Lock the door, blow out the light;
The hungry Oni haunts the night.
Hide and tremble, little one;
The Oni wants to have some fun.
Hear it scratching on the door;
See its shadow cross the floor.
The sun won't rise for quite a while;
Till then, beware the Oni's smile.
—Children's rhyme
Oni, often simply called ogre mages, are a race of evil spirits that manifest physical bodies based upon the shapes and desires of humanoid mortals. In pure spirit form, an oni is nothing but a disembodied evil longing for the sins of the flesh. In this form, oni are harmless and invisible. The oni may only be granted a living body by the will of a summoner, who gives them their name and identity.
The type of oni a spirit transforms into is influenced by a wide variety of variables, including the location where it is reborn into the realm of flesh and blood. Once an oni manifests its physical body, that body becomes its true form for the rest of its life—all oni are shapechangers, but this original form is the form in which they are born and the form they revert to upon death.
An oni’s true form is always similar to that of a specific type of humanoid, save that it is always deformed and monstrous to look upon. Tusks, additional eyes, or strangely colored skin are common physical attributes. Yet while they have hideous forms, all oni are capable of changing their shape to assume forms more pleasant to the civilized eye. The type of shapes an oni can assume depend upon its species, but all can transform into some form of humanoid. Oni use this ability to infiltrate humanoid societies, either to prey upon the weak or to rule them in disguise.
They arrive in physical form starved for sensory experience, and never fully sate their desire to gorge on such experiences. Most oni seek to attain positions of leadership and power, often in the guise of a normal humanoid, in order to secure a never-ending supply of sensory experiences. It is also important to understand that oni’s immoderation is also motivated by their corrupted and evil natures—that is, no pleasure is more enjoyable than one that deprives or wounds another.
Theoretically, as many types of oni exist as there are types of humanoids, although in reality, certain types of oni are much more populous than others. The ogre mage, an oni associated with ogres, is the best-known and most commonly encountered type of oni, for reasons that still send scholars of oni lore into spiraling arguments with seemingly no end. Beyond the oni detailed on the following pages, the atamahuta (ettins), ja noi (hobgoblins), nogitsune (kitsune), and wind yai (cloud giants) are relatively well known. Oni with associations to bugbears, great cyclopes, stone giants, trolls, troglodytes, and other races exist as well. And above even the mighty void yai there exist the oni demigods—entities of nearly incomprehensible power known as the oni lords.
They live in the land of the grimharath, east of the Wyrmspires, where they often war with their ancestral enemies, the duergar.
They breed dire tigers as sacred animals.
History
Dwarven kingdom, an evil group of witches summoned the first oni into the world. These dwarves were transformed into the Duergar. The duergar and oni now constantly vie for control over each other.
Jing An
The Jing An, or Hidden Eye, is a secret cabal of oni that have begun to infiltrate Noran society.
Types of Oni
Oni are a race of evil spirits, native to the Material Plane, that manifest physical bodies based upon the shapes and desires of humanoid mortals. In pure spirit form, an oni is nothing but a disembodied evil longing for the sins of the flesh. In this form, oni are harmless and invisible. The majority of these bodiless oni were once kami who failed their wards, or more often, who deliberately abandoned them. As punishment, they were stripped of their ability to form a physical body and then cast into the void.
Rarely, a mortal creature’s soul can become a disembodied oni upon death, or in even rarer cases, after a truly evil individual has undergone a particularly vile ritual that ends in suicide. These oni are more often destined for positions of great power and strength than most.
Eventually, an oni’s spirit manifests a physical body on the Material Plane. The methods by which this may occur vary, but the process generally takes place in areas already despoiled by sin, tragedy, or cruelty. The type of oni a spirit transforms into is inf luenced by a wide variety of variables, ranging from the nature of what the oni spirit was before to the location where it is reborn into the realm of flesh and blood. Once an oni manifests its physical body, that body becomes its true form for the rest of its life—all oni are shapechangers, but this original form is the form in which they are born and the form they revert to upon death.
