BerserkSeraph/LordsandLadies

To Dream of Oneself

Intro

My primary purpose in this is to lay out my thoughts and feelings on the raksha in a setting in which I feel comfortable. I'll be recovering some old ground and restating some old facts in this, but that's mostly for my own benefit. I think the primary 'meat' of this offering will lie in that I hope it to become a starting point for the definition of the raksha and examples of who they are and what they do, something I feel the book does but in a fashion that is slightly scattered. All the information is there but it's such a fashion that I simply do not feel confident in my grasp of it without a slight restructuring and extending lines of thought.

Secondarily, I hope to take in and offer thoughts on your own insights into the subject at hand. Tell me about your Fair Folk, tell me what they do, why they do it. The primary point at which I diverge from RSB's intentions with the raksha is her desire to make them Lovecraftian in nature. Yes, they are terrible things from the edges of creation, but the purpose of the Mythos was to grind down the human spirit with its inferiority and futility. While a raksha may do this, it is not the purpose in and of itself, in my mind - the Fair Folk are not mindless or inscrutable as such. They have desires, quantifiable ones, and they have codes and bonds - that is, their outlook and actions are merely foreign, not utterly alien, to Creation. A Raksha might break a man's spine just to see if it makes an entertaining sound, but this is neither wicked callousness (which is the purview of demons and their servants) nor unknowing reflex (which would be a Lovecraftian being's method) but rather a terrible desire expressed by a being for whom such an agony would have no meaning or consequence.

The Raksha are wicked because they treat others - all others - as objects and playthings. This is the crux of their personal realities, accustomed as they are to the world itself (read: the Wyld) shaping itself to their whims. They are not precisely lacking in empathy as much as they assign the same emotional context to an object as they do another sentient being. A raksha may weep at a song and remain impassive at an infant in flames - those objects that become definitions of themselves, important props in their lives, gain importance. Everything else is fleeting and invaluable, and is broken or mended with reckless abandon. The same dispassion with which they treat unimportant things turns into wild fits of emotion at those things that matter to them - however, a raksha will not likely differentiate between 'positive' and 'negative' emotional structures. To a raksha commoner, an abusive sexual relationship with a noble offers as much joy as one of bucolic tranquility and mirth - it is the strength, rather than the nature, of the emotions that is important.

Part 1: The Body and the Graces

"That's not you," said Tiffany, with absolute certainty.
"That's just your dream of you."

The raksha body...isn't. A raksha is a thought careening on waves of dreams, whose only definition rests in limitations it takes for itself in the forms of its Graces. A raksha's appearance and its body are different measures, one far more fluid than the other, and as such will be considered seperately.

We'll start, however, with the easy part. A raksha's appearance is cobbled together from whimsy, an exquisitely crafted replica. A raksha's appearance is as transient as a mood and as ephemeral as a thought, easily repaired, reconsidered, reimagined, as if it were clay that will never set or harden. Most raksha have 'preferred' forms, but even these can shift considerably, for a raksha has iron control of not only physical but emotional dimensions of this projection - the same raksh-body can look quite different on two occasions if it chooses to bring disparate emotions to the fore. This bears consideration - the change is not physical yet can be felt as easily as a change in posture can be seen, because a raksha's form is defined as much by its feelings as it is by its musculature. This trait is an important function in the context of some shaping attacks - a raksha that wishes to inspire terror may reconsider its body as a vessel of rage, giving off palpable malice, while one that wishes to engender trust can bring subservience to the forefront, becoming so pitiful as to make it impossible to consider it capable of deceit. As with any affectation, this can be cast off in an instant - the most troubling thing about the raksha is that they can define how you think of them.

The actual body of one of the Fair Folk is a different matter - it is best considered a narrative point, a dramatic swell. The chakras that defines this narrative body, the Essence-pattern that the raksha, for lack of a better term, is, are the Graces. The five Graces idealized by all whole raksha are the Heart, the Sword, the Cup, the Ring, and the Staff. To lack one is to be utterly incomplete, and a Grace is as every bit as precious to a raksha as an organ is to a human - while it can live without one, it does so only in agony at its imperfection and suffering at its limitations.

