#Hell Schools Index (地獄流派索引)

Contents

Core Reference: School System · School Data · 10-Dan Renown Titles · Buddhist 8 Great Hells GM Guide

The 18 schools of the core rules were refined over centuries in human lands. The hell schools were born from a single experience — if there was anyone who lived to return from there.

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#0. What This Document Is

This index contains rules exclusive to the Drift of the Spirit Realm expansion supplement. It follows the structure established by the core School System (Licensed maneuver replacement, secret art replacement, additional benefits, restrictions) while providing 5 new schools that only those who entered hell and returned alive can receive teaching in.

Core 18 + Hell 5 = 23 total. A single PC cannot hold two or more schools in the same skill — this rule remains unchanged.

#Why Hell Schools

The central conceit of Drift of the Spirit Realm is the interpretation that "hell is a mirror" (see Buddhist 8 Great Hells GM Guide). Each of the five hells reflects a specific state of human inner life, and one who passes through that state and returns alive — remembers the principles of that hell in their body.

What organizes this memory into technique is a hell school. The teacher is not a master from the human world but hell itself. Or a yoma, ghost, or hermit who has come to understand the essence of hell may serve as teacher. In either case, the prerequisite that comes first is the experience of that hell — a single condition.

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#1. Summary of 5 Hell Schools

The Mugen Path is not a standalone school but a special route exclusive to 10-dan Tatsujin. It is designed as a campaign-ending device at the same level as the core Renown Title and is incompatible with obtaining a Renown Title. For details, see Mugen Path (無間道) and §6 of this index.

#Structural Identity with the Core 18 Schools

Hell schools follow the core format exactly.

• Licensed maneuver replacement: replaces the unique maneuver at the 3-point level of the relevant skill with the school license
• Secret art maneuver replacement: replaces the unique maneuver at the 4-point (Master) level of the relevant skill with the school secret art
• Additional benefits / restrictions: follows one of the types — Famous School, Secret Transmission, or Self-Taught Style
• Feat cost: 1 slot (same as core standard)

There are only two differences: teaching requirements demand a hell experience, and Heart shifts upon use are formalized as rules (see §4 below).

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#2. Skill-by-Skill Placement of the 5 Schools

How they coexist with the skill-by-skill slot distribution in the core School Data.

There are no hell schools for Unarmed Combat, Ninjutsu, Archery, or Medicine. This is intentional. Which technique lineages the inner states reflected by the five hells' mirrors align with most naturally — sword (repetition of wounds), spear (binding and tearing), sorcery (boiling of emotion), exorcism (purification by flame) — these four skills connect with the four hells of this expansion. The Avici hell is a special route and therefore not a skill-based school.

#Competition with Core Skill Schools

Each skill has room for only one school. A PC who chose Katori in Swordsmanship cannot choose Toukatsu-ryu (and vice versa). A hell school is gained only in exchange for giving up a core school. This rule guarantees the rarity of hell schools.

A single PC holding different schools in multiple skills is permitted (e.g., Swordsmanship Toukatsu-ryu + Spearmanship Kokujo-ryu). In that case, each requires a separate feat slot and separate teaching requirements.

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#3. Teaching Requirements — Why Hell Experience Is Necessary

#Common Prerequisites

Acquiring any hell school requires satisfying all of the following conditions.

#Why Is It This Demanding

Hell schools are situationally more powerful than core schools (each school's secret art has a net efficiency of +1 to 2 Wounds level above core in the corresponding theme situation). This power is exchanged for the narrative credential of having faced the mirror of that hell oneself and survived.

That is, a hell school is not a "cheap strong school." It is a costly, theme-focused school. The event in which the PC passed their inner self through hell's mirror — that event is the school's prerequisite. Without the prerequisite, receiving only the technique is not possible.

#Teachers — Who Do You Learn From

Each school's teacher is one of three kinds.

Candidate teachers are presented in each school document. The GM consults these and adapts them to fit their own campaign.

