Sutra Stories

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-11-13 03:38:08

I guess I post stuff about the game here.

Here's everything I've written so far. Right now I'm trying to flesh out the Offices (Chapter 1), and I'm stuck at Spaces. The gods of Spaces are in charge of the stars, fate, meteors, gravity, space, the firmament, black holes, meteors, that sort of thing.

What I need is a hook.

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-11-13 10:20:39

I think I have a good hook.

If the sun is literally the great Yang, and the moon is the great Yin, then the stars are a little of both, burning cold and bright. The milky way, the Four Enclosures, the firmament, the voids, the gravitational pull between celestial bodies, all these and more are the responsibilities and privileges of the Officers of Spaces, all meant to maintain their primary duty: maintain the celestial clockwork. If Fates writes Heaven’s Will, then it is the Spaces that communicates it to the Earth, working the great cosmic gears and moments, wrestling or shepherding or programming the stars into their rightful places for astrologers to divine.

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-11-13 10:54:40

It is said that the map is not the territory, but for the Office of Spaces, exceptions are made. Arrayed all across the surfaces of Sumeru are great clockwork superstructures, their moments circling the mountain, each ended with either a lighthouse or a mirror, lighting up Earth’s sky with a dozen planets and thousands of stars. This vast complex is known as the Orrery, and it is what the Officers of Spaces operate and work from. The journeys between stars can be long and treacherous, and so a rare few stars are ports-of-call, housing maps of the Orrery, in the form of armillary spheres or observational planetariums. These take the form of different cartographical systems, such as the Twenty-Four Mansions or the Nakshastra.

The Destiny Stars are Tianshen that operate the stars of individual destiny, too small and dim to be seen with the naked eye, infamous as a whole because of reincarnation shenanigans that one hundred and eight of them were guilty of in the previous age. The Asura Kumbhanda are short and misshapen like gourds or dwarfs, and their small round shape all the better embodies the meteors and shooting stars that they are in charge of. Akasagarbha are the Bodhisattva responsible for the akasa-dhatu, the internal space elements, the orifices and apertures of the human body such as the ears, nostrils, and mouth. Leader of the Office is Recipient Nuwa, she who repaired Heaven with Five-Colored Stones, is one of the oldest deities ever, but still lives with the vigor and coyness of a much younger goddess. Primary Hou Yi occupies a position right below hers, mostly in recognition of his assassination of nine suns. It is a feat that the once-mortal archer barely remembers, and dearly desires to replicate.

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-11-13 10:55:45

Only three left.

Yarrun XIX · 2015-11-13 12:59:16

-cheers-

that is truly an awesome hook. in the old sense of the word, even

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-11-18 14:59:31

Thunder is good; it impresses the masses and strikes fear in the heart of the wicked, especially on a dark and stormy night. But is lightning, that great electric discharge, that does the work. An Office with a more militaristic and espionage bent, the Thunders know the value of masking their heavy strikes with lots of loud noise.

Above the skies of Heaven are a vast mass of clouds of a variety of formations, all connected to a single dark grey cloud, electricity stirring within, lighting it from within with violent flashes. Known as the Nimbus, the Office of Thunder works out of this entire structure. Complex patterns of electric pulses pass through the aerosols to encourage cloud growth and manipulate its shape or to turn the liquid water to ice, forming delicate but strong platforms, buildings, furniture, and so on. Within the great hall, the electric heart of the Nimbus itself, are thirty-six great Grand Hall Drums, barrel shaped and headed with dragon-hide. One for each of the Supreme Commanders, who beat out its great and rolling booms to summon their troops.

Maruta, the Roaring Storms, are the iron-toothed Tianshen of thunders, riders of the clouds, splitting them with golden axes to let the rain fall. The Lightning Mothers are Asura who direct the lightning’s path with mirrors. Black Tara are tantric Bodhisattva of power and punishment, emanations of the greater Tara. While many deities can call upon the thunder or the lightning, only Director Lei Gong has the authority and the power to command the divine Thunderbolt, that terrible attack which is both thunder and lightning, which shatters eardrums and breaks bodies, and he turns that fearsome power against the enemies of Heaven with a sniper’s eye. Guardian Vajrapani, he who holds the Thunderbolt in his hand, protector of the Buddhas, destroyer of destroyers, is Lei Gong’s lieutenant, and teacher of the inner electricities.

