Sz/PMESidereal
Contents
No longer mere Creationbeings and Yu-Shanbeings are we, but bright children of the stars!
Castes
Chosen of Journeys
The ideal of a system in motion. Mercury's Chosen are bringers of the world of movement and ambition.
Caste Markings: As per canon.
Anima Effect: As per canon.
Auspicious Abilities: Pilot, Ranged Combat, Resistance, Survival, Technology
Associations: As per canon.
Sobriquets: As per canon.
Character Concepts: Angelic messenger, wanderlust-driven journeyman, daring alchemist, starcraft navigator, social engineer
Chosen of Serenity
The ideal of a system in contentment. Venus' Chosen are bringers of the world of satisfaction and peace.
Caste Markings: As per canon.
Anima Effect: As per canon.
Auspicious Abilities: Craft, Linguistics, Medicine, Performance, Socialize
Associations: As per canon.
Sobriquets: As per canon.
Character Concepts: Miss Creation, drug lord, renowned plastic surgeon, legendary poet, pop star, professional escort, psychiatrist, social engineer
Chosen of Battles
The ideal of a system in discipline. Mars' Chosen are bringers of the world of readiness and confidence.
Caste Markings: As per canon.
Anima Effect: As per canon.
Auspicious Abilities: Athletics, Melee, Ordnance, Presence, War
Associations: As per canon.
Sobriquets: As per canon.
Character Concepts: Military engineer, provocative social commentator, professional martial artist, ideological revolutionary, social engineer
Chosen of Secrets
The ideal of a system in contemplation. Jupiter's Chosen are bringers of the world in knowledge and awareness.
Caste Markings: As per canon.
Anima Effect: As per canon.
Auspicious Abilities: Academics, Investigation, Larceny, Occult, Stealth
Associations: As per canon.
Sobriquets: As per canon.
Character Concepts: Incomprehensible scientist, numerologist, military researcher, political philosopher, secretary general, industrial spy, social engineer
Chosen of Endings
The ideal of a system in system. Saturn's Chosen are bringers of the world in order and properness.
Caste Markings: As per canon.
Anima Effect: As per canon.
Auspicious Abilities: Awareness, Bureaucracy, Engineering, Integrity, Martial Arts
Associations: As per canon.
Sobriquets: As per canon.
Character Concepts: Geneticist, Man in Black, president and CEO, respected futurologist, esoteric mathematician, social engineer
Charm Concepts
Engineering
The Scripture of the Maiden in Adolescence
Once, there was a maiden...
...who opened her eyes and saw an crashing ocean of stars,
A dawn of ideas, a kiss of dreams, a choir of ambitions.
She left her mother and father, lovers and friends
And she wandered across her youth.
"Yet I remain young, the world will never end to begin," she said. "But --"
"There's always an ending," said the beginning.
Sidereal Engineering is about crystallization, preservation and permanance. The Charms focus on stabilizing the patterns of Creation until they cannot possibly fall down, which may not be too different from death itself. Some Craft Charms may migrate to Engineering. The effects solidify social structures, but the price is that these structures are invulnerable to changes and growth. Or something like that.
Ordnance
The Scripture of the Maiden At War
Sidereal Ordnance Charms are about making decisions and carrying on the responsibility. Am I allowed to kill hundreds and thousand of innocent lives to put an end to this war? Do I have the right to enslave and destroy a whole ethnicity to quell my people's spite? Low level Charms support the Sidereal in employing his weapons of mass destruction effectively against large numbers of opponents. Certain Charms might be effective when the Sidereal chooses to remain in the frontline to allow his colleagues to retreat to safety, holding back an entire legion with a single Warstrider or keeping a base operating at full capacity if the action directly contributes to the protection of the Exalt's friends and allies. At higher levels, however, the powers of the Charm become more abstract. The penultimate Charm may perhaps help the Sidereal ignore her Virtues and Intimacies (or perhaps convince herself impossible justifications to use them) for the purpose of committing atrocities and coming up with an explanation for the acts. The Prayer Strip Charm may perhaps deflect the burden of the military decision to someone/thing else at the cost of a grave harm to the Sidereal. A possible effect could be putting an end to an interplanetary war by summoning a Raksha invasion, compelling the two sides to join forces to fight against it.
In the end, Ordnance Charms should emphasize the Sidereal's position as the final decision-maker, who is more than often forced to compromise his moralities and personal beliefs for the sake of greater good, whatever that may be.
Technology
The Scripture of the Imaginary Maiden
Once, there was a maiden...
...whose ten thousand voices were beautiful and despicable.
All the sounds in the world were her friends
Yet she had no-one to speak to.
One empty night, she dreamed a lover to share the night with.
"Why do you not say anything?" asked the lover.
Then, she opened her mouth and rose from sleep.
"I have no need to speak my voices", remembered the maiden.
Sidereal Technology Charms focus on impersonality, omnipresence and anonymity. At low Essence, Sidereal Technology Charms do things such as allowing the Exalt to use communicative devices in creative ways (such as sending an SMS message to a cell phone by writing in the sand or scanning and uploading an image by meditating upon the object) and allow her actions over a masscom to appear completely impersonal and unremarkable. The Prayer Strip Charm of the Technology tree is Ceasing to Exist Approach. There are a few changes to this version of CtEA. One is that the usage of the Charm is accompanied with a flash of electric yellow instead of deep green. Another is that the new identity does not have an intricate connections with the surrounding society (and therefore does not receive the 15 Background points). However, in turn, the new identity is supernaturally common and average, and all societies within Creation are thus forced to accept the new identity as common and average. This forbids the Sidereal to becoming anyone specific, yet will exist as someone mundane, such as a Nexus pedestrian and a low-ranking Yozi cultist. This new identity is therefore absolutely beyond suspicions and may not be an individual target of any social or mental planning (she's just not worth the recognition.)
I'll probably find a better way to describe the changes to Ceasing to Exist Approach, but that somewhat covers the ideas I'm having right now.
