Thus Spake Zaraborgstrom/NewSiderealLevelMA

Notes on Designing a new Sidereal Level Martial Art

Rebecca Borgstrom 10-18-2003 01:19 AM

Ess4/MA5 is a typical starting place for the pre-Form Charms. The form is Ess5/MA5. It is probably difficult to go much below that and still have a Sidereal-level Martial Art. If the tree starts with Ess3/MA4, for instance, then it is a strong celestial-level Martial Art. You might give it some sort of perk, but not on the level of the sutras.

Structurally, a secret style has more Charms below the Form than a typical celestial martial art. This represents two things: first, greater utility for low-Essence students; second, the increased complexity of the Form itself.

Sutras are reserved for Sidereal styles, because they're basically adaptive prayer strip technology. Feel free to write them, if a Sidereal designed the style, but a style that gives a special benefit to Solars or Lunars will use a mechanism and benefit of a different style. I think it would be neat to see a discussion of the many different kinds of things this would be. I don't take a position on whether Solar and Lunar and Abyssal styles at this level are possible. (Note that one reason I included sutras is to create a third option---that anyone can make this level of style once they get the right Essence level, but only Sidereals get the sutra benefit. It's really up to you until Geoff says otherwise.)

Remember that a Sidereal-designed style is made for a purpose. Often, it's to compensate for a weakness in the user or their Charm set. A high-end Solar-designed style would probably be much more an outgrowth of the person, and would probably enhance strengths more than compensate for weaknesses.

The Charms in a Sidereal-level Martial Art---like any Charm, to an extent, and particularly any Martial Arts Charm---deviate from the standard rules of the game. In this, you need to watch for a couple of different traps. First, make sure the rules still work afterwards. It would have been nice to write Charm Redirection Technique as "you can use one of an enemy's Charms against him or herself", but you would have heard the rules set breaking in half as soon as you put the book on your table. Second, and more subtly, make sure not to add layers of complexity that you will have to observe forever after when thinking about new Charms. I tend to think of this as the Mega-Damage problem. If you expand the power of the game in the wrong directions, you're going to start needing a new "class" of attack, damage, and defense, to handle the interactions of high-powered Charms. I'm hoping that any eventual First Age book manages to avoid this, and you should *definitely* try to avoid it until then. This imposes a kind of invisible fence around the way Charms work, because it means that perfect effects have to represent the end of a tree, or at least a development path---once you start getting into perfect stuff, you don't have anywhere to go. So you have to be tricky.

Remember to have a strong mood. This not only makes the Charms more fun to write, but it's Martial Arts' disadvantage---the Charms are exploring a principle or idea, not just building competence. So they're less efficient at building competence than a set of ordinary Charms of their power level really could be.

Remember to keep the Charms combat-focused if you think that's important. There are some people who are okay with Martial Arts branching out to do anything and everything; and there are some people who aren't. If you *don't* want it doing everything, be careful not to get too enthusiastic and have people using their Form Charms for persistent social bonuses and so forth. It's easy to fall into that. :) I tried to walk a middle ground, but in your game, probably either you want them to be pure combat or you want them to be do-anything. Keep that choice in mind when you're working on stuff.

The apparent naming structure for styles at this level is (Color) (Collective Noun) of (Passive Noun), with an alternate name of (Concept).

Try not to tell too many people what the student's sutra for Citrine Poxes really is. It's more fun to find out on your own. :)

Rebecca

Comments

Aaaahhh! I can't figure it out. I'm sitting here staring at it and running google searches, but I don't get it. What does the Sutra mean?

Here's the text:

"nce, there was a disease - but before that, there was a maiden whose lover's practices displeased the sun. The all-seeing sun no longer could susatin these practices, but with enraged disdain, drats forth such pestilent malignant beams, as shed infection on air, earth, and streams, from whence this malady its birth recieved. On him the dreaful lot did fall, who now was placed before the altar bound, his head with sacrifical garlands crowned, this throat laid open to the lifted knife, but interceding Gaia spared his life, commands them in his stead a heifer slay, for the sun's rage was now removed away. From him the malady recieved its name. "

The disease inflicted style is called "iphimedeia". Google search her and you get some funky greek mythology. Real funky. I still don't get it. - MeiRen

Google "syphilis" and "poem" instead. ^_^ - NatalieD

Its rather pointless to search for a relevent meening in the Sids Sutras, but this one seems to rather blandly refer to either a demon or a Primordial being captured and then spared. Possibly it refers to the defet of the Prims as a whole. Its likely that it has no meening deeper then this. After all, even Rebecca cant be cripict and deep all the time. In fact, if im not mistaken theres an entry in her quotes section were she makes it clear that writing the Sutras was done largley on the fly.

I'v gotta admit, I have alweys thought about the subject much the same way as the above poster, although it's entirly possible that I have missed the point all togther. Jamez

Okay, the name Iphimedeia, it's from Greek mythology. But the name itself, most names are derived from words, and I know deia means goddes, does anyone know enough Greek to figure out what the first half of the name means?

I'm new to this Wiki - and Wiki in general - but the Sutra of Decay really reminds me of that bit in the Iliad, when Briseis is stolen by Achilles to be his lover. Her father, a Trojan priest, calls on Apollo to curse the Greeks. Apollo (god of the sun) fires his arrows among the Greeks, bringing disease. I've not read the Iliad in a while, though, so mea culpa if I've got that wrong. The later bit reminds me of when the Greeks were to sacrifice some girl (Agamemnon's daughter? Maybe someone else's) to get good winds for the journey. - SadnessOfGeography