Alien Prince(sse)s--The Oni of Oniboshi

Obligatory Introductory Fiction

Deirdre waited at the landing of the stairs for Barn, who seemed determined to take forever to alter his form to incorporate formal wear. Whcih she had to remind herself, he wasn't actually doing. He was a human, and even Bishonen had to put their clothing on and off the hard way. Even she had to here, unless she wanted to spend precious Dream Dust and Moe on it, which simply wasn't worth the cost. For a moment, she suddenly wondered if she'd actually dressed correctly. Unfortunately, succumbing to the temptation offered by the maid which King Kuranes had provided her with had sated her hunger enough to let her avoid any social faux paux from hunger tonight, but it had meant foregoing effectual assistance. And a scramble to get dressed in time.

An unneccesary scramble, given Barn had apparently found some way to get lost or perhaps he and Eton....

She crossed her eyes and banished the thought, glad for once that her will couldn't bend reality easily here in the mortal lands.

"Going to fail to seduce Barn again tonight?" Dim asked her. He was one of the Mountain Folk, her distant kin who had delved too long and too deep into Creation and unleashed ancient evils, but more importantly, calcified themselves enough to make many Oni run screaming for the hills. But not Deirdre, who had a mission.

She jumped in surprise, her long blonde hair washing over her slightly pointed ears and off again, now falling down from the elaborate hairstyle she'd tried to set up into her usual simple 'lots of long blonde hair flowing down over her shoulders and back enticingly.' She tried to fix it with a thought and then remembered again that didn't work so well here. How did mortals stand this? And yet, it made life so much more interesting when you had to work for the big wins. The story of her and Barn's love would echo through the ages, she was sure. If she could ever get things to move to the next stage.

IF BARN EVER CAME DOWN THE STAIRS.

Dim grinned the smile of someone who knew just enough to tell when an Oni was instinctively trying to Re-Write reality and failing due to being IN reality.

"Stop grinning at me!" Deirdre demanded. She struck a pose, instinctively trying to re-write Dim to be more sympathetic; it was a mixture of sexiness and vulnerability calculated to melt the sternest heart. "Can't you tell it hurts me?" She tried to look pitiful and sexy at once.

Unfortunately, without the use of Dream Dust and Moe, none of her best tricks worked here in Creation. Or at least they never seemed to work the right way.

Dim began laughing. "Woman, you should know by now you can't seduce me no matter how hard you try. Though it is kind of funny to watch you try."

"Deirdre, are you trying to seduce Dim???" Eton asked from above her on the stairs.

Deirdre turned to stone, crumbled to dust and blew away. A second later, she reformed in a more normal pose, looking at Eton, who wore his usual white and blue robes and was holding a rather nice looking muffin in one hand. Too chubby for her, but she liked his company...most of the time. "Where is Barn??? Isn't he going to come down and dance?"

"He already went down when you were getting dressed," Eton said.

"..."

Dim fell down from laughing so hard, then rolled down the stairs into the ballroom, taking 6 dancers down with him.

"Dim!" Eton ran down to help him.

Deirdre sighed and stormed down the stairs and into the dance floor. Where is he? She gazed around the room; it took forever to find people, here in Creation. Finally, though, she found Barn talking to King Kuranes; they were at the drink table and Kuranes was rambling on about some sort of war where he'd conquered some kingdom that Deirdre was sure no one in the universe cared about. Wait, Dim might care. He was clearly a Weaponsmith and they could feed off such things. And she did have to admit he did a good job of telling the story even if it bored her to tears.

Deirdre glided up beside him and struck another of her favorite poses; this one was just set up for pure sex appeal. She'd even turned a Brigand's head with this once. It should irresistably pull Barn's attention away from Kuranes and fix it on her. Without having to blow any Dream Dust. She really needed to get more, but it was not easily obtained in Creation and getting back to Oniboshi to get some would take forever from here in the 101 Dalmations.

Barn, however, remained fixated on the story and didn't even seem to notice her arrival. For a moment, she felt a burst of paranoia. Could Kuranes be an Oni? Maybe this is what feeding on Valor looks like, she thought. Then the story stopped and she saw Kuranes staring at her with vast desire. Dammit, I had the maid so this wouldn't happen, she thought. I just want Barn's attention!

He stepped in. "Fair maiden, would you do me the honor of a dance?" He smiled at her and she suddenly noticed exactly how handsome he was and how his eyes were fixed on only her and how Barn STILL SEEMED LOST IN ANOTHER WORLD, and she felt herself trembling. Dammit, I've walked into a trap! She'd seen the symptoms she was feeling in enough people, like, say, the maid, to know he must be some kind of Oni with a Lover approach and now he was after her precious compassion.

The urge to say 'Yes' was growing stronger. But she couldn't give in. But if she used her charms...I only have a few motes of dream dust left and...

"Deirdre, is that you?" Barn said, suddenly snapping into reality.

