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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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 Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 11:11 am
    Abilities Communication The Porcelain of the Empire believe that their civilization arose not because of any magical strength of their people but because of their superior social abilities. These frail humanoids could not hope to conquer their world, full of beasts and spirits, by force; rather, they built their Empire around the land's hazards, utilizing its resources, and binding their hearts together with their superior communicative ability.
Porcelain may be described as "naturally telempathic," though their communication does not just involve the transmission of emotions. Porcelain deploy a sort of telepathic language that mixes emotions with thoughts, memories, and impressions and descriptions of the moment.
This language is called "mindspeak" or "mindspeech" when it must be distinguished from "mouthspeech." However, Porcelain find the speech of the mind much more natural than aloud-speech; it is the latter that is "marked."
While mindspeech is the most natural form of communication, its usefulness has limits. Porcelain are able to understand one another's mindspeech easily, but mental communication is not so smooth with other sentient species, who sometimes understand and sometimes misunderstand them. It cannot be transmitted any further than the range of a verbal shout, and it cannot be recorded for posterity. While the immediate and instinctual mental language is good enough for Sleeping Porcelain, who operate on a local level only, the Dreaming and Lucid Porcelain of the Empire have developed a need for a long-distance, recordable language as well.
This language was first developed as a written one. Unlike mindspeech, which is free-flowing and grammarless as its meanings are immanent, the written language requires a strict vocabulary and grammar in order to make the relationships of all the concepts clear -- in short, it is much like a human language. A spoken language was then invented to accompany the written one; characters were given certain pronunciations to identify them. Mindspeech accompanied by verbal speech is, then, a very rich and specific mode of communication; it is vaguely analogous to a human using a spoken language (for the Porcelain, mindspeech) and a sign language (mouthspeech) simultaneously.
However, spoken language can only be performed well by Lucid Porcelain; Dreaming Porcelain have trouble with complex grammar, and Sleeping Porcelain cannot understand writing or verbal speech at all.Walls Few Porcelain want to bare their souls to every stranger they encounter, however. Dreaming and Lucid Porcelain develop, alongside their natural ability of mindspeech, the ability to "wall," or block off part of their minds while speaking.
Porcelain do not have invasive telepathy or mind control abilities; these would have to be trained separately the way human psions do. "Walls" are, therefore, not designed to keep invaders "out of one's mind." Rather, they are to prevent oneself from accidentally divulging more than is intended. Putting up walls is therefore seen as self-disciplined and polite rather than antisocial; walls are important to propriety and the protection of others' feelings.
Walls can be used for hurtful purposes, however. While Sleeping and Dreaming Porcelain have difficulty lying, as they cannot help but express "truth" when projecting, Lucid Porcelain are able to project a fiction disguised as truth while hiding the real truth behind a wall.Elemental Magic Dreaming and Lucid Porcelain have other abilities that humans do not; their minds, more than those of average humans, can affect the matter and energy of the environment to some degree. In the Empire, this ability has been refined into two more specific skills or technologies, one of which is called magic.
Magic is aligned to the five ordinary elements of the Porcelain world: Wood, Fire, Earth, Heaven, and Water. It looks, feels, tastes, and smells much like the magic of human mages, but it is powered by the mage's psychic energy and negotiated by her Name.
Dreaming and Lucid Porcelain have natural access to minor magic of their personal elements. Dreaming Porcelain have only modest powers; they cannot do anything impressive without extensive training as mages. They do, however, have natural magical resistances and affinities that do not need to be trained. A Dreaming Fire, for example, can touch cool flames without burning herself, and her illnesses and injuries heal faster when she is in a warm environment.
The natural magic of Lucid Porcelain is stronger, though still unimpressive without extra training. A Lucid Fire might, for example, be able to pull fire towards herself or coax a flame to go out, though she will not be able to set anyone alight with her mind.
Within the Empire, it is Sorcerers and Priests who, with intensive training, are able to refine their natural magical abilities into flashy spells. Lucid Porcelain are able to become quite powerful while Dreaming Porcelain are more limited. It seems, however, that Dreaming Porcelain have a higher natural resistance to magic than Lucid Porcelain; they can protect themselves instinctively, while Lucid Porcelain must learn complex shielding techniques.Telekinesis Porcelain can also develop telekinetic abilities, though this technology is not as refined as that of elemental magic. As it is hard to develop both types of ability, most Porcelain interested in using their mental powers become mages rather than psions.
