This small webbook should help acquaint players with all the various terminologies of the Asian groups in the World of Darkness.
General Shen Terms
- Arts: A general term sometimes employed by the shen to refer to their mystical powers, whether they mean vampiric Disciplines, hsien sorceries, or chi’n ta Spheres.
- August Personage of Jade: In the myths of many shen, the current but inactive ruler of Heaven. In Kuei-jin myth, when the Sixth Age arrives the Personage will step down, to be replaced by the Demon Emperor.
- Bakemono (bah-kuh-MO-no): Asian fomori.
- Chi (CHEE): The primal energy that makes up all things, living and unliving. In terms of the shen, it often refers to that mystical energy employed to sustain unlife or empower magics. It is virtually universal among all shen, though they may sometimes employ the Western terms instead. For example, hengeyokai may call their energy Chi or simply call it Gnosis as their Western brethren do. The term “chi” or “ch’i” is Chinese in origin. In Japan and Korea, it is called ki, qi is how it is spelled in Vietnam and some parts of China, and in India ojas.
- Chi’n Ta (chee-en-TAH): The Awakened mages of the East. The Japanese term is shinta. Also known as Lightning People, and more derisively among some circles of shen, Namebreakers.
- Court: A unit of shen bound together for a common goal, usually occupying a single city or region, though large and heavily populated cities may be composed of two or more Courts of the same species of shen. The Kuei-jin and hsien use this term most commonly, though their uses differ slightly. Hengeyokai also entitle their groups this way, but typically prefix “Beast”. Some shinta, particularly in China, may call their chantries Courts instead. Japanese shen sometimes forego the Chinese term altogether and call their groups Clans or Houses.
- Direction: An astrologically based influence that allegedly governs a Kuei-jin’s personality and duties to the Wu and Court, and helps defines a hengeyokai’s place in his Sentai. There are five directions: north, south, east, west, and the center. The five Directions correspond to the Taoist theory of Five Elements and thus finds its way into the beliefs of many other shen.
- Dragon Line: A line of strong Chi connecting two or more Dragon Nests, or rarely instead leading deep into the spirit world. Shen of sufficient power can use dragon lines to transport themselves vast distances in short time. Dragon lines of Yang in the West are called “Moon Bridges” or “ley lines”, while dragon lines of Yin are known in the Underworld as “Byways”. In the Middle Kingdom, these lines of power are closer to the surface of reality than they are in the Western World of Darkness.
- Dragon Nests: An area where Chi is strong and virtually bubbles out of the spirit world, a fountain of spiritual potency, and the Wall is low (5 or less). In the West, dragon nests are called caerns, nodes, haunts, freeholds, et cetera.
- Ebon Road: The corrupted, hidden Yin-aspected dragon line that leads into Yomi Wan.
- Fabric, The: The spiritual material that makes up the Yin and Yang Worlds. In Western terms, it is the ephemera of Yang and plasma of Yin.
- Feng (FEHNG): Phoenixes - powerful spirit entities that often impart the will of Heaven to its loyal servants.
- Feng Shui (fehng shoo-EE) : Chinese “geomancy” - the art of divining proper location for architecture and terrain in relation to the dragon lines and spirit world. Practitioners of feng shui are called fang shih.
- Five Elements Theory: This Taoist metaphysic simply stated incorporates five base elements that make up the universe and interact in harmony. The elements are fire, water, wood, metal, and earth.
- Five Metal Dragons: The Asian Technocracy, representing the five Conventions. The Japanese branch is sometimes referred to as the Zaibatsu. Others term for the Asian Technocracy include the “Subtle Thunders” or “Stone People”.
- Great Cycle: The Wheel of Ages - the eternal cycle of being, in which the earth suffers through eras of increasing misery til it reaches a nadir of corruption and then the world begins to right itself toward Paradise once again. There are traditionally accepted to be a total of Twelve Ages.
- Gweilo (GWAI-loh): A Cantonese term meaning for a foreign asshole, usually white. The more familiar Japanese term, gaijin, more or less means the same thing. Indeed, these terms are hurled more to mean “non-Asian asshole”, and has little to do with citizenship anymore. New York City Chinatown tong are as likely to use it in reference to Mafioso neighbors as Beijing natives would.
- Heaven: To the shen, this refers to the inexplicable force overseeing the interaction of Yin and Yang and ordaining what should and should not be. Most shen realize they have fallen from the grace of Heaven and abandoned their celestial posts. Conversely, beings who transcend the eternal cycle of life and death are said to have reached Heaven.
- Hengeyokai (hehn-guh-YO-kah-ee): “Changing Phantoms”, the shapeshifters of the Middle Kingdom who are no less fierce but not as barbaric to other shen as their Western counterparts tend to be.
- Hsien (hee-SEE-ehn): Asian changelings, the “godlings” are spirits trapped in mortal form, forced to adapt to a world of supernatural enemies (namely, the Chi-thirsty Wan Kuei). They are also known as the Shinma, though this refers primarily to those hsien who follow the commands of Heaven. There are sects who have fallen astray from that path and are not called Shinma.
- Hun (HOON): The “higher”, rational half of the soul and personality. This is a term used namely by Kuei-jin (replacing Western vampires’ Humanity) and Asian wraiths (replacing Western ghosts’ Psyche).
- I-Ching (ee-CHEENG): A Chinese art of divination employing yarrow sticks and coins and the theories of the Book of Changes; roughly corresponding to Western “reading the bones”.
- Jimu-Tenno (JEE-moo-TEHN-no) : Go-between spirits for the Celestial Courts and the Middle Kingdom.
