Jinyiwei (Investigator Archetype)

In the real world, the Jinyiwei, or “Embroidered Uniform Guard” was a secret police organization founded in the 14th century by the Hongwu Emperor in order to root out corruption and insurrection from within, able to overturn and ignore the judicial proceedings to arrest, interrogate, and punish anyone in the kingdom, including nobility and even the emperor’s own relatives.

Ostensibly this body would help preserve the empire with only the Emperor themselves to answer to, able to arrest and prosecute politically untouchable figures should they become enemies of the state.

Buuuuut if you’ve ever heard the term “secret police” in regards to world history before, you probably know how this goes. At best, the Jinyiwei were used as assassins to eliminate rivals, and at worse, were just as corrupt and capable of abusing their own power.

Who knew a paramilitary group answerable to literally only one man would be a bad idea for everyone?

However, for all it’s real faults, the Jinyiwei we’re describing today is a bit different than the real thing. For one, the Mandate of Heaven is actually real with gods and divine dragons granting power and authority to rule empires.

However, corruption remains, and the Jinyiwei of the Lung Wa empire was created to counteract and root out this corruption that drove the bureaucracy of the nation into the dirt, but in the end they failed, falling to corruption itself until the empire fractured and crumbled, robbing them of any authority.

But why the original Lung Wa Jinyiwei are long gone, there are those across Tian Xia that take inspiration from them, and seek to emulate them as they stand against the corruption that poisons governments and ruins nations.

Such dedication grants these investigators a bit of divine power, which they use alongside their keen minds to bring justice to the land, even if they aren’t quite as unimpeachable as their ancient predecessors.

The result is a sort of fusion of investigator and inquisitor, as we’ll soon see.

Careful consideration and insight, as well as the blessing of the divine is what fuels these investigators. As such, their inspiration is powered by their wisdom rather than intelligence, and instead of using alchemy they cast spells, drawing magic from the same arsenal as inquisitors.

Like the Jinyiwei of old, they understand that corruption and deception can be anywhere, and are especially skilled at noticing lies, forgeries, and disguises, as well as that which is hidden, be it a person or secret containers and doors.

Their suspicion also guards them against the magics of deception, enchantments and illusions, helping them avoid falling under their sway and pierce the false reality they create.

Finally, their divine mandate goes so far as to allow them to unleash divine judgement as inquisitors do, albeit somewhat less skillfully.

With the combination of the inquisitor spell list, geared towards information gathering, buffing, debuffing, and divine wrath; as well as their knack for discovering all types of deception, this archetype plays a bit more of a support and combat role than the vanilla inquisitor before even taking talents into account. As such, A combat build seems like a good choice here, one that can learn about the enemy and set up spells and tactics beforehand to take them down.

As written, the lore states that these individuals are not part of an organization, extrajudicial or otherwise. As such, their desire to follow such a path and endorse such ideals may be considered a relic of the past, and what that means will vary by nation and by individuals. Some may mock them as deluded fools clinging to ideals and a nation that no longer exists, others may honor them as a symbol of better days, or revile them as echoes of a past that needed to burn or as the shadow of a threat to the new order. Or, you know, in your setting their organization may still exist, and may or may not a blight upon the people in the way that secret police tend to be.

Through terrible coincidence and just bad luck, the party has accidentally slain one of the sacred white-antlered deer that only the emperor may hunt, and now they are on the run, chased by the mask-wearing secret order that answers only to His Holy Eminence.

A chance encounter can change your life, and so it was with Jinga, a monkey goblin who stumbled upon an aging old hermit on his island home who taught him about the great empire and how he was once one of it’s secret guardians, blessed by the gods. Jinga looked up to him so much that he studied his ways and received the divine blessing, leaving home to offer his services. He never fully understood, however, that the empire had fallen long ago.

The nation is on the verge of falling, consumed from within, all at the hands of those who should have been it’s protectors. Indeed, the Talisman Police, named for the divine tokens of their role they wear, have been corrupted from within and seek to usurp control. Is their leader a fiend in disguise? Merely power-hungry? It matters not. All that matters is that they must be stopped.

Jinyiwei AU（The EUG)

To explain it in the simplest way, they are like ancient special forces and serve directly the monarch

Tasks include but are not limited to intelligence gathering, bodyguarding, investigation, etc.

In this world, Mira and Booster are "monsters", but monsters can live in harmony with humans.

XR is created by relying on mechanical skills and Taoism.

（By the way, this is a fictional world, not a real country)

In fact, I drew from many movies, so I can’t give a clear reference. However, my idea basically comes from the real-life Jinyiwei system, as well as some movies based on fantasy ancient times.

every time i even poke the late ming dynasty with a creative stick i’m overcome with the urge to bring the wanggongchang explosion into it somehow. i know there are stories to tell that do not involve beijing fucking blowing up in 1627 due to mysterious causes. but. big ass explosions :(

After rotating atsv in my mind nonstop for the past three days I've come to the conclusion that we need a Chinese Spiderman. And I mean full, Dunhuang art style, spider demon, jttw cave of webs. Silk sleeves, qinggong, imitating Sun Wukong but in a spidery way. She's thwipping around with two fingers in front of her like she's casting a spell, running along her webs between the Beijing hutongs dressed like a cross between a bride and a jinyiwei. Veiled hat with web designs embroidered over it. Her name is Spider-Demon (蜘蛛精) and her secret identity is Good Student At Qinghua University Shen Gui'er (沈桂儿) (she was there at the white paper protests and fought a bunch of cops keeping her classmates safe).

