Editing Religions (section)

=Empty Masters, Hollow Men, undead=

Empty Mastery is a disreputable mystic philosophy that has slowly spread through both cities, despite being repressed in both as well. It is fashionable -- and scandalous -- for the rich to hold blindfold parties. They invite the Empty Masters as guests to these affairs; these are half-mad mystics who it is said plucked out their own eyes "to see better" in blindness.

The Empty Masters display uncanny powers -- though blind, they know colors by touch, hear the vibrational pitch of glass well enough to shatter by voice, and can cast a thousand reflections and as many shadows, or none at all, on their whims. Some students seek to learn from them, but only achieve the most petty of enlightenments because of their unwillingness to accept true sightlessness. Only when the blindfolded student is willing to seek the quiet tombs where the true Empty Masters wait blind and undead, will they give up their eyes for the empty powers of sightlessness.

-- by Kakita Kojiro

In trading away their eyes and eyesight, they gain another sense -- an alien sense, maybe one shared only by the undead. In groping around with this new, unsense, they find... things. Weird powers, essences that infect them. One might find his senses scrambled, another might find she casts thousands of reflections (after someone tells her, of course). All of these abilities have in common their ability to foil one of the other four types of magic.

Maybe after they've accidentally or unfortunately acquired enough of these weird abilities, the blind mystics become the blind and undead liches, lurking in abandoned mausoleums, peering beyond light and darkness with their alien sense, waiting for the next unwitting pupil to come along.

Almost all of these blind madmen develop some sense that seems to compensate for sight -- one can feel objects at a distance, another can touch things and know their color, yet another simply knows where everything in the room is located. All these senses might be oddly hampered, but all confer immunity to magics of reflection, transparency, opacity, or color.

Eventually their other senses will be affected; synesthesia is only the beginning. Eventually they can endure almost any sensation -- by the time they're undead, chopping parts of them off doesn't feel like pain, it just smells like oregano or turpentine. (conversely, some very odd things feel like pain -- what smells like garlic to normal humans may feel like a migrane to a vampire)

Quite a few lose their reflections altogether (and shadow). It is said that all vampires suffer this; maybe that's even true.

Some might be able to step into mirrors as though into any other room or hallway. In fact, they might think they are rooms or hallways.

Some might walk through transparent objects as if they did not exist. Try to stab one of these blind madmen with your glass dagger? Nothing happens.

Some splinter off mirror wraiths with every strong emotion they feel -- but these things are trapped within them. They soon cast thousands of reflections: all are emotions vying for expression.

Some can touch the reflection or shadow of another. Perhaps they can injure it. Perhaps they can take it. Eventually (when they are undead), they'll eat them, and maybe your soul along with them.

Some can exorcise colors from objects and creatures, as though they were casting out possessing spirits. Often they will do this to enlighten someone -- they will cast out the color of that person's eyes, leaving them oddly hued, but blind. (the faithful of Diaphane once sought this out, seeking transparency, but found themselves blind, and soon dead as sunlight cooked them from whithin while passing through their transparent innards)

Some just know when someone is looking at them. Eventually, they'll also know who is looking at them. And from where. And maybe, why.

Some of them are not where you see them -- their image seems to wander around on its own (although it stays within voiceshot, most of the time). If they've still got a reflection (or shadow), that goes walkabout, too (and sometimes goes really far afield). Even the blind mystic isn't really sure how much he controls his image, or reflection, although he can usually "sense" where they are and can sense from the place where they are, too.

Some can do things to the sight of those who can see them -- make them see auras, halos, shimmering lights or reflections or absences of perception. They can make it so that you cannot see them at all (not invisibility, which is only perfect transparency; you cannot see them). They can make it so that you cannot see anything but them -- they capture your gaze and hold it, until something blocks your sight.

-- by Kakita Kojiro

==The Hollow Men==

The Hollow Men were a cult of blind mystics in the era of the First Shattering. They learned from the ur-vampires lairing in the ancient ruins of the Thousand Flowing Waters, and developed their nihilistic teachings of willful blindness. The original cult was destroyed in the First Great Crusade, and when its surviving remnants flourished again, they were destroyed by the Second Great Crusade. Their benighted teachings continue to resurface under many guises – its current incarnation is the Empty Masters, who are popular gurus among the young and jaded of the cities.

Hollow Men willfully tear out their eyes, losing their visual perception in return for being able to devour perceptions. Each one develops unique and idiosyncratic powers of his or her own. However this is a path that leads only toward union with the consuming void. The more powerful they become, the less human they are, and as they become one with the hungry void they leave life behind for unlife.

Once cut off from sight and the basis of the other four magics, Hollow Men begin to discover strange powers. Each is idiosyncratic and unique to the individual, although there are some commonalities.

