TEXT: TM
  
  1
  BY ALAN ALEXANDER, CARL BOWEN, JOSEPH CARRIKER, JOHN CHAMBERS,
  CONRAD HUBBARD, LYDIA LAURENSON AND STEPHEN LEA SHEPPARD
  TM
  
  2
  CREDITS
  Authors: Alan Alexander, Carl Bowen, Joseph Carriker, 
  John Chambers, Conrad Hubbard, Lydia Laurenson and 
  Stephen Lea Sheppard
  Comic Scripter: Carl Bowen
  Developers: John Chambers
  Editors: Carl Bowen and Josh Hein
  Creative Director: Rich Thomas
  Production Manager: matt milberger
  Art Direction and Layout: Brian Glass
  Artists: Ross Campbell, Johnathan Floyd, Saana Lappalainen, 
  Aaron Nakahara, Pasi Pitkanen, -Rom-, UDON (with Leo 
  Lingas, Jorge Molina, Joe Ng, Mark Sinclair, Chris Stevens
  and Jim Zubkavich) and Melissa Uran
  Cover Art: Adam Warren (with colors by Lee Duhig)
  COMING NEXT:
  THE COMPASS OF TERRESTRIAL DIRECTIONS, 
  VOL. III —THE EAST
  The third of five Terrestrial Direction books is devoted to 
  fleshing out the bare bones of Creation’s East presented 
  in Exalted. Beyond the Scavenger Lands lies more than 
  a rough frontier of rural backwaters and petty kingdoms. 
  The East is full of nations that rival its supposedly more 
  “civilized” neighbors in terms of size and sophistication, 
  from the warring states of Linowan and Halta to the 
  floating land of Metagalapa and grim Sijan, ancient city 
  of the honored dead. Still, the region’s reputation as a 
  land of untamed wilds and rough barbarians is not with-
  out merit, as the Eastern forests are home to a myriad of 
  human, once human and completely inhuman tribes.
  AVAILABLE IN THIS SERIES:
  THEBOOKS OF SORCERY, VOL. I — 
  WONDERS OF THE LOST AGE
  THEBOOKS OF SORCERY, VOL. II — 
  THE WHITE AND BLACK TREATISES
  THEBOOKS OF SORCERY, VOL. III — 
  OADENOL’S CODEX
  THEBOOKS OF SORCERY, VOL. IV — 
  THE ROLL OF GLORIOUS DIVINITY I: 
  GODS & ELEMENTALS
  THEBOOKS OF SORCERY, VOL. V — 
  THE ROLL OF GLORIOUS DIVINITY II: 
  GHOSTS & DEMONS
  © 2008 CCP hf. All rights reserved. Reproduction without the written permission of the 
  publisher is expressly forbidden, except for the purposes of reviews, and for blank character sheets, 
  which may be reproduced for personal use only. White Wolf and Exalted are registered trademarks 
  of CCP hf. All rights reserved. The Books of Sorcery, the Roll of Glorious Divinity I, the Roll of 
  Glorious Divinity II, Oadenol’s Codex, Wonders of the Lost Age, the White and Black Treatises, 
  Scroll of the Monk, the Imperfect Lotus, the Manual of Exalted Power the Lunars, the Manual of 
  Exalted Power the Dragon-Blooded, the Manual of Exalted Power the Sidereals, the Manual of Ex-
  alted Power the Abyssals, the Compass of Celestial Directions, the Wyld, Yu-Shan, the Underworld, 
  the Age of Sorrows and the Second Age of Man are trademarks of CCP hf. All rights reserved. All 
  characters, names, places and text herein are copyrighted by CCP hf.
  CCP North America Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of CCP hf.
  The mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages is not a challenge to 
  the trademark or copyright concerned.
  This book uses the supernatural for settings, characters and themes. All mystical and su-
  pernatural elements are fiction and intended for entertainment purposes only. This book contains 
  mature content. Reader discretion is advised.
  Check out White Wolf online at http://www.white-wolf.com/
  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
  
  3
  TABLE OF CONTENTS
  INTRODUCTION 
  4
  CHAPTER ONE: THE DEMON HIERARCHY 
  7
  CHAPTER TWO: DEMONOLOGY 
  19
  CHAPTER THREE: THE ROLL OF DEMONS 
  41
  CHAPTER FOUR: THE UNLIVES OF GHOSTS 
  91
  CHAPTER FIVE: GHOST CHARACTER CREATION AND TRAITS 
  110
  CHAPTER SIX: ARCANOI 
  125
  TM
  
  4
  
  INTRODUCTION
  5
  Everyone fears and courts his own demon.
  —Mason Cooley
  The Roll of Glorious Divinity II is the last of 
  Exalted’s Books of Sorcery. It is a book about spirits, 
  but it’s not just a book about spirits. The demons of 
  Malfeas and the ghosts of the Underworld interact 
  with humanity often. This is also a book about those 
  interactions.
  HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
  Chapter One: The Demon Hierarchy explores the 
  demons of Malfeas and their Yozi masters. The chapter 
  examines what it means to be a demon, how demons 
  view Creation, the history of the Demon Realm and 
  how demons interact with Creation’s mortals. 
  Chapter Two: Demonology focuses on the act of 
  demon summoning itself, as well as how this act colors 
  the reputation of Creation’s sorcerers.
  Chapter Three: The Roll of Demons presents 
  demons of all three circles, for players or Storytellers 
  to use in their games. Presented are 16 First Circle 
  demons, 8 demons of the Second Circle and five of the 
  mighty Third Circle demons. The chapter also present 
  two spirit Charms unique to demons.
  Chapter Four: The Unlives of Ghosts looks at 
  what it means to be a ghost in the Exalted milieu.
  Chapter Five: Ghost Character Creation presents 
  all the rules necessary for creating heroic ghost char-
  acters for Exalted.
  Chapter Six: Arcanoi provides an exhaustive list 
  of ghostly Charms, divided into categories of interest 
  known in the Underworld as Arcanoi.
   
  INTRODUCTION
  INTRODUCTION
  
  6
  LEXICON
  The following supplements the lexicon found in Ex-
  alted and examines the differences between a few precise 
  terms used when discussing the demons and ghosts of 
  the setting. The lexicon also notes not just definitions, 
  but how the people of Creation use these terms.
  Abscissic binding: When a summoner binds a 
  demon for a year and a day (or binds an elemental to 
  herself for a month). Compare to task binding.
  Arcanos: The term for a tree of ghostly Charms.
  burnt offering: A sacrifice made to a ghost by his 
  descendants in the form of an object burned in the 
  ancestor’s name in the living world that appears to 
  him as a black jade token in the Underworld and may 
  be used by him to regain motes or Willpower. It is a 
  form of memoriam.
  The Calendar of Setesh: An enormous artifact of 
  tremendous power built by the Dual Monarch Setesh 
  to regulate the flow of time in the Underworld.
  cult: A group dedicated to worship or veneration 
  of a specific being or group of beings. The people of 
  Creation don’t use “cult” as a term of denigration—in 
  the world of Exalted, cult is a value-neutral descrip-
  tive term.
  demonologist: An savant or sorcerer knowledgeable 
  in the ways of demons.
  effigy: A particular type of grave goods, these are 
  small representatives of animals and servants interred 
  with a body that become golem servitors in the Un-
  derworld.
  fetich: A demon of the Third Circle who acts as 
  the defining soul of a Yozi. If a fetich soul is slain, the 
  Yozi to whom it belongs finds himself remade.
  fetter: A place or object that holds tremendous 
  emotional significance to a ghost and helps him resist 
  the calls of both Lethe and Oblivion.
  grave goods: Objects buried with a person that 
  appear as part of his panoply in the Underworld. Grave 
  goods represent a form of memoriam.
  hun: A person’s higher soul, which separates from 
  the po upon death.
  hungry ghost: The po of a person that survives 
  beyond death to become a mindless predator.
  Lethe: The wiping clean of memories that occurs 
  when a person’s hun is reincarnated. Those unwilling 
  to relinquish their identities in such a manner linger 
  in the Underworld as ghosts.
  Malfeas: Both the name of the former leader of the 
  Primordials and the prison city his own body has been 
  remade into to incarcerate his fellow Yozis.
  memoriam: Sacrificial offerings made by the living 
  for the dead.
  Moliation: This Ability represents training in 
  Arcanoi that permit one ghost to alter the corpus of 
  another.
  necropolis: A city of the dead in the Underworld.
  necrosurgery: This is the art and science of prepar-
  ing a corpse for use in necromantic rituals.
  Neverborn: The dead-but-dreaming ghosts of those 
  Primordials slain by the Solar Exalted, who birthed the 
  Underworld and Oblivion as they died.
  Oblivion: An active force of entropy and annihila-
  tion that physically underlies the Underworld.
  Pandemonium: This is the term used by ghosts for 
  Arcanoi-based effects that permit the dead to directly 
  affect the living world.
  plasmic: Any creature of the Underworld that is 
  neither a ghost nor created by one. Many resemble 
  animals of the living world, but some resemble no 
  creature that ever lived in Creation.
  po: The animalistic lower soul of a person, which 
  separates from the hun upon death. See hungry ghost.
  soulforging: The process by which the souls of the 
  dead are melted down then shaped into useful items or 
  are alloyed to produce soulsteel.
  task binding: When a summoner binds a demon 
  to a task forever (or binds an elemental to a task for a 
  year and a day). Compare to Abscissic binding.
  spirit: Term used by savants to mean elementals, de-
  mons, ghosts and gods. Some few savants argue that the 
  Fair Folk are spirits as well, but Yu-Shan disagrees.
  Underworld: The land of the dead whose geography 
  mirrors that of living Creation.
  Whispers: The dreaming thoughts of the Neverborn, 
  which can be sensed and deciphered by some Abyssal 
  Exalts and, much more rarely, by certain ghosts.
  Whispers of Oblivion: Psychic whispers similar 
  to those produced by the Neverborn, but emitted by 
  Oblivion. A ghost exposed to the Whispers of Oblivion 
  typically falls into madness.
  Yozi: One of the Primordials who surrendered at 
  the close of the Primordial War and was forever bound 
  in Malfeas and forced to swear and oath made on its 
  own names 
  
  CHAPTER ONE • THE DEMON HIERARCHY
  7
  
  8
  Banished from Creation at the end of the Primor-
  dial War, the defeated Yozis have spent the millennia 
  since trapped in the prison of Malfeas, where they’ve 
  spawned whole races of demonic progeny and plotted 
  their eventual return to power. Few in Creation today 
  understand the nature of these mighty chthonic beings, 
  however, or that of the three circles of demons that 
  share their exile.
  THE YOZIS
  What manner of creatures builds a world?
  In the depths of time, when only chaos would be 
  apparent to Creation-born eyes, the Primordials came 
  together. The Yozis now called Malfeas and Szoreny led 
  the effort, though they were radically different then. 
  Together with She Who Lives in Her Name, they con-
  cluded that the world ought to be and began selecting 
  certain world-defining principles known as shinma.
  Cecelyne, the Endless Desert, advised them on 
  what space the project might create and inhabit. 
  Autochthon, the Great Maker, devised life and art. 
  Adrián, River of All Torments, breathed in move-
  ment and emotion. Oramus, the Dragon Beyond the 
  World, decided what was outside and what was in. 
  The Ebon Dragon, Shadow of All Things, declared 
  colors and influenced the invention of Fate. Isidoros, 
  the Black Boar That Twists the Skies, asserted his 
  distaste for Fate but allowed it in exchange for other 
  considerations. The place-that-became-Creation itself 
  was the domain of Cytherea, the Mother, and Gaia, 
  the World. Many Primordials left their stamp on the 
  project—including some who never stayed to view the 
  fruits of their ideas but chose instead to return to the 
  depths of the Wyld.
  CHAPTER ONE
  CHAPTER ONE
  THE DEMON HIERARCHY
  THE DEMON HIERARCHY
  
  CHAPTER ONE • THE DEMON HIERARCHY
  9
  One part of their new device was what gods name 
  the Games of Divinity. The Shadow of All Things, 
  who had suggested betrayal, likewise suggested that 
  the gods be incapable of it; still, he acknowledged that 
  they might manage it anyway. Even then, though one 
  or two Primordials idly speculated about the possible 
  applications of the concept, none suspected that they 
  might be betrayed for the Games.
  THE BEGINNING OF HISTORY
  The world before the overthrow of the Primor-
  dials is barely conceivable. For one thing, many 
  times what Creation encompasses today was 
  destroyed by the defeated She Who Lives In 
  Her Name—and mere space was not the only 
  thing lost; souls, beliefs and concepts burned too. 
  For another, the Neverborn took many things with 
  them into death. What few records remain from 
  before the Primordial War use languages, 
  formats and structures that are very hard to 
  understand.
  Those who lived through the War 
  fit memory to their current paradigm. 
  Though their memoirs and reminiscences 
  have given historians some valuable in-
  formation, they are also filled with confusing 
  tangents, odd omissions and impossible turns 
  of phrase. As for the gods, Neverborn and 
  Yozis, each group teaches—and may 
  even remember—a slightly different 
  version of events.
  Humanity spent the time be-
  fore the Primordial War ruled by 
  the Dragon Kings, who in turn 
  worshiped the Unconquered Sun 
  and paid limited homage to the rest 
  of the Incarnae. Largely ignored by 
  the Primordials, the Dragon Kings saw 
  the world’s makers as incomprehensible 
  forces of nature. They sent their sacrifices 
  to, and sought vision from, the infinitely more 
  accessible gods.
  Seeking heroes to win them seats at the Games of 
  Divinity, the Incarnae hid Exaltations among humans—
  creatures just competent enough to learn the use of new 
  gifts but even further below the Primordials’ notice 
  than the Dragon Kings. The Kings accepted their god’s 
  command to foster certain humans, though they didn’t 
  understand the purpose until the Exalted came into 
  their power and attacked. For the Dragon Kings, this 
  was what gods name
  dow of All Things,
  wise suggested that
  e acknowledged that
  en then, though one
  d about the possible
  suspected that they
  ORY
  ow of the Primor-
  ne thing, many
  es today was 
  Who Lives In
  not the only
  epts burned too. 
  many things with
  remain from 
  languages, 
  ry hard to 
  he War
  aradigm.
  niscences
  uable in-
  th confusing 
  ssible turns
  born and
  d may 
  rent
  e-
  y 
  n
  n
  st 
  by 
  saw 
  ensible 
  r sacrifices 
  infinitely more
  eats at the Games of 
  ons among humans—
  o learn the use of new
  Primordials’ notice
  accepted their god’s
  s, though they didn’t
   Exalted came into
  e Dragon Kings, this
  
  10
  For the Primordials, the Exalted uprising was as 
  shocking as it might be for a Dragon-Blooded household 
  to suffer a devastating attack from an ant colony in 
  the slaves’ quarters. Their response wracked Creation, 
  and their battle-tactics changed it. Several expressed 
  negative emotions to the Ebon Dragon, but he merely 
  shook his whiskers and stretched his wings, bringing 
  200 years of darkness.
  Once defeated and locked away, the Yozis took 
  stock. Loosely speaking, they were unhappy to be 
  imprisoned, but they had learned much about their 
  opponents during the war. They’d recently sent deer-
  footed Mara into the world on one important mission, 
  and that-which-became-Szoreny had devised several 
  schemes for exploiting the Neverborn’s Great Curse. 
  The Yozis were, perhaps, irritated that they were now 
  unable to fully realize their original plans. Still, now that 
  they’d lost, they had time to consider their options.
  Few Yozis consider their surrender to be anything 
  more than a strategic withdrawal. They know escape 
  to be impossible, but possibility might matter little to 
  those who devised it.
  A GENERAL HISTORY OF MALFEAS
  Ever warping, refolding, crashing to pieces and 
  rebounding, the physical layout of the Demon City 
  has changed uncountable times since it became what 
  it is. Its social structures are slightly less mutable, 
  and forces apply here that are unknown in Creation. 
  In general, Cecelyne oversees the Third Circle and 
  below; demon priests have kept her laws in place for 
  5,000 years. She has designated Third Circle demons 
  unquestionable: though they may disagree with each 
  other, none below them may argue with their will. De-
  mons of the Second Circle and exceptional First Circle 
  creatures are considered citizens: they hold fiefdoms 
  within Malfeas and rule them as they wish. All other 
  creatures are serfs, and though they may seek to slave 
  for one citizen over another or jockey to change tasks, 
  they have no real power unless they earn citizen rank. 
  Yozis and the unquestionable might order citizens and 
  serfs to do anything, but in practice, they almost all 
  pursue projects unrelated to petty governance and toy 
  with their lessers but rarely.
  Having put their lesser souls in order, the Yozis com-
  municated among themselves. They were all changed by 
  defeat, and they had to meet and learn each other anew. 
  Those whose very names had changed included Malfeas 
  and Szoreny; Adrián-now-Adorjan; Sacheverell, whose 
  first self had been the Lidless Eye That Sees, and whose 
  YES, BUT WHAT ARE THEY?
  The Yozis are inconceivable, unbelievable, 
  immense. Their bodies are worlds and ideas; they 
  have multiple souls, and even their souls have 
  multiple souls. But they’re not designed to be 
  confusing. Conceptualizing such vast, inhuman 
  beings presents unique problems. Setting aside 
  in-character concerns, the Yozis need to be 
  grand and mysterious enough to live up to their 
  premise: nigh-incomprehensible world-creating 
  monsters. On the other hand, Storytellers need 
  to be able to understand them well enough to 
  use them.
  Thus, the Exalted design team patterned 
  Yozis after groups of people (the demons) 
  working toward an agenda (the Yozis’ minds) 
  in an environment (the Yozis’ bodies). No one 
  on Earth is familiar with the behavior of nigh-
  incomprehensible world-creating monsters, but 
  almost everyone’s familiar with the behavior of 
  governments and corporations, how different 
  branches of an organization can pull in different 
  directions while still mostly sharing the same 
  goals, and how an organization’s identity can 
  change if the person in charge dies or retires.
  THAT DIDN’T ANSWER THE QUESTION
  Where the Yozis came from, what exactly 
  they are—these are questions best left to the 
  Storyteller. All that’s known is that they created 
  the world and apparently warred with the chaos-
  born Fair Folk. Perhaps they came from outside 
  chaos and tried to recreate their native world, 
  to the discomfort of the native raksha. Perhaps 
  Primordials and Fair Folk are the same “race” and 
  Creation a disagreement between two factions. 
  Perhaps Primordials are patterns and concepts 
  similar to the shinma upon which they built the 
  world, and only in their existence lies the reality 
  of those concepts.
  was a moment of worshipful awe: in amazement, they 
  bowed atop their pyramids and burned ten thousand 
  bloody hearts for the glory of the Unconquered Sun. 
  For the Incarnae, the moment was one they had spent 
  centuries shaping; the Sun paused at the horizon, the 
  Moon waxed full, and other omens unfolded as the gods 
  leaned forward to watch.
  
  CHAPTER ONE • THE DEMON HIERARCHY
  11
  new eternal sleep was (they concluded) probably for the 
  best. Some Yozis contacted their Neverborn cousins, 
  but even those whose hearts had been destroyed—who 
  themselves had partly died—felt unease speaking to 
  those mad, horrific things. Over the next millennia, 
  only the Ebon Dragon and the Dragon Beyond the 
  World kept communicating with the Neverborn. Many 
  things were accomplished by the alliance, but recently, 
  relations have become strained.
  The Yozis may have been pleased to see the Fair 
  Ones bedeviling the Old Realm, but they did not yet 
  attempt to speak to their old enemies. The Exalted, 
  ruling the world, sometimes sent patronizing safaris 
  into Malfeas. This the Yozis endured, suppressing 
  their resentment that they might learn. Many demons 
  went into Creation then, and not solely by means of 
  summoning. An accord known as the Treaty of Limbs 
  protected demonic friends and consorts to the Exalted 
  of the Old Realm—even unbound ones.
  A thousand years after the Primordial War, the 
  first Exalted akuma was created. Invested with the 
  Yozis’ power, these warped creatures far surpass their 
  peers in skill and magic, losing nothing but virtue and 
  freedom. Any edge might be exploited by the Yozis: 
  naïve sympathy is as easy to twist as greed. They per-
  suaded Exalted who came to see their prison or used 
  their subordinates to bend the ears of summoners. 
  Also, the brass bars of Malfeas have never prevented 
  dreams from slipping out, and many potential agents 
  were converted in their sleep.
  Certain plans were derailed by the Dragon-Blooded 
  revolt. For instance, the majority of Exalted akuma then 
  living were slain. Other projects were complicated when 
  the Neverborn seized the moment to send the Great 
  Contagion tearing through Creation. Fortunately, the 
  Yozis gained more resources in the world than they’d 
  had for an Age in the form of demons freed by their 
  summoners’ deaths. After successful breakthroughs by 
  the Fair Folk, the Yozis sent emissaries to establish con-
  tact and begin bargaining. Other demons began to put 
  down roots in Creation. A number of these agents were 
  killed or sent home by the Shogunate and subsequent 
  demon hunters, but more than a few remain.
  In the Demon City, small empires rose and fell. Citi-
  zens warred and bargained with each other, expanding 
  and losing fiefdoms by their own skill and the whims 
  of their environment. The unquestionable influenced 
  some conflicts and induced others but paid little atten-
  tion to the citizenry overall. They had other things to 
  think of. Ligier fashioned a sword so ideal that seven 
  Solars died attempting to win it; Jacint spent 3,000 
  years trying to bridge the Endless Desert. As for the 
  Yozis, while almost all value escape, their vast minds 
  have been additionally occupied with other puzzles 
  and goals. Some of these are unknowable, some merely 
  impossible, and some go against each other’s interests. 
  Adorjan’s plans for silence, for instance, are opposed 
  by at least two of her fellows. 
  Now, however, the Ebon Dragon has made it clear 
  that it’s time to focus. Negotiations with the Fair Folk 
  have gone as expected. Discussions with the Neverborn 
  are less certain, but the Yozis know they can rely on 
  their cousins for some time yet. The current shortage 
  of arrogant Celestial Exalted summoners has been 
  inconvenient, but it is accepted as the consequence 
  of their enemies’ weakness and hasn’t prevented the 
  Yozis from gathering many more akuma servants in 
  the Second Age. With luck, millennia of bondage are 
  drawing to an end.
  SELECT YOZIS
  MALFEAS
  THE DEMON CITY
  Malfeas, once king, hates Creation, and he hates 
  imprisonment. Most of all, though, he loathes his own 
  form. When he first led the Primordials, he had no 
  solid self; the Exalted inflicted that upon him when 
  they defeated and remade him.
  If self-destruction were open to Malfeas, he might 
  take that path. It’s not, so he commits small suicides. 
  Parts of the Demon City crash furiously into others, 
  arches and causeways collapse with metallic moans, and 
  ruins submerge themselves in murky Kimbery.
  Though reshaped into a city against his will, Malfeas 
  retained some control, and his environment seethes 
  with spite. He must admit the magical materials, but 
  steel—so useful in Creation—warps into its component 
  ores upon entering his gates, clattering in pieces to the 
  brazen streets. His greening copper releases invisible 
  toxins, and mortals who come to the Demon City 
  sicken and die in seven days.
  Malfeas is also a brass-skinned man known for 
  ecstasies and viciousness. He dances straight through 
  the centers of his streets and performs great, tragic 
  dramas in his largest square. Still, he always employs a 
  certain restraint, for he prefers not to feel the disdain 
  of noble Ligier.
  
  12
  CECELYNE
  THE ENDLESS DESERT
  Silver sands encircle Malfeas, and their outer edge is 
  infinity. Going outward, the silver blackens and becomes 
  rainbowed with tarnish, and the sky fades from that 
  of green-lit Malfeas to a starless black void. Malfeas’s 
  sister Cecelyne contains every desert: baked red earth, 
  fine blowing dunes, even rare stretches of water devoid 
  of life. Her endlessness binds her fellow Yozis. Even if 
  they broke through the brass bars of the Demon City, 
  they would escape into nothing but Cecelyne.
  Cecelyne delights in growth. At her edges, snakes 
  and small furred creatures burrow constantly, pulling 
  her sands forward so she expands forever. In the De-
  mon City, her priests bless new births and invest new 
  citizens, for these expand her authority. But in order 
  for her subjects to grow, restrictions must exist, and 
  Cecelyne places these as well.
  The creatures that inhabit the Endless Desert are 
  part of her and cannot leave without bringing her with 
  them. When they come to her reaches, they create more 
  of Cecelyne from what they find. They cannot make her 
  other than she is, and Cecelyne endlessly yearns to be 
  more. Thus, in idle moments, she studies the elements 
  that can change a space. She is particularly interested 
  in Szoreny’s techniques and silvered her sands in the 
  hopes of earning his attention.
  SHE WHO LIVES IN HER NAME
  THE PRINCIPLE OF HIERARCHY
  Once, the world was greater. That was before 
  the defeat of She Who Lives In Her Name, whose 
  body comprises thousands of flames in crystal spheres. 
  As she felt her prison close around her, she cracked 
  three against its weight and sent fire raging into the 
  world. When the embers had cooled, only Creation 
  was left.
  When the Principle of Hierarchy moves, none wit-
  ness the shift. She is always one central sphere-trapped 
  fire, surrounded by a hundred, with those in turn orbited 
  by 99,997 more. Relocating, she retains the same posi-
  tion and is not seen in transit. Most often, she’s found 
  in the Silver Forest, where her flames burn white and 
  hang like lamps among the branches.
  An inaudible whisper echoes through the heart of 
  She Who Lives in Her Name. It spreads through her 
  lesser fires and can be heard, understood and repeated 
  only as she wills. Mortals and demons who comprehend 
  her whispered name become subordinate to her and work 
  toward the regimented hierarchies she desires.
  She Who Lives In Her Name never sought to rule or 
  make laws in Malfeas. Currently, she is content to cede 
  these things to Cecelyne. She knows that every hierar-
  chy ever designed bears her stamp and feels no need to 
  drag the Demon City further under her sway. Creation, 
  however, is quite another matter. Given control, she 
  would make its order and regulation absolute and would 
  laugh to see gods and mortals realize that they already 
  half know her name. As with Adorjan and her obsession 
  with silence, this goal means everything to the Principle 
  of Hierarchy—more even than escape or vengeance.
  ADORJAN
  THE SILENT WIND
  Adrián, River of All Torments, was a terror to the 
  ancient armies of the Exalted. Razors and ice whipped 
  through her currents, slicing to pieces all who dared 
  attack the Primordials. But one Solar slipped through 
  the horrors of Adrián and killed her heart, the demon 
  Lilike. As Lilike fell, the Solar harvested her final cry 
  to create the Demon-Wracking Shout, and as Lilike 
  dissipated, so too did the River, evaporating into the 
  dry cruel Silent Wind.
  Thousands of the Demon City’s serfs are tasked with 
  constantly shouting, singing and ringing bells, for only 
  noise discourages Adorjan. Still, she can ignore it if she 
  wishes, overpowering it with the silence she brings. There 
  are only three sounds she will not drown unless she must. 
  The first is the Demon-Wracking Shout, used with great 
  efficacy during the Primordial War and remembered by 
  those who observed that time. The second is the laughter 
  of a child, trapped in a shell and combined with gold and 
  silver. The third is the songs of Adorjan’s First Circle 
  descendants—the demjen, katalinae, gyorgyike, jazon, 
  fulope and angyalka. Perhaps Adorjan enjoys hearing 
  these things in the distance and prefers not to ruin them 
  with her approach. More likely, she abhors them. She 
  is known to hate sound and to seek nothing but eternal 
  quiet for the entire world.
  Adrián was capable of mercy, but Adorjan never 
  chooses to spare those in her path. The most powerful 
  demons in Malfeas flee her approach, and those who 
  survive her touch bear awful scars. Even as the Silent 
  Wind savages its victims, though, Adorjan has been 
  known to take gentler forms, such as that of a delicate 
  young woman with white jade teeth. Long ago, this 
  Yozi traveled to the dreams of a favored Exalt seven 
  times in seven days. Even as wind-Adorjan destroyed 
  the landscape of his dreams, girl-Adorjan lay with him 
  and bore seven daughters.
  
  CHAPTER ONE • THE DEMON HIERARCHY
  13
  Three of Adorjan’s daughters joined their father in 
  Creation, and four remained in the Demon City. Kal-
  manka, the Arrow Wind, carries arrowheads so sharp 
  they nick the brass streets. Vitaris, the Brilliant Wind, 
  blazes up to blind those who face her. Pellegrina, the 
  Grinding Wind, destroys nothing but stone, and for this 
  reason Malfeas’s monuments are all of metal. And after 
  the demons’ wars leave corpses thick upon the ground, 
  their leaders pray for Kamilla, the Wind of Promise. She 
  comes to carry the bodies away. Some serfs worship her 
  for this, but it is her nature, and she would do it even 
  if she weren’t called. In truth, Kamilla is mindless like 
  her sisters and doesn’t even know about her cult, but 
  Adorjan’s four daughters held sapience before and could 
  be granted it again.
  THE EBON DRAGON
  THE SHADOW OF ALL THINGS
  Solid things cast shadows; minds, hearts and souls 
  contain them. Night and anguish bring darkness. When 
  men and demons walk beyond the light, they find the 
  Ebon Dragon at its limits and their own.
  Only the flight of the Ebon Dragon blots out the 
  Green Sun. Only his passage dims the fires of the Principle 
  of Hierarchy. In his blackness, inexperienced serfs fall 
  quiet. Hence, his wake often holds the Silent Wind.
  The claws and whiskers of the Ebon Dragon creep 
  through the cracks in the Yozis’ prison. Even before the 
  gods’ revolt, he loved only doomed things and heard 
  secrets unknown to the Lidless Eye That Sees. Malfeas 
  may loathe captivity the most, but it is the nature of 
  the Shadow of All Things to twist against his bonds. 
  Knowing his persistence, and desiring escape above 
  all else, the other Yozis granted him a measure of the 
  fealty they once gave their king.
  They don’t swear the same to his new fiancée. She 
  is not their queen. Still, they watch the upcoming gala 
  with great attention. The Ebon Dragon is putting some 
  effort into his preparations, even forging an honor guard 
  from Exaltations he received from the Jade Prison. The 
  event approaches quickly, and several other Yozis have 
  accepted parts to play.
  THE YOZIS’ NATURE
  Those who give demonkind a cursory study will 
  learn that those of the First Circle are a little like 
  Creation’s elementals: strange races with group ten-
  dencies but some individuality for each member. On 
  most of the races, information is relatively plentiful. 
  Demons of the Second Circle are far more powerful, 
  
  14
  like gods. (This comparison, however—if made at 
  all—is phrased in tortured language, for most scholars 
  prefer not to offend any deities.) Some Second Circle 
  demons, such as Octavian, are famous, but on the whole, 
  knowledge is scarce and must be sought in large libraries 
  or occult institutions. Demons of the Third Circle are 
  the subject of some few legends, but hard facts about 
  them are difficult to come by, and their nature is often 
  misunderstood. Understandably, their human forms 
  tend to be best known. It would not be surprising for 
  an educated dilettante to know a few tales of Ligier, 
  but she might not understand exactly why he’s called 
  the Green Sun.
  In most resources on the subject of Malfeas, the 
  Yozis are mentioned not at all. Though aspects of them 
  (for instance, the Demon City) might be noted, they’re 
  put in human terms: Malfeas is most often described as 
  a city rather than a thinking being. A more thorough 
  book might also discuss Malfeas, Brass-Skinned Lord 
  of the Demon City. Few tomes even begin to explain 
  that Malfeas is the Demon City—and that he is also 
  Malfeas the brass-skinned dancer, and Malfeas the 
  brass-walled mausoleum, and 10 other bodies besides, 
  all at the same time.
  Still, a day’s research in a well-stocked sorcerer’s 
  library will likely turn up The Scroll of Limbs, which 
  was so common in the First Age that hundreds of 
  copies still exist. The Scroll’s first edition was suppos-
  edly compiled by Brigid, Mother of Sorcery. It listed 
  every known Yozi, demon and First Circle race. After 
  Brigid’s death, subsequent sorcerers faithfully updated 
  and reissued the Scroll almost every century, with the 
  last version dated 70 years before the Solars fell. The 
  Scroll of Limbs reveals the many-souled nature of the 
  Yozis and points the way to theories of assorted veracity 
  concerning Yozi bodies and psychology.
  THEORIES OF ASSORTED VERACITY
  Among learned demonologists, certain things are 
  generally accepted.
  First: that the Yozis have many souls, and that each 
  soul is a Third Circle demon.
  Second: that each Third Circle demon can occupy 
  multiple spaces at once. (If Ligier is summoned to fight 
  in Creation, the Green Sun will yet shine above the 
  Brass City.)
  Third: that each Yozi has one heart-soul, or fetich, 
  upon which much of its self-conception is based.
  Fourth: that Third Circle beings each have seven 
  souls, each a Second Circle Demon in her own right.
  Fifth: that a Second Circle demon will fulfill one 
  of seven functions for her patron Third Circle demon. 
  She will be her patron’s ability to reflect, communicate, 
  protect, understand, gratify, express or define. (Yet wheth-
  er—for example—Berengiere represents Ligier’s ability 
  to indulge himself, indulge others or both is a matter of 
  much debate. And there are a number of Second Circle 
  demons that scholars fret and quarrel over, for they don’t 
  seem to fit one of the traditional seven categories.)
  Sixth: that First Circle demons matter not at all to 
  grand questions about Yozi nature, for they are produced 
  wholesale by the Second Circle. They are children, 
  constructs or stranger offspring and not actually part
  of their creators at all.
  The seventh, and most important, premise of all 
  accepted demonology is this: Killing a Second Circle 
  or Third Circle demon carries consequences for the 
  nature of its patron. The patron will be changed, and 
  no observer—not the murderer, nor even any Yozi—
  can entirely predict the form that change will take. 
  Sometimes, this change seems small. (Prior to the 
  Primordial War, the Ebon Dragon is thought to have 
  been the shadow of himself; when one soul was slain, 
  he merely became himself.) But if a dead Third Circle 
  demon was its Yozi’s fetich, that Yozi will lose its name 
  and itself and become something new.
  THE LOSS OF A SOUL
  In Creation, only myths remain of the horror 
  perpetrated upon the Primordials, but every Malfean 
  denizen knows the tale in detail.
  When the Primordials surrendered, wise gods 
  and Exalts conferred on how best to imprison them. 
  It was determined that part of the solution was to 
  remake the Primordials into more tractable forms. 
  With some, such as the Ebon Dragon, this required 
  only minor pruning—the murder of a Third Circle 
  soul with only a slight effect upon its patron. Others, 
  most famously that-which-became-Malfeas, had their 
  very fetiches executed.
  This was a lessening of the Primordials, both real 
  and symbolic, catalyzing their transformation into the 
  Yozis. Third Circle demons are instantly recreated 
  after death, for they’re necessary to the existence of 
  their masters, but they are almost never greater for it. 
  They lose much of what they were, from memories to 
  capabilities, and what they gain cannot be chosen by 
  their patrons, though it can be influenced.
  On the other hand, demons of the Second Circle 
  are more carefully rebuilt by their Third Circle pa-
  
