While I Read: Glories of the Most High

hatewheel:

Although in the next breath I wonder why you despise the Solar Exalted.

I do? I'm confused!

I love Luna.

I love the story of how she was made, and the rationale put into making her, and the fact that she fell in love with Gaia.

I love how she confronted Sol Invictus face-to-face in the very first minute of her birth. I love how she trusted Sol Invictus so completely that she counted on him to protect Gaia. I love the fact that she's the Unconquered Sun's loyal opposition.

She's beautiful in her beauty, and beautiful in her power and lethality.


Who is Zatesh of the Doorways?


It was a really nice touch, tinting the white backgrounds of the Sun and Moon books red and blue respectively.


The Scripture of the Changing Maiden is awesome. I recognized the Selene and Endymion homage immediately, and it all seemed so characteristic of Luna's bewitching yet honestly loving nature.

The Scripture is also confusing. The Changing Maiden is obviously Luna, but who is the shepherd? He can't be Gaia, because the power disparity is all wrong.

What exactly does she mean, "I am not a maiden?" She's now a married woman? She's no longer a virgin? She was never actually maiden? Is she telling a lie?

"The world is a dream?" Is this a bold-faced lie? Is it an indication of deluded perception? Is this a declaration that she considers the world worthless when compared to her love for her loved one?

Where does this Scripture appear or originate? Is there a constellation for it? Are the Sidereals aware of it? Why does Luna have a Scripture when the Unconquered Sun does not?

Did the Maiden book include new Scriptures, outside of the new SMA?

Nephilpal:

Kukla:

She's like that.

Actually, she has that Charm precisely because she had that effect on me. It was my final touch.

And yet it is as perfect as if it was always meant to be.

Inugami:

Who is Zatesh of the Doorways?

One of the most prominent and powerful alternate Lunas. I didn't get to put this in for lack of space, but I intended that he be the final alternate that she faced in her battle to exist.

Holden:

Yes. There's one of them in the Unshaped chapter of GWM.

Clearly I need to write up such a charm. I will call it World-Dreaming Chaos Womb.

Kukla:

I will call it

Fractal Narcissism Reproduction
Cost: 60m,15g; Mins: Staff 8, Essence 9; Type: Simple (Dramatic Action)
Keywords: Shaping
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: 20 prerequisite charms

The Raksha considers the order of the world, and considers their own order; the distinction between the two grows more and more ill-defined to them. This charm is a dramatic action lasting one Tale which must be performed in a waypoint in Deep Wyld or Pure Chaos which the raksha has both Vexed, such that they have dominion over it, and Incumbered, such that it exists for the purpose of glorifying them. Over the course of this dramatic action, the raksha's essence pattern thins and tesselates across the waypoint, creating spawn who create spawn who create spawn and so on, until eventually the raksha gives birth to themselves and closes the cycle. During this period of tesselation, the raksha is considered Inactive for purposes of shaping combat, as they have dissolved but have not yet spawned themselves and are thus vulnerable to attack.

This process creates (Essence-1)! common raksha of the original raksha's design, all of which are identical to each other and appear to be diminished copies of the original raksha. E.G., an Essence 9 raksha would produce 8*7*6*5*4*3*2 = 40,320 such commoners. This charm is generally used to produce permanently mutated commoners with the motivation (Obey My Creator), to ensure a measure of obedience without requiring attunement to their heart grace, but occasionally this charm is used simply to fill the world with handsome reflections of the originator.

Inugami:

The Scripture of the Changing Maiden is awesome. I recognized the Selene and Endymion homage immediately, and it all seemed so characteristic of Luna's bewitching yet honestly loving nature.

The Scripture is also confusing. The Changing Maiden is obviously Luna, but who is the shepherd? He can't be Gaia, because the power disparity is all wrong.

What exactly does she mean, "I am not a maiden?" She's now a married woman? She's no longer a virgin? She was never actually maiden? Is she telling a lie?

"The world is a dream?" Is this a bold-faced lie? Is it an indication of deluded perception? Is this a declaration that she considers the world worthless when compared to her love for her loved one?

