Laidaozhen

The **Laidaozhen** or **Followers of the Green One** were a broad group of zealots and followers of the Goddess of Air, Adyana on the Gemstone Islands. The Laidaozhen were a reactionary group created at the outbreak of the War of Two Suns to counter the growing Guidaozhen, the followers of Piqumi.

Much like the Guidaozhen, the Laidaozhen lingered around after the War of Two Suns ended yet severely shrunk in size, power and prominence. Especially after the collapse of the Sixth Evin Empire, ending the period of Evin domination over the Gemstone Islands, the Laidaozhen became an obsolete relic. At the orders of Adyana herself, the final remnants of the Laidaozhen were told to return to civilian life in 455 BW to be replaced with the Hexad Lotus.

## History

### War of Two Suns

The Laidaozhen was created as a grassroots reactionary movement in response to the attacks of the Guidaozhen, followers of the new Goddess Piqumi, against the Third Evin Empire. The Laidaozhen primarily consisted of Evin in its early stages, as much of the Harpy and Human population joined the Guidaozhen to topple the Evin hegemony over the Gemstone Islands.

The Laidaozhen lacked behind the creation of the Guidaozhen by well over a decade, and with the Third Evin Empire already deeply unstable and unpopular, it came as no wonder that they were initially unsuccessful during the War of Two Suns. The rise of the Fourth Empire served as a surprising boon, however. Short-lived as it was, the Guidaozhen's Fourth Empire enacted a total ban on Adyana Worship, which went too far and presented a threat to the way of life of moderates or those who had remained neutral in the War of Two Suns thus far. The Laidaozhen drew a broader following and their numbers swelled. In the end, the Fourth Empire collapsed on its own due to infighting over the line of succession, yet the Laidaozhen failed to regain order. What followed was the Two Hundred Years of Chaos.

While the Laidaozhen failed to quell the Two Hundred Years of Chaos, they were nevertheless always one step ahead of the Guidaozhen because of more resources and manpower. One particularly useful boon that the Guidaozhen lacked was Adyanomancy, the magics that manipulated the air and wind, which often proved a decisive advantage on the battlefield. The Laidaozhen briefly entered a truce with the Guidaozhen to topple the Fifth Empire together. The Fifth Empire adhered to the Golden Sky Movement, a compromise that sought to please both sides of the war yet, as a result, pleased neither.

The fall of the Fifth Empire nearly led to the end of the War of Two Suns with a split Gemstone Islands, were it not for an extremist known as Lady Fi. Her calls for violence against the Laidaozhen were so over the top that she was kicked out of the Guidaozhen, yet she nevertheless grew a cult following and launched a series of devastating raids in 702 BW on the island of Yingzheng. With the Guidaozhen lifting not a finger to stop her, a Laidaozhen warlord by the name of Onawak took control and defeated Fi at the Battle of An'kai. Seeing the Guidaozhen's lack of intervention as an indirect declaration of war, the Laidaozhen continued their attacks and the War of Two Suns dragged on.

In the closing stages of the war, the Laidaozhen gained a significant upper hand. Onawak, once a mere warlord, launched a series of rapid conquests that saw Adyana personally crown him Skylord of the Sixth Empire. Onawak and his descendants remained the dominant force over the Gemstone Islands for some ninety years, causing Piqumi to finally throw in the towel in 614 BW. She left to explore the Mainland, which marks the end of the War of Two Suns and the prime of the Laidaozhen.

### Decline

After the War of Two Suns came to an abrupt end, many of the Laidaozhen called for a widespread purge of Piqumi's followers, yet due to the lack of resources and exhaustion after centuries of fighting this ultimately led to nothing. Without the threat of Piqumi to their way of life, much of the Laidaozhen laid down their weapons and abandoned the order with only a handful of zealots or people with nowhere else to go remaining.

When the Sixth Evin Empire collapsed naturally due to a demographical crisis, the Laidaozhen weakened further. The rise of more tolerant Human cities and towns as the dominant force on the Gemstone Islands meant that Adyana and Piqumi worshippers could live side by side, further diminishing the need for the Laidaozhen.

For a few more centuries, the Laidaozhen stuck around as an obsolete and insignificant relic. Its final Lord, Huanggia, received the personal command from Adyana to disband the order in favour of something more modern. Huanggia obliged and finally put a long overdue end to the Laidaozhen. The Laidaozhen has had some spiritual successors over the years, most prominently the Hexad Lotus, but also some smaller offshoots such as the Skyservants.

## Past Members

* Lord Huanggia
* Skylord Onawak
* Skylord Sckeelli
* Skylord Zesoq