Kingdom of Paradise - Story

Story

The story of this game takes place in an almost feudal China, which is simulated through the fictitious world of Ouka. The continent of Ouka is separated into five divisions; Northern (Genbu), Eastern (Seiryu), Southern (Suzaku) Western (Byakko) and Central (Kirin). Each of the five divisions has a Clan Lord, clan disciples, a particular style of Chi and swordfighting and a sacred sword. It is later revealed that each sword – except the Kirin Sacred Sword – controls one of the Four Gods of Ouka. There is also reference to the continent of Seima, which is said to be somewhere over the sea to the west of Ouka. Nobody who has ever tried to find Seima has returned. Three hundred years previously there is said to have been the Seima-Ouka war, in which the Clan Lords of Ouka prevailed. However, nobody was alive three hundred years ago to recount the mysterious events of the war – except the Kirin Lord Gikyo and the Seiman twins, Lu Yan and Li Yin (who are over three hundred years old but look deceptively young in the game because they "are able to sustain selves on the chi of the yin and yang moons" as told by Gikyo. Their very names are references to yin and yang – Lu Yan representing the righteous Yang while Li Yin is the mischievous Yin side). The Forbidden Poem, written by Lu Yan and Li Yin, speaks of the war, reading:

Five great gates of Ouka be,

Name them here for all to see;
Sieryu, Byakko and Genbu
Kirin and Suzaku be there too;
At Heaven’s gate twin keys you need;
At Earth’s gates, bows the Divine Steed;
The soul is born as the Yang moon whirls
The body is born as the Yin moon twirls
The twin moons make a mighty hum

From the watery moon, it doth come.

The main character, Shinbu, has been exiled from his clan, the Seiryu, after looking at the Ancient Monument, which holds the secrets of the Seiryu Chi Arts. The surviving disciple named Sui Lin tracks down Shinbu to tell him that their clan was destroyed, and they're the only two survivors. They also later discover that their sacred sword has been stolen (as, later on, the other three clans'.) On a quest to find out who destroyed their clan, Shinbu and Sui Lin go to warn the three other clans that the ruling Kirin clan is rising in power and plans to steal each clan's sacred sword, each containing unimaginable power, to overthrow them all.

A note of dynasty here, every sixteen years, the clans' power change hands. Last time it was the Suzaku rule, so the ruling clan is the Kirin. As with the complementary cycle, the rule of clans goes in the said cycle.