The Courts:

The Court of Blossoms:

The land of the Orient, adjacent and once allied to the Court of Shadows. A land of many various clans ruled by an Emperor that seeks to keep their ambitions in check. 

The Court of Shadows:

Destroyed by a massive implosion of dark magic that created the Shadowlands, none of the Courts have attempted to bypass the dangers of the Shadowlands to attempt to seek the status/ whereabouts of the Court of Shadows. The Shadowlands stretch so far East that they border the lands of the Western Court of Coins.

The Court of Mist:

Scotia is known as a place of mythical creatures, mountains, interesting cuisine, and the finest producer of whiskey. Scotia's geography is rather varied, it is in fact divided into three distinct areas: the Southern Uplands, the Central Lowlands and the northern Highlands and Islands. The Southern Uplands, which border the Shadowlands, and the Central Lowlands, are home to the Court of Mist. The Northern Highlands is home to the Dragon Riders and the Court of Wolves.

The Court of Wolves:

Frostbound lands directly to the South of the Court of Blossoms, across the Frostbite Mountains. The Frostbite Mountains are the in the Northern Highlands of Scotia. The Court of Wolves are infamous for their Witch Hunters that fight alongside massive white wolves, the Court sees all magic as blasphemy to their Goddess, Lada. The Court of Wolves believe their Goddess and their lands are one and the same and that to tread the frozen wastes is akin to pilgrimage.

The Court of Exiles:

Cursed, say some, blessed says others, are those of the Court of Exiles. They are the banished of all the other Courts, for bearing a curse. They are warges and demons, previously of other races. They have no homeland and move between the different spaces, carving out a space which is their own.


Religion


The faith of the Courts is built on two foundations: that the Elements remain in balance and that the Eight Pillars support society. The Eight Pillars are the divine incarnations of the ideals that hold up the society of the Court. The Elements affect the world on a fundamental level and influence the path a person will take upon their birth. Every person is born with one element in the ascendancy and this element affects their personality and ideals, at least, according to priests.



The Eight Pillars

The Geisha; Goddess of music, writing and beauty. A kneeling geisha holding a long necked lute (biwa) in her lap. (TRICKERY, KNOWLEDGE)

The Knight; God of warriors, order and punishment. A kneeling samurai carrying a large pagoda on his back. (WAR)

The Farmer; God of wealth, agriculture and the household. A wide faced smiling man with a flat black hat, seated atop bales of rice. (LIFE, LIGHT)

The Sage; God of longevity, wisdom and the stars. An old man carrying a sage topped with a book bound with chains, accompanied by a crane, a turtle and a black deer. (KNOWLEDGE, LIGHT)

The Guardian; God orphans, fortune and barmen. A fat, smiling, bald man with a curling moustache, he is so fat that his clothes barely cover his enormous belly. (KNOWLEDGE, TRICKERY)

The Lady; Goddess of happiness, fertility and love. A beautiful woman dressed in a silken robe, holding a large gem in one hand and the other stretches outwards, beckoning. (LIFE)

The Lord; God of honour, responsibility and rulers. A stern faced man with a katana across his knees, holding a wooden fan (gunbai) in one hand. (WAR, LIGHT)

Minor Deities

The Dragon King; God of dragons and master of the Cardinal Animals. (WAR, LIGHT)
The Four Cardinal Animals: The Black Turtle (North); The Vermillion Bird (South); The Azure Dragon (East); The White Tiger (West)

The Twins; God and Goddess of debauchery, incest and seduction. A man and a woman twisted around each other, faces obscured. (TRICKERY)

The Mask; God of thieves, darkness and outcasts. A black silken mask. (TRICKERY, KNOWLEDGE)

The Minister; God of outlawed magic, necromancy and death. An old crooked man bent over a skull, a twisted white staff in one hand. (DEATH, KNOWLEDGE)

The Fisherman; God of the ocean, prosperity and overcoming hardship. A man holding a fishing rod in one hand a carp in the other. (TEMPEST, NATURE)

The Elements
Earth; Agreeableness, honesty, anxiety, joy, adulthood and yellow

Wood; Idealism, spontaneity, curiosity, anger, altruism, birth and green

Fire; Passion, intensity, hatred, love, youth and red

Water; Erudition, resourcefulness, wit, fear, gentleness, death, conception and black

Metal; Intuition, rationality, mind, grief, bravery, old age and white

Void; Void does not have the same qualities of the other elements. It is treated as the No-Thing, it is the master of all other elements. Its chaotic nature effects the standing and nature of the others.

The Calendar Seasons:

The Courts registering the passing of the years in seasons, the year beginning in Late Winter and ending in Mid-Winter:

Chou, Late Winter – The world starts to leave the depths of winter.
Yin, Early Spring – Spring rains begin. Rains often.
Mao, Mid Spring – The air begins too warm and insects start to awaken in great number.
Chen, Late Spring – bright and clear. Light, but thick, mist rain.
Si, Early Summer – The harvest begins to ripen, the rain eases.
Wu, Mid-Summer – Almost no rain. Harvest is ready for reaping.
Wei, Late Summer – Heat intensifies. Great insect activity.
She, Early Autumn – Heat lessens and gives in too cold.
You, Mid-Autumn – White dew and frost begins to form early.
Xu, Late Autumn – The first frosts come. Cold dew starts to form.
Hai, Early Winter – Snow commences. Light snow.
Zi, Mid-Winter – Snows way in heavily. Most people are snowed in.

Each year is rotationally assigned an animal in a period of twelve beginning with Boar:
Boar
Rat
Ox
Tiger
Rabbit
Dragon
Snake
Horse
Sheep
Monkey
Rooster
Dog

The current year is the Year of the Tiger, it is the 50th year of the Tiger.