MartialArts/TranscendenceofHeavenandOblivion

Transcendence of Heaven And Oblivion Style

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Note: as usual, some of the following text is based on the events of the campaign in which this style was introduced. Please bear with it.

Background

I was free. I was filled with radiance; a sense of completion different from anything I had ever felt before. It felt as good as the feeling that fills me when I’m with Brother. I heard the Unconquered Sun, his words of encouragement were the last encouragement I needed to challenge the Void and bask in the light of purity and celestial power. I accepted his embrace and became one of his champions. I was free to be with Brother and my friends, without the fear of Oblivion tearing me apart.

But I wanted to experience that feeling again. I had seen the truth of the world for a fleeting instant. I had seen Oblivion and Heaven as a whole, and I witnessed a truth my mind couldn’t understand in that moment. I had to know, there was a secret waiting for me, a secret only I, who challenged Oblivion and embraced the light, could fully comprehend.

Redemption is more than an immense achievement. It’s a step in an endless road that leads to further discovery of the nature of existence and the Exalt herself. Through meditation, reflection and the honing of body, mind and soul, the redeemed martial artist understands the core concepts behind the mysteries of Exaltation, life and divinity.

This Solar Martial Arts style is particularly strong. It’s stronger than most other Solar styles but not enough to be categorized as a Sidereal-level Martial Arts style. It could probably be expanded to become one, as the concepts it encompasses are quite appropriate for a Sidereal style.

Weapons and Armor

Transcendence of Heaven and Oblivion Style is a Celestial Martial Art that treats short swords and seven-section staves as unarmed attacks for the purpose of its Charms, representing two different aspects of reality: the strict and all-encompassing “laws of nature” and the fluid and ever-changing nature of life itself.

Note: this style can only be learned by former Abyssal Exalts who achieved redemption by mastery of the Fourteenth Deathlord Style and by Sidereal Exalted, whose achievement of the Bulb of the Perfect Lotus and the innate nature of their Exaltation and training grants them a superior understanding of the abstract concepts involved in this style.

Charms

PULSE OF THE LIVING WORLD</b>

<b>Cost: 5 motes + 1 mote per detection
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 2
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: None

The awareness of living in a immense world full of life is the first step towards the understanding of the principles behind the source of all Essence and absence of it. Life is an aspect of all beings that possess it, and the Exalt is able to feel that aspect in the shape of a flow that surrounds and fills everything. Life is ever-changing and ever-growing, a pulse that keeps the world throbbing: the pulse of the living world.

The character feels the existence of every living being within (permanent Essence squared) in yards. Even if the character can't see them, she has an awareness of their presence nearby, which makes it difficult for the character to be surprised. She adds her permanent Essence to all Perception + Awareness rolls and to Wits + Awareness rolls to avoid surprise for the rest of the scene. In addition, she may try to discern the true nature of a creature she can see by spending 1 mote and rolling Perception + Occult, the difficulty determined as follows:

||Dragon-Blooded||Standard Difficulty|| ||Solars,Lunars,Abyssals||Difficulty 3|| ||God-Blooded,Fair Folk||Difficulty 4|| ||Sidereals||Difficulty 5||

Difficulties are reduced by 2 whenever the circumstances make the identification easier (for example, obvious anima banner displays, use of the Deadly Beastman Transformation Charm, fae shape-changing to obvious non-human forms, etc). This ability foils mundane disguises, but is foiled by Charms and other magical abilities that allow an Exalt to pretend to be another kind of supernatural creature.

FUNDAMENTAL WEAVING OF ONE’S OWN FATE</b>

<b>Cost: 3 motes, 1 WP
Duration: One scene
Type: Reflexive
Min. Martial Arts: 3
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: Pulse of the Living World

Embracing the nature of the Chosen of the Maidens at the most fundamental level, the character gains a measure of control of her own destiny, and the ability to swiftly shift it to her own benefit. For the remainder of the scene, whenever the player rolls a 10 on any die of any dice roll, she may roll that die again. If that die rolls a 7 (or whatever the target number for that roll is) or higher, it becomes an additional success. In fact, if it rolls a 10 again, the player can keep rolling it as long as she keeps getting 10's, accumulating more and more successes along the way.

