Prologue
"There is no escape from death. No escape in death. You, of all people, should know."
Shenzhang City. Caught between the ancient and the modern, the fastest growing economic centre of the North. Its people grow unwieldy with wealth, its resources tapped, skyscrapers emerging like the teeth of maturity from the rice fields, trumpeting the coming of modernity. And like teeth they displace their predecessors, deride them as the mere interstitial stage of civilisation, an embarrassment. In this new world, there is no room for farmers or priests, necessity transmuted to sufferance. The face of success has changed: cleaner teeth, whiter skin, colder eyes, taller, slimmer, rich. The concrete fingers of the free market worm through and over the hills and valleys, and the clever ride with it, daring to dream. A more expensive meal, a prettier wife, a new brotherhood, an unending world of leashes awaiting dogs.
But the higher the towers climb, the longer a shadow they cast. Evil lurks the streets as it once lurked forest and dale, but it was never the forest that was evil. Missing persons cases rise by the hundreds. The streets ring with sirens, violent crimes units working day and night. Behind every door is cruelty. Behind every eye is wickedness. Behind every man is his future thief, conman, killer. And behind every death is a life truncated, potential cut loose to snarl and twist, becoming a monster man has forgotten.
The city rolls on, a behemoth ripping free of its creators and rolling them under tread, blood for the gears. From modernity you will find no quarter; no matter how bright the light, you will find the shadows just as deep.
One day, you will be consumed. You will join the ranks of those you bled so hard to quell. But you will not go quietly.
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Make no mistake. Yours is a black path through the night. But who was the walker?
[ ] The Enthusiast - Young, naive, optimistic. A diligent and filial son, excelling in every objective you chose to pursue. Your sole vice: an embarrassing interest in foreign horror films. Your parents are labourers, your family poorly educated; you are the first of your cousins to graduate with a dual college degree. Your move to Shenzhang was predicated on the rising tech industry, but openings are scarce or denied to the entry-level. While working odd jobs to pay rent, you notice a persistent stain in your bathroom wall...
*Young and fit, with a strong heart. Can take a shock or two.
*You are book-smart! You are not street-smart.
*You possess a dual degree in STEM fields achieved overseas on scholarship. Though reality has proven less practical than previously assumed, technology yields to your expert hand.
*Your overseas degree was mostly so you could watch American films. Nevertheless, you are fluent in English and have a patchy cross-section of Western cinema. You aren't a banana, but you're banana-adjacent. A plantain, perhaps.
*You have an uncanny instinct for navigating dangerous situations. It's not something you've developed, but that may change.
*Your love of horror has given you a near-encyclopaedic grasp of horror tropes and conventions. Aside from that, you're also well-versed in navigating net forums and sifting information from trash, a skill that comes in handy when you need to research something obscure.
*Regrettably, the number of years you've been single equal your age. You are Unsullied. Take care, for a virgin's flesh is a delicacy in some circles...
*You don't have a car! Opportunities are limited based on transportation. Your Lair is a Communal Apartment.
*Special Skill: I Played College Ball: Once per mission, you may sprint five hundred metres across any terrain.
*Playthrough leans more on mystery than horror. Depth of route before retirement: 10%--40%.
[ ] The Entertainer - Look, you went somewhere you shouldn't have. The things you saw in there, what happened to your crew, it doesn't bear thinking about. If only your damn camera hadn't been rolling. Now you're the most popular livestream channel on the net, and your producers are leaning on you to make more just like it: original, riveting, inimitable. Nobody said it was easy at the top, but your crew (whatever's left of them) are happy to push you off...
*Nearing the dessert days of your youth. You're starting to think of things like blood pressure and cholesterol.
*You're sharp as a tack! Fastest joke in the East, they call you.
*You used to have quite the temper, and your fists still remember how to talk for you.
*Your sense of humour helps settle the nerves.
*You've always had a sixth sense for when things felt wrong.
*Look, you've been around the block a few times. Money may not buy love, but it can buy its spitting image. You are Sinful.
*You're a grown adult with your own transport and housing! Increased latitude and freedom. Your Lair is a Townhouse.
*You're not poor!
