QUILL WUXIA

TARCISIO Lucas
Quill Wuxia is my homage to this kind of stories, full of magic, poetry, beauty and martial
arts!
Wuxia , which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning
the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although wuxia is traditionally a form
of fantasy literature, its popularity has caused it to spread to diverse art forms such
as Chinese opera, manhua, films, television series and video games. It forms part
of popular culture in many Chinese-speaking communities around the world.
The word "wuxia" is a compound composed of the elements wu (literally "martial",
"military", or "armed") and xia (literally "chivalrous", "vigilante" or "hero"). A martial artist
who follows the code of xia is often referred to as a xiake (literally "follower of xia")
or youxia (literally "wandering xia"). In some translations, the martial artist is referred to
as a "swordsman" or "swordswoman" even though he or she may not necessarily wield a
sword.
The heroes in wuxia fiction typically do not serve a lord, wield military power or belong
to the aristocratic class. They often originate from the lower social classes of ancient
Chinese society. A code of chivalry usually requires wuxia heroes to right and redress
wrongs, fight for righteousness, remove oppressors, and bring retribution for past
misdeeds. Chinese xia traditions can be compared to martial codes from other cultures
such as the Japanese samurai's bushido tradition.
Even though the term "wuxia" as the name of a genre is a recent coinage, stories about
xia date back more than 2,000 years. Wuxia stories have their roots in some
early youxia tales from 300–200 BCE. The Legalist philosopher Han Fei spoke
disparagingly of youxias in his book Han Feizi in the chapter On Five 'Maggot'
Classes about five social classes in the Spring and Autumn period.[1] Some well-known
stories include Zhuan Zhu's assassination of King Liao of Wu, and most notably, Jing Ke's
attempt on the life of the King of Qin (who became Qin Shi Huang later). In Volume 86 of
the Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji), Sima Qian mentioned five notable assassins
– Cao Mo, Zhuan Zhu, Yu Rang, Nie Zheng and Jing Ke – in the Warring States period who
undertook tasks of conducting political assassinations of aristocrats and nobles. These
assassins were known as cike; literally "stabbing guests"). They usually rendered their
loyalties and services to feudal lords and nobles in return for rewards such as riches and
women. In Volume 124 of the Shi Ji, Sima Qian detailed several embryonic features of xia
culture from his period. These popular phenomena were also documented in other
historical records such as the Book of Han and the Book of the Later Han.
Xiake stories made a turning point in the Tang dynasty and returned in the form
of chuanqi ( literally "legendary tales"). Stories from that era, such as Nie Yinniang The
Kunlun Slave, Thirteenth Madame Jing ) Red String and The Bearded Warrior served as
prototypes for modern wuxia stories. They featured fantasies and isolated protagonists –
usually loners – who performed daring heroic deeds. During the Song dynasty, similar
stories circulated in the huaben, short works that were once thought to have served as
prompt-books for shuochang (traditional Chinese storytelling).
The genre of the martial or military romance also developed during the Tang dynasty. In
the Ming dynasty, Luo Guanzhongand Shi Nai'an wrote Romance of the Three
Kingdoms and Water Margin respectively, which are among the Four Great Classical
Novels of Chinese literature. The former is a romanticised historical retelling of the events
in the late Eastern Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, while the latter criticises
the deplorable socio-economic status of the late Northern Song dynasty. Water Margin is
often seen as the first full-length wuxia novel: the portrayal of the 108 heroes, and their
code of honour and willingness to become outlaws rather than serve a corrupt
government, played an influential role in the development of jianghu culture in later
centuries. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is also seen as a possible early antecedent,
and contains classic close-combat descriptions that were later borrowed by wuxia writers
in their works
In the Qing dynasty, further developments were the gong'an (公案; literally "public
case") and related detective novels, where xia and other heroes, in collaboration with a
judge or magistrate, solved crimes and battled injustice. The Justice Bao stories
from Sanxia Wuyi (三俠五義; later extended and renamed to Qixia Wuyi) and Xiaowuyi (
小五義), incorporated much of social justice themes of later wuxia stories. Xiayi stories
of chivalrous romance, which frequently featured female heroes and supernatural
fighting abilities, also surfaced during the Qing dynasty. Novels such as Shi Gong'an
Qiwen (施公案奇聞) and Ernü Yingxiong Zhuan (兒女英雄傳) have been cited as the
clearest nascent wuxia novels.
The term "wuxia" as a genre label itself first appeared at the end of the Qing dynasty,
a calque of the Japanese "bukyō", a genre of oft-militaristic and bushido-influenced
adventure fiction. The term was brought to China by writers and students who hoped
that China would modernise its military and place emphasis on martial virtues, and it
quickly became entrenched as the term used to refer to xiayi and other predecessors of
wuxia proper. In Japan, however, the term "bukyō" faded into obscurity.
Many wuxia works produced during the Ming and Qing dynasties were lost due to the
governments' crackdown on and banning of such works. Wuxia works were deemed
responsible for brewing anti-government sentiments, which led to rebellions in those
eras. The departure from mainstream literature also meant that patronage of this genre
was limited to the masses and not to the literati, which led to the stifling of the
development of the wuxia genre. Nonetheless, the wuxia genre remained enormously
popular with the common people.

