TenThousandBrokenDreams/Abyssals
Abyssal Exalted in TTBD
The Deathlords need no foreign Essence, no Solar shard, to craft their deathknight servitors. For centuries they have relied upon a potent necromantic rite that draws forth a shred of black Essence from the Mouth of the Void and plants it in a mortal soul. Most subjects die in screaming agony as Oblivion consumes them from within, but a few learn to master the power and bend it to their will. These are the Abyssal Exalted, lords of the living Void, masters of death and entropy.
A deathknight’s anima manifests as a roiling cloud of shadows that rots everything it touches. Use the Dragon- Blooded anima rules to represent this. Abyssals lack the castes and aspects of other Exalted, for the Void has but a single nature. As a result, they have no specific anima powers other than inflicting elemental damage in the form of raw entropy. Deathknights have no Caste Abilities, but each has eight Favored Abilities.
Oblivion rages within the soul of every Abyssal Exalted, and this force cannot be denied forever. Slowly, each deathknight accumulates a reservoir of boiling entropy that must be released. This is represented by Resonance, which Deathknights accumulate steadily over time and with the use of the Underworld’s tainted Essence. No rules are provided for exactly how Resonance is acquired (Abyssals are NPCs in the Ten Thousand Broken Dreams campaign), but extensive use of Necromantic spells and powerful Charms will increase the rate at which it is acquired.
Resonance comes in two forms. The lesser, temporary form can be bled off by various means; but each Abyssal will eventually accumulate a measure of permanent Resonance. Permanent Resonance manifests in the same ways as the temporary form, but the manifestation is permanent. Older Abyssals tend to have several powerful Resonance Flaws that dog their heels in Creation, making disguise and stealth all but impossible. When the deathknight’s permanent Resonance exceeds her Stamina + Resistance, her mortal frame can no longer contain these energies. She dissolves into the raw stuff of Oblivion, blasting all those around her with deadly forces and corrupting the very earth in her vicinity, creating a small Shadowland.
With the acquisition of a handful of tainted Solar shards, a few Deathlords have experimented with the use of those shards in the deathknight creation process. By implanting a shard in a human, removing it, and inserting the shred of Void essence into the imprint left by the shard, they have found that the process is more likely to bear fruit, and the resulting Abyssal bears the mark of the shard’s Caste. Deathknights of this sort have the Caste Abilities, anima powers and bleeding caste marks of canonical Abyssal Exalted.
