MartialArts/HeroesLanternStyle

Heroes' Lantern Style

by FourWillowsWeeping

This small pattern of Charms extends the Exalted ability to generate weapons sculpted out of their animas. It is approached through a system of Foundations that grow out of native Charms. While they are Martial Arts, their unique prerequisites make it difficult to attain a comprehensive mastery of the Style. The modern Lunar emphasis on unarmed, bestial combat makes them unable to develop a Foundation for the Style, but it is possible that repaired, civilised Lunars would be capable of developing one.

This is a Celestial style.

This is a theoretical exercise. Blame Telgar for having the idea.

Foundations

Solar Foundation

Solar and Abyssal Foundations consist of one Charm.

Unlimited Empyrean Blade

Cost: None

Duration: Permanent

Type: Reflexive

Min. Martial Arts: 2

Min. Essence: 3

Prereq. Charms: Glorious Solar Sabre

When he learns this Charm, the martial artist permanently improves his ability to use Melee Charms. Whenever a Charm, such as Glorious Solar Sabre, measures the character's Melee score for a purpose other than adding dice or successes, improve his Melee score by 1 per Heroes' Lantern Style Charm he knows.

Abyssal Foundation

How Cold Thy Sword Must Be

Cost: None

Duration: Permanent

Type: Reflexive

Min. Martial Arts: 2

Min. Essence: 3

Prereq. Charms: Resplendent Shadow Blade

When he learns this Charm, the martial artist permanently improves his Resplendent Shadow Blades. They become able to attack dematerialised ghosts at all times without any additional difficulty, and the Abyssal may spend 2 motes when he rolls an attack to attack dematerialised spirits of other types. Subtract the spirit's Essence + Temperance from the attack pool.

Martial Arts Foundations

A variety of these single-Charm Foundations exist, each expanding on the ultimate technique of a Celestial Martial Art. This provides a strange kind of shortcut to the Style for certain types of users; it is common for Sidereals to learn a Foundation of this kind prior to learning the one that builds on their native abilities. Here are some examples.

Snake Foundation

World-Encircling Serpent Flag

Cost: 7 motes, 1 Willpower

Duration: One Scene

Type: Simple

Min. Martial Arts: 5

Min. Essence: 4

Prereq. Charms: Essence Venom Strike

With this Charm, the adept coils his Essence into a serpent's skeleton of force. This creates an Essence weapon as Glorious Solar Sabre does, with as many points as the adept's Manipulation + Martial Arts to distribute. The weapon may make clinching attacks with no effect on its Rate, and maintain an unlimited number of clinches, as long as the adept has sufficient actions to continue making clinch rolls for each of them.

Violet Bier of Sorrows Foundation

Antediluvian Defeat Scenario

Cost: None

Duration: Permanent

Type: Reflexive

Min. Martial Arts: 5

Min. Essence: 4

Prereq. Charms: Conclusion-Pursuing Approach

When he learns this Charm, the martial artist permanently improves his ability to use Conclusion-Pursuing Approach. When he uses it as a Sidereal, he may enhance it with a Scripture of the Maiden in Terror. If he does so, the Charm costs an additional Willpower. His weapon splits into two; in his left hand he holds a wide bar of burgundy light, and in his right, a flickering aquamarine needle that twists and turns like a column of smoke.

Attacks with the burgundy sword have the normal effect of the Conclusion-Pursuing Approach. Attacks with the aquamarine sword do not diminish the victim's essence (they disregard the additional effect of the Scripture of the Expectant Maiden); instead, they ensnare him with the tangles of Fate and the regard of the pattern spiders. While a creature bears a wound made by this sword, he is considered inside Fate, and each time he attacks the martial artist he must roll three Paradox dice. Beings accumulating 10 Paradox dots suffer immediate pattern bite just as Sidereal Exalted do.

Sidereal Foundation

The lesser Celestial Exalted require two Charms in their Foundations.

Lambent Pillar of Dissipation

Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower, 1 Health Level

Duration: One Scene

Type: Simple

Min. Martial Arts: 4

Min. Essence: 4

Prereq. Charms: Transcendent Hatchet of Fate

With this Charm, the Sidereal lifts a Scripture of the Maiden in Terror in her hand. It ignites, and a column of bottle-green fire rises from her hand. This is an Essence weapon, which works in the same manner as Glorious Solar Sabre, except that the points the Charm provides are the character's Melee+Essence rather than twice Melee, and the weapon's Rate is equal to his Essence, rather than infinite.

In addition, the pillar's strikes wound the victim's personal ethics and cause him to collapse into an extreme, austere, or debauched version of his former self. For each injury inflicted by the pillar that he sustains, the victim must pay 1 additional Willpower to suppress the urges of his Virtues.

Visionary Fist

Cost: None

Duration: Permanent

Type: Reflexive

Min. Martial Arts: 4

Min. Essence: 4

Prereq. Charms: Perfection of the Visionary Warrior

With this Charm, the Sidereal improves its prerequisite. She may activate instant-duration Reflexive Charms in the same turn as Perfection of the Visionary Warrior, as though she had placed them in a Combo. She may only use one such Charm prior to her initiative.

Terrestrial Foundation

The Terrestrials have three-Charm Foundations.

Tiger Continues Forging

Cost: 4 motes, 1 Willpower

Duration: One Scene

Type: Reflexive

Min. Martial Arts: 2

Min. Essence: 3

Prereq. Charms: Refining the Inner Blade

When the martial artist activates Dragon-Graced Weapon, he may activate this Charm as well. If his attack is successful, then this Charm continues, extending the effect of Dragon-Graced Weapon for the remainder of the scene, and improving the quality of the weapon. Normal weapons become exceptional, exceptional weapons are improved to perfect, and perfect weapons gain the resilience of the Five Magical Materials. Other than the enchantment of Dragon-Graced Weapon, this provides no improvement to artifacts. If the attack rolls no successes, then this Charm ends.

