Arafelis/Dream
Dream: ••••• Starmetal Daiklaive
Once there was a warrior. She said, "It is no challenge to fight. I may as well be asleep, cutting down my own dreams." A raksha noble approached her and replied, "You may find that harder than you think." "Show me!" she demanded. So saying, she awoke.
"Sunrise always comes sooner or later," said the Dream.
This is the sutra of Dream, the masterwork of a Sidereal of the Gold Faction, created shortly before the Usurpation.
Dream has a speed equal to the wielder's Essence + Charisma, because the Maidens warn of fast women.
It has an Accuracy equal to the wielder's Essence + Intelligence, because the Maidens whisper to those who pierce the veil.
It has damage equal to the wielder's Essence + Manipulation, plus her Compassion, because the Maidens tell of hurting those you love.
It has a defensive bonus equal to the wielder's Essence + Appearance, because the Maidens joke of cloistered beauty.
And if one is using Exalted Power Combat, Dream has a Rate of Essence + Wits, because the Maidens lead those quick to follow.
Dream deals piercing damage, because it contains the sorrow of beauty one forgets on waking, which one spends the day guarding doubly against- for the night previous and the night coming.
Each time Dream is parried, its wielder may channel a point of Valor (without spending Willpower) to force the parry to be re-rolled. This does not require an action from the defender, but he must pay the cost of all Charms again or do without. The lower of the two results is used. This ability does not apply to perfect parries.
If Dream is dodged, its wielder may perform a like feat using a point of Conviction.
Each time Dream deals damage which is soaked, the player may channel a point of Compassion to convert all soaked damage into a poison, distributing the dice as points of difficulty to resist and penalty. The poison lasts three rounds and does no damage, but a penalty of greater than -3 will slay extras if the wielder for some reason wishes to use this ability on one.
When the wielder is attacked, she may channel Temperance to activate a reflexive Charm of Instant or One Turn duration without paying its Essence cost. She must still pay any cost in willpower or health levels. She may use this ability even if she has already used a different Charm in the turn.
Each time Dream deals damage, its wielder may recover a point of temporary virtue. Whenever she wishes, its attuned owner may spend a point of Willpower to recover up to four temporary virtue points, but no more than two in any one virtue.
Dream may be used by any Celestial Exalts as if they were Sidereal. Because of its unusual method of creation, this includes Fair Folk. The creator was aware of this and the hilt and sheath of Dream both have cold iron worked into their construction.
If a Sidereal were to willingly relinquish Dream directly to a Solar without any intent to recover it later, both would immediately recover all expended Virtues and Willpower as they were made aware of their own Great Curse and that on the other. This realization is as subtle as it is profound; pieces fall into place, as if the Exalts were remembering something they had forgotten, something which had been nagging them at the back of their mind for their entire life. A Sidereal who is attuned to this blade may (abstractly: one in ten chance in any given week) dream of some unspecified momentous event occuring were she to give the blade over- this is especially (two to four times as) likely if she is a precient dreamer. There is no compulsion and no hint of what the event might be, other than positive feelings in the dream. The Sidereal who forged the blade was on his way to give it to a Zenith he knew well when he was detained by members of the Bronze faction; by the time he was free to go, all the Solars who could be located by Sidereals were dead.
