#Human Adversaries

Contents

Canon. The principal adversaries in an Edo campaign are human.

#Scent — Humans Make the Deepest Night

In Edo, humans open the door before yoma do. A master who stokes revenge, an oyabun who sells a fine blade, a retainer who conceals a possession, an inspector who buries a record — these are what grow incidents. Human adversaries are not weak yoma; they are the social forces that create the opening yoma walk through.

#Law — Using Human Adversaries

Human adversaries follow co unit tier and stat formulas.
Lord-grade humans calculate Wounds, Energy, and Domination from ability scores; even when yoma possession or a scheme is involved, the human power structure's aftermath remains.
Minion and Veteran tiers are used as squads; Elite and Lord tiers as individual units — but always define their authority within the incident and any witnesses present.

#Scene Commentary — The Human Adversary's Authority

Human adversaries may look weaker than yoma, but in Edo they can be far more troublesome. They hold rank, organization, honor, money, and chains of command. A swordmaster dojo's disciples press with numbers; a kept ronin moves on pay and face; a possessed daimyo leaves domain succession and record problems even after being defeated.

Establish the human adversary's authority before combat. Can they make arrests? Can they silence witnesses quietly? If they lose, are there subordinates to absorb the blame? Only with that authority does a human adversary look like part of Edo society rather than a stats block.

Human adversary aftermath:

Kill them: legal and reputation problems arise.
Let them live: revenge and testimony problems arise.
Make it public: factional relationships shift.

#Session Use — Creating a High-Status Enemy

Opening scene: the adversary is introduced first by title, affiliation, and sponsor.
Complication: even winning the fight makes the incident harder to resolve because of the adversary's status.
Final question: can the PCs make the human adversary a criminal, or can they only cut them down with a blade?

#Roster

Adversary	Tier	Use
Swordmaster dojo disciple	Minion/Veteran squad	Dojo fights, mass pressure
Licensed assistant instructor	Elite	Mid-tier dojo antagonist
Killing-demon swordmaster	Lord	Duel-campaign antagonist
Yakuza enforcers	Minion/Veteran squad	Gambling den, ferry, brothel quarter combat
Yakuza kept ronin	Elite	Yakuza-hired swordsman
Yoma-possessed daimyo	Lord	Political antagonist threatening an entire domain
Corrupt doshin	Veteran/Elite	Law-enforcement adversary
Shogunate secret inspector	Elite	Rival or grey-zone adversary

#Swordmaster Dojo Disciple (門下生) — Minion

#Scent

Young men in neat-collared training garb bearing the dojo's crest. Each one is still clumsy with a blade, but they are practiced at moving under one master and to one shared call. Believing the dojo's honor to be their own, they do not know how to back down, and the moment an outsider seems to have insulted their instructor's name, their eyes all change at once. Let enough of them ring you in and a narrow alley or a single courtyard quickly becomes their ground — they pin an opponent against the wall by numbers alone before a blade is even drawn.

Wounds 1, Defense 12. Domination +2 (squad of 5).

Techniques:

Wooden Sword Barrage [Attack] — when commanding. 2d10 + Courage(+0) >= Defense. 1 Wound.
Dojo Encirclement [Stance] — while held. Enemies in the same zone pay +1 Energy to disengage.

#Licensed Assistant Instructor (師範代) — Elite

#Scent

The man who stands one place below the master in the dojo. The hand that received the full transmission certificate moves without waste, and even over his training garb his hardened shoulders and callused hands show through. He speaks little, his posture never loosens, and watching the disciples fall into line at a single word from him, one sees at a glance where the order of this hall comes from. Anyone who steps in feels, before ever seeing his blade, that he is already being measured.

He carries the master's honor and the dojo's reputation on his back, so he rarely draws over a private quarrel. But once the formalities of a proper challenge or duel are in place, he gives not an inch. To best him is not to defeat one man but to bring down the face of the entire dojo, so the aftermath always follows the victory.

Licensed Assistant Instructor (師範代) — Elite
Wounds 4, Defense 14, Energy 11
Courage+2, Finesse+2, Physique+1, Presence+1
Domination +4

Technique	Type	Energy	Roll	Effect	Limit
Frontal Cut	[Attack]	2	2d10+Courage >= Defense	1 Wound	—
Foot Sweep	[Kata]	2	2d10+Finesse vs target 2d10+Physique	Failing target is Defenseless	1/breath
Dojo Guard	[Technique]	reservation 2/improvised 3	2d10+Finesse >= attacker's roll	Negate hit. On success, disciple squad in the same zone gains +1 Cohesion	—

Special:

Disciple Command: May issue squad orders to 1 disciple squad on the same battlefield.

