Thus Spake Zaraborgstrom/Quintessence

Quintessence in the 5-Element System

rebeccaborgstrom - 12/14/2003 04:19:58

Winter is where you keep your discontent. Or, rather, the when you keep your discontent in.

Mask of Winters has a mask which expresses many peoples' discontent.

Quintessence is the fifth element because it comes fifth. Air, Earth, Fire, Money, Quintessence, Water, Wood. It's alphabetically organized based on English, which is the language of She Who Lives in Her Name. In case you didn't notice, her name is an English phrase.

If you don't have Money- or Quintessence-Aspected Dragon-Blooded in your game, then I can understand why this is confusing. Here's some basic summary information on 7-Aspect Dragon-Bloods:

• Air:
  • Aspect Abilities: Lore, Stealth and Thrown.
  • Anima Powers: May triple his leaping distance, and takes no damage from falls.

• Earth:
  • Aspect Abilities: Awareness, Endurance and Resistance.
  • Anima Powers: May soak lethal damage with her entire Stamina.

• Fire:
  • Aspect Abilities: Athletics, Melee and Presence.
  • Anima Powers: May burst into flame for a scene, doing lethal damage and becoming immune to fire damage.

• Money:
  • Aspect Abilities: Bureaucracy, Larceny and Linguistics.
  • Anima Powers: May spend freely for a scene, suffering no financial consequences as long as all purchases are cash.

• Quintessence:
  • Aspect Abilities: Crafts, Medicine and Socialize.
  • Anima Powers: Ignores mote surcharge on Dragon-Blooded Charms.

• Water:
  • Aspect Abilities: Brawl, Investigation and Sail.
  • Anima Powers: A Terrestrial Exalted aspected to Water can gain free movement in water. For the rest of the day, she can breathe underwater and operate as freely as if she was in air.

• Wood:
  • Aspect Abilities: Archery, Performance and Survival.
  • Anima Powers: May add dice to Dodge or Athletics actions.

• General:
  • Bonus Aspect Ability: Martial Arts, Occult or Ride (pick one)

Dragon-Blooded can no longer dodge, since that makes them difficult to hit and I'm playing a Solar. Naturally, Money-Aspected Dragon-Blooded run the Guild, whereas Quintessence-Aspected Dragon-Blooded are the favorite food of Heaven. General Dragon-Blooded don't actually exist; that's just a marker indicating the presence of a bonus Aspect Ability.

Rebecca

Comments

Context? I'm not sure I get the joke. -MeiRen

Quint- fifth; fifth essence, or the Fifth Element. Seven is a mystical number of completion (though not as much as nine), and money makes the world go round; thankfully Creation is flat, and Money-aspected Terrestrials probably simply spin in place when in need of a quick aphorism fix. In an Aristotlean system, there should be Fire, Water, Air, Earth, and Ether or Quintessence; in a (? Chinese?) system, there should be Flame, Water, Metal, Earth, and Wood- making Exalted a sort of bastard hybrid which has lost Metal and Quintessence. Ms. Smarty Pants has poetically resolved the system and created an amusing little mod, which no one takes seriously, because I am no one and I am very serious about humour.

Hopefully, you are now both confused and enlightened, but you might just be annoyed. In the latter case, I apologise, and in the former, I apologise. &Arafelis