Attributes

Air

Reflexes (Physical)

Air is omnipresent, and when roused to violent motion, its speed is the greatest among the elements, coursing with the celerity of the gale across the plain. When force is turned against it, Air is already gone, parting before the blow without thought or effort. Just as Air is impossible to strike, Reflexes represents a person’s physical ability to react instantly to change. Reflexive action is not powerful, but is as quick as lightning, and quicker than thought, allowing one to be where opposing force is not just as the breeze passes through a forest despite the grasping branches of the trees. When some action or motion must be accomplished in less than an instant without the interference of the mind, it is Reflexes that will allow it to be done.

Reflexes is an attribute largely focused around combat, primarily giving you a higher armor target number.

Awareness (Mental)

Just as Air touches all things lightly, sensitive to change but unfocused on any one aspect of its environment, Awareness represents a broad but shallow intake of external stimulus. It is the faculty that allows a person to detect things outside of the direct focus of their perception, to notice shifts, both in oneself, one’s environment, and one’s peers, without having to look for them. When something changes unexpectedly, whether a falling leaf or a momentary frown on a friend’s face, it is through Awareness that one may come to know of it.

Perhaps the most important social attribute, Awareness' broad understanding is also what allows one an understanding of others' emotional cues, and helps with the promotion of them, even governing aesthetic sense.

Earth

Stamina (Physical)

Just as the Earth may be weathered by wind and wave and remain unbroken, so is Stamina the body’s shield against physical strain. It is the flinty endurance of a body ignoring external stress and its own limits: the slow, steady, imperturbable ability to exert oneself endlessly. When one must disdain all wounds, all exhaustion, all hindrance in the pursuit of continued effort, it is Stamina which will carry one forward.

Rarely used in skills, this attribute is most important for the ring bonus of Earth.

Willpower (Mental)

Like the patient, stoic calm of the Earth, Willpower is the mind’s ability to weather and withstand adversity. It is the stony bedrock of the personality. Fear, temptation, anger, pain, despair; all of these are fleeting against the enduring fortitude of the mind— and with sufficient mental discipline, they may never take hold at all. When one’s thoughts must be focused against outside influence, when one’s spirit must overcome the reluctance of the flesh, when the world commands one to move and one must answer no, it is Willpower that provides the strength.

This attribute is used in tests such as fear checks, and less important than the ring that governs it.

Fire

Agility (Physical)

Like a wild and vibrant Fire, the body acts with energetic and aggressive motion. When the Fire in the body burns hot, flesh dances and darts like a flame; when the Fire is banked, it acts with precise and restrained motion, ever prepared to burst forth with greater energy. When the body must act with focused energy and speed, or with overwhelmingly fierce motion, it is through Agility that it acts.

Used for dexterous manipulation, such as striking a target or playing a flute, this is arguably the most important statistic for a Bushi.

Intelligence (Mental)

Just as Fire moves swiftly and burns brightly, so too does the mind. Like a fire seeking new fuel, the mind consumes that which it touches on, and grows for being fed. So too is Intelligence is the energetic, hungry motion of the thoughts, dancing from idea to idea, burning the fuel of fact down to the coals of insight. When the mind must race to draw a conclusion, or to recall some distant fact, or act with fierce energy, it is Intelligence that allows it to be done.

Everything from recalling what you read on a scroll years ago to most efficiently planning a village's rebuilding efforts fall under this attribute.

Water

Strength (Physical)

Like the tsunami, through Strength one may exert incredible force upon the world. As Water washes over anything lesser than it, so too may one enact their own might upon all obstacles. When one must wield physical power to overcome or push aside material obstacles, it is with Strength that it is accomplished.

Most notably used for increasing your damage, this attribute tends to be overshadowed by the ring that governs it.

Perception (Mental)

Just as Water will inevitably find the path of least resistance and pursue it, so will Perception find that which it seeks. When the senses are fluid and adaptable, they may take the shape of the world around them, conforming to circumstances in order to arrive at a perfect understanding of the truth. When the gaze must play across scene to land upon the one minute detail of import, it is through Perception that it may be done.

This governs your ability to perceive the physical world around you, the five senses.

Void

The Void is beyond the physical. It is the unifying principle at the heart of existence, the nothingness from which the universe was born, and to which souls are able to return through attaining Enlightenment and transcending the Wheel of Reincarnation. The Void touches upon all things, and through it, all things are one. It is a well of limitless power, and by surfing upon it, the human spirit is capable of great and astounding feats.

Void is a ring with no attributes. It governs Void Points, how many you can have on your character, and certain supernatural rolls.

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