WIP PACT DICE: Oni Mage

Never be predictable.

Oni mages are those who deal with or try to replicate

the Oni, the faction of Others that rose in rebellion
against Practitioners and modern practice convention.

Their revolution was unsuccessful in the end but

throughout it and after it was over the Oni have
continued to buckle regular Practice convention and
definition. Breaking Patterns instead of reinforcing
them, refusing classification and symbolism.

The Oni themselves are divided into 22 sects, though

the sects aren’t fully hierarchical Top Down structures,
stronger and older Oni have more sway with their sect,
Onis outside their sect, and practitioner society as a
whole.

Oni mages are either members of families that have

managed to reestablish contact with the Oni in the
years since the war, have managed to get an individual
patron, or have reverse engineered some Oni practice
through an Oni Item.

Suggested Schools: …
Relevant & Related: Oni
Hella Fan Doc
 Placement & Setup (Super WIP)
Because Onis are divided into various sects, each with their own focus
and goal, and even within these sects the Onis have a multitude of
approaches, placing the Oni Mage on one square is difficult. Instead we’ve
opted to try and put each sect into a single square, and then allow them to
slide in the column or row, but even this turns out to be quite hard. The
assumed sects are:
Sword Skull
Wand Knive
Ring Mask
Talisman Coffer
Stone Emblem
Banner Coin
Tome Scepter
Plate Lens
Chain Chalice
Staff Chakram
Lantern Trumpet

The assumed placements are:

Conflict Deals Visceral Immaterial Divine
Scepter? Mask? Coffer?
Conjure Banner Lantern
Coffer? Trumpet? Scepter?
Prices Coin? Mask?
Tools Sword Emblem? Talisman?
Realms Staff? Staff? Plate? Plate?
Trumpet?
Interact Knive Coin? Wand? Wand? Chalice
Wand?
Lore Tome? Tome? Lens
Protect Chakram? Chains Skull?
Red = have specific sections dedicated to them in this doc.
 Core Practices
Oni Mages have one primary practice they all share and one supportive
practice they can choose to take, aside from these two all other practices
are spread over the various sects.

Core
Break Pattern

Break Pattern: A list of known subversions a Oni Mage has access to.
Through the investment of time the mage can intertwine these subversions
with practices that do not have them.

Supporting
Ofuda

Ofuda: Instead of intertwining subversions with practices, one can choose

to craft Ofuda that apply the effect and then burn out. These Ofuda could
also be used as materials in the creation of Oni Tools.
 Core Practice: Break Pattern
The Practice: What defines an Oni mage is not any specific subversion of
practice, but the application of subversions in new and surprising ways.
Break Pattern as a Practice is a grab bag collection of subversions an Oni
Mage has access to. These Subversions get distributed over their other
Practices at character creation and whenever they invest time to
interweave a subversion in a spell. New practices learned from non-Oni
sources do not usually start with a subversion.

Attaching a new subversion to a Practice is a trade off, though. The more

subversions are attached, the more the expectation of a subversion
becomes the norm. Subversions become more easily spotted and well
known, losing their effectiveness. A subtle balance needs to be
maintained.

This is not a mechanical malus per se, though if you really make it too easy
for the Spirits to predict you, they might impose one, but it's definitely an
emergent malus. If every spell you have has the exact same subversion
like “Overshadow” and nothing else, the Spirits will know what to expect,
they only have to keep track of a single thing. If you only throw a right
punch the spirits will be bored, only by mixing it up can you really excite
them and have Break Pattern function as a bonus instead of a malus.

See compendium for more predefined subversions and explanations of

how they might work interwoven into different types of spells.

On Interweaving Subversions with Spells:

An important thing to note is that how subversions and spells interact, is
usually determined at interweave time. Sometimes, no clear way exists for
the spell and the subversion to interact, and the GM is free to allow or
disallow the proposed solution to this. The amount of slack to be given in its
effect depends on execution of the subversion and practice, and can also
be influenced by Claim, Coup, Karma, and the GM’s discretion.

