Clensing by fire and the end of corruption, A new spirit from India Options

[BRodda]

Handmaidens of Shiva (Wild Spirit of Fire)

Chaitali awoke on the ground in the smoke filled warehouse with a coughing fit that made her eyes water. She cast around looking for a door to exit the burning building when she saw the signs of a great battle. There were scorch marks all around her and the remains of surgical tables and the ruined bodies of men in surgical scrubs. As she got up she noticed that her skin had suddenly become dark red and she acquired a new set of arms. Terror gripped her as she raced from the grizzly scene into the street.



Handmaidens of Shiva are possession spirits that appear when there is great desecration of the land or its people. They take the form of Shivia (also known as Kali) the Hindu goddess of destruction and creation. Handmaidens of Shiva only possess female sapients and the possession forever marks them as having housed the spirit. Upon possession the vessel grows an additional set of arms as a third eye opens upon their brow and the skin turns a deep rusty red. After the experience these features remain (as well as some neurological damage from housing a spirit of such power) and are seen in India as great religious figures that have been personally blessed by Shiva.
When they appear it is only to cleanse the land of those who are creating such evil that they are despoiling astral space. They will root out and destroy the cause of the taint with great speed and ferocity without regard for their (or their vessel’s) safety. After the despoilers have been dealt with they will then proceed to cleanse the land and its energies before finally leaving to return from whence they came.


Handmaidens of Shiva
Attributes:
Body: F+2
Agility: F+4
Reaction: F+3
Strength: F-1
Charisma: F
Intuition: F
Logic: F
Willpower: F+3
Edge: F
Init: (Fx2) +3
IP: 2
Astral INIT/IP: F x 2, 3

Movement: 15/40 (flight)
Skills: Assensing, Astral Combat, Blades, Counterspelling, Dodge, Flight, Perception, Unarmed Combat
Powers: Accident, Astral Form, Cleansing*, Elemental Attack, Energy Aura, Possession(Female Sapients only), Regeneration, Sapience
Optional Powers: Control Focus, Fear, Guard, , Search
Weaknesses: Allergy (Water, Severe)

Note: Those who are possessed by a Handmaidens of Shiva instantaneously and gain the following attributes permanently: Shiva Arms, Striking Skin Pigmentation(Deep Red), Third Eye and Scorched.

*As Metamagic on pg55 of SM. Initiate Grade equals Force.


EDIT: Changed name to Handmaidens of Shiva.

[Medicineman]

if Its a Possesing Spirit wouldn't it simply Add its Force to the 4 physical Attributes of the (female) Vessel and have its Force Rating for the 4 mental Attributes ?

Note: Those who are possessed by a Shivian Avatar instantaneously and gain the following attributes permanently: Shiva Arms, Striking Skin Pigmentation(Deep Red), Third Eye and Scorched.

This should be done with Surge an the "victim" should have at least Lvl 3 Distinctive Features (Skin,Shiva Arms and 3rd Eye) & Nationwide Fame

He who dances with Kali
Medicineman

[BRodda]

if Its a Possesing Spirit wouldn't it simply Add its Force to the 4 physical Attributes of the (female) Vessel and have its Force Rating for the 4 mental Attributes ?

Note: Those who are possessed by a Shivian Avatar instantaneously and gain the following attributes permanently: Shiva Arms, Striking Skin Pigmentation(Deep Red), Third Eye and Scorched.

This should be done with Surge an the "victim" should have at least Lvl 3 Distinctive Features (Skin,Shiva Arms and 3rd Eye) & Nationwide Fame

He who dances with Kali
Medicineman

Not to familiar with the possession power. I though they still had "physical" attributes in astral space rather than defaulting to mental stats like a person astrally projecting.

And I do consider it a form of Surge (mana warps can do it), I was debating the fame aspect, but I didn't want it to be to overpowering. That why its 15 points of positives and I had to use scorched because none of the other 5pt negatives made sense. The scorched represents the possessing spirit burning out your bodies nervous system. didn't want it all to be good.

[Medicineman]

I though they still had "physical" attributes in astral space
IIRC in Astral Space the spirits Attributes are its Force Rating
Physical Attributes are only for materializing Spirits

The Surge and the Fame advantages would have to be bought with Karma if it would be a PC but for a NPC its ok without ImO (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
I Think I'll borrow your Idea if I'm gamesmastering my Groups and they'll end up in India
(and I'll be using it as a Background for my Nartaki Elf that I'm playing )
Cool Idea. Thanks

HokaHey
Medicineman

[BRodda]

I though they still had "physical" attributes in astral space
IIRC in Astral Space the spirits Attributes are its Force Rating
Physical Attributes are only for materializing Spirits

The Surge and the Fame advantages would have to be bought with Karma if it would be a PC but for a NPC its ok without ImO (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
I Think I'll borrow your Idea if I'm gamesmastering my Groups and they'll end up in India
(and I'll be using it as a Background for my Nartaki Elf that I'm playing )
Cool Idea. Thanks

HokaHey
Medicineman

Just looked up the rules and your right. It is Force for all attributes. Not sure I like that, but what are you going to do... I'll leave it as is and figure out how to notate that later.

