[OSSR] Hengeyokai - Shapeshifters of the East

[Ghostcat]

Piggy backing off of the review of Demon Hunter X and Kindred of the East, comes another Year of the Lotus look over!
THE HENGEYOKAI!
Hello! I am Ghostcat! Long time lurker, I decided to write something about a White Wolf book I've read cover to cover. Hengeyokai! I may not have the experience or mechanical understanding of Ancient History or the heart of Koumei... So, I have the same qualifications as a White Wolf writer!

Forewarning, a LOT of Hengeyokai is about Japanese-centric. I only know Chinese Folklore and Mandarin. So, anything of different Asian mythology such as Japan, India, or Russia. I might get wrong. Although, I have made sure to read over Japanese text such as the Kojiki and the Tale of Genji, but this is just the uber-basic stuff. I hope some of our better-informed Gaming Den Residents can help me out here.


I can't wait for that image to break in a year.
There is a reason I didn't start this post off with the book cover. We gotta address the Kanji on the book cover, positive note! They have correct strokes unlike the Kindred of the East (I'm guessing they used a font this time, but I'll give White Wolf its dues). I don't know who they hired for the Kanji work, but while 変化妖怪 is how your PRONOUNCE Hengeyokai in Japanese, no Japanese person would actually use the term Hengeyokai. It is composed of two words henge and youkai (Why do we spell Hengeyokai like Hengeyokai instead of Hengeyoukai? Blame DND Oriental Adventures).

Henge means shapeshifting beings (hey that is us!)
Youkai means Ghost or Goblin.
Making Hengeyokai mean Shapeshifting Phantoms... Why didn't they just use the term for japanese shapeshifting animals that already exist; Bakemono?


Should I talk about the Fox girl in the Qipao now? Nah, I'll save it for later.

Next, up is the REAL REASON I wanted to talk about this book

[deaddmwalking]

That's interesting about the term hengeyokai. I think you're right. The earliest etymology here is from Oriental Adventures (1985). My Japanese/English dictionary is by no means comprehensive, but it does have yokai (ghost/phantom), and it does have henka (same kanji as above) meaning change/variety.

I looked up monster and it shows kaibutsu (creature of wicked form). I also looked up werewolf and it has ookamitoko.

The 1985 Oriental Adventures does have a Bibliography, and it references Japanese Folklore in English (Vol I-VI) by Masa Ohta & Suzue Takagi. I'll see if I can track down an electronic copy and see if it comes from there...

Looking forward to hearing more!

[Ghostcat]

LUNA BEAST SENTAI GAIAMON!
Technically, this statement is wrong, because in this Sentai, there is a Tengu which would be a Helios Beast... Also, the term for Luna in Hengeyokai circles is Tsuki-yomi... Nor do they call Gaia, Gaia they call her the Emerald Mother... Who wrote this title?
Using the front cover as a reference we have; Kim, the guy wearing the headband in the foreground and he's a Khan (Were-Tiger). The guy behind him on the left with the sword is Okami who is a werewolf. The sad boring looking guy who is positioned to the right of Okami is Gajani, and he's a Were-Dragon (Zhong Lung). The girl's name is Bareiho (Has anyone ever seen Kishin Corps?), and she's a Kitsune (Were-Fox). The guy in the feather cloak to the right of Bareiho is a Tengu (Were-Raven) named Kuei.


Our heroic Sentai is lost in a deep dark Kumo nest and sure the reader doesn't know what Kumo means yet but by the Emerald Mother they seem to be evil! If the group steps on any of the Webs, the evil Kumo will know he is being invaded!


So obviously, they stepped on a web. (Also, the woman on the first panel, I am no artist but where is her neck in comparison to her body?)


So, they get jumped (and how many people did this Kumo pay?) and so the Sentai quickly jump into ACTION!


Alright, we haven't gotten to gifts yet, but Bloody Feather Storm is goated and would rapidly handle this problem. The Tunneling Sword isn't stated anywhere sadly. Bareiho attempted to use Ju-Fu (Paper Magic) creating an Origami Squid... A power which also doesn't exist... Also how did they arrive at the term Ju-Fu? They could have used Ofuda instead (You are going to see that there are a lot of made up or oddly composite Japanese terms that could be easily substituted with an already existed Japanese term)


This book is very gothic punk as you can see. The struggles of being a Were-creature... FOREVER cursed! Also, this came out before Naruto. Kishimoto stole from White Wolf confirmed.


