York's Quarters.

[York Tenshu]

Dim

SPOILER: Click to show

Rank: "D"
Skill: GenJutsu
Effect: A jutsu used to dim a light source.
Special: "Handseals"
Drawback: ---
Description: Affects 1 object. The user is able to perform this technique at a distance of 7 meters plus 6 meters per class level. The duration of this technique lasts for 5 minutes per class level. This technique may be disbelieved once interacted with. Target 1 source of illumination, such as a torch or lantern. The target source’s area of illumination is reduced by 3 meters. If this reduces its area of illumination to 0, then the light source is extinguished to anyone who sees it. For instance, a torch that illuminates a 6 meters radius would illuminate only a 3 meters radius while affected by this Jutsu.
Limit: Must know the Shadow Perception.

0|10

Ah, the work of a scholar is never done, is it?

It was late one night, and I had just finished looking over some tax numbers and checing over some other documents which my father had sent me, including a birth certificate of a potential Tenshu bastard that had been filed partially in Undercommon. I found it slightly disturbing that I had no time left to study tonight, but what can I do? Just as warriors sometimes go to war rather than spar, sometimes my brain must be put to practical use, rather than just expanding its pool of knowledge.

I rubbed my eyes and blew out my now-short candle, and returned to my bed in complete darkness. I had made this journey a hundred times, and I was completely aware of the pattern that put me comfortably under my bed coverings. As I was falling asleep, I prepared myself for an interesting phase of my training. Although I was too tired to partake in any more activities of the waking variety, but I was prepared for a training of listlessness. My father would no doubt wish for me to become a better ninja. And I, like many nights before, returned to my lucid dreams to guide me to greater genjutsu.

As I fell asleep, I seized control of my dreams, and I guided them, brining them back to where I just was in the land of the waking. To my desk, with a lit candle and a piece of parchment before me. I was of course, aware of my current status as a dream, and completely in control of the situation. So of course, I turned my mind to the realms of shadow. What is not completely unseen, but neither completely seen, that which man’s mind must guess about.

---

But, before I go about making people’s guesses err in my favor, I must start by creating these areas of ill definition. So, as I looked at my paper, I realized that the candle made the figures written upon it quite legible. Excellent. I tried to shift the figures in my dream, but was unable. The figures were definite, etched in my short-term memory. And, as long as I looked at them they had to stay that way. Observation made them concrete.

So, I turned my hand, and lifted it up to the candle. I had to create shadow by dimming the light. But to create shadow, I must realize what it takes to perceive it. For this is only a genjutsu really, so its simply the perception of shadow I can create. Shadow itself, that would be the work of a man of the physical world much more so than I. So, I turned my eyes towards the corner of the room, where there was barely any light.

What I saw wasn’t nothing. I saw something, I simply didn’t know what it was I was looking at. I need more signal to define an object, so my mind was listening to noise. There was chaos here. My brain was making conclusions. Of course, I could draw on memory to decide what was in the corner of my room, normally a bookshelf. But, as a proof of concept, I imagined the bookshelf there, but using my lucid dreaming, made it into a chair. As I lifted the candle and moved it to the corner, I saw the chair, although I had known there was the bookshelf. Once again, in a simple way, my mind was able to see what was not, just by using the element of shadow.

` Now now, I know what it is to be dim, but that makes me no closer to the actual creation of said dim. Now, the creation of dim isn’t the painting of the beautiful portrait of shadow, but the bleaching of the parchment. I must make a receptive surface for me to cast illusions upon before I even ponder the possibility of creating a figure of shadow. So, it is time to dim the candle. I looked to the rebounding light coming into my eyes, that which is considered imagery. I wondered how I could turn these concrete pictures into murky marvels, things that might be rather than things that definitely are.

I took the image of the figures on my desk, and used chakra to disrupt some of the light as it came back towards my eyes. I took distinct hunks out of the image. A checkerboard pattern of darkness descended upon the paper. Such a concrete pattern, it seemed like a civilized way of making shadow. But, as I stared at the figures I realized it wasn’t any good. I could still deduce the rest of the figures. Just as two points does define a whole line, and removing one side from a triangle does not hinder its trigonometry at all, removing random hunks of an object does not make undefined. It simply makes it require deduction.

So, what I must do is reduce the light in all ways. Rather than makes hunks of an object completely invisible, I must make the entire object barely visible, in such a way that the light would suggest something, but not guarantee it. I guess thats why illusionists call this “Shadow” and not “Dark.” And so, I looked at the object and had my chakra intercept all but the very barest of light. The result was occasional outlines, blurs of colors, and an overall ill defined object in my mind.

