[Experimental!][RPG?] BBEG Quest

Games and stories.
User avatar
Invictus
Posts: 1306
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 11:44 pm

Re: [Experimental!][RPG?] BBEG Quest

Post by Invictus »

High Star Wilding, the Prodigal Prince

2 Form (3+1 EP)
- Mien of Kings
All those who have beheld the Wilding have noted his titanic demeanour. Quick to wrath and laughter, such unrefined and forceful manners invariably command fear in the weak and respect in the strong.
- Irrepressible Nature
The Wilding’s great frame is filled to bursting with vigour; his appetite for challenge is only exceeded by his inexhaustible capacity for overcoming them.
+ Wolf’s Stride
True to his name, the Wilding moves more like an animal than a man. He stalks among ordinary men as though they are cattle, and in his rages he becomes unto a rampaging wild beast.

3 Craft (6 EP)

- Ten-Taloned Champion
The Wilding has mastered many skills during his adventures: the horsemanship and archery of the north, the warcraft and lore of the south, and arts from distant lands that even the sages of Seres have no name for.
- Laughing Sword Devil
The Wilding’s savage virtuoso with the sword corresponds to no lineage of Seres and laughs in the face of all their laws and strictures. The same fey abandon with which he hurls himself into combat seems to elevate him above all consequences.
- Cloak of Wind and Dust
One day the Wilding marshals his hosts in the deep white north; tomorrow he slips into fortified cities to terrorize their officials; another day and he is out to sea, questing for ancient treasure. Not even distance can bar the steps of the Wilding as long as his intent is concealed.

4 Company (10 EP)
- Eight Wings in the North
Through feats of wit and daring the Wilding has won the loyalty of countless nomad-reavers from the uttermost north, who ever loomed as a threat and nightmare to the people of Seres. To what purpose does the outsider now turn these barbarian hordes?
- Masters of the Wind
The Wilding finds kin among those Sereans dismiss as elemental savages - hardy warriors bred by a hard land, with a thirst for glory out of all proportion to their swarthy frames. Exemplary as the cavalry of Seres might be, warbands of northern nomads remain the model of maneuver warfare they aspire to.
- The Beggar King
Even in the heart of Seres, it is said that the Wilding moves incognito, earning allegiances in the hidden underworld of gallants and rogues. None know if such ties are the mere fruit of his wanderlust, or the beginnings of a secret army that will open the gates for the barbarian hordes.
- The Seven Star Mongrels
The Wilding came to Seres alone, an stranger to all, his heart closed and guarded. But he has not been untouched by his latest and greatest quest, and in his confidence stands a handful of companions bound to him in love and loyalty.

2 Domain (3+1 EP)
- Sword of the Conqueror
Many stand in wonder of this ancient and ungainly weapon, made in a design and style of unmistakably Serean origin, and others cite it as proof of the Wilding’s open desire to seek domination over the nation. Whatever the truth, little can meet its viridian edge intact.
- The Horsehome
The endless plains of the north serves the Wilding as his home away from home, but he treads only lightly upon it. For the Wilding measures his dominion in hearts rather than hectares, and he knows that the land has old laws that an outsider could never master.
+ The Cairn of Blades
It is known that the Wilding attends to this nameless place with uncharacteristic solemnity, a broken mausoleum impaled with rusting swords. The mystery of the place exerts a dark fascination upon him, and he has in turn wrested many secrets from its depths.

3 Aspect (6 EP)
- Nameless Challenger
A stranger from a distant land, the Wilding walked one day into the balance of Seres unannounced, and has since raised waves utterly disproportionate to his anonymity. Seers and sages alike struggle to account for him in their calculations.
- Crown-Shadowed Brow
Though his face bears the mark of greatness, if the Wilding is a king then it is of a throne whose signs and portents are alien to Seres; and on his part he has made no attempt to catalyze or capitalize on his undoubtedly epic destiny.
- Wild Hunter
The Wilding bows to no god or master, bestriding like an untamed demiurge upon a crowded and pacified world. Here and there one can already see marks and hear legends of the Wilding’s feats, seemingly improbable for even a man as he, but feeding into his greatness nevertheless.
"This explanation posits that external observation leads to the collapse of the quantum wave function. This is another expression of reactionary idealism, and it's indeed the most brazen expression."
-
REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 1 - Rey Quirino Versus the Dark Heart of the Philippines
"...a literary atrocity against the senses..." - Ford

REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 2 - Advent Rey Returns: REVERGELTUNG
Coming NEVER
User avatar
Invictus
Posts: 1306
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 11:44 pm

Re: [Experimental!][RPG?] BBEG Quest

Post by Invictus »

14th Imperial Prince Fugai

1 Form (1 EP)
- Peculiar Genius
Prince Fugai’s mind is a thing built as much any of his other creations, shaped from infirmity into an unsurpassed engine of intellect by a labyrinthine code of habits and taboos.

4 Craft (10 EP)

- Clockmaker
From jeweled songbirds to iron-plated colossi, Fugai’s skill in designing and manufacturing moving mechanical contrivances - an art never held in much regard in Seres - is at the very apogee of his nation.
- Ironbinder
Fugai’s proficiency of the physical sciences are also without peer. Though he considers simple blacksmithing and mere alchemy to be beneath his genius, such knowledge is the foundation of all his greater arts.
- Loredigger
Fugai invests great efforts to unearth and organize the discoveries of his intellectual forefathers, if only to put his personal order upon the vast corpus of Serean wisdom. Indexes, commentaries and compilations tumble from his desk like snowflakes.
- Trailblazer
Who dares to dream of building a tower of knowledge to reach Heaven itself? Only mad prince Fugai, who lays stones of tomorrow upon yesterday and breaks tradition as he would the clay casts over his marvels.

2 Company (3 EP)
- A Prince Imperial
Elder in age than the present Emperor but the offspring of a disfavoured concubine, Fugai is afforded the rank and deference of his blood but little more. With neither opportunity nor interest in the throne, Fugai is content to bargain tools and trinkets for petty favors from all who approach him.
- The Iron Lantern Society
Scholars and craftsmen are attracted not by Fugai’s negligible charisma, but by his patronage in arts and sciences that their peers would consider dangerously heterodox. They are the only ones who the prince considers he can have an intelligent conversation with.

4 Domain (10 EP)
- The East Wing
An outlying section of the Imperial Palace has been transformed into a hothouse of industrial progress, modified unrecognizably with booby traps, shifting architecture, belching smokestacks and other strange sights one would not expect in the home of a prince.
- Gilded Legions
Automatons of every size and category throng the prince’s halls, some serving as replacement servants and staff, others mere experimental toys. some say a whole army of steel stands ready and dormant behind sealed doors, awaiting only the order to march.
- The Second Observatory
Built overlooking the geomantically toxic ruins of the first, no finer array of instruments have been collected to calculate the fate and future of Seres, borne from the merger of ancient wisdom and Fugai’s genius.
- The Imperial Catacombs
Prince Fugai has taken much interest in mapping and reclaiming this massive complex under the Imperial Palace for want of space. Dust-choked chambers contain deadly guardians and sealed treasures, while secret passageways lead everywhere in and around the capitol.

3 Aspect (6 EP)
- Star-Reading Savant
Fugai knows more about the Seres’ affairs than his seclusion suggests, reading avidly of the portents and omens written in the night sky. Yet such insight remains filtered through his own idiosyncratic understanding of the world.
- Dragon of the Line
Despite his apathy, Fugai is still a candidate to the Dragon Throne and his destiny is bound up with the dynasty he is part of. Some suspect that only the heavenly favor afforded to the kin of the Son of Heaven preserves him from reaping the fruit of his blasphemies.
- Nexus of Power
Unwittingly or not, Fugai has gathered around himself a thrumming conflux of occult knowledge, geomantic importance and karmic potential with his manic works. Such power can break or dam the fate of a nation, if only properly marshaled...


