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Essence Armor

• With thanks to willows, who created the original Lore Charms for weapons!

Unconquerable Solar Stronghold
Cost: None
Duration: Permanent
Type: Special
Minimum Lore: 4
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: GSA
A Solar who relies on his brilliant spirit to forge his protection soon finds that armored plates are not always sufficient. He requires flexibility and excellence from his armor of choice! This Charm offers a solution. The Solar who learns Unconquerable Solar Stronghold enhances his Essence Armor with several special effects, Bastions. When he learns this Charm, he learns one Bastion, and can purchase additional ones at a rate of 1 xp each. Characters with this Charm may teach one another new Bastions, or develop them on their own.

The Solar is able to enhance armor created with Charms(be it Glorious Solar Plate, Impecabble Solar War Machine, or even stranger variants) by lowering its Lethal and Bashing Soak to purchase Bastions. Most simple Bastions cost only 1 point; more unusual ones cost 2, and the very strongest Protections cost 4 points. Learning this Charm also provides the Essence armor with half the Solar's Essence (rounding up) in points that can only be used to apply Bastions to armor. 4-point Bastions are mutually incompatible; an armor may only have one. The Lethal and Bashing Soak totals are lowered together; Thus an unenhanced Glorious Solar Plate, which grants 10L/10B would become an 8L/8B armor after receiving a 2-point Bastion.

The Solar may reconfigure his Essence armor to include Bastions when he learns this Charm, when he learns a new GSA Charm, or when the Trait those Charms depend on changes. Some Bastions may not be appropriate for human-sized armor. Other may not be appropriate to Warstrider-sized ones. That is left to the judgement of Storytellers and Players. Commonly known Bastions include:

1 Point:

Cobalt Infinity Pillar:

The Essence-Shield becomes a sphere the color of the noonday sky, its edges spreading into the infinite behind the Solar! Increase its difficulty against Close Combat or Ranged Attacks by 1. A 2-point version increases both by 1.

Crown of Thorns:

The armor darkens, each glorious plate now embedded with blooming roses colored like the deepest sunset, a thousand and one razored thorns rising behind them like the unforgiving night. The armor receives thorns that allow the Solar to deal lethal damage in hand-to-hand combat and clinches, and those trying to clinch or strike the Solar barehanded must make a Dexterity+Athletics roll(difficulty 3) or suffer their Strength in Lethal damage. A 2-point version requires that roll to be made every turn during clinches, and adds the Solar's Essence to that damage.

Gracious Glass Swan:

The armor becomes a sleek glass design with waving, wing-like patterns that move together with its wearer like a flock of swans dancing on a river of eternal twilight, the crystalline singsong of the stream heard with every step! So gracious is this armor that moving with it is nothing but a pleasure! Reduce the Mobility and Fatigue penalties of the armor by 1. A 2-point version reduces either Fatigue or Mobility Penalties to 0.

The Adamant Myrmidon:

The armor becomes diamond, flawless, hiding all weak, soft spots and shimmering with designs of shields from Heaven and Hell as light touches its prismatic surface and scatters all its colors! Increase the Armor's Hardness by half the Solar's Essence(rounded up).

The Infinite Warden:

The armor increases its bulk, its appearance more solid and harsh, as if sculpted out of crystal or sand, dwarfing the man inside. When struck, a hollow sound can be heard like thunder, but the Warden is unmoved as mountains are to it. The Solar subtracts his Essence from the distance of all Knockback, denying it utterly if the distance is lowered to 0. A 2-point version ignores all Knockback and Knockdown.

The Perfect Prince:

The armor becomes a thing of beauty, opaline in its formation, depicting scenes of wonder and awe throughout Creation, changing with every movement in the colors and fashion and a heartbreaking sunset. The wearer of the Armor adds +1 to his Appearance score. Different Bastions at this level add to different Attributes. A 2-Point version is required to add +1 to Dexterity, Manipulation or Wits.