  CHAPTER ONE • THE DEMON HIERARCHY
  15
  trons, who can take more time with the task if they 
  wish—choosing important traits to emphasize or 
  qualities to bestow. A Third Circle demon is much 
  weakened by a missing Second Circle soul, however, 
  so such demons rarely take long unless attempting to 
  circumvent a binding.
  Demonologists working late in the Old Realm 
  observed that certain Yozis had more souls than they 
  used to, but the scholars didn’t get a chance to study 
  this phenomenon in depth before the Age fell. A trea-
  tise on the subject, penned by the eloquent Phernike, 
  managed by sheer chance to survive the Shogunate. A 
  1,600-year-old copy graces the rare book collection of 
  Nexus’s Kshaha Library. Her most compelling theory 
  suggests that, when a Yozi wishes to grow a new Third 
  Circle soul, its fetich will develop an eighth “Progeni-
  tive” Second Circle soul. The Progenitive demon will 
  then (she explains) either grow or be given souls of its 
  own, ascending to the Third Circle once it gains the 
  seventh. Phernike does not, however, address the ques-
  tion of why a Yozi might grow in this manner.
  A MINOR NOTE
  First Age manuals of demon summoning warn that 
  Yozis may possess their subordinates. A patron Yozi may 
  place its consciousness in one of its own Third Circle 
  souls for one day in every year, in one of its subordinate 
  Second Circle souls for one hour in every month and 
  in any First Circle demon for one minute in every day. 
  Only its consciousness transfers—a Yozi cannot use 
  its own powers through a lower-order being—and an 
  attempt to stay too long melts the vessel into a pool of 
  vitriol, killing him.
  Few have seen evidence of this capability, but even 
  today, it is known to instructors at every major sorcer-
  ous academy, and a clever self-educated demonologist 
  could certainly deduce it. It isn’t usually considered 
  AN IMMORTAL’S DEATH
  Demons of the Second Circle and greater are as immortal as puissant gods: they cannot be killed forever 
  by mere swords, or even daiklaves. If torn apart by such a simple weapon, Octavian will reform in Malfeas after 
  a year and a day, retaining his powers, memories and self. There are ways to destroy such beings, however. 
  Charms such as Ghost-Eating Technique (see Exalted, p. 221) or Soul Mastery (see The Manual of Exalted 
  Power—The Dragon-Blooded, p. 213) will dissipate their spirit victims’ substance permanently. Some demons 
  also have certain weaknesses: for instance, a Storyteller might decide that a weapon alloyed with Octavian’s 
  own black oil will inflict aggravated damage upon him and could destroy him. When the “death” of such a 
  creature is discussed, the term usually indicates destruction rather than temporary dissolution.
  Third Circle demons are forces of nature, with several terrible and simultaneous bodies. Usually, they 
  are totally immune to death by physical assault; their weaknesses are few. Even temporary dissolution of 
  a Third Circle demon is rare. One’s death is monumental.
  On the other hand, most demons of the First Circle have (long) natural life spans but can be destroyed 
  by anything that dissipates their substance. There are exceptions, though. If not murdered by a demon-
  killing weapon, a First Circle demon with a devoted cult might return whole from death. Exalted savants of 
  the Old Realm even forged talismans (Artifact ••••) that grant minor demons and elementals the same 
  immunities as their betters. Sometimes, the Second Circle demon that spawned a particular serf can even 
  reconstruct or rebirth it, but even when this is possible, the vast majority of serfs aren’t worth the effort.
  KILLING A WORLD-CREATING MONSTER
  Several Primordials fell against the Solars and became Neverborn. Those who surrendered were spared 
  and imprisoned, either because the Exalted were persuaded against unnecessary bloodshed or because the 
  Primordials’ deaths carried consequences the Exalted had learned to fear. But if the Primordials could 
  survive even their fetiches’ destruction, how did those ancient heroes kill any of them?
  The total destruction of a Primordial’s largest body—for instance, melting the brass city of Malfeas 
  into slag—might suffice to destroy it. Alternatively, all its Third Circle souls might need to die in one 
  25-hour period for one Yozi to become Neverborn. Or if the Yozis are more tightly bound to the ideas they 
  represent than their godly children, perhaps the death of an idea will kill one—the utter removal of order 
  from the universe might well prove the end of She Who Lives In Her Name, for instance.
  
  16
  important. Such possession is rare, which implies that 
  it’s uncomfortable for the Yozi involved. The Yozi can’t 
  access any of its own power during the possession, so a 
  subordinate thus possessed is not much more of a threat 
  than it usually would be. And what difference does it 
  make if a Yozi experiences something of Creation, so 
  long as it can’t accomplish anything significant? The 
  possibility of Yozi possession is mentioned as an after-
  thought to students, if it’s noted at all, and those who 
  worry about it tend to be most concerned about the 
  potential for Yozis to speak vile lies to impressionable 
  young sorcerers.
  But the Yozis have kept one vital secret: while a lower 
  demon is thus possessed, no binding may hold him.
  THE LAY OF MALFEAS
  Every Yozi save Cecelyne (who forms the outside 
  border) is contained within the Demon City. Because 
  many of them are vast places in their own rights, certain 
  Yozis form enormous sectors within Malfeas. Some tolerate 
  a certain amount of colonization and contain one or two 
  citizens’ fiefdoms. However, the City itself is the most 
  desirable real estate. The central marketplace is there, 
  and Cecelyne’s laws and investitures are proclaimed from 
  its three main squares. Even with its constant enraged 
  shiftings, it’s the easiest environment for most First and 
  Second Circles to cope with; the already existing buildings 
  are an added convenience. Furthermore, Malfeas accepts 
  and even encourages battles within his environs, for he 
  doesn’t mind considerable damage to himself. Many Yozis 
  allow no such thing.
  Malfeas is a sharp-edged, harshly shining place. The 
  brass of its construction is leavened only by black marble, 
  basalt, black iron and jet. The Green Sun blazes near 
  constantly. Gold and tin grow into vines and blooms with 
  razored petals. Substances resembling water are excep-
  tionally scarce. The most common liquid is vitriol, an 
  acidic element unknown in Creation. Many of the city’s 
  rivers flow with obsidian dust, but some are composed 
  of vitriol. The few clouds in the sky are also vitriolic, as 
  is the rare fog that percolates among layers.
  There are hundreds of layers to the Demon City—
  some enormous, some only a few dozen feet square. The 
  wider a layer, the more likely it is to be perforated with 
  large holes, and the Green Sun shines into more buried 
  
  CHAPTER ONE • THE DEMON HIERARCHY
  17
  places than a visitor might expect. Many darkened 
  areas go unlit, though recent centuries have seen the 
  spread of enchanted tin orchids that glow wan and 
  pale. Causeways, winding passages, metal vines strong 
  enough to climb, and ladders built by serfs connect each 
  layer to the next. Construction is apparently random, 
  though sometimes grouped in districts. Yet, Malfeas has 
  a certain unnerving elegance. Classical pillared halls 
  may be found next to filigreed arches; elaborate pagodas; 
  delicate, straight-walled tenements with rhombus-
  shaped windows; or handsome, low-slung villas.
  Loud and varied noise pours throughout the Yozis’ 
  prison, but it rarely grates upon the ear. In their bitter-
  ness, the Yozis have made many vile artworks, but none 
  of them can bear ugly music. All Yozis with voices have 
  charming ones, and musically talented serfs are prized 
  above all others. This is not to say that no songs of 
  heartbreak echo through the twisting streets, but even 
  Malfean music that wounds is beautiful.
  The dominant culture of Malfeas is wild and bit-
  ter. Most demons indulge to excess in various fleshly 
  pleasures. Food is served in small, heavily flavored 
  portions; a normal drink or dose of drugs would be 
  the equivalent of five for the Creation-born. Sexual 
  relations are rarely affectionate. Cheating in games of 
  chance is expected, though the losers pick fights about 
  it anyway. Violence is so common as to be ignored. The 
  calmest moments are those of Lypothymie, who is both 
  a Third Circle demon and an emotion unique to the 
  Demon City. Lypothymie is something like nostalgia 
  or despair, and she brings a hopeless swoon to those 
  who feel her most intensely.
  THE DEMON CONDITION
  Serfs are the labor of Malfeas, and they work as 
  their overseeing citizens decree.
  Second Circle demons have a variety of reasons 
  for creating First Circle races, but many races aren’t 
  intended to serve their makers. Some First Circles, 
  such as the neomah courtesans, have innate profes-
  sions that the entire race follows and require no 
  orders or guidance. Others—especially unintelligent 
  ones, such as firmin—do nothing, haunting Malfeas 
  as stray animals do mortal cities. Still others work 
  constantly for their masters, needing no food or 
  sleep, finding no opportunities for rest or change 
  
  18
  (and often desiring none). Intelligent serfs under 
  lenient citizens find time to gamble, trade in small 
  things, claim small homes in areas unwanted by their 
  betters, run small businesses or work freelance, and 
  do anything else a human might imagine (and some 
  things they can’t).
  THE TRIAL OF CITIZENSHIP
  The condition for citizenship is well known. If a 
  serf demonstrates significant growth and then requests 
  investiture from Cecelyne’s priests, it will be judged. 
  “Significant growth” is deliberately vague and has been 
  interpreted in many ways. The evaluation period is 
  seven days. Serfs seeking citizenship who lack powerful 
  mentors, and who exhibit skills that threaten a current 
  citizen’s power, are likely to die during this time.
  The priests of Cecelyne are supposedly incorrupt-
  ible, and their judgment is never questioned. None have 
  ever offered sanctuary to threatened candidates during 
  the evaluation period. In the end, applicants judged 
  unworthy are sometimes released without consequence 
  and sometimes punished by Orabilis. Those declared 
  citizens gain the rights to own property and serfs and 
  may only be slain by those of equal or greater rank.
  In practice, First Circle demons who earn citizen-
  ship are still far less protected than their Second Circle 
  “peers.” The death of a Second Circle demon inconve-
  niences its Third Circle patron and annoys its Yozi, so 
  most aren’t murdered without very good reason. First 
  Circle creatures enjoy no such protection. Furthermore, 
  citizenship alone does not bestow upon a former serf the 
  ability to return from dissolution. However, First Circle 
  citizens also have no patrons to think of—unless, of 
  course, they strike bargains on the path to citizenship.
  STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND
  Malfeas sees few visitors, but there are inhabitants 
  who don’t fit into the demon hierarchy. Even if he has 
  lived there for millennia, the designation for an outsider is 
  always stranger. Cecelyne will not attempt to enforce her 
  laws upon strangers, but neither will her priests protect 
  them. Demon-Bloods are never considered strangers; each 
  gains the rank of her demonic parent upon birth.
  Strangers have been known to earn citizenship, but 
  claiming the rank is usually not in a stranger’s interest. 
  The Infernal Exalted and akuma who inhabit the city 
  need no status but the mantle of their dire masters. Few 
  other Exalts live there, but those who do often choose 
  to trade on their stranger status, outside the law. The 
  Dragon-Blood Gemstone Ocean Hero is perhaps the 
  best-known example. His survival much depends on 
  the fact that he can view azure-edged documents and 
  draw up illegal contracts without suffering Cecelyne’s 
  punishments, and he has grown rich doing so. Yet, he 
  must hire rather than own his servants, and he rents 
  his copper townhouse from Makarios.
  CERTAIN DEMONIC DESIGNATIONS
  The Old Realm dialect spoken in the Demon City contains many antique phrases long fallen from 
  fashion, or totally inapplicable, in Creation. In particular, there is specific language to indicate the re-
  lationships of greater demons to lesser. With the First Circle, the phrase is directly translatable: a First 
  Circle race is born of a Second Circle demon—for instance, chrysogonae are born of Makarios. But First 
  Circle races are almost never called the “children” of their creators. Such familiarity is reserved for unique 
  births, such as Adorjan’s daughters.
  Informally, greater demons may be referred to by their single names, but formally, they have titles 
  including their parentage. Thus, Gervesin is introduced to callers as Gervesin, the Dreaming Lord, 
  shimei sa Ligier, the Green Sun, shin giri Malfeas, the Demon City. This appellation might be shortened 
  to Gervesin sa Ligier sa Malfeas, for sa simply means “belonging to”, “known to” or “made of.” Shimei 
  is thought to represent Gervesin’s Messenger capacity; it’s used for other Second Circles filling similar 
  functions, such as Zsofika. Shin indicates a fetich. Giri is an unusual adjective, normally applied only to 
  Ligier in his relation to Malfeas. All Third Circle souls have a similar word, granted by their patron Yozis, 
  which Creation’s linguists are only sometimes able to translate with confidence.
  One other word, jouten, might be particularly useful for a visitor to Malfeas. It designates an actual 
  Yozi body: Malfeas the dancer might be pointed out as jouten, as might Malfeas the Demon City. There 
  are a dozen more specific words apparently describing degrees or uses of different Yozi selves—but their 
  connotations are so subtle that most demonologists can’t use them without starting a raging debate.
  
  CHAPTER TWO • DEMONOLOGY
  19
  
  20
  CHAPTER TWO
  CHARACTER
  CREATION
  CHAPTER TWO
  Creation fears the sorcerer.
  All fear her for the power she wields—her obsidian 
  butterflies that scythe through the soldiery, her flying 
  guillotine that cuts down the officer, her corrupted 
  words that force silence. Her fatal touch poisons, and 
  with her coin she spies.
  Those who know of the five stations say they fear 
  her for her will. Through the fifth station, she dem-
  onstrates a will to sacrifice all she values on the altar 
  of her own power. None now master sorcery without 
  embracing this lesson, and none have since before the 
  fall of the Old Realm.
  But what the people of Creation fear most is her 
  power and will to command the spirits of Malfeas. In 
  the hearts and minds of Creation’s peoples, the sorcerer 
  and the demon are inseparable.
  THE DEMONOLOGIST
  Aside from Emerald Countermagic, no spell is 
  more widely known to the sorcerers of Creation than 
  Demon of the First Circle. All sorcerers know why: 
  amongst all the thousands of spells of the Terrestrial 
  Circle of Emerald, Demon of the First Circle is un-
  questionably both the most powerful and the most 
  flexible. Sorcerers who reach the lofty heights of the 
  Celestial Circle of Sapphire know the same applies 
  to Demon of the Second Circle, and during the High 
  First Age, Demon of the Third Circle’s presence within 
  the Solar Circle of Adamant forced the Exalted of 
  the Deliberative to bend entire cultural institutions 
  around discouraging its use.
  One who summons demons is a demonologist… but 
  not all agree as to the word’s definition. Is a demonolo-
  CHAPTER TWO
  CHAPTER TWO
  DEMONOLOGY
  DEMONOLOGY
  
  CHAPTER TWO • DEMONOLOGY
  21
  gist a sorcerer who lives for 300 years and only summons 
  one demon her whole life, to answer a single question? 
  Obviously a sorcerer with a constant retinue of Malfean 
  spirits is a demonologist, but what about a sorcerer 
  who only calls them to aid in feats of architecture and 
  never makes use of demonic 
  personal aides?
  THE TERRESTRIAL 
  EXALTED
  Most anyone speaking 
  of a culture of sorcerers in 
  Creation means the Realm. 
  Of the many civilizations 
  in Creation, the Realm is 
  the mightiest and the most 
  wide-reaching. Satrapies 
  adopt Realm customs, from 
  both Dynastic pressure and 
  a desire by the highest social 
  classes to imitate Dynastic 
  nobility. Where the Scarlet 
  Dynasty holds sway (or held 
  sway until recently), the 
  Realm’s attitude toward 
  sorcerers and demonolo-
  gists is prevalent. Even 
  Terrestrial outcastes, 
  everywhere but in the 
  Scavenger Lands, most 
  often fashion them-
  selves according to the 
  stories they’ve heard of 
  the Blessed Isle, where 
  the Dragon-Blooded live as 
  kings in Creation’s 
  greatest nation.
  W i t h i n 
  the Scaven-
  ger Lands, 
  h o w e v e r , 
  Dragon-Blood-
  e d  a t t i t u d e s 
  toward sorcery and 
  demonology are shaped 
  most strongly by 
  Lookshy—and 
  Lookshy’s de-
  monologists are 
  not the Realm’s.
  THE REALM
  During each class’s third year, the Heptagram’s 
  instructors teach their students the principles behind 
  banishing demons or defeating them in combat. Dur-
  ing the fourth year, the instructors teach the principles 
  of demon binding, including 
  the particulars of The Abscissic 
  Guide. Only during their fifth 
  and final year attending the 
  Heptagram are the Dynasty’s 
  young sorcerers-to-be taught 
  the principles of demon sum-
  moning.
  The Realm accepts that 
  sorcerers will command de-
  mons, and much of Dynastic 
  society’s unease concern-
  ing sorcerers stems from 
  this acceptance—the Dy-
  nast sees little distinction 
  between demonologist 
  and sorcerer. As a result, 
  the Blessed Isle is (as a 
  rule) the best place 
  in Creation to learn 
  how to bind demons 
  safely and the worst 
  place in Creation for 
  a sorcerer to live if she 
  craves acceptance and 
  admiration.
  To practice demonol-
  ogy legally, a Realm sorcerer 
  must maintain a demonolo-
  gist’s license with the White 
  Registry, incurring a yearly 
  cost of four minae (Resourc-
  es •••). Qualifying for a 
  demonologist’s license en-
  tails testing by a 
  White Reg-
  istry agent, 
  usually re-
  quiring Lore 
  •, Occult 
  •••, study 
  of the relevant 
  laws and a back-
  ground check—those 
  with shady pasts are often 
  C
  T
  D
  emonologist, but what about a sorcerer
  ls them to aid in feats of architecture and
  use of demonic 
  s?
  RESTRIAL 
  yone speaking
  of sorcerers in
  ans the Realm.
  ny civilizations 
  the Realm is 
  t and the most 
  ng. Satrapies 
  customs, from 
  ic pressure and
  e highest social 
  itate Dynastic 
  ere the Scarlet 
  s sway (or held
  ecently), the 
  tude toward 
  demonolo-
  alent. Even
  outcastes,
  but in the
  ands, most 
  on them-
  ding to the
  ve heard of 
  Isle, where
  Blooded live as 
  ation’s
  on.
  n 
  -
  , 
  , 
  d-
  d e s
  ery and 
  are shaped
  ngly by 
  and
  de-
  are
  m’s.
  banishing demons or defeating them in com
  ing the fourth year, the instructors teach the p
  of demon binding, i
  the particulars of The
  Guide. Only during t
  and final year atten
  Heptagram are the D
  young sorcerers-to-b
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  craves accepta
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  To practice d
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  must maintain a de
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  cost of four minae (
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  22
  denied the license. Younger sorcerers may apply for 
  an apprentice’s license, which costs only one mina 
  (Resources ••) and requires no White Registry testing. 
  However, the apprentice’s master (who must be fully 
  licensed) takes full responsibility for any damage the 
  apprentice’s demons cause.
  Officially, a practicing demonologist may legally 
  retain only three demon aides bound through the 
  Abscissic method. In practice, the limit is only rarely 
  enforced, the fines for violation are minor, and almost 
  no sorcerer who genuinely desires more than three de-
  mons will let the law stand in her way. Though skilled 
  demonologists are feared and disliked on a personal 
  level, they’re often valuable enough to their families 
  that House heads exert significant pressure on anyone 
  who would bring them up on charges. Like violation 
  of the rules for keeping proper White Registry records, 
  the three demon law is most often used as an excuse to 
  accuse suspected criminal demonologists upon whom 
  no other charge can be affixed. 
  Sorcerers may legally exceed three demon servants 
  when engaging in large-scale projects, but they must 
  insure their slaves with the Scarlet Throne. This is 
  expensive—typically a Resources •••• purchase for 
  nine months of massed demon labor involving a single 
  demonologist and up to two apprentices, or a Resources 
  ••••• purchase for a project of larger scale lasting the 
  same amount of time.
  Regardless of whether the demons are personal aids 
  or a massed labor force, the sorcerer is not held responsible 
  for minor mischief on the part of her slaves—specifically, 
  any fine or financial burden imposed upon the sorcerer 
  by a demon’s misbehavior is reduced by a cost of one obol 
  (Resources •). If damages plus the cost of any investiga-
  tion are less than this “obol exemption,” the sorcerer 
  pays nothing, though she must pay any amount above 
  a single obol (expensive, if the demon is eating people 
  of import). The demonologist is only at risk of losing 
  her license if her slaves begin killing Dragon-Bloods or 
  significant numbers of patricians, or destroying more 
  property than she can afford to replace. Even then, it 
  won’t be a criminal matter unless she’s found terminally 
  negligent, if the destruction the demons are causing 
  turns out to be under her orders or if evidence arises 
  that she’s fallen under the sway of the Yozis.
  Bound demons are considered the property of the 
  sorcerer, each usually valued at one shekel (Resources 
  ••). If a demonic labor force causes too much trouble 
  for Immaculate temples or Dynastic residences near the 
  work site, it may end up mysteriously killed or blatantly 
  executed, with the assailants tossing a “demon shekel” 
  upon each corpse for the sorcerer to find. A sorcerer 
  facing a murdered and paid-for demonic labor force 
  has little legal recourse, so most seek to resolve any 
  problems before things reach this stage. 
  Of demographics, the over 10,000 Dynasts of the 
  Realm have more or less 1,000 Terrestrial Exalted 
  schooled in sorcery, of which around 400 identify 
  themselves as sorcerers, of which 200 or so are truly 
  skilled. Half of the 400 dedicated sorcerers use personal 
  demon aides on a regular basis and are known fully as 
  demonologists as well as sorcerers, and half the remainder 
  dabble in demonology, summoning demons as needed, 
  but don’t necessarily consider themselves demonolo-
  gists per se. Less than a quarter of the Scarlet Dynasty’s 
  sorcerers abstain from demonology entirely, but they 
  suffer the social rejection regardless.
  Of the 600 or so Dynasts schooled in sorcery 
  who aren’t known as sorcerers (and most often don’t 
  consider themselves such), the majority know only 
  Emerald Countermagic and perhaps one or two other 
  spells. Even amongst the 600, however, covert de-
  monology is rampant. At least a quarter (and by some 
  estimates, more than a third) count Demon of the 
  First Circle amongst their meager spells known, and 
  many apprentice themselves quietly to known sorcer-
  ers, trading lavish, secret favors for their teacher’s aid 
  and—more importantly—discretion. Almost no covert 
  demonologists formally admit their knowledge of the 
  spell Demon of the First Circle to the White Registry. 
  This is something of an open secret amongst White 
  Registry agents, who often keep contacts amongst the 
  Realm’s covert demonologists in order to stay abreast 
  of more important developments (with the threat of 
  public exposure serving as blackmail material), but most 
  other Dynasts would be shocked to learn how common 
  demonology is amongst those thought schooled only 
  in Emerald Countermagic.
  LOOKSHY
  Lookshy tolerates demonologists far less than does 
  the Scarlet Dynasty.
  Lookshy boasts two sorcerous orders. The older of 
  the two is the Order of the Chaplainry, whose members 
  are known as sohei, or sorcerer-exorcists. Lookshy has 
  no access to the Five Glorious Dragon Paths of martial 
  arts, and sohei are allied closely with the leaders of the 
  Seventh Legion’s Immaculate faith, serving a similar 
  role as the Immaculate Order’s monks. The Chaplainry 
  disapproves of summoning for reasons both ideological 
  and practical. Ideologically, the Mandate of Heaven 
  empowers the Exalted to call upon demon labor, but 
  
  CHAPTER TWO • DEMONOLOGY
  23
  demons belong in Malfeas, and only those Exalts of 
  profound enlightenment can know when maintaining 
  the Celestial Order’s proper alignment requires put-
  ting it temporarily out of balance. Practically, demons 
  improperly managed cause chaos, and sorcerers densely 
  populate the city and environs, so restricting access to 
  demon summoning is for the Seventh Legion’s safety 
  and stability. Demons also keep poor secrets once their 
  periods of service are ended—and Lookshy’s greatest 
  military rival has always been the Realm, full of sorcer-
  ers who can summon and interrogate whatever demon 
  has just left Lookshy’s service.
  Lookshy’s second sorcerous order, younger and 
  now larger (but hewing to older traditions), grew out of 
  the first, and out of political reforms that followed the 
  Gunzota Incident. The members of this second order are 
  the Seventh Legion’s wai tan-junai and shugan-junai, 
  or sorcerer-engineers and sorcerer-technicians, trained 
  at the Lookshy Academy of Sorcery at Valkhawsen in 
  sorcerous traditions common during the Shogunate 
  (when sorcery was not seen as a mystical practice but 
  rather a practical pursuit). The post-Gunzota General 
  Staff originally created the sorcerer-engineers as a source 
  of new magitech after internal audits revealed the former 
  General Staff had grown dangerously lax in insuring 
  against too rapid loss of artifact resources. Although 
  Valkhawsen has become more independent over time 
  (when created, it fell under the sohei’s authority, and 
  remains there legally), its wai-tan junai and shugan-
  junai still hew close to conventional Seventh Legion 
  doctrine with regards to demons as logistical assets (i.e., 
  “for use only when no alternative exists”).
  Graduates of Valkhawsen have easy access to Em-
  erald Circle Banishment but cannot learn Demon of 
  the First Circle without special clearance. Unlike in the 
  Realm, this clearance cannot be officially bought—and 
  buying it unofficially is difficult, as the new General 
  Staff has been remarkably free of corruption. Only the 
  most trusted and respected of Lookshy’s sorcerers (i.e., 
  mostly the sorcerer-exorcists) learn Demon of the First 
  Circle, and as Valkhawsen’s headmaster falls further out 
  of favor with the sohei, they increasingly veto requests 
  by Valkhawsen students for the requisite clearance.
  Unlike in the Realm, anyone in Lookshy who can 
  cast even a single spell is widely considered a sorcerer, 
  but due to the rarity of demonology and a necessarily 
  pragmatic attitude toward the resources available to it, 
  Lookshy society doesn’t look askance at sorcerers the 
  way the Realm does. Almost one in six of Lookshy’s 
  Dragon-Blooded know the Terrestrial Circle Sorcery 
  Charm. However, in all of Lookshy, perhaps 100-150 
  sorcerers are cleared for demonology, most of them 
  sohei, and Lookshy sees these sorcerer-exorcists in 
  nearly the same unapproachable light the Realm sees 
  all its acknowledged sorcerers—though the unease is 
  tinged more with awe than disdain, thanks to the sohei’s 
  association with Lookshy’s Immaculate faith.
  OTHER DRAGON-BLOODED
  Outside the influence of the Realm and beyond 
  the walls of Lookshy, thousands of outcastes make their 
  way throughout Creation. For them, sorcery is difficult 
  to learn—unlike the Celestial Exalted, Terrestrials 
  have no memories of their past lives to guide them 
  to knowledge, and without access to the Heptagram 
  or Valkhawsen, the five trials are arduous. Still, the 
  Dragon-Blooded benefit from the Salinan Working as 
  much as any Exalts.
  Even amongst the self-taught, demonology remains 
  the most common form of sorcery in Creation—in 
  fact, self-taught sorcerers more often know Demon 
  of the First Circle than Emerald Countermagic. The 
  most eager tutor many would-be sorcerers can find is 
  a demon summoned through thaumaturgy, and such 
  demons adore snaring unsuspecting outcastes in their 
  plots. Self-taught demonologists, lacking access to The 
  Scroll of Limbs and The Abscissic Guide, tend to live out 
  exactly the sort of stories more educated demonologists 
  dismiss as mere superstition.
  THE CELESTIAL EXALTED
  Where the Dragon-Blooded are many, weak and 
  limited to Demon of the First Circle, the Celestials are 
  strong, few and may command even the souls of the 
  Yozis. But not very often.
  THE LUNAR EXALTED
  Lunar sorcerers use Demon of the First Circle as 
  often as Dragon-Blooded do, and for many of the same 
  reasons—construction, war, personal aides. The No 
  Moons try to keep the Circle of Sapphire to themselves, 
  but hardly anyone begrudges a young Full Moon or 
  Half-Moon mastery of the Circle of Emerald. First Circle 
  demons pose less of a risk to Lunars than to Dragon-
  Blooded, because Lunars are mightier than Terrestrials, 
  so Lunar tutors of sorcery are even less hesitant to teach 
  their pupils Demon of the First Circle than are the staff 
  of the Heptagram. The Lunar propensity for taking on 
  the role of gods in Creation’s various barbarian tribes 
  makes it less likely they’ll be hated and feared by the 
  mortals around them for calling up the servants of 
  Hell—many a savage “god” demonstrates its power 
  precisely by binding demons to her will.
  
