I recommended The Classic of Mountains and Seas (translated with notes by Anne Birrell, Penguin Classics) as a source of ideas for Storytellers planning a game of Mage the Ascension in East Asia. This week I had time to read it cover-to-cover and although I still recommend it for ideas, it is a cryptic and repetitive text. It was written so long ago that no one today really understands much of what it’s referring to. For those who don’t have the time to read it through I’ve provided my notes below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Different books in Mage mention ancient times when the Gauntlet was thin and spirits and humans mixed more freely. The Classic of Mountains & Seas connects with this very well. The gods mentioned here would make great umbrood. The gods of later eras of Chinese cultures were human and approachable. The gods of this book are strange, monstrous and mysterious. They mix human, animal and monster attributes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, the god Strong Good (Chiang Liang): “He is biting a snake… In appearance, this deity has a tiger’s head and a human body, with four hoofs and long forearms.” You could take that appearance or say the Sleepers of that time were struggling to describe a strange being. Is the biting of the snake symbolic of a defeat of the Nagah? Maybe tentacles hanging from the face? Perhaps an unkempt beard?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IDEA: The Nagah from Werewolf used to hold power over humans in what is now China. The Wu Lung and\/or Akashics changed that. Current enmity between Nagah and East Asian mages. Several gods are listed in Classic of Mountains and Seas that have human faces and snake bodies. These are described as monsters that were defeated. Also, there are several gods described as biting snakes in their mouths, grasping snakes with their hands and treading on snakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Early Chinese cosmology posited a square Earth (inherently orderly) with a curved (half globe) sky over it supported by mountains. Seas surrounded the 4 sides. The 4 corners & the center were all points that could be used in navigation. Later, wildernesses were added beyond the seas. Foreign peoples & lands had a physical & spiritual separation from the Chinese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IDEA: The Wu Lung got sacred earth from the true center & used it to create their Horizon Realm. Ideas from this book can provide details for the Horizon Realm. The Wu Lung work to keep the location of China\u2019s true center secret. It is like a true name for the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wu Lung & Akashics would probably both be interested in the many omen creatures mentioned in this book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Five Colored Birds: sacred birds associated w\/ paradises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Five Cosmic Colors: green (blue), yellow, red, white, black<\/p>\n\n\n\n
West: autumn, season of punishment, color white, metal, deity Ju Shou (Bedrush Harvest) – Five Agents Theory<\/p>\n\n\n\n
East: spring, Ta Hao (Great Whitelight)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
6 Arts of Antiquity: ritual, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, mathematics<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dragon: in early Chinese culture dragons were associated w\/ rain, punishment & travel (for the gods).\u00a0 They were associated with sky & air.\u00a0 Later, the rain association made them connected with water & rivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mountains were not only remote & magical but also places where gods and shamans ascend to the sky & descend from the sky to Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AD 684 Chinese Empress Wu officially changed the name Wo (Dwarf) Land to Land of the Rising Sun (Jih pen) – Japan. In antiquity, Dwarf Land was on the Korean Peninsula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two rituals probably important to Wu Lung mages: 2 earliest & most sacred sacrifices. Feng rite on Mt. Great (T\u2019ai in Shantung province, China). Shan rite on Mt. Bridgefather (Liang-fu) in Shantung province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Five Sacred Peaks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kun-lun Mountains (Offspringline) go way back in Chinese legend. Later, in Chinese & Japanese stories it\u2019s where the immortals live. In early times it was a site for multiple gods, fabulous animals & mythical trees. The mountains starts in northwest China (Tsinghai province) across north Tibet, to south of the Tarim Basin, north of Kashmir, & ending in north Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Muddle Thick (Hun Tun) – great god Long River.\u00a0 No face, no eyes, god of chaos.\u00a0 Six feet and four wings. Good at music & dance.\u00a0 Marauder?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I recommended The Classic of Mountains and Seas (translated with notes by Anne Birrell, Penguin Classics) as a source of ideas for Storytellers planning a game of Mage the Ascension in East Asia. This week I had time to read it cover-to-cover and although I still recommend it for ideas, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":317,"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316\/revisions\/317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}