Dice Exalted Essence - To Kill A Primordial - Characters

Psychie · Jul 16, 2023

Characters will go here.

ESSENCE 3
Motes: 10
Attributes: Assign one 5, one 4, and one 3
Abilities: Assign two 5s, two 4s, four 3s, one 2
Charms: 13 Charms
Merits: Pick a primary, two secondary, and one tertiary Merit.

Deliverer of Dark Dreams and Nightmares

The Twisted Toymaker

Sherwood · Jul 16, 2023

Name: Voice That Cries From The Heart of Darkness
Exalt Type: Abyssal
Caste: Dusk
Age: 36
Gender: Female

Attributes
Finesse: 5
Force: 4
Fortitude: 3

Abilities
Athletics: 4
Awareness: 3
Close Combat: 5
Craft
Embassy: 2
Integrity: 3
Navigate
Performance
Physique: 5
Presence: 3
Ranged Combat
Sagacity
Stealth: 3
War: 4
Merits
Secondary: Backing - Deliverer of Dark Dreams and Nightmares
Secondary: Artifact Daiklave - Soulcutter
Secondary: Hearthstone - Life Drain Stone

When set into a weapon: Once a session, when this weapon deals at least one health level of damage to a significant character, the bearer heals the highest of their damaged health levels.

Secondary: Whispers
Tertiary: Artifact - Collar of Dawn's Cleansing Light

This stylish collar fashioned of any of the magical materials keeps its wearer perfectly clean. They could roll in a rubbish heap or wade through a Deathlord’s gore-mired battlefield and come out without so much as a stain. This grants a two-dice bonus to resist poison and disease, but also to any social interactions where the character’s pristine appearance would benefit them.

Abyssal Exalt Advantages
Death’s Champions: Abyssals are considered undead whenever it is beneficial to them. In places touched by death, such as the Underworld or a blood-soaked battlefield, they gain a one-success bonus on any action that evokes fear, sorrow, dread, or acceptance.
Cruel Banquet: Drawing might from blood and terror, an Abyssal may replenish their motes by inflicting a level of damage or committing an act that frightens, subdues, or angers the target. Draining or terrifying a trivial character restores 1 mote, an elite character restores 2, and a powerful character — such as another Exalt — restores 3.
The Abyssal may benefit from Cruel Banquet only once per scene outside of combat.
Resonance: Abyssals are resonant with soulsteel.

Dusk Caste
The vanguard of Death’s army, Dusk Castes are warriors dedicated to the singular beauty of slaughter in all its hideous forms. Their animas tend toward pitch black with hints of purple, gray, and blood red.
At the end of each session, Dusk Castes gain an Exalt milestone if they engaged a significant foe in bloody combat.
ANIMA EFFECTS
Death is Inevitable (Passive): Without needing to roll, the Dusk slays up to her Essence in trivial characters on their turn; against nontrivial targets, their decisive attacks that hit always inflict at least one level of damage.
Fear Made Flesh (Active): When the Dusk flurries influence actions meant to intimidate, demoralize, or otherwise frighten a foe, reduce the flurry penalty by two on each action. They can also intimidate otherwise-mindless targets, such as automata. This includes any antagonist with the mindless quality (p. 317).
Walking Apocalypse (Iconic): Once per turn, she may respond to an attack on Step 8, making a counterattack with any combat Ability. If successful, she gains her Essence in bonus successes to damage during Step 5 of her next attack against the target.
Athletics Charms

Prerequisite: Athletics 4 or Close Combat 4
The Exalt moves in time with the flow of battle, slipping between swords with dismaying ease.
Commit 1 mote for the scene. The Exalt adds 1 to her Defense against attacks at close range and steals 1 Power from her attacker after successfully defending. First, generate Power from the attacker’s Overwhelming rating (p. 137), then steal Power.

Prerequisite: Athletics 1
The Exalt gains perfect balance, able to stand on wire, a crumbling parapet, or the top of a pine tree without issue.
Commit 1 mote. For the rest of the scene, the Exalt can stand on or run along things too narrow or weak to support them normally, with no chance of falling or breaking through. They never have to roll to avoid falling. Increase the cost of the knockdown gambit by her Essence.
Spider-Foot Style (Upgrade, Athletics 3): While Graceful Crane Stance is active, the Exalt may scale sheer surfaces, run across all liquids as if it were solid ground, and even runs upside down along the ceiling. This effect comes to an end when the Exalt stands still.
Mist Over Ice (Abyssal): The Exalt may walk across water as if it were solid ground and may stand still on its surface without falling through. She leaves no footprints behind.

Prerequisite: Athletics 4
The Exalt becomes a blur of motion, anima streaming in their wake as they flash from one point to another.
Spend 1 mote. Double 8s on a movement action involving running or swimming or to any venture roll involving foot racing, chases, or swift escapes. This does not apply to attacks made following a Rush. If used when moving toward an enemy, the Exalt gains 1 Power.
Racing Hare Method (Upgrade, Athletics 4, Essence 2): Instead, spend 2 motes to do one of the following: Move three range bands along the ground as a simple movement
action; quickly sprint to a location within a few days, such as a neighboring village or point of interest, to arrive before the end of the scene; once per interval, automatically overcome an additional obstacle on a travel venture using her speed.

Prerequisite: Athletics 2
The Exalt leaps with speed and grace, carrying them soaring into the air, or from rooftop to rooftop.
The Exalt may leap vertically one range band into the air as a movement action. Additionally, she may leap forward horizontally to leap across rooftops, move stylishly through the air, and avoid appropriate hazards and obstacles, bypassing them without a roll.
Soaring Crane Leap (Upgrade, Athletics 4, Essence 2): Commit 1 mote for one scene. While active, the Exalt floats, she may choose to fall only one range band per round, she is immune to fall damage, and she may use her reflexive movement action to float one range band across while airborne.

Awareness Charms

Prerequisite: Awareness 1
The Abyssal imbues a cadaver with their Essence, granting enough unlife to speak in feeble gasps and answer whatever questions they wish.
Spend 1 mote. For one scene, a corpse at close range sits up and speaks, answering any question it knows the answer to honestly in the languages that it knew when alive, though lacking the deceased’s personality. The more decayed a corpse is, the greater difficulty it will have answering questions; an ancient skull will only be able to answer yes-or-no questions, while a well-preserved corpse may provide more details.

Close Combat Charms

Prerequisite: [Ability] 1
Whatever the Exalt attempts, she does so with superhuman ability.
When purchasing this Charm, choose an Ability. Spend 1 mote. This applies on Step 1 during combat. Add bonus dice equal to the Ability’s rating to any applicable roll involving the chosen Ability. You may add Close Combat dice to Close Combat attacks or Craft dice to Craft rolls to construct an artifact, but you may not use Stealth dice to add to a Close Combat attack or Ranged Combat to add dice to a Navigate roll. You may buy this Charm for multiple Abilities but must choose a new Ability each time. This is a full Charm purchase and not a repurchase.
Special: This Charm may be applied to resistance rolls (such as to resist a hazard or trap) or to reflexively created actions, e.g. a reflexive Build Power action, regardless of Step.

Prerequisite: Close Combat 3
The Exalt’s strikes find their mark regardless of any obstacles.
Spend 1 mote on Step 3. Double the extra successes after applying Defense but before any bonus successes are applied. Additionally, ignore penalties hindering a single Close Combat attack, excluding self-imposed penalties and penalties that cannot be removed.
Blade of Misfortune (Abyssal): Add any penalties ignored by this Charm as bonuses to the attack instead.

Prerequisite: Close Combat 3
The Exalt blurs into action, attacking with a furious series of blows.
Spend 2 motes on Step 1. After resolving a Close Combat attack, the character makes a second Close Combat attack against the same target or a different one. This attack is treated as though it were part of a flurry. The initial attack is not penalized.
Iron Whirlwind Attack (Abyssal): The second attack is made without a dice penalty.

