The Magic of Kara Tur and the Wu Jen

Wandering along the trade road, the morning mist still enveloping the landscape, I spotted a figure in the distance. A farmer, by the looks of him, his cautious stride speaking volumes about the wilderness that bordered his lands—a place frequented by raiding bands of horselord warriors.

Dressed in my usual traveling attire—a dark tunic and trousers, a blue cape, and a leather chest piece adorned with three large ruby gems—I approached the farmer, my staff and heavy journal strapped to my waist.

"Good morning," I said, offering a respectful nod as I greeted him in the old Kara-Tur dialect.

The farmer looked me over, his eyes narrowing slightly as he assessed the situation. He returned my nod but remained cautious, his wariness understandable.

Once I could see he understood the language, I decided to share a bit about myself and my travels in a non-intrusive manner, hoping to ease his apprehension. "I've wandered through many lands and seen countless wonders," I remarked, opening my heavy journal to reveal sketches and notes from my journeys.

The farmer glanced at the journal briefly, his interest piqued but his guard still up, I could see he tried to read the text, but in Kara-Tur they use the draconic alphabet to record their language. Looking over the pages. he nodded politely, his demeanor cautious but respectful. Recalling the Bedine tea ritual I had learned while exploring the Anauroch desert, I suggested we stop to share a pot of tea together, and the farmer nodded, so I set up a simple tea set on a flat rock by the side of the road; I brewed the tea with care and he looked at every illustration and map in my journal. Handing him a cup, I offered a silent toast to whatever gods happened to be watching and we settled down to a nice chat. Curious about the local area and its inhabitants, I asked about any recent tales or legends. His responses were brief but informative, revealing snippets of local lore and cautionary tales that shed light on the challenges of living on the borderlands. It seemed every story he told involved the loss of some relative, friend or well-regarded person, but still, I sensed that indomitable human spirit, here was a man who had fought to the death to defend his family and home on more than one occasion. He was weathered not just from years working in the hot eastern sun, but his bronzed skin, wide facial features, and carefully groomed black hair all identified him as a member of the Shou people, one of the oldest branches of the many human empires, they had occupied the lands of Kara-tur for tens of thousands of years.

As we finished our tea and bid farewell, the farmer's demeanor remained cautious but not unfriendly, his eyes still wary but no longer suspicious of me, rather just back to carefully watching his environment. It was a good start, I felt.

As I traveled across Kara-tur, I was inside the nation of Shou Lung. The largest and most powerful empire in Kara-Tur, the whole time, I did hear a lot about the island nation of Wa, as that was where the sage I met later was from, and she summoned the Arcanoloth daemon that instructed me on the magic of Kara-Tur.

One thing is evident when you travel into Shou-lung and take the time to appreciate the landscape: the people who have worked the land for generations have done so under the influence of those who know about the Weave and the flow of natural energies, the townships blend into the natural landscape, the fields and roads, trade centers and government temples are all arranged around Ley lines and ancient sacred sites, of particular interest was the migration of immortal Nagas to this region of the continent long ago in the days of the empires of scales, they remained free from the pestering of the Yuan-ti and from the Batrachi empire that rose up after the fall of the Sarrukh, sauroid rulers of the serpent folk and scaly kind. There are rumors that many spirit nagas and doppelgangers are operating behind the scenes in some of the most ancient institutions of arcane studies; perhaps that explains the Shou-lung love of wavey lines and stepped fields of rich and vibrant, hardy vegetables. Trade all across Kara-Tur ensures that fresh, exotic fruit is much more commonly available than in the Forgotten Realms region, even without the advantage of an inland sea to speed along delicate trade goods and produce.

The Shou-lung people once had a great brick wall all along the border with the desert I appeared to walk out of that misty morning, but it's gone now; miraculously, some great dragon spirit was trapped inside it and got free a hundred years ago my details on that are a bit sketchy, but I did see a lot of brick walls and buildings, so, perhaps the local people just repurposed the ruined wall? They seem very practical regarding that sort of thing; you can't just leave ruins and valuable bricks lying about the place.