Telekinesis has, however, been introduced to the military and courtly arts. Telekinetic force can help make up for a Porcelain's lack of physical strength; a warrior-psion can, for example, draw a bow further than a mere warrior could. It has also been incorporated into swordsmanship; Lucid swordsmen typically wield one sword in-hand while levitating two behind him. While the levitated swords cannot actually strike with any force, the extremely sharp Imperial blades discourage enemies from approaching from the rear. Wood, being associated with flesh, is the natural element of healers, and so military artists of the Wood element are strongly encouraged to become warrior-mages in order to heal their comrades; but the other four elements typically train in telekinesis for the above reasons.
Telekinesis has also been incorporated into the rituals of the courtly arts. Bureaucrats neither perform labor nor fight, and so do not feel so much pressure to develop their abilities in practical ways. Training in telekinesis is instead another measure of a courtier's mental discipline, refinement, and Lucidity. The finest expression of this art is telekinetic calligraphy; the "perfect courtier" can write beautiful, clear characters without touching paper or brush at all. Most do not reach this level; the average courtly artist must at least touch a finger to the brush to steady it. The Porcelain Empress, however, can almost always perform this feat; her traditional garb is in fact so restrictive that she must use telekinesis to write anything and lift her robes as she walks.see also: Propriety, Magic, scientifically
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Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 6:20 am
Development Porcelain age relatively faster than humans do, both maturing and dying at earlier ages... though the difference is not too severe.
Infancy
After a gestation of a little more than 7 months, a Porcelain baby is born. Yet defenseless and mentally undeveloped, much like a human baby, the child requires a parent to take care of her every need.
Porcelain babies differ somewhat from human children in that they are much more communicative on day one. In addition to their incomprehensible crying and screaming, Porcelain babies are already capable of projecting rough emotions and desires, making it easier for their parents to care for them in some ways, but occasionally more emotionally taxing.Suggested goals:
• Discover any health problems
• Determine the child's basic personality
Child I
By age 2 or 3, a young Porcelain will have gained more control over her projections, learned to walk, and begun to develop a sense of individual self.
In the Empire, this is a time that is reserved for unfettered play and spoiling by her parents. The reason is perhaps that in the early days of the Empire, child mortality was quite common, and so each day with a small child was treasured, as it might be her last. By the time of Setsushi and Rika, magical technologies had greatly advanced, and many fewer children were lost; but Imperial Porcelain still do not pressure their children to study or imagine a life aspiration.Suggested goals:
• Develop the child's personality through playful RP
• Detail the child's relationship with parents/caretakers, and how this influences her personality
• Make some "friends"
Child II
At age 6, a Porcelain child was deemed likely to survive the rest of childhood. Thus, this is often the time that the child's adult name is chosen and she is enrolled in her first school. Both boys and girls in the Empire begin to learn the very foundations of reading and writing, mathematics, natural philosophy, history, and literature, and children who are able learn to pronounce syllables and say a few words.
However, the greatest focus of this stage is on developing social skills. The basics of propriety should be learned and bad behavior ironed out before youth and all its troubles dawn on the poor child.Suggested goals:
• Begin education: learn to read and write grammatically, basic knowledge of the world, and mathematics, plus some other special skills your child is interested in
• Form more important and complicated relationships; start to make actual deep friendships
• Start to separate the child from her caretakers a little; RP her on her own, so she can develop a sense of independent personality
Youth I
Around the age of 9, puberty begins, sending a hapless young Porcelain into a hormone-induced confusion. These are the "teenage" years for Porcelain, full of tumultuous emotions and anxiety about the future.
A Porcelain's 9th year is the designated time to begin preparing for the Naming Ceremony. Parents will try to educate their children as much as possible, coaching them on speaking aloud, and encouraging them to discover their desired life paths, so that the presiding priest will be able to choose the child's correct lucidity and element.
As boys and girls' bodies change, their education changes, with females prepared to become moral and rational matriarchs and males to become obedient and helpful husbands. As the end of this stage signifies the emergence into young adulthood, all children must be shaped into minimally functional members of society, with a thorough education in decorum, morals, and propriety.Suggested goals:
• Have the child figure out the element she wants and if she believes she is Lucid
• Decide on a probable career and build more specialized skills
• Start thinking about the child's romantic inclinations, even if she doesn't pursue an actual relationship until later
Youth II
In the Empire, Porcelain are considered "legal adults" after completing the Naming Ceremony at age 13. Porcelain of this age are typically reproductive and have finished much of their physical growth. They are not fully mentally mature, however, and are still inexperienced, and so they rarely strike off on their own right away; instead, they seek out an apprentice-like relationship with a master in their desired art.
As the proper age for a female to marry is generally considered to be 20, to a male about 4 years younger than her, males are under a tremendous pressure to marry in this stage. While females choose their husbands, males are expected to participate in the process by courting the females they admire.Suggested goals:
• Figure out the child's ultimate career
• Form a romantic relationship (especially if male)
• Look back over all the influences on her life so far and decide what her adult personality and values will be like
Adult
By age 20, Porcelain have finished maturing both physically and mentally, and will probably only grow horizontally.
As their bodies have finished growing and are most amenable to giving birth during the early part of this stage, and they have also likely reached a stable point in their career, females are encouraged to marry and have children at this time. For both males and females, this is a time to create new things, be they objects or offspring, and nurture the young.Suggested goals:
• Form a romantic relationship if she does not have one already
• Have children
• Figure out what her "impact on the world" will be
Elder
Assuming a Porcelain has not become some eternally young Sorcerer, by age 45 he or she will have become relatively frail and have lost his or her fertility. Health problems begin rapidly appearing, with arthritis and dementia affecting many Porcelain of his age.
But while some elders become weak and senile, others, especially Lucid ones, remain mentally alert and productive members of society. Due to their wisdom and experience, they are often very useful as advisors and mentors of the younger generations... and who says they can't have some more adventures of their own?
In the Empire, Sleeping and Dreaming Porcelain often die in their 50s and 60s. Lucid Porcelain have been known to live far longer, perhaps because their increased psychic power helps protect their bodies from disease.see also: Raising your Porcelain, Porcelain reproduction, Marriage, Holidays in detail
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 7:39 am
A little fluffier backstory... whee
Porcelain fashion!
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Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:09 pm
   Cuisine
Porcelain, however, primarily eat plant matter. They are capable of eating meat, and the coastal peoples of Toukoku eat a tremendous amount of fish and shellfish, but the Empire has not developed a tradition of raising large livestock, perhaps due to empathic reasons -- and Porcelain digestive systems tend to handle meat less well than humans', anyway.
Instead of hearty meat dishes, the aristocrats prefer exciting combinations of vegetables, with many dishes employing rice and various soybean products. It should be noted, however, that Porcelain dishes may not have the same subtlety of flavoring as the finest human dishes, due to the Porcelain People's relatively weaker sense of smell.Absent foods The traditional cuisines of all the islands do not use dairy. Most adult Porcelain are also lactose intolerant to some degree or another, and their lands lack large mammal species; thus, they have no native dairy dishes. Recent trade with human civilizations, however, have introduced milk to the Empire as an exotic and risky substance, consumed mostly only by very rich children.
Alcoholic drinks are not nearly as widespread in the Porcelain lands as in human ones. Most Porcelain cannot handle ethanol; they are intoxicated and sickened much faster than humans of the same size. However, wines are very widely used for cooking -- most of the alcohol evaporates away, leaving a digestible amount -- and various fermented and distilled liquids are used for other purposes, such as medicine.Regional favorites Seafood is a major component of the diet of Toukoku...
Citrus fruits are much easier to cultivate on the northern islands, and thus have become a stereotypical ingredient in the cuisine of Bukoku in particular. Citrus was, however, already being regularly traded to the southern islands in the days of the First Empress, and by the 8th century the fruits were being shipped south in quite regular and substantial volumes.
...see also: Other species
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:10 pm
Other species from the Porcelain worlds
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Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:04 pm
   Lucidity, for the player
If you are a dedicated roleplayer and expert in the background, however, you can decide that you would like your Porcelain to be declared Lucid -- either at her Naming Ceremony as normal or in a special review by Temple authorities if your Porcelain is beyond Naming age. Your Porcelain should declare her conviction that she is Lucid ICly; you should roleplay her preparing herself for the examinations.
If you roleplay well, are a pleasant and responsible shop patron, and otherwise please the almighty Tsu, your Porcelain will be declared Lucid at the Naming Ceremony. If I feel like you haven't roleplayed the process correctly, you haven't put in the appropriate effort, or I have any other reservations, your Porcelain will be declared Dreaming as normal. Please don't dispute the decision (OOCly; who knows how your Porcelain will react ICly.)
Although I hope that all whitelist players are able to raise their Porcelain to be Lucid with enough effort, not all players may want Lucid Porcelain; a player may not want to put in so much effort, preferring to play casually with her Dreaming, or she might enjoy roleplaying the Dreaming mindset more, or she may only want to make one or two of her Porcelain Lucid and leave the rest Dreaming. You absolutely don't have to try for Lucid.
After you have raised a Porcelain to Lucid, you may be offered a custom adult stage.see also: Customization, Sleeping, Dreaming, and Lucid
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 8:28 pm
   Beautiful Arts the Arts Practitioners of the beautiful arts are not organized into any sort of power structure, and thus they are not governed by any particular rules or ranking system. Indeed, it is not even clear sometimes what disciplines are included or excluded from the category of "beautiful arts"; literature, for example, is a subject of study for both scholars and creative-writers.
