After the Burning Sands in part 1, and the Ivory Kingdoms and the Firefly clan in part 2 (

) here come the Naga and the Nagah. All that is left is the Yobanjins, don't know when I'll get around doing those but hope you like all this.

Nagah :

The Nagah has a long history with the Ivory Kingdoms, even if the Naga themselves were unaware of it until the War of Serpents started. Before the war started, the newly built Naga Embassy (the first allied nation of the Emerald Empire since its creation, and those from the Naga Embassy were considered imperials when it come to deal with them) had really little interest in what the Rokuganni were doing in the Colonies. They asked to have some oversight on whatever Naga relics and ruins where found, but they likely didn’t expect that so many would be found… and that they would be inhabited.

For a long time, Naga Abominations sometimes fled south to the Ivory Kingdoms. While not being transformed like their cousins the Naar Teban, they often shifted philosophies from their brethren and the Naga warned their kin about those Nagah that lived far away. And among those, one group was anathema to those who believed in the Akasha, the followers of the Destroyer.

Founded by the abomination Kashal centuries ago, this cult is based in the Sanctuary of the Outcasts, an ancient abandoned Rhumal temple, and reveres the Destroyer. They believe this ancient god of the Ivory Kingdoms is a path of rebirth for them. They let their emotions and desires go wild in their quest of retuning their mind to the Akasha, not noticing all the self-control and patience of their communal mind is opposed to this path. As such, the Destroyers, as they are sometimes called, are a lure for the Abominations rejected by their brethren.

The Dark Nagahs, on the other side, are mostly lonely Abominations who have roamed and adapted to the environments of the Ivory Kingdoms without joining the Destroyers but growing on an hatred of their kin who rejected them. They had been for centuries a bane to those who travelled through the jungles of the Ruined Kingdoms, but never unified until the reincarnated The Sashimael connected them together and turned them into an army.

Ningyo :

The children of the Spawn Father were once Naga, who suffered the curse of the Ashalans in a very different way than many of the brethren. They changed from chameleons nagas to the ancient race linked to water, forever forgetting their own proud and powerful civilization. They created their own culture and rebuild, being part of the 5 ancient races who ruled Rokugan after the Great Sleep that ended the Naga Empire.

The Ningyo were still naga, and still had a really faint connection to the Akasha. The Dark Naga used this connection to force many of the Ningyo from the Colonies and the south of Rokugan to join his Dark Nagah army. But others rose to oppose him and allied themselves with the Mantis clan, getting into contact with their long-lost cousins through Yoritomo Minori.

Ningyo are created like normal bloodlines of the Naga with + 1 perception, only a starting Akasha of 1, and the following traits : aquatic and Ningyo speech (see enemies of the empire page 183). If the optional Ningyo curse rule is used, they have it too. They can take any Naga school but the Vedic school, and cannot take mutations.

New schools and paths :

- Naga champion [new path, warrior] :

Thanks to the Akasha, differences between nagas rarely escalate to a point in which they need a duel. But when it does, it is nothing like a ritual iaijutsu of the Rokugani. The Test of the Blade is a ritualized unarmored duel but that the only similarity with the human duels : it is done with padded naga scimitar and end when one has all but his head touching the ground. There is no shame, honor or death involved, it is a way to settle peacefully an argument, and as such, non combatant naga can pick a champion. Usually they are warriors, but some naga (especially asp) train themselves to master the naga blade and become Naga Champions. Those nearly forgotten path became much more important when the Naga were granted an embassy at the Iweko court, leading to them meeting with duelists from the clans on a regular basis (even if duels between Naga and human are almost unheard of), but it really became a prestigious position when the War of Serpents became a full war. For some strange reason, some of the Dark Nagahs honor the duels rite of their brethren, but to the death, and Tests of the Blade have been known to happen in the middle of battles between the two factions.

Replaces : Naga scout 2, Naga warrior 2 or Naga vedic 3.

Requirements : swordmanship (Naga blade) 3, lore : Naga law 2.

- Technique : Focus on the One.

The Naga Champion focus on its own individuality while still being a part of the Akasha to master the blade and find his own center. Such mastery on its own self allows the naga to find the weakness in their opponent’s stance and strike at it like a viper.

While in center stance you can add your perception to your TN to be hit. You can add your awareness to your initiative.

- Naga slayer [new path, warrior] :

The Naga slayer great lesson is a warrior tradition unique among the Naga and quite rare for there is not many who are tailored for it. Almost invariably constituted of Asps warriors, those who take the mantle of slayers are trained to deal with one specific enemy, usually the one threatening the race at the time. Ashalan, oni, others shadowlands creatures and spirits are the usual enemies the slayers are trained to fight, but the Dark Nagahs slayers train to kills humans and others Nagas.