Her entire body felt very strange. What was this? What is he doing to me, she wondered, caught in Kuranes' gaze. Surely we didn't somehow wander into Oniboshi without...no, it didn't feel right, but this man was so, he was so...she wanted...no, Barn is my lover! OUR STORY WILL ECHO THROUGH THE AGES! I didn't take on this hard flesh or hand-craft this protagonist form to play to Barn's desires just to get re-written to become some king's smitten bed-mate for the night! The last thing she needed was an Obsession with Kuranes. But she...she...he...he was so handsome and...no no no!!!!

"You look so beautiful," Barn said softly. "But why are you standing there shaking?"

She forced herself to turn and look at him. "I'm sorry, your highness, I owe Barn the first dance." She was shivering and her body...what were these sensations? Why did she... Was this some secret power of mortals she'd never heard of? She could still see the King in her mind, though it was starting to fade. Focus on Barn, she thought.

"The night is still young," he said amiably, but she was not an Entertainer for nothing; she could read the undercurrent of 'I haven't given up'.

"Sure, Deirdre," he said, smiling and taking her hand.

Barn was not a great dancer but he could at least manage the basics without killing her. She still felt very strange, though. "The King...he's just a mortal, isn't he?", she asked Barn as they spun around the dance floor. She could see Eton dancing with some priestess very formally, and Dim was now heading, as usual, for the alcohol.

"They say his mother was a goddess. Or possibly his father," Barn said. "From the War ministry."

"Wait...they don't know which parent is divine???" she asked.

"There are conflicting stories," he said.

Deirdre knew all about conflicting stories. They usually happened when two different Oni had utterly incompatible visions and began having Revision Combat. She didn't like the sound of that. Especially since she was pretty sure the whole point of Creation being so static was to PREVENT such things. This might bear looking into. Or running for her life.

"Barn, you and Eton haven't ever...umm..." WHY AM I RAISING THIS TOPIC? she asked herself, but got no reply. At least it distracted her from trying to figure out if the odd feelings in her butt meant Kuranes was watching it. She couldn't tell due to her restricted vision in Creation. Focus on Barn, she told herself.

"Oh, Eton might know more," Barn said, about to let go and get him.

"Later," she said firmly. If she'd learned anything being with Barn, it was that once he got off on a tangent, steering him back was very hard. "Let's just dance, okay?"

And the music played on.

Until Dim got drunk enough to start hitting on one of the support pillars and things went to hell in the usual fashion, anyway.

Introduction

Imagine the power of gods and the appetites of adults combined with the maturity of small children. That is the essence of the Oni, the inhabitants of Oniboshi, the world between Creation and Chaos.

Oni are dreams made flesh, stories trying to be told. They are not people in a conventional sense, though they share some commonalities with creation's inhabitants, and can fake normality if they so choose.

An Oni has two major components--A Story and a Protagonist. He is typically known to others by his Protagonist aspect, whether it be Masalius the Godson or The Queen of Ice's Mighty Grip or Greta the Matchgirl. But it is his Story which drives his actions and leads him to reshape the rest of reality to match his Story.

Some Oni are simple creatures who spend their lives repeatedly playing out variations on a very simple story framework, such as 'I steal things, get caught, go to jail, then escape'. Others have super complex stories which could become the stuff of a 10 novel series without major repetition of events. The more complex the Story, the more powerful the Oni, in general.

Oni have the power to Re-Write reality within Oniboshi, in order to facilitate carrying out their stories. The problem, however, is that this is less satisfying than forcing something which can resist you to obey your will and play its chosen part in your story. As a result, Oni, especially the stronger ones, tend to have an urge to dominate those things which can most easily resist being dominated and Re-Written by them--other Oni, Exalts, goddesses, demons, etc.

Some Oni become frustrated with this resistance and become Chaos Crusaders, seeking to renew the Chaos War and to destroy Creation. Most, however, seek to USE Creation and its inhabitants to their own purposes, so as to fulfill their stories. Location shooting in Creation may be dangerous, but the danger makes it more fulfilling when you succeed, after all. Things which come too easily soon pale.

Oni can be loosely grouped according to the four Approaches, the four basic kinds of stories that Oni are most commonly drawn to tell. (They are also the four basic ways that Onis Re-Write reality.)

Builder Approach: These Oni seek to create works of glory--buildings, new species, entire kingdoms.
Destroyer Approach: These Oni seek to tear things down and lay them waste, often through combat, but not always.
Lover Approach: These Oni tell stories of love and passion, seeking to inspire and control the emotions of those around them.
Trickster Approach: Decievers and manipulators, these Oni tell stories in which they use their minds to outwit others and to exploit the loopholes in the laws that govern reality.

