Lì+wù+pŭ+Spirits

The boundary between the Never-Never and the ‘real world’ is relatively week with in the borders of China town and just ‘over the veil’ is a large demesne which mimics the corner of the city and contains ‘equivalents’ of the buildings and streets. Conveniently these borders are marked by a combination of the Bilingual road signs and the Fou Dog statues on the roads, and most of the supernatural entities in Liverpool know better than to enter the area. At certain times of the night (the metal hours between 3am and 7am) it is all too easy to step across into this world; or indeed for the spirits that inhabit it to step out. The people of china town take care to patrol the streets at this time and redirect the unwary back to the safety of the city beyond the boundary to prevent accidents. The demesne is so potent that any use of the Sight in China town will reveal the spirit version of the city.

The structures in the Nevernever are not exact copies; far from it. The building are more often large beasts-like structures that reveal something of the activities that go on in the building. So the local Mah-Jong den appears as a lazy cat flicking its paws at passing spirits to tempt them in to play, whilst the day care centre is a large brooding hen sitting in watchful protection over her chicks. Additionally the appearance of the Demesne is far from static. For example the new apartment block on Seal street appear as a collection of small furry squares with large eyes. As families are moving in the ‘fuzzy balls’ are taking on the personalities of those inside; some becoming happy and friendly, others appearing as growling dogs. A few buildings are resistant to this effect. The Black-E, a formally congregational church and now art gallery and exhibition space, appears in the Nevernever exactly as it does in the ‘real world’ despite being right next to the Chinese gate. Additionally none of the spirits of China town have ever entered its space, and in the Nevernever the doors appear to be just painted on.

The demesne is inhabited by spirits, some of which appear to be fantastical and others of which look just like the mortal inhabitants of the city - mostly because they are in fact their ancestral spirits, and the mortals are descended from them. The more aware residents of china town will use rituals to call up these spirits to ask their advice at times of crisis, or in some cases just to catch up on the family gossip. Most residences have a shrine where the border is exceptionally weak an allows the spirits it is dedicated to, to come through.

There are also more fantastical inhabitants: The **Baí Zé** can be found lurking at the site of a herbalist shop on Griffiths Street. He has a mostly human face, except for the 7 extra eyes which wander around his head and allow him to keep a constant look out for danger. Two large horns on his head, with another two protruding from his shoulder blades, the mane of a lion and the body of a bull. He is extremely intelligent and well read, finding all books fascinating and suitable payment for his advice. So far he has not encountered a human language he could not master in a few hours. His main area of interest is diseases and he has a ‘boy’ Ru (now 38) who he dispatches off to the School of Tropical Medicine every time there is an interesting case in, in the hope Ru with catch it and give him something to test his skills against. So far he has always been successful (a-testified by Ru’s still living state) but it has been close a few times. As a spring board interest form the diseases Baí Zé has also built an extensive library on supernatural entities from around the world. This is mostly eye witness testimony he has collected himself from visitors to the port.


 * Qilin** are a common site in china, those most consider them to be just bronze statues due to their habits of sitting motionless for decades. They are often thought to have evolved from a bad description of a giraffe recorded in the Ming dynasty. They have a tiger like body, but deer like antlers. Their ‘fur’ is actually tongues of living fire and their powerful legs end in cow like hooves. Qilin are very peaceful creatures who take care not to tread on any living thing. They are capable of passing over grass with out bending a blade and walking on water. They are said only to be active in places where the ruler is wise and benevolent so the existence of a small herd in China town is a great source of pride. Despite this ‘laid back’ nature it is possible to incur their wrath; They become fierce if a pure person is threatened by a sinner, spouting flames from their mouths and exercising other fearsome powers that vary from Qilin to Qilin, but mostly involve hunting the sinner and trampling him to death. Such outrage has taken them beyond the boundaries of China town on 3 occasions. But each time the Qilin sacrificed itself to complete its mission and was unable to return back to the safety of China town before its power dissipated and it dissolved.

Living near the Qilin is a single **Kai Tsi.** This cat like creature has a single unicorn like horn on its head. He has very intense eyes and is capable to detecting falsehood in humans. Those thought to be lying in the china town community will be asked to repeat their words before the Kai Tsi to prove their truth. Most back down faced with this, as the creature responds to such dishonesty by impaling the heart of the liar with its single horn. Murderers with in the community are tried by simply bringing them before the Kai Tsi and asking them to state their innocence. It is a very effective deterrent.

Additionally there are a pair of **Feng-huang,** or chinese Phoenix; a small family of **Huli jing**, trickster fox spirits with multiple tails, who can take on the forms of beautiful humans; and a **Ying-lung**, a rain dragon with four wings who arrived in the box with the Chinese Gate when it was sent from Shanghai and is still exploring the city in a human form when ever the weather is conducive. Which is causing some confusion with local meteorologists who cant work out where the cold front keeps coming from and causing the unexpected night time showers.

Tu Di Gong spends most of his time in the Nevernever side of China town, but can pass so freely between the two he barely acknowledges that there is a difference. He resides in a structure that looks like a giant lucky cat, complete with waving paw in the Nevernever and is a flat above a chinese teahouse in the real world.