On my "off weeks," I'd like to share with you the behind-the-scenes stuff I do for the series. This post will be the first in a three-part series detailing my cosmology for Yomi Wan, in which I will examine my adaptations of the denizens of Malfeas into the setting of Burn Legend. Given that the name of this series is The Advent of Yomi Wan, I put a lot of thought into it. This week, we'll be looking at the Yama Kings.
Beings of immense, impossible power, many religions and
mythologies touch on their existence. Christianity names them as the Demon
Princes subservient to Satan himself, while Japanese Shinto has a pantheon of
wicked, powerful deities. In any case, they reside in Hell, also known as Yomi
Wan, a bleak land of perpetual suffering and fiendish pleasures. Discontent
with ruling only over Yomi Wan, the Demon Emperor seeks to conquer the world
that mortals call Earth. He would do it himself, but his awesome might alone is
enough to shatter the world simply by entering it—if he and his five fellow
Yama Kings entered Earth, it would be obliterated. He wishes to subjugate the
Earth, not destroy it, so he and each of his fellow Kings has created an avatar
to deal out death and destruction in a more refined and precise manner. These
Lords of Death are shadow puppets that necessarily limit the Yama Kings’ power
while on Earth.
The Demon Emperor,
also known as Malfeas in the Tantra of
Creation, is the ruler of Yomi Wan. It is he who decided that the forces of
Hell would mobilize and seek to extend his dominion to Earth. In ages past, he
let the demons of Yomi Wan run free. It is unknown what caused him to become
discontent with the structure and scope of Yomi Wan, but he now rules Hell with
a fist of brass. He takes the form of an Emerald Sun, blasting the land with
harsh, radioactive light. His ultimate goal is to amass forces in both Hell and
Earth, and use this unstoppable army to storm the Heavenly Gates. (Colors: Emerald
and gold)
The Princess of
Hell, or Cecelyne as she is called in the Tantra of Creation, is the second-in-command of the Demon Emperor.
While he focused on military expansion, she concerns herself with political and
judicial matters within Yomi Wan. In fact, the Demon Emperor often defers to
her legislative knowledge when assigning punishment to transgressors. She takes
the form of an endless desert made of sharpened silver and glass. Those
punished to death for breaking the Laws of Hell are transmuted into more silver
and glass sands. Her goal is to break human benevolence entirely, as it is an
affront to her most important law: The strong have dominion over the weak.
(Colors: Silver and yellow)
The Grand Arbiter
of Fell Wisdom, also called by the equally pretentious title She Who Lives
In Her Name in the Tantra of Creation,
is the keeper of infernal lore. She has an obsession with perfection and
preservation of that perfection. To that end, she assists the Demon Princess’
goal of promoting domination of the strong over the weak. She does so by
withholding knowledge from the weak and granting wisdom to the strong. In doing
so, she preserves their positions in her extensive hierarchy of power within
Yomi Wan. It is she who determines which component souls should be used to
create new demons, according to her infinite stores of diabolic knowledge. She
takes the form of a maelstrom of white flame and crystal. When an object is
touched by this storm, its physical form is violently vivisected and transmuted
into shattered crystal, while its consciousness and its knowledge are
transformed into white flame to add to the Grand Arbiter’s library. Her goal is
to create a world of perfect order, perfect form, and perfect stasis. (Colors:
Opal and grey)
The Herald of the
Emerald Winds, or Adorjan as she is named in the Tantra of Creation, is the force of the Demon Emperor’s judgment
given physical form. She manifests as a gale of emerald hue when she detonates from the
green sun, destroying most everything in her path. She races around Yomi Wan,
seeking out those who have earned the contempt of the Demon Emperor, tearing
them and everything around them to shreds. Their blood colors her winds,
gradually turning them ruby. When no trace of green remains, the Herald’s task
is done and she returns to the green sun to rest. Her goal is to one day break
free from her shackles binding her to the Demon Emperor, able to run free and
forever deal out wanton destruction. (Colors: Ruby and green)
The Shadow of All
Things, or as the Tantra of Creation names
him, the Ebon Dragon, is the shadow king of Yomi Wan. Whereas the Demon Emperor
rules with outward force and might, the Shadow of All Things operates several
conspiracies simultaneously, each allowing him to pull strings and shape the
society of Yomi Wan to his whims. He appears as a serpentine shadow that
slithers its way through the streets of Yomi Wan. Many flock to his shadow, as
the green sun is impossible to avoid except inside the Shadow of All Things.
Even as he grants reprieve, the shadow transforms those inside it into fiendish
creatures that lose form and substance. His goal is to overthrow the Demon
Emperor and become the Tyrant of Existence. His current plan is to conquer
Earth along with his sire, then lock the gates of Yomi Wan and trap him there
eternally. (Colors: Onyx and violet)
The Mother of
Poisons, also known as Kimbery in the Tantra
of Creation, is simultaneously the most beloved and reviled of the Yama
Kings. She has unpredictable mood swings, so she is as likely to be
overwhelmingly benevolent as murderously vindictive. Those who consider her
beloved are simply lucky and believe that the stories of her petty acts of
violence are fabrications, while those who revile her have suffered by her hand
and think that stories of her benevolence are mere propaganda. She takes the
form of a vast ocean teeming with aquatic demonspawn and currents of myriad
toxins. When she interacts with other creatures, she will coalesce the venom
into prehensile tentacles. She believes that all the mortals of Earth need to
create a utopia is some tender, loving care, which she intends to flood across
the world when she finally enters it. (Colors: Amethyst and blue)
I know I borrowed heavily from the thematics of the core Exalted setting, but I had fun coming up with their alternate names for this setting. I also know that there are several other canonical Yozi I could use, but *SPOILER ALERT* I have a motif of six in the cosmology of Yomi Wan, much like the Exalted core setting has a motif of five in pretty much everything. I was also toying with the idea of having nine Yama Kings, each one tied to a circle of the Inferno. Of course, there is room for expanding the Pantheon Infernal.
Let me know what you think! Do any of them stand out to you as particularly cool or lame? Which one would you like to have as your campaign's "Big Bad?"
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