The Morayuki Mountains

## History

The Morayuki Mountains have been the domain of multiple Oni cabals since long before the rise of Essen, and the powerful Oni and their cabals are far from easy to remove. The main blessing is that they are often too busy warring with each other to put their full focus on the people of Essen. The overwhelming strength many of the Cabals possess would be difficult to fight back against individually- should they choose to unify, Essen would struggle greatly. As a result of this, Essen's general approach to the cabals are containment, since any concerted push against the Oni would risk the cabals deciding to unify- even temporarily- to smite the 'worthless' ones under their heels.

The mountains themselves are a beautiful range of snow-peaked, densely forested mountains. The Oni cabals live in caves dug out by their numerous slaves- if it can be called that. Many of the larger oni cabals have full-blown underground palaces that rival or surpass even some of the greatest buildings of the human empires or dwarves. The craftsmanship is astounding, although few who see it escape- whether it be death or slavery that awaits them. The few who do (often diplomats to Ririknux) often have trouble enjoying the sights, however, as the grisly scenes of torture and brutality the depraved creatures revel in are enough to chill even the darkest heart.

## The Oni Cabals

The Oni are split into many Cabals, although three tribes tend to stand out the most. The Roriknux Cabal, the Sienqieu Cabal, and the Mirquin Cabal. Each has a cabal leader who is as fierce and powerful as they are evil. While all of the oni cabals are problems, the small cabals often can't pull together the resources to cause too much harm alone. Often, they are only coming in after one of the larger cabals have already attacked something to clean the ruins and take what's left during major incidents. They also aren't in a situation where they can plunder the larger cabals, and attacking smaller cabals tends to only end up in elongated battles, so it's not uncommon for them to attack travelers or outskirt buildings and farms.

### Roriknux Tribe- Qianyi Roriknux (leader)

The Roriknux tribe is one of the more reasonable tribes among the three. Willing to trade to some degree with outsiders, they tend to be more focused on dealing with the other tribes, spending less time attacking human settlements, and instead raiding the other tribes- especially lesser tribes, due to the Oni's innate penchant for attacking those weaker than them. This, of course, does not make them less of a threat. Frequent raids of opportunity are still made on traveling merchants. They are not avoiding attacking human settlements because they have no interest, they simply do not see a reason to spare extra manpower and resources for the small gains they could be making compared to plundering the treasures of other oni.

Their leader, Qianyi Roriknux, has in the past allowed diplomatic entreaties with the nearby towns to reduce the number of raids on them and their caravans. These meetings usually end up with unhappy resolutions, however, as they usually expect much in exchange for very little. Only the particularly desperate tend to try to make deals with Oni, since they expect deals to be made with fine luxuries, slaves, and treasures that most small towns simply do not have. As such, it becomes a question of if they are willing to hand over members of their population to stop the oni attacks, even if it's only for a short time. Sometimes, there is no choice in the matter.

## Sienqieu Cabal- Vraqin Sienqieu

The most war-driven of the three Great Cabals, the Sienqieu have a warped concept of what 'honor' is. The hunting and killing of the enemy, leaving no traces... The destruction of all they love and care about... These are the things the Sienqieu crave. However, unlike some of the oni Cabals, they refuse to make use of stealth tactics, not summoning shadow demons, and not even sneaking up on the enemy themselves. They crave battle, and the beautiful sensation of watching the enemy's life fade before their very eyes, They feel as though a battle is not worth the time and effort put into it if they cannot enjoy the suffering of their enemy. And as such, many of them hold to a code of sorts, refusing to use stealth or "dirty tricks" (although poison is all well and good so long as the poison is a slow, painful one that maximizes the target's suffering.) The only times they allow their targets to live is as prisoners for slave labor, and of all the cabals they are also the most brutal in this regard as well.

Vraqin Sienqieu is the leader of the Sienqieu Cabal, and embodies these tenets to a T. He is a master of many weapons and armaments, but refuses to use any weapon that relies on distance from the enemy. As such, his favorite weapon tends to be a wickedly spiked chain that he uses in both hands like a sort of double weapon, flaying his enemy as he fights. It is not uncommon for Vraqin to take to the field himself, regardless of any potential threats to him there may be. In fact, he relishes the danger, and uses it to exemplify his position. Unlike the other oni Cabals, his position as leader is nigh-undisputed.

### Mirquin Cabal- Thenxin Mirquin

The Mirquin Cabal are some of the foremost mystics among the Oni. They believe their mystical arts to be supreme, and enjoy establishing this dominance over others. They are the primary summoners of shadow demons, and are also the primary attackers of Minxiao. Seeing the lanterns as almost a challenge to their magical supremacy, they seek to usurp the town by overwhelming it with their own magic. They could likely show up and attack the town directly and butcher them all, however that would ill suit their pride. It would be admitting their magics inferior to a group of lowly insects. Still, their attempts so far have only met with mild success on occasion, and otherwise failure.

Thenxin Mirquin is likely the youngest of the leaders of the three great Cabals. He took over from his master not long ago after using blood magic to slowly and painfully kill his predecessor by stirring his blood from the inside and bursting his heart. Now, the prized position as Cabal Leader is his, and he's been trying to make the most of it. Attacks from the Mirquin Tribe's servants have increased significantly since Thenxin stepped up as Cabal Leader, and the pressure he has been putting on nearby human settlements is drastic. As a result, many traveling adventurers in the area have been getting requested to help in pushing back the number of shadow demons coming from the Mirquin Cabal.