CARESS OF THE RESPLENDENT BURNING LOTUS</b>

<b>Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Martial Arts: 3
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: None

Just like the Underworld's Resplendent Burning Lotus, the Exalt's mere touch disturbs the precise lattice of Essence that holds form and spirit together. On a successful attack, roll the character's permanent Essence. Each success drains two motes of Essence from the target and adds it to the character's own Essence pools. In addition, the target must roll Conviction at standard difficulty or take a penalty on all rolls equal to the character's permanent Essence until the end of the next turn.

NATURAL RESONANCE DEGENERATION TECHNIQUE</b>

<b>Cost: 6 motes, 1 health level
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Martial Arts: 4
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: Pulse of the Living World, Caress of the Resplendent Burning Lotus

By infusing the target with a tinge of her own Essence and life energy, the character disrupts the powerful connection between the target and the world that surrounds it. For a split instant, the victim becomes a thing rejected by Fate. The character makes an attack as normal and activates this Charm after soak is applied but before rolling for damage. For every two successes in the damage roll the character may choose to replace the two points of damage for 1 point of aggravated damage, loss of temporary Willpower or 1 point of Limit, Resonance or Paradox, whichever applies.

EMBRACE OF THE LOVELY AND RADIANT</b>

<b>Cost: 3 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 3
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: None

The character's touch is a blessing, a glimpse of the marvelous revelations she has witnessed. For the remainder of the scene, the subject touched receives the following benefits:

• The subject adds the character's permanent Essence to all its Presence, Performance and Socialize rolls.
• The subject reduces its wound penalties by an amount equal to half the character's Compassion (rounded up, minimum 1).
• The character may transfer her own Essence to the subject, up to 2 x the character's permanent Essence per turn.

The character can use this Charm on herself, but the bonus to Presence, Performance and Socialize rolls is a constant +2, and the third benefit cannot be used (for obvious reasons).

NATURAL RESONANCE RESTORATION TECHNIQUE</b>

<b>Cost: 10 motes, 1 health level
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 4
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: Pulse of the Living World, Embrace of the Lovely and Radiant

At the expense of her own life energy, the character's Essence-charged touch may restore the body's wounds and even weaken the effects of the Great Curse and twisted strands of improperly treated fates. The character makes a Perception + Martial Arts roll. The dice pool can be increased with any Charm that adds dice to Martial Arts attacks (limitations on the total number of dice apply normally). For every two successes on the roll the character may choose to:

• Heal 1 health level of damage. This Charm can even heal aggravated damage, but it doesn't allow the regeneration of amputated or destroyed tissue.
• Restore 1 point of temporary Willpower.
• Remove 1 point of Limit, Resonance or Paradox, whichever applies.

The character cannot use this Charm on herself.

TRANSCENDENCE OF HEAVEN AND OBLIVION FORM</b>

<b>Cost: 8 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Fundamental Weaving of One’s Own Fate, Natural Resonance Degeneration Technique, Natural Resonance Regeneration Technique

Not even the mightiest Sidereal can accurately predict the far future. The martial artist who has transcended both Heaven and Oblivion is no exception. However, she doesn't even try. In fact, she doesn't even care. She only knows of the manifold blessings of the present, and the radiance of her newfound glorious existence. Her degree of purity and perfection goes beyond words. When this Charm is activated, the character's anima banner is displayed at its greatest. This cannot be concealed in any way, as the Exalt's anima is the core representation of the power the character has unleashed.

For the rest of the scene, the character's anima wraps around her, and the character adds her Martial Arts score to her bashing and lethal soak, an increase which works as armor in all ways save that it doesn't interfere with the use of Martial Arts Charms. Damage dice pools reduced to 0 mean all damage is negated (not even a single damage die is rolled). The Exalt's transcendence is so powerful that other creatures who wish to attack her must succeed on a Willpower roll with difficulty equal to the character's Compassion. Even if they succeed, the attack's difficulty is increased by (5 - the creature's Compassion). A number of times per activation of this Charm equal to the character 's Valor, she may reflexively expend a point of temporary Willpower to release a mighty shout that blocks any one attack against him that she's aware of, even if the attack is not normally blockable. This is a perfect defense. Finally, the character may use her Essence-infused anima to strike an opponent. While this Charm is active, she may make Martial Arts attacks a number of yards away equal to her Essence. This works exactly as the Charm, Uncoiling Serpent Prana.

