SpellRelay/Dream

• CrunchRelay

The Seventh theme is Dream.

The theme is dreams. Manipulating them, drawing them into the world, bizarre metaphorical stuff, whatever. Possible Wyld connections. Let's see what we can come up with...

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Graceful Treading of the Dream-Eater's Path - by WillCoon
Circle: Terrestrial
Cost: 20 Motes

The Wyld is not merely at the borders of the world. Indeed, every mind in creation touches upon it, however faintly, whenever they dream.

The caster enters into a trance, and creates a bridge through the Wyld into the another's dreams. Entering therein, he shapes the dreams to his own desires, twisting his opponent's essence patterns as do the soulless dream-eating Raksha.

This spell, very rare and officially heretical, realizes the potential inherent in this truth, and allows the caster to travel into the dream of another, who he must be able to identify specifically, either by knowing the specifics of the target's identity or by a general idea of their identity and their approximate location, to engage in a form of the reality-shaping practiced by the Raksha, with the intent of reshaping their foe's essence in a beneficial manner. The target must be within one mile per caster's permanent Essence, and must be asleep.
However, such contact with the Wyld's energies is not without risks to the caster - they face the possibility of Wyld mutation as well as defeat in the shaping combat.

Having cast the spell and chosen an appropriate target, the caster enters a sleeplike trance for the duration of his encounter. Exposed to the energies of the Wyld, he must make a Willpower + Essence roll at the difficulty and with the risks outlined in the table below. Subseqent attempts face higher difficulties and greater penalties. The difficulty may be reset by spending one month without using this charm or being exposed to Wyld taint in other forms. No charms may provide protection against this.
Regardless of the result of this roll, he continues into his opponent's dream, where a simple success on an opposed Willpower + Essence roll allows him to initiate shaping combat. If his opponent wins, they may deign to initiate shaping combat anyway.
This works as shaping combat in the Wyld, with the following exceptions:

• Neither he nor his opponent is treated as creation-born for purposes of 'real' effects on the dream-environment, though they are still treated as such for purposes of interaction with shaping damage (assuming that they are, in fact, creation-born).
  
• Ravishing and Snaring work as normal against the creation-born.
  
• Incumbrances may not last for longer than the incumberer's essence in weeks.
  
• Vexation, instead of the normal effects, deals the vexer's essence in dice of lethal damage soakable only by perfect effects.
  
• Ravishing, Incumbrance, or Vexation end the dream-combat immediately, no matter which of the combatants wins.

||Attempt||Difficulty||Success||Failure||Botch|| ||First||2||-||Deficiency||Deficiency|| ||Second||3||-||Deficiency||Debility|| ||Third||5||-||Debility||Deformity|| ||Each Additional||+1||-||Debility||Deformity||

Patterns In Salt And Ash - by DeathBySurfeit
Circle: Shadowlands
Cost: 20 Motes

As this spell is cast, the necromancer's eyes catch, inexorably, those of her subject's. As the world pulses grey about them, they are thrown into a momentary but stark contrast. A single tear falls, and as the necromancer catches it upon her palm it turns to a powder as dark as soot but biting as salt. With a gentle coaxing from her lips, it takes to the wind with a bitter sigh, spiralling through the air in half-seen shapes and there to remain until her subject breathes it in. Holding one's breath delays but does not dismiss this spell; as soon as the subject takes one in, it has full effect.

The subject of the spell will never forget the necromancer. When she passes from life, his memories of her remain acute and telling, to the point where she will appear frequently in his dreams. Depending on the relationship between the two, she may haunt his thoughts then, reminding him of guilt he has never spoken of and failures none have witnessed, or else act as an avatar of wisdom or comfort. She is not truly alive, and may well have passed into Lethe; this spell simply imprints her own nature onto the subject's memories. If dead, her behaviour is determined by the ST, although former PCs appearing in this fashion may have their players consulted for ideas. This spell has no mechanical effect, being instead one of narrative impact.

Staircase of Jade - by FlowsLikeBits
Circle: Celestial
Cost: 10 Motes

When this spell is cast the (willing) target immediatly falls into a deep sleep, and finds themselves at a great jade stair at the bottom of the Elemental Pole of Earth. After climbing this stair, a feat which always takes exacly three hours, the caster finds herself emerging from the Calibration gate in Yu-shan(They must deal with the lions normally). They then have 5 hours in Yu-Shan with which to do whatever they want, afterwhich they vanish and find themselves back in their bed. This journey is somewhat taxing, so a user does not roll to regain willpower upon awakening.

What this spell does is temorarily seperate the higher soul+shard and send it Heaven, where pecularities of that environment allow it to operate normally. As such, this spell only funcions on Exalts, Dragon Kings and those with awakened Essence. Mortals find themselves climbing the stair for 8 hours, and awaken exhausted.(Suggested by GregLink )

The journey to heaven is metaphorical(the great stair does not actually exist), but the Exalt functions normally while there. While in the Yu-Shan the Exalt has mental control over their appearance, in a manner similar to god. Attuned artifacts provide their standard benefits. Objects may not be brought into or out of Yu-Shan via this spell(the Exalt will have a refletion of an object when they go to Yu-shan, but these vanish when when not in contact with her person), although in all other ways this dream is effectivly 'real', actions taken in Heaven will have actually happened. This spell is sometimes used by the Chosen of the Maidens to take care of minor business.

Night's Beneficient Guidance ~ WillCoon
Circle: Labyrinth
Cost: 15 Motes

There are many who wander without aim, their nights filled with disjointed, incomprehensible images, soon forgotten under the sun's scouring rays. Wouldn't it be so beautiful, whispers the necromancer, to surrender to something greater - to dream another's dreams? This spell burrows a conduit of the Neverborn's whispers into the mind of a sleeping subject within her Essence in miles. The subject must be identified in some way, such as by specific location, or name and general location. If the subject wins or ties an opposed Essence roll, he becomes aware of the attack on his mind, but will suffer no consequences - other than, doubtlessly, nightmares born from the brush with the dreams of the unliving ungods - and cannot be retargeted that night. If the necromancer wins, she 'grants' the subject a number of dots of a modified Whispers background equal to successes on a Compassion+Whispers check. This can only work on subjects without existing Whispers dots . Every night, the subject dreams horrific shadows cast off by the Malfeans as they slumber. This forces the subject to make a Whispers check every night they sleep to "uncover a secret" or "use the whispers of the Underworld as a guide" as described in the Whispers background. The precise effects of this are left to the Storyteller, but insanity is common among the weak, and corruption common among the strong. Generally, if the dreams present a strong suggestion, it requires a successful Willpower roll opposed by the dream's Whispers successes in order to ignore it. Utilizing this background to emulate Abilities works as normal, but is a clear sign of 'acceptance' of this 'gift,' and thus of insanity.

Dream Given Form - by IanPrice
Circle: Solar
Cost: Varies

A dream is often something greatly desired, but not realized. This spell is the solution, if what the sorcerer dreams of is a physical object. Inspired by the charm Wyld-Shaping Technique, this spell channels vast quantities of essence to achieve the same ends without the easily-manipulated stuff of the Wyld. Any physical object, no matter how complex, can be created - so long as the Exalt can dream it up. In order to imagine the item in sufficient detail, make an Intelligence + Lore roll. Any mundane object is standard difficulty, but magical items add their Artifact rating to the difficulty of the roll. This spell cannot create items that would exceed an Artifact ••••• rating. Additionally, when creating Artifacts rated ••• or more, this spell takes three hours to cast instead of three turns. This spell may also create Manses or Demenses (up to rating •••••), but in that case it takes one day to cast per level of Manse or Demense. Manses may only be created on top of an existing Demense.

The cost to cast this spell comes in two parts. For every ten pounds of material created, add one mote to the cost (minimum 1m). Double this part of the cost if the object includes Magical Materials. If the object created is an Artifact, add 10m to the total cost per artifact level. For a Manse, multiply the total cost by the Manse level. This spell is specifically designed to be cast in concert by multiple sorcerers who know it, especially when crafting Manses, which obviously have prohibitive costs (since even a small level 1 manse could cost thousands of motes to construct). During multi-day casting of this spell, at least one sorcerer involved must be actively casting the spell at all times. The essence motes for the spell can be spent at any time during the casting, but they must all be spent by the end of the effort, or the spell fails spectacularly. Large explosions are not unheard of, proportionate to the essence that has in fact been spent, but often strange and unsafe changes to the landscape result instead.