In my estimation each Grace can be summarized in the terms of its cruel and kind applications. While a raksha will not likely differentiate between the two (in general terms; they'll obviously hold relationships to a certain pattern, but will not have a standard that crosses ALL relationships - that is, while a kind human will likely be kind to all people he meets, a raksha will simultaneously partake of kind and destructive relationships with a variety of individuals) it offers an easy division for their applications in raksha society and the formative effect they have on the raksha's psyche. Graces flow both ways - a raksha with a that is terrible and covetous will have a high Sword Grace because he is covetous and terrible. He will also be terrible and covetous because he has a high Sword Grace - the container takes the shape of what it contains, and the contents will take the shape of the container.

The Cup Grace is defined in kindness by offering Succor; it is defined in cruelty by offering Addiction. The Cup Grace is the most subtle of a raksha's Graces, best considered the passive elements of his persona. The Cup feeds on the ability to enjoy and fulfill - that is, those whose Compassion is ravished by the use of the Cup will find themselves listless and unsatifisfied with life and beauty. They may forget to eat and shun company, longing for the raksha's attentions - because raksha emotion is an exquisite thing, it is easy to become addicted to and impossible to recreate - Creation simply lacks the vibrant energy necessary.

As the Cup Grace becomes more potent, the raksha becomes easier to identify with. It is a strange and terrible identity, however - the nature of the relationship is one-sided. While those allured by the Cup feel a connection with the emotions of the raksha, those emotions are ultimately transient, locking the raksha's 'companions' into one-sided and unsatisfying shows of passion. Commoners allied to the Cup are generally subservient, fulfilling the needs of others in order to ingratiate themselves to them; they must be loved, or their hollowness becomes apparent to them. Nobles use the cup to subvert the desires of others into reliance on themselves, whether through loving closeness or deliberate aloofness - any action that creates the need in others to conform to what the noble wants them to be. As with all Graces, the Cup can appear as an object - it is most likely to appear as something subtle yet beautiful. It does not put itself forward, but draws others toward - commonly, Cups appearing as weapons will be plain affairs in bejeweled sheaths, armor will be simple but elegantly constructed, and items will have delicate curves and gentle decoration.

The Ring Grace is defined in kindness by offering Assurance; it is defined in cruelty by demanding Restriction. The Ring is the stable center of the raksha's persona, defining by its shape what is within and what is without. It feeds on the ability to control and the sense of self - those whose Temperance is ravished by the Ring will lose their ability to resist pattern, becoming stagnant and pliable. Desires will be subverted for easier goals, giving up the difficult for the more readily achievable, striving to take the past of least resistance.

As the Ring Grace becomes more potent, the raksha becomes more self-assured. They stagnate, in their fashion - not necessarily into a pattern but into a form. At the highest levels of the Grace, the raksha will be an unchanging and unpliable thing of wonder, an idol whose emotions move with glacial speed and whose whims carry the force of a mountain to compress that which they observe into what they wish to define it as. Commoners allied to the Ring offer definition to the Wyld - not as a being of Creation would hope to define it, rather twisting it into their own mad patterns - in doing this, they make themselves valuable, albeit dispassionate - they create because they are bid to, and take joy in that creation. Nobles of the Ring define on a far grander scale, either turning it on themselves to craft perfection, or turning it on others to demand their compliance with a grander order that will not tolerate resistance. Ring Graces, when manifested as objects, are blatantly described, often changing as they move inward but remaining constant in shape. Weapons will be made of swirling metals and crystal, armor will have swooping spirals that return, in defiance of all geometry, to their sources, and objects come full circle, demanding to give some sort of definition or offer some sort of boundary - boxes and cages are common manifesations.

The Staff Grace, when used gently, can offer Empathy. However, when turned to hatefulness it becomes a morass of obligations that Manipulates. It is the bridge that connects the raksha's desires with those of others, the motion of the psyche and the being that brings desires to term. Where the Sword seizes what is desired, the Staff herds the world into the inevitability of the raksha's fulfillment. It feeds on drive of the mind and, more insidiously, on the ability to dream - those whose Convictions are ravished by the Staff will find themselves unable to stand of their own accords, to move forward without the aid of others - they will become inextricably bound to the strictures laid down by the raksha.

