Turning Classic Chinese Literature into Horror
How two sentences in a work of classic Chinese literature inspired a horrific fantasy beast.
In August 2022, Paizo released Dark Archive, a 2nd edition Pathfinder horror supplement containing new character classes, anomalous creatures, and more. Think the Federal Bureau of Control or the SCP Foundation, but in the fantasy genre.
I contributed a “case file” to the book called Sounds of Violence, which introduces the historical figure Di Renjie to the world of Tian Xia (Pathfinder’s pan-Asian campaign setting) and the “Horn of the Aoyin”, a powerful magical instrument capable of turning an entire village into mindless cannibals.
In Richard E. Strassberg’s translation of the Shanhaijing (Classic of Mountains and Seas), A Chinese Bestiary: Guideways Through Mountains and Seas, the aoyin is mentioned in a small section.
Four hundred twenty li farther west stands Three-Dangers Mountain, where the Three Green-Birds dwell. This mountain is one hundred li in circumference. On its heights dwells a beast whose form resembles an ox but with a white body, four horns, and hair like the straw used in rain capes. It is called the Aoyin and is a man-eater.
This isn’t much, but I found the idea of a carnivorous, polycerate ox with straw-like fur to be both funny and horrific. The thought of weaponizing it’s animalistic nature was enticing, especially given the nature of Dark Archive. I love the visual of a mysterious wanderer travelling through Tian Xia, creating chaos and death wherever they please. What is their agenda? How did they get the horn?
The Shanhaijing continues to be a source of inspiration for a lot of my work. I’ve created direct-to-game translations of creatures from this classic text alongside those inspired by it (like the aoyin).
There is so much to discover in classic, historical literature!
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