The Cloud Sea streams across Seishin Shore under a cerulean sky that seems to go on forever. The Cloud Sea can be tempestuous. Its storms and fathomless deeps are both famous. Giant skyships in all their bewildering variety fish the depths of the sea, called the Cloud Deeps. Motes of land float amid the cumulus, cumulonimbus, and a dozen other cloud varieties. Some motes are covered in amazing landscapes where peculiar creatures dwell, and others contain simple or grand structures, including the famous Library. Natives yearn to visit the Library, but not for too long, lest they become bound and shelved.
Seishin Shore is a recursion of loss, memory, magic, and adventure. It is a changeable place; new creatures and locations sometimes appear in the Cloud Sea without notice or apparent reason. Seishin Shore is neither a land of everlasting peace nor one of relentless evil; both dwell together in the heart of every creature who abides there. Natives can be disinterested, be potentially helpful, or seem like frightening monsters. Visitors may enjoy the wonderful vistas and unique entertainments, but they should take care not to run afoul of obscure social taboos or act selfishly in front of the wrong tetsu or namer.
Tetsu are dragonlike creatures of magic; many in Seishin Shore are cloud or water spirits, but not all.
Namers are Seishin Shore sorcerers who use common and hidden names to change the nature of other creatures and objects.
Seishin Shore was created by fictional leakage.
The foci that player characters can choose in Seishin Shore—as well as any foci that are dragged into the recursion—are modified by the recursion’s context, as appropriate. For example, if someone chooses Abides in Stone, the shape and nature of the character won’t look like an Ardeyn golem, but a temple statue common in the recursion.
Seishin Shore also offers a focus called Names.
Instead of appearing as a human, a recursor could translate into the recursion as a yobuko. A yobuko has a slender humanoid body and always wears a mask. A player and GM can decide together what the character’s mask looks like. Behind the mask is an utterly blank expanse of flesh; the mask is also the yobuko’s face. Sometimes a yobuko removes her mask, possibly to hide it somewhere so she can see and hear what’s going on in that location even when she is a few miles away (until a yobuko retrieves her mask, she is essentially blind and deaf in the vicinity of her body). A yobuko must be vigilant that an enemy does not steal her mask and lock it in a chest. Yobuko are somewhat resistant to the magic of namers. Whenever name magic is used on a yobuko, the difficulty of the defense roll is modified by one step to the yobuko’s advantage.
The following are only a sampling of the many amazing sites in Seishin Shore.
The Cloud Sea is a single vast “ocean” filling the recursion. Clouds drift at various levels, as do motes of solid land, some as large as cities, others as small as boulders. The depths of the sea are lightless and crushing. The heights slowly give way to empty vacuum where no ship can go. The remaining cardinal directions seem to go on forever, but natives rarely travel to the edge because when they do, they tend to disappear. That said, the Cloud Sea is used for travel and trade across the many cultures of Seishin Shore. The sea is home to flying fish (and stranger beasts) of all kinds, as well as awful predators, privateers, and truly disastrous storms, which is why many of the ships tend to be so large.
The Library, its attendant structures, and the surrounding gardens cover a floating mote a few miles (5 km) in diameter. Like many civilized motes, a portion of one edge bristles with long piers where ships of all kinds put in, while the truly large skyships hold station farther out. Natives (humans, yobuko, and other native creatures with unique shapes) wander the grounds of the Library. Those wearing scholarly robes read from large tomes or engage in deep philosophical conversations.
Knowledge of every kind is stored in bound volumes in the Library, including knowledge of Seishin Shore, other recursions, and even Earth. General information is fairly easy to papers, cookbooks, diaries, travelogues, instruction manuals, and more. But the Lost Stacks contain even more esoteric knowledge, including secrets otherwise known to only a few individuals, or even just one. Accessing the Lost Stacks requires permission from the Master Librarian, and a would-be researcher faces two additional challenges. The first is finding the desired piece of information (a research task of a few days whose difficulty is set by the GM, depending on the obscurity of the information sought). The second is avoiding the rogue Compilers who wander the stacks looking to make new books out of recent visitors.
Why the “Lost” Stacks? That’s what they’ve always been called, and the Master Librarian says there's a good reason for it. But it's not a reason he's willing to divulge.
Two competing factions control the Library: the Keepers and the Compilers.
