Shia Oh and Emperor Vashanti
Do you truly believe Miracle Rescue?
(If you don't know miracle rescue, see Revealed Mythologies.)
See American Burton Watson's comment about Ancient Chinese practical attitude toward History and Metaphysics..."they didn't think they can achieve Truth from metaphysics without watching process of change...unlike Indians and Greeks." So they diligently kept their astrological and political record. (Of course, Kralori ISN'T Chinese, I KNOW. Burton Watson was a translator of Sima Qian "History")
But most beautiful and noble tales of Ancient China is from the virtue of Confucians, even if it was refused by Current Chinese Communists, do you know the historian Sima Qian's grief when he was forced to choose castration or death sentence? Do you know General Yue Fei's tattoo of his hide when he was slandered and falsely charged, naked and executed? These are foremost of Chinese Stories. Who can ignore them?
And now I now want to tell about Qu Yuan of Glorantha, Minister of the South and Great Poet.
http://www.chinapage.com/quyuan1.html
http://www.personal.kent.edu/~xxu/gorge/xiling/qy.htm
I can say, Real World Chinese characters are practical, skeptic and ironic.
Shia-oh
and Emperor Vashanti
(From Sima Qian's History)
Sekever died by the hand of Emperor Vayobi, but his will still lurked and
disguised to each mulcontent souls, and Vayobi left Empire with quarrelsome
warlords and soldiers, many of Mikaday's great mandarins died out in the
war, Teshnans and Vormaians revolted to Vayobi's will. The War Dragon's
great deeds eventually went to nothing.
In the early days of Vashanti's reign, it was very disordered and civil wars (called Warring States Period?(1)) threatened the Empire, for Vashanti confined himself to inside of the Chamber of Chi Tin, meditating for true definition of his Web of Righteous Knowledge, for preparing his Empire to leave Ancient myth and to reach History, to banish who had nothing with Kralori Draconic Way..... Evil Spirits, Illusionists, Swindlers, Delinquents of Hankalo, Sorcerers and demigods to Underworld, Dreamworld of Avanapdur, and beyond his Empire. It was the time of Trial for kralori imposed by him.
But Vashanti's meditation took more than 500 years (2), and while that time, only greed, slyness and ambition ruled the Empire. Warlords insisting Mandate of Emperor Vayobi claimed territories and fought savagely for right-to-rule and right-to-unify the Empire for next true Emperor. (That was the day of Hankalo and Avanapdur's Illusion!) Wisemen of the Empire secluded and chose the Way of NyangMao or (3), escaped to tunnels of ShanShan Mountains or eastern Paradise Islands of Sagacity, abandoned poor populace.
Among such Warlords, Evil Exarch of City Goropheng (my image of the city is Ancient Sian, see Peter Metcalph's opinion about the city (he thinks that Goropheng was sunk in the reign of New Dragon Ring (4)) and Kingdom of Tiger and Wolf claimed largest territory in Empire, it ruled much of Puchai, Jaubon (5) and now sunk land under Suam Chow, oppressed Southern and Eastern Kingdoms.
Shia Oh was born from three Noble Houses of Wanzow, he was a great poet and had a strong sense of justice. But many of his contemporary hsin-tu (6) colleagues envied to his genius and kept at a distance from his patriotic spirit to his home Province. And they whispered lies and slanders several times to their Exarch, and Shia-oh could not do anything for it and was dismissed and banished to local areas by each turns. But by each turn, the Exarch always called him back to City Lay-luan (7) for his great knowledge and art. (Each time he made a fine verse of his adversity.)
At that time, Sekeverans were active behind the scenes and plotted to destroy
Provinces each other by fighting each other, Kingdom of Tiger and
Wolf also had a such Sekeveran counselor and he used his evil intelligence
to spread lies, the Sekeveran tried to use the Strongest Province to destroy
the Empire. He sent bribe to many Wanzow mandarins and even to King's concubine.
The Exarch was deceived and began to keep away from Shia-oh. Shia Oh remonstrated
his Exarch without caring his life, but he wasn't heeded.
Kingdom of Modaings was another strong Province, north of two Provinces
at that time, Shia Oh counseled his Exarch to ally with it and to refuse
the tongs of Kingdom of Tiger and Wolf. But many of Wanzow people was too
scary to invoke the thunder of Exarch-King of Goropheng, and rather wanted
to pay tribute for menace of his presence. "Can we trust the Tiger
and Wolf?" Shih Oh asked to such people. "Which never heed the
promise and wisdom of Mikaday, only care about War and Force? Don't you
know how they treat their subject Provinces and kingdoms?"
