MartialArts/StarlightRoadStyle

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Starlight Road Style

The Starlight Road Style is among the few Terrestrial Martial Arts to survive from the First Age, though it’s practitioners in the Age of Sorrows are rare. It is a creation of love, crafted by a Chosen of Serenity and her Journeys husband and taught to their Star-Blessed child, who then was acting as messenger and agent for the Sidereal upon Creation. Love – love of self, of others, of duty, and of heaven - are all exemplified within this style. While all aspects of the heaven are touched upon, it is ultimately a peaceful journey, literally and figuratively, towards enlightenment and liberation. As the student begins as nothing more than a pawn of Fate’s hand, he slowly learns to accept their place in the grand dynamics of Creation and, in time, to embrace it as well.

Charms of the Starlight Road Style treat all attacks made with flamepieces or firewands as unarmed attacks. All Charms of this style are compatible with light armor. Certain Charms in the style also include the option to burn points of Destiny, effectively trade a greater fate for one brief moment of glory. Burning a point of Destiny reduces the over-all rating of the merit by one each time.

For games in which the Loom of Fate and the Pattern Spiders play an active role, it may be thematically appropriate for practitioners of this style to be penalized with the effects of Paradox for their constant shuffling of Destiny. Every scene the character moves their Destiny up and/or down a total of five dots, have the character roll a single die to see if they have earned the ire of the Pattern Spiders. Success on this roll gives the character a dot of Paradox. 10s count twice on this roll. In games which the Loom of Fate and the Pattern Spiders are not featured or only considered a very minor part of the setting, Fate can assumed to be more fluid and forgiving.

Student Charms

Star-Eyed Dreamer Stare
Cost: 1 mote per point
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 1
Minimum Essence: 2
Perquisite Charms: None
The tapestry of stars swims within the pilgrim’s eyes, a hypnotic dance of glittering lights that move to the patterns ordained by fate and forces those who meet his gaze to obey that pattern as well. At the beginning of a turn after initiative has been rolled, the pilgrim can steal initiative points from a single enemy he can see, reducing the targets initiative by one point and increasing his own for every mote spent. He cannot adjust their place more than his Martial Arts + his Destiny merit in points. If the target of this Charm has their initiative reduced all the way to zero, they loose their action for that turn. This Charm has no effect on creatures outside of Fate.

Erubescent Stardust Sigh
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Perquisite Charms: None
A gentle squeeze of the pilgrim’s trigger calls forth not burning flame, but instead a slowly pluming cloud of glittering carmine dust that billows past all cover and defenses. Unarmed attacks empowered with this Charm deal Bashing damage rather than Lethal damage, but the pilgrim ignores all difficulty modifiers imposed by shields or physical cover. Attacks enhanced by this Charm do not require any weapons employed with it to be loaded.

Additionally, if the pilgrim carries with him a map case or his stunt includes a notably witty remark, he may burn a point of Destiny and subtract his Wits in dice from his targets defense pool.

Amber Path Accordance
Cost: 3 motes + 1 mote per 3 yards
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Perquisite Charms: None
As stars move in accordance to a plan, so too does the pilgrim. Surrendering his feet to the pull of Fate, the adept rises from the ground in a smooth streak of yellow light. Whenever someone else moves in combat, the adept may immediately move with them, up to his (Martial Arts x 2 + Destiny merit) in yards and paying 1 mote for every three yards beyond this. The pilgrim will never grow any closer to his target, the distance between them always remaining the same and their relative position to one another constant. Any excess yards paid for are lost when they come to a stop.

The pilgrim has surrendered himself to Fate and cannot choose where exactly he will land, though it will never be somewhere immediately harmful to him (such onto a lake of fire or over an open pit of spikes). Similarly, he will never collide with anything dangerous, though cannot be certain if his foe will still be in sight upon landing.

Additionally, if the pilgrim wears a cape or a belt of rope when employing this Charm, he may burn a point of Destiny to increase the base number of yards he can follow his target to (Martial Arts x 3 + Destiny merit).