The Keepers serve the Master Librarian. The Master is a yobuko of special power who is able to control dozens (perhaps hundreds) of masks simultaneously. Most Keepers who serve him are yobuko who lost their own masks and became mouthpieces of the Master out of desperation. The Master Librarian also hides xtra masks (sans bodies) he controls in nooks and crannies around the Library, which allow him to keep tabs on his dominion of books.
The Master Librarian is an authoritarian with a high opinion of himself. He is easily angered, and breaking even a minor rule of the Library is a quick path to being ejected from the mote or, worse, turned over to the Compilers for binding. On the other hand, the Master is a yobuko of his word, and if he makes a deal with someone, he won't be the first to break the contract. He usually provides week-long passes to the Lost Stacks for those who agree to do a useful service for the Library first. These tasks often include dealing with threats to the Library from privateers, creatures of the Cloud Sea, or book thieves who must be tracked down no matter how far they've translated. The Master Librarian detests the Compilers, despite their importance to the Library. He'd prefer to fire them all and start fresh with non-namers. Namers, he's found, rarely agree to wear one of his extra masks, no matter the incentive.
Master Librarian: level 5, perception in and around the Library as level 8; to kill him, every mask belonging to the Master must be destroyed
Many of the Compilers of the Library are namers. Compilers are responsible for preserving the books already contained on the shelves and for expanding the collection. Thus, they deal with book merchants from across Seishin Shore and other recursions. Any given Antiquarian Book Fair hosted in a large Earth city might well attract a Compiler or two in translated form.
Compilers can also bind living creatures to create new books, at least in recursions that operate under the law of Magic. If a creature gives its consent, Compilers with namer abilities use a special name to turn the target into a book containing all the knowledge the creature possessed. Consent can be given normally, but also implicitly by losing a bet or by having debt assumed by a Compiler. Visiting researchers often encounter Compilers amid the Lost Stacks. Compilers are very interested in visitors from other recursions and challenge them to a contest of wit or, better yet, a game of chance. If the visiting researchers win, the Compilers guide them to the particular tome containing the information sought. If the visitors lose, one or more of them is magically bound, transformed into a tome holding all the knowledge the creature possessed, and shelved in the Library.
A recursor bound into a book that is translated (by a third party) out of the recursion returns to normal, but if she ever translates back to Seishin Shore, she becomes a book once more. A creature bound as a book can be returned to flesh again while in the recursion, though without a Compiler's help, the process is a level 7 Intellect task that requires knowledge of magic and sorcerous rituals.
Compilers, almost to a one, detest the Master Librarian. They think he's too strict, too unyielding, and unfailingly unappreciative of even the most spectacular gambling opportunity or prank. If they could, they'd depose him and set one of their own in the Master's place.
Compilers who translate to other recursions to obtain new books for the Library can manipulate the name of the book they wish to bring back to Seishin Shore. They can grant a book-sized or smaller object in their possession the capacity to translate between recursions without taking on a new context
Typical Compiler: level 4; long-range attack deals 5 points of damage and robs target of its action in the subsequent round; usually carries a random cypher; some can translate
The city of Ashihira is built on the edge of a much larger forested mote some 50 miles (80 km) northeast of the Library and 3 miles (5 km) deeper in the Cloud Sea. At any given time, roughly 6,000 residents (humans, yobuko, and unique creatures) are active in the city, but that’s only because another 6,000 or so are plying the Cloud Sea in skiffs, caravels, and larger skyships. In addition to its thriving fishing trade, Ashihira salvages water from the quivering lakes that form as floating liquid motes in the deeper layers. Salvaging water is dangerous business because even the smallest lake is usually guarded by a territorial tetsu that regards the mote as its home, and larger ones are inhabited by territorial whale men. But water is nearly as valuable as books in Seishin Shore, and Ashihira controls most water trade in the recursion.
The ruler of Ashihira is Matsuko the Thin, a woman who exists only in two dimensions; when she turns sideways, she seems to disappear from view. She normally does so only to escape overbearing councilors or ship captains come to plead fishing or water rights. Matsuko’s rulership is conferred via popular acclaim during a city gathering that normally happens every seven years.