Oni have the power to Re-Write reality; they can use this on the landscape around them, and the beings as well. This follows along with the four Approaches, which dictate how you are reshaping Reality:

Builder Re-Writing: These actions create new aspects of reality or change aspects of reality into new forms; they can create both the animate and the inanimate. Creating the Judge of Eternity from nothing is a Builder action.
Destroyer Re-Writing: These actions lay waste to obstacles, destroying them. This includes any sort of physical combat activities. Hacking off the head of the Judge of Eternity is a Destroyer action.
Lover Re-Writing: These actions reshape the emotions of those around you, arousing and dousing passions and emotional bonds. Seducing the Judge of Eternity is a Lover action.
Trickster Re-Writing: These actions exploit the ways in which things work to get what you want through clever rules-lawyering, deception, theft, fraud, and trickery. Arguing a case before the Judge of Eternity in order to clear yourself of the charge of stealing the Heart of the Sun is a Trickster action.

The simplest Oni are dominated by a single Approach and cannot help but tell tales of that type. They are known as 'Commoners' or 'One Approach Oni'. They are the most common, telling simple stories, such as 'I forge mighty swords' or 'I ambush and eat humans for fun' over and over.

Above them stand the Nobles, two-Approach Oni who combine two approaches, one dominant, one secondary, to create more complicated stories. PC Oni are this level by default. Nobles dominate Oni society, pushing Commoners around as pawns, though they bow in turn to Royal Oni.

Three-Approach, or Royal Oni are rare but potent, able to make full use of three Approaches. They typically rule the major Oni Kingdoms.

Four-Approach Oni, or Gods and Goddesses are extremely rare and seem to largely show up as giant plot devices to fundamentally reshape Oni society itself towards some major goal; the last major appearance of Gods and Goddesses happened during the Four-Color Crusade, which humans remember as the Chaos Plague and the Chaos War. (Though there have been some lesser appearances since then...)

Where humans require food and water, Onis live off of stories and dreams. They derive the most satisfaction from fulfilling their stories, they can also feed on the dreams of beings not native to Oniboshi, or even from particularly skillful artistic performances. Such feeding is, in the long term, baneful to those fed upon.

Oni dwell in Oniboshi, a malleable region of reality inbetween Creation and the Wyld. It is subsceptible to being molded by their powers, but has more stability than the Wyld itself. It is divided into zones known as 'Waypoints'. Such areas are 'places where significant story events happen'. The Oniboshi page describes Waypoints and the geography of Oniboshi in more detail.

Oni gather together into societies known as 'Kingdoms' in general, though they may dub themselves anything from 'Kingdom' to 'Republic' to 'Cyber-Empire of the Holy Flame'. Ruled by Royal Onis, these societies compete with each other to complete their stories and with the inhabitants of Creation for amusement, power, and the completion of their stories.

These kingdoms claim some number of Waypoints, which are typically shaped according to the will of the Royal Oni who rule the court, along with subsidiary feudalities controlled and shaped by the major Noble Oni of the Court.

Oni also build Strongholds, special places where power gathers for the taking and refuges in times of war; most Kingdoms have one at their heart.

Large swathes, however, of Oniboshi are unclaimed wilderness, shaped by whoever last passed by or took refuge there. This is where Adventures, Quests, and Wars take place. Sometimes, strange predators can be found there, creatures a little too powerful to be casually shaped away, but too mindless to even qualify as Commoner Oni.

The Oni are drawn to Creation like moths to a flame, fearing it and loving it at once, treating it with cruelty and kindness, adding onto it, destroying it, loving it and tricking it, all at once and everywhere at once.

Stories and Protagonists

Every Oni has two components--A Story and a Protagonist. Both are flexible in nature, especially as the Oni grows in power.

The Story is the unchanging core of the Oni; it is flexible and adaptable to some degree, but if an Oni changes its story in a major way, that is roughly the same as dying and being re-incarnated is for a human.

The more complex the Story, the more powerful the Oni. Commoners have extremely simple stories which may be capable of high variation, but which can be summed up in one or two sentences:

Example Commoner (Trickster) Story: The clever trickster uses his wits to outwit foolish people and steal their stuff; he then fritters it away and eventually finds himself with nothing, at which point, he starts over.

This Commoner will spend his entire existence cycling between poverty, stolen wealth, and frittering it away. He may rob different people each time and waste things differently, but at the heart of it all, he basically endlessly repeats himself. If he is lucky, at some point, he will either be elevated by a more potent Oni or will spontaneously grow into a higher ranking Oni by some stroke of luck.

Noble Oni have more complex stories. Instead of repeating the same story endlessly, their story has an overarching plot goal, along with sub-stories which reflect their most common approaches to issues. While their sub-stories may repeat over and over, they move towards some sort of resolution. of their overarching plot goal. Should they achieve it, they can then move into a sequel story which further expands on their original story, containing new sub-stories and a new overarching goal.

