Revlid Charm Homebrew: Pelagic Muse Artistry
Revlid
blob of bugs
- Location
- England
Reposting the old Infernal Charms I did for SB. Some are a little altered, because I'm a fussy git.
KIMBERY
PELAGIC MUSE ARTISTRY
Cost: — ; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Tidal Renewal Discipline
The diseased fancies of the Great Mother are animated by no recognised school of art, yet descend from the perverse aesthetic wisdom of millennia. This Charm permanently alters the Infernal's ability to create art, allowing him to infuse such creations as paintings, statuary and song with strange proportions and alien cadence. Characters blessed with madness reduce their MDVs against social attacks encoded within this strange artistry by the value of their highest-rated derangement. Further, such artistic social attacks can inflict derangements on their targets, as though they were intimacies requiring a number of scenes of development equal to their point value. An observer can link the unsettling undertone in the Infernal's art to the aesthetics of the demon realm with a difficulty 3 (Intelligence + Occult) roll.
If the Infernal knows the First Kimbery Excellency, this Charm benefits attempts to create (or modify) objects that conform to the Demon Sea's understanding of beauty, even if they have no social component, such as a daiklave etched with curiously organic patterns. The warlock adds (Essence) automatic successes to each roll to create such objects.
SQUAMOUS IDOLS RAISED
Cost: — ; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Desecration
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Pelagic Muse Artistry
Only lesser artists need create the symbol of a monster. Kimbery's beautiful creations are monsters themselves, and art begets art. This Charm permanently enhances the artwork shaped by its prerequisite, allowing the Infernal to have social attacks encoded within her artwork produce mutations in line with Kimbery's aesthetics, rather than derangements. Such alterations only physically manifest after a night spent sleeping, during which the subject's dreams are disturbed by the strangely familiar song of the deep ocean. Even if she does not weave this warping power into her artwork, it can take on a strange potency with sufficient appreciation. All objects whose creation was enhanced by Pelagic Muse Artistry acts as though it were a manse with the Mutagenic power, rated at a level equal to the higher of its Resources value and the size of the Cult that somehow uses it as a part of their worship of the Infernal (or one of her souls). Collections of artwork increase their Resources value appropriately when gathered together.
Prayer rolls toward the Infernal that are made with the help of one of her strange artworks benefit from a number of automatic successes equal to the value of their highest-rated derangement. Finally, characters with even one mutation caused by Kimbery's magic increase the effective value of their highest-rated derangement by their (Essence).
OCEAN'S BOUNTY BLESSING
Cost: 10m; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Sea, Sorcerous
Duration: (Essence) months
Prerequisite Charms: Price-of-Everything Undercurrents, Tidal Renewal Discipline
In ancient times, the fisher tribe of Lake Guandi found themselves assailed by pagans and dragon-slaves. Making a prayer to the Great Mother of the Lintha, they waited for their inevitable destruction - and the next morning found blades of exquisite design piercing the red sand of their lake's shores. The message was clear. The Exalt makes a prayer to a body of water that qualifies for the Sea keyword and is bordered, owned, or used by a beloved character or organization. She uses not the words of devotion, but of desire and demand, specifying any variety of inanimate object or non-sapient creature as watery tribute. That body of water is enchanted, such that it produces the specified good at a rate equivalent to a Resources value of (Infernal's Essence - 2) per week. All manner of goods can be produced in this fashion, even if there seems no plausible way that the body of water could have spawned them. No more than half of the bounty produced by this Charm washes up on the shores of the body of the water; the rest must be retrieved from the water itself, with swimmers, divers, boats, or trained mutant seabass. Every week a community or organization spends harvesting this bounty is treated as a scene spent building a positive intimacy in that group toward the Infernal.
The Infernal's Essence rating is increased by one for the purposes of this Charm if the bounty would normally come from the water; fish or fertile rivermud, for example. It is also increased by one if the bounty is a raw material rather than a finished product - driftwood rather than completed tables. These benefits stack.
