What are mudra?

[waylander13]

As ever, the answer is probably "we can't really know," but I'm curious to know how people interpret the use of mudra in RP.

 

The lorebook describes mudra with the following:

 

"Known as "mudra," the ritual hand gestures that allow a ninja to harness mystical energies can be considered the simplified components of more complicated incantations. By manipulating the aether present in heaven (ten), earth (chi), and man (jin), and further combining their effects in predetermined sequences, the shinobi is capable of manifesting an impressive array of arcane phenomena."

 

They are said to manifest their power through the "weaving of signs." On the face of it this seems to break the established rules of magic in that it doesn't seem to require a focus in the same way that conjury does when it draws on the elements, or thaumaturgy does to concentrate the latent aether of the self, and yet for a discipline that only flirts with the arcane some of the techniques seem ridiculously powerful when compared to the common schools. And they hail from a land less suffuse with aether, no less.

 

How do people like to see mudra techniques treated? Are they strictly limited to what we see in the game mechanics? Can you scale down a Katon to light a campfire? Can you summon a gust of air to blow out a candle? How much control is implied?

 

The description above, if I'm reading it correctly, seems to suggest that the handsigns are a shortcut and that they might have originated as a more complex ritual. Is there scope for a character who performs similar, slower ritual movements to manipulate the same energies without a magical focus?

 

What gives?

[Kieron Lohengrin]

Yoshi-P told his dev team to reread/rewatch Boruto's Dad Naruto when they were making the class, instead of copy-pasting their dodge tank role from FFXI.

 

Given all the mundane utility that jutsu is used for in that series, it's not a stretch for your character to do similar things.

[Valence]

Not all aetherial arts require similar mediums to conjure magic. While thaumaturgy requires a focus AND a gem, conjury only requires a focus while arcanima demands a focus (ink) and signs. Then you have monks that probably use their own bodies and chi as focus and energy, bards that just use songs, or even gladiators with the tip of their swords...

 

Mudras are just another way to summon magical powers, and the way they seem related to kami (eastern elementals here in the nin questline if i remember correctly) makes me think it is an unique way of using elemental magic through the standard elemental wheel (fire with katon, thunder with raiton, wind with huton, etc).

[ShoggMommy]

Nero and Sounssy talk about mudra and the like here from the lore in-game.

http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=15597&pid=249116#pid249116

 

 

Peasants By Day, Ninjas By Night Wrote:

Oboro

We draw power from the world around us─the heaven, the earth, and the hearts of man─and channel this power into physical form. I am told that this is similar to your concept of...ay-ther, was it? I must confess that Eorzean words and ways remain unfamiliar to me.

 

Oboro

How does one channel this power, you ask? Through the use of mudra, hand gestures that call forth each of the three forms of energy of which I spoke. The first mudra I will teach you will call power from the heavens. In Doma, we call this Ten.

 

Nero

The use of mudra allows a shinobi to shape aether to various physical forms, whether it be a giant shuriken, a vertical bolt of lightning, a ball of fire, or so on. It is unknown if any additional mudras or ninjutsu techniques exist among Doman shinobi outside of those available in-game.

 

Using mudras is known to exhaust the spirit, and additional time is required to settle the mind sufficiently to use mudra again. It is emphasized that one's mind and focus must be clear in order to properly utilize mudra, or the ninjutsu will fail. This limitation is surpassed when a shinobi utilizes Kassatsu, although that too has limitations.

 

+(a lot more discussed in the link above)

 

 

So it tends to be both use of the NIN's personal 'spirit' as it were and elemental involvement.

 

 

While I very much like the lore book (I own it) I will admit it is very abridged. Afterall it is a supplement. The best way to get lore resources is honestly to play through the class; or replay it if you have an alt and have the time. There is so much that is not covered in anything more than brevity in the lorebook vs. ingame lore. Talking to NPCs, even minor ones (as one npc goes over the rankings in full) help a lot too.

[Damien]

I've been giving this some thought as I'm contemplating having my character train as a ninja or samurai, undecided.

 

My interpretation is a bit like you suggested; the handsigns are a sort of shortcut of their own. It's like a sensory aid that helps them remember how to channel the correct energy they need in a particular way, quickly and silently, rather than having to stand still and focus.

 

The way I think of it is that it's a sort of association game. Ninjas probably train or learn to call on the particular type of energy, e.g Earth, Man or Heaven, but learn to do it so that whenever they perform a certain sign, the calling of that energy becomes like a second-nature reaction. 

 

The meanings of those mudras might be quite literal, too. They might genuinely be bending their own aether if they use Jin, of that of the ground or world around them if they use Chi. 

 

It's not worth thinking about overly heavily since trying to wrap your head around a fundamentally supernatural, illogical thing like this is just asking for a headache, so I wouldn't think it's too smart an idea to try and break it down too much more.

 

As for additional techniques, I'm a fan of creative liberty - but here it'd be limited. The amount of techniques ninjas can do is more than what players can perform, we know that because of what we've seen in quests and such. But there's only three three mudras that most ninjas are aware of, and so there's a finite way to combine them and it's already clear which each sequence can do. So either other ninja techniques don't always rely on mudras, or there's simply more to mudras than we know concerning techniques and such.

[Valence]

There is certainly more to mudras than we currently know. The 60-70 quests showed the presence of a fourth mudra that only the villain (and his restricted lineage) and possibly Karasu mastered, and that they use to project believable illusions of themselves or other people. Simply adding an additional mudra by law of probabilities geometrically increases the number of possible techniques.

 

 

In any case, returning on the matter of handsigns, they are indeed shortcuts intended to fasten greatly a summoning process, in a matter of seconds. As explained in the lorebook, using predetermined sequences can cast powerful spells in the blink of an eye. However they will limit the spells the ninja will cast by their very definition: the number of combinations is finite, and they remain a simplification that always lead to the same result for the same combination. If the ninja is after more complicated or specific summons, they will have to go through more traditional and lengthy means, such as seen in the Kugane Castle dungeon, where shinobi slowly summoning voidsent abominations can be witnessed.