Bureaucracy
Charms
Authority-Eroding
Technique
Cost: 1 mote per die
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum
Bureaucracy: 1
Minimum Essence:
1
Prerequisite
Charms: None
Through this Charm, an Abyssal can
momentarily confuse a target and weaken her effectiveness in a critical moment.
For every mote spent, the target loses one die from a single Bureaucracy roll.
This Charm cannot reduce a victim's dice pool lower than her Essence, however.
Authority-Eroding Technique may be invoked
any time after an appropriate action is declared but before dice are rolled.
The Abyssal can even set up the targeted roll, such as by asking a pointed
question in a meeting.
Argument-Slaying
Remark
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum
Bureaucracy: 2
Minimum Essence:
2
Prerequisite
Charms: Authority-Eroding
Technique
By speaking brusquely and projecting an
aura of menace, an Abyssal with this Charm can cut through the drawn-out
process of debate. The targeted argument ends within moments with the best
resolution that the Exalt could have achieved with continued discussion. For
example, a character could use this Charm to derive the best price from a
merchant, saving minutes or perhaps even hours of haggling. Note that
Argument-Slaying Remark isn't a perfect "final word" Charm—if an
answer would be no regardless of what the Abyssal might say or argue, then the
answer remains no. This Charm simply brings the matter to a conclusion
instantly.
Alluring Eloquence
Method
Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplementary
Minimum
Bureaucracy: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Argument-Slaying
Remark
This Charm allows an Exalt to vocalize a
course of action or point of view with such eloquence and grace that opponents
find it difficult or even impossible to argue. The Abyssal's player makes the Bureaucracy
or Performance roll as normal, but all rivals add the deathknight's Essence rating
to the difficulty of their counterarguments.
Corruption-Sensing
Scrutiny
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Bureaucracy: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: None
With this Charm, an Abyssal can perceive
corrupt officials and bureaucrats by a distinctive oily stain on their aura.
Alternately, she can intuitively gauge a "clean" official's
susceptibility to corruption. Her player rolls Perception + Bureaucracy against
a difficulty of the target's Essence score. The amount of information gleaned depends
on the number of successes rolled.
Simple success allows the Abyssal to sense
whether the target has ever engaged in corruption or not (i.e., accepted a
bribe, doctored a report, etc.). With three successes, the character can
measure the depth of a target's corruption or her overall vulnerability to
such. Thus, she can distinguish the minor blotches of a plagiarizing poet from
the inky coils of a politician who secretly assassinated his rivals. With five
successes, the Abyssal gains a vague sense of the target's offenses, though not
the context or specifics. This hunch enables the deathknight to take advantage
of an official's hidden weakness or vice — or simply to know whom best to
bribe.
Cunning Subversion
Style
Cost: 10 motes, 1
Willpower
Duration: One week
Type: Simple
Minimum
Bureaucracy: 5
Minimum Essence:
3
Prerequisite
Charms: Corruption-Sensing
Scrutiny
With a few artfully placed rumors and whispers,
an Abyssal with this Charm can sow the seeds of discord and mistrust within a
particular bureau or organization. Tempers flare, growing mistrust leads to
outright hostility and factionalism; the bureau steadily grinds to a halt and implodes
under the weight of indolence and excess. This Charm can fully affect a
department whose total membership is no greater than (the deathknight's Essence
rating x 20). If the character wishes to affect a larger organization, he must
use this Charm multiple times or settle for a slower, lesser effect as the
magic strikes randomly. Regardless, it takes time for infighting and paranoia
to build to an extent that it actually impedes efficiency. While this is left
to Storytellers to adjudicate, the overall corruption and rivalry or lack
thereof plays a significant role, as does the quality and strength of leadership
within the organization. Generally, this Charm is beyond the scope of rules and
has little tangible effect. Its intangible effects can be quite dramatic, however.
Few organizations of mortals can withstand more than a month of this Charm
without utterly disintegrating.
Regime-Toppling Insinuation
Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One week
Type: Simple
Minimum
Bureaucracy: 5
Minimum Essence:
3
Prerequisite
Charms: Cunning Subversion
Style
This Charm closely parallels Cunning
Subversion Style. Rather than targeting an organization, however, the Abyssal
may focus the havoc against a specific leader. Even if there is no actual coup
or assassination attempt — though there might well be — the concomitant
treachery and distrust makes all but the most tyrannical despot utterly
ineffective. The victim's orders are twisted or disregarded by subordinates,
while overall morale drops to an all-time low. Each application of this Charm
may affect a number of people equal to the character's Essence rating x 20. As
with Cunning Subversion Style, this Charm is primarily a matter of roleplaying
rather than rules. Still, it is unlikely that any mortal leader can last more
than a month with a hierarchy that hates and mistrusts him. Whether he is
pushed out of office or stabbed to death in an alley depends very much on the
character and nature of the victim's subordinates and the type of organization.
Ironically, true tyrants have little to fear from this Charm, as they already
know how to retain authority in the face of negative popular opinion.
Iron Tyrant Mien
Cost: 12 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One week
Type: Simple
Minimum
Bureaucracy: 5
Minimum Essence:
4
Prerequisite
Charms: Alluring Eloquence
Method, Regime-Toppling Insinuation
Exuding menace and prowess in equal
measure, an Abyssal can enchant his very authority to sow fear and discourage
rebellion. The character must have some recognized leadership position in order
to use this Charm, although the type and scope of leadership doesn't matter. A
caravan master can surpass a king in brutal tyranny. While this Charm is
active, no one with a Willpower score lower than the character's Essence can bring
herself to consider disobedience, let alone participate in outright rebellion.
Individuals with a Willpower rating equal
to the character's Willpower may act against the despot, but their players
suffer a difficulty increase of the deathknights permanent Essence on all
Social rolls to rally others to the cause. Characters whose
Willpower exceeds the Abyssal's are immune to this Charm, as are all magical
beings. Also, this Charm only affects members of the hierarchy over which the
Exalt presides. A great monarch could order any subject about but would have no
authority over a foreign citizen. Storyteller discretion is particularly
important in preventing abuse of
this Charm. Of course, a large sphere of influence carries its own risks.
Besides the increased likelihood that a strong-willed champion will organize a coup,
infamous dictators may attract jealous
rivals who wish to usurp their power.