India's 1.25 million square miles harbor towering cities and remote villages, primordial wilderness and ancient ruins, diverse cultures and a thriving criminal underworld. Its religions are rife with gods both great and terrible, monsters as strange as they are deadly, and mythic heros who do the impossible three times before breakfast. In short, India has everything a great role-playing setting needs.

This month's article isn't about a time or place, however. It's about something you might describe as a modern day, Buddhist parable... if it were directed by John Woo. (Bollywood being what it is, I'm sure there's plenty of source material out there. If anything comes to mind, I hope you'll post a comment below. In the absence thereof, I'll continue in the delusion that I'm being original.)

Guns, god-men, kewl powerz... but the biggest twist in this sub-genre is the bodhisattva's moral code. As people who have touched Nirvana, then turned back to help others reach enlightenment, the player-characters are good with a capital G-O-O-D. They've taken vows not to kill, steal, drink, lie, or even harbor anger or resentment towards others. How's that for a role-playing challenge?

Their mission is nothing less than enlightenment for all mankind. Well, maybe not all mankind. Those who stand in the way of others' enlightenment, those who work to keep others bound to their desires, must be forcibly removed from the path. They must be cleared away like brush: salvaged if possible and burned if not.

The usual suspects include sin-peddlers, slave traders, crime lords, con artists, arms dealers, and anyone else who represents the temptations and predations of the material world. In Buddhist mythology, these forces are personified as Mara, the "lord of death" who tried to stop Buddha from attaining enlightenment. In the Sanctum universe, Mara is the archetypal demon. Warlocks are men and women who give themselves over completely to the world of flesh and turn their backs on Nirvana. They are Mara's children and foot soldiers.

Bodhisattvas must find a way to fight them without succumbing to the sins and weaknesses they represent. They wage war on the edge of an endless abyss. One misstep, and mankind could fall forever.

Buddha's Sanctum

Fortunately, they don't have to fight alone. From ascetic monks to good-hearted cops, those who follow Buddha's path are legion. An elite few have organized to fight back Mara's treacherous brood. They supply bodhisattvas with information, contacts, resources, safe houses, legal advice, and back-up.

However, the bodhisattvas' greatest asset is their sublime comprehension of the universe. It grants them skills and talents that those still mired in their temporal desires can only dream of attaining. Some are hyper-aware of their surroundings; they can walk through a raging crossfire without being hit and no one can take them by surprise. Others have keen insight into their fellow man; they can smell deception and persuade even their enemies to take the righteous path. A few were bloody killers in their past lives; they have honed their lethal skills to a razor's edge, but now they wield them with surgical precision.

If guiding all mankind to Nirvana isn't focused enough of an agenda for you, no bodhisattva is completely above personal crusades. (If they were, they wouldn't be on the material plane, would they?) Perhaps they have past lives of sin to atone for, or old associates who need to be sent on to their next lives. Maybe they have loved ones who they're just not ready to let go, people who need their protection and guidance. Other lingering tethers to the material could include unkept promises, guilty pleasures, blood feuds, and petty rivalries.

Ujjay Daruka

Once upon a time, Ujjay Daruka was a very bad man. The unjust deaths of hundreds of innocents weigh upon his soul. He collected debts and settled disputes for members of India's criminal underworld... until he walked away from the life and retreated to a Buddhist monastery. He left many enemies behind, from the sons and lovers of his victims to a sadistic boss who values loyalty above all other things.

Since then, he has made his peace with his past and come to a deeper understanding of his place in the universe. Ironically, his new attunement has vastly improved his skill with a gun. He can hit nearby targets without even looking, and dodge bullets without breaking a sweat. He has vowed to never kill again, but there are many places you can put a bullet to disable instead of kill.

• Gun Guru - Can shoot blindfolded & sidestep a sniper's bullet.
• Killer Rep - Known and feared throughout the underworld.
• Career Criminal - Breaking & entering, handling cops, etc.

Sumed Keyush

When Professor Keyush began his quest for the Unified Theory of Everything, he didn't really mean everything. As his comprehension of the universe's most fundamental secrets grew deeper, fewer and fewer of his colleagues could keep up. Eventually, he was ostracized from the scientific community... and approached by the Sanctum.

Sumed has proven himself an effective and resourceful operative. His enlightened understanding the physical world allows him to improvise solutions to tactical problems that would stymie even seasoned field agents. His passion is thwarting con artist and imperialists who abuse science and ignorance for selfish aims.