Predictate of Empty Aspirations - by DeathBySurfeit
Circle: Void
Cost: 25 Motes

Cusping his hands together, the necromancer summons wisps and tendrils of spectral white Essence, streaming into his grasp until their combined brilliance sends streamers of light from every crack and opening in his grip. At the conclusion of casting, he reveals what he holds - a shimmering sphere of purest ivory, a creation of entrancing beauty a hand's width across. It whispers to the necromancer's desired target, beckoning forth their innermost desires; unless they succeed at a Temperance + Willpower roll at a difficulty equal to the necromancer's Essence (and this roll may be voluntarily failed), they will speak of one of their ambitions, hopes or desires. As the words make themselves manifest, the sphere bloats and deforms, peeling open to reveal a writhing mass of glutinous black essence that squirms away in all directions.

The stated dream will become true, although the time and circumstances required are not assured. Further, its realisation will never bring less than tragedy upon the target. The greater the aspiration, the greater the loss that accompanies it; wishing for the love of a man might come about as he perishes and, as a stalking ghost, builds an infatuation with the one that bore fondness for him in life; wishing for death to all Dragon-Blooded may come about as a second manifestation of the Great Contagion, killing all the character held dear in the process.

Comments

I've got something for Terrestrial Circle, but it'll have to wait until I get back home. Until then, go on ahead without me.
~ WillCoon says arr

There you go, a Raksha-dream-combat spell. Any thoughts? As noted before, I'm new at this, so feel free to guide me if I have strayed.

~ WillCoon

What stats do you use for the shaping combat? Are you assuming Grace=Appropriate Virtue? -- Somori

Right, knew I forgot something ^ ^;

But actually, now that I think of it, all the graces seem to directly do in shaping combat, apart from charm-related stuff, is provide damage tracks, is that right? In which case, the problem is dealt with as normal, as instead of having damage tracks, creation-born make resistance rolls against damage dealt.

Unless I'm wrong, which is quite possible, as I seem to discover something new about the Fair Folk every time I open that book. In which case, Grace=Virtue sounds fair, no?

~ WillCoon

Dreams straight after Emotions? I'll do my best...DeathBySurfeit, still curious about what happened to the sixth Emotions spell

Quite so, the distinction is intended to be played up - the actual occurences of Dream, rather than purely the Emotional context thereof. Is this misguided?

In any case, that's a rather pretty spell. Necromancers can be so mean.

As far as "the sixth spell" goes, I was told to create this new page after the fifth spell. If this is wrong, is there a standard rectification procedure? Is someone intended to go back and make another Emotions spell? I'm still a little wet behind the ears, as it were, so I'd appreciate the sage guidance of my elders.

~WillCoon

Re: Graceful Treading of the Dream-Eater's Path</b>

Cup = Conviction + (Investigation, Larceny, Medicine, Performance, or Stealth) to hit, Conviction + Dodge to avoid. Base damage Valor + Shaping Weapon. Soak with Temperence + Willpower. Inflicts Ravishing. Ravished Raksha mark this damage against Compassion + Cup. Ravished creatures of Creation roll Willpower + Essence (+1 for Dragon Blooded, +2 for Lunars and Sidereals, +3 for Solars and Abyssals) against a difficulty equal to the Shaping Damage successes; success means no damage, failure means ravishment. Effects are otherwise as normal - Compassion removes empathy for a specific other person, Conviction names an event the victim cannot bear to witness, Temperance names a passion the victim cannot help but indulge, Valor names a phobia the victim gains. This is permanent unless healed through charms, but it can be resisted for a scene with a temporary willpower point. Ravishing also reduces the relevant Virtue by one point, and gives the attacker 10 Essence back.

Ring = Intelligence + (Bureaucracy, Craft [Glamour], Endurance, Lore, or Martial Arts) to hit, Intelligence + Dodge to avoid. Base damage Perception + Shaping Weapon. Soak with Wits + Willpower. Inflicts Incumbrances. Burdened Raksha mark this damage against Temperence + Ring. Creatures of Creation roll against this damage just as against Ravishing. Successfully burdening a target requires them to fulfill a task, but, the task must be: possible, not conflicting with previous Burdens, not permanently damaging to the victim, a specific task rather than a general behavior, and it must not require the victim to expend irreplaceable resources to achieve it.

