#Aristocratic Scenario Seeds

Contents

Fiction-Only. This document holds 7 scenario seeds of the court / aristocratic side of a Heian campaign. Each seed is 1~2 sessions in length (not a long arc — maintaining the "compact" identity of the fc spec). For the mountain / yoma-subjugation side, see fc04-06-02-mountain.md.

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#Opening Fragment — Blood on the Letter's Envelope

The first blood of an aristocratic scenario did not stain a blade's tip. It had spread, very thin, on the inside of a folded letter's envelope. Before the recipient saw that blood, he first caught the scent of incense.

"Who sent it?" the buke PC asked.

The kuge PC looked at the fold of the envelope. "Someone opened it before the sender did. This fold is not the way it is done inside the palace."

The Pure Land Monk checked the name inside the envelope. "The name of a dead person has been erased. We must also check the funeral records."

The onmyoji spoke as he studied the shape of the dried blood. "This may be not a threat but an invitation. The blood is not at the sentence's end but at its beginning."

The blade had not yet been drawn. And yet the four in the room had already entered four different battlefields. That is how an aristocratic scenario begins. Etiquette before blood, and who hid what before murder — these open the scene.

#This Document's Place

Scenario seeds set on the stage of the Heian capital, the rear palace, and noble manors. PC squad composition: kuge PC 1~2 + onmyoji PC 1 + samurai PC 1~2 is the standard.

Each seed is organized in the structure of "Trigger, Conjecture, Truth Options, PC Role, Effect." Detailed scenario handling is at the GM's discretion.

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#Seed 1 — "The Scent of the Rear Palace"

#Trigger

The rear palace of the imperial house. One consort gives off the same incense every night, and the other consorts who smell that incense fall ill one after another. Over three days, three consorts have withered. The Emperor orders a divination, but even divination yields no answer.

#Conjecture

A living-spirit is suspected. Who hates whom?

#Truth Options

• A. Orthodox — one woman's unconscious living-spirit: an old consort, hating the new consort, sent forth a living-spirit without her own awareness. She herself does not know that she is killing — the Miyasudokoro motif (fc04-02-02-onryo-aristocracy.md).
• B. A Doman-school onmyoji's instigation: the old consort commissioned a Doman-school onmyoji and laid a Curse on the new consort. The old consort knows her own deed — morally black of heart.

#PC Role

• kuge PC — gathering information on the consorts. Tracing the old consort's diary, poems, and relationships.
• onmyoji PC — casting a Barrier. Drawing a Barrier around the new consort's quarters to block the incense's influence. Tracing the source (the old consort).
• samurai PC — guarding the consort. If a Doman-school onmyoji appears directly, subjugation.

#Effect

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#Seed 2 — "The Shadow of the Seiryoden"

#Trigger

A shadow appears every dawn in the Emperor's sleeping chamber (the Seiryoden). The Emperor cannot sleep. The onmyoji have tried, but the shadow does not vanish. The Emperor summons a squad of a PC onmyoji PC and a samurai PC.

#Conjecture

An onryo. A posthumous echo of Michizane, or the posthumous spirit of another high minister.

#Truth Options

• A. A Michizane-type onryo: the grudge of one dead high minister lingers in the Emperor's sleeping chamber. It can be calmed by a posthumous restoration of honor (a posthumous promotion in rank) — the model of fc04-03-03-michizane.md.
• B. An outside intruder: some spiritual being from the capital's outer reaches has entered all the way into the sleeping chamber. Trace and repel by a Barrier rite.

#PC Role

• onmyoji PC — the rite. Divining the shadow's identity. Casting the Barrier.
• samurai PC — lying in wait in the chamber. If the shadow turns corporeal, a strike with the famed blade.
• kuge PC — tracing the dead high minister's unresolved circumstances (the posthumous restoration-of-honor procedure).

#Effect

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#Seed 3 — "The Curse of the Waka"

#Trigger

After a certain noble recites a waka (和歌), those who mocked him die off one by one. Three in a week. The noble himself seems not to know that his waka holds such power.

#Conjecture

A spiritual will held within the waka — the man himself is an unconscious living-spirit. A Heian variant of the Miyasudokoro motif from Murasaki Shikibu's "Tale of Genji."

#Truth

The man himself is an unconscious living-spirit. The mockery he had received turned, in the depths of his heart, into murderous intent, and as it manifests in the form of waka, it acts upon those who hear it.

#PC Role

• kuge PC — meeting and persuading the noble himself. Telling him the truth: "your waka is killing people." If he accepts it, the living-spirit naturally dissipates.
• onmyoji PC — casting a temporary Barrier (a Barrier each time the noble recites a waka). But since the man himself is unaware, the permanent resolution is the kuge PC's persuasion.

#Effect

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#Seed 4 — "The Death of a Court Onmyoji"

#Trigger

An orthodox onmyoji of the Seimei school has been killed in his own quarters. Beside the corpse — a single Doman-school talisman has fallen. The capital stirs.

#Conjecture

A Doman-school counter-Sorcery, or a political assassination. Who killed whom, and why.

