Techno Star


　Quote: Okay. I have to spin until two and then I’m going up to the studio. Come there and I’ll have someone for you.

　Prelude: So you were maybe not the greatest person in the world, right? You mostly just used people for what you wanted and dumped them afterwards, and maybe you were ambitious and greedy and didn’t give a fuck about who you used. But you could mix beats better than anyone else, and you were hot with the ladies, and best of all, you were 26 years old. Life was not looking bad.

　One night you got yourself all fucked up while someone who was even more fucked up than you were drove you back from a gig. Maybe he hit something or just thought he did, but the next thing you knew, the car was a tangled wreck hanging halfway through a shop-front grating and you were a tangled wreck hanging halfway through the windshield. You spent a very, very long half-hour hallucinating wildly on the subject of your slow and excruciatingly painful death. It was a relief to wake up in the Kokuri Yomi, but not for long.

　Your career as a chih-mei wasn’t particularly exciting. A child of the city, you were interred near your parents’ rural home. Within a few days of your revival, Resplendent Cranes had dragnetted you. You had problems with the discipline required for their training, and you fell back to chih-mei status while they were attempting to school you. The Cranes passed you to the Devil-Tigers, who knew just how to deal with your kind.

　You graduated almost a year ago. As a gift from your Righteousness Society, you got a recording contract on a major techno-industrial label. You have also recently started working as a procurer for your elders, letting them feed on your fans. Both music and pimping out candy-ravers pay very well. Life after death is not looking bad.

　Roleplaying Hints: You’re still getting the hang of being a Devil-Tiger, and you haven’t really caught onto the theological part yet. You’re somewhat less self-centered than you were in life but you’re still looking out for number one right now. The whole “devil” thing really freaks you out deep down, and your struggle to pick up the devil and achieve ling is going to be a hard one.

　Equipment: $25,000 in mixing gear, 1500 CDs, studio and living space in a college neighborhood, semi-automatic TEC-9, pet cat, 14 rolls, a ten-strip and an ounce of weed.

　Balance: Balanced
　Direction: East
　Dharma: Devil-Tigers 1
　Physical: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2
　Social: Charisma 4, Manipulation 3, Appearance 3
　Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 2
　Talents: Alertness 2, Athletics 2, Brawl 1, Dodge 2, Empathy 1, Streetwise 2, Subterfuge 1
　Skills: Drive 1, Etiquette 1, Firearms 1, Performance 3, Survival 1
　Knowledges: Computer 1, Finance 1, Linguistics 2, Politics 1
　Disciplines: Demon Shintai 1, Obligation 2
　Backgrounds: Resources 4, Fame 1, Herd 4, Status 2
　Yin: 3, Yang: 3, Hun: 3, P’o: 3, Willpower: 6


Electric Devil Rising Star


　Quote: No, today is not the day for open-market operations. I told you, the market’s Yin-forces are out of balance, European employment numbers coming out today are expected to be positive, and I dreamt today that there was a monster loose in a snow-covered forest. Our horoscopes are bad for the next three to five business days — let’s hold off until the Japanese consumer spending figures come out and the Moon and Mercury are no longer in the same House.

　Prelude: It was just like in the movies. You were 33, a rising young executive star with a beautiful and pliable wife, a young daughter, a posh office and a wonderfully kinky mistress. Of course, you smoked two packs of Marlboro Reds a day, had a serious coke habit and carried enough personal debt to sink a third-world nation, but that’s just the price you pay for success. But the heart attack? A trip to the Wicked City of Mikaboshi? Working as a middle manager? Un-fucking-fair!

　So you came back. It wasn’t easy, but you came back. You didn’t mean to eat your wife and daughter. You can’t even remember doing it. You remember the masked instructors who taught you the mysteries of the Second Breath and the Road Back. The drew your blood and read the stars, and gave you to the Devil-Tigers to prepare for your Fire and Water Test.

　The Tigers who adopted you hooked you into the Electric Money, and that got you into a businessoriented Righteousness Society, the Golden Fortune Luck Club. Over the last year or so, you’ve really proven yourself to your associates, and you’re rising fast. Even better, these people expect you to live like a fucking maniac. You haven’t gotten in on the war councils or anything yet, but you’re managing some serious fundage here in the meanwhile.

　Roleplaying Hints: Everything bad that people think about successful young businessmen manifests in you. You’re ruthless, corrupt and greedy, and you hate Mikaboshi with a passion. Once you pick up the devil, you’ll probably make a fine Devil-Tiger, but you had better hope you don’t find out what Yugen tastes like until you have a lot more self-discipline.

