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Overview
A secret organization hidden in the fog of the southern Wulin, appearing and vanishing like a mirage. It has never dealt with any sect, yet its techniques look like a collection gathered from many of them. It commands a artificer tradition no outsider can follow, down to an enormous airship that floats above the ground — enough that its real face has never come clear.
When The Order first pushed south, the Mirage cost it heavily while staying unidentified. In the end The Order sent Soul and Zuo Shang deep into the Mirage and broke it apart. Nobody knows whether that was the end of it.
Internal factions
In practice the Mirage is built from two factions:
The Eleven
Eleven Wulin elders make up the council known as the Council of Eleven. Most of them were listed as missing after the Tianling Massacre.
These survivors watched the slaughter at Tianling Peak and lost their faith in the Wulin. Under the influence of excess Sha-Chi they formed a secret alliance, the Council of Eleven. They lure in martial artists desperate for quick strength, rebuild them as Masked who obey without question, and stir up conflict between schools — the aim being a chaotic world where only the strong set the rules.
The artificers
A artificer faction represented by the Ying clan, responsible for the Mirage’s devices and its airship.
Core members
| Name | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Xuanyu | The hand behind it | The Mirage’s real controller |
| Xuan Yu | Core member | Soul’s beloved, and a major figure in the Mirage |
| The Eleven | Council of elders | Eleven Wulin elders |
| The Ying clan | artificers | Builds the devices and the airship |
Key strongholds
- Luoye Market — the southern Wulin base, and where the Battle of Mirage began
- Luocheng — a major Mirage stronghold
- Mirage Tower — the Mirage’s headquarters: the great airship
The Battle of Mirage
In The Order’s thirtieth year, Soul and Zuo Shang went deep into the Mirage and broke it. The war made both their names, and it was the campaign that carried The Order’s expansion south.
In the fighting they exposed Xuanyu as the hand behind the Mirage and brought down its airship. Whether the Mirage was truly destroyed is another question, and one nobody has answered.