*Special Skill: It's Just FX: Once per mission, you may concoct an elegant deception to simultaneously calm others while directing them to your instruction.
*Depth of route before retirement: 30%--90%.
[ ] The Exorcist - Grandfather's appeal to the Ministry of Culture failed, and the highway demolitions proceeded as planned. When the construction workers were found hooked from the seal-pillars, some very insistent questions began to be asked. Now you've slowed down, having shaken the trail, but in a foreign city with no papers to your name. But one thing's the same: wherever the sun shines will cast a shadow, and the shadows here are deeper than you think...
*Extremely fit. Excellent cardiovascular health.
*Skilled in martial arts.
*A masterful calligrapher.
*Experienced in forestcraft.
*You are vegetarian.
*You are an adept reader of people in the individual and group, an innate talent honed through occupational training. Though you lack official accreditation, your knowledge and grasp of the human mind rival clinical psychologists produced by prestigious universities renowned for such.
*Your dialect marks you as a foreigner. Your rustic clothing and attitudes are unfashionable. You were raised in a rural village, and unfamiliar with technology later than the horseless omnibus. You are the opposite of cool.
*You have no official documents of identity, and very little money for a city life. You're technically a fugitive, but if you keep your head down it's unlikely anybody will draw connections.
*You have lived the life of an ascetic; the stain of hypocrisy does not mar your soul. You are Pristine, maintaining your prenatal innocence.
*You are trained in locating passages to the Blood World, and educated on the nature of its denizens. You are a master of rituals.
*The Blood World is sick here. Finding treasures to leverage will be dangerous.
*In your escape, you seized an Artifact from the family record room.
*You begin with no Lair.
*Special Skill: Ancestor's Binding: Once per mission, you may invoke the name of the Patriarch, borrowing his wisdom in the fields of Swordsmanship, Courage, Exorcism Science, and Blood World Lore. If your spiritual condition is Pristine, you may use this binding to compel a Specter into slumber. This invocation persists until the hour of dawn.
*Depth of route before retirement: 100%--170%.
---
Select one of the following Spiritual Gifts. For the Enthusiast and Entertainer, skill in the Gift will be at Beginner level; the Exorcist will be trained to employ his Gift at Journeyman level.
[ ] Blood Eye - By design or circumstance, your eye is damaged. The resulting blood contaminating the vitreous humor does not impair vision, but instead renders its owner able to perceive the Blood World. In the daylight, you can observe the presence of Specters and the true intentions of others. At night, your vision is unimpaired by total darkness or blinding light in succession, and you fully perceive Specters.
Beginner - See traces in daylight, perfect night vision, perceive Specters.
Novice - Perfect vision, detect passages into the Blood World <1 hour old, perceive the aura of humans.
Journeyman - Directly perceive the Blood World from the mortal world. See distant objects with negligible loss of detail.
[ ] Stony Liver - A calcification is embedded in your hepatobiliary system, emanating vigorous energies. An unnatural fortitude suffuses you. Your digestion of dangerous foods is enhanced.
Beginner - Eat spicy food up to 100,000 Scoville Heat Units without impairment. Experience no indigestion from poor diet.
Novice - Withstand freezing temperatures without frostbite. Moderate resistance to pain. Cannot be poisoned by mundane toxins.
Journeyman - Consume Blood World flesh without issue. Survive without food or water for a week.
[ ] Thief's Ear - Once in your youth, you were stung on the ear by a blue-winged wasp. Though it eventually healed, there remains a small discoloration, though lately it has spread. Like a bat, you can navigate without eyes, relying purely on the sounds of the wind.
Beginner - Sharper hearing, ability to comprehend the Spectral Tongue.
Novice - Echolocation, immunity to deafness.
Journeyman - Voice mimicry, ability to read Spectral Characters. Yes, that's right, read with your ears.
[ ] Black Marrow - Instead of red, your blood is black. While you pass it off with makeup and claim a genetic disorder, your tone of flesh disturbs others. Nevertheless, you are as energetic as any other red-blooded human. You are unable to make a Blood Door.
Beginner - Can substitute blood for ink. Can hold breath for fifteen minutes. You scab instantly.
Novice - You are able to persist with half your normal blood volume. Your resting body temperature is elevated to 39 degrees Centigrade.