Queen Yukue the Magnificent


2 Form (3 EP)
- Man-Eater
Though the main part of her strength lies not within her body, Yukue is still Raksha, and an uncaring providence had long ago raised up her kind to be the perfect predator of humans - seductive yet deadly, cunning yet ferocious.
- Ageless Horror
Yukue has grown old and sleek on the flesh and souls of countless victims, granting her an unnatural vitality with which she can resist injury or fuel her other attributes with the cavalier pragmatism of the damned.

5 Craft (15 EP)
- Queen of Blood
Yukue is a sorceress of tremendous verve, using bloodshed and sacrifice as components to her cruel enchantments. Now fueled by a whole province’s worth of slaughter, the potency of Yukue’s magics have swelled to an unimaginable zenith.
- Painted Phantasm
Raksha have always been masters of illusion, and the extent of Yukue’s powers is such that an entire land can be cloaked from sight from without, and appear as a heaven or hell of any variety from within.
- Thousand-Temptation Voice
Under the amplification of her magics, Yukue’s charm could rival the heavenly devils who cast down saints from their enlightenment with visions and voices alone. Not even the most stalwart hero can confront her person and remain unmoved.
- Agony and Ecstasy
What are humans but dumb animals in their desire to seek pleasure and avoid pain? Yukue is old, and she knows what truly drives men beneath their fragile veneers of law and morality.
- Such Sights to Show
Yukue is also a sophisticate - the immortal arts and decadences of her vanquished kind are hers alone to indulge in. An uncultured mortal may mistake such pursuits for idylls fallen from the laps of the gods themselves, such is their depraved beauty and refinement.

2 Company (3 EP)
- Governor-Consort Wu
The hapless de jure governor of Yukue’s dominion, he is the one of the few who knows the truth behind the illusions and the plight of his charges, but remains hopelessly enthralled in Yukue’s grip. Does he not bear the greatest fault for inviting her to this place?
- Prey and Playthings
Yukue has taken particular favor to a few of the survivors of her depredations, who have caught her perverse and mercurial eye for displaying qualities as varied as defiance, terror, subservience and dignity.

3 Domain (6 EP)
- Grand Province of Chuan
A significant chunk of Old Seres, now independent in all but name. Walled by mountains, far from the capital and poor in tax revenue, few have noticed that it has fallen under the power of a monster from ancient days.
- Charnel House
A newly-ascendant Yukue was profligate in her pleasures, and now most of the province’s people lie in heaps of blood and rot behind unbreakable glamours. Yukue is unconcerned - there are still plenty of survivors to fuel her hunger and magics for generations to come.
- Unholy Dreamwheels
Transfigured from masses of human skin and bone and lacquered in the blood of virgins, such grotesque stupas swirl with wailing ghosts and propagate Yukue’s wilful illusions throughout her domain.

2 Aspect (3 EP)
- Fugitive from Heaven and Earth
The Raksha were long thought to have been driven from the known world, either imprisoned in hell or transmigrated to lesser things. Yukue is under no illusions as to what would be pitted against her if her true nature becomes known.
- Void of Heart
A cold, insatiable hunger for souls grips Yukue, working to drive her to horrific distractions. If this is the price she pays for her intransigence upon this earth, then she alone knows what dark bargain she had struck.
"This explanation posits that external observation leads to the collapse of the quantum wave function. This is another expression of reactionary idealism, and it's indeed the most brazen expression."
-
REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 1 - Rey Quirino Versus the Dark Heart of the Philippines
"...a literary atrocity against the senses..." - Ford

REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 2 - Advent Rey Returns: REVERGELTUNG
Coming NEVER
User avatar
Invictus
Posts: 1306
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 11:44 pm

Re: [Experimental!][RPG?] BBEG Quest

Post by Invictus »

Duke Rootbriar, Master of Marashan Marsh

4 Form (10 EP)
- Awakened Copse
The Duke has gorged on the filth of two drowned rivers and basked for a thousand years in the moon-miasma that congealed like dew on its branches. The ancient tree is wakeful and puissant in equal measure.
- Blasted Crown
In a shadowed vale between three hills stands what remains of the Duke’s original tree-body. Though now but a lightning-scoured rump of its true form, the Duke nurses its existence with great pomp and pride and receives many a guest under its shadow.
- Roots of the Rot
The Duke’s gnarled and blackened corpus aboveground does little to reveal his true extent. Through the ages he has pervaded the entirety of Marashan Marsh with his coiling roots, to better claim his share of all that settles into its fetid depths.
- The Duke’s Parasol
A perpetual layer of cloudy weather looms over Marashan Marsh, keeping the touch of purifying sunlight upon the surface to a minimum and the penumbrous powers of all that thrives within the Marsh at a maximum. This is not entirely of nature’s doing.