PEARLS OF THE SECRET DEEP
Cost: 12m; Mins: Essence 4; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Sea, Shaping, Sorcerous
Duration: Until completion
Prerequisite Charms: Ocean's Bounty Blessing
Treasures of unimaginable worth lie at the bottom of all seas, whether abandoned and forgotten by the surface or formed entirely in unimaginable pressure and darkness. This is true in the boundless blue of Creation's West, the endless oil-slick oceans of Autochthonia, and in the mother of them all, the roiling depths of acrid Kimbery. Upon activating this Charm, the Infernal's player designs an Artifact with a rating no greater than (Infernal's Essence - 1) that resonates with the themes of Kimbery. The warlock then rolls (Charisma + lower of Performance or Lore + Essence), singing her desire to the sea in Old Realm, creating a Sorcerous echo. This echo can be heard normally by those in the area, though its watery, secret nature applies a -2 external penalty to such Perception rolls. The warlock can sing to the echo up to once a month, with each new song allowing her to roll again, reinforcing its lyrical, tidal Essence until it stirs up the rich and murky depths of the pan-ocean. Failing to sing in a given month inflicts no penalty, but means that the warlock misses that chance to add successes to her pool. Completing the treasure requires that the warlock accumulate (Artifact rating x 30) successes through her singing, upon which the water bubbles with bitter bright colours as a priceless treasure drifts uncannily to the surface. Targeting the echo with appropriate countermagic ends this Charm, though its effective minimum Essence increases by one for every thirty successes accumulated thus far.
With Essence 5+, the warlock need not return to the echo herself. Instead, she may nominate a single beloved character or organization, who may sing in her place. Such characters use a pool of (Charisma + lower of Performance or Lore) and can sing to it only as long as they remain beloved - the completed Artifact automatically belongs to them when it emerges.
WEEPING WOUNDS TRIBUNAL
Cost: 2m, 1lhl; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Illusion
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Trust Is Naive
Kimbery is ever-wounded, assailed by a cruel world that does not appreciate her love. An Infernal can activate this Charm while involved in some kind of dispute with another character, whether a casual disagreement or bitter fight to the death. She wounds herself in some way, clawing her hands through skin as delicate as her ego, and screams a martyred scream, rolling (Manipulation + Performance + Essence). Everyone who witnesses the exchange or its immediate aftermath and has a Dodge MDV lower than her rolled successes suffers an Illusion assuring them that the other party was entirely in the wrong, the vicious, unjustified aggressor in the conflict. Their memories are edited to convince them that the Infernal's wound stems from a sudden and brutal blow by the other party, regardless of whether they witnessed the actual moment of injury, while any damage suffered by the "attacker" is glossed over. The Exalt herself seems innocent of wrongdoing, defensive and defenseless, in need of comfort and aid; they treat this scene as one spent building a related positive intimacy toward her, and an appropriate negative intimacy toward her "attacker".
Unofficial Errata:
TRUST IS NAIVE: The Infernal takes refuge in the depths of her loving faith, refusing to believe anything bad about a beloved character. She can still become convinced that such a character has been duped or forced into poor decisions by the wickedness of others, but will never assign blame to them. Just as Kimbery's waters welcome all, she may reduce the number of scenes necessary to build a positive Intimacy toward any character she has never reviled by any amount, to a minimum of one.
Unofficial Errata:
ALL-DEVOURING DEPTHS SHINTAI
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 4; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Desecration, Form-Type, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Ichor Flux Tendrils (x2), Sea Dissolves Herself
Things have swum through the stagnant depths of Kimbery since before Time, creatures filled with formless hate and diluvial intelligence. In tribute to them, the Infernal's flesh liquefies into a slurry of squirming, translucent ooze, rendering her an unrecognizable mass of shifting ichor. All her worn and carried possessions dissolve into Elsewhere for the duration of this Charm, reconstituting when it ends. The Infernal may selectively retrieve any such items whenever her DV refreshes, but they are incorporated into her protoplasmic form as strange protrusions and fluid organs; armour manifests as an ichorous carapace, while weapons occupy one of her tentacles (described below) when "wielded", preventing it from making its usual attacks. Non-Artifact equipment retrieved in this way is destroyed once the Infernal returns to her human form, falling apart into a corroded mess.
With her normal features dissolved into a shapeless mass, the warlock perceives the world through organs that coalesce ever-so-briefly across the surface of her form, granting her omnidirectional senses, and her amorphous body can freely flow through any space that isn't water-tight. She can compress or expand her form by a maximum factor of two, and can even ignore the restrictions of gravity, oozing across walls and ceilings. This fluidity of form reduces the cost of the first two versions of Sea Dissolves Herself to one mote, though mutations acquired in this way are temporary Desecrations that dissolve when the Shintai ends, while those lost return. Additionally, she reduces the post-soak damage of any attack by (Essence) dice, though this cannot reduce an attack's damage below one die. Energy-based or flaming attacks (like lightning, burning arrows or beamklaives) harm her normally.