An oni’s true form is always similar to that of a specific
type of humanoid, save that it is always deformed and
monstrous to look upon. Tusks, additional eyes, or
strangely colored skin are common physical attributes.
Yet while they have hideous forms, all oni are capable of
changing their shape to assume forms more pleasant to
the civilized eye. The type of shapes an oni can assume
depend upon its species, but all can transform into some
form of humanoid. Oni use this ability to infiltrate
humanoid societies, either to prey upon the weak or to
rule them in disguise.
In order to understand oni, it is important to consider
that most of these beings were once spirits tasked
with protecting a material realm they now believe is
undeserving of such care and concern—indeed, the
physical world is to be dominated and consumed. They
arrive in physical form starved for sensory experience, and
never fully sate their desire to gorge on such experiences.
Most oni seek to attain positions of leadership and power,
often in the guise of a normal humanoid, in order to
secure a never-ending supply of sensory experiences. It is
also important to understand that oni’s immoderation is
also motivated by their corrupted and evil natures—that
is, no pleasure is more enjoyable than one that deprives
or wounds another.
Oni retain their hatred of the kami upon reentering
the Material Plane as physical creatures, and often their
depredations and violations of the world can be directly
tied to their efforts to destroy kami or the kami’s works.
Oni tend not to congregate with others of their kind,
being most comfortable in positions of leadership over
enslaved or oppressed societies populated by humanoids
they can masquerade as. Yet, at times, particularly
powerful oni abandon this mindset and instead gather to
their side entire legions of oni drawn from all types. The
oni known collectively as the yai—oni with an affinity for
true giants—are most often responsible for such actions,
and when a yai builds such an army of oni, the humanoid
lands shake with terror.
Theoretically, as many types of oni exist as there
are types of humanoids, although in reality, certain
types of oni are much more populous than others. The
ogre mage, an oni associated with ogres, is the bestknown
and most commonly encountered type of oni,
for reasons that still send scholars of oni lore into
spiraling arguments with seemingly no end. Beyond
the oni detailed on the following pages, the atamahuta
(ettins), ja noi (hobgoblins), nogitsune (kitsune), and
wind yai (cloud giants) are relatively well known. Oni
with associations to bugbears, great cyclopes, stone
giants, trolls, troglodytes, and other races exist as well.
And above even the mighty void yai there exist the oni
demigods—entities of nearly incomprehensible power
known as the oni daimyo.
Countless oni stalk the world, slaking their greed and
bloodlust to the misery of humanoids. The great leaders
among the oni, beings known as daimyo, are as numerous as
the nations of the world, and all oni seek to climb the rungs
of power to become such powerful entities. The following list
includes oni daimyo that have power in ways that make them
known and feared outside their own domains. Most of these
nefarious oni command armies or control points through
which other oni can enter the world.
- Akuma, the Horned King (ogre mage)
- Chimon, Hunter of Blood (ogre mage)
- Guyuku, the Sea Devil (water oni)
- Inma, Empress of the World (void oni)
- Muronna, the Dark Mother (ogre mage)
- Nataka, the Red King (fire oni)
- Onmyuza, Dancer in Flesh (ogre mage)
- Ushitora, Keeper of the Oni Gate (void oni)
- Uzumae, Daimyo of the North (kuwa oni)
- Yabu, Lord of the Kazan Caldera (fire oni)
Not all divine creations are meant to live as mortals. Some spirits are created as
guardians instead, tasked as protectors of elements of nature that cannot protect
themselves. When these spirits accept their divine place in the metacosmos and take
on such charges, they become kami. But some of these spirits are willful, obstinate,
or simply rotten, railing against such demands from the gods and becoming bodiless
and unable to interact with the world they can torturously still observe. Others
receive such punishment simply for failing at their duty, and their despair at their
condition twists them like those that began with a seed of darkness. When these
spirits look upon mortal lives and become overcome with envy of the flesh and
pleasure that humanoids can revel in, they form surrogate bodies of their own and
become monsters known collectively as oni.