Replaces : Naga scout 2, Naga warrior 2.

Requirements : one weapon skill at 3, lore : [selected enemy] 2, stealth 2.

- Technique : the Serpent’s fury.

The slayer is a deadly opponent, something his prey will learn soon enough. Their fury is a terrible thing, and they have keen senses and are totally ruthless in accomplishing their goals.

When you take this great lesson, you need to select one enemy : the Nothing, Oni, Shadowlands creatures (everything with a natural Taint score which isn’t an oni or a spirit), Ashalan, Spirits, Nagas (only for Dark Nagahs), human (select a faction : Unicorn clan, Ebonites, members of house Suresh…), Dragons (applies to Ryu and tattooed men). You get + 1k0 to attacks and stealth rolls against your enemy and can spend an Akasha point to make your attacks be considered crystal for all purpose for school ranks rounds. If your target has no vulnerability to crystal or you are using crystal weapons, you can instead spend one Akasha point on damage once per skirmish.

- Shahadet’s legion [new path, warrior] :

The Shahadet is the greatest military leader of the Naga race, and while he had rarely to lead armies into battle until the end of the Great Sleep, he has a core of devoted warriors who bears his name. They are bodyguards and guardians, elite warriors renowned among their race.

Replaces : Naga warrior 4.

Requirements : one weapon skill at 5, one weapon skill at 4, defense 4, battle 3, fire 3, air 3.

Technique : Chosen of the Shahadet.

Those who are selected to serve the Shahadet are masters of warfare. Many of them have fought in the past during the Blood Wars and later Shadowland beasts, humans and now Dark Nagahs. You get + 1k0 to all your battle rolls, you gain a reduction equal to your Akasha during mass battle and when you are using the guard maneuver.

Temple guardians [new path, monk, warrior] :

The religion of the Naga will be forever alien to the Rokuganni, but they can see the great temples of the Shinomen are important to them. And as such, warriors and vedic raise to protect it from invaders, especially Dark Nagahs bend on destroying their cousins.

Replaces : Naga Vedic 4.

Requirements : swordmanship (Naga blade) 5, lore : Naga theology 5, lore : Naga law 3, fire 3, Akasha 3.

Technique : soul of stone and thunder.

The Temple Guardians master an ancient martial art which uses two Naga blades, despite the usual eschewing of such weapons by their order. You can wear two Naga blades at the same time, and when you do so, you suffer no penalties of any kind for dual wielding. When you have two Naga blades, you can make simple attacks action with Naga blades.

- Master of the Akasha [advanced school, monk] :

Those who join this advanced school are rare and both revered and pitied. There connection to the Akasha is so strong they have an understanding unmatched of it but at the price of losing their own personality. They become distant and alien as they can call upon long dead past lives.

Requirements : divine focus advantage, Akasha 5, meditation 5, lore Naga theology 6, intelligence 4, fascination : Akasha.

- Rank 1 technique : Alter the future.

Through the immense knowledge of the Akasha, you can see patterns and as such predicts events and alter them. You can meditate one hour to get the ability to force, once a day, to reroll any roll make within Akasha X 10’ done by anyone. You choose which of the two results your target keep. Whenever you aren’t using your divine focus advantage or have summoned a Lesson from the Past through your rank 2 technique, you are considered to have the Adrift from the Akasha disadvantage.

- Rank 2 technique : Summon the past.

The Master of the Akasha can dwell into the common experiences of all the Naga race and access the past lives of his line as much as any other Naga’s. By spending an Akasha point and meditation for a round, he can call upon a past live for one hour. You can access any Lesson of the Past advantage with an experience cost less or equal to your insight rank.

- Rank 3 technique : Command the present.

The complete experiences of your race are accessible to you at any time. You may spend an Akasha point as a free action to be able to use for one hour any advantage available to a Naga character or to raise any of your skill by your insight rank.

- Caller of the spawn-father [new path, jakla] : + 1 strength.

The ningyo speaks of the mythical spawn-father, and see the Dragon of Thunder as an avatar of it. No humans has ever been able to know what it means, but it could have been a reference to the Fortunes who created the world and all Dragons are their avatars.

Skills : meditation (Akasha recovery), spellcraft, medicine, athletics (swimming), sailing, spears, any skill.

Honor : 4,5

Outfit : underwater clothing, naga spear, travelling pack, pearl cache, 4 (non-magical) pearls, net.

Affinity / deficiency : water/ earth.

Technique : Stormless fury.

