Village of the Blessed Children

Introduction:
This “Plots & Places” posting relates to the “Chinese Take-out” story line currently posted on the “Story Hour” message board. The story should provide sufficient information for a DM to add a Japanese or Chinese setting to a campaign.

The following information about the "Village of the Blessed Children" (Kelithin) pertains to the home, history and culture of the Oriental race known as the Hengeyokai, who are a key sub-plot in the aforementioned story line. While this race was originally created for the Oriental Adventures AD&D gaming system by Gary Gygax, it can be easily adapted to a standard AD&D campaign.

Summary:
The Village of the Blessed Children is located in the Forgotten Realms Orient (Kara-Tur). It is one of five Hengeyokai villages located within an area referred to as "The Biosphere". This forty-mile diameter area is protected by a powerful dome-shaped anti-magic barrier. It is located deep in the forests of the Ausa Province in the land of T'u Lung. Specifically, it is in the vast forests between the cities of Chunming and Keiling. An ancient castle is in the center of this area (indicated on the Kara-Tur map as the location of unnamed ruins).

Credits and Resources:
Information about the Hengeyokai in AD&D3E can be found at the following Internet site by Giles P. Kiser: www.geocities.com/kanegrundar/hengeyokai.rtf . Other information can also be found in an article by Johnathan Richards from Dragon Magazine #266. The history of the castle is from the Darkhold Castle gaming supplement by Jeff Grubb contained in TSR’s Forgotten Realms AD&D Castles boxed set, and modified for the oriental setting by Jon McCosh. The Village of the Blessed Children, and the details of their culture, was developed by Eduardo Fernandez with assistance from Jon McCosh.

History of the Castle:
Approximately 1,800 years ago, during the era known as the Reign of Giants, the Giant King Hachou-Chu-Kwen commissioned that a massive palace be built. The Dwarven Clans of Ming and Yang-Ton carved the stone and constructed the massive structure near the ruins of an ancient dwarven temple. This castle became known as the Summer Palace of the Giants.

The next era of history was the Reign of Dragons. During this time a dragon named Cryomantipelica used the palace as his headquarters, ruling for over a century. This was followed by the Reign of Mongols, who made this castle their headquarters. Approximately 800 years ago the Mongols were driven out by Varalla, a lich queen, who then ruled for the following century. She was then defeated by the Zhentarim, a group of evil mages and priests who ruled for two centuries, a time known as the Reign of Evil Wizards. The Zhentarim renamed the castle Darkhold.

During each of these eras there were farmlands surrounding the castle for approximately twenty miles. These farms and fields were worked by human tenant farmers beholden to whoever was the castle’s current ruler. These peasant farmers lived in a dozen villages, each with a population of up to 400. While none of the masters had ever shown any kindness to these villagers, the Zhentarim were particularly cruel to them. Peasants were arbitrarily killed for any action that displeased any of the Zhentarim. This led to a gradual exodus, as families began to quietly move away for their own safety.

Eventually the Zhentarim noticed this population decline in the villages. As the peasants were needed to provide them food it was decided that more severe measures were needed to keep these people confined and obedient. Using a combination of magic and curses the Zhentarim modified the peasants’ bodies, making them physically dependent upon the Zhentarim. The peasants now became reliant on receiving an annual “recharge” of this unique magic, otherwise they would become weak and be in a constant state of agony. The offspring of the peasants inherited these same genetic modifications from their parents.

The Zhentarim ruled in the Orient for two centuries. Unrest in their original homeland eventually forced them to abandon their holdings in the Orient, as their resources were needed by the original Zhentarim factions. The dark wizards abandoned Darkhold, but anticipated that they might some day return. When the Zhentarim departed they made no provisions regarding the peasants, whose bodies soon began to deteriorate. The weakened and tortured peasants became physically unable to work the land and nearly all of the farms were abandoned.

Origin of the Hengeyokai:
Two dozen years later a powerful Druid-Mage named Li-Tak arrived at the Castle to establish it as his new home. By the time of Li-Tak’s arrival the forests had stated to overtake the landscape. Nearly a thousand of the peasants still lived in the area, in a constant state of agony, and were barely able to care for themselves. Li-Tak took pity upon these people, and sought out ways to end their suffering.

He had with him some magical items of his own creation, which could temporarily transform a person into either an animal or a humanoid animal form. He found that when the peasants used these items their pain and weakness subsided while in the transformed state. Unfortunately Li-Tak was unable to make this magic permanent, however he discovered that he could alter the Zhentarim’s genetic modifications so that the children of these people would have this transformational magic as a natural ability. This next generation was even capable of remaining in human form without any ill effects. This new race became known as the Hengeyokai. The forests continued to overgrown the farmlands, which this new race adapted as their new home.

This new race was not accepted by those outside of the area, which regarded them all as animals. Li-Tak protected the area of the twelve villages, buy any Hengeyokai who ventured beyond the region ran the risk of enslavement. Li-Tak remained the master of the castle for two-centuries, during which two-dozen different animal sub-races of Hengeyokai were developed by him.

History of the Biosphere:
While Li-Tak had prolonged his life through the use of magic, he realized that his days were coming to an end, and that without his protection the Hengeyokai race was in jeopardy from the outside world. Using a unique combination of artifacts, both magical and druidic, he tapped into the mystic energies of the planet and created a devise to project a spherical field of magic in a twenty-mile radius around the castle in all directions. He infused this sphere with the power of anti-magic, so that any slaver who breached the walls of the sphere would have known spells negated and any magic item would cease functioning for 6-24 hours. This would prevent salvers from entering the “Biosphere” and using magic to capture the Hengeyokai residents.

The sphere was translucent and ethereal, to allow for light and weather to pass through it, and groundwater below, as the sphere is projected below the castle as well. The sole exception was the first 100 feet of sphere wall above the ground, which was a tinted an opaque gray color to keep the outside world from seeing inside. The sphere could also be seen from many miles away, at dawn or dusk, when the sun was barely over the horizon and it’s light strikes against the sphere at a unique angle that causes a reflection off the dome.

Li-Tak passed away 325 years ago. During his life he had mated with a small group of female Hengeyokai who lived with him at the castle and produced children. These hybrid-race offspring were never accepted by the other Hengeyokai, and lived out their lives inside of the castle. Approximately 250 years ago the last two surviving children prepared a crypt for the father’s body within the ancient temple near the castle, and then sealed themselves inside of it, entrusting the Hengeyokai Elders with the only key to this Tomb. The Hengeyokai continued to avoid the castle itself, as Li-Tak and his offspring had sealed it off with powerful wards, to prevent the mechanism that projected the sphere from being disturbed.

While the sphere afforded some protection, large slaving parties were still able to mount invasions into the land of the Hengeyokai, relying on shear force rather than magic and attacking the seven villages situated closest to the sphere’s outer wall. These villages were abandoned, with the population moving to the five inland villages, each located between five and nine miles from to the castle A Hengeyokai army was formed to prevent slaver parties from being able to successfully travel this far inland. While all Hengeyokai tend to get along, regardless of alignment, the five villages evolved so that the various sub-races started to congregate with “like minded folk”. As a result, each village now has a majority population of those with similar alignments, the villages representing Lawful Good, Chaotic Good, Lawful Evil, Chaotic Evil, and Neutral. Each village has a population between 500 and 1,000 Hengeyokai, with an equal number living in the lands outside of each village, who they consider themselves affiliated with.

Village Statistics
The Village of the Blessed Children is located in a fertile valley near a small waterfall. The village itself consists of houses built up into the trees (as in the film Robin Hood Prince of Thieves) and burrows (as in The Hobbit). They are mostly a farming community raising crops and tending to their orchards. The village itself has the standard make up of your normal village as far as shops and services goes, except for note that they do not have any taverns, since they are highly susceptible to the effects of alcohol and in some cases can be lethal (this is often referred by older members as the lost poison). They also have a veterinary hospital that tends to the regular animals wounded inside the biosphere. There is also a small training area for the warriors of the village and the rest is made up of private dwellings.

Lifestyle of the Hengeyokai
The Lifestyle of this village is seen as an open one, whereas the whole village raises the young and everyone works to the benefit of the whole. Clothing is seldom worn at all due to the problems of shape changing and is seen to be a nuisance to their way of life, but they will wear it if they need to venture forth out into the world beyond the biosphere.

The villagers tend to stay mostly in their human form during the growing season to plant and grow crops, but when winter comes the village is secured and a select few (determined by a council vote) stay human, while the rest turn into their animal form and spend the winter as such. This allows the village to be able to save quite a bit of their harvest, since most of the Hengeyokai consume less in animal form and can also forage for themselves. This ensures that during real severe times they will have ample supplies. So far this system has proved to work remarkably well and since its implementation has allowed the villages to prosper greatly.

