Rhakshasa

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Rakshasas (pronounced: /rɑːkˈʃɑːsɑːz/ rak-SHA-saz) are a dignified race of duplicitous Outsiders that mostly dwelt on the Material Plane. They are reviled as devious sorcerers, political puppeteers and thought to be an embodiment of evil.

Description

The true form of a rakshasa was almost never seen due to their ability to assume almost any humanoid figure, but their lavish taste ensured they were almost always wearing the finest garments and most precious jewelry. Their true forms were most commonly humanoids with the heads of Bengal tigers and luxurious fur to match their attire, although it was not unusual for them to possess the heads and features of carnivorous apes, crocodiles or mantises, with high ranking rakshasas being rumored to have multiple heads. The eyes of a rakshasa can range from gold and black slits for felines to protruding, multifaceted spheres for insects but always contained a fiendish glimmer of disturbing, infernal intellect. However, their most unnerving and unique feature was their reversed hands. The palms of a rakshasa faced out from the body when the arms were at rest and the finger joints bent backwards to grasp and manipulate objects. Rakshasas stand 6‒7 ft (1.8‒2.1 m) tall, with those of lower rank being shorter. Their build was typical for a human of their size and they weighed between 250‒350 lb (110‒160 kg).

Personality

Unsettling others with their eerily structured hands demonstrated a mere fraction of a rakshasas true maliciousness, as their wickedness rivaled that of devils and their avarice surpassed them. Their animalistic appearance disguised a sophisticated personality with an unstoppable lust for influence and material wealth. They combined the habits of a predatory aristocrat with those of an indolent cat, savoring the finest art, music, literature, clothing, weapons and armor while spending large amounts of time lazily resting in their comforts and prowling unseen. Powerful magic, lost spells, arcane tomes and secret lore, particularly those of the evil variety, were of special interest to the born sorcerers. Slaves were collected the same as any other form of art, and were expected to indulge every whim of their cruel master. This served to bolster the already overinflated ego of the rakshasa, a haughtiness they displayed to all who knew their true identity. Rakshasas used their transformative abilities to appear as nobles, cardinals, merchant princes, crime lords and other beings rich in power. They used their natural charisma to form vast arrays of minions, lackeys, servitors and henchmen, and despite their pride were masters of deceit. Rakshasas disguised themselves not only their forms but their very involvement in events, pulling political strings, creating vast intrigues and instigating government corruption to secure their safety. Their innate cleverness was enhanced by their supernatural abilities and yet countered by their strange sense of honor, as like devils they would hold to the letter of an agreement while ignoring the spirit to double-cross their supposed allies.

Mental Magic

Dread Presence: The Rhakshasa exudes a deeply unsettling aura that reaches out to all those within their presence.

Face of the Beast: With a glance, one of the victim’s fears is magnified to the point of pure terror. The victim gains the Frightened Condition.

The Grand Delusion: The victim’s mind is twisted and perverted in ways invisible to the naked eye, instilling beliefs into them as false as they are frightening. The victim gains the Delusional Condition.

Waking Nightmare: The Rhakshasa inflicts upon their victim or victims a miserable hallucination, a touch of the kind all vampires suffer in torpor.

Mortal Terror: The Rhakshasa imbues their Nightmares with the sort of terror that haunts all beings through their sleep and torpor.

Shapeshifting Magic

The Living Stone The ability to turn into wood or stone of equivalent mass as the Rhakshasa.

Shape of Man/Woman The ability to shapeshift into a human.

Form of the Cherub The ability to shrink to less than half the mass, or twice the mass.

Doppleganger The Ability to look and act like a specific person.

Rakshasas - Scion Material

(reprinted verbatim)

From Ravana, the horrific, shapeshifting near-humans known as rakshasa are born. Their blood is mixed with the faintest corruption of Vritra—a sort of anti-ichor running through their veins. They each have the all-consuming thirst of Vritra calling out to them from deep within, and the Ravana’s aggression makes them the consummate warriors.

They each carry the Sukhese template (see the sidebar on p. 196). While they can shapeshift into anything vaguely human, changing their appearance almost at will or adapting animal characteristics, there are certain clues that give them away—especially to their adversaries.

They are driven mad by ichor (divine blood). After being in its presence for less than a minute, they must tear through whatever stands in their way (usually a Scion’s flesh) to get it and drink from it. Rakshasas also have very dry skin. Usually they wear thick clothing to obscure their faces and arms as much as possible to better blend in. Finally, they breathe deeper than normal, wheezing because inside they are nearly completely devoid of liquid. They typically take on aspects of tigers, viewing them as animals of great power.

Rakshasas carry the stats of whatever animal they choose. They are fickle creatures, and often change shape multiple times in a battle in order to confuse and delude their enemies. Their natural form is virtually unknown, as no two rakshasa are even seen alike. But a common form of these creatures is that of a giant with a tiger’s head. Whatever their form, the rakshasa are fierce creatures of Legend. When creating these titanspawn as adversaries, use any of the non- aquatic animal templates found in Scion: Hero pp. 328-332, and then add the Sukhese template and the following stats:

Attributes: Strength +1, Dexterity +2, Manipulation +2, Appearance +1, Intelligence -2, Wits -1

Abilities: Animal Ken +2, Athletics +1, Brawl +2, Fortitude (pair with Stamina & treat as a mundane version of Fortitude) +2, Melee +2, Stealth +2, Thrown +1

Dark Virtues: Ambition 4, Malice 4, Rapacity 2, Zealotry 2 (Dark Virtues can be found at the bottom of the Avatar: The Godhead page.)

