The Grand Principle

Question: I've been tinkering with the idea of rewriting Taiyi. The current write-up with the transmutation of physical objects is a bit of a grab-bag, but what about something more metaphysical, such as the transmutation of energy, like a yin-yang feng shui kind of thing?

Ooh, tinkering with Taiyi is one of my favorite things to hope I get time to do!

The issue with Taiyi, for me, has always been one of trying to find something that's both appropriately mythic and appropriately cohesive to use as its basis. Feng shui is in some ways a better start as it's certainly an ancient Chinese system that has plenty to plumb from, but it doesn't feel quintessentially mythic enough to me to be a PSP; I'd rather have it take part in things like Prophecy, Magic or maybe Stars, since it's an astronomical system intended to improve good fortune.

My favorite thoughts for a Taiyi rewrite are the following, any one of which could theoretically be expanded into a full Chinese mythfest:

Ancestor Worship. Practiced all over the country since long before anyone can remember. The Chinese venerate their ancestors and pay them respects after they die, believing that they might bestow benefits on them and/or not vent their displeasure on them. The Taoists believe that part of the dead person's soul remains in their ancestral tablet when they die; even Buddhists, who officially don't believe in ancestor worship, often have "rooms for the dead" in their temples. This could be a purview about specifically performing acts of respect or sacrifice that in turn give you bonuses from the spirits of Chinese ancestors long dead. But this idea has probably the most problems of any of the possible skeletons I've played with building; if you happen to be half-and-half and your Chinese parent is a god, you don't have a lot of ancestors to draw on (maybe you venerate all ancestors. Or maybe you can do it with your western ancestors, too. Or maybe you find out who your god-parent's ancestors are). It's also very difficult to avoid stepping too much on Death's toes with something like this, and while ancestor worship is a key part of Chinese religion, it often doesn't have much to do with the Shen themselves, which might make it weird as a PSP.

Rightness. The basic idea of Confucianism, that you have to adhere to a few concepts in order to strive to perfect yourself: ren, which means humanity and is summed up by the Golden Rule, li, which means ritual and refers to the proper order and politeness with which you must live your life, and zhong, which means loyalty and refers to the responsibility of a ruler to his people and the people to the ruler. The purview would probably have to do with a lot of responsibility and order reaping benefits. Not many people are actually Confucianist anymore, but the Chinese government, in particular, uses a lot of its concepts and ideology; this is a "younger" religion, though, compared to Taoism and Shenism, so basing the whole PSP on it doesn't taste quite right to me, and it seems like it doesn't lend itself to too many creative applications, so it's one of my least favorite options.

Universal Harmony. The basic tenet of Taoism, which states that everything must be in balance (yin vs. yang) and that all people should strive to live in harmony with their world and surroundings, integrating themselves into it instead of overriding or damaging it (probably similar to what you were thinking of above!). It might be the idea closest to published Taiyi, which despite some of its ridiculousnesses does try to keep to a theme of cooperation. The idea of Tao as "the flow of the universe" or "the way things are" is a strong one, and it tends to cross over into all four Chinese religions. It could include perception and manipulation of qi at high levels, as well as rewarding harmonious cooperation and possibly punishing chaotic behavior or incidents (like Virtue Extremities, maybe). This is messy to work with, but I think one of the best contenders for a really solid purview.

Elemental Harmony. Very similar to universal harmony above, but focusing on the Chinese elemental system that is supposed to mirror it. There's an interesting idea in Chinese religion of each person being a microcosm of the universe; you have to be in harmony as a person before you can be in harmony with the universe. The better you understand yourself, the better you understand the universe; the more in balance the elements (they like that 5-element system) within you are, the more you can perceive the universal balance. Theoretically, as your understanding and balance with yourself and the universe grows, you can eventually become immortal, just like the universe itself, and control all its elements because you control those elements within yourself. I'd imagine it would involve being really, really awesome at the five elemental purviews (Earth, Sky [metal? on some kind of electrical theory? I got nothing], Water, Fire, Fertility [wood]) if you chose to pick any up, and perhaps trying Virtues to those elements so that the better you are at balancing your Virtues, the better you are at the elements of the world - harmony in action, sort of. I think this is my favorite option, even though it'd be holy hell to try to stat and balance.

The Eight Immortals. The Eight Immortals are a group of Taoist gods that are more like totems or spirits you can call on than pantheon-style gods. Each one has a different domain of power, and people worship them in order to get that power as a sort of tool to use in their lives. They frequently have to do with longevity, prosperity, nobility, things like that; calling on their power to enhance your own life and/or abilities could be a solid idea for a purview. I worry, however, that it would be too hard to keep it differentiated from the Amesha Spentas over in Asha, and it doesn't seem like one of the more epic options at hand.

Omnipotent Heaven. A particularly ancient folk belief that's been incorporated into modern Taosim, Buddhism and Shenism. The basic idea is that Heaven is itself the pre-eminent greatest being, and the source of all power and favor (sometimes personified as the god Shangdi, which just means "greatest god"; this is what Christian missionaries use as their translation for God, which leads to some confusion). This involves a lot of sacrifice and ritual in order to honor and please Heaven, which in turn grants incontrovertible benefits (the right of an emperor to rule, for example). The purview would most likely be about allying oneself with Heaven and becoming transcendent above first mankind, then even other gods. However, I've since moved to preferring Shangdi as a Titan Avatar (in Sedeq over in the Elohim supplement), so some setting work would need to be done to explain why these two things don't blow up at each other. Maybe Shangdi has gone rogue from omnipotent Heaven and was never its true personification. Or something.

So those are my many thoughts on Taiyi, which I hope will someday get to turn into the purview rewrite the Shen so sorely need. It's not one of John's favorite options since it isn't pressing at the moment, but I figure one day I'll wear him down. Until then, I salute other Chinese tinkerers and hope you have many happy hours reskinning those wacky Chinese powers!