Clan Name: Sohei
Location: Scattered
Specialization: Summoning [Ninjutsu | Fuinjutsu]
Elements: /



Clan History:


Storytellers. Orators. Keepers of ancient secrets. The Sohei is an old clan, with older secrets. They are the keepers of an ancient library, one that recorded the history of man before the time of shinobi. Nowadays, the clan is little more than a family name but at a time in history, the Sohei were revered.

The clan were infamous as shamans, priests and priestess of the old religions; men and women whose lives were inexplicably tied with the deities they worshiped. To the people around them, the Sohei were strange folk, obsessed with what they believed were 'the spirits of the world'. Mythical creatures; dragons, dijinn's and aspects of the elements, just to name a few. The Sohei worshiped them all, and in return were protected by these creatures.

As time passed, the old religions fell and the world of the Shinobi rose. The collective deities, knowing that they would have no place in the 'modern' world, gathered their followers for one last request. The Divine Court, as they were known, gave their followers one final decree; the members of the Sohei clan were tasked with carrying on the legacy of the Divine Court. The Sohei were to keep the stories of the of the Court alive through the ages; in return the Sohei would forever be protected by them.


But those of the Sohei clan took this literally, They were angered that their Gods were cast aside by the rest of the world in favor of the teachings of Nishu and Ninjutsu. The elders of the clan declared that the followers of Ninshu were weak; there was to be War! In the name of the Divine Court, the followers of Ninsho and Ninjutsu were to be exterminated by the degree of their Gods.

It was at this point in time, the clan changed their purpose in life; rather than preserving the memories of their Gods, the Sohei weaponized them. They called upon their gods, and bound them to their mortal bodies to grant themselves immense power – the ability to harmonize with their god's natural power in a heightened state of awareness. The clan transitioned themselves from humble orators and storytellers into warriors, armed with weapons that they believed to be filled with the power of their gods. Their goal was simple in the beginning; to prove their Gods – and by extension themselves –  worthy to exist. This gave birth to the strange, warped sense of philosophy within the clan, that of Sword Logic.


Armed with this new understanding of the world and themselves, the Sohei set out into the world. Through their weapons, the Sohei channeled the might and fury their forgotten gods, an ability they called Seiken, and began their campaign of destruction of the followers of Ninshu and Ninjutsu. They attacked everywhere they were able to, forcibly recruiting those they conquered into their cause by demonstrating the power of their gods. It was not long until the clan found the eyes of the world turned upon them, including those of the Rikudō Sennin. Upon hearing how the Sohei wished to preserve the existence of their gods, he approached the elders of the clan to speak.


Through his words, the Rikudō Sennin was able to convince the Sohei to abandon their campaign of destruction. He informed him that their mark on history was surely set, given all they had done. He revived the Sohei's gods to them in their full glory, something the Sohei were grateful for, but it came at a price – the Sohei, once the harbingers of this world's End, were charged to protect it, to keep the world going along its natural course. The Sohei agreed, and settled themselves as the watchful guardians of the world. Traveling to a location in what is now known in modern day as Hoshigakure, the Sohei began to practice and spread the tales of their God's once more.


The clan settled into their lives within the village of Hoshigakure without much fuss. Before the clan decided to remain within, they request a meeting with the current Kage, during which they drew out a 'contract' of sorts with the Kage. So long as the Kage and his successors followed what the Sohei believed to be 'The Path of Good' as dictated to them by the Rikudō Sennin, the clan will serve and follow the kage without question. However, the moment that the clan heads decide that the Kage is not following the path, the clan will terminate the contract and leave the village. At the current time, the Hoshikage agreed to the terms.

For years, the clan seemed to be at peace, until a certain event. With the discovery of the meteorite that led to awakening of the Mysterious Peacock Method, several of the clan members took this as a sign from the heavens that a new god had been chosen. In honor of the occasion, the Kishi began to devote themselves to this new god, worshiping his physical form through training themselves in the style of the Mysterious Peacock Method. However, with the discovery of the side effects of the training and the emergence of the chakra color mutation within the clan, the Sohei clan became angry. They felt that they had been fooled by demons with the presence of the meteorite, and so they sought to leave Hoshigakure.