All of them develop some unnatural sense that seems to compensate for sight (Dark Vision), each unique: one might feel things at a distance (Colorblindness), another might be extremely aware of every person nearby (Supersensitive), another might simply know where everything that they are facing is positioned (Restricted Vision).

All of them eventually find their other senses affected. Their senses become scrambled, like synesthesia (Protected Senses), so that what others experience as one sense they might perceive using another. Their sense of pain and pleasure are also scrambled, so that they seem unaffected by injuries (High Pain Threshold), or cannot endure specific substances (Weakness).

Skills (for Hollow Men): Meditation, Occultism, Philosophy

Advantages: Dark Vision (25 pts), High Pain Threshold (10 pts), Injury Tolerance - no eyes (5 pts)

Disadvantages: Enemies (Silent Brotherhood, -20 pts), Nightmares (-5 pts), Weakness (1d per minute, rare, -10 pts)

Suggested: Colorblindness (-10 pts), Restricted Vision (-15 pts), Supersensitive (-15 pts), Uncontrollable Appetite (shadows or reflections, -15 pts), Social Stigma (-5 pts)

Example Powers: 
- ''Eat Reflection'': Affliction (No Reflection disadvantage, permanent, melee attack, 23 pts)
- ''Eat Shadow'': Affliction (No Shadow disadvantage, permanent, melee attack, 23 pts)
- ''Eat Color'': Affliction (Pallor disadvantage, permanent, melee attack, 23 pts)
- ''Black Aura'': Distinctive Features (black aura, -1 pt)
- ''No Reflection'': Supernatural Feature (also unaffected by some reflective spells, -5 pts)
- ''No Shadow'': Supernatural Feature (also unaffected by some shadow spells, -5 pts)
- ''Sense the Sighted'': Detect Sense of Sight (30 pts)

-- by Kakita Kojiro

==Vampires ==

Vampires are created from unfortunate victims who have lost their sight unnaturally. It is not known why some people are susceptible to vampirism from unnatural blindness, while others are unaffected after being blinded. They do not develop as many odd powers as the Hollow Men, and their unnatural hungers are not as controlled. Children born blind never succumb to vampirism.

Vampires develop in the same manner as the Hollow Men, albeit unwittingly and unwillingly.

-- by Kakita Kojiro

==Ur-vampire==

If a vampire or Hollow Man survives long enough, they eventually become undead. Their deadened sense to pain becomes so extreme that they are almost impossible to harm. Their unnatural vitality develops until they are almost impossible to slay. By this point they are usually so twisted by their unnatural existence that they flee from human society. Many of the existent undead lair in the ruins of the Thousand Flowing Waters. The oldest of the undead – the ur-vampires – are the only known survivors of the time before the Great Darkness, and have all long since succumbed to madness.

Undead may be permanently slain by driving silver spikes through their eyesockets. Even if the silver spikes are later removed, they will never return to unlife.

Advantages: Dark Vision (25 pts), Supernatural Durability (150 pts), Injury Tolerance - no eyes (5 pts), Injury Tolerance - unliving (20 pts), Unkillable (rare achilles’ heel, 40 pts)

Disadvantages: Callous (-5 pts), Enemies (Silent Brotherhood, -30 pts), Hidebound (-5 pts), Supersensitive (-15 pts)

Example Powers: 
- ''Walk Through Transparent Things'': Permeation (vs. transparent, can carry objects unencumbered, 11 pts)
- ''Walk Into Mirrors'': Jumper (limited jump only into spirit-world, accessibility only through reflections, 50 pts)
- ''Don’t Look At Me'': Invisibility (can carry objects unencumbered, extended vs. See Invisible, usually on, 50 pts)
- ''Look At Only Me'': Mind Control (sense based vision, accessibility only “look at me”, 35 pts)
- ''Distort Sight'': Affliction (Bad Sight disadvantage, area effect 8 yd, emanation, persistent, permanent, 45 pts)

-- by Kakita Kojiro

==Bite-Me-Not, Antidakoma==

Antidakoma – also known as Bite-Me-Not – is a small, red flower that grows in the marshes of the Thousand Flowing Waters. It has the unique property of being utterly offensive to any vampire – including other undead and Empty Masters or Hollow Men. If fresh, it affects their Weakness (at 1d per minute). Its effects are lessened if withered (1d per 5 minutes) or dried and preserved (1d per 30 minutes). The Silent Brotherhood has attempted to cultivate Bite-Me-Not for generations, but the flowers will only grow in the unique environment of the Thousand Flowing Waters, and sparsely even then, and always and only around certain ruins of the ancients.

-- by Kakita Kojiro