Clan of Origin: Crab
Dojo: Daishiki’s Anvil

Description: The Yasuki Swordsman School is taught to Crab Clan Swordsmen who serve as the sub-oflicers and commanders of the rank and file troops stationed along the Wall in Crab lands. While originally intended to keep unruly bushy in line, Yasuki Swordsmen have also learned to focus their Techniques on oni, goblins, and other nonhuman beasts that populate the Shadowlands.

Intimidation is the watchword of the Yasuki School. Its younger students tend to be loud and boisterous, shouting orders and challenges that overwhelm their subordinates…and their enemies. As they grow more experienced, these Swordsmen tend to intimidate through threatening whispers, piercing gazes, and sheer force of will rather than simple screaming.

However, an opponent with knowledge of the Yasuki School quickly learns to recognize which of these intimidation tactics is bluster and which serve as the prelude to an attack. If an enemy is strong-willed and steadfast in the face of these threats, it throws a Yasuki Swordsman off his game and strips away his advantage.

Basic Curriculum: Commander, Kenjutsu
Knacks: Exploit Weakness (Yasuki), Flurry (Kenjutsu), Lunge (Kenjutsu), Menace, Wall of Steel (Kenjutsu)

Revised Swordsman Knack: Wall of Steel. Your weapon is an ever-present blocking device, and you use it like a tortoise uses its shell. If you have not attacked yet this Round, then each Rank of this Knack increases your TN to be hit by two. You cannot use your Parry Knack with the relevant weapon for Active Defenses in any Phase where you benefit from this Knack.

New Swordsman Knack: Flurry. When attacking an enemy, you can declare a Flurry. You roll Resolve + Flurry, and must roll a number of Raises equal to your enemy’s Resolve in order for your Flurry 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: Menace. Sometimes, you can prevent an incident by intimidating a potential troublemaker. When making an Intimidate Repartee Action, you roll Resolve + Menace instead of merely rolling your Resolve. This is the same as the Menace Knack found in the Bodyguard, Captain, Criminal, and Sentry Skills, but it remains an Advanced (Swordsman) Knack for Yasuki Swordsmen.

Apprentice: Even early in their training, students of Yasuki become adept at cowing those weaker-willed than themselves. They may add one Unkept Die (+1k0) to all Intimidate Repartee Actions against people or creatures with a lower Rank in Resolve than their own. In addition, they may add their Mastery Level in Yasuki to all attack rolls against people or creatures with a lower Rank in Resolve than their own.

Yasuki Swordsmen train at Daishiki’s Anvil alongside Swordsmen from other Crab Families and even other Clans who have been sent to the Wall to help protect the Empire against incursion from the Shadowlands. As a result, he may subtract his Mastery Level from the Character Point cost, or twice his Mastery Level from the Experience Point cost, to learn Kenjutsu Schools from other Families or Clans.

Journeyman: Yasuki Journeyman learn a Technique called “Returning the Gift.” After an opponent has successfully hit the Journeyman and inflicted damage on him, the Journeyman may use an Interrupt Action to make an immediate counterattack against that opponent regardless of his Initiative Total. The Journeyman receives a free Raise on his attack roll for each Dramatic Wound inflicted by the opponent’s attack. If the opponent’s attack would have Knocked Out the Jourenyman, he may still make a counterattack, falling unconscious immediately afterward.

Master: A Master of Yasuki has perfected the arts of fear and intimidation to the point that the can cause an opponent to waiver in mid-attack. The Master’s TN to be hit is increased by twice his Rank in the Menace Knack, and any opponent who strikes him must subtract the Master’s Rank in the Menace Knack from his Damage Roll.