Sidereals: Where Fate Has Led
PROLOGUE
WE are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.
With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can trample an empire down.
We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
Arthur O'Shaughnessy, Ode
CREDITS
Principal writer: Drew Stevens - wastevens@gmail.com
Chapter 2 Fiction (Catch More Goddesses with Honey): wonderandawe
Chapter 5 Fiction (Divination): tikor
Sidereal characters used by permission;
Red, Eagle-Eye Salith, Barrister Zheng, Hel, Lorn created by Hand-of-Omega
Gentle River, Himeko, Uzuki, Hecal, Sorrow of Ages Lost created by Kyman201
Single Step Serafina created by Lioness
Idir created by wonderandawe
This is an unofficial, fan-based work, created with love and intended to be compatible with Exalted Third Edition, published by Onyx Path Publishing. Exalted, Sidereals, and all other relevant concepts are copyright those fine folk. Please support the official release.
INTRODUCTION
Sidereals: Where Fate Has Led is a fan-based vision for the Sidereal Exalted within Exalted: Third Edition.
My goals are as follows
- Fold Sidereal Astrology resplendent effects into their Charms as much as possible.
- Rebuild the Charm Trees, informed by the meanings of the associated constellations. (And, as much as possible, return to the 1e ability <-> constellation pairings)
- Emphasize the role that planning and preparation has in the nature of Sidereals. They walk the line between prophet and puppet-master, with events unfolding just as planned.
- Provide means for Sidereals to take advantage of Mastery effects on Martial Arts, without it simply being ‘They have a charm to do that’- such a solution amounts to an xp tax and is boring.
- Incentivize and reward Sidereals for going wide on Martial Arts, rather than just deep.
- Have Sidereal Martial Arts that feel like secret techniques, rather than just being high essence Martial Arts.
- Introduce Sidereal Astrological Projections, as a compliment to Sorcerous Projects, for large scale fate workings.
- Have a Yu-Shan that can contain exciting stories, and in which you could run a chronicle for a circle of Sidereals.
- Root the Gold vs Bronze debate in something beyond ‘Yay Solars’ and ‘Boo Solars’ positions from thousands of years ago.
- Make Fate and Destiny important to Creation, without making Creation contingent upon them.
My goals explicitly do NOT include the following:
- Converting the existing charm trees on a one-to-one basis. As is amply demonstrated by the Solar Exalted's charm selection, there's simply more breadth and depth now.
- Maintaining Prayer Strip capstones that require mastering the rest of the tree to learn. Although all the Sidereal trees will contain prayer strip charms, which will require singular dedication to mastering that tree to learn, they will not require every charm as a prerequisite.
Chapter 1 : Chosen by Destiny 27
The Sidereal Exalted and the Maidens of Destiny 28
The Great Prophecy and The Usurpation 29
--Sidebar : What was the Great Prophecy?-- 29
The Shogunate and the Contagion 31
--Sidebar: The Silver Death-- 31
--Fiction page: Shogun Karal’s War on Heaven-- 32
--Sidebar: How do you catch a prophet off guard?-- 33
The Most Excellent Designers of Destiny and Sidereal Conjunctions 34
The Golden Barque of Heaven 36
The Cerulean Lute of Harmony 37
The Crimson Panoply of Victory 37
The Forbidding Manse of Ivy 38
--Sidebar: Wandering Teachers-- 40
Ways and Means of the Golden Stars 41
Means and Ends of the Bronze Faction 42
--Sidebar: What’s the difference between Ronin and Golden Stars?-- 43
Chapter 2 : The Celestial City of Yu-Shan 46
Offices and Officers of the Bureau of Heaven 50
Neighborhoods Great and Small 52
The Vault Primordial and the Splendid Trust 53
The Dutiful Order of Sacrosanct Invigoration 53
One Thousand Schools In Shade 55
The Order of Intercessionist Spirits 55
One Hundred and Eight Gates of Heaven and Earth 55
Pastoral Fields in a Crowded City 56
Offices and Officers of the Bureau of Humanity 57
Idle Gods and Devil’s Playthings 59
The Transubstantic Order of Divine Phagethan 61
Down and Out In the Magic Kingdom 62
Offices and Officers of the Bureaus of Seasons and Nature 62
Chapter 3 : Character Creation 64
Step 6: Intimacies and Kismet 67
Chapter 4 : Traits of the Sidereal Exalted 70
--Sidebar: The Will of Heaven-- 71
Examples of Kismet for the Chosen of Journeys 72
Examples of Kismet for the Chosen of Serenity 73
Examples of Kismet for the Chosen of Battles 73
Examples of Kismet for the Chosen of Secrets 73
Examples of Kismet for the Chosen of Endings 73
Arcane Fate and Resplendent Destinies 75
--Sidebar: The Narrative Purpose of Arcane Fate-- 76
Changes for the Sidereal Exalted 86
--Sidebar: Resources, Cult, and Salary-- 89
--Sidebar: So, there I was, watching the Games of Divinity...-- 89
--Sidebar: What about my Sifu?-- 90
Chosen of Journeys Anima Effects 90
Chosen of Serenity Anima Effects 91
Chosen of Battles Anima Effects 91
Chosen of Secrets Anima Effects 91
Chosen of Endings Anima Effects 92
Chapter 5 : Charms of the Sidereal Exalted 95
--Sidebar: Designing Charms-- 95
--Sidebar: This is different than the Sidereal Quick Character Excellency!-- 97
--Sidebar: None of these Charms make sense!-- 98
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE CLAY MAIDEN 98
Generalized Ammunition Technique 98
Many Missiles Bow Technique 104
ATHLETICS : THE RISING SMOKE 105
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN AND THE DUST 105
The Rising Smoke Resplendent 106
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN AND THE SCYTHE 111
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DROWNING MAIDEN 116
Crimson Palm Counterstrike 120
Easily Accepted Proposition Stance 122
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN’S PROMISE 123
Death By Technicality Style (Life-Saving Loophole Technique) 123
--Sidebar: Eyes are everywhere, but they aren’t always watching-- 124
Between the Desire and the Loss 127
Between the Thought and the Deed 127
Between the Rise and the Fall 128
Between the Beginning and the End 128
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE LOVER AND THE MAIDEN 129
World-Shaping Artistic Vision 129
Destiny-Knitting Entanglement 133
Quickening Touch (Withering Touch) 134
Excellent Implementation of Objectives 135
Creation Smuggling Practice 135
Predestined Destiny Shaping 136
Implicit Construction Methodology 137
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE HUNTED MAIDEN 138
Trouble Reduction Strategy 140
Neighborhood Relocation Scheme 142
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE EXPECTANT MAIDEN 143
THE SCRIPTURE OF THAT OLD THING 149
Research Assistant Inquisition 149
Efficient Secretary Technique 150
Unknown Purpose Illuminated 150
Marvelous Inclusion of Details 152
Sure and Certain Wrongness 153
Slumbering Knowledge Osmosis 154
Provable Locations of the Gate 154
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE SAVORY MAIDEN 155
Tricking Tricksters Technique 156
Avoiding the Truth Technique 156
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE BRIDE 161
--Sidebar: Blood relatives-- 162
Condescension of the Saints 164
Comforting Matriarch Embrace 165
Blue Vervain Binding (Death at the Root) 166
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN IN TERROR 168
The Treasure Trove Resplendent 168
Systematic Understanding of Everything 169
Slumbering Inception Method 171
Of Things Desired and Feared 174
Transcendent Hatchet of Fate 175
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN AND THE ROAD 176
Scent of Amaranth and Cherries 179
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN ON THE SHELF 181
Essence Draining Battle Pattern 183
Demon Blocking Battle Pattern 184
Hero Supporting Performance 185
Spirit Binding Battle Pattern 186
Perfection of the Visionary Warrior 187
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN IN CHAINS 188
Scent of Bugloss and Catchfly 189
Scent of Cypress and Black Locust 190
Terrestrial Circle Sorcery 191
All Craft and Cunning Possessed 195
Willing Assumption of Chains 196
PERFORMANCE : THE MUSICIAN 196
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DANCER 196
Brigand and Carouser Style 197
Libertine’s Liberating Libation 198
Impossible-to-Remember Party Approach 200
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE ONE-HANDED MAIDEN 203
Optimistic Security Practice 204
Presence in Absence Technique 204
Rage of the Bloody Handed Goddess 209
The Scripture of the Eternal Maiden 210
Forward Thinking Technique 211
Two Thousand Hands And Two 211
Unwavering Well-Being Meditation 214
Unswerving Juggernaut Principle 215
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DESIRABLE MAIDEN 216
Ordained Bridle of Mercury 216
Scent of Hollyhock and Lythrum 220
Superior-Entreating Memorial Style 221
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN AT SEA 223
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE WHORE 228
--Sidebar: Red Rule Reminder-- 228
Wanting and Fearing Prayer 235
One Thousand Faces and One 235
Scent of Polygonatum and Cobaea 237
Whispers of Bone and Ivory 238
Whispered Prayer Overheard 239
SURVIVAL : THE SHIP'S WHEEL 241
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN ENTOMBED 241
The Ship’s Wheel Resplendent 241
Scent of Convolvulus and Yellow Tulip 242
Marshaling Infinite Strength 243
Poetic Sacrifice Utilization 244
Wilderness Commanding Practice 245
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN AND SHADOW 246
Pain Amplification Strategy 249
Thought-Swiping Distraction 250
Principally Unprincipled Stance 250
Unrelenting Torment Technique 251
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN AT WAR 252
Auspicious Recruitment Drive 252
Predestined Triumph Practice 254
Parade of Heroes (Iron Shod Killers) 256
Chapter 6 : Peerless Masters of the Martial Arts 258
VIOLET BIER OF SORROWS STYLE 259
Blade of the Battle Maiden 260
Violet Bier of Sorrows Form 260
Conclusion Pursuing Approach 261
Welcome the Uninvited Guest 265
Just Another Branch Deceit 267
Stepping Beyond Light Prana 270
Long-Lost Repositories of Esoteric Wisdom 270
Wushu Union of Snake and Black Claw 271
Wushu Union of Tiger and Crane 273
Wushu Union of Dreaming Pearl Courtesan and Throne Shadow 274
One Thousand Veils Of White 275
Individual Wushu Techniques 276
PRISMATIC ARRANGEMENT OF CREATION 278
Four Magical Materials Form 278
Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Form 280
Dance of the Hungry Spider (First Leg) 281
Nest of Living Strands (Second Leg) 281
Maw of Dripping Venom (Third Leg) 281
Thumbnail Spider March (Fourth Leg) 282
Jumping Spider Strike (Fifth Leg) 282
Pattern Spider Touch (Sixth Leg) 282
Sapphire Veil of Passion Form 284
OBSIDIAN SHARDS OF INFINITY 285
Obsidian Shards of Infinity Form 286
Chapter 7 : Sorcerous Ways and Sidereal Conjunctions 289
Arcana of the Sidereal Exalted 289
Spells and Workings of the Five-score Fellowship 293
Incantation of Spiritual Indiscretion 293
Summon the Heavenly Portal 295
The Coin of Distant Vision 296
The Spy Who Walks In Darkness 296
The Houses and Constellations of Sidereal Astrology 303
The Ship’s Wheel (Survival) 304
The Musician (Performance) 305
The Rising Smoke (Athletics) 309
Chapter 8: Armed and Armored in Starlight 312
--Sidebar: Sidereals and Evocations-- 312
Ever Full Horn (Artifact ***) 313
Aerial Chariot (Artifact ****) 313
Sightblinder (Starmetal and Soulsteel Short Daiklave, Artifact ***) 314
Evocations of Sightblinder 314
Death of Sight, Silence of Death 315
Wreath of Peace (Moonsilver and Starmetal Buff Jacket, Artifact ***) 316
Evocations of Wreath of Peace 316
Apollyon (Jade Powerbow strung with Starmetal, Artifact ****) 317
Shieldbreaker (Orihalcum and Starmetal Grand Goremaul, Artifact ****) 319
Evocations of Shieldbreaker 320
The Cage of Penitent Eidolon Forsaken (Orihalcum and Starmetal Articulated Plate, Artifact *****) 321
Evocations of the Cage of Penitent Eidolon Forsaken 322
Redeemed by Blasphemous Deeds 322
The Crimson Mirror of Mars (Starmetal Shield, Artifact *****) 324
Evocations of the Crimson Mirror of Mars 324
Nature Revealing Reflection 324
Bloody Catoptromantic Vision 325
Chapter 9 : The Allies and Enemies of Heaven 327
The Impossible Girl, Bright Leader 337
--Sidebar: Melancholy of Death-in-Life-- 341
Rakan Thulio and the War on Heaven 343
Five Points Fallen, Anterior Caste Getimian 346
Princess Number Eight, Immanent Caste Getimian 348
Shadowed Fortune, Ulterior Caste Getimian 350
Chapter 1 : Chosen by Destiny
Long ago, the Chosen of the Sun and Moon ruled Creation. They were advised and mentored by the Chosen of the Stars, the wisest in the secret ways of the world.
But in time, the Chosen of the Sun grew corrupt, decadent, mad. Their rule became intolerable. The Sun turned from Creation in disgust. The Chosen of the Stars drew together, to cast a great prophecy and divine how they should set their course. In one path, they led a revolution, threw down and slew the Chosen of the Sun and drove out the Chosen of the Moon, setting the Dragon-blooded upon the thrones of a diminished Creation. On the other, they gambled that the Chosen of the Sun were not so far gone- that the grace that they once carried was not extinguished, but merely slumbering and awaiting ignition. They often failed, and those failures would be horrors undreamt- but, should they gamble and win, a new dawn and better world could be won. In the third, they did nothing- and in their madness, the Chosen of the Sun rent Creation asunder, leaving it a broken, bleeding, darkling world where the stars plunged, one by one, into the ink-black ocean.
Those who supported the vision of a world diminished and those who supported the vision of a world renewed called them the Visions of Bronze and Gold. In secret, they debated. In silence, the supporters of the Vision of Bronze slew those who believed in the Vision of Gold, so that no traitor could warn the Chosen of the Sun. Together, the Five-Score Fellowship shattered the Heavens to conceal their conspiracies and crimes, erasing themselves from the very Creation they sought to save. And during a fatal Calibration dinner, they ensured that the fates of the Chosen of the Sun and Moon were sealed.
Now, Creation trembles; the Scarlet Dynasty is on the brink of civil war. Now, Death's Lawgivers stalk Creation in defiance of destiny and prophecy. Now Rakan Thulio's war against Heaven and cruel fate has been renewed. Now, the Lunars seek to avenge the ancient wrong, first against the puppets and then the puppet-masters. Now, the Solars return.
Into this Age of Sorrows, you are Chosen by the Maidens of Destiny. The night sky is alive with portents and the plans of the Gods; both princes and spirits seek your counsel. Ancient teaching and forgotten wisdom surge in your hands, your mind, your heart; you hold the skein of fate between your fingers. Forgotten by Creation, you cloak yourself in stories and starlight, weaving tales so familiar that people remember them without a thought, and you discard those false fates as another might change a shirt. You walk the halls of Heaven and deliberate on the outcome of wars, loves, mysteries, travels and endings.
And when those deliberations are threatened, when the weave of fate becomes warped and tangled by the unruly will of mortals or the machinations of spirits, it is you who set things right and ensure that what was, what is, and what will be, will be as you have foreseen.
You are one of the Sidereal Exalted, Chosen of the Maidens of Destiny. Will you strive to save a fractured Creation in this time of tumult, or will you follow so many of your fellows in a struggle for influence of a corrupt Heaven and broken world?
The Sidereal Exalted and the Maidens of Destiny
The Sidereal Exalted are the Chosen of the Maidens of Destiny, who act as Heaven’s agents within Creation. Long ago, they were the advisors to the great rulers of Creation, keeping them informed of Heaven’s plans and subtly guiding the ship of the world towards the best of all futures; but that time is now long past.
The Maidens of Destiny are the five goddesses of fate. Mercury, who oversees beginnings and ensures that all things journey as they should; Venus, who oversees those things which make life worth living and ensures that peace and serenity are known; Mars, who oversees the struggle to survive and ensures that all things engage in the appropriate battles; Jupiter, who oversees the mysteries and truths of the world, charged with keeping Creation’s secrets until it is time that they should be revealed; and Saturn, who oversees transitions, and eases the endings of those things whose time has come.
At the dawn of the world, the Maidens coordinated the work of Heaven in ensuring that all things proceeded smoothly; when journeys were thwarted, when serenity disrupted, when battles unfairly won or lost, when secrets escaped or when things outlasted their appointed times, they would alert their fellow gods, and rectify the matter at once.
In time, their duty grew tiresome. They could see no end to their labour, no chance to rest- and so when the Unconquered Sun spoke to them of his desires and plans, he found a receptive audience.
The Sidereal Exalted sometimes claim to be the oldest of the Exalted Host; not in personal age, but in having been Chosen before the Solars, Lunars or Dragonblooded. Legends from before the dawn of the First Age paint a world of unbound savagery, where men huddled in caves, overlooked and underestimated by the great powers of the world, save as their suffering could serve as a source of temporary amusement. From these ranks, the Maidens selected one hundred mortals. Into the hands of each one, the Maidens entrusted a special destiny and ultimate responsibility. Each Maiden selected twenty men and women to bear her touch and grace; for this reason, the Sidereals are often known as the Five-score Fellowship.
Before this time, nothing could escape the eyes of the Maidens. Their knowledge was infallible, their wisdom beyond question. But the Law of Diminishment is cruel; in raising up the Sidereal Exalted, each of the Maidens gave some of their vision and wisdom away, never to be reclaimed. Although still mighty goddesses, the Maidens of Destiny could no longer see the beginnings and ends of all things; their surprise at this was their first surprise.
In the First Age
Even before the First Age, the Sidereal Exalted walked the streets of Heaven. The Maidens made no efforts to conceal their Chosen; they named them as assistants in their labor, who could manage trivial matters without needing to draw the full attention of Heaven needlessly. The masters of the Maidens indulged them in this, for they had no fear of humanity at this time, and so paid no heed as the first Sidereals spied upon their secret works and plans.
After the masters were thrown down and cast into Hell by the might of the Exalted and the armies of the Gods, the Unconquered Sun granted dominion of Creation to humanity and the Chosen. The Incarnae retired to the Jade Pleasure Dome, to take their ease with the Games of Divinity. And the Sidereal Exalted began the task of overseeing the fate of the world.
During much of the First Age, the Sidereal Exalted were content to act as advisors to the Solars, Lunars and Dragon-Bloods, who handled the day to day administration and politics. They kept their own counsel, travelling between Heaven and Creation to appraise or investigate or teach as they wished. It was a golden age of peace and prosperity, a fat time of learning, when philosopher-queens oversaw an administration of justice and grace that has never been known before or since. It was not to last.
The Great Prophecy and The Usurpation
As the years turned to decades turned to centuries, the greatness of the Solars became unbearable, and their subtle wisdom twisted with malice and ambition, lust for flesh and for domination. Unquestionable, the hungers of the Chosen of the Sun grew wild and unchecked, until even the Unconquered Sun turned his face from Creation in sorrow.
The Sidereal Exalted, as ever, kept their own counsel. They studied the skies and drew portents; they shared knowledge and wove prophecies- until at last they could see three paths they could walk.
--Sidebar : What was the Great Prophecy?--
Destiny is not a fixed progression of events in Creation, so how did the Sidereals conduct the Great Prophecy, and why did they place so much stock in it?
They made the best guesses as to probable outcomes as they could. They looked at past events and extrapolated to the future. They presented what projections had succeeded, what had failed, and what the common factors were. Predicting the future is more art than science, but it’s an art the Sidereal are practiced at, thus had a high degree of confidence in.
--End Sidebar--
Down the first, they forsook Heaven, descended to Creation and placed their faith in the Solars, trusting that their glory could be retained and turned towards good purpose again. All agreed that this path was fraught with uncertainty, for none could see a sure means by which the mad Solars could be channeled- but it was the only path to reach an even more glorious future.
Down the second, they forsook Creation. They would foster discontent amongst the Dragonblooded generals and whisper conspiracies into the ears of the Solars. By terrible means, they would seal away the glory and excess of the Chosen of the Sun, leaving a world diminished but stable- a world overseen by the Dragonblooded, and in which the Sidereal Exalted would be less than a rumor.
Down the third, they did neither; locked in bitter argument amongst themselves, the Five-score Fellowship watched the world grow dark and sick, and saw the stars plummet into an ink black sea.
In the long years of the First Age, Sidereal had fought Sidereal. No matter how close the family, some disagreements cannot be settled peacefully. But the Great Prophecy engendered something else; fear of the third path made compromise impossible, but the idealists of the first vision could not countenance the monstrosity of the second, and the pragmatists of the second vision could not countenance the risk of the first. Debate became argument; argument gave way to violence, and Sidereal shed Sidereal blood. In the end, five members of the Five-score Fellowship were killed, and ten exiled from Heaven, sorcerously bound against warning any of the impending treachery- for the adherents of the second vision had proved triumphant.
The arrangements of the second vision were years in the making. The now diminished Fellowship probed the Dragonblooded Host, finding leaders that they could bless and raise up in rebellion; they poured poison into the ears of the Solars, so that rumors of discontent would be taken as evidence of the treachery of their fellows. They distracted the Lunars, keeping them busy at the fringes of the world. They told themselves how easy it was, to bring an end to the Age of Dreams- surely it was a sign of the rightness of their course. But right or wrong, the die was cast and they could no more oppose what they set in motion than a pebble could oppose the avalanche.
Ten years after the Great Prophecy was drawn up, during the first night of the Calibration Feast in the capital city of Meru, the Dragonblooded rose up in rebellion. With arms and armor of imperishable jade, they struck down their golden lords. Many of the Lunars fell in the fighting; many were away, caring for tasks the Sidereals had assured them held great urgency. The Sidereals were on hand, each telling the Solars of the treachery of their fellows, turning insinuation into accusation, and so the Solar Host fell upon itself even as the Dragonblooded crushed the life from them.
The Sidereals knew that those Solars who survived would not forgive them. They knew that those Lunars who had been drawn away would hunt without rest or mercy. They knew that the means by which the Solar Exalted were to be prevented from returning was criminal beyond measure. And they knew that the second path meant they would be exiled from the world. On the fifth night of Calibration, the Sidereal Exalted collectively raised their power against the sign of secrets, breaking the Mask of the sky such that no one who could attempt to divine this secret would ever learn it. Each felt that break echo in her soul; each could see the memory of the Sidereal Exalted bleeding from the world.
The Sidereal Exalted had saved Creation, and no one would ever know.
The Shogunate and the Contagion
The aftermath of what became known as the Usurpation was chaos. With no clear leadership, the armies of the Dragonblooded came to the verge of turning on one another in a bloody civil war- only to be saved by the fury of the Lunar Exalted. The Lunars, enraged at the treachery of the Dragonblooded, sought to tear apart the usurpers, forcing the various generals and potentates to set aside personal grievances in the face of mutual survival.
--Sidebar: The Silver Death--
Even as the Arcane Fate began to erase the memory of the Sidereals from Creation, many Lunars correctly deduced that they had been deceived and the Dragonblooded Host played as patsies in the Usurpation. A circle of these luminaries entered Yu-Shan, and began to hunt those agents of fate whom they held responsible. Even now, over a thousand years later, rumors persist of the silver death that lurks in the shadowed alleys of Heaven, claws sharp and fangs hungry for the blood of the betrayers.
--End Sidebar--
United by a common enemy, the Dragonblooded selected an interim grand general, a shogun to coordinate the efforts of the Host against the threat of the Lunars and to hunt the remaining Solars. Although the Usurpation was accomplished in five nights, five decades passed of nearly constant war across the face of Creation before the Shogunate declared victory. The Lunars had been driven into hiding; the Solars were banished into the darkness. The Dragonblooded began to work of ruling the world.
For over a century after the victory of the Shogunate, Creation knew a kind of peace. It was not the fat times at the height of the Age of Dreams, but was better than had been known in a mortal span, and the Sidereal Exalted looked upon the world that averted its gaze from them with a semblance of satisfaction. The cost had been very high, they said to one another, but they had done the right thing. Creation would survive. In time, perhaps they could reach out to the Lunars, make a kind of peace with the Chosen of Luna. In time, perhaps they could heal the harm done to the Mask, and be recognized for the terrible choices they faced and made.
Then the first shogun in peace passed away in her sleep. A brutal and bloody civil war soon emerged, between her eldest daughter and her chief general, a struggle over dynastic against meritocratic power which came to define much of the Shogunate. For almost a millennium, the Dragonblooded extended their reach across Creation even as they were engaged in internecine conflict nearly as often as they were at peace. The treasures of the First Age were wasted in these battles, the stockpiles of magical materials looted, the learning of the Age of Dreams consumed by the fire of war.
--Fiction page: Shogun Karal’s War on Heaven--
In the Seventy-Eighth Year of the reign of Shogun Karal, her youngest son was taken by fever. In short order, her husband fell to an assassin’s blade, and her eldest daughter perished at sea.
The boy's death sent the Shogun into a deep depression. She was soon sending for mystics and witches from across Creation.
After five months and five days of seclusion, the Shogun returned to court. At her side was a young man no one in the court recognized. He was not Exalted, but he carried himself with an unhidden arrogance, and never lowered his violet eyes to any noble, not even the Shogun herself. He nevertheless held the Shogun's ear, and could always be found at her elbow.
The Shogun's voice swelled, as she made the following proclamation. "We have all suffered at the hands of cruel fate. We have all lost friends and family to happenstance and mischance. We have all cursed the Gods and Heaven in moments of anger. My friends, I say to you no more! We shall ascend to Heaven and bring the architects of our misfortunes to heel! We shall bring war to the Gods and make them cry for our mercy!"
In the Eighty-Third year of the reign of Shogun Karal, her war on Heaven began. Since, military historians have argued- was the Shogun always doomed, from the day the madness gripped her, or could she have tasted triumph had she proceeded otherwise? Creation will never know.
The first battles were won decisively by the Shogun, catching the forces of Heaven by shock and surprise. By virtue of ancient stores and able to easily sustain themselves from the quintessence fountains they seized, the Shogun felt victory was certain. Her confidence was not without merit; one year into the campaign, nearly a quarter of the Celestial City’s gates had fallen to her. Her plan was encirclement- capture the outer gates, and then proceed inward, choking the gods off one street at a time.
Then the sky, which had shown a golden sun in fixed position for the entire year the campaign had raged, dimmed. A moonless night spread across the dome of Heaven as ink dropped into a pail of milk, and a thousand thousand stars gleamed, and first amongst them a ruby red planet.
Mars, the Maiden of Battles, rode forth from the Jade Pleasure Dome. Flush with her victory in the Games of Divinity, she exulted. With her Spear, she struck down the first legion. From her Quiver, she drew arrows of pestilence and plague, losing them upon the generals. Teeth clenched upon her Shield, she slew seventy-two heroes in Warstriders who strode to meet her. Beneath her spreading Banner, the forces of Heaven rallied and surged. And in her Gauntleted fist, she caught up Shogun Karal. “Your war ends. Now comes my sister's peace.” Saturn followed in Mars' shadow. In her hands, she held the single edged Sword, and her eyes were downcast. “Plead your mercy. Cry your cause, Dragonblooded! Spit your defiance at Heaven now!” Mars gloated, as Shogun Karal struggled in her grasp. With an anguished cry, the Shogun did the only thing she could, severing her own head with her great daiklave.
At the death of the Shogun, her forces scattered back to Creation. Saturn brought an end to the war and closed the gates, before walking with her sister back to the Jade Pleasure Dome.
“Why are you frowning Sister? Do you not take joy in your victory?”
“I was denied my victory. I would have made her live five-hundred fifty five years of glory, while knowing that it was only due to my mercy.”
As the two entered the Jade Pleasure Dome, dawn burst upon the sky.
Thus was the end of the reign of Shogun Karal, and the beginning of the Third Succession War.
--End Fiction page--
The Sidereals shuddered at the cost to the world, but they had seen that this path would leave the world diminished. The worst battles of the shogunate were still smaller and less destructive affairs than the games the Solars had played, and they could not sustain themselves in any event- with each civil war, more of the irreplaceable weapons and armors of the First Age were lost, ever reducing the scope of the destruction. In time, the Sidereals hoped that this wars would burn themselves out permanently, leaving the Terrestrials to find some means of peacefully co-existing.
These dreams were ended by the Contagion.
The origin of the Contagion is obscure; a disease unlike any known to Creation before, it swept across the land like a black cloud, and soon the dead outnumbered the living. Fish, fowl and man, none were spared, and even the hardy Exalted would succumb, vomiting blood, racked by seizures and burning fever.
It was during this moment of weaknesses that the Fair Folk rose like a flood of madness. Many of the Sidereals suspected the Lunars of being responsible for both the plague and the ravagers from beyond Creation, seeing silver hands engineering a terrible vengeance. Others blamed the Sleepwalker, or a Dragonblooded having explored ancient secrets not meant for them, a Solar who had escaped the Usurpation or the Deathlord potentates of the Underworld. Most, however, concerned themselves less with the origin of these disasters and more with fighting to save Creation for a second time.
--Sidebar: How do you catch a prophet off guard?--
Destiny in Creation is not a fixed and certain path, but rather than plan that Heaven holds for Creation. The Sidereals have extensive information networks and potent magics to assess probable consequences, and can often seem all-knowing - but when caught by an outside context problem like the Contagion, they will be as blindsided as anyone else.
--End Sidebar--
In the end, regardless of the cause, the disasters were stopped by an unknown Dragonblooded officer of no particular rank or distinction. With her Circle, she braved the dangers of the long sealed Imperial Manse, and turned the defense grid of the ancient Solars against the enemies of Creation, and became the Scarlet Empress.
This Time of Tumult
It had been a turbulent time from the Usurpation to the rise of the Empress- but now, at last, the Sidereals believed they had achieved the peace promised in the second vision. With a few short demonstrations, the Scarlet Empress cowed her enemies and consolidated her power, unifying the Dragonblooded Host as it had not been since the first Shogunate. The destruction wrought by the Contagion and the Fair Folk were a terrible price to have paid for Creation’s survival- but surely, now, Creation’s survival was ensured, having weathered the worst crisis since the fall of the Solars.
For centuries, peace or something like it, seemed to descend upon Creation. The face of the world was changed by the flood of the Wyld- new peoples and new histories arising from nothing, stitching themselves together from the mixture of dreams and madness and stability. The newly forming Empire imposed order, ruthlessly crushing those who would oppose it. The Lunars yet lurked at the edges of the world, prowling about the Caul and rearing belligerent barbarians to avenge wrongs done to them in response to wrong they had done. The Sleepwalker yet walked his Eyrie, intent on casting Heaven and Fate to the torch. But the Sidereal Exalted could look back, and know that- by banishing the Solars, no matter the cost, no matter the hardships, they had saved Creation.
And now the Solars return, just as the Scarlet Empress has vanished.
The Most Excellent Designers of Destiny and Sidereal Conjunctions
Between Heaven and Creation stands Destiny. The Bureau of Destiny, to be precise. It is here that the gods discuss, debate and plan for Creation’s future, jockeying with one another, taking petitions and measuring destinies. At the center stands the Loom of Fate, where the physical stuff of the future is spun, set and crossed in a web of infinitely intricate design. All Sidereals have membership in the Bureau of Destiny unless they have been exiled from Heaven, for the Chosen of Destiny are the most valued agents of Heaven.
The Purpose of Destiny
There are ten thousand thousand thousand spirits that walk the Celestial City and in Creation; many of them puissant, many of strong will, many of limited scruples. Why, then, have they not rent Creation asunder with their games and wars and intrigues?
Destiny is the compact between Heaven and Creation; it is the means by which divine desires are moderated and molded into something pleasing to all rather than only the most vicious. When Destiny is followed, Heaven is satisfied even if all her gods are not, and the ability for the malcontents to act in Creation is limited to observation, lest they risk terrible punishments.
In theory, Destiny is always followed save that some force from outside Creation acts- in which case, it is just and proper for the Gods to fulfil their ancient duties as the preservers of the world, gaining latitude to act as they see fit to make right what has gone wrong. Perhaps once, this was even so- but if so, it was a long, long time gone.
In these later days, gods granted their liberty within Creation find themselves in no great rush to correct matters. With their latitude, they can shape mortal societies as they desire, outside the limits placed by the Bureau of Destiny. Technically, such abuses are still criminal- but the gods have a great deal of latitude when it comes to determining how best to tend to their portfolios within Creation. By forcing the course of society to change, they can even effectively hold Destiny hostage- either the Bureau begins to weave in alignment with the desires of these spirits, or they will gain even greater freedom to wreak perhaps greater damage.
Nor is destiny purely descriptive. Creation does not exist at the sufferance of the Loom, but it is not independent of it either. If destiny were a river, then Creation would be a water wheel being driven by that river. The wheel is not the river, and if the river were to dry up, the wheel would still exist; it could still even be turned with great effort. And likewise, the Loom of Fate could weave without weaving Creation’s destiny in particular- it could weave stories of people that do not exist, or that existed long ago. The river can flow with or without the water wheel’s presence.
Destiny does exert a pressure on Creation, as water does the wheel. People, families, whole cities and nations, may find themselves swept in the tide of history- acting, sometimes without reflection or intention -towards fulfilling Heaven’s design. Individuals can resist this pressure- they can even change the course of the river. Doing so is not easy, even for the Exalted, but it has been done before and will be done again.
Because of this pressure that the weave of destiny exerts on Creation, sometimes matters will grow confused. When a thread is mislaid in a weave, you will feel a burr or knot; when the wheel becomes jammed, the timbers will groan from the pressure of the river- until finally, the jam gives way, or the wheel breaks. The technical term for such is sorun; the damage wrought by destiny denied. Sorun rarely appears sensible to the outside observer- just as the pressure from the stuck wheel may cause a shattering moment far from the jam itself, or the tear from the knot in a weave may come far away, due to inequitable distribution of stress on the cloth. To those who experience sorun, it seems to be bizarre runs of chance, both good and ill. Sometimes, the deathly ill make miraculous recoveries, blood feuds end in marriage and peace, the lame walk and the blind see. More often, sorun results in destruction of wealth and lives, villages and whole towns burning, or men drowning on dry land and women falling into the sky.
When destiny runs straight and smooth, sorun is minimized, and the spirits of the world are kept limited in their capacity for mischief. When destiny is thwarted, sorun runs rampant and the gods may have their way with a people nearly helpless before them.
Thus do the Sidereals act as the agents of destiny. They are not gods, and so they are always free to act as they best see fit. They are kept aware of Destiny, but also moderate how it comes to pass. They have seen the effects of sorun and the damage unchecked divinity can wreck. A world without destiny would be prey to spirits with no concern for humanity. A world with unmoderated destiny would be wracked by strange fates, as disaster sought to balance disaster. The Sidereal Exalted stand against these possibilities; they strive to ensure that fate and destiny pass smoothly from day to day.
Divisions of the Bureau
The Bureau of Destiny is nominally overseen by the Maidens of Destiny- however, as with the other Incarnae, the Maidens have largely abandoned the day to day operations of the Bureau to the five division heads in favor of participating in the Games of Divinity. In theory, the five divisions work together to harmoniously compose the most perfect destiny achievable, one which minimize sorun while also satisfying the various factions and petitioners of Heaven. In practice, the five divisions often engage in vicious internal political infighting and plots- while they will always band together against schemes from outside the Bureau, far more decisions are decided by a slim majority vote than most Sidereals would be comfortable admitting.
The Golden Barque of Heaven
The Golden Barque is one of Heaven’s mobile offices, travelling a regular circuit around the Celestial City over the course of a month, pausing only for Calibration- during which time it enters dry dock and undergoes any necessary maintenance and repairs. The Barque itself is a monstrously huge sailing vessel, one thousand and eight li long and half as wide, with walls that rise over two hundred li tall. ‘As an ant to a man’s home, is man to mine’ claims Ruvia, God of Roads, Captain of the Golden Barque, and chair of the Division of Journeys.
The crew of the Golden Barque is forever engaged in the business of noting when matters in Creation have grown too still, of initiating change and beginning new things. They also are tasked with monitoring journeys and changes in progress, coordinating with the Violet Bier to ensure that such matters conclude in a timely fashion. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, they are charged with monitoring the Gates of Heaven cataloging who has been allowed to pass from Creation to Yu-Shan. This, combined with the Golden Barque’s own mobile nature, makes it one of the premier smuggling dens inside Heaven.
Sidereals on assignment from the Golden Barque of Heaven are typically charged with shaking up the status quo. They inspire deeply rooted individuals to suddenly leave hearth and home, to sing the song of the horizon to explorers and whisper of untold riches to smugglers and merchants alike.
The Cerulean Lute of Harmony
Stories say that the Cerulean Lute of Harmony is designed in the same fashion as the first public house and bordello to be built on Creation by humanity. Of course, the original Cerulean Lute was likely not one hundred twenty-eight stories tall, craft of blue jade, or constantly resounding with the song and every sound of merrymaking, but never mind that now. Nominally, the jovial madness is overseen by Yaogin, God of Beautiful Dreams and Bearer of the Lapis Ewer- but in truth, Yaogin prefers working on his art, sampling the latest intoxicants from Burning Feather, or acquiring additional days to view the Games of Divinity apart from the one in five he shares with the other division heads. If he were more effective or attentive at his duties, one of his subordinates would likely have replaced him by now- but he’s so grossly negligent that they’re too busy fighting one another for control instead.
The Cerulean Lute is a repository for every balm, medicine, and nepenthe known to Heaven, as well as the means to indulge every vice and sate every passing desire. It stands between the Neighborhoods of Refuge and Water, hospital and casino, music hall and medical grounds. Over time, more and more of the Cerulean Lute has been taken over by merrymakers who exaggerate or even outright fabricate an illness that gives them sharply discounted rents while also allowing easy access to the pleasure houses of Water. Venus once opined that only by allowing the ultimate indulgence of all things could one be open to true serenity; this theory is often tested in the Cerulean Lute.
Sidereals on assignment from the Cerulean Lute of Harmony are typically charged with ensuring that things can settle down. They go to bring a wanderer home, or to witness a marriage that ends a war. They are also frequently dispatched on joint operations with other Sidereals, employing their knowledge of what people want and need to bring them to where fate wants and needs them to be.
The Crimson Panoply of Victory
Between the Neighborhoods of Fire and Groves, there is an open field, covered in tents, fortresses and parade grounds, surrounding a central edifice of crenelated red jade and scarlet steel- the Crimson Panoply of Victory, the Invincible Fortress of Battles. It is from here that Hu Dai Ling, Goddess of Soldiers, Shogun of the Crimson Banner and division head of the Crimson Panoply meditates upon the nature of conflict. She is the most recently raised of her peers amongst the division heads, and contends constantly with upstarts- especially from the directional war gods, each of whom feel that they would better direct the nature of battles in Creation than the taciturn, butterfly winged goddess.
The Crimson Panoply forever rings, with the sound of hammer on bronze and steel, the hiss of quenching metal, the cries of men and horses drilling and training. Incongruously, it is also often interrupted by delegations of rose and cherry scented gods, representing various sides in conflicts around Creation, offering considerable arguments, pleas, and gifts to expedite their petitions of victory in this or that coming battle. Such petitions are never officially honored; unofficially, however, the petitioners and their gifts keep coming, using the spoils of one victory to finance the next. The Crimson Panoply has the most official contacts in the Bureau of Humanity of any of the divisions of Destiny, rivaled only by the Cerulean Lute- Mars speculates that war and peace is the primary duality around which Creation revolves.
Sidereals on assignment from the Crimson Panoply of Victory are almost always sent to a scene of open violence and conflict. Sometimes, they are there to ensure that one side is victorious, or another side defeated- but as often, they are there to ensure the survival of someone participating in the battle. Their extensive contacts amongst the rest of the Bureau of Humanity can also see them doing unofficial favors of almost any nature, wherever people are found in Creation.
The Forbidding Manse of Ivy
Between the Neighborhoods of Wind and Wood is a deceptive building. It seems like no more than another palace-template in an upscale neighborhood, white marble and jade columns and a roof of beaten gold. Indeed, not even the nicest, as it is simply overgrown with climbing ivy that conceals much of the building’s beauty. It is only as a visitor approaches the building that they can begin to recognize the subtle tricks of perspective, expectation and space-warping sorcery that conceal the true size of the Forbidding Manse of Ivy. In this way, it is much as it’s leader, God of Secrets, Bearer of Ten Thousand Veils, Nara-O, head of the division of Secrets - about whom little more may be said.
The Forbidding Manse is the repository for all of Heaven’s lore and learning. Here are three dozen divine sorcerers, each studying occulted arts to further their knowledge. There, the Obfuscatory Order, celestial cryptographers who each seek to be the one to discover the True Lie by which any truth may be concealed even in broadest view. Within the depths of the Forbidding Manse are the Vaults Untouched, wherein are sealed works deemed dangerous by Heavenly censors, such as Rakan Thulio’s manifesto, the Eyre of the Sleepwalker, or fragments of the infernal and aberrant prayer book known as the Broken Winged Crane. Only those with good cause or deep pockets may access such works, and then for only limited times and under close scrutiny.
Sidereals on assignment from the Forbidding Manse of Ivy are almost always going to retrieve some information which Heaven has not yet approved for Creation, spiriting it away and bringing silence to any mortals that have learned too much. They may do this with violence, but most prefer trickery- discrediting the discoverer as a madman is popular, as is falsely accusing them of slanderous allegations that can distract from their invention. They are also Heaven’s eyes and ears, and have cultivated a network of contacts and informants without peer in Creation, Heaven and even the realms beyond. Any secret shared is one known by the Forbidding Manse- and Nara-O is said to know even those secrets that have gone unspoken.
The Violet Bier of Sorrows
The Violet Bier of Sorrows stands alone and in silence, within the Neighborhood of Heaven. Four hundred forty-four li around the mausoleum of basalt and white jade, the graveyard of heroes and empires. Here are memorials to gods fallen during the ancient war, martyrs who perished in gaining freedom for their comrades. Here are countless rows, each one bearing a simple plaque of a magical material, marking the internment of the Exalted that fell during those battles. Silence covers the Violet Bier like a shroud, and flows from Wayang, the Black Puppet Mask, eldest of the division heads, God of Silence and founder of Sijan.
The bittersweet scent of myrrh and natron is omnipresent on the grounds of the Violet Bier, and clings like a second shadow to those who enter its halls. Few do; most gods do not like being reminded that they can perish, and that Saturn promises an end to all things. As with any place that people avoid, rumors grow like mushrooms- an order of godly assassins train in the Violet Bier, dispatched by Wayang to murder rivals who grow overbold, armed with toxins that can rob a spirit of immortality. The Violet Bier has no basement; a central staircase descends forever downwards, until it reaches the heart of the Labyrinth of the Underworld, where Saturn has made secret pacts with the Deathlords. When questioned directly regarding the truth behind these slanderous rumors, the taciturn gods who work within the Bier become as silent as those of the Forbidding Manse- the dead hold their secrets well.
Sidereals on assignment from the Violet Bier of Sorrows are, unsurprisingly, generally dispatched to bring an end to something or someone. An end does not always mean death- but it always means change, often sudden, rarely welcomed. They are also amongst the most likely to be sent to investigate and correct aberrations of fate and instances of sorun within Creation- trusted to bring an end to that which has thrown out the balance of destiny.
The Loom of Fate
The Loom of Fate connects all five of the division offices. It can be reached from any of them. However, you may only exit the Loom by the office which you entered it from. The Loom of Fate cannot be spied from outside, because it is outside. Suspended in a realm where space twists to accommodate the impossible needs of the Loom, the Web of Fate and Destiny hangs on invisible hooks, while threads of life and essence are spun, patterned, and brought tight together by the tireless efforts of the pattern spiders. With diligent effort, one can even find Asna Firstborn, the original pattern spider, who now oversees the rest of the brood as they work to create, maintain and repair the patterns. Asna is not much for conversation, of course, but is inordinately fond of poetry, and rather fancies herself as a connoisseur of the classics.
Contrary to popular belief, few Sidereals spend much time admiring the Loom. The spiders don’t appreciate having someone looking over their shoulders, and have limited tolerance for unauthorized second-guessers and armchair weavers. They instead take their direction from a small, highly trained and deeply eccentric group of gods who have specialized in learning to speak to and understand the spiders- taking the designs and projections of the rest of the Bureau and transforming them into instructions the spiders can understand. Despite their enormous value, most of these gods are relatively unpopular- spending so much time with the pattern spiders leaves them somewhat deranged and grossly informal compared to the rest of Heaven. The bureau generally tries to keep them out of sight when deities from other parts of Heaven wish to visit.
Sidereals almost never receive assignments from the Loom of Fate directly; if they do, it is certainly a sign of some grave disaster- horrifying instances of sorun that threaten to rend the entire pattern, wholesale dissolution of Creation, coordinated invasion by the Wyld- that sort of thing. The most recent one was relatively mild; five hundred years ago, Rakan Thulio somehow corrupted one of the spider-speaking gods, and used them to incite a virtual civil war amongst the pattern spiders, as corrupted clones replicated like cancer while weaving mad designs.
Visions Gold and Bronze
Since the earliest days, the Sidereals have tended to internally fragment amongst themselves. Given the nature of their responsibilities and the possibilities available to them in the resolution of their problems, not to mention a dozen, often conflicting, forms and sutras of enlightenment embedded in their Charms and martial arts, and it is often a wonder that the can bring themselves to working together.
In general, Sidereals broadly agree on the following- Destiny is a necessary balance between Heaven and Creation. Those who don’t agree with this generally throw in their lot with the Sleepwalker, or simply become ronin. Beyond that, one hundred stars have one hundred paths, and no two are exactly alike- but broad similarities may be found.
Most Sidereals do not consider themselves as first and foremost a member of any faction- they see themselves as free agents, willing and able to follow their conscience. At the same time, most will also tend to find themselves drawn towards one of these informal factions, reinforced by their relationships, where they live, and what missions they are assigned.
--Sidebar: Wandering Teachers--
The Sidereals are not slaves, and may depart from Heaven and the Bureau of Destiny at any time. However, while they remain members in good standing, they are expected to accept and execute assignments, provide reports, and generally do as Heaven bids. Taking unannounced and prolonged vacations may be a cause for disciplinary action.
In recognition of their role as mentors to the Exalted Host, however, Sidereals are permitted almost limitless sabbaticals, as long as they are spent teaching other Exalted. Nominally, such teaching is intended to be used for imparting wisdom, bestowing the mysteries of Sidereal Martial Arts, and in raising awareness of the role of destiny and the importance of upholding Heaven’s plans. In practice, this was rarely the case even in the First Age- instead, many Sidereals would take extended ‘educational sabbaticals’ with their Celestial and Terrestrial friends and lovers. Although being caught obviously abusing the privilege would be criminal, so would investigation into such sabbaticals without good cause- and so few Sidereals were ever charged.
Since the Usurpation, these sabbaticals have taken on a darker meaning- as an excuse to assist Wyld Hunts in locating and destroying especially troublesome Lunars and Solars, and to help forge the Elemental Dragon Styles. While Golden Stars have strongly objected to this practice, it has proven difficult to stop- a fact they now use to their favor in the training camps of the Cult of the Illuminated.
--End Sidebar--
Ways and Means of the Golden Stars
The Sidereals are privileged to see the best of all possible worlds. However improbable such events are, they know the outcome that leads to the greatest good and the purest justice. Many, armed with this knowledge, refuse to settle for anything less. They feel that by accepting the merely good in lieu of the perfect, they become culpable for the suffering that they have tacitly endorsed. To these Sidereals, the way you pursue your goal and your intentions while doing so are as important as the actual accomplishment of the goal itself; good seeds will grow bitter fruit if sewn in poison soil.
During the First Age, such Sidereals were known as Golden Stars. Even when they disagreed amongst each other as to what the greatest good *was* or how to best pursue it, they were united in agreement that settling was unacceptable. The moniker of gold was given to them derisively at first; gold was pretty to look at, but not much good for actual use. Gold bends under pressure, and cannot hold up under sustained wear. The Golden Stars accepted the sobriquet with good grace, however; gold was precious, they would argue, just as the pursuit of perfection is. Moreover, gold is noble; it has no truck with common metals, and the fire of gold does not tarnish and rust over time.
When the Sidereals came together to perform the Great Prophecy, the majority of the Golden Stars wished to forsake Heaven and attempt to save the Solars. The risk was great, but the rewards immeasurable, whereas the consequences of giving up were simply unthinkable. But as the debate wore on, more lost their nerve, siding with the Bronze as a means of averting the third vision; the handful that were adamant to the end were killed or driven out of Heaven.
Since then, it is the Golden Stars that have reached out the most often to the Lunars, seeking to form a peace with them. It is they who attempted to hide and teach the few returning Solars after the Usurpation, seeking to prove that the madness of the Lawgivers had been expunged. Golden Stars often come down hard on divine tyranny, but also have provided tacit support for places where gods and men coexist without abuse and exploitation. They point to the constant warfare of the Shogunate and the devastation of the Contagion as proof that the decision to attempt to withdraw from Creation was not merely morally wrong, but ultimately ineffective. Golden Stars are the Sidereals most likely to accrue Paradox by opposing the known will of Heaven, and advocate for active intervention in Creation to repair fates gone awry.
Means and Ends of the Bronze Faction
The Sidereals are doomed to know the worst ends the world can come to. Whatever the costs they pay, they know that they are averting a worse future by paying them. Many, armed with this knowledge, cannot countenance gambling with the future- the most important thing is to minimize the harm that can come to pass, to take the route that has the greatest chance for the minimum of pain in this veil of tears. To these Sidereals, the ends are all that matter- the means used to achieve them are immaterial.
During the First Age, Sidereals who adopted this attitude became known as Bronze Stars. A mocking title given by the more idealistic Golden Stars, the Bronze Stars soon proclaimed the rightness; bronze was a noble metal, a practical alloy of lesser substance into a greater whole, a substance stronger than copper and less brittle than iron, and vastly more common and useful than gold.
When the Sidereals came together to perform the Great Prophecy, the majority of the Bronze Stars wished to forsake Creation, cast down the Solars and raise up the Dragonblooded. The risks and costs of such an action were great, but could be managed, while the consequences of doing nothing or trying and failing to reach the Solars were unimaginable.
Since then, the Bronze Stars have vigorously attempted to reunite Creation beneath the Dragonblooded host. They do not think it likely that the Lunars will ever forgive them, and believe a united Creation to be the best hope for a better tomorrow, even if it comes at a cost today. They point to the ruin wrecked by the few Solars who have returned as evidence that the Lawgivers were past redemption, and many believe that the Contagion’s roots can be traced back to a Golden Star plot gone awry. They support the laws of Heaven being obeyed to minimize sorun and the mistreatment of men by gods, but are practical about such things- turning a blind eye to some lesser crime can secure a powerful ally against a future contingency. Bronze Stars are the Sidereals most likely to accrue Paradox by enforcing the will of Heaven even against their defining Principles, and advocate for more passive solutions; raising up people near the problem to take care of it, without risking the limited resources of the Bureau of Destiny or precious Sidereal lives.
Wandering Stars
Some Sidereals find themselves drawn towards neither idealistic gambling or pragmatic compromise. The follow their own path, guided by a compass that points towards a pole only they can see. Such individuals most typically forsake Heaven and the Bureau of Destiny entirely, or were somehow lost and took their Second Breath without being recovered. They are collectively called ronin, Sidereals who have no master save their conscience.
It is not easy to walk Creation under the burden of Arcane Fate; even the most idealistic Golden Stars acknowledge that they can do more good from within the system than outside it. Without the support of the Bureau of Destiny and Heaven, most ronin lead short, brutal lives, killed by vengeful Lunars and angry spirits threatened by these wandering mystics with their star-filled gazes. However, to some unquiet souls, the danger is not merely acceptable, but a small price to pay for following their conscience.
Sidereals who were missed and forced to survive for several years on their own will often refuse the offers of their brethren when found. They have created roots in Creation, people that depend on them, even if those people are ignorant. While these ronin generally do not hold any animosity towards Heaven, they place their personal ties above some abstract destiny that has apparently been getting along fine without them. Such ronin most often do rejoin the ranks of the Five-score Fellowship in their own time, as they come to realize how much larger the world is and how much more they could accomplish.
Even less common are those Sidereals who walk away from Heaven after years of loyal service. Sometimes they are seduced by Rakan Thulio’s cause, but others are simply tired and desire a permanent sabbatical from the burdens of being an agent of Destiny. Essence fever and the pull of kismet are powerful things, and often draw such ronin back into the thick of action, whatever they may think they want.
--Sidebar: What’s the difference between Ronin and Golden Stars?--
Some Sidereals, especially those with inclinations towards the Bronze philosophy of pragmatism, would say there isn’t a difference; the Sidereals exiled from Heaven prior to the Usurpation are sometimes called the first ronin for their refusal to compromise.
However, there is a subtle but important difference. Golden Stars believe that working within the system is the best way to realize the best world. There is a risk that the lure of an easy life and valuing results over reasons could turn them from this noble course, but it is better to accept this risk and steel against it than to reject Heaven out of fear of personal weakness.
Of course, this only applies to those ronin who intentionally forsake Heaven but do not throw in with Rakan Thulio.
--End Sidebar--
The Darkness Between
And then there is the Sleepwalker and the War on Heaven.
Rakan Thulio believes that destiny is a corrupt joke, and one that Creation would be better served without. He contends that by supporting it, Sidereals are culpable of every ounce of suffering they inflict, whatever their goals and whatever the outcome. Ignorance is an excuse only for so long as a ronin remains ignorant; once the veil is lifted from their eyes, how can they not see that Heaven must burn?
Naturally, no Sidereal entertains such thoughts. Not when they ensure a disaster occurs on schedule to dispossess an entire people and leave them wandering with no home to call their own. Not when they arrange the treacherous affair that plunges a nation into civil war. Not when they watch brutal soldiers rape and pillage and enslave towns after one failed crop too many. Not when they withhold the secrets that could cure a plague because Heaven does not yet deem it time. Not when they are sent to end the life of a friend or lover. Naturally not.
Even after all these years, the grandeur of Heaven dazzled Lo Chen. The Sighing Delight of Spring was far from the most notable club in Yu-Shan. Perfumed vines of blood red trumpet blooms obscured the inside of the club from the street. Brilliant blue songbirds sing the praises of each god that passed by.
As Lo Chen approached, the birds ceased their singing. At the bird’s silence, a boyish-looking god glanced up from his books. Lo Chan handed the godly host a card with a blood red trumpet bloom. As the host inspected the card, Lo Chan tucked his hands into the sleeves of his robes. He was careful to dress the part of an ambitious godblooded mortal. Deep-sleeved sapphire robes, the hem embroidered with golden apples; not a single piece of starmetal visible. The goddess he was visiting knew enough of Sidereals to be suspicious, and Lo Chen did not wish to reveal himself. Not yet.
“This way, Master Ni.” The host lead Lo Chen though a grove of cherry trees and gossiping gods. Iridescent petals drifted down among the scattered dining tables. The café ended in a cliff. The sky gardens floated above. “The Air Elementals will guide you from here.” With a bow, the host returned to his station.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Lo Chen stepped off the cliff. A shimmering platform of solid air formed under his feet. Lo Chen rose to the sky gardens, the entirety of Yu-Shan spread beneath his feet. The Air Elemental landed on a brick walkway leading to the garden pavilion. Lo Chen entered the Goddess’ domain, eyes downcast. “My Lady.” Not the correct title for her, but a man of his resplendent destiny’s position could be forgiven a lapse of etiquette.
Mi Tang, the Goddess of Golden Delight, reclined on a chaise lounge. Orichaculm bees buzz around the delicate boned goddess. One settled on her long honey brown braid. Before her lay a feast that could feed a village for weeks. The goddess licked her honey-smeared lips clean as Lo Chen approached. “Did you succeed?”
“Yes,” Lo Chen handed over a small sweat stained sack of Ambrosia. No blood marred the outside of the bag, although the previous owner had crushed a few pieces. It took quite the beating to convince him to give up his profits.
With a wrinkled nose, Mi Tang checked the contents of the bag. She licked her lips clean of fresh honey droplets. “Lamor?” she asked, referring to the god competing with her Celestial Cocaine trade.
Lo Chen hesitated. Lamor was one of his own cocaine distributors; while Lo Chen encouraged ambition in his subordinates, the idiot god encroached on Mi Tang’s territory. Yet if one kills your minions for every little mistake, you will soon run out of minions. “He will not bother you anymore.” The beating Lo Chen gave Lamor should encourage the god to find another side business. Within his robes, Lo Chen fingered the handle of his starmetal dagger. He did not wish to make an enemy of the goddess, but if Mi Tang discovered who Lamor’s employer was, this meeting would not end pleasantly.
Mi Tang licked more honey off her lips. “Sit,” the goddess waved her hand at an empty couch. “Master Ni, I have more work for your people.”
Sapphire starlight twinkling in his dark eyes, Lo Chen graciously smiled and took a seat. Lamor’s mishap may have cost him Ambrosia, but Lo Chen understood friendship was the most precious currency of all.
“How may I be of service?”
Chapter 2 : The Celestial City of Yu-Shan
This is Heaven; the Celestial City of Yu-Shan, spreading across a region as large as the Blessed Isle, densely packed by ten hundred million gods great and small who labour in the Bureaucracy Divine beneath an adamant sky.
The city is divided into eight neighborhoods and one, each as large as a prefecture of the Realm. Fountains drip with quintessence, while spirits barter and trade in mortal prayers brought by swift footed couriers from across Creation. Within Yu-Shan, the veil of the material and immaterial is drawn up, and spirits walk clothed in flesh side by side with favored mortal servants. Manses and palaces stand grander than any in Creation since the fall of the First Age; a dozen dozen dozen schools of philosophy and art flourish beneath the spreading boughs of the orchards where grow the peaches of immortality, their unique discussions each imparting subtly different flavors to the fruit and drink produced by godly vinters.
Yu-Shan has no walls, for Heaven has no enemies. One hundred and eight gates join Heaven to Creation, patrolled by celestial lions. Yachts and junks ply the sea of healthsome mercury, while gondolas and barges carry passengers grand and mean across rivers of silver and gold. Beneath the adamant dome of the sky, a thousand thousand wing'd spirits vie with kite-flying gods and aerial chariots, and above them, the spreading colors of the Incarnae. Some say you can divine who leads in the Games of Divinity by their positions upon the Dome, for the Sun and Moon of Heaven do not rise and set as they do in Creation, nor do the Maidens hide in the night that never comes- but some say a great many things about both the sky and the Games and the gods, fancying themselves wise after having drunk deep on celestial wine.
Demons that have seen Yu-Shan claim that the Brass City of Hell is grander in scope, but demons are ever liars, and they speak those words while weeping bitter tears. Fair Folk diplomats, accustomed to the glory of the Wyld, have been struck blind at the sight of the City of the Gods, and rendered mute in composing psalms to magnify the glory they glimpsed. The dead that have been to Yu-Shan almost invariably pass to lethe and reincarnation, the beauty of the city breaking the last chains that kept them anchored to their shadowed half-existence.
Welcome to Yu-Shan, City of the Gods, Heavenly Dominion of the Celestial Incarnae and home of ten hundred million gods great and small of the Bureaucracy Divine!
Yu-Shan is divided into eight major districts; although they are referred to as neighborhoods, they are each as large as a Realm prefecture.
The Heart of the City
The centermost district is the Neighborhood of Heaven; the heart of the city to which all blessings flow. Only the greatest and most powerful of gods can claim the palaces and manses of the Neighborhood of Heaven as their own; they have no price and may only be acquired by explicit permission of the Incarnae or their appointed representatives. From the Neighborhood of Heaven, the Seven Gates allow travellers to easily reach the other Neighborhoods where the more mundane divinities labor.
The Jade Pleasure Dome
At the center of the city, over two miles wide and three miles high, stands a temple dome of green and white jade. There are no seams to belay a hint of imperfection, only a single pair of double doors of orihalcum and starmetal, sealed and always watched by Jijra, God of Eunuchs and Sacrifice, Watcher of the Door Impassible and High Chief of the Order Capon.
Within, the Incarnae remain absorbed by the Games of Divinity, while the small gods struggle for their chances to be allowed in, to witness the games being played or even participate by taking a move. The honor of granting viewing rights is reserved to the greatest of the small gods; only one of the Incarnae may permit someone the ultimate reward of joining them in play.
The Games of Divinity are not the games of man, nor the manipulation of Creation; such tawdry concerns degrade the ineffable joy of the Games by their comparison. However, what they are cannot be explained, only experienced. Dreams of seeing them played are worth a prince’s ransom, and no price could be named or met for a memory of playing- and while trade in such dreams and memories is strictly contraband, this does not stop them from being common features of Heaven’s blackest markets.
The Order Capon
Through honest loyalty or gross mischance, some gods enter into the service of the Order Capon. They swear powerful oaths upon their names and identities, and give up an essential element of their own divinity to seal the oaths- ensuring that if they should ever enter the Jade Pleasure Dome or behold a moment of the Games of Divinity, even a memory of such, they would perish- immediately and permanently, without recourse.
Because of this oath, the Incarnae know that they can trust members of the Order Capon in a fashion that they can trust no one else. The Order is primarily charged with patrolling the perimeter of the Jade Pleasure Dome, ensuring that no rogue spirit is allowed passage into the most sacred heart of Heaven. Over time, the Capons have been entrusted with more as well- most notably, Jijra more and more is granted the Seal of the Unconquered Sun and sits in judgement while the Highest remains absorbed in the Games. Some whisper that the Order Capon plan more- to take command of Heaven and seal the Incarnae at the greatest of the gods in the Jade Pleasure Dome, making it both joy and prison at once. However, despite these rumors, the influence of Jijra’s minions only grows.
Smaller Diversions
The Games of Divinity are always being played, and always being watched- but, as vast a hall as the Jade Pleasure Dome is, it can house only the barest fraction of Heaven at once. In the thoroughfares surrounding the Jade Pleasure Dome, all manner of amusements can be found for tastes both subtle and gross. Burning Feather, God of Intoxication, oversees the movement of intoxicants into and out of the Neighborhood of Heaven, taking a small fee from each ounce of refined opium and dram of celestial cocaine- as well as far richer profits in businesses she officially has no connection to, which deal in green malfean dust or powdered ore from the heart of the Labyrinth. For gods whom lesser medications have lost their potency but who cannot view the Games, such potent intoxicants can relieve their suffering for a time, or at least replace one impossible longing with another.
Gambling houses are also tremendously popular, with the fates of kingdoms riding on the single throw of the dice. All stakes can and will be met, all bets honored. Woe to the fools that attempt to cheat the house in the Neighborhood of Heaven!
The Judgement of Idols
The most absorbing diversion outside the Games is to participate in the Judgement of the Idols. Each year, a rotating competition of gods and other spirits is invited to perform a series of soliloquies, famous speeches, martial prowess, sorcerous might, songs, dances, and other divertissements, illustrating their refinement, knowledge of the classics, and where they have the arrogance and daring, attempts to improve upon them. Doing well in the Judgement, even if they do not meet with success, is one of the few means of improving one’s lot in the heavily stratified society of Yu-Shan, and gods will labor and save for decades to pay the entry fee with only the barest hope of victory. The winner, selected during the Carnival of Meeting, is granted a reserved seat within the Games for the next year- and the chance to enter the more challenging levels, judged by their own peers as time goes on.
Any gods may release a fragment of essence to signal their approval or disapproval of a particular spirit’s performance, which is then dutifully tabulated by the Judges of the Idol, a trio of robed and masked gods, their identities kept secret (but the source of much speculation!) who can then announce periodic eliminations from the competition. The rules can seem arcane and unfair to mortals, but the word of the Judges is absolute.
In addition to these annual judgements, more and more refined competitions take place every four, one hundred-eight, and twenty-seven thousand, six hundred forty-eight years. Known respectively as the Grand Judgement, the Highest Judgement, and the Judgement Incomparable, each is judged not by the hosts of Heaven but by their peers and previous winners of the next highest contest- save for the Judgement Incomparable, which is presided over solely by the Incarnae themselves.
The next Judgement Incomparable is coming within three years- the last one, during the height of the First Age, saw both puissant celebration and dreadful backroom dealings that rocked heaven and earth. But now the games take on a sinister tone, and support for one competitor in the Judgement of the Idols can signal political allegiance as much as a preference in style.
Courts of the Incarnae
The right of justice is reserved to the Incarnae. When a god or agent of heaven stands accused of a capital crime, they may not be tried by any power less than one of the Incarnae themselves, or their direct representatives. Unfortunately, the Incarnae have grown more absorbed in the Games of late, and without their ineffable wisdom and unchallengeable might, criminals have begun to go unpunished.
Prior to the overthrow of the enemies of the Gods, the Sun was once called to justice by some rivals. He had done no wrong, and so feared no trial- for all knew that he was blameless in his work, and innocent of any accusation. His rivals did not mean to demonstrate his guilt, however- rather, they delayed the trial over, and over, and over. For twice ten centuries, the Unconquered Sun languished in the dungeons of Heaven, innocent but not yet proven so and thus caged away. Only when a terrible threat rose against Creation, such that his masters trembled in fear, was he let free- and then, only on the condition that he was absolved of the accusation.
The Unconquered Sun, upon attaining the throne of Heaven, swore that no one would be held as he had been; innocent and guilty alike were due the justice of the courts, and better a guilty party should go free than an innocent party languish due to the perfidy of justice perverted. No one held by Heaven may be held without their trial for more than century- a lifetime for a mortal, but a changing of a season for one immortal.
The Censors and peacekeepers of Heaven gnash their teeth at this prohibition, for more and more criminals escape judgement due to the already incredible backlog and the Incarnae’s prolonged absence. Clever barristers have also found ways of counting time that beggar the imagination, with arguments make an hour seem like a year and free their clients in a mere handful of days.
Even when the Incarnae appoint representatives, it hardly helps; some, such as the Golden Lord of An-Teng, are nearly as incorruptible as the Highest himself, but most curry the positions as a means of soliciting bribes in the form of fines, or to issue harsh punishments against their enemies or those whom they are directed to strike down.
The Fire Exigent
One hundred-eight li Marsward from the Jade Pleasure Dome standing at fourscore feet tall and sixscore wide, a bonfire of pure white flame, roaring in a bronze brazier with coals of diamond and ruby. This is the Fire Exigent, from which the Unconquered Sun may grant Exigent Exaltations.
Gods granted the right of Champion are gifted with a ruby gem, nearly the size of a man’s fist- a drop of blood from the Unconquered Sun. No unclean thing may touch it, and the consequences for a devil attempting to take the righteous fire of Exigence into itself can best be described as explosive- but for the gods, it is warm and joyful, singing a song of fulfillment.
It is unfortunate that even the purest of sacraments is not held sacred in this fallen age- but it is still true. Some gods, granted the gift of the Exigence, have that gift wrested from them by force or even trade it away for a desperate vision of the Games of Divinity. Such treasures may be passed between a dozen hands, each fouler than the last- by the time a god actually empowers a champion with the tarnished thing, their gem has often turned brown, and is slimy to the touch. Those Chosen by these ruined gifts become monstrous things, swollen and mad. A major duty of the Bureau of Destiny has become the tracking of these ill-omened Exigencies; with luck, to cast them back to the Flame Imperishable; without luck, to slay the unfortunate Chosen before they can do unlawful harm to Creation.
Offices and Officers of the Bureau of Heaven
The Commission on Abstract Matters and Celestial Concerns, informally known as the Bureau of Heaven, is the most politically powerful organization within Heaven short of the Incarnae themselves. Nominally headed by the Unconquered Sun, the Bureau oversees the day to day concerns of Yu-Shan; it is here that appointments to offices are made and honors stripped, here that requests are approved and denied, and all things pertaining to the Gods and Yu-Shan are under the jurisdiction of the Bureau.
The Bureau of Heaven has offices through the Celestial City, but their central office is twice eighty-score lie Jupiterward from the Jade Pleasure Dome, in a palatial estate that once housed a demon prince’s glass library. Here Taru-Han, Shogun of Abstract Matters, marshals her forces against enemies both within and without- she fears the Lytek, the former chief of the department and the Right Hand of Power, God of Exaltation, will attempt to reclaim the post he lost with the Usurpation. Meanwhile her counterpart and second, Ryzala, the God of Bureaucracy and Shogun of the Department of Celestial Concerns, keeps making quiet moves to merge the two offices into a single estate- over which she would stand as the master. No one of Ryzala’s ploys has proven efficacious yet, but the Lady of Paperwork is content to drown Taru-Han in procedure and bleed her out with ten thousand papercuts.
The Business of the Gods
Only the greatest of the Gods spend any amount of time in the Neighborhood of Heaven- the meanest employment there is a greater aspiration than most of the small gods hold. Instead, most live cheek to jowl in the Four Great Neighborhoods of Effervescent Beginnings, Propitious Life, Vigilant Readiness or Languid Aspirations- colloquially, the Neighborhoods of Wind, Wood, Fire and Water. Less populace but no less critical are the Small Neighborhoods of Passages Argent and Aurum, and Prosperous Contemplation; the Neighborhoods of Ports and Groves.
Commerce in the Big City
Yu-Shan is vast, and the streets are crowded with divinities of all shapes and sizes. To someone recently of the Celestial City, it can be nearly impossible to tell one area from another- yet the differences couldn't be clearer to those who have lived in Yu Shan for more than a century or two. In all of the common districts of Heaven, Gods live and feast and play and work; they commute by hired rickshaws or rented clouds or paying the fare to travel along the rivers of silver and gold that crisscross the city. At the worst, they can walk- while only the most miserly or poorest of gods would choose to do so, that describes an increasing number of spirits in these fallen days. They dwell in apartments with rooms that could swallow mansions in Creation, and lament their impoverished accommodations, apologizing about the poor state of affairs to any guests they entertain, and serve the stuff of prayers for their feasts. The primary distinction comes in what manner of labour the spirits busy themselves with.
Quintessence and Ambrosia
All around Heaven can be found fountains of marble and gold, each embossed in various fanciful design and mosaic. Each hour, these fountains fill with a shimmering golden liquid, as thick and sweet as honey, known to the inhabitants of Heaven as Quintessence. Each spirit is entitled to claim 1000 drams of the miraculous stuff each hour- the stipend upon which all can depend. With a modicum of effort, quintessence may be rolled into small balls, and these form the common coin of Heaven, with standard sizes wrapped in various colors of silk to make them easy to distinguish.
Quintessence is healthsome, and a spoonful satisfies all mortal hunger and thirst for eight hours- but of far greater worth is the wonders that can be spun by the greater crafting gods. In the hands of a lord of the forge, a dram of quintessence may be shaped into an ingot of the highest quality iron or steel, of pure warm copper or beads of silver and gold and platinum. Drawn by a weaver, and quintessence becomes silk cooler than water, satin softer than clouds, shimmering with all the colors of the aurora. By the hand of a master chef, and quintessence may be formed into the finest cuts of beef and chicken and salmon that can be found in Creation, or bundles of olives or masses of grapes; rich allspice and pepper of every color.
The gods do not need to eat or drink to live. They do not need clothes to remain warm. For most, they need no arms of iron or bronze to make war, nor jewelry of silver and ruby to reflect their beauty. However, by the miracle of quintessence, they can realize all these things they do not need. The poorest god in Heaven lives a life of decadent ease greater than all but the richest princes of Creation, and bemoan their lack and want.
Greater by far than the fountains of quintessence are the vaults of ambrosia. The veneration of the gods given form, ambrosia appears to be a soft, cream-white substance, with the sheen and texture of cold butter. Rubbed on the skin, it serves as an anointment of miraculous health surpassing the most potent medicines of Creation; the smallest taste satisfies any mortal need for substance for a week. Ambrosia smells faintly of vanilla and fresh baked goods; a subtle but overpowering sweetness and living, yeasty texture. It tastes of cookies still warm from the oven.
By the decree of the Incarnae, seven-tenths of all ambrosia granted to the gods is surrendered to the Bureau of Heaven, where it is disbursed for the betterment of Heaven. As only a small fraction of Heaven's gods receive direct worship, the majority of the ambrosia seen is seen as part of this disbursement, cut into regular discs and wrapped in golden or silver foil for different denominations.
Ambrosia bears all the virtues of quintessence, fivefold over. Harder and more delicate to work, ambrosia will curdle in the amateur hands of most of Heaven's artisans- but the best of them can create weapons and armor composed entirely of precious stones, cloth woven of cloud and shadow and starlight, food composed of virtue and glory with cups of honor to drink. The greatest dream-workers of Heaven have banded together in the Guild of Ambrosial Delight. There, they trade secrets and conspire, one amongst the other, that their art may not be cheapened by overexposure.
Ambrosia and Quintessence removed from the spiritual realm of Heaven quickly boil away in the mundane sphere of Creation. While wrapped in their silk or golden foil, they may be safely transported through such lesser places, and retain their shape and potency for use in the private sanctums of spirits across Creation- or even more rarely, when traded into the depths of Hell. Such commerce is grossly illegal, and the Warden of Hell is especially charged with hunting down such blackguards.
Neighborhoods Great and Small
The Neighborhood of Wind
In the Neighborhood of Wind, the Gods primarily deal in banking and financials. There, everything is tinted yellow in honor of Mercury and the hope that she will swiftly bear them to prosperity. Gold wrapped coins of ambrosia and silver wrapped balls of quintessence are placed on deposit with various institutions that have stood since the Exalted were given Creation, and a bustling trade in trade itself can raise a god up faster than victory in one of Plentimon's houses, and drag him down even more swiftly. The Mercurial Exchange of Bonds, Stocks, Futures, and Devices is the largest market in the Neighborhood of Wind- there, no matter the day or the hour, the cries to buy and sell shares in businesses, companies, and destinies can always be heard. Not to mention the food carts with their steaming meat pies and sugar coffees- as well as every stimulant known. The Gods here are the brightest dressed, each striving like peacocks to show off their wealth and intimidate the competition, while desperately hoping that today is not the day their debts come due and they are cast out into the streets.
The Vault Primordial and the Splendid Trust
When the Gods seized Heaven, the also claimed the wealth of their former masters, and chief amongst these riches was the treasure vaults of the fallen. Inside, almost inexhaustible stores of ambrosia and quintessence- enough to satisfy the dreams and lusts of even the most avaricious of spirits. The Incarnae claimed the bulk of this wealth, initially using it to pay for their rebellion and help establish the new order; it is from here that the tax of seven-tenths of ambrosia first arose. The remainder was claimed by the finders, who consolidated their combined wealth in what would become the Neighborhood of Wind, founding the Splendid Trust And Union of Transmundane and Inexhaustible Wealth- the first and oldest of the banks of Heaven. Through good times and bad, it was always certain that the Splendid Trust was as immutable as the rule of the Incarnae. Epic legends spread of the incredible wealth held within the Vault Primordial, and the nigh invincible protections placed thereupon. Now, however, rumors spread that the Vault is all but exhausted. Normally sensible gods worry that the Splendid Trust is broke and has been broken, coasting on reputation and favors which will run out any day. Should the assembled spirits of Yu-Shan make a run on the bank, they may create the very panic and chaos they seek to avoid.
The Neighborhood of Wood
The Neighborhood of Wood is the primary residence for the majority of the Gods. Although apartments and townhomes can be found in every neighborhood, it is only in the Neighborhood of Wood that the buildings lower and spread out, the thoroughfares becoming narrower but somehow longer. Small orchids of two hundred cherry trees will sit behind a stolidly middle class scribal overseer's tiny palace, as he looks enviously across the path to the aerial chariot purchased by his neighbor and bitter rival. Those gods who work in the Neighborhood of Wood are almost always servants of some variety- private chefs, butlers and maids, stable-managers, major domos and reeves and seneschals. Many live in the home of the god that employs them- a precarious existence, for the least infraction could see them thrown out without a second thought.
The Dutiful Order of Sacrosanct Invigoration
The Gods do not need to eat or drink, and so many do not engage in the unpleasant and boresome activity of passing waste that occupies so much of a mortal's life. However, Heaven is not peopled solely by immortals, and even amongst the immortals, some will take up pissing and shitting as a rustic fad every few centuries. Such individuals are serviced by the Dutiful Order of Sacrosanct Invigoration. Bearing pots of ivory, ceramic and gold, they will bear away the full and leave pristine and empty containers. The master of the Dutiful Order is the Flocculent Master, God of Defecation, rarely attends his domain upon Creation any longer, so absorbed is he in the business of Heaven's business. The nightsoil produced has manifold uses in strange alchemies and artificing- but most is sold to the Neighborhood of Groves, to nourish the Peaches of Immortality. Despite his growing wealth, the Flocculent Master finds himself shunned from the better sort of deity, owing to the odiferous nature of his business.
The Neighborhood of Fire
Residents of the Neighborhood of Fire would say that it is there that the business of the city is accomplished. Here is the hard manual labor of Heaven perfected- artisan gods whispering shape and form into ambrosia or smelting beads of quintessence into bales of silk and satin. Most of the gods here are employed directly by the Bureau of Humanity, and busy themselves recording the coming and goings of Creation's mortals, writing forecasts and predictions, recommendations and reports on the grandeur and the minuta of humanity. Without these precise records and forecasts, the Bureau of Destiny would be hard pressed to devise acceptable fates for Creation.
The Neighborhood of Water
Of the Great Neighborhoods, it is the Neighborhood of Water that most closely resembles Heaven as most in Creation would expect. A never-ending carnival of delight, the bon vivants here specialize in every form of entertainment. Playhouses and poets can be found on every corner, and songs that could break a mortal's heart to hear hang in the air like a smog. Race tracks and arenas for athletics competition, the finest restaurants of the Celestial City outside of the Neighborhood of Heaven, and the richest gaming houses can all be found here. Bathhouses and saunas are also common, where comely spirits can tend the aches and pains of their hard working betters, or assist in sating any other need they might have. The Neighborhood of Water seems to have no bottom; those who stay near the surface enjoy a simple pleasant visit, but the deeper one dives, the darker it grows. Any vice, no matter how perverse or depraved, may be satisfied in the depths, for the right price.
The Neighborhood of Groves
The two Small Neighborhoods are poorly served by the name; they may be of meaner stature, but both cover more actual ground than the Great Neighborhoods. The Neighborhood of Groves is a tremendous change of pace from the riot of color and sound that comprises the rest of Heaven. Here are pastoral rolling hills, interspersed with mile-long orchids. Sapphire-plums and amethyst grapes are harvested by soldier-deities granted a pension and tract of land for valiant service in the ancient battle. Most jealously guarded are those groves where the Peaches of Immortality grow; the flesh of which always invigorates and renews even the most weary of souls. For a mortal to test one of these delights is to feel the age melting from their bones- but they are forbidden from Creation. Indeed, three of five peaches from the groves are reserved to be served in the Jade Pleasure Dome, while the remainder are destined for the vintners that press celestial wine and other powerful drink. Between these orchids are groves of sacred mulberry bushes, from which can be found aurora-worms that produce sanctified silk. Sanctified silk is used to form the scrolls and written works of Heaven, as well as the divine raiment of the greatest of gods.
One Thousand Schools In Shade
Nestled between the groves and orchards, a thousand different schools of philosophy and martial arts have sprung up, savoring the quiet of the Neighborhood at the same time as they break it with the power of their brawls. The practitioners will meditate beneath one tree for a dozen years in peace, and then engage in furious bouts of martial prowess to prove the correctness of their beliefs. At any given time, it is understood by all that there are One Dozen Greatest Schools, who, by rhetoric and power, have illustrated the virtue of their beliefs. Outsiders will come from far across Heaven to cry their cause, or sponsor them to demonstrate on their behalf, or to act as bodyguards when travelling through less civilized places.
The Neighborhood of Ports
Meanwhile, the Neighborhood of Ports has even less of a fixed region than any other place in Heaven. Possessing the rivers of silver and gold that cross the length and breadth of Yu-Shan like highways of precious metal, as well as the entirety of the coast that rings the Isle of Paradise. Every quay, dock, harbor, jetty, and port that see passengers and cargo moving swiftly across Heaven passes through the Neighborhood of Ports. Few Gods live in this Neighborhood- those who do primarily reside in floating, flat-bottomed houseboats, drifting lazily along with no especial care. Smuggling is also rampant in the Neighborhood of Ports, and the Bureau of Heaven retains a small private navy of swift self-powered tremieres to run down sleek smugglers yachts and fat bottomed junks dragging forbidden cargo across the quicksilver sea.