The Ningyo uses pearl magic like Naga but in a different way. Earth is something they have a hard time understanding and mastering, while they have seen and summoned the powers of storms. They have a free raise on [thunder ] spells. You can spend as many Akasha points as you want when casting spells. If you are near a large body of water, once per day, you can cast a water spell without using a spell slot.

Pearls : 3 pearls of water level 2, 2 pearls of air level 1 and 1 pearl of fire level 1.

Items :

- Naga armor : Naga armor is really similar to Rokugani armor in the making and in quality. As such, they are identical to light and heavy armors (even if the second type is really rare) but have one difference : as many Naga swim on a regular basis (some lives even underwater), Naga armor will not rust or be damaged by being in the water for a long time as long as they are properly cared for.

- Naga bow : many Nagas are talented archers, and as such the Naga makes their own bows. But since they are taller than any human, even for the smallest ones, the Naga yumi is considered a daikyu (and Naga do not suffer penalties for not shooting from horseback) and the Naga scout bow is the equivalent of a yumi. Like their armors, bows can be kept underwater for a long time without them being damaged.

- Naga hunting knife : the Nagas uses those knives for many purposes. They are larger and more curved than a tanto, but mechanically the same. Like their armors, they can be used underwater without risk as long as they are properly cared for.

- The Pearl-prison : history says that this powerful Unique pearl has only been used once, by The Osseuth to capture Iuchi Karasu and Kuni Yori. As a full round action, this pink pearl can be activated to target an area within 100’ of the bearer. All living creatures within the area must make an opposed roll between the bearer Akasha (or Void) + 5 and their own Void. If they fail, they are trapped forever in the pearl until the bearer uses some powerful magic to release them.

- Earthen pearls : only 5 of those blue-grey pearls have ever been found, and each of them has a level of 1 to 5. They grants their bearer, as long as he has no others magical pearl on him, a reduction equal to the pearl’s level.

- The Dragon pearl : there is rumoured to be two of those pearls, maybe more (some think they may be one for each of the Dragons). Those pearls are really powerful as they allow the bearer to cast spells as if he was a shugenja of rank 5 with an affinity to the element of the pearl (so far, it seems to exist a fire dragon pearl and a water dragon pearl). The pearl has all the spells of their corresponding element from the core book, maybe more.

- Spirit pearls : those pearls exists in the 5 elements and with level from 1 to 5, corresponding to the mastery level of the spell they contains. If there are any of those pearls with spells of mastery level 6, none has ever heard of it. They works exactly like others spell pearls, except that they grant a free raise to the casting of that spell. Only the greatest jakla know how to make those, and they are quite rare.

- Remnants of the Golden Pearl : the Golden Pearl was a unique pearl that gave birth to Akasha, the human – Naga hybrid that served as an intermediary between the two races. The remnants of the pearl she hatched from are still powerful nemuranai and someone can connect to it. Through rituals and meditations, someone can attune himself to it and spend 12 exp points to buy the Blessing of the Golden Pearl advantage, which allow the bearer to use the rank 1 Jakla technique. A human need the Naga Ancestry advantage to do so.

- Skin of the Naga : the Naga calls Unique pearls who have an unique power, even if they aren’t unique in numbers. There is 5 Earthen pearls but they are part of the unique group, just like the unique Black Pearl, Pearl of Mists or the White Pearl. It is unknown if there is more than one Skin of the Naga. A cream-white pearl with orange carvings, the Skin of the Naga is a powerful pearl: after meditating 8 hours with it, the bearer, as long as he has it with him, can use the rank 1 Naga scout technique. If he has already it, he can use the rank 1 Naga warrior technique. If he has both, he can use the rank 1 Naga vedic technique. Also, if the bearer is a naga, he gains an enhancing mutation advantage of his choice. If he is human, it is a Naga ancestry advantage of his choice.

Spells :

Akasha’s curse

Ring/mastery : Akasha 2 [craft]

Range : 50’

Area of effect : 1 target.

Duration : Akasha rounds.

Raises : one additional target [3].

This spell opens the target to the voices of the Akasha. On a Naga, it increases its access to it and distracts it, but on a human he gets a glimpse of their communal mind. It’s an experience that can drive them insane. The target is dazed and cannot recover from this state until the end of the spell.

The Pearl’s purity

Ring/mastery : Akasha 2 [thunder]

Range : personal

Area of effect : 1 target pearl.

Duration : instantaneous.

Raises : none.

You can channel the power of the Akasha through the purity of a pearl. This spell works exactly like the technique of the Pearl Shapers (Enemies of the Empire page 85).

The Pearl’s pathway

Ring/mastery : Water 3 [travel]

Range : 10’

Area of effect : one target per insight rank.