Quill Wuxia is my homage to this kind of stories, full of magic, poetry, beauty and martial
arts!
Characters

You Xia (Wandering Knight)

The You Xia warrior has been trained in the tai chi arts, and he uses this knowledge to
overcome adversity. It is an eastern version of the medieval knight.
Penmanship: Average
Language: Poor
Heart: Good

Lin Kuei (Spirit of the Forest)

A person who trained the stealthy arts of espionage, murder and theft. He/She is in some
ways the Chinese version of "ninja" present in Japanese culture.
Penmanship: Good
Language: Average
Heart: Poor

Tao Shi (Taoist Priest)

Penmanship: Poor
Language: Good
Heart: Average
Skills

You can choose from one of the following skills:

Meditation: Gives you +1 die to one Heart check;

Scenarios
The Blood Sword

Profile
The village of Ton Jun has been a victim of the mysterious Clan of the Blood Sword, a
group of skillful warriors who come out at night, killing people and taking their
possessions. All the fighters from the village have tried in vain to do away with these
villains. All were cruelly murdered.
You have tried to catch the attention of Emperor Miang himself, but he is very ill, and
the Council of Sages who takes care of the Kingdom on such matters seems to be acting
in a dark way.
Without options, you decide to personally go to the luxurious house where the
members of the Clan of the Blood Swords reside and challenge them to a mortal
duel. However, you know that even your great abilities may not be strong for such a
clash, and you decide to write to your childhood friend Wong Tien, who has become an
extremely kind and profound Shaolin monk-connoisseur of the martial arts, inviting him
to join your mission.

Rules of Correspondence

You know that Wong Tien has a great heart, always willing to help people in need. Win 1
die to all Heart Tests.
Ink Pot

Sword/blade
Thieves/Villains
Inhabitants/ Good people from Ton Jun
Night/Darkness
Shadow/shade
Fight/ Struggle
Love/Passion
Wood/Forest
Death/Oblivion
Martial Art/Tai Chi

Consequences

Less than 5 points: Days pass, and you get no response from Wong Tien. Until one day,
someone knocks on the door of your house. You answer, only to discover the entire clan
of the Blood Sword standing in front of you. One holds his letter while another holds the
bloodied clothes of a monk - Wong Tien's clothes.
Taken by the fury, you go into combat, but it is no match for the clan warriors.
The last thing you see is a sword coming into your heart ...
5 to 7 points: Only one day after you have sent your message, you receive a letter from
the monk himself. He says to have left the life of fights, having made by the option a
hermit himself. He can not come to your aid.
But he recognizes the importance of your mission, and along with the letter, He sends an
ancient scroll containing the secret of the legendary technique of the “Fire Fists”, a blow
so terrible and powerful that it can kill many warriors at one time.
After carefully studying the technique, you leave to face, alone, the clan that devastates
the city.
The fight is hard and difficult, and even the learned technique finds great resistance on
the part of the bad men. But you win all of them.
The wounds you suffered were severe, and you will never be able to fight again in your
whole life; as a reward, the city is free from all evildoers, and you spend the rest of your
days being considered a hero.
8 to 10 points: 3 days after you sent the letter, the monk and friend Wong Tien appears
at your door in the middle of the night. He says that evil can not continue, and you leave
at the same time to the house of the murderer clan.
The fight is fierce, but the surprise factor is in your favor. The monk has a deadly and
precise technique, and after many fights, you win. You are wounded, but nothing that a
few weeks of rest can not heal.
The whole town chants of thanks, and in a few years the children will tell legends about
two legendary heroes who alone have defeated dozens of evil men in favor of the weak
and oppressed ones.

11+: The same day you send your message, someone knocks on your door. When you
open, you come across many people - all of them Shaolin monks. The whole monastery
of Wong Tien came in defense of his request. All of them are extremely versed in martial
arts.
Without delay, you depart to the headquarter of the Blood Sword clan. The fight is fast.
One by one, the monks defeat the enemies, leaving those who surrender alive, and killing,
without cruelty, those who oppose them.
The city is free from evildoers, and the legends about the "Shaolin Monks' Army" will
make it never again that somebody or any group will ever regain and terrorize this land.

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