Upon finding out about this, the then current Hoshikage sought to keep the Sohei clan, and prevent them from leaving. He attempted to turn the village upon themselves, using the other families that made up Hoshigakure as pawns to undermine the political and financial power of the Sohei. The Sohei did not care – they were once a clan of orators and storytellers. They came from nothing, and for them, so long as they continued to worship their gods, they would be happy.  In an attempt to strike a blow to demoralize the clan from leaving, the Hoshikage ordered that every Sohei shrine be demolished in the span of a single night.



This attack against the Sohei clan's shrines would not go unpunished. While the clan was furious as to the desecration of their shrines, they knew that the village as a whole was not to blame for the actions of the Hoshikage. Once more, they sent a messenger to the Hoshikage, informing him that they would be leaving village. Mustering his army of loyal ninja, the Hoshikage attempted to cut them off before they could actually vacate the village, only for the then head of the clan, Sohei Hong, to present himself to the Hoshikage with a warning to not attempt to stop them. When Hong saw that the Kage would not heed his words, Hong sacrificed himself to utilize a Kinjutsu to wipe the village of Hoshigakure off the map.

Gathering the remaining families of Hoshi, the Sohei clan took them in and helped them pick up the pieces of their lives and move on from Hoshi. With the additional families added to their ranks, the clan scattered themselves in the larger ninja villages, preaching to the world about their gods…

Members:

Sohei, Hong Deceased


Kekkei Genkai Name: Sasageru

Kekkei Genkai Description: Sasageru was conceived as part of the Sohei's contract with the Divine Court, allowing the members of the Court to continue to exist in the modern world. When a child is born into the Sohei clan, there is a distinctive marking on their body, which varies in location from person to person. The mark is the summoning contract of particular members of the Court, the Deity that is tied to that individual. Members may acquire a second contract at B-Rank, and a third at S rank. Additionally, the user is allowed to restructure their contract when they rank up, reapplying for their contract to increase its rank.

The Deities contracted by Sasageru can be nigh anything imaginable, from extinct animals to mythical beings, such as dragons, djinns, elemental avatars and such. Once contracted, the clan member is able to summon servants of that deity [apped as jutsu] to fight for them as well.

At a young age, the Clan Members are taught how to manifest the Deity in the form of offering part of their life force as a tribute.  The Clan Member must permanently sacrifice 50% of their chakra total pool. [If the user is a D rank ninja and has 150 chakra, they give up 75 chakra to their summon. In turn, the summon itself has 75 chakra to utilize, as opposed to the normal 50 chakra of a normal summon]. As the Clan Member’s chakra pool increases, the 50% sacrifice remains the same. Meaning; if the user has a chakra pool of 150 the sacrifice is 75 chakra, however if the user gains a chakra pool of 300 the total sacrifice is 150 chakra. If the deity is dismissed by the user before the chakra given to it is all used, whatever chakra is left is returned to the user.

In exchange the chosen Deity (summon) is considered both permanently active and summoned without the user having to pay a maintenance cost to keep the summon present. Despite the user not having to pay the normal chakra costs for maintaining the summoning, they are still bound by the laws of summoning; they are required to wait three posts between summoning the deities named in their contracts.

Because of this, the Deity is permanently active/summoned, and is bound to the clan member, in addition to their contract being recieved free to the Clan Member. The Clan Member is intricately tied to their Deity. What the Clan Member sees, the Deity sees and vice versa. In essence, the Deity grows in power as the Shinobi does. Because of the intrinsic link between the Deity and the Clan Member, whatever jutsu the user knows, the Deity knows as well.

The Deity that the Clan Member enters into a contract with grants them access to their minions as summons. This is both a boon and a drawback, while the Clan member may learn jutsu to summon minions of the same creature variety and type as their chosen Deity(s), they may not make other summons.



