Emperor of Heaven

Question: Hello, John. I'm curious. In the Celestial Bureaucracy, Shang Di is not listed. I'm looking over any myths of Shang Di detailing his attributes and I can find nothing except for a flood story. I had thought perhaps I could play as a Scion of Shang Di, but it may be more difficult than I had bargained for. May I have some help? ^_^

John's actually out this week while we get his motherboard replaced, but since the mention of China makes him start chain-eating pizza and muttering anyway, he authorized me to answer you instead. :)

Shang Di is one of those figures that is so old, remote and at once super powerful but also mostly absent from the religion after ancient times that he doesn't have much to offer as a parent for a Scion. He doesn't do very much and has little personality you could call upon; he's essentially one of those deities that exists but does not act. The only really strong connections you could make for him are with the Sky, as he's the ancient embodiment and ruler of the heavens, and the concept of Justice, as the ultimate authority and law over all of heaven and earth. Unfortunately, that's seriously all we've got for you in terms of associations you could pass on to a Scion. He does those things as well as only the Emperor of Heaven can, but he doesn't branch out.

Because of this, we actually run Shang Di as a Titan Avatar of Sedeq, Titanrealm of Order (which you can find more on in our Elohim supplement if you're interested). He ruled the Celestial Bureaucracy in times long gone by, but was eventually (and regretfully) imprisoned by them after his obsession with perfect order began to restrict creativity and encourage stagnation in their people and gods. We consider him to embody authority and order that are so perfect that they strangle change and growth.

If you prefer to run him as less confrontational, he also makes a good mostly-neutral Titan Avatar; if you're using Logos from he original Scion books, he makes a good addition to its very small roster and might be willing to aid the gods or stay out of the conflict altogether as your story requires.

We haven't gotten to the Chinese pantheon overhaul that needs to happen sooner or later (we know guys, we know, I promise someday) so we don't have super firm stats on anyone yet, but I'd suggest trying the Jade Emperor or Huang Di for gods with a similar imperial feel and a lot of sway among their peers.