Fāxiàn Zhě

Miners who gather materials in special sacks that help draw out the menab'e within them, which they then convert to special objects that allow them to draw on the esoteric resource in different ways. "Fāxiàn zhě" means "discoverer".

The Mines

The dongxue nations control many mines deep under the surface of Shem that contain metals that are rich in menab'e, especially hongbaoshi, spinter, and ruddy copper. These mines require special tools for the extraction of these metals and ores, which are controlled by mining companies like the Luo Mining Company.

Gathering

The act of gathering menab'e can take many forms, but the primary form is through the work of the fāxiàn zhě. It is said they were the world's first miners, though this is disputed. What is known is that they first perfected the means of drawing menab'e from the ores they found. They discovered that certain metals resonated with certain other materials, and that they could shape them such that they would allow their inner resource flow into the person holding them.

Detecting

The ores containing spinter, ruddy copper, and so on are hard to distinguish from other ores without a special skill. A fāxiàn zhě can sense menab'e by the reverbrations created when they strike it with a pick or other heavy object. They detect the reverbrations on a machine that is a variant on an ancient seismograph.

The machine, called a dìzhèn yí, is complex. The device is a metallic vessel about 6" in diameter (though large, more accurate versions are upwards of 6' in diameter). It resembles a samovar. Most are ornately decorated with symbolic animals, plants, or fungi, but the mechanicsm is a vertical pin that goes through a slot in a crank. There is a catch device and a pivot on a stand within it. A pendulum is suspended on a sling, which is attached to the samovar. A horizontal bar supports the pendulum. In the ornamentation there are four specific figures that represent the four primary directions, plus two to represent up and down. Each of these has a ball in it - usually in a mouth of some animal figure - that falls out and lands in another figure within the samovar, usually an animal with mouths opened upward. A rod from the bottom of the samovar is planted in the ground to absorb the reverbrations.

Note: the device is based on an actual ancient Chinese seismograph from 132 BC.

Some of the fāxiàn zhě carry the device while others take small, flat stone clubs and strike the ore veins. If the dìzhèn yí reacts, the direction which is indicated by which ball drops shows where to start mining. The speed with which the pendulum swings indicates the strength of the menab'e in the ore.

Red Lamps

In more modern settings, the device may be replaced with special lamps that emit shebvic light. These lamps are computerized and present a digital display that flashes when menab'e is present. However, the technology to make these is extremely difficult to work with.

Mining

Once the ores are detected, the fāxiàn zhě begin to mine it using various mining tools. The primary tools are picks, shovels, chisels, carts, and rails. All of these must be made from unaligned materials, and the picks especially must be attuned to the work by washing them regularly in "mine water" - water mixed with dust from the menab'e-rich mines. Most important, though, are the sacks they carry, called hóng mádài. See below for more information.

Sifting

Some fāxiàn zhě do not mine, but sift ores and nuggets from rivers, creeks, or streams. They still use the dìzhèn yí, but it is adapted to water by having a propeller instead of a pendulum, and the rod that goes into the ground is planted into the riverbed. Sifting also requires special sifting pans that are made of neutral materials.

Stolen Menab'e

In a typical mine in the dongxue nations, which are all still class-based societies, bosses, lords, or nobles take about 80% of the ores that are mined. Some are smart enough to wait until after it has been molded so that they can access the menab'e, but most take the raw ore and sell it as a raw material to others. This stolen menab'e is a point of contention when the miners are organized. Because so many of the tools needed for this are expensive or difficult to build, fāxiàn zhě often need sponsors, patrons, or investors. Hence, they become exploited by the ruling classes often.

Smelting

Fāxiàn zhě, unlike other miners, take the ore to the smelting process and beyond. Because they mined the ore, they are the only ones who can smelt and mold it. They form a connection with it when they put it in their sacks. It becomes theirs, and therefore, they are responsible for processing it. Hence why most stolen menab'e ends up unused.

The smelting process requires two special ingredients besides the fāxiàn zhě: dust from the mines that is added to the fire and the hóng mádài, which are used to carry the molten metal away. The fāxiàn zhě must be the one to do this. If they open the sack after filling it, it will burn them. But so long as they follow the proper procedure - open sack, tip molten metal in, close sack, carry it away - they will be safe.

Reforming

Once they have carried the molten metal away, they must pour it in a bucket or vat of mine water. This will cool it and split the menab'e from the rest of it. What is left will either be pure spinter or pure ruddy copper. The excess is put into carts and taken away.

