Borei Ghost Talkers

Magic as the learned shugenja of Kuniumi understand it involves petitioning the kami of the elements, every "spell" more a prayer than a formula.

The Ghost Talkers have subverted this ideal, bypassing the respectful prayers and careful procedures with simple, disgusting brute force. They do not ask the kami, they demand, and they force. They twist the rules of nature to achieve the result they want, without thought for how it distorts the proper balance of things. Luckily, there are very few of these insane blood-sorcerers, these maho-tsukai loose in the world.

School Package

 * +1 Perception
 * Occult as a Favored ability, with a 1-dot specialty in Ghosts.
 * +1 Integrity, Lore, Medicine, and Survival
 * Honor: 0.5
 * Gear: Threadbare robes, staff, bells, collection of odd "spell components"
 * Affinity:Earth
 * Deficiency:Wood

Technique

 * The Walk Towards Yomi:The Ghost Talkers are less a proper school and more a collection of half-mad shamans that have gathered together to pool their knowledge on the forbidden arts of the dead. As such they do not cast spells from scrolls as do normal shugenja, but instead perform a sort of 'hedge magic' involving materials that range from the mundane to the abhorrent. While they have a spell repertoire like any other shugenja, a Ghost Talker may cast any spell they do not know by doubling the time needed to cast it (they still need to succeed on the Spellcasting roll as normal).
 * As well, a Ghost Talker may reduce the time needed to cast a spell by one round by dealing one level of Lethal damage to a sentient creature (themselves included). This practice of blood-magic may be stacked (i.e. reducing casting time by two round for 2L) and can be used in conjunction with their hedge magic. However, the casting time for any spell cannot be reduced to less than one round. Needless to say, blood-magic (also known as maho) is considered a highly dishonorable act.
 * As well, any use of maho causes an accumulation of Fuhai within the user (and sometimes the victim). Any time blood is used to power a spell, the maho-tsukai gains a number of points of Death Taint equal to one less than the spell's rank (minimum 1). This accumulation of Taint occurs regardless of whether the Spellcasting roll succeeds, as does the loss of blood.