Dali Duan Imperial Lineage (In-Game Lore)
A summary of the Dali Kingdom's Duan imperial line as Ye Yunshang tells it when explaining Duan Zhixiu's background. Dali is the kingdom where the Point Cang Faction is based. During the Qingcheng study-abroad route, in the event "Yunshang's Counsel" (雲裳商議), choosing the chat topic "The young master of Songyan Pavilion" and then "the full version" has Yunshang spend the better part of an hour drawing a genealogy chart and narrating from the founding emperor all the way to Duan Zhixiu's coup. Choosing "in a word" gives only the short version, and the chart is never shown.
The in-game Dali closely follows the historical Dali Kingdom (937–1254, in today's Yunnan). Temple names, posthumous titles, the string of forced abdications and the Gao clan's domination are all historical; the fiction is concentrated in everything tied to Duan Zhixiu and in the link to the Point Cang Faction. Deviations are noted in the "Historical record" column.
⚠️警告
Contains spoilers about Duan Zhixiu's origins on the Ye Yunshang (Qingcheng study-abroad) route.
The lineage as Yunshang tells it
"Branch" follows Yunshang's framing: the direct line of the founder Duan Siping is the first branch, the line of his younger brother Duan Siliang the second, and the two branches traded the throne back and forth for over a century.
| Gen. | Temple / posthumous name | Name | Yunshang's account | Historical record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (1st branch) | Taizu, Emperor Shengshen | Duan Siping | Founder of Dali. Yunshang draws him with a "coarse" face and says he looks just like Zhao Huo | Enthroned 937. Historical |
| 2 | Emperor Wenjing | (name left blank) | The people of Dali fear him so much they call him only "that man". A debauched tyrant, dragged off the throne after one year, shaved and thrown into Tianlong Temple as a monk | Duan Siying, r. 944–945, deposed by his uncle Duan Siliang and made a monk at Chongsheng Temple (some say Wuwei Temple). "Tianlong Temple" is the name Jin Yong's Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils gives Chongsheng Temple; the game adopts it |
| 3 (2nd branch) | Emperor Shengci Wenwu | Duan Siliang | Uncle of Emperor Wenjing; took the throne and began the second branch. Spared the first branch and kept them as princes and marquises, which is why the two branches fought endlessly thereafter | r. 946–951. Historical |
| 4 | Emperor Guangci | (son of Duan Siliang) | The next seven emperors, wise and foolish alike, ruled for a full century without exterminating the first branch | Duan Sicong. Historical |
| Last of 2nd branch | Emperor Tianming | Duan Suxing | Debauched and fond of courtesans; earned heaven's wrath and the people's hatred and was deposed. Yunshang draws him "looking like a villain" | r. 1041–1044, deposed by the populace. Historical |
| 1st branch restored | Emperor Xiaode | Duan Silian | Son of Duan Zhisi, great-grandson of Taizu. Deposed Duan Suxing and returned power to the first branch after a century. Reigned 21 years before his own son Duan Lianyi forced him to shave his head and enter Tianlong Temple | r. 1044–1075, i.e. 31 years. The real pressure came from chancellor Gao Zhisheng; blaming the son is the game's alteration |
| — | — | Duan Lianyi | Zhao Huo quips that his "Lian" means cheap, not upright, and that he looks like Fourth Brother. Killed by a minister | r. 1075–1080. Murdered by Yang Yizhen, who seized the throne |
| — | — | (Gao clan's puppet) | The regicide tried to crown himself and was promptly killed by another minister surnamed Gao | Gao Shengtai, son of Gao Zhisheng, put down Yang Yizhen |
| — | Emperor Shangming | Duan Shouhui | Installed by the Gaos; made a monk after a single year | r. 1080–1081. Historical |
| — | Emperor Baoding | Duan Zhengming | Lasted a dozen-odd years but was still driven off the throne by the same Gao and forced into Tianlong Temple | r. 1081–1094 (13 years). Deposed by Gao Shengtai and made a monk. Historical |
