Shugenja Readying for War

[the monk Basufu]

I am most honored to be welcomed into the Twin Soul Temple of the mighty Phoenix, yes. In any case, I was hoping to share a spell with you all that I developed in my researches. Originally, I designed it using Jade energy, and it was quite effective. Indeed, I believe I am close to making the original's effect contagious, although I have avoided such with the new version, for reasons which should become obvious.

The new version utilizes fire in a more subtle way than perhaps you will be used to. This attack does not necessarily cause any more casualties than a simple blast of fire would, but I believe it has other advantages. It works by rapidly boiling the blood of an opponent, in this case, likely a Yobanjin. The target explodes, spraying those around him with boiling blood, hot steam, and shards of bone and gore.

The advantage over a standard area fire spell is, I believe, in the demoralizing effect. The first aspect is simply the visual, which could obviously be quite horrifying to an undisciplined mind. While a plain fire spell would leave few, if any survivors, this one would leave several severely scalded, screaming and disabled. This is especially valuable targeting calvalry, indeed, horses, as they have a greater volume of blood and panicked, pained horses are a peril to all around them.

Please do be sure to target this spell behind enemy lines, since you don't want its area of effect to hit your allies.

So, are you interested? I have a set of scrolls right here...

[tadakasan]

I thank you for the results of your research Kuni-san. I will admit to the fact that the spell is most certainly one that I would not normally use, war or not. But I can see it's application in fighting those who deserve no mercy. It is only something I would use on the enemies of the Empire, and only as a last resort. But that makes it no less worthy as an application of the elemental kami.

*bows* I would be most honored to hear and see anything you have found Kuni-san; afterall, no matter how horrific the use of the kami may be, it still is something that could be useful that falls within the will of the Heavens.

[the monk Basufu]

* blinks a couple times, as if waking up * Ah, yes. I had forgotten, Isawa-san, about your Clan's general preference for using the most... compassionate methods possible. Compassion is one of the tenets of bushido, or course, so... yes. Well, I am sorry if I offended your sensibilities, Isawa-san. We of the Kuni are most accustomed to dealing with those who deserve no mercy, and as you may know, Crab in general are relentlessly pragmatic.

I offer the knowledge. How or if you use it is, of course, entirely your prerogative.

[tadakasan]

*shakes his head* There are no apologies needed; It is true we do prefer compassionate methods, but that right is not reserved for those who reject the rule of the Emperor. I merely meant that part of the life of a samurai is to uphold the codes of Bushido and keep appearances up, for the other Clans and the Himen so they will have faith in us and in the will of the Heavens. I meant no offense as to the methods of the Crab in their battle with the enemies that lurk in the darkness, merely stating a premise that the spell might see limited use by a Clan such as ours, and perhaps an urge to use it only in the right circumstances as well.

But like you said, that is our perogative.

*bows* I do sincerely thank you for any knowledge you share with us, especially something that may prove helpful to the safety of the Empire. If you ever have anything else to share do not hesitate for it will be genuinely appreciated.

[Isawa Kinen]

I however, do have some objections to this spell, for although I can see it's practical applications, I am horrified at it's results. In theory, it is an interesting spell. It will cause great harm and certain death to whomever it is cast upon, with a secondary effect of distracting and frightening those around the target, sapping them of their will to fight and perhaps reducing the number of unnecessary dead.

However, this spell should never be used, and you will understand with these two reasons. First, the blood of one whom suffers from Shadowtaint, or is a manifestation of Shadowtaint such as an Oni, can very easily spread the Taint to everything it touches. Imagine if a Bloodspeaker were to summon and Oni, and the Oni was slain in battle. The Bloodspeaker could use this spell on the Oni's corpse, and spread the Taint to the very same Samurai that slew the Oni.

My second reason is similar, but just different enough. What if a Bloodspeaker were to use this spell on anyone, for that matter. Nearly all of that person's blood would suddenly become available for use by the Bloodspeaker to enhance the vile spells they cast.

And third, the fact that this spell tampers with the blood of the target of this spell already makes me believe this spell might very well have strong roots in the spells of the very same witches you hunt on your Honor as a Kuni. We are above that. We are Samurai!
We do Not. Use. Maho.

If I were you, I would burn all the scrolls of this spell you have right now. Although made for good purposes, it has great possibilities to be misused. Perhaps this spell should have stayed at it's Jade form you mentioned earlier.