  24
  Demons of the Second Circle are another mat-
  ter. They’re cunning. They can be hard to control. 
  It’s because of Demon of the Second Circle that the 
  No Moons try to keep Sapphire Circle Sorcery to 
  themselves—called up without proper preparation, the 
  least souls of the Yozis can ravage a nation.
  Those Lunar sorcerers who subscribe to the 
  Mishiko’s philosophies sometimes look down on demon-
  ology, as Mishiko espouses freedom and demonology 
  exploits slavery. But Lunars are survivors, and they 
  haven’t survived this long by ignoring the resources 
  within their grasp.
  THE SIDEREAL EXALTED
  Sidereals don’t summon demons very often, for 
  two reasons: First, demons aren’t allowed in Heaven, 
  where Sidereals spend much of their time; and second, 
  what time Sidereals don’t spend in Heaven, they often 
  spend addressing causal errors resulting from demonic 
  tampering in Creation. Few are eager to create more 
  work for themselves, and only slightly more are eager to 
  create more work for their fellows. An obtrusive demon 
  retinue can also make it difficult to maintain a false 
  identity, of which most Sidereals keep several.
  Only about 30 percent of Sidereal sorcerers make 
  use of demonology regularly. The most common task 
  set before demons called up by the Seers is sentinel 
  duty—demon slaves often guard sites important to the 
  Five-Score Fellowship. First Circle demons are within 
  fate as long as they’re in Creation, and they can act as 
  sentinels eternally, so they avoid the major problems 
  Sidereals have with demon summoning.
  Where Sidereal demonologists excel is in knowl-
  edge. They have essentially unfettered access to all of 
  Heaven’s lore regarding the denizens of Malfeas. While 
  this is ostensibly so they can fight demonic influence 
  more effectively, it also means that, when a Sidereal 
  does summon an infernal slave, she often knows exactly 
  how best to make use of it—or believes she does.
  THE ABYSSAL EXALTED
  Where the Sidereals possess reams of printed 
  records, the Abyssals possess mentors with first-hand 
  experience in dealing with powerful demons.
  But Abyssals tend to concentrate on learning nec-
  romancy, and it takes the Onyx Circle of the Labyrinth 
  to call up even a Demon of the First Circle. As much 
  as the Deathlords know of correct demon usage, they 
  often prefer their students learn the arts of death to 
  the arts of Hell. As excellent servants as demons make, 
  ghosts are better in the long run for most tasks—they 
  can create a manse without demonic eccentricity in its 
  design, they can serve a master personally forever, and 
  they can be cowed using the same techniques that strike 
  fear in the hearts of living mortals. The Abyssals turn 
  to demonology most often for those specialized tasks for 
  which no ghost or spell of necromancy is optimized.
  Demons, for the most part, relish any opportunity to 
  place rogue Abyssals under their sway, so the Chosen of 
  Death on the run from their masters often find demons 
  make excellent servants… at least up until they try to 
  enslave their “masters.”
  THE SOLAR EXALTED
  The Solar Exalted are as yet too fractious to make any 
  single statement about their approaches to demonology. 
  They come from all cultures and all walks of life. They 
  share only access to the Salinan Working and memories 
  of a time when they strode Creation as the Princes of 
  the Earth. The demons, for the most part, are unsure 
  of what to make of these young upstarts. The Solars of 
  old were magnificent, and the spirits of Malfeas offered 
  them grudging respect. The new Solars are not nearly 
  so powerful. Can they be made tools, or is the attempt 
  to make them so unwise?
  So far, the demons have taken a wait-and-see ap-
  proach to the reborn Lawgivers. A few try to enslave the 
  Solar Exalts to their own use, but their fellows advise 
  caution. The Solars grow in power fast, and today’s 
  slave might throw off her shackles and become a free 
  sorcerer tomorrow. Many demons continue with plots 
  they ran before the Solars re-emerged, treating their 
  bondage as an inconvenience to be weathered rather 
  than an opportunity to be savored.
  Where Solars excel in demonology is their ability to 
  call forth Demons of the Third Circle. If any have done 
  so since the Empress’s disappearance, Creation at large 
  is unaware, but it’s only a matter of time until a young 
  Chosen of the Sun prodigy makes the attempt.
  MORTAL DEMONOLOGISTS
  Not all demonologists are Exalts. Mortals thau-
  maturges, too, call up demonic spirits to do their 
  bidding—and the practice is not quite as dangerous as 
  one might assume. Many Malfean spirits are happy to 
  find allies in Creation, and if those allies are mortal, 
  so much the better—mortals are easier to enslave. See 
  Exalted, page 138, and The Books of Sorcery, Vol. 
  III—Oadenol’s Codex, page 135 for more information 
  on the thaumaturgical Art of Demon Summoning.
  What demons tolerate from mortal thaumaturges, 
  they’re less forgiving of in mortal sorcerers. When one 
  
  CHAPTER TWO • DEMONOLOGY
  25
  of the rare mortal initiates of the Circle of Emerald 
  tries to cast Demon of the First Circle, she discovers 
  something terrible. The spell can call the demon forth 
  but offers no binding (as that is dependent on the pledge 
  of servitude made to the gods and Exalts alone at the 
  close of the Primordial War), and many demons take 
  offense at a mortal attempting their enslavement. De-
  mons willing to “play nice” with a properly deferential 
  thaumaturge aren’t so willing when they’re called out 
  of Malfeas on pretense and bidden to serve one with 
  no right to demand service. This isn’t a secret. Mortal 
  sorcerers who attempt a casting of Demon of the First 
  Circle are rare in the Age of Sorrows.
  CHOOSING A DEMON TO SUMMON
  For any given task a sorcerer wishes to accomplish, 
  Malfeas holds a demon, or five, or a dozen. Erymanthoi 
  aren’t the only demon brutes. A sorcerer who calls 
  forth a demon by the purpose she wishes it to serve is 
  as likely to receive a specimen she’s never heard of as 
  one with which she’s familiar. As all demons are ec-
  centric, sorcerers from the time of Brigid onward have 
  kept careful records of which demon breeds make the 
  best soldiers, the best builders and the best clerks. Un-
  known, unpredictable demons are a danger, if not to 
  the sorcerer herself then to her agendas, her reputation 
  or, at very least, her peace of mind.
  OBSCURITY
  The demons in Chapter Three each have an 
  Obscurity trait. Obscurity measures how common is 
  knowledge of any given demon amongst the mortals 
  of Creation, and particularly amongst the societies 
  dedicated wholly or in part to demonology—the No 
  Moons of the Silver Pact, the Mnemon Darik Society, 
  the sohei of Lookshy and the Marmorean sisterhood 
  are just a sample of the dozens of groups dedicated to 
  demonology across Creation. The Obscurity trait is 
  two numbered thresholds separated by a slash. The 
  first threshold measures how commonly known is the 
  demon or demon species’ name and a general idea of its 
  nature. Creation is full of stories of the blood apes called 
  erymanthoi and the green sun named Ligier. Beyond 
  such simple facts, common knowledge of demons is 
  rife with misperception, exaggeration, speculation and 
  lies—but a summoner needs only a demon’s name (or 
  the name of its race) to call it forth.
  The second threshold marks how common is 
  accurate information about the demon in question. 
  Storytellers, you have broad discretion when deciding 
  how much information the second Obscurity threshold 
  SORCERY BY PROXY
   Demons who learn sorcery cannot use it 
  to summon or bind other demons—those spells 
  draw from the lingering power of the binding 
  oaths the newly forged Yozis swore at the end 
  of the Primordial War, which twisted them into 
  their current forms and placed their souls into a 
  forever submissive position.
  As for demons and other types of sorcery, 
  demon sorcerers are harder to summon than 
  many demonologists would like. As a rule, Ter-
  restrial Circle sorcerers have no hope of binding 
  a demon sorcerer to slavery. Whether a demon 
  knows sorcery or not is one of the few things the 
  demon-summoning spells can’t distinguish, so a 
  demonologist who wants a pet sorcerer needs to 
  know the demon individually first—and demons 
  of the First Circle with Terrestrial Circle Sorcery 
  number perhaps a dozen at a time, with a high rate 
  of turnover (Lucien makes examples of those he 
  finds) and much secrecy amongst the survivors.
  Demons of the Second Circle often learn the 
  Circle of Emerald, but only the most powerful and 
  canny learn the Circle of Sapphire. In rare cases, 
  a sorcerer in need of a particular spell may call 
  up a Second Circle demon to cast it for her, but 
  this is both risky and inconvenient, as demons of 
  this Circle can be summoned only on the night of 
  the new moon or during Calibration—it’s often 
  quicker for the sorcerer to simply learn the spell 
  herself. A few demonologists bind Second Circle 
  demons expressly to act as pet sorcerers, but the 
  demons most skilled in the sorcerous arts are those 
  most willful and difficult to bind. Throughout 
  history, sorcerers have made a habit of calling up 
  demon sorcerers as tutors, however.
  Third Circle Demons are often expert sorcer-
  ers, but they’ve not been seen in Creation since 
  the fall of the Old Realm.
  represents, but a good guide would be to ask yourself 
  this: “Assuming this demon has been summoned repeat-
  edly by demonologists over the past several thousand 
  years, and assuming many of those demonologists kept 
  reasonably accurate records to pass to their students, 
  what would a well-educated savant learn from reading 
  scholarly compilations of those records?” The second 
  threshold doesn’t measure total knowledge—if Octavian 
  
  26
  has a secret weakness, characters won’t automatically 
  learn it merely by purchasing Occult 5 or Backing 
  (Sohei of Lookshy) 3.
  Note that Obscurity is not absolute. As a measure of 
  cultural awareness, it shifts from culture to culture. The 
  eristrufae are mildly obscure throughout most of Creation, 
  but in the West, where sailors tell tales of the demon 
  fog, the eristrufae are more commonly known. Demons 
  totally unknown to Creation have no Obscurity trait.
  Two ways exist to use Obscurity:
  Automatic: Take a character’s Occult score and 
  subtract two. The character automatically knows of 
  every demon with an Obscurity rating equal to or lower 
  than the result—the name and a brief description, if 
  (Occult - 2) is equal to or greater than the first number, 
  and the full details if (Occult - 2) is equal to or greater 
  than the second number. For example, everyone with 
  Occult 3 knows not only of the blood apes, but as much 
  about them as there is to know, for blood apes are simple 
  creatures without a secret nature. Neomah are similarly 
  well known, but being more complex, only characters 
  with Occult 4 or more automatically know the full details 
  of the demon courtesan’s reproductive habits.
  Should a demonologist possess the Backing 
  Background in an occult organization with a focus on 
  demonology, she automatically has access to records 
  of every demon with an Obscurity rating equal to or 
  lower than her rating in that Background—sorcerous 
  societies tend to use knowledge of the more exotic 
  forms of demon as enticement for sorcerers to involve 
  themselves more fully in societal affairs. Should she pos-
  sess the Backing Background in an occult organization 
  dedicated to sorcery in general but not demonology in 
  specific, her Backing is treated as one lower than normal 
  for this purpose. The Lookshy Academy of Sorcery at 
  Valkhawsen is a sorcerous society, but not dedicated to 
  demonology or its practice, but Lookshy’s sohei dedicate 
  themselves to demonology first. Backing (Valkhawsen) 
  is worth one less dot than Backing (Sohei of Lookshy) 
  for purposes of Obscurity. Most Realm sorcerous societ-
  ies dedicate themselves to demonology first, including 
  the Heptagram, due to demonology’s common practice 
  amongst the Dynastic sorcerers.
  Rolled: Should a character not qualify to automati-
  cally know the name or the details of a given demon 
  or demon species, there’s still a chance she’s heard of 
  it in passing and might remember. Roll the character’s 
  (Intelligence + Occult). If the roll garners successes 
  equal to the first number, she knows of the demon or 
  species in passing. If the roll garners successes equal to 
  the second number plus 1, she is well-educated in the 
  
  CHAPTER TWO • DEMONOLOGY
  27
  (if they have any). They’re aware of how badly mis-
  understood they are, and they often make a common 
  mistake—they assume the slanderous cautionary tales 
  are all wrong. They think, “Those sorts of things don’t 
  really happen.” Most of time, such things don’t… but 
  all stories begin somewhere, exaggerated though they 
  may become. And many demonologists, invested as they 
  are in believing their critics are wrong, turn a blind eye 
  when their critics turn out to be right.
  Summoned demons are dangerous to the sorcerer’s 
  principles and resolve. The greatest danger of demonol-
  ogy is how useful it is. Sorcerers face genuine temptation 
  to delegate their daily routines to demon slaves—more 
  intelligent than any mortal slave, more obedient, and 
  “BALANCE”
  This system doesn’t attempt to balance de-
  monology by making the most useful demons the 
  most difficult to find. Up to a point, the more 
  useful a demon is, the more demonologists will 
  write about it, and the more knowledge of it 
  will disseminate amongst Creation’s sorcerous 
  societies. The more powerful and dangerous a 
  demon is, the more infamous it becomes, and the 
  more sorcerers speak of it amongst each other 
  when they discuss their craft. Most demons with 
  mid-to-high Obscurity ratings are unknown not 
  because they possess secret, world-shaking power 
  and are meant to be kept out of the hands of 
  players’ characters, but because demonologists 
  don’t take an interest in them.
  Several obscure demons are powerful and 
  secret—world-changing forces all on their own, 
  and weapons concealed by all with knowledge 
  of them. They’re the exceptions.
  SIDEREALS
  The Sidereal Exalted don’t use this system. 
  Any Sidereal with any Backing in any Bureau of 
  Yu-Shan has full access to the names and details 
  of all known species of demon of the First Circle, 
  and most individual demons of the Second and 
  Third Circles. Sidereals are expected to fight the 
  forces of Malfeas on a regular basis, and Heaven 
  has learned not to send its agents in uninformed. 
  A Sidereal who engages in irresponsible demon-
  ology (including leaking Heaven’s secrets in 
  a demon servant’s presence) will face censure 
  should her superiors discover the practice.
  demon’s or demons’ habits and behavior. Should the 
  roll fail, the sorcerer has not encountered knowledge 
  of the demon or demonic race in her life and travels 
  (or cannot recall encounters with it during lives past, 
  in the case of Celestial Exalted), and must research 
  before her player may roll again.
  DEMON OBSCURITY
  Demon 
  Obscurity
  Eristrufa 
  2/3 (1/3 in the West)
  Erymanthus 
  1/1
  Infernal Worm 
  2/2
  Kimbery’s Dawn 
  3/4
  Neomah 
  1/2
  Octavian 
  2/3
  RISK ASSESSMENT
  How dangerous is demonology really?
  Short answer: Much less dangerous than most non-
  sorcerers assume, but somewhat more dangerous than 
  most demonologists like to admit.
  Demon summoning works. Most demonologists profit 
  by it. Everyone hears stories about the sorcerers who let 
  their slaves get the better of them, and who get pulled 
  off to the Demon Realm as a result of meddling in forces 
  they can’t understand. These stories are popular because 
  they’re memorable, and they’re memorable because the 
  events they concern are rare. Hopping puppeteers are 
  infamous for killing infants, so the most common story 
  about the sorcerer-architect using hopping puppeteers to 
  build her mansion involves her discovering once the task 
  is finished that she no longer has a family to inhabit it. 
  The story doesn’t mention that sorcerers are fully aware 
  of the hopping puppeteers’ attitude toward babies, that 
  sorcerers make a habit of keeping children away from 
  demonic construction sites and that the White Registry 
  records no Dynastic sorcerer losing one of her own children 
  to a hopping puppeteer in over two centuries.
  Summoned demons tend not to be dangerous to the 
  sorcerer’s body. They are often not dangerous to the sor-
  cerer’s allies. They are, however, demons. They remain 
  true to their natures. They’re dangerous to bystanders. 
  Even “benevolent” demons, such as Berengiere, carry 
  a different set of priorities than human beings. If they 
  behave in humane ways, they don’t do so for human 
  reasons. Demons are broken, and summoned demons 
  doubly so. Broken minds are eccentric.
  Demonologists spend most of their lives facing the 
  ignorant discrimination of their non-sorcerer peers 
  
  28
  supernaturally puissant besides. With enough demons, 
  any task becomes possible, and even the problem of 
  too many demons to manage is itself easily managed 
  by summoning more demons and delegating authority. 
  The stories mortals tell of the sorcerer recreating the 
  hierarchy of Malfeas in Creation, with herself in the role 
  of a Yozi, are rooted in fact, and such a sorcerer, even if 
  she doesn’t mean to be, is a menace to Creation. Even 
  without the Great Curse, such a demonologist might be 
  driven to excess or just neglect to reign in her demon 
  army—and she is not without the Great Curse.
  In such cases, martially inclined bystanders often 
  take preventative steps.
  THE SPELL
  Five days before the sorcerer begins the ritual, the 
  demon’s senses clear. It puts aside its tasks and, in a 
  near trance, sets out from Malfeas. It journeys through 
  the Endless Desert for five days, and on the fifth day, 
  at midnight, the moment the sorcerer’s ritual reaches 
  a crescendo, it pushes through the barrier separating 
  Creation from Hell.
  Solars during the First Age spent a great deal of time 
  studying this phenomenon, with teams of researchers sta-
  tioned in Malfeas who would watch a demon scheduled 
  to possibly be summoned (determined randomly) five days 
  hence. They determined that the demon always leaves 
  for Cecelyne if the summoning occurs and never leaves 
  if it doesn’t. The quantum motonic theories derived 
  from these experiments were the basis for much of the 
  more advanced late-Deliberative technology. Second 
  Age savants can grasp only the basics of these theories, 
  and much of the advanced principles are now beyond 
  the likes of everyone save the eldest of Sidereals.
  A sorcerer cannot summon a demon already in 
  Creation, even if that demon normally has no trouble 
  appearing in multiple locations simultaneously. Once 
  summoned, the sorcery intertwines the demon’s future 
  and the summoner’s; until the spell’s duration ends, 
  none other can bind it. Because of this fact, demonology 
  interacts poorly with other forms of Heavenly binding—
  specifically the Eclipse oath. A demon ordered to swear 
  an Eclipse oath will suffer the normal consequences 
  for breaking it, up to a point. The moment the demon 
  suffers the first botch, its binding breaks, and it finds 
  itself free. Once the binding is broken, so is the oath. 
  Should the first botch delay until after the binding 
  naturally expires, or should the demon not break the 
  oath while bound, the oath likewise ends at the bind-
  ing’s culmination. Sorcerers cannot layer obligations 
  on their servants easily.
  MECHANICS
  As the Exalted rulebook details, the mechanic of 
  summoning spells divides into two stages.
  First, the binding roll: A series of resisted rolls 
  between the sorcerer’s and the demon’s (Essence + 
  Willpower), with victory going to the first to score 
  three more successes than the other. The sorcerer’s 
  player can penalize demon’s player by spending motes 
  beyond the spell’s base cost. For Demon of the First 
  Circle, every extra five motes the sorcerer spends inflicts 
  a -1 internal penalty to the demon’s roll; Demon of the 
  Second Circle and Demon of the Third Circle increase 
  the cost to 10 motes per -1 internal penalty.
  Second, the banishing roll: Should the sorcerer 
  fail to bind the demon, her player may make a reflexive 
  (Wits + Occult) roll at difficulty 3 for the character to 
  banish the demon back to Malfeas, with failure loosing 
  an unbound demon on Creation.
  In addition to penalizing the demon’s player’s 
  roll, the sorcerer’s player possesses two ways to bolster 
  her own.
  RITUAL IMPLEMENTS: THE CAGE
  As the spell description notes, summoning a de-
  mon requires ritual implements to perform properly, 
  with a lack of such inflicting a -1 external penalty to 
  the sorcerer’s binding roll and a -2 external penalty to 
  the banishing roll. The sorcerer uses these materials 
  to form a literal or metaphysical cage, which the spell 
  reproduces in the demon’s mind, entrapping its will. 
  Regardless of what form they take, by default these 
  implements consist of a permanent structure, costing 
  Resources ••, and expendable components, costing 
  Resources • per demon summoned.
  The player of a sorcerer who creates a more elaborate 
  cage (a one-time Resources ••• purchase) gains +1 die 
  to binding rolls. More rarified components (Resources 
  •• per demon) also provide +1 die. These bonuses are 
  cumulative.
  The Resources cost measures the rarity of the com-
  ponents. The materials the demonologist uses to create 
  the cage need not be literally purchased with currency, 
  and summoners in rural societies need not venture into 
  Creation’s cities to acquire the necessary materials. See 
  “Folk Resources” in The Books of Sorcery, Vol. III—
  Oadenol’s Codex, p. 7, for further discussion.
  BOUND BY OATH
  To further break down the demon’s resistance, 
  the sorcerer may, during the binding process, offer the 
  demon a chance to swear an oath of further restriction. 
  
  CHAPTER TWO • DEMONOLOGY
  29
  Should the demon accept, this binding oath provides 
  the sorcerer’s player with two automatic successes to 
  one of her binding rolls. She may offer, and the demon 
  may accept, more than one oath.
  Typically, these oaths offer mutual benefit, specify-
  ing some freedom the sorcerer will allow the demon in 
  exchange for some task the demon will perform above 
  and beyond that which the spell mandates. Oaths need 
  not be mutually beneficial, however—in swearing, 
  the demon accepts the validity of the binding, which 
  weakens its resistance even if the oath is purely for the 
  sorcerer’s benefit. If the sorcerer wishes to trick the 
  demon into accepting an oath with no benefit to itself, 
  the demon’s player uses the rules for reading motivation 
  (see Exalted, p. 131).
  A demon that violates an oath made during the 
  binding process dies. If it’s a demon of the First Circle, 
  death is instant and permanent as the demon visibly 
  rots away to nothing. A demon of the Second Circle 
  evaporates into dust and vapor—its Third Circle demon 
  will eventually recreate it. A Third Circle demon rein-
  carnates into a new form instantly, its nature changed 
  enough that the old oath becomes invalid.
  A sorcerer who violates an oath suffers a dire fate. 
  At some point in the future, all her bound demons will 
  go free. This happens once for every oath she breaks. 
  Rarely, a sorcerer evades a broken oath’s consequences 
  by dying before facing this calamity (it can be years 
  or even centuries before the demons are freed) or by 
  dismissing all her demons and forswearing demonology 
  thereafter, but no other method of escape exists.
  TASK BINDING
  A demon bound to a task gains that task as a new 
  Motivation in addition to its existing Motivation. Though 
  provided through magic, this new Motivation is in all 
  ways real and confers all the same benefits as a normal 
  Motivation. If the new Motivation and the old Motivation 
  conflict, the demon’s player may spend a Willpower point 
  for a chance to ignore the imposed Motivation for a day. 
  Otherwise, the demon’s desire to fulfill the task to which 
  it’s bound takes precedent. The demon’s player may not 
  spend a Willpower point to ignore the imposed Motivation 
  unless the previous Motivation forces a conflict.
  If the sorcerer has a task in mind when she begins 
  the summoning, the spell will call a demon with a 
  Motivation compatible to the task, unless she deliber-
  ately works the magic otherwise (for example, binding 
  an demon she knows by name to a task she knows it 
  opposes, as punishment or for amusement).
  MASS SUMMONING
  For players who wish their demonologists to embark 
  upon grand projects requiring dozens or hundreds of 
  demon servants acting in concert, these rules provide 
  a way to do so without making dozens or hundreds of 
  individual binding rolls.
  Every task a group of demons could perform has 
  a Scope, representing the number of demons required 
  to perform it. When judging how many demons a task 
  requires, assume each First Circle demon is worth three 
  skilled mortals or one heroic expert. Use this system 
  for tasks of Scope •• or greater. This is an abstraction, 
  representing many nights spent casting the spell Demon 
  of the First Circle repeatedly, and binding each demon 
  in turn to whatever task the sorcerer has in mind—and 
  not to the sorcerer’s will. It also assumes all the demons 
  are bound to the same goal, though the actual phrasing 
  the sorcerer uses may vary from demon to demon. When 
  building an army with the purpose of sacking Gem, for 
  instance, she may bind erymanthoi to commit violence 
  upon its structures and citizens, peronelle to enhance the 
  erymanthoi in combat and sesseljae to give the blood apes 
  support, but the end goal of all three groups of demons 
  is to efficiently destroy the city. When working at this 
  scale, the actual makeup of the demon army is important 
  only for when the sorcerer’s player wishes to enhance 
  the group’s progress through stunt description.
  Demons bound to a task will generally wish to carry 
  it out as quickly as possible and may be difficult to re-
  strain from doing so. Once bound, they are loyal to the 
  task and not to the demonologist. They will generally 
  follow their master’s instructions on how best to carry 
  SURVIVING THE SUMMONING
  As a rule of thumb, when summoning a 
  demon with less than 10 dice in its (Willpower 
  + Essence) pool, a one-die edge translates into 
  a two-thirds chance of victory in the binding 
  roll. Having two more dice than one’s opponent 
  gives a three-quarters chance of victory. Four 
  extra dice brings it up to nine chances in ten. 
  For more powerful demons, a two-, three-, or 
  six-die edge gives similar results.
  For true safety, a sorcerer should subtract 
  three dice from her binding pool and halve the 
  result—that’s how many dice she can afford to 
  let the demon’s player roll. This edge gives the 
  sorcerer somewhere around a 99 percent chance 
  of victory in the summoning contest.
  
  30
  out their purpose, or the instructions of a lieutenant 
  she’s designated, but they will ignore pointless orders 
  (“wait here for a few days,” “stop spinning towers of brass 
  and fire,” “don’t eat my cat,” “detour and destroy that 
  town”) and may attack the sorcerer if she attempts to 
  hinder them, just as they’d attack any obstacle.
  A force of (Project Scope - 2) is totally ineffective 
  at accomplishing its goal. The demons will attempt 
  vainly to fulfill their purpose, gaining no progress until 
  their numbers reach (Project Scope - 1).
  A force of (Project Scope - 1) is largely ineffective—
  typically, it makes progress, but at one-tenth the rate 
  it should.
  A force of (Project Scope + 1) is only somewhat 
  more effective than a force of (Project Scope). Any 
  task has room for only so many demons at a time. 
  Extra demons in this amount halve the time required 
  to finish the project or ensure increased quality in the 
  final result.
  A force of (Project Scope + 2) cannot apply itself 
  effectively and provides no benefit over a force of 
  (Project Scope + 1).
  Demons set toward a violent task incur constant 
  losses at a force size of (Project Scope - 2). The demons 
  make no progress, and in throwing themselves into the 
  fray, deplete their numbers as fast as the sorcerer can 
  call them up. A sorcerer faced with this problem has 
  two traditional solutions to choose from. The first solu-
  tion is the simplest: Immediately after summoning the 
  demons and binding them to their task, she imprisons 
  them, and keeps them imprisoned until they attain suf-
  ficient numbers to have any hope of reaching their goal. 
  Unfortunately, the sorcerer who does this makes herself 
  a valid target for her own demons’ wrath. The alterna-
  tive is to supplement the demonic forces with mortal or 
  Exalted backup, until she’s called forth enough demons 
  that she can withdraw her non-demon troops.
  Demons set toward a violent task and with numbers 
  of (Project Scope - 1) still suffer losses, but slowly, and 
  the sorcerer can summon new demons fast enough to 
  eventually reach (Project Scope). Once the force of 
  demons reaches (Project Scope), the losses it continues 
  to suffer have been accounted for in the initial plan-
  ning period, and the demons will complete their task 
  
  CHAPTER TWO • DEMONOLOGY
  31
  with no further replacements needed… assuming no 
  unplanned-for complications arise.
  ABSCISSIC BINDING
  Late in the time of the Old Realm, an anonymous 
  Silurian sorcerer authored and began quietly distribut-
  ing The Abscissic Guide, which would turn out to be 
  the most influential work on the subject of demon 
  summoning written since The (first) Black Treatise. 
  The work was short, simple and came in two parts. 
  The first was, by the scholarship standards of the time, 
  unremarkable: a simple essay on demonology and 
  thoughts on its further codification. The second was a 
  series of 43 illustrations—nine major and 34 minor—
  conveying purely through art a comprehensive set of 
  theories behind the cracks in the demon mind and 
  how a sorcerer might break the will of her intended 
  slave to her exact specifications. Created through the 
  sort of skill only within the realm of a Solar during 
  the High First Age, the illustrations instantly convey 
  their intended meaning, and a student of the Guide 
  need barely study.
  To bind a demon, a sorcerer must first break its will. 
  The Abscissic Guide describes the most overwhelmingly 
  common manners in which demon wills break when 
  subject to the pressure of binding sorcery. A sorcerer 
  familiar with the work can choose which points of 
  weakness to target.
  The Abscissic Guide spread through First Age sorcer-
  ous societies as quickly as any innovation could have. 
  Sorcerers soon realized the unified theories presented 
  therein explained almost every behavior they’d ever seen 
  from demon servants bound directly to a sorcerer’s will. 
  Nearly all sorcerous traditions adopted it into the canon 
  of demonology scholarship, and some even set about 
  adapting its principles to the purpose of elementalism.
  Availability and Cost: The nine major and one 
  of the minor plates are common, available together 
  as a single Resources ••• purchase in the Realm 
  and the major cities of the Threshold. Twenty of the 
  minor plates are rare and available only to collectors—
  assuming a character can find someone willing to sell 
  such a treasure, each usually costs Resources •••• plus 
  whatever favor the character must perform to persuade 
  
  32
  the seller to spread the knowledge. Thirteen of the 
  minor plates are thought lost and would be Resources 
  ••••• purchases were they reintroduced to Creation. 
  In the Realm, the common tome is widely available—all 
  the libraries of the Blessed Isle with books restricted to 
  Dynasts carry a copy of The Abscissic Guide, and any-
  one eligible to read such books may do so. Storytellers 
  should assume any character with enough dots of Occult 
  to qualify for the Terrestrial Circle Sorcery Charm is 
  familiar with this material, unless unfamiliarity with 
  the subject is a plot point.
  ABSCISSIC MECHANICS
  A demon bound for a year and a day to a sorcerer’s 
  will gains a Limit track and conditions by which it gains 
  and loses Limit. Each major plate aligns itself with a 
  Virtue—to summon a demon using one of the Abscissic 
  plates, the demon must have that plate’s Virtue at 3 or 
  more. Minor plates, much more specific and narrow in 
  their purpose, align themselves with other traits. (When 
  summoning First Circle demons, remember that every 
  demon in Malfeas is an individual, even demons of 
  the First Circle. While the vast majority of a demonic 
  race possess identical traits, somewhere in Malfeas lies 
  an exception, which the spell will naturally seek out 
  should the sorcerer require it.)
  When circumstances place the demon in condi-
  tions in which its Limit gain condition applies, roll the 
  relevant Virtue or other trait. The demon gains one 
  point of Limit per success. Players of sorcerers seeking 
  to reduce a demon’s Limit describe methods by which 
  their characters do so. Usually, each stunt die garnered 
  by the description reduces a demon’s Limit by one, to 
  a maximum of one such stunt per scene of interaction 
  with the demon. Several plates have more specific 
  Limit reduction conditions. Throughout the following 
  descriptions, low Limit refers to a Limit of 0 to 3, while 
  high Limit refers to a Limit of 7 to 9.
  Each plate also has two Limit Breaks. The sorcerer 
  chooses which plate to use but has no power over which 
  of the two Limit Breaks the demon manifests when it 
  reaches Limit 10. A demon experiencing Limit Break 
  regains Willpower as if it were a Solar Exalt. In most 
  cases, after a demon’s Limit Break concludes, its Limit 
  drops immediately back to zero. Storytellers are also 
  free to design new Limit Breaks for each plate, accord-
  PROJECT SCOPE
  The following time estimates assume the sorcerer fails reasonably often to bind the summoned demon but 
  succeeds—except on the occasion of an incident—at banishing or efficiently killing the thing called forth.
  Scope 
  Summoning Time 
  Servitor Compliment
  • 
  N/A 
  One demon
  •• 
  Six days 
  Pack (3-5 demons)
  ••• 
  30 days 
  Mob (15-20 summoned workers, 1-5 summoned taskmasters)
  •••• 
  180 days 
  Horde (80-120 summoned workers of varying species or types, 
   
   
  20-25 summoned taskmasters, 1-5 summoned or assigned leaders 
   
   
  and savants)
  ••••• 1,800 days 
  Army (1,000 demons or elementals and an appropriate 
   
   
  administrative hierarchy)
  Do not individually resolve the binding roll for each demon. Instead, to represent the demons’ side 
  of the binding, roll 10 dice, and add the project’s Scope as automatic successes. The demonologist’s 
  player rolls (Willpower + Essence) normally. She may spend Essence to reduce the demons’ dice pool, 
  but must pay the cost every night of summoning.
  For every success the demons score in excess of the sorcerer, the project is marred by a single incident—a 
  scene or story wherein something goes horribly wrong as the result of a loosed demon. When appropriate, 
  and especially in games where martial conflict with demons is rare and the players enjoy a good fight, 
  such an incident is simply a demon who breaks free and attempts to kill the sorcerer. In games where 
  such a method of resolution would be boring, an incident could be anything from a demon escaping to 
  plague the local landscape, to a demon pretending to succumb to the binding and then sabotaging the 
  project from within, to a botched ritual and an inadvertently freed Second Circle demon.
  
  CHAPTER TWO • DEMONOLOGY
  33
  ing to the following design precept: A plate that gains 
  Limit slowly, or ensures reliable service, will have more 
  dangerous Limit Breaks compared to a plate that faces 
  the sorcerer with unruly slaves, quick Limit gain or 
  difficult Limit management.
  Sorcerers familiar with The Abscissic Guide know 
  how to phrase their arguments such that the demon’s 
  own strengths of character become weaknesses to 
  ensnare. Demons never spend Willpower or channel 
  Virtues to resist Abscissic binding performed by a sor-
  cerer familiar with The Abscissic Guide.
  THE COURTESAN (TEMPERANCE)
  She sprawls in a pool of crimson silk and ichor. She is 
  in dishabille, and her diaphanous clothing scarcely conceals 
  her form. Her spines and tendrils are relaxed. She is sated. 
  Blood trickles from the corner of her mouth. Behind her is the 
  symbol of the serpents, etched against the void in the colors 
  of cold starlight and the rough strokes of chalk. In the corner 
  of the card, one can see a harp; it plays the note of E.
  The Courtesan seeks to achieve its goals and control 
  its situation but places no value on its integrity. It willingly 
  degrades its body, mind and soul to pursue its aims—to 
  perform its master’s will and to ensure she needs its ser-
  vice. It gains Limit when presented with new evidence 
  that it’s helpless or unneeded. The sorcerer can reduce 
  the Courtesan’s Limit by involving it in decision-making 
  processes, presenting it with gifts, offering it apparently 
  sincere flattery or otherwise proving it valuable.
  At low Limit, the Courtesan lives to please its 
  master and retains confidence that she would be help-
  less without it. As its Limit increases, it begins to look 
  for ways by which it may make itself irreplaceable. At 
  high Limit, the Courtesan becomes convinced its master 
  believes she needs it not, and it may undertake dramatic 
  action to prove itself valuable, often in ways the sorcerer 
  hadn’t planned for and that may conflict with whatever 
  agendas the sorcerer hasn’t shared with it.
  LIMIT BREAK
  Fury of the Scorned: The Courtesan seeks to force 
  its master to know the helplessness and dependency it 
  feels. For (Temperance) days, it seeks to cause her as 
  much suffering as it can without actually harming her. 
  Alternately, it may decide on one inconvenience to 
  inflict upon her permanently, such as impotence with 
  all partners save for it, though it will attempt to keep 
  its involvement in this inconvenience a secret.
  Lash of Self-Hatred: The Courtesan accepts it has 
  no value. Descending into nihilistic despair, it becomes 
  listless and devoid of all creative impulse. It cannot 
  spend Willpower, save when pursuing orders that might 
  inflict injury or death upon it. The Courtesan remains 
  in this state for (Temperance) months.
  THE ECSTATIC (COMPASSION)
  He dances on a black-paneled and gold-seamed floor. 
  His eyes reflect green sunlight. Far behind him, one can see 
  courtiers, a throne and a withered king slouched upon it. 
  In a cavernous space beneath the floor, one can barely see 
  starving, twisted beggars, twined together like larvae. His 
  foot has come down. The floor is cracking. His chest gapes 
  open beneath his shirt, and he has no heart.
  Through its bleeding heart does the sorcerer enslave 
  the demon Ecstatic. He plays upon the cruelty of Hell 
  and hints that, in Creation, the demon may find a wor-
  thy subject for its love. It gains Limit when it observes 
  others fulfilling or attempting to fulfill great passion—
  common, when traveling with the Exalted (but no more 
  than once per scene). The sorcerer can reduce its Limit 
  by forcing it to spend time in isolation.
  A YEAR AND A DAY
  Creation’s year is 420 days long. Calibra-
  tion accounts for an additional five days, but 
  those five days fall outside of the year. A demon 
  bound through the Abscissic method serves the 
  sorcerer for 421 days, not 426.
  
