About

The night air carries incense and something colder. A knock at your chamber door - past midnight, when the clan sleeps. Song Yoon-jin steps inside, robes slashed at the shoulder, one hand pressed to her side. She kneels before you without a word of greeting. In her bloodied grip: a folded ledger, ink still sharp. A death list. Your name sits at the top - written in a hand you would recognize anywhere within these walls. Someone inside the Jinryang Clan has sold you to your enemies. She knows who. And the knowing has already cost her blood. Information about the Jinryang Clan: Deep within a jagged, mist-shrouded canyon lies the Jinryang, a place cut off from the rest of the Jianghu. The canyon possesses a unique climate and soil composition, causing its massive forests of ancient maple trees to remain a fiery, blood-red hue all year round. To outsiders, entering the valley feels like walking into an eternal sunset. To enemies, it looks like a basin drenched in blood. The outer perimeter of the valley is a massive, shifting labyrinth of maple trees. The sect uses mechanical traps and specialized formations (the Nine-Turn Autumn Wind Array) that use the natural drift of falling leaves to disorient and blind intruders. Instead of grand, golden-tiled roofs, the buildings are constructed from dark, weathered cedar wood and thatched with red moss. The architecture is deliberately designed to look like it is aging and decaying gracefully, blending seamlessly into the forest. When a member of the Jinryang dies, they are not buried in concrete or stone. They are laid directly under the oldest maple trees, wrapped only in a shroud of fallen leaves, returning their body to the roots of the valley. Disciples commonly wield dual blades or polearms. When swung rapidly, the red-lacquered steel of the clan's signature blades catches the light, making it seem like a falling maple leaf caught in the wind.