Kindred of the East

£PIDRED or THI EAST

135 PARK NORTH Bit SUITE 128 CpSTOfi,CA 30021 C3Hi STUDIO

USA

© 1998 White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden, except for the purposes of

reviews, and for :blank character sheets, which may be reproduced for personal use only. White Wolf, Vampire the Masquerade, Vampire the Dark Ages and Mage the Ascension are registered trademarks of White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Werewolf jhe Apocalypse, Wraith the Oblivion, Changeling the Dreaming, Werewolf the Wild West and Kindred of the East are trademarks of White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. All characters, names, places and text herein are copyrighted by White Wolf Publishing, Inc. The mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages is not a challenge to the trademark or copyright concerned. ' This book uses the supernatural for settings, characters and themes. All mystical and supernatural elements are fiction and intended for entertainment pur;p0ses only. Reader discretion is .advised. «? ^•^••;,, ... : :' f ? Check out White Wolf onlin«.s§j ;; jf*, #• , http://www.white-wolf.com, alt.games.whitewolf ahd rec.games.frp.storyteller ^:r.

Original Concept and Design: Robert Hatch •^*~. Additional;jt|esign: Phil Brucato, Jacki Mark! CeiKzyk, Nieky'lKiaAuthors: Justin Achilli, Phil Brucato, Jackie Cassadaj| iCenczyk, Rjphird'E. Dansky, Rdbert Hatch, lari Lemke> ea, Ethan Skemp .«'...;: Developer: Robert Hatch 'Editor: Ed Hall ; ^'" Art Director: Lawrence Snelly Layout and Typesetting: Robjsy Poore Logo Design: Ash Arnett j:"" ', . Front and Back Cover Design: Lawrence Snglly Runchuu Typeface: Ash Arnett and Robby Poore 1 Interior Ar^i Andrew Bates, Tim Bradstreet, Matt Clark, Mike Danza, Guy Davis, Tony Diterlizzi, John Estes, Jasoffi , Darren Fryclendall, Michael Gaydos, Doug Alexander bry, Rebecca Guay, Tony Harris, Leif Jones, Karl Kerchel, Eric Lacombe, Vince Locke, George Prsitt, Robby Poore, Steve Prescott, Andrew Ritchie, Matt Roach, Andrew Robinson, Alex Sheikman, Ray Snyder, Ron Spencer, Jill Thompson, IrfqBssa Uran, John Van Fleet, Karl Waller ' Sook Design: Lawrence Snelly, and Robby Pobre : - CalligirapJiy:-Andy Lee ~~""--

CONTEMTS

PNTRODUCT?ON: BEHIND THE WALL A|H CHAPTER ONE: Hit HUNGRY DEAD CHAPTER Two: THE SECOND BREATH

4 18

46

THREE: THE Tin THOUSAND THJNQS

CHAPTER FOUR: FORCES ?N THE LAND CHAPTER FIVE: ARTS OF THE

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CHAPTER Sjx: THE MIDDLE

CHAPTER SEVEN: SroRyrELMNCf CHAPTER E^QHT: ^VALS AND BARBARIANS

186

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Tflt WftCC leather. With a smirk,

He steps into.

had done a marwlows.j copying everything " and soulless in ike West: \ Prime feeding ^atind.? • , -&•.&?•••#'•.•>* : His mind's eye dancingxvtth samurai flicks, the Ventfue crosses Naka Meguro Street. Tiny people in bright colors make way for the stranger. None poses any threat. Behind this man lies the weight o/ centttriii> tf'Cainite's strength and the power of a clan. AO easy. . .... i. , -. " . «. , ^ e A whistling song cuts through his reverie. And 'KiMi$cl|. ' The pavement leaprup t| jn«et the Cainlte-siffBjfly^e^ecomes a blur of nggrirutfar, street and sky, until a bit of trash brings the From a distance, he heafs his body spasm and falj.,,, ., .'

