Mod: New nation : Shangri La, Hidden City of the Secret Masters

[Nounours]

At the moment, I'm modding an EA Nation, vaguely based on tibetan myth and history. The nation is the hidden city of Shangri La, ruled by powerful mage-priests who seek spiritual ascension and enlightenment.

SHANGRI LA, HIDDEN CITY OF THE SECRET MASTERS

Early Era

Edited: 10th sept. 2008


For the moment being, I've modded troops and a commanders for MA.

Done:

Troops:
-Bhödpa spearman, archer, mountaineer (light infantry)
-Bhödpa yack rider (light cavalry)
-Shangrilan archer and heavy infantry, Dmag-Dar (standard bearer) & Dmag Hrag (veteran soldier).
-Light Bhödpa Cavalry & heavy Shangrilan Rta Pa Cavalry.
-Mi Gö and Mi Gö hunters (Mi Gö are ape-like intelligent creatures, related to yetis. And yes, there are yetis )...

Sacred :
-Guardian of the Hidden Valley
-Mi Dred (sacred Mi Gö warriors armed with club made of enchanted ice)

Commanders:
-Bhödpa scout
-Bhödpa sde pa (clan chief)
-Shangrilan dmag dpon (officer) and rje (king)
-Shangrilan monk (trapa)
-Mages: Ngagspa (sorcerers who dabble in dark magics), Demon-hunters (tibetan stories and legends seems to be full of demons!) and ragyapa (priests charged with practicing funerals by cutting corpses to small pieces and feeding them to vultures and other birds of prey).
-Red-Hat lamas
-Yellow-Hat lamas
-Black-Hat lamas
-Hidden Masters (powerful mages and occult masters of Shangri La)

-Yetis (national summons in EA & MA), Theurang, Srin Po, Bdud and Btsan demons & Lha spirits (recruitable in EA, summons in MA). Gongpo, rgyal po & Srin po'i rgyal po ("cannibal demon king") in EA.

- more balanced units : No more crossbowman or medium infantry in MA, several units have now broadsword instead of falchion. Mages less powerful and more expensive. Shangrilan troops (archers, infantry &cavalry) slightly more expensive. Removed dörje (powerful magic weapon that cast lightning) from lamas, now reserved for Hidden Masters. Lamas from all orders now have phurba (magical daggers used against demons) instead. Sacred more expensive (60/70 gp instead of 40).


Currently doing:

- graphics for EA
- some heroes (EA and MA)
- balancing

To do:

- LA Shangri La !!!?
- national spells
- Klu (water naga-like spirits)
- more graphics

[HoneyBadger]

Excellent and awesome!-I've been hoping for a Tibetan nation for some time now. I'll see what I can find out for you (and incase anyone was wondering-like I was-if the 'Mi Go' mentioned have anything to do with Lovecraft's version, he might have borrowed the name, but they're another word for Yeti.)

By the way, I don't know if you intended it, but "Shambhala" is the name for the mystical kingdom from which Shangra-La was derived (in James Hilton's novel "Lost Horizon").

[HoneyBadger]

Here's a page on interesting Tibetan myths:

http://www.iras.ucalgary.ca/~volk/sylvia/Tib.htm

and two images of Lha:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...%3D2%26hl%3Den

http://www.tharlam.org/Documents/whiteTara.jpg

Here's a page of Tibetan icons of various guardian "demons":

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...%3D2%26hl%3Den

Lhas are just the name for gods/spirits. There are various types:
According to Encyclopedia Mythica:

Thab-Lha is a Tibetan Bon hearth-god that punishes those who desecrate his sacred fires. He's pictured as a red figure with a snake in his hand.

Nang-Lha is a house god who's portrayed as a man with the head of a pig. People offer him beverages.

I couldn't find anything on dre, other than it's a countryside demon that drives away horses, or anything specific about 'gnod-sbyin', but the Bon Tibetan religion has quite a few interesting demons, from the Citipati (graveyard demons depicted as dancing skeletons) to the 'gNyan'-dMu class (country-god) spirits who bring disease and death to humanity.

Here's an image of Bon demons: http://en.tibet.cn/newfeature/xzt_co...9962564293.jpg

and the Encyclopedia Mythica page on the dMu:
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/mu.html

I hope that helps!

[Nounours]

HoneyBadger, you're great !!

I already had seen the page about tibetan myths, but all of this will help me, I think.

In fact, I do know about Hilton's novel, and I planned Shambhala to be Shangri La in MA, after the fall of the Hidden Masters.

I don't know if I'll use all of this, though : I want Shangri La to have a strong tibetan "flavor", but I also want to use legends, rumors and conspiracy theories about Shambhala, Agartha (not Dom3's Agartha with the Pales Ones), hollow earth and the mysterious group called "Synarchy" that secretly rules the world...