A powerful Staff Grace creates in the raksha an understanding of others, which in turn renders it simple to manipulate them into making the motions the raksha desires and fulfilling the goals he sets for them. At the highest levels of the Grace, the raksha will be identify with others on a level that even they cannot match, having keen insight into their desires and motivations, knowing the exact levers that will drive them forward or make them stop. Commoners tied to the Staff will be beings of frantic bonds and connections, lashing energetically outward to create ties and define rules, using those rules to in turn control others, or more often to bind themselves to a third party, the stewards of more powerful beings, desparately requiring the power of others to achieve their own goals. Nobles who use the Staff will spin structures of intrigue and definition, defining social bonds and demanding conformity to the codes and mores of the crafted society. Objects of the Staff will define themselves hazily, seeming to both advance and retreat in turn, forming elaborate geometric symbols that cling to whatever they touch. Weapons will coil sinuously and have entrapping curves and hooks, armor will be studded with hooks, and objects will trail gossamer strands like a spider's web. A common form for the Staff grace is the loom.

The Sword Grace offers Protection but also allows for Avarice - it is the ability to defend turned outward, the seizure of what is wanted by force of arms and personality. It is the manifestation of masculine, active forces, arrayed against the Cup - it is the desire to rise against bonds and throw off restrictions, and when wielded wickedly it does so on the backs of others, defining its greatness by laying others low. It feeds on the ability to resist - those whose Valor is stripped by the Sword find no resilience - by being so awesome and terrible, the Sword Grace will render others meek.

The Sword Grace, when it grows in might, defines its owner as a being of primal terror and desire. The Sword, ultimately, takes from others to define itself, and thusly those possessed of the most bloated Sword Graces will inspire terror by merely existing, their radiance demanding subservience. Commoners of the Sword are simple, brutish things, lacking subtlety and thusly taking in simple terms - lives and possessions, seeing in murder and wealth a method of fulfilling themselves. Nobles of the Sword are far more horrid creatures - they take courage, emotion, tradition, sanity, definition, motivation - they render others nothing, and in doing so create a horde of stolen dreams and fragmented minds, taking joy from the destruction they wreak. Manifested Sword Graces demand attention - weapons are massive, jagged, and radiant, armor glows with malevolence or beauty, items draw the eye with their splendor or their cruelty.

The Heart Grace is the core of the raksha, the only Grace that cannot be wrest without redefining the pattern - it is the point around which the raksha's destiny orbits. It defines self, not in the fashion of the Ring - which defines 'what is outside and inside of self' - but defines the boundaries of the being. The creatures with the most potent Heart Graces are ill-defined and bend the world to themselves, while a weak Heart grace demands that its host bends to the reality around it. Nobles have a potent enough Heart Grace to move their wills beyond themselves and impose them on their immediate surroundings, while great beings with iron certainty of self, the great primordial things in the heart of the Wyld, can move continents with the force of their Willpower. The Heart Grace is the creature it defines - observing the Grace allows the observation of the creature, and owning the Grace grants ownership of the volition and the will of the defined.

These five graces are common to all raksha, in some degree - they are pervasive patterns that apply themselves as definitions on all such beings. Without them, a raksha would not be a raksha, but a wisp of hungry Wyld energy, a half-formed, mutable beast of Essence that runs across the world with abandon. However, these are not the only defining points of the raksha - they can, over time, gain new 'Graces', in the same way that a creature can, through strange and weird magics, change its own nature. By observing and emulating the less omnipresent Shinma, a raksha can discover new roots in its pattern of Essence, and in doing so open itself to new expression, but also new definition - this is the dual-edged sword of these spiritual journeys. In the same way that knowledge of foreign events can offer sorrow, the establishment of a new Grace can create hardship of its own.

The only new Shinma offered in the book is Nirupadhika, 'without limitations'. By contemplation of this Shinma, a raksha can establish the Way Grace.

Way Grace defined and quantified as a whole Trait

Part 2: Shaping Reality

For the raksha, reality is a subjective experience - that is, the Wyld conforms to certain 'standards' of form and action, but only if not acted upon - the merest brush of a Fair Folk noble's will can mold the locality into a desired shape. Such workings are, for the most part, temporary arrangements - as soon as the noble's interest is drawn away, the structure loses meaning and the 'theme' of the region takes hold once more. In narrative terms, consider the ability to shape as being capable of deviating from the 'plot' of the Wyld - as soon as your active interference, your 'chapter', is over, the plot returns to its normal course. Even in the Wyld, certain things have inertia - the Southern Wyld will always, eventually, return to a hell of flames.

