"A person kneeling at a table, head turned, indicating that they are unable to eat any more."
The Wu are the guardians of the Sanjiyan. The name "Wu" comes from the Wu mark, which appears on the chosen one's forehead when the Sanjiyan merges his soul with the Wu's. This Wu mark cannot be removed by ANY MEANS, not even magic, and will only disappear if the Wu dies or is turned back into a normal being. It can be disguised, though—just cover it with some clothing, artificial skin, or an illusion spell.
Since a Wu's soul is not in his body anymore, he becomes immortal in the EVERY sense of the word and cannot be killed even if his body is turned into ashes. In game terms, a Wu will receive damage as any ordinary character, but he will not die regardless of the type and amount of damage taken and/or accumulated, even if this damage goes past his negative BODY total. It should be pointed out that unlike GURPS, there is no game mechanic in the HERO System to represent this power. The extra BODY listed on the Wu character sheet is there to help simulate this effect, but even that is not enough to keep a Wu from being killed with out special GM dispensation. Thus, for the purposes of the 3x3 Eyes HERO setting, the Wu cannot be killed. He will regenerate from any damage, no matter how severe. Please note, this is not a unbalancing as it first seems, since a Wu can be damaged just as easily as any other normal human.
This immortality is not magic or mana dependent. It's a direct effect of one's soul not being free and inside his body anymore. A Wu is immortal even inside a zero mana area, and it does not matter how far from his Sanjiyan the Wu is. Exiling a Wu (or his Sanjiyan) to another plane, reality or universe will have NO effect on the Wu's immortality.
There are drawbacks on this immortality, however. Anyone who can read auras will know a Wu is not a normal being, although it would be difficult to actually identify him as a Wu with only an aura reading and no other background knowledge. The Wu's aura is not the same as the regular undead one and Wu will not be easily mistaken with ordinary zombies for their life shade is far stronger than that of the regular undead. They will not appear to be human, though.
Also, a Wu will die if his Sanjiyan dies, his soul being freed and going to final rest along with the Sanjiyan's. This alone is enough reason for a Wu to fulfill his duties as the Sanjiyan's bodyguard, but a Sanjiyan will not usually choose to as a Wu someone who would protect him just to avoid death.
The Wu has a VERY POWERFUL and VERY FAST regeneration. He will recover 1 BODY per second (i.e. per segment) from of ANY kind of damage. He neutralizes 50 rads per hour of absorbed radiation damage (in HERO System terms he has Safe in High Radiation). Any smashed, bruised, and even clipped (but not lost) parts of the body will regenerate as the Wu's BODY increases. For game purposes presume the Wu's limbs require approximately 1/3 of his base BODY to fully regenerate (do not count the Wu's extra BODY to determine limbs loss or regrowth). Usage of the Impairing and Disabling rules is highly recommended.
Lost limbs will slow down the healing a lot, since it takes some time to regrow the flesh instead of only "flowing" it back into place. For purposes of game play, the Wu should keep track of separate injuries (i.e. BODY damage). Any limb injury will regenerate first, with other injuries healing afterwards. Rgeneration will still take place even if the Wu has been burned to ashes, disintegrated, or if it takes any other damage, which leaves nothing to regenerate from. Regeneration will also recreate lost limbs if for any reason the lost limb cannot be recovered to be "glued" to the proper location. In the manga, Yakumo glued his head back into place by holding it still, but needed to regrow an arm that got smashed under a fallen bridge.
Unfortunately the regeneration can't be triggered during combat, as it requires the stress level of the organism to drop a little. Taking a Recovery during combat is enough to trigger the regrowth. Once started, it won't stop until the damage is fully recovered.
The regeneration is extremely painful and use of damaged limb will impose a penalty of [remaining BODY to be recovered] to DEX rolls. The GM should set some penalty to all the other skill rolls until the limb is recovered.
Although Regeneration does not cost END, the process is physically very draining. The GM should have the Wu spend 1 END for every 3 BODY recovered when regrowing lost limbs. It's up to the GM to rule when a limb cannot be regenerated and will be regrown instead.
I recommend watching the anime to get the full idea on how spectacular the regeneration is—the lost body pieces and fluids (including all non-coagulated blood) will turn into a very fast flowing, almost black reddish smoke and flow back to its original place, reverting to flesh again.
