David./IdeaPile

Sidereal-level Martial Art, 1st Edition (Power Combat)

"Law"

Pre-Form Charms should be about the character enforcing laws and rules. I am unsure on how precisely to do this. The first thing that comes to mind is mucking with the Charms of opponents, but that seems more in line with an Essence theme, rather than Law. Obviously, a pre-Form Charm should have some effect related to establishing the martial artist's jurisdiction, or determining a sphere of influence.

The style will feature Edicts - laws put in place by the character, and enforced through his martial prowess. I think I may stage Edicts, and roll the first stage into the Form. The Form would allow the character to, as a simple action, pronounce one Edict per turn, which remains in effect until the Form ends or the Edict is replaced with another. The Form would probably permit the character to maintain a set number of Edicts (maybe Essence?). Beings within the martial artist's jurisdiction must abide by the conditions set by the Edicts, or face penalties.

Perhaps Edicts should not be something the character pronounces, so much as preexisting statutes that the character interprets and enforces. I think this sidesteps the issue of the art being far too open-ended if characters were permitted to make laws up as they went along. Additionally, there has been discussion in #wod (largely between haren and myself) about the legal code upon which the art is based. I think the style will be based on one legal code in particular, specifically one relating to the relationship between Creation and Yu-Shan, and the legal permissions granted to agents working in the service of both. That said, I like MAs that open up sideways - that is, have a potentially very broad panoply of mid-range effects, rather than just spiralling higher and higher in power. Discussion with haren has led to the idea of alternate branches of the style based on other, lesser legal codes - such as the Code of the Underworld, below - that deal with more specific matters, whether in terms of physical or philosophical jurisdiction. How Charms based on different codes would interact is up in the air at the moment - I think the codes should specify which takes precedence.

Post-Form, you could start having more advanced Edicts that blatantly alter the state of reality within the character's jurisdiction. Again, though, these would still be based on interpreting the law the character has to work with. The intent here being to allow a broad panoply of effects while keeping true to my initial inspiration after a fashion, but also to encourage creatively legalistic thinking on the part of players using the style. It seems only natural for mechanics to be structured so as to reward players who really think in-character.

Code of the Underworld (by haren)

Principles: Sacrifice, Retribution, Belief, Spirituality

Ritual makes reality. Things work because they are performed through ritual. The law is mutable through payment. The innocent may be punished and the guilty freed if enough is paid. While ritual is required, passion and will must fuel the ritual. Sacrifice is power, and the greatest sacrifice that can be made is through blood. Ignorance does not excuse the offender. Function is determined by belief rather than the opposite. Ownership is not granted by mere possession, it must be freely given by another. The heart of an object is more perfect than the reality. The form of a thing is dictated by it's spirit. Misdeeds will be repaid with vengence.

The fighting chain, representing the chains that bind so many ghosts waiting for punishment, is treated as if unarmed for purposes of this code.

Canon of the Raksha (by haren)

Principles: Drama, Superiority, Freedom and Slavery, Greed

A life without bonds is no life at all. Death is easy, but so is a path back to life for the meaningless death. Rivalry is as important to one's life as love, betrayal as much as loyalty. Mortals exist for sustinance's purpose and no other beyond those named by their betters. While called cold, Iron shall burn as if molten. The land shall respond to the will of it's lord. Appearance is naught but an matter of will and choice. The soul is as easily damaged as the body. To own is for a thing to be as a part of oneself. A lord does own his loyal subjects.

Comments, Suggestions

A pre-form charm idea could be something that enforces the law of averages: for any roll that that the martial artist can see happening (including his own), he can replace that results with one that generates the average number of successes for the pool being rolled (which, roughly, is one success for every two dice). Power level can be tweaked a bit by deciding if this can be done before or after the original pool is rolled. Since this is SMA, I'd recommend after. -- Wordman

Hmm! Not a bad idea, but I'm really leaning towards the style focusing more on some imagined legal code, rather than physical laws. Manipulation of physical laws is a really basic Charm effect, after all, so while it will do a little of that pre-Form, it'll do it in broad strokes (perhaps with multipurpose supplementals). That's an interesting thought, though! - David.

Since we're looking at pure laws here, there is one synergy that shouldn't be overlooked - that of the Lawgivers. Given the Solars' supposed status as those who decree, I'd recommend including at least one or two places where Solars are explicitly treated differently than other Exalts, merely due to their status. Nothing earth-shaking, but it would make thematic sense that they'd be more inclined to this style than, say, Lunars (who themselves are most likely fond of the style of change). - GreenLantern

Mmm. Effects that treat different targets differently based on their Exaltation is interesting. Giving special treatment specifically to Solars, though, is not. To elaborate: Given what power tier I've placed it on, we know who created this art, and it's a Second Age martial art. I really can't see an Essence 7-8 Sidereal in the Second Age coming up with a martial art that favors Solars. That seems like a downright foolish manuever, and while Sidereals are famously proud, often to the point of pursuing foolish, self-righteous ends, coming up with a high-Essence martial art that favors Solars is in a different category of foolishness altogether. - David. who, by the way, needs to talk to you, GL. Pop into IRC sometime.

The solar celestrial legal authority problem means that you need to specifically explain how it is avoided in the style, I think. One way would be to make the style about the maiden's laws, so you have the law of journeys and endings etc. This is based on my reading of how martial arts are explained. If you accept that that the Solar's would naturally have an advantage in using a law based MA. Then the MA would need to be carefully designed as inside the sidereal's shtick in some way or the MA would naturally benefit the Solars. Of course the Sidereals are known masters of this.
This style seems to lend itself well to a repeated attack charm. Getting to make a counter-attack every time an edict is ignored for example. Jurisdiction Charms could be based on the main powers of heaven. So Jurisdiction of Geia might grant Jurisdiction over elementals and terrestrial exalts and in addition grants a soak bonus and unarmed lethal parry. If you go with a Solar advantage then you get Jurisdiction of the Unconquered Sun, which requires permission to use and Solars are automatically considered to have this permission. - Talion

Let me reiterate: This MA will not give preferential treatment to Solars. It may treat different Exalts differently, according to their station in the hierarchy, but if anything it would be more punitive to Solars than to others - the lawgivers should be held to a higher standard, after all. - David.

Based on our talk that each substyle should have it's own weapon, I was thinking, once you master a substyle, you could be able to use it as a regular style weapon (as a synergy bonus). Basically, once you learned the pinacle of a substyle, you have learned completely how to use the weapon with the entire style (including alternate substyles). But, this is just a suggestion. - haren

That seems logical. This martial art is moving towards an arrangement reminiscent of 5fWoB, in which substyles have their own signature weapons, but upon mastery, the Exalt can use any substyle weapon as a signature weapon for the entire art. That said, this style also has some interesting interactions, what with differing jurisdictions according to which code of laws the character is acting in accordance with. Perhaps, then, it should have a core signature weapon, then additional signature weapons according to the code of laws the character is using supplementally? - David.