#Truth Options

• A. A Doman-school onmyoji killed the orthodox onmyoji on commission: a high minister on the Fujiwara side commissioned the Doman school. The motive is political — the orthodox onmyoji learned something he was not meant to know.
• B. A political conspiracy on the Fujiwara side: the Doman-school talisman is a disguise. In truth it is an assassination by a warrior band on the Fujiwara side. The onmyoji knew too much.

#PC Role

• onmyoji PC — pursuit. Analyzes the Doman-school talisman with Sorcery or Exorcism (Target Number 13, hard). On success, determines whether it is true Doman-school work or a disguise.
• samurai PC — escort. The PC onmyoji PC may become the next target.
• kuge PC — gathering information on the Fujiwara side. Tracing the clues of Truth Option B.

#Effect

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#Seed 5 — "The Noble's Daughter and the Shikigami"

#Trigger

A daughter of a Fujiwara branch house has fallen in love with a certain young man. But that young man's true identity is — a shikigami. A shikigami commanded by an orthodox onmyoji has gained selfhood and, transforming into human form, has been meeting her.

#Conjecture

• Has the shikigami commanded by an orthodox onmyoji gained selfhood? (rare, but possible)
• Or is a Doman-school onmyoji deceiving her with a transformed shikigami? (an intent to manipulate)

#Truth

At the GM's discretion. Both options are possible. The core of this scenario is a moral choice.

#PC Role

The PCs must decide on one of the following three:

1. Acknowledge the love and free the shikigami as a human — the onmyoji PC's rite. The shikigami settles as a human (of a low dan) while retaining its selfhood. But the hostility of that onmyoji's main house.
2. Purify the shikigami — return the shikigami to its original form and sever her love. She sinks into grief — later, the risk that she herself sends forth a living-spirit (another scenario).
3. If the truth is a Doman-school Deceit — subjugate him — combat with the Doman-school onmyoji NPC.

#Effect

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#Seed 6 — "The Tsuchigumo of the Noble Manor"

#Trigger

From beneath a certain manor of a Fujiwara branch house — a giant spider is discovered. The manor's people had been disappearing for days, and at last a single servant saw it in the underground storehouse.

#Conjecture

A remnant tsuchigumo from fc04-04-02-tsuchigumo-rashomon.md. Or a new individual.

#PC Role

• samurai PC — subjugation. A strike with the famed blade.
• onmyoji PC — blocking the spider-web Barrier (an Energy effect). Purification.
• kuge PC — rescuing the manor's people.

#Effect

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#Seed 7 — "The Spirit of the Maternal Relative"

#Trigger

A high minister (e.g., of a Fujiwara branch house, or a warrior on the Minamoto side) has been killed. After his death, his spirit begins to appear in the Emperor's sleeping chamber — asking that his grudge be settled.

#Conjecture

A Michizane-type onryo. It happens often in Heian.

#PC Role

• onmyoji PC — the rite. Divining the spirit's identity. Grasping what the grudge is.
• kuge PC — a political resolution. Petitioning the Emperor / the Fujiwara side for a posthumous promotion in rank.
• samurai PC — if the spirit turns into a threat, repelling it with the famed blade (but not recommended — a political resolution is the core of this seed).

#Effect

This seed's core is a political resolution. Calming the spirit through a posthumous restoration of honor rather than armed repulsion is the model of Heian onryo handling — the Michizane → Tenman-Tenjin model (fc04-03-03).

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#Usage Guide

• Each seed is 1~2 sessions in length. If it becomes a long arc, it departs from the fc spec (the compact identity).
• Recommended squad: onmyoji + kuge + samurai (3~5 members).

#Combining Seeds

Multiple seeds can be used in sequence in a single campaign. Examples:

• Seed 1 (The Scent of the Rear Palace) → Seed 4 (The Death of a Court Onmyoji) → Seed 7 (The Spirit of the Maternal Relative) = a court-political mystery campaign (3 scenarios).
• Seed 3 (The Curse of the Waka) → Seed 5 (The Noble's Daughter and the Shikigami) = a court love / living-spirit campaign (2 scenarios).

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#In One Line

"Not the blade but incense, waka, talisman, poetry — and above all of it, the fate of a single person."

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#References

#co — Classes

• co-04-character/co-04-07-classes/co-04-07-04-onmyoji.md — onmyoji
• co-04-character/co-04-07-classes/co-04-07-09-scholar.md — scholar (kuge PC)
• co-04-character/co-04-07-classes/co-04-07-27-villain-tatarigami.md — Tatarigami (the Doman-instigated villain of Seed 4)

#Within fc04

• fc04-02-02-onryo-aristocracy.md — living spirits / onryo (the motif of Seeds 1, 2, 3, 7)
• fc04-03-03-michizane.md — the onryo model (Seeds 2, 7)
• fc04-03-04-murasaki.md — Shikibu (an NPC guide)
• fc04-04-02-tsuchigumo-rashomon.md — tsuchigumo (Seed 6)
• fc04-05-02-kuge-class.md — the kuge PC guide
• fc04-05-03-onmyodo-seimei.md — Seimei-school spells
• fc04-05-04-onmyodo-doman.md — Doman-school spells
• fc04-06-02-mountain.md — the counterpart (mountain scenarios)

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An aristocratic scenario opens at the letter's envelope before it opens at the scabbard.