TRPG:Mazoku (Mabui)
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In the Mabui setting, mazoku (魔族 まぞく) are supernatural beings opposed to the ryuuzoku. They are loosely based on the similarly named creatures from the Slayers series by Kanzaka Hajime, but differ in numerous ways.
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Nature
Mazoku are created wholecloth by a more powerful mazoku splitting off part of its power; in effect, mazoku are an appendage of their higher-ranking creators and must obey their commands, although they can and often do work against their superiors in indirect ways or by "creative" interpretations of orders. Further, a mazoku has no direct loyalty to a higher-ranking mazoku that is not in the direct line of creation; a mazoku created by Vazarro does not have to obey Lunisha, because Lunisha did not create Vazarro. Mazoku do not age or require ordinary sustenance (though they diminish if no one around them experiences chaotic emotions for a long period).
Mazoku, unlike humans, exist primarily on the astral side. Their physical "bodies" are projections that, while vulnerable to powerful weapons or magic and time-consuming to reconstruct, are not part of their real form. Low-ranking mazoku are usually incapable of projecting a form that is more than vaguely humanoid; depending on their duties, mid-ranking mazoku may choose to impersonate slightly exotic humans (though they must conceal oddities such as their lack of blood); high-ranking mazoku are capable of forming perfect simulacra of human bodies, down to the details of internal structure. Mazoku astral bodies range from geometric shapes to monstrous forms, but are all quite large compared to species that are not astral-native.
The ultimate objective of mazoku is to return the entire world to chaos. They gain strength from emotions such as vengefulness, fear, rebellion, and ambition - anything resultant from or leading to chaos. They are not all malicious or evil in this pursuit, but neither are they less prone to evil than are humans.
Mazoku are motivated quite differently from mortals. Particularly given that they are required to obey higher-ranking mazoku, who often make plans stretching into centuries or longer, their actions may be puzzling in the short term. Even individual mazoku may perform actions that seem orderly or helpful with the long-term goal of causing greater chaos in the world. For example, a mazoku might help a deposed king return to power with the long-term goal of prolonging ethnic strife with a neighbouring nation. It is important to remember that mazoku do not desire control or domination, but merely chaos; if chaos will be generated by someone remaining alive, they will work to save that person's life. However, they do generally seek to increase their own power and diminish that of others, since this is clearly useful to whatever plans they may make.
Abilities
Teleportation, flight, or other modes of rapid movement are fairly common among mazoku, especially at the mid-rank and higher. Even the weakest are physically as strong as a typical adult human, and many are far stronger than that. Mazoku have magical aptitude far greater than that of mere sorcerers, but also experience restrictions in this regard due to their qualities as astral beings.
Perhaps as a consequence of their association with chaos, most mazoku have trademark abilities that vary wildly - fire projection, manipulation of shadows, assuming the guise of another creature, or even creating ice cream. This is a significant factor in motivating high-ranking mazoku to create servants; some may have particularly useful unique abilities. It is not possible for a high-ranking mazoku to choose its subordinates' abilities.
As astral creatures, mazoku are strongly affected by their self-perception. A mazoku is not "as strong as it thinks it is", but it does become stronger through confidence and weaker through uncertainty and fear. This fact is key to understanding some of the most puzzling qualities of mazoku. For example, mazoku grant spells to mortals firstly because this frequently increases the overall chaos of the world, and secondly because this indicates the mazoku's surety of its own power. Refusing to grant a spell would be admitting weakness, which the mazoku is unwilling to do. (Note, though, that a spell will not affect the mazoku that grants it; they cannot "punch themselves".) Likewise, despite their excellent casting ability, mazoku never use a spell granted by another mazoku, since this would be admitting their own inability to resolve a situation; the mazoku would effectively be denying the worth of their own existence and would cease to exist even before the spell finished. Again, while a mazoku could trivially crush a human on the astral side just as a human could kill a rat, no mazoku would do this since it indicates it's too weak to face the opponent's real body - though of course mazoku might duel one another or ryuuzoku astrally.
However, this need for confidence does not mean mazoku are always obviously arrogant; the servants of Massacre Priest Lunisha find it particularly amusing to deceive mortals into thinking them ordinary people, and will act as needed to maintain this perception, secure in the knowledge that they are ultimately in control of the situation.
Organization
The mazoku hierarchy is headed by Chaotic Blue, their ultimate leader. No mazoku, with the exception of the one associated with Takuro, is known to be able to go against Chaotic Blue's direct command. Fortunately for everyone else, Chaotic Blue was long ago shattered into fragments that each possess only a small portion of his total power, and most or all are inert currently.
Below Chaotic Blue are five generals.
- Massacre Priest Lunisha - Somewhat senior over the others (but not in direct command). Looks like a young girl to catch people off guard. Tends to be subtle up until the last moment of a plan, at which time everyone dies.
- Demon Lord Vazarro - Particularly good at command. Has a much larger and more efficient/directed army than the others. Was considered the biggest threat by the dragons, so he was sealed off on Akitsushima.
- Plague Archer Colossia - Currently unknown. Thought to be disease-related.
- Midnight Reaper Ecthos - Grim Reaper/Shinigami-type. Doesn't have many subordinates, but they're very powerful. Doesn't have a permanent base. According to Gankou, was responsible for the exodus of the kobold tribe that later joined Prince Yuuzuki.
- Ash Bird Tor - Sort of a reverse phoenix. Has a grey, bird-shaped body made of ash, but can flare up into a living flame for combat.
Below them, in turn, are a few "high-ranking" mazoku, a number of mid-ranking mazoku, many low-ranking mazoku, and hordes of lesser monsters and enslaved creatures of various sorts, though below a certain level they are not regarded as real mazoku and do not possess the same powers and restrictions. It is worth noting that even a "low-ranking" mazoku is far more powerful than an ordinary human. Also, as a rule of thumb, a mazoku of high rank or greater has probably invested about one-fifth to one-quarter of its power in creating lower-ranking servants.
Mechanics
In BESM, a monster or lesser demon has 20-30 character points, a low-ranking mazoku has 35-40 character points, a mid-ranking mazoku has 45-60 character points, a high-ranking mazoku has 65-80 character points, and the top five and Chaotic Blue fragments might have somewhere in the range of 120 or more. Energy Bonus and Magic are fairly common among mazoku, although some of their abilities seem to be usable with less effort and can be taken separately. (For example, in Slayers, Xellos showed no difficulty teleporting even after fighting for quite a while and being gravely wounded. Likewise lots of mazoku seem to be able to shoot fire/energy/whatever without much drain.)
Mazoku Template
Attributes:
- Life Support lv 2 (2 pt)
- Reincarnation lv 1 (Astral body must be destroyed, by attacks of dragons/mazoku, artifact-level weapons, non-physical magic attacks, etc.; forming a new physical body takes at least a few weeks) (3 pt)
Defects:
- Large Astral Body (low-ranking/mid-ranking 1BP, high-ranking/general 2BP)
- Marked (2BP)
- Owned by a Megacorp (Creator) (2BP)
