Eastern Zodiac Spirit Magic

"They who guard the eastern skies, free from the rules of the Celestial Spirit King and serving as rivals for the Western Zodiac. With their aid, the great nations of Joya and Yāolù came to be, reigning supreme over all those that dare challenge their might. We revere them as if they were gods because of their feats done behalf of the east."

- Sao Huang Li greatly revering the Eastern Zodiac Spirits, making reference to their various feats.

Eastern Zodiac Spirit Magic (東獣帯霊の魔法, Tōjūtairei no Mahō) is a legendary Holder Magic that's existed in eastern parts of the magical world for many generations — specifically in Joya and Yāolù respectively. It's also considered to be a form of Lost Magic because of its incredible power, and most obviously — counted as a form of Subspecies Magic, its mechanics derived from the commonly known Celestial Spirit Magic.

As the naming implies, this magic makes use of the royal blue keys of the Eastern Zodiac — a set of thirteen spirits and five cardinal beasts, both of whom rival the powers of the Golden Keys of the Western Zodiac with sheer ease. Due to this magic's history, it's rarely see anywhere outside the eastern regions; this in-part due to the nature of the spirits themselves. Though having no current owner(s), they're loosely affiliated with Sao Huang Li — the current Joyan ruler, through the pact they've made with the first Yellow Emperor of Joya and first Jade Emperor of the Yāolù continent respectively.

Overview
"We of the Eastern Zodiac will do our best to serve his Majesty to the best of our abilities per the contract made many millennia ago. For this, we swear on our lives."

- A pledge made by the Yellow Dragon, leader of the Eastern Zodiac, to every ruler of Joya and Yāolù respectively.



Relationship with the Gold Keys
"Though they may be our fellow Celestial Spirits of equated power, we will not hesitate to fight and destroy them for our owner's sake. I can say that the feeling's mutual. It has been for the last ten-thousand years and something that will never change."

- Uma bluntly stating the relationship between the two factions.



Trivia

 * This article is, more or less, the author's personal interpretation of how the Chinese Zodiac would exist in the FTverse. This would include their hierarchy and the like.
 * Interestingly enough, this concept was conceived before by the author's close friend — HB, making excellent work of them.


 * Unlike their Western counterparts, they can use various arts and fighting styles — mostly likely due to the history of Joya and Yāolù respectively, both of which were based on all things affiliated with the Asian continent.
 * It seems that these Celestial Spirits are considerably picky of their owners and tend to hate "westerners" for one reason or another; this may be due to the way each of them were raised or their respective pasts.
 * These spirits have served the Yellow Emperor and Jade Emperors of the respective homelands due to the contract that's been forged between the group and the first emperors, the details of which are unknown.
 * Their names are basically the literal translation of their animal representations; on the other hand, the Four Cardinal Spirits' names are the same as the ones in Japanese mythology.