Bestow the Saffron Mantle
Cost: 1m + 1m per dot lent; Mins: Bureaucracy 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Dynasty, Servitude, Touch
Duration: Special
Prerequisite Charms: Geese-Flying-South Administration, Benevolent Master's Blessing
The Terrestrial Reinforcement Charm for Bureaucracy permits a Dragon-Blood to supernaturally augment the Bureaucracy skills of trusted retainers. Ultimately, however, the Dragon-Blood must trust to the personal judgment of such retainers in doing their jobs unless she micro-manages their work, a task beneath the dignity of busy Exalt. With this Charm, the Exalt can designate a single trusted mortal to serve as her proxy in business matters. For the duration of the Charm, the proxy will have the Dragon-Blood's Bureaucracy Ability rating, and the cost of the Charm is one mote plus one for every dot that the proxy's rating is improved. This Essence is committed for the duration of the Charm, which is equal to one week per success achieved by the Dragon-Blood's player on a (Perception + Bureaucracy) roll. The Exalt can terminate the Charm at any time, but the Essence spent is committed until the Charm ends. This Charm is completely ineffective on supernatural beings.
In addition to an improved Bureaucracy rating, the proxy automatically develops a Motivation to faithfully serve the Dragon-Blood for the duration of the Charm. This new Motivation completely supplants any prior Motivation possessed by the proxy as long as the Charm lasts. Most importantly, the proxy need not guess how best to serve the Dragon-Blood's interests, as he knows intuitively exactly what the Dragon-Blood would do if she were in his place.
The Charm confers one final benefit that is seldom discussed among the Dragon-Blooded, as its application is considered an affront to the Immaculate Philosophy. If the Dragon-Blood dies while this Charm is still in effect, the Dragon-Blood may transfer the remains of her consciousness to the proxy, seizing total control of his mind and body. (Doing so requires a successful reflexive Willpower roll.) She retains all of her memories and her normal Bureaucracy rating but none of her prior supernatural abilities. She can remain "alive" in the proxy's body until the Charm would normally end, at which time her soul moves on to enter the cycle of reincarnation and the proxy is left a mindless, soulless husk, as if he had been a victim of the Fair Folk. Although this aspect of the Charm can allow a Dragon-Blood to fulfill some final task (often including avenging her own death), the Immaculate Order considers it a blasphemous and arrogant attempt to delay one's reincarnation. Therefore, surviving proxies are often preemptively executed by the Dragon-Blood's family as a precautionary measure before any scandal might attach.
Latest Errata: The Exalt may imbue a target with less than her own Bureaucracy rating, paying accordingly. A touched mortal can pay 2wp to avoid the unnatural influence of this Charm, but must do so at the time of activation. It is not possible to reactivate the Charm while using it. Transferring the Exalt's soul in the moment of death is an irresistible total control effect; the deceased uses the host's Physical Attributes and Appearance, but otherwise has her own non-magical traits while possessing her subordinate. The Willpower rating of a spent vessel drops to 0. Dragon-Blooded descendants are also viable targets of this Charm, but can't be possessed.