Unironically, one of my favorite things about Hengeyokai is that other often overlook were-creatures such as the Khan get some focus. Like the Sentai Gaiamon leader here Aurafarming off the Kumo and using a... *checks notes* rank 5 gift... Players are never going to be this cool.


Final page. Our Garou ally... DIES! Okami goes back to the hands of the mother. May he be missed

Alright. Now obviously this is ridiculous and not how the book wants the game to be played. You can see that how the game wants you to play the game on the next page (which is more narrative fiction instead of anything that players are gonna be used). But to be honest, given the gifts that these Sentai members are using. The members of this Sentai are at minimum rank 3 (given the Bloody Feather Storm gift usage) and at most rank 5 because of the Khan and if you are playing a high rank game of Hengeyokai you are... Probably going to be playing the game exactly like this.

Another subnote I was going to include later (at the glossary section), but I'll add it here since the term is going to be used a bunch more times before then. Why the hell do all the Hengeyokai call their crossbreed versions of pack; Sentai? I know why White Wolf did it... They were watching Super Sentai (I love you Demon Hunter X), but Sentai just seem silly. I let the language specific folklore terms such as Tengu or Kitsune slide because base Werewolf does that (such as all Cat-Shifters being grouped under the name of an Egyptian God [even the Native American Bastet such as the Qualmi]) with the idea that their spiritual patrons or Gaia gave them their names and then the terms got co-opted by humans. But Sentai was only used by the Japanese during WWII, unless Gaia pre-fired WWII happening... Personally, I would recommend an alternate term such as the Chinese Word like Tuántǐ or if they wanna stick to Japanese, you can use the term Zatta-na meaning Mixed or Assorted (I believe)

[Ghostcat]

I looked up monster and it shows kaibutsu (creature of wicked form). I also looked up werewolf and it has ookamitoko.

I did not know that about Werewolf! Interesting! Thanks for the research! I always wondered why White Wolf didn't use the term Kaibutsu to be the Asian Term for Fomori and then Bakemono for the wide shifter term.

It would seem obvious as a way to stick it to DND and be like "See how much cooler we are!", but maybe the term Hengeyokai is more marketable.

[Ghostcat]

Outta the grindstone and into... More narrative fiction? Why did you have a 7-page manga (+ cover), if you were just gonna add more narrative fiction, White Wolf?
Don't worry, I won't be posting the entire fiction as images again, I'll give a brief summary.
An Auspicious Burial
The story starts with Michael Walks-on-Ashes, Stargazer (before they ditched the stinky Garou Nation for the Beast Courts) who is in China to bury his mentor's mortal best friend in the ancestral burial ground of the Li Compound when a Sentai comes in. Michael knows the Li Compound is supposed to be abandoned and goes to investigate the intruders... Only to get immediately spotted and tackled. Michael got himself free and tried to run away only to get surrounded and questioned.

The group hashes out their differences and the Sentai explains that they are here to negotiate with Kuei-Jin.

"And you have a...an alliance with them..."
"No," said the Kitsune.
"There's a dragon-nest — a caern. We've been fighting the Kuei-Jin over it for centuries. We hold it a while, they take it, we take it back. No one wins, but we keep the war...civil... and the caern itself survives because we value it for the same reasons. They're not defilers.
"Now there are other things —"
"Bakemono."
"Wyrm creatures."
"Yomi forces."

Should I mention the the Bakemono comment yet... No... No, we will wait longer.

The reason why I quoted this section of the book is that surprisingly, between all of the books in the Year of the Lotus. Cross-play is way more possible. The Hengeyokai, Kuei-Jin, Hsien, and other assorted eastern Shen, all have the same basic conceit of how the world, that being the Wheel of Ages, and every supernatural faction (that are players) wants to make sure it happens on schedule... (Except the Wraiths who don't care but this isn't Dark Kingdom of Jade), they have disagreements as seen here. But they hash it out instead of violently murdering each other, which is nice for players and Storytellers who want to do larger cross play games without having to BS a reason.

