Air Flow, Silver Mirror
Air Flows, Silver Mirror -- Raven Xanthus
This is an extremely odd martial art. Essence users are the keystone of crafting Charms for a Martial Arts, but the school of Air Flows, Silver Mirror was one founded by a monk long ago, the original story have been traced back to the Shogun Wars. The complex history of this art has cloaked it in mystery is the simple ability that boasts this art above its mortal brethren, to the rank of Terrestrial. The Immaculate Order allows for Dragonblooded to learn everything up to, but not including, the Form charm but they guard the rest of the Style like a dark secret, and in truth it is. Unlike most Terrestrial Martial Arts this one is close to ascending to full Celestial status.
Inner Eye Meditation
Cost: 3m Min: Essence 1, Martial Arts 3, Awareness 3 Type: Reflexive Keyword: Duration: Permanent Prerequisite: N/A
Fluff: The first tenet of this martial art is to understand that while the air is invisible to the eye it hints at the greater unknown secrets that are hidden from mortal eyes. True understanding of this allows the martial artist truly see, by communing with the spirit of air itself.
Crunch: A martial artist may spend three motes to open the 'Inner Eye' and gain the ability to see beyond the norm for a scene. This doesn't count as a Charm use for the tick. At Essence One this counts as a Third Eye Mutation, though you have no extra eye. At Essence Two the sense sharpens supernaturally to act as a Chakra Eye, but you still suffering no drawbacks. At Essence Three the eye once more evolves into a Lidless Demon Eye, but now this charm can also allow an Exalt to activate their Caste Mark for 3m less. At Essence Four the cost of any Charm that has this one as a Prerequisite is reduced by 2m to a minimum of 1, if it would reduce the cost bellow 1 you may now activate those Charms without it counting as a Charm activation, though the martial artist must still pay the 1m. At Essence Five the eye has gained to ability to stay open indefinitely but this would mean committing the motes to the Eye as if it were an artifact.
Inwards Facing Silver Mirror
Cost: --- Min: Essence 3, Martial Arts 3, Awareness 3, Integrity 1 Type: Simple Keyword: Duration: Permanent Prerequisite: Inner Eye Meditation
Fluff: By turning the Inner Eye towards himself the Monk was said to have found the very core of his self and understanding followed. His soul bare before the eye he couldn't lie to himself and thus he, both the good and the ill, was exposed.
Crunch: A Martial Artist who learns this charm is fully aware of his Virtues, thus when one is effected the Martial Artist is aware of it.
Outwards Facing Silver Mirror
Cost: 1m per die or 5m Min: Essence 1, Martial Arts 3 Type: Reflexive (Step 2) Keyword: Native [Human] Duration: Instant Prerequisite: Inner Eye Meditation
Fluff: Throughout the time as a journeyman the Monk learned the lesson of being too appealing a target for bandits. His hands learned the melancholy of taking a man's life and in that instant he swore off killing. His hands became like a mirror, forevermore reflecting violence away, but never again would they take up the slayers art. This he swore on his very life.
Crunch: The martial artist may add up to Martial Arts+ Dexterity dice to a single parry. He may parry a lethal attack barehanded. However to use this the Martial Artist must not deal Lethal or Aggravated Damage, should he do so he can not gain the benefit of this Charm until his DV Refreshes twice. If this Charm is used by an Exalt they may utilize it to block any blow that hasn't been modified by Charms. However, this special use costs five Motes.
Air Flows Kata
Cost: 3m and/or 1 Willpower Min: Essence 1, Martial Arts 3, Resistance 1 Type: Simple Keyword: Native [Human] Duration: Martial Arts + Integrity DV Refreshes Prerequisite: Inner Eye Meditation
Fluff: The Inner Eye enhanced the Monk's ability to meditate to the point that he could achieve the dauntlessness of the spring wind over a lake even in the midst of battle. This vigor allowed the Monk to preform feats of great stamina and endurance. In addition the Monk notice that his ability to defend himself grew with his skill.
Crunch: After activating this Charm the Martial Artist subtracts his Resistance from the Difficulty of any Stamina based test to a minimum of two. In addition the Martial Artist can increase his Parry DV by his Integrity, up to maximum of his Permanent Essence, by paying for the charm again.
Air Flows, Silver Mirror Form
Cost: 5m and 1 Willpower, (Varies)m or (Varies) Willpower Min: Essence 2, Martial Arts 4, Resistance 3, Integrity 3 Type: Form Keyword: Native [Human] Duration: Scene or Extended Action (See text) Prerequisite: Inwards Facing Silver Mirror, Outwards Facing Silver Mirror, & Air Flow Kata
Fluff: The Monk reached the apex of a mountain one day, his journey having taken him to the temple upon it, and what he found was horror. The God lie slain and the Anathema stood reveling in the blood soaked holy ground with one of the temple maidens. The Monk, appalled by this sight, mastered himself and struck, fighting the Anathema in the cold mountain shrine an entire week. The Inner Eye and the Silver Mirror he had perfected on his journey allowed him to turn the tides often enough that the Anathema couldn't break him, and slowly the Inner Eye pierced the Anathema to see the weakness in the dark ones soul. This is the very form he perfected during those seven days.
