Author Topic: The Secretive Mysterious Jade Court  (Read 11253 times)

Tbora

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Re: The Secretive Mysterious Jade Court
« Reply #15 on: November 22, 2010, 02:55:00 AM »
Something all of these builds seem to be forgetting is that according to Shiro, the Jades are big on honor and respect the records.

If their so close to the reds in mentality and physically why would they do this?

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Re: The Secretive Mysterious Jade Court
« Reply #16 on: November 22, 2010, 05:18:57 AM »
Don't see why that couldn't be true in most of these builds.

Offline devonapple

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Re: The Secretive Mysterious Jade Court
« Reply #17 on: November 22, 2010, 07:17:24 AM »
I wonder if spirit animals could be worked into their power set: affinities with dragons or lions perhaps, maybe even work in the Chinese Zodiac?
"Like a voice, like a crack, like a whispering shriek
That echoes on like it’s carpet-bombing feverish white jungles of thought
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Offline toturi

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Re: The Secretive Mysterious Jade Court
« Reply #18 on: November 22, 2010, 07:37:47 AM »
I wonder if spirit animals could be worked into their power set: affinities with dragons or lions perhaps, maybe even work in the Chinese Zodiac?
The real life Chinese Zodiac doesn't have a lion. Dragon and Tiger, yes, no lion.

Watch Jackie Chan Adventures.
With your laws of magic, wizards would pretty much just be helpless carebears who can only do magic tricks. - BumblingBear

Offline devonapple

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Re: The Secretive Mysterious Jade Court
« Reply #19 on: November 22, 2010, 07:41:04 AM »
Where does the Foo Lion come into the mythology?
"Like a voice, like a crack, like a whispering shriek
That echoes on like it’s carpet-bombing feverish white jungles of thought
That I’m positive are not even mine"

Blackout, The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets

Offline toturi

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Re: The Secretive Mysterious Jade Court
« Reply #20 on: November 22, 2010, 08:04:19 AM »
Where does the Foo Lion come into the mythology?
It is a mystical guardian beast. The lions statues you see outside chinese temples are supposedly Foo Lions. In the Dresdenverse, the Foo Dogs would be those lions.
With your laws of magic, wizards would pretty much just be helpless carebears who can only do magic tricks. - BumblingBear

Offline devonapple

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Re: The Secretive Mysterious Jade Court
« Reply #21 on: November 22, 2010, 08:07:59 AM »
According to a casual Google search, lions appear to be a component of Chinese mythology, even though they aren't in the Chinese zodiac.
"Like a voice, like a crack, like a whispering shriek
That echoes on like it’s carpet-bombing feverish white jungles of thought
That I’m positive are not even mine"

Blackout, The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets

Offline toturi

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Re: The Secretive Mysterious Jade Court
« Reply #22 on: November 22, 2010, 08:58:11 AM »
According to a casual Google search, lions appear to be a component of Chinese mythology, even though they aren't in the Chinese zodiac.
The real life Chinese Zodiac doesn't have a lion. Dragon and Tiger, yes, no lion.

Watch Jackie Chan Adventures.
Yes, which is what I said.
With your laws of magic, wizards would pretty much just be helpless carebears who can only do magic tricks. - BumblingBear

Offline MyNinjaH8sU

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Re: The Secretive Mysterious Jade Court
« Reply #23 on: November 22, 2010, 02:31:26 PM »
   Which brings up an interesting side question. Can you use feeding dependency as a Catch? I'm feeling too lazy to look it up.

Do you mean: they have to feed every so often or lose their abilities?

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Re: The Secretive Mysterious Jade Court
« Reply #24 on: November 22, 2010, 05:30:56 PM »
Do you mean: they have to feed every so often or lose their abilities?

That seems like an interesting and reasonable catch.

