MartialArts/FourMonarchsStyle

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Four Monarchs Style

Created by Greymane and GoldenCat

This style is practiced among the White Guard of Stygia, retainers of the Dual Monarchy. It emulates the office of the four monarchs and the legend tied to their endless existence, providing techniques that allow ghosts to partake upon their august prowess in a similar but lesser fashion than those who step into their roles. Each of the four student and mastery techniques is tied to one of the four:

Usine White-skinned male aspect of the White Monarch, commander of the golem army of Stygia.

Eset Female aspect of the White Monarch, said to have been first, speaker to and for oblivion itself, diplomat from ghosts to Nephwracks.

Setesh Male aspect of the Black Monarch, controller of all rituals and rites that mantain the Underworld, ruler of the Calendar, time and prophecy.

Nebthys Black-skinned female aspect of the Black Monarch, lady of thousand secrets and the monarch most interested in the living world, who hears the last whispers of the dying and with them a considerable number of the secrets, though never generous with such knowledge.

The Charms of this style treat attacks made with swords and staves as unarmed attacks. This style is fully compatible with armor.

Student Charms

Four Monarchs Masquerade
Cost: 2 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None
Performing a kata that describes the four rulers of Stygia the adept sees herself surrounded by their masks. They dance in an orbit around the adept's head, ephemeral like an anima, placing the adept under the auspices of a single one of them each turn. The adept hears the whispers of his rulers through the masks and thus become immune to flanking techniques and denies the attackers any benefits from attacking from his back. When under the auspices of...

• ... Usine the adept receives +1 success to all rolls involving Valor.
• ... Setesh the adept receives +1 success to all rolls involving Conviction.
• ... Eset the adept receives +1 success to all rolls involving Temperance.
• ... Nebthys the adept receives +1 success to all rolls involving Compassion.

The dance begins at Usine on the turn after this Charm is enacted and moves to Nebthys on the fourth turn, then Usine again, and so on.

Four Monarchs Storm (ESET)
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Four Monarchs Masquerade
Eset calms the storms that, let loose, would call Mortwights from the Labyrinth. Reverting this principle with a single successful open-palm strike against a foe the adept unleashes one of those storms which she held in calm within her Essence all along! That causes an spectacular display about the blow that could never be hidden and causes a Temperance+Martial Arts roll against the foe's Willpower - should the adept win the foe is knocked back 2 yards per net success in this roll. The adept can inflict knockdown if he wishes.

All void-tainted ghosts within a mile of this Charm's existence can sense its use like they would the pull of the Void-storms.

Four Monarchs March (USINE)
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Four Monarchs Storm
Usine commands the golem army of Stygia - those who deal with him have to fight the might of countless fists of Jade! Moving like the general of golems the adept leaves a trail of the afterimages of his soldiers as he proceeds to the attack. The attack enhanced by this Charm increases its base damage by the adept's Valor - this turns the damage pool into a roll involving Valor for the purpose of Four Monarchs Masquerade.

Being struck by this Charm makes one feel trampled by the weight of jade soldiers and increases a character's Mobility Penalty by 1. This is cumulative with multiple strikes by this Charm, and should a character's Mobility Penalty exceed her Strength+Resistance she becomes burdened and suffers the effects of her Mobility Penalty in all of her Physical Actions, not just those normally affected by Mobility.

Four Monarchs Maze (NEBTHYS)
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Four Monarchs Masquerade
Nebthys is the lady of secrets and whispers - her ways and motions so labyrinthine that not even she fully comprehends herself. As the adept moves to attack or defend, his body shifts into a dozen places within the span of several seconds. With a stir of wordless whispers, of his form linger in the air even after he has shifted elsewhere. The adept rolls his Compassion. For each success on this roll, he subtracts one die from his opponents defense or attack pools as the opponent places blows upon or blocks against phantasmal images.

Four Monarchs Constellation (SETESH)
Cost: 1 mote Per Target, 1 willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Four Monarchs Maze
Setesh crafted the Calendar which defines the dark fate of the Underworld - to face him is to swim against the tides of fate. The adept performs a quick circular kata, the image of rotating clockwork appearing behind himself and up to his Essence x 2 other people. Though they all begin turning at the same speed, some begin to turn faster and others slower. Everyone targeted by this Charm may choose to make a contested Conviction roll against the adept. The adept may then freely switch the rolled Initiative of everyone who failed or chose not to roll. He cannot alter the Initiative of anyone employing Charms or Sorcery that automatically win initiative.

This Charm can be used more than one per turn, although it cannot shift the initiative of characters who have already acted.

