Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack7" data-source="post: 4765708" data-attributes="member: 54707">IV-C. The Hoshi When the invasions into our world from the other world began to occur several mystics and monks in the Orient began to have strange dreams and visions, sometimes while sleeping and sometimes while meditating. Some monsters from the other world appeared in China, Chosen, and Japan, though most wise men believed the invasions to be migrations from the West. Following the monsters were new plagues, natural disruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, and violent storms. Eventually the situation was considered so urgent that an expeditionary party was sent from the East into the West to try and ascertain what might be happening. The party formed to investigate was called the Hoshi. The Hoshi party is divided into two groups, the Eastern Hoshi, which starts out in the Far East, and the Middle Hoshi, which picks up new members as the Hoshi party moves West into India, Afghanistan, Persia, the Middle East, and eventually into the Byzantine Empire.The Eastern Hoshi consists of: a Shoensa, a Shugenja Monk, a Shaolin Monk, a Taoist Priest, a Tang Xia, and a Bon/Mantrikai (Shaman/Witch Hunter).The Middle Hoshi consists of: a Yogin, a Hindu Kshatriya, a Persian Zot (Zoroastrian Priest), and a Sufi Mystic.Both Hoshi parties are posted below. THE HOSHI(The Footbridge)THE EASTERN HOSHINamamitu - Traveling to China from Japan with a delegation lead by the Bhiksu Kukai, the Japanese Shoensa Namamitu is chosen by Kukai to accompany the newly formed party of the Hoshi into the West, to discover the source of the strange visions and dreams simultaneously seen by Kukai, Saicho and the Shugenja High Priest Shun Lo Tzu. Namamitu escaped from the court of the Lord Kaida as a young boy after having been falsely accused of spying for another Lord, and lived for several years off the land as a wandering robber and laborer before being accepted as a groundskeeper for the Shrine of Tamo. Kukai, having seen the young man and glimpsing his potential had him transferred to the court at Nara where he was instructed in the new legal reforms as a Shoensa. Namamitu was then returned to Kukai to serve as his personal bodyguard and attendant. Assigned by Kukai to travel west with the Hoshi to provide an armed escort for the monk Sentoku Asamura.Sentoku Asamura - A Shugenja Monk assigned by Saicho to accompany him to China to study Chinese Buddhist scriptures. His two brothers died in the two ships that foundered on the trip from Japan to the mainland. Seen by many as Saicho’s most loyal attendant and most faithful friend, when the visions and rumors begin about monsters invading the World from the West Sentoku Asamura is asked to lead the secret Hoshi expedition into the West to find out what might be the cause for the invasions. Reluctant to leave his master Saicho and anxious to stay in the Orient he nonetheless consents to be the overall spiritual leader of the party and to go West as far as is necessary to determine the cause of the invasions. Known as particularly powerful spiritually and magically he is reputed to be able to speak with animals and to understand what they think and know. <img src="http://www.trip-to-china.com/pics/shaolin_tempel.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Han Shu - As a young boy Han Shu lived near the Eastern Trade routes for the Silk Road. He spent many hours among Greek traders from the West and became fascinated by their culture and their peculiar religion. Eventually he learned the Greek language and spent many hours reading any material he could locate in Greek, including Christian scriptures. As he aged he applied for and was accepted into a Shaolin monastery as a Monk where he quickly gained a reputation as a brilliant linguist and scholar, as well being very good at hand to hand combat. He learned to speak several Chinese dialects, and learned to read Hindu scriptures in Sanskrit, as well as to read and speak both Japanese and Greek, among other languages. When his master Po learns from his friend Shun Lo Tzu of the party to be sent West he recommends Han Shu as a translator. Han is anxious and eager to accompany the Hoshi into the West, wanting both the see India as the birthplace of Buddhism, and because he knows that the original Buddhist missionary efforts went West instead of East, which only increases his curiosity to see the West. He hopes eventually to travel as far West as Greece and to meet Christians he has read about in Greek stories.Dama - An older man when he decided to give up court life in Vietnam and move into China, he became attached to an old hermit and shortly thereafter himself became a Taoist Priest. For many years afterwards he remained the devoted disciple of his hermit-master and after his master’s death he rejected his given name of To-bah and took the new name Dama. Dama wandered from place to place living off alms and begging as if a monk, but occasionally he would offer priestly assistance to any whom might obviously need it. He never provided assistance if asked to however; he would only spontaneously volunteer assistance. Gaining a reputation as a sort of people’s champion, and as an old sage, he was also said to have strange visions and would often sit in meditation for days unmoving. At the age of nearly fifty he wandered into the presence of Shun Lo Tzu, announced