#Godframe — Caging a God in Steel

Contents

Scope declaration / opt-in. This issue is a Variant of co-99-01 — a possibility that surfaces quietly only at tables that adopt it, and before adoption it has no effect whatsoever on the co·ex·fc baseline. A Godframe is not something you "pick" from data but a +α force you operate by committing three resources (1 Divine Artifact · 1 Controller · 1 Pilot). Whenever numbers conflict, the canonical co always takes precedence.

It creates no new ability score and no new check formula. A Godframe is layered only on top of canon's existing machinery — round·Critical Hit/Heavenly Mandate/Karmic Retribution·Wounds/Energy/Defense·Domination·Pierce·initiative·squad combat·giant yoma. "Ponderous (鈍重)" is an application of the co-03-06 initiative same-order rule; "Cooling Sequence (冷却勢)" is a gate that forces the Godframe's Energy pool to be spent down at the "end" of the round; and "Overload (過負荷)" is a reuse of ex2-00-05 §9 Qi-Exhaustion·§2 Exhaustion. Firepower (火力), named Finishers, half-Pierce, Colossal Form (超巨大化), and the Ikko-ikki reboot are all ZN13-named Variant exceptions/adjustments with fixed locations and limits in this text; they are not imported as defaults into other issues.

It self-scales, but its standing is "above" a giant yoma. The moment 1 Artifact + 2 PCs are bound into one unit, the committed resources always scale with the party's level, so the output too auto-scales to "+α relative to that party" — a weak party fields a weak frame; a strong party + a high-grade Artifact, a fearsome frame. That said, when a standard Godframe stands in the field, its battlefield standing is "above" an ordinary giant yoma — yet not a god (Wounds 8–11·Defense 17–18·Domination +6–+8). At the same time this issue chooses heaviness: Ponderous (last in same-order)·Cooling Sequence (1 Energy forcibly spent at the end of the round)·heart dependence (shutdown·seizure·sealing) are not flaws to be filed off but the very texture of a Godframe. This is an issue for tables that want "a heavy, caged sense of overwhelming force" rather than ease of operation.

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#Brief — What This Issue Is

Pour one Divine Artifact and two human lives into a single body, and descend a god onto the battlefield — ponderously, yet overwhelmingly.

When the Sengoku dark-fantasy world reaches a certain extreme, the renegades of each faction combine forbidden technique, gold, and knowledge to forge an artificial war-god — that is the Godframe. Not a faction's "official" project; rather, those who crossed the lines their own orthodoxies hold taboo gave birth to the first frame. The day a Godframe stands on the battlefield is "the day humanity admitted it can no longer beat humans with human weapons" — driven desperate enough to borrow a god, it is also another name for defeat.

The first frame came from the collaboration of three renegade factions (all canon). The technique of the Kunitomo-za (國友座) — the secret workshop of autonomous machines that take karakuri and yoma spirit-cores as their power source (co-02-03 §Kunitomo Guild). The gold of the Sakai-za (堺座) — the merchant league that procured the power-source Artifacts and yoma-core materials and supplied the funding (co-02-03 §Sakai Guild). The knowledge of the Enryo-kan (遠慮館) — the taboo academy that has handled yoma through "negotiation" rather than sealing, supplied the knowledge to stabilize and synchronize the Godframe's heart (Artifact·yoma) (co-02-03 §Enryokan). The canonical setting that sealing the Throne of the Spirit Realm requires Kunitomo's technique + Enryo-kan's knowledge + Hiei-ren's sealing all together (co-02-03 §Throne of the Spirit Realm) becomes the very justification for the three-faction collaboration. Thereafter, every faction in the Sengoku gets entangled with the Godframe in its own way — owning it, or being involved with it.

What is a Godframe. It is a colossal suit of armor with a body of metal. It takes a Divine Artifact as its heart (power source), and two people ride it to move it: a Controller (Artifact operation·assist actions) and a Pilot (locomotion·attack·main actions). It slaughters squads, faces giant yoma single-handed, and dominates the battlefield — but it gets caught. Its battlefield standing is "above" an ordinary giant yoma (Wounds 8–11·Defense 17–18), yet it is no god. Thanks to half Pierce — which ignores only half of the armor's added portion — muskets and siege are no longer absolute; but in exchange, heart sniping·sealing·infiltration Pilot sniping are promoted to its principal counters: a more thoroughly broken-open body grows a more precise weak point (details in 09).

The issue is structured as follows (9 body documents after this front).

• What a Godframe Is — three-renegade origin·extreme framing·two-person operation concept. (01)
• Operation Engine — Pilot main + Controller assist·Ponderous·Cooling Sequence (end of round)·Energy (10+core)·Firepower (Divine Artifact grade×2) two pools·half Pierce·Colossal Form·Overload·machine traits. (02)
• Parts System — Core/Head/Torso/Arms/Legs·budget build (surplus→Firepower)·Wounds 8–11 recomputation·build examples. (03)
• Heart = Artifact or Self-Power — mounted Artifact·Self-Heart (divine-rank class)·yoma-core vs. pure Divine Artifact·Firepower grade conversion·heart destruction. (04)
• Crew — Controller/Pilot two-person operation·Control Art list·named Finisher system·per-class operation matrix. (05)
• Human-Faction Godframes — Kunitomo·Kagura·Hiei-ren·Sakai·Enryo-kan + Fuma·Ikko (irregulars), unified stat card + named Finishers. (06)
• Yoma-Faction Involvement — Shuten-san·Biu-san·Hannya·Mugen-shu·Ibuki·Throne of the Spirit Realm, anti-Godframe methods + enlargement. (07)
• Legendary Godframes — world-Artifacts as hearts (Amaterasu-no-Kaishin·The Trinity·Avalon Knight·Taizan Nyorai + expansions), 4 independent stat cards + named Finishers. (08)
• Field Operation — battlefield standing·squad combat·giant yoma·Colossal Form 1:1 clash·siege (fc12) interface·Godframe vs. Godframe·campaign hooks. (09)

