Clan of Origin: Dragon
Dojo: Victory of the Living Blade Dojo

Description: For many years, countless members of the Dragon Clan’s Zurui Family, vassals to the Mirumuto Family, have trained in the Mirumoto Swordsman School. Over the years, the Zurui have recreated that School in their own image, trading Mirumoto’s few-form, no-mind technique for the scholarly study of the sword, learning multiple forms used throughout Rokugan’s history and how to select the proper form for the situation at hand.

While Mirumoto Swordsmen typically engage multiple foes in a skirmish, a Zurui Swordsman focuses purely on the defeat of a single powerful opponent. If the Mirumoto School’s feud with Kakita duelists is legendary, the battles between the Crane iaijutsu specialists and Zurui Swordsmen have been epic. Like their fellow Dragon Swordsmen, students of Zurui practice the two-sword Niten technique, wielding a katana and a wakizashi simultaneously. The primary difference is that the no-mind technique requires a certain relaxed, stream-of-consciousness mentality, while Zurui Swordsmen are laser-focused on their opponents, studying every breath and twitch of a muscle to determine the perfect means to counter their attack.

However, this focus renders a Swordsman susceptible to distractions, tricks, and deceptions. A cagey opponent can feign an injury or opening, drawing the Zurui Swordsman’s attention like a magnet. At that point, it is easy for an opponent to guess when and where a strike will be coming, while even a simple feint can catch the Zurui Swordsman off guard,

Basic Curriculum: Kenjutsu, Scholar
Knacks: Knacks: Exploit Weakness (Zurui), First Strike (Kenjutsu), Lunge (Kenjutsu), Sidestep, Wall of Steel (Kenjutsu/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: First Strike. When you have not yet drawn your weapon and wish to attack an enemy, you can declare a First Strike (using a single Action to draw and attack with your weapon). You roll Finesse + First Strike, and must take a number of Raises equal to your enemy’s Finesse in order for your First Strike 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. In Rokugan, this is the Knack typically used for Iaijutsu duels.

Apprentice: Students of Zurui learn the Niten technique, wielding a katana and wakizashi simultaneously. They may wield the two weapons without incurring an off-hand penalty for use of the wakizashi. In addition, Use of the two swords simultaneously leaves fewer openings for an opponent to attack; the Swordsman may add his Mastery Level in Zurui to his TN to be hit.

Zurui Swordsmen train at the Victory of the Living Blade Dojo, where they pursue scholarly studies alongside swordplay, so that they may apply their knowledge to all aspects of life, especially the way of the sword. Zurui Swordsmen may add their Rank in the History Knack as a bonus to any use of their First Strike Knack, including during an iaijutsu duel.

Journeyman: Mirumoto’s Niten states that “victory passes between the space of a heartbeat,” and Zurui Journeymen take this philosophy to heart. When the Journeyman elects to Focus during an iaijutsu duel, he may spend a Drama Die to reduce the number of times the opponent may focus by one. The Journeyman may only use this Technique once per Focus.

Master: The Zurui Master’s focus can be so intense, he demoralizes his opponents before the first blade is drawn. At the beginning of any Round of combat, the Master may spend a Drama Die to force one opponent he can see to spend a Drama Die as well. If the opponent chooses not to (or is unable to) spend a Drama Die, he may not declare Raises on any rolls during that Round of combat. This Technique does not work against anyone who is immune to Intimidate Repartee Actions or Fear effects.