They also have a different view of mating, whereas the Hengeyokai have taken on the basic instincts of the animal counterpart, in the sense of some sub-races mating for life, just for a season, or creating a pack. The scene of a male dog sub-race Hengeyokai with two or more mates is seen as normal, whereas if the life mate of a crane sub-race Hengeyokai died it would never mate or have romantic interest for the rest of their life again. All Hengeyokai have also developed an underlying fear of fire. Though they have learned how to control fire quite well, they avoid lighting them unless it is absolutely necessary, it is not unusual to see three or four people each make sure that a fire is fully put out.

Interaction with other Villages
All the villages have a certain amount of territory that they consider theirs and that usually equates to a five-mile diameter circle with the village being on the center. Their approximate location on a map would show each village being a different point of a star, with the castle at the star’s center. This allows plenty of room to plant crops and others needed materials. Each of the villages respects these boundaries and there has never been any issue over this, and the lands out side the villages are all seen to be neutral territory.

The villages deal in a fair amount of trade between each other and this allows each village to benefit from the others. Twice a year all the villages meet (Spring and Fall) and hold a huge gathering to feast and make merry. This is possible due to the fact that all of these people realize that they are a unique species and need each other. It is not surprising to see a Lawful Good sitting next to a Chaotic Evil, as their belief that no one of there race is truly good or evil, they are just inherent of the animalistic side of their own sub-races. This ability to get along so well is seen to be from the Hengeyokai close ties to nature and the balance it represents in the great circle. The Elders of the Hengeyokais’ believe that it is this tie to nature that allows them to do this and that is why the lost humans are so violent to each other. The Hengeyokai are only violent when they need to be. They are extremely protective of all members of their race, regardless of alignment. Thus, a Lawful Good Hengeyokai would not hesitate to oppose a Lawful Good human in order to protect a Chaotic Evil Hengeyokai (and vice versa).


Politics In and Between the Villages
The politics of a village is based on the wisdom of the Elders and each Hengeyokai is taught to respect their elders. An Elder Council usually consists of 6-8 Elders and together they try to decide what is best for their village and its’ people. They handle everything from law to politics. The Elder Councils of all five villages meet together once a year in a meeting called the “Great Tribunal” and it is there that they decide on issues that impact the whole race. They discuss defense and any new things that have would benefit the whole (such as new crops or medicines) and to settle any grievances between any tribes or to lend aid to one. It is these meetings that have helped the Hengeyokai survive as a species and prosper as well. Once the meeting is finished they head back and work to implement all they have discussed and learned.

The Hengeyokai have a very strong and potent oral tradition and this allows their history to survive. There is one small group of Hengeyokai though that everyone, even the Elders respect (but do not worship) and that is the “Gifted”(those born with exceptionally high intelligence or wisdom). These tend to be very few, and each village tends to only have one or two. These Hengeyokai are blessed with divine magic from the earth (druids and clerics) or the power of the heavens (Magic users). Even though they are “Gifted” they are still needed to plant and harvest and help where needed [Editor’s note: try seeing that in the outside world, lol.] The Gifted often serve as advisors to the Council of Elders, but are restricted from actually serving as members of a Council. If a village ever loses a gifted and they are left without one then any village that can spare one must send one until such time one can be found for that village.

Defense of Village and Biosphere
Each village has its own standing militia which usually consists of 10-15% of the village population and in times of emergency that figure could rise to as much as 30-55% of the village population. Each militia has a structure of rank and performs various duties such as, border patrol, monster problems and other functions that need force. They also serve as guards for envoys in between villages.

There is also a standing army designated to protect the biosphere as a whole. This army is called “The Pride” and consists of solders from every village and is led by a leader that is selected by the Great Tribunal every two years. This standing army consists of 200 solders and is broken down to “Fists” of twenty, and that is then broken down into “Talons” of five. They have outposts through the biosphere, in trees, burrows, under rocks, and even under water. In addition to outposts they also have hidden weapon caches throughout the biosphere, and in the lands near the biosphere. This allows any soldier to arm and protect him wherever they may be, as weapons cannot be carried while in most animal forms. The Pride also has assigned to it a Gifted sent from each village (provided that the village has one to spare). All solders serve for two years and are allowed to then return to their village, replaced by new recruits, although some chose to stay on with the army. The vast array of different animal sub-races in The Pride allows it to go anywhere and mobilize quickly to any danger.