But Sekeveran Conselor had bribed mandarins of Wanzow to whisper sweet
lies to their Exarch, "If you broke off diplomatic relations with
the Kingdom of Modaings, the Kingdom of Tiger and Wolf will gift you a
wealthy border land of Shang 600 miles. " While Shia-Oh went to Modaings
as an emissary, the King was deceived and decided to break of the relation
from Modaings.
When the emissary of Wanzow visited to the Court of Goropheng and asked
for the gift, the evil Sekeveran Counselor said "600 miles? Are you
kidding? I said 6 miles. You misheard me." The Exarch of Wanzow enraged
and advanced the army to attack Goropheng, but the army of Tiger and Wolf
was too strong to merely a Wanzow king's obstinacy, eventually retreated
and lost much of the land of Wanzow.
When the emissary of Goropheng pretending good will reached the court of
Wanzow and offered the King in return for the land lost by Wanzow failed
campaign, the pathetic Exarch of Wanzow refused it and claimed the body
of Evil Sekeveran Counselor. Everyone surprised, the King of Goropheng
agreed and sent him packed to Wanzow.
But the Evil Counselor previously bribed the Exarch's concubine and taught
her the King of Goropheng sought a beautiful woman that would be gifted
to Exarch of Wanzow, and she would be kept away if she didn't help the
Counselor then, so she asked Exarch to save his life and not to invoke
the anger of King Goropheng, he was deceived again and let the counselor
escape away before Shia-oh could remind him how the Counselor deceived
and insulted him many times.
Finally, the Evil Counselor made Wanzow isolated from other Provinces and
invited the King to Goropheng, the son of Exarch was also bribed and let
his father visit Goropheng (though Shia Oh again and again risked his life
to persuade the Exarch.) He became directly a hostage of Goropheng
and Goropheng "requested" Wanzow large territory for exchange,
Exarch once tried to escape from there, but finally killed and King of
Goropheng sent back his corpse without any reverence.
http://www.chinapage.com/poem/quyuan/quyuanwendu.html
The son of Exarch succeeded father's post and he banished Shia Oh to the north lake area, he wandered with disheveled hair (8) and dressed only ragged. A fisherman(9) met him and asked him "What has brought you this pass?" "The world" replied Shia-oh, "is foul, and I alone am clean. There they are all drunk, while I alone am sober. So I am dismissed."
The fisherman, "The true sage does not quarrel with his environment,
but adapts himself to it. If, as you say, the world is foul, why not leap
into the tide and make it clean? If all men are drunk, why not drink with
them and teach them to avoid excess?"
Shia-oh replied, "I cannot do such thing, I will choose death rather
doing so, I don't know why Emperor made such a world and let such atrocity
thrives. I always doubt wisdom of dragons, what reason dragons kept in
the turmoil of Mundane World and care about little people?"
Finally, the people of Wanzow found Shia-oh dead, they lamented his death and made an oath that "the doom of Tyranny of Goropheng shall be the spirit of Wanzow, even if we suffered how severely in now and future!" and that became a prophecy, but it is another story....(10)
This tale was recorded by the one of scribes of Vashanti, many of emperors
bad consultants and sycophants accused his record and slandered against
him, Vashanti in face ordered the scribe to delete the portion of record,
or be executed. But the scribe refused, "if there is no truth in these
records," the scribe bravely asked Vashanti, "how you can keep
your Web of Righteous Knowledge and prohibit foreign magic?" Emperor
smiled and said that he tested justice and true loyalty of the scribe,
and punished evil slanderers. left the scribe to keep his record undamaged,
(1) Unofficial, but I think Gods Age circumstance is not good for such humanized stories......
(2) Unoffcial, but in Grey Age
(3) Something related to Larn Hasamador sect?
(4) But Genertela Box set said it was sunk in Gods Age.....See below about Ancient Capital of Kralorela: Golopheng
(5) Change them to more Ancient Names, if you think it is more appropriate to be, and read Efendi's assumption for Kralori names.
(6) Hsin-tu class is under Mandarins and Xia Ko (Exarchs) since Emperor Vashanti's
reign, but at that time, Mandarins were not always from Mikaday's system
of Draconic Tests, rather from election from local areas and Great Houses.
(Modelled by Real World Tang Dynasty System: Unofficial)
(7) Lay-luan might be the modern day Lur-Nop, but at that time, it might not harbour city for Suam Chow wasn't in modern form.
