The Celestial
Air Path
• Piercing
The Celestial Veil
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
This power allows the character to
see gods, demons and other spirits that have not materialized. These spirits appear
just as they do when materialized, and while using this power, the Dragon King
may not know if the spirit she sees has materialized or not. The religion of
the Dragon Kings involved possession by spirits, and characters using this
power can also see possessing spirits, but they do this at the expense of
seeing the possessed character. If an elemental dragon possesses a mortal,
characters using this power would simply see the elemental dragon. The Dragon King
cannot instead see the mortal being possessed without ending this power.
•• Touch The
Celestial Form
Cost: 3 motes or 3 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant or one scene
Type: Supplemental
This power allows the character to
physically attack any type of unmanifested spirit. If the character only spends
3 motes, the power only affects a single attack. If he also spends a point of
Willpower, its effects last for an entire scene. In addition to being able to
use any physical attack on an unmanifested spirit, the character can also attack
any spirit that possesses someone without harming the person who is possessed.
The damage only affects the possessing spirit, it does not damage to the person
who is possessed. If the character does not use Piercing the Celestial Veil or
have some other way to see an unmanifested spirits, he will be attacking blind
— a +2 difficulty modifier. Attacking a spirit possessing someone suffers no
such negative modifier.
••• Open The
Celestial Doorway
Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
This power allows the character to
freely enter the immaterial sanctum of any spirit who has an Essence less than
the character’s. The character can take along a number of other characters
equal to her Essence. The Dragon King can also use this power to enter the
sanctums of more powerful spirits, but only with the owner’s permission.
This power does allow the Dragon
King to dematerialize, it can only be used to enter a small god’s sanctum, and
the user reappears in Creation the instant that she leaves the sanctum. To
locate a sanctum, the Dragon King can ask a spirit, use Piercing the Celestial Veil
or perform a complex divination. This divination requires several hours, a set
of specialized but easily made crystalline tools and a Perception + Occult roll
of difficulty 3. If the Dragon King’s player succeeds in this roll, the character
can locate all sanctum entrances within a 100-yard radius.
Once the entrance has been found,
the Dragon King and her companions need only stand before it and activate this
power. In the next instant, they all find themselves on the threshold of the
sanctum. The character and everyone she brings along can interact physically
with the sanctum and all of its inhabitants and furnishings. To leave the sanctum,
the character and anyone she brought with her need only walk out the door of the
sanctum. The character and everyone with her reappear exactly where they
entered the sanctum. This power cannot be used to intangibly move through
space.
Anyone using this power can carry
out items and furnishings from the sanctum so long as she can pick up and carry
them. Spirits generally object strongly to having their sanctums invaded by
greedy or aggressive Dragon Kings. Anyone who is known to make a habit of
attacking the sanctums of small gods will eventually have to deal with the
wrath of more powerful spirits who object to their underlings being harmed or
robbed. If the character has an Essence of 3 or more, she can also use this
power to gain entrance to the Celestial City of Yu-Shan.
•••• Summon
Celestial Servant
Cost: 10+ motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Indefinite
Type: Simple
The power calls up an elemental with
an Essence that is no greater than the character’s. Using this power requires a
ritual that takes four hours to perform. The actual power itself costs 10 motes
of Essence to open the portal to call forth the desired elemental.
Once summoned, the sorcerer and
elemental engage in a contest of wills, reflected by opposed Willpower + Essence
rolls. When activating this power, the Dragon King may spend temporary Essence
in 5-mote increments to decrease the elemental’s dice pool. Every 5 motes of Essence
so spent decreases the elemental’s Willpower + Essence pool by one die.
Continue to roll, once per turn, until one of them accumulates three more
successes than the other. If the Dragon King gains three or more successes, the
elemental will serve him loyally for one month. If the elemental wins, the
character’s player may make a Wits + Occult roll at difficulty 1 to banish the
elemental. If he fails, the elemental is free to do as it wishes. The elemental
will either attack the Dragon King for daring to summon it or demand some form
of payment, such as an artifact, to leave the Dragon King in peace. Mistreating
an elemental can outrage the Celestial Hierarchy and can call the summoner to
the attention of one of the Celestial Censors. Powerful elementals typically
send nominees to serve in their place.
••••• Walk
The
Cost: Half temporary Essence (round down),
1 Willpower
Duration: Indefinite
Type: Simple
This power allows the character to
dematerialize exactly like an elemental. Rematerializing also requires one
complete turn, but it does not cost the Dragon King any Essence or Willpower. The
character can take along a number of other characters equal to her Essence.
However, these characters automatically rematerialize when the Dragon King that
brought them does. When dematerialized, the Dragon King does not need to eat,
drink or breathe.
••••• • Bar
The Doorway Of The Gods
Cost: 15 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Indefinite
Type: Simple
The Dragon King can perform a ritual
lasting an hour that allows her to ward a region against gods, demons and other
naturally immaterial beings. She can either create wards that do not allow any
immaterial creature to materialize within this region or wards that cause any
immaterial creature to automatically materialize in this region. Both types of
wards cannot operate simultaneously. In the first case, no beings, including
naturally material entities such as elementals, can materialize within this
space. In addition, while naturally material creatures can enter the space normally,
creatures such as gods or demons that use the Materialize Charm to exist in
Creation dematerialize the instant they cross the boundary of the warded area.
In the second case, all immaterial beings instantly materialize the instant
that they cross the boundary of the warded area.
Warding an area requires the Dragon
King to place at least four flat palm-sized crystals around the border of this region.
Although they can be buried in the ground or placed inside of a wall, if any of
these crystals are moved or destroyed, the wards are instantly canceled.
Spirits instantly notice either sort of ward, and Dragon Kings who regularly
use these wards to bar spirits from regions will rapidly earn their ire. Using
these wards to prevent the servants of a powerful god from entering a region
will soon come to the attention of the god that these spirits serve.
To see if this ward affects the
spirit, make an Essence + Valor roll for the spirit must with a difficulty
equal to the Dragon King’s permanent Essence. Unless the spirit wins by one or
more successes, the ward functions normally.
Spirits who fail to resist the wards
cannot touch any of the warding crystals. Reroll each time a spirit attempts to
enter the warded region. However, unless the Dragon King invests its Essence in
these wards, the wards collapse after a number of spirits equal to the Dragon
King’s permanent Essence have successfully resisted the wards. If the caster is
willing to invest her Essence in these wards, they last until the crystals are
disturbed or the Dragon King who created them dies. These wards have no effect
on beings whose permanent Essence is greater than the Dragon King’s. A Dragon
King can ward an area no more than (Willpower x 20) yards on a side.