Sword schools in the realm

[Hand of Destiny]

I'm an avid fan of Blade of the immortal and i was considering how rival sword schools could work out in the realm.  The way I would concieve of it is to have differing secular martial arts schools that may or may not have the favour of the great houses.  Following the disappearance of the empress these schools could be used as a covert means of opposition between the great houses or allow them a bit of street muscle to influence votes in the deliberative (ala the SA and red fighting league or Boca football supporters in Argentina).  They could also recruit heavily from disgruntled lost eggs.  Those dragon blooded of low birth who no longer have a home in the legions now the great houses have started their own private armies.

 

[Persell]

I think rival schools across Creation is a good idea. Especially if you tie in the "Face" Background from the players guide.

 

[Dulio Giovanni]

While I vote yes on this, I think the rivarly between schools field has already been taken care of by the secondary schools like House of Bells, Pasiap's Stair, etc. Also unless you love designing charms I think it would be a real nightmare to have to design several secular Terrestrial level martial arts from scratch. Other that little issue I'd say this would be a cool idea especially when incorporated into the Face background heck Face could ostensibly be a form of reputation or family especially if the Great House involved is the school's founder.

 

[Fruan]

The idea of rival martial arts schools combined with mulling over the players guide for a while lead me to some interesting conclusions;


Terrestrial Martial Arts are one of the better ways for mortals to elevate themselves above cannon fodder level. They need 8 points of merits before they can start learning them. A rule of thumb I tend to use is that Average Chang on the street gets 1 xp a year. So call it 25 years of study at a monastary (merits, MA ability, other abilities) and a dedicated mortal could be ready to learn their first charm. A single charm like Five Dragon Fortitude will make a mortal signifigantly more powerful. This might sound like an incredible investment of time (and it is!), but a percentage of patriticians are presumably going to do just such a thing - Remember that the Imaculate Philosophy states that the manipulation of essence brings you closer to the Dragons. Spending 30 years mastering a single charm might make you exalt in your next life! And what else are you going to do? Apart from plot against your rivals. And go to house Cynis parties. And... well, ok. We're talking 2% of the population here. It still adds up.


So what does this mean? Well, fuck all - No one cares about mortals. But it does mean that a MA school could depend on a greater enrollment than just the statistically few Terrestrials that would be drawn to such a thing. And the occasional ancient mortal master who has progressed to the form might prove a surprisingly dangerous opponent to arrogant exalts. ("Pah! Puny mortal!.... wait, what do you mean he just activated Five Dragon Force Blow?!").


All of this musing led me to write a handful of terrestrial level MA styles designed specifically for mortals - One of which is currently polished enough to be in the Lore5 system: Watchful Raptor Style. Five Dragon Style is exceptionally good (In fact, my design criteria for terrestrial MAs is that they should always be worse than 5DS.) Jade Mountain style, from Aspect Book Earth is... not completely useless. And Falling Blossom Style, from Cult of the Illuminated, is interesting. (although I can't help but feel it leads to mortals dedicating their lives to toil and study, mastering the first charm after 30 years, and then getting themselves killed the next day) So the biggest drawback to this idea - Actually sitting down and writing the damn styles - is already slightly covered.

 

[Fruan]

A rule of thumb I tend to use is that Average Chang on the street gets 1 xp a year.

Bad form to reply to myself, I know, but I meant to elaborate on this wild fabrication I offered up, but forgot.


The players guide offers a table to calculate Xp gains for extended downtime. I don't recall exactly how much it suggests, but it's a lot. Clearly it's only intended for heroic individuals. Using it as a template for how quickly most people will learn exotic skills (basicly the supernatual merits) leads to some stupid conclusions.


So, I came up with the 1xp per year rule. It works for me; 16ish years of study sounds about on the right order (using the 2xp per point of merit option from the PG) to learn essence mastery for a mortal. It might not work for everyone; Modify your conclusions apropriately.

 

[Jakk Bey]

Part of the reason for my tweaks to Fight was to create an Ability that fostered the idea of rival technqiues and schools.


With Fight, you can have two Mortal practioners of the same style, and the investment into Techniques, that you can get two very different fighters.  That you can base an entire method of teaching of a particular flavor of a style is inherent to the Home Brew of the Fight rules.


That you can have even more variation between styles and practioners is what I was going for.  That you can give Mortals access to powerful Techniques without them gaining Charms was the whole idea of introducing Techniques into the mix.  Not to give Exalts nifty abilities, but to give Mortals a fair shake, without taking them down the path of awakening their Essence.  


A Mortal can train, and be dangerous, even to an Exalt if they're not careful. One Mortal with Killing Blows who can dish out Lethal damage barehanded can surprise the heck out of a DB who is expecting to wade into a throng of Mortals.  


That a few Heroic Mortals can be dangerous without activating their Essence, and being far more skilled than their compatriots is what I was going for.  That it ties into the idea of making Fight a little more layered and rich than the current system for building styles--right now, it really boils down to the Charms in a style, as opposed to how you move and the choices of blows and defenses.

 

[Obsidian Soul]

The Player's Guide rate is good for average mortals and heroic characters stuck in the bureacracy.  They do not specify a rate of XP for the first hundred years, so I use 10 XP a year, on the assumption that a character is going to be a bit more active in the first century of their life than the rest of their life.  To me, a normal mortal becomes a heroic mortal when they increase their Essence above one (a standard heroic mortal starts with one level of destiny and thus does not need the extra spiritual power to bend fate).  Then again, in my games there are no extras.


Anyway, to the question at hand.  The 'Family' Styles (Terrestrial Martial Arts Styles not taught by the Immaculate Order) are quite accepted in the Realm and could be considered a rival school.  You could even have individuals practicing 'heretical' styles, but they would have to keep it quite, less they be visited by the Immaculates.


I have also been working on Techniques for the combat abilities.  I allow my characters to improve their unarmed or weapon attacks.  By spending 1 BP or 3 XP, they may improve one statistic of one attack by one dot.  They may not improve a single statistic by more than their relevant combat ability (by twice their combat ability if it is a favored, breed or caste ability).  Range is increased by 10 yards for thrown weapons per 'dot' while it is increased by 50 yards for bows and crossbows per dot.  Rate may not be increased for crossbows.  Accuracy is the only statistic that may be improved for flame weapons.