The Yue Kingdom

 

(The Yue Kingdom is the setting of A Story of Fire by Ardi. Click here to check it out!)

 

Other Appellations:

 

Oni World (Alpha), Universe 121818 (W Series)

 

Fox Harmonic:

 

Resh-Ayin-Upsilon

 

Astral Connection:

 

L0 D3

 

Caution Rating: 

 

1

 

Though this world is inactive, a handful of spontaneous, temporary crossovers (STCs, commonly pronounced “sticks”) have been reported from the Fishermen. This combined with the potential cross-universe infectability of Douma’s curse gives the Yue Kingdom a caution rating even in light of its relative inaccessibility.

 

Multiverse Activity:

 

Inactive

 

Keywords:

 

Sleeping, Observe only, Created

 

The Yue Kingdom is one of many worlds that due to little-understood differences in structure appears as a “phantom” to us. We can observe it, but we cannot interact with it. However, STCs have occurred with the Fishermen reporting encounters with the oni of the Yue Kingdom.

 

Description:

 

It’s not always a good thing to make contact with your mystic shadow. Sometimes you contact angels, but sometimes you contact demons. Case in point, this world, where powerful, violent demons roam the land and dramatically influence the course of human events. Mankind has adapted to the presence of demons–but perhaps not in the best of ways.

 

The Rus kingdom practices a policy of merciless extermination against demons and maintains an organization of holy warriors trained to hunt down and exterminate all demons without mercy. This priesthood is armed with holy weapons capable of overcoming the natural regenerative capabilities of demons and esoteric muscular training that allows them to briefly match the superhuman strength of demons. So successful are these warriors that they’ve expanded to neighboring countries to do what they do best.

 

The Yang Empire maintains a regulated army of ostensibly loyal demons which ensures their continual dominance throughout their continent at the cost of giving their neighbors plenty of reason to be on guard.

 

And the Yue Kingdom, which serves as a synecdoche for this universe, inadvertently created Douma’s curse.

 

In exchange for King Abe granting his people better treatment, the sorcerer Ashiya Douma agreed to take in the thousands of demons that roamed the Yue Kingdom into himself. He would absorb them body and soul. But Abe was not true to his word. He used Douma as a pretense for disbanding the demon hunters of the Yue Kingdom and then executed the old man.

 

With his dying breath, Douma cursed Abe’s kingdom. Whenever a person experienced inhuman suffering, they would be transformed into a new kind of demon–an oni.

 

Those afflicted by the oni curse lose their identity and memories. They become superhumanly strong and able to regenerate from grievous injury. Their hands and feet become clawed and as hard as steel. They develop an insatiable appetite for human flesh. Though they are capable of sustaining their bodies with other kinds of food, the hunger for human flesh is persistent and eternal.

 

The oni became a huge threat to the Yue Kingdom. Though violent and impulsive, oni are not stupid, and have formed their own bands. One prominent band was led by Shuten, the son of Douma.

 

Complicating the oni plague is a breakdown in royal leadership. King Abe snubbed his son Sutak by remarrying and fathering two daughters, Rau and Azu, who stood before him in the line of succession. Enraged, Sutak had the princesses and their mother killed in a fire. But though they burned, the sisters did not die, and were reborn as oni under the curse of Douma.

 

Rau and Azu wandered the countryside satisfying their hunger and fell in with Shuten’s group. The sisters were then separated during a battle and regained their memories. Rau, having been adopted by a loving family that looked past her curse, suppressed her hunger even though it caused her great pain. Azu, on the other hand, embraced her nature and consumed Shuten to increase her power and become leader of his group, proudly wearing Shuten’s golden bracelets as proof of her leadership.

 

Remembering what Sutak did to her and her sister, Azu currently leads her band of oni on an attack against the Yue capital. Meanwhile, Rau enlists the (unwilling) aid of a demon hunter to find her sister.

 

ARGO is very interested in seeing what happens when the two sisters meet again…

 

 

Individuals Of Notice

 

Rau

 

A princess of Yue and sister to Azu, Rau is a good-natured young woman who does her best to manage her affliction. She is haunted by various actions she undertook before learning restraint and kindness from a kindly family of farmers and now desires only to save her sister from herself and live a quiet, peaceful life somewhere where she can be accepted.

Raw Power 7
Durability 7
Speed 6
Sanity 7
Intelligence 6
Skill 4

 

Azu

 

A princess of Yue and sister to Rau, Azu is a strong-willed young woman who strikes back at a world that wronged her. After separating from Rau, Azu challenged Shuten and consumed him, increasing her power and becoming the leader of his band of oni. After leading her band against the capital and destroying her brother Sutak, Azu has proclaimed herself queen of Yue and now rules over a dark nightmare where humans are kept as cattle.

Raw Power 7
Durability 6
Speed 7
Sanity 5
Intelligence 7
Skill 7

The Priest

 

A demon hunter of the Rus priesthood, the man known only as the Priest seeks the complete destruction of all demonic life with all of his heavy heart and tired body. He has found himself the unwilling ally of Rau and works with her on practical, not friendly, terms.

Raw Power 7
Durability 4
Speed 6
Sanity 8
Intelligence 7
Skill 9

Tamamo

Raw Power 10
Durability 2
Speed 3
Sanity 10
Intelligence 10
Skill 8

 

Douma

 

The source of the oni curse sweeping through the Yue kingdom, Douma brims with the power of all the demons he absorbed into himself–and such a terrible existence has greatly eroded his sanity.

 

Raw Power 10
Durability 10
Speed 10
Sanity -10
Intelligence 10
Skill 10

 

Balkari

 

Physically speaking, the strongest demon in the world. Though our ARGO probe hasn’t detected her in Yue, tales of her exploits paint a fearsome portrait of a tiger woman with mythological strength and unrivaled fighting ability. Though she is constantly hounded by demon hunters for the danger her power represents, she is not by nature aggressive, and prefers to do nothing more than sleep and drink legendary amounts of alcohol. Still, time and time again her hand is forced and she has to create fresh corpses which attract even more to hunt her.

 

Raw Power 100
Durability 100
Speed 100
Sanity 3
Intelligence 3
Skill 100