2552-Sample.Pdf

TM Sample file 2 KINDRED OF THE EAST CREDITS Original Concept and Design: Robert Hatch Additional Design: Phil Brucato, Jackie Cassada, Mark Cenczyk, Nicky Rea Authors: Justin Achilli, Phil Brucato, Jackie Cassada, Mark Cenczyk, Richard E. Dansky, Robert Hatch, Ian Lemke, Nicky Rea, Ethan Skemp Developer: Robert Hatch Editor: Ed Hall Art Director: Lawrence Snelly Layout and Typesetting: Robby Poore Logo Design: Ash Arnett Front and Back Cover Design: Lawrence Snelly Runchuu Typeface: Ash Arnett and Robby Poore Interior Art: Andrew Bates, Tim Bradstreet, Matt Clark, Mike Danza, Guy Davis, Tony Diterlizzi, John Estes, Jason Felix, Darren Frydendall, Michael Gaydos, Doug Alexander Gregory, Rebecca Guay, Tony Harris, Leif Jones, Karl Kerchel, Eric Lacombe, Vince Locke, George Pratt, Robby Poore, Steve Prescott, Andrew Ritchie, Matt Roach, Andrew Robinson, Alex Sheikman, Ray Snyder, Ron Spencer, Jill Thompson, Melissa Uran, John Van Fleet, Karl Waller Book Design: Lawrence Snelly and Robby Poore Calligraphy: Andy Lee © 1998 White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden, except for the purposes of reviews, and for blank character sheets, which may be reproduced for personal use only. White Wolf, Vampire the Masquerade, Vampire the Dark Ages and Mage the Ascension are regis- tered trademarks of White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Werewolf the Apocalypse, Wraith the Oblivion, Changeling the Dreaming, Werewolf the Wild West and Kindred of the East are trademarks of White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. All characters, names, places and text herein are copyrighted by White Wolf Publishing, Inc. The mention of or reference to any company or prod- uct in these pages is not a challenge to the trademark or copyright concerned. This book uses the supernatural for settings, characters and themes. All mystical and supernatural elements are fic- tion and intended for entertainment purposes only. Reader discretion is advised. SampleCheck out White Wolf online at: file http://www.white-wolf.com, alt.games.whitewolf and rec.games.frp.storyteller TM CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: BEHIND THE WALL 4 CHAPTER ONE: THE HUNGRY DEAD 18 CHAPTER TWO: THE SECOND BREATH 46 CHAPTER THREE: THE TEN THOUSAND THINGS 74 CHAPTER FOUR: FORCES IN THE LAND 98 CHAPTER FIVE: ARTS OF THE KUEI-JIN 132 CHAPTER SIX: THE MIDDLE KINGDOM 152 HAPTERSampleEVEN TORYTELLING file C S : S 186 CHAPTER EIGHT: RIVALS AND BARBARIANS 198 4 KINDRED OF THE EAST Sample file INTRODUCTION: BEHIND THE WALL 5 Sample file 6 KINDRED OF THE EAST Introduction: Behind the Wall He steps into the boiling night. Tokyo neon shines on Spanish leather. With a smirk, he eyes the gaudy skyscape and chuckles at the reedy streetsong whine. The little monkeys had done a marvelous job of copying everything that was tacky and soulless in the West. Prime feeding ground. His mind’s eye dancing with samurai flicks, the Ventrue crosses Naka Meguro Street. Tiny people in bright colors make way for the stranger. None poses any threat. Behind this man lies the weight of centuries, a Cainite’s strength and the power of a clan. So easy. A whistling song cuts through his reverie. And his neck. The pavement leaps up to meet the Cainite’s gaze, then becomes a blur of near and far, street and sky, until a bit of trash brings the panorama to a halt. From a distance, he hears his body spasm and fall. A flash. A sizzle behind him. The smell of cooking meat. Across the street, he feels a hot blade dice him into quarters. One final sizzle as the heart dies. Five hundred years die with it. No one notices. “Konnichi-wa, gaijin,” says a young man’s voice. “Welcome to my home.” While living Be a dead man, Be thoroughly dead — And behave as you like, And all’s well. — Zen Master Bunan For thousands of years, the Kindred have ravaged the World of Darkness. Claiming descent from the First Murderer, Caine, The Middle KingdoM these parasites have riddled Old and New World alike. The Westerners have long spoken of Asia’s exoticism, of its alien Children of Caine influence, subvert and pervert the highest ways and rules. In the World of Darkness, they are correct, more echelons of mortal government, economics and culture. Noth- so than they realize. The Asian World of Darkness is referred ing, they claim, escapes their corrupting touch. to as the Middle Kingdom by its supernatural denizens, and in They are wrong. many ways it is truly a world unto itself. One realm eludes their clutches: the ancient land of Asia. On the surface, the Middle Kingdom resembles the rest of Although Asia offers unthinkable riches and oceans of blood, the World of Darkness. The same ambience of decay and gloom Kindred who come here do so fearfully. Since the nights of the shrouds it, highlighting its most sinister aspects. The major galleons, Western vampires’ attempts to exploit this land have cities are overcrowded hives choked with faceless, impersonal met with dismal and horrific failure. skyscrapers, anonymous hordes of frantic workers, vice tongs, For another sort of vampire rules Asia’s nights. These and teeming, disease-infested slums. In the countryside, rural folk vampires scorn the myth of Caine — for they are cohorts of hack a subsistence living — if that — from trackless jungles and spirits and demons. Not for them are the indulgences of gen- defoliant-saturated craters, all the while praying for protection eration — respect, power and age are privileges to be earned. from the monsters and spirits they know exist just out of sight. Their curse is not a random, pointless Embrace, but a karmic In the Middle Kingdom, it is all too easy to step around the near- debt to be repaid. Their Beast is not a mindless adversary, but est corner or the next bend in the road, then simply…vanish. Samplea double-edged weapon. And, as the Kindred have learned to In many areas, dictators grindfile their subjects to paste under their dismay, their Eastern counterparts have developed fearful gun butts and tank treads. Every year, thousands of people simply powers and arcane arts. disappear, never to be heard from again. Government “facilities” Kindred of the East is a sourcebook detailing the unique and political prisons are veritable abattoirs; once interned, no vampires indigenous to the Orient: their society, their wars, one emerges to tell tales. Ancient families and secret societies their environment, their duties and, above all, their reaction manipulate entire economies from behind screens of honor and to the Western incursion. Before we address the vampires of propriety, while family vendettas from the days of emperors and the East, however, a few notes about their world are in order. samurai are settled in boardrooms and back alleys alike. Most .

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