2 Points:

Opaline Clouds Shield the Sun:

The Essence-Shields drifts apart from the Solar, taking an opaline sheen and dispersing in many a shield of clouds, floating around their creator like a swirl of clouds about the sun! The Solar allows any and all within (his Essence x5 yards) to receive the same shield-bonus as the Solar himself.

Prismatic Aegis of Tao:

The armor becomes fashioned in the teachings of a certain style, sutras of martial wisdom coiling about its plates, its appearance echoing the words and philosophies of the Solar's Sifu, its appearance echoing the abilities of his favored style. This Bastion allows the Essence armor not to count as armor for the purpose of a single Martial Arts Style the Solar knows the Form-Charm of.

Soaring Lord:

The armor sprouts great cobalt blue wings, framing the armor like the sky frames the corona of the unconquered sun! Those wings allow the Solar to take to the sky, flying with his usual movement speed, ascending at half that and descending at twice that!

The Endless Hungry Queen:

The armor's plates gain a different depth. The releve makes them seem hollow, endlessly hollow and leading to vast expanses of empty space. When struck, this space feels with the force of the blow, and in a crescendo, pull force from the attacker, blossoming an opaline belladonna that breaks, sending its shards to fill its own emptiness. Whenever the Solar's armor is struck, he regains as many motes as his opponent's Permanent Essence.

Untouchable Crusader:

The armor is planted with the seeds of destruction, blossoming with the imagery of flowers deeply inimical to the Solar's intended nemesis! Against one type of being(Gods, Elementals, Demons, specific types of Exalted, and so on) the Essence Armor's Hardness becomes equal to its Soak total. A 4-point version doubles Soak and Hardness totals when struck by this kind of being.

4 Points:

Crown of Eternity:

The armor opens seven wings and seven eyes in regality, the prismatic symbol of the Games of Divinity flaring on its chest, as it becomes the regalia of office, crown and throne for the emperor of all that is! The armor enhances the wearer's capabilities in such a way that he adds half(rounded down) of his Highest Virtue to his Essence score. This enhanced Essence applies to everything from Charms to Essence Pools, but not to enhance his traits, and lasts only as long as the Solar remains clad in the armor enhanced by this Bastion.

Divine Dominance Aegis:

The armor becomes pure adamant, shining with the laws of heaven marked on every plate, multihued ambrosia shimmering from the soft parts under the plates, the words within each and every corner saying the 49 names of Heaven's vigilance! An armor enhanced by this Bastion is perfect: it may not be bypassed in any way, be it by Charms, Artifacts or innate powers. The only way to hurt the Solar is to overpower his protection by sheer overwhelming force.

4 points:

The following are not Bastions in their own right, but rather families of similar Bastions. A character can generally create a Bastion from a Charm he knows by using these templates; the resultant Bastion is an effect that specifically enhances the armor with the selected Charm. Once such a Bastion is created, it can be taught to individuals who do not know the source Charm, provided that they meet the Trait requirements. The Solar has to have Essence 2 dots higher than the requirements of the Charm to bind it in this way, and neither template may be used with Charms that generate a perfect effect. Those Charms are, by and large, those that enhance the Solar, and not weapons or other beings. Presence, Awareness, Resistance, Endurance, Brawl and other such Abilities are the remits Charms fashioned into armor tend to be from.

Thunderbolt-Taming Anvil:

This type of Bastion entwines a Supplemental or Reflexive Charm into the armor, applying that Charm's effect supplementally (i.e., it cannot create an action, and the Reflexive must be one that has a supplemental application) whenever it is applicable. This Bastion also adds twice that Charm's mote cost to the activation cost of the Essence armor. When used with a Charm that has a variable mote cost, you may choose the cost of the charm when activating the armor. It cannot have a willpower cost.

Lotus of Incomparable Nobility:

This type of Bastion entwines a Scene-Long Charm into the Armor, allowing the Solar to forge the armor from Essence and receive all benefits from the empowering Charm immediatly. This Bastion also adds that Charm's mote cost to the activation cost of the Essence armor. When used with a Charm that has a variable mote cost, you may choose the cost of the charm when activating the armor.

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