Example Noble (Lover/Destroyer) Story: This Romantic Knight has an overarching plot goal to Marry a Princess and become a King. His sub-stories are: 'I am a noble and romantic knight who performs the tasks chosen by his lady fair, wins her heart, and lives happily ever after with her' and 'My divine heritage strengthens me for battle, and I use it to remove my enemies by physical force'. Should he succeed in Marrying a Princess and becoming a King, he then could change his overarching plot goal to 'Defend my Kingdom against its enemies, making it strong', with the sub-stories of 'My kindness and compassion wins me the love of my subjects, building bonds of loyalty' and 'My divine might enables me to battle any foe which assails my kingdom'.

Royal Oni are dangerously flexible, able to change their Overarching Plot Goal and their sub-stories by a forcible act of will, if circumstances warrant. This risks descent into Bedlam, but makes them even more adaptible than Nobles. They also get three sub-stories.

Finally, the God Oni can change everything about themselves, while maintaining a sense of self, or so it is said, anyway...

Secondly, Oni have a Protagonist. Their stories are about someone. This is the more flexible part of the Oni, as even Commoner Oni can change their Protagonist, should their old one fail. When an Oni enters Creation, he must take on the form of his or her Protagonist, or use charms to create a temporary Protagonist form to take on. In Creation, their Story nestles hidden away inside their Protagonist form; if their Protagonist form dies in Creation, they die forever as their story turns into a spray of Dream Dust (described below). Cold Iron in the hands of a mortal can also slay them permanently if they stick around long enough for it to hack their Protagonist form to death.

Inside Oniboshi, they need only manifest their Protagonist form if they wish to, or if engaged in Re-Writing Combat. However, their Protagonist form cannot be truly slain inside Oniboshi, except by the use of certain Exalt charms or Cold Iron in the hands of a mortal; instead, if something would kill them, they can simply use a Re-Writing action to either pick a new Protagonist form or else to revive the old one.

In general, Oni will stick with a given Protagonist identity until it either bores them or becomes too associated with failure.

Oni protagonists may have names similar to those of creation, titles, or even just be generic protagonists of a certain creature/role type, especially if they are created by Charm for a specific purpose. The Romantic Knight Noble from the example above might create Masalius the Godborn as his Protagonist which he normally uses, while using a charm to create a Protagonist Form for Deesara, Maalius' divine mother, for use on certain occassions. Normally, an Oni can use only one Protagonist form at a time, but some charms can overcome this.

Non-Oni and even some Oni will frequently mistake the Protagonist for the Oni's real identity; they encourage this, as it helps people stay in character around them, after all.

Approaches and Oni Types

Builder Approach: These Oni seek to create works of glory--buildings, new species, entire kingdoms.
Destroyer Approach: These Oni seek to tear things down and lay them waste, often through combat, but not always.
Lover Approach: These Oni tell stories of love and passion, seeking to inspire and control the emotions of those around them.
Trickster Approach: Decievers and manipulators, these Oni tell stories in which they use their minds to outwit others and to exploit the loopholes in the laws that govern reality.

As noted in the introduction, Oni can be defined by the number of Approaches they have. These dictate what kind of Stories they tell and thus how they feed themselves. The more Approaches, the more powerful and flexible the Oni.

Commoner Oni (one-Approach) are classed as Builders, Destroyers, Lovers, or Tricksters, depending on their single Approach.

Noble Oni can be classed into a fair number of classifications depending on which Approach is Primary and which is Secondary for them:

Builder / Destroyer: Surgeon, who uses his capacity for destruction to clear away damage and disease in order to make something better in its place.
Builder / Lover: Producer, who uses his influence over others to get them to work together to build the mightiest works beyond any single person's capacity.
Builder / Trickster: Engineer, who understands how the world works and uses that knowledge to build a better one.
Destroyer / Builder: Weaponsmith, who uses his creativity to perfect means of destruction, then uses them.
Destroyer / Lover: General, who uses his ability to move the hearts of others to gather others to follow him in war and destruction.
Destroyer / Trickster: Guerilla, who uses his keen intellect to out-wit his foes into destroying themselves.
Lover / Builder: Entertainer, who uses her creativity to win the hearts of others and to create bonds between people
Lover / Destroyer: Romantic Knight, who uses her strength of arms to win the hearts of others and protect what they love.
Lover / Trickster: Courtier, who uses her cunning to enhance her social position and to manipulate the court.
Trickster / Builder: Artificer Thief, who uses his creativity to fool and manipulate others through the things he makes.
Trickster / Destroyer: Brigand, who uses his strength to back up his tricks and thefts with the threat of force when necessary
Trickster / Lover: Seducer, who uses his social skills to manipulate others into loving him, so he can exploit them to his own ends.

Royal Oni and God Oni can also be classed, but that will be done some time later when I have more time...

