Okay, I'm bored, having a bit of a nostalgic moment and thought this could be a fun little idea that could spawn a number of plot hooks and add character to games ^_^
Sensei
The Sensei are the sons or descendants of the Emperor, they are immortal - though they can be killed, they do not age.
The Sensei have inherited great power from the Emperor. They also possess unique abilities of their own. Because they harbour none of the emotions or concepts embodied by the Chaos Powers, they are largely invisible to them, and can draw on the energies of the Warp to use their psychic powers without attracting daemons or other malicious forces of the Warp. Due to their harmonious relationship with the Warp, the Sensei are invisible to psychic senses, even to those of the Emperor.
Sensei wander throughout the galaxy. In contrast to the servants of the Emperor, Sensei are natural rebels. As well as being enemies of Chaos, Sensei are enemies of oppression. They and their followers operate as outlaw bands, and appear across the Imperium to fight against repression and injustice. In this way, they often come into conflict with the Imperium.
The Imperium regards the Sensei as dangerous bandits and nihilists who, if not actually in league with Chaos, are weakening the Imperium's defence against Chaos. Because of their powers and militantly anti-authority natures, they are hunted down and killed by Imperial forces, which in turn forces the Sensei to operate as outlaws.
To reflect this, any character may be a Sensei and have no idea of their true nature, and only after an Awakening does the character begin their new existence as a Sensei. Characters who have become Awakened as a Sensei will retain any skills they had previously and will automatically increase their Wp stat to 100, but will reduce their Ld value to 25 and loses any previous psychic powers in favour of the below rules:
Innate - Confound Daemon(1), Seal Warp Breach(1), Regenerate, Banishment, Sanctuary, Soul Veil(2), Inertia(3).
Despite these abilities being innate, a Sensei rarely receives training in their use. To reflect this, whilst a Sensei cannot suffer psychic overloads when using these powers (nor are they risky actions), they are used exclusively on reflex and may only be used at a GM's discretion (with the exception of Soul Veil) when they deem it fitting that they can be used (such as a GM may decide that a Sensei will be able to use Regenerate upon themselves when they are close to bleeding to death). They may however attempt to nullify psychic powers as normal.
(1) See: Thorian Sourcebook
(2) See: Recongregator Sourcebook
(3) See: Navigator Article in Exterminatus.
Thoughts welcome.
While in principle what you're doing is fine, I'm sure you're aware that the actual fluff regarding Sensei hasn't been touched for fifteen years because it was all getting a bit silly.
That aside, I'm guessing this sort of thing is basically a GM plot-device? Considering they're supposed to be fantastically rare, I imagine it's a once-in-a-blue-moon thing that's meant to derail an ongoing plot and suddenly shift attention onto "what the hell do we do with this guy".
Looking at your psychic power rules for them, wouldn't it be easier to just say they're all Wyrd powers? The way you've written them, I'm seeing Wyrd powers that simply aren't denoted as such, as all the components are more or less there.
I'm not sure about crashing their Ld, as surely they don't stop being able to make decisions. Maybe just crashing their Ld when interacting with other characters would fit better (such as when they're trying to Persuade or Threaten someone).
I think this is really interesting from a plot hook perspective. Many of the ideas are great though it seems a little too cookie-cutter at the moment. That said it's a great jumping off point.
From a linguistic level I'd remove/modify some of the concrete language you have in there (though that's more to taste). What I mean specifically is that they fight "oppression," "repression and injustice." These are all very fixed terms with an inherent value judgement tied to them. Justice is good, oppression and repression are bad. One could argue that objectively the Imperium is oppressive, though others could argue that the Imperium takes practical measures in a world full of daemons, aliens and heretics to defend itself. The moral ambiguity of the 41st millennium is a staple (IMO) but you seem to be selecting language that specifically exempts the Sensei from this ambiguity, placing them above the fray.
Again, that's some extreme nit-picking on my part but I do think in a game like Inquisitor it's important.
Moving beyond that, the idea that the Sensei act in this manner is great (even if I'd use slightly different language to describe it). It reminds me of how Space Marines can clash with Imperial institutions because they consider themselves "born of the Emperor" and regard him as a great leader rather than a God. While there are a variety of considerations that prevent (in most cases) Imperial organizations from calling for all out war on the Space Marines this is not so with Sensei. They will probably be loners (not being able to find other Sensei for statistical reasons) and far more likely to subvert Imperial authority directly. The attitude of, "Yeah, well, the Emperor is my granddad so screw you," is kind of great. This lends itself to lots of great plot hooks:
- The cult your INQ is investigating has nothing to do with Chaos, they're merely trying to topple the local gov't because they view their Sensei leader as the true messenger of the Emperor.