Anyone watching this for the first time (and not used to this kind of experience) should make an EGO roll (or, the Wu gets to make a PRE attack with a lot of bonus dice for display of power and "violent" action). Passing out, freezing or running away in absolute fear are quite common reactions. Even demons and other magical creatures should make an EGO roll not to be stunned by surprise if they are not used to having Wu around.
A clipped limb may be kept from flowing back with magic—locking it into a flask sealed with special magic charms is a way to accomplish this, and Yakumo was threatened to have this done to him more than once in the manga.
The head should also receive some special attention. If the head (the main brain housing, for non-human Wu) is split from the body, none of the two will disappear and flow back. The Wu will need to join his halves the hard way for enough time to let its "neck" regenerate. A badly damaged head WILL flow back to its body, though. Of course if the head is so damaged as to trigger this sort of regrowth, the Wu will be unconscious. The head stills control the body, even after being severed, with no penalties other than those due to the eyesight position shift, loss of the sense of balance (for humans) and so on.
Obviously, such a high rate of regeneration also grants a Wu almost full immunity to diseases, and a VERY strong immunity to poison. In HERO System mechanics the Wu has Immunity All terrestrial poisons and chemical warfare agents and Immunity: All terrestrial diseases and biowarfare agents. Alcohol (or other Central Nervous System depressors) and some types of toxic gas might work, but the effects are likely to be much weaker than in normal beings. The Wu's resistance will attack the pathologic agent the very same moment it tries to do something harmful and will only stop when it is completely dissipated and all the damage repaired. This can be simulated by having the Wu purchase Damage Reduction versus this sort of attack (or Power Defense). The Base Wu presented with these rules does not have this sort of power, as such effects are up to the individual GM.
There is only one exception to the immunity to diseases, which is a special magical "virus" capable of disrupting the Wu's capacity to control magical powers (causing backlashes). This virus appeared very late on the manga, and the demons needed to make Yakumo eat it by treachery to orde to contaminate him. He then contaminated Parvati (due to her own fault), but with weaker effects. It spreads through body fluids.
Taking deadly damage and then regenerating it repeated times is bound to grant a Wu with a much stronger resistance against pain, since an experienced Wu KNOWS nothing can kill him, and his body will end up knowing it too. The long-term exposure to this also gives the Wu an exceptionally high resistance against passing out from intense pains. Giving the Wu STUN Only Damage Reduction and an increased CON represents this effect.
Also, a Wu will only suffer some of the debilitating effects of injury when his BODY drops below zero. The GM should impose the standard penalties for Impaired limbs (from the Optional Combat rules) on the Wu. At no time should the Wu suffer from the effects described under Disabling.
Another interesting aspect of the Wu is that a severed body part is still under its mind control, just as if it was still attached to the body and will act accordingly. There should be some penalty to DEX based rolls in this case (-3 will do just fine), including any DEX-based skills. Nobody is used to have his center of gravity and view field changed that much unless he is a shape shifter!
The remote control of lost body limbs is quite tiring (i.e. the Telekinesis used to represent this power is bought with the 2 x END limitation). In the manga, Yakumo learnt this lesson well and defeated a number of enemies (including Benares) using clipped limbs to his advantage. The only exception is a severed head, which will spend NO END to control the body.
Although it is VERY difficult to do, the status of Wu can be revoked or changed via extremely powerful magic, like the humanification process. One would have to devise a way to take the Wu's soul from the Sanjiyan, who cannot release the soul by his own will, and either destroy the soul, or its binding to the Sanjiyan's. There are some very powerful creatures who could do this, some of them appearing in the manga, but as a rule of thumb, no Sanjiyan (or Wu for that matter) would allow such a dangerous monster to approach them, unless something really weird is happening.
It's unclear how much of the Wu's power would remain after his soul is freed, especially if he is a beast magician. The manga suggests that normal humans would lose all the power, but it might be possible to reacquire such powers if the ex-Wu could devise a way to retain or redevelop his magical skills .
The Base Powers Of A Wu Are As Follows
15 Severed Limb Control: Telekinesis (10 STR), Invisible to Sight Group, Source
Only (+1/4), Indirect (Any origin, any direction; +3/4); Increased Endurance Cost
(x2 END; -1/2), Requires A Severed Body Part (-1/2), END 6
The actual STR level of the Telekinesis power is dependent on the STR of the Wu.
13 High Pain Threshold: +10 CON; No Figured Characteristics (-1/2)
Although this extra CON does not affect the Wu's ED, REC, END or STUN, it does keep him from being stunned easily and is used to figure his CON roll. Note that +10 CON is a base value. A more powerful or experience Wu could have more than that.
