Fantasy Core RPG: Jianghu Setting-The Brotherhood

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 Brotherhood of the Immortals

 Where there is no law, the Brotherhood rules.

Outside of the city, law and justice are scarce and arbitrary commodities.  Into this void steps the Lulin, or rural bandit gang.  In Shang-tu, there is one gang who essentially rules the countryside in the absence of a strong Imperial presence, the Brotherhood.  They were once a collection of minor gangs who terrorized the locals, before they were molded into a single organization by “the Old Man,” Wong-Fei.  He turned the gangs into a “protection society,’ keeping the villages safe from any outsider gangs, corrupt officials, allowing easy access to the black market for goods, and even a form of civic insurance in times of natural disaster and economic hardship, all for a fee. 

The villagers under the Brotherhood’s protection pay dearly for it, but it’s better than the alternative.  Villages not under their aegis are not molested by the Brotherhood, but are wide-open to depredations and catastrophe, as Imperial resources (who would love to discredit the Brotherhood) simply can’t cover them all effectively.         

The Brotherhood and the Imperial government are natural enemies, but neither side can truly dominate the other outside the city.  The Brotherhood maintains many secret hideouts and hidden fortresses in villages and in the wilderness, which they can disappear into after a successful tax heist or the murder of a corrupt official.  While the government can’t flush them out or destroy their villages, the Brotherhood is no where near strong enough to stand up to Imperial forces in a non-ambush situation and are forced to flee from them always.

Strangely, the Brotherhood is not an ally of the Triads either.  The Brotherhood (under the Old Man, at least) had no desire to start a rebellion.  The Brotherhood actually has something of a symbiotic relationship with the government and would hate to see it disturbed or the current regime replaced by something more efficient.  Further, they have NO love of urban Tong gang and will be damned if they’ll ever serve them.  It is rumored that this acrimony is personal to Wong-Fei, but it may just be that they don’t want to share their territory with them, being as they essentially work in the same manner.  The White Lotus and the Brotherhood trade information, but are hardly friendly with one another, as White Lotus is seeking a revolt as well.