[the monk Basufu]

* Jiyuu's eyes glow slightly and his voice gains an edge * I pray, Kinen-san, that you do not mean to imply that I have used maho in creating this spell. I would find such an implication offensive, and betraying of a desperate ignorance of maho I am quite sure no competent Isawa shugenja would bear.

Maho necessarily uses the blood as the source of power. This calls in on the power of Fire kami, using traditional methods. It only targets the blood, it in no way uses the life force of the caster or the victim to power its effect. It is no more likely to be maho than a spell that cleanses the blood of a poison. That its use could be corrupted by a maho-tsukai is unfortunate, but the same can be said of virtually any spell.

[Agasha Miga]

Kuni Jiyuu-san, though I salute your willingness to spread your knowledge as freely as the blood of our ennemies, I understand the unease felt by Kinen-san.

We all understand, as magic-users, the working principle of your spell and that, in no way, it can be associated with Maho. There is no doubt about your purity, Kuni-san.

This said, we still need to agree that not all our battle companions have this knowledge and that the brutal effect of your spell can be perceived as similar to the atrocities committed by Maho-tsukais.

We can easily anticipate that the spell will not only break the fighting will of our foes, but it will as well grows some doubts within our own troops. And I expect the effect to be proportionnal to their honor. For sure we don't need this kind of mefiance between fighters who are on the same side.

For what we know of the Yobanjins, they do not have shugenjas, shamans or any other kind of magic-user. So I am confident that the sheer power of our Kami friends will be very efficient to bring havoc in their morale.

For the rest I thank you again for this insightful discussion and I hope to see you forward and collaborate with you to find other ways to affine our tools, as I am also deeply devoted to fight the Evil that plague our lands.

*bows respectfully*

[the monk Basufu]

* relaxes * Very well. Your arguments have merit, Agasha-san. Perhaps this is a spell best saved for other circumstances. Again, I am most used to operating in a different setting, and Crab samurai that daily face the horrors of the Shadowlands are not as easily shaken as your standard ashigaru soldiers.

This has been most instructive. Thank you again for your hospitality.

[tadakasan]

You two forget, are there not spells that are already horrific? And is not blood spilled by every samurai who wields a weapon? Your concerns about maho tsukai are noted, but are unfounded; while it is true that there is a possibility that the blood spilled by the spell could be used for unholy purposes, that is true of any spell or weapon that draws blood from an enemy. For instance, when I use the simple spell Earth Becomes Sky to drop a large boulder on my enemies, it is rarely a clean kill, nor when I summon a katana of fire to hold off my enemies in close combat.

I appreciate you both understanding what I mean when I say the respect of only using this spell at the right place and time; it has a purpose and that is to cause panic in enemies of the Empire. It should not be used in interclan warfare, it should not be used simply to kill for there are much cleaner ways of doing that. No, despite the fact you fear that some may fear the spell is blood magic, if it is used only in the correct situations there is really no problem; there are simple tests for the taint in a maho user and procedures both the Crab and our own Inquisitors have to put those fears to rest.

It may be a spell that is not the most clean or venerable use of the kami, but it is a use of the kami for the good of the Empire none-the-less. If there is real concern on people's part on the graphic nature of how this spell deals with the Empire's enemies, that is all the more reason to treat it with care and respect, but not a reason to simply turn one's back on such potent knowledge of the power of the kami. And in the end, if it still is a problem there are ways our researchers and alchemists could probably modify the spell to not be so gruesome.

Be more open minded about the knowledge other people share with us. We are the Phoenix, keepers of knowledge and magic in the Empire; If there is a spell that uses the kami, we should know it, if not to use in the proper way at least to study it and modify that knowledge so it can be used properly. In the end, there is some knowledge that leads down the road to taint and damnation; A spell that happens to produce a gruesome effect is not one of those.

[the monk Basufu]

* Raises an eyebrow * It is unfortunate that you are so conflicted within your clan as to what uses of the kami are welcome here. Tadaka-san, I think, has the right of it, but while his name is the best-known among you, I do not know that he has greater rank here. Therefore, I shall obey the wishes of the majority and depart, taking my unwelcome researches with me. Perhaps the Yamabushi will be more receptive. Thank you once more for your hospitality, your temple is quite magnificent.

[Bayushi Senshi]

(well that was a fun read )