Hunters of Meng Xiang - Discussion

[NyuBomber]

Elloooooo

So I've been working on this here setting called "Hunters of Meng Xiang." Like all things, it started as an idea, and I have more things to add, but I'd really like to maybe run something in it, or play in it myself, I dunno. I want to keep expanding and refining.

Link to core thread here

High fantasy in a medieval Chinese setting, humans vs. other-dimensional spirits.

My brain is currently cooked from posting the current material it up, so I'll just start-off with some straight-forward prompts:

What do you think? Would this be a setting you would play in? What questions do you have that I can address in the future? Any character ideas? What themes come to mind as you read? Anything that comes to mind, we can talk shop!

Gonna go dip my brain in some cold water~

[NothingButCake]

I've read up through the write-ups on the clans. I really like what I've read so far. Is the entire world meant to be under one government? How big is the world?

Question: Why these animals? Specifically, bat and owl.

Also, is the Western Continent all tundra? That is what it read like to me, but it ranges as far south as the Northern Continent, which is described as ranging into the tropical.

[NyuBomber]

I've read up through the write-ups on the clans. I really like what I've read so far. Is the entire world meant to be under one government? How big is the world?

Question: Why these animals? Specifically, bat and owl.

Also, is the Western Continent all tundra? That is what it read like to me, but it ranges as far south as the Northern Continent, which is described as ranging into the tropical.

Firstly, thank you for the interest, questions, and kind words! Happy you like what you've read so far.

Quick note: While the text is expansive and I have a general vision in mind, I am very flexible with suggestions and changes, so don't worry about that!

- Yessir, monarchy is the current idea. I need to flesh it out/write it up, but the summary is that lords/ladies/councils manage slices of the continents under the oversight of governors who are appointed by the Imperial Council, and all answer to the Imperial Family (with the Emperor and/or Empress having last say), who are believed to sit at the top of the hierarchy by Heavenly mandate. Practical day-to-day manners are handled by the Council, while the Family largely oversees ceremonial and cultural initiatives, and issues global Imperial Mandates when deemed necessary. There's a standing Imperial Army that mostly sees to protecting the righteous communities from humanity's own villains (which I've admittedly haven't factored into the writing much yet, but I think they'll have a sizable presence under People), but also is somewhat intertwined with Lion Clan and will help against spirits if necessary.

- I've no clue yet on how big the world is yet. I imagine it'd be relatively small to facilitate global monarchy, but suggestions here are welcome! Now that I think on it, there's a perfect thread to ask this sort of thing.

- From my research, I found that the Bat was a symbol of good luck and fortune in Chinese culture, as opposed to being intrinsically tied to darkness and/or evil as we usually see them. I couldn't get the picture of a bat biting a coin out of my head. The role of the Owl is actually close to how the West generally sees bats, as bad omens and even bringers of harm. However, Owls also have a connotation of bravery, in that they're active at times other things are not. Both of these interpretations stem from the names for Bat and Owl sounding the same/similar to other words in ancient China:

"In the Mandarin Language, a bat is called as 蝙蝠 (Bian Fu) which is rather homophonous with 變福 which means 'becoming prosperous' or 'turning into blessings'."

The hooting sound of an owl sounds like 'digging' in Chinese language (搰: hu). It was considered a major bad luck if an owl visited a house where lived a gravely ill or wounded person. When it made the hu sounds, it was as if it was telling the family to dig a grave-hole as a preparation for a burial.

...The owl was also called as 梟 (: xiao) in Chinese language. It means bravery. The word was used to mention people who dared to do things – in unusual places, at certain hours – that most people would not be brave enough to do.

Throw in some liberties on my side (ie., digging, digging...digging for knowledge? Being brave? Ah ha, SCIENCE!). I wanted a couple of animal symbols who were not necessarily as straight forward for my American/general Western familiarity as Lion (symbol of power and guardians), Ox (hard work and fertility), and Tortoise (longevity, tenacity) to complete the five originals set.

