Malegami

The Watchmaster

Fearing the end, they say he tore out his own heart to replace it with a perfect ticking clock.

Malegami is an Ascendant spirit. It is believed he was formed from a mortal soul in his absolute rejection of death. As a spirit, Malegami takes on a humanoid form, though little of him can be seen beneath the white ribbons wrapped around his form. When they unravel, they reveal the clockwork body beneath, including a glass case and pendulum swinging at the core of his being.

He moves in an imperceptible manner, shifting in singular frames.

A Domain of Potential

Malegami's existence is dedicated to the pursuit of perfection. Death, to the Watchmaster, is an unbearable waste. To circumvent this, Malegami creates Echoes from a mortal Heart. The echo is visually identical to their Heart, but functionally mortal. Once a Heart is petrified by Malegami, the Echo gains that eternity, and is able to pursue an art to perfection.

Within the Campaign

Before Do-Yun was born, Cheon Yeong-Suk and Takeda Kichiro made a deal with Malegami. In exchange, they were to deliver a chosen tribute to him. This tribute was determined once they returned to the mortal realm: the closest living being in their proximity would be marked. They would have twenty years to deliver this person an fulfill their bargain. If they failed, they themselves were forfeit.

Do-Yun was born only weeks later with ribbons on his arms.

Nineteen years passed without Malegami's interference in the lives of Do-Yun and Yeong-Suk. Upon his first entry to the Spirit Realm, however, Do-Yun was cursed by a watch. It ticked incessantly in his head and tolled once a month on a night of Serien's full moon. The number of tolls increased each month, until it became obvious it was a countdown.

Takeda Kichiro has been serving Malegami for an indeterminate amount of time. He attempted to bring Do-Yun to the Watchmaster once, upon meeting him and the party, but Liutubang escaped before Do-Yun could be brought before the Watchmaster. In this time, Do-Yun's Echo, Seung began to track the party, leading up to a final ambush during The Ghost Festival.

Do-Yun was brought before Malegami. Before he could be masked and petrified, Liutubang intervened. They successfully pulled Do-Yun out, but only at the loss of Tamara Bhatt. She would be resurrected by Malegami with a clockwork heart.

History

Stories claim that Malegami was a mortal man who feared death. He sought immortality by replacing his heart with one of clockwork and ascended as a spirit.

Though not considered a significant threat to mortal life, shikar sects of Tawashi have noted he has an antagonistic if cordial relationship with Laoshou the Old Beast.

The watchmaker felt his own clock keenly in his chest. Every tick of the hands: seconds, minutes, hours. They drove him mad, for he knew one day the gears would wear away, would grind and halt and his body halting with it, to gather rust and rot and sink into the river of time, forgotten.

He could fix his clocks. It was simple. A broken piece could be replaced. Tarnish could be cleaned. So long as there was a source of life, they ticked on and on and on. Perhaps, in one hundred years, every piece would be replaced. Perhaps it would be entirely new. But the clock kept ticking, on and on and on.

And, ah, there is the solution, he thought. If only he were a clock.

And so, they say, he tried. He would be his own Masterpiece. And so, they say, he opened up his chest to replace those worn-down parts, shiny and new and ticking on, and on, and on.

Properties

Unorganized

Name Pronunciation

Mall-uh-GAWM-ee

The Watchmaster

A Domain of Potential

Within the Campaign

History

The Watchmaster's Tale

Properties