- Attributes and Abilities
- Merits and Essence
- Charms
- Dreaming Pearl Style
- Combat Stats
- Artifacts and Hearthstones
- Background
Ailera Kieorin
Dawn Caste
Age: 44, but looks in her twenties
Attributes
Str: 2
Dex: 5
Sta: 2
Cha: 4
Man: 2
App: 5
Per: 3
Int: 2
Wits: 3
Abilities
Archery
*Athletics: 3
*Awareness: 2
*Brawl: 1
Bureaucracy
Craft:
*Dodge: 5 - Unarmored Combat: 1
Integrity: 2
Investigation: 1
*Larceny: 5
Linguistics: 1
Lore:
**Martial Arts Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Style: 5 - Unarmored Combat: 1
Medicine
Melee
Occult: 1
*Performance: 5 - Dance: 1
Presence: 2
*Resistance: 2
Ride:
Sail
*Socialize: 3
*Stealth: 5 - Move Silently: 1
Survival
Thrown
War
Merits
Artifact 3 - Belt of Shadow Walking
Artifact 3 - Infinite Resplendence Amulet
Artifact 4 - Affable Autumn Leaves - Blue/White Jade Warfans
Languages: 3 - Flametongue, Riverspeak, Skytongue, High Realm
Manse: 3 - Gem of Luck
Martial Arts: 4
Resources: 2
Essence: 2
Personal: 16
Peripheral: 40
Committed: 15
Willpower: 7
Mote pools replenish themselves over time. Characters with mote pools regain five motes of Essence at the end of each round while in combat, as the dynamism of battle stirs the world around them. Outside of battle, characters regain five motes per hour (seven total from the Gemstone of Luck). In the most relaxed of times—such as when a character is asleep, meditating, or quietly reading—they respire Essence at a rate of 10 motes per hour (12 total with the Gemstone of Luck). Motes in the peripheral pool are replenished before motes in the personal pool.
Anima Effects:
• At bonfire/iconic anima display, the Dawn adds half her Essence score (round up) to her base Initiative upon resetting to base after a successful decisive attack.
• For 10 motes, all of the Dawn’s combat and movement Charms with outstanding reset conditions are automatically reset. This effect can only be used once per day, becoming available again at sunrise.
• The Dawn Caste inspires terror in her foes. She adds half her Essence score (round up) in dice to all intimidating social influence. She may also intimidate targets which do not feel fear, such as automatons, golems, and certain undead.
Xp Earned: 50
Xp Banked:
Solar Xp Earned:
Solar Xp Banked:
Charms
Athletics Excellency
Graceful Crane Stance
Cost: 3m; Mins: Athletics 1, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Solar draws Essence through her pores and into her bones, suffusing and lightening her form and steadying her step. For the rest of the scene, she has perfect balance, and can stand or run on things too narrow or weak to support her normally, with no chance of falling or breaking through. She can run on a guy wire, stand on a crumbling parapet, balance on the tip of a pine tree, and perform many similar feats without needing to make a roll.
Cost: 2m; Mins: Athletics 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Exalt leaps with the speed and grace of a striking hawk. Using this technique, a Solar may automatically leap forward or straight up one range band. A Solar using this Charm can easily leap to the top of a twenty foot wall or cross a Nexus street over rooftops, without having to roll. This Charm counts as the Solar’s movement for the turn. If the Solar continues to leap to a different range band each turn, the cost is reduced to one mote after the first activation.
Awareness Excellency
Brawl Excellency
Dodge Excellency
Larceny Excellency
Lock-Opening Touch
Cost: 1m or 5m; Mins: Larceny 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Exalt may open a mundane lock simply by touching it and paying five motes. Alternately, she may challenge a sorcerous lock with her picking tools, paying one mote to gain double 9s and (Essence) automatic successes. This version of the Charm guarantees that she successfully picks the lock even if her roll fails, however, a failure constitutes some unwanted occurrence—perhaps she springs a trap, breaks the lock loudly, snaps her lock-pick, etc.
Cost: 6m; Mins: Larceny 4, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Until the Exalt sleeps
Prerequisite Charms: None
Master chameleons, the Solars donned disguises and attended the fetes of the raksha, to hear them confess their nefarious plans for Creation. This Charm recreates a disguise attempt (see p. 224), but allows the Exalt to make a myriad of extraordinary changes to her appearance. She may change her gender, double her age or halve it, alter her height by ten inches in either direction, change her ethnicity, adjust her voice and alter her accent. She can even change her scent. The Solar gains two automatic successes to her disguise attempt, ignores penalties for adapting a different race or gender, and gains double 9s. This disguise cannot be pierced by mundane senses. Nor can it be thwarted by inhuman sensory acuity, such as the nose of a hound or the eye of a hawk. Senses heightened to supernatural levels by Charms such as Keen Sight Discipline have a chance to pierce this deception, but subtract 2 successes from their attempts. Magic which pierces this effect does not reveal the Solar’s identity, only that the Exalt is not what she appears to be.
