Another mind burp...

[IamLEAM1983]

I've been wanting to introduce Eastern vampires in the Hopeverse for some time, and I've been percolating basic concepts for a race based off of the Chinese Hopping Vampires. 

The basic idea is that the Chinese Taoist beliefs split the mortal soul into components instead of treating it as a single object. The hun are related to the Yin, while the six po forces are associated with Yang and base earthly pursuits. Normally, the hun is properly magnified after death, while the po's components are left behind. The problem apparently is that some deceased can leave behind an imbalance, with basic bodily needs keeping the body going past its date of death. As long as an ordained Taoist priest is around to affix the proper scrolls to the afflicted dead, the corpses are left with minimal locomotion and can only follow basic orders. What starts as a Taoist priest essentially leading a string of docile zombies into the next province for their proper burials ends with said priest leading hopping vampires, once rigor mortis settles in. At least, that's the official story. Even without the scrolls in place, most jiangshi wouldn't make for a fun RP experience.

With that in mind, I figured Watatsumi could want to associate with one of these guys, to stick a monkey wrench in Shen Long's few and scarcely-mentioned plans. Being a fan of James Hong's Lo Pan in Big Trouble in Little China, my take on these fellows would be a lot more mobile and interactive. I imagine the stereotypical Manchurian getup is a nod to one of their powerful figures, but most of 'em would come from all walks of society and all stratas of Time. With globalization, I figure even non-Chinese jiangshi could start popping up.

I doubt they'd feed on blood, I like the native concept of their feeding on life force, and I might cross them with the Buddhist Preta - spirits of the restless dead who are cursed with eternal restlessness. They're never satisfied, they always hunger for mortal food and drink, but none of it tastes anything or fills them at all. Unlike the incubi and succubi, though, they don't have at least one temporary stopgap measure like sex or vigorous socialization.

They're probably very magic-oriented but never pushed to train in anything physical. Get a martial artist or a decent Grappler type in close quarters with the right scroll in hand, and you can pretty much knock 'em back to La-La Land - and potentially order their snoozing husks around. They decay at high speeds when exposed to sunlight, but might be able to bypass that and gain some shapeshifting abilities if they manage to pull a straight Shang Tsung and absorb someone's soul.

[TennyoCeres84]

Sounds good!