text:
The Book of Ten Thousand Scorpions
Being a catalogue of the fell powers of the Yozis, the dread arts of sorcery and necromancy, the terrifying wonders of the Solar Exalted, the unnatural ways of the Lunar Exalted, the elemental powers of the Terrestrial Exalted and the entropic powers of the Abyssal Exalted.
There is a book, or so it is said. The Book of Ten Thousand Scorpions, the Book-Which-Is-A-Behemoth, penned (if that is indeed the term) by He Who Bleeds the Unknown Word in the early days of the Primordial War. From what can be told, the Book was intended to be a tool to catalogue the strange new empowered humans who were attacking the Primordials, a way of categorising and studying them, to trap them within narratives where they could be vivisected. Some see the hand of the Principle of Hierarchy in this work, but she of all beings would surely not engage in something so circuitous.
Whatever it was meant to be, that is not what happened.
The book-behemoth studied the Exalted, yes, but it also studied the Primordials, and indeed felt more affinity for them than it did its intended targets. It studied their arts of sorcery.
And then, rather than entrap the Exalted within its self, it invented new Charms. New Charms, possible, yet uncreated, Charms which could be learned by any of the right beings that found it. Primordials and Exalted alike have learned from it. And as soon as the first Primordial died, on the carapace pages of the Ten Thousand Scorpions began to form strange words, which would only be understood much later to be the glossolalia of the Neverborn, teaching necromancy over a thousand years before its discovery.
Many would kill to read it. Others would kill to destroy it. It speaks of strange things, of witch-Lunars who caress the Beyond, of the strange fecundities of the Yozis, of the healing-ways of Malfeas and the varazslany of Cecelyne. It denies the existence of the way that Solars can steal the powers of the Yozis, and presents another way. In it can be read of the manse-children of Kimbery, and the terrible power of sorcery and necromancy, pushing developments in that neglected art.
And it is said that the suggestions of its readers can lead to it budding new wonders within...
Unbroken By Unacknowledged Blows
Impossibility of Base Treachery
Pneuma-Moulding Marvellous Muneration
Allele Alteration Implementation
Retroactive Impregnation Actualisation
Localised Speciation Induction
Binary Instruction Implementation
Efficient Indoctrination Logograms
Eusocial Organism Optimisation
Infidelity Scourging Heartwind
Sevenfold Adoration Progenation
Price-of-Everything Undercurrents
Monstrous Manse-Mother Fountainhead
Geomancy-Suckling Little Darling
Potential-Drowning Depths Dweller
Unhallowed Dreaming World-Progeny
Butterflies to Chrysalides Bombardment
Tilting the Scales of Destruction
Architectural Remembrance Recovery
Primordial Principle Emulation
Primordial Principle Internalisation
Hidden (Attribute) Manifestation
Horrifying Silver Insurgent Strike
PERSUASIVE WORLD-WHISPER (modified version by Revlid)
Cost: - ; Mins: Essence 5; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Sorcerous Enlightenment of (Yozi) x 3, (Yozi) Mythos Exultant
The Primordials are masters over their own mythos. How could they not be? And so that all-encompassing existence, scribed against the shinma, exists within them and without. Even if sorcery may tap those aspects, it will never compare to their own mastery. This Charm permanently enhances Sorcerous Enlightenment of (Yozi) and its repurchases. Spells cast which directly invoke the Yozi or their souls by their very nature, such as a Malfean use of Total Annihilation, or a use of Narrative Shredding Bolt by the Dragon Beyond the World, receive a 5m, 1wp discount, to a minimum of 5m, 1wp. This explicitly stacks with any discounts which may be granted by the Sorcerous Initiation of (Yozi) to the spell in question. Use of Slave-Spawn Summons, Fiend-Vassal Conscription, and All-Commanding Oversoul Beckoning only provides the discount when summoning a demon from the soul hierarchy of the appropriate Yozi.
Cost: -; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Cold Fire Desolation Brand, Blight Internalisation Transcendence
The hateful Essence of Malfeas will stand for no rivals. A lesser disease will not be permitted to slay one's foe before the sickness of the green sun has made its way through their body. This Charm permanently expands the capacities of the Infernal Exalt. Any time she would infect a single character with Green Sun Wasting or Final Viridescence, she may choose to spend 2 motes and instead convey the variant inflicted by Blight Internalisation Transcendence. This infection cures all other Sickness effects the character is suffering from, up to and including the Great Contagion, but renders the character infertile as a Crippling effect for the next season, inducing immediate delivery of viable infants and miscarriage of non-viable ones. It does not convey the lasting immunity to Sickness that Blight Internalisation Transcendence provides. Any character cured of a Sickness by this Charm gains an Intimacy of Terrified Awe towards the Infernal, which may not be weakened until they have gone at least a day without seeing their benefactor. If the character knows Fealty Acknowledging Audience, then the brand counts as a vector, and so they may be infected at any time that the Infernal can see them.
At Essence 4, the capacity of this Charm expands; if a Charm would infect multiple people with Green Sun Wasting with a single activation, then the Infernal may instead chose to spend 5m and 1wp, and infect all those exposed with the modified variant. For charms such as Gifts of Invisible Flame, which affect an area, everyone exposed to the disease are infected by this modified variant. Such an expenditure also permits every Fealty Acknowledging Audience branded individual currently suffering from a Sickness effect to be infected, for Malfeas does not tolerate indolence in his servants.
With a repurchase at Essence 5, the infection does provide the immunity to other Sickness effects normally provided by Blight Internalisation Transcendence, for the same period of time as that Charm.
Cost: -; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Training
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Merciless Radiative Therapy
One cannot help but be changed by exposure to Malfeas. Some waste away when exposed to his majesty. Others, though, take a new strength from it, bearing new growths and toughening up. When a character's fever breaks after being infected by its prerequisite, they may gain one dot in any of the following traits as a Training effect, up to a maximum of 4 dots; Strength, Stamina, Charisma, Resistance, Athletics, Performance, Conviction, or Valour. Should they wish, a character can convert their Appearance back into XP to pay for this, to represent twisting and scarring left by the disease.
Alternatively, as a Desecration effect, the character can gain any single mutation, chosen by the Infernal, as their flesh warps from exposure to Malfean Essence. Hardened Devil Body can be given to non-Exalts as an Abomination once, to represent flesh inured to pain by the terrible agonies of Green Sun Wasting.
A second purchase of this Charm permanently enhances Blight Internalization Transcendence, allowing the Infernal to treat the breaking of the fever of Final Viridescence inflicted by that Charm as a Training effect conveying instant knowledge of any Malfeas Charm he could learn, or any Heretical Charm with at least one Malfeas Charm as a prerequisite. This benefit also applies to any character the Infernal applies the effects of Blight Internalization Transcendence to (such as through Merciless Radiative Therapy). From a chrysalis of sickness and wasted crippled flesh shall one burst free as a beautiful butterfly, he promises himself and his followers.
Cost: -; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Corpus-Building Fever Dreams
When two layers of Malfeas collide, craters of basalt and brass the size of Creation can be torn. Sometimes these scars flood with Kimbery, and the agony of this tickles gently against Malfeas' awareness, and the poisons within her tainted waters can sicken even him. But from the pain and sickness, new districts grow, stronger for the pain that went into them. This Charm enhances its prerequisite. Firstly, use of Blight Internalisation Transcendence and Merciless Radiative Therapy also removes Poison effects from the target, the tainted body fluids seeping out through the open sores. This grants the same immunity to Poison as it does to Sickness.
Secondly, the Desecration effect of Corpus-Building Fever Dreams can be used to heal Crippling effects, by conveying an appropriate mutation. A Lidless Demon Eye might rest in a formerly-empty socket when the scabs of Green Sun Wasting fall off, for example, or a severed arm grow back with Talons. The Malfean source of the healing is clear; gnarled new limbs hardened with brassy scar tissue and faintly glowing organs that pulse with unnatural vitality show that their benefactor is not of Creation. Perhaps this is the source of the loyalty they convey their benefactor; if a mutation is used to heal in this manner, the target gains an Intimacy of Terrified Awe towards the Infernal which may not be eroded or weakened or removed in any way until the mutation is removed. If the mutation is removed by any means, the Crippling effect reasserts itself.
Cost: 9m; Mins: Malfeas 0, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Purity of Madness Defense
The Holy Tyrant was the burning will that drove the Primordials in their construction of Creation. It was his desire that brought it into being, a product of his mind, and without the lord it requires, Malfeas knows it cannot be real in any meaningful way. That which he does not acknowledge cannot exist, and that which cannot see cannot harm him. This Charm can be activated in response to any attack, social or physical, providing a perfect dodge against it. This charm functions against unexpected attacks. When used against social attacks, the Infernal dismisses all words without a single thought or any visible reaction. When used against physical attacks, the Charm is Obvious, as the world stretches and warps rather than permit a blow against the Infernal's crystallised ego as a Shaping effect. Blades and arrows would rather flee than defy the Infernal's assertions of what is and is not real, existing partially in Elsewhere for the duration of the attack.
The Charm bears the Imperfection of the Demon City, and cannot be activated while the Infernal is undergoing Torment. The Infernal is afflicted by an irresistible Compulsion as a result of using this Charm, which removes the memory of the attack from them. If the Infernal is attacked from surprise, and uses this Charm to defend against the attack, he does not automatically notice his attacker, although other characters are free to do so. In the First Age, it was not uncommon for Deliberative experimental weapons tests to occur within the Demon City, and although Malfeas would roar and yell at the indignities inflicted upon him, at other times he would ignore the Exalted presence, and even the most powerful bombardment would be as unreal as the morning's mist. This typically annoyed the sorcerer-scientists involved, who found the Demon City to be inconsiderate in not providing a proper test-dummy.
Cost: — (+1wp); Mins: Malfeas 0, Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Illusion, Shaping
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Unbroken By Unacknowledged Blows
Despite his crippling defeat, Malfeas still finds it difficult to contemplate the idea that any would dare to strike at him. On the balance of probabilities, it seems more likely that any such happening is nothing more than the fleeting hallucination of a pain-wracked Primordial mind. As a generous king, Malfeas suppresses his uncertainty, and conveys this conviction to others. This Charm permanently enhances its prerequisite; the Infernal may spend 1 willpower to obscure any evidence that a blow was ever struck (or unkind words ever spoken). The inconvenient truths of reality obscured by his crystallized belief in his own unassailability. This is an Illusion effect that automatically targets all onlookers (including the attacker and Infernal), convincing them that the attacker froze up or hesitated rather than dare to strike at their true king, and a Shaping effect which repairs any damage to surrounding terrain done by the attack within (Essence) yards of the Infernal. The unnatural mental influence can be ignored by non-Extras at a cost of one point of Willpower, despite the fact that it should be true, by all rights.
In addition, the Infernal may activate Unbroken By Unacknowledged Blows in Step 7 of a physical attack. Used in this manner, it Obviously perfectly soaks all damage from the attack, reducing it to zero after any modifiers. However, this version of the Charm cannot defend against unexpected attacks; only those blows that Malfeas acknowledges, however fleetingly, can actually strike him. In any case, this surcharge cannot be applied to the action-long version of that Charm.
At Essence 5+, Unbroken By Unacknowledged Blows also imposes a Compulsion on onlookers, driving them to publicly deny any evidence that the attack took place, even if it is directly presented to them or they resisted the initial Illusion effect. This unnatural mental influence can be thrown off by the expenditure of a further point of Willpower.
A second purchase of this Charm at Essence 4+ allows the self-evident truth of the world to be made... more clear. The Infernal may a spend a further two motes in Step 9 of any attack he used Unbroken By Unacknowledged Blows to defend against, imposing a Knockback effect on his attacker (this functions equally against ranged attackers). This effect moves them ([Strength x 2] + [Charisma x 2]) yards, and must move them as far out of the Infernal's line of sight as possible ("over a cliff" is a perfectly valid example of being out of the Infernal's line of sight). Whether or not the effect actually manages to remove them from his line of sight, they automatically re-establish surprise over the Infernal, who suffers an irresistible Illusion that removes all memory of the attacker's presence in their last action.
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Malfeas 0, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 9)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Compulsion, Counterattack, Social, Sorcerous
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Unbroken By Unacknowledged Blows
That which Malfeas does not acknowledge does not exist. The world may disagree, but Creation is mad, and will surely see reason eventually. The Infernal may activate this Charm in response to successfully dodging a social attack, inflicting a Sorcerous effect on the attacker that forces others to follow their king's lead in ignoring him. For the rest of the scene, any character (including the Infernal) that the target attempts to interact with in any fashion is immediately placed under a Compulsion to ignore him; they react as though they could not sense him at all (making them immune to his social attacks), leaning around or pushing by him if necessary.
This unnatural mental influence cannot be resisted by Extras or characters branded by the Infernal's Magnanimous Warning Glyph. Mortals can resist it for one action by paying one point of temporary Willpower, or for an entire scene at a cost of three points. Essence-users can resist it for a scene by paying one point of temporary Willpower. The Infernal can ignore it entirely at a cost of gaining one point of Limit. Individual Compulsions automatically break if the target physically attacks the affected character, and all of them are lifted if the Infernal interacts with the target in any significant manner (the Empyreal Chaos' version of this Charm lacked this "weakness", for he recognised no wounds). Whenever the Infernal undergoes Torment, this Charm cannot be activated, and its Compulsion is temporarily lifted for the duration.
At Essence 4+, this Charm may be purchased again, increasing its duration to "Until the next Calibration". At this level, the Infernal may increase the Charm's cost by five motes to add the Shaping keyword, adding an internal penalty of (Infernal's Essence) to any of the target's attempts to physically interact with the world while they are under this Sorcerous effect; the world itself seems to reject their touch, working against their strength and slipping against their grip.
At Essence 6+, this Charm may be purchased a third time, increasing its duration to "Indefinite"; the Compulsion is no longer lifted by time. At this level, the penalty inflicted by the Shaping version of this Charm becomes external, and the target of that effect becomes a Blasphemy during Calibration; the oldest protocols of the Loom of Fate recognise them as being an intrusion into the natural state of the universe, and report them as such.
Cost: 10m, 1wp, 1lhl; Mins: Malfeas 0, Essence 4; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Form-type, Obvious, Shaping
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Rejection of Rebellious Fools, Impossibility of Base Treachery (x2), Viridian Legend Exoskeleton
The Demon Emperor, the Brass Dancer, the Devil-Tyrant Avatar; all these are the faces that Malfeas shows to the world. They know him as the mighty lord, as the beautiful prince, as the terrible tyrant. He permits none to see the Crippled Imperator, who lurks, cast from black Malfean lead, in the utter darkness between layers, hidden away from a world that it cannot and will not understand. When the Infernal activates this Charm, he takes on some of this maimed nature, as his flesh sloughs away from his body, leaving only naked bones of black lead and cancerous growths of basalt. Though there are Old Realm characters carved into the bones, they are nothing but an endless, mad repetition, over and over the words "I AM I". Over the hollow skull of the Infernal grows an animate mask of white-painted Malfean iron, tinged with rust.
Adopting this Shintai blinds the Infernal, imposing the normal -4 external penalty to all his actions. However, his blindness goes deeper than the eyes. He becomes unable to perceive other sapient beings as being anything more than inanimate terrain, even through his other senses. This makes him an invalid target for any and all social attacks, and automatically invalidates and rejects any mental influence (natural or otherwise) that would affect him. However, all physical attacks against him are automatically unexpected. He cannot make any social attacks in this form; subterranean gurglings and mad ululating pleas for company are all that can leave his lips. Though he can blindly lash out at the meaningless, unreal world around him, allowing him to make attacks at the normal penalty for blindness, the destruction caused by these blows mean no more to him than the destruction caused to one's dreams by waking and so his Compassion is suppressed for no cost.
He does not have to eat, breathe or sleep while in this form, and all Crippling, Shaping, Poison and Sickness are automatically rejected at no cost. Finally, the infinite mass of the Infernal's self-enclosed ego grants him immunity to Knockback effects (including knockdown), and increases his natural soak by +15B/+15L, as well as granting him Hardness equal to his natural soak.
Cost: 20m, 1wp; Mins: Malfeas 0, Essence 6; Type: Simple (Speed 6)
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Blasphemy, Emotion, Form-type, Obvious
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Demon Emperor Shintai, Fealty-Acknowledging Audience, Beauty Without Malice
This Charm does not exist yet. But it will.
Some day in the future, a Green Sun Princess will assume the mantle of the Demon Emperor, and her form will expand into pure Essence, and expand to fill the universe, as the Holy Tyrant once did. She too shall collapse, crushed by the terrible humiliation that Malfeas knows all too well, but she shall not accept it, and she will not fight it. Instead, she shall do what Malfeas himself could never conceive of doing; she shall shrug, and she shall dance, losing herself in the beauty. And the collapse will (terrifyingly, awe-inspiringly) cease, and Heaven will shudder as the least Shintai of the Primordial King is reborn, lessened but still divine. The Ebon Dragon never intended something like this when he told the other Yozis of the horrific ingenuity that the Green Sun Princes could bring to their panoplies.
The Gnostic Immanence bears some resemblance to its prerequisite, but only in the abstract; the warlock's form burns up into a vast column of dancing emerald flame, which coalesces into the shape of the anima-behemoth seen in the early stages of Demon Emperor Shintai. In addition, if the Infernal is Essence 10, everywhere in the same realm of existence is lit by a dawning emerald light, as the radiant majesty of the King of Creation fills his domain.
• The Infernal's material form evaporates; for duration of this Charm, he is immaterial, his form spread across the entirety of his anima banner, which not only flares to totemic but swells to encompass an area with a radius of (Essence x 50) yards.
• Worn or carried possessions are temporarily subsumed into his glorious light-self, but do not truly vanish into Elsewhere; the Infernal can still use them to enhance his traits and actions.
• The warlock is rendered immune to Poison, Crippling, and non-magical Sickness effects. He requires no food, water or air; starvation and suffocation are indignities that cannot be permitted. He does not need to sleep, but can still do so.
• The warlock has complete and perfect awareness of everything within his form, as though he were watching it with Eye of the Unconquered Sun (Exalted, page 226). He gains the benefits of that Charm when looking outside his burning body, and his gaze can felt by those upon whom it falls, as though it were a physical weight; it is the terrifying awareness of their place in the world, relative to that of their King.
• Despite being immaterial, the warlock can still interact with material things; the world contorts to his whim. He may take actions and make attacks as normal within and immediately around his body, though each non-reflexive action costs three motes if it interacts with the material; this is a Shaping effect on the world itself.
• For the purposes of any actions taken while using this Charm, the warlock replaces his Strength rating with (Appearance x 2), and his Dexterity with his Charisma. With each such action taken, sudden flares of green light erupt within the already-bright radius of the warlock's body, painting images of blades and clenched fists on the retinas of those who gaze upon him. Often, the Infernal's anima totem will appear to be the one interacting with the world, a Primordial coat of arms working its burning commands into the fabric of existence.
• As a being beyond mortal measure, the warlock's immense size makes attacks by smaller beings undodgeable, provided they can actually strike his immaterial form. However, he cannot suffer more than one damage level per attack in step 10, unless the attack is large enough to encompass at least a tenth of her size. Creatures that exist on a similarly gargantuan scale to the warlock are treated as having large enough attacks, though the Infernal may dodge such blows as normal.
• Suffering even one level of damage (of any kind) causes the Infernal to immediately gain a single point of Limit, as the hated injury evokes memories of a previous, inconceivable defeat.
• In mass combat, the warlock always enjoys the full +3 Magnitude bonus regardless of the Magnitude of the army she faces. There was a time when the Holy Tyrant was unmatched; alas, this is only a lessened remembrance of his glory, and similarly scaled adversaries (such as another Infernal using the Greater Shintai of the Endless Desert, or Juggernaut) ignore this bonus.
• All who gaze upon the Gnostic Immanence love it, and despair. Any character with an MDV lower than the warlock's (Strength + Appearance + Essence) who can perceive him immediately gains two intimacies toward him; one of "Devoted Love" and the other of "Terrified Awe". Both of these are considered positive intimacies, and cannot be naturally eroded for this Charm's duration. This is an unnatural Emotion effect that is applied whenever a given character looks upon the warlock, but can be resisted for one scene by paying two points of temporary Willpower.
• Gods and demons (and elementals in the Celestial Bureaucracy) who acquire these intimacies are immediately reminded of the rightful way of things – a way that was lost the moment the Primordial King was forced to kneel. They are treated as though they had been successfully affected by a social attack augmented with Sublimation of Ordained Purpose (Manual of Exalted Power: Infernals, page 120). Many who acquire these intimacies cry out in exultation and fear, as the warlock's authority over them (and all the world) becomes utterly clear.
• For the duration of this Charm the warlock waives the cost of Fealty-Acknowledging Audience, and may use it as an innate power rather than a Charm activation.
The power of this form is unmatched, but it is earned only through focused disregard of Malfeas' maimed state. Every action, the warlock must roll (Charisma + Performance) as a miscellaneous action (this will likely require a flurry), as he dances to deliberate distraction. Should he fail this roll, or simply not make it for whatever reason, the warlock must gain a single point of Limit, or reflexively and costlessly transition to Demon Emperor Shintai. If he enters Torment while this Charm is active, he automatically transitions to Demon Emperor Shintai. Whenever this Charm ends (due to the end of the scene, transitioning to Demon Emperor Shintai or some other effect), the warlock immediately gains (Essence) points of Limit; if he is already in Torment, these Limit points are delayed until immediately after his Torment ends.
Cost: — (+3m); Mins: Malfeas 0, Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Obvious
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Kissed By Hellish Noon, World Weathering Incandescence
The light of Ligier casts no shadows, and the rage of Malfeas knows no obstacles. Those who believe that they can hide from their rightful King will be sadly mistaken. Whenever an Infernal with this Charm activates Green Sun Nimbus Flare, they may pay an extra three motes to ignore all cover penalties granted by things that World Weathering Incandescence can destroy. Any cover is permanently destroyed as with that Charm, leaving the naked cowardice of the foe revealed for all to see. The attack also ignores any defence bonus to PDV granted by shields that are made of materials not proof against World-Weathering Incandescence; such fallible shields are destroyed by the attack if the defender attempts to parry the attack despite the penalty. When within a place of habitation, the Infernal also nullifies all penalties to that attack, apart from wound and multiple action penalties, for Malfeas knows all cities as lesser mimicries of himself, and so no lesser darknesses or fogs can stop his wrath.
Cost: — ; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Overdrive, Obvious
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Crowned By Fury, First Malfeas Excellency
To the King of the Yozis, all that matters is the majesty and the force. To crush the will of a foe so he becomes yours is the same as killing him. All shall serve Malfeas or die. This Charm permanently alters the Infernal's capacity to spend Overdrive motes. She may now spend offensive motes on offensive social Charms as long as the aim of the social attack is to dominate, command or subjugate another sapient being. The action must be able to be enhanced with the First Malfeas Excellency, and so, as per the restriction of that Charm, any show of subtlety or restraint in the social attack renders this option inapplicable, along with all other restrictions imposed by the Excellency. When using this Charm, a burning green crown forms upon her forehead, as with Crowned By Fury.
Such dominion comes at a cost when it is rejected, however. Should an opponent spend willpower to resist an offensive-mote enhanced social attack, the Infernal loses an additional offensive mote, as memory of unthinkable loss of authority flickers within. The version of this Charm known by the Holy Tyrant did not have such a weakness, for he had never known defeat.
Cost: — ; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Compulsion, Emotion
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Crowned By Fury
In times gone by, every beast knew the authority and dominion of the Primordial King. The Exalted may have forced oaths from his lips and slain Ruvelia, but those memories are still burned into Creation, and the fauna know at heart that they must submit to their master or die. This Charm projects an unnatural compulsion with a radius of (Essence x 2) yards, forcing all natural animals to submit to the Infernal. Camels kneel, flies land and cower, wings buzzing in harmony, birds freeze in place, singing songs to her glory; mechanically, they are rendered Inactive by their submission. Resistance is not possible, but a ridden animal may be spurred to ignore its reverence for a scene if the rider spends 2wp, and succeeds on a reflexive (Charisma + Ride) roll at a difficulty of the Infernal's Essence. Mounts marked by marked with Fealty Acknowledging Audience or who have an Intimacy of Terrified Awe towards the Infernal, or whose rider has been marked or has the Intimacy, may be spared these effects at her discretion so long as they are not hostile. Any natural animal ridden by the Infernal has its Control Rating set to 0. Lord-Over-Beasts Dominion has no effect on animals which are magically compelled by other effects or supernaturally loyal, such as familiars, this is but one of the many hazards with trade with Malfeas, and there exist thaumaturgical rituals to immunise mounts. Animals behaving in this way to the presence of the Infernal is not optional. The Holy Tyrant had a similar charm, but it could be controlled; Malfeas, who harbours secret fears, must shout his dominance least any doubt him.
At Essence 5, this Charm increases in efficacy, allowing the Infernal to reflexively spend 5m to extend the range to (Essence x 100) yards for a scene. If the Infernal has Demon Emperor Shintai active, this benefit is granted for free.
Cost: - ; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Solipsistic Rejection of Impossibilities, Sorcerous Enlightenment of Malfeas
There are fractures in the mind of the King of the Yozis, terrible wounds that scar his psyche. For him was not given the freedom of Adorjan, whose rebirth from Adrián was total; no, he labours under memories and pain that he was not once as he was, that he is defined by one where once was two. He avoids such things, only able to think of them in the agony of his Torment. It would take human sadism to tear such wounds open, render the agonies of a fractured mind worse. And in that, Malfeas should not feel safe, for the Black Nadir Concordat did exactly that to the Neverborn to gain access to Necromancy. The Green Sun Princes may well do the same to him.
This Charm permanently enhances the Infernal's capacities. While in Limit Break, she is a Creature of Death, and receives temporary initiation into the Shadowlands Circle of Necromancy, which lasts until the end of the Limit Break. Necromancy accessed via this method receives the bonuses and penalties of sorcery cast through Sorcerous Initiation of Malfeas, and shows aesthetic warping combining his themes with those of death. Although she may not cast necromantic spells when not in Limit Break, she may still learn them. Moreover, this internalisation of the psychic fracture has a perverse effect on the character's Limit Break; she is not subject to the behavioural modifications of her Limit Break when she takes a Cast Necromancy action, but each spell cast count as a scene towards building a positive Intimacy towards death, a specific creature of death, or some other appropriately morbid concept or individual. If the character has repurchased Sorcerous Initiation of Malfeas at Essence 4, she also gains access to the Labyrinth Circle of Necromancy, under the same constraints. Sadly, it appears that even the madness and agony of the King is not enough to reach the depths of the Void Circle.
In addition, the mad knowledge of death propagates through her soul hierarchy for the duration of the Limit Break. All Third Circle Souls temporarily receive initiation into the Labyrinth and Shadowlands Circles of Necromancy, receiving the bonuses and limitations of the Malfean sorcerous initiation for necromancy, and may cast any necromantic spell of those circles that the Infernal knows. All Second Circle Souls temporarily receive initiation into the Shadowlands Circle of Necromancy, and may cast any necromantic spell of that circle that the Infernal knows. The souls are warped aesthetically towards death as a Shaping effect while this applies; for Malfeas, the Street of Golden Lanterns will burn with pale witchfires, and Ligier will illuminate the world in morbid crimson.
Cost: - (1m/hour); Mins: Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: First Malfeas Excellency, Sun-Heart Furnace Soul
The terrible burning power of Unquestionable Ligier is far greater than mindless sleepfulness can support. Feeding the immature soul within them with wrathful glory, the Infernal grows a second, mightier heart which sits in their chest; the corpus of a newborn coronary prince. Upon learning this Charm, the Infernal's quiescent fifth soul becomes a deva in its own right, with Essence equal to (Infernal's Essence). The Infernal's player and the Storyteller should design the newborn deva around the personal themes of the warlock and their personality as interpreted through the Malfeas Excellency, and it may learn spirit Charms appropriate to those themes. No matter its precise appearance, green fire and stellar themes will be a dominant motif. It has an unbreakable positive Intimacy towards the Infernal - though the precise context of the Intimacy may change.
By default, the deva-princeling slumbers dormant within the Infernal's chest. It only naturally respires motes when inactive, and during such times is an invalid target for any effects. It costs the warlock one mote per hour to allow it activity, and this cost must be paid from the Peripheral pool granted by this Charm's prerequisite. While it is active, the deva-princeling co-locates between its throne in the Infernal's chest, and whatever its spiritual-form is doing.