Drawbacks:

The Deity is limited in its understanding of mortal language and as such cannot comprehend the simplistic teachings of mortals. While they can use jutsu’s that the clan member knows, they are still bound by the cool downs and share them with the summoner. The deity is able to learn its own jutsu, but is limited to three in total.

Clan members are only able to utilize two elements and three specializations, and cannot take Hesitant [Element] and Hesitant [Specialization] as a drawback. Deities must share one common specialization and element with their summoner [non-elemental deities are only required to share a specialization].

The clan member is limited to summoning their chosen Deities, and any servants of said deity. [For example, if the user is contracted to a deity with Katon as an element, they are able to summon creatures with a katon alignment].

If the summoner has a deity from one contract currently summoned, they cannot summon minions from a different contract until the current deity is dismissed. If a deity is 'killed' during a thread, it is rendered unsummonable for the remainder of the thread [minions are still able to be summoned].

Fuinjutsu sealing techniques which trap the target gain +1 in effectiveness when used against the deity, as they are a supernatural force; the weakness being created by fuinjutsu history in suppression rituals against supernatural forces.

Really, all I need is clarification here. The base idea (granting your chakra pool to a summon) is not broken at all, so it's really just wording that needs ironing out.

Contracts no longer have ranks; please review the summoning guideline.

You say "their lives are one and the same". Does this mean if one dies, the other does too? Does this link bestow anything other than joined vision?

I'd like some more information on what exactly comprises a 'deity'. It's left vague; if you don't explicate what they are, it is automatically assumed they are constrained to animal types like normal summons.

They need to have the same specializations and elements as their chosen Deity Clan members are only able to possess three specializations, and cannot take Hesitant [Specialization] as a drawback.

The first sentence (?) doesn't quite make sense, given you can have two contracts. Do both of the contracts need to be the same?

We don't use Barrier Ninjutsu as a classification on-site, as I'm aware. Limiting your drawback to actively including the wording in the jutsu makes it a non-factor, or may lead to metagaming accusations later (due to putting it in when no one did before).

Sol wrote:Really, all I need is clarification here. The base idea (granting your chakra pool to a summon) is not broken at all, so it's really just wording that needs ironing out.

Contracts no longer have ranks; please review the summoning guideline.

You say "their lives are one and the same". Does this mean if one dies, the other does too? Does this link bestow anything other than joined vision?

I'd like some more information on what exactly comprises a 'deity'. It's left vague; if you don't explicate what they are, it is automatically assumed they are constrained to animal types like normal summons.

They need to have the same specializations and elements as their chosen Deity Clan members are only able to possess three specializations, and cannot take Hesitant [Specialization] as a drawback.

The first sentence (?) doesn't quite make sense, given you can have two contracts. Do both of the contracts need to be the same?

We don't use Barrier Ninjutsu as a classification on-site, as I'm aware. Limiting your drawback to actively including the wording in the jutsu makes it a non-factor, or may lead to metagaming accusations later (due to putting it in when no one did before).

Addressed the issues listed above.

However, I am curious as to why you chose to single out the requirement for wording Barrier Ninjutsu as opposed/not including that of 'Fuinjutsu that traps'. The only difference between barrier ninjutsu and trapping Fuinjutsu is that one is purely an application of ninjutsu and the other is sealing. If one wants  a fuinjutsu seal that traps someone, they have to word it that way, correct? Why not a ninjutsu tech that forms a barrier as opposed to just 'wall of X element'?

If metagaming was going to happen, it'll happen either way.

Sol wrote: 1)Just because they do not require chakra costs does not mean that they are not summoned. Please explicate that you must adhere to the cooldown of the Kuchiyose no Jutsu when you dismiss one of your Deities, unable to summon another Deity for the next 3 posts.

2) It would be preferable that you remove the third contract. Combined with your own three, the fact that you even have two of these types of summons gives you immense versatility. (At endgame, you essentially have five specializations.)

3) That actually gives rise to another quandry. Why is the Deity allowed to have specs/elements that you do not? It cannot use any jutsu except those that you know, as per the drawback. Is it implied somewhere that you can learn jutsu using your Deity's specializations and elements?

