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Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

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Yog said:
That's far less impressive and far more common (not common on an absolute scale, but far more common on relative scale) than what a Crown is. At best it guarantees that no traitors are ever going to enter our kingdom for fear of intellectus discovery.
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Of course I'm making sure they know that. Fuck all valkyries seem to have a form of intellectus, its likely all naagloshi do, I expect most gods and certain fae do. Odin probably has multiple if we're being honest due to him having a lot of mantles. Angels have such powerful intellectus it lets them fairly accurately estimate how anyone will respond to any given stimulus. Well archangels do at least. Not that their allowed to act on that most of the time or I even think want to as it might harm free will to some degree. Archive has one, demonreach has one and whoever they make the warden, Gatekeeper probably has one. A bunch of things in demonsreach definitely have intellectus. Its rare but its no where near unique I fully expect a bunch of active players have it in the dresden files.
 
firefrog600 said:
Of course I'm making sure they know that. Fuck all valkyries seem to have a form of intellectus, its likely all naagloshi do, I expect most gods and certain fae do. Odin probably has multiple if we're being honest due to him having a lot of mantles. Angels have such powerful intellectus it lets them fairly accurately estimate how anyone will respond to any given stimulus. Well archangels do at least. Not that their allowed to act on that most of the time or I even think want to as it might harm free will to some degree. Archive has one, demonreach has one and whoever they make the warden, Gatekeeper probably has one. A bunch of things in demonsreach definitely have intellectus. Its rare but its no where near unique I fully expect a bunch of active players have it in the dresden files.
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Naagloshii do canonically have a form of intellectus relating to causing pain (both physical and emotional) to people. The Crown is unique in how broad it is. In some ways it is even more powerful than archangel's site - I have no doubt that Uriel can't just know who all Nemesis infected are.
 
Actually thinking about it guardian spells are a thing the white council has to notice outsider stuff. Did this not trigger any for some reason?
 
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Yog said:
Naagloshii do canonically have a form of intellectus relating to causing pain (both physical and emotional) to people. The Crown is unique in how broad it is. In some ways it is even more powerful than archangel's site - I have no doubt that Uriel can't just know who all Nemesis infected are.
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For exact wording its not actually noted if all naagloshii have the same kind of intellectus though I heavily believe they do its not exactly spelled out in word of god. Also yes? Like I'm not sure what your trying to get at I know the crowns a big deal I was clarifying something else for someone else. As for the comment about Uriel I mean here probably not but in canon at least lets not forget their multiversal in nature so who knows given butcher also said certain outsiders are multiversal too so eh fair. Again not that it matters here just wanted to add that.
 
@DragonParadox a question if you don't mind:
There are two options in Splendor building manual that seem misaligned:
Raise the Dead (3 pt. Root Element)
This Element can only be part of a Fascination.
The Splendor raises corpses as zombies when certain criteria are met. These have the same traits
as the zombies found on page 46 of the Exalted vs World of Darkness corebook. In order for
this Element to function, there must be one or more corpses in the Splendor's immediate vicinity
for it to animate. It can only animate one zombie per scene, unless it incorporates one of the
location-type Forms such as Form of the Hearth, in which case it can animate up to (Splendor's
rating) zombies per scene. During extended downtime, assume it generates that many zombies
per day.
Zombies default to ambling about and devouring the flesh of the living unless given specific
guidance through other Elements such as Dangerous Compulsion ("linger and guard this site") or
Beautiful Lie ("you must do everything this Splendor's owner demands of you"). If a locale runs
out of useful corpses, Art of Conjury may prove useful in providing more. If deployed over a
graveyard, Sovereign Elemental Sway is handy for helping the animated dead escape from their
graves.
and
This Element can only be part of a Fascination.
The Splendor creates environmental hazards according to the character of its Form Elements,
such as Form of Crackling Fire or Form of Ash and Dust. The nature of the created hazards vary
accordingly:
• Death produces hazards such as disease, feelings of overwhelming sorrow, or attacks by
zombies. They either impose a penalty of –3 dice on all actions (in the case of overwhelming
sorrow), or require proper actions taken at difficulty (4 + Splendor's rating) to avoid contracting
a disease. Zombies use the usual traits found on EXvWoD, page 46. Up to (Splendor's rating)
can be produced per scene.

Mystic Element Scourge of the World is cheaper and directly better than Raise the Dead Root Element, and costs less too.
 
Yog said:
@DragonParadox a question if you don't mind:
There are two options in Splendor building manual that seem misaligned:
Raise the Dead (3 pt. Root Element)
This Element can only be part of a Fascination.
The Splendor raises corpses as zombies when certain criteria are met. These have the same traits
as the zombies found on page 46 of the Exalted vs World of Darkness corebook. In order for
this Element to function, there must be one or more corpses in the Splendor's immediate vicinity
for it to animate. It can only animate one zombie per scene, unless it incorporates one of the
location-type Forms such as Form of the Hearth, in which case it can animate up to (Splendor's
rating) zombies per scene. During extended downtime, assume it generates that many zombies
per day.
Zombies default to ambling about and devouring the flesh of the living unless given specific
guidance through other Elements such as Dangerous Compulsion ("linger and guard this site") or
Beautiful Lie ("you must do everything this Splendor's owner demands of you"). If a locale runs
out of useful corpses, Art of Conjury may prove useful in providing more. If deployed over a
graveyard, Sovereign Elemental Sway is handy for helping the animated dead escape from their
graves.
and
This Element can only be part of a Fascination.
The Splendor creates environmental hazards according to the character of its Form Elements,
such as Form of Crackling Fire or Form of Ash and Dust. The nature of the created hazards vary
accordingly:
• Death produces hazards such as disease, feelings of overwhelming sorrow, or attacks by
zombies. They either impose a penalty of –3 dice on all actions (in the case of overwhelming
sorrow), or require proper actions taken at difficulty (4 + Splendor's rating) to avoid contracting
a disease. Zombies use the usual traits found on EXvWoD, page 46. Up to (Splendor's rating)
can be produced per scene.

