by Chad Underkoffler (chadu@yahoo.com)
Demonic Shapeshifters
(All rakasha have the same physical stats and abilities, however, their Mind
and Soul scores may differ. Individual rakasha may increase their skill levels.)
Body 50 (Wound Points 100*)
Speed 50
Mind 30-80
Soul 30-80
Body Skills: Gen. Ath. 15%, Struggle 15%, Get Back Up 50%**
Speed Skills: Driving 15%, Dodging 15%
Mind Skills: Gen. Ed. 15%, Notice 15%
Soul Skills: Charm 15%, Lie 15%, Shapeshift (Soul)%***
* Wound Points: Rakasha share the preternatural resilience of nonentities. They do not bleed, nor do they have bones or internal organs; they are composed of a putty-like fleshy substance throughout. Gunshots only do the sum of the dice rather than the result; hand to hand is resolved normally. Shooting or cutting one is a Rank-7 Unnatural stress check the first time someone sees it happen. They need not breathe, and are immortal until killed. Fire, magick, and electrical shock *DO* normally harm rakasha. They do, however, lose 1 Wound Point a day as Reality tries to erase them from existence. (See below.)
** Get Back Up: This is essentially the same skill found on p.
149 under the description of demons.
*** Shapeshifting: The will of the rakasha can mold its very plastic structure into any shape or form: butterfly to bull to businessman. This skill is at the same level as the rakasha's Soul stat. Excess mass vaporizes when the rakasha shifts to something smaller; when becoming bigger, extra mass condenses out of nothing. The smallest a rakasha can be is that of an ant, the largest is the size of an elephant. If adopting the shape of a real animal, the rakasha may utilize any inborn abilities: becoming a bird allows flight, becoming a fish allows swimming, etc. Taking on the form of water would allow a rakasha to flow down a pipe; becoming a key may allow a lock to be opened.
Rakasha feed (and heal) by consuming the strong emotions, especially the fear,
of their victims. They arrange situations to stimulate strong emotion. This
could include anything from seducing someone for the "jolt" of their lust (a
basis for some of the rumored abilities of fictional vampires?), to terrorizing
a family to suck their fear. Most rakasha try to stimulate negative emotions,
since such emotions are very easy to reach in today's world. When someone fails
a Stress Check within 10 feet
of a rakasha, they gain Wound Points equal to the Rank of the Stress Check.
Most new rakasha only have around 100 WP; old and canny rakasha could have *thousands*
of Wound Points. Rakasha lose 1 WP per day as Reality attempts to erase them.
Rakasha are often fonts of knowledge: they know whatever they learned from their previous life and whatever they learned in their their time behind the Veil, as well as what they discover as a rakasha. Unfortunately, by becoming corporeal they lose their astral abilities. Also, when a rakasha dies, its soul is annihiliated: it will not pass beyond the Veil, nor be reincarnated along with the universe when Saint-Germain Ascends.
Rakasha may be affected by Cage for the Dead, as demons are. Rakasha hate and fear Epideromancers above all other adepts because of their ability to warp a rakasha's all-too-mutable flesh; double the effect of all fleshworking performed upon a rakasha (this includes damage). Rakasha get one attempt to automatically undo any epideromantic change forced upon them by Greater Warping by rolling their Shapeshifting skill; if this fails, they suffer the effects of the changefor a number of minutes equal to the epideromancer's Soul stat before they can attempt to undo the change again.
Rakasha are very rare; the combination of factors that allow their coming into existence are very rare: a fusion of demon and nonentity, caused when a nonentity Awakes when a possessed person is within 10 feet. The demon is ripped from the body they are possessing to fuse with the Awakened nonentity, becoming a rakasha. There are, of course, rumors of a significant ritual which will allow an adept to create a rakasha. These rituals are believed to have a lesser chance of being tampered with for "instant possessions": after all, if you were a demon, wouldn't you prefer an immortal, shapeshifting body over that of a typical human adept? All associated rituals claiming to allow control of a rakasha are almost certainly false.