Some say its written on animal skin and kept within a hollowed human thighbone.
Others insist it was made of the finest paper, the ink dried with gold dust,
and stored within a tube of creamy white jade. A few argue it was purchased
or stolen by a Benedictine library in 1395, and re-bound as a Western-style
book. One lone scholar insists that the scroll was tattooed on the body of
a living monk, who was flayed alive by Aztech priests, the skin carefully
tanned and kept in a corporate pyramid. I laugh at these rumors, for I have
the Scroll of Feng and I know the truth...
-Xie Xie Nyugen
Unarmed combat is most widely acknowledged in the Orient, where the forbiddence
of weapons gave birth over time to a variety of popular forms, kept, spread,
refined and added to be generations of pugalists, monks, and warriors in
many different cultures. Other cultures throughout history have developed
their own styles of armed an unarmed combat, delving into the science of
fighting to fit their own philisophic ideals or the weapons they chose to
wield. As with many arts, the Martial Arts gained a mystique, being practiced
by select groups and sects. Inclusion in these groups included education
in not only combat, but esoteric philosophies and arcane knowledge. Membership
was often restricted, sometimes to bloodlines or worthy initiates only, and
rumors of secret arts, especially effective moves, and hidden techniques
became a staple of the legend surrounding such orders. Generally speaking,
the popularity and reknown of a given art or category of art was based on
it's effectiveness. The introduction of firearms, armor, cyberweapons, laser
weapons and the like reduce the popularity of previous martial art forms,
although they neve go away completely. Magic acts as a counterbalancing agent,
improving all forms of martial combat while favoring the unarmed adept, the
one being that is their own weapon. The Scroll of Feng teaches that the true
warrior masters all weapons, but needs nothing but their own flesh to defend,
to attack, to injure, to cripple, and to maim.
-Introduction to the thesis of Xie Xie Nyugen, unpublished
The Scroll of Feng is a legendary (and some claim, apochryphal) text that
details the movements, maneuvers and exercises of a lost martial art. Rumors
concerning the movements of the scroll down the century are many and obscure,
but it is agreed that the author, named Feng by the scribe of Peter, 1st
Pope of Rome, travelled widely, from barbarian Japan to enlightened Autoghast,
from the primitive foot-fighters of what would be France to the Indus river.
'Feng' recorded his 'ultimate' martial art on a single scroll, fully twenty-five
feet long when unspooled. He never taught any student his secrets, and when
he died (choking on a fishbone, it is said), the local Toaist magician ordered
it buried with him, and the scroll was buried and prayed over as if it were
a man.
The Scroll of Feng did not rest easy in it's grave, and through the centuries
rumors have held of the scroll being found, torn, destroyed, transcribed,
translated, and lost. Whatever the truth of the matter, the Scroll of Feng-or
a document that claimed as much-was discovered by a budding adept in Hunan
in 2010. A college-educated martial arts enthusiast and historian, the adept
deciphered the arcane secrets of the Scroll of Feng, and the teachings of
the scroll, combined with the pseudo-hermetic Wu Jen teachings popular at
the time, became the focus of his Way.
The adept died in 2063, after completing the training of his pupil, the now-legendary
adept and female martial artist Xie Xie Nyugen, known as the Laughing Tiger.
Feng-School Martial Arts
The martial arts described by the Scroll of Feng focus on adaptability and
improvisation, including movements and maneuvers from many different schools.
Martial artists who follow Feng-School typically learn to use all manner
of weapons to some extant. The Laughing Tiger is proficient in any weapon
you care to name, though she especially enjoys the quarterstaff and rattan
sticks.
Advantages: Instead of choosing a new Feng maneuver, a character with
this skill can choose to use a single previously used Feng maneuver when
using one of the following: the Clubs skill, the Cyberimplant weaponry skill,
Edged Weapons skill, Pole Arms/Staffs skill, or Whips skill.
