The ghosts lead the way.
A personal world-building and character-building project. Contains ghosts, spirits, beasts, shadow mediums, divine mediums, and humans who have become more ghost than human.
Today is Ghost Festival, when gates of hell are opened and ghosts roam the mortal world. Boo Boo Market wants to take this chance to introduce a new title "Thai An Division: Reports of Unholy Sightings", a 56-page book about the many strange happenings in Thai-An.
Available for purchase at Other Publishing's table at QT Zine Fest, September 2, 2023 at The Steel Yard 27 Sims Ave, Providence, RI 02909
and through Boo Boo Market's DMs beginning Sept 2.
Now available for purchase! Contact Boo Boo Market for your own copy of Reports on Unholy Sightings.
The book is a collection of Heavenly Mediums' reports on 12 strange events in just one year. Learn more about the world of The Ghosts Lead The Way through the point of view of those who live in it!
Today is Ghost Festival, when gates of hell are opened and ghosts roam the mortal world. Boo Boo Market wants to take this chance to introduce a new title "Thai An Division: Reports of Unholy Sightings", a 56-page book about the many strange happenings in Thai-An.
Available for purchase at Other Publishing's table at QT Zine Fest, September 2, 2023 at The Steel Yard 27 Sims Ave, Providence, RI 02909
and through Boo Boo Market's DMs beginning Sept 2.
INK DOGS: Black dogs are said to have pure blood and can ward off evils. If they bark once, it's a ghost. If they bark thrice, it's a human.
STRANGE FOOTPRINTS WALKING AWAY FROM THE HOUSE: This could have several indications depending on the shape of the footprint. In many cases where the footprints are large with faint pattern markings, this signifies that the guardian animal of that house has left the estate.
GHOST BY THE WILLOW: Weeping willows have strong yin energy, attracting ghosts and evils to its presence. Similarly, banyan trees and cotton trees have the same effect.
WHITE BUFFALO: A mysterious and elusive beast rumored to grant new life. It also seems to be a finicky creature, as some humans who saw it never safely returned.
For the past few weeks I've been working on a customized áo dài with a skeleton pattern inspired by Bá Nguyệt's ghost form. It has one "exposed" sleeve and the rest of the form are layered under thin silk to create a veiled shadow of the full skeleton.
Art accidentally captured in the background is by Kevin Sabo.
Customization process summary under the cut.
A simple graph of steps I went through to customize the áo dài.
This is how the áo dài appeared at the beginning. It is a typical modernized áo dài for men, with tay chẽn (sleeve cuffs fit to wearer's wrists) sleeves, a straight form, and running button line down the right chest.
My plan is to adapt it to look more like an áo ngũ thân tay chẽn, which means the left lap of the áo has to reach the right shoulder and armpit, instead of middle of right chest.
I began with tucking the left lap under the right lap and sewing the two sides together, turning the áo dài into a long shirt.
Then I painted the skeleton pattern onto the front, back and two sleeves of the áo dài with bleach. This took about 4 full days: the actual painting time took less, but I let it dry overnight after finishing every part.
By this time, the silk I ordered for a 2nd layer had come in. I cut the piece for the front piece. This would be sewn to the left shoulder, left armpit, and the left half of the neckline. It'd be left open on the right side so it can be closed by buttoning.
I actually sewed the silk onto the áo dài, but then realized the color of the two types of fabric do not match up. The silk I ordered is black, but the base áo dài is a near-black dark navy. My first reaction is to get blue acid dye and give the silk layer a blue wash and turn it into a more navy color. Turning the base áo dài black would have been more ideal, but I already bleach-drew on it. Anyway, this doesn't work, considering the silk is already saturated with color (black), so I got black dye to spot dye the base áo dài, avoiding the bleach drawing. When I washed it to bleed out the extra dye, the dye washed over the bleach drawing anyway, but this is something I could live with.
I carried on to make the silk sleeve to go around the left sleeve. This ended up being shorter than the sleeve of the áo dài because I ran out of silk, so I hemmed the base sleeves to better match the silk sleeves. Thankfully, the original sleeves were too long anyway, so it ends up the right length after hemming.
I cut out the back silk piece. The front, sleeve and back pieces are sewn together first before onto the base áo dài. Then I added buttons (mock pearls) to the base áo dài, at the collar, right collarbone, and two more on the right side of the áo. Traditionally, there should be 5 buttons (collar, collarbone, and 3 down the side) but since the side of this modern áo dài is shorter, only 2 are needed.