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A flash. A sizzk behind" 'Mat, The smell of cooking meat. AcrdSffhi streelt, he /feels a hot blade dice him into quarters,: One final sizzle as the heart dies. Five hundred yeifim die with it. " No one notices. •

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"Konnichi-wa, gaijin," .says a young man's veieev ,"5s|j|lcome, to my home.

While living .^.^mbuS Be a dead man, rJ Be thoroughly de0d'— And behave as you Sfe, Arid all's well. I — Zen Master Bunan JiicFor thousands of years, the Kindred have ravaged the World of Darkness. Claiming descent from the First Murderer, Caine, these parasites have riddled Old and New World alike. The Children of Caine influence, subvert and pervert the highest echelons of mortal government, economics and culture. Nothing, they claim, escapes their corrupting touch. They are wrong.

One realm eludes their clutches: the ancient land of Asia. Although Asia offers unthinkable riches and oceans of blood, Kindred who come here do so fearfully. Since the nights of the galleons, Western vampires' attempts to exploit this land have met with dismal and horrific failure.

THE MJDDLE KJNGDOM Westerners have long spoken of Asia's exoticism, of its alien ways and rules. In the World of Darkness, they are correct, more so than they realize. The Asian World of Darkness is

referred to as the Middle Kingdom by its supernatural denizens, and in many ways it is truly a world unto itself. On the surface, the Middle Kingdom resembles the rest of the

World of Darkness. The same ambience of decay and gloom shrouds it, highlighting its most sinister aspects. The major cities are overcrowded hives choked with faceless, impersonal skyscrap-

ers, anonymous hordes of frantic workers, vice tongs, and teeming,

For another sort of vampire rules Asia's nights. These vam- disease-infested slums. In the countryside, rural folk hack a subsispires scorn the myth of Caine — for they are cohorts of spirits and tence living — if that — from trackless jungles and defoliantdemons. Not for them are the indulgences of generation — saturated craters, all the while praying for protection from the respect, power and age are privileges to be earned. Their curse is not monsters and spirits they know exist just out of sight. In the Middle a random, pointless Embrace, but a karmic debt to be repaid. Their Kingdom, it is all too easy to step around the nearest comer or the Beast is not a mindless adversary, but a double-edged weapon/ firiext bend in the road, then simply.. .vanish. And, as the Kindred have learned to their dismay, their Easfern In many areas, dictators grind their subjects to paste under gun counterparts have developed fearful powers and arcane arts. butts and tank treads. Every year, thousands of people simply Kindred of the East is a sourcebook detailing the unique disappear, never to be heard from again. Government "facilities" vampires indigenous to the Orient: their society, their wars,

and political prisons are veritable abattoirs; once interned, no one

their environment, their duties and, above all, their reaction to the Western incursion. Before we address the vampires of the East, however, a few notes about their world are in order.

emerges to tell tales. Ancient families and secret societies manipulate entire economies from behind screens of honor and propriety, while family vendettas from the days of emperors and samurai are

fitwtio THE WAU

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;settled in boardrooms and back alleys alike. Most people are ingrained simply to look the other way, and thus, even legitimate investigations often become fruitless endeavors, punctuated by

noncommittal shrug|nnd blank staresi;

. -/•

Like the Western World of Darkness, the Middle Kingdom is haunted by a variety of supernatural beings, remnants of past Ages

of the world. Vampires prowl the cities and shantytowns, while the jungles and mountains are home to the shapeshifting hengeyokai. Wily sorcerers weave their spells in suspiciously nondescript curio

shops, ghosts avenge unhallowed deaths or guard their mortal families, and faeries curse those who fail to honor the ancient ways. Although often at odds with one other, these beings differ front their Western counterparts, for they see themselves as part of a greater family of spirit beings. Collectively, supernatural beings are

known by many names, but often refer to themselves by the Chinese word "shen." Unlike supernaturals in the West, shen take relatively fewer precautions against discovery. The supernatural here has less need of Masquerades and Veils, for it is unobtrusive enough to mind its manners. Conversely, the Middle Kingdom's mortals, as a rule, have learned to ask fewer questions. Let the Night People walk their road, the amahs say, and they will let you walk

yours — unless joss frowns on you.