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-11-18 15:01:05

Black Tara isn't actually associated with lightning, but I have to make something up.

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-11-21 05:19:59

As one of the fundamental requirements for life, water has long been a divine means of mortal control. Withholding the rains showed Heaven’s disdain; floods a sign of Celestial judgment. Rivers and seas had to be pacified by sacrifices - sometimes human - to ensure healthy crops or the safe return of sailors and fishermen. Water is also blessed in certain rituals, and is drank or kept in the home for sorcerous protection. Water purification is also practiced in all three faiths, such as bathing under waterfalls to activate the spirit. The liquid traits of water are emulated in Daojia teachings, as the soft and weak wears down the hard and strong easily.

uggghhhh this paragraph is so uninspired

whatever though

Yarrun XIX · 2015-11-21 13:24:20

Water, the wellspring from whence all life on earth flows. Just as mankind draws its life and sustenance from the rain, the rivers, the seas full of fish, it draws its soul and spirit from the same, inducting initiates into greater mysteries through the sacrament of baptism. So, is there any wonder why it is valued, why the gods will withhold it to punish their heretics, why mankind will go to war to protect it?

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-11-22 00:50:37

Don't think baptism is something we do.

Also, Heaven is much more tolerant of alternative viewpoints and teachings, as there's very little that can be considered as dogma. The Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path is an expedient means, empty of inherent existence, and it's said that the Buddha himself urged his followers to examine all his teachings to see if they match up with our own observable experience. Daoism is by definition undefinable, "the Way that can be taught is not the Way," etcetera.

Still, that's a good idea.

Yarrun XIX · 2015-11-22 01:15:22

I wrote from my religious experiences. Was hoping that you could take what was workable from it.

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-11-22 01:17:51

Oh, okay. Sorry.

I appreciate you doing that.

Yarrun XIX · 2015-11-22 01:20:34

Anything to help ^_^

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-11-30 04:47:19

My goal for Sutra Stories was to make it playable by the end of the year.

It is.

My goal for 2016 is to get an actual playtest group going. So message me if you want to get involved.

Yarrun XIX · 2015-11-30 04:53:02

As always, you know I'm available for any playtesting purposes

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-03 07:23:55

What does it mean to have a job, when that job is wardening an aspect of creation?

Paperwork and bureaucracy is a must, but I don't want it to be too heavy.

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-03 14:39:19

MachSpeed said:
Offices
The many deities of Heaven are divided into similar spheres of influence by affinity and aptitude, so no one deity works alone. They run the range from a spectrum of emotions to objects of symbolic value, from physical phenomena to the very presentation of the Heavens to the Earth itself.

Antiquity provides many flowery titles for these bureaus: the Department of Doors, Armament Administration, the Space Station. A simple alternative vocabulary has been developed over the years, with common parlance amongst all of Heaven is to refer to them all departments as “Offices.” Part modern corporation, part trade guild, Offices provide organization to deities with similar terrestrial duties, and are also powerful civic institutions that provide valuable services to the rest of Heaven.

Business As Usual
A position in an Office is five things: a unique link to the universe, a frequency that the deity resonates with, a state of being, a permission to alter the world, and a civil and political position that can be removed or transferred through official channels. Naturally, members of an Office are generally referred to as Officers. At times, the first three things may be mutually exclusive from the latter two, as Office powers may be granted as distinctions and rewards to non-employees, or claimed by beings who exist outside of Heaven’s order.

All Offices have a charge in their charter to help maintain the harmony that is the Earth (as set out by the Jade Emperor), and cordially work with other Offices in doing so. In practice, it is the Premiers who hammer out policy amongst themselves, and all Offices compete over celestial trade rivalries, some arguments even escalating to bloody feuds. But even before the Civil War, there were always reports to file, forms to fill out, mortals to guide or curse or bless, policy to be adhered to.