[Captain M]

YAY YORK TENSHU!

LEARNED

(Please note you did not quote the whole technique, it lacks its title, but you have the limit down so it's okay xoxo M)

[York Tenshu]

SPOILER: Click to show

Illusory Bolts


Rank: "D"

Skill: GenJutsu

Effect: Bolts of Illusory energy seemingly spring from the user's outstretched hands.

Special: "Handseals"

Drawback: ---

Description: Affects 5 where no 2 may be more than 10 meters apart. The user is able to perform this technique at a distance of 30 meters plus 15 meters per class level. The duration of this technique is Instantaneous. Illusory bolts strike unerringly (since the user's mind determines the flight path of the bolts), even if the target is in melee combat or has less than total cover or total concealment. Specific parts of a creature can’t be singled out. Inanimate objects are not damaged by the Jutsu. For every Class Level the user may hurl 2 Illusory Bolts. If the user fires multiple bolts, they can have them strike a single creature or several creatures. A single bolt can strike only 1 creature. The Jutsu can assume any appearance the user desires (i.e., small flaming skulls, pulsing orbs of electricity, globs of acid, shards of ice, etc.), each target receives a save to resist the damage they inflict. If the save fails, the target suffers "D" Rank worth of damage per bolt. If the save is successful, the target only 20% worth of damage, so 5 Illusory Bolts would feel like 1 believed Illusory Bolt.

Limit: Must know the Shadow Perception.

Ah. I love this shadow thing. My dream continues on, but this time it ponders a whole new possibility. What if I can convince the brain that what it doesn’t see is an unseen attack? I can convince it that it was hit by a kunai, solely by showing it a lack of knowledge of its, and making it seem reasonable that a kunai is the only thing to fill that gap. In that way, I convince a target that they are harmed, and even do a degree of real harm to them, solely by using the power of shadow and perception, or lack thereof in this case.


I used the power of my lucid dreaming to light up the entire room. I stood in a room so illuminated that it could not possibly be seen as shadowy or impossible to perceive. Then, I turned back to my control of chakra, and reached towards the room around me. I selected a small spot and shadowed that whole area. The light left flickering off that spot of the room was so insignificant that it was not nothing, but it could be anything, which was the exact prime state of mind for shadowy attacks from a master illusionist such as I.


With that rough shaped spot primed, I now knew I could make my illusory bolt into anything. The shadows make the mind willing to see. When I provide imagery in the place of shadow, the mind will simply see that the area has been illuminated and the object revealed was whatever I wanted. So, I took this a little bit further and didn’t simply make the object into a kunai. I imagined a fragment of glass, and made that glass appear out of the shadows. The effect would seem like I was hiding the glass in the shadow, making the entire process up until now, realistic and not requiring any particular amounts of chakra to aid the mind’s belief.


There it was, a blade of glass come from the shadows, and real enough for any observer to think that it was sharp and deadly. Of course, I hadn’t created any observers in my dreams. I like to keep things completely hypothetical when it comes to talking about harming people, even if these things are in my dreams. So, I swung my procured blade of glass at my chair, and watched it dissipate as it hit the chair. I looked at the chair, and realized there was no cause for change. Of course, because this is a dream I could project changes to the chair, but my understanding of logic dictates otherwise.


All right, well I won’t test this on a human, but because its an illusion I can understand how the damage will work. Now, my blade of glass can’t physically pierce the skin, but with genjutsu I can make it look like it did. The important thing is, the brain will start behaving as if it was cut and had blood loss. Most of human warfare is about shock anyways. As I hit somebody with these blades of glassy projection, their body will start behaving oddly. Mind over matter will bring them down. Thats the best an illusionist can ever hope for.

[Captain M]

LEARNED

[York Tenshu]

SPOILER: Click to show

Net of Shadows
Rank: "D"
Skill: GenJutsu
Effect: User causes ordinary shadows to fly toward the creatures in the area, forming dark nets that cover and enfold the target or targets.
Special: "Handseals"
Drawback: ---
Description: Affects 5 creatures per class level where no 2 may be more than 15 meters apart. The user is able to perform this technique at a distance of 7 meters plus 6 meters per class level. The duration of this technique lasts for 3 rounds. This technique may be negated. The net does not hamper movement, but a creature enfolded in a net cannot see beyond 2 meters, even with darkvision. The folds of a net hide the creature within it, giving the creature 9/10ths concealment making it difficult for the creature to be hit. The net also hampers the enfolded subject's own attacks, granting 9/10ths concealment to creatures within 2 meters and total concealment to creatures more than 2 meters away.
Limit: Must know the Shadow Perception.

