PATH OF STONE

"Three contracts fulfilled this year, each one honoured to the letter. House Ishida paid in full, provided rice and shelter, so I fought until the contract expired. House Kuyō hired me with my blade still stained from the blood of their own warriors, but they are ever pragmatic. Some call it betrayal, but both lords knew the terms: you feed me, pay me, don't throw my life away foolishly, and I'll fight for you with everything I have - until the contract expires. Break any of those terms, and I walk. It's mostly honest work, more honest than samurai who swear eternal loyalty while secretly resenting every order given to them. Between contracts, I hunt bounties in Neon City's rain-soaked streets - corpo executives, notorious gang leaders, rogue automatons - it doesn’t really matter to me. The stones in my pouch weigh heavy, a constant reminder of my transactional existence. Each stone represents a contract completed, a lord served well or a bounty killed because someone paid for it. I'm alive when idealistic samurai lie rotting in forgotten paddies. But some nights, counting my stones, I wonder how heavy a burden I will be able to carry."

• MYO-663 "Miyako," Path of Stone warrior,
  Day 22 of The Hunger, 124 AP

Dotted all around the isles of Shima are the infamous fortress temples of the Path of Stone.

Once every season, desperate ronin, discharged ashigaru troopers, and starving peasants make the pilgrimage to their nearest temple in the hope of being accepted into the Path of Stone. 

The Hopeful candidates patiently wait in the outer courtyards to be evaluated. 

Those that are accepted into the Path of Stone may never leave it again. The Path of Stone ends only in death - the final stone.

Over the coming months, the new recruits are turned into fearsome warriors. All must go through the same regime, regardless of whether they are already seasoned fighters or simple peasants with no experience.

Once their training is complete, the warriors of the Path of Stone are expected to go out into the land and fight contracts of employment, fighting for mighty warlords or hunting bounties in the vast concrete jungle of Neon City. 

A battle may well have warriors from the Path of Stone on both sides, but it matters not, as long as the warriors fulfil their contracts and get paid!

At the end of a contract, each warrior is expected to return to the nearest temple of the Path of Stone, so that they may rest and, more importantly - pay their tribute.

Back at the temple, a warrior pays their tribute to the Path of Stone. The money maintains the network of temples and pays for the training of new recruits.

In return, the warrior receives a stone as a token of her progression and a reminder of the lives she has taken.

The temples are also a sanctuary for the warriors that follow the Path of Stones, allowing them to rest recuperate between contracts.

Many warriors of the Path of Stone are drawn to the lucrative opportunities that are on offer in the vast urban sprawl that is Neon City.

From corpos that have fallen out of favour to notorious gang leaders and rogue automatons, there is never a shortage of bounty hunting contracts in Neon City.

Life in Neon City is as cheap as anywhere else in the Desolation...

...and most contracts do not require the mark to be brought in alive.

Each Path of Stone warrior carries their stones as markers of the life they have chosen. Each stone represents a contract fulfilled, a lord served or the mark of a bounty hunt terminated. The stones accumulate with each passing season, testimonies to years of service and a reminder of the lives that have been taken.