Almost forgot to put this one up here!

More Love Nikki nation swaps, couples this time.

Details/art musings/cultural influences under the cut:

Nikkimi are Pigeon, stylized late 1860s/early 1870s; Nikki’s wearing a ballgown and Kimi’s in a riding habit, but hey, it’s Miraland.

Louie/Lunar, being from different nations, swap with each other.  Louie has elements of the Ming Dynasty Jinyiwei, but it’s extremely stylized, while Lunar is just wearing a fancy long coat (and maybe, in this AU, body armor!)

Shade/Orlando are Wasteland, but while Orlando’s in a color-swapped 16th century Janissary uniform, Shade (deliberately) draws more influence from Morrigan in Dragon Age than any real-world culture.

YueZhu are North; not much to say here other than that they might have my favorite pose of the lot.

Jinjin/Lizi in Apple school uniforms was one of the first ideas I came up with; again, not much to say.

MingZhu follow my trend of “take the dark tragedy, make it Lilith;” Ming Shuiyuan’s dress translated over very easily, and I quite like Zhu Yuxian’s Evil Disney Prince vibe.

Royce/Neva are Ruin; Neva as one of Ruin’s classic tragic robot girls was another of the first ideas to hit me.  Royce’s pose used to be even worse; at least I fixed the tiny yaoi head he had initially, but I may have gone too far in the other direction.  At least Neva looks nice.

Finally, Nidhogg/Yvette are Cloud, early Tang dynasty style (again, heavily stylized).  I went more for colors and Vibes on this one.

[Brush credits: MoFox and FireAlpaca]

Coordinated sneak attack go! Tasha, Sting, Spelbook :)

Damn, you got me. All answers are gonna be PF1e system because ofc. Tasha - Favourite spell? I've read a ton of spells at this point. And wrote a bunch, too. There are lots of weird and wacky spells in the system. Speaking sentimentally, though, Heightened Awareness is a special one. I got it first as a scroll, then enjoyed it enough to get a Page of Spell Knowledge. Both the Knowledge/Perception buff and the Initiative bonus are solid. But the kicker is its role to play as part of Contingency. The condition is "When I gain a bonus to initiative from Heightened Awareness." Allowing me to pick which combat to spend my Contingency on. Vomit Swarm is a runner-up because it's pretty hilarious for a 2nd level spell, scales decently, can be used on a (stupidly expensive) scroll/wand due to having no save, and combos with nauseate. Sadly, I've never used it at play, and it's on highly exclusive lists. Sting - Favourite weapon? If I could pick a non-magical item instead of a weapon, it'd be the Spring-Loaded Wrist Sheath. I'm not super attached to any weapons. And I'd rather play a switch-hitter if I'm ever a martial (thanks, Alina). If I had to really pick one, it'd be the humble yet practical, long spear. My magnificent sorcerer has only ever used one weapon (and on an ally, no less) is the spiked gauntlet, a convenient one for all casters. But she carries a crossbow and dagger as well.

Spellbook - A character concept that you haven't gotten to play yet? There is a religious teacher character I'd like to try. The current leaning is to be Jinyiwei Investigator with either Bonded archetype for a familiar relevant to the faith or Cryptid Scholar archetype, and Sensei dip to lean into the teacher part more. This or some scroll addict is my most likely next play.

It’s been three moths, but I finally got back to making two of the planned pairs of earrings. I only meant to make three but I ended up making a fourth.

My favorites are the first two, as they’re inspired by Wu Siyue’s blue and orange hanfu from Luoyang and Tang Fan’s ombre white-to-black hanfu plus Sui Zhou’s black and silver jinyiwei from The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty.

The third is just a variation of celadon-hue earrings that I have made in the past (alas, because I was tired by the time I made them, the wire twisting is really shoddy), and the fourth can barely be considered “made”, as I just slapped together manufactured parts, but the cosmic rings are interchangeable, so I can switch out the colors (I have about six different colorations of the rings).

Also, dust. Dust is apparently everywhere.

real ming jinyiwei in control trust the huang ming zuxun. everything is within the parameters

Chapter 1: Disciples from Jiuhua

(Volume 4: Beyond the Temple of Gods and Demons) << Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >> Yang Suguan followed Liang Angtian’s command and led Wei Zizhuang, Wu Dingyuan, and others to investigate the secret of the sheepskin. To avoid the disturbance of the experts from Kunlun Mountain and the Jinyiwei, Yang Suguan first took his people to the Shaolin Temple in Henan’s Song…

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I've been watching My Sassy Princess, because it's a work day and I need something I can play on the side while I accomplish things and Nirvana in Fire is NOT it. That's a "maybe do some sewing but main attention on the screen" show, whereas My Sassy Princess is... definitely not.

