'Ryo ten Ryam' Series - All Liturgies

Meti’s Sword Manual

Argument

1. Glory to the Divine Corpse, o breaker of infinities

2. I am Meti, of no house but myself. In my 108th year I am surrounded by fools. My compatriots cling obsessively to their destiny, and my only apprentice is an idiot speck of a girl with more talent for eating than skill with the blade. Therefore I have decided to die drowning in the boiling gore of my enemies, of which there are many.

3. My master was the greatest lord general to the king Au Vam, Ryo-ten-Ryam, who first coaxed me into learning the ways of turning men into ghosts. As his interest quickly turned to the wholly uninteresting and most useless parts of my body, I returned the favor and relieved him of his.

4. It is my personal opinion the straight sword is best if you can obtain one, but I also favor the sabre. The spear, stave, or club are peasant’s weapons of which I am wholly unfamiliar and so will not speak on them.

5. Upon meeting me, you might find that my appearance is quite dreadful and unkempt. I have been spat upon by priest, king, and merchant alike. I have no retainers, and possess nothing except a straight sword six hand spans (5 and a half kret) long (this is the proper length). This is because I am Royalty and the undisputed master of the principal art of Cutting. I will fight naked with ten-thousand men.

6. From the age of thirteen I practiced every day with the straight sword. I followed a strict vegetarian regimen, and harsh training of barefoot sprints (five) between cities, squats and breathing exercises (two bells), and sword drills and resistance training (three bells).

7. By the age of sixteen, my body was a steel edifice. I was so often mistaken for a man I began to wear my hair long with no pins and unbind my breasts. I could break stone with my hands with no effort, I could sprint between the Yellow City and the Lunar dominions in a day or less and barely strain my breath. My mastery of the sword complete, I enlisted in the Middle Army’s third legion, where I was widely respected as a swordswoman of incredible power.

8. When it came time to face my first real opponent, the Colossus of Pardos, in my youthful pride and immense skill, I brought all my training and mastery to bear. Scarcely half a day passed before my sword was shattered into thirty pieces, my right leg was almost torn from its socket, and my honed body was broken pathetically in a hundred and forty places. I defeated him by gouging his brains out through his breathing valves. My thumbs, in this case, proved far more useful.

9. At that moment, with my thumbs in his brains, I had a revelation. I had trained far too broadly. Existence and the act of combat are absolutely no different, and the essence of both, the purity of both, is a singular action, which is Cutting Down Your Opponent. You must resolve to train this action. You must become this action. Truly, there is very little else that will serve you as well in this entire cursed world.

10. I hope that by reading this manual, you will be thoroughly encouraged to become a farmer.

“The air is full of the plaintive cries of fools struggling pitifully to bend the arc of their own destruction. Thus it has always been.”

-Ryo ten Ryam, Swordmaster

“Here is the first rule of Sword Law: a sword is a tool for splitting men. It doesn’t matter what your intentions are, whenever you swing it, it will do what it was made for. Take that law and put it in the secret nook next to your heart, my student. It will serve you well.”

-Ryo ten Ryam

“Here is the second rule of sword law: a sword is not subtle. It is a naked instrument, hungry for blood. When you grasp its handle, treat it as you would a deadly viper.”

-Ryo ten Ryam

“When studying sword law, many of my students ask me about the principle of hesitation. I tell them plainly that hesitation is defeat. Thought is slower than the edge of a blade and does not cut half as well.

‘Master,’ they then ask me, ‘What if victory is impossible?’

The answer to this very simple question is this: flee, or go to your just and honest death. Either is a good choice. The worst of all is the man who agonizes for half a breath over the value of his own life and dies an indecisive coward.”

– Ryo-ten-Ryam

“The touch of a sword handle is the deadliest poison known to man. It settles in, deeper than the bone, instantaneously. It is a deep curse that can never be lifted and will last you the rest of your days.”

– Ryo-ten-Ryam

“Remember, oh student, this above all other laws: the grip of a sword is suffused with a deep and powerful poison that rots to the bone. It can never be rid of once touched, no matter how much you wish otherwise.

The sword does not kill. The hand kills. The hand is the most beautiful part of a human being, and is capable of nearly infinitely other things than parting men from their ghosts. Once you touch the sword, a terrible tragedy will occur, and your hand will slowly lose this ability. Over time, it will cease to be a hand, and become a sword.”

Ryo-ten-Ryam

“The perfected art – when a man and sword are made one. The poison of the hilt becomes the poison of the arm and gradually infects the whole body. There is no beating a man who has been subsumed by the sword.”

-Ryo ten Ryam

“The Universal Sword – cut everywhere at once. Then there will be nowhere left for your enemy to stand.”

-Ryo ten Ryam

“When it comes to so-called ‘immortals’, do not fear them. Those that call themselves by such a title have purged themselves of the most useful and primal their brain, the parts that remember the cold fear, the old night, the teeth in the dark. The swordsman should be a great friend to fear and pain, so when they inevitably find him, he will not collapse at their remembrance, like a pathetic mewling thing, as I have seen these majestic godlings do.”

-Ryo-ten-Ryam

“Listen, closely, pale worm. Our only goal here, and indeed, for the rest of your miserable life, is to learn the cut called Quelling the Breath of Man. It is the most superior sword technique in the Seven Cities and will win you every battle if done properly. You must resolutely study this cut. Your life, as mine, is no longer your own. You have now become a blade, and the hearts-hilt of this blade is held by his Grace, and when he swings it you will kill any number of men that he wills dead.”

– Gälde ten Bilong, sword god of the Lunar Kingdoms, to their student Ryam

“Here is a cut I call the Life Cut. It is adapted from my ancient master, who roamed the world when it is young, and taught it to me in a different and weaker form. Listen, whelp. I have improved upon her fragile schemes. Where once my sword hand was held by my master, this cut has a secret art that can roam and strike him. It is the most important thing I will teach you – the blade that cuts its own wielder.”

-Great Blade Hermit Ryam to his student Ryo

“Cut once, think not at all. Every situation must be handled this way. Any more than that is excessive and will only burden your sword arm with the weight of regret.”

– Ryo ten Ryam, sword saint

“It is said, in those days, to the great armies of the Yellow City was made a peculiar decree. All men, regardless of rank, were ordered to eat in common, in common reed and rush mat halls, and with no utensils other than their hands, and nothing other than a wooden bowl to hold their mess. Protestations were made against this policy, as a matter of course, for mingling with the coarse and ignoble was seen as unsightly in those days, but the master of that army, Ryo-ten-Ryam, had a voice like a southern wind, and scattered them to the corners of the world.

It is said that by sharing the meal, the men intermixed, and by intermixing, their common destiny became entwined, and eventually their blood. What force could stand up to that?”

– Yua Yua Lo, Lunar Monk (notes in the Blue Record, circa 45 SC)