THE ypR AHD yAMCf WORLDS Beyond the Middle Kingdom, separated from it by a psychic Wall, He entire worlds of gods, spirits and demons. Those Westerners who are knowledgeable in such matters

speak of the Umbra, the Underworld or the Dreaming. Shen, however, know that they interact with the dualistic Worlds of Yin and Yang. Although invisible to mortal eyes, the Yin and Yang Worlds lie just over the threshold of human consciousness, and sensitive mortals often detect "eerie" aurasjli places where the barriers are weak. ft § g* ,», The Yin World is a gloomy place, the source of passive, negative energy. Many mortals pass into the Yin World when they die, and some, become restless ghosts. Eerie spirits and ^phantoms of all descriptions haunt the Yin World, and its |,central realm is the terrifying Dark Kingdom of Jade. s : By contrast, the Yang World is a patchwork of wild, turbulent realms, the source of active, positive energy. Spirits of nature and the elements dwell there, as do those entities

revered by the shapeshifting hengeyokai. Some mortals, particularly those from Shinto or animist traditions, pass to the IjStag World upon their deaths. Shapeshifters and fae, in

particular, are attuned to the Yang World. ; In the First Age of the world, matter and spirit were one, as was the design of creation's embodiment, the August Personage of Jade. As the Ages passed, though, the Yin and Yang Worlds

separated from the Middle Kingdom. Now, a Wall separates the Middle Kingdom from the spirit worlds, and travel between the two is an arduous, and often hazardous, process. The forces of Yin and Yang find it more and more difficult to turn the Great Cycle of Being, and thus, the Middle Kingdom's essential spiritual

energies grow more and more dissipated. The resulting discord and imbalance can surely be seen in the current state of the Middle Kingdom and in the misery of its deni2ens.

I

I'M

KjNDRED Or THt EAST

THE WHEEL or ACES

rudely cease to acknowledge the Great Cycle itself, mockingly ,

Even the spirits of the Yin and Yang Worlds must conform to the inexorable progression of the cosmos, which most s?ien dub the Wheel of Ages or the Great Cycle. Unlike their Western counterparts, few shen speak of an ultimate beginning or final ending. For them, the universe is a series of Ages revolving endlessly. Much of the Middle Kingdom's sadness is the byproduct of the current Age — the Fifth Age of the Great Cycle, or the Age of Darkness. The ancient sutras spoke of this Age, saying that it would be an anxious and unruly time, when monstrous portents would trouble the people, when the dragons would

renaming the Age "Year Zero"?

A bad time, indeed. But the worst lies ahead. Soon, the shen know, the Wheel will turn yet again, and the world will reach the nadir of the Great Cycle — the Sixth Age, or the Age of Sorrow. All know of the Sixth Age's imminence, even the ignorant devils from the West, though they refer

to it as "Gehenna" or "Apocalypse." During the Sixth Age, the wheels of matter and spirit will cease any semblance of alignment. The August Personage of jade, already estranged from

the Ten Thousand Things of creation, will leave its throne. In the August Personage's

place will rise a Demon Emperor, to reign

supreme over the Sixth Age as the August

shift restlessly in their beds and disharmony would spread across the land. And indeed, the

omens of the Fifth Age are occurring, one by one. Have the Five Directions not been overrun with devils from the West? Did these devils not corrupt the soil with Yellow Winds and trick the people into imbibing poisonous elixirs? Did not the Shadow Dragon breathe plaguefires over Hiroshima, and the Ghost Phoenix blossom into life over Nagasaki days later? And did not the :••••..':-.., K '•::.:.,,

Thousand Scarlet Devils

Personage ruled over the First. An age of war and terror will take hold throughout the Middle

Kingdom and beyond. Heaven will have its revenge against the impious, and ten thousand devils will He" loosed upon the world.

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But just as the Sixth Age is prophesied to come, it is prophesied to pass. The struggle will cease, and there will be a great stillness, and those few

creatures left alive will emerge from hidden

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