The Emerald Court Under Heaven

My second idea is to have an oversized leader with a horde of smaller dokkaebi around him performing pungmul (풍물) traditional Korean folk music. This would demand the wearing of the unique sangmo (상모) ribboned hats.

The dokkaebi I’d like to get designed is on a bit of a toss up between two concepts and both ideas are based on music. The first would be carrying a platform with a trio of ladies performing the Korean multi-drum music known as samgomu (삼고무).

For the realm beyond the sight of mere mortals the help of a mudang (무당), a female shaman, is required. In order to interpret the will of the gods, ancestors and powers of the supernatural world so that the kingdom perseveres hardship and flourishes in time of peace she serves the will of the throne.

Either by the inheritance of power through her mother or by the will of the spirits with a sin byeong (신병), a special spirit sickness that calls her, the mudang takes up the special vocation as a unique place in the cosmic order.

These are the bodies which stand against all threat to the Emerald Court. Without their strength the kingdom would fall to ruin. Without the kingdom they would fall to ruin.

On special detail, visually distinct for their “fox ear” plumes, the palace guards stand vigilant as the strongest and most capable warriors to protect the court.

As the pillars upon which rests the lofty construct which Heaven has decreed to be so the military enforces the order of the world. Wise generals stand atop this structure and hand down calculated command.

Below them are their capable supporting officers who lead for maintaining the stability of the world with the strong arm of every man in the service of the king

As a mark of standing, hats were very useful to speak without need to usher a word. Men with means appear to stand taller than others.

Other than men of standing official court station could be denoted with other hats as well

Looking below the highest positions in the nation other social stations should be considered as the Emerald Court cannot stand alone in the heavens as a cloud

(More hanbok art by Glimja on Deviantart)

Here lies the inspiration for how I might go about my work on a queen or any other high society woman with beauty as a flower in bloom and both grace and the voice of birds in song.

Now it is well known that the hair of women has also been long a part of fashion and should be considered as a divine gift

I find inspiration in the images I’ve found for painting a leader for my Koryo. These are courtly attire but it gets the brain moving in the right direction

The finery of men’s hanbok is varied (as marriage attire and dress historically from the kingdom of Sulla has been included)

I thought that giving some audio for the visual right now, in small part, might do well to bring up some of the mystery of the Koryo under the Joseon dynasty.

The epic singing and relaying of mythic stories is precisely what can open the mind to a bit of flashing creativity and the fuzzy edge of what could be in the world long ago and far away.

I received in the mail a copy of my favorite collection of Korean folklore that I read as a child. I don’t remember but a single story of a man trying to get a pearl of wisdom from a fox woman (gumiho 구미호) and how it explains the divide between earthly/heavenly knowledge between men and women.  I remembered the name Hong Il-Dong (홍 일동) from one of the stories but completely forgot what his story entailed.

I look at it and a flood of nostalgia hits me as I think back to how I read it long ago. I think it might’ve been a first edition with its yellow fabric binding (after losing the paper cover) and a bright green string to mark your place (pictured is a friend’s copy before I got mine). I now sit and read with loving and care for the opportunity to revisit these short stories that entertained me for some time until I grew into bigger ones.

Seeing the Perry miniatures range for the Koryo I considered making another army. You get all sorts of history and monsters from medieval Europe it seemed that bringing in Asian cultures might be fun after the Arabian Knights I put together. Taking out the majority of the Japanese and Chinese mindshare when it comes to Asian armies you can find some interesting history from the Korean peninsula (aside from the Hermit Kingdom) that would be fun to work with. I also think that breaking from the general color palette of other arenas could make for good tabletop.

With soldiers and warriors both on foot and mounted there is quite a selection to choose from and work with. Starting with a male general this is definitely new territory for me.

I do have a few ideas on how to add female figures with traditional hanbok later but it’ll take some work for modelling.

The monsters are really what get my mind going. Making the magical portion of the army does take a bit of thought though as Korean myth is less well known.

Dokkaebi are the Korean monsters of myth and folklore akin to goblins of European myth. There is not one set shape or size for them. This is what I thought would be interesting to include into an Age of Magic army as their misshapen/odd bodies will relate their alien nature as Creatures and Monsters in play. Magical animals/beasts are found written about here and there so I should be able to come up with things worthwhile to put before people and amaze the eyes.