The Order of Intercessionist Spirits
While only a fraction of the Gods in Yu-Shan receive direct veneration, amongst those who do, they can easily become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of prayer directed to them. For such individuals who do not have the patience to individual sift the prayers of the worthy from the unworthy, they turn to the Order of Intercessionist Spirits- a guild of winged gods able to swiftly travel across Creation and Heaven. So empowered, the Intercessionist Spirits intercept prayers directed to their clients, and prevent them with a summary of the most worthy causes. Of course, directly praying to the correct Intercessionist can thusly produce more efficacious results, as the patronized divinity may be inclined to bump such a worthy mortal up the ladder.
One Hundred and Eight Gates of Heaven and Earth
Between Heaven and Creation are one hundred and eight Gates. Twenty-four stand at regular intervals several thousand li from the shore, forming a circle in the quicksilver sea to points remote across Creation. Eighty-three are distributed across the Neighborhoods of Heaven; those which are open and active tend to cultivate a degree of trade between Heaven and Earth- Gods using Heaven to quickly transport goods from one end of Creation to another, while importing items of quality that either cannot be produced by quintessence or would prove ruinously expensive to produce in ambrosia. The one hundred and eighth gate is known as the Calibration Gate; it always resembles a one-sided hoop of moonsilver and starmetal, freestanding on it's edge and over eight feet high. The whereabouts of the Calibration Gate, on both Heaven and Earth, is difficult for even the wisest of savants to track.
Each of the eighty-three gates within the city of Yu-Shan do not only connect to Creation, but also to one another. The path is not bi-directional; passing from a Gate Twenty-Three in the Neighborhood of Water may take to Gate Forty-Five in the Neighborhood of Fire, while passing through Gate Forty-Five in the Neighborhood of Fire takes you to Gate Sixty-Seven in the Neighborhood of Groves. The Gates are normally reserved for travel between Neighborhoods, and only opened for trade and commerce with Creation on specific hours and days, which vary from location to location.
Pastoral Fields in a Crowded City
Mortal cartographers despair of mapping Heaven, as the Neighborhoods do not seem to obey anticipated relationships with one another. Rather, they seem to nest ever inwards; another avenue is always beyond the turn, another field past the hills. Explorers that have ventured into the Wyld at first believe Heaven obeys similar laws, that your destination depends upon your intent, but nothing could be further from the truth. Rather, Heaven resembles a map folded upon itself many times; paths may branch and merge in unexpected fashion, but they will always proceed from one location to the next in a regular and reliable order. In this fashion can the vast farms of the Neighborhood of Groves exist on the same isle as the cheek-and-jowl crowding of the Neighborhood of Wood. This nesting also intensifies the value of the Neighborhood of Ports, as travel by river is very often the swiftest and straightest means of egress possible where an internal Gate-walk is not available.
The Seven Great Gates
Each Gate, in addition to joining Heaven to Creation, joins two neighborhoods together- but only the Seven Great Gates join the neighborhoods of Yu-Shan to the Neighborhood of Heaven. Passage through these gates is strictly regulated, and requires presenting credentials demonstrating that one has legitimate business in the heart of Heaven, edicts enforced by celestial lions with distinguished careers and very short tempers. Such passages are not the only means to enter the Neighborhood of Heaven, of course, but they are the most convenient, and the lesser known routes are scarce less observed.
The Seven Great Gates are:
- The Gate of Eternal Majesty (aka the Gate of Mercury, connecting the Neighborhood of Wind)
- The Gate of Transcendent Harmony (aka the Gate of Jupiter, connecting the Neighborhood of Wood)
- The Gate of Supreme Triumph (aka the Gate of Mars, connecting the Neighborhood of Fire)
- The Gate of Magnificence Supreme (aka the Gate of Venus, connecting the Neighborhood of Water)
- The Gate of Terminal Glory (aka the Gate of Saturn, connecting the Neighborhood of Ports)
- The Gate of Incomparable Distinction (aka the Gate of Luna, connecting the Neighborhood of Groves)
- The Gate of Unconquered Celebration (aka the Gate of Sol, connecting the Neighborhood of Refuge- now almost always closed)
The Great Gates are often used as major landmarks when navigating within Yu-Shan, with directions given relative to the massive structures of gold-veined marble.
Offices and Officers of the Bureau of Humanity
The Divine Witnesses of Human Works and Deeds is one of the closest allies and fiercest rivals with the Bureau of Destiny, as both are intensely concerned with the activity of the world. The Bureau of Destiny dealt their rival a fierce blow towards the end of the First Age by successfully convincing the Bureau of Heaven to take control of the Department of Universal Human Affairs, arguing that universal human affairs are always abstract matters and thus primarily a consideration for celestial concern- an act for which Wun Ja, Goddess of the Shining Metropolis and the Director of Humanity, has not yet forgiven them or her treacherous former aide and daughter, Nu Ja- God of Family and Clan, as well as (now) Director of Universal Human Affairs. The constant agitation of the Union of City Fathers and Mothers for more resources to defend their charges with weighs on her- and the toadies she would most like to be rid of, such as the up-jumped Gri-Fel, God of the Imperial City, remain stubbornly beyond her reach, protected by powerful allies.
It is rumored that Rakan Thulio has begun to make quiet overtures to the frustrated Goddess of the Shining Metropolis, whispering sweet words of a world without Heaven or Destiny interfering in the fate of man, in which Wun Ja would be the first amongst equals. Such rumors are blasphemies spread by her political enemies, of course, and Wun Ja does not deign to answer such spurious charges. She keeps Themiscrila, God of Imperial Rhetoric and Law, close at hand to respond to those who would insult her dignity in this fashion; her counter-suits and intimations of worse to come deter all but the most foolhardy, even as her retainer slowly bleeds Wun Ja dry.
The Slums of Heaven
There is one other Neighborhood in Heaven. At the dawn of the First Age, it was established as a place of safety and healing, for those gods whom had suffered grievous curses, fell wounds, or untreatable madness during the course of the glorious revolution. A long lane of quiet spaces and gentle healing; the Neighborhood of Refuge. Here could those beings who had survived the worst of the enemy could be allowed to rest in peace, tended by the gentlest ministrations of spirits of healings and calm, overseen by the Division of Solitary Comforts within the Bureau of Heaven. For long years, the Neighborhood served well as a place of Refuge; veils of privacy were drawn to conceal the secrets and shames of divinities driven mad, laws enacted to prevent them from being taken advantage of or unduly persecuted, at the same time as the ministering spirits could submit regular reports of those so protected, ensuring that they were neither abusers nor abused. Gaia herself, in her times in Yu-Shan, was often seen walking the length of the Neighborhood. The Green Lady would walk, arm in arm with Luna, neither speaking nor needing to speak, as ineffable cool flowed from them, drawing the heat of fever and ruin from the broken gods they passed.
At the height of the First Age, there was even a program established to attempt to show some generosity towards the defeated, and those who sincerely wished to enjoin peacefully with Creation. The Embassy of Hell, the Mission of Madness and the Legation of the Dead were created beneath the Bureau of Heaven, allowing devils, fair folk nobles and spirits of the Underworld a chance to peacefully reside within Yu-Shan; under careful consideration and control, but with the aim of extending Heaven's suzerainty across all of existence, as well as to assist the caretakers of the broken gods with specialized advice and assistance in treating the most dire cases.
The Usurpation saw the resources of the Neighborhood of Refuge stretch to the limit; for the first time since the conclusion of the divine revolution, there was a major influx of grievously injured and maddened divinities, broken by the fighting within Creation as the mad Solars were put down in the months and years following the terrible Calibration dinner. Sanctuaries which had been dedicated to holding only a single god suddenly had to host small pantheons, and the time and resources of ministering spirits had to be more carefully measured. At the same time, enemies of the Division of Solitary Comfort denied them the additional funding they desperately needed to meet the new demands- always claiming that things were not so dire and that claims otherwise were purely a political ploy for the managers of the division to live more lavish lives at the expense of both the Incarnae and the broken gods under their charge.
In time, it is likely that the Neighborhood of Refuge could have adapted to this new norm, and found an acceptable equilibrium. In time, they could have gradually increased funding and found treatments for those gods broken by the Solar Purge. But time was not a resource they were granted; in only a handful of centuries after the Usurpation came the Great Contagion, and the invasion of the Fair Folk. A trickle of sickened and terrified divinities soon became a swell, then a flood, until finally at the order of Saturn, all one hundred and eight gates of Heaven and Creation were sealed for three years. The Neighborhood of Refuge was overwhelmed- the fleeing divinities had no resources and nowhere else to go, and so were ushered into overcrowded hospital-temples and hastily thrown together shanty towns and divine camps. Despite protests from the Plenipotentiary of Unfixed Form and the Envoy of the Departed, the embassies of the Wyld and the Underworld were burned in riots that rocked the Neighborhood, started by refugee gods that were appalled to see their enemies apparently granted quarter and ease while their domains were ruined.
As the Usurpation passed and Heaven adjusted to the new reality of Creation under the Scarlet Empress, the isolation of the Refuge began to take shape. Never an official policy, it was simply a marked increase in vigilance of those attempting to leave the Neighborhood of Refuge, a casual dismissal of reports of violence or lawbreaking within the Neighborhood. Gates which lead to or from the Neighborhood of Refuge began to gain a sullen reputation; the supposedly temporary shanty towns became more permanent with rough blocks of blotchy marble forged from quintessence by rural gods began to rise. The Bureau of Heaven would send in a heavy force of celestial lions and fu dogs to tear down these inauspicious constructs, but the residents would simply flee without a fight and rebuild elsewhere within the Neighborhood- now, they merely try and ignore them, hoping the problem might sort itself out.
The better sort of divinity began to shun the Neighborhood of Refuge. It was seen as a place of vagrants and thieves, of dispossessed and shiftless gods living on the dole of quintessence and from whatever prayers they could smuggle in. Other names began to be applied; the Neighborhood of Refugees, the Neighborhood of Refuse. Prejudice preceded fact; as the divinities in the Neighborhood of Refuge could not integrate with Yu-Shan at large, they built the best lives they could. With the ancient laws ensuring the privacy and safety of the broken gods within, criminals began to use the overcrowding as a means of avoiding official scrutiny. The Brass Embassy has become a festering wound of livid corruption, while the Mission of Madness and the Legation of the Dead are ports of call for smugglers and traffickers of unnatural goods. And over it all, the howling of the sick and the mad still rise like broken psalms from gods kept in peaceful incarceration since the dawn of the First Age, while hollow-eyed spirits of peace and healing struggle to pull themselves from their couches from brief moments of respite before going back to try and stem the flood again, wondering to themselves if this will be the day they break and join the ranks of the ministered.
Idle Gods and Devil’s Playthings
The stereotypical resident of the Neighborhood of Refuge is a hollow-eyed thief and pickpocket, dressed in threadbare silks from two centuries ago, addicted to black glass or brazen dust. They are seen as lazy, unreliable, and unproductive, a criminal drain upon Heaven. Or, if not a thief, they are one of the broken; divinities that have escaped from the sanctuaries established for them centuries ago, gibbering to themselves in alien tongues and pawing with dirty hands and feet upon the immaculate places of their betters. More charitable gods will emphasize the terrible conditions of the Neighborhood that drive these unfortunates, but they do not dispute the core image, nor do they offer personally inconveniencing solutions.
The truth is more complicated. The vast majority of the residents of the Neighborhood of Refuge would like nothing better than to either integrate back into Heaven or Creation- but simply have no means to do so. For many, their sanctums and domains in Creation were destroyed, leaving them with no place inside of Fate's plan; for them to return would make them dire criminals and subject to harsh penalties. They cannot compete against the professional servants of Yu-Shan in the Neighborhoods of Water and Wood, nor the professional laborers of Fire and Wind- and even if they could, their furtive stature and lack of perfume would give them away as being outsiders that even the most desperate outside the Refuge would not hire. Left with no purpose, many do drift into various addictions as a means to whittle away eternity, or fall into criminal enterprises as one of the few ways to escape.
The Embassy of Hell
Carefully watch the streets of Yu-Shan; in a rare few will you see shining, sticky silver sands. They are merely uncommon through the Neighborhood of Refuge, and downright ubiquitous as one draws upon the Brazen Embassy and the realm of Vitra, Expressive Soul of the Green Sun and Ambassador of Hell to Heaven. A single gate of inauspicious passage is always watched by a rotating trio of celestial lions dressed in blue jade armor, as they monitor those who immigrate to or from the demon realm, tracking the silver sands of the endless desert with them.
Virta still sees his purpose in Heaven as a noble one. The demon princes will never be free, and he holds no illusions on that front- but a spark of kindness for his fellows trapped in Hell drives him to seek comfort and release for them. Virta's name is a curse in Hell, for he is seen as having betrayed the Brass City for his own ease- but even so, he has no lack of sycophants and would-be aides that seek escape within the Brass Embassy. Over the centuries, and especially as order in the Neighborhood of Refuge has broken down, he has increased the number of demons fleeing hell beyond his legal limits, bribing the celestial lions to turn a blind eye at the additional handfuls of neomah or blood apes slumping through the gate of twisted, yellow jade. He gets along well with Verumipra. and the two have assisted one another in delicate matters before- but this relationship has grown strained in the past several centuries, as Virta has concealed more and more of his activities from the Warden of the Exiles, fearing that the incorruptible Verumipra would place duty over friendship and compassion.
And in his heart, Virta knows that Verumipra would be right to do so. Alain, Messager Soul of That Which Calls To Shadow, saunters a princess in the halls of the Brass Embassy. She has facilitated several of Virta's crimes of compassion and extorts the diplomat outrageously, demanding assistance with smuggling in hellish drugs or moving sacred ambrosia across the silver desert- lest she reveal the extent of Virta's crimes to Verumipra. Alain is more than willing to burn the Brass Embassy to the ground if she is caught- her pleasure is in the criminal dance, not the paltry aid that Vitra offers to their lessers. Rumors constantly fly as to which god or goddess she is currently abed with, and Alain is a common sight at both the most delicate of Heaven's functions, as well as the most depraved. Although Vitra hates her, even he is forced to admit that- although she does so purely for her own reasons -Alain has been essentially in keeping the Embassy of Hell open and whole since the Usurpation.
The Transubstantic Order of Divine Phagethan
In the restaurants of Heaven can all delights be found. By the miracle of quintessence and ambrosia, any spice or victual of dream or reality can be forged- save two. Officially, no god feasts upon the flesh of man, and no divinity partakes of the meat and blood of a fellow spirit. The former is a concession to the rule of the Exalted; although ambrosial chefs could forge succulent man-meat with no injury to any soul, the practice was outlawed near the start of the First Age as being offensive to the lords of Creation; meanwhile, the prohibition against divine cannibalism extends beyond even the mistiest memories of the gods, beyond law and into unbreakable taboo.
Small surprise then, that the Transubstantic Order has found a home within the Neighborhood of Refuge. Gluttonous gods of vile appetites, the Order is dedicated to experiencing the breadth of what may be consumed across extence. Officially, they exist as an order of gourmands and outre experimenters- their more grisly courses are kept in strictest confidence. However, if one turns down the wrong alley in Yu-Shan, or opens the forbidden larder of Yacatacul, they may find themselves confronted with a grisly larder stocked with carefully preserved corpses, smoked and salted, ready for oven and knife.
The Wicked and the Divine
For ten millennia, crime was seen in Yu-Shan as a result of madness; only the sick would attempt to violate the proper order of the Celestial City. As such, the Palace of Broken Souls was founded in the Neighborhood of Refuge. There, criminals could be sentenced to serve time in peaceful surroundings- each granted a small apartment, ease of movement upon the campus, and regular care from staff who sought to help these sick spirits. Compared to the more draconian punishments which were handed down in the time before the divine revolution, it is a gentle sort of prison indeed- but still a prison. The grounds are patrolled by guards in gleaming steel and jade, allowing neither entrance or egress without proper authorization.
As with so much else in the Neighborhood of Refuge, as an institution, the Palace of Broken Souls has simply been overwhelmed. More dangerous and increasingly numerous belligerents are assigned to the Palace from the justices of the Neighborhood of Heaven every day, heedless of the overcrowding already in place. The staff, once committed to the healing and regeneration of the criminal spirits, now simply strives to keep an ever more strained peace as divine gangs both within and without the Palace struggle for real control. The Gaoler Gentle, Xul, struggles to keep order- he knows that more and more of his guards are on the payroll of various factions within his Palace, and shudders at the day a riot rocks the facility and causes it to crack like a rotten egg, spilling it's putrid contents across the Neighborhood of Refuge. He is desperately seeking a replacement or a scapegoat against this inevitability, while at the same time striving to maintain the appearance that nothing is wrong and there is no cause for concern.
Down and Out In the Magic Kingdom
Amidst the reputation of reprobates, it can become easy to believe that there is no good in the Neighborhood of Refuge. This is not so; while Heaven's gossip mongers prefer to focus on the juicy stories of violence and crime, the truth is that the vast supermajority of the gods in the Neighborhood of Refuge are peaceful- they are simply resigned. Most would jump at the chance to return to domains in Creation, or to take up service in Heaven- but the work simply can't be found, and so they idle and waste. The hope that they nourish to one day rise, to perhaps even see the Games of Divinity being played, has long been blotted out- and without that hope, they become more susceptible to uglier diversions. Nevertheless, in the ghettos of Heaven can be found vibrant pantheons of exiled gods, spending the days dreaming by the fountains and swapping stories of their time in Creation. Arts and tales lost everywhere else in Creation may be found amongst those deities as they reminisce about days gone by, when the Solar domination of Creation seemed as unshakable at the rising and setting of the sun. The Gold Faction often recruits from these- gods whom technically have no place in Fate within Creation, but are given special (and of dubious legality) dispensations to manifest within the training camps of the Shining Ones, making the best of the returned Solars ready for the rigors of resumed rule.
In addition to the dispossessed gods are other refugees that have made their way to Heaven. A gens of Dragonblooded established a lineage during the Contagion; calling themselves the Heavenly Dragons, they found employment primarily as bodyguards- and very quietly, as assassins. Exalted as they are, the Heavenly Dragons are heir to spirit-cutting martial techniques and arms and armor of jade that once served in the armies that struck down the enemies of the gods. They have heavily interbred with the dispossessed Gods- some of the matriarchs of the family worry that the blessing of the Dragons is being as watered down by the inhuman blood of the divine as surely as the mundane blood of humanity. It is certain that the Bureau of Fate make periodic use of the Heavenly Dragons, dispatching them on especially dangerous Wyld Hunts or asking them to act as their agents in unofficial business within Creation. Officially, of course, the Bureau of Fate denies any such associations- the Sidereals are the only Exalted agents officially empowered to pursue Heaven's business within Creation.
Offices and Officers of the Bureaus of Seasons and Nature
The Celestial Monitors of Seasons and Weather, as well as the Superintendency of Nature Grand and Humble, are technically co-equal Divisions with Heaven, Fate and Humanity. In practice, they have fallen on hard times- representing elements of Creation with little consequence to Heaven, they have been mercilessly squeezed of funding and support. Now, almost all the offices of the Bureau of Weather and the Bureau of Nature are found in the Neighborhood of Refuge. Some few celebrities within the Bureaus- such as the Celestial Animals, celebrities who tour the party scene in the Neighborhoods of Water and Wood, soliciting donations for their causes even as they are amongst the few gods to receive wide worship in Creation.
Flashing Peak, Master of Nature, God of the Imperial Mountain and Shogun of the Hierarchy of Type, currently fears for her position. Ocean Crimson Lotus, the crowned monarch of the Second Age and Daimyo of the Subdivision of History within the Bureau of Fate, has been heard speaking openly that the old sleepy Peak deserves a retirement and a pension- no longer able to keep up with the rigors of the day to day operation of Nature, and uses the fact that the Bureau of Nature has fallen into Refuge as evidence of such, even as she manipulates events to keep the Bureau trapped within. Her gambits have been astonishingly effective, to the point where Flashing Peak wonders if it is merely paranoia that she sees the hand of the Sleepwalker behind the Sorrowful Age's Queen.
The Bureau of Seasons, meanwhile, has labored under a long cloud of undue persecution. Ghataru, Regent of the Seasons and Weather, is plagued by accusations and lawsuits that he abuses his position to send favorable weather to one nation or drought and disaster to another. In truth, he does the best to execute the thankless task of regulating Creation's weather and seasons as well as he can, in accordance with the designs drawn by the Bureau of Fate- but the Calendar Gods are perennial troublemakers, each more concerned with their non-stop, month-long bacchanals in the Neighborhood of Water than the performance of their duties. Five Days Darkness, the self-styled God of Calibration, haunts Ghataru's dreams as well; the Shadow of the Sun's schemes to humiliate the Calendar Gods inevitably seem to draw trouble to the Bureau as a whole.
Chapter 3 : Character Creation
The Sidereal Exalted are not like the Solars. They are not suddenly chosen for power, without support or warning; instead, they have been destined to draw the Second Breath from the moment they draw their first, and enter into a tight knit society that stretches back to the First Age and beyond. While Sidereals still grow up in Creation, they are watched by servants of the Bureau of Destiny, who ensure their safety and give them their first rudimentary lessons. Upon Exaltation, they are escorted to Heaven to begin more formal training and indoctrination, a process that can last upwards of a decade before the young Chosen begins to undertake their true duties.
Before you begin, ask your Storyteller and fellow players about their plans - will this game focus primarily on the Sidereal Exalted and the efforts of the agents of Heaven, or do they intend for most of the chronicle to focus on the Solars, Dragonblooded, or another group within Creation? Will they be embroiled in the politics of the divine Bureaus and the shadowy threat of Rakan Thulio, or focus instead on the encroaching danger of the Shadowlands, or the incipient civil war that threatens to tear the Realm apart?
One or two Sidereals can work well in a mixed Circle- providing resources, insights and connections that few others can match, while a game focused exclusively on the Sidereals has a chance to deeply explore into some of Creation’s most subtle and well kept mysteries, travelling to fantastic locations and dealing with weird spirits, in the name of destiny and for the fate of the world.
Step 1: Character Concept
When creating any character,one of the first questions to focus on answering is ‘What do I want to do during play?’ Is there some element of the setting that especially intrigues you and which you would like to explore? Do you want to be a political puppet master, guiding the world with hidden strings from the background? Or perhaps you want to be the one that’s called in when things go wrong, setting them right with a flash of a starmetal daiklave or martial kiai. Again, speak with your fellow players- make sure that no one’s concept is going to make it impossible to work with anyone else.
Once you have a concept that you are happy with, select the Caste that best fits them. Each Sidereal is chosen by one of the Maidens of Destiny, and your caste can put a totally different spin on two seemingly similar concepts. Chapter Four explains the five Sidereals Castes in full detail.
Finally, consider your character’s political leanings. The Sidereals have two semi-formal groups, the Bronze Faction and the Gold- the pragmatists that do not believe Creation can risk the Solars, and the idealists who believe Creation must. While few Sidereals identify themselves exclusively as a member of one of these factions, most have strong sympathies towards one of them, and their choices will often be viewed through a lens of factional politics even when they try and remain staunchly neutral. This is less important in a mixed circle, but still worth considering as to how it informs you about your character.
Step 2: Attributes
As with the Solar Exalted, Sidereal Exalted divide their Attributes into Physical, Social and Mental categories. Designate one of these categories as primary, one a secondary, and one as tertiary. Each Attribute begins with a free dot; you then distribute eight additional dots amongst your character’s primary Attributes, six additional dots amongst your character’s secondary Attributes, and four additional dots amongst your character’s tertiary Attributes.
Step 3: Abilities
As with the Solar Exalted, the Sidereal Exalted tend to have some Abilities they excel in more than others. Additionally, each Caste of the Sidereal Exalted is noted as tending to favor the Abilities which are favored by their Maiden.
Find your character’s Caste on the list below, and pick five associated Abilities. These are her Caste Abilities.
- Journeys: Archery, Athletics, Dodge, Larceny, Resistance, Ride, Sail, Survival, Thrown
- Serenity: Awareness, Craft, Dodge, Investigation, Linguistics, Performance, Presence, Socialize, Survival
- Battles: Archery, Brawl, Linguistics, Lore, Medicine, Melee, Presence, Sail, War
- Secrets: Bureaucracy, Investigation, Larceny, Lore, Melee, Occult, Resistance, Socialize, Stealth
- Endings: Athletics, Awareness, Brawl, Bureaucracy, Craft, Integrity, Medicine, Occult, Thrown
Now, pick four additional Favored Abilities. These Abilities represent skills, talents and interests that the character does not necessarily share with her fellows of the same Caste; a battlefield courier Chosen of Journeys may have an exacting knowledge of War, while a scholarly Chosen of Endings may have Lore to capture her deeply read background.
Unlike the Solar Exalted, the Sidereal Exalted do not have a Supernal Ability. The returned Lawgivers are exceptional even amongst the Exalted in their ability to master the depths and heights of their power so quickly upon returning.
Unlike the Solar Exalted, all Sidereal Exalted may purchase Martial Arts Abilities and Charms as Favored. Additionally, when purchasing traditional Martial Arts Charms, you may treat your character’s Essence rating as being one higher for the purpose of meeting prerequisites to purchase and upgrade them. It is not for nothing that the Sidereal Exalted are known as the peerless masters of the martial arts.
Once you’ve selected your Caste and Favored Abilities, consider what division of the Bureau of Destiny your Sidereal trained within. While most Sidereals train within the division of their Caste, a substantial minority instead train outside, ensuring that an appropriately trained and talented agent is always available.
Division training imparts a certain number of free Ability and Merit dots. After adding them, you will add an additional 11 Ability dots. As with Solars, no Ability may begin with a rating greater than 3, and you must have at least one dot in each of your Favored Abilities.
- The Golden Barque of Heaven (associated with the Chosen of Journeys)
- Abilities: Athletics ••, Awareness ••, Brawl ••, Bureaucracy ••, Lore •••, Occult ••, Resistance ••, Socialize •, Stealth •, Survival •••, Ride or Sail •••, Archery, Melee or Thrown •
- Merits: Language (Old Realm), Language (any) x2, Direction Sense
- The Cerulean Lute of Harmony (associated with the Chosen of Serenity)
- Abilities: Awareness ••, Brawl ••, Bureaucracy ••, Linguistics •••, Lore •••, Medicine •, Occult ••, Presence ••, Socialize •••, Stealth •, Craft or Performance ••, Archery, Melee or Thrown •
- Merits: Language (Old Realm), Selective Conception, Influence ••
- The Crimson Panoply of Victory (associated with the Chosen of Battles)
- Abilities: Athletics ••, Awareness ••, Brawl ••, Bureaucracy ••, Lore •••, Occult ••, Presence ••, Resistance ••, Socialize •, Stealth •, War ••, Archery or Melee •••
- Merits: Language (Old Realm), Fast Reflexes
- The Forbidding Manse of Ivy (associated with the Chosen of Secrets)
- Abilities: Awareness •••, Brawl ••, Bureaucracy ••, Investigation •••, Larceny •••, Lore •••, Occult ••, Socialize ••, Stealth •••, Archery, Melee or Thrown •
- Merits: Language (Old Realm), Eidetic Memory, Contacts •
- The Violet Bier of Sorrows (associated with the Chosen of Endings)
- Abilities: Awareness ••, Brawl •••, Bureaucracy ••, Lore •••, Dodge •••, Integrity ••, Medicine ••, Occult ••, Socialize •, Stealth •••, Archery, Melee or Thrown •
- Merits: Language (Old Realm), Danger Sense
Finally, after dividing up these Ability dots, select four Specialties for your character- fields of study or focus within an Ability that help to define them.
If your Sidereal has escaped Heaven’s notice and Exalted without the benefit of the Bureau of Destiny’s training, they are known as a ronin. Such individual still select Caste and Favored Abilities as above, still gain the benefits when learning Martial Arts, and still select four Specialties. However, they do not benefit from the rigorous training that most Sidereals undergo- leaving them with greater freedom but less ability. Ronin Sidereal distribute 28 Ability dots amongst their Abilities; no Ability may start higher than 3 without spending bonus points, and each Favored Ability must have at least one dot.
Step 4: Merits
As with the Solars, Merits represent a Sidereal’s assets and quirks. Due to the vagaries of Arcane Fate, however, there are some considerations to bear in mind when selecting Merits for your Sidereal. Unless otherwise noted, Story Merits depending on connections with mortals in Creation must be assigned to one of her Resplendent Destinies.
All Sidereals begin with the Martial Arts Merit for for free, even if they do not meet the requirement. Additionally, Sidereals who have trained in one of the divisions of the Bureau of Destiny begin with several dots of Merits, representing their training and early experience. You should then assign seven additional dots to your Sidereal’s Merits. Ronin Sidereal do not benefit from the divisional training, but have had the chance to cultivate their own resources; they still gain the Martial Arts Merit for free, and may ten dots of Merits instead of seven.
Step 5: Charms
Unlike a Solar, a Sidereal’s Charms are not a simple expression of heroic power and legend. They instead evoke the celestial mysteries written into the foundation of Creation and represented by the constellations in the night sky. While there is often a correspondence with the constellation and the Charms of the corresponding Ability, the connection can sometimes be obscure even to the savants amongst the Fellowship.
Select 18 Charms; at least six must be from Caste or Favored Abilities. Don’t be afraid to rearrange your Ability dots if your character doesn’t qualify for a Charm that fits her concept! Due to their lack of training, Ronin Sidereal begin with only 15 Charms instead of 18.
If you took the Artifact Merit and have selected an artifact with Evocations, you can select those as well, trading in one starting charm per Evocation desired. Keep in mind the artifact’s history, legend and purpose- and additionally, remember that the Sidereal Exalted do not tend to cultivate the same depth of power from Evocations as the Solar and Dragonblooded do. (For more information, see Chapter 8).
The same principle applies to martial arts and sorcery. You can begin with Martial Arts Charms and spells, assuming your character has the Terrestrial Circle Sorcery Charm, trading them for starting Sidereal Charms at a one-for-one basis. Sidereals may acquire Wushu Martial Arts Charms in this fashion, but may not acquire any Sidereal Martial Arts Charms with her starting Charms.
Step 6: Intimacies and Kismet
Intimacies are ties to people and guiding principles that are important to your character. As when creating a Solar, you must select at least four Intimacies for your Sidereal, and at least one must be Defining, one must be Major, one must be positive, and one must be negative. You can begin play with as many Intimacies as you and your Storyteller feel are appropriate for your character.
Unlike the Solar Exalted, the Sidereal Exalted are not cursed to suffer madness, and so do not accrue Limit or have a Limit Trigger. However, being so close to the weave of destiny makes the Sidereal Exalted more prone to suffering from paradoxical Backlashes when they take fate into their own hands. Additionally, each Sidereal is drawn towards a certain repeating motif or destiny, known as her Kismet; seeking to thwart one’s Kismet is a sure way to suffer from paradox and backlash. (For more information about Kismet, see Chapter 4)
Step 7: Bonus Points
You have 18 bonus points to spend on your Sidereal at any point during this process, increasing anything that makes sense for your concept. Bonus points can purchase almost any trait, but different traits have different costs. Again, due to their lack of training, Ronin Sidereal have only 15 bonus points instead of 18, and may not begin play with any Sidereal Martial Arts Charms.
Trait | Cost |
Primary or Secondary Attribute | 4 per dot |
Tertiary Attribute | 3 per dot |
Caste / Favored Ability | 1 per dot |
Non-Caste / Favored Ability | 2 per dot |
Speciality | 1 |
Merits | 1 per dot |
Caste / Favored Charm | 4 |
Sidereal Martial Arts Charm | 6 |
Non-Caste / Favored Charm | 5 |
Spell (Occult Caste / Favored) | 4 |
Spell (Occult non-Caste / Favored) | 5 |
Evocation | 4 |
Willpower | 2 per dot |
Step 8: Finishing Touches
Almost done! Sidereals begin play with a default Essence rating of one dot, a default Willpower rating of five dots, and seven Health Levels (-0, -1, -1, -2, -2, -4 and Incapacitated). A Sidereal’s pool of Personal Essence is ([Essence x2] + 9), while her Peripheral Essence pool is ([Essence x6] + 25). These traits are explained in further detail in Chapter 4.
Sidereals begin play with a Resplendent Destiny of a college of her choosing, of sufficient ambition to accommodate merits purchased during character creation. If you are beginning play with more advanced Sidereals, then you may begin with up to (Essence) Resplendent Destinies, dividing your story merits amongst them as you see fit. If this results in an unusually potent Resplendent Destiny for a young Sidereal, then consider the implications; perhaps the destiny was a gift from a mentor, or a reward for a job well done. Chase the question of why you have this Destiny, rather than decrying the improbability of it; the improbable is little bar to the Chosen of Destiny.
Things to Think About
Even the Sidereal Exalted, Chosen at the moment of their birth, grew up as human and will be shaped by their experiences before they took their Second Breath. The Maidens do not Choose perfect people, because they would have no Chosen in that case- however, those Sidereal Exalted trained by the Bureau of Destiny have their duty to Heaven and Creation repeatedly drilled into them. Each one feels the weight of destiny upon their shoulders, and the responsibility for exercising judgement in how to see that what must be is. Where did your Sidereal come from, before they Exalted? Do they miss their simple life as a mortal, or do they prefer the responsibility and power of being Chosen?
The Sidereal Exalted tend to break into factions along lines of pragmatism and idealism- factional lines which inform how they are viewed by their fellows, and how they will likely relate to Creation and the returning Solars. What does your character think about the Gold and Bronze factions; do they seem themselves favoring one or the other, or do they attempt to remain aloof and detached from factional politics?
Whether or not they will admit it, many Sidereals are approached by Rakan Thulio or one of his agents at some point during their training- planting seeds of doubt as to the righteousness and rightness of the Sidereal’s mission as the agents of Heaven. Even for those who are not, the corruption of Heaven and suffering in Creation are obvious. While destiny restrains and channels the worst excesses of divinity to better purpose, it’s hard not to wonder at the cost. What does your character think about the nature of Heaven’s planned destiny, and the nature of fate versus free will?
Chapter 4 : Traits of the Sidereal Exalted
The Sidereal Exalted share a great deal with the Solars; they have common Attributes and Abilities, the same Health and Willpower tracks, as well as many of the same Merits and Flaws. Like the Solars, the Sidereals are divided into Castes, based upon which of the Maidens of Destiny chose them and which inform her role within the scheme of destiny.
However, the Sidereal Exalted are not cursed in the fashion of the Lawgivers; your character does not have a Limit track, but rather is afflicted by Paradox, a measure of how snarled Fate has become due to her actions. Additionally, all Sidereals suffer from Arcane Fate, a lingering consequence of the Sidereals hiding their participation in the Usurpation from the world, resulting in the memory of Sidereals easily slipping away unless they don a Resplendent Destiny. Finally, the end of the chapter governs experience points and character advancement as a Sidereal.
Paradox
Sidereals walk in the spaces between what was, what is, and what shall be- and it is not an easy walk. More than anyone else, the Chosen of the Maidens know how fragile the veil of reality can be, and how quickly it can be torn asunder. When the weave of Fate becomes tangled, strangeness begins to haunt the world and madness plagues her people. Where the weave is thin, the enemies of Heaven marshal their forces, awaiting a fatal tear through which they can march against Creation.
And there is always the temptation- to punish the arrogant with eternal voyages, or trap someone in a home they would do anything to leave; to enjoy the attentions of a certain paramour, or see a rival's love turn sour; to see your people victorious in battle, or a blood feud settled on your terms; to learn forbidden secrets, or conceal darkest shames; to extend the life of a loved one, or cut the thread of an enemy short. To take Fate into one's own hands.
Sidereals are invested with a great deal of discretion when it comes to such matters- as the Chosen of the Maidens of Destiny, it is assumed that they act in the interests of Heaven. As Rakan Thulio illustrated so long ago, such trust can be misplaced.
Paradox is a measure of how twisted fate has become due to the Sidereal’s actions. As a Sidereal accrues Paradox, they draw closer to suffering from a backlash, the tension between what was, is, and could be snaps, with often unpredictable results. When she reaches 10 Paradox, a backlash becomes inevitable, although one may occur before this point as well.
The Sidereal Exalted gain Paradox in the following ways:
- Once per scene, when a Sidereal acts in a way to violate a Major Intimacy of a Resplendent Destiny she is wearing (see below), her player rolls a single die, gaining one point of Paradox for each success.
- Once per scene, when a Sidereal acts in a way to violate a Defining Intimacy of a Resplendent Destiny she is wearing (see below), her player rolls two dice, gaining one point of Paradox for each success. If she has already rolled one die for violating a Major Intimacy of the Destiny, she rolls only one additional die instead.
- Once per scene, when a Sidereal fails to uphold the known will of Heaven, her player rolls a single die, gaining one point of Paradox for each success (unless he has already acted directly against the known will of Heaven; see below). A Sidereal always knows if she will gain Paradox from failing to uphold the known will of Heaven; this should only occur when she specifically chooses not to enact her mission as assigned from the Bureau of Destiny.
- Once per scene, when a Sidereal acts directly against the known will of Heaven, her player rolls two dice, gaining one point of Paradox for each success (or one die if she has already failed to uphold the known will of Heaven).
- A small number of the Charms of the Sidereals potentially result in Paradox, especially when used too frequently within a short time.
- Each Sidereal has a secret destiny, learned upon the moment of her Exaltation and selected during character creation. This destiny is known as her Kismet. Once per scene, when a Sidereal acts against her Kismet, her player rolls three dice, gaining one point of Paradox for each success.
--Sidebar: The Will of Heaven--
The known will of Heaven is another way of saying the plans of the Bureau of Destiny has made for Creation; among the Sidereal Exalted, it usually refers to missions assigned by the Bureau to the Agents of Heaven. Sidereals are often, but not always, told of these missions in briefings by various gods in the Bureau of Destiny- but they can also learn the broad overview or any changes made while in the field by studying the omens and using their anima power (p. XX).
The known will of Heaven should always focus on some result or consequence, and potentially some constraints upon that result, but should not direct how the Sidereal is to accomplish the goal. The known will of Heaven should never direct a Sidereal’s actions, but rather provide them with goals to accomplish. A Sidereal should never accidentally or unknowingly gain Paradox from failing to uphold or acting against the known will of Heaven.
Ronin and rogue Sidereals will not generally be assigned missions, and therefore not know the will of Heaven; thus, they cannot gain Paradox by acting against it. However, such disloyalty also bars them from accessing Heaven’s resources and makes casting Astrological Projections a far more daunting task. Some will study the omens and use their anima to determine Heaven’s plans- but knowing what is intended binds them as agents to see it done, or risk Paradox and backlash.
--End Sidebar--
Resolving Paradox
When a Sidereal ensures some especially legendary or unlikely design from the Bureau of Destiny comes to pass, she may reduce her Paradox by 1 at the Storyteller’s discretion. Additionally, once per story, if the Sidereal spends at least one week in Creation, surrounded with her Acquaintances and without veiling her identity behind a Resplendent Destiny, she may roll (Acquaintances), reducing her Paradox by 1 per success. Finally, a Sidereal who permanently resolves her Kismet immediately reduces her Paradox to zero.
Examples of Kismet
A Sidereal’s Kismet should almost always relate to her Caste, and should generally be something that the player of the Sidereal is interested in exploring. The following examples of Kismet are intended to provide inspiration and examples, not to serve as an exhaustive list.
Additionally, if a Sidereal’s Kismet is resolved, or becomes impossible or meaningless, her player should work with the Storyteller to devise her new Kismet.
At a narrative level, Heaven does not control a Sidereal’s Kismet. Indeed, many within the Bureau of Destiny have been frustrated by a Sidereal’s decision to go off mission in the service of her Kismet. Amongst the Sidereals, there is a general agreement that Kismet is the way destiny ‘wants’ to flow- but what that means and implies is, itself a subject of much discussion.
At a play level, Kismet should not be a singular, overwhelming force in a Sidereal’s life or activities, but rather a source of tension between what she personally wants (her intimacies), what her orders are (the known will of Heaven), and the natural flow of destiny in the world (her Kismet).
What follows are some example Kismets, as well as a means to violate the Kismet and thus incur Paradox.
Examples of Kismet for the Chosen of Journeys
- Ensure the prosperity of the Guild. (Freeing a caravan of guild slaves about to be sold to the Fair Folk.)
- Cause a contented homebody to go on a bothersome adventure. (Encouraging that homebody they’re better off staying at home, because they are your friend and adventures are dangerous.)
- Prevent a wandering people from permanently settling down. (Assisting the people in finding a homeland of their own.)
Examples of Kismet for the Chosen of Serenity
- Bring together two children of rival houses, both alike in dignity. (Fall in love with and abduct one of them for yourself.)
- Inspire an artist to produce one of the great works of art for the Age. (Producing the work yourself and passing it off as that of the artist’s.)
- Ensure that a specific bloodline is propagated through the years. (Assisting a pretender to the lineage, in order to prevent civil war from breaking out.)
Examples of Kismet for the Chosen of Battles
- Mentor a stripling into being a hero- or a villain. (Training your would-be hero in the art of poison and assassination to be more effective, or killing your would-be villain to save the lives of their victims.)
- Ensure that an ambitious noble oversteps, igniting a civil war. (Assist that noble behind the scenes, such that they rise to power without civil war breaking out)
- Safeguard a man such that he does not fall until his appointed battle. (Kill the man beforehand to prevent his monstrous crimes from continuing.)
Examples of Kismet for the Chosen of Secrets
- Ensure that the lost heir of Lookshy remains lost but discoverable. (Allowing someone to accurately trace their lineage as the lost heir.)
- Conceal the crimes of Heaven. (Reveal those crimes so that justice may be done)
- Discover the truth of yourself. (Turn away from truths you wish were not so)
Examples of Kismet for the Chosen of Endings
- Bring the end of Gem. (Standing in defense of your adopted home, Gem)
- Cure plagues only after they ravage the land (Refuse to stand idly by and watch as the innocent suffer)
- Bring peace in a region ravaged by war. (Refuse assistance to the rebels when they demand gruesome examples be made of their enemies, ensuring another year of fighting.)
Backlash
When a Sidereal gains one or more points of Paradox, the Storyteller should roll dice equal to her new Paradox rating. For each success, the Sidereal’s Paradox is reduced by 1, and she suffers from a point of Backlash. If a Sidereal’s Paradox would reach or exceed 10, then instead she suffers from a 10 point Backlash and reduces her Paradox to zero. The Storyteller should distribute these Backlash points across the following categories:
Causality Violation
- Relatively minor violations of causality occur around you. Water flows backwards, flags flap in the wrong direction, milk curdles, candles burn in the color of your Maiden, flowers bloom or wilt out of season.
- Severe but limited violations of causality occur around you. A contact you needed drowns on dry land. An acquaintance knowingly betrays you into the hands of your enemies.
- Moderate violations of causality occur in a wide area around you. A drunken riot burns down a neighborhood, as the wine barrels refuse to empty. A bothersome fate aberration (p. XX) may occur.
- Severe violations of causality occur in a very wide area around you. A prince's kingdom falls into civil war after his assassination, even though he is still alive. A dangerous fate aberration (p. XX) may occur.
- Very severe violations of causality occur, potentially impacting the region forever. A volcano erupts from a mossy hill; a cyclone flattens a city from clear skies; a spell for clear weather suddenly creates unending drought. A powerful and antagonistic fate aberration (p. XX) may occur- potentially even catalyzing a Getimian Exaltation.
Incursion
- A ghost, hobgoblin or unbound first circle demon enters Creation. Although they will not directly seek you out, their presence is likely to complicate your life.
- As above, but the entity leaves behind a rift, allowing communication and possession, but not transportation forms between Creation and some other realm.
- A larger incursion of up to half a dozen such spirits. Alternatively, a single more powerful entity may come through, such as a Fair Folk noble, a powerful nephwrack or a second circle demon.
- Breakthrough; a region of Creation is lost to the Bordermarches, breaks into a Shadowland, or becomes a path to the Demon Realm. Malign influence is certain to seep in from such a thing.
- Invasion; a region of Creation is sundered and claimed by the enemy- it falls to the middlemarches of the Wyld and a court of Fair Folk nobility, or becomes a Shadowland centered on a powerful and malicious ghostly force, or a Second Circle Demon is waiting to march upon Creation with dozens of lessers at their call.
Madness
- For the next day, you are plagued by haunting apparitions out of the corners of your eyes, the shadows of pasts that never were and futures that will not be. You cannot spend Willpower during this time.
- For the next day, you are haunted by the ghosts of your regrets. Spectral accusers shout your failings at you; your hands may drip with blood, or your reflection twist and mock you. You cannot spend or gain Willpower during this time. Alternatively, you may suffer from the first level for a week.
- For the next day, you become prone to fits of inappropriate emotion- breaking suddenly into tears over dinner, laughing hysterically during a funeral, or falling asleep in a fight. Alternatively, instead of inappropriate emotions, fate may simply conspire against you, resulting in disastrous failure of what should be the easiest of tasks- most often when trying to warn someone of the consequences of their actions. Once per day, the Storyteller may opt to force one of your rolls to be a botch. They must declare this before you roll. Alternatively, you may suffer the first level for a month, or the second level for a week.
- For the next day, you adopt one of your Resplendent Destiny personas. You are unable to act against your persona's intimacies, and believe the persona to be your true self. During this time, you are also unable to adopt a Resplendent Destiny; your fate is too fragmented to weave another atop it. Alternatively, you may suffer the first level for a season, the second for a month, or the third for a week.
- You suffer one of the previous levels for (respectively) a week, a month, a season or a year.
Doom
You gain a geas; a taboo of obligation or prohibition. Upon violation of this geas, your Doom falls, inflicting the specified amount of damage upon you. Until that time, it lurks, waiting and hungry. You and your Storyteller should work together to create an appropriate geas for you to labor under. This damage can also be safely dealt with; whenever you could remove a point of Paradox, you may instead remove a die of damage from your Doom. Once the damage is dealt, or if you reduce the damage to nothing, the geas is ended.
Damage from Doom cannot be reduced by charms or armor. Fate will not be denied.
- You will suffer 3 dice of bashing damage.
- You will suffer either 6 dice of bashing damage, or 3 dice of lethal damage.
- You will suffer either 10 dice of bashing damage, or 6 dice of lethal damage.
- You will suffer 10 dice of lethal damage.
- You will suffer 15 dice of lethal damage.
Arcane Fate and Resplendent Destinies
Due to the shattering of the Mask, the nature of the Sidereal Exaltation has become inextricably tied with the nature of secrets and false faces. The most profound legacies of this shattering is the affliction of Arcane Fate and the balm of Resplendent Destinies.
Arcane Fate
Arcane Fate is the description for the tendency of the world and those within it to forget about the existence of the Sidereals, individually and collectively.
An individual who has no intimacies towards either a Sidereal in particular or towards the Sidereal Exalted will begin to forget about any interactions they have with a Sidereal by the end of the scene, and will retain only the haziest of memories by the next scene. They will remember roughly what happened in the scene, but will attempt to attribute actions the Sidereal took to others, or possibly as having occurred by happenstance or coincidence. At the end of each story, the Storyteller makes a 10-die social influence roll against each intimacy the individual holds towards either a Sidereal in specific, or against the Sidereals in general. This influence roll is intended to weaken the intimacy, and is itself treated as being supported by a Major intimacy. Unlike normal social influence, individuals cannot spend willpower to resist their intimacies being weakened by Arcane Fate, nor do Exalted suffer the normal consequences (such as Solars gaining Limit) from weakening intimacies. Characters cannot use intimacies towards a Sidereal or the Sidereals collectively to bolster their Resolve against this influence, but they may be able to defend themselves with other intimacies as normal. Finally, Defining Intimacies cannot be washed away by Arcane Fate; the Tie or Principle is too strongly a part of the individual to be casually eroded away.
An individual that has their last intimacies of Sidereals eroded away at the end of the story forgets about the Sidereals- although they remain a few fragments of knowledge, it seems more like rumor and conjecture than something they've lived.
Arcane Fate afflicts all mortal beings of Creation, save the Sidereal and Getimian Exalted.
--Sidebar: The Narrative Purpose of Arcane Fate--
Arcane Fate is meant to emphasize the isolation and alienation of the Sidereal Exalted towards Creation; an ongoing reminder of the decision to enact the Usurpation. It is not meant to be an impossible barrier in preventing Sidereal players from interacting with the rest of a mixed circle. The difficulties posed by Arcane Fate will overwhelm all but the strongest mortal will in relatively short order, but the Exalted can far more easily bolster their Resolve against this loss. Storytellers may want to omit Arcane Fate rolls for Circlemates entirely; although long after the story has been told, the memory of the Sidereal may be lost, it is safe to disregard that potential in favor of more fun play.
--End Sidebar--
Collectively, Arcane Fate causes evidence and information about the Sidereals to become lost and confused. Written accounts of their actions will be destroyed or misplaced; artistic depictions will be stolen or simply vanish. While many savants in Creation speculate that some manner of hidden category of Exalt or entity serves the will of Heaven and the Gods, there is significant disagreement over the nature of such beings. Consequently, any attempt by anyone subject to Arcane Fate to declare or contest any facts (Exalted p. 237) about the Sidereal Exalted suffer a -5 penalty to their attempt to do so.
Because of Arcane Fate, Sidereal Exalted cannot personally gain or hold any Merits which depend upon a significant number of personal relationships; this generally includes Allies, Backing, Command, Contacts, Cult, Followers, Mentors, Retainers, or Resources. This list is not meant to be exhaustive; if the Storyteller feels that a particular Merit would be worn away by Arcane Fate, they may prohibit the Sidereal from taking it. Conversely, if a particular Merit makes sense to take despite Arcane Fate- such as an Ally or Retainer with a Defining Tie towards the Sidereal, or being Mentored by a powerful God, then the Sidereal should have no special difficulty acquiring or keeping the merit.
Resplendent Destinies
Since the breaking of the Mask, the Sidereal Exalted have learned to cloak themselves in false identities, which they call Resplendent Destinies. These false identities can seem very real- they have names, histories, connections, beliefs -but they are conjured from stardust by the will of the Sidereal Exalted, and exist in a kind of quiescence when not being worn- their absence will go unremarked upon, and fate will furnish excuses if the matter is pressed. They are away travelling; they are ill and not receiving visitors; they are cloistered in study; they are training and do not wish to be disturbed. Each such Destiny draws heavily on the archetypes of one of the constellations which inspires the magic of the Sidereals; each allows the Sidereal to present a face to the world that will not be forgotten. However, the position of such Destinies once created is not simple and static; the Sidereal may gain or lose story Merits based upon the actions they take while in one of these false identities as would any other character, although not to exceed the maximum dots allowed by the ambition of the Destiny.
Sidereals may have any number Resplendent Destinies created at once, although she may don only one at a time. Creating a new Destiny is an Astrological Project (p. XX) with increasing ambition based upon how integrated the new destiny will initially be in the world. Ignore the experience cost of this Projection if the Sidereal has fewer than (Essence) Resplendent Destinies at the moment.
Ambition | Number of Merit Dots | Maximum Dots per Merit |
Tellurian 1 | 1 | 2 |
Tellurian 2 | 2 | 2 |
Tellurian 3 | 4 | 2 |
Celestial 1 | 6 | 4 |
Celestial 2 | 10 | 4 |
Celestial 3 | 15 | 4 |
Sidereal 1 | 20 | 5 |
Sidereal 2 | 30 | 5 |
Sidereal 3 | 40 | 5 |
Merits dots a Destiny begins with may be distributed amongst Allies, Backing, Command, Contacts, Followers, Mentors, Retainers, or Resources. Appropriate Merits, such as Allies, Backing, or Retainers, may be taken multiple times.
Creating a Destiny draws upon the nature of the constellation it is being built from. This places two constraints on the Resplendent Destiny- the Trapping and the Ties.
While wearing a destiny, the Sidereal must visibly display some particular trapping, emblematic of the constellation. The trapping need not be literal, but the symbolism must be relatively direct. Likewise, each Resplendent Destiny is created with at least one Defining Intimacy and two Major Intimacies, drawn from the correlations of the constellation. These intimacies cannot normally be strengthened or weakened. If the Sidereal acts against these intimacies, or allows them to be weakened, then she gains Paradox as described above (p. XX).
Donning or exiting a Resplendent Destiny is a matter of focused concentration and silent prayer commands to the appropriate college. Outside of combat, this is only a matter of a few minutes; during combat, it requires 3 miscellaneous actions (Exalted p 196). The Sidereal must have the trapping displayed on her person while donning the Destiny, but need not otherwise alter her appearance or dress. Her appearance while in a Resplendent Destiny is not altered- she has disguised her place in the world, not her face or form, and accomplishing the later requires either a normal disguise roll (Exalted p. 224) or more specialized magic.
Alternatively, the Sidereal can always immediately exit a Resplendent Destiny to her own, although this is treated as acting against the defining intimacy of the Destiny causing her to accrue Paradox normally. If a Sidereal's anima rises to Burning or above (Exalted p. 175) while she is in a Resplendent Destiny, she immediately and violently exits as if violating the defining intimacy.
Several Charms exist which either can only be invoked while the Sidereal wears a particular Resplendent Destiny, or which are enhanced when they do so.
Caste Descriptions
Chosen of Journeys
--Full Page Spread--
(Eagle-Eye Salith, http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/exalted/400943-sidereal-of-the-day?p=402192#post402192)
Well, I always say, if you can’t do something good, it means you’re not where you need to be.
--End Full Page Spread--
Life is a journey. It begins, and in time it ends, but what matters is not where you begin, nor where you end, but the path you travel down. The journey of life shapes who we are, and how we meet our fate. The Maiden of Journeys oversees all journeys, both literal and figurative; both the wandering pilgrim and the student on the path to enlightenment. It falls to her Chosen to ensure that all journeys take people to where they are needed, which is rarely where they expected to go.
In the First Age, the Chosen of Journeys knit the Old Realm together. While the Solars brought righteous law and led armies against the enemies of man and god, it was the Harbingers who carried the messages so vital to coordinating the vast movements of people and materials, as well as swiftly carrying the plans of Heaven to the Exalted, and the plans of the Exalted to Heaven. During the Usurpation, they saw the paths the Solars would flee down, and carried secret messages to the Dragonblooded, readying them in ambush.
Now they are pressed as never before. Creation is fragmented; gods run rampant as the will of Heaven is so often ignored. People are forced into ill-fated journeys away from homes destroyed by war or ravaged by plague, while others are kept in bondage, unable to depart in search of their destiny. The Harbingers are still the swiftest messengers and the Eyes of Heaven, but princes disregard their prophecies and spirits merely wait until some new crisis calls them away again.
The Chosen of Journeys are always born with a destiny to travel, often among a travelling people- whether nomadic herdsmen, travelling entertainers and merchants, or irresident refugees. Even those born into more settled lives are filled with wanderlust, and often run away from home at a young age, learning to live and travel independently- and being unwilling to be tied down, no matter what hardships they face on the journey. Often, they are as eager to move on from as towards, many leaving trouble in their wake and bearing disturbance to their destinations.
Anima Banner: The eyes of the Chosen of Journeys are always yellow, ranging from the pale of corn-silk to deep saffron; they are often but not always blonde, even where such a hair color is unusual, and blonde children are stereotyped as being irresponsible and running away from trouble in many parts of Creation. Their Caste Mark is the Sign of Mercury, a crescent crowning a the mirror of Venus. As their anima rises, flecks of yellow starlight begin to burn in their pupils, giving them an appearance of a star-filled night, while their anima itself is a uniform yellow.
Anima Effects: Mercury is the swiftest of the Gods, and her alacrity is shared with her Chosen; by invoking the Lesser Sign of Mercury, they can grant grace and speed to their allies and themselves. See page XX for details.
Auspicious Abilities: The Golden Barque of Heaven is governed by Mercury, and she loves those constellations that bear others in their paths. As such, the Harbingers often show a talent for Archery, Athletics, Dodge, Larceny, Resistance, Ride, Sail, Survival, and Thrown.
Associations: The color yellow, the element of Air, the season of winter, the Western direction, the crescent moon
Sobriquets: Harbingers, Messengers, the Eyes of Heaven
Concepts: Compulsive explorer, dedicated courier, determined cartographer, friend to all nations, navigator of ships and fleets, wandering storyteller or troublemaker
Chosen of Serenity
--Full Page Spread--
Life is a rich peach,
Which I will fully enjoy
Before it is lost.
--End Full Page Spread--
Life is a joy. The moments that most profoundly shape us are the moments that we cherish, the good things that we cling to in the darkest of nights. The birth of a child, the taking of a lover, the thriving of a community, the defeat of a rival; we are most what we find the most joy in. The Maiden of Serenity oversees all these pleasant things and ten thousand more; all concerns of joy, dreams and pleasure are hers to give or take from Creation. It falls to her Chosen to see that everyone receives the measure of joy allotted to them, no more and no less.
In the First Age, the Joybringers saw to it that the people of Creation were kept happy- which meant ensuring that food was plentiful, work was easy, and conflicts were minimized in their destructiveness. They oversaw the entertainments, dictating what songs and stories would grow in popularity and which ones would spread only discontent, and were allowed to wilt on the vine. The Mouths of Heaven would speak lies as easily as truth, but you could always trust that they wanted you to be happy with what they were saying. During the Usurpation, it was the promise of the Joybringer's festivities that drew so many of the Solars to the Calibration Feast, and their beguiling smiles that brought so many low.
Now Creation is wracked by misery. Hunger haunts the land, and want cries from every corner of the world. A small few hoard vast wealth, growing fat on the pleasures of the flesh even as those beneath them groan at the weight. Joybringers do what they can to bring hope and happiness into such darkness, but few can offer more than the salve of a temporary drugged or drunken oblivion, or giving oneself up in moments of ecstasy, no matter the consequences.
The Chosen of Serenity are always born with a destiny to enjoy life, no matter how dire the circumstances that surround their birth. While many are born into rich and prosperous households, even those who enter life as toiling farmers will find ways to fill idle days with festivities and laughter. Many have a bad habit of prioritizing immediate pleasures over longer term consequences; most, but by no means all, grow out of this- and blue-eyed people across Creation are expected to be lazy dreamers but excellent (if sometimes faithless) lovers.
Anima Banner: The eyes of the Chosen of Serenity are always blue, ranging from the arctic blue of the most northern sky to the deepest azure of the ocean. Most are dark-haired, often with hair so black that it may look indigo in the right light. Their Caste Mark is the Sign of Venus, a mirror's circle atop a square cross. As their anima rises, flecks of blue starlight begin to burn in their pupils, giving them an appearance of a star-filled night, while their anima itself is a uniform blue.
Anima Effects: Of all the gods, none sing or speak more sweetly than Venus, and her honeyed words are shared with her Chosen. By invoking the Lesser Sign of Venus, they can grant supernatural inspiration to their allies and themselves. See page XX for details.
Auspicious Abilities: The Cerulean Lute of Harmony belongs to Venus, and she cherishes those constellations that bring joy to the lives of those they touch. As such, the Joybringers often show a talent for Awareness, Craft, Dodge, Investigation, Linguistics, Performance, Presence, Socialize, and Survival.
Associations: The color blue, the element of Water, the season of spring, the Central direction, the waxing moon
Sobriquets: Joybringers, Courtesans, the Mouths of Heaven
Concepts: Bon vivant, cunning matchmaker, queen of whores, recreational pharmacologist, secret muse, weary peacemaker, the world's greatest actress
Chosen of Battles
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(Red, http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/exalted/400943-sidereal-of-the-day#post400943)
Peace is a dream, a brief respite in the struggle to survive. But it is a dream worth fighting for.
--End Full Page Spread--
Life is a struggle. It is an endless series of obstacles which we must overcome. Sometimes we win, other times we lose- but the result of the fight is not as meaningful as the fight itself. We are defined by what we will do during those struggles; character is not tested in ease, but in the crucible of battle. The Maiden of Battles challenges each person, every day- what will you do to survive? Are you seeking victory, or merely to avert defeat? What will you sacrifice in your struggle? It falls to her Chosen to see that Creation is now tempered by appropriate struggles, challenges that strengthen it, transforming raw ore into shining steel.
In the First Age, the Shieldbearers oversaw all competitions in the Old Realm. They channeled competitive spirit into athletic competitions and sports, encouraging friendly rivalries where each rival would serve as the whetstone to the knife of the other, while at the same time bringing communities together to support their favored heroes. They also oversaw the battles that raged, advising the Solars on how to best minimize needless suffering- even when that meant leaving towns and cities to burn for the greater good. During the Usurpation, it was the battle plans of the Hands of Heaven that guided the armies of the Dragonblooded, and their stratagems that occupied the Lunars on the edges of the world.
Now meaningless conflict rages across Creation. Petty tyrants send soldiers to fight and die in battles that solve nothing save to magnify their own glory. Mortal enemies are forced to make brief alliance in the face of greater threats, only for inevitable treachery to tear them apart. Each battle no longer hammers out weakness, but steals away strength, like a soldier fighting on even as they bleed out on the field.
The Chosen of Battles are always born with a destiny to fight, no matter how easy they could have it. They will seek out challenges too great for them, dashing themselves against rocks and ruins of their own making. They are often born amongst the camp-followers of soldiers armies, and are raised amongst rough mercenary men; even those born to lives of peace will seek out conflict, inciting fights if they have no other way to test themselves. This has given red-headed people in Creation a stereotype of being hot-tempered and eager to prove their worth.
Anima Banner: The eyes of the Chosen of Battles are always red, ranging from any almost pink blush to the dark scarlet of blood-stained wood. Most are red-haired, true red, flame red. Their Caste Mark is the Sign of Mars, a shield's circle with a spear pointed up and to the right behind. As their anima rises, flecks of crimson starlight begin to burn in their pupils, giving them an appearance of a star-filled night, while their anima itself is a uniform red.
Anima Effects: Mars fights because you must fight to survive; by invoking the Lesser Sign of Mars, her Chosen can impart that fierce need to survive to their allies and themselves. See page XX for details.
Auspicious Abilities: The Maiden of Battles oversees the Crimson Panoply of Victory, and admires those constellations that force confrontations and bring out strength. As such, the Shieldbearers often show a talent for Archery, Brawl, Linguistics, Lore, Medicine, Melee, Presence, Sail, and War.
Associations: The color red, the element of Fire, the season of summer, the Eastern direction, the full moon
Sobriquets: Shieldbearers, Soldiers, the Hands of Heaven
Concepts: Brilliant strategist, demon hunter, Heaven's enforcer, legion financer, trainer of heroes, wandering martial arts teacher
Chosen of Secrets
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(Barrister Zheng, http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/exalted/400943-sidereal-of-the-day?p=403369#post403369)
Only fools think themselves wise, but I have played the fool for many years. I doubt my time to stop has yet arrived.
--End Full Page Spread--
Life is a mystery. We are born knowing nothing, and most die knowing scarcely more. No matter how many questions are answered, each answer only begets more questions. What we know and what we believe we know inform our every action, guiding our sense of justice and outrage, of ambition and caution, of virtue and vice. The great questions are not of mere fact, but are the paradoxes that bring enlightenment. The Maiden of Secrets is set over this stock of celestial wisdom; it is her prerogative to see that the secrets of Creation are revealed in their due time, a task which now falls to her Chosen.
In the First Age, the Oracles maintained the repositories of knowledge, the great libraries and schools, the teams of researchers and philosophers that grappled with the great questions. They also saw to it that secrets Creation was not yet ready for were hidden away from mortal eyes, until the time was ripe- alas for the lost wisdom of the fallen age. During the Usurpation, it was the Minds of Heaven that kept the conspiracy hidden so late, turning those whispers that escaped to the Solars into plots by rivals and deflecting attention away from the Dragonblooded, until it was far too late.
Now secrets molder in ancient tombs that should be free. The great libraries have been burnt and salted, while the people of Creation struggle to eat, let alone give thought to the great mysteries of the world. The Oracles are privy to the plans and learning of Heaven, but must nurture those sparks of learning as best they can in a world already so dark, as accords with the will of Heaven.
The Chosen of Secrets are always born with an inquisitive nature and a destiny to seek out the truth. When young, they are often quiet and not given to the raucous play of their peers. They are not necessarily shy and retiring readers- many will experiment with the world, testing cultural taboos and social norms as much as performing haphazard experiments, all the while questioning the often wanting wisdom of their elders. Children born with green eyes are expected to be quiet, studious, and far more trouble than they first appear.
Anima Banner: The eyes of the Chosen of Secrets are always green, ranging from any pale jade to the the deep green of the darkling forest. Most are brown haired, although a significant number are also green haired, even when that is deeply uncommon amongst their cultures- not infrequently leading to accusations of infidelity and bastardy. Their Caste Mark is the Sign of Jupiter, a left pointed sickle with a rectangular cross on the bar. As their anima rises, flecks of emerald starlight begin to burn in their pupils, giving them an appearance of a star-filled night, while their anima itself is a uniform green.
Anima Effects: Nothing can force Jupiter to share her wisdom before she judges the time is right; by invoking the Lesser Sign of Jupiter, her Chosen can impart that secrecy to their allies and themselves. See page XX for details.
Auspicious Abilities: The Maiden of Secrets oversees the Forbidding Manse of Ivy, and shares a quiet kinship with those constellations that reveal wisdom. As such, the Oracles often show a talent for Bureaucracy, Investigation, Larceny, Lore, Melee, Occult, Resistance, Socialize, and Stealth.
Associations: The color green, the element of Earth, the time of Calibration, the Northern direction, the new moon
Sobriquets: Oracles, the Minds of Heaven
Concepts: Creation's greatest criminal mastermind, unmatched spy master, Realm historian, Dynastic tutor, student of life, terribly mysterious mentor, wandering philosopher
Chosen of Endings
--Full Page Spread--
Do not weep for death; weep for a life poorly lived.
--End Full Page Spread--
Life ends. No matter how long the journey, no matter the joys and struggles, no matter the secrets uncovered, the truth of death defines life. Without endings, nothing changes; it is only when the old die that the new can grow in their place. Endings may be as gradual as snow drifting on a cool winter night, or as sudden and jarring as a bolt of lightning, but it is the transitions, the endings, that give life meaning. The Maiden of Endings oversees all these and more, determining when the skein of a fate has reached its terminal length. It now falls to her Chosen to judge what has outlived its time in Creation, to make room for new life by pruning away the dead and choking weeds.
In the First Age, the Reckoners assisted in the process of transitions. They arranged funerals, oversaw the harvests, and provided quiet assistance in bringing change to systems of government grown stale and calcified. The presence of the Gardners was felt every day but rarely seen; even as the their work was admired, most found the presence of the Breath of Heaven to be somewhat disquieting. Prior to the Usurpation, it was the Reckoners who determined when the end of the Solars would fall- and of course, it was from the ranks of the Reckoners that arose the great hero and great villain of the Five-score Fellowship, Rakan Thulio.
Now, ancient powers stir in the Underworld, seeking to overthrow the natural order of life and death. Governments grip their power ever more tightly, choking the people who cry for an end to the tyranny. False wisdom stamps hard on innovations that could be threats, rather than graciously passing on, leaving cities and nations trapped in an ever deepening darkness.
The Chosen of Endings are born with old souls. They are often given to making tactless remarks about how things should change and what people need to stop doing; many learn to hold their tongues after sufficient punishment, realizing that few people like having even the gentlest of endings forced upon them. Purple is widely seen as the color of funerals; as such, children born with purple eyes are often regarded as being ill-omened.
Anima Banner: The eyes of the Chosen of Endings are always purple, ranging from pale mauve to wine-dark amethyst. Most are black-haired with red tints, giving their hair a purple sheen in the right light- but brilliant violets are not unknown. Their Caste Mark is the Sign of Saturn, a cross leading the farmer's scythe. As their anima rises, flecks of violet starlight begin to burn in their pupils, giving them an appearance of a star-filled night, while their anima itself is a uniform purple.
Anima Effects: By the will of Saturn do all things end; invoking the Lesser Sign of Saturn, her Chosen pass that judgement, empowering their allies and themselves to bring an ending to their enemies. See page XX for details.
Auspicious Abilities: The Maiden of Endings oversees the Violet Bier of Sorrows, and holds dear those constellations which carry endings. As such, the Reckoners often show a talent for Athletics, Awareness, Brawl, Bureaucracy, Craft, Integrity, Medicine, Occult, and Thrown.
Associations: The color purple, the element of Wood, the season of autumn, the Southern direction, the half-moon
Sobriquets: Reckoners, Gardeners, the Breath of Heaven
Concepts: Sijanese mortician, exorcist, cunning revolutionary, internal affairs investigator, assassin, character assassin
Merits
Changes for the Sidereal Exalted
Due to Arcane Fate, the Sidereal Exalted are sharply limited in their ability to retain Merits which depend upon interaction with the mortal world of Creation. As such, any dots purchased of the Allies, Backing, Command, Contacts, Cult, Followers, Mentors, Retainers, or Resources Merits which are rooted in Creation should be assigned to one of your Resplendent Destinies.
This restriction does not apply to instances of those Merits which are rooted outside of Creation; a Sidereal may personally have divine Allies, the Backing of the Bureau of Destiny, or a Mentor who is a more advanced Sidereal acting as a sifu. When in doubt, work with your Storyteller to find the solution that makes the most sense for your table.
New Merits
Acquaintances (o to ooooo) - Story
Acquaintances represent individuals or a small community which helps to keep the Sidereal grounded. They are generally ignorant of the Sidereal’s nature, although they may be vaguely aware that the Sidereal has some important tasks they attend to; over repeated exposure, many have gained at least a partial immunity to the ravages of Arcane Fate.
Cultivating new Acquaintances is not easily done; the Sidereal must continuously maintain a mutual positive tie with one or more additional mortals for at least one month, without her anima rising above dim or wearing a Resplendent Destiny.
Acquaintances are typically not people who are naturally important to the overall fate of Creation. Princes and tyrants rarely make good Acquaintances, nor do skilled heroes or worshipful lackeys. In a busy existence of secrets and labor to maintain the facade of reality, Acquaintances help the Sidereal to rediscover her calm center, smoothing out the ripples of Paradox which would otherwise dog her heels. As described on p. XX, once per story, a Sidereal may spend a week with her Acquaintances in order to reduce her Paradox, rolling her Acquaintances rating and losing 1 Paradox per success.
Blessed (oooo) - Story
This Merit may be purchased as many times as desired.
The character has been blessed by a puissant spirit, or has woven a tale of luck and good regard for herself. The blessing should specify some circumstance, approximately as broad as a specialty but not linked to a specific Ability. When acting within that circumstance, the character reduces the target number of her rolls by 1. No combination of blessings may reduce a character’s target number by more than 1, nor can any combination of effects reduce a target number to less than 4.
Salary (o - ooooo) - Story
The wealth of heaven is not measured in talents of jade or silver, but in liquid quintessence and coins of ambrosia. Although Salary is of limited use outside of Heaven, it can provide a rich lifestyle within the Celestial City. For most gods and Sidereal Exalted, they receive a Salary based upon the position they hold within the Heavenly Bureaucracy.
Even at zero dots, you are allowed to take your share from the fountains of Heaven, but no more- which is rarely enough to pay the exorbitant rent on Heavenly apartments, or to spare for the prayer-runners that could pick up your share of quintessence for you, leaving you homeless and often squatting near the celestial fountains. Although poor by the standards of Heaven, you can easily afford food and clothing that would require Resources ooo to acquire in Creation. Most of the residents of the Neighborhood of Refuge have zero dots of salary, although homeless and desperate gods can be found throughout Heaven.
At one dot, you are employed by one of the Divine Bureaus; virtually all Sidereals in good standing should have a Salary of at least this level, as they are employed by the Bureau of Destiny. At this level, you can easily afford to pay a prayer-runner, freeing you from having to wait by the celestial fountains to claim your quintessence, and are also award a small stipend of ambrosia- although this is almost always taken by the cost of renting an apartment in the Neighborhood of Wood or Fire. This level constitutes the solidly lower-middle class of Heaven, and supports a lifestyle that would require Resources oooo to manage in Creation.
At two dots, you either have a position of individual respect or manage a small team of undergods. Your stipend of ambrosia is increased, either allowing you to save a fraction of the precious stuff each month by living in a lower-class apartment, or affording a nicer townhome in the Neighborhoods of Water or Air, or a small cottage in the Neighborhood of Groves. Most Sidereals in good standing will attain this level of Salary after a few decades of service. At this level of Salary, you can easily support a lifestyle equivalent to someone in Creation with Resources ooooo; no mortal luxury is beyond your reach, and your food and raiment are the envy of lesser divinities.
At three dots, you are paid at the level of the leadership within one of the Divine Bureaus. You almost certainly have accounts in a celestial bank which manage the day to day details of your quintessence and ambrosia, freeing you to enjoy life without worrying about minutiae. Your lifestyle has no earthly compare; you can afford divine servants and sandal-bearers, and dine at restaurants where godly chefs prepare feasts with depth, diversity and savor beyond the dreams of mere mortals. You may own some property in Heaven outright, and supplement your income with rent you collect- while at the same time living in one of the fantastic ranches or smaller palaces in the Neighborhood of Water or Groves. This tends to be the official upper level of Salary for most Sidereals, achieved after over a millenia of meritorious service- although quite a number get here sooner through less formal means. At this level of Salary, you can acquire the reagents needed to craft a two or three dot Artifact without difficulty.
At four dots, you have a wealth beyond mortal comprehension. Your word is bond, and your bond is gold wrapped coins of ambrosial prayer. You doubtless own property in your own name within the Celestial City, and have access to anything your heart could desire. In all likelihood, you live in a minor palace in the Neighborhood of Heaven, or one of the grand estates in the the Neighborhood of Water or Air. At this level, gods can even occasionally buy access to the Games of Divinity, on at least a limited duration. Only the division heads are officially paid at this level- certainly no Sidereal is. Officially, anyways. At this level of Salary, you can acquire the reagents needed to craft a four or five dot Artifact without difficulty.
At five dots, you have wealth beyond any but the Incarnae and their most favored servants. You are so rich that money has lost meaning to you; you have gods to manage your accounts for you, and freely indulge in any pleasure or vice without regard for the cost. You can even regularly afford to attend the Games of Divinity. You can certainly afford to own one of the grand palaces in the Neighborhood of Heaven- or anywhere else you want to live. Even unofficially, virtually no Sidereal ever gains this degree of Salary- the cost of bribes needed to hold the audits and lawsuits at bay would outweigh the gains of the extralegal activities needed to maintain this state. At this level of Salary, you can acquire all but the most unique reagents needed to craft even legendary wonders.
--Sidebar: Resources, Cult, and Salary--
Ambrosia is the solidified stuff of worship; as such, most Sidereals expect that Gods with vast cults in Creation would be naturally wealthy in Heaven. Conversely, many young Sidereals expect that mortal wealth would have virtually no value in Heaven- after all, even a small amount of quintessence can reproduce the treasures of Creation.
While both are true, both overlook significant points. While there is a correlation between one’s Cult and one’s Salary, they are not directly linked, as much of the ambrosia generated by worship is forfeit to the Incarnae and disbursed for the benefit of the Divine Bureaucracy. When in Heaven, Gods are treated as having a base Salary of (Cult / 2). Meanwhile, the Gods want to *do* things with quintessence, transforming it from potential to actual; individuals who can bring significantly more valuable actuals in can barter their way into the system. Someone with Resources oooo or ooooo is treated as having Salary o while in Heaven.
Of course, this can also go in reverse- a God or Sidereal may transform a modest amount of quintessence or ambrosia into economy-destabilizing amounts of precious metals or exotic spices, even if the stuff of prayers itself does not survive in Creation. This is technically illegal; nothing of Heaven may touch Creation -and makes for a perilous bridge to walk with little in the way of reward, inviting censure from disrupting the plans of Heaven on a vast scale. This doesn’t prevent a brisk trade near some of the Heavenly Gates, but it is carefully monitored to make sure the introduced wealth can be safely absorbed.
--End Sidebar--
--Sidebar: So, there I was, watching the Games of Divinity...--
No mortal, including the ranks of the Chosen, is ever knowingly permitted to partake in the Games of Divinity, on pain of death. Even the captured dreams and memories of those Gods who have attended the Games are contraband within Heaven.
Which isn’t to say no desperate Sidereal, addicted to the transcendent joy that even those contraband memories provides, has attempted to do so. To them, accruing the necessary bribes in ambrosia would be the easiest step- far more difficult to trick their way past Jijira (p. XX). Even if they manage to do so, they would then have to evade the detection of the assembled hosts of the mightiest Gods of Heaven, most likely including the Incarnae themselves.
Once every few hundred years, one of the Exalted is killed trying to either sneak or force access into the Jade Pleasure Dome to witness the Games of Divinity. But even during the height of the First Age, no known instances of an Exalt beholding the Games and living to exit the Dome are known.
--End Sidebar--
Savant (oo) - Story
Prerequisite: Lore oo
This Merit may be purchased as many times as desired.
The character has an especially in depth knowledge about some specific topic. Choose a subset of the character’s Lore background (Exalted p. 153); when introducing or challenging a fact within that topic, the character enjoys a bonus die.
--Sidebar: What about my Sifu?--
Earlier editions of the Sidereals envisioned them as having unique, story-based backgrounds, such as Connections and Sifu. However, these traits failed to serve the critical role that such traits need, bringing nothing to the table not already served by Allies, Backing, Influence and Mentor. As such, they have been removed from Sidereals: Where Fate Has Led.
--End Sidebar--
Anima Effects
All Sidereals instinctively have the following abilities by feeding 1 mote into their anima:
- She uses either version of the thaumaturgical ritual Read the Tea Leaves' (Exalted p. 490); she need not literally read tea leaves, but rather gains a brief insight into the intended future. If she consults the stars at night when using this power, she adds +3 non-charm dice to her (Perception + Occult) roll.
- The Sidereal learns the exact time of day in Creation. This functions even other realms, such as the Underworld, the Wyld, or Hell.
- The Sidereal may cause her caste mark to display itself as long as she desires.
- Once per story, the Sidereal asks the Storyteller a question relating to her caste or kismet. The answer must be a single word, and may not include personal names.
Chosen of Journeys Anima Effects
- For 10 motes, the Sidereal invokes the Lesser Sign of Mercury upon herself or an ally out to Medium range. The Lesser Sign of Mercury adds (Essence) non-charm dice to all rolls depending on foot speed, including rush, disengage and withdraw actions, for the remainder of the scene. When her anima is at bonfire/iconic, the Sidereal and all allies out to Medium range gain this benefit for free.
- For 7 motes, the Sidereal learns the direction to the nearest Heavenly Gate. If she is in a realm beyond Creation, it will direct her towards the most direct path back to Creation. The direction given is always in a straight line, without regard for geography or travelling abilities; if the Sidereal is trapped in a maze or on an island in the middle of the Great Western Ocean, this will not necessarily prove of tremendous value.
- The Greater Sign of Mercury: Transport the Sidereal and any number of allies within Medium range to any known destination. The destination chosen need not be one the Sidereal has personally visited, but it must be unambiguously defined.
Chosen of Serenity Anima Effects
- For 10 motes, the Sidereal invokes the Lesser Sign of Venus upon herself or an ally out to Medium range. The Lesser Sign of Venus adds (Essence) non-charm dice to all instill and inspire actions she makes for the remainder of the scene. When her anima is at bonfire/iconic, the Sidereal and all allies out to Medium range gain this benefit for free.
- For 7 motes and 1 willpower, the Sidereal brings the peace of Venus to the scene. The first person who joins battle after this effect is invoked forfeits the base 3 initiative on the initial join battle roll. She may only invoke the peace of Venus once per scene, and only if no one has yet joined battle.
- The Greater Sign of Venus: Bring a smothering peace to the scene. Taking any withering attack actions costs 1 initiative; taking any decisive attack actions costs 3 initiative. These costs must be paid before the attack is made. If, at any point, a round passes in which no characters take an attack action, battle may not again be joined during the rest of the scene.