  34
  To shut out the pain its heart inflicts upon it, 
  the Functionary obsesses totally over a single task, 
  established by the sorcerer at the moment of binding. 
  The sorcerer ensnares it by promising it focus and an 
  escape from the maddening environment of Hell. It 
  gains Limit when duties or circumstances interfere 
  with its obsession (but no more than once per scene). 
  The sorcerer can reduce its Limit by giving it time to 
  mix relaxation and the pursuit of its obsession—more 
  or less a week suffices.
  At low Limit, the Functionary’s existence is defined 
  only by its purpose. Even as it performs other duties, the 
  focus of its obsession prevent its mind from wandering 
  away from the sorcerer’s commands. As its Limit increases, 
  its inability to fulfill its function distracts it from the 
  world, and it may suffer +1 difficulty to rolls unassociated 
  with its obsession or survival. At high Limit, difficulties 
  increase to +2, and it may plead incoherently with the 
  sorcerer to be allowed to focus on its function.
  LIMIT BREAK
  Absolute Obsession: The Functionary’s obsession 
  consumes it totally. For (Compassion) days, it suffers +4 
  difficulty on all rolls not associated with its function, 
  regains no Willpower or motes, cannot communicate 
  intelligibly and suffers one health level of lethal damage 
  per day from self-neglect. If the sorcerer wishes it to still 
  abstain from its function, she must remind it hourly.
  At low Limit, the Ecstatic serves the sorcerer eagerly, 
  confident it will find outlets for its passions. As its Limit 
  increases, it strives to find an answer to its desire, its Es-
  sence fills the world around it with demonic resonance as 
  Creation strives to respond. Bystanders suffer ill luck. At 
  high Limit, this resonance amplifies to great heights—in 
  the demon’s presence, failures become botches.
  LIMIT BREAK
  Love: The world answers the love in the demon’s 
  soul. For (Compassion) days, the demon devotes itself 
  totally in its own alien way to the object of its affection. 
  Its behavior is limited only in that it may not harm 
  the sorcerer bodily, whether out of love for him or to 
  protect its love from him.
  Shattered Heart: Venus and Saturn deny the de-
  mon the love they promised it. Dejected, it suffers +1 
  difficulty on all rolls made for it and -1 to its DVs for 
  (Compassion) months.
  THE FUNCTIONARY (COMPASSION)
  She half-kneels, sitting on one knee and one foot. A 
  lesser demon, shapeless, sprawls before her. She is writing 
  on its back with a bone-handled brush: In the calligraphy 
  of the Old Realm, it reads “THE PRESENT.” Mirrors 
  surround them on every side, marked with numbers from 5 
  to 19. Her hair is bound back. She wears vermilion robes. 
  She is gagged, and her eyes have been put out.
  
  CHAPTER TWO • DEMONOLOGY
  35
  Compassionate Gift: The Functionary’s obsession 
  shifts, and it conceives of a grand gift or service to provide 
  to its master, which none can dissuade it from pursuing. 
  The construction or pursuit of the Compassionate Gift 
  pushes all its other tasks to the side, and though the 
  demon means no harm, the sorcerer will find the gift 
  difficult to be rid of, and as much a curse as a blessing. It 
  pursues this task for (Compassion) months, presenting 
  the gift at the end of that period, whereupon its Limit 
  falls to zero and its original obsession returns.
  THE HORROR (CONVICTION)
  It rests, curled, within an unsavory nest. It licks one 
  insectile claw. It leans its weight on the soft, warm viscera 
  of its victims. Its eyes are black. Behind it, three men in 
  tragedian masks gesture. It does not see them. The night sky 
  above shows not stars, but great blotches of fire
  Only demons with at least one of the following 
  three traits—Intelligence, Perception, Manipulation—
  at 1 can be bound with this plate. The Horror believes 
  it’s still trapped in Malfeas. The sorcerer tricks it into 
  thinking he is a Yozi, that the Unconquered Sun’s un-
  natural yellow light is a dream-distorted view of Ligier’s 
  comforting illumination, and it serves him loyally 
  and instinctually. It gains Limit when it encounters 
  one of the three conditions most inimical to Malfeas: 
  silence without death, power without ambition and 
  love without pain. The sorcerer can reduce its Limit 
  by assigning it time in a kennel or other environment 
  built to mimic Hell. During travel, a demonologist with 
  a bound Horror will often pay a mortal entourage to 
  surround and follow him, dancing, shouting, playing 
  cacophonous musical instruments and otherwise keep-
  ing silence and calm at bay.
  At low Limit, the Horror is content, and it interprets 
  the world around it as a bizarre fiefdom of Malfeas. As 
  its Limit increases, it begins to see the ways in which 
  Creation is unlike Hell and grows fearful and disturbed. 
  At high Limit, its actions are erratic and destructive, 
  as its terror at its surroundings grows overpowering. It 
  will not venture into sunlight, save to kill.
  LIMIT BREAK
  Autistic Paralysis: For (Conviction) days, the 
  Horror’s player must make for it a Conviction roll 
  whenever it encounters things unsuited to Malfeas, 
  such as those expressions of innocence, beauty, virtue 
  and compassion found in Creation. On a success, the 
  Horror curls into a ball, whining and twitching. Failure 
  triggers a fight or flight reflex, during which time the 
  Horror will freely attack anyone not the sorcerer or 
  regularly protected by the sorcerer’s orders.
  Madness of Creation: The Horror fully under-
  stands its predicament. Creation is a foul, corrupting 
  place, twisting its master away from his true Yozi-like 
  majesty. Anything the sorcerer loves, that corrupt him 
  away from darkness, must be destroyed. It pursues this 
  hunt with uncharacteristic cunning, and the Limit 
  Break lasts for either (Conviction) days, or until it 
  destroys something the sorcerer loves but failed to 
  issue sufficiently clear orders to protect, whichever 
  lasts longer.
  THE HUNTER (CONVICTION)
  He stands on a cliff, dressed in scarlet. There are 
  three trees. He holds a long, thin blade in his left hand, 
  reversed. A small dog nips at his heels. The blade is through 
  its throat. A wind blows up from the cliff. A noose hangs 
  from one tree. A small jade harp, cracked, jangles on the 
  ground behind him. He has no nose. He has no mouth. He 
  is looking out of the page.
  He can see you.
  The Hunter is focused and desires an outlet for that 
  focus beyond the endless imprisonment of Malfeas. The 
  sorcerer binds it through an offer of purpose. A demon 
  summoned as a Hunter can function as literal hunter, a 
  builder, a research assistant or in any position where it 
  must pursue an endless series of similar but unconnected 
  tasks. It gains Limit when it suffers enforced idleness 
  (no more than once per day). The sorcerer can reduce 
  
  36
  its Limit by providing it exciting tasks and ensuring 
  these pursuits are successful. 
  At low Limit, the Hunter’s focus satisfies it. As 
  its Limit increases, it begins to embark upon small, 
  self-directed “hunts” during moments of free time—if 
  the sorcerer reduces its free time, it merely takes this 
  as a challenge. At high Limit, these self-directed ac-
  tions may become actively counterproductive to the 
  sorcerer’s agenda.
  LIMIT BREAK
  Fair Play: For (Conviction) months, the Hunter 
  applies itself only to truly challenging tasks. It 
  encourage the sorcerer to assign it projects to the 
  limits of its ability. If she does not comply, it begins 
  to handicap itself during lesser tasks to make the 
  challenge more interesting.
  Madness of Shadows: For (Conviction) days, 
  the Hunter confuses targets or tasks, embarking on 
  projects essentially at random (though the Storyteller 
  should chose tasks that make play interesting). It still 
  cannot harm the sorcerer directly, but it may betray 
  her inadvertently.
  THE KILLER (VALOR)
  She sits, cross-legged and dainty, atop a pile of bodies. 
  The corpses face every direction. Each sprawls one arm 
  toward you. She wears green. She is suckling at the corner 
  of a bloody axe. Her face is content. Her shoes have long 
  toes. Her hair is coarse, like spider legs, and in disarray. 
  Behind her rise ivory pillars. A blue banner displays a 
  stylized key ring with three keys. A dog chews at one of 
  the bodies’ feet.
  The Killer lusts for demonic indulgence—murder, 
  sex without attachment (sometimes without consent), 
  gluttony. The sorcerer calls forth a demon with what-
  ever desire he wishes and promises it regular satiation in 
  exchange for its freedom. The Killer’s Limit increases 
  when it’s denied its chosen indulgence (no more than 
  once per scene). The sorcerer can reduce its Limit by 
  feeding it what it desires.
  At low Limit, the Killer is sated and on its best 
  behavior, seeing the sorcerer as the path to op-
  portunities for satisfaction. As its Limit increases, 
  it becomes sullen and brooding. It expresses petty 
  revenge through minor acts of vandalism and rage, 
  and it follows orders carelessly. However, it does not 
  yet wish to see its master seriously harmed. At high 
  Limit, it begins to pursue its pleasures to the detri-
  ment of its assignments.
  LIMIT BREAK
  Sorcerer as Target: The sorcerer’s bindings fray to 
  the point of snapping. For (Valor) actions, the Killer 
  makes the sorcerer the target of its indulgence, attack-
  ing him to kill or subdue.
  
  CHAPTER TWO • DEMONOLOGY
  37
  Unstoppable Indulgence: For (Valor) days, the 
  Killer processes orders only to find what pleasure it 
  may take from them. It cannot understand (and im-
  mediately forgets) any order it would not enjoy, and 
  even the orders it does carry out, it performs as a side 
  effect of indulging itself.
  THE SLAVE (TEMPERANCE)
  She shuffles across a great emptiness. She travels a bridge 
  of human children, their legs and arms twisted together. She 
  wears armor of iron, and the footprints she leaves behind her 
  are full of blood and white splinters. In the sky behind her, 
  a maggot-white dragon flies. Her face is a smooth round 
  mask of skin into which a knife has carved the shapes of eyes, 
  mouth and ears. In one hand, she holds a flute.
  The Slave is a mechanism in service to its master. 
  It can think, solve problems, reason and comprehend 
  all it could before its binding, but it lacks self-
  awareness. It gains Limit whenever its Virtues force 
  it to feel—whenever its behavior is compelled by 
  success on a Virtue roll. The sorcerer has no means 
  to reduce its Limit.
  At low Limit, the Slave’s psyche is a pure, clean 
  void. It cannot spend Willpower. As its Limit increases, 
  it grows troubled by premonitions of a future break in its 
  oblivion, and it develops a sense of time. At high Limit, it 
  gains rudimentary and suppressed emotions and can spend 
  Willpower in pursuit of the sorcerer’s commands.
  LIMIT BREAK
  Flare of Rebellion: The Slave gains a new self, 
  defined by a burning hatred for the sorcerer who has 
  bound it, though the force of its binding allows it to 
  conceal this motivation. Some time during the next 
  lunar month, it will spend up to (Temperance) ac-
  tions attacking the sorcerer directly, or it can work 
  to undermine her interest for as many minutes. Once 
  it has carried out its revenge, the sorcery submerges 
  its identity again.
  New Self: The bindings snap. The sorcerer must 
  immediately engage the Slave in a new contest of 
  wills (regardless of distance). If the sorcerer declines, 
  the Slave wins by default and departs. Even if the 
  sorcerer triumphs, the demon acquires a new Ab-
  scissic profile (of the Storyteller’s choice, not the 
  sorcerer’s) for the remaining duration of its binding. 
  The sorcerer gains no knowledge of which profile the 
  former Slave now follows.
  THE VIZIER (CONVICTION)
  He stands on a blood pentagram in layered purple 
  robes. He holds a book in one hand and a back-curving 
  knife, point down, in the other. Behind him, an endless 
  hallway extends, littered with bones and lit by the crescent 
  moon. His eyes burn with ghastly fervor. His horns arch 
  back. A severed hand twists near his feet, fingertips in a 
  puddle of water.
  
  38
  Only demons with Intelligence and Manipulation 
  at 2 or greater, in addition to the minimum Conviction 
  of 3, are vulnerable to this plate. The Vizier seeks to 
  corrupt the summoner into the service of its masters. 
  The sorcerer hints he may be vulnerable to such entice-
  ment, feigns weakness in his will, demands the Vizier 
  advise him in secrets it knows and strings it along with 
  a series of near-victories for its seductive arguments. 
  The Vizier gains Limit whenever its words are ignored 
  or whenever it spends five days in circumstances that 
  prevent it offering advice. The sorcerer can reduce its 
  Limit by providing it minor victories in the battle for 
  his soul. Even should he succumb to Yozi servitude, 
  however, the Vizier still gains Limit, until the demon 
  itself, and no Yozi, owns him.
  At low Limit, the Vizier is content in the knowl-
  edge its victory is inevitable. As its Limit increases, 
  it begins to study its master’s weaknesses that it may 
  assault them. It may manufacture circumstances 
  whereby the easiest escape is renouncing Heaven 
  and the Celestial Order. At high Limit, the Vizier’s 
  goal begins to visibly taint its behavior—tasks the 
  sorcerer gives it may be performed sloppily or di-
  rectly undermined. It may also begin corrupting the 
  sorcerer’s companions.
  LIMIT BREAK
  Body Hunger: For (Conviction) hours, the Vi-
  zier abandons subtlety. The moment its attempts at 
  corruption cease to show continual progress, it enters 
  a murderous rampage, hungry for flesh. For any time in 
  which its maiming and killing is impeded, the length 
  of the Limit Break extends.
  Cruel Measures: At the first opportunity its orders 
  allow, the Vizier arranges for the sorcerer to fall helpless 
  before the forces of Malfeas. Once helpless, it tortures 
  him to force compliance with its agenda. Should he 
  escape, it will continue to serve him, but its behavior 
  will be unreliable for (Conviction) months.
  THE WARDEN (VALOR)
  She crouches on a man’s chest, long-limbed and lean. 
  He lies on a cot, dressed in armor, his body stiff and his 
  expression terrified. One of her claws rests lightly against 
  his breastplate. Behind him, a splash of acidic blood eats 
  its way through the wall. In the center, a ragged hole 
  opens to a moonlit field of grain. The moon is red, and 
  a mouse nibbles at fallen wheat. Before her stand three 
  lovely women. In their hands, clutched where she cannot 
  see them, one holds a knife and one holds a wedding ring. 
  A flute plays the note F#.
  The Warden is possessive. Through the binding, 
  the sorcerer convinces the demon that she belongs to 
  it, and it serves it to best protect her, as it would any of 
  its possessions. The Warden gains Limit whenever the 
  sorcerer or anything she assigns it to protect is threat-
  ened (but no more than once per threat). The sorcerer 
  can reduce its Limit by providing it days of apparent 
  safety, but more importantly, killing a legitimate threat 
  to its charge reduces its Limit to zero, provided it’s not 
  in the midst of Limit Break. Due to the relative ease of 
  managing the Warden’s Limit, this plate is a popular 
  selection for demon bodyguards, despite the risk inherent 
  in convincing a bound demon it owns its master.
  At low Limit, the warden feels secure and obeys 
  its commands without protest, as its charge’s interests 
  are its own. As its Limit increases, it grows aware of 
  Creation’s dangers. It monitors its charge carefully, 
  though it still retains discretion. At high Limit it 
  abandons discretion, and unless specific orders leash 
  it, it spends its time chasing away all things it sees as 
  potential threats.
  LIMIT BREAK
  Stone-Hearted Gargoyle Warden: For (Valor) 
  days, the Warden grows convinced its charge cannot 
  protect herself. It stops up its ears to prevent hearing 
  contrary orders, kidnaps her and imprisons her while 
  keeping all other individuals at bay.
  
  CHAPTER TWO • DEMONOLOGY
  39
  At low Limit, the Sufferer’s self-hatred ensures 
  total servitude, but if not kept at a -2 health penalty, 
  it gains Limit daily. As its Limit increases, it suffers not 
  enough and begins to self-mortify. It must be kept at a 
  -1 health penalty or gain Limit daily. At high Limit, 
  it turns its suffering outward, and while the sorcerer 
  need not keep it wounded to ensure loyalty, it begins 
  to share its pain with those around it.
  LIMIT BREAK
  Suicidal Frenzy: The Sufferer attempts to kill 
  itself for (Resistance) minutes, seeking a method 
  with maximum collateral damage. If standing orders 
  keep it from this task, it delays until an opportunity 
  presents itself.
  Transcendence of Pain: Through pain, the 
  Sufferer finds new purpose. It gains an instinctive 
  understanding of the sorcerer’s fate and discards its 
  old Motivation, acquiring a new Motivation directly 
  related to the sorcerer’s destiny. Usually this is malig-
  nant, but some demons, glad of their new transcendent 
  Terrible Guardian Vengeance: The Warden 
  ceases to understand discretion at all. Until it has 
  killed (Valor) apparent enemies, it attacks anyone 
  who shows even the slightest disrespect or threat to 
  its charge, even friends and lovers.
  THE SUFFERER (RESISTANCE)
  Gaunt, pale and dressed in a loincloth, he sits across 
  the table from a wealthy merchant. The merchant has 
  pushed a cup toward him. It contains maggots and metal 
  shards seething in a base of wine. He is smiling. The 
  symbol of Venus is carved into his back. A dead child 
  sits on the merchant’s knee, its upper body leaning upon 
  the table. The sunlight is white. A mandolin is propped 
  against the table, a clip holding the strings in the position 
  of A# minor.
  The Sufferer is the sole minor plate still in com-
  mon circulation amongst Creation’s occult circles. A 
  demon sufferer loathes in itself the weakness that its 
  Yozi masters share, the same weakness that allowed 
  them surrender. It has no pride to sustain it and no 
  freedom. A sorcerer may only apply this template to 
  a demon with Resistance 3 or more. It gains Limit 
  whenever it knows surcease from suffering or learns 
  to cope with the pain it feels. The sorcerer can reduce 
  its Limit by torturing it into incoherence, though she 
  must invent new methods to circumvent its ability 
  to cope.
  WHY?
  Limit Break is a mechanic to quantify de-
  monic reactions to players’ characters’ behavior. 
  It exists so players can make meaningful decisions 
  with regards to how far their characters can push 
  personal demon servants before they can expect 
  those servants to push back, and so Storytellers 
  have some guidance on how often and in what 
  manner demons are likely to react to a player’s 
  character’s behavior. Different people—players 
  and Storytellers both—understand psychological 
  limits in different ways and under different as-
  sumptions, and the Limit Break system provides 
  a foundation so that everyone has common 
  footing. Otherwise, players might have entirely 
  different expectations about how demons react to 
  slavery than the Storyteller, which can result in 
  the demonologist character (who is, ostensibly, 
  learned in the subject of demons and demon 
  behavior by virtue of possessing at least Occult 
  •••) knowing nothing about demon behavior 
  in practice.
  Groups who decide to discard the Limit Break 
  system presented here may wish to put some effort 
  toward establishing agreement between players 
  and Storyteller about just how demons are likely 
  to respond to slavery.
  
  40
  ADDITIONAL PLATES
  Rare and lost plates other than the Sufferer exist. 
  Players and Storytellers can work together to create 
  new profiles if the above are insufficient. By default, 
  minor profiles are based on Abilities and require 
  their base trait at 3 or more, though some may base 
  themselves on Attributes, Willpower, Essence or 
  even Backgrounds.
  understanding of Creation, adopt benevolent Motiva-
  tions. The demon remains bound but no longer gains 
  Limit, and once its binding snaps, it retains its new 
  Motivation. Even should the demon die, this new 
  transcendent comprehension will shape the way its 
  Essence and identity reforms, and a new demon created 
  from its reincarnation will return to affect (or plague) 
  the sorcerer’s life.
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  41
  
  42
  To the victor go the spoils, and the spoils of 
  the Primordial War were not solely the substance of 
  Creation. On any given evening, the prisoners of the 
  Demon Realm might be summoned to serve out the 
  terms of their surrender by any sorcerer with the power 
  and will to do so.
  This chapter serves as a toolbox for Storytellers 
  who desire dangerous opponents with which to chal-
  lenge the players’ characters and for players who hope 
  to find supernatural servants to perform innumerable 
  tasks at the behest of their Exalted characters. Wise 
  summoners study the lore of their intended targets; 
  though they can be enslaved, demons are not mind-
  less tools. A restless puppeteer invariably wreaks 
  havoc upon the local landscape, while calling Zsofika 
  without assigning her an immediate quarry typically 
  proves fatal.
  DEMONIC TRAITS
  Demons are spirits, similar in ability and compo-
  sition to gods but set apart by their intrinsic links to 
  the imprisoned Primordials. There are other creatures 
  trapped within the Demon Realm—unfortunate mor-
  tals, magitech automatons, favored behemoth pets—but 
  they are not demons. Like other spirits, demons are 
  beings of Essence held together by Willpower, but their 
  existences are defined by purposes and Motivations spun 
  from the whims of the Yozis rather than the design of 
  Creation. They are long-lived if not outright immortal 
  beings with all of the power and glory of gods. They are 
  also prisoners and slaves.
  TYPICAL TRAITS
  Demons share the same traits as other spirits, as 
  described in Exalted, pages 291–311. For additional 
  CHAPTER THREE
  CHAPTER THREE
  THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  43
  spirit rules, including an extensive catalog of spirit 
  Charms, see The Books of Sorcery, Vol. IV—Roll of 
  Glorious Divinity I. This chapter discusses the various 
  points where demons differ from other spirits.
  Linguistics—Nearly all of the sentient demons 
  speak Old Realm as their native tongue, and they do 
  so with the Malfean dialect. The ability to read is not 
  common among the lower orders of demons, but is nigh 
  universal among the highest. Usually, the demon’s traits 
  reflect this: Demons with Lore 1 are typically able to 
  read, while those with no Lore Ability are illiterate. 
  The glass libraries of Orabilis are open to demons of 
  power or scholarly purpose, but there are other troves 
  of secrets in the Demon City of Malfeas. Called to 
  Creation to serve its sorcerers or studying Creation 
  from afar, demons sometimes learn mortal tongues and 
  lore. Demons of the Second Circle are unique, and their 
  entries in this chapter list the specific languages granted 
  by their Linguistics Ability. Lesser demons are presented 
  as samples of their species. Sto-
  rytellers should choose 
  appropriate languages for 
  those that speak tongues other than their native one. 
  Although there may be exceptions, demons of the Third 
  Circle can usually communicate, regardless of linguistic 
  barriers, via Charms or other means.
  Panoply—The personal artifacts carried by 
  demons of the Second and Third Circle are usually 
  invested with their infernal Essence to a degree that 
  they are bound by the metaphysics of summoning. 
  When Alveua is summoned to Creation, her red-hot 
  hammer arrives with her, and no one else can attune 
  to it. If Alveua is banished or slain in Creation, the 
  artifact returns to the Yozi prison along with her. 
  Should an Exalt travel to Malfeas and steal the hammer 
  from an unbound Alveua, he may bring it to Creation 
  and attune to it. If she subsequently recovered her 
  weapon, it would accompany her again. Artifacts a 
  demon has gained from Creation rarely become true 
  parts of demonic panoplies. The wonders of Makarios, 
  forged from the dreams of Creation, can be stolen by 
  powerful Exalts unwilling to buy them. Although his 
  staff of Malfean iron is tied to Octavian’s Essence, 
  the magic acorn he bears is the product of an earthly 
  p
  as samples of their species. Sto-
  rytellers should choose 
  appropriate languages for 
  powerful Exalts unwilling to buy them. Although his 
  staff of Malfean iron is tied to Octavian’s Essence,
  the magic acorn he bears is the product of an earthly
  
  44
  boon, and it can be taken from him. (The Living 
  Tower’s acorn does not automatically extend its boon 
  to others, but its loss deprives him of its powers until 
  a new one is produced by the white oak growing in 
  his Malfean stronghold.)
  ESSENCE, WILLPOWER AND HEALTH LEVELS
  With regards to Essence, Willpower and health 
  levels, demons follow the general rules for all spirits 
  (see Exalted, pp. 294–295). Notes, updates, reminders 
  and exceptions follow.
  Essence and Essence Pools—First Circle demons 
  commonly have an Essence of 2–4, though extraordi-
  nary individuals occasionally overgrow their station 
  and beings such as the Things That Dwell in Corners 
  have only Essence 1. Second Circle demons typically 
  range from Essence 5–7, albeit a newly formed replace-
  ment for one that has been destroyed might possess 
  a lower rating and Stanewald boasts Essence 8 since 
  completing the quest that gave the demon her new 
  title. Kimbery’s Dawn is a Second Circle demon with 
  Essence 4, though this may be tied to her role as a 
  Progenitive soul. The Demon Princes of the Third 
  Circle characteristically range from Essence 9–10, 
  although rare exceptions exist. Demons gain and 
  recover Essence as other spirits do.
  Willpower—Demons use and gain Willpower in 
  all of the ways that other spirits can. Using Willpower 
  to issue a mandate of subordination to demons of lesser 
  rank requires that the demons be connected somehow. 
  A demon ruling a fiefdom may issue a command to 
  any demon of lesser rank within the bounds of his 
  fiefdom. Second Circle demons may issue commands 
  to demons belonging to species they have created or 
  spawned. Third Circle demons may command their 
  own Second Circle souls and any associated lesser 
  demons. Of course, the laws of Cecelyne allow greater 
  demons to rule over their inferiors, even if they are 
  unrelated, but such authority is enforced by social 
  structure rather than spiritual compulsion. Some 
  aspects of the rules involving compulsions and Will-
  power are different for demons subject to the control 
  of a sorcerous binding. Whenever a bound demon 
  is forced to perform sorcery, the demon in question 
  gains one point of Limit per point of Willpower it is 
  forced to spend.
  Health Levels—Demons heal from non-fatal dam-
  age at the same rate that Exalts do (see Exalted, pp. 
  148–149). As supernatural creatures, demons can soak 
  lethal damage with their Stamina, and they are usually 
  not treated as extras.
  UNBIDDEN SUMMONINGS AND IMPOSSIBLE ORDERS
  Chapter Two discusses the methods that sorcerers 
  and thaumaturges apply to the act of calling demons 
  into Creation from the Yozi prison. The internment 
  of the Yozis is flawed, however, because either the 
  gods did not want to press the war further despite the 
  fact that the terms of surrender were imperfect or the 
  metaphysics of summoning necessarily required such 
  flaws. The Yozis cannot leave the Demon City without 
  the express command of the Incarnae, yet they can 
  visit the dreams of Creation. As discussed in Chapter 
  One, the Yozis may also possess lesser demons under 
  certain circumstances. Additionally, countless cracks 
  in the prison exist, through which demons less than 
  the Yozis occasionally slip into Creation. All recorded 
  varieties of demon have been known to find some means 
  of reaching the mortal world, typically in a manner 
  unique to their type, without the call of a sorcery spell 
  or thaumaturgic ritual. The opening of these cracks 
  in the Yozi prison does not constitute a summoning. 
  Demons often ignore or miss them because they are 
  otherwise occupied.
  As with other beings, there are things that demons 
  simply cannot understand or do, or that are against 
  their intrinsic nature. For the creations or offspring of 
  the prehistoric Yozis, these behaviors might be alien to 
  the mortal world that succeeded the Primordial War. 
  Chapter Two gives rules for demon summoning and 
  Limit Break. The following section discusses the traits 
  of individual demons and sometimes mentions things 
  that defy them. Whenever a bound demon is given 
  orders that cause it to try to comprehend, overcome or 
  endure this alien stimulus, the Storyteller should roll 
  one to three dice with the demon in question gaining 
  one point of Limit for every success those dice display. 
  Minor issues result in a single die, while attempts to 
  force a demon to engage in behavior antithetical to 
  its core being results in three dice. Sometimes the 
  demon in question cannot satisfy the demand—due to 
  its inability to comprehend or to actually perform the 
  action—but issuing such a command forces the roll for 
  Limit anyway. Forcing a hopping puppeteer to remain 
  still for a day might require one die, while issuing a futile 
  request that Erembour dance in the sunlight probably 
  requires three dice.
  DEMON CHARMS
  As with other spirits, much of the power of demons 
  is contained within their Charms. Most Charms demons 
  know are similar to those of other spirits, which can be 
  found in The Books of Sorcery, Vol. IV—The Roll 
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  45
  of Glorious Divinity I. Some demons cannot employ 
  the Materialize Charm, but all of those listed here can 
  do so. Demons may also master supernatural martial 
  arts and sorcery.
  NEW CHARMS
  This section presents two new Charms, one of 
  which is unique to demons while the other is common 
  to spirits of all types.
  UNIVERSAL CHARMS
  Such Charms are not tied to a particular Virtue.
  LEGALISMS OF THE CREATORS (SUMMONING RESISTANCE)
  Cost: —; Mins: Essence 8, Third Circle demon; 
  Type: Permanent
  Keywords: Stackable
  Duration: Permanent
  When the Primordial War ended and the Yozis were 
  forced to swear oaths of servitude, only the contest of 
  will and Essence between the summoner and summoned 
  mattered. Yet the vanquished principals of that which 
  arose from the Wyld do not rest easy in their inescap-
  able prison, and they have tested their infernal cage 
  for five millennia. Even as they discovered methods of 
  corrupting the immutable Essences of the Exalted, the 
  greatest of the Demon Princes learned to influence the 
  rituals that demanded their decorous service. Whether 
  by artificially inflating the force of its Essence rank or 
  sharply focusing the defiance of its will, this Charm 
  grants one additional die to the (Essence + Willpower) 
  of a Third Circle demon for the purposes of all sum-
  moning and binding contests. Multiple occurrences of 
  the Charm are cumulative, granting additional dice, 
  but no known Demon Prince has mastered the Charm 
  more than five times. The Charm provides no bonus 
  against banishment attempts. (It is unknown whether 
  this is due to lack of Yozi concern about the matter or 
  current lack of progress on their part.) Some Demon 
  Princes, such as Jacint and Lypothymie, have never 
  learned these techniques, while the Ebon Dragon has 
  made sure that Erembour has mastered them.
  Example: With Essence 10, Willpower 10 and five 
  instances of this Charm, Ligier rolls 25 dice against a sor-
  cerer attempting to summon or bind him. Against Adamant 
  Circle Banishment he rolls only 20 dice.
  DIVINATIONS (COMPASSION CHARMS)
  Such Charms are tied to the Compassion Virtue.
  MIMIC OF TONGUES
  Cost: 3m; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One scene
  This Charm allows the spirit to communicate and 
  understand basic concepts in the language that is being 
  spoken by a being with whom it is conversing. Activating 
  the Charm requires a successful (Intelligence + Com-
  passion) roll, and success allows the spirit to converse 
  in the target language for the remainder of the scene. 
  If the spirit uses this Charm to engage in social combat 
  in a language it does not normally understand, both 
  the spirit and anyone it attempts to persuade receive 
  a +3 to their MDV. If the spirit wishes to converse in 
  more than one language that it does not know, then 
  it must employ the Charm multiple times and commit 
  Essence to each duration.
  THE CIRCLES OF DEMONS
  Although the Exalted ultimately defeated the 
  Primordials, victory was far from assured against these 
  complex and potent beings. Each of the defeated or 
  slain Primordials possessed at least 12 different souls, 
  each of which transcended mortal attachment to their 
  oft-times world-sized bodies. Every one of these Pri-
  mordial constituent souls comprised the Essence of a 
  divine being whose power was unmatched by any save 
  the greatest of the gods. Yet the souls of the Yozis were 
  bound within Malfeas as surely as the Yozis themselves. 
  The souls of the Yozis became the Demon Princes, and 
  these mighty beings are those that the wisest savants 
  imagine when they speak of Third Circle demons.
  The upper limits of the number of component 
  souls a Yozi might possess are unclear. None of the 
  imprisoned Primordials have less than a dozen, and the 
  Yozi Adorjan, the Silent Wind, consists of 20 souls, of 
  which Jacint is the 18th. Although She Who Lives in 
  Her Name consists of more than 100,000 flames within 
  crystal spheres, her 30th sphere contains her fourth soul, 
  and she holds no more souls than is average for her 
  brethren. The 23rd soul of the King of the Primordials 
  was executed when he became Malfeas, and surviving 
  First Age records indicate that some savants found it 
  interesting that 23 was also the apparent number of 
  imprisoned Yozis. Neither of the remaining Primordials 
  seems to be as well endowed with souls as even the least 
  of the Yozis. It is possible that Gaia naturally had fewer, 
  as the youngest Primordial, and that one of the inciting 
  factors of the mockery heaped upon Autochthon by his 
  fellow Primordials might have been an abnormally low 
  number of constituent souls on his part. Of course, it 
  is also feasible that the two unvanquished Primordials 
  have merely managed to conceal the existence of their 
  other components.
  
