This spell infuses the caster's body with the strength of Earth, weakening the force of any physical or magical attack which strikes him. For the duration of the spell, you gain Reduction in an amount equal to your Earth Ring + School Rank. However, this infusion of Earth slows your movements - you Water is considered 1 Rank lower for purposes of movement while you are under the effects of this spell.
The Chuda Shugenja School was formed with some of the same techniques the Phoenix Inquisitors use to this very day. The founder Isawa Chuda was an Imperial Magistrate, sworn to destroy maho-tsukai. Unfortunately, the descendants of the Chuda have become exactly what Isawa Chuda swore to destroy.
The Fuzake originated as a small order of ronin shugenja within Toturi’s Army, led by a young man named Yasuki Garou (later Fuzake Garou) who was a close friend to Toku. When the Monkey Clan was formed he immediately swore fealty to it. The Fuzake dedicate themselves to healing and to an intense but rather eccentric veneration of the Fortunes.
When Yoritomo Komori was granted the honor of forming his own Minor Clan, he quickly gathered the brightest shugenja to his side. He decided he would honor his bat spirit heritage of swift communication and bring that resource to the rest of the Empire. The Komori recognize that one must balance the practical with the theoretical, and strive to hone their messaging abilities for use on the field.
The starting individuals known as the Moto Death Priests are adherents of the Shi-Tien Yen-Wang, the pantheon of wrathful gods of death and judgment who were worshiped by the Moto family prior to its allegiance to the Unicorn Clan. When the Moto were still nomads, they paid homage to these Lords of Death out of both reverence and fear. However, when the Lady Shinjo taught the Moto there gods who could show compassion and reward loyalty, they forsook their old devotion and joined the Unicorn.
The Horiuchi family was formed late in the history of the Unicorn, but the shugenja school bears their name in modern times has an ancient history with roots from before the Great Clan's return to their ancestral home in Rokugan. During their travels outside the borders of the Emerald Empire, the Unicorn discovered many different methods and styles of magic among both their allies and enemies, incorporating them into a single method.
The individuals who call themselves the Ninube are not truly shugenja in the conventional sense of the word, but then they are not truly individuals either, so the terminology here is largely a matter of convenience. The Ninube are minions of the Lying Darkness who seem to retain a portion of their individuality (whether they truly do is impossible to say). After the Darkness was defeated but before the Shadow Dragon usurped its place as the avatar of Nothing, the Ninube chose to go their own way, forsaking loyalty to this new master.
Although it is admittedly rare, there are times when the prodigious physical abilities of the Bayushi and Shosuro are inadequate to accomplish a task requiring stealth and subtlety. When this happens, a student of the Soshi Shugenja School is brought in to deal with the matter. The Soshi understand better than most that the kami are not honorable beings as many envision them, but rather completely alien creatures with no firm concept of human behavior or even of honor itself.
There are few families in the Empire as diverse and ambitious as the Yoritomo, so it is no surprise the family supports a small number of shugenja. The tradition stems back to the earliest day of the Mantis Clan. Kaimetsu-Uo, the clan's founder, had no capacity to speak to the kami, but one of his daughters did and she married a ronin who possessed the same ability. Thus began a branch of the Yoritomo family that possesses an unparalleled ability to commune with the spirits of the sea and storm.
The practices of the Moshi shugenja were developed over the course of many years spent in unwavering devotion to the Sun Goddess. Despite the celestial upheaval that has occurred within the Celestial Order during Rokugan's history, the Moshi have managed to retain their devotion even if the nature of their magical studies has changed somewhat. Since joining the Mantis Clan, their focus has shifted from one of pure theology to more practical concerns, and they excel at invoking the kami who hold sway over the weather.