The chief thorn in Matsuko’s side is the ex-captain of a water-salvaging ship. The ship disappeared with all hands several years ago near Lake Natori—all hands, that is, except for Captain Yama. Captain Yama is humanoid but has skin as white as paper, with no hair and a mouth a few times too large for his face, which he says is made for laughing. He uses it these days mostly for demanding that Matsuko be removed from office for offenses against the common good. Captain Yama has convinced a fair number of Ashihirans of the legitimacy of his claim. Others whisper that he is to blame for the loss of his ship.
Matsuko the Thin: level 6; can become invisible as part of another action, but only to creatures along one sight line; can squeeze between narrow spaces
Captain Yama: level 5, tasks related to persuasion as level 6; health 25; crossbow inflicts 3 additional points of damage
The city-ship Unyo sails the Cloud Sea. The Unyo feeds its population of almost 1,000 residents with occasional catches from fishing runs straight through the heart of dangerous cumulonimbus thunderheads. It enriches itself by bartering excess fish to city motes, other great skyships, and the Library in return for repairs, upgrades, and luxuries (including seishu, an alcoholic drink common in the recursion).
The Unyo’s Captain Rei went on sabbatical over a year ago, and First Mate Setsuko (a human woman) has commanded the ship in Rei’s place. If asked when Captain Rei will be back, Setsuko always replies, “Soon, so soon you won’t even realize he was gone!” though that assurance has begun to wear thin. For her part, First Mate Setsuko is an able leader, though one more fond of seishu than ship repairs. The parties aboard the Unyo are often epic, but they come with the risk of an inebriated celebrator leaning against a rotted railing and tumbling overboard.
The Unyo bears many scars from past engagements with privateer skyships and fights with creatures of the Cloud Deeps that did not want to be fished. As such, the Unyo is outfitted with several smaller gunboats, as well as a couple of lightning cannons able to target foes through the haze of intervening clouds.
Unyo: level 8; health 100; Armor 5; up to 1,000 residents and crew; flies a long distance per round; lighting cannon attack with a range of 2 miles (3 km) deals 12 points of damage to the primary target and everything within short range of it
First Mate Setsuko: level 5; short-range exploding seishu bottle attack against targets within immediate range of each other every other round; magic boots return her to the deck of the Unyo if she falls off or wills it
The Palombaro is a privateer ship. “Privateer” is really just another word for pirate, but many of those crewing the Palombaro think of themselves as the most polite pirates sailing the Cloud Sea. They (usually) board and loot ships only if they have received a legal commission to do so from one of the larger city motes or the Library. Further, they hardly ever take on new crew who don’t want to become privateers, and they never damage a ship so much that it sinks into the Cloud Deeps (unless nothing else will do).
The Palombaro is captained by a troll-like creature called Juro. Juro is covered in red fur, stands 10 feet (3 m) tall, and can bite an iron bar in half. When Captain Juro growls an order, the crew leap to obey. However, it is the captain who ultimately enforces the “polite pirate” motif currently in fashion on the Palombaro. When he isn’t around, things get a bit rougher. Juro wasn’t always the captain of the ship; he won the position when he saved the privateers from his ten older siblings that live at the bottom of a cloud whirlpool the Palombaro dived too deep into.
Polite or not, the Palombaro has gone head to head with other famous skyships, including the Unyo. Neither vessel got the upper hand in that conflict. Though the Unyo is better armed, the Palombaro is much faster.
Captain Juro: level 5, feats of strength or attacks as level 7; health 23; regains 1 point of health per round
Palombaro: level 7; health 50; Armor 4; up to 200 crew; flies up to 300 feet (91 m) per round; three long-range cannon attacks as a single action Typical whale person: level 4; health 50; swims a long distance each round
A red mineral called aka runs in veins through floating motes and gives them their lift. Aka is taken up through the roots of many trees and other woody vegetation growing on the motes. When those trees are harvested for lumber and ships are built from that lumber, the resulting skyships can hover like motes and travel by propulsion from wind, magic, or beast (depending on the ship in question).
Skyship gunboat: level 5; Armor 3; up to 10 crew; flies a short distance per round; long-range lightning gun attack deals 7 points of damage to the primary target and everything within immediate range of it
Lake Natori is one of many accumulations of liquid water floating in the Cloud Sea, just skimming the truly dangerous Cloud Deeps. The waterplant ecosystem in each lake is enriched with the same red mineral (aka) that keeps motes and skyships aloft. Lake Natori is particularly large and is populated by equally massive whale people. Whale people typically reach 20 feet (6 m) in length, and they congregate in the center of Lake Natori in a hidden city that rarely welcomes visitors. Whale people enjoy trade, and whenever a ship or other conveyance comes near the surface of the lake, a sortie of several whale people leap from the surface on gliders specially made to support their bulk. They often barter for needful things with amazing songs that most of them produce with just their voices. Even so, it’s rare to find a whale person without a flute, koto, shamishen, or other musical instrument.