Cost: 4m, 1wp; Mins: Larceny 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Solar becomes the light which swallows the shadow. The player rolls (Wits + Larceny), doubles and banks any successes. Banked successes can be reflexively applied to a single Larceny or Stealth action. This effect lasts until the Exalt sleeps, and can be renewed only once per day.
Performance Excellency
Masterful Performance Exercise
Cost: 2m; Mins: Performance 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Solar’s talent is not free or instinctual, but rather the hard-won excellence that comes from a lifetime of practice. This Charm supplements a Performance-based action, granting one automatic success and rerolling 1s until 1s fail to appear. This Charm also makes the Exalt’s 1s unavailable to magic that might interfere with her performance.
Cost: 5m; Mins: Performance 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: One Performance action
Prerequisite Charms: None
The return of the Solars is a miracle never before seen. The universe inclines to hear their voices once again. When this Charm supplements a Performance action of any length, characters are inclined to stop and listen. This does not guarantee that the Lawgiver is persuasive in her arguments, but it does guarantee that her audience listens respectfully to her entire performance. Characters may pay one Willpower to leave the performance, but if they wish to interrupt or attack the Lawgiver, they must pay two Willpower, and may only approach her by blending into her demonstration, capping the actions of each affected character by their individual (Charisma + Performance) ratings until one of them is able to successfully stop her act. This Charm does not function after combat has started, but if activated beforehand, it remains active after Join Battle has been rolled.
Cost: —(1m); Mins: Performance 4, Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Masterful Performance Exercise,
Respect-Commanding Attitude
While under the effect of at least one of the prerequisites, the Exalt may pay one mote, conjuring phantom images from the Essence of her surroundings. These phantoms coalesce within short range of the Solar, and aid in illustrating her narrative. Apparitions might appear as small animals, person-sized characters, and allusions of scenery in a chiaroscuro.
At Performance 5, Essence 3+, the Lawgiver’s apparitions grow larger and more robust. She can depict larger beasts and monsters and more substantial scenery. Phantoms may appear to curl from the smoke of her breath, the light of her eyes, or her very anima.
Resistance Excellency
Ox-Body Technique
Cost: —; Mins: Resistance 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Stackable
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The bodies of the Exalted are much more durable than those of mere mortals. To help simulate this, an Exalt may buy extra health levels with this Charm. The purchasing choices are based on the character’s Stamina rating:
At Stamina 1 and 2: One -1 and one -2 health level.
3 and 4: One -1 and two -2 health levels.
5: One -0, one -1, and one -2 health level.
The Solar may purchase Ox-Body Technique (Resistance) times. If she increases her Stamina after purchasing Ox-Body Technique, her health levels automatically change to reflect the new rating.
Socialize Excellency
Mastery of Small Manners
Cost: 5m; Mins: Socialize 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Solar attunes herself to the patterns of social interaction, allowing Essence to guide her responses. While this Charm is active, the Exalt adapts to the expectations of a host culture, and is able to instinctively and reflexively follow its customs, behaving appropriately for the situation at hand. This Charm does not grant the Exalt perfect understanding of a society, but covers greetings, eating and gift customs, and flirtation mores. This Charm eliminates all penalties incurred by unfamiliarity with cultural expectations and group dynamics, and prevents a character from committing any major faux pas. In addition, those who hold positive Intimacies for the culture the Solar has attuned herself to gain a temporary positive Minor Tie of respect or admiration for the Solar, while those who hold negative Intimacies for foreigners or outsiders have that Intimacy temporarily lowered by one level of intensity.
Stealth Excellency
Perfect Shadow Stillness
Cost: 1m, 1wp; Mins: Stealth 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Lawgiver’s stealth technique is honed until it’s flawless. Perfect Shadow Stillness allows a reroll of any Stealth based action, preserving the 10s from those results and rerolling the remaining dice. At Stealth 5, succeeding at a stealth attempt with this Charm awards the Solar one point of temporary Willpower.
Cost: 5m; Mins: Stealth 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Perfect Shadow Stillness
Assuming perfect stillness, the Solar fades from sight. A Solar with this Charm can affect true invisibility. However, the Exalt cannot move, nor can she take violent action without breaking this deception. Characters using Invisible Statue Spirit are not immaterial and can still be detected by touch, scent, taste, or hearing.
