SolarSail/Gayo
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Dancing Hands Knot
Cost: 1 mote Type: Reflexive Duration: Instant Minimum Sail: 1 Minimum Essence: 1 Prerequisites: None
Fingers moving too fast for the eye to follow, the Exalt knots a length of rope or cloth. When this Charm is activated multiple times in succession, the character's hands blur into a whirlwind of elegant movements, and his ropes dance around him like charmed snakes.
The Exalt may instantly tie any knot he is capable of making in any material he is capable of knotting. His ability is not enhanced, and he must be physically capable of tying the knot (which usually means having both hands free).
The only limit to the number of times Dancing Hands Knot may be invoked in a single turn is the size of the user's Essence pool. However, if a knotting attempt fails, the Charm may not be used on that same knot for the rest of the turn.
Untangling Touch
Cost: 1 mote Type: Reflexive Duration: Instant Minimum Sail: 2 Minimum Essence: 1 Prerequisites: Dancing Hands Knot
Touching a knot or tangle, the Exalt instills in it a sense of order and righteousness. Compelled by its own guilt, the knot slips apart.
Friction, gravity and other physical considerations are ignored. However, it must actually be possible to undo the tangle -- two sealed loops of chain could not be disconnected. Beyond this restriction, any kind of knot or twist can be undone with the briefest contact. When used on a mass of tangled material such as fishing tackle, the material will remain in a heap, but rearrange itself to undo any snags.
Efficacious Knotting Practice
Cost: 3 motes Type: Simple Duration: Instant Minimum Sail: 3 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisites: Dancing Hands Knot
As the Exalt ties a knot, he winds invisible threads of Essence through the loops and twists of the rope, tightening it and fortifying it against harm.
Until undone, the knot is immune to fire, corrosion, rot, and non-magical attack. Against attacks enhanced by magic or made with weapons of the Five Magical Materials, it has a bonus to its bashing and lethal soak equal to three times the Essence of the Exalt who invoked the Charm, and, being an object, totally ignores damage less than this value. This protection only extends a few inches away from the knot, however, so more powerful methods must be used to protect an entire rope. Knots tied with the Efficacious Knotting Practice are unusually tight, and the difficulty to undo them is increased by 2 (with a minimum difficulty of 2) unless magic such as the Untangling Touch is employed.
The Charm must be performed during the act of knot-tying; it cannot be used on an existing knot. Although the motes spent to power the Charm dissipate instantly, their benefits remain until the knot is undone or destroyed.
Thousand-Strand Spiderweb
Cost: 5 motes Type: Simple Duration: Instant Minimum Sail: 4 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisites: Efficacious Knotting Practice
At this level of mastery, the character can see beyond the physical shape of his materials to the principles that give them form. His hands slip in and out of being as he takes hold of the spirit of a rope or chain and twists it into an incomprehensible shape.
The Exalt may form a single large knot connecting up to (his Essence x3) distinct objects, at least one of which must be a knottable material. No roll is required. The knot possesses all the protection offered by the Efficacious Knotting Practice. Additionally, it cannot be untied without magic by anyone but the Exalt who created it; there is no beginning or end to the maze of loops and snarls, and prolonged analysis of the knot causes disorientation. If magic is used to untie the knot, a roll is required with a difficulty equal to the Essence of the Exalt who created the Spiderweb.
As with the Efficacious Knotting Practice, the Thousand-Strand Spiderweb requires no commitment of Essence, though its effect remains until the knot is undone.
