Decay, The Citrine Poxes Of Contagion
The Student’s Sutra of Decay:
Once, there was a disease ― but before that, there was a maiden…
Feverish Essence Discharge Atemi
Cost: 7 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: None
…whose lover’s practices
displeased the sun. The all-seeing sun no longer could
sustain
Tormenting the enemy like the
bites of a hundred mosquitoes, the character delivers a spark of poisoned
Essence into the core of his enemy’s soul. This is an infectious Martial Arts
attack that carries the White Sun Sickness.
A victim of White Sun Sickness
suffers from a fever of the soul. Each time she spends motes of Essence on a
Charm, the disease increases the Charm’s cost by 1 mote. This effect is a
cumulative one: The second expenditure costs 2 extra motes, the third costs
three, and so forth. Reduce the accumulated total by five in each day the
victim spends no motes. The victim also hallucinates. In stressful situations,
this reduces all of her dice pools by her own
permanent Essence. Without external stressors, she may detach entirely from
reality. Finally, the victim gains Limit at twice the normal rate. This is a
coincidental interaction with the Great Curse and not a direct effect of the
Charm.
White Sun Sickness occurs in
nature. It afflicts ― though very rarely ― those who spend too long
meditating on the ways of the Fair Folk, the ever-changing spirit of Luna, the
power of the Elemental Dragons or the inspiring greatness of the Unconquered
Sun.
Mundane Treatment Difficulty: 6
Magical Treatment Difficulty: 3
Disjointed Essence Infectious Atemi
Cost: 12 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: None
These practices, but with
enraged disdain, darts forth such pestilent malignant beams,
Her fingers brushing past the
victim’s defenses like contaminated water seeping into a pool, the character
infects a victim’s Essence with the spastic, divisive Drunken Moth Sickness.
This is an infectious Martial Arts attack.
A victim of Drunken Moth
Sickness no longer entirely controls his behavior. The disease comes with a
general purpose specified by the Sidereal ― something like “embarrass
yourself,” “protect me” or “beat up your friends.” In each turn, the character
has three choices: Use a simple Charm, use a Combo, or spend at least half of
his non-reflexive actions serving the disease’s purpose. (Splitting his dice
pool or buying extra actions is recommended ― if he only takes one
action, then it goes to the illness.) The disease only forces him to take
action when an obvious way of fulfilling its purpose exists, either without
using Charms or using Charms already active. Otherwise, the actions that go to
the Drunken Moth Sickness are wasted ― the character does nothing.
This disease occasionally occurs
in nature, generally when someone eats something into which a spirit has been
bound.
Mundane Treatment Difficulty: 6
Magical Treatment Difficulty: 4
Convulsive Displacement Infectious Atemi
Cost: 12 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: None
As shed infection on air,
earth and streams;
One precise punch or kick
disrupts the entire functioning of the victim’s body and soul, shattering his
Essence into the jagged pattern characteristic of the Jigsaw Organ Condition.
This is an infectious Martial Arts attack.
A victim of the Jigsaw Organ
Condition lacks the physical coherence of his peers. Struck in combat, he loses
limbs or extremities with abnormal ease, simply falling apart. Fortunately,
when he does lose a limb, he need simply stick it back on, and it begins
to heal. Similarly, if he loses an organ, he can spend a turn swallowing it,
and it slides back into place. Individual organs remain alive, connected and
under the victim’s control when separated from the body. The victim still takes
damage normally, however, due to the sheer physical trauma of it. Whenever a
victim suffers damage, roll his Stamina against a difficulty equal to the
number of health levels lost. On a failure, a limb falls off, he coughs out a
lung, or some similar event transpires.
If the Sidereal successfully
infects someone with this disease, the target automatically loses a limb or
organ of the Sidereal’s choice. The Exalt can attempt to catch it with a
reflexive Dexterity + Athletics action at her full dice pool. For example, she
might infect her victim with a measured blow to the back, cartwheeling past him
to catch his heart as he coughs it into her hands. She can again force a lost
limb of her choice and, again, try to catch it, any
time she does damage to the afflicted target ― the target cannot defend
himself with a Stamina roll.
Defensive Charms only protect
such organs or limbs as they are naturally applicable to. By default, limited
leverage reduces the dice pool for a severed limb’s actions to 0 before the
influence of Charms. Further, most Charms simply do not function when employed
by a severed organ. However, appropriate stunts or the help of a friend can
give a victim’s limb access to his full dice pool.
The Sidereal Exalted are only aware of 40 naturally contracted cases of Jigsaw
Organ Condition this Age. The vector for this disease is unknown.
Mundane Treatment Difficulty: 10
Magical Treatment Difficulty: 4
Essence-Disrupting Infectious Atemi
Cost: 12 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: Feverish
Essence Discharge Atemi, Disjointed Essence Infectious Atemi, Convulsive
Displacement Infectious Atemi
From whence
this malady its birth received.
The character’s
understanding of the art of infectious martial arts increases. She
learns the 25 underlying principles of infection and may apply them in
combination to inflict arbitrary First or
Characters develop their own
First or
Normally, characters practice
the infliction of new spiritual infections before testing them in battle.
Developing diseases on the fly imposes a +2 difficulty penalty. It also
requires the Storyteller’s permission and requires a separate action from the
blow that inflicts the disease.
Perfect Reconstruction Method
Cost: 8 motes, 1 Willpower, 1
experience point
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: None
…On him the dreadful lot did
fall, who now was placed before the altar bound,
With precise blows, the
character batters the target into the perfect shape written into the core of
the target’s Essence. Violent as the Exalt’s attacks may be, they do no damage.
The target’s bones and flesh, when struck, slide perfectly into their most
appropriate place. The Sidereal’s player rolls Dexterity + Martial Arts against
a difficulty equal to the target’s Essence. Add the character’s Medicine score
in automatic successes. The target can dodge or parry normally. If the Sidereal
hits, the target experiences the following beneficial effects:
• The target heals all bashing
damage.
• The target heals a number of lethal
damage levels equal to the character’s Martial Arts score. Treat any aggravated
damage levels as two lethal damage levels, and heal them first.
• The target can immediately
spend one experience point to heal one point of permanent Trait loss. This
cannot raise a Trait above the highest level previously purchased. (In other
words, the target cannot lose a point of Willpower, buy it back between stories
and then take advantage of this Charm to raise it further.)
• Any effect that has locked the
target into an undesired shape is instantly shattered.
After a successful application
of this method, the target’s player must succeed at a Temperance roll against
difficulty 2, or their target falls unconscious in a moment of transcendent
ecstasy.
The character can use this
method on herself. This Charm does not affect tattooed
Lunar Exalted, who treat it as an external attempt to
modify their shape.
Spirit And Body Purification Touch
Cost: 8 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: None
His head with sacrificial
garlands crowned.
Like the rain that comes after a
battle to wash away the blood and tears, the gentle fall of the Sidereal’s
hands or feet upon a target’s Essence cleanses the target of disease and ill
effects. The Sidereal’s player rolls Dexterity + Martial Arts against a
difficulty equal to the target’s Essence. Add the character’s Medicine score in
automatic successes. The target can dodge or parry normally. If the character
hits, the target experiences the following beneficial effects:
• Spiritual and physical
diseases instantly leave her system, and she fully recovers from their effects.
The Exalt’s player must roll Intelligence + Medicine against the Magical
Treatment Difficulty to cure a
• All poison and drugs leave her
system, and addictions are broken.
• Any Possession Charm affecting
the target is broken, and all lingering effects disappear.
• The Sidereal Exalted can
transfer as many motes of his Essence to the target as desired.
• The Sidereal Exalted can
transfer as many points of his temporary Willpower to the target as desired.
• Curses upon the target are
broken, although permanently lost Attributes are not recovered. This includes
most debilitating effects imposed through non-physical means.
• The character can erase
painful memories, that he is aware of, which afflict the target. In the future,
the target must spend a Willpower point to recall these memories for a scene, and
even then, they return only dimly.
The target has even greater
difficulty remembering the events leading up to the use of this Charm ―
specifically, the scene in which this Charm was used. Remembering those events
later requires not simply a Willpower point, but a successful Conviction roll
against difficulty 2. Again, the memory only lasts for a scene.
The character can use this
method on herself.
Inner Dragon Unbinding
Cost: 12 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One turn
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: Spirit and
Body Purification Touch
His throat laid
open to the lifted knife, but interceding Gaia spared his life,
The character guides her actions
with the quadrumvirate of redress, four fundamental
patterns of Essence flow designed to overcome restraints upon the heart, body,
mind and soul. This instantly breaks any debilitating magical effects upon her,
save for those imposed by the limits of her own Charms. In addition, for the
remainder of the turn, the players of others must succeed at an Essence roll
with a difficulty equal to the character’s permanent Essence for their
characters to affect the Sidereal with a Charm, spell or Charm-assisted attack.
The Exalt can invoke this Charm reflexively to impede a magical attack against
her.
Flare Of Invulnerability Method
Cost: 10 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: Perfect
Reconstruction Method, Spirit and Body Purification Touch
commands them in his stead a
heifer slay, for the sun’s rage was now removed away.
The character stirs the Essence
within her into a furious conflagration of pure life and energy. For the
remainder of the scene, she adds her temporary Essence to her bashing and
lethal soak. However, she must burn through at least 10 motes of Essence each
turn (losing any she does not spend). Further, no combination of effects can
allow her to regain more than 5 Essence in a given turn.
Citrine Poxes Of Contagion Form
Cost: 15 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 5
Prerequisite Charms: One
complete martial art (all Charms), Essence-Disrupting Infectious Atemi, Inner
Dragon Unbinding, Flare of Invulnerability Method
…From him the malady received
its name.
