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Concepts Of The Nihilic Exalted

The Nihilic Exalted are tainted mirrors of their former selves. Where true Lunars embody change and growth, versatility and possibility, the Nihilic Exalted embody ruin and collapse, the eroding of choice and reduction of capability, the ultimate truth that all things gradually fall towards the Void. Where the Abyssal Exalted represent Destruction, the Nihilic Exalted represent Decay.

As such, they are the heralds and corrupters of the Underworld. It is the role of the Nihilic Exalted to tear down what others defend, to sow seeds of doubt and distrust, and to let Oblivion touch all that they pass. They cannot match their Abyssal brethern in pure destructiveness, but they rarely need to; it is a common maxim among them that if an enemy were to be opposing them directly, they had already failed in some manner. To strike at the resources and friends of their targets is their common strategy, and they drift unseen through the world, a taint at the edge of thought.

The Taint of Oblivion

When the Deathlords began to modify the Lunars, they found the task a difficult one. Lunars are inherently protean and changing creatures, both traits that are anathema to the static forces of Oblivion. Furthermore, they were corrupted; a tendril of Wyld energy was woven through the heart of their Exaltations, standing as an ever-changing sentinel against Oblivion's grip.

The Wyld Taint could not be removed, and the Lunars' natures resisted change. Two problems became a single solution. The Deathlords took the very Essence of death and Oblivion and fused it with the Lunar Exaltations, creating a vacuum that pulled the Wyld Taint out and replaced it with a hint of the endless nothingness that was the Void. This Void-energy soon poured from the wounded Exaltations, corrupting them intrinsically from within when the Deathlords themselves could not touch them.

The only remaining issue was control. As it stood, the tainted shards were deadly. Within a matter of weeks, anyone who lived with Oblivion that close to their heart found their soul shredded to nothing, their body dead, and their Exaltation fleeing back to its Monstrance. To control it, the Deathlords took their lessons from the Lunars themselves; they created tattoos of dark soulsteel, imprinted the flesh of the Nihilics with dark grey shapes that seem to form anguished faces as muscles ripple and hair twitches. These tattoos focus and direct the power of Oblivion, preventing it from consuming the Nihilics, and allowing them a touch of its power.

The ultimate cost was great. With their protean selves gone, the Nihilics could not change shapes. Instead, they became something terrible. The Oblivion within them called out for release and satiation. They learned to direct and shape necrotic energy, taking on terrible mutations from the depths of the Labyrinth. They learned to swallow souls, storing them in the terrible empty places within them and stealing their power. They learned to become as fragments of the Void itself. The Nihilics cannot shapeshift - instead, they bring a terrible finality to all that they encounter.

Charms

The Charms of the Nihilics are Charms of decay and despair, of shadow and subtlety. Nihilics can spread the Resonance of their masters in their wake, leaving tainted lives in their passing. They can erode Intimacies and leave nothing but a gaping need, or evoke effects that will not come to pass until after the Nihilic leaves. They can corrupt the talents of those they face, unleashing devastating necrotic Shapings against the dice pools of their opponents. They can slip across the world like shadows, never seen except in the chill that others feel as they pass, and in their wake disease will bloom, decay and rot will set in, and civilizations will crumble.

In addition, Nihilics can unleash Oblivion itself. Their bodies become weapons, holding the terrible chill of the grave. Their flesh draws on the Essence of the world, consuming it to be replenished. Their skin is surrounded by sheathes of darkness that guard them. Most frighteningly, they can study the souls that they devour and find weaknesses, terrible fault lines that can be shaped against similar foes. Their warforms are things of shadow and nightmare, and a hint of the Oblivion within them always shows as a Tell. And, of course, they can destroy, although their facility with such direct means is less than that of their companions, the Abyssals.