Forgotten Realms - What Gods and Languages Does Kara-Tur Have?

[MadMaxim]

I've desperately been searching for some information concerning Kara-Tur in the Forgotten Realms. I haven't been able to find any of this anywhere, so I'm really hoping that you can help me out. I've had the player characters run into a shugenja from the Shou Lung empire in Kara-Tur, and it suddenly occured to me that 3rd edition has virtually no information on Kara-Tur, so my questions are:

1: What Gods do the people of Kara-Tur worship? I've heard something about a Celestial Bureaucracy, but are their others and are their any game mechanics about them (possible domains, favored weapons, doctrines, alignments, etc.)?

2: What languages do the people of Kara-Tur speak? I don't expect them to speak Mulhorandi.

Any advice concerning good source material about Kara-Tur would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[DrunkonDuty]

IIRC the Kara-tur gods aren't really well defined. The religions were "The Way" and the "Eight-Fold Path." OR something like that. BAscially they were fantasy versions of Buddhism and Taoism.

There are other religions of course and nature spirits abound.

As for languages: the Shou speak Shou. Heck, can't even remember the name for the Kara-Tur version of Japan.

Sorry, about all I got. My memories have grown dim with time.

 

[ivocaliban]

I know there's at least one person ranger on this forum who never shuts up about Kara-Tur.

He should be able to help you.

 

[Arkhandus]

Ia! Ia! Wikipedia Ftaghn!

Kara-Tur link

"The Shou practice mainly two forms of religion, "The Path of Enlightenment" (analog for Confucianism) and "The Way" (analog for Daoism and Theravadan Buddhism). The majority of the people in Shou Lung practice the Path of Enlightenment, in which they worship the Celestial Emperor and the Nine Travelers and a whole host of lesser immortals and spirits who make up what is called the Celestial Bureaucracy. Unlike the people of Faerun, devotion to a single deity is very rare in Shou Lung. The other Shou religion, which is more popular in the southern provinces, is simply called "The Way" and is more of an ethical philosophy than a true religion characterized by divinities, spirits and a fully realized metaphysics. It focuses on the enlightenment of the self through the practice of certain spiritual exercises rather than the worship of particular gods. Kana and her family were practitioners of the Way."

"Kara-Turan pantheon
Most people in the far eastern lands of Kara-Tur follow one of the two philosophical religions called "The Path of Enlightenment" and "The Way".

In the island kingdom of Kozakura the worship of a large number of spirits collectively called "The Eight Million Gods" is predominant.

The people of Shou Lung believe in the Celestial Empire headed by the Celestial Emperor who is served by the Nine Immortals:
Kwan Ying: Goddess of compassion, mercy, joy
Chan Cheng: God of war, the martial arts, combat, bravery
Ch'en Hsiang: God of poetry, music, literature
Chih Shih: God of history, lore, tradition
Ai Ch'hing: Goddess of love, marriage
Fa Kuan: God of justice
Hsing Yong: God of fortune, prosperity
Shi Chia: God of artificers, the arts
They in turn are aided by the Lesser Immortals, namely Jade Ladies, Rice Spirits, Moon Women, Spirit Warriors, Ladies of Compassion, the Lords of Karma and the Sages.
Mad Monkey is a demideity of mischief who sometimes helps and sometimes hinders the Celestial Bureaucracy"

"The current Emperor is Kai Tsao Shou Chin."

Good ol' Wikipedia.

Too bad I couldn't find any info on Kara-Tur languages, other than mention of the Shou language in the FRCS.

 

[Faraer]

I would buy the Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms PDF from Paizo.com for $4. It has the best information on Kara-Turan religion and language. Additional lore is in the OA modules, the MC6 Monstrous Compendium appendix, and some Dragon articles.

 

[Herobizkit]

IIRC, the 3.x Deities and Demigods has a selection of D&D-ified Chinese and Japanese deities that you could use in a more traditional D&D way. If not, I'm positive the 2ed Legends and Lore does.

 

[NiTessine]

According to Thomas M. Costa's article "Speaking in Tongues" from Dragon Annual 4...

In Shou Lung, they speak Kao the Shou (High Shou). The T'u Lung speak T'u Lung. The Koryans speak Koryo, the Kozakurans speak Kozakuran, and in Wa, they speak Wa-an. There's also a common Trade Tongue in Kara-Tur.

 

[Ry]

The Dragon mag article on the hordelands was awesome; last year or so of the real dragon

 

[ObiAndy]

I would buy the Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms PDF from Paizo.com for $4. It has the best information on Kara-Turan religion and language. Additional lore is in the OA modules, the MC6 Monstrous Compendium appendix, and some Dragon articles.

I sold off a bunch of old gaming stuff this past summer, but this boxed set was the ONE thing I knew I would be keeping. I even have a stipulation in my will that it stays in the family! (Lord, I am such a geek!)

Anyway, this was truly one of the best gaming purchases I've ever made. I can't recommend it enough. I may just get the PDF for $4 anyway!

Sorry for the threadjack............

 

[MadMaxim]

Thanks a lot for all the feedback The reason for my sudden interest in Kara-Tur is solely because of Jade Empire Special Edition for the PC which I've been playing the heck out of for a week or so now. Then it occured to me that I had to put something really oriental into my campaign (Thay just isn't enough)