As for using it, I'm glad that someone uses this stuff. Its why I put it up here. At least your GM will like that you have a unifying concept (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Snow_Fox]

I'm not sure you need a new trype of spirt for that than just expressing how an established spirit would appear or act. In our game that is really prevelant with spirits of man.

[Wounded Ronin]

Hindu avatars are on a much greater scale than a mere spirit. Even non-avatar mortals who learned to use cosmic weapons are using just that, cosmic weapons, powerful enough to do things like change an ocean into a desert. India either had or has a nuclear weapon called "agni", and that's just the god of fire, not even speaking of Shiva, the very cosmic aspect of destruction. You can't really have an avatar without changing your game from a rules based tactical sim to an artsy mindfuck.

[BRodda]

Hindu avatars are on a much greater scale than a mere spirit. Even non-avatar mortals who learned to use cosmic weapons are using just that, cosmic weapons, powerful enough to do things like change an ocean into a desert. India either had or has a nuclear weapon called "agni", and that's just the god of fire, not even speaking of Shiva, the very cosmic aspect of destruction. You can't really have an avatar without changing your game from a rules based tactical sim to an artsy mindfuck.

I'm not saying these are THE Shiva, but more like lesser servants. Maybe I should change the name to Handmaidens of Shiva would be better?

[LurkerOutThere]

A better question would be why do you feel the need to re-invent the wheel at all? I'm not knocking thought exercises mind you, but basically what i'm getting is you want a bigger, badder, and possessing (and all the bullshit that entails) fire elemental, or a one off NPC, not a spirit in the traditional sense like you appear to be trying to describe.

[Wounded Ronin]

I'm not saying these are THE Shiva, but more like lesser servants. Maybe I should change the name to Handmaidens of Shiva would be better?

Yeah, that would be better, because "avatar" means human form of the diety. It's be closer to Jesus vis a vis god than just a spirit.

[BRodda]

A better question would be why do you feel the need to re-invent the wheel at all? I'm not knocking thought exercises mind you, but basically what i'm getting is you want a bigger, badder, and possessing (and all the bullshit that entails) fire elemental, or a one off NPC, not a spirit in the traditional sense like you appear to be trying to describe.

I do it because I HATE the homogenized spirits of the books. There re no flavors, just stat blocks with interchangeable powers.

I do them for fun and post them here in case someone else would like to use them

[BRodda]

Yeah, that would be better, because "avatar" means human form of the diety. It's be closer to Jesus vis a vis god than just a sprirt.

Changed the name to Handmaidens of Shiva. Makes it less powerful sounding.

[LurkerOutThere]

Right but now you've got a block with MORE powers.

[BRodda]

Right but now you've got a block with MORE powers.

In this case yes. It the case of the Drudges and a few others I've done less. As this is a wild spirit it can't be summoned and it is intended as an NPC device I did crank the power level up a bit.

[Wounded Ronin]

Changed the name to Handmaidens of Shiva. Makes it less powerful sounding.

Sweet.

EDIT: One thing about the gender. Shiva isn't generally considered female, because Shiva has a seperately designated female aspect called Kali, who is associated with battlefield carnage.

It would be inaccurate to say that Shiva totally isn't female, though. The most accurate statement would be to say that Shiva is androgynous, although in artwork and writing Shiva is usually referred to as a "he".

See, in Hinduism, none of the big three dieties really and truly exist. There's only a universal cosmic non-being that's impossible for humans to conceptualize. In order to be comprehensible, people break that unified cosmic totality into three aspects, the aspects of creation, preservation, and destruction. Brahman, Visnhu, and Shiva respectively are worshipped and depicted as dieties but they're actually just different aspects of the same thing.

In the same way Shiva is a pretty broad aspect of destruction and embodies both male and female aspects. So while Shiva isn't truly male or female, Shiva is usually depicted as being male while Kali is usually the female descriptor. Then there's the difference that Kali is a bit more associated with battlefield carnage and is usually depicted with a necklace of severed bloody human heads.

I was really big into Hinduism when I was in 8th grade and studied all this stuff on my own for a really long time.

[Snow_Fox]

And you've amazinlgy edited down some of the more graphic descriptions of Kali. Despite the fondness of western pop culture for the Kali-ma she's a farily minor figure. The diffences, at least how I understand them, is that Shiva is the destruction that brings something new, like how a forest fire sweeps away the clutter in a forest and like Ragnarok in the norse mythos will create a new and perfect world for the lucky few to survive. By comparrison Kali is destruction for the sheer pleasure of blood and carnage.