Where does this Scripture appear or originate? Is there a constellation for it? Are the Sidereals aware of it? Why does Luna have a Scripture when the Unconquered Sun does not?

Start from the assumption that the scriptures are a Maiden thing and that Luna came up with this one as a message to her sisters and anyone who might lump her in with them.

Inugami:

Did the Maiden book include new Scriptures, outside of the new SMA?

Nope.

Nephilpal:

Kukla:

Let's not forget her ability to lie back, pull out the Essence 8-10 equivalents to Ecstatic Reproduction Style, and give birth to approximately ten thousand thousand screaming berserker raksha.

Yeah, she's fun. When I started writing her I didn't care about Luna. By the time I was done, I loved her.

She obviously adapted herself to please you.

Adamant Siaka:

Inugami:

Did the Maiden book include new Scriptures, outside of the new SMA?

Nope.

Luna's book did.

Sojko:

Adamant Siaka:

Inugami:

Did the Maiden book include new Scriptures, outside of the new SMA?

Nope.

Luna's book did.

As she said herself, she is not a maiden.

Adamant Siaka:

As she said herself, she is not a maiden.

Given Luna's shifting nature and abilities, she's sometimes not even female.

hatewheel:

One of the most prominent and powerful alternate Lunas. I didn't get to put this in for lack of space, but I intended that he be the final alternate that she faced in her battle to exist.

Scathach:

Given Luna's shifting nature and abilities, she's sometimes not even female.

Well...

Okay then. The last in the Series (well... let's hope not, I'd welcome a DB, Abyssal, Infernal, Alchemical book series too). Oh, and if I have anyone's attention? More Five Days Darkness and more Eyeless Face. After fact, this probably rival's the entry I did for Sol. Makes me wish I had split it up before.

Here's what the Maidens said to me.
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So shit, two things come to mind in the first passage. One, is that the Maidens are pretty weird. Also, the vastly different Origins of the Incarnae make me think of them like a silver age comic book team. Its weird how they fit together. Which works with how the Primordials almost seem like cartoony villain organizations. Ebon Dragon is obviously The Koopa Troop from Mario Brothers.

Hmmm, so its kind of tying the Maidens into the various European sisters of Fate (Norns, Moirae), which are often beings seperate and older than the current Pantheon. Interesting. Heh, and ED kinda hates them. I guess they are already winning points with me because of that. Hmm, interesting stuff here. Not sure I'm getting it. But it seems like the Fates used to be kind of mindless things, and when they gained sentience they immediately hated the Primordials and started to plot against them. AI sure is a crap-shoot. Aw, and they instantly bond as a group to Sol and Luna, who kind of made them what they are. I... think I get it?

Heh, the Unconquered Sun's Spiral Power messes up attempts to determine his fate. So is he Kamina or Simon? Its wonderful how all powerful beings can have complete, unabashed enthusiasm as to their own victory, despite all the reasons they should be worried about. The Maidens used to have no personalities, but they gained personalities and such when they interacted with the Exalted... because of their erratic Essence use? Heh! So only Secrets knows about how they were created. I wonder how to get that answer... Hmm, like always, a Sidereal book wracks my goddamn mind. I don't know if it makes sense, but its damn cool.

Which brings us to the Maidens themselves. Mercury, being a dreamer and a roamer, isn't that affected by the Games of Divinity, because they make her think only of the Games and sit down I guess. She's kind of the brainy adventurous girl, makes a lot of plans. Very friendly. She has a... cosmic ladder I guess?  Reminds me of a childhood friend maybe?

Heh, Venus is the pretty one, and everyone knows it. You may like the others for a variety reasons, but Venus is the hottest. And shes the kindest too, throws parties, probably an accomplished chef who loves to cook. This is not fair Freelancers, she has a convenient nudity screen? I didn't expect to burst out laughing, and now there's soda everywhere. Oh, plus they turn into whips... You sly dogs. Kind of a like the ultimate short time thing, full of passion and joy. The sexy girl?

And now the fiery (I assume) redhead, Mars. Mars is not a mindless killing machine, got it? She has more character depth. Turns out she's kind of sad inside. Hmm, way to make me feel bad about my prejudices to war gods, Freelancer. HAH! Redhead, knew it. She's the sport girl?