For any Charms and sorceries which distinguish, the deva-princeling despite its relative weakness counts as a deva of the Third Circle. It is not party to the Surrender Oaths of the Yozis nor the law of Cecelyne, and thus may not be summoned, bound or banished. If the deva-princeling is killed, it automatically regenerates after five days. If it is killed with a spirit-killing Charm, a new deva-princeling forms after a year and a day, although it is a separate being with no shared memories and a different personality to the previous one, and the Infernal loses access to the mote pool granted by this Charm's prerequisite while it regrows.
Cost: - ; Mins: Cecelyne 0, Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Verdant Emptiness Endowment
The concept of pure altruism is alien to the Endless Desert, but this does not put a hole in her understanding of Creation. Even when people do not speak of an act of 'generosity', they are rewarded with their own feelings of self-satisfaction. And in the meantime, she is more than willing to let her sands into the hearts of those who would come before her asking for a gift for another. This Charm expands the scope of its prerequisite, allowing the individual who benefits from the wish to be a separate person to the one who asks for it. The possibly-unknowing supplicant must express a dislike for the condition or state of another individual, who they must have a positive Intimacy towards, but who need not be present. If the Infernal grants the wish, the Training effect is applied to the other individual, including the XP debt, while the favour is now owed by the supplicant. The target may reject the gift, for the usual cost, but if they do so, the supplicant still owes a favour, and furthermore loses any positive Intimacies they might have had towards the target, as the sands of Cecelyne scour away at their now-hollow heart. This Emotion effect can be resisted by spending 3 willpower.
Cecelyne may not understand pure altruism, but she certainly understands the use of foolish saps in her plans. This Charm only functions if the target for the wish does not know that the supplicant will express such a wish to the Infernal, and has not instructed them to do so. If they would knowingly want something from her, they should entreat with her and accept the costs of doing so. One exception exists; if the target has prepared a prayer strip towards the Infernal, and has another present her with the strip on his behalf, the wish will be granted, as a conventional one would, with the favour and the gift both falling on the head of the target. Cecelyne admits all into her wastes, no matter the path they take.
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Cecelyne 0, Essence 5; Type: Simple (Speed 6)
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Form-type, Obvious, Shaping, Messianic (3)
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Miracle Gift Mastery, Draught of Sweet Infinity, Sand-Slip Trick
In the depths of Cecelyne, lost souls die. They waste away, bereft of water or food, stranded in a barren silver infinity, and their bleached bones are left to lie under a black sky. But sometimes, salvation comes. It takes the form of something innocuous, innocent; a fair desert maiden with iridescent lips, a curious desert fox with silver-white fur and rubies for eyes, or a god the benighted fool prayed to, all its colour washed away, left in a spectrum of grey. This benefactor appears unto them, and offers them salvation. Sometimes they refuse, and then they die; the Endless Desert is not kind to idealists. Often, however, they accept, and are spared and healed, empowered, and guided from the wastes. And then they see their benefactor again. And they will never be rid of it.
To become the Quixotic Benefactor, the Infernal must be in a place of desolation. Upon activating this Charm, she melts away into the shinmaic substrate of Nirupadhika, becoming scattered grains speckled in the hollows of that which is nowhere. For this Charm's duration, the Infernal dreams quixotic and separate, immersed in her own infinite existence. Only a few scattered locations are worthy enough to draw her attention back to the world of the material, but such places see wonders and becomings unlike any other.
In this state, the Infernal effectively does not exist; she cannot be targeted by any effects short of a Miracle Shell, and similarly cannot affect the world in any way other than that dictated below. She respires motes as if sleeping, and recovers one point of Willpower for each eight hours she does not gaze upon Creation. However, spread thin as she is, she cannot heal any wounds (whether she received them before activating this Shintai, or through its duration).
The Infernal can only interact with the world in holy lands she has created, or within (Essence x 100) yards of an individual who is subject to a magically-enforced debt toward her (this includes characters who have yet to completely exhaust the supply of botches caused by breaking their word toward her). She can only focus on one of these areas at a time, requiring a miscellaneous action with a Speed of five long ticks to change her area of focus (or stop focusing entirely). Focusing on an area allows her to perceive anything within it as though she were there, watching from any angle she desires; she benefits from the effects of All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight (Exalted pp. 222) while doing so. Overlapping areas of focus can be switched to reflexively. The Infernal cannot focus on an area outside of the realm of existence in which she activated this Charm. Focusing on an area leaves her no more material than before.
In order to actually interact with the world, the Infernal must create an avatar body from the desert winds that blow through nonexistence, though such a form cannot hold any more than the faintest trickle of her numinous benevolence.
Upon deactivating this Charm, the Infernal reforms somewhere of her choosing within the same place of desolation that she activated it.
A second purchase of this Charm at Essence 6+ allows the Infernal to instead reform within (Essence) yards of anyone who owes her a debt in the same plane of existence. This variety of reconstitution takes five long ticks, and the Infernal cannot be targeted until she has fully reformed. This also counts as repayment for the debt; therefore, the individual may reflexively refuse to act as the locus of the Infernal's reformation (this causes them to suffer the usual consequences for refusal of payment).
A third purchase of this Charm at Essence 8+ allows the Infernal to use it to exist in all realm of existence. She may switch focus between (and reform in) valid areas as she wishes, no matter if they are in Creation, Yu-Shan, the Underworld, Malfeas, or even Autochthonia, if the Seal of Eight Divinities is lifted. This takes the usual amount of time, except when switching focus to (or reforming in) Malfeas from another realm, or vice versa, which takes five days rather than five long ticks.
Due to the bindings of her surrender oaths, Cecelyne can project an avatar into Creation for no more than one minute per month, or one hour per day during Calibration. Some claim that she could have been bound completely, but managed to acquire this small window by goading the Sun's Valor, questioning his faith in the integrity of those he had championed. Whatever the case, Infernals are not bound in this way.
Cost: -; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Duration: Permanent
Keywords: None
Prerequisite Charms: Counter Pronouncement of Enthynemic Law
In the Age of Glory, it was found very soon that the many spirits they had made or which descended from them would mix their Essence with mortal races, creating hybrids with some of the powers of their forefathers. After considering the question carefully, the Endless Desert declared that such hybrids would be classed with the source of their power in the eyes of the Primordials, and so was the question resolved. This Charm permanently upgrades Cecelyne Charms. When it would benefit the Infernal who knows this Charm, they may treat members of Primordial-created races (which includes beings with a human soul structure) with Enlightened Essence which comes from an inhuman parent, and who know at least one such Charm, as an example of that inhuman parent. For example, god-blooded with Enlightened Essence who know at least one Spirit Charm may be treated as gods for the purposes of Cecelyne Charms such as Sublimation of Ordained Purpose, and must carry out the same purpose as their divine parent would. The same applies for deva-blooded, elemental-blooded, demon-blooded, and so on, for the relevant Cecelynian Charms. Such individuals without Enlightened Essence, or who have not learned any non-Martial Arts or Sorcerous Initiation Charms (or in the case of empowered races like the pureblooded Lintha, their own Native Charms), may not be treated as such.
The existence of this Charm is the reason for the fact that Exaltations prefer pure human hosts. Exalts with inhuman heritage who know the Charms of their forefathers are subject to this effect, too; a compromised link in the Exalted Host in the case of demon-blooded or god-blooded who now find themselves subject to the Geas. However, they may reflexively roll (Essence), and take a number of points of Limit equal to the number of successes rolled, to be exempted for a scene. The first time they take Limit in this manner, they may choose to burn out their spirit-heritage Charms, converting them to XP, and flaring their anima to totemic as their Exaltation refuses to be so-bound. Spirit-blooded Exalts who retain no such Charms are not vulnerable in this manner, as mentioned previously.
Cost: — ; Mins: Essence 5; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Sublimation of Ordained Purpose
The drop of one grain of sand every hundred years onto a stolen throne can grind it down to nothingness. This is the secret hope that lies in Cecelyne's barren heart. This Charm upgrades its prerequisite, allowing the Infernal to treat any god or deva under the effects of Sublimation of Ordained Purpose as a demon and a native of Malfeas for the purposes of all her Infernal Charms and Spells. This lasts until the spirit in question fully resists the Servitude effect of Sublimation of Ordained Purpose, and functions regardless of whether or not the Infernal was the one who applied the effect.
Gods of Essence 7 or less are treated as First Circle Demons; gods with higher Essence are treated as Second Circle Demons. Devas are treated as if they are a demon of the corresponding rank; the spiritual castration of the ex machinae means that all the devas of Autocthon count as First Circles, regardless of their Essence, with the exception of the Divine Ministers (and the Core) who count as Third Circles. Sorcerously bound gods and deva cannot spend Willpower to resist Sublimation of Ordained Purpose; however, they benefit from the same conditions as bound demons do under that Charm.
Cost: — ; Mins: Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Shaping
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Miracle Gift Mastery, Scoured Perfection of Form
All things come to Cecelyne, in time. Those who wander in her depths draw themselves in deeper with each gift they take. And those who ask for the wrong - or right - things, or who draw her attention, can never, ever escape, for she will give them immortality and potency beyond mortal might, all a mortal could ever wish for. And they will forever be hers, as she remoulds their hearts into silver glass. These demons are referred to as varazslany in certain Shogunate texts which talk of the blasphemous deals offered by the Anathema, and the need for an honourable soldier to be wary of even innocuous gifts; they are the holy warriors of Cecelyne, her missionary-champions. This Charm expands the scope of Verdant Emptiness Endowment, and allows the following option to be taken, either to grant the wishes of mortal, Enlightened Mortals, or other Primordial-created sentient races who ask for immortality or power, or as a task, which may be rejected normally with the usual consequences. The Infernal compresses the souls of the target, rendering them down into raw Essence before remaking them in the form of a wind-smoothed crystal about the size of a chicken's egg, which sits where their heart used to sit. This metamorphosis is tantamount to the death of the original, and so may not be undone as it would be akin to resurrection.
The body of the target remains as a Willpower 0 husk, akin to one of the dream-eaten. The egg-sized crystal is now the entire body and the repository of the mind of the target, who is now a special kind of First Circle Demon, which is naturally material, but a First Circle Demon in all other regards. The new varazslany sets their Essence to 4, and retains all their old Attributes and Abilities. They retain their old Intimacies and Motivation, but gain a new Intimacy of Reverence towards the Infernal which may not be removed by any means.
A varazslany created by this Charm gains the Charms Principle of Motion, Possession (usable only on Willpower 0 targets, but they may do so at a range of 2 yards rather than Touch, and they may possess their former body for no cost), and Measure the Wind. They have an innate ability to heal a single level of damage at a time in a body they possess, as a Miscellaneous action which costs 1m to repair a level of bashing damage, 3m for a level of lethal, and 10m, 1wp per level of aggravated or per Crippling injury. In addition, they gain a number of spirit Charms equal to (Infernal's Cult + their Highest Virtue + their Destiny), which should be thematically appropriate to their own personality fed through the lens of Cecelyne.
However, the varazslany is sessile and insensate when not using the Possession Charm on a Willpower 0 target (or any other appropirate Inhabiting Charm it learns later), which it does automatically on its former body upon its creation, with no apparent gap in continuity of self. A varazslany may always use such a Charm if a valid target comes within range as long as they can pay the activation cost and are not Inactive. When using such a Charm on a target, the varazslany physically replaces the heart (or equivalent), and is naturally material; a called shot at a -3 External penalty allows the demon to be damaged directly, rather than its host. The varazslany, as part of their existence, never count as being fully relaxed for the purposes of Essence respiration, and do not regain Willpower from rest. However, they regain one point of Willpower per scene they work towards an order given to them by their creator or an individual who knows the First Cecelyne Excellency. If reduced to 0wp, their Possession of a body automatically terminates, and they fall Inactive for a year and a day, regaining a single point of Willpower at the end of that time period.
Cost: - ; Mins: Essence 3, Cult 2; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Messianic
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Penitents Like Scattered Grains
Cecelyne is a jealous goddess, and those who divert prayer from its proper purpose towards the creators of the universe should fear. Those who follow her are known to her on sight, and apostates shall know her wrath given time. This Charm permanently enhances Hellscry Chakra. While that Charm is active, a successful (Perception + Awareness) roll to notice details about a character will also reveal if, since the last Calibration, the individual has directed worship towards herself, any Primordials or Yozis, or members of their soul hierarchies. With three threshold successes, the nature (such as the species of first circle demons, or the Primordial that Second and Third Circle souls belong to) of any such beings are made Obvious to the Infernal, as if she had recognised the target of worship with Hellscry Chakra. The time since the last prayer and the frequency of the worship - ranked as hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, seasonally, or yearly - is also provided with such a degree of success, as is the name of the entity.
If the Infernal knows Wayward Divinity Oversight, the same level of information is also provided about valid beings for that Charm which have been worshipped by the target. At Essence 6, this Charm improves, providing information about beings worshipped in the passing of the last 25 Calibrations. At Essence 10, even this limitation is removed, to provide a full history of the prayers of the target. The records of faith of the mortal prayer-prostitutes of Malfeas would be amusing reading for the Endless Desert, were they not so monotonously tedious in their flicker-brief prayers to lesser beings than her.
Cost: -; Mins: Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Soul-Sand Devil Shintai, Sorcerous Enlightenment of Cecelyne
There is a hypocrisy to Cecelyne that runs down to her very heart. Why else would the endless desert of desolation provide life and food to her worshipers? But now that the malevolent ingenuity of human prayer cattle has been let loose on her very shinmaic principles, she may learn to hunger too. What could be more hypocritical than a living Primordial who hates and rules against necromancy wielding it herself?
This Charm permanently enhances the Infernal's capacities. While in places with no usable living Essence, such as the Underworld and Autocthonian blight zones, the Infernal loses access to all Cult that does not come from deathly sources - which deactivates Messianic Charms as usual. Moreover, she loses access to any ability, magical or otherwise, which would prevent starvation or dehydration; she starves as a mortal would, taking the same penalties, and, ultimately, perishing, leaving a ghost or a Neverborn (as appropriate) if prevented from eating or drinking for long enough. Once she is taking penalties from starvation or dehydration, she is rendered a Creature of Death, and while in this state, she treats places without usable living Essence as places of desolation (explicitly ignoring the prohibitions against the Underworld counting), and gains temporary access to Iron Circle Necromancy, receiving the bonuses and restrictions provided by Sorcerous Enlightenment of Cecelyne. All these benefits cease to apply if she leaves a place without usable living Essence, or ceases to suffer penalties from starvation. She may study necromancy spells when not so initiated, but may not cast them.
If the character has repurchased Sorcerous Enlightenment of Cecelyne at Essence 4, she also gains access to Onyx Circle Necromancy under the same conditions. Even the endless wastes of the Lawgiver do not hide the secrets to Void Circle Necromancy, however.
The invention of this Charm will be a calamitous occurrence for Cecelyne, for it will introduce into her mortality, in a way shared by no Primordial save Autocthon. Once integrated into her nature, new paths of development will spring up across her charmset, and pre-existing Charms may well twist given time. This level of change will be traumatic and terrifying, and if developed will lead to a mutation of her themes, adding famine and starvation to her nature, and possibly even leading her mockery of generosity to begin to waste away - for she will not spare things for others when she could be using them to feed herself. However, the existence of her Charmset as it was, within the Green Sun Princes, will be retained. Charms already known by Green Sun Princes will not twist, even if Cecelyne's version does, and both the older and newer variants will exist within the Charms they can learn. A Green Sun Prince who takes Cecelyne Cosmic Principle and who has not internalised the principle of famine will be hale and hearty, and will be an independent Endless Desert, one who does not have the potential of death within them. Akuma receive no such choice, and will twist and starve as their mistress.
Cost: - ; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Shaping, Desecration
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Principle Invoking Onslaught
The Whispering Flame sung to the shinma, and they contorted to create the first frameworks of Creation. How easy therefore must it be for her, with a touch, to shape generations yet to come into forms more fitting for her hierarchy? Whenever a character would inflict damage with Mind-Hand Manipulation, she may choose to forgo the damage, and instead twist the generative forces of Essence inside the character, boosting them with newly determined correct functionality. This is a Shaping effect which heals instantly any Crippling, Poison or Sickness effect which would prevent reproduction (to the extent of undoing castration), and makes the target a Creature of Darkness and native of Malfeas. This, however, is merely a side effect. The Infernal receives a number of bonus points equal to the damage the attack would have inflicted to create a package of mutations, which will be conveyed to any offspring the character produces. Negative Mutations provide extra points which may be spent. These altered children must be Creatures of Darkness, which provides extra bonus points as normal. Use of this Charm on an individual already affected overwrites the old mutation package with a new one. Mutations such as Pyrian Attunement (See Void Attunement, Compass of Celestial Directions 6: Autocthonia, p126, replacing references to the Engine of Extinction with the Principle of Hierachy) are near ubiquitous with the variant species that She Who Lives In Her Name produces, but the Green Sun Princes are more flexible in what they can and will use.
This Charm receives the same benefits as Will-Crushing Force while Heuristic Logos Shintai is active, namely that targeting a complimentary unit affects all members. The Whispering Flame is nothing if not efficient, after all.
At Essence 4, the Charm automatically improves. If the overall bonus-point cost of the mutations conveyed to the target's offspring is zero or less, the offspring will breed true.
A repurchase at Essence 4 means that the bonus points in the mutation package can also be spent on Attributes, Skills, and Virtues. Neither Attributes nor Abilities may be raised above 4 using these points. Moreover, while the flesh may be sculpted with ease, inborn knowledge requires knowledge, and so none of these modified children may be given more inborn points in an Ability than the Infernal themselves has. Those so blessed by the Principle are born superior, suited for their role in life, flesh sculpted, and inhuman amounts of knowledge forced into their unborn minds. Before the Primordial War, the Principle of Hierarchy created variants of all the sapient species appropriate for their role in her hierarchy, and the slaughter of her designed species pains her transcendental compassion almost as much as her betrayal by some of her modified humans, who Exalted.
Cost: - (6m); Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Shaping
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Allele Alteration Implementation
The Whispering Flame watches the actions of lesser lifeforms, and their responses to stimuli which were built into them when the very first of them were created. In her detached brilliance, she may be curious as to the inefficiencies of many matings, but she can help bring them to full functionality, and in return, the children she stirs into life will fulfil their designated place in her hierarchy. This is a perfectly equitable arrangement, in her opinion. Whenever using this Charm's prerequisite on an individual capable of bearing children (in most cases, they will be female), the Infernal may spend 6m. In addition to the other effects of the Charm, the target is impregnated with a a child, bearing the mutation package designed using Allele Alteration Implementation. Biologically, the child is descended from the mother, and the last individual they had sexual contact with. This need not have been activity which, strictly biologically, could have conceived a child; indeed, the "father" need not have been male. The Principle of Hierarchy extracts the information that creates the child from the traces of generative Essence left by such contacts, and counts as little as a passionate kiss as 'sexual contact'. Spiritually, the child descends from their mother, their "father" and the Infernal in equal parts. If the Infernal knows Analytical Modelling Intuition, they can also use this Charm to identify the "father", and the nature of the sexual contact - information provided in a clinical, emotionless manner.
If, and only if, the target lacks even these traces of Essence left by a partner, it is possible to impregnate the target with a clone of themselves, identical save for the mutation package, but this adds 1wp to the cost of the Charm.
Cost: -
Mins: Essence 5
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Shaping, Desecration
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Allele Alteration Implementation, Chirality Prohibition Index
Within her test enclaves, the Principle of Hierarchy will oft-times experiment with new variants of species, testing for hidden weaknesses in their psyches and physiques before implementing them on a larger scale or eradicating them completely. This Charm improves Chirality Prohibition Index, by giving the Infernal a pool of (Occult + Willpower) bonus points, to assign at the time that the Policy of the cult is created to create a mutation package as if the character was using Allele Alteration Implementation. Any child conceived within the area altered by Chirality Prohibition Index will have the package applied to them, as a Desecration effect, and furthermore will be born as a member of the cult, with the appropriate Intimacy, even if they are born outside the area affected.
The mother must roll (Stamina + Resistance) every new moon while she remains pregnant at a difficulty of the Infernal's Essence; failure renders her a Creature of Darkness and Native of Malfeas, as the Pyrian Essence leaches out from the child to her. If she is Exalted, she adds her own Essence in automatic successes to the roll. This is a Shaping effect. If at least one of the parents is a cult member, however, an additional bonus applies; the birth will be easy and painless as the mother adds (Infernal's Essence) automatic successes to the (Stamina + Resistance) roll to give birth, and the traces of Pyrian Essence that remain prevent mundane infection after the birth.
Cost: 6m; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Illusion, Obvious, Sorcerous
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Factual Determination Analysis
The Principle of Hierarchy finds it acceptable that each individual only receives the information appropriate for their station. This Charm allows the character to conceal their writing, the ink sublimating into colourless light as it dries. Only the intended targets can perceive it, as it Obviously flares into existence in their forebrain as an Illusion. The concealed message can include natural or unnatural mental influence; if it does, this is an attempted surprise attack. The warlock automatically takes the target by surprise if the target acknowledges them as their hierarchal superior.
As an exception to the normal rules on Sorcerous Charms, the Infernal may end the Charm at any point without the use of countermagic. A message should exist until it has served its purpose, and no longer. Any other Charms hidden in a message also end at that point.
Cost: 8m; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Emotion, Sorcerous
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Binary Instruction Implementation
Taking a single syllable of the name of the Whispering Flame, the warlock weaves it into every stroke of her brush, layering fractal recursions of perfect hierarchy into her text. Lesser minds who gaze upon this cannot help but be enthralled and ensnared by something infinitely greater than themselves. This Charm works as the Solar Charm Flawless Brush Discipline, save that the roll made is (Dexterity + Occult), and the emotion created is one towards a hierachy or abstract principle of the Infernal's choice, rather than herself.
With a repurchase of this Charm, the Infernal is no longer limited by the constraints of language. Firstly, the target need not be able to understand the language the writing is written in to be caught by the occult calligraphy. Secondly, the Infernal gains the capacity to weave such indoctrinating forms into Craft-based projects, for all shapes become symbols to hold the Whispering Flame. With 5 successes on a (Perception + Occult) roll, a character can notice the subtle Pyrian symmetries which suffuse such objects.
Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Compulsion, Illusion, Sorcerous
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Binary Instruction Implementation
The colourless burning words of correct practice so easily slip into the minds of the unwilling, to subsume their unnecessary free will with proper action. This Charm supplements a written attempt to compel or command others. This Charm otherwise functions like the Solar Charm Twisted Words Technique, save the dicepool is (Essence + an appropriate social Ability). Individuals affected by this Charm are at a -1 internal penalty to all Dexterity-based rolls which do not serve their commitment until they throw off the effects, as their flesh rebels against the rebellious actions of free will leaving them clumsy and clammy.
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Obvious, Touch, Training, Sorcerous, Desecration
Duration: One day
Prerequisite Charms: Unshattered Tongue Perfection
All things in their proper place and a place for all things. This is the creed of the all-encompassing Principle of Hierarchy. The Infernal touches an individual with fingers wreathed in colourless fire. When she makes contact, the fire sinks into their body and mind, burning under their skin as it reshapes them for their purpose in the great hierarchy. At the end of this Charm's duration, the target gains as a Training effect a speciality or dot of Ability or Attribute which is directly relevant to their current role in the organisation they are most closely linked to, up to a maximum of four. The Pyrian flames devour unneeded properties to fuel this change, however; the character loses a specialty, Ability or Attribute - which must be of the same type that they are gaining, but chosen by the affected character - which does not aid them in their current role, which is converted into XP and counts towards the XP-debt incurred by the training. For example, a soldier gaining Dexterity from this Charm may lose Appearance or Manipulation, while a scholar may find her skill with the bow of her youth dissolving even as occult knowledge fills her mind. If the character lacks a trait of the right type which is unneeded for their current role or is currently in XP debt, they are an invalid target for this Charm. The Infernal is an invalid target for this effect.
As a side effect of the use of this Charm, affected characters slowly lose any blemishes and scars in their features, which become increasingly symmetrical. Each time a character gains a trait from this Charm, they roll their Stamina - failure means they gain the Creature of Darkness mutation and increase their Appearance by one, to a maximum of four, as a Training effect. Characters can only be affected by this side effect once.
With a repurchase, for a surcharge of +5m and the increase of this Charm's duration to five days, the Infernal may touch the leader of an organisation affected by this Charm's prerequisite and affect all individuals who share a given profession (such as 'farmer', 'miner', or 'clerk') within that organisation as if she had touched them herself. Characters must all gain the same trait, but the unneeded property lost can vary from person to person. Infernals may target themselves with this, but only to affect an organisation they lead; they gain no benefits from it.
Cost: 1m; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Supplemental;
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Crippling, Illusion
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charm: Freedom Lets Go
All the demons of the Prison of the Exiles, from the lowest sesselja in the gutters to Unquestionable Ligier, know that there is no silence without death. So do they fail to comprehend the freedom from life unending that the Silent Wind grants, even as their heart's blood surges out in crimson waves of release. As a Crippling effect, spirits that take damage from an attack supplemented by this Charm bleed from the attack as if they were mortals, the blood born on Obvious red gusts of wind. Whenever the target loses a health level from bleeding, an Intimacy also escapes, eroding to nothingness as an Illusion. This effect lasts until the wound is staunched, as per the rules on p151 of the Exalted core. Once the injury has been treated, it is at no risk of reopening. This charm costs 0m to activate if used against a target the Infernal has an Intimacy of Love towards.
Should a spirit die from the raw damage of the attack, or the bleeding induced by this Charm, they are torn apart as their immortal essence is scattered to the winds, leaving only a shredded corpus behind. This death is permanent for spirits. Only the Yozis and the Neverborn are proof against such a fate, though Adorjan longs to teach her siblings this freedom such that they will accept it and be enlightened.
Cost: 10m, 1lhl; Mins: Adorjan 0, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive (Step 7)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Splintered Gale Shintai x 2
Sometimes, despite her madness, Adorjan is struck. She shrugs. She is free, after all, and so she runs on without what she has lost, which is meaningless to her. She will let the gales she sheds be free, too. The Infernal invokes this Charm immediately before the damage of an attack is rolled. This charm is a perfect defence against the raw damage of the effect, reducing it to zero after all other effects. The blade passes through their body, and gore and flesh paints a grim sketch in the air. However, on closer examination, the the flesh for the Infernal is untouched, and the sourceless wind-carried blood and flesh merges into a Sorcerous clone, identical to the ones created with Splintered Gale Shintai. Due to the odd fission of this process, the Infernal and attacker roll (Essence). The one with more successes decides whether the Infernal or the clone are affected by any effects of the attack which do not come from raw damage. In case of a draw, the Infernal may choose. The health level cost of this Charm counts as a unique Flaw of Invulnerability.
Clones created via this method who survive the initial attack last for a scene, and then die just as messily as normal Adorjani clones deprived of their committed motes. The Infernal may choose to extend their pseudo-lives by committing the motes that Splintered Gale Shintai demands, and they can also absorb clones to recover their memories.
A second purchase of the Charm at Essence 5+ allows the newly created clone to, as a Counterattack in Step 10, make a single attack against the attacker. Often-times, Adorjan will play with those who she loves by permitting them to strike her, each of their blows bringing more of her into existence, thus allowing her to show them even more of her unique brand of instructive affection.
Cost: — ; Mins: Adorjan 0, Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Tragic Love Amusement
When Adorjan loves, it is like a great cyclone of amorous, obsessive devotion swirling around and around one lonely soul. All can see it, and compared to the terrible force of her passion, all of her other breezes are as nothing. For as long as the warlock has even one Intimacy created by Tragic Love Amusement, she distorts any effect that would reveal her Intimacies, emotional state, motives, Motivation or Urge (such as Sagacious Reading of Intent, or a mundane attempt at deciphering her motives). Her only Intimacies that can be revealed are those created by Tragic Love Amusement. Her dominant emotion and motive is always revealed to be "Sincere Love", regardless of her actual state. Her Motivation or Urge is always revealed to be one of the Intimacies created by Tragic Love Amusement, rephrased as a Motivation.
Against any Charm which would contest this effect, the Infernal adds her (Essence + Compassion) successes to the roll-off. This effect comes at at a price, for Adorjan is nothing but honest in the affairs of her heart. Intimacies created by Tragic Love Amusement act as temporary Urges, for as long as they exist, following all the same mechanics as a normal Urge. Acting against them results in Limit as usual, for one must indeed be mad to work against a love so pure and passionate.
