Jingwon Lore: Official Story

Growing up a butcher’s son was hardly an auspicious beginning to the life of one of the Yakai Rebellion’s most infamous figures. Jingwon’s father was pressed into service by the Mikage Autocracy as a cook for its armies. Jingwon was an apprentice to his father, focusing on learning his cuts and perfecting his stews as a means of surviving the misery and brutality of the ongoing war against the revolution sweeping Yakai.

Jingwon’s father passed away not long after his son came of age, and Jingwon was given no choice other than to take up where his father had left off. He grew strong, hefting carcasses and hacking bone, and learned the best way to slaughter and butcher, how best to cleave flesh or hack open throats. Soon he was leading the cooks assigned to the army of the Mikage general Zenshi the Talon.

Even among the Demonspawn, Zenshi was an infamously cruel and uncompromising commander. A hulking brute, he led campaigns through pro-rebellion areas, torching villages and killing indiscriminately. Throughout it, Jingwon’s heart hardened as he was an unwilling witness to the violence the Mikage so readily employed.

Zenshi’s depredations drew an uncompromising response from the rebellion. Guerrillas struck the army’s supply lines, harried its flanks mercilessly, and brutalized those they captured. The Mikage vanguard would pass through new territory, only to find the scouts they had thought were ranging ahead to be nailed to trees along the roadside. There were three separate assassination attempts on Zenshi, and many of his lieutenants were eliminated.

Zenshi’s army quickly deteriorated, with many of the mortals that made up the main body of the soldiery deserting, which only made Zenshi more ruthless. Those caught fleeing were tortured before being publicly executed. Discontent swept the lower ranks, a feeling which Jingwon shared. With supplies lacking, and with most of the surrounding countryside torched, he had no food to feed Zenshi’s host. He had never wished to serve the Mikage in the first place.

The final straw came when Zenshi issued his vilest command to date. Aware of the supply problems, he ordered cannibalistic decimation – one in ten of the common soldiers were to be killed and consumed by their comrades, an order greeted with revulsion by even the most battle-hardened of the Autocracy’s Human warriors.

That evening, Zenshi held a council of the army’s few surviving commanders, many of them dining on the last, hoarded food. Zenshi had the temerity to complain about what Jingwon was serving, and the butcher’s son flew into a starved rage. Snatching Zenshi’s great war ax, he cleaved the Demonspawn’s hand off where it rested upon the table, and roared at him to feast on that if he so wished.

When Zenshi’s lieutenants bellowed at the starved Human guards to seize Jingwon, the mortals instead drew their swords against the Demonspawn. After a ferocious struggle, Jingwon emerged from the council with Zenshi’s bloodied helmet held aloft, and gave a great cry of triumph. Desperate mortals who witnessed this, realizing what was occurring, rallied to him and turned on their masters, and rebellion swept through the camp. By the end of the fighting, all those loyal to Zenshi had been killed or driven off. The surviving mortals elected Jingwon as their leader. He claimed much of Zenshi’s armor, including his great horned helm. He also took up the Demonspawn’s ax and shield, nailing Zenshi’s severed hand to it, before declaring his intention to join the rebellion.

Years passed, with Jingwon trading in his butcher’s trade for the deadlier butchery of the battlefield, discovering that they were not so different. The leaders of the rebellion were impressed not only by his size and the skill with which he wielded his ax, but also by his cold willingness to strike down the rebellion’s enemies, whoever they were. He established himself as an enforcer, responsible for the difficult task of suppressing the inevitable internal difficulties and differences that plagued such a major uprising. It was said that he would leave Zenshi’s hand outside the tents of any threatening the rebellion with disharmony, and that waking up to the sight of the trophy was enough to quell almost any hint of unrest.

Jingwon’s duties only grew more vital after the rebellion finally triumphed. The rebellion’s leaders set about consolidating their strength and removing any outliers who might threaten the stability of the new kingdom, even among those they had once fought alongside. Jingwon was the perfect tool for the new establishment – nothing could be allowed to threaten the rebellion’s legacy, lest the Autocracy return.

Zenshi’s severed hand remained a potent symbol of authority in Yakai, but traitors were not Jingwon’s only concern. It was only a matter of time before Zenshi returned, and the former butcher’s son looked forward to the day when he could add Zenshi’s second hand to the first.