Prerequisites: Close Combat 5, Essence 3
The Abyssal encases an enemy in a suit of armor forged from screaming souls. Those slain become grim statues of smoke and metal or arise as corpse cataphracts to serve the deathknight.
Spend 2 motes on Step 1. The Exalt makes a special iron maiden gambit (Power 5) with the following effects. She may spend anima instead of Power on this gambit. Trap the target in a suit of armor for the duration equal to extra successes. For each turn he remains encased in the armor, he suffers two aggravated damage. When the gambit ends, the target must break free from the armor with a simple Force + Physique action at difficulty 7. Allies may attempt to sunder the armor at the same difficulty. He may try to move or attack while encased, but at a success penalty equal to the Exalt’s Essence. If the Exalt’s Essence is equal to or greater than the target, and he dies, the Exalt may resurrect him as a war ghost (p. 339) without the immaterial quality. Those that swear fealty to the Exalt gain a Major Tie of Loyalty to her and the elite quality.

Physique Charms

Prerequisite: Physique 3
The Exalt’s impressive strength and stamina makes her at home in her armor, even in the direst circumstances.
An Exalt with this Charm no longer suffers a mobility penalty from wearing armor and is as comfortable in full plate as they are in silken pajamas. They suffer no additional penalties for taking physical actions (such as running, climbing, or swimming) while wearing armor.

Prerequisite: None
By virtue of her Exalted health, the character endures greater levels of injury.
The Exalt increases her base Soak by one. She also gains an additional −1 Health level.
Repurchase: This may be repurchased multiple times, with a maximum number of purchases equal to the character’s physique.
Abyssal: The Exalt gains their choice of an additional 0 or two −1 Health levels.

Prerequisite: Physique 5
The Abyssal may ignore the pang of hunger and the siren call of sleep, for they no longer need such things in service of death.
Commit 1 mote for the scene. The Exalt gains immunity to all magical forms of poison, illness, deprivation, or fatigue. If she leverages her unliving state to provoke Cruel Banquet, she also gains 1 anima.
Breathless Ghost Emulation (Upgrade, Essence 3): The Abyssal does not need to pay the cost for this Charm, instead treating it as a permanent effect.

Stealth Charms

Prerequisite: Stealth 2
Quiet the breath. Quiet the heart. Be still. Be silent.
The Exalt doubles 9s on all Stealth rolls to remain undetected. If she didn’t move on her last turn, she doubles 8s instead. This includes the outmaneuver Build Power action.
Quiet as Death (Abyssal): While in darkness, the Abyssal doubles 8s, or 7s if she didn’t move.

War Charms

Prerequisite: War 4
The Abyssal raises their hand skyward, causing tendrils of ebon lightning to strike the ground. Corpses struck rise or emerge from the earth to reinforce the deathknight.
Commit 1 mote for the scene. If there are corpses buried in the ground or slaughtered on the battlefield, roll War. Success creates a Size 1 battle group of walking dead (p. 339) at out to short range with an additional point of (Size) for every two successes on activation. Alternatively, heal one Health level of damage inflicted on a battle group of walking dead within short range for every two successes rolled. If the battlefield is littered with corpses to reanimate, gain two automatic successes. Failure creates a Size 0, poor Drill battle group of walking dead. These additional walking dead remain for the scene before falling inanimate.
Health Levels
-0 [ ][ ]
-1 [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ]
Incap [ ]

Essence: 3
Motes: 10

Defense: 5
Soak: 3 + Armor (+2)
Hardness: 5

Resolve: 4

Medium Daiklave - Soulcutter
Accuracy +2, Damage +2, Defense +2, Overwhelming 2
Artifact, Melee, Balanced, Chopping
Balanced: A superbly balanced weapon. It increases its Overwhelming by 1 and adds two dice when using the weapon to enact gambits.
Chopping: Enables chopping attack for melee weapons. Decrease the wielder’s Defense by one until the start of her next turn. Gain two bonus dice to a withering attack or decrease an opponent’s Hardness by 1 for the purpose of a decisive attack.
Virtues
Loyalty - Major
Ambition - Minor

Intimacies
Major: (Loyalty) Love of the Deliverer of Dark Dreams and Nightmares for setting her free of her old existence.
Minor: (Ambition) "It is my dream that someday I will see Lookshy burn."
Minor: (Ambition) "When the Deliverer is raised up to her rightful position, my reward will be great."

Background
Anna Byrne was dying, and there was nothing she could do about it.

How did her life lead to this? Things seemed to be going so well for her. Living in Lookshy, Anna was a member of the city's military, working in the ranks of the supply and logistics corps, doing a fairly good job of keeping the various departments and units with their needed gear and provisions. It was here that Anna met the man that would eventually become her husband, and with her wedding, she was a woman that was quite content with her lot in life and was looking forward to starting a family someday with her husband.

Things took a dramatic turn for the worse one day when Anna discovered that one of the officers of the supply corps was stealing equipment from the storehouse and was selling it to earn a profit for himself. With her documented proof in hand, she immediately went to her supervisor to turn him in. Little did she know that the thief was the dearly loved son of her supervisor, and if he did turn on his own son, it would also ruin his own career, since no one would believe that he didn't know about the graft of his own son. The supervisor makes the immediate decision to discredit Anna, and as a result, she is now ordered out of the cushy office job in the supply corps to now being assigned to work in one of the much smaller field offices that Lookshy has set up on its border.

Returning to her home in disgrace, hoping to find some solace from her husband, she instead finds him in bed with another woman! It is only due to her 'dear' husbands' strength that held her at bay from her attempt to kill him and his mistress. The next day, with her life in shambles and her marriage destroyed by infidelity, Anna is sent off into the field where she is expected to rot away, far from the city that she was so devoted to.

Forced to live in the rough conditions of the forward base, things went from bad to worse. While out on a foot patrol with a squad of infantry, they came across a band of raiders from an opposing nation that were heading towards the small garrison that they were ordered to guard with overwhelming numbers that they couldn't hope to stand against for long. They immediately signaled for help from Lookshy and waited for support to arrive but the needed help never came. Despite their best efforts, the small garrison force was overrun, and Anna herself was run through by a sword and left for dead.

As she lay there dying, coughing up blood, the mortally wounded woman spewed forth her utter hatred for all those that had betrayed her: her superior officer, her husband, and finally, Lookshy itself. Surprisingly, a voice answers her, asking what she would do if she had the chance to live. Even though she thought she was imagining it, Anna answers that she would seek out her revenge against all of Creation for abandoning her and destroying her life piece by piece. With her last breath, Anna laid out a horrendous curse at the feet of all that had wronged her.

But instead of fading out and having her spirit go into the Underworld as she expected would happen, she felt a strange warmth flowing through her body, along with a sudden rush of strength and vitality. Slowly she rises, and is faced with a strange man standing nearby, watching her. It turns out that he was one of the fearsome Deathknights, and he was there to escort her to her savior and new master, The Deliverer of Dark Dreams and Nightmares.

Instead of falling into despair at this dark fate, the newly minted Abyssal reveled in the discovered power of her new existence. Giving up her old name and taking on the title of the Voice That Cries From the Heart of Darkness, she completely threw herself into her life as a servant of the Underworld. One day, as a reward for a job well done, Deliverer called for Voice to attend her. Voice was then presented with a gift; both her husband and his mistress, bound and gagged, lying on the cold, hard ground.