If you’re in your demesne, for example, the Anti Practice might damage
practice on top of regular damage, despite at interweaving time the GM
ruling that it will damage practice instead of dealing regular damage.

Advancement: There are two clear cut ways one might advance with this
practice, researching new subversions and intertwining new practices with
subversions. Each graceful use of a subversion is also expected to give a
tiny boost to all future usages of this subversion (across all practices its
applied to)

Variables: this practice may vary depending on the practitioner’s abilities

and knowledge.
Puissance - Puissance dictates the raw power of the average
subversion. How much damage to claim does “Hostile Takeover”
deal?
Access - Access informs the amount of subversions you have
added to your other Practices to start with and the ease of adding
new ones.
Longevity - Dictates how long subversions stick and how hard
they are to see through.

Executions - Influences the different Subversions you have to

distribute. Do you just know “Overshadow”? Or have you learned
more varied subversions?
 Dabbling

Dabbling in Oni practices is certainly possible, and often happens without

the practitioner even being fully aware of it. Oni arrange for tools to fall into
the practitioner’s hands or for some lesson to be taught to them, without
them being aware of the origin, and further tend to steer these
practitioners on collision course with enemies of the Oni where this taught
lesson or given tool will be pivotal.

In general these dabblings take the form of one of the below mentioned
Sect spells, rather than the above mentioned Core spells. Learning Break
Pattern is a strong indicator to the World that the practitioner is in fact a
full fledged Oni Mage, and their former practice is just a relic of their past
that they still dabble in.

Many of the below mentioned spells contain in them references to being

able to choose the interwoven Subversions, dabbler tend to learn the spell
with a predetermined subversion baked in, and be unable to alter this. An
unknowing dabbler might not even be aware of its nature as a subversion
at all. Generally speaking, the Break Pattern subversion is not included in
these spells, as this is more intrinsic to the Oni Mage than the practices.
 Sword Sect: Core Practices
The Practices that define the Sword Sect. The player may choose these to
replace any Conflict x Tools Practice or take all four to be a full time Oni
Mage. Remember that each of these always has a Break Pattern
Subversion.

Conflict
Paint Weapon Strange Roads

Tools
Sword of
Sword of Hunger
Whispers

Paint Weapon (Sword/Missile): A technique for applying an interwoven

subversion to a weapon as you attack with it. The method of activating a
specific subversion is chosen at the time the subversion is interwoven with
this spell, but the particular weapon/attack to apply it to is flexible. The
methods are intended to happen during the attack action, and the effect
does not usually persist for more turns.

Example: “Overshadow” is interwoven with the spell, and the chosen

method is drawing a recognizable shadow rune in the air whenever a
weapon is thrown. “Seal: Limb” is chosen and the method is slapping an
empty piece of paper on the weapon as you try to strike with. Then during
combat, a subversion can be activated by the chosen method.

Strange Roads (Breach): Travel through Subversive Roads. Traveling

Overshadow is a straightforward example of how this might work, but
traveling through the claim one has to their weapon, or to claim they have
on their thralls is also possible if those subversions are interwoven with
this spell. More Abstract and powerful effects might need specific
preconditions to be allowed.
Sword of Whispers (Weapon): A weapon (not a sword per se) and a
patron in one, whispering guidance that only its bonded practitioner can
hear. Sometimes the weapon comes with its own internal goals,
sometimes the weapon is purely interested in aligning their owner with the
glorious Oni revolution, sometimes the weapon just wants a good time or
to train you up.

The weapon grows in strength as victories are earned and subversions are
executed, learning its own tricks independent of the Owner’s Break Pattern
practice. At certain Milestone achievements, they can start trying to
prompt a meeting between their owner and their creator. An event that can
go in many, many ways.

