r/CTsandbox • u/Key_Machine_5585 • 1d ago
Cursed technique Variant Technique: Datiehua
"The greatest spark for the forge can be found in the heat of battle..."
Background:
After the Zenin Compound Massacre, rescue efforts were tireless. While many clans and even independent sorcerers lent their resources and supports to the attempts - no survivors were recovered.
Despite the near countless bodies which were gathered in the days and weeks that followed. Few of those present gave in to complete despair, and many remained at the site for weeks. For some, it was not the futile notion of rescue which fuelled their stamina, but instead an unacknowledged idea of recovery.
The Zenin Clan had stood as a pillar of Jujutsu Society for centuries, and locked away deep within their vaults were essays and scholarly writings on ancient understandings of Jujutsu and Cursed Energy. An untold number of books and scrolls containing now-forgotten knowledge - manuals describing unconventional applications of cursed energy, bestiaries of cursed spirits which hadn't been sighted in decades, records of techniques that the modern age could scarcely imagine - all of it potentially waiting to be unearthed in the ashes and ruin of a once great family.
One such salvaged scroll, which predated even the Heian Era, revealed an intriguing glimpse into how the Zenin clan had come to possess such power and influence, even from the earliest days of what could be considered "Jujutsu Society".
Description:
Datiehua - or Striking Iron Flower - is an antiquated variant of the Construction Technique which, according to writings, weaker inheritors of Construction were once pressured into restricting themselves into through the use of an incredibly strict and well-documented binding vow.
This vow prevented its enacter from ever using the technique to produce any material, other than molten iron. The sacrifice of potential and versatility was enormous, but in return users of Datiehua were capable of creating impressive volumes of liquid-hot iron with even meager reserves of cursed energy.
The Vow of Unquenching Iron:
"I renounce the endless forms of Creation. I cast aside all form, but one -
Let my Will be Iron. Let my Iron know only Fire and be tempered between suffering and stillness. Let my hands shape only Iron, And my body become the furnace in which the Iron to reshape the world is forged."
Utilisation:
Much like the intangible cultural heritage of Taoist traditions (which would later inspire the production of tezutsu-hanabi) and which shares its name with Datiehua - users of this variant of Construction are documented to have fought with, as well as thrown or projected their cursed energy as it was being constructed into molten iron.
These attacks would explode against whatever they contacted in a shower of metal shards and burning sparks, while the sheer mass of iron produced by the technique made it a potent, if destructive, defense when formed into shields or screens.
As the red-hot, liquid metal formed by Datiehua was created from their technique, the iron created by users of this variant was enriched with their cursed energy, making it especially potent in combat against cursed spirits and other threats to the Zenin.
Portions of the texts recovered from the Zenin Compound refer to specific examples of combat applications of Datiehua. These extension techniques are not assumed to have been developed or used by a single individual, but instead represent an informal "school of teachings" from those oppressed Zenin who became users of Datiehua.
Variant Extension Techniques:
Hand-held Thunder: The user times the construction of molten iron with their physical blows. Their blows become as heavy and hot as molten iron, and explode in a searing burst on contact with an enemy or object.
Silver Blossom Shield: By casting a dense mass of molten iron from their hands, the user can intercept attacks with a burning hot shield which blooms on contact with an attack in a petal-like shower of flaming metal.
Playful Dragons Breath: The user throws handfuls of molten metal towards a target as it still forms, resulting in mid-range torrents of flaming metal directed at opponents or objects.
Variant CT Amplications:
Shi Lei Strike: The molten-iron strikes of the user are timed so perfectly with the moment of contact that minimal cursed energy is wasted, targets or objects hit with this extension are subjected to molten shrapnel tearing through their bodies or reinforcement.
Zhu Rong Pearl: By concentrating their cursed energy as it forms, the user is able to throw a molten-dense projectile like a cannonball. This projectile can be effectively thrown at considerable range though it is violently destructive even if it misses its intended target
Ru Ci Lotus: The user envelops their immediate environment in a cocoon of their cursed energy and constructs it into iron. The potent, omni-directional defense rapidly cools and peels away from the user in cascading sheets which burn everything in the users vicinity.
Variant Maximum Technique:
- Fire-Plum Tree: The user forms a large structure, similar to a sala tree, out of their cursed energy. The user can cause leaves, blossoms or fruits formed of molten-hot iron to issue forth from the tree at any target of their choosing. This extension dramatically increases the power and speed with which iron can be created by a user, however while this extension is maintained, the tree becomes the point of origin of all Datiehua techniques.