0|10

Oh the potentials opening before me, sweet, sweet potential.

Now, shadow works by convincing the mind and making it work as if the conjured thing is completely, or at least partially real. By that logic, I could easily do some actions such as provide cover for somebody, and the archer, believing my protection is real, would subconsciously aim not for those areas, giving them a much smaller target and making it take a much more skilled archer to make the given shot. How entertaining! The power of self-disbelief can shield me from others, and turn me into something impossible to kill. Of course, this will have the unfortunate problem of reducing the protectee’s line of site, but we’ll have to make do with what we’ve got, haven’t we?

In my dream, I stood before the most powerful archer in all the land. He was a dead on shot, my likes would be an easy kill for one such as him; dead where I stand. But, like any warrior, he took time to taunt, throw back a gulp of his wineskin, et cetera, and gave me the chance to manipulate things in my favor. Because this is a lucid dream, and not reality, I threw over myself a net of shadow. I made most of myself fade into blackness, and then blurred the area around me. Night was my cover. Shadow was my shield.

But I must think more carefully. To dream is not to do, as many great philosophers were aware. I must ponder the very nature of what I am doing. So shadow, the are which the mind does not have completely undefined, nor definitely defined, must be manipulated. I must give just enough signal for the person to guess something appropriate. Just like the faded outlines in the night that so scare children, for they assume it is a monster, I must dissuade the archer from shooting at me, by making it look like a poor target.

But what signal makes a poor target? Do I build myself a rampart of shadow, one that is so strong that even those with powerful strikes would not be able to break it? Do I forge myself a suit of armor of the mind, so thick that the longbows of the Hundred Year’s War could not even hope to break it? No, none of these things make me safe from the arrows of the cocky archers. I must dig deeper, and come up with the correct noise to counteract the signals that will call me to my doom.

Then it hit me. I musn’t dig deeper, no. This time I have no need to descend into this topic deeper than the surface. I cloaked myself in shadow. I built a wall of shadow around me. No man would know where it ends. I made this shadow dark, so dark that the observer could only guess its empty space.

I cloaked myself in these darkness, only to realize my mistake. Perhaps if this were not a dream, I would have died, for I had no perception left of the outside world. The time it took me to return to this world could have been hours or seconds, but I made my shadow cloak disappear. There is a mistake I must never repeat. I will leave my cloak at 9/10ths cover. To allow me a window back into this world. Of course, that will still obscure my vision, but if the Norse God Odin gave his eye for wisdom, maybe I can give my vision for a few moments to preserve myself, a man filled with greater knowledge than Odin could hope for?

[Father 'Suke]

8/10

[York Tenshu]

SPOILER: Click to show

See the above,

8|10

Hmm. Of course, I can extend this father. It would make more sense, if I consider it, to shield multiple people. If a web of people, all around me, all blur into shadow, it would provide a similar camouflage effect to that of Zebras. The inability to pick out individuals from the space between them would make any skill with a bow completely useless. Why, minding the overused metaphor, I could weave a web of shadows, and interconnecting and allowing me to be completely safe as well as those who stand by me. After all, normally an assailant could simply shoot into the dark space, and hope. And what kind of protection is that?

I imagined myself in a room full of people. They were all standing down in the body of the great hall, and I by the the thrones. I moved my hands, focusing my chakra into the creation of my net of shadows. The crowd disappeared partially, as all of them were enveloped by the wall of noise I had created to block out signal. But the effect was choppy, each individual had themselves wrapped in shadows. Such an effect was easy to counter. Shoot somewhere into that blur, and you're safe. No, I must do better than that. The shadows fused together, and the mess was 15 meters of men and shadows, half-seen faces, and unseen hands. To leash an arrow into this madness would be just that; madness. These people are covered, indefinite and impossible to target.

But, I must add one more effect to the jutsu to make it truly impressive. I lightened the shadows in dabs and random places, as if the people were shifting rapidly. I made it seem like bodies could be anywhere at anytime. I made the prediction of people who were shadowed impossible. I left just enough light to help the brain know that it knows nothing.

