Feral Beast Style

The School of the Feral Beast teaches multiple similar styles which all take their names and stances from the animal kingdom. The ferals are trained to trust their instincts explicitly, attacking not with well-placed blows but animal ferocity. They take their stances and attacks from studying animals fight and they are often found sneaking through streets or jungles, coming upon their enemies as an unexpected assault from the darkness, like the feral beasts they take their name from. The most feared styles of the Feral Beast are merciless ones like the Ape, the Snake and the Hawk - those who practice these particular styles are known for reverting to animal behavior, tearing the dead apart and even eating the hearts of their enemies at times. The School itself is located in many locations, often found as a collection of tents arranged in a temporary campsite in a forest, on a mountainside or by a lake. often Shifters adopt tho style.

The School of Inner Balance was founded by a group of monastic warriors who sought to understand their inner self and how they were connected to the world around them. What began as meditations soon became laborous training excercises to come into contact with one’s inner powers. They secluded themselves high in inhospitable mountains, both to protect themselves from raiders, and to allow them to contemplate in loneliness, away from the hustle of the nation. There they awakened deepseated psionic powers within themselves which allowed them to enhance their combat potential, as their bodies were suddenly in tune with the world. These monks now accept all those who can find their hidden monasteries, stand the Vigil until the doors open, and make it one month without speaking. Most of the time in the monastery is spent performing the necessities of daily life, from fetching water to taking care of plants, for it is only when one accepts one’s place in the world that one awakens the power within. Once this power is awakened, it allows these monks to perceive things slightly before they happen, but while this isn’t true precognition, it often seems that way on the battlefield since these monks react almost before something happens.

Mind Blade Style

The school of Darkblades mastered the mind blade before they turned to the ascetic traditions. At first, they were dedicated slayers for the local royalty, hunting down monsters and enemies of the crown alike. However, in time, after watching generation after generation of royalty die, they began to devote themselves to something greater. The Darkblades soon faded from the view of the common man, leaving behind their days as slayers and inquisitors for the kings and queens of their nation, instead becoming a secret society of warriors dedicated to protecting the law and order which makes civilization possible. At times, the Darkblades would present themselves to a prospective royal, to ensure that their wish for peace, law and order was respected; at other times they have struck down princes before their disregard for the law became a problem. Some claim that the Darkblades are evil, other that they are good - but those who are accepted into the school are swept up not because they were especially good or evil, but because they would defend the principles of law. You have access to all the Mind Blade Feats.

The School of Stone cares little for the weakness of the flesh and strives to punish themselves to such a degree that their bodies become like the stone from which they take their name. This school was not founded by some masters of an ancient martial art, but rather by flagellants who whipped themselves into a religious frenzy from the pain. Some of these flagellants achieved an epiphany during these whipping sessions and strove to teach others about the weakness of the flesh and the strength of the mind, but they were seen as pariahs and driven out. Eventually, one of these pariahs refused to flee before the assaults of his comrades, but rather struck back to prove to all others that his mind was stronger than their flesh. This was the birth of the School of Stone - by proving themselves to be capable fighters, many began coming to the school to learn from the flagellants, but were not admitted until they had donated funds to the school. Most students eventually drop out due to the difficult nature of the training, but those few who graduate are a part of a widespread brotherhood which supports and helps one another, no matter what. Some graduates continue their path as flagellants or monks, while others return to take up the reigns of the noble duties, but all become fierce leaders and strong warriors.

The School of Seven Swords has a history reaching far back to a time where madness and slavery ruled. At that time, an insane and paranoid king believed that his nobles were conspiring to strike him down and so instituted a law against anyone bearing any kind of weapon in his kingdom. But, in his insanity, he also offended many former allies and while the alliances were crumbling, the nobles were hard-pressed to come up with a way to defend the country against the inevitable war which was coming. The rumours of the mad king’s decree had escaped their borders and soon their enemies would come riding in hard, knowing that no soldiers were there to defend the lands. One noble had once trained among monks and mastered the style of unarmed combat, which he sought to teach - but his idea was too little, too late. The kingdom was smashed between its former allies, the king slain and the people enslaved - but it was during this enslavement that the Seven Swords rose to prominence. Seven disciples of this one noble who had survived the war gathered peasants and former soldiers, teaching a combat style which relied on one strike being enough to take down a single enemy warrior. This was the foundation and the beginning of the School of Seven Swords.

The School of the Transient World teaches that the world is an illusion, limited by our senses but limitless to the power of our mind’s eye, the inner fire, the beacon of truth. They teach that you must exhaust your body, strain it to the very limits of what it can do, because without knowing the limits of your physical senses you cannot learn how to expand them. They train extensively with each other, focusing primarily on tough physical excercises which bring them to the point of exhaustion before the mental training begins. This allows them to go beyond the limits of the world, as seen by “the blind” - as they call the unenlightened people. The transcients mean that it is their duty to constantly test the limits of the world, themselves and those who share it - some even go as far as attacking “the blind” just to provoke them into “waking up” and seeing the world for the illusion it truly is. The School of the Transient World also houses one of the world’s foremost institutes for teaching the Nomad and Seer devotions to Psions, sharing the view of the world as an illusion.

The school of the Four Winds teaches that you cannot be conquered if your enemy cannot strike you. The style focuses deeply on constantly staying mobile to avoid being struck by the enemy, often tiring the enemy down for a while before launching a devastating flurry of kicks, known as the Storm. The school began as a group of ascetic monasteries high in the mountains where the wind never ceased to blow, storms being common - here three rebels sought refuge from the terrible wrath of the kingdom they tried to overthrow. They had escaped the lawbringers and the army hunting them and their friends for almost a year, focusing more on stay ing alive than fighting back. Once they reached these mountain monasteries they were admitted as students, but their fighting spirit and the hard lessons learned from a life of defeat allowed them to tire even the masters while sidestepping blow after blow in training. Once they had defeated the masters in unarmed combat, they willingly stepped down and returned the positions to the masters but instituting one common rule for all of them - all were to be equals and only defer to those whom they were trained by.