Hagane

ADVERSARY | CONFLICT RANK: 8 5

Hagane, whose name means “steel,” is the alias of a shade who has escaped the afterlife. In life, he was Mirumoto Ikutsuki, but he has forgotten that name. He now wreaks bloody vengeance on those who, many years ago, wrongly caused him to be exiled from the Dragon Clan. At that time, he was already a skilled duelist, and his proficiency with a blade only improved during his life as a masterless samurai. Now, he wields his namesake sword, Hagane, to deadly effect, sharing his name with his life-taking sword.

40 | 16 20 | 12 00 | 8

+2, –2

DEMEANOR - OBSESSED

4

HONOR | ENDURANCE

GLORY | COMPOSURE

STATUS | FOCUS

VIGILANCE

SOCIETAL | PERSONAL

4 3 3 | 4 4

ARTISAN 1 MARTIAL 1 SCHOLAR 2 SOCIAL 1 | TRADE 3

ADVANTAGES | DISADVANTAGES

Fearsome Duelist: Martial; Mental

Consumed

by Vengeance: Social; Mental

FAVORED WEAPONS

Hagane (katana): Range 1, Damage 5, Deadliness 6/9, Ceremonial, Razor-Edged

Noroi (wakizashi): Range 0–1, Damage 4, Deadliness 6/9, Ceremonial, Razor-Edged

Gear (equipped): Incorporeal robes, straw hat

ABILITIES

AVENGER FROM THE AFTERLIFE Hagane is an Otherworldly being with physical resistance 10 and supernatural resistance 3. He is incorporeal and can perform unnerving ghostly phenomena such as walking on walls or ceilings, floating, and causing objects to move slightly on their own. While dueling, he makes himself fully visible to his opponent, but otherwise he appears as a mass of swirling shadows, coalesced around a katana and wakizashi. In a skirmish, increase the TN of Attack action checks targeting him by 1.

GHOSTLY SWORDS After Hagane perished in a nameless battle and his body was left to the crows, his blades rose by the will of their dead wielder, the daishō becoming a cursed artifact. The daishō is treated as a nemuranai with the Biting Steel invocation (see page 202 of the core rulebook) sealed within it, which a character wielding both the katana and wakizashi can perform using the Meditation skill instead of Theology. While Hagane still pursues his revenge, the daishō possesses the Unholy item quality, and it whispers dread words of vengeance to any beings who hold it. However, should Hagane’s business be resolved and his spirit set to rest, the nemuranai loses the Unholy quality and gains the Sacred quality instead, and its quirk changes to issuing a whisper of warning whenever anyone at range 0–3 of its user forfeits 3 or more honor (though it does not specify why).

TWIN STREAMS STYLE While Hagane performs an Attack action check with a sword in each hand, he may spend as follows:

: If your target suffers a critical strike as a result of this check, increase its severity by the deadliness of your other readied weapon.

UNEARTHLY DRAW As he is a spirit and one with his swords, Hagane can draw and swing his blades without fear of cutting himself, allowing him to perform draw techniques that would be impossible for a mortal, passing his blades unnervingly through his own body. As a Movement action, Hagane may ready up to two weapons. In a duel, if his opponent has not drawn a weapon yet, they must resist with a TN 3 Meditation check (Void 1) or receive strife equal to 3 plus their shortfall.