Blood Offering

WARNING: If you don’t want to write impromptu poetry, investing in blood offering is a bad idea and you should not do it.

Blood Offering stands in much the same state as it was before the dawn of the empire. There are few, if any, rote spells, most of which are hoarded jealously by the Isawa, and so it works much like prayers to the kami did at the beginning of the empire, when there were no ‘spells’, and all effects had to be created via what is now called importuning the kami.

Blood offering, like other magic, has its own strengths and weaknesses. Its strengths include manipulations of the mind, soul, spirits, and emotions, while its weaknesses are anything involving manipulation of the physical world. That’s not to say that it cannot do this, after all, Gisei Toshi and the new Kyuden Isawa were both raised from nothing via blood offering, but when blood offering is used to manipulate the physical world, it almost invariably works with what is already there.

In general, in order to cast a blood offering spell, begin by composing a short poem telling the universe what you wish to happen. This is not restricted to any particular form of poetry, and the only known examples thus far follow:

The Binding of Fu Leng (From Time of the Void) Let the courage of the Seven Thunders remedy this corruption. Let the truth of our purpose stand as a citadel against the night. Let our soul’s wind rise and snuff the flames of Jigoku. Let our minds be unclouded; may Tengoku be our light. As the oceans shift, we shall adapt to cage our foe, and we harden our hearts against the touch of despair as the touch of the Dark One reaches for our souls, and let the Ninth Son, the Fallen One, be taken unaware. A terrible oath I now make to bind the darkness. A soul’s sacrifice to purge the horrors from our land. The doom of Fu Leng is upon us. Let the time of redemption be now at hand.

The Purification of Lady Shinjo Let the Avatar of Destruction rend darkness from light. Let the Avatar of Rebirth guide the kami returned. Let the Breather of Life receive the divine returned to fight. Let life through willing sacrifice be earned.

Now, through mortal thunder, the heavens shake. The Maker of Magic's teachings we sing.←- Draw Blood Here From Katsu The conduit stands against what in the darkness wake. Her imprisonment over, the Master of the Four Winds we bring.

We sacrifice blood that is crystal pure. ←- Draw Blood Here from Honoka. A powerful soul willingly exchanged To stop that which has no other cure. Through our bargain may this be arranged.

Once the poem is presented, the GM will give you an increment of blood to spill, a ring, and a TN. Like maho, you may spill additional increments of blood to gain free raises, and then roll Spellcraft(Blood Offering)/Ring against the TN. As an example, the Purification of Lady Shinjo was a base of “your first wound rank” from Katsu and Honoka, and one free raise per wound rank thereafter, had a TN of 120, and was based on Void, as it was a spell concerning the Lying Darkness.

In general, do not bother recording these TNs and costs, and do not expect them to remain consistent. This is intentional, and reflects the largely experimental nature of blood offering at this point. In fact, nailing down a single effect in a repeatable fashion is an excellent way for a fledgling Isawa to gain status within the family. Likewise, offering such a spell to the Isawa is an excellent way for anyone to gain favor with them.

Isawa family (only) characters of any school who begin play with a rank of Spellcraft AND the Blood Offering emphasis may choose to begin play with one of the few spells that the Isawa have worked out a functional equivalent for. These spells are considered Isawa secret spells, and function equivalently to Shugenja spells of their ring and rank, for purposes of TN and raises, and cost wounds equal to 2x Rank.

NOTE: Wounds sacrificed for Blood Offering are not normal wounds, and cannot be healed by anything short of Peace of the Kami, which will heal practically anything, or time itself.

Isawa Secret Spells: Air: Nature’s Touch To Seek the Truth

Earth: Courage of the Seven Thunders Minor Binding Soul of Stone

Fire: Never Alone

Water: Clarity of Purpose Path to Inner Peace

Void: The Void’s Caress See Through Lies