Shen Feng Wa (神风哇), the All-Knowing Immortal Sage and Perfected One of Primordial Unity.

Shen Feng Wa is a lesser deity of salvation and life within the Celestial Administration, venerated across the ten directions as a shapeshifting sage, planar messenger, and teacher of Zhe Na. Born a mortal in the Mythic Land of Jiao during an Age of Wonder, he rose through the cultivation of Yin and Yang to become a minor power of the heavens. He is remembered variously as a mischievous trickster, a traveler among the stars, the Great Friend of Heaven, and the Sage of the Crystal Spheres. He resides in Chang Le, the Eastern Heavenly Pureland, and is invoked at funerals, at rites for the dead, and during the Ghost Festival.

History

Shen Feng Wa was born to a poor family in the ancient empire of Jiao during an Age of Wonder, a period rich in magic and advanced technology. Though his household had little, he is said to have wanted for nothing, and by the age of thirteen he had already gained a thorough education, able to read, write, and calculate with ease. Around this time he was discovered by a trio of wu jen, who saw great potential in him and began to school him in the disciplines of Yin and Yang. His training started modestly, at perhaps three hours a day, but intensified over the years until it consumed his life; by the age of seventeen he had left his family and home behind to pursue his cultivation in full.

In his wandering years he acquired both a reputation and many names: a mischievous trickster, a traveler among the stars, the Great Friend of Heaven, and the teacher of Zhe Na. He is credited with raising the 10,000 Mile Dragon Barrier, and came to be revered as a minor deity of salvation and life. His reliability and discretion drew the notice of the heavens, and even the Jade God came to entrust him with missions across the Multiverse.

One such mission paired him with a fellow spiritual master, Lu Dingshe, against the brothers Gold Horn Demon and Silver Horn Demon, enchanted beings who left havoc wherever they went. In the battle that followed, the Silver Horn Demon captured Shen Feng Wa in the Purple-Gold Red Gourd, an artifact that threatened to dissolve him. Lu Dingshe destroyed both brothers to free his friend, and the two masters afterward parted ways. The episode remains one of his most storied triumphs, though it was only one of many across his long life.

Divine Role and Worship

Shen Feng Wa is counted a minor deity of salvation and life for all sentient beings in the ten directions, maintaining a distinct incarnation for each direction and able to assume other forms as any purpose requires. He is invoked at funerals and in rites for the dead, whom he is asked to guide to the Eastern Heavenly Pureland of Chang Le, where he dwells, and he is called upon during the Ghost Festival to deliver suffering souls from hell. Trusted and loyal, he is dispatched by the Jade God on errands throughout the Multiverse, and he frequently serves as an intermediary between the Planes of Existence, carrying word among greater and lesser powers alike.

His worship is administered through the Celestial Administration. He is remembered as a cat-loving trickster, and his shrines commonly shelter stray cats; one sect of his followers wears a dead mouse tied by its tail to the belt.

Artifacts and Creations

To his student Zhe Na, Shen Feng Wa gave the Wheels of Fire and Wind and a Fire Tipped Spear, and helped him obtain the Red Armillary Sash and the Universal Ring. After returning to Rolara he crafted Shen Feng Wa’s Incredible Pipe, which he later gifted to the mouse Zhizhi Laoshu once Zhizhi had completed his training with Zhenwu in the Heavenly realm. He is also known for wielding the Nine Dragon Fire Net, with which he defeated Lady Rocky after his pupil Zhe Na could not; the net’s power was such that he overcame the demoness despite her superior strength.

Among his greatest works is the 10,000 Mile Dragon Barrier, a great wall that bought him time to conceal artifacts of ancient Jiao technology and to keep them from those who lacked the knowledge or wisdom to wield them, or who would otherwise endanger the world. The barrier also slowed incursions from the Hordelands for nearly a thousand years.

Writings

Shen Feng Wa is credited with authoring many tomes and scrolls filled with lore and magical secrets. The best known is the Classic of the Crystal Spheres, a wood-slat scroll in which he recounts a voyage beyond the stars of heaven to a strange land called Felthir. It is from this account that he takes the epithet Sage of the Crystal Spheres.

