Heart-Rending Cruelty Technique

Cost: 5m, 1wp); Mins: Investigation 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple (Speed 6 in long ticks)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Emotion, Social
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Any Investigation Excellency

While the Abyssal activates this Charm, he promises to destroy what his victim loves. For the rest of the scene, whenever the deathknight follows through on his threats by killing or otherwise destroying the subject of any positive Intimacy the victim holds and the victim can perceive the loss, the victim automatically loses three points of Willpower. (Deathknight victims gain two points of Resonance as well, while other Exalted victims gain two points of Limit.) Revealing incontrovertible evidence that the Abyssal previously destroyed an Intimacy subject that the victim did not know had been destroyed achieves the same effect. The Intimacy itself does not fade, though it might shift context slightly toward remembering the loss if the victim wishes.

Only a perfect defense against mental influence can block the effects of this trauma. If a victim of lesser Essence than the Abyssal falls to zero Willpower points in the same scene as she loses the subject of an Intimacy, her will instantly breaks from the anguish of the loss. Mortals broken thus may be given normally unacceptable orders, such as killing themselves. Celestial Exalted are explicitly immune to being broken by this Charm, but only the most heartless sociopaths have nothing to fear from Heart-Rending Cruelty Technique.