  46
  Like their Yozi superiors, the demons of the Third 
  Circle possess multiple souls. Each of the Demon Princes 
  has seven separate souls of its own, and these souls 
  represent various facets of the Demon Princes’ person-
  alities and abilities. The seven component souls of a 
  Demon Prince are respectively known as the Warden, 
  Indulgent, Defining, Messenger, Expressive, Reflective 
  and Wisdom souls, in recognition of their embodiment 
  of the Third Circle demon’s abilities to protect, gratify, 
  define, communicate, express, reflect or understand its 
  own essential nature. Each of these souls is a separate 
  being, and these souls are what savants imagine when 
  they speak of Second Circle demons.
  The exact nature of the Yozis is not completely 
  understood by savants in the Second Age. Most oc-
  cult scholars are unaware that a Yozi (or any other 
  Primordial) is an enigmatic supratheistic polytypic 
  entity. It is difficult for the human mind to completely 
  imagine the existence of that which is both the sum 
  of many component souls, minds and bodies (some of 
  which may be the size of oceans or worlds) and more 
  than that sum. Creation’s demonologists don’t have 
  enough information about the various components of 
  the Yozis to perfectly catalog them, much less under-
  stand the interactions between them. The means by 
  which a Yozi creates its Third Circle souls and those 
  souls create their Second Circle components was not 
  fully understood even in the First Age. One First Age 
  theory was that there is an eighth type of Second Circle 
  demon called the “Progenitive soul” that somehow 
  gathers or creates the other seven demons around itself 
  and then transforms into a Third Circle demon. Kim-
  bery’s Dawn is the only known example of an extant 
  self-identified Progenitive demon, and one late First 
  Age text predicted that it would eventually result in a 
  Third Circle demon tentatively called The Tide That 
  Knows No Life. Other First Age texts suggested that 
  the designation “Progenitive” in Malfean linguistics is 
  merely an honorary title in recognition of the demon’s 
  role as progenitor of the Lintha.
  In the millennia since they lost the Primordial 
  War, the Yozis have reshaped the worlds-sized prison 
  in which they were cast. Their component souls have 
  spawned and created countless races to populate and 
  share that prison. The spiritual progeny of the souls of 
  the Yozis are the demons of the First Circle. Their num-
  bers are vast, and their purposes vary according to their 
  creators’ whims. Some of the First Circle demons are 
  prostitutes, while others are fierce warriors. Still others 
  are restless builders, living immune systems, exquisite 
  musicians and dancers, or proselytizers of hopelessness 
  to the Yozis’ enemies. Unlike greater demons, those 
  of the First Circle are species rather than individuals, 
  and plentiful more than they are powerful. Demons of 
  the First Circle are the designs and desires of the Yozi 
  mind and body given spiritual form. If the imprisoned 
  Primordials have entertained an idea, then it has prob-
  ably existed for at least a brief time in the Demon City. 
  If that idea has been enduring and useful, then there 
  is surely a species of First Circle demon that somehow 
  embodies or engenders it.
  THIRD CIRCLE DEMONS
  At the center of the hierarchies of the Demon City 
  are the unquestionable, the demons of the Third Circle. 
  These mighty beings are the souls of the architects of 
  Creation now bound within Malfeas. The exact number 
  of Demon Princes is unknown, but each Yozi possesses 
  at least a dozen Third Circle souls. The power of the 
  Demon Princes rivals that of the most powerful gods 
  and elementals. Yet, they are bound to the rituals of 
  summoning and enslavement formulated within the 
  Demon of the Third Circle spell.
  Demons of Third Circle are so powerful that the 
  Charms and traits found in most of the printed materials 
  for Exalted thus far are insufficient to represent them. 
  Third Circle demons are generally treated as Creation-
  shaping forces to be heroically banished or wisely 
  avoided. Should a Storyteller wish to present demons 
  of the Third Circle in situations outside of their focus, 
  Demon Princes are nonetheless extraordinarily capable. 
  Demons of the Third Circle have the talent to appear 
  in more than one region of Malfeas simultaneously or 
  even to occupy both Creation and Malfeas (albeit it 
  only a single locale in Creation). For virtually any ac-
  tion (or reaction), the player of a Demon Prince can 
  roll at least 18–25 dice with very little effort. This wide-
  ranging manifestation of aptitude is simply natural to 
  their proto-divine composition—the abilities in which 
  they specialize are even more powerful in scope and 
  effect. Yet, the Exalted did triumph over these entities, 
  and their antecedents, during the Primordial War. It is 
  possible for Exalts to defeat Third Circle demons, but 
  doing so should almost certainly involve epic efforts 
  with momentous consequence.
  Demon Princes are presented in a format that 
  includes standard values for their Virtues, Willpower, 
  Essence and any Summoning Resistance they have. In 
  addition, a handful of special powers, which are both 
  specific to the demon in question and exceedingly 
  potent are presented. These abilities are the trademark 
  powers that most summoners wish to access when they 
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  47
  attempt the Demon of the Third Circle spell, but they 
  are powers unique to the demon in question and cannot 
  typically be learned by Eclipse or Moonshadow Caste 
  Exalts. (Some effects, however, such as fallen Lilike’s 
  Demon-Wracking Shout have been duplicated via 
  sorcery or other means.)
  Every Third Circle demon is an aspect of one of the 
  Primordial architects of Creation. The Demon Prince 
  Orabilis is arguably the most direct representation of 
  Cecelyne’s role as the “Lawgiver” of the Demon City. 
  Erembour calls the creatures of shadow to follow in 
  the wake of the Ebon Dragon. Although these power-
  ful beings are mighty souls of the Yozis, they are not 
  necessarily the most important. Some of the Yozis 
  have hidden their most precious souls, keeping them 
  concealed from the view of enemies who might exploit 
  them. This is because every one of the Yozis has a single 
  special Third Circle soul, called its fetich soul, which is 
  the heart of the imprisoned Primordial. Although the 
  permanent destruction of any of the Demon Princes 
  somehow changes its Yozi, the death of a Yozi’s fetich 
  soul destroys the Primordial’s nature, forcing it to 
  become something else. When the Solar Marus slew 
  the fetich of Adrián, the River of All Torments, she 
  became Adorjan, the Silent Wind.
  EREMBOUR, 
  THAT WHICH CALLS TO THE SHADOWS
  DEMON OF THE THIRD CIRCLE, 
  SEVENTH SOUL OF THE EBON DRAGON
  In the First Age, the wisest cities constructed en-
  chanted lighthouses, even if they lay far from the sea, 
  and armed these minarets with piercing klaxons. Sadly, 
  most of these structures have been destroyed by war or 
  neglect, and scarcely anyone remembers that their alarms 
  could drown out the horn of Erembour while their golden 
  heliographic beams scoured the streets to halt her pas-
  sage. There are no such towers in the Demon City, for 
  Adorjan and the Ebon Dragon alike will not abide them, 
  and Malfeas prefers the brilliance of his own heart.
  There is no night in the Demon Realm, save the 
  shadow cast by the passage of the Ebon Dragon before 
  the Demon City’s green sun. When the Shadow of All 
  Things brings darkness upon a region of Malfeas, things 
  emerge that frighten even other demons. Though many 
  flee the streets, the lady Erembour passes in the wake of 
  the Ebon Dragon and plays a doleful song with her silver 
  horn. Her performance fills the hearts of those who hear 
  it with melancholy and an enduring appreciation of the 
  darkness. Some who hear its sound revel in the passing 
  of the Ebon Dragon, while others resist. Some are drawn 
  to Erembour and die, while others become shadowy 
  monsters no longer able to bear the light. Those who 
  answer the horn of That Which Calls to the Shadows 
  lurk in the fringes of the Ebon Dragon or in dark places 
  that the light of the green sun cannot pierce.
  Erembour wears silken robes of silver and has flawless 
  skin of deepest black. Her liquid eyes shimmer like the 
  moon, and strands of glowing white hair twinkle amid her 
  raven tresses. She carries a long silver horn curved like 
  a mighty ram’s, and a naked rat’s tail sometimes peeks 
  from the back of her robes. Torches and other ephemeral 
  lights are instantly extinguished by her presence.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 2/5) Sorcerers typically call 
  Erembour into Creation to draw upon her powers over 
  the night. Sometimes their goals are more venereal, 
  however, as she is unquestionably one of the finest 
  existing instructors in the arts of love. When Erembour 
  enters the mortal world, thunder cracks overhead. That 
  Which Calls to the Shadows cannot physically escape 
  Malfeas without being summoned, but the music of her 
  horn sometimes drifts unbidden between the worlds 
  with terrible consequence.
  Motivation: To celebrate the darkness and oppose the 
  plans of Ligier and the Unconquered Sun. Erembour has 
  Intimacies for the things of night, including lovers in the 
  dark, theft, murder, bats, owls, Dune People, creatures 
  who live in lightless caverns and nighttime battles.
  
  48
  Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 5, 
  Temperance 2, Valor 3
  Traits: As a Third Circle demon.
  Sample Powers:
  Army of Darkness—Beckoning with her horn, Erembour 
  calls forth nocturnal creatures to marshal for war. Every 
  beast within nine miles that can hear sounds and is as-
  sociated with night must come to her aid if it is able. 
  This applies to animals, whether they are wild (wolves, 
  owls, crickets, etc.) or trained and normally loyal to 
  another being. It also includes bestial victims of her 
  Call of the Shadows power, the dark broods that lurk 
  in caverns beneath Creation or the layers of Malfeas, as 
  well as similar creatures. Sentient beings and familiars 
  are immune to the call, though they may answer any-
  way. The creatures continue to arrive as they are able 
  and serve until dawn, when they rapidly disperse. It is 
  up to the Storyteller to determine what is available for 
  the circumstance, using the traits of the most common 
  creature and assigning appropriate Magnitude and other 
  bonuses for mass combat purposes.
  Call of the Shadows—Few can resist the melancholy call 
  of Erembour’s horn. Reaching about nine miles, the call 
  targets everyone who hears it, potentially transforming 
  them. Storytellers can approximate that four-fifths of 
  extras (of any species) are affected. Some become beasts 
  associated with the night, some retain their basic identity 
  and intellect yet can no longer bear the light, some be-
  come monstrous creatures that abhor the sun, and some 
  suffer an irresistible obsession with the darkness and its 
  sinister pursuits. For heroic mortal or Exalted victims, 
  two checks must be passed, each with its own effect. 
  First, the victim must resist with a Mental Dodge DV 5 
  or higher, or she becomes unable to endure bright light. 
  Second, the victim’s player must succeed at a (Stamina 
  + Resistance) roll, difficulty 3, to avoid physically trans-
  forming into a beast associated with the night. A botch 
  on this roll results in some monstrous creature not found 
  in nature. A Storyteller might allow a transformation to 
  be reversed with Charms or other magic that can cure 
  Shaping effects, Crippling or mental defects, according 
  to the relevant changes. Erembour may activate this 
  power only under cover of night (though she typically 
  uses it as the darkness begins to fail), and each target is 
  immune to repeat attempts for a lunar month.
  Strength of Night—Once per night, Erembour may grant 
  massive good fortune to someone who agrees to carry 
  out a specific task that night. The recipient of this 
  power must agree to perform a certain undertaking 
  and either shake hands with or kiss Erembour to seal 
  the agreement. This blessing might benefit a general 
  who launches an assault at night, a shadowy thief 
  who murders a certain victim or a lover who woos the 
  object of his desire by the light of the moon. Strength 
  of Night gives the target nine automatic successes 
  (these do not count as Charm-based “dice” added) 
  on every roll directly related to the task in question 
  for the duration of the nine minutes immediately fol-
  lowing the moment the recipient begins to attempt 
  the agreed task. If dawn comes and the target has not 
  completed the task, he suffers one level of unsoakable 
  aggravated damage for every hour he did not spend 
  attempting to complete it. For the power’s duration, 
  the target is treated as a creature of darkness (see 
  Exalted, p. 192).
  Willpower: 9 
  Essence: 9 
  Summoning Resistance: 5
  Other Notes: Erembour is forced into a dormant state 
  inside a cocoon of darkness when touched by the light 
  of the Unconquered Sun.
  JACINT, THE PRINCE UPON THE TOWER
  DEMON OF THE THIRD CIRCLE, 
  EIGHTEENTH SOUL OF ADORJAN
  Some ancient citizens of Malfeas say that Jacint is 
  the last vestige of the mercy of Adrián, as he is the least 
  severe of her souls. For as long as the Demon City has 
  endured, Jacint has constructed an ever-growing array 
  of roads and bridges that brings its clamorous citizens 
  together. Yet these raucous thoroughfares are also the 
  hunting courses of the Silent Wind.
  There is a black stone tower in every layer of the 
  Demon City, each topped with an immense brass statue 
  of a winged man with hands the size of a small house. 
  From one hand, rises a pillar of marble, atop which lies 
  a disk of glowing light, where stands Jacint, the Prince 
  Upon the Tower and 18th soul of lady Adorjan. From 
  each of these perches, Jacint speaks, and with each word 
  a road spins forth. The Prince’s paths might simply run 
  from one building to another, or they might stretch to 
  bridge the aerial gulfs between the layers of Malfeas. 
  Jacint cannot erect his causeways such that they touch 
  one another, though he may arch them over or under 
  each other, and other demons often build crossroads 
  or connectors.
  Jacint appears as a tall man in robes of shimmering 
  basalt fabric, with gracefully carved basalt wings that 
  spring from his back. His long legs sport backward-
  bending knees, and his eyes sparkle blue and black.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 2/5) Sorcerers typically call 
  upon Jacint for his ability to effortlessly build the military 
  and economic arteries of empire. Since his defeat by the 
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  49
  Emissary of Nexus a few years ago, Jacint has been unable 
  to appear in Creation and Malfeas simultaneously. Those 
  who summon and keep him from the Demon City for more 
  than a few days, and thus prevent him from creating its 
  roads, earn the enmity of Jacint and every demon in his 
  hierarchy. Sometimes when the trackless desert swallows 
  a flawless road, the causeway Jacint is currently building 
  will pass so close to it that he can reach a traveler upon 
  Creation’s lost road without being summoned.
  Motivation: To be worshiped for building the roads 
  that connect everything. Jacint’s Intimacies include 
  such things as roads and bridges, those who build roads, 
  the children of Adorjan, basalt, marble, brass statues 
  and his towers.
  Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 3, 
  Temperance 4, Valor 3
  Traits: As a Third Circle demon.
  Sample Powers:
  Articulation of the Path—Jacint creates roads merely by 
  speaking, without any material or labor requirements. 
  In every place where he exists, whether singularly in 
  Creation, or multiple times throughout the layers of 
  Malfeas, he may separately create up to 100 miles of 
  roads per day, every day, without pause or rest. If his 
  work comprises a single thoroughfare, the pace of con-
  struction is so fast that a mortal traveler might never 
  overtake its end, though Jacint may split his time among 
  multiple projects. Jacint can never create any road that 
  touches another of his roadways, yet he may carve a 
  course through the heart of a mountain or lay it across 
  treacherous marshland. Difficult terrain reduces con-
  struction by one quarter, while extreme terrain reduces 
  it by at least half. These roads consist of dark stone, 
  reinforced when necessary with veins of brass or iron, 
  and they may run thick and heavy upon the ground 
  or rise in thinner curving arches through the air to 
  cross canyons or even the sea.
  Flight of Basalt Wings—Calling forth a disk of glow-
  ing light from his hands, Jacint scoops up a mass of 
  willing passengers (a single unit up to Magnitude 9 in 
  number) without disturbing its formation. The Prince 
  Upon the Tower can fly, with his passengers, at a rate 
  of 100 miles per hour, without tiring. Upon reaching 
  his destination, the disk vanishes and his passengers 
  are delivered. Alternatively, he could release them at 
  some deadly height, but Jacint is generally loath to do 
  so except when greatly angered or at the command of 
  a sorcerer. The disk of light protects the passengers 
  from any type of wind or extreme weather, but not 
  from other threats.
  Tower of the Prince—With the utterance of a few words 
  and the expenditure of three temporary Willpower, 
  Jacint may construct another instance of his signature 
  tower of residence. At any moment, there may be but 
  one instance of his tower in Creation, and one in each 
  layer of Malfeas; if a second tower conflicts with this, 
  the first one collapses into dust. Each of these towers is 
  a level-three Infernal-aspected manse to which Jacint is 
  automatically attuned, though he may choose to share 
  this attunement. (Indeed, sorcerers typically command 
  him to do so and then demand use of the hearthstone.) 
  The nature of the manse depends upon the ground 
  upon which it is built. Whatever its nature, the manse 
  is identical in appearance to his other towers, and is 
  strongly fortified (with walls equivalent in strength to 
  Jacint’s thick causeways).
  Willpower: 9 
  Essence: 9 
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  50
  Summoning Resistance: None
  Other Notes: Jacint falls within the lower echelons of 
  Third Circle demon power, as relative as such a state-
  ment may be, and Storytellers should not be afraid to 
  portray him losing against others of his kind should 
  circumstance demand it.
  LIGIER, THE GREEN SUN
  DEMON OF THE THIRD CIRCLE, FETICH SOUL OF MALFEAS
  When the Exalted armies of the gods defeated 
  the Primordials, they turned Malfeas inside out and 
  cast his heart into his cavernous core. In the darkness 
  of the Demon City’s concentric black stone orbs, the 
  heart of Malfeas shone forth as Ligier, the Green Sun. 
  Inexplicably, his radiance lights every layer of the 
  demonic realm, glaring throughout the aerial regions 
  between them such that flying demons are sometimes 
  lost in the green-lit sky. Only the passing shadows of 
  the Ebon Dragon bring night to the hellish cityscapes 
  below, though periodic clouds of infernal weather dim 
  the mad emerald brilliance.
  The Green Sun is the fetich soul of Malfeas, and if 
  Ligier is truly slain, the Yozi that is the foundation and 
  essence of the Demon City will become something else. 
  Ligier is the finest of all demonic smiths, and his works 
  are stupendous in scope. He melts streams of metal from 
  the ores of Creation or Malfeas and forges them into won-
  ders rivaling the works of Autochthon and the Twilight 
  Solars of the First Age. In battle, he is more terrible to 
  behold than most beings can withstand. As the Prince 
  of Malfeas, Ligier seeks to bring a particular order to 
  Creation and the Demon Realm alike, spreading black 
  stone, brass and the celebration of the green sun.
  Ligier rests literally at the center of the Demon 
  City of Malfeas, as the Green Sun in its sky. When he 
  desires a human form, Ligier simultaneously appears 
  as a handsome young nobleman with auburn hair. He 
  is sometimes dressed in flawless robes of emerald, and 
  other times bare chested with a long green kilt or a 
  blackened smith’s apron of erymanthus hide.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 1/5) As befits his station and 
  power, Ligier is one of the hardest demons to summon 
  and bind via sorcery. Yet, sometimes as it rises or sets, 
  the solar disc inexplicably flashes green and Ligier is 
  briefly drawn to the side of a remarkable mortal with-
  out the call of sorcery. Only a smith performing the 
  masterstrokes of a perfect work of brass, a mortal prince 
  leading his army against Exalted foes, or a blindingly 
  beautiful queen seizing control of a court while unwed 
  can catch his attention thus. In such cases, the Green 
  Sun has little time before the onset of day or darkness 
  sends him back to Malfeas.
  Motivation: To bring his glories to the world, such 
  that all of Creation and Malfeas alike must celebrate 
  the magnificence of the Green Sun. Ligier’s Intima-
  cies are for things of his own creation, particularly the 
  Sword of the Yozis.
  ROADS OF JACINT
  Road Type 
  Soak (L/B) 
  Health Levels (Damaged/Destroyed)
  Causeway (Thick) 
  25/25 
  40/80
  Causeway (Thin) 
  18/18 
  5/10
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  51
  Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 4, 
  Temperance 3, Valor 5
  Traits: As a Third Circle demon.
  Sample Powers:
  Forge-Hand of the Green Sun—Ligier may use any of 
  the Craft Abilities, although certain crafts demand 
  specific circumstances. Craft (Fate) requires his pres-
  ence in Creation and will likely be circumvented by 
  security measures within the Bureau of Destiny, while 
  Craft (Glamour) must be performed in suitably Wyld-
  oriented locations. The Green Sun is assumed to gain 
  23 successes on every Craft roll, and the Storyteller 
  should consider the uncanny heights of artifice this 
  allows. From exquisitely complex automatons to 
  massive magitech engines to monstrously powerful 
  artifacts, the works of Ligier are wondrous and terrible. 
  His smithcraft requires priceless sacrifices, however, 
  such as children’s blood, the essence of treachery, 
  Exalted souls and the like. Without them, he cannot 
  help but conceal deadly and subtle flaws within the 
  craft, even if bound.
  Impossible Emerald Brilliance—When Ligier steps upon 
  the field of battle, he generally feels honor-bound to 
  reveal his unbearable radiance. Piercing shafts of light 
  spill forth, and their deadly green brilliance melts flesh 
  like hot wax. Everyone on the battlefield is automati-
  cally struck by an unblockable, undodgeable attack with 
  raw damage of 10L that ignores armor (this kills human 
  extras instantly barring special protection). Survivors 
  must succeed at a (Wits + Resistance) roll, at a difficulty 
  equal to their own Perception trait, or be temporarily 
  blinded, as per Exalted p. 152. Every three hours, a 
  blinded character may make a (Stamina + Resistance) 
  roll at standard difficulty to recover her sight. A botch 
  indicates that the loss of sight is permanent until success-
  fully treated by some method that can remove Crippling 
  damage. This power may be used only once per scene, 
  when Ligier first unleashes his inner glory.
  Sword of the Yozis—Legend claims that seven So-
  lars died trying to seize this blade from Ligier, and 
  he is proud of his creation. Indeed, it is said that 
  he considers anything less than an entire circle of 
  experienced Solars or a small army of heavily armed 
  Dragon-Blooded less than a challenge for the sword. 
  Whatever the truth, the Green Sun may call his in-
  fernal brass daiklave, etched with vitriol, to his hand 
  at will (making disarm maneuvers useless as long as 
  he is attuned to it), and declare a contest of arms 
  against one or more worthy opponents. Typically, 
  he will reserve such privilege for those who survive 
  his Impossible Emerald Brilliance. His every flashing 
  movement reflected by a host of blazing contrails and 
  flaming green afterimages, the swordplay of Ligier is 
  breathtakingly beautiful and terrible to behold. This 
  Third Circle demon bears a noble regard for worthy 
  foes, however, and will refuse to continue a fair contest 
  his blade has lost, unless pressed.
  Willpower: 10 Essence: 10 
  Summoning Resistance: 5
  Other Notes: Calling Ligier to the mortal world does 
  not darken the Demon City. Like all fetiches and most 
  Third Circle demons, the Green Sun can exist in Cre-
  ation and Malfeas simultaneously.
  SWORD OF THE YOZIS
  When fighting in a contest of arms with his 
  brass daiklave, Ligier wields the blade as a powerful 
  solo unit, forcing his opponents to engage using 
  the mass combat rules if they wish to fight him. 
  The blade’s traits are as follows:
  Join War: 20
  Sword of the Yozis: Speed 3, Accuracy 25, Dam-
  age 25L (piercing), Parry DV 13, Rate unlimited; 
  provides Ligier with one reflexive perfect parry 
  that refreshes each time he gets a new action
  Dodge DV: 15, Soak: 10A/25L/25B, 
  Hardness: 6A/16L/16B
  Mass Combat: Magnitude 6, Drill 5, 
  Endurance 25, Might 8
  Health Levels: If Ligier suffers 25 health levels 
  of damage while fighting with the Sword of the 
  Yozis—scarcely a scratch for the Green Sun—he 
  gracefully retires from the contest with a flourish-
  ing acknowledgement of recognition of his foe’s 
  worthiness against his favored creation. He will 
  not willingly rejoin combat against the same op-
  ponent for at least 25 hours unless that foe further 
  challenges him, even resisting the bindings of 
  sorcery. Should an enemy press the issue, Ligier 
  will respond with unfettered force, and it is up to 
  the Storyteller whether his foolhardy attackers are 
  doomed to tragic failure or are sufficiently epic to 
  finally defeat the heart of Malfeas. His untapped 
  All-Encompassing Divine Melee Subordination, 
  coupled with completely untouched Principle of 
  Motion action pools, pales in comparison to the 
  infernal sorcery, realm-warping martial arts and 
  sky-rending power the Green Sun might bring to 
  bear when angered.
  
  52
  MUNAXES, THE RAVINE OF WHISPERS
  DEMON OF THE THIRD CIRCLE, 
  FOURTH SOUL OF SHE WHO LIVES IN HER NAME
  A black void darkens the flame within the 30th 
  of the 100 spheres that circle the heart of She Who 
  Lives in Her Name, and that void is the Yozi’s fourth 
  soul. Munaxes is the Ravine of Whispers, swallowing 
  the words of those who speak ill of their comrades and 
  kin, betray their rightful leaders or murmur of forbidden 
  sins. She is literally an animate chasm of endless depth, 
  and she cracks open the earth and wreaks havoc upon 
  it when she journeys forth from her hearth fire.
  Scholars of the First Age sometimes theorized that 
  the Ravine of Whispers represented the idea of a torturous 
  prison for those who trespassed against the will of the 
  Primordials before there was a Yozi Hell. According to 
  The Hierarchy of Names, a suppressed infernal cult text of 
  the era, a sinner fell forever into the depths of Munaxes, 
  surrounded by the echoes of his own iniquity. The out-
  lawed text claimed that She Who Lives in Her Name 
  was the foundation of all order and that those who defied 
  her principle deserved being cast into the Ravine.
  In every place she is present, the void of Munaxes 
  simultaneously exists in material and dematerialized 
  states, her presence continuously disruptive to both. Her 
  form is that of a dark chasm about 100 feet in length 
  and 20 feet across, although she is typically surrounded 
  by frenzied stretches of turbulent shattered earth.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 2/5) When Munaxes is sum-
  moned, the ground splits open in front of the sorcerer, 
  revealing a bottomless crevasse that violently spreads 
  secondary cracks and ravines through the earth for a 
  mile in every direction. The sorcerer must successfully 
  survive the initial rending of the earth, as per Chasm 
  of the Sundered Earth, before he can proceed with the 
  binding contest. Sometimes, without sorcery, when 
  someone betrays the natural order of acquaintance, 
  authority or taboo, and speaks of it on the precipice of 
  a deep fissure, the Ravine of Whispers opens below. If 
  the speaker is unfortunate, the edge gives way and he 
  falls into the endless depths of Munaxes. Typically, 
  Munaxes merely listens for the words of iniquity across 
  the spaces between worlds and gathers their echoes 
  within her embrace.
  Motivation: To swallow that which betrays hierarchy. 
  Munaxes has no known Intimacies beyond her hearth 
  fire, crystal sphere and She Who Lives in Her Name.
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 3, 
  Temperance 2, Valor 5
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  53
  Traits: As a Third Circle demon.
  Sample Powers:
  Chasm of the Sundered Earth—When she appears, Mu-
  naxes splits open the earth, her maw a 100-foot-long 
  bottomless crevasse. Horrific murmuring spills forth 
  from the Ravine of Whispers, the terrain for a mile in 
  every direction shatters into crumbling gorges and jagged 
  spears of upturned stone, and earthquakes can be felt 
  for miles beyond. Mundane structures in the one-mile 
  radius typically collapse, while magically reinforced 
  architecture suffers an automatic blow for 25L (pierc-
  ing) raw damage. The players of animate targets caught 
  within the area must succeed at a reflexive (Dexterity 
  + Athletics) roll, difficulty 2, for their characters, or 
  they fall into a gorge or are thrown onto jagged rock, 
  suffering bashing damage as for a two-to-20-yard fall 
  (roll two dice and add them). A botch means the dam-
  age is lethal. (See Exalted p. 126 for falling rules.) A 
  victim close to the central chasm instead plunges into 
  Munaxes, falling forever, undying unless slain. At the 
  Storyteller’s option, supernatural beings might escape, 
  by catching the walls of the chasm and climbing back 
  up, or with the aid of magic. Munaxes may repeat this 
  effect every three long ticks, although she does so only 
  when moving, when under orders or when provoked 
  by her Motivation. Excluding her initial appearance, 
  Munaxes may also make a single directed attack with 
  each use of this power, thrusting spikes of stone at an 
  individual or unit. (Stone Spikes: Accuracy 18, Dam-
  age 18L, Rate 1.)
  Echoes of Iniquity—Whispers of iniquity echo per-
  petually within the abyss of Munaxes, and she knows 
  many sordid things. A sorcerer may demand that she 
  reveal these secrets to him. Any information might be 
  shared, provided the Storyteller decides it lies within 
  her purview. As a rule, her aid should give a minimum 
  of three extra dice to one or more relevant rolls (these 
  dice do not count as Charm dice).
  Swallowing the Sinful Whispers—Munaxes can devour 
  the words spoken against an individual. The protected 
  target must initially be someone within one mile’s 
  range. Once she has activated this power, at a cost 
  of a temporary Willpower, anyone who attempts to 
  utter words that speak ill of the target finds those 
  words swallowed by the Ravine of Whispers before 
  anyone hears them. Anyone subjected to a verbal 
  social attack that maligns the reputation of the pro-
  tected target gains a reflexive Mental Parry DV of 13 
  against that attack. If an attack somehow overcomes 
  this MDV, the words are heard as normal. Once this 
  power is enacted upon a specific target, it endures 
  continuously, regardless of distance or separation of 
  realms, unless Munaxes revokes it. There is no limit 
  to the number of targets that she can simultaneously 
  protect. The words she consumes become part of the 
  Echoes of Iniquity.
  Willpower: 9 
  Essence: 9 
  Summoning Resistance: 3
  Other Notes: At her fastest rate, Munaxes moves 15 
  miles per day, although she can maintain that pace 
  perpetually without tiring and without regard for ter-
  rain. In standard combat time, this translates to one 
  foot per tick. Whenever she moves, the Chasm of the 
  Sundered Earth power automatically activates once 
  every three long ticks.
  ORABILIS, THE END OF ALL WISDOM
  DEMON OF THE THIRD CIRCLE, 
  SIXTH SOUL OF CECELYNE
  Cecelyne, the Endless Desert, encompasses the 
  boundaries of all things. In her sixth soul, Orabilis, the 
  Yozi embodies the limits of wisdom. Clever Orabilis seeks 
  out the secret mutinies of the Demon City and ensures 
  their failure. He establishes vast repositories of Malfean 
  lore, yet destroys those who learn forbidden things. His 
  words rove as ever-vigilant spies, crystallize as scrolls of 
  learning and rain down as molten death.
  The eyes of Orabilis—living glass orbs of gray, 
  blue, green and yellow—ever traverse the Demon City, 
  their collective gaze searching eternally for those that 
  break its laws. When his eyes pass, rational demons 
  proceed carefully and felons hide from view. Those 
  who offend the eyes of Orabilis are soon plucked out of 
  demonic society and cast down or slain by the swords 
  of Cecelyne.
  The words of Orabilis rain down onto the Demon 
  City as beads of liquid glass and coagulate into great 
  libraries with translucent shelves of crystalline scrolls. 
  In their gleaming halls, demons grow wise in the ways 
  of Creation and Malfeas. Yet they must never become 
  too wise; certain knowledge is forbidden, and demons 
  that learn such things are doomed. When Orabilis 
  finds them, he says, “These are things known only to 
  the Yozis,” and lays his hand upon them. The touch 
  of Orabilis casts an offender into the void between the 
  layers of Malfeas, where she burns like a fateful star, 
  until eventually being extinguished by the winds of 
  Adorjan or the green corona of Ligier.
  When he desires, the End of All Wisdom assumes 
  the form of a patrician of the Realm, dressed in Dynastic 
  finery. With every gesture, desert sand drips from him, 
  and his tongue is that of an adder.
  