Cost: — ; Mins: Adorjan 0, Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Tragic Love Amusement
The breezes of Adorjan tie her heart to others with blood-red strings, and those breezes wordlessly whisper many things to her. They tell her of the infidelities of attachment committed by those she loves, and how she can free them from those ties. This charm permanently enhances its prerequisite. Whenever the Infernal succeeds on a roll to read the motive or intent of a target who she has a Tragic Love Amusement intimacy towards, or discerns his Motivation or any of his Intimacies, she automatically learns all of his Intimacies, and their emotional contexts. In addition, she now gains the capacity to channel her Compassion towards any attempt to hurt any of those Intimacies; after all, she is doing it out of the maelstrom of her bountiful love. This enhanced capacity lasts as long as the Tragic Love Amusement Intimacy is maintained.
Cost: 5m, 1wp ; Mins: Adorjan 0, Essence 4; Type: Simple (Speed 5)
Keywords: Touch, Sorcerous, Combo-OK
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Other Woman Identification
Adorjan loves an imperfect world, too tied with its attachment to material things. They hold it down, prevent it from running free, and no matter how hard she tries, people still manage to tie themselves down. Still, she cannot but help her paramours, blessing them with her favours such that they shall run wild and free, and the token of her love that they carry with her will help remind them of her teachings.
To use this Charm, the Infernal must kiss an individual who they have a Tragic Love Amusement-generated Intimacy towards. This can be chaste or passionate, and even non-consensual, requiring a grapple in such a case. The warlock's lips leave a sudden red blush where they touch, which inflicts a moment of cutting pain, and then fades. From there-on in, the target is now a paramour. This Charm may be used on an individual a number of times equal to their Compassion, but will only activate once per Intimacy per scene, and once per target if they have multiple Intimacies towards the same target.
From there-on in, the next time that the paramour moves within (Infernal's Compassion) yards of a thing they have an Intimacy, whether positive or negative, towards, the gales of Adorjan erupt forth from them. This is an unblockable attack, with a dicepool of (Infernal's Perception + paramour's Willpower). It inflicts piercing damage equal to (Infernal's Essence + Infernal's Compassion + number of intimacies possessed by the paramour) which ignores Hardness, and inflicts Knockback on the target, hurling them back a number of yards equal to the number of Intimacies the paramour has. The number of Intimacies counted for the purpose of this Charm are capped at the mundane limit of (Willpower + Compassion); any above that limit are not counted. The silent red winds tear out of the kiss and from the heart of the paramour, and remove the offending Intimacy as an Emotion effect. If the paramour has a Limit Track, they can choose to gain 1 Limit, take 1 lhl, and spend 2wp to retain the Intimacy, their attachment tearing out a slither of their soul in the gale. Whether they do this or not, the winds are spent, and the Charm ends.
If the offending Intimacy is towards a social group, the first individual who the paramour views as representing that social group who comes within range is the one affected. A patriotic peasant with The Realm (Loyalty) will not affect other peasants, despite the fact that they are members of the Realm, but would hit the tax-collector or any Realm Dragonblood they encounter, as they are what represent "The Realm" to him. One with The Lintha (Hate) would affect any clearly-Lintha individuals they encounter. This effect will not trigger for the Infernal who used this Charm, unless they are the only Intimacy that the character has left. If the character ever has no Intimacies left, then they have learned all that Adorjan could teach them, and the effect likewise ends.
As a peculiar note, Adorjan views leaving a ghost to be an act of infidelity and unfetching attachment to the world. As a result, any paramour who died with this Charm active on them never leaves a ghost, instead heading straight to Lethe, as any metaphysical potential to form Fetters is scourged from them at the moment of death, in a flicker of pain-coloured light which escapes the corpse's mouth.
This Charm can be repurchased at Essence 6. The cutting winds do not exhaust themselves with a single use; instead, they activate once a scene, the first time they move within (Infernal's Compassion) yards of a thing they have an Intimacy towards, and they are, in addition, now undodgeable. A third repurchase at Essence 8 makes the winds a constant gale; they activate once an action. Those kissed by Adorjan learn to give up attachment, or face the silence of the grave in short measure.
Cost: - ; Mins: Adorjan 0, Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Splintered Gale Shintai, Sacred Kamilla's Inhalation
It has long been said that Adorjan's love is worse that her hate. And, indeed, those who she loves are freed from many things; possessions, hate, life. The bond between parent and child is a beautiful thing, but Adorjan knows it to be just another yoke around the necks of Creation's inhabitants, weighing them down, holding them back from her enlightenment of speed. It pleases her to subvert this lie, mocking the ties of family with her immaculately conceived knife-children. The tale is still told of a Dragon-Blooded yojimbo hounded across Creation and beyond by the ice-clear voice of the daughter Adorjan birthed from her Solar lord-lover's dying breath. In the Demon City, sometimes newborn human infants are found in alleyways, dark of hair and pale-skinned with hints of any of the disparate demon species of the City in their features. Those of the First and Second Circle who are wise adopt and care for these children, for their voices have the same properties as the songs of the demjen and the katalinae and the angyalka in warding away the Silent Wind. Oftentimes, wars have been fought over their bonded service.
When the Infernal uses Sacred Kamilla's Inhalation to inhale a corpse who she holds a positive Intimacy towards, and is pregnant with a clone due to Shattered Gale Shintai, she may feed the Essence-rich breath to the foetus rather than enjoy the normal benefit. The corpse becomes the child's father, at both a spiritual and physical level, with no regards to gender. They are no longer a parthenogenic clone, and so their Inheritance value is recalculated, with the Infernal as mother and the victim as father. The Infernal can choose to ignore the normal rules for which parent's blood is supernaturally dominant; Adorjan has given birth to Celestial half-castes, despite her higher Essence rating. This means that, for example, if the deceased was a Dragonblooded, the child has a chance of Exalting as a Dragonblood.
If the Infernal knows Voice Drinking Kiss and is Essence 4+, they may instead gift the stolen voice to the child. This has all the same effects as the above, but does not (necessarily) kill the father.
Cost: - ; Mins: Adorjan 0, Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Obvious, Native
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Splintered Gale Shintai, First Adorjan Excellency
Adorjan is not Kimbery. She is not grotesque and fecund, spilling countless children from toxic wombs as a driven compulsion. No, children are an expression of affection, and Adorjan is both compassionate and loving. Those born of her are an expression of love or madness, and so it becomes her to equip them with the knowledge of the truths of the cosmos that she has learned.
This Charm enhances Shattered Gale Shintai, by allowing parthenogenic pregnancies created by that charm to occur within the character's anima banner. This allows characters who lack female generative organs to utilise that option. The presence of a foetus makes the character's anima banner flare to the 8 mote level, as the dissolute form swirls in ribbons, red for a girl and white for a boy, around the character. Normal expenditure of Essence adds to this conventionally, but it does not diminish below this level for as long as the foetus exists in the anima. Characters with female generative organs may conceal the pregnancy as a conventional one, as with its prerequisite Charm. If an Infernal who knows this Charm is undergoing a conventional pregnancy, they may at any point reflexively, as an innate power, spend 1 WP and 1 Compassion channel, and transfer the child to their anima; this may be done to prevent a Crippling attack which would abort the baby. From that point on, it may be modified as a child created with Shattered Gale Shintai can be. As a side effect, giving birth from the anima is painless and instantaneous; the flesh of the child knits itself together from light and ribbons. Sometimes traces of their origin are left in their eyes.
In addition, the Infernal may grant the Adorjani truths of the cosmos to their children, whispering silently to their unformed flesh within the anima banner. She may apply permanent mutations to the unborn child as a Desecration effect. This is treated as a Craft: (Genesis) action, and the anima banner-womb is treated as a fully stocked master's Craft(Genesis) lab that supplies all the tools needed for its functions. Adorjan merely conveys the truths she knows; the character may replace her Craft (Genesis) rating with her (Linguistics), and her (Manipulation) in place of (Perception or Intelligence), as she coaxes truth into unborn flesh. The rolls to develop the project may be made independent of anything else the Infernal is doing (indeed, they need not even be conscious), and may be done even while engaging in strenuous activity. The pregnancy still takes the normal length of time for the character's species, failing any other Charms; it is possible for the crafting to be complete before the pregnancy is done, and, likewise, any work will be cut short by the end of the pregnancy. At this level, the children remain human at a soul level.
This follows the same rules and intervals for crafting a Genesis artefact, but once the crafting is complete, the subject gains mutations equal in points value to the total number of rolled successes. All mutations must be in line with an Adorjani theme; Tentacles, for example, might be red-tinted gusts that blow permanently around the child, which they can control. Negative mutations reduce the points value of mutations given. Adorjan would not cripple her children so they could not run, but instead will free their minds, and so only mental derangement-based negative mutations may be given. Examples include Mood Swings, Delusions and Wyld Addiction (see Exalted, pp. 288-289), the last of which should be modified to represent a dependence on something more appropriate than the Wyld, like the need to kill someone once a week.
The following may be given to the child as separate Abominations with the same name as the Charms; Wind Born Stride, Running to Forever, Unimpeded Perfection of Exertion, Foam Dancing Haste, Gravity Rebuking Grace and Hateful Wretched Noise. In addition, Freedom Lets Go, Tragic Love Amusement and Eloquence in Unspoken Words may also be given as separate Abominations, although they are innate abilities of the child, activated with the expenditure of 1WP, rather than Charms. If the Charm-versions of these mutations have prerequisites, they must be taken too. The Infernal must know the Charm in order to grant the mutation version of it; one cannot teach truths one has not learned. These mutations add the Infernal's (Essence) in successes to contest any attempts to remove them. Adorjan loves it when her children internalise the lessons she has taught, and will fight to protect the truth.
Cost: - (2m); Mins: Adorjan 0, Essence 5; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Obvious
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Red And White Ribbons
Adorjan bore seven daughters to a Solar, and although four become the lesser winds of Malfeas, they were once all creatures of flesh and blood, conceived over seven nights and borne within her. This Charm expands Red And White Ribbons, by increasing the number of children that may exist within the character's anima. Up to (Essence - 3) children may gestate within the anima at once, although each one beyond the first requires 2 motes of committed Essence, and adds another point of Peripheral Essence to the fixed level of the anima banner. For example with four children, the inauspicious number of Adorjan's truth's, the character's anima banner is at the 11-15 mote level for the duration of the pregnancy. Each child is a separate project, and need not be given the same set of mutations.
Cost: - ; Mins: Adorjan 0, Essence 4; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Crippling, Obvious, Illusion, Touch
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Theft As Release, Red And White Ribbons
One day, Adorjan gazed upon Creation through the memories of one of the least of her selves, for a foolish mortal thaumaturge summoned a splintered gale that she could not bind, that could not be bound, and her blood was spilt. The gale blew through Creation, driven by its whims for four years and forty four days, and then, growing tired of life, it returned to Malfeas of its own will. It had seen the ties of blood which chained villages and towns in a way far more profound than the dictates of the Solar Deliberative, seen mothers turned into cooing slaves to the squalling brats they had born, and watched in turn as the mothers enslaved their children in webs of tradition and obligation, and it was sick of it. Even the Exalted were not free of these ties of family; indeed, the children of Traitor Gaia were bound even more closely than the mortals, and the dynasts of the Golden Children were already present. Under the light of the green sun, it sought out the Silent Wind, and returned to her.
Adorjan is said to have paused for a second, and laughed.
And then her silence descended upon a expeditionary party led by a young Solar, searching for exotic components for a project, and once she had passed by, all were dead, and new ribbons swirled around her amorphous gusts. Such stolen children are her enlightening blades against the self-righteous, the prodigal son returned to slay his father on the field of battle and the seductive girl who lures her unknowing brother into a relationship, only revealing their relationship the night after his triumph.
This Charm supplements a Larceny action against a pregnant character, with a difficulty of the target's Essence. The Infernal is required to touch the bare skin of her target to do so, but any action opposing the enhanced action suffers an external penalty of the warlock's Compassion rating, including DV-based defenses. Ribbons of light erupt from the abdomen of the target, the appropriate colour for the child's sex, before flowing over to the Infernal. If the character has female generative organs, and is not currently pregnant, she may choose to become pregnant with the child conventionally; else, if there is space in her anima granted by Red and White Ribbons, the child is gestates there. If there is not space, the ribbons disperse in a cloud of gore and mist, and the child is aborted.
As a secondary effect, whenever this Charm successfully steals a child, the now-former mother, and the father both experience an Illusion effect convincing them that she was never pregnant. Resisting the Illusion costs three Willpower, which must be spent at the time of the Charm's activation. If that is not done so, the cost rises to (Infernal's Essence) Willpower, maximum of five, and this may only be spent when they are presented with evidence that the woman was with child. The Illusion automatically breaks if the stolen child ever confronts them and formally announces their identity. However, if that occurs, whether or not the Illusion is there, a new Emotion effect of "Heart-wrenching Guilt" is created in the parent; the Emotion effect costs the same to resist if the Illusion was not broken before the revelation, or two Willpower if it was. While the Emotion effect is in effect, the parents must spend one Willpower for each attack they wish to make against their returned child, which counts towards removing the Emotion effect.
A child stolen via these means is treated as a parthenogenesis-made clone, for the purposes of other Charms, such as the ability to mutate them using Red and White Ribbons. Such children are born lacking metaphysical parents; neither the Infernal nor the couple that conceived them count as their parents. Adorjan views this as an act of generous freedom, to be born without chains of blood to bind.
With a second purchase at Essence 5+, the freedom Adorjan can grant becomes more encompassing. This Charm may target non-pregnant characters. If the Larceny action is successful, then the Infernal steals the character's ties of blood as a Shaping effect, consuming them to recover a Compassion channel. The targeted character is no longer metaphysically related to any other character, and so is freed from any effects which would target them via their blood or kinship, or which they could use to control their relatives. This includes Dragonblooded Dynasty Charms, Kimbery charms which influence one's descendants, and any arcane links to their blood. In the early Shogunate, an akuma of Adorjan almost single-handedly bought down Gens Akathani, a tightly bound Gens with aims on the Shogun, whose tight control of younger members via Dynasty Charms proved to be their weak point.
As a side effect of this repurchased Charm, the first time the character uses it, they automatically lose all the metaphysical ties of blood to their ancestors. Adorjan came into being in an act of murder, and Adrián formed from the inchoate depths of the Wyld, but either way the Silent Wind would not tolerate to be bound in such a way. Entire layers of Malfeas have been consumed by wars, as the Unquestionable souls of Kimbery and Adorjan debate the righteousness of this.
Cost: 40m, 7wp ; Mins: Adorjan 0, Essence 6; Type: Simple (One Night)
Keywords: Obvious, Blasphemy
Duration: Special (one conventional pregnancy)
Prerequisite Charms: Red And White Ribbons
Within the dreams of a Solar Exalted, Adorjan consummated her passions and her transient lust for seven nights, a pale-skinned woman with teeth of jade and dark hair writhing in silent passion. Then came the pregnancy, and there are those in Malfeas who can remember the time of horrors that was, for Adorjan would not flee from sound, but instead reaped her way through the furthest environs of the Demon City and the landscapes within it, claiming countless lives to feed her children. It is said that even seven of the Unquestionable fell before her, although the name of only one is recorded; Kaemeena, fifth soul of Cytherea, flensed by razor-sharp winds despite his protests of status. And then, when all was said and done, she bore seven children of human flesh and blood and of her essence. Of three of them, none more is known in the libraries of Orabalis, for they went to Creation to be with their father, but their sisters who stayed shucked their human form and became the Four Winds of Malfeas.
While pregnant with a child within the anima-womb granted by Red and White Ribbons, the Infernal may begin a more radical transformation of the unborn life than mere mutations would permit. While resting at night, when the Unconquered Sun has his face turned from the world, the character may begin the transcendental process of enlightenment that uplifts the child beyond the merely human, to a behemoth. Adorjan is not Kimbery, is not a self-proclaimed artist of the flesh. In her own way, she loves her children more than that. Rather than be given free rein to design the Behemoth, the Infernal instead chooses a Shintai charm to "theme" it around, and has no more control over how it develops (although the behemoth should be developed cooperatively by the Storyteller and the player). A behemoth themed around Splintered Gale Shintai may appear as triplets, sharing one mind, or maybe possess the ability to internalise the mind of anyone it touches and add it to its mental gestalt, while one from Scarlet Rapture Shintai may be a hurricane-infant of flensing breezes. As an innate Heretical property of this Charm (which does not increase the training time), Green Sun Princes may use any Shintai they know to create the Behemoth. When this peculiarity is discovered, Adorjan will most probably find it highly amusing.
The mother may feed the unborn behemoth up to five motes, per day's worth of development. If the character can bear multiple children, as permitted by Sevenfold Affection Progenation, each behemoth child is treated separately. The end Essence of the child is equal to the number of motes it has been fed, divided by 100, and is limited to mother's (Essence – 3), with a further maximum cap of Essence 5. If the child is not provided with enough motes to raise it to Essence 2, it is stillborn; a few pathetic scraps of incomplete flesh. In addition, the mother must consume or imbibe one exotic component suitable for a Level 5 Artefact for each point of Essence the child will have. Adorjan's terrible passage throughout the Demon City and the environs around it during her pregnancy made her seven children possible.
The behemoth may be given up to (Essence) Yozi Charms which are thematically appropriate for it, but it should use Spirit Charms and appropriate Panoply Charms of a power level suitable for its Essence for all other abilities. The father, if there is one, may also have an influence; it is said that the Brilliant Wind bears the touch of her father more than her sisters.
Behemoth children born via this Charm are not human at a soul level, and cannot Exalt. However, they are mentally human insofar as their natural capacities permit them to develop that way. By default, they are born with the mental and physical capacities of a newborn infant, with all the abilities to learn and develop that such a child would have. Moreover, they possess the capacity to assume a human-facsimile form, which exists within the range of variance of the inhabitants of Creation. Nevertheless, these behemoths always bear some taint of their origin in their appearance; crimson eyes, hair the colour of the midday sky in Creation, or unnaturally pale skin might all be possibilities. Though they may have inhuman toughness, they will still likely cry if not fed, unless their nature means they do not require food. They may still cry. Adorjan has often found the capricious innocence of infants to be faintly pleasing to her.
These behemoths lack the capacity to increase their Essence beyond the level they are created with, without internalising Adorjan's truths, and truly choosing to let go. They may discard their human-facsimile form, a Miscellaneous action, which may not be compelled via supernatural methods, and embrace their nature. Their Essence automatically increases by 1, and they lose the ability to take on a form which suppresses their behemoth nature and the restrictions of a human-esque mindset. In the case of the Four Winds, they are no longer sapient; a child born of Black Mirror Shintai may only exist as that which they mirror, and no longer possess their own form or desires. Whether this state can ever be reversed is not yet known.
At Essence 10, the cap on the Essence that the behemoth child may be born with increases to 6.
Cost: -; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Love Begets Love, Murder is Meat, Impatient Tempest Labour
There are many traits possessed by the Silent Wind. Hunger, lethality, whimsical inconsistency. Patience is not one of them. Hence, as she blows through the Demon City, she feeds upon those that she finds to sate her bottomless hunger, but she will spare a morsel for another if she feels like it, for she is nothing but unpredictable. The unborn learn from the ways of their mother, enlightened by her wisdom, and grow wise and strong upon the death of others. Adorjan forges heroes in the crucible of tragedy, after all. This Charm upgrades Love Begets Love, permanently expanding its capabilities. While pregnant by any means (normally requiring that the character is female), the Infernal may now choose to condense an inhaled corpse (or breath) into the raw energy of life, feeding it to her unborn, and she need not hold a positive Intimacy towards it to carry out this alternative method. Each breath fed this way counts as five days of foetal development. Given that the Exalted pregnancy is on average 420 days, this means that eighty-two deaths is sufficient to bring a pregnancy to immediate completion. In addition, for each meal fed to the child, compare its Abilities (which begin all at zero) to the Abilities of the donor. The foetus gains one dot in a single Ability the donor had rated at 3 or higher, up a cap of the dots of what the donor had. These memories are sourceless but inborn; the child will not know where their expertise in Performance comes from, but that will not lessen the beauty of her voice.
At Essence 4, this Charm upgrades, allowing the mother to take advantage of how the energies of Essence users are much more potent. Inhaling those provides a single mutation point as a Desecration effect, up to a limit of the Infernal's (Essence + Athletics), which should be listed separately by the Essence type of the donor (ie demon, ghost, divine, elemental, Solar, and so on). These mutation points must be spent at the child's birth, and each pool may only be spent on mutations thematically appropriate to the type of donor-parent who provided them - the mutation points from Creature of Darkness must be spent on Adorjan-appropriate mutations. A single Solar inhaled, for example, might be spent on a 1 point cosmetic Pox of golden eyes. Pools may be merged, but the feature must be appropriate to both and show its mixed origin. Should all the donors have been of the same Essence type, the Infernal may choose to suppress her own blood, and have the child born as a half-caste of that Essence type. Spiritblooded take a homogenised mix of the donors as their "parent"; a demonblooded child fed by neomah, teodozija, and peronelles will show traits of all three, may learn Charms appropriate to any of them, and, should they reach Essence 4, become a new kind of First Circle demon species which is a blend of the donors and counts as being descended from the Infernal.
Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Simple (Speed 5)
Keywords: Shaping, Combo-OK, Touch
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Corrosive Pattern Infliction
The Immaculate Order says "Give me a child for the first seven years, and you may do what you like with him afterwards." The Ebon Dragon disagrees. Within the tenebral darkness of the womb, the parasitic unborn is kin to him, and with but one touch they express that fully. The Order may do what they like with the child once it has been born; they are his forever. To use this Charm, the Infernal must make skin contact with a pregnant being; mortal, animal, god, demon, elemental or Exalt - all are susceptible. The Charm does nothing to the mother; it targets the unborn child. Prior to their First Breath, though, the unborn infant is protected by any defences that the mother may have against this. The child, when born, will be a Creature of Darkness, which is an innate property, and may not be removed as a mutation, but will require the personal intercession of the Unconquered Sun to resolve. The child receives bonus points equal to those given by the Creature of Darkness negative mutation, to be spent on likewise-innate mutations which fit within the thematics of the Ebon Dragon. The touch of the Ebon Dragon flays away the restraining bonds of kinship; the child will not metaphysically descend from their parents, but will instead count as being descended from the Infernal, but only in circumstances which benefit the Infernal. When it does not benefit them, the child is left alone in the darkness unbonded to anything.
In addition, the Shadow of All Things is a creature of antagonistic anti-Virtue, and so are the children who have seen his darkness while still unformed. The Infernal chooses one Virtue of the child, which may never be raised above 1. This grants the child a free dot of Willpower, and increases the cap on Willpower by 1.
This Charm is not Obvious, but the mother may, with a successful (Perception + Stamina) roll at a difficulty of the Infernal's Essence, detect the nauseating tingle of Ophidian Essence, and if she does so, she may spend 3wp to resist the alteration. Infernals who are themselves pregnant (who will usually be female) may use this on their own pregnancies for free, and it does not count as a Charm activation to do so. If the child ever Exalts, all the consequences of this Charm, save their status of a Creature of Darkness and the permanent lost of the metaphysical bonds of descent, are removed, though no free dots of Virtue are granted.
At Essence 5, the Touch keyword is removed from this Charm, and the Infernal may limit any number of Virtues to a maximum of 1; each one so limited gives them an extra dot of Willpower. With a repurchase at Essence 5, it may be used on women who are not pregnant and men, as a Sorcerous effect, which affects any child they conceive.
Cost: - (+2m); Mins: Essence 5; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Womb Darkness Retention, Inner Devils Unchained
The Ebon Dragon has transcended all propriety and all laws of decency. That one's child is the same species as their parents is but one of those laws. This Charm permanently enhances Womb Darkness Retention for an extra 2 motes. Instead of altering the child as described, the Infernal may instead transmute the child into a demon that they could create using Inner Devils Unchained.
The demon-child is not a normal example of their species. Although they are born with all the traits and virtues of a typical demon of that kind, they appear to be a demon-blooded of their parent species, despite their inhumanity, and grow and mature as a normal child would until they reach an age chosen by the Infernal, whereupon they no longer age. They are a First Circle demon of their species in all other aspects, and so can be summoned, bound, banished and so on. An agata-in-the-shape-of-a-man will still be heartbreakingly attractive, and possess in some form the wings and stinger of his kind, though they will be able to be hidden under clothing. The Ebon Dragon takes much pleasure in granting such... gifts to the self-righteous.
A mother pregnant with a demon is wracked by nightmares, suffering a -1 to their roll to regain Conviction after sleep. Each time they fail this roll counts as a scene of building an Intimacy of Paranoia towards anything that they are slightly suspicious of or which they are concerned about, whether that is the funny taste of the well water ("Is it poisoned?"), the behaviour of their neighbour ("They're demon-cultists, yes, spying for their vile masters?"), or, indeed, anything save their unborn child.
Cost: 1m; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Supplemental;
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Mother Sea Mastery
Kimbery is the ultimate trafficker, and extracts a price from those who beseech her based on what her aid is worth to them. This Charm supplements a normal or dramatic action to estimate the value of a good or service and the quality of it. Examples include the condition and value to the owner of an allegedly "priceless" pearl, or much "not flooding a district of Malfeas" is worth to her supplicants. This Charm gives the Infernal a perfect awareness of the target quality's condition, and how much ownership of it is worth to its prospective or current owner. This awareness grants her two bonus successes on any price haggling which ensues.
Cost: 2-4m; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Supplemental;
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Social
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Price-of-Everything Understanding
Always the mistress of dark and forbidden bargains, the Sea Who Marched Against The Flame plays off the secret currents of the mind and brings them to the fore when she makes her offers. This works as the Solar Charm Irresistible Salesman Technique, save that the Charm costs 2m if the Motivation or a known-to-the-Infernal Intimacy of the target is in line with the social attack, and 4m otherwise.
Cost: 10m; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Simple (Dramatic Action);
Keywords: Combo-OK, Sorcerous
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Price-of-Everything Undercurrents
The ocean carries flotsam and jetsam with it, depositing it upon the beaches of the ocean in acknowledgement of how she erodes them. So too does Kimbery offer her gifts to those who aid her passage. This Charm functions as the Solar Charm Speed the Wheels, save that the Infernal must first offer and have accepted a gift of an object or service with a Resources value equal to or greater than half the Essence of the target. If the Infernal has previously used Price-of-Everything Undercurrents (or other equivalent methods) on the target, they may choose to use what the gift is worth to the target instead. The sorcerous nature of the Charm is centred in this gift, and any countermagic to dispel it must be targeted at the gift - which may be literal in the case of a pearl necklace, or more conceptual such as how the wife rescued by the Infernal may anchor it.
This Charm may be repurchased at Essence 4. Should the leader of the organisation be Beloved, the requirement to give a gift is removed as the beloved ones of the Great Mother always aid her - at least in her own mind. The sorcerous effect is instead anchored in the relevant Intimacy, either of the Infernal or of the loyal descendent. If the leader of the project is Reviled, should they not contest its completion the Infernal may, regardless of any other effects upon her, choose to lose the negative Intimacy as a sign of their obvious and clear sorrow for their deeds.
Cost: 14m; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Simple (Speed 6 in long ticks);
Keywords: Combo-OK, Emotion, Servitude, Social, Sorcerous
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Hidden Depths Temptress
Kimbery is the most benevolent and sweetest mother who has ever existed. Why else would those she rewards be so willing to pay back her gratitude? Using this Charm requires the Infernal to offer an object or service to the target. The recipient must accept the gift or the Charm automatically fails, so prior persuasion may be needed to ensure cooperation. Provided that the gift is accepted - and in the case of a service, the service is complete - the Infernal's player rolls (Appearance + Socialise) as an undodgeable social attack, adding bonus successes equal to the gift's Resources value. If the Infernal has previously used Price-of-Everything Undercurrents (or other equivalent methods) on the target, they may choose to use what the gift is worth to the target instead.
Should the social attack succeed, a fragment of indigo ice freezes within the heart of the target, inflicting a Sorcerous curse of gratitude upon them. Each time they think of, use, or see the gift, it counts as one scene of building an Intimacy of "Gratitude" towards the Infernal; this Emotion effect may be resisted for 1wp, and spending (Infernal's Essence) to resist it immunises the target for one month. When the target is suffering from an Intimacy of Gratitude towards the Infernal, should the Infernal express a desire of them for a service or good with a Resources value equal to or less than the gift they were given the target must as a Servitude effect spend at least ten hours a day working towards obtaining it for the Infernal. They may spend 1wp to avoid doing so for a single day, or an Exalt may take one Limit - and if it leads to madness... well, they were mad to try to weasel out of the kindness of the Great Mother.
