Anti-Wyld Fu
This is Blood and Iron Style
Early in the years of the Shogunate, the Lunar martial artist named Mountain Still Stands went to the Carnival of Meeting, seeking audience with Luna. She had stood aside when the Dragon-Blooded came for her mate, having witnessed the horrors of Operation Wyldhand, but now she realized that there had been a price: now, only the Lunars and the Dragon-Blooded stood against the Wyld tides, for the Sidereals had retreated to Heaven, hidden themselves behind the broken Mask.
Luna and Gaia met with Mountain Still Stands, and they heard the Lunar out as she explained her reasoning. Luna laughed, for she knew well that the raksha feared her. Gaia, however, looked thoughtful. She told Mountain to return at the end of the Carnival. Mountain did so.
When she had left the Emerald Mother and the Silver Lady, she wondered what she would be shown. When she returned, she was amazed. The Emerald Mother was alone, and said nothing. She merely raised her hand, shaping around the two an image of Creation, of the brilliant, wild Essence lines that the Emerald Mother had placed throughout it. She showed the Mountain a secret: that which is real.
And so, taking this secret, the Lunar left Heaven, and meditated upon what the Emerald Mother had shown her. At last, she understood. To defeat infinite hordes, there needed only be one Creation, for Creation was more than Wyld tides: it was iron and stone, and its blood was Gaia's Essence. Like Creation, to stand against the infinite hordes of madness one needed iron and blood.
And so the core of Blood and Iron Style was formed. Mountain Still Stands had planned to form a tribe containing the blood of the Dragons, to ensure that the Dragon-Blooded would be able to stand against the Wyld. Her hopes were dashed, however, as the style was finished only days before the Great Contagion began in earnest. Still - she had completed the shield she hoped to turn against the Wyld. Carving the katas and stances into iron slabs, she hid her teachings where she hoped they would be found. Many of the places she used were lost to the Contagion and the Balorian Crusade - but not all.
Today, some of the iron slabs have been rediscovered by the Silver Pact, guided by the secretive hints left behind by Mountain before her death, holding back an entire army of the Fair Folk. Others have been found be a small group of Outcaste Dragon-Blooded barbarians. The Pact has yet to fully disseminate the slabs, as the Sun King Seneschals dislike the idea of spreading the teaching of one who abandoned her mate in the Usurptation, but the style is beginning to spread. The Outcastes have a single Dragon-blood able to use the style - an aging yogi whom they found alongside the slabs, at the top of a mountain. He is trying to teach the others the ascetic practices needed to unlock the Bulb of the Lotus, so that they may learn the secrets of the style, which he believes are his alone now.
Creation Knows Its Own
Cost: 1m
Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive (Step 7)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Creation rejects those outside its embrace, but all who are born to it are accepted. Like Creation's fury, the martial artist's blows harm only those who should not be. This Charm may be activated only when the user is attacking, causing the attack to have no effect on any target that is not Outside Fate, but imparting full effects on anything that is, as well as all creatures of the Wyld.
Blood is Thicker than Dreams
Cost: 4m
Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: One scene
Prereqs: Creation Knows Its Own
The Wyld spawns infinite horrors, while Creation is but one. Despite this, in all its infinite horror, the Wyld has never consumed Creation. Like the world, the martial artist may stand against the infinite hordes and be undaunted, though he is but one. While this Charm is active, the martial artist suffers no DV penalties caused by being the target of coordinated attacks.
Rejected by the Emerald Mother
Cost: 4m1wp
Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prereqs: Creation Knows Its Own
Creation withdraws its blessing from those who are infused with too much Wyld. The taint of the Wyld is too much for any to bear, and the martial artist offers the mercy of Creation to those whose bodies are altered so. As the martial artist readies his blow, he pulls wild living essence from his own blood. It erupts from his limbs as he strikes, leaving long scars. This Charm supplements on unarmed Martial Arts attack, adding two to the raw damage, plus another die for every point of mutations the target has, counting negative mutations as if they were positive for this purpose. Mutations granted by Lunar knacks do not count for this purpose. However, the foreign nature of Alchemical Charms causes the wild, almost Gaian Essence this Charm channels to reject mutations caused by them. This Charm fails to function in areas of the Wyld deeper than the Bordermarches.
Blood and Iron Form
Cost: 5m
Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple (Speed 4)
Keywords: Form-Type, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prereqs: Rejected by the Emerald Mother, Blood is Thicker than Dreams.
The martial artist performs the Mudra of the Emerald Mother, assuming a stance of firm power. His limbs harden, turning to the color of iron. The martial artist's unarmed attacks may now deal or parry lethal without a stunt, and his limbs are considered to be made of iron for all purposes, as are any form weapons. (This is in addition to any other materials they may be made of, not in replacement of.) In addition, the martial artist is immune to Wyld mutation for the duration of the Charm.
Mother's Protecting Embrace
Cost: -
Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prereqs: Blood and Iron Form
Creation's stability holds back the Wyld tides. In days of old, great jade obelisks, blessed in the name of the Emerald Mother, stood against them. A touch of their power is granted to the martial artist. The martial artist considers the Wyld to be one degree closer to Creation than it actually is for all purposes, though this affects only the martial artist.
Clothed in the Mother's Love
Cost: 2m+, 1wp
Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive (Step 5)
Keywords: Obvious, Combo-OK
Duration: One tick
Prereqs: Mother's Protecting Embrace
The Wyld is unreal, and while its tides may change those who are too weak to assert their own reality, Creation itself endures by Gaia's love. The martial artist armors himself in Creation's reality, calling on a shimmering, rainbow-colored armor of Creation's wild essence. He gains one bashing soak per two motes spent on this Charm and one lethal soak per three motes spent on this Charm. He may spend no more than (Martial Arts*3) motes on this Charm. However, against Creatures of the Wyld, he gains lethal and bashing Hardness equal to his total lethal and bashing soak, respectively. This soak counts as armored against most enemies, but natural against creatures of the Wyld. This Charm fails to function in areas of the Wyld deeper than the Bordermarches.
Iron Mirror Fist
Cost: 3m
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Compulsion
Duration: Instant
Prereqs: Blood and Iron Form
The Wyld's armies are mockeries of Creation, and for all their vaunted potential, they always ape their betters. However, they are flawed, and in doing so, they open themselves to their foes. Armed with this knowledge, the wise act heroically - and so force their foes to ape them. This supplements an unarmed Martial Arts attack which the martial artist has channeled a Virtue to aid. As an unblockable, undodgeable mental attack with successes equal to the attack roll's successes, the target must, as a Compulsion effect, spend a Virtue channel of the same Virtue to aid his defense against this attack - even if the situation is inappropriate for a channel of the chosen Virtue. Channeling a Virtue in this manner provides all normal benefits. This is unnatural mental influence which costs one Willpower to resist.
Iron Blood Prana
Cost: 4m
Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive (Step 7)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prereqs: Iron Mirror Fist
Even when the Wyld wounds Creation, the world resists it, ensuring that it cannot stake full claim. So too does the martial artist, making even his blood into a weapon for Creation. When struck by a Creature of the Wyld, the user may activate this Charm to launch an immediate counterattack, with a dicepool of (Essence+Martial Arts) and a raw damage equal to the raw damage of the attack being countered. It may not deal more post-soak damage than the martial artist's (Martial Arts+Essence). The attack takes the form of Essence-laden blood launched from area struck by the original attack, even if the attack dealt no post-soak damage.
World Cradle Atemi
Cost: 10m1wp1lhl
Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Shaping, Touch
Duration: Instant
Prereqs: Clothed in the Mother's Love, Iron Blood Prana
The heart of Creation is its reality, and it resents those who would reject it. What Creation resents, the Emerald Mother rejects. Drawing on her power, the martial artist calls upon Creation's living Essence, channeling it through his own body. He makes an unarmed Martial Arts attack against his foe, and should he strike, in addition to any damage he would deal, he immediately makes contested roll of (Essence+Martial Arts) vs. his opponent's (Essence+Martial Arts). Should the martial artist win, the opponent chooses a Shaping effect that they have created. This Shaping effect ends in a blaze of harmless Essence, grounding itself in a matter of seconds.
Early in the years of the Shogunate, the Lunar martial artist named Mountain Still Stands went to the Carnival of Meeting, seeking audience with Luna. She had stood aside when the Dragon-Blooded came for her mate, having witnessed the horrors of Operation Wyldhand, but now she realized that there had been a price: now, only the Lunars and the Dragon-Blooded stood against the Wyld tides, for the Sidereals had retreated to Heaven, hidden themselves behind the broken Mask.
Luna and Gaia met with Mountain Still Stands, and they heard the Lunar out as she explained her reasoning. Luna laughed, for she knew well that the raksha feared her. Gaia, however, looked thoughtful. She told Mountain to return at the end of the Carnival. Mountain did so.
When she had left the Emerald Mother and the Silver Lady, she wondered what she would be shown. When she returned, she was amazed. The Emerald Mother was alone, and said nothing. She merely raised her hand, shaping around the two an image of Creation, of the brilliant, wild Essence lines that the Emerald Mother had placed throughout it. She showed the Mountain a secret: that which is real.
And so, taking this secret, the Lunar left Heaven, and meditated upon what the Emerald Mother had shown her. At last, she understood. To defeat infinite hordes, there needed only be one Creation, for Creation was more than Wyld tides: it was iron and stone, and its blood was Gaia's Essence. Like Creation, to stand against the infinite hordes of madness one needed iron and blood.
And so the core of Blood and Iron Style was formed. Mountain Still Stands had planned to form a tribe containing the blood of the Dragons, to ensure that the Dragon-Blooded would be able to stand against the Wyld. Her hopes were dashed, however, as the style was finished only days before the Great Contagion began in earnest. Still - she had completed the shield she hoped to turn against the Wyld. Carving the katas and stances into iron slabs, she hid her teachings where she hoped they would be found. Many of the places she used were lost to the Contagion and the Balorian Crusade - but not all.
Today, some of the iron slabs have been rediscovered by the Silver Pact, guided by the secretive hints left behind by Mountain before her death, holding back an entire army of the Fair Folk. Others have been found be a small group of Outcaste Dragon-Blooded barbarians. The Pact has yet to fully disseminate the slabs, as the Sun King Seneschals dislike the idea of spreading the teaching of one who abandoned her mate in the Usurptation, but the style is beginning to spread. The Outcastes have a single Dragon-blood able to use the style - an aging yogi whom they found alongside the slabs, at the top of a mountain. He is trying to teach the others the ascetic practices needed to unlock the Bulb of the Lotus, so that they may learn the secrets of the style, which he believes are his alone now.
Creation Knows Its Own
Cost: 1m
Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive (Step 7)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Creation rejects those outside its embrace, but all who are born to it are accepted. Like Creation's fury, the martial artist's blows harm only those who should not be. This Charm may be activated only when the user is attacking, causing the attack to have no effect on any target that is not Outside Fate, but imparting full effects on anything that is, as well as all creatures of the Wyld.
Blood is Thicker than Dreams
Cost: 4m
Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: One scene
Prereqs: Creation Knows Its Own
The Wyld spawns infinite horrors, while Creation is but one. Despite this, in all its infinite horror, the Wyld has never consumed Creation. Like the world, the martial artist may stand against the infinite hordes and be undaunted, though he is but one. While this Charm is active, the martial artist suffers no DV penalties caused by being the target of coordinated attacks.
Rejected by the Emerald Mother
Cost: 4m1wp
Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prereqs: Creation Knows Its Own
Creation withdraws its blessing from those who are infused with too much Wyld. The taint of the Wyld is too much for any to bear, and the martial artist offers the mercy of Creation to those whose bodies are altered so. As the martial artist readies his blow, he pulls wild living essence from his own blood. It erupts from his limbs as he strikes, leaving long scars. This Charm supplements on unarmed Martial Arts attack, adding two to the raw damage, plus another die for every point of mutations the target has, counting negative mutations as if they were positive for this purpose. Mutations granted by Lunar knacks do not count for this purpose. However, the foreign nature of Alchemical Charms causes the wild, almost Gaian Essence this Charm channels to reject mutations caused by them. This Charm fails to function in areas of the Wyld deeper than the Bordermarches.