#Acquisition Dan Rank — When Can You Learn

Core schools can be chosen from character creation, but hell schools can only be received after the narrative event of experiencing the relevant hell. This restriction gives hell schools the character of "growth-milestone rewards."

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#4. Moral Cost — Neutral Teaching, Heart Shift on Use

#Operating Principle

Receiving teaching in a hell school is not itself a moral corruption. Technique is a tool, and how it is used determines the Heart. The same Black Rope binding technique — if used to restrain a yoma, it is Compassion; if used to restrain an innocent person, it is Demon.

This principle interlocks with the central premise of Drift of the Spirit Realm: "hell is a mirror, not a punishment." If merely possessing techniques learned in hell constituted corruption, PCs should flee from their experiences rather than learn from them. This document holds instead that where the learned power is applied is what moves the Heart.

#Principle of Neutral Teaching

The mere fact of learning a hell school produces no Heart shift. The PC has only learned Toukatsu-ryu; what they will do with those techniques has not yet been decided.

This is consistent with core schools as well. Learning Katori does not automatically grant Loyalty +1. Heart shifts arise from actions.

#Heart Shifts on Use — Common Rules

When using a secret art maneuver of any hell school, Heart shifts occur systematically based on the context of use.

The specific corresponding Hearts and situations are specified in §Heart Shifts on Use of each school document.

#Heart Shift Check — Declaration

Heart shifts are not automatic. The GM judges the PC's context of use and declares it. If the player objects, they discuss and reach agreement.

In general, the question "why is the PC using this technique right now?" — where the PC's answer falls among theme, anti-theme, and unrelated determines the outcome.

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#5. Comparison with Core Schools

#Structural Identity

#Differences

#School Type Distribution

Famous Schools are numerous in the core rules, but there are no Famous Schools among hell schools. No group exists that operates techniques from hell as a public school (the moment it becomes public, it has already become a human school).

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#6. Mugen Path — Special Route Exclusive to 10-Dan Tatsujin

#Critical Warning

The Mugen Path is a campaign-ending device at the same level as the Renown Title (Renown Titles (威名)). It cannot coexist with a Renown Title.

All principles from the core Renown Title GM warning apply to the Mugen Path as well — effects that intentionally nullify the core system, recommendation to acquire 1–3 sessions before campaign conclusion, discouragement of continued play beyond 10-dan.

#Mugen Path vs. Renown Title Choice

At promotion to 10-dan Tatsujin, the PC selects 1 of 4 options by adding 1 Mugen Path to the core Renown Title 3-option system (class capstone · background capstone · skill saint). This choice is the final branch that completes the character's story.

#Prerequisites for Choosing the Mugen Path

• Avici depth 3 or higher stay + return alive experience is mandatory
• This experience can occur during the campaign's Chapter 5 (Chapter of Endlessness)
• The Mugen Path cannot be chosen without the prerequisite — replaced by 1 of the 3 Renown Title options

#The Essence of the Mugen Path

The Mugen Path is not "the ability to win." It is "the ability to not end." If a Renown Title provides absolute battlefield supremacy, the Mugen Path provides a state of refusing defeat.

• Immortality (stronger than incapacitated immunity)
• Endurance of infinite suffering (Wounds 0 loses its meaning)
• Time Distortion (halts the flow of rounds for the PC alone)

These three are the 3 axes of the Mugen Path, detailed by dan rank in Mugen Path (無間道).

#Why Was the Mugen Path Not Placed in the Renown Titles

Two reasons.

First, the Mugen Path requires a prerequisite unique to this expansion — hell experience. There is no way to tread on Avici in a core campaign. Therefore it cannot be placed on the core Renown Title list.

Second, the Mugen Path's effects are symmetrical with those of Renown Titles. If a Renown Title is "extreme external domination," the Mugen Path is "extreme self-preservation." They are not of the same lineage; placing them on the same list would make the choice economy confusing. Keeping it as a separate route and restricting access through prerequisites is cleaner from a design standpoint.

