Fame, the Bingo Book and rivals

Every ninja has fame, yours and the enemy's. It comes from deeds:

• kills, worth far more for high ranks (a village leader is worth eight times a genin), plus a share of the victim's own fame
• breaks and combos, more if the finisher kills
• winning a fight: everyone who fought gets fame when the map is clear of enemies again, more for big fights
• missions (D to S rank), promotions, and beating a rival
• S and A-rank techniques used in a fight (only a little a day, so repeating one doesn't buy fame)

Fame slowly fades when nothing happens, but never below half of the best tier the ninja ever reached: a legend stays at least feared. Being downed, captured or fleeing a fight in a panic costs some fame.

Enemy ninja come with the fame of their rank: a genin is rarely known, many jōnin are, village leaders are famous everywhere.

During a fight, a Known, Feared or Legendary ninja affects everyone within 9 cells:

• allies are inspired: a little better aim, hit chance and dodge, a steadier mind, and a mood boost ("fighting beside a legend")
• enemies are intimidated: a little worse aim, hit chance and dodge, a shakier mind and a mood penalty, unless they are at least as famous themselves

The effect grows with the tier (2%, 4% or 6%). It also changes break meters: famous attackers fill them faster, intimidated fighters break faster and inspired ones slower. Weak, unranked enemy fighters near a Feared or Legendary ninja may panic and run.

When a ninja becomes Known, people start calling them by a nickname taken from what they are known for, and it gets grander at Feared and Legendary. A lightning ninja might be "Thunderclap", then "Stormcaller", then "the Living Storm"; a ninja who knows the arts of many schools "Mirror", then "the Borrower"; a ninja forever dashing and vanishing "Blink", then "the Vanishing Light". Healers, illusionists, sealers, summoners, close fighters, swordsmen, hunters of high-ranked ninja, survivors, the never-wounded, guardians, mission-runners and rival-beaters all have their own names.

A letter tells you when one of your ninja earns a nickname. A nickname you set yourself is never replaced: you get a letter offering the new one instead. Enemy ninja have nicknames too.

Open it with the Bingo Book button at the top of the Ninja world panel. It lists the most famous ninja your colony knows of: your own, the enemies you have fought, village leaders and your rivals, sorted by fame. Each page shows their rank and village, their fame, what they are known for, their bounty (3 silver per point of fame, dead or alive), who wants them, where they were last seen and their deeds.

Your famous ninja are hunted. Once one of your ninja is Known and some faction is hostile to you, bounty hunters from a hostile village or the Black Ink Syndicate may come for them, more often and stronger the more famous they are (never during the truce, at least 20 days apart). The hunters go for their target first.

You can hunt. On an enemy's page, Hunt posts a mission: a camp of their faction a few days away with the target in it. Kill or capture the target and a runner brings the bounty. If they get away, the bounty stays open. Up to three hunts can be open at once.

An enemy who gets away after a fight with you can become a rival:

• always if they killed or downed one of yours, often if you broke them and they still escaped, sometimes after a hard fight; ninja much more than ordinary raiders
• they hate one of your ninja: the one who broke them or hurt them most
• they learn from what beat them: they resist the kind of damage that hurt them most, get harder to break, or get used to being outnumbered
• they carry battle scars naming who gave them
• while away they grow: more skill, promotions, more fame

Rivals come back leading a raid, or send a duel challenge to the ninja they hate (see Reputation, duels and intel), and go for that ninja first. A feared rival "killed" far from your home may turn out to have survived and return in a mask. A captured rival is harder to recruit; recruiting one ends the rivalry. A famous colonist taken by an enemy faction can come back as a rival too.

Rivals have a gold "rival" tag in the Bingo Book, with their story on their page.

Under Village life → Fame, Bingo Book and Rivals:

• Fame on or off
• Inspire and intimidate strength (0 to 200%)
• Weak enemies may flee from feared ninja
• Earned nicknames: Apply, Suggest or Off
• Bingo Book hunters on or off, and how often
• Rivals on or off, the most rivals at once (default 6), and how often they return

More parts (witnesses, masked names, infamy, renown, duels, legacy, bounties on bodies, intel and interrogation, beheading a village) are in Reputation, duels and intel.