Dojo Code

Seven rules, carved on the torii's inner beam. The code is the curriculum: everything the lava arena teaches, in the order it teaches it.

The seven rules

I. The flame is a student. You do not master fire; you teach it, daily, the way you were taught. A technique you cannot explain to a novice is a technique you do not own.

II. Leave the opening on purpose. Every guard has a gap; the discipline is in choosing yours. An opening you did not choose is a mistake. An opening you chose is a question. Ask good questions.

III. Never strike a downed opponent. The lesson ends when the lesson is learned. Continuing past that point is not victory — it is vandalism, and the dojo does not employ vandals.

IV. Burn nothing that cannot be rebuilt. The arena, the dummies, your opponent's pride before noon — all replaceable. The torii, the trust of the school, the mountain itself — not. Know which is which before you ignite.

V. Lose well, and on purpose, at least once. The fighter who cannot afford to lose cannot afford to learn. Take the opening graciously. Sweep the floor afterward without being asked.

VI. The eruption is not for the audience. Finish the fight when the lesson is over, even mid-combination, even to boos. Spectacle is a side effect of discipline, never its purpose.

VII. Bow to the gate, not to the master. The arena outranks everyone in it. The master is merely its most senior student, and the senior student's first duty is to remember that.

How the code is taught

Novices memorize the rules in a week and spend years discovering they did not understand them. Seniors are tested not on recitation but on violation: each year, the master engineers a situation where following one rule seems to require breaking another, and the student must choose — then defend the choice, in a sparring match, because of course it is a sparring match. Everything here is a sparring match. That is rather the point.

— Fan-created creed for this guide. Not official Vizlings canon.