Table of Contents
FIRST ORAMUS EXCELLENCY The Dragon Beyond The World is beyond comprehension and enigmatic, old beyond all others. He keeps his wisdom to himself and disregards conventions. The Ourobouros Border of Reality is the ultimate boundary and defines possibility, encircling that which is. He is at home with paradox and mocks dualities. His crazed nightmares are wondrous and contain disturbing beauty along with insanity-sparking revelations. The Infinite Doorway to All Terrors is alien and eccentric, creating beautiful and maddening artwork, the Stranger In The Pallid Mask serving as a source of limitless inspiration and impossible genius that defies the odds, for he sees what others cannot. The Final Shore of Comprehension is a doorway to terror and knowledge best left unspoken, for the truths of Oramus are not for others to know. There is no force that can stay or bind the Inverted Firmament of Crazed Stars save himself, for he is more real than any other thing. The seven wings he bears beat and fan the tides of Chaos, yet Oramus is not of the Wyld - his origin can never be known for he defies definition, laughing at the shinma and existing everywhere in some form, the horror and madness he drags around himself and carries in his unparalleled artworks a source of wisdom best unsought for. This Excellency may always be used for any action associated in any way with the number seven or its multiples, any action which defies conventions or in the production of artwork. It may not be used under coercion - Oramus is his own creature and disregards hierarchies. ORAMUS MYTHOS EXULTANT SORCEROUS INITIATION OF ORAMUS THE ORAMAIC URGE - THE URGE TO CREATE The Urge of Oramus is to create some new world-changing thing, a wonder whose invention rocks the world and drives all either to imitate or rail against it. High-Compassion Oramaic Princes are driven to create new races and species to populate Creation or the Demon City, while High-Conviction Princes are urged to make new magical and technical developments. High-Temperance Princes are usually compelled towards the production of artwork, while High-Valor Oramaic Princes are driven to create nations and empires and spread them over the face of Creation. THE ORAMAIC TORMENT - ENTANGLING DRAGON-COIL CONFINEMENT ACT OF VILLAINY - GRASPING AND HOARDING SECRETS Anyway, the Charm tree I've thought up (probably will be the most important part of his primary social tree (as well as dealing with his 'enigma' theme), in addition to some others I'm still thinking about): BEAUTIFUL IN MY WAYCost: -; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Permanent Oramus is alien - he is Other in a sense that none of the other Yozis can match. And yet he possesses an eerie, strange beauty that draws demons to his perpetually bound self like moths to a candle flame. On purchasing this Charm the Infernal's Appearance is increased to 5 - but it is an alien beauty, and fascinating others as they are drawn unstoppably into its orbit. Every scene the Infernal spends with another character counts as Unnatural Mental Influence devoted to building an Intimacy of rapt fascination in that character. SECRETS OF THE SELF HELD FASTCost: 7m, 1wp When Oramus is asked his cause for action, in the most case his only response is a wry, knowing smile that hides his actions in a veil of enigmas and riddles. The Infernal may invoke this in Social Combat as a Perfect Defence against any attempt to read her Motivation, her body language disappearing and the sole expression on her otherwise neutral face a knowing smile that seems to mock the interrogator as he struggles to discover her intentions. THE IMPERFECTION OF THE DRAGON BEYOND THE WORLDA Charm suffering the Imperfection of the Dragon Beyond the World may not be used when the world or the Infernal is in a transitory state. Examples are: the exact moment of midnight (the transition between days), dawn and dusk (the transitions between day and night), the indefinable moment between sleep and wakefulness, the threshold of a house or other building, the border between land and sea, or the border of a geographical feature such as a city or forest. The Infernal automatically knows whether or not this Imperfection applies to himself in a given scenario. This Imperfection never functions if the attacker is the one in a transitionary state, and such areas as crossroads (in the clearly defined state of 'being a crossroads') never count for it. MASQUE OF HOLLOW FACESCost: 9m, 1wp The mind of Oramus is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, and grasping what he thinks or cares about is a truly challenging task, beyond even the greatest savants of the First Age. NAME SHROUDED UNDER VEILSCost: - It is the sole pleasure of Oramus in his imprisonment that he may mock those who propose to know his true name, for in actuality he has seven impossible ones, and all the other monikers, titles and sobriquets mortals create can never properly describe or define his true and utterly paradoxical nature. FALSE IDENTITY INTERNALISATIONCost: - Oramus may hide his innermost nature just as well as he decieves others to his name and personality, for what men see of him is never the whole picture or the uttermost truth - such things he never deigns to reveal, for what he holds to himself he always has power over. NIGHTMARES GLANCED THROUGH THE MIND'S EYECost: 7m The nightmares of Oramus seep into the warlock's mind, not strong enough to yet appear in his dreams but still enough for a glimpse to serve as a mental defence against his enemies, should they seek to break his mind. MULTIPLE ORIGINS INTERTWININGCost: - The story of Oramus has many origins written for him, and none and all are true at the same moment, so that none know the beginning of his tale or the details of his genesis. INSANE GRACEFUL MOVEMENTSCost: 7m, 1wp Oramus moves in ways which are impossibly graceful, their alien geometries drawing all eyes to him and eliciting a feeling of terrible beauty about him - at least, they would if he were not bound inside his own broken wings. HORROR AND BEAUTY AS ONECost: - The beauty of Oramus is found in his horror and his horror in his beauty. Given enough time, the two become indistinguishable. SEVEN SIGNIFIERS OF SELFCost: - Upon purchase of this Charm, the Infernal gains seven distinguishing features (decided between the Storyteller and the Player) which define him as himself and no other being. They are Obvious to Charms such as All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight, appearing as tendrils of rainbow essence curling about the warlock. GLIMPSED THROUGH A WARPED MIRRORCost: 14m, 2wp Oramus is a dragon with seven wings. He is also a temple with seven minarets, an ourobouros-serpent of seven colours, a galleon with seven masts anchored to a single pearl, and many more besides. These are facets of the true Oramus in all the infinite realities where he is manifest - they are the selves he is in many other worlds. What Is and What Should Never BeCost: — The Dragon Beyond the World only ever sees that which Is Not, the beings, concepts, and stranger things fundamentally forbidden to Creation by the nature of the Shinma chosen to define it. What stupefying wonders and bright horrors are there to behold! Compared to these, the material of Creation is as dross and ash, an unfit subject for meditation. By his deeds shall the Impossible Dragon sing this truth. The Infernal becomes the gatekeeper of unearthly magnificence, gaining a Stunt Pool equal to the sum of his two lowest Virtues. As with a Raksha Stunt Pool, the Infernal may draw dice from this pool to supplement any action, including an action that would not normally qualify for a stunt (the Storyteller always has first preference for granting stunt dice to an action). No action may have more than three stunt dice applied to it in total, whether from the Storyteller, this Charm, or a combination of the two. Successes granted by any stunt dice are treated as normal stunt dice successes that can activate (Yozi) Mythos Exultant benefits. This Stunt Pool automatically refreshes at the beginning of each story. Additionally, stunt dice that are retained through Oramus Mythos Exultant can be added to the Stunt Pool, up to the Stunt Pool’s maximum. An Essence 3 repurchase of this Charm increases the Stunt Pool to the sum of the Infernal’s highest and lowest Virtues, while an Essence 4 repurchase increases the Stunt Pool to the sum of the Infernal’s two highest Virtues. A final repurchase at Essence 5 increases the Stunt Pool to the sum of all of the Infernal’s Virtues. Play the Music, Light the LightsCost: 10m, 1 wp How can these mobile lumps of clay stand to live in such drear? Oramus shall give them a glimpse of profound horror, such that they shall never forget the powerful dramas enacted just beyond their vision! The Infernal creates a Wyld zone, centered on her, with a radius of [permanent Essence x 100] yards. At Essence 10, this changes to a radius of (permanent Essence) miles and becomes a Blasphemy effect. Countermagic targeted at the center of the Wyld zone dispels it. The Wyld zone has all the characteristics of a Bordermarch, becoming a Middlemarch at Essence 3, Deep Wyld at Essence 4, and Pure Chaos at Essence 5. Impresario’s Sure HandCost: — It is not proper for a director to become entranced by the scenery and lose sight of the