Yardplay Faction (남사당) are a group of traditional Korean martial artists who practise seven seperate martial arts, grounded in the traditional Korean theater and magic performances of Namsadang. The Yardplay Faction began as a wandering troupe of itinerant performers prior to the Three Kingdoms Era of Korea and formally became known as the Yardplay Faction following the Josean Dynasty, eventually settling in Anseong in the Gyeonggi Province. During this time they completed seven distinguished martial arts; Sal-Pan (Life Wish), Buh-na (Spinning Dishes), Poong-Mul (Orchestration Play), Uer-Leum (Rope Trick), Dul-mi (Doll Play or Puppeteering), Dut-Bwe-Gi (Mask Play) and Url-Leun (Mirage or Shadowers Magics). Knowledge of Mirage was lost over time and the art was discontinued until it's partial revival by Chun Guesong.
Yardplay is unique amongst traditional Korean martial arts as practitioners, known as Yard Players, practise one of the six main traditional Yard Play arts (excluding Mirage) as their major or primary skill and a second Yardplay art as a minor or secondary skill. Mirage is considered a passive art that can be applied to upgrade or enhance the six established Yardplay arts and not a true major or minor art in it's own right.
Yard Play Faction's traditional arts are known for requiring large amounts of Ki and appear to be one of the more formidable martial arts seen in the series with 3 Yard Players represented on the Reunion Officer Candidate School Council at one time or another, two of whom reached Level 9. Notable practitioners of Yard Play arts include Chun Guesong, Park Hyunmi, Yuhwa and Madang Bigaki.
Southern Yardplay Temple in Anseong. All of the Yardplay students recruited by Reunion hail from the Southern Temple which is well respected by the Heavens Riches faction as well as other traditionalists like Guk Taeyang.
Within the temple there are six factions that represent the six Yardplay arts. The sucessors of the six factions are known as the Sal-Pan Shae, the Buh-Na Shae, the Poong-Mul Shae, the Uer-Leum Shae, the Dul-Mi Shae and the Dut-Bwe-Gi Shae. The sucessors major in the Yardplay art that their factions represent, for example the Buh-Na Shae majors in Buhna and the Sal-Pan Shae majors in Life Wish. Yuhwa and her family, who formerly comprised the Puppeteering faction of the Southern Temple, were exiled for their prominent role in supporting Reunion. The current Southern Temple sucessors have also been disowned by their elders due to their involvment with Reunion, particularily the artificial Ki and stolen martial arts knowledge they received at the Reunion school.
The Ggok-Du-Shae or the Topper is the leader of the six factions within the temple and practises all six Yardplay arts. The Gom-Bang-E-Shae also known as the Kombengi-Soi is the second in command of the Yardplay Faction and is the second strongest Yard Player after the Topper. If the Ggok-Du-Shae dies or renounces their title the Gom-Bang-E-Shae succeeds them to become the new Topper. The only other way for a Yard Player to claim the title of Ggok-Du-Shae is to defeat the current Ggok-Du-Shae in a formal match.
Mask Play or Dut-Bwe-Gi has yet to be seen in the series as of Part 1 and the nature and extent of it's abilities are unknown. Mask Play was disguised as a theatrical aspect of the Yardplay troupes performance arts.