20 Immortal Body: +30 BODY; Only To Stave Off Point Of Death (-1 1/2), No Figured
Characteristics (-1/2)
This extra BODY has no affect on the Wu other than to determine is he is 'dead' or not. The +30 value is an arbitrary one. Since the Wu can't die anyway, this is almost a superfluous power (much like the Sanjiyan's 'bewitching attack'. It is useful, however, to determine such things as how long a Wu will be out until he has regenerated all his BODY. A Wu should count this extra BODY when regenerating from extreme damage!
40 High Pain Threshold: Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant, 50%; STUN Only (-1/2) plus Energy Damage Reduction, Resistant, 50%; STUN Only (-1/2)
As stated before, if you get hit enough (and live) you get used to the effect.
15 Rapid Regrowth: Does Not Bleed
This is a slight misnomer. If cut, the Wu will bleed just like anyone else. But, a Wu will not loose additional BODY if reduced to a negative BODY level.
33 Immortal Body: LS (Eating: Character does not eat; Immunity All terrestrial poisons and
chemical warfare agents; Immunity: All terrestrial diseases and biowarfare agents;
Longevity: Immortal; Safe in High Radiation; Sleeping: Character does not sleep)
You cannot starve a Wu. He will eat, yes, but only out of habit. Technically, a Wu still needs to sleep, but may not have too (this version allows the Wu to go without sleep).
97 Rapid Regrowth: Healing 12 BODY, Can Heal Limbs, Resurrection, Reduced Endurance
(0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2); Extra Time (Regeneration-Only) 1 Turn
(Post-Segment 12) (-1 1/4), Self Only (-1/2), Wu Must Take A Recovery To Start
Regeneration Process (-1/4)
This is the Wu's regenerative power. Game Masters may wish to assign a further -1/4 Limitation to reflect the assorted limitations described in the text (slowed regeneration if limbs lost, regeneration can cost END in cases of extreme BODY loss).
15 Telepathic Link to Sanjiyan Unkara: Mind Link, Human class of minds, Sanjiyan, Any Distance, Psychic Bond
Note: the Wu cannot open the link; only the Sanjiyan can do that.
12 Magical Sense: Detect Magic and Supernatural Beings 11- (Mystic Group), Range, Sense
Like the Sanjiyan, a Wu is sensitive to the supernatural.
5 Inherent Magical Aptitude: Magic Skill 12-
A Wu automatically becomes magically aware due to his status. The Magic Skill (or upgrade, if the character already had any previous skill—the character should get a +3 bonus [costing 6 points] added to his Magic Skill if he already has it) will become active when the "Wu" mark appears on the newborn Wu's forehead. This Magic Skill is related to the link between the Wu and the Sanjiyan, and also gives the Wu the ability to sense whether a creature or person in his field of view (and nearby) is a magical being or not on a successful PER roll. The GM is free to rule whether regular mages would be sensed by the Wu's Magical Sense or not; it is weaker than the Sanjiyan's counterpart.
The Base Disadvantages Of A Wu Are As Follows
10 Distinctive Features: Wu Aura (Not Concealable; Always Noticed and Causes Major Reaction; Detectable Only By Unusual Senses) 5 Distinctive Features: Wu Facial Marking (Easily Concealed; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses)
The aura and facial marking have already been discussed. Naturally, a Wu may have other Distinctive Features in addition to these two ("Distinctive Features: Style" for example).
0 Physical Limitation: Dies If Sanjiyn Master Dies (Infrequently, Fully Impairing)
This disadvantage is given a point value of 0 as it doesn't affect game play in any exploitable sense. If the Sanjiyan is killed, then the Wu is removed from the game. Until that happens, it doesn't limit the actions of the Wu in any way.
20 Psychological Limitation: Sense Of Duty To Sanjiyan Master (To Protect And Serve) (Very Common, Strong)
A Wu must eventually take some variant of this Psychological Limitation. It will be applied to the character once he discovers what it means to be a Wu. The exact wording of the duty should be based on role-playing between the Sanjiyan and the Wu, and set by the GM, NOT the player.
5 Reputation: Wu, dangerous being and guardian of a Sanjiyan Unkara, 8- (Extreme; Known Only To A Small Group)
This Disadvantage should be self-explanatory.
Finally, the Wu might also need to buy his Sanjiyan as a Contact. If the Sanjiyan is a PC, this is worth 0 Points and should only be done if the Sanjiyan PC also took the Follower perk.
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