· 8 years ago · Mar 16, 2018, 12:14 AM
1DRAWBACKS:
2I see you've demonstrated as much greed as... well, some of the more unfortunate samurai of this land. You might see them here and there - there's one who had his innards splattered all over the wall. If you'd risk the same fate, I can give you extra currency to spend. But I warn you - the risks and horrors you'll face from then on will be quite maddening. But, don't let me stop the foolish one from walking into his death headfirst.
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4Drawback Cap: +1,000 CP
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6Rise (+0): Ordinarily, you would arrive on the shores of Japan at the same day as William Adams - 1598 AD, the same year of Daimyo Hideyoshi's death and the beginning of Tokugawa Ieyasu's machinations to assault the forces of Hideyoshi. You would be present for the Battle of Sekigahara, and leave seven years before the Siege of Osaka - which would end in the Toyotomi Clan's complete annihilation, and the rise of Shogun Tokugawa. But things... Things are different now.
7 You arrive in this land of the rising sun in the year 1560 AD, shortly before the Battle of Okehazama - what would be known as the first stepping stone for the man that many will come to know as Nobunaga. From here, you will stay until the year 1582 AD - when Akechi Mitsuhide would betray his lord, The Burning of HonnÅ-ji Temple would occur, and Nobunaga would perish, be it by the flames or his own blade none will ever know. Twenty-two years... What difference can you make?
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10Bloodshed's End (+0): Normally, your stay here would simply encompass ten years. No more, no less, leading to you leaving years before the Siege of Osaka. You would not see the end of this story, nor the Edo Period's dawning. But now? Even if you arrive when William washes up on these bloodstained shores, you will stay until the end of this. You will live through seventeen years of war and blood, witnessing the duplicity of Great Britain and Spain as they attempt to foment and create war - all for the allure and splendor of amrita. You will see men and women die for honor and glory. Or will you be the one to force it to end?
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12Should you take Rise and Bloodshed's End, you will stay here for a total of thirty-nine years. From the rise of Oda Nobunaga to the final unification of Japan.
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15Inaccuracies (+100): Hanzo Hattori died in 1596, why is he still alive?! Hideyori didn't die at childbirth, why are you- EDWARD KELLEY WAS NOT AN ALCHEMICAL HOMUNCULUS. AND JOHN DEE WAS NOT A MULTI-EYED MONSTROSITY.
16 Needless to say, though this world has many similarities to yours, there are just enough differences that make it's telling "historically inaccurate."
17 You will constantly notice these inaccuracies, and even if you wouldn't be irritated by them normally? You will be now. The slightest thing off will just have you grinding your teeth, and frustrated.
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20Mujina Madness (+100 / +200): Hiding within treasure chests, drawers, closets, and many other places bearing treasure... are the Mujina. Badgers granted sapience, power, and a mischievous personality upon being transformed into yokai. These yokai are not inherently malicious, merely playful - taking the form of the person they just startled and freaking them out. They move strangely - making gestures and poses that would leave many bewildered and confused, before getting clobbered and the mujina moving on their way. If one mimics the mujina - an impromptu game of Ship Captain's Orders - the badger will be joyful, having found an inadvertent playmate. They will give their new friend the contents of the chest, and poof away with no issue.
21 Now, any container you open in the world will contain a Mujina - and there will be no warning, beyond simply the chest exploding open and the high-pitched giggle of the badger-yokai as it shapeshifts to look like a perfect reflection of you. I should warn you however, that while these badgers aren't inherently malicious, they do know how to defend themselves if violence arises. Watch your interactions with them carefully, and thank your lucky stars that the Mujina have not infiltrated your own belongings...
22 For an extra +100, you may encounter the badger-yokai when opening chests and storage even of yours - even if it would make no sense for the yokai to be there. Your Warehouse? Your spaceship? Your castle on the moon? You can guarantee there will be a Mujina in there now, ready to prank you.