Although she can manipulate her surroundings normally by forming clusters of fine, oily manipulators, she also extrudes (Essence) tentacles identical to those created with Ichor Flux Tendrils, which are similarly capable of independent clinches but are directed with Martial Arts rather than Occult. These tentacles can be damaged as normal, but the Infernal suffers no harm from their destruction, and can entirely regenerate a destroyed tentacle at any point by activating Sea Dissolves Itself as though in response to a Crippling effect. She and her tentacles are always treated as being coated in the poisonous tattoos created by Spiteful Sea Tincture.
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EBON DRAGON
LIVING A LIE
Cost: — (+2wp); Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Shaping
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Corrosive Pattern Infliction
The Drinker at Night's Springs understands history. After all, his aesthetic instincts favour tragedy and doom above all things, and the past is little else. The warlock can spend two additional points of Willpower when activating Loom-Snarling Deception to weave a deeper deceit, his shadowy Essence slipping false threads into the pattern of the Loom like a cuckoo insinuating itself into a nest. Whatever fake identity he creates is supplemented by actual changes to the history of the world, as a Shaping effect; his name can be found in the proper registries, his image is included in the appropriate portraits, and characters who somehow featured in his invented history even remember him. While these retroactive infiltrations last, he can effectively benefit from an appropriate Backing, Mentor, Influence or other similar backgrounds. He can use Corrosive Pattern Infliction to create (non-Artifact) props appropriate to his invented identity, such as a passport, apartment key, official badge, and so on, though these decay without a trace upon abandoning the disguise - like every other change implemented by it.
Created memories only properly take root in characters with a Dodge MDV no greater than (Infernal's Essence + 1), and cannot be intense enough to merit an intimacy on their own; they are vague recollections, acknowledgements of his forged existence, nothing more. Heroic characters can reject the memories by spending a single point of Willpower, asserting their own history over that recorded by the Loom. This only allows them to realize that they were misremembering, and does not alert them to any mind-altering magic. All other changes produced by this Charm are effectively reality-sponsored forgeries, and heroic characters can determine that there is something subtly wrong with them through a dramatic (Perception + Investigation) roll taking (Infernal's Essence) hours, at difficulty 5.
Unofficial Errata:
THE FACE IN THE DARKNESS
Cost: 3m; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Emotion, Overdrive
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: First Ebon Dragon Excellency, Our Little Secret
The Ebon Dragon was first to surrender in the Primordial War, and yet the pioneer of an attack that defeats even the most perfect of defenses. A strike aimed at the heart, one might say. The Infernal gains an empty ten-mote Overdrive pool, which he can fill through this Charm. In order to target a character with this Charm, the Infernal must have committed an act of depravity (as defined in Our Little Secret, though it considers only the mores of the character targeted) against one of their positive intimacies. He activates this Charm by making some reference (verbal or otherwise - the target intuitively deciphers the meaning of a communicating gesture, such as a finger slid across a throat) to the act of depravity and the intimacy in question. If the other character was already aware of the dark deed, this Charm fails to activate.
The warlock gains two offensive motes every time he makes a reference to the act of depravity, including the one he made to activate this Charm, as shadows hiss tauntingly in the hidden angles of the target's mind. This reference must be perceptible to the target, and the motes granted are reduced by one if the warlock had already made a largely identical reference earlier in the scene; creativity is encouraged in these taunts. The warlock gains these motes only once per action, and multiple acts of depravity broaden the range of potential references rather than increasing his gains.
The only way to drain the Infernal's mockery of its power is to internalize it, robbing him of his sport. At any point, the target may briefly shut their eyes, allowing the shadows to rush in from the edges of their vision. In that instant, they bear witness to every depravity the warlock made reference to, replayed in perfect detail before their closed eyes. This dreadful display cuts to their very soul, preventing them from channeling their Virtues (or spending Willpower for a free success) for the rest of the scene. In addition, they either acquire a negative intimacy toward themselves, a manifestation of their own guilt and self-hatred, or twist their positive intimacy into a negative one that seeks to blame the act of depravity on the intimacy itself; a poisoned friend is recriminated as a fool, while a conquered hometown is dismissed as a pit of weaklings. The warlock is automatically aware of this new or altered intimacy, and if he knows Golden Years Tarnished Black can reflexively activate that Charm to worsen the target's sense of blame. In any case, once the target has done this, the warlock cannot gain offensive motes by taunting them for the rest of the scene.