The Form

(Monarch) Form
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Four Monarchs Maze, Four Monarchs March
With a prayer to one of the Four Great Monarchs the adept adops their mask in a lesser manner than that of those who give their very identities for the continuation of the Monarch's legends. The adept's form blurs with the colors of Black or White when she uses this Charm, the likeness of the chosen Monarch clinging to her form like an anima. Thiis Charm gives the adept the resilience of a story over the resilience of flesh. The adept enacting this Form becomes able to Soak Lethal Damage with their Bashing Soak.

This Charm is actually four distinct Charms, one for each of the Monarchs.

The adept may purchase all Forms if she so wishes, although she needs only one iteration of it to finish the style.

• Usine Form: The lord of the Golem Army strikes like fists of pure Jade, increasing the damage of his unarmed attacks by his Essence rating and allows the adept to use USINE Charms as innate abilities that do not count as a Charm use.

• Eset Form: The lady of oblivion knows how to deal with those tainted by Void, adding the adept's Essence to all Attribute+Ability dice pools involving Void-tainted creatures and allows the adept to use ESET Charms as innate abilities that do not count as a Charm use.

• Setesh Form: The lord of the Calendar moves with predestined speed - he increases his Initiative by his Essence rating and allows the adept to use SETESH Charms as innate abilities that do not count as a Charm use.

• Nebthys Form: The lady of whispers knows the secrets of man, able to subtract two success rolled on damage to learn a single secret from her foe and allows the adept to use NEBTHYS Charms as innate abilities that do not count as a Charm use.

This is a Martial Arts Form-Type Charm and is incompatible with any other Form-Type Charms.

Mastery Charms

Four Monarchs Whisper (NEBTHYS)
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 4
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: (Monarch) Form
Of the Four Monarchs, mistress Nebthys is the most interested in the living and can use this knowledge as a weapon against them. Clad in a raiment of death-whispers the adept adds her Lore score to the base damage of a single attack against one of the living. An attack supplemented by this charm can be used by an immaterial adept to attack one of the living - this can be used as a surprise attack, although the whispers provide warning to those who have seen the Charm used before. The whispers don't make her visible to those she is fighting without the ability to see spirits, and they must fight her as if blind.

The adept can use Compassion instead of Dexterity on any attacks supplemented by this charm.

Four Monarchs Prophecy (SETESH)
Cost: 4 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Four Monarchs Whisper
Setesh at times wears the robes of a prophet, reading the intricate patterns of the Calendar to predict what road lays ahead. Calling forth a phantom image of the Calendar ringed in a halo of dark starlight, the adept speaks with conviction a word of doom towards one of his foes. He rolls his Martial Arts + Conviction against his foes Willpower. For every success on this roll, the adept may at one point force his opponent to reroll a dice action and take the worse of the two rolls. Should the adept net six or more successes, the targets destiny becomes so badly stained by the essence of death that they gain a point of the Dark Fate flaw. Any rerolls not used by the end of the scene are lost.

Four Monarchs Disdain (ESET)
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 4
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: (Monarch) Form
Eset was the first of all monarchs, the one that crawled out of the Void in the time when the Underworld was chaotic and untamed, before there was time and order in the place of death. She has endured a thousand betrayals and killed a thousand betrayers - she has seen all the thousand broken schemers who have fallen into the Void. Now she has only disdain to the most finely-crafted plans. This Charm can be activated when the adept is under an unexpected attack - she rolls a contest between her Temperance and her opponent's Essence score - if successful she defends as if she was aware of the attack and unfazed by its perpetrator. It can also be used whenever the adept would suffer visual penalties to her actions with a similar Temperance roll against the effect's creator - the adept's disdain ignores all mirages and illusions and lights in her path.

Four Monarchs Legion (USINE)
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Four Monarchs Disdain
At the beck and call of the White Monarch's male aspect, the golem armies of Stygia would unthinkingly lay down their lives to protect Usine from harm and their jade hard bodies serve as a formidable barrier. The adept of course cannot command the terrible armies of Stygia, but parallels can be made. Reaching out to the world around him, the adept briefly empowers the lifeless to life, sculpting a golem from whatever terrain lays around him and placing this false-soldier into the path of harm. Activating this Charm in response to an attack, the adept rolls his Valor and creates a golem with a number of Health Levels equal to his successes and which shifts to always intercept the blow. Damage from the attack must first break through the golem before it can be applied to the adept.