Sword of Hunger (Knickknacks): If the Sword of Whispers uses its

mouth to speak, this one uses its mouth to eat. A weapon or tool that is
able to eat immaterial things like claim and knowledge, as well as material
things like flesh and metal. It compresses what it eats into more valuable
and easier to work with forms, the longer something is stored within it the
more valuable it becomes.

Artisans and crafters of weapons and tools usually have ways to extract
what has been eaten and will be more than happy to pay you to do this or
trade items and weapons to you for this right.

As it eats the weapon grows hungrier and hungrier, if its hunger is not fed
it will start consuming your things. Having it puke up whatever is in its
stomach (the above mentioned extraction) is the only way to reset its
hunger.
 Lantern Sect: Core Practices

The Practices that define a Lantern Sect Mage. The player may choose
these to replace any Visceral Practice or take all four to be a full time Oni
Mage. Remember that each of these always has a Break Pattern
Subversion.

Visceral
Revolutionary Illuminating
Fire Light

Conjure
Shadow Call Black Sun

Revolutionary Fire (Battery): A track is kept of each Subversion

intertwined with this Practice. Each time the Subversion is used to a
certain standard of innovation or effectiveness, based on the GM’s
judgment and the spell’s Pale, increase a counter specific to that
subversion. The counter can be burned in the lantern to increase the effect
of the given subversion for a time determined by longevity.

Example: Overshadow is intertwined with the battery. Since this has

happened the GM has ruled 3 effective or innovative usages of the
Subversion. A difficult encounter is happening and thus the Mage decides
to burn those 3 stacks of Shadow Subversions, and the GM rules that for
the next 7 turns the shadows are more willing to bend to the practitioner’s
desires as if they were in their demesne.

Illuminating Light (Shape): Choose a subversion intertwined with this

practice, through the use of an action, this subversion can be temporarily
fed as fuel to another Practice or applied to an Item or Other. The
subversion can only be seared on one Practice, Other, or item at a time,
though frequent use on the same target might result in a permanent
intertwining on this target, even after the spell ends.

Shadow Call (Soldier): The Lantern casts a shadow. From that shadow
call forth a minion. Apply one interwoven subversion to the casting itself,
and give the summon an interwoven subversion.

Black Sun (Shake): Choose a subversion intertwined to this Practice aside

from “Break Pattern”. Increase the intensity of the Lantern, the chosen
subversion is applied to all things within its Light. Depending on the
Subversion this might take different forms, but those forms are determined
when the subversion is intertwined with the practice, not when the practice
is used.

Example: If Overshadow is chosen, all attacks function Overshadow as

long as the practice is active. If Practice Damage is chosen, all practice
touched by the light is damaged.

General: Many of these spells mention “The Lantern”, this does not have
to be a literal lantern. A Trumpet works just as well, the Black Sun instead
becoming the Revolutionary Melody, Shadow Call could become Echo
Call, etc.

In fact it does not even really need to be an item, it just needs to be a

predefined way of projecting into space. Lanterns, Instruments, Evocative
Dances, or a bound Echo that is itching to project itself. All these options
are fine but the method is predefined, though high access might give some
slack in this regard.
 Chalice Sect: Core Practices

The Practices that define the Chalice Sect. The player may choose these
to replace any Divine x Interaction Practice or take all four to be a full time
Oni Mage. Remember that each of these always has a Break Pattern
Subversion.

Divine
Poisoned Chalice Raise a Cup

Interact
Rule of Byzantine Intoxicating
Discourse Fumes

Poisoned Chalice (Mend): A mending spell activated by drinking from a

special chalice or splashing the liquids from a chalice on a target. The
healing comes with a hidden subversion however, and because the
subversion is activated by digestion (or “digestion” in the case of objects),
it defaults to being much stronger but slower to activate.

