Revision as of 00:16, 27 February 2005

Orb of Obtenebration

In the Underworld and shadowlands, darkness is precious. Sunlight only affects the dead's possessions outside of these places --mainly because sunlight doesn't exist in the same way in the lands of the dead as in Creation-- but the fact still remains: darkness is a commodity that not everyone can afford. This is not the meager darkness of a shadow or a wet finger coming over the flickering burn of a candle to put it out. Not. True darkness, the kind that wraps around you like a glove, the kind you can feel slowly suffocating your soul from the inside out, the kind that draws on your innermost fears and slowly irradicates your defenses until all you can do is stare blankly into the pitch and scream for someone to hear your distorted voice... that darkness, is hard to come by. Can it be found in the Void? Yes. Can it be found within the inner sanctums of the more powerful Underworld Manses? Yes. But the question is, how to harness this power? How does one use it to one's advantage? Until a few years ago, the knowledge did not exist; and then something akward happened...

While the other Deathlords shunned her because of her obvious need for lust and sensuality --even if it -is- the dead kind,-- the Lover Clad in the Rainment of Tears plotted carefully in her lair, the Fortress of Crimson Ice, silently watching the other Deathlords moves, silently planning. It was at about the time in which Mask of Winters ripped into Creation from the Underworld and took control of Thorns, that the Lover found out a very powerful secret. The secret of the darkness itself. Of this she told no one as she began to plan a weapon that would be useful to almost any of her children, but only suitable for one; one of her favored of Deathknights, the Maiden of Sable Lust.

She forged it of soulsteel, reaping the souls of the dead in catastrophic proportions as she toiled night and day, her fists and claws raking at the souls she tortured and fermented into the dead metal that would provide so much strength for her beloved Abyssal. She forged for three months, tossing away battered and decrepit souls that she decided she could not use or that she had molded wrong aside and beginning anew with fresher essences of the dead.

She found that soulsteel would not be enough to harness the essential power that was -darkness,- and so she reached out into lands that were not of her domain and found the cruelest, most selfish King she could find, reaching into his dead plasmodic body and stripping him of his very heart, and using his soul to refresh the softening soulsteel of her creation. Once the heart of a souless man was mixed with the melting steel of dead ghosts, she began to shape it, carefully molding it into a perfect sphere of pitch black that did not glint nor shine, but absorbed any light that hit it and remained forever in shadow.

She named this artifact the Orb of Obtenebration, for with it the bearer can control the darkness, expanding it from the sphere and letting it envelope an entire area, the swirling madness and distortion of sound and noise, the impossibility of sight and the tireing of those within could all be used to the Lover's advantage. She called her Deathknight to gift her the great artifact.

The Maiden of Sable Lust was delighted with her gift, and she spoke true words of love to her mistress, learning quickly the art of using the darkness of the Void and Underworld Manses to her advantage in combat (and in other situations as well). The Orb of Obtenebration not only strips anyone but the bearer's sight, but it also tires them and wraps around armor, tugging at links and chains, pressing down on a person's muscles and tearing at their ears with terrible noises and the muffling of sound.

It has become the Maiden's trademark; and she loves it.

System

The Orb of Obtenebration is a metallic sphere the size of a tennis ball forged of soulsteel and the heart of a truly cruel and selfish man, and is completely pitch black, due to the fact that it completely absorbs light, rather than deflect it (so it does not shine nor glint). The bearer of the Orb of Obtenebration may, by spending 5 motes of Essence, release the darkness that the Lover Clad in the Rainment of Tears encased within for one entire scene.

The darkness released by the Orb has several interesting effects:

First of all, the darkness envelopes an area of ten yards (radius) and all those within the sphere's influence cannot see. It requires a Perception + Awareness roll difficulty 3 to be able to determine the location of anyone or anything else (or even oneself) while within the darkness (raise the difficulty to 4 if the character is actually trying to attack someone and not just trying to leave the dark area or trying to find an ally). Any sight-related Awareness rolls automatically fail, the Perception + Awareness roll must be based on another sense (usually hearing or touch, though smell may be used for those characters that have exceptional scent-detection). Any reflexive actions that require being able to see sense (with any sense) the opponent must be preceded by the Perception + Awareness roll stated above. Any action that actually requires eyesight cannot be done (since the characters can't see at all).

Secondly, those found within the dark area find themselves being suffocated by the harsh and extreme conditions that darkness puts them in. It wraps around them and tears at them with torretial force, and has the potential to actually weaken them. Characters that want to defeat this effect must succeed in a Stamina + Endurance roll with a difficulty of 2, or they are at -2 to their dicepools for the remainder of the scene (or until they leave the darkened area).

Thirdly, and perhaps the most subtle (and potentially the most dangerous) effects of the obtenebrating darkness, is that it wraps tightly around the body of those within it, tugging and pulling at the notches of their armor, twisting it, dislocating certain plates, and sometimes even subtly pounding at their muscles to soften them up for the incomming attack of the darkness' mistress. The game effects of this is that the character lose -2 to all soak (Lethal -and- Bashing) for the remainder of the scene (or just until they leave the darkness if they have no armor). The darkness will always try to dirupt the way armor works -first,- if the victim wears no armor, it will softly pummel the muscles to make them bland and ineffective and soaking any future blows. As stated before, character who wear armor will have to fix their armor's state after they leave the darkness if they want their soaks to return to normal; those not wearing any armor will return to normal as soon as the gentle (but effective) pummeling stops.

The bearer of the Orb of Obtenebration is -not- affected by the darkness, as they can mystically see through it (because they control it and it is their right) and the darkness will move to facilitate passage to wherever they want to go, while effectively weakening their opponents' defense.

Perhaps it merits mentioning that I made this power with the relationship between it and the second power of the Vampire Discipline Obtenebration in mind. It's an artifact designed to actually give the same effects, -on purpose.- I wasn't trying to be original, I was devising a way to bring one of my favorite powers/abilities in another White Wolf game to Exalted, because I love the power. I love Lasombra, and my NPC the Maiden of Sable Lust is a lot like one, so I thought I'd give her a trademark that my players (with whom I've played and STed Vampire before) could identify with.

Comments

You havn't actually said which artifact level it is, although it's fairly obviously at least 3, and probably 4 or 5. Which did you envisage it as?
-- Darloth

Actually, it's 2. Heh. I've been told it's too powerful. I may change it. I keep forgetting that most people don't get to these pages through my User Page (where the level is displayed). - Seiraryu

Okay. I cave. I made it level 3. Lol. - Seiraryu