2 Craft (3 EP)
- Stranger Flowerings
Transcendent potential naturally comes with such types of enlightenment, so the Duke refined what were once natural functions of his plant-nature into cosmetic extensions of his will. Roots that once crept now rise up to grapple, and mundane leaves and flowers now give way to stranger growths.
- Blackroot Necromancy
By some conjunction of politics and geography, Marashan Marsh is a bottomless source of corpses. It has given the Duke much opportunity to perfect the art of inserting his essence into such vessels to transform them into half-vegetable puppets.

2 Company (3 EP) +1 EP
- The Mandrake Court
Ghosts and vermin congregate at the Duke’s base, in unspoken acknowledgement of their host’s fiefdom. Here they jostle and squabble for the Duke’s favor beneath his indulgent gaze, playing half-heartedly at the customs of mortal courtiers.
- Nine Lives Trader
An old fox who lives in a warren under the Duke’s roots, generous with its feckless wisdom and woefully antiquated knowledge of human customs. It sometimes takes on the form of a backwoods hermit to treat and wheedle in the Duke’s stead.
+ Brief Lives
It used to be that the Duke saw humans in the marsh as little more than mulch for his domain. But his curiosity was piqued by the well-worn patterns of their comings and goings, and now he watches and nudges his unwitting guests with subtle but pervasive power.

3 Domain (6 EP) +1 EP
- Marashan Marsh
A vast stretch of lowlands where the trapped waters of two rivers fester. Made nigh-impenetrable by both foot and boat via dense fens, hidden quagmires and deceptive sandbars, it has always been a favored hiding-place for renegades of all stripes.
- Iron Spring Hill
Towering over the lowlands as an island of solidity, Iron Spring Hill stands out due to the bog iron in its natural springs. Successive rebel armies have built fortifications to command this valuable resource, leaving behind layers of palisades and ruins.
- Heroes’ Rest
Many are the petty warlords who have sallied forth from the marsh to dash themselves against the legions of the Emperor. Some return out of a strange sense of belonging and lay down their broken bodies at the ancient fortress of Heroes’ Rest, inspiring the next crop of rebels.
+ Fen-plague
The Duke knows well that the rot and miasma of his marsh harms all who linger within. It is quite the problem when the promising destinies of his mortal favorites are cut short, more so when the sickness boils out to taint the heroic drama of the lands beyond.

3 Aspect (6 EP)
- Terrestrial Dignitary
No ascension to the higher divinities will there be for the Duke, no shucking of base substance; its laurels rest too fundamentally on death and impurity. Thusly, the Duke gratifies itself as an elder statesman among the damned and the low.
- The Margin Mythos
The grand power plays for the illustrious heartlands of Seres may well be another world from dismal Marashan Marsh. From the edges of history, the Duke sets his ever-rotating cast of players against the maelstrom, carving out secret annals of defiance and valor.
- Untoward Traffick
Many souls great and small meet their ends in the Duke’s domain. Last words bubble from lips and fell shades lurk in the fens, and all this does not go unnoticed; the Duke is on more than speaking terms with the Fatejudges and Ghostreapers who pass by on their duty.
"This explanation posits that external observation leads to the collapse of the quantum wave function. This is another expression of reactionary idealism, and it's indeed the most brazen expression."
-
REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 1 - Rey Quirino Versus the Dark Heart of the Philippines
"...a literary atrocity against the senses..." - Ford

REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 2 - Advent Rey Returns: REVERGELTUNG
Coming NEVER
User avatar
Invictus
Posts: 1306
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 11:44 pm

