The Mandate of Heaven is coming together nicely in anticipation of its first playtest this weekend. I’ve already got the Western Heaven in draft and Chang’an the capital of Tang Dynasty China in draft. Today I focus on the Chinese Hell.

One of the nice things about doing the Mandate of Heaven is that I’ve been researching the wider world of Chinese Folk Religon out side of the Journey to the West and learning lots of interesting fun stuff. For Hell I already knew about the Ten Courts, King Yama and his fellow Judges, and the specific ordered system of hells that wrong doers are assigned to before drinking the draught of forgetfullness and being reincarnated on Earth. But what I didn’t know was the ten courts of Hell exist in a city called You Du (or “Dark City”) which is an analog of Chang’an surrounded by darkness. Also beyond that is Avinci – described as “a cube buried deep in the divine earth” were those who are damned for eternity are held.

Today I work out who (or What) is being held in this maximum security Hell, and what plots exist to get them out 🙂