Northern Heavenly Sect

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The Northern Heavenly Sect (북전문, Bugjeonmun) was a militaristic sect created with the sole purpose of combating and suppressing the Silent Night, a deadly group that was wreaking havoc across the Murim world. After the defeat of the Silent Night and their subsequent disappearance, the sect was forced to disband. This happened after the 4th generation sect leader, Jin Kwan-Ho, was betrayed by the Great Four of the Northern Heavens in a plot orchestrated by the Central Heavenly Alliance, led by the powerful Nine Skies, who ruled over the murim.

History[]

Founding & Years of Conflict[]

130 years prior to the start of the story, the Silent Night made their initial appearance within Murim and began to to wreck chaos upon the Mainlands. This event resulted in the Mainlands being ravaged by the flames of war and violence which visited death upon the land and the people started to despair as their lives became bleak and without hope. In response to this catastrophe, the martial masters of Murim banded together and created the Central Heavenly Alliance to help deal with this dilemma.

The solution that the Alliance came up with to resolve the issue at hand was to create a sect that was capable of minimizing the damage brought about by the Silent Night and keep them at bay. The result of this decision led to the creation of the Northern Heavenly Sect with its base of operation located in the Northern Wastelands. Upon the creation of the sect, the Central Heavenly Alliance pooled a vast amount of resources towards to the newly created sect to allow it be better fight against the Silent Night in the form of martial art techniques as well as the procurement of elixirs to empower its warriors. A former vagabond by the name of Buk Jin-Hu, whose renowned reputation as a genius swordsman, was tapped to be the first generation sect leader of the Northern Heavenly Sect and began to recruit new members of the sect to help it fulfill its purpose.

A picture of the Northern Heavenly Sect from the side and the mountains and barren lands surrounding it. — The Northern Heavenly Sect and the barren lands of the north.

Over the decades, the Northern Heavenly Sect continued to clash with the Silent Night. It's prestige began to increase in the Mainlands. The sect also continued to expand its membership and increased its fortifications while additional structures were added to the physical location throughout the years. Finally, under the leadership of the 4th generation sect leader Jin Kwan-Ho and his top lieutenants, the Great Four of the Northern Heavens, the Northern Heavenly Sect defeated the Silent Night in open battle which led to their disappearance from the rest of Murim and an end to their lingering attacks on the Mainlands.

The North Wall Crumbles[]

Despite the Northern Heavenly Sect achieving the victory, the Central Heavenly Alliance took the credit for the vanishing of the Silent Night and also harbored fears that the sect had grown too strong due to its century of combat experience. The Central Heavenly Alliance feared that the sect would turn its attention towards the Mainlands now that their longtime foe had been eliminated. The Great Four of the Northern Heavenly Sect also held their own various grievances against Sect Leader Jin, amongst which was his refusal to allow the sect to carve out its own territory in the Mainlands as a reward for their more than a century's long vigilance, protecting the mainlands from the Silent Night.

Because of his insistence to remain within the Northern Wastelands, the Central Heavenly Alliance plotted with the Great Four of the Northern Heavens to provide a falsified testimony labeling Jin as a traitor who betrayed the Alliance to the Silent Night, despite it being a well-known fact that he was loyal and steadfast in his duty. In exchange for their participation in this devious scheme, the Great Four were given assurances that they would each be able to have territories of their own and that the Alliance would publicly acknowledge and accept this.

A picture of Jin Kwan-Ho kneeling with one knee on the ground, bloodied and tired. The Central Heavenly Alliance and Nine Skies and Great Four of the Northern Heavens looking at him and his condition. — A kneeling Jin Kwan-Ho looking at the might of the Central Heavenly Alliance and the Nine Skies in front of him after being betrayed by the great Four of the Northern Heavens

Once the deal was struck, the Central Heavenly Alliance gathered its forces and arrived at the Northern Heavenly Sect and its leaders, the Nine Skies who ruled over the Mainlands and the entirety of Murim, quickly suppressed Sect Leader Jin Kwan-Ho in front of his son Jin Mu-Won as the Great Four allowed their entry and prevented the disciples from coming to his aid. This was in part due to the large majority of the sect disciples having already aligned themselves with the Great Four while another was due to fear that defending the honor of the sect leader would result in their deaths at the hands of the combined might of Great Four and the Nine Skies.