Mystic Element Scourge of the World is cheaper and directly better than Raise the Dead Root Element, and costs less too.
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I think the reason for that is that a Mystical element cannot go on low level Splendors.
 
Yog said:
So, memetic virus in a form of either a website or some other form of text that makes people forget everything about Outside and become incapable of learning it again. @DragonParadox would this work?
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By existing in reality, wouldn't this also affect Ivy? Supporting the creation of memetic hazards seems like a terrible plan for the Archive.
 
Tsotate said:
By existing in reality, wouldn't this also affect Ivy? Supporting the creation of memetic hazards seems like a terrible plan for the Archive.
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Not if she's the owner of the splendor:
Fascinations manifest in their owner's possession or immediate presence (as appropriate), and
then remain for however long they ought to last, according to their rating. It's impossible to sever
attunement to a Fascination while it is manifest, or to deliberately banish it before it has run its
course. A Fascination's owner is always immune to any malignant effects it might produce. If a
Fascination demands a dice roll, it uses its owner's traits.
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Vote closed, lets see how this goes
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Nov 26, 2023 at 11:13 AM, finished with 48 posts and 6 votes.
  • [X] Plan gathering allies
    -[X] We should contact the Venatori, they are natural allies and experts in this kind of thing
    --[X] Have Michael write a note to the Archive, requesting a meeting at a neutral territory of her choosing regarding her primary function. Co-sign it with your name. Write down your number so she can contact you.
    -[X] Bring in Harry, he is uniquely equipped to deal with these things
    --[X] At the very least he should be told about his inherent power, so he's not ignorant of it and forces scheming about it.
    --[X] Use Harry's birth certificate as a focus to discern the full information on what Starborn are, and give him the information in a secure way (i.e. inside your Sanctuary). If no birth certificate is available, use a recreation of a night sky at the time of Harry's birth.
    [X] If Odin is among the membership of the True Venatori, we'll arrange an emergency meeting with him ASAP. This is not information that can be shared haphazardly, so trusting it to intermediaries is to be avoided if at all possible. If Odin isn't one of them, we'll instead reach out to Thomas and ask his advice on how to best contact the Venatori when time and secrecy is of the essence.
    [X] Better to deal with this ourselves, just contacting them out of the blue is likely to twig every suspicious bone in a body that has two hundred and six of them
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BoredMan said:
They are fighting an endless war and have probably been doing so for a good minute. They also seem to be struggling which is supported by the Red Court Outsider usage not being rebuffed(on screen at least we get no indication of it).

I really can't see how this set of circumstances would not encourage a more violent mindset and society over time. It's probably the most important thing they even do besides fight with Summer. We see them forcefully recruit children because they don't have enough fodder for the war effort and Mab tells Molly that if she has a better alternative to suggest it.
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In Blood Rites, where the Entropy Curse is coming from He Who Walks Behind, the Fey are not even involved in the story. The Winter Court can't track every instance of Outside influence and the Archive only sees what is written not what is told.

Just because Winter is in full Hard Man Doing Hard Decisions While Hard mode doesn't mean that was the correct answer to the problem of guarding the Outer Gates.

BoredMan said:
@Dmol8 Also the scope of war is entirely different here. You can't use war and how our societies react to it because the war with the Outsiders is too out of context(admittedly I brought up the human quote first). They are fighting for survival of not only themselves but everyone else and they don't expect the war to ever end. Some of those people are immortals even, its going to have an influence on their culture and its going to make them more wardriven. Thus Winter being monsterous is understandable, I think it would be more obvious if we got to see their day to day on the frontlines defending the Gates.

Again not saying we shouldn't do something at some point just making it known that its not black and white "Winter is needlessly cruel they should be locked up and replaced" like there's an actual explanation for it.
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Um...the longer a war goes on the less wardriven a society becomes. This isn't because of some innate humanity or because of some inherent goodness in people, but because the longer a war goes on the more likely it is for those wardriven to be removed from positions of power either by death or by politics as the cold equations of war set in and the romanticized view of war all wardriven hold gets a hard reality check.

Winter being monstrous is in direct conflict with it being an effective army. There is necessary cruelty in any war, but Winter's cruelty goes so far and beyond all of that and it cripples their ability to be an effective army. Case in point this post:

Degorium said:
I agree with a lot of your post BoredMan but winter is not even expediently cruel. They are specifically sadistic and definitely deceptive towards possible allies.
They alienate, screw and otherwise fuck with pretty much everyone they interact with because they think they're fairies so they can be Whimsical and cheat and not lie but rules lawyer and otherwise behave in ways that are not acceptable for anyone that ever wants to deal with them because they are essential.
which isn't the behavior of someone who's being pragmatic it's someone who claims to be so but you know has a cruel intrinsic nature you know like a barren snowy wasteland but as something person shaped.

So while it's not black and white both summer and winter are inherently two sides the same coin both of which do not deal with Mortals in ways that are not acceptable up to and including kidnapping their children.

