蜀山學園 (Shushan Academy): Xianxia Fantasy meets anime adventure school!

[Lawman 88]

What is Shushan Academy? The premise, explained...

 

Since time immemorial, the world we live in is divided into two realms.

The Mundane Sphere - 凡界 (pronounced “fan jie”), or also known as 紅塵 (pronounced “hong chen”), which is the natural world of the mortals, the world where normal humans like you and I belong to. And then there’s the Celestial Sphere - 天界 (pronounced “tian jie”), which is the supernatural world of magic, immortals, spirits and demons. A realm that defies the science and understanding of the Mundane Sphere, and filled with all manner of wonders and horrors.

 

For as long as the Celestial Sphere has existed, two polities have been engaged in an unending conflict, the adherents of the Righteous Path - 正道,  (pronounced “zheng dao”) and those of the Evil Path - 邪道 (pronounced “xie dao”) with opposing ideologies and philosophies over the cultivation and usage of Taoist Magic - 道術 (pronounced “dao shu”) and how interactions between the Celestial Sphere and the Mundane Sphere should be carried out.

 

Enter Shushan Academy; located on the peak of Mt. Shu - 蜀山 (pronounced “Shu Shan”), for centuries the Shushan Sect has been a bastion of the Righteous Path, their devoted pugilists known as the 仙道士 (pronounced “xian dao shi”; roughly translates as warriors of the immortal way) have fought at the forefront of the never-ending conflict between righteousness and evil, serving to keep the machinations of the followers of the Evil Path from spilling over into the Mundane Sphere.

 

But times have changed, as the world transitions into the modern age so too did the Celestial Sphere, adapting their tactics to the technological advancements and cultural shifts in the Mundane Sphere. As the Mundane World becomes increasingly developed, with human cities encroaching upon the formerly uninhabited wildernesses where denizens of the Celestial Sphere stake out, it would appear that conflict between the two spheres are becoming inevitable.

 

To this end, the Shushan Sect has adapted itself to the times by rebranding itself as Shushan Academy, their adherents trading in their Taoist robes for school uniforms and tailored suits - on the forefront it appears to be a prestigious academy where only the most exceptional of youths can enrol in. But in reality, all those who are enrolled in Shushan Academy are people who have been born with significant spirit potential, which makes them fit to cultivate in the path of the immortal - 仙道 (pronounced “xian dao”).

 

Their mission? To train a new generation of 仙道士, to continue doing what they do best; protecting humanity from the forces of evil.
 

 

 

That's the premise for a RP idea I had in the making - known as Shushan Academy, or 蜀山學園 in Chinese (pronounced "Shu Shan Xue Yuan"). In theory it's basically a genre blender that combines xianxia (lit "immortals chivalry" - think of it as wuxia's more magic-oriented counterpart) with the "academy of adventure" type setting in anime (think anime superpowers school series like My Hero Academia, Senran Kagura, Toji no Miko, etc.). In effect, it's basically a re-imagination of xianxia stories within a more contemporary/modern-day setting, as opposed to its usual ancient China (or a fantasy conworld that strongly resembles Ancient China) backdrop. Just wondering what does everyone else think of the basic concept?