So this is apparently just a thing for me now, integral fiction translated to WOD number six, Trollhunters. You may or may not know the rules, that being there are no mechanical rules. It's creative writing more than anything else. Feel free to use if you like, otherwise this is mostly for me. Draws themes from both Changelings(heh), and Vampire.
The surface and beyond has been the home and battleground of life since before time, but the depths of the planet lie truly wild and untamed, and that persists even in modern day. Which does not mean they were uninhabited. Edeloiraí are the children of darkest caverns, living stone and steel and crystal pulled from rich earth. They lived below the nations of the Lizards and Audrastians, and when they fell, ventured topside onto the ruined lands. It was the advent of Humanity, however, that ended their reign, creatures of clever craft and followed by a host of Others, all too eager to supplant a rival race.
Edeloiraí are a proud, stubborn people. The idea of sharing their rule was considered a foolish fringe, not any real consideration. But while they thrived in the gloom, the sun proved an insurmountable obstacle, blinding and burning, creatures of darkness unsuited to open sky. This hindrance allowed Human armies to push forwards, driving Stonemen into the light and fashioning weapons from their remains to bite deeper than iron and steel. Within only centuries of contact, Edeloiraí were dwindling, falling back to their caves and grottos as the fleshlings advanced. But a henge led by Ianus The Deceiver worked one final act of trickery before vanishing from history-cloaking themselves in Human flesh to walk among them.
Jani are Stone wrapped in Skin, Human life traded for Human Seeming. Born Edeloiraí, they are chosen by a Carver alongside another child. The former recives a token given by the latter, eating it in a personalised ritual circle, and thus gaining the life of the Human in question, face, memories, experience, all transferred over. More can be gained from an older victim, but the Masking is smoother the younger the Human, less time to create their own Patterns. Guiltier Jani may rehouse or adopt the child in some way, but many are crueler, or don't get the chance before their Carver takes care of the matter. The ritual cannot be repeated, guise holding as long as the Janus remains alive, attempts to Remask leading to physical deformity and mental collapse.
In more detail, the ritual is combination of Blood, Dream, and Connection magic, stone of child marked with blood of child, rune depending on which Cairn the Janus is being indoctrinated into. Once the sigil is drawn, the child must swallow the token, a toy, a finger, a pet, a blanket, a book, anything truly important that says to the universe "this is mine" from the Familiar's perspective. From there, the connection is established, and the linked circles begin the transfer, taking roughly 6 hours bar complications. The Human is left with a nondescript appearance and little to no memory of their own life, as the newly made Janus shifts experimentally. Jani are sterile in both forms, this magic the only way to create more of their kind. As such, near every Mimic since the first generation has been stolen from Edeloiraí parents, two lives effectively erased.
Ianus' Henge totalled five Edeloiraí, each enticing more of their kind to join them in their secrecy. As such, Jani are divided along those lines, into:
Huldre: Edeloiraí enthralled by the surface world, creatures of swamp and forest buried in the rich earth. Furred bodies, animalistic traits, each has their own preference shaped by environ and affection, but all are wild and free. These are the Stone closest to Helios, flirting with his light in darkened corners. Jani of this Cairn are typically taught that the world of men is only a tool, and their true birthright is the savage land they first tunnelled up to all those years ago.
Jotuns: Titans of untamed reaches, volcanic and tectonic might of myth and legend. Jotuns tower over most other Jani, and even quite a few Edeloiraí. They resemble disproportionate, craggy walls of wood, stone, metal, coral, slow and ponderous, most confortable in furthest lands away from Weaver-work. Jotuns are typically used as thugs, taught their worth lies in their strength as warriors of the coming resurgence.
Loikyn: Deep-Dwellers, possibly the first race of Stone in darkest caverns. They wield shadow as extensions of themselves, dark hide and luminescent eyes creating a truly eerie spectacle. Loikyn are marked as the leaders of Janus society, wisdom of the deep to subdue the surface. They spend the least time among Human connections, utterly alien to that world, so much that the Sun is a far more viscious threat than even to their kin.
Rusalki: Oceanic and Aquatic, these Jani are primal and seductive in equal measure, fang-lined maw hidden behind beautific smile and beckoning song. They are placed as spies more than any other, following the motions of their patsies and rivals and sowing chaos in their plans. The ones on the open ocean are more akin to Rokea than anything else, savage predators taking ships to watery end.
Dvergar: The refiners of the Masking spell, creators of every great artefact the Jani have produced throughout history. They are the craftsmen, taking material from sources personal to each, and creating treasures of infinite variety. The urge is almost a hindrance, constantly thinking on how to improve their work, leading to them being generally dismissive of other people in favor of their ideas.
The true body and the stolen face, Jani struggle with their dual identites more than nearly any Other, referring to the call of Humanity as the "Bleeding", soft vitae corrupting solid stone. Edeloiraí can take decades to reach even their post-pubescent stages, but Jani age in accordance with Human lifespan, slowing once they reach maturity and stalling around forty to seventy. They are not truly immortal, but lifespans range from 900 to 1500 years without magical influence, giving them a great deal of time to lurk in shadow. The Mein is their true shape, elements of earth. While every Janus belongs to one of the Cairns, there are far more than just five species of Edeloiraí. The original race still manifests alongside the chosen seal, leading to a truly varied collection of appearances. Jani, like all Edeloiraí, suffer the touch of sunlight when exposed in earthen form, blinded, scorched, disoriented, and eventually petrified as the magic flees their veins under the assault of purest light. The Seeming circumvents this problem, displacing the Inorganic Pattern with a Flesh one, but also removing any access to innate abilities or magics. If life ceases, a Janus will return to a final Pattern that represents their true self, Stone or Skin, and the revalation of their "loyalties" is a question everyone is always wondering.
