#Anmen Shinkyo (暗面心鏡) — Comprehensive Overview of Dark-Side Play

Contents

RP Guide + Scene Tool + Data Catalog. This volume adds no new class, no new fiend class, no new Sorcery, no new school. However, chapter 05 carries weapon, armor, tool, and accessory data for fiend villain play. All fiend class data follows the villain-play guide of co and the original text of the 12 fiend classes.

Use label: Dark-side play is not a base rule but selective material. It applies only when the table adopts a dark-side campaign or villain scenes, and it does not change the default of ordinary PC operation.

Core boundary: This volume does not cover playing as a yoma. A fiend is not a yoma PC, but a being who, losing his own heart and taboos, has leaned toward the way of evil.

Series specification: ../co/co-99-meta/co-99-03-fc-spec.md

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#Opening Words

If fc06 asked what the hand that grips the blade serves, fc07 asks since when that hand stopped trembling.

The way of evil does not begin with black armor or a wicked spell. At first it comes with very plausible words. To keep order, one abandons a village. To prevent greater suffering, one erases the suffering of a single person. Using the law of nature as a pretext, one gives up on the weak. With the words that there is neither good nor evil, one escapes responsibility.

When those words are repeated, the dark side of the Three Ways and Six Hearts becomes not a convenient excuse for the character but the central question of the session.

This volume is a book that treats that question.

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#Introductory Fragment — The Black Mirror

After the battle ended, no water remained in the village well. Instead, black ash had settled at the bottom.

The samurai folded the order document and tucked it into his robe. "The castle was held."

The Pure Land Monk sat at the well's edge and could not wash his hands. "Then what is this village?"

The feng shui master spoke as he looked at the burned road. "The spirit vein is not severed. But the flow in which people live has vanished."

At that moment, one of the fiends laughed. He was covered in blood, yet his face was at ease. "You too will soon come to know. At first a reason is needed, but later only the result remains."

The GM did not call for a check after those words. Instead he asked the players. "What did you keep today, and what did you abandon?"

The moment they could not answer that question, the black mirror was already set upon the table.

#Meta Card

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#Production and AI Notice

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#Scope Declaration

This volume covers the following.

• The dark side of the Three Ways and Six Hearts: how Hegemony, Void, Demon, and No Heart become the language of choice for PCs and NPCs.
• The process of falling into the way of evil: from what moment a human stops making excuses for his own choices.
• Commentary on the 12 fiend classes: without rewriting the existing fiend data, reading each class's path of corruption and its campaign use.
• Villain campaign operation: organizing consent, boundaries, conflict with heroes, and accountability for outcomes as session structure.
• Fiend equipment data: providing villainous masterworks, dark-side relics, tools, cult items, and cruel ritual items following the equipment templates of co.

This volume does not cover the following.

• yoma PCs
• additional fiend classes
• additional techniques, Sorcery, schools
• an independent equipment system that departs from the equipment slots and weapon templates of co
• imitation guidance for real-world crimes or real-world groups
• an operating method that forces horror subject matter upon players

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#Structure of the Book

#00. Meta

• fc07-00-00-index.md — this document.
• fc07-00-01-about.md — the purpose and use of this book.
• fc07-00-02-terms.md — the Anmen Shinkyo glossary.

#01. The Boundaries of Dark-Side Play

• fc07-01-01-table-contract.md — the table contract and the prohibited lines.
• fc07-01-02-what-is-mado.md — what it means to fall into the way of evil.
• fc07-01-03-dark-campaign-forms.md — the forms of villain campaigns.

#02. The Dark Side of the Three Ways and Six Hearts

• fc07-02-01-ha-the-tyrant-heart.md — Hegemony: when order becomes violence.
• fc07-02-02-heo-the-empty-heart.md — Void: when compassion becomes abandonment.
• fc07-02-03-ma-the-beast-heart.md — Demon: when nature becomes an indulgence.
• fc07-02-04-mushim-the-unbound-heart.md — No Heart: when freedom becomes irresponsibility.
• fc07-02-05-fall-and-return.md — fall, halt, return.

#03. Reading the 12 Fiend Classes

• fc07-03-01-twelve-villain-classes.md — overview of the 12 fiend classes.
• fc07-03-02-villain-archetype-groups.md — the groupings of war, curse, faith, and bargain.
• fc07-03-03-mado-paths-for-all-classes.md — one falls into Demon even without being a fiend class.

#04. GM Operation

• fc07-04-01-faction-cult-domain-play.md — dark-side operation of cults, factions, and domains.
• fc07-04-02-gm-scene-tools.md — GM scene tools.
• fc07-04-03-hero-conflict-consequences.md — conflict with heroes, consequences, conclusion.
• fc07-04-04-unbounded-villain-play.md — what if you truly want to pursue a limitless villain?
• fc07-04-05-friendly-recurring-villains.md — making villains that are dark-side yet familiar.

#05. Fiend Equipment Data

• fc07-05-01-villain-weapons-armor.md — fiend equipment: weapons and armor.
• fc07-05-02-villain-tools-relics.md — fiend equipment: tools and items of evildoing.

#99. Reference

• fc07-99-00-quick-reference.md — quick reference.

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#Relationship with fc06

If fc06 is a book that illuminates the bright language and intellectual roots of the Three Ways and Six Hearts, then fc07 turns the same mirror over and looks at the dark side.

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#Connection with Other Volumes

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#One-Line Invitation

"Play the darkness, but watch to the end what the darkness feeds on as it grows."

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The black mirror does not show another face — it shows only how dark the same face can become.