(RC) The Mysteries

This is a listing of the current Mysteries developing during the campaign. It has been prepared as a resource for players and readers to access. It will also be a living document and will change as the players learn more about the mysteries. New segments will be highlighted in red.

The Shinwa Taizen

This is the main Mystery in the Ryujin Chronicles. What is the Shinwa Taizen? Where does it come from and what knowledge can it impart to its owner? And most importantly, who wants it and why?

Known Timeline:

These are events/history that the Cabal currently has knowledge about.

794 AD: Heienkyo is formed as the Imperial City of Japan and the seat of the Imperial Court. It will later be re-named Kyoto.

800 AD – Japan’s Empress Pimiko, a Master Mage herself, commissions the creation of three documents: the Kojiki (The Myth), the Nihon Shoki (The History of Japan) and the Shinwa Taizen (The Truth). The documents were originally intended to be made available to all, including Sleepers. The Shinwa Taizen is written in Muvian (a hybrid Japanese language) and a Codex is created to help translate it. Before any of the documents can be made available, Pimiko is convinced to keep the Shinwa Taizen hidden from view of Sleepers.

800 AD – Empress Pimiko takes things one step further. She demands that the Shinwa Taizen be hidden from view from all – including mages. She forms the Hagekure Kyodai to lead the new brotherhood that will be responsible for guarding the Shinwa Taizen – the Samurai. The Kodoshigisha are formed as the religious brotherhood that would assist in the guarding of the Shinwa Taizen. The Shinwa Taizen is never revealed to anyone for the next thousand years. Details of its contents and powers fade into antiquity. Its true existence even becomes myth.

1000AD – Chinese Emperor dies becoming a Wrath Spirit that is captured by a Mage in a Buddha Bowl.

1853 AD – Commodore Perry blockades Edo Bay forcing Japan to end 200 years of isolation and open its borders to foreign trade.

1873 AD – Meiji era begins. Emperor Meiji vows to modernize Japan. Japanese Nationalism on upswing.

1937 AD – The Rape of Nanking, China. Unit 731 is just one of the secret medical units involved in this incident. Codex of the Shinwa Taizen published by Wang-Jiang in China.

1939 – 45: World War II. During the War, the Shinwa Taizen remained in its traditional hiding spot in Kyoto, Japan. For whatever reason, the Allies never bomb Kyoto. The traditional reason given for this is that the Allies did not want to destroy the cultural treasures in Kyoto. Mages have different theories.

1940’s – Unit 731 store the Buddha Bowl in Kyoto where it stays hidden for the next 60 years.

1945: The Shinwa Taizen, which has been guarded by the Hagekure Kyodai and Kodoshigisha for the past millennium, is suddenly moved south. The destination of the Shinwa Taizen is unknown. Several days after leaving its hiding spot in Kyoto, it is destroyed when an atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima. The leaders of the Kodoshigisha commit seppuku. Several members of the Kodoshigisha form their own cabal, the Kakumeiso. With the Kodoshigisha now disgraced, the Gyochisa take over as the leading cabal in the Kansai Consilium.

1995: The Great Kansai Earthquake (known in the West as the Kobe Earthquake). The earthquake apparently uncovered a cache of scrolls in a cave (the cave is considered the epicentre of the quake). The Yamaguchi-gumi recovered some of those scrolls before being killed by a horrible beast apparently guarding those scrolls. The Yamaguchi-gumi did not know they were fragments of the Shinwa Taisen and subsequently sold the scrolls to buyers in Hong Kong and Kyoto. Some of the fragments eventually made their way into the hands of the Tong of the Sixth Dragon, a Mysterium Cabal that hid them in their Athenium located under Hong Kong Harbour. Others are rumoured to have been sold to a cabal who eventually turned to Infernalism and cannibalism and were eventually destroyed by the Tai Pan of Hong Kong.

1995: Several mages in Kyoto begin the task of examining the scrolls and believe that it is the Shinwa Taizen. Several mages of various cabals dispute that claim. The Shogun (then only the head of the Hagakure Kyodai), is the most prominent member of the Consilium to dispute the existence of the Shinwa Taizen. He wants them fragments collected and destroyed and no more mention of the Shinwa Taizen shall be made in the Kansai Consilium.

1996: After months of bickering, a Shadow War between mages breaks out. One faction wants to have the Consilium find the pieces to the Shinwa Taizen believing that the fragments will empower anyone using it. The other does not believe that the Shinwa Taizen exists and for whatever reason, wants all research into it to stop. The Shogun one day leaves his Sanctum and when he returns, tells the remaining members of the Consilium that the problem has been dealt with. No one ever sees the other members of the Cabal ever again.

1995/96?: A group of mages create a sanctum in a cave below the ruins of an old castle just outside of Kyoto. The only entrance available is through Twilight. The mages who occupied the sanctum have since disappeared.

2000: The Shogun of the Hagekure Kyodai and Ane-san of the Kokyryu-kai, take over the Kansai Consilium from Gyochisa, through a bloodless coup. The members of Gyochisa are very upset about being taken over.

2004: Akio Ogawa is approached by an unknown benefactor to form a cabal of mages to be “Paranormal Investigators.” She gathers them from various cabals in Tokyo.

2005: Early in 2005, Ogawa’s Investigators completely disappear after entering a cave off the coast of Kobe. One of them (Koya) shows up months later in Kyoto and get taken to a mental institute at the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine as a Yamada Taro (John Doe). Several members of the Kempai Tai (Guardians of the Veil) visit Koya and rape his mind.

2005: The Tong of the Sixth Dragon in Hong Kong is destroyed by the Tai Huan Chai - a group rumoured to be controlled by the Seers of the Throne ("Metal Dragons").

Aug 2005: After several months, Akio Ogawa is once again convinced to form another Cabal. This time, she is instructed to form it using mages from outside Japan.

Sept 2005: The new Cabal comes to Kyoto and as their first investigation, they investigate the murder of an unknown man with tattoos scrawled all over his body. The tattoos are Atlantean runes that act as Bans.

Sept 2005: Remnants of an Infernalist Cannibal cult in Hong Kong flay two humans alive and use their skins as parchment to write two new fragments of the Shinwa Taizen.

Other Info:

After scrutinizing the piece, the Cabal finds it has no Resonance.

The Shinwa Taizen scroll cannot be copied by mechanical or other means. Any copies show up as distorted.

It is now known that there are literally hundreds of scrolls or scroll fragments waiting to be found. So far, the Cabal has one fragment.

The scroll is divided into two parts. The first part details a diary from someone living in the 450th year of the Reign of Izunami no Kami, Queen of the Hells. The second part is part of a grimoire – part of a spell from the Time Arcana.

The Codex of the Shinwa Taizen that has been obtained by the Cabal was written by Wang Ji-ang in China circa 1937. The Codex acts as a Rosetta Stone to translate the Muvian language that the Shinwa Taizen is written in. The other languages in the Codex include Japanese, Mandarin and German. Copies of the Codex can be copied.

The Cabal now has in its possession 1 Scroll from Japan, 4 Scrolls taken from the Hong Kong Athenium and 2 "scrolls" made from the flayed skin of two bodies.

Mori Memento

Mori Memento currently has two souls. The second soul was grafted to him by an unknown person (perhaps an Archmage) when he was trapped in a small room of undetermined location. His resonance has been irrevocably altered. As far as he can tell, this second soul belonged to a long dead samurai. Current effects of having this second soul: it allows Mori to understand and speak the Japanese language and to understand the nuances of the culture.

Tamano no Mae

Working on it

Kyoto’s Shadow

Working on it