P'o Natures
A Kuei-jin's p'o nature is a flaw in the character's personality - characteristics developed since the Kuei-jin's return to the land of living from death brought on by their p'o, a sort of inner demon. The p'o is an almost schizophrenic presence in the Kuei-jin's mind - castigating and criticizing the vampire, coaxing him or her into monstrous acts. Contents
Contents
The Addict
The Addict, like every Kuei-jin, knows the frustrating hunger for Chi and the pleasure of satisfying that hunger. The Addict sees no use in pursuing a dharma, or anything else in fact, only seeing sense in numbing the horror of being a walking corpse and the horrific memories of Yomi. The Addict hungers not only for chi, but for mind-stupefying drugs and alcohol too. As many drugs do not have a so strong effect on the undead, many vampires will try harder and harder with larger and larger amounts to become intoxicated.
Conditions for Takeover: Whenever the vampire is faced with depression, self-disgust, or any other emotional stress. When in Shadow soul, the vampire goes on a binge of feeding and drugs.
Introduced in Sunset Empires
The Artist
The Artist tore themself out of Yomi to finish an incomplete task - the completion of some vision of creativity they didn't complete in life. Nothing else matters to them but that work. It berates the kuei-jin's rational mind for doing any other tasks but that work, whether the task is making progress on their dharma or the pursuit of a mere momentary pleasure.
Conditions for Takeover: The Artist attempts to take over the Kuei-jin when their mind is distracted from the great work or whenever an opportunity to advance the great work arises. When in shadow soul, all the Artist focuses on is that piece of work, and will reject all other commitments greatly severing many of the Kuei-jin's operations.
Introduced in Blood and Silk
The Bandit
While a Kuei-jin may have a specific role to fulfill or a particular reason to have returned from the dead, the Bandit is having none of it. This P'o sees no use in the Great Cycle, which, after all, is far removed from its night-to-night existence. Rather, it ignores the mandates of Heaven and Hell and seeks to drive the Kuei-jin to random acts of self-satisfied destruction. The Bandit's ultimate goal is to bring down the entire Great Cycle, perhaps out of resentment at being ordered back into the lands of the living, but in the meantime any target — and any representative of order - serves as a focus for the P'o's rage.
Conditions for Takeover: The Bandit can force a shadow nature roll whenever anyone seeks to order the Kuei-jin to do anything, or tries to put the character "in his proper place,"
Introduced in Kindred of the East Core Rulebook
The Barbarian
The Barbarian seeks to reject the traditional ways of Kueijin and replace them with the chaotic, undisciplined methods of the Kin-jin. Seeing the relative freedom of Western vampires, it wishes to abandon its heritage and join the Kin-jin in their decadence. The Barbarian mocks the Hun's devotion to duty and respect for tradition, and it takes every opportunity to compare Cathayan and Western ways. Needless to say, in the Barbarian's analysis, Western ways always come out better.
Conditions for Takeover: The Barbarian can force a shadow nature roll whenever adherence to a traditional practice causes the Kuei-jin pain or some other form of discomfort. It may also attempt to manifest whenever the Cathayan comes in contact with a Kin-jin.
Introduced in Kindred of the East Core Rulebook
The Comprador
In the Victorian Age, the Comprador is easily confused with the Barbarian, but this Demon operates for quite different motivations. The Barbarian believes in the superiority of the foreign devils (or at least, that what it pretends). The Comprador simply works for whoever pays; Kin-jin, rival courts, akuma, shapeshifter... anyone.
It abandons Dharma and the Mandates of Heaven and Hell to seek its own profit in jade, mortal coin or other sorts of wealth and power. The Comprador asks the Hun: “Why strive for a distant, elusive and probably mythical enlightenment? Get what you can, while you have the chance!” Beyond mere wealth, such a Demon tempts the character with the prospect of rising above her station. All she has to do is renounce virtue and tradition and sell out. A Cathayan afflicted with a Comprador may revive from shadow soul to discover she’s made deals and commitments with the most appalling people… who still expect the Kuei-jin to keep her side of the bargain.
Conditions for Takeover: The Comprador can force a shadow nature roll whenever the character feels particularly unappreciated or unrewarded for his efforts, or in the face of great opportunities for profit (if the character will only betray his ideals and allies). The Comprador may also rouse when following one’s Dharma seems particularly arduous or confusing.