(8) Kralori mandarins always wear a hat of his office and it is dishonor without it.
(9) Maybe some kind of hermit-mystic
(10) People of Wanzow was famous for their passion, though long they are despised by northmen as "barbarians".
Interview in Lur Nop: Kralori Sole Freetrade City of Wanzow:
A Lokarnos Priest of Dara Happa, coming with Lunar Merchant Ship, seeking
lost Light and Sun Magic since Golden Age:
Hmm...this tale reminds me the Day of Golden Age that Worship and Intelligence was unseparable before Gods and the Bright Light of Yelm, and we know "Ten Bad Emperors are better than none.", I think Shia-oh's attitude to his devotion was in such circumstance and his devotion to his World. His loyalty to liege lord might be looked foolish by new-comers and early departures from Anaxial Ship... (like foolish lunars (he whispered)) but I was deeply impressed by this tale for its beauty and Ancient Echoes that was lost since Golden Age....but what I cannot understand is Kralori attachment to Rural circumstance and "evil""Goropheng" Ruler's attitude to Wanzow people, for we don't know such attachment to the land surrounding our Great Polis....I cannot find anything too evil to the manner to the "Sekeveran tong".
Kralori has unfathomable reliance upon their life to their Draconic Emperors, imperfect entities and reachable principles unlike our Invisible God and Saints, we agree such devotion to unseparable relationship is inevitable in Middle World, but it is an excess and easiest way to be enslaved by False Gods. Yes, they and east-isles people agreed in a point to our way as "Atheistic and Adaparan Way of Martalak", without knowing any knowledge about our Saint Papa Valkaro, but they always accuse each other for their false illusionist way to achieve their foolish enlightenment and liberation!
Ha! I cannot understand why Kralori thinks such foolish man is virtuous and a national hero. We know "No one can make us do anything. " It is what we despise under the Oppression of Bright Empire of Yelm and Stagnant Age, why Shia-oh people didn't replace such foolish, pathetic king to more wise and powerful one? Because their foolish emperor decided so! Why the people of Wanzow didn't want to leave from such declined destiny and move to more reliable ship? Because their foolish emperor decided so! Yes, we also know loyalty and "We should obey our leader who we chose." But their kings are from herediary posts....oh yes, they now select their leader by foolish tests and examinations perfectly not related to life of populace and foolish "noblesse oblige" and draconic foolishness...Do you truly believe you can get along with such foolish way? I cannot wait here more than one year!
Stupid Hooman tale to Big Man with Big Penis, Silly. But I have some sympathy to the man who sacrificed his life to what he thought important, it is Karrg's son's relationship to our Kyger Litor. In Darkness, everything is in Puce and
Stygian Power hides inside of such secret. But such secret only resides in Mother's Womb, they cannot admit it for they must keep their foolish patriarchal order by it. (But I met some of Kralori philosophers in this city who agreed with my opinion....they are cast-outs!)
Everything is Illusion from the point of view of Great Mystic Mashunasan, but his way is too hard to achieve, so we have invented many other substitutional ways to achieve Liberation, Worship of righteous High Gods is one way, using Magic of Oren Parond is another way. But it lies beyond other dangers to be succumbed to hidden desires, I agree. But this tale about the deep attachment to his land and his liege lord and relation to two is far more worse than what they called "Avanapdur Way". That is inevitable a man succumbed to such an attachment to Garden of the Temptation let him to Specter or far more worse, dream-wraith, if Kralori thinks such a way of thing is right under their "benevolent" way of dragon-emperors, I don't want to contact and touch their such Adpara way.
http://www.gloranthadigest.com/cgi-bin/message.py?ref=10987
<<Was City Goropheng City of Emperor Metsyla (Osdero)? or Vayobi?
(Thrunhin Da is Master of Suam Chou)>>
I think it was Yanoor's Capital which was flooded in ShangHsa's reign due
to his abuses. Metsyla's capital lies between Genertela and Vormain AFAIK.
- --Peter Metcalfe
http://www.gloranthadigest.com/cgi-bin/message.py?ref=21574
<<Whether it includes Goropheng is a good question - the Kralorela
writeup says it was flooded long ago. I assume OTOH that Goropheng was
only partially flooded and had canals. After the historical expansion
of the Suam Chow, it became uninhabitable and was sadly abandoned.>>
<<That would make it an interesting place, so I will adopt this idea.
The final flooding and abandonment could take place after the FDR failed
the water rites.>>
Nils Weinander | Everything is dust in the wind
nilsw@ibm.net | http://www.geocities.com/Paris/8689/