MetalFatigue/WayGrace

The Way Grace

The substance of the Wyld takes its form from dreams and legends. Distance within it is defined by scenes of journeying, time by stories. But every story has a setting; every plot has a beginning, a middle and an end. A careless raksha may find himself dragged down by the undertow of a mighty narrative, carried along helplessly until his own goals are lost in the infinity of dream, his very identity dashed to pieces against the unforgiving reefs of dramatic necessity.

The few Fair Folk who manage to tame Nirupadhika use the Way Grace to assert their independence from the ebb and flow of the Wyld's dream-tides. Merely by existing, these enigmatic sages constantly redefine their surroundings. Wielding the laws of narrative as tools, manipulating the pace of events to travel vast distances quickly, they step outside the stories of their own lives, transforming themselves from protagonist to author.

The Way

The Way Grace feeds on no Virtue and represents Destiny. It gives a raksha direct control over the pacing and circumstances of her own story, testing the Willpower of those with whom she comes into contact.

×         Your story is written, your path foredoomed.
•         With effort, you can sometimes divert the flow of your own life-tale, stumbling blindly off the path that others have laid for you and into the wilderness of possibility.
••       Your will is your own; you may choose whether to follow the path of least resistance or forge your own trail through uncharted territory.
•••     You chart new routes through the Wyld, redefining dramatic convention as necessary to reach the goal you've chosen.
••••   Serendipity is your ally. Miraculous coincidences aid you when all seems lost. Nothing can restrain you for long.
••••• You are the Axis Mundi, the still point about which the universe revolves.

The Curse of Compulsion

Raksha who fall into bedlam when their Way Graces are destroyed or severed from them suffer from the Curse of Compulsion. Having a Way of 0, they cannot choose the ends toward which their personal stories lead; their destiny, be it glorious, tragic or merely farcical, is beyond their control. A raksha in such straits cannot change his Nature or redefine his roles in relationships constructed through the Society-Building Charms of Nirvikalpa, the Staff; any attempts by others to modify the bedlam-wracked raksha's Nature are at +2 difficulty. He cannot spend temporary Willpower to gain extra successes on die rolls, though he may still spend it for other purposes (such as activating Charms or channeling Virtues). Until he recovers from bedlam, he is subject at all times to a compulsive behavior pattern appropriate to his current Nature as if his temporary Willpower were reduced to 0.

A raksha afflicted with the Curse of Compulsion does not recover from bedlam and regain the ability to influence his destiny until the compulsion inflicted by his Nature has driven him to a number of self-destructive or humiliating actions (or failures to act) equal to the numeric rating of his Heart Grace.

Comments

Pretty nifty. So, could you use this to engage people in Way-Shaping Combat? If so, with what results? (Perhaps you could render a foe unable or compelled to journey to certain places, or give them a flying dutchman style curse.) -- JohnBiles

Haven't decided about Way combat. I suspect that, since a connection to Nirupadhika does not come readily to the raksha, one would have to have a particular Charm in order to engage in it. I would treat raksha without a Way Grace the same as Creation-born; raksha with a Way Grace but without the Way-combat-enabling Charm, on the other hand, would be screwed. Main reason I haven't gone into this is that it would merely be one more way for the bad-ass NPC with a Way Grace to mess with the PCs, and he doesn't need it; secondary reason is that it's a lot of work. I'm not totally happy with either of the other approaches to Way combat on the wiki. --MF