Cost: 3m; Mins: Stealth 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Lawgiver evades detection by hiding in plain sight. A Solar with this Charm is able to drift unnoticed through crowds or alone. This Charm models her talent for blending in and remaining unobtrusive. When active, characters cannot notice her unless she takes overt action. Such actions include any display of prowess—leaping from the street to the rooftops, braving a snowstorm in summer clothes, etc. Join Battle always counts as an overt action. This skill does not work against alert guards or those who intend to stop everyone (as with a checkpoint), but can be overcome by magic only if the user has a Minor or greater Intimacy to the Solar or a Major or Defining Intimacy to a cause the Exalt’s presence directly threatens. Certain Charms may aid in detecting the Exalt. Roll the Lawgiver’s ([Wits or Dexterity] + Stealth) against her opponent’s relevant (Attribute + Ability) or Resolve, if the attacking Charm is based on the opponent’s Integrity.
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Stealth 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Easily-Overlooked Presence Method
The surreptitious Exalt may even hide in the spaces between thoughts. Roll the Exalt’s (Dexterity + Stealth) against her subject’s Resolve. On a success, she vanishes from her subject’s notice, and cannot be perceived. This effect applies to every witness whose Resolve is surpassed by the Solar’s skill. Not even overt action can reveal the Exalt to those affected by Mental Invisibility Technique. The Lawgiver may step out of her coat in a snowstorm or leap to the rooftops from the street without being noticed. However, rolling Join Battle or taking violent action ends this Charm’s effects. Additionally, subjects may spend one Willpower to break free of the Solar’s deception if the Exalt’s presence is pointed out to him, the Solar intentionally reveals herself to him, or the Exalt attempts to harm or steal something he values at the level of a Major or Defining Intimacy
Martial Arts Excellency
Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Style Martial Arts
Dreaming Pearl Courtesan is a subtle style—graceful, elusive, and lethal. A student learns to maneuver herself into the perfect position to strike, gaining the confidence and trust of her victims as she navigates the veils of defenses they put up between themselves and the world. Once the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan has reached her victim at his most vulnerable—whether that is in the tangle of his boudoir’s sheets, a friendly conversation in a tearoom, or a secret meeting at court—she reveals her true nature as a killer, fighting with a deadly grace and the elusiveness of a dream.
Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Weapons: Dreaming Pearl Courtesan style uses elegant unarmed strikes that seem more like dance moves than attacks, as well as war fans and whips. Courtesans also learn to wield numerous improvised weapons with this style through the use of the Charm Elegant Weapon Repertoire, strangling enemies with a silken sash or slashing them with the jagged edge of a broken teacup.
Armor: Dreaming Pearl Courtesan style is incompatible with armor.
Complementary Abilities: Many Dreaming Pearl Courtesans use Dodge, both to evade the attacks of their enemies and to withdraw from close combat. It is also common for them to use Performance or Presence to make influence rolls both in and out combat, which later Charms of this style enhance.
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mastery, Uniform; Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Dreaming Pearl Courtesan dances away from the blows of her enemies without effort, as if her body was nothing more than so many cherry blossoms caught on the wind. Demure Carp Feint adds +1 to the martial artist’s Evasion, or adds one success on a roll to disengage. If the martial artist’s Appearance is higher than the Resolve of her attacker, or of all enemies she is disengaging from, this increases to +2. Successfully defending against or disengaging from an enemy whose Resolve is beaten by the martial artist’s Appearance grants her a point of Initiative, as her provocative elegance and sinuous grace gain her an improved footing.
Mastery: When the martial artist gains Initiative with this Charm, her attacker loses a point of Initiative as well. When disengaging, all enemies whose Resolve is beaten lose the point of Initiative (although this does not increase the amount the martial artist receives).
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental; Keywords: Dual, Mastery
Duration: Instant; Prerequisite Charms: None
A paper fan, a colorful sash, a pair of chopsticks, a ball gown’s train—all of these can be killing weapons in the hands of a student of this style. Elegant Weapon Repertoire adds the accuracy bonus of a weapon to the raw damage of a withering attack made with it, or one die to the raw damage of a decisive attack.
Alternatively, this Charm can supplement a ready weapon action to suffuse an accessory, garment, or some similar ornamental object with Essence, allowing the martial artist to wield it as a weapon. For the rest of the scene, it is treated as a mundane light weapon, with tags based on the exact nature of the item, as described below. While several examples are provided for each category, the Storyteller is encouraged to reward creative ideas that fit within the aesthetics of this style.
Disarming: The disarming tag applies to garments or accessories that can be used to leverage weapons out of their wielder’s grip—primarily sashes or sleeves that have had lead weights sewn into them for this specific purpose (which overrides the usual tag they would receive). These weapons usually also have the bashing and flexible tags.
