Dirae: the Kindly Ones

So. If your name is Zombiewulf, you're likely going WOOH!

Otherwise, you're getting ready to pump me full of lead, and I don't really blame you.

This won't be turning into The Big Book of Anime Jokes, though, if I have anything to say about it, and it seems that there's a few other people with the same opinion (though it's likely just a slight preference for them, as opposed to a "Over my dead body!" thing, like me...). This is going to be a horror game just as much as anything WW has put out, and we're going to take the concept of catgirls and play it straighter than a Young Republican*.

Okay, so there might be a little bit of humor here and there, but that's just my style, and I'm going to be using that even with Werespider: the Forlorn, another homebrew-in-the-making which is starting to turn out even more horrific than regular What the F*ck. A little bit of light casts a dark shadow, and sometimes the only thing that happiness or humor can bring is a greater height to fall from.

Note to self: Make concept of "There are some good times, but they inevitably fall into situations which wouldn't have been so bad if the good times hadn't happened" a core (or semi-core) theme of the game.

• I know I keep using this analogy. Deal with it. I like it. XD

It would be appreciated if, instead of making edits here, you instead went to either http://forums.white-wolf.com/cs/forums/t/4841.aspx?PageIndex=1 or http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?p=10310679#post10310679

Premise

Dirae: the Kindly Ones is about, well, catgirls, yes, but there's a little bit more to them. Cats in general have been regarded with no small degree of awe, and often have been believed to be aware of worlds other than this one. They're the guardians between this world and the one after it, or the one beside it. Cats are the guardians of boundaries, really, of the thresholds, the in-between places, and the catgirls are this, too.

There are the boundaries between life and death, this world and the Shadow, those Things Man Was Not Meant To Know, and so much more, and the catgirls watch over all of them. They preside over initiations, and they are monsters at the gates.

Yes. Monsters. Despite the typical association we have with catgirls as cheery little bundles of cute fluffiness (or just plain annoying things we need to spay before we get overpopulated), catgirls are nothing like this. They are notoriously vulnerable to their own desires, and they can quickly find themselves slipping into a spiral of indulgence which could only be matched by a degenerate vampire. They punish the great transgressions, but they have a habit of going just a little bit too far.

And they tend to just be just plain vicious in many situations. Even the nicest of the Kindly Ones can display a slight sadistic streak.

Let's face it: Cats are mean bastards, and catgirls are as well, to one extent or another.

New Traits

Urges I'll develop this bit further, but here's the core of Urges: they're like refined Vices, in a way. Each Catgirl has between three and five, and are more particular than Vices. "Beating people into a wall" isn't quite precise enough for an Urge, since this would mean that it would come up every single time the catgirl encountered something. At least one sort of qualifier should be included, like "Beating people into a wall when annoyed by them" or "Beating people into a wall when they're wearing blue."

Just use some common sense, really. And no, it doesn't have to make complete sense. Beating someone into a wall because they are wearing something blue is completely viable because, let's face it, the Kindly Ones are not entirely stable. It can very easily set off something in their heads, whether it's plain old-fashioned hatred for the color, or repressed memories which, in some way, include the color.

Urges can be acted on for in order to regain a point of Passion, which must make them seem all fine and dandy, but each Urge can only be used in this way once, and it has a bit of a disadvantage: When rolling Resolve + Composure to resist an Urge, which must be done whenever it can be acted on, a -1 penalty is applied if the catgirl has voluntarily given into it at any time during the session. Furthermore, Urges have to be willingly acted on if you want the willpower point.

If an Urge is successfully resisted, but the trigger remains (the person is still being annoying, or still wearing blue), the roll must be made again each minute. This process ends as soon as the trigger is gone or if the Urge is acted on, the latter of which will sate it for the remainder of the scene.

