#kalinag

[thangkas]

SHANGRI-LA. ( 1 / 4 )

And you were chosen to paint my thangka? My journey to Shangri-La?

I was young. As warrior to the Kyrati King, I had only just earned my name. Kalinag. I had trained to be the King's protector but he selected me for something quite different. I was sent to find Shangri-La, paradise on earth. His obsession. And I was ready.

Tell me, how can your thangka show the impossible? The only way you can witness paradise… is to live it.

My path here had been long and difficult. I'd seen things… done things… I'd wish on no one. But I was a fool to think that paradise was immune to suffering. The Tiger had seen bloodshed. He was a being born from another world. A Protector. Impaled by the tooth of a massive beast…

There had been a great battle in the forest. The tiger, defending his home. But from what?

Demons had invaded Shangri-La… not of this earth, not of clear mind. Someone… something wanted Shangri-La for themselves. The Tiger had returned from the dead. Not to save my life, but to gain an ally. 

I'd grown up with prayer wheels my entire life, but these looked as if built for gods, such was their size. I soon realized the miracles I'd witnessed were not simply for my amusement. Shangri-La was attempting to protect itself from evil. And guiding me to its defense...

[blahaj-ch]

Rakshasa

[stuffedeggplants]

While the Shangri-La missions are great at introducing us to an important figure in Kyrati culture and mythology, I think their purpose might also be to contrast Kalinag’s journey with Amita and Sabal’s in order to talk about their characters and say something about the larger story. I’m still trying to work this out and I haven’t done the last Shangri-La mission yet, so let me know what you all think!

In the third mission, Kalinag talks about how the longer he stays in Shangri-La, the more he loses his identity and forgets his original purpose, who he is and his people, etc. He begins to feel “more at home” there than in his actual home, Kyrat. He also talks about how your state of mind determines your reality, and that Shangri-La itself is a state of mind. He comes to the conclusion that he can’t abandon his people and identity in favor of just mentally existing in some manifestation of paradise, cut off from everything else but his own enjoyment. Then he would be like a Rakshasa, literally only there for himself, and the corrupting influence of that mindset is visible in physical changes and butchery all over Shangri-La, consequences of the demons that have invaded it. This is important because though Kalinag never came to Shagri-La with bad intentions, he recognizes that he could make a choice to stay there that would only have selfish outcomes that don’t actually help anyone. So Kalinag decides to free Shangri-La from the demons and return to Kyrat and his people.

What did Amita and Sabal originally want? What was their purpose? Amita would probably say that she wants to emancipate the women of Kyrat and modernize the country, transforming it in ways that will improve the lives of all its citizens with economic and educational opportunities they could never have had before, all while throwing away superstition and cultural institutions that only oppress others. Sabal might frame his goals as wanting to protect Kyrati heritage and traditional centers of community, honoring the goddess Kyra and restoring and strengthening a cultural identity that’s undergone twenty years of damage as Pagan Min destroys religious sites and seeks to replace ancient cultural symbols like Kalinag with himself.

At some point--maybe before the game even starts?--Sabal and Amita both lose sight of their original goals like Kalinag admits almost happened to him, but while Kalinag was self-aware and realized he had to stay grounded to his true purpose and walk away from an implied path that would only lead to suffering like the Rakshasas brought to Shangri-La--or at least a path that wouldn’t actually help anyone--Sabal and Amita never have this realization. If your state of mind determines your reality, then they’re both so stuck in their own worlds and in their own concept of the right path for Kyrat that they’re both completely blind to the terrible nature of the place that leads them. 

Like Kalinag, neither of them started their journey with explicitly “bad” intentions, but they fail to realize that having good intentions does not mean you always make good decisions or achieve good outcomes. They can’t see past their own egos (maybe?) and don’t even try, so while Kalinag realizes that the path he feels inertia is leading him down is actually negative and rejects it, Amita and Sabal are unable to conceive of their choices on the road to liberate Kyrat as being fundamentally mistaken or wrong. They’re unable to look back, reassess, and see that they’re running roughshod over human rights to achieve once positive goals. They replace one evil with another and in the end both turn out like the Rakshasas, corrupting something that was supposed to be good. 

[lulu2992]

Inktober 2019, Day 1: Ring.

“As a child, my father told me stories of the Bells of Shangri-La. Their ring purged evil from the land.” - Kalinag

A Bell of Enlightenment, from Far Cry 4.