[Father 'Suke]

Enjoy a cookie of "learned"

[York Tenshu]

SPOILER: Click to show

Minor Umbral Fortification
Rank: "D"
Skill: GenJutsu
Effect: A jutsu that gives temporary damage to the person they touch.
Special: "Handseals"
Drawback: ---
Description: Affects 1 creature touched. The user is able to perform this technique on the target they touch. The duration of this technique lasts for 5 minutes per class level. This technique may be disbelieved once interacted with. By instilling shadowy energy into the subject of this Jutsu, user grants them "D" Rank worth of damage for the duration of the Jutsu. This is an illusion however so the user still gains that damage, however their body feels as if they hadn't for the duration of the Jutsu.
Limit: Must know the Shadow Perception.

0|10

Hmm. If I can damage someone effectively with shadows, then why can I not heal them, for all intents and purposes?

But, healing would have slightly different rules. How would it actually help the mind to patch up its body parts to it? Wouldn’t I have to give ‘shadow’ signals to the less well known senses beyond the first five? Would sight alone really make the brain behave as if it is fully healthy? Or would it end up hindering the body in the long run, by making my ‘patient’ act as if fully healthy and by stopping the body from healing itself, et cetera.

Of course, even if it just allowed the brain to function as a normal, shock-free, non injured brain, that conveys huge advantages. We don’t all need our bodies to be helpful. Come to think of it, uses this ‘Umbral Healing’ upon myself would be one of the best things I could do. Because this stuff will hardly affect my body, but it will certainly impact the mind. Freeing my mind from dealing with harm is certainly an admirable task if my knowledge is important for something. Freeing a doctor from harm so he can give instructions on how to heal himself would certainly be useful.

All right. Well, injury is certainly a confusing matter. The body has to diagnose itself rapidly, that way it can make sure it takes the right precautions. Actually, in that way, it would be very difficult to actually ‘restore’ damage already dealt with shadows. Thats a tricky issue; one that will have to be dealt with another day. But, preemptively providing protection to a target, so that when they become wounded, the instantaneous ‘shadow of doubt’ that arises when hit, could make it feel like they were injured less severely until my illusion wore off.

But, if I was going to make this illusion into something preemptive, then I might as well take full advantage of this. I can give the appearance of shadowy armor, protecting the target. That way, they will more fully believe, and be ready to ignore damage when it happens. So I imagined that. I imagined my self standing out in the open, but with shadows draped around me in the shape of armor. I imagined the ill definition of my body. I could give the signal to my body, the signal of protection. But my body would have to make the guess that it is safe. And thats all that really matters.


I imagined the same suit on somebody else. They were standing before me, wearing that shadowy armor. They were hit by a punch from behind. Obviously they were bruised and damaged. But, somehow, they believed in their shadowy armor, and were shielded from feeling the damage. Where somebody else might have just flinched, he was able to turn around a deliver a counter blow to his assailant. Fast forward fifteen minutes, and the man who I protected was slightly hurt, but the doctor could fix that, but his assailant was arrested. This shadow fortification certainly had potential.

Now of course, this could only do minor damage, as the illusion isn't perfectly convincing. No doubt, somebody could easily do enough damage to go through the illusion, and my powers would do nothing but blunt part of the force. Indeed, a long way to go.

[Captain M]

LEARNED

[York Tenshu]

Back to the world of the waking...

SPOILER: Click to show

Binary
Rank: "D"
Skill: Skill
Effect: Language of the machines. Creatures of mechanical origins speak the language of Binary.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: This is the language of the machines—especially, but not limited to, living machine outsiders. It is difficult to grasp for organic creatures, as at its base everything has been reduced to “yes” and “no” concepts. Each time learned user gets 1 die roll to increase the skill.
Limit: ---

2 rolls, each + 1. Starting from 0.

0|10
Binary, the language of mechanical outsiders, and one that is nearly impossible for the average human to learn. Its very concept is puzzling to most scholars; the only true letters or syllables in the entire language are conceptually yes and no. To be able to communicate about everything in creation with two simple concepts is something that is going to take a lot of work and a lot of brain power. Its a tough job, but if not I, who else will speak it?

In a way, I’ve been told that its, basically a language of inflection without stems. That is, you change the meaning of things by adding more and more yeses and nos onto the end of it. In that way, it cannot be all that different from Latin, per se. Latin also works by placing different endings, sometimes in numbers greater than one, onto the word to change its meaning.

Unfortunately, I was not able to request a mechanical outsider for my personal edification in the language of binary. I’m going to have to do what I do best, and that is “hit the books” as one might say. Fortunately, I have the laboratory notebook of an outsider scientist who spoke binary, as well as the written translation thereof. All I must do is piece together which part of which writing corresponds to the other, and I will be able to quickly deduce the structures and finer points of Binary.

