Item from The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
Three war orphans who became legends — Daji, Riga, and Jiang, who climbed Mount Tianshan, entered the Pantheon, poisoned the twelve warlords, and reunified Nikan 'without shedding a single drop of blood.'
The Trifecta — Daji, Riga, and Jiang — were three war orphans who trained with monks at Wudang temple, climbed Mount Tianshan, entered the Pantheon, and returned with divine power. They poisoned the twelve warlords at a banquet and reunified Nikan. Their motivation was the devastation that uncontrolled shamanism had caused: wars fought with divine fire, cities drowned by god-channeled floods, civilizations destroyed by power no human should wield. The seal was their greatest achievement and their greatest curse. It worked — the gods were contained, shamanism became manageable, civilization recovered. But the Trifecta disagreed about what came next. Daji chose to maintain the seal through political control, embedding herself in the Empire's power structure for centuries. The others diverged, and their disagreements shaped the political landscape that Rin eventually shatters. The Trifecta represents the trilogy's central question in institutional form: what do you do with power too dangerous to use and too dangerous to ignore?
Not a physical object but a historical alliance — the three most powerful shamans in history who collectively sealed the Pantheon. They exist in the trilogy's present primarily through their legacy: the Chuluu Korikh system, the sealed Pantheon, and the political structures they established to maintain control.
Also known as: The Trifecta, The Three Shamans