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Abyssal Lore Charms by CrownedSun

Stealing the Dragon's Bounty

 Cost: 1 willpower
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Lore: 5
 Minimum Essence: 4
 Prerequisite Charms: Breath-Draining Prana, Radiant Blight Technique

The Abyssal constructs several long barbed tendrils of Essence within his anima when he first learns this charm, which he uses whenever he activates this charm to rip essence raw and struggling from the natural Dragon Lines of Creation. The Abyssal regains a number of motes of Essence every time he uses this charm equal to his Willpower rating, though this act is not without repercussions. Whenever the Abyssal uses this charm, he slightly damages the very veins of Creation and consumes some of the vitality of the world. Most regions have enough vitality to sustain four uses of this charm before it's drained beyond any ability to suport the Abyssal. Any naturally respiring creature in the same region suffers from the Abyssals cannabalism, lowering his base essence regeneration rate. This subtracts 1 mote from his at ease rate, and 2 motes from his at rest rate. Thus after four uses of this charm other Exalted users in the region are unable to regain essence. One use of this charm usually heals after about three days, though each repeated use resets this clock entirely.

A region is defined as a fairly large area, such as the district of a city or a stretch of woods. In general, even one simply moving through a region will suffer from the Abyssals depredations while it has been injured, though only at half its normal penality (-1 to ease per two activations) unless he spends most of the hour within the afflicted area. The Abyssals castemark begins to bleed whenever he uses this charm.

Infallible Recall Meditation

 Cost: 1 mote per two dice
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Supplemental
 Minimum Lore: 1
 Minimum Essence: 1
 Prerequisite Charms: None

Our memories can be fickle and quicksilver, changing from moment to moment, unworthy of trust. This is not true of the Abyssal with this charm; his mind is like a trap, and nothing escapes its hard iron jaws. Instead of the memory of the livng, he has the memory of the dead -- eternal, unchanging, static. With the help of this charm, the Exalt can take full advantage of his new way of thinking, prying open the lid of his mind and finding exactly the memory he needs. The Abyssal can double any Intelligence + Lore roll related to memory. This charm also enhances the memory in question, giving him a clear and unchanging window into the past, unobscured by time or later information.

The difficulty of recalling information varies depending on how much the character knows about the subject in question. Most knowledge will not even require a roll and the Abyssal will simply spend 1 mote to enhance his recall ability. Other effects might require a roll of some kind. A difficulty 1 roll can get him most mundane bits of information that are hard to recall, such as the complete context of a recent conversation or the name of a person met in passing. A difficulty 3 roll allows the Abyssal to recall more obscure information, such as a short passage from a book read years ago or a conversation with a mentor long ago. This level is effective "photographic memory". With a difficulty 5 roll, the Abyssal can recall things that he can only vaguely be said to know at all, such as exhaustive details of things that happened years ago toward which he wasn't paying attention. This charm does not give you knowledge; anything you know will be tainted in some degree by your subjective experience and base of knowledge.

Rigorous Examination Technique

 Cost: 3+ motes
 Duration: One week
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Lore: 3
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: Infallible Recall Meditation

The fickleness of memory can be a great problem to anyone, when they are called upon to absorb vital bits of information. Writing is a tool that was invented to solve this very problem but it is not always feasible. Thankfully, the Abyssals have this charm which allows them to commit information to their prodigious memories – endowing the knowledge with the static essence of Death, ensuring that it remains exact and perfect in his mental recall until such time as he should need it again.

The use of this charm requires a thorough but not necessarily obsessive look over of the material, the time of which varies. If memorizing a book, the Abyssal must read the entire book with careful attention to detail. If he wishes to perfectly capture the essence of a painting, he must spend several minutes observing and considering the techniques and artistic style. Once that period is deemed sufficient, the character commits the motes. The cost is considered 3 motes for most items of knowledge, such as every word in a book or every individual stroke of a painting. If the feat is especially challenging or difficult, the cost should increase by about 2 motes per additional datum. Thus memorizing two books would cost 5 motes and preserving an entire room of pictures (about a dozen) would require 25 motes. The recall engendered by this charm is perfect in every way. The character might as well have the item or information in question before him, and is able to reference this mental representation as he wishes.

This representation is more than sufficient to later make a copy of the item studied, with just as much accuracy as if the Abyssal himself had the item available to him and close at hand. It does not, however, bestow any other particular facility for such forgery. The memory itself lasts no longer than the charms duration, but can be banished to the characters un-enhanced memory (with no more benefits from this charm) at any time. This results in the loss of a good deal of the preserved information, however. The ‘perfect copy’ does not still linger somewhere within your memory, only what you would normally remember after such an examination.