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Shanghai - Chapter Eight: Necropolis

This chapter deals with the trials of the dead in Shanghai and their dealings with the Kuei-jin. Additional Material: Eloy Lasanta

by Juhl Heine Jensen (https://web.archive.org/web/20101230164601/mailto:[email protected])  (World of Darkness

(https://web.archive.org/web/20101230164601/http://www.nocturnis.net/games/world_of_darkness) | World of Darkness: Shanghai
(\"http://www.nocturnis.net/projects/world_of_darkness_shanghai\") | Resources)

The lands of shadow, the underworld, the Dark Umbra – it carries many names. This should perhaps not come as a surprise. Thoughts of ones’ mortality
springs easily to mind followed just as naturally by thoughts of what follows after death. In these parts of the world, it is commonly called the Yin World.

Like all parts of the lands of the restless dead, the Yin World is marked by the raging Sixth Maelstrom. Add to this a ferocious three part war, and you have
Necropolis Shanghai. Ghosts are fighting kuei, forces loyal to Yu Huang battle rebel factions, while the ghosts of foreigners try to find their place in their afterlife.

Effects on a Shattered Kingdom

For Yu Huang’s empire, the Maelstrom could not have hit at a worse time. Having already severely depleted his resources, preparing for the war against the
western empire of Stygia, Yu Huang is struggling to keep his own empire from collapsing. The Conquered Territories that have long been the main source of the
kingdom’s income are struggling for their freedom, and their regular tribute no longer flows as freely – if at all – as before.

Nor are the Conquered Territories the only ones that saw the onset of the Maelstrom as their chance. As he did the last time a Maelstrom hit, and as he has
done every time trouble hit the Dark Kingdom of Jade, Yu Huang used the Immortal Guard to secure the area around Xi’an. Since then, he’s worked out from
that base, securing more and more of what he considers his Empire.

Currently Yu Huang’s main focus lies on two fronts. The first deals with quelling the unrest, which still rages at the border to the Indian Dead Lands. Secondly,
the Maelstrom has unleashed a number of tenebrous horrors that have made a number of shifting alliances among themselves. They may not equal Yu
Huang’s might one on one, but as it is they have proven themselves quite a problem.

What does this mean for Shanghai?  Shanghai holds great strategic importance for the Dark Kingdom of Jade. In the realms of the dead, a large population
equals a large source of resources. A great number of the troops called home from Stygian soil returned to the port of Shanghai – those that made it through, at
least – and although most of them were directed to other fronts at Yu Huang’s whim, a fair number of them remained. It is rumored that they were stationed
there mainly to protect against the threat of an invasion from the Japanese Dead Lands, as no official reports had been received from the magistracy of that
particular Conquered Territory.

The First Strike of the Storm

The Maelstrom hit the Dark Kingdom of Jade by surprise. As the first winds picked up, and Spectres of all kinds rode in over the city like a dark shadow, the few
soldiers of Yu Huang’s military present in the city were mainly responsible for what coordinated resistance there was, receiving only a token support from the
Communist families of Shanghai.

That they succeeded in keeping Shanghai from being overrun in those first days, against such overwhelming odds, certainly talk of their determination and
organization.  The horrendous losses suffered by the military were soon more than replenished by battle-weary troops, returning from Stygian soil to the shores
of China.

The following time also sported a number of minor attacks by rebel factions, thinking to use to confusion caused by the Maelstrom to hurt the established
magistracy.  The city’s major rebel group, the Struggle Against Qin, remained passive, though, deciding that now was not the time to reveal themselves. Even
uncoordinated as they were, they could have caused great damage in those first faithful hours, were the military had other foes to fight.
No small credit for reducing these attacks to annoyances went to Shanghai’s Chief Judge, Wang Lien. Promising aid in scouring the city of the gaki, she was
able to make deals with the Kuei-Jin of the Quincunx, ensuring their aid against the revolutionaries. This was a perfect deal for the forces of the Dark Kingdom
of Jade – they had on their own wrestled against the gaki for some time, and thus were more than ready to strike against them.

One group managed to wrest some control from the magistracy, however. To tell that tale, we will have to take a dive back in time. The story revolves around a
single building.

The Former Moller Residence

The story about Mr. Moller goes back to the first half of the twentieth century. This Swedish man came empty-handed to the Paris of the East in 1919, intending
to make his fortune. And make a fortune he did indeed. Possessing the luck of the devil, he won large sums gambling on horse and dog races. Only a few years
after his arrival in Shanghai, he was a board member of the Jockey Club. Though never losing the urge to gamble, nor his love for the races, he was smart
enough to diversify his holdings. Both a real estate firm and a steam boat company came to carry his name.  Having thus gone from empty-handed youth to
Taipan of Shanghai, Eric Moller decided that he should have a home that reflected his status. 

