A Psychopomps Lookbook

 As much as PSYCHOPOMPS is a setting defined by the fantasy genre, it draws a lot of inspiration from the cyberpunk aesthetic, in terms of ruined cities and transhumanism. It seeks to evoke the Hong Kong of the movies and imagination, the neon signs obscured by cigarette smoke, the grimy, lived-in streets and houses. It seeks to depict a post-colonial Singapore, left with the ruins of a coloniser's architecture. It seeks to replicate the sweltering jungles of Malaya, verdant and lush. It seeks to reimagine the Spaghetti Western in the tropics, world-weary gunslinging monks entering a rundown border town to hunt an apostate.

The end result should be different from the generic, western medievalism or the heavily exoticised oriental daydream. It might be tinged with the oranges and reds of Buddhism, or the now greyish walls of an old colonial townhouse. Men smoke opium after a hard day's work, there is the loud chatter of the fish market in the morning. A ghoul carries a bolt-action rifle, wrapped in purple batik cloth, haggling with a rickshaw driver. A tall woman carries a jewelled sword into a hovel, wary of the pontianak that emits the floral scent permeating the road. The air is thick with humidity, its warmth rendering it an almost suffocating congealed solid. There are chillies, cloves, star anise and cardamom tickling the nose with their vibrancy of scent. Workers, their heads clothed in bandanas, straw hats or turbans, eat spiced curries and beautifully yellowed rice. The daydream is over, old uncle Lang died without a priest nearby. Someone has to exorcise the ravenous wolf-demon, its jowls dripping with foam and blood. The sage next to you tells you that wolfsbane might serve you well. You tear up little dried petals of aconite, careful to wear your gloves. You pick up the curved kris and coat the blade in wolfsbane and castor oil. Your hunt begins.

Here are some pictures that capture the look and aesthetic of PSYCHOPOMPS.

The gorgeous cityscapes from Kill Six Billion Demons.

The monstrous beauty of Katsuya Terada's The Monkey King

The ragged grimy magics of Dorohedoro.

The vast, terrible immensity of nature and the frontier in Golden Kamuy.

Samsara and Suffering

Everyone knows they were born into suffering. They knew it working at the cinnamon manufactories under the harsh working conditions of Théan overseers. They know it now in the salt mines of Corphaksa, under the harsh working conditions of the New Liurzan Administration. They know it when their village is plunged into bloodshed by a snake demon and they know it when their brothers come back as Jiangshi, thirsty for blood. The life of Man is full of suffering.

The Jiangshi or 僵尸 is a vampiric, Chinese zombie, here depicted in the movie "Mr Vampire"

Before the apocalypse, there were six realms, 3 elevated and 3 base, arranged in a circular wheel. Every mortal being would follow the cycle of reincarnation accruing good and bad karma, rising and falling through the various realms as they did so. Thus the cycle was fair and just, for good was met with good and evil was met with evil. (This claim comes from the same religious scholars that name the human realm an elevated one, so some doubt is in order). These realms were clearly defined and separated, a divine mechanism maintaining the cycle of reincarnation and distributing souls. It was a wheel encompassing the entirety of mortal existence and the cycle persisted.

Buddhist Wall Mural of Yama Holding the Wheel of Life. (Older depictions only have 5 realms)

The Shattering, the cataclysmic event that shapes the world of PSYCHOPOMPS, refers to the shattering of this wheel of reincarnation, breaking the karmic balance and the cosmic machinery that governed it. The wheel, once perfectly flat and stable, was now tilted. Departed souls would bleed back into the realm of man, unable to re-enter the cycle. The other mortal realms bleed into the realm of man, the once strict boundaries now permeable and unsecured. As all living beings died, their souls would stagnate, linger. They seek their original vessel, gravitating back to their recently vacated bodies. Yet, the souls, as it travels through a realm thick with other souls and malfunctioning reincarnation, is irrevocably warped and altered. This results in a spirit, a monster or a demon- the malformed, transformed soul re-enters the body, granting it new life and form. Yet more suffering is in order.

Wikus's transformation into a Prawn from the film "District 9"

The world now is a broken one, souls congealing like petrol below a faulty tank. Death is no longer merely a tragic loss but a minor disaster. A consequence of the realms bleeding is the influx of otherworldly beings from the other realms, deposited here through the cataclysm or taking refuge in the relative safety. Humanity is no longer alone in sentience, it shares its world with the other mortal beings in the realms. The Deva crash as falling stars, their original forms of light and fire now encased in the stone and rock of our material realm. Great heroes and warriors are resurrected as Asura, four-armed divine warriors full of wrath. Humans dying of deprivation- starvation, thirst, exposure- return as Ghouls, hungry ghosts cursed with an appetite for flesh. Even humanity itself is altered and every birth or resurrection may return a being not entirely human. Man is not alone in his suffering any longer.

Kill Six Billion Demons, a very significant influence.

Ghost-Hunting in the Ruins of the Empire

Most of Psychopomps is set in the on the sub-continent of Liurza. 