The only way to escape the grasp of Kimbery is to pay her back in kind. Should the target give the Infernal a gift equal to or greater than the value of the gift they were given, they may roll (Appearance + Socialise) as an undodgeable social attack, adding bonus successes equal to the gift's Resources value. Success on this roll breaks the sorcerous curse.
Cost: -; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Native
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Great Mother's Wame
Kimbery wants only the best for her children, but the hungers of her offspring can be so demanding, always wanting. Sometimes she must pass them off to other nursemaids, so that their desires can be assuaged. Though she weeps bitter acidic tears to see this, the way they grow so big and strong, with hides of toughened flesh and shining carapace and sea-drenched stone makes her so proud! This Charm permanently improves its prerequisite, adding the capacity to create manse-children. When beginning a project with Great Mother's Wame, the Infernal may instead choose to "design" a manse-child, which takes the same amount of time as they would take to design a more conventional one, save that the "design" process actually gestates a grotesquely enlarged zygote which grows at an incredibly rate, until it is the size of a full-term human infant at the end of the "design" process. Any manse designed via this process automatically has the "Living" manse power (Lords of Creation, p120), and a 1 dot Vulnerability; the manse-child dies if the living heart where the hearthstone forms is destroyed with fire. This brewing of hellish geomancy is a natural act, so a warlock may replace her (Craft: [Genesis]) and/or (Lore) ratings with (Essence-1), if she so desires. Provided the manse she is crafting has a manse rating equal to or less than her (Essence), she may also use (Stamina) in place of (Intelligence). The requirements to design a manse with Sentient, Living Manse, or any manse power that has Living Manse as a prerequisite are waived; the Sea Who Marched Against the Flame need not teach her children how to live or face the horrors of a cruel world.
The manse-child, as a living child of the waters of Kimbery, is explicitly is not designed for a single demesne, and may be born into any demesne of a rating equal to the level of its manse-rating. The birth will not occur, until the Infernal is within the grounds of such a demesne. Once that happens, labour is induced, which is, as per Great Mother's Wame, painless. However, the umbilical cord remains attached to the manse-child, and lashes out as it passes from its "mother's" body, plunging deep into the ground, to attach itself to the essence flows of the demense.
The manse-child grows and matures with shocking speed; each day that passes counts as one man-year on the manse. No other labour is required, and even things like Integrated Magitech Artillery can be emulated with grotesque weapon systems of spines and toxic crystals. Killing the manse-child is as hard as destroying any other partially completed manse. Once complete, its mother is automatically attuned to it, and this attunement may not be broken as long as the manse remains; in addition, it counts as one of her descendants for the purposes of Kimbery Charms. Its aesthetics are designed, in general terms, in the design process, and must conform to both the aesthetics of Kimbery and the aesthetics of the underlying demesne. Although they are living, and born of flesh, that does not prevent the secretion of twisted silicate shells which resemble cyclopean geometries, and other such things. It may not cap Fire, Solar, or Cytherea-aspected demesnes, unless the Exotic Aspect (Kimbery) power has been taken, and in such cases, a mandatory 2-point Fragility Flaw must be taken (overriding the normal rules on the incompatibility of those Flaws), for which no points are received, as the manse-child grows up sickly and weak, trying to contain the agonising fire that burns at its Essence flows. Sentient manse-children who suffer through this will likely suffer psychological problems and trauma, and may well be driven insane. However, once the aspect of the underlying demesne has been converted, that Flaw is removed, as the manse-child can strengthen its flesh-architecture properly without the toxic burning Essence running through it.
At Essence 4 this Charm permanently upgrades, such that the manse-child grows at a rate of (mother's Essence) man-years per day.
(Notes: This Charm lets you make manse-seeds, which you give birth to/impregnate a demense with, which grow into a manse. For the Infernal on the go, who doesn't have time to build a manse, but who does have time for a pregnancy.)
Cost: -; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Pemanent
Prerequisite Charms: First Kimbery Excellency, Monstrous Manse-Mother Fountainhead
Kimbery feels terrible guilt for fostering her babies upon other teats. In her benevolence, she tries to make it up to them, and showers her gifts upon them to make up for such tragic abandonment. This Charm permanently upgrades all manses made via Monstrous Manse-Mother Fountainhead, with the following features:
• All such manses count as having a Network Node, connecting to all other manses made by the same Infernal, which does not count towards their total number of points. All the inlets of Kimbery are the same ocean, after all. These Nodes may not communicate with any non-manse-children, however.
• All such manses are treated as if they are Beloved by the Infernal, unless this is overridden by them becoming Reviled.
• The "Sentient" power in Chapter 2 of Oedenal's Codex is treated as if it is italicised and is favoured regardless of the aspect of the Demesne, allowing it to be taken by any manse for 4 Creation Points.
• As long as the Infernal ingests an appropriate exotic component for the aspect of the manse to be built and the nature of the manse-child, one extra Creation point is granted. For example, the sexual fluids of a Sidereal would be perfect for a Sidereal-aspected manse. This is increased to two extra Creation points as long as the manse is Kimbery or Vitriol aspected. These extra points may only be spent on features favoured by that aspect, or on manse powers that have Living Manse as a prerequisite. Traces appropriate to the source of the exotic component will be left in the manse, especially if it has been given the Sentient quality; the eyes that wriggle in the walls, and the colour of the fleshy walls might be all too familiar to the "father", for example.
At Essence 4, this power improves further. When creating the manse-child, as long as the Infernal ingests or obtains an appropriate exotic component for the aspect of the manse, rather than receive the aforementioned bonus they may instead cap a demense with a manse one dot higher rated than the manse. For example, the Infernal could cap a 3-dot demesne with a 4-dot manse. The difficulty of all design rolls and the required construction time would be that of a 3-dot manse, but the resultant structure would be a 4-dot manse in all regards (producing a 4-dot hearthstone, having creation points equivalent to a 4-dot manse [see The Books of Sorcery, vol. III—Oadenol's Codex], and so forth). Kimbery does not play fair with her children, and so the Infernal may still deliberately weaken her designs to produce one-dot manses, if desired. If used to design a 5-dot manse, My Pretty Baby does not raise it to N/A level, instead providing six additional creation points with which to design its features, gives it the Sentient quality for free, and it makes the manse a potential geomantic channel to sustain a N/A level manse elsewhere.
(Notes: Upgrades your Manse-babies, via the power of Kimbery, so they're worth more than just casting Raising the Pussiant Sanctum. Quite a bit referenced from Design Beyond Limit, but this is a specifically manse-focussed Charm, while that one is more general craft. Kimbery should build better living manses than Solars.)
Cost: - ; Mins: Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Shaping
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Seared Fruits of Union, Monstrous Manse-Mother Fountainhead
The children of Kimbery need not content themselves with just the paltry fare of Creation. No, she has taught them to always demand the best, and so they shall have it, like ticks upon the dragonlines of Creation, warping the local geometry to feed their beautiful growth. With her corrosive waters, she impregnates those things which come within her reach and catch her eye infusing them with her progenitive Essence. This Charm permanently upgrades Monstrous Manse-Mother Fountainhead. When the Infernal designs a Kimbery or Vitriol-aspected manse for a level 1 demesne, she need not place it on a pre-existing demesne. Instead, using Seared Fruits of Union, the Infernal may impregnate a suitable building, barren mountain, river, lake, bog, seaside, collection of limpid pools high in the mountains, or otherwise geomantically auspicious place with the manse-child, which latches onto the structure or feature with its umbilical cord.
Its growth is rather more convoluted and complicated than one of its siblings permitted a demesne to grow on, however. First, it, as it fuses with the pre-existing geography, squamous tendrils sinking into rock to burrow out a lair into the mountainside or tumourous coral growths enveloping a building. The manse-child grows into a pseudo-manse, taking as long as it would if it were a level-1 manse produced by Monstrous Manse-Mother Fountainhead, which produces no hearthstone and may not be used to regenerate motes. Once this is done, the pseudo-manse has the Living Manse, Dangerous Traps, and two points of Essence Vents powers, as the corrosive power of Kimbery arcs within it. These are paid for by 2 points of Habitability and a 2-point Vulnerability; any naked flame (including a Fire Aspected anima banner) bought into the undeveloped hearthstone chamber destroys the manse.
The pseudo-manse requires, above all, motes. It respires motes at a rate of 2m per hour, and each mote counts as one man-day of labour towards building a level 1 manse, meaning that each day, 50 man-days are contributed towards the manse. As a result, assuming uninterrupted Essence flow, the manse is built in two years. In places which resonate with the manse-aspect, this rate is doubled. As it draws on the surrounding area, the essence of Kimbery bleeds slowly into the area, affecting everything within a one mile radius of the pseudo-manse as if were a Kimbery demense, mutating mortals as normal, and warping the landscape. Rain falls often and pools, water keeps its chill in even the heat of summer, fish and other water-dwellers grow big and vicious, and anything born within this area takes, as a Desecration Effect, a Pox thematically appropriate for aquatic life. This even affects the dreams of the locals; they dream of deep seas, squirming life, and the Infernal who mothered the manse-child, which causes bad sleep. Mortals in the affected area lose one dice to rolls to recover Willpower, as a fear-based Emotion effect. Once the pseudo-manse has "built" itself by feeding off Essence, it manifests as the designed manse, with a Level 1 Demense underneath it. The effect on the landscape and area ceases, although the landscape and its inhabitants will be scarred by their experiences.
However, if there is an uncapped Demesne within (Demesne's Rating squared) miles of the pseudo-manse, the manse-child will, in addition, draw the rich, concentrated Essence from the nearest demesne, sending questing tendrils underground to suckle from it. The demesne generates no motes while the pseudo-manse is draining it, but for each day that it drains it, it counts as 10 man-years towards the manse, rather than 50 man-days. The draining tendrils have the statistics of Ichor Flux Tendrils, and "grapple" the geomancy of the area, attacking anyone who attacks them. If destroyed, they take a number of days equal to (the distance in miles +1) from the pseudo-manse to the demesne to regenerate, and will attempt to drain again. Once the manse and demesne are complete, the rating of any targeted demesne which has provided more than (demense-rating x 10) man years is permanently reduced by 1 point. The pseudo-manse may not feed off Fire, Solar, or Cytherea-aspected demesnes.
As an as-yet-unknown, innate Heretical feature of this Charm, Green Sun Princes who have developed and learned their own Excellency via Triumphant Howl of the Devil Tiger may also create manse-children aspected towards themselves via this method, even if they have no other way to create demesnes aspected towards themselves. The product of one's loins know who their mother is, after all.
(Notes: Lets your manse-babies begin on places which aren't manses, forming a demesne by sucking all the local Essence flows to them, and then growing into a manse. And, sure, they might taint the entire area towards Kimbery, too, but that's just because they're so adorable.)
Cost: - ; Mins: Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Geomancy-Suckling Little Darling
To Kimbery, the Wyld is but a transient thing, to be replaced by her artistic vision, and her children shall bring it to completion. This Charm permanently improves Monstrous Manse-Mother Fountainhead, allowing it to be used on a single waypoint in the Wyld. The Infernal may design any Kimbery-aspected manse with a manse rating of (Essence/2) or less, following the normal rules for manses designed using that Charm, and give birth to it in a Wyld Zone. The newborn manse-child draws upon the changing energies of the Wyld, drowning it in the cold depths of Kimbery. In the bordermaches, each day counts as 5 man-years towards completion, in the Middlemarches, each day counts as 10 man years towards completion, and in the Deep Wyld and in Pure Chaos each day counts as 20 man years towards completion. To be used in the Deep Wyld or Pure Chaos, the manse must be designed with the "Traveling" Feature, as it will drift free on the tides of the Wyld; ones in the bordermarches or middlemarches are sufficiently anchored to Creation to stay static.
However, such manse-children do not act like normal manses. They do not produce a hearthstone and receive no bonus Creation points for that, instead flooding the entire waypoint with Kimberyian Essence, reshaping it, as they lock it into shape. The entire waypoint is made part of Creation, for as long as the manse-child remains in place; its death allows the Wyld to attempt to unmake the land again. The manse-child expands over the entire waypoint, although there is a central body which will appear as a normal manse, and so manse powers can be used over the entire area without needing to purchase Zone of Influence. The Essence of Kimbery fills the entire place, making any child born or made within it a Creature of Darkness, and count as one of the Infernal's descendents as a Desecration Effect, and granting 6 mutation points to be spent on appropriately themed positive mutations, which may be either set by the Infernal whenever they stand in the empty hearthstone chamber, or permitted to vary based on the manse's aesthetics. Moreover, each day spent within such a place count as one scene towards building an Intimacy of "Unconditional Love and Obedience" towards the Infernal who gave birth to the manse-child.
The tendrils of the manse-child suffuse the land, making it like wet clay in the hands of its mother. While standing in the vacant hearthstone chamber, the Infernal may reshape anywhere within the waypoint as if they knew Wyld-Shaping Technique, treating the land as Middlemarches. All such changes must be compatible with the aesthetics of Kimbery and her Excellency, and the Infernal may only create (or modify) Land, People, or Wealth. In addition, it also calcifies any Unshaped Fair Folk who enters it after a number of ticks equal to (11 - Infernal's Essence), rendering them down into vitriolic sludge which screams eternally in drowning agony in an amusing similarity to Chalcanth (and has some interesting, little-known properties in crafting).
(Notes: Because Kimbery has her own way for taking over the Wyld. And lol Fair Folk. You think you matter.)
Cost: - ; Mins: Essence 6; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Potential Drowning Depths Dweller, First Kimbery Excellency
Kimbery would have crafted Creation, had she been given the chance. From her loins would have sprung all that is, and all would have known the generosity of the Great Mother. But she was not chosen, and she has nursed the bitter agony as she heard the shinma-shaking acts of the Emerald Mother and the Mother of Creation as they blazed solidity into the Wyld. If it had been her to do it... well, things would not have gone as they did. Instead, she nurses her own children, and waits for her freedom until she can let them loose into the Wyld, where they will spread out, each one a world unto itself, and she can undo the injustice done to her by Cytherea once and for all.
This Charm enhances Kimbery-aspected manse-children made by its prerequisite. Once built, as long as the original manse was rated level 2 or higher, they attempt to spread and grow, producing subsidiary manses. If the manse has the Sentient feature, it can design its own subsidiary-manses with a rank no greater than (own rating – 1); otherwise, the subsidiaries may only have manse powers which the original has. Alternatively, the Infernal who originally produced the manse-child may design the subsidiary manses for the manse-child, giving birth to them inside the empty hearthstone chamber, where they are consumed and internalised by their sibling. These subsidiary-manses are subject to all the constraints of manses made by Monstrous Manse-Mother Fountainhead and any applicable upgrades, and may not have the Sentient feature; the original manse-child is the mind, and these subsidiary-manses are its body. In addition, no subsidiary manse may exceed (rating – 1) of the manse it comes from, even if designed by the Infernal.
Once a manse has been designed, the manse-child will attempt to colonise an adjoining waypoint, extruding tentacles and flesh from its occupied waypoint. It produces a number of separate incursions equal to its manse rating, and each incursion has the same statistics as the tentacles produced by Ichor Flux Tendrils, using the Infernal's Essence. If all the incursions are destroyed, the manse-child will regrow them after one day; the only way to stop the attack is to destroy the manse-child. The subsidiary-manse grows at the same rate as manses made by Potential Drowning Depths Dweller, and retains progress even if all the intrusions are destroyed. Manse powers may be used in a (manse rating x 10) yard radius around an intrusion, allowing the manse-child to defend its new acquisition. The primary manse-child may create a number of subsidiary manse-children equal to its manse-rating, and warps the geometry of the Wyld such that its subsidiary manses surround it, like some great and terrible starfish... and that is what, indeed, it resembles, for the manse-child is now a single, massive behemoth-organism occupying multiple waypoints.
Subsidiary-manses and the manse-child are assumed to have the Network Node power for free, and the manse-child, if it is Sentient, may control any manse-features in the subsidiary-manses. Guardians and Bound Servants may be moved between sub-manses freely; other powers may affect other "manses" within the behemoth-organism at the discretion of the Storyteller. If the central manse-child is killed, the subsidiary manses go into Power Failure instantly. Skilled treatment may save them as separate manses, but the greater unity is lost.
This Charm may be repurchased at Essence 8. With this repurchase, the manse-child may create extra subsidiary manses budding off from the subsidiary manses. Each subsidiary-manse may support a number of subsidiary-manses equal to its (manse-rating – 1), down to level 1 manses, which may not produce them. The design must still be carried out by the central manse-child, for they are extensions of its body. This is recursive; for example, a level 3 manse-child may produce 3 level 2 subsidiary-manses, each of which may produce 2 level-1 subsidiary-manses, for a total of one level 3 manses, three level 2 manses, and six level 1 ones. The destruction of a subsidiary-manse sends the lesser manses it has produced into Power Failure, but does not affect other manses in the organism (though the manse-child will suffer pain comparable to a limb amputation). In addition, if the primary manse-child took the "Inside Fate" power, the entire behemoth-organism disassociates from Creation. The Fate it runs off is not the Fate of the Loom; it is the Mythos of Kimbery, created and generated by the manse child; as a result, they are not inside Fate in a conventional sense, but instead enjoy a status akin to that of people inside the Design of Autocthon. One automatic success is applied to all actions taken within the occupied waypoints to which Kimbery's Excellency could apply; a -1 external penalty is applied to all actions which are not permitted by it. So will the world-children of Kimbery swim through endless seas of chaos.
Cost: - ; Mins: Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Geomancy-Suckling Little Darling
In this fallen age, there is not the love and devotion, but generous Kimbery will still give her children birthing-gifts even if their owners might prefer otherwise. This Charm upgrades Monstrous Manse-Mother Fountainhead, adding a new capacity to it. If the Infernal has carried out a geomantic survey of a manse which was not made by that Charm, she can design a parasitic manse-child which will take over and supplant the previous manse.
Once the geomantic survey has occurred, the manse-child is designed as a normal manse-child built on the target demesne would be, save that it begins with manse features equal to that of the initial manse. Pre-existing manse features which the Infernal wishes to remove must be "un-designed" as if the feature was being designed, save that the Infernal always counts as having sufficient skills to do so. The manse designed in this way can benefit from other charms that enhance Monstrous Manse-Mother Fountainhead, such as My Little Darling.
Once the manse-child has been designed, the Infernal must give birth within the manse, specifically targeting one of the manse-powers, which the umbilical cord of the infant latches onto, subverting over the course of five long ticks as a Shaping Effect. This is Obvious, as nacreous growths of marble and coral fronds of human flesh integrate with the manse feature and warp wards and defences to its own service, locking into it and controlling it. Sensible mothers target features of manses which can fight back, such as a Guardian, for the Infernal counts as a pseudo-hearthstone bearer, and so can control manse-features which are subverted. From this point in, the manse-child will attempt to grow and take full control of the manse. The Infernal can pick targets for the manse-child to target; otherwise, it is decided by the structure of the manse, as tendrils and creeping coral target sweep out to sink like roots into the building.
Mechanically, once per man-week, the manse-child rolls the Infernal's (Stamina + Resistance + Essence), at a Difficulty equal to the level of the manse. Successes count towards subverting a manse-feature; once a number of successes equal to the rating of the manse feature are reached, the feature is now under the control of the manse-child. Features not included in the manse-child are disassembled and stored within it as raw materials; ones which need to be built can only be "subverted" once sufficient Creation Points have been freed up to support them. Once all the manse features are subverted, the manse-child may target the hearthstone chamber, which counts as a manse feature with a rating equal to twice the manse rating. Successful subversion stabilises the manse child, which now encompasses the entire manse, and forms a hearthstone as normal. N/A-rated Manses can have an effective value from anywhere from 6 to 10, decided by the Storyteller. The encroaching manse-child may be combated as if it was a manse. Destroying the features it controls removes its control, but also damages the underlying manse feature. A geomantic survey, and the use of fire or Holy attacks allows it to be combated without damaging the main manse. Features destroyed by the manse-child must be rebuilt even if the manse-child is purged.
The bearer of the hearthstone does not lose attunement until the entire manse is subverted, although the effective rating of the hearthstone is reduced by one level until that point. However, any features controlled by the manse-child are beyond his control, which can be a problem when the Ultra Deadly Trap turns out to flood the room with a tiny inlet of Kimbery. Moreover, they suffer nightmares, of slick organic growth, of the bloated shadowy maternal form of the Infernal, and the cries of a child (which are especially tortured if the manse if Fire, Solar or Cytherea aspected), suffering a -1 to all rolls to regain Willpower upon waking as a Fear-based Emotion effect.
Many First Age manses were built with safety features against this kind of subversion, especially for critical parts of the defence infrastructure of the Realm. Most only inflict a -2 external penalty to rolls related to subversion, but some critical systems, such as the Imperial Manse, are immune to this... at least, as long as enough of the geomantic grid that powers it remains intact enough to fuel the power-hungry defence systems. Fire, Solar and Cytherea-aspected manses add a further -2 external penalty to the subversion rolls, and require the manse design to take the constraints of Monstrous Manse-Mother Fountainhead for those aspects into account. Manses who have a manse connected to them by a Network Node subverted reduce the difficulty of subversion by 1, for one should expect the children of Kimbery to aid themselves in their mother's service, should they not?
Cost: 2m; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 10)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Great Mother's Tears
The sacred essence of the Great Mother is much too potent for the endless parasites who would seek to take advantage of her generosity. Their screams are some small penance. The Infernal invokes this charm whenever her attack would kill a character. Vitriolic essence surges into the target, dissolving and transmuting their mind, body and soul. They bloat and burst, spraying a pool of liquefied acidic viscera over the area. This creates an environmental hazard with a radius of (target's Essence x 2), lethal piercing damage of (target's Essence x 2), and trauma of (target's Essence), which screams with the voice of the deceased. Beloved characters are immune to this hazard, and cannot hear the moans. Fire can be used to dissipate the hazard, which burns away with a thick purple smoke if a single health level is done to it. It can also be drunk as if it was chalcanth, and provides (target's Essence) doses, though doing so inflicts a dose of the poison produced by Spiteful Sea Tincture to non-Beloved characters.
If a spirit is killed by an attack supplemented by this Charm, the death is permanent. Infernals with Essence 7+ can actually unravel the souls of beings with perfect reincarnation who normally resist permanent destruction, such as Dragon Kings and Jadeborn. Only her siblings, whether living Primordials and Yozis or dead Neverborn, are proof against the vengeance of Kimbery.
This Charm may be repurchased, so that this Charm's effects may be applied to damaging Kimberyian poisons when they are created for no surcharge. This only takes effect if the poison kills the target.
Cost: - (+3m); Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Emotion, Compulsion
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Great Mother's Tears
Kimbery is all poisons, but there are ones more subtle and more far-reaching than the ones which can be seen when one gazes into her depths. Whenever the Infernal would create a damaging poison with a Kimbery Charm, she may instead create an addictive poison, which costs an extra 3 motes to make. Against Beloved targets, it has the statistics of Alcohol. Against targets who are neither Beloved nor Reviled, it has the following statistics; Damage: 2L/hour, Toxicity: 3, Tolerance: (Stamina)/Month, Penalty: -2. Against reviled targets, it has the statistics of the basic poison lacquer. Each point of damage inflicted by an addictive poison counts as a scene towards building an Intimacy of "Dependent Love" towards the Infernal (if the target is Beloved or neutral; love so generated can be sexual, filial, or both, for human morality means little to Kimbery), or "Repulsive Self-Loathing" if the target is Reviled, and a second Intimacy of "Addiction" towards the Infernal. The character may spend 2wp when they first take damage from the poison to resist this unnatural Emotion effect for the next day regardless of the source; this does not render them immune to the damaging effects of the poison.
This feeling, whether of love or self-hate, is euphoric and addictive. A character who has either Intimacy suffers an unnatural Compulsion duplicating a constant partially-controlled Overindulgence Limit Break, although it is confined to the context of the Intimacy, rather than all vices. Dependent Love towards the Infernal will addict them towards pleasing and being enabled by the Infernal, Repulsive Self-Loathing will lead them to indulge and revel in self-destructive behaviour, and Addiction will lead them towards getting more doses of the addictive poison. Victims can pay one Willpower to suppress this addictive behaviour for one day. Victims with Limit tracks can choose to gain one Limit instead of paying Willpower to ignore the addiction for a day, and if an Exalt should show madness... well, one must be mad to keep away from the addictive love of the Great Mother, and this is only further proof.
If the character knows Milk of Primordial Kindness, that Charm is enhanced. An addictive poison given by this Charm may be added to the nutrient broth provided by that Charm for no additional cost.
Cost: 15m, 1lhl; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Simple (One fifteen minute dramatic action)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Desecration, Sorcerous
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Tidal Renewal Discipline
Though Gaia may have included some water in her nature and been praised for her beauty, the cold depths of the Demon Sea drowned the raksha by the trillions from the very first days. Yes, Kimbery has first claim upon the depths and rivers alike, and she will not let them go. This Charm allows a warlock to taint water, twisting anything which relies upon it. The Infernal sheds his blood into a body of water, singing hymns to his own generosity. This is a fifteen minute dramatic action, and affects all bodies of water, including groundwater, within a radius of (Stamina x 100) yards around the Infernal.
Over the course of an hour, the affected waters turn bitter and cold, seeping out to create marshy bogs and ruining fields within a hundred yards of an affected body of water. If it is used on land, a body of water (Stamina) yards across will form from the marshes over the course of a month. The weather shifts, such that it rains frequently, even in the Deep South, and a residue of brightly coloured salts can be seen left on things affected by the tainted waters. Land affected by this Charm are reclaimed from the Wyld, chaos drowned by the beauty of Kimbery. Moreover, the very existence of such a tainted area counts as a loophole to allow any Kimberyian demon out of hell every new moon. An area affected by this Charm always counts as a suitable body of water for the purposes of the Sea keyword, but does not count for the Kimberyian Imperfection unless it would normally qualify.
The waters of the Great Mother twist with consummate artistry those who consume them. Any living being which gains the majority of their water in a given week from a tainted source rolls their (Stamina); failure means they gain a single Cosmetic mutation with an aquatic theme. Non-sapient creatures who get the majority of their food from mutated sources halve their Stamina for the purposes of this roll. Failures in later weeks mean they gain a 1-point mutation, up to a limit of (Infernal's Essence). Characters with at least one mutation from Kimberyian sources perceive the waters to be sweet and wholesome. Once water has been away from a tainted source for five days, or has been diluted down to being one-fifth tainted by volume, it no longer counts as coming from such a source.
Once the majority of living beings in an area have such a mutation, the waters wash outwards. Over the course of a day, the land in the affected area crumbles and erodes, gives way to water, gushing from seemingly nowhere. The original (Stamina x 100) yards are flooded, while any body of water within one hundred yards of this point is tainted in the same manner. This process can continue indefinitely, drowning mountains and deserts, though when the central body of water has a radius of five miles or greater it becomes a persistent Blasphemy. The use of countermagic on an affected area does not undo the physical changes to the area; only prolonged geomantic effort will be able to drain the flooding and shift the weather patterns.
At Essence 4+ and with the prerequisite of Spiteful Sea Tincture, this Charm may be repurchased. Reviled characters who drink from an affected body of water or consume a mutated creature suffer from a dose of Poison Lacquer. Thus does Kimbery deny her gifts to those who displease her.
Cost: - Mins: Essence 5 Type: Permanent
Keywords: Heretical
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Crippled Imperator Shintai, Ultimate Darkness Internalisation
The Ebon Dragon is fascinated with the doomed and dying, but even his transgressions know limits, for he has never truly known death himself, for all his dabbling. Malfeas is not so fortunate, and all the authority of the Holy Tyrant could not save Ruvelia nor his followers from the Exalted. Still, from this toxic brew of transgression and the taste of death, the Green Sun Princes may forge a terrible taste of death and the dead that they may savour, going beyond even what the Shadow of All Things can do.
This Charm permanently alters the effects of Crippled Imperator Shintai. When that Charm is activated and the Infernal is a Creature of Death due to the effects of Ultimate Darkness Internalisation, the character is rendered Inactive for the duration of the Charm, in addition to the normal effects of the Shintai. Sealed in themselves, the character is immersed in the dreams of the Neverborn, gaining the effects of Whispers 5 for the duration of the Shintai. Only the conviction that this is not, and cannot be, real protects the Heretic from the mind-blasting horror of the Neverborn, whose attention is drawn to the new Titan who has joined them in their eternal restless sleep, and they are the most real thing that the Crippled Imperator has ever known; real enough that one could almost dream that they have independent existence. Nevertheless, for all their evident unreality, fell secrets may be gained in this time, for the Heretic may interact with the Neverborn as if they were a dream, using the normal social mechanics. Who knows what things could be learned or said during such conversation? The effects of all mental influence, if any, imposed on the Heretic during the duration of the Shintai are nullified when the charm ends, but the trauma of the experience costs them all their Willpower points when the Charm ends, and inflicts a point of aggravated damage on them for each mental influence removed this way.