It is now that the story gets really interesting. Having now lived in Shanghai for years, Moller had taken to the ways things are done in China, and as he stood
before a major business decision, he did the only sensible thing:  he went to a fortune teller.  It wasn’t information on his business transactions, which an ashen-
faced Moller took with him from the fortune-teller, however. What he was foretold was that he would face a grim fate on the day that his new mansion was
completed.

Feeling better the next day, Mr. Moller began doubting the words of the fortune teller.  However, wing after wing was added to the original blueprints of the
mansion, delaying the day that it stood complete – just in case. Nothing lasts forever, though, and in 1949 the mansion stood complete.  That year was also the
year of the communist takeover in China, and the year of Moller’s death.

Moller’s entry into the Yin World wasn’t gentle. His reaper was Mr. Pan, the ghost of a Chinese businessman and member of one the Communist families of
Shanghai.  This Pan was embittered after a life where he had seen western businessmen enjoy greater success than their Chinese colleagues.

Although the treaty that declared that any western ghosts fell under Stygian purview had been reinstated after WW2, constant violations continued. Pan in
particular paid little heed to this treaty, reaping and selling captured western ghosts to certain members of the Magistracy.  All of this without alerting the
sensitive Stygian representatives of course.

Moller, however, represented everything that had stood in his way in life – or so he felt. Pan made it his goal to, in turn, claim everything that had been Moller’s.
Thus the first natural step was to make his home in the Moller Mansion, which had manifested itself as a major Haunt in the Yin World. Chaining the late Swede
in the basement of his own manor, his Corpus Moliated beyond recognition, Pan spent the next years coming up with little ways to make Moller’s existence as
unpleasant as possible.

These years proved most auspicious for Pan. As the head of one of the many Communist Families on the dark side of the Shroud in Shanghai, Pan benefited
greatly when the Former Moller Mansion was made the seat of the Youth Communist League. In the years following, Pan drew deep on the youth’s feverish
devotion to the ideals of communism, which so closely mirrored his own, sating his thirst for the Pathos of the living.

Thus years went by for the unfortunate Moller; his only companion his Shadow, whispering sweet words of revenge in his ear. His chance for revenge came
with the Sixth Maelstrom. The initial storm shook even the Moller Mansion, breaking his chains, setting him free. No one saw Pan since that day. The rumors
about what happened are many.  Some say that Moller, in his rage, sent Pan headlong into a Harrowing. Others, believing that to be too easy a way out for Mr.
Pan, eyes the barges often found near Mr. Moller with questioning eyes.

Not long after Mr. Moller regained control over his Mansion, at least in the Yin World, it was decided that the seat of the Youth Communist League should be
relocated. The official reason seems to differ, depending on who you ask, but it seems curious that these two things happened shortly after each other. These
days, however, the Former Moller Mansion serves as a hotel, catering to the wishes of visiting tourists, who’ll all hear the tale of Moller, if they didn’t know it
already. While it might not be exactly what he had wanted for his Mansion, Moller appears to be satisfied for now. He’s got other things on his mind anyway. 

The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend

A gweilo ghost faces a hard existence in the Yin World, especially since the campaign against Stygia was launched. Though Shanghai has never been paradise
for a western ghost, neither has it always been this bad. Together with Hong Kong, Shanghai is one the locations in the Middle Kingdom that has the largest
concentration of Europeans and Americans in the Skin Lands. This naturally carries over to the Yin World as well.

As the truce between Charon and the Jade Emperor was made, dictating that souls hailing from either Kingdom were the property of said Kingdom, no matter
where the wraith in question was at the time of his death, a Stygian embassy was established in Shanghai.  While relations between Stygia and the Dark
Kingdom of Jade were strained in the time after the WWII, Stygia retained a greatly reduced presence in these larger towns. At the onset of the recent
campaign against Stygia, Local Militia Commander Yi Kong, took it upon himself to rid Shanghai of any Stygian military presence, and he was very successful in
this undertaking. 

For a time, both the short time before and especially in the time immediately after the onset of the Sixth Maelstrom, any western ghost found in Shanghai was
harvested as resources.  This would probably still be the fate of western ghosts in Shanghai, and it still is in many cases, yet somehow a number of European
and American wraiths have managed to wrest a piece of Shanghai out of the control of the Dark Kingdom of Jade. All of this is centered on the former Moller
Mansion, where Moller sits weaving his webs, aided in his efforts by a varied group of revolutionaries. Among their numbers are the remnants of the former
Stygian Embassy, a wandering group of soldiers hailing from the Lost Legion, as well as almost all of the surviving new arrivals of western ghosts.