Appearance and Abilities

A master of disguise, Shen Feng Wa can avoid detection in nearly any shape, and nothing in his favored forms betrays his underlying grace, strength, or flexibility. His particular specialty is the changing of the shape and form of people and things, a mastery of transmutation. In some tellings he leaves a signature on his disguises: a trademark mustache in the years after the Extinguishment, or a hair bun in the Age of Wonder.

Personality

Shen Feng Wa is fond of cats and of good conversation over dinner, and is said to despise pickled beets. Socially adept, he can match his manner to any station, befriending commoners and kings alike, and in foreign lands he often feigns ignorance of the local tongue until he judges its people trustworthy. Known as the Master of Transmutation, he prefers to let others speak and to communicate telepathically, remaining vigilant and shrewd in conversation.

A habitual collector, he gathers souvenirs from the places he visits and gives them away as gifts. Among his acquisitions are a Changeling that is also a construct from Felthir and the Somersault Cloud, borrowed from the Jade God, and he once gave an enchanted elixir to King Yan.

Relationships

Most deities and greater powers keep some means of reaching Shen Feng Wa, given his long service as a messenger. His closest documented bonds are with three figures.

Lu Dingshe. After a rocky start, Shen Feng Wa and Lu Dingshe became a formidable pair of spiritual masters, each cultivating in the methods of his own teacher and reaching great heights of power. Shen discovered a method of forming what he called the golden pill, a philosopher’s stone, along with an elixir that further refined their spiritual energies; the elixir reacted violently with many mundane materials, however, and proved difficult to store. When Lu Dingshe learned of the brothers Gold Horn Demon and Silver Horn Demon and their enchanted bottles, the two set out to find them, following the trail of mayhem the brothers left behind. In the ensuing battle the Silver Horn Demon trapped Shen Feng Wa in the Purple-Gold Red Gourd; Lu Dingshe destroyed both brothers before the artifact could reduce his friend to nothing, and once Shen was restored the two parted ways.

Zhe Na. Shen Feng Wa took Zhe Na as his apprentice and remains his teacher, furnishing him with the Wheels of Fire and Wind, the Fire Tipped Spear, and aid in obtaining the Red Armillary Sash and the Universal Ring.

Lady Rocky. The demoness is counted his nemesis. He defeated her with the Nine Dragon Fire Net after Zhe Na failed to best her alone.

Wealth

Shen Feng Wa concealed and guarded many impressive treasures gathered from across the Multiverse, and was richly rewarded for his work.

Profile

  • Divine Classification: Deity
  • Alignment: Chaotic Good
  • Species: Human
  • Ethnicity: Antediluvians (Jiao)
  • Realm: Chang Le
  • Church/Cult: The Celestial Administration
  • Titles: Perfected One of Primordial Unity; All-Knowing Immortal Sage (a title he chose for himself); Sage of the Crystal Spheres
  • Currently Held Titles: Lesser Power
  • Year of Birth: 163 AW (1,695 years old)
  • Birthplace: somewhere in the Mythic Land of Jiao
  • Aligned Organization: Order of Spiritual Masters
  • Ruled Locations: Chang Le
  • Quote: “Such is my wisdom.”
  • 1523 PE: Birth of Stone Monkey
  • 0 AW: The Last Mechanism Goes Dark
  • 2 AW: Shen Feng Wa leaves a gift
  • 2 AW: Shen Feng Wa leaves Felthir
  • 106 AW: Shen Feng Wa observes and contemplates the Crystal Spheres
  • 106 AW: Shen Feng Wa asks Kano for advice
  • 119 AW: The Defeat of Lady Rocky
  • 124 AW: Resurrection of the Child: Enmity of Son and Father
  • 129 AW: Zhe Na gains a teacher, and Shen Feng Wa gains a student
  • 136 AW: Summoning to the Golden Tower of Heaven
  • 141 AW: The Repulsions
  • 146 AW: Shen Feng Wa leaves home
  • A Mysterious wu jen Saves the World
  • The 10,000 Mile Dragon Barrier Appears

Character Prototype

Shen Feng Wa draws on Taoist immortal and wandering-sage traditions.