Zhenzhu Gang
Noble Pearls
The Dead remember. The Dead linger on, beyond the ken of mortal consciousness. Past the Shroud dwell the Restless Dead, wraiths and ghosts of fearsome disposition and unquenchable passions. They are the spirits of the deceased, locked into this world still for personal reasons and needs that must be fulfilled.
In Macau, the souls of the dead find themselves in a broken place. Here, dreams don’t come to die—they’re already dead. Here the dead are damned. Fortunately, with the reclamation of Macau by the Jade Kingdomin the middle of the 20th-century, the Stygian trespassers long since driven out, the necropolis may be properly sorted by the imperial rulers. Han and other “true” Chinese souls are guided to the new Families in death. Foreigners, even East Asian souls, are hauled away in chains to be hammered into white jade tools. Their despair can forever be heard in the gray skys: distant sobs or hopeless pleas for mercy. Macau is for the Macanese. The lottery of birth is the only gamble here. And non-Chinese souls lose the moment they’re Reaped. Because even if they’re lucky enough to dodge the imperial slavers, they’re trapped on an island with the Tempest brewing furiously behind them. There’s really no escape, only the harsh rule of Yu Huang.
Skinlands
Minimal contact with the Skinlands is permitted, and then only in traditional ancestral reach-out (providing the living family properly honors their dead; most do in Macau though).
Shadowlands
The Shadowlands of Macau match the skyline of the Skinlands, only far more jagged and shattered. Buildings miss or distort their rooftops. The feng shui of the city twists into visibly painful, sharp shapes, as if everything were backwards in this cursed realm. The streets and Byways connecting the islands of Macau and to Hong Kong are shockingly clear of both debris and dangers. One of the benefits of a harsh yet effective autocracy? Law and order.
The necropolis’s prime Citadel is called Tung Coeng (“Bronzen Walls”). It overlaps the Kun Iam Fong Temple, which is found in the Nossa Senhora de Fátima District of central peninsular Macau.
Special Events
Special events are annual (or more frequent) holidays or special ritual days that the main group or groups observe as a whole community. Attendance and participation are often expected of all members, and sometimes required.
Chung Yeung Festival
The Chung Yeung or Double Ninth Festival occurs between the last week of September until before the last week of October. On the ninth day of that month, the date becomes an imbalanced date. The number “9” is a Yang number. Too much Yang needs to be burnt off. To that end, mortals make a pilgrimage up Mount Coloane. Wraiths do the same for the same reason; even among the Restless, too many Yang is a bad thing. Of course, the statue of the goddess Mazu does not exist in the Shadowlands; it’s too new. Mortals also burn extra joss paper on this day, which enriches wraiths and their Families. Because it’s a holiday, the Yellow Springs does not enforce an extra tax on this Relic income.
“Do not flee. Do not cry. Do not fight. Accept your fate. The alternative is suffering.”
-- Leung Tik Ho, Mandarin of the Bronzen Walls