Grappling: The grappling tag applies to accessories and garments that could conceivably be used to entangle or tie up an enemy, such as the sash of a kimono, a long scarf, a ball gown train, a blanket or sheet, or a length of silken rope. These weapons usually also have the bashing and flexible tags.
Piercing: The piercing tag applies to accessories that are small or sharp enough to conceivably slip through the defenses of armor, such as hairpins, cutlery, a broken teacup, knitting needles, or elegantly decorated false nails. These weapons usually also have the lethal tag.
Shield: The shield tag applies to accessories and garments that seem well-suited to fending off attacks with their broad surface, such as paper fans, hand mirrors, or the long sleeves of a robe. These weapons usually also have the bashing tag.
Mastery: Elegant Weapon Repertoire adds +1 to the Overwhelming value of any weapon readied with it for the duration of the fight.
Cost: 1m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mastery
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
An iridescent sheen comes over the martial artist’s garments as Essence enfolds them, turning silk as strong as steel. Any clothing the martial artist wears while this Charm is active is treated as mortal light armor. This is explicitly compatible with this style, but not with any other styles that forbid armor. In addition, whenever the martial artist is hit by an attack, she may spend up to her (Appearance) in motes, adding one point to her armored soak against that attack for each mote spent this way.
Mastery: The first time the martial artist uses this Charm to defend against a decisive attack in a fight, she reveals the supernal resilience of her seemingly vulnerable figure, gaining hardness 10 against the attack as well as a surge of three motes that can be spent to add to the armor’s soak, or on similar effects, such as many Solar Resistance Charms. These motes vanish at the end of the scene if not spent.
Cost: 8m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Demure Carp Feint, Elegant
Weapon Repertoire, Pearlescent Filigree Defense
The Dreaming Pearl Courtesan embodies grace and beauty even in the midst of bloodshed, weaving through melee as if dancing through steps of a ballroom waltz, cutting down foes with gestures so delicate they can scarcely be noticed. The martial artist may make attacks out to short range, slashing a fan to unleash a razor-edged wind, letting a silk sash flow like a weaving serpent to strike enemies, or sending needles of nacreous Essence spiking from her fingernails. Any clothing she enchants with Pearlescent Filigree Defense gains the traits of light artifact armor, while weapons readied with Elegant Weapon Repertoire gain light artifact traits.
Special activation rules: Whenever the martial artist successfully disengages with 5+ successes, she may reflexively activate Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Form.
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Form
Just as there is beauty in the budding and blossoming of flowers in the springtime seasons, so too is there a melancholy elegance in the fall of leaves as the autumnal seasons come in turn. It is with this mournful grace that the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan dispatches her victims. The Flurry of August Leaves enhances an attack based on the tags of the weapon used to make it. If the weapon has multiple valid tags, the martial artist can only choose one of the available options.
• Clearing the Banquet Table (Disarming): A successful disarm gambit allows the martial artist to fling her enemy’s weapon out to medium range (or long range, with Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Form active). The Initiative cost of the gambit is waived.
• Lethal Paper Fan Attack (Shield): As part of the attack, the martial artist may reflexively take a full defense action at no Initiative cost, effortlessly blending offensive and defensive motion in an elegant fan dance.
• Unraveling Loose Threads (Piercing): A successful attack with a piercing weapon neutralizes the enemy’s armor, setting its base soak and hardness to zero against her for the next two rounds.
• Resplendent Sash Grapple (Grappling): Upon landing a grapple gambit with a grappling weapon, the martial artist may waive the Initiative cost of the gambit and roll (Initiative + Essence) to determine how many rounds of control she gains (if this would be a higher pool than her usual control roll). If the enemy is at short range or further from her (for example, if she is using Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Form to attack from range), he is immediately dragged to within close range of her as the weapon coils around him.
Cost: 7m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3;
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Decisive-only, Terrestrial
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Flurry of August Leaves
Once a man has let the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan into his heart, his bedchamber, or his confidence, he is all but dead. Vindictive Concubine’s Pillow Book applies the double 10s rule to the damage roll of a decisive attack after the attack roll has been made. In addition, for each of the following criteria met, the next number down is doubled. For example, meeting one of the listed conditions would apply double 9s, while meeting three or more would apply the maximum of double 7s.
The martial artist is making an ambush attack against a character who already knows her.
The martial artist possesses some knowledge of the victim’s personal life or dealings that could be potentially embarrassing or ruinous for him, and he knows that she knows it.
The martial artist stole a point of Initiative from her victim with the Fragrant Petal Fascination Kata on her last or current turn.