Chosen of Battles Anima Effects
- For 10 motes, the Sidereal invokes the Lesser Sign of Mars upon herself or an ally out to Medium range. The Lesser Sign of Mars adds (Essence) as a non-charm bonus to her Soak and raises her Hardness to (Essence) if it is less than (Essence) for the remainder of the scene. When her anima is at bonfire/iconic, the Sidereal and all allies out to Medium range gain this benefit for free.
- For 7 motes, the Sidereal gains the blessing of Mars, forcing a reroll of a single attack taken against her or an ally. She may only invoke this blessing once per scene, and both she and her opponent must take the result of the reroll. Any Charms or other effects applied to the original attack apply to the reroll as well.
- The Greater Sign of Mars: For the remainder of the scene, the target number of all attack and damage rolls made against the Sidereal and her allies is increased by 1.
Chosen of Secrets Anima Effects
- For 10 motes, the Sidereal invokes the Lesser Sign of Jupiter upon herself or an ally out to Medium range. The Lesser Sign of Jupiter adds (Essence / 2, round up) as a non-charm bonus to her Resolve and Guile for the remainder of the scene. The thoughts of an individual under the Lesser Sign of Jupiter are also sacrosanct, and may not be directly perceived by any force or effect. When her anima is at bonfire/iconic, the Sidereal and all allies out to Medium range gain this benefit for free.
- For 7 motes, the Sidereal asks the Storyteller a second question per story.
- The Greater Sign of Jupiter: All individuals in the current scene are treated as being inside of fate for all purposes, even if they could not normally exist inside of fate.
Chosen of Endings Anima Effects
- For 10 motes, the Sidereal invokes the Lesser Sign of Saturn upon herself or an ally out to Medium range. The Lesser Sign of Saturn adds (Essence / 2, round up) non-charm dice to the next decisive attack she makes. An individual may only benefit from the Lesser Sign of Saturn granted by a given Sidereal once per scene. If she has gained multiple such blessings in the same scene, then she uses the one which adds the most dice first. When her anima is at bonfire/iconic, the Sidereal and all allies out to Medium range gain this benefit for free.
- When the Sidereal lands a decisive blow which incapacitates or kills her target, she may spend 7 motes and 1 willpower to not reset to base initiative. She may only use this effect once per day.
- The Greater Sign of Saturn: For the remainder of the scene, the target number for all decisive damage rolls made by the Sidereal and her allies is decreased by 1, and benefit from double 10s.
The Greater Signs
At Essence 4, Sidereals gain the ability to invoke the Greater Signs of their respective Maidens. These are tremendously powerful workings, and can scar the very soul of the Sidereal who draws upon them. The first invocation of the Greater Sign during a story costs 20 motes and 2 willpower, which may not be recovered until the story is concluded. Invoking the Sign additional times within the same story instead costs 1 permanent willpower.
Character Advancement
Sidereals advance as Solars do, gaining five experience points per session, which players spend to increase characters’ traits as well as to buy new Charms, save as noted below
Experience Points
Trait | Experience Cost |
Sidereal Martial Arts Charm | 10 |
Martial Arts Charm | 8 |
Sidereal Experience
In addition to normal experience, characters can gain sidereal experience in each session. Sidereal experience may be spent on anything except Sidereal Charms or Sidereal Martial Arts charms. Players have two opportunities to earn sidereal experience per session. They may earn up to one Destined Bonus and one Division Bonus, for a total of four sidereal experience per session.
Destined Bonus
Characters can gain 2 points of sidereal experience by fulfilling any one of the following criteria per session:
- Expressing, supporting, or engaging with her kismet in such a way that it reveals something about the character, develops the character’s personality, or provides a moment that everyone at the table enjoys.
- Being significantly challenged, endangered, or harmed in the course of pursuing her kismet.
- Being significantly challenged, impeded or endangered by a Flaw.
Division Bonus
Characters can gain 2 points of sidereal experience by fulfilling any one of the following criteria per session:
- Intentionally ceding the spotlight of the scene’s focus to another player’s character in such a way that it makes that character shine.
- Chosen of Journeys: Guide someone you hold a Major or Defining Tie towards, or act as a guide in the service of a Major or Defining Principle, through dangerous territory. Encourage someone to undertake a significant or life-altering journey. Get into significant trouble by being the bearer of bad news.
- Chosen of Serenity: Develop a new, mutual, positive Defining Tie between yourself and another, or between any two people. Successfully conclude a significant conflict without violence. Suffer great hardship in the service to a positive Major or Defining Tie (not necessarily your own).
- Chosen of Battles: Overcome a challenge to a Major or Defining Intimacy by violence. Encourage someone to strike back against an oppressor- this need not be violent, but must be a significant or life-altering task. Survive great danger or hardship in the service of a Major or Defining Principle.
- Chosen of Secrets: Reveal or conceal a secret of significant interest to another player’s character. Learn a significant secret at great personal risk. Persuade someone to take a significant or life-altering task or risk, while withholding some critical piece of information.
- Chosen of Endings: Witness the end of someone or something you hold a Major or Defining Intimacy towards. Weaken a Major or Defining Intimacy while performing your duty. Foster the start of a new beginning after an ending.
Training Times
Sidereal Exalted train at the same speed at Solars, save as noted below:
Trait | Training Time |
Wushu Martial Arts Charm | (Essence minimum) days |
Sidereal Martial Arts Charm | (Essence minimum) weeks |
New Evocation | (Essence minimum) weeks |
Wandering the streets of Jiara under the guise of the Spear, Hel wore her riding leathers even though she was on foot. To any casual glance, she was Ringtaker, a mercenary widely known for skill in jousting games. The crowd’s perceptions of her were tilted by Fate, granting her a place in this city, despite the strangeness of her clothing and weapon. They did not impede her aimless walk along its muddy streets, busy as they were with their own business. She looked for whatever trouble a great expenditure of Essence was about to wreak upon the designs in the Loom of Fate, and found it at a teahouse aflame.
Suddenly, she heard a crow’s call, warning her to expect pain. Heeding the call, she took one step backward, as an arrow land where her foot had just been. She followed the angle of the shaft to see a figure in a drab red cloak, holding a composite bow of ironwood and horn on the roof of an adjacent building. Their feet were avian, clawed toes clinging to the rooftop.
The earth forgotten, Hel lept to the roof of the burning teahouse, then across the street to the last position of her failed assassin. To leave an archer at her back her would be an unsound tactic. She ran after the cloaked form, leaping from roof to roof, dodging and parrying the quickly fired shots of her assailant as she sought to close the distance. When they reached the river, no further buildings presented their roofs for continued flight. Oddly, the archer did not jump to the street. She turned and trained her last arrow on Hel.
Hel pointed her direlance at the archer’s heart, and called out in Ringtaker’s professional mercenary voice. "I have no sense that your death day is today. Promise me you will leave Jiara immediately, and I can spare your life."
The assassin let the tension out of its bowstring, dropped its hood and cleared the scarf from its mouth. It's eyes were much too large, though otherwise the face looked human. It screeched something in a damned barbarian tongue. Hel might not speak it, but the meaning was clear.
"Fine, I'll just have to kill you, then. And after that, see to whatever set the teahouse aflame."
Advancing as swiftly and inexorably as Saturn herself, Hel appeared at the cloaked being's side, thrusting The Fall Maiden with killing force. Fortunately, despite the assassin’s speed, the tip of the spear tore through the cloak and into flesh beneath. The archer leapt into the air, letting the cloak fall entirely while drawing back the bow without any arrow. Moonlight lept from the assassin’s brow, forming three silver shafts, just as it loosed and, despite her absence, Hel grunted as one of the arrow’s struck home in the shoulder.
She could feel some cold numbness briefly try and spread from the venom of the strike, but Hel ensured it was someone else’s destiny to suffer. The bloodied cloak fell empty, as a cardinal as red as the dawn flew away, a gash plainly visible on its breast.
Hel shouldered The Fall Maiden, and turned back into the city. No time to run down a Lunar into whatever traps it had prepared. Heaven’s will needed to be done.
Chapter 5 : Charms of the Sidereal Exalted
The magics of the Sidereal Exalted are unlike those of the Lawgivers. Where the Solars may punch with the force to shatter stones and leap over mountains, the Charms of the Sidereals more often reveal hidden wisdom, provide greater flexibility, or change the context of a situation.
Where the Charms of the Solars emphasize their human excellence, the Charms of the Sidereals illustrate the place where an all too inscrutable Heaven meets Earth. Like the Solars, they channel their magic through human expressions of Ability- however, unlike the Solars, they are doing so through the mystic understanding and perspective of the colleges and constellations that drive fate and destiny.
The magic of the Sidereals tends to be cut from a more deliberate cloth than that of the Solars. Although Charms still only represent abstractions and capacities of the Exalted, a Sidereal is more likely to think of her Charms as distinct rituals, meditative exercises, or martial katas.
--Sidebar: Designing Charms--
Unlike the Solars, the Charms of the Sidereal Exalted are relatively fixed. Much like martial arts trees, they are complete and self-encapsulated pearls of wisdom, as set as the stars in the sky.
It is possible, albeit extremely difficult, for a Sidereal to discover a new Charm. Such a Charm must be thematically consistent with the college to which the ability belongs, subject to Storyteller approval. The Charms of the Sidereals allow them to nudge, push and pull Fate, to craft omens, to learn hidden knowledge, and to guide chance and coincidence. No matter how they try, Sidereals cannot use their power to express the casual excellence of the Solars, to command the raw elements, or to grossly transform their bodies.
To create a new Sidereal Charm, the Sidereal must already know the Prayer Strip charm for the ability. She then must complete an Astrological Projection (p. XX); the project will have be Sidereal Ambition 1 for an Essence 1 Charm, Sidereal Ambition 2 for an Essence 2 or 3 Charm, and Sidereal Ambition 3 for an Essence 4+ Charm.
If successful, a new star is kindled in the appropriate constellation, allowing each member of the Five Score Fellowship the chance to partake of this new pearl of magical wisdom.
--End Sidebar--
Keywords
In addition to the Charm keywords described in the corebook (Exalted p. 253), Sidereal Charms introduce the following keywords:
- Design: A Charm with this keyword moves the world and can reveal the plans of the Sidereal to those looking for them. If not otherwise specified, the effects of active Charms with this keyword can be recognized by use of the thaumaturgical ritual Reading the Tea Leaves (Exalted p. 490) to study the destiny of the Sidereal or her target.
- Prayer Strip: This Charm represents mastery of the Charms of a given Ability. Such Charms always require preparation of a special prayer strip before use. Each Charm the Sidereal learns with this Keyword allows her to learn an additional Sidereal Martial Arts charm.
- Resplendent: This Charm modifies Resplendent Destinies worn within the governing constellation, or has some additional effect while wearing an appropriate Destiny.
- Suitable: A Charm with this keyword may more easily enhance actions of other Abilities, combining with charms that they would normally be incompatible with. They may be combined with the Charms of any other Abilities unless otherwise specified to enhance the specified action, as long as all charms involved are either Charms of the appropriate ability, or also have the Suitable keyword.
- Touch: Using this charm requires touching the target with your bare hand. In combat, this is a gambit with a difficulty specified by the Charm, made with Brawl or a bare handed Martial Arts attack. Outside of combat, touching an individual can generally be accomplished, but doing so without drawing attention requires a contested (Dexterity + Larceny) opposed by the victim’s (Wits + Awareness), and with a penalty equal to the difficulty of the gambit.
Considerations
Unless otherwise specified, all rerolls are completed before any effect that considers the result of the roll are evaluated. If the order matters, the defender rerolls any dice first, followed by the aggressor. If the defender and aggressor are not clear, the character with the greater Essence rerolls first. Successes or consequences from the original roll are kept or discarded at the decision of the individual provoking the reroll.
Some Sidereal effects can increase the target number needed for an opponent to achieve success. No combination of effects can ever increase the target number to greater than 10.
In order for an effect to provide Double-9s (or Double-8s, Double-7s, etc), the roll must also be successful. If a combination of effects would cause a given roll to have Double-7s but also have a target number of 8, then any 7s rolled would add no successes to the result.
Charms with the Resplendent keyword often offer great power to a Sidereal wearing an appropriate destiny- however, the power comes at the price of her actions and essence expenditures being constrained by the Destiny and the risk of Paradox, and can rarely be combined with Resplendent charms from other abilities at some hypothetical potential.
The Fateful Excellency
Like the Solars, the Sidereal Exalted enjoy a fundamental power called the Fateful Excellencies. By pouring Essence into her endeavors, she brings to bear the forces of fate and destiny, aligning them with her will. The Fateful Excellency does not provide the same degree of raw strength as the Excellencies of the Solars; the power of the Fateful Excellencies comes from twisting the odds to the favor of the Sidereal.
Sidereals may use the Fateful Excellency to enhance any rolled action or application of a static value. When enhancing a rolled action, she may reduce the target number to 6 for 1 mote, to 5 for 2 motes, or to 4 for three motes and a willpower. No combination of effects can ever reduce a target number to less than 4.
Unlike the Excellencies of the Solars, the Fateful Excellency does not enhance the Sidereal’s natural skill or talent. As such, it does not add dice to rolled actions. Other magics of the Chosen of the Maidens may do so, however. Sidereal Exalted cannot add more than (Essence) dice contributed from Charms or other magical effects. The only exception is for those effects which add ‘non-Charm’ dice to certain rolls. If a Charm adds successes, treat each added success as adding two dice for the purpose of dice-adding limitations.
When using the Fateful Excellency to modify a static value, the Sidereal spends 2 motes per point of increase, to a maximum bonus of (Essence). Other magics of the Sidereal Exalted may allow her to increase a static value beyond this limit. Sidereal Exalted cannot increase a static value beyond (Ability). The only exception is for those effects which add ‘non-Charm’ increases.
Gaining Excellencies: Sidereals automatically gain a Fateful Excellency for each Caste and Favored Ability in which they possess at least one dot, as well as any Ability for which they have learned at least one Charm. This costs no experience points during play and does not count against her starting Charms at character creation.
--Sidebar: This is different than the Sidereal Quick Character Excellency!--
The Sidereal Excellency (Exalted p. 548) was found to allow a greater expected value of successes at a lower cost than I was comfortable with at Essence 3, with the difference becoming deeply pronounced at Essence 5. The Fateful Excellency is designed to ensure that Sidereals can secure a regular and reliable expected success rate at a lower cost, and benefit more than Solars do from relative advantages- but in a raw, head to head match up, Solars can expect to overpower a Sidereal.
By allowing Charms outside of the Excellency to add dice, targeted boosts can be applied within the overall magic of the Sidereals where needed. This selectively is used to ensure that the Sidereals can generate appropriate expected successes in different cases, and to reward specific behaviors and practices.
--End Sidebar--
--Sidebar: None of these Charms make sense!--
Compared to the relatively straightforward Charms of the Solars, the magics of the Sidereal can seem frustrating and obscure. This is intentional; the Sidereal Exalted are encouraged to approach problems from oblique angles rather than head on.
While the Charms of each Ability provides some greater competence with direct application of that Ability, you will often need to consider the thematics of the governing colleges (p. XX) to understand the direction of the Charms.
--End Sidebar--
ARCHERY : THE QUIVER
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE CLAY MAIDEN
Once, there was a maiden…
…who made herself from the substance of the world.
She knew how to eat an owl’s heart and gain its insight.
She knew how to bake herself in the sun and melt herself in the rain.
She knew how to mess up wisdom.
She knew how to love, and how to hate.
“Survival is flexibility,” she said.
The Quiver Resplendent
Cost: -; Mins: Archery 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal enhances any Resplendent Destiny of the Quiver she wears. While she wears such, she turns one failure into a success on her Join Battle rolls.
Generalized Ammunition Technique
Cost: 1m; Mins: Archery 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Fate will always provide the Sidereal with the ammunition they need, although that ammunition may be unconventional. She may fire anything no heavier than her fist and no longer than her arm as if it were an arrow, including handfuls of dust or fire, shouts, dragonflies, or shadows. Regardless of the source of the ammunition, the arrow only bears the fate of an arrow- an arrow pulled from a campfire may smolder but deals no additional damage, nor will it set anything alight.
At Essence 2+, you may also use Generalized Ammunition Technique to conjure light mortal throwing weapons as well as bolts and arrows.
As the Arrow Falls
Cost: 1m; Mins: Archery 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
When attempting to decide amongst several options, the Sidereal may use As the Arrow Falls to know which way she can go to best fulfil her kismet. Refusing to follow that path once it is revealed to her causes her to roll a die, gaining one point of Paradox per success.
Discretionary Valor
Cost: 2m, 2i; Mins: Archery 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Resplendent, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
There is no glory in death, and the wise warrior knows when they are outmatched and must retreat. Discretionary Valor supplements a disengage attempt; increase the target number of all attempts to oppose the disengagement by 1. If the Sidereal wears the Destiny of the Quiver, it also costs each opponent who wishes to oppose the disengagement 1 initiative to do so.
At Essence 3+, she gains this benefit even when not in the Destiny of the Quiver.
Five Seasons Approach
Cost: 3m; Mins: Archery 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The strength of the Quiver is in yielding and adapting; she is always ready to take advantage of an enemy's slightest mis-step. Five Seasons Approach supplements a Strategic Maneuver roll; when used, the Sidereal selects her stratagem after the results are known.
Instant Genius Style
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Archery 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: As the Arrow Falls or Discretionary Valor
The Quiver knows everything, even those things they don't know. Instant Genius Style supplements an attempt to introduce or challenge a fact for which the Sidereal doesn't have the proper background, but which she could perform mundanely available research to allow, she may omit the need for research.
Any Direction Arrow
Cost: 5m, 3i; Mins: Archery 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Dual, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Generalized Ammunition Technique or Instant Genius Style
By sighting along the lines of Fate, the Sidereal converts any dice from Aiming into successes. Withering attacks also add these successes to her damage roll. Heavy cover is treated as only being light cover; light cover is entirely ignored.
Any Direction Arrow may only be used to enhance an attack made against a victim at Short range or further away.
Invincible Youth Attitude
Cost: 6m, 3i; Mins: Archery 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Psyche, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Five Seasons Approach or Instant Genius Style
The Sidereal places her target beneath the Descending Quiver, filling him with unmerited arrogance in his own invincibility. Invincible Youth Attitude supplements an Inspire action; if successful, the target refuses the benefits of cover and actively resists being guarded by others. While he is a ward, attacks made against him which exceed his guardian's Parry ignore the guardian entirely. Resisting this inspiration costs 2 willpower instead of 1.
Every Direction Arrow
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Archery 4, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental, Suitable
Keywords: Uniform
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Any Direction Arrow
The coin of chance is fickle, but the Quiver always knows how it will fall. When the Sidereal makes an Archery attack and before she rolls, she chooses up to two targets within Close range of one another. Either or both may use any defensive charms or other effects before the attack is rolled.
If the attack is sufficient to strike both, she may choose which one of the two whom it hits; if it is only sufficient to strike one, then Destiny has decided for her.
At Essence 3+, the Sidereal may repurchase Every Direction Arrow, allowing it to be applied to any attack.
Falling Star Struck
Cost: 7m; Mins: Archery 4, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Every Direction Arrow
In some cultures, falling stars are thought to be Mars' arrows, as she fires down upon the wicked. By using Falling Star Struck, the Sidereal assures that the wicked are struck down. She supplements a decisive Archery attack out to Long range without the need for an Aim action. The target number of the damage roll is lowered by one; it is reduced by another one if her Initiative is 12+, and reduced by another one if she uses Falling Star Struck against an enemy she crashed in the previous three turns and whom is presently in initiative crash.
Falling Star Struck may only be used once per scene. It is reset if the enemy targetted is incapacitated or withdraws.
Opportune Shot
Cost: 3m, 1i; Mins: Archery 5, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Clash, Withering-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Falling Star Struck
The Quiver makes their own luck, intercepting shots fired at them and turning them back against the fools that would defy fate. Opportune Shot allows the the Sidereal to make a reflexive withering Archery attack when she is targeted by an Archery or Thrown attack from Short or Medium range, regardless of her place in the Initiative order. This does not count as her combat action.
If the attacker is crashed as a result of this clash attack, the Sidereal may reflexively take an Aim action at him.
Red Eyed Archer
Cost: 1m, 1i; Mins: Archery 5, Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Withering-only, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Opportune Shot
The red eyes of Mars see all; her arrows fly by desire and strike without need for aim. The Sidereal emulates the Maiden of Battles when she uses Red Eyed Archer, giving her next withering attack the benefit of having been Aimed. This allows her to make an Archery or Thrown attack out to Extreme range, and extending the maximum range band of her weapon by one.
For each time the Sidereal has used Red Eyed Archer in the scene, increase the cost by 1 mote and 1 initiative. A Sidereal cannot use Red Eyed Archer in the same turn as she has taken her reflexive movement action, nor can she take her reflexive movement action until the next turn begins.
Beneath the Beneath
Cost: 5m; Mins: Archery 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Invincible Youth Attitude
The greatest general knows her enemy better than he knows himself; the Sidereal sees the feint beneath the feint, and twist knowledge like a knife. Beneath the Beneath supplements a Strategic Maneuver roll; when used, the Sidereal doubles any bonuses she gets for studying her opponent or having spies or traitors within his ranks.
Churl's Tongue Technique
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Archery 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Beneath the Beneath
The Sidereal excludes her victim from the House of the Quiver; his banter seems slow and crass, his manner unrefined. While she maintains the Churl's Tongue Technique, everything the victim says is heard in the worst light. Increase the target number of any inspire or instill action he takes by 1; additionally, if his action fails, the intended target of the action gains a minor intimacy of disdain for him. Multiple failures will not increase an intimacy past minor, although the actions of the churl might.
Foe Facing Prophecy
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Archery 5, Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Churl’s Tongue Technique
Wars are waged in Creation, but the victors are decided in the Crimson Panoply of Victory, and Heaven knows the strategies chosen before the general issues his first order. When making a strategic maneuver roll, the Sidereal's opponent must reveal his desired stratagem before rolling, and increases his target number for the roll by 1.
Amaryllis Stance
Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Archery 3, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Foe Facing Prophecy
Pride knows pride, and there are none more proud than the Quiver. As long as the Sidereal maintains the Amaryllis Stance, she gains a Defining Principle of 'Confidence In Myself', which cannot be reduced or modified. Additionally, if she successfully uses Read Intentions on another, she automatically learns if they hold any intimacies based on self-confidence, pride or arrogance.
So long as she maintains Amaryllis Stance, her reflection will linger moments too long in mirrors, and any reading of her destiny will proclaim her natural greatness and unquestionable superiority.
Many Missiles Bow Technique
Cost: 10m, 1wp, 3i; Mins: Archery 5, Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Prayer Strip
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Red Eyed Archer, At least 4 other Archery Charms
The ultimate expression of the Quiver is to always have the arrow you need. The Sidereal presents a prayer strip marked with the Scripture of the Clay Maiden to the world, whereupon it flares with a gaudy pink light and forms a halo over her head.
For the remainder of the scene, she may apply transformations to her arrows as they are in flight, reshaping them as needed. She does not need ammunition to fire these transformative arrows, as destiny provides for her. When the Sidereal first learns Many Missiles Bow Technique, she learns two transformations; each additional transformation costs 1xp to learn.
The potential transformations are bounded only by Creation; below are some examples.
- Rain of Fire: Supplement a decisive attack; the arrow transforms into a rain of fire. Increase your decisive damage by Essence; regardless of the attack's success, create a bonfire (pg. 232) at the location of the target.
- Snow: Take a simple action and fire an arrow into the sky. Within moments, it begins to snow heavily, obscuring visibility, imposing a -2 penalty on all actions taken beyond Close range and rendering all terrain difficult out to Long range. The Sidereal is unaffected by the snow, as are any allies within her anima.
- Life: Take a simple action and fire an arrow of your own blood into an ally out to Long range. You suffer one level of bashing damage, while they heal one level of bashing or lethal damage.
- Grain: Take a simple action and fire an arrow into the ground at your feet. Instantly, a field of ripe wheat, rice, or another appropriate cereal rises up, enough to feed one person for a day.
- Boulder: Supplement a decisive attack; mid-flight, the arrow transforms into a giant boulder. The target may not apply his Parry defense against this attack, and if he takes any damage, he is also knocked prone.
- Glass: Supplement a withering attack; the arrow transforms into a shard of glass. Reduce the target's Defense by 2 and his soak from armor by 4 against this attack.
ATHLETICS : THE RISING SMOKE
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN AND THE DUST
Once, there was a maiden…
…who learned that the faster she ran, the faster she could run.
Thus, running consumed her,
Until one day, she flew beyond the ending of her life.
“And here I thought it’d last forever,” she said.
“But —”
“There’s always an ending,” said the run.
The Rising Smoke Resplendent
Cost: -; Mins: Athletics 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal enhances any Resplendent Destiny of the Rising Smoke she wears, adding (Essence/2, round up) dice to any Athletics rolls depending on fleetness or foot speed.
Inexorable Advance
Cost: 5m, 2i; Mins: Athletics 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
No one escapes the end. No matter how fast they run, they find that Saturn is there waiting. Negate all wound or mobility penalties on a rush roll, and complete the movement instantly on a success, instead of waiting for the target to move. If the Sidereal attacks a character on the same turn she rushes them with Inexorable Advance, he suffers -1 Defense.
Forgotten Earth
Cost: 6m; Mins: Athletics 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Inexorable Advance
Assuming the destiny of a burnt offering, the Sidereal soars upward; she forgets to fall, and the earth is too polite to remind her. Forgotten Earth enhances her reflexive movement, allowing her to leap a range band forward or upwards for the remainder of the scene. Bearing no more weight than smoke, she also gains perfect balance and can run along or across surfaces too narrow or weak to normally support her without needing to roll (Dexterity + Athletics).
An Essence 2 repurchase of Forgotten Earth enhances her ability to escape; any stunt she makes involving jumping or soaring to disengage turns the stunt dice into successes.
No Escape
Cost: 3m; Mins: Athletics 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Resplendent, Design
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Inexorable Advance
The Sidereal exhales stagnation, impeding the ability of others to leave their presence. When an enemy attempts to disengage from you, everyone opposing the attempt gains bonus successes equal to the number of 1s he rolls. If the Sidereal is in the Destiny of the Rising Smoke, everyone instead gains bonus successes equal to the number of 1s and 2s rolled.
At Essence 3, you may pay 6 motes to increase the duration of No Escape to Indefinite. While the Charm is active, omens warn of your inescapable hunger and the doom you carry with you.
Scent of Spilled Blood
Cost: 5m; Mins: Athletics 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: The Rising Smoke Resplendent
Upon one thing do both god and devil agree; there is no finer offering than blood spilt and cast into the smoking flame. When she activates Scent of Spilled Blood, the Sidereal gains an instinctive sense if blood has been spilled in the scene. Treat this as a case scene action, save that she knows within seconds if blood has been spilled in the last week without needing to roll. Older violence can still be sniffed out, but may require longer and successful (Perception + Investigation) checks; each success allows the Sidereal to scent progressively further back- a month, a season, a year, a decade, a century, and so on. Any violence that she detects with Scent of Spilled Blood also conveys a few words of the nature of the violence, as well as any Defining intimacies held by the victim related to the violence.
Journey's End
Cost: 6m; Mins: Athletics 2, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute, Psyche, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Rising smoke greets the weary traveler on the road, the sign of shelter and the promise of rest. The Sidereal bring this yearning to lay down burdens and cease a journey to their target; Journey's End supplements a persuade action intended to convince the target to cease their travelling and set down roots. For each 10 rolled on the roll, you may either treat an existing intimacy that supports your action as being one step stronger, or treat the target as having a principle of 'The desire to rest'. This principle is treated as a minor intimacy with only one 10, a major intimacy with two 10s, or a defining intimacy with three 10s.
Chaff Threshing Technique
Cost: 4m, 1wp; Mins: Athletics 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute, Psyche, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Journey's End
It is a cruel trick of the gods that talent and desire are not given in equal measure; one student practices day after day, only to be defeated effortlessly by another on strength of natural gifts. The kindest thing is to dissuade such students from a path of hardship. Chaff Threshing Technique supplements a Persuade action to convince someone to give up on a particular task or career; the Sidereal is treated as being able to leverage a Major Intimacy.
Hungry Touch
Cost: 2m, 1i; Mins: Athletics 4, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Dual, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Inexorable Advance
Walls of stone do not stop the end, nor does iron armor or shields of bronze. Even the panoplies of the Exalted offer no succor from Saturn's fatal touch. Hungry Touch supplements an attack the Sidereal makes. If it enhances a withering attack, she reduces the target's soak by (Athletics); if it enhances a decisive attack, she reduces the target's Hardness by (the higher of Essence or 2).
Burn Life
Cost: 10m; Mins: Athletics 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Design
Duration: One day
Prerequisite Charms: No Escape, Forgotten Earth, Hungry Touch
Like a garda bird, the Sidereal may burn her life to renew it. Like a candle, there is a cost paid for such restoration. Even when unconscious, she may use Burn Life to speed her healing; increasing her natural healing by a factor of (Essence x Athletics). This boosted healing lasts for only one day, and only for time she spends at rest. For each hour spent resting in this fashion, the Sidereal reduces her span of days by one; hastening her end even as she delays it.
An Essence 4 repurchase of Burn Life grants a more remarkable capability. By entering a meditative trance, she may heal even seemingly permanent injuries such as the loss of an eye or limb. This use of Burn Life costs 1xp to heal a minor crippling injury, 2xp to heal a major crippling injury, and 3xp to heal a defining crippling injury. It also requires a number of weeks of uninterrupted meditation equal to the amount of experience spent; casting her remaining hours in a bonfire to emerge whole and renewed, and wrapping herself in a cocoon of smoke. It is not uncommon for a Sidereal emerging from this cocoon to do so with notable but cosmetic changes to her appearance or personality.
While in the trance, prophecies of the Sidereal's imminent rebirth fill the heavens, and garda birds will gossip about her.
Life Left Behind
Cost: 1m; Mins: Athletics 2, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Design, Psyche
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Journey's End
Some crimes resist easy forgiveness; for the accused, it is often easiest to vanish, like a ghost of smoke lost in the wind. The Sidereal may invoke the blessing of Life Left Behind on herself or upon another. As long as the recipient remains at least one month by foot away from her old home and does not answer to the name of her birth, anyone from her old home must pay 3 willpower to recognize her by her original identity. While this Charm is active, horoscopes and divinations will whisper of the blessed's unfinished business and may draw seekers from her past- but so long as she does not violate the strictures of the blessing and the cost of the Charm remains committed, she remains magically anonymous.
Blood Purity Taste
Cost: 10m; Mins: Athletics 3, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Scent of Spilled Blood
The Blood of the Dragons was once as a strong brandy in the veins of the Terrestrial Exalted; now it is a well-watered wine. Even so, the Sidereal can divine if it runs true for a given scion. By sampling the target's blood (which requires inflicting 1 lethal point of damage), she learns the relative purity of the Terrestrial Exalted bloodline within him, and- if he is mortal -whether or not he will take the Second Breath as a member of the Dragon-Blooded Host.
Heartbreak
Cost: 6m, 3i or 6m, 1wp; Mins: Athletics 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only, Touch
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Scent of Spilled Blood
Some souls are too stubborn to pass at their appointed hour- but even for them, the heart has only so many beats before it will cease. Using Heartbreak requires the Sidereal to draw the Rising Smoke Descendant upon the victim with her bare hand; in combat, this is a this is a difficulty 3 gambit. Out of combat, Heartbreak costs 6 motes and one willpower to use.
Those cursed by Heartbreak find their hearts suddenly seizing up- sometimes pounding, other times simply stopping. Treat this as a poison, with the following traits:
Damage / interval: 3i/round (Lethal in Crash)
Duration: (Athletics + threshold successes on the gambit roll, or Athletics + 5 outside of combat)
Penalty: -(Higher of 3 or Essence)
Those who die of Heartbreak show no sign of violent death; it simply seems as if their heart gave out. Non-magical investigation cannot uncover this deception, although magically enhanced investigation, such as the Solar Charm Ten Magistrate Eyes (Exalted p. 313) may reveal the truth.
Invisible Motion
Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Athletics 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Prayer Strip, Perilous
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Burn Life, At Least 3 other Athletics Charms
The ending comes, sought or unsought. Even when the days seem to stand still, they can advance with startling speed. By burning a prayer strip marked with the Scripture of the Maiden and the Dust in a flash of burgundy essence, the Sidereal transcends this paradox; moving without crossing space, acting without taking time. While Invisible Motion is active, she seems to be moving in a flickering light- always appearing still, but always in motion. She ignores all penalties to her Evasion; whenever she takes a successful Rush or Disengage action, she steals 1 initiative from each victim that opposed her, and may reflexively attempt to establish surprise by hiding between the seconds of sight. Finally, when she begins her turn in close range to an enemy, she steals one initiative from each of them.
While in initiative crash, the Sidereal is jostled back into time; the effects of Invisible Motion will reassert themselves as soon as she is no longer crashed.
AWARENESS : THE CROW
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN AND THE SCYTHE
Once, there was a maiden…
…who was born, and told her Mom, “I know how I’m gonna die.
“It’s gonna hurt bad,
and I ain’t coming back.
“…I could avoid it, but I won’t.
“‘cause one day, death’d come to me and say, ‘Baby, don’t you know?’
“‘There’s always an ending.’”
The Crow Resplendent
Cost: -; Mins: Awareness 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal enhances any Resplendent Destiny of the Crow she wears, allowing her to spend one Willpower and eat the eye of a corpse to see the last thing it saw, and know if it has left a ghost or hungry ghost behind.
Prior Warning
Cost: 4m; Mins: Awareness 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
When they stop to listen, a Sidereal can hear the flapping of heavy wings, and the croaking caw of a black bird. She knows when the cry grows loud that an end is coming- but if she is ready, it need not be hers, yet. As long as Prior Warning is active, before she rolls Join Battle, the Sidereal rolls (Essence + Awareness). With each success, the Sidereal may take a simple action in preparation of the coming violence. These actions cannot be overt; any charms activated may not be obvious or cause her anima to increase in intensity, and any mundane actions must have been plausible in the minute leading up to a fight. Readying a weapon and using a Form-type Charm are explicitly always permitted, even if these would seem improbable. Any actions not taken may instead be converted into motes, gaining the Sidereal one mote per action not taken.
Prior Warning does not prevent the Sidereal from being ambushed or suffering from the effects of a surprise attack; she gains the intuition to ready herself, but the precise moment may still arrive as a shock.
While under the effects of Prior Warning, omens will warn those who would bring violence to the Sidereal that she is prepared.
Expected Pain
Cost: 2m; Mins: Awareness 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute, Resplendent
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Prior Warning
The scream of an arrow and of a shrieking crow can be remarkably similar to the Sidereal that has learned to listen, allowing her to make ready for the coming pain. When she suffers from an unexpected attack, she gains one initiative for each 1 rolled on the attacker's (Dexterity + Stealth) roll. If the Sidereal is in the Destiny of the Crow, she gains one initiative for each 1 or 2 rolled instead. She may only use Expected Pain once per scene.
In non-combat situations, she gains one turn of warning before something unpleasant or dangerous happens- warning of incipient betrayal, poisoned wine, or an unexpected audit.
Crow's Croaking Laugh
Cost: 6m; Mins: Awareness 4, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
No matter how wretchedly terrible the situation, the Sidereal can see the horrible joke that makes it bearable. She may only use Crow’s Croaking Laughter when she or an ally in close range enters initiative crash; when she does, the Sidereal and each ally within short range and in crash gain one point of Willpower, which can exceed her permanent Willpower. Crow’s Croaking Laughter cannot be used more than once a day, but is reset when an ally in close range suffers a permanent crippling injury or is reduced to incapacitated.
Inevitable Pursuit
Cost: 3m; Mins: Awareness 2, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only, Touch, Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: The Crow Resplendent
The Sidereal loops a thread of violet starlight around her target; until she lets it go, it inevitably leads her back to him. Using Inevitable Pursuit requires touching the target, a difficulty 2 gambit. Once applied, the Sidereal gains double-9s on tracking rolls, and may contest magical track-covering effects, such as Traceless Passage.
Until the Sidereal releases the motes committed to Inevitable Pursuit, her quarry’s future is haunted by omens of his restless pursuit.
Wise Choice
Cost: 3m; Mins: Awareness 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Prior Warning
The crow is a tricksy bird, difficult to snare or catch. The Sidereal whispers a question to the Crow, and lets their wisdom guide them. When she uses Wise Choice, the Sidereal asks a 'what if' question, and receive a brief description of the probable consequences from the Storyteller's perspective. It is possible to chain uses of Wise Choice together, but each question asked in the same scene after the first risks tangling the weave of fate between what is and what could be; for each additional use of Wise Choice by the Sidereal in the same scene, the Sidereal rolls a die and gains Paradox equal to the successes. For this reason, Sidereals will often come together to contemplate their options in large groups- if each only divines a single path, the risk of Paradox for any of them is limited.
Ordained Conclusion
Cost: 6m; Mins: Awareness 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only, Touch
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Expected Pain, Wise Choice
When an ordained ending has arrived, it is sometimes incumbent upon the Sidereal to assist through the terminal conclusion. Using Ordained Conclusion requires the Sidereal to trace the sign of the Crow Descendant upon her target, a difficulty 5 gambit in combat. For the next five turns, he becomes incapable of gaining initiative from successful withering attacks. His withering attacks will still drain initiative from opponents, but the initiative is lost. He still benefits from the Distract gambit, will reset to base initiative after three turns in crash, and can gain initiative by benefiting from initiative break or shift.
The Door of Oblivion
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Awareness 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Crow's Croaking Laugh
Some memories and attachments are too hard and painful to keep, and so the Crow will carry them away and cast them to merciful oblivion. When the Sidereal uses The Door of Oblivion, she takes a memory, either from herself or a willing target, and cast it out and away. Memories lost in this way are collected by Madam Marthesine, who may reward a Sidereal for especially great or terrible memories- even when the Sidereal herself does not remember why.
The memories must be of specific events which occurred over no more than a scene. Removing painful moments that took place over longer stretches may require multiple uses of the charm.
At Essence 4, the Sidereal may instead excise vast swathes of memory. The memories lost in this fashion must be linked in some significant way, and may result in odd or unpredictable gaps in recollection, but will never diminish someone’s attributes, abilities, or essence-fueled powers. The Sidereal could, for instance, forget about the boy that she loved and who broke her heart, or of every evil thing they had done in the service of Fate.
It is theoretically possible to regain memories lost by use of The Doors of Oblivion, but Madam Marthesine gives nothing away without taking something of equal value in return.
Shadow of Dark Wings
Cost: 5m; Mins: Awareness 2, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Inevitable Pursuit
In this fallen age, it is small wonder that some succumb to despair; such individuals are said to be under the shadow of dark wings. The Sidereal can summon the crow to visit her enemies with this cruelty. To do so, she must touch her target, a difficulty 2 gambit in combat, or speak to him for at least five minutes. Once done, she exposes the victim to depression. Treat depression as a disease with Virulence (Awareness), Morbidity (Higher of 3 or Essence), and an interval of one month. Depression is resisted with (Wits + Integrity) instead of (Stamina + Resistance) and has no vector to allow it to naturally spread. In the major symptom, the target becomes incapable of regaining willpower from rest; in the defining symptom, the target becomes incapable of spending willpower. Even the Exalted are vulnerable to death from such depressive malaise, as they lose the will to live.
Wake from Illusion
Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Awareness 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Crow's Croaking Laugh
Gods and demons weave illusions that can ensnare both mind and soul; it is the province of the Crow to bring an end to such things. The Sidereal may use Wake from Illusion to end any charm or power which has the Psyche keyword; she may explicitly use Wake from Illusion on herself even if under the effects of a Psyche charm or power that would normally prevent her from doing so. Ending the effect requires the victim to spend 1 Willpower per effect to break; if he prefers fantasy to reality, the Sidereal is powerless to gainsay him.
Fatal Wisdom
Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Awareness 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Prayer Strip
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Ordained Conclusion, At least 3 other Awareness Charms
All things end. The beating of dark wings haunts the dream of every man born; the shrieking cry of the crow follows every woman's steps. Most strive to block this knowledge from their mind, focusing on the present or losing themselves to smaller deaths of more transient nature. When the Sidereal uses Fatal Wisdom, she denies them these retreats- showing a prayer strip gleaming with indigo light, marked with the Scripture of the Maiden and the Scythe and confronting them with absolute knowledge of the impending end. She rolls (Perception + Awareness) against a difficulty of the target's Resolve; each threshold success drains one willpower. If the victim is reduced to zero willpower, remaining successes drain 3 initiative per success. If the victim has not yet Joined Battle in this scene, he will instead lose the initiative after he rolls to Join Battle during the same scene as Fatal Wisdom was used. This may result in the victim being Crashed as soon as combat begins! Fatal Wisdom may only be used once in a scene; it is reset when the victim is reduced to incapacitated.
Neither you nor your target know what their ending will be. By compact of Jupiter and Saturn, knowledge of the end may be revealed, but not knowledge of what that end is.
BRAWL : THE GAUNTLET
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DROWNING MAIDEN
Once, there was a maiden…
…falling forever in the water. She reached for
purchase, but found nothing; her arms swung through the sea.
The water did not slow her, nor did the chill,
But she could not breathe.
Each time she gasped and found no breath, a human child died; and thus, she lived.
“Survival is acceptance,” she said.
The Gauntlet Resplendent
Cost: -; Mins: Brawl 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal enhances any Resplendent Destiny of the Gauntlet she wears, allowing her to convert up to (Strength) dice to successes before rolling when attempting to intimidate or threaten another.
Tolerant Strife
Cost: 2m, 1i; Mins: Brawl 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Uniform, Clash, Suitable, Resplendent
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Those who are struck by the Gauntlet never forget the experience. The Sidereal uses Tolerant Strife to enhance a Clash attack they make at close range; subtract successes from her opponent's attack equal to the number of 1s he rolled. If she is in a Resplendent Destiny of the Gauntlet, subtract successes equal to the number of 1s and 2s instead.
Thug Fist
Cost: 3m; Mins: Brawl 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Decisive-only, Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Only the foolish can show weakness in battle; the Gauntlet is always quick to take advantage of such chances. When the Sidereal Crashes an opponent, she may use Thug Fist to make a reflexive decisive Brawl attack against him.
An Essence 2 repurchase allows her to target anyone who is crashed within close range, for a surcharge of +2m.
Ice Blood Attitude
Cost: 4m; Mins: Brawl 4, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Gauntlet has a heart of ice, and does not allow herself to be moved by sentiment. While Ice Blood Attitude is active, intimacies the Sidereal uses to bolster her Resolve against social influence based on mercy or compassion may also be used to enter a decision point against such influence. Ice Blood Attitude does not allow her to enter a decision point with an intimacy which is insufficiently strong; if the Sidereal has been persuaded to spare an enemy due to a Major Principle of keeping her word, a Minor Principle of expediency does not let her enter a decision point.
While under the effect of Ice Blood Attitude, the stars proclaim her cold intent, and those who scan her horoscope know they can expect no mercy.
Weighing Lives
Cost: 3m; Mins: Brawl 2, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Five days
Prerequisite Charms: None
It is the Gauntlet that makes the hard decisions of who dies that others might live. The Sidereal may uses Weighing Lives while tending the wounded, designating one as the beneficiary and the others as sacrifice. She may designate herself as the beneficiary. Upon using Weighing Lives, up to (Essence) mortals who either have suffered a major or defining crippling injury, have an infected wound, or have been reduced to half or less of their health levels are sacrificed for the weal of the beneficiary. Those so sacrificed rapidly sicken and die over the course of the next few days; treat this as contracting an intensely virulent form of infected wounds, with a morbidity of 5 and an interval of one day. As each sacrificed individual dies, the beneficiary heals one health level over the course of the next day, as the tattered remains of the cut threads are added to his own.
At Essence 3, you may use Weighing Lives to tend the ill instead of injured; you may only mark individuals who are suffering the Major or Defining Symptoms of an illness for death, and give the beneficiary an automatic non-charm success on their next Stamina + Resistance roll to resist disease per life lost.
Upon invoking Weighing Lives, death omens begin to haunt the steps of the beneficiary, but always leaving small tokens, such as crows or ravens depositing small coins or shiny rocks; representative of the stolen gifts of life.
Paying the Sacrifice
Cost: 1m / die; Mins: Brawl 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Weighing Lives
It is cruel that sometimes many die that a few might live, but for the greater good of Creation, sacrifices must be paid. While the Sidereal is fighting with a battlegroup and is close range to them, she may reflexively shunt decisive damage from her to the group by paying 1m per die moved. You may activate Paying the Sacrifice after the attack has struck you, but before damage is rolled. For each die she removes, the battlegroup suffers two dice of decisive damage.
The Sidereal may only shunt damage to a battlegroup if the majority of the members of the group hold an intimacy of loyalty towards her or what she represents.
Unobstructed Blow
Cost: 5m, 1wp (3i); Mins: Brawl 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Withering-only, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Tolerant Strife
Some decry the brutality of brawling; they claim only the dishonorable would engage in such unrefined rough and tumble. The Sidereal answers with Unobstructed Blow, aiming precisely where the complainers are least prepared. She supplements a withering Brawl attack; the attack becomes unblockable. The victim also uses his Hardness instead of his Soak for reducing the raw damage.
At Essence 3, she may pay an additional 3i to use Unobstructed Blow with any attack made from close range.
Crimson Palm Counterstrike
Cost: 5m; Mins: Brawl 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Uniform, Clash, Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Thug Fist
Mars teaches that peace is achieved only in battle; when the opponent knows they will be hurt worse by attacking than in surrendering. The Sidereal embodies this truth with Crimson Palm Counterstrike; when she is attacked at close range, she makes a reflexive Brawl clash attack of the same type (withering or decisive) as the attack directed against her. She may not use Crimson Palm Counterstrike to make a decisive clash if she is in initiative crash. This does not count as her action for the turn, and may be used even if she has already acted this turn. Crimson Palm Counterstrike may not be used in response to a counterattack.
Weak-Spine Sense
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Brawl 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Ice Blood Attitude
A chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link; a unit of soldiers is only as ready as the first man to break and run. By using Weak-Spine Sense, the Sidereal divines who the weak link is in a battle group. If she makes a violent example of that individual in front of the unit for some slight, real or imagined, then the first rout check the unit fails within the next month is re-rolled. If she leads or fights with the group while in a Resplendent Destiny of the Gauntlet after using Weak-Spine Sense, the unit also re-rolls all 1s on rout checks until no 1s appear in their next battle. The example made need not be murderous, but must be both memorable and bloody.
At Essence 3+, the Sidereal may use Weak-Spine Sense and remove the weak link without needing to make an example of them. They might arrange for them to be injured in an accident, to contract an illness, or simply to be transferred out- in any event, the weakest link has been removed from the chain. The battle group still re-rolls the first failed rout check they make in this case, but gain no special benefit if led by the Sidereal in the Destiny of the Gauntlet.
Bloody Handed Work
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Brawl 2, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Weighing Lives
It is the burden of the Gauntlet to know when the limb must be sacrificed that the life may be spared. When tending to a sick individual, the Sidereal may concentrate the illness into the victim's eye, hand, generative organs, or leg; by then removing the diseased limb, she restores him to health. Bloody Handed Work can only be used upon a willing or unconscious target; by inflicting a crippling wound worth a number of health levels equal to the disease's morbidity, she immediately cures him of the afflicting illness.
Horrific Wreath
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Brawl 3, Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only, Aggravated, Perilous
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Unobstructed Blow
The fury of Mars is reserved most for the enemies of Creation; demons and spawn of the Wyld neither deserve nor are shown the least pity. When the Sidereal uses Horrific Wreath, she wraps her anima in brambles around her fist. For the remainder of the scene, as long as her anima remains above 'Dim', her decisive Brawl attacks against such targets are enhanced; she deals aggravated damage, and may choose to retain initiative equal to the failures on the damage roll rather than resetting to base initiative. Each such attack, hit or miss, reduces her anima by one level; Horrific Wreath ends if her anima reaches 'Dim'.
A repurchase of Horrific Wreath allows her to apply the effects to ghosts and other undead as well.
Knuckle-Cracking Stance
Cost: 3m; Mins: Brawl 3, Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Psyche, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Sometimes, what's most needed is for a spot of violence to clear the air, and no one is better at provoking such than the Sidereal with Knuckle-Cracking Stance. By using this power to enhance a read intentions action, if the read intentions is successful, she learns what it would require to provoke someone into physically attacking her. If she can provide that provocation within the scene, the target must spend 3 Willpower to not immediately join battle against her.
My Greater Good
Cost: 3m, 3i, 1wp; Mins: Brawl 3, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Uniform, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Paying the Sacrifice, Bloody Handed Work
Medals do not move a man; if you want them to fight and die, you must electrify his soul. The Sidereal channels this lightning through a Principle they are fighting for; she adds dice equal to the strength of the Principle to a single attack. My Greater Good may only be used once per scene; it may be reset by personally defeating a significant opponent who threatens the Principle drawn upon.
Easily Accepted Proposition Stance
Cost: 4m, 2i, 1wp; Mins: Brawl 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only, Prayer Strip, Aggravated
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Crimson Palm Counterstrike, Horrific Wreath, At least 4 other Brawl Charms
Between the palms of the Gauntlet, the Sidereal is always weighing the least bad option. By wrapping her knuckles with a prayer strip marked with the Scripture of the Drowning Maiden, she can share this burden with another. When the Sidereal uses Easily Accepted Proposition Stance, the prayer strip on her fist flares with a horrible vermillion light as she makes a decisive Brawl attack against her target. If the attack hits, the target must choose between either suffering double the decisive damage dice rolled as aggravated damage, or allowing some terrible (but possible) twist of misfortune to befall him and what he cares for. The Sidereal may suggest possible fates, but the Storyteller has final approval on what the twist of Fate will be.
BUREAUCRACY : THE HAYWAIN
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN’S PROMISE
Once, there was a maiden…
…who was the living embodiment of everything right in the world.
While she lived, no real harm could come to anyone.
Oh, wounds, disease, even death, sure.
But she stood between the world and anything worse.
“Except,” she said, “I’m going to die.” And no one listened.
“I’m going to die tomorrow,” she said. And no one heard.
Into the silence, she said, “There’s always an ending, after all.”
The Haywain Resplendent
Cost: -; Mins: Bureaucracy 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal enhances any Resplendent Destiny of the Haywain she wears; she may always take a Read Intentions action to determine how someone feels about an organization he is affiliated with.
Death By Technicality Style (Life-Saving Loophole Technique)
Cost: 3m; Mins: Bureaucracy 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The death of the self comes from a willing surrender to a greater power that cannot know you; be that a religion, country, or philosophy. The Sidereal learns to lean on the authority of those impersonal forces, exploiting subtle nuances and contradictions within any code of law, ethics or beliefs to persuade those who care about such things to the rightness of her cause.
Death By Technicality Style may be used to enhance any persuade or instill attempts which draws upon a positive principle the target holds towards an abstract concept, such as laws, a code of ethics or philosophy, or a religious belief, treating the principle as being one step stronger than it is. It cannot enhance attempts which make use of embodied representations of such; she can trick a judge who believes in the law for the law’s sake, but not a chancellor who is upholding the will of his Queen.
At Essence 2, the Sidereal may use Death By Technicality Style with negative principles as well as positive ones.
Know Witnesses
Cost: 1m; Mins: Bureaucracy 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Resplendent Destiny of the Haywain
In a large organization, the most important thing is often not knowing who's in charge, but knowing who's watching. By using Know Witnesses, the Sidereal immediately knows if she is being observed, although she learns nothing of the nature or whereabouts of her observers. This is true even if the witness is supernaturally hidden or spying from a great distance away.
Only individuals sufficiently sapient as to be aware of and identify the Sidereal qualify as witnesses.
As a general rule, unconscious individuals, creatures of animal intelligence, or the smallest gods which oversee Creation’s minuta will not be able to act as witnesses, and so do not trigger Know Witnesses; however, if the Sidereal draws sufficient attention to herself, they may begin to do so. A loyal dog would not normally be a witness, but may become one when the Sidereal attacks the hound’s master before it’s very eyes.
--Sidebar: Eyes are everywhere, but they aren’t always watching--
The intention of Know Witnesses is to give the Sidereal’s player confidence when they are weaving their conspiracies. Don’t undercut this confidence by having ‘surprise’ witnesses show up after a player has used this charm!
--End Sidebar--
Scent of Pale Aconite
Cost: 5m; Mins: Bureaucracy 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Know Witnesses
Secrets fester like an infection within any group of people; like an infection, the Sidereal can smell the rot hidden away. Scent of Pale Aconite supplements a Case Scene action; if it is successful, she learns which groups of people in the scene have mutual secrets. She does not learn what those secrets are, or any secret carried by exactly one person in the scene, although she does gain a sense for how important the holders consider them.
Fouler for Appearing Fair
Cost: 1m, 1wp; Mins: Bureaucracy 4, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
In many cultures, the words for 'gift' and 'poison' are remarkably similar; in the High Realm of the Scarlet Empire, the word for 'friend' better translates as 'one who can hurt me'. When the Sidereal launches an unexpected attack against someone who holds a positive intimacy towards her, she may use Fouler for Appearing Fair to increase the target number of his Join Battle roll by 1. If she beats his Join Battle, even if he was aware of her presence before she made the attack, she may initiate a Hold at Bay dramatic action or deliver an ambush attack rather than a surprise.
Palm Greasing Touch
Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Bureaucracy 4, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute, Psyche, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Death By Technicality Style
Men bemoan the corruption of Creation, cursing the bureaucrats who demand bribes with outstretched hand. The Sidereal knows that matters are much the same in Heaven; the machinery of bureaucracy runs on grease. Palm Greasing Touch enhances a read intentions action; if successful, she learns exactly what bribe, if any, she needs to offer someone to get them to accept a given action. Plying the target with an appropriate bribe forces him to spend 3 willpower to refuse her offer.
Fortunes of Reversal
Cost: 7m, 2i; Mins: Bureaucracy 5, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Fouler for Appearing Fair
The Haywain governs sudden reversals- when all seems lost, it is the Ascendant Haywain that brings unexpected victory. When the Sidereal achieves initiative shift against an opponent, she may make a reflexive decisive attack, either with the same ability they just used, or with any combat ability that can reach the opponent if the shift was not achieved by making a withering attack. Regardless of the success or failure of the attack, she does not lose initiative from this attack.
Here and There
Cost: 6m; Mins: Bureaucracy 2, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
So many things are simply approximated; guesswork and good enough estimates that can suffice while the bureaucrats in charge take an early evening. Distance and location are among these things to a sufficiently enlightened mind. Upon activating Here and There, the Sidereal treats and is treated by the world as being one range band closer than she otherwise would be; this may allow her to catch up with an archer unexpectedly, but also puts her at close range for the archer's swordsman friend. She may be able to prevent someone a Short distance away from Disengaging, but can also be prevented from disengaging by that same person.
Here And There lasts as long as the Sidereal maintains the commitment, but cannot be reactivated in the same scene once it has been released.
For each round after the fifth round in which the Sidereal maintains Here and There, she must roll a die and gain paradox equal to the successes.
The Greatest Trick
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Bureaucracy 2, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Know Witnesses
The Haywain knows that the important thing is not to get caught, but to make sure someone else gets caught instead. With The Greatest Trick, the Sidereal leaves a piece of evidence that clearly points to someone's guilt for an action you have taken in the scene.
Any mundane Case Scene action will automatically be taken in by her frame, while magical attempts have a difficulty of (Bureaucracy + Essence) to pierce the deception.
Fire in the Fields
Cost: 10m; Mins: Bureaucracy 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Death By Technicality Style
A small ember, hardly enough to warm a fly, in the wrong place and wrong time can cause an inferno that swallows a field or forest. The Sidereal can evaluate where such a spark needs to be set for flame to consume an organization's project. With Fire in the Fields, she introduces a failure condition to a project. This condition persists until the project is abandoned, the condition is resolved by successful intervention of the leadership, or until the Sidereal releases her commitment. While she may describe her general intent, the Storyteller has final determination as to how the failure condition manifests- it should be improbable, but not impossible.
While the flame of the condition exists, omens will proclaim the certain failure of the project, urging a wise leader to abandon their course while there is still time.
Pinecones in the Flame
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Bureaucracy 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Death By Technicality Style
Fire can be a purifying force as well as a destructive one; from the ashes of the forest springs new life, quickened by the heat. The Sidereal blesses an organization which has suffered a project failure, granting them up to (Essence) dots in new story merits, salvaged from the ruin of the lost project. If she personally intervenes while in the Destiny of the Haywain, she may grant (the higher of Essence or Bureaucracy) dots in story merits instead.
An organization cannot benefit from Pinecones in the Flame more than once a year from any number of sources.
Between the Desire and the Loss
Cost: -; Mins: Bureaucracy 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Scent of Pale Aconite, The Greatest Trick
Saturn knows that even things which seem eternal and enduring grow hollow from within, until only a shell remains. The Sidereal draws strength from this truth, hollowing themselves for a moment of power; by consuming a tie that she holds towards another, she gains two motes per level of the tie. If she is in the Destiny of the Haywain, she gains an additional mote. If the tie was a Major or Defining one, she also gains a temporary Willpower, which can exceed her maximum temporary Willpower. The intimacy consumed will not naturally return, although it may be restored by subsequent interactions.
Between the Desire and the Loss may only be used once a day for a minor or major intimacy. The Sidereal may consume any number of defining intimacies, although only one per turn.
Between the Thought and the Deed
Cost: 5m; Mins: Bureaucracy 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: 5 Turns
Prerequisite Charms: Then and Now, Fortunes of Reversal
Every step falls inevitably from the steps already taken; every woman is bound in the chains of the past and pulled towards the inevitable future. The Sidereal, knowing the past and the future, can turn the present to their best advantage. In combat, after using Between the Thought and the Deed, she indicates a target and secretly writes down one action. If the target takes that action during the next five rounds, he loses (the higher of Essence or 3) initiative. He only loses this initiative once. A given victim cannot be targeted by Between the Thought and the Deed more than once a day by the same Sidereal, and only loses the initiative once if multiple Sidereals predict the same action in the duration.
At Essence 3, she gains one of the lost points of initiative.
Then and Now
Cost: 3m; Mins: Bureaucracy 3, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only, Perilous
Duration: 5 Turns
Prerequisite Charms: Here and There
With the slightest of misfilings tomorrow would become yesterday, and the end of a life would come before it's even begun. With a touch, the Sidereal exchanges the end of someone's days with the present, leaving the victim weak, sick and failing. Touching an individual outside of combat is usually trivial, but if they are resistant it requires a gambit with a difficulty of 2. On the positive side, he'll get to experience a few moments hearty youth in his final hours- assuming he survives the next few minutes. Against mortals, Then and Now imposes a penalty of -(Essence) on all actions. Against any being which remains hale and hearty until the very end, which almost always includes the Exalted, Then and Now only imposes a -1 penalty on physical actions. Then and Now has no effect on beings which do not naturally die of old age.
Between the Rise and the Fall
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Bureaucracy 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Palm Greasing Touch, Fire in the Fields, Pinecones in the Flame
So many things are agreed upon only by convention; who belongs and who is cast out, who leads and who follows, which way to the closest market and whether to fall to the ground or to the sky. By using Between the Rise and the Fall, the Sidereal flouts convention, reorienting her personal gravity in any direction she wishes. She can only reorient when touching a solid surface- while walking along a ceiling, she can seamlessly step to the wall, but she cannot fly by reversing gravity mid-fall. Falling up or to the side poses all the normal hazards and damage that falling down an equal distance conveys.
Use of Between the Rise and the Fall and orienting one’s gravity away from the ground while outdoors or beneath the adamant dome of Heaven is not recommended.
Between the Beginning and the End
Cost: 5m, 4i, 1wp; Mins: Bureaucracy 5, Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only, Prayer Strip, Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Any 2 of Between the Rise and the Fall, Between the Thought and the Deed, Between the Desire and the Loss
The Sidereal fixes a prayer strip marked with the Scripture of the Maiden's Promise on their target; in combat, this requires a gambit with difficulty 3. Once done, the target is enveloped in a violet cocoon of light, as he travels across all the myriad destinies that never were and never will be. While so cocooned, he can take no actions, and loses 3 initiative each turn, but also cannot be targeted or affected by any power or action. He remains trapped for a number of turns equal to the threshold successes rolled on the gambit, or 5 minutes if used outside of combat. On each missed turn, the victim may spend 1 Willpower to reduce their time lost by an additional turn.
The prayer strip remains visible and fixed as a seal upon the cocoon. It may be removed, requiring a gambit with a difficulty of the threshold successes- if it is removed, the victim is freed immediately.
CRAFT : THE PEACOCK
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE LOVER AND THE MAIDEN
Once there was a maiden…
…who met a thing that lived outside the world, and there was a beauty to it.
It burned with an unholy wrath that could destroy Creation.
It hated her as much as it loved her.
Its kiss was blood and perfection, for its teeth were sharp.
It offered her power, and with it, hooks to tear her soul.
With care not to burn her fingers, she took it into her life.
“Love is what you make of it,” said she.
The Peacock Resplendent
Cost: -; Mins: Craft 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal enhances any Resplendent Destiny of the Peacock she wears; she may either gain Influence 2 and Resources 2, or increase the Influence and Resources of her Destiny by 1, to a maximum of 5, by being adopted into a wealthy family. This increase can take her Influence and Resources beyond the normal limits of the Destiny created, but cannot exceed 5.
World-Shaping Artistic Vision
Cost: -; Mins: Craft 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
With World-Shaping Artistic Vision, the Sidereal meditates on what is and what could be, planning a future to be realized on the Loom of Fate. Even without taking this charm, she can undertake Astrological Projections (pg. XX); with it, her skill and ability grow exponentially.
With the first purchase, the Sidereal can undertake all degrees of ambition when undertaking Telluric Projections, as well as lesser degrees of Supernal and Sidereal Projections.
A Craft 3, Essence 3 repurchase allows her to undertake all Supernal Projections, excluding only the most profound Sidereal Projections from her ability.
A Craft 5, Essence 5 final purchase allows her to undertake any Astrological Projection, regardless of the ambition.
Spirit Shape Companion
Cost: 10m, 1wp, 1xp; Mins: Craft 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
In the House of the Peacock are the most profound alliance found; within the House of the Peacock, may a Sidereal undertake enjoining her destiny to one who has chosen her. She weaves a cloak of azure starlight and wraps herself and her familiar with it; doing so accords the following powers:
* Unbreakable Loyalty: The familiar gains a Defining Tie of loyalty to the Sidereal, if he did not already possess one. No influence, mundane or magical, not originating from the Sidereal herself can diminish this intimacy.
* Essence-Drawing Method: The familiar becomes a font of spiritual energy. As long as he is within Short range, the Sidereal can draw 5 motes as a reflexive action once per day. If she draws upon the strength of multiple familiars in a single scene, the motes gains last only until her next turn.
* Paradox Resolving Wisdom: The Sidereal may dispatch her Familiar to resolve minor paradoxes that have snarled into the weave of Fate before they become dangerous. This reduces her Paradox by 1. Doing so requires the familiar be busy elsewhere for a period of at least one month, and can only be used once per session per familiar.
* Sense-Riding Discipline: The Sidereal may borrow the senses of a familiar by taking a simple action. At Crafts 5, she may fully possess animal familiars, as well as an elemental or divine familiar of similar sapience.
On Spirit Shape Companion The first time a Sidereal uses Spirit Shape Companion, ignore the 1xp activation cost.
Blinded by Trifles
Cost: 5m; Mins: Craft 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Psyche
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal reaches out, plucking a handful of coins that glint with moonlight and stardust, casting them before her. She rolls (Manipulation + Crafts); anyone with a lower Resolve than her successes and who sees the coins fall is filled with the need to possess one. Resisting this influence costs 2 Willpower. At the end of the scene, the coins and the compulsion both fade to nothing.
Snare Dodging Steps
Cost: 3m; Mins: Craft 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
To some, marriage is a trap; those Sidereals acquainted with the wiles of the Peacock become quite adept at dodging such. Snare Dodging Steps may be activated in response to a trap; she may defend against traps using (the greater of her Evasion or Crafts), even if her Defense is set to zero.
Read the Secret Heart
Cost: 3m; Mins: Craft 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Peacock knows the secret heart of everyone, and whispers their secrets to the Sidereal. Read the Secret Heart enhances the Sidereal's Read Intentions to learn what someone wants. Reduce the target's Guile by (Essence); if you can supply their desire, you gain craft experience as if completing a Basic project which creates or strengthens an intimacy towards you. At the Storyteller's discretion, you may be awarded craft experience for completing a Major or even Superior project, depending on the strength and difficulty of the desire.
Elemental Vision
Cost: 1m; Mins: Craft 2, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: One turn
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal opens her eyes to the flow of elemental essence that underlays Creation. Until the next turn, she sees dematerialized elementals and spirits with strong elemental associations as if they were materialized. Elemental Vision does not confer an ability to interact with those spirits. Elementally aspected Manses and Demesnes glow in a brilliant and unmistakable fashion, visible from miles away.
Upon reaching Essence 3, the Sidereal may extend the duration of Elemental Vision to indefinite by increasing the cost to 6m. If she undertakes to raise an elementally aspected manse while maintaining Elemental Vision for the full duration, reduce the gold craft xp cost for each roll by (Essence), to a minimum of 3 gxp.
When a Sidereal undertakes building a manse with Elemental Vision active, omens proclaim her successful completion years before the first stone is laid.
Love Casts No Shade
Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Craft 2, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
All brides are radiant, all grooms shine with Venus' reflected light. By invoking this power, the Sidereal manifests that radiance literally. She may only use Love Casts No Shade when her anima is at bonfire; upon using it and for the rest of the scene, her anima blazes with an intensity that is painful to behold. Her enemies out to Medium range must look away or be blinded, suffering an -(Essence or 3, whichever is lower) penalty to actions requiring sight; for her allies, the light is clarifying, banishing visual penalties due to obscuring mists or darkness.
Love Casts No Shade ends immediately if the Sidereal’s anima is reduced below bonfire.
For Richer or Poorer
Cost: 4m; Mins: Craft 2, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
Those who know of the Sidereals assume they would all be wealthy beyond the Despot's wildest dreams; but what use is wealth to the sages of Heaven and agents of Destiny? Nevertheless, there are times when the coin of Creation can prove valuable- and by trusting in Fate, the Sidereal finds that Fate provides. As long as they maintain For Richer or Poorer, the Sidereal gains Resources of (the higher of Essence or 3). Use of For Richer or Poorer over extended periods of time can prove dangerous, however- the money has to come from somewhere, after all, and destiny will not provide indefinitely. Every week after the first month, she rolls a die, and gains Paradox equal to the successes.
While a Sidereal is under the effects of For Richer or Poorer, omens will tell of her sudden abundance and wealth.
Ice and Fire Binding
Cost: 10m, 1wp, 1xp; Mins: Craft 2, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: At least 3 Craft charms
Passion burns hot and cold, but love endures all things. With care, the Sidereal learns to accept the love of an elemental, adopting it as a familiar. Ice and Fire Binding may only be used on an elemental of Essence 3 or less.
On Ice and Fire Binding The first time a Sidereal uses Ice and Fire Binding, ignore the 1xp activation cost.
A Limited Pantheon A Sidereal may have no more than (Essence) combined elemental and divine familiars through use of Ice and Fire Binding and Godly Companion.
Elegant Patterns of Fate
Cost: -; Mins: Craft 3, Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: At least 3 Craft Charms
In nothing does the saying 'Measure Twice, Cut Once' carry as much weight as the act of weaving the world's destiny. When the Sidereal takes Elegant Patterns of Fate, she increases the terminus of Astrological Projections she undertakes by 1.
Elegant Patterns of Fate may be taken up to (Essence) times. The second and fourth purchases also increase her terminus for Sorcerous Projects by 1 each.
Destiny-Knitting Entanglement
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Craft 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Until fulfilled
Prerequisite Charms: At least 3 Craft Charms
Events don't conspire; people do. Two future lovers meeting by happenstance will never know the careful calculation that went into their chance encounter. By using Destiny-Knitting Entanglement, the Sidereal arranges for two people to meet, and the circumstances under which where and when they will meet, within the coming week. If it is possible, the meeting will come to pass when and how you desire; if it becomes impossible, then fate will do it's best to ensure her intent is fulfilled.
After using Destiny-Knitting Entanglement, the horoscopes and omens of the beneficiaries are filled with signs of a portentous meeting in their near future.
Disarming Smile
Cost: 5m; Mins: Craft 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: At least 3 Craft charms
The art of the Peacock is in disarming her enemies; the Sidereal learns how to do so with nothing more than a wink and a smile. She may use Disarming Smile to disable a physical trap she is aware of without physically touching it, from up to Medium range and in an instant. When using Disarming Smile, she rolls (Manipulation + Craft) to disarm the trap, instead of what she would use if she were manually disarming the trap.
At Essence 3, she may use Disarming Smile to attempt a Disarm gambit; she rolls (Manipulation + Craft) as her attack roll against her target's Resolve, but still must succeed at the decisive roll against the disarm gambit's difficulty. If successful, the target drops his weapons.
Quickening Touch (Withering Touch)
Cost: 2m; Mins: Craft 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: At least 3 Craft charms
In some parts of the Realm, a bride is given a veil of peacock feathers, thought to bless her with children soon. In others, vengeful witches will burn those feathers while cursing their enemies to empty homes. By using Quickening Touch, the Sidereal can give or take up fertility. She must touch her target to do so; in combat, this is a difficulty 2 gambit. So long as she leaves the charm active, her target will either impregnate or become pregnant at the next opportunity, or remain barren, as she desires.
While this charm persists, prophecies and omens will celebrate the impending child, or mock the empty cradle.
In Sickness and Health
Cost: 4m; Mins: Craft 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: At least 3 Craft charms
The people of Creation call to Venus for her blessings, asking for good health and long life. While the length of days is the province of her sisters, Venus does give her Chosen the gift of taking illness away- but only if it is moved to elsewhere. Illness can be a source of serenity in it's way- a chance to rest and lay down burdens, an encouragement to recover. When the Sidereal uses In Sickness and In Health, she may immediately take a disease that someone she tends is suffering from upon herself, at the same traits and stage of progression. The beneficiary is restored to the fullness of health at once.
She can also attempt to impart an illness that afflicts her to another. This also requires a touch; in combat, this is a gambit with a difficulty of the disease's morbidity. If successful, she is immediately restored to health, while her victim immediately begins to suffer the illness, at the same traits and stage as she herself so recently had.
Excellent Implementation of Objectives
Cost: -; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: At least 3 Craft charms
The Chosen of Serenity are called to support and strengthen the world by making it a world worth fighting for. When the Sidereal completes a crafting project which creates or strengthens another character's intimacies towards her, she gains twice the craft experience. With a second purchase, she gains double the craft experience reward when completing a project that upholds, furthers or protects one of her own intimacies as well.
Song of Spirit Persuasion
Cost: 7m; Mins: Craft 3, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Psyche
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: At least 3 Craft Charms
The art of Venus draws together even the most unlikely of allies; within her secret song, even gods and devils walk hand in hand. The Song of Spirit Persuasion requires singing a five minute tune, subtly changing the cadence and lyrics based upon the audience. After doing so, the Sidereal rolls (Appearance + Craft); any spirit which hears the song must either spend 3 Willpower or gain a major tie of friendship towards her. The power of the song fades over time; unless the Sidereal spends 3xp to tie her destiny into that of the spirit as an Ally, the friendship dissolves after one month.
Creation Smuggling Practice
Cost: 20m, 1wp; Mins: Craft 3, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: At least 3 Craft charms
Sidereals are driven by necessity, but no one says that the trip must be unpleasant. By using the Creation Smuggling Practice, the Sidereal learns to bring some of the comforts of home with her, even while walking the madness of the Wyld, in the depths of the Underworld, through the heart of Hell, or even stranger places. Creation Smuggling Practice ensures that, out to Medium range, the land around her remains stable and obeys the laws of Creation. This does not protect her from the inhabitants of these stranger locations; the Sidereal may still be attacked, or her mind and body twisted by fell magics -but they will be directed and intended, not merely the general hostility of an alien world.
Godly Companion
Cost: 10m, 1wp, 1xp; Mins: Craft 3, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: At least 6 Craft charms
Divinity burns brightly in some spirits; they are charged by Heaven with the proper behavior of Creation. Sidereals often work closely with gods as the agents of Heaven on Creation; many grow closer, having divine friends and lovers. A few bind their destiny together with that of a spirit, adopting them as familiars. Godly Companion may only be used on gods with an Essence of 4 or less; it may not be used on elementals, demons, ghosts, or spirits from beyond Creation's shores.
On Godly Companion The first time a Sidereal uses Godly Companion, ignore the 1xp activation cost.
A Limited Pantheon A Sidereal may have no more than (Essence) combined elemental and divine familiars through use of Ice and Fire Binding and Godly Companion.
For Better or Worse
Cost: 3m (1wp); Mins: Craft 3, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: At least 6 Craft charms
Venus has a reputation as a hedonist and libertine, but she and her Chosen understand that unending pleasure is not serenity; salt makes the sugar sweet, and bitter brings out the tang of the fruit. The Sidereal may draw upon this understanding of duality to reverse the result of a single roll, once per day. Each die which came up as a success is now a failure, each die that came up as a failure is now a success. This does not change the actual faces on the dice, so effects which depend upon specific numbers may still be invoked. For Better Or Worse may only be used once during any extended action, and doing so adds an additional 1 willpower to the cost.
Predestined Destiny Shaping
Cost: -; Mins: Craft 4, Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: At least 6 Craft charms
A common crisis almost all Sidereals eventually suffer is when they realize they are weaving a destiny of weaving a destiny- or worse, fulfilling a destiny of weaving a destiny they had previously woven. By meditating upon this moment, the Sidereal embraces the seeming paradox.
She may spend silver, gold or white craft experience points to pay the experience cost of Telluric Astrological Projections; gold or white points to pay for Supernal Astrological Projections; or white points to pay for Sidereal Astrological Projections.
Union of Serenity
Cost: 7m; Mins: Craft 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: At least 6 Craft charms
The birth of a child is a miracle; the first cry of a newborn can break down barriers for the sake of the baby that would otherwise always remain up. The Sidereal can use this; she lays a blessing upon a child at least one month before he is born, and rolls (Charisma + Craft). At the moment of the child's birth, all blood relatives with a Resolve lower than her successes on the activation roll gain a principle of your choice. Parents, siblings and grandparents gain this principle as a major intimacy; aunts, uncles, cousins and half-siblings gain it as a minor intimacy. Once created, the principle has no supernatural support, and can erode through the normal process of social influence. The Sidereal decides the principle that will be imparted when she uses the Charm, and must provide the same principle to all the relatives.
Until the child's birth, omens foretell of the change he will bring the world.
Implicit Construction Methodology
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design, Prayer Strip
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: At least 10 Craft charms
The Sidereal takes a prayer strip marked with the Scripture of the Lover and the Maiden, twisting it around her wrists and shackling her destiny to a project of her design. Her shadow rises from the floor, with wrists bound in manacles of blue steel, and begins to silently labor- leaving the Sidereal herself free to take on other duties. As long as she maintains the Implicit Construction Methodology, the Sidereal may make progress on a Project without being present. She still must provide her shadow with any necessary materials, and crafting rolls are only made when she spends the appropriate craft experience points, but she need not be personally involved in the work and can let it proceed while she busies herself with other duties and distractions.
If the Sidereal does assist her shadow in the labor, it goes much faster; Major projects can be completed in a matter of hours; Superior projects for creating or repairing Artifacts are completed as if they were one level lower. (So, an Artifact 5 may be completed in one year instead of two; an Artifact 4 may be completed in three months; an Artifact 3 may be completed in a six weeks; an Artifact 2 may be completed in just two weeks). Working with her shadow also reduces the craft experience cost of each roll by 3, to a minimum of 3 craft xp.
The Sidereal cannot have multiple concurrent uses of Implicit Construction Methodology active; she has only one shadow to impress into service, and one destiny to shackle. While her shadow labors, her horoscopes declaim that she has fallen into durance vile, but also that rich rewards await her.
DODGE : THE EWER
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE HUNTED MAIDEN
Once, there was a maiden…
…who was driven from her land.
Great black stags chased her, and their eyes shone blue.
Monsters scrambled after her through the bush, though they found her not.
Stumbling on a log, she fell; and thought to surrender, and end the torment of the hunt; but then, she stood, and stuck out her tongue at the dark woods behind her.
“Love is smiling at your troubles,” she said.
The Ewer Resplendent
Cost: - ; Mins: Dodge 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal enhances any Resplendent Destiny of the Ewer she wears, increasing her Appearance by 1, to a maximum of 6, as she always looks her best.
Absence
Cost: 2m, 1i; Mins: Dodge 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Never more is the Ewer missed than when it is absent. The Sidereal draws on this truth, ignoring all penalties to her Evasion against an attack.
Ever Increasing Affection
Cost: 1m; Mins: Dodge 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Perilous, Stackable
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
Every chase is a romance, and every romance, a chase. With soft and sly steps, the Sidereal can drive her hunters mad with the need to bring an end. Ever Increasing Affection may be used to enhance her Evasion; an opponent who attacks her and misses must pay 1 initiative in order to take any actions other than pursuing or attacking her again. This penalty ends when he manages to successfully strike the Sidereal, if she releases the charm, if she is crashed, if she leaves the combat, or when the scene ends. She may use Ever Increasing Affection multiple times against the same opponent, stacking it up to (Essence) times, and may distract any number of enemies. Ever Increasing Affection may not be used against battle groups.
Frenzied Lover's Flight
Cost: 3m; Mins: Dodge 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Suitable, Resplendent
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
An arrow in flight is less swift than a lover racing to their beloved. The Sidereal's stride lengthens to match, her pace quickens as she closes upon her goal. Frenzied Lover's Flight supplements a Rush; she re-rolls 10s until 10s fail to appear, accumulating the successes. If she in the Destiny of the Ewer, she also adds the difference between her Appearance and her target's Resolve as bonus dice.
Chasing Impossible Dreams
Cost: 3m; Mins: Dodge 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Absence or Ever Increasing Affection
For all that he promises, the Ewer deals more in dreams than substance. The Sidereal drinks deep and becomes like a dream. something to be chased but never caught. Chasing Impossible Dreams enhances her attempts to disengage; increase the target number of anyone opposing her disengagement by 1. If she is in the Destiny of the Ewer, opponents also re-roll 10s until 10s fail to appear, discarding successes from these rolls.
Love is Blinding
Cost: 2m; Mins: Dodge 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Ever Increasing Affection or Trouble Reduction Strategy
A provocative wink can drive even the best to distraction, blinding them to other dangers. The Sidereal may use Love Is Blinding when anyone she has enchanted with Ever Increasing Affection takes an action against someone other than her. The attacker briefly loses his ability to clearly see anything other than her; his actions which depend on visual acuity suffer a penalty equal to the initiative he forfeits from Ever Increasing Blindness for taking the action.
Scent of Rose and Orchid
Cost: 5m; Mins: Dodge 2, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
Sometimes those in love attempt to deny their own hearts, but the Ewer always sees through the lies we tell ourselves. The Sidereal automatically knows if anyone out to Medium range is in love, although not who, with whom, or the nature of their affection. If she uses a Read Intentions roll to divine any of this information from someone, she gains (Essence) non-charm successes, and can contest magic that would normally conceal her subject's true feelings.
Trouble Reduction Strategy
Cost: 1wp; Mins: Dodge 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Love is not true unless it is shared, and the best drink requires companions to assist. The Sidereal may use any reflexive, instant Dodge charm on behalf of an ally she can see within Long range. Her beneficiary may refuse the effect at no cost to themselves, although any costs the Sidereal has paid remain spent.
Laughing at Danger
Cost: 2m; Mins: Dodge 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Trouble Reduction Strategy or Frenzied Lover's Flight
Those who drink deep of the Ewer gain the courage to laugh in the face of danger, and sometimes laughter is all that is needed. The Sidereal gains 1 initiative from a successful application of her Evasion against an attack made at close range.
At Essence 3, she may pay 6m and increase the duration of Laughing at Danger to One Scene. An Essence 5 repurchase allows her to draw initiative from attacks made against her at any range.
