Shugenja Spellcasting

07-22-2007, 04:43 PM
Shugenja are those with the ability to communicate with the kami that compose existence as we know it. Petitioning these kami allow the shugenja to speak with them for as long as the kami wish, or to perform some task if the kami feels the shugenja is worthy (i.e. has enough ranks in a certain element) to perform the task in question.

A shugenja may always petition a kami of an object, place or person (deceased of course) for whatever reason the shugenja feels necessary. The response of the kami is dependent entirely on whether or not the kami feels the shugenja has enough power to be worthy enough of a response, the actual power and knowledge of the kami and whether or not the kami feels the shugenja has abused his or her powers or not (i.e. used it too much in a period of time).

Petitions like this can include asking a rock kami if the rock the kami inhabits/is composed of was thrown by an ogre. The rock kami could very likely reply "Yes" (the response only being heard in the mind of the questioning shugenja, of course). Likewise a shugenja could ask a water kami of an entrance to a dock if any strange people have walked by in the last week. The kami might reply something like "As the oceans mix with waters from afar, so has a strange person passed upon my beams."

Each type of kami should have its own personality. Some kami can even be strong enough to manifest itself in a spiritual form such as a person or dragon (in which case any non-Shugenja with Genkei can see it). The personallity of a kami should reflect its nature not only as its element (earth kami are usually straight forward, water kami fickle, fire kami direct and passionate, air kami playful and void kami can have any personality), but as its manifestation (a stone, a volcano, a banana tree).

The second ability of a shugenja is the power to take kami from an area an use their power to create spell effects. Depending on the amount of kami used, various effects can take place. Below is a list of past effects that have taken place, as well as examples of effects that have taken place over time. They are organized by number and type of kami used in this fashion:

A: Air Kami - E: Earth Kami - F: Fire Kami - W: Water Kami - V: Void Kami

They are always organized in this manner as well (so you can hit the "Find" feature, usually ctrl+F, if you want to search for what you can do with a certain number of kami). So if an effect uses 2 fire kami, it can appear like this:

F-F: Yosei Bob created a large glowing spark that rushed at a foe, clung to it, and begun to burn the foe until it could somehow get it off (either by destroying its own armor or finding a source of water).

Furthermore, if more than one element is used, it always goes in the order A-E-F-W-V. So a spell could have a listing like this.

F-W: Yosei Bob used a fire and a water kami to create a concealing steam-barrier so he could escape a group of goblins.

Using another Shugenja's idea is fine, however the effect listed here will be that of the first shugenja who used the effect and asked a staff member what the result was.

Note that using an effect that would obviously take more kami then you declared you were using in a personal chapter will simply result in a lower grade and no credit for attempting the effect. Using it in a mission or plot would result in the kami attempting to do your effect and failing, getting a lesser version of what you desired or having no effect if the desire was too much for them to handle.