The martial artist used the Seven Storms Escape Prana and successfully overcame the enemy’s Resolve on her last or current turn (regardless of whether he spent Willpower to resist or not).
Terrestrial: A Dragon-Blood can only use Vindictive Concubine’s Pillow Book once per fight, unless reset by successfully defending against a decisive attack with 15+ dice on its attack roll.
Mastery: The martial artist treats being in Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Form as an additional criterion for doubling damage successes with this Charm. Additionally, once the martial artist has reached double 7s, any further criteria she meets add +1 to her base Initiative upon resetting.
Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Form
Moving through the sultry, languid forms of a hypnotic kata, the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan beguiles her enemies with ethereal music and the fragrant scent of flower petals. Fragrant Petal Fascination Kata adds the martial artist’s Essence in bonus successes to an inspire roll made to fill enemies with emotions of love, lust, mercy, distraction, or similar, and suffers no penalties for targeting multiple characters. With appropriate stunting, it may also enhance other types of social actions that align with the hypnotic, seductive nature of this Charm. In combat, an enemy whose Resolve is overcome by the influence roll loses a point of Initiative, even if he spends Willpower to resist. The Dreaming Pearl Courtesan gains all Initiative lost this way, up to a maximum of her (Appearance).
Special activation rules: Once an enemy has been exposed to the Fragrant Petal Fascination Kata, he is immune to further uses of it for the rest of the scene, regardless of whether he succeeded or failed in resisting it.
Cost: 4m, 2i; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2;
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mastery
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Fragrant Petal Fascination Kata
Catching hold of the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan is like trying to remember last night’s dream—at first, one might be able to grasp it hazily, but as time passes, it slips away into nothingness. The Seven Storms Escape Prana subtracts dice equal to the martial artist’s Appearance from a roll made to oppose one of her disengage attempts, to rush her, or from the control roll of a clinch against her. If the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan’s successes on the opposed action exceed the Resolve of the opponent, then he must pay a point of Willpower to maintain his focus or else automatically fail the roll.
Mastery: The duration of this Charm is extended to one round, imposing the penalty on all applicable opposed actions.
Cost: — (+8m, 1wp); Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3;
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Mastery, Terrestrial
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Seven Storms Escape Prana, Vindictive Concubine’s Pillow Book
Mastering the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan style means mastering the countless layers of veils and facades that people place between themselves and the world. Students learn to insinuate themselves behind these veils and pierce through these facades to see the pearl of truth at their victim’s heart, the fragile, vulnerable thing that is the self. But there is a deeper wisdom in the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan’s enlightenment. When she must, she may cast off her own veils of selfhood, revealing the dreaming pearl that is her true Essence, a dread and beautiful truth to behold. In order to use this Charm, the martial artist must be in the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Form, and must either have Initiative 15+, or have all of her -2 health levels filled with damage. With these conditions met, she may commit the cost of this Charm at the start of her turn to Invoke the Chimera’s Coils. Her neck lengthens up towards the heavens as she grows up to five times her normal height, while her head becomes that of a delicate, gold-beaked foal. Four sets of spiraling gazelle’s horns adorn her brow, and her arms and legs vanish while opalescent fins like those of a carp hold her new form aloft in the air. Countless eyes run down either side of her narrow snout and continue down her back, ranging from the size of small pearls to that of goose eggs, blazing like sapphires in the noonday sun. While in this transformed state, the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan may fly, floating effortlessly on her gold-veined fins, and adds her Essence to her natural soak. She retains these benefits even if her Initiative falls below 15+, or if her -2 health levels are healed—those conditions are needed only to invoke the transformation, not to sustain it. In addition, her transformation unlocks additional benefits when using the Charms of this style:
• Demure Carp Feint: Internalizing the grace of this Charm, the martial artist no longer treats the bonuses it provides as successes added by Charms.
• Elegant Weapon Repertoire: Instead of enchanting props to serve as weapons, the martial artist may use this Charm to attack with dream-like ephemera of any form she can imagine, treated as a light artifact weapon with the tag of her choice (from the four options) and a +3 bonus to its damage.
• Pearlescent Filigree Defense: Armor enchanted by this Charm gains the traits of medium artifact armor, but with no mobility penalty.
• Flurry of August Leaves: The martial artist may convert up to her (Appearance) extra successes on an attack roll supplemented by this Charm to dice added to the damage roll.
• Vindictive Concubine’s Pillow Book: Every die that comes up a doubled success on the damage roll allows the martial artist to reroll a failed die.
• Fragrant Petal Fascination Kata: The Initiative stolen by this Charm is set equal to the martial artist’s (Essence), and she may gain up to (Appearance x 2) points of Initiative from an activation. Characters must enter a Decision Point to resist the influence, calling upon a Major or Defining Intimacy that represents temperance, asceticism, or rejection of beauty to resist.
