[center][h1][b]The Houses[/b][/h1][/center]
[b]-Summarized-[/b]
Coiling Dragon: Yoga Instructors
Golden Paths: Conspiracy Theorists
Omnimental Circle: Science Nerds

[color=00aeef][center][h2][b]Coiling Dragon betwixt Heaven and Earth[/b][/h2][/center][/color]
The Primary House of the Ki style of progression holds that enlightenment is achievable by living life to its fullest, healing the world and the balance of life. They believe it is not some secret surpassing mundane knowledge, or subjugation of the laws of nature and magic that provides and proves true strength, but of allowing oneself to become part of the cycle of life, that state between Heaven and Earth. Though what exactly any of that MEANS is a hotly contested subject between Coiling Dragons. 

[b]Primary Unique Income:[/b] Healing and Ki flow. If you don’t have health, you don’t have anything, it is said by some. And humanoids are not the only things that have health. Beasts, homes, and the very land itself can all be improved, when a skilled user of Ki style manages and circulates their ki properly. However, many among the Coiling Dragon feel that many of those who need this most cannot afford to pay. 

Thus there are those among the Ki style who pander to rich clients, those who can afford to pay caravans of gold for perfect health and extended life, or occasionally even strong heirs. While often an undesirable position (though there are notable exceptions to this belief in the Jade River subfaction), those who take up such a duty are thanked for how they allow other Coiling Dragon users to provide their services for free to the sick and hungry or refine their ki in solemn meditation without want for earthly needs.

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[color=39b54a]Jade River[/color] believes that the cycle of life is not necessarily a kind and gentle thing full of peace and asceticism. They maintain that life is found in the hustle and bustle and the great struggle of every member of the throng to rise above it. Competition brings out the best in those who participate in it. For the plant eaten by the insect, eaten by the bird, eaten by the beast, who in turn feeds again the plant, brings forth the strongest in life of all of its participants. Detractors of the Jade River maintain that all that poetry about competition is an excuse to lord their strength over commons or overindulge in wealth and luxury. But the Jade River’s rebuttal is to be the most fiscally generous of the Coiling Dragon. If they were simply greedy, why would they share their wealth with the rest of the Coiling Dragon? Jade River is generally composed of a mix of Jutsu, Wushu, and pure Ki users.

[color=bc8dbf]Echoing Song[/color] believes that though the great cycle of life continues ever on with different faces, the stories of heroes and villains to inspire their spiritual progeny through their tale transcends Samsara. They maintain that the most important factor of joining the cycle of life and living it to its fullest is to pass a tale down through the future that affects the hearts and lives of those that hear it for the better. Detractors of the Echoing Song maintain that all the Echoing Song do is worry about what everyone thinks about them, and that it is thus more important to the Echoing Song that their tale be dramatic than true. But the Echoing Song’s rebuttal is that they frequently spend their time spreading the tales and legends of others, of their fellow Coiling Dragons, believing that the lives of such true heroes deserve to be lived more than just once. Echoing Song is, unsurprisingly, mostly Bardic users, though there are also a decent amount of pure Arete users.


[color=fff200][center][h2][b]Thousandfold Golden Paths[/b][/h2][/center][/color]
The Primary House of the Arete style of progression holds that enlightenment is achievable by sublime skill above all else, reaching for the transcendent secret rules of the universe. They believe that achieving enlightenment is a singular endeavor, not related to any understandable thing. The understanding of the universe unlocks greater and greater mysteries, and it is held by the Golden Paths that this is not a problem that can be solved to the level of the common man, but that the common man must elevate himself to understand. How this step be taken is where things get a bit tricky, and no-one yet knows.

[b]Primary Income:[/b] Training. Perhaps it is is some celestial irony that those who most deeply espouse the value of secrecy, individual research, and transcendent genius, are those most skilled at teaching others. But the Arete style is the pursuit of mastery and skill above all else, and its wielders have access to a type of techniques called Methods, that allow the training of dozens to hundreds of pupils in a complex subject in a matter of weeks. 

A militia can be turned into an elite force of commandos wielding the greatest skill accessible to non-practitioners. A desperate guild of weavers barely making enough to eat can be transformed into a national treasure. While each individual Arete user can generally only teach one or a handful of things, there’s almost always some Arete user somewhere that can teach you what you need. The only difficulty is finding them, and that’s where the Thousandfold Golden Paths takes its cut, a finders fee for connecting you with the right Arete user.

