Oriental elementals are different from Western elementals. Oh, sure, they do the same things, like engulf powers, aid in sus. taining spells and such. However, they are also more vulnerable, Each elemental is vulnerable to two types of other elements, not just one. Makes things a whole lot more interesting, neh? Note also that the vulnerabilities are different for some elementals. For example, fire is vulnerable to water, but not vice versa. Just remember that most of the elementals are vulnerable to at least one element that has an analog in Western hermeticism (fire, earth, water). An Oriental fire elemental would be vulnerable to earth as well as water. Vulnerabilities are handled the same way for Oriental elementals as for Western elementals - in a simple clash. Let's say Bofu's metal elemental mixes it up with a Chinese fire elemental, force 3. The fire elemental disappears, completely overwhelmed by Bofu's buddy, but the metal spirit's force is reduced by three, so it's now a force 2 until it's given time to heal. Same thing happens if the spirit fights with a water elemental. Well, most of the elementals the mage will come in contact with will be of the Western tradition, unless you're running in Hong Kong (and good luck to you, too.) This part is even simpler that conjuring and summoning the spirit in the first place. The Chinese elementals are vulnerable to Western elementals in exactly the same way. That is, the same thing would happen to the metal elemental if it met up with a fire or water elemental of the Western tradition. There is one minor exception to this, though, and that is the Chinese earth elemental. According to the chart, it is vulnerable to wood and metal, neither of which exist in the Western tradition. Its Western analog is vulnerable to air. The Chinese earth spirit is vulnerable to air too, but to a lesser degree. If such a clash should occur, the reduction to the earth elemental's force should be equal to the air elemental's force divided by two, rounding down. A force 5 Chinese earth elemental fighting with a force 7 air elemental would then be reduce by three (7/2=3.5=3) to force 2. The air elemental would be reduced by the earth's force to 2 (7-5=2), as in any other clash. Combat between elementals not vulnerable to each other is handled exactly as in the Shadownin rules. Stats for each of the elementals are as follows, using the format in the Shadowrun rules, and based somewhat on stats for Western elementals of like types: FIRE ELEMENTAL Body: F+ 1 Charisma: F Essence: (F)A Quickness: (F+2) * 3 Intelligence: F Reaction: F+1 Strength: F-2 Willpower: F Attacks: (F)M as Ranged Combat (skill= Reaction); Range=F * 2 meters. Powers: Engulf, Flame Aura, Flame Projection, Guard, Manifestation, Movement. AIDS COMBAT SPELLS. Weaknesses: Vulnerable to Water and Earth. Appearance: Vaguely dracoform, sheathed in flame. METAL ELEMENTAL Body: F+5 Charisma: F Essence: F(A) Quickness: (F-3) * 2 Intelligence: F Reaction: F-3 Strength: F+5 Willpower: F Attacks: (F)S as Unarmed Combat (skill= Reaction); +1 reach. Powers: Engulf*, Mandestation, Movement. AIDS DETECTION SPELLS. Weaknesses: Vulnerable to Fire and Water. Appearance: Humanoid, blocky, crusty metal. * - Victim must resist (Essence+ 1)S damage from the crushing weight of the spirit. Impact armor helps, but not ballistic. WOOD ELEMENTAL Body: F+4 Charisma: F Essence: (F)A Quickness: (F-3) * 2 Intelligence: F Reaction: F-1 Strength: F+5 Willpower: F Attacks: (F)M as Unarmed Combat (skill= Reaction); +2 reach. Powers: Engulf, Manifestation, Movement. AIDS HEALTH SPELLS. Weaknesses: Vulnerable to Metal and Fire. Appearance: Think Ent, like in Tolkien- a tree with eyes, arms, and legs. * - Victim must resist (F)M as whiplike branches coil around his body and crush him. Impact armor helps, but not ballistic. EARTH ELEMENTAL Body: F+4 Charisma: F Essence: F(A) Quickness: (F-2) * 2 Intelligence: F Reaction: F-2 Strength: F+4 Willpower: F Attacks: (F)S as Unarmed Combat (skill=Reaction); +1 reach. Powers: Engulf, Manifestation, Movement. AIDS MANIPULATION SPELLS. Weaknesses: Vulnerable to Wood and Metal. Appearance: Gnomelike in shape, sometimes rocky. WATER ELEMENTAL Body: F+2 Charisma: F Essence: F(A) Quickness: F * 2 Intelligence: F Reaction: F- 1 Strength: F Willpower: F Attacks: (F)S Stun asUnarmed Combat (skill=Force). Powers: Engulf, Manifestation, Movement. AIDS ILLUSION SPELLS. Weaknesses: Vulnerable to Earth and Wood. Appearance: A mass of murky water, vaguely reptilian. What To Be With Your Chinese Hermetic Now That You've Got One It's all too easy to think that now that character creation is over and you know how to conjure elementals, things should be smooth sailing from now on. Not on your life, pengyou (Chinese for'chummer.' Learning more than you thought from this article, eh?) Having a Chinese hermetic character can be hard on the ol' karma. With all the teaching that goes along with becoming an initiate, figure on spending two times more karma than you would for a Western hermetic. If your character had stayed at the monastery, then it would still be at normal group cost, but if he did, he wouldn't be a shadowrunner! It'll be difficult to get back in, too, since chances are your character was either thrown out in disgrace or forced to leave for some reason. Otherwise, your mage would still be in the monastery. Since all of the teachers are currently in China, plan on spending oodles of nuyen (or dollars, or