From Kerisgame we now know that rather than just demons that are spawning, mortal creatures are spawning in Keris's Tiger Kingdom. That's really interesting. More, there's a new soul that is going to emerge soon. I wonder what this soul will represent. Also, the fact that Keris has inadvertently harmonised herself to the level of a Immaculate Master is hilarious. I wonder, other than her souls working in lockstep on occasion, what the end result of that is?
(Also, I'm sure this has some up at SOME point but are Sidreal Martial Arts still a thing in Kerisgame? And if so, are Infernal's still barred from learning them?)
Poor Calesco is not having a very nice time. Though, with what ES said about Sasi's own inner world, I'm not sure that she is going to have a great time (even if she is not actually internalised).
Mechanically, Keris' soul has "mortal" animals (technically, Enlightenment 0 akuma, because an akuma is a creature native to a Primordial Mythos) because the Devil Domain and Tiger Empire can be shaped by her souls by "Wyld Shaping" within their themes. Wyld Shaping naturally makes animals to populate a land, so there's no reason you won't get weird animals that are basically there to be eaten by the demons and add a bit of fluff to the place.
(My rule of thumb is that most Infernal souls are basically going to wind up looking like Pokemon AUs because of the mix of demons and akuma wildlife.)
Especially in the Swamp, because Haneyl and the sziromkeruby are relentlessly carnivorous. Sziromkeruby ecologically basically fill the same role in Keris' soul as foxes do in Creation. A sorcerer who summons a petal-cherub as a familiar will find that they keep their kitchen clean of mice and rats - admittedly by spitting fire at them, so it's probably a good idea to make sure your sorcerer's tower is made of stone. Then they'll probably start depopulating the surrounding countryside, like cats would if they could spit fire.
Sidereal Martial Arts do not exist in Kerisgame in a "Martial Arts" sense of the word. However, the capability for them is just folded into their Charmset, into a suitable House.
The Kerisgame Sidereal Charmset is technically closed, but it's closed in a lot more of an "open" way than canon depicted it. Basically, Sidereal Charms are organised into short, compact trees (called Constellations) which all fall under the House of a Maiden. If you want a new bunch of Charms, either five Sidereals working together or a Maiden can create a new Constellation (though Sidereals will be punished for making a new constellation if they didn't get permission first, unless enough Sidereals participated in making it that their bosses basically have to sign it off as a "Yeah, we totally authorised it").
So in a sense, they're sort of... hybridised with native Sidereal Charms. That is, when a Sidereal wants a new effect, they have to devise a 4-6 Charm tree and then carry out the necessary paperwork and blackmail the necessary people to get a new constellation inserted into the sky of Creation - they can't just make a single Charm that does what they want. Hence, over the years there have been quite a few specialist constellations devised that sort of parallel old-style SMAs because the Sidereals found they
really needed an anti-spirit exorcist set of Charms for banishing and forcing out demons and ghosts, or whatever.
(Constellations where no Sidereals currently know their Charms often get removed once it gets noticed they're no longer serving a purpose)
I have a question on the loyalties of demons. Specifically, if a given Infernal were to summon a demon to aid him/her, then later went rogue, would it be possible to convince said demon (with reasoning short of social charms) to join them? I imagine most first-circles would need to have their indoctrination and fear of retribution reassured, but would it be possible to convince a second-circle to abandon the cause? A third? We know that Gramalkin left Mardukth, but I don't think there's much detail on what was involved in that.
Another thought: IIRC Earthscorpion was against the idea of adopting other creatures into an Infernal's soul pantheon. What about other souls, either of Yozis or other Infernals? It's the same sort of creature and it could be a way to save an aspect of a dying ally, or maybe steal some secret? Or maybe both parties could be consenting and trade souls as a sort of meta-negotiation, representing an exchange of thought by a literal adoption of an idea.
Demons are just people. If you want them to do something, find the levers in their head and persuade them that what they want to do is what you want to do and you have common interest. Turning against the Yozis is a big ask - but by no means impossible, especially if you're willing to offer things like Eclipse oaths of their safety and of keeping them from being sent back to hell.
And for 2CDs and 3CDs, a demon will act to further their own goals even if their greater self would prefer to do other things. Because a demon is an expression of their greater self's nature, and 3CDs and Primordials are complicated enough that their own internal divisions are self-aware beings who want their own things. Just as a Kerisgame example, for example, if Keris was determined to be actively incompassionate to people (on the grounds of "they deserved it" or something), Calesco would be quite willing to subtly act against her - possibly going as far as to warn the people that Keris was planning to brutally kill, so they had a chance to escape.
Do recall, however, that Second and Third Circles are aware that they're dependent on their progenitor for their existence. Trying to persuade them into a course of action that'll kill their progenitor is very hard, because they're aware that's suicidal. Not impossible, however. Lots of demons have high Virtues, so they're going to act heroically often.
After all, neomah have 3 Virtues at 5 and the other at 3. Neomah are almost certainly More Virtuous Than You.
Can't summon Po Souls. Ever.
Also, Calesco remains best Deva of a Nebulous Circle.
Calesco is adorbs. Even if she is a personification of Stupid Useless Compassion.
(also, even if her Compassion is Tragic Love Amusement compassion and thus she considers it loving to make her loved ones suffer if they learn from it)
A lot of stuff like powered armor and magitech required Hearthstones usually.
Kerisgame is big on it.
Do note that Kerisgame considers "powered armour" to be generally a
Shogunate thing, because the Shogunate is 1930s fascist-anime visuals as fuck and that means lots of people were walking around looking like they were straight out of Jin-roh. Complete with the glowing eyes.
Keris has a heavily damaged and broken suit of High First Age armour (that she damaged even further by vitriol-tainting it), and it doesn't look like power armour - it's moonsilver plate and it's all graceful organic curves and much more Warframe than Warhammer.
How do you guys feel about the mechanics of the Raksha from 2e? Is Shaping Combat soem bizarre complex system attached to them? It sounded like it did not have a good rep when I was googling.
The Raksha have never been fit for purpose, because a NPC splat has been given a lot of complicated and involved mechanics that require lots of careful reading to understand the synergies and which doesn't play nicely with the rest of the game and half their stuff only makes sense in a place where no other characters go. They are fundamentally flawed by that, even
before their shitty 2e implementation written by Alex "Rape-rape" Alexander is taken into account.
Burn their mechanics to the ground. Run them off fae-themed spirit charms and steal inspirations from Changeling: the Lost contracts. Make your life much easier.