Shiva is the grand builder whose radical plans will lead to something better even though half way through you'd like to evicerate the contractor. By comparrison Kali is the radical feminist with major PMS, a chain saw and a serious, I mean serious impulse control promblem.

[BRodda]

And you've amazinlgy edited down some of the more graphic descriptions of Kali. Despite the fondness of western pop culture for the Kali-ma she's a farily minor figure. The diffences, at least how I understand them, is that Shiva is the destruction that brings something new, like how a forest fire sweeps away the clutter in a forest and like Ragnarok in the norse mythos will create a new and perfect world for the lucky few to survive. By comparrison Kali is destruction for the sheer pleasure of blood and carnage.

Shiva is the grand builder whose radical plans will lead to something better even though half way through you'd like to evicerate the contractor. By comparrison Kali is the radical feminist with major PMS, a chain saw and a serious, I mean serious impulse control promblem.

That is why I referred to them as Shiva and not Kali. It just seamed that there were no cleansing fire magic or spirits, so I made one.

Of course I've been known t stat everything just for the hell of it, but I figure people might use one of my creations here or there.

[Cardul]

And you've amazinlgy edited down some of the more graphic descriptions of Kali. Despite the fondness of western pop culture for the Kali-ma she's a farily minor figure. The diffences, at least how I understand them, is that Shiva is the destruction that brings something new, like how a forest fire sweeps away the clutter in a forest and like Ragnarok in the norse mythos will create a new and perfect world for the lucky few to survive. By comparrison Kali is destruction for the sheer pleasure of blood and carnage.

Shiva is the grand builder whose radical plans will lead to something better even though half way through you'd like to evicerate the contractor. By comparrison Kali is the radical feminist with major PMS, a chain saw and a serious, I mean serious impulse control promblem.

Unfortunately, Kali is a bit more complicated then that. She is an aspect of Parvati, Shiva's Consort, the symbolism
of her is also rather detailed. For example, the skirt of severed arms is actually a representation of Karma, and the
severing oneself from the Kharmic Cycle. Also, most western depictions also tend to "forget" the hand holding the
Lotus, and the hand in the boon gesture. Nothing in in Vishavism or Shivism(the two belief systems that we in the
west collectively call "Hinduism") is ever as cut and dry as we westerners would like it to be.

[Wounded Ronin]

Unfortunately, Kali is a bit more complicated then that. She is an aspect of Parvati, Shiva's Consort, the symbolism
of her is also rather detailed. For example, the skirt of severed arms is actually a representation of Karma, and the
severing oneself from the Kharmic Cycle. Also, most western depictions also tend to "forget" the hand holding the
Lotus, and the hand in the boon gesture. Nothing in in Vishavism or Shivism(the two belief systems that we in the
west collectively call "Hinduism") is ever as cut and dry as we westerners would like it to be.

Yeah, Hinduism rocks. It was one of my first fascinations in life back when I was in middle school. I used to go to the Metropolitain Musem of Art in New York City and look at the Hindu artwork.

[Snow_Fox]

I was avoiding this but the belt/necklace of severed penises add a whole new level of meaning.

[Wounded Ronin]

I was avoiding this but the belt/necklace of severed penises add a whole new level of meaning.

[sings]
Weiner weiner on the (chest) wall....
[/sings]

[Cardul]

I was avoiding this but the belt/necklace of severed penises add a whole new level of meaning.

*arches an eyebrow* The belt is severed arms, the isntruments of Karma, while the necklace
is skulls, corresponding to the letters of the Sanskrit "alphabet", actually representing wisdom.

[The Jopp]

For purely aesthetics doesn’t Kali/Shiva (my knowledge is limited here) have a total of six arms?

The Shiva Arms quality can be taken twice.

If we go by the Kali description perhaps we could also add Astral Hazing.

The astral hazing could be a combination from neural scarring and lingering presence of fear/anger/vengeance emotions as a mark of Kali.

[BRodda]

For purely aesthetics doesn’t Kali/Shiva (my knowledge is limited here) have a total of six arms?

The Shiva Arms quality can be taken twice.

If we go by the Kali description perhaps we could also add Astral Hazing.

The astral hazing could be a combination from neural scarring and lingering presence of fear/anger/vengeance emotions as a mark of Kali.

I double checked the arms, there are 4 arms.

As for the astral haze, given the fact I'm using the Shiva aspect and not the Kali aspect, I don't think that it fits with the temperament of the Shiva.

Maybe anouther version for Kali is needed for the vengeance aspects.

[Wounded Ronin]

The multi arms are symbolic of omnipotence. As such the exact number doesn't matter per se as a literal description, e.g. a cat has 4 legs.