FrivYeti
New Member
In a lonely alleyway, tucked between two layers of the Demon City near what passes for its peaks, there is a small white tower, nearly hidden between edifices of brass and basalt. Those who choose to rap on the weathered bronze knocker will quickly be admitted by a young bald man, round and cheerful, his skin as pale as ivory and his eyes glittering with the reflected light of Ligier. On the wooden tables of the man’s room, imported from Creation at some cost, lie whatever foods and drink these petitioners value the most, even if they were not expected or had not realized that they were coming. The stranger offers advice to the desperate, knowledge and suggestions on tactical choices or social ones, how to win hearts or gain power. In return, he asks for little, perhaps a favor here or a small gift there. Despite any misgivings about trusting someone who seems so eager to please, most of those who visit him soon find themselves relying on the stranger more and more.
Only then does Akallu lead them to ruin.
That Which Deceives is ultimately a corrupter and destroyer, and lives for the moments in which he can convince some unsuspecting victim to destroy themselves, ideally in as grandiose and foolish a manner as possible. He prides himself on how rarely he is forced to act directly, and his attire and shape are designed to inflate his pride in how graceful and full of class he is. He wears an immaculate white kimono, on which not a single spot of dust can be seen, and he keeps himself completely hairless at all times. He chooses exactly the right words for every occasion, crafting each sentence as a weapon. When he entertains visitors in his small but luxurious sanctum, he is the perfect host, something else which he prides himself on. Most of all, he never lies, except as part of the occasional joke. Akallu believes that lies are boorish and easy, and prides himself on not requiring them. He deceives with half-truths and interpretations, hypothetical statements that his listeners wish to be facts and questions designed to lead them to incorrect answers. No being is too weak or petty to be worthy of his attention, and none too mighty to be immune to his wiles.
The most dangerous facet of Akallu’s nature is that his advice is truly canny and valuable – many have been uplifted or empowered by listening to him. Because of that, even those who understand That Which Deceives sometimes think that they can outmaneuver him, and come out ahead. Occasionally, they are correct – or perhaps this is merely another one of Akallu’s deceptions, allowing a few pawns to escape unscathed to convince others that they will have a chance of outwitting him. After all, deceit is useless without someone to practice it on.
Akallu’s pride is his one weakness; he believes that his knowledge is absolute, and does not respond well to being outmatched or tricked. In addition, he believes that he deserves to be the fetich soul of the Ebon Dragon, and sometimes behaves as such with other demons. He is dismissive of the skills of nearly every being he meets, although he is usually too polite to make this obvious.
Summoning: (Obscurity 4 / 6
Despite his dangerous predilections, Akallu is a master tactician and strategist, both socially and in war, and in the First Age some Solar sorcerers called him forth to devise plans or examine their enemies for weaknesses. Even when summoned, however, he cannot be forced to give advice more than three times without including some trap that will ensnare his targets. Some sorcerers believed that they could find such flaws and avoid them. Some of those were even correct.
Motivation: To bring down anyone who takes his advice. Akallu has an Intimacy of Reverence towards the Ebon Dragon, an Intimacy of Disgust towards Maoplena, the Dragon’s fetich, and an Intimacy of ‘Annoyance’ towards Fetich souls in general.
Virtues:Compassion 1, Conviction 4, Temperance 5, Valor 2
Traits: As a Third Circle demon. Akallu is particularly skilled in the realms of perception and guile, and he is unskilled in direct combat or physical confrontation.
Sample Powers:
The Worm’s Tongue: Akallu is permanently immune to any attempt to discern the motivation behind his statements. Magical attempts to do so will reveal that his motivations are concealed, but are otherwise useless. In addition, his half-truths or misdirections cannot be detected with lie detecting abilities. If contested by a perfect effect, he adds his Essence in bonus dice to the resulting roll-off. Neither of these powers functions if he tells a direct untruth.
Best Friend Misapprehension: Akallu may activate this Charm by spending 10 motes and a Willpower whenever he gives someone advice on resolving a situation, provided that the solution is not obvious to the target. If the target chooses to act on this advice, and it proves beneficial to them, the Charm activates an unblockable, undodgeable unnatural mental Emotion effect with twenty successes. Victims of the Charm develop an Intimacy of Trust towards Akallu, which they must spend two Willpower per scene to act directly against. Once they have spent a total of ten Willpower resisting the Intimacy, it is removed.
Mindshard Strike: Akallu carries a small knife, whose hilt and scabbard are forged from ivory and have no guard, and whose blade is Malfean porcelain tainted with vitriol, which he calls Mindshard. The knife has the traits of a short daiklave, and requires five motes to attune. Whenever Akallu successfully deals at least one die of damage with it, he may commit five motes to charge the blow with corruptive power, causing fragments of the blade to flake off within the wound. At any time thereafter, Akallu can roll his Manipulation + Presence + Essence as unnatural mental influence against the target. If he succeeds, he may dictate their next five actions, forcing them to take any action which is not an unacceptable order. Victims may spend two Willpower per action to resist as a Miscellaneous action. Multiple Mindshard injuries reset the count of actions to five, but do not stack. Akallu may also spend two motes to allow Mindshard to fire shards of porcelain at enemies as a Thrown attack, which has a range increment of 25 and adds four dice to all attempts to re-establish surprise.
