Latest revision as of 01:17, 6 April 2010

Progress - The Viridian Mantle of Innovation Style

Background

In the old ages of the world, there were savants wiser than any who exist today. They created wonders beyond reckoning, weapons mightier than the sun and moon, tools that could sunder the very earth if put to such a task. It was inevitable that, one day, they would turn their powerful intellects inward on themselves, in an effort to understand from whence their understanding sprung.

The Viridian Mantle of Innovation Style is the only surviving remnant of that study. It is also likely to be the least powerful or enlightening result of that august era of learning.

Nevertheless, it appeals to many of the more intellectual members of the Five-Score Fellowship. In dusty libraries and somber tombs they seek out fragments of its knowledge. In the spaces between the past and the future they perform its esoteric katas. In the shafts of abandoned mines and at the bottom of isolated lakes they hold lonely forms and meditate upon the nature of consciousness.

Progress rests for no one and demands the utter devotion of its followers.

This is the Viridian Mantle of Innovation Style, Sidereal-level and hidden in secretive libraries scattered throughout Creation. It is not lost, however; nay, Nara-O and other members of the Forbidding Manse know its location and secrets. They simply believe that prospective students would be better served by finding the Style themselves rather than learning it rote from a sifu.

This style operates on the principle that all thinking creatures project a stream of consciousness from their crown chakras. This stream of Essence is what allows for creativity and thought. By blocking, diverting, or widening the stream, a skilled martial artist may meddle with the mental faculties of his opponents.

This style is incompatible with armor of any kind. It can only be used barehanded, as the requisite strikes are far too delicate for even the most elegant of weapons. However, any Charm of this style that creates or allows the use of weapons counts as barehanded for the purposes of this style.

The Student’s Sutra of Progress

Once, there was a maiden…

With an Eye Toward Advancement

Cost: 6 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: None

...who looked at the world with eyes unclouded by ignorance.

The Exalt takes a moment to weave a thread of green ambiguity into her eyes, allowing her to perceive the creative torrent of Essence that gushes from the forehead of all thinking beings. With this new sight, the exalt gains a remarkable talent for striking blows designed to incapacitate, rather than kill. For the purposes of knocking an opponent unconscious, double the basing damage of all the martial artist's attacks. An opponent cannot be reduced below the Incapacitated health level in this fashion.

In addition to its combat applications, this charm has more peaceful effects as well. By spending three turns studying the shifting pattern of Essence, the martial artist may gain insight into another's personality. Roll Perception + Martial Arts. With one success, the martial artist learns her target's nature. With three successes, she learns her target's Virtue spread. If used against exalt types with a specific Virtue Flaw, this charm detects it, though it does not reveal its source. As an example, if this charm were used on a Solar with the Valor flaw Berserk Rage, the martial artist would learn that "this man is subject to great bouts of anger if pressed." Finally, with five successes, the martial artist gets a vague notion of her target's immediate plans, but not any long-term schemes. Examples include: "he plans to soon embark on a trip to the Blessed Isle," or "he plans to try and fence the goods he stole from you soon."

Many of the later techniques of the style require this charm to be active.

Shuttering the Window of the Soul

Cost: 8 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: With an Eye Toward Advancement

She saw that those around her suffered in blindness and contempt...

With this charm, an Exalt may begin to manipulate the flow of Essence revealed to her by With an Eye Toward Advancement. She weaves a skein of blind, pulsating magic between her outstretched fingertips and lets it fly out, to seal up and contain her opponent's consciousness.

Make a Martial Arts attack out to a range of the character's [Essence x 3]. For every two levels of damage inflicted, the Sidereal instead subtracts one dot from one of her victim's Mental attributes. The exalt may not reduce these attributes below one, unless the victim has a permanent Essence score less than the martial artist's.

• If Perception is reduced to zero, the target suffers complete sensory deprivation. All Charms that affect the victim's senses immediately deactivate, freeing up any committed Essence. The victim, if Exalted, can continue fighting as per the blind fighting rules, but suffers an additional +3 to the difficulties of all rolls. If unexalted, the victim is effectively rendered helpless.
• If Intelligence is reduced to zero, all rational thought flees the target's mind. Any Charm that affects the victim's memory or cognitive processes immediately deactivates, freeing up any committed Essence. The victim, if Exalted, may continue fighting, but cannot use any magical effects, other than reflexive Charms and their Anima power, and must make all attacks using the Brawl ability. If they take are reduced to the -2 track of health levels, the "flight" response will trigger, causing them to flee the field of battle. If the victim is unexalted, they may not attack and will most likely flee at the most readily available moment.
• If Wits is reduced to zero, the victims reflexes slow nearly to a stop. Any Charm that warns the character of danger or affects their initiative in any way deactivates immediately, freeing up any committed Essence. The victim, if Exalted, can continue fighting, thought they always act last and have their effective Dexterity rating halved. If unexalted, the victim settles into a bovine stupor, able to do nothing more than placidly watch proceedings.

