A master from the Southern Kingdom?!

[Maogrim]

你们好!

While reading through the faction book I came to the story 'Three Riddles and a Traitor' and was a little intrigued by the gang The Black Dahlias and their leader Anh Nghiem, whom Misaki kills in order to gain full control of all of Malifaux's Little Kingdom.

So we know that the Ten Thunders are not only concerned with profit but also with the fate of the Three Kingdoms earthside, meaning Nippon, Zhōngguó and lastly the Southern Kingdom from which Anh hails and which I would broadly identify as Southeast Asia, meaning Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia and a few more. But the Southern Kingdom does not seem to be represented among the Ten Thunders and their masters. 

We have three masters from Nippon (Japan) in Misaki, Asami and Youko. Shenlong is Tibetan, Mei Feng is (Han) Chinese. Yan Lo is a little harder to pinpoint down. The name appears to be Chinese, but (almost) all of his descendants are Japanese. And then there are also two anglophone white dudes in Jakob and Lucas.

So after all this rambling...do you, fellow Thunder siblings, think there'll be a master from the Southern Kingdom one day? And if so, what would they do, and what could be the theme of their crew?

I personally think a master with a focus on shooting and terrain would be cool. Think of a mixture between Titania, Seamus and Lord Cooper, maybe with an ability that places traps. The crew could be a Malifauxesque twist on Viet Cong warfare, maybe with some South- and Southeast Asian mythology sprinkled in. I think Rakshasa (shapeshifting, tiger-like demons from India) or Naga (Snake-people) would be really cool!

[regleant]

I don't know how deep into etymology you want to go, but Wyrd was definitely not consistent in naming conventions. Youko is a Chinese name, not Japanese. Wokou Raiders are similarly Chinese (Wokou = 倭寇· = Pirate). Sensei Yu is messy because 'Sensei' is Japanese, 'Yu' is Chinese. That's why in Kung Fu Panda, the rat was named "Shifu" which is Chinese for "Sensei" or ~Master.

 

That said, the Oni are scarily accurate, as I looked up the history on each one.

 

To your question itself of "Southern Kingdom," I thought of India but not Vietnam. It would be cool to have Nagas!

[Jesy Blue]

.... and to confuse things more, Youko can be a Japanese name, but Hamasaki is definetly a Japanese surname.  She's probably confusing us on purpose.

I'd be interested in monks from Thailand, as they are very different.  A cool Hard to Wound muay thai monk would be good.  Or really any excuse to get a step pyramid into Malifaux.

I don't think India counts; we would have gotten at least a mention of it in any of the Sandeep fluff.

[Maogrim]

25 minutes ago, regleant said:

I don't know how deep into etymology you want to go, but Wyrd was definitely not consistent in naming conventions. Youko is a Chinese name, not Japanese. Wokou Raiders are similarly Chinese (Wokou = 倭寇· = Pirate). Sensei Yu is messy because 'Sensei' is Japanese, 'Yu' is Chinese. That's why in Kung Fu Panda, the rat was named "Shifu" which is Chinese for "Sensei" or ~Master.

 

That said, the Oni are scarily accurate, as I looked up the history on each one.

 

To your question itself of "Southern Kingdom," I thought of India but not Vietnam. It would be cool to have Nagas!

Well, the sylable 'you' is common in Chinese, but it's veeery close to Yoko which is a popular Japanese first name. And as Jesy said, Hamasaki is definitely Japanese, as is her daughter's name, Chiyo. 

Rakshasa originate in India, but became known in almost all of Asia through Buddhism. Wikipedia for example shows a relief in Cambodia on which they are depicted.

[touchdown]

A muay thai master with an elephant model or two would be really fun.

[Jesy Blue]

I'll meet you halfway:  a Muay Thai Monk On An Elephant!

 

[Maogrim]

Not to rain on anyone's parade, and I really like the idea with the elephant, but don't you think between Mei Feng and Shenlong there's enough martial arts in Ten Thunders?

Though I guess a Muay Thai monk from the Southern Kingdom as an Enforcer with key word Monk as well as the new key word would be cool. 

I just think an Southern Kingdom master should bring something to the table that's not quite as represented in the faction.

[Rufess]

6 hours ago, regleant said:

Youko is a Chinese name, not Japanese.

Youko sounds like a Japanese name rather than a Chinese name to me. There is not a single word in Chinese that commonly use in name is pronounced "You" nor "Ko".

6 hours ago, regleant said:

Wokou Raiders are similarly Chinese (Wokou = 倭寇· = Pirate).

While being a Chinese word, "Wokou" does mean "Pirate from Japan".

6 hours ago, regleant said:

Sensei Yu is messy because 'Sensei' is Japanese, 'Yu' is Chinese.

The word "先生" in Chinese can mean "Educator" and "Tutor", though it is more mental aspect than martial aspect. But "Sensei" is actually a pronunciation in Japanese, so I do agree that Wyrd had messed up here.

6 hours ago, regleant said:

That said, the Oni are scarily accurate, as I looked up the history on each one.

While none of them are actually Oni. I really hope Wyrd would fix the keyword name in the next edition.

 

Also Yan Lo, while having a Chinese name, all his family(or descendant) are having Japanese name, like Chiaka and Toshiro. 

[Jesy Blue]

4 hours ago, Maogrim said:

I just think an Southern Kingdom master should bring something to the table that's not quite as represented in the faction.

Unfortunatly, all my knowledge of southeast Asia is limited to its martial arts, so muay thai, eskrima, silat, kali, bokator, etc... and it's political landscape from WWII forward, which is not pleasant.

I'd be interested with what some one could dig up theme wise.

[Ming]

Initially Three Kingdoms are supposed to be China, Japan and Vietnam. The latter is supposed to be the Southern Kingdom. Surely, some smaller countries and regions like the Korean peninsula, were incorporated in the alliance as parts of the big three. Initially in 1st edition it was written that the countries united in Three Kingdoms period and China never split again. (And this version was like the weirdest fantasy fiction for me as a cinologist and orieantalist  ). In the current version I believe the Kingdoms united during the Powder Wars, which is a bit better. 

Some names are indeed sound weird like a mixture of Chinese, Japanese and bad translation :) 

Vietnam is interesting, since at this time period it was part of French Indochina, not an independent country. 

China went through this universe's version of the Boxer Rebellion against the Guild. It's funny that Japan was one of the enemy countries of China in this conflict. As I have already mentioned, Chinese-Japanese alliance is the most fantastic part of Malifaux for me :)

I'm not sure what's the fate of Japan after the Emerald Gates. Anyway it's still occupied by the Guild.

[TheUnseemlyOne]

On 11/5/2020 at 6:38 PM, Rufess said:

While none of them are actually Oni. I really hope Wyrd would fix the keyword name in the next edition.

Oni is an interesting one, because oni was previously a more general term for supernatural beings before the word yokai. It through me off too until I stared looking up the background/mythology of all the oni models and ended up down a rabbit hole.