Latest revision as of 01:17, 6 April 2010

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Metal Dragon Style

A straightforward combat style built on the emulation of metals and other deadly substances of Creation and how they combine to form mighty weapons, Metal Dragon Style harkens back to the high First Age.

Twilight Queen Vinna gathered the army of her lands after a long period of absence to present them with what she considered her greatest wonder to date, a dragon soldier made of metal. The merge of the most abundant and resilient mundane materials of Creation, armed with its greatest substances and techniques, a wonder of ingenuous clockwork that would not drain their resources and their wonder to create. There will be many more, and with them, I have no more need of you, said the Twilight to her most loyal subordinates, Begone. It was no mighty Elemental General who stepped forward, but a mere Earth-Aspected captain, Bronze Heran, who stepped aside as his peers broke into tears or fell into disillusion.

He stepped forward and challenged the metal wonder with words that those present would never forget.

I may be just a man, flesh and blood and soul, but I will be strong as Iron if I need to. I may be but a man, but before that machine beats me down I will die where I stand, die with my honor in my hand.

He said, and challenged the metal wonder, without weapons, without armor, with nothing but his Exalted flesh, and as Dragons of Earth and Metal clashed the ten thousand steps of the Metal Dragon came naturally to Heran, each strike a technique of this style was born with each blow, the same as every ability of its metal opponent. And as he achieved its pinnacle he died where he stood, holding the pieces of the dismantled automaton on his hand. Humbled by his sacrifice, Vinna allowed her soldiers to remain, building automatons of humble brass to fight alongside them, the men and women who watched Heran's sacrifices and emulated his techniques, passing down the Metal Dragon’s wisdom, to never forget that nothing can stand in a Dragon’s place.

Metal Dragon is a Terrestrial Martial Art. It treats attacks made with Tiger Claws and Spears as unarmed attacks.

Charms of Metal Dragon Style allow armor unless otherwise stated.

The Bone

Iron Strike
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 1
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None
Iron is the crudest of all metals, inflexible and harsh, and nothing harkens to the reality of the cold metal world like its taste and feel. Internalizing the existence of iron, so abundant, mundane, cold, harsh and unforgiving is the first step to understanding the existence of the Metal Dragon. Turning this understanding into a weapon, the adept strikes like a cold iron blade! The adept is assumed to be an armed attacker(against effects that deal greater damage or allow a defender to otherwise harm an unarmed attacker) dealing lethal damage with his unarmed strikes and affecting Fair Folk and Glamour in the same manner as cold iron.

The adept enacting this Charm is also assumed to be touching cold iron for the purpose of dispelling Glamour - activating this Charm is enough to see truth from lies when amongst the Faerie.

Quicksilver Dance
Cost: 4 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: Iron Strike
Quicksilver flows, liquid and mercurial, always hard to find, harder to touch, impossible to hold. Like the Moon, in the altars to Luna in the Northeast it flows in delicate containers, requiring the utmost effort from its priests not to spill away into nothingness, as if it always sought to move away.

Moving like Quicksilver the adept adds his permanent Essence to all Dodge rolls for the remainder of the scene, and is able to make reflexive Dodges at his permanent Essence if he has no other way to dodge an attack.

Copper Strike
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Quicksilver Dance
Hands surrounded by a nimbus of crimson the adept instills the Essence of copper in his strikes as a metal poison that inverts all the lessons of the Metal Dragon! The adept increases the ammount of dice rolled after Soak is applied by 1 and increases any wound penalty dealt due to this attack by 1 as a poison effect. The effects of increased wound penalties stack in multiple attacks enhanced with this Charm although it may not deal penalties greater than the Adept's Essence. The increased wound penalties from copper poisoning vanishes together with the affected wounds.

Lead Idol
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: Iron Strike
Lead is heavy, dark and unyielding, a struggle to mine and a struggle to move, and never worth the cost. Like the Lead Idols that crackle the grounds of the Taiara cathedrals in the Southwest, the adept internalizes the Essence of lead, becoming ever heavier and harder to take down! Activated in response to an attack, Lead Idol adds the Adept's Essence to his Soak and Hardness scores and lowers the distance of all knockback caused by the attack by his Martial Arts(if knockback distance is lowered to zero, the adept suffers no knockback). Knockback is also the only option available when struck; the user may not suffer knockdown while this Charm is in effect.

Cobalt Strike
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Lead Idol
His nails becoming flaring like cobalt blades whose edge vanishes into the noonday sky, the adept's strike disperses into the infinite!

The adept halves his base damage but deals piercing damage on the attack enhanced by this Charm. If the attack is already piercing due to mystical effects or weapon properties then this Charm allows the adept to ignore all armor soak.

Tin Man
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: Iron Strike
With a metallic flash the Adept finds himself coated with the same layer of tin that coats many a metallic contraption, protecting the Martial Artist from all harm!

For the remainder of the Scene the Martial Artist becomes able to Soak Lethal Damage with his full Stamina and becomes immune to contact agents of poison and corrosion.

Brass Reed
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: One Turn
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Tin Man
Brass brings the most exquisite sounds! Lips transfigured into brass that gives automata voice the adept speaks with a metallic voice that rattles the bone. As long as he is able to speak all enemies under earshot incease their wound penalties by 1. This penalty increases by one for every turn this Charm is mantained, to a maximum of the adept's Essence in turns - when it reaches its highest pitch it must then be mantained there, or be built up all the way back again if the Brass Reed ceases to play even for a single turn. This voice makes the adept kin to automata; he can always make himself understood by them and understand them while under the effects of this Charm, no matter how difficult it might be to communicate with them.

The Form

Metal Dragon Form
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Copper Strike, Cobalt Strike, Brass Reed
Joining hard and soft, heavy and light, beautiful and harsh, the adept achieves unity with the Metal Dragon, adopting a series of movements which channel those and all metals in-between, making his body unto an automata of metal! As this Charm is activated the adept must choose one weapon and armor whose Resources Rating is equal or less than his Permanent Essence. He is considered to be encased in this armor, his unarmed strikes like that of the weapon, with all its bonuses and penalties - including Mobility and Fatigue penalties and Rate (although he is still considered to be unarmed and unarmored for the purpose of his own Charms.)

Charms and Abilities that would bypass or break mundane equipment do the same to the character – for them, the adept's skin is now Chain Swathing, and his arm the blade of a sword. Should they be broken the adept suffers unsoakable levels of Aggravated damage equal to their Resources value - they may be repaired by mundane means or by canceling and re-enacting this Form. This is a Martial Arts Form-type Charm and is incompatible with other Charms of like type; should the martial artist activate another Form, this one immediately ends. This Charm is compatible with armor, but it applies only the highest Soak of both the character's Form-Armor and the one worn, while adding together the Mobility and Fatigue penalties of both.

The Panoply

Bronze Cannon
Cost: 3 motes, 1 health level
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 3
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Metal Dragon Form
The south still possess the great cannons of Bronze, loaded with Firedust and able to burn down a city with ease! Charging forth with the will of fire countained in shimmering bronze the adept's strikes explode like the most violent firedust cannon! The adept increases the damage of his attacks by his Stamina and doubles any knockback inflicted upon the enemy. In addition, those attacks explode in a hellish conflagration, dealing the adept's Stamina in Lethal Enviromental Damage(halved with a difficulty 3 Stamina+Resistance roll) to all creatures and objects within (Essence) yards of the attack! The explosion inflicts Knockback unlike most forms of Enviromental Damage. The adept himself is immune to this explosion. The explosion occurs even if the attack is successfuly parried.

Golden Majesty
Cost: 2 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 4
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Bronze Cannon
Gold is a favorite matrial of religious art in Creation as the metal that shows the face of heaven, burning bright as the Sun's majesty - emulating these wondrous works the adept shines in such a way that it disohrients all attackers, appearing too magnificent to be hurt by the mundane!

Activated in response to an attack it causes all attacks not enhanced by magic miss outright, and those enhanced by magic to receive a penalty to strike the character equal to the adept's Appearance.

Silver Wings
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 4
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Bronze Cannon
Moving as if impelled by argent wings the adept vanishes from sight, always one step ahead of his attacker, form obscured by the beat of metallic wings!

Activated in response to an incoming attack Silver Wings increases the Difficulty to strike the Adept by one-half his Athletics score rounded up.

