HearthstoneRelay/HarderFaster

The fortieth theme is Faster, Harder, More!

These hearthstones are not for people who like to stop and smell the roses.

 

Stone of Tiny Endings (Ikselam)

Sidereal Manse 1

Trigger: A special prayer.

This deep purple hearthstone glows with ultraviolet light, making it uncomfortable to look at. When attuned, it can be used as a focus for a special prayer to the Maiden of Endings. The prayer briefly draws her close attention, creating an ineffable sense of closure in all who are nearby.

Mechanically, activating the stone forces a scene break. This power can be used once a day, and only functions when Saturn is visible. The prayer is a speed 6 miscellaneous action, consisting of a Charisma + Occult roll at difficulty 2. If the roll botches, the Maiden of Secrets becomes annoyed and shatters the stone.

Stone of Force (LeumasWhite)

Solar Manse 2

Trigger: A miscellaneous action.

This flat golden stone shines brightly, and occasionally throws off small white sparks. Once set and attuned, it empowers the user with excessive force; all of her attacks cause knockback, and she may add her Strength to her total when calculating her movement or jumping distances (Strength + Dexterity yards per tick for a move action, and Strength x 2 + Athletics in yards for a jump action).

However, the force the stone creates is indeed excessive; moving less than the full movement or jumping distance requires a reflexive Strength or Wits + Athletics roll, difficulty 2, to bring the character to a halt; failure causes knockdown. Also, picking up objects or performing other actions (such as handshakes) may require a similar roll, as the character tends to slap things away rather than interact with them as intended. The character can turn off all of these effects with a miscellaneous action, and can turn them on again with the same.

Sword Lantern - willows

Solar Manse 3

Trigger: Joining Battle

This crystal orb is filled with swirling blue lights. It is too bright to be looked at directly.

When set into an Artifact, the Sword Lantern's luminosity ebbs a bit. When the bearer joins in battle, he may commit motes equal to twice the Artifact's rating, as part of his Join Battle action. This energy is focussed through the Lantern, which projects a blue-white Essence duplicate of the device it's set in. They are connected by a gauzy Essence umbilicus, from setting to setting. The umbilicus is quite short, and sturdy as a Magical Material; for different people to use the source item and the Essence duplicate, they must move as though handcuffed together.

The Essence duplicate dissipates at the end of the scene. While it exists, it is a precise functional duplicate of the source Artifact. Attunement to the Manse constitutes attunement to the duplicate.

Phoebe's Heart - ArabianNinja

Lunar Manse 4

Trigger: Constant

A half-spherical gem, whos deep onyx featureless face holds nothing save during the night when it will always reflect the phase of the moon.
When attuned, Phoebe's Heart grants the user an increase in their essence as if blessed by the Celestial Incarna Herself. Aslong as the attuned user carries the stone, their permanent essence will be counter as 1 higher for all things, be it for calculation, minimums, rolls etc. If the stone is unattuned all benefits are lost immediately, and all calculated figures are reverted to normal. If charms were purchased with a higher than actual requirement, the charms are rendered useless untill the minimums are met.

Tumbling Repetition - IanPrice

Sidereal Manse 5

Trigger: Repeating an action.

This glittering purple stone appears spherical, until you look closely and realize it has hundreds of identical, pentagonal faces. The shape of their interlocking actually makes the gem slightly prickly to the touch, though the points are so small that it is more of a tingle. When attuned properly, this stone's magic allows the weilder to build up tremendous momentum, both literally and metaphorically. Any time the owner or the stone takes an action in combat (physical, social, or War), and then takes the same action again (say, a sword attack followed by another sword attack, with the same sword, not in a flurry), the second action's Speed is reduced by 1. Stunts may benefit from this stone just like any other action; treat them as the basic foundation of the stunt in case non-stunted versions of the action recur, or in case it is simply a stunted version of a previously repeated action. For instance, a Social Flurry containing a veiled insult to one party which compliments his date might be repeated, and the second time could be a stunt with a particularly witty turn of phrase from the player ("A new exotic pet, dear? He does go well with your dress," might qualify, insulting the pompous general while stroking the ego of the princess he's escorting). Both flurries are considered the same by this stone: an insult paired with a compliment, being a Manipulation + Socialize attack and a Charisma + Socialize attack. Once this stone has reduced the speed of a given action, it remains reduced until combat is over, but any single action may benefit from this reduction only once. Any number of combat actions may benefit from this stone at once.

Particularly interesting is the potential to use this stone in crafting projects. Once a prototype has been completed, a team led by someone attuned to this stone can mass-produce anything, even artifacts. So long as the process used to craft the mass production copies is the same as with the prototype (same type factory and tools, same production team, same charms used), the production process is five times faster, stacking with all other production speed increases. The stone can only handle one type of construction project at once, and if the same project leader starts a different crafting project, that is considered the new prototype and the stone's effects re-set to the new project. The stone loses all memory of projects in process if de-attuned.

Comments

I could be wrong about this, but I though that Celestial Manses (Solars, Lunars and Sidereals) were mostly three and above. -Heru

It's possible to take less than three dots in the Celestial Manse background, and there are numerous canonical examples of level one and two celestial hearthstones. _Ikselam

Ah, okay then. It must be one of those things I read in a post somewhere by somebody. Something that got repeated and became 'official' in many people's mind without acutally being official. I'm actually glad I'm wrong, cause having Level 1 Solar Manses is very useful. -Heru

Just a side note, Manses of higher levels can be desgined to produce more than a single stone of comparable level. So you can have a level 3 Solar manse, and a level 1 and a level 2 stone from said manse. - ArabianNinja

Bit long-winded for what I intended, but eh. - LeumasWhite

Well, we have "faster" and "harder"; now we just need "more." _Ikselam

Daiklave-chucks! Woo! ...DeathBySurfeit

Damnit! I was going to say that ^_^
-- Darloth also approves

I hereby third the motion of 'Woo!'- DarkPhoenix, imagining the horror of Goremaul-chucks, or a fourteen-section-stave

New theme, then? IanPrice, your call. - LeumasWhite

It should be "Thematically Inappropriate." I can just imagine the comments on those. "I like your stone, CornDogGhost, but I just think it fits into Exalted's established milieu a little too well..." _Ikselam

I'm glad you all liked the stone. I was hoping to actually acknowledge and revel in the silliness of the theme. - willows