"The World of Shin Pao"

Deikon
The art of Shin Pao has been a strongly guarded secret for many years. Just recently it has resurfaced and has been revealed to many that know little of this art. An art that has the power to kill and protect at the same time. A power that can rule, a power than can die. For years this power lay in ruins. Soon, it shall rise with the help of one man. One will be successful and will bring a power that once ruled centuries ago, back to the world we know today.

In the beginning, a new power was born. When everything was new, when man took their first steps on the soils of the planet, this power was there. The power of Shin Pao was used all over the world by many races and different types of people. It was used to protect each other, to torment each other, or just a form of relaxation. Every type of man could learn to have this ability. From the common man, to the average thief. They all used this power to their advantage. At the time, almost 10% of the world’s population had the power of Shin Pao. It was widely popular and more people began to learn it each day.

Everything seemed fine at first. The economy of the world began to rise, the population booming, the streets roaring with activity. However, the power of Shin Pao had corruption within its holy walls. Not all that had this power used it for the power of good. There were those that used the power to bring terror and torment. These warriors roamed the streets stealing, destroying, and murdering towards their own delight. They felt more powerful than the gods with the abilities that came with the study of Shin Pao. The terrorization continued until a Shin Pao elder, that believed that the art was to be used for peace, suggested that a band of elite Shin Pao warriors would be sent to stop these men and women that abused the power.

The elite team was made up of 50 men and women that had recently used their powers for peace. These men and women were the best of the best. They had studied the abilities since childhood and had maxed their skills to the heights of near invincibility. This elite force was sent to take down all of those that abused the powers to only create chaos.

This operation went quite smoothly for the first few weeks. Over 400 corrupt Shin Pao warriors had been eliminated with only 2 casualties in the elite force. At this point in time the peacekeepers of Shin Pao thought it was all over, but in reality, it was only the beginning.

One of the top studiers of Shin Pao on the corrupt side was a former war general. He planned to stop the peacekeepers once and for all. He then created his own elite force of corrupt warriors and began a resistance operation. Now both sides had elite forces that were capable of doing enough damage to destroy several towns at once. The general sent the elite force to deal with the strong forces of the peacekeepers.

Over the next couple of week the elite forces on both sides would suffer many losses. In the end, less than 10 men and women stand on both sides. Now was a time to strike head on to eliminate the other side. Everyone would be sent this time, not just those that had immense capabilities with the art of Shin Pao. This would be the beginning of the greatest war in the history of Shin Pao.

Thousands of men and women gathered on both sides for the battle of a lifetime. This would be one of the greatest battles in the history of mankind. Thousands upon thousands would gather in a barren land when they would collide and attempt to destroy every single living being on the opposing force. There was to be no mercy for their opponent. Not one could live.

The battle raged on for 8 years with many battles all across the world. In the end only a few had survived. What was once a thriving group of people became a few men and women scattered across the world. The art that was known as Shin Pao was almost extinct. One of those that survived was the war general. He vowed to eliminate every single peacekeeper of Shin Pao to reach his goal. To do this, he turned to some Shin Pao artifacts that were believed to have incredible powers of destruction. No one knew if they worked. Everyone was too scared to use them while others believed they were mundane and useless. The war general believed they had immense powers and he was not scared to use them. He wanted to reach his goal and he would reach it at any cost.

After several hours of trying to get the artifacts to work, he finally summoned a creature of immense power and destruction. A beast known as Aggropolotis had been summoned through the artifacts and had been brought to the real world from an alternate dimension of death and hate. The general ordered the beast to destroy every last one of the Shin Pao people. In just days the beast did as the general wished. The general was the first to be destroyed being the closest to him at the time and without telling the beast to destroy everyone except him. Shin Pao warriors, oracles, masters, and the last remaining elite trooper were eliminated. The power of Shin Pao was extinct.