Shaping forms the context for most raksha social interaction, because normal methods of persuasion lack weight on the raksha, due to their control of their own emotional structures. That is, while it is possible for an Eclipse caste Solar to seduce a Raksha noble, she may well find that as soon as she moves in to ask for his favor, he can simply redefine how he feels about her - his hold on the shape of his consciousness allows him to 'edit out' unwanted influences. To make such an action have a real, lasting effect, the raksha must be forcibly shaped - his emotions must be prone to a long-term modification due to the trauma of his entire Self being molded into the attacker's whims. In this case, for example, it might require Cup shaping to enforce a lustful desire, or, if a final goal was more in context, the use of Ring shaping to define a logical structure that demands that the raksha performs some deed for his lover (an incumbrance).

The creatures of Creation have only one real defense against the subjective realities shaped by a raksha - they can deny them. This is simple enough, for a being of Creation, who carries a spark of order deep in itself, but even this power, common to even the lowliest mortals, is terrible in the eyes of the raksha. While a raksha can deny the shapings of another, it is always done in the narrow reality of the shaping itself - the raksha merely evades (read: defends against) the dramatic flow, either by creating a reason for which he would not be effected (parrying) or remaining a static character (dodging) - but never by trumping the narrative with an outside logic. In this fashion can mortals seem as alien to the Fair Folk as they seem to mortals - the mortal defines an alien concept that is utterly anathema to the Wyld itself, a stringent refusal to conform with the plot. Narrative has power, however, and denying the narrative draws consequences, requiring focus and concentration.

The ability to form convincing narrative (which, to the raksha, imposes a more binding reality) is measured by the depth and breadth of a Raksha's graces - as a being of ice and terror, a Northen Raksha with a high Sword Grace has an intrinsic understanding and ability in crafting a narrative that seizes, a story that wrests from others - it is in his nature, just as an author can write more vibrant works from his experiences. Where the other Graces define narrative poignance, the Heart Grace defines narrative scale, - a Noble can act on his immediate surroundings with ease, while an unshaped can lash dozens of waypoints into line with a plot.

Shaping combat is more than likely fought to the first blood (at most!) in Rakshastan - as soon as one combatant deals some sort of damage, they have affirmed their ability to impose their will on the other, who will likely become pliable - if only out of desire to not be wholly reshaped. This is the basic unit of raksha society, therefore - a gentle understanding that, while the lord of the Freehold may not have personally incumbered you to do the task he's asking of you, and as such your fickle raksha nature would allow you to defy him, he is utterly capable of forcing your hand, should you attempt such - much as it is impossible to truly force a peasant to farm for the king, but the presence of soldiers implies what will happen to them if they don't.

Commoner raksha, being incapable of shaping reality with their fragile Hearts, must bow to the narratives of others, and as such form the rank-and-file of shaping weaponry. A clan of hobgoblins is a fierce narrative presence that can be used to wrest from another raksha, the peasants unthinkingly playing out the roles enforced on them by their betters. Similarly could one use a group of commoner musicians in a Cup-shaping action, or a busy gaggle of workers in a Ring-shaping action - while it is possible for a raksha to create narrative matter from nothing, such actions are wasteful and lack intrinsic narrative force (read: less likely to be a Stunt). The Screaming Hobgoblin Horde of Agenz-Dai applies more influence on a story than a group of bandits plucked from the mind of the noble on the spot, for example. Similarly, raksha 'weaponry' is cherished emotional or creative power, periodically bolstered by Gossamer, which preserves it against the flow of Wyld-time, allowing a Heart Thorn of purest joy to persist even as the 'background plot' of the Wyld reasserts itself on other shaped creations.

As an aside, if you REALLY want to see a nice Shaping combat, watch the anime Boogiepop Phantom, especially Episode 10 ('Poom Poom'). In said episode, the 'villain' attempts to attack Boogiepop with a dinosaur (Poom Poom being a fictional character whose adventures include a dinosaur world, this is like a Sword-shaping attack). It disappears. Boogiepop smiles (Boogiepop, like any good raksha, is always smiling) and says, "Unfortunately, the things you consider important hold no meaning for me."