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25Passionless (+100): Find one thing in your life, one hobby or ideal that you once bore passion and love for - be it for fighting, like Honda Tadakatsu once had, or an act of creation, or a hope for the future. Now, that flame has been snuffed out - leaving you feeling listless and unfulfilled in the rest of your life. For your stay here, you won't find the level of drive or fulfillment that you once had, and you'll know the exact reasons why. Maybe it was because you grew too strong and had no equal in combat? Or maybe your goal and ideal just seems so far away, and no matter how hard you strive it never gets closer?
26 Regardless of this reason, this loss of passion will strike you in all things.
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29What Foul Origin (+100): Maybe you were once a pirate and privateer, made to murder and pillage on the sea for your lord and giving you the reputation of a violent brute. Or maybe you are a symbol for the downtrodden and thuggish, used as an excuse for other troublemakers' behavior as a Nigitama? Or maybe you just have the face and air of an idiot, seeming incapable of doing anything correctly.
30 Your backstory or appearance has left it more difficult for you to earn people's trust or appreciation, in short. It will be harder to obtain legitimate alliances for your stay here, and many of your fights will be alone, against misunderstandings and hate.
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33Amrita Dependency (+200 / +300): The spirit crystals, born from blood and conflict, are used as fuel and power for many - even being rendered down and used by mortals to enhance their bodies in strength and speed. Alchemists and magic-users can even twist it to create life and enslave spiritual beings. Well, my friend, you're going to have a much more intimate relationship with amrita than most, and I don't mean because you're in love with the golden crystals. Anything of yours that allows for superhuman power is going to need you to use and consume amrita to power it.
34 Channel the powers of your bloody gods? You'll need amrita to fuel the miracles. Empower your fist for a megaton punch? You will need amrita. Fuel your ancient sorceries that can scour life from a world and create matter from nothing? I hope you have a mountain of amrita to fuel the rituals, because it will not work otherwise. Even something as simple as use of esoteric martial arts will require the use of amrita.
35 For an added +100, leading to a maximum of 300 CP gain, this will extend to everything not connected to you as well. Your firearms, machinery, and creations will now need to be modified to run on the spiritual energy contained within the golden crystals. I have to ask - where do you intend to find all of this Amrita? Even in Japan, where it is found in great abundance, only has so much.
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38Boku-Boku Bonanza (+200): The yokai known as "biwa boku-boku" are a form of Tsukumogami, living objects granted sapience and spiritual power. Ordinarily they would be just lamentable beings, but the ones of this realm are a malevolent and downright fiendish force - manifesting into the realm with the pale corpse of a monk as their puppet. These ghastly drones, plinking tunes, and wailing of the biwa player give the air a dark and foreboding air - but that's far from what the Boku-Boku does.
39 The Biwa Boku-Boku of this realm will summon the floating heads of oni - the Oni-Bi - as minions, replenishing numbers when the flaming oni-bi detonate themselves against foes. Additionally, when made aware of a nearby enemy? The Boku-Boku is capable of turning the corpses of samurai and other warriors into Revenants - reborn warriors with a black-and-red aura, bearing the wounds that brought them death but still bearing all the ferocity and speed in life. Many soldiers will be turned into panic-ridden, profanity-spewing shells on hearing the strings of the Biwa Boku-Boku - knowing the terror they bring. Worst of all - the Boku-Boku know how to hide, requiring many hours of dealing with terrifying melody, exploding Oni-Bi hordes, and vicious Revenants, before one can finally smash these sapient instruments.
40 Why did I just go into so much detail explaining the Biwa Boku-Boku, my friend? Because now, you won't be able to go more than a mile without hearing the discordant tune of the Boku-Boku. You are haunted by these yokai until the end of your days on this world, and by the forces they bring to bear against you.
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43By Any Means Necessary (+200): Tokugawa Ieyasu has sacrificed his son, his wife, and his friends, believing that he must be willing to sacrifice everything, and shoulder any burden, to see Japan unified and free once more. This has lead to him having few true allies and friends - with those standing by him having their sanity and own loyalty questioned by everyone around them. But in the end, Ieyasu became Shogun - turning Japan into a single nation once more.