[thangkas]

SHANGRI-LA. ( 2 / 4 )

I couldn't believe my eyes. The statue of Kyra revealed the first of the mythical Bells of Shangri-La. But the Bell did not ring. Possessed by an unknown force, the prayer wheel spun at an incredible speed. As if in conversation, Kyra lowered her arms in response. Something here was missing. As though one of the statues had simply decided to spread its wings and fly. The tower of leaves called on me to step closer. A staircase to the sky. Each spin of a prayer wheel cleared a path through Shangri-La. I felt my skills sharpen. My focus narrow. But where that path would lead remained a mystery.

The King had given me a simple mission: find Shangri-La and return to Kyrat. But curiosity had drawn me into a hunt for the unknown demon; the Rakshasa that controlled all of Shangri-La. I could feel my path and Shangri-La's future intertwine.

The King had sent many seekers to find Shangri-La. We wondered if they lived the rest of their days in paradise, or met their deaths.

I was closer to the plague controlling this land. Whoever it was, knew I was coming. The King… my family… my life in Kyrat… was a distant memory. As if in a trance, I'd committed to freeing Shangri-La from evil. To turn back was not an option. But to move forward, was to let go.

I often questioned whether I should continue on this path. My formal duty to the king had ended upon discovering Shangri-La. But while my journey was born of duty, the land had given it purpose...

[thangkas]

SHANGRI-LA. ( 4 / 4 )

The stench of death, fear, and a dark, unknown world filled my senses. I could not stand idle as paradise descended into chaos. And it was failing. This Bell had been chained by a being of immeasurable strength. But even then I could sense its power.

As I approached I could sense the bell's power. I finally had my answer. It dawned on me then that no one would believe my story upon my return. Even you, painter of my own thangka. The truth is… I've never cared. What is the difference between myth and reality? If you are to paint my journey to Shangri-La, you must believe they are one and the same. When you see a miracle before your eyes… there is a strange comfort knowing you carry no answers. Shangri-La was a place that was not meant to be understood. Or controlled. It was meant to be free. This is why the laws of the natural world do not apply in this paradise.

The Bells were not enough to kill the Rakshasa. I knew then there was only one way my journey could end. I felt the weight of Shangri-La's past and future. A future unpainted– Until now. The Tiger knew the circle had to be completed.

I'm often asked, "Kalinag, why would you leave Shangri-La?" But the truth is, I never left. To believe in something beyond yourself. That is true paradise.

Shangri-La is within me, and within you.

Dear painter, is that enough for your Thangka?

[thangkas]

SHANGRI-LA. ( 3 / 4 )

Myths talked of ancient monks who journeyed to Shangri-La long ago. These monks tried to follow Kyra's path, and reached a great enlightenment. Some say they built these shrines and statues simply with the power of thought.

My identity as a Kyrati was slipping through my fingers. I began to feel more at home here than I did in Kyrat. But my heart knew that if I stayed, I was not so different from the Rakshasa. Time… time is a funny thing. I'd spent so much of it searching for Shangri-La, it never occurred to me how I'd spend it once I arrived. Shangri-La's beauty washed those memories away.

I had always thought of the world as what I could see and touch. But the Rakshasa's existence taught me my reality is only what my mind is prepared to accept. There were whole worlds I could not begin to understand. But Shangri-La would always provide a path where there was none.

The seekers were beginning to dwindle in number. I was approaching unexplored territory. I began to sense I had reached further in this journey than any who came before. I can't explain, but I sensed a connection between the Tiger and the spire that stood before me. The tiger had gone from one world to the next. It was as though I was leading him home.

The closer we came to the Rakshasa, the more twisted the world became. Like a moth to a flame, I was drawn to protect Shangri-La from darkness...

[thangkas]

A seeker's duty is to find this place, not defend it. A Kyrati seeker like myself, searching for this mythical land. Yet here he was, sacrificing his life for Shangri-La. As if intoxicated by paradise...

Seeing the fallen seeker made me wish the Tiger could speak of his history.  I wondered if any of these men had also been his ally in battle. If I would succeed where they had failed.

When I took his necklace, I felt a strange power surge through my body. The necklace was a great honor bestowed upon Kyrati warriors by the King. I vowed to return it to his family in Kyrat.

The King had sent many of his best warriors before. But none had returned. I had trained with Kaishin, his skill with the bow was unmatched. Yet here he was, killed without mercy. It seems he had given his life for this place. Was he a window to my future?

I wondered about the beings that killed these men. Something was controlling them, manipulating them. A Rakshasa of power the likes of which I'd never seen.

The irony of the seekers frozen in time was not lost on me. Kyrati warriors dream of living forever. As legends told around campfires. I doubt this was the immortality they had in mind.