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CECELYNE
SWIFT-SAND DESERT COFFIN
Cost: — ; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Sandstrike Blast
The desert extends in all directions, swallowing up space and time and wandering heretics. This Charm enhances its prerequisite, allowing the Exalt to use her sand attack as a ranged clinch when in a place of desolation. She uses the attack pool described in Sandstrike Blast to make and maintain the clinch, but inflicts only bashing damage, as the sand works to crush her enemies instead of flaying them alive. She does not need to use the Charm again to maintain the clinch for subsequent actions, only flurry anything else she does with a miscellaneous action as normal (this represents her concentrating on the sandy prison). If the target wins a subsequent clinch roll, they can only escape the clinch rather than taking control of it.
UNQUESTIONABLE SCROLLKEEPER CITATION
Cost: 4m; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Illusion, Stackable
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Demonic Primacy of Essence
Cecelyne encompasses all knowledge, host to a wisdom beyond the speculative squabblings of the Maidens or the quaking nightmare-enlightenment of the Labyrinth. Upon activating this Charm, the Infernal infuses herself with an intellectual authority of her choice. Her expertise becomes clear to any who perceive her, and they will treat her as a complete authority in the field, ignoring or explaining away any mistakes she makes no matter how egregious. She could perform a vital operation in front of a board of expert surgeons and not provoke negative comment even as she misuses medical tools, encourages the patient to remain conscious, and mistakes organs for tumours. As her victim bleeds out, they will only be surprised that even the Exalt's brilliance couldn't save them. This unnatural Illusion costs three points of Willpower to resist, or two points if the character in question has a higher rating than the Infernal in the Ability most relevant to her claimed authority.
A second purchase of this Charm allows the Infernal to infuse the Illusion into a piece of writing she produces, convincing those reading it that it was written by a true expert in the field, as described above, with demonstrable errors ignored, forgotten, or explained away as faults on someone else's part.
ALL-AUTHORITY GLASS GOWN
Cost: — ; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Unquestionable Scrollkeeper Citation
In the hiearchy of the Demon Realm, titles are claimed and held only by strength. Such is the intent of Cecelyne's law, for if none dare mock the Emperor, who is to say he is not wearing clothes? This Charm permanently enhances its prerequisite, allowing the Infernal to instead claim some form of material authority, ranging from store manager to shogun. All characters who meet the warlock are swiftly convinced as to her supposed position, glossing over inappropriate attire or lack of paperwork as they are struck by the aura of officiality and influence that extends from her every word and deed. This Illusion can be resisted as normal, but has its cost reduced to one point of Willpower if the target has some clear proof that the Infernal does not hold the relevant position - whether because they have met the actual incumbent, or because they know that the city she claims to rule was destroyed several generations ago.
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THEION
FINAL FURY UNBLINKING
Cost: 3m (+2m/action); Mins: Essence 3; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: One Action
Prerequisite Charms: Apocalypse Comet Gaze
To escape the wrath of God is to leave the world entirely. This Charm enhances an attack made through Apocalypse Comet Gaze, causing the bolts of searing perception that emit from the warlock's eyes to track their deserving victim, leaving tightly-focused tracers of anima-fire in their wake. If the attack is parried or dodged then it repeats Steps 2-10 at the start of the target's next action, after their DV refreshes. It uses the same attack successes as the original attack, and retains the effects of any Charms used to enhance it. This continues, at the start of each of the target's actions, until the attack strikes a character or the Charm ends. Using a perfect defense allows the defender to end the Charm early by stunting their dispersal of the warlock's wrath, or its redirection into a nearby inanimate object. This Charm lasts just a single action, by default, but its duration can be extended by spending two motes for each additional action, to a maximum of (Essence) additional actions. If it ends early, for whatever reason, the warlock immediately receives two offensive motes for each repeated attack that was never expended.
Victims killed by an attack enhanced by both this Charm and Radiant Fury Dissolution receive a more focused torment, their millenia of disembodied suffering spent endlessly acting out imagined escapes from the warlock's wrath, ranging from the realistic to the absurd, but all ending in inevitable burning failure.