he knew all about the mission of the Hoshi party and demanded to be allowed to accompany the party. Lo Tzu consented without debate and Dama joined the group becoming an instant friend and mentor to Han Shu. Wu Lee - The middle son of a famous Chinese military hero Wu Lee distinguished himself only by his reputation as a womanizer and as a drunkard. Often in trouble with both his family and his superiors he was considered reckless, a ne’er do well, and a braggart. Sent to the capital to study under a famous sword master and weapon smith he was nearly killed when he fell from his horse in a riding accident, which left him mildly paralyzed in his left leg. At first he seemed completely paralyzed but after months of convalescence, he recovered. Suddenly serious he became the most devoted and favored pupil of his master and after returning to arms he gained a new reputation as both a fanatical fighter and an honorable and heroic champion at war, being honored with the new title, Tang Xia. Considered handsome by women, he is nevertheless very self-conscious about his lameness of movement. Impressing his father, however, with his new studiousness he was sent to study for one summer at the Sho Lee temple where he was so impressive at self-discipline that he was sent onwards to the Shugenja. Recommended for the Hoshi party by Lo Tzu’s master of discipline, Hong. <img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_XJDL7Jxu7hk/RlzGECFKVSI/AAAAAAAAAIo/_Sqd1V9CyCY/s400/Mongol+Shaman.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Sumisara - Sumisara’s father was a wandering Bon shaman, reputedly from Tibet, and her mother was a minor Korean courtesan. Sumisara began to display unusual powers when very young which were nurtured by her father who taught her both Shamanic arts and to be a Mantrikai, a Witch Hunter. While still young her father wandered away into the forest and never returned, Sumisara and her mother uncertain if he was killed, lost or had simply abandoned them. Because Sumisara knew that her father was a shaman and witch hunter she refused to believe he had simply abandoned the family. As Sumisara grew she impressed local officials with her skill at poetry, some of which was often bizarre, and for her ability to tell other people very accurate details about their long dead ancestors. She gained the title Winter Blossom Maiden for her strange abilities and poetic skill. Possessing very unusual and striking features she also gained a reputation for physical beauty. After becoming an adult she went into China to look for any trace of her father. While in the capital she learned of an expedition headed West, which needed servants, cooks and porters for the supply train. She applied for and was accepted as a cook and porter for Dama, but secretly she is in search of her father, who once predicted that strange beasts and creatures would come from the West and that he would have to go and meet these creatures because some of them would be dangerous Witches and Demons. So Sumisara acts as a cook and servant while leading a secret life in search of her father, and while acting covertly as party Shaman and Mantrikai for the people she accompanies.THE MIDDLE HOSHIParavasi - Considered a great sage and spiritual leader in addition to being a Yogi, Paravasi was raised to be a Brahmin but decided to forgo family precedent in order to become an aescetic and practice Raja Yoga. At the age of fourteen he retreated into the local forest and found a Yogin under whom he could study and learn. Years into his practice Paravasi began to exhibit strange powers that his guru told him to suppress as being a distraction in the pursuit of Samsara. Paravasi could not suppress these abilities however and one night while in meditation he had a vision of a Deva who visited him and told him that he was to use his Yogic powers in the future for a great mission to the West. Paravasi continued to try to suppress manifestations of his abilities and to hide them from his guru but as time passed he continued to fail to do so, and the vision of the Deva continued to recur. His guru finally told him he had to leave and seek out the reason for his strange powers and the source of his visions. Moving north he studied ever more deeply, at this time from written works and scriptures rather than under the guidance of a guru. Hearing of a strange desert monastery along the Silk Road he decided to head into the desert. While bathing along the headwaters of the Indus River in Hindu Kush Paravasi happened upon the Eastern Hoshi and was able to converse with Han Shu in the Sanskrit language. Discovering the destination of the party and that they have come West in search of supernatural events Paravasi abandons his idea of visiting the Silk Road monastery and instead joins the party in hopes of discovering the purpose of his own visions.<img src="http://www.hinduyuva.org/tattva-blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/kyoga1.JPG" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Sraddnayar - Raised in the Warrior Caste the Kshatriya, Sraddnayar served with distinction in parts of Northern and Western India. Often employed on diplomatic missions due to his loyalty and intelligence he began to desire more and more solitude as he aged. By his twenties Sraddnayar had gained a reputation of service which included the ability to operate alone, and in difficult conditions far from support and far from shelter. Eventually he gained a reputation as an outpost runner, serving as a lone messenger between posts scattered from each other by great distance. The more dangerous the assignment or position the more enjoyable Sraddnayar found the work and in time he began to operate as a scout into distant and foreign lands; Nepal, Sri Lanka, north as far as Tashkent, and west as far as the Persian-Afghan border. Into almost every land he traveled he learned the local languages, at least well enough to communicate with the natives, and could soon speak Pali, various Indian dialects, Afghani, Persian and various tribal tongues. He worships Vishnu and considers himself a lone defender of the helpless, especially against criminals and highwaymen. By his thirtieth year Sraddnayar gave up his official caste position, becoming a wandering warrior, and turned East deciding to explore in that direction as far as he could possibly reach. Turning north around Tibet he made it as far as Lop Nur where he was attacked at night by a strange and vicious creature, which almost killed him, leaving him all but mortally wounded. Greek merchants following the Silk Road west discovered his body and rescued him from death. Three weeks later the Greek merchants sold the still recovering Sraddnayar to the party of the Hoshi who desire an Indian guide to help them with their progress through unknown lands.<img src="http://www.gymnasium-spaichingen.de/bili/india/bilder/kshatriya.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Namahra - As a young boy Namahra was raised among a nomadic tribe in Persia. Every night his tribe would build a huge bonfire for purposes of warmth, with which to cook and for religious fire ceremonies. Often the tribe would linger in mountainous areas, where Namahra would explore what by even that time were ancient ruins left by the original Zoroastrians. One night while exploring by himself in these ruins the boy fell into a pit, which led him into an underground area, which had obviously been sealed for some time. Severely injured with a badly broken shoulder and elbow the boy could not escape and fell into a stupor. Namahra’s family searched for him for two days but finding no trace of him they eventually abandoned the search assuming he had been killed by mountain lions. On the third day he was discovered by an heretical Christian hermit from Syria named Prolistus who lived in the ruins and had moved east into Persia where he had discovered an unknown sect of fire worshippers. The hermit rescued Namahra and raised the boy as his own son, teaching him both the Nestorian Christian heresy and how to perform the rituals of the Zoroastrian religion, making him a Zot Priest. After the death of Prolistus Namahra cremated his stepfather’s body and began to travel from ruin site to ruin site in Persia seeking answers about his past, his lost family and about the secrets of both Christianity and Zoroastrianism. Eventually while exploring ruins near Mount Ararat Namahra met the Sufi Mystic Dab-al ar Zaid who was himself traveling north from Baghdad and was also in search of ancient secrets. Forming a strong bond of friendship the two eventually traveled to Persepolis in search of ancient manuscripts and ruins to help them with their various endeavors. It was at Persepolis that the two friends encountered and joined the party of the Hoshi.<img src="http://www.zenbrush.com/gallery_images/Sufi%20Dancer.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Dab-al ar Zaid - Dab-al ar Zaid was born Said Massa, a peasant boy from a small family of carpenter craftsmen. Firstborn, and well loved among his family, he gained a personal reputation as a precocious lad, extremely intelligent and inquisitive. Possessing enormous mechanical skill he also soon gained a popular reputation as an inventor, able to create small devices and mechanical contrivances that earned him a certain degree of wealth. As a young man, and pooling the money he had made from inventing he was able to become a moneylender and became even wealthier. Known as a scrupulous and fair man, by his mid-thirties he was able to purchase a merchant caravan and was able to profit immensely from trade along the Silk Road, trade with India and trade with the Byzantine Empire. Eventually moving to Baghdad he helped use his money to establish a large library and center of learning. Hearing of Wise Men named Sufi he went to meet one, a certain Bali-al Gwazi and started studying under him. Soon Said became a very serious mystic himself and received the new name Dab-al ar Zaid, or Dabal as he is called for short. Hearing many fantastic stories of the past from his master Bali, Dabal soon began to finance missions of exploration, hiring special agents to accompany his caravans wherever they went. After having had delivered to him several artifacts from various parts of the world Dabal decided to undertake his own personal missions of exploration. Learning over time that it is often easier to penetrate foreign lands alone, and dressed as a beggar in disguise, Dabal came to travel alone, gaining the nickname, Beggar of God. On one personal mission near Mount Ararat Dabal met the priest Namahra and the two became fast friends due to common interests. By the age of forty Dabal found himself in the city of Persepolis where he encountered and joined the party from the Far East, the Hoshi.</blockquote>

Verification