Example: An intertwined Hostile Takeover subversion might see you build

claim stacks on the targets self, after enough of these stacks the target
becomes your thrall. An Overshadow subversion might see the Target’s
shadow grow weak and feeble as if cursed, ready to be snatched up or
damaged through immaterial attacks.

Raise a Cup (Appeal): The Chalice is raised, a number is said, the liquid is
spilled. A subversion must be brought to pass in the named number of
turns. If this fails, count coup against yourself, if it succeeds, boost the
subversion. If the Spirits decide that despite announcing it, the subversion
was unexpected and innovative, boost it a lot.

Subversion here is not a mechanical subversion per se, an unexpected

move from an odd angle counts too. The extra attention of the spirits might
crystalise this move into a new addition to your Break Pattern list.

Intoxicating Fumes (Obscure): The fumes that rise from your Chalice
cause minor hallucinations of spirits and shadows, delivering the
weakened effect of an interwoven subversion. The hallucinations have a
hidden use though, as you are hidden from sight you slip away to another
realm.

Rule of Byzantine Discourse (Pacify): A rule of discourse that can be

used to lie or deflect. Usually these rules are pretty restricted. Rather than
“if X condition is met, I can lie”, they tend to take the shape of “if X
condition is met, I MUST lie.”

The stacking of multiple conditions in byzantine layers is possible to make

this system harder to crack. The more you do so, however, the more it
inflicts a malus on your practice, as the Spirits suddenly have a washlists
of conditions they must pay extra attention to and confuse themselves.

General: Many of these spells mention “The Chalice”, this does not have
to be a literal Chalice. Alchemical Potion containers or other items that can
hold liquid (or food) work fine too. Using your own body as the chalice and
doing the practices in a more… evocative manner works too
 Chain Sect: Core Practices

The Practices that define the Chain Sect. The player may choose these to
replace any Deals x Protect Practice or take all four to be a full time Oni
Mage. Remember that each of these always has a Break Pattern
Subversion.

Deals
Chained to the
Link in the Chain
Cause

Protect
The Seal of the Counter
First Oni Espionage

Chained to the Cause (Name): Give some Other a temporary name, and
imbue it with an interwoven practice. A Mask Oni might give this other a
mask to wear, but for a Chain Oni the name is usually chained to the Other.
Stickier than the mask Oni’s variant, but also less flexible. The name is
harder to shake off, but also harder to turn on and off.

Link in the Chain (Contract): Through agreements, bindings, or coup,

someone is tightly bound to a certain interwoven subversion. This being or
item is then used as a powersource for the subversion, making it stronger
whenever it is used. Depending on how it's done and the nature of the
Link, other properties can be pulled through as well.

Example: “Overshadow” is interwoven into Link in the Chain, the

practitioner applies this practice to a bound other in exchange for letting
them go free, a shadowy chain binds to the Other’s shadow. After this
every time the “Overshadow” subversion is used, it is empowered by this
Other.
If the deal was particularly harsh, and the Other was for example a fire
elemental, one could also spend extra energy to pull the fire through the
shadow, influencing the practice through (for the enemy) unseeable
means.

The Seal of the First Oni(Seal): Wrought in secret meetings hidden from
prying eyes, a seal that can invert the workings of Solomon. Inscribed into
the ground or quickly formed with chains, it can be used to deliver an
interwoven subversion in and around it. Woven into a greater working, it
can subtly twist this working through the subversion.

Example: With a violent trash the Practitioner gauges the seal out of the
ground, invoking Hostile Takeover. Chains spring forth from the ground
and strike at everyone present, damaging their claim, and this eases the
practitioner’s attempt at counting coup for himself.

A practitioner inscribes the seal into a leather hide, invoking “Overshadow”

and covers it, letting the seal fade, before letting the material enter the
market. Another person buys the hide and tries to turn it into a leather
puppet, unbeknown to him the puppet’s shadow has a mind of its own
and it aims to lash out at his creator at the opportune moment.