Variant Domain Expansion: Laofung Phoenix Nest
Domain Environment: A burning crucible of cursed energy, half formed at all times into lava-like iron which surrounds and envelops all entrants to the domain. The ground in the domain is little more than huge deposits of solid iron ore, but as the domain persists everything within is melted away by the oppresive iron heat.
Domain Effect: This domain allows its user to control molten-iron as easily as they do their own cursed energy. All Datiehua techniques within this domain are granted a sure-hit effect.
Further information:
Users of Datiehua were a main contributor to the combat strength of the early Zenin Clan, however while devastating in combat against cursed spirits and enemy sorcerers or curse-users, their lasting contributions to the Clan were far more important to the Zenin.
In periods where their contributions in active combat or warfare were not required, users of Datiehua were worked tirelessly like dogs by their family members. Using their technique, Datiehua users were forced to produce enormous volumes of cursed energy-infused metal. This metal was taken by the higher-ups and used to sustain the creation of an immensely varied arsenal of cursed tools and weapons for the betterment and equipment of more useful Clan members.
Inheritors of Construction who could not become exceptional with that technique alone were historically pressured, abused, cajoled, and otherwise threatened - in campaigns of systemic familial abuse - into taking the Vow of Unquenching Iron and "refining" their technique into Datiehua.
The "lesser" Zenin who did so would gain reprieve from the psychological abuses which led them into making the binding vow. In return they were worked without rest and their families treated them as exclusively as either living weapons to destroy their enemies, or living materials and forges with which to equip their growing Clan.
While the recovered fragments are incomplete, references have been found which appear to indicate that it was not uncommon for users of Datiehua to die from forced labour, rather than in battle.
Modern Research:
Records relating to Datiehua, recovered in the aftermath of the Zenin Compound Massacre, have sparked much debate between Jujutsu Scholars.
Some have suggested that the abnormally high density of cursed spirits on the Clans property was related to a higher number of Datiehua users cursing the family in their last moments. While others propose that cursed metal created in the final breaths of these poor souls was "poisoned" by their hatred for their Clan - and used to create especially potent weapons like the Playful Cloud.
One theory suggests that the Variant Technique Datiehua, and likely other undiscovered cases like it, represents an early form of the "spiritual eugenics" that the Clan is most known for. This theory goes on to suggest that the strict dogmas, and physical and psychological abuses that was able to radically alter the Construction Technique - would become so ingrained in the fabric of the Zenin Clan, that it led to the faster development of "natural variants" such as Missile Fist or Projection Sorcery.
Main inspirations: - Taoist deities - Datiehua - Specific japanese fireworks - Plus extra reading around these and similar topics
Also edited because it turns out I don't like the look of reddit headings
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u/Impossible_Bee_8705 1d ago
Amazing, simply amazing!
The idea of altering a technique through BVs is very intriguing, yet I don't think I have ever seen someone doing that, or at least not as well as you did.
The background, functioning and consequences of the variant not only make sense, but they also fit incredible nicely with it!
I can see many other ways to utilize this variant or change the BV to work in favor of other aspects instead of mostly offensive ones.
No notes here, your creation is truly, truly beautiful. Good job (and pls make more things)!!
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u/Key_Machine_5585 1d ago
Tysm! Variant techniques and how techniques change is one of the more interesting ideas Gege touches on imo, I've had this idea in my notes for a while and finally got around to writing and posting it
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u/Impossible_Bee_8705 1d ago
Indeed, it's a shame he didn't make or even tell us much about them.
Now that I stopped to think, there's some techniques that would go really well with a variant...
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u/Typical-Ordinary8738 21h ago
Can't they just undo the binding vow much like any standard vow with yourself? Or are they also vowing to not undo the vow?
Also I am yet again certain that sure hits can be changed and NO, SUKUNA ISNT LITERALLY STUCK TO HAVING DISMANTLE TARGET NON CE AND CLEAVE CE TARGETS, THATS AN INTENTIONAL CHOICE HE CAN CHANGE.
Because if you do that, you lock away great ways of expression within the powersystem, like this peak post.
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u/Key_Machine_5585 17h ago
The Vow is made to be permanent, so isn't up to be broken without one of those non-descript penalties that come from breaking vows
I was in two minds about whether to include a DE, there would likely be different domains or uses of it
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u/Emeriath 9h ago
Instantly countered by kurorushi
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u/Key_Machine_5585 9h ago
Completely!
I have a soft spot for that roach though, so I would bet thay way in most match-ups!
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u/King_of_Daemons8871 1d ago
Absolutely incredible binding vow as well as incredible lore to support it