Re: [Experimental!][RPG?] BBEG Quest

Post by Invictus »

Sainted Yunwu, the Lost Princess

3 Form (6 EP)
- The Flawless Peony
Endless layers of grace and beauty emanate from Yunwu like petals shedded by an ever-replenishing flower, never revealing the unguarded soul. Signs of suffering but vanish upon her body, which never hardens but never loses strength.
- The Unbreakable Blade
Yet Yunwu was shaped and groomed by a terrible hand, all compunctions against death and fear excised from mind and body. Her will may be steel and her digits daggers, but true tenderness is among the things she is no longer capable of.
- Golden Imago Form
At a tender age Yunwu was lucky enough to ingest the legendary Golden Pupa which was neither root nor worm. Its living essence has become one with her, granting uncanny abilities like healing cocoons, spinning silk from her fingertips and gliding with impossible lightness.

3 Craft (6 EP)
- Lady of the Rafters
To Yunwu all locks are open and all windows are unbarred. It is second nature for her to come and go without a trace, born of a lifetime in the shadows; conversely, she must wrestle her caution to make any open approach.
- Shifting Moon Guise
A holistic mastery of cosmetics, dramatics and internal alchemy allows Yunwu to adopt flawless disguises, even temporarily altering her own shape and build to match. This is complemented with a comprehensive knowledge of the ways of both the low and the high.
- Polar Praxis Style
Once long lost, this martial arts style has found a mortal practitioner once more. Its focus is on targeting pressure points with a subtlety that even skilled pugilists can barely counter, which makes for a wondrous yet incomplete basis for Yunwu to base combat upon.

4 Company (10 +1 EP)
- The Merciless Cloister
Yunwu’s foster parents were harsh mistresses, a radical sect of martial nuns dedicated to exacting justice against the tainted world at any cost. Though beyond their murderous dictates, they count Yunwu as a sister still and extend their protection and use of their hidden cells.
- The Forest Crown
In the hidden underworld of gallants and rogues, Yumwu has been assembling a network of fealty owed and favors uncollected though wit and skill. Though built in pieces through many identities, the total influence she can call on is considerable.
- Distaff Solidarity
Among wives and weavers and ladies of the nights like, Yunwu is a legendary savior and champion against Seres’ patriarchal norms. Though with little power of their own, they will help in their small ways, and perhaps at the right moment it will be enough.
- Root of the Lotus
In the memories of grandparents and the traditions of clans, half-understood customs are dutifully passed down, a language of obligation and hospitality as sacred as their ancestors. And Yunwu speaks this secret tongue, letting her gain succor and aid wherever she travels.
+ Consideration of the Gentry
But to fuel her true ambitions, Princess Yunwu has too made connections among the high. Gentry and provincial elites stand ready to raise funds and armies to her cause for the heavy price of lightening the imperial hand upon them forevermore.

2 Domain (3 EP)
- Sparrow’s Travelling Kit
Sleek and eminently concealable despite containing everything a wandering rogue-assassin might need, this collection of tools speaks as much of Yunwu’s resourcefulness as the distilled ingenuity of Seres’ seedier side over millennia.
- Sealed Momento
A box came with Yunwu’s swaddling clothes, richly carved in phoenixwood and sealed in the most imperial manner. Yunwu is assured that it contains the proof of her birthright beyond all controversy, waiting only to be unleashed.

2 Aspect (3 +1 EP)
- The Princess Orphan
Though Seres has little tradition of empresses, the blood of the imperial line is its own power. Power, at least, to climb the highest platform and cast a thousand dark recriminations over the order of the Dragon Throne.
- Liturgical Lore
It is difficult to be raised by the Cloister and not receive a thorough religious education. Yunwu knows the Four Great Sutras, the Five Pure Signs and the Thousand Efficacious Blessings, though her lack of ordination prevents practical application of its bulk.
+ Vanguard of Lies
Rumors of the Lost Princess have ran for as long as Yunwu has been alive, mostly wildly. Any revelation of her identity at large must make way against a host of fanciful and salacious tales, but it has its use when she wants her truths dismissed.
"This explanation posits that external observation leads to the collapse of the quantum wave function. This is another expression of reactionary idealism, and it's indeed the most brazen expression."
-
REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 1 - Rey Quirino Versus the Dark Heart of the Philippines
"...a literary atrocity against the senses..." - Ford

REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 2 - Advent Rey Returns: REVERGELTUNG
Coming NEVER
User avatar
Invictus
Posts: 1306
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 11:44 pm

Re: [Experimental!][RPG?] BBEG Quest

Post by Invictus »

The Bull of Summer Stars

3 Form (6 EP)
- Paragon of Beasts
There is little mistaking the Bull as anything but a beast of legend, its form not only an exemplar of all its mortal kind but also granting all the physical prowess that what one would expect from a building-sized bovine.
- Snort of Life
Millennia of enlightened living has brought the Bull’s vitality to overflowing, such that its very presence adds to the fecundity of its surroundings. Its blood and flesh has even more tangible benefits - to the extent that the Bull is willing to offer it up.
- Wit of the Numina
Size alone marks the Bull as more than any base beast, but its capability for human speech and wisdom is more convincing proof of its existence as a functionary of the cosmos, moving it to interact with mortal concerns.

4 Craft (10 EP)
- Timeless Wanderer
The Bull has roamed the length of Seres long enough to see dynasties come and go, and it is intimately familiar with the natural geography that underlies the bustle of civilization. Names and maps and sanctuaries may pass beyond mortal memory, but not the Bull’s recall.
- Horns of the Storm
Beyond its divine mandate, the Bull has accumulated a long and cautious understanding of the forces of nature. Flexing its mantle of accumulated power, the Bull may twist the shape of the heavens and produce a variety of localized weather effects to aid or hinder mortals.
- Supernal Strength
The Bull is said to be created for tough labor, and regardless of the provenance of such legends the Bull may indeed summon up an elemental strength beyond what even its frame suggests, sufficient to drag mountains or dam rivers or plough whole counties in a day.
- Guise of Moss and Stone
The beasts of omen stalk the world, slipping between legend and experience through more than simple obscurity. When the Bull wishes to rest, it may become an appropriately-sized natural feature such as a hillock or rock formation that always seemed to have been there.

2 Company (3 EP)
- Parliament of Behemoths
The Bull is well-accounted for in the bestiaries of Seres, and the learned at least know it is to be avoided and respected. Not that they are entirely wrong - a tenuous order does exist between the Bull and its fellow monstra, even if only by dint of grudging mutual recognition.
- Eighth-ranked Niche
Interacting with mortals as more a force of nature than any tractable divinity, the Bull has few cultic followers. The temples of Seres make some scant propitiation and a few low-celebrants dedicate themselves among their other duties, and little more.

1 Domain (1 EP)
- Fair Mount Ba
The traditionally attested home of the Bull, picturesque enough in its remoteness and its untamed expanses that it sometimes actually visits. Some worn markers have been erected in times past to dissuade intruders, which are respected at least by longtime locals.

4 Aspect (10 EP)
- Grace of the Numina
The Bull’s place under heaven is as certain as any deity’s, having its own duties to undertake in the coming terrestrial turmoil. Its presence is truer in both the material and spirit worlds, and its privilege allows it to traverse such planes as it pleases.
- The Footfalls of Fate
Future events sprawl like roots beneath the Bull’s hooves, a pulse in the earth that it can always sense and follow. But the connection is also a compulsion that always seeks to draw the Bull along its path, for it too is a servant of fate in more direct a manner than most.
- Who Tasted All Seeds
The Bull remembers a time when the vales were untouched by human hand and the essence of nature flowed wild and pure. Nature is no longer as good now, and there are few places in Seres where the Bull can abide to feed and rest.
- Monster of Portent
The Bull descends upon Seres to signify the breaking of heaven’s mandate, the ruin of nature made by the misrule of man - and this is well catalogued by sages of dynasties past. Awe and dread never fails to accompany its appearances; and to rulers, especially so.