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#7. File Structure

5 files follow this index. Each file follows the core school document format.

The structure of each school file is as follows.

1. § Fragrance — the school's philosophy, origin, and identity of the teacher
2. § Method — school Licensed maneuver + school secret art maneuver + teaching stages
3. § Teaching Requirements — hell experience, contact with teacher, acquisition dan rank
4. § Heart Shifts on Use — Q9 decision reflected
5. § NPC Users — Spirit Realm intelligences who possess the relevant school
6. § Example Scenarios — 1–2 scenes making use of the relevant school

The Mugen Path (Mugen Path (無間道)) is structured closer to the Renown Title document format, so it deviates from the above structure in some places.

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#8. Campaign Usage — Suggestions for GMs

#When to Introduce Hell Schools

The GM does not push schools. They hint at the existence of a teacher and leave the path of teaching open if the PC shows interest. If there is no interest, that PC's story is sufficient with core schools or basic maneuvers.

#When Multiple Hell Schools Exist in One Party

The synergies between hell schools are intentionally designed to clash thematically. Toukatsu-ryu (rising again) and Kokujo-ryu (being bound) are dramatic when used together, while Kyoukan-ryu (boiling) and Shonetsu-ryu (becoming ash) form an emotional contrast. This contrast enriches the party's narrative.

There are no rules-level conflicts. Even if multiple PCs in the same zone each activate their hell school, they do not interfere with each other.

#Long-Term Effects After Receiving a Hell School

After a PC has learned a hell school, the relevant hell calls the PC back. GMs use this return pattern in long-term campaigns.

• A Toukatsu-ryu PC is recognized as "kin" by the yoma of Reviving Hell (may not be attacked, or may be in greater danger)
• A Kokujo-ryu PC has their principles entangled with their techniques; if the principles waver, the techniques waver too
• A Kyoukan-ryu PC takes -1 to emotion-control checks (Boiling occurs easily)
• A Shonetsu-ryu PC has +1d10 probability of possessions reducing to ash during a lull (the memory of Shonetsu remains in their body)
• A Mugen Path PC, like a Renown Title holder — is a signal of campaign conclusion

This return pattern is woven into each school document's §NPC Users and §Example Scenarios.

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#9. Glossary

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#10. Origins of Hell School Design — Why This Four-Skill + Special Route Configuration

#Basis for Choosing the Four Skills

The reason the four hell schools of this expansion (Reviving, Black Rope, Screaming, Shonetsu) are each assigned to the Swordsmanship, Spearmanship, Sorcery, and Exorcism skills is that the human inner states reflected by each hell's mirror correspond naturally to the combat language best suited to embodying those states.

Swordsmanship — Reviving. The core sensation of Reviving Hell is the repetition of "cut down. Revive. Cut down again." The most direct tool for rendering this sensation in the language of technique is the sword. The sword is a tool that cuts, and being cut is the principle of Reviving Hell itself. One who holds a sword becomes "the one who cuts" and simultaneously "the one who stands up even after being cut." This duality is difficult to express through other skills.

Spearmanship — Black Rope. The core sensation of Black Rope Hell is "black thread winds around." The spear, a weapon with reach, is a tool that commands distance. But the spear of Kokujo-ryu closes distance and instead entangles user and target on a single line. This is a "reversal of the spear's original function." This reversal corresponds to the essence of self-binding in Black Rope. It is difficult to express "binding" with a sword. The spear's long shaft becomes a natural conductor for thread.

Sorcery — Screaming. The core of Screaming Hell is "emotions that never cool." Emotion is a function of the mind, and what transforms the mind into technique is sorcery. If you try to express "emotion" through sword or spear it becomes a simple sword of anger, a spear of grudge — these lack psychological depth. Only sorcery can take emotion itself as its energy source, designed so that emotion and technique are inseparable.

