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The Three Sages
April 4, 2026 at 07:32 PM
Initial version
The Three Sages are Fuzi, Zhuangzi, and Mozi, three legendary scholars who together founded Jixia Academy near the abandoned capital of Chaoge on the Zhulu Plateau. Each is based on a real historical Chinese philosopher reimagined within the fantasy setting of Honor of Kings: World. Their combined wisdom, philosophies, and practical skills transformed a ruin-adjacent academy into one of the most important institutions on Primaera, serving as a center of learning, combat training, and intellectual debate.
Together, the Three Sages represent three pillars of protection and knowledge: wisdom through Fuzi's guidance, philosophy through Zhuangzi's mystical defenses, and engineering through Mozi's mechanical innovations. Their cooperation demonstrates that different approaches to understanding the world can coexist and complement one another rather than compete.
Fuzi serves as the headmaster of Jixia Academy and is the moral and intellectual center of the institution. Based on Confucius, the foundational Chinese philosopher whose teachings on ethics, governance, and social harmony shaped East Asian thought for over two millennia, Fuzi in Honor of Kings: World carries that same gravitas into a fantasy context. He is a figure of quiet authority who leads through example, patience, and an unwavering commitment to helping others discover truth for themselves.
His most notable teaching philosophy is encapsulated in his advice to students: "Find your own truth in battle." This instruction reflects Fuzi's belief that understanding cannot be handed from teacher to student like a physical object. It must be earned through personal experience, struggle, and reflection. At Jixia Academy, this means students are expected to engage in combat, debate, and exploration as paths to self-knowledge, not merely to accumulate power or technique.
As headmaster, Fuzi also manages the Academy's diplomatic relationships with the surrounding regions. His reputation for fairness and wisdom makes him a trusted mediator in disputes, and his presence lends Jixia Academy a legitimacy that protects it from political interference.
Zhuangzi protects Jixia Academy through the dream-scape, a mystical layer of defense that operates on principles that defy conventional understanding. Based on the historical Zhuangzi, the Daoist philosopher famous for questioning the nature of reality (most notably through his butterfly dream parable), this version of Zhuangzi brings that same philosophical orientation to the defense of the Academy.
The dream-scape is a boundary between waking reality and a realm shaped by thought, perception, and intention. Intruders who attempt to breach the Academy's perimeter without authorization find themselves lost in shifting landscapes, false paths, and illusions that reflect their own fears and desires back at them. The defense is nonviolent but extraordinarily effective: most would-be attackers simply wander in confusion until they give up or are gently redirected away.
Zhuangzi himself is known for his enigmatic demeanor and his tendency to answer questions with more questions. Students at the Academy find him either deeply inspiring or thoroughly frustrating, depending on their temperament. His contributions to the Academy go beyond defense; he teaches courses on perception, consciousness, and the relationship between the self and the world that challenge students to question their assumptions about reality.
Mozi handles the Academy's physical defense through mechanical engineering and invention. Based on the historical Mozi, a Chinese philosopher who advocated universal love, opposed aggressive warfare, and was renowned for his expertise in defensive engineering, this version of Mozi channels those same values into protecting Jixia Academy and its inhabitants.
His mechanical defense systems include automated sentries, barrier mechanisms, and early-warning devices that monitor the approaches to the Academy for hostile activity. These devices are powered by Primaera's natural energy and maintained by students who study under Mozi's tutelage. The engineering program at Jixia Academy is one of the most respected on the continent, and graduates often go on to design infrastructure for cities and settlements across Primaera.
Mozi also oversees the Mozi Arena, a dedicated combat training facility within the Academy where students test their skills against mechanical opponents and each other. The Arena serves as both a practical training ground and a laboratory for Mozi's latest inventions, which are often tested under combat conditions before being deployed to the Academy's defenses.
The Three Sages chose to establish Jixia Academy near Chaoge, the abandoned former capital on the Zhulu Plateau, for both practical and symbolic reasons. Chaoge's ruins provided building materials and pre-existing infrastructure, while its status as a fallen capital served as a constant reminder that power without wisdom leads to collapse. The location on the Zhulu Plateau also offered natural defensive advantages: elevated terrain, limited approach routes, and access to energy currents that Mozi could tap for his mechanical systems.
The Academy's founding represented a deliberate act of renewal. Where Chaoge had fallen to the ambitions and failures of its rulers, Jixia Academy would stand as a place dedicated to learning, growth, and the pursuit of understanding. The Three Sages envisioned an institution that would outlast any single ruler or regime, and their combined efforts created exactly that: a place where knowledge is preserved, debated, and passed to the next generation regardless of the political upheavals that shake the rest of the continent.
