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House of Journeys Style

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The Chosen of Mercury set themselves apart with an astrological Style that celebrates their favoured House rather than one that capitalises on its strengths. For this reason, the more warlike Castes often overlook the House of Journeys Style's advantages, and are often surprised by its flexibility.

Harbingers who use this Style often dress in chaofu, the split riding coat that keeps the wearer's legs warm even when on horseback. Braver warriors fight astride golden agatae, who sometimes learn the Style themselves.

This is a Celestial Martial Art. Its form weapons are the staff and sceptre. When acting in official capacity, it is traditional to wrap the staff in a loose spiral of yellow ribbon.

Charms

Students' Charms

Martyr's Final Opportunity Chronicle

Cost: 3 motes

Duration: One Scene

Type: Simple

Minimum Martial Arts: 2

Minimum Essence: 2

Prerequisite Charms: None

The three celestial lion attendants of Ayesha Ura, named Purer-than-Jade, Incorruptible Heavenly Being, and Original Claw, have this tale tattooed onto their flanks. It tells a story of perseverance in adversity; of a hero who walked among the sick and deformed, curing them with a touch even as he was being stoned.

This Charm brings the adept energy in adversity, reducing the mote cost of Instant-duration Celestial and Terrestrial Martial Arts Charms and Charms he uses to discharge duties he may not share by the magnitude of his current wound penalty. This cannot reduce a Charm's cost below 1, nor can it reduce a Charm's cost by more than one-half (rounding down).

Itinerant Prince's Annals

Cost: 5 motes

Duration: One Scene

Type: Reflexive

Minimum Martial Arts: 3

Minimum Essence: 2

Prerequisite Charms: Martyr's Final Opportunity Chronicle

There is a diary that Ruvia keeps, a book with fine brocaded covers. It is not his diary, but the memoir of a prince who rode an ebony horse, desperate to offer the ring of his office to the sultan of a distant land before his daughter was married off to man that did not want her and did not deserve her; the memoir names him only as the Messenger.

The master of this Charm rides as the Messenger does, in symmetrical symphony with his mount. While saddled, he may add his mount's Control rating to unarmed Martial Arts attacks and parries. He may pronounce a statement while riding in this manner; if he retains his identity as the Messenger, then his statement must be believed. If he speaks it as the Prince, then it must be obeyed. Beings with Essence greater than the adept's feel a strong compulsion to agree or obey, but are able to resist it, rolling Willpower at a difficulty of the adept's Essence. A command given in this manner must be one that a benevolent monarch would issue to a loyal and esteemed subject. Issuing such a pronouncement ends this Charm and prevents the adept from using it for the remainder of the scene.

Disorderly Crewman Comedy

Cost: 5 motes

Duration: Instant

Type: Simple

Minimum Martial Arts: 3

Minimum Essence: 3

Prerequisite Charms: Itinerant Prince's Annals

By turns a bawdy drinking joke and a dark lesson, this story is retold each new moon when the Golden Barque of the Heavens docks in the dark-hung halls of the Violet Bier; it tells how one rower, when he would not row in time (here accounts differ; the joke tells that he was entertaining a maiden of the evening at his post, and his poorly-timed rowing was led by the rhythm of their thrusting), sank a treasure-laden trireme off the shore of some undiscovered country.

By inflicting this curse, the martial artist makes another man's tools into disorderly crewmen. He makes an unarmed Martial Arts attack. If the attack hits, then, for the adept's Essence in turns, the victim does not benefit from the bonus dodge dice and increased minimum damage of advanced Essence. Essence 1 victims instead subtract their own Valour from all their dice pools.

The preceding Charm is explicitly designed for use in PowerCombat.

Rootless Mendicant Fable

Cost: 3 motes

Duration: Instant

Type: Reflexive

Minimum Martial Arts: 4

Minimum Essence: 2

Prerequisite Charms: Itinerant Prince's Annals

Sometimes the Golden Barque flies not a flag, but a scroll, and on the scroll is a message, telling all monks that they would be gladder of their place in life if they were but to look at it from a different perspective. The monk who takes this lesson learns not to be displeased with his rough lot! A slight adjustment of his viewpoint is all that is required to bring him a surge of joy.

The adept rolls a dice pool containing one die for each 15 yards he has moved this turn, at a difficulty of half his temporary Willpower (rounding up). For each success, he gains 1 Willpower. This Charm cannot increase the adept's temporary Willpower beyond its normal maximum. The martial artist may activate Rootless Mendicant Fable once per turn.

The Form

House of Journeys Form

Cost: 5 motes

Duration: One Scene

Type: Simple

Minimum Martial Arts: 4

Minimum Essence: 3

Prerequisite Charms: Disorderly Crewman Comedy, Rootless Mendicant Fable

Using this Charm, the adept adopts the orderly, energetic concern of the Captain. He rushes to and fro! Each time he is attacked, he may subsequently leap away in a direction of his choosing, moving his Dexterity in yards. Effects that increase the adept's base movement speed affect this leap proportionately. This leap occurs after the attack is resolved, but prior to any additional attacks; it is able to disrupt a multiple-attack sequence if the attacker is unable to follow. This ability explicitly functions when the martial artist is mounted. Sidereal Exalted displaying the Lesser or Greater Signs of their Maidens are able to weave this boon into the Sign, benefiting all their allies in the Sign's province.