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[color=8493ca]Thousandfold Ascendant Knot[/color] believes that all the other styles of progression are simply misunderstood and categorized Arete disciplines. They maintain that the mana and ki resources are simply the limitations for those branches of Arete techniques, and that to truly master Arete, one must master ALL off what the others consider styles. Detractors of the Ascendant Knot maintain that they’re fucking idiots for thinking that Mana and Ki are part of Arete. But the Ascendant Knot’s rebuttal is that nobody else has the balls to try to learn EVERYTHING. The Ascendant Knot naturally has a lot of people who are mastering all sorts of things and still call themselves Arete users. It also holds many who do not believe the key tenant that Ki and Mana are part of Arete, but that the sublime step of understanding needed to achieve enlightenment is to understand everything. If it turns out that the Ascendant Knot's key principle is right, there will be a LOT of stunned people.

[color=red]Thousandfold Crimson Veins[/color] believes that the mind and body are inextricably linked on the path to enlightenment. They maintain that these two aspects of the individual must be in perfect harmony to achieve the true sublime skill that followers of the Thousandfold styles seek. They seek out combat not just to prove their progress towards enlightenment, but to achieve it. Detractors of the Crimson Veins maintain that they’re just obsessed with playing with their swords rather than actually seeking enlightenment. But the Crimson Vein’s rebuttal is that “Hey, aren’t all you guys fighting maniacs too? We’re just more honest about it.” The Crimson Veins has many Perfection Discipline Arete users, as well as Ki users, Wushu users, and many of those Ki or Wushu users who also use the Perfection Discipline. There’s also a decent number of Sacrifice Discipline users.


[center][h2][b]Omnimental Circle[/b][/h2][/center]
The Primary House of the Mana style of progression holds that enlightenment is achievable by making the complex simple, bringing the secrets of the universe to plain sight for all to see. They believe that achieving enlightenment is not some personal pursuit, but the duty of all mankind to reach for as a whole. True comprehension is when you understand something enough to break it down into simple parts and explain it clearly. But what the simple parts are and how mankind should be made to see, is another matter entirely

[b]Primary Income:[/b] Industry. While a Ki user can make a farm grow lushly, and an Arete user can train a perfect farmer, a Mana user can enchant a plow to till ten fields as easily as a normal plow would till one. Enchanted items are the purview of Mana. No mere item can perform Arete, or master its internal Ki, but it can be enchanted with how to draw upon mana to perform a simple task. While for something like the farming example above, the Ki user and the Arete user might be better or more efficient, if say, you want a pump that pumps itself, no amount of perfect skill or internal refinement can give that pump its own motive force. 

That is to say nothing of the desire for enchanted weapons and armor, which is a whole another market entirely. While Arete and Ki both have their way of making supernal weapon and armor, neither one can make their weapon shoot lightning without the wielder performing some technique. While it might be thought of as a good idea to hoard enchanted weapons to themselves, it must still be noted that there are some Mana users with the Golden Paths and Coiling Dragons, and making oneself as the bad guy in a three way war is a decidedly bad idea. Thus, the Omnimental Circle sells weapons to even those they fight with.


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[color=c4df9b]Spiral Tower[/color] believes that the only way for the common people to see the power of Mana as ascendant and come to learn, is to literally make them able to see. They maintain that Omnimental Circle must build a massive tower that draws in Mana does something absolutely amazing with it. Detractors of the Spiral Tower maintain that that sort of concept goes against the key concepts of mana (environmental exhaustion) and that the Spiral Tower has no clue what they actually want the tower to do. But the Spiral Tower’s rebuttal is that that to overcome the limitations of their style would be in a way its own enlightenment. And they’ll figure out what they want to do with their unlimited power later. The Spiral Tower is mostly Mana or Jutsu users, though it has a fair portion of bardics too, who think maybe their songs can help alleviate the problem of environmental exhaustion.

[color=00a99d]Helix Foci[/color] believes that when mankind must be enlightened as a whole, mankind means those who are worthy. They maintain that those who do not learn and seek knowledge do not deserve to reap its rewards. While efforts must be made to make learning available, should the commons wish to better themselves, it need not be idly thrown at them like pearls before swine. Detractors of the Helix Foci consider them snobby elitists who just want to reside in a massive circle jerk. But the Helix Foci’s rebuttal is “Have you ever seen a large group of people? Collectively, mankind is DUMB.” Helix Foci is composed mostly of Arete and Mana dual style users, but there’s also a number of Wushu users.