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For Kindred, the Embrace is fatally simple: A mortal, through no particular virtue or fault of her own, is assaulted and drained of blood by a vampire, then given back enough of the vampire's blood to induce the transformation. The typical vampire, then, does not even have to bear the blame for her monstrous state.

Things are not so convenient in the Middle Kingdom, where everything is thought to happen for a reason and supernatural entities are not born on a passing whim. Why, then, do some bodies in the Middle Kingdom refuce to stay in their tombs?

The mortals of the Middle Kingdom have many legends as to why souls rise as Hungry Dead. Some claim that improperly performed burial rites can resurrect a soul in its body. Other legends state that a Kuei-jin is a body possessed by its P'o, or dark, animalistic soul. Still other stories say that a Cathayan is the soul of a dead mortal karmically cursed for sins of desire or indulgence.

The truth bears elements of all these legends, yet is more complex than mortals are aware. To become Kuei-jin, a mortal "urn" must have suffered one of two fates:

- During his lifetime, the mortal awakened his dormant P'o. Such an occurrence is possible only through sustained deeds of depravity and callousness, such that the mortal's "dark side" has a significant impact on his personality and overall karma.

- The mortal died in such traumatic fashions that his P'o awakened at the moment of dying. This situation typically arises only when a very nasty death combines with an overwhelming urge to remain in the living world. Unfortunately, the Fifth Age, with its brush fire wars, political "detenion centers" and tong battles, offers countless opportunities for this sort of death.

Furthermore, in any event:
- The mortal must have great strength of will. Although many restless shades (most commonly referred to as kuei) haunt the sites of their bodies, it is a much more difficult endeavor actually to re-inhabit a body from the other side.

In any event, the mortal dies, typically unready, unfulfilled and unwilling to depart the living world. The P'o-weighted soul rockets howling into the spirit worlds. Such a creature normally ends up as a malevolent spirited (a "Spectre," "Bane" or similar "demon"). In the case of souls cursed to become Kuei-jin, however, the Karmic Wheel have a different fate in store.

So, in one instant of overwhelming pain, the twin souls reunite, and the corpse rises from its resting place.

The process is called the Second Breath. Over the millennia, Kuei-jin have written volumes concerning it; still, no one precisely understands it. Cathayan scholars speculate that to complete the process, the Hun must be sufficiently adept to "weave" a housing from the ambient Chi lines near the corpse and, thus, connect strands of Yin and Yang that imbue the body with unnatural ligh. By contrast, the P'o must be sufficiently strong to "slash" open the Wall separating the spirit world from the Middle Kingdom. In the Fifth Age, more fatalistic Kuei-jin lament, the Wall is strong, and the sheer savagery to claw open the Wall. As such, all returning Kuei-jin hear at least a modicum of the monstrous.

The process itself takes relatively little time as denizens of the Middle Kingdom reckon it -- generally, a Keui-jin rises no later than two months after its mortal death. Miraculously, the corpse is restored to its appearance during life. Even the ashes of a cremation meld together and rise whole, for, say the Kuei-jin, the Great Cycle levies its curse, body or no body.

As so, the newborn Kuei-jin, P'o swollen from its work and inflamed with memories of torment, starved for life-force, unable to breath and cut off from the Chi that sustained it in living days, stands up and opens it eyes. With a gaze attuned to the worlds of the dead, it views the Middle Kingdom and sees the corruption if the Fifth Age mirroed in a desolate landscape of ebbing Chi.

Needless to say, the aftermath of the Awakening is generally quite unpleasant for the Kuei-jin. It is even less pleasant for the hapless mortals in the vicinity.

A novice Kuei-jin must tread most carefully. At this tage, she is not shen, but hin -- "a nonperson" with no rights. A hin can be destroyed at the whim of the ruling ancestor; indeed, a hin can be arbitrarily cut down by any established Kuei-jin who finds her offensive. Civility and etiquette are carefully cultivated among the superior hin.

Hin receive rigorous training, not merely from a sifu, but from the entire Cathayan community. In the old nights, this training process might last a full 24 years (two cycles of the zodiac); in the Fifth Age, expendiency is paramount, and few initiations last longer than five years. During this process, all the region's jina collectively participate in the hin's education -- thus, a novice Cathayan might be taught the kaja script by a court's Fifth Superior Mistress of Calligraphy, spirit etiquette by the Watcher in the West, and kenjutsu by the Celestial Sword Dragon. The training is harsh and instructors display little tolerance for error. In the Fifth Age, Cathayans are not overly patient with their charges. They have little time to spare on the niceties of instruction, and pupils who lack the physical and emotional fortitude to survive lifetimes of war and hunger are best served by a quick and merciful destruction.

Hin also learn their Disciplines and supernatural arts at this time; under the watchful eyes of acknowledged masters, all receive instruction in the rudimentary mystical powers appropriate to their dispositions. The first part of most hin's training involves the manipulation and understanding of Chi. Hin are taught how to attune themselves to Chi, how to manipulate Chi within their bodies and how to view the Yin and Yang Worlds. During this phase of instruction, a hin centers his Chi, finds his Chi balance, and becomes aspected to Yin, Yang or Balance.

Naturally, as vampires, hin must also be instructed in dealing with their essential attributes: sating their hunger, mastering the fire and wave nature and avoiding the sun. When a hin's Demon Art manifests (as it inevitable does), the vampire is given over to the court's terrifying First Oni, the vampire most skilled in conjuring her P'o. The First Oni, typically (though not always) a member of the Devil-Tiger Dharma, trains hin in control over and use of their P'o. This period of the training is generally the most harrowing, as it involves confronting and evoking the Demon; many hin do not survive with their sanity intact.

During this time, a hin's every word, every gesture, every action is scrutinized by the community as a whole. Established wu, courts and cliques evaluate the hin's skills and character. A promising pupil may attract the attention of established court figures, who offer to take the character as a "special student"; of course, the acceptance of such an offer irrevocably immerses the vampire in the abyss of Cathayan factionalism. The mentor's allies become the student's allies...but the mentor's rivals become the student's foes, and the ribals' students typically stop at nothing to show up or destroy the "impudent upstart" outright.

The instruction period is also the time when the character beginds her path along a Dharma. Representatives of each of the firve Dharmas scrutinize the hin and consult among themselves as to which students are best suited for which Dharmas. In certain cases involving exceptional pupils, Dharmic masters have been known to journey from afar (sometimes shocking the pupil's court with their sudden appearance), in order to conduct the pupil's training "properly." Kuei-jin consider such an event extremely auspicious; a pupil thus chosen is held in high esteem, and her fellows tolerate nothing less than greatness from her thereafter.

The Fire and Water Test, which marks the end of initiation, always takes place on the 23rd day in the month of the Dragon. At this festivity, which is often disguised as a mortal part or festival, the hin demonstrate their mastery of skills both mortal and supernatural for the assembled court. Mortal vessels, who serve as refreshment for the hin and as reminds of how essential subtlety is, walk unwittingly about the proceedings. Each him must conduct herself with impeccable poise and courtesy, and not only must demonstrate the minimum standards necessary for existence as Kuei-jin (training in Disciplines, mastery of fire and wave nature), but must also display her area of greatest excellence, be it in calligraphy, painting, seduction or war. (Pupils specially selected by one or more established Kuei-jin must perform particularly well; demonstrating anything less than excellence is a great blow to the honor of the mentor.) Should a hin fail to impress the court, the ancestor's raised eyebrow or curt chop of a finger beckons nearby jina; the unfortunate hin is swiftly and efficiently removed from the proceedings, never to be seen again.

Near the end of the night, the ancestor and mandarins induct surviving hin into the court and bestow upon them the rank of disciple. They are now "persons": full members of Kuei-jin society. This achievement coincides with the swearing of reciprocities, as the disciples swear loyalty to their fellows and promise obedience to vampires of higher stations.

At this time, each disciples is assigned a "direction," based on prior astrological analysis of the date on which the vampire rose from the dead. The direction (north, west, center, east, south) is thought to govern the vampire's general disposition, temperament and role in society.

Finally, each disciple joins a wu. This word (which, depending on the tone, can mean "five" or "house") signifies a "blood family" of undead. Typically, a wu comprises of Kuei-jin who displayed interest in or sympathy toward one another during training. Increasingly, newly initiated hin are simply allowed to unite into their own wu, thus forming a new one. Certain mandarins deplore this practice, saying that the traditional "Hundred Corpse Families" are good enough; their more liberal brethren counter that only by allowing the young to write their own histories can Kuei-jin society survive the turbulence of the impending Sixth Age.

And so, for the Kuei-jin rising in the modern age, the Second Breath is a tempest of boundless, electrifying -- and, all too often, lethal -- possibilities...

Most Kuei-jin spend at least a part of their kôa settling unfinished mortal affairs. Whether such an accounting involves hunting down their mortal murderers or repayin an old family debts, matters of love, duty and vengeance weigh heavily on the twin souls of most disciples. Mortal goals must be accomplished -- or failed in spectacular fashion -- so that their ultimate uselessness and transience might thereby be comprehended. Of course, certain Kuei-jin of imperfect understanding please themselves greatly through their ability to satisfy their own coarser hungers; these characters wallow in orgies of power and sensuality as they become corporate and underworld colossi or simply colossal predators.

The struggle with -- and planned counterattack against -- the West occupies the attention of many Kuei-jin. In these endeavors, younger Kuei-jin, with their knowledge of barbarian ways, prove exceedingly useful. If the Kin-jin can come to the Middle Kingdom, the Cathayans say, the Middle Kingdom can certainly go to the Kin-jin. Perhaps, the ancestors postulate, the Cycle can be set aright in the Cainites' own hunting grounds.

Other Cathayans, seeing societal bolstering -- or destruction -- as the only hope for salvation in the wake of the Sixth Age, immerse themselves in the doings of their fellows. The largest court of the Kuei-jin, the Quincunx, seeks to reunite all Kuei-jin under its banner. Only in this way, the Quincunx mandarins argue, can Kuei-jin complete their Dharmic duties in the face of the oncoming tumult. Conversely, the Cathayans of outlying regions, realizing that such "unity" would lead to slow suffocation in the Quincunx's coils, fight bitterly against any hint of "assimilation."

Still other vampires devote their First Subtle Journey to the study of the damaged spirit worlds and their place within the Great Cycle. These Kuei-jin undertake mystic quests in search of ancient bodhisattvas, dragon nests and sacred artifacts. Many Kuei-jin pursuing spirit goals prefer to act alone, though, in the dangerous Fifth Age, questers increasingly seek the safety inherent to a like-minded wu.