Ten Thunders Culture

[Jewomie]

Well, i have a question that i swear should not be taken the wrong way. XD

I am painting up Yan Lo's box and am helping Rebecca get through Misaki's at the moment and we are both getting a little more brave at this point in our painting careers. I am brave enough that i'm going to try some serious free-handing on Yan Lo. (scary... ahhh!)

So i am cruising the internet looking for ideas and i realized some pretty plain things can have different meanings or symbolism depending on the culture. So i wanted to pose a quick question...

Back on earth, where would the Ten Thunders actually call home?

Here's why i ask:

In Chinese culture the Cherry Blossom is a symbol of power and feminine beauty. in some reading it even includes a woman's sexual power and even love.

In Japanese culture the cherry blossom is used to represent the transience of life. It's frailty.

i know this simply because my brother did quite a bit of research about it when he was deciding to put it on Kirai's robes.

I just don't want to inadvertently make some kind of racist Yan Lo and be the pariah of every outing i bring him to. lol

Sorry if this came of as very non-PC, but i mean no harm. =]

[Grim]

It's your miniature, your paintjob, you decide what you want it to mean

[Jewomie]

fair enough. =]

then i can sing "I did it myyyyyyyyy wayyyyyyy!"

[moody628]

Back on earth, where would the Ten Thunders actually call home?

I'll certainly defer to older/more knowledgeable players than myself, but in the "real" Old West, the "coolies" were Chinese.

[xKoBiEx]

The cherry blossom is a universal icon in judo and to the samurai. Although it represents mortality, it has often been used to show strength, unity, and devotion.

[harbinger]

To your original question... I think Wyrd kind of left it open to interpretation for the Ten Thunders as could mix Chinese and Japanese (maybe even a splash of Korean.)

During the time frame on earth, historically would most likely be Chinese when see Asians.

Mei Feng and rail workers.. definitely Chinese. Both in name and roles.

Kirai... Japanese

Misaki... Japanese (name means pony which makes me feel little uneasy when see place called Misaki Sushi) and has ninjas

Yan Lo... Chinese name... back story seems to have Korean influence... BUT looking at the fellow clan models without a doubt Japanese; you have samurai and ashigaru. Plus niece has Japanese name.

[Sprolly]

Yin the Penangalan even references Malaysian culture (check out a Penanggalan on Wikipedia).

[Alviaran]

Isn't the Three Kingdoms meant to be China/Japan/other parts of the Far East as a single nation? Can definitely be a lot of overlap there.

And isn't the clan name for Yan Lo Japanese in origin? (I can never remember the correct spelling so I won't try here and embarrass myself) Too many hard K sounds as I recall for being a typical Chinese name though.

I think so long as you avoid anything explicitly offensive, I think any interpretation is fine. Pick whichever is fitting your view of the crew.

[Ausplosions]

It is an amalgamation of several Asian cultures.

3 kingdoms.

China

Japan

Malaysia

Possibly.

[harbinger]

And isn't the clan name for Yan Lo Japanese in origin? (I can never remember the correct spelling so I won't try here and embarrass myself) Too many hard K sounds as I recall for being a typical Chinese name though.

Aye, as I said before Yan lo itself would be a Chinese name; but his clan definitely Japanese.

***********

Im not up on Malaysian backround so Ill check your reference for Yin the Penangalan. I saw some Korean influence in it but will look into the Malaysian tie.. thanks for pointing it out.

[EnternalVoid]

Wyrd has not really given a clear idea exactly what the Three Kingdoms is on Earthside, something I was hoping we would hit high enough in the RPG kickstarter to get more information about it.

From what we know there are similarities between our Earth and Malifaux's Earth but also radical differences. Magic, the Breach, and how that part of history went being big differences. My personal suspisions is that the Three Kingdoms is an area of asian that includes Japan and parts of what would be China. Likely at some point that area boiled together into a single nation or era of turmoil and ended up in what is now called the Three Kingdoms and of the current story line is very isolationist. It would explain why you see a mix of what we would view as Japanese, Chinese, and possible other Asian themes in what is treated by the people of Malifaux as one country. though for all we know the internal politics of the Three Kingdoms have them more as states or some sort of collection with in the borders.

For all we know in their history Japan could have invaded China, or China invaded Japan, and made it part of their collective allowing further cross influences in weapons, armors, and cultures.

Mind you part of why Wyrd might not have told us yet is they have not decided exactly how they want to do it. I am sure if they had to throw it out right now they have the story they would go with, but by not revealing it till they want to that allows them to alter it or revise it as they see fit to make sure things smoothly fit at a later date.

[Hateful Darkblack]

Yeah, it's deliberately muddied for fantastical effect, for better or worse.

I always sort of go by the names: I assume Misaki and Kirai are Japanese, Yan Lo and Mei Feng are Chinese, and so on. And the Ten Thunders Brothers strike me as Chinese, since they use the ten weapons of wxu-sju (which is pretty much the 18 weapons of wu-shu, as someone pointed out to me).

I'd suggest you go with Chinese symbolism for Yan Lo.