Moshu (moh-shoo)

"For a sentient being to act for the betterment of themselves is good. For the son to act for the betterment of his parents. For the father to act for the betterment of his family. All are actions of the upright being. When a sentient being acts with impropriety in his search for betterment, when he acts out of greed and avarice, and brings harm. When the actions of the son brings shame to his parents. When the actions of a father bring harm to his family. These are not the actions of the upright being. These are the actions of the low. The hateful. Those should be shunned by the lord. They should be shunned by the priest. By the farmer. The merchant. The butcher. For they are outside of society."

Sage, Tong Zhao-zi

A beautiful woman, clad in robes of the finest, elven silks, a maddened light gleaming in her eyes, stands in a darkened room deep in the recesses of her palatial manor house. The huli-jing drapes lasciviously around her shoulders and upper body. Its nine tails nearly enveloping her frame and chuckling wickedly as it whispers into her ear the latest gossip and most intimate secrets of her rivals.
A young half-elf, tears streaming down his face as his village burns around him, raises his hand and points it toward a group of rampaging soldiers. A burning orb of his own igniting in his outstretched palm. Grief and rage burn in his throat along with the smoke as he cries out to his oni patron, Mamian, to add its own wrath to his spell and it erupts with a hellish, red light ready to send his enemies' souls, screaming, into Diyu.
A middle-aged man kneels on a dirty, rowhouse floor. Books and scrolls, many of them of ancient, bound, bamboo strips, of forbidden lore spread out around him. His once-fine scholars robes are worn and tattered, inefficiently keeping out the chill as, with a shivering hand, he opens up the oldest of the bamboo scrolls, its edges stained with drying blood. Reading desperately as he prepares to call into the void to the nameless, primordial gods, for the knowledge and power he needs to reclaim his place in the Bureaucracy.
Cackling in an almost maniacal glee, a woman, her form bent with years of backbreaking labor and withered from years of malnourishment, kneels over a hole freshly dug in the floor of her hovel. With palsied hands, stained brown with both dirt and the tanning vats, she lifts a sealed, earthenware jug from the hole and prepares to greet her new spirit patron who will give her the power to gain a new life.
The Moshu are often seekers of forbidden or forgotten knowledge and lore. Many of them are desperate souls willing to make pacts with ancient and terrible creatures in exchange for the power they crave. Others create their own patrons out of greed or avarice or even sheer, mental acquisitiveness. Many of these can result in severe social and legal difficulties, even death, within the Empire if discovered.

Career

Qualifications

The only real qualification needed to take up the path of the Moshu is willpower. Without the willpower to back it up, all the greed, rage, or hatred in the world is worthless. Impotent. Like a lion battering itself against the inside of a cage trying to get free. The willpower is the key which opens the door so the animal inside can rampage.

Career Progression

Taking up the Moshu occupation is a dangerous proposition. Many of the paths can lead to societal shunning at the very least, and a quick visit to a headsman's block at the very worst. Therefore, Moshu tend to be solitary and secretive. The fewer who know about their proclivities, the better. This, of course, precludes any sort of organized system of ranks or other markers of progression. Indeed, much like the Huijin, the only marker to success is the continued mastery over their own magics.

Payment & Reimbursement

Many Moshu, those few of a more noble bent, pretend to be lay priests, hedge doctors, or hedge wizards in order to ply their trade in secrecy while still helping those around them. This is usually done in the meaner areas of an imperial city, perhaps among the buraku, or in rural villages far from any imperial centers. In this way, they may continue their studies away from the ever-watchful, imperial eyes, and still collect just enough to keep food in their bellies.

Other Benefits

There aren't many upsides to following the Moshu path aside from quick, and dirty, power.

Perception

Purpose

This occupation serves to entice those being who are desperate, foolish, wrathful, or are entirely too curious for their own good. This occupation is for those who crave a quick way to gain power for whatever reason. Mostly it draws in the desperate, sometimes it draws in those who simply wish to know things, even more rarely, it falls into the lap of some hapless fool who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Social Status

Most of the practitioners keep their doings a secret so there is no social status involved with this cursed occupation.