An ideal endpoint would be the relegation of winter and summer in the Supernatural world to their role in the natural world. They're important but you mostly work around them they don't really dictate what you're going to do on the day-to-day basis except for when they throw a hissy fit. No one thinks that the fairies should all just disappear or die or anything like that. But they should definitely be made completely unessential to anything anyone cares about like say the defense of reality because they are intrinsically either cruel or emotionally driven. Both of these things makes them really bad carriers of long-term power.
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covers pretty much the basics of why Winter is actually bad at it's job and how their Fey cruelty actually contributes to them being badly stretched on all fronts. Part of this is that the Faerie Queen system is about independence from the rest of the world for power enough to guard the gates and is only some millennia old.

The Faerie Queen system may have actually been an Outsider plot to weaken the defenses of the Outer Gates in the long term by isolating the Fey, the footsoldiers in the war to protect reality, from any need to be diplomatic with the rest of reality thus allowing for a the Needs of the Many mentality to ossify in Fae Courts and leave them less capable of making alliances or figuring out a better system than the one currently in use.
 
Dmol8 said:
In Blood Rites, where the Entropy Curse is coming from He Who Walks Behind, the Fey are not even involved in the story. The Winter Court can't track every instance of Outside influence and the Archive only sees what is written not what is told.

Just because Winter is in full Hard Man Doing Hard Decisions While Hard mode doesn't mean that was the correct answer to the problem of guarding the Outer Gates.



Um...the longer a war goes on the less wardriven a society becomes. This isn't because of some innate humanity or because of some inherent goodness in people, but because the longer a war goes on the more likely it is for those wardriven to be removed from positions of power either by death or by politics as the cold equations of war set in and the romanticized view of war all wardriven hold gets a hard reality check.

Winter being monstrous is in direct conflict with it being an effective army. There is necessary cruelty in any war, but Winter's cruelty goes so far and beyond all of that and it cripples their ability to be an effective army. Case in point this post:



covers pretty much the basics of why Winter is actually bad at it's job and how their Fey cruelty actually contributes to them being badly stretched on all fronts. Part of this is that the Faerie Queen system is about independence from the rest of the world for power enough to guard the gates and is only some millennia old.

The Faerie Queen system may have actually been an Outsider plot to weaken the defenses of the Outer Gates in the long term by isolating the Fey, the footsoldiers in the war to protect reality, from any need to be diplomatic with the rest of reality thus allowing for a the Needs of the Many mentality to ossify in Fae Courts and leave them less capable of making alliances or figuring out a better system than the one currently in use.
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I'm gonna note winter clearly doesn't get to choose their natures a lot of them are the way they are largely because of their species and what roles they have. Your right that they aren't the absolute best for what they do but the fae courts were clearly repurposing something that already existed when they were made. They didn't simply craft their roles with the mindset this is whats best they were literally shaped by what they became. They are winter and thats not always nice well no fucking duh.
 
firefrog600 said:
I'm gonna note winter clearly doesn't get to choose their natures a lot of them are the way they are largely because of their species and what roles they have. Your right that they aren't the absolute best for what they do but the fae courts were clearly repurposing something that already existed when they were made. They didn't simply craft their roles with the mindset this is whats best they were literally shaped by what they became.
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But what were they before the Queens? The only good consistent soldiers? Or the only ones left after the repeated attacks by the Outsiders? Or something else entirely?
 
Dmol8 said:
But what were they before the Queens? The only good consistent soldiers? Or the only ones left after the repeated attacks by the Outsiders? Or something else entirely?
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We don't know also multiple things have guarded the gates norse stuff used to do it apparently we don't have much details though. But, they did not merely choose to become monsters its a drawback of what they became clearly.
 
Having designed Lydia's armor, I come back to her weapon. It should obviously be associated with death, and, ideally, . It should use brawl for combat, since that's Lydia's main combat ability. Ideally it should have long range, and it should have utility value not just as a weapon. There's also the issue that normally only one adornment is allowed to be attuned at a time, so either a form of Hero's Shadow is required in design to circumvent the adornment limit, or the weapon needs to be a fascination. I think that fascination works better - as I mentioned previously Lydia is very specked to have minions, and that means that if her weapon extends its effects to said minions