Hunger and Feeding

An Oni's Approaches dictate how he may feed to keep himself alive. Each Approach is tied to a Virtue:

Builder--Temperance
Destroyer--Valor
Lover--Compassion
Trickster--Conviction

They lose one temporary point of their primary virtue each morning. If they run dry of that, they move on to secondary, tertiary, or even quarternary in the case of God Oni. If all their approaches run dry (and remember only Virtues tied to an Approach they possess counts, so Commoners run dry faster than Nobles, etc), then they begin losing Willpower. An Oni who is reduced to zero Willpower by hunger falls into slumber for a number of Seasons equal to their Moe, then wakes back up with a single pip. Any Oni who has lost all of their temporary Approach virtue points is going to feel a very definite hunger, and will have to make Willpower checks at a difficulty of their own Moe to resist a chance to feed under such circumstances.

Oni may feed off a series of things, in ascending order of fulfillment:

Art and Artistic Performances
Dreams of Mortals
Dreams of Exalts
Advancing a Sub-Story (or your whole story if you're a commoner)
Completing a Sub-Story (or your whole story if you're a commoner)
Advancing a Overarching Story Goal
Completing an Overarching Story Goal

Once per day, you can feed off a new artistic experience, relevant to one of your Approaches. Finished works of art are worth less than performances; a finished work of art yields a single pip of a relevant virtue and cannot grant willpower. A performance relevant to your approaches lets you roll your highest relevant Approach + Perception; you get one pip of the associated virtue for every success. These experiences must be new, thus leading to such things as storytellers kept alive by Onis so long as they can tell a new story every day. Once they run dry, time to put them to other uses...

Mortals and Exalts, you can feed on their dreams when they betray their true selves. IE, you can feed on them when they either spend a willpower to override a virtue which corresponds to one of your approaches, or when they fail a virtue check. An Oni in line of sight of a mortal or Exalt will sense this happening and can try to feed.

Roll Willpower + Approach vs. the target's Virtue (if a mortal) or the target's Willpower + Moe if an Exalt, goddess, demon, etc. The mortal can choose to burn a willpower to avoid being fed on (so can the Exalt), but this will tend to quickly drain their willpower... You can only feed successfully on any given person once per scene, and each virtue-violation only grants you one chance to feed. You drain the target of temporary pips of the Virtue equal to your extra successes. If this exceeds the size of their Virtue pool, the target loses one point of willpower if Mortal, or gains a point of Limit if a creature which has Limit, and their Virtue pool refills to full and you can then feed off that.

Mortals will, over time, gradually erode away; Exalts with Limit Break potential will eventually limit break from too much feeding.

Advancing a sub-story regains you a point of willpower and refills the Approach/Virtue it is connected to.

Completing a sub-story refills your willpower pool and refills the Approach/Virtue it is connected to.

Advancing an overarching story goal refills your willpower pool, refills all your Approach/Virtue pools, and you gain Dream Dust motes equal to your Moe.

Completing an Overarching Story Goal is covered later, under Evolution.

Re-Writing Reality

Oni have the power to Re-Write reality; they can use this on the landscape around them, and the beings as well. This follows along with the four Approaches, which dictate how you are reshaping Reality:

Builder Re-Writing: These actions create new aspects of reality or change aspects of reality into new forms; they can create both the animate and the inanimate. Creating the Judge of Eternity from nothing is a Builder action.
Destroyer Re-Writing: These actions lay waste to obstacles, destroying them. This includes any sort of physical combat activities. Hacking off the head of the Judge of Eternity is a Destroyer action.
Lover Re-Writing: These actions reshape the emotions of those around you, arousing and dousing passions and emotional bonds. Seducing the Judge of Eternity is a Lover action.
Trickster Re-Writing: These actions exploit the ways in which things work to get what you want through clever rules-lawyering, deception, theft, fraud, and trickery. Arguing a case before the Judge of Eternity in order to clear yourself of the charge of stealing the Heart of the Sun is a Trickster action.

The Oni dictates some set of events which will take place, then rolls his Approach + a relevant Ability rating, and if he succeeds, the desired events take place if he succeeds. (The more successes, the more precisely events follow his dictates). These actions can range from a simple turn-length event (I stab the Ogre in the gut) to scene-long events (I ride into the countryside and raise an army of peasants).

Without the use of charms, an Oni can re-write up to an entire waypoint and all of its non-real inhabitants, or attack a single real being with one Re-Writing action.

Attempts to Re-Write other real beings (mortals from Creation, Exalts, Demons, Goddesses, other Onis, etc) is known as Revision Combat (see below).

Certain abilities are tied to each of the four approaches and are used with those approaches to conduct Re-Writing Actions.

Builder Re-Writing: Craft, Medicine, Resistance, Ride, Sail, Survival
Destroyer Re-Writing: Archery, Brawl, Dodge, Melee, Stealth, Thrown
Lover Re-Writing: Athletics, Awareness, Marital Arts, Performance, Presence, Socialize
Trickster Re-Writing: Bureaucracy, Investigation, Larceny, Lore, Linguistics, Occult
Any Oni can do an Stamina + Endurance Re-Writing action to affect how easily people get tired.