History

Once, long ago, religions and magic became organized, when most sentient beings were still running around in their tribal groups and trying to figure out how the world worked, the wu (shamans), were the intercessors between the world of the flesh and the world of the gods. Over time, as those sentient beings began developing more sedentary practices, such as farming and building houses, the religion, and the magics, began to become more codified and organized. Temples were built, scriptures were written, and the wu began to evolve into the Kamunushi and Miko. In the course of time, even the magic became ritualized through the Eight Thunders. Through the course of time and these events, the original position of the wu as the intermediaries between the people and the Shinkai, was lost and their status began to slide further down the pole and they were mostly lost.
They've managed to keep their place among the more tribal peoples of the empire, in particular among the Khumuus as the Poh or Otgan. Though among the majority of the empire and its peoples, the wu shamans gradually slipped away and disappeared.
Except they didn't. Not really. Some of them remain. Operating in the hinterlands as hedge witches, wise men, and village healers. While the wu as a viable occupation has mostly been subsumed by the standard priests and magic-users of the world, many of their bloodlines survived and their knowledge, very often without their wisdom, was passed down from one generation to the next. Many of their darkest secrets, ancient knowledge, and forbidden pacts, were either passed down to largely clueless descendants or were lost entirely. Waiting to be discovered by some hapless soul or someone desperate enough to seek them out.

Operations

Tools

The most important tool for the Moshu is their familiar spirit called a Shima. In a situation similar to legitimate priests and shamans, the Moshu gain access to their magics and spells through the Shima. Without it, they would be as powerless as any other normal, imperial citizen.

Provided Services

Due to the fact that they tend to masquerade as village healers, wise ones, and other hedge types, they tend to provide superficial healing through herbology and alchemy, divination, and services for he village as a whole.

Dangers & Hazards

The greatest hazard for this occupation is being discovered by law-makers for being what they are. In many place in the empire, practicing Moshu is a death sentence as much of the magic is known to be malevolent. Still other hazards are the risks of corruption through Kegare or losing control of an honestly malignant being.

Alternative Names

Majo (Daiin), Wupo, Monu, Wuyu, Gu (Dayang), Phu Thuy [fu-twi] (elven), Manyeo (dwarven)

Type

Arcane

Demand

There is no actual demand for this occupation.

Legality

This occupation definitely dances outside the bounds of legality. These are the people who are pacted with forbidden spirits like foxes, which are known to corrupt the user as they are corrupted in turn through the pact. Still others create or use legitimately malevolent spirits like the jincang used in the Gu rituals. Much of the magic acquired through these pacts are genuinely known to be harmful to both the person practicing them and the people around them. Therefore, when Moshu is discovered by the Powers That Be, it is always harshly punished as a show of consequence to the rest of the populace.

Other Associated professions

• Priest

Moshu Level Progression

This is the sorcerous class of the empire. The Moshu make contracts with forbidden or fell spirits in order to cast their magics. While quite possibly one of the more powerful casting occupations, their bond with proscribed spirits opens their souls up to being tainted. Moshu gain the following at Lesser First Rank:


Health Points: Moshu gains +5 Health.
Face: +0
Arts: Moshu gain one point and are Adept in the Kotodama and Rites Arts. Moshu also gain one point in each of the following Arts: Bluff, Inquiry, and Scholar Art: History.