So, I opened the Common translation of his notebook, and look for phrases on the first page which may stand out. Thats the obvious thing to do, seeking single word sentences and phrases which I could immediately correlate to a similar length of writing on the other document. The text on the first page was short.

This notebook belongs to Dr. Boolean, and records Dr. Boolean’s laboratory works from 1066 June 1st, to 1067 July 4th

Excellent, actually, excellent. I can piece together bits and pieces by just looking for the time stamp. And, by the lack of usage of ‘his’ in lieu of “Dr. Boolean’s” I can probably deduce that the Binary does not have pronouns, at least of the possessive type. What a start! I can also easily find those numbers from the dates in the Binary version, and probably figure out which part of the sentence means what rather quickly. All I have to do is look for numbers...

I moved the Common version off to the side of my desk and slid the leather bound original into the center. I opened it up to the first page, and noticed a whole lot more text than there was on the Common one. A scrawl of 1’s and 0’s occupied a good chunk of the page, and were written in the same size hand as the Common. If this was what this page was like, how did he achieve anything in this notebook?

I also noticed a lack of 6’s, 7’s or 4’s in the book, only 1 and 0 appeared on these pages. Looks like my job just got a little bit harder.

[Nira]

+10, Learned.

0-21sp

[York Tenshu]

SPOILER: Click to show

Enchantment Focus [Compulsion]
Rank: "C" (Special, See Description)
Skill: Supplementary
Effect: User has gained mastery over the use of Enchantment.
Special: ---
Drawback: May learn at a maximum of 6 times for every Enchantment Perception: Enchantment, Charm, and Compulsion.
Description: Each time learned the user gains 1 extra point to their Jutsu against the opponent's save for that specific Enchantment Perception. When the user learns this technique the 1st 2 times they train it as a regular "C" Rank Jutsu. When the user learns this technique the 2nd 2 times they train it as a "C" Rank Jutsu +10 Training Points. When the user learns this technique the 3rd 2 times they train it as a "C" Rank Jutsu +20 Training Points.
Limit: Universal GenJutsu Technique

0|10

Some illusion works require the practitioner of illusions to be awake.

Compulsion is arguably the most powerful of Genjutsu. Whats its all about is actually compelling people to do things. It is the reaching into the minds, and directly inserting actions or thoughts, or, in some cases, removing those thoughts. It does not create illusions per se, nor does it change people’s perceptions of things. No, compulsion is very primal, and very direct. The kind of thing like giving commands, and sometimes even grabbing control of a mind and making into your thrall, all fall nicely into Compulsion Perception Genjutsu.

I guess I must psychoanalyze. I must find better parts of the mind to put orders in. Normally, in the past I just place the Enchantment with sheer force of chakra, and shove it into the mind of my opponent. This requires minimal skill, but simultaneously, if I attack the entire mind, my opponents get the opportunity to resist with their entire mind, making it more difficult for me to get to them, as well as easier for them to resist. Thats the essence of improving my Compulsion; finding better places to put the thoughts.

A great philosopher once divided the mind into three pieces. These pieces seem like good ways to consider how my Genjutsu will affect the mind.

The Id, the primal section of the mind. At first thought, it seems like a good place to put Compulsion. It is completely unconscious. This idea of not being fully conscious of Compulsion is definitely an enticing one. If one isn’t even aware of what they’re trying to do, then the attempts to resist will be few and far between. No doubt, if I reach into the Id, there will be powerful benefits to the strengths of my Genjutsu.

But how to contact the Id? Where will my chakra indubitably be able to reach into the primal and instinctual side of a man? Recent science suggests that the unconscious thoughts are from the lower part of the brain. Things near the brain stem tend to be completely separate from the conscious, silently suggesting things to the consciousness, without actually being heard as a voice in the head. But simultaneously, applying chakra straight to the brain is not the best way to use Genjutsu. It behaves weirdly and can interrupt brain flow in unexpected ways. Yes, the brain is far too complex for me to directly manipulate. In dire circumstances, I know how to get to the brain stem, but I will avoid that at all costs.

Instead, I should consider options such as the further reaches of the nervous system so that I can have chakra conducted up into the brain more naturally and less abruptly, so I don’t risk weakening my own Genjutsu unnecessarily. But what parts of the body are known to talk directly to the subconscious parts of the brain, the Id? Why, there is an easy answer. The erotic zones of the human body will provide excellent conductors for my chakra. No, I needn’t arouse people for the usage of the a simple command, but I can aim my Genjutsu at their erogenous zones. Sensitive and ticklish areas no doubt are hard wired to their lower brain.

[Captain M]

LEARNED