yeah, if they personally show up - sure. sending some running monkey on a mission? as I said - sus.
though I do like modern wan kuei better. pity WW dropped them from new editions - there are just a few vague mentions.
High Enlightenment Wan Kuei sending out minions is very much in theme. It's almost Dharmically required for the most enlightened to remain in seclusion and act through their pupils as far as I can tell.
Particularly for the Resplendent Cranes, for whom bureaucracy is almost literally a virtue.
This is inaccurate.
The Wan Xian were cursed because they began to predate on the very people and societies they were meant to protect agsinst the Yomi Kings. Not because of general impact.
Their sins also involved pitting the Henyoyaki, the protectors against the natural world against each other, subverting and preying on the Hsien (angels/celestial messengers), and causing natural disasters as side effects of their internecine wars.
It wasn't just predating on mortals.
Yes, Im aware that the Kueijin are a lot more active with spirits than other vamps.
However. This is Chicago. Not the Yangtze Valley, not Southeast Asia, not India.
Their setting up information collection here unnoticed is quite a feat to pull off, especially since Lydia has been immersing herself in the local community. And before that Arawn was active here for almost a year.
They have the capability to develop various kinds of magic that can help, including divination magic.
Fair enough on the timelines, if I'm in fact mixing things up.
I still take issue the the rest though. Partially because I was taking this to be equating them the solars specifically, and printing out more of those than the unconquered sun and autochthon could manage together would be hugely significant and strange for a world that's supposed to be degrading.
Even as terrestrials it's odd, because those aren't easy to set up either. Dragonblooded are technically the work of two unbroken primordials, just being weaker on their own doesn't mean making something like an exaltation at scale should be simple.
You've got a point with alchemicals, but they're the direct work of autobot himself in his home territory, so I wouldn't call them prime examples of what lesser craftsmen can do.
The liminals are an excellent counter example, but even they are still very rare and source their exaltations from something left over from richer ages.
I would also say it was a significant downgrade. The Wan Xian could draw Qi from many sources, but didn't require it to survive. The curse that degraded them forces them to stick to drawing power from the living, and they can starve without it.
It's also worth noting that the ExWoD book treats them as a species of supernatural comparable with other types of night people, going so far as to give explanations like this for why they aren't all over the place:
Alchemical are the indirect work of Autocthon, with mortals implementing protocols he left behind. The process to make the Wan Xian were, IIRC, created by the August Personage of Jade and implemented by the gods/personifications of Yin and Yang.
Seeing as the August Personage of Jade is basically the Chinese version of big G God, we should expect a process made by such as being to be capable of creating celestial exalts, analagous to Alchemicals.
And while Exaltation shards are incapable of diminishment, no one has said the same is true for different kinds of making Exalts. Compare a dragonblooded with legendary breeding to one without. It's quite obvious they've been diminished and received nothing in return.
Note that Wan Kuei are fully capable of eating spirits, both those that represent items or concepts or the physical world or ghosts while in the spirit worlds. If they don't want to eat mortals they don't need to after quite a limited amount of development, or if a basically skilled teacher takes them into the spirit worlds to hunt.
The key thing is that Wan Xian are thematically exalts. Mortals blessed with special powers after being found worth of being exalted into a greater state of being by a higher order entity. And the Wan Kuei are an extension of that with greater revised acceptance criteria.