The Splendor takes the form of something that is evocative of death. It might be a funeral
garment, or an old bone, or decorated with skulls. It might be smeared with crematory ash. This Element defines the Splendor's physical form and gives it a character, and that character is
aligned with the power of death. Other Elements may draw upon this fact.
The Splendor can be summoned directly into the Underworld when made to manifest, if its
owner desires. As the basis for an Adornment, it grants its user the ability to see and interact with
ghosts on the other side of the Shroud. As the basis for a Fascination, it can interact with both the
land of the living and the Underworld.
This Splendor defines a rigid certainty and imposes it upon existence.
When used in an Adornment, define a specific roll of (Attribute) + (Ability) and a specialty that
it falls under. When the user makes such a roll, she cannot botch and cannot fail regardless of the
difficulty. No matter what, she always generates at least one success. If this roll is opposed by
another character, Invincible Assertion instead adds two bonus successes.
When used in a Fascination, define a specific roll of (Attribute) + (Ability) and a specialty that it
falls under. Under circumstances defined by the Splendor, such rolls cannot fail in its presence,
and always generate at least one success. If such a roll is opposed, it adds two bonus successes.
This Element may be incorporated into a Splendor more than once.
The Splendor's power is flawed, and its curses and blessings cannot maintain their hold for long.
Select one Element of the Splendor whose effects last for a limited time. That Element's maximum duration is decreased by one category (from one month to one week, one week to to
one day, and so on). If the duration is already "one day," the Element is reduced to one hour.
Taking this Element grants one additional Element point, which must be spent on a Mystic Element.
One of the Splendor's snares or benefits is particularly wicked or potent. Modify one roll
associated with the Splendor by increasing or decreasing its difficulty by two, or modify one
value associated with activating or resisting its effects (such as the number of points of
Willpower that must be spent to shake off a Beautiful Lie) by two.
The Splendor captures souls. It may hold a number of souls equal to its rating. Captured soul of
potent supernatural beings may later be fashioned into Prodigies or used in Splendor-crafting.
Lesser souls might be bartered to beings interested in them, or used as display pieces.
To use Soul Snare as an Adornment, the Splendor must also have Form of Imminent Violence.
The soul of anyone slain by the Splendor is drawn into it.
As a Fascination, Soul Snare either indiscriminately absorbs the soul of anyone who dies in its
vicinity, or may be designed to exercise discretion and only capture certain departing souls. If
combined with the Form of Dust and Ash, anyone who dies while interacting with the Splendor
whose soul is not trapped by it is guaranteed to linger in the Underworld as a wraith. Coupled
with Form of Dust and Ash and a location-type Form such as Form of the Hearth, this fate
befalls anyone who dies in the Splendor's area of effect.
This Element can only be part of a Fascination.
The Splendor creates environmental hazards according to the character of its Form Elements,
such as Form of Crackling Fire or Form of Ash and Dust. The nature of the created hazards vary
accordingly:
• Air produces hazards such as blizzards, intense cold, or furious storms. They either impose a
penalty of –3 dice on all actions, or else inflict (Splendor's rating / 2, round up) levels of lethal
damage per minute of unprotected exposure. Alternately, in the case of slashing ice storms or
aggressive lightning strikes, this damage might be inflicted every turn, but can be avoided by
proper actions taken at difficulty (4 + Splendor's rating).
• Earth produces hazards such as dust storms, landslides, earthquakes, or fields of barbed wire
and shrapnel. They either impose a penalty of –3 dice on all actions, or else inflict (Splendor's
rating / 2, round up) levels of lethal damage per turn spent moving through the hazard zone at
anything faster than a careful walk. Alternately, in the case of slashing landslides and
earthquakes, this damage, along with knockdown, might be inflicted every turn, but can be
avoided by proper actions taken at difficulty (4 + Splendor's rating).
• Fire produces hazards such as flames and heat waves. They either impose a penalty of –3 dice
on all actions, or else inflict 1 + (Splendor's rating / 2, round up) levels of lethal damage per turn,
but can be avoided by proper actions taken at difficulty (4 + Splendor's rating).
• Water produces hazards such as ripcurrents, undertows, sudden waves, or torrential
downpours. They either impose a penalty of –3 dice on all actions, or else inflict (Splendor's
rating / 2, round up) levels of lethal damage per minute of unprotected exposure. Alternately, in
the case of smashing waves, this damage might be inflicted every turn, but can be avoided by
proper actions taken at difficulty (4 + Splendor's rating).
• Wood produces hazards such as bristling thorns or attacking vines. They either impose a
penalty of –3 dice on all actions, or else inflict (Splendor's rating / 2, round up) levels of lethal
damage per minute of unprotected exposure. Alternately, in the case of deadly animated vines
and the like, this damage might be inflicted every turn, but can be avoided by proper actions
taken at difficulty (4 + Splendor's rating).
• Death produces hazards such as disease, feelings of overwhelming sorrow, or attacks by
zombies. They either impose a penalty of –3 dice on all actions (in the case of overwhelming
sorrow), or require proper actions taken at difficulty (4 + Splendor's rating) to avoid contracting
a disease. Zombies use the usual traits found on EXvWoD, page 46. Up to (Splendor's rating)
can be produced per scene.
• Spirit produces hazards such as drawing in minor hostile spirits, or expelling targets across the
Gauntlet. They either impose a penalty of –3 dice on all actions (due to the interference of
meddling spirits), or require proper actions taken at difficulty (4 + Splendor's rating) to avoid
being shunted into the Spirit World. Spirits are hostile minor Gafflings and up to (Splendor's
rating) can be produced per scene.
• Dream produces hazards such as enchantment, compulsion, or chimera. They either impose a
penalty of –3 dice on all actions due to hallucinogenic distraction, or require proper actions taken
at difficulty (4 + Splendor's rating) to avoid being enchanted (and thus brought into chimerical
reality) or compelled to do a thing while in the presence of the Splendor. If the Splendor
summons hostile chimera, they are weak creatures and only up to (Splendor rating) can be
attracted per scene.
• Feral generally produces animal attacks, generating up to the Splendor's rating in swarms or
beasts per scene.
The Splendor causes a transformation in accordance with its character, as defined by Form
Elements such as Form of Graceful Air. The nature of the transformation depends on the Form or
Forms in play, but might include transformation into things like a sparrow (air), pig (earth), a
living flame (fire), a fish (water), a stag (wood), a walking corpse (death), a semitranslucent
spirit (spirit), or a fantastic beast such as a sphinx (dreams). These are meant to be examples, and
not an all-inclusive list.
As an Adornment, this Splendor requires a point of Willpower and a turn spent in transformation
to either assume the characteristic form or return to the user's native form.
As part of a Fascination the maximum duration of the transformation (assuming it isn't cut short
earlier by fulfilling some criteria built into the Splendor) is one day for a 1-2 dot Splendor, one
week for a 3-dot Splendor, one month for a 4-dot Splendor, and one year for a 5-dot Splendor.
Bound in what looks like mummy's wrappings made not of cloth but iron wire, with individual strands weaving in and out of their unliving flesh Dread Knights are terrors from beyond this age, brought forth under command of the Scion of Death herself, and obedient to her only. Tall and gaunt, in form they resemble androginuous perfection of a human form, and yet it is clear to anyone who looks at them that they are wrong, dangerous, non-human. To call them humanoid is to call a gothic cathedral a house, or the great pyramid of Giza a family crypt - both true, but utterly missing the point. Tanned leather, which might or might not be skin can sometimes be seen peeking through their wrappings. Every piece that can be observed is covered in writing in that most ancient of languages. There's a strange deadly beauty to their graceful inhmuanely fast movements. If one was to look close enogh and not get killed, it would be possible to notice that the fingers on their feet are as articulate as those on their hands, and all of them end in deadly sharp claws, from which poison can be secreted. Their bite is no less deadly than their claws.

