Tactical Assessment

Akodo’s Leadership and Bayushi’s Lies agree on a few topics, for both leaders were practical to a certain degree, even if Akodo famously scorned many of Bayushi’s methods. As the scholar Hida Fuyuko noted in her revelatory commentary on Leadership*’s lessons for commanders on the Kaiu Wall, the most famous meeting of these two minds comes on the matter of preparation: battles are not won in the field, but in the leadup to the conflict. Even in small clashes, the warrior who better understands the terrain, the strength of their own forces, and the composition of the enemy’s troops is usually victorious.*

Activation: When you make an Initiative check, you may spend in the following way: Air : Choose an enemy in the conflict. Learn one of their advantages (of their choice) and their physical or supernatural resistance (your choice). Earth : Choose a character in the conflict. They do not apply any of their disadvantages to their checks until the end of their first turn. Water : Choose a piece of terrain in the scene (see Terrain on page 267). Until the start of your first turn, it counts as having the Obscuring quality for Attack action checks targeting you and your allies. Fire : Choose a character in the conflict and one of their advantages you know. Until the end of their first turn, they apply that advantage to all of their checks.