Snappy Banter Approach
Cost: 3m; Mins: Dodge 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute, Psyche
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Frenzied Lover's Flight or Scent of Rose and Orchid
As many a drunk may attest, the Ewer always gets the last word. In response to any inspire or instill action she witnesses, the Sidereal may make an instill or inspire action of her own against the speaker. If she does, decrease his Resolve by the number of 1s and 2s he rolled on his action. If this reduces his Resolve to 0, he must spend two Willpower instead of one to resist the Sidereal's influence.
Avoidance Kata
Cost: 2m; Mins: Dodge 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Psyche
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Chasing Impossible Dreams or Love Is Blinding
Everyone has, at one point or another, gone to drink deep only to find that the Ewer was empty. The Sidereal joins their misapprehension, avoiding a potentially unpleasant confrontation. She rolls (Dexterity + Dodge) against a difficulty of (3 + the number of actions she has taken); if successful, she vanishes, reappearing somewhere else she could plausibly have been instead. Anyone who witnesses her vanish must spend (higher of Essence or 3) Willpower to remember that she was present. She may only attempt to use Avoidance Kata once a scene.
Sweet Flirtation Smile
Cost: 1wp; Mins: Dodge 5, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Love is Blinding or Laughing at Danger
There may be nothing in Creation more dangerous than a pretty smiling man; certainly, they have been the downfall of more princes and empires than any number of armies and assassins, while their jealousies and lusts have brought ruin to countless great and small. The Sidereal may use Sweet Flirtation Smile when anyone she has enchanted with Ever Increasing Affection attacks someone other than the Sidereal, she gains the initiative they lose.
Armored in Ideals
Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Dodge 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Perilous, Resplendent
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Laughing at Danger or Snappy Banter Approach
The Ewer is a source of courage; many a woman has found a drink to give them the spine to act against what they know is wrong. The Sidereal may use Armored in Ideals when unarmored and acting to defend or further a Principle; doing so briefly increases her soak and hardness. A minor intimacy adds 5 soak and 4 hardness; a major intimacy adds 8 soak and 7 hardness; a defining intimacy adds 11 soak and 10 hardness. Withering attacks have their minimum damage reduced by 0, 1, or 2 respectively when striking her, to a minimum of 1.
If the Sidereal is hit and dealt damage, either withering or decisive, Armored In Ideals ends and the principle she drew upon goes numb and cannot be used again for any purpose until a week has passed. The soak and hardness from Armored in Ideals is never compatible with other sources of soak or hardness, apart from the soak provided by the Sidereal’s own Stamina.
An Essence 4 repurchase allows her to increase Armored in Ideals' duration to Indefinite. When active, her horoscope proclaims her eternal championship of the driving principle. If any effect reduces the driving principle in strength, it immediately ends the effect of Armored in Ideals.
A Sidereal may use the Intimacies provided by a Resplendent Destiny she is wearing to empower Armored in Ideals, but will suffer the paradoxical consequences of violating that intimacy when struck, and find herself ejected to her natural destiny.
Smiling At Your Troubles
Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Dodge 5, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Avoidance Kata or Sweet Flirtation Smile
Woman is born to trouble and strife, and there can be no escape. All she can do, ultimately, is learn to smile at her troubles and let them pass aside. Once per scene, the Sidereal dodges any attack from any source without contest, even uncountable recurring damage. Smiling At Your Troubles may be reset by evading a decisive attack from a significant opponent which results in that opponent crashing.
Sick with Need
Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Dodge 4, Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Psyche
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Sweet Flirtation Smile or Armored In Ideals
Of all the diseases to afflict humanity, there may be none worse than the ache that comes from loving without being loved in return. The Sidereal learns to inflict this love sickness upon her target, filling them with a wasting need. This requires touching her victim; in combat, this is a difficulty 2 gambit. If successful, the victim is afflicted with love sickness. Treat this as an illness with a morbidity of the object of the obsession's Appearance and an interval of one week, save that it is resisted with (Wits + Integrity) rather than (Stamina + Resistance). In any scene in which the object of the obsession reciprocates the afflicted's love, the afflicted does not suffer from the symptoms of the disease. Mortals who reach the final phase of the illness will either waste away from want, or undertake a suicidally foolish action to prove their love. The victim can only be afflicted with love sickness towards someone he personally knows.
At Essence 5, the Sidereal may instead afflict her target with love towards a principle the Sidereal holds. In this case, the interval rises to one month, the Morbidity equals (strength of intimacy + Essence), and the victim is relieved of his symptoms in any scene in which he undertakes at least a Minor labor in the service of their principle.
Neighborhood Relocation Scheme
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Dodge 5, Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Prayer Strip
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Smiling At Your Troubles or Sick With Need
It is the duty of the Chosen to keep Creation safe; not only themselves, not only their friends and family, but everyone across the face of the world. When vast disaster threaten, it becomes incumbent upon them to change the face of the world in the service to that duty. The Sidereal places posts around a city, town or other contiguous area, each one bearing a prayer strip marked with the Scripture of the Hunted Maiden, and then activates Neighborhood Relocation Scheme. A bright blue fence springs up between the posts, and a dozen dozen azure tethers bind themselves between the Sidereal and the prayer strips. The marked area comes with the Sidereal as she moves- natural landmarks shifting to accommodate as best they can. For each day after the first that the Sidereal continues to rearrange Creation with Neighborhood Relocation Scheme, she rolls a number of dice equal to the days she has already used in this year, gaining Paradox equal to the number of successes rolled. If she suffers a backlash or is incapacitated, the effect ends immediately.
Neighborhood Relocation Scheme cannot be used to break apart a single conceptual location; she cannot take one house or one street from a town, or only part of a river. Nor can it be used to destroy or render the move area more uninhabitable than it previously was; a Manse-tomb hidden in a jungle would become a mist-shrouded island if pulled to the center of the sea, for instance, or a city may become a vast city-ship or fleet of ships.
INTEGRITY : THE SWORD
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE EXPECTANT MAIDEN
Once, there was a maiden…
…who was always looking forward to the way things would be.
She said, “Someday, I’m getting out of this place.
“Someday, I’m going to kill that boy that put me here.
“And while I wait, I don’t much mind,
‘cause it’s better to dream tomorrow than to be there.”
***
“I’m holding at bay,” she said, “what I know to be true.
“That I’ll never get out. I won’t let my dreams die!
“I’ll hang on to hope,” she said, “until Time itself ends. But —”
“There’s always an ending,” said Time.
The Sword Resplendent
Cost: - ; Mins: Integrity 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
All things that live must one day die, but not all things that die end. The Sidereal enhances any Resplendent Destiny of the Sword she wears, rendering her unaffected by the terrors of the Underworld. So long as it is active, she may walk and slumber in its darksome vistas without consequence. The Sword Resplendent offers no protection from the directed actions of the shades of the Underworld, nor from especially hostile environments, such as lakes of boiling blood or drowning in the tempest tossed sea of shadows.
Preservation of Resolve
Cost: 1m; Mins: Integrity 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Design
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sword has gone so far, she no longer feels; no matter how fatigued or worn down, she keeps going. The Sidereal ignore all penalties from pain and fatigue to her Resolve and Guile for one tick.
An Essence 3 repurchase allows her to spend 5 motes and 1 willpower to extend the duration to indefinite. When this is done, omens will warn of the iron-hearted woman she has become.
Bloodied But Unbowed
Cost: -; Mins: Integrity 2, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sword is relentless. She does not allow the destruction of her body to act as proof against her inevitability. The Sidereal may accept a second crippling injury in order to reduce incoming damage per story. She may repurchase Bloodied But Unbowed to accept a third injury during a story.
She may not accept two crippling injuries of the same degree during the same story; if she has already lost an eye for 2 health levels, she cannot lose half a foot for another 2.
In Life As In Death
Cost: - (5m, 1wp); Mins: Integrity 3, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Preservation of Resolve or Tears of the Blade
The living flow like water, the dead are as fixed as stone; the Sword is all that separates the two. When the Sidereal is exposed to the twisting power of the Wyld or the ruinous corruption of Hell, she asserts her eternal unchanging existence with In Life As In Death by spending 5 motes and 1 willpower. Upon doing so, her body, mind and equipment become proof against being altered by such environmental twisting powers. This does not save her against directed efforts by the residents of such environs, nor does it protect her from the consequence of the environment itself. The Sidereal may be assured that her blade will not transform into a snake and that her senses remain faithful, but these will be cold comfort when the ground becomes as lava or she is blinded by a terrible emerald radiance.
Tears of the Blade
Cost: 3m; Mins: Integrity 2, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Bloodied But Unbowed or In Life As In Death
Warriors dream of death on the battlefield, covered in glory; but Saturn takes the greater part of them feverish and weak from sepsis and infection. The Sidereal imbues a decisive hand-to-hand attack with this pustulent essence; if she inflicts at least one level of lethal damage, her victim is exposed to an especially virulent infection. Treat this as being exposed to a normal infected wounds, save with a Virulence of (Integrity) and a Morbidity of (Essence). Washing with alcohol and purging with fire will not prevent this sepsis, and even the Exalted are susceptible to it, although they are still proof against death from illness. The patient may also have the infected limb amputated; if this is done quickly, it requires a crippling injury worth a number of health levels equal to (Essence).
At Essence 3, the Sidereal may spend 3 motes and 1 willpower to enhance a ranged attack with Tears of the Blade.
Only Fools Hope
Cost: 1m; Mins: Integrity 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: In Life As In Death
The Sword does not let her hopes or feelings stand in her way; she does what she must, and only fools place hope in her mercy. The Sidereal who uses Only Fools Hope may ignore an intimacy or inspiration for one tick, save for the Paradox you incur for acting against a Defining intimacy. An intimacy ignored in this fashion is numbed until the Sidereal takes an action or has an experience which reminds her of it; while numb, it cannot be used for any purpose. Only Fools Hope does not inherently weaken the intimacy.
Passion's Dying Embers
Cost: 5m; Mins: Integrity 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Only Fools Hope or Waste Life
Minstrels sing of stealing the dead back from the grave, of persuading Saturn to delay her hand for the sake of love. The Sidereal knows the truth of things, and crushes those embers of passion when they flare. She may spend 5 motes in lieu of a willpower to resist a successful inspire, instill or persuade action based on emotion. To resist a persuade action, she still must enter a decision point by means of an appropriate intimacy and justification.
Smiling at the Damned
Cost: 5m, 1a; Mins: Integrity 2, Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only, Mute, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Tears of the Blade
Nothing moves the heart of the Sword, neither pity, nor sorrow, nor love. But she can take a certain grim satisfaction in a job well done, and a cutting away of what has reached the end. The Sidereal who uses Smiling at the Damned fills her weapon with a portion of her anima, causing it to burn with Saturn's deep violet light before striking home. Reduce her damage dice in half, but her attack ignores Hardness and inflicts aggravated damage, and she uses the same target number for her damage roll as she did for her attack. Smiling at the Damned cannot be used on a ranged attack.
Waste Life
Cost: 7m, 3a; Mins: Integrity 3, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Smiling at the Damned or Passion's Dying Embers
The burning aura of the Sidereal is snuffed out in a moment; in the sudden wash of darkness, she unleashes a cloud of illness. Enemies out to Medium range are exposed to leprosy, with a Virulence of (Essence) and a Morbidity of (Integrity).
With a repurchase, the Sidereal may instead spread consumption instead of leprosy.
Terminate Illness
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Integrity 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Passion's Dying Embers
All things end, and this includes times of sickness. When all else seems lost, some doctors will pray to Saturn to end the suffering of their patients, one way or another. With a deft cutting motion, the Sidereal bring an end to sickness. Make an (Intelligence + Integrity) roll against a difficulty of twice the target illness' morbidity; if you are successful, the victim immediately recovers. You may only attempt to terminate a specific illness once per patient- if you fail, Saturn retains her hold.
Cutting Away Dreams
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Integrity 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Terminate Illness or The Sword Descends
The Sword does not end lives; she ends what makes life worth living. The Sidereal delivers a decisive hand-to-hand attack with Cutting Away Dreams; if it is successful, it cleaves away her victim's beliefs instead of her body. She subtracts the victim's Resolve from her decisive damage before rolling, then spends the levels as follows:
* With one point of damage, she may eliminate a minor intimacy.
* With two points of damage, she may weaken a major intimacy to being minor.
* With three points of damage, she may weaken a defining intimacy to being major.
She may target the same intimacy multiple times; for example, spending two points of damage to weaken a major intimacy to a minor, and then a third point of damage to eliminate the intimacy entirely.
She distributes the damage across any number of known or suspected intimacies. If she attempts to cut away an intimacy which doesn't exist, the damage is simply wasted.
The victim may choose to retain the intimacy by taking an additional point of damage beyond that which is spent by the Sidereal to cut away the intimacy. For example, if the Sidereal were cutting a major intimacy to minor for 2 points, the victim could choose to take 3 points of damage to prevent this. The Sidereal may target an intimacy her victim protects multiple times; resolve these one at a time.
Lambs Being Slaughtered
Cost: 1wp; Mins: Integrity 3, Essence 4
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Waste Life
The Sidereal learns to draw sustenance from the broken will and final moments of soldiers dying in the field. When a battle group routs, she may spend 1 willpower to use Lambs Being Slaughtered and gain 1 mote per Size of the battle group before it began the rout. For the remainder of the scene, she also gains 1 mote each time a battle group employs the slaughter action against a broken unit.
The Sword Descends
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Integrity 4, Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Lambs Being Slaughtered or Cutting Away Dreams
The Sidereal knows that the Sword is but a tool used to bring the end; it matters not what hand holds the blade when it falls. She makes a decisive hand-to-hand attack against her target, adding her attack's threshold successes to her damage dice. The attack deals no damage; instead, for a number of turns equal to the successes on the damage roll, her victim increases the target number of all rolls they make by one, become unable to gain initiative apart from resetting back to base after making a successful decisive attack. Anyone who acts against him reduces their target number by 1, and gains an additional non-charm success on attack and damage rolls.
The Sword Descends may only be applied against a target once per scene, but may be used multiple times against different targets within the same scene.
Accepting the End
Cost: 1wp; Mins: Integrity 5, Essence 4
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Decisive-only, Prayer Strip, Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Cutting Away Dreams or The Sword Descends
The Sidereal knows that she is not exempt from Saturn's blade; one day, it must fall for her as well, but she can ensure that when it does, she does not face her end alone. When an enemy at close range makes a decisive attack against her, she may activate Accepting The End. Doing so sets her defense and hardness to 0 against the attack, and adds her attacker's successes to the damage roll. She gains initiative equal to twice the successes on the damage roll; she gains no initiative against an attack dealing uncountable damage. Painting the Scripture of the Expectant Maiden with her blood, she readies a counterstroke for her next action. Until her next action, she cannot be killed or rendered unconscious, regardless of any amount of damage she takes or what effects she is exposed to. On her next action, she makes two decisive hand-to-hand attack against her attacker, using her full initiative + (Integrity) as the damage pool for both attacks.
In the event she survives, the Sidereal cannot use Accepting the End again in the same scene.
INVESTIGATION : THE KEY
THE SCRIPTURE OF THAT OLD THING
Once, there was that old thing…
…that wasn’t like a shadow, because you could see it too well.
…and that wasn’t like a light, because it didn’t make flowers grow.
So, it had to be a maiden, but she didn’t mind.
“To know the world is to love it,” said she.
The Key Resplendent
Cost: - ; Mins: Investigation 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
While wearing a Resplendent Destiny of the Key, the Sidereal no longer needs to eat or sleep while actively working on an extended scholarly undertaking, such as an Investigation, Lore, or Bureaucracy project. She treats such work as being restful for the purposes of healing and regenerating Essence. Additionally, if she forgoes sleep, she regains one Willpower each night as Jupiter rises in the sky during such labors.
Clockwork Soul Style
Cost: -; Mins: Investigation 2, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal gains a deep affinity with automata and mechanical devices; when she successfully creates or repairs one, gain (Essence) additional crafting experience points of the appropriate type for the project.
Disassembly of Gears
Cost: 4m, 1wp; Mins: Investigation 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One task
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Key to unlocking some mysteries relies on breaking them to their smallest parts in order to reassemble them. Disassembly of Gears allows the Sidereal to do exactly that; with a few moments of time and with no need for tools, she may reduce a complex mechanism to it's component parts with no damage to those individual pieces.
Disassembly of Gears does not reduce an object to its raw materials; a door will be reduced to a large slab of wood, a handle, and hinges, while a sword made from a single cast is already it's only component.
Disassembling a relatively mundane object from the present age requires minutes; disassembling an inactive First Age Artifact may take several hours, and for especially monumental works, may require multiple invocations. The Sidereal gets an idea of the scale of the task when they begin.
Research Assistant Inquisition
Cost: 3m; Mins: Investigation 4, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Key needs able assistants in her work, and the Sidereal becomes adept at rapidly evaluating the qualifications of potential aides. Research Assistant Inquisition supplements a Read Intentions action; with a successful action, she may learn one of the following, plus one for each threshold success on the roll; the target's Intelligence, Wits, Lore, Bureaucracy, Investigation, or Medicine ratings are; what specialties he has in Bureaucracy, Investigation, Medicine or Lore; if he has an appropriate Lore specialization or backstory to address a given question or task.
Efficient Secretary Technique
Cost: 1m; Mins: Investigation 2, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One question
Prerequisite Charms: None
A least spirit of the Loom attaches itself to the Sidereal's destiny, ready, willing and able to answer any question it can assist with. In order to make use of Efficient Secretary Technique, the Sidereal must summon her spirit with a mote of Essence, calling it to her and allowing it to manifest. The spirit is eager and helpful, and capable of answering any question which is known by at least one hundred mortal individuals within Creation. The spirit cannot answer questions where the knowledge has been lost, or is known but being actively concealed.
The appearance of the spirit varies from Sidereal to Sidereal; the Chosen of Secrets most often receive a green spider, while the Chosen of Endings more often receive a violet raven; Journeys typically receive a yellow hare, Serenity typically receive a blue butterfly, and Battles typically receive a scarlet owl. In any event, the spirit will almost always bear green eyes, and assume the form of an animal capable of fitting in the Sidereal's hand or upon their wrist.
The spirit is incapable of combat and, if struck, will immediately vanish back to Heaven until it is called again.
Unknown Purpose Illuminated
Cost: 7m; Mins: Investigation 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Clockwork Soul Style
By bathing an artifact or other construct of uncertain purpose and function in the light of her caste mark, the Sidereal gains a clear understanding of why it was originally used. Unknown Purpose Illuminated does not reveal how the artifact was used for this purpose, or what it's present purpose, if any, may be. Using Unknown Purpose Illuminated will always result in the Sidereal's anima rising to Glowing if it is presently Dim, regardless of the use of personal motes, unless she wears a Destiny of the Key.
Rust and Ruin Breath
Cost: 2m; Mins: Investigation 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Uniform
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Disassembly of Gears
In ages past, legions of automata were raised as fearless and merciless soldiers; the Sidereal's understanding of the principles that animate them extends to their destruction, enhancing her attacks with Rust and Ruin Breath. When she strikes an automation, she reduces the target number of her damage rolls by 2.
Since the fall of Thorns, members of the Five-Score Fellowship have been coming into conflict more and more with bizarre constructs of bone, animate flesh and dark magic- many of which seem to somehow draw on the same principles that power automata. Rust and Ruin Breath may be used to enhance attacks against necromantic automations, but only reduces the target number for damage rolls by 1 instead of 2.
The Libraries of Heaven
Cost: 4m; Mins: Investigation 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One book
Prerequisite Charms: Efficient Secretary Technique
In the Forbidding Manse of Ivy survives a copy of every book written in Creation. By using the Libraries of Heaven, the Sidereal may requisition a copy of any scroll, book or other written documentation intended for later reading that she can name or otherwise uniquely identify. She may only keep a single book at a time, and the motes remain committed from the moment of the request until the book is returned. If a book borrowed from the Libraries of Heaven leaves her possession, it will vanish, returning to the Libraries upon the next morning.
Requisitioning books written since the Contagion requires (7 - Essence) hours; requisitioning books from the Shogunate requires (7 - Essence) days; requisitioning books from before the Usurpation requires (7 - Essence) weeks.
After requesting a book with the Libraries of Heaven, the Sidereal cannot use Efficient Secretary Technique- the spirit is off searching for your book, or bearing it swiftly back.
Aspect of the Cat
Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Investigation 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute, Psyche, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Satisfaction may be what brings the cat back, but it is curiosity that kills it. The Sidereal inspires curiosity in their target that exceeds all bounds of reason and sense. Aspect of the Cat enhances an Inspire action intended to inspire curiosity about someone or something. If successful, it costs 3 willpower to resist instead of 1, and can be leveraged as a Defining intimacy instead of a Major for the scene. After the scene ends, a lingering Minor Principle to learn more about the subject remains, but it has no enduring magical component.
All-Knowing Doctor's Mien
Cost: 4m, 1wp; Mins: Investigation 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal drapes the arrogant correctness of a learned doctor or teacher upon her shoulders, informing the world that she knows best. When she treats illness, poison or injury, she may substitute Investigation for Medicine and Lore. If she wears the Destiny of the Key when using All-Knowing Doctor's Mien, she also converts any stunt dice on Medicine, Lore or Investigation rolls into successes.
Anyone who has a Medicine or Lore ability higher than the Sidereal's knows that something is wrong, but cannot place their finger on exactly what unless she fails a roll in his presence- in which case, they recognize the Sidereal is bluffing and drawing on subtle observations for their chicanery.
Marvelous Inclusion of Details
Cost: 4m; Mins: Investigation 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Resplendent
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Research Assistant Inquisition
In the light of the Key are secrets revealed. The Sidereal may instantly assemble all the relevant information, allowing her to take a case scene or read intentions action in an instant. If she wears the Destiny of the Key, she adds (Essence) dice on her roll. She may not use Marvelous Inclusion of Details on the same person more than once per scene.
Sure and Certain Wrongness
Cost: 3m or 5m; Mins: Investigation 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: All-Knowing Doctor's Mien
Fools will break a lock with the wrong Key before admitting their error; such foolish stubbornness can sometimes be put to good use. Sure and Certain Wrongness may be used to enhance a belief that the Sidereal or someone else holds; in the former case, it costs 3 motes, in the later, 5 motes. To use Sure and Certain Wrongness on another, the Sidereal must beat her target's Resolve with a (Manipulation + Investigation) roll.
So long as the she maintains the effect, any instill, inspire or persuade action which would contradict the belief may be treated as an unacceptable order. This does not create or compel any other behavior- it is possible for someone to maintain an existing friendship they have with a specific Dynast, even as they are enchanted to know that all Dynasts are horrible monsters. Any horoscopes cast on the target while she maintains the effect will reflect their fixed nature upon the belief in question.
An individual may only be under the effect of a single application of Sure and Certain Wrongness at a time; fault beyond that belongs to the individual, not the stars.
Someone Else's Problem
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Investigation 3, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Aspect of the Cat
Casting a handful of emerald stardust over an object no larger than she could carry, the Sidereal ensures that the object will go unnoticed. She rolls (Intelligence + Investigation); anyone with a Resolve of less than her successes will find the enchanted object unremarkable and ignore it, presuming it to be another's responsibility.
If the enchanted item is used to take violent action or prevents what should be a trivial act- such as being forced to ignore a door that is the only exit from a room -the effect breaks for the subject immediately. Likewise, if the subject has a Major or Defining Intimacy about the enchanted object, or someone audibly points out the presence or something unusual about the object, then he may spend 1 Willpower to break the effect.
Someone Else's Problem does not make things seem to vanish, merely to be aggressively unremarkable and unworthy of investigation.
Locking Away Truth
Cost: 15m; Mins: Investigation 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Written-only, Design
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Rust and Ruin Breath, Sure and Certain Wrongness
It is within the remit of the Key to censor knowledge which has been deemed too dangerous; the Sidereal takes the duty of locking away truths which Creation is not ready for. She may edit any book she holds, and change every other copy in Creation to match, altering or concealing meaning as she wishes. The original text always remains available but encoded; it may be discovered by those she deems worthy- or those with the patience to break the code. Breaking the code is an extended (Intelligence + Linguistics) roll, with a difficulty of (Investigation), a goal number of (Essence x 10), and an interval of one month.
Certain magics may automatically break the cipher and reveal the original message; such powers cost an additional willpower to use, but are otherwise unimpeded.
Copies of a book stored in specially warded vaults of glass and starmetal may remain untouched, as will any copy of a book outside of Creation at the time Locking Away Truth is used.
After using Locking Away Truth, the Sidereal does not regain the motes spent at a normal rate; instead, they return at a rate of one per month. During this time, astrologers may notice a new star in the constellation of the Key, which fades to nothingness over the course of time.
Slumbering Knowledge Osmosis
Cost: 1m; Mins: Investigation 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Someone Else's Problem, Unknown Purpose Illuminated
Sidereals often need to rapidly assimilate knowledge; for some, the easiest way to do so is to get a good night's sleep. By sleeping overnight with a book as her pillow, the Sidereal gains a comprehensive knowledge of the book's contents. She may only keep a single book in her head at a time.
Provable Locations of the Gate
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Investigation 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Marvelous Inclusion of Details, The Libraries of Heaven
In Heaven there are many doors; most are fixed and bound to Creation in only a handful of known places. The Calibration Gate, however, is forever moving along a winding path across the face of the world, one impossible to predict or control- save by the Sidereal Exalted. By taking a five minute dramatic action to sketch some calculations out, she proves that a doorway designated within eyesight will be the Calibration Gate To Heaven until the end of the scene, and so it will be.
Embracing Life Method
Cost: 10m, 1wp, 1lhl; Mins: Investigation 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Prayer Strip
Duration: Five days
Prerequisite Charms: At least 2 of Slumbering Knowledge Osmosis, Provable Locations of the Gate, or Locking Away Truth
The Sidereal dots a stone with her blood, and then wraps it with a prayer strip marked with the Scripture of That Old Thing, planting it while whispering a question. Over the course of five days, a mulberry bush will grow; each day the bush remains undisturbed, a silken lotus flower will bloom, with a clue or insight into the answer to her question.
The Sidereal may disturb the bush early if she wishes to gain the answers sooner, but doing so ends the effect and limits the number of answers received.
LARCENY : THE GUARDIANS
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE SAVORY MAIDEN
Once, there was a maiden…
…who ate 236 leaves. She had to, because otherwise she’d forget where she came from, and that would make everyone very sad or, possibly, very happy.
She found herself in a woods full of monsters, impelled toward their cook pot. “Do you want to cook me?” she asked. “Or do you just think that’s where maidens belong?”
There was a crack in the cook pot’s bottom that let in the sky.
She started to squirm through the crack, but then, she saw that the clouds carried chains and the wind was their manacles.
As the monsters pulled her back, she called to the stones and she called to the sky, but it was the night that came to her aid; and, in the night, fire and pain. “Why should you help me?” she asked.
“To know the world is to serve it,” they said.
The Guardian Resplendent
Cost: - ; Mins: Larceny 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
While wearing any Resplendent Destiny of the Guardian, the Sidereal becomes wise to the ways of the con. She instinctively can tell when someone is attempting to duplicitously take advantage of her. This does not change her Resolve or Intimacies; even a known lie may be preferred to the truth; the Sidereal is simply never unknowingly taken in.
Wisdom of the Dirt
Cost: 6m; Mins: Larceny 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute, Resplendent, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Creation holds many secret wisdoms, known only to those who work the soil and listen to the wind, and the Sidereal knows them all. When introducing or challenging a fact related to superstitions, she gains an automatic success and is always considered to have an appropriate background for such. If she is in the Destiny of the Guardian, she may convert any stunt dice for such actions into successes before rolling them.
Tricking Tricksters Technique
Cost: 2m; Mins: Larceny 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
It is a truism that you cannot cheat an honest man, but it is far more dangerous to try and trick a trickster. When someone attempts to con or deceive the Sidereal, she may turn their deception back against them; the next social influence action using Manipulation she takes against the con artist in the scene reduces their Resolve and Guile by one, and by an additional one for each 1 they rolled on their action. If she is in the Destiny of the Guardian, instead reduce their Resolve and Guile by one for each 1 or 2 they rolled.
Avoiding the Truth Technique
Cost: 2m; Mins: Larceny 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Psyche
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: At least two of Wisdom of the Dirt, Tricking Tricksters Technique, Closed Eyes Open, or Talisman-Making Touch
One of the hardest lessons the Guardians teach is this; people do not want to believe what is obvious, and will deny an unpleasant truth in favor of a lie they tell themselves. By using Avoiding the Truth Technique, a Sidereal may tell someone a plain truth, and have it sound like a lie. She may pitch it as a half-truth, a bald lie, a lie from nerves, a lie of omission, or any other form of deception she wants- the listener will only know that the truth is not what they heard.
Those who have independent reason to believe the truth- for example, prior evidence, a defining intimacy that the truth supports, or magics like Judge's Ear Technique -may spend (Essence) Willpower to recognize the truth when they hear it.
Closed Eyes Open
Cost: -; Mins: Larceny 1, Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Guardian sometimes appears to sleep, but do not be deceived; she is always watching. The Sidereal with Closed Eyes Open remains aware of their surroundings even when drugged, asleep or unconscious, and may use charms to enhance her Investigation and Awareness actions to learn about those surroundings. Closed Eyes Open does not ensure the Sidereal will notice a particular detail; those with sufficient stealth may still pass by unseen and unheard. Likewise, it does not reduce penalties she would suffer from concealing darkness, blindfolds, or deafening noise- only that she is treated as awake and aware for what she will perceive and remember.
Talisman-Making Touch
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Larceny 2, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One project
Prerequisite Charms: None
City-dwellers will mock the country farmer, hiding smirks behind hands while attempting to cheat an honest man with false wards. But the Sidereal knows that not all talismans are fake, and hold the secret to creating efficacious works. She may create a Talisman (pg 580) that is effective at most once a scene as a basic project; such Talismans most often take the shape of prayer strips or small wooden figures of various divinities.
An Essence 2 repurchase allows her to make more durable Talismans as a Major Project. They will be effective up to (Essence) times per scene, and typically consist of silver or iron holy symbols, small stone wards inlaid with jade, or a seal of the Unconquered Sun in beaten gold.
Mark Evaluating Glance
Cost: 3m; Mins: Larceny 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Suitable
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: At least two of Wisdom of the Dirt, Tricking Tricksters Technique, Closed Eyes Open, or Talisman-Making Touch
The most important part of any con is picking the right mark. The Sidereal needs to know how her victim will react before the victim himself. When she supplements a profile character action with Mark Evaluating Glance, for the remainder of the scene, you may learn if your victim will apply their Resolve or spend willpower against a given instill, inspire or persuade action, assuming the action is successful.
At Essence 4, she also learns if the victim will accept a particular bargain or threat before making it- again, assuming the action is successful.
Pho Cart Methodology
Cost: 5m; Mins: Larceny 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One week
Prerequisite Charms: At least two of Wisdom of the Dirt, Tricking Tricksters Technique, Closed Eyes Open, or Talisman-Making Touch
The Sidereal can set up a small established business in a town. This business will neither make or lose money; residents will patronize the business as if it has always been present. At the end of the charm's duration, the business will vanish and the town's inhabitants will forget it existed. At Essence 4, she can spend an additional 2 motes when activating Pho Cart Methodology to extend the duration to Indefinite.
Artistry of the Great Con
Cost: 3m; Mins: Larceny 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: At least two of Avoiding the Truth Technique, Mark Evaluating Glance, Pho Cart Methodology, or Omen-Crafting Trade
The Guardian never speaks save to those it knows will believe him. The Sidereal may use Artistry of the Great Con as a read intentions action, to learn what it would take for the victim to believe something she tells them. This will not give her a precise script, but will describe the general idea and conditions that fostering such belief would require.
Four Fools Misfortune
Cost: 5m; Mins: Larceny 3, Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: At least two of Avoiding the Truth Technique, Mark Evaluating Glance, Pho Cart Methodology, or Omen-Crafting Trade
Everyone grows up hearing certain truisms- proper ways to behave, inauspicious things to do or say. Most outgrow these superstitions, but they plant deep roots and are not easily shaken. The Sidereal may enhance a instill or persuade action, drawing on a superstitious beliefs of her victim's native or adopted home and treating any intimacy they have towards such as being one step higher. If they have no relevant intimacy, she may treat them as having an appropriate minor intimacy.
Omen-Crafting Trade
Cost: 7m; Mins: Larceny 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: At least two of Wisdom of the Dirt, Tricking Tricksters Technique, Closed Eyes Open, or Talisman-Making Touch
The Sidereal knows that most so-called omens are nothing of the sort. The actions of cats and birds, the shapes of clouds and tea leaves, the taste of the wind and the spilling of salt bear no deeper meaning. However, it can be very useful to capitalize on those whom don't know better. By using Omen-Crafting Trade, the Sidereal may take a five minute dramatic action to set up a variety of superstition fulfilling omens around a person or place, indicating whatever she intends to be conveyed. Any instill or inspire action she takes which takes advantage of these superstitions converts stunt dice to successes and, once per story, allows a free use of her Presence, Performance, Socialize or Larceny Excellency.
So long as she maintains her commitment to Omen-Crafting Trade, she also dictates at least one thing that the target’s horoscope will portend.
Lazy Works Smart Style
Cost: 5m; Mins: Larceny 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One project
Prerequisite Charms: At least two of Avoiding the Truth Technique, Mark Evaluating Glance, Pho Cart Methodology, or Omen-Crafting Trade
No one ever sees the Guardian work, and yet the work manages to get done. The Sidereal knows the trick to hard work, and how fine the boundary between genius and indolence can be; she may use Lazy Works Smart Style to enhance any Basic or Major project. The work will be done, and to her credit, without her needing to be personally involved. The project is not completed any faster than normal, and still relies on the Sidereal's crafting ability and materials, but she is not shackled to the forge while casting a sword, or stuck pulling a plow in a field. She may only have one project under way with Lazy Works Smart Style at a time.
Thief of Time
Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Larceny 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: At least two of Avoiding the Truth Technique, Mark Evaluating Glance, Pho Cart Methodology, or Omen-Crafting Trade
Time is the great thief, and one against whom the Guardian is helpless. She takes youth, strength and beauty- in return, leaving only empty memories and brittle bones. The Sidereal may make the sign of the Guardian Descendant against someone to steal some of their remaining time. This is a (Dexterity + Larceny) action, with a difficulty of the target's (Awareness) to complete without their attention being attracted; it is too delicate to be performed in the chaos of combat. If successful, she steals one year of the victim's remaining span, plus an additional year for each threshold success. Each stolen year manifests as a small pouch of green and purple powder, which may be brewed into a dose of Age-Staving Cordial (pg 579).
An individual who has their last year stolen will pass away quietly the next time they fall asleep. Thief of Time is ineffective against the Exalted, or ageless beings such as most spirits. While it can be used on animals, the cordial produced is only efficacious for another animal of the same species. This may be enough for some Sidereals; there are stories of Chejop having had a cat older than the Realm, and senior members of the Bronze Faction caution new recruits not to bring the matter up.
Conning Chaos Technique
Cost: 10m; 15m, 1wp, 2xp; Mins: Larceny 5, Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Design, Prayer Strip
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: At least two of Artistry of the Great Con, Four Fools Misfortune, Lazy Works Smart Style, or Thief of Time
The oldest cons are sometimes the best, and there is none older than the trick played at the foundation of the world. The Sidereal marks a prayer strip with the Scripture of the Savory Maiden, and then plants it on her mark while committing 10 motes. The mark must be aware of the prayer strip, but need not be told of its true purpose. The Sidereal then activates Conning Chaos Technique, trading a portion of her mark's destiny for a portion of the Wyld's substance. While the mark lives, holds the prayer strip, and resides in Creation but not upon the Blessed Isle, they become the pea in a shell game the Sidereal plays against the Wyld.
For each month past the first roll a single die and subtract the number of months which have already elapsed.
8+: No response
7: A small group of relatively weak wyld-kin, such as hobgoblins or pumpkin-men, are attracted to the mark. They will not necessarily be violent, but will be easily provoked.
6: A singular, more powerful member of the Fair Folk is drawn to the mark. Again, they will not necessarily be violent, but are likely to incite trouble purely by their presence. Additionally, the mark suffers from 2 points of Backlash, distributed between Causality Violations and Madness.
5-4: A party of hobgoblins and hunting beasts, led by a Fair Folk noble, is dispatched to bring the mark back to the Wyld with them. Additionally, the mark suffers from 4 points of Backlash, distributed between Causality Violations and Madness.
3-2: A host of Faerie will set their sights upon the mark; claiming him is their fondest wish and sole obsession. Additionally, the mark suffers from 6 points of Backlash, distributed between Causality Violations and Madness.
1: A wild storm will scour the area around the mark, tainting the land and drawing it towards the bordermarches of the Wyld. Additionally, the mark suffers from 8 points of Backlash, distributed between Causality Violations and Madness.
At any time, the Sidereal may claim the prayer strip back. This releases the captured motes and allows her to finish the game against Chaos. For each month of accumulated time, to a maximum of (Essence + 3), the Sidereal gains a phase of ability to bring the Wyld into Creation, lasting approximately one minute. This is treated as the Solar charm Wyld-Shaping Technique (pg 335), save as follows; the difficulty is fixed at 5 and does not increase across multiple phases, the cost of each roll is fixed at 15m, 1wp and 2xp per roll, and use of Conning Chaos Technique does not provoke an encounter roll per phase, as the Sidereal has directed the Wyld's attention away from her and to the mark. This distraction is of limited duration, and only holds for the next month. To begin the shaping, she must enter the Middlemarches, facing into the Deep Wyld, and present the prayer strip, which begins to smolder with green flame, hanging in the air. It is consumed and the effects end when the Sidereal realizes her design, if she exhausts her final phase, if the Sidereal fails any shaping rolls, if she is rendered incapacitated while in the Wyld, or if she is forced to depart before realizing their vision.
While her mark holds the prayer strip, their destiny will be in wild flux- predictions of madness and ill omens dog their heels one day, and the next, prophecies of greatness and unearned luck. His star is unmoored; he cannot be affected by Astrological Projections during this time.
The Sidereal cannot be their own mark, but the mark may have the consequences of holding the prayer strip explained to him- the more the mark knows, the more he thinks he's in control.
LINGUISTICS : THE PILLAR
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE BRIDE
Once, there was a maiden…
…who fled a shadow, in the company of a friend.
They traveled through strange places, and among strange people.
“How can you trust me,” he asked, “with such horror behind you?”
“Love endures,” she said.
The Pillar Resplendent
Cost: - ; Mins: Linguistics 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
Many Resplendent Destinies tacitly inform Creation of a familial relationship between the Sidereal and others, but those who wear a Resplendent Destiny of the Pillar gain such a relationship in truth. While she wears such a Destiny, the Sidereal may establish direct blood relationships between herself and up to (Essence + Linguistics) other individuals, as are appropriate by the Destiny woven, and is always considered the superior relative. She may not establish a direct blood relationship with any member of the Incarnae, the Yozi or their directly descendant souls, or anyone who has a permanent Essence greater than her own.
--Sidebar: Blood relatives--
Bonds of friendship and oaths of fealty are potent things, but no one can escape the gravity exerted by one’s family. Direct blood relatives include grandparents, parents, aunts & uncles, niblings, siblings (half and full), children, and grandchildren. Indirect blood relatives include anyone who is direct relative to one of your direct relatives, but is not himself a direct relative to you. For example, cousins are indirect relatives, as they are the children of my aunt or uncle- a direct relative of a direct relative, whom you otherwise share no direct link.
Someone is your superior relative if they are both a direct relative and older; someone is your inferior relative if you are there superior. Indirect relatives are not superior or inferior to one another.
In the case of ageless or immortal blood relatives, including other Sidereals who have also adopted a Destiny of the Pillar or individuals over one thousand years old, superiority is instead determined by permanent Essence.
--End Sidebar--
Know The Soul’s Place
Cost: 5m; Mins: Linguistics 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Here is a truth; there is no proper order to people or things, but by repeating the lie that there is, we may make society possible. The Sidereal may enhance a Profile Character action to know what someone's role and relative status in society is, as well as how he feels about his place and status in society. She learns if he the revolutionary is quietly content with the status quo, or if the seemingly broken servant longs to upturn the social order.
In The Blood
Cost: 1m; Mins: Linguistics 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Here is a truth; ties of blood are the Pillar upon which Creation stands. By using In The Blood, a Sidereal may taste someone's blood and get a vision of each of their immediate living blood relatives, as well as any name that he knows them by.
At Essence 3, she also gains a vision of any living people whom he holds a positive tie of friendship or loyalty towards.
Sisters In Truth
Cost: 1m/person; Mins: Linguistics 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Know the Soul's Place, In the Blood
Here is a truth; two whom hold each other in mutual regard, or whom have made space in their hearts for a common soul, are closer than many sisters of blood. By clasping hands in a circle, she may temporarily treat up to (Essence) additional individuals as blood relatives for the remainder of the scene. Additionally, any language the Sidereal knows becomes known to each of her temporary siblings.
Blood Will Tell
Cost: 3m (1lhl); Mins: Linguistics 5, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal may understand and be understood by anyone she shares a blood relationship with, even if they do not speak a common language. At Essence 3, she may communicate in secret; even someone who knows the languages of the Sidereal and her family will believe they are speaking on small or unimportant matters. At Essence 5, she may communicate without speaking; she and her family whom she can see may communicate purely mind to mind.
If she also knows Sisters in Truth, she may grant her new siblings these same benefits. Doing so increases the cost of Blood Will Tell by 1 point of lethal damage, as she bites her tongue or cuts her palm, applying the blood to both her hands before using Sisters in Truth.
Thicker Than Water
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Linguistics 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Here is a truth; the family formed from the blood of loyalty is more stable than those who share something as thin as the water of the womb. By using Thicker Than Water, the Sidereal may sanction this relationship as one of blood relatives. This is a five minute ritual, involving mutual shedding and mingling of blood by both parties. Thicker Than Water requires the presence and knowing consent of all parties. The Sidereal may include herself as one of the parties to be bound.
Equitable Partnership
Cost: 2m; Mins: Linguistics 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Sisters in Truth, Thicker Than Water
The Pillar stands upon this; together we have more than any of us have do separately. By using Equitable Partnership, the Sidereal can transfer up to (2 * Essence) motes of essence to a blood relative within Medium range. If she is Essence 3, she may activate Equitable Partnership to receive up to (Essence * 2) motes total from any number of blood relatives out to Medium range. Motes in excess of what can be held will dissipate after the holder's next action.
The Pillar breaks upon this; those closest to us can take our greatest treasures. With a second purchase of Equitable Partnership, the Sidereal may attempt to seize motes from a blood relative. She activates Equitable Partnership, and then rolls (Manipulation + Linguistics) against her target's Resolve, stealing motes equal to her threshold successes. Stolen motes come from the target's peripheral Essence pool first. In combat, attempting to use Equitable Partnership to steal motes is a difficulty 5 gambit. Equitable Partnership may only be used to steal motes from a given relative once per scene.
Unusual Gambit When using Equitable Partnership in combat to steal motes, the decisive attack is made with (Manipulation + Linguistics), and resisted by the target's Resolve. If the attack hits, use the initiative roll in place of the (Manipulation + Linguistics) roll to determine the number of motes stolen.
Uproot The Tree
Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Linguistics 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Know the Soul's Place, In the Blood
Strangers can share ties of blood, and enemies be bound in unwilling union. The Sidereal may use Uproot The Tree to break these ties. Doing so requires a five minute ritual as well as the presence and knowing consent of both parties. The Sidereal may include herself as one of the parties to be unbound.
Condescension of the Saints
Cost: 3m; Mins: Linguistics 4, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Uproot The Tree, Blood Will Tell
Better to be whipped than to endure a parent's shame; no armor wards against the guilt of a mother, nor shields bar the disappointment of a father. When the Sidereal is attempting to inspire guilt, remorse, regret, shame, or any similar emotions:
* If her target holds a minor positive tie towards her, she gains double 9s and her target must spend 2 Willpower to resist if the inspiration is successful
* If her target holds a major positive tie towards her or if she is an inferior blood relative, she gains double 8s and the target must spend 4 Willpower to resist if the inspiration is successful
* If her target holds a defining positive tie towards her or if she is a superior blood relative, she gains double 7s and the target cannot spend Willpower to resist the inspiration.
Across Time and Space
Cost: -; Mins: Linguistics 3, Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Stackable
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: At least one of Equitable Partnership, Comforting Matriarch Embrace, or Love Without Reward
Across the breadth of Creation and the span of history, family remains family. When she purchases Across Time and Space, the Sidereal increases the range of Equitable Partnership, Comforting Matriarch Embrace and Love Without Reward by one range band. At Essence 5, she may purchase Across Time and Space a second and final time.
Comforting Matriarch Embrace
Cost: 7m; Mins: Linguistics 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Sisters in Truth, Thicker Than Water
The Pillar stands upon this; together we can endure more than any of us can endure separately. By using Comforting Matriarch Embrace, the Sidereal can transfer up to (Essence) temporary Willpower to a blood relative within Short range. At Essence 4, she may activate Comforting Matriarch Embrace to instead receive up to (Essence) temporary Willpower total from any number of blood relatives out to Short range. She may explicitly grant temporary Willpower in excess of her target's maximum Willpower, but cannot receive temporary Willpower past her own maximum.
The Pillar breaks upon this; those whom we open our hearts towards can shatter us most easily. With a second purchase of Comforting Matriarch Embrace, she may attempt to seize willpower from a blood relative. She activates Comforting Matriarch Embrace, and then rolls (Charisma + Linguistics) against her target's Resolve; if she overcomes his Resolve, she steals one temporary Willpower. For every three successes beyond, she steals another. Stolen temporary Willpower can explicitly exceed the Sidereal's maximum Willpower. In combat, attempting to use Comforting Matriarch Embrace to steal willpower is a difficulty 5 gambit. Comforting Matriarch Embrace may only be used to steal temporary Willpower from a given relative once per scene.
Unusual Gambit When using Comforting Matriarch Embrace in combat to steal temporary willpower, the decisive attack is made with (Charisma + Linguistics), and resisted by the target's Resolve. If the attack hits, use the initiative roll in place of the (Charisma + Linguistics) roll to determine the amount of temporary Willpower stolen.
Blue Vervain Binding (Death at the Root)
Cost: 3m; Mins: Linguistics 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Thicker Than Water, Uproot the Tree
Parents and children alike in Creation know this; no one chooses their family. But the Sidereal knows otherwise; Blue Vervain Binding allows the Sidereal to adopt someone as a blood relative without needing their consent. Doing so still requires a ritual mingling of blood, requiring that both she and her target have suffered at least 1 point of lethal damage. This will also require touching the target; outside of combat, this can typically be accomplished with a (Dexterity + Brawl or Martial Arts) against difficulty (target's Awareness) action if they are unwilling, while during combat it is a difficulty 5 gambit that must be executed with an unarmed attack at close range. The enforced sisterhood lasts only until the end of the scene, whereupon it dissolves into the wind.
At Essence 4, the Sidereal may spend 1 willpower when activating Blue Vervain Binding to make the relationship permanent instead of dissolving at the end of the scene.
With a second purchase, the Sidereal may instead use Blue Vervain Binding to break a blood relationship with an unwilling party. Known as Death at the Root, this follows the same mechanics as Blue Vervain Binding, save that only one of the relatives needs to be present.
The Fear of God
Cost: 10m; Mins: Linguistics 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Uproot The Tree, Blood Will Tell
Mother is the name of God upon the lips of children, and the fear of God is taken with our first gasp of breath and drink of milk. When the Sidereal uses The Fear of God, for the remainder of the scene, everyone she can see, out to Long range must spend 1 temporary Willpower to speak against, threaten, or attack a superior blood relative. This cost must only be paid once per scene, but must be paid for each relative being defied.
Love Without Reward
Cost: 3m per health level, 1wp; Mins: Linguistics 5, Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Sisters in Truth, Thicker Than Water
The Pillar stands upon this; together we can survive what would kill any of us separately. By using Love Without Reward, the Sidereal can accept damage from a blood relative at Close range, healing up to (Essence) levels of damage and suffering a like amount of damage in return. She cannot heal aggravated damage by using Love Without Reward; the magical nature of the injury resist her efforts. At Essence 5, she may use Love Without Reward to accept healing from any number of blood relatives within Close range; when used in this fashion, she does not pay the motes until the amount of healing she will receive is known.
The Pillar breaks upon this; whom we share blood with can mostly easily shed our blood. With a second purchase of Love Without Reward, she may attempt to force her injuries upon blood relatives instead of receiving them. She activates Love Without Reward, and then rolls (Appearance + Linguistics) against her target's Resolve; if she overcomes his resolve, she transfers one point of damage from herself to her target. For every three successes beyond, she transfers another point of damage. In combat, attempting to use Love Without Reward to steal life is a difficulty 5 gambit. Love Without Reward may only be used to transfer damage upon a given relative once per scene.
Unusual Gambit When using Comforting Matriarch Embrace in combat to transfer damage to a relative, the decisive attack is made with (Appearance + Linguistics), and resisted by the target's Resolve. If the attack hits, use the initiative roll in place of the (Appearance + Linguistics) roll to determine the amount of damage transferred.
Lover's Oath
Cost: 25m, 2wp; Mins: Linguistics 5, Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design, Prayer Strip
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: At least 7 Linguistics Charms
At the conclusion of a one hour ceremony, the Sidereal takes a prayer strip marked with the Scripture of the Bride, twisting it to form two rings intertwined. The prayer strip bursts into a flash of pure blue flame, leaving behind a pair of starmetal rings, set with sapphires. Upon placing the rings on the bride and groom, the Sidereal enjoins them in a most profound union. These two people can freely share motes, willpower and health levels between one another- moreover, they cannot stop the other from taking the motes, willpower or health levels. They may also communicate without speaking as long as they can see one another.
Removing the ring invites the wrath of Venus; she does not enjoy seeing her sacred bond treated frivolously, and places her curse on the offending party. Treat this as violating an Eclipse caste oath, as well as permanently destroying the bond of the rings. This only occurs if the ring is removed voluntarily- if it removed by fell magic or having the offending finger unwillingly cut off, Venus' wrath is stayed. Nor do infidelity, treachery or even outright violence bring Venus' curse; it is only the voluntary removal of the blessed ring that does so.
An individual may give more than one Lover's Oath; each oath is represented by it's own ring, and binds them to only one pair at a time. A trio would require three Lover's Oaths to be invoked to fully commit all three to one another other, two at a time.
Anyone who examines the signs of either of the holders of the rings will see that their fate has been tightly intertwined with that of the other ring bearer; if Venus' curse has fallen upon them for removing the ring, the terrible fury of the Maiden of Serenity will also be plain.
A Sidereal may only create up to (Essence) pairs of rings at a time. They instinctively know if a pair has been destroyed, but not which pair or under what circumstances.
LORE : THE TREASURE TROVE
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN IN TERROR
Once, there was a maiden…
…who knew some things about a man. He didn’t like that, but he kissed her anyway.
She told him everything in her heart:
She whispered truths to him, but he didn’t care.
She whispered hopes to him, but he didn’t care.
She whispered her prayers, but heard only silence.
And she whispered her fear to him, but he didn’t care.
He looked upon her inner self, and the void met his eyes.
“To know the world is to fear it,” said he.
The Treasure Trove Resplendent
Cost: - ; Mins: Lore 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The profound learning of the Sidereal is undeniable; while her scholarly exterior may not meet conventional standards of beauty, her ferocious intellect makes up the difference. While she wears a Destiny of the Treasure Trove, she may substitute her Intelligence for her Appearance when dealing with any character who has at least Lore 1.
The Names of All Things
Cost: 1m; Mins: Lore 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Knowledge is the coin of the Trove, and the Sidereal is much enriched. She may use The Names of All Things to learn the true name or names of a person, place or thing. This most often sounds like an unintelligible garble which is all but impossible to record, but is immediately recognizable by anyone who hears it as referring to the distinct individual; anyone familiar with the target and hears the true name knows who is being referred to. Using someone's true name predisposes them towards the Sidereal, reducing his Resolve and Guile by 1 against her for the remainder of the scene.
Systematic Understanding of Everything
Cost: 1m; Mins: Lore 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design, Stackable
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
While she sleeps, the Sidereal's dreams are visited by tutelary spirits of the Treasure Trove, who whisper the secret truths of the world to her. She awakens with a new Lore specialty, which may only be used for introducing or challenging facts (Exalted pg. 237), and which she retains for as long as she maintains the motes to the charm. She may use Systematic Understanding of Everything up to (Essence) times, selecting a new specialty with each activation.
While the charm persists, her horoscope proclaims her expertise in the subjects of the specialties.
Sharing the Treasure
Cost: 1xp+; Mins: Lore 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The riches of enlightenment are meant to be shared, not hoarded and hidden away. When the Sidereal uses Sharing the Treasure, she may train a student in any attribute or ability, up to her own ability. When she does so, she spends experience equal to what the student would need to purchase the new rating from her own unspent experience total. Such training takes the normal amount of time (Exalted pg. 178). After using Sharing the Treasure, the Sidereal cannot benefit from experience-granting training charms used by another for the remainder of the story.
With a repurchase at Essence 2, she may also train her student in any non-Sidereal Martial Arts charm she knows and for which the student qualifies.
With a third and final repurchase at Essence 4, she may train her student in Sidereal Martial Arts charms she knows and for which the student qualifies.
The Sidereal has sole discretion over who may benefit from the experience points spent, and how they may be spent. At the conclusion of the story, she rolls a die for each experience point spent on Sharing the Treasure, and gains 1 experience point back for each success rolled. She may not regain more experience than she spent activating Sharing the Treasure in this fashion.
Privacy Enhancing Symbol
Cost: 10m; Mins: Lore 2, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The wealth of the Trove is earned through deliberate work and hard effort; the Sidereal may ensure that those who would cheat their way to enlightenment are suitably chastised. When she is being observed by an individual or individuals who are not materially present, the Sidereal feels a brief pricking pain in her thumbs and at the center of her forehead. She may activate Privacy Enhancing Symbol in response to this sensation, and rolls her (Charisma + Lore), gaining (Essence) automatic successes. Those spying on her see the sign of Jupiter briefly appear, and hear the crash of her distant thunder, informing them that the Sidereal's presence is now under the seal of the Maiden of Secrets. If they persist in their espionage, any spy who has a Resolve equal to or less than her successes is struck blind and deaf; their eyes glaze over with green cataracts, while their ears are filled with only the rumble of Jupiter's displeasure. Any immaterial spirits are also forced to materialize at no cost, falling prostrate with hands clapped over their ears.
Privacy Enhancing Symbol does not alert the Sidereal if someone is physically present and spying upon her, nor if a secret shared in confidence is confided to another.
Open the Third Eye
Cost: 1xp+; Mins: Lore 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
With a swift strike to the forehead, the Sidereal enlightens her target, revealing the truth of the stars to him. By using Open the Third Eye, she gifts her target with thaumaturgy (Exalted pg. 166) and the ritual Read the Tea Leaves (Exalted pg. 490). She may also allow them to purchase any other thaumaturgical ritual she knows and for which her student qualifies.
With a second purchase at Essence 3, she may also allow them to purchase any sorcerous spell she knows and for which the student qualifies.
The Sidereal has sole discretion over who may benefit from the experience points spent, and how they may be spent. At the conclusion of the story, she rolls a die for each experience point spent on Open the Third Eye, and gains 1 experience point back for each success rolled. She may not regain more experience than she spent activating Open the Third Eye in this fashion.
Lie-Blighting Light
Cost: 5m; Mins: Lore 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: The Names of All Things, Sharing the Treasure
To the Trove, gold is as dross and truth is to be valued beyond emeralds. When she activates Lie-Blighting Light, all who stand in the light of the Sidereal's anima become incapable of speaking a word that is not true. They may deceive by omission or implication, but cannot provide a direct and knowing falsehood. Attempts at using social influence dependent on Manipulation within this effect suffer a penalty of -(3 or Essence, whichever is higher).
For Lie-Blighting Light, the Sidereal's anima is considered to reach to Close range when Glowing, Short range when Burning, and Medium range when at Bonfire. If her anima falls to Dim before the end of the scene, the effects of Lie-Blighting Light immediately end.
Once Right Never Wrong
Cost: 3m; Mins: Lore 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: The Names of All Things, Privacy Enhancing Symbol
The wise will admit that there is much they are ignorant of and little that they know; in this fashion, they may be continually enriched. Those overburdened by the Trove however, find themselves unable to accept being wrong even under the best of circumstances. The Sidereal may use Once Right Never Wrong to enhance her Resolve, or the Resolve of another that she can see, increasing it by (Essence) when the enchanted individual applies their Resolve against a repeated instill, inspire or persuade action which has previously been refused.
Slumbering Inception Method
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Lore 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: One dream
Prerequisite Charms: Sharing the Treasure, Systematic Understanding of Everything
Many a vision has begun as a dream, and many an inspiration arrives in the night. By using Slumbering Inception Method, the Sidereal may dictate someone's dreams for an evening. She must have spoken with her target within the past week, or have a physical link (such as a lock of hair or drop of blood) to him on her person, in order to target them with Slumbering Inception Method, but neither time nor distance are any bar beyond these requirements.
Slumbering Inception Method allows the Sidereal to attempt any of the following in her target's dreams;
* She may use Sharing the Treasure or Open the Third Eye to train her student in their dreams. This cuts the training time required in half, but requires Slumbering Inception Method be committed for the duration of the training.
* She may attempt one Profile Character, Read Intentions, Instill or Inspire actions. Her target's Resolve and Guile are both considered to be 2 lower than normal for such attempts.
At Essence 4, she may also send one item, small enough to fit within her closed fist, to her target; when he awakens, he awakens holding the item.
At Essence 5, she may attempt to harm her victim via dreams. She rolls her (Charisma + Lore) against her target's Resolve. If she is successful, she rolls (Essence) as dice of lethal damage; 10s do not count double for this roll. She must spend 1 temporary willpower point per damage dealt; any successes in excess of her willpower are lost.
Stab the Seer's Eye
Cost: 5m; Mins: Lore 3, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Privacy Enhancing Symbol, Open the Third Eye
All prophecy and horoscope descends from the Trove, and the light of revealed wisdom is the crown jewel of the Treasure; none but the Sidereal decides how its splendor shall be seen. When she uses Stab the Seer's Eye, the Sidereal dictates what the result of any attempt to read her horoscope by any means will reveal. This overrides any other Design that she has active, obscuring her own fate binding.
Telltale Symphony
Cost: 3m; Mins: Lore 3, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Systematic Understanding of Everything, Open the Third Eye
The energy of Creation roars as the ocean and crashes like waves on a beach. By activating Telltale Symphony, the Sidereal hears Essence being spent. She cannot hear motes spent to power charms with the Mute keyword, nor does the sound of the essence being spent inform her of the nature of the charm or power invoked, but her hearing can detect the subtle changes in the symphony supernal at great distances.
In general, the Sidereal can hear when any motes are spent out to Medium range from her. If ten or more motes are spent in a single action, she can hear them out to Extreme range. At the storyteller's discretion, she may also hear vast quantities of expended essence, such as during a life-or-death conflict between multiple Exalted, from hundreds of miles away, sounding like distant thunder or the pounding of far off drums.
Of the Shape of the World
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Lore 4, Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Lie-Blighting Light, Slumbering Inception Method
Savants believe the world is knowable; in this, they are ultimately mistaken. Behind each truth is a paradox; beyond each solution is another mystery; after each answer arises another question. Those things which are commonly known now become discarded myths in the turning of the age, and only the small minds of the present try and circumscribe all Creation into a box of their limited perceptions.
Of the Shape of the World allows a Sidereal to try and introduce a fact which would contradict an existing fact. Her player may offer an explanation of the contradiction, or leave this to the storyteller to decide, or simply allow the contradiction to hang in the air. The Storyteller may still veto proposed facts which they feel would derail the story, or which contradict a canonical or personal fact of the setting upon which hangs future plot developments, or which significantly harms the collective suspension of disbelief at the table- it is thus often in the best interest of the Sidereal's player to offer an explanation for the seeming contradiction. However, sometimes the truth is simply stranger than fiction; the city of Meru was both destroyed and survived, the behemoth known as the Smirking Lynx is both alive and dead, and the fabled dress of Evena Eshara is at once white with blue trim and black with gold trim.
Using Of the Shape of the World does not automatically allow her to introduce her fact; she must still have an appropriate lore specialty or background, and must still succeed at the (Intelligence + Lore) roll.
Of Horrors Best Unknown
Cost: 5m; Mins: Lore 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Psyche
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Stab the Seer's Eye, Once Right Never Wrong
The Sidereal poisons an idea with the shadow of repellent horror, driving it out of her target's mind. She names an intimacy to banish and rolls (Manipulation + Lore) against her target's Resolve; the named intimacy cannot be used in it's own defense, but other supporting intimacies can. If she is successful, the targeted intimacy becomes tainted with unnatural horror, shame or guilt; her victim must spend 1 willpower to use the intimacy for any purpose (such as bolstering his resolve or entering a decision point), and any action which leverages the tainted intimacy as a weakness doubles the penalty it imposes on his resolve. Over time, if the Sidereal's victim works to avoid or minimize the intimacy's effect on his life, it may simply rot and fall away like a gangrenous limb, as any other discarded intimacy; the taint is also erased after the victim has spent (Essence) Willpower drawing on the intimacy. If the victim spends the Willpower to erase the taint on the intimacy, that intimacy may not be targeted by the Sidereal again until a year and a day have passed.
Of Horrors Best Unknown may only be used on a given victim once per day.
Of Truths Best Unspoken
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Lore 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Psyche
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Lie-Blighting Light, Once Right Never Wrong
The Maiden of Secrets decides when knowledge shall be revealed; her Chosen may act as censors of the world, rebuking truths not yet ready to travel freely. The Sidereal names a fact or brief idea and rolls (Wits + Lore) against her target's Resolve; if she is successful, her victim becomes unable to communicate the idea in any fashion. His tongue will freeze, his hands stiffen, his mind blank should he try to circumvent this ban. If withholding the information would cause the target to act against a Defining Intimacy, they may spend 2 willpower to communicate freely for one scene, before the effect reasserts itself; once they have resisted the effect (Essence) times, it is permanently ended.
Of Secrets Yet Untold
Cost: -; Mins: Lore 4, Essence 4
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Slumbering Inception Method, Telltale Symphony
The role of the student is to show the teacher what they are ready to learn. Spreading the coin of the Trove impoverishes neither side, but rather, enriches both. At the end of a story where the Sidereal has spent experience on Sharing the Treasure, Open the Third Eye, or other similar charms, reduce her target number on the roll to regain experience to 4. She explicitly may gain more experience back than she spent.
Of Things Desired and Feared
Cost: 10m; Mins: Lore 5, Essence 4
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Stab the Seer's Eye, Telltale Symphony
The Trove does not fear the past. It has come and gone, and only leaves dust and memories in its wake. The Trove does not desire the present, for the present is what she has already. Instead, the Sidereal projects both her desires and fears into the future, selecting a thread named possibility and deciding that it shall be the one woven. When she uses Of Things Desired and Feared, the Sidereal describes a potential scene defined by at least three symbolically present events or individuals other than herself or another Sidereal, and what the outcome of that scene will be. She then commits the motes, seeking to turn the possible into the actual. During the prophesied scene, the Sidereal may spend 1 willpower to treat all 3s on a roll that is not part of an extended action as 10s, or to treat all 10s as 3s. She may spend any amount of willpower on aiding or rebuking actions, but only as they serve to fulfill her vision for the conclusion of the scene. After the scene, the prophecy is fulfilled and the effect ends.
The motes committed to Of Things Desired And Feared return over time, as the prophecy begins to weave itself into Creation's greater story. After a week, the committed cost falls to 9 motes. After a month, the committed cost falls to 8 motes. After a season, the committed cost falls to 7 motes. After a year, the committed cost falls to 6 motes. After a decade, the committed cost falls to 5 motes. After a generation (30 years) the committed cost falls to 4 motes. After a century, the committed cost falls to 3 motes. After a thousand years, the committed cost falls to 1 mote.
When she uses Of Things Desired and Feared, the Sidereal may also spend any amount of temporary Willpower points she desires. If she is not present in the scene when the prophecy is fulfilled, and the player agrees, then the Storyteller may spend the spent Willpower towards fulfilling the prophecy. If the Sidereal is killed while she still has motes committed to Of Things Desired and Feared, subtract the commitment cost from the amount of Willpower she spent; if any Willpower remains, the prophecy still hangs in Creation's sky, waiting to be fulfilled.
Creation has no natural inclination towards fulfilling the prophecies the Sidereal casts with this charm; events will not conspire to bring them to pass, because events do not conspire. People do.
The prophecy created by Of Things Desired and Feared may be spied in the stars; wise men will seek to co-opt destiny and suborn the Sidereal's fate to their own purposes.
Transcendent Hatchet of Fate
Cost: 10m, 1wp, 1lhl; Mins: Lore 5, Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only, Prayer Strip, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: At least two of Of the Shape of the World, Of Horrors Best Unknown, Of Truths Best Unspoken, Of Secrets Yet Untold, Of Things Desired and Feared
The more one learns, the more limited one's options appear, until, in the end, knowing everything, one knows there is only one path that may be walked. The Sidereal presses a prayer strip marked with the Scripture of the Maiden in Terror to the palm of her left hand, where it heats and sizzles with green fire, embossing the sutra in vivid emerald letters to her flesh. She then makes a decisive hand-to-hand attack against an opponent, save that her blow does no damage. Instead, it binds the fate of her victim, compelling them to obey the Sidereal's command or suffer as the pattern of their life is torn to shreds.
For each success on the damage roll, the Sidereal may dictate one action her victim must take during this turn. He may spend 1 temporary willpower point to refuse, in which case he suffers (Essence) dice of aggravated damage without double 10s, which cannot be reduced or mitigated. If he is out of temporary willpower, he may still refuse, but the damage rises to (Essence + Lore) dice of aggravated damage, with double 10s.
Unused commands fade at a rate of one per day. Commands can dictate the victim take any non-extended action, even suicidal ones or actions which oppose defining intimacies. The Sidereal need not be present to issue her commands; she need merely whisper them, and her victim is instantly impelled or resists, although she will not know which. Victims of the Transcendent Hatchet of Fate often wish with the benefit of hindsight that they had chosen death from having the pattern of their life torn asunder to the wickedness of dancing as a puppet on the Sidereal's strings.
MEDICINE : THE CORPSE
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN AND THE ROAD
Once, there was a maiden…
…who found herself climbing up an earthen path.
Her footsteps made no sound. There was a silence in the air.
She walked for years, and then, came to a cliff.
The road gave way to clouds, and she could go no farther.
“There’s always an ending,” she said.
The Corpse Resplendent
Cost: - ; Mins: Medicine 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
All things end, but the ending may be welcomed. While wearing a Destiny of the Corpse, the Sidereals adds (Essence) dice for all social influence actions when dealing with the dead, the dying, or those who professionally interact with the dead or dying, such as morticians, gravediggers, or the less successful breeds of doctors.
Smooth Transition
Cost: 1m; Mins: Medicine 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Life is spent avoiding death, but the Corpse still offers rest to all in the end. The Sidereal may use Smooth Transition to immediately and painlessly kill any incapacitated or dying individual, as well as anyone who sincerely (not as the result of a Psyche effect) wishes to die. Her eyes flash violet, and the individual passes with the ease of a blown out breath. Their body dissolves into dark purple dust over the next minute. Such individuals never arise as ghosts, nor do they leave hungry ghosts behind.
Smooth Transition may also be used on corpses; inanimate corpses are destroyed, falling to dust as described above, and any hungry ghost that sheltered within is destroyed as well. If the corpse is animated by fell magic, using Smooth Transition requires the Sidereal to touch it; in combat this enhances a decisive attack, increasing the raw damage by (Essence + Medicine), turning the damage lethal (if it was bashing) and ignoring hardness. Any individual who has already risen as a ghost before Smooth Transition is used upon their corpse will remain, but many will have lost a significant fetter that kept them shackled to their half-life and may pass into Lethe shortly of their own accord.
Storm Following Silence
Cost: 5m; Mins: Medicine 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Smooth Transition
The Sidereal kindles her anima, filling it with the peace of the grave. If her anima is not already at least Glowing, it rises to Glowing. The effects of Smooth Transition are automatically applied to all available targets within the range of her anima. At Glowing, this affects out to Close range; at Burning, out to Short range, and at Bonfire, out to Medium range. Individual animate corpses take (Essence + Medicine) dice of lethal damage each turn they act within the light of the Sidereal's anima; undead battle groups suffer (Essence) dice of lethal damage for each range band they occupy that is touched by the light.
If the Sidereal's anima falls to Dim during the scene, Storm Following Silence immediately ends.
Lament of the Dead
Cost: 1m (1lhl); Mins: Medicine 2, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Smooth Transition
The Corpse knows her own, and what chains were unwillingly shed at the moment of passing. By using Lament of the Dead, the Sidereal may touch a corpse and learn any significant unfinished business the deceased had, as well as if they have arisen as a ghost or hungry ghost.
If she is in the Destiny of the Corpse, she may also pay one lethal health level to feed a few drops of blood to the corpse, in exchange for the corpse answering one question with an honest answer from the deceased, as best they could answer at the moment of their death.
Icy Hand
Cost: 2m; Mins: Medicine 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Lament of the Dead
The touch of the Corpse is the cool of a wet rag upon a fevered brow, and the body when the heart has stilled. The Sidereal fills her hands with the chill of the grave before touching her victim. In combat, this touch requires a brawl or martial arts attack as a gambit with a difficulty of 2.
A living victim touched by Icy Hand is filled with the chill of the grave and the sure knowledge of death's inevitability; a ghost or other sentient being of the underworld is instead reminded of the warmth of the soil and the heat of cooling blood. In either event, the victim must pay one temporary willpower or forfeit their next action recovering from the shock or sudden and delirious wonder or terror.
No Release
Cost: 3m, 1wp, 1lhl; Mins: Medicine 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Storm Following Silence
The Corpse is an offer of release from pain that many long for; the Sidereal may deny such release even from those who have earned it. By marking an individual with her blood, she prevents them from falling unconscious or dying for as long as she keeps the motes committed. The individual is still capable of starving, suffocation, aging, bleeding, burning and suffering- but their soul will remain bound to whatever shreds of flesh remain, leaving them in wailing agony until the Sidereal releases them. Such damned individuals will even recover in time, and of sorts; if drowned they will remain bloated and blue, if reduced to little more than ash, they will 'heal' as a horror of scarred and ruined flesh. Characters cursed by No Release and who fall to Incapacitated health or lower automatically fail any athletics based actions, are incapable of meaningfully attacking or defending themselves, and suffer a -6 internal penalty to all social actions they take or are targeted by.
Individuals cursed into the half-life of No Release cannot sleep, but may find their will renewed with the dawning of the sun. At dawn, he rolls a number of dice equal to the amount of temporary willpower he is missing; for example, a character with 6 permanent willpower and who has 2 temporary willpower remaining will roll 4 dice. If he rolls any successes, he gains one point of temporary willpower.
The Sidereal may not use No Release upon herself. Not that many would.
Not Yet Time
Cost: 3m; Mins: Medicine 5, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute, Stackable
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: No Release
It is the chains of duty that bind the living to Creation; without them, most would gladly leave behind the veil of tears for the peace promised by the Corpse. By using Not Yet Time, the Sidereal may draw upon her duties to stay death's hand. Each use numbs one of her intimacies, and provides a number of -4 health levels equal to the rank of the intimacy numbed. These health levels are lost only after all other non-incapacitated health levels have been lost, and vanish at the end of the scene. She may only use Not Yet Time once per turn, but may use it any number of times per scene- although she cannot draw upon the same intimacy more than once.
If she acts against an intimacy she has drawn upon for Not Yet Time in the scene, or an instill attempt reduces the strength of the intimacy, the effect immediately ends and the health levels provided by that intimacy are lost, removing unfilled boxes first.
Scent of Amaranth and Cherries
Cost: 5m; Mins: Medicine 3, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Icy Hand
For most, there are two profound passages which are crossed but once; drawing the First Breath and drawing the Last Breath. For a very few, however, there is a third; drawing the Second Breath as one of the Exalted. Those who cross this threshold are forever changed in ways both subtle and profound- and by crossing this boundary, the Corpse makes her mark upon them. When the Sidereal activates Scent of Amaranth and Cherries, she can smell if anyone out to Medium range is Exalted. She cannot tell exactly who, only if someone has drawn the Second Breath within Medium range.
Open the Amethyst Passage
Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Medicine 3, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One turn
Prerequisite Charms: Storm Following Silence
All doors belong to Saturn, for each portal is a boundary between one state and another. The Sidereal draws upon Saturn's authority and forces a door to take her out. Until the end of her next action, anyone passing through the door from the Sidereal's side will find themselves outside whatever structure they were in, regardless of the size or strangeness. She may maintain this connection on subsequent turns as a reflexive action, and without spending the willpower.
With a second purchase, the Sidereal may instead opt to connect two doors in an unnatural fashion. She must have personal experience with both portals to connect, and it must be possible to walk from one door to the other without going outside of the building.
Don the Raiton Mantle
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Medicine 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Resplendent
Duration: Until daybreak
Prerequisite Charms: Lament of the Dead
In a flash of violet light and shadow, the form of the Sidereal shrinks, clothing and weapons melding into flesh and vanishing to Elsewhere. Moments later, a black feathered raiton stands where she stood. Don the Raiton Mantle transforms the Sidereal into a raiton (Exalted pg. 570) until daybreak. While in the form of a raiton, she has the attributes and abilities of the scavenger beast, save that she retains her mental facilities and powers of speech. While transformed, she is considered to have the Hideous merit (Exalted pg. 162), and converts any stunt dice on instill or inspire social actions which draw upon the raiton's ill-omened appearance into automatic successes. She may resume her normal form at any time, and must at the moment the sun first crests the horizon, marking a new day.
If she wears a destiny of the Corpse, Don the Raiton Mantle costs no willpower to use.
Unbar the Gravestone Door
Cost: 10m, 1wp, 1lhl; Mins: Medicine 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One turn
Prerequisite Charms: Open the Amethyst Passage
The fate of Creation grows threadbare at the boundary between the living and the dead, but it is within the remit of the Maiden of Endings to bear souls across the veil. By using Unbar the Gravestone Door, the Sidereal may cross from a Shadowland into the Underworld during the day, or from a Shadowland to Creation during the night. Doing so requires a brief ritual at the edge of the shadowland, tracing the ragged edge of the veil in her blood. This passage exists for only a few seconds; enough time for the Sidereal and a small band of friends to cross, but not for any vast force.
Glimpse the True Form
Cost: 3m; Mins: Medicine 5, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Don the Raiton Mantle
Death wears many faces, but the Corpse is beneath each of them; no matter what mask someone wears, the Sidereal can spy what is beneath it. By using Glimpse the True Form, the Sidereal pierces any non-magical disguise automatically, and can see any possessing spirits above and around the individuals they have possessed. Magical shapeshifters may evade Glimpse the True Form, but the Sidereal contests such deception with a (Perception + Medicine) roll.
Against spirits or stranger things which have no true fixed form, such as the demon No-Face or the hannya known as Exegesis of Splendid And Protean Hungers, Glimpse the True Form will still reveal the hollow mask with a definite impression of the shapeless thing beneath.
The Sound of Silence
Cost: 7m; Mins: Medicine 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Prayer Strip
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Scent of Amaranth and Cherries and Glimpse the True Form, or Unbar the Gravestone Door and Not Yet Time
Days pass to night; the clamor of life gives way to the silence of the grave, and eventually, all things join the Corpse in stillness. The Sidereal sets a prayer strip marked with the Scripture of the Maiden and the Road aflame, spreading a thin cloud of embalming spices across the area. For the remainder of the scene, anyone who wishes to take any actions involving social influence must first pay 1 temporary willpower point per action, as the toll for violating the sacred silence of the end.
MELEE : THE SPEAR
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN ON THE SHELF
Once, there was a maiden…
…who sat on a child’s shelf and watched the entire world.
Her eyes were made of glass,
And their pupils were red.
Her mouth was sewn on.
For years and years, she did not move.
Then, when necessary, she was gone, and the head of that child with her.
“Survival is control,” she said.
The Spear Resplendent
Cost: - ; Mins: Melee 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
While wearing a Destiny of the Spear, the Sidereal may use Profile Character actions to determine how many dots of Archery, Brawl, Dodge, Martial Arts, Melee, or War someone has, and may substitute her Melee in place of her Investigation while doing so.
Additionally, she may apply up to three specialties, rather than one, when making a Martial Arts or Melee attack.
Battle Carrying Presence
Cost: 3m; Mins: Melee 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Spear strikes down the fear that would steal the heart of every soldier in battle. When a battle group the Sidereal can see fails a rout check, she may give an invigorating shout and take a reflexive rally action (Exalted pg. 210).
At Essence 2, once per scene, when a battle group the Sidereal can see would lose a point of Size due to Magnitude loss, she may use this Charm to perform a reflexive rally for numbers (Exalted pg. 210). If this recovers enough Magnitude, it may prevent the loss of Size.
Shield of Mars
Cost: 1m; Mins: Melee 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Spear knows that caution is sometimes the better part of valor, and the Shield of Mars shelters those who fight with care. When she uses this charm, the Sidereal may include a Full Defense action (Exalted pg. 196) in a flurry without the initiative or defense penalty.
If she has a weapon with the 'Shield' tag, then she may also include an attack action in this flurry.
The Queen of Battle
Cost: 2m; Mins: Melee 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Stackable
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The essence of the Spear is control; control of one's self, of the field, and of the enemy. By using The Queen of Battle, the Sidereal takes control of her hand-to-hand weapon, adding one of the following tags; 'Balanced', 'Bashing', 'Chopping', 'Lethal', or 'Reaching'. She may add up to (Essence) tags concurrently.
At Essence 3, she may also add the following tags; 'Disarming', 'Flexible', 'Piercing' or 'Smashing'.
This effect ends if the Sidereal is disarmed or voluntarily lays her weapon down.
No Retreat
Cost: 2m; Mins: Melee 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
There is no retreat from the Spear, save as the Spear allows. When an opponent attempts to disengage from the Sidereal, she may activate No Retreat. Subtract a number of successes equal to his current onslaught penalty. If she is in the Destiny of the Spear, she also increases her opponent's target number to Disengage by 1.
Fighting in the Shade
Cost: 1m; Mins: Melee 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
There is no safety from the Spear, save as the Spear allows. When the Sidereal is targeted by a ranged attack before her action, she may use Fighting in the Shade, and adds the number of 1s rolled on the attack to any Rush action she takes towards her attacker until the end of her next turn, adding them as automatic successes non-charm successes on her rush. If she is in the Destiny of the Spear, she counts any 1s and 2s rolled, and increases the target number of any effort to oppose her rush by 1.
Slow Blade Penetrates
Cost: 2m; Mins: Melee 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Uniform, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
When one has control, exploit it; when one lacks control, regain it. When the Sidereal enhances a hand-to-hand attack with Slow Blade Penetrates, she prevents the onslaught penalty to her victim’s Defense from fading on the next turn. Her onslaught only fades if her victim suffers no attack from her for at least one round.
With a second purchase, she may enhance her orders to a battle group with Slow Blade Penetrates. When she issues an order (Exalted pg. 209), she may designate one target; onslaught penalties imposed against that target by the attacks of the battle group do not fade, as if they were made by the Sidereal herself.
Essence Draining Battle Pattern
Cost: 8m; Mins: Melee 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Design
Duration: Until the battle's end
Prerequisite Charms: Battle Carrying Presence
The Maiden of Battles knows the Seven Undefeated Stratagems of Victory, methods of organizing troops that ensure victory against any force. In the name of Mars, the Chosen of Destiny may enact one upon Creation. By activating this charm, the Sidereal may select a special stratagem for her Strategic Maneuver roll, 'Essence Draining Battle Pattern' (Threshold 2), in addition to up to one mundane stratagem; she must overcome the combined threshold or gain the benefit of neither stratagem.
