Tingtong - Its finished!

[V]

Join me as we meet the inhabitents of Tingtong...

A History of Tingtong Province and the Cult of the Jade Dragons


The Chinese province of Tingtong has been linked with the Jade Dragon Cult since the cult came into being during the late 12th Century in the province. The province of Tingtong has always been a relatively rich province having good fertile farming lands and a seaport. The province also has two major rivers, the Ying and the Yang, that have always been used to transport goods around the province and to the port at Tingtong. For these reasons, the province has always enjoyed reasonable prosperity and its inhabitants have been spared the worst of famines and droughts. However for the same reason it has also been a prime target for invading forces.

It was during the Mongol invasions of the late 12th century, during the Song Dynasty, that the Jade Dragons first came into being. After having the province suffer at the hands of the Mongol invaders and their allies, the cult began to form in the rural north of the province, its sole aim being the destruction of the invader. The cult gained popularity quickly and began a brutal guerrilla war against the Mongol invaders. After a number of successful attacks, the cult came to the notice of Kublai Khan who ruthless suppressed it and its followers. The cult seemed to have been destroyed and was not seen again during the Mongol rule of China.

Even under Mongol rule, Tingtong continued to flourish, and this wealth may have been a reason for the lack of support for the cult. Indeed little was heard of the cult again till the mid-19th century when it again surfaced as the influx of Europeans grew. By the end of the 19th Century, a European governor under remit from the Emperor effectively ruled Tingtong city, and European traders and business flourished. While the urban Chinese in Tingtong benefited greatly from the European presence, those in the rural areas did not and as the gulf grew between the two, the cult resurfaced, again in the north of the province. This time they were opposed to European influence and control in the province and also against those Chinese who supported it.

In 1886 the first attacks occurred by cult members. During that year the attacks were limited against Chinese traders and merchants and their corpses were often found brutally mutilated and left on show as a warning to others. Despite the brutality of the attacks the Tingtong Police Force, comprised of Europeans, bolstered by native Chinese, did little to stop the attacks. This was a dangerous mistake. By 1889, the Jade Dragons had grown in strength and popularity and that year saw the first attacks on Europeans. In March 1889 the missionary family of the Reverend Frobisher, were slaughtered in their church in the north of the province. In the following months the attacks on Europeans grew closer and closer to the city of Tingtong. The Tingtong Police found it increasingly hard to apprehend cult members as they had the support of the rural population and seemed to almost vanish when pursued. In the winter of 1889 several attacks occurred in the city itself and on two occasions, Tingtong Police patrols were ambushed and massacred. By the end of the year the situation was reaching a critical stage as fear among the Europeans and the Chinese who had grown wealthy from them feared the worse as Jade Dragon attacks reached a crescendo around Christmas that year. On Christmas Day the Jade Dragons assassinated the Governor, Colonel Philip Harding, and killed his family and servants, leaving the mutilated corpses for the police to find. 

This was the act that finally pushed the Europeans into strong action. As the Chinese Emperor refused to send troops to the province, the British at Hong Kong ordered Major Oswald Barclay to take command of the province and despatched him, along with the gunboat HMS Firefly, a detachment of Naval infantry and soldiers from the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry, to restore order in the province and eradicate the Jade Dragons. Despite this force, Barclay found it too small to do much than restore order in Tingtong itself and the province remained under cult control. For this reason, Barclay asked for further support, especially cavalry and more regular infantry, to allow him to conduct offensive sweeps of the countryside and begin a policy of extermination regarding the cult. Barclay also took it upon himself to approach the other European nations with interests in Tingtong and one of the first extra forces to arrive was a small detachment of the French Foreign Legion under the command of Lieutenant Rene Vallins. This unit would go on to make a desperate stand at the small post established to control the road to Tingtong city from the north of the province and defeat a much larger Jade Dragon force before being relieved by a British force.

As we join the province it is one in much turmoil. Further British troops have yet to arrive, though they are on the way, and Barclay faces a difficult task in order to maintain order and to take the fight to the cult. Rumours persist that the Jade Dragons have infiltrated the Tingtong Police force and a number of European militias have been set up to protect warehouses and people and their property. The situation is on a knife-edge and a mass attack by the Jade Dragons looks likely before further troops arrive…

Now let us meet them in a little more detail...

