Part I: Core Identity (Clan and Family)

1. What clan does your character belong to? 

SCORPION
Ring Increase: +1 Air
Skill Increase: +1 Skulduggery
Status: 35

2. What family does your character belong to? 

SHOSURO
Ring Increase: +1 Air
Skill Increases: +1 Courtesy +1 Performance
Glory: 40  (6 Koku)


Part II: Role and School

3. What is your character’s role and school? 

SHOSURO INFILTRATOR SCHOOL

Ring Increases: +1 Air (Change to Void) +1 Fire

Skill Increases: +1 Fitness, +1 Martial Arts (Melee), +1 Martial Arts (Unarmed), +1 Performance, +1 Skulduggery

Techniques Available: Kata, Rituals, Shuji

Starting Techniques:

a) Ninjutsu:  Deadly Sting

b) Shuji:  Sensational Distraction

Honor: 30

School Ability: The Path of Shadows:  While performing an Attack action against a target who is Compromised, Incapacitated, Unconscious, or unaware of your presence, treat the damage and deadliness of your weapon as being increased by your school rank.

Starting Outfit: Ceremonial clothes , common clothes, traveling clothes, daisho (katana and wakisashi), knife, yumi (bow}, quiver of arrows, traveling pack.

School Rank: 1


4. How does your character stand out within their school? 

Migu acts friendly as ordered by his parents but he isn't really happy about it

Adaptability, friendliness, awareness
Ring Increase: +1 Water


Part III: Honor and Glory

5. What is your character’s duty to their lord?

Both his parents were shugenjas serving the Scorpion clan and have contributed much to the clan.  Migu is expected to follow in their footsetps.

GIRI: Retrieve a set of sacred artifacts for your clan.

6. What does your character long for?

Migu longs for normalcy.  He yearns that the Shadowland Taint be cleared but has accepted that it will not go away soon.

NINJO: Be cleansed of the Shadowland Taint.

7. What is your character’s opinion of their clan?

Divergent.  Secrets and lies only bring harm.

Bonus Skill: +1 Command

8. What does your character think of Bushido?

Divergent.  Bushido is useless against that which is really important to self.

Bonus skill: +1 Martial Arts (Ranged)


Part IV: Strengths and Weaknesses

9. What is your character’s greatest accomplishment so far?

Migu has successfully hidden the existence of his Taint and has become used to approaching people as if it really did not exist.

Distinction advantage: Dangerous Allure (Fire)

10. What holds your character back the most in life?

The Taint has affected Migu that he cannot feel anything physically.  He cannot deny the effects it has done to him and he longs for true companionship.

Adversity disadvantage:  Shadowland Taint (Earth)

11. What activity makes your character feel at peace?

He plays the flute.

Passion Advantage: Playfulness (Air)

12. What concern, fear, or foible troubles your character the most?

Anxiety disadvantage: Irrepressible Flirtation (Earth)

13. Who has your character learned the most from during their life?

A Kasen spirit (Khipapboi) has been tutoring him on how to control his Taint

1 Mentor Disadvantage --> Shadowland Taint (Fire)
1 Mentor Skill  --> +1 Meditation

14. What detail do others find most striking about your character?

He has above average scorpion features which he does not keep behind a mask.  He is usually playful to the point that he might break decorum.

15. How does your character react to stressful situations?

When stressed out, his first reaction is to flirt.  If there is not one to flirt with he plays the flute..

16. What are your character’s preexisting relationships with other clans, families, organizations, and traditions?

His yearning to be free of his family's pretentious care has forced Migu to join up with the crew of the Karasubofu.  He has invested in a pair of mantis escrima weapons during his tenure with them.

Part VI: Ancestry and Family

17. How would your character’s parents describe them?

His parents were well known courtiers and business people.  They tried to instill the lessons to their child but he continues to rebel.

Bonus Skill: +1 Seafaring

18. Who was your character named to honor?

Shosuro Migu the ancestor was a pirate who freely sailed the Rokugan seas.

Samurai Heritage result: Ruthless Victor (Glory -3), +1 Martial Arts (Ranged)

19. What is your character’s personal name?

Migu.


