Wards

The Bloodspeaker Cult uses this spell to protect their meeting places against unwanted intrusion. The symbol must be inscribed into a fl at surface (wall, fl oor, etc) when it is cast. The moment anyone who is not a loyal member of the Bloodspeaker Cult enters the symbol’s radius, the symbol glows a bright sickly green and the intruder is bathed in eerie green fl ames, infl icting 4k3 damage. The symbol can discharge any number of times against different targets, but each target can only be affected once within the duration of the spell.

This spell is favored by Bloodspeaker cell leaders, who use it to maintain psychological dominance over their followers. The spell’s name is an ironic joke within the cult’s ranks. The spell creates a false aura of calm and well-being that lasts for several hours. This makes it difficult for them to focus their attention or resist appeals from others. Anyone who is within the spell’s area of effect, or who enters it while the spell is in effect, suffers a -1k0 penalty to all Skill and Trait rolls that use Awareness or Willpower.

This spell inscribes a sinister ward onto a flat surface. The caster writes the ward in the blood he spill to cast the spell, and once inscribed the ward cannot be destroyed except by physically destroying the surface on which it is written. The ward causes its victims’ blood to become sluggish and cold. Anyone other than the caster who enters the area of effect suffers a -2k0 penalty to all physical Actions. The effect only applies while they are within the area of effect, and does not stack with other Symbols of Blood.

This spell was originally developed by the Asahina to prevent magical tampering with iaijutsu duels. In the Crane view, iaijutsu is a test of the duelist’s own inherent skills and talents, and using the kami to aid in a duel violates its proper nature as the sacred judge of right and wrong. (The Crane also suspected certain other clans, such as the Scorpion and Dragon, of "cheating" with magic during duels.) This spell ensures that no magical effects will dilute the duel’s test of skill.

Duration (+1 Round per Raise)

Priests of the kami are capable of inscribing powerful wards that invoke the power of the elements against all who attempt to pass them. A symbol of water can be inscribed on a solid object, most often a door, window, gate, or any other passageway. Anyone attempting to pass through this passageway or otherwise pass through the area is affected by the protective ward, and must succeed at a Contested Roll using their Fire against the caster's Water. Those who fail are affected by a crippling terror, and must immediately roll against a Fear 7 effect.

Security in communication is of paramount importance in many situations, and shugenja often find themselves in situations where a conversation is intended to be completely private, or when they cannot allow themselves to be interrupted by extraneous sounds. By placating the spirits of the Air, a shugenja can convince them to create a barrier against sounds, a bubble of silence through which sound will not pass. The spherical sound-barrier is normally centered around the caster, although with greater effort it can also be centered on a physical object up to fifty feet way.

A cleansing ritual used by shugenja when preparing a house or other building for an important even such as a wedding or a festival. The spell entreats the Air kami to raise a soft but carefully controlled wind which sweeps all the dirt, insects, and other filth out of the building. The spell also has a spiritually purifying effect, making evil or malignant spirits reluctant to remain within the dwelling - any kansen, ghosts, or other hostile disembodied spirits within the building will leave for a number of hours equal to the caster's Air.

The most powerful of the binding spells which Earth shugenja use to deal with dangerous creatures, this spell can literally imprison the essence of such a creature for as long as the caster desires. Casting this spell requires that the caster possess a gem or pearl in which to imprison the creature (the GM may, discretionally, allow other rare or precious items to be used, such as a beautifully inlaid puzzle-box or a crystal pendant).

The more powerful counterpart to the Kuni family's Minor Binding spell, this spell has also been employed by other clan shugenja, especially those of the Phoenix Clan. It is used to imprison more powerful Shadowlands creatuers and members of the Lost, typically for purposes of interrogation. Any Lost and any Shadowlands creature can be targeted with this spell. It can also target other spirit creatures who are Tainted. it cannot affect any other creatures.