A collection of robed individuals assembles in a dark room, lit only by jade fire. “Let the meeting of the Shadow Protectorate begin” one of the robed figures announces. One of the robed men step forward, the glint of a Jade tipped spear reflecting light from the fire, “I, the Guardian Dragon, have some information regarding the investigation of the Great Arrival”.

“While many seers or other divination experts put forth claims about great change and the arrival of “foreign agents” into the Empire, our lead divination expert in the Zhou Clan was able to determine their origin. She was able to determine that at least one of them was not from this world” he pauses while mumblings erupt from the group. “Yes, I know how that may sound, but we have recently confirmed it to be true, as young man bearing our Clan name from another world has arrived at the predicted location. While we are unable to determine if the great change that was foretold of his arrival is inherent due to him specifically or just the nature of their origin, we have found nothing inherently evil about this individual yet” he continues, stamping his spear on the ground to silence the murmurs.

Another robes individual steps forward “We can confirm that they have no specific hostility to our Empire, as we have managed to secretly observe a few who arrived in Zhang lands. We can go as far as to say that these individuals come from a place in their world where their culture is far different from ours, but appear to know of stories of our culture, if at least in a childish and exaggerated context” he explains, getting nods from the assembled people.

After a few more of the Protectorate come forth issuing statements about their surveillance of their otherworldly tourists, the last individual with news comes forth. “The Emperor himself knows of at least one individual, as we have one within the Imperial residences” he decrees, which surprises everyone. The surprise continues as the original speaker, “Guardian Dragon”, and explains how despite the Zhou clan tends to be more cautious, that he firmly believes that while the influx of otherworlders should be reviewed on a case by case basis, with the idea that both sides can offer each other something. He further elaborates that there will likely be bad apples, and even more others that may be pushed to so bad things, and likely that the arrival of these individuals did not just arrive in their empire.

After many nods of approval, there was one dissenting voice, to the surprise of no one. “Why are we not pressing the individuals we have located, questioning them, and taking what we can get from them?” the man suggests. One of the men in the Zhang camp replies, “I, Jade Arrow, believe that is not within our goals as the Shadow Protectorate. Some of us deal with issues abroad, even acting within foreign nations, but we are a purely defensive organization, meant to act out of eyesight of our enemies gazes and for the benefit of our Empire”.

Another steps up “ As Jade Arrow said, we won’t be attacking and effectively enslaving these otherworlders simply because they will cause change and may have weapons or other knowledge we can use. But as others have suggested, we can negotiate with them and still find a balance of what we wish to learn from them. But above all, we should still be cautious and determine why they are here and if any of them are a threat”, leading to a chorus of approval.

After some deliberation, the Guardian Dragon is asked what his views and observations are of the individual under Zhou care. “As I mentioned earlier, he bears my Clan’s name, but also seems to bear our tendency to gain passive Techniques. You may in fact know of this individual, as his name is Zhou Mingzie, the very one that made an incredible showing in the ZAT. While he has been making an impact already, part of that is due to the expectations and goals being set for him. The other part was that Mingzie seemed to have been at a turning point in his life on the other world, where their advanced knowledge and particular career aspirations happened to have perfectly aligned to make his transition to taking the test a near heavenly combination. Even excluding his previous knowledge and timing in his life, he seemed to have been part of a family that practiced many of the core cultural elements of our Empire, if you exclude Qi and Path related influences, while also assimilating with a culture very different from our own, allowing him to blend in and translate his experiences to this world” he answers.

“So this Zhou Mingzie can at least blend in enough to not attract the attention of the other nations, but will he pose any dangers to us? Also what benefits could we arrange to gain from him?” A couple of the robed men ask. The Guardian Dragon replies that the individual seems to prefer not making enemies, just wanting to create a place for himself, even seeming to have some level of annoyance to the immaturity and aggression of many of the youth.

“He came across the Young Master of one of the outlying villages in our Clan lands, discovered some of the corruption that tends to only occur in the rural parts of the empire, and managed to cleverly replace him as the Young Master of the village branch.”

He further explains that while he obtained the Path of the Young Master, he tends to focus more on his main Path. As for benefits to the Empire, Guardian Dragon maintained that he doubts negotiating will achieve much, not that he wouldn’t work with the empire, but that he will provide the benefits without needing a contractual agreement. It would still be best to provide incentives to encourage the cooperation, but he has already provided benefits to our clan, even if only in subtle ways that would only really help some sectors of administration.

The meeting begins to settle down with promises to keep their eyes out for outliers and the general idea that meetings will likely occur on a more regular and frequent basis.