Part VII: Death

20. How should your character die?

Burning out his Shadowland Taint to unleash it against his enemies (which he will hopefully defeat) and then rise up as one of the Tainted.

Part I: Core Identity (Clan and Family)
1. What clan does your character belong to? 
UNICORN
Ring Increase: +1 Water
Skill Increase: +1 Survival
Status: 30

2. What family does your character belong to? 
IUCHI
Ring Increase: +1 Air
Skill Increases: +1 Meditation, +1 Theology
Glory: 40  (5 Koku)

Part II: Role and School
3. What is your character’s role and school? 
IUCHI MEISHODO SCHOOL
Ring Increases: +1 Earth, +1 Water
Skill Increases: +1 Design, +1 Theology, +1 Martial Arts (Melee)
Techniques Available: Invocations, Rituals, Shuji
Starting Techniques:
a) Invocation: Grasp of Earth (Earth)
b) Invocation: The Rushing Wave (Water)
c) Ritual: Communing with Spirits (any)
d) Shuji: Well of Desire (Water)
Honor: 40
School Ability: The Way of Names
During downtime, do a TN 2 Design check to bind a spirit into a vessel to create a meishodo.  Reduce TN by 1 to activate it, and it has a number of uses equal to school rank (1).
School Rank: 1
Starting Outfit: Traveling clothes, ceremonial clothes, Wakizashi, Hammer, calligraphy set, traveling pack, Unicorn Warhorse.

4. How does your character stand out within their school? 
Creativity, Passion, Drive
Ring Increase: +1 Fire

Part III: Honor and Glory
5. What is your character’s duty to their lord?
GIRI: Research lore in the coastal islands for long-lost artifacts or nemuranai.

6. What does your character long for?
NINJO: Create a new clan (cult?) where she is the leader.

7. What is your character’s opinion of their clan?
Divergent.  Shugenja can also participate in front line melee battles, not just casting spells at the back.
Bonus Skill: +1 Martial Arts (Melee)

8. What does your character think of Bushido?
Divergent.  It is a means to an end, nothing more, nothing less.
Bonus skill: +1 Medicine

Part IV: Strengths and Weaknesses
9. What is your character’s greatest accomplishment so far?
Distinction advantage: Keen Balance (Earth)

10. What holds your character back the most in life?
Adversity disadvantage:  Whispers of Cruelty (BDSM)

11. What activity makes your character feel at peace?
Passion Advantage: Armaments (Earth)

12. What concern, fear, or foible troubles your character the most?
Anxiety disadvantage: Delusions of Grandeur (Void)

13. Who has your character learned the most from during their life?
Her horse riding instructor was the one who introduced her to Shourido.  She has been a willing student ever since.
1 Mentor Disadvantage --> Dark Secret (Void) - Shourido-like beliefs.
1 Mentor Skill  --> +1 Fitness

14. What detail do others find most striking about your character?
Her tight, form-fitting purple robes accentuate her curves and has a perfect opening at the top to display her ample silky smooth cleavage.

15. How does your character react to stressful situations?
When stressed out, she grabs people by the neck and starts to choke them with her steely eyes.  If that is not feasible, she takes out her horsewhip and starts whipping the nearest object (or person).

16. What are your character’s preexisting relationships with other clans, families, organizations, and traditions?
Her spellcasting prowess gets her begrudging respect from her peers, but her eccentricity leaves her with lack of fellowship.
Her fascination with grandeur has led her to connect with shadowy people beyond the periphery of Rokugani society. She has acquired a pillow book from them, which contains the tenets and teachings of Shourido as she starts to slide down its slippery slope.  The pillow book is enchanted, and looks normal to others until the right incantation is spoken for the true contents to show in the pages.

Part VI: Ancestry and Family
17. How would your character’s parents describe them?
When she was born into this world,
her parents were so very happy,
and their hand was her light,
But now she grew up,
she yearned to be free,
they didn't approve,
they couldn't do anything,
she changed all of a sudden,
she became defiant and delinquent,
and their advice, she disobeyed.

