Celestial Empire

Overview

The Celestial Empire, called the Bureaucracy of Heaven at the height of Shou Lang's Empire, is a religious pantheon that stands as the most popular religion on the continent of Asora (despite Réndào being the officially endorsed religion of the Empire) and the overarching spiritual state managing its gods, spirits, dragons, and other creatures. In the Shou view, as espoused by the Path of Enlightenment and most accurately by the Faith of the Nine Travelers, that Asora was the mirror of Heaven in all ways. Therefore, the existence of the empire of Shou Lang reflected the existence of the Celestial Empire, a divine state that ruled all of Heaven and Asora. It was an empire of the spirit world, with a bureaucracy to match, populated by immortals, demigods, dragons, spirits, and other powers who served as the officials of the Celestial Empress. The people of the material world, even its mortal emperors, were all subjects of the Celestial Empire.

Mythology & Lore

There had only ever been one Celestial Empress, she had ruled the Celestial Empire since the creation of Aralla, since the beginning of time. In the beginning, when the world were but newly formed and molten, the Celestial One blew her cool, misty breath—a divine wind—upon the land, cooling the fires and making it fertile. Meanwhile, she had her yokai, the spirits of nature, wander the land to still its upheavals. And thus was born the land of Asora. It wasn't long before humankind arose from the dust of Asora, but they were savage, argumentative, and belligerent. The Celestial One disapproved, and wished for their lives to be a reflection of Heaven, to follow her Path of Enlightenment. To this end, she sent to Asora her emissaries, the Nine Immortals, who would each teach one aspect of the Path and serve as the guides of mortalkind.

Cosmological Views

Spirit World
The Celestial Empire stood within the Spirit World, a plane that lay coexistent and coterminous with the land of Asora. Every deity who was a part of the Celestial Bureaucracy had a small realm attached to the Spirit World The whole realm was known as the Celestial Heaven, or simply Heaven or the Sky Cradle.
Organization
Celestial Empress - At the head of this pantheon, the Celestial Empress ruled the Celestial Empire and oversaw the Celestial Bureaucracy. From this lofty position, she decided the path of What Has Been and Will Be. She determined that Heaven and Asora should mirror each other in the pursuit of perfection. She was also the architect of the Path of Enlightenment.
Nine Immortals - In addition to the subjects of the Celestial Empire and the officials of the Bureaucracy, the Celestial Empress commanded the Nine Immortals. When Shou people spoke of "the immortals", they invariably meant the Nine. They stood beside the Jade Throne, always ready to do as the Empress bade as agents of her divine will. At her direction, they commanded the Lesser Immortals and other officials and each took responsibility for one aspect of the Path of Enlightenment. Their duty was to embody an ideal of the Path—one of the nine core virtues of Artistry, Compassion, Courage, Fidelity, Honor, Karma, Love, Respect for Tradition, and Scholarship—and so teach by way of example.
The Nine Immortals and their responsibilities were:

• Ai Ch'ing: goddess of love and marriage
• Chan Cheng: god of bravery, combat, martial arts, and war
• Ch'en Hsiang: god of literature, music, and poetry
• Chih Shih: god of history, lore, and tradition
• Fa Kuan: god of justice
• Hsing Yong: god of fortune and prosperity
• Kwan Ying: goddess of compassion, joy, and mercy
• Nung Chiang: god of agriculture and fertility
• Shu Chia: god of artificers and the arts.