  54
  Summoning: (Obscurity 2/5) Sorcerers call upon Orabi-
  lis because he is the End of All Wisdom. Ancient texts 
  warn that a sorcerer must not overreach and demand the 
  mysteries of the world, for doing so frees Orabilis to cast 
  the sorcerer into the Malfean sky regardless of binding. 
  Indeed, the Yozis did not cede all of their secrets to their 
  captors, and whenever someone gains understanding of 
  certain forbidden things, Orabilis might come to them 
  without sorcery. Even other Third Circle demons take 
  care when faced with Yozi enigmas.
  Motivation: To make the children of the Yozis wiser, 
  but never too wise. The Intimacies of Orabilis include 
  such things as deserts, libraries, spies, wisdom, sand, 
  glass, the laws of Cecelyne and dying stars.
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 5, Temperance 3, 
  Valor 3
  Traits: As a Third Circle demon.
  Sample Powers:
  Eyes of Orabilis—With a word, a gesture and a temporary 
  Willpower, Orabilis can create one of his roving eyes 
  from a wisp of sand. Although these First Circle demons 
  are weak in combat, they are feared and honored in the 
  Demon City, for what they see, the End 
  of All Wisdom knows.
  Library of Glass—Orabilis speaks words 
  of wisdom, and they rain down upon 
  a nearby site as beads of liquid glass. 
  After five days, and the expenditure of 
  a temporary Willpower, the drops coalesce 
  into a great glass library. The library is 
  a source of knowledge for whatever 
  subject the End of All Wisdom 
  desires. Each library acts as a tutor 
  for 25 points of traits the Storyteller 
  deems suitable. Each dot of Ability, 
  point of a specialty or level of a spell 
  takes up one of those points. For example, 
  a library might act as a tutor for Occult 7 
  and Lore 6, contain 3 different Solar Circle 
  spells, and serve as a source for an Occult 
  specialty (Demon Summoning +3).
  Rain of Molten Glass—Instead of creating 
  a library of glass, Orabilis can rain molten 
  glass down upon a target he can see within 
  one mile’s distance, with the downpour 
  ranging in size from 100 yards to 600 
  yards across. The molten deluge lasts 
  for up to one hour, and anyone or 
  anything in the area suffers its en-
  vironmental effects. Each use of 
  on 5, Temperance 3,
  .
  sture and a temporary
  ne of his roving eyes
  e First Circle demons
  d and honored in the
  the End
  words 
  upon 
  lass. 
  re of 
  coalesce 
  rary is 
  ver
  m 
  or 
  ler 
  ility, 
  spell
  example, 
  Occult 7
  olar Circle 
  an Occult
  3).
  reating 
  molten 
  e within
  npour 
  00 
  sts 
  or 
  n-
  this power costs Orabilis one temporary Willpower. The 
  rain of glass is an environmental effect with (Damage 
  5L/action; Trauma 5).
  Willpower: 10 Essence: 10 
  Summoning Resistance: 2
  Other Notes: If Orabilis is given authority to punish 
  someone for learning forbidden knowledge, he must 
  lay a hand on the guilty target. This touch is a Speed 
  6 unblockable attack with 20 successes (Step 3). If the 
  target fails to evade it, the two instantly enter a con-
  tested reflexive challenge of wills. The player of each 
  contestant makes an unmodified (Willpower + Essence) 
  roll, until Orabilis or the target gains three more total 
  successes than the other. If Orabilis wins this contest, 
  the victim is cast into the Malfean sky as a failing 
  star; if the victim wins, she wrests 
  control of the secret from Orabi-
  lis and forever denies 
  him authority over 
  it. (Nonetheless, the 
  priests of Cecelyne 
  and other demons might 
  seek to silence her.)
  SECOND CIRCLE 
  DEMONS
  Each of the Third Circle 
  demons possesses 
  seven autono-
  mous souls, each 
  of which com-
  prises a Second 
  Circle demon. 
  Each of these 
  souls operates in-
  dependently from 
  its higher self, yet ul-
  timately echoes one or 
  more of the Yozi’s sub-
  consciouses. By dint of 
  their origins, demons 
  of the Second Circle 
  automatically 
  gain the 
  p o s i -
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  55
  tion of citizens in Malfeas, and First Circle demons 
  are wise to heed or avoid them. Typically, an an-
  tagonistic demon of the Second Circle is a serious 
  challenge for experienced Exalts and a deadly enemy 
  for lesser beings.
  ALVEUA, THE KEEPER OF THE FORGE OF NIGHT
  DEMON OF THE SECOND CIRCLE, THE EXPRESSIVE SOUL 
  OF THAT WHICH CALLS TO THE SHADOWS
  Alveua appears as a thin, beautiful mortal girl, 
  except her dress consists of shining black metal, two 
  small horns peek from the short red hair that graces 
  her forehead, and she carries a massive red-hot ham-
  mer over one shoulder. Her philosophy is known to 
  certain savants. “If I had the shaping of all things, as I 
  have for those I re-forge, then the Yozis would not be 
  imprisoned, the gods would not rebel against them, the 
  mortals would not be so bold, and both harmony and 
  happiness should fill the world. Sadly, as Erembour and 
  the Ebon Dragon are held, so held am I, and I can fix 
  only certain aspects of Creation.”
  Alveua hears the sacrifice of innocent blood and may 
  answer a petitioner. She then carries the supplicant to the 
  Forge of Night and reshapes him upon her anvil, though 
  a sorcerer may demand otherwise. In her dark forge, lit 
  only by the dying stars of Malfeas, Alveua hammers a 
  mortal’s flesh into a peerless object such as men make 
  of metal: perhaps a perfect blade, a fine breastplate or 
  an iron gate. The victim does not survive, but his spirit 
  lingers in the shining black metal of her work and holds 
  the same Motivation and Intimacies he once held. The 
  magic of the Keeper’s craftsmanship gives shape and 
  endurance to his loves and ambitions, but if he loved 
  nothing except himself, he is sure to become a crown or 
  ornament of jewelry. In this manner, some vain mortals 
  seek immortality for themselves or their goals.
  Insects find a kindred soul in the Essence of Al-
  veua, and the Keeper forged the insects of Malfeas. 
  Those who harm Alveua risk the enmity of vengeful 
  swarms. The Keeper of the Forge of Night also crafted 
  the needle-making firmin.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 2/3) Sorcerers call Alveua to 
  craft them wondrous things. She requires the Forge of 
  Night for her greatest works, but an anvil in Creation 
  is sufficient for lesser marvels. Sometimes, the sacrifice 
  of the blood of an innocent opens a crack by which she 
  may enter the mortal world, and sometimes she answers 
  such sacrifices. Alveua will not craft by the light of sun 
  or moon, and if a sorcerer tries to force her to do so, her 
  player rolls a number of dice equal to her Conviction 
  with each success giving her one point of Limit.
  Motivation: To forge the destiny of humans so that the 
  Yozis are free, mortals and the gods are loyal servants, 
  and the world is filled with harmony. Her Intimacies 
  include such things as her forge, her anvil, her hammer, 
  the Ebon Dragon, Erembour and insects.
  Attributes: Strength 6, Dexterity 6, Stamina 5; Cha-
  risma 3, Manipulation 4, Appearance 4; Perception 4, 
  Intelligence 5, Wits 5
  Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 5, Temperance 3, 
  Valor 4
  Abilities: Athletics 3, Awareness 2, Craft (Fire) 6, 
  Dodge 3, Integrity 2, Investigation 1, Linguistics (Na-
  tive: Old Realm; Others: Flametongue, Insect Buzzing) 2, 
  Lore 5, Martial Arts 2, Melee 5 (Hammer +3), Occult 3, 
  Presence 5, Resistance 5, Stealth 1
  Name 
  Str/Dex/Sta 
  Per/Int/ 
  Health Levels 
  Attack (Spd/Acc 
  Dodge DV/
   
   
  Wits/Will 
   
  /Dmg/Rate) 
  Soak
  Eyes of Orabilis 1/4/1 
  6/3/4/6 
  -0/-1/-4/Incap 
  Ram (Punch): 5/5/1B/3 
  6/1B/1L
  Abilities: Athletics 1, Awareness 5 (Visual +3), Bureaucracy 1, Dodge 4, Integrity 5, Investigation 5 
  (Crimes Against Cecelyne’s Law +3), Larceny 1, Linguistics 1, Lore 1, Occult 1, Presence 1 (Authority 
  of Cecelyne +3), Resistance 1, Stealth 5 (Small Places +3), Survival 1 (The Demon City +3)
  Spirit Charms: Amethyst Awareness, First (Ability) Excellency (Awareness, Dodge, Investigation), Hurry 
  Home (back to Orabilis), Landscape Travel (flight), Materialize (45 motes), Measure the Wind
  Essence: 3 
  Essence Pool: 60
  Notes: The eyes of Orabilis fly about as fast as messenger birds (30 mph), and they ignore all penalties 
  from darkness, fog or other intangible visible obstructions. Orabilis instantly knows everything that his 
  eyes see. Although their Motivation is to serve Orabilis, and their Intimacies are the laws of Cecelyne, 
  the eyes act independently. If attacked, they typically flee (Move action, 15 yards per tick). An eye that 
  is forced to fight will ram opponents until it can escape.
  
  56
  Backgrounds: Artifact 3, Artifact 5, Backing 3, Cult 1, 
  Followers 3, Resources 5, Sanctum 2
  Charms:
  Call—Insects, sesseljae and firmin
  Capture—Carry victim through a portal to her sanctum 
  or the nearest darkened forge
  Chrysalis of Preservation—Mortals or objects on her 
  anvil
  Creation of Perfection—Forge mortals on 
  her anvil
  Essence Plethora—10 extra motes
  Forge of Night—Alveua can use her 
  forge to shape mortals into objects that 
  reflect and immortalize them. Use of 
  this power requires her to have access 
  to her anvil. A sorcerer who desires this 
  service must allow Alveua to return to 
  Malfeas, which means she will be gone 
  at least 10 days as she travels back and 
  forth across the desert Cecelyne. The 
  enchantment of such an object may 
  create perfect equipment, or may qualify 
  as an artifact. See Exalted (pp. 133–134, 
  139, 365–366) and The Books of Sorcery, 
  Vol. III—Oadenol’s Codex for rules for creating 
  perfect items or forging artifacts.
  Hurry Home—To her sanctum, the nearest dark forge 
  or the original point where she entered Creation
  Materialize—Costs 80 motes
  Meat of Broken Flesh—Recovers motes from hammering 
  mortal flesh, whether in combat or upon her anvil
  Memory Mirror—Senses the greatest goals of the mortal 
  being forged
  Ox-Body Technique
  Paralyze—Shaping and Crippling effect, victims on 
  her anvil only
  Plague of Menaces—Insects harass those who harm 
  Alveua
  Portal—To her sanctum or the nearest darkened 
  forge
  Principle of Motion—Alveua typically banks up to nine 
  stored actions
  Touch of Eternity—Immortalize the spirit of a mortal 
  forged into an object
  First (Ability) Excellency—Craft, Melee, Resistance
  Second (Ability) Excellency—Craft, Melee, Resistance
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Craft, Melee, Resistance
  Infinite (Ability) Mastery—Craft
  Sorcery—Alveua has mastered a handful of Terrestrial Circle 
  spells: Emerald Countermagic, Commanding the Beasts (she 
  calls insects only) and Ritual of Elemental Empowerment 
  (she uses the earth and fire versions only).
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  57
  Join Battle: 7
  Attacks:
  Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 9, Damage 6B, Parry DV 5, 
  Rate 3
  Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 8, Damage 9B, Parry DV 3, 
  Rate 2
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 8, Damage 6B, Parry DV —, 
  Rate 1, Tags P
  Infernal Hammer (Ember of Perfection): Speed 5, Ac-
  curacy 17, Damage 22L/5, Parry DV 14, Rate 2, Tags 2,
  O,P,R
  Soak: 18L/20B (Infused with enchanted metal, 
  15L/15B, Hardness: 10L/10B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-
  2/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 8 
  Willpower: 9
  Essence: 7 
  Essence Pool: 125
  Other Notes: Alveua suffers a +1 difficulty when work-
  ing with Creation’s magical materials (jade, starmetal, 
  soulsteel, orichalcum and moonsilver) as her nature is 
  not aligned to them.
  BERENGIERE, THE WEAVER OF VOICES
  DEMON OF THE SECOND CIRCLE, 
  THE INDULGENT SOUL OF THE GREEN SUN
  When the first green rays of Ligier shined down on 
  a thing of beauty and that wicked luminary paused to 
  admire the craftsmanship, there was born Berengiere. 
  The Weaver of Voices is beautiful in form, with luscious 
  curves beneath crimson-veined clothing that murmurs 
  in a thousand quiet voices rather than rustling as cloth 
  does. Her fingers are delicately shaped into rending 
  points and dusted with aconite. Although a face seems 
  to hide, demure and tempting behind the veil she wears, 
  those who move it aside are instead assailed by a landslide 
  of brass dust and igneous rock, which pours forth until 
  her veil is allowed to fall back into place.
  Berengiere is bound to defend the boneyard 
  where the remains of an unknown fetich—slain most 
  artfully—are interred, but she is always anxious to flee 
  that duty. When she is not bound there, she indulges 
  in her preferred pastime, the creation of fabric woven 
  from stolen voices.
  The stronger the emotion that impels the voice, 
  the finer and stronger the cloth. Different emotions 
  make for a variety of uses. Cloth-of-torture chafes ter-
  ribly but is excellent armor, while cloth-of-apathy is 
  light, diaphanous and tears easily. The strongest of her 
  weavings is cloth-of-true-love, and it is all but impen-
  etrable. Mortals whose voice she steals do eventually 
  learn to speak again, but some have given their assent 
  to have their voices snatched forevermore. From these 
  rare treasures, Berengiere creates wonders.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 2/3) Summoners call upon 
  Berengiere for aid in creating things of cloth, for there 
  are few better weavers. Berengiere has also been used 
  to silence an enemy or to act as a lover or a translator. 
  Berengiere’s lust for passion-filled voices is such that 
  any voice lost in a moment of great passion—whether 
  someone screams himself mute in denial of the death 
  of a loved one or professes undying love with an injury 
  or illness of the throat—winds its way to Berengiere in 
  her boneyard. There, she snatches at the thread and 
  quickly follows it back up, into Creation. Old wives 
  caution those with sore throats and laryngitis to remain 
  calm and not speak, though they themselves rarely 
  understand the reasons why.
  Motivation: To collect the voices of passion and weave 
  them into permanent forms. Berengiere’s Intimacies 
  include Ligier, her duty to guard the boneyard (ex-
  pressed as a negative Intimacy), her creations and the 
  last five individuals who voluntarily surrendered their 
  voices to her.
  Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 7, Stamina 5; Cha-
  risma 3, Manipulation 3, Appearance 4; Perception 7, 
  Intelligence 5, Wits 5
  Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 3, Temperance 3, 
  Valor 4
  Abilities: Archery 2, Athletics 1, Awareness 4, Craft 
  (Wood) 6, Dodge 2, Integrity 2, Linguistics (Native: 
  Old Realm; Others: Flametongue, Forest-tongue, Guild 
  Cant, High Holy Speech, High Realm, Low Realm, Riv-
  erspeak, Seatongue, Skytongue, Tribal languages) 10, 
  Lore 3, Martial Arts 3 (Nails +1, Stealing Voices +2), 
  Medicine 2, Melee 2, Occult 3, Performance 2, Presence 2 
  (Seduction +2), Resistance 5 (Poison +3), Ride 2, Sail 1, 
  Socialize 2, Thrown 1
  Backgrounds: Artifact 5, Backing 3, Cult 1, Followers 2, 
  Resources 5
  Charms:
  Creation of Perfection—Allows the demon to weave 
  voices like cloth
  Dreamscape—The beauty of Berengiere haunts her 
  victim’s dreams until they willingly give her what she 
  wants
  Essence Bite—Those who touch her fingernails (or are 
  touched by them) suffer aconite poisoning (Damage 6L/
  hour, Toxicity 3M, Tolerance —/—, Penalty –3)
  Harrow the Mind—Berengiere causes voices to emanate 
  from anywhere within her line of sight
  Hoodwink—Sudden burst of confusing murmurs
  Materialize—Costs 80 motes
  
  58
  Measure the Wind—The timbre of a being’s voice reveals 
  to Berengiere that being’s power
  Memory Mirror—Berengiere forever imprints the ex-
  periences of those whose voices are freely given into 
  what she creates
  Paralyze—Unnatural passion and aconite dust paralyze 
  the victim (Poison, unnatural mental influence)
  Principle of Motion—Berengiere regularly banks up to 
  nine extra actions
  Words of Power—Opens her cloak to unleash a deafen-
  ing susurrus of terrible voices from her cloth-of-voices, 
  costing five motes per attack
  First (Ability) Excellency—Awareness, Craft, Martial 
  Arts, Resistance
  Second (Ability) Excellency— Awareness, Craft, Martial 
  Arts, Resistance
  Third (Ability) Excellency— Awareness, Craft, Martial 
  Arts, Resistance
  Infinite (Ability) Mastery—Awareness, Craft
  Join Battle: 9
  Attacks:
  Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 11, Damage 4B, Parry DV 6, 
  Rate 3
  Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 10, Damage 7B, Parry DV 4, 
  Rate 2
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 10, Damage 4B, Parry DV —, 
  Rate 1, Tags P
  Scratch: Speed 5, Accuracy 13, Damage 4L*, Parry 
  DV 5, Rate 2
  Voice Theft: Speed 5, Accuracy 11, Damage N/A**, 
  Parry DV —, Rate 1
  Words of Power: Speed 5, Accuracy 7, Damage 4B***, 
  Parry DV —, Rate 1
  Dragon’s Suspire: Speed 6, Accuracy 9, Damage 12L, 
  Rate 1, Range 10
  * Aconite: Damage 6L/hour, Toxicity 3M, Tolerance 
  —/—, Penalty –3
  ** Berengiere steals the victim’s voice.
  *** For every health level of damage inflicted, target 
  receives a –2 penalty to all Dodge and Integrity pools 
  or derived traits for 21 ticks.
  Soak: 15L/17B (Cloth-of-true-love garb, 12L/12B, -2 
  mobility penalty, 1 fatigue value)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 8 (6 in armor-clothes)        Willpower: 9
  Essence: 7 
  Essence Pool: 115
  Other Notes: By spending six motes and one Will-
  power, Berengiere may perform her Voice Theft attack. 
  Victims of the attack become mute for a year and a 
  day, and the demon gains the materials to craft another 
  bolt of cloth. Those who consent lose their voices 
  forever, and from those she creates potent fabrics for 
  the making of artifact-level creations. Permanently 
  robbing someone of his voice in this way costs 20 
  motes and one Willpower.
  Armor that Berengiere makes from voices is treated 
  as perfect equipment designed to be unencumbering, 
  with mobility penalty and fatigue value each better 
  than normal by two. It has the added bonus that it 
  appears to be nothing more than fine clothing ([Per-
  ception + Awareness], difficulty 3, to notice that the 
  clothing is armor).
  Touching cloth woven by the Weaver of Voices, 
  one may choose to hear the voice it contains. Those 
  pieces crafted from mere words contain only those 
  words. Those woven from voices freely and forever 
  sacrificed to Berengiere, however, may converse with 
  all the knowledge their owners possessed at the mo-
  ment they were taken, as if one were talking to the 
  owners themselves.
  The veil worn by the Weaver of Voices holds back a 
  landslide, and if it is moved aside, that avalanche is 
  freed, acting as a Dragon’s Suspire attack.
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  59
  FLORIVET, THE WHIM-OF-THE-WIND
  DEMON OF THE SECOND CIRCLE, 
  THE REFLECTIVE SOUL OF THE END OF ALL WISDOM
  Once, Florivet was given the title Masterful Scholar 
  by his master, Orabilis. Eventually, though, something 
  changed in the scholarly creature, and he fled the li-
  braries of the End of All Wisdom for the adventures of 
  Cecelyne’s open sands and the wind through his feathers 
  and fur. Orabilis stayed his wrathful hand, punishing 
  him with only a tiny curse: Forevermore, Florivet would 
  be called Whim-of-the-Wind, blown hither and yon 
  on a land ship made of his own bone and sand-hued 
  sails. (He replaced his bones with red glass blown from 
  the sands of Ceclyne.) Florivet loves to skirt the edge 
  of the terrible Hell-deserts, sometimes with Creation’s 
  strange blue sky tinting the horizon, though he seldom 
  ventures farther.
  Embracing his new identity as an adventurer, 
  Florivet truly came to embody everything that was 
  worse about such gadabouts. He is a drunkard and 
  womanizer, constantly seeking adventure over 
  the horizon. He takes rejection from beauties 
  with good temper (though he often mocks 
  them once he’s had something to drink). 
  He has little tolerance for sobriety (his 
  own, primarily, though he hates to drink 
  alone). Occasionally, though, those 
  who spurn his advances raise his ire, 
  and he mars their beauty forevermore, 
  scarring them horribly with bilious, 
  cutting cruelty.
  The winds follow Florivet wher-
  ever he goes, for a tiny adventurous 
  zephyr blows in his heart, and air 
  elementals cannot help but fall in 
  love with his handsome visage and 
  strong form. Who else has the strong 
  torso of a man, with majestic wings of 
  white feathers from his shoulders and a 
  strong-jawed lupine head with the wide, 
  shining eyes of an owl? Smitten elemen-
  tals always try to get his attention, blowing 
  winds at his back, but Florivet has no eye for 
  such ephemeral beauty. He likes his women 
  with a bit more solidity. Nonetheless, the 
  elementals adore him from afar, and when he 
  is angry, the winds are terrible gusting things 
  that shriek and howl. When he is happy, they 
  cannot help but be joyful as well, blowing sweet-
  smelling winds.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 2/4) Because of the adoration 
  of the air elementals that follow Florivet, those in the 
  know have been known to call up the Whim-of-the-
  Wind and offer him dalliance with a courtesan or a keg 
  of fine wine (or both) in the hold of a ship to guarantee 
  it fine winds for swift journeys. These sorts of compacts 
  please Florivet so much that he is often willing to ac-
  cede to such requests even from mortal thaumaturges 
  who know the means of beckoning him.
  Florivet has also been known to find his way to Creation 
  when no winds blow through the desert sands of the 
  South. On the first dark moon after more than a week 
  of such stillness, white owl feathers drop fitfully from 
  the sky in a strange pattern. If another dark moon comes 
  without those feathers being buried by wind-blown 
  sands, the sand explodes outward in a typhoon-like 
  hough he selddom
  o
  an adventurer,
  ything that was
  runkard and 
  nture over 
  beauties 
  mocks 
  nk)
  k . 
  his 
  nk 
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  ess, the 
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  60
  explosive gust, and Florivet may take his adventures 
  into Creation.
  Motivation: To enjoy the excitement of the journey, 
  particularly when sailing into the unknown. His Inti-
  macies include his ship, the Foremost Gale, as well as 
  adventuring, wine and women.
  Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 5, Stamina 4; Cha-
  risma 4, Manipulation 2, Appearance 1; Perception 4, 
  Intelligence 3, Wits 4
  Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 2, Temperance 1, 
  Valor 3
  Abilities: Archery 4, Athletics 3, Awareness 3, Dodge 4, 
  Integrity 1, Investigation 1, Larceny 4, Linguistics (Na-
  tive: Old Realm; Others: Flametongue, Low Realm, 
  Riverspeak, Seatongue, Skytongue) 5, Lore 4, Martial 
  Arts 3, Melee 3, Occult 2, Presence 5, Resistance 2 (Re-
  sist Alcohol +3), Sail 6, Socialize 2, Stealth 3, Survival 1, 
  Thrown 4, War 1 (Shipboard Combat +2)
  Backgrounds: Artifact 5, Backing 3, Cult 2, Followers 3, 
  Resources 3
  Charms:
  Affinity (Element) Control—Air, Earth, Water; Florivet 
  may exert his will over six barrels of these elements
  Claws of the Angry Dragon—The Whim-of-the-Wind 
  can weaken his enemies
  Dreamscape—Seeking adventure, Florivet sometimes 
  sails the Foremost Gale through the dreams of mortals
  Hoodwink—Winds serve to distract and annoy the 
  demon’s enemies
  Landscape Travel—The wind beneath his wings bears 
  Florivet aloft
  Materialize—Costs 75 motes
  Measure the Wind—The winds whisper to Florivet of 
  his enemies’ strength
  Principle of Motion—Florivet possesses up to nine 
  banked actions
  Scourge—Florivet conjures acid to ruin the target’s Ap-
  pearance (almost always a woman who’s scorned him)
  Taste of Mortality—Florivet is skilled in countering the 
  gods’ blessings
  Tracking—Tiny zephyrs waft the scent of prey to the 
  demon
  Weather Control—The weather shifts to mirror the 
  Whim-of-the-Wind’s mood
  First (Ability) Excellency—Dodge, Lore, Sail
  Second (Ability) Excellency—Archery, Sail
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Sail, Thrown
  Infinite (Ability) Mastery—Sail
  Supernatural Martial Arts—Florivet knows Seafaring 
  Hero Style through the Form-type Charm
  Join Battle: 7
  Attacks:
  Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 9, Damage 4B, Parry DV 5, 
  Rate 3
  Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 8, Damage 7B, Parry DV 3, 
  Rate 2
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 8, Damage 4B, Parry DV —, 
  Rate 1, Tags P
  Claw: Speed 5, Accuracy 8, Damage 6L, Parry DV 4, 
  Rate 2
  Perfect Long Bow (Lovers’ Sigh): Speed 5, Accuracy 12, 
  Damage 4L*, Range 200, Rate 4
  * Uses target arrows. Halves soak of armor.
  Soak: 20L/22B (Yozi-glass skeleton, 18L/18B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incap 
  Dodge DV: 8 
  Willpower: 9
  Essence: 6 
  Essence Pool: 105
  Other Notes: Florivet possesses a marvelous 20-foot-
  long land ship, the Foremost Gale, built of his own bone 
  and sinew. He cut the bones out piece by piece with 
  crimson-glass blades forged from the sands of Cecelyne, 
  and he replaced the missing bones with struts made 
  from the same material, his sinews re-growing to anchor 
  them. Unlike with most such vessels (see The Books 
  of Sorcery, Vol. III—Oadenol’s Codex, p. 38, for 
  details), the Whim-of-the-Wind’s ship can travel on 
  water as well as land.
  GERVESIN, THE GRIEVING LORD
  DEMON OF THE SECOND CIRCLE, 
  THE MESSENGER SOUL OF THE GREEN SUN
  Weep for Gervesin, who knew love only once: in 
  the moment when he slew the mortal Kinnojo of Chiar-
  oscuro. In that tiny second between ripping through 
  Kinnojo’s chest, and the flight of Kinnojo’s soul to Lethe, 
  Gervesin immersed himself in the strange experience of 
  falling in love and has known only despair ever since. In 
  the rare instances when Gervesin appears in the form 
  of an Eastern man with beautiful green eyes, the story 
  of his love for Kinnojo appears tattooed across his back 
  and arms in Old Realm.
  More typically, however, Gervesin takes the form 
  of a great and terrible lance of strange verdigris-covered 
  brass, burning with viridian light. It was in this form 
  that Gervesin sought the heart of Kinnojo and found 
  more than he reckoned. In this form, Gervesin’s blight-
  ful nature expresses itself best, particularly when he is 
  in Creation. He leaves a path of horror in his wake 
  as he flies through the air. The clouds above him are 
  marred with a thin line of red, while crops and flowers 
  petrify beneath him. Day-birds are infected with terrible 
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  61
  threads of brass that corrupt their bodies like a cancer. 
  Mortal babes in the womb are twisted into monsters 
  (or even decanthropes, who turn their mothers into 
  the first of their human bodies). Beneath the flight of 
  Gervesin, stones turn black and gold bursts into green 
  flame. When the fire has gone out, the gold has been 
  turned entirely into verdigrised brass.
  As a spear, Gervesin prefers to travel Creation 
  wielded by a mortal. Those unfortunate enough to 
  pick up the uncanny green spear are wholly subsumed 
  by Gervesin’s will. The spear compels its “wielder” 
  to move from battle to battle, where the spear slays 
  gloriously but offers no protection to the mortal. Even-
  tually, those so enslaved by Gervesin are bloodied, 
  gangrenous things wishing for death. When they are 
  finally granted that request, they are horrified to find 
  that they are trapped still within their own corpses, as 
  Gervesin continues his eternal march of destruction 
  and corruption.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 3/5) Gervesin spends much 
  time in Creation. He is rarely summoned, however, save 
  by those Celestial Exalts who believe they can wield 
  the terrible green spear. More frequently, Gervesin 
  escapes Malfeas when someone attempts to destroy or 
  otherwise treats the remains of Kinnojo with disrespect 
  or contempt.
  Motivation: To protect the health of Chiaroscuro, 
  the city that his fallen love once called home. His 
  Intimacies are to Ligier, the memory of Kinnojo, 
  Chiaroscuro and battle.
  Attributes: Strength 7, Dexterity 4, Stamina 4; 
  Charisma 5, Manipulation 4, Appearance 4; 
  Perception 4, Intelligence 4, Wits 3
  Virtues: Compassion 3, Conviction 4, Temper-
  ance 3, Valor 4
  Abilities: Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Dodge 2, Integrity 5, 
  Investigation 1, Linguistics (Native: Old Realm; Oth-
  ers: Flametongue, Riverspeak, Seatongue) 3, Lore 2 
  (Chiaroscuro +1), Martial Arts 1, Melee 5 (Gervesin +3), 
  Occult 2, Presence 1, Resistance 5, Stealth 1, Survival 1, 
  Thrown 5 (Gervesin +3), War 4
  Backgrounds: Backing 3, Cult 1
  Charms:
  Commandeer—Gervesin the spear often takes 
  control of those who touch him and, once he 
  does, won’t let go
  Essence Bite—The touch of Gervesin as spear 
  burns all but its wielder (up to 9L damage)
  Essence Plethora—10 extra motes
  Fruit of Living Essence—The demon feeds 
  off his wielder
  Hollow Out the Soul—Gervesin conditions his hosts 
  not to resist his influence
  Hoodwink—Glittering green orbs distract and disori-
  ent victims
  Hurry Home—The Grieving Lord flashes across Cre-
  ation or Malfeas as an arc of green light
  Materialize—Costs 85 motes
  Meat of Broken Flesh—The Grieving Lord gains Essence 
  from those he wounds
  Ox-Body Technique
  Portal—In spear form, Gervesin may slice a hole in 
  space, allowing his host to stride from one battlefield 
  to another 
  Possession—The demon subsumes the mind of his wielder, 
  animating the victim as he will even beyond death
  Principle of Mo-
  tion—Gervesin 
  typically possesses 
  10 banked actions
  Shapechange—
  Gervesin may take 
  the form of a man, a 
  terrible dire lance or a 
  green flash of light
  Spirit-Cutting—Supplemented spear 
  attack affects the immaterial
  Stoke the Flame—The touch of the Grieving 
  Lord incites victims to violence
  First (Ability) Excellency—Integrity, Melee, Re-
  sistance, Thrown
  Second (Ability) Excellency—Melee, Thrown
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Integrity, Melee, Resistance, 
  Thrown
  Divine (Ability) Subordination—Melee, Thrown
  Infinite (Ability) Mastery—Melee, Thrown
  hen they are
  rified to find
  wn corpses, as
  f destruction
  spends much
  however, save
  ey can wield
  ly, Gervesin
  to destroy or
  ith disrespect
  hiaroscuro,
  ome. His
  nnojo, 
  na 4; 
  e 4;
  Temper-
  2, Integrity 5,
  Realm; Oth-
  e) 3, Lore 2
  Gervesin +3),
  1, Survival 1,
  en takes 
  ce he
  ear 
  e)
  ds
  animating the victim as he will even beyond death
  Principle of Mo-
  tion—Gervesin
  typically possesses
  10 banked actions
  Shapechange—
  Gervesin may take 
  the form of a man, a 
  terrible dire lance or a 
  green flash of light
  Spirit-Cutting—Supplemented spear 
  attack affects the immaterial
  Stoke the Flame—The touch of the Grieving 
  Lord incites victims to violence
  First (Ability) Excellency—Integrity, Melee, Re-
  sistance, Thrown
  Second (Ability) Excellency—Melee, Thrown
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Integrity, Melee, Resistance, 
  Thrown
  Divine (Ability) Subordination—Melee, Thrown
  Infinite (Ability) Masteryr —Melee, Thrown
  