The Shou people have dwelled in the east for a very long time and their culture is quite different from the lands to the west, first, they live in a world where heaven, their celestial empire, is a vast mirror of the empire of Shou Lung, with its own bureaucracy, government and emperor, holding spiritual authority over all of Kara-Tur, this situation has influenced their entire culture, and all subsequent religions and teachings that have come after, so even if a person there doesn't dedicate their life to any particular faith, they all basically know that Heaven is real and they need to prepare themselves for eventually ending up in the afterlife.

Religions are quite different; there are three main belief groups, the Way, The Path of Enlightenment, and veneration of the Nine Immortals, The teachings of the Way (now see if this sounds familiar) say that there are no separate forces of good, evil, chaos, and law, but only interconnected and interrelated forces that followers of the Way can shape. Its followers are divided into a Dark Way and a Light Way and yes, it operates and sounds very much like the force from Star Wars, but with Yin-Yang symbols and most who follow they way are neutral in their outlook, rather than going to extremes in either dark or light actions, after all, its all supposed to be about peace, harmony and eternal order after all. Interestingly, more of the Wu-jen, the Arcane spellcasters, practice The Way than the Shukenja, the mostly divine spellcasters, but, We-jen are not like the trained wizards of the Western Realms, they don't attend wizard schools or academies, they have to seek out a Wu-jen and learn from them, figuring a lot of their magic use on their own, so, they are a bit sorcerer, a bit wizard, a bit druid and a bit monk. The followers of the Way are primarily responsible for research and spreading of mystical knowledge in general, but they will often be the Wu-jen who are either more open to sharing their knowledge, or taking knowledge being jealously guarded by others for their own power and reputation, both actions in the way, while opposed ethically, do still spread knowledge.

Magic in Shou Lung is viewed through the lens of tradition and ritual, with a focus on elemental magic, divination, and the manipulation of energy flows. Shukenja (divine spellcasters) and Wu Jen (arcane spellcasters) are revered for their abilities and often serve important roles within the imperial court and religious institutions.

The Shou people practice a blend of ancestor veneration, nature worship, and philosophical traditions that emphasize harmony with the universe. To them, the universe exists in a perfect and eternal balance, as long as everyone follows the rules and respects traditions, things will continue to run smoothly, or at least, not get any more broken. So, for your average Shou person, the universe and the celestial court is Indifferent, its a system, a machine, they are either cogs in that machine, or they are vital components that are destined to perform some task in their life, depending on your level of pessimism. But the whole point of Shou lung is that the empire is eternal, it certainly is doing well, so far its about three thousand years old and there have been over 70 emperors, and the troubles with bordering islands and a few smaller nations have not been very serious lately, so, things look as stable as always in Shou Lung, which is just the way they like it. 

The official state religion of Shou Lung is the Path of Enlightenment, or the True Path, its a codex of behaviors created by the Celestial Emperor in order that the mortal world and the Celestial Heaven mirror one another, maintaining order and the slow, eternal quest for attaining perfection. Basically, it's the Ten Commandments, the nine cardinal virtues, the attainment of a good heavenly credit rating on your right deeds and correct actions meter. So, its more like eastern catholicism, except the pope is actually god and cardinals are demigods and everyone knows how to use the three seashells. It's religion by state-printed pamphlets and very much wants everyone to believe that the mortal authorities also carry the authority of the afterlife, so you better stay out of trouble, or you might literally be sentenced to one of their many bespoke hells.

I'm not going to be going into any great detail about the Shukenja, divine spellcasters, or the gods of Kara-Tur, but I will drop this little bombshell on your lap.