Willpower: 10, Essence: 10, Summoning Resistance: 3
Other Notes: Akallu must suppress his Temperance in order to speak any actual untrue statement, except as part of a joke. He also does not have to suppress Temperance to speak sarcastically, but views sarcasm as the lowest form of wit and rarely employs it.
Only then does Akallu lead them to ruin.
That Which Deceives is ultimately a corrupter and destroyer, and lives for the moments in which he can convince some unsuspecting victim to destroy themselves, ideally in as grandiose and foolish a manner as possible. He prides himself on how rarely he is forced to act directly, and his attire and shape are designed to inflate his pride in how graceful and full of class he is. He wears an immaculate white kimono, on which not a single spot of dust can be seen, and he keeps himself completely hairless at all times. He chooses exactly the right words for every occasion, crafting each sentence as a weapon. When he entertains visitors in his small but luxurious sanctum, he is the perfect host, something else which he prides himself on. Most of all, he never lies, except as part of the occasional joke. Akallu believes that lies are boorish and easy, and prides himself on not requiring them. He deceives with half-truths and interpretations, hypothetical statements that his listeners wish to be facts and questions designed to lead them to incorrect answers. No being is too weak or petty to be worthy of his attention, and none too mighty to be immune to his wiles.
The most dangerous facet of Akallu’s nature is that his advice is truly canny and valuable – many have been uplifted or empowered by listening to him. Because of that, even those who understand That Which Deceives sometimes think that they can outmaneuver him, and come out ahead. Occasionally, they are correct – or perhaps this is merely another one of Akallu’s deceptions, allowing a few pawns to escape unscathed to convince others that they will have a chance of outwitting him. After all, deceit is useless without someone to practice it on.
Akallu’s pride is his one weakness; he believes that his knowledge is absolute, and does not respond well to being outmatched or tricked. In addition, he believes that he deserves to be the fetich soul of the Ebon Dragon, and sometimes behaves as such with other demons. He is dismissive of the skills of nearly every being he meets, although he is usually too polite to make this obvious.
Summoning: (Obscurity 4 / 6
Despite his dangerous predilections, Akallu is a master tactician and strategist, both socially and in war, and in the First Age some Solar sorcerers called him forth to devise plans or examine their enemies for weaknesses. Even when summoned, however, he cannot be forced to give advice more than three times without including some trap that will ensnare his targets. Some sorcerers believed that they could find such flaws and avoid them. Some of those were even correct.Motivation: To bring down anyone who takes his advice. Akallu has an Intimacy of Reverence towards the Ebon Dragon, an Intimacy of Disgust towards Maoplena, the Dragon’s fetich, and an Intimacy of ‘Annoyance’ towards Fetich souls in general.
Virtues:Compassion 1, Conviction 4, Temperance 5, Valor 2
Traits: As a Third Circle demon. Akallu is particularly skilled in the realms of perception and guile, and he is unskilled in direct combat or physical confrontation.
Sample Powers:
The Worm’s Tongue: Akallu is permanently immune to any attempt to discern the motivation behind his statements. Magical attempts to do so will reveal that his motivations are concealed, but are otherwise useless. In addition, his half-truths or misdirections cannot be detected with lie detecting abilities. If contested by a perfect effect, he adds his Essence in bonus dice to the resulting roll-off. Neither of these powers functions if he tells a direct untruth.
Best Friend Misapprehension: Akallu may activate this Charm by spending 10 motes and a Willpower whenever he gives someone advice on resolving a situation, provided that the solution is not obvious to the target. If the target chooses to act on this advice, and it proves beneficial to them, the Charm activates an unblockable, undodgeable unnatural mental Emotion effect with twenty successes. Victims of the Charm develop an Intimacy of Trust towards Akallu, which they must spend two Willpower per scene to act directly against. Once they have spent a total of ten Willpower resisting the Intimacy, it is removed.
Mindshard Strike: Akallu carries a small knife, whose hilt and scabbard are forged from ivory and have no guard, and whose blade is Malfean porcelain tainted with vitriol, which he calls Mindshard. The knife has the traits of a short daiklave, and requires five motes to attune. Whenever Akallu successfully deals at least one die of damage with it, he may commit five motes to charge the blow with corruptive power, causing fragments of the blade to flake off within the wound. At any time thereafter, Akallu can roll his Manipulation + Presence + Essence as unnatural mental influence against the target. If he succeeds, he may dictate their next five actions, forcing them to take any action which is not an unacceptable order. Victims may spend two Willpower per action to resist as a Miscellaneous action. Multiple Mindshard injuries reset the count of actions to five, but do not stack. Akallu may also spend two motes to allow Mindshard to fire shards of porcelain at enemies as a Thrown attack, which has a range increment of 25 and adds four dice to all attempts to re-establish surprise.
Willpower: 10, Essence: 10, Summoning Resistance: 3
Other Notes: Akallu must suppress his Temperance in order to speak any actual untrue statement, except as part of a joke. He also does not have to suppress Temperance to speak sarcastically, but views sarcasm as the lowest form of wit and rarely employs it.
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