The character moves in a sinuous
pattern that makes the flows of Essence about her weep. An anima banner-like
effect rises above her, displaying a lattice-work of iron dripping with sea
water and blood. This is the symbol of the sickness named Iphimedeia, the Revel
Outside the Sealing of the Gates. The air out to (her Essence x 10) yards from
the character becomes redolent with contagion. Starting the next turn, all
those within that distance of the Exalt risk infection. The Exalt can protect a
number of allies up to her permanent Essence from this effect. This is an
infectious Martial Arts attack. It does not require that the character strike
her targets, but perfect block and perfect dodges still protect against the outpouring
of disease.
A victim of Iphimedeia finds the
flesh of his body twisting and flowing, melting while remaining yet alive. This
does one level of unsoakable aggravated damage per turn but stops when
aggravated damage fills the -0 and -1 wound tracks. Characters protected
against the influence of the Wyld do not suffer from this effect.
The infected also find their
legs twitching with the desire to dance. In any given turn, a victim can choose
to succumb, devoting a dice action to dancing, adding his Essence in automatic
successes to the Performance roll and losing control over his movement. He
normally dances around an object or person chosen by the Storyteller at a
distance of 10 yards. Alternately, he can resist. Struggling with his own body
reduces his effective Dexterity to 0.
The greater a victim’s
self-control, the more Iphimedeia impedes him. In each turn, he must fail a
Temperance roll, spend a Willpower point or lose his action as patches of the
air become as hard as iron to him. Choosing to dance does not protect him from
this effect. If appropriate to the game style, female Dragon-Blooded Aspects of
Water may find themselves pregnant after catching and recovering from
Iphimedeia. If so, the child always Exalts.
The Revel Outside the Sealing of
the Gates is a
Characters using this Form are
immune to all disease and poison, as if employing the Immunity to Everything
Technique.
Mundane Treatment Difficulty: 10
Magical Treatment Difficulty: 4
Spiritual Perfection
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 6
Minimum Essence: 6
Prerequisite Charms: Citrine
Poxes of Contagion Form
The Elder Sutra of Decay:
Once, there was a crippled maiden…
The character’s
understanding of the processes by which one balances or unbalances the
flow of a person’s Essence helps him shield himself from any disability. For a
single mote of Essence, he can render himself permanently immune to any poison
or disease to which he has been exposed. He can also spend a mote of Essence to
halve the damage from a single attack, after damage is rolled, or to
reflexively protect himself from any disabling effect upon his body or mind. He
must invoke the Charm once for each such attack or effect. For example, hit by
a Lightning Torment Hatchet, the Sidereal could spend 1 mote to halve the
damage taken and 1 mote to block its painful, disabling effect. The character
cannot cure disabilities originating outside his body, such as shackles binding
his wrists. All of these effects are perfect. The character is the master of
his own body and mind.
Gentle Touch Of The Wicked Hand
Cost: 15 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 6
Minimum Essence: 7
Prerequisite Charms: Spiritual
Perfection
…who told me this: “You shall
know your enemies when they teach you to forget
One who approaches mastery of
Decay-style martial arts learns ten thousand subtle principles of infection,
each of which she can employ ten thousand different ways. Applying them in
combination, she can wreak the greatest forms of havoc upon the Essence flows
of her enemies. The character can use this Charm as an infectious Martial Arts
attack to contaminate others with arbitrary
Characters develop their own
Normally, characters practice
the infliction of new spiritual infections before testing them in battle.
Developing diseases on the fly imposes a +2 difficulty penalty. It also
requires the Storyteller’s permission and requires a separate action from the
blow that inflicts the disease.
Glorious Sidereal Protection
Cost: 15 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 6
Minimum Essence: 7
Prerequisite Charms: Spiritual
Perfection
what is whole
The character learns to guard himself and others from even the most terrible attacks. This
Charm manipulates one target’s Essence. Under its effects, she automatically
converts any aggravated damage she receives to lethal damage, before soak. This
stacks with Charms that convert lethal to bashing damage; characters under both
effects convert all damage directly to bashing. The character can use this
Charm on himself.
Essence-Shattering Typhoon
Cost: 6 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One turn
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 7
Minimum Essence: 7
Prerequisite Charms: Gentle
Touch of the Wicked Hand, Glorious Sidereal Protection
and what is diseased.”
The character’s fists blur as
she pounds them against the air, shattering the currents of the world and
casting a storm of broken and tainted Essence toward her foes. In the first
turn, the effects extend three yards beyond her fists. Anyone and anything
immediately in front of her suffers either 15 dice of aggravated damage or a
Third Circle illness she has learned to inflict (targets can resist the disease
normally.) This is an unblockable, undodgeable effect. For each turn that the
Exalt continuously performs this Charm, the effects stretch one mile further
forward and a tenth of a mile further to each side. This Charm is a
semi-physical effect, and does not reach through unbroken walls, earth, trees,
etc. until the turn it either destroys them or has a route around them. It does
not extend behind the character or to her sides.