She was an acknowledged prodigy in the spellcasting arts though.
Bonus Skill: +1 Theology

18. Who was your character named to honor?
An ancestor named Beia was a shrewd and cunning advisor to an earlier Khan that allowed the Unicorn to flourish properly in the unforgiving desert.
Samurai Heritage result: 4-Dynasty Builder (Glory -3), 1-Command (Social)

19. What is your character’s personal name?
Beya.

Part VII: Death
20. How should your character die?
She will achieve her NINJO by any means, and she would die before anyone would take it away.

Beya is a Unicorn Clan shugenja from the Iuchi family.  She graduated top of her class at the Iuchi Meishodo School, and is tasked with researching lore about long-lost Rokugani artifacts and Nemuranai that might benefit the Clan in the future.

A child prodigy, her spellcasting and martial prowess are respected by her peers, but her eccentric behavior tended to result in a lack of fellowship.  Her heightened ambition of forming a minor clan of her own has put off a lot of personages in the Clan.

This has made her susceptible to the siren call of other philosophies that contradict Bushido and lately she has been dabbling in forbidden texts.






MAIN STATS:


ENDURANCE (Earth + Fire) x 2 = 8
COMPOSURE (Earth + Water) x 2 = 10
FOCUS (Air + Fire) = 4
VIGILANCE (Air + Water) / 2 = 3

SKILLS:
Design [Artisan] +1
Fitness [Martial] +1
Martial Arts (Melee) [Martial] +2
Meditation [Martial] +1
Medicine [Scholar] +1
Theology [Scholar] +3
Command [Social] +1
Survival [Trade] +1




PERSONALITIES, HABITS and QUIRKS:
When stressed out, she grabs people by the neck and starts to choke them with her steely eyes.  If that is not feasible, she takes out her horsewhip and starts whipping the nearest object (or person).
MENTOR ADVANTAGE/DISADVANTAGE:
Her riding instructor was the one who introduced her to the lure of Shourido.  She has been an engrossed student ever since.
Fitness [Martial] + 1
Dark Secret (Void) [Anxiety] - No one must know about her Shourido-like beliefs.  This is akin to blasphemy in Rokugani society.  She will do everything to keep it a secret.  When confronting or discussing this, or when trying to Meditate to find inner peace, she receives 3 Strife instead before she can properly calm down.

SCHOOL ABILITIES and TECHNIQUES:
(Iuchi Meishodo School, RANK 1).
a) School Ability: The Way of Names.  During downtime, do a TN 2 Design check to bind a spirit into a vessel to create a meishodo.  Reduce TN by 1 to activate it, and it has a number of uses equal to school rank (1).
b) Invocation: Grasp the Earth (Earth).  Make an Attack using a Theology (Earth) check at TN 2 to cause supernatural damage equal to Earth Ring (2).  The target must also resist at a TN 4 Fitness check or be Prone.
c) Invocation: The Rushing Wave (Water).  Make a Theology (Water) check at TN 2 during a Movement action to summon a waterspout to propel a target 1 range band for each success.  Can also propel swimmers or ships forward (double speed) during narrative and downtime moments.
d) Shuji: Well of Desire (Water).  Spend Opportunity when presenting a gift: Courtesy (Water) check, to make it harder for recipient to refuse the gift, losing Glory equal to Water Ring (3) in the process.  If the target desires the item, they also gain Strife equal to the rarity of the gift.  Lastly, if the target accepts the gift, reduce the TN of the next Social skill with them by the rarity of the gift.
e) Ritual: Commune with Spirits (Any).  For a TN 1 Theology (any) check, receive the following boons from the desired kami:
--> Sense the Kami: detect all spirits in the nearby area.
--> Spiritual Knowledge: learn one fact about the area from the spirits.
--> Elemental Gift: small cantrip depending on the element of the kami prayed upon.

EQUIPMENT:
Traveling clothes, ceremonial clothes, Wakizashi, Hammer, calligraphy set, traveling pack, Unicorn Warhorse, special Pillow book.  5 Koku.

