Great Clans Preview: Asako Inquisitor

I apologize for the lateness of the preview.

written by
Dace

I'm not sure many know this but Phoenix happen to be my second favorite clan. I know at times it looks like the Crane. But that's only because I have so many wonderful friends in the Crane clan :). I've always had a soft spot for the magical. My traditional PC in other games was either a rogue or a wizard. As you can guess Mage was my favorite oWoD game. The fact that Shiba and Bayushi are twins just makes the two clans even cooler.

The Asako happen to be my favorite family of the Phoenix. Don't get me wrong, the arrogance of the Isawa is appealing and the Shiba are some of the best bushi's in the setting. I don't really count the Agasha as true Phoenix :P. So with Great Clans I'm glad to see that the Asako get some real love. The family has a lot to offer. They are courtiers. They are shugenja. They are monks. And I'm sure they could be bushi too.

The Asako Inquisitor is a solid addition to the taint fighting schools in the game. After Great Clans I'm sure I'll finally be able to run my Mod Squad of taint hunters (maybe I'll recruit Seigi and Rixy to help too). The Inquisitor is unique in that it offers something both for the taint hunting shugenja and the taint hunting bushi of the Phoenix clan.

The strongest element of the Inquisitor is it's ability to disrupt maho users. Every technique offers a means in which the Inquisitor can make a maho tsuki's day into a bad day. And this disruption ability is why it's such a solid taint hunter.

Overall you'll find the Asako Inquisitor not only a good addition to the Phoenix clan line up, but a good addition to any party formed around the idea of hunting down those who traffic with magics that are forbidden.

New Advanced School: Asako Inquisitor (Monk)

The Asako are generally regarded as a peaceful and serene family, the very picture of the pacifistic Phoenix. For the most part this is an accurate picture of the family and their philosophy, but there are those who stand apart from it. The Asako are the primary force behind the Inquisitors, the Phoenix order devoted to eradicating the corrupt and blasphemous from within the ranks of the Empire’s shugenja. It is a mission they embrace completely and enact at any cost. The order has existed since the Empire’s earliest days, long before the creation of the Jade Magistrates, an organization that fulfills much the same purpose. The Inquisitors sometimes work in cooperation with the Kuni Witch Hunters and have even had a few limited contacts with the Yogo family’s secretive Kuroiban.

The Asako Inquisitors do not concern themselves exclusively with maho or Shadowlands corruption, although these crimes are among their most frequent targets. They also investigate gaijin magic and any religious groups with heretical beliefs, such as the Bloodspeaker Cult. Members of the Inquisitor order are selected primarily from the ranks of Phoenix shugenja, but many bushi serve with them and a few Henshin and Brotherhood monks have been inducted as well. Those who are inducted into the order and take the necessary vows of duty and secrecy are granted a stylized tattoo of an eye, the symbol of the order, somewhere on their body. The back of the hand is the most common location.

Rank Two: The Trials of Jade
An Inquisitor finds the weakness in his enemies and exploits it, bringing them the Emperor’s justice. When casting any spell, you may spend a Void Point for the spell to count as jade or crystal for the purposes of reducing or defeating your target’s Reduction or Invulnerability traits. If you cannot cast spells, you may instead make a melee attack as a Simple Action instead of a Complex Action when facing an opponent you know has violated the Empire’s laws regarding the legal forms of magic.

Asako Fuyu – Artistic Inquisitor

Asako Fuyu shows amazing talent and promise. He possesses a level of innate understanding for earth magic that is normally only had by the Masters themselves. His understand of the Earth kami seems so deep that sometimes he goes a bit to far with his magics. It is no wonder that he is one of the Master of Earth favorite students. It is even rumored that Fuyu could in fact succeed the current Master of Earth when he retires.

The Phoenix feel that it would be a waste of of Fuyu's talent not to put him on the front lines in some form or fashion. And the Inquisitors always need talented earth shugenja to help in their fight against maho and the servants of Jigoku.

Like a good samurai Fuyu does as he is told. He serves with distinction and honor among the Inquisitors. But this is not where Fuyu's heart lies. He yearns to use his talent for more peaceful means. While he admits that the Emperor's enemies are his, if he had a say in such matters he would spend his time creating as opposed to destroying.

In his free time Fuyu creates amazing sculptures. His skill is such that the stone literally melts away in his hands as he molds the earth into any shape or form that his heart desires. His work has been featured not only at Kyuden Isawa and Kyuden Asako but in Kyuden Doji and the Imperial Court itself. If Fuyu could have his way he would do nothing more with his life than create.

But that is not his fate. So he will tirelessly hunt down those that the Phoenix ask him too. And maybe one day he will become the Master of Earth. And perhaps then he can spend more of his time creating instead of destroying.

Asako Fuyu
School/Rank Isawa Shugenja 1/Isawa Tensai 1/Asako Inquisitor 2
Air: 3
Awareness: 4
Earth 4
Fire 3
Water 3
Void: 4
Glory 4
Honor: 5
Status: 4

Skills: Artisan: Sculpture 5, Calligraphy (Cipher) 2, Defense 3, Investigation 4, Kenjutsu 3, Lore: Theology 2, Lore Elements: Earth 4, Lore: Shugenja 4, Lore: Law 4, Medicine 3, Lore: Maho 3, Meditation 4, Spellcraft 3

Advantages: Elemental Blessing (3), Friendly Kami (5), Friend of the Elements (3), Great Potential: Artisan: Sculpture (5), Sacred Weapon: Inquisitor's Strike (6)

Disadvantages: Compulsion: Sculpting (2), Elemental Imbalance: Earth (3) Fascination: Sculptures (1),

Techniques: Isawa's Gift, Embrace the Elements, Eye of the Inquisitor, The Trial of Jade