Athletics, the Rising Smoke

 

Once, there was a maiden…

…who learned that the faster she ran, the faster she could run.

Thus, running consumed her,

Until, one day, she flew beyond the ending of her life.

“And here I thought it’d last forever,” she said. “But ―”

“There’s always an ending,” said the run.

 

Burn Life

Cost: 3 motes per dot

Duration: One scene

Type: Simple

Minimum Athletics: 2

Minimum Essence: 2

Prerequisite Charms: None

The character draws upon the long thread of his own future destiny for power, sacrificing a few days or weeks of lifespan to suffuse his physical form with Essence. His player rolls Essence + Athletics. Each success represents one point that the Exalt can add to his Strength, Dexterity or Stamina until the end of the scene; he cannot raise any of them by more than his Essence. These improvements add normally to his damage, running speed or soak. Each increase costs 3 motes of Essence and three days of lifespan. Successes not paid for are lost. Increases to his Attributes are dice bonuses added by a Charm and should be considered as such when determining the maximum effect of other dice-bonus Charms. Sidereal Exalted may always use their Conviction with this Charm.

 

Hungry Touch

Cost: 1 mote per target number reduction or damage point

Duration: Instant

Type: Supplemental

Minimum Athletics: 3

Minimum Essence: 2

Prerequisite Charms: Burn Life

With a single blow, the character consumes the destiny of an object, bringing that destiny partway toward or immediately to its final conclusion. When attempting to destroy an object with a feat of strength, the character can use this Charm to reduce the target number of the Willpower roll to boost her Strength + Athletics. If she succeeds at destroying the object, she recovers the Willpower point spent. Alternately, when attacking an object, the character can buy up to her Essence in additional points of damage at 1 mote each.

 

Forgotten Earth

Cost: 1 mote

Duration: Instant

Type: Reflexive

Minimum Athletics: 2

Minimum Essence: 1

Prerequisite Charms: None

For a moment, the character cuts the connection between herself and the ground, and her destiny lies in the air. She triples her leaping distance for a single jump.

 

Inexorable Advance

Cost: 1 mote

Duration: Five turns

Type: Simple

Minimum Athletics: 3

Minimum Essence: 2

Prerequisite Charms: None

Eliding the moments of her own life between footsteps, or between the beginning of a gesture and its end, the character acts without the need for motion. She suffers no wound or armor penalties of any sort, nor any penalties that reduce her running speed. When characters first learn this Charm, their movements involve flickering shifts in their position ― as if others saw them through a strobe light. With a few days’ practice, however, they can smooth out this effect, moving with a fluid grace that appears to ignore normal anatomical constraints.

 

Invisible Motion

Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower, 1 health level

Duration: One day

Type: Simple

Minimum Athletics: 4

Minimum Essence: 3

Prerequisite Charms: Hungry Touch, Forgotten Earth, Inexorable Advance

This Charm uses a prayer strip marked with the scripture of the Maiden and the Dust. The character wraps it around his forehead or neck, whereupon it exudes a soft scent of lilacs and decay. For the rest of the days, the character receives the benefits of the Inexorable Advance Charm every turn. This continuous simplification of his movements also reduces the fatigue value of his armor by two, to a minimum of zero. A fatigue value of zero means that the character need never roll to see if he becomes fatigued from wearing the armor. In addition, the character can compress more action and more complex action into the fraction seconds of his life he skips over and reduces to instantaneousness. He doubles his movement rate and receives a number of automatic successes equal to his Athletics score to divide in any fashion among his physical actions every turn. The character can reserve some of these successes for reflexive actions later in the turn, but successes not used by the end of each turn are lost.