production. The Infernal becomes perfectly immune to effects of exposure to the Wyld, including mutation and Wyld Addiction. Sheltering the TroupeCost: 2+m Be In rare moments of relative sanity, the Lord of Not sees the value of protecting useful friends from the wrenching beauties of the Beyond. The Infernal can extend the protection of Impresario’s Sure Hand to any number of targets at a cost of 2m per target. An Essence 4 repurchase extends the duration of this protection for a number of weeks equal to the Infernal’s permanent Essence. Calculating Dho-Hna AnglesCost: 0+m Through his unfathomable power and profound madness, Oramus can defy the Shinma for brief periods of time to impose alien principles and paradoxical truths on an unsuspecting reality; who can hope to defend against that which has no precedent or referent to the possible? A physical attack supplemented by this Charm becomes unexpected, with no chance for the victim to engage in a roll to remove this label. Only Charms or similar magical effects that explicitly remove the unexpected label, such as Threat Monitoring Excitement, can allow the target to defend normally. An Essence 4 repurchase permits this Charm to be used to supplement Social Attacks. This Charm has a tiered cost. If the Infernal is in Creation and Yu-Shan, it costs 8m. In the Bordermarches or the Underworld, it costs 4m. In the Middlemarches or Malfeas, it costs 2m. In the Deep Wyld, it costs 1m. In Pure Chaos, it costs 0m. Dreams of Air and DarknessCost: 3m The Dragon Beyond the World was feared by all who opposed him, and rightly so; what can shelter you from that which is only as tangible as a dream, yet horribly real? This Charm follows all of the same rules as its prerequisite, including costs, but permits the supplemented attack to ignore any bonuses granted to the target’s DV by cover. An Essence 4 repurchase allows the Charm to ignore natural soak and any soak and Hardness from a non-magical source as well. Deadly Trompe l’oeilCost: 5m During the Primordial War, many were the Exalted hosts who thought to attack Oramus from afar or to engage him in guerilla hit-and-run battles. They were…disappointed to discover that the Impossible Dragon did not honor such concepts as “distance.” This Charm permits the Infernal to attack any target who attacked the Infernal during the scene, regardless of the distance between the Infernal and the target. The Infernal does not actually move as a result of this Charm; she simply draws upon exotic and alien formulations to fold and pierce the concepts of space and distance for an action (although the sympathetic link created between the Infernal and the target at the moment of the Infernal’s attack permits the target to counterattack the Infernal, if applicable). When used against a Charm that imposed an arbitrary amount of distance between the Infernal and the target, such as Swallowed in Eternity, a roll-off is required. An Essence 4 repurchase of this Charm permits the Infernal to attack such a target even if the target is in another plane of existence from the Infernal. Actors in a Child’s PlayCost: — What delight the Impossible Dragon takes in the Raksha! While they are still lesser, pitiful beings, at least they struggle in their feeble ways to comprehend the majesty of the Beyond. Oramus honors them by joining in their little games. The Infernal may choose to engage in Shaping Combat with a Raksha, as described in Graceful, Wicked Masques. For these purposes, the Infernal’s rating in each Grace corresponds to the Infernal’s applicable Virtue plus the Infernal’s permanent Essence score. In the unlikely event that the Infernal is defeated in Shaping Combat, the Infernal is affected like any other Creation-born entity. Painted Wooden SwordsCost: 4+m The Raksha must forge their weapons, monsters, and conjurations out of the vital essence of what defines them; Oramus is not so limited. The Infernal conjures a Shaping Combat weapon or armor into existence by paying 4m plus the Artifact value of the weapon or armor in question. The weapon or armor produced by this Charm is only useful in Shaping Combat; a conjured behemoth, for example, cannot be set free to rampage across Creation and is not built with mutations. Bright Costumes and Bold MakeupCost: 4m History records that Oramus was a mighty dragon with seven limbs, but he was never constrained by so petty a concept as shape. By activating this Charm, the Infernal may appear as anything she desires as an Illusion effect. Changing her appearance requires reactivating the Charm. Seeing through this Illusion requires the viewer to spend Willpower equal to the Infernal’s permanent Essence (maximum of 5 Willpower); once