1) Addressed.

2) I would like to keep it at three contracts, as person is allowed to have three contracts in the guidelines. All of my summons will be from within the Divine Court.

3) There is no rule in the summoning guidelines -- that I've seen/found at least -- that states that a summon is required to have the same specializations as the user. I've already added in that my summons are required to share at least one spec/element with the summoner -- which is something that no other summons is not required to conform to.

Sol wrote:I'm very aware that you placed an additional requirement on your summons. The main problem was with the complete disallowance of the summon's ability to have its own jutsu, which conflicted with its other specs/elements. However, you've remedied this by letting a summon have 3 of its own jutsu. Do these require training as part of the theme of growing with the Sohei?

Jutsu learned by summons must follow traditional word count requirements [the same as those for a ninja].

Sol wrote:
I'm confused as to how you determine which deities are elemental and non-elemental (for the purposes of needing to share an element). Can non-elemental deities even have elements, for example? Do Elemental deities take more/less damage depending on their alignment? Summons don't typically have such interaction bonuses or weaknesses, so I'll need you to state it if they do.

....I would have to fill out the summoning companion template from the summoning guidelines? The template literally asks for an elemental affinity for a summon -- a non-elemental deity would literally be listed as having no elements.

Additionally, elemental deities do not take additional damage from opposing elements. There are no interaction bonuses from the summons themselves -- only the jutsu [if any are applicable] they use.

Sol wrote:Apologies, I should peruse and memorize the new Summoning Guidelines more thoroughly.

Please state within the clan that a non-elemental deity cannot have any elements, just to be clear.

I didn't touch on your previous post's point; I'm afraid that the Summoning Rules' limit for 3 summons is a bit much to apply here, for summons you do not need to pay chakra to call forth. It is less a matter of chakra balance and more a matter of having so many specializations available to you for no cost. (Even with one summon, you can have an essential 5 specializations at even A-rank.)
Granted, due to this limitation, I'll allow you to reduce the cooldown on this to 2 posts rather than 3, given that they don't have a separate chakra pool and are limited to 3 jutsu each.

Why are you trying to balance again what has already been balanced? To even get my summons on the field, I have to sacrifice 50% of my total chakra pool to them. You yourself said that was fine for not having a normal chakra cost.

I've already even limited my summons elements and specializations -- which again, no other summon/contract is required to conform to. I've limited them to only three jutsu of their own [much less than what a normal summon can obtain, but given that the summons have access to their summoner's jutsu pool and essentially half of their chakra pool is appropriate.

I'm going to have to disagree with you on limiting the myself to two contracts, especially given your reasonings for wanting me to do so.

How is it allowable for any random Joe Ninja from any clan to simply take Ninjutsu and Fuinjutsu, and get THREE S rank contracts without ANY restrictions towards specializations and elements, yet a clan dedicated towards summoning cannot?

If that is the case, then I shall ask for a second opinion from an admin. I see no reason to limit myself to this when anyone else can simply do it without these restrictions.

Sol wrote:I have already stated I did not look very thoroughly at the Summoning Guidelines when I told you what I did, and that includes any preconceptions of this clan's balance. Please put that out of mind. After a more thorough perusal of the rules, I've decided on the following.

Despite your Deities operating on limited specializations and elements as well as sharing a chakra pool with you, the key point is that because you do not need to spend chakra to summon or maintain them, normal summons as paid-for jutsu cannot be used as a proper point of reference in terms of balance. Due to the fact that they use your chakra pool and share your perception in addition to having access to your entire repertoire of jutsu (which normal summons don't), I am treating them as if they are an extension of you. It functions similarly to the Sōseiji clan's Eizō Bunshin, but with restrictions and benefits.

-

A small point of clarification: do your Deities scale with you, or must they be applied for at each rank and trained? It's stated that they grow with you, but in what fashion is not quite explicated.