The golem endures only a few seconds, but will remain as an inanimate statue should it still be standing at the end of the turn. The adept may also choose to sacrifice any trinkets, jewelry, and even raw coinage he has on his person into this Charm, gaining a number of extra successes on his roll equal to the Resource value of the item being sacrificed.

White Monarch Stance (ESET and USINE)
Cost: 4 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: One Turn
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: (Monarch) Form
Performing a slow and deliberate kata the adept calcifies her body in alabaster light. She becomes like the White Monarch, those of the Dual Monarchy that deal with that which is still - the Void and the Automata. This light can waver towards male or female light, and whenever this Charm is activated the adept must choose wether to use the face of Eset or Usine. This has the following effects...

Eset crystallizes the alabaster light like the great ambassador between the noble dead and the Void. For the duration of the turn the adept can spend 3 motes to stop any action from a Void-tainted being such as Nephwracks, Morwights, Spectres and Hekatonkires. Motes spent on those actions are not spent. Actions created by Reflexive Charms can be created again in response to the same action.

Usine crystallizes alabaster light like the great martial commander of Stygia. For the duration of the turn the adept can spend 1 mote to counter any attack against herself or any opponent within the adept's Essence in yards.

Learning this Charm allows the adept to pay 2 motes to increase the knockback effect of Four Monarchs Storm by 1 yard or increase the base damage of Four Monarchs March by 1L.

Black Monarch Stance (NEBTHYS and SETESH)
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: (Monarch) Form
Performing a furious and dynamic kata the adept wreathes her body in obsidian light. She becomes like the Black Monarch, those of the Dual Monarchy that deal with that which is ever-changing - the living world and time and rituals in the Underworld. This light can waver towards male or female light, and whenever this Charm is activated the adept must choose wether to use the face of Nebthys or Setesh. This has the following effects...

Nebthys crystallises the obsidian light in the mistress of a thousand secrets. She makes one unarmed strike that exploits all weaknesses of her foe, thus becoming Piercing. She can craft a single secret she has stolen from her opponent(with effects such as Nebthys Form) into a secret weakness that allows her strike to ignore all Soak of her opponent - but the opponent will understand this secret weakness and compensate for it: secret weaknesses are only effective once per secret.

Setesh crystallises the obsidian light in the master of Stygian rituals. She makes one unarmed strike that foretells her enemy's doom, adding one success to the damage roll. She can also spend one reroll she had gathered with Four Monarchs Prophecy to add yet another automatic success to the damage, up to her Martial Arts in rerolls spent.

Learning this Charm allows the adept to pay 2 motes to increase the base damage of Four Monarchs Whisper by 1L or lower an opponent's iniative in addition to shitfting it about with Four Monarchs Constellation by 1. Characters reduced to Initiative zero with the latter ability cannot act.

The Ultimate Technique

Four Monarchs Perfection
Cost: 5 motes, 1 willpower, 1 health level
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Black Monarch Stance, White Monarch Stance, Four Monarchs Prophecy, Four Monarchs Legion
Performing a kata that describes the four rulers of Stygia the adept sees herself surrounded by their masks. They dance in an orbit around the adept's head with brilliant colors - becoming solid gemstone if used in concerto with Four Monarchs Masquerade - placing the adept under the auspices of a single one of them each turn. While under the auspices of a Monarch the adept uses their Charms as innate abilities that do not count as a Charm use.

The Monarch's mask behind the adept creates a phantasmagorical image like an anima, however, at the image of that Monarch opposite to the one whose mask the adept currently dons. This image shelters and protects the adept with the zeal of her own soul - each turn the adept receives another action that must abort to a Full Parry, defending all attacks up to the adept's rate as normal.

Like for Four Monarchs Masquerade the dance begins at Usine on the turn after this Charm is enacted and moves to Nebthys on the fourth turn, then Usine again, and so on. If Four Monarchs Masquerade is already in effect it follows the current position of its masks, and vice versa. If the current mask is the same as a Monarch Form the adept is enacting the Charms of that Monarch can be activated at half their mote cost, rounded down, and at no willpower cost for the remainder of the turn.

Sidereal Exalted, and those who learn this Charm as a Sidereal Charm can enhance it with a Prayer Strip marked with the Scripture of the Four Maidens. Placed behind the adept's head it pulses in a monochrome glow and becomes a real mask floating behind him. The shadow-image becomes a full mirror of the Adept and converts its defensive action into a Fully Independent Action as per those granted by Charcoal March of Spiders Form. The Mask behind the Adept becomes fully-functional in his Independent Shadow - thus giving the character the benefits of both White Monarchs or both Black Monarchs at once.

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