IsleOfJade/History
Contents
Ancient History
Although the Jade Isle is small and mostly unknown in the vastness of Creation, it has had a long and illustrious history.
The First Age
Ancient ruins are everywhere on the Jade Isle. Although many are seemingly lost forever in unpopulated areas, just as many pass the ages crumbling right outside villages and cities, or stand guard over major waterways, or rest ominously on the side of a great hill within view of the day-to-day activities of the Isle’s inhabitants. The children of the Jade Isle—from the poorest serf to the scions of the terrestrial exalted—grow up with the ruins, and every child has a half dozen stories of danger, mystery, and exploration of those decaying relics of a long forgotten age. Even the modern city of Yu is built on the remains of a more aged habitation, and the catacombs beneath the capital are rumored to rival or even surpass the surface in scope and magnificence.
The origins of these ruins are no secret to the Isle’s inhabitants. Images glorifying an iniquitous tyrant king and his dark queen mark nearly every half-buried catacomb, forgotten tomb, and crumbling palace. The monks and priests of the Immaculate Order of the Lotus tell parables detailing the atrocities committed by these demon lords, and their frequent visages serve as constant reminders of the horrors of the First Age. Among the people of the Jade Isle these wicked beings have taken on the role of bogeymen—stories about them are told to frighten children into behaving—and their names are spoken daily with casual malice and relaxed abhorrence reserved for any half-believed tale of devilish legendry.
The Dark Centuries
Little is known of the Island during the Dark Centuries of the Contagion and the Shogunate. The people refer to this long period as the Dark Centuries precisely because no one remembers them. The history of the period remembers this time as one of barbarism and feudalism—when various lords ruled over the people and fought amongst themselves for small pieces of the Island’s resources. It was a time of constant skirmishes and endless small scale warfare, with little progress or real change occurring.
It is generally assumed that the numerous Shadowlands of the Isle—there seems to be at least one close to every community, no matter how big or small, on the Isle—arose during that time. Even so, most believe they weren’t so large back then as they are now.
The Rise of the Realm and the coming of the House of Sun
Shortly after the Scarlet Empress sat upon her thrown for the first time and threw back the forces of Chaos, the House of Sun rose to power on the Jade Isle. History knows only scattered information about the House before that time, although it is notable that the House is counted among the nobles as far back as the end of the First Age, and mention of it infrequently appears in archaic runes and hieroglyphs on those devilish ruins of the past. Some attempt has been made to erase this widely known secret, and many a structure has been intentionally damaged in order to accomplish just that.
Sun Tien is the first member of the House to openly rule the Jade Isle. He took control a brief century after the Scarlet Empress rose to power. The Fire Aspect swore fealty to the Empress and the Realm and, with the Realm’s support, conquered his feudal rivals on the Jade Isle. There are at least half a dozen villages and towns on the Isle today called Tien’s Landing, each claiming to be the site from where Sun Tien launched his great conquest.
Sun Tien is also the first to call the land the “Isle of Jade.” What it might have been called before that is long forgotten. It is unclear why Sun Tien named the Isle as he did. There is no evidence of large Jade deposits ever occurring. Some suspect it could be due to large caches of jade artifacts that were taken from the ruins and shipped to the Realm in the early days of Sun Tien’s rule. Others believe it simply references the great green forests and rolling, almost shimmering hills of green grass the Isle is known for. Other, more cynical people claim that Sun Tien was merely being grandiose in naming his new land for the chosen element of the Exalted of Dragons to gain favor with the Empress.
The rule of the House of Sun has gone uninterrupted for centuries. To the people of the Isle the House is synonymous with the sovereign monarchy of the satrap. Its members have commonly Exalted, and the blood of the Dragons runs thick in its members’ veins. Although the House has no direct connections to any of the Dynastic Houses of the Blessed Isle, the subjects of the Jade Isle hold the House of Sun in highest esteem; almost on equal footing with the Empress herself.
Modern History - The Reign of Sun Hai
The current head of House Sun—the direct descendent of Sun Tien—is Lord Sun Hai. His reign as Lord of the Jade Isle began 150 years ago. At that time the House of Sun was in decline. His father had been murdered by a powerful noble hungry for power, and a young and politically weak Sun Hai faced pressure from both the nobles of the Isle and the prevailing cults of the local gods. He was impotent, threatened at every turn, and feared his ability to rule would soon be called into question. The astute Sun Hai, acting on the advice of his brother, the Glorious Strategist, followed in the footsteps of his ancestor Sun Tien and sought the Realm for aid. Thus Sun Hai is known for bringing the Jade Isle closer to the Realm, and has done so throughout his time on the Jade Isle’s throne. His wife—Sun Balay Jun—is from a well-bred branch of the Dynastic House Cynis. He allows the Realm’s navy to keep a sizable fleet in Yu’s harbor. And he made the Jade Isle into a major trade partner with both the Realm and its rivals in the Scavenger Lands, acting as a go between in otherwise impossible transactions. With the backing of the Realm none dared challenge him, and he used the hesitation of his enemies to secure his power.