Most oddly, for the duration of the Charm, the character is effectively kin to the Neverborn, and their own dreams and their nightmares of an unreal world will seep out into the Whispers; the Heretic reflexively rolls Willpower + Essence, at a difficulty of the number of health levels they have left upon activating the Charm. Each success causes one concept or order based on the character's Intimacies, Motivation or Urge to enter the Whispers of the Neverborn. This is not optional, and is not a conscious choice of the character; the player and ST should work together to decide what seeps from their mind into the dreams of the dead primordials. The long term effects of such "mental static" on those who can hear the Whispers of the Neverborn and their coordination is unclear.
Cost: - ; Mins: Heresy 0, Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Heretical
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Laughing Joker Fission, Ultimate Darkness Internalisation
Ah, such is the madness of the Green Sun Princes that even the lunacy of Adorjan or the depravity of the Ebon Dragon will not be enough for them! They were born mortal, and so are far closer to death than even the Shadow of all Things, yet their blessed and cursed impermanence means they lack the absolute terror of the Primordials to the inconceivability of their own demise. They have the potential to walk dark paths, indeed.
But to invent a Charm so that you can create ghosts that think they're you? That's kind of... mean.
This Charm permanently alters the function of Laughing Joker Fission. While the Heretic is a Creature of Death due to the effects of Ultimate Darkness Internalisation, compare the damage done to the remaining health levels the Infernal has. If it would not have killed them, the perfect soak works, the blow cutting through the character in dark wisps, which then re-coalesce into the character. If it would have been enough to kill them, use of Laughing Joker Fission does not create a Splintered Gale Shintai-like duplicate. Instead, a dark wind, crimson and stinking blows through the area and, if the character is in Creation, though the underworld, draining ambient essence and perverting it. From this, a ghost forms; the ghost, in fact, that the character would have been produced, had the character been killed by the blow. They believe they are the Heretic, and have all their memories and the appropriate fetters. From their point of view, the perfect defence failed to activate, and they died. Unlike normal Splintered Gale Shintai clones, the ghost is no-longer dependent on the Infernal for her existence, for Oblivion has consumed that tie; by the same argument, the ghost is not bound to the service of the Infernal. It is an independent ghost, that is to all inspection and belief the deceased hun soul of the Infernal, even if it was crafted from necrotic Essence infused into the pseudo soul of Adorjan's gales.
If the Infernal knows (Yozi) Eternal Essence, ghosts created via this method will begin their half-existence with 1 dot of Whispers. The Whispers are not attuned to the Neverborn, nor to Oblivion. Instead, they are linked to the Infernal, and so only provide the benefit when the character is under the effects of Ultimate Darkness Internalisation or otherwise a Creature of Death. If the character uses To Sup With Dead Titans, all such ghosts automatically have their Whispers rating increased by one each time the Charm is activated.
Cost: - ; Mins: Heresy 0, Essence 6; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Heretical
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Hurricane Spawns Gales, Two Completed Celestial Martial Arts
Once there was a maiden,
Who was a prince of a city of brass and green fire.
He was an Infernal Monster, a Black Claw,
A Fire Dragon, a Crane, and a Solar Hero.
And yet he was none of them, because he was more than that.
So he gave birth to five children, so they could be what he was not.
"They are pure because I am not," he said
This Charm permanently enhances the capacities of Hurricane Spawns Gales, by expanding the range of themes that behemoths created via the Charm may use, to include any Martial Arts Form-Type Charm that the Green Sun Prince knows, whether Terrestrial or Celestial in level. One may create a behemoth themed around Crane Style or Five Dragon Style just as one may create one themed around Scarlet Rapture Shintai. These behemoths embody the Style, and are born knowing all the Charms in the Style that their parent knows, up to the limit of their Essence, as native Panoply Charms. If they lack any within the limits imposed by their Essence, they can study the remainder, and any learned this way will be added to their Panoply Charms. Behemoths created via this Charm have their Essence limited to the highest Essence of the Charms in the style. In their embodiment of a single style, they cannot learn any other Martial Arts, and any other powers they have should be strictly limited by their theme.
In addition, if the Green Sun Prince makes another character the behemoth's father, they may also use any Terrestrial or Celestial Martial Arts Form-Type Charms that the parent knows. If a Sidereal is the child's father, an even more terrifying option opens itself. The range of Form-Type Charms is expanded to include any Sidereal Martial Arts the 'father' knows, although it is some small mercy that the Essence cap that such a child has makes mastering their embodiment of many Styles impossible. No such child has shed their skin yet, to become an inhuman behemoth embodiment of a Sidereal Martial Art, which is probably for the best.
Rumours that the Green Sun Prince who wrote the Sutra of the Maiden Who Was A Master was in love with Anys Syn, and did it to woo her, are surely baseless.
Cost: - ; Mins: Heresy 0, Essence 8; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Obvious, Heretical, Blasphemy
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Hurricane Spawns Gales, The Path of a Thousand Whispers
Primordials did not make themselves to reproduce. They are perfect declarations of their legend, eternal constants of the cosmos. But the essence prayer batteries they called "humanity" were made for such a purpose, and though some of these humans may have birthed their own legend, those drives still hold true. In the First Age, the Solars grew used to watching their children grow old and die in a blink of an eye. Memories of that will spur the Green Sun Princes to avoid such tragedy.
This Charm permanently enhances The Path of a Thousand Whispers. Instead of creating a cocoon, the Exalt may instead imbue a child they are pregnant with, in the anima-womb granted by Red and White Ribbons, with the insensate Essence of a Third Circle Demon. The character may carry out no other pregnancies within the anima-womb at the same time, and any child gestating within their conventional one, if they have female generative organs, will be born as a Demon-Blood of the Third Circle Demon, as their own generative Essence bleeds through.
The character's anima banner flares totemic for the duration of the pregnancy, and remains that way. Within the anima, the developing Third Circle baby can be seen, etched in light and ribbons. As it gets more mature, it squirms and kicks. Otherwise, it gestates for just as long as a soul produced normally using The Path of a Thousand Whispers. The Blasphemy effect of this Charm resolves when the Third Circle child is born. The melody of snapping threads of the Loom of Fate and the shrieks of the Pattern Spiders are the first nursery rhyme the child hears.
However, when born, the Third Circle Demon will not immediately spawn Second Circle Souls. As with the behemoth children born from Hurricane Spawns Gales, these Third Circle Demons are mentally babies, and will develop as a child would. Despite the loss in immediate power, this comes with its own advantages. Just as the Green Sun Princes are complete in themselves, not requiring a fetich, so are souls born this way perfectly formed individuals, who do not require other souls to be able to support the full range of their intellects. Should the parent so wish, they can choose not to instil the permanent Intimacy of loyalty. Otherwise, they are mechanically the same as demons produced with The Path of a Thousand Whispers; even if they are the children of the new Titans, they are also Demons of the Third Circle, immortal souls of a cosmic principle.
However, such power cannot be suppressed forever. The first seven children the Third Circle conceives, whether within itself or sires upon others, will be its Second Circle Demons; should one die permanently, the next child conceived will fill the absence. These Second Circle Demons are notable in that they breed true; anything they mate with will produce a First Circle demon of their choice, rather than a Demon-Blood, and these First Circle Demons have the potential to be a fertile species, capable of reproducing with each other. So will the pantheon-families of the new titans reign.
This Charm counts demons made via this method against the cap permitted by The Path of a Thousand Whispers, and furthermore adds an extra +1 to the limit, increasing the limit to (Willpower + Compassion + 1) Third Circle Souls.
Cost: — ; Mins: Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Heretical
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Wayward Divinity Oversight x2, One of Crowned By Fury or Will-Crushing Force, Sorcerous Enlightenment of (Yozi), Slave-Spawn Summons, (See Below for more details)
In the early times, the Primordials crafted the gods, and so, in their turn, the gods crafted the elementals. They were not made with the same restrictions as the petty divinities, and for that reason, the Great Elementals were destroyed at the start of the Primordial War. They have always been beyond the reach of Primordials, for all that Cecelyne may be able to sense them, Malfeas bellow out his orders, or the Whispering Flame crush their minds. But now, with the Green Sun Princes, they can reach beyond the Primordials, and pull on the seeds left within the elementals of Creation by the destruction of their forebears, to bring the laws of Cecelyne slamming down on them. And in time, it will be seen that the fear of Autocthon and their Primordial parentage left their own vulnerabilities in their kin in Autocthonia. This Charm permanently enhances the capacities of the spell, Slave-Spawn Summons, allowing it to summon Elementals as if they were Demons of the First Circle. The kindnesses of the methods of the Exalted of Creation are not present in this; the Elemental is yanked through elsewhere much as a demon would be, although they will not take five days unless the Infernal is using the spell from within Malfeas. Use of this Charm-modified spell on an elemental holding an office in the Celestial Bureaucracy is a Blasphemy effect of a level equal to the Essence of its target. An Infernal may not summon an Elemental whose Essence is more than two points greater than her own with this Charm.While bound under the effects of this Charm, an elemental may be banished with Emerald Circle Banishment, which breaks the binding and disperses them into the dragon lines of Creation, reforming five days later in the place they were summoned from originally.
To summon an elemental of an appropriate elemental Aspect, one of the listed Charms by each element must be known. Storytellers are encouraged to allow any other thematically appropriate Yozi Charms to be used. As a note, if the Gaia or Autocthon Charmsets were to be opened to the Green Sun Princes, the Excellency of the respective Primordial could always be used to access the appropriate type of Elemental. Autocthonian Elementals may not be summoned unless the Seal of Eight Divinities has been lowered.
Fire: Green Sun Nimbus Flare, Crystal-Fire Barrier Technique
Water: Mother Sea Mastery
Earth: Transcendent Desert Creature
Air: Sacred Kamila's Inhalation
Wood: By Rage Recast, Locust Mana Plague
Metal: Viridian Legend Exoskeleton
Oil: Spiteful Sea Tincture
Lightning: Cold Fire Desolation Brand, Racing Vitaris
Steam: Pellegrina's Fury, Bloodless Murk Evasion
Crystal: Crystal-Fire Barrier Technique
Smoke: Witness to Darkness
The Elemental is, for the duration of the summoning, warped by the aesthetics of the Yozi Charm; a Fire Elemental may burn green, while an Earth Elemental will gleam with silver sand. This renders them a Creature of Darkness and Native of Malfeas as a Desecration effect, and allows the Infernal to apply (Essence) points of thematically appropriate mutations to them, which may be offset as normal by negative Mutations. No more than (Target's Essence) points of negative mutations may be given. These effects are permanent, even when the summoning ends.
Cost: 10m
Target: Caster
The sorcerer exhales into cupped hands until her lungs empty, forcing her Essence into the breath. As she does this, (Essence) actinic dots, which invalidate Stealth like a 4-7m level anima banner appear along the forearm of her dominant hand, wreathing her in a corona of sparks. Each dot can be reflexively converted into a javelin made of brilliant blue-white lightning. These javelins have the same stats as a mundane javelin, except they add +(sorcerer's Essence) to Accuracy, inflict +(5+Occult)L damage, and, on impact, inflict their base damage on every other target within 5 yards of them in a thundercrack of arcing electricity as an attack with the same number of successes as the original attack, which ignores cover penalties. Damage inflicted by The Kiss of Mela, whether from the original impact or the blast, cannot be blocked by non-magical metal weapons, and cannot be soaked by armour composed mostly or entirely of non-magical metal. This spell may not be recast until all the javelins created by a previous casting are used up.
When cast with the Malfean Initiation as Searing Hate-Strike, the base damage from these irradiating bursts of Yozi Essence, which leave behind flash-dried corpses, receives the damage bonus of the initiation.
Cost: 15m
Target: Area (40 yards by 40 yards, centred on target location with 250 yards of the sorcerer)
With care, the sorcerer traces the Mudra of Attraction in the air. However, just before she finishes, she corrupts the symbolism, inverting it, and causing the little gods of Creation to violently repel that which she gestures at. Everything within the target (down to the top layer of soil) area rises, as if falling upwards, to a height of twice the sorcerer's (Essence + Occult) yards, wreathed in trails of blue and white ribbons. They remain there for five ticks, unable to move, though they may twist in mid-air or block things, allowing them to retain their DVs. They may be moved horizontally by the sorcerer, during this time, as a Reflexive Move action, using the sorcerer's own Move speed. At the end of those five ticks, they plummet back down, taking normal falling damage. Heroic characters can avoid being affected by this spell if they succeed on a (Wits + Athletics) roll, under the same rules and conditions as the normal rules for Falling (Exalted, p126). Characters with a solid roof over them impact on it, taking fall damage then, and also fall.
If the Malfean Initiation is in use, the normal damage bonus granted by the Initiation applies to the falling damage from this Charm, the world warping so they fall faster than they should. After all, the King of the Yozi reasons, why should his foes be permitted to fall, when they can be thrown instead.
Cost: 20m
Target: Area (15 yard radius around the caster, or ritual area)
The fights of the Exalted cause so much damage to the surrounding area that it was inevitable that attempts would be made to minimise it. Combining the Mudra of Earth with the Mudra of Hierarchy, the sorcerer infuses all things with solidity and rigidity in a sphere around them. For the rest of the scene, no inanimate object within the area may be damaged unless that was the specific function of the attack. A blow which misses will bounce off a teacup; a barrage of arrows may be stopped by a paper wall, thus saving the life of the person hiding behind it. This may be bypassed by stunting; for example, a character who declares that they will stab the person behind them through the wall will be able to do so, but the value of the cover provided by objects is increased by one. This does not provide cover where none is to be found. The increased resilience adds the caster's Essence to the Lethal and Bashing soak of all inanimate objects within the area, and gives them a Hardness equal to the caster's temporary Willpower (which means the value changes as the character gains and spends Willpower). This spell especially sees use by Dragonblooded, because it can render breakable environments proof against their anima flux; something beloved of Fire Aspects in a paper mill that they own.
Alternatively, the character can choose to cast it over a single structure. Every window and entryway must be traced with a paste composed of ground quartz, rosemary and mercury, which costs Resources 3 to make. This extends the effect to a month, or, if the spell is cast during Calibration, a year. Once this has been cast once, it only costs the equivalent of Resources 2 to renew. Despite the convenience, many are wary of living in a dwelling warded like this; things don't quite act like they should, and to trip and fall into a paper wall, only to find it as hard as rock to an accident, is an unpleasant experience.
If cast using the Sorcerous Initiation of She Who Lives In Her Name, the caster may choose to make every inanimate object within range not currently being used by a character appear to be made of solid, clear crystal, weaving her version of hierarchy into the fabric of things. This makes objects nearby as transparent as glass, invalidating their use for concealment by any individual.
Cost: 15m
Target: Conjured automaton
Just as the Elemental Dragon of Water does not rest solely in the oceans, so too may a sorcerer let deadly water fall upon his foe. This spell requires that the sorcerer have a bow in hand, and, while holding it, make the Sign of Liquidity Dismissed, the mudra made by the small gods who regulate evaporation. Once this is done, they draw an arrow, which glows a midnight blue, and fire it into the sky. Rather than rise forever, however, it lodges in the air 20 yards above the ground, and disintegrates, forming a vaguely feminine, vaguely cephalopodian figure in the sky made of rainwater and blue light. Rainbow bows in her many tentacle-like hands, she salutes the sorcerer once, then begins to pour arrows made of rain down on the sorcerer's foes.
The Arrow Cascade Maiden understands complex instructions, and has an infinite supply of her rain arrows for her rainbow bows. The dark blue light she emits invalidates her Stealth like a 8-10 mote anima banner, unless it is raining, whereupon the light is quenched. She, as an innate property, applies her Archery-based attacks against five separate targets (or one Mass Combat Unit five times), rolling only once and comparing that to their DVs, but may not flurry them with any other action, for this takes her full concentration. Her arrows of rain have the stats of Broadhead arrows, and her rainbow bows are statted as composite bows (included in her stat-line below). She can fly, as if she had the Wings Abomination, and if engaged up close, will attempt to grapple her foe with her tendril-like arms. The Arrow Cascade Maiden disintegrates if she comes within two yards of the ground, the Essence of Earth absorbing her. Otherwise, the spell ends after 7 hours.
This spell can only be countered during casting. Once the maiden appears, only killing her gets rid of her. When the duration of the spell ends, or the maiden is killed, she disintegrates in a heavy, but brief rainstorm with a 100 yard radius, which lasts one long tick, causing appropriate environmental penalties. In times of drought, sorcerers who know this spell have been known to summon Arrow Cascade Maidens just for this purpose.
The adepts of Kimbery would disagree that this spell has its roots in Immaculate Teachings, though; this act of sorcery has older, and darker origins. To them, it is known as Loving Mother's Skysent Gifts. This variant of the spell can only make three attacks per action, but the rain-arrows are vitriolic and burning. Any targets which suffer damage from the attacks are affected by a Poison with the stats of Arrow-Frog Venom.
Arrow Cascade Maiden
Motivation: To puncture the hearts of her sorcerer's foes with her arrows
Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 4, Stamina 2, Charisma 3, Manipulation 1, Appearance 3, Perception 5, Intelligence 2, Wits 4
Virtues: Automaton: Never fails Valour checks, never makes others
Abilities: Athletics 3, Awareness 4, Dodge 4, Archery 5 (Rainbow bows +1, Against People With Unarmoured Torsos +2), Presence 4 (Striking Fear Into The Hearts Of Her Summoner's Foes +1), Martial Arts 1 (Clinching +3), Stealth 0 (In The Rain +3), War 3 (Against Those Who Cannot Strike Back Against Her +2)
Join Battle: 7
Rainbow Bow Cascade: Speed 6, Accuracy 10, Damage +6L, Rate 1, Range 300 yards, Tags B
Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 8, Damage +0B, Defence -, Rate 1, Tags C, N, P
Soak: 5L/5B (Rain-nature 4L/2B)
Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-2/-2/-4/Incap
Dodge DV: 4 Willpower: 10 (0 against sorcerer)
Essence: 1
Other Notes: Unless given orders to the contrary, an Arrow Cascade Maiden will always aim to get the maximum possible benefit, and will preferentially target anyone who wears armour which does not cover the chest properly or who lacks armour there entirely, the better that her arrows seek out the hearts of her master's foes. In a rainstorm, she will attempt to reestablish surprise, and conceal where her arrows are coming from among the rain.
Cost: 35m
Target: Area (250 yard radius, centred on target point within 1 mile of sorcerer)
A Silurian innovation, this spell uses the motonic principles of Death of Obsidian Butterflies, but expands them up to the Sapphire Circle. As the sorcerer shapes the spell, a collection of butterflies, some in obsidian, others cast in a faintly fluorescent greenish-yellow glass begin to spiral the caster, their flight spelling out the Word of Complexity, which represents sudden change in faraway places from small alterations.
When the character releases the spell, they roll their Perception + Occult, adding their Essence in automatic successes. On the completion of the spell, the butterflies arc up into the air, coming down a tick later on the target location as a great swirling cyclone of enormous glass butterflies, each butterfly anywhere from a foot to a yard across. Everything within 250 yards of that target is subject to the attack. The attack descends from above, so any cover must be at least an inch of stone overhead to protect; the butterflies are quite capable of cutting through the roofs – and upper floors – of most Second Age structures to shatter on the inhabitants within.
Characters defend against Butterflies to Chrysalides Bombardment as if it was a hand-to-hand attack, and each attack is independent, so magic which protects only one person will not protect others subjected to the same attack. Treat the butterflies as rolling a number of attack successes equal to what the sorcerer's player rolled, -1 for each two dice of penalties that circumstances impose. In cases of thick fog or a heavy low cloud level, characters may have to reflexively roll (Perception + Awareness), Difficulty 1, to avoid it being a surprise attack. The attack inflicts 12L, plus any extra successes on the attack roll as per usual.
However, this spell does not merely litter the ground with broken glass (though it does so, much like Death of Obsidian Butterflies). The butterflies, in their brief flight, release small lumps of igneous rock, around the size of a man's fingernail, which litter the ground within the affected area. Compared to the brightness of the glass, they are dull and mundane. However, moving or Dashing across the affected area, for the next lunar month, risks life and limb. Each tick where the character moves or Dashes requires a (Perception + Awareness) roll, at a difficulty of half the sorcerer's Essence, and the roll may only be made if the character is aware of the danger. Failure means that a character's shadow has fallen on one of the chrysalides. From it, grows a spear-like bush made of fused butterflies made of black and green glass, directly pointed at the obstruction to the light, which then blossoms in a newly formed canopy at head height. This is modelled as a hand-to-hand attack against everything within 3 yards, which counts as having rolled the same number of successes as the original attack, and which inflicts +6L damage. The spear-bush created are living creatures, but will wither and die, turning brittle, if not fed on blood. The Imperial Legions have strict policies for what is to be done if it is found that a legion has wandered in such a formation, often including the use of Earth Aspects to turn over the soil, safely defusing the unhatched chrysalides. Sapphire Circle Countermagic safely defuses all the chrysalides in the area; Emerald Circle Countermagic can disarm all the ones in an area equal to that produced by a casting of Death of Obsidian Butterflies, allowing a formation to be moved through a so-covered area. Once the lunar month has passed, the unhatched chrysalides turn inert, but any spear-bushes that have grown remain.
Cost: 30m
Target: Area (50 yard radius) centred within 200 yards
There are many things carried within the blood. And one of those is the characteristic motonic traces of the Elemental Poles, those subtle influences that would allow a wise man to pinpoint their place of birth. The sorcerer barks the word of location, but twists it, so that those traces within their blood become the element. Those affected have their blood transmuted into whatever element the nearest Elemental Pole to their birthplace was. Those born on the Blessed Isle find granite shards filling their veins, while those from the East have thorns tear them from within, flowers bursting forth from wounds. Westerners turn ghost pale as seawater replaces blood, Northerners crackle with the cold fire of lightning, and those from the South ignite. If used on Autocthonians, all but a few polar mutants will end up with molten metal in place of their vital fluids. The less said about the poor unfortunates born in Malfeas or the Underworld, the better. The sorcerer must know Old Realm to be able to cast this spell. This spell affects ghosts as if they were the person they were before death, but all damage against them is halved, for their necrotic plasm carries the traces poorly. Wildlife and vegetation is affected normally. Fair Folk are affected based on the nearest Elemental Pole to where they took on Shape. Mountain Folk are always affected as if by Earth. Dragonbloods are always affected by their own Aspect's element, and halve the damage before soak as their own connection to their element bolsters them. It cannot affect necrotech and other unliving things that were manufactured, rather than born.
When the caster speaks the word, the sorcerer rolls (Perception + Linguistics), adding a number of automatic successes equal to her permanent Essence. Everyone within the attack area, a 50-yard radius centred within 200 yards of the sorcerer, is subject to attack, as the Old Realm character flares on the ground below them, burning itself into the terrain and trying to ensnare them with tendrils of transmutive Essence. Characters defend against the grasping tendrils as if it were a hand to hand attack. Each attack is independent, so magic and penalties which reduce the attack do not help others defend. Treat the streams of Essence as rolling a number of attack successes equal to those which the sorcerer rolled, minus one for each -2 dice of penalties that circumstances impose.
This spell does base damage of 15 dice of lethal damage plus any extra successes in raw damage, as a Shaping effect, which may not be soaked by armour. Targets killed by this spell are consumed by their birth-element; those born near the Pole of Earth leave statues frozen in agonised postures, while those near the Pole of Fire merely burn like a bonfire for the rest of the scene. Individuals who are not killed have their blood transform back, but suffer agonising deaths over the next day or so, unless they can heal as Exalts, or receive supernatural magical treatment capable of healing the rapidly-lethal Crippling effect to their internal Essence flows.
When Malfeas casts this spell, as Theion-To Exclamation, he rejects the elements of Traitor Gaia, and brings his own masterpiece into the world. The spell always transmutes targets to vitriol, regardless of which pole they were born near, bringing painful demise in hissing green acid. Theion-To Exclamation may be learned as a separate spell by individuals who do not know the Malfean Initiation, and sees notable use by those who do not mind the adverse affects of vitriol on the environment as it bypasses the elemental protection of the Dragonblooded.
Cost: 35m
Target: Self
Breathing in deeply, the sorcerer exhales a seven syllable name that is not one of the impossible names of Oramus into his cupped hands, charging it with Essence. Five days in the past, the Dragon Beyond the World did not hear the name that is not his, but there is just enough sympathetic resonance for a trickle of blood from his broken wings to escape, hissing and drying as it crosses the barren wastes of Cecelyne, to emerge in the hands of the sorcerer as the Narrative Shredding Bolt, a slender barb of notched impossibility. To use the arrow, it may be fired from any bow, or alternatively thrown, by the sorcerer and must be used within the scene. No more than one such arrow may exist at any one time per sorcerer. It acts like a conventional frog crotch arrow, except it adds (Essence) to the raw damage of the attack.
However, that is not by any means the true power of the arrow. As soon as the arrow comes to a stop, whether by being parried, dodged, or hitting its target, it releases the impossibilities contained within as a thunderous detonation of narrative-shredding chaos. Everything within (300 + {Target's Essence x 100, if it hit and injured}) yards, including terrain and inanimate objects suffers a hand-to-hand attack of flying fragments of impossible blood, which rolls a number of successes equal to that of the Archery or Thrown attack used by the sorcerer. The attack is resolved separately against each target, so powers which protect one person will not affect others in the blast area. If the original target was injured by the original attack, it is undodgable, unblockable, and unsoakable against that target. Against creatures of static reality (Creation-born, inhabitants of Malfeas or the Underworld, and individuals on the Design of Autocthon), it does base damage of 2B, and conveys to injured targets a single Oramus-themed Pox as a Desecration effect. Against Creatures of the Wyld, on the other hand, it is far more dire, tearing their inner narrative apart like rice paper, as the meaningless of a story in a universe where anything is possible is revealed. The burst does a base damage of 16 levels - not dice - of Aggravated damage, and reduces any Attributes they had rated at 6 or higher to 1 as a Crippling Effect, until they heal all the damage inflicted by the Arrow and recover their grasp on their own narrative. All fantasies in the area are torn asunder as a Shaping Effect. This attack perforates Creation with impossibilities too; for the remainder of the scene, it counts as being Calibration in the area within the blast area, as the Loom resets to cover the area. This is a Blasphemy Effect and for the next five Calibrations, the affected area is contaminated with Yozi Essence. Not surprisingly, in the First Age, use of this spell was usually restricted to Wyld pockets and on safaris.
Cost: 77m
Target: Area
Even the Incarna and the Exalted could not confine Oramus, the Dragon Beyond the World, fully. Despite his broken wings, his dreams and thrashing still influence wyld pockets within Creation, and give dreams and nightmares to savants, driving them mad with profound impossibilities. But the acts of sorcerers of the Adamant Circle go beyond mere dreams and whispers, to tear some of the pain that the eldest of the Primordial feels from his broken wings to channel it into productive use. Before this spell can be cast, the sorcerer must, in a seven hour ritual, carve the fractal seven-winged sigil - which was preferred way of the pre-human Aluan to refer to the Primordial - into their chest, an icon of such complexity that their torso appears near flayed. This inflicts 4 aggravated health levels of damage, which may not be healed without shattering the spell, as per Adamant Countermagic, and requires seven successes on a (lower of Dexterity + Stamina) and (lower of Craft: Air and Occult) roll, made at the end of the ritual to successfully inscribe. Failure in this is not evident without detailed scrutiny, and should a miscarved sigil be used, the spell will shatter. The ritual to cast the spell, once this must be done, must be begun within seven hours of the carving of the sigil, or the sigil inverts, killing them instantly as a Shaping effect, and inflicting seven levels of unsoakable aggravated damage even if they survive that.
Once this preparation is complete, the sorcerer can cast the spell. This is a Dramatic Action, lasting 77 minutes, and through the sigil, impossible lights burn, tainting the sorcerer's anima banner, which twists and turns kaleidoscopically, lifting the sorcerer up into the air, and causing the sky above to ripple with an aurora so bright it renders night into day, and rivals the Daystar during the hours of sunlight. If the sorcerer is moved or distracted during this time, the spell shatters, spreading a haze of mutagenic essence over the surrounding countryside, with temporary Bordermarch-like effects. Assuming that it is not interrupted, slowly, a being comprised of unlight and their anima emerges slowly from their chest, the birth of it mewling and shrieking, before taking off into flight, its seven wings bearing it aloft. It flies vertically upwards, growing massively as it does so, before coming down anywhere within the sorcerer's line of sight. The wings of the newborn monstrosity are seven miles in radius, from its central body, and it spreads them wide.