a viewer pierces the Infernal’s illusory shape, the viewer cannot be affected by this Charm again in the Scene. The listed cost is for activations of this Charm outside of the Wyld; in the Wyld, this Charm is free. Pyreflame FootlightsCost: 15m, 1wp The Neverborn are pure examples of the impossible made actual; the Primordials could not die, and yet a number of them now suffer in agony forever in death without end. Owing to this, Oramus finds them unhealthily fascinating and remains the only Yozi who will treat with them (besides the Ebon Dragon, who transgresses all bounds of propriety). Dancer in Infinite SilenceCost: — As the Lord of Not conversed with his dead siblings in dreams, he discovered to his great surprise that the twisted world spawned from their nightmares contained within it a faint spark of the blazing inferno of the Beyond, for it was a thing that could not be, and yet demonstrably existed. This Charm upgrades Pyreflame Footlights. While that Charm is active, the Infernal considers the Underworld and all denizens native to the Underworld, such as ghosts, to be magical (see "Magic"). Flowers Bloom Like MadnessCost: 6m Kimbery fancies herself a great artist of grand guignol atrocities, and Autochthon was only tolerated by his brethren because of his abilities as the Great Maker, but no Primordial could match Oramus for the sheer, impossible splendor of his works, each one as unique as a snowflake, as precious as a jewel falling into a still pool of water, and as deadly as cold steel. This is only just; Oramus was inspired by the nightmare un-scapes of the Beyond, and nothing can behold such sights without penalty. Muse of Unearthly DelightsCost: 10m, 1wp Oramus is a generous soul, willing to impart stunning visions of the Beyond to those capable of appreciating the soul-wrenching vistas. That such an experience is invariably damaging to the mortal mind is something he either does not realize or does not consider important; demonic scholars continue to debate this issue. The Infernal acts as a wicked muse for another person within sight of the Infernal, granting that person successes to a specific kind of Craft roll. Upon activation of this Charm, the Infernal learns what, if any, score the target has in Craft, and the Infernal determines the Craft specialty to which the bonus successes are applied (successes cannot be allocated among multiple Craft specialties without multiple activations of this Charm). The same restrictions regarding the unique nature of the Crafted result as imposed by Flowers Bloom Like Madness apply to this Charm. In addition, the number of successes granted equals the bonus point cost of a Derangement mutation, chosen by the Infernal, that is imposed on the target at the same time as the bonuses. Both the bonuses and the Derangement last for the remainder of the Scene. Bafflement of Shining ScalesCost: 8m The most powerful weapons and Charms levied against the Impossible Dragon during the Primordial War failed against the alien powers he could marshal; attacks would be swallowed up by impossible angles, wasted as Oramus fractured reality such that he would be both killed and untouched at the same time, and otherwise thwarted in an endless number of ways. Then one day a young Solar, the sole survivor of an ill-fated expedition against the Dragon Beyond the World, exhausted, bereft of Essence and without Artifact weapons, swung her fist against Oramus in a last and desperate act of defiance. The limits of this power were finally revealed. [Imperfection of the Dragon Beyond the World – The terrible power of the Beyond is inimical in the extreme to the mundane realities of Creation, but then again, the reverse is also true; they cut through each other like hot knives through butter. A Charm with this Imperfection is inapplicable against non-magical attacks or damage from non-magical sources. Additionally, activating a Charm with this Imperfection warps the Infernal with impossible energy, halving her DVs and setting her soak and Hardness from any magical source to 0 against non-magical attacks until her DV refreshes.] [Greater Imperfection of the Dragon Beyond the World – So soaked is Oramus in impossible power that it permanently infects his constitution. Any Charm with the Imperfection of the Dragon Beyond the World becomes permanent and is considered to be active at all times, even against unexpected attacks, at no cost; however, the DV of the Infernal drops to 0 against non-magical attacks or sources of damage, and the Infernal's soak and Hardness from any source is always 0 against such things.] [Concept: Magic - Magic is, in some small measure, an extrusion of the impossible into the