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Jade Empire Enhancements Database: Search Results
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Auspicious Portents
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Understanding the stars and the universe is a very important goal. By examining the universe, we can Interpret and predict things to come. The sky is where the Great Dragon was said to dwell, and in his illustrious home we can see the signs of his effects on creation.
Of the observable phenomena, three major ones are the most auspicious: comets, the flames of the heavens, passing across the sky; eclipse, during which the power of the gods blocks the sun for brief periods; and falling stars, marking the descent of one of the Celestial Bureaucracy to the earth. |
| Location: |
| • Two Rivers School |
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Guide to the Imperial City
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| Welcome, dear traveler, to the Illustrious Imperial City, the heart of civilization in the world and seat of power for the Jade Empire. In this fine city, the wonders of the modern age are plain for all to see. Walk down the expansive boulevards, shop at the many fines booths and stores, and see how the most advanced and civilized people in the world live. You will be awed and amazed by the sights of the city. Explore the Imperial City for the experience of a lifetime! |
| Location: |
| • Imperial City Near Gate to the Golden Way |
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Horse Lord Tactics
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| Unlike the ordered armies of the Jade Empire, the Horselords favor lightly armored units of horseman, who can move rapidly over the field of battle. Moving like a rushing tide, small groups of horseman harry all angles of their opponent's flanks. Armed with bows, almost to a man, these mounted archers can rain destruction upon unprepared foes. While the Horselord tactics are surprisingly effective, their men lack the discipline of the Imperial Army; for all the damage they can inflict the horseland forces have difficulty holding strategic locations. For now, the Jade Empire exists in an uneasy peace with the Horselords, leaving the savages to their arid lands north of the Seat of Heaven Province. |
| Location: |
| • Tien's Landing - Boathouse |
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The Airing of Grievances
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Being a collection of the Indignities suffered by Minister Sheng at the hands of the backward shanty town of Tien's Landing:
His had has been soiled.
A parchment was stolen from him before a speech at a community gathering.
His cat was viciously threatened.
A chair at his table was placed backward.
His finger was slammed in a door not once, but thrice.
An egg was thrown at him by an unknown assailant.
His cart was stolen, filled with soiled garments, and then returned.
His face was ridiculed by young children.
His prized tonberry was squashed.
It was suggested that he perform acts of deliberate indecency upon himself.
He was forced to suffer the interminable and petty gripes of the people.
His hair was accused of being impermanent and false.
The honor of his family was Impugned.
He suffered a disabling attack by a pack of bees.
His reputation was maligned by brigands. Brigands!
A local dog evacuated in the Minister's shoe.
He was given a gift of turtle eggs by a visiting merchant.
It was suggested that he would be able to trace his lineage to a simple courtesan.
He was referred to as "smelly."
He slipped in mud, not doubt placed in his path by jealous townsfolk.
Sailors burned down his office. |
| Location: |
| • Tien's Landing - Behind Minister Sheng |
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The Cataclysm
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Many tales circulate of the travels of the Water People, but one of the most disturbing tales comes from far to the west, beyond the Ocean of Tempus. Rumors persist of an area in the middle of the western ocean that is inhospitable to life. The farther one travels across the Ocean of Tempus, the warmer the climate becomes. Many have postulated that this may be because you approach the resting place of the sun, but there must be another explanation, not shrouded in myths and superstition.
Of particular note are reports of an enormous cloud that rises miles into the air, visible to those few brave enough to travel the increasingly rough seas of Tempus. At night, this cloud glows with heat, and its acrid smell carries on the wood. Those who approach too closely fall in. The few ghost ships found in that area where filled with the desiccated corpses, their skin rotting and their hair and teeth falling from their bodies. One particularly disturbing log, penned in the shaking hand of a dying captain of one of these lost craft, suggests that the skies were filled with a roar like the cries of the gods, and it finished with unfortunate man's wish that death take him before the howling demons descend upon him. |
| Location: |
| • Tien's Landing - Outside Boathouse |
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The Celestial Order, Volume 1
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The world is a place of order. When order is not enforced, chaos reigns. Chaos is the natural state of the world. The order that currently exists in the result of the power of the Great Dragon. Out of this steaming chaos, the Great Dragon created the world, perfect in every way. But nature the forces of the universe, demand balance. For every bit of order, there must be corresponding chaos. That first world, that perfect world, was pure order. It could not last.