And then it twists, inverting into the Beyond. This is a Blasphemy effect, and causes Pattern Spiders to scream in agony as threads snap all across the Loom, cascading Fate errors propagating like wildfire. Everything within the target area, which has a radius of 7 miles from the central point of where the dragon-thing landed, is made impossible as a Shaping effect, being thrown into the Beyond, which removes them from play as if killed (Celestial Exalts subject to this fate lose their Exaltations, which flits away from its unreal host, while Primordials and entities which have a personal First (Primordial) Excellency - like Infernal Exalts with Triumphant Howl of the Devil Tiger - are immune, as they have carved their legend into the shinma and are beyond this doom). while impossibilities are dragged into reality in equal measure. However, not to put it lightly, they are impossible, and so cannot exist, detonating as Nigurna takes them back to join it in non-existence, leaving pure chaos in the voids where they used to be. This creates a pocket of Pure Chaos in Creation, with all the normal effects of that part of the Wyld, composed of seven waypoints.
This is, of course, an unstable state of affairs. After seven long ticks, six of the waypoints will have decayed to Deep Wyld strength, and after seven hours, those six will have decayed to Middlemarches strength, while the one remaining one will have decayed to Deep Wyld state. Their progression from thereon in is dependent on the progression of the Loom and other affairs. In the First Age, this spell saw notable use by members of the Cauldronist faction, for the way it could produce Wyld Zones within Creation, but the necessary Oramus-thematics left it proof against alteration, and the pain and bloodloss involved in the spell left many looking for a better way, which led to the invention of the Hand of the Great Maker.
Cost: All motes in the sorcerer's Personal and Peripheral pools + Special
Target: Dharma, and through it, one creature
Dharma, the Cup, is the pure, all-knowing, righteous, self-sacrificing, and wise fountain of all corrosion, ignorance, and desire. Compared to such a being, everything is corrupt and flawed. And the Exalted are more flawed than most, cursed, broken, by their inherited sin of murder. The mightiest of them can take more sin, more flaw into themselves, lessening Dharma, and so influencing the pure and righteous by snatching the shinmaic integrity of one hatred figure and binding it within themselves.
To cast this spell, the sorcerer must have an arcane link to the target, and render it down into a tattoo. Then, over the course of forty days and forty nights (or over the length of an entire Calibration), where the Exalt must meditate and may not sleep, they concentrate on flaw, on weakness, on hatred and on their target, bringing new hatred and new ruin into the world and into themselves. Finally, at the end, they tattoo themselves with an abstract glyph which forms to represent their target in some way, which flares colours that are never seen again. And the world shakes, as a Essence 10 Blasphemy effect is felt all over all realms of existence that Dharma affects. The effects on the sorcerer are immediate. Their Permanent Limit is set to 9, unless it was already higher, as they are now binding fragments of the Shinma of corrosion forced to become what it definitionally could never be within themselves. The tattoo opens as a permanent level of aggravated damage which may not be healed as long as this spell remains active, blood seeping from the wound.
However, the effects of the spell are much more widely felt than that. As a Shaping Effect constantly affecting all of reality, everything gains the capacity to permanently kill the one target. This allows targets with spirit-level immortality, Primordial-level immortality, Deathlord-level immortality, and Behemoth-level immortality to be permanently killed if they take a fatal amount of damage. Only the Neverborn are invalid targets for this spell, for it is through their Great Curse that it is cast and so it binds them to their undying death. Primordials killed via this method produce Neverborn; all others are completely and utterly totally destroyed. Gods killed by it have their Panoply Charms destroyed irrevocable, and no replacement may take up the same charms; Incarnae killed via this may not be replaced by The King Is Dead, although it is possible that a different Maiden may form if an attempt is made. In addition, the target is under a Shaping Effect - by Dharma - that strips their capacity to channel Virtues from them (counting them as permanently suppressed), for their removal from the books of Dharma fills them with corrosion, ignorance, and desire. This is an alteration to reality itself, so reasserts itself should it be removed or should any Shaping defences against it fall or cease to apply.
The only way to end this spell is to slay the sorcerer, or slay the target. Adamant Countermagic may only counter this spell while it is being cast. If the sorcerer is slain, the effects of this spell persist until the next Calibration. If the target is slain, the effects instantly end, as they cease to apply. The Permanent Limit of the sorcerer is reduced to 5, unless it would normally be higher, and falls by 1 for each decade which passes.
This spell can only be cast by targets suffering from the Great Curse, for only through the death-curse of fallen Primordials may Dharma be altered in this way. It is beyond the reach of both the Primordials and any Exalts who may have been able to remove the Great Curse.
Cost: 18m
Target: Location
In the depths of the Labyrinth fly the Butcher Birds of the dead, skeleton owls of black-thorned iron, whose eyes burn from within with cold blue flame. A skilled necromancer may evoke them, to cause fear and death over a region. First, the necromancer must obtain or make a polished lump of iron, the size of a chicken's egg. To cast this spell, the necromancer plants the egg at sunset. This is a dramatic action taking 15 minutes. Once this has been done, the egg hatches, a twenty-three yard tall tree of barbed iron growing from it, and like grotesque fruit, the Butcher Birds hang from the branches.
The Butcher Birds have the statistics of a strix from the Exalted corebook, except they are Creatures of Death, and count as wearing reinforced breastplates, from their metal-thorn bones. There are initially (Necromancer's Essence) Butcher Birds, and during the night, they will fly out, attacking anything alive. The iron-thorned birds will roam up to seven miles from their tree during the night, but become immobile and paralysed if exposed to sunlight, so will always try to return before sunrise. Animals they will kill, but sapient beings and Wyld-creatures they will attempt to grapple, and take back to their tree, whereupon they impale their victim and leave them to die. New Butcher Birds are produced in a square number system; the first new Bird requires one victim, the second requires four new victims, the third nine, and so on. The death of older birds does not reset the counter. The necromancer may also help by impaling victims, and the Butcher Birds obey him as a bound demon would, but will not willingly move than seven miles from their tree.
Cost: 18m
Target: Area (70 yard radius from caster, then 40 yards wide, 80 yards long, 20 yards high)
Tilting the Scales of Destruction draws upon the ambient Essence of the world, tainting it, fractionally, towards death and removing the tainted Essence. From this wellspring, the necromancer releases a destructive cascade of streams of multi-coloured Essence, the ambient mix of the local area viewed through dark glass. When casting the spell, the necromancer's anima flashes dark, once, polluting everything within 70 yards of the Necromancer as a Shaping effect. Raising one hand, she pulls in the tainted Essence into an orb before her, extinguishing all fires. This kills all small plant life and insects in the area, flowers wilting and bees dropping dead, and larger animals and mortals will be more prone to sickness and sleep poorly, imposing a -2 internal penalty to resist Sickness for the next day as a Crippling effect. Moreover, the ground itself loses rigidity, becoming dusty and dry and forming sinkholes as its strength is sapped, providing a -2 external penalty to all Athletics checks that rely on having solid ground, and penalising Dashing in the same way. Creatures of Death, and the caster, may step safely on the ground without peril, for the dead earth knows its own.
When the caster releases the orb, the necromancer rolls (Perception + Occult), adding a number of automatic successes equal to her permanent Essence. Everyone within the attack area, which is 40 yards wide, 80 yards long, and 20 yards high, not behind objects which can block immaterial beings is subject to attack by streamers of Essence coloured appropriately for the mix of ambient Essence. Characters defend against the oncoming streams as if it were a hand to hand attack. Each attack is independent, so magic and penalties which reduce the attack do not help others defend. Treat the streams of Essence as rolling a number of attack successes equal to those which the necromancer rolled, minus one for each -2 dice of penalties that circumstances impose.
The base damage of this attack is 4L plus any extra successes in raw damage, which is Piercing. However, this is highly variable based on the environment. In places which are rich in ambient Essence and wildlife, such as a jungle, up to +3L may be assigned; likewise, in areas which lack easily accessible and taintable Essence, such as the deep desert and the world-bodies of healthy Primordials, up to -3L may be deducted. In the Underworld and Shadowlands, it is always assumed to be rich in usable necrotic essence, and the full bonus is always enjoyed.
Cost: 25m
Target: One Structure
Devised a century ago by Elira Rjordsdottir, a now-estranged student of Raksi, this spell is a deliberate application of Silurian principles to Necromancy, cross-referenced to sorcerous effects, in order to maximise its effectiveness while minimising the collateral effects. To cast this spell, the necromancer must be in the Underworld at night, and target a single structure with dimensions no greater than (Intelligence + Craft (Earth) + Essence) x 10 yards in any direction. Structures linked into the stagnant Essence flows of that place, such as Underworld Manses, may not be targeted. The necromancer must leave a trail of salt precisely around the outer edge of the structure, marking every five yards in the line of salt with a single drop of her own blood. The spell, which is a 15 minute dramatic action, must be cast from within this enclosure, and as it comes into effect, the sky above the structure ripples, gauzy veils of the sky of Creation breaking through the greyness of the Underworld. At the completion of the spell, the structure is bought into Creation, becoming real and composed of non-grave-good materials, although the spell cannot realify exotic materials such as the magical materials, and will instead replace them with their nearest mundane equivalents (such as iron for soulsteel). Creation is shunted aside as a Shaping Effect, warping so the newly real structure fits into the world, although it will likely not do so smoothly (for example, it may be facing the wrong way, or push the street in an ugly half-loop around it.)
The recovery of such things from the lands of the dead leaves its passage in the boundary between Creation and the Underworld. The structure is a localised Shadowland co-located with its outer walls, a halfway house between Creation and the dead, until the next full moon. If cast on the night of the full moon, no Shadowland forms. Such places always carry their origins with them in a chill in stone and dampness, and it will be easier to form a shadowland for years to come.
Cost: 15m
Target: Self
In the mad glossolalia of the Neverborn, there is a concept of broken cycles, and the power that lies within them. Speaking that unword, the necromancer cuts their palms, and the blood wells out cold and dull, spreading over the palms and transmuting them into long, monstrous claws of iron frozen over with bloody ice. The Claws of Blood and Iron enhance the character's natural Punch and Kick attacks, allowing them to parry unarmed blows without a stunt and inflict lethal damage, adding (Essence + Whispers) to their damage, and adding (Whispers + 1) to their Accuracy. This transformation lasts a scene.
However, the true perversion of these vile weapons is revealed when they kill a target. The slain target rises three ticks later as a shambling zombie, hemorrhaging freezing grey-red blood from all orifices, their bones transmuted to iron post-mortem as a Shaping Effect. The zombie has Intelligence, Wits, and Perception 1, and uses the same physical statistics as the deceased target, but reduces their Dexterity by 2, to a minimum of 1. However, the same transmutation armours them; the zombie counts as wearing a reinforced breastplate from the iron bones and solidified blood. At the end of the scene, the zombies collapse, dead again, although they will almost certainly produce a hungry ghost from this desecration. Such corpses are very useful resources in necrotech, counting as a component valued at Resources 4.
Cost: 35m
Target: Area (40 yard radius, within 220 yards)
Cold is the anti-reflection of heat, and mirrors show that which is not real. But if one were to twist the hot so it became cold, one could bring the unreal from a mirror. Such is the mad logic of the Labyrinth. The necromancer must have a reflective surface in hand to use this spell; a sword blade or a handful of liquid is enough for it to work. Exhaling, the necromancer breaths upon their reflective surface, and it freezes over. Then the ice-rimmed object is dashed against the ground, a crack resounding, and on the other side of the battlefield, the ground becomes an slick mirror, drawing foes down into its depths, those lost to it appearing again as slave-reflections.
When the caster breaks the ice, the necromancer rolls (Strength + Athletics), adding a number of automatic successes equal to her permanent Essence. Everyone within the attack area, a 40-yard radius centred within 220 yards of the sorcerer, is subject to attack, as the ground under their feet becomes ice-slick mirror. Characters defend against this as if it was an unparryable hand-to-hand attack. Each attack is independent, so magic and penalties which reduce the attack do not help others defend. Treat the invisible ensnaring warping of the world as rolling a number of attack successes equal to those which the sorcerer rolled, minus one for each -2 dice of penalties that circumstances impose. This only affects characters within (necromancer's Essence) yards of the ground.
Against those who successfully defend against it, they merely face the problems of moving on an ice-slick mirror, which imposes a -3 external penalty to all Athletics based rolls. Those who do not defend, however, are drawn down into the depths of the mirror as a Shaping attack, and as reality is conserved, a pallid simulacrum takes their place, crawling out of the reflection encrusted with ice. Heroic characters may spend 2wp and a Valour channel to strike down their reflection before they are drawn in, avoiding this fate. The simulacrum has all the same attributes and abilities and equipment as the original, has the same number of health levels and has taken the same amount of damage, except artifacts are replaced by an identical-looking perfect-quality version of their mundane equivalent. However, as soulless replacements, they have virtues like an automaton, automatically passing all Valour checks and automatically failing all others, and cannot spend Willpower. These replacements are bound to the necromancer in the same manner as a bound demon, and will obey him without questions, but will not obey Unacceptable Orders, such as to fall upon their swords, or attack each other. They do not suffer the external penalty for moving on the ice.
At the end of the scene, the mirrored ground turns into clear, flawless ice, to a depth of (necromancer's Essence) yards. Characters take all the damage that their simulacrums took during the scene, downgrading all damage by one step (so bashing is negated, lethal becomes bashing, and aggravated lethal). The exception is that if the simulacrum perished, so did the affected character. Characters who survive appear, lying prone on top of the flawless ice. Ones who do not survive appear in the ice, frozen corpses staring up at the sky with terrified expressions. Incidentally, necrotech made from such corpses only requires maintenance half as frequently if the average temperature is below freezing.
Cost: 44m
Target: Area (Up to 1000 yards by 1000 yards)
Once, Mardukth was the lord of beasts and creatures and land and sky alike. The Holy Tyrant stole his authority, and the Exalted stole his life. Now, he has no authority, but in the name he once had, there is still the traces of his old power, which when charged with necrotic Essence are enough to snuff out mindless beasts. Before this Charm is cast, the name once born by He Who Holds In Thrall must be burnt into the ground or marked in ash, the design subtly warped by the addition of powdered rust. This takes a successful (Perception + Occult) roll at Difficulty 4, taking 5 minutes per 200 by 200 yard square that must be marked out.
Once that has been done, the Onyx Circle Necromancy spell may be cast, as usual, the anima banner of the necromancer warping momentarily to convey impossible height and mass, before snapping back to normal. Once it has been done, the rune begins to glow a terrible eye-sucking black, and continues to glow for a scene. While it is active, any non-sapient being that enters the area marked out dies as an unblockable, undodgeable Shaping Effect, 3 ticks after entering the area. The method of death is Obvious and horrific; flesh sloughs from bones, eyeballs boil, insects explode in freeze clouds, vegetation ignites in pyre-flame. This even extends down to least gods, breaking attunement and ownership as a Shaping Effect which breaks the least gods utterly and imposes an internal penalty of the Necromancer's Essence to any attempt to use anything that has been taken into the area. This penalty lasts until the next Calibration, when new gods are assigned to replace the broken necrotic husks bound in thrall of He Who Was Once Mardukth. Appropriate prayers to Heaven or magic can get new least gods assigned faster, or the odd ways of the vitriol alchemists can infuse chacalaths to replace the ruined gods which removes the penalty at the cost of tainting the object with vitriol.
Cost: 40m
Target: Area (Radius of (Essence of victim) miles)
A flower for the dead, a blessing for those gone. All these things were not given to the Sister of Beauteous Blossoms, the Expressive soul of Sextes Jylis who did not agree with the path taken by her greater self, but kept her quiet until the death of the first Primordial, when she began to leak information to the other Primordials. She was caught by the vigilance of the Sidereal Exalted, and she was scourged from the soul-hierarchy of the Wood Dragon. Cast out, the castrated kami was, into Elsewhere, and it was not long before it was decided that she would be better to be... removed... and so she was called back into Creation, only to be executed. Something of her survives in the Labyrinth, though, in the corridors where the flowers bloom in a place without sun, and a necromancer may call upon her remnants to bring her blessings to this treacherous world. A victim must be acquired, who suffers from one or more diseases. Over the course of six hours timed so the spell ends at midnight, the necromancer must inflict cut upon cut on their victim, spreading their blood over the area while keeping them alive. At midnight, when the spell ends, their throat is finally cut, and they bleed their last out onto the ground. And then, for a number of miles around, every flowering plant blooms with bone-white, pus-yellow, and blood-red flowers which have a peculiarly strong, sickly scent. These flowers are an airborn vector for every disease that the victim was suffering from the start of the ritual, and soon these diseases will be spread across the area; this spell can convey supernatural diseases just as well as it can mundane ones. These flowers blossom until they are killed (which can be done as easily as any other plant), or until the next new moon when they wither and die.
The scent of the blossoms is specifically the vector for the disease; if one can avoid smelling them, one is saved. Generally speaking, moving within ten yards of a flowering plant is enough to risk infection, although this can depend on weather conditions and temperatures. Shogunate-era textbooks recommended the use of specialist thaumaturgical compounds to temporarily remove the sense of smell, but where not available, stoppering the nostrils with wax and smearing animal dung on the upper lip proved sometimes effective. Wood Aspects count these diseases as a plant-based poisons for the immunity granted by their anima power, for the remnants of the Sister of Beauteous Blossoms cannot touch the children of her once-oversoul. The diseases inflicted by this spell are not contagious, unless the necromancer also knows Void Circle Necromancy and casts using that Initiation, playing an extra 20m when doing so, whereupon they spread normally. This spell, and its upgrade, are Blasphemy Effects, at the rating of the highest Morbidity of the diseases spread by this manner; after the Great Contagion, Heaven set up certain protocols to flag mass-scale necrotic Essence diseases, and this - perhaps unintentionally - trips those warnings.
Cost: 80m
Target: Area
Around the Well of Oblivion, the tomb worlds of the Neverborn orbit, monolithic structure-bodies of tortured stone and petrified flesh and ten thousand other such things. Quiescent, they dream undying pain, save for those who the Black Nadir Concordat awoke, and those ones do not merely dream. But what has once has been done can be done again, and the principles of what those tomb-desecrators did was public knowledge among certain types of occult experimenter in the First Age. From that monstrous act was born this spell, which infuses a single focus with a fraction of the infinite pain of the Neverborn. And a fraction of an infinity is still infinite, save in the un-numbers of the Labyrinth.
The ritual is a thirteen hour process, which affects a thirteen mile radius, which must be begun precisely half an hour before sunset, and requires that a single human child, below the age of thirteen, be systematically broken of every single last hope, every last light in their life, every reason to live, while remaining untouched and perfect, without even a single scratch on their body. For that reason, it is usually necessary to immobilise them through magic, to prevent self-inflicted wounds from making them an unsuitable ritual candidate. In addition, ritual components aspected towards one of the Neverborn, and the Primordial that they once were must be acquired; for He Who Holds In Thrall, for example, symbols of slavery would be appropriate, and the ritual may be carried out on top of a great mountain.
During the night when this is cast, one by one, the stars overhead disappear, the Maidens being the last to go, and to all eyes, Luna begins to turn red, fading and dimming on the stroke of midnight. All is darkness, for at that moment, all non-magical fires in the area are extinguished. And then the spectres start to appear. They are not ghosts, not even nephwracks; instead, they are memories of First Circle species descended from the Primordial-that-Was, warped into their new aesthetics. They circle overhead, and creep along the ground, spectral figures in a phantasmal parade or carnival. They are not real, and cannot interact with the world in any ways, but in this uttermost darkness, they are the only light. This darkness continues, as the spectres grow more and more real. And as the sky lightens as dawn comes, the sky of Creation is not what it shows. Instead, above there is a dead sky of horrors, imagery flashing above of the moment of death of the Neverborn. The sacrificial child begins to babble at that moment, combining Old Realm inflections and catechisms with shapeless glossolalia, and slowly their eyes begin to darken, like miniature voids which suck in all light.
And when the spell is cast, at the moment that the sun should have risen over this blackened realm, everything changes. The child shifts and warps, becoming an unbound hekatonkhire-avatar of the target Neverborn, the aesthetics of the dead god merging with their basic personality and nature to create a warped monstrous being with the approximate power level of a Third Circle Demon. A phantasmal hybrid of a monstrous fish-being and an armoured human waltzing eternally to a mad silent tune, a figure of pyre flame and bones that weeps eternally, a giant of limbs that spans the area; all are possible shapes. This is the harbinger of the greater change as, instantly, the entire area, at the moment of this transformation, is interposed with the metaphysical weight of the tomb-body of the Neverborn, and collapses through Creation and the Underworld alike, to form what is known as a Tomb Cyst in the Labyrinth, taking the necromancer with it. From the point of view outside the 13-mile radius target area, the area disappears, to be overwritten by the terrain in the Underworld, which forms a shadowland. Unlike in normal cases, the Underworld version is dominant, for the Creation-side has apparently ceased to exist. This shadowland is metaphysically deeper than normal ones; the Labyrinth lies very close to it indeed. There are paths that can lead into the Labyrinth hidden there, even during the day, behind the shadow of a door and within the gaps between rays of sunbeams, and they lead directly into the Tomb Cyst.
The interior of the Tomb Cyst resembles a sick hybrid between the tomb body of the Neverborn in question, and the landscape that was subsumed by it. It is within the Labyrinth, and the usual rules for navigating that fell place must be used to get to points within it, including to find the centre, where the hekatonkhire-avatar dwells. Everything within is recast, as a Shaping effect, to fit this new monstrous paradigm. This is represented as if the target character was exposed to Pure Chaos, except mutations acquired are themed towards the targeted Neverborn, and at the point where they would normally become non-viable for life in Creation, they die and form monstrous ghosts. All ghosts within a Tomb Cyst are targeted with a Total Control effect which costs 1wp a tick to resist, and forces them to take up roles in the passion play façade which happens within the Tomb Cyst, a manifest form of the thoughts of a Neverborn, incidentally granting them Whispers 5 as a Training effect. This bleeds up into the shadowland above, although ghosts need only spend the point of willpower once a day during daylight hours, and once an hour at night, to resist the effect. Once a ghost succumbs, they may not resist further.
The hekatonkhire-avatar within is the focal point for the Tomb Cyst, and its destruction collapses the Cyst, returning it to normal Labyrinth. It may not be bound by Summon Hekatonkhire, for it is already anchored to the Tomb Cyst and may not leave. It may harbour a fragment of the consciousness of a Neverborn, just as a living Third Circle may be possessed by a Primordial, although in its mad thrashing it is already hard to distinguish between the two. If any attempt is made to close the shadowland, the hekatonkhire-avatar has the capacity, as a generic Panoply Charm, to tear wider holes into the Shadowland and bring them directly into the Labyrinth, where it will attempt to kill anyone who has the presumption to do such a thing. Beyond that, though, it will act with the madness of a dead titan and a broken child alike within this world, which it may reshape within the permissible themes as if using Wyld Shaping Technique.
If cast inside the world-body of a Primordial, the timing restrictions do not apply, and the blasphemous power of the void allows the necromancer to reach beyond time and probability, and aspect the created hekatonkhire towards the Neverborn that a not-yet-dead Primordial could create. The Engine of Extinction, when cast within Autocthon, is the most obvious possibility, but the Broken-Mirror Deadwood, within Szoreny, or the Ocean Evaporated by Aeons of Pain, within Kimbery, are also possible, but to name two examples – and, perversely, two castings of the same spell will not always produce the same future-Neverborn. However, an awake Primordial will certainly be alerted to such a casting beginning, and so retaliation will most likely be swift. If it is successfully cast, the Tomb Cyst manifests directly within the body of the Primordial, rather than falling into the Labyrinth.
Almost without exception, the Deathlords will not use this spell willingly, without an imminent threat to their unlives or a direct compulsion from their masters – which are infrequent indeed. They, too, are vulnerable to the loss of self that comes to any ghost from this spell, and though they can defend against it, being this close to an avatar of one of their masters means that they risk being ordered to drop those defences, and losing all self. The Eye and Seven Despairs is the only one to have used it multiple times; it is believed that he modified the ritual which enabled the construction of Cold House from this spell, and there are several such places in the Bayou of Endless Regret. The Dowager is also believed to have created one, although some nephracks say that she threw it into the Well of Udr to unknown effect; either way, she has not created another. Abyssals will not be so limited in their use of the blackest circle of necromancy.
Cost: 71m
Area: Up to a circle of radius 2 miles
Within the depths of the Labyrinth are hidden fragments of the fell anti-mathematics of the Void, which defy rational understanding with their tainted-yet-alluring simplicity. The necromancer declares to Creation one of the more simple proofs, charging the words with Essence to scar Nirguna and Nirupadhika alike with the concrete reality of That-Which-Cannot-Be. Before this spell can be cast, the necromancer must surround the target area with the oroborus-variant of the proof, forming an unbroken circle around the target area. This takes ten minutes per hundred yards of the circumference, and also requires a successful (Dexterity + Craft: Air) roll at Difficulty 7 to ensure the calligraphic blasphemies of the anti-mathematics are correctly defined. This roll should be made in secret. If the roll was failed, or the line of symbols was broken, the spell instead backlashes on a one-yard radius centred on the necromancer. For that reason, many who use it choose to carve the symbols into the ground and form a secondary overlapping layer, rather than relying on more malleable substances.
Once the ritual is prepared, the spell takes one hour to cast as horrific words and un-numbers spill from the necromancer's mouth. The necromancer stands just outside the target area, on the Old Realm word for "instruction" marked into the ground. Once the ritual has begun, the anti-mathematical symbols begin to radiate black light, twisting and writhing at the edge of vision, and are as hard to destroy as an unattuned artifact. Anything which crosses the perimeter takes one level of unsoakable aggravated damage as a Shaping effect, their flesh and soul unmade by the anti-mathematical proofs.
Once cast, everything within the target area, to a height and depth of six-and-a-half miles, ceases to have the concepts of existence, space and location apply to them. Mechanically, this is resolved as a Shaping effect which instantly destroys anything within the area. The damage is more comprehensive than that, however. This is not mere destruction; this is inapplicability. The target area does not exist and does not have location, and hence the perimeter of the area now touches as a point. Creation itself warps to allow this to happen. One cannot walk into the affected area, for it no longer exists. Characters immune to Shaping are - as the concept of distance still applies to them - instantly moved outside the once-area.
This spell is a Blasphemy 7 effect, leaving the Loom screaming from undefined errors as its very fabric twists and warps. The spell remains active until the Loom is manually adjusted to prove the impossibility of the anti-proof, a (Wits + Craft: Fate) extended action at Difficulty 5, with a roll interval of five long ticks and a total number of successes needed of 13. Even once this is done, cascading Fate errors and rolling failures of destinies will plague the Bureau of Destiny for years after the event.
Perhaps the worst consequence of this spell is that more fragments of the anti-proofs of Oblivion worm their way into the Labyrinth each time it is cast. Who knows what horrors may come to be because of its use?
Cost: - (1 Permanent Limit) ; Mins: Integrity 5, Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Destiny-Manifesting Method, Sun King's Radiance
Just as the sun casts its light upon Creation and illuminates wonders, so do glorious children spring from the seed of the Solar Exalted. This was not intended in the designs of the Incarnae - indeed, it was meant to be impossible - but when has such things ever stopped the Lawgivers? Upon conceiving a child, regardless of whether they are the father or the mother, the Solar may choose to accept a single point of Permanent Limit per foetus. This point of Permanent Limit expires after fifteen months. Regardless of the form or nature of the mother or any other mutations applied, such a pregnancy always lasts for fifteen months as recognised from the reference frame of Creation - though in compensation the mother will always have a nearly painless delivery which heals instantly.
The grandchildren of the Unconquered Sun are glorious champions and heroes, with the power to seize greatness which uplifts them above the mortal masses. The child is born with Essence 1 and Enlightened Essence, calculated as for a god-blood. In addition, the four highest abilities of their Solar parent, and one Ability of the Solar's choice, are passed down to the child who Favours them all, and is born with one dot in them. In instances of a draw, the Ability which most defines the Solar and which they use most should be the one passed down. This conveys any other traits required to use the Ability; a child born with a skill which requires the ability to speak, like Lore or Linguistics, is verbose as soon as they enter the world.