Most agree, though, that dance and drama, which are often combined into dance-drama with a musical accompaniment, are quintessential beautiful arts; performed by young beauties and written or choreographed by old experts, these disciplines delight the senses at the same time they challenge the mind.
The visual arts are also beautiful arts, with highly valued types including painting with ink and colored washes, carving and jewelrymaking, and clothing design and embroidery. Architecture is traditionally considered a scholarly art, but architects typically study the visual arts to improve their designs.
Music is also a beautiful art, though it is not often performed on its own; it is seen as playing a supporting role to dance and drama.Artist-Organizations Beautiful-artists observe no "hierarchy of artists"; they almost all acknowledge that talent can appear anywhere and that anyone with talent can develop skill, and furthermore that there are different types of talents (thus the expert comic actor is neither superior nor inferior to the tragic actor.)
There are some organizations of artists that observe formal or informal structures, however. Some belong to the court of the Empress or of regional Queens, the most famous of such organizations being the Imperial Dancers who stage formal performances for the Empress, her family, and the court twice a year, at Mid-Year and New-Year. However, a dancer's membership in the Imperial Dancers, even senior membership and the awarding of numerous hero roles, does not guarantee that other dance specialists will respect him.see also: Fashion
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 2:02 am
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 1:20 pm
Imperial Gift Culture The Porcelain Empire is definitely a "culture of law" and not a "culture of honor"; their society is organized bureaucratically with relatively little regard to kinship, its members' behavior is regulated by law, and it is up to the Empress and her judges, not the victims of crimes, to dispense reparations and punishments. An individual's social position depends on her profession and rank more than her reputation. However, reputation and "honor" do come to play in the important cultural event of gift-giving.
There are two main categories of gift-giving: private gifts and public gifts. Private gifts are exchanged between intimates and are matters of duty and basic decency and thus have relatively little symbolic or emotional impact. A mother feeding and clothing her daughter is viewed as acting according to the laws of nature, and so she receives no special prestige for these actions. A public gift, in contrast, is a non-essential item exchanged between non-intimates, and its giving is an opportunity for all parties involved to gain status.
The giving of a gift obviously involves a giver and a receiver, but a public gift also involves the local community as witnesses to the gift. When a gift is given, the giver receives honor from the witnesses, and the receiver acquires debt to the giver.
"Honor" is, in this situation, a reputation for generosity and the esteem and approval of the community. Accumulating this type of honor is important to demonstrating that one is a social, constructive member of society and elevating one's informal social rank (which is often a requirement to receive promotions in formal ranks.) Unsurprisingly, generosity is a positive attribute. However, debt is also a positive attribute. While receiving a gift is a submissive act, by displaying this submissiveness and a willingness to get into debt, the receiver of a gift is also demonstrating that she is a competent member of society. Therefore, both the giver and receiver of a public gift rise in status.
Being "indebted" to someone is a good reason to give her a gift of one's own someday, but honor/generosity and debt are never actually worked off -- assuming neither party is radically "dishonored" and cast out of society, the receiver of a gift will always be considered "indebted" to the giver to at least some degree, no matter how their power relationship may change. A public gift, then, forges a permanent social bond between the actors.
Furthermore, because most people will try to raise their status by receiving and giving as many gifts as possible, they will accumulate a large amount of honor and debt. As a result, a person's honor/generosity is sometimes referred to as her debt; saying that someone "has extensive debts" is often a compliment that means the same thing as "she is generous" or "many are indebted to her."Challenges While this attitude towards generosity and indebtedness is quite pervasive throughout the Empire, it certainly does not completely describe the Porcelain's exchange culture. Public gifts exist alongside a system of buying and selling. Merchants, artisans, and their customers do not gain any special prestige for their transactions. Becoming "indebted" from borrowing money is seen as negative rather than positive (although if a debtor is rescued by a generous friend, this is indeed seen as a public gift.)
These two different systems of thinking about exchange can come into conflict. For example, the tax system can be viewed as an "economic" exchange: the people pay the Imperial bureaucracy money and must be compensated, in a timely fashion, with government goods or services. However, it could also be seen as a public gift: the people give a portion of their profits to the Empress and are "repaid" by a relationship with her and a small share of her divine prestige. Academics with differing views on this matter can often become embroiled in ugly and bitter debates.Instances In the southern regions of the Empire, many holidays and rituals involve public gifts -- or purposely avoid public gifts for specific purposes.