In addition, the user of the Form never fails Valour checks.

This is a Martial Arts Form-type Charm and is incompatible with other Forms, as well as armour of any kind. The form weapons of the House of Journeys Style are the staff and sceptre.

Masters' Charms

Canvas Cape Riggings Fist

Cost: 5 motes (10 motes, 1 Willpower, 1 Health Level)

Duration: One Scene (Indefinite)

Type: Simple

Minimum Martial Arts: 4

Minimum Essence: 3

Prerequisite Charms: House of Journeys Form

Standing at a ship's helm, adjusting sails, turning rudders, perhaps lashing himself to the mast in a storm; a sailor with perseverance learns to be strong of arm and hardy against the most extreme lashings of weather. While under the effects of this Charm, the adept adds his Sail rating to his lethal and bashing soaks, Resistance rolls against environmental damage, and to the damage of unarmed Martial Arts attacks.

If the adept is witlessly in pursuit of his beloved, then he may invoke this Charm with the higher cost. By doing so, he surrenders his name and identity until he recovers her. This restricts his actions as per the One Direction Invocation. It also provides the added difficulty to remember the character that that Charm supplies. The adept adds his Sail to his post-soak damage pool rather than to his attack damage while under this effect. As with One Direction Invocation, if recovering the beloved becomes impossible, then the adept's name and identity are forever lost.

Unreachable Aspiration Hopeless Fist

Cost: 3 motes

Duration: Instant

Type: Supplemental

Minimum Martial Arts: 4

Minimum Essence: 3

Prerequisite Charms: House of Journeys Form

The martial artist makes an unarmed attack. The victim of this attack feels a maddening desire to go elsewhere; he realises there is something essential he must do. For the next (adept's Essence) turns, he must succeed at a Temperance check to avoid rushing away. For Exalted that accumulate Limit, automatically succeeding at this check by spending Willpower incurs a Limit dot.

Unquestionable Fury Unspeakable Fist

Cost: 3 motes, 1 Willpower

Duration: Instant

Type: Supplemental

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 3

Prerequisite Charms: Canvas Cape Riggings Fist, Unreachable Aspiration Hopeless Fist

With this strike, the adept imposes the Mast's unwillingness to communicate onto whom he attacks. If the target is not aware of the martial artist's presence, no mundane force will warn him of the attack, and supernatural senses must roll Perception + (appropriate Ability) against a difficulty of the adept's Essence to detect it. If the attack succeeds, then the adept rolls his Essence + Martial Arts. The target has no desire to communicate with anyone for one turn per success.

This Charm perfectly protects all information regarding the adept while it is in effect; no being may convey such information to another. For this reason, the Forbidding Manse of Ivy resents the House of Journeys Style; it makes recordkeeping unnecessarily difficult.

Steadfast Captain-Curate Fist

Cost: 3 motes

Duration: Instant

Type: Reflexive

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 3

Prerequisite Charms: Unquestionable Fury Unspeakable Fist

The responsible captain is enthusiastic in protecting his crew! When someone under his command is attacked, the character may use this Charm to issue an unarmed Martial Arts counterattack, as per Solar Counterattack. He must be able to move to the location of the attack, and this Charm provides no ability to do so. If the attacker does not survive this counterattack, the crewman need not suffer the intercepted attack.

The Ultimate Technique

Earth Fist Air Fist

Cost: 1 Willpower

Duration: Instant

Type: Extra Actions

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 4

Prerequisite Charms: Steadfast Captain-Curate Fist

Reaching through space, the adept may deliver a number of attacks by drawing on the sympathy of birds. They simply dive out of the air and strike at the indicated opponent. This Charm consumes the character's dice action for the turn; he must perform a brief moving meditation to activate it. He may purchase unarmed Martial Arts attacks for the remainder of the turn; each costs 3 motes. The maximum number of attacks he can purchase per activation of this Charm is equal to his Dexterity.

He may perform these attacks himself, or channel them through nearby avians. The attacks may all be against one target or distributed among several, as the adept likes; no target may be more than 10 * (adept's Essence) yards away.

An attach channelled through an ordinary bird has the same weapon modifiers as the adept' unarmed attack, but does lethal damage. The adept may also use one of his Familiars to deliver the attack, in which case he may use the weapon modifiers of one of the Familiar's natural attacks, and uses the Familiar's Strength to calculate damage. This does not require an action on the Familiar's part; the Charm provides it. In either case, the Traits used for the attack roll are the adept's.

It is always possible to attack with wildlife, although in particularly barren environments, this reduces the maximum number of attacks that may be delivered through them to the adept's Survival score. Remaining attacks must be delivered personally.

Characters who have mastered this Charm and the Sky Spirit Demand gain the unusual ability to treat all bird-shaped throwing weapons as form weaponry for this Style; Sidereal practitioners favour gull boomerangs, crow shuriken, and the distinctive, feather-tasseled quetzal chakram.

Characters who have mastered this Charm and the Essence Thorn Practice gain the ability to use Instant Charms of this Style with the Thrown Ability, which allows those Charms to be placed in Combos with Thrown Charms.

Characters who have mastered all these things extend the benefits of the non-Instant Charms of this Style to their mounts. For the purposes of Itinerant Prince' Annals, the mount benefits from its rider's Control rating; this is simulated by his permanent Essence.

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