SolarPresence/PerfectGoldenGeneral

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Perfect Golden General Branch

Morale Affixing Gaze</b>

<b>Cost: 1 mote
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Min. Presence: 1
Min Essence: 1
Prereqs: None

With this charm, a commander can ascertain the morale and general combat-readiness of soldiers and militia with a glance. Exhaustion, poor spirits, equipment shortages and other such things that sap at a unit's ability to wage war are all clearly visible, and the Solar has an instinctive idea of both the nature of these issues and their origin. This charm costs a single mote, and requires the subject to spend a turn looking over his men or interacting with them. Particularly subtle issues might require a Perception roll to spot, at the storyteller's discretion, but in general this charm provides a full picture.

Legion-Mind Meditation</b>

<b>Cost: 3 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Min. Presence: 2
Min Essence: 2
Prereqs: Morale-Affixing Glance

This charm allows the Exalt to fully tune himself to the mindset and viewpoints of his men, understanding instinctively how those men under his command think a battle is going and how they will react to any bit of information or news that he has. This information does not necessarily reveal any information that the character doesn't know, only allowing him to predict his troops reactions to known issues and any matter that he can visualize and consider. I.e., if the character doesn't know that a Lunar Exalt is leading a stealth commando group into his flanks, this charm will not tell him that OR tell him how his troops are/will react to this development. It would tell him how his troops would react to an air-drop of Lookshy Rangers, however, if he thought to consider that possibility -- regardless of rather such a drop will actually occur.

The main use of this charm is to keep the character one step ahead of the enemy, as much as he can. If the Solar see's the forces arrayed against his left flank are weak and ill-prepared or can see them retreating, he will know that his men will enthusiastically follow them into a potential trap or weaken his own lines against a potential thrust from a different force. This will allow him to move to that area, and ensure that the matter is dealt with carefully, or delegate.

Insightful Commander Style</b>

<b>Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Min. Presence: 3
Min Essence: 2
Prereqs: Legion-Mind Meditation

It can be vitally important to know the men under your command; who is responsible for what, who holds the real authority in the ranks, who is held is useless and shifty and who is respected and cherished. A Solar with this charm knows all of these things, and more! He is connected on a basic and primal level to the social engines of your fighting force.

With an expenditure of three motes, you can know basic and general details about anyone under your command as it relates to his position and status in your forces. This includes what the other men think of him, where he ranks in the command chain and what his respocibilities are and how well he performs those responcibilities. Any particularly interesting undercurrents of thought and rumor about the individual are also clear to the commander, as well as a good idea of how accurate they are. You can also guess how the legion as a whole will react to any particular decision you make involving this man.

Alternatively, the Solar can use this charm in the opposite manner. If a Wing of men is cut off from his main force, but manages to survive under pressure and achieve it's objectives, a use of this charm can tell the Solar who contributed to this. When it comes time for a promotion or for someone to take the blame, this charm can ensure that your decisions are the right ones.

This charm is not fool proof, and shouldn't be relied on entirely. The more you actually know about the men under your command, the more useful this charm is and the more accurate -- even second-hand knowledge from trustworthy Officers keeps the worst mistakes at bay, and when combined with personal knowledge this charm is more or less foolproof.

Striding the Lines of Command</b>

<b>Cost: 8 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: One day
Type: Simple
Min. Presence: 4
Min Essence: 2
Prereqs: Insightful Commander Style

This charm allows the Solar to expertly manage his interactions with the troops. When it becomes necessary, the Solar can act as either an individual or an impartial commander. This allows the best of both worlds when it comes to interacting with the troops. The Solar can share barbs and jokes with his soldiers during dinner at the mess, and give out back-breaking and unpopular orders without drawing resentment and betrayed trust later. It was this charm, during the First Age, that helped to make the soldiers that served the Solar Deliberative so fanatically loyal to their rulers and commanders.

After the cost of the charm is spent, and for it's entire duration, your military structure functions as it should for you when you wish it to and washes away entirely when you don't have any need of it. Your troops answer your orders without hesistation when the danger of battle is upon them, and consider you a boon friend when it's time for other matters. This charm also makes the Solar's interactions, both personal and professional, easier and more powerful when used on his men. Orders he gives are more likely to be obeyed without complaint, and he finds blending in and mingling with the troops much easier. He may add his Presence in extra dice to any social roll involving men he leads in combat. This is a personal effect, however, and cannot generally effect more than Essence x10 men at once. Any more, and the situation is too impersonal to benefit from the bonus.

When you reach Essence 3, the effects of this charm extend to a lesser extent to the officers most directly underneath you, allowing them to gain a single extra die in social situations with troops under them and avoid some of the more common pitfalls of the military structure.

Perfect Golden General</b>

<b>Cost: 10 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Min. Presence: 5
Min Essence: 3
Prereqs: Striding the Lines of Command

This charm was designed by some of the greatest Generals of the First Age; ones that led from the Front Lines, beloved by their troops and greatly feared by their enemies. In combat, their troops are almost impossible to rout and greatly effective in combat. They fight like men possessed and have an inner drive that pulls them toward victory.

When this charm is activated, all soldiers under his command within Essence x 100 yards gain a bonus dice to all combat-related pools and a single bonus -0 health level (which only lasts for the duration of the combat). In addition, none of these warriors fail Valor roll. The commander himself gains +Essence in extra dice to any combat-leadership rolls he might make that involve his force as a whole (i.e., most rolls in the mass combat system and similar rolls in a normal game situation). This does not help individual associations, only the overall flow of communication and leadership for the forces arrayed under the Solar.

The effects of this charm, and Heroism-Encouraging Presence stack together for no extra cost.

Comments

Interesting stuff. I assume that Legion-Mind Meditation will reveal infiltrators and fifth columnists in the ranks, yes? And Morale Affixing Gaze could use a tweaking of its name, since 'Affixing' suggests that it increases morale rather than measuring it. - Quendalon

Morale Affixing Gaze could use an extra touch to make it satisfyingly supernatural and to keep it from just duplicating a good Perception roll. A suggestion: The character may also pick out a few individuals at random and applies the same effect to them as an individual. That guy's miserable because he's got blisters, she's depressed because she doesn't have made any close friends in the army after three months, and that guy's out of spare clothes and has been wearing the same pair of socks for two weeks. That woman over there is cheerful because she's stoned out of her mind on drugs.

Obviously it shouldn't even come close to duplicating Insightful Commander Style. You wouldn't get details, or anything beyond the reason that a soldier's out of sorts. It's also random; you couldn't target a certain officer. I'm thinking no individuals than the Magnitude of the group of troops you inspect, so even a fang leader can't scan everybody with this.

The original charm's effects is the sort of thing a leader would already know if she does a few of her own Bureaucracy rolls, talks to officers and considers the impact of her own decisions; this adds a nice personal touch to her command; walking up to somebody and giving them a herbal paste for their rash has it's own effect on morale. It's also something you can fix right away, whereas there's often nothing you can do about low supplies. What do you think? - Webb