Vampire: the Middle Kingdom - MrGone's Character Sheets

Guanxi (optional rule)
Guanxi seemed a rather tacked-on mechanic in Kindred of the East. There were a few lines on it, but it wasn't addressed
further in the game. Therefore, I present it as an optional system here, with an altered approach to divorce it from the Sabbat
Vinculum and reflect its role in the Courts. Storytellers that don't want to bother with it are free not to.
Guanxi is a measure of a wu's unity in the name of the Great Principle. It's a spiritual quality, a connection enjoyed by a
Heavenly ordained family rather than a forced bond. Guanxi only applies to wu of the Five August Courts; lone vampires, heretics
and those not recognized by the Courts aren't assigned to proper wu, and thus gain no guanxi.
It's important to note guanxi doesn't measure the members' personal feelings toward each other, just the strength of their
spiritual connection. It's entirely possible, and not at all uncommon, for a vampire to dislike members of his wu but have a strong
guanxi rating for his undead family. Passion and obligation often conflict, though proper vampires attend their duties and put
personal issues aside in the interests of Heaven. Too few Hungry Demons pay heed to their wu these nights, however, with infighting
and inefficiency the result.
Guanxi Ratings: Guanxi ratings are applied to the wu as a whole, not to individual members; in other words, each vampire
in a wu uses the same guanxi rating toward that group and its members. A Court-recognized wu with no nushi has a guanxi rating
equal to [3 + average Dharma rating of wu (rounded down)], with a maximum possible rating of 8; see Increasing Guanxi, below. For
wu favored by a nushi, the guanxi rating is [4 + average Dharma rating of wu (rounded down)], and has a maximum rating of 10.
1-2: Inauspicious Wu: Members feel no measurable connection to their wu. Members may like each other just fine, but
there's nothing substantial there. They may as well be acquaintances or a collection of heimen, and the wu is regarded with disdain
and suspicion by their Dharmic superiors.
3-4: Wind Wu: The wu-mates feel little fundamental attachment to one another, their connection as ephemeral as a breeze.
While they can work together, they have no particularly strong desire to do so outside personal interest or affection. Court elders view
such unmotivated characters unfavorably.
5-7: Tide Wu: Generally positive feelings motivate the wu, feeling for one another as they might for distant family or friends,
and it feels more natural for them to work together than alone. However, their devotion is inconstant and prone to swell and recede as
the ocean tides. The tide wu receives little more than a cursory nod from ranking vampires.
8-9: Auspicious Wu: Each member feels substantial loyalty for her wu, as if it were her family, and is compelled to work
with them whenever possible. Traditional Kuei-jin look favorably upon such wu, which are envied and often resented by the less
devoted. This fundamental connection grants each member a bonus die on Empathy, Persuasion and Politics rolls with her wu-mates,
as well as to all rolls involving Teamwork (see pg. 134 of the World of Darkness corebook).
10: Jade Wu: The wu acts with absolute harmony, and is the model to which all orthodox vampires should aspire. Wu-mates
gain two bonus dice on the rolls described under auspicious wu, and individual members can even sense when wu-mates are in danger
with a [Wits + Empathy] roll – the character gleans no details, though two successes or more grants a vague sense of her ally's
direction and proximity. During combat, players may opt to roll Initiative once for the entire jade wu, and add the members' averaged
Initiative bonuses (rounded up) to the result; all wu members goes on this count. The entire wu must be together and working in
tandem for this option to be used. The nushi spirit's Initiative isn't factored into the equation unless the entire wu is in the appropriate
Mirror Land. Any bonuses to the Initiative roll (such as those granted by Yang Prana or boosted Dexterity) are factored in before the
averaging – reducing its benefit to the individual using the advantage, but granting it to the entire wu. This allows jade wu to work
with a degree of coordination unknown to less devoted vampires.
Increasing Guanxi: Guanxi costs [new rating x 3] to increase, minus the average Dharma rating of the wu; the greater the
group's overall enlightenment, the better able they are to attune themselves to one another and the Great Cycle. As with all things,
increases should be roleplayed, and reflect the wu attaining a deeper level of interconnection. The difference here is that in order for
guanxi to increase, every member of the wu must contribute exp to that end. (If it needs to be said, guanxi can't be increased past 10.)
Decreasing Guanxi: Sometimes, the sacred bond between wu-mates must be broken. This is most commonly done by Wise
Centipedes moving on to a new Mask, and they have rituals for this purpose that allow them to remove themselves from their wu
without disrupting its guanxi. Other times, a wu must disband because of internal feuds, member death, political pressure, akuma
infiltration, or even the patron nushi's destruction. Court elders, typically Bone Flowers, will preside over rites to disband wu (such as
Rite of the Lone Walker) and release them from their guanxi obligations. This is a momentous, and often sorrowful, event; it's never
performed lightly.
If a wu wants to take the initiative to destroy its guanxi without going through the courts, they can intentionally ignore their
mandate and bond to this end. In this case, guanxi costs [current rating x 3] to decrease to the next lowest rating (the wu's average
Dharma isn't factored into this cost), with each member contributing toward the cost – this sacrifice is a big deal, and must be agreed
upon by every member. Also, simple neglect and not associating with one another will serve the same effect, though guanxi takes
years to degrade this way. This is criminal in the eyes of the Quincunx, as it is spitting in the face of Heaven; depending on local
polities, punishments can be mutilation, penance, being cast out as as heimen, or even Final Death (though the latter is very rare).
When the last of the guanxi fades, each member of the wu must check for a Moment of Blindness.
Finally, guanxi may decrease with the Final Death of a wu member or other traumatic event, if the Storyteller or players
believe it damages the collective spirit of the group.