The Empire of the Rising Sun (3.5e Campaign Setting)/NPCs

Overview

As of right now, these are just character ideas, concepts, and names with class levels. Mostly, I don't have the time or mental willpower to fill out a bajillion status blocks, but I do have a lot of people that need to be written down before I forget about them. Cheers!

The Dark Council

The Dark Council is full of some of the most evil people in the Empire, and I don't expect you to make all of them. Here are some of the most famous, nefarious, and evil villains that walk the Empire.

The Master

The Master was the most powerful necromancer the world had ever seen. Making several devious pacts with the dark powers of Jigoku, he almost succeeded in ascending to the throne and conqueroring the entire Empire. Twice. He was deemed so powerful that his name was literally wiped from existence, preventing anyone from summoning him. He is the shadow that hangs over the empire. He is the Master.

The Master is less of a villain to be encountered and more of a motivation for the players. If the Player Characters are allied with the government, they want to keep him from being released, since he is such an immensely powerful wizard. If the Players are with the Dark Council, on the other hand, they will want to free the Master from his eternal prison.

Starting out as a peasant farmer several hundred years ago, the Master was drawn into the dark arts of wizardry by an evil spirit from Jigoku that sensed much anger and hatred in the young man. It did not take long for the Master to become the most promising necromancer in the entire world. Pretty soon he was gathering disciples of his own, and with it, attention from the Majo-Kari and the Imperial Police. A conflict was inevitable. And though he was defeated and slain, he did not truly die.

No, his essence continued on, for he had discovered a way to keep his soul out of Meido. He began to recruit new members to his dark cabal, and taught them the ways of evil wizardry. The Master had learned the importance of secrecy and deception from his first defeat, and after a generation of planning, he set his conquest into motion.

Luck was not on his side, for his armies were crushed and his disciples hunted down and killed. Seeing that they could not kill him, the Majo-Kari enlisted the help of a great gnome dungeon architect to help construct three deadly tombs. The members of the Jumon banded together and locked the Master's soul in a huge diamond, which is encased in a floating orb of mercury. The architect of the tomb activated the traps and then killed himself so that no-one would ever know the true secrets. It was around this time that the Name Magi erased the Master's True Name from existence.

The Master has spent the last couple centuries imprisoned, and has spent most of that time thinking of horrific new spells and new types of undead. If he was ever freed, no doubt these nightmarish creations would run rampant. And he would probably try to take over the world again.

Hankon, Master of Bones

Hankon is the shadowy hand controlling the Dark Council. He is perhaps the most enigmatic individual in the entire empire; he hides his face or uses disguising magic even when talking to allies. Most of the time he doesn't even appear himself, he merely sends a representative. While it may seem excessive, Hankon's secrecy has kept him alive and in power for centuries. Most council members believe that there have been several leaders of the Dark Council since the Master's death. They are wrong.

The man that would become Hankon actually started off as quite a normal child. He was left at the doorstep of a monastery, and quickly became a disciple of the spirit. When he was 12, he and an elder monk embarked on a journey to spread the enlightenment of the Way. During this excursion, his elderly master was killed by several ronin. Though he lived, he was scarred, both emotionally and physically. During his darkest hour, he contemplated suicide, but was stopped by a figure clad in shadow. This man, who would later became known as the Master, promised the disturbed boy unlimited power and, most importantly, revenge.

Adopting a new name, Hankon became one of the most devoted and powerful disciples of the Master. Fusing his monastic training and necromancy into one foul art, he became the Empire's first Boneblade Reaper. And it was through this dark power that he served his Master.

Etching strange symbols into his skin next to the scars of youth, Hankon finally faced the Dark Reaper and won, claiming eternal life. He would stand by his master forever, and was one of the few who insisted that he would return from the first death. He also had the fortune of escaping the massacre following the Master's second defeat by burying himself alive. When he emerged, he took hold of the Dark Council and, to this day, has not let it go.

Being extremely old and wise, Hankon is the strongest member of the Dark Council. He has not lost his devotion to the Master, and seeks only to free the greatest necromancer ever known. However, since it has been several hundred years, it is very possible that Hankon's power rivals his exalted Master's. If he were to succeed in his goal, it is very possible that the Master would destroy the very thing most devoted to his cause.

Aruku Shinde, Lord of Flesh

Aruku Shinde is one of the nine council members that make all the decisions surrounding the cult of the Master. Like Hankon, he is very secretive, as his form is always changing. Unlike his foul leader, Shinde's abilities derive not from magic, but from the skin of his fallen foes.

Shinde came from a long line of ninja, who used their shadowy powers to destroy any imperial servants who became treasonous. However, when it was revealed that his lover was giving secrets to loyalists of the Emperor, Shinde was ordered to kill her. While he did complete his mission, the weight of what he had done crushed him, and he committed suicide to atone for his perceived sins.

Or so they thought. His grave mission had driven Shinde to the realization that the system of the Empire was fundamentally wrong. Where else would duty override true love? Surely the society was an abomination that deserved to be destroyed slowly and painfully. His new found mindset made him easy prey for the corrupting essence of Kuraigami. This essence taught him the dark arts of necromancy, as well as another, fair scarier ability.

Capitalizing on Shinde's background in the art of ninjitsu, the spirit taught him a ritual that took a person's skin and made it a wearable shell. By careful assassination, Shinde could kill someone, impersonate them using their own body, and then kill someone in a higher position. As his power and influence began to rise, Shinde developed a small cult of other disillusioned ninjas and assassins, and passed along his techniques. It wasn't long before he got the attention of Hankon and the rest of the Dark Council.

Shinde's goal, and the one that Hankon bequeathed to him, is to infiltrate the clan that will eventually reunify the country. The Dark Council has already decided which clan they are going to back, and once they do unite the clans, Shinde will slowly creep up the ranks using his abilities, until he kills and takes control of the Shogun or Emperor. From there, they will use the Shogun's power to find and open the Master's tomb. Of course, Hankon's plans are always two-sided, so there is an ulterior motive...but not even Shinde knows what it is.

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