Black Lotus & The Cult of the Jade Dragon



No-one knows who she is, but she leads the cult with ruthless skill. Her cunning is matched by her swordsmanship and few live to tell the tale of fighting her. All we know is that she commands complete loyalty from the cultists and they obey her without question.

Her aim - To rid Tingtong of the foreign devils!




Kung-Po the Bandit Warlord



Once a powerful bandit warlord, Kung-Po now lives a sorrowful existence. His once powerful kingdom collapsed under attack from both the British and the Jade Dragons. He has vowed revenge on both, but he needs help.

Luckily, he has some...


Kapitan Lobov and the crew of the 'Vassily'



In Tingtong under orders from the Tsar to destabilise the British rule. His aim is to destroy both the British and the Jade Dragons and then instal Kung-Po as a figurehead in a pro-Russian government. But there is something sinister about kapitan Lobov...


The Tingtong Garrison



Stout fellows, one and all, the finest the Empire can produce. Willing to sell their lives for Queen and Country and maintain British rule! Sailors, Ghurkas and soldiers fight side by side against the enemies of the Empire!


The Tingtong Constabulary



Tingtongs Police force has been bolstered by a number of volunteers. Seen here are Lieutenant Rene Vallins and the explorer, Roger Hardy. The constabulary do their best to keep the citizens safe.


Major Oswald Barclay and his wife Sarah



The latest Chief Inspector of the Tingtong Constabulary, Barclay has sworn to rid the land of the cultists and the bandits. With him is his wife, Sarah, former pistol champion of the 'Wimbledon Womens Tennis and Pistol Club'. She aint bad at tennis either...


Sir Sidney Rough-Diamond & his daughters, Evie and Gladys, and their Governess, Miss Thatcher



Sir Sidney is the current Govenor of the province. With him in Tingtong are his two daughters, Evie - pretty, headstrong and handy with a shotgun and Gladys - not as attractive as her sibling but a fine shot with her fathers Elephant gun. Looking after them is their Governess, Miss Thatcher, a woman of who it is said stopped a cultist charge with one look...


Missionary Natascha Kunitsova



A strange young lady from Poland, who tries to bring the word of God to the heathen Chinese... For some reason, despite living alone in her mission outside the walls of Tingtong, she has never been attacked by the Jade Dragons. No-one knows why, when all other foreigners who used to live outside the walls are now either dead or living in the relative safety of Tingtong.



There ends our brief tour of Tingtong... the End.

























Or is it... perhaps we should take a closer look at Miss Kunitsova and the book she never lets go...









She is actually the Russian Sorceress, Elvira, and is working with Kapitan Lobov to harness a dark power for the Tsar in his bid for world domination!

Perhaps the story of Tingtong is not over yet...

[Helen]

Excellent! 

Cool characters and bio.

Helen

[commissarmoody]

You can never trust the russkies can you

[Geudens]

wow...  I mean WOW!!!!! 

Rudi

[Mad Doc Morris]

Very well, sir!
A great choice of miniatures, high-quality painting and an interesting background. Please keep us informed how things develop in Tingtong.

[odd duck]

Finished!!?Looks like the fun is just about to start lolYou have some great looking figures there, and a well thought out background,hope you have some great games with them, and I hope we hear about them.

[dodge]

great minitures

excellent back stories

looking forward to hearing more

well done 

dodge

[Malamute]

Jolly good show, A splendid collection.
 
Good to see old Sidney Rough-Diamond, he certainly gets about a bit.

[argsilverson]

A very nice collection, excellent!

[Darren]

What an outstanding effort.  Colour me impressed! (with a Vallejo Kolinksy Sable size 0 brush...)

[Grimm]

where is the game report !!!

can´t wait

grimm

[argsilverson]

where is the game report !!!

can´t wait

grimm

 

Me too!

[Dan]

Thats a brilliant looking project , hope to see it in action. Have you some terrain to show us too?

[gamer Mac]

Great back ground
Great figures and painting
Looking forward to further pictures and information
As above
How about a battle report

[Bugsda]

Brilliant! It's stuff like this that makes me wish I gamed