Counter Espionage (Shied): What can be used offensively, can be

invoked defensively. The enemy is marked in some way, by being wrapped
in chains or by the delivery of a meaningful strike. After this the Oni Mage
can activate the Subversions on the Enemy Mage.

Example: “Overshadow” can be harmful if you do not know that you need
to strike with your shadow. “Hostile Takeover” is useless if you are not
ready to abuse the damaged claim.
 Lens Sect: Core Practices

The Practices that define the Lens Sect. The player may choose these to
replace any Lore x Immaterial Practice or take all four to be a full time Oni
Mage. Remember that each of these always has a Break Pattern
Subversion.

Immaterial
Whispers in the
A Sight to Behold
Wind

Lore
Oni Eye False Witness

A Sight to Behold (Image): A ritual to alter how you are perceived and
weave a subversion into your very Self. Whenever someone looks at you
intensely, or uses unprotected Sight, you are made aware of this.
Subversions here tend to mislead the watcher or hamper the attempt,
rather than instantly delivering curses.

Example: Weaving “Overshadows” into your image might cause vital clues
that a watcher’s Sight would reveal to instead be cast into your shadow.
The watcher could still figure it out, but the clue would not be where he
expects it.

Whispers in the Wind (Ask): A ritual that gives one access to an Oni spy
network. Mainly populated with least tier oni-aligned spirits that are too
small to notice normally, for a payment these spirits can be called upon to
ask questions or deliver interwoven subversions. Subversions delivered
through this practice tend to be weak, but drawn out.
Oni Eye (Sight): A special Sight focussed around weaknesses and
secrets. This sight is also able to work like a “green eye” and inflict
interwoven subversions as curses against those it looks at.

False Witness(Investigate): An Oni Mage has many enemies, many of

whom will try and investigate them to discover clues about their
weaknesses and their allies. False Trail is a practice to turn interwoven
subversions into false clues, or to poison real clues. Twisting the
surrounding area to leave false footprints in Spirit, or Battle Marks where
no battle has taken place. Taint the ground with abyss to suggest Abyssal
Others as allies.

When Time and Power is spent, complex narratives can be crafted to

beguile even advanced Augurs. But no matter the Time and Power spent,
These false clues tend to burn out quickly. The bigger the lie, the quicker
they end up burning out. To maximize this practice small lies must be
mixed with misleading truths.

Example: The Rebel subversion has been interwoven in this Practice, and
the GM has ruled that this means one can summon “Lying” Others. At the
least amount of time and effort spent, these take the form of Echoes of
fake events. At the highest tier of power spent, these take the form of
False Incarnation of Fate, answering Augurs before real Incarnations can
answer.
 Compendium: Subversions

Each Oni Mage has a list of subversions they are well acquainted with.
Either they managed to earn the subversions through a critical victory,
overcoming a trial, or maybe even some historic event. Through spending
time and effort an Oni Mage can interweave a subversion to a particular
spell. The spell will have an apparent effect, an Elementalist might shoot a
Fireball as one of their spells. The subversion then adds an extra layer, the
Oni Elementalist might have the fireball burn claim instead of flesh.

The Mage might also learn a spell with subversions already interwoven,
when this happens they do not per definition learn the subversion to then
apply to their other Practices.

This appendix is a list of subversion ideas, how they might interact with a
variety of practices, and what kind of tell they might have.

Standard subversions

Subversions that are general enough that they can be added to most
practices and learned by most sects.

Break Pattern: The default subversion. The spell becomes stronger the
rarer its usage. The further back the last time it was used the more
powerful it is. If it's more unexpected, it's more powerful. On the flipside,
the more you use it and the more the spirits know to expect it, the weaker
practices and subversions become.

Overshadow: This Practice has a focus on shadows.

Overshadowed Attack: determining if the attack hits might now happen

Overshadow contact instead of physical contact.

Overshadowed Curse: the regular tells of the curse might now only be
visible in the shadow, or the way to banish the curse must be applied to
the shadow rather than the self.

