If the Lion and Crane are the Emperor's Right and Left Hand, then the Scorpion are the Emperor's Underhand. They are infamous villains, a role they play to the hilt, and they excel in espionage, manipulation, intrigue, and even assassination—but as far as the Scorpion are concerned, they redeem their honor in undertaking these actions in service to the Empire, as charged by their ancestor, the Kami Bayushi.
The Scorpion samurai all wear masks, in styles as varied as their personalities, and consider them as essential to their image as their daisho.
The Bayushi are the lords of the Scorpion, and have a reputation for treachery and ruthlessness which they live up to. They are dangerous manipulators who seek to turn everything to their clan's advantage.
The Shosuro are a secretive and reclusive family who serve the Bayushi faithfully, with discretion and supreme dedication.
The Soshi are the primary shugenja family of the Scorpion, and specialize in magics of deception and manipulation. Their magics often support the secret activities of the Shosuro.
The Yogo are feared and reviled without equal. Their ancestor Yogo was cursed to betray the one he loved, and the Yogo Curse has been passed down through the bloodline. They originated as Phoenix, but joined the Scorpion, where their treachery was more at home. The family have been the guardians of the Twelve Black Scrolls of Fu Leng for over a thousand years.
This school has established and still maintains the villainous reputation of the Scorpion. In addition to training in the arts of underhanded death, the students learn to manipulate others and sow discord. Their philosophy focuses on identifying and exploiting weaknesses, and turning the enemy against themselves.
You gain +1k1 to Initiative Rolls, and +5 to Armor TN against any opponent with lower Initiative.
You may make the Feint Maneuver for one Raise rather than two.
When you assume a Stance at the start of your Turn, you may choose a target within 30 feet. If you successfully hit them on your Turn, they are Fatigued (as if they had gone without rest for 24 hours). In the Reactions Stage, they may make an Earth Ring Roll (TN 25) to negate the effect; if the roll fails, the effect ends on the next Reactions Stage instead.
You may make melee attacks as a Simple Action instead of a Complex Action.
Once per encounter, you may spend a Void Point to attack your opponent as a Complex Action with a melee weapon. If you hit, the target is Stunned. In the Reactions Stage, they may make an Earth Ring Roll (TN equal to the damage you dealt) to end the effect; if the roll fails, the effect ends on the next Reactions Stage instead.
The Scorpion reputation at court is built upon this school, which trains master manipulators. They build networks of spies and informers that seem to ferret out every secret that may be used against their opponents—or their allies, should tey prove reluctant. Just like the Bayushi Bushi School, they focus on uncovering and employing their opponent's weaknesses.
When you are making a Contested Social Roll against someone else, you gain a Free Raise to your roll for every 3 points of Mental or Social Disadvantages (rounded off) they possess. This cannot award more than 5 Free Raises. You also gain a Free Raise when using the Courtier skill to spread gossip, and do not need to Raise in order to conceal you are the source.
After conversing with someone for a few minutes, you may make a Contested Roll of your Investigation/AWA vs. their Etiquette/AWA. If successful, you learn their lowest Mental Trait and lowest Social Skill with at least 1 Rank, and their Rank in each. You may spend a Void Point to learn the next lowest Mental Trait and Social Skill.
After speaking with someone for a few minutes, you may make a Contested Roll of your Courtier (Manipulation)/AWA vs. their Etiquette (Courtesy)/AWA to force them to reveal one Mental or Social Disadvantage they possess. If they have none, they instead reveal one Mental or Social Advantage. (This only reveals the name, not the specific details; e.g. if you learn the target has a Dark Secret, you don't know what the secret is.) If you reveal a Disadvantage, at the GM's permission you may take a Blackmail Advantage on the target at no XP cost.
Any time you make a Contested Social Skill Roll against someone on whom you have Blackmail, their dice cannot explode. Any time you make a Contested Skill Roll against anyone at all, you may spend a Void Point to force them to use a mental Trait of your choice instead of the usual Trait used.