Despite their appearance, alien intelligence burns behind their eyes, devoted to their mistress and her alone, ready and eager to give their unlife so she might succeed in her endevours
5 dot horror arcana
Willpower: ●●●●●○○○○○
Health Track (Bruised x 2, Hurt, Injured Wounded, Mauled, Crippled, Incapacitated — an extra Bruised level).
Soak: 8, soaks aggravated at DC8
Attributes
PHYSICAL (primary +2 Superior Body)SOCIAL (tertiary)MENTAL (secondary +1x Superior Mind)
Strength ●●●●●●Charisma ○○○○○Perception ●●●○○
Dexterity ●●●●●●●Manipulation ○○○○○Intelligence ●●○○○
Stamina ●●●●●Appearance ○○○○○Wits ●●●○○

Abilities

TALENTS (primary +12 freebie points)SKILLS (secondary)KNOWLEDGES
Alertness ●●●●●Animal Ken ○○○○○Academics ○○○○○
Athletics ●●●○○Crafts ○○○○○Computer ○○○○○
Awareness ●●●●●Drive ●●●○○Finance ○○○○○
Brawl ●●●●●Etiquette ○○○○○Investigation ○○○○○
Empathy ○○○○○Firearms ●●●○○Law ○○○○○
Expression ○○○○○Larceny ○○○○○Medicine ●●○○○
Intimidation ●○○○○Melee ●●●○○Occult ●●●○○
Leadership ○○○○○Performance ○○○○○Politics ○○○○○
Streetwise ○○○○○Stealth ○○○○○Science ○○○○○
Subterfuge ○○○○○Survival ○○○○○Technology ○○○○○

Horrors are an intensely limited form of Arcana in many respects. Their secondary
category of Attributes can never have a rating higher than 3, while their tertiary category can
never have a rating higher than 2. Their Mental and Social Attributes always begin at 0,
regardless of their dot rating. All Social Attribute dots may be traded in for an extra Arcana
Feature, if desired. Horrors with Intelligence 0 are effectively feral, hungry animals who can
only understand and obey their master's commands. Horrors with intelligence 1 have enough
basic cunning to obey their master's commands and navigate the world with enough self-
awareness to hide themselves from scrutiny whenever possible, and may follow complex
instructions from their master, but are otherwise exhibit very few of the qualities associated with
higher intelligence. It's not that they don't understand the world as other Arcana do, it's just that
they don't care about anything but obeying the master and perhaps feeding on living flesh.
On the other hand, all horrors can soak lethal damage, reduce all wound penalties by two points
(and do not suffer wound penalties at all from bashing damage), cannot be knocked out by
marking bashing damage in their Incapacitated health box, and get an extra Arcana Feature
above and beyond what would normally be indicated for their dot rating.
Horrors generally look like exactly what they are: corpses mutilated and combined into a rotting
war machine.
The Arcana's body is made of tougher stuff than others of its kind. If the
Arcana could normally only soak bashing damage, it can now also soak lethal damage. If the
Arcana could normally soak lethal damage, it can now also soak aggravated damage at difficulty 8
The Arcana's body is incorporates some sort of deadly weaponry such
as metal fists, claws, fangs, horns, or sharpened bone protrusions. Her Brawl attacks inflict
Strength + 1 lethal damage.
The Arcana has been reinforced with armored plates. It rolls three extra dice
to soak damage.
The Arcana gains three additional dots of Physical Attributes, which may
increase its traits to 6. Taking this Feature a second time provides only two bonus dots, but raises
the permitted cap to 7.
The Arcana gains three additional dots of Mental Attributes, which may
increase its traits to 6. Taking this Feature a second time provides only two bonus dots, but raises
the permitted cap to 7.
When the Arcana is slain, the spark of Essence within it tries to surge back to life.
Roll its Arcana rating against difficulty 6. On a success, the Arcana returns to life a few minutes,
hours, or days later and permanently reduces its rating by one dot. If this reduces the Arcana to a
rating of zero, then it will unavoidably fall dead again, this time for good, at the end of the
current story.
The Arcana has some sort of deadly attack build into it, usually through Integrated
Weapons, and that attack is envenomed, inflicting +2 base damage if it is possible for the target
to be poisoned. If the Arcana lacks such a weapon, then it has some sort of integrated poison
delivery system such as a small needle somewhere on its body, and must lock in a grapple to
deliver it. Venom delivered in this fashion inflicts one level of lethal damage per turn of
continued injection.
Perhaps the Arcana has inhuman legs. Perhaps it is a dozen torsos stitched together and
speeding along on a dozen sets of arms. Perhaps it is propelled by an elemental wind. Whatever
the case, its movement speed and is doubled, or tripled if this Feature is taken twice.
The Arcana is slowly decaying or degrading. The Arcana ages rapidly, and it may experience
progressive neurological decay (or whatever the equivalent to that would be for a creature made
of stone). If it's a horror, then it hasn't been outfitted with preservatives to keep it from rotting
away over time. If the Arcana has only a few years to live, this Flaw is worth three points. If the
Arcana only has a few months, it's worth four. Add an extra point to the value if, at the end of
each story, the Arcana must make a Stamina roll against difficulty 9, with failure indicating that
it permanently loses an Attribute dot selected by the Storyteller. Subtract a point from the value
of this Flaw if an Exalt can treat the Arcana with an entire week of dedicated "tuning" once per
story to hold its decay in abeyance for the duration of that story.
OR