Part I: Core Identity (Clan and Family)
1. What clan does your character belong to?
CRAB
Ring Increase: +1 Earth
Skill Increase: +1 Fitness
Status: 30

2. What family does your character belong to?
HIRUMA
Ring Increase: +1 Water
Skill Increases: +1 Skulduggery, +1 Survival
Glory: 39

Part II: Role and School
3. What is your character’s role and school?
Hiruma Scouting School
Ring Increases: +1 Air, +1 Water
Skill Increases: +1 Fitness, +1 Martial Arts (Melee), +1 Martial Arts (Ranged), +1 Tactics, +1 Survival
Techniques Available: Kata, Rituals, Shuji
Starting Techniques: Pelting Hail Style, Striking as Water
Honor: 35
School Ability: Flickering Flame Skirmisher.  After attacking, change Stance to increase TN of attacks by creatures with Silhouette greater than 2 by School Rank (1).
Starting Outfit: Traveling clothes, ashigaru armor, daisho (katana & wakizashi), yumi (bow) and quiver of arrows, knife, finger of jade, traveling pack.

4. How does your character stand out within their school? 
Thoughtfulness, Calm, Stoic
Ring Increase: +1 Earth

Part III: Honor and Glory
5. What is your character’s duty to their lord?
GIRI: Scout potential enemies of the clan and report them to proper superiors.

6. What does your character long for?
NINJO: To hunt down the killers who murdered his parents.

7. What is your character’s opinion of their clan? 
Agree with their worldview.
+5  Glory

8. What does your character think of Bushido? 
Not particulary useful versus the horrors of the Shadowlands.
Bonus skill: +1 Medicine

Part IV: Strengths and Weaknesses
9. What is your character’s greatest accomplishment so far?
He is being considered to be one of the better archers in the Clan.
Distinction advantage: Keen Sight (Water)

10. What holds your character back the most in life?
His face and body were slashed and burned by the killer(s) during the night of his parents' murder.
Adversity disadvantage: Maimed Visage (Air)

11. What activity makes your character feel at peace?
Discovering/Learning new things and finding out what's behind the next door.
Passion Advantage: Curiosity (Fire)

12. What concern, fear, or foible troubles your character the most?
Too much carpe diem mentality.
Anxiety disadvantage: Impatience (Earth)

13. Who has your character learned the most from during their life?
All of his mentors have met horrible ends.
one Mentor Disadvantage: Whispers of Doom (Adversity)
one Mentor Skill: Martial Arts (Ranged) +1

14. What detail do others find most striking about your character?
The cloth mask covering his maimed visage, as well as bandages from his wounds.

15. How does your character react to stressful situations?
He giggles uncontrollably when totally stressed out.

16. What are your character’s preexisting relationships with other clans, families, organizations, and traditions?
While he is somewhat shun upon by his fellow Hiruma scouts due to notoriety, he has a good standing with some Kuni Jade shugenjas - sometimes they give him supplies like Medicine kits for his cooperation and sharing of news.

Part VI: Ancestry and Family
17. How would your character’s parents describe them?
His parents had always taught him to have courage and be kind.
Skill increase: +1 Sentiment

18. Who was your character named to honor?
He was named after an ancestor who won a battle by whittling down the enemy with archery, albeit the victory was notorious because he continued to shoot even when the enemy had already surrendered.
Samurai Heritage result: 6-Ruthless Victor (-5 Honor), 7-Martial Arts (Ranged) +1

19. What is your character’s personal name?
Zai.

Part VII: Death
20. How should your character die?
In mortal combat with his parents' killers, hopefully taking them down with him.

Zai is a Crab Clan samurai from the Hiruma family.  He graduated from the Hiruma Scouting School as a bushi, and is tasked with patrolling the outer regions of the Crab lands near the Shadowlands border to report any monster activities.

His parents were murdered before his eyes when he was a child, and his face and body was burned and scarred by the killers during this ordeal.  While he doesn't admit it (yet), he is beginning to be consumed by an overwhelming anger to get revenge on the killers.