As the population of western wraiths increases, so to do the Japanese, Korean and other non-Chinese wraiths continue to grow.  As wraiths that would normally
be under the banner of the conquered territories, they are targets as well for the Dark King of Jade to crush into materials.  This fact has driven many of them to
assemble their own force which works loosely with those of western descent.  It is a needed alliance, for all their afterlives are at stake if Yu Huang gets his way.

The Bridge House Prison

In the years after World War II, the fact that the forces of the Dark Kingdom of Jade proved unable to wrest control of the Bridge House Prison from Japanese
control wounded Yu Huang’s pride.  For decades, they were the slaves of the gaki.  When the Twice Red Tiger Battle of the Kuei-jin took place, the Dark
Kingdom of Jade saw its chance to be set free.  Chief Judge of Shanghai, Wang Lien, resigned a long lost treaty with the Quincunx that bound the two together
against all foreign influence.  And after years of war, the combined forces of the Dark Kingdom of Jade and the Five August Courts of the Quincunx proved
victorious in taking the Bridge House Prison. 

Now that the dragon nest is under their sway, many issues of their treaty have come into play.  Wang Lien, along with the current Kuei-jin Leader, Mo King
Zhenyu, is happy with the results yet does not fully understand the full impact of the Glorious Shield Placement Plan, let alone its hidden implications.  Distrust
is beginning to brew within the partnership from those of lower status, as they believe the Dark Kingdom of Jade is placing too much stock in the Kuei-jin’s
words in this matter.  But it is known to all the Dead of Shanghai that to back out on the treaty would place them under Kuei-jin control once again, but this time,
it will be at the hands of their fellow Chinese.

The Night of Cerulean Sorrow and What Followed

Thus, with the single exception of Mr. Moller and his followers, it seemed that the forces of Yu Huang faired well in regaining control of and rebuilding Shanghai,
despite the occasional Storm, and the following hordes of kuei and Spectres.

Prompted by something unknown, the Maelstrom picked up in strength this night. A storm centered on Shanghai hit the Chinese coast with malicious strength,
driving before it a wall of water from the Shadowland seas. The force by which this tsunami struck Shanghai even manifested itself in the Skin Lands in a
number ways. Throughout Shanghai candles lit in the memory of deceased went out.

In the Yin World, the ports of Shanghai suffered the greatest damage. The vessels in which the invasion troops had returned from Stygian soil were smashed
beyond recognition. Worse yet was the fate that befell the greater part of the returned soldiers. Housed mainly near their vessels, they were swept away by the
waves, and by  beings dredged from the dark deeps.  Even now, the storms of the Maelstrom are stronger in these areas of Shanghai, and the areas are
avoided by sane Wraiths.  Should one need to venture down into these areas, they'd better have access to some serious protection against the hazards of the
storms.  And a few friends to watch your back! For the dark wave that swept in over Shanghai brought with it creatures that had been sleeping on the bottom of
the seas of the Shadowlands. Some of these creatures still roam around the ports of Shanghai, as well as seemingly every other variety of Spectres and
plasmic beings.

Beyond that, scavenger wraiths take their chances going down to the port areas in search of weaponry and relics left behind by Yu Huang’s forces. These
bands are very high-strung, and even if they do not perceive others as competitors, they are likely to shoot first and ask questions later.

The Uprising

The revolutionary group Struggle Against Qin, upon seeing how the military might of Yu Shuang had been crippled in Shanghai, chose this as their time to
strike. From their positions in the Protectorate, they struck out openly. Having for some time now feared exposure due to Provincial Judge Hang Xu’s
investigations, they saw this chance as worth blowing their cover for.  Calling for aid from every minor rebel group, they strove to use every bit of information
gained in their time masquerading in the Protectorate, striking out at the other arms of the Government. In this they were only partly successful. Just as Struggle
Against Qin had ignored the cry for aid coming from the minor resistance movements, at the onset of the Maelstrom, so now were they in turn largely ignored.

So while they effortlessly routed the Protectorate, which had been manned in great numbers by members of the Struggle Against Qin themselves, and they
succeeded in virtually extinguishing the Jade Censors of Shanghai, they were unable to do any significant harm to the Judges of the Dead.