Perhaps the most dangerous assignment in the defense of the Hengeyokai, affiliated with but separate from The Pride, is the small force known as the “Ki’Jor-lath” (The Wind Walkers). This small group of avian scouts patrol the outside of the Biosphere, trying to locate danger well in advance of it reaching the Hengeyokai homeland. They usually spend most of their time in animal form and are always in pairs of the same race, so that they can talk to each other in animal form. All members of the Ki’Jor-lath are required to learn and speak both Common and the Outside World Language (Chinese). These Hengeyokai have also developed deep friendships with any druid who lives within 100 miles of the biosphere.

This job is considered the most important to the defense of the biosphere and has allowed The Pride to thwart several attempts of invasion. The price of this early warning system is costly. More than one Hengeyokai in the Ki’Jor-lath has lost their life to sportsmen, or been captured and sold as pets or slaves. Because of the great risk any Hengeyokai who serves in this group are allowed to retire after only one year, and are not called on to serve again. While allowed to retire from this group, few do, felling their duty to protect and serve.

Languages of the Hengeyokai
While the Hengeyokai think of themselves as having a common language, each of the twenty-four sub-races has its own unique dialect. There are a large number of gestures and sounds, which cover approximately have of the Hengeyokai vocabulary, that the Great Tribunal has approved of as common use words for all Hengeyokai. The remaining vocabulary words are unique to each sub-race dialect. Some of these consist of a vast number of sounds that can be made while in animal form but also spoken in biped or human form, while other words and sounds are unique to each different transformation. Each dialect is taught to the other sub-races, so that they can understand what is being said by a different type of Hengeyokai, while replying in their own dialect.

The Outside World Language spoken in the land of Tu-Lung (Chinese) is generally taught only to Elders, Gifted, all members of the Pride, and the Ki’Jor-lath,. The language known as Common is generally only known by a few Elders in each village, some of the Gifted and members of the Ki’Jor-lath.

The Village of Kelithin – Descriptions:

The Following list is designed to highlight the most important areas of the Village. The villagers of Kelithin are primarily of Lawful Good alignment. Additional dwellings of villagers are throughout the trees and hills around and the area.

A: Headquarters for the Biosphere's standing army and every village has one so the communication of the army can be done quickly and correctly.

B: Songweavers Hall is a place where Hengeyokai can tell and listen to the stories of the ancestors and learn the history of their people.

C: This station is for the scouts who have become injured or sick and a place to head to if there is any danger.

D: Garrison for the village troops, on call 24 hours a day, ½ will sleep during the day and ½ will sleep at night.

E: Headquarters for the town guard.

F: Bilrio’s Smithy, This is the only non-Hengeyokai in the town of Kelithin. Bilrio is a dwarf that was ambushed and left for dead as he was heading to Chunming. He wandered into the biosphere while in fever and was found by a gifted. Once healed, he offered his services to the town for life and has become a trusted member and ally for the Hengeyokai of Kelithin, and for the whole. He has been here now for over 125 years.

G: Temple of Kelithin's clerics. The village of Kelithin has been truly blessed for they have three clerics; one just returning from the CG village after the shield had gone down.

H: This building handles all trade items. Note* they trade and barter for everything, there is no money in the biosphere, they have heard of it, but believe it is useless, because you can’t wear it eat it or grow it, thus useless.

J: The Storage trunks are two huge 150’ trees that are living but the insides are hollow. The village stores all their supplies and harvest in these trunks.

K: A resting stop for travelers and soldiers.

M: Elevator- this is a system that relies on weights and pulleys. Was introduced and engineered by Bilrio, 100 years ago, before that they used rope ladders.

I have been unable to locate the electronic version of the map that corresponds to the above map location key. For a DM who wishes to recreate this, it is basically a grove of trees with treehouses built onto them. If I find the map I will post it.

The part of the module that takes place in this village is featured in the current chapter (#48) of the "Chinese Take-out" story that is posted on the Story Hour message board. For those of you who have not been following the storyline, this is actually a pretty good place to jump on, as the remainder of the module takes place within the biosphere. The exact link is as follows:

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28642

This concludes the background on the village. Please feel free to post any comments or further thoughts regarding this setting.