Single Point Shining Into the Void Form

Template:Cost 10m; Mins: Martial Arts, 4 Essence
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form, Template:Mastery, Terrestrial
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Gathering Light Concentration, Shining Starfall Execution

Sheathing her blade for a brief moment, the swordsman centers her mind and Essence. As she draw her sword once again and enters this form, it is as a lightning bolt of flashing steel, moving with unimaginable speed and control. While in this form, it is customary to sheathe one's sword after each strike, and draw it anew for each new one—not merely as a show of this style's formidable speed, but to contain and dissipate the overwhelming buildup of Essence that might erupt beyond the stylist's control without such restraint. The first time the swordsman uses this Charm in a fight, she rolls her sword into battle with a (Wits + Martial Arts) Join Battle roll, giving it its own Initiative track separate from her own. This does not represent the sword gaining intelligence or agency of its own, but rather, the superior speed of the stylist allowing her to strike twice during each round. When the sword's turn comes up in Initiative order, the swordsman may choose to make an attack with it, or to delay the action until later in the round. No other actions can be taken (including movement actions), and if the stylist does not choose one of these options, the sword's turn is wasted.

The sword's Initiative is separate from the swordsman's own—withering attacks made by one cannot add to the other's Initiative, and decisive attacks made by one do not reset the other to base Initiative. The base raw damage of decisive attacks made on the sword's turn cannot exceed the swordsman's own Initiative, even if the sword's is higher. When the stylist is dealt Initiative damage, the character who damaged her may choose whether to apply it to her own Initiative or the sword's, but cannot split the damage across both pools. The sword also loses a point of Initiative at the end of every round it was not used to successfully land an attack. If the sword's Initiative is reduced to zero, then the stylist is forced out of this form, and cannot reactivate it again for three rounds. When she does, she does not reroll Join Battle, but only sets the sword to base Initiative. If the swordsman leaves this form voluntarily before the end of the fight, note the sword's current Initiative rating. If it is reactivated later during the scene, the sword's Initiative is reset to this value, rather than making a new Join Battle roll.

Special activation rules: Whenever the martial artist achieves the highest Join Battle value at the start of a fight, she may reflexively activate Single Point Shining Into the Void Form.

Terrestrial: A Dragon-Blood must pay a point of Willpower each round she wishes to attack twice. Otherwise, she may only make one attack per round, choosing whether to "use" her own Initiative or the sword's each round.

Mastery: The martial artist gains the following benefits:

• When using the sword's turn to make a decisive attack, its damage is not capped by the stylist's own Initiative. * The sword does not lose Initiative on turns it did not successfully land an attack. * If the sword's Initiative is reduced to zero or less, the stylist loses the benefits of this form, but it still remains active. Once three rounds have passed, its benefits resume without the swordsman needing to activate it or pay its cost again. Additionally, if the swordsman crashes an enemy who reduced his sword's Initiative to zero, then he may immediately roll Join Battle for it again and take an action with it on the same tick, as per the usual rules for Initiative Shifting (p. 194).

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