punts, or pounds) and time buying plane tickets, cutting through red tape, finding places to stay, keeping your mage out of the clutches of the government, convincing the monastery hierarchy to take him back, and other little details that make life in the Sixth World interesting. Also, since your character will be from China (where else?), you'll have to spend some of your creation skill points or your very first karma buying some English language Playing an English-illiterate immigrant may be an interesting challenge for some, but most will quickly tire of the pantomime game, so get that language in early. Astral quests are mandatory for each level past 0. Therefore, there is no reduction in karma expenditure for this. The quest involves going to only one new metaplane per level, though, so a mage initiating to level 1 would only be required to go to the metaplanes of metal (a new one) and wood (a familiar one, while team conjuring techniques for great form.) The only ordeal not used is thesis, but geas and familiar do not give a reduction in karma. Keep in mind that in no case have Chinese hermetics initiated past level 5. Once level 5 is reached, the mage should concentrate on learning spells or increasing knowledge of sorcery and conjuring. Westem initiations are absolutely not compatible, so if your character starts out a Chinese hermetic, he or she stays that way. Of course, since initiations past character creation have double karma cost, it should be a while before anyone will have to worry about that. This all falls into GM discretion, as you probably already know, so feel free to make it more or less expensive, expand or contract the number of conjurings learned in initiation, or even figure out for yourself what happens in your world when a Chinese hermetic initiates to 6th level. The only teachers of this particular form live in China in remote monasteries. There should be very rare to no access to initiate teaching at the street level. After a few years, this should change a bit, but since this is new to the western world, any access to fellow hermetics should be almost like a quest, requiring the expenditure of many resources. Otherwise, assume rules not specifically mentioned in this article are the same as those found in the Shadowrun rules and sourcebooks. Following is a sample character and a magic group. As always, if something doesn't fit in your world, remold it to your heart's content. After all, this is only a game. Sample Mage NAME: Donghui Wu STREET NAME: Huang Lang (Yellow Wolf) ARCHETYPE: Chinese Hermetic Mage, Level 3 Initiate RACE/SEX: Chinese Elven Female HEIGHT: 5' 11 WEIGHT: 132 EYE COLOR: Black HAIR COLOR: Black AGE: 25 BIRTHPLACE: Nanking, China Attributes BODY: 2 CHARISMA: 6 ESSENCE: 6 QUICKNESS: 3 INTELLIGENCE: 4 BODY INDEX: 2 STRENGTH: 2 WILLPOWER: 6 MAGIC: 9 REACTION: 3 INITIATIVE DICE: 1d6 Pools KARMA: 1 HACKING: N/A TEAM KARMA: N/A COMBAT: 6 MAGIC: 6 CONTROL: N/A TASK: N/A Skills And Languages Sorcery 6 Conjuring 5 English 4 (Germanic) 1 Unarmed Combat 4 Contacts NAME : ARCHETYPE Radar : Fixer-Toledo, Ohio Thad Gustav : Metahuman Rights Activist Armor TYPE CONCL. BLSTC. IMPACT Jacket 9 5 3 Gear Wrist Phone Spells TYPE FORCE Manabolt 4 Physical Mask 3 Cure D Disease 4 Heal 4 Bound Spirits None - can conjure wood, great wood, metal, great metal, water, great water and earth elementals. History Wouldn't you like to know? She isn't talking. Sample Monastery NAME: Lungde Mo shu (Dragon's Magic) TYPE: Initiatory MEMBERS: 20, but can sustain more. LIMITATIONS: Chinese only (so far). Hermetics only. LOCATION: Shaolin monastery in Henan province. STRICTURES: Attendance (Constant until level 5 is reached. Afterwards, initiate may either leave or remain and teach), Obedience. RESOURCES: Moderate to High. Funded partially by remaining government, partially by private donors. Some small amount also comes from contributions by locals, in repayment for healing services. This is not asked for, but never refused, and is returned to the monastery to cover expenses. CUSTOMS: This group can be seen as a combination religious monastery/danwei (work commune.) The monastery is always looking for magically capable children, and when one is found, enters the monastery (with the parents' permission) at roughly age 10 or 12. Refusals are rare, since it is considered an honor to have a child at the monastery. The mages usually spend about two years per level from non-initiate to level 5 (14 years total,) but some take more or less time, as all are taught one-to-one at their own pace. Members are also taught unarmed combat. All members of the monastery, magic capable or not, contribute their talents to the community around them in times of need. Donations are never asked for when rendering aid, but are not refused if offered. The group is also dedicated to research, and is currently working to unearth ancient knowledge of Chinese magic. If the strictures are broken, the mage is subject to a review, and if he is found guilty, he must perform an appropriate deed, or else be, upon refusal, forcibly ejected from the group. More Chinese Hermetic Magic Introduction Rules - So You Want To Be A Chinese Hermetic... The Care and Feeding of Oriental Elementals Back to Shadis #20 Table of Contents Back to Shadis List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master List of Magazines © Copyright 1995 by Alderac Entertainment Group This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com