Thus the state of Shanghai today is a curious one. Officially the arms of Yu Huang’s bureaucracy still hold sway over Shanghai, yet with the Military heavily
weakened and the Judges of the Dead taking on the responsibility of the Censors as well, aided in this by the remnants of the surviving members of the
Censors, and a new inexperienced Protectorate just recently established, their rule is limited at best.  Only the presence of a limited force of the Immortal
Guards allows them to retain control of parts of Shanghai.

Ghosts of the Conquered Territories and Westerners

As China’s center of international trade, Shanghai has a fair presence of foreigners. In light of the recent war between the Dark Kingdom of Jade and Stygia,
the souls of western people are free game. Any encountered by the forces of the Dark Kingdom of Jade are harvested immediately. The Wraiths with origins in
the Conquered Territories, likewise, must dodge the constant attacks of the Imperial Guard and other foot soldiers of the Dark Kingdom of Jade.

With the rebels’ fate decided on a case by case basis, the need for resourced is desperate indeed. Yet in their struggle against Yu Huang, their need of allies
sometimes outweighs that. One of the allies that they are courting is the enigmatic Mr. Moller.

NPCs

Mr. Moller

Background: see the description of the Former Moller Residence above, for the background of this particular wraith.

Image: to avoid trouble with Stygian envoys, Mr. Moller was Moliated to resemble a Chinese. That he was made to resemble his captors was a rich source of
Angst for his Shadow, who readily taught Moller the rudimentary of Moliate. No one has ever taught Moller the proper use of the basic Return to Death’s Visage
ability, however. 

Now that he’s free, he cannot remember his original appearance, and his Shadow blocks his sight should he encounter anything that would show him his
original appearance. Thus, when using Return to Death’s Visage, he either returns to the Chinese face that he was forced to wear, a face which he hates, or a
blank face with no features except two burning pits as eyes, and a wide, slender mouth filled with an impossible number of sharp teeth, reminding more than a
few visitors of a shark. This is the face that he most commonly uses, most often covering the upper half of his “face” with a white jade mask.

He is otherwise clad in clothing similar to what he wore in his mortal days, a suit fitting for a successful businessman covering a broad frame. Standing 5’10’’ tall
Mr. Moller is just above average height for a Swede, yet in life he towered over the Chinese that surrounded him.

Roleplaying Hints: Control. You will never lose control again. You’d sooner jump down the throat of Oblivion than give another person authority over you again.
This does not mean that your love of gambling has vanished. But you’ll be damned if you allow someone else to decide on the odds and what’s at stake. Corner
Mr. Moller and he’ll lash out with everything he’s got.

Haunt: The Former Moller Residence is a solid structure in the Shadowlands. After his death it has both served as his prison and his home. Ironically it is both
known as the place that indirectly caused his death, and the place that holds him back from whatever fate lies beyond this ghostly existence.

Secrets: Mr. Moller has come to be quite dependent on his Shadow, which in turn has grown quite willful lately. He possesses some very useful knowledge
about both the revolutionary Wraiths and the workings of the Magistracy’s doings in Shanghai. He uses this knowledge to make deals with both sides, ensuring
the survival of his little enclave of western ghosts.

Influence: In the short time since he regained his freedom, and doubly so since the Maelstrom hit Shanghai, Mr. Moller has wormed his way to the centre of
attention.  As matters stand now, few Wraiths with a western background do not owe Mr. Moller some form of debt. He also has some connections with the
revolutionaries.

Nature/Demanor: Gambler/Architect, Death: 1949

Attributes: Physical: Strength 3, Dexterity 2, Stamina 4, Social: Charisma 3, Manipulation 3, Appearance 2, Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 4

Abilities: Talents: Alertness 3, Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Brawl 3, Dodge 2, Empathy 1, Expression 2, Intimidation 3, Subterfuge 3, Skills: Drive 2, Etiquette 2,
Leadership 4, Melee 2, Stealth 3 , Knowledges: Bureaucracy 3, Law 2, Linguistics 2, Politics 2, Finance 3, Geography 1

Backgrounds: Eidolon 2, Haunt 4, Legacy (The Moller Residence) 2, Memoriam (The Moller Residence) 2, Status 2

Passions: Assist Wraiths against the Dark Kingdom of Jade (Revenge) 4, Protect the Former Moller Residence (Spite) 2

Arcanoi: Puppetry 4, Moliate 3, Outrage 3, Pandemonium 3, The Way of the Farmer 3

Fetters: The Former Mr. Moller Residence 6, The Burial Site of his favorite horse 2        

Willpower: 7, Pathos: 5, Shadow: The Pusher, Angst: 7, Thorns: Trick of the Light, Pact of Doom, Shadowplay, Dark Passions: Betray Revolutionary Allies
(Hate) 2

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