This isn't pictured in the diagram, but I ended up retouching the bleach drawings where they were too washed out from the dye. DONE!
—What you need: A long, broad strip of haircloth (about 5 ft long and 3 in wide) with an attached eye covering, a thinner and shorter strip of haircloth of the same material, some strings to act as hair ties
Divide hair into two sections, with most of the hair goes to the top section, leaving a thin layer of hair at the nape for the bottom section.
Collect the top section and wrap into a bun with strings.
Use the thinner and shorter strip of haircloth to tie the bottom section of hair.
Wrap the broad haircloth around the forehead to the back of the head, make sure that the eye covering goes over the eyes. Tie the cloth tightly at the back of the head, underneath the bun.
Tuck the shorter tail of the haircloth over the bun and into the loop of the cloth itself.
Wrap the longer tail of the haircloth around the head, about 3-4 loops in total. Make sure the cloth covers the knot at the back of the head.
When there's only one loop worth of haircloth left, put a hand under the cloth to create an narrow opening. Then as you finish wrapping the last of the cloth, tuck the end of the cloth into that opening to close the wrap.
The "roof" bangs (mái diềm) named for their similarity to roof tiles, are half circle hair loops closely grouped together at the hairline. There are often 4-6 loops symmetrically placed on two sides of the face, framing the person's face. This is a 'trend' popular among Nam Bình Northern women.
This trend can be traced back to Heaven's Tenth Princess, who was the first person seen wearing this hairstyle. Her hairstyle is symmetrical and has many circular elements such as buns, hair loop and other round accessories. This is popularized among heaven people for generations to come. Fairies later wear their roof bangs with jewelries and flowers, though they’ve begun to retire making their hair symmetrical.
As Nam Bình begins its era of worshiping deities, royalties also pick up on the “roof” bangs trend, you can see it commonly worn among the queens, concubines or other wealthy family's girls. This trend eventually spread to other Northern commoners.
Hairstyles of Kingdom people
In the north, hair and teeth are considered where beauty, temperament and status are displayed, and so feminine hairstyles use plenty accessories (flowers and jewelries) to characterize. For masculine styles, people prioritize neatness, so all of the hair are bunned and hidden under a haircloth. The cloth is wrapped many rounds around the head, usually at least 7 layers. For feminine styles, the haircloth is used more diverse ways: either similar to the the masculine styles, or used to twist and cover their hair prior to looping it before the head. Their hairline (often styled as roof bangs, middle part and else) are shown.
In the Central area, hairstyles are much less gendered. People don't use hair cloth, and their hair is done in intricate styles involving multiple buns, loops, locks of hair, creating patterns at the back of their head like blooming flowers. Some people with very good hair quality also let their hair down.
In the south, the buns are situated lower on the back of the head. Masculine hairstyles are a simple bun. People donning feminine hairstyles would twist their hair and wrap it around the crown of their head, then they will cover their head simply with a square haircloth. Southern people prefer to wear hats, so their hair are simply styled in order to contrast their elaborately decorated hats (and outfits).
(This system is specific to The Ghost Leads The Way, do not conflate with real life religions and beliefs)
1. The human spiritual system consists of: the flesh body (xác), the soul that inhabits it (hồn), the spirit that controls the body (phách), core of fate (cốt) and the body’s constitution (khí).
The Constitution gets called many different names: aura, a body’s energy, life force, etc. This generally refers to the flow of energies inside and around the body. Everything in the world has energy, whether alive or dead. Typically, humans would have yang/warm constitution, and ghosts would have yin/cold constitution. Cultivators can manipulate the flow inside and outside of the body, creating “magic”. Bá Nguyệt is blind, but she can “see” (feel) the constitution of the world around her. Constitution may “surface” onto the body as aura coloring (sắc). Constitution has been described using colors (red, green, white, black, pink, purple...), heat (cold vs warm, often paired with adjectives “prosperous” or “failing”), and clarity (chaotic vs clear).
The Soul inhabits in the body. It’s the life, emotion and thoughts of a person. Many believe a human has 3 souls which only separate once they die: one soul bears the conscience, one soul bears feelings, thoughts and personality, and one bears their karma. Ghosts are often souls without a body.