The pacing is breakneck so there's no real breathing room to relax, get to know the characters and really get into their world and minds. But you can easily look away for huge chunks of an episode and just pick up wherever it is because very little of what you miss is plot. Which is an odd feeling, because if so little of the show is relevant to the stolen silver plot then why does it feel like it's moving too fast? It's like those scenes in Turn A Gundam, where you feel like they skipped some stuff only to realize you wouldn't have cared about the bit they skipped anyways, so maybe moving along was good- except that Turn A Gundam is a better show in every regard.

I do not like the main character. I'm sure there's a way to have your female lead be spoiled and mercurial in temperament to hide how hurt she is inside but this was not it. The lead actors feel like they're phoning it in sometimes, which did not help, and I hate to say that about Zheng Yecheng because I loved him in Love of Thousand Years and Mirror Twin Cities. And did he always not move his upper lip? I don't remember but it's distracting. Also not a well executed character. I do however, have a new appreciation for Zhang Yue, who plays the second female lead Xu Shijin and was Wan Qiqi in Love Like the Galaxy. She's giving the best performance out of the younger cast, plus her plotline is the only one I care about anymore (exaggerating but only a little). Her interactions with Liu Ling are cute and supportive (and slashy- if you told me this was censored GL I would believe it). Merxat is handsome as always and doing okay I guess but I don't care about his character except as an extension of Xu Shijin's plot.

Sometimes the show looks lovely- I know Jinyiwei aren't supposed to wear those uniforms outside court or something but I appreciate the costume eye candy- but sometimes there's noticeably weird shots. It's disconcerting how many times they have the character speaking at the camera like it's the POV of the other person. I do not like it, and I imagine people who are eye-contact-sensitive will hate it.

Also, the fake horses? Really noticeable. There was an attempt to hide they were using fake horses for some scenes, but it was not a good attempt, and they gave up in ep 18. I would put that practical effect above Basement Dog but below the dragon riding effect in... shit was it Back From the Brink or Love Between Fairy and Devil? I think they both had dragon-riding scenes with practical effects combined with or stitched into CG bits, but one was better than the other. Sassy Horses are below both, I think.

I am having fun sometimes but this show is best seen early in one's C-drama watching career, before other shows have raised your standards. It's a potentially fun romance with some scheming and such, but once you see Love Like the Galaxy or Minglan, this is a weak show. The best word for it is "clumsy". It's clumsily executed.

Theme songs are great, though.

For TSOMD folks (and anyone else interested I guess!): I made a table for the Jinyiwei (锦衣卫) rankings in the Ming Dynasty.

Data gathered with relative confidence in accuracy. Translations were rather difficult because woof, reading oldish Chinese is NOT it with my current language ability.... So take it with a grain of salt!

There are a lot of notes on Wan Tong because he's part of the reason I was researching all this to begin with ;)

Larger images (Google drive links, zoomable): 1, 2, 3

New Shen Gui'er Headcanons

Every time I do one of these I completely reinvent my OC, but that's fine!

Shen Gui'er's universe is dynastical China, probably Song/Yuan/Ming-ish, i.e. late dynastical but still a while away from globalization. Her father is a Jinyiwei (or equivalent) captain, so she's a bit of a xiaojie but not as prestigious as the real noble ladies.

She dresses like a boy to study at Hanlinyuan. Though she faces the social pressures of most girls in her time (marriage, femininity), her father teaches her martial arts and mostly just pretends not to notice her sneaking out to study.

One day, while in the woods, Shen Gui'er came across a cave covered in spiderwebs. She doesn't remember entirely what happened, just that it was dark and that she crawled out with a bite on her cheek. (In this universe, the radioactive spider is a zhizhujing who hadn't quite taken human form yet.) The scar on her cheek essentially barred her from any respectable marriage, and she became reclusive for a while. (How she officially became Spider-Demon is a story for another time.)

Because she has to pretend to be a boy to get her way in life, it's important to her that Spider-Demon is obviously a woman. She wears opera water-sleeves that double as web-slingers, and her mask mimics the style of noble ladies' makeup. It also has a huadian design on her cheek where her scar is.

Spider-Demon quickly becomes an embarrassment for the emperor. He can't stand to have his own soldiers mocked by a girl playing the hero. When Shen Gui'er's father fails to produce the culprit, he's accused of harbouring or abetting Spider-Demon and beheaded for treason. Shen Gui'er, now orphaned and a criminal's daughter, commits herself evermore to Spider-Demon.

Jinyiwei AU 2（The EUG)

villain

The pattern on Zurg and Warp is "Taotie", which symbolizes insatiable greed.

NOS has the same operating principle as the original robots such as XR and XL, but NOS is a product of an out-of-control curse, and Zurg can no longer control it.

And because of the curse on him, he can also cause harm to humans

And I originally planned to design evilyear with "Qiongqi" to symbolize its cunning and treachery, but I'm exhausted💔💔

These designs are very tiring to draw, but I'm happy!

Also, this is the art of my last Jinyiwei AU

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Happy March 2 electric boogaloo, it’s time for me to drop some pencil sketches and run again

锦衣卫。

life drawing again.