Example: Masalius the Godborn (Lover/Destroyer) enters a Waypoint full of carnivorous monkeys (all not real, just part of the landscape) who wish to kill him. He decides to deal with this by using a Destroyer Re-Writing. He has a Destroyer rating of 4 and Melee 5, so he declares 'I draw my god-forged blade Melenkurion and slaughter the monkeys with my divine might.'

He then rolls Destroyer + Melee, 9 dice, and scores 5 successes. He slaughters the Monkeys down to the last monkey without suffering even the slightest inconvenience.

Example: Greta the Matchgirl (Builder / Destroyer) is lost in the frozen wilderness. She wants to make a fire to avoid freezing to death and having to re-manifest her Protagonist Form. She uses her Builder (4) + Craft (3), and rolls 7 dice. She produces a match and easily lights a nearby tree on fire and huddles by it, as she scores 4 successes.

Revision Combat

Revision Combat happens when someone tries to use Re-Writing on a real being (Oni, Creation beings, Gods, etc, etc). This can only be done inside Oniboshi or else with the use of Charms outside Oniboshi.

Each of the four kinds of Re-Writing actions can be used to attack others, though with different consequences if you win. Pick an appropriate Ability to use with that Approach. This is your attack pool.

Your target has to defend with the same Approach, but can pick a different Ability.

If you hit them, your base damage is that of any Re-Writing Tool you may be using, plus your Approach rating. Then add any extra successes.

The target soaks with the Virtue tied to his defense Approach + any Re-Writing armor. You then roll your left over dice and inflict damage equal to the successes to his appropriate health track. The target has a health track for each approach equal to the appropriate Virtue + his willpower. Once his damage track empties, he suffers a consequence of your choice, and can choose to burn a point of willpower and refill his damage track. If he is out of willpower, he is now extremely vulnerable in that area.

The Consequence of Defeat is dependent on the kind of Re-Writing attack you used:

Builder Re-Writing leads to Reconstruction: You may change one major physical aspect of the target within the possible norms for that sort of being or give 2 points of mutations for every point of Moe you possess. This cannot strip or grant Exaltation or change the target's Moe. Attributes can be changed with Mutations. Example: Dr. Moron (Builder/Destroyer, Moe 3) defeats Joe the Mortal with Builder + Medicine. He proceeds to try to remake Joe into the perfect laboratory assistant. He can make 3 major changes: He gives Joe a hunchback, gives him keen vision and hearing with 2 points of mutations, and fixes Joe's limp.
Destroyer Re-Writing leads to Plunder. You get to take one item for every point of Moe you have, whether the target has it on him or not; you can break any attunement or other ties he has to the items or keep them intact.
Lover Re-Writing leads to Obsessions. The target becomes obsessed with posessing or gaining power over a number of things of your choice equal to your Moe; he cannot use any Virtue to resist this obsession; he can burn willpower to overcome the urge for a scene; if he is an Exalt, this gives him or her a point of Limit.
Trickster Re-Writing leads to Legal Impositions. You can impose your will on the target, imposing either a burden (something they must do), or a taboo (something they must not do). You can impose a number of these equal to your Moe. They can resist a burden or taboo for a scene by burning a willpower.

As you may have noticed, Mortals are up a tree without a paddle when faced with Re-Writing attacks, as they cannot mount any active defense, and can only hope their Virtues will shield them a little while. Thaumaturgy may provide a little extra protection. Mortals carrying Cold Iron, however, gain additional resistance to Re-Writing attacks; such items allow them to use their Conviction + an appropriate ability to parry any kind of Re-writing attack. Cold Iron items cannot be Plundered, either.

Some Exalts have charms that let them fend off Re-Writing attacks. Or artifacts. Slap-On Anti-Wyld Tattoos may help to fend off Re-Writing attacks or even render areas immune to them. They can also use Cold Iron defenses if necessary. They possess a further advantage; most Re-Writing attacks are slow compared to Real Combat. In the time it takes to make a single Re-Writing attack (or a flurry of them), the heroes may be able to fight their way into your personal presence and launch a physical attack (or twenty) on you. In general, Revision Combat actions (single or flurry) take a Scene of normal time to carry out.

Mechanics

Protagonist Forms

Every Oni has at least one Protagonist Form. Normally, a Raksha can manifest only one Protagonist Form at a time, unless charms are used.

An Oni can only use Re-Writing actions or Re-Writing charms if he has a Protagonist Form active; sorry, no cut-scenes. The one exception is using Re-Writing to revive a fallen Protagonist Form.

If your current Protagonist Form is slain in Oniboshi, you can simply switch forms, taking an action to manifest another of your forms, or take a Re-Writing action to Revise your Protagonist Form back to life.