Now mechanically is cross-play possible? Hahahaha. No. Maybe I'll go over why after I finish the entire book... Maybe

Anyways back to the story.
The deal was that the Hengeyokai would bring a Sentai of 5, and then the Kuei-Jin would bring out a Wu of 5 and they come to an agreement. Unfortunately, the Kuei-Jin aren't gonna ask questions if they see SIX hengeyokai so, Michael needs to get outta dodge (and into the umbra)! Michael agrees of course and- The Kuei-Jin Wu has arrived... And they brought... SEVEN!

The story ends there with suspense! What happens next? Who knows! This is how White Wolf really wanted Hengeyokai to be run, secret contentious deals that rapidly go wrong. So, why did they add the Manga?money To save on page count, they should have cut one story. They could have made Auspicious Burial a manga panel if they REALLY needed one.


Here is what the stargazer looks like by the way

[Ghostcat]

I live... AGAIN! I got busy for a few days but I'm back and ready to... Not talk about Mechanics more!
Introduction: The Changing Phantoms
Wait, White Wolf. By titling the chapter that, that meant you know what Hengeyokai meant, which means you actively chose to ignore the better options-

We start with a quote from Sun Tzu, which I am skipping. To get the second paragraph of the chapter, instead.

They obey a mysticism that is both familiar to those Westerners who speak with them and is yet somewhat different. Strangest of all, when the Garou manage to gain an audience with these distant cousins and speak urgently of Apocalypse, the Eastern shapeshifters merely shake their heads, as if being berated by an arrogant child.

This is the first sign of a repeated motif of the book. That motif being, "Asia cool, West bad", that isn't to say eastern societies didn't believe themselves superior over Westerners (and between themselves). What I am saying is that you never see any White Wolf books with the Garou Nation saying "Those silly Hengeyokai aren't prepared for the apocalypse.", which knowing White Wolf was probably for the best.

This is further compounded with the next paragraph saying,

They take tea with their enemies and treat their friends with coolness rather than passion. They are the Changing Phantoms — the hengeyokai.

Outside of the context, this quote wouldn't mean anything, but this is Werewolf: The Apocalypse. The book where 90% of werecreatures have a supernatural anger that causes normal people to avoid them and make them fall into a supernatural anger where they murder people senselessly. These guys have a 'Coolness', that the Garou Nation doesn't?
I'm jumping the gun a bit, but the main enemy of the Hengeyokai, their version of the Black Spiral Dancers and over all evil guys? They are one of the few Werecreatures who DON'T have that supernatural rage. I guess supernatural rage doesn't affect Asian people.

the War of Rage never burned its way across Asia— instead, the Asian shapeshifters lost many of their number in great battles with the Bane-lords called the Yama Kings. As a result, the hengeyokai cooperate amongst each other as do the Western Garou tribes — with all the politicking and caution that implies.

What? Nothing that you want to mention? No Shameful wars? None at all? I'll play coy for now; the real reason I mentioned this quote is talk about the main draw of playing a Hengeyokai, being able to be in multi-Changing Breed Game without complaining from your ST! Seriously, even the Rokea here get fixed from hating the mudwalkers to having Homid-Born with the Same-Bito! This is really the main selling point of the Hengeyokai apart from Werewolf the Apocalypse... IN ASIA. Honestly, most of the Hengeyokai are cooler than their non-Hengeyokai counterparts, while get there when we... Get there.

Next is a history diatribe, which I'll... Save for later! Hey, this is my OSSR! I decide the order you get information! But I will tell you the difference of the Hengeyokai and... Basically every other Changing Breeds.

Hengeyokai therefore do not fight to stave off the Apocalypse — in fact, some seek to hasten it, all the better to encourage it to pass as quickly as it came.

The Hengeyokai the cross-collaborating group of the Changing Breeds want to ensure that the Apocalypse occurs. That sounds like a certain Black Spiral Dancer groups plan... This doesn't fit the Werewolf Cosmology of the Apocalypse being... Well, a bad thing to try to be stopped or at least managed.

I'll leave you with one last thing...

A word of warning: Although hengeyokai characters can be blended into groups of Westerners, you should do so very carefully. If hengeyokai immediately start popping up in septs and packs across the West, the flavor of the book—the flavor of exoticism — is lost. After all, how special can the Kitsune be when every group of players has at least one in their ranks? It also tends to stretch the plausibility of the game world; although the hengeyokai work well together, they don't care for the company of Westerners, who they find foolish and misguided, little more than cubs.

Next post I promise! There will be actual images! Still no mechanics discussion! Other intrigues!