In urban parts of Toukoku, it is common for a child to hold a party on her tenth birthday in which she gives gifts to the attendees, in order to demonstrate her growing social responsibility and readiness for adulthood. While her parents will certainly provide the needed money, the child makes the purchases herself to practice for her adult role. Certain regions take this custom more seriously than others; the parents might go so far as to present their child with a ceremonial ledger "to begin recording your debts."
Within the military and the bureaucracy, gifts are very frequently given by superiors to their subordinates; within the court system this is very often coordinated with the New Year. A high ranking official's retirement is, in turn, an opportunity for the indebted subordinates to hold a feast or contribute money and goods for use in her old age.
While anonymous gifts are very uncommon -- indeed, they would be seen as nonsensical by many, as in order to accumulate honor and debt properly there must be witnesses -- it is actually very common for young un-Named men to give anonymous gifts and love letters to young women they admire (but are too young to court.) This provides practice for courtship and adult gift-giving without embarrassing the (most likely awkward and error-prone) participants by subjecting them to the scrutiny of onlookers.see also: Propriety, Holidays in detail
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Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:33 am
the "Science" of Magic In the Golden World, magic is not merely a matter of religion or ritual; while the subject has certainly developed many mystical overtones, its visibility, reliability, and tangible realness has opened it up as a subject of study for the natural philosophers of the Empire -- scholars interested in understanding and describing the natural world.
Indeed, magic -- at least the elemental magic available to all Porcelain -- is such a common presence in everyday life that it is thought of as a rather mundane topic; it can be perfected by the magical-artist and studied in detail by the scholar, but the basics are accessible to all. The truly arcane subjects are the study of the Silver World, the spirits, and the gods; because of their obscurity, understanding of these topics is still heavily influenced by the Temple. A few stubborn natural philosophers still attempt to shed light on them, though, and relate them to the much better-understood subject of ordinary magic.
Below is detailed the most reliable and up-to-date understanding the natural philosophers of the 8th century Empire had of these aspects of their world.Magic in the Golden World In casual usage, the world "magic" usually refers to the natural psychic powers of all Porcelain. Though it can be disciplined into various different forms -- a mage's elemental magic, telekinesis, and so forth -- most agreed by the 8th century that these were all variations on the same processes.
Something about the minds of Fired Folk allows them to develop and exert psychic influence on the environment. Among mortal Porcelain, this manifests as elemental magic, sometimes called Name magic, which is so common that it feels to Porcelain scholars more like a mundane topic than a mystical one.the Elements Earlier theories, still largely espoused by the Temple and taught in most schools, explain elemental magic as a manifestation of an individual's affinity for one of the five ordinary elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Heaven, and Water. In this theory, the elements actually exist as substances and processes in the real world.
Exactly which substances and processes were, however, continually debated. Some intellectuals tried to figure out these connections by physical means, attempting to associate a given substance, like sulfur or salt, with a specific element by close examination or experiment. Others took a more metaphysical route, such as in the 7th century scholarly debate over the differences between Heaven and Water, in which Heaven became largely associated with essential characters and Water with accidental, theoretical, or relative characters. Each generation or school of scholars would come up with a different table of associations, which it would then defend against its rivals.
However, in the early 8th century, a group of scholars based in Toukoku began to question whether the five elements did indeed exist in nature or if they were only theoretical constructs that had been invented by Porcelain culture to make magic easier to understand. These new theories were still being discussed in private letters in 720, however, and their work does not seem to have survived the invasion.the Silver World While the elemental magic belonging to all Porcelain is so widespread and commonly used it is a common subject for natural philosophical inquiry, the spirits who are said to live in the Silver World appear so rarely that, while they are known to be real, their nature remains a mystery, largely informed by religious and superstitious conjecture.
The few scholars who have attempted to investigate the spirits rationally generally agree that the Silver World appears to be a parallel plane to the Golden World with a roughly similar landscape but different inhabitants. The spirits only become visible in the Golden World in places where the boundary between the planes becomes thin; they do not seem able to fully emerge into the Golden World, just as living Porcelain cannot cross over to the Silver World. However, a spell thrown by a spirit can travel out of the crossover zone, suggesting that the same laws of physics and magic apply to both worlds.
According to many Porcelain religions, the Golden and Silver Worlds share vital energy. When a Porcelain, or indeed any living being, dies in the Golden World, her soul travels to the Silver World where it joins the rain and soil, thereby transforming into the wheat, animals, and intelligent beings of that plane. As the soul loses its individual identity during this "rebirth," scholars have been unsure how to test this idea. Anecdotal evidence, however, seems to suggest that places of death in the Golden World, such as graveyards, seem to open up into flourishing gardens and fields in the Silver World.