A number of times per session equal to your School Rank, you may make an Opposed Social Roll of your Courtier (Gossip)/AWA vs. someone's Etiquette (Courtesy)/AWA. If you have Blackmail on the target, you get +5k0 to the roll. If successful, you can inflict one of the following Social Disadvantages on them: Social Disadvantage, Sworn Enemy, or Obligation (to someone of your choice). The Disadvantage lasts for one month, unless the GM decides the target has taken an action to end it sooner. The technique cannot be used again on the same target until the effect expires.
The Shosuro Butei (Acting) Academy is almost as famous as the actors of the Kakita Artisan Academy, but its students are trained in stealth and turning their acting to nefarious purposes. The most promising students are taught dishonorable arts—poison and assassination. These select few become not just actors, but shinobi.
You learn one persona. Any time you spend a Void Point on an Acting or Sincerity (Deceit) Skill Roll, you get +3k1 instead of +1k1.
You get +2k0 to attack rolls when wielding a Small weapon.
You learn a second persona. You can spend two Void Points instead of one when enhancing a School Skill Roll (this stacks with the Rank 1 Technique).
You may attack as a Simple Action instead of a Complex Action when using a Small weapon.
You learn a third persona. If you attack a foe who is unaware and does not expect danger from you, your Raises are not limited by your Void.
A new persona must be defined simply—"stoic Kakita duelist" or "ronin drunkard"—and this core cannot change, although names, appearance, backgrounds, and details can. For samurai personae, the school must be chosen. The persona has seven appropriate Skills at Rank 1 (for a samurai persona, the School Skills), which the Shosuro Actor can use while inhabiting the persona. Inhabiting a persona requires 10 minutes of uninterrupted concentration and a Meditation/AWA Skill Roll (TN 25, possibly higher in difficult circumstances at the GM's discretion). The Actor in character can use the persona's Skills (at Rank 1, or their actual Rank if higher), but any other Skills suffer a +10 TN penalty. Leaving a persona is a Free Action and is obvious to any observers.
This school's very existence is a secret of the Scorpion; officially, ninja do not exist, and certainly not as part of the Great Clans. Unofficially, the Shosuro infiltrators are the silent, invisible spies and assassins of the Scorpion, fulfilling their duty no matter what the means—or the cost to their personal honor. They do not enjoy their work, but view themselves as loyal servants.
You lose no Honor for use of Low Skills or Ninjutsu weapons in the service of the Scorpion Clan (subject to GM approval). You gain +2k0 to all Stealth Skill Rolls.
When you declare an attack against an opponent who is unaware of your presence until the moment of the attack, your Raises are not limited by your Void Ring, and you roll extra dice equal to your School Rank. You add half your School Rank (round down) of rolled dice on attacks against an opponent suffering from a Condition (like Fatigued or Stunned). These two effects are not cumulative.
You may make attacks as a Simple Action instead of a Complex Action when attacking from ambush (as above), or when using Ninjutsu weapons or Ninja keyword weapons. When wielding shuriken, you may take a Complex Action to make a number of ranged attacks equal to your School Rank.
After you attack a target, your opponents and any bystanders must make a Contested Roll of Investigation (Notice)/PER vs. your Stealth/AGI to detect you. You may only use this technique on Rounds when you make a single attack. The GM may rule that concealment is impossible in some circumstances (such as if there is no concealment or cover available).
After making a damage roll for a successful attack, you may spend a Void Point to increase any two dice to show 10s (which do not explode). You may spent multiple Void Points this way, each affecting two dice.
This school is founded on the teachings of Soshi Saibankan, who originally taught its skills to his yoriki, and is credited with its first three Techniques. It still trains Scorpion magistrates, yoriki, guards, and border patrols.
You get +1k0 to Intimidation Skill Rolls, increased to +2k0 against those of lower Status Rank. You get +1k0 to damage with melee attacks.
When prone, you can take a Free Action to roll Athletics/AGI (TN 20) to regain your feet. You get +1k1 to rolls made to control a Grapple.
In a skirmish, once per opponent, if you successfully make three Raises on a called Shot with a melee attack, you can make them Blinded until the Reactions Stage of the following Round.
You may make melee attacks and unarmed attacks as Simple Actions rather than Complex Actions.