While the Essence Draining Battle Pattern is in effect, opponents gain only 3 motes per turn instead of 5, and all Charms used by an enemy cost an additional 1 mote to activate. This effect ends if the battle group under the Sidereal's command suffers dissolution.
Anyone checking the omens before the battle may notice the alignment of Mars and Jupiter that signify this battle pattern is in place.
Impeding the Flow
Cost: 1m+, 1i+; Mins: Melee 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Perilous, Withering-Only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal knows the approach of the arrow before the archer has drawn it; they have followed the fall of the blade before the swordsman has begun the swing. She increases the target number for withering attack and damage rolls against her by 1.
Once invoked, the Sidereal must use Impeding the Flow against each attack she is capable of doing so. If she is targeted by a withering attack which she does not attempt to block with Impeding the Flow, she becomes unable to reactivate the charm for the remainder of the scene.
After each use of Impeding the Flow, the cost to use it again in the same scene increases by one mote and one initiative. So, the second use costs 2 motes and 2 initiative; the third costs 3 motes and 3 initiative, and so on.
Orchestration of Conflict
Cost: 1m, 1i (5m, 1wp); Mins: Melee 4, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Perilous, Uniform
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Impeding the Flow
Battles rage like wildfires, and roar like rivers- but to the disciplined mind, all have their patterns, and may be directed by appropriate forces. By using Orchestration of Conflict, the Sidereal may make herself the target of an attack directed at someone within Close range.
With a repurchase at Essence 3, she may redirect any attack redirected with Orchestration of Conflict and which she successfully defends herself against towards another character within Close range. Doing so costs 5 motes and 1 Willpower. The attack and all effects enhancing it are then rolled again, using the same dice pool, against the new target.
Demon Blocking Battle Pattern
Cost: 8m; Mins: Melee 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Design
Duration: Until the battle's end
Prerequisite Charms: Battle Carrying Presence
The Maiden of Battles knows the Four Devil Stratagems, and the precise counter for each- methods of deploying troops to negate the advantages of fell magic wielded by the enemies of the gods. By activating this charm, the Sidereal may select a special stratagem for her Strategic Maneuver roll, 'Demon Blocking Battle Pattern' (Threshold 2), in addition to up to one mundane stratagem; she must overcome the combined threshold or gain the benefit of neither stratagem.
While the Demon Blocking Battle Pattern is in effect, reduce the Might of opposing units composed primarily of demons, undead or creatures of the wyld by 1, to a minimum of 0.
Anyone checking the omens before the battle may notice the alignment of Mars and Saturn that signify this battle pattern is in place.
Hero Supporting Performance
Cost: - (1wp); Mins: Melee 3, Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Impeding the Flow
The Spear leads by example, and those who trust the Sidereal find fate favoring their steps. By spending a temporary willpower point, the Sidereal may use any number of instant duration Melee charms to enhance an ally's melee attack or defense whom she can see.
With a second purchase, the Sidereal may use Hero Supporting Performance to enhance the attack or defense of any battle group she has issued orders to as a command action (Exalted pg. 209). Doing so adds an additional surcharge of motes equal to the Size of the battle group.
At Melee 5, Essence 3, she may use any instant duration charms to enhance an ally's attack or defense; the charm used must be compatible with the action being taken. (For example, she cannot use Slow Blade Penetrates to enhance an ally's archery attack, because Slow Blade Penetrates specifies that it enhances a melee attack)
If the assisting charm has special requirements or constraints for use, then the beneficiary counts as if he was the Sidereal herself. For example, if she uses Hero Supporting Performance to gift Impeding the Flow upon an ally’s defense, she must continue to enhance all eligible defenses made by herself or her ally.
Edge of the Knife
Cost: 1i; Mins: Melee 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Perilous, Withering-only, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: No Retreat or Fighting in the Shade
Victory is never certain, defeat is never foregone. Always both are balanced on the edge of a knife. Edge of the Knife enhances a withering hand-to-hand attack the Sidereal makes.
Withering damage rolls made with an attack enhanced by Edge of the Knife do not add threshold successes to the raw damage, but do use the same target number as the attack roll.
Serenity in Blood
Cost: 1wp+, 1lhl+; Mins: Melee 5, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Orchestration of Conflict or Hero Supporting Performance
Every path of every spear thrown, every route of every axe swung, every cry of exulting victory, every scream of pain and despair; the Spear knows them all before dawn breaks on the day of battle. The Sidereal partakes of this knowledge, giving a sacrifice of pain for her survival. She increases the target number for a decisive attack and damage roll against her by 1. Serenity in Blood allows her to parry unblockable attacks, as well as to guard against uncountable recurring damage.
Once invoked, the Sidereal must use Serenity in Blood against each attack she is capable of doing so. If she is targeted by a decisive attack which she does not attempt to block with Serenity in Blood, she becomes unable to reactivate the charm for the remainder of the scene.
After each use of Serenity in Blood, the cost to use it again in the same scene increases by 1 Willpower and 1 lethal health level.
Spirit Binding Battle Pattern
Cost: 8m; Mins: Melee 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Design
Duration: Until the battle's end
Prerequisite Charms: Battle Carrying Presence
The Maiden of Battles knows the singular Eightfold Drowning Siege of Heaven strategy, by which the Exalted once lured the enemies of the gods into ill-omened battles. By activating this charm, the Sidereal may select a special stratagem for her Strategic Maneuver roll, 'Spirit Binding Battle Pattern' (Threshold 2), in addition to up to one mundane stratagem; she must overcome the combined threshold or gain the benefit of neither stratagem.
With the Spirit Binding Battle Pattern, the Sidereal sanctifies the deaths of the soldiers fighting, transforming them into an irresistible lure and chain for a spirit.
For every point of Magnitude damage inflicted over the course of the battle, she gains 1 'spirit binding' die. For every point of Size lost, she gains 3 dice. When any battle group is broken, and for each turn the Slaughter action is performed, she gains 5 dice. At any point during the battle, she may spend 1 willpower and attempt to call forth a specifically named god, elemental or demon and bind it to some task. She splits her accumulated spirit binding dice between the call and the binding, to any degree she wishes.
The difficulty of calling the spirit is equal to the Essence of the spirit. The difficulty of the binding is equal to the permanent Willpower of the spirit. If the binding is successful, the spirit gains an unbreakable Defining Principle to complete a task the Sidereal specifies for the next year, after which, gods and elementals are free and demons are cast back to Hell.
The Sidereal may call a spirit without attempting to bind it but many, especially among the Gods, take offense at being summoned in this cavalier fashion; likewise, she may attempt to bind a spirit which is already present at the scene of the battle without calling first. Spirit Binding Battle Pattern cannot overcome a sorcerous binding upon a demon, nor the bond between a familiar and his master.
Anyone checking the omens before the battle may notice the alignment of Mars and Venus that signify this battle pattern is in place.
Harmony of Blows
Cost: 7m; Mins: Melee 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Dual, Perilous, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: No Retreat or Fighting in the Shade
The Spear is never outnumbered, but she can find herself in unusually target rich environments. When the Sidereal uses Harmony of Blows, she must first make a withering attack against one target, and then a decisive attack against another. The attacks may be made with different abilities, as long as both targets are legal and the Sidereal could take a Ready Weapon action to equip an appropriate armament. If the attacks are made with the same ability, any charms which enhance one attack enhance may enhance the other, so long as the charm may be used for both withering and decisive attacks.
Meditation on War
Cost: 1wp; Mins: Melee 5, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Perilous, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Shield of Mars or The Queen of Battle or Slow Blade Penetrates
The chaos and confusion of battle hide a secret order; by perceiving this order, the Spear may always act in perfect control. Once per scene, when the Sidereal does not like the outcome of a non-extended action she has just taken, she may spend 1 temporary willpower point to undo that action- it was a vision of a possibility she has discarded. She and anyone else who contested the action regain any spent resources, and the Sidereal must take some other meaningfully distinct course of action- she can still attack, but must attack another target in range; she can still rush, but must rush in another direction.
Meditation of War may only be used on actions the Sidereal initiated; she may not use it when purely reacting to another, such as when dodging a trap or noticing an ambush. It may be used outside of combat; if the Sidereal foresees that attempting to Persuade someone to a course of action will not be successful, she may instead attempt to Persuade him in another fashion, or to try to Instill an intimacy instead.
Meditation of War can be reset by winning an Initiative Shift.
Perfection of the Visionary Warrior
Cost: 5m, 1wp, 1lhl; Mins: Melee 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Prayer Strip
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Meditation of War, Serenity in Blood, either one of Edge of the Knife or Harmony of Blows, any one of Essence Draining Battle Pattern, Demon Blocking Battle Pattern or Spirit Binding Battle Pattern
The essence of gaining control lives in giving up control; the essence of harmony lives in accepting things as they are rather than imposing a false harmony upon them. With harmony and control, all things becomes possible. The Sidereal binds a prayer strip marked with the Scripture of the Maiden on the Shelf across her eyes and around her head; it flashes ruby red, tightening and squeezing tears of blood from her.
For the remainder of the scene, the Sidereal does not incur onslaught penalties from any source, and ignores all penalties related to vision or her environment upon her attacks and defenses made within close range. Once per turn, she may choose to force a hand-to-hand attack into being a clash, even if she has already acted this turn.
Perfection of the Visionary Warrior ends if the Sidereal does not either attack or advance towards any enemy with each action.
OCCULT : THE SORCERER
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN IN CHAINS
Once, there was a maiden…
…and before her came all the peoples of Creation, and knelt.
They set aside their petty squabbles in her name.
They acclaimed her with many shouts.
They prayed for her safety and her weal.
Not one of them struck free her chains.
“To know the world…”
“…is to own it,” she said.
The Sorcerer Resplendent
Cost: - ; Mins: Occult 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
Sidereals who wear a Destiny of the Sorcerer at once proclaims her divinity even as she conceals it. So long as she is in such a Destiny, she may add up to (Essence) dice to any social influence action taken with mortal humans, at a cost of 1m/die.
Additionally, her caste mark is concealed. When her Anima rises to Glowing (Exalted, p. 175), she instead gains a halo of color and light around her head, rather than the symbol of her Maiden shining through.
Mark of Exaltation
Cost: -; Mins: Occult 2, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
Within the light of the Sidereal's anima, dematerialized spirits are revealed, appearing as translucent but present individuals who can be seen and heard, although still not touched.
At Glowing, this reveals spirits out to Short range; at Burning, it reveals them to Medium range; at Bonfire, it reveals them to Long range.
When her anima reaches Bonfire, spirits possessing a host are also revealed as shadowy figures above and around their victim.
Invincible Essence Core
Cost: 3m; Mins: Occult 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Design, Stackable
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Mark of Exaltation
It is by the Sorcerer's will that her destiny is set, and none may gainsay her. When she is struck by a reality altering or fate weaving effect, she may activate Invincible Essence Core to completely suppress the change as long as the motes remain committed.
By using Invincible Essence Core, the Sidereal also ensures that there exists a means for her to undo the curse she holds at bay, which is achievable within a reasonable timeframe. The curative may not be easy to acquire, but it is possible. If the Sidereal releases the commitment upon Invincible Essence Core before the solution is enacted, the deleterious effects take hold immediately.
The Sidereal can hold any number of such effects at bay, each with its own invocation of Invincible Essence Core caging them.
While she maintains Invincible Essence Core, those who spy the Sidereal's horoscope can see the hostile fate held in abeyance.
Crafting Arts
Cost: -; Mins: Occult 2, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
By the craft of the Sorcerer, great works are produced. The Sidereal reduces the difficulty of all Crafting and Sorcerous Projects by 1.
At Occult 5, she may repurchase Crafting Arts. When she does, she reduces the cost of making rolls on Superior projects by 1 gold experience point, to a minimum of 3.
At Occult 5 and Essence 3, she may repurchase Crafting Arts for a third and final time. When she does, she reduces the cost of making rolls on Superior projects by a total of 2 gold experience points, and the cost of making rolls on Legendary projects by 1 white experience point, to a minimum of 3.
Scent of Bugloss and Catchfly
Cost: 3m; Mins: Occult 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Mark of Exaltation
The demon realm bears a distinctive scent, and leaves it's mark upon those whom give it their devotion. Out to Medium range, the Sidereal can smell if anyone has a positive intimacy towards a demon in particular, or demons in general. This does not reveal who has the intimacy, but does provide up to (Occult) bonus dice on any Read Intentions roll to discover if someone has such an intimacy.
When she activates Scent of Bugloss and Catchfly, the Sidereal may activate Scent of Cypress and Black Locust or Scent of Holly and Hemp reflexively.
Scent of Bugloss and Catchfly cannot be used in the demon realm.
Scent of Cypress and Black Locust
Cost: 3m; Mins: Occult 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Mark of Exaltation
The scent of the Underworld is not easy to forget; those who give undying devotion to the undead bear such with them. Out to Medium range, the Sidereal can smell if anyone has a positive intimacy towards a ghost or other creature of the Underworld in particular, or towards such creatures in general. This will catch the scent of those who engage in ancestor worship, but not simply those who retain fond memories of someone that has passed. This does not reveal who has the intimacy, but does provide (Occult) non-charm bonus dice on any Read Intentions roll to discover if someone has such an intimacy.
When she activates Scent of Cypress and Black Locust, the Sidereal may activate Scent of Bugloss and Catchfly or Scent of Holly and Hemp reflexively.
Scent of Cypress and Black Locust cannot be used in shadowlands or the Underworld.
Scent of Holly and Hemp
Cost: 3m; Mins: Occult 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Mark of Exaltation
There is a unique tang that follows those who labor under sorcerous enchantment, astrological design or comparable reality shifting powers. Out to Medium range, the Sidereal can smell if anyone bears such an enchantment. Scent of Holly and Help does not reveal those enchanted by the charms of the Exalted, nor those who are enchanted of a power of their own design, nor the nature of the enchantment. Scent of Holly and Hemp does not reveal who precisely bears the enchantment, but does provide (Occult) non-charm bonus dice on any Read Intentions or Profile Character roll to discover such.
When she activates Scent of Holly and Hemp, the Sidereal may activate Scent of Bugloss and Catchfly or Scent of Cypress and Black Locust reflexively.
Sublime Artifice
Cost: 2sxp / 2gxp / 2wxp; Mins: Occult 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Salient
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Crafting Arts
By the toil of the Sorcerer, even her failures herald success. By using Sublime Artifice, the Sidereal gains an additional number of successes on a craft roll equal to the greatest number of dice sharing the same number, where that number does not add any successes to the roll.
(E.g. if she rolled 1,1,2,3,3,3,3,7,10 she would get two successes from the 10, one success from the 7, and four successes from having rolled four 3s for a total of seven successes)
Invoking Sublime Artifice costs 2 silver experience points for a Major project, 2 gold experience points for a Superior project, or 2 white experience points for a Legendary project.
At Occult 5, Essence 4, the Sidereal purchase Sublime Artifice a second time, to gain additional successes equal to the greatest number of dice sharing the same number which do add successes as well.
Blessings of Heaven
Cost: -; Mins: Occult 3, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Crafting Arts
The Heavens shower glory upon the Sorcerer. When the Sidereal purchases Blessings of Heaven, she gains (Essence) silver craft experience points. She gains these again at the start of each story.
At Occult 4, Essence 2, she may purchase Blessings of Heaven a second time to gain (Essence) gold craft experience points. She gains these again at the start of each story.
At Occult 5, Essence 4, she may purchase Blessings of Heaven a third and final time to gain (Essence) white craft experience points. She gains these again at the start of each story.
Terrestrial Circle Sorcery
Cost: -; Mins: Occult 3, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Design
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: -
The Sidereal steps through the First Circle, and is forever transformed. Upon learning this Charm, she gains the ability to learn and cast spells of the Terrestrial Circle. She also gains one Shaping Ritual (Exalted p. 464) and Terrestrial Circle spell for free. This spell becomes a 'control spell', and may be referenced in the mechanics of other charms, as well as always subtly but permanently altering her destiny as writ in the night sky.
When the Sidereal is in the Destiny of the Sorcerer, she changes one die to a success before rolling any shape sorcery actions.
Innocuous Maneuver
Cost: 1wp; Mins: Occult 2, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Mark of Exaltation
The Sidereal makes a circle of her index finger and thumb, imbuing her anima with the weight of Creation. While she activates Innocuous Maneuver, dematerialized spirits which are revealed by her anima are treated as being material.
Rising and Falling Stars
Cost: 3m; Mins: Occult 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Mark of Exaltation
From the moment she was born, the Sidereal is destined to join the ranks of the Chosen. At the moment of her death, the Maidens confer and select a new mortal who will bear their blessing and act as guard and shepherd of destiny at the appointed hour.
So long as she has Rising and Falling Stars committed, the Sidereal is aware of the location and health of every unExalted Sidereal within Creation. If it is active during a Sidereal's Exaltation, she receives an overwhelming sense of satori as her sister comes into her own.
Rising and Falling Stars does not function during Calibration, and does not reveal the location of Sidereals who have drawn their Second Breath, or those who stand outside of Creation's boundaries- such as in the Underworld, within the Demon Realm, or beyond the Bordermarches of the Wyld.
Time Enough
Cost: - (3sxp / 3gxp / 3wxp); Mins: Occult 3, Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Salient
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Sublime Artifice
By the will of the Sorcerer, all things become possible in time. Upon purchasing Time Enough, the Sidereal increases the Terminus for crafting projects by 1. Additionally, she may spend 3 silver experience points to add her (Occult) as non-charm dice to Basic or Major Crafting projects.
At Occult 4, Essence 3, she may purchase Time Enough a second time, increasing the Terminus for crafting projects by a total of 2. Additionally, she may spend 3 gold experience points to add her (Occult) as non-charm dice to a Superior Project, or (Occult) non-charm successes to a Basic or Major Project.
At Occult 5, Essence 5, she may purchase Time Enough for a third and final time, increasing the Terminus for crafting projects by a total of 3. Additionally, she may spend 3 white experience points to add her (Occult) as non-charm dice to a Legendary Project, or (Occult) non-charm successes to a Superior project.
Unweaving Method
Cost: 5m, 1a; Mins: Occult 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only, Mute, Aggravated, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Mark of Exaltation
The Sidereal plucks the light from her brow and twines it around her fingers, before jabbing into the essence of her victim; striking their core to undo them from the center. Unweaving Method allows the Sidereal to make a hand-to-hand attack as a gambit with a difficulty of 2.
If the gambit succeeds, she deals (Essence) dice of aggravated damage which ignores hardness and gains double 10s on the damage roll. Against spirits, it instead deals (Essence + Occult) dice of damage. Against demons and spirits of the underworld, reduce her target number for the damage roll to 6.
Once the Unweaving Method has inflicted damage, it cannot be used again in the same scene until the unweaving is completed by the destruction of the damaged individual.
The Unity of All Things
Cost: -; Mins: Occult 4, Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Blessings of Heaven
In all things does the Sorcerer draw inspiration and strength. After purchasing the Unity of All Things, the first time the Sidereal use a Form-type charm of a non-Sidereal Martial Arts style, she gains gold experience points as if she completed a Major project. She can gain this bonus once for each style she knows.
The first time she uses a Sidereal Martial Arts charm, she gains white experience points as if she completed a Superior project with a rating equal to the minimum Essence of the charm (or 1 white experience point for a Sidereal Martial Arts Charm with a minimum Essence of 1).
Terminal Sanction
Cost: 1m; Mins: Occult 5, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Dual, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Mark of Exaltation
It is the remit of the Sorcerer to pass judgement upon corrupt divinities, for the Exalted have been given possession of Creation. Withering attacks enhanced by Terminal Sanction may strike dematerialized spirits.
Decisive attacks enhanced by Terminal Sanction may strike dematerialized spirits; spirits struck by such an attack are forced to materialize at no cost, and may neither dematerialize nor flee the scene by means of their powers (although they can attempt to run by more conventional means).
A spirit reduced to incapacitated by a decisive attack enhanced by Terminal Sanction may, at the Sidereal's option, be permanently destroyed, spared and allowed to re-incorporate freely (with the knowledge they were spared), or spared and bound to perform a specific task for the next year as specified by the Sidereal upon reincorporation; this last is enforced by an unbreakable Defining Principle to complete the task in question.
Forewarned is Disarmed
Cost: -; Mins: Occult 5, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Time Enough
By the vision of the Sorcerer, nothing happens save as she wills. Once per crafting project, she may undo one Crafting roll. She regains half of all craft experience spent in total, including upon Charm activations. The roll does not count towards the project's Terminus, does not contribute threshold successes towards the goal number, and saves the project from having been botched.
Forewarned is Disarmed may not be used twice upon the same project.
Blood and Breath Invested
Cost: 1m / sxp, 2m / gxp, 3m / wxp; Mins: Occult 5, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Design, Stackable
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: The Unity of All Things
By the blood of the Sorcerer are her works completed. She may substitute motes for craft experience; 1 mote per silver craft experience point, 2 motes for gold craft experience point, or 3 motes per white craft experience point.
You may substitute any amount of craft experience in this fashion; however, until the project is completed, if you reclaim these motes, the project immediately fails as though botched. If the Sidereal is killed with motes committed to a project, the project is not botched; it is rather held in abeyance for another to finish her unfinished task.
So long as the motes are committed, the Sidereal's destiny is clearly entangled with the work; those casting her horoscope will have difficulty seeing where the one ends and the other begins.
Celestial Circle Sorcery
Cost: -; Mins: Occult 4, Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Design
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Terrestrial Circle Sorcery, The Sorcerer Resplendent, any 3 other Occult charms
The Sidereal steps through the Second Circle, mastering the greatest sorceries available to the Five-score Fellowship. Upon learning this Charm, she gains the ability to learn and cast spells of the Celestial Circle. She also gains a Celestial Circle spell for free. This spell becomes a 'control spell', and may be referenced in the mechanics of other charms, as well as more dramatically altering her destiny as writ in the stars.
All Craft and Cunning Possessed
Cost: -; Mins: Occult 5, Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Forewarned is Disarmed
By the cunning of the Sorcerer are limitations shattered. The Sidereal may use Major project slots to undertake Superior projects of building artifacts or raising Manses. The project itself is still a Superior Project as far as other effects are concerned.
At Essence 5, she may purchase All Craft and Cunning Possessed a second time, allowing her to undertake Legendary projects with a Superior project slot. The project itself is still a Legendary project as far as other effects are concerned.
My Will Be Done
Cost: -; Mins: Occult 5, Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Blood and Breath Invested
In the end, it is not the Sorcerer's time or toil or life that realizes her visions; it is her will and essence forged and beaten into solid form. Into this forging are her glories and her faults, magnified by the greatness of what she seeks to accomplish.
When the Sidereal overcomes the difficulty on a craft roll for a Major project, she gains 1 silver craft experience point per failure rolled. When she overcomes the difficulty on a craft roll for a Superior project, she gains 1 gold craft experience point per failure rolled. When the Sidereal overcomes the difficulty on a craft roll for a Legendary project, she gains 1 white craft experience point per failure rolled.
Willing Assumption of Chains
Cost: 10m, 1wp, 1lhl; Mins: Occult 5, Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Prayer Strip
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Terminal Sanction, Celestial Circle Sorcery, and either All Craft and Cunning Possessed or My Will Be Done
With Willing Assumption of Chains, the Sidereal is empowered by Heaven to strike bargains with spirits on behalf of herself and Creation. After the oath is struck, she pulls out a prayer strip marked with the Scripture of the Maiden in Chains. She slices the meat of her thumb with the edge of the strip and presses a bloody thumbprint to it. The prayer strip is consumed in a flash of emerald flame, bearing the oath to the vaults of Heaven, where it will be enforced as an Eclipse caste oath.
The Sidereal may only make such bargains between herself and spirits, or to act as a signatory between two or more spirits. This includes elementals, demons, and ghosts, as well as the gods of Creation.
PERFORMANCE : THE MUSICIAN
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DANCER
Once, there was a maiden…
…who stood at the center of every dance.
Back then, she knew all the dances.
She never missed a step.
One day, she heard something in the music, as a
singer dropped the beat.
It taught her of the joy of dancing poorly.
She started dancing more and more awry.
“Love has no rules,” she said.
The Musician Resplendent
Cost: - ; Mins: Performance 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
While wearing a Destiny of the Musician, the Sidereal increases her Performance by 1, to a maximum of 6.
Rake Knows Rake
Cost: 3m; Mins: Performance 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Musician is nothing without the proper inspiration and appropriate escapes. Fortunately, the Sidereal always seems to know someone who knows someone. When she uses Rake Knows Rake, she gains an immediate knowledge of the best person or people to talk to in the local market to acquire a particular vice- be it drugs, wine, flesh, or stranger things. Rake Knows Rake does not ensure someone will provide these services, nor does it inform her of how to ease the mind of potentially illicit goods-dealer that the Sidereal is trustworthy- but if someone can provide, she know who that someone is.
Brigand and Carouser Style
Cost: 3m; Mins: Performance 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
With a knowing smile and well-timed wink, the Musician can conquer the most reticent of... hearts. By supplementing a persuade action with Brigand and Carouser Style, the Sidereal may attempt to seduce as if leveraging a minor intimacy.
Red Rule Reminder The safety and comfort of the players is always paramount. No character may be seduced into acts which make their player feel uncomfortable. Communicate, respect boundaries, and remember this is just a game!
Don the Painted Face
Cost: 5m; Mins: Performance 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
It would not do for the true face of the Musician to be seen; she may frown, but the painted smile must always be present. Don the Painted Face recreates a disguise attempt, save that it prevents mundane attempts from piercing the disguise, even to the point of fooling a bloodhound's nose or eagle-keen eyes.
While she wears the painted face, the Sidereal's destiny shows her true self hidden away.
Poppy and Wine Scent
Cost: 5m; Mins: Performance 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute, Resplendent
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Rake Knows Rake
Everyone has an escape from the world; even the most zealous and cloistered monks have vices they prefer their brethren overlook. The Musician well knows the need to escape, and the Sidereal's keen nose can detect the lingering traces of favored sins. By using Poppy and Wine Scent, she can use a Read Intentions on someone out to Medium range without directly interacting with him, in order to learn what his favored vices are. If she interacts with him while in the Destiny of the Musician, she treats her target as if he does not know he is being observed (Exalted p. 218).
The Food of Love
Cost: -; Mins: Performance 3, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Brigand and Carouser Style
There is little more attractive than a harmonious voice well engaged. When the Sidereal uses the Fateful Performance Excellency to inspire or instill love, desire, lust or envy, she increases her Appearance by 1. She may also apply her Appearance to this action even if it would normally be inapplicable; for example, if the Sidereal has the Hideous merit (Exalted p. 162)
Robed in Rags
Cost: 1m; Mins: Performance 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Don the Painted Face
The Musician is always on the edge of fashion, when they have not pushed beyond; no matter how outré or immodest their garb, they always look both remarkable and acceptable. While Robed in Rags is active, the Sidereal could attend a gala ball naked or dressed in blood-spattered armor with little more than a flirtatious comment from the host, and does not suffer social penalties from being dressed or groomed inappropriately.
Libertine’s Liberating Libation
Cost: 3m; Mins: Performance 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Psyche
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Poppy and Wine Scent
Knowing someone's weakness, it would be rude to not exploit it, and the Musician is never unintentionally impolite. When the Sidereal offers someone a chance to immediately indulge in some vice, he must spend 1 temporary willpower point to apply his Resolve. If she is offering the chance to indulge his favored vice, (discovered by Poppy and Wine Scent or otherwise guessed), her victim must instead spend (the higher of 3 or Essence) temporary willpower points to apply his Resolve.
Strange Days
Cost: 3m; Mins: Performance 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: The Food of Love
In the secret chambers of the heart, there lurk quiet questions and secret desires which may go unrecognized even by their owner- but to which the Musician can sweetly lure into the open. A persuade action supplemented with Strange Days allows the Sidereal to attempt to seduce someone, even if she is not her target's preferred gender.
Red Rule Reminder The safety and comfort of the players is always paramount. No character may be seduced into acts which make their player feel uncomfortable. Communicate, respect boundaries, and remember this is just a game!
Faultless Ceremony
Cost: 7m; Mins: Performance 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Robed in Rags
Rituals great and small ground life in Creation; they raise joy up or bring balm to a grieving heart. By using Faultless Ceremony, the Sidereal always know how a ritual or ceremony flows, any lines or actions expected of them, and what an unfamiliar, even alien, ceremony is meant to represent, celebrate, or cause. She suffers no penalties while participating in such rituals, and can never be tricked into completing a ceremonial oath or participating in a ritual action she disagrees with- although her failing to uphold the ritual may still result in social repudiation.
She may also use Faultless Ceremony to know the lyrics and dance steps to any piece of music that has been played in public at least once, for the duration of the scene.
Drowning the Ocean
Cost: 7m; Mins: Performance 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Libertine’s Liberating Libation
Trying to drink the Musician under the table is very nearly as effective as attempting to drown the ocean; if she hasn't killed herself with excess, what chance do you have? Upon activating Drowning the Ocean and for the remainder of the scene, the Sidereal is immune to the deleterious effects of drug and alcohol poisoning. Substances which are purely toxic or venomous, such as arsenic or coral snake venom, effect her normally. Drowning the Ocean does not prevent the Sidereal from becoming drunk or high, but prevents her from suffering damage or penalties to her actions due to these conditions.
At Essence 3, she adds (the lesser of Essence or Performance) as bonus dice to rolls resisting pure poisons.
No Evil Seen
Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Performance 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Strange Days
It is a sad truth of the world that many spouses are insufficiently open minded as to appreciate what the Musician offers, and that so many parents are so overprotective. When the Sidereal is caught in a socially compromising, but non-violent, situation, she may use No Evil Seen to change up to one minute of history, in order to make the situation seem more acceptable. Or, if she does not feel that time would be enough, to at least get a head start on any angered witnesses.
Impossible-to-Remember Party Approach
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Performance 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Psyche
Duration: One party
Prerequisite Charms: Drowning the Ocean
A woman drinking alone is a terribly sad thing; the Musician should always have company, and the best songs are sung with boon companions over empty bottles. When she activates Impossible-to-Remember Party Approach, the Sidereal draws a veil of sapphire across a party. Inhibitions are reduced, conversation is more relaxed, and a good time is had by all. Attendees to this party reduce their Resolve and Guile by 1 while attending; against the Sidereal, they instead Resolve and Guile by (Essence / 2, round up). Those who attend the duration of the party are also immune from hangovers or other symptoms of withdrawal the next morning; they awake refreshed and having gained an additional point of temporary Willpower. Impossible-to-Remember Party Approach can only be used to enchant a boisterous gathering with an abundance of good food and drink, and no one may gain the benefit of the extra Willpower more than once a week.
An Essence 4 repurchase enables the Sidereal to pull the veil of serenity not simply over the evening, but over the attendees' memories of the evening as well. She rolls (Manipulation + Performance) against the Resolve of each guest, describing what they do and do not remember. Those affected are absolutely committed to their memories of the evening as described; they gain a bonus to their Resolve when disbelieving evidence to the contrary equal to the threshold successes on the Sidereal's roll. Each time they resist against the false memories, reduce this bonus by 1. If their Resolve is overcome or the bonus falls to zero, they regain their true memories of the evening. The Sidereal herself always remembers what happened with crystalline clarity.
Defense of Shining Joy
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Performance 5, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Perilous
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Faultless Ceremony
The Sidereal begins to dance to a song only she can hear; the music of Creation moves her, keeping her safe. While Defense of Shining Joy is active, she may substitute her Performance for her Dodge when calculating her Evasion. By spending 1m, she may ignore all Onslaught penalties to her Evasion for one attack. She may Rush and Disengage, as well to oppose the Rushes and Disengages of others, with (Charisma + Performance). The effects of Defense of Shining Joy are suppressed when the Sidereal is in Initiative Crash, but resume without cost when she recovers.
Perfection in Life
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Performance 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Defense of Shining Joy
The song of Venus is one that cannot be denied; to strike down the singer is to strike down all that makes life worth living. So long as she is playing and singing, no living creature of Creation may attack the Sidereal; attempts to do so simply fail. Further, they must spend 1 temporary willpower point to take any violent action whatsoever. Perfection in Life ends immediately if the Sidereal takes any aggressive action or if she ceases singing. In order to weave an instill, inspire or persuade action into her song without stopping, the Sidereal must spend 1 willpower per attempt.
At Essence 3, Perfection in Life applies to the gods and spirits of Creation and the twisted inhabitants of the demon realm; divinities and devils alike can find no malice within the song.
At Essence 4, Perfection in Life applies to the strange inhabitants of the Wyld, as even the Fair Folk have never heard music as moving.
At Essence 5, Perfection in Life applies to all other beings, including animate corpses, insane ghosts or alien intelligences from ages gone. It even applies to normally emotionless creatures, such as the automata of Autochthon or the living statue of Tahaki Shant.
Perfection in Life does not protect the Sidereal from individuals incapable of perceiving her- if she sings, those deaf to the song are unmoved, if she dances, those blind care not. But even deaf stones and blind winds are touched by this serene perfection; anyone whom is affected by Perfection in Life must spend the Willpower to take a violent action, even if they cannot perceive the Sidereal.
Blue Eyed Fiend
Cost: 10m (1wp); Mins: Performance 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design, Psyche
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: No Evil Seen
In the hearts of all lurks a blue eyed devil; a demanding glutton which can never be satiated. The Musician uncages this fiend in another, giving it rampant dominion. When she uses Blue Eyed Fiend, the Sidereal rolls (Appearance + Performance) against her target's Resolve; if she is successful, she inspires an insatiable need. By spending a willpower when she invokes Blue Eyed Fiend, she may specify the shape of this need; else, it is dictated by the nature of the victim and the whims of the Maiden of Serenity.
The inspired need is a Defining Principle. So long as the Sidereal keeps the motes committed to Blue Eyed Fiend, it is unbreakable and cannot be reduced in strength. Ill omens surround the victim, proclaiming their insatiable hunger and warning the wise away.
Harmonic Completion
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Performance 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Prayer Strip
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: At least two of Impossible-to-Remember Party Approach, Blue Eyed Fiend, or Perfection in Life
Every life is a symphony yet unfinished; the Sidereal with Harmonic Completion can provide the missing pieces of the song. She takes a prayer strip marked with the Scripture of the Dancer and places it on her tongue. The strip dissolves, leaving her tongue and lips bright sapphire blue.
For the remainder of the scene, every social action the Sidereal takes is considered to be supported by a Defining Intimacy of her continued presence and happiness. She does not inspire possessiveness, but rather an intense desire to please.
PRESENCE : THE SHIELD
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE ONE-HANDED MAIDEN
Once, there was a maiden…
…who struck an iron wall
Until it shattered her hand.
She did not stop, though cracks spread throughout her bones.
She did not stop, though blood sprayed her eyes.
She did not stop until she shattered the wall.
“Survival is fury,” she said.
The Shield Resplendent
Cost: - ; Mins: Presence 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Shield is undaunted by small dangers. While wearing a Destiny of the Shield, the Sidereal gains Hardness of (Essence + 2) so long as she is unarmored.
Force Decision
Cost: 1m; Mins: Presence 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Psyche
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Shield speaks without thinking; the Sidereal can remove the burden of consideration from another. If someone is weighing between two or more courses of action, the Sidereal may use Force Decision to force her target to decide as she wishes. She rolls (Appearance + Presence) against a difficulty of his Resolve; if successful, he immediately decides as she wishes, unless he spends 1 temporary willpower point.
A decision reached in this fashion does not add the +3 to the target's Resolve if the issue is raised again, as it normally would when trying to overturn influence (Exalted p. 221)
Wounded Lion Strength
Cost: 1m; Mins: Presence 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Uniform
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Shield relishes pain, and the Sidereal learns to draw strength from her injuries. When she supplements an attack with Wounded Lion Strength, she ignores any wound penalty or penalties from pain that she is suffering from while making the attack. Once per scene when she uses Wounded Lion Strength, she may also add a number of dice to the damage of the attack equal to the number of health levels she has lost in the scene.
Water and Fire Treaty
Cost: 3m; Mins: Presence 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Until Calibration
Prerequisite Charms: None
Over the course of a day, the Sidereal forges a pact with either the essence of fire or water; so long as the treaty is upheld, she gains a certain measure of freedom and protection from the element.
If she crafts her pact with water, the Sidereal is capable of breathing water freely, and is always warm and comfortable in even the coldest of waters. This does not warm her during a blizzard, or give her sight and free movement in the depths of the sea, but she will neither drown, nor freeze, nor be crushed by the depths in any body of water.
If she crafts her pact with fire, the Sidereal becomes incapable of being burned by natural flame; her body and personal effects are sacrosanct from such a fate. Sorcerous flame, such as a the Flight of the Brilliant Raptor or a blast directed by a Dragonblooded warrior, may yet burn her, but she adds (the higher or Essence or 3) to her soak, reduces the decisive damage pool from such attacks by this amount (to a minimum of the attacker’s Essence) before applying Hardness, and applies this bonus towards any relevant resistance rolls against magical flames.
Once forged, the pact remains in place until Calibration. It can be ended sooner, at a cost of 1 temporary willpower point and a point of lethal damage- an offering of blood to appease the affronted element.
While the treaty stands, omens call out the Sidereal's sovereign immunity over the element.
Optimistic Security Practice
Cost: 5m; Mins: Presence 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Perilous
Duration: Until next turn
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Shield trusts that victory has already been achieved, and in this confidence, the Sidereal draws safety. Until the next turn, she gains +(Essence) soak and a defensive pool of (Presence) Initiative. Any withering damage she suffers steals these temporary points before stealing from the Sidereal's own initiative.
This defensive initiative is only usable for protecting the Sidereal's initiative; it cannot be used to enhance decisive attacks, make gambits, or power other charms.
Presence in Absence Technique
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Presence 4, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Force Decision
Even when the Sidereal is not present, her presence can be made known by another. With Presence in Absence Technique, the Sidereal takes a social action in the presence of her designated speaker. The speaker must agree with the overt premise and the goals of the action. Under a predetermined condition- such as the speaker gaining the floor of the Deliberative, presenting a case before a jury, or wooing a lover on the balcony -the Sidereal's words come rushing from his mouth. Any charms enhancing this action must be paid for at the same time as Presence in Absence Technique is used, and the costs are also committed until the action is completed, or the speaker becomes unwilling or unable to make the speech. If the speech the Sidereal gives supports a mutual intimacy of both themselves and the designate speaker, add the (lower rank of the intimacy between the two) as automatic successes.
So long as the soliloquy has not yet been spoken, the speaker's horoscope will show a glimmer between themselves and the Sidereal, and auspicious glow of her future words.
Forbiddance
Cost: 4m; Mins: Presence 4, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Perilous, Resplendent
Duration: Until next action
Prerequisite Charms: Water and Fire Treaty or Wounded Lion Strength
The promise of the Shield is this; none shall pass. A simple oath, and yet armies have broken themselves against lone men who hold the proper ground. If anyone attempts to disengage from you in order to go past, increase the target number of their disengage roll by 1. If you successfully prevent them from getting past you, you may make a free reflexive hand-to-hand withering attack against them; if this attack is sufficient to crash them, you may make a reflexive hand-to-hand decisive attack against them. If someone uses a power that automatically moves them past you but they would pass within close range over the course of that effect, you may take the reflexive withering and decisive attacks against them as described above. Finally, once per turn, you may reflexively force an attack made against you from close range into a clash attack.
If you are in the Destiny of the Shield when using Forbiddance, reduce the target number of your damage rolls by 1 as well.
Upon using Forbiddance, you cannot use your reflexive movement action during this turn. Each successive turn of invoking Forbiddance reduces the cost by 1 mote, to a minimum of 1 mote.
Varnish the Truth
Cost: -; Mins: Presence 2, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Shield boasts not out of a desire for recognition, but as a warning to those who might raise arms against them. If they should embellish now and again, well, all the better to maintain the peace. Once a day, when the Sidereal is boasting about her past accomplishments, she may make a persuade, threaten, instill or inspire action without the penalty for taking a social action against a group. If the action is successful, she gains a temporary point of Willpower, although this cannot exceed her normal maximum temporary Willpower.
Red Haze
Cost: 1m / individual or 3m / Size; Mins: Presence 2, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal tosses a handful of red stardust into the air; as it drifts downward, a terrible fury is inspired against the enemies of Creation both living and dead. She enchants up to (Presence) individuals, which may include herself; each individual so enchanted gains 1 bonus non-charm die when rolling Join Battle, rushing, attacking, or otherwise actively opposing demons or the dead, and such creatures suffer a -1 penalty to attack those enchanted.
At Essence 3, the Sidereal may instead enchant a battle group, with a size no greater than (Essence). A battle group under such an enchantment increases its Might and Defense by 1 against against demons and the dead.
Fortune’s Favorite
Cost: 3m+, 1i+; Mins: Presence 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Shield laughs as blows rain down, and screams in victory as her own attacks strike impossibly true. The Sidereal may use Fortune's Favorite to force a re-roll of any damage roll that would strike her, or any damage roll she makes against another. Fortune's Favorite costs an additional mote and point of initiative for each time it is used in the same scene after the first use. Fortune's Favorite may not be used multiple times on the same damage roll; the second roll must be accepted. Any charms or other effects which were applied to the first roll are also applied to the second.
At Essence 4, she may repurchase Fortune's Favorite, allowing her to invoke it for any damage roll she is aware of.
Aspect of the Bear
Cost: 3m; Mins: Presence 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Wounded Lion Strength or Red Haze
The ecstasy of battle is a terrible thing to witness, and the the mad joy the Sidereal takes in maiming her opponents can send them in screaming terror. When a decisive attack enhanced with Aspect of the Bear deals damage, the opponent injured suffers a penalty to all actions they take other than fleeing equal to -(the lesser of levels of damage dealt or Essence) due to the overwhelming fear the Sidereal inspires. This penalty fades at a rate of 1 per turn. If a second attack supplemented with Aspect of the Bear deals damage, it either overwrites the current penalty or increases the current penalty by 1, at the Sidereal's option.
If the Sidereal is in the Destiny of the Shield, the penalty is instead -(the greater of levels of damage dealt or Essence).
Someone Else’s Destiny
Cost: 3m (+3m); Mins: Presence 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Decisive-only, Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Fortune's Favorite or Optimistic Security Practice
The Shield will be rent in battle; no other destiny is worthy of her. If the Sidereal should be poisoned, she may use Someone Else's Destiny to correct this mistake. She adds her (Presence) to her (Stamina + Resistance) roll as non-charm dice.
If she reduces the duration of the poison to zero, the toxin is not merely negated, but hangs in abeyance around her destiny. When she makes a decisive attack, she may spend 3 motes to return the poison fate to Creation, envenoming her target on a blow that deals at least one level of damage. Poisonous fates will not hang indefinitely, but dissipate after twenty-five hours.
If the Sidereal negates a second poison, she may choose which remains attached to her fate, the old or the new, but may not hold on to both.
Honest Liar’s Boast
Cost: 3m; Mins: Presence 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Presence In Absence Technique, Varnish the Truth
Sometimes the only shield a liar can raise is to prove the truth of their boasts. When the Sidereal hears an individual boasting or bragging of some great achievement or glorious feat, she may use Honest Liar's Boast to take a persuade action against him, using the boast as a Major intimacy.
Dream of the Untamed Face
Cost: 5m; Mins: Presence 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Red Haze or Fortune's Favorite
The truth can often be seen in the grips of ecstatic madness more easily than in the clarity of reason, as the Shield does not lie to herself. The Sidereal borrows a portion of this clarity, enhancing her ability to see through deceptions; when attempting to pierce someone's disguise or determine if someone is lying, she re-rolls 1s until 1s no longer appear. Additionally, after using Dream of the Untamed Face and for the remainder of the scene, she may spot Lunars as if she were familiar with their Tell, even if she has never seen them before.
Water and Fire Legion
Cost: 7m, 1wp, 1lhl; Mins: Presence 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Water and Fire Treaty or Forbiddance
The Shield stands in protection, but sometimes must entrust that protection to another. In such cases, the Sidereal may bind a spirit of water or fire to stand in defense of a location. This binding requires a successful (Charisma + Presence) roll against the spirit's Resolve and may only be attempted once per day; if successful, the spirit gains an unbreakable principle to defend the location the Sidereal desires until the next Calibration.
Once bound, omens will whisper of the place's protector to those who know to look.
Oath of Vengeance
Cost: 1m / initiative; Mins: Presence 5, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Forbiddance or Wounded Lion Strength or Aspect of the Bear
Those who strike the Shield had best pray they deal a fatal blow, lest her counterstroke be all the worse. When the Sidereal is the target of a decisive attack, she may spend up to (Essence) motes on Oath of Vengeance. After the attack is resolved, she steals 1 initiative from the attacker per mote spent; if she is dealt damage, she additionally steals initiative equal to the levels of damage she suffers. This initiative is stolen after the attacker has reset, and can result in Initiative Crash or Shift.
Hero’s Iron Skin
Cost: 3m (1wp); Mins: Presence 5, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Someone Else's Destiny or Optimistic Security Practice
The Shield does not bleed. When an enemy attacks the unarmored Sidereal with a withering attack, she may use Hero's Iron Skin. If the attack deals damage, increase the target number for the damage roll by 1. She may use Hero's Iron Skin against a decisive attack, but it costs an additional point of temporary willpower.
With a second purchase, the attacker also subtracts a success from the damage roll for each 1 rolled.
At Essence 3, the Sidereal may purchase Hero's Iron Skin a third and final time; the Sidereal reduces the successes on withering attacks by (Essence).
Rage of the Bloody Handed Goddess
Cost: 2m / individual or 4m / Size; Mins: Presence 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Aspect of the Bear or Red Haze or Dream of the Untamed Face
The Sidereal calls the fury of Mars into herself and her allies, sending them into a berserker frenzy. She may enchant up to (Essence) willing individuals, including herself, with Rage of the Bloody Handed Goddess; those enchanted suffer the effects of Berserk Anger and reduce their defense by 1, but also become immune to fear and gain 3 non-charm dice on all rolls made during combat intended to either harm or bring harm to an enemy. Individuals may not be enchanted against their own will; if the blessing is not desired, it does not take effect.
At Essence 4, she may instead enchant a battle group to a maximum of (Essence) Size. Battle groups so enchanted reduce their Drill to Poor and suffer a -1 penalty to defense, but also gain perfect morale for the duration of the scene.
If the Sidereal knows Red Haze as well, enchanted individuals and battle groups benefit from the effect of Red Haze at no additional cost.
Shared Pain
Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Presence 5, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Dream of the Untamed Face or Fortune's Favorite or Someone Else's Destiny
No one hurts the Shield and remains unharmed. When the Sidereal is struck by a decisive blow, but before damage is rolled, she may activate Shared Pain to return some of the hurt. She rolls (Essence) dice; for each success, she reduces the levels of damage she takes by 1, and gains a floating point of damage which is added to the next successful decisive blow she lands which inflicts at least one point of damage. Successes in excess of the damage dealt are lost.
Storm’s Eye Stance
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Presence 5, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Prayer Strip, Perilous
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Water and Fire Legion, Oath of Vengeance, Rage of the Bloody Handed Goddess, Shared Pain, Hero's Iron Skin
Violence is the constant companion of the Shield, and the only time she knows peace is in the center of battle's maelstrom. After suffering at least one level of lethal damage from an enemy's decisive attack, the Sidereal slaps a prayer strip marked with the Scripture of the One Handed Maiden upon the wound. It flares with a bloody red light, causing the Sidereal's anima to roar to Bonfire if it were at a lower level previously.
For the remainder of the scene, all violence belongs to the Sidereal. This confers the following benefits;
* She suffers no wound penalties and feels no fear.
* She and all allies out to Medium range may gain the effect of Rage of the Bloody Handed Goddess as long as Storm's Eye Stance is active.
* She may transfer the damage from any decisive attack which would harm one of her allies within Medium range to herself, reflexively and at no cost. Damage transferred in this fashion is treated as having been directed at the Sidereal, and is subject to any Charms she may subsequently use.
* She may reflexively invoke Oath of Vengeance after damage has been rolled.
* She may reflexively invoke Shared Pain at no cost. Alternatively, she may invoke Shared Pain by paying 7 motes and 1 temporary Willpower; if she does, she rolls (Essence + Presence) instead of (Essence).
If the Sidereal enters initiative crash, or if her anima dims below bonfire, Storm's Eye Stance abates; it returns when she resets to base initiative and her anima is at bonfire again.
RESISTANCE : THE MAST
The Scripture of the Eternal Maiden
Once, there was a maiden...
... made from a lump of iron, shaped by wind, sea and fire
Fearing how wood might shape her, she ran, and did not look back
One day she forgot what she ran from
So, she pulled out her heart to ask it.
"Why don't you look back and see?" it said.
So, she sighed and threw her heart away.
"I have no use for beginnings" said she.
The Mast Resplendent
Cost: - ; Mins: Resistance 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
When wearing a Destiny of the Mast, the Sidereal may reduce her Linguistics, Investigation, Socialize, Lore, or Bureaucracy by up to a total of (Essence + Resistance) dots, redistributing these dots amongst her Resistance, Ride, Sail, Survival, Athletics and Brawl. She may raise her Resistance up to 6 in this fashion. The ability redistribution may be changed each time the Sidereal dons the Destiny of the Mast.
Ox-Body Technique
Cost: -; Mins: Resistance 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Stackable
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
As per the Solar Charm 'Ox-Body Technique', except:
Stamina 1-2: An additional -1 health level
Stamina 3-4: An additional -0 health level
Stamina 5+: An additional -0 and -1 health level
Forward Thinking Technique
Cost: 1m; Mins: Resistance 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Until released
Prerequisite Charms: None
A laborer is nothing without their tools; by the virtue of the Mast, the Sidereal is never so deprived. She may always call to hand any mundane tool she needs for a task she is presently working on. The item is inexplicably misplaced once it is no longer being used for the job it was called for, and may never be either sold, traded or used in a fight.
Two Thousand Hands And Two
Cost: 5m; Mins: Resistance 4, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Stackable, Design, Resplendent
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Forward Thinking Technique
The blessing of the Mast ensures that the Sidereals labor is swift and easy- even the largest projects fall before her in short order. Each time she uses this charm, she gains a Major Project slot for as long as she keep the motes committed. The Sidereal may not purchase more Major Project slots than she has dots of Essence.
If you work on the project exclusively in the destiny of the Mast, you may re-roll all 1s and 2s on your Craft rolls.
At Essence 3, she may instead commit 15m to gain a Superior Project slot. Such a slot may only be used for large-scale mundane works, such as building a ship or a palace, and enable the Sidereal to work on the project alone- tirelessly accomplishing what should require teams of people. The Sidereal may not purchase more than one such Superior Project slot at a time.
Using this Charm makes the projects a matter of destiny; those interested may note the omens prophesying the successful completion.
The Wisdom of Drudges
Cost: -; Mins: Resistance 5, Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Two Thousand Hands and Two
Hard work is its own reward, and the dreamless sleep that accompanies a day's labor is sweeter than wine. You gain 1 silver point per 10 rolled on any Basic Project, 1 gold point per 10 rolled on any Major Project, and 3 gold points per 10 rolled on any Superior Project.
Scry the Hearthstone
Cost: 3m, 1lhl; Mins: Resistance 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Forward Thinking Technique
All architects belong to the Mast, and the blood and sweat of builders sanctify every structure to the stars. By giving an offering of blood, the Sidereal gains an intuitive understanding of the layout of a building- including any secret doors, hidden rooms, or mechanical traps.
She does not learn anything magical about the building- if an illusion conceals a door, she will know the door is there, but still not be able to see it. Nor do you learn anything of the building's occupants.
At Essence 3, she may also spend 1 willpower when activating Scry the Hearthstone; if she does, the Sidereal learns where all of the building's occupants are at that moment the charm was used.
Scry the Hearthstone may not be used on buildings raised by sorcery or the glamours of the Fair Folk.
Strength of the Mast
Cost: 1m / dot; Mins: Resistance 4, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Under the blessing of the Mast, the Sidereal can perform improbable feats of brute strength. For a single attack or feat of strength, she may temporarily increase her Strength score by 1 per mote of Essence. You may not add more than (the lesser of Strength or Essence) with this charm.
A Place to Stand
Cost: 3m / die; Mins: Resistance 5, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Strength of the Mast
Beyond improbable, you can now do the impossible- engaging in feats of strength that defy reason or explanation. For every three motes spent, set aside one die on a Feat of Strength roll; that die is automatically a 10, and increases the Sidereal’s effective Strength + Athletics by 1 for determining what she is capable of accomplishing. She may set aside no more than your Resistance in dice this way.
Ignorance is Bliss
Cost: 3m; Mins: Resistance 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Mast knows nothing- neither of the wider world, nor her own limits. For a moment, neither does the Sidereal, all pain and fatigue fading into a fog of ignorance. She ignores all penalties caused by pain, fatigue, poison, or any other purely internal affliction for one action.
Additionally, she may forget herself for a moment, concealing her true emotions beneath a mask of guileless ignorance. Add half the Sidereal’s Resistance to her Guile, or to any social action to convince someone of your simple-mindedness as non-charm dice.
Invisible at the Center
Cost: 5m; Mins: Resistance 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design, Resplendent
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Ignorance is Bliss
Laborers are everywhere, and yet they easily go unseen; one dullard drudge looking much like the next. The Sidereal shares in this unique invisibility; as long as she is performing hard manual labor with a group, she is invisible.
Taking any overt actions or participating in activities other than manual labor ends this charm.
Certain Charms may aid in detecting the Exalt. Roll the Sidereal’s ([Stamina or Strength] + Stealth) against her opponent’s relevant (Attribute + Ability) or Resolve, if the attacking Charm is based on the opponent’s Integrity.
With a second purchase, the Sidereal may instead engage in any lower class service and gain the benefit of this invisibility; who notices the waiter, the maid, the coach-driver in anything but the most cursory of fashions?
Each week past the first, destiny strains a little more at the deception. Omens begin to declare the presence of the Sidereal amongst the workers, and the difficulty to understand these omens drops by 1 per week. Weeks in which the Sidereal wear the Destiny of the Mast do not count; Creation expects laborers to go unnoticed.
Unwavering Well-Being Meditation
Cost: 3m, 1i; Mins: Resistance 5, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Ignorance is Bliss
Like the Mast, the Sidereal bear punishment with stoic silence, drawing strength from the pain and victory seemingly from the jaws of defeat. Subtract her current temporary Willpower from the raw damage of a decisive attack roll against him, to a minimum of the (greater of the attacker’s Essence or 1).
Heartless Maiden Trance
Cost: 10m; Mins: Resistance 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Unwavering Well-Being Meditation, Invisible at the Center
The Sidereal refines the lessons of ignorance, and learn to swallow her heart- becoming immune to all distresses and distractions of the body. While under the effects of Heartless Maiden Trance, she ignores all penalties caused by pain, fatigue, poison, or any other purely internal affliction. She will not fall unconscious when your Incapacitated health level is taken; dying only when she accrues (Stamina) additional levels of damage.
Furthermore, poison, starvation and dehydration hang in abeyance until the charm ends, whereupon they all take effect at once.
Finally, while under the Heartless Maiden Trance, the Sidereal draw no nourishment from the world, and respires no essence outside of combat. Even in combat, the numbing chill of heartlessness leaves her respiring only 3 motes per turn.
Unswerving Juggernaut Principle
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Resistance 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal weaves her arrival into the destiny of a location- as long as she does nothing but run towards that destination, she can continue without needing to eat, drink or rest, and ignores damage or impairment from any natural environmental hazard.
In order to activate Unswerving Juggernaut Principle, she must be able to physically reach her destination by running. Unswerving Juggernaut Principle ends immediately if she stops to involve herself in festivals or fighting; doing so ends the effects of the charm.
While active, omens and portents will herald the arrival of the Sidereal.
One Direction Invocation
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Resistance 5, Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design, Prayer Strip
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: The Wisdom of Drudges, Scry the Hearthstone, A Place to Stand, Unswerving Juggernaut Principle, Heartless Maiden Trance
The Sidereal inscribe a prayer strip on one side with the scripture of the Eternal Maiden, and on the reverse, a pledge of her name to accomplish some goal. The goal must be something concrete and measurable, although it may be something which is the work of many years or decades. The strip bursts into golden flame, and her accomplishment is written into the Heavens for the wise to recognize.
While under the effect of One Direction Invocation, the Sidereal gains a Defining Principle to accomplish her stated goal; this Principle may also be called on an unlimited number of times in social influence, by both herself and others. Any non-aggravated damage she suffers heals at a rate of one level of lethal or bashing per turn, while aggravated damage heals at a rate of 1 level per day. She also suffer a -3 situational penalty to all actions which do not directly facilitate achieving her goal.
At any time, you may end this Charm; it will also end automatically if her goal becomes impossible. If the charm ends with your goal not having been accomplished, your name and identity are forfeit; you must requisition a new name from Heaven.
RIDE : THE MESSENGER
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DESIRABLE MAIDEN
Once, there was a maiden…
…whom many men wanted for their own.
She stepped as softly as starlight.
She shone with glory.
And one by one, they came to claim her.
She fled by the quickest route she found.
“Why do you run?” the storm clouds said.
She said, “I cannot help who drives me.”
The Messenger Resplendent
Cost: - ; Mins: Ride 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
Upon purchasing this Charm, the Sidereal gains a divine Familiar, which must be able to act as a mount, available only when she is wearing a Destiny of the Messenger. The precise appearance of the mount may shift with the details of the Destiny.
Treat this mount as a Familiar 3, which does not count against her limit of (Essence) spirit familiars, nor against the Merits granted by her Destiny.
Ordained Bridle of Mercury
Cost: 1m or 10m or 10m, 1wp; Mins: Ride 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Drawing the symbol of the Messenger upon the flank of a horse or other mount, you bend it's destiny to your need. The horse becomes immediately loyal and well trained for you, willing to bear you as best it can. Once you have bound the destiny of the steed, you may whistle to call it to you by spending a mote; it will come as quickly as fate can arrange. You may have no more than (Ride) mounts bound to you in this fashion at any time, although you may release their destiny at no cost.
At Essence 2, the Sidereal may instead spend 10 motes and whistle to call a spirit of wind and flame; a horse appears with butter coat and yellow mane and golden eyes. This spiritual horse should be treated as an exceptional war horse (Exalted p. 567) which needs neither food nor rest and is unfailingly loyal to you.
At Essence 3, the Sidereal may repurchase Ordained Bridle of Mercury; with the second purchase, when she whistles for a spiritual mount, she may also spend a point of Willpower to give her steed wings, allowing it to fly as fast as it can run.
Yellow Path
Cost: 3m; Mins: Ride 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The course of the Messenger is laid out before the Sidereal; all she need do is follow. When she uses Yellow Path, she gains an intuitive knowledge of where she is, and where she needs to go to reach some destination in the shortest time, and how long it will take. Fate knows the Sidereal's capacities; the Yellow Path will not draw her to swim across an ocean unless she has a means to reliably accomplish such. However, while the Yellow Path is certain to be the fastest route, it is rarely the safest or least eventful.
At Essence 2, the Sidereal may use Yellow Path to learn the fastest route she needs to follow to accomplish some goal. In this case, she does not know the destination, but does get an idea of how long she will be traveling. If the Storyteller believes the goal to be outright impossible, they should inform the Sidereal that such a Fate cannot be found.
Gone To Market
Cost: 3m; Mins: Ride 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
In many of the far corners of Creation, it is the wandering tinker or merchant who acts as the Messenger, the news they carry nearly as valued as the goods they sell. When she uses Gone to Market, the Sidereal learns where the nearest market that a given good can be legally bought or sold, and what price it trades for there. At Essence 2, she may specify a particular market instead of the closest, knowing what the trade price for a good presently is. Gone to Market does not tell the Sidereal what the good will be sold for by the time she can reach the market.
Old News
Cost: 3m; Mins: Ride 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Messenger carries the news, not the olds, and the Sidereal knows better than to waste the time of their audience. The Sidereal may tell at a glance if her audience already knows what she has to say; she rolls (Perception + Investigation) against the audience's Guile. If she succeeds, she knows if her audience will be surprised at some piece of information or gossip.
Iron Heart
Cost: 1m; Mins: Ride 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Until next turn
Prerequisite Charms: At least three of Ordained Bridle of Mercury, Yellow Path, Gone to Market, Old News, or A Message For All
Fear cannot stay the Messenger from her duty. The Sidereal may use Iron Heart to ignore penalties or effects resulting from fear until the next turn.
If she is mounted, then her mount benefits from Iron Heart at no additional cost.
Heavy as a Mountain
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Ride 4, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: At least three of Ordained Bridle of Mercury, Yellow Path, Gone to Market, Old News, or A Message For All
There is no purpose greater than the cause, and the Messenger has no desires but to fulfill their sworn duty. The Sidereal may draw upon this zeal when speaking to another, encouraging him to honestly fulfill their duty to an individual or organization. Her target must acknowledge at least a nominal duty- she cannot convince rebels to act in accordance with the prince against whom they rebel, but she could persuade a guard to refuse any bribes he is offered for the night. Heavy as a Mountain allows the Sidereal to treat an intimacy of duty or obligation the target has as being one rank greater than it is for purposes of instill or persuade actions; any actions undertaken due to the strengthened intimacy may be resisted may entering into an appropriate decision point against the original strength of the intimacy. If her target has no relevant intimacy, then she may act as if he had a Minor intimacy.
The Road Goes On
Cost: 3m; Mins: Ride 4, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: At least three of Ordained Bridle of Mercury, Yellow Path, Gone to Market, Old News, or A Message For All
All travellers walk the same road, whether they are mounted, ride in gilded carriage, or walk on bare and bleeding feet. The Sidereal may determine at a glance where someone is from and what his intended destination is; doing so requires a successful (Perception + Investigation) check against her target's Guile.
A Message for All
Cost: 5m; Mins: Ride 2, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Messenger is understood by all. For long enough to deliver a brief message, the Sidereal may be understood by anyone, regardless of linguistic barriers. A Message For All does not confer understanding of other languages upon the Sidereal; it only serves to make her understood. A Message For All crosses cultural and even ability barriers; if the Sidereal seeks to speak to a race of deaf-blind mole people, they will understand her message as conveyed by their peculiar system of vibrational speech. Likewise, idioms in her message will be translated as best as possible, as always with the appropriate and intended degree of respect; the Sidereal will not offer incidental insult while using A Message For All, although her audience may still take her message awry.
When using A Message For All, the Sidereal may make a single inspire, instill or persuade action based on Charisma, as long as the intent of the action can be described in two or three sentences.
Hope Rides Alone
Cost: -; Mins: Ride 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: At least three of Ordained Bridle of Mercury, Yellow Path, Gone to Market, Old News, or A Message For All
The Messenger draws strength from accomplishment, and renewed purpose in the fulfilment of her duty. When the Sidereal completes a mission she accepted, she regains temporary willpower, based on the difficulty (Exalted p. 216) of the task. Completing an inconvenient task provides 1 temporary willpower point, which may not exceed her normal maximum. Completing a serious task provides 2 temporary willpower points, which may exceed her normal maximum. Completing a life-changing task provides 3 temporary willpower points, which may exceed her normal maximum. Additionally, such remarkable accomplishments help Fate itself to run straight and smooth, reducing her Paradox by 1.
Scent of Hollyhock and Lythrum
Cost: 5m; Mins: Ride 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: At least three of Ordained Bridle of Mercury, Yellow Path, Gone to Market, Old News, or A Message For All
The Messenger is well acquainted with arrogance, and many Sidereal knows the scent of vanity or overwhelming pride quite well. While Scent of Hollyhock and Lythrum is active, the Sidereal knows if anyone out to Medium range has any intimacies grounded in narcissism, vanity, arrogance, or similar emotions of overwhelming pride. She cannot tell exactly who carries the intimacy, but she gains double 9s on any attempt to Read Intentions to discover such.
Fate Sharing Sacrifice
Cost: 1m; Mins: Ride 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Perilous, Resplendent
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: At least three of Iron Heart, Heavy as a Mountain, Hope Rides Alone, The Road Goes On, or Scent of Hollyhock and Lythrum
The Messenger shares her fate with others. Once per turn, when an ally is attacked within Close range of the Sidereal, she may use Fate Sharing Sacrifice to reflexively Defend Other, warding the target. If she is in the Destiny of the Messenger, she gains a point of initiative for each 1 the attacker rolls. Guarding one's mount with Fate Sharing Sacrifice does not count against the one use per turn limit; the Sidereal may ward her steed any number of times.
Glory Path
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Ride 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: At least three of Iron Heart, Heavy as a Mountain, Hope Rides Alone, The Road Goes On, or Scent of Hollyhock and Lythrum
The Sidereal dedicates themselves to a journey, and writes the certainty of their arrival into the stars. She can run across water, straight up cliffs, or even across thin air, so long as she is advancing along the shortest route she knows towards her destination. If she is mounted, the effects of Glory Path are extended to her mount at no cost. If attacked while running the Glory Path, the Sidereal gains double 8s on any Athletics actions which carry her in the direction of her destination- be that rushing towards an interposing enemy or Disengaging past them.
So long as Glory Path is active, omens will herald and foretell the arrival of the Sidereal.
Dark Words Lend Wings
Cost: 5m; Mins: Ride 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One hour
Prerequisite Charms: At least three of Iron Heart, Heavy as a Mountain, Hope Rides Alone, The Road Goes On, or Scent of Hollyhock and Lythrum
Gossip has wings all it's own, and rumor flies swifter than an arrow. The Sidereal increases her travelling speed when bearing a message that resonates with the heart of the sender or the intended recipient; she travels a number of range bands per turn equal to the combined rank of the intimacies the message carries for both the sender and the intended recipient. If she is mounted, she increases the number of range bands travelled per turn by her mount's speed bonus.
If the Sidereal is forced to stop travelling due to conflict or injury, the effect of Dark Words Lend Wings ends until they resume travel without such distractions again. The effect is always suspended if the Sidereal Joins Battle.
Despite the name, Dark Words Lend Wings can be used to transport messages of good news and great joy as easily as ill tidings; in this Age of Sorrows, however, such opportunities are fewer and farther between.
Superior-Entreating Memorial Style
Cost: 7m or 7m, 1wp; Mins: Ride 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Written-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: At least three of Iron Heart, Heavy as a Mountain, Hope Rides Alone, The Road Goes On, or Scent of Hollyhock and Lythrum
Sometimes, the message must be delivered and the Messenger will be unable to do so. Perhaps they have been captured and thrown into durance vile of a Demon Princes, or languish in the dungeons of a Deathlord. By using Superior-Entreating Memorial Style, the Sidereal may send a single written message to another Sidereal she knows. The recipient will find the message hidden, secure but secretly on their person (or in their personal effects, if he is unclothed at the time she uses the charm).
The Sidereal may spend a temporary Willpower point when invoking Superior-Entreating Memorial Style to send the letter to anyone she knows, not only another Sidereal.
Herald of the Heavens
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Ride 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: At least three of Iron Heart, Heavy as a Mountain, Hope Rides Alone, The Road Goes On, or Scent of Hollyhock and Lythrum
All who hear the Messenger know she speaks the truth. When she uses Herald of the Heavens, the Sidereal's anima rises to bonfire, and they gain the effect of A Message For All. Additionally, all who hear them know that the Maidens of Destiny vouch for the truth of her words- they may despise the Sidereal for speaking the truth, but they cannot honestly deny it. For the duration of the scene, if the Sidereal knowingly speaks any falsehoods, she is treated as having violated an Eclipse Caste Oath, as the Incarna take a dim view of their good name being besmirched. She is instinctively aware of the boundary, and will never unintentionally cross it. She can, however, deceive with half-truths, implications or by omission; she can say things that are false if she believes them to be true; she can lead her audience to false conclusions with a trail of truths. She cannot safely and knowingly speak a lie.
Riding the Dragon
Cost: 20m, 1wp; Mins: Ride 5, Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Prayer Strip
Duration: One day or Five days
Prerequisite Charms: At least three of Glory Path, Fate Sharing Sacrifice, Superior-Entreating Memorial Style, Dark Words Lend Wings, or Herald of the Heavens
Sometimes, sacrifices must be made that the message is delivered. To invoke Riding the Dragon, the Sidereal must feed a prayer strip marked with the Scripture of the Desirable Maiden to a mortal who has either a Major or Defining positive intimacy towards her. The mortal need not be willing or aware of the consequences of consuming the prayer strip, but they must be aware that they are doing so- the prayer strip cannot be hidden in some other food or drink.
Once done, over the next five minutes, the mortal falls to the ground, screaming and writhing in agony as his body and soul are consumed to give birth to a lesser elemental dragon. If the mortal bore a major intimacy towards the Sidereal, the transformation lasts for twenty five hours; else, it lasts for the next five days. The dragon will bear the Sidereal and her companions to anywhere she desires, and serves with an unbreakable principle of loyalty. He can even bear the Sidereal to the gates of Hell or through the madness of the Wyld safe and unhindered. If she is attacked, the dragon will strive to defend her to the best of his abilities, and in desperate times, the Sidereal may even use Riding the Dragon to create an unimaginably powerful weapon to unleash against her enemies.
When the charm ends, if the mortal originally held a major intimacy towards the Sidereal, the dragon perishes- crumbling to ash and dust over five minutes. If instead the mortal held a defining intimacy towards the Sidereal, the dragon roars in pain and confusion as his body wilts and melts back into it's original form. Unfortunately, the mind of the individual is completely blasted by the effect of the transformation, leaving them little better than a vegetable.
SAIL : THE CAPTAIN
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN AT SEA
Once, there was a maiden…
…who set sail with a captain she did not know.
She noticed the ship was crushing the waves and told the Captain to steer the ship higher so that it could be above them. “But not too high,” she said. “I’d hate to crush the clouds.”
The sea came over the side as a creature with teeth.
So, she set it on fire, until only the teeth were left. It wasn’t expecting that to happen.
A face in the depths glared at the Captain. The maiden got angry.
She broke the face and broke the depths and broke the sea, leaving only the white caps of the waves. “Why did you do that?” asked the face.
“Rarely is travel peaceful,” the maiden said.
The Captain Resplendent
Cost: - ; Mins: Sail 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal who dons the Destiny of the Captain takes not only her own fate into her hands, but the fates of those who obey her. She gains either Command 3 as an officer in a military in Creation, or Backing 3 within an organization in Creation. Additionally, she may add up to (Essence) dice to any War roll when commanding her troops, or any Bureaucracy roll when undertaking a Project with her organization, at a cost of 1m/die.
Merits granted by this Charm are only available while she wears the Destiny, and do not count against the merits provided by the Destiny.
All Knowing Pater
Cost: 3m; Mins: Sail 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The first Captain known is that of the terrible authority of the elder members of the family, and most terrible of all- the wrath omnipotent parents. When taking any social action supplemented by All Knowing Pater, the action is treated as being enhanced by an intimacy of loyalty or fear the target holds towards their family, even if such an intimacy would not normally be applicable.
Voice of Iron
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Sail 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Captain's commands are iron, and men jump to obey them without thought. Once per scene, when the Sidereal issues an order with Voice of Iron; she makes a (Charisma + Sail) roll against a difficulty of their target's Resolve as a persuade action for a minor or moderate task, which requires no appropriate intimacy. If successful, he will immediately seek to obey the order to the best of their ability. Resisting the order requires entering a decision point backed by at least a minor intimacy. During combat, Voice of Iron may only be used to issue persuade actions for minor tasks, and may be resisted by spending 1 temporary point of willpower without entering a decision point; resisting unacceptable orders does not require spending willpower.
Any creature which suffers aggravated damage from iron must spend 2 temporary points of willpower to resist commands issued with Voice of Iron, rather than 1.
Loyalty Snapping Shout
Cost: 3m, 3i; Mins: Sail 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Uniform, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Without the Captain's blessing, an army is little better than a panicked, heavily armed mob. When the Sidereal supplements an attack made against a battle group with Loyalty Snapping Shout, if the attack deals one or more levels of Magnitude damage, the battle group must immediately test for rout. If the battle group lost a point of Size due to the Magnitude lost, the rout check is at +(greater of 2 or Essence) difficulty.
Attitude of Tyrants
Cost: 7m; Mins: Sail 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
No one questions the Captain's presence; they endure and pray to not catch her baleful gaze. For the remainder of the scene, the Sidereal may treat anyone whom they could outrank in a formal organization as if she did outrank them; treat this as a Minor intimacy. If she is seen showing doubt or weakness, taking orders from anyone, or attempts to use this Intimacy against someone who knows the Sidereal cannot outrank them (for example, the Despot of Gem or a legion field commander), the charm ends immediately and cannot be reactivated for five days.
Scent of Salt and Fir
Cost: 5m; Mins: Sail 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
Authority cannot hide itself, and the Sidereal is familiar with the tang of leadership- both formally and practically. They can tell who, within Medium range, has a position of authority, as well as who is practically in charge.
Spare Not The Innocent
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Sail 5, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Captain ensures that order is maintained and disobedience is punished, as disobedient subordinates threaten the weal of the whole. When a leader publicly announces some rule or expected behavior for an organization, the Sidereal may invoke Spare Not The Innocent to bring Heaven's scrutiny upon violators of such rules. As long as she leaves the motes committed, whenever someone in the organization violates the stated rule, he and everyone else of comparable rank and backing within the organization suffers a brief but intense jolt of pain, which costs them 1 temporary point of willpower. The Sidereal may empower no more than one stricture in this fashion at a time.
So long as she maintains Spare Not The Innocent, omens promise only pain to those who would violate the rule in question.
Bound in Paper Chains
Cost: 7m; Mins: Sail 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
Many a Captain has, unrivaled on ship or upon the field, died from a thousand paper cuts of the reports they read and write after the battle is fought. The Sidereal names a particular task an organization is undertaking- until they release the motes from Bound in Paper Chains, the task becomes something which requires a full century to complete. Reports will be lost, priorities reshuffled, and officials distracted. No progress is necessarily lost, but until the magic ends, no progress is made either. Bound in Paper Chains may be used speculatively; for example 'The audit of my behavior by the Censor Jorumgander' may be ground to a halt, whether or not such an audit is underway- but the Sidereal has no indication if Bound in Paper Chains is having an effect in this case. The Sidereal may bind no more than one task in this fashion. Use of this charm to impede the actions of Heaven is a high crime, but can often be difficult to distinguish from the normal lassitude of lazy divinities.
While this charm is maintained, the stars of this project freeze, and omens will predict neither success nor failure no matter how much time is passed.
Shouting at Clouds
Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Sail 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One hour
Prerequisite Charms: None
Irritants such as storms or blizzards do not bother the Sidereal- and should they threaten, a brief shout at the sky reminds the weather of it's place. For the next hour after Shouting at Clouds, the weather around her clears out to Long range, centered on the Sidereal. Although storms may range within sight, for her there is smooth sailing and easy walking. The terrain is also treated as though the weather has been fair for weeks- dirt paths turned to mud dry in the Sidereal's presence. This does not restore changes to the landscape due to the weather; a bridge washed out or fallen landslide will remain even under this aegis.
The Sidereal may renew Shouting at Clouds at the end of each hour; if she does, omit the willpower cost.
Master and Commander
Cost: 7m; Mins: Sail 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Voice of Iron or All Knowing Pater
The presence of the Captain inspires both loyal fear and terrified awe. The Sidereal dons the mantle of the Master and Commander and transforms herself into an icon of terrible glory. For the remainder of the scene, she may draw on their own presence as a Major Intimacy of loyalty against anyone who feels themselves beholden to her, and a Major Intimacy of fear against anyone who opposes her. Any threatening actions taken against the Sidereal, as well as any opposed join battles rolled which she does not initiate, re-roll 7s until no 7s appear due to this preternatural terror, forfeiting any successes those 7 would have provided.
Command of Chains
Cost: 1m or 3m, 1wp; Mins: Sail 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Uniform
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Loyalty Snapping Shout or Bound in Paper Chains
The Captain is the master of bindings, and all ropes and chains owe their allegiance to her. The Sidereal may use Command of Chains to momentarily bring a rope or chain to life, striking at an enemy or slinking like a snake as ordered, out to Short range from her. Silk and hemp ropes used to attack are treated as light melee weapons with the Bashing, Disarming, Flexible, Grappling, and Reach tags, while common chains are treated as medium melee weapons with the Bashing, Disarming, Flexible, Grappling, Reach, and Smashing tags. Especially heavy chains, such as a ship's anchor chain, may be treated as heavy melee weapons with the Bashing, Smashing and Improvised tags. Attacks made with Command of Chains are made with the Sidereal's (Manipulation + Sail) to attack, and use her (Charisma) in place of her Strength for calculating withering damage.
The Sidereal may also use Command of Chains to order non-magical fastenings which bind her to fall away, to order whips to refuse to strike her, or to politely ask that the chandelier cord carry her up to the balcony; this converts any the dice from any stunt using the animate rope or chain for a non-combat action into successes.
At Essence 3, she may use Command of Chains to animate a rope or chain for the remainder of the scene at a cost of 3 motes and 1 point of temporary willpower.
Salt Into Ash Sleight
Cost: 7m, 1a; Mins: Sail 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Scent of Salt and Fir or Shouting at Clouds
The Sidereal's presence sanctions a journey, and neither god nor devil may interfere. She may cast a fragment of her anima into the destiny of a spirit or elemental, reminding it of pressing business it has elsewhere. Treat this as a persuade action using (Charisma + Sail) for the spirit to depart and not return, supported by a Defining intimacy.
Iron Drill Exercise
Cost: 10m (1wp); Mins: Sail 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Attitude of Tyrants or Spare Not The Innocent
The crew of a ship or soldiers on the field must be as a blade in the hands of the Captain- perfectly balanced and responsive to the least command. The Sidereal may use Iron Drill Exercise to improve the quality of a battle group of Size no greater than (Essence); in one week, a group of Poor Drill is raised to Average, while in one month, a group of Average Drill is raised to Elite. Units which gain average drill as a result of Iron Drill Exercise also gain the traits of battle-ready soldiers, while those who are raised to Elite gain the attributes of elite soldiers.
If the Sidereal spends a point of temporary willpower when activating Iron Drill Exercise, the trained unit also gains a Sailing rating equal to their best combat ability, less any bonuses from the accuracy of their weapons.
Mirror Shattering Method
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Sail 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Prayer Strip
Duration: Five days
Prerequisite Charms: Master and Commander, Command of Chains, Iron Drill Exercise, Salt Into Ash Sleight
All paths are open to the Sidereal and those who follow her. She may enchant a group she is travelling with, of Size no greater than (Essence); taking out a prayer strip marked with the Scripture of the Maiden at Sea, she whispers a prayer to the Maiden of Journeys. The prayer strip lights up like a lantern, and Creation falls away from the Sidereal and her companions, leaving them in a softer place of white lilies and fresh air. Travel through this place is both safe and easy. If overland, they may travel up to five hundred miles over the course of five days. If they are sailing, they may instead cover up to 2500 miles over five days. No matter the ultimate destination, the journey always takes exactly five days from the time Mirror Shattering Method is invoked.
At Essence 4, the Sidereal may also use Mirror Shattering Method to bring a ship to stranger shores, sailing to the quicksilver ports of Heaven, the burning and terrible harbors of Hell, the broken and forgotten quays of the Underworld, or even the few known and fixed landings in the Wyld.
Use of Mirror Shattering Method more than once a year can be dangerous, as it will begin to tangle the weave of fate. For each time since the previous Calibration that the Sidereal has used Mirror Shattering Method, she rolls a die and gains Paradox equal to the successes rolled.
SOCIALIZE : THE LOVERS
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE WHORE
Once, there was a maiden…
…and things didn’t go so well for her.
It was just the way of the world, you know?
She had to give up power to get it, and she didn’t get much.
Some people hated her for getting any power at all.
She needed a protector, so she gave herself to a man named Necessity.
“Love is hard,” she said.
--Sidebar: Red Rule Reminder--
Sidereal Socialize has several Charms which revolve around seduction and sexuality, touching on areas which may be especially close or sensitive for some players or Storytellers. Always remember the Red Rule when using such material; the safety and comfort of the players is always paramount. No character may be seduced into acts which make their player feel uncomfortable. Communicate, respect boundaries, and remember- this is just a game!
