#Wumu Zhi ren

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A fleet of hydrokinetic arcane dragon constructs composed of flowing water and metal skeletons vs eight flying warships armed with arcane cannons, who wins ?

Also there’s just an entire army chilling out on the ground, but they’ll probably stay out of this, if only because they don’t want to be carved up by a blast of arcane energy or a dragon’s teeth

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Sort-of-spoilers for my book, Legacy Denied (WIP title)

Fun fact !! Despite appearances, the iconic weapons used by each Sect are based on creatures from Chinese mythology, with some major embellishment

For instance, the Heping Weishi's most iconic weaponry are their swarms of six-legged, four-winged drones, each equipped with deadly-sharp claws empowered with shining Fire qi - the Hundun swarms, feared by all the Sects. It's said that once a Hundun swarm is unleashed, they MUST taste blood or cause chaos, lest they turn on their regiment-master. They draw qi from either their regiment-master or the environment around them, depending on if they’re piloted or unpiloted

In stark contrast, the Eternal Line's most iconic weapons are the Qinglong, or Azure Dragons, giant, meticulously-crafted mechas shaped like twisting, wingless, five-clawed long - Chinese dragons. Known as a symbol of the Imperial authority of the Eternal Line's leadership, who claim descent from Qin Shi Huang himself, the Qinglong are comprised of two parts - the skeleton, and the Cradle. The skeleton itself is a thing of grey metal, every inch of it carved with water radicals at each pressure point. On it's own, it is lifeless, connected to the Cradle through its meridians

The Cradles are shining white cocoons carved with Metal radicals, the better to conduct the Water qi of the Yilong, whose name is derived from the mythological Yu and Ying Lung, and also means "According to the Dragon", The Yilong, the pilot of the Qinglong, seat themselves within the Cradle, at which point acupuncture needles puncture their spines, drawing out yin qi, and with it, Water qi, conducting both inwards and downwards to the hangar. The Metal radicals light up with shining white Metal qi, which then proceeds to start generating dark, cold, Water qi, and back in the hangar, the Qinglong skeletons activate, water wrapping around its body, glowing a dark blue, bringing it to life.

Notably, as Water qi moves inwards, the Qinglong can't breathe water unless piloted by a Yilong with exceptionally potent Fire or Wood qi. Instead, it's claws and teeth are deadly enough to match the threats of the Hundun and the Octafleet

They are also treated as sacred within the Line itself, with acceptance into a Yilong Academy being referred to as "becoming a Renxian", acceptance into the position of a Xiao-Yilong (or Ji-Yilong) being referred to as Dixian, and ascension to the position of Grand General of the Yilong (Jiao-Yilong or Da-Yilong) being referred to as Shenxian

Oddly enough, though the Line are descendants of the very-sexist Qin dynasty, the Qinglong mainly use water qi, water being the most yin of all elements. This means that it needs to draw yin qi from its pilots, yin qi being feminine in nature

This creates an odd dynamic where, despite everyday culture being misogynistic as all fuck, female and feminine-presenting Yilong are not only allowed, they are PREFERRED

At first glance, the Wumu Zhi Ren may seem to lack any ties to traditional Chinese mythology, with their weapon - the flying formation of eight mighty warships, each armed with cannons - known as the Octafleet seemingly having no mythological basis. Each warship is powerful, yes, being manned by two cannons upfront known as the Dragon Fangs, and two at the back called the Twin Flames, all four being able to cycle between blasts of a variety of different types of qi - though they favor Wood qi over all

Notably, these cannons are "radical cannons", looking like long, oversized rods of metal encircled by swirling, glowing rings of radicals - the color of the light directly correspondng to the type of radical powering. On being fired, the radicals swirl together to either form a character or an oversized radical, which shoots out through the rod's tip as a blast of qi

But that's just until you learn that the Grand Admiral of the Wumu Zhi Ren, the one who leads the Commandants of all the ships of the Octafleet, is known as the Jiuweihu, his traditional attire being a black fox mask with golden accents, and a skintight matching black-and-gold hanfu.