The Spirits are more condensed and permanent spiritual energy flows compared to the rest of the body’s energies. They are what make the body move and function. A human is ‘alive’ with just a soul, but without or insufficient spirits, they may be sick (physically, mentally, or emotionally). There are 7 spirits, each controls a different function of the body.
The Core of Fate (or Skeleton of Fate, as it’s usually visualized as a skeleton), it is the imprint of fate of a person. The Core tells the fate of the person: the tendencies of their course of life, including past reincarnations. Very few can “see” this Core of Fate, and those who can are forbidden from revealing it to the Core-bearer, at the risk of shortening their lifespan. The Core of Fate will sometimes “surface” outward as bodily or facial traits, called Image of Fate (tướng). This way, mortals can sometimes “guess” the course of a person’s life through their appearance (face reading), or palm lines (palm reading).
The Eye of Âm Dương (Yin Yang Eye) or the Underskin touch are abilities to “see” past the body and into the Constitution and Soul.
2. A few notes on the unholy: Neither ghosts and humans make an effort to distinguish the ‘type’ of unholy. However, Heavenly mediums and Deities do have a habit of wanting to categorize them as a way to know the unknown and defeat them. Here are how some of them are defined.
Ghosts (ma) are the dead with consciousness or souls without bodies. They remain in the mortal world because they have a thought/desire/regret strong enough to keep them from moving onto their next life.
Devils (quỷ) are ghosts that are especially vicious, having harbored a hatred for a long time, or have a desire so strong it boosts their power exponentially. They may have cultivated from ghosts, cultivated beings or other spiritual creatures, into an extreme yin/cold being.
Cultivated beings (yêu, tinh) are also called spirits; they’re non-human beings (animals, plants, objects,...) absorb spiritual energies and cultivate over an incredibly long time to develop a consciousness, spiritual power, and possibly a human form. Cultivated beings may switch between their original form (nguyên hình) and their human appearance as will, unless they are in a weakened state, when they are more unlikely to maintain their human form and would have to take their original form to save energy.
Beasts (quái) are creatures born from the spiritual energies of the natural world. They are born as beasts with inherent spiritual power. Some beasts are born with consciousness like humans, some would have to cultivate it like cultivated beings. Most beasts can learn to transform to a human appearance at a certain age.
Living Ghosts (quỷ sống) are humans that “skip” dying and become “ghosts” when they’re still alive. They have a human body, but their spiritual energies do not flow like humans’ do and therefore fail to uphold normal bodily functions. Some have to manually manipulate spiritual energies to retain their human body, some find a new way of cultivation and give up on the flesh body.
At a time when cultivating ghosts is the gravest sin one can commit, a rumor about a forbidden magic promising to resurrect the dead with 100 ghosts is circulating in the medium circle. Though dubious unreliable, you have decided to risk your life to find and perform this magic.
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At a time when merely interacting with ghosts is a taboo, cultivating ghosts is the gravest sin one can commit. Those found guilty of feeding and nourishing ghosts will be subjected to torture, death, and extermination of 3 familial generations. And yet, at a time like this, a rumor about a forbidden magic promising to resurrect the dead using 100 ghosts is circulating in the medium circle. The rumor states, the practitioner must collect one hundred ghosts or unholy spirits that are fit for the soul and body of the revived, then perform the magic, and the dead will return to life as if they never left.
Though dubious and unreliable, some of those who are aware of it are still harbored a plan...
In the south, there is a legend about a White buffalo that grows panacea on its back, curing all illnesses from a mere cold to a chronic disease. This legend captivates you, why? Will you embark on a journey to find this mythical beast?
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Once upon a time, there was a carpenter enduring an incurable disease. Unable to believe that it's incurable, his wife brought him Southwestward, in search for a cure. One day, they got lost in a thick fog. and amidst the fog appeared a big white buffalo. From its back grew a row of colorful herbs, none that they had seen before. The White buffalo picked off a branch of herb from its back and gave it to the wife. After she fed it to her husband, he immediately recovered, even became more healthy than before. They bowed to the White buffalo, but it already disappeared. There is no shortage of stories like this in the South: different patients, different sickness, the only constant is the White buffalo with herbs growing from its body. Many people still dream of finding the panacea in the legends.
A flower that grew in Nam Bình until it was wiped out in the Vét invasion. Trát flowers are usually chest-height; the tallest plant seen were said to be over 2 meter tall. Trát flowers grow in large number creating a flower field, more commonly called "trát garden".
