A phenomenon that appears to people with a deep longing, unrequited love, in the shape of their target of affection's back.
The Faceback shows up in remote and secluded areas, taking the form of a person (human or otherwise) from behind. It does not make any sound or respond when called on. If one tries to get closer to them and walk to where it would have been their front, they will see the same back facing them, as if it is a back from every angle.
The target loses a bit of their longing every time they touch the Faceback. Enough interaction with it will cost the person their entire memory and knowledge of their own love. The Faceback is otherwise harmless, and all it seems to feed on is the unrequited feelings for its “victim”.
It cannot be harmed, any physical or spiritual attack would pierce through the silhouette, and the Faceback disperses into thin air. However, it may reappear to the "victim” at a later time.
Those who does not wish to forget such feelings are recommended to ignore the Faceback entirely, without touching or speaking to it. This way, the Faceback will slowly stop appearing to the target over time.
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...
Know-It-Alls are informants on all things spiritual: Gods, ghosts, mediums, and the likes. They serve as information hubs for divine and Heavenly mediums who are hunting down ghosts. They are often not affiliated with each other. Some carry specialized information that makes them exclusive in the field. However, it’s possible that they have a network of information to exchange, coordinate and control the field. Exclusive Know-It-Alls are also very particular about their way of selling information.
Hoa Linh (she/her) is a haughty tailor in Thái An who moonlights as a Know-It-All. When she's selling information, he is called “Brother Lĩnh” (he/him), and speaks warmly, without a southern accent like Hoa Linh does. He is the main (and most popular) Know-It-All in the Central area.
Phan Xình (he/they) is a knife and scissor sharpener in the South. He has the Eye of Yin Yang (the ability to see ghosts) and so was able to attain many exclusive information himself. A dull and easily startled person.
Tạ Chu Cận (she/her) is a traveling musician and Know-It-All in the north. She sings about stories you never heard of before, including one about 2 girls named Nhật and Nguyệt. All information sold are told in songs, which may be hard to understand and can be misinterpreted.
Comparison:
—Brother Lĩnh: only accepts trade of information as payment; he is stationary and therefore easy to find. Top pick for information on Heavenly mediums and Central area divine mediums.
—Phan Xình: moves around a lot, accepts money as payment. Top pick for information on local (Tiên Lữ, Phù Dung area) ghosts and divine mediums.
—Tạ Chu Cận: songs are hard to understand, sometimes does not give you what you want. Top pick for information on Northern ghosts and olden spiritual cultivation.
Mĩ Chu is a Kalavinka, a half human half beast creature with an exquisite ethereal voice. Legends told they can sing from their unhatched egg. Her voice carries a lot of spiritual energy that can cleanse people's soul. Spiritual beings and cultivators can increase their cultivation.
Can quickly learn human's and other species' speech due to their intelligence.
There are a lot of bird or bird-based beasts and spirits in Nam Bình, this is because of an ancient legend about a phoenix that turns into little fire bursts upon its death. These fire bursts full of spiritual energy fell down to the eastern mountains, and give many birds enough Juice to become a spiritual being, even cultivate a human form. There are 100 bird beasts/spirits born from phoenix fire.
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.
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.