The ships are the nine tails of the Admiral's Nine-Tailed Fox. However, one got grounded in a confrontation with the Eternal Line sometime in 1996, leading to it being renamed to the Octafleet. However, the Wumu remember when they used to have nine ships, and to this day refer to the fleet as the Jiudingshao, the nine tails, and hate the Eternal Line for it

The Jiudingshao draw power from the environment around them. Unfortunately, this often leads to unbalanced natural qi, as displayed when the warship Shuilong drew so much qi from the environment around it that it triggered a massive storm, one that was only calmed when a Qinglong exploded in the middle of it, releasing its own qi back into nature and killing its Yilong

This also means that the place where the Jiudingshao are most often docked - the Yellow Mountains - are dry, dusty and grey, almost completely drained of qi by the warships. In fact, most people refer to them as the Pillars of Death because of this

Most of the Jiudingshao dock there temporarily. However, one ship - the flagship Daoren - stands there as a permanent fixture, a floating city above the mountains. This is because Daoren is IMMENSE, easily the size of Chang’an, and houses most of the Wumu Zhi REN’s members and their families in the city on its deck.

This means that, despite its shining hull, bristling with literally THOUSANDS of radical cannons, the Daoren is too valuable to risk in battle, meaning that the Wumu most often fight using lesser tails like the second-class Shuilong, or the third-class Huolong

And as for the Heiyubai, and the Golden Lotus ?

Well, the Heiyubai - a sect devoted to Daoism and the maintenance of balance - are pacifists, as are the Buddhist Golden Lotus, meaning that they use no Sect-wide weaponry

One of the Heiyubai’s disciples, a man by the name of Hou, however, does use a qi-powered staff that bears a striking resemblance to the mythological Sun Wukong’s staff - a resemblance he delights in, often wearing a monkey mask to battle

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Upcoming Books :

1) A Thing Most Desired (WIP) - The story of Salvatore Lucente, also known as Sesso, the self-proclaimed Lord of Lust, and founder of the Nine Circles, a series of sex rings that span entire countries. Following him from his birth in rural Italy, to his affairs with organised crime, and finally, his ascendancy

2) Green Smoke and Metal Mirrors - The story of Skeur, the future Prince of Khaum, a vast chasm-city built into the volcanic rock of Europe, one of nine. Khaum is an industrial dystopia ruled by the Spire Barons, wealthy industrialists, oligarchs and crime bosses, who are reside in the city’s central Spire, near the Surface. However, our story begins in the Fissures, the lowest level of the city, with Skeur, poor street rat entirely unaware of his destiny

3) Legacy Denied : Reading like a bit more of a YA novel than the other entries, this book follows Andrew Yang, a young American schoolchild, who, after befriending the mysterious new kid in his school, finds himself embroiled in a conflict at the heart of China, a conflict several centuries old, and one that has persisted all this while, hidden in the shadows (Details the end of the “true-blood” lineage of the Eternal Line, and the rise of Zhong Xiuyi, the hundred-and-tenth Jiuweihu of the Wumu Zhi Ren)

4) Legacy Denied : The Warring States : Huangdi is dead, Andrew’s father avenged. But a power vacuum must be filled, one way or another, and the sects of China see an empty throne that must be filled… perhaps by them (Details the Third Warring States Period, the several-year-long conflict between the Five Sects of China, that ended with the establishment of the Council, and of the Three States)

5) Legacy Denied : Journey to the East : The war is over, but scars yet remain. During the early years of the Third Warring States Period, the Golden Lotus fled with several artifacts and scrolls, fearful of their destruction at the hands of irreverent warmongers. Now that peace has been established, the Council wants those items back. But the Lotus has taken them far south, to the distant land of Japan, historically isolationist and self-contained. Thus, Andrew, along with three other representatives, is dispatched to Japan to retrieve them

6) The Blind King : Details the tale of the rise of Joseph Meyers, and his imprisonment in the hellish prison known only as Kupio, one of the World Jewels. It details his initial days there, his eventual seizing of power, and rise to prominence as a “prison king”, as well as his eventual fall, and the deal he made in a moment of desperation

4) The Lord of Flowers (WIP) : Follows Plata Perez, a lowly enforcer in an infamous Mexican drug cartel. Told like a romance story, it follows his early years in the cartel, how he meets and falls for the daughter of the cartel boss, and how the two of them eventually form the Crystal Flowers, a series of continent-spanning drug rings with deep ties to the Chilean government