The Phuthoc, Queen of Serpent Vale

3 Form (6 EP)
- Blood of Baiyu
Though the barbarians of the True South are not at all half-serpent as superstitions aver, the Phuthoc’s uncannily lithe frame is indeed hardy to poison and plague, blood quickening under swelter but lethargic under frost.
- Bloodbound Triune
The secret behind Phuthoc’s semblance of omniscience and omnipresence is simply this: she is in actuality three identical triplets whose spirits and intentions are inextricably linked regardless of separation, with a thread of vitality that may be shared by one and all.
- Redflower Bloom
A tincture of rare flowers, a lotion of perfumed herbs - year over year such treatments seep into body and mind, enabling a certain control over the body’s attractions and a distinct flowery aura to Phuthoc’s living essence, easily lent to sorcerous endeavors.

3 Craft (6 EP)
- Knitter of Kingdoms
No Serean bureaucrat can rule the True South in his customary manner. By necessity Phuthoc has mastered the delicate skill of building networks of kinship and respect, weaving unity around tribal grievances and the fierce independence of its constituents.
- Grass Learning
Three lifetimes across the breadth of Baiyu, and one comes to know a thousand folkways on the use of medicines, the avoidance of hazards, the supplication of old spirits and all such scattered lore that would not be given time of day in the high halls of Serean learning.
- Unbroken Snakewife
One sister of the Phuthoc took to the dark art of ophidian skinshifting, whose practitioners may obtain as many new skin-guises as the victims they are willing to make. More remarkable still is how she came to it without falling thrall to the coils of the Basilisk King.

3 Company (6 EP)
- Hills of Resistance
In the southern jungles few care if their neighbors are immigrants or refugees or natives as old as the hills - all take advantage of their home’s obscurity and inaccessibility for their own reasons, and all jealously guard their independence against would-be rulers.
- The Scorpion Sons
A half-monstrous clan from a distant land, the Scorpions have come to serve Phuthoc under unusual circumstances. Though expensive to billet upon their terms, their smithery is masterly, their battle prowess is exemplary and their word is bond.
- Beastmistress
Inhabitants of the True South share it with a weight of life that only a jungle can nurture, wild beyond use or taming. Yet, there are still pacts to be made and bargains to be fulfilled, and upon home ground Phuthoc may call forth swarms of awful beasts to do her bidding.

3 Domain (6 EP)
- Federation of Baiyu
Beyond the southern bounds of civilization, a state may yet take shape. Silk and produce once tributed to Old Seres now flow to create wealth and raise arms, and with them shared customs and kinships may create deeper bonds yet than the heavy hand of state.
- Serpent Vale
Where two fertile rivers fork, Serpent Vale is a rich hub of agriculture and trade which one sister of the Phuthoc has devoted much time cultivating into the heart of her power. Much that flows through here would be astounding and illegal in the markets of Seres.
- Hexworm Hives
Another old magic of Baiyu is the transmission of hexes through implanting ensorcelled worms into the host, granting everything from control to a slow death. The worms in question are laborious to breed, but the Phuthoc has managed to establish a steady supply.

3 Aspect (6 EP)
- Wise Shaman
One sister of the Phuthoc was given over to study the ancient tradition of the spirit mediums. As such a host of local gods, ancestors and stranger things still claim the right to speak through her, and such sacred power is much respected among her compatriots.
- The Fated Name
The title of Phuthoc is an old and legend-laden one, its line of previous holders illustrious enough that at its very mention, ancient powers take notice. But no-one can know what fate has in store when the name is split among three persons.
- Tripartite Soul
It can be argued that the Phuthoc is but one soul colocated. Enchantments and maledictions that find one may strike the others, yet it also allows the sisters to shift and redistribute their magicks and fortunes to exploit whatever opportunity each find themselves in.