Disadvantages: To take this skill, the character must read the Scroll
of Feng. The scroll may be purchased, borrowed, or stolen, but in any event
many martial artists and antique dealers will seek it, giving the character
a 2-point Hunted flaw.
Maneuvers: Blind Fighting, Close Combat, Disorient, Evasion, Ground
Fighting, Herding, Kick Attack, Sweep, Zoning
Stunts
The Scroll of Feng also describes different stunts, combinations of powers
and geasa or maneuvers that are typically used by practitioners of Feng.
Any adept who knows Feng martial arts may take these power/geasa combinations,
and perform the accompanying stunt (provided they know the correct maneuver).
Double Monkey Bitch-Slap
Cost: .75 power points
A favorite of Xie Xie Nyugen, this stunt is a use of the geased Delay Damage
power (only when using Feng martial arts) combined with the Disorient maneuver.
The martial artist quickly slaps their opponent multiple times, often using
the Ambidexterity edge (not needed, but a nice touch). This embarrassing
attack renders an opponent flustered, usually helpless, and completely unharmed
from the carefully planned and showy assault.
The Iron Castle
Cost: .75+ power points
This stunt requires the geased Counterstrike and Sidestep powers (only when
using Feng martial arts), and characteristic whirling arm gestures combined
with the Evasion maneuver. When performing the Iron Castle, the character
enters Full Defense, using Evasion, and taunts his opponents into a frontal
assault by not moving. When attacked, the character uses their Counterstrike
power to turn their oppoent's assualts against them, sometimes with Judo-like
movements to redirect the force of their enemy's assault.
Love's Delight
Cost: 5.5 power points
This stunt is a lethal combination of Penetrating Strike (3), Smashing Blow,
and Killing Hands (D), which the Feng martial artist is bound by oath to
use only together. The adept uses Close Combat and a Called Shot, then uses
their power to literally rip the beating heart from their enemy, smashing
through the bones of the rib cage to remove the offending organ. Even titanium-laced
bones and armor are not sufficient to stop this terrible power.
A successful attack and a Deadly wound means the victim's heart is ripped
from their chest. Otherwise, the attack misses or the victim is merely wounded.
A character without a heart loses all benefits from synthacardium implants
and typically dies in short order; werewolves, vampires and others with the
regeneration power may not be as discomfited.
Flail of the Elements
Cost: 2.25+ power points
This stunt, inspired by Wu Jen teachings, transforms the adept's Killing
Hand into a Flail of the Elements. The character takes five Elemental Strike
powers, which are geased so that they may only be used while the adept is
barefoot, and must always be used together, never seperately. The Flail of
the Elements is delivered with a Kick attack, and possesses the secondary
elemental effects of fire, water, metal, sand, and smoke (burning wood).
Gentle Breeze
Cost: .25 power points
This deceptively-named power requires a geased Inertia Strike (only when
on the ground), as the adept strikes the target with the Inertia Strike and
the Sweep maneuver, then both fall down. Once on the ground, the adept typically
use their Ground Fighting maneuver and the Full Offense option to assault
their foe.
The Black Curtain
Cost: .5+ power points
Utiliyzing a geased Improved Ability (weapon of choice) and Enthralling Performance
powers (may only be used with a weapon that the adept may use the Zoning
maneuver of Feng martial arts with), the adept may use their weapon-based
Zoning maneuver to give an Enthralling Performance.
Broken Shadow Blow
Required: Elemental Strike (Ice or Fire), Killing Hands (S), Penetrating
Strike (3)
Using a full-attack option, the adept executes a stiff two-finger penetrating
strike, right through their body. In the Fire version, the wound is cauterized
as the plug of burnt flesh is pushed out the back, while in the Ice version
the plug of frozen blood and tissue drops and shatters on the ground.
The name comes from an ancient use of this power, when a victim saw their
shadow before them, with a bright circle of light wavering in the middle,
as the light of the noon sun shone through the wound.