Ancestry You're expected to uphold your family's reputation, and follow in their footsteps. Although your choice of House and Dynasty add a few possible sins (because these are things which are especially important to that bloodline), there are some things which are sins against your Ancestry no matter what. High Ancestry lowers the XP cost per dot for Birthright, but makes it harder to regenerate Passion and even causes Passion drain at high levels, because you're dedicating so much of yourself to following your ancestors that there's not that much of what makes you a distinct individual. Low Ancestry makes it slightly easier to regenerate Passion, but increases the XP cost per dot for Birthright, and at really low levels puts a cap to Birthright (at Ancestry 1, you can't get higher than Birthright 4, and if you have gotten higher, you count as Birthright 4 until you move back up the Morality scale) and makes it harder to resist your Urges. Accordingly, a large part of the game involves figuring out a balance between honoring and following those who came before you, and being your own person. Neither high nor low Ancestry is especially desirable, and everyone will have to find their own balance.

Birthright Following your ancestors brings you strength, in a way. The more you respect your Ancestry, the more you are able to tap into the power which is your Birthright. The experience point cost per dot of Birthright can change with high or low Ancestry, and low Ancestry can even put a cap to your effective Birthright, but this stat in and of itself isn't something to be balanced. In general, if you can get high Birthright, you should try and get high Birthright.

Passion The strength of your emotions, which for the Kindly Ones can be harnessed as an actual force, and a fuel for their Workings. Low Passion leaves you feeling despondent and washed-out, giving you a temporary Derangement (or making an already-existing one more severe) until you get it high enough, and it can also cause a penalty to rolls to resist degeneration and rolls to resist getting a Derangement. The temporary Derangement can change each time, since it's usually based on what caused your Passion to slip so low. Giving into your Urges doesn't help you regain Willpower, but Passion, and the effectiveness of this (along with other means of regaining your Passion) is determined by how high or low your Ancestry is.

House

There are five major bloodlines of catgirls, each with its own homeland, and each has a Working which, while not unique to that bloodline, is certainly most associated with it. Though these five have the most prominence, there are many more which exist, even if they are less widespread. It should be noted that these Houses were never fully restricted to whichever place they claim as their homelands. These are simply the places most tied to them. Japan is not the whole of the Far East, despite the fact that your average anime fan* may think of Japan before any other country.

Each House also adds a few more sins which can be committed against Ancestry.

• I am perfectly free to make this broad generalization, being an anime fan myself.

Bakeneko: Many are quite surprised upon first meeting this Lineage, which traces its way back to Japan. Shouldn't the only Japanese Lineage be, well, the epitome of catgirl-ness? Apparently not, for this Lineage holds an even worse reputation than the Sakhet. It is associated with the Workings of Ichijin, which allow them to steal the lives and energy of others, control fire, and manipulate dreams (both of the sleeping kind, and otherwise).

Cait Sith: This Lineage originated from the Britain Isles, though it is, as its name suggests, mostly associated with Scotland. They are associated with the Workings of Cruthlach, which allow them to pass by unseen and unnoticed, communicate from across great distances and past the barriers of worlds, and manipulate luck.

Impaka: A Lineage originally from east Africa, these catgirls have a reputation for aloofness, even amongst close kind. They are associated with the Workings of Ifa, which allow them to manipulate the regenerative process, shape stone with their hands, and control the wills of others.

Sakhet: Also known as the Sacmis, these catgirls are Egyptian in origin, and perhaps the most violent of the five Lineages. They are associated with the Workings of Mahes, which allow them to spread and cure diseases, instil dread, and slaughter their enemies easily.

Tehuantl: Catgirls who are descended primarily from Mesoamerica, and have a bad reputation for being bloodthirsty to the extreme, though they don't entirely deserve this. They are associated with the Workings of Yaotl, which involve blood, vengeance and retribution, and sacrifice.

Watch

Though catgirls protect all boundaries, they generally focus on particular ones, in the same way that a brain surgeon focuses on brains but is still usually more qualified than the next guy to do any other medical stuff, and join organizations, called Watches, keep in contact with and aid others who protect the same threshold. That said, catgirls aren't big on being told what to do. The Watches are more like a group of people who keep in contact with each other than anything else, and though they lend aid, they don't take orders.

The Horizon Watch: Guardians of the boundary between day and night. The Watch is quite aware of vampires, but the Kindred are inherently beings of the night, and the duty of the Watches is not to destroy things minding their own business on their own side, but to deal with situations involving the border, whatever that may be. When vampires start using their ghouls and mortal contacts to influence the world of the day, however, things get... ::looks around nervously:: hairy. ::runs for cover:: Well, not for all of them. Some just try to regulate it.

