LunarIllusion/BrilliantRain

a brief note on why a Lunar Illusion tree should exist

At the moment this is really somewhat of a placeholder / discussion page.

The Lunars have no canon Illusion charms. The creators seems to have decided that the Lunars never had real illusions, just that people thought they did. This bugs me, mainly because one of the three Lunar caste powers is creating an illusion. So I have been thinking about this and I think I have come up with an alternate theory that is almost cannon. It is worth noting that I haven't read the Fair Folk book yet, so some of this might contradict canon as of that book.

Anyway, according to Exalted: The Lunars, there are three things that indicate that Lunars might have had illusion powers at one point. First, the aformentioned caste power. Second, the tendancy of the tell to fade from view. Third, the descrption of the lost Waxing Moon caste as having "masterful powers of illusion" (E:TL 77).

So, having established the existance of Lunar illusions, two questions are raised. Why don't they have them anymore and what mechanics would they use. Taking the second of those questions first, I think that illusion charms should use appearance as their primary attribute. I have several reasons for this. First, there are no canon charms based on appearance. The developers have stated that this is to prevent Lunars with ugly animal totems from having a disadvantage. To fix this problem, I personally like the method described at Appearance, or you can just assume that Lunars with boar totems don't use illusions. Second, the Waxing Moon's are described as the most phyiscally attractive Lunars, which again implies a connection between appearance and illusion.

Now, as for why Lunars don't have illusion charms anymore, well when the Lunars fled to the wyld places after the solar purge, the changing of their caste systems and lifestyle caused them to both lose knowledge and re-evaluate which knowledge is most important. As an illusion of food is not filling, nor does an illusionarly fire warm a person, this knowledge fell by the wayside in favor of skills which more directly promote survival.

Thus the illusion charms were once common but have become all but lost in this second age. However, some first age Lunars would presumably still know charms from this tree. Other lunars might remember or reinvent these charms as needed.

Anyway, on to the charms!

Illusion Charms

Hide of the Cunning Hunter</b>

<b>Cost: 1 mote
Duration: 1 day 
Type: Simple 
Min. Appearance: 1 
Min Essence: 1 
Prereqs: none 

As the Lunar charm of the same name. (see E:TL 123)

Masking the Brilliant Form</b>

<b>Cost: 3 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: 1 scene 
Type: Simple 
Min. Appearance: 2 
Min Essence: 1 
Prereqs: Hide of the Cunning Hunter

As the Lunar charm of the same name. (see E:TL 123)

(the effects of these two cannon charms seem more inline with using small illusions to hide some of your features than actual shape shifting charms)