Otherworldly and disturbing, these are the echoes of the kingdom of Annwn, answering the call of their Lord's Daughter in the new age. Taking a humanoid, but distinctly inhuman form, they move with unearthly grace, the protective runic weave covering their bodies flexing and flowing with every moment. One shouldn't mistake them for simple combat servitors either - a keen mind and a knightly chivalry can be felt in their actions and words, strange as their echoing voices are, so despite their lack of beauty they are still quite charismatic and wouldn't embarrass their liege lady both in the field of battle and in noble court.
5 dot Ephemera arcana
Willpower: ●●●●●●○○○○ (5 +1 from freebie points)
Health Track (Bruised x 2, Hurt, Injured Wounded, Mauled, Crippled, Incapacitated — an extra Bruised level).
Soak: 8, soaks aggravated at DC8
Attributes
PHYSICAL (primary +2 Superior Body)SOCIAL (tertiary)MENTAL (secondary +1x Superior Mind)
Strength ●●●●●●Charisma ●●●○○Perception ●●●●●
Dexterity ●●●●●●●Manipulation ●○○○○Intelligence ●●●○○
Stamina ●●●●●Appearance ●●○○○Wits ●●●○○

Abilities

TALENTS (primary)SKILLS (secondary + 4 freebie points)KNOWLEDGES
Alertness ●●●○○Animal Ken ●○○○○Academics ○○○○○
Athletics ●●●○○Crafts ○○○○○Computer ○○○○○
Awareness ●●●○○Drive ●○○○○Finance ○○○○○
Brawl ●●●○○Etiquette ○○○○○Investigation ●○○○○
Empathy ○○○○○Firearms ●●●●○Law ●○○○○
Expression ○○○○○Larceny ○○○○○Medicine ●○○○○
Intimidation ○○○○○Melee ●●●●○Occult ●○○○○
Leadership ●○○○○Performance ○○○○○Politics ●○○○○
Streetwise ○○○○○Stealth ○○○○○Science ○○○○○
Subterfuge ○○○○○Survival ●○○○○Technology ○○○○○