Movers And Shakers
Premiers are the highest officials of any given Office, who in addition to embodying the deepest manifestations of their domains, also possess indispensable celestial duties (often of a covert nature), as well as a wealth of privileges and powers. Most - if not all - Premiers are of the Overlord rank.

Working Life
While deities do not have to contend with physiological needs such as food, shelter, water, and so on, they still have needs. A need for fulfillment, for identity, for safety, for belonging, for respect, and so on. And like mortals, these can be endangered by an unsafe workplace, such as abusive supervision, organizational conflict, stress, discrimination, and harassment. However, in Heaven, absenteeism usually means an attempt to escape to Earth to start a cult, or “going into business for themselves.”

The difficulties of leaving an Office and joining can vary wildly as Heaven goes through cycles of openness and exclusivity. At times, it is as simple as filling out an application, and at others, requires both intense justification from your current bosses as well as screening from your would-be employers.

Hierarchy and organization is equally dependent on the times and the management style of its Premier. Some opt for a loose system, where deities are given quotas, a network of support, and whatever help they think is reasonable to requisition. Other Premiers micro-manage, requiring the strict following of procedures, directives, and reports to fill out and analyze. Still others arrange their Offices by strict military structure with soldiers, sergeants, chevaliers, and marshals. A rare few utilize traditional scholastic structures, where rank and responsibility is only awarded jointly with intellectual and artistic achievements through examination.

Religion In The Workplace
While individual deities may style themselves as “defenders” or “teachers” or “champions” of their faiths, religions do not possess or require Offices. Heaven itself tends to be very religious by way of moral codes and philosophy, often mixing tenets of the three faiths together, as the mortals do. As such, an Office of Faith would not only be highly inconvenient to a deity, but also logistically problematic on many levels.

Carving Out A Niche
Very many gods of Heavenly origin share a great many formational similarities, and not without reason. For example, all Daitya may consider themselves to be of the same Tianshen “subspecies,” while to Asura, these others are like family, brothers and sisters and cousins. Many mortals become Bodhisattva by closely following the example of some Buddhist paragon, such as is the case with the Akasagarbha, Agnigarbha, Ksitigarbha, Jalagarbha, and Vayugarbha, forming orders that have chivalric, religious, monastic, and fraternal elements. But while many gods may be cast from the same mold, Heaven has a wide variety of molds, and aren’t afraid to form or utilize unique deities for specialized tasks and roles.

I hope this properly conveys what it means to work for Heaven.

Any questions? Anything I should add, or consider?

Yarrun XIX · 2015-12-03 18:50:45

looks pretty good

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-04 08:13:39

MachSpeed said:
Winds
Ever since the beginning, we have looked to the air for signs of the divine, looking for a crowded sky. But it’s empty; the wind is empty, and always will be. It is the emptiness that gives it power. Before you know it, the wind can accelerate its motion from a gentle breeze to a devastating hurricane, and you’d never see the wind itself, only its effects on the world. The wind has the power to snuff out the flame, blow the rain far away, wear down mountains, all because it is ever-present. But the air also sets the world in motion, pushing sailing ships through the water, carrying pollen to needful plants, pulling colorful kites and hot air balloons into the great above, turning kinetic energy into electric. Unlike their close cousins in the Office of Breaths, the Winds are in charge of the purely physical flow of gases.

Their headquarters is known as the Rotor, an enormous turbine superstructure mounted on the underside of the Heavenly Seat. With the aforementioned Engine pushing its energy into it, this great fan can rotate up to tornado-force speeds over entire continents. Serving as a staging area, deities with glider-wings, balloons, kites, sails, and the like freely wide the Rotor’s winds to anywhere on Earth. Smaller turbines, mounted on other parts of the structure, generate jetstreams for express sendings, journeys that require haste and speed.

