
There was nothing he could do about it though.
In a few days, the expedition set sail. As a farewell gift, the villagers helped restock the junk with much-needed supplies, food & fresh water. Techniques and recipes for preserving red meat for extended periods of time were also bequeathed to the crew’s resident cook and quartermaster. The Chinese were also told to sail south along the coast. Eventually they would reach Aztlán and Màayapáan. They were warned however. Aztlán, while housing the Holy City of Islam to which all faithful Muslims prayed in the direction to, was notorious for having an aggressive streak towards outsiders. Màayapáan was recommended as their next destination though as they were considerably more amiable than their northern neighbors. The Imperial Chinese and the First Nation tribals then parted on good terms on the promise of continued contact.
Thoughts from the Changeling.
They always warned her not to wander too close to the edge of the woods.
Who were they?
She couldn’t remember.
Not the faces of her parents or the members of her old tribe.
Only the pair of eyes at the bottom of the rabbit hole.
They told her they needed her. That she would be useful.
And before she could give an answer, she was tipped down into the abyss.
Every day after that, it was as if she walked in a waking dream.
The world was painted in soft blurs and cloudy shapes.
People seemed to pass her by.
She couldn’t speak to anyone if she tried.
And when she touched them, they disappeared into dust.
But everything was solid and concrete now.
Everything.
The past few days onboard the ship were mentally taxing.
She was having difficulty adjusting to people again.
But as long as those two were here, it felt like she could eventually find her way back to normalcy.
There is this woman onboard the ship.
She smiles warmly towards her and even though she can’t understand what she’s saying, it makes her feel at home.
Something in the back of her head gnaws at her and tells her that she owes the woman a debt.
It’s too hard to think about that now though.
The cold, salty-sea breeze tickling her beautiful face.
The light of the stars that dotted the night sky.
The awkward, but genuinely worried face that gazes at her.
It’s comforting.
She rested her head against him and placed a hand against his chest.
Something warm in him told her that she was finally safe at last.
He is real.
This is real.
I am real.
Worship of the Celestial Bureaucracy takes hold in the Kingdom of Oceania as Chinese "holy men" are documented to have arrived and performed strange wonders in demonstration of the power of the shen, astonishing the superstitious locals. While no priests were sanctioned to spread worship by the Emperor or any religious leaders, it was generally agreed upon that this was a boon for the Empire as this was the start to forge shared cultural links between their peoples.
Bureau Report #057
Agent Qilin reporting,
First contact with a USB and the expedition was only just two weeks into landfall.
The USB had put a student of my civilian guise under compulsion and I went to investigate.
As there were no witnesses present in occupying the immediate vicinity and its surroundings, I judged it to be appropriate to exercise the usage of my ichor gifts.
The USB was neutralized and promptly devoured afterward.
From that act, I have gained a wealth of knowledge pertaining to the USB’s nature and physiology although there were mental protections in place that I could not crack, leaving me with several gaps of understanding.
Here is what I managed to find out though:
The USB in question had a name for itself and those of its’ kind.
They call themselves the Garou.
The particular Garou I neutralized possessed an expert mastery of certain sorceries. Namely divination, possession & illusion. One thing I am certain of was that he was stationed here on the coast to watch for arrival from the Old World. He knew of our arrival well in advance and prepared to exploit my pupil’s weaknesses, as to extract Old World languages from him. For what purpose, I could not discern.
Regarding Legacy Sites under their possession, the Garou have access to the former **r ***c* ***e* in the **l***d* **u***i* ****e, ***a ** and the b***e** located beneath the ***m** **e***a* *a**t***. They are assumed to be heavily fortified but from what I was able to retrieve from the target’s memories, most of the equipment has degraded and they have few working artifacts at their disposal.
Compared to the capabilities of the Elohists, the Garou are much more physically dangerous.
By my estimates and evaluations of their capabilities from examining the cadaver, it would take an average of five to ten Elohists to match a single Garou in pitched hostilities.
Organizational structure seems to differ immensely from that of the Elohim though.
It appears to be pack-oriented with a more bottom-up approach to governance, with no permanent leaders,
as opposed to the Elohim’s top-heavy feudal structure.
Garou also appear to not require humans as sustenance, although they are perfectly capable and willing to metabolize them if necessary.
Apart from their differences, they do have similarities.
The central focus to an Abrahamic religion remains the glue that holds the members together.
Their territory is vast. The Garou have both continents almost completely covered, ranging from the *o***r ****e* *t***s all the way down to where the *o* made their last stands during the A****t o* *h* *q***i** *g*.
A more detailed report is in order and will be filed in a separate attachment.
It’s ironic.
Between us, the Garou and the Elohim, we’re all the same.
We’re all wolves in sheep’s clothing.
And who knows what other monsters are out there.
Glory to Nü Wa.
Agent Qilin, over and out.
Season 1 closing commentary will be posted shortly.
I was going to post it here, but apparently, I went over the word limit for a post.
