Major Shadowlands Powers

Armor of Death
The power of the Taint allows you to strengthen yourself by spilling the blood of others, making you resistant to their attacks. Each time you inflict at least 15 Wounds on an opponent, you gain Reduction of 10 (5 to jade) for the remainder of that skirmish. This effect stacks with other sources of Reduction but cannot stack with itself.

Beside the Darkness
You have the ability to temporarily suppress your Taint. making it impossible for others to detect. If you meditate uninterrupted for a period of 2 hours and make a Meditation/Willpower roll at TN 20, you can "metabolize" your Taint for a period of 8 hours, During that time, you are not considered Tainted for mechanical purposes. and spells and Techniques which target Tainted creatures will not affect you. Physical mutations (such as extra limbs) will remain in place, however. This power cannot be ended before its duration expires. While it is in effect, you cannot use any of your other Shadowlands powers, cannot cast maho, and cannot embrace the Taint to enhance your rolls.

Beyond the Elements
Your Taint makes you extremely resistant to the power of the kami, inflicting a +15 TN penalty on any elemental magic that targets you. In exchange, however, maho spells that target you gain two Free Raises. This power stacks with the effects of Above the Elements.

Blood Domination
Your blood carries your will, and any creature who drinks or otherwise ingests so much as a spoonful of your blood (equal to 1 Wound) will be subject to your demands. You may make a Contested willpower roll against such a target to force them to obey your commands for a number of hours equal to your Taint Rank. You cannot force them to directly kill themselves, but all other commands - including potentially lethal orders like 'Fight that oni' - must be obeyed. If you fall the Contested Willpower Roll. the target will be aware of your attempt. and you may not try to command that target again for one full day.

Blood Shouting
Your blood carries a sinister power that allows you to share your injuries with anyone who has ingested it. It works on anyone within hearing who has ingested any of your blood (even as little as a drop). When you take Wounds, you emit a ghastly and terrifying scream, and half the damage you would have taken is instead inflicted on the person who ingested your blood. If there are multiple such persons within hearing of you, the damage is divided between them (rounded up).

Chosen of Fu Leng
The Taint grants you an unnatural strength of will. allowing you to shrug off any attempt to influence your mind or opinions. Any attempt to influence you with Social skills or Techniques, or to control your mind through spells, will automatically fail.

Disrupt the Chi
Your aura of power and dominance causes lesser persons to succumb to their own inner weakness. Using this power is a Simple Action and it can only target an opponent within your sight. You make a Contested Willpower Roll against the target. You add your Taint to the total of your roll, while your target adds his Honor to the total of his roll. If you succeed, the target must use his lowest Trait for all Skill and Trait rolls for the next ten Rounds.

Drawing Out the Darkness
The Taint has the power to evoke Taint in others, spreading corruption far and wide. If you can maintain physical contact with another creature for at least 1 minute. you may make a Contested Willpower roll. If you win the roll, the victim gains a number of points of Taint equal to your current Taint Rank. If you fail the roll, nothing happens, although the victim will feel a sense of unease and perhaps a physical chill.

Evade the Unworthy
You can become completely invisible, undetectable to any normal sight. Activating this power is a Simple Action and it encompasses both your body and anything you are carrying (including helpless or unconscious persons). This invisibility does not conceal noise or scent, and can be penetrated by magical effects such as the spell By the Light of the Moon. It comes to an end immediately after you make an attack.

Father of Lies
The Taint thrives on deception, and strengthens your own efforts to trick. deceive, and manipulate others. You may add your Taint Rank in kept dice to any rolls made with the Temptation or Intimidation skills or with the Deceit emphasis of the Sincerity skill.

Feeding on Flesh
The Taint draws strength from un-natural acts, especially the taste of blood and raw meat. You may take a Simple Action to feed on the flesh of a person or creature who is either dead or helpless to resist you, eg: Down or Out, bound securely, etc. This inflicts 1k1 Wounds on the target (if they are still alive) and heals you a number of Wounds equal to 5 x your Taint Rank.

Flight of Darkness
You may call upon the Air kansen to carry you through the sky, moving across air as easily as the ground. You can fly at will, without need for spells or wings, and moving at the same speed as your normal ground movement.

Protection of the Dark
You are considered to be Invulnerable. in the same manner as some creatures. Whenever you ignore damage due to this Power, your skin glows with a throbbing black energy that is impossible to hide.

Strength of Madness
You can draw on your own physical essence to enhance your actions, much In the way that normal humans draw on the Void. A num-ber of times per day equal to your Earth Ring, you may suffer Wounds equal to your Earth to replicate the effect of spending a Void Point. This power can-not be used to reduce damage, but any other normal effect of Vold Points - including activating School techniques or awarding a +1k1 bonus to rolls - can be duplicated.

Strength of the Dark One
The power of the Taint enhances your physical resilience, making you extremely difficult to kill. You gain +5 Wounds per
Rank. This power’s effects stack with those of Blessing of the Dark One.

Thy Master's Will
The Taint will not allow you to truly die - you are too useful to Jigoku's purposes. If you are killed, you will return from the dead at some later time, as an intelligent undead creature. You retain all Rings. Traits, abilities. School techniques, and Skills, but no longer have a Void Ring. Your body is undead. and will begin to rot and decay over time.

Undead Strength
our body does not feel pain, and continues to function normally even after suffering devastating injuries. You do not suffer Wound penalties - no matter how many Wounds you suffer, you continue to operate at full effect until you are actu-ally killed.

Unearthly Regeneration
The Taint infuses your body with a horrible vitality, healing injuries within minutes. Each Round at the start of your Turn, you heal a number of Wounds equal to your Taint Rank. Healed injuries leave no scars behind, and while you do not regrow lost limbs, such limbs will reattach If held in place for a few minutes.

Unholy Beauty
Jigoku considers you to have use as an Infiltrator within the Empire. You do not suffer any outward. visible effects of the Taint. and any physical mutations you already possess will fade away. You may still gain Shadowlands Powers normally but they do not exhibit any perceptible physical symptoms. However, your body will mutate internally to compensate for the lack of external change, exhibiting redundant or distorted organs, cancerous tumors, and other distortions.

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