These effects heal at the rate of one dot per week for supernatural creatures. They are permanent for mortals. This Charm requires With an Eye Toward Advancement to be active.

Pry Open the Third Eye

Cost: 10 motes, 1 health level per damage success
Duration: Indefinite
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: With an Eye Toward Advancement

...and sought to help them, though it pained all to do so.

Clenching her fingers tightly together as she lashes out at an opponent's forehead and, upon contact, splaying them out again, a martial artist may increase a target's capability for creativity. Make a normal Martial Arts attack, rolling damage as usual. For each level of damage inflicted, add an extra success to any roll that involves innovation of some kind. Affected rolls may include: Crafts rolls to invent new devices, Performance rolls to create new songs or dances, Linguistics rolls to write poetry, or Bureaucracy rolls to implement new social structures. Other rolls may be included or excluded under the auspices of this Charm at Storyteller discretion.

These bonuses last until the damage from the supplemented attack heals or the martial artist stops committing Essence, whichever comes first. However, the frayed edges of the target's crown chakra continuously bleed Essence, leaking one mote for every hour the bonus is in effect. This explicity counts against an exalt's anima banner. For beings without access to their essence pool, this translates to a point of willpower lost for every three hours. When reduced to zero willpower, these beings will cease whatever they are doing and sleep for a full day, then refuse to work until all damage is healed. Once the recipient of this bonus is reduced to zero essence or willpower, the martial artist immediately decommits the motes powering this Charm. This Charm requires With an Eye Toward Advancement to be active.

Cunning Ephemeral Grasp Technique

Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: Pry Open the Third Eye

She reached behind their eyes, to try and remove the pain...

By tugging quickly at the strands of fate, a martial artist may attempt to prevent an offensive or incriminating memory from entering the target's mind. This is a reflexive Martial Arts parry, rolled at the character's full Dexterity + Martial Arts pool against a difficulty of the target's Essence. The memory which serves as the target for this charm cannot have occured more than three minutes ago. If the martial artist is successful, the chosen memory does not form. For the next [10 minus target's Essence] turns, the target will take no action of any sort, unless attacked, under which circumstances the trance is broken and she may react normally. Once the trance is broken, the target will come to the most plausible conclusion for what has just happened.

This Charm requires With an Eye Toward Advancement to be active.

Example: Sparrow is in the process of rescuing a young Solar from the basement of an Immaculate temple. He walks calmly up to the warden, punches him in the stomach and steals his keys. Sparrow then activates Cunning Ephemeral Grasp Technique, after slipping the keys into his robes. He succeeds on his roll. Now, the warden will not only forget that Sparrow just punched him in the stomach and stole his keys, he will also be in a sleepy trance for the next 7 turns (his Essence is only 3). This gives Sparrow more than enough time to vanish into the maze-like hallways of the prison.

Bedlam's Gentle Touch

Cost: 12 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Extra Action
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: Shuttering the Window of the Soul

...but her fingers found only ash and neurosis.

With this cruel magic, an unscrupulous exalt may twist and corrupt the multi-colored stream of creativity emanating from her opponent's brow. Her hands glimmer with a sheath of glutinous, gibbering Essence as she lashes out again and again, her blows fine-tuned to knock chakras out of balance and jar the gates of virtue. She makes as many attacks as her permanent Essence score. For every level of damage scored, the martial artist may inflict all manner of wickedness.

• She may trade in two levels of damage to inflict a point of Limit. A victim may acquire no more points of Limit in this fashion than [10 minus their Willpower].
• She may trade in three levels of damage to reduce the one of the target's Virtues by one. They cannot go below the minimums imposed by the Great Curse.
• In a similar vein, for three levels of damage she may increase one of the target's Virtues by one. The target cannot channel willpower through these artificial virtues, but they do count for Limit gain.
• Finally, she may trade in four levels of damage to inflict a temporary derangement on her opponent. This insanity takes effect immediately and is remarkably strong. It should impose concrete penalties, although the precise penalties vary with the derangement chosen and the Storyteller's whim.