So many delightful and exquisite ways of delivering pain to her captives flashed through her mind, and for many nights, the quiet of the Underworld was shattered by the tormented screams of Voice's prisoners. Finally, the enjoyment of causing pain to those that had wronged her started to fade. Voice then takes her prisoners and delivers them to the artificers and had them made into the Soulsteel Daiklave that she now carries with her so they can now be together forever.

jaydude · Jul 18, 2023

Name: Prince of Bloodstained Sands (Prince for short)
Type: Day Caste Abyssal
Concept: Southern-born Assassin

Attributes
Finesse: 5
Force: 3
Fortitude: 3

Abilities
Athletics: 5
Awareness: 4
Close Combat: 4
Craft
Embassy: 3
Integrity: 3
Navigate: 1
Performance
Physique: 3
Presence: 3
Ranged Combat
Sagacity
Stealth: 5
War

Anima Effects
- Walking in Daylight (Passive): The Day Caste can dampen her anima, preventing others from seeing it until she wants to be noticed. She cannot suppress her iconic anima. Additionally, she gains a three-dice bonus to attempts to conceal her deathly nature.
- Grim Caul (Active): The Abyssal gains her Essence in automatic successes on Athletics and Stealth rolls while her anima is active, including Build Power actions. It is impossible to determine her identity.
- Living Shadow (Iconic): The Abyssal’s body becomes immaterial — nothing more than shadow and Essence. She is immune to being grappled or restrained and can move through solid matter as long as she ends her movement in an open space. When she uses this effect as part of an outmaneuver Build Power action, gain her Essence in additional Power.
Secondary - Artifact: Crimson Fangs (Soulsteel Talon Daggers)
Secondary - Backing: Deliverer of Dark Dreams and Nightmares
Secondary - Contacts: Ghosts of Mitrem
Secondary - Hearthstone: Life Drain Stone
Tertiary - Silk Armor

A pair of double-edged curved daggers forged by servants of the Twisted Toymaker, using the souls of desert barbarians who once warred against the Realm. The Toymaker gave them to the Deliverer of Dark Dreams and Nightmares as a gift following the start of their alliance, with the Deliverer in turn gifting them to the Prince soon after his Exaltation. They gleam blood red when they catch the light of the sun.

Statistics: Light (+3 Accuracy, +1 Damage, +2 Defense, 2 Overwhelming)

Tags: Artifact, Melee, Balanced, Concealable, Paired, Piercing

The civil war in Mitrem inevitably left many dead, which in turn created new Shadowlands within blood-soaked battlegrounds and the ravaged capital. When the dead of Mitrem found themselves in the Underworld, the Deliverer was there to provide comfort and guidance, recruiting the most promising members as spies and war ghosts. Among the former, there are many who remember the Prince fondly from the days before his murder at the hands of his father.

A black teardrop cut through with opalescent red ribbons.

Manse attributes: A traditional Mitremian homestead recreated within the Underworld. The land surrounding the homestead is very much barren. Ghostly servants are on hand to tend to the needs of those in residence.

While set in a weapon: Once a session, when this weapon deals at least one health level of damage to a significant character, the bearer heals the highest of their damaged health levels.
Athletics

The Exalt leaps with speed and grace, carrying them soaring into the air, or from rooftop to rooftop.

The Exalt may leap vertically one range band into the air as a movement action. Additionally, she may leap forward horizontally to leap across rooftops, move stylishly through the air, and avoid appropriate hazards and obstacles, bypassing them without a roll.

The Exalt avoids a blow and leaps away, putting space between her and her enemy.

Spend 1 mote on Step 4 after successfully defending against an attack to move one range band as a reflexive action.

Spectral Deception (Abyssal): An Abyssal leaves behind a spectral image of herself while fading into the shadows. Reflexively make an outmaneuver build Power roll (p. XX) accordingly.

The Abyssal’s terrible speed leaves only corpses in her wake.

Spend 1 mote on Step 1. Choose a target within the scene who has less Power than the Abyssal. Cross the distance to be within attack range instantly. A withering attack causes the target to lose 1 Power, even on a miss, or her choice of 1 mote if she hits. A decisive attack adds her Essence in dice to damage on Step 5. This counts as the Abyssal’s movement action for the round. This may be used during a clash.

Close Combat

The Exalt’s strikes find their mark regardless of any obstacles.

Spend 1 mote on Step 3. Double the extra successes after applying Defense but before any bonus successes are applied. Additionally, ignore penalties hindering a single Close Combat attack, excluding self-imposed penalties and penalties that cannot be removed.

Blade of Misfortune (Abyssal): Add any penalties ignored by this Charm as bonuses to the attack instead.

The Exalt’s weapons and armor respond to her will, flying to her at her call.

When the Exalt takes this Charm, choose whether it applies to weapons or armor. Purchase this Charm a second time to use it on both.

Spend 1 mote to summon your weapon or armor, or 2 motes to summon both. If the weapon or armor in question is within short range, Arsenal-Summoning Gesture is a reflexive action. If it is not, Arsenal-Summoning Gesture is a simple action. Spend 1 mote to banish your weapon or armor into Elsewhere, a non-space where your arsenal waits to be called upon as per above.

Physique

By virtue of her Exalted health, the character endures greater levels of injury.

The Exalt increases her base Soak by one. She also gains an additional −1 level. This may be purchased a number of times equal to the character’s Physique, which counts as a Charm repurchase. Gain additional health based on the character’s Exalt type mode. The Soak increase only applies once.

Abyssal and Solar: The Exalt gains their choice of an additional 0 or two −1 Health levels. (Additional 0)

Stealth

The Exalt masks her brilliance for a time, disappearing among the crowds of mortals around her.

Commit 1 mote. So long as the mote remains committed and the Exalt remains within or close to a large group of people, she becomes functionally invisible; others can see her, but pass her off as simply “a face in the crowd.” Awareness Charms and similar powers may allow others to find the Exalt, as will violent or disruptive actions, but she always receives a chance to resist their roll with Attribute + Stealth.

The Abyssal may call upon the shadows themselves to cloak their movement.

Commit 1 mote. Vision-based rolls to perceive the Exalt suffer a three-success penalty. In deep shadows, at night, or in the Underworld, increase the penalty by two and extend the effect to everything out to short range.

The Exalt clothes herself in another’s garb or employs trickery to pass as someone she is not.

Commit 1 mote when assembling a disguise. If this disguise is general (a servant, a trader, a soldier, etc.) it remains impenetrable to mortal senses for as long as the mote remains committed. Resist magical senses with Attribute + Stealth. If the disguise is of a specific person, significant characters may attempt to discover the ruse, resisted by the Exalt’s Attribute + Stealth.

Quiet the breath. Quiet the heart. Be still. Be silent.

The Exalt doubles 9s on all Stealth rolls to remain undetected. If she didn’t move on her last turn, she doubles 8s instead. This includes the outmaneuver build Power action.

Quiet as Death (Abyssal): While in darkness, the Abyssal doubles 8s, or 7s if she didn’t move.

Ebon Shadow Style

The Exalt dominates the battlefield from hiding, fading in and out of sight.

Spend 1 mote on Step 2. Penalize the attack as if the Exalt had concealment. If the Exalt successfully defends against this attack, add a two-dice bonus to the Exalt’s Stealth rolls until their next turn ends. This may be used during a clash as though it were a Step 3 Charm.

Celestial: If the Exalt successfully defends against the above attack, the Exalt may take an extra reflexive movement action on Step 8.

The Exalt’s outline distorts and flickers like an inhuman shadow cast by an unsteady flame.

Commit 1 mote on Step 1 for the scene. The Exalt may calculate Evasion using Stealth instead of Athletics. When the Exalt makes a decisive attack from concealment, that attack ignores Soak equal to the Exalt’s Essence. The Exalt’s anima becomes dark and murky, and if the Exalt dies, their body evaporates into greasy smoke, leaving behind no evidence of their identity.

Celestial: At the end of each round, if the Exalt is hidden from all opponents or has successfully evaded all attacks made against them that round, the Exalt gains 1 Power.

The Exalt’s weapon is shrouded in darkness, closer and deadlier than their opponent can see.

Spend 1 mote on Step 5 of a decisive attack. Each extra success on the attack roll converts one damage die into an automatic success. The Exalt can convert up to five dice into automatic successes when attacking from concealment, or two dice otherwise. If this attack kills the Exalt’s opponent, the corpse vanishes into smoke as described in Ebon Shadow Form.

Celestial: If the enhanced attack deals damage, the Exalt cuts away part of their opponent’s shadow. The Exalt steals 1 mote, if the opponent has any motes. If the opponent does not, gain Power instead.
Health Levels:
-0 [_][_][_]
-1 [_][_][_]
-2 [_][_]
-Incap [_]

Essence: 3
Motes: 10

Defense: 5 (Evasion)
Soak: 3 (Base + Physique 3 + Silken Armor)
Hardness: 5
Virtues
Major - Loyalty (Deliverer of Dark Dreams and Nightmares)
Minor - Discipline (Discipline)

Intimacies
Major Tie - Deliverer of Dark Dreams and Nightmares (Loyalty)
Minor Principle - "The wise beast checks the environment first, rather than race impatiently towards the watering hole." (Discipline)

Background
"I have to wonder why you call yourself the Deliverer of Dark Dreams and Nightmares. For it seems you have offered me a dream come true."

Born to the king and queen of Mitrem, a prosperous city-state within the Southeast, death shadowed this man from the moment he was born, with his mother dying whilst giving birth to him. His father never forgave his son for this, and gave him away to be raised by his nurses, tutors and other attendants, whilst pointedly distancing himself from him from that point on.

His father's indifference and his own guilt over his mother's death aside, the prince had a happy life within the royal court, sneaking around and getting into trouble with the other children of the palace in-between lessons on how to rule. Around the time he became a young man, his father began courting the recently widowed queen of a neighbouring kingdom, and warmed towards his firstborn son during the courting process, having seemingly found it in him to move on from the old queen's death now that he had a new love. The truth would become painfully clear during the wedding however, when the prince found himself suddenly sick after taking a sip of wine.

Taking his son aside so that he could ostensibly recover in private, the king gleefully revealed himself to have laced the wine with hemlock, having never forgiven the prince for the old queen's death, and conspired with the new queen to have her own son replace him as Mitrem's heir. He had only ever been nice to his son in order to build up hopes he could later have the satisfaction of crushing. The prince was left to die in pain and despair, but instead the Deliverer came and offered him Abyssal Exaltation, describing it as the chance - and the ideal means - to administer justice to a father who was willing to commit filicide over the actions of an infant. All she asked in return was his loyalty and service. Eager for revenge against his father, he accepted the offer and disappeared from the palace, reborn as the Prince of Bloodstained Sands.

The Prince trained under the Deliverer's greatest ghost assassins until he inevitably surpassed them, whilst serving the Deathlord as both a spy and sneaky killer. Eventually though, he returned to Mitrem, where he discovered that his death had caused the kingdom to collapse into ruinous civil war, with his now-despised father and mother-in-law mentally broken from their struggles to hold everything together. By that point, killing them was more an act of mercy, as well as a symbolic cutting of ties to his old life.

Random Word · Jul 22, 2023

Name: The Martyred Bodhisattva Whose Blood Anoints the First and Final Altar
Exalt Type: Abyssal
Caste: Midnight
Age: 24
Gender: Female

Attributes
Force: 5
Finesse: 3
Fortitude: 4

Abilities
Athletics: 3
Awareness: 3
Close Combat
Craft
Embassy: 2
Integrity: 3
Navigate
Performance
Physique: 2
Presence: 5
Ranged Combat
Sagacity: 5
Stealth: 4
War: 5
Merits
Primary: Artifact -

A paired set of Moonsilver and Soulsteel tattoos that drink darkness and shine eerily in moonlight, an ever-shifting koan to the inevitability of Oblivion in the blasphemous script of the Neverborn.

The adorned always treat each other as Linked. Linked characters share the benefits of each others' Ties of Hatred, and benefit from Ties of Fear others have towards Linked characters.

By committing one mote for the scene they may allow the inky darkness of the Black Nadir Sutra to leak out onto the ground around them to form a mandala of shadow. The script of this mandala may reach out to Short Range, extending to Medium and then Long range at Essence 3 and 5, respectively. If the Adorned are touching when the mandala is created, it may extend one range band further than usual. The mandala can peel off the ground to manipulate objects, slip through any gap a liquid can pass through, and if an adorned closes their eyes and concentrates, they can project their senses through the mandala, seeing the world in stark black and white where things in shadow are clear and those illuminated are hidden. Willing characters within the mandala may become Linked.

Spend one mote when extending the mandala, and one mote every round of combat thereafter to sustain the effect. The Adorned may declare any number of targets, willing or not, within the mandala become Enlightened. Enlightened characters suffer a -2 penalty to their Resolve against fear and hatred. Linked characters can leverage ties of hatred towards Enlightened characters to convert damage dice into successes, and leverage Enlightened characters' ties of fear towards them to reduce Enlightened character's Soak.

Primary Hearthstone [Spell Created] - Magi's Hubris
Secondary Command [Charm Created]

Size 5 Battlegroup of War Ghosts; 30 HLs; Overwhelming 5
Elite Drill: 3 Bonus Successes (Rout [+6 Sux total], Command, Ventures, Build Power)
Rout Check: Whenever they’re reduced to half their maximum Health levels.
Major Virtue Loyalty (The Martyr)

Qualities:
Immortal (Ghost) (p. 319)
Apparition: Commit 1 mote for one scene to become visible but not material. Others may hear the ghost and speak to her, but not physically interact.
Forge-born Form: Commit 1 mote to possess a suit of armor. The war ghost gains the possessed armor’s Soak. Any injuries inflicted on the armor cannot be healed, but also are not suffered by the ghost, unless inflicted using magic that can harm immaterial spirits. Armor destroyed by incapacitating the ghost must be repaired before it can be possessed again.

Outnumber Qualities (+3 from Training):

If this character doesn’t benefit from a commander, they may add three dice to their attacks and gain 1 Power at the end of every round.

Once per turn, a commander may make this character attack with an action, using a War roll or other appropriate dice pool. This attack benefits from this character’s weapon, Drill, and Size ratings, and may use either the commander’s or this character’s Power. A character used to attack this way may still take their action as usual. A battle group gains this automatically at regular Drill.

This character may take the Exchange Power action and be targeted by the Exchange Power action reflexively. A battle group gains this automatically at veteran Drill.

Enemies in close range reduce their Defense by 1. A battle group gains this automatically at elite Drill.

This character may make area of effect attacks against all targets in one of their weapon’s ranges. Gain looming (p. 317) for attacks. Gain this automatically at Size 2.

Training:

This character may defend other as a reflexive action on Step 2.

Allies gain +1 Accuracy and +1 Damage.

Allies gain an additional 2 Power on successful Build Power rolls.

Black-Iron Spear and Shield (+2 Accuracy, +2 Defense, +2 Damage, 2 Overwhelming)
Attack Pool: 15 dice; Damage 5, Overwhelming 5

Primary Pool (8): Group Combat, Senses, Following Orders
Secondary Pool (7): Fighting, Campaigning, Haunting
Tertiary Pool (5)
Resolve: 3
Essence: 1-4
Health Levels: 7
Defense: 4 (6 when Defend Other)
Hardness: 5
Soak: 2 (4 when possessing armour)

QUALITIES AND CHARMS Immaterial (p. 319)
Immortal (Ghost) (p. 319)
Apparition: Commit 1 mote for one scene to become visible but not material. Others may hear the ghost and speak to her, but not physically interact.
Thrashing Ghost Tantrum: Spend 1 mote and 1 Power. This creates an environmental hazard out to medium range around the ghost. Pay the cost on subsequent rounds to sustain it. Alternatively, a ghost may use this Charm to pick up and throw an object out to medium range as an attack. Usable while im- material.
Forge-born Form: Commit 1 mote to possess a suit of armor. The war ghost gains the possessed armor’s Soak. Any injuries inflicted on the armor cannot be healed, but also are not suffered by the ghost, unless inflicted using magic that can harm immaterial spirits. Armor destroyed by incapacitating the ghost must be repaired before it can be possessed again.
Weapon: Black-Iron Spear and Shield (+2 Accuracy, +2 Defense, +2 Damage, 2 Overwhelming).

Secondary: Hearthstone - Heartending Shard of Oblivion
Secondary: Ally - ???
Tertiary: Backing - Deliverer of Dark Dreams and Desires

Abyssal Exalt Advantages
Death’s Champions: Abyssals are considered undead whenever it is beneficial to them. In places touched by death, such as the Underworld or a blood-soaked battlefield, they gain a one-success bonus on any action that evokes fear, sorrow, dread, or acceptance.
Cruel Banquet: Drawing might from blood and terror, an Abyssal may replenish their motes by inflicting a level of damage or committing an act that frightens, subdues, or angers the target. Draining or terrifying a trivial character restores 1 mote, an elite character restores 2, and a powerful character — such as another Exalt — restores 3.
The Abyssal may benefit from Cruel Banquet only once per scene outside of combat.
Resonance: Abyssals are resonant with soulsteel.

Midnight Caste
Priests to the powers of the Underworld and beyond, the Midnight Caste build cults among the living and the dead, preaching the gospel of the void. Their anima banners show rich, dark blues and deepest blacks. At the end of each session, Midnight Castes gain an Exalt milestone if they intimidated or coerced a significant character or group.

ANIMA EFFECTS
Void Prophet (Passive): Once per scene, the Midnight may automatically intuit a character’s greatest losses, disappointments, and sorrows, treating these pain points as a Minor Intimacy for influence. Additional uses cost 1 mote each.
Apocalyptic Voice (Active): The Abyssal gains her Essence in automatic successes on social influence to inspire feelings of fear, peace, despair, or acceptance.
Reveal the Faithless (Iconic): Spend 5 anima. Characters within the scene suffer a five-success penalty to deceive or hide from the Midnight and her entourage. Those caught lying are infected with a minor disease of the Midnight’s choice, even if normally immune.
Stealth

Prerequisite: Stealth 3
The Exalt clothes herself in another’s garb or employs trickery to pass as someone she is not.
Commit 1 mote when assembling a disguise. If this disguise is general (a servant, a trader, a soldier, etc.) it remains impenetrable to mortal senses for as long as the mote remains committed. Resist magical senses with Attribute + Stealth. If the disguise is of a specific person, significant characters may attempt to discover the ruse, resisted by the Exalt’s Attribute + Stealth.

Face-Drinking Bite (Abyssal)
An Abyssal may drink the blood of a target with a bite or share a kiss to steal their form. The Abyssal can take this form at any time as if donning a disguise.

Solar Impersonation Style (Personal)
An Abyssal may commit 2 motes. She appears in all ways to be a Solar Exalt, the mirror of her Caste, including in her anima, caste mark, and the perceptible elements of her Charms and panoply.

Prerequisite: Stealth 2
Quiet the breath. Quiet the heart. Be still. Be silent.
The Exalt doubles 9s on all Stealth rolls to remain undetected. If she didn’t move on her last turn, she doubles 8s instead. This includes the outmaneuver Build Power action.
Quiet as Death (Abyssal): While in darkness, the Abyssal doubles 8s, or 7s if she didn’t move.

Sagacity

Prerequisite: [Ability] 1
Whatever the Exalt attempts, she does so with superhuman ability.
When purchasing this Charm, choose an Ability. Spend 1 mote. This applies on Step 1 during combat. Add bonus dice equal to the Ability’s rating to any applicable roll involving the chosen Ability. You may add Close Combat dice to Close Combat attacks or Craft dice to Craft rolls to construct an artifact, but you may not use Stealth dice to add to a Close Combat attack or Ranged Combat to add dice to a Navigate roll. You may buy this Charm for multiple Abilities but must choose a new Ability each time. This is a full Charm purchase and not a repurchase.
Special: This Charm may be applied to resistance rolls (such as to resist a hazard or trap) or to reflexively created actions, e.g. a reflexive Build Power action, regardless of Step.

Prerequisite: Sagacity 1
The Exalt has dredged up dark secrets from the
Underworld — secrets which grant tremendous power.
The necromancer gains the ability to learn and cast First Circle spells, as well as a free spell and a shaping ritual. Not every Exalt can use every circle, see p. 300.
Repurchase (Sagacity 3, Essence 3): Gain access to Second Circle spells, a free spell, and a shaping ritual.
Repurchase (Sagacity 5, Essence 5): Gain access to Third Circle spells, a free spell, and a shaping ritual.

Integrity Charms

Prerequisite: Integrity 2
The Exalt flenses herself of emotion and expression, shedding her passions to become inscrutable.
Commit 1 mote for the scene. The Exalt increases her Resolve against read intentions actions by her Essence. She gains one automatic success on social influence actions which take advantage of her lack of emoting. While in this state she may always treat her Virtues as applying to Resolve against any persuade action.

Presence Charms

Prerequisite: [Ability] 1
Whatever the Exalt attempts, she does so with superhuman ability.
When purchasing this Charm, choose an Ability. Spend 1 mote. This applies on Step 1 during combat. Add bonus dice equal to the Ability’s rating to any applicable roll involving the chosen Ability. You may add Close Combat dice to Close Combat attacks or Craft dice to Craft rolls to construct an artifact, but you may not use Stealth dice to add to a Close Combat attack or Ranged Combat to add dice to a Navigate roll. You may buy this Charm for multiple Abilities but must choose a new Ability each time. This is a full Charm purchase and not a repurchase.
Special: This Charm may be applied to resistance rolls (such as to resist a hazard or trap) or to reflexively created actions, e.g. a reflexive Build Power action, regardless of Step.

Prerequisite: Presence 3
The Exalt is a singular and terrifying being, awesome to behold. People and animals instinctively shy away from her.
Commit 1 mote for the scene. The Exalt adds her Essence in bonus dice and gains double 9s on any threatening influence actions. If a character has a Tie of fear toward the Exalt, add bonus dice equal to its intensity. The bonus dice from Ties do not count toward the limit. Mundane animals and extras flee from the Exalt outright, unless compelled to remain through training or magic.
Terrifying Apparition of Glory (Upgrade, Presence 5, Essence 3): At Active anima, gain double 8s. At Iconic anima, gain 1 Power whenever an enemy is successfully influenced using this Charm.
Heart-Stopping Mien (Abyssal): When intimidation succeeds, the Exalt gains 1 Power, and may inflict two dice of damage against the target. This becomes four dice if they possess a Tie of fear to her. Soak does not apply to this damage.

Prerequisites: Embassy or Presence 4, Essence 2
The Abyssal’s words carry the entropic power of death itself. Those who are moved by their words either suffer a subtle, life-draining weakness or spectacular unnatural stigmata that brings death.
Spend 1 mote. This Charm supplements a written or spoken influence, granting double 9s. If successful, the target of the influence must accept either five Health levels of environmental damage or a dramatic injury reflecting the Exalt’s choice of unnatural withering or violent stigmata. Trivial targets may be slain outright. Once per story, unless reset by accomplishing a personal milestone goal or Exalt milestone as a result of this Charm.
Soul-Flaying Gaze (Upgrade, Embassy or Presence 5): The Exalt gains double 8s and may supplement non-verbal social influence with this Charm.

Prerequisite: Presence 3
The Exalt embodies magnetism and grace, charming every courtier she meets. No matter her behavior, all people listen when she speaks.
Commit 1 mote for one scene. For the duration, the Exalt may add an automatic success to all social influence, excluding read intentions actions. She ignores up to three dice of mundane situational penalties to her social influence actions that arise from her unfamiliarity with customs, fashion, or past actions.

Majestic Radiant Presence (Upgrade, Essence 2): Commit 1 additional mote. Characters attempting to oppose the Exalt socially or physically must accept a hard bargain (p. 134) to do so. At Active anima, waive the additional commitment.

Elegant Tyrant’s Majesty (Abyssal): Against the undead, subordinates, or characters with a Tie of fear toward the Exalt, add an additional automatic success on all social influence actions. At Active anima, this applies to all characters.