44 You've taken on this ideal - that by sacrificing everything will you attain your goals, and you will shoulder any burden or pain to see them through to the end. None are safe from this - not your Companions, not your followers, not your nations or holdings. You will do whatever it takes - even if it makes those you love despise your existence.
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47Spiritually Blind (+200 / +400): You would normally be able to benefit from the use of Amrita, connect with and speak to your Guardian Spirit, or use the talismans and powers of Onmyo magic freely.
48 Now? That is no longer the case. In fact, you never will - for your entire stay here, you will be blind to the existence of Guardian Spirits and Yokai, see Amrita as just pretty stones, and be unable to even witness the powers of those who use their Guardian Spirits or Onmyo-given magicks. This will lead to some strangeness - for example, how is Sanada Yukimura flying? What's tearing up the landscape when the enemy has no cannons?
49 For Nigitama and Aratama Yokai, this entails losing access to your Yokai and Spirit Table purchases - becoming either an animal or deformed human, roughly equivalent to what you'd purchased. For a Human origin, this means that anything related to the Spirits or magick is locked off to them until after the events of this jump.
50 For an extra +200, you may be Blind to similar spiritual powers, allies, and foes from outside of this world as well. This will... understandably... be regarded as a pain.
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53Bloody Rivalry (+300): Things never stay impersonal in war, my friend. Connections are not just forged between allies and friends - ties of blood are made on the field of battle and negotiating table as well, with bitter rivalries and bonds of hate born just as easily as those of trust and friendship. These hatred and rivals - even those respectfully made - drive conflict as easily as any other source. And especially in this bloody period in Japan's history, where you find your own bonds made just as quickly.
54 You have made a rival - bitter or friendly, it matters not - where they stand against you on the other side of any conflict. They are created as you forged your own existence in this land - with an Origin of their own, 1,000 CP, and whatever their Origin's bonuses and freebies are (a Guardian Spirit for Humans, with 1,000 Spirit Points for Nigitama and Aratama, among other things), though no Drawbacks. They will not be swayed so easily by supernatural methods of control - where you might be able to turn a city to your side through honeyed words and witchcraft, it will require genuine effort to make this Rival a friend.
55 This drawback can be taken twice more, with only +100 being granted - a total of +500 CP being given by this drawback.
56 If you'd like, though their existence will not grant you anymore CP in the future, they may appear in later jumps and worlds to oppose you in your endeavors - dragged along by the winds of fate to stand as your enemy once more. If you have previous nemeses who have not been slain, banished, or dishonored by your hand, this drawback will favor their entry as one of your blood-stained rivals unless you force the issue otherwise.
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59Discordant Being (+300): Japan is but one country among many in which exists a delicate balance between two realms - a balance that the Onmyoji go to painstaking lengths to maintain, to see that humans and spirits avoid conflict. The war in the Land of the Rising Sun has thrown the balance off along their archipelago, and now a recent arrival will see that chaos increase dramatically not just for Japan, but for every land they travel through. Your arrival.
60 You exist as a great destabilizer between the spiritual and material worlds, and a creator of unrest in both "societies," so to speak. With your presence, a yoki or onyudo no longer needs to wait for night to cross a bridge to enter the human lands - they can simply reach across the veil and manifest. This isn't just restricted to yokai - a human, if you're in town, could accidentally make a wrong turn and be within the land of demons, and can do nothing but pray for either salvation or swift death. Both humans and spirits are more easily driven to conflict in your presence as well, to where even a single insult meant in jest can turn a roadside tavern into a battlefield, or a séance could mean bloody and swift destruction on those involved and their families.
61 It does not end there for you, however. The OnmyÅdÅ practitioners - and all others like them, be they Catholic Priests, Witch Doctors, or Shaman of as-yet unexplored cultures - will be able to detect your presence and the damage you wreak. They will seek to try and defeat you by any means necessary to ensure that all does not come crumbling down, whether you be defeated through imprisonment or slaughter matters not. And magic does exist in this world, wanderer - I would not underestimate even the lowly friar with naught but his cross.
