Showing posts with label Hayao. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hayao. Show all posts
The Afterlife: The Four Winds
To the nomads of Eastrun, the Four Winds are not only spirits who are greatly revered, but are the source from which the Daizu and the Hayao believe they will return. The four horses of Ao Shun, Ao Jun, Ao Chin and Ao Kuang make up the warlords of Shang Ti, the celestial emperor. Those who die will be claimed as part of the Batari of one of the four and will be felt thereafter in the physical world as winds and weather, but who are battling forever in the spiritual realm against foul spirits.
The Hayao
The Hayao of Eastrun are to the seas, what the Daizu are to the steppes. As raiders and pirates, they make their way by exacting tribute and spoils from the merchants who travel to and from Eastrun.
The Hayao were people of the steppes once, too. In that day they lived on Dry Land behind walls of rock and refused to bend the knee to Eastrun’s greatest conqueror -- Jen Shu. In retaliation for their intransigence, their city was torn down and their people were slaughtered. Some of their escaping elders were pursued Eastward to the sea and many of them were slain along the way. Scant hundreds arrived at the shore, and overwhelmed the fishing village they found there, fleeing in boats big and small.
The Daizu have no memory of this event for they do not keep records. Even of Jen Shu they know almost nothing, having no reason to recall warlords of the past. But the sages of the Imperial Manwin say it is written that Jen Shu cursed the Hayao people because they were the only people he could not conquer. For they fled the land in fishing vessels and threw themselves to the mercy of the waves, rather than face the fury of his horsemen.
According to the priests of the Hayao, once their people were set free from Dry Land they sought the protection of a cruel and capricious sea goddess. Rather than destroy them outright, she bade them swear that they would be the instruments of her vengeance upon all the people of the Four Lands who ply the waves. The Hayao would enjoy her mercy and her everlasting protection, so long as they never returned to Dry Land from whence they came.
Whether it is because of this vow to the sea goddess; or whether it is because of the curse of Jen Shu, the Hayao have never returned from the Seas. To this day, their people neither trust the Dry Land nor the Dust Men who live upon it.
Some say that the Hayao are ever in motion, sailing here and there according to patterns that only they know. Others claim that they live above a sunken atoll or perhaps a coral reef, and have built houses upon it from the planks of ships they have pirated. One thing is certain, no one can claim to have seen the inhabitations of the Hayao for they have a strict law that all who gaze upon their women must be slain.
Some say that the Hayao are ever in motion, sailing here and there according to patterns that only they know. Others claim that they live above a sunken atoll or perhaps a coral reef, and have built houses upon it from the planks of ships they have pirated. One thing is certain, no one can claim to have seen the inhabitations of the Hayao for they have a strict law that all who gaze upon their women must be slain.
The Four Winds: a Faith of Eastrun
In the lands of Jenia, the savages that roam the steppes and ply the waves revere the Four Winds.
They believe these winds are the spirits of four mighty brothers, sons of the celestial King and deceased dragon lords allowed to live on for eternity. They witnessed the creation of the world. They are all that is left of a great host of celestial spirits.
Shun Ao, the White Steed is the North Wind and the Bringer of Winter. He is also called the Master of Water. His spirit flows from the towering glaciers and races South over the steppes bringing hundreds of meltwater streams to the lowlands that finally join as mighty rivers by the time they reach the sea.
Jun Ao, the Black Steed is the West Wind and the Bringer of Fall. Also known as the Master of Metal and the Spirit of Peace. He is said to ride out for all men at the end of their lives. His spirit rings out in the sounds of iron and steel brought from the Pillars of Heaven to the lands of warring men.
Chin Ao, the Red Steed is the South Wind and the Bringer of Summer. He is also called the Master of Fire and the Spirit of War. His spirit exhausts itself on the lowlands and brings great waves of heat ever North, drying the grass and making it susceptible to great fires across the grasslands.
Kuang Ao, the Green Steed is the East Wind and the Bringer of Spring. He is also known as the Master of Wood and the Spirit of Mischief and Fertility. His spirit brings both life giving rains and tempestuous storms that beat across the coasts and sweep far inland.
In the primitive cosmology of these barbarians, the spirits no longer have physical bodies, the Four Brothers can sometimes be summoned as mighty horses. Their avatars are able to exert influence from the edges of the World Here Below.
They believe these winds are the spirits of four mighty brothers, sons of the celestial King and deceased dragon lords allowed to live on for eternity. They witnessed the creation of the world. They are all that is left of a great host of celestial spirits.
Shun Ao, the White Steed is the North Wind and the Bringer of Winter. He is also called the Master of Water. His spirit flows from the towering glaciers and races South over the steppes bringing hundreds of meltwater streams to the lowlands that finally join as mighty rivers by the time they reach the sea.
Jun Ao, the Black Steed is the West Wind and the Bringer of Fall. Also known as the Master of Metal and the Spirit of Peace. He is said to ride out for all men at the end of their lives. His spirit rings out in the sounds of iron and steel brought from the Pillars of Heaven to the lands of warring men.
Chin Ao, the Red Steed is the South Wind and the Bringer of Summer. He is also called the Master of Fire and the Spirit of War. His spirit exhausts itself on the lowlands and brings great waves of heat ever North, drying the grass and making it susceptible to great fires across the grasslands.
Kuang Ao, the Green Steed is the East Wind and the Bringer of Spring. He is also known as the Master of Wood and the Spirit of Mischief and Fertility. His spirit brings both life giving rains and tempestuous storms that beat across the coasts and sweep far inland.
In the primitive cosmology of these barbarians, the spirits no longer have physical bodies, the Four Brothers can sometimes be summoned as mighty horses. Their avatars are able to exert influence from the edges of the World Here Below.
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