Speed the Wheels
Cost: 8m; Mins: Bureaucracy 3, Essence 2; Type: Simple (Dramatic Action)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Any Bureaucracy Excellency
The Lawgivers bring order and destroy corruption. The Solar speeds the process of a bureaucracy. Normally, an organization must first take a Begin Project dramatic action—ranging from minutes to months in its duration, depending on the organization's structure—before it can start actual work on a project. The Solar communicates his desire for speedy resolution to the organization, and his player rolls ([Intelligence or Charisma] + Bureaucracy), adding the Solar's Essence in automatic successes. The difficulty of this roll is 1. If the person responsible for this project deliberately engages in delays, subtract an external penalty of ([that person's Intelligence + Bureaucracy] ÷ 2) from the successes on the Bureaucracy roll. The Solar is aware of such delaying tactics, however.
If the Solar succeeds, this Charm divides the time needed to begin the project by (the Solar's Essence + 1), with a maximum possible time of one season. For example, for an Essence 5 Solar, if it would normally take six months to authorize naval repairs or obtain an audience with the local king, this Charm reduces that time to a single month. If it normally takes a century to obtain necessary paperwork from a Fair Folk freehold, the Solar resolves the matter in a single season.
Eloquent Example Inspiration
Same Charm for Abyssal Exalted. Adds Mirror, Emotion and Obvious keywords.
Prerequisite Charms: Any Bureaucracy Excellency
Nothing stimulates productivity like pervasive mortal terror. To use this Charm, the Abyssal executes a subordinate member of a Magnitude 3+ organization she leads. Her player rolls (Manipulation + Bureaucracy + Essence) at a difficulty equal to the organization's Magnitude. Killing a high-ranking or popular subordinate or performing the execution in a particularly brutal or innovative manner can provide stunt dice. Success increases the speed of all projects the organization undertakes by a factor equal to the Abyssal's Bureaucracy rating for a number of days equal to the threshold successes rolled (minimum one day). It also counts as a scene of building an Intimacy of fear toward the deathknight for all members. Failure decreases the Magnitude of the organization by one from demoralized desertions.
Repeated use of this Charm weakens the emotional impact of the execution, imposing a cumulative -1 internal penalty to subsequent activations targeting the same organization. Each month that goes by without use of this Charm removes one die of this penalty.