The Six King's Style

The Six King’s Style

A style developed by set of kings in Threshold for their armies when the Fair Folk and other supernatural threats raise their heads. With great care the masters of the six kingdoms came together and took upon the task of developing the style that would be their homelands shield from now unto eternity. Each of the masters were given a starting point and then given freedom to do as they wished with their budding art. In the end it was only when the six masters came together that they fully developed the style into what it is now.

This style was created in such a way that it can be fueled by an un-Enlightened man’s Willpower or an Essence-Users Motes without much difficulty, noted in the Cost section.

Life-Return Meditation

 Cost: 2 Willpower [5 Motes]
 Min:  Essence 1, Martial Arts 3, Martial Arts Specialty [The Six King’s Style] 1
 Type:  Simple
 Keyword:  Combo-Ok
 Duration:  Varies [See text]
 Prerequisite:  N/A
Fluff: Through intense meditation and dedicated training the user has gained a level of self-awareness that can be utilized to allow
the human body to surpass its natural limits and enter the realm of the supernatural. These teachings have been around for centuries,
hidden in the training of the far-flung sages and master martial artists, but it wasn’t until the six masters gathered the knowledge 
together and learned the secrets of a thousand lies. They learned the Truth of Inner Rebirth.
Crunch: This technique allows the user to soak their whole Stamina in Bashing and half their Stamina in Lethal as long as the Willpower 
or Motes are locked into it, these are committed as if to an artifact. 
This also creates a special die pool called Rebirth which has several effects. To fill the Rebirth pool the user accepts an internal 
penalty to any action that he was stunting, reducing the number of stunt die to a minimum of 0, to gain a die in the Rebirth pool. The 
Rebirth pool may only hold a number of die equal to [Essence+ Martial Arts] and the following actions reduce the Rebirth pool.
•	The user may reduce the Rebirth pool by a number of die as a Reflexive action to heal a number of Bashing damage at a one to one 
ratio. This can be done to Lethal damage at a two to one, though this is a Dramatic Action unless the user spends another 1 Willpower 
or 2 Motes.
•	The user may reduce the Rebirth pool by a number of die to increase the Acc. Or Defense of an attack. Any one attack can only be 
increased this way up to your Specialization [The Six King’s Style]
Ex.: Storm-Crow, an adept of The Six King’s Style, commits 5 Motes to his Life-Return Meditation and slowly through the fight has 
gathered four extra die in the Rebirth pool, his limit as he has only the minimum to gain the technique, and he may only add up to his 
Specialization to any attacks Accuracy or Defense. While this doesn’t seem like much it should be noted that he may still stunt for 
more accuracy and he can still use the Rebirth to heal should he need to.

Imitating Cloud Posture

Cost: 1 Willpower [2 Motes]
Min: Essence 1, Martial Arts 3, Specialization [The Six King’s Style] 1
Type: Reflexive [Step 2]
Keyword: Combo-Basic
Duration: Instant or Indefinite
Prerequisite: Life-Return Meditation
Fluff: To avoid a strike is to negate the force entirely. A master observed a cloud shrouding a mountain and then developed this 
technique using the ideal of floating defense against even the most brutal attacks. 
Crunch: The user lowers his Rebirth pool to increase his DDV at a 1 to 1 ratio. This can be drawn out by lowering the users 
Specialization by an equal number. For as long as the Specialization is suppressed this way the user can maintain the Imitating Cloud 
Posture.
Ex.: Storm-Crow has learned Imitating Cloud Posture and a bunch of bandits have surrounded him. One of the enemies lunges, winning Join 
Battle, and swings his chopping sword to finish the young man in one blow. Storm-Crow barely manages to stunt out of the attack and 
begins battling on the defensive, stunting liberally and slowly filling Rebirth. When it comes to his action he Raises his DDV by three 
and lowers his Specialization by 1 so the next strike will have to hit his DDV +3 and all other attacks will have to hit his DDV +1 
until he stops lowering his Specialization.

Iron-Lake Mountain Pulse

Cost: 1 Willpower or 2 Willpower [2 Motes or 5 Motes]
Min: Essence 1, Martial Arts 3, Specialization [The Six King’s Style] 1
Type: Reflexive [Step 2]
Keyword: Combo-Basic
Duration: Martial Arts in Rounds
Perquisite: Life-Return Meditation
Fluff: The wind may howl as loud as it wishes but the mountain will not bow. This philosophy was adopted by one of the masters and he 
came up with this technique using his own knowledge of his body to harden his flesh to the point of it becoming an iron carapace. To do 
this he utilized his inner awareness to control the contortions of his body and allowed the ‘iron-water’ in his body to gather at the 
surface.
Crunch: The user ignores damage equal to their Martial Arts or Resistance [Whichever the player prefers] and the amount they lower 
their Specialization and Dexterity by. This damage is negated before soak and some blows that hit will deal no damage because the soak 
and negation lowered it to 0. Bashing damage being easier to negate it only takes 1 Willpower [or 2 Motes] but Lethal damage takes 2 
Willpower [or 5 Motes].
The user may not move on the same tick that he uses this technique and has lowered his dexterity, but the user may abort it at any time.