Just days before the summoning of Aggropolotis, Shin Pao oracles prophesied that in the years to come there would be several born that would have the natural ability of Shin Pao. These Children of Shin Pao would be the key to the rebirth of Shin Pao. They saw that it would take several of them to complete this quest. Many will fail, one will not be successful but will become powerful enough to aid the final one in completing the quest and bringing the power of Shin Pao back into the world. There will be many conflicts between the Children of Shin Pao. Some will try to bring back the corrupt portion of Shin Pao back while the others will do their best to bring back the peacekeepers. The oracles did not see who would do these tasks exactly. And they have been known to be wrong...

With the extinction of the people of Shin Pao, the beast known as Aggropolotis returned to its dark abyss where it lay until it would be summoned again. Little did many know that once the beast was summoned, it had the ability to resummon itself on its own. The only restriction was that it could only summon itself every 4000 years. The only problem is that it has been 3999 years since Aggropolotis was first summoned. Once it resummons itself, its quest will be the same from when the war general summoned it. Its quest was to eliminate all of those who studied the art of Shin Pao. Only one man stands that knows the true powers of Shin Pao. That man is Deikon Astalidan, son of a Qeynos Soldier that was killed when Deikon was only 8. Deikon Astalidan was born in Qeynos and had lived there for most of his life. He had always admired his father and what he did. His father was a Qeynos Soldier for 23 years before his was killed in a battle between the good and evil races of Norrath. To keep the memory of his father alive, Deikon would plan on joining the Qeynos Military and become a soldier like his father before him. Unfortunately, when he applied he was not what you would call a natural at the art of warfare. His skills with weapons of steel were too weak and his application was turned down.

With the death of his father and his mother turning ill, he could barely even suppot himself. All was lost and the thoughts of thieving were becoming a reality. For a few weeks he turned to the likes of crime to support himself. During one of his looting raids he heard some noise in one of the alleys. A faint chanting found its way through the dark pathes. As Deikon approached the noise he could see a group of people in a circle with two other people in the center duking it out. This was called street fighting. It was illigal to do this in Qeynos so street fighters would always fight hidden areas from the public. Deikon decided to take up this sport to support him and his dying mother.

Deikon would become a street fighter only to lose every single match except one against a 56 year old hobo. He felt hopeless and a sense of failure flowed through his mind. All was lost until his younger brother, Naketh, brought him an advertisement of a new martial arts training facility that had just arrived in Qeynos. Deikon thought to himself that if he trained here enough, he would become extremely well at hand to hand combat making him an even better street fighter. Little did he know, his life as a street fighter would end the very day he would set foot into the matial arts dojo.

Deikon would stay at the dojo for 16 sessions over a course of 4 years. At this point he was ready to travel the world to visit other dojos and to train to become a martial arts master. However, before he was permitted to venture off into lands he had never heard of, he was to pass a test that would prove that he was true to himself between mind and body. He would be sent into a dense forest filled with creatures. He would stay here for 3 weeks with no food or water. He would have to survive on his own for this one. Deikon was also allowed to bring one friend for this trip. He chose his brother Naketh due to his excellent skills in survival studies.

This choice would be one of the worst choices that Deikon would have ever made. During the 12th night in the forest his brother would suddenly vanish without a trace. It would turn out that an evil necromancer had captured Naketh only to convert him into a being of hate and death. Naketh would then kill the necromancer that had turned him into a being of evil with his new found powers. His only instincts now were to rid the world of Deikon Astalidan. He would also go by the name of Narekoth.

For over 4 years Deikon and Narekoth would battle trying to kill each other. It wouldn’t be until one of their last battle when the power of Shin Pao would begin to show in the fighting style in which Deikon has studied. His strength, speed, agility, endurance, and many other attributes of Deikon would increase dramatically to make him a pure fighting machine. With this new found power, Deikon would easily finish off his brother to set his soul free of the evil that had trapped him.

Over the months after his brother’s death he would study more in the ways of Shin Pao. As the power grew stronger within his veins, he began to learn more about its past and why he had this power in the first place. He was a Child of Shin Pao. One that would be born with the natural abilities that could exceed any of those that would just study Shin Pao for a personal interest. He was one that had the quest to revive the people of Shin Pao.