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#Commentary — The One-Line Thesis

Thesis. Cage a god in steel, and the steel grows to resemble the god — heavy, slow, unstoppable. A Godframe's power comes not from a harder single blow (this game has no damage dice) but from the operation of two pools — the Energy that holds its movement (ponderously low, 10–13) and the Firepower that holds its striking force (a separate reserve welling up from the Artifact). Pour out the Firepower all at once and a named Finisher falls; the price is that you are left with no slack to cool.

It is slow, yet even the fact of being slow is terrifying. Between each step there is plainly time, and the enemy may fill that interval, yet in the end that single step breaks everything. To be ponderous is not to be weak but to be unavoidable. And when the giant swells one beat further and rises into Colossal Form, it collides as an equal with the enlarged monster across from it, the two having canceled out each other's ponderousness — and here a single frame of the climax stands.

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#Meta Card

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#Contents

Below are the blocks of each sub-document (this front document itself is Brief·Commentary·Scent).

Reading order: front → 01 → 02 → 03–05 (construction) → 06–07 (factions) → 08 (Legendary Godframes) → 09 (operation). The table's core is 02 Operation (Energy·Firepower·Cooling Sequence·Colossal Form) + 03 Parts Table + 05 Control Arts·Finishers + 06/07 faction frames.

End-matter fiction. At the end of this issue we include a pure·Scent story — 99. Seriousness is ★★ (hot-blooded/spectacle; in the vein of a mecha anime where "a giant robot descends in the Sengoku era," depicting a ponderous yet overwhelming entrance and — pouring out Firepower as it calls the name — a finishing-strike blow).

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#Production Notice

This issue is No. 13 of the Konsei Reiyotan zn (one-shot) series. The theme of "caging a god in steel" is a conceit that expands canon's incipient autonomous machines (the Kunitomo-za's yoma-core-powered machines and their rampage risk, co-02-03) to colossal scale. The operation engine is an opt-in Variant layered on top of the canonical co-03 core (count·Wounds/Energy/Defense)·co-06 units·co-07-03 Artifact system, and creates no new ability score and no new check. Ponderous·Cooling Sequence·Overload are respectively a reuse of the initiative same-order rule·forced Energy expenditure at the end of the round·ex2-00-05 §9 Qi-Exhaustion/§2 Exhaustion. Firepower (火力) is merely a separate reserve that converts an Artifact's grade to colossal scale (a resource you "pour out," not a standing bonus); a named Finisher is a large-scale effect using the devotion-art limit of once per combat·once per session as-is; and Colossal Form is a temporary template that boosts the giant tag·Wounds/Energy — all of them operations of existing machinery, not new gauges. The Legendary Godframes (08) reference the world-Artifacts of co-07-03·co-07-04·fc01-04·ex2-45 only by quick-reference and link, without reprinting them, and follow the weapon's own check modifier under the masterwork·Artifact common +3 cap (ex2-00-05 §10) as-is — a Godframe only links the existing canon data of its heart Artifact at colossal scale and does not inflate the numbers. (The will to strike harder is expressed not by exceeding the +3 ceiling but by a separate overcharge that pours Firepower directly on top of it.)

★ Canon↔new distinction. The Three Sacred Treasures (sword·jewel)·Holy Grail·Excalibur·Gungnir are actual canon (co-07-03/04·fc01-04·ex2-45), whereas the Buddha Relic·Taizan Nyorai·Amaterasu-no-Kaishin·the Godframe itself and the new terms (Controller·Pilot·Cooling Sequence·Ponderous·Self-Heart·Legendary Godframe·Firepower·Finisher proper names·Colossal Form) are new expansions not in the catalog, marked in the body as "new naming atop the canon Artifact layer." However, the mirror (Yata-no-Kagami) is a masterwork (co-07-02), not a Divine Artifact — the asymmetric handling of the triad-synchronized Legendary Godframe is spelled out in 08.

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#AI Use Notice

A substantial part of this material was produced with the help of generative AI (LLM) in the processes of planning, drafting, prose tidying, and proofreading. The GPT Image 2 model was used in the image-generation process. This issue takes the Korean edition as its original, and Claude Code and Codex were used to produce the Japanese and English editions. Final editing and the responsibility for publication rest with the creator.

Should there be any changes to domestic or international law regarding AI-assisted works, that law shall be followed.

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#Scent — One Sentence

"The taikō (太甲) is not armor but a coffin — a coffin that lays a god to rest. Cage a god in steel, and the steel grows to resemble the god. Heavy, slow, unstoppable."