Way Grace Shaping Combat

Part 3: The Shinma

If the Raksha are brief narratives that constantly redefine themselves, adding intricities of form, plot, diction, and imagery, then the Shinma are the patterns that segment this motion into categories - they are genres or themes. Each Shinma must, as a rule, have none of what it personifies - it cannot use itself to give itself boundaries (For those of you keeping track of my Pratchetisms, 'Opening a box with the crowbar you'll find inside') and thusly must exist outside of what it implies. Thusly, the Shinma are half-mad widespread patterns, the background music of the Wyld. By emulating these patterns and drawing on their pendulous narrative weight - their validity as stories having existed for untold eons - to supplement their own narratives. The results are, when fed Essence to give them integrity, the Charms of the Fair Folk - the replication of concepts, the application of dramatic cliche.

The one Shinma that even the lowliest raksha can grasp is that of Nirakara (literally 'without form'), the definition of shape. By replicating what Nirakara represents - by taking shape - the raksha can create a body to inhabit as he extends his narrative into Creation. Such bodies are templates, strung together from concepts or emotions rather than matter, then wrapped in a skein of Gossamer to brace them against the flow of Creation, which considers such structures anathema. The Fair Folk invariably must define their physical form, therefore, in terms of an element - common among the baser and simpler raksha - or an emotion, a more dignified and subtle method of moving through space. Such constructs are ultimately purely reliquaries of what limited traits the raksha can define - their physical and appearance-based attributes conform to the raksha's ability to work in those mediums, and no matter how amazing the form, the raksha cannot benefit from these oddities of structure without further construction, the use of the Ring to redefine and bolster the shapes into functionality. Further additions of gossamer bolster the Nirakara construct, granting further strength to the avatar - the ability to control the elements or twist the emotions of others.

Building on Nirakara Charms would involve the creation of more potent structures for the manipulation of these forms, eventually moving into direct elemental influence, a la higher-Essence DB charms, or potent social effects, a la low-circle mind-altering sorcery. As a minor aside I feel that the Nirakara charms could stand to be repriced for their applications - 5 motes to possibly make an opponent lose your Essence in motes? The Fair Folk's limited pool of Essence would suggest to me that they have worked on efficiency of effect to the same degree as the DBs.

The second Shinma is Nirguna ('without gunas', without the three qualities that make up a nature - the sattva/spiritual, the rajas/worldly, and the tamas/unholy), the Shinma of the Heart, which by its nature does not exist, cannot exist, for existence to have any meaning. The Charms of this Shinma define personal inevitiabilities, the raksha scribing onto itself or another a statement that MUST be true. Such raksha never fail to succeed in their chosen task, because their entire being denies the possibility of failure. Only by the use of stunts and charms, the use of further narrative means, can these definitions be overcome - the raksha's greatest strength and most pointed weakness rests in their inability to deny a good story. Other Nirguna tricks use the emotional catharsis of bedlam for minor bouts of self-realization, bringing the greatest parts of the raksha's abilities to the fore as his Self is subsumed by fulfilling its own ends. Nirguna is also the art of resisting by self-affirmation, raksha 'Dodge' and 'soak' charms functioning by declaring superiority to a foe's narrative or hastily shucking the ego to fade into the background of a story, becoming static as dreams, desires, and wishes are discarded.

Building on Nirguna charms could include a longer Dodge tree, which would move slowly into glamorous effects, functioning in Creation, that create an air of defensive superiority (You cannot bring yourself to hit the raksha, so overcome by the understanding of the utter futility of the attempt) or, more insidiously, a passive aura of nondanger (As the slavering monster begins to crawl towards you, you smile softly, firm in the knowledge that everything is going to be alright.) Further Name charms may affirm greater truths or inevitabilities - perhaps the raksha can select a quest in which he must succeed (gaining bonuses in the attempt but, if he fails, taking some horrific backlash as his Self becomes impossible to live up to) or some fashion in which his narratives will always have force (always get stunt dice for certain actions in a specified 'theme', for instance.) Note that a raksha can kill an army easily...as long as the army contains no heros. They have an unlimited ability to ignore extras, who lack dramatic force, but cleave easily to the attacks of heroic mortals or Exalts - no raksha charm should offer infallible protection, because using stories against beings of such boundless creativity is a self-fulfilling prophecy - the raksha are heavily subject to the rules of fiction.

