Editing Xia: Guqin Cuts The Air (section)

=Overview=

This page is a '''Lore Sheet''' for '''Guqin Cuts The Air''', a set of '''Wushu Secrets''' relating to the use of the Guqin to make invisible musical assaults.

These techniques can only be used for '''physical conflict'''. 

The guqin is a seven-stringed musical instrument, similar to a zither, beloved of scholars and often referred to as "the father of musical instruments" and "the instrument of sages". This martial art (beloved of more fantastical wuxia movies) centres around the idea that with chi, it is possible to release notes that cut like blades through the air. The notes can be heard as normal, but send out invisible lines of force, whose progress can only be marked by the dissection of intervening matter, or by the cuts that appear on an enemy.

==Prerequisites==

First, it is not possible to practice this martial art without skill in music. To represent this, a Xia must first have taken the [[Xia: Specialised Skills|specialised skill]] '''Musicianship''' to be able to learn any of the techniques on this style sheet.

Secondly, it is not possible to practice this martial art without a '''Guqin'''. As everyday musical instruments are easily breakable, a wise player will probably want to invest in a '''Quality Item''' Guqin as soon as possible, though he is not required to do so.

Third, the key technique to this form is the '''Poise of the Guqin Sage Stance'''. This must ''always'' be the first kung fu secret that any character can learn from this sheet, and the other techniques cannot be used unless in this stance.

==Tactics==

A masterful Guqin-fighter will use a mix of different attacks, enhancing them as necessary with channelled trigrams or with kung fu secrets from other sheets (such as Eight Trigram Wushu), then pull back a little Yang Chi and Yin Chi with ''Thousand Echoes Chi''. If he plays his combos smart, he might even be able to get enough flow to end up with a net gain in chi that turn! He then turns to other martial arts for defence, employing the surfeit of yin chi he has gained. He also appreciates the utility of the ''powerful fingers'' technique, as being able to knock an enemy out of their stance is probably the most tactically effective technique on this Lore Sheet!
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