The perfect order choked life and did not allow growth, and so chaos was allowed back into the world. |
| Location: |
| • Heaven - Forest Shadow's Temple |
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The Celestial Order, Volume 2
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The Great Dragon loosed chaos upon the world he had created, separating man from the beasts and laying foundation for the eventual order that would unite humanity: this glorious Jade Empire. The great animals’ spirits of the past were cast out from the human communities, and Man was forever separated and elevated above the common beasts. Man who now the guardian of order, imposing his will on nature and shaping it to his desire.
But balance must exist in all things. Man was a bastion of order, with chaos in his heart. For as long as the world remains in chaos, man will always war and strive against his fellow man. This is the way of nature. Until the Great Dragon returns to bring the world to order or humanity brings itself above the cycle of nature, this is the way it will always be. |
| Location: |
| • Imperial Palace First Floor |
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The Celestial Order, Volume 3
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The Celestial Bureaucracy is made up of all the servants that the Great Dragon left behind to administer creation. According to the priests and augers, they know nothing of their creator or where it has gone. The Great Dragon has transcended heaven, they say. They, in their faithfulness, remain behind.
Or so they say. Over the millennia, many have fallen from their duties and have become part of the chaos in the world. This, we can only suppose, is part of creation as well. But as representatives of order, humanity suffers most from the attentions of these chaotic spirits and demons. |
| Location: |
| • Lord Lao's Furnace |
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The Grand Inquisitor's Will
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In your obedience to Death's Hand, do not neglect to heed the complex demands of our mistress Jia, second in glory only to the Hand of Death himself.
Our mistress demands that all of her servants think clearly and completely in all that they do. She expects that all Lotus Assassins exercise their minds as thoroughly as they suppress the impulses of their hearts. As Grand Inquisitor, Mistress Jia knows all things that happen within the fortress and without. Not even the deepest secrets of the most remote places in the Empire escape her knowledge.
Mistress Jia demands that we be cunning, ruthless, and complete in our loyalty to her master and ours, Death's Hand. To disrespect her is to disrespect the Empire, the Emperor, and Death's Hand himself. |
| Location: |
| • Lotus Assassin Fortress |
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The History of Flight, Volume 1
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| The first person to attempt flight was Cao Shong, an early scholar who originally came from the Prosperous East. Though his ideas were creative, they were hardly sound. Cao Shong met an early end after he strapped several canisters of dragon powder to a bamboo chair and ignited it. It was at first rumored that he had survived the ill-fated mission, but few truly believe that anyone could have survived such a disastrous explosion. His death, however, was not completely in vain. Several of his writings were studied by later scholars, and some of his ideas were adapted for the first successful human flights. |
| Location: |
| • Lower Pirate Island |
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The History of Flight, Volume 2
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| The first known successful flight was made by Mad Fong. Thought he had studied to become a scholar, he was kicked out of the school for destroying one of their buildings. Based on the history books, it is difficult to determine if Fong was a genius, or insane. Either way, his techniques were original and in the end, successful. Though his first several attempts were unsuccessful, he refused to give up. Despite the costs and the obvious danger to his own life, Fong persevered until he completed his first prototype flyer. The flyer didn't do much more than hop across the landscape, but it was a start. A year later, he was able to travel for nearly a mile before crashing, and unfortunately, dying in the process. |
| Location: |
| • Pirate Workshop |
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The History of Flight, Volume 3
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| Several years after Mad Fong's first successful flight, a scholar from the south discovered the unusual device known as simply the Inscrutable Power Source. A few years later, Scholar Shu Wen came up with a design for a flyer that used this mysterious new device. Initial attempts bordered on apocalyptic, in one case destroying half of a mountainside and the village that lay below. Several scholars tried to outlaw the use of this strange new energy source, but Shu Wen continued his experiments until at last he was successful. Unfortunately, his prototype was too successful; both he and the flyer took off at great speeds toward the north, and neither was ever seen again. |
| Location: |
| • Pirate Workshop - Gao the Greater's Chamber |
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The History of Flight, Volume 4
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| Some time after Scholar Shu Wen and his prototype flyer disappeared, an apprentice from the Imperial City discovered the scholar's cryptic notes, detailing the use of the Inscrutable Power Source. The apprentice showed the information to his master, General Sung Tao. Sung Tao was an engineer before he joined the army, and he recognized the potential of the scholar's work. He convinced Emperor Sun Siwen to fund a project to develop a flyer for use in the army. The emperor agreed readily and after several months of trying the first true flyer was created. Within a year the skies near the Imperial Palace were filled with flyers. Though the safety of the new flyers was questionable, it didn't take long for others to adopt and improve upon the design. |
| Location: |
| • Imperial City Market District |
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The Lotus Monks
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As far as we know, all copies of the larger text were destroyed, but I shall include a fragment below for your amusement:
"Protection of our glorious Emperor has always been the purpose of the Order of the Lotus. The Lotus Monks are the personal servants and protectors of the Emperor of the Jade Empire, governed by the Hand of Heaven, Sun Kin. They are servants, guards, teachers, doctors, and spiritual advisors. With their simple robes and dyed hands, they are an omnipresent and unpredictable force whose importance is disproportionate to their numbers. Anyone who wishes a presence in the court of the Emperor must, in some way, appease the Lotus Monks. Should someone displease the Emperor or offend the glory of the Empire, the consequences can be dramatic. Fortunately, they watch themselves as well as others, and any who stray are punished accordingly."