Dharma is the Shinma of the Cup (interestingly enough, Dharma is 'what is correct' - for society, religion, the self, the universe, and so on. Because the Shinma names seem to define what THEY are, and therefore what they DO NOT have, Dharma therefore represents all that corrodes and is wrong), feminine destructive force that subverts rather than destroys. It is the whispered rumor and the sly glance, that which inflames the baser passions or affirms the raksha's superiority in the social context. As such, the Charms of the Cup strengthen the emotions of the subjects and make them susceptible to the manipulations of the Cup, or twist reality in such a fashion as to beguile and befuddle mortals with potent glamours. Such Charms can also spread to others, as the raksha picks and choses the elements of the story he wishes to keep and, by crafting elaborate seamlessness inside the tale, excluding those influences he wishes to remove - as an example, consider the use of Overriding Construct of Fate to knock away a rival, leaving his retainers - commoners - helpless to oppose your ministrations. Dharma is also the primary feeding structure of the raksha, taking away What Is Proper from others and feeding on the power of the decay.

Dharma, like the other four 'primary' (non-Heart) Graces, also contains a martial art, the arts of the Fair Folk calling on memes, existing and oft-repeated stories and myths that, due to antiquity and the following of certain cliches, gain more weight as the raksha twists himself into the role he needs to play to fulfill the story. Spirit-Twisting Obsession style chronicles a story of corruption and descent into depravity, such as the fall of Dorian Gray or the uncertainty that leads to the decline of Macbeth. As the raksha's grasp of the style becomes more potent, he can create more sophisticated effects - the gist of the style is forcing the subject to expend his Virtues and using his Willpower against him, and I would very much suggest the inclusion of a Cup-shaping charm that substitutes a victim's Temporary Willpower into his soak pools - thusly making channeling a Virtue not merely a quick way to descend into Bedlam but also burning the foe out with his own emotions.

Further Dharma charms would either move into more sophisticated manipulations of others - again with a shift towards effects with more potence in Creation, as they move outward from their basal capabilities into new ground. Similarly, new Feeding effects might offer new and greater ways to feed, while remaining close to the current cost-to-gain ratio - feeding should be somewhat difficulty in order to keep a Fair Folk in Creation at least marginally in line - they must carefully shepherd their Essence to keep from losing tangibility, wasting away in an uncaring world.

The Ring Shinma is Nirveshesha ('Without particularity' - without distinction between what it is and what it is not.), whose power is to grant identity while lacking it. The Nirveshesha is the most rigid of the Shinma, as is its nature, and takes offense to attempts to suggest that it has identity - it must be approached with caution. The charms of the Ring curdle the Wyld into definite forms, applying new laws and binding old truths, creating situations in which the victim must act in the proscribed matter. They are subtle, pushing with the force of their setting rather than brute touch - the most telling of their charms will create a destiny for their opponent which must be played out, distracting them from their real goal (I hope to make my Way charms similar in application). They can even create implicit truths that apply to others, with Undetectable Lie, or form skeins of stabilizing gossamer. Their actions are the most potent and far-reaching of the Charms, reaching across Waypoints as they gather momentum, gears rolling towards an inevitable conclusion. Ring charms are also the principle creators of the Fair Folk, creating props (Which include sentient beings) and Graces for others, or adding features to the raksha's form, bolstered by gossamer, or crafting elaborate illusions, and even the sordid act of a raksha's asexual reproduction, crafting from the raksha's own pattern and the influence of gossamer a construct of will and volition, an infant raksha whose will is controlled by its parent.

The 'martial art' of the Ring is not a martial art but a quest along lines of personal realization, following the journey to self-understanding laid out in countless tales, the flow of the hero from uncertain to certain, from unenlightened to being utterly attuned with nature. God-Body allows the raksha to chip away at his form, denying his mutations, his sense of self, his lures and limitations, while granting primal power to reshape reality in a fashion only hinted at by the unshaped. The God-Body will, at its core, allow a raksha to plunge their entire being into the strata of the Wyld, becoming one with all reality.

I feel as if the Ring has almost all the charms it needs - it certainly seems to have more than any other Grace, and the existing body of charms really does define everything it may need to do. Further charms would allow for more ease of construction, instead of new avenues, and may allow for the creation of heretofore unseen atrocities against Creation.

