-- ReginaldGusto - 08 Nov 2015

“I have identified nine subgenres of Kaiju so far. I refer to them as ‘subgenres,’ not ‘types,’ ‘breeds,’ or ‘species.’ Those first two words have a distasteful sound I don’t like, and ‘Species’ is biologically incorrect anyway. Biologically, we’re Human. Kaiju of any subgenre can mate with each other, with Celestials of any subgenre, and with any otherwise suitable Human. Of course mechanical issues can vary, but the theory is sound and the offspring will be a viable Human, Kaiju, or Celestial.
Nonetheless, there are key differences. I’ll give you the basic overview first:

Giant: Raging, rampaging stompers of cities.
Messenger: They just wanna be loved, adored, and interviewed by Time Magazine.
Dragon: Territorial fighters with an ego problem and something to prove.
Guardian: Protectors and defenders who know no rules of engagement if you threaten their wards.
Queen: Tired of being told how to live, they are now the gods of their own lives.
True Form: Humans with a need so secret they refuse to acknowledge it, until they lose control and transform.
Construct: They were made this way, not naturally occurring, and they walk forever on a quest to understand.
Bogeyman: A Human or Kaiju with a faulty barrier between conscious and unconscious, so the energy leaks out rather than erupting. Sometimes thought of as a small scale Kaiju, or a ‘Proto-Kaiju.’
Elder God: Forces of nature with one purpose: change the world.

I have studied them for years, and I have amassed quite a bit of insight about them. Moreover, I am or have been every single one. In the next few sections, I’ll go over the basics: Appearance, Human touchstone (the person who became or summoned him), eruption, driving need, MO, advice for interactions, and some odds and ends. Pay attention. These texts have saved lives and property.”

—Nibiru Yog-Sothoth

In the following sections, we’ll look at each subgenre in detail. These sections will give you an idea of what is commonly true of each subgenre, but you the player are encouraged to find what works for you. For example, if you have a name in mind that fits your Kaiju but doesn’t fit the usual naming scheme of that subgenre, your idea over-rides the text. If it works for you, it works for your Kaiju. He or she won’t be the only one in this world not to follow the norm, either. There are exceptions to every rule.
The structure will be as follows:
—a description of the overall nature of the Kaiju
—important things to know generally about most eruptions of this subgenre
—Details,
—and Kaiju Features, which consist of character perks and drawbacks you would normally buy with character creation points when creating the character, but which you get for free for creating a Kaiju of that subgenre.

The Details entry covers a few conventions that make conversation easier. Ever since the first eruption, a certain vocabulary has arisen to common usage when talking about Kaiju. Some of the conventions originated from Kaiju themselves, others from Humans talking about them. None of them are hard and fast rules, and familiarity with the conventions will vary from person to person, locale to locale, and community to community. Some Kaiju openly rebel against the expected conventions, and some Humans refuse to honor them anyway. As a result, actual mileage will vary. These entries will include:

—Domain: What you commonly call the area of authority, home territory, or range of activity of a Kaiju. The terminology of this detail arose out of a need to be able to speak intelligently about the realm of influence of a Kaiju. In other words, how do you know when you might draw the attention of a Kaiju simply by being somewhere or doing something?

—Celestial Counterpart: Every Kaiju is formed out of an imbalance of Primal Energy. A similarly structured creature, one with similar domain and goals, could also be formed from an imbalance of Celestial Energy, and these creatures do exist now. The relationship between a Kaiju and its celestial counterpart is complex and varied. It might be tempting to call it an “opposite” or “Nemesis” relationship, but that is less often the case than you might expect. For example, a Shaman and a Messenger might get along great, and have long amicable conversations. It is as likely for an Angel to be allied with a Guardian as it is that he be opposed to him. It can be argued that the True Form is actually trying to become the Adept, by learning to master his Kaiju form. Some Elder Gods actually have seats on the Council of Wizards.

—Title: The question this entry addresses is simply “What do I call you so that you don’t get mad at me or so that other Kaiju I might encounter don’t think I’ve disrespected you?”

—Human Support Structure: Every Kaiju has a different relationship with the Humans around him or her, but in general, they do fall into certain reliable patterns. The term for a Kaiju’s Human support structure tells you what function they serve, and how the Kaiju thinks and feels about them. Some Kaiju don’t actually care, but it’s not uncommon for a sensitive Dragon to take offense if you call his Thralls his “Fans,” “Friends,” or “Cult.” Doing so might tell him you don’t understand or respect his power, or he might think you’re making fun of him.

—Trigger: What emotion will most likely cause the Kaiju to erupt if experienced in sufficient intensity.

—Manifestation: The question this entry addresses is “When a Kaiju erupts, what happened to the Human touchstone?” There are four possible answers.

Summoning: The Touchstone remains on earth, in Human form, and a separate entity appears as the Kaiju. The Human may still be conscious or may fall unconscious, aware or unaware of his connection to the Kaiju, opposed to the Kaiju or working in tandem with him. The relationship between a Human Touchstone and their summoned Kaiju is deep, subconscious, strange, dark, and wonderous. Unless you take the drawback “Separation,” they know each other, and they know of each other. They share an empathic bond that might not be readily apparent, even to them.