  62
  Join Battle: 5
  Attacks:
  Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 6, Damage 7B, Parry DV 4, 
  Rate 3
  Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 5, Damage 10B, Parry DV 2, 
  Rate 2
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 5, Damage 7B, Parry DV —, 
  Rate 1, Tags P
  Green Spear: Speed 5, Accuracy 14, Damage 15L/12L, 
  Parry DV 7, Rate 2
  Thrown Green Spear: Speed 5, Accuracy 14, Damage 
  15L, Range 100, Rate 1
  Soak: 17L/19B (Made of Malfean brass, 15L/15B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-
  2/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 7 
  Willpower: 10
  Essence: 7 
  Essence Pool: 130
  Other Notes: None
  GUMELA, THE JEWELED AUDITOR
  DEMON OF THE SECOND CIRCLE, 
  THE WISDOM SOUL OF THE PRINCE UPON THE TOWER
  The form of the Wisdom soul of Jacint is intended 
  as a mockery of the Loom of Fate. Where the Loom is 
  an ordered, exquisitely designed weaving of threads, 
  Gumela is a terrible snarl, the desire of Jacint to see 
  the Loom twisted and bound up inexorably given 
  physicality. The Jeweled Auditor appears as a man 
  clad in thousands upon thousands of gold and silver 
  threads, each of which ends in a sapphire or emerald 
  that threatens to touch the ground as he walks. Each 
  of these threads is knotted into the heart of Gumela, 
  a terrible snarl in the middle of his hollow chest, and 
  falls gently to form the skirt of loose threads that hides 
  his strange foot-shaped tangles with a hundred six-inch 
  thread toes, which grasp the ground like tentacles.
  Gumela regards mortals dispassionately, bearing 
  them neither adoration nor malice. His breath is sweet, 
  however, and drives mortal passions mad. Things that 
  are tangled swiftly come undone in those who breathe 
  in this intoxicating breath. The most confusing, twisted 
  passions leap to the tongues of those who would rather 
  they weren’t made public, secrets and hidden truths are 
  unraveled and spoken aloud, and thoughts escape the 
  twists of hesitation and embarrassment to be spoken 
  aloud without censor. Taboos are unbound from the 
  wrappings of propriety, and public sex and decadent 
  behaviors break out where Gumela breathes. Memories 
  of these times linger in mortal thoughts, and those who 
  have experienced Gumela’s fumes sometimes gather 
  on the anniversaries of such events and recreate them, 
  driven to do so by primal urges they hate and try to 
  keep hidden. Such hedonistic sects of shame form the 
  majority of Gumela’s cult in Creation.
  Gumela seeks knowledge for the enjoyment of discov-
  ery, though he is easily distracted by pleasures. Though 
  he does not regard mortals as anything more than bits of 
  the environment, Gumela is easily taken in by their pas-
  sions. He loves the taste of wine, which tints his threads 
  a deep shimmering burgundy hue. When a woman gives 
  herself to him, his bodily threads expand to envelop her, 
  and she is pulled into him. Those who drive him to deep 
  ecstasy may be released hours, weeks or months later, but 
  those who do not are never heard from again.
  The coming of the Jeweled Auditor is marked by an 
  increase in thread-like phenomena in the world. Long, 
  thin shadows stretch across bodies of water, glints of 
  light stretch strangely across the facets of gemstones and 
  a weary lassitude stretches across the region, as though 
  thick threads bound both bodies and thoughts. Where 
  Gumela has passed, the world is left in threads as well. 
  Stray threads from his garments are left hither and yon 
  among trickles of blood or other liquid that do not drip 
  normally, but instead stretch out into long thin fila-
  ments. Dust gathers in fine spider-webbing lines. Twigs 
  seemingly stretch out into fine root-like structures. Fur 
  or hair is stretched to delicate proportions.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 2/4) Gumela is a well-known 
  horror to the lore of Creation. Sorcerers call on Gumela 
  to unravel mysteries or to infuse their enemies with 
  humiliating wantonness. Everyone knows to be cau-
  tious when thread or yarn has become so snarled that 
  it cannot be untangled. Should such a mass of fiber be 
  doused by a drop of blood, a splash of semen and a bit 
  of spilled wine, the fibers will suddenly unfurl, infinitely 
  unfolding to reveal the form of Gumela. Many cultures 
  have old laws against violence, alcohol and sex near spin-
  ning wheels or looms for just such reasons, though not 
  everyone remembers the reasons why. When Gumela 
  is free in Creation, he immediately goes searching for 
  “Mayoigo.” Who or what this thing might be is unknown 
  to any savant or scholar in Creation or Heaven.
  Motivation: To find the person, thing or quality of 
  being named Mayoigo. Gumela’s Intimiacies include 
  Mayoigo (at a full rating of Conviction + Willpower), 
  Jacint and orgiastic behavior.
  Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 5, Stamina 5; Cha-
  risma 5, Manipulation 5, Appearance 4; Perception 4, 
  Intelligence 5, Wits 2
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 5, Temperance 2, 
  Valor 4
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  63
  Abilities: Athletics 3 (Balance +2), 
  Awareness 3, Bureaucracy 1, Dodge 2, 
  Integrity 2, Investigation 5 (Mayoigo +1), Linguistics 
  (Native: Old Realm; Others: Flametongue, Guild 
  Cant, High Realm, Riverspeak) 4, Lore 5, Martial 
  Arts 3, Medicine 2, Melee 4, Occult 3, Presence 4, 
  Resistance 2, Socialize 3, Stealth 2, Survival 1, 
  Thrown 5 (Green-Tipped Death +2)
  Backgrounds: Backing 3, Cult 1, Followers 5, Re-
  sources 5
  Charms:
  Benefaction—Gumela aids others in satisfying their 
  carnal desires
  Capture—The Jewled Auditor’s threads envelop and 
  swallow his lovers
  Claws of the Angry Dragon—The Jeweled Auditor 
  weakens the resolve of others
  Essence Plethora—10 extra motes
  Geas—Gumela’s sweet words compel one to do his 
  bidding
  Hoodwink—The glittering swing of the demon’s jeweled 
  threads can prove both distracting and confusing
  Malediction—All-Encompassing; When his temper 
  rises and his breath sours, those who raised Gumela’s 
  ire suffer
  Materialize—Costs 80 motes
  Ox-Body Technique
  Principle of Motion—Gumela usually possesses 10 banked 
  actions
  Spirit-Cutting—Supplemented attack affects the im-
  material
  Stoke the Flame—Gumela’s breath inspires hedonistic 
  lust and abandon
  Touch of Divinity—The Jeweled Auditor gifts those 
  he favors
  Wine of Infinite Heartbreak—The demon’s presence is 
  intoxicating… and addictive
  First (Ability) Excellency—Investigation, Lore, Melee, 
  Presence, Thrown
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Investigation, Lore
  Infinite (Ability) Mastery—Investigation, Lore
  Join Battle: 5
  Attacks:
  Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 9, Damage 3B, Parry DV 5, 
  Rate 3
  Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 8, Damage 6B, Parry DV 3, 
  Rate 2
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 8, Damage 3B, Parry DV —, 
  Rate 1, Tags P
  Sapphire Tiger Technique: Speed 5, Accuracy 8, Dam-
  age 15L/4, Parry DV 5, Rate 2
  Shining Elephant Fist: Speed 5, Accuracy 8, Damage 
  19B/4, Parry DV 6, Rate 2
  Green-Tipped Death: Speed 4, Accuracy 13, Damage 7L, 
  Range 20, Rate 2, Tags P
  Soak: 15L/17B (Thread body, 12L/12B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-
  2/-2/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 7 
  Willpower: 10
  Essence: 6 
  Essence Pool: 120
  Other Notes: The Jeweled Auditor possesses three 
  unique attack modes made possible by the magical be-
  jeweled thread that composes his body. Activating the 
  Sapphire Tiger Technique causes Gumela to extrude 
  threads from the edges of his arms to form two large 
  spiked fans. When he attacks with one of these fans, 
  half of its threads whip out to wrench defenses aside 
  while the rest strike with his fist, augmenting the blow. 
  Abilities: Athletics 3 (Balance +2),
  Awareness3 Bureaucracy1 Dodge2
  G
  b
  H
  t
  M
  r
  ir
  M
  O
  P
  a
  S
  m
  S
  lu
  T
  h
  W
  in
  F
  P
  T
  I
  J
  A
  P
  R
  K
  R
  C
  R
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  64
  Those struck by this attack are left tangled in threads, 
  which imposes a one-die penalty to all actions. Effects 
  of such strikes’ penalties are cumulative, and they persist 
  until the threads are removed. Removing the threads 
  requires a (Strength + Athletics) total of 8 to snap the 
  threads as a feat of strength or a successful (Dexterity 
  + Athletics) roll to disentangle. The total for the feat 
  of strength and the difficulty both increase by one for 
  each additional penalty past the first.
  Gumela’s second unique hand-to-hand attack is the 
  Shining Elephant Fist. Preparing for it, the Jeweled 
  Auditor’s glittering threads wrap tightly around the 
  demon’s arm and extend forward to form a massive 
  bludgeon, which flashes brightly when it strikes. The 
  player of a character hit by this attack must make a suc-
  cessful reflexive (Stamina + Resistance) roll, difficulty 2, 
  or the flash blinds the character for three actions. (See 
  page 152 of Exalted for details on fighting blind.)
  For the demon’s final attack, Gumela releases a whiplike 
  thread tipped in an emerald called the Green-Tipped 
  Death. It darts from the Jeweled Auditor’s hand to strike 
  and is then drawn back by the thread. Upon impact, 
  it blossoms into an eight-pointed star within its target 
  before closing and whirring back to the demon. The 
  demon sometimes uses this attack to perform the move-
  ment functions of a gauntlet of distant claws. (See page 
  37 of The Books of Sorcery, Vol. III—Oadenol’s 
  Codex for more details.)
  LUCIEN, THE GUARDIAN OF SLEEP
  DEMON OF THE SECOND CIRCLE, 
  THE EXPRESSIVE SOUL OF THE END OF ALL WISDOM
  In service to the End of All Wisdom, Lucien works 
  to keep the Demon Prince Sacheverell in slumber. 
  Sacheverell, who is also called the Abhorrent Prophet 
  Unimagined, dreams only of the present while he slum-
  bers. In waking, however, nothing of the future remains 
  hidden from him, and the doings of Heaven, Hell and 
  Creation alike become locked into the patterns his vi-
  sions foresee. When lessers rise up and defy their betters, 
  Sacheverell stirs fitfully, and both gods and Yozis agree 
  to one thing: Sacheverell must never awaken.
  Thus does Lucien—gaunt and ghostlike, with tiny 
  toothed maws where a sandstorm of Cecelyne blew holes 
  through him—undertake his sacred task. Lucien hunts 
  down those who would disturb their betters through 
  revolution, protest, heresy, begging and assassination. 
  Those who pray to Adorjan at the Malfean temples 
  of the Silent Wind vanish by his hand, for that Yozi 
  does not tolerate the loud begging of fools echoing in 
  the pure silence of her winds. Demons who worm their 
  way into Creation without the proper summons, those 
  who would betray their masters, lazy and rebellious 
  servants and slaves: all these are Lucien’s quarry. Lu-
  cien reserves a special hatred for the Dragon-Blooded, 
  for never did Sacheverell come so close to waking as 
  during the Usupration.
  Uncanny Lucien is a shapeshifter without equal, 
  save perhaps Luna herself, and he wears a thousand 
  faces in the accomplishment of his goals. When the 
  time comes for murder, though, he wears his own form 
  with its ghostly white skin, and takes up his ivory knives. 
  When this happens, animals howl, shadows twist in the 
  moonlight, winds blow hot then cold, and dice always 
  turn up ones.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 1/3) Many places in Creation 
  tell of the Revolt-Crushing Archon, or the Traitor-
  Seeking Huntsman, or the Murderer of Dynasts. All 
  of these are stories of Lucien and are marked with the 
  distinctive signs of his coming. Lucien never escapes 
  Malfeas, assuming he is even capable of doing so, for 
  such a treacherous act of impropriety would surely surge 
  Sacheverell to wakefulness.
  Motivation: To prevent lessers from defying or rebel-
  ling against their betters. His Intimacies are to his lord, 
  Orabilis, to those of his spawn who know their place, 
  to loyalty, to language and to vengeance.
  Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 5, Stamina 2; Cha-
  risma 4, Manipulation 7, Appearance 4; Perception 5, 
  Intelligence 5, Wits 4
  Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 4, Temperance 4, 
  Valor 4
  Abilities: Archery 2, Athletics 3, Awareness 3, 
  Bureaucracy 2, Dodge 6, Integrity 5, Investigation 4, 
  Larceny 6, Linguistics (See “Other Notes”) 5, 
  Lore 2, Martial Arts 2, Melee 4 (Ivory Knives +2),  
  Occult 5, Performance 5, Presence 6, Resistance 2, 
  Socialize 5, Stealth 6, Survival 5, Thrown 3 (Ivory 
  Knives +3), War 2 (Duplicates +3)
  Backgrounds: Artifact 4, Backing 3, Cult 3, Followers 5, 
  Resources 3
  Charms:
  Dreamscape—Dreams of Lucien’s pursuit haunt the 
  hunted even before he appears
  Essence Plethora—10 extra motes
  Form Reduction Technique—All-Encompassing
  Harrow the Mind—Those hunted by the Guardian of 
  Sleep recognize the omens that herald his coming and 
  what it means for them
  Host of Spirits—When necessary to punish transgressors, 
  Lucien is legion
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  65
  Materialize—Costs 80 motes
  Measure the Wind—The Guardian of Sleep 
  sizes up those it pursues
  Memory Mirror—Lucien can 
  copy minds as well as forms
  Mimic of Tongues—Lucien 
  can speak any language
  Mirror of the Infinite Wardrobe—
  All-Encompassing
  Ox-Body Technique
  Principle of Motion—
  Lucien possesses up 
  to 10 banked ac-
  tions
  Shapechange—
  All-Encompass-
  ing
  Spirit-Cutting—
  Supplemented attack affects 
  the immaterial
  Tracking—There is no escape 
  from the Guardian of Sleep
  Words of Power—The accu-
  sation of his victims’ crimes 
  hits them like a physical blow
  First (Ability) Excellency—
  Dodge, Investigation, 
  Linguistics, Melee, Stealth, 
  Survival, Thrown
  Second (Ability) Ex-
  cellency—Integrity, 
  Larceny, Linguistics, 
  Occult, Performance, Presence, So-
  cialize
  Divine (Ability) Subordination—Linguistics
  Join Battle: 7
  Attacks:
  Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 8, Damage 3B, Parry DV 5, 
  Rate 3
  Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 7, Damage 6B, Parry DV 3, 
  Rate 2
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 7, Damage 3B, Parry DV —, 
  Rate 1, Tags P
  Ivory Knife: Speed 4, Accuracy 13, Damage 7L, Parry DV 6, 
  Rate 3
  Thrown Ivory Knife: Speed 4, Accuracy 12, Damage 7L, 
  Range 20, Rate 2
  Soak: 13L/14B (Perforated body, 12L/12B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-
  2/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 9 
  Willpower: 10
  Essence: 6 Essence Pool: 120
  Other Notes: Lucien may communicate with any 
  being—animal, man, spirit, et cetera—through 
  his Mimic of Tongues Charm. This power is 
  unique to Lucien. It works in conjunction 
  with the Charm, but is not part of it.
  The Guardian of Sleep possesses two 
  ivory knives, with which he hunts 
  and kills his victims. Their dam-
  age is made to affect a victim’s 
  life force directly, bypassing 
  any physical armor. Victims 
  may soak with their innate 
  lethal soak only (though 
  they may enhance it through 
  Charms). Lucien can also use 
  the knives to attack a target’s 
  reputation. This is a physical 
  attack by Lucien that serves 
  to destroy the Intimacies of 
  others toward the target. 
  Each level of damage dealt 
  counts as a scene spent 
  destroying said Intimacies. 
  Actual physical damage is 
  foregone.
  If anyone else would 
  wield Lucien’s knives, 
  her player must roll dice 
  equal to her Essence 
  with every attack. 
  Failure means the 
  knife turns on her. 
  Knowing this, Lucien some-
  times concedes for others to wield 
  the artifacts without being compelled 
  to do so.
  MAKARIOS, THE SIGIL’S DREAMER
  DEMON OF THE SECOND CIRCLE, THE WARDEN 
  SOUL OF THAT WHICH CALLS TO THE SHADOWS
  Oh, Makarios, the demon merchant that brings to 
  man what he has only ever dreamed. From his citadel 
  of chrysoprase and alabaster, where he is surrounded 
  by white and apple-green, the Equitable Trader (as he 
  is called in old texts) haunts the dreams of those with 
  whom he would trade, offering them a seat of ivory 
  and gold. In dreams that smell of incense, he comes 
  to bargain, with copper wire hair and eyes that split 
  light like a prism.
  sts 80 motes
  d—The Guardian of Sleep 
  pursues
  —Lucien can 
  well as forms
  ues—Lucien
  anguage
  nite Wardrobe—
  ing
  que
  tion—
  s up 
  ac-
  —
  —
  ttack affects
  e is no escape 
  ian of Sleep
  —The accu-
  ctims’ crimes 
  physical blow
  Excellency—
  stigation,
  ee, Stealth,
  wn
  y) Ex-
  grity,
  istics, 
  mance, Presence, So-
  Subordination—Linguistics
  Accuracy 8, Damage 3B, Parry DV 5,
  Essence: 6 Essence Pool: 1
  Other Notes:Lucien may co
  being—animal, man, spiri
  his Mimic of Tongues C
  unique to Lucien. It w
  with the Charm, bu
  The Guardian of
  ivory knives, w
  and kills his v
  age is made
  life force 
  any phys
  may soa
  lethal s
  they may
  Charms). L
  the knives
  reputatio
  attack b
  to destr
  others 
  Each le
  counts
  destro
  Actu
  fore
  If a
  wie
  he
  e
  w
  F
  k
  Knowing 
  times conced
  the artifacts witho
  to do so.
  MAKARIOS, THE SIGIL’S
  
  66
  The goods he brings are wonders unseen in Creation: 
  gemstones made of tears and poisons made of hate, spices 
  from beyond Creation and garments made of the wind, 
  wolves of copper and toads of malachite and all manner 
  of strangeness besides. As for what Makarios wants… 
  well, that is simple. For trinkets and trifles, he desires 
  trade concessions, or perhaps some mortal artifact. 
  His finest goods demand but one price: that a certain 
  number of mortals be marked with his sigil.
  Those marked with the sigil of Makarios dream only 
  for the Equitable Trader. This mark eventually fades, 
  but those who die so marked do not become ghosts or 
  descend into Lethe. Instead, their Essence becomes 
  tied into the eternal act of dream-
  ing, trapped in moldering graves 
  dreaming forever for Makarios. 
  But the Equitable Trader is no 
  wastrel; he has a use for these 
  precious dreams. Each of them 
  he crafts into the impossible 
  goods that he sells, pluck-
  ing out a single image 
  from a dream and then 
  concentrating the total-
  ity of the dream into 
  that concept, un-
  til it has weight 
  and truth in 
  Malfeas and 
  Creation.
  S u m -
  moning: 
  (Obscurity 
  1/3) Of all 
  the Sec-
  ond Circle 
  demons, Makarios is 
  perhaps the most 
  well known, deal-
  ing with mortals 
  far more frequently than perhaps any other of his ilk. 
  Because Makarios’s insight into the market, the value 
  of goods and the nature of trading partners, he is often 
  summoned by sorcerers seeking his assistance as advi-
  sor or emissary. In these functions, he fulfills his duties 
  with joy. Malfeas might vomit the Equitable Trader into 
  Creation when someone who has given their dreams 
  willingly to Makarios takes action to go back on his 
  pledge. The next time such a traitor lies down to dream, 
  his dreams coalesce into the form of Makarios, who 
  demands to know why he has been betrayed. Makarios 
  then has until the next new moon to pursue whatever 
  agendas he pleases in Creation before his dream-stuff 
  body is rendered inert, and he returns to Malfeas.
  Motivation: To buy and sell the stuff of mortal dreams. 
  Makarios’s Intimacies include Erembour, trade routes, 
  the Guild, rainbows, dreams and the chrysogonae.
  Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 6, Stamina 3; Cha-
  risma 6, Manipulation 6, Appearance 4; Perception 6, 
  Intelligence 6, Wits 6
  Virtues: Compassion 3, Conviction 3, Temperance 3, 
  Valor 2
  Abilities: Athletics 1, Awareness 3, Bureaucracy 6, 
  Craft (Glamour) 5, Dodge 1, Integrity 5, Investigation 2, 
  Larceny 6, Linguistics (Native: Old Realm; Oth-
  ers: Flametongue, Guild Cant, High Realm, 
  Low Realm, Riverspeak, Seatongue) 6, 
  Lore 5, Martial Arts 1, Occult 3, Perfor-
  mance 3, Presence 3, Resistance 1, Ride 3, 
  Sail 3, Socialize 3, Stealth 1, Survival 1
  Backgrounds: Artifact 5, Back-
  i n g  
  3 ,  
  C o n t a c t s  
  5 ,  
  C u l t  
  2 , 
  Gossamer 5
  Charms:
  Calculated Order of Immediate Action—The Sigil’s 
  Dreamer solidifies the ephemera of dreams into real 
  physical substance
  Creation of Perfection—Makarios works the stuff of 
  dreams into fabulous wonders
  Dreamscape—Markarious enters mortal dreams to 
  trade (or to gather raw materials from those who bear 
  his mark)
  Essence Plethora—10 extra motes
  Fruit of Living Essence—Markarious sups on mortal 
  dreams
  Harrow the Mind—Markarios twists his victims’ thoughts 
  into a waking nightmare
  Hoodwink—Hypnogogic flashes of daydream distract 
  and disorient
  Hurry Home—Markarios vanishes into the dreams of those 
  bearing his mark or where he was first summoned
  ed into the eternal act of dream-
  tie
  g, trapped in moldering graves
  ing
  eaming forever for Makarios. 
  dre
  ut the Equitable Trader is no 
  Bu
  astrel; he has a use for these 
  wa
  ecious dreams. Each of them 
  pre
  e crafts into the impossible 
  he
  ods that he sells, pluck-
  go
  g out a single image 
  ing
  om a dream and then 
  fro
  ncentrating the total-
  co
  y of the dream into 
  ity
  at concept, un-
  th
  it has weight 
  til 
  nd truth in 
  an
  alfeas and 
  Ma
  reation.
  Cr
  u m -
  S
  oning:
  mo
  Obscurity
  (O
  3) Of all 
  1/3
  he Sec-
  th
  nd Circle 
  on
  mons, Makarios is 
  de
  rhaps the most 
  pe
  ell known, deal-
  we
  g with mortals
  ing
  body is re
  Motivatio
  Makarios
  the Guild
  Attribute
  risma 6, M
  Intelligen
  Virtues: C
  Valor 2
  Abilities:
  Craft (Gla
  Larceny 
  ers: F
  Low
  Lor
  m
  S
  B
  i n
  Gossamer
  Charms:
  Calculated
  Dreamer 
  physical s
  Creation 
  dreams in
  Dreamsca
  trade (or 
  his mark)
  Essence P
  Fruit of L
  dreams
  Harrow th
  into a wak
  Hoodwink
  and disori
  Hurry Hom
  bearing hi
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  67
  Materialize—Costs 75 motes
  Measure the Wind—The Sigil’s Dreamer sizes up po-
  tential customers
  Ox-Body Technique
  Paper Tiger Arrangement—The Sigil’s Dreamer unleashes 
  the stuff of dreams into the waking world
  Tracking—Markarios knows the location of those who 
  bear his mark
  First (Ability) Excellency—Bureaucracy, Craft, Larceny, 
  Lore
  Second (Ability) Excellency— Awareness, Craft, Integ-
  rity, Presence
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Craft, Occult, Ride, Sail
  Infinite (Ability) Mastery—Craft
  Waking Circle Oneiromancy—Five spells available
  Dreaming Circle Oneiromancy—Five spells available
  Desire Circle Oneiromancy—Two spells available
  Join Battle: 9
  Attacks:
  Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 8, Damage 3B, Parry DV 
  5, Rate 3
  Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 7, Damage 6B, Parry DV 3, 
  Rate 2
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 7, Damage 3B, Parry DV —, 
  Rate 1, Tags P
  Prismatic Cloud Touch: Speed 5, Accuracy 10, 
  Damage 17B, Parry DV 5, Rate 3
  Soak: 15L/16B (Prismatic Cloud Armor, 13L/13B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/
  Incap
  Dodge DV: 7 
  Willpower: 9
  Essence: 6 
  Essence Pool: 115
  Other Notes: Those marked by the Sigil’s Dreamer 
  dream only when the demon uses his Dreamscape Charm 
  on them. Exalts can endure a dreamless existence, 
  though it is far from pleasant. A roll of (Intelligence 
  + Integrity) must be made every month spent without 
  dreaming for a mortal so afflicted, however. After 
  the first failure, the mortal suffers from occasional 
  hallucinations—waking dreams. A second failure her-
  alds madness. After a third such failed roll, even the 
  removal of the Mark of Makarios cannot return the 
  poor soul to lucidity.
  Makarios can enter dreams from Malfeas. He does not 
  need to be in Creation to trade with its denizens or to 
  claim his due in dreams from those marked by him. Also, 
  Makarios cannot be compelled to give away a possession 
  for less than its true value, even by sorcerers who summon 
  him (though a sorcerer or anyone else with the puissance 
  to do so may take items from him through force).
  The demon’s Prismatic Cloud Touch is a unique power 
  that allows Makarios to gather the ephemera of dreams 
  and nightmares around his hand before he strikes with 
  it. The attack can render a target unconscious or deal 
  significant damage to her body, but much of said dam-
  age is psychosomatic and is incapable of killing the 
  target. The Sigil’s Dreamer reflexively forms a similar 
  Prismatic Cloud Armor about himself before a weapon 
  can strike him.
  ZSOFIKA, THE KITE FLUTE
  DEMON OF THE SECOND CIRCLE, THE MESSENGER SOUL OF 
  THE PRINCE UPON THE TOWER
  Summoned over the dying embers of a fire, Zsofika 
  appears to take up her arms and begin a celebratory 
  hunt that dates back to the First Age. To the steady 
  beat of far-off drums beating in time to the demon’s 
  heart, insects circle and shadows throb. The mad and 
  the soulless moan and stomp their feet in time. Horses 
  rear and seek to flee. With her come the Things That 
  Dwell in Corners, who have no power in Creation but 
  swim at the periphery of one’s vision.
  Ebon skinned and garbed in silver, Zsofika grasps her 
  twin blades with fingers that each bear an extra joint. 
  Her red hair has bells braided in it that ring with every 
  beat of her heart. Several of her braided locks she’s cut 
  and wrapped about her forearms as bracers. She turns 
  within the fire for 70 beats, her steel-hard skin smoking 
  and her soft eyes ablaze. During this time, the Kite Flute 
  chooses her victim, whether it’s a target chosen by her 
  summoner or one picked by her whim. Thereafter, she 
  steps from the fire to begin her inexorable hunt. Storms 
  and omens follow with her.
  Zsofika grows closer to her prey with every drumbeat. 
  Every 10th beat, the demon rings her swords against 
  one another. Every 100th beat, a standard-bearer rises 
  from the earth to march behind her, bearing a hollow 
  tube atop a standard. These so-called “kite flutes” catch 
  the wind and keen a mournful cry that strikes terror 
  into the hearts of those who hear it.
  When she has at last caught her victim, Zsofika 
  slays and devours him, bones and all. The celebratory 
  hunt ended, the drums die and her standard-bearers 
  dissolve back into the earth. The demon is then free to 
  obey any other orders her summoner has… or her own 
  desires if brought to Creation through other means. 
  Those desires typically involve trading her services to 
  others in exchange for the chance to implant a child 
  within them. Lucky or powerful bargainers suffer only 
  an unshakable melancholy bringing the children to 
  term. Others find themselves slowly wasting away as 
  they’re devoured from within.
  
  68
  In Malfeas, Zsofika’s celebratory hunt never 
  ends. She crisscrosses the Demon City’s many lay-
  ers, hunting petty demon after petty demon. Here, 
  she summons no standard bearers, nor does she need 
  any. The Demon City’s walls drum in time with her 
  heart as she passes them, the streets reverberate 
  with the sound of marching feet, and gusting winds 
  bear her kite flutes aloft. Though her omens mean 
  nothing in Malfeas, since it exists outside Fate, the 
  weather continues to mark her passage, though with 
  phenomena alien to Creation—blood rain, basalt 
  hail, brazen snow and stranger things still.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 2/2) Zsofika is almost exclu-
  sively summoned to hunt down and kill enemies of 
  her summoning sorcerers. Even if she were brought 
  to Creation for another reason, the demon would 
  still hunt down and kill someone, so it’s always bet-
  ter for a sorcerer to have a target in mind so 
  it doesn’t end up being a person he cares 
  for. That said, Zsofika is also useful for 
  her oracular ability. Rarely, the wind 
  will whistle through the lava spines of 
  the South at just the right frequency 
  to match Zsofika’s own kite flutes, 
  and the demon will be summoned 
  into the world free from sorcerous 
  binding.
  Motivation: To hunt, kill and de-
  vour her prey. Zsofika’s Intimacies 
  include Jacint, the hunt, storms, 
  fire, music and her many progeny.
  Attributes: Strength 6, Dexterity 5, 
  Stamina 6; Charisma 1, Manipulation 5, 
  Appearance 4; Perception 7, Intel-
  ligence 6, Wits 5
  Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 2, 
  Temperance 3, Valor 4
  Abilities: Athletics 4, Aware-
  ness 5, Dodge 3, Integrity 6, 
  Investigation 5, Linguistics (Native: 
  Old Realm; Others: Flametongue, 
  High Realm) 2, Lore 3, Martial Arts 6, 
  Melee 6, Occult 2, Performance 6 
  (Kite Flutes +3), Presence 5, Resis-
  tance 6, Sail 3 (Dunerunners +3), 
  Socialize 1, Survival 5
  Backgrounds: Artifact 2, Backing 3, 
  Cult 4, Followers 5+, Resources 3
  Charms:
  Essence Bite—While on a hunt, Zsofika’s 
  steel-hard skin smolders with heat (up 
  to 8L Elemental damage)
  Essence Plethora—10 extra motes
  Foretell the Future—Looking into the 
  omens her presence incites in Cre-
  ation, Zsofika learns much of what is 
  to come
  Host of Spirits—Zsofika leaves a part of herself 
  in those who bargain for her services
  still hunt down and k
  ter for a sorcer
  it doesn’t en
  for. That 
  her orac
  will wh
  the So
  to m
  and
  into
  bin
  Mo
  vou
  inc
  fire
  Att
  Stam
  Appea
  ligence
  Virtue
  Temp
  Abil
  ness 
  Invest
  Old R
  High R
  Mele
  (Kite
  tanc
  Soci
  Back
  Cult 4, Foll
  Charms:
  Essence Bi
  steel-
  to 8L
  Essenc
  Foretell 
  omens
  ation, 
  to come
  Host of Spirits
  in those who
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  69
  Materialize—Costs 75 motes
  Measure the Wind—Zsofika can size up her victim and 
  those who would defend him
  Natural Prognostication—Omens follow the Kite Flute
  Ox-Body Technique
  Principle of Motion—Zsofika typically banks nine stored 
  actions
  Spirit-Cutting—Supplemented attack affects the im-
  material
  Tracking—The Kite Flute is a huntress without peer
  Weather Control—Zsofika’s presence incites storms
  Words of Power—Truths spoken by Zsofika hit like 
  physical blows
  First (Ability) Excellency—Awareness, Martial Arts, 
  Melee, Presence, Resistance, Survival
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Awareness, Martial Arts, 
  Melee, Presence, Resistance, Survival
  Infinite (Ability) Mastery—Martial Arts, Melee, Sur-
  vival
  Join Battle: 10
  Attacks:
  Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 12, Damage 6B, Parry DV 7, 
  Rate 3
  Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 11, Damage 9B, Parry DV 5, 
  Rate 2
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 11, Damage 6B, Parry DV —, 
  Rate 1, Tags P
  Dragon Fan Dance: Speed 15, Accuracy 15, Damage 18L, 
  Parry DV 7, Rate 1
  Nails: Speed 6, Accuracy 11, Damage 6L, Parry DV 5, 
  Rate 2
  Sword (x2): Speed 4, Accuracy 2, Damage 13L/2, Parry 
  DV 5, Rate 3
  Soak: 15L/18B (Steel-hard skin, 12L/12B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-
  4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 8 (7 without bracers)          Willpower: 9
  Essence: 6 
  Essence Pool: 115
  Other Notes: Over the course of Zsofika’s celebratory 
  hunt, until her quarry is slain, all who hear the keen-
  ing of her kite flutes suffer unreasoning terror. Roll the 
  demon’s (Manipulation + Performance [Kite Flute +3]); 
  those who hear the music defend with their Dodge 
  MDVs. This is a form of unnatural mental influence. 
  Beings with Essence higher than Zsofika’s are immune 
  to this effect.
  As an innate power, Zsiofika always moves one yard 
  per tick faster than the target of her initial hunt, no 
  matter the mode of travel. A related power allows the 
  demon to always know the direction of her target. This 
  is a perfect effect that can be defended against only by 
  another perfect effect. (This power is separate from her 
  less-powerful Tracking Charm.)
  Zsofika stole knowledge of the Dragon Fan Dance from 
  Gumela during the First Age, though the Jeweled Audi-
  tor himself no longer makes use of the technique. As she 
  begins the dance, great fans open beneath Zsofika’s arms. 
  Darkness writhes up over her in the form of a great serpent. 
  She rises with the serpent, then plummets down to strike 
  at her target with blades like fangs. The player of anyone 
  hit by this attack must succeed at a (Valor + Essence) 
  roll for his character. Otherwise the victim spends the 
  next three actions in a trembling panic, only able to take 
  action to dodge or parry attacks made against him.
  The standard-bearers of the Kite Flute are extras with 
  five bashing and no lethal soak. The only actions they 
  take are to follow Zsofika and to hold the kite flute 
  standards aloft. The sound of a single kite flute can be 
  heard over a mile distant. Every power of 10 beyond 
  doubles the range.
  FIRST CIRCLE DEMONS
  The traits here represent those of various demon 
  breeds from Malfeas. Unlike the entries for the Second 
  and Third Circle demons, the traits of these beings 
  represent typical members of a group rather than one 
  unique being. As an example, the Linguistics Ability is 
  left with the individual languages undefined, because 
  one agata might learn entirely different tongues (other 
  than its native Old Realm) than another agata. Even 
  the numerical traits, however, are simply the average 
  for each species. One agata is not exactly like another, 
  and powerful individuals may even rise to the rank of 
  citizen in the Demon City.
  Most First Circle demons are descended from pro-
  totypes created by individual Second Circle demons. 
  Therefore, entire species are the progeny of the sevenfold 
  souls of the Demon Princes. They might gestate in their 
  progenitors, be laid in eggs, bud from their parents or be 
  crafted from Second Circle blood or flesh or even inert 
  materials such as stone, wood or acid. Exceptions do ex-
  ist, however, such as the Eyes of Orabilis and the Things 
  That Dwell in Corners, respectively deriving from a Third 
  Circle demon and the Yozis’ own Essence. Rare occult 
  texts even suggest that one Twilight Caste Solar somehow 
  created a breed of demonic servants in Malfeas.
  AGATAE, THE BEAUTEOUS WASPS
  DEMONS OF THE FIRST CIRCLE, 
  PROGENY OF THE WHIM-OF-THE-WIND
  In his millennia of voyages, Florivet has seen many 
  beautiful things, and there is subtle memory of them 
  