Once per skirmish, you can get extra unkept dice equal to your Intimidation Skill Rank on your attack rolls for one Round. This cannot be used in Center Stance.
The Soshi shugenja believe that the kami are far removed from the mortal concepts of ethics and good or evil, and exhibit this belief by commanding them in the service of the Bayushi, working magics of illusion, deception, and manipulation. They have also mastered the art of stealthy spell casting.
The Yogo focus on a special kind of magic using protective wards, similar to the Toritaka exorcism wards, but more flexible. They keep their secrets closely, and rarely allow others to study at their school—and reveal nothing to outsiders, even the Soshi.
Yogo can treat the following spells as having the Wards keyword:
Masters of secrets, Scorpion Instigators turn their own weaknesses into strengths, and learn to control the flow of conversation so that their falsehoods can pass undetected.
When making any Contested Social Skill roll, you get +Xk0 (X is the difference between your Honor Rank and your opponent's).
If anyone is trying to tell whether you are lying, you can spend a Void Point to get +3k3 (instead of +1k1) to the Contested Social Skill Roll to try to conceal your falsehood. If you use this Technique to make obviously false statements, people will soon come to consider you insane.
If you possess Blackmail on someone, you can spend 10 minutes conversing with them and spend a Void Point as a Complex Action to suggest an action they should take. You must win a Contested Social Skill Roll of your Courtier (Manipulation)/AWA agaisnt their Etiquette (Courtesy)/WIL. If you win, if the action is not life-threatening and its consequences are no worse than revealing the Blackmail, the target must take the action or lose 4 Honor points.
The Scorpion Saboteurs are elite shinobi, used in war to attack the enemy's military capabilities indirectly. Most notably, they make use of gaijin pepper.
You get +1k1 to all Stealth rolls, and suffer no Initiative penalties for being surprised, Dazed, or Fatigued.
When you spend a Void Point on a Craft: Explosives roll, you get +2k2 instead of +1k1. You suffer no ill effects from low rolls with Craft: Explosives, and if the optional "fizzle" roll is in effect, you are immune to it.
When fighting with a Small weapon (melee or ranged), you can make a single attack as a Free Action each Round in addition to any other attacks, and can ignore the effects of an opponent's armor on Armor TN and Reduction.
The Bayushi Courtier School teaches specialized techniques for using false information—gossip and rumor—to create chaos at court, within which the Scorpion thrive.
Bayushi Tangen, the founder of the Bitter Lies style, reached success through sheer force of will, refusing to accept anything was beyond him, and taking insane risks. He passed down his no-holds-barred fighting style to a single student, who passed it on to others. The Bitter Lies Swordsmen are reckless and fortunate.
The Kuroiban, or Black Watch, is a secret order created by Yogo and led by his family, drawing the most trustworthy and skillful shugenja from the Scorpion families. Even the Asako Inquisitors only vaguely suspect their existence. The Black Watch works secretly to root out maho, Bloodspeakers, and Taint within and without the clan.
Sometimes called Violators, the Scorpion Elite Guard is a special force: each member trains to fight a specific clan, learning the secrets of their styles of combat.
The Scorpion Clan's artisans who specialize in the creation of courtly masks are unrivaled in the Empire.
The Scorpion are not famed as warriors, but some among them—mostly among the Bitter Lies Legion—excel at martial pursuits.
Scorpion shinobi train with chain weapons, and the Shosuro Acting Academy teaches techniques intended to appear as a dance. The combat techniques are taught in the small Scorpion's Tail dojo, specializing in the kusarigama.
The Shadow Blades are a reputed secret unit trained by the Bayushi and Shosuro.
The Scorpion Clan never publicly acknowledges the existence of most of their elite forces. The Soshi Shadow Hunters are elite assassins who use the kami to accomplish their tasks, succeeding where even the Shosuro ninja cannot.
The Shosuro Assassins employ precise cuts and stabs to slay their targets quickly, with minimum noise and commotion.
Defilers specialize in destroying reputations, spreading lies and calumny with just a seed of truth.
The Soshi Deceivers combine Air magic and the powers of Nothing to create powerful illusion magic. They hardly know what they meddle in.