| (Gao usurpation) | — | (the Gao) | Having chased off the emperors, the Gao simply took the throne himself. Died after only three years, returning power to the Duans on his deathbed | Gao Shengtai, dynasty name "Dazhong", 1094–1096. On his deathbed he ordered his son Gao Taiming to restore the Duans. Historical |
| Zhongzong | — | Duan Zhengchun | Younger brother of Emperor Baoding. Terrified of the Gao, who stayed on as chancellor even after abdicating, he abdicated to his son Duan Heyu and became a monk — at Wuwei Temple, not Tianlong ("his brother is already at Tianlong; it would be awkward") | r. 1096–1108. Took vows at Wuwei Temple as Master Xiukong. Historical |
| Xianzong | — | Duan Heyu | Studied martial arts at Point Cang as a boy and mastered the family's internal art. Ruler of Dali and at the same time the Point Cang Sword Saint of his day, said to loose formless sword qi with a flick of the blade and wound enemies a zhang away. Fought the Gao clan's assassins himself, always winning and never killing, praising their loyalty and enshrining the fallen in a Tomb of the Righteous. Had Songyan Pavilion built overlooking Point Cang. Lived to nearly a hundred and took vows late in life | Duan Zhengyan (Duan Heyu), r. 1108–1147, the longest reign in Dali. Gao infighting kept the court unstable. Model for Duan Yu in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. The Sword Saint and Songyan Pavilion are fiction |
| Jingzong | — | Duan Zhengxing | Abdicated to his son Duan Zhixing and became a monk | r. 1147–1171. Historical |
| Xuanzong | — | Duan Zhixing | Devout but too clever to be pushed into a monastery. Ignored state affairs and emptied the treasury building sixty temples | r. 1172–1200. The sixty temples are recorded. Model for Reverend Yideng in The Legend of the Condor Heroes |
Songyan Pavilion and Duan Zhixiu
Point Cang's scripture repository is the old "Songyun Pavilion" on the back mountain. "Songyan Pavilion", which Duan Zhixiu oversees, was built on Xianzong's orders on the peak with the best view: it looks out over the whole Cang Mountain range, and looks down on the Point Cang Faction. Point Cang and Dali city are so close that "without the walls and guards you could stroll into the palace", and a colony of martial masters next door was not something the throne could ignore.
Later, the Gao ministers long held down by Xianzong found an heir of the second branch — Duan Zhixiu, a seventh-generation descendant of Emperor Tianming Duan Suxing, then five years old — and raised a coup in his name. It failed. The late emperor, devout like his father and unwilling to take life, spared the child, stripped him of the heir's title and of the succession to the Duke of Zhongguo's household, and exiled him to the Point Cang Faction — partly as a hostage to keep Point Cang in line. This is why Yunshang calls his standing as keeper of Songyan Pavilion "both high and low".
Duan Zhixiu and this coup are fiction. Historically Duan Zhixing was succeeded by his sons Duan Zhilian (1200–1204) and Duan Zhixiang (1204–1238).
Connections to Jin Yong
Besides history, the in-game Duan clan draws on Jin Yong's Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. Only points with a verifiable source are listed.
- "Tianlong Temple" is the name that novel gives the historical Chongsheng Temple; the game follows it.
- Duan Zhixiu's art, the Withered-and-Flourishing Divine Art (枯榮神功), takes its name from the novel's 枯榮禪功, an internal art of the Duan clan created by Duan Siping and practised by Master Kurong of Tianlong Temple, keeper of the Six Meridian Divine Sword manual.
- Xianzong Duan Heyu (Duan Zhengyan) is the historical model for the novel's Duan Yu; Xuanzong Duan Zhixing is the model for Reverend Yideng in The Legend of the Condor Heroes.
Reading Duan Heyu's "formless sword qi" as a nod to the Six Meridian Divine Sword is natural, but nothing in the game says so, so it is left as a reading rather than a fact.
Related pages
- Point Cang Faction — the Sword Saint title and the faction's ties to the Dali court
- Pre-Game History Timeline — where the coup sits among the other pre-game events
- Duan Zhixiu's character page and the event page "Yunshang's Counsel" (雲裳商議) are not yet translated; see the Traditional Chinese version for links
Contributors
NEXTAltair