The Bastion of Mó

• Chinese name: Bastion of Mó (暗魔天堡)
• Short name: House of Mó
• Nature: the largest underworld power in the Wulin
• Surname of the lord’s line: Mó
• Location: northeastern Phantom World, near the northern snow mountains
• Status: destroyed
• Last Bastion Lord: Mo Tian

Faction Overview

The Bastion of Mó takes its name from its lords, a line whose surname is Mó. It is the largest underworld power in the Wulin, and the Wulin knows it in short as the “House of Mó.”

The Bastion does not resemble a martial sect. It takes no disciples and opens no doors; if anything it is closed to a fault. The masters gathered inside it are, apart from the Mó line itself, partly men taken in from the Wulin and partly the descendants of earlier masters, raised within the walls since childhood.

Rank inside the Bastion is strictly ordered. The Bastion Lord holds absolute authority, and the masters answer it with absolute loyalty. The Long family binds its retainers loosely; the Bastion of Mó holds itself together with a rigid hierarchy instead, which keeps the whole house moving as one and lets its doctrine be carried out quickly and completely.

Even so, apart from the Bastion Lord, its people are seldom seen in the Wulin, and anyone forced to leave conceals their identity. The Wulin therefore dreads the Bastion of Mó, but most of that dread settles on one man.

Location

The Bastion of Mó stands in the northeastern Phantom World, close to the northern snow mountains. The ground is steep and hard to assault, easy to hold — a natural fortress.

The fortress sits at the foot of the snow mountains. Its walls are built mostly of black stone, and the whole place feels grim and forbidding. Troops hold the approaches, and outsiders rarely come near.

Origins

The ancestors of the Mó family settled in a small, multi-ethnic border town in the west, married there and raised children. War came, and they moved east to the eastern side of the Phantom World, north of the eastern Wulin. Their descendants went on to combine the family’s traditional sword art with the sword arts of the Central Plains. On that foundation they learned the Phantom World’s own techniques for generating and controlling Sha-Chi, and with the peculiar constitution of their bloodline they gradually developed a martial art that was the House of Mó’s alone.

Rise

Over several generations the family grew, built the Bastion of Mó, and became the largest underworld power in the Wulin. Its arts turn on Sha-Chi and strike with tremendous force, and the Wulin learned to flinch at the name.

Fall

The Bastion of Mó was destroyed in the end. Its lord, Mo Tian, and his eldest son, Mo Jian, died in the fighting. The second son, Soul, was carried off as an infant by strangers, drifted to Nancheng, and was later taken in by The Order, becoming its Nether Envoy “Black Wound.”

The fall did not end the family’s martial art or its bloodline. Soul inherited both, and went on to become the protagonist of the Phantom Blade series.

The Bastion Lord

The supreme ruler of the Bastion of Mó, holding absolute authority. The lord’s line bears the surname Mó and passes down through the generations.

• Last Bastion Lord: Mo Tian

The House of Mó

Members of the lord’s family, who inherit the Mó bloodline and its martial art.

• Eldest son: Mo Jian
• Second son: Soul (taken in as an infant, drifted to Nancheng)

Co-opted Masters

Martial masters brought in from the Wulin, absolutely loyal to the Bastion.

Heirs Raised In-House

The descendants of earlier masters, trained inside the Bastion from childhood, who became its core strength.

Martial Arts

The Bastion of Mó’s martial art turns on Sha-Chi. It joins the family’s traditional sword art, the sword arts of the Central Plains, and the Phantom World’s own techniques for generating and controlling Sha-Chi.

• Signature art: the Mó family sword art, driven by Sha-Chi and tremendous in force
• Highest secret form: Return to Zero — break through this one form and the body produces endless Sha-Chi, surpassing all speed, strength and space
• Bloodline constitution: Mó blood carries a peculiar constitution that makes Sha-Chi easier to control and to wield

Related Characters

Faction Relations

Appearances

• Rainblood Prequel: Mirage — background mention
• Phantom Blade — background mention
• Phantom Blade II — background mention
• Phantom Blade III — background mention
• Rainblood: Town of Death — background mention
• Rainblood II: Ye City — background mention