Kara-Tur is not governed by the Overgod known as Ao, it is governed by another overgod entity known as The Celestial Emperor and it is from that entity that the entire celestial empire influences and shapes Kara-Tur, its culture and its divine magic, even the existence of dragons is governed by the Overgod there, but, our focus today is the Wu Jen, and the arcane traditions and practices of modern Kara-Tur, also, how you can include these concepts easily into your game, to represent that Kara-Tur and the Empire of Shou Lung is not on the other side of the world, a completely unknown land, ignored by the west; Far from it! Kara-tur trades with the West, and people from there live in the West and share their culture; in some places, it blends to make a whole new culture, and you get some pretty interesting player character options if you really embrace the idea that, yes, Kara-Tur is real and it should form a part of the overall vibe of Toril.

Of course, one way to explore Kara-tur culture in your game is to create and run characters from there; some cliche examples include the Wu Jen Wanderer, a traveler who has sought out ancient mentors to learn the ways of elemental magic, blending sorcery, wizardry, and druidic traditions. You could play an Imperial Agent,  A member of the imperial bureaucracy trained in diplomacy, espionage, and martial arts, serving as a loyal servant of the Celestial Emperor, or you could play a legitimate Cultural Ambassador who has studied foreign cultures and serves as a bridge between Shou lung and the Western Realms, promoting continued peace, cooperation and most importantly, trade. A Mystical Merchant who sells exotic goods from far to the east is another great option, just the idea that your character could have this serious arsenal of magic items for trade or sale, along with strange food, drinks and weird animals or plants from their homeland and basically see adventuring as a way to refresh their trade inventory. You also have the traveling guide, seer, healer, and channeller of divine wisdom and celestial insight, the Shukenja, who protects communities when they must but also seeks out new wisdom, experiences, and chances to turn people towards the Path to Enlightenment. I like to think they give out little scrolls that contain the rules for right living and espouse the importance of your mortal life as a chance to earn a better afterlife. I'll suggest a few alterations you can make to existing 5th edition classes to give them some traits reflecting a different cultural origin.

So in the west, spell casters look at the invisible energy flows and interactions of the cosmos, and they give it a persona and venerate it as a god, but in the end, their attitude towards the weave through their history has been an exploitive one, because their magical traditions were manipulated by powerful and immortal ancient beings from long lost civilizations, the oldest being mighty primordial beings which have departed the prime material plane and now reside in higher dimensions, where they can live in multiple alternate realities at the same time, oh, and they sealed off they path behind them, so mortal beings in the D&D multiverse can't attain a state of being powerful enough to alter multiple universes at the same time, and can never achieve a state where they can detect and track the activities of the primordials, because they are basically needles in a haystack of infinite alternate realities, and in return the primordials can see absolutely everything going on, including alternate courses of events, which are real locations they can travel to and interact with, so, in dungeons and dragons cosmology, the Primordials never really did stop creating, playing with and destroying universes, they just made it so none of their toys could ever really hurt them... they are running their holodeck with the safety protocols switched on, so to speak. 

In the East, the invisible flows of energy, wind, heat, water, electromagnetic currents, migrations, eclipses, conjunctions, powerful events in the creation or destruction of life, strongly emotive events or objects, the normal day to day activity patterns of all things are not seen as just, the weave, this thing to be used like fuel that will just take care of and replenish itself. Instead, the Eastern spellcasters see all these energy flows as separate things that must exist and support each other in harmony. Thus, their rituals can involve things like altering the landscape and building structures designed to direct and amplify the flow of energy in order to siphon some from that flow to power magical enchantments. Eastern magic has a far more nuanced and subtle approach to using all available resources and the spellcasters tend to think of themselves as just as much a component and energy source as anything else, so the Wu Jen are known to have many weird habits, dietary restrictions, odd behaviors which they firmly believe purifies them enough to create certain types of magic or reach the higher levels of magical power.

