Country of Origin: Crescent Empire
Salon: Erivan (Average)
Founded: 1457 AV

Description: Yael (pronounced Yah-el) is an obscure fighting style, even in the Empire of the Crescent Moon. Like the Aldana School, it combines dance with the art of the sword, but it uses the flowing, twirling dances of the East instead of the leaping, bobbing dances of the West.

Because of the emphasis on dancing, the students of this style have an unusually large female-to-male ratio, but the style is not dismissed as “woman’s fighting.” Yael uses two scimitars (sabers or cutlasses can also be used) to create a deadly pattern of slashes and feints, made in time to the tempo of the swordsman’s favorite tune.

Like the Aldana style, this School’s weakness lies in its reliance upon a musical tempo. If the opponent can recognize the beat of the tune, he can attack in between the beats of the dance.

Basic Knacks: Fencing, Performer
Knacks: Disarm (Fencing), Double Parry (Fencing/Fencing), Exploit Weakness (Yael), Feint (Fencing), Whirl (Fencing/Fencing)

Revised Swordsman Knack: Feint. When attacking an enemy, you can declare a Feint. You roll Wits + Feint, and must roll a number of Raises equal to your enemy’s Wits in order for your Feint to be successful. If you are successful, he cannot avoid the attack using any Active Defense. The Raises taken on this roll add Unkept Dice to your damage roll as usual.

Apprentice: Yael teaches its students to use two slashing swords together. They do not suffer an off-hand penalty when using two scimitars, cutlasses, or sabres. Furthermore, they may substitute Dancing for Footwork as a Defense Knack, and they may add their Rank in the Dancing Knack to Active Defense rolls using Parry (Fencing).

Apprentices of Yael do not receive membership in the Swordsman’s Guild; instead, they receive a free Rank in one of their Swordsman Knacks.

Journeyman: As they become more familiar with the fighting style of Yael, Journeymen learn the true importance that dancing has to the style. Their graceful attacks and parries allow them to add their Rank in the Dancing Knack to their Attack Rolls when using Attack (Fencing), when attempting a Feint, and to their TN to be hit when using Parry (Fencing) to determine their Passive Defense.

Master: Masters of the Yael school are able to make a quick flurry of attacks, allowing them to eliminate their opponents with a sudden explosion of slashes. After a Master makes a successful attack and inflicts damage, she may immediately make a Finesse + Dancing roll against a TN equal to her previous target’s TN to be hit. If this roll is successful, she may immediately spend another Action Die (even one that is not currently legal) to make another attack against the target of her choice. If this attack inflicts damage, she may make another Dancing check to attempt to spend another Action Die.  This cycle continues until the Master wishes it to end, until she has used all her Actions for a Round, or until she fails to inflict damage with an attack or misses a Dancing check. Damage Rolls and Wound Checks are made after each successive attack.