Many wish they could ask the spirits for knowledge, but attempts are rarely successful. Crossover patches tend to be volatile, quickly dissipating, and the spirits who appear there seem either frightened or violently angry. While it seems that emotions can be telepathically transmitted between Porcelain and spirits, thoughts generally come across as garbled, and no common verbal language is known. It is rumored that the Sorcerers and the exotic priests of Bukoku have learned rituals that allow them to interact peacefully with the spirits, but the scholars of Toukoku have yet to find good evidence of this.Ambiguous entities As interacting directly with the Silver World appears to be very difficult, many academics have suggested investigating the entities which are said to simultaneously exist in both worlds: gods, such as the Names and the Chaos. Unfortunately, scholarly works on these beings remains largely speculative, as the Names are invisible, the Chaoses are wild and secretive, and the other gods are not even certain to exist.
Whatever insights into the underlying magical nature of the world the Chaoses may indeed provide to their Sorcerers, the Sorcerer do not like to share their knowledge with the Imperial authorities. What scattered reports exist seem to indicate that a Chaos Sorcerer's unusual and powerful magic is not fundamentally different from any other Porcelain's elemental magic; he merely learns to express it differently, and reaches an unprecedented level of force and focus by being hypnotized by his Chaos.
As for the Chaoses themselves, they also appear to have powers of their own, though they very rarely show them; they prefer to act through their Sorcerers. They are known to be able to weaken the barrier between the planes, but this behavior has been observed so rarely little is known about it.see also: The Imperial Temple, Scholarly Arts, Abilities, Religions of the Empire
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:54 am
Religions of the Empire Although the Empire likes to think of itself as united under a single religion, the Way of Chaos and Name, the reality is much more complicated than this. Although the regional temples and shrines are nominally integrated into the Imperial Temple, and it is true that most Porcelain of the Golden World share the same rough worldview, the details of a particular belief and practice vary -- sometimes tremendously -- from the standard of the Capital.Mainstream variance Even within Toukoku, every temple sets its own policies; priests' conduct, such as their living arrangements and dietary practices, the standard ritual and advice dispensed to the local population, and so forth can differ substantially even between two neighboring cities.
The highest-ranked priests, centered in Toukoku, oversee, among other things, promotions and the distribution of salaries, but they do not usually issue official rulings on religious policy. Instead, magical and ethical problems are proposed, then debated among the temples, which send letters to one another and to the central power base. The Master of the Temple, nominally the second-ranked in the Temple hierarchy but with vastly more practical power than the High Priest, customarily summarizes these debates and releases a pamphlet the second week of Quiescence every even year, including the opinions of the top priests in the conclusions. Though most temples like to follow the opinion of the authorities, not all do so.
Some of the specific injunctions promoted by the central authorities in the 8th century included the:
• assertion that nature is innately good, and that Fired Folk are born good but can become evil
• forbiddance of the consumption of animals, unless they are certain to have been slaughtered humanely
• condemnation of all types of nonconsensual, abusive relationships
• condemnation of dishonesty in Lucid Porcelain
• condemnation of the increasingly common practice of women marrying men much younger than they
• lauding of charity
• recommendation of the separation of the sexes in youth's education and recreational spaces
• recommendation of metaphysical education for all Lucid and Dreaming Porcelain, to help them become more intelligent and ethical thinkers
... and so forth.
The temples of Eastern Toukoku follow the central authorities the closest; Western Toukoku, Rinkoku, and Houkoku largely conform to the mainstream customs as well. However, even these regions constantly quarrel -- in a friendly manner -- over the details of these tenets; for example, should priests be held to strict veganism? are sacrifices to the spirits backwards and superstitious, or should they be allowed as the provide rituals that bring together communities?
But despite this constant evolution and transformation of doctrine, nearly all temples, including the very distant ones, agree on two basic guidelines for the clergy: the priests must closely follow all Imperial laws and refrain from harming others (varying from mild to strict pacifism.)Regional variance With distance, however, the influence of the central authority drops off; in the far-flung regions of the Empire, the individual temples feel less pressure to conform and form their own schools of belief and practice.
On top of this, the natives of the distant islands, especially Kokoku and Bukoku, may not even worship at the temples. These regions have their own shrines, holidays, and rituals, and while parents still do bring their children to the Imperial Temple for Naming Ceremonies, in some districts this is the only time native families attend.Bukoku Resistance to the Temple is most pronounced in Bukoku, where it is practiced as part of a larger resistance to the imposition of the culture of Toukoku. A substantial number of people in Bukoku abhor the collectivist nature of Imperial culture; they prefer to retain their individual identities and idiosyncrasies, embracing particularism and rejecting the homogenizing tendency of the Empire. Thus, the various territories retain their own traditional religions, which can differ from their neighbors' substantially.
