Country of Origin: Cathay
Dojo: Shilla (Average)
Founded: c. 700 AUC

Description: Tie Xiong is a hard-striking martial art that focuses on inflicting as much damage as possible to neutralize the enemy’s threat quickly and efficiently. The style has been taught for over seventeen centuries, originating among warrior-heroes in what is now the kingdom of Koryo, and is named after its legendary founder Tie Xiong, a man of enormous strength and courage.

This style teaches students to keep their opponents at the edge of their arms’ reach, where they can be struck readily with powerful kicks and hand attacks, and incoming attacks can be met with blocks that are so forceful, they can also cause injury. The major weakness of the style is its dependence upon a specific distance that must be maintained. An enemy who comes in too close will disrupt the tactic, at which point the student must retreat or force his opponent back into the proper range.

Basic Curriculum: Athlete, Hard Martial Arts
Knacks: Corps-á-Corps, Exploit Weakness (Tie Xiong), Knife Hand, Sidestep, Sunder (Hard Martial Arts)

New Swordsman Knack: Knife Hand. Your hands have been hardened after years of cracking wooden planks and even stones. You receive a +1 bonus to your Attack (Hard Martial Arts) Damage Rolls for each Rank you have in this Knack. For example, a Hero whose Knife Hand Knack was three would increase a Damage Roll of nineteen to twenty-two.

New Swordsman Knack: Sunder. When making an attack, you can choose to strike at an enemy’s weapon, hoping to break it and leave your opponent defenseless. To make this attack, you roll Finesse + Sunder, taking two Raises to target the enemy’s weapon. If your hit is successful, roll damage as normal; this damage is not applied to the opponent, but compared against the following chart to see if the opponent’s weapon breaks:

Type of Weapon	TN to Sunder
Dagger, Knife, Main Gauche	20
Fencing Weapon	25
Buckler, Shield	30
Heavy Weapon	35
Firearm, Polearm	40

Game Masters should use their discretion in applying the Sunder Knack to other kinds of weapons. These Target Numbers can be adjusted by the following modifiers:

Weapon Quality	TN Adjustment
Inferior Weapon or Shield	-5
Quality Weapon or Shield	+5
Dracheneisen Weapon	+10
Djinn or Sidhe Weapon	+15

Apprentice: Apprentices of Tie Xiong are taught to strike as hard as they can with every attack they make. You may add the bonus from your Knife Hand Knack to Damage Rolls for kicks as well as standard Martial Arts Attacks.

Apprentices receive a free Rank in one of their Swordsman Knacks in lieu of membership in the Swordsman’s Guild.

Journeyman: Journeymen receive a Free Rank in Sunder (Martial Arts), which may increase the Knack to a Rank of 6. If it does not, the Journeyman may spend 25 XP at another time to increase his Rank in the Knack to 6. The Knife Hand Knack now adds to the Damage Roll when using the Sunder Knack.

Master: Years of exercise and practice have made the legs of a Tie Xiong Master strong enough to kick like a horse. When you Kick, your opponent treats the damage as if it was taken from a Firearm instead of a normal attack, causing an extra Dramatic Wound for every 10 points he misses on the Target Number of his Wound Check instead of every 20.