Unlike many other lakes claimed by tetsu, Lake Natori is ruled by a council of whale people called the Eleventh Pod.
Flying fish of every size and shape shoal throughout the Cloud Sea. Tetsu of various temperaments are less commonly seen, but that doesn’t mean they don’t watch what happens across the recursion. In the Cloud Deeps, vast tentacled things lurk— probably squid of improbable size, though no ship or creature pulled to the crushing depths has ever returned with a sketch to say for sure.
Level: 1d6+2
Form: Simple bone flute
Effect: Someone with the Names focus who spends an action reading this book gains an asset on her next task or attack, if it is related to her focus. Someone without the Names focus who reads this book must succeed on an Intellect defense roll or be pulled into the pages and converted into an appendix that details the victim’s biography. Another reader could later release the victim as an action, assuming the reader isn’t caught herself. If the libram of names is depleted, all appendices revert to living creatures.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
Level: 1d6+1
Form: Simple black-and-white mask with head strap
Effect: Action to animate mask into a terrifying effigy. The wearer makes an Intellect attack roll against all creatures in short range who look at the transformed mask during that round. Affected creatures are terrified for up to a minute, during which time they try to get away from the wearer. The effect ends sooner if the wearer takes off the mask or leaves, or if an ally of the victim offers sufficient verbal encouragement. A yobuko can use this mask as her primary mask and keep her original as a temporarily nonfunctional fallback. If someone who isn't a yobuko wears and activates this mask, he must make a Speed defense roll upon removing it, or his face is erased (effectively, he becomes a yobuko).
Depletion: 1–3 in 1d20
| SEISHIN SHORE AND YOBUKO MASKS
Seishin Shore is a recursion of loss, memory, magic, and adventure. It operates under the law of Magic and is a land seeded by a blend of Asian myths mixed with contemporary stories, comics, and films of related magical lands. It is a changeable place; new creatures and locations sometimes appear there without notice or apparent reason. Seishin Shore is neither a land of everlasting peace nor one of relentless evil; both dwell together in the heart of every creature who abides there, including the yobuko. A yobuko has a slender humanoid body and always wears a mask. Behind the mask is an utterly blank expanse of flesh; the mask is also the yobuko’s face. Sometimes a yobuko removes her mask, possibly to hide it somewhere so she can see and hear what’s going on in that location even when she is a few miles away. Yobuko masks can be used by yobuko and normal humanoids alike. However, if someone who isn’t a yobuko wears and activates a mask, he must make a Speed defense roll upon removing it, or his face is rased (effectively, he becomes a yobuko). |
Level: 1d6+1
Origin: Seishin Shore (emergent)
Law: Magic
Form: Colorful face mask
Effect: The wearer can make a mental attack on a living target he can see within long range, forcing the target to take an action suggested by the wearer on the target’s next turn. If commanded to kill itself or an ally, the target resists and instead loses its next turn.
Depletion: 1 in 1d10
Level: 1d6+1
Origin: Seishin Shore (emergent)
Law: Magic
Form: Colorful face mask
Effect: The wearer enjoys perfect vision and has an asset on all intimidation tasks.
Depletion: —
Level: 1d6+1
Origin: Seishin Shore (emergent)
Law: Magic
Form: Colorful face mask
Effect: The wearer enjoys perfect vision and has an asset on any one category of knowledge, such as carpentry, sailing, poetry, and so on.
Depletion: —
Level: 1d6+1
Origin: Seishin Shore (emergent)
Law: Magic
Form: Colorful face mask
Effect: The wearer enjoys perfect vision and has an asset on all perception tasks.
Depletion: —
Level: 1d6+1
Origin: Seishin Shore (emergent)
Law: Magic
Form: Colorful face mask
Effect: The wearer enjoys perfect version. She can also activate a function of the mask that provides +5 to Armor against attacks that inflict Intellect damage for one hour.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20