Staff = Manipulation + (Linguistics, Occult, Ride, Socialize, or Thrown) to hit, Manipulation + Dodge to avoid. Base damage Charisma + Shaping Weapon. Soak with Appearance + Willpower. Inflicts taboos, oaths, and obligations; this is known as "snaring." Raksha mark this damage against Conviction + Staff, and any excess damage overflows to one of the other shaping damage tracks. Creatures of Creation roll against this damage just as against the other two. If they fail, not only are they Snared, but they are also Ravished, Burdened, or Vexed at the attacker's choice.

Sword = Dexterity + (Archery, Athletics, Brawl, Melee, or Presence) to hit, Dexterity + Dodge to avoid. Base damage Strength + Shaping Weapon. Soak with Stamina + Willpower. Inflicts Vexations. Raksha mark this damage against Valor + Sword. Creatures of Creation roll against this damage just as for the other three types. Vexing a Raksha allows stealing up to 5 dots worth of Artifacts from it, though the Heart Grace may not be stolen. The protection on the Heart Grace lapses if the attacker already holds the Raksha's Sword Grace, or if the Raksha's Sword Grace is broken. Creatures of Creation are usually Vexed normally, though you have specified a different effect in your spell, which makes perfect sense in the context of what the spell does.

There's a summary of shaping combat for ya. Rather complicated... but not too much moreso than regular combat, all things considered. Remember that the specific events in a dream are probably part of stunts for either side's shaping roll, and thus will simply be part of a bonus or penalty for the one big roll each side makes for the scene. Have fun playing out the scene, with or without rolling for specific feats as you see fit, and then assess modifiers to the shaping rolls at the end of it.
I do like the idea of this spell... it allows Exalted to take part in shaping combat without bringing the mortality of Creation with them. At least, it doesn't affect any Raksha participants. Sword attacks make hurty for the Exalt who uses this spell, which I like better, in some ways, than losing artifacts...

- IanPrice.

Beautiful! Very helpful.

~ WillCoon

My brother loves fae in all forms, as do I, and so one of the three Exalted books I own is the Fair Folk book. Figured an explanation would be helpful. - IanPrice

Nice... But why have it act as euthanasia for willing mortals? Surely it would seem more sensible if it just fails to take effect. I personally would treat those 10 motes as committed until the spell ends (or maybe just for the 3 hours until they've finished climbing the staircase) but aside from that, great spell, and I'm glad to see the relay is still going!
-- Darloth

Agreed. I'd suggest perhaps that mortals find themselves simply climbing the stair indefinitely, either giving up, or climbing for the full 8 hours, and awakening exhausted. -- GregLink

Oooh. That's cool. Pick that one, pick that one!
-- Darloth

Taken. :) Yeah, that is better. I wasn't to worried about mortals, as they probably couldn't get past the Lions anyway. Personally, I don't like committed essence on spells(there never seems to be a rhyme or reason to it) and I wanted the cost to be cheap enough that you could send a party if you wanted. The 2 wp per casting is probably a bigger problem. -FlowsLikeBits

Here's another one. I quite like writing this necromancy stuff; with any luck, you'll quite like it too. I do fear, however, this is more of a candidate for the Void Circle...DeathBySurfeit

The utter lack of any checks or balances does tend to make it look void circle. Immeasurably cool, however.
-- Darloth

Rebranded accordingly - sorry for the sequential slipup, folks. Also, post more spells! ...DeathBySurfeit

Excellent spells, Death, Ian! You can have anything you want...
Dream Given Form struck me as too strong, until I recalled that many such tasks as artifact creation only really require time and effort, no? In which case, Solar Sorcerors spewing artifacts out of their eyes seems a bit more plausible. Just as long as they don't go overboard and make everyone +1 Swords or whatever...
In any case, it's your theme now, ne? *hops back and forth* I need more relay!
~ WillCoon

I think the really big limiting factor on that spell is cost. Sure, you can spit out a Daiklave for 30m, but a Warstrider will probably cost hundreds or thousands of motes due to the mass created. Since you have to spend all the necessary essence within the casting time, that makes it impossible for a single sorceror to make anything too big with this spell. Anyway, I'm glad you like it! - IanPrice, who figured, hey, Twilight can already make artifacts in an hour with their hands by mastering the Craft tree...