OON - Breath of Fire: Blood & Silk

"Fear thy name: Annihilation, desolate inhale the fire..."


Blood & Silk was a World of Darkness supplement for Kindred of the East released in 2000. Running from 1197 to about 1260, it was the "Dark Ages " book for the Middle Kingdom of China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, and included not only the titular KotE, but also the other Asian versions of World of Darkness splats, such as shapechangers and dragon wizards.

Breath of Fire IV, the 4th (obviously) in the series, was a Playstation RPG released by Capcom in 2000. Players took the role of "Ryu," an amnesiac dragon found in a crater, in his quest to learn who and what he is.

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So, I was a huge fan of the BoF series, but IV took the cake in terms of graphics (at the time) as well as the storyline. The previous games had focused on the idea of a dark God masquerading as a savior, but IV switched that narrative by taking the main character, and splitting him in twain - on the one hand, you had Ryu; no memory of who he was, located in the desert by Nina (there's always a Nina), embarking on this grand adventure and on the other hand, you had Fou Lu; the dragon emperor, founder of a powerful dynasty, returned to the world at the call of a wizard. As the game went, you learned that all of the dragons of the world were tied together, and all called from another plane of existence. It was a really gorgeous game. Blood & Silk was one of the best sourcebooks released for Kindred of the East, my favorite of the "old" World of Darkness lines. It was aimed at the Wan Kuei (the 10,000 Demons, or the Chinese version of vampires, though they were more like possessed corpses than vampires) mostly, with a chapter dedicated to other supernatural beings, most importantly, for me, the Xiong Ren, or the were-creatures of Asia.

A line in B&S spurred this whole project more than a decade ago, a prophecy about a dragon returning heralding the change to the next age of man along the wheel of ages (where the First Age was the golden time for existence, the Fourth Age was one moving into despair, with the Fifth Age, or the current time, one of great strife). The prophecy referred, if I remember correctly, to a Zmei, a Wyrm-dragon of Russia. Possibly Sharkala the Cruel, who was killed in 1240. I dunno. There were a lot of snippets that referred to later "historical events" for game lines I wasn't well versed in, but I'm fairly certain that's what was going on.

However, as I played BoF IV, I started to run some parallels. In the old World of Darkness, there existed a race of shapeshifting lizards known as Mokole. Basically, like, werecrocodiles and whatnot, that had warforms (like a werewolf's man-wolf beast hybrid) that looked like dinosaurs, pulled from the Mokole's ancestral memory. The Asian stream (like a tribe) known as the Zhong-Lung had warforms that resembled, and fueled the stories of, dragons.

The longer I played BoF, the more I rewrote the story into a Blood & Silk Chronicle - Ryu was the Hun (higher self) half of an ancient Zhong-Lung. Fou Lu was the P'o (lower, more base, self) of the same. A Rite enacted to awaken him to modern (1197) times failed, cleaving his self into two beings. So on down the line - each main hero or villain became a splat to me.

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(Note - this was written in a notebook, in 2000/2001. I've left all poor grammatical constructs and spelling errors as the original. Anything in bold text was a note I scribbled in the margins to come back to later. It stops abruptly because I never had a chance to finish. I may actually revisit this in the future.)

"Two dragons will meet, the heavens will tremble, and the Wheel shall turn again. The Fifth Age is upon us: weep ye children of the Emerald Mother." -- Seer of the Xixia Beast Court, in the year of our Lord 1216.

PROLOGUE

In the Third Age of our world, a great war party of Zhong-Lung defeated the machinations of the Yama Kings, and flushed with their victory, made the fatal error of following their enemies back to Yomi Wan. Forgetting that they were not created to be the Emerald Mother's warriors, the Middle Dragons were decimated in the Thousand Hells. Fou-Lu the most powerful dragon-general ever born, gave his life to allow a handful of Zhong-Lung to escape.

CHAPTER 1 "AWAKENINGS"