- That perennial manservant of whoever the current Conclave leader is that never seems to age actually never does age. He's a Sensei who has been influencing the sector for centuries to bend it to his own whims.
- While investigating the random front-line guardsmen who died somehow banishing a greater daemon to see if he sainthood material you find he is still alive and has changed someone...
Anyway, the list goes on.
As far as the mechanics, the rules are great but IMO should function as a possible list of abilities rather than a fixed set. Also not a huge fan of the idea that they lose their current psychic powers (unless there's some previously established logic for that, or you have a particularly good reason yourself). While there may be 1 or 2 standard powers that a Sensei will get I feel like others should be kept or changed based on the individual. I also quite like that idea that in some cases the abilities may be tailored to be valuable in the exact time and place the Sensei is currently in (historically speaking) to give a "the Emperor gave them these gifts for a reason" vibe.
What (if anything) do you feel this should do to physical stats? During the awakening do their bodies also undergo a change? It makes sense to me that an immortal would have a naturally heartier constitution or (at the very least) gain super-human strength over time. While the Clash of the Titans remake was rather awful the idea that Perseus has an inherited combat ability based on his God-father was interesting and possibly applicable here (not in all cases, but in some).
Which brings me to the awakening. How is this triggered/is it unique? Could it be brought about when the character "dies" for the first time (read: undergoes injuries that would kill a normal man)? Could it be when they're faced by a warp daemon? Along those lines, could it happen when they're put in a position where one of their future powers is necessary to perform an extraordinary action? This are half questions, half ideas.
Pushing this idea forward, what does the awakening entail? Is there a rush of inherited knowledge which is unlocked (either in the deep recesses of their brain or granted by the Emperor through the warp)? Or is it more of a "you're on your own" journey of self discovery with these new and strange abilities? Given the similar psychology that runs through the Sensei I'd imagine there's at least an element of the first part.
All that said, while I think there are tons of great opportunities presented here I also think that (like all these kinds of ideas) there can be a lot of potential to have it dominate a game/gaming universe. There are so many unique opportunities presented in 40K that it's a shame for one big idea to derail a gaming group and having everyone activating their own Special Snowflakes, as it were. Not to mention this is kind of a shameless Highlander port [Queen soundtrack]THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!!1[/Queen soundtrack].
So I've started ranting again, but I like what you've written so far!
Quote from: Alyster Wick on February 20, 2013, 11:28:43 PMThey will probably be loners (not being able to find other Sensei for statistical reasons)
That might need a distinction between the Emperor's descendants who have the potential to become Sensei and those that don't.
In my own writing, Jax Lynn reckons that Inquisitor Skoll's descendants probably make up several percent of the Carthax Sector population (and many have probably spread over most of the Segmentum or even Imperium) - and that's only by M44, about two thousand years after his death.
(This is more or less based on the idea that almost everyone of European, at least Western European, descent has Charlemagne as an ancestor.)
Given the Emperor was allegedly born in the 8th Millennium
BC, it's quite possible that almost the entire human race is descended. It may, however, be that only chance bringing together enough of the pieces of that very, very scattered jigsaw will produce the possibility of a Sensei.
That would mean you could comfortably explain why Sensei don't just try to trigger awakenings in their own relatives (at least successfully) - the chance of all those pieces going together again, even with relatives, are too slim.
QuoteWhat (if anything) do you feel this should do to physical stats? During the awakening do their bodies also undergo a change? It makes sense to me that an immortal would have a naturally heartier constitution or (at the very least) gain super-human strength over time.
I'm not so sure about that. Lack of senescence wouldn't itself have any reason to make anyone tougher or stronger than they were in the prime of life*.
Descendence from the Emperor, however, might be another matter.
*To go back to Jax for a moment, the reason I made her somewhat stronger and tougher than her build would suggest (about 15-20 points on both S & T) was because I felt her very active regeneration would make her tougher.~~~~~
On this whole matter, I'll admit to having used the Sensei, or at least the possibility of the Emperor's descendants, in some of my own background.
The possibility of finding and piecing together some of the Emperor's/Omnissiah's DNA is the driving force behind the gene-splicing and breeding of Pharos Station - hence why it's been performing all sorts of atrocities to get its hands on as much human DNA as possible. (There is the possibility there may be an extremist Thorian backing the project, looking for Emperor 2.0).
Clepsydra's anti-authority nature is a bit of a shout-out to that old canon, rather than any actual claim she's at all "Sensei-ish".
(She's certainly not harmonious with the warp, put it that way. I imagine the genetic engineering has made her quite distinct, if anything).