Journeyman - Black blood is an omen of heavenly malfeasance. Feeding your blood to a Specter briefly elevates their capabilities.
[ ] Pale Fingers - An incident in your youth amputated your fingers, and they had to be surgically reattached. Miraculously, aside from minor circulation issues, you retain full motion and dexterity.
Beginner - Can touch Specters. Can grasp freezing objects.
Novice - Can perform psychometry on cursed objects. You do not bleed from wounds to your upper limbs.
Journeyman - Can perform the Corpse Grip, a clenching exertion capable of tearing steel.
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If you are an Exorcist, select one of the Artifacts below. If you are an Enthusiast or Entertainer who has taken a Curse of Karma, your selection will change aesthetically to match modern provenance, but is otherwise functionally identical.
[ ] Moon Mirror - A circular mirror of shaped bronze, meticulously maintained save for the reflective obverse, which is indelibly corroded. By filling its pitted face with blood, it is able to reveal the unseen.
*Takes 5cc to form a minimally reflective surface, 40cc to make it smooth enough for visual use. Users with Black Marrow must double the costs.
*By filling it to its original surface depth (100cc), the Bronze Mirror can be activated to capture any Specter that gazes upon their reflection. Wearing the Bronze Mirror from that point on will deter any Specters of lesser power to that contained within. You are unable to use the Mirror to reflect the Blood World while it contains a Specter; gazing into it will cause the Specter to possess you. Blood must be donated to restrain the Specter (400cc/month), or else it is released.
*Modern forms include a shattered compact mirror or car wing-mirror.
[ ] Corpse Ink - A gargantuan inkstick, one chi in length, capped with a heliotrope medallion. Compressed from the soot and fat of burned humans, the figures of its victims are preserved with vivid detail. When ground against a rough surface, it releases a fragment of that funereal flame, revealing and scorching Specters. Ink rendered from this inkstick is especially effective against Immolated Specters.
*Leaves a greasy stain on the fingers.
*Erodes slowly, if at all. Segments can be "burned" at once for significant effect.
*The Blood World is quite wet; you may find it difficult to find a dry surface.
*Modern forms have the images of cows and juvenile poetry.
[ ] Wishing Pen - An aged calligraphy brush of poplar wood and human hair. Ask it a question, and it will write no lies.
*Will answer within ten characters or less! Functions without ink.
*Information concerning the motivation or true disposition of people is more accurate than environmental data or combat capabilities.
*Semi-sentient.
*Cannot be lost. If misplaced, will reappear in nearby pockets or hidden spaces.
*Modern forms include pagers or text messages from unknown numbers.
[ ] Golden Compass - A luopan modified with additional rings denoting geographical and coordinate data. A superb tracking tool; by placing a symbolic piece of your target in the place of the needle, you will locate them in space and time.
*Can live-track a human in the past year perfectly, and imperfectly project their future. Tracking beyond this window exhausts the Compass for a day.
*Appears to function globally.
*Works imperfectly in the Blood World.
---
Take on a Curse of Karma for an additional selection of a Spiritual Gift or Artifact, up to three. It is not recommended to take more than one.
[ ] Zodiacal Malediction - An unrighteous marriage, a poisoned bloodline, whatever the reason, Heaven itself turned its face away the moment you were born. Unless directly named, you are automatically excluded from all protections, rituals, and benedictions laid into the bedrock of the continent. Your only protector is the eye of the noonday sun, who discriminates no wretch.
[ ] Impurity of Heart - You were not steadfast in thought and deed, and performed ill-workings to others. Lower your Spiritual Purity by one level.
[ ] Cowardly Tenor - You are more easily shaken, weak-stomached and frail. In times of crisis your mind will turn to flee from peril.
[ ] Perverse Hungers - You are wracked with forbidden desires. To some Specters, you may strike an intolerable resemblance.
[ ] Rationalist - You are convinced there is no power greater than the human mind, no engine more excellent in its function than reason and intellect, the eternally self-crafting work. You're in the wrong genre, friend. Increased difficulty in rituals, slow to adapt.
[ ] Socially Impaired - You find it difficult to impossible to read people's emotions and motivations.
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