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"Like a voice, like a crack, like a whispering shriek
That echoes on like it’s carpet-bombing feverish white jungles of thought
That I’m positive are not even mine"

Blackout, The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets

Offline devonapple

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Re: The Secretive Mysterious Jade Court
« Reply #26 on: November 22, 2010, 07:05:53 PM »
In my SF/Chinatown DF game,  the Jade Court's efforts to take over Chinatown will be a Theme and perhaps a Threat.

I am liking the magic-eating ideas for the Jade Court. As for the jiangshi (the hopping, breath-stealing Chinese zombie/vampire), I may include them as mindless zombie servitors created only by the Jade Court.
"Like a voice, like a crack, like a whispering shriek
That echoes on like it’s carpet-bombing feverish white jungles of thought
That I’m positive are not even mine"

Blackout, The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets

Offline xiaolung

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Re: The Secretive Mysterious Jade Court
« Reply #27 on: November 22, 2010, 07:14:16 PM »
Links to some other Jade Court discussions:
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,15947.0.html

I was the creator of the above. I don't want to reprint the whole thing in this post (it was very long), but it has been many months since I posted these ideas. I still haven't worked up all the rules, but some ideas about Magic Drinking were thrown around here and that might make for a good add on. My Jade Court are a cross between Wizards and Vampires - I take a lot of the Chinese legends and transmogrify them into what I consider to be something new and unique, but still feels Asian.

I will put some of the rules up in the next few days. Until then, comments?

Offline devonapple

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Re: The Secretive Mysterious Jade Court
« Reply #28 on: November 22, 2010, 07:17:29 PM »
Some jiangshi lore indicates that sufficiently advanced jiangshi "evolve" into more intelligent flying undead with long white hair... perhaps the jiangshi serve as a supply of bodies to inhabit, leaving two classes of Jade Court: mindless hopping zombies, and creatures like Lo-Pan.
"Like a voice, like a crack, like a whispering shriek
That echoes on like it’s carpet-bombing feverish white jungles of thought
That I’m positive are not even mine"

Blackout, The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets

Offline devonapple

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Re: The Secretive Mysterious Jade Court
« Reply #29 on: November 22, 2010, 10:29:21 PM »
I've digested the various takes on Jade Court from this and other threads, and it comes down to six variants:

Hungry Ghosts, Simple: disembodied soul-eaters that swap bodies and consume the lifeforce at an accelerated rate
Hungry Ghost, Eldritch: ritual body-swappers that rely on phylacteries and command a very secretive organization
Magic-Eaters: corporeal humanoids who feed on magical energy from spellcasters and magical creatures
Naga: human-snake hybrids presumably with magical powers
Penanggalan: corporeal humanoids whose heads sprout wings and detach from the body at night (usually female)
Jiang Shi: mindless hopping, breath-stealing zombies

I could see setting up the Penanggalan and the Jiang Shi as the "Renfields" of the Jade Court: females who were half-turned by the Jade Court becoming monstrously long-tongued flying heads, and males becoming hopping zombies. There could probably be some Yin/Yang justification made; also, for the sake of gender equality, one could instead determine  that the Jiang Shi are the lower-level thug zombies of the Jade Court, with the Penanggalan serving as higher-level Renfields, rather than divided along gender lines.

As for the full Jade Court, I would probably go with the magic-eaters: they remain similar to the White Court in general makeup, and their magic-eating provides a brand-new set of challenges for the players.

Also, I'm not sure how crazy the author would get with the Jade Court were he ever to flesh it out in a book: my impression is that they would possess trappings and behaviors appropriate to their culture of origin, but remain somewhat Western in abstract morphology and function. He would stake out a vampiric role outside of the better-known vampire courts, perhaps along magical or intellectual lines. Possibly a great reverence for and/or reliance upon ancestor spirits.
« Last Edit: November 22, 2010, 10:38:40 PM by devonapple »
"Like a voice, like a crack, like a whispering shriek
That echoes on like it’s carpet-bombing feverish white jungles of thought
That I’m positive are not even mine"

Blackout, The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets