Dice Exalted 2.5 Sidereals - Characters

Sherwood · Jun 26, 2020

You will start at Essence 4, and that can be bought up with Bonus Points.
You begin with a complete Celestial Martial Art style for free. This is in addition to the starting Charms you get.
You will also be able to get up to the Form Charm of a SMA of your choice for free.

Since I am mandating you to get the SMA Charms, you will be starting with 20 Charms.
Your Colleges for your Resplendent Destinies start with 12 dots.
Abilities start with 40 dots and can be raised to 5 without using your Bonus Points. Don't forget to check with the Sidereal book for the required Abilities for each Caste.
Attributes start with 9/7/5 dots instead of the normal 8/6/4
Backgrounds get 20 dots
Finally, Bonus Points start at 20, instead of 18.

The Scroll of Errata will be used for Character Creation, so make sure you are checking for changes.

You can be of whatever Faction you wish. There are times that even rivals will need to work together for the greater good.
Obviously, you have been Exalted for some time; at least 100 years or longer, and you will all know one another prior to game start.

EDIT: Since the CMA style of Throne Shadow Style is so large, if you select it as your free MA, you only get 15 other Charms instead of 20.

House Rules: Ox-Body Technique provides a -2 Health Level along with the -0 it normally provides.
All Sorcery Charms provide a Spell of the selected Circle for free.

Experience Tracker: 20 points

jaydude · Jun 26, 2020

Name: Shi-vash
Age: 308
Caste: Chosen of Secrets
Concept: Enigmatic Guide.
Allegiance: Gold Faction (As of the return of the Solars. Previously, she was Bronze Faction)
Motivation: To ensure the restoration and prosperity of a new Solar Deliberative, by guiding it from the shadows.

Intimacies:
The Solars should be supported for the good of Creation

Virtues:
Compassion: 2
Conviction: 3
Temperance: 2
Valor: 2
Health:
|-0|-0|-0|
|-1|-1|
|-2|-2|-2|-2|
|-4|
Incapacitated

Essence: 5
Committed Essence: 14
Personal Essence: 17/17
Peripheral Essence: 32/46

Willpower: 8

Join Battle: 5
Attacks:
Clinch (Speed 6, 15 Accuracy, Damage 3B, Defense -, Rate 1, Clinch, Natural, Piercing)
Kick (Speed 5, 15 Accuracy, Damage 6B, Defense +3, Rate 2, Natural)
Punch (Speed 5, 16 Accuracy, Damage 3B, Defense +7, Rate 3, Natural)
Switchklaive (Speed 4, Accuracy 18, Damage 7L, Defense +6, Rate 3, Attune 6, Piercing)

Dodge DV: 8
Parry DV: 9
Attributes
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 5
Stamina: 2

Perception: 3
Intelligence: 2
Wits: 3

Charisma: 3
Manipulation: 5
Appearance: 4

Abilities
Resistance: 2
Ride: 2
Sail:
Survival: 1
Thrown:

Craft:
Dodge: 4
Linguistics (Old Realm): 1
Linguistics (Riverspeak): 1
Linguistics (High Realm): 1
Performance: 2
Socialize: 2 (Interacting with the Upper Class 1)

Archery:
Athletics: 2
Melee:
Presence:
War:

Investigation: 3
Larceny: 3 (Lock Picking 1)
Lore: 3 (Library Research 1)
Occult: 4
Stealth: 5

Awareness: 2
Bureaucracy: 2
Integrity: 2
Martial Arts: 5 (Dire Chain 1)
Medicine:

Specialties:
Excellencies (Cannot add more dice or bonus successes than permanent Essence score)
Martial Arts - First Excellency, Fateful Martial Arts Excellency
Dodge - Third Excellency, Propitious Dodge Alignment
Larceny - First Excellency
Stealth - First Excellency

Dodge

Cost: 2m
Mins: Dodge 2, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant

Viziers anticipate attacks upon them, and avoid them. Apart from the name and Essence cost, this Charm duplicates Shadow Over Water. This Charm restores defensive advantage to a beleaguered or overextended fighter. This Charm is used in response to an attack. It allows the Exalt to ignore all penalties that apply to her Dodge DV when resolving that attack. Her Dodge DV is still 0 against an undodgeable attack, but she takes no further penalties.

Even destiny falls into regular patterns, and to avoid one blow is just as good as avoiding all a foe’s attacks. Sidereals with Dodge 4+, Essence 3+ may repurchase this Charm. If it enhanced a successful application of the character’s Dodge DV against an attacker previously in the same tick, subsequent uses against that same attacker also raise the target number of the their dice pool by 1.

Investigation

Cost: 2m
Mins: Investigation 1, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One miscellaneous action

When the character first learns this Charm, a measure of his Essence crystallizes in his mouth in the form of a small emerald pattern spider. The character spits out this indestructible construct, whereupon it immediately dematerializes and attaches itself to a part of his body. Thereafter, the character may spend two motes of Essence to instruct the spirit to fetch some particular piece of information for him. If the information is available and not actively concealed, the spider scuttles away along the weave of fate. The spider returns in the space of a miscellaneous action and whispers the information to the Sidereal.

The pattern spider can only retrieve simple, objective facts. It can answer questions such as, “What is that shopkeeper’s name?” or “When did it last rain in Nexus?” or even “Who stabbed Sesus Lahor?” It cannot answer questions such as, “Does the shopkeeper hate me?” (the spider doesn’t read minds), “Who’s winning the battle?” (the spider has no strategic sense) or “Who murdered Sesus Lahor?” (murder, unlike stabbing, is a matter of intent). Questions such as, “What is the Bull of the North up to?” usually give unhelpful answers, such as, “Eating lunch.” The pattern spider cannot retrieve information that is actively hidden or innately esoteric, such as spells, and the spider does not function in regions where fate’s influence is weak, such as the Wyld, shadowlands or Malfeas.

As an alternative to pulling such answers from the Loom of Fate, the Sidereal can send the spider with a query to her own library, in Creation or Yu-Shan, for her assistants to look up. The answer falls within the spider’s purview because the answer is objective information—what the Sidereal’s staff can locate in books—rather than anything so nebulous as truth. Such answers take longer to retrieve, of course.

This Charm can deliver any single fact that is known to at least 100 people that are part of fate, as long as that fact is not actively concealed or generally lost. As a rough guideline, as long as an uncontested Investigation, Lore or Occult roll, with difficulty 5 or less, could have been validly made within most of Creation, the spider can find and retrieve it from the records of Heaven.

As an exception to the stricture against finding information that is actively hidden or would otherwise call for a difficulty 6+ roll to find out, the spider can retrieve any information that is currently kept within the Sidereal’s personal libraries in Yu-Shan or Creation. This exception does not apply if someone else hid the information in the Sidereal’s library.

The spider travels along the Exalt’s own insuperable thread of fate, and can continue to retrieve information even while in Hell or the outer Chaos of the Wyld. Wards against scrying apply against this Charm, but the Sidereal gains (Essence) extra successes on her roll-off.

Occult
Terrestrial Circle Sorcery
Celestial Circle Sorcery

Resistance

Cost: —
Mins: Resistance 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Stackable
Duration: Permanent

Just as all Exalted, Sidereals gain extra health levels with each purchase of this Charm. Each health level gained thus helps a Sidereal operate at maximum efficiency in spite of his wounds for just a little bit longer. A player may purchase this Charm for his character up to once per dot of the Resistance Ability his character possesses. Each purchase grants the character one additional -0 health level and one additional -2 health level.

Stealth

Cost: 4m, 1wp
Mins: Stealth 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: One scene

With this Charm, the Sidereal steps lightly around the bonfires of heroes and dampens her own, moving to disturb none so that she may work in peace. While this Charm is active, motes spent on the Sidereal’s non-Obvious Stealth Charms (including Excellencies) do not contribute to anima flare, and she may spend up to (Essence) peripheral motes on other non-Obvious Charms each tick without them counting for anima flare. In addition, she adds an extra success to her Larceny and Stealth rolls during the scene.

Cost: 5m, 1wp
Mins: Stealth 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Fate
Duration: Indefinite

A Sidereal who uses this Charm can part the strands of the weave of fate, stepping between them and outside fate altogether. The character still physically exists in Creation, but her new condition makes her almost impossible to perceive. While the character remains outside fate, creatures whose Essence ratings do not exceed hers cannot detect her. If such creatures succeed on a reflexive (Perception + Awareness) roll, they might realize that some sort of presence has come among them, but affecting that presence or attacking it incurs a -2 external penalty on any related roll. Only characters with supernatural tracking abilities can attempt to track the hidden character.

The character remains outside fate for as long as she commits the Essence to the Charm, but causing her anima banner to flare such that it causes Stealth Charms to fail also ends this effect. If two characters walk outside fate in the same location, they cannot automatically sense one another. Whether or not one sees or becomes aware of the other depends on the characters’ relative Essence ratings.

Walking Outside Fate carries the Fate keyword because other Charms with that keyword have diminished or nullified effects against characters using this Charm.

Cost: 1m
Mins: Stealth 5, Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Social, Combo-Basic, Illusion
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Walking Outside Fate

A character can use this Charm only while he walks outside fate, per the prerequisite Charm. When he uses it, the Sidereal can whisper to someone and make the listener think the words come from her own mind. When the Sidereal speaks, the listener’s player attempts a reflexive (Perception + Awareness) roll at a difficulty equal to the Sidereal’s Essence. If the roll fails, the listener assumes that the words are her own thoughts. If the roll succeeds, the words still whisper in her mind as her own voice, but she knows that the thoughts are not her own.

Regardless of whether the target’s roll succeeds, the Sidereal can still initiate social attacks against the target while using this Charm, and those attacks become unexpected. The Seer can even enhance those attacks with Charms based on other social Abilities. The Charm lasts for one social attack, or five minutes (five long ticks) if the Sidereal merely wants to talk to the target.

This Charm enhances social attacks to encourage a belief in the target, and these attacks are not unexpected; the target’s MDVs may apply normally. However, if successful, the target must spend 3wp to recognize that the belief came from outside her own thoughts. Failure on the attack prompts the target’s roll to notice the presence of the Sidereal.
Terrestrial:

Cost: 10m
Target: Speaking creature

This spell helps sorcerers keep their secrets. It also enforces oaths of silence or simply prevents someone from speaking about a given subject. The subject may be as specific as “Mnemon’s deal with the Mask of Winters,” or as broad as “Solars in Chiaroscuro.” It affects any one person the sorcerer can see within 10 yards. The sorcerer evokes a seething, bilious green ball between his hands. He names the subject matter about which the target cannot speak and releases the ball. The vile green energy rushes toward and into the mouth of the target and down her throat, dissolving into a ward within the target’s body. Only Charms or other effects that grant perfect dodges or parries can block the curse. The player of an Essence-channeling target is permitted a (Stamina + Resistance) roll, however, at a difficulty equal to the caster’s Occult Ability. Success indicates that the target resists the spell, which the sorcerer knows at once.

Cost: 10m
Target: Summoned cherub

The sorcerer conjures up a minor spirit from Essence. This spirit is called a cherub. Cherubim are multicolored humanoid figures only a few feet tall with six glittering blue-chrome wings. The sorcerer whispers his message, which can be no more than five minutes in length, into the cherub’s ear. (This can be a social attack with a Speed no greater than five long ticks.) The sorcerer then names and describes a target. The cherub is able to travel from one point to another in Creation or Yu-Shan nearly instantly. It travels hundreds of miles an hour and can traverse the world in less than a day. Unless the target’s location is mystically obscured, the cherub will find the recipient, deliver the message perfectly to his ear (even using the original sender’s voice) and then dissipate. The Exalt can enhance this message with appropriate instant-duration Charms such as Irresistible Salesman Spirit and Linguistics Excellencies.

Celestial:

Cost: 35m
Target: Summoned Calibration Gate

Once a year, on the third night of Calibration, the Celestial City of Yu-Shan revels in the Carnival of Meeting. In ages past, mortal and Exalted dignitaries would be invited to Heaven to join the festival, but in these debased times, the gods of Yu-Shan neglect the world. The starmetal Calibration Gate still appears in Creation once a year to admit mortals to the Carnival, though the gods send out no invitations. During that night, it cannot be summoned. For the rest of the year, though, a sorcerer may call it with this spell.

The sorcerer evokes a foot-wide patch of rippling gold, like sunlight on water, He reaches into it, feels for a handle, and pulls. A celestial bell chimes. A minute later, the Calibration Gate appears. It materializes with equal aplomb outside, indoors, underwater or even in midair. It remains open for five minutes before vanishing again, and it cannot be re-summoned to any place within a mile of that location until a day and night have passed.

No known force can damage the gate. Any number of characters can pass through the Calibration Gate, although they cannot leave Heaven by the same route. What’s more, if they have no offi cial place or legitimate business in the Celestial City, they need quite an argument to persuade the three giant orichalcum lions on the near side to let them pass. These celestial lions respect honor and justice but are nigh-undefeatable in battle and immune to mind-affecting magic. (And there are six more waiting on the other side of the door.)

Many of the Sidereal Exalted know this spell and use it to return from their assignments within Creation. A few Lunar sorcerers know it too and use it to confer with allies in the celestial Bureau of Nature. Sidereal leaders worry what Solar sorcerers might learn if they obtain access to Yu-Shan. Any Abyssal Exalt who tried using the Calibration Gate would likely regret it in very short order—nine orichalcum lions notwithstanding.

Cost: 15m or 20m
Target: Caster or One Spell

This spell functions as Emerald Countermagic, save for the increased cost and the changes noted here. This spell has special timing rules. The character can shape Celestial Circle sorcery to cast this spell as two reflexive 0-tick actions.

This spell can shatter Second Circle as well as First Circle spells. The shattering of a Second Circle spell has more profound effects than the destruction of a First Circle spell—the random burns and magical effects may cause minor damage to others, although always less than that of directed First Circle magic.

Used to counter First Circle spells, this spell extinguishes them instantly and entirely. This functions like shattering the spell but causes no collateral damage.
Weapons and Armor: Characters who practice the Ebon Shadow style may use fighting chains or sais (and their artifact equivalents) freely with all Charms in the tree. The style is incompatible with the use of armor.

The Sidereal archives in Yu-Shan say a Night Caste Solar called Ebon Shadow’s Graceful Daughter—Shadow’s Grace for short—brought this martial art to Creation. Shadow’s Grace did not quite believe she deserved the power the Unconquered Sun gave her. She had not fought in the Primordial War, inheriting her power instead when a greater hero fell in that conflict’s final battle. Life as a spy and assassin, maintaining the peace of the fledgling Old Realm, did not suit her; she thought the Eclipse Caste better suited her temperament. She prayed daily, begging the Unconquered Sun to change either her caste or her spirit. He knew better and ignored her pleas: The needs of peace do not match those of war. He wanted an assassin who would not enjoy her job too much.

Yet, someone heard the prayers of Shadow’s Grace. One Calibration, she rose from prayer to find a mighty figure before her: four-armed like the Unconquered Sun, but glittering in shades of darkness. Five Days Darkness, the first shadow cast by the Unconquered Sun, offered to teach her a regimen of exercises and meditations that would resolve her doubts and make her truly the Queen of Night. In return, she would share his teachings with other Exalted. She would also swear on her soul to perform one service in each incarnation at her divine sifu’s request without question. S o desperate was Shadow’s Grace to quiet the turmoil within her heart that she accepted the dark god’s terms. She absorbed her sifu’s teachings before the end of that very Calibration and took the name by which she is remembered in Heaven.

The archives say Shadow’s Grace became a paragon of her caste who taught evildoers to jump at shadows and gave restitution to their victims. Her service to Five Days Darkness is not known. She died before the Usurpation, trying to kill a mad Solar tyrant. The Sidereals are fairly sure the Solar who inherited her Exaltation perished in the Usurpation. Now, her Exaltation is free from the Jade Prison, but its current host is unknown. Where is the inheritor of Shadow’s Grace? And what will Five Days Darkness demand of her?

Cost: 2m
Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 2
Type: Simple (DV -3)
Keywords: Illusion
Duration: One day

Withdrawing her Essence deep into her body, the character drops to the ground and temporarily appears to be dead. A careful examination and a successful (Perception + Medicine) roll, diffi culty 3, is necessary to determine that the character is actually still alive. The martial artist using this Charm can hold her breath 10 times as long as normal, and she does not need to eat or drink—handy if she’s hiding from enemies at the bottom of a river or wants them to think they killed her. Although the character’s senses of hearing, touch and smell function normally, she cannot see or move. She can act normally the action after she chooses to end this Charm.

Cost: 1m
Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: One action

The character using this Charm can move or dash along walls, ropes, hanging chains and other vertical surfaces as easily as he can walk along a floor. Using this Charm, the character can climb a surface simply by running up it, without halving his base movement rate. In his next action, the character must either activate the Charm again, remain where he is (if he’s made it to a ledge or suitable hand- and footholds) or attempt to leap or climb down normally.

Cost: 2m
Mins: Martial Arts 3
Essence 2
Type: Reflexive (Step 1)
Keywords: Obvious
Duration: Instant

The Ebon Shadow martial artist makes a complex, Essence-charged sign with her fingers, and the twisting lines of shadowy Essence distract and slow one selected opponent. The sign takes only an instant to make at the beginning of the action. The target character’s next action is delayed for a number of ticks equal to the martial artist’s Martial Arts score, incidentally preventing his DV from refreshing until then. When the target’s next action comes, he cannot perform a flurry but may still use Combos and reflexive and extra action Charms normally. He can perform a Guard action as usual.

Cost: 5m
Mins: Martial Arts 4
Essence 2
Type: Simple (Speed 5)
Keywords: Form-type, Obvious
Duration: One scene

Although the Exalt’s body does not become indistinct or drink in light like a true shadow, he still moves with the eerie speed and grace of a candle-wavering silhouette. While using this Charm, the character adds his Martial Arts score to his Join Battle dice pool. He also adds a value equal to his Essence to his Stealth score and his Dodge DV. When the character makes a Martial Arts attack (with hands, feet, sais or fighting chains), he can inflict either bashing or lethal damage at will. If a character using this Charm is killed before the duration expires, his body dissipates into thick black smoke. He leaves no ghost, and his physical remains provide no evidence of his identity (though his gear might).

Cost: 3m
Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant

The character’s Essence guides her attack to the weakest point in her target’s armor. Subtract the character’s Martial Arts rating from the targeted armor’s relevant soak (based on what type of damage the character inflicts) before calculating the attack’s final damage. This Charm does not affect the armor’s Hardness, a target’s intrinsic soak or defense granted by Charms. Seven Points of Weakness Strike provides no benefit against a target who does not wear any armor. After all, a weak point in a suit of armor would not be in the same region of a target’s body, which makes the angle of approach and attack completely different.

Cost: 3m
Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Crippling, Touch
Duration: One scene

With the slightest touch, like a shadow falling on bare skin, the martial artist immobilizes one of his target’s limbs. The character need simply touch an unsuspecting foe, though his attempt to do so can be blocked or dodged as normal. The attacker chooses which limb to paralyze—not necessarily the one he touched—and the chosen limb is immobilized for the rest of the scene. See Exalted, p. 152 for the effects on a character who lacks a full set of functioning limbs. Since most people don’t keep a crutch handy, the player of a target with a paralyzed leg must also attempt a reflexive (Dexterity + Athletics) roll for her character to maintain her balance every time that character is struck. Characters with both legs immobilized must generally perform stunts to attack or even guard. Immobilizing an arm keeps the target from using that arm to attack—which can be devastating if the victim is an archer. This attack has no effect against the undead, automata or other beings that have no vital functions to obstruct.

Cost: 6m, 1wp
Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Crippling, Touch
Duration: One scene

With this Charm, a character can stun or incapacitate a target with a precise strike to one of five vital nerve clusters. To do so, the character lightly taps the target on one of several possible nerve points, using a jolt of her own Essence to disrupt the Essence fl owing through the spot and confuse the target’s nerves. This (Dexterity + Martial Arts) attack inflicts no damage, but the Exalt’s player rolls a number of dice equal to her character’s (Martial Arts + the number of extra successes she made on the attack) against a difficulty equal to the target’s Essence. Each extra success the player rolls above the difficulty reduces the target’s Dexterity by one dot for the scene. If the target’s Dexterity drops to 0, he is paralyzed. The effect of this Charm can be mitigated if the player of a character with Medicine and Martial Arts at 3 or higher succeeds at a (Wits + Martial Arts) roll, difficulty 3, to restore the proper fl ow of Essence through the victim’s body. Removing paralysis is a simple action (Speed 6), and the target can move normally on his next action. With a successful (Wits + Stealth) roll, difficulty 1, this touch can be disguised as an amiable nudge or unintentional jostling in a crowd. This attack cannot be used against the undead, automata or other beings that lack vital centers.

Cost: 4m
Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: None
Duration: One action

One could more easily weigh smoke than strike a character who uses this Charm. Until the martial artist’s next action, add his Essence to his Dodge DV. The Ebon Shadow Stylist need not even be in combat when he activates this Charm. For instance, he may use the Charm to dodge the poisoned darts of an automatic trap in the tomb of his First Age incarnation. Should the character use this Charm outside combat, all dodge attempts—including those involving Charms whose effects continue from previous actions—gain additional bonus dice equal to her Essence for one action (which can raise the total bonus above the standard maximums). If some internal or external penalty would normally reduce the character’s Dodge pool or DV to 0, using this Charm refl exively provides a base value equal to the character’s Essence.

Cost: 2m, 1wp
Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Elusive Flicker Evasion

The character makes an arcane silent-communication gesture once used by teams of Night Caste scouts on long-range patrols in the First Age and infuses the gesture with Essence. In so doing, she renders her opponent unable to notice or react to an attack she makes. The opponent cannot apply either of his DVs against the character’s blow without the use of reflexive Charms that enhance DV. The target’s player may attempt a reflexive (Wits + Awareness) when the target is attacked—the difficulty equals the attacker’s Essence. If the roll succeeds, the opponent may use any reflexive Charms or abilities he possesses to counter the attack. If the roll fails, the opponent may use only Charms that specifically state they work on attacks of which the character is unaware. Blow Concealing Gesture Technique is particularly effective in a Combo with other attack Charms, since the victim doesn’t notice the attacker’s flaring anima (though people nearby probably will).

Cost: 3m, 1wp
Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Obvious
Duration: One scene

With this Charm, the character takes on the true form of a shadow. The character becomes tenebrous and indistinct, a form of tangible darkness. His flattened body slides through any space wide enough for him to fit his fingers through. Identifying the character while he uses this Charm is extremely difficult. His physical features and clothing give no clues, but the outlines of distinctive gear might give him away. If his anima banner activates, only his caste mark shines. Even his fully iconic anima banner seems shapeless and dark. When using this Charm, the Exalt adds his permanent Essence to both his bashing and lethal soaks. Shadow-Body Style does not stack with any other Charms that increase the character’s natural soak and have durations longer than instant. This Charm allows a character to see as easily in total darkness as in light, though he must actually use his eyes to see. That is, he cannot see through smoke, murky water or the like just because it also happens to be dark where he is.

Cost: 7m, 1wp
Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5
Type: Simple
Keywords: Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Paralyzing Touch Attack, Shadow Body Style

By using this Charm, the martial artist slides into one shadow and almost instantly emerges from another shadow near her destination. The Exalt must have a shadow to step into, and she must have somehow seen her destination before. She emerges in the nearest unobserved shadow near her intended destination one action after she slips away. That destination cannot be more than a number of miles away equal to her Essence. If there are no unobserved shadows within 100 yards of that location, the Charm fails. (The Essence and Willpower are still spent, though.) Generally, this Charm cannot penetrate the manse of a sorcerer, a god’s sanctum or any other such forbidden place. If a place is warded to block teleportation, it stops this Charm from working. Most of the time, if the Charm does not work due to environmental factors or sorcerous warding, the Exalt simply fails to descend into the inky blackness of the entry shadow that she chose. Should an Exalt attempt to use this Charm and fail during Calibration, however, she sinks into a shadow and emerges alone within the Labyrinth instead.
Weapons and Armor: Characters can use knives or seven-section staffs (and their artifact equivalents) as unarmed attacks for the purposes of this style. If a particular Charm allows a practitioner to create wires or threads, attacking with them is considered unarmed as well. Characters cannot use this style while wearing armor.

Charcoal March of Spiders Style uses the spider as a symbol to explore the cosmic principle of Consumption. A master of the style may consume life, Essence, the forms of existence and existence itself—and spin the power one consumes into new forms. At least some aspects of the style come from observing the enigmatic godlings called pattern spiders, created by the Primordial artificer Autochthon to tend the Loom of Fate. A master of the style gains a faint echo of Autochthon’s own power to shape reality, consuming what is to produce what might be.

The Student’s Sutra of Consumption: Once there was a small maiden…

Cost: 4 or 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None

…whose skill was great enough to climb a whirlwind over water.

The character scuttles along the unseen strands of fate woven throughout Creation, allowing him to move and stand freely on thin air as easily as the ground. In a location outside fate the martial artist is forced to constantly reweave his own fate, tethering it to points in the area, increasing the cost of this charm to 6m. Further, the martial artist may reflexively spend a point of willpower (in Step 2 if in response to an attack) to hide between the strands in the web until his next action, turning him both invisible and immaterial. When used in Step 2, this acts as a perfect defense against an attack if the attacker cannot strike dematerialized targets. If the attacker can strike dematerialized targets, but has no way of seeing invisible targets, use normal rules for fighting blind apply.

Cost: 6m, 1wp
Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4
Type: Simple (Speed 5, DV -1)
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Obvious, Counterattack
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Unnatural Many-Step Stride

Arrows fell upon her, forcing her to descend.

The character moves in a sliding, shifting kata—her feet constantly moving and nearly impossible for the eye to track. All attempts to sweep the martial artist, knock her down, clinch, or hold her, or make a targeted attack against her lower body suffer an external penalty equal to the martial artist’s Essence. Further, she may always stand back up as a reflexive action.

Finally, the martial artist glides effortlessly across Creation. Once per tick she may reflexively move (Martial Arts x2) yards. This can be done in Step 9 as a counterattack to move after the effects are applied in Step 10.

Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Poison, Stackable, Touch
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None

But the Essence burning within her set the arrows afire.

The martial artist’s fingers needle into the target’s flesh, tainting the target’s Essence such that her soul slowly dissolves from the inside. An unarmed attack supplemented by this charm is modified by a special poison (Special/Action, --, Trauma (Essence), -(Martial Arts)/2) that is applied if at least one die of damage is rolled. On each of the character’s actions, she bleeds off 5 motes minus threshold successes on the Trauma roll. This lasts for (Essence) actions. Multiple applications stack the duration and penalty like a normal poison.

If the defender runs out of motes, she falls into a coma for the attacker’s (Martial Arts) days, during which she need not eat, drink or breath (though they wake up ravenous enough to make up for lost time) and she does not regain motes or Willpower. Upon waking, the target has nothing but the haziest recollection of what happened during the scene she fell unconscious as an Illusion effect that costs 5wp to overcome.

Cost: 6m, 1wp
Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4
Type: Extra Action
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None

She answered the arrows’ flight with a storm of her own.

The character extrudes a number of fine threads of essence equal to her permanent Essence, each with a length of (Essence) x10 yards, use the martial artist’s (Strength + Martial Arts) as its strength. These threads are under her control, and each thread immediately does one of the following:

• Lift and manipulate a single unattended weapon or object. Attacking with a weapon held by a thread relies on the martial artist’s normal traits and counts as an unarmed martial arts attack for purposes of this charm

• Pierce an opponent’s skin, using the statistic for the martial artist’s punch, except that it deals lethal damage and adds the piercing tag.

• Disarm or sweep an opponent.

Each of these actions is Speed 6, DV -0 and are unparriable unless the target is immune to unexpected attacks. These actions are in addition to the character’s normal action, but he not split any of these actions.

Cost: 10m, 1wp
Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4
Type: Simple (DV -2)
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Shaping
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Rain of Unseen Threads

And the small maiden began...

Hundreds of fine, transparent filaments of Essence launch from the character’s hands, weaving around the surroundings and each other to entangle all opponents within (Essence + Martial Arts) x10 yards. Inside this radius movement speed is halved and the martial artist can reflexively perform blockade movement actions on anyone in the radius. Further, everyone in the area takes a (Martial Arts)/2 External Environmental Penalty on all actions that require movement. The martial artist and up to (Essence) additional people at a time can be rendered immune to these penalties, chosen at the beginning of each action tick. These threads move with the martial artist, catching new opponents who enter the radius yet eerily bending out of the way of anyone he wishes to give passage. This is a shaping effect on the environment, not an individual.

Cost: 15m
Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form-Type, Combo-Basic, Overdrive
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: One complete Celestial martial art (all Charms), Dance of the Hungry Spider, Maw of Dripping Venom, Nest of Living Strands

...to climb the waterspout again.

The character moves her hands with the deft, arachnid precision of a weaver, her fingers flicking like the limb of a spider. With such grace and coordination, she may take three fully independent physical actions at a time. In effect, on each action tick the character goes three times, functioning as though three characters were going simultaneously. You take the highest speed of any of your actions but the DV penalties from all your actions are cumulative. If any of your independent actions contain a charm that is not Combo-OK or Combo-Basic then you are unable to use any reflexive charms after your action tick until your DV next refreshes. Although the martial artist may split these actions normally (only taking the penalties for doing so within that Independent Action), if any of his actions contain an Extra-Action charm then you lose the benefits of this charm—that is, you can choose to either take three independent actions from this charm or use an Extra Action charm, not both. Independent actions do not allow you to move more than once, and only one action’s worth of time has elapse for the purpose of duration.

Further, the character gains an Overdrive pool of 10 motes while this Form is active. While this form is active, the character gains 1 mote on any tick where he successfully hit more than one enemy with an attack, an enemy loses motes in a fashion other than spending them, or she attacks someone outside her engagement range as it was at the beginning of her action tick. You can gain, at most, 1 mote per tick from this charm.
Artifact 4 (Starmetal Perfected Kata Bracers)
Artifact 2 (Starmetal Switchklaive)
Backing 3 (Gold Faction)
Connections 2 (Cult of the Illuminated, used to protect and guide Solars)
Connections 2 (Scavenger Lands, used to help undermine the Dragon-blood hegemony and support Solars)
Salary 3 (Resources 4 in Yu-Shan, Resources 5 in Creation)
Savant 2
Sifu 2 (Ebon Shadow Style, Violet Bier of Sorrows Style, Charcoal March of Spiders Style

Perfected kata bracers are prayer strips crafted of a single magical material and curled into bracers. The strips’ sutras are starmetal engravings, except in starmetal bracers—they use orichalcum. Attunement costs eight motes. When the character activates a Form-type Charm, the sutras inscribed on the bracers glow and lift from the artifact to engulf the character in light for a brief moment.

For the rest of the scene, she gains several benefits. She adds her Essence to the accuracy, damage and defense of her unarmed attacks and of attacks made with the active Form-type Charm’s particular weapons. She may choose to inflict bashing or lethal damage at will and she may parry lethal attacks unarmed. In addition, Starmetal eases the flow of martial Essence for Sidereals, reducing the cost of activating Charms of the same style by two motes (minimum 1).

Perfected Kata Bracers cost 8m to attune.

These large dagger-like weapons are miniature daiklaves designed for use by knife fighters. In addition to being perfectly balanced for melee use, these knives are extremely easy to conceal. When the character presses a hidden catch, the blade folds into the hilt leaving an unusually carved curio pierced to be worn as a large pendant or a charm to hang from a belt. With another touch, this curio can be instantly converted back into a knife. Because of the narrow blade, this weapon can find openings in almost any armor, allowing it to inflict piercing damage.

Speed 4, Accuracy +3, Damage +4L, Defense +1, Rate 3, Attune 6, Piercing
The Guardians - 2
The Key - 3
The Mask - 3
The Sorcerer - 2
The Treasure Trove - 2

The Guardians personify practical knowledge and rewards earned through long labor. As a constellation, it contains the wisdom of the beast and the elderly. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain exhibit a fundamental understanding of Creation from long observation or inbred wisdom. In the descending aspect, they exhibit meaningless superstition and promote or subscribe to quackery. This is the constellation of the shaman, the snake-oil salesman, the talisman seller, the midwife and the old duffer.

Trappings: The guardian is uneducated and carries a talisman. He is suspicious; he knows the weather and a wisdom that can aid you in your current task.

Correlations: Hearth wisdom, respect for the elderly, age, superstition, charlatans and mountebanks, tradition, patience, observation, inevitability

Resplendencies
• Lazy Works Smart Style, one Endurance: -2 to the diffi culty of any Athletics roll to perform physical labor, but only if the extra successes are used to shorten the time the task takes.
• Hayseed Eye, one Endurance per week: The character can detect whether someone she is interacting with is planning to take advantage of her. This conveys no advantage in combat.
• Talisman-Making Touch, one Endurance, one Paradox die: The character creates a talisman of any type from some personal possession or object she blesses (see Exalted, p. 379). She cannot keep it. She must give it to someone in need.

The Key represents wisdom discovered through scholarly study and intellectual understanding. The Key is rewards gained and tasks accomplished through cleverness. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain experiment, inquire, think sharply and create new solutions. In the descending aspect, they waste time on pointless experiments and tinker with things best left undisturbed. The Key is the constellation of the physician, the scavenger lord, the tinker, the junk seller and monkeys and other primates.

Trappings: The Key has a measuring stick and a pen, but no wax tablet or notebook. He claims he is innocent, but has a dishonest expression, so this is doubtful. He is a creature of large appetites.

Correlations: Innovation, hubris, automata and mechanical devices, books, libraries, medicine, curiosity

Resplendencies
• Never Cease Moving, one Endurance per week: So long as the character is making preparations for a Lore or Bureaucracy roll, she need sleep for only one heartbeat per day and can live on Essence alone.
• Ascending Destiny Mien, one Endurance, one Paradox die per week: The character can lower her difficulties by 1 when interacting with anyone whose Temperance is lower than the Sidereal’s Intelligence.
• Provable Location of the Gate, one Endurance, three Paradox dice: The character proves through measurements and formula that the Calibration Gate should be present right at that moment in her current location, and so it is. There may be a slight delay if the gate is elsewhere. This supersedes the spell Summon the Heavenly Portal (see The White Treatise, p. 82).

The Mask is secret wisdom and things known but concealed. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain know of religious wisdom, rites of passage and the secrets of the bed. In the descending aspect, they obfuscate deliberately. The Mask is the constellation of the spy, the priest and the librarian.

The Mask is damaged. The Sidereals twisted it shortly after the Solar Purge to create the Arcane Fate and protect themselves from the scrying eyes of the Dragon-Blooded and the Lunars. Sidereals cannot create for themselves ascending or descending destinies of the Mask, though they can create these destinies for others and benefit from resplendent destinies as normal.

Trappings: The Mask wears clothes of soft fabric and a mask to conceal his face. He is quiet, and he does not announce himself. The Mask clings to sacred places and lingers around manses and demesnes.

Correlations: Secrets, lies, security services, guarded individuals, religious worship, extortion, trickery

Resplendencies
• Privacy-Enhancing Gesture, one Endurance: The area within (Essence x10) yards of the character becomes proof against supernatural scrying, teleportation and other forms of intrusion. This includes observation using the Everywhere and Nowhere Technique.
• Foot Treads No Twig, one Endurance, one Paradox die: The Sidereal’s player may reroll a single (Dexterity + Stealth) roll before it’s compared to an enemy’s roll.
• Everywhere and Nowhere Technique, one Endurance, three Paradox dice per week: The character can conceal herself in the most unlikely of places—between raindrops, between the moments of the hour and behind the curtains on a dusty stair in a faraway town. The character eats by dining on the food of others when they look away, and sleeps only in the secret places that the Division of Secrets salts across the Tapestry as safe houses. None can see her, but she sees much. In any place where there are shadows and she is unobserved, the character can instantly disappear. So long as the character persists in this furtive existence, she avoids all legal, bureaucratic and official scrutiny. Those attempting to deliver summonses to her are powerless without supernatural tracking, and those attempting to find her must beat her player’s (Intelligence + Occult) roll, with her (college + Essence) added as automatic successes. This existence of supernatural occultation is demanding, and she has just seven free hours per week to spy and observe on those within a number of miles equal to her Essence, so long as those places are not proof against scrying and supernatural intrusion.

The Sorcerer is the Exalt, the god, the geomancer and the talisman maker. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain practice artifice, sorcery, thaumaturgy and geomancy. In the descending aspect, they summon demons, worship the Yozis and practice necromancy. The Sorcerer is the constellation of tasks accomplished through use of Essence. Sidereals use this college to set up resplendent destinies as Sidereal Exalted so they can smoothly conduct business in Heaven and with other Exalted. Many who think they know a Sidereal Exalt may one day have a hard time naming or describing her. Most Sidereals don’t keep such identities for longer than a century.

Trappings: The Sorcerer is one of the Exalted and a Prince of the Earth. He displays goods of the magical materials, a caste mark and regal bearing. He wears armor and carries a daiklave.

Correlations: Humanity, geomancy, artifice, demon summoning and infernalism, talismans, Essence use, egotism, Yozi-slaves

Resplendencies
• Invincible Essence Core, one Endurance: The character may reflexively block any effect that lowers her permanent Essence, causes her to lose her memory or makes her lose access to spells, Charms, Combos or Abilities, except for pattern bite or the weakening effect of her Greater Sign.
• Prince of the Earth, one Endurance per scene: The character has many peers but no superiors. +3 dice to all social rolls with the un-Exalted, so long as she acts the part of an Exalt. This implies no sense of superiority.
• Seer, variable Endurance: If the character takes part in astrology to determine or plan the future with another Sidereal, she may spend any amount of Endurance to give bonus dice to the attempt. This Resplendency’s effect is a hallmark of major Sidereal gatherings.

The Treasure Trove governs revealed wisdom. It is understanding and knowledge held like a beacon. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain become erudite, educated and enlightened; they accomplish tasks and earn rewards through excellence. In the descending aspect, they become intellectual elitists, pointless celebrants, bookworms and know-it-alls. This constellation governs the teacher, the revolutionary, the prophet, the savant and animals that hunt by stinging or leaping upon their prey.

Trappings: The Treasure Trove carries a book of wisdom and wears scholar’s robes. She is poor in terms of money but educated in formal learning. The Treasure Trove is deeply impractical but means well.

Correlations: Horoscopes, schools, scholarships, blight, blindness, inflexibility, secret societies, prophecies.

Resplendencies
• Stab the Seer’s Eyes, one Endurance per season: The character is instantly aware of any mortal astrological reading about her and can cause it to give any result she pleases.
• Dismissive Scholar’s Sniff, one Endurance: The character may always appeal to an authority yet unread. She may add her Essence to a Lore or Bureaucracy roll, provided she is arguing with one whose Lore does not exceed her own.
• Professional Mien, one Endurance per month: Those around the character will treat her as if she were cultured and educated and turn to her to resolve linguistic disputes, solve difficult problems and so on. This is an Illusion effect. The Sidereal’s player may add the character’s Essence to Presence or Socialize rolls, but only if her Lore is higher than the target’s Intelligence.
Bonus Points: 20

10 for Essence 5
7 for Abilities
3 for Willpower

Experience: 15

Psychie · Jun 26, 2020

Name: Amara Taeger
Age: 322
Caste: Endings
Allegiance: Bronze Faction

Attributes
Str: 3
Dex: 5
Sta: 2

Cha: 4
Man: 4
App: 4

Per: 2
Int: 3
Wits: 3

Abilities
*Resistance: 2
Ride: 2
Sail: 2
Survival: 1
Thrown: 1

Craft: 2
*Dodge: 3
Linguistics: 3 - Old Realm, Riverspeak, Firespeak, Guild Cant, High Realm
Performance: 2
Socialize: 2

Archery:
*Athletics: 2
Melee:
Presence: 1
War:

Investigation: 1
Larceny:
*Lore: 3
*Occult: 4
Stealth: 2

*Awareness: 4
*Bureaucracy: 2
*Integrity: 2
*Martial Arts: 5
*Medicine:

Specialties
Martial Arts - Floating Ribbon: 2, War Fans 1
Occult - Sorcery: 1
Backgrounds
Acquaintances: 2
Artifact - Infinite Resplendence Amulet of Moonsilver and Starmetal: 4
Artifact - Starmetal Perfected Kata Bracers: 4
Artifact - Starmetal Floating Ribbon: 2
Artifact - Paired Starmetal Seven Jeweled Peacock Fans: 2
Backing - Bronze Faction: 2
Celestial Manse - Gem of Perfect Mobility: 5
Connections - The Guild: 2
Connections - The Bureau of Destiny (Endings): 2
Salary: 2

Essence: 5
Personal: 18
Peripheral: 47 / 29
Committed: 18

Willpower: 8
Compassion: 2
Conviction: 3
Temperance: 2
Valor: 2

Anima Effects
All Sidereal Exalted can channel Essence through their animas to generate common effects. This is inefficient compared to natural Charms and sorcery, but it is a reflexive and natural action from the moment of Exaltation on.
A Sidereal can spend a single mote of Essence to do the following:
• Make her caste mark obvious for one minute, as if the character had spent eight to 10 motes of Peripheral Essence. The caste mark shines with the symbol and color of her Maiden.
• Know the exact time and date by sensing the position of celestial bodies.
• Attune her anima to the ripples cast by doorways between worlds. For the rest of the scene, the character recognizes the presence of gateways to Heaven or Malfeas within (her Essence x 100) feet. She does not learn the gateway’s location, only that it is present.

Anima Effect: A Chosen of Endings reflexively makes the Lesser Sign of Saturn for 10 motes. The Chosen’s anima billows outward in a brilliant violet that clings to all those affected. For one scene, the Sidereal and all his allies within (his Essence x 10) adds (Essence) to the raw damage of attacks made by the Sidereal and all allies within range; this effect adds no damage to an attack that otherwise inflicts no levels of damage. Allies enjoy this advantage only as long as they remain within range. With the Sidereal’s anima banner in the 11 to 15 mote range, this costs only five motes. If the banner is fully manifest (16+), this costs only one.
First Martial Arts Excellency - Essence Overwhelming

Cost: 1m+; Mins: (Ability) 4, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive
(Step 1 for attacker, Step 2 for defender)
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Any (Ability) Excellency
The target number of any dice roll using the chosen Ability decreases by one for every mote the player spends. For one mote, any roll of 6 or higher becomes a success; two motes grant success on rolls of 5 or higher. This Excellency cannot reduce a target number below 4.
Alternatively, the player can spend one Willpower point and enough Essence to reduce the target number to 3. This grants an “auspicious success”: the player forgoes the actual roll but transforms every die in the dice pool into an automatic success instead.
If the player declares in Step 2 of attack resolution that he wants to purchase an auspicious success for a defensive Ability, the expenditure of one Willpower and enough Essence to lower the target number to 3 doubles his appropriate Defense Value against that attack.

Cost: 2m+, 1wp; Mins: (Ability) 4, Essence 3;
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Any (Ability) Excellency
By tuning her Essence to resonate with one of the 25 constellations and its corresponding astrological college, a Sidereal can attune herself to a particular Ability and use its first three Excellencies with greater efficiency. Each two motes committed to this Charm reduce the mote cost for the first three Excellencies, to a minimum of zero. A character may never spend more than twice her permanent Essence on this Charm; and an Exalt may employ only one Propitious (Ability) Alignment at a time.
Propitious (Ability) Alignment is incompatible with the Fateful Excellency: while employing this Charm, one cannot apply Essence Auspicious to any dice pool involving that Ability. If a character does so, the Propitious Alignment immediately ends. On the other hand, every dot a character has in an Ability’s corresponding astrological college reduces the cost of Propitious (Ability) Alignment by one mote, to a minimum of 1. Thus, a Sidereal with Essence 3 and four levels of the Mask could spend two motes, and get the same results as if she spent six motes on Propitious Stealth Alignment.
In every other way, Propitious (Ability) Alignment follows the same rules as Infinite (Ability) Mastery.

Resistance - The Mask

Cost: —; Mins: Resistance 1, Essence 1; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Stackable
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
Just as all Exalted, Sidereals gain extra health levels with each purchase of this Charm. Each health level gained thus helps a Sidereal operate at maximum efficiency in spite of his wounds for just a little bit longer. A player may purchase this Charm for his character up to once per dot of the Resistance Ability his character possesses.
Each purchase grants the character one additional -0 and one additional -2 health level.

Ride - The Messenger

Cost: 2m; Mins: Ride 3, Essence 2;
Type: Simple (Speed 6, DV -2)
Keywords: None
Duration: One journey
Prerequisite Charms: None
A character with a destination in mind asks the Maiden of Journeys for her best advice on arriving there. The player then rolls his character’s Essence. For one success, the Maiden shows the Seer a path that enables him to reach his destination in three-quarters of the time it would normally take him based on travel type and distance. (See the chart on p. 264 of Exalted.) If the character points out that he has a deadline to keep (and the player rolls three successes), Mercury illuminates any means that might exist to get the character there under normal travel conditions. (The character might have to run for three hours straight, bribe a courier in an elaborate horse relay system to give up his mount, gallop all the way to the coast and finally board a hard-rowing ocean vessel, but he’ll make his appointment.) If the player rolls five successes and the character has a deadline to beat, the Maiden of Journeys reveals to him a miraculous path that will get the Seer to his destination ahead of his deadline no matter how far away it is and how little time remains.

Sail - The Captain

Cost: 3m; Mins: Sail 2, Essence 1;
Type: Simple (dramatic action)
Keywords: None
Duration: Special
Prerequisite Charms: None
When the Viziers must travel, destiny helps them along. The character may use this Charm at any port. Within a day, the character absolutely definitely finds a vessel about to leave for her destination and willing to take her aboard. The ship’s captain might not intend to go exactly where the Sidereal intends... but the Sidereal knows the ship will end up there anyway. Viziers should keep in mind that some destinations carry intrinsic dangers: the only way to reach Bluehaven, for instance, is to board a vessel destined for capture by the Lintha pirates. The Charm arranges transportation; safety is the Sidereal’s own problem.
This Charm’s effects extend beyond ships that sail rivers and seas. A Sidereal can find equally fortuitous transport on the sand-ships of the Southern deserts, caravans, stagecoaches or any other form of group conveyance. This Charm does not help with personal transport such as riding beasts, and will not work in locations where vehicles do not regularly arrive and depart.

Dodge - The Ewer

Cost: 2m; Mins: Dodge 2, Essence 2;
Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Viziers anticipate attacks upon them, and avoid them. Apart from the name and Essence cost, this Charm duplicates Shadow Over Water (see Exalted, p. 227).
Even destiny falls into regular patterns, and to avoid one blow is just as good as avoiding all a foe’s attacks. Sidereals with Dodge 4+, Essence 3+ may repurchase this Charm. If it enhanced a successful application of the character’s Dodge DV against an attacker previously in the same tick, subsequent uses against that same attacker also raise the target number of the their dice pool by 1.

Cost: 10m; Mins: Dodge 3, Essence 2;
Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-Basic
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Absence
Vibrations in the strands of fate alert a Sidereal to imminent danger. Her player rolls (Dexterity + Dodge) against a difficulty equal to the permanent Essence of the foe responsible for the trouble. (Environmental dangers are difficulty 1.) If the roll succeeds, the Exalt avoids the harmful effect. For this Charm’s purposes, a “harmful effect” includes unexpected attacks, area-of-effect attacks, attacks with no physical component or even continuous effects with a duration longer than instant. (The character only needs to avoid a continuous effect once.) Attacks with very wide areas of effect (such as the Rain of Doom spell) defeat this Charm if the character is physically incapable of moving the distance needed to escape the effect.
The Sidereal’s player must activate this Charm either before her opponent’s attack roll or as soon as the player becomes aware of the effect.

This Charm may be employed to avoid any harmful effect (including all undesired physical, social, mental and spiritual influence), regardless of applicability or the scope of the attack, so long as the Sidereal succeeds on the Charm’s activation roll. It fails only against unexpected attacks, Limit Break and Pattern Bite. Duck Fate’s fallible activation roll is considered a unique Flaw of Invulnerability.
This Charm protects the person of the Exalt, including his possessions. It does not protect allies or distant estates just because they may be represented as Background traits on the Sidereal’s character sheet.

Investigation - The Key

Cost: 2m; Mins: Investigation 1, Essence 2;
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One miscellaneous action
Prerequisite Charms: None
When the character first learns this Charm, a measure of his Essence crystallizes in his mouth in the form of a small emerald pattern spider. The character spits out this indestructible construct, whereupon it immediately dematerializes and attaches itself to a part of his body. Thereafter, the character may spend two motes of Essence to instruct the spirit to fetch some particular piece of information for him. If the information is available and not actively concealed, the spider scuttles away along the weave of fate. The spider returns in the space of a miscellaneous action and whispers the information to the Sidereal.
The pattern spider can only retrieve simple, objective facts. It can answer questions such as, “What is that shopkeeper’s name?” or “When did it last rain in Nexus?” or even “Who stabbed Sesus Lahor?” It cannot answer questions such as, “Does the shopkeeper hate me?” (the spider doesn’t read minds), “Who’s winning the battle?” (the spider has no strategic sense) or “Who murdered Sesus Lahor?” (murder, unlike stabbing, is a matter of intent). Questions such as, “What is the Bull of the North up to?” usually give unhelpful answers, such as, “Eating lunch.” The pattern spider cannot retrieve information that is actively hidden or innately esoteric, such as spells, and the spider does not function in regions where fate’s influence is weak, such as the Wyld, shadowlands or Malfeas.
As an alternative to pulling such answers from the Loom of Fate, the Sidereal can send the spider with a query to her own library, in Creation or Yu-Shan, for her assistants to look up. The answer falls within the spider’s purview because the answer is objective information—what the Sidereal’s staff can locate in books—rather than anything so nebulous as truth. Such answers take longer to retrieve, of course.

Occult - The Sorcerer

Cost: 3m; Mins: Occult 2, Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Social, Virtue (Compassion)
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal makes of his caste mark a lantern that can reveal unmanifested spirits. The mark glows with the color associated with his caste and is visible to spirits and to Chosen of his caste. Anyone who can see the light can also see any unmanifested spirits within (Essence x 50) yards on whom the light shines.
Instead of adding an automatic success to the Sidereal’s social rolls, it adds one to her effective Appearance rating when interacting with spirits in social combat. It is Obvious only to characters capable of seeing the Mark’s light.

Cost: 5m; Mins: Occult 3, Essence 2;
Type: Simple (Speed 5, DV -0)
Keywords: None
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Mark of Exaltation
Patterns of Essence become music to the Sidereal’s ears, untangling the mysterious threads of fate with the revelation of their song. Charms, sorcery, and other magic give off a strange music that is nevertheless fitting to their aspect and nature. Spirits ring with the soft tintinnabulation of bells, while artifacts hum in low tones. Other than its purely auditory nature, this Charm functions as All-Encompassing Sorcerer’s Sight (Exalted, p. 222).

Cost: —; Mins: Occult 3, Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
This Charm permits the Sidereal to take Terrestrial Circle Sorcery actions, per page 252 of Exalted.

Cost: —; Mins: Occult 4, Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Terrestrial Circle Sorcery
This Charm permits the Sidereal to take Celestial Circle Sorcery actions, per page 252 of Exalted.

Awareness - The Crow

Cost: 6m; Mins: Awareness 2, Essence 1;
Type: Simple (Speed 4, DV -0)
Keywords: None
Duration: Five hours
Prerequisite Charms: None
Casting her perception into the near future, the Sidereal senses the presence of imminent danger. The Storyteller should have the Sidereal’s player roll any Awareness rolls that she is allowed to notice a threat (Essence x 2) minutes before she would normally be able to roll. When the Storyteller cannot determine the difficulty of the roll beforehand, use the highest ([Intelligence + Larceny] ÷ 2) of any character involved in the threat–or difficulty 1 if the Sidereal could notice the threat automatically. On a success, she receives a vague premonition of harm, putting her on guard without actually revealing the nature of the threat. Such forewarning adds one automatic success to her actual roll to notice the threat when it finally arrives.
Terrestrial Circle

Cost: 10m
Target: Creature
The sorcerer makes the Sign of the Hooded Headsman. His Essence congeals into a barbed chain two feet long that spins as it arcs toward the target at 170 yards per tick (about 340 miles per hour). The sorcerer can attack anyone he can see within 500 yards. The sorcerer’s player rolls (Perception + Occult) in the Cast Sorcery action, adding the character’s Essence as automatic successes to the roll. This attack may not be parried without a stunt or Charm. If this is a surprise attack, the chain’s great speed increases the difficulty to spot it by +2. The Flying Guillotine avoids obstacles (negating cover and shield bonuses) and can even turn corners to chase a foe. The silver weapon wraps about whatever body part it strikes and secures itself into a loop of chain with barbs along the inside. The chain spins with great speed as it tightens, inflicting horrific damage. The spell inflicts 18 levels of lethal damage, plus the successes gained on the attack roll. The chain always aims for the neck of the target. If the Flying Guillotine reduces the victim below Incapacitated, it decapitates the target. Most creatures find this instantly fatal. The chain itself seals shut the severed neck on the head, making it not so messy a trophy. If the damage does not kill the target, the chain has wraps around a shoulder, chest or limb thrown up as part of the defense, cuts deeply, and then vanishes in a flash of silver light. The chain likewise disappears if the target dodges, parries or otherwise counters the attack.
When used in war, this spell negates the normal penalty for attacking commanders and special characters, as it whips past all soldiers and fortifications on its way to its foe.

Cost: 15m
Target: Person
The Theft of Memory spell permits the sorcerer to snatch a memory from his victim, though it acts subtly—a rarity among spells. The sorcerer must bear an emerald (of at least Resources 2 value) in his hand and touch it to his target. He makes the Mudra of Remembrance and Forgetting with his other hand and releases the Essence of the spell. The spell’s Essence display can manifest as any number of noticeable phenomena—simple alchemical pyrotechnics from a street performer, weather effects or the light of the sun playing across the area. In order to conceal the casting of this spell, the caster’s player must succeed at a (Wits + Larceny) roll. People watching the scene realize the character just cast a spell if their players gain more successes on a (Perception + Occult) roll than the sorcerer’s roll to conceal the spell. Moreover, all the legerdemain in the world will not conceal this spell from creatures able to view the flows of Essence. To Essence sight or Charms such as All-Encompassing Sorcerer’s Sight, it is very clear that the sorcerer just cast a spell.
The sorcerer must know what memory he wants to steal. When he touches his victim, his player rolls (Charisma + Occult) as a social attack against the target’s Dodge MDV. If the attack succeeds, the target relives the memory for a moment and then it is gone, trapped in the gemstone. Failure indicates that the sorcerer does not steal that memory, cannot steal any other memory from that victim and suffers a -2 internal penalty on all Mental Attribute based rolls for the rest of the scene. Theft of Memory cannot be cast in combat. Memories are either buried beneath the disciplined mind of a warrior or lost amid the fear most other creatures feel in such situations

Celestial Circle

Cost: 35m
Target: Summoned Calibration Gate
Once a year, on the third night of Calibration, the Celestial City of Yu-Shan revels in the Carnival of Meeting. In ages past, mortal and Exalted dignitaries would be invited to Heaven to join the festival, but in these debased times, the gods of Yu-Shan neglect the world. The starmetal Calibration Gate still appears in Creation once a year to admit mortals to the Carnival, though the gods send out no invitations. During that night, it cannot be summoned. For the rest of the year, though, a sorcerer may call it with this spell.
The sorcerer evokes a foot-wide patch of rippling gold, like sunlight on water, He reaches into it, feels for a handle, and pulls. A celestial bell chimes. A minute later, the Calibration Gate appears. It materializes with equal aplomb outside, indoors, underwater or even in midair. It remains open for five minutes before vanishing again, and it cannot be re-summoned to any place within a mile of that location until a day and night have passed. No known force can damage the gate. Any number of characters can pass through the Calibration Gate, although they cannot leave Heaven by the same route. What’s more, if they have no official place or legitimate business in the Celestial City, they need quite an argument to persuade the three giant orichalcum lions on the near side to let them pass. These celestial lions respect honor and justice but are nigh-undefeatable in battle and immune to mind-affecting magic. (And there are six more waiting on the other side of the door.)
Many of the Sidereal Exalted know this spell and use it to return from their assignments within Creation. A few Lunar sorcerers know it too and use it to confer with allies in the celestial Bureau of Nature. Sidereal leaders worry what Solar sorcerers might learn if they obtain access to Yu-Shan. Any Abyssal Exalt who tried using the Calibration Gate would likely regret it in very short order—nine orichalcum lions notwithstanding.

Cost: 25m
Target: Caster
The mighty among sorcerers can travel across the face of the world in an instant, if they must. The character gathers a blazing corona of Essence around him and shapes it through a complex series of finger and hand gestures. When he releases the magic, he is wrapped in whirling clouds of Essence. When the clouds dissipate, he is gone. The character can choose to reappear in any location he has seen before, either with his own eyes or through magic, so long as the destination is within 10 miles per point of the character's permanent Essence and is not warded against magical travel.
The character's arrival is as spectacular as his departure with the same whirling clouds gathering out of nothingness and then dissipating to reveal the character, still wrapped in a corona of Essence and still channeling the magic with complicated gestures. The arrival takes the same amount of time as the character's departure - after appearing, the character must take two Shape Celestial Circle Sorcery actions before he can join a conflict. If the character is interrupted during this time, then the spell is not lost - having already functioned - but the character is disoriented and suffers a -2 internal penalty to all actions for (8 - Stamina) hours.
Travel by this spell is quite safe. The design of its Essence structure ensures that, if the destination is unsafe, the character appears in the nearest stable, open space with solid footing and no ongoing sources of environmental damage.
This spell can be used in war. If the sorcerer increases its shaping time to long ticks, this spell can transport a unit of a Magnitude no greater than the Exalt's Essence. The sorcerer must be attached to this unit. If the unit joins war before the second half of the casting completes, every member of the unit and the unit itself suffers the aforementioned disorientation. Use the Stamina of the unit leader to determine ow long this disorientation lasts.
Martial Arts - The Sword
Weapons and Armor: This style treats as unarmed attacks those made with fan, sash, cape and rope. Without appropriate reinforcement (as a war fan or rope dart), such weapons are rarely useful. Some have artifact equivalents, like the fate ring or forms of magical clothing. Most clothing and similar things are too flimsy to serve as weapons for this style, but those that are specially weighted (usually at negligible increased cost) can serve as improvised weapons that are compatible with the style. They generally have Speed 6, Accuracy -3, Damage +0B to +4B, Defense -2, Rate 2. Many carry the ‘R’ tag.

There is a thaumaturgical ritual from the Art of Enchantment known as Careful Master Peacock Attire (2, Intelligence, 3, One week) that is often used to reinforce clothing for use with this style. It transforms ordinary clothing of any quality into subtle protective gear that gives its wearer +1L/1B armor soak that stacks with standard forms of armor but not similar sources of soak (such as steelsilk clothing, which is a suitable artifact substitute). Clothing or other objects so enchanted are sturdy enough to be used at least as improvised weapons that are compatible with Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Style’s Charms. Increasing their Artifact or Resources cost by one allows them to be used as real weapons, eliminating the Accuracy penalty their equivalent improvised version would suffer.

This style is incompatible with armor.

Complementary Abilities: Dreaming Pearl Courtesans must have at least one dot in either Performance or Presence as well as one dot in Socialize.

Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1; Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-Basic
Duration: One action
Prerequisite Charms: None
The distracting beauty of the martial artist’s hand gestures and flashing fans make it difficult to bring oneself to strike her and, even when violence is sought, to strike true. This Charm can only be used when the character can validly apply her own Martial Arts-based Parry DV with an unarmed free hand or with a form weapon of Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Style. It grants her a cover bonus to DV equal to the Defense trait of her weapon. This does not count as a dice bonus from Charms and this bonus is based only on the Defense of the weapon in question, not any external bonuses that may increase the weapon’s Defense like Perfected Kata Bracers. Magical material bonuses and the like are not external bonuses. If a weapon’s Defense is 1 or less, this Charm’s distracting kata still provides a cover bonus of +2.

Cost: 1m per +1L/2B soak; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1; Type: Reflexive (Step 7)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
Captivating as baubles and precious treasures, still the shining beetle carapace and oil-slick, rainbow surface of cabochons are impenetrable and sturdy. Activating this Charm, the stylist adopts this same combination of fortitude and sparkling countenance, a prismatic sheen falling over his skin and clothing to turn aside blows and amaze onlookers. Every mote spent on this Charm increases his natural soak by +1L/2B for the rest of the scene, up to a maximum of (Martial Arts) motes.

Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 1; Type: Reflexive (Step 1)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Leaving behind a white cloud of afterimages in the air, the martial artist’s attacks are fierce and fast, even with “weapons” like clothing. The world shivers with the cutting precision of the martial artist. Used to enhance an unarmed Martial Arts attack, this Charm reduces its Speed by one, to a minimum of 3, and raises the weapon’s Accuracy to +0 if it would be lower. If the weapon already has Accuracy +0 or higher, this Charm adds one to its Accuracy.

Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Form-type, Obvious, Social
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Demure Carp Feint, Pearlescent Filigree Defense, Lethal Paper Fan Attack
The Dreaming Pearl Courtesan is the center of attention, always accompanied by fluttering allies. When adopting this form the character releases up to (Essence) weapons that are form weapons of this style (not her own hands or feet, of course). They float in the air, surrounding her like a gossiping crowd. As long as one such weapon flies free, the martial artist may make a single, reflexive unarmed Martial Arts attack every action tick, but only with one of the flying weapons.

An attack that successfully inflicts at least one level of damage to the martial artist may also knock one of her accessories out of the air, the attacker sacrificing one level of damage to do so. This causes no permanent harm to the prop, but without reactivating this Charm the weapons no longer flies nor counts for the bonuses provided by this Charm.

In social combat, these floating accessories help to emphasize the martial artist’s intentions. She gains extra dice on Performance- and Presence-based social attacks equal to the number of weapons flying around her. The weapons flit about, acting out, twisting, moving the air and framing the character’s face and actions to call attention to her points as she desires.

While this Form Charm is active, it also enhances the use of its prerequisite Charms in the following ways:

• Demure Carp Feint: On the tick the martial artist activates Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Form and until her next action tick, she may activate Demure Carp Feint as if it were not a Charm. By reflexively paying a two-mote surcharge, the martial artist may do so again after having already activated this Form. The Charm also gains the Social keyword while this Form Charm is active, allowing it to apply its DV bonus as bonus dice to shield the user’s motivations (Exalted, p. 131) and to enhance Socialize rolls to set up an unexpected social attack. These social combat options do count as a dice bonus from Charms.

• Pearlescent Filigree Defense: The soak bonus provided by this Charm increases to +2L/3B per mote. Every two motes spent on the Charm also increases the character’s Appearance for the scene, but only to a maximum of (Essence) additional dots. No combination of Charms that includes this one may increase Appearance by more than a total of (Essence) dots, and dice provided this way count as a Charm bonus.

• Lethal Paper Fan Attack: If a weapon’s Accuracy would be less than +0, it rises to +1. If it is already +0 or higher, it is increased by +2. Taking advantage of this benefit increases the Charm’s cost by one mote and is optional. This same surcharge may be applied to give the Charm the Social keyword, allowing it to further emphasize the points made by the martial artist’s flying weapons. This enhances a Presence- or Performance-based social attack, making it unnatural influence that costs one Willpower to ignore as the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan’s words cut truer and deeper with her showy emphasis.

Cost: 2m per weapon, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; Type: Extra Action
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Form
The martial artist’s delicate movements extend through her awareness of herself into the props she surrounds herself with, be they fans of silk or steel, sashes weighted or not, and even the air they fly through. These are her minions, and they act in concert with her to perfection. This Charm is a flurry of up to (Essence + 1) unarmed Martial Arts attacks, at least one of which must be made with the character’s own hands or a held weapon. The others may be made with her hands, feet or held items, or by the flying weapons that surround a martial artist who has activated Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Form. Attacks made with flying weapons can validly target foes up to (Essence x 5) yards away.

The attacks made with this Charm ignore multiple action penalties but not Rate, and impose a DV penalty equal to the highest of any one attack in the flurry.

Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 9)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Counterattack, Obvious
Duration: Instant or until the clinch ends
Prerequisite Charms: Flurry of August Leaves Concentration
The whirl of high society surrounds the martial artist, deflecting and subduing distractions that are not worth his time. This Charm is an unarmed Martial Arts counterattack using the character’s full (Dexterity + Martial Arts) pool to respond to an attack against him. The martial artist must have successfully parried the attack. If he has activated Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Form and has at least one floating weapon available, he may use this Charm to respond to attacks from as much as (Essence) yards away; otherwise, this is a close combat Charm. It may have one of two effects:

• Successfully striking the aggressor is resolved as an attempt to disarm them in response. This follows all the rules found on Exalted, p. 158, save that the martial artist suffers no external penalty on his attack roll. This is an Instant effect.

• Successfully striking the aggressor initiates a grapple that can only be used to hold them. This clinch is maintained as long as the martial artist remains within (Essence) yards of his foe and commits motes to this Charm. Every six ticks after initiating it he reflexively maintains the clinch with ([Dexterity + Martial Arts] ÷ 2) successes, which may be enhanced further with Charms.

He may not maintain more of these grapples than he has flying weapons as per Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Form, and each grapple reduces by one the number of weapons considered for the effects and bonuses of the Form Charm. A foe that gains control of the clinch can only respond by ending the clinch normally. If the flying prop used for the grapple is attacked and destroyed or knocked out of orbit, the associated clinch ends immediately.

Cost: —; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Emotion, Shaping, Social
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Resplendent Sash Grapple Technique

With a word and perhaps a rude gesture, a secret properly revealed might leave even the most confident exposed and unmanned. Having gotten to know a foe, the martial artist can now embarrass him. This Charm permanently enhances its prerequisite, adding the following response options:

• Successfully striking the aggressor does not inflict damage. Instead, the target makes a reflexive roll of (Wits + [Dodge or Larceny]) against a difficulty equal to the martial artist’s threshold successes on the counterattack. If the target fails, the straps and buckles loosen on their armor and their bulwark flies from them as they try in vain to evade the counterattack, depriving them of the benefit of their armor as it comically slumps across their shoulders and down their knees. This is equally effective against mundane and magical armor, but it can only remove one source of armor soak at a time. A character may resituate their armor and regain its benefits with a number of consecutive miscellaneous actions equal to its mobility penalty (minimum one), which cannot be flurried.

If the target benefits from armor soak from Charms, these become Obvious in nature to the martial artist. Instead of stripping the target of the physical armor that hangs from his frame she may flense his spirit with derisive laughter, forcing one of the target’s armor soak-providing Charms to prematurely end as if the target canceled it. This is a Shaping effect.

• In social combat, the Charm can be used to respond to a social attack with a saucy slap to the behind (with or without the aid of a long, weighted sleeve) or even just a knowing look that tells everyone how transparent the target is. This is still resolved like a physical counterattack, but if it successfully hits the target must roll their Temperance at a difficulty of half the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan’s Essence. If they fail this roll, the target suffers a -2 internal penalty to all social actions, reflexive or not, for the rest of the scene. Overcoming this unnatural emotion costs two Willpower.

Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Emotion, Obvious, Social
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Flurry of August Leaves Concentration
There is only so much room around the star of the show, and so there is always competition to fill that space. Those left out of the running are heartbroken, neither savvy nor lucky enough to spend time with the martial artist. This Charm is activated with a (Manipulation + Martial Arts) roll, adding extra dice equal to the character’s Performance. Those whose MDV is lower than the martial artist’s successes are helplessly entranced by his posture, his movements, his mere presence.

This unnatural emotion imposes a -1 internal penalty to an affected character’s actions that do not reflect such feelings, such as paying close attention to other tasks or even defending oneself. The penalty increases to -3 when performing actions directly contrary to infatuation with the martial artist, such as attacking the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan or attempting to leave her presence. This lack of self-control lapses for (target’s Temperance) actions if the martial artist attacks a given target, and it may be ignored completely for two Willpower for the rest of the scene. This cost rises to three Willpower if the target already has a positive Intimacy to the martial artist when the Charm is activated.

The infatuation of this Charm lasts as long as a character can see the martial artist. When the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan is out of sight, it does not fade but instead transforms into longing melancholy to recapture the vision of one so lovely. It is otherwise dealt with in the same manner, inflicting penalties and resistible with Willpower expenditure as above.

Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive (Step 9)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Counterattack, Obvious, Social
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Fragrant Petal Fascination Kata
Giving ground before opposition, the martial artist gains a new position from which to respond. Such canny strategy is as much a defense, and as admirable, as remaining a bulwark and standing one’s ground. This Charm is activated in response to an attack either physical or social, the martial artist exhaling a small cloud of murky, blue smoke and disappearing in a flurry of sleeves, fans, gestures and polite nods. The character disappears and reappears up to (Essence x 5) yards away. The martial artist may only reappear in a place that she can see and could currently reach with any number of valid Move actions. This Charm fails to activate if the martial artist attempts to bypass a ward against teleportation.

When the martial artist activates this Charm and sacrifices a valid, readied (in hand or floating nearby with Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Form) in-style weapon to serve as a distraction, she may roll her (Manipulation + [Stealth or Socialize]), adding her Essence as extra successes. Leaving behind a torn sleeve or crumpled fan, the martial artist is nowhere to be found, having slipped into hiding as per a valid Stealth or Socialize action to conceal one’s location and intentions. The martial artist rolls Stealth in physical combat or Socialize in social combat. She may even hide when there is no valid cover, her foes dumbly losing track of her, but in this case she remains concealed only for two ticks.

This Charm does not help to defend against the attack to which it responds, though if that attack is part of a flurry it may render her an invalid target for the rest of the flurry. Obviously, this Charm does not render her an invalid target if she remains visible and within range of the attacker, but whether using Stealth or Socialize it can be equally effective at hiding her from a bone-breaking assault or a withering argument.

Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Simple (DV -0)
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Emotion, Obvious, Shaping, Social
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Vindictive Concubine’s Pillow Book, Seven Storms Escape Prana

Sidereal scholars who study this style make many conjectures on the nature of beauty and enchantment. If the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan reflects on the desires of the world as a whole, whence do these aesthetics come? Even the alien perspectives of the Primordials seem orthogonal to the nature of the Cup of Pearls and Wine Ascension. Activation of this Charm begins a physical transformation which occurs over time, from the tick it begins to when the character’s DV refreshes. The martial artist lifts into the air, too delicate to touch the ground. His body elongates, taking on the natural, powerful shape of a dragon, covered in iridescent scales. His eyes distend and warp to form perfect teardrops of burning sapphire, searing blue runnels dripping from them to mark their hundred-and-one duplicates trailing down either side of the character’s sinuous body. Instead of a dragon’s head, the martial artist’s thins and stretches into a gold-beaked foal’s head, crowned with four endlessly twisting antlers that dance like smoke in the wind. For each dot of his permanent Essence, the character’s new body possesses a pair of barbed carp fins. These float lazily within a few inches of where one might expect them to belong on such an alluring alien form.

When the character activates this Charm, he may reflexively and simultaneously activate Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Form by paying its cost. The shining rainbow scales of the character’s new body affords him an armor soak of 8L/12B and 4L/4B Hardness. He may substitute his permanent Essence for his Appearance rating as if it were his natural Attribute rating for the duration of the Charm. He loses his normal appendages, but the beak and fins serve largely the same purposes despite their odd appearance. These natural weapons of the Ascension body have the statistics listed below. In addition, the character’s fins are valid weapons to be levitated into the air around him by his Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Form. They may be knocked out of alignment like other flying weapons, but this merely deprives the Form Charm of their use, it does not remove them from the martial artist. They may be left behind to conceal the character using Seven Storms Escape Prana, in which case this does count as a Crippling amputation that removes the fin permanently (or until this Charm is ended and reactivated).

The character’s gear disappears Elsewhere for the duration, though necessary equipment may be called back to rest daintily atop a fin by paying one mote and taking a miscellaneous action to draw it forth. These appendages offer no hardship in holding, manipulating or caressing the world around the martial artist.

Though tales may be told of the Ascension body’s physical perfection, its beauty touches something deeper than simple visual aesthetics and transcends all known boundaries. The first time in a scene anyone with Dodge MDV less than (martial artist’s [Martial Arts + Essence]) sees, hears, feels or smells the martial artist, they are subject to an unnatural emotion that instills in them an Intimacy of heartaching appreciation for the wonderment that is the Ascension. This Intimacy cannot be suppressed or eroded until after the scene ends, though it may be rejected initially for two Willpower, rendering a character immune to this effect from any source for the rest of the scene.

The mystical advantages of this form can run to cruder ends, too. A character who has adopted the Cup of Pearls and Wine Ascension body treats the Type of Fragrant Petal Fascination Kata as Reflexive (Step 2) rather than Simple. In addition, he reduces the total cost of activating any other Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Charms (including the Form) by one mote, to a minimum of one.

Beak: Speed 5, Accuracy +1, Damage +2L, Defense -2, Rate 3, Tags: NP

Fin: Speed 4, Accuracy +2, Damage +3L, Defense +2, Rate 1, Tags: NR*

Coils: Speed 6, Accuracy +4, Damage +4B, Defense –, Rate 2, Tags: CNP

* Each fin is a separate weapon, and the character receives (Essence x 2) fins, so despite their low Rate they can be used to flurry many attacks.
This ancient Sidereal martial art is popularly known among the Viziers as “the twice-mastered art.” The less crude interpretation of this moniker refers to the style's history. Legend has it that Sapphire Veil of Passion style was originally invented by Entwined in Night‟s Shadows, a Chosen of Secrets. But he was selfish and proud, and refused to teach the style he had invented. He never took a student or produced any records, and its mysteries died with him. Centuries later, it was re-created from second- hand accounts and first-hand insights by an ambitious Joybringer to settle a bet with Ma-Ha-Suchi, and has remained a favored possession of the Chosen of Serenity ever since.
Sapphire Veil of Passion was derived from extensive first-hand study of that most ancient and enduring fascination of the human race—sex. Its masters weather the ribald jokes and off-color commentary of their younger contemporaries with patience and good humor. Those who face them in battle discover that these martial artists have turned their focus inward upon the hottest of flames and have tempered it into an exceedingly fine weapon. They do not jest about the style afterward. For more information on Sidereal martial arts, see Scroll of the Monk.
Weapons and Armor: Charms of this style treat attacks made with the urumi and its artifact equivalent, the floating ribbon, as unarmed attacks. This style is not compatible with armor, but is traditionally used with a buckler.

The Student’s Sutra of Desire: Once, there was a lusty maiden…

Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
…who desired the ideal lover.
Clearing her mind of all but the sensation of the moment, the martial artist cuts her gaze across an opponent. In so doing she sees him anew, with unsurpassed clarity. The character immediately gains the following knowledge about one individual: what manner of being the target is (Solar Exalt, god, raksha, etc), which martial arts styles he knows at least one Charm from, which martial arts styles he knows up to the Form-type Charm, which martial arts styles he has mastered, whether he has any Intimacies toward the martial artist, and the nature of those Intimacies, if they exist.
For the rest of the scene, the martial artist gains a +2 bonus to her DVs and MDVs against any opponent she has evaluated in this manner.
Into Infinite Depths may be activated as an innate power, which does not count as a Charm activation if Sapphire Veil of Passion Form is active.

Cost: 8m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4;
Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Counterattack, Obvious
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
She flirted her way across Creation,
Taking attention to imply invitation, the character is able to quickly close with those who draw her notice. This Charm may be activated in response to any social or physical attack. The martial artist vanishes in a swirl of collapsing sapphire ribbons, appearing one yard away from her attacker. In the case of long-range social attacks (such as those delivered through sorcery), the Charm's maximum allowable range of movement is (Essence x 20) miles. This action incidentally acts as a perfect dodge upon activation against physical ranged attacks of which the martial artist is aware, assuming the attack can be dodged. Subsequent ranged attacks during the remainder of the Charm's duration must be defended against normally.
As long as the martial artist does not voluntarily move away from the individual whom she activated Eternal Infatuation Dance to approach, she may stay within one yard of him at all times, regardless of his movement rate or any exotic movement abilities employed.
The initial movement granted by this Charm is considered a counterattack. This Charm may not be invoked more than once per action.

Cost: 13m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
courting handsome boys
Wild ribbons of yellow and scarlet power blaze around the character‟s attacking limb. Channeling her understanding of the male principle of Essence, the martial artist enchants an unarmed attack with aggressive, penetrating power. The attack is considered unblockable, ignores soak derived from armor, and in addition to inflicting standard damage, ignites a number of the target's motes equal to the martial artist's (Essence x 2). These motes are not only lost, but also immediately applied as raw lethal damage which ignores armor, but is soaked separately from the original attack. If the target lacks sufficient Essence, or lacks Essence at all, this aspect of the attack is wasted.

Cost: 5m, 3wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4;
Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Yellow Dragon Flight
and smiling girls.
Stepping back from determined opposition, the martial artist swirls with onyx ribbons. Channeling her understanding of the female principle of Essence, she enhances an unarmed parry against any attack she can perceive, even unblockable attacks, rendering the defense it provides perfect. Additionally, the martial artist regains one channel of any Virtue of her choice for every five motes or fraction thereof the opponent spent on the blocked attack. For example, if an opponent spends one to five motes, the martial artist regains one channel. If an opponent spends six to 10 motes, the martial artist regains two channels (one for the first set of five motes, and another for the remainder in the second set of five motes).

Cost: 15m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4;
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Eternal Infatuation Dance, Into Infinite Depths
She attended great debauches, but quantity did not satisfy.
Rooting herself in the midst of her opponents, the martial artist's anima erupts into a series of spiraling ribbons that brush aside the attacks of her foes. While this Charm persists, no penalties of any kind may reduce her DVs. (As always, inapplicability is not a penalty.) Characters attacking her from behind in a press also do not gain a free unexpected attack. Dissolution of Value automatically ends if the martial artist moves more than one yard from the point where she activated this Charm.

Cost: 10m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4;
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Emotion
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Dissolution of Value
Finally, she met a mirror. Realizing she had learned nothing,
Wrapping herself in self-indulgent dreams of her own triumph, the martial artist denies opponents the ability to hold themselves superior to her. No penalties may apply to her dice pools when she attacks any character she has evaluated with Into Infinite Depths during the course of the scene, save for multiple action penalties. Additionally, when any of her attacks inflict damage, the target must pay one Willpower or accept an Intimacy toward the Sidereal. (This Intimacy represents lust if appropriate to the character's gender preferences, uneasy fascination otherwise.)

Cost: 13m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5;
Type: Simple
Keywords: Crippling, Form-type, Emotion, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Black Dragon Coils, Satisfying Idle Fantasy, One complete Celestial martial art
the maiden was satisfied.
The martial artist executes a languid kata, hesitates a moment, and then erupts into a shuddering battle pattern. Her anima unfolds into a towering, shifting array of cerulean and sapphire ribbons, which twine about her body even as they strain for the sky. She levitates a finger's length above the ground as she moves, incidentally gaining perfect balance and the ability to move safely over hazardous terrain. Players of all characters who possess any sort of Intimacy toward her, positive or negative, must fail a Compassion roll or pay one Willpower per attack made against her. If she manages to strike any character who possesses no Essence or Willpower (non-Essence users are not evaluated for current Essence, only Willpower) with an unarmed attack, that character is immediately rendered unconscious for (attacker‟s Martial Arts) hours as a Crippling effect. Finally, she gains five motes whenever her DV refreshes.

Cost: 15m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5; Type: Reflexive (Step 10)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Shaping Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Sapphire Veil of Passion Form
The Elder Sutra of Desire: One morning, the maiden awoke…
Advanced students of the Sapphire Veil of Passion are among Creation's more careless fighters (and lovers), unconcerned with the consequences of their actions. This Charm may be activated when the martial artist successfully strikes an opponent with an unarmed attack, levying one of the following effects:
• The martial artist immediately terminates the effects of all unnatural mental influence from which she suffers, transferring them to her target, who must then deal with them as he is best able.
• The martial artist immediately terminates the effects of all Poison and Sickness effects from which she suffers, transferring them to her target.

Cost: 15m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Emotion, Obvious Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Sapphire Veil of Passion Form
…to find herself wearing a leash and collar.
Moving through a swift kata, the martial artist weaves sapphire threads out of her own Essence, which quickly knot around her. She is unable to take Dash or Jump actions while this Charm is in effect. More beneficially, she adds her Martial Arts rating in successes to all rolls to establish or control a grapple. Any character who enters a grapple with her (even one who initiated the grapple by attacking the martial artist) automatically gains an Intimacy of lust toward her, regardless of standard sexual preferences. This unnatural Emotion effect costs three Willpower to resist, or two if the character is not of the sex to which the target is normally attracted. Finally, all rolls by opponents to establish control of a grapple suffer an external penalty equal to the martial artist‟s Appearance if her last action was to hold an opponent.

Cost: 20m, 2wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Illusion, Servitude, Touch
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Silken Rope Trick, Someone Else's Consequence
She could not recall when or where she had acquired such fetters.
The martial artist gently touches a target she has rendered unconscious during the scene, manipulating the flow of his Essence through the chakra points known as the gates of desire. Upon awakening, the target gains a second Motivation to “Love and obey (the martial artist).” Her memories are also altered so that she believes the martial artist is an old friend or lover (whichever is appropriate to her normal sexual preferences). Memories that might contradict this belief are suppressed.
Resisting this unnatural mental influence requires that the target spend three Willpower within the space of a scene, over a number of scenes equal to (10 - target's Essence). While Joy in Ownership remains in effect, the target is metaphysically considered to be the martial artist‟s property.
Health Levels
-0 [ ][ ][ ]
-1 [ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ][ ][ ]
-4 [ ]
-I [ ]

Essence: 5
Personal: 18
Peripheral: 47 / 29
Committed: 18

Willpower: 8
Compassion: 2
Conviction: 3
Temperance: 2
Valor: 2

Join Battle: 7

Parry DV: 6 (11 with PKB and the Floating Ribbon, 12 with Fans)
Dodge DV: 7

Natural Soak: +1L/+2B
Armored Soak: +5L/+5B
Dreaming Pearl Defense: +5L/+10B or +10L/+15B when the Form Charm is active

Floating Ribbon
Speed 5 (3 with hearthstone), Accuracy +4 (+9), Damage +8L (+13), Defense +0 (+5), Attune 5
Seven Jeweled Peacock Fans
Speed 5 (3 with hearthstone), Accuracy +4 (+9), Damage +8B/+4L (+13B/+9L), Defense +3 (+8), Attune 4
The Crow - 3
The Sword - 3
The Key - 2
The Sorcerer - 2
The Shield - 2
The Peacock - 1
The Mask - 1

The Crow represents the end of illusions and dreams. It is inevitability and the recognition thereof. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain take comfort in death’s release, morbid humor and the heroism of forlorn hope. In the descending aspect, they display false bravado, confuse despair for acceptance, and care nothing for the suffering of others. The Crow is the constellation of the ancestor and the ancestor cult, the young widow, the old man, the death masks of Calibration dancers and death by old age.
Trappings: The Crow carries black feathers and wears a black cloak. She is morbidly humorous and clever, and she is attracted to shiny objects.
Correlations: Slow but painless deaths, inevitability, orphans, acceptance of death, dark humor, depression, waking, indifference
Resplendencies
• Reading Dead Eyes, one Endurance: By eating the eye of a corpse, the character can know the last thing the corpse saw before it died. She sees the last scene of the target’s life and becomes aware if the target left a ghost or a hungry ghost.
• Bold Filcher, one Endurance, one Paradox die: The character can take something from plain sight, and the players of those witnessing it must win opposed (Perception + Awareness) rolls against the character’s (Dexterity + Larceny) to notice.
• Feathered Cloak Trick, three Endurance, three Paradox dice per day: The character makes the Superior Sign of the Crow and becomes a raven, crow or other corvid. In this form, her Strength and Stamina are reduced to 1, but her other traits are unaffected. She has 0L/1B soak and may fly at triple her normal Move or Dash rate. Her equipment, clothing and gear pass to Elsewhere and travel with her until she changes back.

The Sword brings the end of hope. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain find their hopes realized, but must then continue without the assistance and inspiration those hopes provided. In the descending aspect, their dreams wither and die. This is the constellation of the broken, the crushed, the worn down, the salesman, the has-been, the virgin, the ghost, the pregnant woman and death after prolonged suffering and illness.
Trappings: The Sword is worn out. She carries or wears a withered flower, and she dresses in burial cerements. She weeps but cannot be consoled, and is unshod.
Correlations: Slow and painful deaths, perseverance, failure, illness, tribulation, inheritance, resignation, the vanquished, Sijan Resplendencies
• Style-Discerning Eye, one Endurance, one Paradox die: The Sidereal no longer merely hopes to study under a particular tutor, but can realize that dream. Activating this effect reflexively whenever she observes clearly as another individual activates a Martial Arts Charm, the Sidereal may realize the Charm’s trick. Thereafter, she may learn it without a tutor provided she possesses its prerequisites—normal experience point cost and doubled training time applies. If the Seer doesn’t learn the Charm within a year and a day, the realization fades.
• Minimum Legal Defense Competence, one Endurance: The Sidereal may apply her full Defense Value to any incoming attack, ignoring all penalties, effects that set the Defense Value to zero and other negative effects, provided she uses no Charm, Virtue, Willpower or similar effect to enhance her defense further.
• Tears of the Blade, three Endurance, one Paradox die: The Sidereal makes the Superior Sign of the Sword at a target. If mortal, the target is slain instantly or dies horribly within five days (the Sidereal’s choice). If Exalted, the target is irrevocably slain when next any form of damage reduces him to Incapacitated or below. For Terrestrial Exalted, this curse lasts until the end of their lives, but for Celestial Exalted, it lasts but a year and a day. This Resplendency has no effect on gods, elementals or those outside of fate.

The Key represents wisdom discovered through scholarly study and intellectual understanding. The Key is rewards gained and tasks accomplished through cleverness. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain experiment, inquire, think sharply and create new solutions. In the descending aspect, they waste time on pointless experiments and tinker with things best left undisturbed. The Key is the constellation of the physician, the scavenger lord, the tinker, the junk seller and monkeys and other primates.
Trappings: The Key has a measuring stick and a pen, but no wax tablet or notebook. He claims he is innocent, but has a dishonest expression, so this is doubtful. He is a creature of large appetites.
Correlations: Innovation, hubris, automata and mechanical devices, books, libraries, medicine, curiosity
Resplendencies
• Never Cease Moving, one Endurance per week: So long as the character is making preparations for a Lore or Bureaucracy roll, she need sleep for only one heartbeat per day and can live on Essence alone.
• Ascending Destiny Mien, one Endurance, one Paradox die per week: The character can lower her difficulties by 1 when interacting with anyone whose Temperance is lower than the Sidereal’s Intelligence.
• Provable Location of the Gate, one Endurance, three Paradox dice: The character proves through measurements and formula that the Calibration Gate should be present right at that moment in her current location, and so it is. There may be a slight delay if the gate is elsewhere. This supersedes the spell Summon the Heavenly Portal (see The White Treatise, p. 82).

The Sorcerer is the Exalt, the god, the geomancer and the talisman maker. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain practice artifice, sorcery, thaumaturgy and geomancy. In the descending aspect, they summon demons, worship the Yozis and practice necromancy. The Sorcerer is the constellation of tasks accomplished through use of Essence.
Sidereals use this college to set up resplendent destinies as Sidereal Exalted so they can smoothly conduct business in Heaven and with other Exalted. Many who think they know a Sidereal Exalt may one day have a hard time naming or describing her. Most Sidereals don’t keep such identities for longer than a century.
Trappings: The Sorcerer is one of the Exalted and a Prince of the Earth. He displays goods of the magical materials, a caste mark and regal bearing. He wears armor and carries a daiklave.
Correlations: Humanity, geomancy, artifice, demon summoning and infernalism, talismans, Essence use, egotism, Yozi-slaves
Resplendencies
• Invincible Essence Core, one Endurance: The character may reflexively block any effect that lowers her permanent Essence, causes her to lose her memory or makes her lose access to spells, Charms, Combos or Abilities, except for pattern bite or the weakening effect of her Greater Sign.
• Prince of the Earth, one Endurance per scene: The character has many peers but no superiors. +3 dice to all social rolls with the un-Exalted, so long as she acts the part of an Exalt. This implies no sense of superiority.
• Seer, variable Endurance: If the character takes part in astrology to determine or plan the future with another Sidereal, she may spend any amount of Endurance to give bonus dice to the attempt. This Resplendency’s effect is a hallmark of major Sidereal gatherings.

The Shield is the ecstatic warrior, who seeks battle without regard for victory. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain possess courage and heroism without regard for consequences. In the descending aspect, they battle without thought and display sadism, masochism, and suicidal bravery. This constellation governs scouts, assassins, heroic warriors, those who fight and die for their peers without regard for consequences and lone predators who hunt with claws and teeth.
Trappings: The Shield always carries a shield or a leather strap for biting. He is always armed and always eager for battle. He carries trophies of his kills.
Correlations: Barbarians and the barbarian code, fearlessness, protection, bragging, pain, heroism, heroic suicide, wrath, the Lunar Exalted
Resplendencies
• Wounded Lion Strength, two Endurance: During Step 7 of an attack’s resolution, the Sidereal may add damage dice equal to the number of wound levels she currently suffers.
• Hero’s Iron Skin, three Endurance per scene: So long as the Sidereal wears no armor, she has the effect of +9L/+9B armor. This is treated as natural soak.
• Aspect of the Bear, two Endurance, one Paradox die per scene: The character’s anima banner is transformed into the shape of a great bear. Whenever the character’s anima banner is visible, the players of all those who see it must make Valor rolls at difficulty 1 to face the Sidereal. This is a Compulsion effect. While in this state, the Sidereal cannot suffer Fatigue penalties, and her player can’t fail Valor rolls.

The Peacock governs practical alliance, thoughtful breeding and considered partnership. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain look carefully at the advantages of prospective mates. In the descending aspect, they are trapped in loveless marriages, forced alliances and other half-functional partnerships. The Peacock constellation governs the courtesan, the goodwife, the thoughtful matriarch, the established Dragon-Blooded household and predators who hunt in packs.
Trappings: The Peacock struts his magnificent finery, be it gang stylings, armor or court clothing. He is proud and has excellent bearing. He shows discerning taste, and is obviously sexually available.
Correlations: Greed, love for wealth’s sake, procreation, dualities, alliances, bright colors, necessity, traps, distraction
Resplendencies
• Proper Plumage, one Endurance, one Paradox die: As long as the character has access to a large closet, second-hand clothing store, pile of cloth scraps and so on, she can always look good enough to gain +1 Appearance for the duration of a social event, regardless of the event’s dress code.
• Spouse-Saving Grace, one Endurance: Whenever the Sidereal is present with her mate and his player fails a Bureaucracy roll or succumbs to a social attack, her player may channel Conviction or Temperance once to reroll or re-apply Defense Value based on the Sidereal’s traits.
• Wife-Procuring Tailfeathers, one Endurance, one Paradox die per week: The character is an obvious catch. Within a day of wandering in any populated area, the character will find herself married and managing a large and prosperous household. The character may not marry on the first day, but the tumultuous course of events will immediately begin to occupy all the character’s time and result in marriage within the week.
So long as the character lives as the full-time manager of the family’s affairs, she avoids all legal, bureaucratic and official scrutiny. Those attempting
to deliver summonses to her are powerless without supernatural tracking, and those attempting to follow her must beat her player’s (Charisma + Bureaucracy) roll, with her Essence added as automatic successes. She must live for the job and has but seven free hours per week.

The Mask is secret wisdom and things known but concealed. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain know of religious wisdom, rites of passage and the secrets of the bed. In the descending aspect, they obfuscate deliberately. The Mask is the constellation of the spy, the priest and the librarian.
The Mask is damaged. The Sidereals twisted it shortly after the Solar Purge to create the Arcane Fate and protect themselves from the scrying eyes of the Dragon-Blooded and the Lunars. Sidereals cannot create for themselves ascending or descending destinies of the Mask, though they can create these destinies for others and benefit from resplendent destinies as normal.
Trappings: The Mask wears clothes of soft fabric and a mask to conceal his face. He is quiet, and he does not announce himself. The Mask clings to sacred places and lingers around manses and demesnes.
Correlations: Secrets, lies, security services, guarded individuals, religious worship, extortion, trickery
Resplendencies
• Privacy-Enhancing Gesture, one Endurance: The area within (Essence x10) yards of the character becomes proof against supernatural scrying, teleportation and other forms of intrusion. This includes observation using the Everywhere and Nowhere Technique.
• Foot Treads No Twig, one Endurance, one Paradox die: The Sidereal’s player may reroll a single (Dexterity + Stealth) roll before it’s compared to an enemy’s roll.
• Everywhere and Nowhere Technique, one Endurance, three Paradox dice per week: The character can conceal herself in the most unlikely of places—between raindrops, between the moments of the hour and behind the curtains on a dusty stair in a faraway town. The character eats by dining on the food of others when they look away, and sleeps only in the secret places that the Division of Secrets salts across the Tapestry as safe houses. None can see her, but she sees much. In any place where there are shadows and she is unobserved, the character can instantly disappear.
So long as the character persists in this furtive existence, she avoids all legal, bureaucratic and official scrutiny. Those attempting to deliver summonses to her are powerless without supernatural tracking, and those attempting to find her must beat her player’s (Intelligence + Occult) roll, with her (college + Essence) added as automatic successes. This existence of supernatural occultation is demanding, and she has just seven free hours per week to spy and observe on those within a number of miles equal to her Essence, so long as those places are not proof against scrying and supernatural intrusion.
The amulet can generate any form of outfit the wearer can imagine, however grand or humble. Changing the setting requires contact and a diceless miscellaneous action. Repairing or cleaning a worn outfit takes the same action as creating a new one. Created clothes have no reality beyond being an extension of the amulet, so they dissolve or flow back into the artifact if they are removed for any reason.
Protection: Regardless of configuration, enchantments in the amulet provide +1L/+1B soak which does not count as armor for Charm purposes, 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, each amulet also has one material-specific feature by default. Composite designs cost 4 dots for one additional feature, or 5 dots for all four material features.
Moonsilver: The wearer gets two bonus dice to Stealth rolls and two bonus dice to assume a disguise with Larceny, as well as replacing the usual soak bonus with +5L/+5B.
Starmetal: Such garments conceal numerous pockets folded into 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.

Perfected kata bracers are prayer strips crafted of a single magical material and curled into bracers. The strips’ sutras are starmetal engravings, except in starmetal bracers—they use orichalcum. Attunement costs eight motes. When the character activates a Form-type Charm, the sutras inscribed on the bracers glow and lift from the artifact to engulf the character in light for a brief moment. For the rest of the scene, she gains several benefits.
She adds her Essence to the accuracy, damage and defense of her unarmed attacks and of attacks made with the active Form-type Charm’s particular weapons. She may choose to inflict bashing or lethal damage at will and she may parry lethal attacks unarmed. In addition:
Starmetal eases the flow of martial Essence for Sidereals, reducing the cost of activating Charms of the same style by two motes (minimum 1).

The urumi is a rare martial arts weapon—a sword with an extremely long, flexible blade, wielded like a hybrid of sword and whip. Its artifact equivalent, known as the floating ribbon, possesses a nine foot long, silk-thin blade of alloyed magical material attached to a carefully weighted handle. The blade has a heavier tip, allowing it to be deftly wielded to make sudden stabbing attacks, or to guide the path of the blade. The wielder may also reflexively pay one mote to extend the length of the blade out to a distance of 10 yards for a single attack.
Speed 5, Accuracy +4, Damage +8L, Defense +0, Attune 5

These war fans are half-again as large as normal and reinforced with a magical material. They are called “seven-jeweled” because their join is set with that many gemstones. Skilled warriors can use them to subdue by precisely lashing out with them when closed, to kill by closing the razor-sharp inside edges on veins, and to disarm by capturing or flicking weapons out of opponents’ hands.
Speed 5, Accuracy +4, Damage +8B/+4L, Defense +3, Attune 4

This brilliant-red, faceted square glows as brightly as a candle. Any Exalted bearing it is as swift as a beam of sunlight. A character attuned to the hearthstone halves (round up) the number of ticks all actions require, without causing any penalties and may divide her dice pools normally to gain additional actions. In addition, these increased speed also applies out of combat, allowing the character to walk, run or sprint twice as fast as normal. The only limitations on using this hearthstone are that sorcery still takes the normal time to cast, and that using these additional actions makes the character appear inhumanly fast. Anyone seeing the character move or react this rapidly will know she is not human. The additional action gained from using this hearthstone is incompatible with all Extra Actions Charms. The character can use one or the other, never both.
Attribute - Current Rating x 4
Favored or Caste Ability - (Rating x 2) -1
Out of Caste Ability - Rating x 2
Essence - Rating x 9
Virtue - Rating x 3
Willpower - Rating x 2
New Ability - 3
New Specialty - 3
Favored or Caste Charm/Martial Arts Charm - 10
Out of Caste Charm/Martial Arts Charm - 12
New Spell (Occult Favored/Caste) - 10
New Spell (Out of Caste/Favored) - 12
New Astrological College - 5
Increase Astrological College - Rating x 3

Xp Earned: 20 points
Xp Banked: 15

Random Word · Jun 27, 2020

Name: Dao-Cleaving Insight
Age: 293
Caste: Chosen of Battles
Concept: The Bookie of the Crimson Panoply of Victory
Allegiance: Bronze Faction
Motivation: Forge an Age-Defining General and Set Them Loose Upon History
Essence: 5 (10 BP)
Willpower: 9 (4 BP)

PDV = Dex 5 + MA 5 + Defence 4 + Kata Bracers 5 + Specialty? 1 = 10/10
DDV = Dex 5 + Dodge 5 + Essence 5 = 8

Accuracy = Dex 5 + MA 5 + Accuracy 4/6 + Kata Bracers 5 + SLDS 4 + Specialty? 1 = 23/25/26
Attack with Four Magical Materials Form and Blade of the Battle Maiden: Speed 4, 10L/3, Accuracy +4, Defence +4, Rate 5 [Overwhelming, Piercing. Natural]

With PAoC: 14B/13L Soak, 9B/L Hardness, -1 Overwhelming (-2 if Death Parrying), -2 Environmental Damage
With PAoC + Death Parrying: 29B/28L Soak

Blade of the Battle Maiden:

Speed Accuracy Damage Defence Rate
Blade of the Battle Maiden 5 4 9/2 2 3
PAoC 4 4 3/3 3 5 [Piercing, Overwhelming, Natural, -2 DV, Re-roll damage take highest]
PAoC+BoBM 4 6 12/3 4 4 [Piercing, Overwhelming, Natural, -2 DV, Re-roll damage take highest]
VBoS form makes all Overwhelming 5, Life-Severing ups that to Overwhelming 10
Flight of Mercury makes Speed 3 for 1m

MPDV = Manipulation 4 + Presence 2 = 3
MDDV = Willpower 10 + Integrity 0 + Essence 5 = 8

Personal 20/20
Peripheral 46/51
5m committed to Fire Aspect Exalt Ways for permanent Fire Aspect Caste Mark + Anima
Essence L to anyone who attacks me unarmed and + Essence L on my unarmed attacks.
Attributes (5/9/7)
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 5
Stamina: 2

Charisma: 3
Manipulation: 4
Appearance: 5

Perception: 2
Intelligence: 5
Wits: 3

Virtues
Compassion 2 - "You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. Well, you can with Quintessence, but nevermind, where was I? Oh, right, but if you break all your eggs, you won't have any chickens. And chickens are important for powering the Games of Divinity. This metaphor has run away from me. Just, look, killing people is bad, okay? Except when it isn't."
Conviction 3 - "Rules and regulations are for people who can't Duck Fate."
Temperance 1 - "When you come to a fork in the road, take both and leave it to the Pattern Spiders to sort out."
Valour 5 (2 BP) - "This Age lives or dies on the edge of a sword. Mars willing, it will live on the edge of mine."

Willpower 10 (5 BP)

Abilities (43/41, 3 BP)
25 Mandatory [16 Extracurricular]
Athletics: 2
Awareness: 5 [2]
Bureaucracy: 2 (Bureau of Destiny, 1)
Dodge: 5 [3]
Larceny: 3 (Organized Crime, 2) [3]
Linguistics (Flametongue [N], Old Realm, High Realm): 2
Lore: 3
Martial Arts: 5 (Real Opponents, 3) [3]
Melee: 3
Occult: 4 [2]
Presence: 2
Resistance: 1[1]
Socialize: 1
Stealth: 1
War: 5 [3]
Once, there was a maiden...
...
Awareness:

Cost: 6m; Mins: Awareness 2, Essence 1; Type: Simple (Speed 4, DV -0) Keywords: None
Duration: Five hours
Prerequisite Charms: None
Casting her perception into the near future, the Sidereal
senses the presence of imminent danger. The Storyteller should
have the Sidereal’s player roll any Awareness rolls that she is
allowed to notice a threat (Essence x 2) minutes before she
would normally be able to roll. When the Storyteller cannot
determine the difficulty of the roll beforehand, use the highest
([Intelligence + Larceny] ÷ 2) of any character involved in
the threat–or difficulty 1 if the Sidereal could notice the threat
automatically. On a success, she receives a vague premonition
of harm, putting her on guard without actually revealing the
nature of the threat. Such forewarning adds one automatic
success to her actual roll to notice the threat when it finally
arrives.

Cost: 3m; Mins: Awareness 3, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Prior Warning
Vague premonitions of future sorrow drift through the mind
of a Sidereal who has mastered this Charm. As her fated suffering impends, these visions crystallize into awareness. Expected
Pain cancels the unexpected quality of any physical or social
attack against the Sidereal. It costs an additional two motes
when used to defend against creatures outside of fate.
With Awareness 5+, this Charm can be activated to enhance any Awareness roll to notice a concealed threat to the
Sidereal or her allies—a hidden assailant, a drop of poisonous
lotus extract dissolved in a cup of tea, a venereal disease on a
concubine. Doing so converts all dice on the roll to automatic
successes.

Martial Arts:
Second (Ability) Excellency 2 m per success Reflexive (1/2) Instant Add up to (Essence) successes to Ability rolls. Ex2, 184
Propitious (Ability) Excellency 2 m +2m per reduction, 1 wp Simple One scene Reduces the cost of the first three Excellencies. Sid2, 127

Violet Bier of Sorrows Style

(p. 180)
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Accepting the twists and turns circumstance with instant determination, the Sidereal is never caught off guard. A Join Battle roll supplemented by this Charm converts up to (Martial Arts) dice to automatic successes. As part of the roll, the martial artist may reflexively draw any form weapon of this style.

VIOLET BIER OF SORROWS FORM
Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; Type: Simple (Speed 6, DV -1) Keywords: Form-type
Duration: One scene
(p. 182)
Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Form-Type, Emotion, Obvious
Replace the text of this Charm with the following:
The martial artist takes on the same cold detachment with which Saturn makes her Sign against those things whose time has passed. She is reckoning and destruction, a peerless bringer of endings, and all the princes and kingdoms of the world trem- ble before her. While Violet Bier of Sorrows Form is active, the martial artist gains the following benefits:
• All enemies see their own end in her, doubling any wound penalties they take on actions to oppose her in combat. Resist- ing this unnatural Emotion for one scene costs two Willpower.
• Any unarmed attack she makes against a spirit consumes one of the spirit’s motes for every level of damage dealt.
• The character’s unarmed martial arts attacks gain an Overwhelming value of (the lower of her Essence or Martial Arts rating).

(p. 182)
Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 7)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Replace the text of this Charm with the following:
The Sidereal’s blade becomes a blur of violet Essence, catch- ing fatal blows a split-second before they can touch her. These defensive maneuvers subtract the martial artist’s Parry DV from the raw damage of an attack, and reduces its minimum damage by one die (minimum one). Death-Parrying Stroke offers no defense against unblockable or unexpected attacks.

Cost: 5m; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Prerequisite Charms: Violet Bier of Sorrows Form
Sighting a violet glimmer of the Essence of Endings in her enemy’s soul, the Sidereal strikes through it to bring them closer to their death. Add (Essence) to the raw damage of an un- armed attack supplemented by this Charm. The same amount is also added to the minimum damage of the attack, granting it the Overwhelming tag.
A character reduced to their Incapacitated level by an attack supplemented with Life-Severing Blow can be unmade as a Shaping effect, killing them instantly and reducing their corpse to ash. Against mortals, even a single level of damage is sufficient to shape them dead.
Accepting the twists and turns circumstance with instant determination, the Sidereal is never caught off guard. A Join Battle roll supplemented by this Charm converts up to (Martial Arts) dice to automatic successes. As part of the roll, the martial artist may reflexively draw any form weapon of this style.

Cost: 2m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Moving with the swift precision of one who knows her destiny, the Sidereal strikes without hesitation or remorse. An unarmed attack supplemented by this Charm reduces its Speed by one point. The martial artist can also move up to (Essence) yards before making the attack if needed to close range with her opponent.

Cost: 5m, 1wp
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Replace the text of this Charm with the following:
Crimson ribbons of Essence trail from the Sidereal’s hands, the strands of a martial destiny waiting to be seized. This crim- son nimbus allows the martial artist to both deal lethal dam- age and parry lethal attacks while unarmed, and enchants her natural attacks with the traits of a stametal daiklave (except for clinches).
Alternatively, the martial artist may invoke this Charm to invoke a form weapon she wields, granting it the magical mate- rial bonus of starmetal and rendering it as indestructible as an attuned artifact. It also benefits from the reduced target number for damage.

Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 2) Keywords: Combo-OK
Each moment’s survival is a small happiness to one who walks constantly with peril and misfortune. While Joy in Adversity Stance is active, the martial artist gains one bonus die on her next unarmed Martial Arts attack every time she successfully dodges an attack. Attacks with the Overwhelming tag instead confer two dice when dodged. These bonus dice count as dice added by a Charm, and are discharged at when the martial artist next attacks.

Attacks must be made with hostile intent against the martial artist and be capable of harming her in order to trigger this Charm. Using a defense with a Flaw of Invulnerability ends this Charm’s duration prematurely.

Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive Keywords: Combo-OK, Holy, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Violet Bier of Sorrows Form
Replace the text of this Charm with the following:
A hideous red glare surrounds the Sidereal’s hands as she strikes at the foes of Creation, mirroring their wickedness in her Essence. All of the Sidereal’s unarmed attacks gain the magical material bonuses of starmetal while this Charm is active. She may use them to deal lethal damage, and they deal aggravated damage to creatures of darkness.

Cost: 3m per attack; Mins: Martial Arts 5
Type: Extra Action
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Horrific Wreath
The Sidereal hits his victim with such skilled ferocity
that the weave of fate around the target reverberates
several times, replaying the moment of the attack
several different ways in quick succession. For each
set of three motes the Sidereal spends, he may
attempt an extra Martial Arts attack on the same
target at his full dice pool. The Sidereal can make
no more attacks than he has dots of Martial Arts,
and he cannot split his original or extra attacks
into a flurry.

Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Counterattack Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Violet Bier of Sorrows Form
Coming to understand the movements of her enemy, the Sidereal interrupts them an instant before they happen. Whenever the Sidereal applies his unarmed Parry DV against an attack made in close combat range, he may activate this Charm. She makes an unarmed Martial Arts attack roll in Step 6, subtracting her rolled successes from those of the attack roll which provoked her counter, parrying it completely if the successes are reduced below her Parry DV. She then applies this roll as an unarmed counterattack in Step 9, doing damage normally if it hits.

Cost: 10m, 1wp, 1lhl; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Simple (Speed 6, DV -2)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Fate, Obvious, Prayer Strip Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Life-Severing Blow, Metal Storm, Unobstructed Blow
When a Sidereal uses this Charm, she gains strength of purpose whenever her successful attacks bring her opponent closer to his inevitable ending. Whenever a successful Martial Arts attack inflicts damage on an opponent, the Sidereal regains a point of spent Willpower. Using this Charm also helps speed a target to his life’s conclusion by tripling his wound penalties as they relate to the Sidereal using the Charm. (That is, while the victim’s wound penalties would be normal in an attack against a different person, attacks made against the Sidereal using this Charm suffer the tripled penalty.)
Using a prayer strip is not necessary with this Charm, since it represents the culmination of a Celestial martial art, but a Sidereal who knows this Charm can augment it with a prayer strip (hence the use of the keyword). The character uses a strip on which is written the Scripture of the Expectant Maiden, infusing the strip with Essence when he activates the Charm and affixing the prayer strip to his weapon. The strip glows burgundy and conforms to the shape of the surface to which the strip is attached. While the prayer strip survives, successful attacks made with that weapon (or with the character’s fist if he wraps the strip around it) subtract one Willpower point from the target. Also, the weapon cannot be destroyed.
If the target exists outside fate or has been reduced to zero Willpower points, using a prayer strip thus with this Charm subtracts 10 motes of Essence on a successful attack instead. If the target does not have 10 motes of Essence to lose, all of the attacker’s unsoaked damage dice are inflicted as levels of damage instead.
Note: The prayer strip aspect of this Charm can only be used by Sidereals, or by Eclipse of Moonshadow Castes who learn Conclusion-Pursuing Approach as a Sidereal Charm rather than as a supernatural martial arts Charm. This is part of the Sidereal Exaltation, not the training in Martial Arts and Essence control that underlies the other Charms of the style.

Dodge:

Cost: 2m; Mins: Dodge 2, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None

Cost: 10m; Mins: Dodge 3, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-Basic
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Absence
Vibrations in the strands of fate alert a Sidereal to
imminent danger. Her player rolls (Dexterity + Dodge) against a difficulty equal to the permanent Essence of the foe responsible for the trouble. (Environmental dangers are difficulty 1.) If the roll succeeds, the Exalt avoids the harmful effect. For this Charm’s purposes, a “harmful effect” includes unexpected attacks, area-of-effect attacks, attacks with no physical component or even continuous effects with a duration longer than instant. (The character only needs to avoid a continuous effect once.) Attacks with very wide areas of effect (such as the Rain of Doom spell) defeat this Charm if the character is physically incapable of moving the distance needed to escape the effect.
The Sidereal’s player must activate this Charm either before her opponent’s attack roll or as soon as the player becomes aware of the effect.

Cost: 2m; Mins: Dodge 3, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive Keywords: Illusion
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Duck Fate
The character wasn’t actually there when the trouble began. That’s his story, and the Loom of Fate backs it up.
If—within his first two actions after Join Battle or Join Debate—the Sidereal decides he would rather have been somewhere else, he can activate this Charm. Having done so, he vanishes from his current location and reappears in another location. The Sidereal cannot control his new location, but it’s someplace plausible for him to be if he’d decided to take a different course a few minutes before. Simultaneously, an Illusion effect blurs the memories of other people so they don’t remember the Sidereal’s presence. Wounds still bleed, traps remain sprung, Essence remains spent. However, other people in the aborted encounter receive vague notions of an alternate series of events to explain any evidence of the Sidereal’s presence, which they soon confabulate into a detailed scenario that they believe completely. Spending two Willpower overcomes this Illusion.

Occult
Terrestrial Circle Sorcery None Permanent Instant - Sid2, 170

Cost: 15m Target: Creature
This spell weaves an illusion that makes the target look like someone else. It transforms not just the person’s appearance, but her voice, mannerisms and even anima. Sidereal Exalted favor this spell for its ability to make them appear as someone else entirely. It perfectly complements the false identities they create through resplendent destinies.
The sorcerer ties threads of Essence around the target in the occult knot-pattern of the Hidden Self. The process takes 10 minutes to complete. It’s easy if the target remains standing and immobile, but impossible if she does not.
The sorcerer’s player rolls (Intelligence + Craft [Fate]) or (Intelligence + Larceny). This roll is not part of the spell casting, so the character may augment it with Excellencies or other Charms. The number of successes indicates the detail of the disguise and its ability to fool observers. (See Exalted p. 128 for details on creating disguises, though the spell does grant mannerisms as well and may be used to mimic someone of much higher Appearance.)
Once the persona-tapestry is woven, it flares briefly with Essence light before it fades, completely remaking the subject’s appearance. The spell lasts until the imposture is somehow revealed, the target chooses to remove it (by spending a single mote, or a Willpower point for mortals) or when the caster dispels it, requir- ing line of sight and a reflexive action.

Celestial Circle Sorcery None Permanent Instant - Sid2, 170

Cost: 20m Target: Caster
By standing motionless during the casting of this spell, the caster observes the weaves of Fate. In the light of her anima, the caster can see how every creature and object in her immediate vicinity is tied to every other and interpret how those interactions can be turned to her own advantage.
When the sorcerer casts the spell, she names a goal, and the whirlwind of information can then be read to aid in this goal. The caster’s player rolls (Intelligence + Occult). Each success on this roll adds two to a finite pool of bonus successes. The player may take bonus successes from this pool and add them to any roll that furthers the goal he stated when casting the spell. The pool lasts for a number of hours equal to the sorcerer’s Essence.
A maximum number of bonus successes equal to the caster’s Essence may be added to any given action, but
they may explicitly stack with bonus dice or successes gained from other sources, such as Excellencies. These bonus successes may be added to any roll, including damage rolls.
If the sorcerer’s stated goal is not completed by the time the spell’s duration ends, she suffers an internal penalty to all actions equal to the number of bonus successes she already used, until she can meet the goal (or the next sunrise in any case).

War

Cost: 1m+; Mins: (Ability) 4, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 1 for attacker, Step 2 for defender)
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Any (Ability) Excellency
The target number of any dice roll using the chosen Ability decreases by one for every mote the player spends. For one mote, any roll of 6 or higher becomes a success; two motes grant success on rolls of 5 or higher. This Excellency
cannot reduce a target number below 4.
Alternatively, the player can spend one Willpower
point and enough Essence to reduce the target number to 3. This grants an “auspicious success”: the player forgoes the actual roll but transforms every die in the dice pool into an automatic success instead.
If the player declares in Step 2 of attack resolution that he wants to purchase an auspicious success for a defensive Ability, the expenditure of one Willpower and enough Essence to lower the target number to 3 doubles his appropriate Defense Value against that attack.

(Sidereal) Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Style

Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Simple (Speed 3, DV -1)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Scene
Prerequisites: None

...and their names were JI

The character infuses her fingernails with Essence, hardening them, sharpening them, lengthening them into weapons - and, most importantly, causing them to bend, influence and predict the path of fate in the manner of starmetal. While this Charm is active, the character’s unarmed attacks gain a minimum damage of 3 and the O tag, may parry lethal attacks without a stunt, and may re-roll the damage roll in step 8 whenever she attacks, taking the higher of the two results.

Editor's Note: I changed this one because Blade of the Battle Maiden makes the character's hands a Starmetal Daiklave. I felt this charm should be both different and synergistic.

Cost: 5m; Mins:Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type:Simple (Speed 3, DV -1)
Keywords:Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Scene
Prerequisites: None

and PENG

The character wraps her body in a sheath of Essence, mirroring in its interaction with her own anima the link between Solar Exalted and orichalcum. While this Charm is active, the character is considered to be wearing orichalcum armor with the martial artist’s (Essence + Martial Arts+2) Bashing and Lethal Soak, (Stamina+Martial Arts)/2+5 Hardness, a -0 Mobility Penalty, and a 0 Fatigue Penalty. Further, the martial artist subtracts 1 from any attack’s minimum damage (minimum of 1) and 2 from the damage of any environmental effect (minimum of 0). The armor provided by this charm is compatible with all martial arts, even those normally not compatible with armor. However, the benefits of this charm count as equipment and the rules for stacking equipment apply to it.

Editor's Note: Made the soak scale. At E5, MA5, STM 5 you're looking at up to 12 Soak, 11 Hardness from armor which is still worse than just getting Superheavy Plate. At E10, MA10, STM10 you're looking at 22 Soak and 21 Hardness. This does stealthily, effectively have every magical material bonus applied.

Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Simple (Speed 3, DV -1)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Scene
Prerequisites: None

and LU

The character traces patterns through the air that echo the slippery, mutable ways in which moonsilver twists the flows of Essence around it. Opponents cannot precisely determine the character's location: she may cause her attacks to originate from any point within (her Essence x5) yards. Such attacks impose a -2 penalty to the defender's PDV, on top of ignoring all cover bonuses to DV.

Editor's Note: No longer ignores shields, and a change in wording allows for better stunting IMO, without altering the mechanics any.

Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Simple (Speed 3, DV -1)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Scene
Prerequisites: None

and ZHOU

The character binds the substance of Creation to her Essence, shifting into a pattern of attacks that radiates the elemental authority of jade. Each gives a gift, which applies only to unarmed Martial Arts attacks. Her blows can be bashing or lethal, as she chooses, reflecting the compassion and conviction of green jade. The grace of black jade steers her attacks well: she adds 2 to the Accuracy and Defense values. The reliability of white jade ensures reasonable damage: she adds 3 to her Damage value. The force of blue jade grants her weapon the Piercing tag. Finally, the swiftness of red jade adds 1 to her weapon's Rate and -1 to its Speed. The benefits of this charm count as a Magical Material bonus and the appropriate rules for stacking apply.

Editor's Note: You effectively add every magical material bonus to your attacks. Balanced by the fact that, without other charms, you're still using your Punch's stats. It results in a Speed 4, Acc +4, Damage +3L, Defense +3, Rate 5 weapon with piercing. With Blade of the Battle Maiden this results in a Speed 4, Acc +4, Damage +8L/2, Defense +4, Rate 5 weapon with piercing. This is a nice, general weapon but nothing compared to the better artifact weapons.

Cost: 15m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5; Type: Simple (Speed 6, DV -1)
Keywords: Form-type, Obvious, Combo-Basic
Duration: Scene
Prerequisites: Deadly Starmetal Offensive, Orichalcum Sheathing Stance, Flickering Moonsilver Approach, Five Jade Fury

and HOU TUI

The character attunes herself to the Essence of the world, drawing on the flows of interwoven fates, raw power, progressive change and elemental stability that play out all around her. In this fashion, while she maintains the Form, she becomes a living artifact. This Form does not mimic the Essence of soulsteel.

When using this Form, the character automatically and reflexively activates all four prerequisite stances as part of the Form activation for no cost. In addition, she becomes unbreakable, becoming immune to Crippling effects, unless the effect could damage the Five Magical Materials.

Editor's Note: No change, moving on.

Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Counterattack
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: None

and AN

The character learns to catch, tangle and throw the Essence flows of Charms as if they were the flailing limbs of her hapless flows. This Charm may be invoked in Step 2 in response to a Charm-enhanced attack. The martial artist immediately rolls their (Essence + Martial Arts) against a difficulty of the attacker’s Essence. If successful, they perfectly parry the attack and another character in range of the attack is immediately made the new target for the attack, starting in Step 2. The activation roll for this charm is considered a unique Flaw of Invulnerability.

Editor's Note: This one was a pain to balance. It's effectively an expensive PD with a bad flaw that doubles as a redirect. It's powerful, but expensive--hopefully I struck the right balance?

Cost: 4m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Charm Redirection Technique

and CAI

This Charm expands on the principle of Charm Redirection Technique. Rather than redirecting the essence flows, this charm instead disrupts them. The martial artist may immediately cancel one or more charms used on the attack against them for the duration of that attack. If more than one offensive charm is canceled, add a +2m, +1wp surcharge to this charm. If an Excellency is canceled, add a +5m surcharge to the charm. Rather than cancel a charm with a duration longer than instant for just one attack, a charm may be completely canceled as a shaping effect by adding the cost of the canceled charm as a surcharge to this one. The cost of canceled charms is still paid. This effect may not cancel Form-type Charms, Extra Action charms or charms with a minimum essence higher than the martial artist’s permanent Essence.

Editor's Note: This charm is an odd duck. It's not quite a perfect defense but it might as well be. Late-step offensive charms bypass it, but other than that it's a psuedo-perfect that can be powered by overdrive. That's why it's as expensive, if not moreso, than a normal perfect defense.

Cost: 5m per Circle or (Minimum Essence of a Sorcerous Charm)*3m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive (Step 1 for attacker, Step 2 for defender)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: None

and LI

The character uses martial arts to yank the threads of a delicate construct of sorcery out of place. This charm allows the character to make Martial Arts attacks or defenses against sorcery, similar to countermagic. Used on the offense this modifies an unarmed strike, you must target the manifestation or center of the spell—such as the character benefiting, the spirit summoned, or the approximate center for spells like Rain of Doom. Spells that do not otherwise have a stated DV have a DV of (Circle)*4 or (Minimum Essence)*2 for Sorcerous Charms. If you defeat the DV by at least the Sorcerer’s (Essence)/2 than the effect is shattered as though struck by the appropriate level of countermagic.

Used defensively, this charms functions as defensive countermagic of the spell’s circle if the character’s PDV exceeds the caster’s Essence + Twice the Spell’s Circle or the caster’s Essence + The Sorcerous Charm’s Minimum Essence. This requirement is considered a unique Flaw of Invulnerability when used defensively.

Editor's Note: I tried to bring this in line with Magic-Shattering Palm and the Lunar equivalent, rather than bringing it in line with Adamant Circle Countermagic. It's occasionally cheaper, but you don't regain motes for success. I notably didn't use a mote-regaining mechanic because it can be made free/cheap with Overdrive and the form-charm.

Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive (Step 1)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Touch
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: None

and HUA JI

The character uses her education in the nature of fate in conjunction with her martial skill to disjoint, snarl and otherwise tangle the fates the spiders weave. By lightly striking the target in the five points where the threads of the Loom of Fate attach, the character can negate Sidereal astrological effects. She must make a successful Martial Arts attack against the target. If she succeeds with threshold successes exceeding the Essence + College of the Sidereal that created the effect, the effect is dangerously torn or frayed, and the pattern spiders abandon it.

Editor's Note: It's cheaper now! Please use it? But seriously... >_> Also, added the Touch Keyword.

Cost: 15m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5; Type: Simple (Speed 6, DV -1)
Keywords: Form-type, Overdrive, Combo-Basic
Duration: Scene
Prerequisites: Charm Disruption Technique, Sequential Charm Disruption, Spell-Shattering Palm, Astrology Interruption Method

and QIAN JING

The character balances her actions so perfectly to the local flow of Essence that the world around her cannot help but support her victory, regardless of whether she stands in Creation, Malfeas or the Underworld.

While using the Soul Fire Shaper Form, consider the Exalt's permanent Essence to be five higher than her current Essence for the purposes of resolving Charm conflicts and interacting with her enemy’s charm effects. She is unaffected by any condition or effect that would negatively impact her Essence pool or recovery, including but not limited to environmental factors such as being in the Underworld as a native of Creation, or hostile effects such as Charms that would prevent her from regaining motes in combat.

In addition, the character gains an Overdrive Pool of 10 motes while this charm is active. Every time your DV refreshes while using this form, roll a number of dice equal to the highest minimum essence of any non-Sidereal Martial Art charm used by another character since the last time your DV refreshed and gain 1 offensive mote per success.

Finally, the martial artist also gains one free use of Sequential Charm Disruption, Spell-Shattering Palm, or Astrology Interruption Method every time his DV refreshes. Any effects, including surcharges that increase the cost of those charms increases it from a base cost of 0m, 0wp.

Editor's Note: A bunch of minor tweaks here. Instead of increasing one's mote pool it uses an overdrive mechanic. since PAoC is the general and buff Sid MA I made the refill mechanic general and pretty good. I modified what the +Ess applies to slightly and you can't use Charm Redirection with it anymore. I'm honestly skeptical about letting people use Sequential Charm Disruption with it but figure there's enough ways around it.

Cost: 10m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Simple (Speed 3, DV -1)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Shaping
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: None

and ZUO GU

The character steps into an object or person, displacing its natural spirit with his Essence manipulations as easily as a master of legermain might steal a mortal's coat. The character's player rolls Charisma + Martial Arts against a difficulty equal to the Essence of the Exalt's target - the body he wants to steal or the god or least god of the thing he wishes to possess. The target's player can spend a point of willpower to make a willpower roll difficulty equal to the martial artist's Essence once on each of the martial artist's action ticks to regain control over her body. As a restriction, the character may not possess any entity with a size greater than her Essence in yards in its largest dimension.

In the meantime, the character's body dematerializes and fades into her stolen form. She may move and take Martial Arts actions through her stolen flesh, using her own Physical Attributes or those of her stolen form, if they are higher (inanimate objects usually have 0s in all Physical Attributes). This Charm imbues any stolen form with supernatural flexibility and mobility - possessed trees can attack and unattended ox-carts can charge. Attacks that strike dematerialized entities damage the character's dematerialized self as well as her stolen form. Otherwise, she suffers no ill effects from having her possessed body damaged or destroyed.

The character cannot possess soulsteel. She can only possess objects made of other Magical Materials if she knows the style's Charm for emulating that Magical Material.

Editor's Note: I made ejecting the Sidereal more difficult. If you're caught without shaping defenses on an attack that costs more than 8m you deserve what you get.

Cost: 5m, 1hl; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Simple (Speed 3, DV -1)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: None

and YOU PAN

The character strikes his throat, abdomen, spine, brow and crown chakras, forcibly reshaping his Essence and altering how his anima interacts with this world. This Charm allows the character to mimic the anima banner and anima effects of one other type and caste of Exalted. This Charm temporarily replaces the character's anima banner. This charm can never allow the character to learn charms she otherwise could not, for instance by mimicking the Eclipse Caste’s anima. Select one Caste when you first purchase this charm, and other castes may be added at the cost of 4xp each but you may only activate one [Exalt] [Caste] Ways at a time.

Editor's Note: Made learning new castes much cheaper, made the duration indefinite, and removed the limitation on caste marks so it can be used for disguises.

Cost: 10m 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5; Type: Simple (Speed 6, DV -1)
Keywords: Form-type, Obvious, Emotion, Combo-Basic
Duration: Scene
Prerequisites: God Ways, Exalt Ways

and WU JI

The character adopts the attitude and posture of the spirit courts, moving with the infinite baroque complexity necessary to the management of Creation. Directed by the four powers of her mind - aspiration, effort, intention and analysis - the whole of her Essence flows as one. Simultaneously, even the smallest mote of her being directs itself toward managing its own affairs.

Though no imperfect creature can truly master it, this Form has a perfect beauty to it. Anyone who does not know this charm immediately forms an unnatural, inviolable positive intimacy of addiction towards it unless they spend a number of points of willpower equal to half the character’s Essence, to a maximum of 5. If this intimacy is eroded, it attempts to re-assert itself every time the character sleeps—the perfect beauty dominating their dreams.

A character with the intimacy of addiction cannot harm someone using this Form-Type charm unless they fail a compassion roll. Once they fail a number of such compassion rolls equal to the martial artist’s permanent Essence they may attack the martial artist freely. The long-term addiction effect can be broken by Charms such as Transcendent Hero Meditation or other effects that shatter long-term Compulsions or by, of course, learning this charm herself.

Editor's Note: There's a couple of ways to defend against this charm, but if you don't--it's difficult to get over it. As a fun side-effect your allies can't be mind-controlled into attacking you.

Cost: 7m, 1w, 1hl; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Simple (Speed 3, DV -1)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Scene
Prerequisites: None

and KAO

Tugging gently on the flows of Essence around him, the character forms herself into a nexus, a convergence point through which power pours. While this Charm is active, each of the character's successful unarmed attacks that would apply at least one level of damage in step 10 convert one of those levels of damage to aggravated. The character's hand upon an enemy's chest burns him with raw Essence, her elbow in his ear fills her head with Essence lightning, and her foot against his knee is as terribly cold as the Essence of a saltwater siren's heart.

Editor's Note: Had to simplify this to be compatible with the new system. Multiple applications of damage is hax.

Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5; Type: Simple (Speed 6, DV -1)
Keywords: Form-type, Obvious, Combo-Basic
Duration: Scene
Prerequisites: Demesne Emulation Practice

and CHUNG TING!

The character adopts the stately grandeur of a temple and radiates the ancient power of a Manse. She can now properly channel and constrain the raw Essence flow that the Demesne Emulation Practice feeds into her, coalescing it around her Caste Mark into a level 5 hearthstone set in her brow. This hearthstone only exists while the character is using Demesne and Manse Form. While using this Form, the character receives the hearthstone's benefits, as if it were set into an artifact. Treat major changes to the character's personality (on the same magnitude as changing her Motivation) as architectural alterations to a Manse for the purposes of altering the hearthstone, adjusting hearthstone abilities appropriately.

As a final benefit, upon activating this form the martial artist gains (Essence x10) attunement motes as her hearthstone serves to power her artifacts. She may substitute motes from this surge to substitute a Hearthstone required to power an artifact on a 10 per 1-dot basis. Upon de-activating this charm all attunement motes are lost as though the scene had ended.

Editor's Note: Here's the thing, for 15 XP I get the same hearthstone, a manse (all those awesome benefits), and great essence regeneration. I wanted this charm to not look like a foolish speed-bump by comparison. In that vein, I lowered the cost and made it grant a hax number of attunement motes. This is at least partial balanced by the fact that one of the forms in this tree basically replaces your equipment anyways.

Cost: 10m 1w; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5; Type: Simple (Speed 6, DV -1)
Keywords: Form-type, Obvious, Combo-Basic
Duration: Scene
Prerequisites: Four Magical Materials Form, Soul Fire Shaper Form, Games of Divinity Form, Demesne and Manse Form

The Elder Sutra of Essence: The last maiden's name was TAO. These were their names, but they knew them not.

As she assumes this Form, the character vanishes into the flows of Essence around her. For a long moment, she is nowhere and everywhere, embodied in the dance of all things. Then, she manifests again, in every movement consummately aware of everything around her, reacting to intentions before they are formed, actions before they are taken and to the battle as a whole as easily as to a single blow.

Activating this Charm causes the character to vanish until her DV refreshes. While in this state, she may not be affected by any externally applied effect that requires her to be present. While the Charm remains active, the character is automatically aware of every attack against her and is immune to sensory penalties. She can sense every effect, object and creature within (Essence x10) yards, and adds her Essence in automatic successes to rolls to reveal hidden things within this radius.

The Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Form is transcendent and accepts other Forms as lesser parts of itself. While the Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Form is active, the character may have more than one Form-type Charm active, as an exception to the rules governing Form-type Charms, detailed as follows: All four of this Form's prerequisite Forms may remain active along with the main Form. Form-type Charms not part of this Style may also benefit, but any use of out of style Forms limits the character to two total Form-type Charms in addition to Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Form. While multiple Form-type Charms are active, any form weapons of any of the Forms' styles are considered form weapons for all of them. This is a specific benefit of the Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Form and not a general rule.

In addition, the character may choose to reflexively activate allowed sub-Forms as part of the activation of Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Form
20/20 spent
Backing (Division of Battles): 4 [By default borrowing Perfected Kata Bracers]
Salary: 4
Connections (Bureau of Destiny): 2
Connections (Bureau of Heaven): 2
Connections (Bureau of Humanity): 2
Celestial Manse (KATA-SCULPTING GEM): 2
Celestial Manse (SEVEN LEAPING DRAGON STONE): 4

This Hearthstone is a translucent reddish-orange gemstone with a golden-orange iridescence that plays across its surface. The stone gives its bearer a better understanding of the weaknesses of the body. Mechanically, it adds four extra dice to any Martial Arts attack roll.

This pearly white disk glows with a faint white light that brightens and dims in time with its bearer’s heartbeat. The gem allows a Dragon-Blooded martial artist to focus her Essence so that she can activate any known Celestial-level Form-type Charms without her player having to succeed at a (Dexterity + Martial Arts) roll. Only Terrestrial Exalts with Martial Arts of 3 or more possess the precision needed to use the instinctive knowledge of fighting katas provided by this hearthstone. This stone also reduces the Essence cost to activate all Martial Arts Form-type Charms by 2 motes (minimum of 1); all Exalted can gain this benefit.

Perfected kata bracers are prayer strips crafted of a single magical material and curled into bracers. The strips’ sutras are starmetal engravings, except in starmetal bracers—they use orichalcum. Attunement costs eight motes. When the character activates a Form-type Charm, the sutras inscribed on the bracers glow and lift from the artifact to engulf the character in light for a brief moment. For the rest of the scene, she gains several benefits.
She adds her Essence to the accuracy, damage and defense of her unarmed attacks and of attacks made with the active Form-type Charm’s particular weapons. She may choose to inflict bashing or lethal damage at will and she may parry lethal attacks unarmed. In addition:
Starmetal eases the flow of martial Essence for Sidereals, reducing the cost of activating Charms of
the same style by two motes (minimum 1).
It is good to work hard. Better to work hard and cheat. Better still, to work hard at cheating. [Illusion]
Might may not make right, but it is the final argument of Queens. [Illusion]
Mars (Loyalty) [Servitude]
Hu Dai Liang (Respect) [Emotion]
Bonus Points Spent: 20/20
Essence 4 -> 5: 10
Willpower 5 -> 10: 5
Abilities 1: 3
Valor 3 -> 5: 2

Experience: 20
Spent: 22

Str 1->2: 4 XP
Linguistics 1->2: 2 XP
2 pts of Real Opponents specialty for Martial Arts: 6 XP

Propitious War Excellency: 10 XP
The Captain: 1
The Banneret: 2
The Spear: 1
The Shield: 1
The Sorcerer: 1
The Treasure Trove: 1
The Sword: 5

D. Rex · Jun 28, 2020

Name: Xun the Glass Dragon
Caste: Chosen of Journeys
Age: 310
Concept: Brave Airship Captain
Allegiance: Gold Faction
Motivation: To become a legendary Celestial Pathfinder and one day fly the Daystar.

Attributes

Strength: ●●●●
Dexterity: ●●●●●
Stamina: ●●●

Perception: ●●●●
Intelligence: ●●
Wits: ●●●●

Charisma: ●●●
Manipulation: ●●●
Appearance: ●●

Abilities
*Resistance: ●●●●
*Ride:
*Sail: ●●●●● +1 Airships
*Survival: ●●●
*Thrown:

Craft:
**Dodge: ●●●●●
Linguistics: ●● (Old Realm, Flametongue, High Realm)
Performance:
Socialize: ●

Archery:
**Athletics: ●●●●
Melee:
Presence:
War:

Investigation:
Larceny:
Lore: ●●●
Occult: ●●
Stealth: ●

**Awareness: ●●●
Bureaucracy: ●●
Integrity: ●
**Martial Arts: ●●●●● +3 claws
Medicine:
Essence: 5
Personal: 20
Peripheral: 49/ 41
Bonus: 8/0
Committed: 16

Willpower: 10

Virtues
Compassion ●●
Conviction ●●●
Temperance ●
Valor ●●●

Health:
-0 ●●●●
-1 ●●
-2 ●●●●●
-4 ●
In ●

Join Battle: 7

Base/PKB
Dodge DV: 8/13 [dex+dodge+ess/2]
Parry DV: 8/13 [dex+MA+def/2](with claws)

Natural Soak: 1L/3B
Armored Soak: 0
Total Soak: 1L/3B

Distant Claws (bonuses not applied)
Speed 5/5 (-1 CD Form)
Accuracy +5/+3. (+4 stone, +5pkb, +1CDform)
Damage +8/+11 (+5pkb)
Defense +2/+1.
Rate 3/15
Tags M /F**,P
Perfected kata bracers are prayer strips crafted of a single magical material and curled into bracers. The strips’ sutras are starmetal engravings, except in starmetal bracers—they use orichalcum. Attunement costs eight motes. When the character activates a Form-type Charm, the sutras inscribed on the bracers glow and lift from the artifact to engulf the character in light for a brief moment. For the rest of the scene, she gains several benefits.
She adds her Essence to the accuracy, damage and defense of her unarmed attacks and of attacks made with the active Form-type Charm’s particular weapons. She may choose to inflict bashing or lethal damage at will and she may parry lethal attacks unarmed. In addition:
Starmetal eases the flow of martial Essence for Sidereals, reducing the cost of activating Charms of the same style by two motes (minimum 1).

GAUNTLETS OF DISTANT CLAWS
These fingerless gauntlets of a dark alloy do not restrict manual dexterity in the slightest. There are three depressions on the metal of the back of the hand. The gauntlets always come in pairs and require four motes each to attune. Although the gauntlets do not look like weapons, character wearing them may reflexively extrude three sharp steel claws from the depressions in the back of one gauntlet or both. These make fearsome weapons, add two dice to climbing rolls and may be retracted refl exively.

Alternately, the character may fire the central claw of either gauntlet as a projectile, which remains connected to the gauntlet by a thin, nearly unbreakable chain. These claws can serve as weapons or grappling hooks, striking with enough force to pierce armor or embed themselves in walls and ceilings. Retracting a fired claw is a reflexive action and occurs with great force. The character can cause the claw to release its grip and return; otherwise, either the object attached to the claw flies to the character or the character flies to the claw as the chain winds up, depending on which is better secured. Using this method to move rapidly
counts as the character’s move action in a tick.

This artifact resembles razor claws (Artifact 2, see Exalted, p. 388), but they have a number of advantages. The claws can retract, making the gauntlets available but nonthreatening. The ranged attack is based on the fl ame piece (see Exalted, p. 373) with one better accuracy and the bonus that the “ammunition” is free. It greatest advantage is the ability to pull objects to the character or pull the character to potential safety (or other places). None of these powers are amazing, but they are all quite useful individually. The collection of Artifact 1 and 2 powers add up to Artifact 3.

Speed 5/5
Accuracy +5/+3
Damage +8/+11
Defense +2/+1
Rate 3/15
Attune 8
Tags M /F**,P

** Though not flame, the rules for flame type apply

SKIN MOUNT AMULET (ARTIFACT ••)
Repair: 1
Appearing as a large rivet-style body piercing made of one of the magical materials with an indented disk-shaped socket, skin mount amulets are nothing more than implanted hearthstone amulets (see Exalted, p. 380) that require no attunement. The design of these amulets also confers an additional number of motes of Peripheral Essence to the wearer’s maximum Essence pool equal to twice the rating of any hearthstone placed in the socket. Mountain Folk, God-Blooded and other non-Exalted Essence channelers instead add these motes to their singular Essence pools. Mortals normally incapable of channeling Essence may attune to manses if they have one of these devices installed, gaining the usual benefits of any hearthstone from an attuned manse installed in the stone. Mortals also gain the aforementioned bonus motes as a meager Essence pool that they can recharge only through the inset stone but may otherwise use as if they were Exalted. Any commitments using Essence from the amulet (such as to other artifacts) immediately end if the hearthstone leaves its socket. At the height of the First Age, skin mount amulets were a popular form of jewelry among the Chosen.

Hearthstones can be removed or replaced in a skin mount amulet as readily as any other type of hearthstone amulet. Only the socket itself is actually riveted to the body.

Hearthstones

+4 extra dice to any Martial art attack rolls.
● - Sifu
●● - Backing
●●● - Salary
●●●● - Celestial Manse

Artifacts
●● - Skin-Mount Amulet
●●● - Gauntlet of Distant Claws (Starmetal)
●●●● - Perfected Starmetal Bracers
●●●●● - Aerial Skiff

Anima Powers: Spend 10 motes to triple running speed for her and all allies (including mounts) within (her Essence x 10) yards.
Bonus Points: 20
10bp - Essence
5bp - 5x willpower
4bp - Artifact
1bp - Abilities

Experience: 20

Red Shadow Claws · Jul 1, 2020

Name: Ghataka, the Binder of Stars
Caste: Chosen of Serenity
Age: 160
Concept: Celestial Matchmaker
Allegiance: Silver Faction
Motivation: To make sure every Celestial Exalt is matched in marriage.

Attributes

Strength: ●
Dexterity: ●●●●●
Stamina: ●●●●

Perception: ●●●
Intelligence: ●●
Wits: ●●●

Charisma: ●●●●●
Manipulation: ●●●●
Appearance: ●●●(●●●●)

Abilities
Resistance: ●
Ride:
Sail:
Survival:
Thrown:

*Craft (Fate): ●●●
*Dodge:
*Linguistics: ●●●● (Old Realm, Flametongue, High Realm, Riverspeak, Forest-Tongue)
*Performance: ●●●●● (+2 Dance)
*Socialize: ●●●●● (+3 Read Intentions)

Archery: ●
Athletics:
Melee:
*Presence: ●●●
War:

Investigation:
Larceny:
Lore: ●●
*Occult: ●●●
Stealth: ●

Awareness: ●●
*Bureaucracy: ●●●
Integrity:
*Martial Arts: ●●●●● (+3 unarmed)
Medicine: ●●
Essence: 5
Personal: 18
Peripheral: 35/49
Bonus:
Committed: 14

Willpower: 8

Virtues
Compassion ●●●●●
Conviction ●●●
Temperance ●
Valor ●●

Health:
-0 ●●●
-1 ●●
-2 ●●●
-4 ●
In ●

Join Battle: 5

Base/PKB
Dodge DV: 5/8 or 9 (When activating Defense of Shining Joy)[dex+Dodge+ess/2]
Parry DV: 8/10 [dex+MA+def/2]

Natural Soak: 2L/4B
Armored Soak: 5L/3B
Total Soak: 7L/7B

Unarmed
Weapon Speed Accuracy Damage Defense Rate Tags
Punch 4 +1 (19) +0 (1B) +2 3 N
Kick 6 +0 (18) +3 (4B) -2 2 N
Clinch 5 +0 (18) +0 (1B) +0 1 C, N, P
Artifacts

Perfected Kata Bracers
Perfected kata bracers are prayer strips crafted of a single magical material and curled into bracers. The strips’ sutras are starmetal engravings, except in starmetal bracers—they use orichalcum. Attunement costs eight motes. When the character activates a Form-type Charm, the sutras inscribed on the bracers glow and lift from the artifact to engulf the character in light for a brief moment. For the rest of the scene, she gains several benefits.
She adds her Essence to the accuracy, damage and defense of her unarmed attacks and of attacks made with the active Form-type Charm’s particular weapons. She may choose to inflict bashing or lethal damage at will and she may parry lethal attacks unarmed. In addition:
Starmetal eases the flow of martial Essence for Sidereals, reducing the cost of activating Charms of the same style by two motes (minimum 1).

Heaven Thunder Leaves
Heaven thunder leaves are broad fans, reinforced with a magical material and painted with various scenes. They serve equally well for combat (treat as mundane war fans, see Exalted, p. 370) or courtly dancing. The magical fans add one die to ([Dexterity or Charisma] + Performance) rolls to use them for dancing, and when the fans are flourished properly, they tell a classic legend or fable. Each set of heaven thunder leaves tells a different story.
With at least three successes on the Performance roll, the dancer attracts the attention of local Terrestrial gods, and each success beyond that adds one die to the next social roll the character makes toward one of those gods. With two matching heaven thunder leaves, the maximum dice bonus becomes six. With only one, or with mismatched leaves, the successes necessary to attract gods increases to five and the maximum dice bonus is three. Heaven thunder leaves are Artifact 1 each. Commitment is two motes per leaf.
Heaven thunder leaves count as magical weapons, but their real strength lies in attracting godly attention.

Silken Armor (Artifact 2)
This unusual cloth is woven from the silk of Essence spiders. Although the fabric has the weight and texture of silk and can be made into any garment that silk can, it is as strong as steel when struck. Even a light tunic, robe or cloak of the stuff makes effective armor. It is the clothing of choice for those who need its protection but cannot be seen wearing obvious armor.
Unlike other forms of armor, silken armor stacks with other forms of armor. It cannot be detected as magical without the use of some magic-sensing Charm such as All-Encompassing Sorcerer’s Sight. Silken armor also can be worn while performing Martial Arts styles that normally prohibit the use of armor. Anyone can wear silken armor, but it remains somewhat stiff unless attuned to the wearer’s Essence.

Soak Hardness Mobility Fatigue Cost Attune Tags
+5L/3B — -1* 0 •• 2
*Attunement removes this penalty.

Hearthstones

Stone of Inhuman Beauty
This iridescent white oval adds four dots to the wearer’s Appearance, raising it to a maximum of 7. In addition, the bearer cannot be made to look anything other than beautiful: nothing short of Solar Circle Sorcery can even temporarily reduce his Appearance. If dressed in rags and covered in mud, he appears handsomely disheveled; if disguised to look horribly scarred, he seems to bear noble wounds that must obviously have come from performing some grand feat of heroism. Other people always notice the bearer unless he uses stealth, Charms or the cover of darkness to conceal himself. This is good when giving a speech… not so good for a discreet meeting with an informant.
First Martial Art Excellency, essence overwhelming

Cost: 1m+; Mins: (Ability) 4, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive
(Step 1 for attacker, Step 2 for defender)
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Any (Ability) Excellency
The target number of any dice roll using the chosen Ability decreases by one for every mote the player spends. For one mote, any roll of 6 or higher becomes a success; two motes grant success on rolls of 5 or higher. This Excellency cannot reduce a target number below 4.
Alternatively, the player can spend one Willpower point and enough Essence to reduce the target number to 3. This grants an “auspicious success”: the player forgoes the actual roll but transforms every die in the dice pool into an automatic success instead.
If the player declares in Step 2 of attack resolution that he wants to purchase an auspicious success for a defensive Ability, the expenditure of one Willpower and enough Essence to lower the target number to 3 doubles his appropriate Defense Value against that attack.

Cost: 2m+, 1wp; Mins: (Ability) 4, Essence 3;
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Any (Ability) Excellency
By tuning her Essence to resonate with one of the 25 constellations and its corresponding astrological college, a Sidereal can attune herself to a particular Ability and use its first three Excellencies with greater efficiency. Each two motes committed to this Charm reduce the mote cost for the first three Excellencies, to a minimum of zero. A character may never spend more than twice her permanent Essence on this Charm; and an Exalt may employ only one Propitious (Ability) Alignment at a time.
Propitious (Ability) Alignment is incompatible with the Fateful Excellency: while employing this Charm, one cannot apply Essence Auspicious to any dice pool involving that Ability. If a character does so, the Propitious Alignment immediately ends. On the other hand, every dot a character has in an Ability’s corresponding astrological college reduces the cost of Propitious (Ability) Alignment by one mote, to a minimum of 1. Thus, a Sidereal with Essence 3 and four levels of the Mask could spend two motes, and get the same results as if she spent six motes on Propitious Stealth Alignment.
In every other way, Propitious (Ability) Alignment follows the same rules as Infinite (Ability) Mastery.

Resistance: The Mast

Cost: —; Mins: Resistance 1, Essence 1; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Stackable
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
Just as all Exalted, Sidereals gain extra health levels with each purchase of this Charm. Each health level gained thus helps a Sidereal operate at maximum efficiency in spite of his wounds for just a little bit longer. A player may purchase this Charm for his character up to once per dot of the Resistance Ability his character possesses.

Each purchase grants the character one additional -0 and one additional -2 health level.

Sail: The Captain

SERENDIPITOUS VOYAGE
Cost: 3m; Mins: Sail 2, Essence 1;
Type: Simple (dramatic action)
Keywords: None
Duration: Special
Prerequisite Charms: None
When the Viziers must travel, destiny helps them along. The character may use this Charm at any port. Within a day, the character absolutely defi nitely finds a vessel about to leave for her destination and willing to take her aboard. The ship’s captain might not intend to go exactly where the Sidereal intends... but the Sidereal knows the ship will end up there anyway. Viziers should keep in mind that some destinations carry intrinsic dangers: the only way to reach Bluehaven, for instance, is to board a vessel destined for capture by the Lintha pirates.

The Charm arranges transportation; safety is the Sidereal’s own problem.This Charm’s effects extend beyond ships that sail rivers and seas. A Sidereal can find equally fortuitous transport on the sand-ships of the Southern deserts, caravans, stagecoaches or any other form of group conveyance. This Charm does not help with personal transport such as riding beasts, and will not work in locations where vehicles do not regularly arrive and depart.

STONE SKIPPING SPIRIT
Cost: 5m; Mins: Sail 2, Essence 1; Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Until the Exalt Disembarks
Prerequisite Charms: None
When the Sidereal uses this Charm, he exhales a long, silent breath that slips between the threads of the Tapestry of Creation and clears a space around the strand that represents the ship on which he sails. For the next scene, the ship sails smoothly regardless of fi erce weather or high waves, moving as effortlessly as a toy ship across a map.

As a result, environmental penalties no longer affect the pilot’s Sail rolls, and the ship takes no further damage from the harsh conditions for the rest of the scene.

SALT INTO ASH SLEIGHT
Cost: 2m; Mins: Sail 1, Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Compulsion, Obvious, Shaping
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal glares or points imperiously at a troublesome water elemental, river god or similar spirit, radiating all the authority of the Maiden of Journeys. A yellow aura surrounds the targeted spirit, and it suddenly remembers something important to do elsewhere. Perhaps the spirit neglected to deliver a delinquent report to its superior. Perhaps an offering awaits the spirit at a shrine downstream. Perhaps Mercury needs to speak to the spirit personally about a pressing matter. This understanding is not false. A legitimate reason to be someplace else does occur to the troublesome spirit, though the Sidereal doesn’t know what the reason is.

When this understanding comes upon the spirit, it must act on the understanding. If the spirit wants to do anything other than set out immediately, the spirit must spend a Willpower point to resist the Compulsion to go elsewhere right away.

This Charm only affects spirits strongly associated with water, be they gods, demons, or even ghosts whose death involved drowning or being killed at sea. The target must be within (Essence x 10) yards. Use of the Charm acts as a social attack, the Sidereal rolling ([Charisma or Manipulation] + Sail) against the target’s MDV. It costs 3wp to ignore this unnatural Compulsion for the rest of the scene. Each time the sidereals anima flares to a new level, the spirit must resist again as if the attack had succeeded with 0 six.

Even when the truculent spirit resists the Compulsion, the world itself dooms them for shirking their duties elsewhere. Other characters reduce by one the target number of actions they take that would drive the spirit away, including physical attacks and social attacks to convince the target to leave.

WALLS OF SALT AND ASH
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Sail 3, Essence 3; Type: Simple (dramatic action)
Keywords: Combo-ok(basic) Compulsion, Obvious
Duration: One day
Prerequisite Charms: Salt into Ash Sleight
A ship is a tiny refuge of human order in the vast, inhuman sea. By tracing the burning yellow Sign of Journeys on a ship’s prow, a Sidereal protects the ship and its passengers against supernatural forces.

One version of the Charm protects the ship from gods and elementals, another from the Fair Folk and the Wyld, a third from the dead and forces of the Underworld and a fourth from demons and forces of Malfeas. A character starts with one form of the Charm, and may buy additional forms of protection for two experience points or one bonus point each. A vessel can carry only one form of protection at a time, though.

A banned entity cannot touch or board the ship unless the entity’s Essence exceeds the Sidereal’s. The Sidereal’s Essence is also added to any dice pool or single value needed for the ship or passengers to resist a banned entity or environment, such as the roll to resist Wyld mutation, the dice pool to calculate Defense Value against a demon’s claws, or another character’s Essence to resist the Malediction power of the Storm Mother Sikunare.

Errata:
Sidereals gain access to all versions of this Charm when they learn it, though a ship may still only benefit from one version at a time. It does not provide bonus dice to DVs, but instead it imposes an equal external penalty on the attacks of aggressors. It costs 2wp per action for trespassers and aggressors to ignore this Charm’s effects. Characters that have resisted three times ignore the effect for the rest of the scene.

MIRROR-SHATTERING METHOD
Cost: 5m (+1wp); Mins: Sail 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Fate, combo ok
Duration: Five days
Prerequisite Charms: Stone Skipping Spirit
The Sidereal commits the required motes and casts a handful of salt over the edge of her vessel. The whiteness of the salt spreads out in all directions. In a blink, the Sidereal fi nds her vessel and crew bobbing on a solid fi eld of white that shifts between miniature whitecaps, miniature sand dunes, loose fl ower petals or palm-sized paper snowfl akes. From any witness’ points of view, the vessel seems to vanish.

The sea of white is a particular view of a dematerialized stratum of reality. From Creation, the ship looks like a faint transparent silhouette moving in a gust of wind. (Aware-ness rolls to notice the vessel or any rolls to track it suffer a two-dice external penalty.) While the ship moves thus, it travels at twice its normal pace, unimpeded by obstacles or weather conditions. The ship can even travel over dry land. Dematerialized entities can see the ship clearly. Charms and spells that enable one to see or affect dematerialized entities can also reveal or affect the ship.

No one aboard the ship, however, can see the surroundings of Creation through which the ship moves. Plotting a course that takes the use of this Charm into account, or setting a different course for a new destination once this Charm is in effect, requires a successful (Intelligence + Sail) roll at diffi culty 3. Once this Charm is invoked, though, maintaining a heading in the plain of white is as simple as lashing the wheel in place.

The journey ends when the Sidereal ends the commitment of motes at the journey’s planned end, at the end of fi ve days or if the Sidereal dies or falls off the vessel. In these cases, the vessel reappears fully in Creation. This can be awkward, if the ship was sailing over land at the time. If anyone falls off the ship, he reappears in Creation and cannot board again. (If the Charm ends because the Sidereal falls overboard, however, the Sidereal also reappears in Creation, next to the vessel.)

As an alternative to cross-Creation travel, a Sidereal can use this Charm to sail a ship from Creation to Yu-Shan or back. The trip takes exactly fi ve days from the moment the Sidereal sets course for Heaven. The Celestial port authorities do not like Sidereals arriving unannounced with a shipload of goggle-eyed mortals, unruly Solars or what-have-you, and will surely fi le a request for censure at the Bureau of Destiny.

Travel to other locations, such as Malfeas or the darkling seas of the Underworld, may also be possible; if so, the Bureau of Destiny keeps these navigational courses strictly secret. Assuming these alternate courses are possible, each additional otherworldly destination costs two experience points (or one bonus point). The journey between worlds always takes fi ve days.

A Sidereal can also use this Charm personally, just by throwing salt into any body of water (a mud puddle will do) and jumping in. However, this incurs the additional cost of one Willpower point. From then on, the character is swimming in the sea of white until she lets the Charm lapse. See Exalted, p. 130, for the effects of prolonged, strenuous activity. However, the character does swim twice as fast as normal.

Note: The Fate keyword applies to passengers aboard a vessel when the Sidereal uses this Charm. The ship and its crew disappear as normal, but beings outside fate are left behind in Creation.

Errata note
The difficulty of plotting or changing course with this Charm is two higher than normally doing so. Normally invalid rolls, such as plotting a course over dry land with a sailing vessel, are allowed, and are difficulty 5.Learning the courses to other worlds does not cost experience or bonus points, but does require extensive familiarity with the more usual methods of traveling to the other realm of existence, to the point that no knowledge recall rolls would be necessary to know them. The difficulty of plotting courses to other realms is never less than 6.

FIVE ORDEALS ODYSSEY
Cost: 10m, 1w, 1lhl; Mins: Sail 5, Essence 4;
Type: Simple (Speed 6, DV -2)
Keywords: Fate, Obvious, Prayer Strip
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Mirror-Shattering Method, Serendipitous Voyage, Walls of Salt and Ash

In their travels, sometimes the Seers of Heaven encounter problems that make further progress seem impossible. In such cases, a Sidereal can channel Essence into a prayer strip bearing the Scripture of the Maiden at Sea. He casts the strip into the air, where the prayer strip explodes in a fl ash of golden lightning.

Before the scene ends, something happens to remove the obstacle to his travel: a sudden squall blows away the approaching pirates, the desert caravan that has run out of water fi nds an oasis, a secret tunnel offers a way into the fortress, giant birds nest on the island where he is stranded.

But the Sidereal (and any companions) have only traded one trouble for another, equally severe but possibly soluble: the squall also blows the Sidereal’s ship aground in a dangerous land, the oasis has a Fair Folk mistress who transforms men into beasts, the secret passage is prone to dangerous rock falls, catching a ride on a giant bird takes the Sidereal to a valley of the giant snakes the birds feed upon. This new threat is locked into destiny, so a Seer cannot use Five Ordeals Odyssey again to attempt another escape and perhaps some lesser danger. The Charm also cannot remove impediments to travel that come from outside fate, such as attacking nephwracks or storms of Wyld energy.

The Charm obviously demands some skill at improvisation from the Storyteller. Whenever a character with this Charm takes a journey, it helps to prepare one or two scenes of replacement perils that can be plugged into the story at any point.

Survival: the ships wheel

SKY AND RAIN MANTRA
Cost: 10m; Mins: Survival 3, Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Basic
Duration: One day
Prerequisite Charms: None
The character can knot up the destinies of the wind and sky in a region, controlling its weather to aid or hinder others. The Vizier’s player spends the motes and rolls (Stamina + Survival). Each success adds +1 to the diffi culty of other characters’ Survival or Resistance rolls to live in the affected area. (The player can apply fewer successes than rolled.) The harsh weather lasts for one whole day and affects an area with a maximum radius of (Sidereal’s Essence) miles. The nature of this harsh weather depends on the surroundings. It can be unseasonable for the region (such as torrential downpour in the dry season) but not freakish (such as a blizzard howling across the Southern deserts).

If the Sidereal is so inclined, he can also use this Charm to alleviate harsh (natural) weather conditions. A single success on the (Stamina + Survival) roll calms the weather in the affected area. One success might be enough to counter some forms of deprivation, such as creating rain to help characters who suffer from thirst.

In other cases, the Storyteller might reduce weather-related diffi culties of or penalties to Survival or Resistance rolls by the number of successes rolled. If two characters attempt to use this Charm to opposing ends in the same overlapping area, the roll is contested.

Errata note:
This Charm cannot directly cause environmental hazards that inflict damage. The Sidereal cannot create a firestorm or deadly cold, but a bout of unseasonable warmth may lead to a forest fire naturally.

Add the following text to this Charm:
With Survival 5+ and Essence 3+, a Sidereal may use this Charm to create ‘freakish’ changes in weather, such as blizzards in the South. This increases the Cost of the Charm by +1wp, and its enforced Duration lasts for only an hour.

With Survival 5+ and Essence 4+, a Sidereal’s use of this Charm can cause weather that is a natural environmental hazard, on the level of the blistering heat/numbing cold described on Exalted, p. 131 normally. By adding +1wp to the Charm’s Cost and reducing its Duration to One hour, more extreme weather on the level of severe sandstorms is possible. Creating hazards this way increases the difficulty of the roll to activate the Charm by +2.

Dodge: The Ewer

Cost: 2m; Mins: Dodge 2, Essence 2;
Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Viziers anticipate attacks upon them, and avoid them. Apart from the name and Essence cost, this Charm duplicates Shadow Over Water (see Exalted, p. 227).
Even destiny falls into regular patterns, and to avoid one blow is just as good as avoiding all a foe’s attacks. Sidereals with Dodge 4+, Essence 3+ may repurchase this Charm. If it enhanced a successful application of the character’s Dodge DV against an attacker previously in the same tick, subsequent uses against that same attacker also raise the target number of the their dice pool by 1.

Cost: 10m; Mins: Dodge 3, Essence 2;
Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-Basic
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Absence
Vibrations in the strands of fate alert a Sidereal to imminent danger. Her player rolls (Dexterity + Dodge) against a difficulty equal to the permanent Essence of the foe responsible for the trouble. (Environmental dangers are difficulty 1.) If the roll succeeds, the Exalt avoids the harmful effect. For this Charm’s purposes, a “harmful effect” includes unexpected attacks, area-of-effect attacks, attacks with no physical component or even continuous effects with a duration longer than instant. (The character only needs to avoid a continuous effect once.) Attacks with very wide areas of effect (such as the Rain of Doom spell) defeat this Charm if the character is physically incapable of moving the distance needed to escape the effect.
The Sidereal’s player must activate this Charm either before her opponent’s attack roll or as soon as the player becomes aware of the effect.

This Charm may be employed to avoid any harmful effect (including all undesired physical, social, mental and spiritual influence), regardless of applicability or the scope of the attack, so long as the Sidereal succeeds on the Charm’s activation roll. It fails only against unexpected attacks, Limit Break and Pattern Bite. Duck Fate’s fallible activation roll is considered a unique Flaw of Invulnerability.
This Charm protects the person of the Exalt, including his possessions. It does not protect allies or distant estates just because they may be represented as Background traits on the Sidereal’s character sheet.

Athletics: The Banner

Cost: 1m; Mins: Athletics 2, Essence 1; Type: Refl exive
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The character leans back into the taut strands of fate and launches from them like an arrow from a bowstring. In so doing, her leaping distance triples for a single jump.

Cost: —; Type: Permanent
Duration: Permanent
Replace the text of this Charm with the following:
Despite aphorisms to the contrary, the Exalted burn both long and bright, their insatiable heroism overwhelming all the obstacles in their way as they blaze through history towards their end. When performing feats of strength, the Exalt doubles his Strength rating and converts bonus dice from stunts into extra successes (adding double their rating to relevant unrolled pools). This Charm also allows the Sidereal to channel his Conviction on all such rolls, and on Stamina-based rolls to resist environmental hazards and poisons.

Awareness: The Crow

PRIOR WARNING
Cost: 6m; Mins: Awareness 2, Essence 1;
Type: Simple (Speed 4, DV -0)
Keywords: Combo Ok
Duration: Five hours
Prerequisite Charms: None
Replace the text of this Charm with the following:
Casting her perception into the near future, the Sidereal senses the presence of imminent danger. The Storyteller should have the Sidereal’s player roll any Awareness rolls that she is allowed to notice a threat (Essence x 2) minutes before she would normally be able to roll. When the Storyteller cannot determine the difficulty of the roll beforehand, use the highest ([Intelligence + Larceny] ÷ 2) of any character involved in the threat–or difficulty 1 if the Sidereal could notice the threat automatically. On a success, she receives a vague premonition of harm, putting her on guard without actually revealing the nature of the threat. Such forewarning adds one automatic success to her actual roll to notice the threat when it finally arrives.

Expected Pain
Cost: 2m (+2m); Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Mins: Awareness 3, Essence 2; Type: Refl exive
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Prior Warning

Vague premonitions of future sorrow drift through the mind of a Sidereal who has mastered this Charm. As her fated suffering impends, these visions crystallize into awareness. Expected Pain cancels the unexpected quality of any physical or social attack against the Sidereal. It costs an additional two motes when used to defend against creatures outside of fate.

With Awareness 5+, this Charm can be activated to enhance any Awareness roll to notice a concealed threat to the Sidereal or her allies—a hidden assailant, a drop of poisonous lotus extract dissolved in a cup of tea, a venereal disease on a concubine. Doing so converts all dice on the roll to automatic successes.

SUPERNAL AWARENESS
Cost: 4m; Mins: Awareness 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Fate, Stackable
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Expected Pain
With this Charm, the character expands her awareness not into the future, but across a broader swatch of the present. The character must look for something specifi c, be it a person, a spirit, the use of her name, the use of Essence, the outbreak of combat or some other objectively defi nable phenomenon. If that specifi c thing appears or occurs within (character’s Essence x 100) yards, the Sidereal becomes aware of it. She doesn’t receive a clairvoyant vision, per se, so much as she receives a general understanding.

She might know the location of a person she monitors but wouldn’t necessarily know what that person is doing. If the character watches for a phenomenon, though, she does get a general sense of its power level. If she watches for combat, for example, she can tell the difference between two gangs clashing over disputed turf and two rival noblemen dueling over a girl. If the character looks for the use of Essence, she could tell the difference between a fellow Sidereal’s refl exive use of the Forgotten Earth Charm (see p. 153) and a sorcerer casting the Incomparable Body Arsenal spell (see Exalted, p. 255). In these circumstances, the character can even recognize specifi c Charms, spells or other supernatural powers, if she’s
seen their use before.

Supernal Awareness does not detect creatures outside of fate. Creatures governed by fate, however, cannot conceal themselves from this Charm by any natural or supernatural means. The more times a Sidereal activates this Charm in a scene, the more creatures or phenomena she can watch for at a time.

__________________________________
Developed by Sidereal Exalted during the Pri- mordial War as a means of teaching newly Exalted Celestials the ways of martial arts without risk of deadly training accidents, Crane Style emphasizes defensive maneuvers, restraint and empathy for opponents. The style does not permit armor, but considers hook swords and war fans (as well as the magical versions thereof) as unarmed attacks for the purposes of its Charms. Most commonly, these weapons are wielded paired, as a one-winged crane is considered highly inauspicious. In the Second Age, the main practitioners of this Celestial martial art are Gold Faction Sidereals who run the training camps of the Cult of the Illuminated, applying the style‟s techniques to their original purpose as they prepare Solar Exalted to face the enemies of Creation.

FLUTTERING CRY OF WARNING
Cost: 1m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The clumsy hunter might strike from ambush, but the crane is not fooled. This Charm may be activated in response to any unexpected physical attack targeting the martial artist or anyone within (Martial Arts x 10) yards of her. Yet, the target of the unexpected attack must not have made any physical attack previously in the scene (counterattacks are permitted). If the target is valid, the attack loses the unexpected quality and its target may defend against it normally.

EMPOWERING JUSTICE REDIRECTION
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Until next attack
Prerequisite Charms: Fluttering Cry of Warning
Crane stylists do not initiate hostilities—they finish them. This Charm may be activated in response to any physical attack targeting the martial artist and notes the attacker and the number of successes rolled for the attack prior to applying the martial artist‟s defenses. Whenever the martial artist next makes an unarmed attack or counterattack roll against the noted attacker, her roll adds a number of extra successes equal to those noted. An attack enhanced with these successes inflicts its usual type of damage, but the actual levels applied to an enemy in Step Ten convert into bashing damage that cannot spill over past Incapacitated to impose lethal wounds. If an enhanced attack inflicts any levels of damage, the opponent is automatically knocked prone by the force of the blow. Reactivation of Empowering Justice Redirection resets the noted aggressor and number of successes, replacing any prior activation.

CRANE FORM
Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Form-type
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Empowering Justice Redirection
The crane is not a violent animal, it is an elegant one. While this Charm is active, the martial artist ignores the off-hand penalty for actions while wielding paired form weapons. If wearing clothing with long, flowing sleeves, she adds one to her Parry DV (and her clothing will never be torn or stained by using it to parry attacks), and her barehanded attacks gain the R tag. She automatically succeeds on all Athletics checks to retain her balance and exerts no effective weight on any solid object, allowing her to balance on a pine tree‟s needles or run across a spider web as readily as firm ground. The Charm doubles the dice bonus (but not actual level) of all stunts made to enhance unarmed Martial Arts actions and allows such stunts to recover a Compassion channel in place of other awards if the action succeeds. Finally, all damage inflicted by the martial artist‟s unarmed attacks is limited to bashing injury as per the effects of Empowering Justice Redirection.

HUMBLING ENLIGHTENMENT COMMENTARY
Cost: —; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 2; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Crane Form
The grace of the crane inspires those who bear witness to it. A martial artist who knows this Charm may enhance her unarmed Martial Arts attacks and parries with the same descriptions as a social attack, provided that her spoken words analyze her opponent‟s fighting techniques and offers helpful advice to improve them. Thus, comments by players speaking in character provide a one-die stunt, et cetera. Social and conventional physical criteria do not stack as such, though a combination of visual and literal poetry may certainly net a higher stunt award at Storyteller discretion.
As a secondary benefit, if the martial artist takes a dramatic action lasting one minute in which she spars with a single individual, both combatants treat that minute as a day of training time for the purposes of purchasing dots of Martial Arts, Martial Arts specialties or Martial Arts Charms. This acceleration is not a Training effect and does not allow purchase of traits the combatant‟s player lacks the banked experience points to afford.

KINDLY SIFU’S QUILL
Cost: —; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Humbling Enlightenment Commentary
Gentle masters write their lessons in bruises, not cuts. While a character with this Charm has Crane Form active, he does not need to spend a Willpower point to channel Compassion to enhance an unarmed Martial Arts attack or parry. Moreover, whenever he does channel Compassion this way to improve an attack, he also adds the dice bonus from the channel to the attack‟s raw damage and he may choose to arrange inflicted bruises as calligraphy upon the victim's skin when inflicting any levels of damage.

CROSSED WINGS DENIAL
Cost: 6m+; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Crane Form
What monster kills so beautiful a bird? This Charm may be activated in response to any physical attack of which the martial artist is aware, allowing her to make a perfect unarmed parry even against unblockable attacks. Crossed Wings Denial has a base cost of six motes, plus an additional mote for each time the martial artist has used it previously in the scene. Use of this Charm prevents the martial artist from making any physical attacks on her next action as a special flaw of invulnerability. Counterattacks are not similarly prohibited.

FEATHER-STIRRED ARROW DEFLECTION
Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 9)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Counterattack
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Crossed Wings Denial
With a mighty beat of its wings, the crane shames feathers bound to shafts. They understand the lessons that their archers do not. This Charm is an unarmed (Dexterity + Martial Arts) counterattack that may be activated in response to any ranged attack with a solid projectile. The projectile may strike the martial artist or not depending on her defenses, but regardless, the counterattack hurls the projectile at an armed character no farther away than the distance between the original attacker and the martial artist. The target of this counterattack need not be the attacker who prompted it. If the counterattack hits, it inflicts no damage, but the opponent is automatically disarmed and the weapon flies five yards away in a direction of the martial artist‟s choice.

BEAK SPEARS FROG
Cost: 4m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Counterattack
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Crane Form
It is the nature of a crane to grab a frog that passes beneath its beak. It is the nature of Crane Style to strike those who strike first. A martial artist using this Charm cannot make physical attacks against other animate beings, but this prohibition does not extend to counterattacks. While Beak Spears Frog is active, however, the character may respond to any physical attack against him in Step Nine with a single unarmed counterattack, provided he can reach the attacker to do so. Counterattacks made this way suffer an internal penalty equal to the multiple action penalty of the attacks to which they respond, but are otherwise made at the character‟s full dice pool.

WINGS SPREAD TO SKY
Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: One action
Prerequisite Charms: Beak Spears Frog
Majestic and beautiful is the soaring crane. In activating this Charm, the character extends his arms to either side, hands pointed down, and glides up to (Martial Arts x 5) yards in any direction. If this path terminates in midair, he remains suspended in defiance of gravity for the duration of the Charm with enough mobility to dodge without actually moving from his location. He cannot reactivate Wings Spread to Sky until his DV refreshes. The Charm may be used to abort a fall safely or rise higher from the apogee of a jump. If used to pull away in response to an attack, the attack resolves normally before the martial artist moves. Defensive gliding can interrupt a flurry if the martial artist moves out of the attacker‟s reach, ensuring that successive attacks automatically miss.
When Wings Spread to Sky ends, the character glides another (Martial Arts x 5) yards or less in any direction before gravity resumes its hold upon him. This can allow him to land safely from a great height or deposit him on a safer perch. Termination of the Charm can also close the distance to an opponent to deliver an unarmed attack or counterattack (effectively extending the reach of the attack). Closing to strike this way doubles extra successes for the purposes of calculating the attack‟s raw damage, but only the first attack in a flurry enjoys this bonus.

WISDOM OF THE CELESTIAL CRANE
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 1)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Emotion
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Feather-Stirred Arrow Deflection, Kindly Sifu’s Quill, Wings Spread to Sky
The crane is sacred in its beauty, a bird of celestial splendor and serene grace. Such are the virtues that the Crane master may teach to his foes with this finishing move. Wisdom of the Celestial Crane can enhance any unarmed counterattack, adding (Essence) dice to its post-soak damage. An attack that successfully deals bashing damage also causes its victim to lose a point of Willpower.
A character who loses their last Willpower point this way or who is reduced to their Incapacitated health level by a supplemented attack instantly forms an Intimacy of love for Creation, as an irresistible unnatural Emotion.
SAPPHIRE VEIL OF PASSION
This ancient Sidereal martial art is popularly known among the Viziers as “the twice-mastered art.” The less crude interpretation of this moniker refers to the style‟s history. Legend has it that Sapphire Veil of Passion style was originally invented by Entwined in Night‟s Shadows, a Chosen of Secrets. But he was selfish and proud, and refused to teach the style he had invented. He never took a student or produced any records, and its mysteries died with him. Centuries later, it was re-created from second- hand accounts and first-hand insights by an ambitious Joybringer to settle a bet with Ma-Ha-Suchi, and has remained a favored possession of the Chosen of Serenity ever since.
Sapphire Veil of Passion was derived from extensive first-hand study of that most ancient and enduring fascination of the human race—sex. Its masters weather the ribald jokes and off-color commentary of their younger contemporaries with patience and good humor. Those who face them in battle discover that these martial artists have turned their focus inward upon the hottest of flames and have tempered it into an exceedingly fine weapon. They do not jest about the style afterward. For more information on Sidereal martial arts, see Scroll of the Monk.
Weapons and Armor: Charms of this style treat attacks made with the urumi and its artifact equivalent, the floating ribbon, as unarmed attacks. This style is not compatible with armor, but is traditionally used with a buckler.

The Student’s Sutra of Desire: Once, there was a lusty maiden…

INTO INFINITE DEPTHS
Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
…who desired the ideal lover.
Clearing her mind of all but the sensation of the moment, the martial artist cuts her gaze across an opponent. In so doing she sees him anew, with unsurpassed clarity. The character immediately gains the following knowledge about one individual: what manner of being the target is (Solar Exalt, god, raksha, etc), which martial arts styles he knows at least one Charm from, which martial
arts styles he knows up to the Form-type Charm, which martial arts styles he has mastered, whether he has any Intimacies toward the martial artist, and the nature of those Intimacies, if they exist.
For the rest of the scene, the martial artist gains a +2 bonus to her DVs and MDVs against any opponent she has evaluated in this manner. Into Infinite Depths may be activated as an innate power, which does not count as a Charm activation if Sapphire Veil of Passion Form is active.

ETERNAL INFATUATION DANCE
Cost: 8m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Counterattack, Obvious
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
She flirted her way across Creation,
Taking attention to imply invitation, the character is able to quickly close with those who draw her notice. This Charm may be activated in response to any social or physical attack. The martial artist vanishes in a swirl of collapsing sapphire ribbons, appearing one yard away from her attacker. In the case of long-range social attacks (such as those delivered through sorcery), the Charm‟s maximum allowable range of movement is (Essence x 20) miles. This action incidentally acts as a perfect dodge upon activation against physical ranged attacks of which the martial artist is aware, assuming the attack can be dodged. Subsequent ranged attacks during the remainder of the Charm‟s duration must be defended against normally.
As long as the martial artist does not voluntarily move away from the individual whom she activated Eternal Infatuation Dance to approach, she may stay within one yard of him at all times, regardless of his movement rate or any exotic movement abilities employed.
The initial movement granted by this Charm is considered a counterattack. This Charm may not be invoked more than once per action.

YELLOW DRAGON FLIGHT
Cost: 13m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
courting handsome boys
Wild ribbons of yellow and scarlet power blaze around the character‟s attacking limb. Channeling her understanding of the male principle of Essence,
the martial artist enchants an unarmed attack with aggressive, penetrating power. The attack is considered unblockable, ignores soak derived from armor, and in addition to inflicting standard damage, ignites a number of the target‟s motes equal to the martial artist‟s (Essence x 2). These motes are not only lost, but also immediately applied as raw lethal damage which ignores armor, but is soaked separately from the original attack. If the target lacks sufficient Essence, or lacks Essence at all, this aspect of the attack is wasted.

BLACK DRAGON COILS
Cost: 5m, 3wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Yellow Dragon Flight
and smiling girls.
Stepping back from determined opposition, the martial artist swirls with onyx ribbons. Channeling her understanding of the female principle of Essence, she enhances an unarmed parry against any attack she can perceive, even unblockable attacks, rendering the defense it provides perfect. Additionally, the martial artist regains one channel of any Virtue of her choice for every five motes or fraction thereof the opponent spent on the blocked attack. For example, if an opponent spends one to five motes, the martial artist regains one channel. If an opponent spends six to 10 motes, the martial artist regains two channels (one for the first set of five motes, and another for the remainder in the second set of five motes).

DISSOLUTION OF VALUE
Cost: 15m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Eternal Infatuation Dance, Into Infinite Depths
She attended great debauches, but quantity did not satisfy.
Rooting herself in the midst of her opponents, the martial artist‟s anima erupts into a series of spiraling ribbons that brush aside the attacks of her foes. While this Charm persists, no penal- ties of any kind may reduce her DVs. (As always, inapplicability is not a penalty.) Characters attacking her from behind in a press also do not gain a free unexpected attack. Dissolution of Value automatically ends if the martial artist moves more than one yard from the point where she activated this Charm.

SATISFYING IDLE FANTASY
Cost: 10m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Emotion
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Dissolution of Value
Finally, she met a mirror. Realizing she had learned nothing,
Wrapping herself in self-indulgent dreams of her own triumph, the martial artist denies opponents the ability to hold themselves superior to her. No penalties may apply to her dice pools when she attacks any character she has evaluated with Into Infinite Depths during the course of the scene, save for multiple action penalties. Additionally, when any of her attacks inflict damage, the target must pay one Willpower or accept an Intimacy toward the Sidereal. (This Intimacy represents lust if appropriate to the character‟s gender preferences, uneasy fascination otherwise.)

SAPPHIRE VEIL OF PASSION FORM
Cost: 13m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5; Type: Simple
Keywords: Crippling, Form-type, Emotion, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Black Dragon Coils, Satisfying Idle Fantasy, One complete Celestial martial art
the maiden was satisfied.
The martial artist executes a languid kata, hesitates a moment, and then erupts into a shud- dering battle pattern. Her anima unfolds into a towering, shifting array of cerulean and sapphire ribbons, which twine about her body even as they strain for the sky. She levitates a finger‟s length above the ground as she moves, incidentally gaining perfect balance and the ability to move safely over hazardous terrain. Players of all characters who possess any sort of Intimacy toward her, positive or negative, must fail a Compassion roll or pay one Willpower per attack made against her. If she manages to strike any character who possesses no Essence or Willpower (non-Essence users are not evaluated for current Essence, only Willpower) with an unarmed attack, that character is immediately rendered unconscious for (attacker‟s Martial Arts) hours as a Crippling effect. Finally, she gains five motes whenever her DV refreshes.
●● - Sifu
●●● - Backing ?(Silver Faction)
●●● - Salary
●●●● - Celestial Manse (Stone of Inhuman Beauty)

Artifacts
●● - Heaven Thunder Leaf (matching set)
●● - Silken Armor
●●●● - Perfected Kata Bracers (Starmetal)

Anima Powers: Spend 10 motes to add (her Essence) automatic successes to all Performance rolls made by her or her allies within (her Essence x 10) yards.
The Peacock ●●●●●
The Pillar ●●●●●
The Sorcerer ●●

The Peacock
The Peacock governs practical alliance, thoughtful breeding and considered partnership. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain look carefully at the advantages of prospective mates. In the descending aspect, they are trapped in loveless marriages, forced alliances and other half-functional partnerships. The Peacock constellation governs the courtesan, the goodwife, the thoughtful matriarch, the established Dragon-Blooded household and predators who hunt in packs.

Trappings: The Peacock struts his magnificent finery, be it gang stylings, armor or court clothing. He is proud and has excellent bearing. He shows discerning taste, and is obviously sexually available.
Correlations: Greed, love for wealth’s sake, procreation, dualities, alliances, bright colors, necessity, traps, distraction

Resplendencies
• Proper Plumage, one Endurance, one Paradox die: As long as the character has access to a large closet, second-hand clothing store, pile of cloth scraps and so on, she can always look good enough
to gain +1 Appearance for the duration of a social event, regardless of the event’s dress code.
• Spouse-Saving Grace, one Endurance: Whenever the Sidereal is present with her mate and his player fails a Bureaucracy roll or succumbs to a social attack, her player may channel Conviction or Temperance once to reroll or re-apply Defense Value based on the Sidereal’s traits.
• Wife-Procuring Tailfeathers, one Endurance, one Paradox die per week: The character is an obvious catch. Within a day of wandering in any populated area, the character will fi nd herself married and managing a large and prosperous household. The character may not marry on the first day, but the tumultuous course of events will immediately begin to occupy all the character’s time and result in marriage within the week.
So long as the character lives as the full-time manager of the family’s affairs, she avoids all legal, bureaucratic and official scrutiny. Those attempting to deliver summonses to her are powerless without supernatural tracking, and those attempting to follow her must beat her player’s (Charisma + Bureaucracy) roll, with her Essence added as automatic successes. She must live for the job and has but seven free hours per week.

The Pillar
The Pillar represents partnership tested and found stable. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain are virtuous empresses, righteous matriarchs and caring parents. In the descending aspect, they are bad parents or partners tested and found wanting. The Pillar is the constellation of the asexual partner (the mother, business partner or drinking buddy), service in the Thousand Scales and of herd animals such as mammoth and elk.

Trappings: The Pillar wears a wedding ring and dresses plainly. She is perceptive and practical. She is firm but just.
Correlations: Family, friendship, stability, civil society, unjust authority, stagnation, queens and princes

Resplendencies
• Comforting Matriarch Embrace, one Endurance: The character may hold and comfort another before putting him to sleep. When the target awakens, his player may roll the character’s Conviction twice for him to regain Willpower.
• Equitable Partnership, one Endurance, one Paradox die: The character will always find a financial backer for a business plan, so long as the venture has plausible merit, she is competent and she has no intention of cheating the potential investor.
• Best Friend’s Couch, one Endurance, one Paradox die per week: By ambling up to the nearest habitation where the character speaks the language, the Sidereal may present herself as a long-lost friend and will be fed as well as anyone in the house and allowed to sleep on the floor, the couch or a spare bed. The character can’t stay in any one place for long, but at the same time, all of humanity is the character’s friend, so she need merely move to a new house every few days when she begins to wear out her welcome.
So long as the character spends time with her newfound long-lost friends, she avoids all legal, bureaucratic and official scrutiny. Those attempting to deliver summonses to her are powerless without supernatural tracking, and those attempting to find her must beat her players’ (Charisma + Presence) roll, with her Essence added as automatic successes. Hanging out with friends is a full-time endeavor, so she has just seven free hours per week.

The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer is the Exalt, the god, the geomancer and the talisman maker. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain practice artifice, sorcery, thaumaturgy and geomancy. In the descending aspect, they summon demons, worship the Yozis and practice necromancy. The Sorcerer is the constellation of tasks accomplished through use of Essence.
Sidereals use this college to set up resplendent destinies as Sidereal Exalted so they can smoothly conduct business in Heaven and with other Exalted. Many who think they know a Sidereal Exalt may one day have a hard time naming or describing her. Most Sidereals don’t keep such identities for longer than a century.

Trappings: The Sorcerer is one of the Exalted and a Prince of the Earth. He displays goods of the magical materials, a caste mark and regal bearing. He wears armor and carries a daiklave.
Correlations: Humanity, geomancy, artifice, demon summoning and infernalism, talismans, Essence use, egotism, Yozi-slaves

Resplendencies
• Invincible Essence Core, one Endurance: The character may reflexively block any effect that lowers her permanent Essence, causes her to lose her memory or makes her lose access to spells, Charms, Combos or Abilities, except for pattern bite or the weakening effect of her Greater Sign.
• Prince of the Earth, one Endurance per scene: The character has many peers but no superiors. +3 dice to all social rolls with the un-Exalted, so long as she acts the part of an Exalt. This implies no sense of superiority.
• Seer, variable Endurance: If the character takes part in astrology to determine or plan the future with another Sidereal, she may spend any amount of Endurance to give bonus dice to the attempt. This Resplendency’s effect is a hallmark of major Sidereal gatherings.
Bonus Points: 20
10 BP - Essence
3 BP - 3x willpower
3 BP - Abilties
2 BP - specialties
2 BP - Virtues

Experience: 0

D. Rex · Nov 27, 2020

Colleges and Charms for Xun the Glass Dragon

First Martial Art Excellency, essence overwhelming

Cost: 1m+; Mins: (Ability) 4, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive
(Step 1 for attacker, Step 2 for defender)
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Any (Ability) Excellency
The target number of any dice roll using the chosen Ability decreases by one for every mote the player spends. For one mote, any roll of 6 or higher becomes a success; two motes grant success on rolls of 5 or higher. This Excellency cannot reduce a target number below 4.
Alternatively, the player can spend one Willpower point and enough Essence to reduce the target number to 3. This grants an “auspicious success”: the player forgoes the actual roll but transforms every die in the dice pool into an automatic success instead.
If the player declares in Step 2 of attack resolution that he wants to purchase an auspicious success for a defensive Ability, the expenditure of one Willpower and enough Essence to lower the target number to 3 doubles his appropriate Defense Value against that attack.

Cost: 2m+, 1wp; Mins: (Ability) 4, Essence 3;
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Any (Ability) Excellency
By tuning her Essence to resonate with one of the 25 constellations and its corresponding astrological college, a Sidereal can attune herself to a particular Ability and use its first three Excellencies with greater efficiency. Each two motes committed to this Charm reduce the mote cost for the first three Excellencies, to a minimum of zero. A character may never spend more than twice her permanent Essence on this Charm; and an Exalt may employ only one Propitious (Ability) Alignment at a time.
Propitious (Ability) Alignment is incompatible with the Fateful Excellency: while employing this Charm, one cannot apply Essence Auspicious to any dice pool involving that Ability. If a character does so, the Propitious Alignment immediately ends. On the other hand, every dot a character has in an Ability’s corresponding astrological college reduces the cost of Propitious (Ability) Alignment by one mote, to a minimum of 1. Thus, a Sidereal with Essence 3 and four levels of the Mask could spend two motes, and get the same results as if she spent six motes on Propitious Stealth Alignment.
In every other way, Propitious (Ability) Alignment follows the same rules as Infinite (Ability) Mastery.

Resistance: The Mast

Cost: —; Mins: Resistance 1, Essence 1; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Stackable
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
Just as all Exalted, Sidereals gain extra health levels with each purchase of this Charm. Each health level gained thus helps a Sidereal operate at maximum efficiency in spite of his wounds for just a little bit longer. A player may purchase this Charm for his character up to once per dot of the Resistance Ability his character possesses.

Each purchase grants the character one additional -0 and one additional -2 health level.

Sail: The Captain

SERENDIPITOUS VOYAGE
Cost: 3m; Mins: Sail 2, Essence 1;
Type: Simple (dramatic action)
Keywords: None
Duration: Special
Prerequisite Charms: None
When the Viziers must travel, destiny helps them along. The character may use this Charm at any port. Within a day, the character absolutely defi nitely finds a vessel about to leave for her destination and willing to take her aboard. The ship’s captain might not intend to go exactly where the Sidereal intends... but the Sidereal knows the ship will end up there anyway. Viziers should keep in mind that some destinations carry intrinsic dangers: the only way to reach Bluehaven, for instance, is to board a vessel destined for capture by the Lintha pirates.

The Charm arranges transportation; safety is the Sidereal’s own problem.This Charm’s effects extend beyond ships that sail rivers and seas. A Sidereal can find equally fortuitous transport on the sand-ships of the Southern deserts, caravans, stagecoaches or any other form of group conveyance. This Charm does not help with personal transport such as riding beasts, and will not work in locations where vehicles do not regularly arrive and depart.

STONE SKIPPING SPIRIT
Cost: 5m; Mins: Sail 2, Essence 1; Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Until the Exalt Disembarks
Prerequisite Charms: None
When the Sidereal uses this Charm, he exhales a long, silent breath that slips between the threads of the Tapestry of Creation and clears a space around the strand that represents the ship on which he sails. For the next scene, the ship sails smoothly regardless of fi erce weather or high waves, moving as effortlessly as a toy ship across a map.

As a result, environmental penalties no longer affect the pilot’s Sail rolls, and the ship takes no further damage from the harsh conditions for the rest of the scene.

SALT INTO ASH SLEIGHT
Cost: 2m; Mins: Sail 1, Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Compulsion, Obvious, Shaping
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal glares or points imperiously at a troublesome water elemental, river god or similar spirit, radiating all the authority of the Maiden of Journeys. A yellow aura surrounds the targeted spirit, and it suddenly remembers something important to do elsewhere. Perhaps the spirit neglected to deliver a delinquent report to its superior. Perhaps an offering awaits the spirit at a shrine downstream. Perhaps Mercury needs to speak to the spirit personally about a pressing matter. This understanding is not false. A legitimate reason to be someplace else does occur to the troublesome spirit, though the Sidereal doesn’t know what the reason is.

When this understanding comes upon the spirit, it must act on the understanding. If the spirit wants to do anything other than set out immediately, the spirit must spend a Willpower point to resist the Compulsion to go elsewhere right away.

This Charm only affects spirits strongly associated with water, be they gods, demons, or even ghosts whose death involved drowning or being killed at sea. The target must be within (Essence x 10) yards. Use of the Charm acts as a social attack, the Sidereal rolling ([Charisma or Manipulation] + Sail) against the target’s MDV. It costs 3wp to ignore this unnatural Compulsion for the rest of the scene. Each time the sidereals anima flares to a new level, the spirit must resist again as if the attack had succeeded with 0 six.

Even when the truculent spirit resists the Compulsion, the world itself dooms them for shirking their duties elsewhere. Other characters reduce by one the target number of actions they take that would drive the spirit away, including physical attacks and social attacks to convince the target to leave.

WALLS OF SALT AND ASH
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Sail 3, Essence 3; Type: Simple (dramatic action)
Keywords: Combo-ok(basic) Compulsion, Obvious
Duration: One day
Prerequisite Charms: Salt into Ash Sleight
A ship is a tiny refuge of human order in the vast, inhuman sea. By tracing the burning yellow Sign of Journeys on a ship’s prow, a Sidereal protects the ship and its passengers against supernatural forces.

One version of the Charm protects the ship from gods and elementals, another from the Fair Folk and the Wyld, a third from the dead and forces of the Underworld and a fourth from demons and forces of Malfeas. A character starts with one form of the Charm, and may buy additional forms of protection for two experience points or one bonus point each. A vessel can carry only one form of protection at a time, though.

A banned entity cannot touch or board the ship unless the entity’s Essence exceeds the Sidereal’s. The Sidereal’s Essence is also added to any dice pool or single value needed for the ship or passengers to resist a banned entity or environment, such as the roll to resist Wyld mutation, the dice pool to calculate Defense Value against a demon’s claws, or another character’s Essence to resist the Malediction power of the Storm Mother Sikunare.

Errata:
Sidereals gain access to all versions of this Charm when they learn it, though a ship may still only benefit from one version at a time. It does not provide bonus dice to DVs, but instead it imposes an equal external penalty on the attacks of aggressors. It costs 2wp per action for trespassers and aggressors to ignore this Charm’s effects. Characters that have resisted three times ignore the effect for the rest of the scene.

MIRROR-SHATTERING METHOD
Cost: 5m (+1wp); Mins: Sail 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Fate, combo ok
Duration: Five days
Prerequisite Charms: Stone Skipping Spirit
The Sidereal commits the required motes and casts a handful of salt over the edge of her vessel. The whiteness of the salt spreads out in all directions. In a blink, the Sidereal fi nds her vessel and crew bobbing on a solid fi eld of white that shifts between miniature whitecaps, miniature sand dunes, loose fl ower petals or palm-sized paper snowfl akes. From any witness’ points of view, the vessel seems to vanish.

The sea of white is a particular view of a dematerialized stratum of reality. From Creation, the ship looks like a faint transparent silhouette moving in a gust of wind. (Aware-ness rolls to notice the vessel or any rolls to track it suffer a two-dice external penalty.) While the ship moves thus, it travels at twice its normal pace, unimpeded by obstacles or weather conditions. The ship can even travel over dry land. Dematerialized entities can see the ship clearly. Charms and spells that enable one to see or affect dematerialized entities can also reveal or affect the ship.

No one aboard the ship, however, can see the surroundings of Creation through which the ship moves. Plotting a course that takes the use of this Charm into account, or setting a different course for a new destination once this Charm is in effect, requires a successful (Intelligence + Sail) roll at diffi culty 3. Once this Charm is invoked, though, maintaining a heading in the plain of white is as simple as lashing the wheel in place.

The journey ends when the Sidereal ends the commitment of motes at the journey’s planned end, at the end of fi ve days or if the Sidereal dies or falls off the vessel. In these cases, the vessel reappears fully in Creation. This can be awkward, if the ship was sailing over land at the time. If anyone falls off the ship, he reappears in Creation and cannot board again. (If the Charm ends because the Sidereal falls overboard, however, the Sidereal also reappears in Creation, next to the vessel.)

As an alternative to cross-Creation travel, a Sidereal can use this Charm to sail a ship from Creation to Yu-Shan or back. The trip takes exactly fi ve days from the moment the Sidereal sets course for Heaven. The Celestial port authorities do not like Sidereals arriving unannounced with a shipload of goggle-eyed mortals, unruly Solars or what-have-you, and will surely fi le a request for censure at the Bureau of Destiny.

Travel to other locations, such as Malfeas or the darkling seas of the Underworld, may also be possible; if so, the Bureau of Destiny keeps these navigational courses strictly secret. Assuming these alternate courses are possible, each additional otherworldly destination costs two experience points (or one bonus point). The journey between worlds always takes fi ve days.

A Sidereal can also use this Charm personally, just by throwing salt into any body of water (a mud puddle will do) and jumping in. However, this incurs the additional cost of one Willpower point. From then on, the character is swimming in the sea of white until she lets the Charm lapse. See Exalted, p. 130, for the effects of prolonged, strenuous activity. However, the character does swim twice as fast as normal.

Note: The Fate keyword applies to passengers aboard a vessel when the Sidereal uses this Charm. The ship and its crew disappear as normal, but beings outside fate are left behind in Creation.

Errata note
The difficulty of plotting or changing course with this Charm is two higher than normally doing so. Normally invalid rolls, such as plotting a course over dry land with a sailing vessel, are allowed, and are difficulty 5.Learning the courses to other worlds does not cost experience or bonus points, but does require extensive familiarity with the more usual methods of traveling to the other realm of existence, to the point that no knowledge recall rolls would be necessary to know them. The difficulty of plotting courses to other realms is never less than 6.

FIVE ORDEALS ODYSSEY
Cost: 10m, 1w, 1lhl; Mins: Sail 5, Essence 4;
Type: Simple (Speed 6, DV -2)
Keywords: Fate, Obvious, Prayer Strip
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Mirror-Shattering Method, Serendipitous Voyage, Walls of Salt and Ash

In their travels, sometimes the Seers of Heaven encounter problems that make further progress seem impossible. In such cases, a Sidereal can channel Essence into a prayer strip bearing the Scripture of the Maiden at Sea. He casts the strip into the air, where the prayer strip explodes in a fl ash of golden lightning.

Before the scene ends, something happens to remove the obstacle to his travel: a sudden squall blows away the approaching pirates, the desert caravan that has run out of water fi nds an oasis, a secret tunnel offers a way into the fortress, giant birds nest on the island where he is stranded.

But the Sidereal (and any companions) have only traded one trouble for another, equally severe but possibly soluble: the squall also blows the Sidereal’s ship aground in a dangerous land, the oasis has a Fair Folk mistress who transforms men into beasts, the secret passage is prone to dangerous rock falls, catching a ride on a giant bird takes the Sidereal to a valley of the giant snakes the birds feed upon. This new threat is locked into destiny, so a Seer cannot use Five Ordeals Odyssey again to attempt another escape and perhaps some lesser danger. The Charm also cannot remove impediments to travel that come from outside fate, such as attacking nephwracks or storms of Wyld energy.

The Charm obviously demands some skill at improvisation from the Storyteller. Whenever a character with this Charm takes a journey, it helps to prepare one or two scenes of replacement perils that can be plugged into the story at any point.

Survival: the ships wheel

SKY AND RAIN MANTRA
Cost: 10m; Mins: Survival 3, Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Basic
Duration: One day
Prerequisite Charms: None
The character can knot up the destinies of the wind and sky in a region, controlling its weather to aid or hinder others. The Vizier’s player spends the motes and rolls (Stamina + Survival). Each success adds +1 to the diffi culty of other characters’ Survival or Resistance rolls to live in the affected area. (The player can apply fewer successes than rolled.) The harsh weather lasts for one whole day and affects an area with a maximum radius of (Sidereal’s Essence) miles. The nature of this harsh weather depends on the surroundings. It can be unseasonable for the region (such as torrential downpour in the dry season) but not freakish (such as a blizzard howling across the Southern deserts).

If the Sidereal is so inclined, he can also use this Charm to alleviate harsh (natural) weather conditions. A single success on the (Stamina + Survival) roll calms the weather in the affected area. One success might be enough to counter some forms of deprivation, such as creating rain to help characters who suffer from thirst.

In other cases, the Storyteller might reduce weather-related diffi culties of or penalties to Survival or Resistance rolls by the number of successes rolled. If two characters attempt to use this Charm to opposing ends in the same overlapping area, the roll is contested.

Errata note:
This Charm cannot directly cause environmental hazards that inflict damage. The Sidereal cannot create a firestorm or deadly cold, but a bout of unseasonable warmth may lead to a forest fire naturally.

Add the following text to this Charm:
With Survival 5+ and Essence 3+, a Sidereal may use this Charm to create ‘freakish’ changes in weather, such as blizzards in the South. This increases the Cost of the Charm by +1wp, and its enforced Duration lasts for only an hour.

With Survival 5+ and Essence 4+, a Sidereal’s use of this Charm can cause weather that is a natural environmental hazard, on the level of the blistering heat/numbing cold described on Exalted, p. 131 normally. By adding +1wp to the Charm’s Cost and reducing its Duration to One hour, more extreme weather on the level of severe sandstorms is possible. Creating hazards this way increases the difficulty of the roll to activate the Charm by +2.

Dodge: The Ewer

Cost: 2m; Mins: Dodge 2, Essence 2;
Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Viziers anticipate attacks upon them, and avoid them. Apart from the name and Essence cost, this Charm duplicates Shadow Over Water (see Exalted, p. 227).
Even destiny falls into regular patterns, and to avoid one blow is just as good as avoiding all a foe’s attacks. Sidereals with Dodge 4+, Essence 3+ may repurchase this Charm. If it enhanced a successful application of the character’s Dodge DV against an attacker previously in the same tick, subsequent uses against that same attacker also raise the target number of the their dice pool by 1.

Cost: 10m; Mins: Dodge 3, Essence 2;
Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-Basic
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Absence
Vibrations in the strands of fate alert a Sidereal to imminent danger. Her player rolls (Dexterity + Dodge) against a difficulty equal to the permanent Essence of the foe responsible for the trouble. (Environmental dangers are difficulty 1.) If the roll succeeds, the Exalt avoids the harmful effect. For this Charm’s purposes, a “harmful effect” includes unexpected attacks, area-of-effect attacks, attacks with no physical component or even continuous effects with a duration longer than instant. (The character only needs to avoid a continuous effect once.) Attacks with very wide areas of effect (such as the Rain of Doom spell) defeat this Charm if the character is physically incapable of moving the distance needed to escape the effect.
The Sidereal’s player must activate this Charm either before her opponent’s attack roll or as soon as the player becomes aware of the effect.

This Charm may be employed to avoid any harmful effect (including all undesired physical, social, mental and spiritual influence), regardless of applicability or the scope of the attack, so long as the Sidereal succeeds on the Charm’s activation roll. It fails only against unexpected attacks, Limit Break and Pattern Bite. Duck Fate’s fallible activation roll is considered a unique Flaw of Invulnerability.
This Charm protects the person of the Exalt, including his possessions. It does not protect allies or distant estates just because they may be represented as Background traits on the Sidereal’s character sheet.

Athletics: The Banner

Cost: 1m; Mins: Athletics 2, Essence 1; Type: Refl exive
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The character leans back into the taut strands of fate and launches from them like an arrow from a bowstring. In so doing, her leaping distance triples for a single jump.

Cost: —; Type: Permanent
Duration: Permanent
Replace the text of this Charm with the following:
Despite aphorisms to the contrary, the Exalted burn both long and bright, their insatiable heroism overwhelming all the obstacles in their way as they blaze through history towards their end. When performing feats of strength, the Exalt doubles his Strength rating and converts bonus dice from stunts into extra successes (adding double their rating to relevant unrolled pools). This Charm also allows the Sidereal to channel his Conviction on all such rolls, and on Stamina-based rolls to resist environmental hazards and poisons.

Awareness: The Crow

PRIOR WARNING
Cost: 6m; Mins: Awareness 2, Essence 1;
Type: Simple (Speed 4, DV -0)
Keywords: Combo Ok
Duration: Five hours
Prerequisite Charms: None
Replace the text of this Charm with the following:
Casting her perception into the near future, the Sidereal senses the presence of imminent danger. The Storyteller should have the Sidereal’s player roll any Awareness rolls that she is allowed to notice a threat (Essence x 2) minutes before she would normally be able to roll. When the Storyteller cannot determine the difficulty of the roll beforehand, use the highest ([Intelligence + Larceny] ÷ 2) of any character involved in the threat–or difficulty 1 if the Sidereal could notice the threat automatically. On a success, she receives a vague premonition of harm, putting her on guard without actually revealing the nature of the threat. Such forewarning adds one automatic success to her actual roll to notice the threat when it finally arrives.

Expected Pain
Cost: 2m (+2m); Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Mins: Awareness 3, Essence 2; Type: Refl exive
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Prior Warning

Vague premonitions of future sorrow drift through the mind of a Sidereal who has mastered this Charm. As her fated suffering impends, these visions crystallize into awareness. Expected Pain cancels the unexpected quality of any physical or social attack against the Sidereal. It costs an additional two motes when used to defend against creatures outside of fate.

With Awareness 5+, this Charm can be activated to enhance any Awareness roll to notice a concealed threat to the Sidereal or her allies—a hidden assailant, a drop of poisonous lotus extract dissolved in a cup of tea, a venereal disease on a concubine. Doing so converts all dice on the roll to automatic successes.

SUPERNAL AWARENESS
Cost: 4m; Mins: Awareness 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Fate, Stackable
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Expected Pain
With this Charm, the character expands her awareness not into the future, but across a broader swatch of the present. The character must look for something specifi c, be it a person, a spirit, the use of her name, the use of Essence, the outbreak of combat or some other objectively defi nable phenomenon. If that specifi c thing appears or occurs within (character’s Essence x 100) yards, the Sidereal becomes aware of it. She doesn’t receive a clairvoyant vision, per se, so much as she receives a general understanding.

She might know the location of a person she monitors but wouldn’t necessarily know what that person is doing. If the character watches for a phenomenon, though, she does get a general sense of its power level. If she watches for combat, for example, she can tell the difference between two gangs clashing over disputed turf and two rival noblemen dueling over a girl. If the character looks for the use of Essence, she could tell the difference between a fellow Sidereal’s refl exive use of the Forgotten Earth Charm (see p. 153) and a sorcerer casting the Incomparable Body Arsenal spell (see Exalted, p. 255). In these circumstances, the character can even recognize specifi c Charms, spells or other supernatural powers, if she’s
seen their use before.

Supernal Awareness does not detect creatures outside of fate. Creatures governed by fate, however, cannot conceal themselves from this Charm by any natural or supernatural means. The more times a Sidereal activates this Charm in a scene, the more creatures or phenomena she can watch for at a time.

__________________________________
One of the most fearsome of the 12 Celestial Animal Styles, this style seeks to emulate the fearsome power of the Celestial Dragon. The Five Glorious Dragon Paths, it is said, were derived from this style. Certainly it teaches its students how to emulate the elemental nature of the dragons. Mastery of this style allows Exalts to practice the Five Dragon Styles without paying an elemental surcharges. It’s still occasionally taught to particularly promising Immaculates by Sidereal sifus. This style treats razor claws as form weapons. It is compatible with armor.

Piercing Gaze of The Dragon
Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Dragon’s gaze surveys all, both corporeal and immaterial, both hidden and obvious, he is in tune with the elemental nature of creation, and nothing formed of that essence can hide from his gaze. The martial artist Closes his eyes, breathes deeply of the essence of creation, and opens his eyes. When his eyes open his irises transform into reptilian slits, and his eyes burn with fiery inner light. His transformed eyes grant him a new perspective on the world all living beings become limed with halo of light. Because of this strange form of essence sight, all living beings are visible to him, even those taking steps to hide themselves behind cover or in shadows. This automatically negates mundane attempts at stealth, provided they are occurring within the Martial Artist’s field of view. He adds one automatic success to all sight based awareness checks. Finally he may see dematerialized elementals and can recognize beings who posses elementally aspected essence with a successful (Perception + Lore) roll allowing him to learn which element their essence is attuned to

Terrifying Dragon ’s Roar
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Emotion
Duration: One action
Prerequisite Charms: Piercing Gaze of the Dragon
The martial artist voices a terrifying, draconic roar that promises horrible death to her foes. She emits a horrifying cry that trikes terror into the hearts of those facing her. No one who does not succeed at a reflexive Valor Roll can attempt to attack the martial artist without first spending one Willpower to overcome their fear.

Talons of the Celestial Dragon
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2;
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Terrifying Dragon’s Roar
The character’s Essence infuses his hands with the power of a Dragon’s deadly claws. His blows inflict lethal damage even if he is unarmed. Either way he adds a number of damage dice equal to the character’s Essence to his raw damage for the attack.

Celestial Dragon Form
Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Form-type, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Talons of the Celestial Dragon
Adopting the fierce stance of the wrathful dragon, the martial artist takes on a portion of its aspect. His body appears sinuous and powerful and his Essence flares up around him to form a vaguely dragon-like silhouette about his body. His nails appear to lengthen and sharpen and the Essence around his hands takes on a claw-like appearance. The Dragon Stylist’s face becomes frozen in a ferocious grimace, inflicting a -1 internal penalty on all social interactions except attempts at intimidation (which gain a +1 benefit). Furthermore the martial artist’s bare-handed attacks can parry lethal damage and inflict lethal damage in the form of savage lacerations resembling claw marks. His newly refined form takes on the deadly grace of the dragon he is emulating and his unarmed attacks all reduce their Speed by one and gain a +1 Accuracy bonus.

Respiring Red Dragon Breath
Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Elemental, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Celestial Dragon Form
Taking a deep breath and channeling the Essence of Fire through her lungs, the martial artist spits forth a gout of flame that extends for (Essence) yards in front of her. Her attack roll is her (Perception + Martial Arts), and she adds a number of automatic successes equal to her Essence. The attack inflicts (Essence) dice of lethal damage which bypasses even magical armor and may reduce mundane armor to molten slag, as a result this damage can only be soaked naturally. The rolling flame cannot be parried but can be dodged normally.

Donning White Dragon Armaments
Cost: 6m 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple (Speed 5)
Keywords: Obvious
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Celestial Dragon Form
Executing a short kata, the Celestial Dragon stylist emulates the temperance and imperturbable nature of the Earth Dragon. Coming to rest in the Central Dragon Stance, the martial artist’s body becomes a vehicle for the Essence of the earth. His flesh gains the impervious nature of white jade and hardens, his flesh takes on the scaled texture of the dragon’s hide. The character adds (Martial Arts) to his lethal, bashing and aggravated soak. This bonus acts as natural soak. He also gains an equivalent amount of Hardness.

Adopting Blue Dragon Fury
Cost: 4m per action; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Extra Action
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Donning White Dragon Armaments
The Dragon of the Wind is a fast and ferocious beast; the Dragon stylist emulates this ferocity and speed, allowing it to augment his fighting style. Each blow he lands feeds his fury, and grants him the speed and ferocity to strike yet again. This Charm is a magical flurry with a total DV penalty of -2. Any Martial Arts attack that hits a target spawns another. As long as the martial artist continues to strike targets he may make another attack at his full dice pool against the same target. He must make this attack unless he cannot afford the mote cost or he has already made (Martial Arts) attacks.

Emulating Black Dragon Grace
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 1)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Respiring Red Dragon Breath
Essence bends and flows like the tides of the Western Seas around the martial artist, and her body adopts the impossible fluid grace of a Dragon of the Water. Her attacks come from improbable angles, her body bending and flowing, almost as though it were composed of fluid instead of flesh and bone. Her attacks are difficult to anticipate and characters defending against them suffer a -2 penalty to their Parry DV. The martial artist’s impossible movements also bolster her defenses, adding (Martial Arts) to the calculation of her Dodge DV.

Expressing Green Dragon Vigor
Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Obvious,
Duration: (Martial Arts) actions
Prerequisite Charms: Adopting Blue Dragon Fury, Donning White Dragon Armaments
Emulating the vigor and vitality of the Dragon of Wood, the martial artist suffuses his body with its Essence, regenerating one lethal or two bashing health levels per action.

Celestial Dragon Body Meditation
Cost: 10m 1 wp Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Simple (DV -2)
Keywords: Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Expressing Green Dragon Vigor
Meditating on the sheer power and fury of the Celestial Dragon, the martial artist spends a few moments pondering its limitless capacity for power and its wondrous ability to balance the elemental Essences of creation. On the martial artist’s next action his anima banner erupts to full iconic fury enfolding him in a torrent of Essence and then vanishing. His hands become draconic talons, which seamlessly integrate any artifact razor-claws or tiger claws into their organic makeup, making it impossible to disarm him. If he was wearing no weapon his claws do no more damage than his hands normally would, but appear menacing nonetheless.
His body grows a few inches taller and becomes proportionally leaner as he adopts the sinuous musculature of a dragon. He radiates pure, rarified, celestial Essence, and any Immaculate is sure to confuse him for some god or anathema. He may distribute a number of dots equal to his (Essence) between his Strength, Stamina and Dexterity. These dots are allocated when the transformation takes place and cannot be redistributed without reactivating the Charm. His godly body is utterly perfect, a figure of unassailable physical and spiritual strength. As a result he ignores penalties to his DV from onslaught and coordinated attacks. This Charm cannot be used with armor.
Little groups of pattern spiders congregate near the patches of fate where this style has been used. They chitter to each other softly, appearing—as much as metal spiders with unblinking jade eyes can—to be disconcerted, slightly confused, even upset. They do not speak of any concerns they might have, and no spider has directly confronted a student of this style. In the company of a practitioner, the spiders show the same deference they would give any Sidereal Exalted—no more, no less. Yet, they leave his presence as soon as possible.

A practitioner of the Obsidian Shards of Infinity Style seems to understand something his opponents don’t. A subtle, knowing look lies in his eyes, even when he seems to look at things that aren’t there. Every move seems strange, slightly jerky. The logic behind his motions is impenetrable; his attacks, fl atly impossible. When he divulges his philosophy, he speaks in nonsensical metaphors, and it is diffi cult for others to make heads or tails of it—even other masters of the style. Perhaps the Sidereal says there are many ways of seeing. Perhaps he says there is only one but it can be portrayed as many. Perhaps he merely says one can choose as one will and punctuates the statement with a perfect strike.

Weapons and Armor: For purposes of this style, paired sais, paired baneclaws or multiple knives or punch daggers are treated as unarmed attacks. These weapons can be wielded in close combat or thrown with equal facility, using the Sidereal’s Martial Arts as the relevant Ability, with one caveat: He must always use more than one. Should the martial artist ever be reduced to a single weapon, he cannot use it with the Charms of this style until he gets another that matches it. Exalted who know this style keep their weapons brightly polished, for reasons that will become obvious.Characters cannot use this style while wearing armor.

The Student’s Sutra of Reflection: Once, there was a thoughtful maiden…

BLACK SHARDS FALL LIKE ICE
Cost: 10m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
…who broke her mirror, and dropped the pieces to the ground.

With a shout, a step and a ringing clap, the martial artist calls forth a rain of sharpened glass. Her player rolls (Dexterity + Martial Arts) to target the attack. For an area (Essence x 5) yards in radius, obsidian fragments slice down, causing a base 15L piercing damage to everyone caught there. This area need not be centered on the Sidereal, (in fact it had better not be because the Charm grants no immunity to its own effects), but it cannot be farther away than (Essence x 25) yards.

The falling shards cannot be parried except by Charms that grant a perfect parry defense. The Sidereal’s attack can be dodged, however, and a Charm that can remove the evading character from the Charm’s area as he dodges—Leaping Dodge Method, for example—adds three to the character’s Dodge DV since he spends less time in the deadly rain. Undodged successes from the attack roll add to the attack’s damage as normal.

RIPPLE IN THE SILVERED GLASS
Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5,
Essence 4; Type: Refl exive (Step 5)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
She thought to repair it, but was arrested by the sight of the scattered shards,

When a foe attacks, the Sidereal brings his hands together, then parts them as if he were opening a pair of curtains. On a successful attack by a foe, this Charm posits an alternative, which then becomes true. The Sidereal may say that his attacker, instead, stumbled and fell at his feet or broke her weapon with her clumsiness. The martial artist must limit himself to a substitute that is possible, but almost anything can happen: For scope, consider the enemy to have botched her attack roll. The target of this Charm may reflexively spend a Willpower point to feel unease as the new reality falls into place around her.

Her player rolls (Wits + Awareness) with an internal penalty equal to the martial artist’s (Essence + Martial Arts). With one success, the attacker didn’t botch, but she still didn’t hit. With three successes, she tears through the shifting fates and completes the attack at which she originally succeeded. If a mentally unstable or insane person is affected by Ripple in the Silvered Glass and spends the Willpower point, the internal penalty is equal to only the Sidereal’s Martial Arts. This Charm is a perfect defense that can apply against non-sentient things. In such cases, it works automatically.

Furthermore, any action launched through a reflective surface at the martial artist—for example, someone scrying him in a
forest pool—can be deflected with this Charm as well. The Sidereal automatically senses the attempt and can choose whether to use Ripple in the Silvered Glass against it.

REACHING THROUGH THE MIRROR
Cost: 8m per target; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4;
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
which showed so many visions of her face.

Gesturing at an opponent, the Sidereal calls that opponent’s refl ection to face her. Any reflective surfaces around the target, no matter how they are angled, show that person. For the rest of the scene, the martial artist can attack the reflection of her foe with even more facility than she could attack the foe himself. Attacks against the reflections are undodgeable, and the target takes a -2 external penalty to parry them. And, as the mirror breaks or the water ripples beneath the martial artist’s hand, her enemy feels cracks lancing across his skin. The damage is lethal, and the target’s soak is halved against that strike.

SHATTERING THE BALANCE
Cost: 8m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4;
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Compulsion, Sickness
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Black Shards Fall Like Ice, Ripple in
the Silvered Glass, Reaching Through the Mirror
She put the pieces back together at all the wrong angles,

Catching his target’s eye, the martial artist strikes her reflection—and the target’s mind shatters into madness. She may be afflicted with multiple personalities, bedeviled by persistent hallucinations or made to suffer from any other terrible psychosis of which the Sidereal can think. The Sidereal’s player rolls a normal Martial Arts attack, but instead of her target’s DV, the roll must overcome his Dodge or Parry MDV, whichever is higher. Induced psychoses are considered both Compulsion and Sickness effects. Appropriate rituals or Charms may be effective against them, at the Storyteller’s discretion.

With an appropriate delusion, the Sidereal may use this Charm to remove unnatural mental infl uences on the target, though only by replacing one with another. Treat the Charm’s influence as total control, for purposes of opposing other total control effects.Example: Ei Zou finds his wife beguiled by a Fair Folk noble, and she is in love. Feeling sad but compassionate, he kisses her forehead, activates Shattering the Balance and causes her to become severely paranoid. Terrified of everyone she used to trust, Ei Zou’s wife turns away from the Fair One as her love degrades into suspicion and fear.

The Sidereal may use this Charm on himself and reflexively does so if he comes under an unnatural mental influence severe enough to usurp his will.

OBSIDIAN SHARDS OF INFINITY FORM
Cost: 10m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5; Type: Simple
Keywords: Form-type, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Shattering the Balanceand was delighted at the image of herself.

Enemies cannot easily find the person behind the Obsidian Shards of Infinity practitioner’s endless reflections. Any time a foe successfully strikes him, the martial artist can spend one mote and break into fi ve shards, which disappear as he instantly and reflexively reforms within a number of yards equal to his Essence. He has taken no damage, and his player may roll to surprise his enemy. (See Exalted, p. 155, regarding unexpected attacks.) If someone stands ready to attack the reappearing Sidereal before the next tick, that attack cannot be evaded through this Charm.

Moreover, if the character loses one of his daggers or sais—through a successful disarm, for example, or if it’s thrown without retrieval—the Sidereal can retrieve it as long as he holds its mate. The Sidereal spends one mote and the distant weapon is revealed as a duplicate made of black glass, which shatters, and the original remains in the Sidereal’s hand.

The Obsidian Shards of Infinity Form has a downside, though. For every action the Sidereal takes while using the form, the Storyteller secretly rolls one die. On a selected number (1 is appropriate), she lies about an opponent’s actions or the results of the Sidereal’s action. The lie must be something that actually could happen. (At that moment, the Sidereal unfortunately saw what might be, instead of what actually is.) The truth reveals itself on the character’s next action.

THE MIRROR DOES NOT LIE
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5;
Type: Refl exive (Step 3)
Keywords: Combo-Basic
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Obsidian Shards of Infi nity Form
The Elder Sutra of Reflection: The maiden wanted to show everyone how wonderful she looked,

Reflections don’t just portray the world, they give back a new vision. After activating this Charm, the martial artist may deflect any attacks against her—including social attacks and mass combat attacks—as if she were bouncing a beam of light from a mirror. She can choose the attacker’s new target as long as that target is not the attacker himself. To everyone who witnesses the event, it looks like that person was the target all along. Only the Sidereal and the attacker know his original intent.

Foes can slip through cracks in the Sidereal’s mirror by using attacks that no observers see coming. The attack must truly be unseen by all watchers, not just the martial artist herself.
The Captain ●
The Gull ●
The Mast ●●●
The Wheel ●●
The Pillar ●●
The Shield ●●●

THE CAPTAIN
The Captain leads with strength, determination and
order. With his fi rm hand and disciplined crew, he leads
his ship to safety. In the ascending aspect, those under its
domain overcome obstacles with organization and drill.
In the descending aspect, they fall prey to obsession,
paranoid desire for authority and organization for its
own sake. The Captain is the constellation of the ship’s
offi cer, the professional soldier, the work gang boss and
the stern matriarch.

Trappings: The Captain wears an emblem of rank and
carries a token of authority such as a scepter or wand of of-
fi ce. He is fearless, and he shows no sign of fatigue. He is not
kind, but he is always fair and concerned for the well-being
of his followers.
Correlations: Military command, fatherhood, tyranny,
bureaucracy, discipline

Resplendencies
• Ship-Commanding Attitude, one Endurance per
week: Add the character’s Essence in dice to Presence rolls
to command and control the crew, but only so long as she
rules absolutely.
• Choosing for Fangs, one Endurance per month:
Under the Captain’s command, the men best able to work
a man to death while convincing him to love it gravitate
to positions of power. Underlings with a Valor lower than
the Sidereal’s Charisma will never complain of her behavior
as a boss. This effect includes the Exalted, though Exalted
cannot be intimidated into staying on the job if they wish
to quit. This is a Compulsion effect.
• Iron Drill Exercise, one Endurance per week:
Through personal example, the character trains her crew.
For each week of drill, the followers gain 1 in an Ability,
but they cannot gain a rating higher than the Sidereal’s
rating in that trait. This is a Training effect (see Exalted, p.
183). The Sidereal can train up to (her college rating x10)
individuals simultaneously in this fashion. No individual
can learn more points of Abilities from a Sidereal using this
Resplendency than the Sidereal’s Conviction.

THE GULL
The Gull wanders without regard for profi t. Self-
examination brings about inner change. In the ascending
aspect, those under its domain fi nd the freedom of the
wanderer and the wisdom of the outsider’s perspective. In
the descending aspect, they are rootless, irresponsible and
engage only in the most shallow of self-examination. The
Gull is the constellation of the stray dog, the hobo, the
monk walking his circuit, the wandering laborer and fi sh
and migratory birds.
Trappings: The Gull carries a staff and wears a traveler’s
cape. He is dirty and hungry but also happy.
Correlations: Wandering, wind, irresponsibility, rakish
charisma, unexamined life
Resplendencies
• Honest Face Spirit, one Endurance per week:
When a prospective employer of migrant labor evaluates
whether the Sidereal is trustworthy for some menial job or
insignifi cant responsibility, the employer will always fi nd
in the Sidereal’s favor. This is an Illusion effect.
• Good Worker Spirit, one Endurance per month:
The Sidereal knows how to look as if she works an honest
day. While this effect is in operation, no one will believe
the Sidereal is slacking, no matter how little work she
does. This is an Illusion effect. The Bureau of Destiny has
persistent problems with Sidereals using this Resplendency
on the job.
• Joyous Grasshopper Spirit, one Endurance per
season (three Endurance for the season of water): The
ant labors and saves for a long, hard life, but the carefree
grasshopper eats while there is plenty, loves every night and
if he dies of it, dies joyfully. For the purposes of regaining Willpower only, the Sidereal gains an additional Motiva-
tion: “Enjoy myself and fully express it.” In addition, she
reduces by 1 the target number of her Conviction rolls to
regain Willpower.

THE MAST
The Mast is raw physical exertion and pure muscular
strength. In the ascending aspect, those under its domain
apply strength of body and spirit to tasks at hand, without
question or complaint. In the descending aspect, they apply
strength without thought and refuse to question orders. The
Mast is the constellation of the soldier, the ditch-digger,
the scribe, the house servant and the insect.
Trappings: The mast is drably dressed and unspeaking.
She is strong and honest but ignorant.
Correlations: Stoicism, tools, architecture, manual
labor, silence, ignorance, male phallus
Resplendencies
• Strength of the Mast, three Endurance, one Para-
dox die: So long as she is the strongest person present, the
Mast’s strength is equal to any task. Multiply her (Strength
+ Athletics) by 10 to determine how much she can lift,
provided she’s not alone.
• Structure of the Mast, one Endurance: The Sidereal
may add three dice to any attempt to aid another.
• Invisible at the Center, one Endurance, one Para-
dox die per week: The Sidereal knows how to work hard
and do what she’s told. In just a few hours of searching any
populated area, she can fi nd a menial job that will ensure
she is fed, clothed and sheltered from the elements but
nothing else.
So long as the Sidereal is employed as a menial laborer
and lives meekly and without question, she will avoid all
legal, bureaucratic and offi cial scrutiny. Those attempting
to deliver summonses to her are powerless without super-
natural tracking, and any attempting to fi nd her must beat
her player’s (Stamina + Athletics) roll, with her Essence
added as automatic successes. She must be in a state of virtual
slavery, sleeping at the job and living only to perform, and
has only seven free hours per week.

THE SHIP’S WHEEL
The Ship’s Wheel is perseverance in the face of hardship.
In the ascending aspect, those under its domain succeed in
their persistence and hope. In the descending aspect, they
obsess and cling to doomed causes. The Ship’s Wheel is
the constellation of the steersman, the furnace-stoker and
those witlessly in pursuit of their beloved.
Trappings: The steersman at the wheel is sleepless and
unwashed. He wears a long cape or jacket and wristlets or a belt
of rope. He has a determined demeanor and is unspeaking,
for none can share the burden of his post.
Correlations: Underdogs, cult beliefs, Solars, obses-
sive love, martyrdom, burdensome debt, wild animals as
a group
Resplendencies
• Stronger Than This Job, one Endurance: So long
as the Sidereal has a job to do, any Fatigue penalties she
would suffer are treated as bonus dice, provided they would
not (as penalties) reduce her dice pool to zero. After the
task is done, the Sidereal takes unsoakable levels of bash-
ing damage equal to the Fatigue penalties and is subject to
those penalties as normal.
• Marshaling Infi nite Strength, one Endurance: Any
task the character can begin and reasonably hope to fi nish,
she can fi nish, even if circumstances change during the task’s
execution. Regardless of penalty, the character can continue
working as she did when she started; she is not immune
to the negative effects of fatigue, injury or environmental
conditions, but may continue despite them. Even if she is
killed, her ghost continues to work at the task, as does her
body as long as it isn’t destroyed.
• Poetic Sacrifi ce Insurance, two Endurance, one
Paradox die per journey: The Sidereal treats Extreme terrain
as Diffi cult and Diffi cult terrain as Open. In addition, the
player rolls the character’s (Stamina + Survival) for overland
travel or (Stamina + Sail) for sea travel; every success grants
her an extra +1/8th movement modifi er, regardless of how
implausibly fast this may make her journey. The Sidereal
cannot stop traveling during this time.

THE PILLAR
The Pillar represents partnership tested and
found stable. In the ascending aspect, those under
its domain are virtuous empresses, righteous matriarchs and
caring parents. In the descending aspect, they are bad par-
ents or partners tested and found wanting. The Pillar is the
constellation of the asexual partner (the mother, business
partner or drinking buddy), service in the Thousand Scales
and of herd animals such as mammoth and elk.
Trappings: The Pillar wears a wedding ring and dresses
plainly. She is perceptive and practical. She is fi rm but just.
Correlations: Family, friendship, stability, civil society,
unjust authority, stagnation, queens and princes
Resplendencies
• Comforting Matriarch Embrace, one Endurance:
The character may hold and comfort another before put-
ting him to sleep. When the target awakens, his player
may roll the character’s Conviction twice for him to regain
Willpower.
• Equitable Partnership, one Endurance, one Paradox
die: The character will always fi nd a fi nancial backer for a
business plan, so long as the venture has plausible merit,
she is competent and she has no intention of cheating the
potential investor.
• Best Friend’s Couch, one Endurance, one Paradox
die per week: By ambling up to the nearest habitation where
the character speaks the language, the Sidereal may present
herself as a long-lost friend and will be fed as well as anyone
in the house and allowed to sleep on the fl oor, the couch or
a spare bed. The character can’t stay in any one place for
long, but at the same time, all of humanity is the character’s
friend, so she need merely move to a new house every few
days when she begins to wear out her welcome.
So long as the character spends time with her newfound
long-lost friends, she avoids all legal, bureaucratic and of-
fi cial scrutiny. Those attempting to deliver summonses to
her are powerless without supernatural tracking, and those
attempting to fi nd her must beat her players’ (Charisma +
Presence) roll, with her Essence added as automatic suc-
cesses. Hanging out with friends is a full-time endeavor, so
she has just seven free hours per week.

THE SHIELD
The Shield is the ecstatic warrior, who seeks battle
without regard for victory. In the ascending aspect, those
under its domain possess courage and heroism without
regard for consequences. In the descending aspect, they
battle without thought and display sadism, masochism,
and suicidal bravery. This constellation governs scouts,
assassins, heroic warriors, those who fi ght and die for their
peers without regard for consequences and lone predators
who hunt with claws and teeth.
Trappings: The Shield always carries a shield or a leather
strap for biting. He is always armed and always eager for battle.
He carries trophies of his kills.
Correlations: Barbarians and the barbarian code,
fearlessness, protection, bragging, pain, heroism, heroic
suicide, wrath, the Lunar Exalted
Resplendencies
• Wounded Lion Strength, two Endurance: Dur-
ing Step 7 of an attack’s resolution, the Sidereal may add
damage dice equal to the number of wound levels she
currently suffers.
• Hero’s Iron Skin, three Endurance per scene: So
long as the Sidereal wears no armor, she has the effect of
+9L/+9B armor. This is treated as natural soak.
• Aspect of the Bear, two Endurance, one Paradox
die per scene: The character’s anima banner is transformed
into the shape of a great bear. Whenever the character’s
anima banner is visible, the players of all those who see it
must make Valor rolls at diffi culty 1 to face the Sidereal.
This is a Compulsion effect. While in this state, the Side-
real cannot suffer Fatigue penalties, and her player can’t
fail Valor rolls.

Rykon · Nov 30, 2020

Name: Tien of the Calamitous Fist
Caste: Battles
Concept: Martial Sifu
Age: 312
Faction: Bronze
Motivation: To instigate a war that leads to the fall of a Deathlord
Attributes
Strength ●●●●
Dexterity ●●●●●
Stamina ●●●

Charisma ●●●
Manipulation ●
Appearance ●●●●

Perception ●●●
Intelligence ●●●
Wits ●●●●

Abilities
Resistance ●●
Ride ●●●
Sail
Survival
Thrown

Craft
Dodge ●●●●● (unarmed ●)
Linguistics ●●● (Old Realm, High Realm, Riverspeak)
Performance ●
Socialize ●

Archery
Athletics ●●
Melee ●●●
Presence ●●
War ●●●

Investigation ●
Larceny
Lore ●●●
Occult ●●
Stealth ●●●

Awareness ●●●
Bureaucracy ●●
Integrity
Martial Arts ●●●●● (unarmed ●●●)
Medicine ●●●
Backing ●●● Crimson Panoply of Victory - Borrowing Starmetal Infinite Resplendence Amulet
Artifact ●●●● Starmetal Perfected Kata Bracers
Artifact ●● Skin Mount Amulet
Celestial Manse ●●●● Seven Leaping Dragons Stone
Salary ●●●●
Connections ●● Bureau of Destiny
Connections ● House Tepet

Colleges
The Gull ●●●
The Ewer ●
The Gauntlet ●
The Shield ●
The Spear ●
The Mask ●●
The Rising Smoke ●
The Sword ●
The Corpse ●
Excellencies
First-Martial Arts
Second-Dodge
Fateful-Martial Arts

Cost: 1m+; Mins: (Ability) 4, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive
(Step 1 for attacker, Step 2 for defender)
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Any (Ability) Excellency
The target number of any dice roll using the chosen Ability decreases by one for every mote the player spends. For one mote, any roll of 6 or higher becomes a success; two motes grant success on rolls of 5 or higher. This Excellency cannot reduce a target number below 4. Alternatively, the player can spend one Willpower point and enough Essence to reduce the target number to 3. This grants an “auspicious success”: the player forgoes the actual roll but transforms every die in the dice pool into an automatic success instead.

If the player declares in Step 2 of attack resolution that he wants to purchase an auspicious success for a defensive Ability, the expenditure of one Willpower and enough Essence to lower the target number to 3 doubles his appropriate Defense Value against that attack.

Player's Note: Errata limits impact to DVs to adding Essence

Propitious Alignment-Martial Arts

Cost: 2m+, 1wp; Mins: (Ability) 4, Essence 3;
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Any (Ability) Excellency
By tuning her Essence to resonate with one of the 25 constellations and its corresponding astrological college, a Sidereal can attune herself to a particular Ability and use its fi rst three Excellencies with greater efficiency. Each two motes committed to this Charm reduce the mote cost for the fi rst three Excellencies, to a minimum of zero. A character may never spend more than twice her permanent Essence on this Charm; and an Exalt may employ only one Propitious (Ability) Alignment at a time.

Propitious (Ability) Alignment is incompatible with the Fateful Excellency: while employing this Charm, one cannot apply Essence Auspicious to any dice pool involving that Ability. If a character does so, the Propitious Alignment immediately ends. On the other hand, every dot a character has in an Ability’s corresponding astrological college reduces the cost of Propitious (Ability) Alignment by one
mote, to a minimum of 1. Thus, a Sidereal with Essence 3 and four levels of the Mask could spend two motes, and get the same results as if she spent six motes on Propitious Stealth Alignment.

In every other way, Propitious (Ability) Alignment follows the same rules as Infinite (Ability) Mastery.

Resistance

Cost: —; Mins: Resistance 1, Essence 1; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Stackable
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
Just as all Exalted, Sidereals gain extra health levels with each purchase of this Charm. Each health level gained thus helps a Sidereal operate at maximum effi ciency in spite of his wounds for just a little bit longer. A player may purchase this Charm for his character up to once per dot of the Resistance Ability his character possesses. Each purchase grants the character one additional -0 health level.

Player's Note: House rule grants a -2 health level in addition to the -0.

Ride

Cost: 2m; Mins: Ride 3, Essence 2;
Type: Simple (Speed 6, DV -2)
Keywords: None
Duration: One journey
Prerequisite Charms: None
A character with a destination in mind asks the Maiden of Journeys for her best advice on arriving there. The player then rolls his character’s Essence. For one success, the Maiden shows the Seer a path that enables him to reach his destination in three-quarters of the time it would normally take him based on travel type and distance. (See the chart on p. 264 of Exalted.) If the character points out that he has a deadline to keep (and the player rolls three successes), Mercury illuminates any means that might exist to get the character there under normal travel conditions. (The character might have to run for three hours straight, bribe a courier in an elaborate horse relay system to give up his mount, gallop all the way to the coast and finally board a hard-rowing ocean vessel, but he’ll make his appointment.) If the player rolls five successes and the character has a deadline to beat, the Maiden of Journeys reveals to him a miraculous path that will get the Seer to his destination ahead of his deadline no matter how far away it is and how little time remains.

Dodge

Cost: 2m; Mins: Dodge 2, Essence 2;
Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Viziers anticipate attacks upon them, and avoid them. Apart from the name and Essence cost, this Charm duplicates Shadow Over Water (see Exalted, p. 227).

Player's Note: Charm text itself was not helpful, but at least Shadow Over Water is straight forward.

Cost: 10m; Mins: Dodge 3, Essence 2;
Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-Basic
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Absence
Vibrations in the strands of fate alert a Sidereal to imminent danger. Her player rolls (Dexterity + Dodge) against a difficulty equal to the permanent Essence of the foe responsible for the trouble. (Environmental dangers are difficulty 1.) If the roll succeeds, the Exalt avoids the harmful effect. For this Charm’s purposes, a “harmful effect” includes unexpected attacks, area-of-effect attacks, attacks with no physical component or even continuous effects with a duration longer than instant. (The character only needs to avoid a continuous effect once.) Attacks with very wide areas of effect (such as the Rain of Doom spell) defeat this Charm if the character is physically incapable of moving the distance needed to escape the effect. The Sidereal’s player must activate this Charm either
before her opponent’s attack roll or as soon as the player becomes aware of the effect.

Cost: 2m; Mins: Dodge 3, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Illusion
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Duck Fate
The character wasn’t actually there when the trouble began. That’s his story, and the Loom of Fate backs it up. If—within his fi rst two actions after Join Battle or Join Debate—the Sidereal decides he would rather have been somewhere else, he can activate this Charm. Having done so, he vanishes from his current location and reappears in another location. The Sidereal cannot control his new location, but it’s someplace plausible for him to be if he’d decided to take a different course a few minutes before. Simultaneously, an Illusion effect blurs the memories of other people so they don’t remember the Sidereal’s presence. Wounds still bleed, traps remain sprung, Essence remains spent. However, other people in the aborted encounter receive vague notions of an alternate series of events to explain any evidence of the Sidereal’s presence, which they soon confabulate into a detailed scenario that they believe completely. Spending two Willpower overcomes this Illusion.

Investigation

EFFICIENT SECRETARY TECHNIQUE
Cost: 2m; Mins: Investigation 1, Essence 2;
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One miscellaneous action
Prerequisite Charms: None
When the character first learns this Charm, a measure of his Essence crystallizes in his mouth in the form of a small emerald pattern spider. The character spits out this indestructible construct, whereupon it immediately dematerializes and attaches itself to a part of his body. Thereafter, the character may spend two motes of Essence to instruct the spirit to fetch some particular piece of information for him. If the information is available and not actively concealed, the spider scuttles away along the weave of fate. The spider returns in the space of a miscellaneous action and whispers
the information to the Sidereal.

The pattern spider can only retrieve simple, objective facts. It can answer questions such as, “What is that shopkeeper’s name?” or “When did it last rain in Nexus?”
or even “Who stabbed Sesus Lahor?” It cannot answer questions such as, “Does the shopkeeper hate me?” (the spider doesn’t read minds), “Who’s winning the battle?” (the spider has no strategic sense) or “Who murdered Sesus Lahor?” (murder, unlike stabbing, is a matter of intent). Questions such as, “What is the Bull of the North up to?” usually give unhelpful answers, such as, “Eating lunch.” The pattern spider cannot retrieve information that is actively hidden or innately esoteric, such as spells, and the spider does not function in regions where fate’s influence is weak, such as the Wyld, shadowlands or Malfeas.

As an alternative to pulling such answers from the Loom of Fate, the Sidereal can send the spider with a query to her own library, in Creation or Yu-Shan, for her assistants to look up. The answer falls within the spider’s purview because the answer is objective information—what the Sidereal’s staff can locate in books—rather than anything so nebulous as truth. Such answers take longer to retrieve, of course.

Awareness

Cost: 6m; Mins: Awareness 2, Essence 1;
Type: Simple (Speed 4, DV -0)
Keywords: None
Duration: Five hours
Prerequisite Charms: None
The character keeps one eye on the present while the other eye watches for impending trouble. At any time during the next fi ve hours when the character is just about to get into trouble, the player may make a reflexive (Wits + Awareness) roll. If this roll succeeds, the character feels a frisson of cold or gets a sinking sensation in his guts that warns him of a danger on the horizon. This sensation befalls him two minutes per success in advance of the danger and assumes that he will not change his course of action in the intervening period.

Example: Black Ice Shadow uses this Charm while walking through the jungle. The Storyteller tells the Sidereal’s player to make the reflexive roll, and the roll garners five successes. The Storyteller informs the player that danger lies 10 minutes ahead. If Black Ice Shadow had continued on his present course at his present speed, he would have walked right into the danger unknowing. Since the character has been warned, however, he can change his intended actions to mitigate or avoid it. Barring that, he can at least approach the danger ready and vigilant—possibly with a prayer strip ready in hand.

This Charm doesn’t provide a specific warning of what danger lies ahead, only that something will happen. The aforementioned Sidereal might not know if an ambush lurks ahead, a nest of claw striders or a booby-trapped bridge across a deep chasm. When or if the danger confronts him, though, he’ll recognize it as the foreseen peril.

Cost: 3m; Mins: Awareness 3, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Prior Warning
This Charm provides a more specific and more immediate warning about some impending trouble. The Charm activates automatically when an immediate, unexpected danger or unfortunate occurrence is just about to happen. When the bandits hiding on the ridgeline are about to open fire with their crossbows, the Sidereal realizes an ambush is imminent. If the Sidereal’s most cherished acquaintance (per the Background of that name) lifts to her lips a teacup that has been painted with an immediately fatal poison, the Sidereal realizes he’s about to lose her to poison. If an erstwhile Dragon-Blooded confidant leaves the room to signal his Abyssal allies, the Sidereal realizes that the Dynast is about to betray the character.

As a result, the Sidereal is never caught unaware by an unexpected attack. His warning of danger comes one miscellaneous action ahead of the imminent trouble. The Charm works as long as the character has Essence to spend.

Martial Arts Native-Throne Shadow Style

Cost: 1m or 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2;
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
Sidereals understand the world; much of their power to act upon the world proceeds from this fact. When the character perceives an individual whose Martial Arts rating is equal to or higher than his own, that fact becomes Obvious to his senses unless the character is using a supernatural disguise of some kind. Alternately, for a cost of 3m, the character knows all combat Abilities a perceived individual possesses which are rated equal to or higher than his Martial Arts rating.

Cost: —; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Native
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Lotus Eye Tactics, One complete Celestial Martial Arts style
Masters of space and time, Sidereals embody the principles which engender the Martial Arts. This Charm replicates the effects of the Solar Charm Divine Transcendence of Martial Arts.
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
For its first bite, the snake is most feared. This Charm supplements a Join Battle action, adding a number of automatic successes to the character’s Join Battle roll equal to his Martial Arts score.

Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 1; Type: Reflexive
(Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Striking Cobra Technique
The serpent bends and weaves with utmost grace. This Charm gives the character +2 Dodge or Parry DV against a single attack.

Errata: This Charm does not add a DV bonus. Instead, it inflicts a -2 external penalty on any attack roll the martial artist defends against with his Dodge DV or unarmed Parry DV.

Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; Type: Simple
(Speed 3, DV -1)
Keywords: Form-type, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Serpentine Evasion
The Exalt adopts the attitude and stance of a wary snake—head back, ready to advance or retreat. The Essence of the snake hardens his skin. His sinuous movements slow and distract his enemies.

For the rest of the scene, this Charm adds the character’s Martial Arts score to his bashing soak. If an enemy attacks him, and the enemy can see the character’s hypnotic motions, this Charm subtracts the Exalt’s Essence in dice from the attacker’s attack pool.

Characters cannot use more than one Martial Arts Formtype Charm at a time. The character must end Snake Form to assume another Martial Arts form.

Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive
(Speed 5)
Keywords: Combo-Basic
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Snake Form
The snake’s fangs bite deep. The snake’s skin is strong and supple. This Charm gives the Exalt similar advantages. It makes her unarmed Martial Arts attacks inflict lethal damage, and this damage is piercing (see p. 373)—it ignores half of the target’s soak from armor. In addition, this Charm allows the Exalt to soak lethal damage with her bashing soak.

Cost: 4m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Essence Fangs and Scales Technique
The nix-snakes of the East can bite through tempered steel. The students of Snake Style learn similar ferocity. This Charm enhances an unarmed Martial Arts attack. It allows the attack to ignore the target’s soak from armor. The target can only soak with Stamina and Charms such as Iron Skin Concentration.

Cost:4m;Mins:Martial Arts 5, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 9)
Keywords: ComboOK, Counterattack
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Snake Form
The snake defends itself by attacking. The Exalt invokes this Charm when hit by an attack but before damage is applied. This Charm gives the Exalt an unarmed Martial Arts counterattack. The dice pool for this counterattack equals the Exalt’s Martial Arts score plus the number of extra successes rolled on the opponent’s attack. (The original attacker’s damage is still inflicted as normal.) Note the rules for counterattacks on pages 150 and 183.

Cost:3m;Mins:Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Snake Strikes the Heel
The martial artist’s anima flashes forward like a striking snake. Some martial artists instead strike with the shadow of their hand. In either case, this Charm enhances an unarmed Martial Arts attack,
letting the Exalt target an opponent up to (Essence x 2) yards away. The character’s anima or shadow actually strikes the target, so an unobstructed path to the target must exist.

Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 2; Type: Extra Action
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Uncoiling Serpent Prana
Practitioners of Snake Style martial arts must internalize the raw speed and reflexes of a coiled snake. The player rolls (the Exalt’s Essence x 2). This Charm is a magical flurry containing one action per success. These actions do not need to be attacks, but the character cannot take actions that would require more than seven ticks performed on their own.

Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Simple
(Speed 4, DV -1)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms:Armor-Penetrating Fang Strike, Striking Serpent Speed
The master of Snake Style is as quick as lightning and as deadly as a dozen serpents. The Exalt makes an unarmed Martial Arts attack. This Charm makes the attack’s damage aggravated. It also adds the character’s permanent Essence score to the damage of the attack.
Cost: 7m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4;
Type: Simple (Speed 4)
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Knockback, Obvious
Duration: (Martial Arts x 2) actions
Prerequisite Charms: None
…who was very vain.
A soldier protects what is his to protect. By taking this stance on the battlefield, the character makes sure that the ground on which he stands remains inviolate. Should any foe approach, that foe is forced back in an instant. For the Charm’s duration, the character may attack anyone who approaches within (Essence x 2) yards. These attacks take the form of pushing gestures. The martial artist never touches his enemies, but they feel the force of his Essence. For every yard by which a target has pierced this boundary, the character adds one die to his reflexive attack. Any target he successfully hits also suffers knockback, moving a number of yards per die of raw damage equal to his Strength. The character may not take Move or Dash actions while this Charm is active. He may end the Charm early, if he wishes.

Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
She loved her mirror,
No amount of interference can keep a dedicated dragonlord from her goal. With an enemy ahead, she marches her troops left or right. When surrounded, she forms up to pierce her enemies’ ranks. While this Charm is active, the character demonstrates that flexibility and ingenuity to move as she likes.

As soon as the martial artist takes her first step in a Move or Dash action, she dematerializes. She retakes her material and visible form the moment she stops. This technique allows her to walk though obstacles as long as she does not stop inside them, including people, walls and war machines. Immaterial obstacles impede her. She is not automatically safe from attack, though. Since she becomes material and visible once she stops moving, most opponents can still move and target her with their attacks on the tick when she stops moving (as long as they can guess which way the character is going).

The martial artist can avoid reflexive attacks or damaging area effects, like that of Unassailable Rebuff Position. If she is never material while inside the affected area or the range for attacks, she is not a valid target for such efforts unless they can affect immaterial beings. Taking a Dash action, the character does not become material again until the Dash ends. Note that, without special Charms, material creatures and objects become invalid targets for an immaterial character.

While the character is immaterial, other immaterial objects and entities become valid targets for her attacks. Conversely, immaterial entities can attack the character. When two martial artists use this Charm at once, they may trade blows while both are immaterial or material, as desired.

GLANCE AND STRIDE
Cost: 2+m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Impeccable Patterned Deployment
and her mirror loved her back.
The character moves with the greatest speed, mimicking the nature for a general’s influence to be everywhere. Aiding beleaguered soldiers one minute, leading troops to victory in the next, his feet cross dozens of yards at a step, as many or as little as he likes. As long as the character moves in a straight line (following the contours of the terrain), he can move as far as he can see. He does not naturally avoid obstacles or people. Spending an additional mote allows him to walk on air for a single tick, moving even to locations that are not accessible from the ground, though he must still have a straight-line path to that place.

Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4;
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Basic
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
Looking only at her mirror,
With perfect information, one could choose an optimal strategy. With no information, or random information, strategy becomes impossible. A martial artist who uses this Charm does not always attack a foe’s weakness or withdraw from loss. Instead, she follows a strategy of calculated randomness. Children, usually unwittingly, follow this tactic simply through their unique, uneducated-but-brilliant worldview. The Maidens protect children and fools, they say.

The character moves without any obvious tactical plan. She ducks low when others expect her to block high, and she weaves left as her opponents try to drive her backward. Her apparently random blocks and stances set her opponents completely off guard.

Each time the martial artist becomes aware of an attack upon her, her player rolls one die. Rolling no success indicates that her strategy gave her no special advantage in that situation. With one success, her opponent could not keep track of her, and her defense was well-suited to his confused attack—divide his attack successes in half before Step 5. Two successes indicate that the character’s strategy perfectly countered his, nullifying his attack.

At the same time, the character’s selection of actions completely optimizes her opportunities to strike. Because a foe never knows how the martial artist will attack next, he cannot choose his martial strategy to counter hers and is often blindsided by her blows. While this Charm is active, all the character’s attacks are considered unexpected.

When opposed by another character using this Charm, both characters’ attacks and defenses are resolved as if there were no special considerations.

Cost: 6m, 1lhl; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5;
Type: Simple
Keywords: Obvious
Duration: Until released
Prerequisite Charms: Unassailable Rebuff Position, Glance and Stride, Without Strategy Arrangement
she missed the revolution
Sometimes, it is possible to protect a thing so well that it is never in any danger. This Charm provides that defense for one target of the character’s choice. Any individual entity is a valid target for this Charm. When the martial artist prepares the Charm, he cuts his palm and declares whom he protects. The blood forms an oath and seeps into his palm like a scarlet tattoo. From that moment until he voluntarily ends the Charm, the martial artist can redirect every physical and magical assault on the target to himself instead. Be it an arrow in the night, an imperious and unnatural mental command or the mind-rending assault of a Fair One, the character’s magic imposes himself and his Essence between the offender and his ward.

When danger looms, the character instantly becomes aware and has a choice. He may disappear from his current location in a burst of faint, starry light and instantly appear before his charge, taking whatever attack was meant for her. The character becomes the target of the attack and may defend as normal. Alternatively, he may send an effigy of Essence, which appears as a silhouette image of himself between the aggressor (or the threat) and the target. The assault still targets his ward, but the Sidereal may activate any Charm or Combo to protect her as if the attack did target him. By spending three motes reflexively, the character may charge his Essence with more of himself before sending it to his friend’s defense. The attack must hit him as if he had gone himself, but he doesn’t
need to find his way back to where he was before. A character may commit himself to defend multiple individuals, but doing so tends to be draining. Students of this style hear legends that some masters find a way to apply this Charm to the defense of a place, nation or ideal, but they do not know how true that could be.

Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5;
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form-type, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Fallen Ivory Defense
and lost her head.
Everything orders itself according to its nature. The family composes itself around the eldest relatives and the ancestors’ shrines, while monasteries channel focus into meditation and reverence. The battlefi eld has two orders: one that represents maximum organization and one that contains maximum entropy—before and after the enemy is met.

The character embodies this duality and carries its touch in hers. After activating this Charm, she appears differently to different people. An observer with a greater Conviction or Temperance sees her stand tall as a perfect specimen of warrior discipline, walking and moving in flawless precision. A person who has greater Compassion or Valor watches as she slouches further than the human body should bend, to the point where several joints or vertebrae must be broken, and her actions look dangerously unfocused. Those rare people who balance two opposing Virtues see her as an impossible amalgam of mindlessly constructed body and ideal human, two contradictory states embodied in the same flesh. Each person who meets her eyes sees in one his ideal self, in the other himself destroyed. To those who see her ordered self, her attacks cannot be dodged, and she adds to her Parry DV a bonus equal to her Essence. Attacks against one who sees her entropic nature cannot be parried, and against his blows, she adds a bonus equal to her Essence to her Dodge DV. A person who sees both aspects can neither parry nor dodge her attacks. Appropriate perfect
defenses can defeat these assaults, as usual.

Only with Essence perception can one see the faint auras of power glistening around the martial artist’s hands. One shines with the blackness of perfect order, and the other with the pure ivory of disorder. Either one can kill. Either one can heal. When the Exalt touches someone, her hand either conflicts with or reinforces that person’s internal nature. To inflict the Essence of order upon someone whose highest Virtue is either Compassion or Valor causes him levels of aggravated damage equal to that Virtue. Touching entropy to someone whose highest Virtue is either Conviction or Temperance does likewise. Infusing a person instead with the Essence that is most like his highest-rated Virtue heals that many health levels, including aggravated damage. A character who has equally high Virtues that conflict suffers neither effect. These effects cannot be transferred through weapons.

Successfully touching a target with either hand accomplishes more than simply damaging or repairing him. Infusing a target with entropy prevents the target from channeling or otherwise benefi ting from Conviction and Temperance for the rest of the scene. Likewise, the touch of order blocks the use of Compassion and Valor. The only exception is a character’s primary Virtue, which cannot be subdued. When the character’s attack would affect an Exalt’s primary Virtue, the attempt adds one to that Exalt’s Limit. A target gains Limit from this source only once per scene.

Cost: 16m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 6;
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Obvious, War
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Scarlet Patterned Battlefield Form
Elder Sutra of Sacrifi ce: When the rookery falls
The placement of each legion, each wing and fang of troops can decide a battle. Placement determines which portions of the field each side controls and where a general can leverage additional force and how quickly. Intelligent arrangement is as important in small-scale combat, where putting two friends back-to-back can save the lives of both or surrounding an enemy force can be the key to killing it. This sort of placement must be done before a battle, because it is simply too difficult to change it effectively during the conflict.

Victory of the Cheat evades this principle. In the instant that the character activates the Charm, she may rearrange the people on the battlefi eld as she sees fi t. No ostentatious effects herald the movement, but it is still obvious to all involved or watching—every person the character can see suddenly moves (or doesn’t, as the Exalt desires) to any new location also within her line of sight.

Using this Charm in the midst of mass combat allows the character to reshape units to her whim. She can break large units up into units of smaller Magnitude or condense many units from the same army into units of greater Magnitude. Likewise, she can decide what formation they are in, from rabble to phalanx. Unless they know what’s coming, neither choice is particularly useful for the troops thus re-ordered—a suddenly larger unit may not have enough relays to keep order, and other special characters might compete for command of the unit. A unit without the training (Drill rating) to maintain a more complex formation quickly falls into one less ordered. And trying to integrate soldiers from two separate armies into one massive unit simply results in two completely unordered units of enormous Magnitude that have the lowest Drill rating of any of their soldiers and are considered engaged. Unless the character takes special care that soldiers remain near their known companions and under familiar commanders, most units’ commanders will need to perform Rally actions in order to keep their troops together.

In combats on a smaller scale, the character can retrieve her friends from positions of disadvantage, flee at great speed, surround a foe or otherwise use this Charm to her advantage. Exalted and other Essence-wielders may resist this effect. If the Sidereal tries to move any person with an Essence greater than 1, the martial artist’s player and target’s player make a resisted roll of each character’s permanent Essence. If the target’s player rolls at least as many successes as the martial artist’s player, the Charm does not affect that target.

Cost: 12m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 6;
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Compulsion
Duration: Two actions
Prerequisite Charms: Scarlet Patterned Battlefield Form
and the birds all fly away,
In some situations, danger and death threatens from all sides, and there is only one way to evade them. Princes escape murder by signing away their inheritances, and daughters escape unwanted betrothals by fleeing with their lovers. Sometimes, it’s not actually the only way out, but it looks like it at the time. When the character activates this Charm, he launches an assault at his target. His attack seems so perfectly planned that his foe sees only one possible way to avoid its deadly consequences.

Activating this Charm, the character’s player names an action that his target must take in order to escape his flawless maneuver. The victim instinctively knows what that action is. She knows that performing it on her next action may be the only way to avoid near-certain death. Any single action is valid—attack a certain target, flee, use a certain Combo, whatever—as long as the target can perform it on her next action. If the named action is an unacceptable order for the target (see Exalted, p. 180), like something suicidal, the target may spend a point of Willpower in order not to perform the action and not suffer the Charm’s other effects. Naming an action that the target cannot perform is an impossible action, and the Charm then has no effect. Choosing to escape
the maneuver means the target uses her next action as the martial artist’s player dictated upon activating the Charm. The target of this Charm does not necessarily perform the action cleanly and willingly. Instead, by accepting the attack’s escape, the target acts in some way that makes her next action equivalent to the declared action.

Even knowing that not performing the action could mean death, the target may choose not to take the “escape.” Refusing the escape forces her to suffer the final effect of this Charm. A target who does not perform the required action leaves herself completely vulnerable to the character’s planned attack, which he takes on the action following his target’s choice and may not be part of a flurry. The martial artist may choose to perform another action, aborting the Charm. The target cannot use any defense against the attack. The Sidereal can use any Martial Arts-based attack available to him, but it becomes a perfect attack that bypasses even perfect defenses (normally impossible—but the target was already offered a perfect defense and turned it down).

Example: The Sidereal Paan Uttara’s exploration of the deathly city of Stygia has gone very wrong. His Abyssal foe, Augur of Sorrow’s End, now fights him above the Mouth of Oblivion.
Paan recognizes that Augur’s mighty soulsteel shield protects him too well and that unless the Sidereal can eliminate that advantage, Augur will kill him. Using Singular Escape Stratagem, Paan
maneuvers himself and Augur into the necessary position, and Paan’s player declares that Augur must throw the shield into the Mouth of Oblivion. The key moment in that maneuvering comes on Augur’s next action, when he chooses to throw the shield away. Had Augur decided to keep his shield, Paan’s next action would have been quite painful for his target.

Descriptively, Augur of Sorrow’s End becomes aware of the threat. Seeing the only way to escape Paan Uttara’s closing trap, Augur unstraps his great shield and swings it at Paan like a huge door. At that moment, Paan needs only a small tap to send the shield spinning into the Void. It sounds much cooler than saying, “I throw the shield away,” even though that is the equivalent action.

Cost: 15m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 6, Essence 6;
Type: Refl exive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Counterattack
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Victory of the Cheat, Singular Escape
Stratagem
you cannot shoot them all down
A true master of strategy never places herself into a
position where she can easily be struck. Only the most brilliant and ruthless tactics can hope to overwhelm her perfect defenses. Otherwise, she is invulnerable to lesser beings’ assaults—she redirects or steps around a blow as easily as she masters the lesser techniques they practice.

With this Charm active, the martial artist gains a perfect defense against every attack that does not fit certain conditions. The character must be rendered unable to maneuver by surrounding foes, in which case the one attacker who benefits from an unexpected attack (see Exalted, p. 155) considers the martial artist a valid target. This attack is resolved normally for an unexpected attack. Charms or other effects that allow the character to be aware of or defend against unexpected attacks do not eliminate the attack’s validity. Or, the Sidereal must be targeted by a coordinated attack that successfully coordinates a number of participants greater than or equal to her Essence. In that case, all attacks on her person are resolved normally. Opponents whose Essence is greater than or equal to the character’s consider her a valid target as normal.

The great thinker is prepared for even the most disastrous situations and has a response. In either case, she receives automatic counterattacks at her full dice pool against all valid targets that attack her while benefiting from the above conditions.

Cost: 16m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 6, Essence 6;
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Touch
Duration: Until released
Prerequisite Charms: Great Thinker’s Defense Maneuver
unless you shoot only one.
Kill one, and you defeat all. Secure surrender from the leader and the rest lose their fight. Humiliate a ringleader in order to declaw all of her cronies. It’s the nature of people to relate their welfare to that of another, to rise or fall with her good or ill fortune. This Charm just makes that decision for them.

Attacking someone with this Charm requires a simple (Dexterity + Martial Arts) attack, which merely has to hit—it inflicts no damage in any case. A successful strike instantly binds all of the target’s friends, allies, minions and the like within eyeshot or (Essence x 5) miles, whichever is further, to her state of being. Until the martial artist releases that bond, any attack on his target is also an attack on everyone now bound to her. Effectively, they all suffer any effect that the target suffers in Step 10 of attack resolution, including rolled damage, knockdown, stunning and the myriad enhancements that Charms can apply. Additionally, the target’s general condition projects upon them any of the following conditions from which the target suffers: the inability to defend oneself due to grappling, poisons, sicknesses and further effects available through Charms. If an effect permits an opportunity to resist it in Step 10, however, as is the case for knockdown and several Charms, each recipient resists individually.

This Charm cannot directly kill anyone bound to the leader’s fate. When damage transmitted by The Empress Lives for All would kill a person, that person is knocked unconscious instead. A person could still die through subsequent blood loss. Effects caused by Charms, such as magical poisons or sicknesses, can kill through their ongoing effect after transmission by the Empress Lives for All.
Cost: 7m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4;
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Sickness, Touch
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
…whose lover’s practices displeased the sun. The all-seeing sun could no longer sustain
The martial artist poisons the Essence at the core of her enemy’s soul to infl ict the White Sun Sickness. This Second Circle spiritual disease combines fever with episodes of painful prickling, like mosquito bites all over the victim’s body, and hallucinations when under stress. However, it does not kill.

A victim of this infectious Martial Arts attack hallucinates and suffers from a fever of the soul. Each time he spends motes of Peripheral or Personal Essence on a Charm, the disease increases the Charm’s cost by one mote. This effect is a cumulative one, so the second expenditure costs two extra motes, the third costs three and so on. Reduce the accumulated total by fi ve in each day the victim spends no motes. The fever and hallucinations also reduce all of the victim’s dice pools by a value equal to his own permanent Essence. Finally, the victim gains Limit at twice the normal
rate for as long as he is infected—a coincidental interaction with the Great Curse, not something the Sidereals ever planned.

Virulence: (Essence)
Incubation: Immediate
Diagnosis: 3
Difficulty to Treat (Mundane/Magical): 6/3
Morbidity: 6
Treated Morbidity: 1

Cost: 12m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4;
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Compulsion, Sickness, Touch
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
these practices, but with enraged disdain, darts forth such pestilent malignant beams…
Throwing off the enemy’s guard with jerky, flitting feints, the character closes in and infects a victim’s Essence with the spastic, divisive Drunken Moth Sickness, a Second Circle spiritual disease.

A victim of this sickness can’t entirely control her own behavior. The disease inflicts a general-purpose Compulsion effect specified by the Sidereal—something along the lines of “embarrass yourself,” “protect me” or “beat up your family.” Treat this influence as an unnatural persuasion; the character can spend one Willpower point per action to resist its effects. On each subsequent action, the infected character may either use a simple Charm, use a Combo or spend at least half her non-reflexive actions serving the disease’s purpose. (This last assumes that the character is using a flurry, and the “half” rounds up. If the character takes just one action, it must serve the compulsion.)

Fortunately, the disease forces her to take action only when an obvious way of fulfilling its purpose exists, either without using any Charms or using Charms already active. Otherwise, the character is free to act as she pleases. The Storyteller is the final arbiter of whether an opportunity exists to fulfill the inflicted compulsion. The Drunken Moth Sickness occasionally infects a victim who eats something that contains a bound spirit. Treatment is the same as for the Charm-induced infection.

Virulence: (Essence)
Incubation: Immediate
Diagnosis: 3
Difficulty to Treat (Mundane/Magical): 6/4
Morbidity: 6
Treated Morbidity: 1
Cost: 5m; Mins:Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type:Simple (Speed 3, DV -1)
Keywords:Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Scene
Prerequisites: None
and PENG
The character wraps her body in a sheath of Essence, mirroring in its interaction with her own anima the link between Solar Exalted and orichalcum. While this Charm is active, the character is considered to be wearing orichalcum armor with the martial artist’s (Essence + Martial Arts+2) Bashing and Lethal Soak, (Stamina+Martial Arts)/2+5 Hardness, a -0 Mobility Penalty, and a 0 Fatigue Penalty. Further, the martial artist subtracts 1 from any attack’s minimum damage (minimum of 1) and 2 from the damage of any environmental effect (minimum of 0). The armor provided by this charm is compatible with all martial arts, even those normally not compatible with armor. However, the benefits of this charm count as equipment and the rules for stacking equipment apply to it.

Editor's Note: Made the soak scale. At E5, MA5, STM 5 you're looking at up to 12 Soak, 11 Hardness from armor which is still worse than just getting Superheavy Plate. At E10, MA10, STM10 you're looking at 22 Soak and 21 Hardness. This does stealthily, effectively have every magical material bonus applied.

Cost: 5m per Circle or (Minimum Essence of a Sorcerous Charm)*3m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive (Step 1 for attacker, Step 2 for defender)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: None
and LI
The character uses martial arts to yank the threads of a delicate construct of sorcery out of place. This charm allows the character to make Martial Arts attacks or defenses against sorcery, similar to countermagic. Used on the offense this modifies an unarmed strike, you must target the manifestation or center of the spell—such as the character benefiting, the spirit summoned, or the approximate center for spells like Rain of Doom. Spells that do not otherwise have a stated DV have a DV of (Circle)*4 or (Minimum Essence)*2 for Sorcerous Charms. If you defeat the DV by at least the Sorcerer’s (Essence)/2 than the effect is shattered as though struck by the appropriate level of countermagic.

Used defensively, this charms functions as defensive countermagic of the spell’s circle if the character’s PDV exceeds the caster’s Essence + Twice the Spell’s Circle or the caster’s Essence + The Sorcerous Charm’s Minimum Essence. This requirement is considered a unique Flaw of Invulnerability when used defensively.

Editor's Note: I tried to bring this in line with Magic-Shattering Palm and the Lunar equivalent, rather than bringing it in line with Adamant Circle Countermagic. It's occasionally cheaper, but you don't regain motes for success. I notably didn't use a mote-regaining mechanic because it can be made free/cheap with Overdrive and the form-charm.
Health Levels
-0x2
-1x2
-2x3
-4x1
Ix1

Essence: ●●●●●
Personal: 18
Peripheral: 47 (+8)
Committed: 13
Willpower: ●●●●● ●●●

Compassion ●●
Conviction ●●●
Temperance ●
Valor ●●●

Join Battle 7

Parry 8 (10 w/Kata Bracers)
Evasion 8

Soaks (B/L/A): 4/3/1
Hardness 0

MDV 7

Intimacies
Cynical doubt of Solar Exalted
Familial bond to Sidereal Exalted
Wary of Lunar Exalted
Annoyed by celestial functionaries
Empathetic to Dragon-Blooded
Bonus Points 20
Essence 10
Willpower 3
Abilities 7

Experience 20
Fateful Martial Arts Excellency 10
Propitious Martial Arts Excellency10
TBD

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