--End Sidebar--
The Lovers Resplendent
Cost: - ; Mins: Socialize 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
While wearing a Destiny of the Lovers, the Sidereal may attempt to seduce someone without speaking to them. Her target must be able to clearly perceive her.
You And Yours Stance
Cost: 2m, 2i; Mins: Socialize 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Lover is the grip of Need whom none can deny. The Sidereal cloaks herself in this Need, and inspires an intense but momentary desire to please her. In combat, this allows the Sidereal to add her relative Appearance bonus on instill and persuade attempts (Exalted p. 218) to her Defense against one attack. Out of combat, she increases her Appearance by (Essence) for one social action intended to seduce someone into sleeping with her.
Celestial Bliss Trick
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Socialize 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: You and Yours Stance
Once the Lover is known, all others become pale shadows in comparison. After having sex with her target, the Sidereal may use Celestial Bliss Trick to gain a temporary Defining Tie of lust that lasts for (Essence) weeks, and gains (Essence) non-charm automatic successes to social influence actions targeting her lover for the rest of the scene.
Coffle Driver Profit
Cost: 3m; Mins: Socialize 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Those that say life is beyond value have never been to the flesh markets of Nexus, or heard the madam hawking her wares. By using Coffle Driver Profit, the Sidereal knows how much someone would be worth if sold as a slave in a specific market. In places where selling the individual is illegal, she learns this, as well as what his black market price would be.
Unmasking Glance
Cost: 3m; Mins: Socialize 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Everyone wears masks to hide their true ugliness; the Sidereal knows how to see beneath the mask and stare in horrified awe at what she finds. Unmasking Glance is a Read Intentions action which, if successful, reveals what her target is most ashamed of at the moment.
Handsome Boy Eyes
Cost: 3m; Mins: Socialize 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The eyes of Venus can lead even a stalwart heart into shame that cannot be escaped. Handsome Boy Eyes supplements the Sidereal's attempts to inspire or persuade someone towards something which would be personally shameful to him, which his home or adopted society would find shameful, or which the dominant society of the current realm of existence (in case of Creation, the Scarlet Empire) would consider shameful. For each of these conditions met, increase the Willpower cost to resist the influence by 1.
Paramour’s Request
Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Socialize 4, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute, Psyche, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: You and Yours Stance
Once the Lover is known, their whims become laws that cannot be denied. In the same scene as the Sidereal has had sex with her target, she may use Paramour's Request to enhance an instill or persuade attempt. Her attempt is made as if an intimacy of the target was one rank greater than it actually is; if the intimacy is already defining, then her victim cannot enter a decision point if the influence is successful. If her target has no valid intimacies for the influence, she may treat him as though he has a valid minor intimacy.
At Essence 2, the Sidereal may purchase Paramour's Request a second time. If she does, her target will not remember successful uses of Paramour's Request.
Adopt the Collar
Cost: 7m; Mins: Socialize 4, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Until dawn
Prerequisite Charms: None
Caring about things leaves you vulnerable, but a broken Lover cares for nothing; sometimes, the Sidereal must break herself to keep herself safe. Adopt the Collar may be used in response to any social influence which affects the Sidereal; upon using it, all of her intimacies are cleanly excised for the remainder of the day. Until the next dawn, she feels no special attachment towards anything. During this time, she gains a +2 non-charm bonus to her Resolve and Guile, but suffers a -3 penalty on any action she takes rooted in Charisma or Manipulation.
Owing to the transient nature of the magic, a Sidereal under the influence of Adopt the Collar is explicitly not vulnerable to effects which may only target individuals without intimacies such as Strings on Broken Puppets.
Lead and Leash Style
Cost: -; Mins: Socialize 5, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
A leash binds two people together- but one leads and one follows. The Sidereal learns to take hold of the leash, using others without regard for them. When she takes a persuade action towards someone who has a positive intimacy towards her and whom she does not have an intimacy towards, she may treat any intimacy they have as being one rank greater than it is.
Cash and Murder Games
Cost: 7m; Mins: Socialize 5, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Design, Psyche
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Handsome Boy Eyes, Adopt the Collar
Always there is the master, and always there is the slave. From the earliest moments of Creation, this has been true, and it will be true until Creation passes away. When she uses Cash and Murder Games, the Sidereal attempts to establish an unequal relationship between two individuals present with her in the same scene; one the domitor, and one the submissive. Doing so requires succeeding at an instill action, made using Manipulation + Socialize; spending willpower to resist requires drawing on a Major or Defining Intimacy. The Sidereal may include herself as the domitor or the submissive in such a relationship, but attempting to make herself the domitor gives her victim a +3 non-charm bonus to his Resolve.
If successful, both the domitor and the submissive gain a Major Intimacy towards their role in the newly defined relationship. So long as both parties live and the Sidereal maintains her commitment to the Charm, no effect can increase or reduce the strength of this intimacy. When the effect ends, at the player's option, he may retain some form of this intimacy, but it is no longer magically unchanging.
The Sidereal can only attempt to establish one such relationship between any given two people per year. If her attempt fails, she must wait until at least one Calibration has passed before she tries again.
While Cash and Murder Games is active, horoscopes and omens will declare the rightness of the imbalanced relationship.
Breaking the Wild Mortal
Cost: 7m; Mins: Socialize 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute, Psyche
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The chains of desire are stronger than iron; iron rusts in time, but need only grows more acute. Breaking the Wild Mortal may be used to supplement any instill, inspire or persuade action against a single individual. The willpower cost for him to resist the influence is increased by the greatest rank of any intimacies relevant to the action.
Beryl Mark
Cost: 7m; Mins: Socialize 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only, Mute, Design, Suitable
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
Criminals are often branded so they cannot hide from their disgrace; by placing the Beryl Mark upon someone, the Sidereal ensures that everyone knows of his secret shame. Placing the Beryl Mark on a victim requires touching them; outside of combat, this is usually trivially done, while during combat, it requires a gambit with a difficulty of 2. Once placed, and until the Sidereal releases it, anyone who successfully Reads Intentions or Profiles Character against the victim learns of a secret shame he attempts to hide, of the Sidereal's design and selection. The victim gives this impression regardless of evidence, past reputation, or intent.
While Beryl Mark is active, omens will decry the victim's guilt.
Shun the Smiling Lady
Cost: 7m; Mins: Socialize 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
In the records of Heaven can be found every love, regardless of how grand or mean. The Sidereal may strike a name from the roll of lovers, casting the victim from the Cerulean Lute. The Sidereal names her victim and burns some token of them in effigy; while she keeps the motes committed, no one may draw on any tie of love or lust towards him.
While Shun the Smiling Lady is active, the victim is clearly cursed by Venus, their star alone and lonely.
Flame and Honey Sorrow
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Socialize 4, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: You and Yours Stance
Once the Lover is known, all shames are laid bare, and many secrets are spoken in a paramour's bed that would have best been kept. In the same scene as the Sidereal has had sex with her target, she may use Flame and Honey Sorrow to supplement a persuade action in the form of a question, rolling her (Appearance + Socialize) against the target's Resolve. Success means that the victim must answer the question truthfully and to the fullest extent of his knowledge. For each threshold success, the Sidereal may ask another question, which is likewise answered.
The victim may pay one Willpower to resist answering a single question, but this conveys no resistance to subsequent questions, or even the same question asked again.
At Essence 3, the Sidereal may purchase Flame and Honey Sorrow a second time. If she has, her target will not remember any questions which he answers. He will remember any questions he refuses to answer.
Red Rule Reminder The safety and comfort of the players is always paramount. No character may be seduced into acts which make their player feel uncomfortable. Communicate, respect boundaries, and remember this is just a game!
Hot-Eyed Snake Whispering
Cost: 7m; Mins: Socialize 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Essence days or (Essence + Socialize) days
Prerequisite Charms: Beryl Mark
With nothing more than a smoldering look, the Sidereal can ravage someone's reputation. Hot-Eyed Snake Whispering poisons her victim's social standing and reputation; treat this as being exposed to a social poison, resisted with (Manipulation + Socialize), an interval of 1 day and a duration of (Essence) days. If the Sidereal is known to be sleeping with her victim, the duration is instead (Essence + Socialize) days. The days of Calibration do not count towards these limits.
For each day the victim is poisoned, they increase the target number of all social actions he takes by 1. If he botches a social action during this time, it instead has the opposite of the intended effect- if they were trying to instill a tie of friendship, they gain an enemy; if they wished to persuade an ally towards a course of action, it pushes them away.
The poison gossip of this Charm may only be inflicted against a given target by the Sidereal once a year.
Life Without Compunction
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Socialize 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Handsome Boy Eyes
Mistakes only matter if you care to let them; shamelessly own your flaws and they can never be turned against you, but may be turned into gifts for your enemies. The Sidereal may enhance a social action she takes with Life Without Compunction after rolling; remove all the 1s from the roll. For each 1 removed in this way, you may subtract a success or a point of Resolve or Guile from any other social action you witness for the rest of the scene.
If you use Life Without Compunction a second time in the same scene, any 1s you still have waiting to distribute are lost.
Strings on Broken Puppets
Cost: 3m; Mins: Socialize 5, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Coffle Driver Profit or Lead and Leash Style or Breaking the Wild Mortal
The best puppets are not those with obvious strings, as anyone may think to pull them and cause your puppet to dance in a way most unexpected. Instead, find a puppet without strings, and learn to play the tune to their jig. The Sidereal may use Strings on Broken Puppets to supplement persuade actions against targets who only have unintelligibly abstruse intimacies, or no intimacies at all. She gains (Essence) non-charm successes on the persuade attempt, and may persuade the target to take even life changing tasks.
Strings on Broken Puppets may always be used on the Ravaged victims of the Fair Folk.
Whore-and-Virgin Stance
Cost: 3m; Mins: Socialize 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Resplendent
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Beryl Mark, Unmasking Glance
The Sidereal wraps herself in Shame, and all decent people will glance aside, refusing to acknowledge her presence. She adds her Appearance bonus for instill and persuade attempts as bonus dice on any roll to go unnoticed for the remainder of the scene. Whore-and-Virgin Stance only influences individuals capable of feeling shame; it has proven remarkably ineffective in attempting to infiltrate the more depraved reaches of Hell or the courts of some members of House Cynis.
If the Sidereal is in the Destiny of the Lover when using Whore-and-Virgin Stance, the dice are added as non-charm bonus dice.
Wanting and Fearing Prayer
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Socialize 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Prayer Strip
Duration: Five days
Prerequisite Charms: Strings on Broken Puppets, Whore and Virgin Stance, Cash and Murder Games, and at least one of Flame and Honey Sorrow, Paramour's Request or Celestial Bliss Trick
The Sidereal inscribes a prayer strip with the Scripture of the Whore, and dissolves it into an alcoholic drink. When her victim drinks from the enchanted glass, she rolls (Manipulation + Socialize) against her victim's Resolve. If she is successful, for the next five days and five nights, her victim becomes driven by his basest needs, desires and fears. He many not draw on any Principles or higher order ethics or morality during this time, and is considered to have a Defining Principle of 'Satisfy my Base Desires'.
STEALTH : THE MASK
THE SCRIPTURE OF ABSENCE
Once, there were…
…shadows in the window.
…footsteps at the gates of life.
…whispering at the door:
“Should I live or die? Am I living or dead?”
“To know the world is to choose it,” says the Void.
One Thousand Faces and One
Cost: 1m; Mins: Stealth 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Mask reveals only and exactly what it wishes to reveal. When the Sidereal successfully applies their Guile against an attempt by another to read intentions, they may use One Thousand Faces and One to give the impression the read intentions was successful, and specify the result provided.
Soft Presence Practice
Cost: 3m or 7m, 1wp; Mins: Stealth 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The great trick is no trick. The great secret is no secret. Do not step silently, for there are those who will hear silence unbroken. The Sidereal learns to instead step soft as falling snow, and to draw no more attention than a drifting wind. Unless she makes an overt display of violence or power, or otherwise actively seeks to draw the attention of the crowd, the Sidereal will go unnoticed and unremarked upon. Soft Presence Practice does not work against individuals who are actively stopping everyone passing through an area, those who have her presence directly pointed out, or those who have a Major or Defining Intimacy whom the Sidereal's presence threatens.
At Essence 2, the Sidereal may purchase Soft Presence Practice a second time. If she does, she may use Soft Presence Practice to attempt Stealth even if there is no cover available; she vanishes into the background of the world.
At Essence 4, she the Sidereal may purchase Soft Presence Practice a third and final time. When she activates the charm, she may pay seven motes and a point of willpower instead of three motes; if she does, the effect of Soft Presence Practice is enhanced; overt displays of power will no longer reveal the Sidereal's presence, although violence or the display of her anima still will. Additionally, even with the aid of magic, appropriate circumstances, or intimacies, anyone who would see the Sidereal must spend a point of Willpower before attempting to notice her. Those who do not pay this willpower have their efforts automatically fail.
Scent of White Cherries
Cost: 5m; Mins: Stealth 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal knows the smell of liars well. For the remainder of the scene, she knows if any intentional falsehoods are spoken out to Medium range. Scent of White Cherries does not reveal half-truths, lies of omission, deceptive phrasing, or bad information offered in good faith; only deliberate falsehoods are thus revealed. She also does not intuitively know what the lie was, however she does increase the target number of anyone who attempts to lie to her by 1, and reduces the Guile of anyone she speaks with by 2.
Scent of Polygonatum and Cobaea
Cost: 5m; Mins: Stealth 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
Secrets can fester and rot the heart that holds them, and the Sidereal learns to catch that special scent. Scent of Polygonatum and Cobaea provides the Sidereal a sixth sense if anyone out to Medium range is actively concealing a secret, or if there is something hidden within the scene. This does not inform her of the nature of the secret, but provides her cause to investigate further.
False Words Rings True
Cost: 5m; Mins: Stealth 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: One Thousand Faces and One
Lies can tell as much as the truth, and we often reveal a great deal about ourselves by the Masks we opt to wear. The Sidereal learns to hide plain truth under a veil of meaningless lies; she may disguise her conversation with up to (Stealth) others under a veil of obfuscatory lies; anyone eavesdropping will hear a false conversation of the Sidereal's design, or meaningless chatter if she is indifferent to what is overheard.
Methodology of Secrets
Cost: 3m; Mins: Stealth 4, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: False Words Rings True
Methodology of Secrets enhances a Read Intentions roll, allowing the Sidereal to discover what secrets her target is concealing. The more successes she achieves over her target's Guile, the more deadly a secret she is capable of learning; at just matching his Guile, she learns only of little white lies or minor broken promises; at three successes, she learns of moderate crimes or serious failings- secrets that could lead to social approbation but would be unlikely to result in corporal or permanent punishments. At five or more successes, she learns of even the most deadly of the target's secrets.
The Sidereal may only use Methodology of Secrets upon a given target once per scene.
The Nature of Loyalty
Cost: 1m; Mins: Stealth 4, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: One Thousand Faces and One
It takes an unusual spirit to be willing to die so that another can live; the Sidereal learns to discern the motivations of such individuals at a glance. When someone the Sidereal sees intercepts an attack by use of Defend Other, she may use The Nature of Loyalty to understand the motivation of the protector as the protector understands it- is he motivated by personal loyalty, professionalism, monetary gain, sorcerous binding, or something else entirely. If the protector is under an effect compelling him to defend his ward but unawares of it, The Nature of Loyalty will not reveal this- only the protector's own rationalizations.
Sidereal Shell Games
Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Stealth 5, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Soft Presence Practice
Sometimes the only way to reveal the truth beneath the Mask is by ensuring it will slip at just the right moment. By using Sidereal Shell Games, the Sidereal may place an object, no larger than she could hold in one hand, upon another individual or inside a locked container within (Essence) yards- such as planting a vial of poison in a noble's purse, or a killer's bloodstained blade in a soldier's locker. Non-magical perceptions will never suffice to catch the Sidereal when she uses this charm, and she may contest magical efforts to do so with a (Wits + Larceny) roll.
Whispers of Bone and Ivory
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Stealth 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Soft Presence Practice
Unseen but not unheard, the Sidereal may whisper into the ears of allies and enemies alike, speaking her thoughts as his own. Whispers of Bone and Ivory enhance a read intentions, inspire, instill or persuade action the Sidereal takes against someone, allowing her to make the attempt without breaking her Stealth. The victims of such subtle influence treat their Guile and Resolve as being 2 lower than normal, and perceive the ideas as coming from their own minds. Whispers of Bone and Ivory may only be used to attempt to influence an individual once per scene.
Power Is Knowledge
Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Stealth 4, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Methodology of Secrets
Secrets are a kind of currency amongst the powerful, and the right secret in the wrong ear can bring a mighty dynasty to it's knees. Wise conspirators take pains to ensure that their secrets cannot be uncovered- but the fear that their crimes may come to light is something they can never fully escape. Power is Knowledge supplements a Threaten or Bargain action, causing the Sidereal's victim to believe that she is in possession of some definitive evidence of the most dangerous secret the target holds. The Sidereal does not know what this secret is, or how the target will respond to this intimation; depending on the target and the secret, the response may be anywhere from a resigned shrug to immediate acquiescence, followed by a plot to assassinate the Sidereal.
Blinding the Boar
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Stealth 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Whispers of Bone and Ivory
The Sidereal twists the perceptions of others, selecting fates where she goes unseen. For the remainder of the scene, the target number of any (Perception + Awareness) roll opposing her attempts at Stealth increases by 1, and she ignores (Essence) penalties on Stealth rolls. In combat, enemies with an initiative 5+ lower than the Sidereals also increase their target number for attacking the Sidereal by 1.
Whispered Prayer Overheard
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Stealth 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Scent of White Cherries, The Nature of Loyalty
The Mask clings to sacred places, and carries the petitioner's prayers to the ears of divinity. The Sidereal learns to break the seal of this communication, listening to the prayers offered up towards various divinities.
When she activates Whispered Prayers Overheard, the Sidereal names a particular god or elemental; so long as she the charm is active, she hears a constant low susurration of the prayers whispered to that divinity. Especially common or powerful prayers are easily distinguished, or she may try and listen for a particular petitioner's prayers with a (Perception + Awareness) check against a difficulty of the God's Cult rating. The prayers to the Incarnae are sacrosanct, and may not be broached by use of Whispered Prayers Overheard. So long as the Sidereal maintains this charm, omens will proclaim her a high priest of the divinity in question, regardless of her claims one way or another.
At Essence 3, the Sidereal may additionally use Whispered Prayers Overheard to spy upon cults venerating demons and devils. At Essence 4, she learns to listen to prayers directed at mortals, Exalts or ghosts, even if the nominal recipient is deaf to those prayers.
Masque of the Uncanny
Cost: 20m, 1wp; Mins: Stealth 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Blinding the Boar
The enemies of Creation are not content to wait, brooding and patient in their brazen halls and sepulchral palaces, and so the Sidereal is sometimes called to infiltrate such locations. By donning Masque of the Uncanny, the Sidereal will appear to all natural and supernatural senses to be a demon, ghost or Fair Folk noble- so long as she maintains Masque of the Uncanny, even her horoscope will dim, and new stars for the dark disguise appear in the skies of Hell, within the orrery that lights the Underworld, or within the mad fictions that spread over the Wyld.
Duck Fate
Cost: 7m; Mins: Stealth 5, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Scent of Polygonatum and Cobaea, Sidereal Shell Games
All manner of unpleasantness seems to dog the heels of the Chosen, but the Sidereal is especially adept at avoiding the worst. In the same instant as something unpleasant is about to occur which includes the Sidereal- such as an attack, a damning accusation, or a lover attempting to break up -the Sidereal may invoke Duck Fate. She rolls her (Wits + Stealth) against a difficulty of the Essence of the highest aggressive party. If she is successful, she describes how the aggressor's attempt fails. She cannot have the attempt be aborted or fail for nonsensical reasons, but she can allow for miraculous dodges, cause magistrates to be unimpressed by evidence, or have lovers offer some means of reconciling.
Duck Fate can only be used once a week.
Everywhere and Nowhere
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Stealth 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Prayer Strip
Duration: One hour
Prerequisite Charms: Scent of Polygonatum and Cobaea, Scent of White Cherries, Masque of the Uncanny, Power Is Knowledge
The Mask all living things wear is that of the flesh; by transcending the Mask, the Sidereal learns to transcend her flesh as well. Wrapping a prayer strip marked with the Scripture of Absence around a stick of incense and setting it aflame, she enters a meditative trance and casts her spirit from her body.
While spirit walking, she is treated as a dematerialized spirit. She can walk through walls and doors without effort, can interact with other dematerialized beings as if they were material, and may still draw upon the full extent of her powers. If she is killed while under the effects of Everywhere and Nowhere, her body dies as well. At the end of the hour, she may commit an additional five motes to maintain her spirit walking for another hour; these motes also become committed and cannot be released until the charm ends. Ending Everywhere and Nowhere requires the Sidereal re-enter her body; if her spirit and body are in the same location, this is simple to do; otherwise, she must spend a scene in undisturbed meditation to reunite the two.
Unless some effect forces the Sidereal to become material, she is incapable of materializing on her own. If an effect does force her to become material, she does so at no cost.
If the Sidereal's spirit is destroyed outside of her body, she will perish immediately. If her body is destroyed without ending the effect of the charm, her spirit will persist as long as she can continue to commit motes to the effect, before it too will pass on.
SURVIVAL : THE SHIP'S WHEEL
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN ENTOMBED
Once there was a maiden...
who lived in a tomb and the tomb was made in her image.
Because she lived in a tomb, she became like the Dead. She slept and dreamed.
And sometimes she woke and walked within the confines of her tomb.
"Why do you move; " her own ghost asked. "Why walk at all?"
"I'm not trapped while yet I run" said she.
The Ship’s Wheel Resplendent
Cost: - ; Mins: Survival 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
While wearing a Destiny of the Ship’s Wheel, the Sidereal may speak with and understand wild animals.
--Sidebar: Wild Animals--
A beast is wild if it is of no more than animal intelligence, a difficulty of 2 or greater for training, and has been taught no latent or magical abilities (Exalted p. 554). If an animal fail to meet any of these criteria, it is no longer considered wild. Familiars are never wild animals.
--End Sidebar--
Never Give Up
Cost: 1m; Mins: Survival 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: One tick
Prerequisite Charms: None
The first lesson of the Steersman is thus; no matter how powerful the blows raining down, failure is not an option. When the Sidereal faces an opponent with a permanent Essence rating greater than her own, or a battle group with combined Size and Might equal to or greater than her permanent Essence, she may use Never Give Up to ignore all penalties from injury, fatigue, exposure or despair for one tick.
At Essence 2, she may use Never Give Up on allies out to Medium range. When using Never Give Up on others, the Sidereal considers her ally's permanent Essence rather than her own.
A New Apocalypse
Cost: 7m; Mins: Survival 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Never Give Up
Today's heretic is tomorrow's prophet, and today's savior may be tomorrow's antithesis. By using A New Apocalypse, the Sidereal may alter the professed beliefs or practices of a cult or other organized religious organization. This charm enhances an instill or persuade action intended to alter a religious organization's beliefs, allowing the Sidereal to ignore the penalty for targeting crowds, reducing the rank of any opposed intimacies by one and increasing the rank of any aligned intimacies by one.
At Essence 3, the Sidereal may purchase A New Apocalypse a second time; if she does, she may spend 1 point of temporary willpower to embedded the magic into a written work (Exalted p. 221)
Scent of Convolvulus and Yellow Tulip
Cost: 3m; Mins: Survival 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Never Give Up
Love belongs to Venus, but obsession has driven many a woman to attempt the impossible, and these are the Steersman's children. The Sidereal may use Scent of Convolvulus and Yellow Tulip to determine all the Defining intimacies, as well as any other manias or obsessions, that an individual within Medium range has. Doing so requires a successful (Perception + Investigation) check against her target's Guile, but does not require directly interacting with her target.
Pack Summoning Howl
Cost: 5m; Mins: Survival 4, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Never Give Up
The Sidereal calls to the wild things, and the wild things answer. Letting loose with a great cry, the Sidereal calls to nearby wild animals, and they will come to her aid. The animals will be well disposed towards her, and act to defend the Sidereal, but they are still wild animals- they will not magically distinguish the Sidereal's friends from foes, nor will they obey any but the simplest of commands.
The animals summoned will depend on the surroundings; in the depths of the eastern forests, monkeys or large cats may come; locked in a black hold beneath the floating city of Wu Jin and the Sidereal may instead find herself swarmed by rats, or have a shark batter a hole in the hull.
Marshaling Infinite Strength
Cost: 5m; Mins: Survival 4, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute, Design, Psyche
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Never Give Up
The Steersman's efforts veer between dedication and obsession; by Marshaling Infinite Strength, the Sidereal can select which side to fall on. When she activates Marshaling Infinite Strength, the Sidereal selects an intimacy. As long as she leaves the motes to Marshaling Infinite Strength committed, the intimacy is treated as an unbreakable defining intimacy, allowing her to automatically resist influence that would impel her against the intimacy for free. Additionally, when she undertakes an action in the service of the intimacy, she converts any dice added from a stunt into successes. However, her Guile is reduced by 3, and she suffers a penalty of -3 on any action she takes which does not further her obsession. Additionally, so long as the charm remains in effect, the Sidereal's horoscope clearly proclaims her divine madness with the task at hand.
At Essence 2, the Sidereal may purchase Marshaling Infinite Strength a second time. If she does, she may use it upon others. Doing so requires a successful (Charisma + Presence) action against her target's Resolve, and must target an intimacy he has. If she is successful, the target gains the effects of Marshaling Infinite Strength until the Sidereal releases them. Additionally, each time he takes an action which suffers the -3 penalty for not furthering the obsession, he may spend 1 Willpower; after he has spent a total of (Survival) willpower, the effect ends.
Sky Spirit Demand
Cost: 7m; Mins: Survival 5, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Suitable, Psyche
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Pack Summoning Howl or Poetic Sacrifice Utilization
Spirits of the air are close to Mercury's heart, as they are restless and always travelling. By using Sky Spirit Demand, the Sidereal enhances a persuade action against a god or elemental strongly associated with the air; she may make a serious request without an appropriate intimacy, or a life changing request with only a major intimacy. Additionally, the spirit must spend (higher of Essence or 2) willpower in order to enter a decision point against this request.
At Essence 2, the Sidereal may spend 1 willpower to use Sky Spirit Demand against any spirit of Creation. With a second purchase at Essence 4, she may use Sky Spirit Demand on demons or spirits of the Wyld as well.
No target may be subject to the whims of the Sidereal more than once a month.
Poetic Sacrifice Utilization
Cost: 10m; Mins: Survival 5, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Varies
Prerequisite Charms: Marshaling Infinite Strength or Debt Slave Way
So long as the journey continues, no sacrifice need be in vain. When someone in a group the Sidereal is travelling with passes away from starvation, thirst, disease, exposure or other privation, the Sidereal may use Poetic Sacrifice Utilization to capture their determination and ease the group's suffering for a short time. She can enchant a group of with Size no greater than (the higher of Essence or 2). The victim's death must have been slow and lingering- although it may have been arranged by the Sidereal, it cannot be used if a member of the group falls in combat or to an assassin's knife. The Sidereal always knows when a victim's death may so be consecrated.
If the victim was one of the rank and file regular members of the group, then the Sidereal and the rest of the group may forgo the need to eat or drink for the next (Essence) days after she uses Poetic Sacrifice Utilization. If the victim was the leader or a highly respected individual within the group, the blessing instead lasts for (Essence) weeks. If the victim was Exalted, then regardless of his standing in the group, the blessing lasts for (Essence) months. Finally, if the Sidereal herself is passing away due to such lingering causes while travelling with a group, she may use Poetic Sacrifice Utilization at the moment of her death and inure the travelers for the next (Essence) years.
In any event, the effect ends once the travelers reach their destination.
Dawn of a New Day
Cost: -; Mins: Survival 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: A New Apocalypse or Sky Spirit Demand
The Solars should not have triumphed against the enemies of the Gods- and yet, they did. Once cast into the darkness, they should never have been able to return- and yet, they have. The Steersman holds each Solar in her heart, and the Sidereal may ask her where the most recent Lawgiver has been chosen. Upon using Dawn of a New Day, the Sidereal learns the location and time of the most recent Solar Exaltation in Creation. She cannot use Dawn of a New Day more than once a day, nor will it reveal the location or moment of Exaltation of Solars who were chosen during Calibration or during a solar eclipse.
Debt Slave Way
Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Survival 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Scent of Convolvulus and Yellow Tulip or Dawn of a New Day
Obsession is not the only cause for the grim set of the Steersman's jaw; sometimes she endures to pay a debt that can be paid in no other way. With Debt Slave Way, the Sidereal may indebt others to her. Any time she performs a service of at least inconvenient difficulty having agreed upon receiving no reward before hand, she may activate Debt Slave Way to increase the debt of an individual whom she assisted. She may only use Debt Slave Way once per act, even if it assists multiple people.
On the back of the victim's wrist, a pale yellow dot appears for each favor he owes the Sidereal. For each favor he owes, she treats his Resolve as 1 lower, to a minimum of 0. Additionally, by cashing in a favor, the Sidereal may treat a social action as if it were backed by a defining influence. Once used in this fashion the favor is spent, even if the influence fails or is otherwise rebuffed.
Wilderness Commanding Practice
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Survival 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design, Prayer Strip
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Dawn of a New Day, Sky Spirit Demand, Poetic Sacrifice Utilization, Debt Slave Way
The Sidereal inscribes a prayer strip with the Scripture of the Maiden Entombed, and casts it into the sky while standing amidst wild, untamed lands. The strip begins to glow golden, and then lengthens, stretching out for miles as it slowly descends back to earth, marking the boundaries of the Sidereal's claim. So long as she keeps the charm active and remains within the boundaries of her claim, the Sidereal gains the following benefits:
* She may dictate the weather in the region, both in whole and in part. Her desires are not bound by reason or surrounding weather patterns; a desert can be covered in torrential rainfall, a humid southeastern swamp may experience a blizzard, or a scorching heatwave may encompass a frozen tundra. The weather must be natural within some region of Creation.
* She may turn the land against someone reflexively; while the land is turned against them, they treat all terrain as difficult and increase the difficulty of all survival checks within the area by 3.
* She automatically succeeds at checks she makes to track others in her territory, or any check she makes to conceal her own tracks.
* She adds her (Essence) as non-charm successes on all Survival and Awareness rolls made within her territory.
* She can slowly shift around the geographic characteristics of the region. Treat such works as Major crafting projects.
No part of the claimed territory can be ought but wilderness; man-made buildings or paths mark boundaries where her magic touches not. Other than that, she may claim a total of 20 square miles of territory.
THROWN : THE GULL
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN AND SHADOW
Once, there was a maiden…
…whose shadow fled from her. She chased it over fire and stone.
She chased her shadow to a monster’s mouth. Her shadow went right in. It didn’t know how to stop.
The maiden caught her shadow in a deep cave full of ghosts. Her shadow turned into a ball of thorns that wrapped around her. When the ghosts pricked their fingers on the thorns, they came to life. This didn’t make anyone very happy.
The maiden made a ladder from the ghosts’ bones, but it only pointed downward. “Why go on?” her shadow asked.
“I can’t quit now,” said she.
The Gull Resplendent
Cost: - ; Mins: Thrown 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
While wearing a Destiny of the Gull, whenever the Sidereal enjoys a good night’s sleep after accomplishing nothing of value save enjoying herself or travelling at an easy pace, she regains two willpower instead of one.
Willful Weapon Method
Cost: 2m; Mins: Thrown 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal imbues her weapon with her own restless will. Willful Weapon Method supplements a decisive attack made with a weapon; if she would lose initiative from missing, instead she doesn't. If the attack was made with a thrown weapon, she additionally gains 1 initiative as the dart continues to harass her target.
Willful Weapon Method may be used to enhance actions with Charms of other abilities.
Casting Away Cares
Cost: 3m or 1a; Mins: Thrown 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Dual, Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Willful Weapon Method
The cares of the Gull are better tended by others, and the Sidereal is none to picky as to whom. She pours an intimacy into a fragment of yellow light before hurling it to an enemy. Casting Away Cares forms an artifact throwing weapon from one of her intimacies; a minor intimacy forms a light weapon, a major intimacy forms a medium weapon, and a defining intimacy forms a heavy weapon. The weapon formed has the Lethal, Thrown (Medium), and Mounted tags.
If this weapon is used to make a decisive attack which deals at least two levels of damage, then the victim must spend willpower equal to the rank of the intimacy or take it into themselves, gaining the intimacy the Sidereal attacked them with.
Once drawn upon in this fashion, the intimacy is rendered numb for the Sidereal until she takes some major action to rekindle her feeling. If the Sidereal activated Casting Away Cares by paying the cost from her anima, the weapons will remain solid until the end of the scene and may be reclaimed and thrown again- in which case the Sidereal may also reawaken her numb intimacy by absorbing the fragment of her cares.
Life Gets Worse
Cost: 3m or 1m; Mins: Thrown 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Uniform, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Willful Weapon Method
If there's one thing that's certain, it's that bad news catches up and things can always get worse. Better to keep yourself distracted from the doom on your heels, or so the Sidereal reasons. She imbues this knowledge into an attack; if her attack misses, she may make a reflexive decisive attack against the same target as a Distract gambit. Life Gets Worse costs 1 mote to enchant a thrown attack, or 3 motes to enchant any other attack.
Ties That Bind
Cost: 3m; Mins: Thrown 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Casting Away Cares
In their secret hearts, everyone wishes they could run away to a life on the road, free of the worries and hassles of their mundane existence- but something keeps them tied down. Family, friends, duty- all things the Gull couldn't need less. When someone applies his Resolve against the Sidereal's attempts to persuade or instill a desire for them to go on a journey, she may use the Ties That Bind to learn one Intimacy her target holds which could bolster his Resolve. She will always learn a new intimacy if there is an applicable intimacy she does not know of available.
Honorable Migrant Spirit
Cost: 5m; Mins: Thrown 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Casting Away Cares
All travelers share a common country, and the Sidereal can join in the unspoken bond between migrants and refugees. For the rest of the scene, she treats anyone who has no fixed abode or home as having a minor intimacy of friendship towards her.
Bold Filcher
Cost: 6m or 6m, 1wp; Mins: Thrown 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Life Gets Worse
The Gull has a rather complex and eclectic understanding of other people's property, which can best be summarized as not giving a damn. Unless contested by magic, the Sidereal cannot fail an attempt to pick someone's pocket.
At Essence 3, she may even use Bold Filcher without coming near her mark, picking pockets and lifting objects from up to (Essence) yards away.
Empty Pockets Full
Cost: 1m or 1m, 1wp; Mins: Thrown 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Casting Away Cares
The Gull is always empty-handed, but also has just what she needs. The Sidereal may secret up to (Essence) objects away into Elsewhere; an object can be a single melee or archery weapon, a bundle of clothes or armor, a set of throwing weapons or archery ammunition, or any other miscellaneous good which an individual with Strength 2 could hold in both hands.
If the Sidereal places the item into a pocket, pouch or other container which conceals the contents from view, even if the container is dramatically too small for the size of the object hidden or produced, Empty Pockets Full costs one mote to use; if she places the object into thin air, it instead costs 1 mote and 1 willpower to use. She may withdraw the object from any container reflexively and at no cost, else, she must spend 1 mote to withdraw the item from thin air in order to end the commitment.
So long as the object is hidden Elsewhere, those who study the Sidereal's stars may catch a glimpse of what they have hidden away, writ in the sky.
Pain Amplification Strategy
Cost: 7m; Mins: Thrown 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Life Gets Worse
If there's one thing the Gull knows how to do, it is to increase the suffering of others. The Sidereal enhances a decisive attack made against a victim in initiative crash; for each turn he has been crashed, she reduces her decisive damage target number by 1.
If she deals lethal damage with a thrown attack enhanced by Pain Amplification Strategy, the suffering of her victim restores a number of motes equal to the levels of damage inflicted.
Life of the Grasshopper
Cost: 3m; Mins: Thrown 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Honorable Migrant Spirit
The grasshopper survives in the worst of times, carelessly playing a cheerful tune. Winter may come one day, but until then it's better to be free and cheerful. So long as the Sidereal maintains Life of the Grasshopper, she can secure enough food and drink for herself up (Essence) additional others to remain comfortable. She takes no particular work to find this food and drink; Fate provides windfalls of mushrooms, edible locusts and hidden springs, or kind innkeepers and hosts willing to trade a night inside for a story and song.
While the charm is active, the Sidereal's horoscope demonstrates her blind faith in the world to care for her, as well as signifying who, if anyone, is providing her succor.
Thought-Swiping Distraction
Cost: 3m; Mins: Thrown 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute, Resplendent
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Bold Filcher
The Sidereal deftly plucks an errant thought from her victim's head. Although she can hold it for only a moment, this is often enough to ruin any eloquent speech he may have prepared. Thought-Swiping Distraction may be used in response to anyone's social influence actions within Short range, and must be used before they roll. This raises the victim's target number for the social influence by 1 as he briefly loses his train of thought and must rebuild it. Additionally, if the Sidereal is in the Destiny of the Gull, she may take a reflexive Read Intentions or Profile Character against the speaker, reducing the target's Guile by the number of 1s he rolls.
Knives Full of Wind
Cost: 1a; Mins: Thrown 4, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Uniform, Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Life Gets Worse
The Sidereal imbues a throwing weapon with a fragment of her breath, drawing great winds in its wake. The enemy she attacks with the enchanted weapon finds it difficult to make headway towards the Sidereal. For the next three turns, the victim subtracts successes on any Rush towards the Sidereal or an ally within Close range of the Sidereal equal to the number of 1s he rolls. If the attack hits, the victim also increases the target number for his Rushes by 1.
Principally Unprincipled Stance
Cost: 3m; Mins: Thrown 5, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Life of the Grasshopper
The Gull can't get very far if it worries about philosophy, and the Sidereal can't let little things like principles tie her down. She may use Principally Unprincipled Stance whenever her Resolve would be reduced against another's social influence actions by a Principle she has. The principle goes numb, and the Sidereal may ignore the influence. The numbed principle will remain numb until the Sidereal takes some major action to rekindle it, and may weaken and die if the Sidereal ignores it for too long.
Honest Face Treachery
Cost: 3m; Mins: Thrown 5, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Uniform, Mute, Psyche, Suitable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Thought Swiping Distraction
Trust and friendship can tame the wandering heart, as can the promise of love and a warm hearth- but those who try and tame the Gull are in for a sorry surprise. The Sidereal may enhance an attack made with a light thrown or melee weapon against an individual whom has a positive tie towards her; the victim will not perceive the attack as coming from the Sidereal, rationalizing this however he must.
Each time he is attacked, the victim may spend 1 Willpower. Once he has spent (Essence + rank of intimacy) Willpower in the same scene, he realizes what has been happening. Generally, this results in the loss of the intimacy.
Unrelenting Torment Technique
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Thrown 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Dual, Prayer Strip
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Ties That Bind, Empty Pockets Full, Pain Amplification Strategy, Knives Full of Wind
The Sidereal throws a prayer strip marked with the Scripture of the Maiden and Shadow into the air, where it hangs, casting a watery piss-yellow light all around her. For the remainder of the scene, any enemy struck by a withering attack dealt by the Sidereal must pay 1 Willpower or reduce the rank of an intimacy by one. An enemy struck by a decisive attack must spend willpower equal to the levels of damage dealt or eliminate the strongest intimacy he has.
If the Sidereal deals damage to an enemy with no more intimacies remaining, the hellish empty world they have found themselves in overwhelms the victim's spirit; the Sidereal steals 3 points of initiative per rank of intimacy that would otherwise be forfeit.
WAR : THE BANNER
THE SCRIPTURE OF THE MAIDEN AT WAR
Once, there was a maiden…
…whose battles called her far from home.
She slew the thing she feared most, and conquered the land that feared her.
As she fought, far away, she knew her children needed guidance.
She knew they faced tyrants.
She knew they faced fear.
In her homeland, things were broken.
So, she held up her hand before the sun, cast a shadow on the world and drowned the troubles of her home in darkness.
“Survival’s a long reach,” she said
The Banner Resplendent
Cost: - ; Mins: War 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resplendent
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
While wearing a Destiny of the Banner, the Sidereal gains a reputation amongst anyone in the region who could reasonably know of the crafted persona. How people will respond to this reputation may vary from person to person, but it will generally be something that may be treated as a minor intimacy.
Auspicious Recruitment Drive
Cost: 3m; Mins: War 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
When the Banner is held aloft, men and women come to find their glory. The Sidereal may quickly find all the available, tractable and useful recruits in an area. Auspicious Recruitment Drive does not summon soldiers from nothing- if used in a wasteland, very little will happen. However, when used in a lightly populated area, such as a collection of farming villages, the Sidereal can assemble a battle group of size (War) with Average drill inside a month. In dense urban areas, she may accomplish this in as little as a week. Once she has assembled a battle group with size (War), the recruitment rate will slow down, but new would-be soldiers will still show up at a good rate.
So long as Auspicious Recruitment Drive is active, the stars blaze with Sidereal's call to arms and glory.
Herald’s Discerning Eye
Cost: 1m; Mins: War 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal knows the Banner, and therefore knows all lesser devices as well. With no more than a glance, she knows what an unfamiliar heraldic device or symbol means, and what or whom it represents.
Crowned in Crimson Laurel
Cost: 5m; Mins: War 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Suitable
Duration: One speech
Prerequisite Charms: Auspicious Recruitment Drive
The laurel crown is bestowed upon the Sidereal, and none may offer them disrespect. While the Sidereal is speaking, she may use Crowned in Crimson Laurel to prevent members of the audience from leaving, interrupting, attacking or otherwise disrespecting her. To leave, audience members must spend 1 willpower; to attack or otherwise grossly interrupt the Sidereal, they must spend 2 willpower. Crowned in Crimson Laurel does not make the Sidereal's speech more persuasive, but it ensures that she is heard. The Sidereal may not use Crowned in Crimson Laurel after she has Joined Battle.
Rumors of War
Cost: 3m or 3m, 1wp; Mins: War 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Auspicious Recruitment Drive
The clash of arms and thunder of drums echoes far and wide, and rumors of war fly swiftly ahead of the fighting itself. When the Sidereal uses Rumors of War, she learns where the nearest large armed conflict is occurring. A large conflict, in this context, means a conflict consisting of at least two battle groups. each of size 3 or greater.
At Essence 2, the Sidereal may purchase Rumors of War a second time. If she has, she may spend an additional 1 willpower when activating Rumors of War to learn where the largest conflict within a region of Creation she specifies is scheduled to occur by the Crimson Panoply of Victory, and when that conflict is scheduled to occur.
Beneath a False Flag
Cost: -; Mins: War 3, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Herald’s Discerning Eye
Few crimes are as disgusting as loyalty feigned under false colors. When the Sidereal uses Herald's Discerning Eye, she also learns if those who carry the device believe that they have a legitimate cause or claim to do so. This will reveal those who intentionally fly a false flag, but not those who believe their claim is legitimate, even if this belief arises from deception or madness.
Battle-Fellow Attitude
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: War 4, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Crowned in Crimson Laurel
The broken find new strength at the Banner's rallying cry. Battle-Fellow Attitude allows the Sidereal to take a Rally for Numbers an additional time during a scene. Battle-Fellow Attitude may not be used more than once a scene.
Man Behind Myth
Cost: 3m; Mins: War 4, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Rumors of War
Liars and valor-thieves attempts to usurp rightfully earned glory, but the Sidereal always knows the truth. A Sidereal who uses Man Behind Myth rolls (Perception + War) against a difficulty of her target's Guile; if she succeeds, she learns whether his reputation is merited, invented, or exaggerated, and gets an idea as to the origin of the reputation.
Hard Walls Around Soft
Cost: 5m or 5m, 1wp; Mins: War 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Auspicious Recruitment Drive
Not all come to the Banner seeking glory; some want only to suffer the fighting so that those they love are kept in peace. The Sidereal may enchant up to (Essence) individuals with a baptism of scarlet stardust; for the rest of the scene, those enchanted gain (Essence) points of soak and are immune to fear and despair, as long as they fight to defend home, friends or family.
With a second purchase at Essence 3, she may spend an additional willpower when using Hard Walls Around Soft to enchant a battle group, with size no greater than (Essence).
Predestined Triumph Practice
Cost: 7m; Mins: War 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Until next battle
Prerequisite Charms: Herald’s Discerning Eye
The Sidereal tells the story of the victory of her troops, and makes it true before the first arrow is loosed. The Sidereal rolls (Charisma + Presence) before the Strategic Maneuver roll is made. During the next battle the group is involved in, they gain a number of phantom points of Magnitude equal to the successes rolled. Until these phantom points of magnitude are spent, the group suffers no serious casualties and does not lose any Size. This phantom Magnitude cannot be restored by using a Rally for Numbers (Exalted pg. 210)
Victory Already Claimed
Cost: 7m; Mins: War 4, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Battle-Fellow Attitude
The Banner only rises higher, even in the face of disaster and defeat. The Sidereal may supplement a Strategic Maneuver action; even if she loses the roll or fails to achieve a sufficient number of threshold successes, she still gains the benefit of her chosen stratagem if it has a threshold of (Essence / 2, round up) or less.
Doom Draws Near
Cost: 7m; Mins: War 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Until next battle
Prerequisite Charms: Hard Walls Around Soft
Soldiers around the campfire know that come the morning's light, they may face their end. Some laugh, but many fretfully hope for some sign of victory or the favor of Mars. The Sidereal casts those hopes to the flame; by using Doom Draws Near, she rolls (Manipulation + Presence) against a difficulty of a battle group's average Resolve before the Strategic Maneuver roll is made. During the next battle the group is involved in, they increase the difficulty of rout checks by the threshold successes rolled, as the Sidereal sends omens of death and defeat to plague the dreams of the enemy forces.
Banished from History
Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: War 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Man Behind Myth
Death comes for all, but those whose deeds echo in history are immortal. Small wonder that to be struck from the roll of heroes is a fate worse than death for those who carry the Banner. The Sidereal scratches out someone's name, and across Creation all works describing the stricken individual's deeds become lost, confused or destroyed. Banished from History has no effect upon records writ in stone, those present in other realms, those kept in specially prepared libraries of glass and starmetal, or of tales told from mother to daughter of ancient heroes- but no common paper record survives the purge.
Parade of Heroes (Iron Shod Killers)
Cost: 13m, 1wp; Mins: War 5, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Doom Draws Near
Soldiers are heroic liberators and callous killers, depending on the way the Banner waves. The Sidereal draws a powerful blessing down upon a parade of soldiers as they march through a town or other populated area; she does not change who the soldiers are or how they act, but colors the views of the civilians. When she uses Parade of Heroes, the Sidereal chooses either to inspire either Awe or Terror.
If she chooses to inspire Awe, she rolls (Charisma + Presence) against a difficulty of the average Resolve of the townsfolk. The Storyteller may increase the difficulty if the army has been engaged in atrocities or if they are a foreign force; conversely, the Storyteller may decrease the difficulty if the army has been restrained or eliminated a despotic or dangerous threat. If successful, all members of the town will gain a positive tie of admiration or loyalty towards either the soldiers or a principle the soldiers represent. Those who had such a tie already will increase it by one rank.
If she chooses to inspire Terror, she rolls (Manipulation + Presence) against a difficulty of the average Resolve of the townsfolk. The Storyteller may decrease the difficulty if the army has been engaged in atrocities or if they are a foreign force; conversely, the Storyteller may increase the difficulty if the army has been restrained or eliminated a despotic or dangerous threat. If successful, all members of the town will gain a negative tie of fear or disgust towards either the soldiers or a principle the soldiers represent. Those who had such a tie already will increase it by one rank.
A Time For Tyrants
Cost: 7m; Mins: War 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Design
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Parade of Heroes
A single arrow is weak, but tied together and none can break them. Those who would threaten the unity the Banner brings must be brought to heel. The Sidereal lays a curse upon someone who has an intimacy which would require radically altering the current local government to fulfil. Any actions he takes in support of that intimacy has the target number increased by 1.
So long as the Sidereal maintains the curse, omens foretell of the rebel's doom and urge others to shun his presence.
Few Against Many Legend
Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: War 5, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Until next battle
Prerequisite Charms: Beneath a False Flag, Predestined Triumph Practice
No story is as glorious as the story of the brave few who hold off forces far greater than themselves. By using Few Against Many Legend before the Strategic Maneuver roll is made, the Sidereal brings the truth of those legends to a battle group. During the next battle the group is involved in, they have perfect morale as long as there is an enemy unit with greater Size on the field.
Cast a Long Shadow
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: War 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Psyche
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Victory Already Claimed
The shadow of the Banner is long, and the world hides beneath it. The Sidereal weaves a legend of her exploits or the exploits of another; those who hear her become already comfortable and familiar with the tale, and believe it to be either true or false as the Sidereal wishes. Roll the Sidereal's (Charisma + Presence) against the (Resolve) of her audience; if she is successful, the audience comes to believe they know the truth of the story, gaining a bonus of half the threshold successes to their Resolve on any attempt to convince them otherwise. Each piece of concrete evidence that is presented to the victim reduces this bonus by 1; additionally, each time they resist, they may spend a Willpower to reduce this bonus by 1. When the bonus is reduced to zero, the spell is broken and the victim regains their original memories of the subject.
The stories woven by Cast a Long Shadow can never be minor or mundane affairs; they must always be grand, sweeping epics of terrible journeys and fierce opposition overcome by or overcoming horrible monsters.
The Sidereal may only weave one story for a particular audience at a time.
Heroes Made Not Born
Cost: 13m, 1wp, 5xp; Mins: War 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Prayer Strip
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Banished from History, A Time For Tyrants, Few Against Many Legend
The Sidereal presses a prayer strip marked with the Scripture of the Maiden at War into the flesh of a mortal while whispering a prayer to Mars; the scripture burns into their flesh as a tattoo, marking them as a Hero in the world. The marked hero gains 18 dots of Purchased, Innate or Supernatural merits, selected by the Sidereal; these commonly but exclusively include Ambidextrous, Boundless Endurance, Danger Sense, Fast Reflexes, Giant, Martial Arts, Mighty Thews, Pain Tolerance, Tempered by the Elements, Exalted Healing, Enhanced Sense, Subtlety, and Sorcerer. They may also spend these Merit dots to raise Attributes or Abilities; 1 dot per Ability dot or 3 dots per Attribute dot. The Sidereal also increases an intimacy the hero holds to be an unbreakable Defining Principle. Heroes Made Not Born may not be used on the Exalted, and the effect is immediately lost should the chosen Hero take the Second Breath.
The Sidereal may have no more than (Essence) Heroes at a time.
A Heroic End Should the hero die, the Sidereal regains any experience they have invested into them.
Chapter 6 : Peerless Masters of the Martial Arts
Unveiled Arts of Earth
No constellation governs the Martial Arts. All constellations govern the Martial Arts. Enlightenment is found not in Creation, nor Heaven, nor Hell, but by turning within. Strength is controlling others; power is controlling oneself. This is the Essence of Martial Arts.
The Sidereal Exalted are often considered the peerless masters of martial arts; the motions and emulations of the styles come as naturally to them as their ability to weave fate and destiny. As mentioned in Character Creation (pg. XX), all Sidereals gain the Martial Arts merit for free, and may purchase dots in any Martial Arts ability and any Martial Arts Charms as Favored.
However, Sidereals do not exhibit the casual mastery that Solars or the recently appeared Abyssals do. While they have a deep relationship with Martial Arts, they lack the raw power needed to automatically make full use of Martial Arts charms.
Mastery
As described in the corebook (Exalted p. 427), Sidereals can access the Mastery effects of Martial Arts charms through their own esoteric methods. These methods include;
- When a Sidereal meets the special activation condition for a Style’s Form Charm, they may use that Style’s charms with the Mastery effect for the remainder of the scene.
- A Sidereal that has mastered a martial art, by learning all of the charms in that style, may craft a Master’s Sutra, describing the essence of the Style. By revealing a prayer strip with that sutra and paying 5m, they may use the mastery effects of that style for the remainder of the scene. These sutras are each unique to the Sidereal, as the nature of enlightenment cannot be copied; revealing them reveals the master’s identity.
- When a Sidereal enters a Martial Arts form, they may use that Style’s charms with the Mastery effect as long as they remain in the Form.
VIOLET BIER OF SORROWS STYLE
An ancient style, with roots dating back to the beginnings of the First Age or before, the Violet Bier of Sorrows Style is often one of the first Styles mastered by young Sidereals. It expresses Saturn’s fundamental truth to Creation, and can readily serve as an introduction to deeper mysteries.
Violet Bier of Sorrows Weapons: Attacks made with the Violet Bier of Sorrows tend to be heavy, chopping swings and bone-shattering drop-kicks. They can also be used with knives, slashing and chopping swords, staves and seven-section staves, as well as their artifact equivalents.
Armor: Violet Bier of Sorrows Style is incompatible with armor.
Secrets of Future Strife
Cost: -; Mins: Martial Arts 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The only certain truth is death; of all the secrets that Jupiter holds, Saturn knows this one best. When the martial artist makes her first attack in the scene, if her target has a lower initiative than she does and it is a martial arts attack, reduce his Defense by (higher of Essence or 2).
Flight of Mercury
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mastery
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Secrets of Future Strife
The only journey that all must walk is that from birth to the grave; of all the journeys that Mercury watches, Saturn knows the destination. Flight of Mercury allows the martial artist to suddenly explode forward in order to strike at a foe; she advances one range band towards an enemy, and must take either attack or rush action. Flight of Mercury can only be used once per scene.
Mastery: If the martial artist crashes the enemy she attacked or rushed when using this charm, she may use it again against another target.
Blade of the Battle Maiden
Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Dual, Terrestrial, Mastery
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Secrets of Future Strife
It is only when the struggle ceases that there is peace; of all the battles that Mars fights, Saturn knows that is one her sister cannot win. Blade of the Battle Maiden enchants the martial artist’s attacks with this truth. When making a withering attack, she increases her post-soak damage by (higher of Essence or 3). When making a decisive attack, she reduces the target’s Hardness by (higher of Essence or 3).
Terrestrial: For a Dragon-Blooded to use this Charm, they must make a sacrifice of pain; increase the cost by 1lhl.
Mastery: When the martial artist assumes the Violet Bier of Sorrows Form, she may also reflexively activate Blade of the Battle Maiden by spending an additional 1wp.
Joy in Adversity Stance
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Withering-only, Terrestrial
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Secrets of Future Strife
It is the temporary and ephemeral nature of love that makes it worth having; of all the joys that Venus knows, Saturn knows they are most keenly felt when lost. Joy in Adversity Stance enhances this understanding; when the martial artist is crashed by an opponent at close range, she may make a reflexive withering attack against him, even if she has already attacked this turn.
Terrestrial: Joy in Adversity Stance costs an additional 1wp to activate.
Violet Bier of Sorrows Form
Cost: 8m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Flight of Mercury, Blade of the Battle Maiden, Joy in Adversity Stance
Meditating on the mysteries of the Gull, the Peacock, the Gauntlet and the Sorcerer, the martial artist embodies the ending of all things and in all things. She gains double 10s on decisive damage rolls. Additionally, her base initiative after resetting from a decisive Martial Arts attack is (Martial Arts) instead of 3.
Special Activation rules: Whenever the martial artist makes two consecutive decisive attacks, or makes a decisive attack which kills or incapacitates a non-trivial opponent, she may reflexively activate Violet Bier of Sorrows Form.
Death-Parrying Stroke
Cost: 2m / success; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Withering-only, Perilous, Terrestrial
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Violet Bier of Sorrows Form
At the last moment, the martial artist sees the path of an attack and knocks it aside with a deft twist of essence. She may reduce the damage successes rolled on a withering attack made against her by one success per two motes, to a maximum of Martial Arts successes. Death-Parrying Stroke may be used after damage is rolled.
Terrestrial: When a Dragon-blooded uses this Charm, they instead reduce the damage dice rolled on a withering attack made against her by one die per two motes, to a maximum of Martial Arts dice, and must be used before damage is rolled.
Metal Storm
Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only, Terrestrial
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Violet Bier of Sorrows Form
Come they alone or at the head of a vast host, all eventually yield to Saturn’s blade. The martial artist may make a decisive attack against two separate enemies in close range; she makes one attack roll, and then divides her initiative evenly between them, adding her Essence to the damage of each attack.
Terrestrial: Dragon-blooded do not add their Essence to the damage of the attacks.
Conclusion Pursuing Approach
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only, Mastery
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Violet Bier of Sorrows Form
It is only by both accepting and pursuing the end that one may delay the inevitable conclusion. This knowledge heartens the martial artist, as she stokes her fighting spirit with determination to never give up. When a decisive attack enhanced with Conclusion Pursuing Approach deals damage, she gains 1 willpower.
Mastery: Enemies dealt damage by Conclusion Pursuing Approach also lose 1 willpower.
Life-Severing Blow
Cost: 2m / die; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only, Mastery
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Death-Parrying Stroke, Metal Storm, Conclusion Pursuing Approach
In the hands of the martial artist is the power of Saturn, to bring an ending to her opponents. Activate Life-Severing Blow when making a decisive attack; if the attack is successful, she converts up to to Essence damage dice into successes; for each die converted in this way, the target also loses one initiative. You must pay for Life-Severing Blow before making your attack.
Mastery: You may convert up to Martial Arts damage dice into successes instead of Essence.
THRONE SHADOW STYLE
In some ways, the Throne Shadow Style is the most natural fighting form for the Sidereal Exalted. Even ronin Sidereals will often begin to express an affinity for this fighting style, and other martial artists study it to gain insight into the often enigmatic agents of Heaven. However, since the breaking of the Mask and the Solar Purge, Throne Shadow Style has fallen out of favor with many Sidereals in favor of the Violet Bier of Sorrows; the loss of Solar and Lunar students as fingers, as well as the difficulty in cultivating mortal or Dragonblooded students, makes mastering the Throne Shadow less appealing than it once was.
Throne Shadow Weapons: This style counts as unarmed attacks the cestus, fighting gauntlet, khatars, pankrator’s cestus, tiger claws, and other such ‘brawling aides’, as well as improvised weapons.
Armor: Throne Shadow Style is compatible with any sort of armor
Sifu's Useful Fingers
Cost: 1m; Mins: Martial Arts : Throne Shadow Style 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Terrestrial
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
Sidereals advise the world; much of their power to act upon the world proceeds from this fact. Disdaining such crude weapons as fighting gauntlets or appropriated bar stools, the martial artist turns others into his instruments— be they pawns or kings. She may enlighten an individual with five minutes of one-on-one advice and simple-but-profound martial demonstrations. If the target is an unwilling pupil, then the Sidereal may also be required to succeed at a (Manipulation + Martial Arts) action against her target's Resolve.
The beneficiaries of such instruction, known as fingers or shadow fingers, gain a bonus dot in any one of Martial Arts, Brawl, Athletics or Dodge, as chosen by the martial artist. The martial artist may only select an ability in which the student has a rating lower than the Sidereal's Martial Art's rating as well as the Sidereal's rating in the chosen ability. Additionally, the target gains a minor tie of loyalty towards the martial artist; so long as the mote remains committed, nothing can completely remove this loyalty. The martial artist may maintain up to (Essence x2) fingers at once.
Terrestrial The martial artist may only maintain (Essence) fingers at once.
Lotus Eye Tactics
Cost: 1m; Mins: Martial Arts : Throne Shadow Style 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mastery, Terrestrial
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Sidereals understand the world; much of their power to act upon the world proceeds from this fact. By studying the subtle movements of an individual, the martial artist comes to understand how versed they are in deadly arts. She rolls (Perception + Martial Arts) against her target's Guile; if she is successful, she learns his highest Martial Arts rating and what style it is in, as well as his Archery, Athletics, Awareness, Brawl, Dodge, Melee, and Thrown ratings.
Mastery The martial artist may use Lotus Eye Tactics Reflexively when in combat, rather than as a Simple action.
Terrestrial The martial artist only learns the target's highest Martial Arts rating and what style it is in.
Lion Mouse Stratagem
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts : Throne Shadow Style 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mastery
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
Sidereals deceive the world, presenting themselves as less than what they are; much of their power to act upon the world proceeds from this fact. The martial artist cloaks herself in the humble and unassuming air of the neophyte student, the civil servant, or the hanger-on in the company of legends. She seems uninteresting, increasing her Guile by (Martial Arts /2) as a non-charm bonus when defending against attempts to gauge her nature or the level of her skill. This unassuming mien also makes it easier to dismiss the Sidereal out of hand; anyone who attempts to notice the martial artist when she is concealed suffer a penalty of -(higher of Essence or 2). Both these effects end after the martial artist makes an attack or otherwise draws attention to herself, and may not be resumed during the scene.
Mastery The martial artist may pay up to (Martial Arts) additional motes when activating Lion Mouse Stratagem; for each additional mote spent, she extends the benefits of the charm to one of her shadow fingers. She may conceal no more than (Martial Arts) fingers at a time in this fashion. If the effect ends for the martial artist, it immediately ends for her fingers as well; if one of her fingers attacks or draws attention to himself, the effect ends for him but not for the martial artist or her fingers.
Throne Shadow Form
Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts : Throne Shadow Style 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Sifu's Useful Fingers, Lotus Eye Tactics, Lion Mouse Stratagem
Combining insight, deceit, and the shadow fingers she has accumulated, the Sidereal makes a terrible fist with which to guard all things within destiny’s design. While this Form is active, all shadow fingers within close range of the martial artist may take a reflexive defend other action to guard the martial artist at no cost. Additionally, if her fingers form a battle group, the Sidereal may make a reflexive command action (Exalted p. 209) once per turn on her action, substituting her Martial Arts for her War. Finally, the martial artist and her fingers within Close range may strike dematerialized targets normally, although they gain no special ability to find and target such beings.
Special activation rules When the Sidereal is within Close range of three or more of her shadow fingers, she may activate Throne Shadow Form reflexively.
Clear Eyes Defense
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts : Throne Shadow Style 5, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Decisive-only, Counterattack, Mastery, Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Throne Shadow Form
The Sidereals are destiny’s guardians and the eyes of the Exalted. Their vision must not be clouded, and those who would attempt such stratagems must be punished. When the martial artist is targeted by an effect with the Psyche keyword, if the originator of the effect is within Close range, she may make a decisive counterattack against him before the Psyche effect takes hold. If she has not joined battle before invoking this charm, she rolls Join Battle normally to determine her initiative. Clear Eyes Defense does not count as the martial artist's action and cannot be used in response to another counterattack.
Mastery If the martial artist's counterattack deals at least 1 level of damage, she may spend 1 willpower to ignore the Psyche effect which provoked the counterattack.
Shadow Lost in Court
Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts : Throne Shadow Style 4, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Terrestrial
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Throne Shadow Form
The world of the Exalted is a world of vast, eye-catching luminaries; nobody notices a shadow lost in the tangle of the crowd. With Shadow Lost in Court, the martial artist may supplement an ability to establish surprise within a crowd (defined as a scene in which at least 20 characters are present); she may attempt to do so without penalty, and imposes a penalty equal to the number of shadow fingers she has within Close range on attempts to detect her.
Terrestrial The martial artist does not impose a penalty on those attempting to detect her from her shadow fingers.
Welcome the Uninvited Guest
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts : Throne Shadow Style 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Five turns
Prerequisite Charms: Clear Eyes Defense, Shadow Lost in Court
Striking the air with her palm, the Sidereal sets an Essence-vibration racing through the world. The martial artist rolls (Perception + Martial Arts); all hidden characters within Short range must make a reflexive opposed (Dexterity + Stealth) roll to remain concealed. All dematerialized beings, and anyone in stealth who fails the opposed roll, become visible as a series of ripples and distortions in the air, losing the benefits of concealment and becoming unable to hide again until five turns have elapsed.
Pneuma-Sealing Strike
Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts : Throne Shadow Style 5, Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only, Mastery
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Throne Shadow Form
Sidereals are known for their discretion, never sullying the courts of the Lawgivers with the blood of would-be assassins or the screams of intercepted fanatics; their killing arts are cleaner than that. This Charm supplements a grapple gambit, allowing the martial artist to use her weapon's accuracy on the attack roll. If successful, the victim begins to choke as invisible hands squeeze his throat closed; he is unable to cry out or make any vocal noise. The martial artist may only chose to savage or release a victim grappled with Pneuma-Sealing Strike.
Mastery The martial artist may use her victim's breath against him; doing so costs an additional point of willpower when activating Pneuma-Sealing Strike. The breath manifests as a translucent dire chain (Exalted p. 595), whipping out to Short range to wrap around the victim's throat, extending the range that the martial artist can begin the grapple. This weapon vanishes one turn after the grapple ends as the victim catches his breath.
Showing the Secret Hand
Cost: 3m per finger; Mins: Martial Arts : Throne Shadow Style 5, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Withering-only, Counterattack
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Clear Eyes Defense, Pneuma-Sealing Strike
The Sidereal, having enriched the world with his lessons, has earned its gratitude. The world moves to punish those would attempt to strike down such a wise master. When the martial artist is attacked, she may pay for up to (Essence) shadow fingers to make a withering martial arts counterattack against her attacker. Showing the Secret Hand costs 3 motes per finger activated. If her shadow fingers are in a battle group, they instead will make a normal attack, supplemented by a reflexive order issued by the martial artist using (Charisma + Martial Arts) instead of (War).
Showing the Secret Hand does not confer an ability for the martial artist's shadow fingers to reach an opponent who is out of range. Showing the Secret Hand does not count as the shadow finger's action and cannot be used in response to another counterattack. Individual shadow fingers may opt not to participate in this counterattack at no cost.
World as Weapon Mastery
Cost: (1wp); Mins: Martial Arts : Throne Shadow Style 5, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mastery
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Welcome the Uninvited Guest, Showing the Secret Hand
Those who wield the world as a weapon are never alone, and as such, cannot be defeated. The martial artist may apply her Martial Arts Excellency and any instant duration Throne Shadow Style charm to any shadow finger she can see within Long range, at a one willpower point surcharge. She pays all the normal costs of the charms, and uses her attributes and abilities for determining any dice adding limits. The martial artist may treat herself as a finger of the shadow finger she is enhancing.
Mastery Once she has paid the willpower to enhance a shadow finger's actions, the martial artist may freely enhance their actions without paying the surcharge again for the remainder of the scene. She still must pay the willpower to enhance the first action of a second finger, and so on.
CRYSTAL CHAMELEON STYLE
This ancient Celestial martial art dates back to the Primordial War, when it was innovated and used by the Chosen of Mercury to help deliver vital messages despite overwhelming Primordial opposition. Demons and Lintha alike were left blinking and confused as practitioners quickly blurred through their blockades, leaving only footprints and corpses to mark their passing. It is still strongly favored today for its mixture of surprise and speed. Those who have fought a Blinding Prism (as practitioners of this style are known) rarely know precisely what hit them, and that suits the needs of the Viziers of the Second Age perfectly. Unbeknown to its Sidereal inventors, the style is also widely popular in Autochthonia.
Crystal Chameleon Weapons: The Blinding Prism favors flexibility and reach; in addition to unarmed attacks, she may use the spear, rope dart, weighted rope or their artifact equivalents.
Armor: Crystal Chameleon Style is incompatible with armor.
Just Another Branch Deceit
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts : Crystal Chameleon Style 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Radiating Essence through his chakras in a precisely controlled array, the martial artist breaks light around herself, creating intermittent highlights of illumination and shadow throughout the area which help draw attention away from herself. Just Another Branch Deceit enhances her ability to re-establish surprise during combat (Exalted p. 203), converting all dice added from a stunt into successes.
Light-Treading Technique
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts : Crystal Chameleon Style 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mastery
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
Extending her anima in an ablative envelope around her, the martial artist eases her passage through the world. On any turn in which she takes her reflexive movement action to move a range band, she gains a bonus of (higher of Essence or 2) dice to any Rush or Disengage roll, and increases her dodge against attacks made from beyond Close range by 1. She may also take her reflexive move while concealed without revealing her position or needing to make repeated stealth rolls, although she still may not rush or disengage without breaking concealment.
Mastery The martial artist may activate Light-Treading Technique reflexively when they enter Crystal Chameleon Form.
Flashing Passage
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts : Crystal Chameleon Style 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Terrestrial
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Just Another Branch Deceit, Light-Treading Technique
Collapsing her Essence into pure forward momentum, the martial artist briefly blurs and disappears from sight. While she has Light-Treading Technique active, once per scene, she may enhance a rush or disengage action; if the action is successful, she immediately moves one range band towards or away from her target. This enhanced rush or disengage may be taken while concealed without breaking concealment.
Flashing Passage may be reset by successfully entering stealth while in close range to an opponent.
Terrestrial Flashing Passage may not be reset.
Crystal Chameleon Form
Cost: 8m; Mins: Martial Arts : Crystal Chameleon Style 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Flashing Passage
The martial artist strikes her anima banner, fracturing it into a shifting prism. It becomes impossible to precisely fix her location, imposing a penalty on all attacks and attempts to oppose her stealth actions equal to her anima level; additionally, she suffers no penalties for attempting to reestablish surprise during combat due to her anima, even if her anima would normally make stealth difficult or impossible.
Special activation rules When the martial artist attacks an enemy from stealth in the same turn as her anima rises to burning or greater, she may reflexively enter Crystal Chameleon Form.
Flashing Leaves Evasion
Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts : Crystal Chameleon Style 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Terrestrial
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Crystal Chameleon Form
Putting on a sudden burst of speed, the martial artist melts into a blur as an attack closes in on her, briefly disappearing and reappearing to evade the blow. Once per scene, before the dice are rolled for an attack, she may set down up to (Essence + Martial Arts) dice from the attack as 1s. Attackers with effects that allow them to re-roll dice after the attack is made may use these effects freely on the dice that have been set down. Flashing Leaves Evasion may not be used against an attack which is undodgeable, striking from ambush, or which consists of uncountable damage.
Terrestrial Instead of setting the dice down as 1s, you instead may force your opponent to reroll up to (Essence + Martial Arts) dice on the attack.
Shattered Crystal Rebuke
Cost: 3m, 3i; Mins: Martial Arts : Crystal Chameleon Style 5, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Withering-only, Counterattack, Mastery, Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Flashing Leaves Evasion
Subjected to attack, the crystal shatters, wounding its attacker rather than defending itself. Shattered Crystal Rebuke may be invoked in response to an attack, whether it strikes the martial artist or not. She vanishes in a blur of speed, reappearing behind her attacker. She may either reflexively attempt to reestablish surprise, even if she would not normally be able to do so, or she may make a withering counterattack. In either case, the reflexive action does not count as the martial artist's action for the turn, and may not be used in response to another counterattack.
Mastery The martial artist may both attempt to re-establish surprise and launch a withering counterattack, in whichever order she prefers.
Razor-Edged Prism Assault
Cost: 7m; Mins: Martial Arts : Crystal Chameleon Style 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only, Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Crystal Chameleon Form
Accelerating into a flickering blur of unleashed violence, the Blinding Prism strikes a foe from many angles, moving so fast that her attacks seem to occur simultaneously. The martial artist makes up to (higher of Essence or 3) decisive attacks against a single target; her initiative does not reset to base until these attacks are concluded. After a successful attack, the martial artist subtracts her successes on the initiative roll from her remaining initiative; after a failed attack, she loses 2 initiative. After each attack, successful or failed, she loses an additional 2 initiative. If the martial artist incapacitates her target, the effect ends and any remaining attacks are lost. If the martial artist enters initiative crash, the effect ends, any remaining attacks are lost, and she does not reset to base initiative.
Death from Nowhere Method
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts : Crystal Chameleon Style 5, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Dual
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Razor-Edged Prism Assault
In one moment the battlefield is serene; in the next, the martial artist has already struck. Death from Nowhere Method may only be used to enhance an attack made from surprise. If it enhances a withering attack, the martial artist doubles her post-soak damage. If it enhances a decisive attack, the martial artist may ignore hardness and adds (lower of Essence or extra successes on her attack) to the raw damage of the blow.
Stepping Beyond Light Prana
Cost: 10m; Mins: Martial Arts : Crystal Chameleon Style 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mastery
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Shattered Crystal Rebuke, Death from Nowhere Method
The martial artist focuses her Essence into her lungs then breathes it out into her anima, which shivers into a kaleidoscope that expands to intermittently flicker through an area within Close range of her, roughly centered on the martial artist and moving with her. While this emphatically announces the Blinding Prism's general presence, it also conceals her precise location. She may always attempt to establish surprise, even if the attempt would normally be impossible due to a lack of cover or concealment options. Any non-area attack which depends on sight when targeting her has a 50% chance of failing, striking one of the flickering colors instead of her. Roll a single d10 before making the attack; the attack automatically misses if the roll is 1 - 5.
The effects of Stepping Beyond Light Prana are suspended when the martial artist attacks until her next action. The charm ends if the martial artist is dealt damage by a decisive attack.
Mastery The martial artist may activate Stepping Beyond Light Prana reflexively in response to being attacked.
Long-Lost Repositories of Esoteric Wisdom
For five score centuries, the Five-Score Fellowship have practiced the esoteric movements and exotic wisdoms known as martial arts, and it is not for nothing that they are called Peerless Masters. Virtually every martial art that has ever been practiced in Creation is known to them, recorded by the Sage Supreme and Judge of Honorable Combat, Pankration, God of Martial Arts. Within the Crimson Panoply of Victory are manuals and scrolls describing techniques which have been lost to Creation since before the dawn of the First Age.
In general, martial arts styles are complete; even the Sidereals may not simply amend the revealed wisdom of the known styles. However, the Sidereals are uniquely aware of subtle interplays that exist between styles. Sometimes, two styles come together in only a single technique or charm; others merge and form fusion styles, melding the expression of two martial truths into a single whole. Such synthesis are known as Wushu Arts; knowledge of them is almost completely lost from Creation, although a very few survive as the most jealously guarded secret techniques of a few martial lineages and mystic societies.
And despite five score centuries, not every Wushu Art is known or can be known. It is possible that abstruse wisdom yet unrevealed awaits- and when the student is ready, the curtain will be lifted.
No Wushu Art has been discovered within the rarified wisdoms expressed by Sidereal Martial Arts, either between one another or with a lesser art. This does not stop speculation that such marvels exist- but if they do, Jupiter alone may know the secret to unlocking them.
Wushu Charms and Styles do not have an ability rating of their own. When they call for a martial arts action, the martial artist may use whichever rating of the styles that compose the esoteric art she prefers.
Wushu Charms and Styles will almost always abide by the most restrictive weapons and armor restriction of the two composited styles.
COBRA STYLE
Wushu Union of Snake and Black Claw
The origins of Cobra Style are obscure; some claim it was invented by a Sidereal driven mad in the wake of the Usurpation. After betraying and murdering his own student, seeing the excesses of the Shogunate was more than he could bear. Others claim it is a hell-sent style, for only the devils could hold such contempt and poison in their hearts. But here is the truth; neither the black claw nor cold blooded serpent feel pity, or remorse, or love. They are as beautiful and as cold as the stars in the sky, and can beguile their prey as easily.
Weapons and Armor: Cobra Style charms may only be practiced unarmed, although they may always be stunted to deal lethal damage. They are incompatible with armor.
Showing the Cobra's Fangs
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Terrestrial
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Flexing the Emerald Claw
The martial artist raises their arms, with fingertips pointing downward, showing her enemy the fangs of the beast they face. Her unarmed attacks are treated as dual wielding light artifact weapon with the following tags; Grappling, Lethal, Martial Arts, Natural, Piercing. She is still unarmed for the purpose of using martial arts charms.
Terrestrial: If the martial artist enters initiative crash, they lose the focus needed to maintain the charm, ending the effect prematurely.
Cobra Eye Splendor
Cost: 3m, 2i, 1wp; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Withering-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Striking Cobra Technique
The danger of the cobra is not in their deadly poison, but in the knowledge that the poison is deadly. Once the martial artist fixes her baleful gaze upon her prey, most simply surrender and wait for the inevitable. She may use Cobra Eye Splendor to make a withering martial arts attack out to Short range, substituting Manipulation for Dexterity and Appearance for Strength. Her victim defends with Resolve instead of parrying or dodging, and soaks with Charisma instead of Stamina. This attack ignores soak provided by armor, although soak provided by magical effects of the victim still applies.
Cobra Eye Splendor depends on the victim's own fear paralyzing and defeating them; targets which cannot feel fear are immune.
Cobra Form
Cost: 7m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Snake Form, Black Claw Form, Showing the Cobra's Fangs, Cobra Eye Splendor
The martial artist lowers her head as she raises and spreads her arms, sinking close to the ground but ready to strike and destroy any who come within reach. While she is Cobra Form, her martial arts attacks are all considered to be coated with snake venom (Exalted p. 234; 2i/round (L in Crash), 3 rounds, -3 penalty); any initiative lost due to this poison is gained by the martial artist. Additionally, she suffers no penalties when acting while prone.
Special activation rules When the martial artist crashes an opponent with an attack enhanced with Showing the Cobra's Fangs or Cobra Eye Splendor, she may reflexively enter Cobra Form.
Touch of Finality
Cost: 5m, 3i, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Essence Venom Strike, Heart Ripping Claw, Cobra Form
With a single strike, the cobra's venom brings sudden death to it's victims; with a single touch, the martial artist's attacks do the same. Touch of Finality enhances a decisive attack made by the martial artist; if she inflicts at least one level of lethal damage, she may cause the target to suffer all remaining intervals of damage from all poisons in his system at once. If this results in the victim being crashed, the martial artist may make an additional reflexive decisive attack against him.
MANTIS STYLE
Wushu Union of Tiger and Crane
One of the oldest known of the Wushu styles, the Mantis combines the savage power of the Tiger with the elegance and grace of the Crane, revealing the truth that violence is fundamentally a question of control; by controlling oneself, one controls the enemy; by controlling the enemy, one controls the world.
Weapons and Armor: Mantis Style charms may only be practiced unarmed, focusing on powerful arm bars, lashing strikes and lightning fast kicks. They are incompatible with armor.
Leaping Mantis Technique
Cost: 5m; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Terrestrial
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Crimson Leaping Cat Technique
Despite its small size, the mantis can leap with terrifying speed. The martial artist emulates this speed, gathering their Essence in their legs for a powerful jump at the start of hostilities. Leaping Mantis Technique enhances the initial Join Battle roll, allowing the martial artist to re-roll up to (Essence) failures. Additionally, they may reflexively move one range band closer to any enemy whom she beat on Join Battle before the fight begins.
Terrestrial The martial artist does not get the Join Battle rerolls.
Grasping Mantis Defense
Cost: 4m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Decisive-only, Clash
Duration:
Prerequisite Charms: Empowering Justice Redirection
The hard claws of the mantis are powerful, yet wielded with precision care. The martial artist copies this strength and speed, forcing a reflexive martial arts clash attack in an attempt to disarm someone who attacks her or someone she is guarding with defend other. Her attacker must be within close range.
Mantis Form
Cost: 7m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Tiger Form, Crane Form, Leaping Mantis Technique, Grasping Mantis Defense
To the mantis, the world seems a terribly slow thing, and the martial artist learns to see the world as the mantis does. She reduces Onslaught penalties to her defense by 2, and wins ties on defense. Additionally, the mantis does not release its captured prey; the martial artist ignores the penalty to her defense while grappling and does not forfeit a round of control when attacked (although she does lose control as normal when she takes damage).
Special activation rules When the martial artist defends against an attack with successes equal to her defense, she may reflexively enter Mantis Form, and gain the benefits of the form before determining if the attack hits.
Enmity-Ending Technique
Cost: 10m; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Angry Predator Frenzy, Wisdom of the Celestial Crane, Mantis Form
With a number of deceptively small joint locks and twists, the martial artist ruins her opponent, leaving them broken upon the ground. In this fashion does she end the enmity of the enemy, and bring peace at the end of the battle. Enmity-Ending Technique supplements a decisive savaging attack in a grapple. The martial artist adds all remaining rounds of control she has to her initiative before rolling damage. For each level of damage inflicted, her victim suffers a -1 penalty from the pain of their broken and ruined body for the remainder of the scene. Victims may always opt to take an appropriate crippling injury to reduce this damage, even if they have already taken a crippling injury in this story.
