True, but it's a bit of fun.While those examples are funny, they miss the point that Cytherea knows your limitations. There won't be any "oops, he died," it'll be "you accomplished something incredibly difficult at great cost that you weren't really interested in."
Astrea said:She is not only an unrelenting teacher - and a gifted one, transforming her students from rough brawlers and clumsy farmhands into powerful, beautiful behemoths - but also demanding in the qualities she asks for in her prospective projects. Only Astrea knows the exact criteria by which she chooses students, though certain qualities may be deduced through observation. Combat ability is meaningless, as she can equally work with a gifted martial artist or an uneducated farmhand. What she looks for is inner strength, and a purity devoid of any flaws. Those too proud to humble themselves and accept training are ignored, as are those lacking courage, who cannot rise to meet their fears. Pointlessly cruel or overly barbaric prospectives find themselves ignored, and those without the drive to see their training through to the end will never get the chance.
Despite her exacting standards, some still die under her regime. Towards these, she bears a mix of disappointment and pragmatism. They are, after all, only mortal. It is expected that some of them will fail. She will spend ten years burning the dross of humanity from a woman, only to discard a mewling monster if she does not feel that it lives up to her standards. And then she will spend twenty years on the next one, setting her against her other failures, feeding her their flesh, and purging her of every last weakness, every last fallibility, every last thing that holds her back from what the Heavenly Inferno wishes her to be. She may only make one successful behemoth-champion every century or so, but she is working. She is progressing.
Also curious if Cythera would consider some people to have the most potential in being sacrificed (metaphorically) in the pursuit of other people's potential. I love this way of taking a relatively benevolent concept and making it suitably alien,
The thing with Yozi, and any other high Essence being in Creation, is that the embody or represent a concept in all of its facets, unburdened by human morals. It's not a case of benevolent of malign: they couldn't care less, because they are not humans. They are ideas manifest, and follow their nature. Trying to follow human's limits for them is like asking someone to always breath and walk in a certain way: pointless and annoying.
Nope sorry, you can't grant charms. Not Infernal charms at least.So Oramus doesn't have much in the way of training like other Yozis do. Let's take a look at that.
Gifts of the Great Ones
Cost: 5m, 1wp
Mins: Essence 3
Type: Simple
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Touch of the Eldest
Mighty are the Titans and their works, such that mortal minds quail in their attempts to comprehend them. Still, lesser beings can be altered to be useful in some small way. The Infernal places his hand on the head of a willing target with a permanent essence less than his own and floods them with power, increasing any of their attributes or abilities up to the Infernal's own rating in them. However, the target must also gain Derangements equal to the total number of dots gained this way, which persist as long as the modified traits do: Removing the Derangements also removes the modifiers. Repurchase at Essence 4 allows the Infernal to grant any charm he knows and the target meets the requirements for, but they must take Derangements equal to the minimum essence requirement of that charm.
===
Allows for the quick creation of stronger help, but the derangements keep you from making OP minions. Thoughts?
Also, for the purpose of charms that use Derangements as an offset, the "point-value" of Derangements is "1 dot per degree of severity." So a Deficiency would provide 1 dot, a Debility 2 dots and a Deformity 3 dots. A character might pay for three dots of strength by constantly forgetting small details, being obsessed with keeping clean and being deluded into thinking he can squeeze water from a stone (1-dot Derangements of Amnesia, Obsession and Delusion). Or he could forget everything about his life beyond serving the power that granted him such a boon (3-dot Amnesia).
So... what if we use our anima power to learn spirit charms or similar things?Nope sorry, you can't grant charms. Not Infernal charms at least.
@Enjou
Based on your analysis, I thus reworked some of the Charms for Cytherea:
Personally I think Rakshata would abuse the hell out of The Flowering of [Virtue] and relative Resurgent [Virtue] Blossom, since it lets you regen Virtue channels.
(Unless he is secretly a Solar or something, i supose.)
Edit: Actually, after thinking about it a bit, from a meta perspective him being a Solar would make a lot of sense. He certainly qualifies as a twilight, and it allows to keep him as a equal standing rival with Rakshata. And it also helps to explain the ridiculous weapons race that i hope to see here, like in the second season of the series.
For hacking, how about a charm that lets you see and interact with the flow of electronic communication without a device, with a follow-up that lets you enter the Digital Web, the realm of pure communication? Sound good?
Web of Copper and Lightning
Cost: —
Mins: Essence 3
Type: Permanent, Innovation
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: What is and What Should Never Be
The Infernal can see the tracery of a realm of pure information that makes up the internet, and in observing, change it. They can always attempt to hack as if they had masterwork quality equipment (+3 bonus) and an internet connection, though airblocked networks are still impenetrable unless the Infernal is near a server or node physically.
Original incarnation was vastly OP, according to the crowd. Using GSNF as the comparison, I reduced the total damage and made it touch-based, requiring close combat. Repurchase or another charm may provide a ranged attackBurn Away Infinite Possibilities
Cost: 3m
Mins: Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Duration: Instant
Keywords: Combo-OK, Touch
Prerequisite Charms: Picking Out the Gems
Mighty Oramus might have separated the possible from the impossible but it was Cytherea who burned away the infinite possibilities of the Wyld to a handful of desirable realities. This charm supplement any physical attack - causing a jet of essence to burn through the target's muscle, bones and organs before coming out on the other side. This charm adds dice to the post-soak damage roll equaling the total number of discrete charms, items or things that the target has committed essence to, to a maximum of (Infernal's Essence).
There is however "he died, but succeeded, mission accomplished". A bomb's potential is to explode spectacularly, so she will help it explode REAL GOOD.While those examples are funny, they miss the point that Cytherea knows your limitations. There won't be any "oops, he died," it'll be "you accomplished something incredibly difficult at great cost that you weren't really interested in."
An Oramus hacking charm would probably just transform the system to something else that's easier for you to hack instead of assuming direct control.It's an nice Charm, but I don't see how it fits the themes of Oramus. It's also rather similar to God-Mind Algorithm in terms of actual function, just restricted to hacking.
It builds on Orasmus' themes of going everywhere and seeing everything. The next charm in the cascade allows the Infernal to transport themselves through electronics, and I think I'll add a repurchase that allows the Infernal to ignore the airblocked servers.It's an nice Charm, but I don't see how it fits the themes of Oramus. It's also rather similar to God-Mind Algorithm in terms of actual function, just restricted to hacking.
Remember, Infernals can learn versions of other Yozi's charm as though they were their patron's if they can justify it thematically. It's entirely possible that there could be a Qaf version of the charm, it's just that we're not using that version.
An Oramus hacking charm would probably just transform the system to something else that's easier for you to hack instead of assuming direct control.
Or sparking a temporary intelligence in the hacked system so that it does whatever the hell it wants(then you social it into doing what you want)
It builds on Orasmus' themes of going everywhere and seeing everything. The next charm in the cascade allows the Infernal to transport themselves through electronics, and I think I'll add a repurchase that allows the Infernal to ignore the airblocked servers.
This one is too expensive. The solar charm is only essence 3, and costs 1 wp.Awakening the Dreamers
Cost: 20m, 3wp; Mins: Essence 5; Type: Simple
Keywords: Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: From Nothing, Everything; Shard of Genesis
Heck, even the geomantic method is better:SOUL-ENLIGHTENING BENEFICENCE
Cost: 15m, 1wp; Mins: Lore 4, Essence 3; T
ype: Simple (Dramatic Action)
Keywords: Enlightening, Obvious, Touch
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Essence-Lending Method
This variation on the better known Power-Awarding Prana
(see Exalted, p. 218) immediately and permanently blasts open
a willing mortal's doors of perception, opening him to the
world's currents of Essence. Soul-Enlightening Benefi cence
requires a short ceremony to steel both donor and recipient
for the awesome forces they shall unleash. The ceremony takes
whatever form the participants feel is appropriate to solemnize
the event. Then the mortal and the Exalt simply touch—and
the cataract of Essence fl ooding through the recipient's soul
knocks him out for (5 – his Stamina) hours. The recipient also
trades one permanent dot of Willpower for another point of
permanent Essence. After the character recovers, however,
he possesses his own Essence pool.
