Kindred of the East
Encyclopedia
Kindred of the East is a role-playing
supplement by White Wolf Game Studio
to their Vampire: The Masquerade
line. The vanguard of White Wolf's "Year of the Lotus" theme (which created "Eastern" counterparts to all of their major product lines in the World of Darkness
), this rich sourcebook is a stand-alone setting, requiring only secondary rules to be fully playable. The setting spans Asia
, allowing players to play the so-called Kindred of the East, vampire
s of Asia
.
s as depicted in classical Japanese
, Chinese
, and India
n Hindu
, Taoist, Shinto
and Buddhist mythology
. Unlike the vampires traditionally associated with Dracula
or Caine, Kuei-jin were once mortals who died with the burden of unfulfilled Dharma
or duties. Tortured in Yomi
for their inadequacies in life, their soul
s successfully escaped and returned to their bodies. Now half-alive and half-dead, Kuei-jin must live by stealing chi
from mortal victims to sustain themselves while trying to fulfill their Dharma. The most convenient form chi can be stolen in is blood, leading to their vampiric tendencies, but they cannot create new vampires. Practically all Kindred distrust the Kuei-jin. The Kuei-jin are also known to war with the other sects for territory.
s and thus spiritual beings in nature.
s suffering from a lack of emotion
. At its worst, yin-imbalance reduces a kuei-jin to a Hopping corpse
. Yang-imbalanced Kuei-jin suffer wild mood swings and impulsive lusts for food, sex, and other forms of stimulation. Possibly the strangest consequence of yang-imbalance is the ability to have or sire children. Such children are called dhampyrs, and are mortal half-vampires.
divides the mind into two Hun and po
parts: The Hun, or high mind, that is the seat of rational thought, and the P'o, or demon mind, that exists to satisfy its own base urges (usually at the expense of the Hun). As former wraiths
, a Kuei-jin has a splinter of the forces of Oblivion in its soul. While many Kuei-jin see their P'o as a curse, it is important to note that without the P'o, they would never have escaped hell in the first place. Furthermore, Kuei-jin who stifle and contain their P'o utterly become cold, calculating individuals who lack any ideological spark; such stagnancy can be devastating when the weight of karma (spiritual consequences of actions) is on one's shoulders.
In addition to these primary dharmas, a number of Heretical Dharmas have also come into existence. Not accepted in Kuei-jin society, these paths nevertheless find some followers:
Finally, some Kuei-jin turn their backs on enlightenment entirely, instead swearing fealty to the Yama Kings (the rulers of Yomi) to become Akuma, the demon people. Bartering their souls for power, Akuma enter Faustian deals with the Yama Kings and pursue only power.
), but are not alone. Unlike Western Kindred
, they have close ties with the spirit world. They must also compete with the hengeyokai (Shapeshifters of the East, as it were), mages
, and gaki.
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
supplement by White Wolf Game Studio
White Wolf, Inc.
White Wolf Publishing is an American gaming and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant and White Wolf Magazine, and was initially led by Mark Rein·Hagen of the former and Steve and Stewart Wieck of the latter. Since White Wolf Publishing, Inc. merged with...
to their Vampire: The Masquerade
Vampire: The Masquerade
Vampire: The Masquerade is a role-playing game. Created by Mark Rein·Hagen, it was the first of White Wolf Game Studio's World of Darkness role-playing games, based on the Storyteller System and centered around vampires in a modern gothic-punk world....
line. The vanguard of White Wolf's "Year of the Lotus" theme (which created "Eastern" counterparts to all of their major product lines in the World of Darkness
World of Darkness
"World of Darkness" is the name given to three related but distinct fictional universes created as settings for supernatural horror themed role-playing games. It is also the name of roleplaying games in the second and third settings...
), this rich sourcebook is a stand-alone setting, requiring only secondary rules to be fully playable. The setting spans Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, allowing players to play the so-called Kindred of the East, vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
s of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
.
Overview
Characters in Kindred of the East (or Kuei-jin, as they call themselves) are vampireVampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
s as depicted in classical Japanese
Japanese mythology
Japanese mythology is a system of beliefs that embraces Shinto and Buddhist traditions as well as agriculturally based folk religion. The Shinto pantheon comprises innumerable kami...
, Chinese
Chinese mythology
Chinese mythology is a collection of cultural history, folktales, and religions that have been passed down in oral or written tradition. These include creation myths and legends and myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state...
, and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n Hindu
Hindu mythology
Hindu religious literature is the large body of traditional narratives related to Hinduism, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature, such as the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas. As such, it is a subset of Nepali and Indian culture...
, Taoist, Shinto
Shinto
or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...
and Buddhist mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
. Unlike the vampires traditionally associated with Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
or Caine, Kuei-jin were once mortals who died with the burden of unfulfilled Dharma
Dharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
or duties. Tortured in Yomi
Yomi
, the Japanese word for the underworld in which horrible creatures guard the exits; according to Shinto mythology as related in Kojiki, this is where the dead go to dwell and apparently rot indefinitely. Once one has eaten at the hearth of Yomi it is impossible to return to the land of the living...
for their inadequacies in life, their soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
s successfully escaped and returned to their bodies. Now half-alive and half-dead, Kuei-jin must live by stealing chi
Qi
In traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...
from mortal victims to sustain themselves while trying to fulfill their Dharma. The most convenient form chi can be stolen in is blood, leading to their vampiric tendencies, but they cannot create new vampires. Practically all Kindred distrust the Kuei-jin. The Kuei-jin are also known to war with the other sects for territory.