Lesser Immortals - The Lesser Immortals were servants and aides to the Nine Immortals. They were drawn from the spirits of deceased sages, those who had in life been especially holy. The Celestial Empress bestowed on them immortality and a limited godly powers. Under the direction of one of the Nine Immortals, they also had certain tasks to carry out, whether in the Celestial Heaven or in Asora. There were six main groups of Lesser Immortals.
The Moon Women had the great responsibility of maintaining Heaven itself. They refilled the oil lamps in the Sun, polished the crystal orbs of the stars, and steered the motions of the stars in the Cradle. Since these governed the calendar, Moon Women were patron saints of festivals, portents, auspicious moments, and other matters of time.
Serving Chan Cheng, the Spirit Warriors had the duties of creating courage and resolve in those who wavered, and leading armies of phantoms, the manifestation of which could swing a battle. Spirit Warriors also helped those who'd fallen in battle for a good cause, escorted the spirits of heroes for judgement by the Lords of Karma, and guarded the gates of the Underworld against trespassers.
Serving Shu Chia, the Jade Ladies created copper, gold, jade, silver, and other riches, and hid them in the earth for mortals to discover.
Serving Nung Chiang, the Rice Spirits governed the harvest and fertility, causing rice to grow, animals to have their young, and women to bear babies, and decided if a family should have children.
Serving Kwan Ying, the Ladies of Compassion roamed both Heaven and the Asora to find pain and suffering and either alleviated it themselves or had the goddess do so.
Serving Fa Kuan, the Lords of Karma acted as defense or prosecution for the souls of the deceased before the Lawgiver, or sat as judges themselves. Together, they decided whether a worthy soul, one who'd lived a life of goodness and merit, should be raised to Heaven to be among the Ancestors, to be considered a Sage, or even to serve among the Lesser Immortals themselves. Those they found unworthy were condemned to remain as spirits, imprisoned in the Underworld in the day, and wandering the Red Earth at nights.
The Million Officials - The Million Officials, also called Officers, were agents of the Celestial Empire and Bureaucracy. Many were spirit creatures, yokai, and dragons; many Imperial Dragons were officials in the Bureaucracy. At the behest of the Celestial Empress, they carried out her orders, bestowed rewards on the good and punishments on the evil, and filed annual reports on their work. Most were loyal and dependable, but a few could be inept, insubordinate, or outright corrupt, but these were inevitably found out and sacked by the Empress.
Ancestors - The Ancestors were the spirits of the worthy deceased who had been granted entry to Heaven. There, they always had delicious food and fine clothing, and enjoyed eternal lives without pain, weakness, or suffering. They had the responsibility of giving advice to their still-living descendants. Each had a secret name they told only to their most trusted child, which they could use to summon their parent to seek their wisdom.
Sage - A Sage was a spirit who'd lived a life of boundless merit, purity, and resolve, with the sole goal of attaining perfection and becoming one with the will of Heaven, to become Heaven itself. They came from all classes of society, from any race or kind. Sages were allowed to walk beside the Lesser Immortals, but they were not yet granted godly powers or Immortality, not until they'd achieved in death the greatness they'd not yet achieved in life. However, some great people were considered Sages while they still lived, and they wandered Asora, dispensing their wisdom and teaching others through example. When they died, they were raised to the ranks of the Immortals. Living or dead, Sages dwelled apart from society, as hermits in caves in the mountains or secluded spots in the jungle, where they could seek peace and simplicity and achieve an inner harmony. This gave them knowledge, wisdom, and long life (if they still lived). They also acquired mastery of elements of the material world, gaining the power to perform great feats, such as walking across hot coals, breaking swords with but a touch, and quieting typhoons and earthquakes. Sages conversed with Yokai, could command beasts to serve them, or cause monsters to retreat. Great creatures of the Celestial Bureaucracy such as dragons sometimes sought out the counsel of Sages, or merely desired to talk with them.

Worship

In Asora, belief in the Celestial Empire was very strong. The Celestial Empress had appointed each of her Immortals to oversee all the relevant matters, and humans were expected to call to the appropriate Immortal. She had also organized the Celestial Court to handle trivial matters like speaking with humans. No one prayed directly to the Empress; daring to call directly to her was seen as an act of utter impudence, one that would be answered with thunder and lightning.

Political Influence & Intrigue

At the beginning of the New Year, the Celestial Empress called her Great Court to an audience before the Jade Throne, and every one of the Million Officials gave reports on their work, their successes and failures, and even their misdeeds, as the Celestial One saw through any deception. These reports were examined by magistrates and officials, and, with each report, the Celestial Empress gave her judgment, reward, or punishment, as appropriate. Rogue officials, those who'd proved incapable, corrupt, or ill-behaved, were formally devested of their position and powers and sent to the Underworld. Others were then appointed in their place.

Type

Religious, Organised Religion

Deities

• Ai Ch'ing
• Celestial Empress
• Ch'en Hsiang
• Chan Cheng
• Chih Shih
• Fa Kuan
• Hsing Yong
• Kwan Ying
• Nung Chiang
• Shu Chia