Sample file Credits Author: David Chart Cover Photograph: David Chart Interior Art: Dean Spencer, Infiniverse Stock

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This product was created under license from Ulisses North America. Torg Eternity, its respective logos, as well as Torg, Torg Eternity, Infiniverse, Possibility Wars, Storm Knight, Aysle, Cyberpapacy, Living Land, Nile Empire, Orrorsh, Pan-Pacfifica, Tharkold, and their respective logos, are trademarks of Ulisses North America. The title and contents of this book are protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval systems, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without written consent from Ulisses North America. This publication includes material that was produced by Ulisses North America and/or otherSample authors and which is protected under applicable copyright laws. Usefile of such material is granted under the Community Content Agreement for the INFINIVERSE EXCHANGE. All original content in this work is copyright 2018 by David Chart and published under the Community Content Agreement for the INFINIVERSE EXCHANGE.

2 Shinto is the traditional religion of , supplement has been written to reflect what venerating the countless that exist in Shinto is really like. However, this is a natural features, or are the spirits of eminent supplement for Torg Eternity, not an attempt people from the past or present. The kami are to accurately introduce Shinto to a Western traditionally divided into the Amatsukami, or audience. Things have been adapted, and kami of the , and Kunitsukami, or the elements of the game’s cosmology brought in. kami of the earth. Shinto also exists on Core This product does not attempt to distinguish Earth, but there the Amatsukami are refugees things that are accurate from things that are from another cosm, Takamagahara. They fled changed, or entirely made up. If you are one set of Possibility Wars many centuries ago, interested in learning more about what Shinto and now they face the same threat again. The is really like, I am writing a series of English Kunitsukami are no happier to see the essays to introduce it. You can find out more at invaders, and the kami are subtly pushing the https://www.mimusubi.com/ or priests and miko who intercede between them https://www.patreon.com/mimusubi and humanity to take a stand. Japanese Pronunciation “Good enough” Japanese pronunciation is easy HOW TO USE THIS BOOK for English speakers. Consonants are This book contains background material on pronounced as they are in English. Vowels are Shinto for Pan-Pacifica, in Torg Eternity. The always pronounced, although “u” is often very most obvious use for it is as background for a weak and almost silent. “A” is pronounced as Japanese character who practises Shinto; it in “bat”, “e” as in “bell”, “i” as a short “ee”, as contains background information, Perks, in “bee”, “o” as in “go”, and “u” as in “you”. Miracles, and an archetype. Such characters These vowels also exist in long forms, written would be happy to work with the Delphi “aa”, “e’e”, “ii”, “ō”, and “ū”. These are exactly Council, and could be sent to any front of the the same sound as the short vowels, just twice Possibility Wars, with characters from any as long. If two vowels come together, you other cosm. should pronounce the two sounds. Thus, A second use is to provide background and “hime”, which means “princess” and is a inspiration for adventures set in Pan-Pacifica. common element in kami names, is The kami are opposed to the invaders, so they pronounced “hee-meh”, with short vowels. are generally on the Storm Knights’ side, but “Harae”, the word for purification, is some are dangerous, and may be antagonists in pronounced “ha-ra-eh”. Ame-no-Uzume is particular adventures. Adventures involving “ah-meh-no-oo-zoo-meh”, not “Aim? No, you the kami are likely to have a more urban zoom”. fantasy feel than most Pan-Pacifica adventures, although hordes of infected could still appear at any moment.

A Note on Accuracy I have lived in Japan for almost fifteen years, am a Japanese citizen, and speak, read, and write fluent Japanese. I have practised Shinto forSample over a decade, and passed the highest level file Shinto exam set for lay people three years ago; as of this writing, fewer than 500 people in the whole of Japan have passed it. Thus, this

3 Over two thousand years ago the cosm of Takamagahara was attacked by possibility raiders. Its inhabitants fought hard in its defence, but they were overwhelmed. A small group were able to create something like a maelstrom bridge, the “Ame no Ukihashi”, or “Floating Bridge of ”, and escape across it to Core Earth. They arrived in the mountains of Kyūshū, in southern Japan, where the leader of the refugees, Ōmikami, negotiated with Ōkami, the leader of the kami of Japan. After long discussions, Ōkuninushi agreed that the refugees could stay, and that Amaterasu’s descendants could rule over Japan. In return, Amaterasu sent one of her other children to venerate Ōkuninushi at his sacred place of Izumo Ōyashiro, and promised to create sacred spaces where the kami of Core Earth, the Kunitsukami, would be venerated, just as the kami who had come from Takamagahara, the Amatsukami, were. The Amatsukami did not come empty- handed. They brought their reality with them, and the Axioms and World Laws of Takamagahara mean that Ōkuninushi may have got the better side of the deal.