Near the end of the Fourth Age (1216 AD), a K(umo)(itsune) necromancer called Yuna enacts a great ritual to bring Fou-Lu's body and soul back from Yomi Wan for his own dark purposes. He is 'almost' successful. From his pyramid tomb in the jungles of Korea, a twisted and corrupt Fou-Lu arises. Every base desire and dark emotion makes itself manifest in this incarnation. Several thousand miles away, a young Tengu (Nina) stumbles across a giant impact crater. As she peers over the ridge of the crater, a magnificent (spirit) dragon roars to the heavens. Falling backwards, the "wereraven" brushes herself off, and cautiously looks again. Where once the dragon stood, she sees a boy in his late teens, naked and looking confused. She calls to her Khan (Cray) bodyguard to bring some of his clothes from their traveling gear, and a rope. After pulling the boy up from the crater, the Tengu and Khan learn that he has no idea how he ended up naked in the Mongolian desert. He introduces himself as "Ryu." In fact, he is part of Fou-Lu's soul. The ritual Yuna used to ress Fou-Lu caused his soul to be split in two. Ryu represents the ideals Fou-Lu held before his fall in Yomi. The Tengu suggests that Ryu join them; she and the Khan are looking for her sister. She tells Ryu that maybe they'll learn more about who he is and where he came from in the course of their search. Some encounters arise before they return to their Beast Court. (Conflict between the Sentai and Wan Kuei) Meanwhile, Fou-Lu is greeted at his tomb by Yohm, an akuma Kuei-jin (*should be Wan Kuei, Kuei-jin is a grammatical construct that doesn't arise until the 20th centery - Fen), who tells him that his return was foretold by (the Yama King) Mikaboshi, ruler of the Wicked City. Fou-Lu is unconcerned with such trivial things. He commands Yohm to leave his presence, sparking a conflict with several of Yohm's bakemono. (Maybe another Yama King depending on the prologue)

CHAPTER 2 "THE ENDLESS"

Ryu, the Tengu, and the Khan arrive in the city closest to the Xixia Beast Court. They spend the night listening to merchants speak of a "great evil" that is plaguing the south. Ryu feels an unshakeable connection to this terror. As they sleep, Ryu dreams again of Fou-Lu (Dream sequence, then connection). Returning to the Court, the group is in trouble by their elders because of the conflict with the Kuei-jn (Black Tortoise Kuei-jin) threatens to upset a fragile peace between the two supernatural groups. The Khan, as the "Fist" of the group (see below - Fen) accepts full responsibility for the battle. He is imprisoned, until the gaignum (Court elders - Fen) can settle on a punishment befitting the transgression. Both Ryu and the Tengu are unsettled that a fight with Wan Kuei can merit more importance than Ryu and the news coming from the south (and the Tengu's kinfolk sister). After the general din has quieted, the seer of the court pulls the Tengu aside and tells her of a dire portent (insert prophecy here) that has the entire court on edge. Communing with Yang spirits merits much the same reaction; even the spirits are restless. While the Khan awaits his punishment, the court seer sends the Tengu and Ryu on a journey to the Yang World. The court's Regent doesnt trust the two not to make more trouble on their own; he sends a lupus born Hakken Garou to accompany the pair (werewolf, Scias - Fen). The trio enters a portion of the Dragon-King's domain. Here they are greeted by P'ung Ryong (wind dragon), He Who Walks the Winds. P'ung Ryong calls to Ryu as "Yorae," the Herald. In cryptic terms, the wind dragon tells Ryu that he must become "complete" to fulfill his destiny. The Tengu and Ryu find the Hakken gone, probably to report to the leaders of the Court. The pair decide to visit the village the Khan comes from, to get advice from the few Khans still living in the area. While discussing things with these elder weretigers, a spirit messenger arrives, delivering news that the Khan is to be executed for his "unwarranted acts of aggression that could have led to war" (via the Rite of Hell Made Flesh). The gathered Khans get Rage-filled, vowing destruction upon the Beast Court if the (and then I ended the page there.... - Fen)

BoF Sentai (Notes Page)
Ryu - Zhong-Lung "Lantern/Moon," has to meet Fou-Lu for destiny, katana
Cray - Khan "Fist/Earth," Nina's bodyguard, tetsubo
Ursula - Kitsune "Leaf/Fire" Go-between for the Xixia Beast Court and the Black Tortoise Wan Kuei, crossbow
Scias - Hakken Garou "Pillar/Water," unknown why he sticks with the sentai, no-dachi
Nina - Tengu "Mirror/Air," looking for sister, bo staff

Fou-Lu - Zhong-Lung "hero" of the Third Age
Yohm - akuma (former Crane) Wan Kuei
Yuna - Kumo necromancer (have Kitsune written elsewhere though)

NOTES
Nina's sister has been turned into a bakemono. Cray, who is in love with her, is forced to kill her. Nina, who is in love with Cray, is devastated. Love sucks sometimes, eh? Scias rarely speaks and, as a Hakken, everyone assumes this is because he is up to something sinister. In truth, as one of the few lupus-born within the tribe, he isn't confident enough with the tongues of man to use them much. Ursula is the ambassador to the Wan Kuei Court. They trick her into hunting for the "dangerous Yorae dragon."

First Mandate - Shirk not the tasks which have been given to you.

Chap 1: Awakenings, Chap 2: The Endless, Chap 3: Streams, Chap 4: That Which Passes
P'ung Ryong - Wind, C'ho Ryong - Grass, Ni Ryong - Mud, Su Ryong - Tree, Sa Ryong - Sand, Hae Ryong - Water, The Nameless One - Rock.

(And that was all I had scribbled in a note book... - Fen)