Ephemera can soak lethal damage, but not aggravated.
Select either the Umbra or the Underworld. This is the phantasm's native home. It may roam
freely in its native realm, where it enjoys the natural ability to converse with the other native
denizens and to navigate without undue difficulty (in the Umbra, this amounts to having the
Charm Airt Sense, while in the Underworld it amounts to having several dots of Argos). The
phantasm may manifest in the physical world only while within one hundred yards of its
keystone, and must pay one Willpower to remain manifest for a scene. It is always aware when
its keystone is being moved or disturbed, and may pay one Willpower to immediately teleport to
its keystone's location.
If the phantasm's master speaks while within the keystone's presence, the Arcana hears her
words wherever it may be. If she commands the ephemera to attend her, it may teleport to the
keystone's location without paying any Willpower. If the keystone is destroyed, the phantasm is
also destroyed. If the ephemera is slain, it may reform a year and a day later within its keystone.
Each point of Essence fed into the keystone by its master quickens this recovery by 28 days.
Ephemera are always unmistakably phantasmal beings. Even when manifested physically, the
edges of their body seem to roil and waver like fog, or to possess other overtly "spirit-like" or
"ghostly" traits.
The Arcana's body is made of tougher stuff than others of its kind. If the
Arcana could normally only soak bashing damage, it can now also soak lethal damage. If the
Arcana could normally soak lethal damage, it can now also soak aggravated damage at difficulty 8
The Arcana has been reinforced with armored plates. It rolls three extra dice
to soak damage.
The Arcana gains three additional dots of Physical Attributes, which may
increase its traits to 6. Taking this Feature a second time provides only two bonus dots, but raises
the permitted cap to 7.
The Arcana gains three additional dots of Mental Attributes, which may
increase its traits to 6. Taking this Feature a second time provides only two bonus dots, but raises
the permitted cap to 7.
Perhaps the Arcana has inhuman legs. Perhaps it is a dozen torsos stitched together and
speeding along on a dozen sets of arms. Perhaps it is propelled by an elemental wind. Whatever
the case, its movement speed and is doubled, or tripled if this Feature is taken twice.
Whether due to wings, magical levitation, or bladders full of rotten gasses, the Arcana
is capable of flight at its normal movement speed.
While all fae are conscious of the bonds of oaths, for you
it's almost of a religious nature. Whenever you're overwhelmed,
the thought of your duties is enough to give you the strength
to persevere. In game terms, you reduce the difficulty of rolls
pertaining to the fulfillment of your oaths by three. Similarly,
the power of your sense of duty may be sufficient to allow
temporary immunity to other supernatural effects (Storyteller's
discretion). No Willpower may be spent on actions having to
do with the breaking of oaths. This is not cumulative with the
effects of the Merit True Love (see p. 186), though it can be
combined for purposes of roleplaying.
In your heart of hearts, you're a hero. While your com-
panions work toward their own selfish ends, you embody a
higher purpose. This purpose guides you in uncanny ways that
feel, at times, as if you're being moved by a force greater than
yourself – a noble force, naturally, but one that transcends even
your personal Enlightenment. In dreams, you see yourself as a
Warrior of Reason, a Champion of Truth. A paladin. A genius.
A knight of everything that is worth defending.
Intended more for Technocratic operatives and skeptical
technomancers than for mages who accept reincarnation as a
metaphysical truth, this Merit grants you special gifts when it
seems like all hope has been lost. These gifts allow you to…
• access Traits you don't possess, as per the Background:
Dream
(at a rating of 5) but without entering a trance;
• add five temporary points to your Willpower Trait, to
use during that "hope is lost" crisis;
• …and perhaps recall things from a previous life that the
character could not possibly have known – a language
she does not know, an escape route in a place he's never
visited, a person they've never met before, and so forth.
These boosts last only through the current scene, but
include a burst of vitalizing energy and a sense of your inner
hero coming through to save the day again.
This isn't the sort of thing you talk about, of course, especially
not if you're an agent of the Technocratic Union. The benefits,
though, cannot be denied, even if their source is clearly… well,
improbable, at best. And while this Merit was originally created
for the sourcebook Guide to the Technocracy, any mage with
a sense of higher purpose can take it. Just remember that the
biggest difference between a knight and a murderer is the side
of his sword you happen to be on at the time.
The Arcana is slowly decaying or degrading. The Arcana ages rapidly, and it may experience
progressive neurological decay (or whatever the equivalent to that would be for a creature made
of stone). If it's a horror, then it hasn't been outfitted with preservatives to keep it from rotting
away over time. If the Arcana has only a few years to live, this Flaw is worth three points. If the
Arcana only has a few months, it's worth four. Add an extra point to the value if, at the end of
each story, the Arcana must make a Stamina roll against difficulty 9, with failure indicating that
it permanently loses an Attribute dot selected by the Storyteller. Subtract a point from the value
of this Flaw if an Exalt can treat the Arcana with an entire week of dedicated "tuning" once per
story to hold its decay in abeyance for the duration of that story.
  1. The splendor acts as a whip, producing STR+1 lethal damage dice
  2. The splendor can interact with ghosts and affect them
  3. The splendor only stays manifested for a day
  4. Dex+Brawl melee attack rolls by Lydia and those who serve her cannot botch, are done at -2 DC and receive either +1 success if unopposed, +2 successes if opposed
  1. The splendor stays manifested for a week
  2. The splendor now stores souls of those who die within its presence. Up to 3 souls can be stored. The stored souls can be released via Rest-Granting Strike granting Lydia 3 essence per released soul, or interrogated by Lydia without releasing them. They can be put into suspended animation when not interacted with so they don't suffer while stored
  3. Those slain with this weapon will leave behind a ghost unless this is waived by Lydia
  1. The splendor now stays manifested up to a month, or until a condition defined by the owner at the time of its summoning is met.
  2. up to 4 souls can be stored in the splendor at a time
  3. The trapped souls can now be manifested as zombies under Lydia's command (Lydia can use Command the Dead without paying essence cost, but still having to roll the dice). Summoned zombies follow the same rules as the ones called by Lydia's Command the Dead.
  1. The splendor now stays manifested up to a year, or until a condition defined by the owner at the time of its summoning is met.
  2. up to 5 souls can be stored in the splendor at a time
  3. Instead of zombies, the splendor now summons terrific Dread Knights - horrors out of elder lore and dreams of neverborn gods. Mechanically, summoned zombies are immediately (on creation) transformed into a 5 dot Horror Arcana as described in the build section. Transformation lasts for a lunar month, at which point the Dread Knight decays into dust, unless stationed within a Dragon Nest, whose power may sustain them indefinitely. After a year they decay into a base zombie state unless the effect of the splendor is reapplied to them.
OR alternatively
  1. Instead of zombies, the splendor now summons the echoes of the ancient kingdom of Annwn, the ghosts and whispers of the past Age answering the call of the heir of their beloved Lord. Mechanically, summoned zombies are immediately (on creation) transformed into a 5 dot Horror Arcana as described in the build section. Transformation lasts for a lunar month, at which point the Dread Knight decays into dust, unless stationed within a Dragon Nest, whose power may sustain them indefinitely. After a year they decay into a base zombie state unless the effect of the splendor is reapplied to them.
A hangman's noose woven out of metal strands - Lydia's ancestral iron, your brass, and other more exotic metals not found on the current Earth, this is both a weapon, usable as a deadly whip, and a symbol of office, of a Judge presiding over the passed, resembling the instrument of Lord Yama
A whip that, at base level is a very good melee weapon. On the first upgrade it allows Lydia to store souls for later essence regeneration. At 4 dot level it allows Lydia to also summon zombie backup using stored souls. At 5 dot level, depending on in-character choices, it either allows Lydia to summon combat monsters instead of zombies, embracing her role as the exigent of Death, or to start restoring the court of her father, embracing her role as his heir.
 
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There have been a lot of fae in the past before the courts and they did defend the gates even before the courts existence and according to butcher apparently had support from gods to some extent. Its unknown if they've always been defenders of the gates. They've been defending them for quote "a long time" but have only been autonomous and able to defend the gates without the assistance of gods the past couple thousand of years. Jim also said they got a sponsor of some kind skingames shows that might of been hecate, there's also some maiden, mother, crone themes going on of the triple goddess. We also know that gods can be well not changed but that the way mortals see them change and that might affect how they present themselves. So hecate could be multiple things in the dresden verse. Not that much of this matters cause dp doesn't read nearly all of the wog's and plenty of them are non canon for this quest.
 
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Arc 11 Post 9: Worn Script
  • Threadmarks
    • Worn Script ​

    3rd of January 2007 A.D.

