ExaltedEssence/Antagonists

Demons

Third Circle Demons

Erembour

Erembour, That Which Calls to Shadow, Third Circle Soul of the Ebon Dragon. Created by Zaleramancer

Ligier

Ligier, The Green Sun, Third Circle Soul of the Demon City. Created by Kymme

First Circle Demons

Madhuka

Madhuka, The Blood-Honey Bat, Demon of the First Circle Progeny of the Bearer of Broken Things

Swarming thickly in the silvered forests of Szorney and the marshy places where Metagaos blooms fly the madhuka. Each one resembles a baby's head covered in thick black hair streaming behind them, with a large pair of leathery wings sprouting in the place of ears. Tucked beneath their chins are a pair of fleshy hands with ragged nails, useful for gripping and hanging upside down while they rest. Their mouths are filled with needle-sharp teeth, with which they descend upon unwary travelers, gorging on their blood, then returning to hives and building combs of sweet red jelly. Infants and toddlers are safe from the bite of the madhuka, but not their attention; when the blood-honey bats find such unattended, they bear them back to their hives and feed them the red jelly, transforming the babe into another of their kind over five days and nights.

Travelers beset by madhuka sometimes can calm them by telling them a story; bedtime stories will even lull them to sleep. But woe to the poor or unoriginal storyteller, as they will be the first subject of the wrath of the swarm.

Sorcerers who summon madhuka to Creation most often do so either to cure plagues or to gain access to their honey. When the madhuka feed, they draw illness from the blood, and victims who had been afflicted by seemingly incurable illnesses can make nigh miraculous recoveries. The honey, fermented in darkness for three months, produces a distillation which functions much like age-staving cordial, restoring lost vitality and prolonging life.

Primary Pool: 8 (Grappling and Biting)
Secondary Pool: 6 (Flight)
Tertiary Pool: 4 (Stealth)

Health Levels: 4
Defense: 3
Hardness: 3; Soak: 3

While flying, madhuka increase their Defense to 5.

Madhuka have the Outnumber Qualities of More of Us, Mob Weight and Deadly Ground. Like all demons, they have the supernatural qualities of Immaterial, Immortal (Demon), and Measure the Wind

Victims who lose three or more health levels from a madhuka's bite in a scene may make an immediate Fortitude + Physique roll at difficulty 3 to reduce any natural illness in severity by one step. Increase the difficulty to 7 for supernatural illnesses such as puppeteer's plague.

Undead

Deathlords

The Mask of Winters

Primary Pool (15): History and modern, occult knowledge, perception, social and political manipulation

Secondary Pool (13): Combat functions, secondary interests

Tertiary Pool (9)

Resolve: 5

Health Levels: 7

Essence: 10

Motes: 27

Defense: 6

Hardness: 12

Soak: 6

General Qualities

• Significant: This character is important to the story; they cannot be killed outright and survive until the Storyteller deems their death important.
• Heroic: They benefit from being Incapacitated and can take Dramatic Injuries the same way the players’ characters can, applying them to their pools instead of attributes. They can interrupt the initiative order.
• Durable (5): This character gains 5 soak against environmental effects, the Knock Out gambit, and other non-standard sources of damage by 5.
• Unstoppable: Once per fight, when this character would be incapacitated they instead regain half their health (round up).
• Furious Dragon’s Ire: Whenever the character is outnumbered, they may take additional turns, up to a number of turns equal to the characters in the opposing Circle but may not act twice in a row. When they start an additional turn, reduce the duration of any multiple-round effects by one round.
• Living Disaster: At the beginning of the round, this character gains 10 Power. They may always strike dematerialized targets. Antagonists with Hardness less than 7 may not take this quality
• Trail of Carnage: After damaging a battle group or defeating an opponent, gain 2 Power. Once per scene, if there are no Extras or battle groups present, reflexively gain 5 Power. Cannot be taken by Antagonists with Hardness less than 6.