#Yakuza Enforcers (極道行動隊) — Veteran

#Scent

Tattoos bared on the shoulder, a sash tied askew, a dagger hidden in the breast. These are men who prowl the gambling dens, the ferry landings, and the back alleys of the brothel quarters as if they were their own parlor. They press an opponent down with bluster and rough words before any skill with a blade, browbeating passersby and scattering them before they deal with their business. Because everyone knows the oyabun and the organization stand at their backs, even seized by the collar they keep a certain ease — the ease of men who know that if they are cut down in this place, someone else will pay the price for it.

Wounds 2, Defense 13. Domination +3 (squad of 4).

Techniques:

Threatening Rush [Kata] — when commanding. Civilian witnesses in the target zone scatter. More useful for concealment than combat effect.
Dagger Thrust [Attack] — when commanding. 2d10 + Finesse(+1) >= Defense. 1 Wound.

#Yakuza Kept Ronin (食客浪人) — Elite

#Scent

A swordsman who has lost the lord he served and now lives under a yakuza's eaves. The one blade that tells of the warrior he once was is kept well tended, but his robes are frayed and steeped in drink and gambling. The eyes that survey the room look idle — until the sum adds up, and in an instant they turn sharp. Unlike a dojo's assistant instructor, he does not fight for honor; he cuts only as much as the pay he received, but as much as he was paid, he cuts for certain.

What moves him is not loyalty but money and face. So the moment his employer falls or the pay runs dry, he turns his back without regret and shifts the point of his blade toward whoever calls the higher price. To the one facing him, he is the most dangerous enemy and at the same time the one most open to a bargain — not a man to confront with a cause, but a man to weigh against a price.

Yakuza Kept Ronin (食客浪人) — Elite
Wounds 4, Defense 13, Energy 12
Courage+2, Finesse+3, Physique+1, Fate+1
Domination +4

Technique	Type	Energy	Roll	Effect	Limit
Ambush Cut	[Attack]	3	2d10+Finesse >= Defense	1 Wound. Attack roll +2 while in Infiltration state	—
Dirty Kick	[Kata]	2	2d10+Finesse vs target 2d10+Physique	Failing target's next attack -1	1/breath
Spine Parry	[Technique]	reservation 2/improvised 3	2d10+Finesse >= attacker's roll	Negate hit	—

Special:

Blade for Hire: When the client is incapacitated or the fee disappears, attempts to disengage during the lull phase.

#Killing-Demon Swordmaster (殺鬼剣豪) — Lord

#Scent

He must once have been a swordsman who ruled an age, but now his eyes no longer see people — only what can be cut and what cannot. His stance is still flawlessly upright and his blade hangs heavy and settled, yet his face holds neither anger nor pleasure. It is the empty, quiet face only a man who has cut down too many can wear. Stand before him and it is not bloodlust but that indifference that first presses on the spine.

When he catches the scent of blood, he changes. He is drawn as if by a magnet toward the fallen and the wounded, and he will see the end of it. A plea to stop, a hand raised in surrender — none of it reaches him. He is a man in whom something has already broken, and from that broken place swordsmanship alone has survived to move him. There is almost no room to settle things by words, and the one man he has marked cannot escape the pursuit until one of the two has fallen.

Even cutting him down brings no lightness to the heart, for the flawless precision of that blade-tip testifies, in spite of itself, that he too was once a man with something to protect. What the PCs face is not a monster but the dead end a man arrives at when he has cut to the very limit.

Killing-Demon Swordmaster (殺鬼剣豪) — Lord
Wounds 6, Defense 15, Energy 14
Courage+3, Finesse+4, Physique+3, Presence+1, Fate+1
Domination +2.5

Technique	Type	Energy	Roll	Effect	Limit
Cleave	[Attack]	4	2d10+Courage >= Defense	2 Wounds. 3 Wounds on a critical	1/breath
Bloodscent Pursuit	[Kata]	2	—	Immediately move to a zone containing an incapacitated unit	1/round
Mindless Guard	[Technique]	reservation 2/improvised 3	2d10+Finesse >= attacker's roll	Negate hit. On success, next attack +1	—
Killing-Demon's Eye	[Stance]	2	—	While held, +1 to attacks against 1 dueling target; -1 to attacks against all other targets	while stance held

Special:

Will Not Stop Until Blood Is Drawn: During the lull phase, if no unit is incapacitated, the first action of the next round costs +1 Energy. If a unit is incapacitated, next attack +1.