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Rank	Attacks	Abilties
First Lesser	1	Ritual Casting, Kegare, Chigiru, Dynamic Casting, Curse
First Greater	1	-
Second Lesser	1	Exorcism
Second Greater	1	-
Third Lesser	1	-
Third Greater	2	-
Fourth Lesser	2	-
Fourth Greater	2	-
Fifth Lesser	2	Chigiru Aspect
Fifth Greater	2	-
Sixth Lesser	2	-
Sixth Greater	2	-
		Ritual Casting: starting at the Lesser First Rank, the Moshu can learn and cast some spells through rituals which allow them to connect with, and channel, the energies of the Shinkai. Their Contract Holder, Shima, holds the information of the proper rituals, formulae, and other esoteric ingredients needed to form the connection and channel the energies for their spells. They may cast any curse, exorcism, divination, or Shima spells which they have access to at any time, provided they are cast as rituals, and the requisite Qi cost is paid. Moshu may spend time crafting exorcism, curse, and Shima rituals onto paper charms. Once these spells are engraved into the paper, they become fulu or ofuda. In order to create fulu, the Moshu must pay half the Qi cost for the spell up front, and the second half when the spell is actually cast. This allows the caster to use these spells on the fly provided they have enough talismans and Qi in order to do so. The effects of the spell last in the fulu for a number of days equal to the caster's Kotodama rating. Moshu may cast curse spells through drugs or potions. Drugs and potions are more difficult to craft and require the cost of the spell +1 be paid up front. The effects of the spell last in the potion or medicine for a number of weeks equal to the caster's Kotodama rating.
		Chigiru: the Moshu chooses a Shima, a spirit patron with which to create a Contract (Chigiru or Qi). The Moshu forms a Contract with one of the forbidden spirits of the Shinkai. This Contract grants the Moshu a Boon, Kegare, and a list of Shima spells which may be cast as rituals.
		Obake: The Obake are the shapeshifting trickster spirits which dwell throughout the empire and feature in many of the most ancient, and enduring, stories and myths. They are well-known for playing tricks, bewitching mortals, and frightening them. Sometimes they are playful, sometimes they are malevolent, but because of this behavior, they are often called "witch animals." These are the spirits that are forbidden from Kamunushi to truck with, whether through ancient taboos, divine edict or through fear of corruption; corrupting and being corrupted, in turn. These are the kitsune (fox spirits), the mujina (badgers), the bake-tanuki (raccoon-dogs), nekomata and bakeneko (both cat spirits), as well as the kawauso (otter spirits) and snake spirits. Some oni, such as the onibaba, may be associated with the Obake, as well. Moshu who have an Obake as their Shima their illusion, bewitch, or shapeshift spells are counted as one Grade lower as far as Qi Point cost.
		Akuma: Though they are not necessarily all malevolent or even antagonistic to the mortal races, under the demon emperor, Mikaboshi, all akuma (or emo) consider themselves to be the enemies of Heaven. Most akuma tend to look upon the mortals with apathy or disdain at the very worst. Only torturing sinners because that is their job, but not taking any particular delight in the act. Though there are definitely those who fit the "demonic" stereotype, most reserve their torturous delight for any resplendent guests that happen to fall into their hands. Even oni may make their place in Diyu, often serving as chief torturers or elite guards to the rulers of the various hells, or to Yama, himself, Chief Judge of the Dead. Moshu who have an Akuma as their Shima may briefly imbue their spells with the torturous energies of one of the many Hells. For an extra point of Qi, the Moshu may add extra elemental damage to their spells equal to their Kotodama rating. That damage could come from the Hell of the Frozen Mountain, the Hell of Boiling Cauldrons, or the Hell of Flaying Knives. Only one type of damage may be picked each time the effect is added.
		Nameless Gods: known as the Kotoamatsukami or the Bietianshen, they are the nameless, primordial beings which existed before Creation. They are the very beings which began the act of Creation and only stopped once they realized it would limit themselves. As would the act of destroying what they had already wrought. Therefore, they abandoned their creation, designating one of their own, the weakest to finish it. However, once they saw its finished form, many among their number lusted after it. Wanting it for themselves. To their chagrin, they learned that attempting to wrest the creation from their children by force was not the way to go. As when Ame-no-Wakahiko, one of their number blinded by his desire, had taken on a name and was subsequently destroyed by one of the caretaker gods. From that time on, the Kotoamatsukami have worked behind the scenes trying to find where the gods' grip on the world is weakest and exploit that to take back what they so desire. The Moshu who accepts one of the Nameless Gods as their Shima may manifest a splinter of the knowledge of the Kotoamatsukami. Using this Aspect, the Moshu temporarily gains access to a Scholar Art of their choice or raises their Acuity Essence for the purposes of Vigilance checks or resisting illusions. The rating of the Scholar Art is considered to be equal to the Moshu's Kotodama.