THE LAW OF HARMONY The most important of the World Laws of Takamagahara is the Law of Harmony. This says that beings, and realities, work together without conflict, negotiating and reaching a consensus in which the strongest features of all are put to work for the benefit of all. The most important concrete effect of this is that Takamagahara always forms Mixed Zones, and these are always perfectly stable; reality storms are very rare within them. Even before the invasion of the cosm, the reality consisted entirely of Mixed Zones, although they were Mixed Zones of Takamagahara and nothing Sampleelse. This, obviously, confusedfile the Possibility Raiders, who were used to being able to impose their reality, but found that they couldn’t. The confusion was not enough to

4 allow Takamagahara to defeat the invasion, but Hokkaidō, and most of the jinja there were it was critical in enabling them to make their founded in the pre-War period when Shinto escape. was divided from the kami, and thus never On Core Earth, the effect of the pact had the reality of Takamagahara. between Amaterasu and Ōkuninushi was to In a Mixed Zone of Takamagahara and make most jinja, the sacred spaces of Shinto, Cyberpapacy, Shinto does not cause into Mixed Zones between Core Earth and contradictions. The Law of Harmony interacts Takamagahara. As Takamagahara has with the Law of the One True Way to make significantly higher Magic and Spirit Axioms Shinto part of the One True Way. Of course, than Core Earth, this gave the Kunitsukami a Shinto is a contradiction in an ordinary lot more power and influence. In fact, although Cyberpapacy Zone, even one that is mixed the kami are immortal, most of the with Core Earth or Aysle, and the Law of Kunitsukami have only vague and Heretical Magic is not affected in any way. contradictory memories of the time before the A further effect of this World Law is that pact, so it may have made the existence of the characters from any cosm may take Kunitsukami in their current form possible. Takamagahara Perks. The Mixed Zones are not bounded by stelae, but rather by the reach of the pact. If the THE LAW OF PURITY Emperor, the descendant of Amaterasu, were Purity is very important to Takamagahara, in effective control of Japan through meaning that things and people benefit from consensual government reaching down to all being clean and in the right place, and suffer levels, then the Mixed Zones would cover the when they are not. This also has an interesting whole country. That has, however, never been effect on beings from cosms that are not part of the case, as the situation has never been the Mixed Zone with Takamagahara; they are politically stable. In the years before World out of place, and so this World Law treats them War II some radical Shinto priests attempted to as impurities. create such a state, but they quickly began This has two game mechanical effects. First, trying to force agreement when they could not anyone who is a native of a cosm that is not build it easily, and their project collapsed into a part of the mix (normally Takamagahara and fascist polity that invaded Korea and China in Pan-Pacifica, although a number of jinja are the name of unity. Ōkuninushi disavowed the Core Earth hardpoints) causes contradictions project very early on, and Amaterasu more often. Any action is at least a one case abandoned it soon after, as did the rest of the contradiction, and it is a four case kami, leading to a situation where Shinto was, contradiction if the tool used exceeds the in a sense, the state religion, but that version of axioms of the Mixed Zone, even it it is under Shinto had no connection with the kami. the axioms of the character using it. A Core After the invasion, most jinja have become Earth character with the Adaptable Perk counts Mixed Zones of Pan Pacifica and are native to the area, and also gets the normal Takamagahara. This means that their Social benefit of the Perk. and Tech Axioms have increased slightly, but Second, gospog do cause contradictions in that things otherwise continue much as before. Takamagahara zones, and they are always four Jinja in a Mixed Zone become Mixed Zones of case contradictions. A gospog that disconnects three different realities: Pan-Pacifica, Core Sampleimmediately disintegrates intofile what-ifs. This Earth, and Takamagahara. This is very also affects the infected, although someone unusual, however; by Day 90 the only areas of who has not yet become a zonbi (the Japanese Japan that are in Mixed Zones are in northern for jiangshi) is cured of the infection by the

5 disconnection, rather than disintegrating. normally overwritten by the Axioms of the Rumours of this effect have begun to spread, shared reality, while the Magic and Spirit but because disconnection is uncertain and not Axioms normally override the other reality. all jinja are Mixed Zones (and the rumour Takamagahara’s Spirit Axiom is slightly sometimes links the effect to Buddhist unusual, in that despite being at 21, it does not Temples, which do not have this effect at all), it impose a single true religion. Gods of any remains no more than a rumour. Kanawa is religion may manifest corporeally within its starting to take an interest, however. zones, although the Law of Purity may mean that they cause contradictions by doing so THE LAW OF NAMES anyway. The last of Takamagahara’s World Laws is the Law of Names. Knowing something, or TAKAMAGAHARA someone’s, name gives you power over it, so NATIVES the natives of Takamagahara guarded their The Amatsukami are native to Takamagahara, names carefully. In game mechanical terms, if but no-one else is. Anyone who transforms in a you use someone’s name while taking an Takamagahara Mixed Zone transforms to the action that targets them, that action is Favored other reality. The nature of Takamagahara’s (the player may choose to reroll unless the first reality is such that its natives have no real result is a Mishap, but must take the second advantages over natives of other realities with roll). The targeted character (or thing) does not access to it; this is one reason why Ōkuninushi need to hear the name, although it must be may well have got the best of the deal. The spoken aloud, so this effect can even be used Amatsukami are not complaining, however. on stealthy actions. They have been sheltered for centuries after the For the purposes of the World Law, a name destruction of their home cosm, after all. is something that someone is called, and that applies to them specifically. Aliases and secret identity names all count, although a false name chosen on the spot that no-one actually uses to refer to the character would not. Similarly, a title that would apply to anyone in a particular situation does not count as a name. This world law has had a pervasive effect on Japanese culture, so that it is very rare to call superiors by their names. However, the reasons for this have been forgotten, and it is normally easy to find someone’s name out with a bit of research. AXIOMSSample file Takamagahara has a Magic Axiom of 19, a Social Axiom of 11, a Spirit Axiom of 21, and a Tech Axiom of 13. The Social and Tech Axioms are

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