Deikon Astalidan was the 7th Child of Shin Pao. There were 6 before him that fought and failed. Some came close to finishing their quest while others were so far from completing it. Those who were born with the natural abilities ranged from peasants to thieves, from soldiers to royal members. There was even an Amazon that had been a Child of Shin Pao. She would have been one of the most successful to complete the quest but still failed to do so. Now it was Deikon’s turn. Would he fail or would he succeed?

The Children of Shin Pao are also born with a natural ability to resurrect or reincarnate themselves. This allows them to have a second or a third chance at completing their quest. This special skill is rather unique yet it is very difficult to do the more times it is attempted.

When a Child of Shin Pao is killed, they have the ability to come back by resurrection of reincarnation. The very first time it is attempted is rather easy and all Children of Shin Pao have done this. Many of them have done it without even knowing.

When one is brought back to life, they have a choice between resurrection or reincarnation. One being completly different than the other and having different restrictions than the other. If a Child of Shin Pao was to be resurrected, he/she would rise with the same body with that of when he/she was killed. With this, the strength and power of the one who died would be increased dramatically. Their power would be over twice the amount of when they died.

If one was to be reincarnated, their power would increase the same way. They would become over twice as powerful as that when they were killed. The only difference about reincarnation is that the Child of Shin Pao is born into another body. With this body they will age at a normal rate therefore it would take them another 25 years to reach the age of 25. Only a few Children of Shin Pao have taken this course of rising back from the dead. Deikon was one of them. When he was first born, he was an elf living on a distant world with no name.

The Children of Shin Pao are not immortal and cannot be resurrected or reincarnated as many times as they want. The maximum amount of times they can be brought back is three times. Each time they come back to life their power increases dramatically. The first time their power increases over twice of that when they died. The second time their power increases over three times of that when they died. The third and final time their power increases over ten times of that when they died.

It is not an easy task to be brought back from the dead. The first time is rather easy and all Children of Shin Pao have reached this stage. The second time is more difficult and only three Children have completed this. Chronos was the first to do this. He was the very first Child of Shin Pao. The second to do this was the evil Sephrin who is currently now alive. However, when he was first born he was a human. His first death took place over 300 years ago when he was killed by an assassin. He waited 50 years before his was resurrected for the first time so he could kill the assassin that killed him the first time when he was an old man. Now, he has reincarnated himself as an Iksar to get another chance as reviving the corruted portion of Shin Pao. Deikon is the most recent one to be resurrected for the second time due to being killed by Sephrin.

With resurrections and reincarnations, a Child of Shin Pao has the freedom to come back to life at anytime he/she wishes. Although, if he/she does not return within 500 years of his/her most recent death, then he/she will never be able to return to the real world.

The most difficult of all resurrections is the third and final one. When a Child of Shin Pao reaches this point, they become one of the most powerful beings on the planet. However, with this power comes much danger. When a Child of Shin Pao reaches this stage they become unstable and if they were to lose control they would crack and a power of immense destruction would occur. Only two have reached this stage so far. The first was Chronos who was the very first Child of Shin Pao. Unfortunately, he was not true enough between his mind and body. The link between them was unstable and during a training session on a remote island in the middle of the ocean he ended up destroying himself and everything within a 50 mile radius of the island. If he had of been in a full-fleged battle he could have destroyed half the planet if not more.

The second to reach this power was Deikon Astalidan during his battle against the beast Aggropolotis 4000 years after he was first summoned. . Fortunately, Deikon had a true bond between his mind, soul, and body. Therefore, he could withstand the immense powers. Aggropolotis would then be sent back to the dimension of hate and death where he had first dwelled. During the Ago of Aggropolotis, Deikon becomes the Guardian of Shin Pao making sure that nothing will return to threaten the existance of the Shin Pao people. Did Deikon fail or succeed in returning Shin Pao to the people? He did neither, but he did give the world a last hope.

Shortly after the Sephrin Saga he would train a small boy who would turn out to be the 8th Child of Shin Pao. He would revolutionize the way Shin Pao was meant to be. He would introduce new types of fighting and would eventually be the hero of Shin Pao, bringing it back to the world after over 4000 years of being extinct. .

However, will this be the end of the story? I think not....