The gods of the air are any and varied, from those who leash typhoons to the fierce winter blasts, from mist and fog to the city’s smogs. Counts of the Breeze are Tianshen governors of the rising and fading of the winds in all directions, mild old men and women who help shape the clouds and control the winds with a gentle and temperate eye. The Vidyadhara are Asura friends of change, throwing the static into the dynamic. Despite their grim and heavy metal forms, they are light of whim and of heart, the laughter in the gale, the raucous roar. Vayugarbha embody the vayu-dhatu phenomenon, the expanding and repulsive biological force, present in both the respiratory and intestinal systems, seekers of perfection and experience. Head Manager Futen, “Wind’s Heaven,” formerly Fujin, is their Premier, a weary and white-haired old god who’d really rather be in a monastery somewhere, constantly deferring his duties to his second-in-command. General Manager Grandmother Wind is that second, a frail crone of a goddess with nonetheless an incredibly swift mind and temper, at times playing the doting grandmother and at others a cackling megalomaniac.

There, that's everyone. I can rest now.

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-06 03:53:43

MachSpeed said:
The Imperial Court
There is not one extended household in the Jade Imperial Palace; there are two. But unlike the mortal dynasties of old, deities cannot reproduce themselves, and so there are no need for eunuchs or for harems. The Jade Emperor surrounds himself with emissaries, sorcerers, policy-setting Premiers, advisors, entertainers, military leaders, as well as consorts and concubines of both sexes. Meanwhile, Guan Yin shares her table with scholars with which she converses with, artists who possess her patronage, students of the faith, and former petitioners who owe her debts of gratitude. She is a great friend of the bird-gods, and her inner circle are composed of kindred spirits, goddesses like Yeshe Tsogyal, Hariti, and Dragon Daughter.

I'm trying to paint what the internal politics look like and I'm stuck.

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-09 13:13:19

MachSpeed said:
Attachments
Dirty secrets represent grave sins or embarrassments attached to your character. These can complicate your character’s life, either arising as blackmail or leverage material by a rival, the source of an NPC’s ire, or a need to constantly cover up and keep hidden certain facts from coming to light.
Examples: Lied About My Mortal Life, Weak But Can’t Let Anyone Know, Forbidden Romance With The Lower Classes, Drug Addiction

Yarrun XIX · 2015-12-09 14:34:13

Hmm. And how do attachments fit into the usual aspects? is that something made during character creation, or solely something that can be attached to your character if they make poor choices?

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-09 14:37:03

It's literally just a reskinning of Troubles.

Incarnations are a reskinning of High Concepts.

Yarrun XIX · 2015-12-09 15:36:29

Noted.

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-09 17:47:53

Okay so, magic. It's got some trappings of science, but things are never consistent enough to do replicatable effects. What is more important is the will of the occultist.

There are Three Teachings, and as such are the basis of three different magical arts, with six approaches and titles.

Daoist theory is based around the Yin-Yang principle, the Wuxing, things like that, understanding how they work in relation to morals and cycles, and its students are called Scholars. Daoist practical is based on the same, but used to create power-systems, work rituals, and generally do hands-on magic work, and they're called Sorcerers. Daoism is the most well-respected of the magical arts.

Confucian theory is based around the principle of Ru, filial piety, etc, and people who study it are called Philosophers, while its users are psychiatrists, sociologists, predictors, soft sciences, and called Forecasters.

Buddhist theory is based on karma, and those who internalize its teachings are called Dharmists, while those who go around selling good luck charms and amulets are called Enchanters. Buddhist magic is the least-esteemed of the magical arts.

How's that?

Yarrun XIX · 2015-12-09 18:08:12

maybe explain why Buddhism and Confucianism get the shaft when it comes to magical respect?

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-09 18:14:22

It's like this. Daoism is like the natural sciences, and people will always need physicists and the like. Confucianism is like the social sciences, and Buddhism is barely comparable to any science, because the basic point of it is that you can't control your karma. How it matures, when it matures, what effects it has, etcetera. You can control the world, you can control people, but you can't control karma.