Prerequisite: Presence 3 or War 3
The Exalt blesses her underlings with a small measure of her own power, greatly increasing their natural abilities.
Commit 1 mote and designate one of the Exalt’s mortal followers or commit 2 motes and designate a group. Choose a single Ability. For as long as those motes remain commit- ted, the Exalt’s underlings substitute the Exalt’s Attribute + Ability dice pool in place of their own for applicable rolls.

Prerequisite: Presence 3 or War 3
The Exalt knows how to leverage her social weight
to accrue aides, advisors, and lackeys of all stripes.
Spend 1 mote. The Exalt gathers a group of hangers-on to aid her, creating a temporary tertiary Followers Merit. The Exalt may specify what sort of lackeys she wants (spies, socialites, mercenaries, etc.). All lackeys behave as if their Minor Virtue was Loyalty for the Exalt unless she does something to betray them or otherwise casts them off. If the lackeys are of a type suited to fighting, the Exalt may lead them into combat, where they function as tertiary Command.
Soldier Acquisition Method (Upgrade, Essence 3): This Charm creates secondary Followers. If used to create a battle group, this creates the Command Merit appropriate to her Essence rating (p. 101).

Prerequisites: Presence 5, Essence 3
The Exalt dominates the will of her target with the
force of her soul’s presence.
Spend 2 motes to make a special Presence-based influence action as simple action with the target’s Essence added to his Resolve. On success, he is hypnotized for one round, unable to take any actions. The Exalt may issue a single instruction in a short, clear sentence which the target will carry out immediately; if the target rejects the influence, the Exalt gains the dice bonus against them for the rest of the session. Afterward, he will have no memory of being commanded. This may only be used once per story.
Mind-Seizing Gaze (Abyssal, Infernal, Solar):
The Exalt may issue a number of instructions equal to her extra successes as short, clear sentences instead. The target remains hypnotized until all instructions are complete.

War Charms

Prerequisite: War 3
The Exalt may quickly train even the most
inveterate militia into a fighting force to be reckoned
with.
Commit 2 motes for a scene. With a dramatic scene
of drilling and instruction, a group of noncombatants
or conscripts can be trained to fight competently; they
become a battle group treated as tertiary Command. As
an unrolled Recruitment venture, the Exalt may spend
a week of downtime in a dramatic scene drilling a unit
trained with this Charm, allowing her to select one of
the following benefits. Each benefit provided by this
Charm can only be applied to a given unit once:
• Increase their attack pool by two dice.
• Gain one additional outnumber quality.
• Designate Loyalty to the Exalt or a target of her
choosing as their Minor Virtue.

Divine Army Supremacy (Upgrade, War 5,
Essence 3): Training a unit now takes a scene or a day
of downtime. She may also train units of spirits, animals
or other non-humans, who retain their characteristics
but improve their Drill like a regular unit. Additional
benefits may be selected:
• Gain one additional outnumber quality.
• Units with regular Drill gain veteran Drill.
Units with veteran Drill gain elite Drill.
• Designate a specialized enemy, such as creatures of darkness (p. 61), the undead, fae, or
beastfolk. The unit increases their Drill by the
Exalt’s Essence against that type of foe.
• The unit no longer fears death. They gain
three bonus successes on rout checks (p. 323).
Requires at least veteran Drill.

Tiger-Warrior Training Technique (Solar): With
just a single scene, the Exalt may train noncombatants or
conscripts to become soldiers. As additional benefits, the
Exalt may select:
• Soldiers become Champions with veteran Drill.
• Gain one additional outnumber quality.
• Designate Loyalty to the Exalt or a target of her
choosing as their Major Virtue.

Hardened Killer Training Style (Abyssal): As
Solar Mode. Alternatively, the Exalt may put soldiers
through a scene of training they will not survive. They
arise that night as war ghosts (p. 339) with a Major
Virtue of Loyalty to the Exalt
Health Levels
-0 [ ][ ]
-1 [ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ]
Incap [ ]

Essence: 3
Motes: 10

Defense: 4
Soak: 2
Hardness: 5

Resolve: 4
Virtues
Ambition - Major - [To Free the Neverborn from the Tomb that is Creation]
Wonder - Minor

Intimacies
Major: (Ambition) "Mine is the true path to Oblivion and salvation. My sermons shall set all worlds free."
Minor: (Ambition) "I will see Ysyr torn asunder and rebuilt as the greatest school of Necromancy and shrine to the Neverborn in Creation."
Minor: (Wonder) "I will grasp the greatest of esoteric understandings. No tomb shall remain barred, no stretch of Labyrinth untravelled, no library heavenly or demonic denied me."

Background
Born a slave in the mystical city of Ysyr, she was not destined for the sorcerous perfection that adorned the ruling class, but instead bore the mutation marks of servitude. Yet, the fires of rebellion smoldered within her heart. She stumbled upon ancient tablets in the depths of the city, their secrets whispered of power and ascension. Inspired, she gathered a cult devoted to overthrowing the Sorcerer-Princes, promising them not just freedom, but transcendence.

They restored an ancient temple in the city's catacombs, following the tablets' cryptic instructions. When the restoration was completed, they found themselves sealed in complete darkness. Days turned into weeks, and their hunger drove them into a terrifying feast of survival, their spilled blood soaking into the grooves covering every surface, the script in the language of the Neverborn burning with a darkness that transcended sight, burning itself into their minds.

As she witnessed her followers succumb to madness and death, she fully embraced the dark teachings etched in blood and darkness. In a final act of devotion, she offered her own flesh to her remaining disciples, for she finally understood that death was the promised ascension, the door beyond which the chains of the Sorcerer-Princes could not follow. It was then the Deliverer of Dark Dreams and Desires, inspired by her unwavering faith in Oblivion, granted her the opportunity to serve. She led her disciples, both dead and living, from the catacombs and into the night.

The woman who emerged was no longer a mere slave. She was the The Martyred Bodhisattva Whose Blood Anoints the First and Final Altar, and she waged a civil war on Ysyr. She clashed with the Deliverer's wishes, who urged her to remain hidden, but she was deaf to their counsel. Her path led her to the city's sorcerous engine, ready to corrupt it and bring down the city she once served.

Yet, a surprise awaited her in the engine's chamber: a newly Chosen Lunar, a survivor of the ravaging Wyld, also seeking the power to exact vengeance. In the Lunar, Epiphany saw a reflection of her own pain, her own yearning for justice. Thus, instead of war, she chose a path of unity and understanding. She taught the Lunar about the power of Oblivion and how it could be used to destroy the Wyld, offering them the same retribution they had faced.

Together, they journeyed to the Underworld, standing before the Deliverer. Epiphany, humbled but not broken, prostrated herself before the Deathlord. Recognizing her service and seeing value in another Celestial Exalt, the Deliverer granted them both a blessing. The Deathlord marked their bodies with an alloy of Soulsteel and Moonsilver, engraving script in the language of the Neverborn and labyrinthine mandalas on their flesh. This sacred tattooing bound the two Exalted together, a testament to their shared journey from anguish to power, from slavery to freedom, from life to the embrace of Oblivion.

Crocodile · Aug 3, 2023

Name: Merchant of Death
Exalt Type: Abyssal
Caste: Moonshadow
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Merchant of Death Theme

Attributes
Force: 3
Finesse: 5
Fortitude: 4

Abilities
Athletics 2
Awareness 3
Close Combat
Craft 4
Embassy 5
Integrity 4
Navigate 3
Performance
Physique
Presence 3
Ranged Combat
Sagacity 5
Stealth
War 3
Merits
Primary: Contacts
Secondary: Resources
Secondary: Artifact - Rod of Sorcery and Souls (Variant of Amulet of Ten Thousand Eyes) Soulsteel & Starmetal
Tertiary: Backing - Deliverer of Dark Dreams and Desires

Abyssal Exalt Advantages
Death’s Champions: Abyssals are considered undead whenever it is beneficial to them. In places touched by death, such as the Underworld or a blood-soaked battlefield, they gain a one-success bonus on any action that evokes fear, sorrow, dread, or acceptance.