Turtle Heart

Cost: 1 mote

Duration: Instant

Type: Reflexive

Min. Martial Arts: 2

Min. Essence: 2

Prereq. Charms: Stone-Carving Fingers Form

The Dragon-blooded may activate this Charm when he attempts to parry an attack. A shield of crystalline Jade essence forms on his forearm, subtracting one success from the attack roll.

Inestimable Tortoise Soul

Cost: 3 motes

Duration: One Scene

Type: Simple

Min. Martial Arts: 3

Min. Essence: 2

Prereq. Charms: Turtle Heart

Each time the Terrestrial using this Charm suffers a wound, his soul calcifies stubbornly, resisting further attack. Increase his bashing and lethal soak by 2 each time it does so.

Spiritual Foundations

Spirits who practice this Style require three-Charm foundations as Terrestrials do, unless they have some particular martial ability. Spiritual practitioners have wholly idiosyncratic Charms, so no such Foundation will be detailed here.

The Form

Heroes' Lantern Form

Cost: 5 motes

Duration: One Scene

Type: Simple

Min. Martial Arts: 4

Min. Essence: 3

Prereq. Charms: One complete Foundation

While under the effects of this Form, the adept is a beacon of correct action and a paragon of his ideals. His allies band together to protect him. Each ally may reflexively parry an attack made against the adept once per turn, with his own full defensive pool. If the attack does not injure the adept, then that ally gains 1 Willpower point, as his assistance renews his own self-confidence.

In addition, the adept may attempt to impose his rightness on others. Reflexively, he spends 3 motes and rolls Appearance + Martial Arts at a difficulty of his target's Essence; if the roll succeeds, then the target is considered an ally until the turn ends, and will expend his parry option as soon as he is able. This ability can be used in response to an attack, but it requires a stunt to use against the attacker himself.

The form weapon of the Heroes' Lantern Style is any Essence weapon for which the character has a Foundation. This is a Martial Arts Form-type Charm, and is incompatible with other Forms and armour.

Mastery Techniques

Iron Song

Cost: 1 mote

Duration: Instant

Type: Supplemental

Min. Martial Arts: 5

Min. Essence: 3

Prereq. Charms: Heroes' Lantern Form

The character sings a fierce song of battle as he makes an unarmed attack. At the same time, he makes a Performance action with his full pool, affected by the same multiple-action penalties, if any, of the attack, and adding his weapon's Defence bonus to the Performance roll.

Torch Song

Cost: None

Duration: Permanent

Type: Reflexive

Min. Martial Arts: 5

Min. Essence: 4

Prereq. Charms: Iron Song

Normally, the adept creates Essence weaponry that only he may use. With the Torch Song, he expands the abilities of these Charms, allowing him to pass on Essential weapons to others and then create more for himself to use.

Filigreed Reflection of Flame

Cost: 1 mote

Duration: Instant

Type: Reflexive

Min. Martial Arts: 5

Min. Essence: 3

Prereq. Charms: Heroes' Lantern Form

When an ally parries an attack on the adept's behalf, the adept may activate this Charm and mirror his benefactor's movements with his own blade; the symmetrical conjunction of action adds the adept' weapon's Defence bonus to the benefactor's parry dice pool.

Entanglement of Light and Steel

Cost: 3 motes

Duration: Instant

Type: Reflexive

Min. Martial Arts: 5

Min. Essence: 4

Prereq. Charms: Filigreed Reflection of Flame

With this Charm, the adept adapts his ability to harmonise with his allies' actions, attacking in parallel with the weapon of an ally. He adds his weapon's Accuracy bonus to the dice pool of an ally's attack. This Charm cannot generate a dice pool from 0; it must benefit a preexisting action.

The Ultimate Technique

Lattice-Rending Liberation

Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower

Duration: Instant

Type: Simple

Min. Martial Arts: 5

Min. Essence: 5

Prereq. Charms: Torch Song, Entanglement of Light and Steel

With this attack, the martial artist collapses the structure of an Essence weapon as it enters the victim's body, a Martial Arts attack requiring the use of a form weapon of this Style. Effects that artificially generate additional form weapons for this Style, such as the compatibility effect of the Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Form, do not satisfy this condition; use the form weapon definition in Heroes' Lantern Form. This adds the adept's Essence in bonus damage dice, and the target soaks the damage as though it were aggravated. However, the attack's damage is primarily lethal; the adept's Essence in Health Levels is converted to aggravated after it is rolled. The use of this attack ends the Charm(s) generating the Essence weapon used to deliver it.

Because of this attack's peculiar nature, in a Combo where it is used with an Extra Actions Charms, this Charm is only used on a single attack roll in the Combo, but it is the user's choice which attack to use it with. Its cost is only paid once.

Comments

Very cool, I like how it boosts non-MA stuff, a master of this style with Essence, MA, and Melee at 5+ would be scary. -Overshee

I'm a fan, though I don't know how I feel about the form charm's power to sway others. I'd choose differently, but I'm not creating this style. Anyway, my main question is, is there no initiation for Lunars? -Seraph

Of course not. Lunars have no Essence weapon, nor do they have the ability to finagle abstract interpretations of things. A Lunar who wants to use this Style can get to it through a Martial Arts foundation. - willows