The Deceiver
The Deceiver has no use for the truth, good, bad or indifferent. It practices lying for the sake of lying — telling the Hun what it wants to hear one minute, then driving it to the brink of madness with patent falsehood the next. While this behavior may seem erratic, the P'o does have an underlying goal. It seeks nothing less than to render the Kuei-j in unable to trust himself. The more times the Deceiver gets the Hun to believe its lies — and the more times it tells the truth and is ignored — the less the Hun can trust its own judgment. If the P'o has its way, eventually the Hun's will is wrecked, and the vampire finds himself incapable of making a move or any decision without the loving advice of the Deceiver.
Conditions for Takeover: The Deceiver can force a shadow nature roll whenever a lie would serve as more advantageous to the Kuei-jin than the truth would. However the Deceiver picks its spots carefully, usually trying to take over only after the Hun has tried — and failed — to handle several similar situations on its own.
Introduced in Kindred of the East Core Rulebook
The Demon
The Demon seeks to devour all. Anything weaker than the Kuei-jin is prey, and anydiing stronger is power that can be subsumed through treachery. While the Demon may pay lip service to duty, friendship and honor, it is devoted to personal power and nothing else. Western eyes might see the Demon as sociopathic, but it has no concern for the opinions of others. To the Demon, all that it sees exists for its amusement, for it to destroy and devour at its whim. Other souls matter only in terms of how they relate to the Demon — and how quickly the Demon can devour them.
Conditions for Takeover: The Demon can force a shadow nature roll when it sees an opportunity to make itself stronger through the destruction of another. Whether that involves devouring a weaker Kuei-jin or striking down a more powerful one through treachery is irrelevant; it is the chance for advantage that matters.
Introduced in Kindred of the East Core Rulebook
The Dog-cooker
Hinduism sets great store on its taboos of ritualpurity, and just about the worst, most defiling thing a person can do is eat dog meat. The Dog-Cooker P’o loathes the effort that purity and caste require, and wallows in every sort of self-degradation. It seeks defilement because it is forbidden, and revels in the lawful joy of shameless abandon. Feeding from improper sources, whoring or whoring oneself, smearing oneself with filth… a chih-mei is a model of restraint compared to a Dog-Cooker.
Conditions for Takeover: The Dog-Cooker can force a shadow nature roll when duties, desires and Dharma conflict, or the Hun suffers shame or loss of face. The Dog-Cooker strives to do whatever will shock the sensibilities of the Hun or the people close to him.
Introduced in Sunset Empires
The Echo
The Echo escaped from Yomi just like any other Kuei-jin. But unlike others, it doesn't feel worthy to have gained a release denied to so many others. The Echo Kuei-jin retains a strong link to whatever hell used to hold it, it's goal being to break the Kuei-jin's soul and lure it back to hell, and it's weapon is the voices of those unescaped from Yomi still suffering, using their tortured words to torment the vampire.
Conditions for Takeover: The Echo triggers Shadow soul whenever the Kuei-jin is confronted with eviudence of loss and death - graveyards and cenotaphs are bad places for these vampires to be. When in Shadow soul, the vampire focuses obsessively on the suffering in Yomi and the unearned release he or she, and other Kuei-jin, enjoy, in hopes of shaming, scaring or depressing himself and his peers into a return to Yomi.
Introduced in Blood and Silk
The Eunuch
The Eunuch found confirmation in Yomi that all endeavor is futile, everything that it may make up may end up as fodder for demons. Even after it's escape, it retains a sense of moral, intellectual and spiritual impotence - despair turned to the conviction that it should not create anything new. The Eunuch refuses to take up any enterprises eyond the basics of survival, instead devoting itself to appropriating the work of others for it's own ends.
Conditions for Takeover: The Eunuch can force it's Kuei-jin into shadow soul whenever they are faced with opportunities to lead others or when others are acutely dependent on him or her. When in shadow soul, the Kuei-jin abandons any original projects of their own and tries to become overseer, steward or director of other's efforts.
Introduced in Blood and Silk
The Fool
A Hun afflicted with a Fool is in for a frustrating unlife>as its P'o begs for explanations of even the simplest or most self-evident action. Furthermore, the Fool is incapable of long-term or pre-planned action, and sees no virtue in either. As such, it works as hard as it can (it does get distracted easily) to get the Kuei-jin to take the easy, simple way, and to avoid unnecessary (read: any) complications. A Fool P'o is never silent, and its incessant prattling can drive even the most self-controlled Hun to distraction.
