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The Phantom World
The Phantom World is a world that never settles.
It names no dynasty and no real place; it reads like a legendary Wulin of ancient China. It is half-invented, resting on traditional wuxia for its frame and steampunk for its character. It is also a very dark place, where factions flare up and die out like fireworks, where people meet and part, and where plenty of them are gone like a gust of wind.
Nobody has mapped the whole of it. What is known: the east runs into an endless sea; the north touches snowfields and ice-sea frozen all year; the west follows a long road into desert; the south is unsettled volcano and dead marsh. How far the world actually goes, no one can say.
As in other settings, the coast and the central plains are rich, the soil good, the people well off, and that is where the great orthodox sects gather. The borderlands are barren and forgotten. Resources that come easily elsewhere are worth their weight in gold out there, and the people who hold those lands are mostly the desperate sort, living by the edge of a blade.
Geography
| Direction | Terrain | Main powers / places |
|---|---|---|
| East | Endless sea; rich coastal soil | The orthodox sects |
| North | Snowfields and ice-sea, frozen year-round | The ice-grassland region |
| West | A long road into desert | The northwestern desert |
| South | Unsettled volcanoes and dead marsh | Southern Wulin, southwestern volcanic wastes |
| Central plains | Rich soil, wealthy population | Traditional Wulin, the great cities |
Major cities and places
- Nancheng — Soul’s and Zuo Shang’s home, a traditional Wulin city
- Gear City — an industrial city built on advanced mechanism
- Yecheng — a major location in the Rainblood series
- Moon Bastion — an important The Order stronghold
- Sword Pavilion — a great Wulin sect
- Luoye Market — the southern Wulin base, and where the Battle of Mirage began
- Luocheng — a major Mirage stronghold
- Mirage Tower — the Mirage’s headquarters
Historical timeline
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| Ancient times | The Heavenly Tome appears; the foundations of martial arts are laid |
| Year 1 of The Order | Mu Tianmiao founds The Order |
| Year 12 of The Order | Soul and Zuo Shang are born |
| Year 13 of The Order | The Tianling Massacre; the Council of Eleven come into being |
| Year 22 of The Order | Mu Xiaokui is born |
| Year 30 of The Order | The Battle of Mirage; Soul and Zuo Shang break the Mirage |
| Year 40 of The Order | Civil war inside The Order; Soul is hunted, and takes the Venom-Heart Art |
Factions
| Type | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Assassins | The Order | In the Phantom Blade Zero era, the most secretive and most powerful body in the Wulin |
| Underworld | the Bastion of Mó | Once the foremost underworld house; destroyed |
| Cult | the Blood Blade Sect | A southwestern sect working through blood, capable of impossible feats by controlling it; destroyed |
| Secret society | the Mirage | Hidden in the fog of the southern Wulin |
| Secret society | the Council of Eleven | The power behind the Mirage, and the root of Transcension |
| Orthodox | the Long family | Once the only orthodox house able to stand against the Bastion of Mó; destroyed at the same time |
| Orthodox | Orthodox Alliance | A coalition of orthodox sects, first proposed by the Long family |
| Sects | Sword Pavilion, Moon Bastion | Great orthodox schools |
| Clans | the Ying clan and others | Houses of mechanism |
| Gangs | the Young Masters’ Gang and others | Local powers |
| State | The imperial court | Authority outside the Wulin |
Sha-Chi
The root of every technique. Some techniques can be pushed further by strengthening the Sha-Chi behind them, and Beiming Yao or other drugs can make a single release perform at its limit.
Martial Arts
Built on traditional wuxia: swordplay, sabre work, footwork, internal cultivation. Every sect carries its own line.
Occult Arts
Abilities beyond ordinary martial arts, including the Ghost Envoy arts and Transcension.
Mechanism
The craft of the Ying clan and the Qianshou clan, capable of building enormous mechanical figures and airships.
Machinery
Steampunk engineering, which combined with mechanism produces the setting’s one-off industrial civilisation.
Core concepts
- The Heavenly Tome — a book of unknown origin holding an ocean of knowledge, and the root of everything that goes wrong in this IP
- The Tianling Massacre — a Wulin catastrophe in Year 13 of The Order, with uncounted dead, and the reason the Council of Eleven exist
- The Ghost Envoy arts — The Order’s founding technique: a fusion of esoteric craft and science that raises the dead as living corpses, immune to blade and bullet, obeying their master absolutely
- Transcension — rebuilding a body with special mechanism so it produces enormous Sha-Chi without end; anyone who accepts it loses their reason