Fūten Masamune

The Fūten Masamune, nicknamed in the common language as the Four Winds, is a doom-driven katana spirit crafted from the souls of the broken blades of Taumata and imbued with the ancient winds of the First World. It is considered the second-greatest work of Masamune, and is a symbol of the rage and agony felt by his lost people.

Acquiring the Four Winds

As a sword spirit the Four Winds cannot be wielded until it is placed inside a weapon. This happens immediately upon acquiring the Four Winds if you possess a doom-coated melee weapon, and afterwards can be transferred to another such weapon as part of an 8-hour rest.

Special Abilities

• Ride the Winds (Passive, Constant): You gain a supernatural Fly speed equal to your movement speed as long as you possess the Four Winds. If you already possess a Fly speed, you gain a 60-foot enhancement bonus to that speed.
• The Eastern Wind (Swift, 3 RP): You channel the Wind of Winds, and imbue yourself and nine other nearby allies with haste. This effect lasts for 10 rounds.
• The Southern Wind (Reaction, 1 RP): When one of your allies affected by the Eastern Wind would be reduced to 0 HP or Stamina, you may call on the Cutting Wind to teleport to them as a Reaction (as per dimension door), and make an attack roll. If your attack roll equals or exceeds the attacker’s, you completely block the attack. Moving in this way does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
• The Western Wind (Move, 4 RP): The Scorching Wind carries flame to your weapons and those of any allies affected by the Eastern Wind, adding 1d6 fire damage per every 5 character levels you possess (rounding down). This effect lasts for 1 round per every 5 character levels you possess.
• The Northern Wind (Standard, 1/Day): You reach for the Freezing Wind, and run it along your blade. This immediately cancels out the fire damage from the Western Wind, and replaces it with 5d6 lunar cold damage for 1 round, which cuts through immunities to cold. Attack once as part of invoking this ability — you may attempt to confirm a critical hit on a 17-20, and the critical multiplier for this attack is x4.
• Reach Heaven By Violence (Full Action, 1/Day): If you complete each of the four wind stances in the sequence they are listed — going from East, South, West, and then North — the Four Winds takes on an ethereal, azure glow. As part of your next Full Action, you may release this energy as a howling slice of wind, which affects all enemies in a 60-foot cone in front of you. All targets must make a Reflex save (DC = 10 + your character level + your Dexterity bonus) or take 20d6 slashing damage (or half if they pass their save) that cuts through DR for any creature of Saint-level or lower.

History

This blade spirit was crafted and fostered by Masamune — the legendary swordsmith of Taumata — in the Age of Destiny, after a conquering, Heaven-appointed emperor destroyed his master’s house, massacred his samurai, and kidnapped the master’s wife.
Seeking revenge, the master bid Masamune to craft three weapons: a cannon that could breach the walls of Heaven (later called the Spire), a sword for his mightiest general (the Four Winds), and a bow that could shoot down the stars. Grieving for his master, and the loss of his own family, Masamune put his all into these weapons, blasphemously creating weapons of the divine, and gave to each a piece of his own soul.
Unfortunately, this was seen by Hei Feng, the god of thunder and storms, who was furious that any mortal should attempt to replicate the work of the gods. In his rage he took up his nine-ring sword and plunged it straight into the nation of Taumata, shattering the landmass into broken islands, and destroying the land bridge that once existed between Tian Xia and Sarusan.
The survivors of the calamity — once divided by clan and faction — dyed their banners black in unity, forming under the leadership of the master. Masamune stood beside him, taking up the Four Winds and the title of general, and with the master’s guidance their armies carved through the lands of the empire, and eventually came to siege the emperor’s palace.
But despite their tenacity, House Blackblood was no match for the forces of Heaven, who came to the emperor’s aid and stole the master’s wife behind their walls. In a terrible defeat Masamune’s forces were destroyed, his master riddled with arrows, and Masamune himself banished to Sarusan. It is unclear what passed in the mind fogs of that island, but as the House rose again as Demons, their general was nowhere to be found.
After centuries of searching, they placed his blade at his grave in the Boneyard, and his master left to recover Masamune’s fabled cannon, to settle the score with Heaven once and for all.

Item type

Weapon, Melee

Current Holder

Mercenary

Manufacturer

House Blackblood

Creator

Mercenary

Related ethnicities

• Tien

Rarity

Unique