Due to his maimed visage, he is shunned by other scouts and he usually patrols the wilderness alone.  He has some acquaintances in the Kuni shugenja however, and they provide him with additional supplies from time to time in exchange for news.

MAIN STATS:




DERIVED ATTRIBUTES:
ENDURANCE (Earth+Fire) x 2 = 8
COMPOSURE (Earth+Water) x 2 = 12
FOCUS (Air+Fire) = 3
VIGILANCE (Air+Water) / 2 = 3

SKILLS:
Fitness [Martial] +2
Martial Arts (Melee) [Martial] +1
Martial Arts (Ranged) [Martial] +3
Tactics [Martial] +1
Medicine [Scholar] +1
Sentiment [Scholar] +1
Skulduggery [Trade] +1
Survival [Trade] +2



PERSONALITIES, HABITS, and QUIRKS:
When he loses Composure, he giggles uncontrollably until he can recover himself.

MENTOR ADVANTAGE/DISADVANTAGE:
All of his mentors have died of horrible causes.
Martial Arts (Ranged) +1 
Whispers of Doom (Adversity) - Zai is shunned by his peers because of rumors that anyone associated with him meets a horrible end.  He must reroll two Success dice during interactions of preconceptions, forming associations, and trying to convince the other party to take his advice. (On a fail, gain 1 Void point.)

SCHOOL ABILITIES and TECHNIQUES:
(Hiruma Scouting School.  RANK 1.)
a) School Ability: Flickering Flame Skirmisher.  After performing an Attack action, Zai may change his Stance.  If he does, this increases the TN of Attack checks made against him by creatures of Silhouette greater than 2 by his School Rank until the start of his next turn.
b) Kata: Pelting Hail Style.  Spend Opportunity from a Martial Arts (Ranged) check to cause a number of characters to receive Strife equal to the weapon's base damage.
c) Kata: Striking as Water.  Spend Opportunity from a Martial Arts check to treat the target's Physical Resistance as 1 lower per Opportunity spent.

EQUIPMENT:
Traveling clothes, Ashigaru armor, Daisho (Katana & Wakizashi), Yumi (bow) and quiver of arrows, knife, finger of jade, traveling pack, Medicine kit.  3 Koku.

Twenty Questions and Answers for Hageshi

Part I: Core Identity (Clan and Family)
1. What clan does your character belong to?
MANTIS
Ring Increase: +1 Water
Skill Increase: +1 Seafaring
Status: 25

2. What family does your character belong to?
The Families of the Fleet
Ring Increase: +1 Fire
Skill Increases: +1 Commerce, +1 Survival
Glory: 36

Part II: Role and School
3. What is your character’s role and school?
Storm Fleet Sailor School [Bushi]
Ring Increases: +1 Fire, +1 Water
Skill Increases: +1 Martial Arts (Melee), +1 Martial Arts (Ranged), +1 Fitness, +1 Seafaring, +1 Games
Techniques Available: Kata, Rituals, Shuji
Starting Techniques: Kata: Pelting Hail Style, Shuji: Stirring the Embers
Honor: 35
School Ability: Sailor's Fortune. Once per round, when making a Trade check and not Compromised, receive Strife up to School Rank to reroll that many dice.
Starting Outfit: Sailor's garb, wakizashi, knife, butterfly sword, sai , Yumi (bow), quiver of arrows, traveling pack, rope (20 feet), gambling set (cards), fishing rod and line.

4. How does your character stand out within their school?
Thoroughness, Patience, Calm
Ring Increase: +1 Earth

Part III: Honor and Glory
5. What is your character’s duty to their lord?
GIRI: Securing supplies and wealth for the Clan.

6. What does your character long for?
NINJO: Find out about his true parentage.

7. What is your character’s opinion of their clan?
While he agrees to the ambition of the Clan to be a Great Clan, he is divergent about Piracy being a focal point of the master plan.
Bonus skill: Courtesy

8. What does your character think of Bushido?
Sometimes impractical.
Bonus skill: +1 Commerce

Part IV: Strengths and Weaknesses
9 What is your character’s greatest accomplishment so far?
He is the reigning arm-wrestling champion of the docks in the city.
Distinction advantage: Bishamon's Blessing (Water).

