The end of the Fourth Age: ne Guo has worked profound changes‘ Like Moko16j the The entire Fourth Age: Before the War of Shame royal houses of mankind, and puzzling humans for their “nine resemblances.” When they choose to appear in their formal visage, they embody human dreams by having stag’s horns, a camel’s head, demon’s eyes, a snake’s neck, a clam’s belly, scales like a carp, eagle claws, soles like a tiger and ears like a cow. The memory of the Emerald Mother holds all who have lived on her face, and so one and the same shapeshifter can easily draw on many branches of the tree of life. The Zhong Lung’s Mnesis is not any deeper than that of the Mokok-mbembe, but they make a different use of it. What is certain is that the distinct spiritual texture of Zhong Zhong Lung are the Memory of the Mother. Like their kin the Makara, they revere the years of Sun, not His days. the destructionofreptil their lives. By shedding o can live for centuries. They to be fed and worshipped in return for bringing rain. The awe of other hengeyokai is apparent when they deal with the Zhong Lung; the ancient legacy of the Kings shows through. When a Zhong Lung in Archid is present, any other Eastern Changer must make a Willpower roll at difficulty 6. If they fail, they suffer a +1 penalty to shapeshifting difficulties. The beliefs of the Zhong Lung are those which they have imparted to their cousins among the hengeyokai. They revere Earth, called the Emerald Mother, and Sun in his yearly cycle. They hold that next to these are the Wani, the dragon ancestors. The fact that hengeyokai often negotiate with Kuei-jin rather than simply attackingcomes from their attitude toward the Triat. Like the Makara, the Zhong Lung believe in the Balance, a supreme principle governing the entire universe. The Balance of yin and yang, light and dark, of the Devisor, Designer and Dissolver, is more important than the inherent goodness or badness of one of the Three. Like the Makara, the Zhong Lung pay careful attention to the Dissolver’s true role, and don’t simply condemn all of its Noonday: Us servants. However, war is a part of maintaining the Balance and their Tung Chun don’t shirk their duty. All Zhong Lung begin play with Willpower 4. They may purchase backgrounds according to their breeds, as with other Mokol6. Like them, they cannot take Past Life. They often have Pure Breed, which represents direct descent from the First Eggs. Their Mnesis is roughly equivalent to that of the other streams, but expressed differently: Mnesis Timespan Events of the Fifth Age: “human history” The end of the Fourth Age: ne Wars of Shame The Third Age: Legends of the great wars shared Mnesis with the other ries of the Sunset dragons are ans from one of the orea, Tibet, Vietnam, river, which are populated entirely by Kinfolk and dragons. They thus escape attention. Many solitary elders retreat to the mountains to contemplate. The purges and slaughters of the twentieth century have not left the Middle Dragons unscathed: Hei Lungren, Spring in the clutch of Seven Pearls, shudders when she tells of Kuei-jin gorging on the spoil heap of Mao’s death camps, bloated almost mindless with Yin chi from the dead. Her scars from fighting them mark her even today. Two clutches of Zhong Lung lost Kinfolk during the Cultural Revolution when gangs of Red Guards attacked while the dragons were absent. The island clutch ofFang Zhang, in the Pacific, has taken in several refugees from China’s troubles. Less and less often do the dragon-lanterns beckon Zhong Lung and Kin to gather in sacred sites. China’s environment is in deep trouble; the Chinese alligator is nearly extinct. Therefore fewer and fewer suchids are born, and the Shrouded Suns have taken long journeys elsewhere to seek reptile mates for their hatchlings. Indonesia’s troubled politics have meant ill for the ancient clutch of Towers-Above-the Kings (on Komodo Island). The royal family of this island was unseated and forced to retreat to the nearby island of Raijua when the tools of the Designer attacked Komodo. The Komodo dragon I I I I i A I s to flee or enter the long sleep, but a few clutches remain. At raken Crocodile Farm in Thailand, six Zhong Lung guard of eggs in the jungle. In Indonesia the dragons are still strong, : in the Sea Realms beneath the Pacific. The aborigines of the Philippines and the Andamans are Kin to the Zhong Lung, and clutches exist on both island chains. Half of Gaia’s Face is under the waters of the Dragon Kingdom of Umi, and this is one of the last strongholds of the race. Here Zhong Lung bide their time, waiting alongside their Same-Bit0 comrades and many other supernatural denizens of the Middle Kingdom. Zhong Lung swim as far as Fiji and mate with the saltwater crocodiles who made the crossing long ago. I The Zhong Lung have three forms, as do all Mokol6 since the Age of Sleep. They take their Archid form from the great vision which comes to them at their First Change, although their dreams drift toward the sinuous grace of the Wani rather than the hissing, thundering great beasts that their Sunset cousins recall. endangered, but adroit maneuvers by Kinfolk placed it under protection and scattered Kinfolk pairs to America. .g humans, there are very few Japanese or Koreans qho carry the Old Blood. The lack of reptiles in these lands has led the clutches to “lose the dragon.” Some Japanese and Korean Zhong Lung send abroad for mates, although this is cially taboo. Southeast Asia’s sorrow has led many of the Middle Homid: A human of the East Asian world. The Zhong Lung, as the eldest of the hengeyokai, breed with common folk and aboriginal tribes rather than nobles or cityfolk. Archid: Archid forms differ from clutch to clutch and from dragon to dragon, but Zhong Lung tend to resemble the dragons of their homeland rather than reptiles or dinosaurs. Chinese Mokol6, for instance, aremost distinctive. Bull sisters, called chi’lung, are gifted instead with are more flexible and agile than other Mokol6 when Suchid: In this form the Zhong Lung is a reptile of the appropriate varna: the rare Chinese alligator, Komodo monitors, or the saltwater crocodiles. Mating in Suchid form is common even for homids, as it is believed to be interestingly erotic.
Mokole · Werewolf