In addition, can your deities be killed like normal summons? If they take critical damage of some sort and are either killed or otherwise dispelled, do you regain the chakra allocated to them, or does it dissipate, like with Shadow Clones?

The summon does rank up with the character, as summoning is merely tied to your ninjutsu and fuin rank. With that being said, even with a C rank contract, the user is able to summon S rank creatures.

And yes, they can be 'killed', however, it will not be the 'death' of the summon. Remember, these are 'Gods' in a sense. They are alive so long as someone worships them. If they take enough damage, they are able to be rendered unable to be re summoned for the remainder of the thread. However, its already stated in the clan, that if a user disperses the summon themselves, they regain the chakra that is remaining in the summon's pool.

Sol wrote:Within your clan, simply state that you get to re-apply for the summon at each higher rank, and that's golden.

Again, simply states what happens when they 'die' and that part's good, since you only reference voluntary dismissal at the moment.

Otherwise, my ruling above stands, since it was not referenced.

Edited in the sections on death of the summon, and upgrading the contract.

And as I said, I will be seeking a second opinion from an admin.

I'll forward this on to one of the Admins. Looks like you made the updates requested by Sol.

Heya! I'm gonna put in my two cents:

First things first, mythical summons are being reworked, including all existing clans that allow them (the demon summoning eye clan, for example, is to be revamped soon), so this clan cannot be approved until that is done. Sorry about that. Onto the modding:

Nitpicking: change "/" to "any" under elements.

Important bits: This clan has way too much potential and it circumvents extremely high word counts for the same benefit as other summoners who worked hard for their summons, in addition to the fact that it allows for mythical summons, which are currently being reworked, AND it gets rid of the chakra cost per post of maintaining the summon. So, firstly, no completely free contract. Either, you can choose to have to write a portion of the usual word count to establish their contract (2,500 rather than 5,000) and have their primary spec start at A-Rank rather than S-Rank, or opt to not have to write anything and start with the contract right away, but have their primary spec start at C-Rank so that they have summoning from the get-go at the cost of being far less advanced in their primary specialization. Regardless of your choice, acquiring additional contracts at B-Rank and S-Rank will require the full 5,000 words each, no exceptions. I also want you to add that members of the clan cannot take the "Trained" or the "Elementalist" special characteristics. Next, for starter jutsu, Sohei will get the regular 4 free D-Ranks, but their free C-Rank must be Kuchiyose no Jutsu by default and they cannot change this. They still have the option of trading in 2 free D-Ranks for 1 free C-Rank, but they may not take 6 free D-Ranks because they need to have Kuchiyose no Jutsu. Next, I would like that that the user only receives 50% of the summon's remaining chakra pool when the summon is dismissed rather than all of it, so that the user can't just dismiss the summon to get all their chakra back in the middle of a battle (i.e. summon and user both have 100 chakra remaining, if the user dismisses the summon, the user regains 50 chakra for a total of 150). Next, they cannot apply for giant summons higher than A-Rank, if they do apply for a giant summon, they are restricted to having two contracts total rather than three at S-Rank, and giant summons require their chakra cost be paid regularly (either from the user's chakra pool or the summon's). This is mostly because the idea of an elemental/magical/legendary summon that is giant and doesn't require a chakra cost is extremely overpowered in my mind, like I picture a giant flaming phoenix or something and just immediately think "no". Furthermore, I would like them to suffer a passive -1 tier to perception and -1 tier to reaction time whenever they do not have a summon active, since they usually have summons around to help them survey the battlefield and react to things during fights. I will allow you to have one non-giant summon active without paying the chakra cost per post, considering how much of a dent just having the summon around leaves in their chakra pool, but you will have to pay the maintenance cost of the summon and the cost of kuchiyose jutsu every post if there are 2 or more summons active or if there is a giant summon active. As for the summons themselves, I would prefer it if they did not benefit from Medical Ninjutsu UNLESS it was one of the summon's specializations and it was healing itself. Finally, I would like you to specify that members of the clan and their summons cannot take Senjutsu as a specialization, and that their summons also cannot have Fuuinjutsu as a specialization.