The House of Yizhi
The Empowered
With great power comes great responsibility. Having supernatural power is no exception. Indeed, even knowing about the supernatural is power and demands a certain responsibility. The House of Yizhi acknowledges this truth. It expects it of the shen and of itself equally.
Whether a mortal in the House is Shih or not, they aim at protecting the human populace from irresponsible shen and policing the shen themselves to weed out the villains before innocent (read: unaware) mortals are hurt. This encompasses Little Asia for the most part, as the House of Yizhi is aware that it cannot police the whole city and isn’t even sure that that is within its duties. There are Western hunters to deal with Western supernaturals.
Protecting humanity includes keeping a mortal unaware of the shen. People have no need to know about the Hidden World. Indeed, people have a tendency to panic when they learn about inexplicable, supernatural activities. Though there was never a full-blown Inquisition in Asia, mobs of angry citizens were not unheard of when a witch or monster is around to conveniently (or deservedly) blame and punish. It is simply disruptive to the harmony of human life’s flow to expose the supernatural to everyone.
When individuals do find out, however, the House of Yizhi tries to guide these persons. Some of them join the House. Others abide by the House’s advice and keeps their secrets to themselves.
In short, the House of Yizhi considers itself a supernatural police force. Justice and harmony are the ultimate goals. It is not about crusading against demonic forces, even if it regularly patrols the streets of Little Asia to keep it clean of unnatural garbage…
Reality Bites
The House of Yizhi does not impose any strict rules. The policies of the Coalition satisfy the leaders of the House. The membership in the Coalition, however, concerns the leaders. How respected is the House really? Whatever the case, the House of Yizhi intends to stand dauntless. It will not be used, abused, ignored, or vilified. It is not there to provide free food for the undead or witless pawns for the chi’n ta or anything in between. It is a full-fledged member of the Coalition, and if the fighters of the House have to break a few shen jaws to get that point across, so be it -- even if those jaws do bite.
