Guancyto
2011-02-27, 03:15 PM
"...I'll make sure of it."
This sprouted from a joke about Yandere Immaculate monks. It's intended to be fairly scary to the object of the stylist's Obsession, as well as any of his Intimacies whether perceived or actual. But not very dangerous to anyone else. Also to start out fairly benign, with post-form charms encouraging increasing craziness. Critique is welcome!
_____________________________________
The Obsessed Follower Style
The First Age was a time fraught with betrayals. The Exalted, secure in their convictions and steadfast in their loves, perhaps teetered too far on the brink of madness in their passions. What then, to do when spurned by those they cared about above everything else? Such a breach of faith would be devastating, and this Martial Art was developed in secret to ensure that such a thing would never happen. Some whisper that it was created by a component soul or daughter of Adorjan, as it seems to embody the Silent Wind's nature a bit too closely.
Many in Malfeas still practice this style, echoing the fundamental precept of the Demon City that there is no such thing as love without pain. They follow this with the teaching that with pain there can be vengeance. Occasionally they will teach this to one of the Green Sun Princes; Scourges are particularly suited to it.
It is also known to some of the Silver Pact, predominantly among the Sun King Seneschals; it is felt that true service and support to the Lawgivers requires a singular dedication. Notably, a Lunar Exalt may always target her Solar mate with effects that would normally only affect her Obsession.
And in the Bureau of Destiny, there is a very rarely-circulated rumor that Chejop Kejak himself is a practitioner. If so, Ayesha Ura would do well to watch her back even more closely than she already does. These rumors are of course nonsense; Kejak is instead a master of its opposite, the Twin-Tailed Hostility Barrier Style.
This style has also seen practice in the Underworld, where the shades of those slaughtered for interfering in a stylist's devotions are bound to their murderers and learn the way themselves in hopes of returning the favor. A ghostly queen who reigns in one of the long-lost kingdoms takes a succession of men to be her husband, teaching him the style step by step as she gives object lessons of its nature. This always ends with the discorporation of the hapless king, but should he reform intact he maintains his knowledge and may teach it to others. Occasionally it permeates through the Ancestor Cults, where it gives the frequently-strained relationship between the dead and living a very curious tenor.
An important note about the relations involved in and required for the style's Charms: it is not necessary for the stylist to have definitively identified that her Obsession has an Intimacy or that he has betrayed her love. Indeed, the style gives no additional ability to discern either. The only thing that matters is that the martial artist genuinely believes that it is the case. When conviction is so overwhelming, the truth is no defense.
Obsessed Follower Style treats knives, axes and improvised weapons and their artifact equivalents (switchklaves and grimcleavers, but not grand grimcleavers) as form weapons.
My One, My Only
Cost: 1m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Emotion
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
The cornerstone of the Obsessed Follower style is the martial artist's Obsession. When this charm is activated, the user commits one mote to strengthen an existing positive Intimacy to an individual to one of fierce, unhesitating dedication. This Obsession cannot be broken so long as the Essence for this charm remains committed, and any attempts to erode the Intimacy are treated as unacceptable orders. The martial artist may only be Obsessed with one being at a time, who needs not (and frequently doesn't) reciprocate this intimacy. Any stunt aiding, protecting or hurting the Obsession that could regain Willpower may instead restore a Compassion channel.
Should the Obsession die or become permanently unavailable (such as being banished to the darkness beyond existence via Ebon Dragon charms), this Charm ends and a new Obsession may be acquired immediately. Should the user voluntarily terminate this Charm, the intimacy returns to its previous context and the martial artist must wait one week before activating it again.
I'll Be With You Forever
Cost: 3m (1 wp); Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Until next action
Prerequisite Charms: My One, My Only
Love is eternal. Love is binding. Love will find you. The first application of this charm enhances any attempt to track the martial artist's Obsession. So long as the target is within Martial Arts*10 miles, this makes the tracking attempt perfect; in the case of it being opposed by a perfect concealment effect, it adds Essence successes to the roll-off.
The second application of this Charm can only be activated when the user's Obsession is within melee range and costs an additional point of willpower. So long as her Obsession is moving away from her, the martial artist gains whatever mobility is needed to follow him. Her speed matches that of her target, even if Charms such as Leaping Dodge Method are used. Only teleportation effects are able to lose the pursuer.
You Only Need Me
Cost: 1m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Social
Duration: Instant
Prerequiste Charms: I'll Be With You Forever
The truly dedicated will filter out all distractions from their loved one's ears, so they cannot even think to waver in their devotion. This charm allows the user to use a Defend Other action to apply their Parry MDV to social attacks directed at targets they can percieve as a Speed 5 (-1 DV) action. Only one such action can be placed in a flurry. The target of this Defend Other does not have to desire such a defense.
Obsessed Follower Form
Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Form-type, Combo-basic
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: You Only Need Me
The force of her dedication comes to a peak as the martial artist activates this form. Use of You Only Need Me and I'll Be With You Forever no longer counts as a Charm activation. In addition, all dice granted by compassion channels in support of the Obsession instead become automatic successes. Further, the user gains a +2 bonus to DVs when taking a Defend Other action (whether physical or social) to protect her Obsession.
I Don't Want to Share
Cost: - Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Obsessed Follower Form
The problem with love is that there's only so much of it to go around. When the object of your devotion loves things other than yourself, you wind up with less than you should have. Compassion channels are applicable to any action involving the user's Obsession as well as any destructive action regarding the Obsession's intimacies. My One, My Only is also upgraded to allow stunts harming the Obsession's intimacies to recover Compassion channels.
While in Obsessed Follower Form, the martial artist gains an additional two successes on any action aimed at eroding Intimacies belonging to the martial artist's Obsession, or actions aimed at hurting those Intimacies.
That's a Lie!
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 9)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Social, Counterattack
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Obsessed Follower Form
If there is one thing that hurts above all else, it is being lied to by those you love. When the martial artist can perceive a lie or Manipulation-based social attack targeted at her by a positive Intimacy or targeted at a positive Intimacy she is protecting via You Only Need Me, she can immediately draw/ready a weapon and make a counterattack with no multiple-action penalties, provided the weapon is a valid form weapon for Obsessed Follower style. She also gains bonus successes on her resulting Join Battle roll equal to her Essence.
You Can't Leave Me
Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive (Step 10)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Crippling
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: I Don't Want to Share
Sometimes those we love want to hurt us. The best way to prevent this is to prevent them from being able to. This Charm enhances an attack made against a positive Intimacy. Provided the attack would have dealt three or more levels of lethal or aggravated damage, the martial artist can choose to forgo all damage to apply one Crippling amputation of her choice. Damage from blood loss is neither removed nor mitigated, necessitating swift medical action... unless the user is feeling vengeful.
Mine Forever
Cost: - ; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Emotion
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: You Can't Leave Me, That's a Lie!
This charm is the ultimate answer to a loved one's betrayal. Should the martial artist's Obsession have previously expressed kindness or affection to her (even if such a display was not genuine) but now spurns her, this Charm takes effect. Any attempt at dissuading her from pursuing him becomes an unacceptable order. In addition, should she be suffering from this betrayal, she may activate Obsessed Follower Form reflexively and without using a Charm activation when in the presence of her Obsession or one of his Intimacies.
Finally, killing or destroying one of the betrayer's positive Intimacies grants the martial artist two points of temporary willpower, while killing her Obsession grants up to the higher of her Compassion or Conviction rating in willpower. This total may go above her permanent willpower. She gains a point of Limit or Resonance every time she gains willpower from this terrible vengeance.
This sprouted from a joke about Yandere Immaculate monks. It's intended to be fairly scary to the object of the stylist's Obsession, as well as any of his Intimacies whether perceived or actual. But not very dangerous to anyone else. Also to start out fairly benign, with post-form charms encouraging increasing craziness. Critique is welcome!
_____________________________________
The Obsessed Follower Style
The First Age was a time fraught with betrayals. The Exalted, secure in their convictions and steadfast in their loves, perhaps teetered too far on the brink of madness in their passions. What then, to do when spurned by those they cared about above everything else? Such a breach of faith would be devastating, and this Martial Art was developed in secret to ensure that such a thing would never happen. Some whisper that it was created by a component soul or daughter of Adorjan, as it seems to embody the Silent Wind's nature a bit too closely.
Many in Malfeas still practice this style, echoing the fundamental precept of the Demon City that there is no such thing as love without pain. They follow this with the teaching that with pain there can be vengeance. Occasionally they will teach this to one of the Green Sun Princes; Scourges are particularly suited to it.
It is also known to some of the Silver Pact, predominantly among the Sun King Seneschals; it is felt that true service and support to the Lawgivers requires a singular dedication. Notably, a Lunar Exalt may always target her Solar mate with effects that would normally only affect her Obsession.
And in the Bureau of Destiny, there is a very rarely-circulated rumor that Chejop Kejak himself is a practitioner. If so, Ayesha Ura would do well to watch her back even more closely than she already does. These rumors are of course nonsense; Kejak is instead a master of its opposite, the Twin-Tailed Hostility Barrier Style.
This style has also seen practice in the Underworld, where the shades of those slaughtered for interfering in a stylist's devotions are bound to their murderers and learn the way themselves in hopes of returning the favor. A ghostly queen who reigns in one of the long-lost kingdoms takes a succession of men to be her husband, teaching him the style step by step as she gives object lessons of its nature. This always ends with the discorporation of the hapless king, but should he reform intact he maintains his knowledge and may teach it to others. Occasionally it permeates through the Ancestor Cults, where it gives the frequently-strained relationship between the dead and living a very curious tenor.
An important note about the relations involved in and required for the style's Charms: it is not necessary for the stylist to have definitively identified that her Obsession has an Intimacy or that he has betrayed her love. Indeed, the style gives no additional ability to discern either. The only thing that matters is that the martial artist genuinely believes that it is the case. When conviction is so overwhelming, the truth is no defense.
Obsessed Follower Style treats knives, axes and improvised weapons and their artifact equivalents (switchklaves and grimcleavers, but not grand grimcleavers) as form weapons.
My One, My Only
Cost: 1m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Emotion
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
The cornerstone of the Obsessed Follower style is the martial artist's Obsession. When this charm is activated, the user commits one mote to strengthen an existing positive Intimacy to an individual to one of fierce, unhesitating dedication. This Obsession cannot be broken so long as the Essence for this charm remains committed, and any attempts to erode the Intimacy are treated as unacceptable orders. The martial artist may only be Obsessed with one being at a time, who needs not (and frequently doesn't) reciprocate this intimacy. Any stunt aiding, protecting or hurting the Obsession that could regain Willpower may instead restore a Compassion channel.
Should the Obsession die or become permanently unavailable (such as being banished to the darkness beyond existence via Ebon Dragon charms), this Charm ends and a new Obsession may be acquired immediately. Should the user voluntarily terminate this Charm, the intimacy returns to its previous context and the martial artist must wait one week before activating it again.
I'll Be With You Forever
Cost: 3m (1 wp); Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Until next action
Prerequisite Charms: My One, My Only
Love is eternal. Love is binding. Love will find you. The first application of this charm enhances any attempt to track the martial artist's Obsession. So long as the target is within Martial Arts*10 miles, this makes the tracking attempt perfect; in the case of it being opposed by a perfect concealment effect, it adds Essence successes to the roll-off.
The second application of this Charm can only be activated when the user's Obsession is within melee range and costs an additional point of willpower. So long as her Obsession is moving away from her, the martial artist gains whatever mobility is needed to follow him. Her speed matches that of her target, even if Charms such as Leaping Dodge Method are used. Only teleportation effects are able to lose the pursuer.
You Only Need Me
Cost: 1m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Social
Duration: Instant
Prerequiste Charms: I'll Be With You Forever
The truly dedicated will filter out all distractions from their loved one's ears, so they cannot even think to waver in their devotion. This charm allows the user to use a Defend Other action to apply their Parry MDV to social attacks directed at targets they can percieve as a Speed 5 (-1 DV) action. Only one such action can be placed in a flurry. The target of this Defend Other does not have to desire such a defense.
Obsessed Follower Form
Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Form-type, Combo-basic
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: You Only Need Me
The force of her dedication comes to a peak as the martial artist activates this form. Use of You Only Need Me and I'll Be With You Forever no longer counts as a Charm activation. In addition, all dice granted by compassion channels in support of the Obsession instead become automatic successes. Further, the user gains a +2 bonus to DVs when taking a Defend Other action (whether physical or social) to protect her Obsession.
I Don't Want to Share
Cost: - Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Obsessed Follower Form
The problem with love is that there's only so much of it to go around. When the object of your devotion loves things other than yourself, you wind up with less than you should have. Compassion channels are applicable to any action involving the user's Obsession as well as any destructive action regarding the Obsession's intimacies. My One, My Only is also upgraded to allow stunts harming the Obsession's intimacies to recover Compassion channels.
While in Obsessed Follower Form, the martial artist gains an additional two successes on any action aimed at eroding Intimacies belonging to the martial artist's Obsession, or actions aimed at hurting those Intimacies.
That's a Lie!
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 9)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Social, Counterattack
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Obsessed Follower Form
If there is one thing that hurts above all else, it is being lied to by those you love. When the martial artist can perceive a lie or Manipulation-based social attack targeted at her by a positive Intimacy or targeted at a positive Intimacy she is protecting via You Only Need Me, she can immediately draw/ready a weapon and make a counterattack with no multiple-action penalties, provided the weapon is a valid form weapon for Obsessed Follower style. She also gains bonus successes on her resulting Join Battle roll equal to her Essence.
You Can't Leave Me
Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive (Step 10)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Crippling
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: I Don't Want to Share
Sometimes those we love want to hurt us. The best way to prevent this is to prevent them from being able to. This Charm enhances an attack made against a positive Intimacy. Provided the attack would have dealt three or more levels of lethal or aggravated damage, the martial artist can choose to forgo all damage to apply one Crippling amputation of her choice. Damage from blood loss is neither removed nor mitigated, necessitating swift medical action... unless the user is feeling vengeful.
Mine Forever
Cost: - ; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Emotion
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: You Can't Leave Me, That's a Lie!
This charm is the ultimate answer to a loved one's betrayal. Should the martial artist's Obsession have previously expressed kindness or affection to her (even if such a display was not genuine) but now spurns her, this Charm takes effect. Any attempt at dissuading her from pursuing him becomes an unacceptable order. In addition, should she be suffering from this betrayal, she may activate Obsessed Follower Form reflexively and without using a Charm activation when in the presence of her Obsession or one of his Intimacies.
Finally, killing or destroying one of the betrayer's positive Intimacies grants the martial artist two points of temporary willpower, while killing her Obsession grants up to the higher of her Compassion or Conviction rating in willpower. This total may go above her permanent willpower. She gains a point of Limit or Resonance every time she gains willpower from this terrible vengeance.