Bushido: The Kinshi Temple und mehr

GCT Studios haben auf der Adepticon die neueste Fraktion für ihr Skirmish Bushido angekündigt.

The Kinshi Temple

The death of time.

                          The death of light.

                                                          The death of existence.

                                                                                                  Eternal night.

The circle turns.

                         The suns dim.

                                                          Erase the living.

                                                                                                 A chorus sings.

“Time? Time is infinite. But the beings that swim through it are not, and when the power that moves those creatures fails to stir them, it disperses as solemnly as woodsmoke from an autumn fire. Yet, the tiny pieces of who or what we are are doomed to meet repeatedly, attract, and corrupt each other. The path you walk in this life will be your path in all lives. Your existence is doomed to an endless cycle of weary, soul-grinding repetition that must be destroyed! All pleasure, pain, every friend, foe, victory or defeat will be yours to encounter after every revolution around the eternal ring. Forever.”
– Master Shi.

“Entropy flows from the Void. Do not forget that. Also, while it is also true that Ki is greater than the elements, and all elements are formed of Ki, Ki itself is indeed part of the Void.  Such things are to be contemplated, not understood.”

– Master Enos.

The wait is over. Welcome to the Void.

I’d like to thank you for your patience.
As most of you will have seen, something has been brewing in our logo over the last few days building up to Adepticon. Well, here we are on day one of the show, and I’m proud to announce the release of a sneak/secret faction called…The Kinshi Temple.

Over the next few days, we’ll be giving you more information about who they are, how they fit into Jwar, and, more importantly, what they are like on the table; and yes, even if you are not attending Adepticon, you can swing by our website and order some.

If you are at the show, pop in and say hello to Gordon, Jason or Andy and ask them for a blow-by-blow on how the Void function on the table. The latest Two-Player Starter Set is also available, so grab a box while stocks last. It contains ten glorious Ronin models that can swell the ranks of any warband of your choice! Plus, there are cards galore, tokens and a rulebook. But first…those who dwell in the Void.

The Void is the antithesis of those from the Temple of Ro-Kan, the direct opposite in every way, shape and form. If Ro-Kan is light, then the Void is its shadow; it is the night to their day, and the most obvious observation is the Yin to their Yang.

Unlike the monks of the Ro-Kan, they have no Ki. None. Life and time generate Ki; the Void monks seek to destroy it. The Void aims to return everything to a glorious state of nothing, darkness, silence, and Void. What the Temple of Ro-Kan builds, the Void monks seek to eradicate.

Some of those who fight on the side of the Void were once monks of the Ro-Kan who had failed their teachings at the illustrious hands of Master Enos. They failed to heed his warnings and were naive in judging the Void’s power. They succumbed to its seductive nature, letting the power of the black sun’s eclipse rob them of what it means to be human.

A large portion of Jwar believes in reincarnation and ‘karma’: that you’ll be reborn and rewarded for what you put into this existence in the next life. The Void do not; they believe in the Eternal Recurrence, where everything is a circle, like the rings of a giant planet in the darkness of space.

You are born, you either strive or suffer, and upon death, you do it repeatedly, ad Infinitum. The Void view this as grossly unfair; why should some suffer unconscionable tragedy for eternity while others bask in the glow of health, wealth and happiness?

No past, no present, no future.

For those born poor, destined to live a life in the gutter, a life of hunger and suffering, all that will end, there will be no repeat of such misery. The Void monks will destroy it all until there is nothing and no one left, and when that is achieved, there can be no time, as who will remain to fashion it?

The Void will consume its monks upon completing the task at hand, leaving nothing behind; there will be no more pain or sorrow and nothing to mark that you once existed.

When considering the Void, the question one should ask is not where they are, but when they are. They do not move through time; time moves through them. They are, in essence, everywhere and nowhere all at once.

It is a dark path, the path of the Void, and those that fail to become acolytes are stripped of what makes them who they are; in essence, they are empty inside, a husk of their former selves. But now that these ‚husks‘ have got rid of the pain of living, they perform other much more serious tasks. They fashion the ways between the worlds, creating vast, labyrinthian tunnels through time and space ending in portals that allow the Void monks to travel between the realms.

