Talk:Mage: Drifting Tokyo

Char Concepts

• Hermetic Witch Hunter - Silence
• Mal
• Cursed Hermetic Oujo - FBH
• Omnyodo Tailor Embroiled in Ancient Politics - Exhack

Exhack Character Concept Outline

• There exists a particular moth that produces silk with fantastic properties.
• The secret of this moth is protected by a group of wicked, immortal omnyoji involved in Japanese ultranationalist politics and the Ascension war.
• After one of their mortal vassal families produced a mage, they intended to induct him but were foiled.
• The vassal family was killed, and the blame placed on a group of upstarts who had associated too much with foreigners (FBH-chan family) in order to goad the young magi into revenge.
• In general they're involved in a lot of dirty politics, but dress nice at least.

Moonlight Moths

Often mistaken for common silkworm moths, moonlight moths are gentle insect-like spirits that appear when Drift and moonlight coincide. They are born as creatures of flesh and blood in the Tellurian, and evolve into a spiritual existence after undergoing a spinning a silken chrysalis. After this change they migrate to the moon, emerging only rarely to feed on spiritual detritus and breed. Their ahimsa silk can be processed into garments which is durable, lightweight and has the metaphysical properties of silver in addition to having a strong affinity for the manipulation of the boundary between the Tellurian and Umbra. Their silk must always be created ahimsa, without the killing of the silkworms in boiling water, as doing this irreparably taints the fiber produced.

It can be assumed that before the Gekkotsuka, the Moonlit Moth was cared for by:

• Insect changing breeds killed by the Anansi. (Full Moon)
• Possibly some other changing breed before the wolves killed them. (Waning Half)
• The wolves before the Kuei-jin killed them. (Waning Crescent)
• The Kuei-jin before they became corrupt. (New Moon)
• It's a metaphor for the cycles of the moon, maybe.

Tsukiakariga-no-Kami

Tsukiakariga-no-Kami (月明かり蛾の神), rarely referred to with "no-Mikoto", is the patron deity of a Shinto sect that migrated to the Tokyo area as the city rose in importance and stature. The moonlight moth god is said to be a servant of Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto with a small and fanatically devoted following. His origins are vague: conflicting accounts position him as a mortal man who domesticated the moonlight moth and wove their silk into a sail that carried him to the moon, an ancient shapeshifting moth-monster that drank from a well of immortality and developed divine powers or one of the concubines of Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto.

Ga-no-Shinken and the Gekkōtsuka Group

Tsukiakariga-no-Kami's priests are the central figures of a small but influential omnyodo organization. Known as the Ga-no-Shinken, they are known for their silvery robes of pure moonlight silk and apparent immortality- the youngest having been inducted into the main priesthood around the time of the Meiji Restoration. Most can abide the Tellurian but at the cost of appearing their actual age and so remain out of sight for most of their mortal descendants.

The Gekkōtsuka Group are the mortal facet of the Ga-no-Shinken, a wealthy family that operates a mid-size consortium with tendrils in food, textiles and wired telecom. They operate numerous traditional silk farms and are one of the few local sources of so-called cruelty-free silk in Japan. Ahimsa silk created in Gekkōtsuka Group workshops is in high-demand in overseas, and sells well in the coastal cities of the United States.

A scandal is underway as one of the vassal houses as produced a true awakened omnyoji and sent him off to Italy for training by foreign magisters. The Ga-no-Shinken intend to thicken the blood of the main house with him at multiple points and use him as an asset, in order to strengthen the house in anticipation of conflict with the Technocracy.