Though everyone knows that supernatural effects are possible depending on the phase of the moon, few people know which phases are the “Magic” phases. The relevant phases constantly shift according to a schedule that’s as hard to foretell as the weather. The GM determines the schedule, but generally speaking, Magic functions flawlessly one day in four.
Even when Magic isn’t ascendant, abilities and creatures related to Magic can sometimes still be encountered. However, they are tentative, pale, and weak.
On Earth, Edo eventually became the city of Tokyo.
Edo was historically referred to as the
“Venice of the East.”
2
RECURSIONS: SAMURAI SKY
Karou Choko Tanenaga: Another Karou living on the grounds of Edo Castle, Tanenaga is charged with keeping trade active and fair, a job that she has managed amazingly well. During one of her tours to an outlying province beyond Edo city, Tanenaga chanced across an “explorer from another land” who showed her how the Nihon she lived in was merely jumbled stories reflected from a higher reality. Tanenaga gained the spark, but not the means to translate.
Since then, she has concentrated on finding a way to break free of the prison that her world represents, and she has become increasingly reckless with each failure. Lately Tanenaga is exploring methods for collapsing the recursion altogether, beginning with the assassination of the Shogun. Aiding her is a secret cabal of a few other Karou she’s been able to suborn, as well as entities from the Northeast Quarter.
The Shogun: The Shogun, who is none other than Edo’s original founder, Ieyasu Tokugawa, has survived many generations longer than a normal person. Those under him attribute his longevity to the grace of the gods. Few have a mile (2 km) wide. The grand residences of
many Karou and their attendant samurai are built on the grounds, as well as quarters for thousands of officials and castle servants. A marvelous garden can also be found here, one with walkways, bridges, ponds, and exotic trees.
The Shogun’s residence is the most impressive structure of all.
Karou Akita Hirotomo: Anyone who brings official business before the Shogun must deal with a Karou first, usually Hirotomo and a section of samurai under his command.
Hirotomo might pass a particularly important message upward or deal with it himself, depending on the situation.
Like the Shogun, Hirotomo enjoys an unnaturally long life owing to a mysterious event that occurred in “the old days” (as described under the Shogun’s entry). Despite more than a hundred years of loyalty, Hirotomo is considering the whispers of a few secretly seditious Karou, including Choko Tanenaga, who teach that reality is a lie and that everyone is trapped in an illusion.
Karou Tanenaga: level 4, tasks related to perception as level 6; katana melee attack inflicts 6 points of damage; usually carries a few random cyphers Karou Hirotomo: level 4, tasks related to civil administration as level 6;
katana melee attack inflicts 6 points of damage; long-range revolver attack inflicts 4 points of damage; returns to life a few days after being killed Samurai: level 4, initiative tasks as level 6; health 15;
Armor 1; katana melee attack inflicts 5 points of damage (or 7 points if the samurai made the first attack on a foe)
Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa:
level 6, tasks related to civil administration and pleasant interaction as level 7; melee attack with Kusanagi (sword artifact) inflicts 8 points of damage;
returns to life a few days after being killed
The Shogun is usually protected by two or three elite samurai at all times.
SHINAGAWA
Several areas of Edo conduct lively commerce, but the quarter known as Shinagawa contains the most popular shops and inns. Because Edo is a destination, travelers are common, and Shinagawa does its best to lure them with parties, festivals, and welcoming
establishments. If one wishes to conduct trade, buy something peculiar, make a deal with ronin, or have a good time in Edo, Shinagawa is the place to visit.
Imperial Ryokan: This inn has a public house where drinks and food are served as well as communal baths and tatami-matted rooms for travelers. It is one of the best places in Edo to hear gossip, make connections to the locals, and have a good time. The proprietor, Matsudaira, is reputed to have been a brigand who became a merchant. Whether true or not, people are afraid to cross him. Despite his white hair, he still stands almost 7 feet (2 m) tall.
Nobunori’s Electric Marvels: One of the most popular shops in Shinagawa sells technological marvels such as revolvers, electric fans, batteries the size of gallon milk jugs, and more. Nobunori is rarely around—in fact, she’s available to talk with customers only when Magic is high because she is a mythological creature known as an enenera. When Standard Physics is high, she usually takes the form of a piece of equipment in her store. Like many mythological creatures, she is fascinated by marvels of science.
Fortunes Told: A fortune teller wrapping himself in colorful fabrics wanders the
Shinagawa quarter, offering to tell the fortunes of those he meets, for a price. He isn’t a native of Edo, but a recursor from Earth on the run from those who’ve sworn vengeance against him.
Everyone in Samurai Sky knows him as Tengen (short for “fortune teller”), but on Earth he was known as Michael Crawford. To safeguard his position in an Earth organization, he employed tactics to make himself seem indispensable, no matter which of his friends he had to betray.
In the end, his deeds were discovered. The organization he sought to remain a part of put a price on his head. Unfortunately for Crawford, complaints with the Shogun, as he is fair in his
decrees and generous to those of every class.
On the other hand, he is also known for never allowing laws to be bent. He has ordered Karou and others beneath him to commit seppuku rather than make an exception to the rules because of extenuating circumstances.
Before the founding of Edo, Tokugawa and three others (including Hirotomo) encountered an oni during a phase of the moon when Magic swirled. The oni and its horde of a hundred brigands attacked the group, but the swordplay and superior tactics of the defenders kept the attackers at bay. Enraged, the oni called upon fell spells, attempting to rip the life from the four and feed it to the brigands.
Possibly because of the relic artifact carried by Tokugawa, the spell rebounded. It was the oni and the brigands who died, and in so doing, their life force was magically infused into Tokugawa and his three companions. Now, when any of the four die, that life is instead debited against the one hundred and one extra lives given to the group. When all of those lives are used up, the original four will finally die a normal death.
Elite samurai: level 5, initiative tasks as level 6;
health 18; Armor 2; katana melee attack inflicts 6 points of damage (or 8 points if the samurai made the first attack on a foe Seppuku is ritual suicide.
Matsudaira: level 5; health 25; melee bokken (wooden sword) attack inflicts 7 points of damage Nobunori (enenera): level
3, stealth tasks as level 7, knowledge of myths as level 5; health 12; can transform between immaterial smoke, an inanimate object, and a kimono-wearing woman armed with a katana that inflicts 4 points of damage;
for details, see The Strange Bestiary, page 50 Tengen: level 3, tasks
related to deceit and pleasant social interaction as level 5; learns one random fact about a person or location within short range that is pertinent to a topic he designates