A rough sketch of the sub-continent of Liurza

Liurza is a land characterised by its abundance, be it of luscious jungles, bestial predators and valuable spices. The last of these particular qualities is what made it a prime target for colonialisation from its neighbours, whom have exchanged ownership of its lands for decades. Liurza was most recently a vassal state to the Théan Empire, subject to the Empress and her legions of Dragoons. When the Shattering happened, it plunged the world into abject chaos. The Théan Administrations in Liurza was called back as the Empire struggled to deal with the monstrous spirits that arose. Most governors abandoned the settlements they had ruled, rushing back to Théa to secure the lands of their birthright. Thus, the apocalypse brought with it a silver lining- the decolonising and subsequent independence of Liurza. 

The newly independent Liurzans were forced to rebuild in the midst of the turmoil and violence of the Shattering, with only the seven Exorcised Cities remaining as most of the existing cities were abandoned or destroyed, left for the dead. These Exorcised Cities represent the last remnants (and hopefully, the first roots) of Liurzan culture and society.

The Exorcised City of Corphaksa is perhaps Liurza's largest and greatest city. Corphaksa forms the backbone of Liurza's nationhood, through the construction of its White Roads. These were the salvation of Liurza, roads of monster-repelling salt that connect the Exorcised Cities into a unified Liurza. Corphaksa sits at the center of this web of white, the apparent capital of Liurza. It is through these White Roads that some form of normalcy were re-established, with trade, commerce and industry. It was in these periods of relative peace that the people could begin to rebuild the world around them.

Tower of Babel by Pieter Brugel

The discovery of the spirit-bottle changed the world almost as much as the apocalypse. It turned disaster into opportunity, danger into wealth. Any spirit of significant power, could have their ghost captured in these bottles upon exorcism. These ghosts, still roiling with spiritual energy, could then be used as a source of magical power. It powers new technologies and great works of magic, as well as the mundane necessities of existence. The value of these ghosts drive the desperate, greedy or foolish to abandon their jobs, take up arms and hunt as officially (or unofficially) licensed psychopomps. Guilds pop up like mushrooms in damp earth, all clamouring for a bit of the profit. While large guilds like the Hong Family or the Black Betels have established themselves as the premier source of exorcists and mercenaries, smaller guilds cater to the less wealthy, pacifying angry house spirits and breaking love curses. If profit can be derived from the apocalypse, one can be sure that man will find a way to do it.

Modern-day Liurza is thus set in this period of great change, of a burgeoning society attempting to reclaim its lands from both its coloniser and the monsters that now haunt it. The world is a wreck, a ruin. This is an opportunity, the world is ripe for the taking, to be rebuilt however one sees fit. 

Introduction to PSYCHOPOMPS

 PSYCHOPOMPS is a setting that I developed for tabletop role-playing games, a fictional world in which I am able to play with the aesthetics, themes and ideas of my choosing. This blog will serve to document my ideas, collating them in a singular resource I can access. It will also serve as my medium to share this world of mine.

PSYCHOPOMPS is a fantasy, post-apocalyptic setting based on the culture and mythology of South-East Asia. It focuses on ghost hunters, the eponymous psychopomps, as they hunt the monsters and spirits haunting this ruined world. The Cycle of Reincarnation is broken and souls have nowhere to go. Everything that dies will resurrect as a spirit, a product of this stagnancy. Jilted lovers come back as terrible white-faced ghosts, with thick black hair concealing beady, red eyes. A buffalo collapsing under miserable labour, become a bull-spirit, trampling his old owner’s fields and goring his children. There are ways to prevent this, the most widespread being the rites and rituals of the Grave Priests, which establish the tenuous connection needed to send the soul to rest. Exorcised Cities have re-established some means of society and civilisation, each being safe enough that the threat of undead violence is minimal. The invention of the spirit bottle, a device through which an errant soul can be capture, and crucially, converted into spiritual energy, has transformed the spirits from terrifying monsters to exploitable resources. Guilds form in the wake of this, minor corporations seeking to employ foolhardy and dangerous individuals to capitalise on this new source of wealth. The more powerful spirits, possessing their own sentience and intelligence, are worshipped as gods or devils. Some of them contract themselves to the people, giving them a taste of their magical power in exchange for favours and gifts.

 

The Golden Women from the episode "Jibaro" in "Love, Death, Robots".

Thematically, PSYCHOPOMPS borrows a lot from the Cyberpunk genre, which exists in its bustling, overcrowded cities run by corporations and oppressive governments and the neon sprites that light up the signboards for brothels and noodle shops. It exists in the supernatural being yet another capitalistic venture and the government warlocks hunting rogue wizards. It also borrows from the Western, with grizzled veterans riding on thick, salt roads as they head to a village far in the south, hunting a serial killer turned mantis demon. Apart from the Exorcised Cities, most places are lawless and dangerous, at risk of Resurrected or more likely, human violence. It takes inspiration from South-East Asian culture and mythology, equally from Malaysian ghost stories and Buddhist teachings. Despite my upbringing as a Singaporean, I am not an expert on these matters of culture and religion and do not claim to represent any real-life religions or cultures. This is a fantasy setting as much as it draws from the world around me.

Celebrating the Hungry Ghost Festival

The Neon Signs of Hong Kong

This is meant to be a brief introduction to the world of PSYCHOPOMPS and hopefully I will be able to flesh out and illustrate it in more detail in my next few blog posts.