#Tesshin (鐵身)
The day my heart was replaced by a mainspring, pain stopped. And then everything else stopped too.
- Role: heavy combat, squad modification, fortification
- Core Attributes: Physique (體), Finesse (技)
- Core Zone Entry: forced Breakthrough
- Base Class: Autonomous Automaton × Artisan
- Three Ways and Six Hearts: forced No-Heart (cannot change)
- Skills Eligible for Master Rank: Unarmed Combat, Military Science, Survival, Disable, Geography, Stratagem
- Starting Automatic Skills: Military Science Trained, Unarmed Combat Novice, Disable Novice, Stratagem Novice
Common to Majin Classes: GM permission required. Designed as an NPC villain, but if a player wants, it can be played as a "path of corruption." See Villain Play Guide.
#Scent — The Taboo of the Kunitomo Guild
The Kunitomo Guild is an association of artisans who make teppo. They build guns, mix gunpowder, and design mechanical devices. But their ambition did not stop at "making weapons." Not a weapon, but a human who is the weapon itself: that was the Tesshin Project.
There were volunteers. Samurai who had lost an arm in war, artisans whose legs had been crushed, people who could no longer live in their original bodies. The Kunitomo Guild made them an offer: "We will return what you lost. No, something better than that." Steel arms, lens eyes, a mainspring heart. Surgery began to replace the human body piece by piece with machinery. The pain defied imagination, but when the surgery ended, the pain disappeared with it. Most sensation had disappeared too. The autonomous automaton had been a machine from the beginning, but Tesshin had been human. That is the tragedy.
Tesshin carries one integrated built-in weapon, the Triple Armament. The same device operates through three techniques: an arm-blade attack, a finger-teppo attack, and a deployable steel-shield defense. It cannot be poisoned, does not feel fear, and does not bleed. On the battlefield, Tesshin is nearly invincible: on land. A body made of steel sinks in water, conducts lightning, and is pulled by magnetism (磁力). Medicine has no effect on machinery, and faith healing barely reaches a being whose "soul has half departed." Above all, Fate (運) permanently becomes 0. Through mechanization, Tesshin has cut the thread of "fate" that humans possess. The Kunitomo Guild knew this and continued the experiment anyway. And when the final phase of the Tesshin Project began, the "legion mechanization" that modified ordinary Minion squads into machine squads, the shogunate finally felt fear.
- Recommended Weapon: Triple Armament (Blade Attack A, Teppo Attack B, Shield Defense)
- Recommended Schools: Kunitomo-ryu (mechanical combat art), Tetsujin-ryu (experimental)
- Recommended Faction Traits: Kunitomo Guild (origin) or independent action (escaped body)
#Law — Trait List
#1st Dan: Triple Armament (三重兵裝) [aptitude]
[aptitude] Triple Armament (三重兵裝): You permanently equip one built-in weapon with the following three techniques. There is no separate weapon switching.
| Technique | Type | Energy | Check | Effect | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blade (刃) | Attack A (Physique) | 2 | 2d10+Physique+Unarmed Combat+2 >= Defense | One target in the same zone takes 1 Wound, [Pierce 1]. | — |
| Teppo (砲) | Attack B (—) | 2 | 2d10+Archery >= Defense | One target within 2 zones takes 1 Wound, [Pierce all]; no reload required. | 1/round |
| Shield Deployment (盾) | Defense | reserve 2/improvised 3 | automatic | Defense +3. An improvised deployment also applies to the triggering attack. | see below |
The shield's +3 is additional Defense from a shield, so it does not apply against [Pierce] attacks. It lasts until your next breath or until you declare an attack or voluntary movement, whichever comes first; end the shield before resolving that attack or movement. You cannot voluntarily move while it is deployed. Resolve forced movement first, then end the shield. If you have not learned Archery, apply the normal untrained-skill rule to the teppo check.
Separate from Triple Armament, the mechanical body grants complete immunity to poison, Fear, and bleeding. Fate (運) is permanently fixed at 0, and Fate-related checks automatically fail.