They also frequently come in contact with the Day and Night Courts, in Changeling freeholds which possess such a system.

The Gauntlet Watch: Yeah, the werewolves have got this one, but do the catgirls care? The Gauntlet is still a boundary, you know, and the catgirls of this Watch consider it their duty to oversee the passage of spirits between this world and the Shadow, and keep things from getting out of hand.

The Mortality Watch: Guardians of the boundary between life and death, and this world and the Underworld. They take care of ghosts, or protect them, help the dying recover when they feel they can, and give comfort when they can't.

The Hedge Watch: Not the Changeling Hedge, but the hedges that once marked the edges of the villages. Their role has changed in modern nights, since there's usually not that many wolves in the woods anymore, since there are few large woods near cities, and even even fewer wolves, and most of the monsters are now inside the cities.

Accordingly, the Hedge Watch has been undergoing a bit of internal trouble for the past century, as some just pull back and deal with drifters, others abandon it, and many more seek to somehow change the duty of the Watch without changing the Watch itself.

The March Watch: A now mostly-defunct Watch, which focuses on the frontier, the boundary between civilization and the untamed wilds. Nowadays, this Watch is generally only found in extremely remote areas, and many of its members have joined the Hedge Watch, which always followed behind it as the frontier, wherever it was, moved ever onward.

Dynasty

These are basically "special" family lines which arose from the greater Houses, and which adopt other catgirls into their ranks. Each one has different requirements, and some might be based around certain Houses, others might be more concerned with what Watch you're part of, and still more might welcome everybody who fits the general bill. Your choice of Dynasty also adds certain sins which you can commit.

There are currently no sample Dynasties.

Workings

Though all supernatural abilities of catgirls are, technically, Workings, this term is generally only applied to the so-called "Greater Workings." There are six such Workings, five of which are associated most often with certain Houses. The Workings of Duco, which are the only ones not associated with any particular House, involve manipulating emotions, perceiving that which cannot be perceived, and crossing boundaries, whether these be worlds or locked doors.

An individual power derived from a Working is called an "Application," and each one must be purchased separately. Any number of Applications may be purchased, but only up the character's rank in that Working. When increasing the rank, a free Application of the new rank is acquired.

Workings of Cruthlach

Workings of Duco

Workings of Ichijin

Workings of Ifa

Workings of Mahes

Workings of Yaotl

New Merits

Big Guns Are Better (•) Prerequisite: Firearms 3, Specialty in a certain gun Effect: Due to incredible skill, your character is able to wield a certain type of gun (revolver, shotgun, sniper rifle) as if its Size were one lower. This Merit may be chosen multiple times, once for each kind of gun. Commanding Destiny (• to •••••) Effect: Fate likes to mess around with people, especially the Kindly Ones. Your character has a particular destiny to fulfill, and when working toward it may apply a number of bonus dice to a relevant action. The amount of dice which may be applied in one session is equal to the rank of this Merit, and may be applied all at once or divided amongst many actions. Drawback: Someone with this Merit must work towards her destiny. Whenever she does something which does not directly aid her in fulfilling her destiny, the Storyteller may apply a penalty to the action. The total amount of the penalty is equal to twice the rank of this Merit, and may be applies all at once or divided amongst many actions. The Storyteller must approve the destiny in question, and is encouraged to help the Player find one which the character is somewhat reluctant to fully achieve.

High Speed Missile Dodge (••) Prerequisite: Catgirl, Dexterity 4+, Defense 3 Effect: The catgirls are well-known for their agility, but some are so fast as to be able to dodge bullets. Possession of this Merit allows the character to apply her Defense to ranged attacks when Dodging. This does not, however, allow her to double her Defense for these attacks.

Lost (••) Prerequisite: Catgirl Effect: A very rare few Kindly Ones don’t have any real idea of their ancestry, and nobody else can figure it out, either. While they’re quite certain of their House, based on whatever Working they have an affinity with, they don’t know much more than that. Certain sins against Ancestry* do not apply to this character, as they don’t have anyone in particular to sin against. Drawback: Other catgirls tend to frown upon those who don’t have any known lineage. Not knowing who one’s ancestors are (or even publicly claiming such an ignorance) prevents the character from getting more than two dots in any Status Merit related to catgirl society, such as House Status or Watch Status. Furthermore, the cost for getting Birthright beyond 5 is increased by one point per new dot.

• Once we’ve actually determined what sins can be committed against Ancestry, I’ll be more specific here.

Lucky Bastard (••) Prerequisite: Strangely enough, this can only be purchased by Catboi, Dragons, Foxgirls, Machineborn, and just about anyone, so long as they aren’t catgirls. The reason for this is unknown, but many suspect that it is just further proof that the universe is just a bastard. Effect: The character gains the benefits of the 9-again rule for all rolls. If the 9-again rule would already apply to a certain roll, then it instead gains the benefits of the 8-again rule. If, somehow, the 8-again rule would already apply, then all 7s, while still failures, may be re-rolled. Thankfully, it doesn’t get any worse than this. Drawback: This particular ability is only demonstrated by the extremely inept, and regardless of the actual rank of the skill in question, all skills possessed by the character count as being no higher than 2 after this Merit is purchased. Psycho Supporters (• to •••••) Prerequisite: Catgirl Effect: Some of the Kindly Ones tend to attract quite a lot of crazies, and your character is one of these lucky (or unlucky, perhaps) few. While your Psycho supporters are regrettably deficient in terms of combat skill, they do have other specialties. Each dot represents either another Psycho Supporter, or increased ability in an already existing Psycho Supporter. A new Psycho Supporter counts as being untrained in all but one skill, which they instead roll four dice for, while an exceptional Psycho Supporter can be given one additional die per dot. Psycho Supporters can also work together, with a +2 bonus (when the skill used is a shared specialty) +1 bonus (in all other cases) added to the dice pool of the Psycho Supporter with the highest regular dice pool. A character may have both regular and improved Psycho Supporters, but may not have more than five dots total with approval from the Storyteller. Drawback: Psycho Supporters may like your character, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that they are willing to drop everything and help her, no matter the situation, because they like her to an insane degree. Expect floods of fan mail and love letters, stalkers, missing clothes, and a general loss of respect from one’s peers.

Support Circle (•) Prerequisite: Catgirl Effect: By spending a point of Passion, this character may add a number of bonus dice equal to half her Birthright (rounded up) to any rolls made by another person while attempting to perform a Working of any sort. The two must be in physical contact, and while the effect lasts for as long as contact continues, another point of Passion must be spent to start it over again if physical contact is ever broken.

Antagonists

Dragons (Also Devourers, Drakes) One they had a great kingdom, but that was given over to the wastes so long ago that even its successor state is nothing more than a fable among the lands and people of Men. The Dragons are fell beasts, developing through their lifetimes strange attributes like additional limbs or poisonous blood or rows of envenomed needle-like teeth, and capable of assuming the shape of a simple human, in which they might choose to once again manifest their True Form, or only a few of their aspects. They have a strange desire for the flesh of the Kindly Ones, and it is this hunger which is, more and more as the years go by and become decades and centuries and millennia, the only thing which propels them onward. The Dragons are few in number, and reproduce slowly, but they are so very hard to kill. Even in apparent death, victory is not assured, for each keeps its heart in a different place, and yet destroying the heart does not, in fact, kill the Dragon to whom it belongs. The heart must be destroyed, and then the Dragon. Or else the bones will join together once again, and the flesh will regrow, and the spark of life will relight its mind so that it can carry on its dread hunt.

Foxgirls (Also Foxlings, Kitsune) They are the reality breakers, shapeshifters which care not for Boundaries or Limits or Rules. They are tricksters, and they have a thousand different forms, and they walk the Earth rewarding and punishing according to the actions done unto them. Or just according to the whim of the moment. They are sociopathic, incapable of truly recognizing others as distinct entities, and they have a pathological need to act out every desire they possess. To show self-restraint is nearly impossible for the Foxlings. Every single one of them is almost entirely unique, not just in personality but in how they display their powers. One might summon up fire spirits to run amok through a building, another might throw balls of flame, and a third might use a wrist-mounted Vulcan-fuel torchgun, caring little for the fact that Vulcan-fuel does not exist, and yet all three will have been using the same basic power. And yet the signature ability of the Kitsune is, as noted previously, their shapeshifting capability, which allows them to become anything from a small twig to a massive SUV, and anything in-between. These creatures care little for the nature of the world, and with every step they break the greatest boundary of all: the boundary between That Which Is and That Which Is Not, the boundary between Reality and Un-Reality.

Imposters (Also Catboi, singular and plural) The catgirls are all female. Not a single one disputes this. The Catboi (a term both singular and plural) are abominations, strange creatures which take the form of male Kindly Ones (were there any males to begin with). They are driven by an all-consuming desire to kill the Kindly Ones, but are cunning enough to resist this for as long as necessary to set elaborate traps and plots in which to ensnare their prey. While certainly not easy to kill, they aren't as difficult as a Dragon, even a heartless one, and yet the threat will never go away. As each one dies, its spirit is reborn once again (this being the only manner in which the race continues to "propagate") and will in time relearn his true nature... and the identities of those who killed him. Nobody knows exactly how many Catboi there are, but popular opinion holds it at a good, round 500.

Machineborn Not quite the twisted messes of machine and flesh one would think they'd be, the Machineborn are the result of an relatively rare and sporadic phenomenon, in which the boundary between Life and Artifice breaks down for a few seconds. Machines and flesh are welded together instinctually by a newly-created pseudospirit, twisting and churning and seeking to form some sort of stable state. When the process does not abort prematurely, it results in the Machineborn: always feminine in appearance (for reasons still unknown, but heavily theorized upon), their flesh is augmented and in many cases replaced by metal, often capable of switching out hands for guns or deploying wheels and often concealing engines of a sort in their chests. And they are always insane, driven mad both by their inherent nature and by the process of their creation.

Planned Supplements

Catgirl: the Furies: Basic rules. Everything you need to play. In addition, two or three sample Catboi, a sample Dragon, five sample Machineborn (including one of the rare not-insane ones), and a collection of foxgirls: three each for one-tailed, two-tailed, and three-tailed, one each for every successive tail, for a total of thirteen sample foxgirls. Possible to play as these guys, but barely. The Far Corners of the World: Ancestry Book Greater detail for the various Ancestries, and five more lesser Ancestries, each with their own affinity Working. Eyes Always Open: Watches Book Details on the major Watches described in the core book, and ten additional Watches. The Threshold: Furies Player's Guide Somewhat of a "Stuff we couldn't put in other books" book, it's got extra merits, more stuff on catgirl society, new Workings, and so on. Antagonist Book: Hardware Basic splats for the Machineborn, expanded from the core book and additional ones included. More aspects for them. Different strains of insanity, and why they manifest in the first place. Why none of them are entirely sane, even the playables ones, and-- perhaps most importantly-- the differences between the Machineborn and the Unfleshed Prometheans. Antagonist Book: Reality Breakers The foxgirls. How they think, how many there are, how they avoid the attentions of the Seers of the Throne and others who would like to keep a lid on-- or harness-- the sheer potentiality and magical force of these maniacal psychobitches. How to best use them, either as PCs or NPCs, and why one or many might team up with a group of catgirls (and, more importantly, why a group of catgirls would team up with them). No splats. Antagonist Book: Devourers More aspects for the Dragons, their ancient history and the grands heights from which they have fallen. How and why a few Dragons may have teamed up, and the different ways a Dragon-focused Chronicle could be carried out, casting them as either the main characters or the antagonists. Likely no splats. Antagonist Book: Killing Deceptions While the Catboi have access to the Workings of the Kindly Ones, they have powers of their own, only a few of which were detailed in the core book. The full extent of these powers is revealed, along with many more sample Catboi, relevant merits, and a few Workings lost to history-- but not to the eternally reincarnating Catboi, who must only remember them. Oh, and tips on playing Catboi for those who want to play as sociopaths. No splats. Cheers!