Hinan Magistrate School

The premier school of barbed logic and sharpened wit, the critical Hinan Magistrates are known for cleanly slicing through poorly-constructed counterarguments and verbally eviscerating their opponents. While most certainly not a malicious school, the Hinan Magistrates are nonetheless infamous for tearing down attempts to amend the status quo unless those amendments prove to be imminently persuasive or capable of deflecting any Hinan attempts to gut them procedurally.

Perhaps confounding to some, the Hinan Magistrates also have a reputation for being some of the most fair and impartial judges the Empire has to offer. Provided one has not broken the letter of the law, the Hinan take great pride in honoring that law, even if they might thoroughly disdain individual ordinances.

School Package

 * +1 Wits
 * Bureaucracy as a favored ability, with a 1-dot Specialty in Law.
 * +1 Integrity, Investigation, Linguistics, and Lore
 * Honor: 6.0
 * Gear: High-quality clothing, writing utensils, documentation on local statutes, jitte or sai.

Techniques

 * (Rank 1) Fledgling's Eyes: Hinan Magistrates are foremost a school of philosophy, logic, and deduction, and a peace-keeping force second only to that. While they are known to memorize statutes and legislature, they are trained to never take the letter of the law for granted, and always approach it with fresh eyes. As such, they are prone to notice details others are not, reducing all difficulties for Investigation, Linguistics, or Bureaucracy rolls involving gathering evidence, research, or noticing small details by 1. If they choose to channel a Willpower point through their Conviction, they may instead reduce the difficulty by their School Rank for a single roll. Difficulty can never drop below 1.
 * (Rank 2) Vaulting the Waves Protocol: When attempting to traverse the ocean of bureaucracy, Hinan Magistrates are adept at leaping right to the heart of a matter, without leaving any paperwork undone. They simply do precisely what is required, and no more. Any attempt to stall a magistrate requires a success on a contested Wits + Bureaucracy (Law) roll, with the Hinan Magistrate winning all ties. Further, the Magistrates always halve Bureaucracy waiting times. Finally, spending a Void point on any Bureaucracy roll provides 2 automatic successes instead of 1.
 * (Rank 3) Barbed Beak, Barbed Words: Choosing to police with words over force, Hinan Magistrates may make a Wits + Investigation social attack against a target's MDV (speed 3) at any time (even in combat), pointing out their obvious flaws and weaknesses. If successful, the target loses confidence on their next related action, reducing any successes by 1.
 * (Rank 4) Quieting the Surf Meditation: The ability to pluck meaning from raucous environments, be they a loud debate, roaring melee, or environmental noise, is a storied ability of the Hinan Magistrates. Spend a Willpower point and roll Wits + Linguistics to gain an intuitive understanding of what's being said--degrees of success indicate number of discrete conversations or particularly substantial details.
 * (Rank 5) Snatch the Answer: Spend a void point and roll Wits + Bureaucracy (Law) or Lore for a Magistrate to scan their aggregated knowledge for an answer (even if they really have no business knowing it) for a question related to (any) law, legislature, or the history thereof.