Conditions for Takeover: The Fool can force a shadow nature roll whenever the Hun finds itself at a loss for words or actions. Whenever the Kuei-jin becomes confused, the Fool is always ready, able and willing to make the situation worse.
Introduced in Kindred of the East Core Rulebook
The Legalist
The Legalist P'o has no tolerance for deviation from the celestially ordained order of things. There is no room for interpretation or improvisation in this P'o's world; everything has a specific role to play, from which it cannot deviate. Any action the Kuei-jin takes that contradicts this divine order — whether speaking familiarly to one higher in rank or taking insubordination from an inferior — causes the Legalist to fly into a rage until the "insult" has been set aright. Of course, only the P'o can decide what constitutes appropriate atonement, either by the Kuei-jin or another. As such, a particularly sadistic;, Legalist P'o can keep its other half jumping through very formal hoops for days (or even longer).
Conditions for Takeover: A Legalist P'o may force a shadow nature roll any time the Cathayan is shown disrespect by an inferior, with die P'o being the one to define what exactly constitutes an "inferior." Conversely, the P'o can also attempt to take over if the Kuei-jin herself is disrespectful or oversteps her bounds.
Introduced in Kindred of the East Core Rulebook
The Monkey
While the Kuei-jin may have returned to the Middle Kingdom for a reason, the Monkey doesn't much care. It is a creature of the moment, its each new pleasure or distraction being the most important thing in its world. The Monkey is capable of concocting elaborate plans to achieve small or momentary goals, but it is in no way concerned with any overarching mission that the Kuei-jin might have. Indeed, the Monkey seeks, at every turn, to waylay the Cathayan from her appointed goal, to divert all of the vampire's attention and energy to lesser, transitory things.
Conditions for Takeover: The Monkey can force a shadow nature roll if it sees a diversion that may distract the Kuei-j in from her appointed goal — hut only if that diversion is something that the Hun would normally be interested in pursuing in any case.
Introduced in Kindred of the East Core Rulebook
The Samurai
The name is Japanese, but any Cathayan can suffer from a Samurai Demon. The Samurai obsesses on respect and glory. Any hint of shame or disrespect whips the Samurai into murderous rage. It demands the Hun seek satisfaction for insults, and it sees insults everywhere. Unlike the Legalist, which it resembles at times, the Samurai does not actually care for decorum and procedure, only that others bow and scrape and flatter it.
Conditions for Takeover: The Samurai can force a shadow nature roll when the character suffers embarrassment or humiliation; or conversely, when the character receives great praise.
Introduced in Sunset Empires
The Slave
The Slave has no trust for the Kuei-jin's judgment, which it seeks to undermine at every turn. Whenever possible, the Slave does its best to place the Kuei-jin under the control of another. This course is for the best, obviously, as the Slave knows that the Kuei-jin is incapable of doing anything properly himself. Therefore, it questions every decision the Hun makes and seizes every opportunity to force the Kuei-jin to submit. Not surprisingly, once the P'o succeeds in enthralling the Hun, the Slave immediately starts to bemoan its fate and urges the Hun to escape, to seek another "master" to guide it through existence. Ultimately, the Slave seeks to serve the Yama Kings, and Cathayans with a strong Slave Archetype often become akuma.
Conditions for Takeover: Ironic as it may seem, the Slave can force a shadow nature roll whenever the Kuei-jin is in the presence of someone who appears older, stronger or wiser. The Slave may also make attempt to take over whenever one of the Hun's decisions goes disastrously wrong.
Introduced in Kindred of the East Core Rulebook
The Vitalist
The Vitalist wants one thing - their mortal life. The vampire can't quite get to it though. Even extreme Yang imbalance only makes her something that's merely lifelike in some regards. The Vitalist strives to get as close to being a mortal as they can. It may cause the Kuei-jin to seek whatever life, aspire to be greater than their mortal life by finding a new place in mortal society or a greater place than the one they once had.
Conditions for Takeover: The Vitalist reaches for control when faced with a situation that reminds the Kuei-jin of his or her mortal life, particularly a situation that allows her to pursue a goal from her mortal life. When the Vitalist is in shadow soul, they turn away from everything in Kuei-jin in an effort to re-enter the mortal world.
Introduced in Blood and Silk
The Warrior
Conditions for Takeover:
Introduced in Blood and Silk
