IN> The Clays of China

[William Keith]

      So famed is China for the quality of its porcelain and other 
ceramics that in English the word "china" is taken to honor the 
craftsmen who produced those fragile, beautiful works of art.  From 
ancient times China had skilled artists of earthenware and stoneware: 
the mausoleum of the first Qin Emperor is famous for the Terra Cotta 
Army, 8,000 figurines of warriors, servants, even clerks forming a 
complete army.  In later centuries, nearer the first millenium CE, the 
Longquan area produced fine porcelain of such breathtaking mastery that 
its name, too, passed into the aficionado's vocabulary.

      But the ceramicists of China knew more secrets than mixing bright 
glazes and finding the best clays.  A rare few masters among them know 
of a clay that pulses with life itself, and they know how to admix tiny 
amounts of it with the finest earthly minerals to produce ceramics that 
are worthy of the kings of heaven.  The challenge is finding this 
wondrous stuff -- an entire lifetime can pass without a craftsman ever 
coming across the opportunity to work with primordial clay.

      The mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang was designed to address this 
rarity, at least to an extent.  The tomb was lined on the floor with a 
stylized map of the known world, and the roof decorated with maps of 
the constellations, to serve both as a focus and as an aide-de-memoire. 
  Records carefully preserved and jealously protected to this day among 
certain Chinese craft families detail how a spirit may exit from the 
center of the tomb at certain astrologically significant moments, 
spurning his physical body to enter "Place-Which-is-no-Place."  If that 
spirit then returns to the flesh in that place, at a certain later 
moment, he will have a fairly high chance of bringing with him some of 
this clay dusting his form, said by the scrolls to have dusted him 
"when, returning, he passed through the orbit of the tail of the First 
Comet that heralded Creation."  Not all, but more than a few, of the 
terra cotta warriors that protect this tomb are not quite so... 
inanimate... as one might think.

-----

      Primordial Clay can be found in several pieces of Chinese ceramic 
work.  Some of the better known versions of quotidian items are marks 
of taste and wealth among celestials, or among humans in the know.  
Works include:

(Ancient times) Terra cotta is the earliest known recipe for the use of 
Primordial Clay.  When formed with sufficient skill (Artistry, TN 12) 
into the shape of a freestanding organism, fairly simple enchantments 
can turn the statue into a ready-made Vessel for an ethereal or 
celestial.  Being rather fragile -- the Vessel level varies based on 
the amount of clay used, but it will have half the usual Body Hits, and 
is unable to heal without the Corporeal Song of Healing -- they are 
still useful as backup bodies, places to hide, or bodies that can be 
obtained without the intervention of a Superior.  They will also accept 
Ethereal figments, which normally cannot obtain Vessels.  This makes 
them useful to someone who can order up a figment with behavior 
patterns "dreamed to spec" (Dreaming roll, TN 12), and then have the 
figment summoned and bound to the body in question.  Several of the 
statues in the Mausoleum are such figments.  At present, they have not 
been triggered, since the intruders are not acting like robbers; 
however, depending on upcoming events, they can be ticking bombs.  
(Terra Cotta Warrior: Forces 1/1/0, attributes 6/2, 4/4, 0,0, skills 
Fighting/4, native tongue of ancient Chinese, and either Large Weapon 
(Spear)/2 and Dodge/2 (infantrymen), LW(Sword)/2 and Tactics/2 
(officers), or Corp. Healing/4 (clerks).)

(Tang Dynasty, ca. 700 CE) Sancai ("three-color") pieces are lovely, 
but those made with primordial clay exist in three realms 
simultaneously.  They can be touched and manipulated by ghosts or 
beings in celestial form, and large pieces can block passage or even 
harm them if wielded violently.  A projection of them exists in the 
Marches and can be moved at will, but if damaged or broken will only 
reform elsewhere, as long as its body is intact.  Those which have been 
made into relics or reliquaries can be accessed at either end of their 
projection.  This feature is worth +4 to a relic or reliquary.

(17th century) Ko sometsuki, or Tenkei blue-and-white ware, are pieces 
sought after for Japanese tea ceremonies.  Eating and drinking vessels 
made with primordial clay often spontaneously became reliquaries 
accessible to mundanes simply through the act of eating or drinking 
from them while concentrating upon them.  This tended to make for a 
very successful tea ceremony.  (Reliquary, any level, Essence usable by 
mundanes, requires 5-minute ritual to use, often a slow recharge, 
destroyed if corporeal item destroyed)

(14th century) Ming Dynasty Longquan celadon consists of porcelain with 
rich green and blue hues.  Some of the vases and statuary produced are 
enormous; other pieces are flatware, teapots, lamps or similar items.  
They can have any of the features listed above, and certain celestial 
collectors consider them a peak in the artistry of Chinese porcelain.  
A particularly good piece provides +1 to +3 to invoke Marc, Lilith, 
Mammon, Blandine, David (who enjoys good stoneware as much as the next 
angel) or Valefor, and double the bonus if the piece is being offered 
as a gift.

(Cultural Revolution) The amateurish Yingxi teapots of the Cultural 
Revolution, made in an attempt to break with ancient traditions, 
include several "accidentally" made with primordial clay, to extremely 
low standards of utility, that somehow manage to look amusing.  
Drinkers sharing a cup of tea from such a teapot will split their 
Essence as evenly as possible as soon as each party sips from a given 
pour.

William