Country of Origin: Vestenmannavnjar
Salon: None (Ingegerdr Thorgaut, the School’s current Maestra, travels extensively throughout the Vestenmannavnjar lands and seldom stays in one place for long; however, other Kjemper Masters can be found throughout the islands)
Founded: c. 750 AUC
Sanctioned (Swordsman’s Guild): 1668
Revoked: 1671
Sanctioned (Duelist’s Guild): 1672

Description: Kjemper is one of the Vestenmannavnjar people’s most ancient styles of personal combat, dating back to only a few generations after the Living Runes fought the Great Wyrm. It has endured through the ages not only because of the Vestenmannavnjar’s sense of tradition, but also because its technique is so sound.

The style makes use of a longsword for offense and a round shield for defense. Often, the target of the fighter’s attacks will not be the enemy, but rather his weapon or shield. Kjemper experts delight in breaking their opponents’ weapons and then continuing their onslaughts. When facing an aggressive opponent, the Kjemper fighter will stand behind his shield. When his opponent has exhausted himself, the student attacks with his shield, then follows up with a series of blows from his sword. If an enemy gets too close, he will find himself knocked to the ground by a vicious bash.

The weakness of the Kjemper School is its focus on eliminating threats to itself rather than creating a threat to its opponent.

Basic Curriculum: Heavy Weapon, Shield
Knacks: Attack (Shield), Corps-á-Corps, Exploit Weakness (Kjemper), Sunder (Heavy Weapon), Wall of Steel (Shield)

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: 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
Heavy Weapon	30
Firearm, Polearm	35
Buckler, Shield	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: An Apprentice of Kjemper learns the art of using a shield and longsword together. He may use a longsword one-handed without any penalty, and has no off-hand penalty when using a shield. Furthermore, he receives one Free Raise per Mastery Level when using his Sunder (Heavy Weapon) Knack to attempt to break a buckler or shield.

Journeyman: By the time a Kjemper Duelist becomes a Journeyman, he has become very good at using his sword to break an enemy’s items. He receives a free Rank in his Sunder (Heavy Weapon) Knack. This may increase his Rank in the Knack to a six. If it does not, he may increase it from a five to a six later by spending 25 XP.

Master: Years of swinging his heavy blade have made the a Kjemper Duelist’s blows mighty swings that shatter weapons, shields, and enemies easily. The Master Keeps one extra Die (+0k1) when dealing damage with a longsword.