How quaint. Blood stains the hands much better than dye.
-Lim. |
| Location: |
| • Imperial Palace First Floor |
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The Mysterious East
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| Scholars know little about the culture that lies across the Glass Ocean. The tribes of that land have a sizeable amount of gold and a near insatiable demand for silk and spices. They also seem able to manufacture metals to an astounding degree, though perhaps not in as sophisticated a manner as our master tradesmen. Still, something on the other side of the Glass Ocean bears investigation. Unfortunately, few trade fleets have ever successfully made the passage, and those trade caravans that do pass follow a circuitous route through unenlightened peoples hostile to the Jade Empire. |
| Location: |
| • Imperial City Scholars' Garden |
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The Old Tongue, Volume 1
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| "Tho Fan", or The Old Tongue, was the native language of one of many kingdoms struggling for supremacy before the Empire was unified by Sagacious Tien, our first Emperor. As the wars raged, constant shifts in territorial leadership spread the use of the Old Tongue. By the time Sagacious Tien formed the Empire, the Old Tongue was so widely spread that it became a second official language of the Jade Empire. |
| Location: |
| • Two Rivers School |
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The Physical Universe: A Final Word
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| The World that we live in is not as simplistic as Philosopher Jiang would suggest in his treatise on the physical universe. His hypotheses regarding divine regulation of weather and seasons, though interesting, is nothing more than children's tales made overly complicated. Recent research, led by Scholar Dongow, has proven that our seasons and weather are much more than the careless whims of distant celestial beings. Our universe is made up of very real, very tangible components that can be carefully quantified and qualified. |
| Location: |
| • Imperial City Scholars' Garden |
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The Physical Universe: A Rebuttal
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| Scholar Shao Shiang has once again missed the central point of the philosopher's argument. We do not wish to stall development, nor do we seek to stop people from learning. Philosophers see the work of the divine in the physical world and oppose those who defy tradition only because they find those customs inconvenient or outdated. Learning and respect for the past need not be mutually exclusive; we seek only to learn in a way that does not dishonor the celestial beings that give us our very lives. |
| Location: |
| • Imperial City Scholars' Garden |
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The Physical Universe: The Philosopher's Viewpoint
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| Though Scholar Shao Shiang has raised several interesting points in his rebuttal to my treatise on the physical world, his lack of respect for the divine is of greater concern than his lack of understanding of the physical world around him. I agree that there are many aspects to our world that cannot be explained by divine influence alone. We learn and continue to thrive at the mercy of the celestial beings. Without their guidance, and indeed, their blessing, we would quickly discover that research and understanding of our physical world alone are not nearly enough for us to survive. |
| Location: |
| • Imperial City Scholars' Garden |
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The Physical Universe: The Scholar's Hypothesis
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| To suggest that I, of all people, do not understand the significance or the importance of the celestial beings is preposterous. I pay my tributes at the temple because I honor those who gave us our minds and our curiosity. Philosopher Jiang ignores the crux of the problem by hiding behind his arguments of divine belief. The scholars have made some recent discoveries, such as the way in which clouds are formed. But the philosophers, lead by Jiang, dismiss these theories without even hearing them out. How can we progress as a society if we refuse to accept new ideas and new concepts? The philosophers would have us cling to our traditions, even at the cost of our own prosperity. |
| Location: |
| • Imperial City Scholars' Garden |
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