Molding

Once they have a cooled liquid metal, they must take it and place it in special molds. The form of the mold varies, but they are usually cultural or company symbols. The original molds used were giant hands. Once in the molds, free of the mine water, the liquid metal will solidify into the shape of the mold. These completed objects are called zīyuán.

Tapping

Once the metal has cooled into a mold, it is ready to be wielded. It can at this point be wielded by anyone who has been taught the method to tap into it - literally a tapping pattern that is determined by the shape of the mold and the fāxiàn zhě who made it. No more than seven taps, no less than three, it is always in an arrhythmic pattern designed to be hard to guess. Once tapped, the mold will flash red and the user will have esoteric resources to draw upon. Tapped molds can do one of the following:

• Improve base stats temporarily
• Improve skills temporarily
• Improve powers temporarily
• Fuel unaligned powers or magic
• Fuel a battery or other power source
• Give temporary abilities
• Stave off death or unconsciousness for a round
• Remove penalties for a brief period, or some penalties
• Improve weapons, armor, or items temporarily
• Convert into aligned energies at the cost of the entire mold

Other uses are possible. Tapped molds get used up when the menab'e is gone. How much menab'e is in them depends on the original ore and the skill of the fāxiàn zhě who made it.

Inventory

These are the tools of the fāxiàn zhě:

Dìzhèn Yí

A complex device designed to sense reverbrations from ores with menab'e in them that have been struck by fāxiàn zhě. See above for details.

Hóng Mádài

The red sacks used by fāxiàn zhě are made of an unaligned fabric dyed red with the hóngméi huā flower, a red plum blossom that grows deep underground. So long as no materials of an aligned energy (of significant quantity) is placed in the sack, it will be impervious to damage when used in the process to create materials with menab'e.

Zīyuán

A molded menab'e object that can be tapped for resources, these are often small, symbolic, metallic pieces.

Variations

There are many variations around the world where people have access to materials with menab'e in them. The process is mostly the same, though the devices might look different. The sacks are always part of the process, even if they are dyed with something different.

Other dongxue variants:

• Mèi mó: a witch who forages the hóngméi huā, makes her own sacks, and draws menab'e from nearby materials, using witchcraft to draw its power instead of the smelting process.
• Pàojī: one who uses the shells of dead hóng guī, red turtles that live in streams filled with ruddy copper, to gather menab'e metals instead of sacks. They are turtle handlers.
• Shìbīng: common soldiers who have a zīyuán emblem that gives them resources to draw from during battle.
• Shīrén: a bhat who uses gathered menab'e, usually in the form of zīyuán made in the form of instruments or symbols of authority, to claim their own authority on legal and genealogical matters.
• Yuán dìng: one who gathers the hóngméi huā flowers and makes the sacks. The flowers must be found in the wild; if they are intentionally grown, they lose their power.

From other cultures:

• Huachicohero: thieves from eastern Palhur who rob trains and trucks carrying important materials like oil, lumber, etc. They then use special sacks made with flowers found in nearby caves to transform these resources.
• Kalakala: artists in subcontinental Dabusen who gather hóngméi huā from nearby caves. They often trade with dongxue from underground to get zīyuán to draw from for their art as well.
• Magatakarda: in modern settings, a western Taggarus office clerk who uses zīyuán, usually provided by bosses who run international firms, to keep working after long hours.
• Paramedic: in modern settings, emergency medical personel who use zīyuán to help them heal those in extreme distress, helping them when nothing else seems to work.
• Ultratechnician: in futuristic settings, those who approach mining of menab'e metals with supertech. They use it to fuel incredible machines.

Societal Role

Fāxiàn zhě are among the most exploited unaligned workers there are. They are brutally controlled and forced to work the mines for their rich masters. Those who find ways to work on their own often become targets of the rich for takeovers or worse.

Jiēshòu zhě

There are those called jiēshòu zhě who use drenante to drain menab'e from targets and transform it into a raw infernal essence. They do this by making the fāxiàn zhě sign infernal contracts.

Skills

Common skills include

• Mining
• Measurement
• Mathematics
• Cave sense
• Smelting
• Sculpture
• Repair

Stats

Modifiers from base of nation/species:

PRO /
ATH +1
STR +2
AWA +2
WIL +1
STH -1
PRS /