Born a Monster

“I shall tell you the history of Shen Fang, the Spear Heroine, not to be confused with Shien Fang, who was also the Spear Heroine, though from four centuries prior.”

The below are his words on the matter, translated as best I could. Although I have learned Husuru, the language most of the squad had in common (from the Naked Mountains region of the Central Skylands), it is possible that I have erred in my wording.

Shen Fang took to her role with great enthusiasm, starting with a quest to unblock all seven of her chakras, and unlock the arts of chi. But the goblin king Borth and his forces were too much for her band at the time, and so she had to detour through the Central Skylands on her way to Three Star Mountain.

At the time, the local ruler was a man called Ming Hwa, known for his lechery. And although Shen Fang herself was quite homely, she travelled with the priestess Luo Jin, also known as the Sun Maiden, who was not. And so it was that they kept to the outskirts of civilization, having to outwit the giant Gun Gong, and evade the hunting Thorn Tiger, and they came upon a remote farm, where goblins, who were not at that time outlawed, worked the land under the care of an old woman.

Yes, yes, this is the legendary Stick Woman. Shall I listen to the story as the young tell it today, or shall I tell it as I heard it from my father and mother and grandmother? But yes, Stick Woman was a ferocious woman, wide of girth and thin of limbs. After the shameful death of her husband, falling drunken into her town’s well, she had gone into the wilderness to be away from people, and possibly to die.

Three days later, she returned to her village, and began selling her belongings for the tools to work the land. And yes, there is an entire story to the Stick Woman, which I will not be telling today. Suffice to say that though not born a Farmer, she decided to work the land, and though not a Warrior she learned the martial arts of the staff. And, in refusing to yield either practice, she violated norms that were even more taboo then than they are now.

But, she kept to her farm that was a day’s walk from the nearest other human, and so she was left alone. And yes, there are tales of tax collectors and even an inquisitor who paid her visit before her farm was discovered by Shen Fang, but this is a tale of the Spear Heroine.

I need not tell you that goblins are filthy creatures, uncivilized and ill-controlled. But Luo Jin took pity on them, and spent no less than four days teaching them to behave as proper farmers.

.....

What? Oh yes, I am assured by the storytellers of the Central Skylands that is true, that they originally intended to capture her and Tso Hong had to kill two of them and chase them into a stable before they would listen to her words. But that is not the story I am trying to tell, although Luo Jin did many notable things before marrying Hojo Nobuko and settling in his castle on the Pearl Coast island of Grinning Skulls.

Yes, yes. I know that she did many things afterward as well.

But back to the proper path of this story, which is about Shen Fang. Ugh! Fine!

Yes, Shen Fang married Huan Hu, a minor relation to the Hun bloodline that is led by our current Shining Empress, long may she rule. They settled at an oasis at the edge of the Howling Desert, bringing prosperity to its citizens and shelter at a time before the rise of Gannag, the Sandstorm that Spoke. And they lived there happily, encountering only seven adventures.

But this time is well before that time, and so I shall say no more. Ah, look. An outhouse without a line. We shall stop here, and continue the tale afterward.

Now, as I was attempting to say. Shen Fang came upon the farm of Stick Woman, who was encouraged by her goblins to display her art with the staff.

“Tso Hong,” she asked, for he was the foremost of her warriors. “Tso Hong, what can you tell me about this combat style, so fast and so deadly looking?”

“Well, I’ve never seen it before.” He said, “but it appears very similar to martial arts involving nunchaku, save that this is a singular long stick rather than segmented.”

“I should like to learn this art, or such of it as I can, having not unlocked the art of chi.”

And during those four days, she did learn and practice basic katas that she later taught to Tian Yi, the Staff Hero who was summoned to deal with Gannag. And yes, she would later return to this same farm for a summer, and teach the ways of chi and battle magic to Stick Woman, who had once been her teacher. Life is connected, and it is a cycle, and good things return to those who give good things.

But those stories are not this one, which is that when Shen Fang came upon the satyr Golden Shoulders, she did not charge headlong into that battle, but instead held the line with her companions, saving first Dai Yuhan, a merchant who had taken up a fishing spear to follow her, and also Song Meng, a warrior of the mace. Both of them die later in her story, but on that day, she saved their lives rather than seeking glory for herself.

For this is the mark of a true hero, not the enemies they leave fallen in their wake, but those souls they keep, however briefly, from the ever-grasping hands of death.

Yes! She WAS instrumental in the fall of the silver city of Van-ning, by seeking out and slaying the brothers Cui Ning and Cui Li, who were called the devourers of champions. And she did leap upon the walls, slaying general Zhen Yijun himself, who could have ruled Van-ning if he chose.

And which of you can tell me who her companions were at that time?

Well, this I can tell you.

She travelled with her consort, Montenying Yu, for back then one could have a consort without having a husband or wife. Oh, yes, that is the custom today, that one must marry before taking a courtesan. And we’d all like to believe that our traditions reach back through time, unchanging. That is why spoken lore is gathered every four generations or so and written down, is it not? To preserve the truth of tales told, and also to exclude the truths that are inconvenient.

Anyway, she also travelled with Gwan of the Vortan folk, who are known here as the Norvik. His weapon was the spear, and he would later return to his people in hopes that they would pass on his legacy.

Her retinue were four brothers and two sisters of the Kwan family, known even back then for their staunch martial values. Ah, but this battle killed one each of the brothers and sisters, named Hu and Yine, respectively. Ma, the surviving sister, had a leg crippled and needed to retire. And though he continued to see other battles, Xuegang chose the wrong companions by the river and was used shamefully.

Oh, you would lose much of that detail today, but the truth is this. Her companions of that day were not champions, and she did not protect them as I am telling you to protect each other. And thus, their tales are lost. Who knows what great deeds Kwan Jie accomplished that day? I do not.

So this is my lesson for you, young warriors. Save your tales, save they tales of others. And only then, after the stories are safe for your children and your children’s children, THEN is the time to build your legend, to think of honor and glory.

But, even as the gate now comes into view, I must urge you to unsheathe your weapons, to be ready in case the outer wall has already fallen. Our duty this day is near, and it would be to invite bad luck not to be ready for it to come upon us unprepared.

Oh, our foes may not be on the level of Golden Shoulders and his ilk, but I assure you they have come here seeking glory. Let them attain it, and hasten them into the afterlife ahead of you. For it is not by the strength of our allies alone we are measured, but also by the opponents we dispatch ahead of ourselves.

I have no clue whether Gwan is an ancestor of Tomas Istre, but I would not be surprised to learn of such a connection. There are rumors, of course, but I have yet to become passionate about finding the truth or falsity of the matter.