WHITE VEIL STYLE
Wushu Union of Dreaming Pearl Courtesan and Throne Shadow
There is no significance to wearing a white veil, or anything white, in the region of your face. It is not the symbol of a secret society, nor of a secret and deadly martial arts style associated with that society, which does not have influence in many nations. So don't worry about ninjas.
But, if such a thing mattered... it would possibly be found in the Wushu union of the independent Dreaming Pearl Courtesan and the subtle machinations of the Throne Shadow, revealing a greater truth of the shared brotherhood of conspirators. The origins definitely would not be unclear, nor would it be a jealously guarded secret.
Weapons and Armor: White Veil Style would not have any obvious weapons beyond her own hands, as such things could declaim the martial artist's intentions. It would also be incompatible with armor, although explicitly compatible with the armor granted by Pearlescent Filigree Defense.
Owl Clutches at the Night
Cost: 1m; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Uniform, Mastery
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Demure Carp Feint, Lion Mouse Stratagem
It would be most indelicate for the martial artist to make an attack which was not carried through to completion; if an attack supplemented by Owl Clutches at the Night is not successful, the martial artist may retroactively have taken any other combat action aside from attacking. Any resources spent on the aborted attack are still spent.
Mastery The martial artist may spend 1 willpower when activating Owl Clutches at the Night recover up to (Essence) motes spent enhancing the aborted attack.
Blinded By Laughter
Cost: 7m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Uniform
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Shadow Lost in Court, Owl Clutches at the Night
It seems comical that someone as charming as the martial artist could engage in as duplicitous and cruel a thing as an unexpected attack, and so no one sees such a thing coming. The first attack the martial artist makes in a scene is treated as an ambush, even if the victim was aware of her presence or had a higher initiative.
Birdsong Over Blades
Cost: 3m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Terrestrial
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Fragrant Petal Fascination Kata, Owl Clutches at the Night
It is better to talk than to fight, but better still to talk and gain an advantage in the fight. The martial artist may enhance any social influence action they take during combat with Birdsong Over Blades; if the influence overcomes her victim's Resolve, she gains initiative equal to the threshold successes.
Terrestrial Birdsong Over Blades cost an additional point of willpower to use.
One Thousand Veils Of White
Cost: -; Mins: Essence 4
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: World as Weapon Mastery, Invoking the Chimera's Coils, Blinded By Laughter, Birdsong Over Blades
The strength of a secret society rests not in that of any one members, but in the membership as a whole. One Thousand Veils of White improves World as Weapon Mastery, allowing the martial artist to use any instant duration Dreaming Pearl Courtesan or White Veil charm in addition to any instant Throne Shadow charm to enhance her shadow fingers.
Individual Wushu Techniques
Silver Tongue Devil
Cost: 1m; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Uniform
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Voice of the Night Bird, Blossom of Inevitable Demise
Uniting the Righteous Devil's ability to burn the wicked and Silver Voiced Nightingale’s deadly song, the martial artist learns to spit hot fire; she may activate Silver Tongue Devil to enhance any attack made with the kiai provided by Voice of the Nightbird, adding the Flame tag. These bursts of burning song are explicitly compatible with both Silver Voiced Nightingale and Righteous Devil charms.
Steel Reaper Style
Cost: 3m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Terrestrial
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: White Reaper Form, Steel Devil Form
Between the cold fury of the White Reaper and the blazing speed of the Steel Devil is the electric crash of the Steel Reaper. A martial artist who learns Steel Reaper Style may always treat paired, dual wielded swords as compatible with White Reaper charms.
Additionally, she may transform halos generated by White Reaper into offhand charge, and offhand charge from Steel Devil into halos. Doing so costs 3m per transformation, and may only be performed (Essence) times per turn; each halo is worth three points of offhand charge.
Terrestrial: Steel Reaper Style may only be used once per turn
Blinding Light Technique
Cost: 1a; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Decisive-only, Counterattack
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Elusive Flicker Evasion, Flashing Leaves Evasion
Shadow and light seem like opposites, but the martial artist knows that the two are inherently linked- without light, there are no shadows, and victims can see no better in blinding brilliance than total darkness. When the martial artist is attacked, she may make a decisive counterattack before the attack resolves, hurling a fragment of her anima into the eyes of her attacker to blind them; this is a gambit with a difficulty of 3. If successful, the target is blinded (suffering a -3 penalty to all actions depending on sight) for the next 5 turns until the burning light of the thrown anima fades.
Amaranthine Boundary
Cost: -; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Blinding Nova Flare, Life-Severing Blow
The martial artist imbues her blade with the essence of Endings, sharpening it to an impossible degree. When she enhances the damaging follow-up attack of Blinding Nova Flare with Life-Severing Blow, she gains 1 initiative after resetting to base for each success on the damage roll.
Veiled Arts of Heaven
In addition to the traditional forms of Martial Arts practiced in Creation, the Sidereal Exalted practice a collection of secret arts and enlightened techniques, which are collectively known as Sidereal Martial Arts. Until recently, no member of the Exalted Host could learn Sidereal Martial Arts without either being a Sidereal, or being tutored by one- even then, only Solars could match their sifus. It is assumed that Death’s Lawgivers could likewise be trained, but thus far, no Sidereal is known to have taken such a pupil.
Recently, Rakan Thulio has boasted that the Getimian Exalted outstrip the Chosen of the Maidens in both mastery and enlightenment. That these mysterious Chosen have exhibited secret techniques and enlightened arts comparable to the Sidereals themselves testifies to the impossible truth of this boast. Whether the Getimian Exalted are truly capable of independent mastery of Sidereal Martial Arts, or if they, like the Solars, are simply capable of being taught and have a willing sifu in Rakan Thulio is not known- but it is certain that these mysterious Chosen are capable of matching the Sidereal Exalteds’ peerless mastery in one form or another.
Each Sidereal and Getimian Exalted is capable of learning one Sidereal Martial Arts charm per dot of Essence she possesses. Solars and Abyssals are capable of learning one Sidereal Martial Arts charm per dot of Essence they possess above two; that is, they can learn one charm at Essence 3, a second charm at Essence 4, and a third at Essence 5. Additionally, all Exalted capable of learning Sidereal Martial Arts charms can learn one charm per traditional style which they have mastered. Wushu Arts, already blending two truths into one, neither hinder or assist the martial artist’s ability to learn the more fundamental ideas within the Hidden Arts of Heaven. Solars and Abyssals taught Sidereal Martial Arts Charms pay the same experience cost as Sidereals do to learn them, regardless of favoring Martial Arts.
Sidereal Martial Arts do not have a distinct ability rating. When a Sidereal Martial Arts charm calls for a martial arts roll, the martial artist may select which martial art ability they are using to execute the action.
PRISMATIC ARRANGEMENT OF CREATION
The Prismatic Arrangement of Creation is assumed to be the first of the Veiled Arts of Heaven discovered; it expresses the fundamental truths of Creation through the Essence of the martial artist, allowing them to reflect and direct that power. Many sifus consider this to be an excellent first style to learn; the Forms of Creation each synergize well with most of the Unveiled Arts, and allow potent and unique expressions of martial power on both attack and defense- a perfect blending of the practical and philosophical.
Weapons and Armor: Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Forms may not be assumed if the martial artist bears any non-Natural weapons and is incompatible with armor.
Four Magical Materials Form
Cost: 12m; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The martial artist knows the future hidden within starmetal; she has learned the dance hidden in moonsilver; she has braved the heat of the volcano-forge from which orichalcum rises; she has befriended the five authorities of jade. With these truths, she transforms herself into a living artifact.
While the martial artist is in the Four Magical Materials Form, treat her unarmed attacks as paired medium artifact hand-to-hand weapons with the Lethal, Brawl, Grappling, Martial Arts, Natural and Piercing tags. Increase her natural soak by +8, and increase her Hardness to 7 if it is less than 7.
As a living artifact, the martial artist may even develop evocations as they are draw more deeply on the bond between themselvs and the four magical materials.
Special activation rules If the martial artist takes three consecutive turns during combat using miscellaneous actions discarding weapons, armor, and any artifacts she carries, she may reflexively assume the Four Magical Materials Form at the end of the third action.
Manse and Demesne Form
Cost: 12m; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The martial artist sees with eyes closed; she hears the essence of the world, and tastes the flow of power as it moves in, around and through her. She has swum naked in the dragon lines of Creation, and can call those lines of power to her. When she enters the Manse and Demesne Form, her eyes are each replaced with standard Hearthstones, while a greater hearthstone blossoms upon her forehead. The three hearthstones which appear represent the martial artist's inner self and connection to Creation; they should be selected when the charm is purchased, but may be changed with the storyteller's approval if the character of the martial artist changes dramatically. Her hearthstone eyes function as normal eyes; if the martial artist is normally blind due to lack of or damage to her eyes, then she will be able to see normally while she remains in this Form.
Special activation rules If the martial artist takes three consecutive turns during combat acting with her eyes closed and using a miscellaneous action to meditate upon the nature of Creation, she may reflexively assume the Manse and Demesne Form at the end of the third action.
Soul Fire Shaper Form
Cost: 12m; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The martial artist does not know power, any more than she knows herself. Instead she is power, drawing strength from the cold white flame of her higher soul and the hot black flame of her lower soul. She holds both fires close to her heart, and ignites into a bonfire of power. When she assumes Soul Fire Shaper Form, the martial artist's anima rises to iconic, and personal motes she spends contribute to her anima as if they were peripheral.
While she is in the Soul Fire Shaper Form, the martial artist treats any references to her Essence for calculating the effects of a charm or other power as being one greater than it is, and may substitute her enhanced Essence for any other attribute or ability which has a lower rating. This does not give the martial artist access to powers she could not normally reach; for example, a Solar at Essence 2 in the Soul Fire Shaper Form would not gain the Mastery benefit of Kindly Sifu's Quill (Exalted p. 445), which requires Essence 3; nor can she purchase or otherwise access powers which require Essence greater than her normal rating. However, it does increase any other effect which consider the martial artist's Essence, Attributes or Abilities, such as the Sidereal or Solar dice caps, charms such as Striking Cobra Technique (Exalted p. 427), sorcerous spells such as Death of Obsidian Butterflies (Exalted p. 472), or even Evocations such as Sinuous Liquid Escape (Exalted p. 608).
Special activation rules Any time the martial artist's anima goes from dim to iconic in a single action, she may reflexively assume the Soul Fire Shaper Form.
Exaltation Ways Form
Cost: 12m; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The martial artist meditates on the fusion of divine and mortal forms, which come together in the Exaltation. Her mind traces the lives and mysteries of the Incarnae, of the Fire Exigent, and the Second Breath. With this understanding, she can draw upon any and all of the powers of the Exalted Host; as she does so, an appropriate caste or aspect marking will briefly shimmer on or before her, fading in the action after she assumes the form. When the martial artist enters Exaltation Ways Form, she may gains access to the anima abilities of another caste or aspect of Exalted. For example, when Uzuki, Sidereal and Chosen of Battles, enters the Exaltation Ways Form, she may gain the anima abilities of a Dawn Caste Solar (Exalted p. 175) as well as her own anima powers as a Chosen of Battles. The martial artist may switch the anima abilities she has access to by taking a miscellaneous action and spending a point of willpower. She may only use the anima abilities after she has been in the presence of an Exalt with his anima raised to iconic, but once known such an anima is always accessible.
Special activation rules Whenever the martial artist is within Medium range of another Exalt whose anima reaches Iconic for the first time in a scene, she may reflexively enter Exaltation Ways Form, matching the caste or aspect of the Exalted who inspired her.
Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Form
Cost: 18m; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Four Magical Materials Form, Manse and Demesne Form, Soul Fire Shaper Form, Exaltation Ways Form
The martial artist closes her eyes, and vanishes. She exists Elsewhere for two turns, becoming one with all things. When she returns, she returns clothed in majesty, accompanied by the scent of cherry blossoms and fresh cut palm. While she is in the Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Form, the martial artist may either gain the benefit of any two charms she knows with the Form keyword, or all four of the Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Form charms.
Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Form has no special activation rules.
CHARCOAL MARCH OF SPIDERS
Sometimes known as the Nine Points of the Firstborn, the Charcoal March of Spiders Style focuses on emulating the power and insatiable hunger of the pattern spiders that work the Loom of Fate. Despite the name, only six charms of the style are commonly taught; it is generally believed that the final two charms and the Charcoal March of Spiders Form exist as highly secret techniques, taught to only the most worthy... or that they have been lost over the vast gulf of years.
Weapons and Armor: The Charcoal March of Spiders style may be practiced with knives, seven section staves, or while unarmed. This style is incompatible with armor.
Dance of the Hungry Spider (First Leg)
Cost: 3m; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The spiders are always hungry, and the martial artist learns to harness her own insatiable desires. After making a successful decisive attack, the martial artist may use Dance of the Hungry Spider to reflexively take a Rush or Disengage action, adding a number of non-charm successes equal to the levels of damage inflicted by the attack. She also gains a non-charm bonus to her Evasion equal to the number of successes of the damage roll until her next action.
Nest of Living Strands (Second Leg)
Cost: 7m, 1wp, 1i per target; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The web of fate cast by the pattern spiders ensnares all things, and so does the martial artist learn to cast an all-encompassing web. This is a special gambit; she makes a single martial arts attack against any number of targets at close range, paying one initiative per target. If she hits any of them, she rolls her initiative as per normal with a gambit, and gains control of a grapple with all the victims she hit for a number of turns equal to the initiative roll.
During each turn she controls the grapple, the martial artist may selectively savage, release, restrain, or throw each target individually, or she may drag all of the targets as one.
Nest of Living Strands may target immaterial creatures, although it provides no special ability to detect such beings. If they are successfully grappled, dematerialized beings are treated as material for all purposes until the grapple ends.
Maw of Dripping Venom (Third Leg)
Cost: 5m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The venom of the pattern spiders is corrosive beyond comparison, for it eats away at the will and essence of those who would defy fate. The martial artist enhances a decisive attack with Maw of Dripping Venom; if she inflicts at least one level of damage, the target is inflicted with Pattern Spider Venom.
Pattern Spider Venom is a poison with the following traits: 5m/round, 6 rounds, -(Essence) penalty. If the victim has no motes, either because they do not possess a mote pool or because their mote pool is empty, they instead lose 1 temporary willpower. If they have neither motes nor willpower, the penalty is doubled.
Thumbnail Spider March (Fourth Leg)
Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The numbers of the pattern spiders is beyond counting; their collective hunger cannot be fathomed. Once per scene, the martial artist may unleash that hunger against her enemies; she uses Thumbnail Spider March and makes a decisive attack against everyone (friend and foe) in Close range, applying her damage equally to each person hit. Thumbnail Spider March is reset when the martial artist successfully rushes into close range with three or more enemies.
Jumping Spider Strike (Fifth Leg)
Cost: 7m; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The speed of the pattern spiders is swifter than thought, and no matter the choice you make, the weave of fate will race ahead. Once per scene, the martial artist may use Jumping Spider Strike to pounce upon an enemy. She vanishes, reappearing anywhere she can clearly see at up to Long distance, making a decisive attack against her victim. If her initiative is higher than that of her victim, this attack is also unexpected. Jumping Spider Strike allows the martial artist to reach anywhere a dematerialized spirit could reach- she will pass through walls as swiftly as a ghost and over raging rivers as easily as a god. However, wards which can hedge out immaterial beings are proof against the Jumping Spider Strike, and it's utility is more limited in places where spirit and flesh are already united such that dematerialization is not impossible, such as within a spirit’s sanctum, in Yu-Shan, or in the Underworld. Jumping Spider Strike is reset when the martial artist has rebuilt to initiative 14+.
Pattern Spider Touch (Sixth Leg)
Cost: 7m, 7i; Mins: Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration:
Prerequisite Charms: None
The world is what the pattern spiders make of it; with this technique, the martial artist joins them in this privilege. Once per scene, the martial artist may activate Pattern Spider Touch to make a martial arts gambit against an opponent at close range, with difficulty (target's Essence +2). Pattern Spider Touch can strike dematerialized beings. If successful, she may reshape her victim in almost any fashion. The target may be killed, rendered unconscious, or permanently wiped from existence; they may have any number of natural intimacies (those not protected by some active effect, such as the loyalty of a summoned demon) added or removed at any strength, and she may even transform her victim, adding or stripping away any number of supernatural and innate merits, as well as shuffling attribute and ability dots.
If the victim survives, his permanent Essence rating, Willpower, and any story merits he has will be unaffected. The experience cost of any Charms he has lost access to, due to changes of attribute or ability dots, are refunded. Victims of Pattern Spider Touch who are Exalted cannot be stripped of their Exaltation by means of this charm short of death, either by direct reshaping or by attempting to turn him into something so inhuman his Exaltation departs.
The effect of Pattern Spider Touch are typically permanent, although certain potent magics, such as Destiny-Manifesting Method (Exalted p. 304) may allow the victim a means to restore themselves to their former state.
SAPPHIRE VEIL OF PASSION
Also known as the Twice Born Style due to having been independently discovered twice, Sapphire Veil of Passion draws inspiration from the fire of lust and passion that burns within all living beings. Many younger Sidereals make jokes (or secretly wonder) at what the training for this Veiled Art of Heaven entails, and ridicule those who devote themselves to its study. This ridicule usually lasts only until they meet with a practitioner; even the ones that don't come away half in love with the mentor that just thrashed them are forced to admit to the style's efficaciousness.
Weapons and armor: Sapphire Veil of Passion permits the use of the Urumi, or ribbon sword, as well as the artifact equivalent, the floating ribbon. It is incompatible with armor, but does traditionally allow a buckler to be worn as well.
Urumi: Light melee weapon; Lethal, Martial Arts, Disarming, Flexible, Reaching
Floating Ribbon: Light artifact melee weapon; Lethal, Martial Arts, Disarming, Flexible, Reaching
Buckler: Light melee weapon; Melee, Shield
Satisfying Idle Fantasy
Cost: 3m, 2i; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Dual, Psyche
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Passion begins as fantasy, which demands satisfaction. The martial artist kindles and satisfies such a fantasy in a single motion, leaving her victim stunned and confused. Satisfying Idle Fantasy may be used to enhance either a withering attack or a withering savage when in control of a grapple. The martial artist adds her Appearance to her Strength for determining raw damage. Additionally, if this attack's damage exceeds her victim's Resolve, it also instills a Tie of lust or fascination towards her in him, or enhances an existing Tie of the same. If her victim is crashed by an attack instilling this Tie, or Satisfying Idle Fantasy is used to enhance a withering savage, the cost to resist this influence is increased to 3 Willpower.
Sapphire Veil of Passion Form
Cost: 8m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Satisfying Idle Fantasy
Assuming the Sapphire Veil of Passion Form, the martial artist kindles the blue flame of passion in her, and drawing the attention of all upon the field. Anyone who has a positive Tie towards her subtracts successes equal to the rank of the Tie when they take any action other than rushing or attempting to grapple her, as well as from their Defense against her attacks; additionally, she gains one initiative and two additional motes per turn in which she spends at Close range with an opponent who holds a Major or Defining positive Tie towards her, drawing on the strength of her enemy's ardor.
Special activation rules If the martial artist successfully creates or strengthens a positive Tie towards herself in an enemy after joining battle, she may reflexively enter the Sapphire Veil of Passion Form.
Yellow Dragon Flight
Cost: (1wp); Mins: Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Dual
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Sapphire Veil of Passion Form
The martial artist draws on the hot, active element of sexuality, thrusting forward with an irresistible attack. Yellow Dragon Flight enhances Satisfying Idle Fantasy; by spending 1 willpower when using Satisfying Idle Fantasy, the attack also becomes unblockable and ignores soak. A successful attack enhanced by Yellow Dragon Flight against an enemy who holds a major or defining positive tie towards the martial artist awards 1 willpower.
Black Dragon Coils
Cost: 2m; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Sapphire Veil of Passion Form
The martial artist draws on the cool, passive element of sexuality, accepting her opponent's attack and smothering the heat of it away. Black Dragon Coils enhances her defense; if she successfully defends herself from the attack, she steals 1 initiative from the attacker; if the attack is successful, then the martial artist may reflexively attempt to instill an intimacy of lust or fascination towards her in him. Black Dragon Coil rewards two motes when the martial artist steals initiative from an enemy who holds a major or defining positive tie towards the martial artist.
Thousand Desires Ribbon
Cost: (1wp); Mins: Essence 4
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Yellow Dragon Flight, Black Dragon Coils
The heat and the cool of the martial artist's passion combines to form a ribbon of electric blue light, arcing around them in a reflection of her thousand aching desires. When she enters Sapphire Veil of Passion Form, the martial artist may spend a point of willpower to activate Thousand Desires Ribbon. The ribbon floats and moves around the martial artist, reflecting her desires from moment to moment; each turn, the ribbon acts on the martial artist's initiative, allowing her to take one of the following actions in addition to her normal action:
- She may set the ribbon to defend herself; until her next action, she gains the benefit of Black Dragon Coils on all defenses.
- She may make a withering attack an enemy out to Short range; this attack is automatically enhanced with Satisfying Idle Fantasy.
- She may attempt to perform a disarm, distract or grapple gambit against an enemy out to Short range.
OBSIDIAN SHARDS OF INFINITY
Between this world and another is an impossibly thin yet adamant barrier; in black glass, silver sheen or bronze reflection, mirrors offer a glimpse into elsewhere. Martial artists who study the Obsidian Shards of Infinity learn to transgress this boundary, drawing upon the strength of the mirror world and the twisted possibilities that might have been, choose what will be and what won't be as easily a child picking flowers in a field. Often accused of vanity for the mirrors they keep close at hand, these martial artists would no more go without their reflections than a general would take the field bereft of their army, and for much the same reason.
Weapons and armor: Obsidian Shards of Infinity may be practiced unarmed, or while wielding any paired weapons. If armed, the martial artist must always be armed with paired weapons- loss of one disrupts the symmetry she must maintain for the style. It is incompatible with armor.
Ripple in Silver Glass
Cost: 4m; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
Mirrors twist, but they do not lie; that is the province of those on this side of the silver glass. The martial artist learns to twist and reflect as a mirror, swapping her likeness for the reflection of her victim.
To use Ripple in Silver Glass, the martial artist must be able to clearly see her target in a solid reflective surface- shadows or watery pools are too unstable to use this technique. After doing so, she effectively becomes the duplicate of her victim; she gains phantoms of any equipment he bears, perfectly emulates his voice and mannerisms, and cannot be distinguished by mundane or magical attempts at piercing the disguise, as there is no disguise to pierce. She even gains access to the victim's memories and knowledge, although learning specific pieces of information will require a focused (Intelligence + Martial Arts) action against the victim's Resolve.
At the end of each scene, the martial artist may commit an additional mote to remain in her mirrored form for another scene.
Ripple in Silver Glass does not grant the martial artist the attributes, abilities or magical qualities of her victim.
Shatter the Balance
Cost: 1m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
Mirrors only and always show what is present, and the light of a lantern that illuminates the dark may be dazzling when reflected back at the source. The martial artist learns to copy charms, spells and powers she experiences first hand, turning those arts against their wielder.
When the martial artist witnesses a charm or other essence driven power being used, she may learn to duplicate the effect for the remainder of the scene. Shatter the Balance does not allow the martial artist to learn anima abilities, powers that draw on the owner's physical or spiritual nature (such as a Lunar's ability to shapeshift, a Liminal's ability to return to life, or a Sidereal's ability to don a resplendent destiny), the excellencies of other beings, or sorcerous spells or workings beyond her initiation. She must meet the Essence minimum for the power in order to use it, but need not meet the attribute, ability or prerequisite charm requirements. The martial artist may copy any number of charms at once, but must pay for Shatter the Balance for each charm thus copied.
Shatter the Balance does not cost a willpower to copy the charms and abilities of an individual the martial artist is duplicating with Ripple in Silver Glass.
Obsidian Shards of Infinity Form
Cost: 10m; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Ripple in Silver Glass, Shatter the Balance
Mirrors reflect, making one thing appear as two. By assuming the Obsidian Shards of Infinity Form, the martial artist learns to reflect herself, using the echoes of her intentions to bring the world of could have been and is together.
Each turn, the martial artist may take two actions rather than one. These actions are independent of one another; she may use a Simple Charm with one, and launch a withering attack with the second, or flurry a rush and full defense with the first, and a grapple gambit with the second.
Onslaught penalties she accrues are split between the two in any fashion the martial artist desires. She does not gain additional reflexive movement actions.
Special activation rules If the martial artist can see herself in at least five distinct, stable, solid, and reflective surfaces at the same time, she may enter Obsidian Shards of Infinity Form reflexively. Each surface must be at least large enough to offer a full size reflection of the martial artist from one foot away; her image in a full length mirror is sufficient, but not in the shards of such a mirror after it is broken.
Draw Forth The Shard
Cost: 6m; Mins: Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Perilous
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Obsidian Shards of Infinity Form
Here is a secret truth; mirrors do not reflect. They do not show what is present. They do not twist. Mirrors show a world that is not, but nevertheless is. The martial artist can reach into a distinct, stable, solid, and reflective surface and withdraw a reflection of herself from this mirror world, to assist in the scene; such surfaces must be at least large enough to show the torso and head of the martial artist at a yard away. Such shard-selves share the martial artist's mote pools, and has access to the same attributes, abilities, charms and equipment. It does not benefit from any charms or other effects the martial artist has previously activated. It has it's own initiative rating (if activated during combat, it rolls Join Battle immediately; if the shard-self is crashed or suffers one or more levels of bashing, lethal or aggravated damage, it immediately shatters, ending the effect. Otherwise, the shard acts independently but in complete accordance with the martial artist's desires.
The martial artist can maintain up to (Essence) shards at a time. Once a reflection has been drawn from a surface, that surface cannot be used again for the rest of the scene, nor will it reflect the martial artist.
Echoes of Infinity
Cost: 12m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 5
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Draw Forth The Shard
Reflect a mirror upon itself; do you see the infinite hallway? Within the depths of that labyrinth, an army of echoes awaits to come forth. After activating Echoes of Infinity, the martial artist may use Draw Forth The Shard at no cost and reflexively on her action once a turn for the remainder of the scene, and the reflective surfaces used need be no larger than the palm of her hand.
Chapter 7 : Sorcerous Ways and Sidereal Conjunctions
Arcana of the Sidereal Exalted
Sorcery is a well practiced art amongst the Sidereals; indeed, much like the Dragon-Blooded, they maintain traditions of intentional sorcerous initiation which are otherwise largely unknown in the Age of Sorrows.
The Five Station Path
The most common sorcerous initiation is the one the Sidereals have shared with the Dragon-Blooded who study at the Heptagram; the Five Station Path. Initiation into the Five Station Path is characterized by a metaphorical journey through five stations; Humility, Study, Experience, Fear and Sacrifice. The first four Stations may be approached in any order, but the station Sacrifice always comes at the end.
Shaping Rituals
Sorcerers of the Five Stations understand the value of preparation; by dint of careful study, they can ready their mind and body to call forth a specific spell at a moment's notice. They may spend five hours studying a specific spell to prepare it. If they do, for the next week, they gain three sorcerous motes which may only be used to cast the prepared spell. Once spent, these motes are lost until another study session re-prepares the spell, unless the prepared spell is one of the sorcerer's control spells, in which case the motes return at the end of the scene.
The ultimate lesson of the Five Stations is this question- what will you sacrifice for your sorcery? Once per scene, you may offer up some significant sacrifice; this may be literal, such as destroying some valued object, or more figurative, such as swearing to take or avoid some action or vice. If the Storyteller approves of the sacrifice, the sorcerer immediately gains (Essence) sorcerous motes. Should they fail to uphold their self-imposed geas, then Creation will bend against them; treat this as having broken an Eclipse caste oath. Stories are replete of sorcerers tricked into violating their oaths and being struck down therefrom.
Some sorcerers are known for their curious habit of hop-skip walking, taking care to move in diagonals or curves, or to advance with an almost dancer-like gait on the balls of their feet. They are practicing Pacing the Stars; by moving in well understood patterns, they learn to coax Creation to their whim more easily. When using a Shape Sorcery action in combat, if you Pace the Stars, reduce your Defense by 1 for the turn, and add +1 die to their pool. If they are shaping their prepared spell, instead add one automatic success.
Other Benefits
Ritual Tools (Merit ** or ****): Sorcerers of the Five Stations frequently make use of ritual tools and implements- most frequently staves, khakkharas, or prayer strips. A sorcerer who makes use of their ritual tools while taking Shape Sorcery actions adds +1 die to their pool. The four-dot version of this Merit provides sorcerous tools which are also artifacts, giving the sorcerer +2 dice to their pool instead of +1 and allowing them to learn potent Evocations.
Making and Unmaking (Merit ****): One of the most common calls for sorcerers is not the action of sorcery, but their knowledge of how to safely contain or remove ancient sorcery that has escaped control. A sorcerer with this Merit is especially versed in such, and may attempt to undo spells as an Ambition 2 working instead of an Ambition 3 working.
Secret Societies: Because the Five Station Path is a more deliberate form of sorcerous initiation, many sorcerers will form or join a secret society during training. Such membership is best represented with the Allies, Backing, and Contacts Merits; all sorcerers of the Five Station Path gain 1 dot in one of these merits for free.
Student of the Book
During the First Age, the grandest accomplishment a sorcerer could wish for was to have their unique works added to the Book of Three Circles; a catalog of all sorcerous activity of significance and merit. The Royal Academy of Metaphysics, a collection of Creation’s foremost sorcerers, would evaluate and award honors upon sorcerer’s with outstanding contributions in the past year during the Calibration feast, entering those contributions into the Book of Three Circles in order to further the occult arts throughout creation. Although as plagued by politics as any organization, it was a relatively honest award... until the Usurpation brought a crashing end to the discussion entirely.
The Book of Three Circles itself is not a single tome, but rather the complete corpus of sorcerous knowledge and activity recognized by the Royal Academy; a highly potent distillation of the greatest accomplishments in sorcery from the five thousand golden years of the First Age; etched on scrolls of unchanging gold, the collection is the size of a small library in itself. Almost no complete copies of the full work remain in Creation; Raksi has one such, having looted it from Sperimin before renaming the city to Mahalanka. Another exists with the Forbidding Manse of Ivy. Rumors fly of other complete copies- in the heart of the Imperial Manse, at the center of a demon prince’s glass library, in the personal study of one of the Deathlords.
A Student of the Book has found a substantial fragment of the Book of Three Circles, or comparable ancient and metaphysical work, and drawn upon the arcane insights contained therein to initiate into sorcery.
Shaping rituals
The sorcerer knows arts lost since the First Age for the harnessing of arcane power, but her knowledge of such matters is limited and risky. On the first roll to gather sorcerous motes per spell, she sets aside (Occult) dice when gathering sorcerous motes; for each die set aside in this fashion, she gains an automatic success if she rolls any successes. When gathering motes for her control spell, she gains an additional 3 motes on the initial roll if she gains any.
Students of the Book have a deeper understanding of Creation’s Essence than most other sorcerers, and amongst the foremost experts in geomancy and properly harnessing feng shui. In a location she has spent at least one week preparing, she gains an additional mote on any successful roll to gather sorcerous motes. In a standard manse or demesne she is attuned to, she instead gains two motes. In a greater manse or demesne she is attuned to, she instead gains three motes.
Students of the Book are experts at directing and redirecting Creation’s energies; when engaging in countermagic to a spell, she gains 1 sorcerous mote per two sorcerous motes drained. If her countermagic is sufficient to break the spell, she instead gains 1 sorcerous mote per sorcerous mote drained.
Other Benefits
Draw Upon the Heart (Merit ***): A Student of the Book who knows how to draw upon Creation’s feng shui and who possess a hearthstone may draw upon the feng shui of the distant place of power by their connection through the hearthstone; this provides her the benefit of the shaping ritual for being in a prepared manse or demesne as long as she holds the hearthstone that is linked to the specially prepared place.
Studies Vast and Deep (Merit ** or ****): Access to even a significant fraction of the Book of Three Circles is a tremendous aid when undertaking sorcerous working, and increases the terminus of the sorcerer’s workings by 1. The four dot version means that the sorcerer has access to a complete or nearly complete copy of the entire corpus, and instead increases her terminus by 2.
Arcane and Mysterious Learning (Merit *): Students of the Book have had the opportunity to internalize truths few in Creation now know. They may always introduce and challenge facts related to sorcery.
Touched by Fate
Most who are gifted or cursed with sorcery sought it out- they strike bargains with fell spirits, engage in laborious alchemical pursuits, or study deep into forgotten tomes. For others, however, sorcery is simply bestowed upon them, a destiny they neither sought nor can they escape. Mortals who are Touched by Fate were almost always thaumaturges with knowledge of at least one ritual for divining the future. Exalted who are Touched by Fate are unusual; ronin Sidereals will commonly come by sorcery in this fashion, as well some outcaste Dragon-Blooded and Solars from the more obscure corners of Creation.
The source of this gift is unknown. Many believe it is the touch of Jupiter, imparting hidden wisdom, while others subscribe to the theory that Solars in the height of the First Age wove the truth of Sorcery into Creation’s bedrock, such that it could not be lost. Whatever the truth, it is certain that some rare few one day wake, knowing the secret words to call upon Creation’s power.
Shaping Rituals
Sorcerers Touched by Fate did not seek out their power, and so often learn to recognize it only in retrospect. She begins each scene with a sorcerous mote, which must be used to power her first spell. If this mote powers her control spell, it counts as two.
Most sorcerers Touched by Fate seem to have a special gift or affinity for some circumstance. The player should work with the Storyteller to describe this affinity, which should have approximately the breadth of a specialty- something the sorcerer can engineer but not always have available. When this affinity applies, she gains 2 bonus dice on any shape sorcery action; when it is absent, she instead loses 2 dice.
Whatever the source of the sorcerer’s gift, it is not done with them- instead softly urging them towards or away from certain goals. By leaving herself more receptive to such urging, the sorcerer may gain additional power. Once per story, the sorcerer gains or strengthens an intimacy as chosen by the Storyteller which will guide the sorcerer towards some occulted goal; upon accepting this intimacy, she also immediately gains (Essence + 3) sorcerous motes.
Other Benefits
Power Uncontrolled (Merit ** or ***): Energy will sometimes simply leak from the sorcerer, lashing out as abrasive winds or crackling lightning. She may use this power to make attacks, rolling (Intelligence + Occult) as if armed with a light mundane weapon with the lethal and thrown (short) tags, using her Charisma in place of her Strength for determining withering damage. The three dot version increases the strength of these manifestations, allowing the sorcerer to spend 1 willpower to add the flexible, piercing or smashing tags for the remainder of the scene.
Child of Dreams (Merit **): Visions and dreams haunt those Touched by Fate, offering tantalizing glimpses into futures that may come to be. The sorcerer may forgo gaining Willpower for one night, instead opting to be visited by these prophetic dreams in order to gain some useful insight into her current situation. During the next day, the sorcerer may reflexively perform one case scene, profile character or read intentions action upon someone or something, describing the knowledge as having come to her in the visions.
Spells and Workings of the Five-score Fellowship
Terrestrial Circle Spells
Incantation of Spiritual Indiscretion
Cost: 7sm, 1wp
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
In Heaven, the gods wear solid bodies, and in hell demons walk clothed in flesh. The sorcerer rends the veil that separates the material and immaterial worlds in Creation. Out to Long range from the sorcerer when she completes casting the spell, all material and dematerialized creatures are able to freely see and interact with one another.
A sorcerer who knows Incantation of Spiritual Indiscretion as her control spell lives half between the worlds of flesh and spirit; their left eye becomes milk white as if blinded by cataracts, and they may see dematerialized spirits at close range for the rest of the scene by spending 1 willpower.
Unbar the Sanctum Door
Cost:15sm, 1wp
Keywords: None
Duration: Five turns
The gods have their mansions and secret palaces; by means of this spell, the sorcerer can force entry into them. A sorcerer must be standing at a door to the spirit’s sanctum, and forcing the door open requires 15 sorcerous motes; upon finishing the spell, the door to the sanctum will open and remain open for the next five turns. Unbar the Sanctum Door gives no indication of if a sanctum door is present or to whom it belongs, and so the sorcerer must divine these answers by some other means.
The otherworldly realms that spirits create can be pleasant, harsh, or alien, but they are rarely hostile and never outright fatal. There is no veil between flesh and spirit in such places, and so spirits cannot dematerialize; at the same time, many spirits have access to unique powers and gifts within their sanctums.
A sorcerer who know Unbar the Sanctum Door as her control spell can also chase a cornered spirit into it’s den. If a spirit uses the charm Hurry Home while within Short range of the sorcerer, she has until the end of her next action to cast Unbar the Sanctum Door for 5 sorcerous motes, bringing herself and up to (Essence +1) willing allies within Short range of her to the spirit’s sanctum by following in the spirit’s wake. Such sorcerers will tend to develop a key-shaped birthmark on either their right hand or right foot.
Distortion (Goal Number: 5): Distorting this spell dramatically reduces the time that the door will remain open, resulting in the gate closing at the end of the next turn. More importantly, it alerts the spirit and any guardians and defenses within the sanctum of the intrusion.
Walk the Broken Road
Cost: 15sm, 1wp
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Worlds and realms beyond the common stuff of earth lay just past a veil that no eye can pierce, and just beyond a curtain that no hand can draw back. By means of this spell, the sorcerer can walk the broken road that separates worlds, allowing them to step beyond Creation.
To use Walk the Broken Road, the sorcerer must be at a boundary point, a region that is already close to another realm of existence. Shadowlands allow for passage to and from the Underworld, regardless of the time of day; one of the 108 Gates of Heaven allow access to Yu-Shan from Creation; 38 Inauspicious Passages which joins Creation and Hell. The sorcerer may also use Walk the Broken Road to quickly race deeper into the Wyld, moving from a Middlemarch to the Deep Wyld, thence to Pure Chaos in a matter of minutes. Upon completing the spell, the sorcerer is engulfed in a blaze of bright, white Essence and vanishes from sight, reappearing on the other side of the veil. An Ambition 3 Terrestrial Working can also form a rift to another realm of existence which a sorcerer who know Walk the Broken Road can exploit.
Such rifts and connections almost always work in both directions, and the sorcerer will be able to use Walk the Broken Road to return to Creation at the same location.
A sorcerer who knows Walk the Broken Road as her control spell can bring up to (Occult) willing allies on the trip. Such individuals are marked by the first trip between Creation and another realm they take; those who enter the Underworld return with hair shocked white; those who walk willingly to Hell have their fingernails turned to brass; those who venture to the depths of the Wyld almost invariable gain some form of mutation, even if they are normally proof against such. Only those who visit Heaven remain unchanged, save that the bones of her feet are turned to imperishable gold and jade.
Celestial Circle Spells
Gift of Memory
Cost: Ritual, 2wp
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
The Sidereal Exalted preserve this spell as secret, and with it, preserve many of their traditions and knowledge from the First Age. Gift of Memory requires a five hour ritual, during which the sorcerer and her subject must remain in close proximity while inhaling certain rare burning incense. At the culmination of the ritual, the sorcerer shares any number of memories and any amount of knowledge with her subject. Memories shared in this fashion are always true, at least as best understood by the sorcerer; it is impossible to intentionally deceive someone with the shared memories.
Gift of Memory is most often used to speed the training of newly recruited Sidereals. The sorcerer may entirely eliminate the training time needed for her subject to purchase any ability, specialty, Charm or spell which the sorcerer knows, up to the level the sorcerer knows. She may not speed the training of attributes in this fashion; knowledge of the exercises needed is not the same as having done the exercise; nor can she impart Sidereal Martial Arts charms- the internalization of such esoteric wisdoms are too personal and transformative to be conveyed by mere memory.
Summon the Heavenly Portal
Cost: 20sm, 2wp
Keywords: None
Duration: Five turns
Heaven touches Creation in 108 places; of those, 107 are fixed, while one wanders merrily hither and yon. This is the Heavenly Portal, known also as the Calibration Gate, and the sorcerer with this spell may call it to her at will.
To cast Summon the Heavenly Portal, the Sidereal must be in Creation, and in the presence of an arch, overhang, or some other construct, natural or manmade, which could serve as a boundary between two places- doorways are the most common, but a short bridge over a ravine or a bent cluster of trees forming a natural arch can serve equally well. Upon completion of the spell, the gateway is limned in silver and golden light, before opening into the Neighborhood of Heaven within the Celestial City of Yu-Shan for the next five turns. Passage through the Calibration Gate is as easy as walking as long as it remains open.
Summon the Heavenly Portal can also be used on the Yu-Shan side of the Calibration Gate, opening to the most recent, intact mundane arch it was last summoned at.
Sorcerers who learn Summon the Heavenly Portal as their control spell can summon the Calibration Gate without needing an archway; instead, a door frame of starmetal and blue jade materializes from thin air for her, vanishing when the duration expires. When opening from the Heaven side, she may always re-enter Creation from where she left.
Distortion (Goal Number: 10): Distorting this spell dramatically reduces the time that the door will remain open, from five turns to one. Additionally, the mundane side of the gateway is ruined in the process, bursting into flame or melting into slag as is appropriate. This destruction is always improbably contained, never spreading to cause damage to the surrounding structure.
Common Workings
The Coin of Distant Vision
Terrestrial Ambition 3 (Goal number 20)
The sorcerer works a small coin of black ceramic and iron with various arcane sigils; upon completion, she may project her senses the location of the coin at will. Her body falls comatose and defenseless, while the sorcerer can see, hear and smell everything in the presence of the coin. If the coin is in a container, such as a chest or pocket, the sorcerer instead is projected to the environment outside of the container.
If the coin is broken, the sorcerer regains the experience invested in the crafting.
The Spy Who Walks In Darkness
Celestial Ambition 1 (Goal Number 25)
The sorcerer cuts off her shadow, allowing it to move freely independent from her. Unless otherwise directed, her shadow will remain attached and is indistinguishable from a mundane shadow; however, at orders, it can move independently. The shadow is able to freely climb walls or any other surface upon which a shadow could be projected, and can seep through any barrier that is not airtight. While so independent, the shadow unfailingly seeks to serve the sorcerer’s will, most often by acting as a spy or messenger; although unable to physically interact with the world, the shadow can make itself be heard in order to deliver a message from the sorcerer, or to relay what it has heard back to it’s master.
The shadow has an effective stealth, investigation and awareness ratings of 10. It can travel at the speed of a galloping horse without tiring when dispatched on a mission. It cannot travel through areas of constant uninterrupted brilliant light. It is immaterial, although attacks with the flame tag, which generate bright light, or which are capable of striking spirits can harm it; any decisive damage will destroy the shadow, causing the sorcerer to regain their detached shadow at once and refunding them the experience invested in the working.
Astrological Projections
The fate of Creation is decided in committee.
Within Heaven's Bureau of Destiny, a vast array of divinities discuss, debate, politic, and conspire to plot the destiny of the world.
Nominally, they seek to weave a beautiful pattern upon the Loom of Fate, that the Maidens of Destiny may look upon the shimmering cloth of That Which Is and be pleased.
In truth, the five divisions within the Bureau compete with one another for resources and decision making power, for particular courses and outcomes.
The Sidereal Exalted are, by and large, only as involved in such matters as they wish to be. They are the agents of Destiny, not mere scribal-pit gods, and walk Creation to realize their views of fate more concretely. That said, there are times when members of the Five-Score Fellowship finds it helpful to submit their own plans and projections to the Bureau, and weave the world as they will.
Astrological Projections are the subtle art of destiny-weaving. It is the birthright to each of the Sidereal Exalted, save those who have openly thrown in their lot with the traitor Rakan Thulio. They are kin to sorcerous workings, but differ in intent and means. Astrological Projections are less capable of wildly altering the normal workings of the world, or creating monsters in defiance of reason. However, they are better suited for encouraging or ensuring that certain events do or don't come to pass, and can cause even the wildest of improbabilities to occur.
Like Sorcerous Projects, Astrological Projections begin with the Sidereal’s intent, and are defined by the Sidereal’s Ambition, Finesse and Means. Undertaking Projections costs experience, based on the Ambition of the projection; if the Projection fails or is rendered moot, the experience invested in it will be refunded at the end of the story.
Beings outside of Fate, such as the Demon Princes, Rakan Thulio, the Getimian Exalted, and certain powerful beings of the Underworld or the Wyld, may not be included as targets of an Astrological Projection.
Ambition
Telluric Projections are the simplest sort; they can encourage or discourage a small group of people towards certain actions, or dictate the fate of a particular individual. They may also be used to directly intervene in the workings of Heaven upon Creation in modest ways, assigning or removing Terrestrial gods from their positions. Undertaking a Telluric Projection costs 2xp.
Ambition 1 (Goal Number 5): Grant wealth and ease to a mortal, or extend (but within the constraints of natural) their lifespan. Learn the whereabouts and condition of a particular mortal, assuming they are alive.
Ambition 2 (Goal Number 10): Curse a family to misery and poverty. Cut the thread of a mortal's life short. Learn when and how a mortal died.
Ambition 3 (Goal Number 20): Grant prosperity to a village, ensuring good harvests and avoiding mundane hardships. Assign or remove a God of Essence 3 or less to a duty within Creation.
Supernal Projections are of more complex variety; they typically either affect a much wider area, or bend and twist fate in unnatural ways. They may also be used to directly intervene in the workings of Heaven in significant ways, assigning or removing Celestial gods from their positions. They are comparable to Celestial Circle Workings. Undertaking a Supernal Projection costs 4xp.
Ambition 1 (Goal Number 25): Grant a mortal dizzying political power, making them a prince or chief of their people, or slow their aging to an unnatural degree. Alter a mortal's major intimacies and abilities in any fashion. Learn the whereabouts and condition of a particular Exalt, assuming they are alive.
Ambition 2 (Goal Number 30): Curse a tribe to hatred unto the third generation; they and their children and their grand-children inspire enmity in all outsiders they meet. Heavily tilt the scales of a confrontation between up to several hundred people in a significant way (on the scale of +3 success once a turn for a scene). Learn when and how an Exalt died.
Ambition 3 (Goal Number 35): Grant prosperity to a city-state, such as revealing an unknown cache of magical materials or precious gemstones. Bless every seventh son in a region with a thaumaturgical gift. Assign or remove a God of Essence 5 or less to a duty within Heaven or Creation.
Sidereal Projections are the most complex and most subtle of all; they are typically concerned with the fate of all Creation, or with a radical change in the functions of the world. They may also be used to directly intervene in the workings of Heaven to an almost unlimited degree. They are comparable to Solar Circle Workings. Undertaking a Sidereal Projection costs 6xp.
Ambition 1 (Goal Number 40): Grant some limited immortality and beneficial mutations; they cease aging, but can still be injured or grow ill. Alter a mortal's defining intimacies, attributes and abilities in any fashion- at this Ambition, you can completely re-write who they are.
Ambition 2 (Goal Number 50): Curse a people to destruction; while not every member of the people will necessarily be killed, their culture and identity will be wiped from Creation. Ensure the victory or defeat of a side in a conflict (on the scale of +5 successes on every action and static defense)
Ambition 3 (Goal Number 75): Any single, possible event to occur, regardless of the improbability. Assign or remove any God short of the Incarnae to any duty or portfolio save entry into the Games of Divinity, or have them banished from Heaven and Creation entirely.
Finesse
Finesse determines how precisely your vision is translated into the tapestry’s weave.
Difficulty 1: Your projection is fulfilled, but the Storyteller decides the details.
Difficulty 3: You decide the rough outline of how your projection is fulfilled, but the Storyteller adds complications or costs.
Difficulty 5: You decide even the fine details of how your projection is fulfilled.
Means
Means are the tools and aids that Sidereals may draw on when crafting Projections.
A Projection with no other Means has a terminus of 4; relaying a precise vision of how the Heavens and Earth should be moved purely via prayer is imprecise at best.
Common Means include:
Relevant Magic: For each purchase of the charm 'Elegant Patterns of Fate', increase your Terminus by 1.
Auspicious Association: If the Constellation of the Projection falls in the House of your Maiden, increase your Terminus by 1. If the Constellation of the Projection is favored by your Maiden, increase your Terminus by 1. These can be cumulative; for example a Chosen of Secrets crafting a destiny of the Sorcerer (and thus using Occult) would increase her terminus by 2.
Cooperation: If your Projection is signed off on by two other Sidereals of different Castes, increase your Terminus by 1. If your Projection is signed off on by four other Sidereals of different Castes, increase your Terminus by 2.
Divine Endorsement: If your Projection is signed off on by a powerful (Essence 6+) god with a portfolio relevant to the Projection, increase your Terminus by 1. If your Projection is signed off on by the head of the appropriate division within the Bureau of Destiny, increase your Terminus by 2.
Astrological Infrastructure: If you have access to a Sidereal Manse in Creation, with dedicated tools and references to more precisely calculate the changes needed in the Heavens for your Projection, increase your Terminus by 1. If you have access to a restored and functional astrological observatory from the First Age, such as the Orrery of Lost Rathess, increase your Terminus by 2.
Astrological Projections are conducted as extended rolls of (Intelligence + Ability) with an interval of one hour; the ability is determined by which Constellation is most appropriate to the desired effect.
Influence of Fate, Merits of Destiny, Doom of Defiance
There are three primary means by which Astrological Projections make themselves known; the Influence of Fate, the Merits of Destiny, and the Dooms of Defiance.
Under the Influence of Fate, characters may be subjected to social influence from the world at large. Such influence is unsourced; it rolls a fixed number of dice, attempting to instill an intimacy or persuade a character to take an action appropriate for the woven destiny.
Telluric Projections roll 6 dice. Although they may prey upon any intimacy the character has, they have no special ability to persuade someone to undertake difficult or dangerous tasks right away.
Celestial Projections roll 8 dice. If the victim has no more appropriate intimacies to target, they are also always supported by a minor intimacy.
Sidereal Projections roll 10 dice. If the victim has no more appropriate intimacies to target, they are also always supported by a major intimacy.
The psuedo-intimacies supporting Celestial and Sidereal Projections may be used to attempt to persuade a victim that has already refused them, unlike normal intimacies (Exalted p. 221).
The Merits of Destiny are the riches of the world, which can be given or taken away by the whim of chance. A Tellurian Projection can give or remove up to 3 dots in story merits per year; this cannot raise any single merit above 3 dots; a Celestial Projection can give or remove up to 7 dots in story merits per year, no more than 3 per month, to a max of 4 dots in a single merit; a Sidereal Projection can give or remove up to 12 dots of story merits per year, no more than 3 per week and with a max of 5 dots in a single merit. The merits of destiny will generally manifest as sudden windfalls of extreme fortune- a common servant being adopted by a dynastic family, for instance, or a prince being stripped of his station and honor until accomplishing some impossible task.
Important note: Artifacts and hearthstones, bound as they are to the essence of the world, are more intractable to such manipulations. Each dot of such wonders granted by the merits of destiny costs double what the destiny can provide; stripping them costs double plus 1 per Evocation unlocked, as the legend of the character resists being tampered with.
The Merits of Destiny are best used to represent generalized blessings. If no merit is appropriate, they may also manifest as a reduced target number on an important action, as determined by the Storyteller.
Finally, there are the Dooms of Defiance. These dooms only befall a character who is aware of the destiny that has been placed upon them; when they try to defy their destiny, chance will go to terrible extremes to spite them. This is best treated as an illness, where Tellurian Projections convey minor symptoms, Celestial Projections convey major symptoms, and Sidereal Projections convey defining symptoms. Botches inflicted by the dooms of defiance may, at the Storyteller’s discretion, instead manifest as deeply improbable, but never impossible, twists of fate.
The dooms of defiance can act in the place of a general curse of misfortune- but there is always a means by which the victim can evade the dooms for a time.
Projections, once wrought, are durable things. They can be modified by another Projection of lesser rank, or removed by one of equal rank. Alternatively, they can be damped by a sorcerous working of equal rank, or removed by one of greater rank. Otherwise, they will remain until the Sidereal’s intention has been fulfilled.
Beyond your Vision
Undertaking Astrological Projections normally requires having taken the Charm 'World-Shaping Artistic Vision'. However, it is difficult, but possible, to implement Projections beyond your vision.
When going one step beyond your vision (Telluric when you have not purchased the charm, Supernal when you have only purchased it once, or Sidereal when you have only purchased it twice)
- Increases the difficulty by 2.
- Limits your Ambition to only the first two degrees within the scope.
- Limits your Finesse to Difficulty 3.
- Increases the interval to one day.
- Increase the experience cost by 2xp
When going two steps beyond your vision (Supernal when you have not purchased the charm, Sidereal when you have only purchased it once)
- Increases the difficulty by 5.
- Limits your Ambition to only the first degree within the scope.
- Limits your Finesse to Difficulty 1.
- Increases the interval to one week.
- Increase the experience cost by 4xp.
You cannot attempt Astrological Projections of Sidereal Ambition if you have not purchased World-Shaping Artistic Vision.
Example Projections
Peace and Prosperity
Hel is a young Chosen of Endings, as the Sidereals reckon such things, having drawn her Second Breath a mere twenty years ago. Her mortal mother passed away during her training, but her father and brothers yet live in the same northern community she once called home. She decides to give her family a blessing, to help ensure their happiness and good fortune.
The Storyteller decides that the Musician, the college of contentment in the act of living, is the most appropriate constellation for such a blessing. Consulting the Ambitions, she decides that this is a Tellurian Projection of the second rank, and thus has a goal number of 10. Hel has no specific desires beyond ‘peace and prosperity’, and so leaves the details to the world, accepting a Finesse (and difficulty) of 1. Hel has Essence 1, Intelligence 3, Performance 2, the Performance Excellency, and one purchase of World-Shaping Artistic Vision. She has no special divine favors to call in, no special infrastructure to draw upon, and no purchases of Elegant Patterns of Destiny, and performance is not an ability in the House of Endings or one favored by Saturn. Her circle offers their support, which is enough to increase her Means by 1, to a total of 5.
Her first roll is made with the full Performance excellency , reducing the TN to 4; she gets (8, 7, 5, 4, 9), for a total of 5 successes against a difficulty of 1. 4 successes towards her goal number of 10.
Her second roll is (10, 3, 5, 2, 5), for a total of 4 successes against a difficulty of 1. She’s accumulated 7 successes towards her goal of 10.
Her third roll is (4, 1, 6, 4, 10), 5 successes against difficulty 1, for a total of 11 successes and thus passing her goal of 10.
As Hel left the details to the Storyteller, he decides that fate will ensure that Hel’s mortal family will never know privation or want- the merits of destiny will ensure they always come into at least some money or friends... as long as they remain in the village of Hel’s youth. Those who leave also leave the blessing of the house.
Interference
Lo Chen has been around long enough to know when he’s being investigated for something, and the way the lesser elemental dragon and perpetual pain in his ass Joyous Dance has been acting lately, he’s sure that she’s building a case against him. He decides to take matters into his own hands, and weaves a fate of innocence around himself.
The Storyteller initially thinks this sounds like a destiny of the Mask- after all, Lo Chen is concealing the truth. However, he structures the destiny slightly differently- he projects that anyone who investigates him will simply find nothing and give up in despair, as befits the Crow. The Storyteller agrees that’s a reasonable interpretation- and one that benefits Lo Chen, with a higher Awareness than Stealth.
Because this destiny is focused upon Lo Chen but will influence others, the Ambition is more based upon how strongly he wants to deter people. While Lo Chen would love to invoke the strongest degrees of Sidereal curses upon those that interfere with his enterprises, he doesn’t think he has time for such at the moment, and settles on a Supernal Projection. He argues that it should be of the first rank, since he’s only blessing himself- but the storyteller points out that, since he’s instead cursing anyone who looks into his affairs to give up in despair, that it’s actually casting a far wider net, and decides it’s of the Celestial Projection second rank- and thus has a goal number of 30. Lo Chen always wants to keep a high degree of control over the outcome- in the past, he’s been caught off guard by people exploiting gaps in low Finesse Projections to escape his works- thus, Finesse 5. It won’t be easy, but Lo Chen is hardly unprepared- With Essence 4, Intelligence 4, Awareness 5, the Awareness Excellency, he will already be rolling 13 dice against a target number of 4. Additionally, he has two purchases of Elegant Designs of Fate, the Master of Confounding Arguments owes him a favor, and Awareness is favored by his patron Maiden of Venus- adding 4 to his Means, for a total terminus of 8.
He rolls as follows:
(4, 5, 8, 5, 5, 6, 5, 7, 4, 4, 6, 5, 5) - 12 (7)
(9, 1, 1, 6, 4, 9, 1, 4, 4, 7, 5, 3, 8) - 9 (11)
(7, 4, 4, 1, 6, 7, 2, 9, 4, 8, 5, 5, 10) - 12 (18)
(8, 1, 3, 10, 7, 4, 5, 8, 9, 1, 9, 5, 1) - 10 (23)
(8, 5, 7, 10, 9, 3, 2, 8, 10, 2, 4, 4, 8) - 12 (30)
After five weeks of careful petitioning, his projection is accepted. Anyone who investigates his crimes will be subjected to a voice urging them to give up, an 8 dice social influence that will deter casual investigators and hamper even dedicated agents such as Joyous Dance. As with all Projections, it must also be possible to end- with his Finesse of 5, the determination of such is almost entirely in Lo Chen’s hands. He decides that anyone who he has given express permission to investigate his affairs may do so without being plagued by misfortune and despair. He then drops by to let Joyous Dance know that stars have foretold that her current investigation will be plagued by disaster, and that she should abandon it at once, whatever it is- and inviting the dooms of defiance if the censor continues to try and force the issue.
The Houses and Constellations of Sidereal Astrology
Each Constellation resides primarily in one of the Houses of the Maidens- Journeys, Serenity, Battles, Secrets or Endings. Each Constellation is also sacred to one of the Maidens, regardless of the House it resides in.
The House of Journeys
The Mast (Resistance, Favored by Secrets) The Messenger (Ride, Favored by Journeys) The Captain (Sail, Favored by Battles) The Ship’s Wheel (Survival, Favored by Serenity) The Gull (Thrown, Favored by Endings)
The Mast (Resistance)
The Mast is raw physical exertion and pure muscular strength. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain apply strength of body and spirit to tasks at hand, without question or complaint. In the descending aspect, they apply strength without thought and refuse to question orders. The Mast is the constellation of the soldier, the ditch-digger, the scribe, the house servant and the insect.
Trappings: The Mast is drably dressed and unspeaking. They are strong and honest but ignorant.
Correlations: Stoicism, tools, architecture, manual labor, silence, ignorance, phallus
The Messenger (Ride)
The Messenger is the courier who endures great danger to deliver his precious information. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain are skilled professionals who offer brave service. In the descending aspect, they offer good service for bad ends, thoughtlessly abuse power (the Immaculate Philosophy associates this with the Inconsiderate Horseman) and abdicate moral responsibility. The Messenger is the constellation of the courier, the valet, the aide, the diplomat, the young Terrestrial living in the household of her cousins, non-migratory birds including raptors and owls and of service to one’s family.
Trappings: The Messenger has a mount and rides on urgent business. She is daring and armed. She carries a package, from which she cannot be separated.
Correlations: Duty, bravery, arrogance, journeys, communication, selflessness, news, independent merchants
The Captain (Sail)
The Captain leads with strength, determination and order. With his firm hand and disciplined crew, he leads his ship to safety. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain overcome obstacles with organization and drill. In the descending aspect, they fall prey to obsession paranoid desire for authority and organization for its own sake. The Captain is the constellation of the ship’s officer, the professional soldier, the work gang boss and the stern matriarch.
Trappings: The Captain wears an emblem of rank and carries a token of authority such as a scepter or wand of office. He is fearless, and he shows no sign of fatigue. He is not kind, but he is always fair and concerned for the wellbeing of his followers.
Correlations: Military command, fatherhood, tyranny, bureaucracy, discipline, people working together to travel
The Ship’s Wheel (Survival)
The Ship’s Wheel is perseverance in the face of hardship. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain succeed in their persistence and hope. In the descending aspect, they obsess and cling to doomed causes. The Ship’s Wheel is the constellation of the steersman, the furnace-stoker and those witlessly in pursuit of their beloved.
Trappings: The Steersman at the wheel is sleepless and unwashed. He wears a long cape or jacket and wristlets or a belt of rope. The steersman has a determined demeanor and is unspeaking, for none can share the burden of his post.
Correlations: Underdogs, cult beliefs, Solars, obsessive love, martyrdom, burdensome debt, wild animals as a group
The Gull (Thrown)
The Gull wanders without regard for profit. Self-examination brings about inner change. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain find the freedom of the wanderer and the wisdom of the outsider’s perspective. In the descending aspect, they are rootless, irresponsible and engage only in the most shallow of self-examination. The Gull is the constellation of the stray dog, the hobo, the monk walking his circuit, the wandering laborer and fish and migratory birds.
Trappings: The Gull carries a staff and wears a traveler’s cape. He is dirty and hungry but also happy
Correlations: Wandering, wind, irresponsibility, rakish charisma, unexamined life, smugglers
The House of Serenity
The Peacock (Craft, Favored by Endings) The Ewer (Dodge, Favored by Journeys) The Pillar (Linguistics, Favored by Battles) The Musician (Performance, Favored by Serenity) The Lovers (Socialize, Favored by Secrets)
The Peacock (Craft)
The Peacock governs practical alliance, thoughtful breeding and considered partnership. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain look carefully at the advantages of prospective mates. In the descending aspect, they are trapped in loveless marriages, forced alliances and other half-functional partnerships. The Peacock constellation governs the courtesan, the goodwife, the thoughtful matriarch, the established Dragon-Blooded household and predators who hunt in packs.
Trappings: The Peacock struts his magnificent finery, be it gang stylings, armor or court clothing. He is proud and has excellent bearing. He shows discerning taste, and is obviously sexually available.
Correlations: Greed, love for wealth’s sake, procreation, dualities, alliances, bright colors, necessity, traps, distraction
The Ewer (Dodge)
The Ewer is the sign of partnerships based in affection, of romantic pursuit or for the love of some other dream. In its ascending aspects, it is the sign of enduring adoration, flirtation, seduction and coquettish banter. In its descending precincts, it is the sign of the devouring matriarch and of thoughtless, obsessive or impossible love. It is the sign of the marriage-seeker, the idealist, the revolutionary and the good monk. The Ewer is the sign of incestuous couplings and amphibians.
Trappings: The Ewer bears flowers and a work of poetry. He is blissfully happy and in love with love. He wears his finest clothing to see his beloved.
Correlations: Love, motherhood, righteousness, idealism, monastic duty, obsession, seduction, dreams and fantasies, courtship and romantic chases
The Pillar (Linguistics)
The Pillar represents partnership tested and found stable. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain are virtuous empresses, righteous matriarchs and caring parents. In the descending aspect, they are bad parents or partners tested and found wanting. The Pillar is the constellation of the asexual partner (the mother, business partner or drinking buddy), service in the Thousand Scales and of herd animals such as mammoth and elk.
Trappings: The Pillar wears a wedding ring and dresses plainly. She is perceptive and practical. She is firm but just.
Correlations: Family, friendship, stability, civil society, unjust authority, stagnation, queens and princes
The Musician (Performance)
The Musician is the sign of contentment in the act of living. It is the college of joy-in-plenty and enjoyment of the finer things-it is also the sign of gourmets, gluttons and poets. In its descending aspects, it is the constellation of hollow avarice, blind materialism and scandalous excess. Under Sidereal influence, this constellation is called the Painted Boy in Immaculate practice, for it is also the sign of homosexual couplings. It is the sign of herbivores who travel in small family groups.
Trappings: The Musician wears facial makeup, dresses outlandishly and always carries a musical instrument. He is cynically wise and uninhibited.
Correlations: Excess, laughter, hedonism, music, homosexuality, drug use, finery, greed, extramarital pairings, contentment in living, theater, serenity
The Lovers (Socialize)
The Lovers represent physical lust, carnal indulgence and uneven relationships. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain engage in relationships that are symbolically or situationally uneven, such as sex acts. In the descending aspect, they engage in sexual depravity and sexual or social rape. This is the constellation of the fixed-price prostitute, the slave, the debtor, the beggar, the pedophile, all individuals engaged in sex acts, vermin, rodents and Ravagers and other victims of the Fair Folk.
Sidereals generally take this constellation to explain a great deal about the outlook of the Maidens.
Trappings: The Lover is dressed in silk robes, and his hair is rumpled. He is superficially friendly and attractive but betrays some sign of violence and restraint, though it may only be in the form of love bites.
Correlations: Domination, service, submission, slaves, lust, the sex act, rape, abuse, uneven relationships
The House of Battles
The Quiver (Archery, Favored by Journeys) The Gauntlet (Brawl, Favored by Endings) The Spear (Melee, Favored by Secrets) The Shield (Presence, Favored by Serenity) The Banner (War, Favored by Battles)
The Quiver (Archery)
This is the college of flexibility and fleetness of thought. As the archer has many arrows in his quiver, so does a character under the influence of this sign have many ideas and stratagems. In its ascending precincts, the Quiver is the sign of quick-wittedness and versatility. In its descending precincts lie stupidity, bad ideas explained convincingly and thinking in lockstep with one’s peers (“just another arrow in the quiver”). This is the sign of the duelist, the know-it-all, the Dragon-Blooded in secondary school, the socialite, the general, the quick-witted scholar and the urbane boor.
Trappings: The Quiver carries a bow or a map case. He is clever and witty. His valor is not so important as his education.
Correlations: Strategy, choices, haste, pride, archery, boorishness, self-absorption, clever ideas
The Gauntlet (Brawl)
The Gauntlet is the college of the choice between bad and worse,of ruthless expediency and battlefield logic. In its ascending aspects, it represents the courage to undertake unpleasant necessities. In its descending precincts lie callousness,ruthlessness and a willingness to justify the whims of the moment as necessity. Its precincts are the home to the sergeant, the martinet, the surgeon, the judge, the policeman, the thug in uniform and the practical matriarch.
Trappings: The Gauntlet is bloodstained and brutal. She wears a uniform and carries a cudgel. She makes meaningless demands and then punishes those who do not obey.
Correlations: Sergeants, confrontation, callousness, sacrifice of others, necessity, livestock management, pragmatism, surgery, the greater good
The Spear (Melee)
The Spear is skill and discipline in armed conflict. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain display skill, professionalism and discipline. In the descending aspect, they display superficial professionalism, myopia and the inability to see alternate solutions outside their scope of interest. The Spear is the constellation of the bodyguard, the long-service professional soldier, the skilled militiaman, the arms instructor, the mercenary and other skilled professional competitors such as gamblers, gladiators and athletes.
Trappings: The Spear wears a uniform but possesses no rank. He is called by his family name or nickname. He is disciplined and brave.
Correlations: Bravery, professionalism, training, taking initiative, lack of vision, tactics, skillfulness, competition
The Shield (Presence)
The Shield is the house of the ecstatic warrior, who seeks battle without regard for victory. It is also the sign of those who fight and die for their peers or draw strength from pain. It its ascending aspects, it represents courage and heroism without regard for consequences. In is descending aspects, it precincts are a place of sadism, masochism, suicidal bravery and battle literally without thought. This is the sign of scouts, assassins,heroic warriors and lone predators who hunt with teeth and claw.
Trappings: The Shield always carries a shield or a leather strap for biting. He is always armed and always eager for battle. He carries trophies of his kills.
Correlations: Barbarians and the barbarian code, fearlessness, protection, bragging, pain, heroism, heroic suicide, wrath, Lunars
The Banner (War)
The Banner deals with reputation, story and awe. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain gain glory, leadership and heroic renown. In the descending aspect, they inspire terror, panic and infamy; live on empty reputation; or do not inspire at all. The Banner is the constellation of the rumormonger, the crier, the witness, the martyr, the tyrant and all those possessing heroic renown.
Trappings: The Banner is strikingly clad and always among you. He is fearless, victorious and larger than life.
Correlations: Reputation, pageantry, leadership, epics, infamy, reigns of terror, philanthropy, tidings, symbols, heraldry, battles
The House of Secrets
The Key (Investigation, Favored by Serenity) The Guardians (Larceny, Favored by Journeys) The Treasure Trove (Lore, Favored by Battles) The Sorcerer (Occult, Favored by Endings) The Mask (Stealth, Favored by Secrets)
The Key (Investigation)
The Key represents wisdom discovered through scholarly study and intellectual understanding. The Key is rewards gained and tasks accomplished through cleverness. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain experiment, inquire, think sharply and create new solutions. In the descending aspect, they waste time on pointless experiments and tinker with things best left undisturbed. The Key is the constellation of the physician, the scavenger lord, the tinker, the junk seller and monkeys and other primates.
Trappings: The Key has a measuring stick and a pen, but no wax tablet or notebook. He claims he is innocent, but has a dishonest expression, so this is doubtful. He is a creature of large appetites.
Correlations: Innovation, hubris, automata and mechanical devices, books, libraries, medicine, curiosity
The Guardians (Larceny)
The Guardians personify practical knowledge and rewards earned through long labor. As a constellation, it contains the wisdom of the beast and the elderly. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain exhibit a fundamental understanding of Creation from long observation or inbred wisdom. In the descending aspect, they exhibit meaningless superstition and promote or subscribe to quackery. This is the constellation of the shaman, the snake-oil salesman, the talisman seller, the midwife and the old duffer.
Trappings: The Guardian is uneducated and carries a talisman. He is suspicious; he knows the weather and a wisdom that can aid you in your current task.
Correlations: Hearth wisdom, respect for the elderly, age, superstition, charlatans and mountebanks, tradition, patience, observation, inevitability
The Treasure Trove (Lore)
The Treasure Trove governs revealed wisdom. It is understanding and knowledge held like a beacon. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain become erudite, educated and enlightened; they accomplish tasks and earn rewards through excellence. In the descending aspect, they become intellectual elitists, pointless celebrants, bookworms and know-it-alls. This constellation governs the teacher, the revolutionary, the prophet, the savant and animals that hunt by stinging or leaping upon their prey.
Trappings: The Treasure Trove carries a book of wisdom and wears scholar’s robes. She is poor in terms of money but educated in formal learning. The Treasure Trove is deeply impractical but means well.
Correlations: Horoscopes, schools, scholarships, blight, blindness, inflexibility, secret societies, prophecies
The Sorcerer (Occult)
The Sorcerer is the Exalt, the god, the geomancer and the talisman maker. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain practice artifice, sorcery, thaumaturgy and geomancy. In the descending aspect, they summon demons, worship the Yozis and practice necromancy. The Sorcerer is the constellation of tasks accomplished through use of Essence.
Trappings: The Sorcerer is one of the Exalted and a Prince of the Earth. He displays goods of the magical materials, a caste mark and regal bearing. He wears armor and carries a daiklave.
Correlations: Humanity, geomancy, artifice, demon summoning and infernalism, talismans, Essence use, egotism, Yozi-slaves
The Mask (Stealth)
The Mask is secret wisdom and things known but concealed. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain know of religious wisdom, rites of passage and the secrets of the bed. In the descending aspect, they obfuscate deliberately. The Mask is the constellation of the spy, the priest and the librarian.
The Mask is damaged. The Sidereals twisted it during the Usurpation to hide their crimes and conspiracies from both god and man. Sidereals cannot create Resplendent Destinies of the Mask. Prior to the Usurpation, The Mask Resplendent granted them a soft presence soon forgotten by the world, very similar to the present affliction of Arcane Fate
Trappings: The Mask wears clothes of soft fabric and a mask to conceal his face. He is quiet, and he does not announce himself. The Mask clings to sacred places and lingers around manses and demesnes.
Correlations: Secrets, lies, security services, guarded individuals, religious worship, extortion, trickery
The House of Endings
The Rising Smoke (Athletics, Favored by Journeys) The Crow (Awareness, Favored by Serenity) The Haywain (Bureaucracy, Favored by Secrets) The Sword (Integrity, Favored by Endings) The Corpse (Medicine, Favored by Battles)
The Rising Smoke (Athletics)
The Rising Smoke represents the end of journeys on both literal paths and metaphorical paths such as initiation, puberty and apprenticeship. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain achieve transformation and attain new states. In the descending aspect, their journeys end in pointless accident and misfortune. This is the constellation of the young man, the journeyman, the corpse on its way to burial, the pubescent Dynast who has not yet Exalted, those up on charges or entangled by lawsuits and death by accident, heart attack, stroke and murder. Hundred Gods Heretics in the Realm risk terrible punishment to make secret sacrifices to this constellation upon the deaths of loved ones, hoping to persuade Heaven to grant the deceased Terrestrial Exaltation in the next life. Heaven listens not.
Trappings: The Rising Smoke carries good luck prayer strips, a purse of money from her teacher and brand-new journeyman’s equipment. She is optimistic and naïve.
Correlations: Quick and painless deaths, rest, stagnation, growth, new employment, fresh prospects, murder
The Crow (Awareness)
The Crow represents the end of illusions and dreams. It is inevitability and the recognition thereof. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain take comfort in death’s release, morbid humor and the heroism of forlorn hope. In the descending aspect, they display false bravado, confuse despair for acceptance, and care nothing for the suffering of others. The Crow is the constellation of the ancestor and the ancestor cult, the young widow, the old man, the death masks of Calibration dancers and death by old age.
Trappings: The Crow carries black feathers and wears a black cloak. She is morbidly humorous and clever, and she is attracted to shiny objects.
Correlations: Slow but painless deaths, inevitability, orphans, acceptance of death, dark humor, depression, waking, indifference
The Haywain (Bureaucracy)
The Haywain is endings that cannot be easily described. It is gradual decline and the failure of systems with fuzzy boundaries and imprecise definitions. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain find opportunities for new growth in the ruin. In the descending aspect, they pass into stasis or bucolic decay. This is the constellation of death by sorcery, divinity and senescent senility, the broken circle, the faltering alliance, the deteriorating government, the troubled family and the Dragon-Blooded retiree.
Trappings: The Haywain wears disheveled robes and an informal attitude. It is hard of hearing, but demands bribes. The Haywain is arrogant, ambitious and unconcerned with the big picture.
Correlations: Muddled and difficult to categorize deaths, mystery, cover-ups, treachery, comebacks, aging and decrepitude
The Sword (Integrity)
The Sword brings the end of hope. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain find their hopes realized, but must then continue without the assistance and inspiration those hopes provided. In the descending aspect, their dreams wither and die. This is the constellation of the broken, the crushed, the worn down, the salesman, the has-been, the virgin, the ghost, the pregnant woman and death after prolonged suffering and illness.
Trappings: The Sword is worn out. She carries or wears a withered flower, and she dresses in burial cerements. She weeps but cannot be consoled, and is unshod.
Correlations: Slow and painful deaths, perseverance, failure, illness, tribulation, inheritance, resignation, the vanquished, Sijan, all other endings
The Corpse (Medicine)
The Corpses is the end of lives and modes of existence. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain pass with planning, dignity and grace. In the descending aspect, they end in wailing agony. The Corpse is the constellation of the man on his deathbed, the affianced youth, the family moving house, the middle-aged man forced to change professions, the butterfly, the dragonfly and other non-amphibious creatures that metamorphose halfway through their lives.
Trappings: The Corpse wears his best clothes. He is calm, and he bears the emblem of a butterfly somewhere on his person. He carries a textbook, which may be a guide to a new trade or a guide to the Underworld. Just as the Sword, the Corpse is unshod.
Correlations: Quick and painless deaths, exits, sudden change, transformation, unfinished business, shapechangers, the Second Breath
Chapter 8: Armed and Armored in Starlight
The Sidereal Exalted draw their strength from within. More than almost any other of the Exalted Host, the Sidereal gaze turns inward, along the spiraling paths and branches of destinies that may be and fates that must not be. They perfect their Essence, honing it through martial arts that no other can match. Each one burns, a solitary star of power, permitting few companions.
As such, the Sidereal Exalted have far less proficiency with drawing forth the Evocations of artifacts than the Solar or Dragon-Blooded Exalted. With items made of or significantly enhanced by starmetal, they may find the resonance and rapport needed- but for most others, the divine spirit within magical weapons and armor remains cool and unresponsive.
Because of this, and because few of the most advanced martial arts permit as much in the way of weapons and armor, the Sidereal Exalted have accumulated fewer artifacts than many expect. Those that they do hold, however, they have mastered to an unparalleled degree.
--Sidebar: Sidereals and Evocations--
As described above, the Sidereal Exalted do not easily harmonize with artifacts not made of starmetal. Unless an artifact is noted to share some power with a Sidereal upon attunement, she treats her Essence as being one lower than it is for the purposes of learning and using Evocations of the artifact, and she cannot learn any Evocation which requires having an Essence of 3 or greater.
--End Sidebar--
The Nature of Starmetal
Despite some gross libels spread by enemies of the Sidereal Exalted, Starmetal is not forged from the bodies of gods. While the Deathlords have succeeded in creating a kind of false starmetal by combining black labyrinthian ore with with divine corpses, such substances are closer to their traditional soulsteel than the noble sky-fallen metal.
Nor does each fallen star represent a single life, or a single thread in the weave of Fate. Threads are constantly being added and cut per Heaven's designs; if every thread that was cut resulted in a falling star, then starmetal would be more abundant than jade.
However, the night sky clearly does reflect the future of Creation. Astrologers study the movements and positions of stars to gauge Heaven's intentions, and the magics of the Sidereal Exalted are reflected in celestial omens.
The patterns of the stars in the night sky of Creation can best be thought of as a kind of shadow cast by the weave of Fate. It is not the thing itself, but a simplified representation of the Loom. Stars are the source of the Loom’s thread; starlight is the stuff of raw potential, from which destiny may be woven. When a star has exhausted its’ store of destiny, it crashes to Creation in one final, brilliant conflagration. The Sidereals watch the skies for such falling stars. Not only for the starmetal itself, but because strange things often accompany falling stars- in a place where fate is suddenly exhausted, almost anything can happen.
Artifacts of the Gods
Mask (Artifact **)
The masquerades of Heaven are beyond compare; they offer a chance at dalliance and conversation, where familiar courtesies are cast aside in favor of a theoretically equal ground. The grandest of the Gods will wear special Masks of jade and moonsilver to these fetes, which perfectly conceal the wearer’s true emotions even as reveal exactly what she wishes revealed.
Upon donning a Mask, the artifact sinks slightly into the wearer’s face. While worn, the wearer suffers no penalty to her Guile even if she does not know she is being observed. The magic of the Mask also lets her change her appearance with little more than a thought and a burst of Essence; by spending 5 motes, she enhances a disguise attempt to change her facial appearance (Exalted p. 224), reducing the time taken from minutes to seconds. She may even make moderate alterations to her clothing or other such effects without having an alternate costume on hand, although such work takes the normal amount of time for a disguise attempt; although the Mask only covers her face, it conceals her identity.
Ever Full Horn (Artifact ***)
Carved from one of the horns of Ahlat’s own sacred herd, these divine vessels are then bound in jade and orihalcum while prayers of thanks and praise to the Southern God of War and Cattle are raised up.
Once per day, the bearer of the Ever Full Horn may wish upon the Horn for some material item. Immediately, the Horn draws upon the bounties of Heaven’s quintessence and forges goods to meet the request. This gives the bearer Salary 1, which they may draw upon even in Creation. The Horn may only produce goods which can be forged from quintessence- the finest mortal materials, but nothing to turn the eyes of the gods.
Aerial Chariot (Artifact ****)
Across the sky of Yu-Shan, you will see ten thousand gods of the air, flying in a riot of colors. Even amongst gods not winged, many take to the sky upon various conveyance- of which the marvel known as an Aerial Chariot serves as a common example of an uncommon device.
Carved of blue jade and chased with sky diamonds and lighting-forged orihalcum banding, the Chariot could serve as merely a Dynast’s personal conveyance of immeasurable wealth. It is when the wielder expends ten motes that the true nature of the Aerial Chariot is made clear, as twin rams made of clouds and sparking electricity appear, harnessed and ready to run.
For the next hour, the rider of the Aerial Chariot can drive the rams into the air, racing at 50 miles an hour. The Chariot can bear up to one additional passenger. After each hour, the driver may spend another ten motes to recharge the rams; otherwise ,they will descend to the ground at the swiftest speed they safely can before vanishing in a crash of thunder.