In Creation, unfortunately, you die if your Protagonist form currently active is slain. This makes Creation very dangerous. Cold Iron anywhere will kill you if your Protagonist Form dies, and having your Protagonist Form slain by beings of Creation using Aggravated Damage will also kill you.

If beings of Creation slay you with normal damage in Oniboshi, you will sink into slumber in Story form, insubstantial and floating, for a number of years equal to their Moe, and then you must create a new Protagonist form. Oddly, if a Mortal of Moe 1 delivers the killing stroke, you will remain asleep until that Mortal dies at minimum (or for a year if they die faster than a year.)

Oni have the same Approaches, Virtues, Willpower, and Abilities in every Protagonist Form, but they change their Attributes whenever they get a new Protagonist form.

Character Creation

1. Develop Your Concept

In step 1, you need to decide upon your Story, Approaches, and Protagonist.

Commoner Oni have a simple story which is 1-3 sentences long, which should tie to the theme of their Single Approach.

Noble Oni have an Overarching Story Goal and one sub-story for each of their two approaches. The OSG should blend the two. They must pick two Approaches, one Primary, one Secondary.

Both Commoners and Nobles get a single Protagonist form, which can then be designed using the rules below. Your Protagonist form has a name; an Oni's True Name is his Story (Stories).

Creating a Protagonist Form

Each of the four Approaches is tied to one of the three Attribute categories.

Builder -- Mental
Destroyer -- Physical
Lover -- Social
Trickster -- Mental (or Social if Builder is higher ranked or Physical if Builder and Lover are higher ranked..)

One-Approach Oni have 2 base pips in their Approach's related attributes, and one pip in everything else.

Two-Approach Oni have 3 base pips in their primary Approach's related attributes, 2 base pips in their Secondary Approach's related attributes, and 1 pip in the third category of attributes.

Three-Approach Oni have 4/3/2/1.

They then choose a primary, secondary, and tertiary attribute area which usually, but doesn't have to match the corresponding approach priorities, and distribute 9/7/5 extra pips. No attribute can be raised over 4 + its base pips.

Example:

Masalius the Godborn is a Romantic Knight (Lover/Destroyer). Lover is Primary, so he starts with 3 pips in Appearance, Charisma, and Manipulation (and can be raised to 4 + 3 = 7). Destroyer is secondary, so he starts with 2 pips each in Dexterity, Stamina, and Strength(and can be raised to 4 + 2 = 6). He only has two Approaches, so his Intelligence, Perception, and Wits start with 1 pip (and can be raised up to 4 + 1= 5)

Masalius chooses to put the 9 in Social (Raising Appearance to 6, Charisma to 7 and Manipulation to 5), the 7 in Physical (raising Dexterity to 5, Stamina to 4 and Strength to 4), and the 5 in Mental (raising Perception to 3, Intelligence to 3, and Wits to 2).

Protagonist forms can be given special abilities through taking on mutations or the use of charms.

Your Protagonist form can engage in normal combat against the creatures of Creation in all the normal ways that such things take place, using its Attributes + Abilities (instead of shaping desired events with the relevant Approach + Ability). Inside Creation, it can engage in all the other normal activities a body can do as well.

2. Develop your Abilities

Commoners get 1 free pip in the Abilities of their primary approach, then get 25 pips to spend; 15 must go into their primary approach's abilities.

Nobles get 2 free pips in the Abilities of their primary Approach, 1 free pips in the abilities of their secondary Approach, and 35 pips to spend however they like, though at least 17 of those most go into their Primary or Secondary Approach Abilities.

The max rating in any ability at this stage is the base pips + 2. (So, for example, a noble with Primary Destroyer could have Melee at 5 at this stage.)

3. Develop Your Virtues

Commoners begin with 2 free pips in the Virtue tied to their Primary Approach, and 1 in all other Virtues.

Nobles begin with 3 free pips in the Virtue tied to their Primary Approach, and 2 in the Virtue tied to their Secondary Approach, and 1 in all other Virtues.

Both types then distribute 5 points worth of Virtues; the max rating at this stage is the base pips + 2.

4. Develop your Backgrounds

Commoners have 4 points of Backgrounds; Nobles receive 10 points.

5. Develop Your Charms

Commoners get 6 charms; Nobles get 9.

6. Miscellaneous Values

Your protagonist form(s) start with the normal 7 wound track.

Your Moe starts at 2 for a noble, 1 for a Commoner.

Your Willpower = the sum of your two highest virtues.

Your pool of Moe motes = 10 + (15 * Permanent Moe)

Your Primary and Secondary Approach are set equal to the Virtue they are linked to. Your other approaches begin at a 1.

