Fantasy Core RPG: Jianghu Setting-Governor's Ward

Fantasy Core RPG

© Jerry Harris 2013

Published here as Open Game Content.

(This link will take you to the Fantasy Core Index.)

Jianghu Setting

The Governor’s Ward

Those who live with the best view, often have the least understanding of what they are seeing.

The Governor’s Ward (the west end of the city) and the Fourth Gate (or the Emerald Gate) is on the Emerald Hill.  The gate is for official government use only, such as by the Governor, the military, and visiting dignitaries.  It is the largest of the wards, though the least dense in population.  Generally, only the Emerald Hill Temple is open to the public.

The rest of the ward is restricted to the nobility and their servants.  Visitors must be either be accounted for in advance on a pass list or be willing to wait for permission to enter.  Guests are usually escorted to and from their destinations in the ward.  The area is frequently patrolled by Imperial troops, often led by an East Chamber Officer (they have jurisdiction outside of the Governor’s Estate), that have the right to stop and question anyone they do not recognize.  Noble estates, fine shops, and theaters surround the hill, and sit against the well-guarded walls of the Governor’s palace grounds.  A few foreign embassies are also present.  

Some feel that temples should be placed in the most pristine and beautiful environments.  Others feel that should be placed where there is the most corruption of human virtue.

The massive Emerald Hill Temple complex sits just inside the Emerald Gate.  The complex itself is surrounded by a high wall.  There are guarded gates on the inside that lead to the rest of the ward, which is generally off-limits to non-residents without invitation.  The large courtyard of the temple will be filled with the faithful on holy days, such as New Years, waiting to make prayers at the shrine.  It is otherwise deserted, but for the carriages of the affluent passing through into the city, a few supplicants coming to make special prayers, or military formations drilling and moving out. 

The temple grounds also house a few separate facilities.  The Shang-tu Museum shows off ancient items recovered from the desert and fine art and antiques donated to it.  Passes to the museum can be purchased at the temple.  The Great Mausoleum is built into the side of the hill and filled with the tombs of the wealthy.  Again, frequent visits by temple priests make sure the dead rest quietly there.  This is not open to the public, but is open to families that have members interred there.  

If it has been published, we likely have a copy.  If it has not been written, we cannot help you.

Many of the family estates have large libraries, but there is one that is open to the public (for a fee), the Tokai Library.  The Tokai family is no longer around, but they acquired a very large, eclectic collection in their time and eventually donated it to the temple (and later families have followed suit).  It is in a separate building and passes can be purchased at the temple.  A small cadre of monks work as librarians there.  Books and scrolls are not allowed off the premises and only the monks are allowed to retrieve them off the shelves.  Give them a subject and they can likely find a book on it, nothing is off-limits.   

The celestial chambers of pleasure here on earth.

The Red Lantern Inn prominently sits upon Emerald Hill.  It is a large pagoda that glows bright red at night.  It enticingly beacons to all in the city who see it and know what goes on within.  The Red Lantern is the preeminent, and most exclusive and expensive, entertainment and hospitality spot in Shang-tu.  The Geishas here provide all levels of service, from simply serving food for important meetings, to pleasant conversation for private parties, to much more intimate and personal services.  For the right price, virtually nothing is forbidden. 

The Geishas are all highly trained, well paid, and well protected.  Any, shall we say, “interesting” situations a client wishes to engage in with a Geisha, must be agreed to in advance.  Deviating from the agreement without consent, could cause grave, bodily harm to client, regardless of their stature.  There is a host of powerful, though mostly out-of-sight, mercenaries providing security.  Not to mention, some Geishas have their own combat abilities, such as the Combat Acupuncture skill.  The worst punishment for an offending client is exclusion from the Inn, a virtual social death sentence for some powerful individuals.      

Madame Lan is the eternally beautiful, youthful-looking owner of the Red Lantern.  How she maintains her looks is a closely guarded mystery (and your call as to what it is).  She is unfailingly gracious and pleasant, and always wearing a bright, cheery smile.  The secrets she knows are almost beyond measure, but her clients pay handsomely for discretion.  For people who have crossed Madame Lan however, her heart is stone-cold ice.  She has decreed exclusion, maiming, and even death sentences with a smile. 

One such enemy is Shi-Mei, leader of the Triads, the anti-government secret society.  She once worked at the Inn as a teen many years ago, under a different name (Suki-chan) and appearance.  Shi-Mei left under disgraceful circumstances.  This is not a well-known tale, and no one other than Lan truly knows exactly who Shi-Mei was.  Likely this formative experience formed Shi-Mei’s animus against the wealthy of the city and fueled her rise in the Triads.  Lan is one of the very few outside the organization that knows that Shi-Mei is the current leader of the Triads and could expose and destroy her based on that.  That she doesn’t, seems to implicate that Shi-Mei knows something equally scandalous about Lan.  For now, there is a cold war between them, made very awkward by Shi-Mei’s frequent visits to the Red Lantern Inn for private charity events.