MartialArts/VoidDragonStyle
Void Dragon Martial Art
History
The Immaculate Order dominated the Realm’s way of life for centuries. It has given thousands of citizen’s hope in their Dragon-Blooded masters, and has spawned numerous unique and mysterious fighting styles. Roughly one hundred and fifty years ago, there was an Immaculate Martial Artist by the name of Tyrammon. He was a mortal, but was considered a prodigy amongst his peers in the utilization of technique and essence in tandem. He was not only a skilled martial artist, but a scholar of the First Age, and was always seeking to find First Age fighting techniques to aid his quest in understanding the Immaculate Dragons. But one day, while poring through ageless manuscripts and diagrams, he came across a startling realization…
As Tyrammon began to piece together ancient tomes and essays, the Immaculate dogma began to crumble before his eyes. Before long, and after a great amount of soul-searching, he realized that the Realm’s religion…his religion, was all a lie. He prepared to leave The Realm, shaken and disgusted by a faith built on lies and corruption. He was found out however by his closest friends and advisors, and fled in terror from an omnipotent religion, chased by its most fearsome Inquisitors.
He escaped to the Threshold, where he began constructing his own Martial Art. Before he left, he was setting down the basic knowledge for the “Five Dragon’s Fists” style, utilizing all five Immaculate Philosophies that would be applicable to mortal practitioners. But now, he began creating a Martial Art that completely excluded all elemental ability and focused instead on the structure of essence in creation. This was the beginning of the “Void Dragon Style”, which emphasized the use of essence to manipulate space, distance, inertia, and force. He practiced and mastered this Style for the next twenty-five years, living as a hermit in the forests of the East. He then went out into civilized lands, gathering students and convincing those of the Realm that their almighty religion was all a sham. A monastery-school was built, where he trained and taught all of his students. But his prosperity was not to last…
Dragon-Blooded Inquisitors of the Immaculate Philosophy had found his Monastery, and brought nearly five hundred soldiers to eradicate it from the face of creation, scattering and butchering the students, teachers and finally, after a blood-soaked fight that cost nearly fifty soldiers, killed Tyrammon himself. Few escaped the whole-sale slaughter that occurred that day, but those that did fled into hiding. Keeping a low profile and only exposing themselves to potential students, the Void Dragon Style lives on, if only in the hearts and minds of a few dozen men and women…
The form weapons for this Martial Arts tree are the Fighting Gauntlet and the Saber (slashing sword).
Void Strike</b>
<b>Cost: 1 mote per die Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Min. Martial Arts: 1 Min. Essence: 1 Prereqs: None
As the Exalted’s knowledge of space and distance increase, she can begin using essence to warp basic factors such as lines of interception and angles of attack, causing those wishing to defend themselves by dodging or parrying to misjudge the actual distance, angle, and timing of the attack. For every mote spent, you may add one die to your Dex+MA attack pool. You may not more than double your dice pool in this way.
Force Without Power Technique</b>
<b>Cost: 2 motes Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Min. Martial Arts: 2 Min. Essence: 1 Prereqs: Void Strike
As the Martial Artist begins to grow in skill and ability, the limitations of strength, size, and mass have little or no meaning. With this charm, the Martial Artist may lash out at her target, be it living or inanimate, and for every pre-soak level of damage, regardless of size and weight, send it hurtling back one yard. If said target impacts another object before reaching its full knock back range, it takes bashing levels of damage equal to the remaining distance. Other hazards (spikes of sharpened bone, spear walls, magma) might cause lethal damage at the ST’s discretion.
Shifting the Plane</b>
<b>Cost: 1 mote per +1 difficulty to hit Duration: One Turn Type: Reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 3 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: None
The character infuses the world around him with essence and subtly twists the fundamental laws of space, distance, and lines of intersection, making the air around the exalted shift like broken glass, causing attacks directed against her to slip past ineffectively with only the barest of defensive maneuvers.
For every mote spent, increase the difficulty of a single perceived attack by 1. You may not spend more motes than you have permanent essence.
Void Dragon Form</b>
<b>Cost: 6 motes Duration: Scene Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 4 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Force Without Power Technique
By expanding her spatial awareness with essence, the Exalt becomes a gracefully efficient warrior, dodging and parrying attacks with lightening speed as well as frightening efficiency, utilizing the least amount of energy and movement for the most effect. Every movement is perfectly measured and every action flows smoothly, focusing body rotation and gravitational marriage into perfect harmony.
While this Charm is in effect, the Exalted reduces all opponents defensive dice pools by her permanent essence because of the dominating control of space and distance the exalt commands. Also because of the sight-bending abnormalities of creation that the Exalted twists around herself, enemies attacking the Exalt subtract a number of dice from their pools equal to the character’s permanent essence. Finally, because of the eerie precision in which the character strikes, his or her unarmed attacks are considered lethal. You may parry lethal damage without a stunt as long as this charm is active, and because of the Martial Artist’s unerring precision, all environmental penalties are removed when performing actions under the aegis of this charm.
