Custom Kuei-jin: Ritual
Some chronicles allow for their players to develop customized powers for their characters. The following is a compilation of player created custom content in OWBN. At this time, custom content that is created and/or used by vampire PC's is required to be listed.
Type: Custom Thousand Whispers Rite
Difficulty: Variable (see below)
Time Required: One lunar cycle of preparation, three nights of ritual
Minimum Chi Level: 3
Prerequisites:
Thousand Whispers
Streetwise 3+, Drive 3+, Occult 3+, Crafts Jade 3+, Crafts: (Automotive or Mechanics) 3+
Access to Dragon Lines or a geomantic focal point
At least one pound of refined jade (black, green, or white depending on effect)
Purpose:
This rite binds jade, the essence of the Middle Kingdom, into a heavily modified street racing vehicle, forging a mystical link between the car and the dragon lines. The vehicle becomes a "Dragoncoil Vessel" — a chariot capable of slipping into the Shadowlands, spirit realms, or even across the Gauntlet at appropriate junctions.
When properly activated, the vehicle can:
Travel along the Dragon Lines, treating them as ethereal highways between realms and cities.
Slip partially or fully into the spirit worlds, allowing the rider to navigate alternate realms.
Extend its effect to “chasing” vehicles, potentially dragging enemies, allies, or tailgaters into the spirit world alongside the caster.
Ritual Procedure:
Preparation Phase (One Lunar Cycle):
The Kuei-Jin must craft or rebuild the car using custom parts, each inscribed with Taoist seals or Thousand Whispers glyphs.
Jade must be melted, crushed, and folded into the structure, woven into paint, etched into the undercarriage, embedded in engine housing, or hidden in vents and exhausts.
The car must be tested on mortal streets, drifting and racing under specific celestial alignments to “temper the spiritual alloys.”
During this time, the Kuei-Jin must meditate nightly, rotating through the Personas of Thousand Whispers to attune their soul to multiple forms of insight (Warrior, Priest, Scavenger, Artist, etc.).
Convergence Nights (3 Nights):
Conduct the final rituals at a major Dragon Nest or geomantic crossroad.
Use incense and prayer beads made of chipped jade to offer to the vehicle.
On the third night, the Kuei-Jin drives the car at high speed through a dragon line, activating the rite with a scream of tire and soul.
Ritual Test: [Chi + Occult + Drive] vs a difficulty based on the car’s level of modification and the strength of the dragon line (Base Diff 7).
Success means the car is permanently imbued. Failure means the jade rejects the vehicle and may even explode in a flare of Chi backlash.
Effects and Mechanics (Sample):
Effect
Cost
Description
Spirit Drift
1 Chi
Slip partially into Penumbra, Shadowlands, or a spiritual echo of the mortal realm for up to one scene. Environmental rules apply.
Dragonline Highway
2 Chi
Drive along dragon lines as if they were roads across the spirit world, letting you travel great distances quickly. Speed is limited only by how fast the car can go, sometimes faster.
Tailgate Pull
2 Chi + Willpower
If a pursuing vehicle is within 10 meters, you may drag it into the same realm you’re entering. The driver can resist with a contested Willpower Challenge. They will arrive shaken, and their vehicle may suffer damage.
Elemental Drift (Optional Add-on)
Varies
If using colored jade, additional effects are possible (e.g. green jade for wind bursts, black for shadow phasing, white for chi purification shielding). Storyteller’s discretion.