Life-Force...
- …is what powers all supernatural powers. All sentient, physical beings produce Life-Force. Different species produce different colors of Life-Force and cause powers to operate in slightly different ways.
- …suffers stress and damage referred to as “corruption”. It has nothing to do with moral or ethical corruption.
- Corruption mostly shows up as blistering, nose bleeds and bruises, but can produce more esoteric symptoms such as flaring Vitae, Mana paralysis or a feeling of being empty when Chi is corrupted.
- Corruption is mostly self-inflicted. Happening when someone strains their abilities. Attacks on Life-Force are more likely to be subtle curses rather than corruption.
Gods and Demons…
- …do not suffer from naturally worsening injuries. Unless a curse is involved, if it didn’t kill them outright, they will recover.
- …are evolved to be easy to contact telepathically. Even an untrained person can get in their minds accidentally in certain states of mind, like heavy day-dreaming.
- ...can be drawn on by a trained magus to supply the “how” for a spell. The magus supplies the actual power.
- The “Conjuration Aspects” Gods and Demons have represent the title that spells use to call on them.
- Most only have one Conjuration and it usually implies something about the Immortal’s personality.
- …have facial marks of the color of their Life-Force. Make-up and Illusions cannot cover these for long.
- …are shapeshifters to the point that their true form is the form they consider to be true.
- Most find one form and stick to it and aren’t skilled enough to shapechange on the fly.
- …are typically either a citizen of Yomi or Nirvana
- …typically reincarnate every 400 to 600 years in order to reconnect with mortals and clear away an accumulation of subconscious mental clutter that accumulates over time due to one of their base Talents.
- …have a Domain (Gods) or Realm (Demon).
- These are thought exercises to help them focus their psychic abilities to produce a variety of seemingly reality bending abilities. They can do things outside their specialty, but usually find it easier to use Magic or Channeling for stuff very far past their specialty.
- Most Gods and Demons are simple civilians that are only capable of parlor tricks but most of the characters here are trained for intelligence, battle or other crisis situations and thus capable of more traditionally god-like feats.
Gods…
- …have blue Life-Force called Mana.
- Mana is very stable and hard to disrupt.
- Mana operates in outwardly abstract manners making it hard for onlookers to predict.
- Mana is unfortunately slow to build up and shape.
- …teleport by forming a passage between two related phenomena. The phenomenon is different for each God. This is called medium travel and operates similarly to the way characters in Oh My Goddess travel.
- It is the quietest, hardest to notice form of teleportation. Barring mediums like “Thunder”.
- …have Domain Aspects stating them as “God(ess) of X Phenomenon”.
- Most Domains tend to be esoteric terms. There are exceptions.
- When stretching to do effects outside their Domain, Gods have an easier time when things have a close metaphoric relationship to their Domain. It is easier for a God of the Sun to produce a feeling of hope than to produce a laser.
Demons…
- …have red Life-Force called Vitae.
- Vitae can be put to use very rapidly.
- Vitae is very powerful and excellent for brute force use.
- Vitae is wild and hard to control. Clumsy use produces pointlessly spectacular visual displays.
- …teleport by breaching a dimensional barrier, bouncing off of another one and then returning to the original shard in another physical place. This is called dimensional bursting and operates similar to Nightcrawler’s teleportation.
- It is the most tactically useful form of teleportation.
- …have Realm Aspects stating them as “Demon(ess) of X Phenomenon”.
- Most Realms tend to be physical things. There are exceptions.
- When stretching to do effects outside their Realm they have an easier time stretching across physical phenomena rather than metaphoric ones. It is easier for a Demon of Ice to create snow than to cool emotions.
Humans…
- ...have a green Life-Force called Chi.
- It is very efficient and there is almost no wasted energy.
- It is adaptable and can redirected after being disrupted to another effect.
- It is weak and difficult to build up to high power.
- …like most mortals, their mindscape is primarily for self-defense and a virtual minefield.