Ex.: Storm-Crow is forced to activate this ability, a bandit manages to pull a firewand out and fire at him, and thus negates his foes 
damage by 3 [Martial Arts] +1 [Lowering his Specialization to 0] +3 [Lowering his Dexterity to 0] before his armor soak. He's still in 
danger but he's safer with the ability than without. He chose to maintain it so that the other bandits have to attack him through this 
new hardness.

Shooting Star Step Method

Cost: 1 Willpower [2 Motes]
Min: Essence 1, Martial Arts 3, Specialization [The Six King’s Style] 2
Type: Supplemental or Reflexive [Step 1 or 2]
Keyword: Combo-Ok
Duration: Instant
Perquisite: Life-Return Meditation
Fluff: To move like the shooting star, that star which goes against fate’s weave, is the dream of many. This power grants superhuman 
speed that allows a person to ‘disappear’ even when an attack would have otherwise stricken the user.
Crunch: Provided that the user has a move action left in the tick he may use this technique to escape damage. The user lowers his
Specialization by 1 and gains a Perfect Dodge from an attack that would otherwise hit; this Perfect Dodge has a special Flaw in that it 
can be beaten by a check. The enemy only needs to have seen the Perfect Dodge a number of times equal to the user’s Specialization and 
then he may make a check [Wit+ Perception] vs. the users [Dexterity+ Martial Arts+ Specialization] to see the dodge and adjust for the 
new position.
In addition whenever the user uses a move action in a flurry he may add any stunt die on his attack to his base damage as well with 
this technique.

Honed Steel Needle

Cost: 1 Willpower [1 Mote]
Min: Essence 2, Martial Arts 4, Specialization [The Six King’s Style] 2
Type: Supplemental
Keyword: Combo-Ok
Duration: Instant
Perquisite: Life-Return Meditation and Iron-Lake Mountain Pulse
Fluff: One master crafted his limbs into deadly weapons that could be used to deadly effect in close quarters. This technique was to 
attack not just externally but internally as well. 
Crunch: This is an attack that has the following stats. 
Acc. +0	 Damage +1 Lethal	Rate 2
This attack counts as Piercing and you may spend Rebirth, up to your Specialization, to raise Acc., damage, or rate at a one to one 
ratio.

Storm-God Strike

Cost: 1 Willpower [2 Motes]
Min: Essence 2, Martial Arts 4, Specialization [The Six King’s Style] 2
Type: Supplemental
Keyword: Combo-Ok
Duration: Instant
Perquisite: Life-Return Meditation and Shooting Star Step Method
Fluff: To strike like lightning, in a flash with sound dragging behind, is the objective of many martial arts but few have gotten this 
close. With this strike an attack can move so fast that it cuts the very air and creates vacuum blades.
Crunch: This is an attack that has the following stats.
Acc. -1 Damage Martial Arts+ Specialization Lethal Rate 2
This attack has a Range of 20 and you may spend Rebirth, up to your Specialization, to raise Acc. or Rate at a one to one ratio. You do 
not add Strength to this damage.

The Six Powers Realized Enlightenment

Cost: 3 Willpower
Min: Essence 3, Martial Arts 4, Specialization [The Six King’s Style] 3
Type: Supplemental
Keyword: Form Type
Duration: Scene
Perquisite: Life-Return Meditation, Shooting Star Step Method, Iron-Lake Mountain Pulse, Imitating Cloud Posture, Strom-God 
Strike, Honed Steel Needle
Fluff: By training that borders on torture and will that borders on insanity the masters finished their work at the dusk of their years 
and gathered the secrets of the style together to give to their Kings. It had taken six lifetimes but they had developed a set of 
techniques that would allow a kingdom to defend itself from all onslaught. When they returned to their homelands after all those years 
of seclusion they found the ruins of the kingdoms, long since lost to the ravages of not the Fair Folk but a singular Dragon-Blooded. 
Like leaves on the wind they scattered to teach the style they’d worked so hard on to others so that if only in some small way the 
Kingdoms would live on.
This technique was the penultimate expression of those Masters will. It opens the Crown Chakra and Root Chakra to allow Essence from 
the outside world to enter the Master allow for nigh-endless use of the style it was rooted in.
Crunch: When in this form the following rules apply.
•	When this form is active you count as being in Life-Return Meditation.
•	The Rebirth pool is calculated as [Essence+ Martial Arts+ Specialization (The Six King’s Style)+ Specialization (The Six Powers 
Realized Enlightenment)].
•	A Rebirth point may be used instead of lowering your Specialization in any technique that does so.
•	At the beginning of every turn the user can spontaneously gain a number of Rebirth points. To do this they roll their Martial 
Arts Specialization [The Six Powers Realized Enlightenment] in die and every success equals one Rebirth point gained.
•	Rebirth points can be used instead of Motes of Essence for techniques that require the Martial Arts Specialization [The Six 
King’s Style]
•	Any limit that states ‘up to Specialization’ is now up to Martial Arts+ Specialization.
•	Iron-Lake Mountain Pulse can now be used for a number of rounds equal to Martial Arts+ Specialization (The Six Powers Realized 
Enlightenment) and you may move during its use as long as your Dexterity has not been lowered to zero, although you still suffer the 
effects of your lowered Dexterity.

Notes: At the time the healing mechanic seemed solid but as I look at it I feel that I'll have to give it an overhaul.

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