Tonbo Shugenja

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Tonbo Shugenja School

The story of the Tonbo’s shugenja school begins with Agasha Kazuki, an outcast of the Agasha shugenja school. Born in the year 674, Kazuki had a natural talent for fire magic and a restless personality that did not mesh well with the Agasha’s training methods. Where the Agasha favored meditations and the study of obscure magics, Kazuki sought to master the basics of magic and to test his magical prowess against that of other shugenja. Kazuki’s rivalry with the shugenja of the Agasha school came to a head he claimed that the Agasha concerned themselves too much with minutia and not enough with the everyday world. Kazuki was rebuked by the head of the school. Kazuki challenged the head of the school to a magical duel to prove his point. Realizing that his school’s reputation was on the line, the headmaster accepted. Kazuki won the duel, but was immediately and quietly expelled from the school. Kazuki agreed not to speak of the duel or its results on the condition that he continue to be recognized as a student of the school and that he be allowed to take several copies of the school’s scrolls with him.

Kazuki wandered around the lands of the Dragon for several years. Occasionally students of the Agasha school would come searching for him in order to challenge him to a magical duel. Kazuki would always tell them to wager a scroll on the outcome of the duel. By the year 704, Kazuki had acquired quite a collection of scrolls in this fashion. At a small village that Kazuki stayed at one night, he heard about the new Dragonfly clan and the conflict they had with the Lion. Kazuki saw his chance to prove his methods to the world. He set off for Kyuden Tonbo the next morning. When Kazuki arrived, he requested an audience with Tonbo Maroko and Tonbo Asijin. Kazuki told them of his magical skills and offered to teach their shugenja in exchange for the chance to swear fealty to the Tonbo. The Tonbo refused, saying that they already had an Agasha teacher helping to train their shugenja and that Maroko herself was an Isawa trained shugenja. Kazuki left the meeting down but not out. He sought out the Agasha teacher that the Tonbos had mentioned. It turned out to be one of the students that had challenged Kazuki while he was wandering the Dragon lands. The surprised teacher agreed to recommend that the Tonbos allow Kazuki to teach some of their shugenja rather than be humiliated in another duel. The Tonbos granted Kazuki five shugenja to teach.

Kazuki quickly studied the methods of his new Lion opponents. He found that they tended to use their magic to heal their bushi or to counterspell enemy shugenja and that they concentrated on Water magic and neglected Fire magic. Thus, Kazuki trained his students in both Fire and Water Magic, to match the enemy strength for strength and strength for weakness. Kazuki also trained his shugenja in how to make their spells difficult to counterspell. When the next Lion attack occured, Kazuki’s students were ready. While the Tonbo’s other shugenja were frustrated by the Kitsu’s counterspells, Kazuki’s shugenja seemed unaffected by the efforts of the Lion’s shugenja. Kazuki’s students were instrumental in holding off the Lion until the Dragon and Phoenix could come to the Dragonfly’s aid once again. After the battle, Kazuki was given leave to teach all of the Tonbo’s shugenja and to swear fealty to the Tonbo.

Benefit: +1 Intelligence
Honor: 2.0
Skills: Calligraphy, Defense, Kenjutsu, Know the School(Kitsu Shugenja School), Meditation, Theology, Any High Skill
Outfit: Wakizashi, kimono and sandals, scroll satchel, traveling pack; 3 koku.

Affinity/Deficiency: Tonbo shugenja have trained specifically to counter Kitsu shugenja since their founding and have embraced their founder’s mantra of “Be strong where your enemy is strong. Be strong where your enemy is weak.” Tonbo shugenja have an affinity for both Fire and Water magic and a deficiency for both Air and Earth magic.

Technique: Kazuki’s Method

Tonbo trained shugenja are the bane of other shugenja on the battlefield because they are notoriously hard to counterspell and do not shy away from attacking rival shugenja. When casting a spell that you have memorized as an Innate Ability, you gain a number of free raises equal to your school rank that may only be used to fortify the spell.

Spells: Sense, Commune, Summon, Counterspell, any 3 Fire spells, any 3 Water spells.