Cruel Banquet: Drawing might from blood and terror, an Abyssal may replenish their motes by inflicting a level of damage or committing an act that frightens, subdues, or angers the target. Draining or terrifying a trivial character restores 1 mote, an elite character restores 2, and a powerful character — such as another Exalt — restores 3. The Abyssal may benefit from Cruel Banquet only once per scene outside of combat.

Resonance: Abyssals are resonant with soulsteel.

MOONSHADOW
Death’s courtiers and emissaries, Moonshadows are sent into the world to parley on behalf of the apocalypse. Their animas are translucent silver and black sheets, with a faint corona of pale purple and green. At the end of each session, Moonshadow Castes gain an Exalt milestone if they made a deal with a significant character or group or sowed discord between significant characters or groups.

ANIMA EFFECTS
God of the Ashes (Passive): Like their Eclipse counterparts, the Moonshadow may learn Eclipse-keyword Charms or qualities from spirits, Fair Folk, and other supernatural beings, and seal pacts with the power of the Neverborn. They pay the same anima cost to seal oaths as Eclipses, which suffer the same penalties for violation (p. 63).

Speaker for the Dead (Active): While negotiating with spirits, raksha, or ghosts, the Moonshadow and her allies must be given safety and human or ghostly hospitality. This lasts as per Esteemed Guest (p. 63). Promises or deals made during these negotiations are sanctified; anyone who chooses to break them suffers immediate misfortune determined by the Storyteller based on the broken oath.

Gates of Death (Iconic): Spend 5 anima to open a portal to the Underworld within medium range. It leads either to a safe location over which the Moonshadow has authority (such as a manse or her Deathlord’s realm), or to an interesting location of the Storyteller’s choice. The portal stays open for the rest of the scene or until the Moonshadow wills it closed.
Craft Charms

Prerequisite: Craft 2 or Sagacity 2
Learning at the feet of a master, the Exalt unlocks the secret to evoking wondrous power.
The Exalt gains the ability to craft artifacts, given the proper materials and a bit of divine magic; crafting or repairing such an item requires at least one extraordinary or magical material, which is not an obstacle the Exalt can overcome. Each obstacle roll costs 1 mote when crafting an artifact.
If the character has the Hearthstone Merit, or has had an opportunity to study a hearthstone or the geomancy of a manse, they can also apply this Charm to building manses.
A character may only learn this Charm after spending a dramatic scene apprenticing with another character who has the ability to craft artifacts or similarly instructive texts.

Ruin Resurrection Method (Abyssal): Drawing on the memory of a destroyed object that lingers in the Underworld, spend 1 mote while repairing any mundane or magical item to automatically overcome an Excessively Damaged obstacle of up to difficulty 3. This Charm can also allow reparation ventures to restore objects that would otherwise be beyond repair entirely, as long as enough of the original remains in some form (i.e., the ashes of a burnt letter or the shards of a shattered window).

Prerequisite: Craft 3
The works of the Exalted weather time and wear more gracefully than mortal creations.
Spend 2 motes when undertaking a mundane craft venture. An object created through this Charm increases the difficulty to break or damage it by the Exalt’s Essence, with a minimum of difficulty 3. These objects resist wear and tear, extending their usual lifespan by tenfold — food prepared by this magic endures without spoiling, weapons never need sharpening and withstand magic that might break them otherwise, and walls stand for centuries beyond mortal craft.

Eternal Embalming Preparation (Abyssal):
This Charm may be used to embalm a corpse, preserving it indefinitely against decay

Embassy Charms

Prerequisite: Embassy1
Whatever the Exalt attempts, she does so with superhuman ability.
When purchasing this Charm, choose an Ability. Spend 1 mote. This applies on Step 1 during combat. Add bonus dice equal to the Ability’s rating to any applicable roll involving the chosen Ability.
You may add Close Combat dice to Close Combat attacks or Craft dice to Craft rolls to construct an artifact, but you may not use Stealth dice to add to a Close Combat attack or Ranged Combat to add dice to a Navigate roll. You may buy this Charm for multiple Abilities but must choose a new Ability each time. This is a full Charm purchase and not a repurchase.

Prerequisite: Embassy 2 or Integrity 2
The Exalt measures another, and nothing escapes her careful eye.
Invoke this Charm while interacting with another character. During this scene, you may spend 1 mote to ask one of the following questions. The Storyteller will answer truthfully. Additional questions cost 1 mote each.
• Does the character feel positively, negatively, or neutrally about me?
• Do the character and I share a Virtue?
• Do the character and I share an Intimacy?
• What haven’t I noticed about the character?
• How could I get the character to do what I want?

Wise-Eyed Courtier Method: (Upgrade, Embassy 4 or Integrity 4): The Exalt gains access to the following questions:
• Who’s really in charge here?
• What do I have that someone here wants?
• What would constitute a grievous faux pas in this circle?
• What grudge is being hidden?
• Who doesn’t belong here?

Integrity Charms

Prerequisite: Integrity 2
The Exalt flenses herself of emotion and expression, shedding her passions to become inscrutable.
Commit 1 mote for the scene. The Exalt increases her Resolve against read intentions actions by her Essence. She gains one automatic success on social influence actions which take advantage of her lack of emoting. While in this state she may always treat her Virtues as applying to Resolve against any persuade action.

Sagacity Charms

Prerequisite: Sagacity 1
The Exalt has dredged up dark secrets from the Underworld — secrets which grant tremendous power.
The necromancer gains the ability to learn and cast First Circle spells, as well as a free spell and a shaping ritual. Not every Exalt can use every circle, see p. 300.
Repurchase (Sagacity 3, Essence 3): Gain access to Second Circle spells, a free spell, and a shaping ritual.
Repurchase (Sagacity 5, Essence 5): Gain access to Third Circle spells, a free spell, and a shaping ritual.

Prerequisite: Sagacity 1
The Exalt has internalized the inner workings of Creation’s Essence, giving the power to reshape the world at its fundament.
The sorcerer gains the ability to learn and cast First Circle spells, as well as a free spell and a shaping ritual. Not every Exalt can use every circle; see p. 300.
Repurchase (Sagacity 3, Essence 3): Gain access to Second Circle spells, a free spell, and a shaping ritual.
Repurchase (Sagacity 5, Essence 5): Gain access to Third Circle spells, a free spell, and a shaping ritual.

Rod of Sorcery and Souls Evocations

Prerequisite: Sagacity 3
The Rod aids a character in projecting their senses beyond their body. Any spell or effect that allows her to sense things remotely or project her presence from afar, such as Silent Words of Dreams and Nightmares, may reduce its cost by 2 motes or 3 Will, to a minimum of zero.
Resonant: The character may bank an additional Will into the Eye, gathered during a remote projection or astral sojourn. This Will exists alongside the base and persists until it’s used.

Prerequisite: Astral Meditation, Sagacity 4 The character may double 9s on any Awareness roll meant to reveal an ambush, long-term hidden threat, or innocuous arcane detail that would be overlooked by someone less studious.
Resonant: The character may double 8s on any such roll. When taking a Focus Will action based on the results of an Awareness roll, the character may bank an additional Will into the Eye.

Necromancy

With a gesture of upraised arms, you command the dead to rise and obey.
Spend 4 Will. Every corpse — human, animal, or otherwise — within medium range without enormous or legendary size animates as mindless dead (p. 323). They count as a battle group with an equivalent Command rating appropriate to the summoner’s Essence + 1 (p. 101), though the group may be smaller in areas that have few corpses, at the Storyteller’s discretion. The battle group has poor Drill but is mindless. The walking dead burst forth from topsoil graves or simply lurch to their feet in an action. They crumble to dust at the end of the scene if the spell is cast in daylight, or until the end of the session if cast at night. A second purchase of this spell with Second Circle necromancy grants an enhanced spell called Arisen Dead Legion, which costs 7 Will, improves Drill to regular and summons undead from a vast distance, making the availability of corpses a non-issue.