• Seven Storms Escape Prana: This Charm can now be used to supplement any movement action, allowing the martial artist to dissolve into pastel fumes as she becomes a vortex of swirling light and vapor. She disappears, then reappears at her destination, without crossing the intervening space, and with no regard for any barriers or hazards in her way.
However, there is a danger in baring the truth of one’s soul in this esoteric apotheosis. Some have been so caught up in their ecstatic bliss that they forget they were ever mortal, vanishing from the world. If the martial artist suffers any damage (even bashing) to any -4 health level while in this form, she loses all hold on reality. She vanishes from Creation in a flash of pearlescent light, never to be seen again except in fragmentary, half-remembered dreams.
Terrestrial: The martial artist rolls (Appearance + Performance) the first time she uses this Charm in a fight. This is treated both as a Join Battle roll that adds to her total Initiative, as well as an instill roll against all enemies that can witness her. Those whose Resolve is overcome form a Major Tie of obsessive fascination towards her.
Celestial: A Dragon-Blood who has assumed this form must maintain an Initiative rating of 11+ to maintain the transformation, lest she return to her human form. If her Initiative is reset by making a decisive attack, then she is given a grace period until the end of her next turn, but if she does not return to Initiative 11+ by its end, this Charm ends. Once it has ended, she cannot use it again for the rest of the fight.
Combat Block
Evasion DV: 6
Parry DV: 6
Resolve: 3
Guile: 2
Join Battle: 6 +3
Natural Soak: 2
Armored Soak: +5
Hardness: 4
Health Levels
-0 - [ ]
-1 - [ ][ ][ ]
-2 - [ ][ ][ ]
-4 - [ ]
I - [ ]
Affable Autumn Leaves - Artifact War Fans: Accuracy +5, Damage +10, Overwhelming 3, Tags - Lethal, Martial Arts, Disarming
Whip: Accuracy +4, Damage +7, Overwhelming 1, Tags: Bashing, Melee, Disarming, Flexible, Grappling, Reaching
Hairpin: Accuracy +4, Damage +7, Overwhelming 1, Tags - Subtle, Thrown (Short), Concealable, Poisonable
Sash: Accuracy +2, Damage +9, Overwhelming 1, Tags - Bashing, Martial Arts, Flexible, Grappling, Disarming, Reach
Mundane War Fan: Accuracy +4, Damage +7, Overwhelming 1, Tags - Lethal, Martial Arts, Disarming
Melee Light Artifact Weapon: Accuracy +5, Damage +10, Overwhelming 3
Thrown Light Artifact Weapon: Accuracy +5/+4/+3, Damage +10, Overwhelming 3
Artifacts and Hearthstones
Belt of Shadow Walking
Night-blacks belt made from leather from the wings of giant bats, trimmed with black jade and soulsteel, these artifacts can control shadows and cause them to conceal the wearer. Whenever she wishes, the wearer can add three dice to all stealth rolls. However, this is the least of the belt’s powers. When the wearer expends ten motes, she can transform into a living shadow for one scene. In this form, she can slip under the space beneath a door or slide through the thinnest crack. In well-lit regions, observers notice the existence of an unusual shadow if they make a (Perception + Awareness) roll at difficulty 3, unless the wearer conceals himself in a larger shadow.
When the character is a shadow, she is dematerialized and can only affect or be affected by other dematerialized creatures or by Charms and weapons capable of attacking dematerialized foes. If the wearer uses such a Charm or weapon while dematerialized, she can use it to affect a materialized foe. Otherwise, she is immune to all materialized threats, although she can be trapped in a room that is sealed tightly enough. The character can wear any armor and take any object she can carry into the shadows with her. However, she cannot transform other living things into shadow. Once the scene ends, the character must remain in solid form for at least ten minutes before transforming back into a shadow. The wearer must commit five motes to use this artifact.
This artifact is a set of modular attire made from a blend of the various Magical Materials. The amulet can generate any form of outfit the wearer can imagine, however grand or humble. Changing the clothing is a diceless miscellaneous action. Repairing or cleaning a worn outfit takes the same action as creating a new one. Protection: The Amulet provides the wearer with a soak of 5L/5B that does not count as armor for the purposes of Charms, plus an extra success to all Resistance or Survival rolls to reduce or avoid the effects of deleterious environmental conditions, toxins or disease. In addition, it gives a +2 bonus dice to all Stealth rolls and to Larceny to assume a disguise. The amulet can also provide the Solar with a glowing nimbus of light, granting the character +4 Appearance. This inhibits all Stealth rolls like an 8-10 mote anima banner does. The Solar may hide this glory, but the bonus to Appearance is all or nothing. Finally, the Amulet conceals numerous pockets to Elsewhere, providing sufficient storage space to carry up to a ton of assorted items safely out of reach of the world, provided the objects could actually fit through a pocket opening no larger than a foot across. Only the attuned wearer can reach into Elsewhere via these pockets; to others, they are merely stitched folds.