5) The Angel of Ten Wings (WIP): Follows the life of Serenity Spring, the Host of Dysthymia, the God of the Mind, from childhood to adulthood, including his involvement with the Hosts of Alexithymia and Dysphoria, the founding of the Carneficina, and the events that led to both the inception and failure of the Red Massacre

6) To Ashes They Consign (WIP) : Follows the life of Afarit, the Host of Dysphoria, the God of the Body, from his fiery birth to his tumultuous life, marked with chaos and the occasional intermittent attempts at peace, it takes him right to the mouth of the Carneficina’s founding, and the unification of the Hosts

7) The Forsaken Children (WIP) : Follows Peter Eriksson and Damian Fang in a dual-POV narrative, Eriksson being the future Lord of the Panopticon, an espionage-focused organization with close ties to the British Crown, and Damian being the Host of Alexithymia. It follows them from their births to unloving families, to their eventual adoption by Caesar, the Lord of the Panopticon, their years of gruelling training under his watchful eye, and Damian’s torture and betrayal, taking the two of them to the mouth of Peter’s ascendancy to his late foster father’s seat, and Damian’s founding of the Carneficina

8) Puppet Strings : Follows the 1719 three-way theological war between the Panopticon, the Church of the Everblind and the Wingweavers, all of whom were a lot more religion-focused in the 18th century. This three-way POV period piece is told primarily through the eyes of Mary Yoseph, the leader of the Wingweavers , with the occasional look through the eyes of Jacob Fellhaven of the Everblind, and Peter Friedrich of the Panopticon. This is an event with far-reaching global consequences, as its consumption of British resources meant no global conquest, meant a weakened America and Europe and a strengthened… rest of the world, bringing them in equal footing

9) Ashen Shadows - Details the end of the Era of Gods and the deaths and later lives of the three Hosts, told through the eyes of James Barker. Also a ton more shit, but all that’s either spoilers or way too complicated to explain in a single entry

10) Son of the Binary (WIP) : Follows Sapphire, also known as Neelam Patel, the future Head of Oculus Tech, from his birth in rural India, to his eventual move to Britain, his experiences with racism, and his eventual encounter with Peter Eriksson, an event that led him to take up the role of a subordinate in the Panopticon, and later the head of one of their subsidiaries

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The Books of the Trifold

So, as some of you may have known, I have been working on my own original since about February of this year

Originally beginning as a remake of Crimson, my older work, it has become very much its own thing in the months that followed, developing not only its own lore, but also its own history. Basically, it’s my magnum opus.

The world of Ashen Shadows (original title : Crimson Redux) is a very convoluted thing, and one I have posted about before (check the #crimson redux tag), but to give you an extremely simplified and brief overview -

Long ago, there was a Primordial Deity, who died, his vast, crystalline form shattering into three jagged, irregular pieces - body, heart and mind -, and thousands of minute particles, in an event known as Genesis

Now, while the particles fell upon the then-barren Earth, seeding it with what would one day become humanity, the three pieces developed sapience of their own, each becoming its own, individual deity - Dysthymia, the God of the Mind, Dysphoria, the God of the Body, and Alexithymia, the God of the Heart

Of these, only Dysthymia has anything resembling sentience, with both Dysphoria and Alexithymia being animalistic, instinct-driven creatures, seeking only to either sate their own desires or to react to something done to them

And so it was. Occasionally, the gods would interfere with humanity, the occasional natural disaster or atrocity, but for the most part, the two worlds remained extremely separate

And then, way back in the 1000 BCs, someone learned of their existence, and decided to start worshipping them. Specifically, someone from the EXTREMELY ancient empires learned of Dysthymia, and started worshipping her, leading to the formation of the Arrowheads, a short-lived cult of Dysthymia that collapsed because they attempted to “swallow” too much of their god at once

Learning from this, Dysthymia and her siblings split themselves into thousands of different Aspects, and mortals, of course, began worshipping these Aspects, forming cults. The leaders of these cults, usually granted immense power by the Trifold, became known as Avatars

A lot of other shit happens afterwards, including the formation of several incredibly major cults, the birth of the Hosts (direct manifestations of the gods in human form), the Artifacts, and the Manifestations. But thing is, all of that would make for an IMMENSELY long Tumblr post

And so, I have below a list of novels I am planning to write, all set in this world. Below that is a poll. So, if a novel seems interesting to you and you want to hear more about it, just vote on the poll !! Or, you know, comment and reblog if the poll is over !!