The child has the capacity to learn further Spirit Charms as a god-blood would, with themes appropriate to the Solar Exalted or the Unconquered Sun. Solar Charms may be used as reference for themes and ideas for Charms, but any capacities should be scaled as Spirit Charms would be. These children cannot normally raise their Essence above 3, but should they complete their Motivation or receive an Essence Endowment they may pay the XP to raise their Essence to 4 and shed their mortal skins, becoming gods. Such new gods are automatically placed in the personal service of the Unconquered Sun as his servants and handmaidens, but since he has not called upon most of them since before the Usurpation they are practically free to do as they wish.
Should the pregnancy not survive to term, the cost of the Charm in the form of permanent Limit is refunded to the Solar. If the Solar is the father, a non-Exalted Essence-using mother gains temporary access to the Spirit First Excellencies which will be favoured by the child. A mortal mother, in addition, gains Enlightened Essence as a Training effect as her chakras are adjusted to aid in the delivery of the child. If both parents are Solars, the bonus Ability dots stack (although the child only favours five Abilities, chosen by the mother). The effects are also compatible with the Lunar Charm Silver-and-Cherry Blossoms, in which case the child benefits from both the Ability bonus and the shapechanging powers, and the Spirit Charms they may learn combine Solar and Lunar themes in strange ways.
This Charm may not be learnt by Solars who lack the Great Curse, and should a Solar who knows it lose the Curse, its cost is automatically refunded.
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Investigation 3, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Emotion, Compulsion, Crippling
Duration: One day
Prerequisite Charms: Irresistible Questioning Technique
The kind hearts of the Lawgivers cry out when they must resort to more crude interrogation techniques. But they are the hard men who make the hard choices and do what has to be done, and their sorrow at the harsh necessity is the righteousness which makes glorious their actions in the eyes of Heaven. This Charm supplements a torture action where at least one point of lethal damage is inflicted on the target, and may explicitly enhance actions which use Abilities rather than Investigation. As a Crippling effect, any wound penalties inflicted by the torture are doubled for the duration (for example, if a target already suffering a -1 wound penalty suffers enough damage from torture to move them to a -2 wound penalty, they suffer a total penalty of -3). This increased penalty does not apply to actions where the target is following the Solar's orders. In addition, the target must spend one willpower to disobey the Solar's orders for a single action, as an unnatural Compulsion. Once (the higher of Investigation and the points of damage inflicted, maximum of five) willpower have been spent to resist, the target is immune to this effect for a week.
If the Solar inflicts a Crippling injury as part of the torture, the willpower cost to disobey the Solar is increased to the lower of the Solar's Investigation and Essence, and as an Emotion effect the target loses one willpower and gains an Intimacy of Fear towards the Solar. Until the injury heals or until the Intimacy is broken, whichever comes sooner, any social attack made by the Solar against them which threatens pain or injury is unnatural mental influence. Against mortals, this lasts until both conditions have been fulfilled.
Cost: — ; Mins: Essence 4, Occult 5; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Sapphire Circle Sorcery, Summon Elemental
Throughout the First Age, all was peace and harmony between the Deliberative and the Elementals of Creation. The Solar Exalted were kings beyond compare, and as loyal servants the children of the elements served them well, fulfilling their tasks. Sadly, sometimes it proved necessary to prolong the service of elementals, but only for good reason, and those long-serving elementals never complained. Sometimes their kin would be more rowdy, but when serving the Solar Exalted, the master's virtues shone so clearly that no such rebellion was needed. This Charm permanently enhances the capacities of Summon Elemental. Firstly, it allows, when the spell is cast, for the Solar to chose to bind summoned elementals for a year when bound to service, or indefinitely when task bound. Elementals bound this way are more weakly bound than usual; once the normal period of servitude has passed, the binding may be broken by Emerald Circle Countermagic or Emerald Circle Banishment, the latter returning the elemental to the place they were summoned from originally. Use of this option on elementals with a role in the Celestial Hierarchy is a Blasphemy effect equal to the permanent Essence of the Elemental after negotiations with Yu Shan, which argued that some elementals were vital parts of the bureaucracy and should be exempted from extended servitude. Secondly, any elemental bound by this Solar, whether using the extended duration or not, gains an automatic Intimacy towards the Solar, based on the Lawgiver's highest Virtue, which cannot be weakened during the period of binding, as follows;
Compassion: Quiet Adoration
Conviction: Devoted Loyalty
Temperance: Humble Reverence
Valour: Overwhelmed Awe
In case of a tie, the Solar choose which Intimacy to give. While the Intimacy is in place, all Social attacks which play upon the Intimacy are unnatural mental influence which cost 1wp to resist. With such virtue evident, how could the Elementals of Creation not be outraged by the Usurpation?
(Add the Blasphemy and Native keywords to the Charm)
(Replace everything after [...the acrid Essence-flows of Kimbery.] with the following)
Before this Charm can be learned, the character must summon and bind a Third Circle soul of their chosen Yozi, which cannot be the fetich. K'tula's calculations definitively showed that attempting to use the fetich for this purpose would have catastrophic effects, at best tearing the Solar through the weave of Creation into Malfeas, face-to-face with the titan (who would have felt what was happening to their heart, and would not be best pleased). With the demon bound, the process can begin. The Solar retreats from the world, preferably to a manse aspected to their chosen Yozi, or vitriol, alone save for the Third Circle.
Over the training time, the Third Circle begins to glow from within with a terrible golden light; this causes it agonising pain, and it will likely beg and plead with the Solar to stop, which may require the character to suppress Compassion to continue. Finally, on the last day, the demon has been transmuted into a figure of golden fire, and the sorcerous binding shatters asunder. The Chosen of the Sun must then manage to kill the demon personally, who will likely fight or flee, depending on their personality. As they die, rather than discorporating, the Essence of the Demon Prince tears itself apart, being absorbed by the anima banner of the Solar, which flares totemic to welcome the new addition. This is a Blasphemy Effect, as the Loom of Fate detects a sudden surge of Primordial Essence; K'tula had a manse set up Outside of Fate to blind the eyes of Heaven to what she was doing.
The internalised Essence patterns of the Third Circle soul permits the Solar Exalt to buy the Charms of their chosen Yozi, up to Essence 5, at a cost of 12XP per Charm. At this level, their Essence is treated as a maximum of 5 for Yozi Charms, so they cannot benefit from repurchase options or upgrades with an Essence greater than 5. The bound Demon Prince allows them to buy the Unwoven Coadjutor merit, which can count as a Trainer for Yozi Charms up to their rating in the Merit. In addition, as a Third Circle soul is mighty indeed compared to the lesser First Circles of Green Sun Princes, they also receive the benefits of Past Lives at a rating equal to their dots in the Unwoven Coadjustor merit. This comes at a cost; the stress of calling on the mind of a Third Circle means they gain a point of Limit for each time they call on the Third Circle, including one point of Limit per day training Yozi Charms. At this level, the Charms learnt are still tied to the living Primordial, and so their death or fetich-death will have as-yet-unknown adverse effects on a Solar who knows their Charms via this method. If the character's Essence falls below the Essence 6 requirement for this Charm, they loose access to all Yozi Charms they know until their Essence rises again.
The imbalance of Essence within the Solar's body, as the burning golden light of the sun wars with the fallen might of world-building titans, makes the flow of Essence disruptive. Both Solar and Yozi Charms suffer a one-mote surcharge to all activation costs, as with a Dragonblood using an out-of-Aspect Charm. The legendary efficiency and directed purpose of the Solar Exalted suffers, too; they now pay 10XP for Favoured Solar Charms, and 12XP for Unfavoured Solar Charms. In addition, as the character's souls are already reaching out to emulate a cosmic principle, no Martial Arts Form-Type charms may be used; should they learn a Shintai Form-Type Charm, however, they may still be used. Finally, as this Charm is still built on the foundations of Solar Excellence in the Occult, they may not learn the (Yozi) Sorcerous Initiation appropriate to their chosen titan.
The binding of the Third Circle is a vital component of this Charm. Therefore, unless the character could manage to force a free Primordial into an oath of a similar magnitude to the Yozis' Surrender Oaths which would permit them to bind their souls in the same way, this Charm may only be used to access the Charmset of a Yozi. Whether the Abyssal Exalted could do something similar with hekatonkhires to access the Charms of the Neverborn is unknown and probably best not known, despite the superficial similarities of this method to the creation of the Deathlords.
Cost: - Mins: Essence 6, Occult 6
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Blasphemy, Native
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Primordial Principle Emulation, First (Yozi) Excellency, one (Yozi) Shintai Charm
Woe to you, oh Creation. Let Heaven weep, for the power of the Solar Exalted outdoes their wisdom, and their reach exceeds their grasp. When the champions of Virtue will shun the golden light of the sun to assume the mantles of those who built him, what can lesser beings do?
Once again, the Solar (if that term is quite appropriate any more) retreats for the world; this time, she must have access to a Manse aspected to their chosen Yozi or Vitriol with which they remain, alone save for demons of the emulated Yozi, for the duration of the Training Time. When she emerges, she has internalised the principles of her chosen Yozi, woven strands of its legend into her own Essence, in a way which scars the Exaltation in a matter not-dissimilar, though far lesser in scale, to the changes that the Yozis made in the Exaltations of the Green Sun Princes. Learning this Charm is another Blasphemy, as with its prerequisite.
The changes go even deeper than before. The Solar's very Exaltation has been vandalised by the declaration of the identity of the Yozi, and observation of her native Charms will display the same kind of low-level warping that Terrestrial Spells cast through a Yozi Initiation display, discernible through a reflexive (Wits + Occult) roll at Difficulty 5, and concealable through use of Universal Precept Shroud. She has now internalised the Excellency and nature of the Yozi, and the death of the titan will not affect her access to their Charms at all, and neither will her Essence falling below 6. She can now purchase all charms of the Yozi, and is no longer subject to the Essence 5 cap of Primordial Pattern Emulation. The character no longer takes a one mote surcharge on use of Yozi Charms, and the cost of each Yozi Charm is 10XP, effective retroactively, providing a return of 2 XP per Yozi Charm already learned. However, the increasing taint of the titans affects their Solar magic; the surcharge on Solar Charms is now two motes.
With the shift in the nature of their Essence, the character's Sorcerous Initiations warp, being replaced with the Yozi versions of the Charm. All Charms which have them as a prerequisite, with the exception of Primordial Principle Emulation, are lost to the character, and refunded. Likewise, access to Sidereal Martial Arts is now forever beyond the character's grasp, and all Sidereal Martial Arts charms they may already know are refunded for XP. However, access to Martial Arts Form-Type Charms is now restored to the character, as with the internalisation, they need not contort their Essence to alien-to-them forms.
Should Lytek get access to an Exaltation of a character who knows this charm, whether by their death or by their completion of the next step, (Yozi) Cosmic Principle, he will have to work to clean off the intricate, almost-organic growth of Primordial Charms from the fundamental Solar core. Without maintenance, it is unclear how the next incarnation of the Exaltation would be affected.
Cost: - ; Mins: (Attribute) 4, Essence 3; Type Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Any (Attribute) Excellency
Under the transient flesh and blood of the Lunar Exalted lies a power of terrible protean force and brilliance. This is not a question of inflexible instinct; it is glorious in its unveiled formlessness, and as the Chosen of the Moon draw upon their power it floods their veins, empowering them further. Once per action per Attribute, when a Lunar spends at least 2m on this Charm's prerequisite she may choose to commit two of those spent motes. This grants her a bonus dot of the Attribute, which counts as dice granted by Charms. If the character knows the Second (Attribute) Excellency, dots granted by this Charm may be converted into automatic successes rather than rolled at a rate of two-for-one. These bonus dots disappear at the start of a new scene. At Essence 3, only 3 bonus dots may be granted by a given version of this Charm; at E4+, this limit increases to the Lunar's dice cap.
Each time this Charm is purchased, the Lunar gains a number of mutation points equal to the linked Attribute, a manifestation of the shifting power of the Silver Exaltation within them. These mutations must express or be linked to some personal inner theme, such as her idealised image, a totem animal, or some other thing of great import to herself, and furthermore must express the themes and nature of the Argent Madonna in some way. On her action tick, she may reflexively and at no cost manifest a number of mutation points up to the limit of the total number of attribute dots currently granted by all the versions of Hidden (Attribute) Manifestation she knows.
On the new moon, she may reassign up to (Essence) points of allocated mutations within the pool by six hours of meditation, although this grants one point of Permanent Limit which disappears after a year.
Cost: 2m+, 1wp; Mins: (Attribute) 5, Essence 4; Type Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Hidden (Attribute) Manifestation
Sometimes one cannot wait while the argent power within one's soul manifests. Sometimes this power must be forced onto a staid reality. Each 2m committed to this Charm grants one bonus dot of the linked Attribute which counts as being granted by Charms, as with this Charm's prerequisite. Dots granted by this Charm also allow the mutation pool of the prerequisite to be accessed.
At Essence 5, this Charm upgrades, allowing Lunars to activate multiple iterations of it as part of the same Simple action. The mote cost must be paid for each Attribute separately, but only 1wp need be paid. Activating the Strength, Dexterity and Stamina variants together is often called by Lunars with an animalistic theme "Deadly Beastman Transformation".
Cost: 1-2lhl, 1wp, 0-1ahl; Mins Dexterity 3, Essence 4; Type Simple (Speed 4, -2DV)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: <N/A - some rewritten Charm>
The Exalted are set above all other men, and such honour, as the Chosen of the Gods, should sit on them like a cloak, obvious for all to see in their resplendent magnificence. And if one is as naive to actually believe that, it might be necessary to remember which goddess the Lunars the are chosen of. The Lunar's fingers sublimate into light as she seizes her own anima banner, and casts it aside, open striations forming over her body as the anima tears away. To hit a specific target, this is a (Dexterity + Thrown) attack with a range of (Essence x 10) yards, adding (Essence) automatic successes. If it hits a sentient being, it latches on as a Crippling effect, tiny hooks of anima-light wrapping around them to hold itself secure. If the Lunar misses, or does not target anyone specifically, it glows like a cold bonfire of anima light over a piece of nearby terrain, centred around the Lunar's caste mark. The Exalt's anima will remain attached to that target until it reduces in intensity following the normal rules for an anima, or until the Lunar spends any Peripheral Essence or would increase or flare their anima for any other reason, whereupon it instantly flashes back like an arrow to its greater self. It does not cease to shine if a target it is attached to is killed or destroyed. This Charm costs 2lhl, 1wp normally, but the cost is increased to 1lhl, 1ahl, 1wp if the anima is at the 8-10 mote level or higher.
Cost: (3-4)m; Mins: Dexterity 3, Essence 2 Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charm: Any Dexterity Excellency
Even when a projectile leaves the hand, it can be stirred into hunting life if infused with the anima of the Lunar Exalted. Like a living thing, it twists and deforms in flight, trailing silver light. The foes of the Chosen of Luna well know the dangers of an arrow which has grown wings to fly up only to dip down over a wall or a thrown knife in the dark which squeezes through a crack in the door. This Charm enhances a ranged attack, and nullifies all penalties, except wound and multiple action penalties, to that attack.
This Charm costs 3m if the Lunar is using a natural weapon, an attuned artifact, or a weapon she has a positive Intimacy towards, and 4m otherwise.
Cost: 5-7m, 1wp; Mins: Dexterity 4, Essence 2 Type: Extra Action
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charm: Not-Quite-There Shot
The necessity to shoot once per attack is a limitation the Lunar Exalted are more than willing to bypass. One projectile fractures in mid-air to become the many different ways it could have fired, the mitosis of violence sending child fragments to strike down their foes from could-have-beens. This Charm is a magical flurry containing a total number of ranged attacks equal to (Dexterity). The attacks bypass rate and suffers no multiple action penalties, while the flurry as a whole imposes a DV penalty equal to (the highest penalty for any attack + the number of attacks over the base Rate of the weapon made). The Lunar makes these attacks by drawing upon the impossible actions they could have taken, and therefore makes one attack roll and separately compares the attack to a separate defender with each attack in the flurry. Use of Excellencies to enhance this attack must be paid separately for each attack which benefits.
The first attack in this flurry must target any enemy the Lunar could reach. Later attacks consume no ammunition, but must be aimed at targets within 10 yards of the previous target or the Lunar. The cost of this Charm is 7m, 1wp normally, but only 5m, 1wp in the Wyld where the mutability of reality makes it easier for the Lunar to draw her could-have-been attacks from the Beyond.
Cost: 4m; Mins: Dexterity 4, Essence 3 Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Crippling
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charm: Not-Quite-There Shot
Why accept that the pain has stopped after the projectile hits? Why not instead leave a present so they will remember the folly of attacking the Lunar Exalted? This Charm supplements a ranged attack. If the attack inflicts damage, the projectile - on top of doing whatever other effects it would normally do - flows like quicksilver, plugging the wound with brilliant light the colour of the Lunar's anima banner which invalidates Stealth like a 8-10m anima and is a Crippling effect. Between one and (Essence + Dexterity) ticks later, chosen by the Lunar when this Charm is activated, the light detonates in a hail of minuscule anima-projectiles made of light and the target's flesh and blood. The eruption fills a radius of (Essence x 2) yards around the target, acting as a one-time environmental hazard with (Dexterity + Overwhelming value of initial attack) lethal damage with Overwhelming 2, and a Trauma of (Dexterity). Against the initial target, the damage is Piercing, and Overwhelming 3, and the difficulty of any roll to stop bleeding from the wound is increased by (Essence).
Prompt action can snuff out the light before it vomits forth its anima-projectiles. With a Miscellaneous action which can be taken by anyone who can touch the target, or the target themselves, of (Wits + Occult) against Difficulty (Dexterity) the glowing plug can be drawn out, where it dissipates harmlessly. This inflicts an additional point of unsoakable bashing damage on the target.
Cost: - (+ 1-3m); Mins: Dexterity 4, Essence 3 Type: Permanent
Keywords: Emotion, Obvious, Shaping
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charm: Not-Quite-There Shot
A single shot from the dark can do more to break a formation than any amount of glorious obvious shining heroism. When one's projectiles can deform and twist suffused as they are by Lunar Essence, there are whole new avenues open to the Chosen of the Moon. This Charm permanently enhances its prerequisite. This Lunar may involve this Charm reflexively by spending the activation cost whenever she kills or mortally wounds an enemy with an enhanced attack. As a base effect, the Charm ensures that the method of death inflicted by the projectile is horrific and terror-inducing. An arrow may swell to the size of a water-melon within someone's chest, or a thrown rock may ricochet within the body until not one organ remains intact. Every enemy or neutral character who witnesses the death must compare the Lunar's (Essence + base Weapon Damage) to their Dodge MDV, and if their DMDV is lesser, suffer an Emotion effect inducing paranoia and terror which imposes an Internal penalty equal to the Lunar's (Essence) to all actions, reflexive and otherwise, for the remainder of the scene, and creates an Intimacy of Paranoia towards the world. This is unnatural mental influence which costs 3wp for mortals and 1wp for other beings to resist, which also renders them immune to the effects of this Charm for a day. This Charm costs 3m normally, but only 1m if the attack was made from surprise.
As an option, the Lunar may also ensure that anyone who looks at the corpse within five days of its death has it made Obvious to them that she was the killer next time they are in a situation where they are Joined Battle against her. This enhances the rating of any stunt within that combat which plays off this knowledge by one level.
Cost: - ; Mins: Dexterity 5, Essence 4 Type: Permanent
Keywords: Overdrive, Native
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charm: Horrifying Silver Insurgent Strike
The best blow against a foe is one where they have no chance of retaliation. Let other duel on the field of honour. The Exalted were made to murder the creators of reality, and there are those among the Lunar Exalted who have not forgotten those origins. This Charm grants the Lunar a 10 mote offensive pool. She gains one offensive mote on any action she injures a foe from outside their engagement range. She gains one offensive each time she kills an opponent from outside their engagement range, or with a surprise attack. However, such practices also reject the idea that one should throw one's life away instead of living to fight another day. Once the Lunar has taken 3 or more points of bashing damage, or any lethal or aggravated damage from enemy action during a combat, this Overdrive Charm ceases to provide motes for the remainder of the scene.
Cost: 4m; Mins: Dexterity 3, Essence 2 Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charm: Not-Quite-There Shot
Those who look only towards the Lunar Exalted will never see the arrows that hit them in the back. This Charm conceals an attack with a projectile weapon. The attack is made against an initial target which can be a character or an inanimate object. The attack is silent, and the projectile vanishes from sight as soon as it fired or thrown, sublimating into the Beyond as the shot that could have happened is rendered impossible. It does no damage against its intended target. Between one and (Essence + Dexterity) ticks later, chosen by the Lunar when this Charm is activated, the shot is 'fired' from the targeted location at a different target declared when this Charm is activated, using the same successes as for the initial attack and benefiting from any Charms which enhanced the first attack. Cover and other external penalties are applied from this new position, which means it can be used to bypass cover. Characters must gain (Lunar's Essence) successes on a (Wits + Awareness) roll to realise by the hints of oddness in its echo and its tumble that it did not originally come from that position. At Essence 3, this Charm upgrades. If it successfully "hit" the first target, characters who fail that roll are affected with an Illusion that they saw the target fire the shot, which is unnatural mental influence and costs 1wp to resist.
Cost: 4m; Mins: Charisma 3, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Action-Only, Obvious, Shaping
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Any Social Excellency
The transitive nature of the Argent Madonna shines down upon the world, and touches everything she sees. The Lunar infuses an inanimate mundane object within (Essence) yards with the glow of her anima, shunting aside its least god and giving it a fleeting mind. Objects owned by another character require a (Charisma or Manipulation + Presence) roll, resisted by their owner's MDV, while objects owned by the Lunar (or no-one at all) are automatically suborned to her will, allowing her to give it any one task to complete which is both basic to its nature, and would be possible without the continuous intervention of an outside party. A door can be ordered to unlock itself or swing on its hinges, or a sword could be induced to sliver from its sheath, but a sword cannot wield itself, as this would require someone to continuously carry it. If an action taken by an object would require a roll (such as a holstered firewand pulling its own trigger in an attack against its bearer's leg), use the Lunar's (Charisma + [Appropriate Ability]).
Repeated use of this Charm on a given object warps its aesthetics, permanently imbuing it with aspects of the Lunar's anima – those looking at it from the corner of their eye might even mistake it for a living creature of some sort. This Charm's cost is reduced by one mote for every previous time the Lunar has used it on that object in the past day, to a minimum of zero motes. If the Lunar owns an object she can target for zero motes, the infusion of her Essence into its least god becomes permanent, allowing her to use this Charm on that object as an innate power with its base cost reduced to two motes.
Cost: 5m, 1wp ; Mins: Charisma 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Shaping, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Persuasive World-Whisper
The tides wax and wane at the orders of Luna, the natural world flowing into the shape dictated by the Silver Lady. So do the Lunar Exalted shape the world with their commands, their anima seeping out invisibly to make Creation an extension of their malleable bodies. While this Charm is active the Lunar may as part of a Miscellaneous action roll (Charisma + Presence) against the MDV of the owner (if they own it, its MDV is set to 0), and spend 5m. If they are successful they may modify, create or alter an inanimate non-magical landscape feature or structure, or a sessile non-sapient living being (such as plants). These modifications have a maximum dimension along any axis of (Essence) yards. Modifications of living beings may only change their shape or the way they grow; for example, a tree could have a small hollow created within it out of the rain, or have its topiary shifted into an insulting image of a Lunar's enemy (a craft roll at a Storyteller-set difficulty may be needed for artistic efforts). The modified object must be touched before the changes can occur. Successive actions may be used to expand the dimensions of a change.
Luna does not ruin the oceans when she shapes them, and so any changes may and will not compromise the integrity of an affected structure, and so though, for example, the Charm may be used to get access to a critical support structure, it may not be used to destroy it. Structures made of First Age materials designed to deny unauthorised attempts to change them are immune to this Charm, as are any magical structures.
If the Lunar owns the terrain or structure, or has permission from its owner (which can be as little as "Can I do something?"), the cost-per-change of this Charm is reduced by 1m. All things created or modified by this Charm are twisted in subtle, uncanny ways, and the cost of using this Charm's prerequisite on them is reduced by 1m. The nature of these changes may be identified with a Difficulty 4 (Wits + Occult) roll.
Cost: 3m ; Mins: Charisma 3, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 7)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Persuasive World-Whisper
The King and the Land are one. Few are quite aware of how true this is for the witch-queens of the Lunar Exalted. Against an oncoming blow, her skin flashes into the very terrain which surrounds her, blades bouncing off strangely tough leaf-skin or a chest of shining Chiascuroan glass. This gives her +(Charisma + 3) lethal and bashing armoured soak. If she, or an individual she has a mutual positive Intimacy with, owns the terrain on which she stands, this also gives her Hardness equal to the armoured soak granted by this Charm.
At Essence 3, this Charm automatically upgrades. If the Lunar is unarmoured, she may spend an extra 2m and 1wp, and activate this Charm as a Simple Charm, to extend its duration to scene-long. When this happens, the land literally rises up to flow over her as a Shaping effect on the world around them, attracted by her own transformed skin. When operating in this mode, successful attacks with a weapon tagged with Overwhelming reduce the soak granted by this Charm by the Overwhelming value of the weapon for the remainder of the tick, as impromptu armour is torn away.
At Essence 4, this Charm may be repurchased. With an extra surcharge of 8m on the scene-long variant, the Charm may layer on its natural armour over worn armour, the pre-existing armour writhing and twisting in the Lunar essence to integrate the changes. Mundane armour will show traces of these changes even when the Charm ends; a breastplate showing odd leaf-like patterns in it, or a helmet whose eye-sockets look like windows.
Cost: (8-9)m ; Mins: Charisma 5, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Shaping
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Eminent Domain Sacrifice
Luna is beloved of Gaia, and so she enjoys the benefits of that patronage. The Lunar Exalted do not benefit from that love, but when their anima saturates the world around them and their essence calls man, beast, plant and structure to them, Creation cannot help but protect them. This Charm perfectly parries any attack which is not unexpected, even one which is unblockable. The world itself springs to life around the Lunar, branches taking the blow for them or a wall slamming into place to intercept a grand goremaul. The damage from the attack is resolved against the terrain feature instead. This Charm may not be used if there is nothing around the Lunar which could move to protect them, but players are reminded of the ability of stunting to enable dramatic editing of a scene.
This Charm costs 9m normally, but only 8m if the Lunar's anima is at the 8-10m level or higher or they are in the Wyld, where reality is inherently mutable. In addition, there is an extra surcharge of +3m if the Lunar is not within land that she or an individual she has a mutual positive Intimacy with owns. This is a unique Flaw of Invulnerability for this Charm.
Cost: 25m, 1wp, 1 lhl; Mins: Manipulation 5, Essence 3; Type: Dramatic Action
Keywords: Wyld, Shaping, Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Mirror Sight Dismay
Once upon a time, Luna stepped out into the Wyld, and opened up her veins, pouring out her blood onto the ground, which burned like argent fire, sweeping across the madness lands, before sinking into the earth. "If you can unmake my shape, you can have the world," she said to the Wyld. Now, the Wyld was suspicious, it not being a fool, and told her that she clearly was tricking her, and this was just an illusion. "This is me. Can you not feel my blood within my veins" the Argent Madonna said, pointing at the ground, and the Wyld swept in, to twist and change her. But the ground, blessed by her blood, twisted and changed with the Wyld and yet remained the same. And so intent was the Wyld on the blood of Luna, sending the land into flux, that it could not focus on anything else; indeed, the traces of her divine blood allowed Luna to influence the tides of the Wyld with her light. The Chosen of the Moon smile when they hear this story, and do much the same. This Charm forces the Wyld to have less of a mutagenic effect on people within a single waypoint, at the cost of increased variability in the terrain, and allows the Lunar to influence the waypoint.
Madness Deceived by Blood is an extended Dramatic Action, which affects a single waypoint. The dice pool used is the Lunar's (Manipulation + Performance), as they must coax and trick the Wyld with sacrifices of their blood into taking the forms they wish. The activation cost of this Charm must be paid for each roll, rather than just at the start. Each roll takes 8 hours, or 4 hours during the hours of darkness. This roll has a base difficulty of 1 in regions of Pure Chaos, 3 in the Deep Wyld, 5 in the Middlemarches, and 8 in the Bordermarches of the Wyld. However, in the Boardermarches, nothing that requires more than 3 successes may be created, for too much of the solidity of Creation infuses those places.