Exorcism — Shonetsu. The core of Shonetsu hell is "after becoming ash." To become ash means — existence is reduced to another dimension. The skill that can handle this "reduction" is Exorcism. Exorcism is the skill of "sending away" yoma, and Shonetsu-ryu adds the "principle of ash" to this sending. It is difficult to naturally capture the structure of "sending" through sword, spear, or sorcery.

#Why Unarmed Combat, Ninjutsu, Archery, and Medicine Were Excluded

To add hell schools to these skills would require designing new correspondences between the essence of the skill and the essence of the hell. This expansion did not force such correspondences.

#Why Avici Was Separated as a Special Route

Avici Hell is structurally different from the other four hells.

First, Avici is "a hell that cannot be made into technique." The essence of Avici is the absence of sensation, the absence of time, the absence of connection. If you attempt to render this into technique — the technique itself disappears. The "technique" of Avici is not a technique but a change in state of being.

Second, Avici is "a hell without a teacher." The other four hells have yoma, ghost, and hermit teachers. In Avici — there is a being called Mumyo, but they are not a teacher. Teaching itself is impossible. Therefore it cannot be structured as a skill-based school.

Third, the scale of Avici's effects is 10-dan grade. Immortality, status immunity, Time Distortion — these cannot be contained in a 4-point secret art. Design at the Renown Title level is required, and therefore it was separated as a 10-dan special route.

For these three reasons, Avici was implemented in the distinct position of the Mugen Path.

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#11. Guide for Players

#Things to Confirm Before Choosing a Hell School

Hell schools are bound far more deeply to a character's narrative than core schools. Before choosing — answer the following questions for yourself.

Q1. Does the theme of this hell match my character's story?

Reviving (repetition of wounds), Black Rope (binding of principles), Screaming (emotions that never cool), Shonetsu (reduction of loss) — each corresponds to a specific human inner state. Does your character hold that inner state? Without it, the relevant hell school's mechanics will function, but it may be narratively dry.

Q2. Can you carry the "restrictions" of this school throughout the campaign?

Each hell school has restrictions. Kokujo-ryu is bound by principles, Kyoukan-ryu must maintain emotion, and Shonetsu-ryu must accept loss. Whether these restrictions enrich your play experience or become a source of stress — the player themselves must judge.

Q3. Can you invest time in a relationship with the teacher NPC?

Most hell schools require an ongoing relationship with a teacher NPC. Fulfilling the teacher's requests, conversations with the teacher, the teacher's end — this relationship becomes part of the campaign. Are you prepared to invest time in interactions with the teacher NPC?

#Comparative Choice with Core Schools

If the same skill has both a core school (e.g., Katori for Swordsmanship) and a hell school (e.g., Toukatsu-ryu), choose only one. Criteria:

#Notes for Play

PCs holding hell schools — will frequently find themselves returning to the relevant hell. This is an element that enriches the narrative, but it also consumes session time. Whether the other PCs in the party can endure this, or whether it is a party in which each PC has their own hell school — agreement at Session 0 is advisable.

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#12. Compatibility Declaration with Core Rules

The hell school system is backward-compatible with the core School System.

• No hell school concept in the core → no effect if this expansion is not introduced
• Campaign introducing this expansion → 5 hell schools added to the core 18
• PC who chose a hell school in this expansion → when moving to a core campaign, the PC's school is retained, but fulfillment of secret art teaching requirements may be suspended due to lack of access to the relevant hell (GM discretion)
• Cannot simultaneously hold a core Renown Title and this expansion's Mugen Path (see §Critical Warning in this document)

#Principle When Rules Conflict

When this expansion and core rules conflict — the core takes precedence. Parts not covered by the core are covered by this expansion.

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If the five hells are five mirrors, the five schools are five shards. There are those who return bearing those shards — and those shards will begin to ring again someday.

This index has led you as far as the door of technique. Opening that door — is your choice.