Category: China

Cat Links China, Tomes

Mythos Tomes – The Tale of Priest Kwan

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Location: Stored in Ho Fang’s booby-trapped teak cabinet in the Shrine to the Bloated Woman (China). Physical Description: Woodblock print scroll (mulberry, hemp, and rag paper) stored in a hollowed-out piece of bamboo adorned with faded yellow velvet. Author:  Unknown. Publication History: Unknown. Composed in Classic Chinese. A successful History/Archaeology roll places the scroll as an artifact from the waning years of the Ming Dynasty. Skim:  An obscure and disturbing work of poetry presented as a homily recounting the actions of a wayward Buddhist Monk, who joined the Order of the Bloated Woman, found “pure faith,” and defended the sect from a crusading noble, Hun Tao. With his victory over the noble, the monk excoriated

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Cat Links China, Tomes

Mythos Tomes – R’lyeh Text Commentaries

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Location:  Stored in Ho Fang’s booby-trapped teak cabinet in the Shrine to the Bloated Woman (China) Physical Description:  Five scrolls, handwritten on fine parchment, plus five additional scrolls of handwritten commentaries, stored in a matching set of silk scroll boxes. Author:  unknown, additional commentaries by unknown author Publication History: Original Classic Chinese, c. 300 BCE. Commentaries: unknown date; originally transcribed on the long-lost great black tablets by the spawn of Cthulhu. The oldest copies are over 15,000 years old and preserved in scroll form somewhere in the depths of interior China. The commentaries contain select passages and obscene rituals extracted from the original work.  Skim:   This is the most singularly vile tome the investigators

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Cat Links China, MoN - Keeper, Tomes

Mythos Tomes – True Magick

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Location:  Stored in Ho Fang’s booby-trapped teak cabinet in the Shrine to the Bloated Woman (China) Alternative Location: On the desk in Carl Stanford’s room (China) Physical Description:  Bound in fine red Chinese silks depicting various Mythos creatures and symbols Author:  Theophilus Wenn, 17th-century Hermetic philosopher, produced no additional works believed to be a pseudonym, possibly Arthur Dee (eldest son of John Dee) or Elias Ashmole Publication History: Only a single copy exists, last recorded in the possession of the early 19th-century bookseller and American wizard John George Hohman. Records reveal it seemed to be a small and crumbling manuscript bound in disintegrating leather. According to scholars, medieval records from the University of Salamanca detail

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Cat Links China, Tomes

Mythos Tomes – Secret Mysteries of Asia

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Location: Madam Lin’s Collection in the House of Quiet Repose, Shanghai Physical Description: Handwritten in purple ink, bound in cloth-covered board, and embossed with Lin Yenyu’s personal seal Author: Gottfried Mülder, original author. Translated to Mandarin by an unknown party.  Publication History: A rare text, originally published in Leipzig in 1847 almost three decades after a year-long trek into the heart of China. Contains a painstakingly detailed recollection of conversations and revelations compiled by Mülder, a German occultist, following the violent death of his close friend and eccentric colleague, Friedrich von Junzt. Labeled seditious, blasphemy, nearly all copies were seized and incinerated by King Frederick Augustus II in 1848 shortly before he dissolved parliament. This

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Cat Links China, Tomes

Mythos Tomes – The Goddess of the Black Fan

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Location: Shrine to the Bloated Woman at Ho Fang’s Mansion in Shanghai Physical Description: Single scroll, parchment, stored in an unassuming carved ivory scroll case with silver filigree decorations Author:  Liu Chan-fang, a Chinese monk or retired minor official of the Imperial court Publication History: Unknown. Composed in classical Chinese reminiscent of styles popular during the Ming Dynasty. Lost for centuries until recovered by Carl Stanford. Widely considered among contemporary practitioners as the foundational text for the Order of the Bloated Woman. Some skeptic cultists consider Chang-fang as simply a recent prophet and believe earlier critical texts remain buried in lost libraries and ancient tombs. Some adherents regard Su Da Ji, the brutally malicious and favored consort of King

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Cat Links China, Egypt, England, MoN - Keeper, New York

Eye of Light & Darkness – MoN MacGuffin?

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Even if you won’t be keeping score for your Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign, the Eye of Light and Darkness (EL&D) plays a critical role in disrupting the cultists’ efforts to open the Great Gate. This powerful warding spell relies upon clues scattered unevenly across the globe, and the impact of the spell in your campaign depends heavily upon your players’ destination choices. If your group travels to China initially they will rapidly uncover the entire truth about the ward; however, if they travel the conventional London-Egypt-Kenya route they will slowly uncover this end-stage element of the campaign all while lugging around a useless stone MacGuffin. We offer some suggestions and tweaks to make the broken

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Cat Links China

Chapter Inspiration – China

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Investigators arriving in China discover a country undergoing an immense identity crisis as it transitions from its millennia-old dynastic system to roiling political instability, which will see intensifying clashes between nationalist and communist interests. The campaign action centers around Shanghai with a potential trip to Hong Kong to track down Roger Carlyle, as well as the chapter climax appropriately located on Penhew’s volcanic Grey Dragon Island. In the 1920s, Shanghai earned the monikers “the Pearl of the Orient,” and “the Paris of the East” with substantial industrial and financial interests from the West. The discrete American, British and French sectors interacted with thriving local criminal and political enterprises. This rich setting provides the Keeper with

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Cat Links China, Tomes

Mythos Tomes – Livre d’Ivon

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If you wish to see some additional background information related to the Book of Eibon, as well as an aggregated presentation of each tome, proceed here.  Location:  Shrine to the Bloated Woman (China) Physical Description: Hand-written manuscript bound in royal blue shagreen (stingray leather) Author:  Attributed to Ivon le Grande, Sorcier de Hyperborée. French translation by Gaspar du Nord from prior Greek manuscript Publication History: A handwritten French translation of the Book of Eibon by Gaspar du Nord translated from the Greek version of the Book during the 13th century. Du Nord used a version acquired from his former master, Nathaire. Thirteen copies are known to exist, in partial and complete forms, including the Selections

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