Duration : 3 rounds.

Raises : duration (+ 1 rounds), + 1 target.

The pearl’s pure elements increase the speed of those who are affected. While this spell is active, the target’s water ring is increased by 2 for all movements’ purposes and they can move once per turn as a free action.

The pearl of strength

Ring/mastery : Earth 1 [defense]

Range : 10’

Area of effect : one target.

Duration : 3 rounds.

Raises : duration (+ 1 rounds), + 1 target [2].

The endurance and solidity of the pearl is temporary given to the target, which is given for the duration of the spell a second healthy wound rank. Recalculate the wounds with it when the spell become active and then when it end, which can lead to the target’s death if he has suffered too many wounds.

The pearl of air

Ring/mastery : Air 2 [defense]

Range : 10’

Area of effect : one target.

Duration : 3 rounds.

Raises : duration (+ 1 rounds), + 1 target [2], 1 rank (see below).

The purity of the pearl protects the target from magic of all kind. The target is considered to have one extra rank of the advantage magic resistance for the duration of this spell. As long as the spell is active, this advantage applies to all source of magic.

The pearl of water

Ring/mastery : Water 1 [travel]

Range : 10’

Area of effect : one target per insight rank.

Duration : water rank X 2 rounds.

Raises : duration (+ 2 rounds), + 1 target.

While all Naga are linked to water, not all of them are able to live underwater. This spell grants the advantage amphibious for the duration of the spell.

The pearl of rage

Ring/mastery : fire 3 [thunder]

Range : 100’

Area of effect : one target.

Duration : instantaneous.

Raises : + 1 target[2].

This spell combines the energies of multiple pearls to call upon their combined elements in a powerful attack. A multi-colored lightning bolt hit the target with a DR of the caster’s fire ring + the number of magical pearls he carries as rolled dice, keeping fire ring. The attack is considered crystal for all purpose and ignores reduction equal to the number of different elements magical pearls and Unique pearls the caster has. For example, he has 3 fire pearls, 2 water pearls and one air pearl, one spirit pearl with a water mastery 2 spell and the pearl prison, he will ignores 1 (fire) + 1 (water) + 1 (air) + 1 (spirit pearl) + 1 (prison pearl) = 5.

The pearl of wisdom

Ring/mastery : fire 2 [craft]

Range : 10’

Area of effect : one target per insight rank.

Duration : 1 hour.

Raises : duration (+ 30 minutes), + 1 target [2].

Fire is also creation and knowledge, something all too many forgot. But the pearls are carrying creation and uniqueness and a jakla can call upon it. For the duration of the spell, that targets get + Xk0 (where is X is the caster’s fire rank) to all non-opposed High and Merchant skills.

The pearl of combat

Ring/mastery : fire 1 [battle]

Range : 10’

Area of effect : one target.

Duration : 5 rounds.

Raises : duration (+ 1 rounds).

Pearl’s magic can cleanse someone’s mind of anything not related to combat, increasing their efficiency in battle. As long as in full attack stance, the target gains +1k0 to all attack rolls.

Mara’s touch

Ring/mastery : water 2 [defense, battle]

Range : touch

Area of effect : one target.

Duration : 5 rounds.

Raises : duration (+ 1 rounds), + 1 target [2].

This powerful spell wasn’t created until Mara became the mother of a human – Naga hybrid, the new knowledge this brought to the Akasha allowed jakla to open totally new doors into their own bodies. The perfect result works on naga, who are granted for the duration of the spell the advantage enhancing mutation, and humans, who are granted the advantage Naga ancestry. For both, the result of the roll to determine the effect of the advantage is modified by the insight rank of the caster.

Location :

- Sanctuary of the Outcasts :

The forgotten Rhumal temple now under the control of the Nagah abominations of the Destroyer cult, little is known about what happens there. It is likely the Dark Naga took control of many of the abominations there and wiped out those who didn’t obeyed his commands, but they may be many forgotten naga secrets buried there.

Kata :

The Naga has centuries of training, the possibility to learn from one life to another and a way to share knowledge the humans can only dream of. As such they have mastered many combat styles that the mortals of Ningen-do can never hope to match. They do have the 5 Strike as katas (even if they call Strike as Void the Spirit of the Bright Eye).

- Naga Warrior : Strength of the Crab, Dance of the winds, Strength of the Phoenix, Strength of the Scorpion, Balance the elements style, Disappearing world style, Indomitable warrior style, Iron forest style, Iron in the mountains style.

- Naga scout : Strength of the Lion, Son of storms, Strength of the Mantis, Art of Ninjutsu, Breath of the wind style, Disappearing world style, Veiled menace style.