Strike Without Distance Technique</b>
<b>Cost: 4 motes Duration: Instant Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 4 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Void Dragon Form
At this point of Void Dragon mastery, an Exalted utilizing this charm can supercede the limitations and restrictions of reality, especially in this case, distance. After focusing her essence, the Exalted imperceptibly shifts herself outside of creation, sidestepping into the spaces between molecules. In this moment, she strikes…and disappears. Only seconds later, however, the Exalt reappears, lashing out at a surprised and confused opponent, who was out of range only moments before.
Upon activation of this charm, the Exalt teleports towards an enemy and attacks. The maximum distance that can be teleported with this charm is equal to 10 x the user’s essence. Also, the shifting eddies of reality that surrounds the user of this charm as she rips back into the fabric of creation are disruptive to the cohesion of beings within it. Therefore, not only is the damage lethal, but add the Exalts’ permanent essence to the base damage of the attack.
Void Dragon's Flickering Coils</b>
<b>Cost: 6 motes, 1 Willpower Duration: Turn Type: Extra Action Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 3 Prereqs: Attack Without Distance Technique
As the Exalted practitioner of the Void Dragon Style increases in power, she begins to understand the underlying principles of how Creation was constructed. Using this charm, she bends, breaks, and scatters those rules to the four winds.
When this charm is activated, the air distorts around the Exalt, distances shifting and twisting in an eye-wrenching fashion. Likewise, the Exalt allows herself to become one with that distortion, for this effect is only a physical representation of the Exalt placing herself at multiple points in creation simultaneously. Then, the Exalt moves. Every movement preformed by the exalt seems to branch off into another blurred movement, shadowy afterimages of the Martial Artist twisting and snapping back into each other, only to separate again a moment later.
The utilization of this charm allows extra Martial Arts actions equal to the Exalts’ essence, but it does not need to be an attack. A character may not split his or her die pool during the turn this charm is activated. Because of the confusing afterimages and shrouded movements of the Exalt, a number of dice equal to the Exalts’ Martial Arts score can be distributed as the player sees fit throughout the extra actions.
Inertia Grounding Blow</b>
<b>Cost: 3 motes Duration: Varies Type: Supplemental Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Strike Without Distance Technique
After mastering the ability to manage herself through Creation, the exalted martial artist now moves on to affecting others within creations boundaries. With this charm, the Exalted strikes an opponent and grounds his essence, arresting the target’s movement and slowing down their reactions by altering the target’s inertia.
The Character makes a Martial Arts attack that, if successful, paralyzes the target for a number of turns equal to the number of health levels of damage inflicted.
Shifting Dragon Counterattack</b>
<b>Cost: 3 motes Duration: Instant Type: reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 4 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Void Dragon Form
By infusing her body with essence, an exalted using this charm may unleash a barrage of blows upon an attacking opponent. As an enemy strikes, the Exalt launches a flurry of attacks, gauzy, flickering fists and feet leaving blurred afterimages to strike again and again.
When attacked, this charm may be activated and the character may immediately make an attack at her full Dex + MA dice pool against the opponent. This attack is made after the roll to hit the counterattacking Exalted but before damage is determined. The character may make as many counterattacks as she has essence for, but cannot exceed her Martial Arts rating. This charm may not be activated in response to another counterattack charm.
Breaking the Plane</b>
<b>Cost: 6 motes Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Void Dragon Form
Advancing on the principles governing “Shifting the Plane”, the Exalt sunders reality and slips; if only for a moment, out of creation. During this time, her body flickers and shifts like a hazy, insubstantial wraith. Attacks that would have struck home slide instead through a turbulent rip in the fabric of creation, missing the Exalt and possibly disarming the attacker.
When Breaking the Plane is activated, the character can evade, without the need of a roll, any single attack that she can anticipate, even one with an area effect. Also, if and melee attacker scores the minimum amount of successes to hit (even though it would be ineffective) they must roll their wits + relative combat ability with a difficulty of the Exalts permanent essence or be disarmed, their weapon whirling out in a random direction. Breaking the Plane must be activated before their opponent’s attack roll.
Void Dragon's Eternal Vigilance</b>
<b>Cost: 8 motes, 1 Willpower, 1 Health Level Duration: Scene Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 4 Prereqs: Void Dragon's Flickering Coils, Inertia Grounding Blow, Flickering Dragon Counterattack, Breaking the Plane
To attain the knowledge of the final and most powerful technique, you must first learn to perceive all things within the Tapestry of Creation. Once this has been attained, space, distance, force and power are of no consequence, as the Exalt holds dominion over the very fabric of the world. Under the power of this charm, the Exalt flickers and shifts position imperceptibly, all movement appearing to be strobed, leaving behind faint afterimages of half-seen movements.
For the rest of the scene, the Void Dragon Master has total knowledge of her surroundings. Everything within 50 feet x her permanent essence is know to her. Also, because of her grasp on distance, range, and space, the Exalted Martial Artist may use her full Ma + Dexterity pool or Dodge + Dexterity pool against any and all attacks directed at her (including insubstantial attacks). If successful, the player may make a counterattack with a Dexterity + MA pool equal to the extra successes on the roll and her permanent essence. You implement no more counterattacks in a turn higher than your Permanent Essence. These attacks may be supplemented with charms, just like regular attacks.
Counterattacks may not be used in response to counterattacks. Form Weapons are allowed for this charm.