Themes
Kuei-jin are beings torn by inner conflict, and the themes of the game relate to this heavily. Unlike Western vampires, Kuei-jin are revenantGhost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
s and thus spiritual beings in nature.
Yin vs. Yang
The classic opposition of yin and yang are important to Kuei-jin not only for philosophical reasons, but because this dichotomy also delineates the two forms of chi they can potentially ingest. An imbalance of yin or yang chi in their system can lead to dire consequences. Yin-imbalanced Kuei-jin become corpselike zombieZombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
s suffering from a lack of emotion
Emotion
Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...
. At its worst, yin-imbalance reduces a kuei-jin to a Hopping corpse
Hopping corpse
A jiang shi, also spelled jiangshi or chiang-shih , and also known as a Chinese "hopping" vampire or zombie, is a type of reanimated corpses in Chinese legends and folklore. "Jiangshi" is read as Gangshi in Korean and Kyonshī in Japanese. According to legend, in the day, the jiangshi rests in a...
. Yang-imbalanced Kuei-jin suffer wild mood swings and impulsive lusts for food, sex, and other forms of stimulation. Possibly the strangest consequence of yang-imbalance is the ability to have or sire children. Such children are called dhampyrs, and are mortal half-vampires.
Hun vs. P'o
A Kuei-jin's stint in the hells of YomiYomi
, the Japanese word for the underworld in which horrible creatures guard the exits; according to Shinto mythology as related in Kojiki, this is where the dead go to dwell and apparently rot indefinitely. Once one has eaten at the hearth of Yomi it is impossible to return to the land of the living...
divides the mind into two Hun and po
Hun and po
Hun and po are types of souls in Chinese philosophy and religion. Within this ancient soul dualism tradition, every living human has both a hun spiritual, ethereal, and yang soul that leaves the body after death and a po corporeal, substantive, and yin soul that remains with the corpse...
parts: The Hun, or high mind, that is the seat of rational thought, and the P'o, or demon mind, that exists to satisfy its own base urges (usually at the expense of the Hun). As former wraiths
Wraith: The Oblivion
Wraith: The Oblivion is a role-playing game set in the afterlife of White Wolf Game Studio's World of Darkness. In the game, players take on characters who are recently dead and are now ghosts...
, a Kuei-jin has a splinter of the forces of Oblivion in its soul. While many Kuei-jin see their P'o as a curse, it is important to note that without the P'o, they would never have escaped hell in the first place. Furthermore, Kuei-jin who stifle and contain their P'o utterly become cold, calculating individuals who lack any ideological spark; such stagnancy can be devastating when the weight of karma (spiritual consequences of actions) is on one's shoulders.
Mortal vs. Spirit
The Kuei-jin stand between the mortal world (which they can never fully return to) and the spirit world (which they cannot fully embrace). Many Kuei-jin struggle to find a balance between these two worlds that suits the precise nature of their Dharma.Dharmas
A Kuei-jin's existence is a quest for enlightenment. In their search for karmic resolution, different Kuei-jin follow different paths to ease their karmic discomfort. The Dharmas, five philosophies accepted by the greater Kuei-jin community as potential paths, each emphasize a particular aspect of Kuei-jin existence:- The Howl of the Devil Tiger: The Dharma embracing the P'o.
- The Way of the Resplendent Crane: The Dharma embracing the Hun.
- The Song of the Shadow: The Dharma embracing Yin.
- The Path of a Thousand Whispers: The Dharma embracing balance.
- The Dance of the Thrashing Dragon: The Dharma embracing Yang.
In addition to these primary dharmas, a number of Heretical Dharmas have also come into existence. Not accepted in Kuei-jin society, these paths nevertheless find some followers:
- The Face of the Gods: A Dharma embracing both Hun and P'o.
- The Flame of the Rising Phoenix: A Dharma embracing both Hun and Yang.
- The Spirit of the Living Earth: A Dharma embracing both Yin and Yang.
- The Tempest of Inner Focus: A Dharma embracing balance.
- The Scorpion Eaters: A Dharma embracing the P´o, who can consume only Tainted Chi and yet are not Akuma.
Finally, some Kuei-jin turn their backs on enlightenment entirely, instead swearing fealty to the Yama Kings (the rulers of Yomi) to become Akuma, the demon people. Bartering their souls for power, Akuma enter Faustian deals with the Yama Kings and pursue only power.
The Middle Kingdom
Kuei-jin are the most visible shen (supernatural creatures) of the Middle Kingdom (modern AsiaAsia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
), but are not alone. Unlike Western Kindred
Vampire: The Masquerade
Vampire: The Masquerade is a role-playing game. Created by Mark Rein·Hagen, it was the first of White Wolf Game Studio's World of Darkness role-playing games, based on the Storyteller System and centered around vampires in a modern gothic-punk world....
, they have close ties with the spirit world. They must also compete with the hengeyokai (Shapeshifters of the East, as it were), mages
Mage: The Ascension
Mage: The Ascension is a role-playing game based in the World of Darkness, and was published by White Wolf Game Studio. The characters portrayed in the game are referred to as mages, and are capable of feats of magic...
, and gaki.
See also
- Hopping corpse
- List of Kindred of the East books