The Coming of the Immaculate Order of the Lotus
The most significant move to increase the Jade Isle’s ties to the Realm—the one that has had the most far reaching effect—has been Sun Hai’s maneuvers to strengthen the Immaculate Faith on the Isle.
Very early in his reign Sun Hai conscripted a vast workforce to rebuild an ancient, First Age temple in Yu that had been long abandoned. He rechristened it the Monastery of the Lotus in Bloom, and offered it up in permanent tribute to the Immaculate Faith. The Immaculate Order previously had only limited influence on the Isle, and the people of the Isle were fully engaged in direct god worship. Many powerful cults had arisen around the local gods, and this had been the dominant religion of the Isle for many centuries. With the creation of the Monestary and the support of Sun Hai, the Immaculate Faith had a base of operations from which to work, and the monks quickly established their monastery to spread the word of their faith among the people of the Isle. The Order of the Lotus, a branch of the Immaculate Order now native to the Jade Isle, was thus established. What followed was a long and violent war, both of ideas and of direct bloodshed. The old cults were not quick to give up their power, and they fought the Immaculates for every follower and every Manse. But it was the Immaculates who quickly got the upper hand, and they used an ancient tool—the Wyld Hunt—to bring down the gods and their followers who would not bow to the divine order of the Heavenly Bureaucracy and the Immaculate Faith. This would lead to a final and drawn out confrontation in the form of the Long Drought.
The Long Drought and its Glorious End
Any resident of the Jade Isle over the age of 25 will remember well the time of the Long Drought, although no mortal alive today can remember its beginning. It was said to have lasted the better part of a century, and threatened the Jade Isle and its very way of life with obliteration.
The Long Drought was a time when rainfall was all but non-existent, the mighty rivers slowed to a trickle, and crops withered and died. Fires were common in forests and grasslands alike, and whole towns were consumed in devastating conflagrations. No one on the Jade Isle escaped unscathed.
Years went by without resolution, the land and its people seemingly cursed by the water gods and their powerful but dying cult. Finally the Lord Sun Hai went out before the people and told them that the old gods had abandoned them, and promised his subjects that he would end the drought once and for all, but that they must swear their loyalty to him and the Immaculate Faith. They swore they would do so if only he could end the Drought.
Sun Hai and the Order of the Lotus immediately launched a great crusade, going to every corner of the Isle to bring the water gods of the Isle in line with the laws of the Immaculate Faith. When one would not, a Wyld Hunt was called against that god. None know exactly what caused the climate itself to change. What they do know, and what is spoken of even today, is that within one year to the day of his promise, the Long Drought ended. It began to rain with regularity, the rivers flowed once again, and crops were once again plentiful. Thus was Sun Hai raised to the elevated status reserved for the greatest heroes and legends of the House of Sun.
Today
Today the Isle of Jade is flourishing under the illustrious rule of Sun Hai and his Lotus monk allies. Yu is a center of culture, its markets overflow with the finest of goods, and its ports are booming with trade. Exports from the Jade Isle—mostly timber, agricultural crops and first age artifacts—are plentiful. Most of the inhabitants of the Jade Isle are, if not universally thriving, well enough off to be contented with their lot. Many people are in fact thriving. The people of the Jade Isle universally praise Sun Hai as a savior of their land and livelihood.
Today direct worship of gods is rare and occurs only in uncivilized habitations. The Order of the Lotus itself has become very strong, and it continues to grow in strength and numbers. Its dominance is so great that those few who do not follow the Immaculate Faith are beginning to fear, and woe be onto any god who chooses to act outside the Heavenly Bureacracy.
If it were not for the unusually high concentration of shadowlands on the Isle, and the ghosts that dwell within them, there might well be no griping at all among the vast majority of the Isle’s residents. As it is the numerous shadowlands and the ghostly activity that comes along with them are increasingly becoming an annoyance on the Jade Isle. The elders of the Isle don’t remember so much activity until just recently, and some claim it’s due to the influence of a new Lord that has arisen in the Underworld: A being simply known as Death’s Hand. But this ghostly activity has not, as of yet, risen to the level of full problem, although in some areas of the Isle ancestor worship is becoming more common. The people who have not yet grown comfortable with their recently deceased ancestors making untimely appearances in the living world remain confident that if and when the shadowlands do become a real problem, their Lord Sun Hai will once again call the Wyld Hunt and return balance to the Isle of Jade.
- Created by Yeled