		Gu Spirit: This patron spirit is quite possibly the most malefic of them all. It is not just about forming a bond with a spirit that may not have peoples' best interests at heart, either. This is a spirit that is actively created by a mortal with all understanding of exactly what they are doing and the type of being that they are bringing into the world. This is a being quite literally birthed of poison, malevolence, and hatred. As only a person that truly hated would dare to contemplate bringing a gu spirit into being. This ritual is infamous for having its origins among the strange peoples far to the south, the Ayattha, and brought into the empire-proper during the Kami Daisenso. This spirit is created by taking living representatives of the Five Poisons (snakes, spiders, toads, centipedes, and scorpions) and sealing them into a clay jar on the fifth night of the fifth month and burying them for the rest of that month. When uncovered, the resulting spirit will be the survivor, having devoured the others. This spirit is called jincan, “gold silkworm,” and has all the malice and poison of the five concentrated into its form. It is a shapeshifting spirit and spends most of its time in the Shinkai attached to its “master,” and only manifesting when ready to strike. That being said, there are other ways of inheriting the gu spirit. Some have had them placed upon them as a curse by a hated rival or spiteful lover. Others have been tricked into taking on the spirit by accepting a rich gift in which the gu container was disguised. The Moshu who has the Gu Spirit as their Shima exude an undetectable miasma 10' around them which makes people around them more receptive to the caster. The Moshu gains a +2 to Elegance rolls with an Adept Rank to Sway. Before playing this class, keep in mind that some of the most heinous punishments in the Middle Empire are reserved for those found practicing this fell sorcery. Especially upon fellow imperial citizens.
		Kegare: or Buchun are overall terms for a state of spiritual defilement. Using the magic from the Shima can result in Kegare which can have dire consequences for the Moshu over time if they allow this defilement to build up within their soul. A few points of Kegare result in relatively small consequences like such as bad luck. Subsequent buildup of Kegare can result in greater misfortune and hardship up to physical deformities or even becoming a yokai. Kegare is gathered when the Moshu attempts to cast their magic and rolls an Unlucky Number. Whether the roll is a botch or not is inconsequential, the caster garners at least a point of Kegare. If the roll was a botch, they gain a number of Kegare Points equal to the spell's Grade.
		Dynamic Casting: following the rules for Dynamic Casting, the Moshu is able to cast their magic on the fly, without a prepared spell.
		Curse: through Dynamic Casting, a Moshu may cast curse magic at any time so long as they have the required number of Qi Points in their Pool to be able to cast. Cursing is one of those magics which the Moshu is able to cast very easily. Spell Properties cost the Moshu one point less for each modification. The Moshu may also take Kegare Points in lieu of using Qi Points to shape their curses. Each point of Kegare taken in this way counts as 3 Qi Points for the purposes of purchasing spell Properties.
		Exorcism: at Lesser Second Rank, the Moshu gains the power to exorcise a spirit possessing a person, place, or thing. First, the Moshu rolls their Judgment + Rites in order to set up the ritual space. If successful, the exorcist may continue the rite. If a Lucky Number is rolled, the difficulty of the next task is reduced by -2. The Moshu then rolls their Diligence + Kotodama versus the spirit's Balance Attribute. If successful, the Moshu rolls for damage equal to their Diligence + the die. This damage is taken away from the spirit's Qi (hit points, in this instance). If the Moshu fails their Kotodama roll, lose a number of Qi points equal to the spirit's Yang Attribute. If the Moshu loses all of their Qi, they fall unconscious and the spirit stays. If the spirit loses all its Qi, then its grip on whatever it is possessing is weakened and it must flee its host. Whatever that may be.
		Chigiru Aspect: as Lesser Fifth Rank, the Moshu gains an Aspect of their Shima. For the Obake, that is Beguiling Mirage: beginning at Lesser Fifth Rank, the Moshu creates illusory duplicates of themselves, confusing opponents and making it nearly impossible to determine the true caster among their illusory clones. For the Akuma, that is Oni's Feast: starting at Lesser Fifth Rank, the Moshu gains the ability to mimic the insatiable appetite and eating abilities of the oni. The caster briefly grows large fangs which distend their jaws. The teeth do 3d6 damage. When the Moshu successfully bites an enemy, she can swallow a chunk of their flesh as a free action. From this flesh, she may either regain Health Points equal to the damage done or gain a physical empowerment in keeping with the enemy's abilities or gain some knowledge which the enemy knew. While the teeth remain for up to an hour, the Feast is usable only once. For the Nameless Gods, that is Oracular Delirium: starting at Lesser Fifth Rank, the Moshu opens their mind to their unknowable masters and gleans forbidden knowledge of future events from the maddening torrent of information flooding their minds. The Moshu makes a Judgment + Meditation roll. On a success, the caster's mind is filled with visions both glorious and maddening. These visions grant them extra d6's they may use with any three rolls. For the next hour after the using this Aspect, the caster is Bewildered. For the Gu Spirit, that is Twist the Insides: beginning at Lesser Fifth Rank, the Moshu may cause another creature to feel the pain upon them twisting in the creature's guts. When the caster takes damage, they may use their reaction to inflict that pain upon the creature that just attacked them. Though it takes no damage, the creature must succeed on a Vigor roll or be incapacitated for the next round.