Location The House of Blades

[Limey]

"We're not training you to fight. Fighting's just the means. We're teaching you petching vomit-bags to kill. That's what wins battles: blood and petching bodies." Johko of the Quick Steel Clan Set to one side of the great Plaza that dominates the trading center of Taloba, the House of Blades is the closest thing that the city has to a training dojo. That's open to barbarians, that is. Myrians can train at the Barracks or the Training Yards (as long as they don't mind being beaten senseless by the borderline-sadist instructors), but outsiders are simply not trusted enough to be privy to the fighting techniques of the Taloba Army. Not so in the House of Blades. Owned and operated by grizzled veteran Johko of the Quick Steel Clan, the House is open to anyone that wants to learn. Training is brutal and only for those who want to be challenged. Johko spent over three decades marching with the Taloba Army, and there is little about war she does not know, and what there is she does not care to learn. Her services are not cheap, but she is a wealth of knowledge and though you'll leave bruised, battered and panting, you'll certainly be a mite sharper with a blade. Johko and his two assistants (both former husbands of hers, if the rumors are true) are constantly training, either with each other or the groups of students that visit them. They'll be paired with an instructor at the beginning, and those with enough will to continue and potential to be molded will join groups overseen by individual instructors. There, they will fight each other. In twos, in threes, in fours, two against two, three against two, or one, or four... Johko likes to keep things fluid, as a battle would be. NPCs : Skills: Battleaxe - 89; Shortspear - 65; Handaxe - 58; Brawling - 60 Gnosis: Two Marks from Myri; One Mark from Dira The word "veteran" doesn't do Johko justice. She's fought in every campaign the army of Taloba has marched in over the last thirty years. She's been up against Dhani, Humans, Yukmen, Isurians, Akalaks and worse, and collected scalps and tasty, feasted-upon trophies from every single one. Her body looks like a map of Sunberth, slashed and marked with dozens of scars and tattoos. And yet, there she stands, in the House of Blades, still ready to teach even the most experienced warrior a thing or two about war. Johko is and cold and unforgiving woman; decades on the battlefield will do that to you. But she would not have chosen to devote her life to education (of a sort) if she did not have some desire to see her skill passed on. In her mind, the world is a cruel and violent place; only by being prepared to kill any aggressor is anyone truly safe. She provides that safety, and the confidence to wield any weapon her students choose. ---------- Skills: Shortspear - 80; Gladius - 61; Unarmed Combat - 38 Gnosis: One Mark from Myri Ruka is (apparently) Johko's first husband, and despite the fact they're no longer together, his loyalty to her is obvious. Mostly quiet and unassuming - though he probably has little choice around the snarling Myrian female - his skill with spear and gladius is undoubted by all. He's fought alongside his ex-wife for many years, and when she decided to open a training house, he joined her. Whether it's for a steady wage, the chance to inflict more pain on fresh meat or some lingering affection for his former lover, no-one knows by Ruka. You can ask him, if you like... but you'll have to best him, first. ---------- Skills: Tonfa, Wooden: 85; Wakizashi: 70; Dual Wield: 61 Gnosis: Two Marks from Myri Ewaxi is the third instructor at the House of Blades, and is a contrast to the quiet Ruka. Tall, broad and bellowing, he's an expert with dual weapons, combining a fierce strength with attacks from all sides with tonfa and wakizashi. Rumor has it that even the instructors at the Training Yards contract out to him sometimes, when they want the new blood to really see what a Myrian can do. For all his braggadaccio, however, Ewaxi is by no means a cruel or vindictive man. Moreso than Ruka and perhaps Johko, he seeks to educate his barbarian students in the ways of battle. He's hardened, however, as any male would be under a matriarchal society, and his code insists that weakness is the first sin to be expelled in his lessons. Once that is gone, wisdom can follow...