The Barge of the Salt Khan, the Tomb That Sails

4 Form (10+1 EP)
- Iron Juggernaut
Inordinate craft and cost went into the Khan’s final resting place, a brobdingnagian war-ark armored in unrusting iron and lavished with everything required for a naval vessel of its size to function. Its hull can shrug off enemy artillery and the pressures of the deep sea alike.
- Great Black Whale
The Barge is unlike any vessel put to sea: it has no deck, no masts and no sails; only mandalas in its hull that spin and propel no matter above or below water. And with a system of pumps and ballast chambers, the Barge can well take advantage of this.
- Hell-stoked Heart
A forgotten mystery drives the Barge and its myriad mechanisms, needing neither fuel nor repair to propel the behemoth forth without cease. Some say the mystery is the heart of the Salt Khan itself, still replete with burning hate and lust for conquest.
- Hell-wrought Vestibules
Fiendish genius was invested into the design of the Barge’s guts, even beyond what is required to free it of the need for crew. Luxurious chambers sealed against time and tide await the Khan’s guests, as do shifting passageways and terrible deathtraps.
+ Eternal Throne
It would not do for the world’s deathless conqueror to lie in some stately coffin. At the deepest heart-chamber of the Barge, mounted upon a sarcophagus-throne of phaetonic aspect, the Salt Khan’s mortal remains may preside upon his dominions eternally.

3 Craft (6 EP)
- Quicksilver Veins
Though his mortal body still houses his soul, it is very dead indeed. Instead, the Khan controls his Barge as a new and imperishable body through a network of alchemical humors connected to his throne, augmented with further artifice to see and respond like a living thing.
- Deathless Delirium
The Khan’s mind is split between dreams of his grandiose ambitions, dim memories of his mortal life and the inhuman demands of his new corpus, all filtered through the slowly decaying perspective of his corpse. Such informs his erratic decision-making.
- Unsinkable Mariner
The Khan has driven his Barge across the East Sea for much longer than any living sea-captain. Though he has survived perils more out of sheer invulnerability than skill, there are still many secrets he has gathered, both of things upon the seas and below the surface.

3 Company (6 EP)
- Tomb-Geared Keshiks
It was customary for a Khan to select a guard to follow him into entombment, but less so for their spirits to be ensconced into bodies of iron and dark science. With little vestige of volition left, they cannot stray far from the Barge, but remain unstoppable warriors.
- Loyalists from the Tides
The Khanate is long driven from Seres, its remnants exhausted and broken and without center. No surprise then that a ragtag fleet of loyalists has rallied around even the Khan, making war in his name even as his indifferent Barge smashes their flimsy ships aside.
- Choisul the Drowned
A seal-like figure seems to slip effortlessly past the Barge’s bulkheads to find audiences with the Khan, smelling of seaweed and rot. Choisul is her own fell legend upon the seas, brokering fell deeds for gifts from even darker powers in the abyss.

3 Domain (6 EP)
- The Flotsam Khanate
The Barge is the baroque centerpiece of a floating terror-regime, dwarfing the handful of wooden galleons that form its retinue and the crenelations the Khan’s adherents have built over its flanks. Pirates and raiders issue forth with little regard for destination.
- Black Thunder Munitions
Each handcrafted for devastating report, the Barge’s most potent weapons are the literal ransom of cities when paired with its onboard siege engines. Their stock is also diminishing and irreplaceable, much spent in the the Khan’s black whims and tempers.
- Pearls of Plunder
As the Khan was entombed, the vaults of the Barge were also filled with his grave goods - a selection of treasures from an empire that once squatted upon the plunder of continents. Each is a priceless treasure, if the Khan could ever be persuaded to relinquish them.

1 Aspect (1 EP)
- Long Live the Khan
The Salt Khan found no godhood in his apotheosis, nor did his life-beyond-death foster any particular enlightenment. With his soul bound to a self-made world of dead iron and artifice he wanders, something vestigial attached to a juggernaut of mechanical hate.
"This explanation posits that external observation leads to the collapse of the quantum wave function. This is another expression of reactionary idealism, and it's indeed the most brazen expression."
-
REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 1 - Rey Quirino Versus the Dark Heart of the Philippines
"...a literary atrocity against the senses..." - Ford

REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 2 - Advent Rey Returns: REVERGELTUNG
Coming NEVER
Post Reply