1) A Thing Most Desired (WIP) - The story of Salvatore Lucente, also known as Sesso, the Dysthymic Avatar of Lust, and founder of the Nine Circles, the cult of Lust. Following him from his origins in rural Italy to his involvement with organised crime and his eventual turn to the Trifold

2) Green Smoke and Metal Mirrors - The story of Skeur, the future Prince of Khaum, one of the Infernal Mountains. The Mountains are, ironically enough, deep chasms that cut into the volcanic rock of Europe, deep enough and stable enough to support entire cities. Nine, to be exact, of which one is Khaum, the City of Iron. GSMM follows Skeur through his childhood as a “sewer rat” in the lowest regions of Khaum, to his killing of Slyme, one of the powerful Spire Barons of Khaum, and his eventual ascendancy to Prince

3) Legacy Denied : Reading like a bit more of a YA novel than the other entries, this book follows Andrew Yang, a regular Asian-American adolescent, who, after befriending Zhong Xiuyi, a mysterious new kid at his school, finds himself entangled in a world of political machinations and a decades-long war between the Chinese cults known collectively to the West as The Children of Eternity. Specifically, he finds himself deeply embroiled in the conflict between the Wumu Zhi Ren and the Eternal Line. This novel also tells of the last days of the “true-blood” Eternal Line lineage, and the rise of Zhong Xiuyi, the tenth Shixielang, the cunning leader of the Wumu Zhi Ren

4) The Lord of Flowers (WIP) : Follows Plata Perez, a lowly enforcer in an infamous Mexican drug cartel. Told like a romance story, it follows his early years in the cartel, how he meets and falls for the daughter of the cartel boss. Soon, though, an earthshaking event compels the daughter to turn to the Trifold for aid, transforming her into Catalepsy, the Avatar of Addiction. To protect her, Plata follows suit, transforming into Silvertongue, the Avatar of Deceit. Together, they take hold of the world of cartels by force, eventually founding the Crystal Flowers, the Dysphoric cult of Addiction

5) The Angel of Ten Wings (WIP): Follows the life of Serenity Spring, the Host of Dysthymia, from childhood to adulthood, including his involvement with the Hosts of Alexithymia and Dysphoria, the founding of the Carneficina, and the events that led to both the inception and failure of the Red Massacre

6) To Ashes They Consign (WIP) : Follows the life of Afarit, the Host of Dysphoria, from his fiery birth to his tumultuous life, marked with chaos and the occasional intermittent attempts at peace, it takes him right to the mouth of the Carneficina’s founding, and the unification of the Hosts

7) The Forsaken Children (WIP) : Follows Peter Eriksson and Damian Fang in a dual-POV narrative, Peter Eriksson being the future Dysthymic Avatar of Perception and Lord of the Panopticon, and Damian being the Host of Alexithymia. It follows them from their births to unloving families, to their eventual adoption by the then-Avatar of Perception, their years of gruelling training under his watchful eye, and Damian’s torture and betrayal, taking the two of them to the mouth of Peter’s ascendancy to his late foster father’s seat, and Damian’s founding of the Carneficina

8) Puppet Strings : Follows the 1794 three-way theological war between the Panopticon, the Church of the Everblind and the Wingweavers, the Dysthymic cults of Perception, Ignorance, and Control, respectively. This three-way POV period piece is told primarily through the eyes of Mary Yoseph, the leader of the Wingweavers , with the occasional look through the eyes of Jacob Fellhaven of the Everblind, and Peter Friedrich of the Panopticon

9) Son of the Binary (WIP) : Follows Sapphire, also known as Neelam Patel, the future Avatar of Technology, from his birth in rural India, to his eventual move to Britain, his experiences with racism, and his eventual encounter with Peter Eriksson, an event that led him to take up the role of Avatar

10) Ashen Shadows : Follows James Barker, a regular 17-year old child who gets thrown head first into the world of Avatars and gods, all things he’s never experienced before…or has he ? Chronicles the end of the Trifold Gods, and the deaths or otherwise depowering of the Hosts, as well as their lives post-Red-Massacre, told through the eyes of someone who has no idea who they are