„To those aware of it, the Void is an element like any other. What difference is there between Fire, Metal, Water and the nebulous Void? Most of Jwar would not know that the Void is an element. Every day they see the earth, feel the wind, drink the water and use metal tools crafted in the fire. But the Void? Many will never understand its touch in their lives or notice how the Void is an intrinsic part of the world around them. Nor will they ever feel its seductive pull, like a lover’s whisper or song. But those close to the Elements: the Masters of Rokan, the Kokoro Tengu and some Shugenja know the truth: the Void is not „Evil“; it just is, and those that can wield its vast powers can perform great heroics or inflict great harm. But those seduced by it will stop at nothing to tear it all down, one existence at a time.“

– Master Enos.

Designing the Void

Please allow me to introduce myself. I’m a man of wealth and taste… only joking; call me Alasdair. I’m the one who dabbles in the darkness of GCT Studios, behind the limelight, writing this, sometimes that, and was fortunate to witness -albeit rather briefly – Bushido’s genesis.

Back then, Master Ekusa was still a cork with a piece of paper stuck on him telling you who he was – and if you want to know something stranger than that – the Void predates the creation of Bushido itself. Talk about art imitating life.

It’s taken 21 years for the Void to be born, 21 years. It all began in 2001 as I was standing in the Czech National Museum in Prague. I was looking at a picture by an artist whose name I forget, and for whatever reason, it struck a chord deep inside. It was an oil painting of several fishermen on a storm-tossed sea heaving in a net filled with something unseen that broiled just beneath the waves. Behind them was a bank of ominous clouds that appeared to be chasing them, and they were upping sticks to get the hell out of there before the storm broke. I admit I’d been out the night before and felt a tad hungover, so I was probably reading way more into this than I should have; also, I was listening to Black Sabbath at the time.

Sadly, Mr and Mrs Time have rubbed smooth my memory of the painter, even the exact picture that inspired it. But something in that piece of art made me seek out a paper and a pen, and I wrote the following, „They are of time, but move without it.“ Whoever I was writing about, I decided, should be able to flit through time, killing all who got in their way, and that their end goal was to return everything to that state of nothingness from whence we all sprung.
I kept that scrap of paper in my wallet for years, often pulling it out to see how, when, and where I could use it, but for such a long time, it just never felt right until one day it did.

A few years ago, Gordon and I were racking our brains for something new and exciting to bring to you when I remembered that bit of paper, and it got the old creative juices flowing. I have a design adage: „No low hanging fruit.“ Never go for the obvious or the most straightforward answer; try and stretch yourself to come up with something unique instead of just mediocre. So that’s what I did; after we had zeroed in on these being a release, I went to the local library and delved into poetry, philosophy, religion, even physics books. Hopefully, I came away with what you hold in your hands, The Void, or as I like to call them, monks for people who don’t usually play monks.

So now they are here, get a box, paint them up, and destroy it all! Tomorrow we’ll show you more…oh, and that piece of paper? Gone. Can’t find it. It’s probably disappeared into the Void.

Wer nun Gefallen an diesen neuen „bösen Mönchen“ (The Temple of Ro-Kan is watching you!) gefunden hat kann diese sogar bereits jetzt direkt bei GCT Studios bestellen. Zusätzlich gibt es, nur während der Adepticon, einen Prerelease („Note: this product will be available again in the future at an, as of yet, undetermined date.“ – GCT Studios) eines neuen 2-Spieler-Starters angefüllt nur mit Ronin sowie die reguläre nächste Wave an Neuheiten im Shop:

Strap in, today is going to be awesome…

Two Player Starter Set (Adepticon Exclusive Release¹)

The two player starter set is back and it’s better! It launches today for a limited period. Know someone on the fence? Knows the time to pass them a katana and launch their journey into Bushido and the Jwar Isles.

• 10 models and bases, A5 rulebook, Token set, 30 cards
• Limited availability

Wave 5

Wave 5 launches today, these along with the rest of todays releases will be in the store around 4pm (UK time).

• 6 different factions receiving reinforcements
• Pre-orders will ship early April

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For all today’s releases gathered in one place head to the Exclusives and Rewards section of the store

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¹The two player starter set will be available for purchase in our webstore and at Adepticon for the duration of Adepticon. It will go on general release later in 2022.

Quelle: GCT Studios