There has long been a connection between martial
excellence and personal excellence. Skill in fighting makes a person
more likely to survive, but more importantly, training in violence gives
the same person more control over their violent, instinctive selves.
Katamancers seek the height of that control. Using fighting as a
focusing lens through which they refine their souls, the Katamancers are
constantly studying and honing their skills, and so, they believe, their
selves. Often called Fu Wizards, the Katamancers wander the earth seeking
new martial challenges to test and temper their skills.
However, despite the love affair between the Katamancer
and his fighting, the Katamancers are rarely violent people. In training,
they master and reign in their violent impulses. Fighting is a tool
for self improvement, and is used only for that. They do not fight
for the love of inflicting harm, but instead for the love of skill and
proficiency. Many of them, outside of formalized and arranged bouts,
are pacifists. The Fu Wizards refuse to debase their skill by fighting
in every day life. Fighting is an art, and not a tool.
Fu Wizards have an easy time getting the minor juice,
but the stronger stuff requires them to seek out and challenge famous fighters,
or other Katamancers. As a result, they are constantly on the go,
looking for the next charge, trudging each step closer to personal perfection.
Katamancy Blast Style: The Fu Wizards use fighting to provide charges, and so would never use their charges to attack. This is not to say they cannot use charges in a fight, they just don't blast people with them.
Generate a Significant Charge: No longer content to merely practice,
the Fu Wizard gains the big mojo by testing their skill
against a worthy opponent, at an auspicious location. The opponent
must be either a fellow Fu Wizard or a mundane Fighter of great and famous
ability. They must fight at the sight of a great contest of arms
(battlefields, arenas, etc.). They must not use any magick during
the fight, and they must win to gain the charge. They cannot fight
the same opponent twice in the same place, which is why most Fu Wizards
are nomadic. While it is possible to gain charges from the same opponent
multiple times in a row, most Fu Wizards do not particularly like to do
this. Still, it is not unusual to see Fu Wizards travel in pairs,
usually in the form of master and apprentice.
Generate a Major Charge: Find and defeat a fourth channel Avatar
of an archetype associated with fighting, in single combat. This
must take place in a place symbolic for that archetype, and the fight must
be arranged; the Fu Wizard may not assault the Avatar at random.
The adept cannot use charges. Note that while some Fu wizards channel
the Masterless Man, none are known to have achieved the fourth channel.
(Some GMs may opt to require the opponent to be a Godwalker, but I think
this is excessive.)
Taboo: Katamancers may not inflict wounds outside of an arranged battle. Note that "by attacking me he arranged a fight with me" is not a valid excuse. The fight must be arranged several hours in advance. Many Fu Wizards are skilled at "soft" martial arts, so as to defend themselves without breaking taboo. If the arranged fight involves rules of conduct, then breaking them violates taboo. Shooting a gun at someone is always taboo, though target practice is not. Note that "I wasn't shooting at him, I was targeting at his sunglasses" is not a valid excuse.
Random Magick Domain: Katamancers seek self perfection. Their magic can be used for many feats of physical and mental excellence. "Legendary" feats of martial skill are possible with this magick, unless or course, it would break taboo. So, punching through a wall is okay, but punching through someone's torso is not. There is only one gray area in which magick can be used to harm in combat. In an arranged fight where magick is explicitly allowed, the Fu Wizard can be as nasty as he wants to be. However, the adept will gain no charges from such a contest, and won't have formula spells for these occasions.
Starting charges: Charges can be easily and safely, and starting Katamancers have six minor charges.
The Bleeders are a younger, hungrier form of
Katamancy, quickly surpassing their parent art. Records of the Fu
Wizards extend as far back as the nineteenth century when they achieved
dim recognition in the writings of British colonialists in Asia.
Since then, they have wandered the world, seeking charges, but dwindling
as their philosophical view on violence became less regarded, and violence
less idealized.
In America, a school has seen a resurgence amongst
bitter suburbanites dissatisfied with their humble, predictable lives.
Pursuing violence less as a means of self perfection but as a means
of self-discovery, these magicians focus on the brutality aspects of fighting
rather than the skill and excellence traditionally associated with Katamancy.
While the Fu Wizards are all taught, the Bleeder
are somewhere between an Adept and a Prodigy. The magick spreads
like a disease or addiction amongst some people. Most Bleeders see
it as "some people are Bleeders waiting to happen." People become
Bleeders after contact with another Bleeder, but only if they were predisposed
to pick it up anyway.
Bleeders and Fu Wizards are both considered Katamancers, as they maintain the same Taboo and nearly identical Formula Spells. However, charges are built up differently, and the spells are called differently and work a little different. Bleeders are a lot more likely to break taboo than Fu Wizards, and tend to view random violence as almost as good as arranged fights, just not as compatible with magic.
Generate a Minor Charge: Get in a fight in which you take at least three points of damage. This fight must be arranged, though Bleeders require much less formality than Fu Wizards. Also, if you can induce violence in anyone, and get them to inflict at least three points of damage, you can get a change whether the fight was arranged or not.
Generate a Significant Charge: Get in a fight, and walk away at least twenty points lower. Many Bleeders says they learn more from a fight they lose than the ones they win. Alternately, if the Bleeder can insight someone to beat the tar out of him, for at least twenty points, that's a significant charge. The fight should be arranged, but not as formally as with a Fu Wizard. If the Bleeder can goad someone into throwing the first punch without threatening them or backing them into a corner, this is sufficient.
Generate a Major Charge: Leave a fight (walk, crawl, whatever) with an injury that won't heal. Use the major charge requirements from Epideromancy; if the fighter suffers that sort of injury, it's a major charge. Note that this must be suffered in an arranged fight. An ally standing over the Bleeder with an ax planning to lop off a hand is not necessarily a fight, but maybe just a grisly favor, and won't generate the charge.
Changes to formula spells: