Awareness, The Crow
Once, there was a maiden…
…who was born, and told her Mom, “I know
how I’m gonna die.”
“It’s gonna hurt bad,
and I ain’t coming back.”
“…I could avoid it, but I won’t.”
“Cause one day, death’d
come to me and say, ‘Baby, don’t you know?”
“There’s always an ending.”
Prior Warning
Cost: 6 motes
Duration: Five hours
Type: Simple
Minimum Awareness: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None
Once a Sidereal commits Essence
to this Charm, her perceptions constantly probe into the immediate future for
anything that could do her harm. When the character is in danger, her player
makes a reflexive Wits + Awareness roll. If she succeeds, the character has a
feeling of ill ease that informs her of impending danger. The character gets a
warning period of two minutes per success rolled. This Charm only allows the
Sidereal to spot obvious harm: Slow-acting poison concealed in her ale would
not set off the alarm, as the effect is too far in the future. However, it
might be triggered just before the effects kick in, giving the character time
to deduce the cause and seek a cure.
Expected Pain
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Awareness: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Prior
Warning
The character has a general idea
of the bad things that will happen to him in the course of his life. When an
unpleasant moment impends, this awareness crystallizes. This Charm activates
automatically when something unexpectedly dangerous or awful is about to
happen, and the character learns its general nature (“attack,” “poison,”
“betrayal,” “loss of loved one,” “humiliation”). The character has one turn’s
warning in which to turn his fate aside. Ambushes against the character automatically
fail, but the character does not automatically detect his attacker.
Supernal Awareness
Cost: 4 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Awareness: 3
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Expected
Pain
The character can see the web of
fate around her as it cascades into the unavoidable reality of the present.
With this Charm, she can focus enough attention upon the influx of destiny to
watch continuously, out to a distance of (her Essence x 100) yards, for
specific disturbances in that web. She can either keep track of people within
that region, monitor spirits within that region or watch for some specific
phenomenon such as combat, the use of Essence or the mention of her name. She
senses only vague details ― specifically, she can identify the location
and power level of what she sees and recognize specific effects or people she
is familiar with, but she cannot follow the course of events. For example, when
monitoring Essence use, she might recognize the invocation of the Expected Pain
Charm, which she knows well. Unless she has seen it often, however, the Ten Ox
Meditation would register only as an Essence 3 Charm. In neither case would she
know the specific effects of the Charm, such as what object a Solar used Ten Ox
Meditation to destroy. The effects of this Charm are cumulative: If a Sidereal
uses it five times in a scene, she can monitor five different things.
Supernal Awareness does not rely
on any of the character’s senses. Normal Stealth and Charms that make the
character physically invisible or silent have no effect.
Wise Choice
Cost: 6 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Awareness: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None
Life is full of choices. This
Charm gives a Sidereal the edge on mere mortals by allowing him to make the
best choice when confronted with many options. However, this Charm allows only
a brief peek into the future, not an extended glimpse into all the consequences
of the decision. The ideal short-term outcome is guaranteed but long-term gains
are not.
Inevitable Pursuit
Cost: 8 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One day
Type: Simple
Minimum Awareness: 5
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: None
No one can hide from their past.
It unwinds inevitably, event cascading into event, rolling from the then into
the now and finally into an inescapable collection of destinies. Characters
with this Charm can track others not by the physical marks they leave on the
world, but by the impressions their passage leaves on the destinies of everything
around them. In a relatively uninhabited region, the character can follow a
trail as old as one day per point of her permanent Essence. In a more populous
region, where many people leave their marks on fate ― and, more
importantly, where those marks interact with and, more importantly, where those
marks interact with one another in a progressively unruly and chaotic fashion
― this Charm is less effective. In such places, the character is limited
to following trails no older than one hour per point of her permanent Essence.
This ability can be foiled by
the use of the Traceless Passage Charm and similar Charms. If the target uses
such a Charm, resolve the matter with a standard opposed tracking contest.
Conclusive Wisdom
Cost: 20 motes, 1 Willpower, 1
health level
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Awareness: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: Supernal
Awareness, Wise Choice, Inevitable
This Charm uses a prayer strip
marked with the scripture of the Maiden and the Scythe. The character holds it
up before her target. It fixes itself in the air and begins to blossom with
pungent violet flowers, who petals dry, fall off and turn to dust in the course
of seconds, each replaced as it dies with another flower’s blooming.
The target of this Charm finds
himself caught in a vision of his own ending: transported to a likely end for
his life, a few hours, minutes or turns before its conclusion comes. Roll his
permanent Willpower against a difficulty of 3. Success indicates that the Charm
fazes him but has no other effect. Failure indicates that he returns from the
vision deeply shaken. Reduce his temporary Willpower to 1. His Personal Essence
pool is instantly lost; reduce his temporary Essence by the amount of his
Personal Essence, to a minimum of 0. He cannot recover Willpower or personal
Essence for the remainder of the scene.
If the victim is a Storyteller
character, the rules above suffice. Otherwise, the Storyteller should play the
vision out. This occurs at a convenient time: immediately, as the next scene,
or at the end of the session, depending on the play group’s
style. The Storyteller devises an interesting and ideally appropriate scenario
for the target’s most likely ending. As events progress, the target can alter
the scenario in one small way for each point of permanent Essence he possesses.
Motes, Willpower, experience points and health levels spent or recovered in the
vision do not affect the character’s actual totals.
If, through interesting
roleplay, lock or martial cleverness, the target manages to survive his
impending doom, he suffers no permanent ill effects. Further, when he finishes
processing the vision, a few scenes later, he generally recovers his full
temporary Willpower.
If the target dies in the vision
but his player made his permanent Willpower roll, above, the character suffers
no permanent ill effects save disquiet.
If the target dies in the vision
and failed his permanent Willpower roll, his player must roll the character’s
permanent Essence and permanent Willpower. (He cannot spend Willpower on these
rolls.) Failure on either roll means losing one dot of the appropriate Trait,
to a minimum of 1. No matter what he rolls, he cannot recover his Personal
Essence for the remainder of the story. He only has access to Peripheral
Essence.
This Charm has no effect on
Abyssal Exalted or the dead. It specifically affects Second