10. What holds your character back the most in life?
As a gaijin baby on Mantis lands, most Rokugani still look down on him even after living with them for 2 decades.
Adversity disadvantage: Gaijin Appearance (Fire)

11. What activity makes your character feel at peace?
Nothing calms his soul better than a smooth boat ride down the bay or river.
Passion Advantage: Travel (Water)

12. What concern, fear, or foible troubles your character the most?
Having seen that money seemed to smooth his relationships with others better than any other thing, he has developed a desire to hoard currency and valuables.
Anxiety disadvantage: Materialism (Void)

13 Who has your character learned the most from during their life?
A kind uncle/mentor, a ship captain, taught him to always be prepared for any scenario because the high seas are a cruel and fickle mistress.
Mentor Advantage: Quick Reflexes (Fire)

14. What detail do others find most striking about your character?
Blond hair, sharp nose, chiseled face (and abs!).  He is big, muscular, and strong, and obviously a gaijin.  He wears a strange compass around his neck.

15. How does your character react to stressful situations?
When losing composure, Knotting cloth/rope, smashing things like punching a wall or crushing wood.

16. What are your character’s preexisting relationships with other clans, families, organizations, and traditions?
He is somewhat tolerated (but not much) in Mantis lands.  As a kobune merchant plying the coastal waters of the Crane and Clab clans, he has some contacts in the ports of call where he has docked and traded.  He has also periodically undertaken rescue and salvage missions for other clans for a nominal fee.  On one such occasion, he rescued a Kuni shugenja and his entourage from their floundering ship, ferried them to their destination, and waited to transport them out after their mission.  As a reward for his fidelity, he was given a finger of jade by the Kuni shugenja which he wears right to this day, both as a ward and as a good luck charm.

Part VI: Ancestry and Family
17. How would your character’s parents describe them?
He has a proper and reverent relationship with his adoptive mother and adoptive family.  Growing up as a gaijin was very hard because of the stigma and prejudice, but through the caring ways of his adoptive mother and uncles, he has learned to reduce his temper and not be prone to respond to insults.
Skill Increase: +1 Meditation

18. Who was your character named to honor?
An ancestor who captained a ship that single-handedly repelled a pirate raid on the city.  As a result, the Mantis swore that every succeeding generation of his family will be requisitioned a boat for use.
Samurai Heritage result: 1-Famous Deed (+3 Glory), 10-Boat (Mundane, Durable): the Karasubofu Maru

19. What is your character’s personal name?
Devlin.  This is the name in the name tag that was wrapped around him when he was fished out of the water by his adoptive mother, a Mantis clan samurai and kobune captain of some repute.

Part VII: Death
20. How should your character die?
Epic saving the world from some catastrophic event.

Hageshi is a 20 year old Mantis Clan Samurai sailor.  He commands a small kobune ship named Karasubofu Maru, more commonly known as the Ravenstorm.  He plys the trade routes between the Islands of Silk and Spice and the Crab port, but sometimes ranges farther into Crane waters.  He specializes in trade and transport, ferrying goods and people from one port to another for a  nominal fee.

He is of gaijin origin, but grew up in the Mantis isles when as baby, he was picked up at sea by a Mantis woman kobune captain.  While somewhat tolerated in his clan, he longs to discover his true parentage, and wonders about his true purpose for being in Rokugan.



MAIN STATS:




DERIVED ATTRIBUTES:

• ENDURANCE (Earth+Fire) x 2 = 10
• COMPOSURE (Earth+Water) x 2 = 10
• FOCUS (Air+Fire) = 4
• VIGILANCE (Air+Water) / 2 = 2

SKILLS:

• Fitness [Martial] +1
• Martial Arts (Melee) [Martial] +1
• Martial Arts (Ranged) [Martial] +1
• Meditation [Martial] +1
• Courtesy [Social] +1
• Games [Social] +1
• Commerce [Trade] +2
• Seafaring [Trade] +2
• Survival [Trade] +1