• Jerry Rig - Watch a few episodes of MacGyver. You'll get the idea.
• Science! - Knows everything about everything.
• Scholar - An eloquent speaker and instructor.

Akshay Lokesh

Folklore has many fantastic things to say concerning the followers of Vajayana Buddhism. They train their minds to exert total control over the flesh. They can make themselves immune to pain, hold their breath for hours at a time, contort their bodies at unnatural angles, slow their heart rates enough to feign death, and perform many other miraculous feats.

Akshay is one of the most advanced Vajayana mystics in the world, but his compassion binds him to this mortal coil. He cannot bring himself to embrace the sublime peace of Nirvana while others toil away in the eternal cycle of reincarnation. So, he wanders India's wild places, helping others find the path to enlightenment and kicking metric tons of warlock ass.

• Tantra - Wacky body control powers.
• Zen - Studied martial arts in China.
• Vagabond - Doesn't need money to get by.

Mara's Army

Technically, Buddhists don't acknowledge the existence of demons, preferring to think of Mara as a representation of the material world's many temptations. Members of the Sanctum know different. Demons ruled this world before our rise and, if they get their way, they will rebuild their empire on our ashes.

Mara's warlocks manipulate their victims through their desires. Sex, fame, power... they tend to choose a vice and stick with it. Their goal is not so much to prevent people from reaching Nirvana as it is to amass slaves and consolidate worldly power. To their way of thinking, enlightenment is a fool's errand, either inherently unattainable or equivalent with oblivion.

Ishan "Shawn" Rajamani

India's economy is among the fastest-growing in the world. Driving its industrial engines are men and women of boundless greed. Ishan Rajamani ("Shawn," to his foreign investors) stands atop a commercial empire that includes dozens of sweatshops, chemical factories, textile mills, manufacturing plants, and tech support call centers. He holds thousands of wage slaves in his thrall.

His demons have invested their power in a single symbol: the coin. This affinity expresses itself in many forms. Ishan can mesmerize people with a spinning coin, telekinetically fire coins with lethal force, and divine the recent whereabouts of any coin in his possession. He also shares a sympathetic link to anyone who carries a coin earned in his service. He can read their thoughts, see through their eyes, and subtly influence their actions.

• Affinity: Coins - Usually Indian coins, but any currency will do.
• Deep Pockets - Rich enough to buy just about anything.
• Business Acumen - A clever strategist and shrewd negotiator.

Gagnesh the Wise

So-called "god-men" have plagued India since time immemorial. They use deception and sleight of hand to swindle the ignorant out of what little wealth they have. For example, a common ploy is to trick parents into thinking that a child is possessed, then charge them for a phony exorcism. Similarly, they peddle charms, amulets, and placebos for every affliction. A few have moved into the cities, expanding their operations to include talk shows and advertising campaigns.

Gagnesh has taken this old game to a whole new level. As his demons gnawed away at his soul, he developed the ability to make others see and hear anything he wished. Though he has no real power over the physical world, he can make his victims think that he can fly, pluck bullets out of the air, set things on fire with a wave of his hand, and so forth. He applies this ability with neither shame nor remorse.

• Delusion - Demonic power over perception.
• Deception - Fast talk, cold reading, con games.
• Devotees - A vast network of fanatical followers.

Kamod Varuni

Like Las Vegas, Bollywood's early development was funded by organized crime. (For many years, legitimate investors were not allowed to fund movie productions in India, because entertainment was not recognized as a legitimate industry.) Kamod Varuni got in on the ground floor, but lost everything when his underlings abandoned him. He fled to a Tibetan monastery, where a combination of herbal medicine and cannibalizing his own soul slowly restored his health.

It also left him with a new trick: Kamod can sculpt shards of his soul into tulpas. These "thought-forms" look and act human, but they are utterly loyal to their creator. In fact, they are exactly as Kamod imagines them. With the help of his new enforcers, and one or two tailor-made porn stars, he has clawed his way back to the top of the Bollywood heap. Unfortunately, his path is now littered with the shattered lives of those who stood in his way.

• Tulpas - You can run them as NPCs or as extensions of Kamod's will.
• Violent - Likes to give debtors and enemies his personal attention.
• Blackmail - Peddling sleaze has put many people in Kamod's pocket.

Next Stop: The Townsend Detective Agency! (Seriously.)