Shiranuhi
(Seafire)
Description: Sometimes, on clear nights, pale lights can be seen hovering low over the waters of the bay as if mirroring the stars in the sky. First a pair, known as the “parents,” appear, off over the sea. These soon divide, and the products of this division also divide, until the horizon is filled with a sparse field of drifting sparks of false fire. They generally first appear in the small hours of the morning, and fade away before the first light of dawn. Seen up close, each of the lights comprises a fuzzy region surrounding a tiny sharp nucleus, a little like a thistle seed and its fluff.
Worshipers: Yes. The fishermen of the bay see Shiranuhi as a benign protector, and pray to it to ameliorate the impact of incoming storms and protect the fish from disease. Sailors have been known to use the lights as a reference point in their navigation. They are used to the curiosity of travelers and will cheerfully talk about the lights; hostile intent will be met with mocking incredulity.
Servitors: Unclear. Neither the “parent” lights nor their “children” behave in meaningfully different ways, and it’s possible that the latter are extensions or reflections of the former rather than anything truly distinct.
Confrontation: None of the lights are affected by anything material. Even magical effects, if they produce light, are simply absorbed and cause the Seafire to further divide and spread until the light it received is evenly distributed across the surface of the sea. That said, Shiranuhi has obfuscation as an effective defense: it appears in random locations at random times and within a minute or two will have begun to divide. Effective attacks against the “child” lights will force them to disappear, so the objective of any attacker will be to find and subdue the “parents” before they fade out in the predawn darkness.
Aspect: Barium, light, geometry. Those present at defeat boost Perception (Sight) and Int.
Powers – Tier 1: The character can levitate an arm’s length above the ground (or water, etc.) at will; this causes them to glow faintly. If they focus, they can waft laterally at a slow walking pace.
Powers – Tier 2: While levitating, the character may brighten their glow enough to illuminate a room, darken it entirely, become invisible and intangible for as long as they concentrate, or even teleport across an area at the cost of one point of fatigue.
Powers – Tier 3: The character may create duplicate images of themselves, up to their Int score in number. While these images tend to “dither” in the area, milling around and vaguely mimicking the original’s motions, they are visually indistinguishable from their source, and by focusing on one the character may control its actions at will.
Powers – Other: The character always can sense the direction of the pole star, and may confer this sense to anyone else in their presence.
Example Checks: Anyone who has absorbed part of the Seafire’s essence must check Humanity to avoid being drawn to things that resemble themselves – portraits, accidental likenesses, and so on. (The difficulty of the check should depend on how close the likeness is.) Characters who fail such a check will be distracted by the similarity for at least a couple of rounds, and if failing the check by an order of magnitude, they will gain the urge to possess or associate with the item or person. The character also becomes uneasy in crowds and must check Humanity at base difficulty d6 for about ten people, with the difficulty rising one step for each order of magnitude more. On a failure, the character must either seek solitude or surround themselves with familiar objects in order to regain their composure.
Notes: Based on this bit of real-world folklore. I’ve been there!
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