Affable Autumn Leaves (Blue/White Jade Warfans ****): Accuracy +5, Damage +10, Overwhelming 3, Tags - Lethal, Martial Arts, Disarming
A match of wills, a contest of skills, only one may win. The great forging competition of Reylaam was renowned across the North. Once every 50 years, the most skilled and determined smiths of the land would travel to Reylaam and receive a challenge to craft an item of power, of beauty, of utility to display their prowess and prove themselves worthy of tutelage under the great Solar twilight Arcalon.
Ganest was not the most renowned smith from her village, but she was determined. She was not the most skilled, but she was patient. She was not the most powerful, but she was blessed by the dragons. She persisted against the laughs and mockery of her peers and her betters and she entered the competition.
The challenge was issued: A weapon grace and force. A tool of finesse and power. A compliment of two opposing forces and a divergence of similar sources. The challengers were then given 5 years to return with their results. Ganest was determined. And so she gathered ores of blue jade from the mines near her home and traveled to the Blessed Isle. There she find a mine of white jade and buried the blue jade amongst it. She placed prayer strips around the spot and channeled the ley lines towards that spot.
Then she mined white jade from the mine and brought it home to her blue jade mine and repeated the ritual. She waited years, drawing out plans and gathering other agents, all the while mocked by her peers for not being already underway in her forging. Ganest persisted. In her fourth year, she gathered up the earth infused blue jade, and then the air infused white jade. She forged them into long panels and alternated them in sequences in old realm prayers to the elemental dragons of earth and air.
The competition in Reylaam came and on display were a dozen artifacts of immense power, glittering with gold filigree, or glowing with unnatural colors. Ganest brought her war fans, unmarked with blue and white patterns that showed no formality or unnecessary expense. The breeze shifted as she displayed them through the air. Such simplicity and yet, such precision. Despite the lack of lavishness, they showed a thoroughness and thoughtfulness that moved mighty Arcalon so. He granted Ganest, the simple smith from the North, an apprenticeship.
Affable Autumn Leaves are a matched pair of Blue and White Jade artifact warfans. They have 2 hearthstone sockets, one in each fan at the base where it hinges. When opened, the air and earth begin to stir slightly.
Evocations of Affable Autumn Leaves
When a Solar or Dragon-Blood spends 3 extra motes to attune to the Affable Autumn Leaves, they gain power over the air and earth. As their advantage shifts in battle, the war fans react and fluctuate in strength accordingly. Unfolding the fans makes them begin to generate charges of elemental power based on their initiative state.
When the exalt ends their turn at 9 or less initiative, they gain 1 Vortex charge. With each gathered Vortex charge, the exalt becomes surrounded by a flurry of wind that builds in strength. Loose clothes are whipped around in the wind and small items left unattached on surfaces nearby the exalt will fly around their position.
- At 2 charges, the exalt’s movements are enhanced by buffeting winds. They may ignore 1 point of penalties to movement actions. For every charge above 2, they add a die to all movement actions.
- At 5 charges, the exalt’s defense against ranged attacks increases by 1, as the winds knock projectiles aside.
- Affable Autumn Leaves cannot hold more than 5 Vortex charges
- At 2 charges, opponents in Close range must roll (Dexterity or Strength + Athletics or Dodge) versus difficulty 1 each round to avoid knockdown. For every charge above 2, the difficulty increases by 1.
- At 5 charges, the range increases to Short, but the difficulty to avoid knockdown beyond Close range remains capped at 1.
- Affable Autumn Leaves cannot hold more than 5 Quake charges.
Lacerating Gale
Cost: 3m, 1 Quake charge Mins: Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Uniform
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: None
The Affable Autumn Leaves shape many things, the air least among them. Lacerating Gale allows attacks to be made up to Short range through gusts of cutting air.
Alternatively, against an opponent at Close range, the exalt may create a massive gust of wind that changes the damage to bashing but knocks an opponent from Close range backward one range band.
Once per round that Lacerating Gale is used, the Affable Autumn Leaves builds a vortex charge.