KIMBERY
PELAGIC MUSE ARTISTRY
Cost: — ; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Tidal Renewal Discipline
The diseased fancies of the Great Mother are animated by no recognised school of art, yet descend from the perverse aesthetic wisdom of millennia. This Charm permanently alters the Infernal's ability to create art, allowing him to infuse such creations as paintings, statuary and song with strange proportions and alien cadence. Characters blessed with madness reduce their MDVs against social attacks encoded within this strange artistry by the value of their highest-rated derangement. Further, such artistic social attacks can inflict derangements on their targets, as though they were intimacies requiring a number of scenes of development equal to their point value. An observer can link the unsettling undertone in the Infernal's art to the aesthetics of the demon realm with a difficulty 3 (Intelligence + Occult) roll.
If the Infernal knows the First Kimbery Excellency, this Charm benefits attempts to create (or modify) objects that conform to the Demon Sea's understanding of beauty, even if they have no social component, such as a daiklave etched with curiously organic patterns. The warlock adds (Essence) automatic successes to each roll to create such objects.
SQUAMOUS IDOLS RAISED
Cost: — ; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Desecration
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Pelagic Muse Artistry
Only lesser artists need create the symbol of a monster. Kimbery's beautiful creations are monsters themselves, and art begets art. This Charm permanently enhances the artwork shaped by its prerequisite, allowing the Infernal to have social attacks encoded within her artwork produce mutations in line with Kimbery's aesthetics, rather than derangements. Such alterations only physically manifest after a night spent sleeping, during which the subject's dreams are disturbed by the strangely familiar song of the deep ocean. Even if she does not weave this warping power into her artwork, it can take on a strange potency with sufficient appreciation. All objects whose creation was enhanced by Pelagic Muse Artistry acts as though it were a manse with the Mutagenic power, rated at a level equal to the higher of its Resources value and the size of the Cult that somehow uses it as a part of their worship of the Infernal (or one of her souls). Collections of artwork increase their Resources value appropriately when gathered together.
Prayer rolls toward the Infernal that are made with the help of one of her strange artworks benefit from a number of automatic successes equal to the value of their highest-rated derangement. Finally, characters with even one mutation caused by Kimbery's magic increase the effective value of their highest-rated derangement by their (Essence).
OCEAN'S BOUNTY BLESSING
Cost: 10m; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Sea, Sorcerous
Duration: (Essence) months
Prerequisite Charms: Price-of-Everything Undercurrents, Tidal Renewal Discipline
In ancient times, the fisher tribe of Lake Guandi found themselves assailed by pagans and dragon-slaves. Making a prayer to the Great Mother of the Lintha, they waited for their inevitable destruction - and the next morning found blades of exquisite design piercing the red sand of their lake's shores. The message was clear. The Exalt makes a prayer to a body of water that qualifies for the Sea keyword and is bordered, owned, or used by a beloved character or organization. She uses not the words of devotion, but of desire and demand, specifying any variety of inanimate object or non-sapient creature as watery tribute. That body of water is enchanted, such that it produces the specified good at a rate equivalent to a Resources value of (Infernal's Essence - 2) per week. All manner of goods can be produced in this fashion, even if there seems no plausible way that the body of water could have spawned them. No more than half of the bounty produced by this Charm washes up on the shores of the body of the water; the rest must be retrieved from the water itself, with swimmers, divers, boats, or trained mutant seabass. Every week a community or organization spends harvesting this bounty is treated as a scene spent building a positive intimacy in that group toward the Infernal.
The Infernal's Essence rating is increased by one for the purposes of this Charm if the bounty would normally come from the water; fish or fertile rivermud, for example. It is also increased by one if the bounty is a raw material rather than a finished product - driftwood rather than completed tables. These benefits stack.