Non-Combat Qualities

• Did I Authorize This?: This character may add or remove an obstacle to any venture within their jurisdiction, as soon as they become aware of it.
• High-Profile: The consequences for harming or otherwise wronging this character are harder to duck. Up to four times per story, the offender faces an unexpected mundane complication as a result of earning this character's enmity — a one-die penalty to a Merit or specific type of social influence, to represent a mutual friend suddenly going cold, or scandalous rumors spreading through town. Cancel this effect if the offender offers penance according to the character’s Major Virtue. If the Antagonist is a strong supernatural being, these consequences might be supernatural.
• Academic Network: Once per story, provide another character with the expertise they are looking for — if it is magical in nature where they can find the expertise they are looking for. This is not a pro bono service, and may need persuasion. Sometimes this requires a Persuade action, but other times requires payment.
• Asset Freeze: This character aids or interferes with someone’s social Merits (Backing, Command, Contacts, Followers, Influence, or Resources) by succeeding on a roll with a difficulty of the Merit’s rating. Success adds a two-dice bonus or penalty to utilizing these Merits. This effect lasts until the antagonist ends it, the target leaves the character’s jurisdiction, or the target takes a dramatic action and makes a corresponding Ability (Embassy, Performance, Presence or Stealth or War) roll exceeding the original successes.
• Judge’s Ear Technique: When a player’s character attempts to conceal truth from this character, spend 1 mote. Make a hard bargain: either the character knows the PC is lying, or the PC reduces all future dice pools for fooling the character by one for the rest of the story. This effect may stack up to four times.

Supernatural Qualities

• Deathlord’s Call: Once per story, the Mask of Winters calls assistance in the form of a Size 3 battlegroup of War Ghosts with an Abyssal Deathspeaker.
• Immaterial: The Mask of Winters is a ghost, and is naturally immaterial in Creation, and naturally material in Shadowlands and the Underworld. Dematerialized creatures cannot mundane influence material creatures, but most mundane attacks can’t hurt them, material creatures can’t see or hear them, and they pay one fewer mote to use Charms. To physically interact with Creation, the creature must pay three motes to materialize. This makes them visible, vulnerable to physical attacks, and forces them to pay the normal cost to use their Charms. Certain Exalted Charms and other magical effects can also force a spirit to materialize.
• Measure the Wind: Spend 1 mote to know if an individual is a mortal, Exalt, or other supernatural creature, and what kind of Exalt or supernatural creature it is. This penetrates mundane disguises, but not magical deceptions. The Mask of Winters may recognize an Exalt or other reincarnated being from their previous life, with all the accompanying personal baggage.
• Nine Terrors Visage: Spend 1 mote to change shape and form; replicating a specific person in detail requires a primary pool roll.
• Principle of Motion: Once per turn, spend 2 Motes or 2 Health Levels to take an additional action. This ignores the action limit
• Eyes of Oblivion: The Mask of Winters may slay any trivial foe with or those with the Extra quality with the expenditure of a mote. This effect can apply to multiple characters at once; a single mote will slay every valid target The Mask of Winters can perceive up to Extreme range, though he can be selective as to whom his gaze falls upon. If this power is used in the Underworld or a shadowland, a target becomes a ghost beholden to The Mask of Winters for one thousand days.
• Command of the Dead: The Mask of Winters spends a mote and gains control of any mindless walking dead they can perceive. This power lasts for a scene.
• Feed on the Dead: The Mask of Winters may drain motes from the Essence of myriad dead it can perceive — typically, one mote per dot of Size. This effect is reflexive and does not require a roll
• Thousand Deaths Curse: At 10 Power, spend 1 mote and roll Social Influence against the Resolve of a target within medium range. Success causes the target to lose his action and flee in terror for the rest of the scene. This is a psyche effect and ends when the target takes damage.
• Excellent Strike: Spend 1 mote on Step 3. Double the extra successes after applying Defense but before any bonus successes are applied. Additionally, remove all penalties hindering a single Close Combat attack.
• Void Avatar Embodiment: Commit three motes. For the rest of the scene, the Deathlord doubles 9s on movement and combat actions. Once per round, the Deathlord may respond to an attack with a clash without using her action. Success allows him to reflexively move to the range band his opponent occupies in a flash of Essence. He adds three to his Hardness for the Charm’s duration. Living enemy battle groups that perceive the Deathlord must immediately check for rout with difficulty increased by two, and trivial opponents are compelled to flee
• Void Circle Necromancy: Deathlords have mastered all three circles of necromancy and have a vast repertoire of spells. They often have significant necromantic infrastructure for performing necromantic workings.