IN> Guan Yu and The Celestial Bureaucracy

[William Keith]

      The Chinese pantheon was among those hit hard by the Purity 
Crusade.  Unlike several others, they didn't ask for help from 
Beleth... the same reason Uriel was particularly peeved at them made 
assistance from Hell an impossibility.  The Chinese had a habit of 
"deifying" particularly meritorious worshipers, by spreading legends 
about the lives of dreamshades of note that had arrived at Penglai 
Mountain.  The dreamshades were given positions of authority in the 
Bureaucracy in which they could skillfully function, and the additional 
Essence generated by belief in the deified humans went to the pantheon. 
  The humans were treated as well as the Marches could manage, and often 
after they left (to reincarnation, usually) an ethereal Image cropped 
up to take their place.  During their tenure, a human who could pass 
the examinations and trials had every chance of advancing in rank, just 
as any Ethereal.  (The formalized system of examinations for rank in 
the Chinese pantheon kept Assumption combats to a minimum, although the 
nonlethal nature of the combats themselves may have encouraged 
attempts.)

      This system of merits got one of its biggest shocks with the 
entrance of General Guan Yu shortly after 200 CE.  Possibly the 
greatest general in Chinese history to date, considered by many humans 
nearly a deity already after his exploits on Earth, he rapidly took 
over the leadership of the pantheon's defenses.  The pantheon did well 
off of Guan worship, and the dreamshade stayed until the Purity 
Crusade.

      Ranking human spirits posed a challenge for the attacking angels, 
who regarded the Chinese with contempt generally reserved for those who 
use innocent bystanders as human shields.  Uriel's tacticians carried 
the day, however, and the Yellow Emperor was killed outright while 
Shangti was wounded, likely killed, and certainly missing, with no 
serious Image contenders appearing since.  Many of the more powerful 
gods of the pantheon were also destroyed.  Guan Yu, highest-ranking 
remaining member of the government, grouped his forces and retreated 
from the now-masterless Domain into the Marches at large.  Uriel set a 
force to harrying them and turned the bulk of his attention to more 
entrenched pantheons.  The Chinese saw their forces and numbers dwindle 
for years until the Purity Crusade was called off.

      Penglai Mountain had been destroyed, but not kept from reforming.  
Within a few years, Guan Yu had brought the remaining fraction of the 
pantheon back to the much-diminished new version of the Domain that had 
coalesced from worship.  Like most pantheons, the Chinese would 
neverfully recover -- Buddhism and Daoism, divine religions, had been 
draining Essence for some time, and were much more firmly established 
now.  New ethereals simply did not have the merit of the old.  Guan Yu 
found it possible to retain command of the pantheon, even after 
assigning mastery of the new Penglai to Tu Di Gong, a widely worshipped 
but theoretically low-ranking earth god that answered commoners' 
prayers.

      The present-day position of pantheon is unique.  Guan Yu remains 
an active student of technology, strategy, and tactics, not only guns 
and bombs but psyops, intelligence-gathering and commissariat.  While 
he may not have experience applying these tactics to Earthly armies, it 
is generally agreed that he is second to none in the application of 
these principles in the Marches, and the defenses of Penglai Mountain 
are considered rock-solid.

      The system of examinations was retained at full strength, and the 
upper ranks of the pantheon remain open.  Not led by a mjaor god, it 
does not have all the supernatural resources available to more 
established old pantheons: attunements and Rites that can be handed out 
by the minor gods are not all that powerful.  More humans now fill 
posts in the Bureaucracy, challenging relations with all sides.  While 
the Tsayadim continue to harass the lower-ranking ethereals involved, 
the leaders can only be encouraged to move on.  (Indeed, the 
"encouragements" provided during the Purity Crusade are sometimes 
propounded as one of the reasons for Uriel's recall.)  The biggest 
threat the Chinese face is from Hell, since despite Guan Yu's excellent 
defenses, Beleth's forces could, if determined, raze the Domain and 
decimate its inhabitants.  Guan Yu knows this, and is careful to buy 
off Beleth with as little tribute as he can manage -- Essence and 
enchanted items mostly, though Hell-bound souls that the pantheon 
claims are quickly sent packing.  Hell gladly takes them, and Guan Yu 
is just as happy to keep his population and staff relatively 
trustworthy.

      Outsiders who come to Penglai will find the Domain orderly and 
well-tended, if rather small for one that claims the worship of such a 
large population.  Its border is a caul in the form of a well-guarded 
wall reminiscent of the Great Wall of China, and obvious outsiders will 
frequently be subject to search and requests for passage papers.  
Angels who seek to deal with the Ethereals there will also have to face 
whatever their ethics recommend concerning dreamshades perfectly well 
aware of their state and taking full advantage of it; demons will have 
to either risk offending their hosts by throwing their weight around, 
or swallow their bile and treat a human like an authority figure.  The 
Domain is ultimately run by Guan Yu, an expert general and experienced 
leader whose personal fighting skills have not decayed.  His second is 
Hung Shing, a deceased government official currently worshiped in Hong 
Kong for the protection of fishermen and sea traders.  Third-ranking, 
and the highest-ranking ethereal, is Tu Di Gong, ethereal god of earth 
and wealth, a grandfatherly peasant type, Master of the Domain and 
capable of investing Ethereals in positions there as well as all the 
other abilities of a Domain master, along with a few personal 
Attunements.

-----

      The curious sometimes ask: yes, the post of Ruler of the Celestial 
Bureaucracy may be applied for, like any other.  Kui Xing, the god of 
examinations (both minor and in the image of a dwarf, but quite clever 
and with a sharp sense of humor) will even show the exam to querents.  
It consists of the following:

Name: _______

1.) Are you the August Emperor of Jade, Ruler of the Celestial 
Bureaucracy?  (Hint: yes.)

      The "Name:" line will need to be signed employing the Seal of the 
Jade Emperor, which will be provided.  Applicants killed by the Seal in 
attempting to wield it will be disqualified.  The qualification 
threshold to take the examination is "retrieve the lost Wind and Fire 
Wheel and return it to the Celestial Bureaucracy."  A new Wind and Fire 
Wheel verifiably equivalent in power to the old, created by the 
applicant, will suffice.

William