These local religions are not so different from the Temple in belief; the world they describe is still suffused with Name and Chaos, watched over by similar gods, and occasionally invaded by the same spirits. The largest differences between Toukoku and Bukoku are in practice. The northern religions give much greater importance to the gods; while in Toukoku, the gods are thought of as distant, even metaphorical, and are rarely worshiped, in Bukoku the gods are believed to take personal interest in the world, and they are often supplicated for protection. In addition, there are a great number of place-gods and deified ancestors who aid a community against its enemies.
Communication with these powers is effected by rituals, usually public and involving the entire community. Rather than being conducted by a specially trained and educated priest, as in Toukoku, they are usually led by the local Queen or other leader, by the elders, or by maidens of one sex or the other. Whereas Temple rituals are genteel and contemplative, in Bukoku a ritual often involves noisy festivities, trance, and audience participation.Kokoku But while the religions of Bukoku are the most adamant in their differences from the Temple, some scholars came to believe that in the 8th century, it was actually Kokoku that differed the most from Toukoku in religious belief and practice.
Temples in Kokoku tend to host clinics and schools rather than rituals. Families are much more likely to worship at local shrines, not to the gods or to Name, but to local spirits or spirit-communities who are believed to live nearby in the Silver World. The people of Kokoku ask the spirits to help them with fertility, health, love, and other problems by lending them vital energy from the Silver World. In exchange, the Porcelain perform sacrifices, usually of food, to send vital energy from the Golden World to any spirits who may need it. The healthy exchange of energy between the two worlds is the focus of their spiritual thought, rather than the balance of Name and Chaos emphasized in other regions.
Most inhabitants of Kokoku perform this sort of religion in a casual and low-key way, offering little prayers throughout the day and observing small family rituals on certain holidays. Religious specialists and major rituals are usually only called upon when there is a serious case of spiritual disturbance -- a terrible illness, problems with pregnancy, or a season of plague or drought. At these times, the people turn not to the temple but to the mountain mystics, most of whom are Sorcerers, and ask them to contact the Silver World directly. These rituals are surrounded in secrecy, and Toukoku knows little of them, though some suspect that the Sorcerers may indeed successfully communicate with the spirits.see also: Worldview, The Imperial Temple, Magic, scientifically
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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:50 pm
Holidays in detail A few selected holidays (and age rituals, etc.) from the calendar, explained here in more detail.
...Holidays, Names, and Chaoses The first fourteen days of the month have a religious significance in Toukoku and the regions loyal to the central Temple. The first thirteen days are associated with the thirteen Names (and Chaoses), which correspond to the ordinary elements. The fourteenth day corresponds to the extraordinary element and the Empress's special Name; thus, the fourteenth day of each month is an Imperial holiday themed around the presiding Calendar God.
There are also twelve bad luck days connected to the first twelve Names (which are of Wood, Fire, Earth, and Water; Heaven has only one Name, which is the thirteenth.) When the day number matches the month number -- the First of Quiescence, the Second of Gestation, and so forth -- the corresponding Name is said to leave the place where it rests and wander over the land, settling in a new location that needs its influence. These days are usually considered dangerous; when a Name is wandering, the Universe becomes unstable, especially concerning matters that the particular Name governs. Although technically an area could receive either good luck, as the Name enters, or bad luck, as it leaves, because the Name is invisible people cannot be sure to which luck group they belong, and everyone will be cautious about engaging in risky undertakings.
Among certain groups of Sorcerers, the fifteenth is also a holy day; these people believe that there is a fifteenth Name/Chaos pair that belongs to the Silver Empress. Depending on the group's tradition, this could be an auspicious day for rituals, especially those involving the Silver Empress's Cup-and-Sword symbolism, or a dangerous day on which the Sorcerer should conceal himself from the Silver Empress's spies.
...Incense Day The fourteenth of Sovereignty is Incense Day, a holiday for honoring the bureaucrats, donating to the Temple, and reaffirming the matriarchal social hierarchy. In its present form in Toukoku, it is a very quiet "festival" in which Porcelain (who are able to afford to participate) buy incense sticks in honor of certain people in their lives and place them, unlit, in the ash-filled incense holders outside the Temple.
At minimum, one purchases four blue-dyed sticks of incense in honor of the chief Judge, the Master of the Census, the Master of the Taxes, and the Postmaster of her town. More blue sticks are purchased for lawyers or higher-ranked secretaries who lent their help to the family in the past year.