Platinum Attittude
Cost: 4 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 4
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Golden Majesty, Silver Wings
The Platinum Dancers in the Dome of Denandsor may represent the ideal of human form and beauty, but they possess no emotion as they move to break down those unworthy of watching their glory. Emulating the cold beauty of Platinum the adept becomes as an automata, closing his soul for all emotion that does not pertain to their dedication to accomplish their objectives. For the remainder of the Scene the adept may not fail Valor rolls, may not succeed in any other Virtue rolls, and subtracts 1 from all wound penalties. Should a situation occurs in which the character would have to roll Limit he automatically receives 1 Limit(2 if he should roll Valor or Conviction).

Feathersteel Stance
Cost: 3 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Platinum Attittude
Surpassing mundane materials the adept becomes as the elemental metal Feathersteel! Light as a feather and harder than iron the adept's movements are precise and lethal!

For the remainder of the Scene the adept increases his Initiative and Accuracy by 3. In addition, the adept's constitution becomes more resilient against the ravages of cold, doubling the adept's stamina against any damage aligned with the element of Air and making him immune to frostbite.

Firesteel Stance
Cost: 3 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Platinum Attittude
Surpassing mundane materials the adept becomes as the elemental metal Firesteel! Burning with the essence and energy of fire, reforged with ease, the adept's strikes are searing!

For the remainder of the Scene the adept increases his Initiative and Damage by 3. In addition, the adept's constitution becomes more resilient against fire and heat, doubling the adept's stamina against any damage aligned with the element of Fire and making him immune to heatstroke.

The Ultimate Technique

Metal Dragon Assembly
Cost: 5 motes, 1 willpower, 1 health level
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Feathersteel Stance, Firesteel Stance
Metal Dragons are made. Endless layers of precious metals hammered into perfection for months without end to create alchemical beings that do not eat, do not breathe, do not sleep, do not falter in the face of adversity. Reaching the Ultimate Technique the Adept understands not just what a Metal Dragon is but how it came to be - and in a moment of alchemical apotheosis brings about the assembly of an automaton about himself. With the performance of a swift and mechanical kata the adept calls all manner of metal from anywhere within (Adept's Permanent Essence x10 Yards) to himself (this includes ores resting beneath the earth) -- anything lighter than a heavy iron gate is torn out of its hinges torwards the Adept, although weapon and armor worn by characters are prevented from ripping themselves from their forms and flying torwards the Metal Dragon - resistance is enough to override the pull of this magic.

All this metal is reshaped around the character into armor that is almost like that of an automata -- all flesh obscured, leaving only the Metal Dragon. The power of this Charm is dependent on the ammount of metal available -- each dot of Resources' worth of raw ore amidst the absorbed metals increases the Adept's Strength by +1 and his Bashing and Lethal Soak by +2. This is specifically raw metal -- no matter how beautiful jewelry might be, it is still a tiny ammount of gold and silver that cost less than the iron doors canniballized around them. Beyond Resources ***** there is no mechanical benefit to the absorption - although it will look more impressive on the Adept. If Magical Materials are among the metals cannibalized the increases granted by this Charm are enhanced by +1.

The Soak bonus counts as being Armor Soak for all purposes but still allow the Adept to practice Charms as if unarmored - the carapace is part of his being, one with his Essence. If it is targeted by a power that destroys the armor worn by a character the Charm ends abruptly and the character suffers dice of unsoakable Aggravated Damage equal to attacker's Essence as the metal forces itself out of the Adept in shreds without the required katas for the Metal Dragon Assembly to vanish -- although Charms that just end the Charm abruptly just make them fall, bent out of shape and unusable without some minor repair work as they do when the Charm ends naturally. Exceptional or Perfect work - or magical work - is not bent out of shape and remains whole when the Charm ends.

Earth-Aspected Dragonblooded who know this Charm can pay 10 motes, 2 willpower and 2 health levels to create a Common Warstrider around themselves with the Metal for as long as the Charm is active.

Sidereal Exalted - and those who learn this Charm as a Sidereal Charm - can increase the Charm's cost by 5 motes to enhance it with a Prayer Strip bearing the scripture of The Steel-Driving Maiden. It affixes to the Adept's chest glowing in a metallic gray light that transforms the metal about the character into one of Heaven's Magical Metals - Starmetal, Moonsilver or Orichalcum. This makes the armor as unbreakable as that of Artifact Armor and receiving the bonus of either Orichalcum Sheathing Stance, Starmetal Offensive or Flickering Moonsilver Stance from the Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Style. When the Charm ends the metal that falls to the ground is as ordinary as it was before the Prayer Strip was invoked.

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