Form Charm

Starlight Road Form
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Perquisite Charms: Star-Eyed Dreamer Stare, Erubescent Stardust Sigh, Amber Path Accordance
The pilgrim assumes a stance of perfect balance. Neither slave to Fate no resisting it, he walks it’s road willingly and see’s every step laid out before him, Heaven and Earth united in his hands. While this Charm remains active, the pilgrim can choose receive a point of the Destiny merit as a reward in place of Willpower when he stunts, possessing up to Destiny 5 at one time. He may select one Astrological Blessing (see E:tS pg210) to give himself for the duration of the Charm. Additionally, any time he activates Star-Eyed Dreamer Stare, he can see clearly even through the darkest nights, ignoring all sight-based penalties, even those gained from the Blind flaw, for a number of turns equal to his Martial Arts.

This is a Martial Arts Form-type Charm and is incompatible with other Forms. If another Form is activated, this Form will immediately cease.

Mastery Techniques

Golden Orrery Alignment
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 2
Perquisite Charms: Starlight Road Form
Seeing the movements of battle just an astronomer comprehends heaven in the spinning spheres of an orrery, the pilgrim has learned switch those stars who are in alignment to better suit his needs. Should anyone tie in initiative in the pilgrim’s presence, he may reflexively spend 1 mote and instantly physically swap their positions in a flash of yellow light. This can be done at any point before their action, but not after.

Heaven’s Demure Veil
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 2
Perquisite Charms: Starlight Road Form
Seeking no interference in the path he had chosen from himself, the pilgrim wraps himself in a mask of abstract destiny with the simple squeeze of a trigger. Activating this Charm causes a blossoming burst of emerald starlight to pour from the barrel of his firewand or the tips of his fingers. This mist spreads in all directions for a number of yards equal to his Martial Arts + the range of his weapon. Nearly blinded by the shimmering canopy of starlight, all of those caught within suffer from visibility penalties equal to a foggy night (Exalted pg237-238). Anyone attempting to read or altar the adept’s fate while he stands under this canopy has the difficulty of their actions increased by his Permanent Essence.

Additionally, if the pilgrim wears a mask or is quiet nearly to silence as he performs his stunt, he may burn a point of Destiny and reflexively make a Stealth + Dexterity roll to vanish utterly from sight.

Skyborn Sapphire Tides
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 2
Perquisite Charms: Starlight Road Form
Setting his feet on a path more peaceful, the pilgrim tips his powder horn and spills cerulean stardust into his firewand rather than burning black powder. Attacks empowered by this Charm ignore all armored soak, but deal no physical damage. Instead they overwhelm the target with giddiness and tickling sensation, like the cool fingers of a lover sliding across their skin. Roll the pilgrim’s Essence in place of regular damage and apply the number of successes as an accumulative penalty to their actions. Penalties from this Charm do no stack with those from lost health levels or those caused by pain-induced sources (such as Joint-Wounding Attack), but instead negate one another one a one-per-one basis. Targets who are incapable of feeling pleasure, such as constructs or the undead are unaffected by this Charm.

Additionally, if the pilgrim encompasses the imagery of flowers or words of poetry into a stunt when employing this Charm, he may burn a point of Destiny to add his Compassion to his Essence for the effect of this Charm.

Pinnacle Charm

Resplendent Amethyst Independence
Cost: 6 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Perquisite Charms: Golden Orrery Alignment, Heaven’s Demure Veil, Skyborn Sapphire Sky
Those stars which burn half as long burn twice as brightly. Engulfed in a halo of burning starlight, the adept takes his destiny into his own hands. For the remainder of the scene, each point of Destiny the pilgrim burns on other Charms increases his effective Essence rating by one dot, up to twice it's original rating.

Each point of Destiny burned in this manner also feeds an ever growing corona of amethyst starlight in the air around him, while the adept himself grows ever more insubstantial, until by the time he has spent it all, he is little more than a vaguely human shape moving through the cloud. Every point of Destiny burned inflicts an accumulative -1 success penalty on all attacks made against the adept for the remainder of the scene.

Comments

As if I hadn't said this enough, but let me say this again: this style is simply sublime! ~ GoldenCat mesmerized by the pretty lights