Discipline of the Wolf

Description

  If there was a balance in sword styles between solo combat and group combat, this is the discipline that suits the wielder best.   What grants the user of this discipline a benefit over others, is that it is fast, yet highly defensive. Those on the receiving end of such attacks often need to rethink their approach after every attack due to how the blade and stance of the wielder can flow together from an offensive to defensive stance. Further, when grouped with others, regardless of their discipline, will often find themselves moving in sync, granting shared defensive (READ Armor Class) bonuses against the receiver of the attack, whether it hit or did not.  

The History

  The methodology was studied and invented by a Samurai, who became Ronin in exile after his master and brothers were slain by a rival school. The old styles preferred focusing on simply singular, one on one duels, but was rendered next to useless in the face of larger forces.   The Ronin's name was lost to history, but legend states that he lived among wolves, studying their tactics in how they hunted, how they positioned themselves and coordinated as a team, often baiting their food into clever traps if not warding off greater threats to their pack.   The original methodology and its effective use in duels were incorporated into the style, never to forget their roots.   Once the style was perfected, the Ronin began his own school to reclaim his lost honor. When the day for the testing of his new methodology, his students along with him managed to successfully overwhelm the other school, and take the fight to their village. Unlike his enemy, he spared the survivors, only to demand that they never raise a blade to another in their lives, thus honor of the Discipline of the Wolf wiping out another school through mercy.  

The School

  There are a number of small schools with masters of varying skills throughout the land. But due to the nature of the style, and it's varying skills needed to master it, it is said that to truly master the school, you must take on multiple masters over several years to master its countless forms and techniques.   To be welcome into any school for the Discipline of the Wolf, the highest virtues to be observed are both loyalty and temperence.