- Mortal mindscapes are triggered when a telepath pushes too quickly and clumsily into a mind.
Half-Demons and Demi-Gods…
- …primarily act as their non-Immortal parent’s race but can use Vitae or Mana in addition to their normal Life-Force.
- The child of a Demon and a God will be primarily one or the other but will still be a Half-Demon God or Demi-God Demon. For example, Urd Jotundottir's mother is Lilith and her father is Vishnu. She is a God who is Half-Demon.
- …are the only mortals with a 100% success rate of “ascending” to being a God or Demon. The process harmlessly fails for the vast majority of other mortals because some part of their mind or soul rejects it.
- Half-Demons and Demi-Gods that ascend retain their heritage after ascending. So Scylla, who is in line to be a Goddess, will remain Half-Demon when she ascends. Likewise, Jun, in line to be a Demon, will remain a Demi-God when he ascends.
Nirvanites and Yomians…
- …are telepathically linked to all other members of their nation unless they defect to the other.
- …can enter the communal mindscape of their nation to find and converse with any other member of that nation that they can find and catch the attention of.
- Note: This sounds like an easy way to find Amaterasu but part of the problem is that something has Amaterasu telepathically isolated from the rest of Nirvana. No one is sure whether it is an injury or a deliberate blocking curse.
- …are connected to the Compact enforcing the truce. If a Nirvanite dies a “random” Yomian dies and vice versa. They typically fight each other to neutralize (Sealed in a Bottle) rather than kill as a result.
Nirvanite Gods and Demons…
- …are the source of White Magic.
- …are ruled by Vishnu, the God of Wisdom. He set laws in place to prevent Nirvanites from abusing mortals.
- …have a society focused on duty and service to one’s House. This is expected to cut both ways, a leader has a duty to the house just like the subordinates do.
Yomian Demons and Gods…
- …are the source of Black Magic.
- …are “ruled” by Lilith, the Demoness of Power. She set laws in place to prevent Yomians from abusing mortals.
- …have a society focused on individualism and trust. For example, Lilith rules because many Demons trust her and many more trust the Demons that trust her.
Talents…
- …are inborn psychic abilities. The stuff relating to Gods and Demons is based on how their cultures have honed their inborn Talents for an untold amount of time.
- Nyx in addition to the Talents all Gods have is a Death-Seer, explained on her sheet.
- Scylla is capable of shapeshifting despite not being a Goddess yet due to descent from a gorgon bloodline.
- Shin can walk on walls.
- Himiko Jingu is a master of illusions.
Sorcery…
- …is a learned psychic ability to use one’s own Life-Force to do things. It is split into shaping and channeling.
- Channeling is primarily a sorcerous martial art. It can be used to produce attacks, protective auras and enhance one’s body.
- It cannot reproduce fire, ice, lightning or other such effect. That’s for Talents.
- Protective auras are generally specialized for specific attacks and can be either momentary blocks or persistent fields. They can only shape one aura at a time.
- A body can be enhanced in multiple ways but each additional active enhancement is more difficult to produce.
- Most supernatural warriors are trained in channeling.
- Shaping is ritualistic effects and can reproduce almost anything but it takes a fair amount of time.
- Most healers learn shaping to remove curses and treat corruption.
- Investigators and spies with psychic training also frequently pick up some shaping.
High Magic…
- ...works by telepathically contacting either Nirvana or Yomi and accessing the instincts to use their powers.
- Casting spells involves a price.
- Casting White Magic (contacting a God or Demon from Nirvana) grants the source of the spell your surface thoughts and perceptions for the duration of the spell as a knowledge.
- Casting Black Magic (contacting a Demon or God from Yomi) causes you to owe the source of the spell a “favor” proportional to the power of the spell. The favor is telepathic command that can be triggered later.
Healing…
- …supernatural healing works best to treat supernatural injuries such as corruption or curses. Characters who have capabilities to do instant physical healing have stunts to represent that.
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