PEARLS OF THE SECRET DEEP
Cost: 12m; Mins: Essence 4; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Sea, Shaping, Sorcerous
Duration: Until completion
Prerequisite Charms: Ocean's Bounty Blessing
Treasures of unimaginable worth lie at the bottom of all seas, whether abandoned and forgotten by the surface or formed entirely in unimaginable pressure and darkness. This is true in the boundless blue of Creation's West, the endless oil-slick oceans of Autochthonia, and in the mother of them all, the roiling depths of acrid Kimbery. Upon activating this Charm, the Infernal's player designs an Artifact with a rating no greater than (Infernal's Essence - 1) that resonates with the themes of Kimbery. The warlock then rolls (Charisma + lower of Performance or Lore + Essence), singing her desire to the sea in Old Realm, creating a Sorcerous echo. This echo can be heard normally by those in the area, though its watery, secret nature applies a -2 external penalty to such Perception rolls. The warlock can sing to the echo up to once a month, with each new song allowing her to roll again, reinforcing its lyrical, tidal Essence until it stirs up the rich and murky depths of the pan-ocean. Failing to sing in a given month inflicts no penalty, but means that the warlock misses that chance to add successes to her pool. Completing the treasure requires that the warlock accumulate (Artifact rating x 30) successes through her singing, upon which the water bubbles with bitter bright colours as a priceless treasure drifts uncannily to the surface. Targeting the echo with appropriate countermagic ends this Charm, though its effective minimum Essence increases by one for every thirty successes accumulated thus far.
With Essence 5+, the warlock need not return to the echo herself. Instead, she may nominate a single beloved character or organization, who may sing in her place. Such characters use a pool of (Charisma + lower of Performance or Lore) and can sing to it only as long as they remain beloved - the completed Artifact automatically belongs to them when it emerges.
WEEPING WOUNDS TRIBUNAL
Cost: 2m, 1lhl; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Illusion
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Trust Is Naive
Kimbery is ever-wounded, assailed by a cruel world that does not appreciate her love. An Infernal can activate this Charm while involved in some kind of dispute with another character, whether a casual disagreement or bitter fight to the death. She wounds herself in some way, clawing her hands through skin as delicate as her ego, and screams a martyred scream, rolling (Manipulation + Performance + Essence). Everyone who witnesses the exchange or its immediate aftermath and has a Dodge MDV lower than her rolled successes suffers an Illusion assuring them that the other party was entirely in the wrong, the vicious, unjustified aggressor in the conflict. Their memories are edited to convince them that the Infernal's wound stems from a sudden and brutal blow by the other party, regardless of whether they witnessed the actual moment of injury, while any damage suffered by the "attacker" is glossed over. The Exalt herself seems innocent of wrongdoing, defensive and defenseless, in need of comfort and aid; they treat this scene as one spent building a related positive intimacy toward her, and an appropriate negative intimacy toward her "attacker".
Unofficial Errata:
TRUST IS NAIVE: The Infernal takes refuge in the depths of her loving faith, refusing to believe anything bad about a beloved character. She can still become convinced that such a character has been duped or forced into poor decisions by the wickedness of others, but will never assign blame to them. Just as Kimbery's waters welcome all, she may reduce the number of scenes necessary to build a positive Intimacy toward any character she has never reviled by any amount, to a minimum of one.
Unofficial Errata:
ALL-DEVOURING DEPTHS SHINTAI
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 4; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Desecration, Form-Type, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Ichor Flux Tendrils (x2), Sea Dissolves Herself
Things have swum through the stagnant depths of Kimbery since before Time, creatures filled with formless hate and diluvial intelligence. In tribute to them, the Infernal's flesh liquefies into a slurry of squirming, translucent ooze, rendering her an unrecognizable mass of shifting ichor. All her worn and carried possessions dissolve into Elsewhere for the duration of this Charm, reconstituting when it ends. The Infernal may selectively retrieve any such items whenever her DV refreshes, but they are incorporated into her protoplasmic form as strange protrusions and fluid organs; armour manifests as an ichorous carapace, while weapons occupy one of her tentacles (described below) when "wielded", preventing it from making its usual attacks. Non-Artifact equipment retrieved in this way is destroyed once the Infernal returns to her human form, falling apart into a corroded mess.
With her normal features dissolved into a shapeless mass, the warlock perceives the world through organs that coalesce ever-so-briefly across the surface of her form, granting her omnidirectional senses, and her amorphous body can freely flow through any space that isn't water-tight. She can compress or expand her form by a maximum factor of two, and can even ignore the restrictions of gravity, oozing across walls and ceilings. This fluidity of form reduces the cost of the first two versions of Sea Dissolves Herself to one mote, though mutations acquired in this way are temporary Desecrations that dissolve when the Shintai ends, while those lost return. Additionally, she reduces the post-soak damage of any attack by (Essence) dice, though this cannot reduce an attack's damage below one die. Energy-based or flaming attacks (like lightning, burning arrows or beamklaives) harm her normally.
