Linguistics
Charms
Whirling Brush
Method
Cost: 4 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum
Linguistics: 1
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: None
Through the use of this Charm, a character
can write or copy with superhuman speed. While this does not allow the
character to write creative works much faster than normal (since the physical
act of writing rarely slows a creator), she can write quickly enough to copy
even a large book in a single day or make an accurate transcript of a rapid
conversation containing multiple parties. While the character’s writing doesn’t
destroy pens from writing too fast, they do wear down at the regular speed, and
the character’s writing consumes the regular amount of ink. The product of this
Charm is a copy of the work in question, not a perfect facsimile. It’s written
in the character’s own hand, contains as many errors as if the character had
done it at normal speed without the use of a Charm and is otherwise an imperfect
rendering of the original.
Flawless Brush
Discipline
Cost: 6 motes
Duration: One day
Type: Simple
Minimum
Linguistics: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Whirling Brush Method
Sometimes a character needs more than a copy
of a document; sometimes he needs a perfect facsimile. Flawless Brush
Discipline allows a character to produce just that. The character copies at her
regular writing speed, but the result is not a copy, but a perfect replica of
the original document, indistinguishable from the original. A character without
colored inks trying to copy illuminated text will produce a carefully shaded
monotone replica of the original. Flawless Brush Discipline copies only text
and illustrations — it does not allow the character to forge seals or
impressions affixed to a document.
Letter-Within-A-Letter
Technique
Cost: 6 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Linguistics: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Whirling Brush Method
By carefully injecting allusions, subtle
stresses and loaded word choices, the character can imbed a secret message in a
document of seemingly innocuous character — a shopping list, a bill of lading
or even a quickly dashed note. The intended recipient (who must be very
familiar to the Exalted using this Charm) is the only one who will be able to
comprehend the message, though an Exalted using the Sagacious Reading of Intent
Charm will be able to detect the Letter-Within-a-Letter Technique’s use. The
hidden message can be no longer (in words) than one-half the length of the
“cover” document.
Discerning
Savant’s Eye
Cost: 6 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One hour
Type: Simple
Minimum
Linguistics: 5
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Flawless Brush
Discipline, Letter-Within-a-Letter Technique
The character can make out the minute
traces of writing that was once readable but has now been damaged or erased.
Examples are palimpsests, water-soluble inks that have been left in the rain
and stone inscriptions that have been rendered unreadable by purposeful
vandalism or the action of the elements. Writing of which effectively no traces
remain — writing on paper that was burnt to ash or on stone that has been
smashed to gravel — cannot be recovered with this Charm.
Discerning Savant’s Eye does not give the
character the ability to understand a language she cannot normally read, though
she may use Flawless Brush Discipline to make a perfect copy of the material as
it originally appeared for later translation.
Sagacious
Cost: 6 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Linguistics: 1
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: None
This Charm allows a character reading a
letter, book or other form of written text to understand the author’s biases,
opinions and hidden agendas. Characters using this Charm when reading a book
will immediately discern if and in what direction the material is slanted. Note
that this works even if the author is unaware of her own biases. In addition to
the obvious uses, this Charm is very useful for detecting literary forgeries.
Poetic Expression
Style
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum
Linguistics: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: Sagacious
Exalted with this Charm can convey ideas
and concepts through pantomime. The character’s gestures carry far more meaning
than any normal mortal’s. While there is little room for subtlety or poetry,
the character can communicate even complex concepts across the language
barrier.
For example, a character could convey, “He
offended my honor, and I pursue him to seek redress in an honorable duel.
Surrender him to me or face my wrath.” However, a character is unlikely to
succeed in acquiring a lover, unless “I am attracted to you and desire a sexual
encounter” is all the wooing the potential partner requires.
Twisted Words
Technique
Cost: 6 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum
Linguistics: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Letter-Within-a-Letter
Technique, Sagacious
Twisted Words Technique allows one of the
Exalted to weight certain words or meanings in a speech or written work in
order to sway the listener or reader to a particular way of thinking.
Characters with a permanent Willpower lower than the character’s Essence score
who read or listen to the Exalted’s words will come
to agree with the idea she presents. Players whose characters possess a
Willpower less than twice the Exalted’s Essence must
make a Willpower roll or have their characters swayed into a favorable view of
the matter.
Note that the concealed message must be
germane to the topic at hand, but the character can seem to advocate an idea on
the surface while the subtext is negative, or vice versa.
Unbreakable
Fascination Method
Cost: 8 motes, 1 health level per hour
Duration: Special
Type: Simple
Minimum
Linguistics: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Poetic Expression
Style, Twisted Words Technique
A character using this Charm can speak in
such a magnetic and engaging fashion that listeners simply cannot do anything
else but pay attention to what he’s saying. When he activates this Charm, the Exalted’s player makes a Manipulation + Linguistics roll.
Thereafter, players of characters with an Essence less than the Exalted’s who hear the Chosen speak must make a reflexive
Willpower roll with a difficulty equal to the number of successes made on the
Linguistics roll. Those who fail are entranced by the character’s voice and are
held enraptured until the character ceases speaking for more than a few
seconds.
It is not necessary to speak the Exalted’s language to succumb to this power. Attack or
other obvious open hostility causes the effect of this Charm to end. However, only
direct physical danger will disrupt the effect. A brave or suicidal Exalted
could, for example, use Unbreakable Fascination Method to keep a platoon of
guards in a burning building with him until it was fully aflame, but they would
not stand there listening as the flaming timbers started crashing down around
them.
Lore-Scanning Method
Cost: 8 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Linguistics: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: Sagacious
This Charm permits
a character reading a book, letter, inscription or other piece of writing to look
for information about sorcery, wonder-working or the use of Charms and to
distinguish it from fictional accounts. An Exalted reading while using this
Charm will immediately be able to tell if a description of sorcery or other
supernatural feat is accurate, though not necessarily to what degree. For
instance, he could discern that the description of a spell that summon an ivory
palace for the night was genuine and that there was indeed such a spell, rather
than being a fancy of the writer’s, but he would not know anything about the
spell. While not a perfect method of self-education, this Charm is extremely
useful to researchers for finding points to begin their investigations of
sorcery and other powers.
Swift Sage’s Eye
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: One
scene
Type: Simple
Minimum
Linguistics: 1
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: None
A character using
this technique can read and comprehend written works at superhuman speed. The
character can read approximately two pages of written text (or its equivalent)
per second, so she can read a book as quickly as she can turn the individual
pages or a scroll as quickly as she can unroll it. The character must be able
to read the language in the first place in order to use this Charm, and
comprehension is the same as if the character read the text at normal speed.
Perfect Recollection Discipline
Cost: 1 mote per
work
Duration: Special
Type: Simple
Minimum
Linguistics: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Swift Sage’s Eye
A character using
this Charm can completely memorize a written work or illustration in the time
it takes to read or study it. The character can also memorize spoken words. A
work can generally be no longer than a medium-sized book, a few hours of
conversation or a single fairly complex illustration, such as a map. Longer
works require correspondingly greater amounts of Essence.
The character’s
memory of the work is flawless: He can recite it from beginning to end, copy it
down entirely from memory and even use his recollection in conjunction with
Charms such as Whirling Brush Method and Flawless Brush Discipline to produce
copies of the work. He can navigate from a memorized map as if he had in front
of him at all times. Although the Chosen can use this Charm to memorize a
lexicon of a foreign language (thereby memorizing its vocabulary and grammar),
his use of that language is somewhat halting and crude, since he still needs to
“look up” and translate meanings in his head.
The work remains
memorized for as long as the Chosen commits Essence to it. When the Essence is
no longer committed, the character’s memory of the work fades to what it would
normally be if the character had simply read, viewed or listened to the work.
Excellent Emissary’s Tongue
Cost: 3 motes per
language
Duration: Special
Type: Simple
Minimum
Linguistics: 3
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: None
With this Charm,
the Solar Exalted may acquire the ability to speak and understand a language
merely by hearing it spoken. The Charm requires at least an hour of exposure to
the language. So long as the Essence is committed, the Chosen is completely
fluent in that language, without a trace of accent, but cannot read or write in
it. A character can master a total number of languages equal to her dots in
Linguistics by using this Charm. Once the Essence is no longer committed, the
knowledge of the language fades immediately.
Flawless Forgery Technique
Cost: 6 motes
Duration: One
scene
Type: Simple
Minimum
Linguistics: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Flawless Brush Discipline
With a masterful
eye and hand for copying, the character can produce a flawless forgery of any
written work or illustration, provided he has a sample to work from ― at
least one written sentence or a single illustration. The forgery need not be a
duplicate of the sample but it perfectly replicates the original’s style, such
that anyone familiar with that style would instantly recognize it. The
character works at his normal writing or drawing speed but produces work in the
chosen style. A character using Sagacious Reading of Intent who is familiar
with the original style can determine that the forgery is no genuine, but
otherwise, it is completely flawless and undetectable.
Subtle Speech Method
Cost: Subtle
Speech Method
Duration: One
scene
Type: Simple
Minimum
Linguistics: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Letter-Within-A-Letter Technique, Poetic Expression Style
The character can
speak in a roundabout fashion, stressing particular words, inflections and
allusions to convey ideas and concepts that may have nothing to do with what
the character is saying. Only the intended recipients (who must be familiar to
the Exalted using this Charm and must speak the same language) understand the
true meaning behind the character’s words. Everyone else hears only what the
character says on the surface. Thus, an Exalted using this Charm could explain
the details of an assassination plot to someone while appearing to discuss the
weather, for example. Someone using Judge’s Ear Technique can tell that there
is something behind what the character is saying but not necessarily what it
is.
Masterful Training Manual
Cost: 10 motes, 1
Willpower
Duration: Special
Type: Simple
Minimum
Linguistics: 5
Minimum Lore: 3
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Poetic Expression Style, Twisted Words Technique
The ability to
effectively convey information is an important part of teaching. This Charm
aids the Exalted in passing on their wisdom. A character writes a treatise or
manual with any Attribute or Ability, Charm or spell known to the Exalt as its
subject. Creating the text requires time equal to that needed to train for the
author’s rating in the chosen Trait. For example, a character with Socialize 5
writing a manual on proper etiquette and social behavior would take four weeks.
If a Charisma 5 character writing a manual on making friends and influencing
people, it would take four months. Charms such as Whirling Brush Method cannot
reduce this time, since writing the manual requires careful and deliberate
thought.
Once the text is
prepared, others reading it may spend experience to acquire that Trait, using
only the text as their tutor. The reader must be capable of learning the Trait
described by the text and can only acquire or improve the Trait to the rating
of the text’s author. So, a manual that describes Martial Arts 3 is useless for
a character with a Martial Arts rating of 3 or better, since he has already
exceeded the manual’s knowledge.
Unfortunately, the
vest majority of the various manual and treatises penned by the Solar Exalted
of the First Age were lost or destroyed, although some are said to be preserved
in ancient Manses or perhaps in the libraries of certain Dynasts or Sidereals.