#3rd-Dan Class Traits (choose 1)
| Trait | Type | Energy | Limit | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-Repair (自家修理) | [Kata] | 2 | 1/combat | Recover 3 Wounds for yourself. Use instead of medicine/faith healing. Cannot move/attack while repairing. |
| Piercing Shot (貫通射擊) | [Kata] | 3 | 1/round | Enhanced fire from the built-in teppo. All units on 1 straight line, friend or foe, take Wounds -2. Range 3 zones. After shooting, that weapon cannot be used for 1 round. |
| Electromagnetic Barrier (電磁防壁) | [Kata] | 2 | 2/combat | Create an electromagnetic barrier in your zone. All allies in the zone gain Defense +2. Lasts 2 rounds. Deflects a shooting attack on d100 01-50. |
#5th-Dan Class Traits (choose 1)
| Trait | Type | Energy | Limit | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squad Mechanization (分隊機械化) | [Kata] | 5 | 1/session | Permanently modify 1 allied Minion squad in the same zone into a machine squad. Machine squad: attack +2, Defense +2, immune to poison/fear/bleeding, and automatically fails Fate checks. Tesshin may own multiple modified squads over time, but before gaining Iron Monarch can actively deploy only one machine squad in a combat; all others remain in reserve. |
| Fortress Mode (要塞模式) | [Kata] | 4 | 1/combat | Fortify for 3 rounds. Cannot move, Defense +6, range of all shooting weapons +1. Cannot use the blade during Fortress Mode. Provides half cover to allies in the zone. |
| Overload Discharge (過負荷放電) | [Kata] | 4 | 1/combat | Release electric shock across your whole zone. All units except yourself take Wounds -2. Wearers of metal armor take additional Wounds -1. After discharge, all functions stop for 1 round. |
#7th-Dan Advanced Traits (choose 1)
| Trait | Type | Energy | Limit | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Complete Mechanization (完全機械化) | [aptitude] | — | — | Human parts reach 0%. Treated as a Veteran-grade autonomous automaton. Wound maximum +5, Defense +3. All emotion-control checks automatically fail. Negotiation -5 (additional). |
| Self-Destruct Protocol (自爆手順) | [Kata] | all Energy | 1/session | Convert all remaining Energy into explosion damage. Your zone -(half the Energy spent, max 5), adjacent zones -(1/4 of the Energy spent, max 3). Target makes a Finesse save (2d10+Finesse ≥ 13 for half). You become incapacitated. Machine squads also chain-explode (each takes additional Wounds -2). |
| Legion Command Device (軍團指揮裝置) | [aptitude] | — | — | You can remotely issue standard squad orders to machine squads within 2 zones. Costs, Wisdom discount, and frequency follow ordinary orders, and Tesshin pays with their own Energy. The ordered machine squad gains movement +1 for that movement. |
#9th-Dan Advanced Traits (choose 1)
| Trait | Type | Energy | Limit | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron Monarch (鐵の君主) | [aptitude] | — | — | Remove the special active-deployment cap of one machine squad. Ordinary squad deployment slots and standard squad-order limits still apply, and you cannot deploy more squads than available slots. Machine squads in your zone gain an additional attack +2/Defense +2. If Tesshin becomes incapacitated, all deployed machine squads stop functioning. |
| Undying Engine (不滅機關) | [aptitude] | — | — | When incapacitated, automatically restart after 1 round (Wounds 3), up to 2/session. Each restart disables one available Triple Armament technique chosen from Blade, Teppo, or Shield Deployment. A disabled technique cannot be used until repaired; if all three are disabled, Tesshin is permanently incapacitated. |
#Extreme Strengths
- Complete immunity to poison/fear/bleeding. Status-abnormality strategies do not work.
- One Triple Armament performs blade attacks, teppo attacks, and shield defense, giving maximum tactical response.
- Self-sufficient survival through Self-Repair. No medicine/healing required.
- Strengthens all allies through Squad Mechanization. Permanent effect.
- In Fortress Mode, Defense becomes abnormally high, making physical breakthrough extremely difficult.
#Extreme Weaknesses
- Fate (運) permanently 0: Fate-related checks automatically fail. No desperate comeback, lucky strike, fate evasion, or similar effects.
- Negotiation -3: uncanny valley effect. Human interaction always has a dissonant edge.
- Medicine/faith healing invalid: no healing method except Self-Repair.
- Water burial: entering deep water (knee-deep or deeper) causes instant death. Cannot ford rivers. Rain causes slowdown -1.
- Magnetism (磁力) vulnerability: when hit by magnetism-line techniques, damage ×2 + cannot move for 1 round.
- Loss of humanity: automatically fails emotion-related negotiation/persuasion. Cohesion checks -2.
#Typical Breath Pattern (5th Dan)
Count 11 — First breath:
Fortress Mode(4) → Defense +6, range +1
Count 8 — Second breath:
Piercing Shot(3) → straight-line Wounds -2
Count 5 — Third breath:
built-in teppo normal shot(2) = 2
→ remaining Energy: 11 - 4 - 3 - 2 = 2 (waiting for Self-Repair)
Lull — Self-Repair(2) → Wounds +3.#Zone Bonuses
| Zone | Bonus |
|---|---|
| Front Zone | Maximizes Fortress Mode. Can stop the enemy advance alone. |
| Rear Zone | Uses the built-in teppo's range. Sustained shooting from a safe position. |
| Core Zone | Directly engages the enemy commander. Poison/fear immunity ignores the enemy commander's intimidation. |
| River/Coast Zone | Forbidden zone. Instant death on entry. Never approach. |
#Three Ways and Six Hearts Conflict
Tesshin's Three Ways and Six Hearts are forced No-Heart. Emotions are suppressed by machinery, but have they disappeared completely?
- "Can a machine choose a Way?" A meta question about the Three Ways and Six Hearts system itself. A philosophical conversation between GM and player.
- "Is the absence of pain a blessing, or a sentence?" Power gained at the cost of sensation. Yet the beauty of cherry blossoms can no longer be felt.
- "Did the Kunitomo Guild save me, or kill me?" Feelings toward the creator, if such feelings exist. Fragments of the memory of being human sometimes malfunction.
- NPC Opposition: artisan factions praise Tesshin as "a victory of technology" while trying to replace it with a "better model." Esoteric monks treat it as "a soulless shell" and a target for exorcism. Wildlanders oppose it as "an insult to nature."
- PC Corruption Route: When an artisan or autonomous automaton PC suffers a fatal wound, the Kunitomo Guild may offer "mechanization surgery." If accepted, Fate becomes 0, and there is no going back.
"This arm is steel. This eye is a lens. This heart is a mainspring. Then where is 'I'?"
#Example Character
→ Integrated Sample for 12 Majin Classes (1/5/10 Dan + Corruption Path Story)