Jupiter... used to just be the older sister of the girls. Then she riddled away the title of Hold of Secrets, by asking who she was. The behemoth (I'm thinking sphinx) gets kinda flustered, but to wrap it up, she hasn't said much since she learned every secret in Creation. She's kind of disintersted in what other people know. She may be a virgin... that seems like a real wonder. Good news is that if you steal she clothes while she showers, you'll discover some of the greatest secrets in Creation... this sounds dirtier than I meant it. In case you haven't caught on, I'm looking at them as if they were dating sim characters. Secrets is the aloof older girl that some people find completely obsessing over.

Saturn is always disquietingly close to either Sol or Luna, and now I cannot stop thinking about Japanese ghost stories. AND SHE IS APPARENTLY RANDOMLY SHUSHING PEOPLE AND DISTRACTING THEM AS SMOKE ALL THE TIME! She's a snarky I guess, probably makes some terrifying jokes. She's pretty scary now that I think of it. But I think I like her the best, she's all "Man, everyone here is gonna die one day," and giving orders around to the other Incarna. She makes me think of a spoiled girl. Maybe she's the gothic lolita? Or the blind terror of the end of life, given an adorable personality?

___

Hm, then we go into Artifacts based on/named after the Maidens of Destiny. Mercury gets a Kite, which is actually a guillotine attached to a chain, and to fly on. HOLY SHIT THATS COOL! It actually took me reading my last sentence to check for errors that I understood how fundamentally awesome the idea is. Venus' artifact is, what else? Sex toys! The Mars themed one is an adaptive war banner that customizes itself to the user and protects moral. An x-ray bandana, and one step closer to making Daredevil, hmm... that bandana would be cool to dramatically tear off, if freeing attuned motes worked that way. Oh my god! The Saturn themed artifact is a friggin knuckle duster! Which apparently kills the shit out of what it hits, slow or quick!

___

Again we are told stuff on Maiden relations to Primordials. I could totally see them being a creation of Ebon Dragon based on how his dickery could fail. And then we hear about the dead family member, requisite for every Sidereal book talks about. This time its Wisdom, joining Pluto, Little Sister, and Nox.

Okay, here we go with actual statblocks. OH CRAP, THEY ARE ALL DONE IN ONE PARAGRAPH. The book does a good job of making me think of the Maidens as one entity through multiple parts of her life. Sorry, here we go. Mercury: Things follow paths. Venus: Things come together. Mars: Things are tough sometimes. Jupiter: Things will make sense one day. Saturn: Nothing lasts forever. Heh, they don't have intimacies, but they do have attachments. Alright, attributes add up to 105, abilities add up to 13 for Mercury, 13 for Venus, 13 for... Oh I get it, okay, 13 for Mars, 13 for Jupiter, 13 for Saturn. The Maidens are the Richie Rich to Luna's Gomez Adams and Sol's Scrooge McDuck.

Heh, much like Luna has access to every Raksha Charms she wants, the Maidens have access to any 1st and 2nd Circle Sorcery. The Sun remains awesome on his own merits and his super precise, Instant Death-Satellite. The typical spiel on being Omnipotent super gods with full priveleges. Kinda wish someone will figure out/write up what some of those Spirit Charms can do at these levels. I'm sure the Sun is particularly insane. Hmm, something called Samsara is mentioned. A quick Wiki search tells me its Karmic balance that determines your next life.

OKay, lets all take a deep breath. Here we go with the custom Charms of the Maidens. Their Charm use is completely non-obvious at all times... so it looks like random stuff happening. Its fairly impossible to make Secrets say anything, or to make Mars give up the fight, you'd have to argue off 20 points, all related to the same subject. So that's Samsara then? They gotta do what they gotta do? They do seem surprisingly weak to Crippeling, maybe because its a realistic consequence to horrific damage? The Maidens tend not to betray expectations of them. The Righteous Answer of Catechism and, OH WOW. Huge sidebar on Samsara... lets see... Its their... ideal version of the future? OR what they all agree should happen next and how they can achieve it? Sacheverell would be like how telling a story instead of putting together a setting to play with maybe? With the Sidereals being players, who kind of know where the plot is going. And we are given the reason things don't always work out the way the Maidens see it, is in fact the Exalted's fault. HOLY SHIT, they can boost Essence as a training Charm. No wonder people tried to win that tournament to train with Mars. That's training with Mars and the Sun right? Oh wait, it says here its essentially a miracle they use on people in bad situations. Like Sol lending one of his Four Gifts from Man. Its a slightly lesser miracle to give astrological Charms. I always liked Bureaucracy Fate Magic. "Injunction! You client cannot recover WP from a Stunt! He picked his nose!" And I just realised what they are talking about. These are their lost Greater Magics. AWESOME.

Shake it off. I'm excited too, but we got Destiny Goddess Charms to read. Strands withing Strands works by asking the ST a question and having him answer it. I fully support the Freelancer Faction that supported the Maidens should know its a game that's being played. The Games of Divinity work by letting the Incarna interact with someone in "Reality" and Secrets is based off of someone the Creator was inspired by. This is just my over excited puppy love for this book right now, I'm sorry. The Maidens have Charms that seem... distinctively Yozi like, maybe due to the accidental/non-designed creation of themselves? They get double rewards for very specific stunts. Interesting, they stunt like I've seen a few people argue everyone can't. Which may be yet another Exalted Errata Team Prime, Stealth Division Alpha stealth Errata. They can become instant masters of something, and apply the same to a character. Damn, they can buff the shit out of people. If it comes down to a tie, they call an auto win... Hm.

This is getting kinda weird now. As Fate Decrees, this is similar to a Sidereal Excellency right? Those silly Maidens with their "intelligent, directed design." Fuck, I'm looking at this, and you really do need to cripple them, which makes that one new Solar Charm that increases Mote Cost pretty good. If you are Essence 10 (Like Sol, Luna and the Primordials) or if you are outside fate (like... every major threat to Creation) their Perfect effects don't work. Realignment of Destiny is a Sorcerous Charm, er I mean its... a long lasting Charm that doesn't require committed motes to randomly set you to tasks and makes you kick ass at it. Seriously, the Maidens buff like their are some sort of commercial for exercise equipment.

Oh, they have generic brainwashing Charms too. Good, I was worried. Lets see... Perfect Awareness, why not? And they can reset to and earlier save point. They have conveniently hidden Starmetal weapons, and can hand out cutlery like the Lady of the Lake. Oh, and they bring creatures into fate for a scene. which means Maidens have to get their hands dirty before they can fight a big threat their way. So... if you never let them touch you, you have a Chance. Sidereals have a few options to do stuff like this. Hmm, they can instant learn Martial Arts, but they don't seem to keep them. Maybe their Static Essence pattern keeps them from altering their Essence to too long.

It is implied that they can Learn SMA... And they can do the same with Sorcery, and know some Solar stuff that fits with their roles, like Banishment and Abjuration of the Maidens, but can't learn others. And once again, I realize what awesome back up these Maidens are, they can just gift you a Spell. Nifty, perfect almost-disguises that don't look like anyone. And FF style Perfect Surprise actions.

Okay, apparently that was the pre-amble. Here we go with specific Charms. Mercury can quick speed teleport anyone inside fate. Like dumping someone into a Volcano? or ten feet below the roof of the Sky? Or exactly the same position, but different orientation to adjust who he can defend against? Ah, Shaping action. So once again, Solars just say no and shut down cool strategies. Lousy awesome Solars. OH SHIT! This is a Beam Me Up situation, Exalts in the War would need to lower their Shaping Defenses to move quickly, but it would open them up to attacks, and then they could be stealth inserted near enemy territory. Venus can cause Strife with a glance by giving people conflicting intimacies. She's kind of like a siren isn't she? Mars can instant-boost an army into bad-asses. Jupiter can oppose what I normally think of as unapposed rolls and SHE KNOWS WHEN YOU TRY. Saturn can mutilate the way things end/end them instantly and its apparently... not as good as Ghost Eating Attack. I'm shaking my fist at Solars.

And yes, indeed the Incarna are widely capable of summong Joten.
___

And now, my favorite form of entertainment: Entourage! Aww, Venus keeps proposing to Sol, who accepts but mean ole Saturn gets in the way. Saturn is really intent on beating the Sun before her sisters do, and Samsara probably prevents them from using their cooler stuff. Saturn is... sad that one day they will all die, its inevitable. Huh, the Argentim and Aurichim are like... an abandonded security system. I guess Sol didn't need it at all after the Solars came, and Luna. LOST THEM IN A BET. Be more of a trickster goddess Luna. Aurichim are the bouncers of the night sky now. And what's this anomaly hooplah? AH! The holes in the sky that let FF or Demons in. I see. These poor guys. They are just kinda stuck on the sky doing nothing, getting rumors from Ex-Fae and dealing with Luna's carelessness.

Okay, yeah, I thought these guys were angels. They... carve homes into the sky... and the moon ones come an eternal darkness in the sky.

Moving on.
___

Hmm, the prayer section. I never have much to say about these. Some cool stuff, but it just doesn't jump out to me. The Lintha apparently go out of their way to appease Saturn, which makes me wish I read the whole book first, then wrote, instead of needing to eat my words every so often. But that's not what you good folks tuned in for. Hmm, I guess they randomly agree to prayers due to the way that the other two Incarna have changed them. I'm gonna skip to the Charms.

The good news is, its Martial Arts Charms, which mostly require that I reference it only with other Charms in the Martial Art.

So we start with Crane. I'm a bit disappointed that Broken Wing Crane Style may be lost forever. Well, Hook Swords are pretty good parry weapons, and what with it being a Sidereal preferred style, its unarmored. Hmhmhm. Wow... apparently the Freelancers can't help but stick Charms for Solars in each book. Crane is apparently taught to Cult of Illuminated members.

I see, first impression is that the style basically lets you do really well, as long as you don't make a mistake, and then it starts to fall apart. First Charms removes unexepected attacks, as long as you haven't messed up yet. Second is a defensive Charm that reacts to match sucesses ROLLED, had to read that twice to be sure. Against certain opponents, this works as a die adder based on the strength of your opponent. Relatively cheap way to force them to Perfect if you have a good Soak Defense. Hmm, but it can only deal bashing damage, and knocks the opponent down... perfect time for a finishing blow some may say. Sidereal Errata again.

Crane Form. I have a lot of hope for this Form Charm, all the others have left me oh-so happy. A small PDV bonus, and no off-hand to start.... god I hope there's more. HOLY SHIT CHI BLASTS. Well, reaching punches but still! HOLY SHIT! Weightlessness to run on leaves, and enhanced stunts. Rock-rockon.
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I can't read this the whole day, so I'm going to need to take a break here.
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Alright, its been a bit, did most of what I need to do this weekend so lets move on.

Awww man, social attacks transmitted through combat? I totally had that idea already! I'm just... lazier than the average forumite. Anyway. The Charm is also a Training Charm, letting Sidereals get around their normal limitations like they should. With the sub-systems. Its free, but it only works 1-1.

Next Charm is another permanent (assisting low Sidereal mote pool, I presume?) WOW. Punch a dude while being kind and only bruising him, but feel free to leave a message on his skin. Crossed Wing Denial is a Perfect Parry (I know its not a system term, its done for dramatic effect.) for zero motes (see above). AH! But it is a crutch that gets more expensive as you use it! Its free the first time you use it, and thus sucks against Extra Action Charms, and attacks are forbidden, but you can still use Counter Attacks. The next Charm is, coincidently enough, a Counter Attack. I shiver with anticipation.

Feather-Stirred Arrow Deflection, lets you fling a range attack at someone else. I can't help but think of deflecting a jet of flame into someone. But apparently it works as a disarm. So its a method to flurry break ranged attacks... Perfect against a large number of archers in a coordinated attack, like the kind a Dragon Blood or Solar may put together. As an alternative, Beak Spears Frog however is the Charm you use against people within arm's reach. It responds to the weaknesses of the other Charm well, but Beak Spears Frog keeps you from initiating an attack. Hmm.