Carving Tremor
Cost: 3m, 1 Vortex charge Mins: Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Dual
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: None
The mighty war fans can shape earth as easily as the wind. Lashing out with a wave of cutting force, the Affable Autumn Leaves rend the ground around their enemies causing small stones, sharp stalagmites, or coarse sand to rise up and strike the exalt’s foes. Add 2 dice to the raw damage of a withering attack. On a decisive attack, convert 1 extra success on the attack roll to an automatic success to the damage roll.
Once per round that Carving Tremor is used, the Affable Autumn Leaves build a Quake charge.
Terra Cyclone
Cost: 7m, 3+ Vortex & Quake charges Mins: Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-Only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite: Lacerating Gale, Carving Tremor
Channelling the accumulated power of the Affable Autumn Leaves, the exalt moves heaven and earth with the might of her fans. By expending equal amounts of Vortex and Quake charges, with a minimum cost of 3 each, the exalt may choose a variety of outcomes:
- Splitting the earth, the exalt carves a gorge between themselves and their foes beginning up to Short range away, extending to Medium range in width, and expanding Short range wide. This chasm is Extreme Range deep. If the exalt expends 5 charges instead of 3, the gorge begins Medium range away, extends Long range in width, and expands Medium range wide.
- Cutting a close range circle around an individual foe, the fan hoists the ground beneath the target up, buffeted on a small cyclone, before disintegrating and dropping them. This resolves as an unblockable decisive attack, where the opponent tries to jump off the floating rock before it gains height. If the attack is successful, the earth will raise the target up to Medium range in height before disintegrating and dropping them to the earth below, forcing them to contend with falling damage. If the exalt expends 5 charges instead of 3, the height is increased to Long range.
- Blasting their foes with a flurry of crushing rocks and piercing wind, the exalt unleashes a decisive attack against all foes within close range of each other and close range of the exalt. Against individuals, the exalt splits initiative as evenly as possible amongst all the targets. Battle-groups take a -1 Defense penalty against this attack. All targets struck are knocked prone. If the exalt expends 5 charges instead of 3, the exalt gains (Essence + 1) initiative to their pool for calculating damage and struck opponents are pushed back one range band.
Keywords: None
This gem causes everyone within the village, town, or city where it’s is located to be resistant to bad luck. Dropped plates are less likely to break, lost items are easier to find, stray sparks and dropped lanterns are less likely to start large fires and people performing difficulty 1 tasks never botch. This stone has no effect on any forms of deliberate malice and also cannot undo curses or prevent large disasters, unless those disasters were precipitated by a single small accident.
A character attuned to a demesne who stands within its boundaries enjoys certain benefits. Outside of combat, he respires an additional two motes of Essence per hour, and may reflexively roll (Perception + Occult, difficulty 3) to sense any active expenditure of Essence within the demesne’s boundaries. If a hearthstone is linked to a manse, and the manse’s owner places the hearthstone in a specially-designed socket in an attuned artifact, then the character enjoys the benefits of standing within the manse wherever she goes.- At 2 charges, the exalt’s movements are enhanced by buffeting winds. They may ignore 1 point of penalties to movement actions. For every charge above 2, they add a die to all movement actions.
Intimacies
The Circle of Exalts - Loyalty, Major
Unconquered Sun - Love, Minor
The Hundred Serpents Nest Order of Assassins - Disgust/Dislike, Major
Her Lover, V'neef Suhiko - Love, Defining
Ailera Keiorin was raised from a very young age to be a killer. Taught to master the exotic dance moves of the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Style to the best degree that a mortal can, Ailera was to use seduction to get to the target, using any and all means to get them off guard before driving home a hidden dagger, pouring the poison, or using the garrote. She became quite good at what she did, and as a member of the Hundred Serpents Nest, she became quite wealthy and well known in her cover identity as a dancer. Ailera was then approached to kill once more, this time a much harder target than she had ever faced before. Planning on using the same tried and true methods to get close to her mark, she first spent time watching and learning more and more about V'neef Suhiko.
A growing seed of doubt began to eat at her, making Ailera question for the first time what she was about to do. Why was this woman set to be killed? Putting that aside, she continues to go on with her plan to end V'neef Suhiko. It was working well; too well, actually. Ailera found herself falling in love with the other woman, and could not bring herself to finish the work she was sent to do. In a moment of tears, she confesses all to her lover, begging her to run away with her and escape. Grabbing a few belongings, they set off in the night.
But the Hundred Serpents Nest was not done with either of them. Another set of assassins were set out, this time to kill them both. Ailera was willing to sacrifice herself to face off against the two in order to buy time for Suhiko to get away when she saw the light - literally. Taking her Second Breath as a Solar, Ailera was gifted with the true measure of what the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Style has to offer. Using her newly found powers, she now tries to repent for the lives she has taken in the course of her career.
Last edited: