Violet Bier of Sorrows Style

Scripture of the Expectant Maiden: Once, there was a maiden...

The Violet Bier of Sorrows Style is a Celestial Martial Art Style.' It's form weapons are the sword, the knife and the staff, and any artifact weapon versions of the above, such as the daiklave and serpent-sting staff''. The style's Charms are incompatible with armour or shields.''' Any Exalt able to use Celestial Martial Arts may learn this style. As the first and most honoured of Creation's sword styles, this style was widespread in the First Age. Non-Sidereal Exalted may learn it with sufficient justification, such as past-life memories or a suitable Mentor.

New Keyword - Prayer Strip: Prayer Strip effects are accessible only to Sidereal Exalted, or those who learn the Prayer Strip charm as a Sidereal Exalt.

Secrets of Future Strife

Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 1, Essence 1; Type: Supplemental Keywords: Combo-OK Duration: Instant Prerequisites: None

...who was always looking forward to the way things would be.

The character trains herself for instant acceptance of the twists and turns of circumstance. Upon invoking this Charm, she may add up to her Martial Arts in successes to her Join Battle roll. In addition, against effects that automatically win Join Battle rolls, she is considered to be using a similar effect, and may compare Join Battle rolls normally.

Flight of Mercury

Cost: 2m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1; Type: Reflexive (Step 1) Keywords: Combo-OK Duration: Scene Prerequisites: Secrets of Future Strife

She said, "Someday, I'm getting out of this place."

The character moves with the swift precision of one who knows her destiny. The Speed statistic of her unarmed Martial Arts attacks is set to 3. This Charm explicitly does not function in combination with any other effect that alters Speed, such as other Charms or the jade magical material bonus for hearthstone bracers.

Blade of the Battle Maiden

Cost: 5m 1w; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 1) Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Holy Duration: Scene Prerequisites: Secrets of Future Strife

"Someday, I'm going to kill that boy that put me here."

Essence shines around the character's hands (or weapons), tracing with their every movement crimson trails through the air. While this Charm is active, the character may parry lethal damage unarmed, and she may choose to replace the statistics of her natural unarmed attacks with those of a starmetal daiklave (Spd 5, Acc +4, Dam +9L, Def +2, Rate 3). If she is armed with a form weapon, she may instead add the starmetal Magical Material bonus to the weapon's statistics, adding to any Magical Material bonus, if any, the weapon already possesses, including weapons already made of starmetal. The weapon so affected becomes unbreakable and may not be Disarmed. In addition, her unarmed Martial Arts attacks become Holy, causing aggravated damage to creatures of darkness.

Joy in Adversity Stance

Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1; Type: Reflexive (Step 6) Keywords: Combo-OK Duration: Scene Prerequisites: Secrets of Future Strife

"And while I wait, I don't much mind,

Those who routinely face terrible odds can learn to take some measure of happiness in each moment's survival. While this Charm is active, when the character successfully parries or dodges an attack, her player may roll her permanent Essence score. Each success restores two motes of Essence to her pool. This Charm may not be used against attacks not truly intended to harm the character, nor may it be used in conjunction with effects that automatically parry or dodge attacks or render them unable to hit.

Violet Bier of Sorrows Form

Cost: 5m 1w; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; Type: Simple (Speed 6, DV -1) Keywords: Form-type, Crippling Duration: Scene Prerequisites: Flight of Mercury, Joy in Adversity Stance, Blade of the Battle Maiden

'cause it's better to dream tomorrow than to be there."

The character adopts the cold detachment with which Saturn makes her Sign against those things whose time has passed. While the character uses the Violet Bier of Sorrows Form, each successful attack also drains some of the victim's passion. After damaging an opponent with an unarmed Martial Arts attack, the Exalt can remove one point of the target's Virtues, to a minimum of 1. This cannot reduce a target's Virtues below the minimums required for the Great Curse. Each Virtue heals at the rate of one point a day. This effect may be prevented or healed by any effect that could prevent or heal Crippling effects.

This Form changes the normal minimum for damage dice. While it is active, the character's adds two to her effective permanent Essence for the purposes of determining minimum damage on a successful unarmed Martial Arts attack. This is not a Crippling effect. The Violet Bier of Sorrows Form is also known as the Endings Form.

Death-Parrying Stroke

Cost: 2m per health level; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 10) Keywords: Combo-OK Duration: Instant Prerequisites: Violet Bier of Sorrows Form

"I'm holding at bay," she said, "what I know to be true."

In a blur of violet Essence, the character's blade catches an attack that might otherwise have killed him. If the character tries and fails to parry a parryable attack, she may decide to invoke this Charm in Step 10 of combat resolution, reducing damage by one level per 2 motes spent.

Life-Severing Blow

Cost: 2m per health level; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 10) Keywords: Combo-OK Duration: Instant Prerequisites: Violet Bier of Sorrows Form

"That I'll never get out. I won't let my dreams die!"

Drawing on the Essence of Endings, a character can add power to a blow that she realizes is about to pierce her enemy's defenses. She may purchase automatic damage successes in Step 10 of attack resolution at a cost of 2 motes each. She cannot purchase more successes on any given attack than her permanent Essence rating.

Metal Storm

Cost: 2m per attack; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Extra Action Keywords: Combo-OK Duration: Instant Prerequisites: Life-Severing Blow

"I'll hang on to hope," she said, "until Time itself ends. But-"

Not even the most cunning of opponents can evade a sword that strikes everywhere at once. This Charm is a magical flurry of two or more unarmed Martial Arts attacks. Each attack costs two motes, including the first. The Exalt may not make more attacks with this Charm than her Martial Arts rating. All attacks in the flurry must be directed at the same target.

Conclusion-Pursuing Approach

Cost: 10m 1w 1hl; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Simple Keywords: Combo-Basic, Prayer Strip (Crippling, Holy, Obvious) Duration: Scene Prerequisites: Death-Parrying Stroke, Metal Storm

"There's always an ending," said Time.

At the pinnacle of the Violet Bier of Sorrows Style, a character learns to draw strength from the pain of others. Her attacks gain resolve as her enemy falters. She is trained to take full advantage of the weakness of the wounded, stalking failing prey as death hunts those whose time has come. Whenever she successfully deals damage to a hostile opponent with an unarmed Martial Arts attack, she gains one point of Willpower. In addition, an opponent's wound penalties are tripled when it comes to attacking her or defending against her unarmed Martial Arts attacks.

Prayer Strip: The character may fix the scripture of the Expectant Maiden to her weapon, wrapping the whole in radiant burgundy light. While the prayer strip survives, each successful Martial Arts attack subtracts a Willpower point from the target. Targets with no Willpower left to lose instead lose 10 motes of Essence. If the target does not have 10 motes of Essence to lose, convert all post-soak damage dice to automatic successes instead.