Although she can manipulate her surroundings normally by forming clusters of fine, oily manipulators, she also extrudes (Essence) tentacles identical to those created with Ichor Flux Tendrils, which are similarly capable of independent clinches but are directed with Martial Arts rather than Occult. These tentacles can be damaged as normal, but the Infernal suffers no harm from their destruction, and can entirely regenerate a destroyed tentacle at any point by activating Sea Dissolves Itself as though in response to a Crippling effect. She and her tentacles are always treated as being coated in the poisonous tattoos created by Spiteful Sea Tincture.
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EBON DRAGON
LIVING A LIE
Cost: — (+2wp); Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Shaping
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Corrosive Pattern Infliction
The Drinker at Night's Springs understands history. After all, his aesthetic instincts favour tragedy and doom above all things, and the past is little else. The warlock can spend two additional points of Willpower when activating Loom-Snarling Deception to weave a deeper deceit, his shadowy Essence slipping false threads into the pattern of the Loom like a cuckoo insinuating itself into a nest. Whatever fake identity he creates is supplemented by actual changes to the history of the world, as a Shaping effect; his name can be found in the proper registries, his image is included in the appropriate portraits, and characters who somehow featured in his invented history even remember him. While these retroactive infiltrations last, he can effectively benefit from an appropriate Backing, Mentor, Influence or other similar backgrounds. He can use Corrosive Pattern Infliction to create (non-Artifact) props appropriate to his invented identity, such as a passport, apartment key, official badge, and so on, though these decay without a trace upon abandoning the disguise - like every other change implemented by it.
Created memories only properly take root in characters with a Dodge MDV no greater than (Infernal's Essence + 1), and cannot be intense enough to merit an intimacy on their own; they are vague recollections, acknowledgements of his forged existence, nothing more. Heroic characters can reject the memories by spending a single point of Willpower, asserting their own history over that recorded by the Loom. This only allows them to realize that they were misremembering, and does not alert them to any mind-altering magic. All other changes produced by this Charm are effectively reality-sponsored forgeries, and heroic characters can determine that there is something subtly wrong with them through a dramatic (Perception + Investigation) roll taking (Infernal's Essence) hours, at difficulty 5.
Unofficial Errata:
THE FACE IN THE DARKNESS
Cost: 3m; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Emotion, Overdrive
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: First Ebon Dragon Excellency, Our Little Secret
The Ebon Dragon was first to surrender in the Primordial War, and yet the pioneer of an attack that defeats even the most perfect of defenses. A strike aimed at the heart, one might say. The Infernal gains an empty ten-mote Overdrive pool, which he can fill through this Charm. In order to target a character with this Charm, the Infernal must have committed an act of depravity (as defined in Our Little Secret, though it considers only the mores of the character targeted) against one of their positive intimacies. He activates this Charm by making some reference (verbal or otherwise - the target intuitively deciphers the meaning of a communicating gesture, such as a finger slid across a throat) to the act of depravity and the intimacy in question. If the other character was already aware of the dark deed, this Charm fails to activate.
The warlock gains two offensive motes every time he makes a reference to the act of depravity, including the one he made to activate this Charm, as shadows hiss tauntingly in the hidden angles of the target's mind. This reference must be perceptible to the target, and the motes granted are reduced by one if the warlock had already made a largely identical reference earlier in the scene; creativity is encouraged in these taunts. The warlock gains these motes only once per action, and multiple acts of depravity broaden the range of potential references rather than increasing his gains.
The only way to drain the Infernal's mockery of its power is to internalize it, robbing him of his sport. At any point, the target may briefly shut their eyes, allowing the shadows to rush in from the edges of their vision. In that instant, they bear witness to every depravity the warlock made reference to, replayed in perfect detail before their closed eyes. This dreadful display cuts to their very soul, preventing them from channeling their Virtues (or spending Willpower for a free success) for the rest of the scene. In addition, they either acquire a negative intimacy toward themselves, a manifestation of their own guilt and self-hatred, or twist their positive intimacy into a negative one that seeks to blame the act of depravity on the intimacy itself; a poisoned friend is recriminated as a fool, while a conquered hometown is dismissed as a pit of weaklings. The warlock is automatically aware of this new or altered intimacy, and if he knows Golden Years Tarnished Black can reflexively activate that Charm to worsen the target's sense of blame. In any case, once the target has done this, the warlock cannot gain offensive motes by taunting them for the rest of the scene.