　Equipment: Silver Audi TT, Taurus “Raging Bull” .454 Casull revolver, Iridium Kyocera multimode satellite/ cellular phone, Ray-Ban High Street Metal Square sunglasses, penthouse apartment, four rottweilers and a 16 year-old mistress. Wardrobe by BillyBlue

　Balance: Balanced
　Direction: North
　Dharma: Devil-Tigers 1
　Physical: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2
　Social: Charisma 4, Manipulation 2, Appearance 2
　Mental: Perception 2, Intelligence 5, Wits 3
　Talents: Alertness 1, Brawl 1, Dodge 2, Leadership 1, Subterfuge 2
　Skills: Portents 1, Drive 2, Etiquette 2, Firearms 1
　Knowledges: Computer 1, Finance 4, Law 2, Linguistics 1, Politics 2, Science 1
　Disciplines: Demon Shintai 1, Yang Prana 1, Chi’iu muh 1
　Backgrounds: Status 2, Resources 5, Mentor 2, Influence 2
　Yin: 2, Yang: 4, Hun: 2, P’o: 3, Willpower: 6


High-Society Devil


　Quote: And not only is he rich, dear, he’s the most notorious necrophile in town. It’s positively scandalous! As luck would have it, I recently made his procurer’s acquaintance. We’ll be starting the festivities about 11. Meet us in the lane behind his house, and don’t be late. I wouldn’t want you to miss the look on his face when Chao Fa-Li opens her eyes!

　Prelude: You had a good childhood, all things considered. Your parents quarreled a lot, and then you came home from Europe one year to find that they had divorced. They didn’t even tell you they were doing it. They just expected you to be happy while they played tug-of-war over you at Christmas. Still, it was a good life. You married a nice man shortly after your debut, and all was good and right, and you were away from the barely veiled hostility that simmered when you spent time with your parents.

　The neglect was painful. The mistress was a wound. The venereal disease he brought home was an icepick in the heart. You began drinking heavily and using prescription sedatives from pli - able doctors, while your husband seemed to drift along just fine. He never noticed as you became paler and thinner and more withdrawn, a living ghost in the house. When he told you of his bankruptcy (or was it his plans for divorce? You forget), you chose to end it all with his beloved hunting shotgun. It would be after you ended him, of course. Your last thought was that they would never get the stains out of the white velvet drapes. You giggled around the thick, smoky barrel of the gun, and then blackness overwhelmed you.

　You awoke to iron rods, and three years of brutal training as a Devil. It was like boarding school in Europe, but infinitely more difficult. Now, you’ve been released on an unsuspecting world with a pocket full of dollars and a personal mission. In your life, you learned how to pick out the dogs among humanity. Now, you are going to do something about them.

　Roleplaying Hints: You are very well mannered, and you think you have pretty much finished picking up the devil. You are at home with your role as a celestial being, though you haven’t had many trials yet. It remains to be seen if you’re actually ready to achieve ling at such a young age.

　Equipment: Pepper spray, custom wardrobe from Hong Kong, luxurious downtown apartment, developing profile in local “ladies society” functions

　Direction: East
　Dharma: Devil-Tigers 1
　Physical: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3
　Social: Charisma 3, Manipulation 3, Appearance 4
　Mental: Perception 2, Intelligence 2, Wits 2
　Talents: Alertness 1, Athletics 1, Dodge 2, Empathy 1, Subterfuge 2
　Skills: Animal Ken 1, Drive 1, Etiquette 3, Martial Arts 3, Performance 1, Stealth 1, Survival 1
　Knowledges: Finance 1, Investigation 1, Linguistics 1, Politics 1, Science 1
　Disciplines: Demon Shintai 1, Obligation 1, Yin Prana 1
　Backgrounds: Resources 3, Status 1, Mentor 1, Contacts 2, Allies 2
　Yin: 4, Yang: 2, Hun: 4, P’o: 3, Willpower: 6


Black Axis Scholar


　Quote: Slide the vivisection table over a few feet, we’ll want room to move. And don’t misdraw the Seven Footed Raven sigil this time. If this thing gets out, it’ll kill us all.

　Prelude: You were already part of the world of the Unseen before you died, a scholar and sometimes dealer in questionable antiquities. Books, curios, paraphernalia — all of them passed through your hands. You stayed out of the deep end, though, and you avoided trading in the things that could get someone killed for owning them. Or at least you thought you did. You could barely recognize the two goblins sent to fetch the formula for what they were, but they recognized you. It was ludicrous! Who would send bakemono after The Six Winter Formula? You told them what they wanted, but they tied you to a chair in the basement and filed away your teeth one by one anyway. And then, before they left, they injected you with… substances. Spiritual poisons. The seeds of the bakemono.