After parting ways from the farmer, I headed deeper into Shou Lung, where I encountered a Wu Jen named Lian, a man of impressive stature with a serene demeanor. We met at a marketplace, both looking over some curious items a villager said they had retrieved from their local town. Lian's appearance was striking, with long black hair pulled back in a ponytail and deep-set eyes that seemed to hold the wisdom of ages. His robes were adorned with intricate patterns representing the elements, a good indicator that he had mastery over elemental magic. Lian's voice was calm and measured as he spoke of his travels and experiences. He shared stories of his encounters with spirits, adventures in ancient temples, and studies under wise mentors' guidance. His knowledge of the arcane was vast, encompassing divination, demonology, and the manipulation of natural energies. 

What struck me most about Lian was his unique approach to magic. Unlike traditional spellcasters, Lian drew power directly from the world around him, tapping into ley lines and ancient sacred sites to amplify his abilities, he could also tap into his own energy, describing his efforts to purify and strengthen his body as simply improving the universal spell component. he was acutely aware of signs and portents in the world around him, which was much like the habits of a cleric, who constantly looked for signs from their gods. 

As I spent more time with the Wu Jen, it became evident that his abilities were far from ordinary. His mastery over elemental magic was not just a skill but a way of life, deeply ingrained in every aspect of his being. His practices, while subtle, were a testament to the unique traits and abilities that set the Wu Jen apart from other spellcasters.

The Wu Jen's approach to magic was deeply ritualistic, focusing on the manipulation of natural energies and elemental forces, forces which he said were just as alive as he or I, and that elemental creatures should be shown respect in any form they take, as they are all a part of a whole, and are connected in a delicate balance or eternal order, much too vast for little mortal minds to fathom. Unlike traditional wizards who memorized spells from tomes and scrolls, the Wu Jen drew power directly from the world around him, tapping into ley lines and ancient sacred sites to amplify his abilities.

His expertise in divination was remarkable, allowing him to peer into the future and unravel the mysteries of the unknown. He often used this skill to seek guidance from the spirit world, consulting ancestral spirits and elemental guardians for wisdom and insight.

Demonology was another area of expertise for the Wu Jen, though his approach was far from the dark and malevolent practices often associated with the summoning of demons. Instead, he saw demons as powerful entities that could be bound and controlled through arcane rituals, used to protect against malevolent forces or to gain forbidden knowledge.

Lian's understanding of the spirit world was extensive, allowing him to communicate with and manipulate spirits to aid his endeavors.  He showed me that by simply burning the ritual Joss paper, in its many many different forms, from folded shapes of animals and objects, to illustrations of equipment and also he described as a paper currency they use instead of silver coins and trade bars, all of which is burned in simple rituals and manifest actual items, creatures and wealth within the Ethereal and to a limited extent within the Astral planes, also it was possible for Lian to burn the tiny illustration of a sword, then moments later, the thing appeared in his hand, as real as can be. 

In addition to his magical prowess, Lian possessed a deep knowledge of the natural world. His keen eye for detail ensured that he never missed an opportunity to harness the energies of the world around him, gathering rare herbs and ingredients essential for his rituals. And what rituals! I thought I had a very good grasp on ritual magic, but Liams mastery over ritual casting was unparalleled, allowing him to apply metamagic effects to his spells in ways that defied my western conventional understanding. As he performed his rituals, I could see him manipulating the weave of magic, bending the very fabric of reality to his will but being super careful not to cause any lasting disruption or damage.

Despite his formidable abilities, Lian remained humble and focused. His dedication to his craft was evident in every gesture, every incantation, and every ritual he performed.

As we parted ways, Lian's parting words resonated with me, he said the West is the frontier of Kara-Tur, and civilisation was coming, hopefully before another empire falls, to which I replied "What empire?" and he just said "Exactly,nature doesn't like unfilled seats at the table, if we don't take control of the whole continent, we will lose the west, you must know this great sage"

I simply nodded, and we carried on with our lives.

My name is AJ Pickett, thanks for joining me, if you are interested in D&D lore, learning about the Forgotten Realms and the Dungeons and Dragons Multiverse, including a massive archive of monster ecology videos, please subscribe to the channel and consider supporting me on Patreon, thank you for liking the video and as always, I will be back with more for you, very soon.