#Yoma-Possessed Daimyo (憑依大名) — Lord

#Scent

He is a daimyo who rules an entire domain. His dress is flawless and dignified, and his bearing is that of a man born to command others. When he enters a room, his retainers hold their breath and draw their knees together, and wherever his gaze settles, everyone's attention rushes. Rank and power themselves are his armor, so before a blade is even raised, the air of the room tilts to his side.

But what dwells within is no longer that one man. The ends of his words sometimes ring in two layers, and an unfitting coldness flickers at the edge of a benevolent smile. The retainers at his side dimly sense that their lord has changed, yet before that rank they cannot open their mouths, and they obey his orders. Even at the moment the possession's true nature surfaces, it is the one who would speak it aloud who is branded disloyal instead.

So this enemy is not finished by being cut down. Strike down the one man and the domain's succession is shaken; expose his crime and the face of both the house and the shogunate collapses with it. The PCs must treat the source of the possession and the seat of power it inhabits as separate things, and that weight returns not by the blade but in the records and the fallout after the incident has ended.

Yoma-Possessed Daimyo (憑依大名) — Lord
Wounds 5, Defense 14, Energy 12
Courage+1, Finesse+2, Physique+2, Wisdom+3, Presence+3, Fate+2
Domination +4.5

Technique	Type	Energy	Roll	Effect	Limit
Voice of Command	[Kata]	3	2d10+Presence vs target 2d10+Courage	Failing human Minion or Veteran squads stop acting for 1 breath	1/round
Possessing Hand	[Attack]	3	2d10+Wisdom >= Defense	[Incorporeal]. 1 Wound. On hit, target's next roll -1	—
House Guard	[Upkeep]	0	—	During the lull phase, 1 human squad on the same battlefield gains +1 Cohesion	1 per lull
Outer Shell Preservation	[Technique]	reservation 2/improvised 3	2d10+Fate >= attacker's roll	Negate hit. Even on failure, the human body absorbs the wound instead, increasing post-incident fallout	—

Special:

Killing Is Not the End: Incapacitating the daimyo alone does not resolve the incident. The cause of the possession, the sealing, the succession structure, and the domain's records must all be addressed.

#Shogunate Secret Inspector (密命監察) — Elite

#Scent

He dresses as an ordinary traveler or a low-ranking official and blends into the crowd, but his eyes alone are different. When he enters a room, he sweeps it once — who is seated where, who is hiding what — and quietly commits it to memory. In his breast, before any blade, he carries a document bearing a secret shogunate order, and he above all knows that the single sheet of paper is heavier than a sword. His manner is courteous, yet that courtesy is itself an interrogation.

Whether he is enemy or ally stays ambiguous to the end. If the PCs pursue a power broker trying to bury an incident, he becomes a collaborator who opens the way; if the PCs try to dig up a truth the shogunate wishes left buried, in that moment he turns into the most relentless of pursuers. What truly must be gauged in dealing with him is not the point of his blade, but whose orders he now serves and which side's report this meeting will be entered upon.

Shogunate Secret Inspector (密命監察) — Elite
Wounds 4, Defense 14, Energy 11
Courage+1, Finesse+2, Wisdom+3, Presence+1, Fate+1
Domination +4

Technique	Type	Energy	Roll	Effect	Limit
Arrest Order	[Kata]	2	2d10+Wisdom vs target 2d10+Courage	1 failing human enemy's next attack -1	1/breath
Inspector's Blade	[Attack]	2	2d10+Courage >= Defense	1 Wound	—
Document Shield	[Technique]	reservation 2/improvised 3	2d10+Wisdom >= attacker's roll	Negate hit. On success, the inspector holds an advantage in subsequent negotiation scenes	—

Special:

May Be an Ally: The shogunate secret inspector is both adversary and rival. They become an enemy if the PCs try to make the incident public; they become a collaborator if the PCs move against a conspiracy.

"In Edo, the most fearsome enemy is not the one who knows how to summon a yoma, but the one who holds a title that can hide one."