    One of the advantages of unfair magical insights are that one can send messages from afar, in this case by your dad writing on the back of an unused Vegas postcard in the glove compartment. One might wonder why you have postcards with a city you have not been to yet. As it happens someone in the Jade Dogs apparently thought actually buying postcards was was beneath you so they helped stock up. Unsure of how to feel you settle on grateful and tramp down on budding nerves as best you can as Black Rider Races though though the cold January air to Harry's place. Of course you'd called ahead but Harry had not been happy to hear the request, he's as bad at keeping his feelings from echoing behind his words as he is at keeping them off his face.

    "Did you tell him, the thing you told us I mean?" you turn to ask Lash.

    "About what it means to be born under the stars?" she nods solemnly. "He's not happy, but he is a wizard and a damn good one."

    "What's that got to do with it?" Dad asks, setting the postcard aside.

    "To be a wizard is to understand there's no getting something for nothing, every action invites reaction, every light has its shadow. Of course the best monster hunters are those who would be monsters, or at least that's how he sees it. I think that if anything he is more upset at the reminder of his childhood, the reasons his first master selected him..." she pauses for a moment, a rare shadow of uncertainty over those bright green eyes. "I suspect his mother might have planned the for him to be born under those stars. If any mortal wizard could it would be Margret LaFey, Namshiel respected her, as much as he could be said to respect any mortal magician which is to say he wanted her.I have not shared either insight, please don't do so either."

    "You could have just not told me," you point out, a little peeved to be given instructions like an overly talkative child.

    "True, but you have a habit of guessing things and then assuming that other people are as fond of knowledge as you are," the former demon counters a little too sensibly for your liking.

    Dad's phone rings, generically bouncy, he never bothered to change it, from the other side you can hear what sounds like a young girl's voice. "What kind of neutral ground do you have in mind? Vegas? I saw the postcard."

    "No, no, that's something else," Dad assures her. "It's actually my daughter who wanted to speak with you."

    "I had guessed. I know quite a bit about her." The voice is dead calm, giving away nothing and for a moment you wonder at her sources, then recall the White Council. The Archive is on some level reading the Merlin's diary, the Senior Council's meeting notes and Morgan's report from last month all live. "It would be awkward to come to Chicago at the moment."

    In that precise moment the unmistakable rattle of semi-automatic fire blasts from the phone followed by put-upon sigh, like she had just found out her preferred color of crocs were out of stock. "I and going to be stuck dealing with this... foolish intransigence for the next couple days at least. It it urgent?"

    "I believe so, we have just gained significant advantage over a common enemy, but it is one which could close the gap at any moment," Dad replies, sounding as worried as you feel.

    "Very well I have not known you to speak lightly of such things Sir Knight, I will be here tomorrow at nine A.M. McAnally's establishment." Just as the call clicks off you hear. "Kincaid get the RPGs, we are done here!"

    Somehow you don't think she means role-playing game.

    Harry is waiting on the curb, practically pacing. "Come on lets get inside."

    As soon as he hands you the surprisingly crisp paper imprinted with a seal that says Washington, not the city or the state, the county in Iowa, you know that your plan won't work. "This isn't the original."

    "The original burned with... it's gone." he does not even pause for breath, pushing himself to continue. "This one's a copy of the one they kept at the statehouse, Ebenezer got after I went to live with him."

    "Well it turns out ethereal crowns have higher standards than the US government. I don't suposse you have any baby pictures from the hospital or..." He shakes his head. The only other thing you can think of that would allow you to ask about Harry's status as Starborn would be Harry himself.

    What do you do?

    [] Burn the question on Harry

    [] Do not burn the question, there's no reason not to rush.

    [] Wrtie in

    OOC: Good thought on the birth certificate, but one thing Molly would have had no way of knowing is that Harry does not have the original and a copy is not good enough. Are you guys willing to burn the Harry question? Also I really hope there is no canonical place of birth for Dresden. I could not find one online, all it said is that Malcom Dresden took his son traveling across the country and I have this idea of him doing shows in small towns and always moving around which is how he managed to keep ahead of the many people interested in him and Harry for as long as he did.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • DragonParadox said:
    Rolls
    How busy is Ivy... in spite of circumstances not as busy as she could be
    Michael Diplomacy +2 die from intimacy, this counts as an on the job call
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I mean I can think of some other ways to make the question ask lash who else is starborn and use them. Also there used to be 40,000 or so starborn in this cycle according to butcher use one of well any of their corpses to do the question. Starborn are not actually nearly as rare as one would think. Though according to butcher those 40,000 or so many many many of them are dead from the last 40 years they've been around. Given this would take time sometime else but we could do it even before the day ended if we really wanted.
     
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    firefrog600 said:
    I mean I can think of some other ways to make the question ask lash who else is starborn and use them. Also there used to be 40,000 or so starborn in this cycle according to butcher use one of well any of their corpses to do the question. Starborn are not actually nearly as rare as one would think. Though according to butcher those 40,000 or so many many many of them are dead from the last 40 years they've been around. Given this would take time sometime else but we could do it even before the day ended if we really wanted.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Sure if you guys want to dig up corpses that is fine, but it will probably take some time.
     
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    [] Do not burn the question, there's no reason to rush.
    -[] Commission Harry to make his own horoscope based on the date and time of his birth, then use that
    --[] Share cosmological insight on the exaltation-approved coordinate system and the locations of life-bearing stars

    @DragonParadox wold that work?

    EDIT: Added sub-sub option
     
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    Golden Lark said:
    I would also assume not all Starborn have magical potential.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    It doesn't really matter "The title Starborn indicates those people who can, by birthright, wield power over the Outsiders." Its not the same thing. "In Peace Talks, Ebenezar McCoy reveals that Starborn individuals cannot have their minds tainted by contact with anything from Outside, which means that Dresden can banish the Outsiders without mental damage, as would happen to other wizards. " Starborn also only happen every 666 years! What a great number.
     
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