Invoking the Chimera's Coils

Template:Cost — (+8m, 1wp); Mins: Martial Arts, 5 Essence
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Mastery, Terrestrial
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Seven Storms Escape Prana, Vindictive Concubine's Pillow Book

Mastering the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan style means mastering the countless layers of veils and facades that people place between themselves and the world. Students learn to insinuate themselves behind these veils and pierce through these facades to see the pearl of truth at their victim's heart, the fragile, vulnerable thing that is the self. But there is a deeper wisdom in the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan's enlightenment. When she must, she may cast off her own veils of selfhood, revealing the dreaming pearl that is her true Essence, a dread and beautiful truth to behold. In order to use this Charm, the martial artist must be in the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Form, and must either have Initiative 15+, or have all of her -2 health levels filled with damage. With these conditions met, she may commit the cost of this Charm at the start of her turn to Invoke the Chimera's Coils. Her neck lengthens up towards the heavens as she grows up to five times her normal height, while her head becomes that of a delicate, gold-beaked foal. Four sets of spiraling gazelle's horns adorn her brow, and her arms and legs vanish while opalescent fins like those of a carp hold her new form aloft in the air. Countless eyes run down either side of her narrow snout and continue down her back, ranging from the size of small pearls to that of goose eggs, blazing like sapphires in the noonday sun. While in this transformed state, the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan may fly, floating effortlessly on her gold-veined fins, and adds her Essence to her natural soak. She retains these benefits even if her Initiative falls below 15+, or if her -2 health levels are healed—those conditions are needed only to invoke the transformation, not to sustain it. In addition, her transformation unlocks additional benefits when using the Charms of this style:

• Demure Carp Feint: Internalizing the grace of this Charm, the martial artist no longer treats the bonuses it provides as successes added by Charms. * Elegant Weapon Repertoire: Instead of enchanting props to serve as weapons, the martial artist may use this Charm to attack with dream-like ephemera of any form she can imagine, treated as a light artifact weapon with the tag of her choice (from the four options) and a +3 bonus to its damage. * Pearlescent Filigree Defense: Armor enchanted by this Charm gains the traits of medium artifact armor, but with no mobility penalty. * Flurry of August Leaves: The martial artist may convert up to her (Appearance) extra successes on an attack roll supplemented by this Charm to dice added to the damage roll. * Vindictive Concubine's Pillow Book: Every die that comes up a doubled success on the damage roll allows the martial artist to reroll a failed die. * Fragrant Petal Fascination Kata: The Initiative stolen by this Charm is set equal to the martial artist's (Essence), and she may gain up to (Appearance x 2) points of Initiative from an activation. Characters must enter a Decision Point to resist the influence, calling upon a Major or Defining Intimacy that represents temperance, asceticism, or rejection of beauty to resist. * Seven Storms Escape Prana: This Charm can now be used to supplement any movement action, allowing the martial artist to dissolve into pastel fumes as she becomes a vortex of swirling light and vapor. She disappears, then reappears at her destination, without crossing the intervening space, and with no regard for any barriers or hazards in her way.

However, there is a danger in baring the truth of one's soul in this esoteric apotheosis. Some have been so caught up in their ecstatic bliss that they forget they were ever mortal, vanishing from the world. If the martial artist suffers any damage (even bashing) to any -4 health level while in this form, she loses all hold on reality. She vanishes from Creation in a flash of pearlescent light, never to be seen again except in fragmentary, half-remembered dreams.

Terrestrial: The martial artist rolls (Appearance + Performance) the first time she uses this Charm in a fight. This is treated both as a Join Battle roll that adds to her total Initiative, as well as an instill roll against all enemies that can witness her. Those whose Resolve is overcome form a Major Tie of obsessive fascination towards her.

Celestial: A Dragon-Blood who has assumed this form must maintain an Initiative rating of 11+ to maintain the transformation, lest she return to her human form. If her Initiative is reset by making a decisive attack, then she is given a grace period until the end of her next turn, but if she does not return to Initiative 11+ by its end, this Charm ends. Once it has ended, she cannot use it again for the rest of the fight. Template:Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Style Charms

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