Supernatural Powers

(Epic Attributes are pretty much self-explanatory}

Epic Attributes: Epic Strength +2 (Holy Bound, Knockback Attack), Epic Dexterity +2 (Cat’s Grace, Untouchable Opponent), Epic Stamina +1 (Self-Healing), Epic Appearance +1 (Dreadful Mien)

(Boons are Powers that must be activated usually with divine energy called Legend, sometimes the power doesn't consume the energy and it can be reclaimed by the entity that cast it.)

Boons: Warrior Ideal, Battle Cry, Heavenly Flare, Shaping, Unquiet Corpse, Flare Missile, Summon Ghost, Hornet’s Nest, Fire Immunity

Cannibalize: By eating the flesh of a Scion, the rakshasa drains the ichor from the Scion’s veins, gorging it into his unholy self. For every level of lethal damage dealt to a Scion through their bite, the Scion loses two Legend points while the rakshasa gains one. The rakshasa will continue to drain the ichor from the Scion’s body until none remains. While in the biting stage, however, the rakshasa has -2 to its DV (defensive value), because it is distracted by the engorging.

Shapeshift: A rakshasa may take the form of any creature of equal or lesser Legend. Generally, though, it prefers to take nemean forms of common animals, or even simply the animal form with a Sukhese appearance. Shapeshifting in battle is a Speed 6 action and requires an expenditure of two Legend points.

Join Battle: Varies (Joint Battle is Initiative)

Attacks: Varies, but one common attack, whatever the form.

Bite: Accuracy 12, Damage 10L, Parry-, Speed 5

Soak: Varies, but carries the +4B/+2L/+2A from the Sukhese template

Health Level: -0 -0 -0 -0 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -2 -2 -2 -2 -4 -4 -4 Inc.

Dodge DV:

Willpower: 8

Legend: 5 (A permanent rating of how divine of demonic the creature measures. A rating of 5 is in the demi-god range.)

Legend Points: 25 (A temporary pool of divine energy spent to activate boons or boost attributes.)

Trophy: A rakshasa’s corpse carries the effects of the Sukhese template above. If a Scion chooses to investigate its body, he may attempt a roll to discover amrita (a physical manifestation of divine essence - usually, but not always liquid) within its corpse. There is rarely any amrita above 3 dots in the veins of the rakshasa, but some lower level amrita can be found, especially in older rakshasa or ones deep in a mission from Ravana.

Sukhese Template

All creatures that were unfortunate enough to find their way into Vritra’s parched mouth that have not yet had the life drained from them possess this template. Creatures with this template are near death by a magical form of dehydration. Their skin is pulled tight across their bones, their muscles hardened and stiff and their will is as strong as their thirst.

Each creature with this template gains an additional soak (4B/2L/2A) versus all types of damage, as the tissues surrounding each wound have been without water for long enough to dull the pain of any incoming strike. The blood of these creatures, now mixing with the dark sludge that is Vritra’s blood, flows less freely and is at a near crawl, allowing them to take considerable damage without noticing. Creature with the Sukhese template convert two -2 health levels into -1 health levels, as well as one -4 level into a -2 level.

When wounded, creatures with this template emit a foul smelling dust that magically sucks all moisture from the vicinity. Well-watered plants wither, puddles evaporate, and even the most torrential rain is interrupted. The ichor that flows within Scions is more resilient, but is slowed as well, causing each character within ten feet of an open wound to suffer a -3 Dexterity penalty for as long as they are within the space. If they manage to bring themselves outside of this manifestation of thirst, the effect lasts for 2 turns until the ichor no longer feels the horrific pull of Vritra’s blood.

Suhkese creatures are especially susceptible to Boons from the Water purview, for water to them has become a nearly unrecognizable element. Water-related boons, effects and the like gain an additional bonus to their dice pool equal to the number of dots of their power. For example, a three dot Water Boon gains three extra dice to its roll, as does a four dot Creature who uses a water-based attack on the Sukhese titanspawn. However, creatures using Sun or Fire Boons against the Sukhese suffer the opposite effect, losing dice from their pool equal to that particular power’s number of dots. Both the sun and fire work aggressively to feed Vritra’s droughts, and using these powers against the Sukhese creatures is practically moot.

The Sukhese react against amrita as titanspawn, albeit in a more subdued manner. Instead of the lethal damage per dot per cup, the damage to Sukhese titanspawn is merely one bashing level per cup, regardless of potency. However, this does not stop the Sukhese from obtaining and hording the divine liquid. Part of Vritra’s mission is to collect all the amrita for himself and destroy it, removing divinity from the Gods. Therefore, his followers actively seek out amrita for their Titan, hoping to satiate his thirst for the liquid. Chances are, wherever amrita exists, a Sukhese titanspawn is likely nearby.

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