real. empowered anything empowered by magic carries a small part of what Is Not with it at all times, and can be thwarted by the same. Anything that is enhanced by Essence, whether through a Charm, a spell, or the expenditure of motes, counts as magical, as do Artifact weapons and armor, weapons or armor formed by a Charm or spell, or an attack that is otherwise composed of Essence. For example, an attack supplemented by the First Melee Excellency is magical, as is the Godspear attack of the Five Metal Shrike and a melee attack from a Lunar with Claws of the Silver Moon active. Beings with Essence 10 are always magical, as are beings with any mutations or Derangements, the Raksha, attacks from any being that has used an Essence effect to passively boost an Attribute or Ability used in the attack, attacks from an Exalt in Limit Break, and any environmental damage that occurs in the Wyld. As an exception to the general rule regarding magical attacks, an attack supplemented only by Ghost-Eating Technique is not considered magical; Oblivion hungers for Primordial life and will not be denied.] Words that Twist Like DaggersCost: 2m Those who talk with Oramus do so as gingerly as those who once warred against him, for it is in the nature of the Impossible Dragon to spread madness like the clouds spread rain. A social attack supplemented by this Charm becomes unnatural mental influence. If the target of the Infernal’s social attack does not successfully resist the attack, the Infernal may choose to impose a Derangement of the Infernal’s choice on the target in addition to any other effects of the successful social attack. This Derangement lasts until the end of the scene. At Essence 4, the Derangement can become permanent as a Desecration effect at the Infernal’s discretion if the Infernal successfully attacks the target with this Charm a number of times in the scene equal to the bonus point value of the Derangement in question; the Derangement is still temporarily imposed upon the first successful use of this Charm in a Scene, and subsequent uses simply build towards the Derangement’s permanence. Soul-Eroding ProductionCost: — The masques, plays, operas, exhibitions, and other events sponsored by Oramus before the Primordial War are still famous even today among the denizens of Malfeas, sending the audiences insane with joy at the spectacles of pure artistry wrought by the Lord of Not. Soothing Balm of InsanityCost: 1m The changeability of Oramus’ perspective was a byword among his Primordial brethren; he seemed to be a veritable kaleidoscope of madness. The Infernal may activate this Charm in response to any successful social attack or mental influence. The Infernal perfectly parries the successful attack. The Infernal then imposes a Derangement on herself with a bonus point value that is equal to or greater than the amount of Willpower that would have been required to cancel the attack’s effects; a Derangement that qualifies as a Deformity will substitute for any amount of Willpower. This Derangement remains for the rest of the Scene. The Infernal cannot impose a Derangement on herself that she already has; if that is the only option, this Charm fails. However, the Infernal can re-impose a Partial Limit Break Virtue Flaw, which then becomes the fully-uncontrolled version. Fractured Mind EmpowermentCost: — Oramus has no use for sanity, as he has long since discovered the power that can be reaped from shattering his own lucidity to let the mad power of the Beyond flow through him. The Infernal gains an Overdrive pool of up to 15 motes. Initially empty, the Infernal can fill the pool by imposing a Derangement on herself as a free action. Doing so adds the values of the Derangement in bonus points as motes to the pool. Additionally, this value is added again to the pool each time the Infernal acts in accordance with the Derangement, at the Storyteller's discretion. For example, an Infernal who flurries to waste an attack on an imaginary foe during combat would gain 2 overdrive motes for mimicking the Delusions Derangement. Any Derangement gained by this Charm remains in effect for the rest of the Scene. Ornamental Lunatic Pyre ShintaiCost: 15m, 1wp Oramus is not content merely to transmit the glory of the Beyond. His abysmal madness and horrifying power concentrates the experience as a prism focuses a ray of light through this, the least of his Shintai Charms, intensifying the experience many times over. Mortals caught up in the experience very quickly become broken, twisted, mewling wretches, hopelessly addicted to the limitless possibilities of the Wyld. Return to Infernal Charms |
Oramus
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