People who enter the trát garden will lose their sense of direction and get lost, regardless of whether or not they had ways to navigate. If two or more people enter together from the same entry, they will quickly lose sight of each other, even if walking closely. However, if two people hold a petal taken from the same trát flower, they will be able to meet one another, no matter when, where and how they come into the garden.
Taking advantage of this, people choose trát gardens to have their secret rendezvous or shake off a tail, resulting in the phrase “to wander the trát garden”, meaning to meet without the scrutiny of others.
Fish Maw disease is the illness caused by Vét tặc’s Fish Roe poisoning, Victims of this illness grow hard, transparent, fish-maw-like swellings on their skin, which gives the disease its name.
For an adult of average health, consumption of half a cáp (100 milliliter) of poison or less is considered a light poisoning. Those with this condition may experience symptoms such as bodily aches, overall decline in stamina and mental clarity. They may not exhibit any case of Fish Maw tumors.
Consumption of one cáp (200 milliliter) of poison or more is considered a serious poisoning. Those with this condition may experience symptoms such as lethargy, overall decline in stamina and mental clarity, shortened life span, and Fish Maw tumors of different types.
Fish Limb Condition
Fish Maw Disease is transmittable from parent to child during pregnancy, labor and delivery. It cannot be passed on through breastfeeding. Patients who inherited the disease through childbirth exhibit different symptoms to those infected by direct contact with the poison. To discern between the two, infection of this type is called Fish Maw Limbs.
Patients of Fish Maw Limbs may experience low physical stamina, increased susceptibility to other illnesses, poor memory, and a specific type of Fish Maw tumors. Unlike cases of infection by poisoning, where the tumors grow on the skin of the patient first then develop inwards, second generation patients are born with fish-maw-like shells in the shape of the body part they take the place of, rendering these parts stiff and unusable. How Fish Maw Limbs manifest in these patients typically correlate to how the tumors are situated on the parents’ body. For example, an infected parent having a Fish Maw tumor on the right arm may give birth to a child with a Fish Maw right arm.
To commemorate and celebrate their victory in the Vét invasion, the people of Nam Bình observe the Defeating Vét festival, also called Song Phát (Double Luck) Festival in the Capital. The festival happens yearly and lasts 3 days, from the 5th to 7th of November. Different areas in Nam Bình celebrating each day differently.
In Hoàng Thành (Golden City—where the palace is located), Capital, the First day is the Defeating Vét festival, or also called the Weapon Cleanse festival. Locals line up around a paper puppet of a Vét, bringing a household tool with them (this may be a hammer, a sickle, a knife, a hoe, etc). They will then take turn to stab or slash the puppet, once each. This act signifies turning the tool into a demon-killing weapon. The blessed tool can be placed by the door of their house as a protection object against demons. This is also commonly done in other areas.
The Second day is the day of the New Emperor, as after the war against Vét, a new heavensborn emperor rose to the throne. On this day, there will be many parades and theatre plays recounting the exciting story of the new emperor's descension from heaven and ascension to the throne.
On the last day, all locals convene to cook and eat together. During and after the Vét invasion, there is a huge shortage in food, due to Vét's destruction of crops using poison and killing of livestock. This event is to wish for bountiful harvest and food for the coming year.
An incredibly dangerous and vicious creature. 100 years ago, they landed in Nam Bình in large swathes, terrorize and slaughter people all over the country.
After 10 grim years of war, the people of Nam Bình successfully defeated and drove away the invading Vét. This was also the event that ushered in an era of fear and hostility against ghosts and demons.
Vét is a transcription of what the creatures call themselves in their own language. People of Nam Bình calls them “vét” using the word for plunder or ticks. Usually, they get called a plethora of different names, such as Vét demons, Doghead Vét, Umbrellahead demon, Dồ (local word for umbrella) head demon, even testicle head. Overall, they often get called unsavory names. This way of calling Vét "demons" is also the main reason Nam Bình developed a deep fear for the nonhumans.
There are a few recorded paintings of Vét, in which they are depicted to be taller than 2 meters, with twisted limbs.
One of the many cruel ways Vét use to massacre was the use of a poison that Nam Bình calls Fish roe poison. While all Vét are defeated or driven away, there is still a large number of poison left behind, entering the living environment of the common people, or lives inside people's vein.