Jin Kwan-Ho found himself and his son in a precarious position and came to the conclusion that he wouldn't be able to fight his way out of the Northern Heavenly Sect and that his enemies would use everything at their disposal to prevent that from happening. Consequently, Sect Leader Jin bargained that in exchange for the dissolution of the Northern Heavenly Sect and the expulsion of its remaining disciples, his son Jin Mu-Won would be allowed to live and the Nine Skies would publicly assure him that they and the Alliance would not lay a hand on his son.

The Nine Skies reluctantly agreed to the arrangement only after concluding that killing off Jin's entire bloodline would have the rival factions within the Alliance turn against them and promised Sect Leader Jin that Mu-Won would be safe from them. After asking for his son's forgiveness, Jin Kwan-Ho plunged his sword into his torso and killed himself. Mu-Won afterwards watched as the Great Four plundered the sect of all its martial arts scrolls prior to dividing up a large number of the sect disciples among themselves before leaving the Northern Heavenly Sect for good.

Shadow of its Former Shell[]

Although the Northern Heavenly Sect was ordered to be disbanded by the former sect leader, Jin Mu-Won was still recognized as the inheritor of the sect even though he was not taught martial arts due to the the orders of his father while he lived. In order to ensure that his life was not in danger as he remained a hostage within his own home, Mu-Won began to take up blacksmithing as a trade while he secretly began learning the sect's hidden martial scroll, Gathering of Ten Thousand Shadows. Three years after his father's death, during an event hosted by the descendants of the Nine Skies to get Mu-Won's blessing to create the Cerulean Dragon Society, the Northern Heavenly Sect fortress was attacked by a mysterious group led by a seemingly immortal warrior causing the deaths of many of the mercenary groups of the fortress and attendees including the daughter of Shim Mu-Wae, a member of the Nine Skies and leader of the Deceitful Heavens.

Leaving the Nest & Taking Flight[]

Following the complete and utter destruction of the sect grounds, Jin Mu-Won accepted Seo Mu-Sang as his first blade after the mercenary witnessed the young blacksmith hold his own against the Demon of Chaos. Mu-Sang came to this conclusion after realizing that Mu-Won had what it took to revitalize the Northern Heavenly Sect and that he possessed a unyielding will capable of overcoming the prevalence of conspiracy and betrayal that had since become commonplace in Murim. After burning the corpses of the victims Mu-Won disappeared from the Northern Wastelands while Mu-Sang remained to initiate a plan to infiltrate the Central Heavenly Alliance from within in order to secretly support his lord from the shadows.

Description[]

The Northern Heavenly Sect's purpose was militaristic in nature as it was created to prevent the Silent Night from conquering the Mainlands while protecting its residents. As such, the sect was unique from other sects within Murim in that disciples were expected to actively participate in that endeavor. Because of this, the sect was far more willing to accept disciples that would have otherwise been rejected by other sects and provide them with training in the martial arts as a means of self-defense. Even though the sect was given multiple martial arts to it by the Central Heavenly Alliance, the Northern Heavenly Sect engaged in studies and research to develop new martial arts that allowed its disciples to better combat the Silent Night, although some were abandoned due to the extensive damages they caused to their users' lifespans. A good example of a martial art banned by the Northern Heavenly Sect was the "Fist of One Hundred Days" which caused its users to become accident prone as their nerves became numb and their life expectancy reduced significantly due to how quickly it could be learned.

Martial Arts[]

Gathering of Ten Thousand Shadows[]

This martial art was created by the First Northern Heavenly Sect Leader, Buk Jin-Hu, a vagabond and a genius swordsman who created it during his many years of traveling and wandering. This martial art was inscribed on the ruined walls of the Northern Heavenly Sect and could be seen from the shadows cast by the walls during sunset. These walls are known as the 'Walls of Ten Thousand Shadows'.

The secrets of the martial arts were inscribed on the walls in a forgotten language from the Lower Moon Kingdom. It has been described as a martial art that has gone through refinements over the years under the different sect masters of each generation with it yet being incomplete. It is a martial art that not even the disciples of the sect know about. It is meant for only the leader of the sect and it is passed down from one generation to the next generation leader.

For more information, visit the main article: Gathering of Ten Thousand Shadows