Driving the Chariot requires the driver’s attention. Although the platform is kept smooth in even tremendously stormy weather, the rams will not pull without regular guidance. In combat, the driver and their rider have the advantages of being mounted, and act with a +4 speed bonus- in addition to being able to fly, which can often allow her to simply engage or depart as she wishes. Due to the high walls of the Aerial Chariot, the driver and her passenger are always considered to have Light Cover, and gain Heavy Cover if they take a Full Defense action while in the Chariot. Finally, any attempt at Unhorsing (Exalted p. 200) the driver or passenger suffer a -4 penalty on the attack roll.
The Fatal Panoply
Sightblinder (Starmetal and Soulsteel Short Daiklave, Artifact ***)
One of the Thirteen Final Weapons, Sightblinder was forged in the days leading to the Usurpation by the Chosen of Endings Yora Zunik. She knew that no ordinary blade would suffice to strike down the mad Lawgivers, and no ordinary assassin could hope to get close enough- and so she folded the ending of sight and the silence of death into the metal that composed Sightblinder, forging the souls of victims of Solar atrocities with shadowy ore from unclean places. Around this, she drew a sliver of starmetal holding her hope for a better future. Once complete, she entrusted the blade to the now infamous Dragon-Blooded assassin Kurosa Rabil. If records are to be believed, Rabil was present at the Calibration Feast, and struck down one of the Solars, whose name has been excised from history.
After that time, Rabil vanished, taking Sightblinder with him. He reliably worked as an assassin for hire through much of the early Shogunate, eliminating rivals for sums of jade that beggar the imagination- until he fell, and Sightblinder was lost to the Dragon-Blooded and borne away by the Lunar that had bested him. Since that time, Sightblinder has rarely allowed itself to remain with one master for more than a few dozen years, only to vanish for decades at a time. Most recently, it has been reported to be the hands of The Cold Light of Day, an Abyssal killer of growing repute. According to some forecasts, Sightblinder has found it's true master- the reincarnation of the man whom it was used to slay.
Sightblinder itself is nearly three feet long, with a blade no thicker than the striking width of a man’s palm, and it flexes like a serpent's tongue when flickering between a victim's guard and ribs. The blade appears to be the color of damp ashes, satin soft and unshining, save down the fuller in the center, where a core of starmetal can be seen shedding rainbow light. For all that it should be an arresting sight, it is difficult to keep one's eyes on Sightblinder; the gaze of it's victims tends to slide off, like water from a well oiled knife, no matter how dangerous such inattention is. A single hearthstone slot is available at the guard.
Evocations of Sightblinder
When attuned and unsheathed, Sightblinder imposes a -1 penalty on all attempts to notice the bearer in stealth. If the bearer has not yet joined battle, this penalty becomes -1 success instead.
Keen Eyed Deceiver
Cost: -; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The deceiver cannot be deceived. The bearer gains +2 non-charm dice to contest any attempt made by an opponent to enter stealth after battle has been joined, as long as Sightblinder is unsheathed and in hand.
No Blade
Cost: 3m; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Uniform
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Keen Eyed Deceiver
Sightblinder becomes invisible, making it far more difficult to defend against or get past. Against opponents who depend on their sense of sight, Sightblinder's Defense increases by 1, and a victim the bearer attacks suffers a -1 penalty to his Defense.
No Blade ends once the bearer has dealt decisive damage to a target, and cannot be invoked again within the same scene.
Clever Serpent’s Tongue
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Keen Eyed Deceiver
With a flickering of the blade, the bearer can taste the world more keenly than they have ever heard or seen it. For the rest of the scene, as long as Sightblinder is unsheathed and in hand, the bearer can operate in perfect darkness and silence without penalty.
Death of Sight, Silence of Death
Cost: 7m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only, Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: No Blade, Clever Serpent's Tongue
Sightblinder cuts away more than life- it cuts the victim away from the world itself. For each level of damage inflicted by a decisive attack enhanced by Death of Sight, Silence of Death, the victim is blinded and silenced for one turn.
Wreath of Peace (Moonsilver and Starmetal Buff Jacket, Artifact ***)
During the Shogunate, one Chosen of Serenity, Demure Bell, believed that peace could still be found with the Lunar Exalted- they had not been spared the cruelty or madness of the Solars, after all, and the Usurpation had saved and freed them as much as anyone. To that end, she planted seeds of starmetal in a garden of Heaven, watering them with drops of moonsilver. When the seeds sprouted into delicate flowers, she wove them into a vest of silver and steel, representing her hope for some reconciliation between the Chosen of the Moon and Stars.
Demure Bell was last seen bearing this princely gift, which she named the Wreath of Peace, to the domain of the Lunar known as Ascending Eloquent Rapture, five hundred years prior to the Contagion. Her reincarnation harbors fewer hopes for reconciliation between the Sidereals and Lunars, but does wish to reclaim the work of her predecessor.
Wreath of Peace appear to be a vest of woven flowers, primarily lilies, hazel and olive branches. The stems are strands of starmetal, while the blossoms and leaves are moonsilver. It will flex, stretch and shrink to accommodate the wearer comfortably, always moving and breathing easily. One hearthstone slot is available by brushing aside the leaves that shroud the bearer’s heart.
Evocations of Wreath of Peace
A Solar, Lunar, Sidereal or Getimian attuned to Wreath of Peace may take Full Defense actions without paying the initiative cost to do so.
Turn Aside Violence
Cost: 2m; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Uniform
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Wreath of Peace envelops the bearer in an aura of serenity, stealing strength from the arms of those that would bring needless violence. If she is attacked and the attack misses, the bearer may spend 2 motes to steal 1 initiative from the attacker. If she is attacked and struck, but the attack deals no damage, she may instead spend 2 motes to steal 2 initiative.
A Better Way
Cost: 3m, 3i; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Turn Aside Violence
The bearer can make overtures for a better way forward hard to resist. She may supplement any attempt to inspire, instill or persuade someone towards peace or reconciliation during a fight with; resisting such attempts requires spending 2 Willpower instead of 1.
Hope For the Future
Cost: 6m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Counterattack
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: A Better Way
Forged in the hope of making peace, the bearer uses violence against them as proof of her sincerity. When attacked, she may use Hope For the Future to take a reflexive social influence action as a counterattack. This influence must be an instill, inspire or persuade, with the intention of bringing an end to the conflict. Hope For the Future cannot be used in response to a counterattack.
If the original attack strikes and deals one or more levels of damage, the bearer adds a number of non-charm dice to her influence roll equal to the damage she took from the attack.
Apollyon (Jade Powerbow strung with Starmetal, Artifact ****)
The bow Apollyon is kept in a sacred vault of the Immaculate Order, withdrawn only in times of dire need. Supposedly it was the bow of Sextes Jyles himself, carved from a block of living green jade, then strung with a shaft of starlight. With it, the Immaculate Dragon of Wood dispensed both life and death, firing arrows of health and joy to the faithful, while sending pestilence and plague against the remaining Anathema and their servants.
Since that time, Apollyon has been withdrawn from its vault only a handful of times; always it is given to a master of the Wood Dragon Style, and only then for riding in the most dangerous of Wyld Hunts, against threats to the dominion of the Dragon-Blooded as a whole.
The bow itself is an elegant powerbow; the whole length of the bow is carved from green jade, while the length and grip both have a wrap of blue and white jade. The grip itself is then wrapped in cloth-of-gold as soft and sheer as silk. The caps of the bow are orihalcum, with a rainbow shimmer of the starmetal string only barely visible. Despite looking like stone, the bow will flex to an almost limitless degree, always perfectly suiting the wielder’s strength. Two hearthstone slots are available, one above and one below the grip.
Evocations of Apollyon
When a Dragon-Blood, Solar, Sidereal or Getimian attunes to Apollyon, she increases her Accuracy and Damage by +1. These rise to +3 when firing at enemies operating under the Doom of Defiance for violating one or more Astrological Projections.
Blessings Strewn
Cost: 3m, 3i; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The bearer pulls and looses with no arrow drawn, instead firing her good will and blessings upon friends and allies. She selects a target between Short and Long Range away; that individual and all friends and allies that are within Close range of them gain a +2 non-charm bonus to their Defense, which decreases by 1 at the end of each turn. Multiple uses of Blessings Strewn can maintain the bonus at +2, but not increase it beyond.
Anyone who is presently benefiting from the Merits of Destiny instead gains a +3 non-charm bonus to their Defense.
Plague of Misfortune
Cost: 3m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The bearer of Apollyon imbues an arrow with sickening essence, filling it with a temporary but virulent power. Any enemy that suffers at least one level of damage suffers the effects of curare poisoning (Exalted p. 234).
Poisoned enemies must also resist the wound becoming infected, even if they are not normally susceptible to such afflictions (Exalted p. 235), against a morbidity of 3.
Arrows Like Locusts
Cost: 7m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
Mid-flight, the bearer transforms her arrow into a cloud of supernaturally potent locusts, which descend in a frenzy upon her target and all their allies. She selects an enemy out to Medium range; that target and all enemies within Close range of them are swarmed by the biting, stinging insects. Treat the locusts as an environmental hazard (Exalted p. 232), inflicting 1i (1B in crash)/round with a difficulty of 3 to resist, affecting all enemies within Close range of the initial target. They also impose a -2 penalty on all actions taken within the swarm, due to distraction from the buzzing, flying and biting insects. The swarm will disperse at the end of the scene, or when someone armed with a weapon with the Flame tag succeeds at a gambit (Difficulty 2) to disperse it.
Arrows Like Locusts can only be used once per scene. At Essence 3, it is reset three turns after the swarm is dispersed.
Rebirth in Destruction
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Blessings Strewn, Plague of Misfortune, Arrows Like Locusts
The ultimate power of Apollyon brings final destruction. Reroll all failed damage dice on any successful attack enhanced by Rebirth in Destruction. An enemy incapacitated by this attack is permanently destroyed, even if they are a spirit or other being which can normally return from death. At the location of their death, a tree sprouts, bearing strange and unique fruits unlike those seen anywhere else in Creation. These fruits often have unique magical or medicinal properties, as determined by the Storyteller based upon the nature of the victim, and can rarely be cultivated from the original tree.
At Essence 4, the bearer may spend 3 motes and 1 willpower after the first damage reroll to reroll failures a second time.
Shieldbreaker (Orihalcum and Starmetal Grand Goremaul, Artifact ****)
One of the Thirteen Final Weapons, Shieldbreaker was forged by the Chosen of Battles Implacable Will near the end of the wars against the ancient Larmidian people in what would become the Ciner Isles, during the early years of the First Age. It was carried into battle by the Lawgiver Anyung, and was placed in her tomb after her death during the Usurpation.
During Anyung’s life, she became known as the Gracefully Descending Doom. Shieldbreaker was an utterly irresistible force, crushing through fortress walls and hard steel shields both as if they were no more than paper. She was especially noted for hurling the giant weapon up, allowing its massive bulk to carry her skyward and then guiding it with the force of a falling star onto her hapless foes.
Shieldbreaker is a sphere with a diameter of nearly a full yard, one half of pure orihalcum and the opposite of pure starmetal. The two halves are not linearly bisected, but rather twined together like a rising flame and descending fang. The haft is white jade, twice as thick as a man’s arm with hand-holds spaced regularly along its ten foot length. Two hearthstone slots are available on opposite sides of the sphere, both embedded in one pure metal.
Evocations of Shieldbreaker
When a Solar, Sidereal or Getimian attunes to Shieldbreaker, she may make a Smashing attack without paying the initiative cost, and increases the bonus for clash attacks to +4 instead of +2.
Weapon Shattering Strike
Cost: 3m, 1i; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Shieldbreaker is not idly named; the terrible strength of the weapon shatters swords and ruins shields. Weapon Shattering Strike enhances an attempt to disarm a mortal weapon. If the attempt is successful, the weapon is destroyed, although it may be repaired in time.
At Essence 2, you may attempt to use Weapon Shattering Strike against an artifact weapon, but increase the difficulty of the gambit by the rating of the artifact.
Unstoppable Force
Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Uniform
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Weapon Shattering Strike
Sunlight and starlight stream from Shieldbreaker as it's bearer swings with a force that is impossible to deny. An attack enhanced with Unstoppable Force cannot be parried, and ignores defensive bonuses from light or heavy cover. Unstoppable Force can only be used in a turn after the bearer has advanced at least one or more range bands.
Fortress Leveling Blow
Cost: -; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Unstoppable Force
Walls of stone and adamant cannot stand against the power of Shieldbreaker. So long as she is engaging in a destructive feat of strength with the weapon, the bearer of Shieldbreaker increases her Strength by 5.
Graceful Doom
Cost: 5m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Unstoppable Force
The force of Shieldbreaker moves the wielder as much as her victims. Upon using Graceful Doom to enhance a Rush, the bearer hurls the heavy weight of the weapon forward, reflexively moving her one range band in the direction of her target. If she flurries her rush with an attack, she may enhance the attack with Unstoppable Force for 2 motes and 1 willpower.
Falling Star
Cost: 7m; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Graceful Doom
The bearer swings Shieldbreaker into the air, allowing it to carry her upwards, only to come crashing down upon her enemies with a power of a falling star. This Charm enhances a decisive attack; if the attack hits, her victim is treated as having fallen a Medium distance (Exalted p. 232) and is knocked prone, as well as any damage they suffer from the strike itself. Falling Star may only be used once per scene, but is reset by reaching initiative 15+.
The Cage of Penitent Eidolon Forsaken (Orihalcum and Starmetal Articulated Plate, Artifact *****)
In the streets of Yu-Shan, rumor flies of a strange new menacing figure, lurking within the Crimson Panoply of Victory. They say he is clad in head to foot in heavy orihalcum articulated plate affixed with over a hundred delicate-looking prayer strips of starmetal with imperishable jade-paint, each written in Old Realm wards and scriptures against evil. Some say he is a new god, unknown to the greater community of divinities- a challenger to Ahlat with the support of the Shogun of the Crimson Banner. Others claim he is a spirit or automaton conjured by Sidereal magics, the first in an imperishable golden army with which to defend Heaven against Rakan Thulio.
In truth, he is Penitent Eidolon Forsaken, a Solar of the Dawn Caste who Exalted while fighting alongside the Tepet legions against the Bull of the North. Horrified at having become the very monster what he sought to destroy, he fled the field, shortly thereafter turning himself into an Immaculate temple- where he was intercepted by a Bronze Star of an unusually pragmatic bent, even for her faction.
She smuggled the man, who now named himself as Penitent Eidolon Forsaken, into Yu-Shan. There, she saw to it that he would be confined in heavy chains of gold that could bind down his terrible divinity. Atop this, she affixed the hundred prayer strips, telling the Eidolon that they would channel his cursed power into something pure, giving his soul a chance at a more auspicious reincarnation. She then showed her work to Chejop Kejak; here was a Solar that would serve the Realm, a Lawgiver that would submit to proper authority. Kejak has been skeptical thus far- the plan reeks of risk -but even he cannot deny the effectiveness of the Penitent Eidolon Forsaken in handling tasks that would have risked Sidereal lives.
The Cage of Penitent Eidolon Forsaken has three hearthstone slots, pressing into the gorget that encircles the wearer’s neck.
Evocations of the Cage of Penitent Eidolon Forsaken
Attuning to the Cage of Penitent Eidolon Forsaken costs a Solar, Sidereal or Getimian an additional six motes. However, so long as it is worn, the victim subsists without need for food or water, and is kept comfortable in any mundane weather. Moreover, the Cage conceals the nature of their divinity; their anima is transformed to pure white light, and their caste mark obscured behind the Old Realm glyph for ‘Wicked’.
No Rest For the Forsaken
Cost: 1m; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
The penitent has no time to waste on such trivialities as rest if she is to redeem her forsaken soul. After using No Rest For the Forsaken, the bearer suffers no penalties for fatigue for the next day and night. Motes committed to this Charm remain committed until the bearer sleeps for at least eight hours.
Redeemed by Blasphemous Deeds
Cost: 3m; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The penitent can find redemption in the destruction of beings even more blasphemous than herself; when she strike a blow which incapacitates or destroys an enemy demon or ghost, she may reflexively activate Redeemed by Blasphemous Deeds to gain 1 temporary point of Willpower, not to exceed her permanent Willpower.
Unclean to Touch
Cost: 3m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Uniform
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The penitent is too unclean to be touched, neither by a gentle caress nor a ruinous strike. When an attack from close range successfully strikes her, she may use Unclean to Touch to scorch her opponent; she rolls 3 dice, inflicting that much withering damage. Withinering damage dealt in this fashion is not gained as initiative by the bearer, but she does gain the initiative crash bonus if this results in the attacker crashing. When used against an opponent in initiative crash, Unclean to Touch instead inflicts lethal damage. Anyone with at least hardness 1 ignores this damage.
Too Wretched For Death
Cost: 2m / 1 Hardness; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The penitent cannot die until they have atoned for the sin of what they have become; alas that atonement will always be beyond their reach. Once per scene, she may reflexive increase her Hardness against a single decisive attack, at a cost of 2 motes per point of hardness.
Too Wretched For Death is reset when the wearer has no remaining -0, -1 or -2 health levels.
Deceived No Longer
Cost: 6m or 4m / Willpower; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: No Rest For the Forsaken, Redeemed by Blasphemous Deeds, Unclean to Touch, Too Wretched For Death
The penitent realizes the truth of her Exalted station, and casts away the illusions that would chain and deceive her. She may spend 6 motes to reflexively pay the Willpower cost for resisting any social influence or other mind altering effects; the cost is reduced to 4 motes when resisting effects with the Psyche keyword.
Additionally, upon learning Deceived No Longer, the bearer no longer needs to commit an additional 6 motes to attune to the Cage, and the glyph for ‘Wicked’ which obscures her caste mark is replaced with the glyph for ‘Righteous’.
The Crimson Mirror of Mars (Starmetal Shield, Artifact *****)
Starmetal shines in five colors- save for five artifacts, each consecrated to a specific Maiden. The foremost of these devices is the Crimson Mirror of Mars- a disc of starmetal that shines with only blood red light, reflecting the violence and struggle of all things.
The Mirror was stolen from the Crimson Panoply of Victory a mere two years ago, where it had rested in the Armory Incomparable save for a few momentous battles during the First Age. The consensus amongst the few that know is the theft was orchestrated by the Sleepwalker- an opening gambit to an unknown purpose. What is certain is the Crimson Mirror must be recovered as soon as possible, and with as little fanfare as possible.
Evocations of the Crimson Mirror of Mars
The Crimson Mirror of Mars requires 7 motes to attune to; it is a medium artifact weapon with +2 Defense instead of +1, and the Bashing, Smashing, Melee and Shield tags. When attuned by a Sidereal or Getimian Exalt, the Mirror will float near to hand, interposing itself as needed and obeying the bearer’s will; this allows the bearer the benefits of wielding an artifact shield without tying up her hands.
Nature Revealing Reflection
Cost: 5m; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The reality of all things is in the struggle to survive, and this reality is captured in the Crimson Mirror; after activating Nature Revealing Reflection, these truths become obvious for all to see.
For a brief moment the general nature of any creature is illustrated in the reflection, as per Measure the Wind (Exalted p. 509).
At Essence 2, this reflection shows more than the obviously present, and will also reflect any immaterial spirits which are present.
At Essence 3, the reflection reveals intentions towards violence; for the remainder of the scene after seeing someone's reflection, any attempts at reading intentions against the victim when looking for anger or violent intimacies or intentions treats the victim as being unaware they are observed (Exalted p. 218)
Spirit Trapping Surface
Cost: 1wp; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Crimson Mirror can serve as prison to beings of pure violence, transforming their dire impulses to some better end. Spirit Trapping Surface may only be used against a spirit which has been incapacitated, absorbing the divine or infernal being into the mirror itself. This functions similarly to a Yasal Crystal (Exalted p. 601), save that it can capture a single spirit of Essence 5 or less.
A spirit trapped in the Crimson Mirror will remain trapped even if the bearer loses the artifact; the new bearer may communicate with and free the spirit upon learning Spirit Trapping Surface.
Bloody Catoptromantic Vision
Cost: 7m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
In the Crimson Mirror, all Heaven-sanctioned violence is reflected. The bearer may use Bloody Catoptromantic Vision to see any combat occurring in Creation or Yu-Shan. Bloody Catoptromantic Vision may find either a specific fight, or the nearest fight meeting some parameters. It will only show true battles against opponents who mean one another deadly harm, even if not to the death. The mirror will continue to display the conflict for the remainder of the scene.
When leading a battle group, Bloody Catoptromantic Vision gives a deep insight into the nature of the fight as it goes; once per scene, after using this Charm, the bearer may reroll all failures on a single command action.
What Was and May Yet Be
Cost: 2m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Nature Revealing Reflection
The Crimson Mirror shows not only what is, but what could have been and what may yet be. The bearer of the Mirror may use this gift to steal fates they desire and rid themselves of destinies they wish to avoid. She may steal up to (Essence) dice from any roll of an action they witness, at a cost of 2 motes per die. Dice stolen in this fashion keep the face that were rolled, and may be added to any roll the bearer takes or witnesses at no cost. Dice not used by the end of the scene vanish.
You may only steal dice that are part of a set, and may not steal the last die of a given value; if an opponent rolled one 10 and three 9s to attack you, you could steal two of the three 9s, but not the last 9 or the only 10.
Getimian Exalted do not count dice stolen by the Crimson Mirror of Mars against their limit of stolen dice. Sidereal Exalted do not count dice added by the Crimson Mirror of Mars against their dice cap.
Visions Terrible and True
Cost: 3m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Bloody Catoptromantic Vision
No struggle is certain, and even the strategies of Mars dissolve once the first arrow has been loosed; every swing of the blade can decide someone's destiny, for good and ill. By invoking Visions Terrible and True, the bearer shows a fatal path towards their enemy, filling them with fear and driving them to flee.
Visions Terrible and True creates a persuade action of 15 dice, supported by a major intimacy of fear of death, against a single target- encouraging them to break and flee. If the victim enters a decision point to resist this fear, the bearer steals 3 initiative from their hesitation.
Against ghosts and demons, Visions Terrible and True is instead supported by a defining intimacy; ghosts have already tasted death once, and demons have known an ultimate defeat- to them, the prospects are far more awful for this knowledge.
Once a victim has been subject to Visions Terrible and True, they are immune to this Evocation for the remainder of the scene.
Walk the Crimson Road
Cost: 1wp; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Spirit Trapping Surface
Only a thin veneer separates the worlds of the material and spiritual; by stepping through the Crimson Mirror, the bearer leaves the first for the second. Walk the Crimson Road allows the bearer to become immaterial until they return to the material world via the Mirror; for each hour they spend immaterial, they must spend another point of Willpower. While immaterial, they can see and interact with other immaterial beings as if they were material, however any decisive damage they suffer instead drains them of Willpower. If the bearer is reduced to zero temporary Willpower while immaterial, they are permanently transformed into a spirit of violence, losing their former name and nature in the service of Mars and the Crimson Panoply.
Chapter 9 : The Allies and Enemies of Heaven
Gods of the Underworld
** Black Market Exigent
Unlawful Cultist
Gods in violation of Heaven's laws most often seek to garner worship beyond their station or merit. In the case of Bureka, it means that every third son of the local fishing village is dedicated to his service full time; in exchange, Bureka doesn't visit down unholy destruction.
Kusto Ulwy is such a third son, press ganged into a life of praise for a cruel god. Of course, life in the Cult of Bureka has it's perks; he is largely above the law in the village, as Bureka jealously protects his 'chosen sons'.
In general, Unlawful Cultists are used as nothing more than sources of worship. More subtle gods will instead use them as cat's-paws, using such cults to secretly advance their interests or sabotages their enemies despite the will of Heaven and the weave of destiny.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 3; Join Battle: 4 dice
Health Levels: -0/-1x2/-2x2/-4/Incap.
Actions: Praise Bureka: 6 dice, Threaten With Divine Wrath: 5 dice, Read Intentions: 4 dice, Senses: 4 dice, Social Influence: 5 dice
Appearance 2, Resolve 2, Guile 3
Combat
Attack (Trident): 6 dice (Damage: 11, Reach)
Attack (Grapple): 4 dice (5 dice to control)
Combat Movement: 4 dice
Evasion 2, Parry 2
Soak / Hardness: 6 / 0 (Buff jacket)
Merits
Blessed by Bureka: As long as Kusto loudly chants Bureka's name in praise, he receives +1 bonus die to all actions he takes, and increases his Evasion and Parry by 1 each.
Divine Legbreaker
When one god to another fails to repay a friendly loan, or allows debts to grow too great, or threatens to speak to the celestial lions about just what they saw- well, sometimes, they need to be convinced of the impropriety of their actions. Quite a few of the dispossessed and unemployed gods in the Neighborhood of Refuge would jump at the chance to join an established organization- criminal enterprise is one of the few ways of potentially escaping their sorry lot.
Divine Legbreakers are the lowest rung of celestial criminal organizations. If gross violence needs to be performed, they swing the stick. Such godly muscle also often works as bodyguards and collection agents for criminal organizations. They are most often drawn from the ranks of tribal gods without tribes- all their people killed, either during the Usurpation or the Great Contagion.
Bureka (formerly of the Loigh Clan, killed to the last by black plague) is one such legbreaker- but he's not always going to stay like this. He's got friends, he's making connections. With his unreported income from his technically illegal cult, he's saving up. He's not ready to make his move yet- but only because the right opportunity for him to take down his boss hasn't appeared. He keeps a small flat in the Neighborhood of Refuge, split with his still gainfully employed friend Gerel, the goddess of the fishing village he founded his cult in. She thinks his ambrosia comes from the pension assigned by the Commision on Plague-Broken Gods; she does not know of his current, less savory activities. Bureka actually likes Gerel, and would prefer to keep his criminal and comfortable lives distinct.
Essence: 2, Willpower: 6, Join Battle: 6 dice
Personal Motes: 70
Health Levels: -0/-1x3/-2x3/-4/Incap.
Actions: Threaten With Divine Wrath: 7 dice, Social Influence: 6 dice, Feats of Strength: 6 dice (can attempt Strength 3 feats), Read Intentions: 6 dice, Senses: 6 dice
Appearance 3, Resolve 3, Guile 3
Combat
Attack (Divine Wrath): 12 dice (Damage 16, Minimum 2, Smashing)
Combat Movement: 6 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 4
Soak / Hardness: 7 / 0 (traditional war-dress of the Loigh)
Merits
Cult 1: The (technically illegal) Cult of Bureka provides the god with a trickle of praise.
Backing 2: Legbreaker for the Guild of Pleasant Dreams, operating out of the Neighborhood of Refuge.
Artifact 3: Bureka has retained his staff of office, an orihalcum goremaul he calls Divine Wrath.
Offensive Charms
Howl of the Loigh (10m; Supplemental; Instant; Essence 1): Letting out the war cry of the Loigh, Bureka startles all opponents into a moment of hesitation. Attempt to inspire fear in all opponents out to Short range without the normal penalty for using social influence against groups; each opponent who is affected also suffers a -1 penalty to all actions taken against Bureka.
Force of Cruel Fate (8m; Supplemental; Dual; Instant; Essence 1): Bureka swings Divine Wrath with a terrible force. A withering attack enhanced by Force of Cruel Fate is soaked by the target's Hardness instead of Soak, while a decisive attack inflicts a penalty from the pain of the blow equal to the damage dealt.
As Yet Unbroken (12m, 1wp; Reflexive; Instant; Essence 2): Once per scene, Bureka may use his Soak as his Hardness against an incoming decisive attack. Reset after suffering decisive damage.
Miscellaneous Charms
Whispers of the Loigh (5m; Simple; One dream; Essence 2): Bureka can send dreams, communicating his wishes to members of his cult.
Hurry Home (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence 1): Vanish and reappear in Gerel's home
Materialize (35m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence 1): Steps out from behind something obscuring the vision of his target.
Measure the Wind (5; Simple; Instant; Essence 1): Bureka can take the measure of any member of the Loigh people. Who, unfortunately, no longer exist.
Forbidden God
In past age, Dakini was convicted and sentenced. She refused to stand idly by while the mad Solars burnt down Creation with impunity; when her formal protests to the Bureau of Destiny went unheeded, she took matters into her own hands. With a few friends that she trusted, she would tear down the Lawgivers, punishing them one by one for their sins, whatever the will of Heaven.
One of her friends was an informant for the Bureau of Destiny. Before her conspiracy could even begin to take root, it was revealed, it's members arrested, tried, and sentenced. Most got off relatively light- they'd done nothing more than talk, as yet. As the ringleader, the Unconquered Sun decided to make an example of her. She was imprisoned beneath a tree the size of a mountain in the far East, and would remain so for twenty-seven thousand, six-hundred forty-eight years. Years flowed into decades; the Sun turned his face from Creation and the Usurpation enacted the very crime she had been convicted of contemplating, but no one came to release her. Instead, mere chance undid her prison; the Contagion slew the tree that served as her prison, and the Wyld storms scoured the last vestiges of her locks away. In the confusion that followed, no one discovered her escape until she was quite gone.
At first glance, many assume Dakini to be a forest lord; her time imprisoned in the tree and drowning in Eastern essence transformed her flesh to wood and turned her hair to moss and leaves. Her eyes are the brown-gold of amber, her teeth a horror of pinecone seeds. But she is bound to no forest; she is bound to nothing save her thirst for revenge. Each morning, she renewed her oath of vengeance against the Solars; each evening, she swore that she would watch the Sun sink into red death forever. Dakini is a forbidden god, a god banished from Heaven for her crimes. If captured, she faces final destruction for daring to escape, and is thus capable of almost anything. Her domain, once a great center of arts and learning, was destroyed during the Usurpation, and even the name is now lost. Her fear of capture is great, but not so great as her lust of vengeance.
Essence: 4, Willpower: 7, Join Battle: 7 dice
Personal Motes: 90
Health Levels: -0x2/-1x4/-2x4/-4x2/Incap.
Actions: Command the Trees: 8 dice, Feats of Strength: 10 dice (may attempt Strength 7 feats); Read Intentions: 6 dice; Resist Poison / Illness: 8 dice; Senses: 7 dice; Social Influence: 5 dice; Tracking: 10 dice
Appearance 4 (Hideous), Resolve 5, Guile 3
Sample Intimacies
- Defining Principle: "I will never be captured again!"
- Major Principle: "I will have my vengeance against the Sun and his Chosen."
- Minor Principle: "The East is now my home."
- Minor Tie: Cultists of Dakini (Wary affection)
Combat
Attack (Thorny grasp): 12 dice (Damage 18, minimum 3, Reaching)
Attack (Spitting Thorns): 10 dice at short range (Damage 15, minimum 2, Thrown (Medium))
Attack (Grapple): 12 dice (12 dice to control)
Combat Movement: 8 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 5
Soak / Hardness: 14 / 5 (Divine Flesh)
Merits
Cult 2: Dakini has quietly established numerous small cults amongst the tribes that revere the forests of the East. She encourages them to remain secret, not wishing to draw too much attention.
Offensive Charms
Forest Arise (20m; Simple; One Scene; Eclipse; Essence 4): Dakini imbues all the plantlife out to medium range with life and her own violent spirit. Trees uproot themselves and swarm her enemies. Treat this as a battle group of Battle-Ready Troops (Exalted p.496) with Might 1, Poor Drill and Perfect Morale. The Size of the battlegroup should be informed by the number of trees called forth. In places rich with especially ancient trees, they may have the traits of Elite troops at the Storyteller's discretion.
Rip Apart Mountains (7m; Supplemental; Instant; Withering-only; Essence 2): Dakini's withering savage in a soak may be enhanced with Rip Apart Mountains to ignore soak from armor.
Divine Rage (1m+, 1i+; Reflexive; Instant; Perilous; Essence 2): Dakini can trade momentary advantage for tremendous power, adding up to 8 dice at a cost of 1 mote and 1 initiative per die added, to any action supporting a Major or Defining Intimacy.
Reach the Sky (15m, 2wp; Simple; Indefinite; Perilous; Essence 3): Dakini takes root, swelling to a huge size. She gains the Legendary Size merit (Exalted p. 573), can reach to strike opponents out to Short range and and spit thorns out to Long range. Her soak and hardness both increase by 10. However, she cannot take any movement actions without ending the effect.
Gift of Poppies (15m, 2wp; Simple; One Scene; Essence 2): Once per scene, Dakini releases a sporofic pollen which fills the area with a drowsy haze. Treat this as Mists of Eventide (Exalted p. 474). If Dakini is materialized, Gift of Poppies will cause immaterial creatures to become visible and tangible while the pollen remains.
Miscellaneous Charms
A Tree In the Forest (10m; Simple; Indefinite; Essence 1): Dakini appears to just be another tree. The illusion is broken if she take any overt action.
Materialize (45m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence 1): Dakini grows from a sprout to a monstrous animated tree-woman in a matter of seconds.
Measure the Wind (5m; Simple; Instant; Essence 1): Dakini can take the measure of anyone who sleeps beneath her boughs during the night.
Mastermind Daemon
Mi Tang, the Goddess of Golden Delight, is officially charged with overseeing the activities of all honey producing insects in Creation. Nominally, she works within the Bureau of Nature, but she also has a fat sideline creating and taming bees at the behest of various field and farming gods, where both the bees themselves and the honey they produce enrich both the communities they are gifted upon and her pocket for the exorbitant rates she charges. If this were the end, it would mark her as no one of great distinction; another god bending the rules to personal enrichment, but hardly the worst criminal in the Celestial City.
What is less commonly known is her role as the Mistress of the Guild of Pleasant Dreams. With the extra quasi-official income from her bee-blessings, Mi Tang has quietly been building a criminal empire. Initially she sold illicit copies of her solitary memory of viewing the Games of Divinity- with a minor twist; she imbued the memory into honey produced by specially bred orihalcum bees. In this fashion, she was able to distribute that single memory across far more divinities than those dealing in dreamstones, allowing her to undercut her fellow criminals- while at the same time, requiring her clients to consume the honey in order to experience the memory, neatly eliminating the evidence and ensuring that her stable of addicts would always need another hit. With the influx of ambrosia from her criminal gains, she can afford semi-regular visits to the Games of Divinity, as well as hiring sufficiently down on their luck gods to act as go-betweens, bodyguards, fall guys and other patsies.
From that seed has blossomed a strangling ivy. The Guild of Pleasant Dreams is responsible for multiple instances of illegal blessings and curses, improper manifestation, assault against a divinity, running probabilities, deicide, and contravening the known will of Heaven, on top of the more mundane trades in celestial drugs and sex slaves. She has a trio of neomah, sponsored from the Embassy of Brass, who are especially adept at compromising and silencing individuals who investigate her too closely- those that they cannot seduce, they instead assassinate, as all three are practitioners of the Black Claw Style. Prior to the Usurpation, her operations held a certain degree of restraint- but since the fall of the Solars, Mi Tang has blazed new criminal trails in her efforts at discovering new means to profit off the misery of her fellow gods.
Mi Tang's current plans involve securing a chance to not only view the Games of Divinity, but to be invited to play a turn. Quite apart from the impossible pleasure such a moment would bring, the price of honey imbued with such memories would dwarf anything she has previously managed, catapulting her to a new level of the game. Unfortunately, securing such a thing is no mean feat, as she must tempt fate and draw the attention of one of the Incarnae. How, precisely, she intends to manage this is unknown- but it seems likely to involve the Exigence that was once granted to Vanileth, Shogun of Artificial Flight. The gem, over five centuries old, is mud brown in color and pulses like a throbbing wound. She has nearly bankrupted herself in securing the jewel- but now that she has it, the next step of her plan can begin.
Mi Tang appears as a tall woman with golden skin stretched tight over delicate bones of her face, with voluptuously thick hips and thighs. She smells of sunflowers and honey, and is constantly surrounded by a swarm of orihalcum bees. Her lips are always wet with honey; even when she wipes them clean, new drips will begin to form. She lives in a golden palace of tiered floors, each with water being cleverly driven up to feed flower houses of every variety. The Palace of Golden Delight is haunted by members of the Guild of Pleasant Dreams; guards, button men, lieutenants, and petitioners.
Essence: 6; Willpower: 9; Join Battle: 10 dice
Personal Motes: 110
Health Levels: -0x3/-1x6/-2x6/-4x3/Incap
Sample Intimacies
- Defining Principle: "To savor sweetness is the greatest good."
- Major Principle: "Only suckers bind themselves to little laws."
- Minor Tie: The Sidereal Exalted (Caution)
- Minor Principle: "No one threatens the Queen."
- Minor Tie: Beekeepers (Possessive Affection)
Actions: Criminal Matters: 12 dice; Read Intentions: 10 dice; Resist Poison / Disease: 8 dice; Social Influence: 12 dice; Senses: 10 dice
Appearance 3, Resolve 4, Guile 6
Merits
Backing 5: Mi Tang is the undisputed mistress of the Guild of Pleasant Dreams, a growing criminal organization based out of the Neighborhood of Water.
Backing 3: Mi Tang is officially recognized as the Shepherd of Alveolus Delight within the Bureau of Nature, and is nominally a loyal goddess in good standing.
Influence 4: Mi Tang’s influence in Heaven is extensive, especially within the Bureaus of Nature and Humanity. It is also almost entirely unofficial, built from bribes, blackmail and on the backs of addicts.
Contacts 3: Very little happens in the Neighborhood of Water that Mi Tang is not quickly appraised of.
Allies 3: Mi Tang keeps contracts with a trio of neomah (Exalted p. 525), using them as her personal bodyguards and executors of her most sensitive missions. In addition to the normal stats of a neomah, each has a Martial Arts attack of 8 dice (Damage 12), a Parry of 4, and knows the following Charms of Black Claw Style (Exalted p. 453): Open Palm Caress, Torn Lotus Defense, Flexing the Emerald Claw, Black Claw Form.
Salary 4: Officially, Mi Tang should only have a Salary of 2 in her position within the Bureau of Nature; even her gifted bees would only have modestly raised her. The majority of her fortune comes from her criminal activities.
Cult 3: Despite Mi Tang's great fortune, she is only a modestly worshipped goddess in Creation, largely unknown outside of her priest-beekeepers and meaderies.
Combat
Attack (Piercing Nails): 10 dice (Damage 16, minimum 3, Piercing)
Attack (Golden Throwing Daggers): 12 dice at short range (Damage 12, minimum 2, Medium)
Attack (Grapple): 8 dice (8 dice to control)
Combat Movement: 12 dice
Evasion 6, Parry 4
Soak / Hardness: 7 / 3 (Cloak of Honey)
Offensive Charms
Ten Thousand Daggers (7m, 1wp; Simple; One scene; Eclipse, Perilous; Essence 4): Mi Tang calls a swarm of black and very aggressive bees to her location, hampering the sight of and stinging her enemies. Treat this as an environmental hazard, dealing 1i / round (1L in crash) with a difficulty to resist of 1, to all opponents within Close range. After invoking Ten Thousand Daggers, Mi Tang can spend 3 motes reflexively on her action to intensify the swarm; for each turn that she does so, increase the damage and difficulty 1 (to a maximum of 6). When the damage reaches 2, the swarm is so thick it also imposes a -1 penalty to all actions her opponents take within the swarm, as well as actions taken against Mi Tang and her allies from opponents outside the swarm. When the damage reaches 3, the effect of the swarm extends out to Short range from Mi Tang. When the damage reaches 4, the swarm penalty rises to -2. When the damage reaches 6, the effect of the swarm extends to Medium range from Mi Tang. Attacking the swarm is a special gambit, which requires a weapon with the Flame tag, made against Mi Tang and with a difficulty of (8 - swarm damage); success reduces the swarm's damage by 1. Each turn that Mi Tang does not reinvoke the swarm, the damage diminishes by 1; if the swarm's damage is reduced to 0, she cannot invoke the swarm again during this scene.
The Fatal Sting (3m; Supplemental; Instant; Decisive-only; Essence 3): Mi Tang can infect her attack with the concentrated venom of a bee sting. If an attack enhanced by The Fatal Sting deals 1 or more levels of damage, the victim also suffers from the effects of curare poisoning (Exalted p. 234). Mi Tang may reflexively activate The Fatal Sting to attempt to inflict the poison on anyone resisting damage caused by Ten Thousand Daggers while in crash.
Defensive Charms
The Queen in the Swarm (3m, 3i; Reflexive; Instant; Dual, Perilous; Essence 3): Mi Tang briefly transforms from a solid form to a thick cloud of bees. This increases her soak and hardness by 10 each and she ignores all penalties to her Evasion against the attack. Withering attacks made against her cannot reduce her below 1 Initiative unless they are made by weapons with the Flame tag or are able to strike dematerialized creatures. Decisive attacks cannot inflict more than 3 levels of damage, unless they are made by a weapon with the Flame tag or are able to strike dematerialized creatures.
All Insults Repaid (15m, 1wp; Simple; Until next turn; Counterattack, Perilous; Essence 5): Mi Tang becomes a whirring swarm of rage; she may make a counterattack using her Golden Throwing Daggers against any attack made against her until her next turn. All Insults Repaid may be invoked on multiple concurrent rounds without paying the Willpower cost, and reduces the mote cost by the current damage of Ten Thousand Daggers. The counterattack can be made against opponents up to Medium range without the need to aim.
Miscellaneous Charms
Hurry Home (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence 1): Mi Tang dissolves into a cloud of bees over her next turn, reappearing in the heart of her golden palace in Heaven.
Materialize (55m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence 1): Mi Tang consolidates her appearance out of a sudden swarm of bees.
Measure the Wind (5m; Simple; Instant; Essence 1): Mi Tang can take the measure of anyone she is touching, or who is touching a honey-producing insect.
Enchanting Nectar Scent (3m; Reflexive; Until next turn; Essence 3): Mi Tang intensifies the scent of honey and flowers in her presence to an intense degree. Until her next turn, her Appearance is raised by 2.
Honey Wine Kiss (3m; Supplemental; Instant; Essence 3): Mi Tang enhances a kiss, imbuing the honey on her lips with an intoxicating quality. She may use the kiss as a minor tie upon her victim for the next day, and her victim treats her base Appearance as 5 instead of 3.
Black Market Exigent
She had a name once, but it changes from time to time. What should have been a glorious blessing and apotheosis is ruined and twisted, sick. The illness drives her, tearing at her thoughts in a dozen dozen directions. She spins like puffball seeds, and trails lightning in her wake. Does the sacred brook no improvement? What terrible fire, what vicious ice, burning at the heart of stars and Heaven.
Star Eyes Bodhisattva was Chosen, graced with divine flame by the will of the Unconquered Sun. But the gift she was given had been poisoned, corrupted, ruined from being passed between a dozen gods beforehand like a fixed price prostitute at the end of the night. Her soul attempts to reconcile the screaming influences; any one, a beautiful song, but together they are a sanity-shredding cacophony. The divine fire in her burns too brightly, too hot. She cannot control it, can only barely contain it, and soon no poor prison of flesh will be able to do so. But until that time comes- how great the glory of the Star Eyes Bodhisattva! Every divine patron with a hand in her birth sends whispers and dreams, urging her to accomplish for them what they cannot safely accomplish themselves.
She wanders the wastes of the North now; in her wake she leaves prodigies and miracles and storms of ruin. She has no destiny for she has a dozen, one woven by each of the divinities who poured poison into the pure chalice. Her involvement in certain portents being thwarted is rapidly escalating her up the list of problems that must be dealt with, sooner rather than later- but there are simply so many emergencies that a black market exigent in the frozen North keeps being deferred.
Star Eyes Bodhisattva appears to be a young woman in her late teens, dressed in silks far too thin to provide warmth in the frozen Northern wastes. Her skin has a slightly opalescent sheen, causing many to assume that she is a Fair Folk temptress, but she recognizes no aversion to iron charms and burns the creatures of the Wyld away with a terrifying fury. Her eyes change color, depending on which inner flame dominates at the moment, as does her clothing, form, and anima. She walks without concern across broken trails of stone and snow and salt.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 6; Join Battle: 6 dice
Personal Motes: 12 Peripheral Motes: 32
Health Levels: -0x2/-1x2/-2x2/-4x2/Incap
Permanent Limit: 3
Sample Intimacies
- Defining Principle: "I will discover my purpose"
- Major Tie: The Silk and Silver Woman, who granted her Exaltation ("Abject gratitude")
- Major Tie: The Silk and Silver Woman, who granted her Exaltation ("Horrific anger")
- Major Tie: The Voices of Heaven ("Obedience")
- Major Principle: "Nothing has essential meaning."
- Minor Principle: "All things must burn."
- Minor Tie: The Diamond Eyes Tribe, who saved her from starvation ("Humble gratitude")
Actions: Dancing: 10 dice; Feats of Strength: 7 dice (can attempt Strength 5 feats); Social Influence: 7 dice; Senses : 6 dice; Resist Poison / Disease: 7 dice
Appearance 4, Resolve 4, Guile 4
Merits
Familiar 2: Star Eyes Bodhisattva is accompanied by a snow-saber, a massive hunting cat of the North. Treat this as a Great Cat (Exalted p. 565)
Artifact 3: Star Eyes Bodhisattva is armed with a sliver of steel and moonsilver, a Longfang she calls Night Sky Needle.
Combat
Attack (Night Sky Needle): 14 dice (Damage 16, 3 minimum, Reaching, Piercing)
Attack (Grapple): 7 dice (8 dice to control)
Combat Movement: 7 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 5
Soak / Hardness: 3 / 0 (Unarmored)
Powers
Excellencies: The discordant song that empowers Star Eyes Bodhisattva also grants her excellence. She can add up to (Permanent Limit) in dice to any action she takes, at a cost of 1m / die added, and may increase static ratings by up to (Permanent Essence /2, round down) at a cost of 2m / point raised. Her power increases as she approaches her final apotheosis.
Unstable Exaltation: Star Eyes Bodhisattva gains limit as a Solar, without a Limit Trigger. After each Limit Break subsides, her Permanent Limit increases by 1. If her Permanent Limit would become 10, instead the divine fire explodes from her in a violent eruption; for the next hour, this howling maelstrom of unleashed divine power should be treated as an environmental hazard, inflicting 3A/round with a difficulty to resist of 3. The damage and difficulty to resist is reduced by 1 for each range band away from her location at the time she perished.
The Many Faces of God (2m / merit dot; Simple; One Scene; Essence 1): Star Eyes Bodhisattva can manifest any of the following Supernatural Merits for one scene, by stoking the divine fire in her soul: Claws/Fangs/Hooves/Horns; Enhanced Sense; Extra Limbs; Poisoned Body; Quills; Unusual Hide; Wings. The Many Faces of God is reduced to 1m per merit dot when her anima is at bonfire/iconic.
Unconcerned By Lesser Things (1m / point; Reflexive; One day; Essence 1): Star Eyes Bodhisattva can reduce the difficulty for resisting environmental hazards by a maximum of 2. If this reduces the difficulty to 0 or less, she does not need to roll.
Healing of Silver (3m, 1wp; Supplemental; Instant; Essence 2): Star Eyes Bodhisattva transforms a finger into silver before plunging it into an individual afflicted by an illness; he may make an immediate test to resist the disease, with a bonus equal to her Permanent Limit.
Beyond You (1m; Reflexive; Instant; Essence 1): Star Eyes Bodhisattva ignores all penalties to her defense against one attack. The cost of Beyond You increases by 1 mote each time it is used in the same turn.
All Things Nothing (10m, 5i; Simple; Instant; Essence 2): Star Eyes Bodhisattva explodes in a blur of motion, travelling in every direction at once. She makes a withering attack against each opponent out to Short range, and moves up to one range band away. Once per scene, reset by striking an opponent with a decisive attack and rebuilding to 15+ initiative.
Aberrations of Fate
When the plans of Heaven become deeply fouled for extended periods of time, matters in Creation can become confused. As the force of destiny continues to push down a blocked path, the overflowing rivulets manifest in bizarre fashion.
Most often, such moments are of relatively little concern. Someone will briefly be in two places at once, or vanish and reappear with no memory of the intervening time. Deja vu experiences become common, as well as strange slips of memory or unintentionally honest bursts of speech. These minor occurrences are sufficiently common that few in Creation pay them much mind, apart from perhaps offering a quiet prayer to Heaven after they pass. Untreated, these small errors will accumulate, finally crystallizing around a singular, counterbalancing person, place or thing- which the Sidereal Exalted refer to as an Aberration.
Aberrations are, by their very nature, outside of fate. They are called into existence due to a persistent and uncorrected error in the plans of Heaven. As such, they often seem to exist in violation of one or more of the core principles of natural law. Aberrations are not necessarily hostile, but their natures are often contagious and inimical to the proper order in Creation.
The Impossible Girl, Bright Leader
Always, she bears a new name and a new place in the world; always, she bears the same face and voice. Sidereals have recorded contact with the Impossible Girl since shortly after the Contagion; she generally seems to be associated with children in some fashion, albeit sometimes in deeply surprising ways; a summoned neomah once expressed surprise and recognition, claiming that the Impossible Girl served in a nursery in Hell. In general, she will appear and simply assert herself, much as a Sidereal with a Resplendent Destiny. After a few months, perhaps a year, she will depart as quickly as she appeared, for years at a time- leaving ruin in her wake. Death does not seem to notably impact the recurrence of the Impossible Girl; Sidereals have reported killing her on at least three distinct occasions, twice with Terminal Sanction. If imprisoned, she will tend to vanish as soon as eyes are taken off of her. Despite the vexation she brings, the Impossible Girl is generally seen as more a nuisance or a harbinger of some greater impending disaster.
The Impossible Girl is presently named Bright Leader, a charismatic teacher at a Dynastic secondary school in the Realm. She joined barely two months ago, and has already proven popular amongst both the students and other faculty, owing to her bright demeanor, easy rapport with the children and casual command of respect and discipline. Her dress is more matronly than her age suggests; she favors sturdy dresses and short jackets in muted tones, contrasting with her fair skin and bright smile. Quite unrelated to her appearance, the son of the headmaster of the school- previously, a quiet boy who executed his studies diligently and was always a model of excellence -has become distracted, pestering his father with pointless questions and a seemingly unquenchable energy. His father puts this change down to delayed grief over the death of the boy's mother from an illness last year.
Essence: 1 Willpower: 5, Join Battle: 5 dice
Health Levels: -0x1/-1x2/-2x2/-4x1/Incap.
Sample Intimacies
- Defining Principle: Nurture and cherish my children.
- Major Principle: I have neither beginning nor ending.
- Minor Tie: Ardashir Alemon, son of the Headmaster (fond indulgence)
Actions: Teach: 5 dice; Social Influence: 7 dice; Read Motives: 7 dice; Senses: 5 dice
Appearance: 4, Resolve: 3, Guile: 3
Combat
Attack (unarmed): 4 dice (3 dice to control)
Combat Movement: 5 dice
Evasion: 2, Parry: 1
Soak/Hardness: 2 / 0
Merits
Implacable Drive: Bright Leader's Defining Principle of 'Nurture and cherish my children' cannot be changed or eliminated by non-magical means.
Recurrence: Unless forced to knowingly act against her Defining Principle of 'Nurture and cherish my children', the Impossible Girl will return.
Bad Penny: In the presence of the Impossible Girl, opponents increase the TN of all actions they take by 1; additionally, if they roll more 1s than successes, treat the result as a botch. Bright Leader has no conscious control or awareness of this merit.
Disaster Looms: Bright Leader's presence acts like a building Astrological Projection of ruin upon a particular individual; typically of Celestial Ambition 1, influencing them to destroy their own lives. Each month she is present, she rolls 7 dice against a difficulty of 1. She has no terminus for this Projection. Bright Leader has no conscious control or awareness of this merit.
Death-in-Life
Striking down a heaven-sent blessing. Cannibalism of your children. Treachery to kin. Murdering your guests, or your hosts. Some crimes resonate; they are so terrible that Heaven quakes when they occur without sanction. Sometimes, they call forth the aberration known as Death-in-Life.
In many respects, Death-in-Life appears to be just another kind of spirit. When visible, it appears most often as a pale, skeletally thin figure of indeterminate gender, wrapped in rags and with a bulging belly. All around her, even when she is unseen, is a smell of fruit rotting on the vine, pungent and sweet and wretched. It is not a thing of Creation, nor of Hell, nor the Underworld, nor the Wyld. It does not come as punishment; punishment is reserved to Lequan, God of Righteous Punishment, and his order of scourge bearing spirits. But it comes when terrible crimes go unanswered just the same.
Death-in-Life will attempt to possess someone in the community where the crime occurred. Victims so possessed become dull and listless. Their appetite dulls. They sleep more at first, and then less, and then not at all. Their hearts beat slower, and then stop. But they do not stop. The victims continue to live, bodies cold and clammy, their eyes glassy and vague. And then it spreads, taking another, and thence two more, until at last an entire community is trapped in a twilight, unliving but not dying. If it can be driven away, the brief, bittersweet touch of Death-in-Life can bring a kind of melancholic wisdom- but for most, it brings only the desire for death denied.
Death-in-Life will come with a task it needs accomplished, possessing people and driving them to the task without pity or mercy. Sometimes, the task is impossible; to tell all of Creation a particular story, or to dig a hole to the other side of the world. Other times it is merely unlikely. The task often seems insane and arbitrary, but often has at least a symbolic link to the crime or the criminal which initially called out to Death-in-Life. It prefers to avoid combat, but will not hesitate to defend itself in pursuit of its task.
Essence: 3; Willpower: 7; Join Battle: 7 dice
Personal Motes: 80
Health Levels: -0/-1x2/-2x2/-4/Incap.
Actions: Smell Crimes: 8 dice, Read Motive: 8 dice, Senses: 7 dice, Social Influence: 7 dice
Appearance: 4 (Hideous), Resolve: 4, Guile: 3
Combat
Attack (Rending claws): 12 dice (Damage 8)
Combat Movement: 7 dice
Evasion: 4, Parry: 4
Soak/Hardness: 5 / 5
Merits
Cult 0+: Death-in-Life does not benefit from cults in the traditional sense, but is similarly empowered by those she infects with its melancholic wasting.
Implacable: Death-in-Life comes into being with a single Defining Principle, a task that drives it's being. This intimacy cannot be changed or eliminated by non-magical means.
Unbalanced Scales: If any victims of Death-in-Life's melancholic illness are pursuing it's driving intimacy when the sun sets, Death-in-Life is restored to full health. This does not overcome spirit-destroying magic; if Death-in-Life is destroyed by Ghost-Eating Technique or comparable magic, it will remain destroyed.
Repelled by Revelry: Death-in-Life is repelled by happy people gathering together; it cannot voluntarily approach a group of three or more happy people closer than to Medium range.
Offensive Charms
Release Denied (10m; Simple; Instant; Decisive-only; Essence 1): Empowers a special gambit, with difficulty 3, exposing the target to the melancholic disease if successful. Victims resist with a -3 penalty.
Hungry And Unfilled (3m; Supplemental; Instant; Uniform; Essence 1): Death-in-Life chews apart the willpower of it's victims. If an attack supplemented by Hungry And Unfilled deals at least three damage, Death-in-Life steals 1 willpower from the victim as well.
Life-in-Death (3m; Reflexive; Instant; Uniform; Essence 2): Death-in-Life transfers the damage of a blow that would strike it to a victim in the terminal stage of the melancholy. Withering damage manifests as sudden bruising and bashing damage, while lethal or aggravated damage appear to have been dealt to the transferred victim. Damage transferred in this fashion is doubled. This must be used before the attack is rolled.
Miscellaneous Charms
Hurry Home (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence 1): Death-in-Life returns to the point at which it entered Creation.
Materialize (40m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence 1): Death-in-Life incarnates, drawing it's form from wisps of fog.
Melancholic Song (10m; Supplemental; Instant; Essence 1): Death-in-Life imbues a social influence action- typically either threaten, persuade, or instill -with the sorrow of it's purpose. Victims within Short range who fail to resist the influence are exposed to the melancholic disease, or must immediately resist the disease worsening.
--Sidebar: Melancholy of Death-in-Life--
Melancholy of Death-in-Life (Virulence 2, Morbidity 4, Interval: One month): Melancholy consumes the victim, haunting their dreams and denying them rest or release. It is resisted with (Wits + Resolve) instead of (Stamina + Resistance); it is a disease of the spirit more than the body. It is communicable by conversation; anyone who listens to one of the infected or spends a prolonged amount of time near them risks contracting the disease as well.
- Minor Symptom: At this stage, the victim begins to feel far more lethargic than normal. Unless they get at least 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep suffer a -1 fatigue penalty over the next day. This penalty accumulates for each day of missed sleep, to a maximum of -3. They also develop a minor principle towards fulfilling Death-in-Life's driving purpose, which cannot be changed or eliminated by non-magical means.
- Major Symptom: Sleep, once a source of comfort, is now denied the victim. They must succeed at a (Wits + Integrity) check against a difficulty 1 each night in order to fall asleep; if they do not, they suffer from the fatigue of the minor symptom, and also fail to renew their willpower. The intimacy they have towards fulfilling Death-in-Life's driving purpose becomes a Major principle.
- Defining Symptom: The escape that slumber provides is denied more often; the difficulty for the victim to sleep rises to 3, and the maximum fatigue penalty rises to -6. The intimacy they have towards fulfilling Death-in-Life's driving purpose becomes a Defining principle.
- Death: The victim becomes a walking corpse. They do not eat, sleep or breathe, but they also do not rot, and will mechanically go through the motions of life. They treat all social influence not directly related to fulfilling the purpose of Death-in-Life to be unacceptable. The fatigue penalty vanishes. Victims are still sapient, and will describe in detail what they are doing and how they are suffering if asked. Victims that have reached this stage are already dead; nothing can be done to restore them to what they once were.
--End Sidebar--
The Traveller in Black
He bears a staff of yellow-white wood, and all the subtle whorls look like the skin of unfresh cream; it shifts as he walks, like fog and dust trapped in a beam of moonlight. From crown to toe he is robed in fuligin, save a mask of white jade and gloves of supple white leather. He has many names and one, one nature but many. He is the bane of chaos and the ruin of gods, serving his particular order. He is bound by inscrutable laws, and free of common constraint. He grants what you wish, but rarely what you want and never what you need.
The first reported sighting of the Traveller in Black date to the Contagion, when the tide of chaos swept across the face of Creation and the Fair Folk's crusade against shape seemed most likely to come to fruition. Since that time, appearances have been scattered and unusual, generally accompanying a significant derailment of fate due to the actions of beings from beyond Heaven's ken or in flagrant violation of the plans of Destiny. When confronted, the Traveller asserts that he is a servant of All, come to bring order from disorder. Whatever the truth of his intentions, his actions give the lie; things may be ordered in his wake, but they are ordered to an alien sensibility with no relation to the nature of Creation.
Unlike some aberrations, the Traveller in Black is almost always a bane to the Sidereals. Although he often remedies the immediate cause of some cause of a failure of fate, the cure is often worse than the disease. In the wake of the Traveller, fire burns cold, rooms reorder themselves via higher dimensional math, and the senses are intermixed, giving rise to loud colors, red sounds and numeric smells. Sometimes, the Traveller can be pointed at some more pressing problem where his presence can be turned to good- but convincing the alien aberration to change course is never an easy task.
Essence: 5, Willpower: 10, Join Battle: 8 dice
Personal Motes: 100
Health Levels: -0x2/-1x4/-2x4/-4x2/Incap.
Actions: Feats of Strength: 7 dice (can attempt Strength 5 feats), Recognize Wishes: 10 dice, Senses: 8 dice, Social Influence: 8 dice
Appearance: 2, Resolve: 6, Guile: 7
Combat
Attack (Staff Strike): 15 dice (Damage: 12)
Attack (Unarmed): 8 dice (Damage: 8)
Combat Movement: 10 dice
Evasion: 5, Parry: 5
Soak/Hardness: 8 / 0
Merits
One Name and Many: The Traveller in Black arrives with a single Defining Principle. This intimacy cannot be changed or eliminated by non-magical means.
Many Natures And One: The Traveller in Black has two distinct initiative tracks. He acts on both sets of initiative. When he takes initiative damage, damage is taken from the track with the highest value. The Traveller in Black is only treated as being in Crash if both initiative tracks are crashed. Crashing one of these tracks while the other still has initiative does not grant a break bonus.
Chill of Cold Iron: The Traveller in Black's person and equipment is treated as cold iron for the purposes of harming and breaking creatures of the Wyld.
Offensive Charms
Twist of Fate (1m / TN; Reflexive; Instant; Essence 1): The Traveller in Black can reduce the target number of actions he takes by 1 per 1m spent, to a minimum of 5.
Doubt Denied (8m; Reflexive; Instant; Perilous; Essence 2): The Traveller in Black treats it's Soak as Hardness against an incoming decisive attack.
Reality Spin (5m; Simple; Instant; Dual; Essence 3): The Traveller in Black attempts to rewrite the reality of someone's existence. If used to make a withering attack- Short range, 12 dice, damage 8 which ignores soak from non-magical sources. If Reality Spin is used to make a decisive attack, 10 dice, and the Traveller does not lose initiative from failed attacks made with Reality Spin. Victims killed by Reality Spin may be transformed in unpredictable and often unsettling ways.
Miscellaneous Charms
As You Wish (Special): The Traveller in Black may rearrange reality to an almost limitless degree, but only in response to a wish made which aligns with his core Principle. Wishes are rarely granted in a fashion satisfactory to the wisher. Treat this Charm as being the equivalent to Wyld-Shaping Technique (Exalted p. 335), save that the Traveller may use it within Creation. Encounters drawn by use of As You Wish within Creation will tend to consist of elementals and gods investigating the disturbance; Sidereals being dispatched to deal with the Traveller are often stand in for powerful creatures of the Wyld or behemoths. The Traveller in Black rolls 12 dice when using As You Wish.
So Be It (10m / interval; Simple; Until complete; Essence 5): If a wish is too complex to be granted by a single application of As You Wish, the Traveller in Black may instead opt for the slower but more potent So Be It. This allows the Traveller to perform the equivalent of sorcerous workings of any Ambition, rolling 12 dice per interval. The Traveller does not have a fixed number of intervals before the working fails, but it must commit an additional ten motes per interval it rolls. Each interval requires at least one week of effort. If the Traveller in Black cannot pay the cost for an interval of So Be It before the working is complete, he is destroyed in a scream of silver flame.
The Loyal Opposition
Rakan Thulio and the War on Heaven
From the earliest days of the Time Before, there were few heroes greater than the Sleepwalker, Rakan Thulio. His insight into the nature of the enemies of the Chosen and the secret ways by which their ends could be found were invaluable; his council without peer when advising both gods and princes upon their courses of action. As the First Age dawned, he stood with head held high amongst the ranks of the Five Score Fellowship, and none would say that his pride was without cause.
For two dozen centuries or more, he fulfilled his duty as an agent of Heaven without question or qualm. He eased the passage of those things which reached their allotted span, served missions in the Underworld, and no fault could be found in his words or deeds. But love is the death of honor, even for as great a hero as the Sleepwalker.
Some say it was a jealous spirit, or one whom Rakan Thulio had punished for some transgression. Others record that it was a love unsanctioned in the rolls of the Cerulean Lute. Yet others say Rakan Thulio never knew love at all, he drew no inspiration from such- that he desired to make himself the master of destiny rather than a servant, and the tales of love lost are a fiction he invented, a fig leaf for his ambitions. Even before the Mask was broken, it was hard to know the truth, and now, it is unlikely that any save Jupiter could say- and the Lady of Silence keeps her council regarding Thulio close, as she does most matters.
What is certain is this; at the pinnacle of the First Age, Rakan Thulio drew upon martial techniques forbidden from before the founding of Creation, and made pacts with powers that caused the Demon Princes to shudder in Hell. The thread of his long life was exhausted, and Saturn made her mark to bring an end- but with a blasphemous sign, Thulio refused. He has neither aged nor bleed since that day. For this treason, he was cast out of Heaven.
The Necessity of Fate
In his celestial manse, documents were found- clearly intended to be discovered after Thulio had departed. Known as the Eyre of the Sleepwalker, they have been locked away in the Forbidding Manse of Ivy for fear that fell sorcery writ in them could ensnare mind or soul of the unwary who read them. They record, in Thulio’s hand, how he fell in love with another. How his love was refused. How, when he sought to discover the reason for this refusal in the Loom of Fate, he was confronted by a conspiracy of corrupt divinities who had plotted to inflict this suffering on him for their own amusement, and how the censors of Heaven did not when he cried his cause to them.
The torment opened his eyes- what he endured was not unique. He had willingly served as the agent of those same vile gods as they mete out woe to the innocent and weal to the wicked- in his arrogance, he had allowed himself to be willfully blind to the suffering he was complicit in. But now that the Sleepwalker had awoken, he could not fall back into slumber. No matter the cost, he would free Creation from the hands of a broken Heaven and tyrannical Fate. If the wicked should prosper and the innocent suffer, then let no man or god arrange these matters- better the fickle reward and punishment of blind chance than by the perverted mind of a spirit playing with the lives of men as pieces on a board. Better that all should serve causeless and uncaused necessity and freedom than to suffer the yoke of a fallible fate in vain effort to fend off rapacious gods.
Since that time, Rakan Thulio has plagued the Sidereal Exalted. He has no thread in the Loom of Fate, and seems invisible to the minds and powers of the Maidens of Destiny. Immortal and inscrutable, he recruits rogue gods and plies Sidereals with promises and threats- always with the ultimate goal of seeing Yu-Shan torn down, the orchids of the Peaches of Immortality salted, the vintners of Celestial Wine set to torch, and the Loom of Fate and the Jade Pleasure Dome alike flooded by a quicksilver sea turned toxic and choking. He has been blamed, rightly or wrongly, for every calamity to befall Heaven and Earth since his betrayal- the madness of the Solars, the infighting of the Shogunate, the Contagion and incursion of the Fair Folk, and most recently the departure of the Empress and the return of the Solars. The wise amongst the Sidereals scoff at the idea that one man, however great and terrible, could accomplish all these things. But even the wisest cannot dismiss the possibility out of hand.
The Sleepwalker has been confronted only a handful of times since his expulsion from Heaven. Despite his seeming immortality, he does not test the direct might of the Incarnae or the Hosts of Heaven. The Sidereals do not know if this is from fear or out of a deeper plan.
When he has been confronted, he has wielded the powers of the Maidens with a grace and strength unknown in any other. His mastery of his Essence has exceeded all bound, and his enlightenment in the ways of the martial arts is without peer. Sidereals corrupted to his cause weave poison destinies into the Loom of his design, and demons from Hell claim to have the deepest secrets of sorcery from him.
But none of these prepared the Sidereals for Thulio’s master stroke - the rise of the Getimian Exalted.
The Getimian Exalted
The Getimian Exalted claim to have been Chosen by a being they know only as Ananke, whom they claim created the concepts of time and necessity. Neither god nor devil nor thing of the Wyld, Ananke preceded Creation and will outlast all else. Some of the Getimian have said that Ananke is the mother of the Wyld and of the Maidens of Destiny, while others say that Ananke is the bedrock upon which natural law is founded. Nothing in Heaven records Ananke from before the Getimian, and when questioned, the demon princes only madly laugh or shudder in fear.
Rakan Thulio somehow awoke or contacted Ananke and roused her awareness. With his Heaven-given knowledge and unmatched wisdom, he gave the secrets of Exaltation to her, and persuaded her to aid him in his cause.
Each of the Getimian Exalted weaves their own destiny, having been rejected from the destiny of Creation. Each an aberration whom the Loom of Fate says should not exist; each bears a Loom within their soul, powered by colonies of pattern spiders nesting in their spines, and spinning dense webs of destiny to act as their bones. They replace Creation’s fate with one of their own design, or simply rend the weave apart when it displeases them.
Many share in Thulio’s vision of a world without a destiny imposed by Heaven. They have been told of the Sidereals by Thulio, and how the Agents of Destiny serve a corrupt Heaven seeking only it’s own profit. Almost all of them have been injured in some fashion by a failure of the Loom, and believe that without the Loom of Fate, the injuries they suffered would not have occurred.
Essence
The Getimian Exalted have a personal and peripheral mote pools equal to (Essence x4) + 17. Like the other Exalted, expending motes from their peripheral pool will cause their anima to ignite, revealing his caste mark and shedding forth the radiance of his inner divinity. Unlike the other Exalted, however, the powers of the Getimian Exalted may be influenced by the well they draw their power from. Some of their Charms may only be powered by Personal motes, others only by Peripheral. Some Charms work regardless of the source, and others can have varied effects.
Excellencies
Like the Sidereal Exalted, Getimians may add up to (Essence) dice to a roll with their Excellencies. However, they do not share in the Sidereal’s ability to alter the target number of an action; instead, they may steal and use the dice and rolls of others.
Before dice are rolled, Getimian Exalted may add or remove dice at a cost of one mote per die. Getimian may steal up to (Essence) dice from a single action, and hold up to (Essence x2) stolen dice at once; dice stolen in this way are kept by the Getimian until the end of the scene, and may be added to their own actions in excess of their normal Excellency cap. They may even steal dice from themselves, trading worse luck now for better luck later. Additionally, certain of their powers allow Getimians to steal dice after they have been rolled, to force bad rolls upon their opposition, or to make use of these stolen dice in more esoteric fashion.
When modifying static values, the Getimian Exalted can raise their values by up to (Essence), at a cost of 2 motes or 1 mote and 1 die per point gained.
Five Points Fallen, Anterior Caste Getimian
Five Points Fallen was once a proud merchant prince of the Guild, a rising star in the ranks and one of the richest men in all of Creation. Until the day he wasn’t- his fortune stripped from him over night, not by machination of his enemies but like a rug having been pulled from beneath him. His loyal assistants had no memory of his former stature. Scrapping and begging, he eventually bought the record of his membership in the Guild- only to learn that Five Points Fallen had been refused membership. He knew one truth, and Creation knew another. It was then that Ananke found him, and raised him up as a member of the Getimian Exalted, Chosen to preserve that was was from being callously changed. Men and women must remain responsible for what they have and haven’t done.
The caste mark of the Anterior Caste is a diamond with the two lower legs branching outward, left and right. Their anima tends to be various shades of sandy yellow, like the various deserts of the South. The Anterior Caste are most often chosen from those who have experienced a divergence in history; individuals who have experienced one past when Creation says they have lived another. They draw power from the immutable and well-known, favoring stamina, appearance, and intelligence.
Essence: 3, Willpower: 7, Join Battle: 7 dice
Personal Motes: 29; Peripheral Motes: 29
Health Levels: -0x3/-1x2/-2x2/-4x3/Incap.
Actions: Resist Poison/Disease: 8 dice, Senses: 7, Historical Lore: 9, Bargaining: 7, Read Intentions: 6, Appearance 3, Resolve 3, Guile 3
Combat
Attack (Unarmed): 12 dice; damage 10)
Attack (Grapple): 8 dice
Combat Movement: 6 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 4
Soak/Hardness 4 / 0
Offensive Charms
Four Magical Materials Form (15m; Simple; One scene): Subtract 1 from his Unarmed attack pool, add +3 to his damage, add +1 to his Parry and he gains Overwhelming 4 with unarmed attacks. His unarmed attacks deal lethal damage. Additionally, he adds +8 to his Soak and gains a hardness of 7.
Grinding Sands (1m and 1d per die; Supplemental; Instant; Withering-only): Steal force from an opponent’s attack and enhance your own. He may spend dice stolen with his Excellency to increase his damage on withering attacks, adding up to (Essence) dice of damage.
Weight of History (3m, 1i; Supplemental; Instant; Uniform, Peripheral-only): The ringing blows of the Getimian linger long after the attack was made. Onslaught penalties from attacks enhanced by Weight of history last for 3 turns.
Charge the Scroll (4m; Supplemental; Instant; Dual-Essence): What has been done remains done, but sometimes the actors may become confused. When the Getimian uses Charge the Scroll with personal motes, he adds his wound penalty to his target, when he uses peripheral motes, he adds his onslaught penalty.
Defensive Charms
Stolen Potential (1m / die; Reflexive; Instant; Withering-only, Personal-only): When struck by a withering attack, the Getimian may steal from the post-soak damage, taking up to 3 dice.
No Escape (1m, 1d; Reflexive; Instant): When someone attempts to disengage from the Getimian, she may spend one mote and a stolen die to transform one of their rolled dice into a 1.
Unmoved, Unbroken (4m; Simple; One scene; Personal-only) The Getimian becomes as immutable as history itself. She increases her hardness by 3, subtracts 3 from the post-soak damage of all withering attacks, and subtracts 3 from the raw damage of all decisive attacks. Each time she is struck, she must commit an additional personal mote to this effect.
Social Charms
Already Decided (3m; Reflexive; Instant; Personal-only): You can no more change the Getimian’s mind than you can change the past itself. She may use Already Decided to perfectly resist any attempt at the same influence being retried.
Worse to Come (1wp and 2m / point; Supplemental; Instant; Peripheral-only, Mute): The Getimian knows how bad things are, and how much worse they can get. Worse to Come may be used to enhance any Threaten action or any attempt to instill fear, doubt or uncertainty about the future; the Getimian steals for her target’s Resolve, taking up to (Essence) points and gaining 1 die per point stolen. If her opponent is reduced to zero Resolve by Worse To Come, the willpower cost to resist the influence increases by 2.
Princess Number Eight, Immanent Caste Getimian
In the Suzerainty of Ah Kin by the Dreaming Sea, there was a Queen with eight daughters who had given birth but seven times. This contradiction went unnoticed by all, until, upon turning seventeen and coming into her inheritance, the youngest daughter- Princess Number Eight -asked her mother why her birthday was never celebrated with feasts and fetes as her sisters, and why she was given no stallion or sword of bright steel with which to forge her legend. The Queen hesitated, and the world seemed to freeze. What was could not have led to what is, and the tension between the two snapped, casting the Princess adrift- until Ananke offered her the chance to ensure the stability of that which is.
The caste mark of the Immanent Caste is a straight slash down the center of their forehead. Their anima tends to be dark blues, reds and purples- the colors divers see in the depths of the ocean, or children see when they press their eyes tightly shut. The Immanent Caste is drawn from those who are uncaused causes; they have no proper beginning within the Loom of Fate, despite their present existence. They draw power from the eternal now, and favor dexterity, charisma, and perception.
Essence: 2, Willpower: 6, Join Battle: 6 dice
Personal Motes: 25; Peripheral Motes: 20 (25)
Health Levels: -0/-1x2/-2x2/-4/Incap.
Actions: Senses: 9, Stealth: 8, Investigation: 8, Appearance 3, Resolve 2, Guile 2
Combat
Attack (steel dagger): 13 dice; damage 10
Attack (Starmetal Throwing Needle, always returns after being thrown): 13 dice at short range, damage +12, overwhelming 3
Combat Movement: 8 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 4
Soak/Hardness 5 / 0 (mundane buff jacket)
Offensive Charms
There You Are (3m; Supplemental; Instant; Uniform): No matter where you go, the Getimian’s attacks can find you. An attack supplemented with There You Are ignores the defensive bonus from light and heavy cover.
In My Sights (3m; Supplemental; Instant; Dual-Essence): By spending 3 personal motes, the Getimian may transform the dice added by an Aim action into successes; by spending 3 peripheral motes, she may instead gain the benefits of having Aimed at a target within Short range the turn previous.
Already Present (6m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Decisive-only, Peripheral-only): Launch a flickering barrage of attacks; make a single ranged attack at a target, re-rolling failures on the damage roll up to 3 times. If Already Present is used from stealth, it does not cost a willpower to use.
Defensive Charms
Paradox of Motion (2m or 2m, 1wp; Reflexive; Instant; Dual-Essence): Objects cannot move in discrete moments in time, and cannot travel in atomic moments in time. Exploiting this paradox, the Getimian may spend two personal motes to ignore all penalties to her Evasion against an attack. Alternatively, once per scene, she may spend 2 peripheral motes and a willpower to perfectly dodge an attack, even an attack that is otherwise undodgeable or consisting of uncountable damage.
Untouchable (2m / die; Reflexive; Instant; Personal-only): The Getimian steals the potential of a blow, saving it for later. She steals one up to 2 dice at a cost of 2 motes per die after an attack has been made. These dice are kept with the number rolled; at the Getimian’s option, when they are spent on a roll, they may instead be placed as the number rolled.
Miscellaneous Charms
Here And Gone (7m; Simple; One scene; Personal-only): While active, the Getimian may flurry her attempts to re-establish stealth, and may move at full speed, including taking Rush actions, while in stealth.
Still the Storm (2m / mote; Reflexive; Instant; Mute, Peripheral-only): The Getimian still the storm of active essence within herself, transforming it into something as still and calm as ice. Once per turn, she may transform up to 4 peripheral motes into 2 personal motes, at a cost of 2 peripheral motes spent per personal mote gained. Once per scene, she may also consume her anima; this costs 1 willpower, and gains her 1 personal mote per level of anima consumed, snuffing her anima out entirely.
Shadowed Fortune, Ulterior Caste Getimian
Fortune grew up in a world that never knew peace. The Civil War rages in the absence of the Scarlet Empress; terrible weapons are unleashed, whole villages and towns destroyed. Her days were spent slaving for the soldiers that kept her and her family safe- mostly farming, but also fletching arrows and digging peat to fuel to the forges. Each night she dreamed of a world like her grandparents had told her of- one where the Dragonblooded put down the Anathema that ravaged the Threshold, instead of turning on the Isle. She dreamed, but did not hope- until she awoke, sixty years before she went to sleep. Cast from a future that only may be, she was confused at the clear blue sky and fat, friendly farmers she encountered, who only remarked upon her curious accent. She thought herself going mad- until Ananke offered the opportunity to shape that which could be, and Rakan Thulio gave her the tools to decide fate for herself.
The caste mark of the Ulterior Caste is a C, with the top and bottom limbs broken and reaching inwards. Their anima tends to be amber and orange hues, resembling a storm-covered horizon at the break of day. They tend to be drawn from those who have become unstuck in time- most often drawn from a possible future to a certain present, although they are sometimes those who have a perception of time flowing backwards, remembering events that have not yet happened. Almost always, they are those whose existence threatens to raise the curtain that separates tomorrow from today. They draw power from the inexorable yet uncertain tomorrow, and favor strength, manipulation, and wits.
Essence: 1, Willpower: 8, Join Battle: 8 dice
Personal Motes: 11 (21); Peripheral Motes: 21
Health Levels: -0/-1x3/-2x2/-4x2/Incap.
Actions: Feats of Strength: 7, Bluff: 6, Read Intentions 6, Appearance 2, Resolve 3, Guile 3
Combat
Attack (starmetal grand daiklave): 8 dice; damage 18, overwhelming 6
Combat Movement: 5 dice
Evasion 2, Parry 4
Soak/Hardness 11 / 7 (starmetal lamellar armor)
Offensive Charms
Wait For It (1m; Reflexive; Instant; Personal-only): The Getimian waits for the perfect moment to act; she ignores the initiative cost for holding her action.
Already Known (3m / point; Supplemental; Instant; Uniform, Peripheral-only): The future was set when the swing began. The Getimian enhances an attack made at close range; she steals up to 1 point of her victim’s Evasion or Parry, gaining the lost point as a stolen die.
Rust and Ruin (3m; Supplemental; Instant; Withering-only, Peripheral-only): At some point in the future, the target will lay dead and all his protections fallen to rust and ruin. Once per scene, the Getimian unites then with now, granting her victim the protection of his ruined armor. An attack enhanced with Rust and Ruin ignores soak provided by mundane armor, and halves soak provided by artifact armor. Rust and Ruin may be reset by achieving an initiative shift.
Defensive Charms
Slow but Fine (3m; Reflexive; Instant; Counterattack, Dual-Essence, Stackable): The wheel of time grinds slow but fine, and no one may escape. When the Getimian defends herself from an attack with her Parry, she may use Slow but Fine; if she activates the charm with personal motes, she ignores penalties to her Parry for this attack, and if she uses peripheral motes, she creates a counterattack which occurs after the enemy’s attack result, but before damage has been rolled. This attack functions as a regular withering attack. The Getimian may activate Slow but Fine twice to gain both effects, if she spends 3 personal motes and 3 peripheral motes.
Movement Charms
Here Before You Know It (3m; Simple; Instant; Peripheral-only): The future is always rushing on, and arrives before anyone is ready. Once per scene, she may move one range band towards an opponent, and immediately take either a hand-to-hand attack or rush action.