The Lunar may spend accumulated successes at any point to influence the Wyld. This functions as follows;
Blood Binding: This must be carried out before any other change can occur. The Lunar binds her blood into the land, focusing the Wyld energies into the terrain and gaining some control over it, and so sparing people who enter this waypoint. This costs a number of successes equal to (11-Essence) divided by 2, rounding up. The landscape shows a variation from Creation as if it was one step further away from Creation, but has a mutagenic effect as if it was one step nearer. For example, if used on the Middle Marches, it would change as if it was part of the Deep Wyld, but only mutate people within it as if it was part of the Bordermarches. This does not actually change the status of the land for other effects. If used in Pure Chaos, the land cannot become more tainted, but the reduction in mutagenic effect still occurs; no one has ever accused the Chosen of Luna of playing fair.
Thematics: The Lunar changes the thematics of the land, much as proximity to the Elemental Poles does. 1 success allows a change within the current theme, such as turning a lake of fire into a blasted desert where fire-rain falls from the sky. 3 successes allow a moderate change, such as turning a lake of fire into a plateau where sugar foundries spring from the ground, to harvest the molten caramel that springs from the ground and hammer it into filigree blades. 5 successes allow a theme completely unlike that of the area, such as a freezing wasteland in the deep south.
Features: To create a feature which will remain relatively constant no matter how much the landscape changes, the Lunar must spend successes equal to its Resources value. This means that a palace, which will remain a regal place to live whether the sky rains fire or the walls ignite, is harder to create than a hovel. Any feature created must be within the current thematics of the landscape. The Lunar may spend up to 5 successes at any one time.
Witch-kin: To create extras, the Lunar spends a number of successes equal to the number of Background dots needed to have them as followers. They must conform to the current thematics of the area, and will suffer one point of lethal damage per scene if removed from a place suitable for their thematics, or if taken into Creation. The witch-kin are born of the blood-tainted land, and so are always notable inhuman, frequently incorporating aspects of the shapes in the Lunar's Heart's Blood library. The witch-kin have no souls, and are not self-aware; they are incapable of truly original thought and cannot become heroic. If the Lunar changes the thematics of the land, any witch-kin she created will shift; if anyone else does it, they will suffer and die as described before. The Lunar may spend up to 5 successes at a time.
Things made by this charm are not innately real; they are things of the Wyld, tricked and altered by the blood of the Lunar into the pretense of shape. Their half-reality stems entirely from the Lunar, a creature of borders. If the Lunar dies, all effects of this Charm instantly end, though traces of their alterations may be incorporated by the Wyld; in addition, if the "background" level of Wyld would change, the Lunar must reflexively roll their (Manipulation + Socialise) at Difficulty 3, or any Blood-Binding is broken as the Wyld forgets the lies the Lunar has told it. In addition, if things made using this Charm are taken into Creation, or into Pure Chaos which has not been Blood-Bonded, they begin to unravel. For each story which passes when the thing is taken out the border regions where it can exist, roll the Lunar's Essence at Difficulty 2. Failure indicates that it disappears in a puff of unreality, fading into nothingness. Some say that things lost in this way do not return to the Wyld, but instead are cast adrift into the tides of the Beyond.
Use of the Blood Binding option in this Charm creates silvery scar-traceries upon the skin of the Lunar's true forms, which, with a successful Intelligence + Occult roll at difficulty 3, can be recognised as depictions in the mad un-logic of the Wyld of the areas bound by this Charm. Multiple uses will begin to weave the traceries together, allowing the educated observer to deduce how many waypoints separate each location and the Magnitude of the waypoints currently ensnared by Madness Deceived By Blood.
Cost: 4+ m; Mins: Intelligence 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Crippling, Stackable, Compulsion
Duration: One project
Prerequisite Charms: Counting the Elephant's Wrinkles
The brilliance of the Lunars is like the brilliance of Luna; fractured, subtle and wonderful. The mind is a mutable thing, and much like cutting a diamond, splitting one's mind can produce priceless gems. Taking a Simple Action, the Lunar fractures his own mind, devoting at least one point of Intelligence towards a purely mental action. Up to five points of Intelligence may be committed to a single mental project, such as designing a manse, writing a poem, or planning a war, and this reduces the effective Intelligence of the Lunar, as a Crippling effect, by an equal amount. The committed Intelligence is deemed a fracture. A valid project for this Charm must be able to be done purely mentally; one can design a manse, but one cannot build one, and likewise although one may be able to work on the motonic theory for a new spell in this manner, it may not be used for the testing and experimentation which is a vital, and dangerous, part of designing a new spell.
This may be done multiple times, on multiple different projects which will be carried out in parallel, each fracture reducing the effective Intelligence of the Lunar for the duration of each project. It may also be used to sleep, the Lunar delegating all his tiredness into a single fracture, although this does not provide rest for the body, only the mind. Moreover, within the gleaming vortices of the Steward's mind, these shards of pure intellect work at a rate incomparable to his flesh-weighted body, making the project proceed at (Essence x Points of Intelligence committed to this fracture) times faster than normal. A Lunar may reduce their effective Intelligence to no lower than 0, and an Intelligence 0 Lunar is rendered in a coma for the duration of the project, with not enough of a mind left in their body to end the project early if they are threatened.
From the perspective of the fracture, they are fully themselves, with full access to all their Abilities and the appropriate Attributes for the project, and find themselves in a mental sanctum which represents, in a symbolic manner, the psyche of the Lunar. A Lunar born in the Southern deserts may find themselves on an expanse of sand around a central mountain, memories filed in leather-wrapped scrolls hidden in cool caves, while an Easterner may find themselves climbing a world-tree, where every branch and every leaf is a memory. The fracture has full access to tools that may exist from the memories of the Lunar, as if Counting the Elephant's Wrinkles was in effect; one who has read the Book of Three Circles but once will find it replicated within their mental sanctum, and may use it as reference material. They make their Intelligence-based rolls as if their Intelligence was the number of points committed to the project, which affects their dice-caps, and are affected by an irresistible compulsion forcing them to devote their full attention and effort to the project. They share the same Willpower pool and Virtue channels as the Lunar, but do not have access to his mote pool. Instead, the Lunar may commit extra motes when using this Charm, and the fracture may freely use any mental charms which cost up to the number of motes committed. Use of Charms by a fracture do not count as a Charm activation.
From the perspective of the mind in control of the body, he has no idea what his fractures are doing until the project is completed. The points of Intelligence committed remain inaccessible until the project is complete, whereupon the fracture re-merges, the Lunar having full knowledge of what was learned or devised, and the subjective experience of being the fracture, or until he de-commit the motes, which restores the Intelligence, but the work on the project and the memories of the fracture are lost with nothing but wisps and fancy left. Upon the successful completion of a project, the Lunar regains 1 willpower, as the restoration of his psyche and the satisfaction of knowledge fill his mind. At most 1 willpower per scene may be regained by this method.
Cost: - (4m/2m); Mins: Perception 1, Essence 1; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Native
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
Luna may love Gaia, but she is not a thing of Creation. The Chosen of Luna are not things of nature, and they gaze into the un-madness of the Beyond and bring it back in their image, to bring forth impossibilities into the solid and staid. The Lunar creates a mutation package of (Essence x 6) points of positive mutations, which should conform to a theme chosen by the Lunar's player, based upon their personality, their Spirit Shape, and their background. From that point in, when in any form, the Lunar may, as a reflexive action, commit 4m, and manifest up to twice their (Stamina + Essence) points of mutations from this package, which remains committed for the rest of the scene. If her anima banner is at the 7-10m level or higher, the commitment cost is reduced to 2m, and the value of any previous commitment is reduced. These mutations force their way into the shape, warping it to fit the terrifying reality of the Lunar, and are Obvious in their unnatural nature. Elira Rjordsdottir, the Witch of Alahi, carried the coldness of her native Haslanti League within her, a sign of the chill mind lurking under her ditzy exterior, and so the inhabitants of that South-Western island have learned that wild animals with wings of transparent ice and silver scales can be friend or foe, but always bring things new, terrible and wonderful.
In addition, as an effect of learning this Charm, the Lunar may, with a night of meditation, reconfigure their Tell so it conforms to their new-chosen theme, rather than being purely animal linked. This is an irrevocable change, barring other Charms.
Cost: - ; Mins: Perception 4, Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Mythic Outsider Extrusion
If one was to gaze deep into the animas of the Chosen of Luna, one might be able to see the birthplace of the Argent Madonna. But the doors of awareness, once thrown open, cannot be closed so easily, and so one will become wild and free, released from the constraints of possibility. This Charm enhances the anima banner of the Lunar. While the mutation package granted by Mythic Outsider Extrusion is active, when their anima is at the 7-10m level or higher, it gains a glimmering sheen of impossible colours rimmed with silver, burning and coruscating at the eye. Lunars gain new bonuses from this Charm, based on their Caste:
Full Moon: In the eyes of those who can truly see, the Lunar becomes an eldritch stalking horror, a monster that should never have been, and such terror grinds against the heart of those who love and hate them alike. All attacks against the Lunar made by individuals with any Intimacy towards them, whether positive or negative, suffer an internal penalty of (their Perception), as a fear-based Emotion effect. In addition, each scene where a hostile individual perceives a Lunar whose anima is displaying these features counts as a scene towards building an Intimacy of "Mindless Terror" towards the Lunar.
Changing Moon: To those whose eyes have been opened to the worlds of Not, the Chosen of Luna are even more beautiful. An onlooker adds the rating of the highest valued single externally-imposed mutation they are suffering from to the effective Appearance rating of the Lunar, as a love-based Emotion effect. Hence, a target with only Poxes adds +1 to the effective Appearance of the Lunar, while a target with an Abomination and two Deformities would add +6 to their appearance. Charms which inflict mutations upon one's self, such as Mythic Outsider Extrusion, or By Rage Recast provide no such bonus. Fair Folk count the number of Permanent Charms they have as their highest valued mutation.
New Moon: Those of the unseen Moon have seen too much for any lesser thing to affect them. Others may not be so lucky, and will be trapped in sick fascination like moths around a flame. As a curiosity-based Compulsion, any hostile or neutral observer reduces their movement speed by (observer's Perception) yards if they are attempting to move away from the Lunar. Their hearts rebel and they feel they must stare longer at the witch-fire anima. This Compulsion also imposes a -1 external penalty on all Perception rolls, and a -2 external penalty on all Wits and Intelligence rolls, the sights of the Beyond drawing their attention away from the mundane.
Unnatural mental influences may be resisted for a scene by the expenditure number of willpower points equal to the onlooker's Perception, up to a maximum of 5. The unobservant may fail to notice the horrors that the perceptive catch.
Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Perception 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Compulsion, Shaping
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Mythic Outsider Extrusion
Once one has touched the impossible and welcomed it into your flesh, a trifling lack of reality is not so much of a constraint any more. Wrapped in an Outside-tainted cloak, a Chosen of Luna may stand in front of a crowd, and not one will accept their presence. Concentrating, the Lunar immerses one of the forms in her Heart's Blood library into the Beyond, silver blood and the uncolours and unthings of that place staining it forevermore as she weaves it and the things Beyond together. The form settles around her neck, in the form of some long, flowing garment made of impossible colours and neverbeen shapes, and shaped like it was made from the skin of that shape. The Lunar may wear this garment in any shape that could wear clothes, give it to another (in which case it only lasts for a single scene away from the Lunar, before disintegrating), or take on the shape as normal, becoming the Heart's Blood shape in the same oil-slick silver and non-being shades of colour. The shape is permanently tainted by this; as soon as the motes are decommitted, or if the garment (which has the statistics of a perfect quality piece of mundane clothing) is destroyed, the shape is lost from the Lunar's Heart's Blood library forever, forced out of Creation without the Lunar holding it in the world of the real.
Upon activating this Charm, the Lunar rolls (Perception + Larceny), adding a number of automatic successes equal to their Essence to the activation roll. Whosoever wears (or assumes) that shape, the following effects apply. The wearer is Outside of Fate, their thread becoming woven through with strings of impossibility which render the Pattern Spiders insensible to it, and they may not be bought into Fate without this Charm ending. As something that should not be, the world closes to conceal their presence as a Shaping effect, allowing them to roll to establish surprise even in the absence of cover and concealment, and imposing a -2 internal penalty on all rolls to notice them. For those who do see them, however, they are an impossibility stalking through a world where they should not belong. All characters whose Dodge MDV is less than the number of successes on the (Perception + Larceny) roll must spend 2wp, or suffers from a Compulsion to act as if they do not perceive the wearer in any scene where they see them, and to not talk about it later. This is reduced to 1wp if the Lunar tries to interact with them or with anything which they have an Intimacy to, or if someone they have an Intimacy towards points the Lunar out. They still perceive, and remember the figure of gleaming silver and unreal colours; they are merely compelled to act as if they cannot see them, and do not remember them. As a result, attacks made when wearing this cloak are not automatically surprise attacks, but should the wearer flare their anima, they do not invalidate this Charm.
Notably, such an immersion in the Beyond has one weakness which would be crippling were it not so obscure. Against beings with the First Oramus Excellency, they are not rendered invisible at all; in fact, they are Obvious to all their senses. Some Elders in the Silver Pact have encountered that worrying weakness against the akuma of the Dragon Beyond the World.
Cost: (+3m); Mins: Perception 5, Essence 5; Type: Reflexive (Step 10)
Keywords: Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Walking Argent Impossibility
When you kill a foe, you have taken their life. Why not take their form and their reality too? This Charm permanently improves its prerequisite, by allowing it to be reflexively activated in Step 10 after killing an opponent, for an extra 3 uncommitted motes. This does not count as a Charm activation. As they die, hairline threads of silver light unravel their skin, which detaches and flies to form a garment on the Lunar, as per this Charm's prerequisite. The corpse is left flayed by this. This allows the Lunar to automatically reestablish surprise upon invoking this Charm. Spirits (including Primordials) killed by this Charm are killed permanently and cannot reform, their corpus torn apart and alloyed with the Beyond. If the Lunar could not take the Heart's Blood of the thing killed, the flayed skin-cloak can only be worn, and may not be taken as a shape.
Cost: -; Mins: Perception 5, Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Training
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Walking Argent Impossibility
What fine fabric, the texture of that which cannot be! For one who can see the impossible, few mortal goods can compare, and when granted to others, the subconscious knowledge of the so-fragile nature of "real" right against their skin makes other minds pliable, even as it opens their minds and souls to everything that they are Not. This Charm permanently improves its prerequisite. The Lunar gains the ability to make the garment more real by carefully folding its own impossibility within itself, as a Dramatic Action lasting five minutes. This leaves it as a perfect-quality mundane garment of the type it appears to be, coloured as the Lunar wishes, although forensic examination will reveal that it is, somehow, composed of the skin and hair (or equivalent) of the shape that went into making it. In this state, it is not necessary to keep motes committed to it to prevent it from disintegrating, and the magic may be reactivated by reactivating the Charm. Each scene that an individual who is not the Lunar spends wearing one of these garments counts as a scene towards building an Intimacy towards the Lunar, chosen at the time of realification. Once this Intimacy has been formed, each scene spent wearing the garment earns a single Mutation point, which may be spent, as a Training effect, on any mutation in the Lunar's Mythic Outsider Extrusion package, or on Enlightened Essence, chosen by the Lunar. A total of (wearer's Perception + Lunar's Essence) mutation points may be granted this way.
At Essence 5, this feature improves, and the garment may be rendered mundane as a Miscellaneous action, rather than a Dramatic action.
Cost: -; Mins: Perception 4, Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Obvious, Shaping
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Walking Argent Impossibility
Garbed in cloth of the Beyond, is it any surprise that a blow against one of the Lunar Exalted instead cannot be, and forewarned by every attack that could not have been, they escape? This Charm permanently improves its prerequisite. When Walking Argent Impossibility is active, the character can focus this Charm's power in Step 6 for a cost of 3m to perfectly parry any attack, which does not count as a Charm activation. Their garment disintegrates into unlight that temporarily illuminates the area as a totemic anima flare that lasts for one tick, as the entire world shifts such that the blow never could have possibly hit. This displaces the Lunar (Essence x 20) yards, in a direction of their choice, the remnants of a tattered garment purged of all that is not the only remnants of their presence. This involuntarily deactivates the Charm, destroys the shape in it, and the Lunar pays a cumulative uncommitted 1m surcharge to reactivate Walking Argent Impossibility for the remainder of the scene, as the distortions in the boundaries between what Can Be and what Cannot make it harder to perceive the Beyond. This counts as a unique Flaw of Invulnerability for this Charm.
Cost: 12m; Mins: Perception 5, Essence 4 ; Type: Simple
Keywords: Shaping, Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Eyes as Moonbeams Method
For everything that happens, there is a moment where that-what-was becomes that-which-is. The Lunar Exalted know, however, that in the Beyond, there are universes of never-can-be, and through their gaze lit by the unlight of their souls, they can delay that-which-will-be by observing those frozen moments. When using this Charm, the Lunar's anima banner flares totemic, and remains so for the duration of the Charm. Everything within (Essence x 10) yards of them has no subjective time pass for it as long as it remains illuminated, as a Shaping effect. Anything so affected cannot be damaged, for no time exists for the damage to happen in. No damage from ambient environmental effects occurs; the Lunar can climb a frozen fire to get to the top of a burning building, and need only worry about a lack of handholds. If the character is in the Wyld, the affected area is rendered part of Creation for the duration of the Charm. Attacks made into an affected area are resolved with an external penalty equal to the Lunar's Essence, for it takes a fraction of a second for the light to strip away that-which-will-be. Attacks from surprise ignore this penalty. While this Charm is active, the Lunar may reflexively commit a number of motes equal to the permanent Essence score of any non-hostile sapient being within sensory range to exempt them from the frozen that-which-will-be for as long as the motes remain committed.
At Essence 6, this Charm may be repurchased. The affected area is increased to (Essence x 100) yards, the Lunar's bonfire of Essence expanding to titanic proportions, or, as a Wyld effect, it affects the entire waypoint the Lunar is in. Any beings not naturally Shaped (Raksha and any other denizens of the Wyld) who are affected by this lose 1wp as a Shaping effect, and gain an Intimacy of Existential Horror towards the Lunar, as this Charms forces them to confront the terrifying fact that they now rely on the linear time that Creation imposed to exist within.
Cost: 3m; Mins: Melee 4, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Artful Maiming Onslaught
The untold years of the Jade Prison are remembered by the Exaltations of the Abyssals. The depths of time, of isolation, are well understood by the Chosen of the Void, and they stand unchanged even as others age and fall to ash. If the enhanced attack inflicts any levels of damage, then this Charm inflicts one additional level of unsoakable aggravated damage, and one level of unsoakable bashing damage, as the flesh around the wound greys and dies, crumbling like grave-ash.
In addition, as a Shaping effect which resolves separately, the attack cuts one year per level of damage inflicted from the life expectancy of a target within Fate. The Pattern Spiders chitter in terror as their thread ages, imperishable materials tarnishing. Deaths hastened from the plans of Heaven are Obviously linked to the possibly-years-old injury, which reopens upon their corpse. Targets outside of Fate and the Abyssal Exalted do not suffer this separate effect.
Cost: -; Mins: Melee 5, Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Blade of Years Strike
Some last beyond the mayflower years of mankind. All will die given time. And the Abyssal Exalted carry time in their blades and in the heads of their hammers. This Charm permanently enhances its prerequisite. the Abyssal now inflicts (Essence-1) levels of unsoakable bashing damage with Blade of Years Strike rather than just one, and for each hundred years the target has lived, rounded down, one of the levels of bashing damage is converted into unsoakable aggravated damage.
Moreover, her attacks gain a particular terror for beings that do not naturally die from age, for in the time-laden weight of the blows, they bear the promise of death from the years. If such a being takes damage from Blade of Years Strike, they must spend 1wp, or, as an Emotion effect, gain an Intimacy of "Abject Terror" towards the Abyssal. As a peculiar oddity which has not yet been discovered, as ancient Solar ghosts murdered, who bargained for power, having already lived long past their years and aeons more in the Underworld, the Deathlords are particularly susceptible to this fear, and must instead pay 3wp to resist.
Cost: —; Mins: Medicine 5, Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Native
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Ivory Whirlwind Restoration
The twisted genius of the Abyssal Exalted at the dark science of necrotech takes the best attempts of the First Age, and labels them as a fumbling child's attempts. Under their hands, tendons rival the finest mail and bones are whittled to tiny gears which should not be able to provide the terrifying effectiveness that they do. This Charm permanently improves the Abyssal's skill at making necrotech. With an appropriate stunt on the first roll of the crafting project a number of bonus augmentation points are given to the design equal to (Stunt Rating) times the coil rank of the necrotech. An "appropriate stunt" for the purposes of this Charm must take the ingredients and the design of the necrotech into account, the Storyteller should reward thematic appropriateness or innovation in the field, and the bonus augmentation points must be spent on features that fit in with the stunt. For example, when making a Rank 4 Meat Puppet, a simple description of how the character layers on the muscles would, as a 1 dot stunt, give 4 extra points, which could be spent on things such as Undead Strength, Undead Stamina, Unholy Damage or Funereal Armour. By contrast, a 2 dot stunt which describes a cunning mechanism made of bone slivers and iron cogs which dynamically reconfigures the internal structure of the Meat Puppet for the threat it faces, with the 8 points granted, enhance it considerably more.
At Essence 6, this Charm permanently improves, and the bonus number of points given by this Charm increases to (Stunt Rating x 2) times the coil rank. A third and final improvement happens at Essence 9, when the bonus increases to (Stunt Rating x 3) times the coil rank.
This Charm may not be learned by Deathlords, for their stagnant, dead minds cannot truly comprehend the creativity of rot. However, the Eye and Seven Despairs has a unique Panoply Charm, which emulates the Essence 6 version of this Charm, for in his mad obsessions, his fractured mind can find moments of genius. This is one of the reasons for the fearsome nature of the Venomed Assembly to End All Hope, perhaps the most deadly small risen force in Creation.
Cost: —; Mins: Medicine 5, Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Native, Overdrive
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Black Genius Innovation
They said you were mad! Mad! That no man should have made a risen construct with a pyre-flame projector mounted in its mouth! That it was going too far, that you'd kill them all with your crazy plans! As it so happens, that was perfectly correct, and the knowledge that your genius was too great for their burned corpses fills you with dark glee.
The Abyssal gains an Overdrive Pool with a capacity of ten motes. Initially empty, it gains one offensive mote whenever the Abyssal perceives a necrotech construct they crafted which benefits from the enhancements granted by Black Genius Innovation kill a mortal. They gain two offensive motes instead if the death was a non-Exalted Essence user. If the Essence user killed was a Terrestrial Exalt, five offensive motes are gained. If the Essence user killed was a Celestial Exalt, ten offensive motes are gained. In addition, the Abyssal gains the capacity to spend motes from their Overdrive pool to fuel any Essence-based powers which valid constructs may possess, such as firing integrated artifacts. These must be properties of the necrotech, rather than of anything which inhabits it such as a Nemissary.
This Charm is beyond the Deathlords, for they cannot truly feel the unholy glee of genius revealed in their dead hearts. However, the Eye and Seven Despairs has a unique Panoply Charm which functions identically to this Charm.
Cost: — ; Mins: Lore 3, Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Overdrive, Native
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Elemental Bolt Attack
Why should the Children of the Dragons tire themselves smiting their foes when their great patrons fill Creation with elemental Essence? This Charm permanent improves Elemental Bolt Attack. This Charm grants an Overdrive pool of 10 motes, which is initially empty. When using Elemental Bolt Attack, stunts which use the environment to get the appropriate element (drawing ice from a lake for water, channelling the wind for air, and so on) grant a number of Overdrive motes equal to the lower of (stunt rating +1) and the number of motes spent on Elemental Bolt Attack. The flaring anima banner of another appropriately aspected Terrestrial (though not the user) is always an appropriate source of stunts. Once the Dragonblood gains even one offensive mote from this Charm, any Charms that create or enhance a non-Elemental attack suffer a surcharge of one mote when paid for (even partially) with offensive motes. This surcharge ends once the Dragonblood's Overdrive pool completely empties, reapplying only when he next benefits from this Charm.
((Author's Notes: Yes, it's bending. I regret nothing. Also, Mnemon Azula is actually Air Aspected.))
Cost: — ; Mins: Integrity 4, Essence 2; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Overdrive, Native
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Ten Thousand Dragons Fight As One
Ten thousand swords, ten thousand bows, ten thousand spears are raised to the sky in unison, and they descend upon the foes of the Terrestrial Exalted without pity or mercy. And each little dragon is empowered by the greater host, so that their foes may not stand against them. This Charm grants the Dragonblooded an Overdrive pool, with a capacity of 10 motes. Initially empty, it fills at a rate of one offensive mote per action per point of numerical Magnitude of Dragonblooded engaged in the same combat. Blood relatives of the Terrestrial who knows this Charm count as five people in the Magnitude calculations.
(Notes: Yes, nothing says the Dragonblooded have to be on the same side. The wars between the Terrestrials are especially tragic and bloody)
Cost: — ; Mins: Investigation 4, Essence 2; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Native, Overdrive
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Scent of Crime Technique
Guilt is a dead give-away to the children of Da'aad. And the guilty should be afraid, for the punishments of the Terrestrial Exalted are always perfectly appropriate for their sins; all criminals know that in their hearts. This Charm grants an Overdrive pool of 5 motes, which is initially empty. When the Terrestrial joins battle against an individual who they have previously successfully used Scent of Crime Technique on this scene, they may choose to gain one offensive mote if the guilt was slight, two offensive motes if their guilt was moderate, three if it was intense, four if it was severe and five if it was overwhelming. In addition, if the Dragonblooded knows or has good reason to believe what the crime was, she gains one offensive mote per action where she exclusively engages the guilty party or other people who are actively trying to prevent her from engaging the guilty party (such as guards sent to obstruct her), with the end goal of enforcing punishment appropriate to the local laws, or the laws of the dominant polity of Creation - which is the Realm in the present day. Laws from Primordials who are not Gaia, or their souls are never valid laws - this includes Autocthon, the Old Laws of the Neverborn, and the laws of the Deathlords (who are, after all, empowered by slain deva). However, should the Dragonblooded, having accepted those motes, spare her target or fail to genuinely attempt to enforce punishment for more than one action, she immediately loses all offensive motes from her Overdrive pool.
((Author's Note: Oh, Charms built on false premises; namely, that Scent of Crime Technique finds criminals, not people who feel guilty. In character, this Charm is probably responsible for quite a few Dragonblooded legal excesses. And I would never suggest that a satrap might want to change the law to benefit him when using this.))
Cost: — ; Mins: Melee 4, Essence 2; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Overdrive, Native
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Blinding Spark Distraction
Fire can be stoked, built up, used as a tool and guard against the darkness. So do the blades of the Terrestrial Exalted empower them as they ward off the attacks of hated foes. The Dragonblooded gains a 5 mote Overdrive pool. Initially empty, it gains one offensive mote whenever the Terrestrial successfully uses his PDV to protect another in a Defend Other action from an attack which meant harm. An extra mote is gained if the one defended is a blood relative, a Celestial Exalt, or if the Terrestrial has a positive Intimacy towards the unrelated non-Celestial. A further extra offensive mote is gained if the Dragonblooded is protecting a direct ancestor or a member of his sworn brotherhood.
((Author's Notes:This makes it mechanically optimal for a Dragonblooded formation to rely on the person to their left to protect them, as they themselves protect the person on their right. Formations, fuck yeah.))
Cost: — ; Mins: Archery 3, Essence 2; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Overdrive, Native
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Dragon-Graced Arrow
The way of the warrior is to fire when ready, dropping hails of undisciplined arrows upon their foe. The Terrestrial Exalted know better. The Terrestrial receives an Overdrive pool of 5 motes. Initially empty, it may be filled in the following ways. Once the Exalt is already gaining the full bonus from aiming, she gains an offensive mote for each extra Aim action she takes. This is increased to two offensive motes per extra action spend Aiming if she is in proximity to a large amount of an element for which she knows Dragon-Graced Arrow for, as she draws strength from the works of Gaia. In addition, she gains two offensive motes if she uses an Archery weapon as part of a Coordinated attack which involves at least two other Dragonblooded using Archery weapons. However, if the Terrestrial aborts his Aim action to do anything other than attack his chosen target, he immediately loses all offensive motes from his Overdrive pool.
((Author's Notes: Because Dragonblooded are soldiers, not warriors, and they fire in formations after taking time to aim, not like willy-nilly savages. And it makes Dragonblooded pretending to be Robin Hood, hiding among the trees, really fucking scary if they take time to Aim.))