The Celestial Bureaucracy or Supernatural Bureaucracy is the hierarchy of gods and spirits in the Middle Kingdom.
Overview[]
According to Chinese folk religion, the society of the gods is a mirror to the society of humankind. Roles such as "god of this particular village" are occupations as much as identities, and local gods have more powerful superiors to whom they report. At the top of the hierarchy is the August Personage of Jade; at the bottom are the Stove Gods who occupy every home and monitor the inhabitants.[1]
The Kuei-jin teach that the August Personage of Jade created the Scarlet Queen and the Ebon Dragon, pure manifestations of Yin and Yang; they in turn created the physical and spiritual worlds, and many gods to manage them.[2] The hengenyokai regard the August Personage as one of many Ministers of Heaven (Incarnae), alongside the Emerald Mother, but otherwise recognize the Celestial Bureaucracy below them.[3] The hsien claim they were created near the bottom of this hierarchy, as messengers and intercessors meant to answer prayers.[4]
The Yama Kings and other monsters rebelled against the authority of the August Personage, and so the Wan Xian, the hengenyokai, and possibly the hsien were created to battle them.[2][3] However, in turn the Wan Xian fell to their lust for power, and were transformed into the Wan Kuei.[5] The hsien ignored the plight of the humans and tried to usurp the role of the Wan Xian, and so they were condemned to mortal bodies.[6]
In the Fifth Age, the Celestial Bureaucracy is in disarray, and instead of serving the August Personage, the spirit world is divided into warring camps.[7] Some spirits have become twisted, hungry for chi, and demand servitude or lash out indiscriminately.[8] Still, the Quincunx regards the Bestowed Ancestor as being chosen by the Bureaucracy,[9] and followers of the Howl of the Devil-Tiger see themselves (and to a less extent, all kuei-jin) as divinely appointed disciplinarians.[10] Devil-Tigers routinely command and bind banes, spectres and bakemono,[11] and create ferectoi called Ban Ren Guei to serve them in the same capacity members of other dharmas use dhampyrs.[12]
References[]
- ↑ KOTE: Kindred of the East Companion, p. 107-108
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 KOTE: Kindred of the East Rulebook, p. 44
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 WTA: Hengeyokai: Shapeshifters of the East, p. 27
- ↑ CTD: Land of Eight Million Dreams, p. 20
- ↑ KOTE: Kindred of the East Rulebook, p. 45
- ↑ CTD: Land of Eight Million Dreams, p. 23-24
- ↑ KOTE: Kindred of the East Rulebook, p. 149
- ↑ WTA: Hengeyokai: Shapeshifters of the East, p. 53
- ↑ KOTE: Kindred of the East Companion, p. 8
- ↑ KOTE: Dharma Book: Devil-Tigers, p. 23-24
- ↑ KOTE: Dharma Book: Devil-Tigers, p. 24, 53
- ↑ KOTE: Dharma Book: Devil-Tigers, p. 25-26