I guess I've read too often Umberto Eco's novel "Foucault's Pendulum" !!

I will use demons and mountain spirits, and perhaps make lhas spirits of the land.

According Arthur Cotterell's "Illustrated Guide to Mythology" (at least the french version I've got), Tibet was first inhabited by black-skinned demons called "gnod-sbyin", that used bow and arrows and spreaded diseases, and they seems to be very similar to "bTsan".

I don't know if they'll be called gnod-sbyin or bTsan, but you will sure have black-skinned bow-wieldind disease-spreading demons as a national summon !!

[HoneyBadger]

The bTsan I was able to find, so that's good. Are you specifically basing this on the Bon religion? It would seem that that would make the ideal basis for an early age, with Buddhism entering into the picture by MA, and that seems to be what you're going for. Either way, I'd be happy to research for you, since this is a theme I've been wanting to see for a long time

[Nounours]

In fact, there will be lamas in EA Shangri La. Bön is the traditional religion of Bhödpa clans, under domination of more advanced Shangrilan, whose religion is more "buddhist-flavored" (tibetan buddhism, of course).

In MA, Bön disappear (no more demon or spirit summons, no more need for demon-hunter, no more dmu-rgyal sorcerers), Mi Gö start to be rarer, and the buddhist-like religion of the Hidden Masters become more and more influent, and more traditionalist.

In LA, the Hidden Masters have ascended and left this world. The Hidden City is taken over by a group of mysterious and potent mages called the Synarchy (Umberto Eco !!!), which plot to take control over the world. Shangri La is no more a land of enlightenment, but a place where treason, deceit and manipulation are common. I want this era to show how a beautiful thing and a heritage of spiritual ascension may be corrupted when it becomes mere ideology...

[Endoperez]

Have you considered using the Agartha connection with nagas of LA Patala? I understand Patala in particular was thought to be close to Tibet.

Have you given thought to sprites? Looking through the existing units and trying to find sprites that could be used with slight alteration can save you lots of time. Eric M has extracted all the sprites, and simple stuff such as recoloring or copying a weapon from another unit doesn't require much skill.

[Nounours]

Originally Posted by Endoperez

Have you considered using the Agartha connection with nagas of LA Patala? I understand Patala in particular was thought to be close to Tibet.

Have you given thought to sprites? Looking through the existing units and trying to find sprites that could be used with slight alteration can save you lots of time. Eric M has extracted all the sprites, and simple stuff such as recoloring or copying a weapon from another unit doesn't require much skill.

1. Yes, I am considering to connect it with with nagas in some way (I'll precise this later).

2. THANKS to Eric M, 'cause I use his great work. I confirm that recoloring or copying a sprites from another unit doesn't require much skill... and it's a good thing, because I don't have much skill !

3. I have reconsidered my plans about the nation development, because I founded others informations about tibetan demons and spirits :

- Shangri La will go to MA.
- in EA, the nation will be a mountain kingdom ruled by shaman-kings and demons. The religion will be related to Bön (HoneyBdger will be pleased !), without buddhist influence. Buddhist influence will only appear with a hero or two. In MA, they have overthrown demons' influence and chased them.
Also in EA : In Tibet, klu are naga-like water-spirit. They will be part of the nation (recruitable or summons ? Don't know) in EA, will be summonable in MA, and disappear in LA : they have become nagas and have gone to Patala !
- Don't know how it will go in LA.

[HoneyBadger]

Oh nice! I like the Bon EA idea

You might also want to consider that, from the little I've been able to find out, Bon was "demonized" to some extent, by the Buddhists. As in, originally, the Bon demons and spirits were just regular gods that were replaced and marginalized. Ofcourse, they apparently still appear as demons and spirits in the current Bon religion, so either option (good spirits or bad demons) is open to you.

I wish I could find out more about Bon, but there's not a whole lot on the internet, and I can't afford the bookstore right now. I might hit my local library and see if they can come up with anything. We have a Buddhist temple close by, too, but I haven't gone there yet.

[Nounours]

EA Shamballa will officially be a Bön-based nation, ruled by tibetans "demons".

In fact, you will have human troops (Bhödpa, the same troops than in MA Shangri La, and Lepcha mountaineers), and spirit/demon troops. Commanders will include Bhödpa Shaman-kings, demons, Rgyal Po (demon lord) and Srin Po'i Rgyal Po ("cannibal demon king"). There'll be two "factions" of spirits : lhas will be more kind and benevolent spirits, dmu will be more cruel, violent and quite evil ones, demons in fact, but originally they both belong to the same class of spirits, worshipped by Bön religion.

BTW, you will have Palden Dorjee Lhamo (a cruel demon mounted on a horse, with a saddle made of fresh human skin) as a national hero, and possibly Milarepa too (though this one may go to MA instead).