Even that really bad application of karmic magic, which I mentioned before, is not control, it's just forcing a square peg into a round hole enough until neither the peg nor the hole is neither square nor round.

Yarrun XIX · 2015-12-09 18:34:32

noted

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-13 12:55:39

MachSpeed said:
Magical Arts of the Way
To a scholar of the Dao, nature can be found in anything and everything. One principle can be applied to many others, because everything moves in the same broad patterns and shapes. This holistic “as-above-so-below” view of the universe is exemplified in the Inner Map (內经图, Nei Jing Tu), a metaphorical charting of the human body as a landscape and contained system of nature, with mountains, rivers, forests, skies, even gods and monsters of its own.

The fundamental principle of Yin and Yang is rarely used, as it is incredibly simple and pervasive, and thus difficult to work with. Most applications of the Yin-Yang art are based off on the divination based on Laozi’s Book of Changes (易經, Yi Jing), using random numbers and entries in said book to guide decisions. A more modern application are the internal languages of animated intelligences, known as binary.

Instead of the Yin-Yang principle, most Way scholars gravitate towards practical study that heavily involves the Five Phases. Physical systems are built to encourage and harmonize Phase energy. Mechanical devices in particular contain tailor-made power sources composed of a miniature Five Phase system, using jade to conduct Wood energy, ruby to encourage fire, gold to ground Earth, ivory to store Metallic forces, and silver to contain Water power. Five Phase batteries vary from device to task to function, and must be integrated into the intended design in a holistic way.

Pure infusions of Five Phase energy, accumulated through rigorous meditation and spiritual practice, while volatile, can also used to affect the natural world. Wood energy can encourage the binding of living tissue, prolong life, inflict illness, and add force. Fire infusions generate power and heat, setting the inanimate in motion. Earthen energy adds structure and shape to matter, as well as strength. Metal adds the power of hardness, speed, and reflection. Finally, an infusion of Water tends to weaken matter, space, time, and can bring out an object’s flowing nature.

Daojiao traditions place mountains, rivers, and forests at the forefront of ideal places to cultivate one’s conduct. Indeed, the root word for Immortal - 仙- has the radical for “mountain” in it. But with the continued industrialization and urbanization of the world, younger scholars and sorcerers establish their practices in the cityscapes. If man is part of nature - they reason, and nature must be experienced, then they should experience man to the fullest. Not many Way students argue the point.

Those who study Daojiao theory and internalize it are known as Scholars (道長, Dao Zhang), or “Elders of the Way.” The term “Sorcerer” (道士, Dao Shi) describes all those with an applied understanding of the Way arts, able to engineer, construct, build, invent, and so on. One may be both (indeed, most Immortals are), and all students of the Way come from a diverse number of movements, societies, academies, circles, lineages, and temples. Many ancient schools still exist, including the Celestial Masters, Supreme Clarity, Sacred Jewel, All True, and Orthodox Unity, and new ones are being established even today.

While many students of the Way may work for or with the PRC, they walk a razor’s edge, and are watched at all times. For over the centuries, many rebellions have either been started from underground sects, or had strong support from said sects. Way principles of compassion, frugality, humility, political non-aggression, and non-violence have long been in conflict with secular governments that base their state power on privilege, wealth, dominance, and capital punishment.

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-17 12:22:25

blah ignore

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-17 12:37:24

I forgot to talk about asexuals.

Obā-san · 2015-12-17 12:38:43

a jaded asexual walks in, lights a cigarette, takes a puff. a pregnant pause fills the air, then he says "dont worry, i'm used to it"

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-17 12:47:27

hahaha

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-17 13:01:39

MachSpeed said:
Heaven’s approach to sexuality and romance is both complicated and open; just the way they like it. A sexual relationship may also be a working relationship, but a romantic relationship may not include carnality at all. And even though bisexuality and biromance are the most common of orientations, the sex of those involves changes what is expected.

