FrivYeti/ThornGrace
Back to FrivYeti/Charms
Asura, The Thorn Grace
The shinma Asura defines power by comparison. It exists in constant duality, drawing blood from the minds of those who come into contact with it, feeding itself from the minor wounds that it inflicts and growing eternally stronger. To Asura, there is no co-operation, but also no true conflict; there is only a perfect balance of power. For one thing to grow in power, another must be lessened; for one thing to advance, something else must fall back. Thus is perfection both ever-changing and eternally still.
A character who possesses a Thorn Grace defines it by how much power she has taken from others. When others are proved weak or fail, she is stronger by comparison. When all things fail, she is the strongest. It is not her success that matters, but their failure. The Thorn Grace is based on Valor, but is restricted by Temperance, which states that a raksha can have power in and of themselves.
Rules of the Thorn Grace
Characters capable of Thorn Shaping do so by piling frustrations and setbacks upon others, weakening their resolve and impeding their paths. Like other minor Graces, it is not in and of itself used in Shaping combat, but a user of the Thorn can use it to frustrate Sword or Cup-shaping actions. The Thorn uses Wits to determine its attack and defense rolls, Strength to determine damage, and Appearance to determine soak.
The Thorn is associated with the Abilities Linguistics, Socialize, Presence, War, and Awareness. If it were to become a Major Grace, it would likely replace the Sword, creating a much more balanced but shifting pattern of power and conflict among the raksha.
Characters who have their Thorn Grace destroyed suffer from the Curse Of Submission: they lose the ability to take power from others, seeing all things as inviolable. Mechanically, this prevents them from taking any action that might cause another to lose status or power, although it does not necessitate their servitude to others.
Charms of the Thorn Grace
The following are a few Charms that build from the Thorn Grace.
Forging The Thorn Grace</b>
<b>Cost: 10 motes, 1 gossamer, Mins: Ring 0, Essence 1, Type: Simple Keywords: None Duration: Instant Prerequisite Charms: Forging the Heart Grace
Crafting the Thorn Grace for a consenting creature, the character teaches them how to harness Asura. This Charm functions identically to normal Grace-creating Charms, save that the Grace created is that of the Thorn.
Asura is a Charm that speaks of balance in all things. When a character with Asura is present in shaping combat against an opponent who is suffering an internal penalty to her actions, the raksha gains a +1 die bonus on all of her shaping actions.
Excitation To Greater Failure</b>
<b>Cost: 3 motes, Mins: Thorns 3, Essence 1, Type: Reflexive (Step 2) Keywords: Combo-OK, Shaping, Emotion, Stackable Duration: One Story Prerequisite Charms: None
Frustration leads many to ill-advised actions. This Charm may be activated whenever an opponent makes a shaping attack against the character. If the attack fails, the target finds their story becoming fixated on the character. Until the target successfully attacks the character with a shaping action, any shaping action she takes that does not target the character suffers an internal penalty equal to the character's Essence rating. Multiple applications of this Charm only add a further -1 penalty each, and must be applied on successive missed attacks.
Exultation Of Observed Failure</b>
<b>Cost: 5 motes, 1 gossamer, Mins: Thorns 4, Essence 3, Type: Simple Keywords: Combo-OK, Shaping Duration: One Story Prerequisite Charms: Excitation To Greater Failure
The failures of others excite a character to ever-growing success. Upon activating this Charm, the character names a single target. Whenever that target takes an action that the character can observe and fails, the character recovers motes of Essence equal to whatever the target would have recovered from stunting the action had she succeeded.