Then, additional sticks are purchased for individuals "one step above in the food chain" -- one's mother (if she is alive,) and one's wife and mother-in-law (if applicable and alive) in red, one's father (if alive) in white, and immediate employers or supervisors in brown.
Most city Porcelain at or above the age of thirteen participate; as a result, the Temple burners are colorful and crowded by the end of the day, making a dramatic scene. The priests then collect the incense sticks on the fifteenth to be used throughout the year.
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 7:10 am
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 7:13 pm
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 12:43 pm
Everyday Magic So untrained Dreaming and Lucid Porcelain can use simple magic of their Elements; but what does this actually mean in the context of the everyday lives of artisans, servants, mothers and fathers, courtiers, artists, and scholars, and other people who do not become true expert mages?
Untrained Porcelain can perform a little bit of magic that has a visible effect -- such as a Fire Porcelain's ability to play with a candle flame -- but their magic is generally not "effective" -- it does not effect actual phenomena. Rather, it has subtle effects on their physiology -- Porcelain often draw health and energy from the objects and environments that relate to their element -- and it increases their sensory abilities.
Though each Porcelain expresses her abilities a bit differently, patterns among the elements are listed below.Wood The element of Wood seems concerned with metabolism, homeostasis, organic compounds, and other characteristics, byproducts, and influences of living things.
Wood mages have the extremely desirable ability to heal wounds and reverse illness (and, potentially, to exacerbate it.) Among untrained Porcelain, this power is much muted, but Wood Porcelain often have a preternatural awareness of their own internal bodily processes, very quickly realizing if something is going awry. Though it is less strong, they also have an intuitive understanding of other living things -- though often limited to a certain group of similar beings with whom the Porcelain is particularly familiar; a doctor might have a special understanding of other Porcelain bodies, an animal breeder that of his livestock, and a gardener of his particular plant specialty.Fire Fire could be characterizes as relating to chemical transformation, alchemical transmutation, both internal and relational change; both bonding and dissolution.
An untrained Fire Porcelain would, therefore, find tasks such as cooking, smithing, and (naturally) chemical production intuitively easy. A Fire Porcelain may also have an intuitive understanding of metabolism, like a Wood Porcelain, but would approach the process from a different perspective, considering the transformations of substances rather than their relations to living organisms.Earth Earth Porcelain very rarely develop powerful "Earth magic" -- in fact, many scholars are not sure a particular kind of Earth magic actually exists. Instead of becoming mages, Earth Porcelain who are so inclined often become psions.
This is because Earth magic is intrinsically related to stability, stasis, sameness. Earth considers the composition of things, the conservation of matter, the stability of a system over time, more than it considers things in flux and motion. Thus, Earth Porcelain tend to have a intuitive understanding of the component parts of substances; this gives them an advantage in chemical work, though from a different perspective than Fire Porcelain. This insight is also beneficial in many different artisanal fields, as the ability to understand and choose materials is very important.Heaven Heaven and Water are two of the more mysterious elements; the philosophers of the Empire have had a hard time characterizing them in simple, concrete terms.
However, in the 7th century, Heaven came to be associated with the idea of essential characters -- Heaven Porcelain are supposed to have a special insight into the essences of things. Heaven magic seems also related to motion, as in the motion of the stars, the wind, and telekinesis, in which many Heaven Porcelain are gifted, but philosophers characterize this motion are orderly, synchronized, possessing underlying pattern and meaning into which the Heaven Porcelain can intuitively see.
The ability to identify and predict patterns can manifest in a concrete way in, for instance, a Heaven Porcelain's ability to predict the weather based on her accumulated experience. The ability to identify essences assists in intuiting the composition of things, as in Earth Porcelain, but instead of sensing the various heterogeneities of a substance, they are able to pinpoint which characters belong to which of its parts, making them especially suited to tasks of separation and distillation.Water Water magic seems also intrinsically linked to motion, but this motion is different from that of Heaven magic; it is chaotic, unbalanced, shifting and flowing movement. Water is an element of change, not so much of internal characteristics or interrelational bonds, but of context, location, formulation; it is the essence of that which can be gathered, redirected, put to use, but never completely contained, divided, or tamed. The philosophers thus assigned Water, in opposition to Heaven, the meaning of accidental characters.
Water Porcelain have particular intuitions regarding the movement of fluids -- the most important fluids for Porcelain being water and air. But unlike Heaven Porcelain, they tend not to see patterns or cycles, which return neatly to their origins, but messy movement, shifts, leans, turns, accelerations, and so forth. The chaotic nature of Water means that a Water Porcelain's intuition can often support that of another Porcelain's; it seeps into the cracks of a definition or model, pointing out the changes and contexts that others might overlook.see also: Abilities, Science of Magic
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