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Hearthstone Relay

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Rules

• The first person in each relay archives the old page and decides on a new theme.
• The second person then comes up with a one-dot hearthstone for that theme.
• The third, fourth and fifth people then come up with two, three and four dot hearthstones, respectively.
• The sixth person comes up with a five dot hearthstone, archives the old page, and decides a new theme. Thus, the wheel of wiki life turns afresh.

The 48th theme is Beauty is Pain

Blood Majesty Shard ArabianNinja

Abyssal Manse 1

Trigger: Injury

The Blood Majesty Shard appears to be a piece of shattered Flint. The Shard is typically worn against the skin. When the bearer takes injury it in no-way diminishes their physical appearance. In fact, it enhances it. Cuts and grazes appear as if beauteous marks, flowing blood accentuates features and form, the bearer becoming a Goddess of Carnage as she endures injury and pain. Alternatively, the bearer of the Shard may injure themselves purposely to use the effect. Add one point to the wearers appearance score for every level of damage they reach (1 for -1, 2 for -2 and so on until they leave a corpse so beautiful it can drive onlookers mad).

Orb Of Beauty's Downfall Han'ya

Abyssal Manse 2

Trigger: Constant

The Orb Of Beauty's Downfall, also known by some as the Bitch Stone, has a unique and uniquely spiteful effect. All individuals within ten yards of the bearer with an Appearance score that exceeds the bearer suffer an external penalty to all actions equal to the amount by which their Appearance exceeds the bearer's, to a maximum of -2, due to headaches, itching, sweating, feverish sensations, dizziness, blurred vision, ringing in the ears, congestion, a dry throat, soreness, back pain, or any of a plethora of spiteful but actually harmless torments inflicted by the Orb.

Burning Paragon Stone - LeumasWhite

Fire Manse 3

Trigger: Virtue rolls

This small white sphere swirls with beautiful flames of red and violet, but contains a burning white core that is painful to look at. When worn, this stone allows the bearer to become a shining example for all: whenever she makes a Virtue roll in public, she automatically gains the number of successes required to pass, if the rolled number was not sufficient.

However, the toll this takes is not inconsiderable: whilst outwardly she may seem virtuous and confident, inside, she is wracked with doubt and fear, unable to handle the possibility of failure after setting such a high standard. She automatically fails all Virtue rolls made while alone or in the presence of only those close to her. If she never allows herself to be alone in such a fashion, she gains a point of Limit for each day that passes (if the character possesses a Limit Track), and also the Disturbing (3-pt) Flaw.

Sliver of Lasting Worth - Paincake

Air Manse 4

Trigger: Sight

Made seemingly from an oblong crystal thinner than the smallest finger, this gem strips the world of deceit through cynicism. In the presence of beauty that is merely physical the owner's heart fills with an agony so intense and full of mourning for things lost that they must make a Willpower check or weep on the spot. Appearance rolls suffer -3 against the bearer of this stone, and the bearer subtracts 3 from any appearance based MDV modifier. In the presence of beauty of a magical nature, the owner's mind is proofed from all sorcerous beauty; it inspires a pain between the eyes, and the person causing the false effect blurs and shifts in the stone holder's sight. (this includes artifact bonuses or existing charms)This is a perfect effect with four successes. True beauty (High Virtues, especially compassion) creates an intense sorrow, different and more lasting than the other pains combined. If anyone within the stone holder's essence in yards x 3 has a higher virtue than they do, they gain 1 point in this virtue until the day ends. In becoming more beautiful within, however, they may also court their own undoing. The difficulty to limit break is reduced by 1 for each enhanced virtue. (Each virtue may be affected once per day, to a maximum of +1 dot per virtue.)

The Face in the Mirror - Veet

Lunar Manse 5

This stone appears to be a tiny polished steel mirror. By placing the stone on the forehead of a subdued or unsuspecting victim the holder of the stone may steal that person’s appearance. The results are twofold.

First the victim is reduced to a featureless androgynous shadow of what they once were. Where once they had a face only smooth skin remains, their senses are dulled incurring a –2 internal penalty to all sense rolls. They cannot eat or breath and while they won’t starve or suffocate while in this condition they will feel the hunger pains and taste the stifling stale breath that is trapped in their lungs. On the plus side they can’t drown but that is the only thing that could be considered remotely positive. While in this state no one will recognize the person and even if someone could understand their muffle speech no amount of convincing will get someone to believe the truth of their identity, the best anyone would believe is that the person before them is a poor deranged Wyld victim.

The second effect allows the holder of the stone to wear the stolen visage, adopting it at will. The disguise is physically perfect and includes voice, scent, and even some absent-minded mannerisms. Only a person who is intimately familiar with the victim has a prayer of noticing something different and even then they suffer a 2 dice penalty to any rolls related to discovering the truth.

The stone will hold only one face at a time but will hold it indefinitely. The face will be returned to its owner if a second face is taken, if the stone is ever broken or if the holder of the stone wills it.

Comments

Hell, it's been a long time since I did one of these. Ah well. I tried to balance a powerful effect with a nasty downside, but it might still be in the 4+ range. Obviously it's a 1E stone, and it might be Solar instead of Fire, but those tend not to have bad effects like this. - LeumasWhite

Damn spanky. I like it. - Han'ya

I like these a lot. I'm actually sitting here trying to figure out how to turn the Bitch Stone into a non Abyssal hearthstone so I can give it to a character in my game. I liked this concept because I really like the idea of cost in Exalted. I'm really looking forward to seeing what someone comes up with for a 5 dot. (magicpreppy)

This is my first time posting apologies in advance if I screw something up. I'm not sure how to archive so could somone help me out here and post the next theme as "Hidden Natures"? - Veet

Done. You could probably make the face-stealing permanent (until the stone is smashed), or multiple faces. Or both! Level 5 stones are strong. - LeumasWhite

Good point I've amended the duration to permanent and added the cancelation clause of smashing the stone. - Veet

All really nice stones! I might use some of these later... if only I had an abyssal for the first one, although I suppose anyone -might- have an abyssal manse in some shadowland somewhere. Anyway - Paincake, can you clarify whether the level 4 stone applies to unrolled uses of Appearance as well? Specifically the social effects on MDV under 2nd edition come to mind, perhaps it should also negate up to 3 points of appearance based MDV penalty as well?
-- Darloth

Good suggestion, Monsieur Darloth. I'm not very well versed in 2nd Ed, thank you. Paincake