　You knew enough to know what that meant, and that there was really only one way out. You were almost too much of a coward, but in the end, you drank the Five Venom Elixir before the infection could take root in your soul. Rather than a plummet into the Mouth of Yomi, you awoke in the Wicked City. If only you had led a more righteous life, perhaps you might have gone on along the Wheel. Alas, it was a luxury you were not granted, and the Yomi world claimed you, at least for a little while.

　On your return, you were captured by Infant Devil Civilizers before you caused too much damage. They educated you in the real lore of the Night World, and you realize now just how peripheral your old life was to the great scheme of things. Now you’re really on the inside, and rising fast. One thing still bothers you, though. Who sent those bakemono, and why did they want that copy of the Six Winter Formula badly enough that two bakemono were sent to fetch it? Whoever sent those thugs is going to answer for what they did to you — and perhaps more.

　Roleplaying Hints: Straddling the line between Indiana Jones and John Constantine, you’re definitely becoming a lot more active in your pursuit of dark knowledge now that you’ve returned from Yomi as an apprentice devil. You understand your new position in the universe, but you haven’t accepted it fully yet. You definitely see the benefits of this corpse-body thing, however, and you take full advantage of them.

　Equipment: Loft apartment, extensive occult library, traveling clothes, extensive daylight survival gear, several sets of false IDs

　Dharma: Devil-Tigers 1
　Physical: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3
　Social: Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Appearance 2
　Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 4, Wits 3
　Talents: Alertness 1, Athletics 1, Brawl 1, Dodge 2, Streetwise 1
　Skills: Portents 1, Drive 1, Etiquette 1, Melee 1, Stealth 2, Survival 2
　Knowledges: Computer 1, Investigation 1, Linguistics 2, Occult 3, Rituals 3, Science 1
　Disciplines: Demon Shintai 1, Tapestry 1, Chi’iu muh 1
　Backgrounds: Rituals 3, Resources 3, Contacts 1
　Yin: 3, Yang: 3, Hun: 3, P’o: 3, Willpower: 6


Stagger Li


　Quote: If it makes you feel any better, you could try thinking of him as travel-sized.

　Prelude: All your life, the world spit on you and kicked you when you were down. You father beat you, you brothers beat you, and your teachers beat you. You rebelled against a world that held nothing but hostility for you, and you found that your rebellion made it even more hostile. Lucky and mean, you were in and out of prisons and work camps all your life. They executed you at the age of 37, and you told the man with the pistol to hurry up because people were waiting for your organs.

　You left the Hell of Being Skinned Alive like a rocket. You’d been in better-guarded office supply closets. When you took the Second Breath, you just took up your same old practices: robbery, arson and sodomy. You weren’t so good at them as a chih-mei, though. The Infant Devil Civilizers woke you up, and you laid into them. The first lot weren’t hard. You chased them out of the room and they called you a Three-Demon Student. A day later, this filthy old man and his fat, blind wife showed up to “take you away.” He wasn’t nearly as easy to beat. In fact, the two of them just sent you to The Little Death and took your body to a home that even you didn’t think you wanted to spend much time in. The Mengs taught you what your duty to the cosmos was, and your role in the destruction of an unrighteous world. You liked that just fine. Then they told you it was okay for you to get rich and misbehave, just as long as you kept within the bounds of propriety. You liked that just fine, too, because these people’s idea of propriety covered an awful lot of ground.

　Since the Mengs kicked you out and sent you on your way, you’re doing okay. You’re part of the Righteousness Society, and you spend most of your nights as a glorified runner and leg-breaker for higher-ups in the court, but you have a fairly good idea that they could find you and kick your ass no matter where you ran. With that in mind, you’re staying in line — at least for now.

　Roleplaying Hints: You’re the stereotypical Twice-Crimson Tiger. You’re devoted, short-tempered, energetic, violent, clever and ready to end the world right now. If you can just get enough discipline to master your P’o, you’ll be a bodhisattva when you’re very young. If not, someone is going to whack you in fairly short order.

　Equipment: Two big guns, a nice set of clothes, $980 in US cash, apple-cheeked companion of the moment

　Note: This character is very difficult to play. Unless you’re familiar enough with the rules to know what you’re getting yourself into, save this guy for later, or for a Storyteller character.

　Dharma: Devil-Tigers 1
　Physical: Strength 2, Dexterity 4, Stamina 4
　Social: Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Appearance 2
　Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 4, Wits 2
　Talents: Alertness 2, Athletics 1, Brawl 2, Intimidation 2, Streetwise 1, Subterfuge 1
　Skills: Drive 1, Firearms 3, Melee 1, Stealth 1, Survival 1
　Knowledges: Linguistics 2, Occult 2, Politics 1
　Disciplines: Demon Shintai 1, Bone Shintai 2, Yang Prana 1
　Backgrounds: Horoscope 4
　Yin: 3, Yang: 3, Hun: 1, P’o: 3, Willpower: 6