Tomorrow's Dawn
Heroes Never Die
That ends Season 1 of The Celestial Bureaucracy.
I hope the seasonal conclusion was satisfactory to read (or leaves you clamoring for more).
I had initially planned to upload character art before the week ended but it didn't look like I made it in time.
There is still a chance I can do it before school starts for me next week but don't hold your breath.
I want to thank everyone who has followed the story up to this point, especially those of you who read my story in the beginning when it was still just a minnow compared to the veritable whales in the ocean of great stories on this forum when I first got started at around March 2011.
I promise not to abandon this thread, as this story is definitely a labor of love.
I'll probably start Season 2 of this again when Season 2 of MLP:FiM ends (joking).
To get you hyped, here is a teaser for the next installment as well as a territory map of the Chinese Empire.
The entire Sinosphere and more fall under the banner of the Xia Emperor.
EDIT: From Manchuria to Indochina, the outline of my continental Empire looks kind of like a sea horse.
I will still be around to talk before next Friday and while not updating this after school starts, I'll most likely be hanging around the forums as well.
I hope the seasonal conclusion was satisfactory to read (or leaves you clamoring for more).
I had initially planned to upload character art before the week ended but it didn't look like I made it in time.
There is still a chance I can do it before school starts for me next week but don't hold your breath.
I want to thank everyone who has followed the story up to this point, especially those of you who read my story in the beginning when it was still just a minnow compared to the veritable whales in the ocean of great stories on this forum when I first got started at around March 2011.
I promise not to abandon this thread, as this story is definitely a labor of love.
I'll probably start Season 2 of this again when Season 2 of MLP:FiM ends (joking).
To get you hyped, here is a teaser for the next installment as well as a territory map of the Chinese Empire.
Spoiler :
The entire Sinosphere and more fall under the banner of the Xia Emperor.
EDIT: From Manchuria to Indochina, the outline of my continental Empire looks kind of like a sea horse.
I will still be around to talk before next Friday and while not updating this after school starts, I'll most likely be hanging around the forums as well.
Civ'ed
I ain't gotta explain a thing
All hail the great Chinese Sea Horse 
still, If you look at your story, somewhere along the lines you snapped into narrative.
truly a fitting ending for this season, and I hope the next one's up soon!
(when exactly?)
still, If you look at your story, somewhere along the lines you snapped into narrative.
truly a fitting ending for this season, and I hope the next one's up soon!
(when exactly?)
Tomorrow's Dawn
Heroes Never Die
All hail the great Chinese Sea Horse
still, If you look at your story, somewhere along the lines you snapped into narrative.
truly a fitting ending for this season, and I hope the next one's up soon!
(when exactly?)
Well, the specific reason for that is, unlike all the other great narrative stories, like Princes of the Universe, Chronicles of the Philosopher Kings, Great Britannia and Hammer & Steel, I had to write the first couple of updates in regular style because, I couldn't write the Chinese origin story without giving too much away and destroying a lot of good suspense and sense of the unknown I tried to build up during the story. As the story goes on, you'll find out more about the origin until the very end, when it all (hopefully) makes sense. The supernatural stuff is going to get a lot more common as well, but it'll mostly take place against the backdrop of the history of the Empire.
I don't know when I'll return to this again. See my signature for an estimate though.
Tycho
AFK Forum Warrior
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2011
- Messages
- 3,240
It's a pity there will not be another update until 2012
. It's a great story TD, it really is. Also, do you plan on attacking India next to extend your Sinosphere?But yeah great update, and the supernatural portion is getting very interesting. I will most likely be reading the entire thing over and over again until the next new update
Yoshiegg737
Jungo Jungo
Everything in that entire chapter was unexpected. And I love every bit of it
hoplitejoe
Top fun-poster
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2010
- Messages
- 5,470
This is becoming more and more like POTU with that gap
Well worth the wait though.
Well worth the wait though.
Tomorrow's Dawn
Heroes Never Die
It's a pity there will not be another update until 2012
Also, do you plan on attacking India next to extend your Sinosphere?
But yeah great update, and the supernatural portion is getting very interesting.
I will most likely be reading the entire thing over and over again until the next new update
India is most certainly my next target. The war itself will only be covered in the background however.
I would say more but I really have to restrain myself from spilling anymore goods.
Terrance888
Discord Reigns
So in the next season the war is secondary to some other plot? OOOoooOOOoooOOOoooOOO!
Tycho
AFK Forum Warrior
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2011
- Messages
- 3,240
Nice
. I wonder if China will always be a monarchy. Maybe they will switch over to communism in the 20'th century?Besides that though, it will be interesting to see how the Indian campaign goes.
Yoshiegg737
Jungo Jungo
Oh yes, I do hate spoilers
. Especially the plot related ones.(Not Sarcastic)
Optical
The Fall of the Eleventh
Amazing end to the first season! I have a feeling there is a second plot, running behind everything you actually reveal to us. It's putting me on the edge of my seat. Can't wait for this to start up again and all the best in your ventures!
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