Overshadowed Summon: The Shadow of what is summoned, is a summon

itself. Acting as a shadow and waiting for an opportune time to surprise
attack.
Tell: For this to work however, a part of the self must be cast to the
shadows at play. The tell about this subversion might be the shadows
being more animated than they should be.

True Reflection: As above but a focus on reflection instead.

Reflection Attack: The attack hits through reflections instead of the

physical form. Requires a reflection of a certain level of clarity to be
present.

Reflection Curse: the regular tells of the curse might now only be visible in
reflections, or the way to banish the curse must be applied to a reflection
rather than the self. When no reflection is present the curse might not work
at all, though.

Reflection Summon: The Reflection of what is summoned, is a summon

itself. The Reflection waits until the perfect time to jump out and attack,
but won’t be able to do so when the regular Other has no reflection.

Tell: For this to work however, a part of the self must be cast to the
reflections at play. The tell about this subversion might be the reflections
being more animated than they should be, or shining brighter than they
should.

Hostile Acquisition: This practice has a focus on coup and claim

Acquisition Attacks: rather than inflicting wounds, the defender drops

weapons or items, and the Oni Mage has an easier time stealing these
items for themselves.

Acquisition Curses: As the curse remains, coup on the target grows until
called upon.

Acquisition Summon: The Other is much more volatile than it would usually
be, and stabilizes by taking things from others.

Tell: The loss of tools and weapons instead of physical damage is apparent
in itself. When building claim stacks matching symbols on the Oni Mage
and Target might be present.

Anti Practice: This Practice focuses on destroying Practice. Usually these

are learned in the form of Anti Practice: Sealing (or a different practice type
or field) rather than in its general form. The general form does exist too
though, but tends to be weaker in exchange for its broadness.

Anti Practice Attack: A strike that disables or interrupts specific types of

practice rather than inflicting wounds.

Anti Practice Curse: While the curse is in effect, it subtly causes the target
to fail at certain practices.

Anti Practice Summon: The Summoned Other is specialized in harming a

specific type of practice.

Sealing: Using the greatest sin of the practitioners on them, sealing will do
what it’s named after and apply some seal to the target. The more specific
the seal, the more powerful.

Sealing Attack: Seals away a certain action until the seal is overcome.

Sealing Curse: Seals away a certain action until the curse is overcome

Sealing Summon: The summoned Other is specialized in preventing

certain actions from being taken.

Conjuration Subversions
Subversions that are most common among Conjuration Practitioners, non
conjuration Practitioners can still learn these, but there might not be a way
to apply them to their practices that make sense.

Hidden Ally: What might appear to be just one summon is actually

multiple summons. After the first summon is defeated a new summon is
spawned in its place. A Goblin might burst into multiple smaller goblins, an
animated Armor might unclasp and reveal the now naked Swordmaster
within it.

Oni Seed: What is summoned, is summoned with an eye towards Oni.

They come with their own subversions. In time this Oni seed might sprout
and the Other might become a full Oni.

Prices Subversions
Subversions that are most common among price Practitioners, non prices
Practitioners can still learn these, but there might not be a way to apply
them to their practices that make sense.

Reclaimed Blood: A price is paid but the reward is not immediately

reaped. At a later time the Oni Practitioner can draw on the payment to
empower an interwoven Practice. The longer ago this price has been paid,
the stronger this becomes.

Altering Subversions
These are Subversions that alter different subversions. In general to
interweave these takes longer than just weaving two subversions.

Hidden Subversion: Choose a different subversion, this subversion’s tell

is harder to spot or more difficult to counter

Layered Subversion: Choose a subversion already woven into the

practice and a new subversion , the new subversion only activates once
the old subversion is dealt with.

Delayed Subversion: The subversion delays before it activates. The

subversion might autotrigger after a number of turns, or wait for a
command phrase or action before activating.