- I imagined the West would range (from south near the Howling Mountains to north) cool grasslands to tundra to arctic conditions at the very north. It would be generally flat, as opposed to every other region possessing some degree of large elevation changes; the exception point being Owl Clan's Maotouying Peak.

To be honest I haven't given much thought to how the weather of Meng Xiang would work if our experience on normal Earth applied, outside of the poles being cold (so the bottoms of of South and East continent would be frost bitten). I've been pondering creating a version of the map with general temps/weather patterns just to somewhat solidify that. However, I want to avoid going too far and micro-managing everything for realism, and think it's more important that dramatic and thematic values be held higher. But, I'm open to talking about it!

[NothingButCake]

I actually am Chinese, so I was wondering about the bat and ox because it was unfamiliar to me as meaningful. The explanation makes sense though.

I don't mind fantastical climates, like you could even make it so that the further from the center of Meng Xiang you go, the colder it is, so it's the edges of the map that get colder and not the north/south poles or the poles are northwest/southeast. I just am thrown off when the Northern Continent is described as getting tropical towards the southern islands because of its latitudinal range but then the Western Continent covers the same range but doesn't.

[NyuBomber]

I actually am Chinese, so I was wondering about the bat and ox because it was unfamiliar to me as meaningful. The explanation makes sense though.

I don't mind fantastical climates, like you could even make it so that the further from the center of Meng Xiang you go, the colder it is, so it's the edges of the map that get colder and not the north/south poles or the poles are northwest/southeast. I just am thrown off when the Northern Continent is described as getting tropical towards the southern islands because of its latitudinal range but then the Western Continent covers the same range but doesn't.

That...is an amazing suggestion on the edges of the map being the arctic region. I've no clue how it would work with the "planet's" tilt/rotation/season (or maybe Meng Xiang isn't a planet? Blame spirits?), but I love it. Expect me to solidify that this week.

And please, if you have suggestion or a question on anything I've written up as it regards to drawing inspiration from or taking liberties with Chinese mythology, please poke me.

[Everyl]

That...is an amazing suggestion on the edges of the map being the arctic region. I've no clue how it would work with the "planet's" tilt/rotation/season (or maybe Meng Xiang isn't a planet? Blame spirits?), but I love it. Expect me to solidify that this week.

Who says your world has to be spherical? A flat world fading to an endless icy wasteland at the edges would be viable, if you really want to play up the fantasy elements of the world. Or a section of the interior of a sphere, with nothing beyond the icy walls known. Or anything that fits the tone of the world.

[NyuBomber]

Who says your world has to be spherical? A flat world fading to an endless icy wasteland at the edges would be viable, if you really want to play up the fantasy elements of the world. Or a section of the interior of a sphere, with nothing beyond the icy walls known. Or anything that fits the tone of the world.

Yep, I was keeping the idea of the world being flat in the running with the parenthetical because I liked it a lot.

After consulting the geography/anthro thread (thanks to Stellar_Magic!), I've settled on a compromise that I've begun to lay out in the main thread: geographically, the known main lands of HMX are all in the northern hemisphere of the planet. Magnetic north is above North continent and so the map is drawn accordingly, but the planet's frigid zone is, in fact, close to/on the West continent, and so the "actual" orientation of the continents are tilted so you head toward the equator as you head away from the ice and snow in West.

Explorations will run into A LOT of ocean, but if they could follow the frigid zone from West continent, it would be found that it's actually an arctic wall that runs the circumfrance of Meng Xiang. What's powering it? What's behind it? I dunno! But I think it'd work. :D

[NyuBomber]

Ello ello

Looooots of edit button-sourced changes to the development of the HMX main thread, so just chiming in to say that it may be more alive than it will appear from its place in the board list.

Stuff currently on the stovetop of my brain:

- General Culture post, and more stuff added to the Notable Pieces and Roles section
- Add a section for how shen-lieren execute their sworn duties
- Add a a "Inspiration" post with stuff that may be helpful for getting into the atmosphere of the setting/games

Still wide-open to feedback/questions/suggestions.

I'm thinking that Fate will be the perfect system for this, what do you think?