Revision 1

The Tianji Guard (天機衛) is the secret organization of the Imperial Court that gives Tianji: Shadow of the Ancients its name. By the time the player takes control of Shangguan Shuo, it exists in name only.

The Bashu Expedition

The game opens in the Tianbao era of the Tang Dynasty, with unrest stirring in Bashu. The Tianji Guard is sent to investigate a millennium-old ruin in the region. The mission goes wrong: the commanding general puts on an eerie bronze mask, loses his mind and spirals out of control, and the organization is left hollowed out. Months later the Xuanxin Order rises rapidly in the same region, using masks and spiritual arts of its own.

That sequence is the premise Justdan published with the reveal, and it is carried identically in every storefront language. What the Guard was looking for in the ruin, and what the mask did to the general, are not explained.

Fish Tokens

Members carry a fish token (魚符) as identification. Shangguan Shuo wakes with one and reads his own name off it, which is how the game hands his identity back to him and to the player at the same moment. Hands-on impressions add that the tokens are intricately carved and worn at the waist; that detail comes from one account and has not been repeated by Justdan.

Origins

The game's own lore, as read in the demo, places the founding of the Tianji Guard in the early Tang under Emperor Taizong Li Shimin, who is said to have gathered people of extraordinary abilities to protect the dynasty. This is a single-source claim about what the game says, not a statement about history, and the game is free to diverge from the record it borrows from.

Known Members

What Is Not Published