When an oni manifests, they always do so in a form that parodies a specific
humanoid ancestry closely associated with the oni’s obsessions and envies.
Giants’ over-the-top personalities and sizes are likely the reason why these
humanoids are the most common incarnations chosen by oni; such oni
are known collectively as yai oni. Yet there exist oni
associated with almost every kind of humanoid.
Most oni are capable of supernaturally disguising
themselves as their associated humanoid type and use
this ability to infiltrate societies and seize control
from within. Once established, oni typically reveal
their true form and revel in dominating those they
view as lesser beings fit only to serve their whims.
Oni are nothing if not vain. They typically
choose comely or striking appearances in their
humanoid disguises—forms that are completely
at odds with the ugliness of their true natures. An
oni’s true form is indicative of their innermost
desires and always has features such as oversized
teeth that verge into tusks, sharp claws, unusually
bright skin colors, or a third eye in the forehead. Oni
have desires as varied as those of any being, though
by their nature these desires are almost always for
hedonistic or destructive experiences of the flesh,
typically food, pleasure, or violence.
ONIDOSHI
Onidoshi, or ogre mages, are oni with
the material form of an ogre. Onidoshi’s
supernatural prowess and overwhelming intellect
are enough to awe and cow entire families of
rank-and-file ogres. Because of this, onidoshi are
often found at the head of ogre war parties or
orchestrating these violent campaigns from behind
the scenes. It’s rare for onidoshi to lead solitary
existences, but those who do prefer to maraud the
countryside or exploit villages and hoard the spoils
for themselves.
ONI ORIGINS
The first oni originated in the nation
of Minkai on the continent of Tian Xia.
Whether due to prevalent local kami—
particularly in the mist-shrouded
Forest of Spirits—or its peoples’ faiths,
Minkai is a hotbed of oni activity.
ONI SHAPECHANGERS
Oni humanoid forms are limited to one
specific appearance. An ogre mage can
assume only one specific ogre form,
while an ice yai can appear only as
one specific frost giant. Some oni have
greater control over their shapeshifting
power and can assume the form of any
humanoid creature, and these oni tend
to be the most dangerous.
OTHER ONI
Different oni exist for nearly every
humanoid ancestry. Kuwa oni mask
their golden skin and four-fingered
claws in human form, while ja oni
hide as hobgoblins. Other yai include
wind yai (who take their form from
cloud giants) and the immensely
powerful void yai (who form from
other yai and ascend to rule over
rune giants).
ONI DAIMYO
Oni daimyo are quasi-deities with
isolated mortal domains. The most
powerful is Inma, the Empress of the
World, but Akuma the Horned King,
Murona the Dark Mother, and Nataka
the Red King are also worshipped.
I n nursery rhymes, oni are fearsome bogeymen that
haunt the nightmares of children and adults alike, yet
they are very real and always hungry. They find human
babies especially delicious. Oni look like demonic ogres
with blue or green skin, dark hair, and a pair of short
ivory horns protruding from their foreheads. Their eyes
are dark with strikingly white pupils, and their teeth and
claws are jet black.
Night Haunters. By the light of day, an oni hides
its true form with magic, gaining the trust of those
it intends to betray when darkness descends. These
creatures can change their size as well as their shape,
appearing as humanoids as they pass through towns,
pretending to be travelers, woodcutters, or frontier folk.
In such a form, an oni takes stock of the selection of
humanoids in a settlement and devises ways to abduct
and devour some of them.
Magical Ogres. Oni are sometimes called ogre mages
because of their innate magical ability. Though they
are only distantly related to true ogres, they share the
ogres' habit of joining forces with other evil creatures.
An oni serves a master if doing so proves lucrative or
provides it with a luxurious, well-defended home. Oni
covet magic, and they work for evil wizards and hags in
exchange for useful magic items.