Yu Huang is, ostensibly, the ghost of Qin Shi Huang, the first and sole emperor of the Yellow Springs.
Overview[]
In life, Qin Shihuang was obsessed with immortality and failing to discover the secrets of eternal life, he secured his power by elaborate funeral rites that included an army of 24,000 terracotta soldiers who followed him into the afterlife as his immortal guard. Emperor Qin's place in the afterlife was secured by the mages of the Wu Lung, and in return Qin granted the Wu Lung great power and influence in his empire which was to last for millennia to come.
However, some time after arriving in the Underworld, the real Yu Huang was destroyed and replaced by a Malfean lord.[1] Since that time, the Malfean has ruled as Yu Huang, and has applied his creative talents as dictator of the Asian dead.
As a ruler, Yu Huang is an absolute monarch. His government is harsh and largely corrupt, interested primarily in acquiring as many relics and as much jade as possible, whether through mining or punishment. His empire is militantly expansionist and fiercely racist, with Han Chinese at the top of the social pyramid and non-Chinese primarily waiting to be tortured, broken, and soulforged into White Jade. Personally, Yu Huang is a sadistic martinet with delusions of artistic adequacy and an obsession with grandiose projects involving levels of Moliate that would terrify most Tzimisce.
Fate[]
The rumors are true: Qin Shihuang was replaced by a Malfean ages ago, albeit the eldest of the Onceborn variety. He has stolen a march on most of his rivals by establishing himself as a power in the near Underworld, but his subsumption of the original Jade Emperor has made him somehow more human than he might otherwise have been. Yu Huang's goal is eventually dominion over the entire Underworld, and he sees Stygia as the largest obstacle to that goal. (His earlier defeat in the Sea That Knows No Sun he has written off as a fluke.) Hence, the alliance with the Smiling Lord and the invasion. Unfortunately, the Maelstrom shatters everyone's plans, and the invasion founders. While the Empire maintains some footholds in Stygian territory, the storm belches forth new rivals for Yu Huang, and he must turn his attention to them. While he does so, new revolts break out in the Conquered Territories and on the border with Swar, necessitating that most of the troops return home.
References[]
- ↑ WTO: Ends of Empire, p. 151
- MTAs: Book of Crafts, p. 127
- WTO: Dark Kingdom of Jade, p. 28-32
- WTO: Dark Kingdom of Jade Adventures, p. 9
- WTO: Ends of Empire
- MTAs: Dragons of the East, p. 10-11, 54, 62, 93
- MTAs: Tradition Book: Akashic Brotherhood, p. 20