FrivYeti/WyldspanRakash
Contents
Rakash, Who-Is-Legion
When the world was broken, the Wyld took time to consider what had happened. In fact, much of the Wyld is still considering it, time being a fluid concept at best. However, the agreement was that while the world was more fluid now, it was still an irritation that must be removed as quickly as possible.
One of the Unshaped considered, and understood: the source of the irritation was Gaia, whose lifeblood, charged with the Essence of Journeys, empowered the Manses and Demenses of the world. Therefore, if that blood could be drained, and cut off from Gaia, the world would die. The Unshaped transformed itself, taking on the aspects of Earth, Fire and Void to become a devourer of Primordials, a great beast designed to transform a Manse into raw Essence, and then use the Essence to create more creatures with which to destroy Creation. A self-perpetuating system, it could continue until nothing but the Wyld remained.
Rakash began his advance twenty years ago, at the very edges of the known Wyld. Its advance has been slow, as it learns what works and what does not, but it is learning. And as it learns, it gains speed...
Rakash Itself
To mortal eyes, Rakash is a massive amoeba-like blob of simmering red and pulsing black energy, which oozes across the Wyld. Because of its transformations, it is self-consuming, constantly shifting in colour as it slowly devours its own Essence, transforming itself back towards the Unshaped. Rakash is capable of engulfing an entire Waypoint, no matter the size. In Creation, it tends to be approximately five miles across, although its exact size can change.
Rakash's means of travel and feeding are simple. In the Wyld, it travels over one waypoint every week; if it needs to, it can cut one day off the total time travelled at a cost of 5 motes. It may pay up to 30 motes in this manner to increase its speed, but it rarely bothers. As it passes over waypoints, it consumes most things within them; most creatures know enough not to touch it. In Creation, Rakash moves at a rate of 1/2 yard per tick, covering about 1 mile an hour. It blights the land as it passes, moving unerringly towards the Manse that anchors the world. When it arrives, Rakash devours the Manse, and the world dissolves into a Waypoint.
Motivation: Destroy all the lands of Creation.
Intimacies: Feeding
Attributes: Strength 50, Dexterity 1, Stamina 40, Charisma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 0*. Perception 4, Intelligence 3, Wits 2
Note: Rakash is a nigh-infinite creature, and physical form means little to it. It ignores Appearance for the purposes of social combat. It rarely takes part in social combat.
Abilities: Archery 6, Awareness 5, Craft (Earth) 5, Craft (Glamour) 7, Integrity 9, Investigation 6, Linguistics 0 (Native: Old Realm), Lore 6 (Manses +3), Martial Arts 6, Occult 7, Presence 1 (Intimidation +6*), Resistance 9, Stealth 2 (Silent +2), Survival 9 (The Wyld +2), War 8
Backgrounds: None.
Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 5, Temperance 3, Valor 5
Graces: Cup 1, Staff 6, Ring 5, Sword 6
Soak: 90B/70L/50A (Void-Spawned Hide 50B/50L/40A, Hardness 25B/25L)
Health: OK x40, -1 x50, -2 x20, -4 x15, Inc x5, Dying x30
Attacks::
Tendril Strike*: Speed 8 Accuracy 8 Damage 50A Defense 8 Rate 4
Essence Pulse*: Speed Special Accuracy 8 Damage 75A Defense n/a Range Special Rate 1 (Cost: 10 motes)
Parry DV: 4 Dodge DV: 0
Parry MPV: 1 or 3 Dodge MDV: 13
Willpower: 10
Essence: 7 Essence pool: 500
Charms, Powers, And Weaknesses
Rakash has a wide variety of Shaping Charms, which he uses to clear the way for his armies. Assume that he has all Shaping Charms that he meets the prerequisites for, although his stores of Gossamer tend to be fairly low and he rarely uses more than the most basic Charms (primarily due to his mote deficiency). He also has a number of specialized powers, as follows:
Create Minion: Rakash's ability to spawn minions is far greater than that of an ordinary Unshaped. For 5 motes, Rakash can create a Servitor Drone (see below). 25 motes allows him to create a Champion Drone or a Wyldfarer combat ship (again, see below). For 100 motes and a Willpower, he can create a Wyldfarer Battleship or a True Champion (once more, below). Creating a Servitor Drone takes only 3 seconds. Champion Drones and Wyldfarers take 10 seconds, while Wyldfarer Battleships and True Drones take a full minute.