Blood and Iron Form
Cost: 5m
Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple (Speed 4)
Keywords: Form-Type, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prereqs: Rejected by the Emerald Mother, Blood is Thicker than Dreams.
The martial artist performs the Mudra of the Emerald Mother, assuming a stance of firm power. His limbs harden, turning to the color of iron. The martial artist's unarmed attacks may now deal or parry lethal without a stunt, and his limbs are considered to be made of iron for all purposes, as are any form weapons. (This is in addition to any other materials they may be made of, not in replacement of.) In addition, the martial artist is immune to Wyld mutation for the duration of the Charm.
Mother's Protecting Embrace
Cost: -
Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prereqs: Blood and Iron Form
Creation's stability holds back the Wyld tides. In days of old, great jade obelisks, blessed in the name of the Emerald Mother, stood against them. A touch of their power is granted to the martial artist. The martial artist considers the Wyld to be one degree closer to Creation than it actually is for all purposes, though this affects only the martial artist.
Clothed in the Mother's Love
Cost: 2m+, 1wp
Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive (Step 5)
Keywords: Obvious, Combo-OK
Duration: One tick
Prereqs: Mother's Protecting Embrace
The Wyld is unreal, and while its tides may change those who are too weak to assert their own reality, Creation itself endures by Gaia's love. The martial artist armors himself in Creation's reality, calling on a shimmering, rainbow-colored armor of Creation's wild essence. He gains one bashing soak per two motes spent on this Charm and one lethal soak per three motes spent on this Charm. He may spend no more than (Martial Arts*3) motes on this Charm. However, against Creatures of the Wyld, he gains lethal and bashing Hardness equal to his total lethal and bashing soak, respectively. This soak counts as armored against most enemies, but natural against creatures of the Wyld. This Charm fails to function in areas of the Wyld deeper than the Bordermarches.
Iron Mirror Fist
Cost: 3m
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Compulsion
Duration: Instant
Prereqs: Blood and Iron Form
The Wyld's armies are mockeries of Creation, and for all their vaunted potential, they always ape their betters. However, they are flawed, and in doing so, they open themselves to their foes. Armed with this knowledge, the wise act heroically - and so force their foes to ape them. This supplements an unarmed Martial Arts attack which the martial artist has channeled a Virtue to aid. As an unblockable, undodgeable mental attack with successes equal to the attack roll's successes, the target must, as a Compulsion effect, spend a Virtue channel of the same Virtue to aid his defense against this attack - even if the situation is inappropriate for a channel of the chosen Virtue. Channeling a Virtue in this manner provides all normal benefits. This is unnatural mental influence which costs one Willpower to resist.
Iron Blood Prana
Cost: 4m
Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive (Step 7)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prereqs: Iron Mirror Fist
Even when the Wyld wounds Creation, the world resists it, ensuring that it cannot stake full claim. So too does the martial artist, making even his blood into a weapon for Creation. When struck by a Creature of the Wyld, the user may activate this Charm to launch an immediate counterattack, with a dicepool of (Essence+Martial Arts) and a raw damage equal to the raw damage of the attack being countered. It may not deal more post-soak damage than the martial artist's (Martial Arts+Essence). The attack takes the form of Essence-laden blood launched from area struck by the original attack, even if the attack dealt no post-soak damage.
World Cradle Atemi
Cost: 10m1wp1lhl
Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Shaping, Touch
Duration: Instant
Prereqs: Clothed in the Mother's Love, Iron Blood Prana
The heart of Creation is its reality, and it resents those who would reject it. What Creation resents, the Emerald Mother rejects. Drawing on her power, the martial artist calls upon Creation's living Essence, channeling it through his own body. He makes an unarmed Martial Arts attack against his foe, and should he strike, in addition to any damage he would deal, he immediately makes contested roll of (Essence+Martial Arts) vs. his opponent's (Essence+Martial Arts). Should the martial artist win, the opponent chooses a Shaping effect that they have created. This Shaping effect ends in a blaze of harmless Essence, grounding itself in a matter of seconds.