Example: Little Johnny is a six year old boy with a problem: The Fish-Head Man lives in his closet (a Bogeyman who sucks happiness out of people with his enormous trout mouth, and can see through walls with his huge fish-eyes). Whenever Little Johnny becomes too agitated (his Primal Energy gets too high), the Fish-Head Man comes to find him. Johnny is always awake when it happens, but he spends most of the time cowering in hiding so the Fish-Head Man can’t find him. Lately, though, the Fish-Head Man has lost interest in Johnny. Instead, he seems more interested in playing with Johnny’s new monster friends when they go out fighting bad-guys…

Transformation: The Touchstone himself changes form, losing his Human form, and becomes the Kaiju.

Example: Jessie Cantrell is a nice, all American country girl just trying to graduate high school and navigate the confusing world of dating. She’s small, shy, mousy, and not terribly assertive—unless you threaten her sister. When she gets mad, she turns into a seven-foot bronze Amazonian goddess with eyes of fire and dried blood on her razor-sharp claws. Jessie is pretty quiet about The Lady of Matador, but lately, she’s been talking to some strange folk who say they need The Lady’s help…

Permanence: The Touchstone just doesn’t exist anymore, or was never Human to begin with. He became the Kaiju on first eruption and never returned to his Human form, or was just always a Kaiju. In this case, “eruption” still happens, but the difference is more a matter of degree. Erupting allows the Kaiju to cut loose, spend his Primal energy, and access some of his powers. Note that the Permanent manifestation is the only manifestation that retains all wounds and injuries after eruption has ended.

Example: After the “accident,” Officer Alvarez hasn’t been the same. He used to be a young, handsome man with dimples, kind eyes, and a winning smile. But ever since his skin burned off, he hasn’t been back into the precinct. The last time anyone saw him, he was living in the shadows of the worst part of town, where legend had it he was working on getting revenge on the mob family who did this to him…

*Possession: The Touchstone retains his Human form, but his will is entirely subject to the Kaiju, and can now wield the Kaiju’s powers. Possession allows a unique relationship between Kaiju and Touchstone. Unlike Summoning, the Kaiju is always present, just dormant at the back of the Touchstone’s mind. Communication between the two is common, but the two remain separate and distinct. When the possession takes hold (during an Eruption or Walking Abroad), the two switch places, but the body does not transform. The Human body remains as it is, but can now channel the Kaiju’s power.

Example: Luther Lou is a priest with a secret: he is the point of contact of Jormungandr, the Midgard Serpent, the Binder of Worlds. The time has come to unbind the world and let the Vanir (Kaiju) have their say again, and to that end, no matter what the security cameras saw, it was something more than a man that broke into the Smithsonian yesterday to steel the Book of Vanaheim from the basement vaults…

A note on gender:

In the following sections, I tried to remember to use “Him or her,” “he or she,” whenever I could. I also tried to use the pronoun “they” as the gender neutral. I didn’t catch every instance.
Bottom line, no matter what the subgenre, there is no such thing as a default gender for a Kaiju. Any Kaiju can be male, female, both, neither, or anything you like. Even the Queen, despite appearances, can be any or all of the above. It is true that in American art the Queen is traditionally represented as female, such as Disney’s Elsa, Stephen King’s Carrie, or J. J. Abrams’s Olivia Dunham. I posit that this representation is because, for so long, women have been treated as second class citizens in the western world, and still are in many other places. As a result, the growing shift in thought on gender equality has made it more and more common for stories to feature women in strong leads, coming into their own power, or exercising it without reservation or shame. In that way, the idea of the female Queen Kaiju is archetypal of something much larger. That fact is exactly why I chose the name “Queen” for that subgenre: it evokes the image of an overcoming that was pioneered by women in America.
But regardless of the archetype, there are a wide spectrum of marginalized, oppressed, forgotten, dismissed, and mistreated people in this world who are reaping the benefits of society’s changing thoughts. All of these people are beginning to come into their own and can be accurately portrayed as a Queen Kaiju. Moreover, the mere existence of Queen kaiju necessarily means that women are just as capable and just as powerful to function as dragons, bogeymen, messengers, true forms, elder gods, and any and everything else.
Moreover, if you assume the primacy of Tiamat as a useful metaphor for the source of all Kaiju, she was traditionally female, but with a notable power and force of will that has for a very long time only been represented as masculine. The re-emergence of the unconscious power of a Human is a re-emergence of a long-forgotten feminine aspect as well as a powerful masculine one.
So to sum up, the options are endless, and my wording is only indicative of the limitations of language, easily understood linguistic convention, and sometimes even oversight.

Errata:

Throughout this book, I use the term “Touchstone” and “Human Form” interchangeably. Anything that refers to a Human form also refers to whoever summoned the Kaiju or was possessed by it, not just whoever turned into it. They both indicate exactly the same thing.

The Giant

The Messenger

The Dragon

The Guardian

The Queen

The True Form

The Construct

The Bogeyman

The Elder God