Builder--Temperance
Destroyer--Valor
Lover--Compassion
Trickster--Conviction

7. Spend Bonus Points

Attribute: 4. Bonus points may raise an attribute to the base pips + 4.
Ability: 2 (1 if Primary or Secondary). Bonus points may raise an ability to the base pips + 4.
Background: 1 (2 if being raised over 3)
Specialty: 1 (2 dice of specialty for 1 if connected to a Primary or Secondary Ability)
Approach: 2 if Primary or Secondary, 4 if not.
Virtue: 3
Willpower: 2
Moe: 7
Charms: 5 (4 if in Primary or Secondary Ability)

Checklist

Develop your base concept--Story + Approaches + Protagonist
Develop your Abilities. Commoners get 1 free pip in the Abilities of their primary approach, then get 25 pips to spend; 15 must go into their primary approach's abilities. Nobles get 2 free pips in the Abilities of their primary Approach, 1 free pips in the abilities of their secondary Approach, and 35 pips to spend however they like, though at least 17 of those most go into their Primary or Secondary Approach Abilities. The max rating in any ability at this stage is the base pips + 2.
Develop Your Virtues -- Commoners begin with 2 free pips in the Virtue tied to their Primary Approach, and 1 in all other Virtues. Nobles begin with 3 free pips in the Virtue tied to their Primary Approach, and 2 in the Virtue tied to their Secondary Approach, and 1 in all other Virtues. Both types then distribute 5 points worth of Virtues; the max rating at this stage is the base pips + 2.
Develop Your Backgrounds -- Commoners have 4 points of Backgrounds; Nobles receive 10 points.
Develop Your Charms -- Commoners get 6 charms; Nobles get 9.
Your protagonist form(s) start with the normal 7 wound track.
Your Moe starts at 2 for a noble, 1 for a Commoner.
Your Willpower = the sum of your two highest virtues.
Your Primary and Secondary Approach are set equal to the Virtue they are linked to. Your other approaches begin at a 1. Builder--Temperance / Destroyer--Valor / Lover--Compassion / Trickster--Conviction
Spend Bonus Points
1. Attribute: 4. Bonus points may raise an attribute to the base pips + 4.
2. Ability: 2 (1 if Primary or Secondary). Bonus points may raise an ability to the base pips + 4.
3. Background: 1 (2 if being raised over 3)
4. Specialty: 1 (2 dice of specialty for 1 if connected to a Primary or Secondary Ability)
5. Approach: 2 if Primary or Secondary, 4 if not.
6. Virtue: 3
7. Willpower: 2
8. Moe: 7
9. Charms: 5 (4 if in Primary or Secondary Ability)

Example Oni

Charms

Oni charms come in two basic categories--Protagonist Form charms and Re-Writing Charms. The former are used to change and alter one's Protagonist Form or to affect other people's Protagonist Forms (or the Creatures of Creation). Re-Writing charms are used for Revision Combat or for other feats of Re-Writing. They are divided into four sub-categories, according to the four Approaches.

Re-Writing charms typically only require motes of Moe; Protagonist Form charms may require Dream Dust (see the Dream Harvesting Background, below)

Backgrounds

It is possible for Onis to have the following normal backgrounds:

Backing (can be from an Oni organization or one in Creation)
Contacts (Can be in Oni society or Creation)
Cult
Followers (Mortal followers)
Influence (Can be in Oni society or Creation)
Resources (These are mundane resources; there is a seperate background for Oniboshi style Resources)

There are also various Oni-specific Backgrounds detailed below.

Artifacts

(More to come here)

Dream Harvesting

The currency of Oniboshi is Dream Dust, a solidified form of the energy of dreams and the Wyld. It is used to create artifacts and to power various charms which work in Creation. This represents some steady source of Dream Dust.

0. You have no source of Dream Dust and will likely find yourself in trouble if you try to enter Creation unless you can steal some...
1. You manage to eke out a mere 2 motes of Dream Dust per story.
2. You have a respectable income of 5 motes of Dream Dust per Story.
3. You can live fairly well with your 9 motes of Dream Dust per Story.
4. You live extremely well with 14 motes of Dream Dust per Story.
5. Kings and Pashaluks of Creation alike envy your lifestyle with 20 motes of Dream Dust per story.

Dream Well

There are places in Oniboshi where the flows of Moe come together, providing a source of tappable Moe where you can more easily refresh your Moe. You control such a Dream Well.

Dream Wells allow anyone inside the Waypoint to absorb four times its rating worth of motes of Moe per hour. A number of people equal to the rating may drink from the well and attune to it. These people will recover the Well's rating * 2 worth of Moe per hour in Oniboshi, or the Well's rating in Moe per hour in Creation.

Servants

Some number of Commoner Oni work for you.

0. No one works for you.
1. You have a single servant.
2. You have five servant Oni.
3. You have 50 servant Oni.
4. You have 250 servant Oni.
5. You have 2,000 servant Oni.

Comments

Well, I have a lot more to do, but this is all for today. --JohnBiles

That looks like a nice start. ~ haku

And more added now!

TheKawaiiEdition/AlienPrinceses

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