The result of a Masking interrupted, redone, or incorrect, and no small bit of luck to survive. These Jani have no Familiar, Seeming free to ape any Human they can think of. They also have a deep hollow within their souls, unfilled space, minds fractured and unstable. Polymorphs are rare, self-destructive creatures, and a great risk to the Veil and anyone they encounter.
Jani are creatures of dichotomy, which translates to their magics as well. While they are not of the Dreaming, it is part of their creation, and as such, their magics function along similar lines of unreality. Stone does not bleed, and yet any Janus worth their salt is some form of Haemomancer. Too tall to fit through that crack, to short to fend off attacks from that range, and yet that's exactly what they're doing. Janus magic is mutable, each Cairn and each species and each person having their own specialties, of beasts, fire, song, ever more. But as a rule, most Shifters learn the basics of blood, mirror, and psionic Connection magic, and individually how to use their own unique stone for similar purposes.
Since their inception, the Order of Loki has sought to dominate the surface, founded by Ianus and his cohorts from like-minded folk. They manouver themselves into positions of power, pulling the strings of societies as they rise and fall, end goal of a subjugated populace and darkened sky. Besides the Human pushback on these ideas, they must also contend with the other secret masters of the world, Vampires in particular their main rivals. The Five have long since passed from mortal realm, no-one quite sure where they went, though very few think them truly dead. The Order is spread worldwide, in smaller pockets with their own agendas, making them less of a cohesive effort and more a spread of cults. The common thread is that Humans are tools, Edeloiraí are stubborn fools, and Others are obstacles, they can only trust each other. Complicating matters is the fact that there is no way to magically identify a Janus in Human Seeming save for external clues, Mein completely and utterly displaced from reality until they call upon their true shape. Still, most are indoctrinated into one sect or another, what with their creation being a rare and intentional process. They run, but their hunters are typically far more experienced in every sense of the word.
The Undersiders relinqushed the surface ages ago, returning to their depths and living as they always had. They view the Jani as both a deranged fool's endeavor and horrific mockery, their children stolen and changed into something impure. Combined with their already isolationist structure, this means Stonefolk tend to attack Shifters on sight with extreme prejudice. Amongst themselves, they govern on merit of tradition and competence, line of succession spanning milennia, but rulers deposed should they overstep and replaced with the next closest qualification. They treat with those Others who share space at the bottom of the world, few and far between, and see Humans as an utterly divorced culture they have no cause or opportunity to interact with.
The remains of those who lost their life but not the breath in their lungs, these Others are detatched from their Humanity, emotion and sensation a dull pretense instead of sincere experience. They, unsurprisingly, hate everything to do with the Jani, and make it their life's mission to destroy them and take back what was unjustly stolen. Rare but deadly, those that survive through luck or patronage learn the magics that transformed them, turning them against the things that first used them. Encountering a Faceless is considered an omen of doom, for they can destabilize Seemings, Pattern fraying as they cut threads and destroy identities, following the ripples to repeat their exposure, and an Unmasked Janus does not last long in Modern Nights.
Interactions With Others:
Vampires: Jani see the Kindred as bitter rivals, and Kindred see Jani as pale imitation. Nocturnal, Human-esque "immortal" schemers looking to control the world from the shadows, the former seethe at the success of the Camarilla and regard them with extreme prejudice. Cainites also hate Jani for how completely they can hide among the Kine, better even than the Wizards, meaning every flock could be a threat to those in the know. In terms of the Embrace, Jani can be, but the Beast destabilizes their Patterns, leaving a bloodthirsty, subsapient monstrosity Unmasked sooner rather than later, meeting their end just as swiftly from sun or sword.
Fera: Gaia's Shifters see the Stone ones as a grievous insult, almost as bad as the Gangrel, and attack them with disgusted fervor, from Garou to Apis. Jani don't have much cause to interact with Therianthropes beyond attempting to fend off these attacks, and cannot undergo a First Change, Seemings not true-blooded in the eyes of Gaia.
Awakened: Mages are an annoyance in more ways than one, but the most troubling interaction is the fact that Seemings can Awaken. This is an incredibly rare occurence, Janus needing to see something that utterly shatters their worldview, harder to do when they are already Other. But should an Avatar manifest, the Seeming....changes. No longer just a disguise for the Stone beneath, they become more real. This can go one of two ways-if the correlating Faceless is still alive, they will share an Avatar with the Seeming, and if not, the Mien will be trapped in displacement as the Seeming takes full control of their own body and mind.
Changelings: Despite sharing the same terminology, Kith and Janus have frosty relations at best. Changelings sense their Chimeric nature and recoil at the patchwork result, seeing them as pitiful abominations, whereas Jani have far less obstructive magics than can be brought to bear with Cantrips, stymieing their progress any time a Motley takes it upon themselves to purge the malformed imitations from their region.