And now you can FLY! Well, glide. Or hover. Swank. And it can flurry break. Making it an even better defensive tree for close combat, as you can use both it and the Counterattacks to respond to flurries, and put momentum behind a strike for higher damage. SHIT! SUCK IT ABYSSALS AND INFERNALS! Real Exalted get to use a Holy Effect that gives you XP free Combos as long as they only contain Crane Style Charms, and the FORM BECOME COMBO OK! DAMNIT CAP CHARMS! NO WP COST EITHER. And you can wear down CoD WP with every hit.

Crystal Chameleon Style huh? We'll see where this goes. So the Maidens created this CMA during the War, and it confused the hell out of their enemies. It's... known in Autochthonia. Guess our Freelancers had something else on their minds when they wrote this. Form equipment is spear (yay!), rope weapons (oh?) and no armor, again. Lets take a look at Just Another Branch Deceit. Its to help you ninja-escape out of a situation. Heh, because it refrences a plant, the Autochthonians have a different name for it. That's clever.

A high speed movement Charm, seems useful, even adds to DDV. Another movement enhancer that's... stupidly strong. And lets you hide from view as you move... So this totally is a ninja Charm tree. The Form Charm! You create a disco-ball which makes it tough to target you! You can hide despite the disco-ball! Holy Shit this Martial Art Rock Lee's taijutsu! A kind of expensive Perfect Defense that fails against re-rolls. Nifty idea. A Counter-Attack that allows for the reflexive re-establishing of surprise. I actually did make this Charm for my Kimbery Charm-Set, but it worked on the first attack in a Flurry to break it.

Alright, after all this passive stuff, lets see what else we have. Razor-Edged Prism Assault sounds pretty violent, and it is Extra-Action, so I'm looking forward to some Bad-Assery right now. A fair number of attacks (Ess) that get the advantage of Coordination from your attacks (Ess). Death From Above Method, as expected, is the effect that powers up an unexpected attack's damage, sucker punching a guy was never so much fun. Wait a minute... were the Celestial Martial Arts using DBs who used this in the First Age users of this Style, which was said to be used by Battlfield Couriers, the original members of the Immaculate Order? Anyway, cap Charm time! Adds another -2 external penalty... maybe I don't get it... I guess it helps establishing surprise.

And now we get to the big guns. Sidereal Martial Art style bitches. I uh... think its a weird one based on Venus or Samsara. Yup. Apparently I shouldn't make jokes though... this is going to be har-... difficult. Weapon is the whip sword (cool), and the buckler. Oh, so just like that actual martial art that uses urumi, nice. Initial Charm, appraises your current partner. What to expect, how they move, if they like them, and if they like-like them. This intimate knowledge lets them dodge better, and  it looks like the Form Charm is where the style comes together. Next, Eternal Infatuation Dance you can keep on indefinitely, so its one of those things you do when you figure you might be doing with something later on. And it helps you out against ranged attacks as a flurry breaker (with some proper stunting). It even perfects the first ranged attack. Which means it falls apart against a well Comboed Solar Archer. Apparently you really latch onto the guy when you use this style.

Side-Bar Fuck Yeah! I'm not sure we had the Artifact version of the urumi before. Yellow Dragon Flight looks dangerous, it is rather expensive afterall. Apparently you act like a man, refuse to listen when others don't speak up and penetrate the shit out of someone, then leave them with a tired, burning feeling as they lose some motes. Then they act like a lady and not only renders someone else effectively impotent, but steals vitality from their very failure. I recall that Sidereal Charms interact well with Virtue Channels. Dissolution of Value proves that you really know how get them off. your back. It covers a normally rather dangerous weakness in Celestial combat, the 5 on 1 surprise attack. Only problem is you have to stay surrounded by like five guys to get the benefit. And you gotta say one guy is problem enough. (I'll try to stop)

A scene-long penalty negator is pretty good. Not so useful against Solars from what I remember, but FF, Gods, Demons, Abyssals... Oh wait, actually this gets around some of Sword of Conquest doesn't it? Plus: It makes it so they didn't mind when you whip them. F-f-f-form Charm! Crippling AND Emotion you say? We get... hover feet, adds a virtue layer defense, rarely seen but much loved. And a finishing knock out blow when someone is down to 0 Wp and Mote regen? Huh. Sexy. Someone Else's Consequence lets you pass off UMI or various bad touch effects, with a hit. Silken Rope Trick makes forces you to walk and helps with grappling by throwing intimacies with those they have clinched. Oh.

Joy in Ownership though! Servitude effect! Crap! Mental reprogramming when someone is knocked out... with a large buy off cost in WP. Sapphire Binding Pattern nearly tricks me into thinking about Sorcery. I wise up quickly. The first one will wear down on people eventually if you keep the pressure up. You'll probably reduce them to 1 die stunts before too long. We also have make Charms more expensive, which will definitely wear people down, and lock a man down to fuck with his flurry breakers. They all work AFTER a clinch. Dangerous I'd say. Especially if a Solar/Abyssal did it. Memories of Intimacy, is a nice difficult to avoid attack that works on... people who were once SPECIAL to you, who you made your bitch at one point.

Suddenly, a cap Charm. Thousand Desire Ribbons upgrades the Form Charm (love this kind of effect), random, totally reflexive Extra Actions, with no limit on using it with other Extra Actions impresses me. I'm not sure if it works, but its SMA, so I shrug. Suddenly you have sniper ribbons, and people really like getting whipped...
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Oh shit, original Sidereal Charms. Greater Astrology Charms that have been locked away for centuries. The stat costs from the other ones we saw grow back as long as its legal to use the Charm. That's... kind of nice. Ah, there's more common use stuff than desperate times stuff. These Charms are kind of Sorcerous in how they function, and cause Paradox when used. Ooh, it messes up Craft: Fate, yeah that could be a problem. STEALTH ERRATA TEAM ALPHA YOU RENEGADES, STOP ADJUSTING CHARACTER CREATION! and Sidereals can make their own Greater Arts Charms. Huh. First one keeps you happy and works paradox free if you give something up when you start it. INEVITBILITY WITHOUT FINESSE! Did you read that shit?! That's a good Charm. Gonna skip around to try and finish this before I have to sleep. Coercion by Any Means would work well with that new SMA style.

Singular Plumage Riot lets you organize a meeting. Where it goes from there is for a Sid to figure out. A fair number of these Charms interact well with the ribbon SMA. These Charms are making me look at Sidereals in a whole new light. There are a lot of things to get around rules in here. It makes them more tricky and lets them take on aspects besides Law-Ninja. Weird and somehow appropriate. Some Sids probably freaked out over the rigid official Sidereal Charm set. Maiden and Gambler Stance could bring a win against a Deathlord (if you snuck in one hit with those Maiden blessed weapons), or require a quick teleport escape. Ignoring someone because they are stupid Prana is a good design. Then the dignified death Charm of all battle-butlers is stylish. And now we know how that 3rd Circle Soul defected! You need to be a damn saint to use it without getting in trouble immediately.

HAHAHAH! StephenLS! PLUTO! LOOK AT IT! Maiden of Ashes. Oh, respire in the Underworld, cool. Weird that it already exists. Ah, those bad-ass Starmetal weapons are called Fated Weapons. It's cool, I wish the other Incarna had Charms like these. Then again, I guess Sol does one better, and Luna can make some great Oneromancy and Behemoths... huh.
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We just hit Thaumaturgy, we must be winding down. So far all are about securing a birth... the Maidens plan everything, don't they? And they even have a divorce ritual.
___

Oddly enough, the general feel of each of these is a lot like when I read the original Charm sections to familiarize myself with the game. "Solars are awesome! Lunars seem like there are some nasty tricks to play. Wait, Law-Ninjas and Beaurocractic based Fate magic... I uh... I need to read this again."

It's almost like: Captain America, Spiderman, and Doctor Strange.

Okay, it's nearing two and I'm out of both pages and alcohol. Thanks for reading with me.