Spells

This extremely invasive spell is considered blasphemous by most honorable shugenja, and many respectable shugenja orders would find its use reason for excommunication if not outright execution. This spell calls upon the air kami to befuddle and dismay a target, invading their mind and influencing their ability to recall exactly what happened to them over a certain length of time. When this spell is successfully cast against a target, you must succeed at a Contested Roll using your Air versus the target's Earth. If successful, the target's memories are disrupted, and they forget what has happened to them over the course of the past week (five days). This information is completely lost to the target. What's more, the spell renders them extremely susceptible to suggestion, and you can tell them what happened to them over the course of the missing time. This allows unscrupulous shugenja to exploit others and essentially give them false memories, although certain individuals are highly resistant to tis manner of manipulation. It is possible to determine that an individual was the target of the spell through use of the Commune spell, but it requires that the kami be specifically asked if they can detect any such manipulation.

Among the innermost circles of the Kitsu family are the ancestral shugenja who carry the bloodlines of the first kitsu spirits. These secretive shugenja have discovered rituals which can persuade the Air kami to carry a message to Yomi itself, calling for the aid of an ancestral shiryo. Only Kitsu Shugenja may learn this spell, which is a secret of the sodan-senzo order.

When the spell is cast, the shugenja beseeches the ancestral spirits of Yomi to send aid. If the Spell Casting Roll succeeds, a shiryo - a spirit from Yomi - will arrive on the scene in five Rounds. Once it arrives, the spirit reclaims its mortal form, but its spiritual nature is easily sensed from the celestial glow which surrounds it. It will offer whatever aid it can to the caster, whether that be advice, knowledge, or combat, but it will not do anything dishonorable. Mechanically, a typical shiryo will have the creature trait of Spirit, and will possess a Rank of 3 in all of its Rings and Traits and a Rank of 4 in any useful Skills.

Once the spell's duration expires, the shiryo immediately returns to Yomi. It also leaves for Yomi if its physical body is destroyed (e.g. it is reduced to zero wounds).

Although this spell normally calls a "generic" shiryo, the GM may opt to allow the shugenja to summon a specific named ancestral spirit with additional Raises. The GM may also choose to have a more powerful or famous shiryo answer the spell if the specific circumstances seem to warrant it. More powerful Shiryo will possess a School as appropriate for their ancestral clan, typically with a School Rank between 3 and 5.

Just as the kami craft illusions, they can cast them aside. Within the area affected by this spell, any illusions created by spells of Mastery Level 4 or lower are automatically dispelled. Spells of Mastery Level 5 or 6 require a Contested Air Roll between you and the shugenja who created those spells; if you are successful, those illusions are dispelled as well. Ongoing magical effects that are not illusions may also be dispelled by this spell, but require a Contested Ring Roll between you and their creator, using your Air versus his appropriate Ring.

No destination is beyond the reach of the wind. With a simple prayer to the kami, you can send your words across the span of the Empire, whispering into the ear of anyone you need to send a message. The person must be someone you know, and the spell will establish a link between you two of you only as long as you concentrate. You may communicate with one another, although you only hear each other's voices as whispers. Both participants are instantly aware when the connection is forged, and either can end it at any point.

This is a dangerous and powerful spell which had appeared among ronin shugenja from time to time for almost a thousand years of Rokugani history. The spell is often regarded as wicked by clan shugenja, so those ronin who learn it guard its secrets carefully and only pass it on to their most trusted students. Typically no more than one or two shugenja in a generation will learn it. In the time of the Clan Wars, the spell's most famous user was the ronin Heichi Chokei, who claimed to be a descendent of the long-lost Boar Clan. When he was asked about the purpose of the spell, Chokei replied with a smile: "It is for whoever is brave enough to use it." In later years it also gained fame as a favored spell of Naka Kuro, the so-called Grandmaster of the Elements, and his student and successor Naka Tokei.

Facing Your Devils appears to call on the Air kami to test the kharmic and elemental balance of a soul by deliberately misaligning the target's Elements. The spell switches the highest and lowers Traits of the target for the duration. This may result in changes to the target's Ring Ranks, with potentially severe consequences (e.g. a dropping Earth Ring reducing available Wounds, for example). The caster may choose the affected Traits in case of a tie.

Those who use Facing Your Devils see it as a means to teach others the importance of balance in all things, but much more nefarious and cruel uses are certainly possible and have been employed more than once, lending the spell to a sinister reputation. The Air spirits seem to find the spell amusing, since they do not always recognize the harm it can cause.

The Moon can reveal what is hidden, but also conceal those who receive its blessings. You may summon the greater blessing of the Moon and envelop a large group of people within it, completely obscuring them from sight. Every individual you choose within the area of effect of this spell is rendered invisible to all normal senses for the duration of the spell. Those within the area that you choose to exclude are not affected. Anyone affected by the spell who performs any action that physically interacts with another individual is immediately excluded from the spell effect.

The wind can be deadly to those unprepared for its fury. You summon a powerful wind that tears through anything in its path. At your behest, the kami create a corridor of air filled with a cutting wind that inflicts a DR equal to your Air Ring +2k0 to everything in its path. (For example, a shugenja with Air 4 would inflict 6k4 damage with this spell). Paper and light cloth are destroyed instantly, although heavier cloth may only be damaged. Anyone damaged by these winds must succeed at an Earth Ring Roll (TN 20) or be Knocked Down.