The Shinma of the Staff is Nirvikalpa ('No consciousness', a great and wondrous trance of unthinking bliss), which defines the motion of social situations, communication and intimacy. The Staff is a wondrous art in that it touches on all else, each Charm set containing a Staff charm at some points, as the Staff is the median between two points, the place of communion for the raksha. Similarly, most other charms that affect attacks can apply to the Staff attacks, which take the character of all things by emulation and being the Place Between. The Staff charms that are not in other trees are those that forge societies, that define the social connections that play out across millenia of Raksha life. They create bonds of understood roles which offer pattern by being acted out or grant suffering for breaking the part.

The Laughing Monster style harkens to the trickster mythos - it is Coyote and Lox and Monkey King, with their foolery turned to maliciousness. It deliberately redirects and draws out, pulling attacks and then turning them to new targets, causing opponents to fall over themselves and into their own allies, creating a chaos of narrative shape that confuses and, eventually, overcomes foes who cannot keep up with the mad social logic of the Laughing Monster. The style reduces a target's initiative, forces them to take actions, or rearrays their shaping health levels in disruptive fashions.

The Shinma of the Sword is Nishkriya ('Without action', or more tellingly, 'without initiative'), which defines forward motion and great shows of self importance. It is avarice given pattern, the desire for more than what you have dancing at the back of the primal possessive mind, the desire to own present in all raksha, in all beings. Sword combat charms generally allow the mustering of Sword weapons and increasing the speed of attacks - the most intriguing branch, in my opinion, is Scourging Wind Raid (allowing the seizure of mundane items) and Dream Sacrificing Method (Spinning gossamer into a skein to protect one's self, casting bait in the way of the Sword in order to protect dearer possessions) - I invision a SWRaid as a Freehold lord's guards grabbing the weapons of intruders, or a sudden twister tearing up the bucolic scene created by a Ring shaping. The defensive branch of the Sword allows for instant parries and, in its fashion, mimics the Solar melee charms. It also includes the ability to define oneself as a being of terror, affecting the ability of the foe to resist by battering down their self-confidence. Finally, the mutation charms allow the reconsideration of form, stagnating the body into horrific shapes of terrible power or unholy radiance.

The Martial Art of the Sword is World- Devouring Warlord Style, chronicling the rise of a spiteful and terrible lord of battle, a Cao Cao or Nobunaga, whose early Charms grant continued survival before moving into the return from shame into a massive marching horde, Charms that swell the army in shape or call forth the secret weapons of the force in the shape of marching behemoths or the raksha himself, arrayed in perfection, declaring the inevitability of death at the hands of such a figure of terror and awe. The Raksha can use the style with deadly potence if it has time to, working towards (by using its charms and those of the normal Sword tree) an attack that is nigh on impossible to defend against and, with the pinnacle charm Preemptive Declaration of Victory, dealing colossal damage.

I'm still thinking on the Charms of the Way, but I think the Martial Art will be Hero-Grinding Odyssey, recreating the circumstances of that story - a journey that ruins the subject physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally.

Part 4: Creation

The Fair Folk hate Creation - for many and myriad reasons depending on their caste and their experiences with it, but primarily because Creation is as alien to the Wyld as the Wyld is foreign to it. Raksha that journey into Creation come back with strange, disturbing mutations of form and self - they speak of death that is shockingly permanent, of landscapes that remain impassive in the face of an impassioned speech or a dire threat. The presence of a world that IS immutable is as threatening to them as the Wyld is to being of Creation - it perverts them in ways as shocking as the Wyld mangles the Creation-Born.

Creation is also a powerful lure to the raksha, beings of desire and whimsy as they are. Their world technically offers everything they could ever wish for - the very landscape molds itself to their desires - but the heady taste of the vibrant emotions of a being who CANNOT control them is a difficult temptation to resist- while a raksha can feed on the ability of another raksha to feel joy, the Virtues of a fellow Fair Folk are dull and tasteless by comparison, simply because they are mutable - the difference between eating clay shaped like a steak and the steak itself. The allure of Creation, therefore, is a thing that grows with time - the first time a raksha enters its boundaries, they begin to grow more and more attached. For the most part, they are simpletons in this (and this alone - the raksha psyche is rather complex if only by merit of being ancient and protean) and fall into camps that wish to hunt Creation - as a grand safari with real, exhilirating danger (As I've said in other places, the raksha don't get permanent death - so the promise of it is more attractive than sombering) - or as a thing to hate (Pratchettism: Love turned around) and attempt to subvert. Therefore, a given raksha in Creation is there as a visiting deity, a force of passion and misery that snatches mortals away to be used and discarded, or a being of infinite rage, there to chip away at the fragments of Order, reclaiming ground for the Wyld. The first camp has done far better in the face of resistance - mortals are surprisingly easy to unite against the threat of 'being turned into mutant frog people, possibly rains of acid and razors' - and so Creation has generally posed a united front against the Wyld, even without Exalt interference - and even the lowliest Exalt is a great force when compared to a raksha.