Spend 7 Will
See RAISE THE SKELETAL HORDE.

Sorcery

You make the Sign of the Hooded Headsman, conjuring a barbed silver-bladed chain that flashes toward a target until it wraps around their neck.
Spend 4 Will. Flying Guillotine manifests as an artifact medium ranged weapon (long range, +2 accuracy, +2 damage, 3 Overwhelming) for a single attack. If this attack reduces the target to Incapacitated, they must accept a dramatic injury to avoid decapitation. If death is on the line (p. 144), the character is killed instantly. The player may optionally treat the character’s remaining Will as though it were Power for the purposes of making a decisive attack.

Staring into a mirror and brandishing an object linked to another person, you gain power over their dreams.
This spell requires the sorcerer to acquire a scrap of clothing, piece of hair, drop of blood, or similar symbolic link to someone else. This may mean a single Stealth or Sagacity roll, or an appropriate venture, depending on how difficult the object is to attain. After acquiring the link, spend 3 Will. The next time the target sleeps, they experience an especially vivid dream created by the sorcerer, allowing the sorcerer to make a remote social influence action to incept an idea or belief into their target. The target may not add Intimacies to their Resolve to resist this influence, though they may still add Virtues. The symbolic link burns to ash at the end of the spell, necessitating the acquisition of another one before it may be cast again.

Gathering a blazing corona of Essence around yourself, you teleport with a flash of light.
Spend 7 Will. The sorcerer may choose to transport themselves to any location they have been to or seen before, whether through their own eyes or through scrying, within the same direction. If cast during combat, this teleportation occurs across two rounds — one to leave and one to arrive. Once per session, the sorcerer may teleport their Circle along with them, so long as they’re within short range of the sorcerer.

Shaping Rituals

Necromancy Ritual
An intricate tattoo made of softly-moaning soulsteel adorns your body and recites a warped Old Law — the mystical principles that govern the Underworld — to grant you sinister insights. The necromancer gathers strength from death; use the conditions for the Abyssal Advantage Cruel Banquet (p. 64) but gain Will instead of motes. An Abyssal necromancer may only benefit from one or the other once per scene.

Rod of Sorcery and Souls
Necromancy Ritual
You forged a small portion of your higher soul into soulsteel, leaving a token physical remnant and a spiritual hollow filled by necromantic energies. Incorporating the physical representation of your sundered soul into the ritual of casting a spell grants 1 Will.

Sorcery Ritual
You found enlightenment at the bottom of a cauldron, concocting awareness-expanding potions. When the sorcerer has the opportunity to retrieve complicated or unusual ingredients and render them into an elixir through intricate procedures, she gains 3 Will.

Talisman of Ten Thousand Eyes Variant
Sorcery Ritual
A rune-etched soulsteel cane with starmetal filigree topped by a pale crystal orb, it allows you to channel baleful sorcery. The sorcerer may imbue a fraction of their Will inside the talisman, banking 1 Will from a Focus Will action to use later. This Will persists until it’s used. The sorcerer may also use Evocations of the talisman (see p. 344).
Health Levels
-0 [ ][ ]
-1 [ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ]
Incap [ ]

Essence: 3

Motes: 10

Defense: 4 (Evasion)
Soak: 1
Hardness: 5
Resolve: 4
Virtues
Ambition - Major - [To build machines of such terrible scale they will shatter Creation]
Wonder - Minor - [To learn all I can to achieve my deepest and darkest desires]

Intimacies
Major: (Desire) "I will spread death and suffering to any nation I can set foot within."
Minor: (Hatred) "The gods made this world a joke. I want to share that joke with EVERYONE."
Minor: (Wonder) "Let's find out what toys have been left behind and what I can make."

Background
I've been told madness is the real sign of greatness. Perhaps they're right? I know I'm mad. I've heard the Whispers when the Final Breath came. I built an empire of coin and knowledge. I was a man who could get you anything with enough time and effort. I was a force to be reckoned with. Then the Guild decided I was a problem. The greatest joke of life is the hope you are given before it ripss it away.

I've forgotten my name. I gave it away to the corpse gods who muttered to me. Their servant found me and talked to me. Offered me Deliverance from my moment even as the poison was coursing through my veins. My entire life was spent taking risks, win or lose. I danced with royalty and woed merchant magnates. Small Gods did business with me. And yet it wasn't enough to save me from the poison slipped to me by someone I thought I loved. All to settle a debt owed to some Guild Banker.

I hate this world. I want it to burn. I want to tear it to little pieces for even giving me the taste of hope before the bitterness of betrayal found me. Why wouldn't I take the offer? Why would't I EMBRACE undeath? To exist until I could tip the world over into Oblivion. To be the last man standing before Reality winked out of existence even as the Neverborn find their final release. There is no other story. The man I was died and I've forgotten his name. There is only the Merchant of Death and I shall sell it well. Nations will know my touch, peoples will kill each other over my whispered words. I shall build the engines of annihilation with the lore I rip from the living and dead.

Perhaps it won't hurt so much then...

Eonivar · Aug 15, 2023

Name: Adame, the Sanguine Juggernaut
Exalted Type: Lunar
Caste: Full Moon
Spirit Totem Form: A giant brown and red eagle.

Tell: Adame always has a blood red feature in all of their forms.

Attributes
Finesse 3
Force 5
Fortitude 4

Abilities
ATHLETICS 4
AWARENESS 4
CLOSE COMBAT 5
CRAFT
EMBASSY
INTEGRITY 3
NAVIGATE 3
PERFORMANCE
PHYSIQUE 5
PRESENCE 2
RANGED COMBAT
SAGACITY 3
STEALTH 3
WAR
Charms
Ant-And-Yeddim Wisdom
Hybrid Body Transformation
Hybrid Body Transformation #2 - Deadly Beast Transformation (Repurchase)
Mountainous Spirit Expression
Body Mending Meditation
Creation Spanning Passion
Excellency - Close Combat
Loyal Guardian Approach
All Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight
Ox Body Technique
Spirit-Slaying Stance
Iron Kettle Body
Dauntless Yeddim Caravan
Argenis of the Silver Claws was a powerful warrior and general in the First Age, fiercely devoted to their Solar mate. They were driven mad by first, their mates betrayal because of the curse and then the betrayal of the Sidereals and Terrestrials. They fought and were driven to the edge of creation laying waste to armies until they were cast into the chaos of the wyld.

It is unclear if Argenis was reborn or if somehow in the wyld their being was kept through the ages, but the being that had been Argenis emerged from the Wyld, now become Adame, the Sanguine Juggernaut. Their tell, an ever present color appearing usually on one part of their form which had been silver now was red like blood.

It is said that it was Adame's connection to their Solar mate that drew them out of the Wyld and brought them to Ysyr and yet somehow it was those Sorcerers that had drawn and captured Adame from the Wyld. They tortured and experimented on Adame not knowing what they had found. And Adame awoke, their war form carving a bloody path through the city to the core to find their destiny and their solar mate, The Martyred Bodhisattva Whose Blood Anoints the First and Final Altar, seemingly waiting for them there. This change did not seem to really bother Adame, who was vengeful of the world and pledging their loyalty to both their mate and the Deathlord, the Deliverer to devote themselves to the cause of Death seemed very natural to them.

It took time for the person inside the beast to emerge and most of that was spent hunting in the Underworld, learning the forms of the beasts there, and remembering their own abilities.

Virtues:

Major: Loyalty - To the Deliverer and to Epiphany
Minor: Courage

Dice Exalted Essence - To Kill A Primordial - Characters

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jaydude

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Close Combat

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Dice Exalted Essence - To Kill A Primordial - Characters

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jaydude

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Users who are viewing this thread

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Athletics

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