Falcon/AscensionFromEarthToTheHeavens

Ascension From Earth To The Heavens

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Devised by Choyo-Sen, a legendary Sidereal martial artist of the Gold Faction, this two-stage initiation is intended to prepare Dragon Bloods for the rigours of celestial martial arts by acclimatising their bodies to channelling large amounts of rarified essence. Choyo-Sen conceived of it as a favour for Kestrel, his most wayward pupil, who uses it to train Dragon Bloods that she recruits into her Golden Pact.

Charms

Finding The Well Of The Spirit</b>

<b>Cost: None
Duration: Permanent
Type: N/A
Min. Martial Arts: 3
Min. Occult: 1
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: None

The first step to training Dragon Bloods to perform the martial arts of the demigods is to train them to use the more diffuse essence of the celestial spheres. Since the Terrestrial Exalted cannot, by their nature, touch such essence, Choyo-Sen teaches them to find a similar source of power closer to home. With months, maybe years of meditation and introspection, the disciple discovers a well of spiritual energy within him that he can use to power his magic.

Every time a character takes this charm, his Essence is considered to be one higher when calculating his personal and peripheral essence pools. (Which equates to +1 personal and +4 peripheral essence.) This charm costs the same XP to purchase as a normal Dragon-Blooded charm. These bonuses can never raise a Dragon-Bloods effective Essence above 10, and do not convey any other benefits of high Essence. A character cannot take this charm more times than they have dots of Essence.

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Efficient Magical Method</b>

<b>Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Scene
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 3
Min. Occult: 2
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: Finding The Well Of The Spirit

Once the initial training is grasped, the final stage of the initiation is relatively easy. The student practices with his charms, trying to produce the same effect with ever reducing amounts of essence. Choyo-Sen knows that although it seems otherwise, the student's magic never becomes more efficient: rather his practice, in combination with the esoteric wisdom of the master, is allowing him to draw ambient essence from his surroundings to help fuel his might.

When this charm is activated, all charms used by the martial artist for the rest of the scene cost 1 fewer motes to activate, to a minimum of 1 mote. This charm can be activated multiple times in one scene, but no more times per scene than your permanent Essence. It has no effect on the cost of sorcery.

Initiation Effect

A Terrestrial Exalt who knows both of these charms is suitably spiritually conditioned to learn Celestial level martial arts. Choyo-Sen usually teaches them one of the animal styles.

Comments

I like EMM; it might be nice to be explicit that you can activate it multiple times for a stacked effect. The Spirit Well charm, I think, is kind of disappointing in that its benefit negates itself as Essence increases. Have you considered a different pool-expansion method? Increasing Breeding is promising to me. - willows

Tweaked EMM to clarify some. I'll have a think about different essence-plussing mechanics and get back to you. - F

I think increased Breeding is actually an interesting idea... how about this?

Meditating on the grand harmony of Gaia, the Dragon-Blood senses the inevitable connectedness of the spheres and the Earth. Sunlight, falling upon wood, gives it life; and it is said all fire derives from that primal Essence. As the moon drags the tides and the stars are cloaked by the air, so too is the earth shaped by all these forces- understanding this central principle, the Dragon-Blooded begins to become something more than simply a scion of the elements. Each time this Charm is purchased, she increases her Breeding Background by 1. If this would bring the background above 5, she instead adds 1 to her maximum Personal Essence pool and 2 to her Periphial. The elemental markings of Dragon-Blooded who practice this Charm often have a distant trace of some Celestial heritage- a golden tinge to a Fire Aspect's aura, silver specks in the skin and eyes of an Air Aspect, or other, similar effects. This Charm may be purchased a number of times equal to the Dragon-Blooded's Martial Arts. - Arafelis

Tiny, tiny lil question: when you say that EMM has no effect on the cost of sorcery, are you including the sorcery-activating Charm?
~ Shataina

I thought sorcery-activating charms only cost Willpower to activate? Have I missed something somewhere? - F

It's possible for a sorcery-activating Charm to have its cost artifically increased by certain effects, such as one of the Sidereal Battle-Patterns or Armor of the Wood Dragon. I'm not sure if this is what Shataina means. - Arafelis

Okay, well as a sudden ruling I'll say that the charm gets a discount, but you still have to pay full whack for the spell. - F