For example, male-male or female-female romance must be defined according to elder/younger sibling lines, the former supplying concern and the latter replying with reverence, as according to Kongjia’s Five Bonds principle. Continued husband-wife relationships are played at, but rare, as polygamy is extremely difficult to maintain through eternity. Alternatively, any form of relationship may also be in the form of friend-friend, where both sides are on equal footing, but few feel comfortable to have all their relationships take this form. Finally, shape-changing one’s sex also changes one’s duties in a relationship.

Everyone else occupy strange spaces. Many Buddhists believe that not feeling lust or the hunger to connect romantically may be a karmic debt left over, and it is not advantageous to overcome desire when one doesn’t feel it, and as such, more than a few temples do not allow aromantics and asexuals to join the clergy. Polyamorous webs are popular, but are seen as greedy and overextending, as they can be difficult to maintain, and are a nightmare for many a Kongjia student to keep track.

Better? Better.

I don't know what kind of relationship a Daoist would complain about, but I'll probably find one.

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-19 14:48:26

MachSpeed said:
Yin-Yang sorcerers have to be some of the most brilliant and careful of their number, as even the smallest quantity of pure Yin or Yang energy - its nucleus suspended in an energy web of its opposite number - is immensely volatile, unstable, and unpredictable. The field of nucleus sorcery dreams of cheap, reusable power for global domestic use, but mostly accomplishes nightmarish and poisonous weapons of mass destruction.

i made a pun

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-22 06:23:45

Help me fill in these blanks.

A great many tasks require thinking, automation, and understanding. For this, magical practitioners both mortal and divine summon human souls to drive various sorcery systems, such as tools, thinkers, devices, machines, curses, wards, and and many more. Those in Heaven and Hell have access to Hun souls (which drive the intellect), and those on Earth may call up Po souls (which drive the instinct). Workings that incorporate the former can store more memory and ________, while Workings that utilize the latter have better reaction time and ________.

Yarrun XIX · 2015-12-22 06:48:31

Can run more 'programs' at one time ; more powerful 'programs'

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-22 06:57:14

Okay, that's really good, thanks.

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-27 03:26:44

I want to make an undead detective/spymaster character, but I don't know what to call her. Skeleton in a suit, basically, who serves the intelligence forces of the Corpse Dynasty.

Her codename would be something about death and the mind or something.

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-27 03:32:44

For reference: The head of the Corpse Dynasty's intelligence forces is a disembodied brain in a jar, and is literally called "General Neurodegeneration."

Yarrun XIX · 2015-12-27 03:34:09

That's amazing.

How about Dr. K? Because the initials are (DK) - Decay?

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-27 03:57:55

Doctors are not really espionage, is the thing. She's probably an asset handler too.

Considering it, though.

Yarrun XIX · 2015-12-27 04:01:35

Mistress Muerte? I know, I know, this isn't Spanish-themed, but still

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-27 04:08:30

I'll write it down.

Yarrun XIX · 2015-12-27 04:31:09

Dura Muerte also works, and adds in more brain matter

Yarrun XIX · 2015-12-27 04:31:54

Or even better, Death Mother. Sounds pretty close to Dura Mater

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-27 04:40:28

Also writing those down.

One-Winged Eagle · 2015-12-27 04:49:24

Ideas:

Something about Fear Is The Mind-Killer
Chitipati, the skeletal dancers of the funeral pyre, but I don't like that much, because how do you blaspheme something already sacred and profane?
Dr. Kay (decay)
Headmistress
Death Mother

One-Winged Eagle · 2016-01-02 08:53:18

I'm starting an ongoing campaign next week.

I don't know what it's about. I don't know what we're doing. We'll figure it out after we make our characters.

Do you folks prefer voicechat or textchat? If voicechat, Skype. If textchat, IRC. Roll 20 will be used, of course.

Yarrun XIX · 2016-01-02 09:54:28

I prefer text chat.

One-Winged Eagle · 2016-01-02 09:56:12

Me too.

I'm thinking Saturday mornings for me, Friday nights for you folks. Like, today.

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