Ketrus/StupidSolarTrick2

Trick the Second

As the circle finally breaks down the massive stone doorway, a cloud of dust and shattered rock blinds them momentarily from seeing the room beyond. Once it settles, they are treated to a truly awe-inspiring sight. A single stairway among dozens descends down into a huge auditorium, which looks to be able to seat thousands of people. The seats are hewn of the same rock as the rest of this strange Manse, but their design is strangely appealing--indeed, as Dace collapses into the nearest one, he finds it perfectly comfortable despite all his armor. Arianna invokes her All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight to unravel the secret of these strange stone seats, but there is none to be found. They are utterly mundane, but perfectly designed.

There is no arena below, no field for sport or stage for debate as far as anyone can tell. Instead, the showfloor holds only a dozen tables set in a circle, pointing outward radially from the center of the colleseum, leaving an area of perhaps ten feet in diameter between them. There's a smaller table in the very middle, and upon it the dull glimmer of still-sharp steel can be detected by those of sharp sight. Harmonious Jade, through her charms, has the cleverest eyes of all, and she needs not walk down to the showfloor to see that they're surgeons' tools.

---

Powerful. Wise. Brutal. Practical. The Twilights of the First Age had greater knowledge of themselves and all of Creation than perhaps any others, including the gods themselves. Their lore was such that they forged such artifacts as the Daiklaves of Conquest, not to mention unimaginable wonders as the Warstriders, the Five Metal Shrike, and the Imperial Manse.

Yet, they were also the first necromancers. Moreso than any others of their time, they delved into hideous and evil arts, and engaged in terrible acts that brook no forgiveness.

Here is a lesser known wonder, the Colleseum of Azamond, in which Azamond 'encouraged' his armies, bureaucrats, and medical staff to greater levels of accomplishment with public acts of torture. Let's take a look at some of his abilities.

Lore 5
Medicine 5
Essence 3+ (he started small just like everyone else, after all)
Followers 5

Immanent Solar Glory, as many times as he can take it
First Medicine Excellency
Flawless Diagnosis Technique
Instant Treatment Methodology

Now, Immanent Solar Glory grants a number of motes to the Lawgiver equal to the magnitude of an organization, for every hour of dramatic action in which he inspires or leads said organization. These fill a pool equal to (10 * The Number of Immanent Solar Glory charms taken), which can only be recharged through charms that directly regenerate essence.

The obvious solution is to activate the Twilight Anima Power and then abuse Essence-Gathering Temper. Hit yourself on the head and gain awesome cosmic power. Good deal, right?

Now, Azamond knew of this technique, but disdained it for being too obvious and too sloppy. A -true- Solar God-King should not have to hurt himself to regain Essence. He should be able to do so while hurting OTHER people.

He would have been a model Death Knight.

Now, the handy little Medicine charm Instant Treatment Methodology lets you spend 7 motes to convert an entire hour of dramatic action used for the Medicine Ability... into a few fleeting seconds. As it just so happens, torture is resolved through use of the Medicine ability, and it serves as an excellent inspiration for performance among the lower ranks.

So here was his solution. Gather about 2500 of his followers into the colleseum, and bring in mortal after mortal, convicted rightfully or wrongfully of any offense, large or small. They would be set down on a table in the circle, and round and round he would go, tapping them on the head one by one. Each time he so much as laid a finger on them, their eyes would explode, their lips would fester, their skin would slowly unravel as an essence-simulated scalpel sliced their skin off in strips, and they would generally just DIE in the most gruesome ways he could imagine. With a base dice pool of about 13, he could imagine quite a bit. Each time he did this, compressing an hour's worth of torture into a few seconds, he would inspire the twenty-five hundred and one spectators to -never- ever do anything that might land them down there on the showfloor.

For that many people, he would regain 8 essence, for a net gain of 1. 1 mote, per mortal brutally slaughtered.

At around, oh, say, essence 7 and the height of his power, he would do this sort of thing seventy or eighty times, just to fill up his -bonus- essence pool, before even worrying about the standard Solar batteries.

Some called him mad, but he disregarded them. After all, what kind of barbarian resorts to something so brutal as Essence-Gathering Temper?

Comments

Creepy as hell, but it does seem kind of inefficient. You'd think at Essence 7, you could just walk down a line of mortals and just suck motes out of them that they aren't using since they can't control their Essence.-- JohnBiles

Inefficient? Definitely. But this is all about thumbing your nose at the Deathknights and saying, "Anything you can do, I can do creepier." -- Ketrus, who reminds you that slaughter is only holy and just when many people watch.