Like Touch of Divinity, this Charm offers no benefi t
to beings who already channel Essence. The donor merely
transfers 15 motes of his own Essence.
All types of Celestial (and Abyssal and Infernal) Exalts
possess a variation of Soul-Enlightening Benefi cence. The
recipient gains an affi nity for the source of the Exalt's power,
like that granted by Touch of Divinity, which other Essencesensing
creatures can perceive.
ESSENTIAL RIVER CHANNELING
Degree 3, Intelligence, 5, 24 hours
This ritual draws the Essence from some external source
and channels it into the thaumaturge or a designated recipient
who participates in the ritual. The source can be an
object from the deep Wyld, a region soaked in uncontrolled
Essence (such as a Middlemarch or a demesne), a three-dot
(or greater) artifact, a summoned spirit, a human sacrifi ce,
an Exalt or whatever else the Storyteller considers suitable.
This requirement is in addition to the ritual's Resources cost.
An Exalted thaumaturge can be her own Essence source.
The thaumaturge's player rolls (Intelligence + Occult +
Degree known), as usual for thaumaturgy. Success means the
mortal recipient gains an Essence pool, though his permanent
Essence does not change. Failure means the thaumaturge suffers
fi ve dice of aggravated damage, plus a debility (as from Wyld
exposure; see Exalted, p. 289) if the player then fails a Willpower
roll at the same diffi culty as the ritual. A botch infl icts eight
dice of aggravated damage, plus an absolutely certain deformity
(see Exalted, pp. 289–290). A recipient merely suffers three
dice of aggravated damage, plus a defi ciency (see Exalted, pp.
288–289) if his player fails the Willpower roll.
A thaumaturge who already wields Essence can do more
than reduce the Resources cost of the ritual. Her player also
subtracts her permanent Essence rating from the ritual's
difficulty. Multiple thaumaturges can also work together to
gain a limited cooperation bonus, reducing the chance of
catastrophic failure.
I love it, and already have a meme ready to use. (I know this joke was done before, but it gains Fridge Brilliance when you realize the video itself is actually busting through your defenses in order to hack you)Ok, here's what I think an Oramus hacking Charm might look like. The actual text could probably use work and maybe the cost could be changed, but I think the means by which it works are totally within Oramus's themes.
Memetic Nightmare Madness Invasion
Cost: 20m, 2wp; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Innovation, Shaping, Sorcerous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Soul-Eroding Production, Dual Gaze Paradox
The internet is a nightmarish realm of boundless creativity and madness, pleasing Oramus greatly. But what of other places whose internal security does not allow free access to the wonders of this zone of free thought and amusement? Surely such places are dull prisons that would be bettered by bringing mad joy into them.
Using this Charm brings forth an nightmare virus from the realm of impossibility, importing it into a meme that the Infernal must have had a hand in creating. The meme may be a picture, video, song, or any other suitable vector that can be spread digitally. The virus is instructed to infiltrate one secure facility's network, as specified by the Infernal. Anyone who has access to the secure facility that is exposed to the infected meme will be subjected to a social attack to induce an emotion suited to the meme with a roll of (Manipulation + Performance). If the target of the social attack is unable to resist the attack, a Derangement of Obsession towards the meme is imposed upon them which causes them. This causes the affected individuals to attempt to place the meme on any computer they access within the network, bypassing security as they are able, so that they may enjoy the meme as much as they like. In most cases this involves using some form of physical media storage. The Derangement ends after seven days, and may not be inflicted upon the same individual again using the same meme.
Once within the target network, the virus will seek to spread to any uninfected computers. On the open internet or other secure networks, the virus is inert. A hacking roll of (Infernal's Intelligence + Lore) must be passed to infect any particular device, and upon failure the virus will not make another attempt. The Infernal becomes aware of any information on the impossibly infected machines within the target network. The virus is undetectable by mundane means, though may be detected through use of Charms such as All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight, and may be removed through Emerald Countermagic.