This Charm is not compatible with armor. A character may only have a single Form-Type Charm active at one time. Only characters with Compassion or 3 or more can learn and use this Charm.

SUPREME BRAND OF REDEEMING ACKNOWLEDGEMENT</b>

<b>Cost: 5 motes, 1 WP
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Transcendence of Heaven and Oblivion Form

The Exalt who has transcended partially understands the nature of divinity and the connection between other Exalted and their patron Gods and Goddesses. It is from this weak connection she develops with the five Maidens that she develops a resonance between her Charms and the very nature of the world. For the remainder of the scene, whenever she activates a Charm, she may first roll Essence + Martial Arts. Each success reduces the cost to activate that Charm by 1. Despite of the number of successes rolled, the cost of the Charms is always reduced at least by half. If the Charm to be activated has a Willpower cost, the character may choose not to reduce the Essence cost but instead negate the Willpower cost. Charm costs cannot be reduced below 1, and this Charm cannot reduce the cost of spells or negate the Willpower cost of Sidereal Martial Arts, Sorcery and Necromancy Charms.

RADIANT BLAZE OF REDEMPTION STRIKE</b>

<b>Cost: 5 motes + 1 mote per 2 damage dice, 1 WP
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 4
Prereqs: Transcendence of Heaven and Oblivion Form

The glory of transcendence is by itself a powerful presence. When the Exalt wields it as a weapon, it's terrifying. The character gathers her Essence and releases it in a blast of power worthy of the glory of the Unconquered Sun. The character's player rolls Dexterity + Martial Arts, with a number of additional dice equal to her Essence. The explosion affects a circular area with a radius equal to 2 x the character's permanent Essence in yards. This attack cannot be blocked, only dodged, and even then, the difficulty of the dodge roll is increased by the character's Conviction. Anyone in that area who fails to dodge the attack takes a base damage of 2 points of aggravated damage for every mote beyond the fifth invested in the Charm. The maximum number of motes that can be spent for damage equals the character's Essence + Martial Arts.

EMBODIMENT OF PROTECTION METHOD</b>

<b>Cost: 5 motes + 1 mote per counterattack
Duration: One turn
Type: Reflexive
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 4
Prereqs: Transcendence of Heaven and Oblivion Form

Just like Luna protects and looks after his Chosen, so does the transcendent looks after those she loves, for she knows that love is truly a powerful and valuable thing to have. For the turn in which this Charm is active, the character gains speed and reflexes beyond comparison, which allow her to parry attacks directed at another character. The character still has her action for the turn aside of the parries, but this Charm does count as the activated Charm of that turn. Each parry is made with the character's full Dexterity + Martial Arts pool, adding her Compassion in automatic successes. She may parry lethal attacks even if unarmed. By spending an additional mote every time she successfully parries a hand-to-hand attack, she may make a reflexive counterattack at her full Dexterity + Martial Arts pool, adding the extra successes she got in her previous parry roll as additional successes. She may not split her dice pool on the same turn she uses this Charm.

GLORY OF DIVINITY STANCE</b>

<b>Cost: 8 motes, 2 WP, 1 health level
Duration: One scene
Type: Reflexive
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 5
Prereqs: Supreme Brand of Redeeming Acknowledgement, Radiant Blaze of Redemption Strike, Embodiment of Protection Method

The character taps into the very core of the concept of existence and discovers the significance of 'divinity' and everything that comes with it. She, her Essence and the world become one, and every creature below the Celestial Incarna and the Deathlords bows before her. This Charm is the closest to perfection Celestial Martial Arts can hope to achieve, or at least that's what those who see it firmly believe.

Enemies must fail a Compassion roll if they wish to harm her in any way. Even if they do fail the roll, their dice pools are halved. In addition, whenever the character acts against a person who is clearly her enemy, her dice pools are doubled. This dice pool increase stacks with other Charms that increase dice pools, but the maximum additional increase allowed (beyond the bonus granted by this Charm) is her permanent Essence.

The sight of a martial artist executing this Charm is as addictive as Dreamstones and the Games of Divinity Form Charm. However, addiction to these two both wipes away and prevents addiction to the Glory of Divinity Stance.