Devour Manse: If Rakash is completely covering a Manse or Demesne, he may begin eating it. And he will. This process is quick, taking only five ticks per level of a Demesne, or fifteen ticks per level of a Manse. Each level that Rakash eats provides him with 250 motes. Motes that Rakash gains above his mote pool fade at a rate of 1 per tick.
Energy Form: Rakash is not wholly physical; rather most of its body is a massive Essence reaction. Any creature or object that is immersed in Rakash takes 50A damage at the start of every five ticks, including the tick they first are consumed. Simply coming into contact with Rakash deals 10A damage. This damage ignores soak from non-magical armour, as the armour is simply consumed along with its wearer. All non-magical objects within Rakash take this damage. In addition, Rakash's attacks cannot be parried without both a magical material weapon and a Strength of 25 (or a perfect defense); he simply consumes or flows around any weapon presented to him.
Worse, being made of energy in this way makes Rakash all but immune to conventional attacks. Any attack by a non-magical material physical object simply causes the object to take full damage. Attacks with magical materials do only half their normal base damage. Only attacks by pure Essence weapons can harm Rakash normally.
Tendril Strike: Rakash is very, very large. Because of this, all of its attacks are considered area attacks, and may only be dodged by characters with the ability to escape that area. Rakash's tendrils may attack any side, and may grow and shrink as needed. They cover a circle with a radius of 6 yards.
Essence Pulse: Rakash can fire off a massive, exceptionally powerful pulse of energy after a few moments of focus. Unlike normal attacks, the Essence Pulse requires Rakash to take a Speed 5 action before AND after attacking, taking a -2 DV penalty for the full time. This attack may not be part of a Flurry. The Essence Pulse travels at a speed of 50 yards per tick, and has a radius of 15 yards. Anything caught in its path takes a truly grotesque amount of damage; 75A on the first tick, dropping by 1A per tick and with its radius dropping 1 yard per five ticks until it finally peters out. Due to its slow speed, the Pulse is only useful against large formations, extremely close targets, and mobile structures, but it is very useful against these. The Essence Pulse costs Rakash 10 motes to use, and it therefore uses the weapon sparingly.
Fading Essence: The Essence of Rakash has been damaged by the process it uses to consume Manses. Rakash cannot regain Essence by any means whatsoever save consuming Manses. Furthermore, it loses 1 mote of Essence per day. If Rakash were to run out of Essence completely, it would lose one HL per hour until it found more Essence. This, more than anything else, is why Rakash is cautious with the Essence it spends.
Battling the Beast
Rakash's goals are simple, yet ultimately doomed to failure. Although it believes that it is doing an excellent job devouring the occasional Manse on the edge of Creation, the simple fact is that it has succeeded thus far only because Gaia is too vast to quickly notice when a few of her Manses go missing. As it progresses, she will pay attention. And then she will inform the Incarna, and either Ahn-Aru or Anja Silverclaws will arrive in short order and make mincemeat of the monster.
None of which is particularly comforting to those worlds that will be devoured before this occurs.
For those lacking in extremely high-Essence Charms, battle with Rakash is nearly pointless. The monster's drones can be fought, weakening it, but unless the character have the ability to deal truly massive amounts of damage with nonconventional weapons, they will find their efforts futile.
However, there are two possible tactics for fighting Rakash. If a properly powerful First Age weapon could be found, it might prove enough to shatter the beast. Of course, such weapons grow increasingly rare in the Third Age, but one could, potentially, be found. Alternately, the players could try to trick Rakash into expending much more Essence than it planned, and then find a way to destroy a world before it can be devoured, starving it to death. Short of that, flight is the only option.