- Joss (JOHSS) : The force of fortune and luck - good or bad - at work in the world. Many shen learn at least some minuscule power over joss, and dhampyrs have immense power over joss inherently.
- Kaja (KAH-jah): This ancient and extraordinarily complex ideographic language employed by Wan Kuei and some chi’n ta scholars influenced, and was influenced by, early Chinese script. It is said to be a celestial tongue, a written language whose designs were words of power, but a power now lost to most shen since the fall from grace.
- Kin-jin (KEEN-jeen): A contemptuous term slang term for Western vampires, it is derived from a corruption meaning “Caine’s people”. Ironically, “kin” also means “gold” in certain Far East languages, implying the Cainites’ blatant obsession with wealth and power.
- Kuei-jin (koo-AY-jeen): An Asian vampire; this term is a recently created hodge-podge primarily used by younger vampires. Thought to have been derived from the term gui ren (“demon people”).
- Leyak (lee-YAHK): An Indonesian term for the supernatural.
- Middle Kingdom, The: The physical world of Asia, between the Yin and Yang Worlds. In Chinese, it is called Zhongguo.
- Mikado (mee-KAH-do): Powerful spirits of the Celestial Courts.
- Mirror Lands, The: The spiritual reflections of the world, either more beautiful and perfect or darker and more twisted, than its material counterpart.
- P’o (PEH-oh): The “lower”, animalistic half of the soul and personality, the Demon. In Western terms, it is the Beast Within, the Shadow.
- Qiao (CHEE-OW): Chinese for “Bridge”, referring to one of the disciplines of mystical demon-hunting that in which the Shih are tutored.
- Sar: The term for Tass that the Akashic Brotherhood and some other traditional chi’n ta employ. It comes from the Buddhist myth, the Fruit of Saravastri.
- Scarlet Path, The: The corrupted, hidden Yang-aspected dragon line that leads into Yomi Wan.
- Shen (SHEHN): A Chinese term meaning “spirit”, used in reference to all supernaturals in the Middle Kingdom.
- Shih (SHEE): An ancient order of demon hunters who are fierce and skillful yet display none of the folly of the Western Inquisitors.
- Sifu (SEE-foo): A respected teacher in Chinese. Also, sensei, tetsu, saborn, or master.
- Spirit Courts: The intangible realms adjoining the material realm, but beyond the Mirror Lands, where great spirit lords and terrible demons rule their kingdoms quite territorially. Where wisdom and duty once stayed the gods’ hand, now politics and intrigue reign. In Western terminology, the various Umbrae. This is also known as the Celestial Bureaucracy or Celestial Courts.
- Strike Force Zero: A hi-tech Japanese organization of paramilitants dedicated to the eradication of the shen. They do not display the wisdom of the Shih, work in deadly teams, and employ devices beyond most modern ideals.
- Tapesty, The: The Middle Umbra - the spiritual region between the Mirror Lands of Yang and the Deep Umbra, according to the hengeyokai especially. The chi’n ta consider the High Umbra apart from the Tapestry, though it is usually reached before one reaches the Horizon Barrier and the Void beyond.
- Ten Thousand Things, The: All material and spiritual things extending to the edge of the known universe, to the Horizon Barrier. In Western terms, the Tellurian. Creation.
- True Jade: A precious, mystical material - awakened jade, if you will - that can act as a battery for chi energies and may possess other secret powers. Jade is considered “soul-material” and is coveted by many shen for its miraculous powers.
- Wall, The: The barrier between the material world and the Mirror Lands. In Western terminology, the Gauntlet of Yang and the Shroud of Yin. The Wall tends to be a bit weaker in the East than in the West due to the deeply-rooted superstitionism of the culture.
- Wan Kuei (WAHN koo-AY): “The Ten Thousand Demons”, a term for the Asian undead most often employed by older shen.
- Wan Xian (WAHN SHEE-ahn): “The Ten Thousand Immortals”, purportedly the original name for the Wan Kuei, before their fall from grace.
- Yama Kings: Demon lords of great power who are believed to desire to either destroy the world or corrupt it and rule over it. They were once the servants of Heaven, keepers of the balance and tempters of the virtuous, but selfishly fell from their celestial posts as inherently evil beings are apt to do. Comparable to Western Malfeans and Demon Lords. Examples include Emma-o, Mikaboshi, Tou Mu, Rangda, Ravana, and Haha no Fukami.
- Yang: The metaphysical principle of activity, life, aggression, and positive force, inhabited and represented by nature-spirits and kami. Not to be confused with the morals of “goodness” or “virtue”. Yin and Yang simply are, and are not good or evil.
- Yang World: The tumultuous, “higher” spirit world composed of Yang energy and inhabited by all manner of spirits and realms. It extends as far as the Horizon Barrier.
- Yin: The metaphysical principle of inactivity, death, passivity, and negative force, inhabited and represented by ghosts and other spirits of decay. Again, not to be confused with “evil” or any other moral value.
- Yin World: The dark, “lower” world composed of Yin energy and inhabited by a variety of ghosts and dead spirits. It extends from the Shadowlands to the Tempest and Labyrinth.
- Yomi (YOH-mee): Yomi is a spiritual force of corruption, a combination of Yin and Yang energies gone bad. It may also refer to evil spirits in service to the intentions of Yomi: corruption and destruction. Banes and spectres are Yomi spirits.
- Yomi World: Also known as the Ten Thousand Hells or Yomi Wan, these diabolic realms are chunks of corrupted Yin and Yang energies, often created by and ruled over by Yama Kings.