Crunch: In this form the Martial Artist is able to fight for days on end with an unending endurance and a serine, unflinching mind. This Form has the following benefits:
- The Martial Artist may parry Lethal attacks barehanded.
- The Martial Artist calculates his Soak as follows: Stamina + Resistance for Bashing Soak & Stamina + Resistance/2 for Lethal Soak. Whilst in this Form the Marital Artist's Soak cost double to modify with Charms.
- The Martial Artist adds his Integrity to any Valor or Conviction based tests.
- The Martial Artist may spend a number of Motes to extend the battle for an equal number of hours, the same can be done with Willpower for Equivalence in Days. The extended combat allows one attack from the target (Unmodified) which if it hits deals the successes in Lethal Damage (Unsoakable save by charms) instead of normal damage. This allows for the Martial Artist to get more time with his opponent.
Outwards Facing Mirror's perfect soak is explicitly unable to be preformed during this extended action. After the action resolves and combat is Rejoined the Target must make a Stamina + Resistance test with a difficulty equal to the number of hours the extended action took/2, don't divide the result if it was days, failure grants them a internal penalty equal to the difficulty of the check/2, don't divide if you used days, of the test.
Bloodstained Silver Mirror Prana
Cost: 3m and 1 Willpower Min: Essence 2, Martial Arts 5, Resistance 3 Type: Supplemental Keyword: Native [Human] Duration: Extended Action (See text) Prerequisite: Air Flows, Silver Mirror Form
Fluff: Inside the Essence of that dark one the Monk found an insidious knot of hatred, pain, madness and despair. It had taken four days of battle but once stricken the knot caused chaos within the Essence of the dark one.
Crunch: The Martial Artist can do a Perception+ Awareness to gain insight into the inner workings of the targets Essence Flows during extended combat, such as the extend ability of the Form Charm or in Mass Combat after six Long Ticks. This grants the following Benefits for the rest of the battle against that target.
- For 3 motes and one Willpower making the Martial Artist's next attack either Unblockable or Undodgeable.
Sable Air Flows Kata
Cost: --- Min: Essence 2, Martial Arts 4, Integrity 3 Type: Supplemental Keyword: Native [Human] Duration: Extended Action (See text) Prerequisite: Air Flows, Silver Mirror Form
Fluff: Now with greater understanding of his enemy the Monk continued forward heedless to his own wounds as he fought on past dawn and dusk. His understanding of the Essence in another's soul granted him a boon, for like the wind the mountain could not defeat him only endure.
Crunch: While in Air Flows, Silver Mirror Form the Martial artist is able to utilize the following ability during extended combat:
- The Martial Artist may perfectly defend against attacks with a cost of 2 Willpower. Each invocation of this ability is accompanied by an Stamina + Resistance test vs a Difficulty equal to the number of Willpower used during the scene (Minimum of 3) with failure result in the Difficulty in Unsoakable Bashing Damage. This damage is considered a unique flaw of invulnerability. This ability can be used as either a dodge or a parry, but may not dodge the undodgeable or block the unblockable.
Blooded Saint of Carrion Winds
Cost: --- Min: Essence 3, Martial Arts 5, Integrity 4, Resistance 4 Type: Training Keyword: Martyr, Training Duration: Extended Action (See text) Prerequisite: Air Flows, Silver Mirror Form
Fluff: Finally with shuttering steps the dark one died and the Monk felt his every breath. The drops of blood he had left were numbered and in an supreme effort he managed to step over to the shrine and with his last minutes he wrote the secrets to his style down for another to learn, and hopefully improve upon. The only surviving maiden of the massacre was said to be the one to find him and his final gift to the world.
Crunch: Up to one hour after a battle that the Martial Artist entered his -4 wound penalty the Martial Artist may write a scroll as an extended action that teaches up to, but not inclueding, the Form Charm as if it were a Mentor of his ability. The Martial Artist needs to have Craft (Air) at one dot or higher to do this, but if this is his last moments he can ignore the need for the Craft skill as well as inscribe his entire knowledge of Air Flows, Silver Mirror into a scroll as his last action, after which he promptly dies.
Notes: Well, that escalated quickly, but in truth I really thought about just slapping the Celestial Tag on it and being done with it, but with the kinds of weirdness you can get from Path of the Arbiter I thought that this would have a good place at the tip-top of Terrestrial Martial Arts. Really this particular idea has been bugging me so judge on people. I know I found this one to be a bit hard to properly judge the power level on this one. It has a lot of built-in pitfalls that allow it hold it's lowly place but also it changes the dynamic of battle in such a way that if you look at it sideways its a bit overpowering.