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CECELYNE
SWIFT-SAND DESERT COFFIN
Cost: — ; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Sandstrike Blast
The desert extends in all directions, swallowing up space and time and wandering heretics. This Charm enhances its prerequisite, allowing the Exalt to use her sand attack as a ranged clinch when in a place of desolation. She uses the attack pool described in Sandstrike Blast to make and maintain the clinch, but inflicts only bashing damage, as the sand works to crush her enemies instead of flaying them alive. She does not need to use the Charm again to maintain the clinch for subsequent actions, only flurry anything else she does with a miscellaneous action as normal (this represents her concentrating on the sandy prison). If the target wins a subsequent clinch roll, they can only escape the clinch rather than taking control of it.
UNQUESTIONABLE SCROLLKEEPER CITATION
Cost: 4m; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Illusion, Stackable
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Demonic Primacy of Essence
Cecelyne encompasses all knowledge, host to a wisdom beyond the speculative squabblings of the Maidens or the quaking nightmare-enlightenment of the Labyrinth. Upon activating this Charm, the Infernal infuses herself with an intellectual authority of her choice. Her expertise becomes clear to any who perceive her, and they will treat her as a complete authority in the field, ignoring or explaining away any mistakes she makes no matter how egregious. She could perform a vital operation in front of a board of expert surgeons and not provoke negative comment even as she misuses medical tools, encourages the patient to remain conscious, and mistakes organs for tumours. As her victim bleeds out, they will only be surprised that even the Exalt's brilliance couldn't save them. This unnatural Illusion costs three points of Willpower to resist, or two points if the character in question has a higher rating than the Infernal in the Ability most relevant to her claimed authority.
A second purchase of this Charm allows the Infernal to infuse the Illusion into a piece of writing she produces, convincing those reading it that it was written by a true expert in the field, as described above, with demonstrable errors ignored, forgotten, or explained away as faults on someone else's part.
ALL-AUTHORITY GLASS GOWN
Cost: — ; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Unquestionable Scrollkeeper Citation
In the hiearchy of the Demon Realm, titles are claimed and held only by strength. Such is the intent of Cecelyne's law, for if none dare mock the Emperor, who is to say he is not wearing clothes? This Charm permanently enhances its prerequisite, allowing the Infernal to instead claim some form of material authority, ranging from store manager to shogun. All characters who meet the warlock are swiftly convinced as to her supposed position, glossing over inappropriate attire or lack of paperwork as they are struck by the aura of officiality and influence that extends from her every word and deed. This Illusion can be resisted as normal, but has its cost reduced to one point of Willpower if the target has some clear proof that the Infernal does not hold the relevant position - whether because they have met the actual incumbent, or because they know that the city she claims to rule was destroyed several generations ago.
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THEION
FINAL FURY UNBLINKING
Cost: 3m (+2m/action); Mins: Essence 3; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: One Action
Prerequisite Charms: Apocalypse Comet Gaze
To escape the wrath of God is to leave the world entirely. This Charm enhances an attack made through Apocalypse Comet Gaze, causing the bolts of searing perception that emit from the warlock's eyes to track their deserving victim, leaving tightly-focused tracers of anima-fire in their wake. If the attack is parried or dodged then it repeats Steps 2-10 at the start of the target's next action, after their DV refreshes. It uses the same attack successes as the original attack, and retains the effects of any Charms used to enhance it. This continues, at the start of each of the target's actions, until the attack strikes a character or the Charm ends. Using a perfect defense allows the defender to end the Charm early by stunting their dispersal of the warlock's wrath, or its redirection into a nearby inanimate object. This Charm lasts just a single action, by default, but its duration can be extended by spending two motes for each additional action, to a maximum of (Essence) additional actions. If it ends early, for whatever reason, the warlock immediately receives two offensive motes for each repeated attack that was never expended.
Victims killed by an attack enhanced by both this Charm and Radiant Fury Dissolution receive a more focused torment, their millenia of disembodied suffering spent endlessly acting out imagined escapes from the warlock's wrath, ranging from the realistic to the absurd, but all ending in inevitable burning failure.
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