CharmingOwl

Hechun’s court is the city surrounding the large palace of Hechun, where the supreme being of the universe resides over the celestial bureaucracy. Hechun’s court has many tall pagodas, temples, tea houses and architecture resembling the Song dynasty in different marble colors, with most being golden or light blue. The House of Wisdom and The Library of Alexandria still exist in Hechun’s court, as well as libraries with more knowledge than humanity has ever attained. There is no official dress code, but a handful choose to wear robes and futou to feel immersed within the experience of the city. Others wear more modern styles with most just appearing how they normally do. The offices of various spirits and gods serving under Hechun also exist in this city, with the owls flying around delivering messages and transporting sensitive documents. The city has underground hedonistic activities, but there is a large sphere of intense light right above the city where souls go when they break free from the cycle of rebirth, so there is never darkness in Hechun’s Court. Anything that does not conform to the heavenly appearance of the city is also hidden to prevent the mood from visitors who arrive and to maintain their prestigious image. The city is also elevated against others with stairs leading up to it as it sits on a platform of ancient beige bricks. This makes the city nearly impossible to attack but no sensible deity has ever attempted to do so. Hechun’s Court is located directly above the city of ancestors in the underworld, the hall of honor beneath it, Earth, and the punishment pits at the bottom of existence. Nirvana sits above it, and all who break free from rebirth pass through the city on their way.

To meditate with Hechun, imagine yourself inside his large chamber. There are pillars made of jade, carved wood and decorated screens behind his marble throne. His robes are the color of gold with brown wooden floors and red walls with oriental accents. Imagine yourself meditating, with Hechun in his throne in front of you slightly above. His energy may not do what you expect at all, but it will bring a great improvement to your life. You will probably also see celestial owls, dragons, unicorns, narwhals, or other celestial beings such as celestial maidens or officials appointed by Hechun. It is difficult to imagine his face because the supreme being is so distant from us, but you may see a white beard or a placeholder as well as his hat. You may also just see a being made of pure light wearing yellow robes and an emperor hat. He may give you scrolls which grant you spiritual understanding or he may give you other treasures. He does not need offerings but appreciates incense or rice as well as acts of kindness towards either the living or the dead.

Once upon a time, there was an evil black goo that was growing in the infinite void, and it needed to be stopped or it would spread negative energy all over the land of the spirits and gods. Hechun created a woman from mirror and glass so the black goo would not see her and would be unable to attack her, and the woman of mirror was created. For what felt like decades to the gods, she fought the black goo and kept it from creeping into the underworld, but this war was eventually a stalemate. She went to get contributions from all the gods, and she was interested in certain contraptions that were being made and used to benefit the goddess of honey and bees. They were black and yellow automatons that were used to collect honey, and take it to their queen. She saw potential, and she purchased the blueprint from her in order to produce these same kind of automatons with modifications. From this, the machines of glass were created.

After setting up a factory and mass-producing machines of glass, they were sent out to fight the endless war against the black goo. They were very successful and nearly wiped it out, but it became smarter and began masquerading itself as ghosts, gods, or people. Soon, they got inside and began sabotaging hell as well as sucking energy away from the gods. They were purged, but the event notified the woman of mirror that no visitor to the underworld could be trusted. She created mirror men to patrol the woods and not allow any visitor in or out of the underworld. It was decided that if someone truly is not a manifestation of black goo, they would be smart enough to sneak past the security. This was a controversial decision but it was effective, as the underworld was kept safe from the growth outside, and it remains in control even to this day.

You can ask the woman of mirror for glass machines to be spirit companions or simply call upon those who have left her service. They will want you to send healing energies towards them for repair, and they are extremely loyal to any who choose to lead them. They may appear as glass flying objects. Sometimes as glass insects and some resemble frisbees or gemstones of various shapes such as pyramids or cylinders. Some take humanoid forms or as birds or other flying animals. Some even choose to appear as glass fish or change their colors.

When the mirror woman of hell created machines of glass for war, she found it easier to discard the maimed survivors of war rather than repair them, since she could create new ones easier than repairing ones that had already been damaged. The damaged machines left her service and bounced from town to town, rejected because they were weapons of war and because they had fought against many of those residing in the various cities of hell. They founded the city of Scrapyard, where discarded machines go to live out the rest of their days, or where sentient machines go to escape servitude. The machines did not have emotions, but a very talented artist and roboticist in the underworld was able to create something for them.

An automaton heart is an energetic construct that attaches to the soul of a person and floods them with emotions that are appropriate for the situation they are in. Most can be set to be purely positive but many automatons choose to get hearts that accurately reflect what the average person would experience in a situation even if it is negative.

Automaton hearts have two variants. The first is the radiation based model which appears like a lantern, but has a strong energy inside metal and paper which gives its user emotions by radiating energies from inside of their chest. These are the most common types of automaton hearts and are the easiest to mass produce due to their simplistic design and method of function. The second kind are the more complex mechanical ones for those who need access to more complex emotions and sentimentality. These appear as metal or gemstone hearts with valves, pistons, gears, or outlets, circuitry, or wires. Users of complex hearts typically tend to have lots of conflicting emotions but are also better at reading social situations and responding appropriately to complex topics. These are primarily used for therapists drones or those caring with people for PTSD or other conditions that require them.

To cast a spell of automaton heart on yourself, go ahead and invite it into your heart center. You may not need one if your heart chakra is functioning but otherwise it will simply boost it. While meditating, call upon the exiled robots or the engineers of the spirit world to grant you an automaton heart.

When a person is in a coma or in a situation where they are unconscious with a large group of people, they go to the borderland. The borderland, also sometimes called Underland, Wonderland, or the land of games is a place where people between life and death are sent to play death games. Because the thetan is considered foreign to the borderland, they have a visa that must be extended by winning games, with those losing being eliminated and dying. Upon clearing enough games, every person is given the option to return to the land of the living or stay and become a citizen of the world, not needing to do anything to survive but usually designing the games that are played in the borderland as well as having a say in its design which changes every cycle.

The Borderland does not have a consistent design because it is an arena. What is usually done is that six cities are chosen for its design, and the downtown areas of the chosen cities are made into a kind of theme park for the next cycle of players that will participate. It must be walkable since there won’t be cars and even the subways are unlikely to work or be useful to most of the people participating since the tunnels will have activities hosted inside of them. Some arenas are based off of cities in the underworld, the celestial bureaucracy, or even cities deeper in the astral planes. Some are even made by artists or reflect natural environments in different directions (Though this is uncommon and usually buildings are added for playability).

Baron Blackjack and Maman Meche are able to help any person who finds themselves in the borderland, and any person in a coma should be given lucky items such as dice, cards, poker chips, or anything else that will make it easier for them to complete any games. It is theoretically possible to escape the borderland but the baron tells me this just results in people becoming ghosts and has the same effect as losing, with many unable to cling to the land of the living long enough to return to their physical bodies. However, the borderland is only there for those who completed their set lifetimes and have a strong desire to stay past their agreed date of exit.

Borderland citizens or Borderlanders are not usually the most sane of spirits because being around constant death games takes a toll on their sanity, and many choose to pass on soon after becoming citizens. The ones who enjoy it and stay longer are the ones who take death less seriously and see it as a form of just losing a game or being eliminated from a competition.