Shenyun is an ancient empire in the east of Orethar, a land of misty mountains, sacred forests, and elegant coastal cities. Its people prize balance, honor, and the harmony of the natural and spiritual worlds, and master both the martial and magical arts. An Emperor or Empress rules as a divine figure who keeps the cosmic balance, with powerful daimyo governing the provinces below. At its heart stands Hebi No Miyako and its great temple to Midorihama, the naga goddess of family, sorcery, and snakes.

The Realm Today

Shenyun holds a careful balance, and it is starting to slip. The divine ruler still embodies cosmic order from the court at Hebi No Miyako, a world of marriages, poetry, and diplomatic tea, but the daimyo grow willful, especially those who command Hu Guo's trade and the forge-cities of Hikari. The empire lives on rice, fishing, sea trade, and its famous craft in silk, porcelain, and enchanted steel, yet wealth pools in the cities while mountain villages struggle, blights touch the rice, and younger warriors chafe against old tradition. And the priesthood of Midorihama watches uneasily as the omens turn dark.

Threats

Ill omens spread across Shenyun: rivers running backward, ancestors walking in daylight, the sacred snakes deserting their temples. Abyssal Blooms are erupting in sacred groves and even beneath the great temples, spawning twisted yokai. The Xyroth cult preaches chaos to ronin and desperate peasants, striking at temples and officials. And in the northeast, the fog-shrouded Cloud Province of Akanegumo lies quietly quarantined since the Severing, a place the empire would rather not speak of.