MartialArts/WhisperingMeadowStyle

Whisper Meadow Style

This style considers all actions made with slashing swords to be unarmed. It is compatible with all non-superheavy armor.

Student Charms

Waking Bloom Stance ((Camellia))
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: None
A flower does not bloom in darkness. Patient, it waits for the first light of dawn before it unveils it's colors.

Sword drawn, the adept assumes a ready stance of perfect poise and stillness. A state of absolute ready. When attacked during the turn in which he activates this Charm, the adept may make an immediate counter-attack with a number of dice equal to the number places in order of initiative which he has delayed his action. His counter-attack preempts that of his foe and is rolled first.

Blossom and Stem Stance ((Verbena))
Cost: 3 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Waking Bloom Stance
Without stem, the blossom cannot stand. Without blossom, the stem will wilt.

As the sword is the soul of the samurai, he in turn is it's body. One is not an extension of the other, but they are together a singular whole. The adept meditates upon his sword with hilt in hand until he feels himself become one with the spirit locked into it's steel. For the duration of the scene, he may add a number of points to the statistics of his weapon equal to Conviction. He may not raise a single statistic by more than his Essence.

Crimson Bloom Rebuke ((Carnation))
Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Waking Bloom Stance
Flowers in the ravine grow together in the best of faiths - but those that are underhanded or parasitic find themselves cut by their thorns and drained out of their sunlight and water by the disappointment of their sisters.

This Charm can be used whenever a character within range of the adept's normal movement speed takes an action that violates one of the adept's Taboos - the Adept receives an reflexive Martial Arts attack against the offending character - with movement granted by this Charm to cross the space between them. The character receives a single Taboo when she purchases this Charm and may buy additional ones at the cost of 1 Experience Point. Possible Taboos include:

• The adept will always walk with his banner and take no secretive action. None in his presence are permitted to make unexpected attacks.
• The adept will aid fallen opponents to their feet. None in his presence are permitted to attack fallen opponents.
• The adept will wait until their opponents have cleared their heads and aid them in clearing their heads. None in his presence are permitted to attack intoxicated opponents.

As long as the adept respects this taboo (which she must state at the beggining of each Story when preparing herself for a new journey and reviewing her current martial philosophies) she will receive its compulsions and benefits. To act against a taboo requires the adept to spend 2 willpower an act that is mechanically simple but emotionally difficult.

Elegant Rival's Regard (( Daffodil))
Cost: 2 motes per turn
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: None
Butterfly and blossom. How much does the beauty of each compliment the other, when they do not seek to outshine?

A formal distance from his foe, the adept waits in patience for them to make ready, focusing himself upon the beauty and fragility of life. This Charm may be activated whenever an enemy is disarmed, knocked prone, or declares their intention to activate a Charm with greater than Instant duration. Every turn the adept abstains from action in order to allow his foe to prepare, he converts a single die of both the attack and damage rolls of his first attack into automatic successes, up to his Temperance Essence in each.

He is permitted to make his own battle preparations while employing this Charm, but cannot take any other action (such attempting social rolls to dissuade his enemy from combat) or else looses all earned successes.

Form Charm

Whispering Meadow Form ((Morning Glory))
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Coy Maiden Maneuver, Blossom and Stem Stance, Crimson Bloom Rebuke
With a promise of further glory the adept lays down the rules of her being in a glorious proclamation as she proceeds to write them upon the world! When activating this Charm the adept can choose which Taboos she will follow for as long as the Form remains active - those can be the same or different than those she chose at the start of the Story, up to her Essence score in Taboos.

For the remainder of the Scene the adept adds her Linguistics score to her Initiative and Parries and her Conviction score to the base damage of her attacks. Her movements are like precise caligraphy, allowing her to finish the well-rehearsed movements of sheathing and unsheathing the weapons as a reflexive action.

The character's rules and handwriting appear described in the devastation left on her wake - a person surveying a locale in which the adept has fought can spend one Scene in contemplation and roll Intelligence+Linguistics with a Difficulty of the adept's Martial Arts: success gives a good idea of the Martial Artist's Taboos, Nature and Virtues.

Mastery Charms

Coy Maiden Maneuver ((Amaryllis))
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Whispering Meadow Form
Against the chill of night, the blossom swaths itself in maiden attire.

With this Charm, the adept is never without defense. Unarmed, undrawn, or even simply having expended his action for the turn, he may still reflexively parry an attack with his sheath, hilt, or bare hand. His pool is equal to his Temperance + Martial Arts. This Charm does not allow the adept to parry lethal damage unarmed.

When this Charm is activated in the presence of a large number of flowers, a swirling mass of petals will rise up and wrap the adept in a veil, increasing the difficulty of the attack being parried by 1. Images of flowers suffice for the purpose of this effect.