These effects last for one scene at full strength. Once the scene has ended, the victim must make a Willpower roll. The effects persist for [10 minus the number of successes rolled] days, after which they vanish completely. Any points of Limit gained, however, do not disappear. On a botch, the insanity is permanent for mortals but can be bought off with experience for Essence-channelers. This has no effect on Raksha, as they are already functionally insane. Also, note that this charm in no way gives the martial artist knowledge of the Great Curse. They see themselves as pushing their victims toward a breaking point, rather than manipulating an ancient, Primordial death-curse. This charm requires With an Eye Toward Advancement to be active.

Thesis-Antithesis Approach

Cost: 10 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: Shuttering the Window of the Soul, Pry Open the Third Eye

So she split the world down the middle...

Every possible idea, action, or organization creates its own nemesis. This is the theory behind the Thesis-Antithesis Approach. By following that theory, a martial artist may mirror every strike her opponent makes, delivering vicious blows of her own, drawing her foreknowledge from the coruscating aura of Essence that surrounds her opponent. Whenever an opponent targets the martial artist with any attack, the martial artist may make an immediate, reflexive counterattack at her full Dexterity + Martial Arts pool. She may move up to her [Essence x 5] yards to deliver this counterstrike. If, after this movement, the target is still out of range, the counterattack fails. Successes on the counterattack remove successes from the original attack, exactly like a parry. If the counterattack fails to completely block the original attack, it still deals damage.

The Form

Viridian Mantle of Innovation Form

Cost: 8 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 5
Prerequisite Charms: One complete Celestial martial art (all charms), Cunning Ephemeral Grasp Technique, 
Bedlam's Gentle Touch, Thesis-Antithesis Approach

...and in the maddened places, danced.

The martial artist's eyes glow jade-green as she adopts a forward-thinking posture and moves her hands through short, jagged katas. She gains all the benefits of With an Eye Toward Advancement. In addition to this, everything becomes a weapon, to the martial artist's innovative sight. She may stab someone through the eye with a sprig of mistletoe, knock them off balance with a well-placed breath, and utilize the objects around her in exciting and lethal ways. Blades of grass, stones, broom handles, or, indeed, anything the player can think of, becomes an in-style weapon for charms of this style, with the caveat that nothing intended as a weapon may be used (no swords, spears, etc).

Mechanically, all the martial artist's attacks become lethal, she may parry lethal attacks unarmed, and may make Martial Arts attacks at a range of her (Essence x 2) yards.

The Elder's Sutra of Progress

The maiden said to me:
"Of all the secrets..."
"...in all the world..."
"...this is the most damning:"
"To steal a compass..."
"...ride north..."

The Pinnacle

Penetrate to the Most-High

Cost: 20 motes, 1 willpower, 1 health level
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 8
Minimum Essence: 8
Prerequisite Charms: 

"...disappear."

Upon reaching this peak of self-knowledge, this triumph of personal will, this dizzying, maddening height of erudition, the master can finally perceive the way in which all barriers may be brought down. She takes a moment to center herself and dissolves her physical form into a pyre of pure, coruscating, innovative Essence. Then she fades, leaving nothing but a vague air of optimism, a glimmer of iridescent light, and a faint puff of wind, smelling of incense and steel. Her consciousness settles onto all beings within a radius of [her Essence x 5] miles and may perceive any and all happenings within that radius as if she were physically present. She may also instantly transport herself to any spot within this radius.

Progress builds, moves forward, forges a better tomorrow from the ashes of yesterday. So the martial artist composes herself, as a symphony of innovation, providing perfect successes on any rolls designed to create something new within her radius and providing [her Essence divided by 2, rounding down] extra successes as well. Progress also leaves behind, glosses over its own excesses, destroys as much as it heals. So the martial artist unmakes herself, as a cacophony of excuses and recrimination, able to cause a botch on any roll described above.

In combat, such a transcendent master is nigh-impossible to defeat. She may only be fully perceived by With an Eye Toward Advancement; using any other form of Essence-sight registers only a blurred, imperfect outline of the Sidereal. Add 2 to the difficulty of all combat rolls under these circumstances. The martial artist attacks through coincidence and serendipity. The flight of birds cuts across an enemy's cheek, the breath of wind bowls him over, and even the blades of his allies slip, twist, and strike at him. As a result, all attacks count as surprise attacks.

Comments, please

No time to examine the mechanics, but the ideas are rockin'. Okay, one mechanical note: there is an apparent inconsistency between stating that the Style allows no weapons, and the element of the Form stating that everything becomes a weapon in the wielder's hands. - Quendalon

Thanks!. I fixed the wording a little too. -- OhJames

Cool, but you still haven't corrected the fundamental inconsistency. "Too delicate for even the most elegant of weapons" simply doesn't mesh with "stones and broom handles." - Quendalon

More fixing, this time in the offending text itself. -- OhJames