Clan of Origin: Crab
Dojo: Far Runner Dojo

Description: The Hiruma Family recently recovered the lost secrets of their ancient style from the Shadowlands, centuries after they were lost in the fall of Shiro Hiruma. The discovery is well known among the Crab, but not generally discussed among other Clans, who in all honesty would have known little about the matter in the first place.

The Hiruma Swordsman School emphasizes speed and defensive movements in its training, understanding that the difficult part of swordplay is not inflicting damage, but surviving untouched. While Hiruma Swordsmen learn to use a variety of weapons for general purposes, they only realize the benefits of this School while wielding a katana.

Hiruma Swordsmen often serve as messengers and go-betweens for the Crab to other Clans, or from one Crab family to another, but they are also expected to bring back news and report on any dangers or opportunities they discover along the way. As a result they are always weighing the cost of fighting with their responsibility to report back in. This lapse in concentration can prove to be their undoing against seasoned opponents.

Basic Curriculum: Athlete, Kenjutsu
Knacks: Exploit Weakness (Hiruma), Feint (Kenjutsu), Lunge (Kenjutsu), Razor (Kenjutsu), Sidestep

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.

New Swordsman Knack: Razor. You have studied basic anatomy, and mastered the art of blade control to take full advantage of your studies. As a result, when you strike with a weapon, you inflict precise, extremely painful wounds. For every Rank you have in this Knack, you may add one to your Damage Rolls with an appropriate weapon.

Apprentice: The Hiruma student learns to focus his strikes while protecting himself. He may add his Mastery Level to his Attack (Kenjutsu) rolls and to his TN to be hit (except after performing a lunge).

Hiruma Swordsmen study at the Far Runner Dojo, where they train exhaustively in the arts of running and evasion. They receive one free Raise per Mastery Level when using the Running Knack of the Athlete Skill.

Journeyman: Hiruma Journeymen close on their enemies and withdraw again so smoothly that it all appears part of the same motion. In addition to taking Raises to add to his Damage Roll or make a called shot, the Journeyman may take Raises on an attack roll in order to make himself harder to hit. If the attack is successful, each Raise taken for this purpose adds five to the Journeyman’s TN to be hit until the end of the Phase, This Technique can only be used once per Phase.

Master: The Hiruma Master has learned to use conserve his energy, using no more than is necessary to take down his enemies. When a Master’s opponent fails a Wound Check triggered by the Master’s attack, in addition to suffering a Dramatic Wound, plus an additional Dramatic Wound for every twenty points by which he failed the roll, any “leftover” Flesh Wounds carry over to the opponent’s next Wound Check.

For example, if the opponent has accumulated 46 Flesh Wounds and rolls a 17 on his Wound Check, he takes one Dramatic Wound. for failing his roll. Adding twenty to his roll yields a 37, still less than the Flesh Wound total, so he takes a second Dramatic Wound. Then the remaining Flesh Wounds (46 – 37, or 9 Flesh Wounds) carry over to the opponent’s next Wound Check.