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64Homunculus (+300): You know the origin you chose, and how your chosen abilities, skill sets, and perks have all made your past? None of that matters now - you are nothing more than a thrall, a creature made through black magic, alchemy, and the spirit stones born from human conflict and suffering. You are kin to Edward Kelley now - a homunculus made for Queen and Country, built as a pawn for England's benefit. Your flesh and bone were woven from liquid, your skills written into your brain with runes and sorcery, and your spiritual power born of the amrita built into your very fiber. Worst of all - you have a set of runes and sorcerous incantations built into your being. Should you go against Lord John Dee's will and the will of your home country of England, your master will activate these in turn. This will trigger your decay, destroying you from the inside out. I should not need to say that this activation will count as your "final death."
65 But all's not lost. Though you were born from Dee's flesh-growing tanks, and were raised as his pupil and servitore, your will is your own. The chance is slim, miniscule, and any chance of it going wrong may trigger the sorceries early, but you may... Just may be able to free yourself, and rip the English "killswitch" out of your core. Of course, knowing that their puppet has cut their strings would leave John Dee and the elite of Great Britain very cross, to say the least. Everything has a consequence after all. Whatever your choice - be careful.
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68What Was Stolen (+300 - Requires Companion): William knows well the pain of separation and heartache - a pain you both share now. Just as his Saoirse - guardian spirit, friend, and lover - was taken by Edward Kelley, so to has someone been stolen away from you. Whether by Kelley, Maria of Spain, or another duplicitous alchemist and sorcerer, your most trusted and valuable Companion has been taken to become their tool, for power, fortune, glory, or the benefit of a home nation. Even should you not pursue them, you will find the effects of this separation affecting you nonetheless - whether you are hounded by the minions and dogs of this thieving bastard, or bearing witness to the devastation.
69 Should you give chase, they will evade - stealing away under the killing blow or vanishing at the last minute, as they turn your comrade's power and knowledge to their means. Until the climactic battle - whether that be at the end of your stay here, or a few years from now - you will struggle to rescue and reclaim.
70 Should you fail to save your Companion by the time your stay in this world is over, they will be gone.
71 Forever.
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74A Flower Stripped Of Petals... (+600 - Does Not Count Towards Drawback Cap):
75 The flames of war have taken everything from you.
76 Your companions, family, and loved ones... Slain.
77 Your followers and people... Scattered.
78 Your lands and holdings... Destroyed.
79 Your retainers and alliances... Betrayed.
80 Much like Lady Yodogimi, you have lost everyone and everything important to you because of war. Death and violence, hatred and blood, it has left you with nothing but ash. She, despite her pain, sought to create a world without war - and with the Spaniard's duplicity, was twisted into a destroyer who wanted to inflict her pain on all existence, and burn it all to the ground.
81 You are the same as her: A flower stripped of its petals and beauty. But will you take the same path as her, or find another?
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84God... Save... THE QUEEN! (+600 - Cannot be taken with Rise): William failed. That is the long and short of it, warrior.
85 William failed. Edward Kelley saw Japan burned to the ground around him, and every ounce of amrita was collected. The ancient, eight-headed serpent Yamata-no-Orochi was resurrected - and its bestial allegiance lies with the Union Jack. Great Britain has been manipulated by John Dee and the cabal of occultists, alchemists, and ancient priests into a world power. Their armies are now augmented with amrita-enhanced weaponry and technologies. Great demons of every mythos and ancient belief have been created, whilst yokai, spirits, and natural gods that have existed since before these bloody days have been twisted into service. Homunculi have been manufactured in great number, and they know no fear. Only duty. Only loyalty to the crown.
86 It is in these dark days that you have been thrown headlong into, as England truly begins to conquer the world. And you're just another obstacle in their way - and you know how they treat "obstacles."