Now, onto the second part - my views on what makes an effective Raksha in Creation. First thing's first. Grab any of the other fatsplats. Even Lunars (Wear gloves.) Now open it to a random page and flip until you see art of the Exalt type in question.

This person will KILL you.

This needs to be stressed: The raksha are not and should not be considered to be a credible threat to ANY Exalt. They can have huge dice pools, certainly, or lots of nasty artifact tricks. Hell, a starting raksha could wade into creation and, after some feeding, vomit out a Behemoth to trample a goodly sized city. The problem is, if the Exalt doesn't like fighting the Behemoth that you just summoned, killing you is A: Easier, B: Faster, and C: Will end the Charm that's keeping that Behemoth around.

That settled, look at the Player's Guide. See those heroic mortals? This is the low threshold of your credible opponents. Extras can do two things against a raksha built for Creation - these things are Diddly and Squat. This is an oddity of the raksha - their efficacy is inversely proportional to how cool their opponent is.

I have slotted the raksha constructions that I feel will do best in Creation into three 'builds' or structures -

• The Steamroller, a raksha with a colossal dice pool in a particular trick, that focuses on using that trick.
• The Mutant, a raksha with enough Mutations to put up a credible fight against a non-extra opponent.
• The Collector, a raksha with enough Artifacts to call in something that can put up a credible fight.

Consider Dilari of the Sea Foam and Count Okudo (p. 86 and 89 of E:FF, if you're interested) as examples of the Steamroller - they do one thing VERY well, and so they don't have to diversify to have an effect. Dilari's a dancer of legendary oomph, capable of routinely pulling Solar-level successes in on a dance. Okudo is similar in effect, save that he uses Melee and Socialize - he can match a weak Exalt in either, maybe even overcoming a DB in Social-Fu (Where his Charms will have more effect - there's scant few charms that aid raksha in Creation in combat) If you wanted to use EITHER as an antagonist I direct you to the World-Shaping Charms of the Cup. These are the bread and butter of a raksha antagonist who's not going to die immediately - they'll be used to strip characters of their allies, bolster the raksha's fortunes, and theoretically draw the character in with feigned sympathy for their new condition - they're also easy enough to overcome, as Glamours, so characters can eventually see through them and head to the glorious and, given the raksha's lack of oomph, short final battle.

This space for Rent.

Comments

I'd just like to say that quoting a Pratchett novel and making Fair Folk similar to his elves gets you...I dunno. Cookies. And pie. Lots of cookies and pie. I like this very much. - Hulen

Making? I'd say they were even before I tried to define them to myself at length. They're the old fair folk myths. And while I'm lukewarm to pie, I will accept cookies gleefully. ~ BerserkSeraph

A couple of quotes that this brings to mind are:

"There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm suprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is." -- Carpe Jugulum, Terry Pratchett

And I can't find my copy of Lords And Ladies but the bit in there about the elves not having any empathy seemed worth mentioning. Nice work dude.
--BrilliantRain

Just too cool. --MF

I think Veshesha means qualities in the sense of those things that separate one from another. Given one dictionary I've been looking at describes nirveshesha as 'ordinary' anyway. -Xeriar

Good catch - I did a bit more research and the term is more accurately 'without particularity' - so if Nirveshesha is without definition between itself and others, than the Ring is that difference. Thanks for the assist, Xeriar. ~ BerserkSeraph

Perhaps it's "qualities" in the Aristotelian sense? Only that would be a little backwards, because if I were going to try to tie the shinma to concepts from Aristotelian philosophy, I'd say that Nirakara was that which is without accidents, and Nirvishesha was that which is without essential nature. Or...wait. Nirguna ought to fit into that somehow...never mind.... --MF

Whee! I've already forgotten! ~BerserkSeraph Being slightly crazier than usual