  70
  contained within the shape of his favored progeny. The 
  brilliance of spring’s first sunrise shines in their wings, a 
  thousand colors glitter in their translucent forms, their 
  sting curves like a swordsmith’s finest blade, and their 
  heads are crowned with the gold of a monarch’s dreams. 
  Transfiguring light hangs about them like an anima of 
  glory. Stories and songs strive to convey the beauty of 
  the agatae, but all fall short of the mark. Those who 
  would bring harm to an agata, without desperate cause, 
  find that their hearts are not in it.
  Each beauteous wasp stands as high as a Marukan 
  horse on six legs of shimmering crystal, and its powerful 
  wings can bear it aloft while carrying two armored men. 
  The agatae speak in voices that ring of brass bells and 
  crystal, yet their thoughts are more cunning and wise 
  than most humans’ thoughts. Their senses are refined, 
  and their minds are filled with strange philosophies 
  that do not translate easily into any tongue. Irresistible 
  emotions often consume them, from manic ecstatic 
  happiness to unbridled fury, though such outbursts seem 
  natural and reasonable to the minds of the agatae. The 
  wasps are jealous of their riders’ attentions, sometimes 
  leading to bitter attacks on other mounts (including 
  other agatae). Loss of a rider provokes sadness and 
  mourning in the agatae, but their analysis of the order 
  of things suggests they will bear others.
  Rare agatae are larger than others of their kind, 
  and savants hold that Florivet treats these as the brood 
  mothers of the line. Long ago, the Whim-of-the-Wind 
  traded one of them to Octavian for aid in the construc-
  tion of his land ship. Damaskenos faithfully serves the 
  Living Tower to this day.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 1/2) Sorcerers call agatae to 
  serve as steeds. Sometimes, without sorcery, a demon 
  wasp is briefly drawn to Creation when a sight of beauty 
  changes someone, as when a cave-born child glimpses 
  its first sunrise or a Southern dervish first sees snow 
  fall. Such appearances are typically as fleeting as the 
  moment that calls them. The loss of its rider garners 
  an agata a point of Limit.
  Motivation: To act as riding beasts.
  Attributes: Strength 6, Dexterity 3, Stamina 5; Cha-
  risma 3, Manipulation 1, Appearance 6; Perception 3, 
  Intelligence 5, Wits 2
  Virtues: Compassion 3, Conviction 2, Temperance 1, 
  Valor 3
  Abilities: Athletics 3, Awareness 1, 
  Dodge 1 (Airborne +2), Integrity 1 
  (Resisting External Temptation +1), Investigation 1, 
  Linguistics 2, Lore 1, Martial Arts 1 (Sting +2), 
  Occult 1, Presence 1 (Inhumanly Beautiful +1), Resis-
  tance 3, Survival 3
  Backgrounds: Backing 1
  Charms:
  Essence Plethora—10 extra motes
  Hurry Home
  Landscape Travel—An agata uses this Charm to carry 
  up to two armored men while it flies; it can fly unen-
  cumbered without the Charm
  Materialize—Costs 45 motes
  Portal—An agata in flight can open a portal from its 
  current location to another aerial location that it can 
  see up to 30 miles away
  Principle of Motion—An agata often has less than six 
  extra actions banked due to its outbursts
  First (Ability) Excellency—Athletics, Resistance and 
  Survival
  Second (Ability) Excellency—Athletics, Resistance and 
  Survival
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Athletics, Resistance and 
  Survival
  Join Battle: 3
  Attacks:
  Claw: Speed 5, Accuracy 5, Damage 6L, Parry DV 3, 
  Rate 2
  Sting: Speed 4, Accuracy 7, Damage 9L, Parry DV 3, 
  Rate 3
  Soak: 5L/9B (Thin carapace, 2L/4B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 4 (5 if airborne) 
  Willpower: 6
  Essence: 3 
  Essence Pool: 70
  Other Notes: Unless the agata is attacking her or 
  one of her Intimacies, an enemy must fail (or spend 
  a temporary Willpower to ignore) a Compassion roll 
  in order to cause the agata to come to physical harm. 
  An agata can use its sting attack only while airborne. 
  Its sustained flight speed is approximately 30 miles per 
  hour, or about 15 yards per tick.
  AMPHELISIAE, THE TEAKETTLE COURTIERS
  DEMONS OF THE FIRST CIRCLE, 
  PROGENY OF THE JEWELED AUDITOR
  One of many demon races spawned by Gumela, 
  the amphelisiae resemble six-legged lizards stretching 
  about seven feet from tail to snout. Most amphelisia 
  are bluish-green, but other colorations are not uncom-
  mon. The most notable characteristic of an amphelisia 
  is the sound it makes, a soft murmuring whisper that 
  sounds like dry leaves crackling underfoot. This sound 
  is audible even when the amphelisia is immaterial, 
  although it recedes to the very edge of the listener’s 
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  71
  consciousness. This murmuring is essential to the de-
  mon’s nature. If it is somehow silenced, an amphelisia 
  instantly dissolves into a dank, fetid wind. Amphelisiae 
  treat commandments to be completely silent as unac-
  ceptable orders.
  If provoked (or at its master’s command), the amph-
  elisia sprouts a menacing orange fan from behind its 
  head. The demon’s murmurs become an urgent whisper 
  like the sound of fire consuming dry brush. In response 
  to this sound, poisonous things of all kinds—snakes, 
  spiders, scorpions and others—crawl from nearby 
  shadows and dark places, having been summoned into 
  existence by the truths the amphelisia utters. Unless 
  the demon is quickly slain, these creatures will swarm 
  over it, becoming one with the demon’s form. In this 
  state, the amphelisia is an amorphous black creature 
  with tentacles formed of vermin bound together into a 
  colony, and its murmurs rise to a shrill whistle. While 
  in this state, the amphelisia is a font of poison, which 
  it can spit at enemies in endless quantities. In the 
  alternative, the demon can choose to simply drool the 
  poison for over an hour, generating enough toxin to 
  taint an entire city’s water or food supply or to supply 
  an armory full of poisoned blades.
  Oddly, given is deadly nature, amphelisiae are 
  considered one of the more playful and generally loyal 
  demons of the First Circle. They are endlessly fasci-
  nated by reflective surfaces, especially water and soap 
  bubbles, and become quite loyal indeed to summoners 
  who share secrets with them. Amphelisiae are excit-
  able, however, and when agitated, not even sorcerous 
  bindings can guarantee the safety of the summoner 
  against the creature’s toxins. In particular, the sound 
  of laughter enrages amphelisae, and wise summoners 
  are advised to keep a grim demeanor while retaining 
  the service of one.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 1/2) Sorcerers primarily sum-
  mon the teakettle courtiers to poison water supplies 
  or to produce large quantities of toxin. Sometimes, an 
  amphelisia is called to Creation without sorcery when 
  betrayal of a secret leads to a person’s death by poison. 
  The sound of laughter infuriates amphelisiae such that 
  one’s player must roll one die for Limit whenever it 
  hears the sound (maximum once a scene).
  Motivation: To murmur its secrets to itself in peace.
  Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 4, Stamina 3; Cha-
  risma 3, Manipulation 1, Appearance 2; Perception 3, 
  Intelligence 1, Wits 4
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 4, Temperance 2, 
  Valor 3
  Abilities: Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Dodge 4, Integrity 1, 
  Investigation 1, Lore 1, Martial Arts 3, Presence 1, 
  Resistance 1 (Poison +3), Stealth 1, Survival 3
  Backgrounds: Backing 1
  Charms:
  Affinity (Element) Control—Water; the amphelisia 
  may use only the Elemental Corruption and Elemental 
  Hazard functions of this Charm
  Essence Bite—The venomous creatures that coat 
  an angry amphelisia deal Poison damage to all that 
  touch them (Damage 6L, Toxicity 3, Tolerance —/—, 
  Penalty -5)
  Essence Plethora—10 extra motes
  Hoodwink—The susurrous murmurs of the amphelisia 
  often serve to unbalance the minds of those who hear 
  them
  Landscape Travel—The amphelisia is capable of short 
  bursts of great speed on land, doubling its movement
  Materialize—Costs 50 motes
  Mimic of Tongues—The teakettle courtier uses this 
  Charm to uncover new secrets
  Plague of Menaces—Venomous vermin assault those 
  marked by the amphelisia
  Principle of Motion—A teakettle courtier typically pos-
  sesses five banked actions
  Shapechange—The amphelisia merges its body with 
  venomous creatures to become a black amorphous 
  monster with long tentacles
  Sheathing the Material Form—The amphelisia is coated 
  in a roiling layer of poisonous vermin that shields it 
  from harm (up to +4L/8B soak)
  Stoke the Flame—The teakettle courtier’s angry whistle 
  induces fear in those who hear it
  Touch of Saturn—The amphelisia can spit a highly toxic 
  venom (Poison effect)
  First (Ability) Excellency—Martial Arts
  Second (Ability) Excellency—Resistance
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Integrity
  Join Battle: 6
  Attacks:
  Bite: Speed 5, Accuracy 7, Damage 3L, Parry DV —, 
  Rate 1
  Tentacle: Speed 6, Accuracy 7, Damage 5L + poison*, 
  Parry DV 5, Rate 1
  Poison Spit: Speed 6, Accuracy 9, Damage poison*, 
  Range 5, Rate 1
  * (Damage 6L, Toxicity 3, Tolerance —/—, Penalty -5)
  Soak: 2L/3B (When girded with Sheathing the Mate-
  rial Form, it is typically 6L/11B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incap
  
  72
  Dodge DV: 6 
  Willpower: 7
  Essence: 3 
  Essence Pool: 75
  Other Notes: The demon’s Appearance trait drops to 0 
  when it’s swarming with venomous vermin. The venom 
  of an amphelisia when so swarmed is rated Damage 
  6L, Toxicity 3, Tolerance —/—, Penalty -5. Anyone 
  coming in contact with the enswarmed demon or its 
  spittle suffers the damage.
  ANGYALKAE, THE HARPISTS
  DEMONS OF THE FIRST CIRCLE, 
  PROGENY OF THE KITE FLUTE
  With its two-dozen fingers meticulously moving 
  through the air, an angyalka draws music from the 
  flow of Time as if it were an exquisite harp. Those 
  who hear the sound feel the moments of their lives 
  pass over them as they listen. The melodies of the 
  angyalkae do not reveal the future or speak of the past, 
  as they are the resonance of the present. Those who 
  listen hear the moments of their soul and know what 
  they have lost. Listeners who are happy with their 
  inner being find the song of the angyalkae beautiful. 
  Those who are discontented with themselves find the 
  music painful, whether it confirms their secret fears, 
  rekindles unsettled heartache or tears at the cracks in 
  their carefully constructed emotional walls. The music 
  of the harpists touches the spirits of gods and demons 
  as surely as it does the souls of men.
  The angyalkae appear as beautiful men or women, 
  save that their hands each bear a dozen long, thin 
  fingers, and each finger has seven joints. An angyalka 
  cannot stop playing her music or she will soon die, so 
  her hands are in constant motion, pulling music from 
  the air. If an angyalka is forced to fight, she does so 
  using her prehensile hair. The harpists speak when 
  they wish but do not cease playing to do so. They hear 
  many things in the murmur of their audiences and 
  know many tongues.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 1/3) Sorcerers summon 
  angyalkae to know themselves, to entertain audiences 
  and to disarm social enemies. Sometimes, the proper 
  flow of time is disrupted in Creation, and a distressed 
  angyalka might be called forth by the discord without 
  being summoned or bound. An angyalka commanded 
  to stop playing by its summoner will continue to play, 
  but gains a point of Limit for her defiance (maximum 
  one per scene).
  Motivation: To perform the moments of existence as 
  music.
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  73
  Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 5, Stamina 5; Cha-
  risma 5, Manipulation 3, Appearance 3; Perception 5, 
  Intelligence 2, Wits 2
  Virtues: Compassion 3, Conviction 5, Temperance 4, 
  Valor 2
  Abilities: Athletics 1, Awareness 3, Dodge 4, Integrity 1,
   Linguistics 5, Lore 4, Occult 4, Performance 5 (Harp +3), 
  Presence 5, Resistance 2 (Playing Forever +3), 
  Socialize 1
  Backgrounds: Allies 1, Backing 1, Resources 1
  Charms:
  Creation of Perfection—The angyalka plays the flow of 
  Time as a harp
  Divine Prerogative—Any effort to force an angyalka to 
  stop playing is an unacceptable order
  Hoodwink—There are a thousand tricks in the music 
  of the angyalkae, most drawn from the soul of the 
  listener
  Materialize—Costs 55 motes
  Natural Prognostication—The angyalka senses the touch 
  of Destiny upon the flow of Time
  Paper Tiger Arrangement—Manifestations of light, sound 
  and smell often accompany the angyalka’s playing
  Spice of Custodial Delectation—An attentive audience 
  gives the angyalka Essence
  Stoke the Flame—An emotional sense of the passing 
  moments floods the audience
  Subtle Whisper—Audiences often don’t recognize the 
  music’s true effects
  Words of Power—An angyalka’s music can cause physi-
  cal pain when necessary
  First (Ability) Excellency—Awareness, Dodge, Perfor-
  mance, Presence
  Second (Ability) Excellency—Performance
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Awareness, Performance, 
  Presence
  Join Battle: 5
  Attacks:
  Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 5, Damage 5B, Parry DV 2, 
  Rate 2
  Clinch (with hair): Speed 6, Accuracy 5, Damage 2B, 
  Parry DV —, Rate 1, Tags P
  Hair Whip: Speed 5, Accuracy 6, Damage 3L, Parry 
  DV 5, Rate 2, Tags D,R
  Soak: 3L/5B
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/
  Incap
  Dodge DV: 6 
  Willpower: 9
  Essence: 2 
  Essence Pool: 65
  
  74
  Other Notes: Even without using its Charms, an 
  angyalka’s music typically evokes some response in its 
  listeners. The effects of this are best resolved by roleplay, 
  or avoided with a successful Temperance roll.
  ANUHLES, THE DEMON SPIDERS
  DEMONS OF THE FIRST CIRCLE, 
  PROGENY OF VARIOUS SECOND CIRCLE DEMONS
  Atypically among the denizens of Malfeas, the 
  anuhles are not so much a demon species as a demon 
  archetype. Several Second Circle demons have birthed 
  distinct races of spider-like children, all of whom are 
  collectively referred to as anuhles or simply as demon 
  spiders. Demonologists view the various sub-species of 
  anuhle as being members of different breeds, in much 
  the same way as savants categorize a multitude of dog 
  or cat breeds.
  Regardless of parentage, all anuhles are essentially 
  oversized spiders ranging in size from that of a small 
  dog to that of a warhorse. All anuhles can spin silken 
  webbing with the strength of steel, and most are ven-
  omous, although the type and toxicity of the venom 
  various with the breed. Individual anuhle poisons may 
  cause hallucinations, fever, paralysis or death, and some 
  have stranger effects. The poison of the dog-spider for 
  instance, leaves its victim highly suggestible, while 
  that of the scarlet anuhle dissolves the victim’s organs, 
  muscles and even bone, leaving behind naught but an 
  empty skin suit.
  Anuhles are born hunters and killers and often 
  delight being summoned to Creation, for there are few 
  interesting people to hunt in Malfeas. The demon spiders 
  are typically quite loyal to their summoners as long as 
  they are permitted to kill with some regularity.
  The traits here represent an “average” golden-weav-
  er anuhle, but different species vary significantly.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 2/4) Sorcerers often summon 
  anuhles to kidnap or kill their enemies. Occasionally, 
  when a shrine, temple or other holy place is abandoned 
  or neglected, the common orb-weaving spiders that 
  settle there will be driven to construct intricate web 
  mandalas that serve to summon the anuhles. The barking 
  of dogs causes the demon spiders intense pain, and an 
  anuhle’s player must roll one die for Limit whenever it 
  hears the sound (maximum once a scene).
  Motivation: To hunt and feed.
  Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 5, Stamina 3; Cha-
  risma 2, Manipulation 3, Appearance 1; Perception 5, 
  Intelligence 3, Wits 3
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 5, Temperance 2, 
  Valor 3
  Abilities: Athletics 3, Awareness 2, Craft (Wood) 2 
  (Weaving Webs +2), Dodge 3, Integrity 1, Investigation 1, 
  Larceny 3, Martial Arts 4, Presence 1, Resistance 2, 
  Stealth 5, Survival 1
  Backgrounds: Backing 1
  Charms:
  Bread of Weak Spirit—The demon spider may feed on 
  spirits as a well as material beings
  Calculated Order of Immediate Action—The golden-
  weaver anuhle constructs a tangled web of many layers 
  in which to trap prey (the web has 10L/20B soak and 
  takes 20 health levels to damage and 40 to destroy)
  Capture—The demon spider whisks prey into the 
  depths of its web
  Chrysalis of Preservation—The golden-weaver wraps its 
  victims for later consumption
  Intrusion-Sensing Method—The anuhle senses intruders 
  in its web
  Landscape Travel—The demon spider may travel ef-
  fortlessly across floors, ceiling and its web, as a mortal 
  spider does
  Materialize—Costs 35 motes
  Meat of Broken Flesh—The anuhle feeds on its victims’ 
  Essence as well as their blood
  Ox-Body Technique (x2)
  Principle of Motion—The spider typically has five 
  banked actions
  Touch of Saturn—The bite of the demon spider delivers 
  a potent venom (Poison effect)
  First (Ability) Excellency—Stealth
  Second (Ability) Excellency—Dodge
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Martial Arts
  Join Battle: 5
  Attacks:
  Bite: Speed 5, Accuracy 10, Damage 3L (+ poison if 
  using Touch of Saturn*), Parry DV —, Rate 1
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 9, Damage 3B, Parry DV —, 
  Rate 1
  * (Damage 3L, Toxicity 3, Tolerance —/—, Penalty -4)
  Soak: 7L/8B (Tough carapace, 5L/5B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/
  Incap
  Dodge DV: 5 
  Willpower: 5
  Essence: 2 
  Essence Pool: 45
  Other Notes: Different species of demon spider vary 
  greatly in power and in the Charms they possess. In 
  particular, the various breeds’ venom and hunting 
  strategy differ, and knowledgeable sorcerers often 
  summon demon spiders appropriate to the tasks 
  they have in mind. (For example, golden-weavers 
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  75
  are good kidnapers and guardians, scarlets are good 
  assassins, star-spinners make capable implements of 
  torture, and dog-spiders are formidable practitioners 
  of coercion.)
  CHRYSOGONAE, THE CRYING WOMEN
  DEMONS OF THE FIRST CIRCLE, 
  PROGENY OF THE SIGIL’S DREAMER
  Small, delicate and alien, the chrysogonae are one 
  of the many demon races that show little resemblance 
  to any recognizable archetype of Creation-born life. 
  Each chrysogona appears to be a gnarled homunculus of 
  dried or petrified wood between one and two yards long 
  to which is attached a tragedy mask. Extending from 
  the wooden trunk are, on average, 10 stick-like fingers, 
  though the true number fluctuates as the creature moves. 
  A crying woman does not walk on her fingers, for to 
  do so is painful. Instead, she constantly generates new 
  fingers as she moves, while causing old fingers to catch 
  fire and burn to ash from the ground up to her body. 
  In this way, the crying woman does not walk so much 
  as float, her body suspended on a disturbing parody of 
  Creation’s cycle of death and renewal.
  Chrysogonae feed on ambition and will tolerate 
  no other meat or drink. They enjoy their time spent 
  in Creation, but are loyal to their summoners only in 
  so far as no more capable ruler presents himself. A cry-
  ing woman’s Charms and skills allow her to excel at 
  intrigue, and she will regularly foment dissension and 
  backstabbing throughout a court for no purpose except 
  to inflame the ambitions of the courtiers. For all their 
  machinations, though, crying women are not heartless. 
  They feel sadness at the thought of beauty destroyed 
  or true love betrayed, and that sadness causes them to 
  weep piteously, the source of the chrysogona’s common 
  name. Rare among First Circle demons, the chrysogona 
  often leaves a bit of herself behind after banishment 
  or even death. Those who are drawn into the crying 
  woman’s web of intrigue often unwittingly give her a 
  piece of their souls, to be replaced by a tiny splinter of 
  demon-wood from her heart. Those who have served the 
  chrysogonae, wittingly or not, often dream of smooth 
  wooden fingers crawling over their skin at night and 
  hear the sound of the demon’s tears in the rain.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 2/3) Reckless sorcerers often 
  summon chrysogonae to act as advisors. Wiser ones 
  send the demons to advise their enemies. The usurping 
  of a rightful rule by an ambitious subordinate can oc-
  casionally draw a crying woman from Malfeas to feast. 
  (This occurred in recent memory when the second 
  son of the Autocrat of Thorns seized the throne from 
  his elder brother, with the demon going on to advise 
  the new Autocrat until Thorns’ seizure by the Mask of 
  Winters, who banished the chrysogona. Records state 
  that hundreds of chrysogonae escaped to Creation to 
  witness the Usurpation.) The sight of a newborn grieves 
  a chrysogona, forcing its player to roll a die with each 
  success inflicting one point of Limit.
  Motivation: To feast on the fire of ambition.
  Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2; Cha-
  risma 4, Manipulation 7, Appearance 1; Perception 5, 
  Intelligence 4, Wits 3
  Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 4, Temperance 4, 
  Valor 1
  Abilities: Athletics 1, Awareness 3, Bureaucracy 5, 
  Dodge 2, Integrity 1, Investigation 2, Linguistics (Native: 
  Old Realm; Others: three additional languages—varies 
  by demon) 3, Lore 2, Martial Arts 1, Occult 1, Pres-
  ence 3, Resistance 3, Socialize 5 (Courtly Intrigue +1), 
  Stealth 4, Survival 1
  Backgrounds: Allies 2, Backing 1, Influence 4, Re-
  sources 4
  Charms:
  Benefaction—The chrysogona gives the target one bonus 
  die to an action taken to achieve his ambition
  Essence Bite—If she wishes it, the touch of a crying 
  woman’s finger ignites fires (lethal damage, typically 
  five dice, Elemental keyword)
  Essence Plethora—10 extra motes
  Eye of Inspiration—Presence, Socialize; usually granted 
  to a court’s ruler (until the demon tires of him)
  Harrow the Mind—The chrysogona twists its victims’ 
  beliefs to fuel their ambitions
  Hoodwink—The demon possesses the power to cloud 
  victims’ minds
  Landscape Travel—The chrysogona may simultaneously 
  extend and ignite its fingers, allowing the demon to 
  spiral straight upward at its normal movement rate 
  (no lateral movement is possible, though the demon 
  may hover)
  Materialize—Costs 45 motes
  Measure the Wind—Chrysogonae size up their opponents 
  before engaging them
  Regalia of Authority—The chrysogona’s standing in her 
  court is unchallenged
  Spice of Custodial Delectation—As long as the court she 
  advises teems with ambition, the crying woman may 
  feed on it
  Stoke the Flame—The crying woman toys with emotions 
  to drive the intrigues she so enjoys
  Subtle Whisper—Despite evidence to the contrary, the 
  chrysogona seems quite trustworthy
  
  76
  First (Ability) Excellency—Presence, Socialize
  Join Battle: 6
  Attacks:
  Bite: Speed 5, Accuracy 5, Damage 1L + poison*, Parry 
  DV —, Rate 1
  Poke: Speed 5, Accuracy 5, Damage 1B, Parry DV 3, 
  Rate 3
  * (Damage 9L/action, Toxicity 3, Tolerance —/—, 
  Penalty -4)
  Soak: 3L/4B (Wooden body, 2L/2B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 4 
  Willpower: 7
  Essence: 2 
  Essence Pool: 65
  Other Notes: The poison damage of a chrysogona’s bite 
  represents it transforming its victim into wood. This is 
  a magical effect, and if the demon is killed or driven off, 
  the transformation ceases (but does not reverse). Such 
  damage is Crippling. Those incapacitated by such dam-
  age are completely transformed into wood. Mortals so 
  transformed shrivel to become chrysogonae themselves 
  over the course of nine ticks. Exalted remain inanimate 
  statues until healed through supernatural means capable 
  of dealing with Crippling wounds.
  DECANTHROPES, THE BODY SNATCHERS
  DEMONS OF THE FIRST CIRCLE, 
  PROGENY OF THE GRIEVING LORD
  The true form of this disgusting demon is a strip 
  of warty green flesh with serrated edges, stretching 
  about three to four feet long but usually no more than 
  about six inches in diameter. Many demonologists 
  describe the decanthrope in its true form as resembling 
  a ghastly green tongue separated from some hideous 
  monster’s mouth. This true form is rarely apparent, 
  however, for a decanthrope typically acts through 
  other forms. Each decanthrope can simultaneously 
  control up to 10 human bodies, and the demon uses 
  these host forms to infiltrate human settlements and 
  work its dark desires.
  While under the demon’s control, each mortal host 
  gives every appearance of individuality. Most decan-
  thrope hosts appear to share a connection. Performing 
  groups are common, as are small groups of “refugees.” It 
  is not uncommon, however, for individual hosts, each 
  with his own ability and cover story, to enter a settlement 
  separately and pretend not to know one another. For those 
  with the wit to see it, a decanthrope host is recognizable 
  by the fact that her eyes do not reflect light. Each host 
  is also recognizable by her cold, pale skin and her long 
  hair, which typically hangs down to the host’s waist. 
  Decanthrope hosts also have no scent and occasionally 
  disturb dogs for that reason. Yet decanthropes are rare in 
  Creation, so despite these clues, successfully spotting the 
  signs of a host requires five successes on a (Perception + 
  Occult) roll (which may be resisted by the host’s [Wits 
  + Stealth], in appropriate circumstances).
  At any given time, the body snatcher’s true demonic 
  form rests within that of one of its hosts, controlling his 
  form directly. While the demon remains within one of its 
  10 forms, the other nine are listless, easily confused and 
  somewhat stupid. They respond to the commands of the 
  ruling demonic mind but have neither Motivation nor 
  Intimacies of their own. Unoccupied hosts are capable of 
  fighting but often lose track of their opponents if the en-
  emy retreats out of sight for more than a few seconds. 
  A decanthrope summoned to Creation is presumed 
  to have 10 bodies already. If a decanthrope loses a 
  host (through violence or other means), it can ac-
  quire another by seducing a mortal and then hanging 
  him from a tree for three days. Most decanthropes are 
  obsessed with getting the best hosts they can, and if 
  one encounters a superior host, it will usually seek to 
  replace one of its current hosts as soon as possible. The 
  decanthrope can never have more than 10 hosts at a 
  time, and abandoned hosts die almost instantly once 
  the connection with a new host is made.
  Decanthropes in Creation love to perform in front 
  of mortals, but their performances are strange and 
  unsettling, though usually for reasons the audience 
  cannot articulate. The decanthrope’s love ballads 
  instill bitterness and jealousy. Its most cheerful tunes 
  provoke anger and dissension. Even juggling acts invoke 
  existential despair.
  A decanthrope can project itself from host to host 
  at will. When it does so, it detaches from the host’s 
  central nervous system and passes harmless out of the 
  host’s body either via a finger or the host’s mouth. It 
  then travels in a straight line to the next host at an 
  incredible speed, inflicting damage on anything be-
  tween it and the next host. The decanthrope can use 
  this projection power as an attack by arranging for the 
  target to be between the current and intended host. 
  Particularly aggressive decanthropes target enemies 
  in crowded areas, arranging multiple hosts so that the 
  demon can project quickly from one to another.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 2/2) Decanthropes are often 
  summoned to act as spies or even mundane servants 
  (the summoner getting a 10 for one deal). A decan-
  thrope can occasionally be summoned to Creation 
  without sorcery when a person manages to survive 
  hanging from a tree for three full days. In this case, 
  the demon comes through without its host bodies to 
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  77
  possess the victim and must accrue what other hosts 
  it can through his own devices. If one decanthrope is 
  forced by a sorcerer to work with another such demon, 
  it is overcome with an irrational fear that the other 
  will steal its bodies (though, in truth, that is impos-
  sible). The fear preys on the demon’s mind to such 
  a degree that its player must roll one die for Limit 
  once each day the two body snatchers are forced to 
  work together.
  Motivation: To gather the best 10 host bodies it can.
  Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 4, Stamina 3; Cha-
  risma 1, Manipulation 3, Appearance 0; Perception 3, 
  Intelligence 2, Wits 3
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 4, Temperance 3, 
  Valor 2
  Abilities: Athletics 1, Awareness 2, Craft (Varies) 2, 
  Dodge 2, Integrity 1, Investigation 1, Larceny 2, Lin-
  guistics (Native: Old Realm; Others: three additional 
  languages) 3, Martial Arts 1, Medicine 1, Melee 1, 
  Performance 4, Presence 3, Resistance 1, Socialize 2, 
  Stealth 2, Survival 2, Thrown 3 (Project Self +3), 
  War 1
  Backgrounds: Backing 1, Followers 2
  Charms:
  Call—Allows the decanthrope to summon and com-
  mand its host bodies
  Harrow the Mind—The body snatcher uses this power 
  to corrupt and seduce victims
  Landscape Travel—The demon launches itself from host 
  to host with blinding speed
  Materialize—Costs 65 motes
  Measure the Wind—Used to detect hated Exalts
  Memory Mirror—The decathrope can dredge up in-
  formation from the mind of a host body it currently 
  inhabits to help maintain its ruse
  Mind-Knife Sacrament—The body snatcher uses this 
  Charm to create a new host body, a process taking 
  three days
  Principle of Motion—The demon typically has nine 
  banked actions, though only the demon may make use 
  of these, not its hosts
  Stoke the Flame—The performances of a decanthrope 
  troupe inspire dark emotion
  Touch of Eternity—The demon reinforces the body it 
  currently inhabits
  Touch of Grace—The demon may repair the body it 
  currently inhabits
  Tracking—The decanthrope can always find its host 
  bodies
  First (Ability) Excellency—Performance, Presence
  Second (Ability) Excellency—Thrown
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Thrown
  Join Battle: 5
  Attacks:
  Bite: Speed 5, Accuracy 6, Damage 1L, Parry DV —, 
  Rate 1
  Project Self: Speed 4, Accuracy 10, Damage 13L, Range 50, 
  Rate 1
  Soak: 4L/7B (Rubbery flesh, 2L/4B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/
  Incap
  Dodge DV: 5 
  Willpower: 9
  Essence: 4 
  Essence Pool: 85
  Other Notes: A decanthrope’s bite attack is only 
  valid outside a host, while its ability to project 
  itself is used to travel from host to host. Killing a 
  host body within which the demon resides deals the 
  decanthrope an unsoakable level of lethal damage 
  thanks to shock. A body snatcher usually has 10 
  bodies, and when directly controlling one of them, 
  it uses that body’s physical traits. On their own, 
  the host bodies of a decanthrope typically have the 
  following traits.
  DECANTHROPE HOST
  Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 4, Stamina 4; Cha-
  risma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 1–3; Perception 1, 
  Intelligence 1, Wits 3
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 1, Temperance 3, 
  Valor 3
  Abilities: Athletics 1, Awareness 1, Craft (Varies) or 
  Performance 2, Dodge 2, Integrity 1, Investigation 1, 
  Linguistics (Native: Old Realm; Others: 3 additional 
  languages) 3, Martial Arts 1, Melee 1, Presence 1, 
  Resistance 1, Stealth 1, Survival 1
  Backgrounds: Resources 1
  Charms:
  Materialize—Costs 20 motes
  Join Battle: 4
  Attacks:
  Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 6, Damage 4B, Parry DV 4, 
  Rate 3
  Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 5, Damage 7B, Parry DV 2, 
  Rate 2
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 5, Damage 4B, Parry DV —, 
  Rate 1, Tags P
  Knife: Speed 5, Accuracy 6, Damage 6L, Parry DV 3, 
  Rate 3
  Soak: 3L/5B (Numb flesh, 1L/1B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-2/-2/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 4 
  Willpower: 2
  
  78
  Essence: 2 
  Essence Pool: 30
  Other Notes: The bodies of the decanthrope can 
  Materialize, using their own Essence pools, but they 
  typically have no other Charms. Individual host bodies 
  not hosting the decanthrope are usually extras. They 
  do not suffer from wound penalties.
  FIRMIN, THE NEEDLEMAKERS
  DEMONS OF THE FIRST CIRCLE, 
  PROGENY OF THE KEEPER OF THE FORGE OF NIGHT
  Although firmin appear relatively human from 
  the front, their backs bristle with sharp spines. Some 
  First Age savants wrote that Alveua forged the first 
  needlemakers from dull mortals with small dreams. 
  The demons share some of their maker’s craftsmanship 
  but have more in common with simple beasts. Organs 
  underneath their fingernails produce a thick, black 
  mucus that quickly hardens into shiny black needles. 
  These needles are harmless to the needlemakers, and 
  they build great nests of them. The firmin are social 
  creatures, gathering in groups when they can to combine 
  into one large nest rather than scattered smaller ones. 
  Once a firmin has constructed a nest, he decorates it 
  with small animals skewered on its needles. Ultimately, 
  this proves unsatisfying, and the pierced bodies of nearby 
  humans or other breeds of demons are incorporated.
  Despite their hominid appearance, firmin are of 
  bestial intellect. They build their nests and hunt, but 
  their use of Old Realm approximates that of an ordi-
  nary parrot. Among themselves, firmin use a limited 
  vocabulary to express simple ideas, such as “danger” or 
  “food,” though they understand each other well. Their 
  comprehension is adequate for a sorcerer to get across 
  simple concepts such as “kill that person,” “sit” or “put 
  needle here,” but nothing more.
  The glistening black needles of the firmin are 
  extremely strong and more difficult to melt than iron. 
  The needlemakers often make simple swords and 
  knives of their ichor, but sorcerers can command them 
  to create better equipment. The initial fluid state of 
  the material means it can be extruded into molds and 
  shaped into tools, armor and weapons. Unfortunately 
  for the firmin, and those who would use their needles, 
  the rays of the Green Sun and the Unconquered Sun 
  alike have a penchant for glinting off firmin needles 
  and betraying their presence.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 2/2) Sorcerers summon the 
  needlemakers primarily to create large quantities of tools 
  and weapons quickly. Sometimes, a firmin is called to 
  Creation without sorcery when a mortal community 
  impales one of its own and leaves his body skewered 
  on the night of the new moon. Each day that a firmin 
  is prevented from building its nest, its player rolls one 
  die for Limit.
  Motivation: To construct and improve its nest of 
  needles.
  Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2; Cha-
  risma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 2; Perception 2, 
  Intelligence 1, Wits 3
  Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 4, Temperance 1, 
  Valor 4
  Abilities: Athletics 2, Awareness 1, Craft (Wood) 3 
  (Using Needle Ichor +3, Making Nests +3), Dodge 2, 
  Integrity 1, Investigation 1, Martial Arts 2, Melee 3 
  (Needle Swords +2), Presence 1, Resistance 1, Socialize 1 
  (Firmin +1), Stealth 3, Survival 3, Thrown 1 (Needles +2), 
  War 1 (Firmin +1)
  Backgrounds: Allies 2, Backing 1
  Charms:
  Call—Communicates with other firmin
  Create Needles—For a single mote of Essence, with a suc-
  cessful Craft roll, a firmin can extrude a needle weapon of 
  standard quality as a miscellaneous action. This power can-
  not be learned; it is the result of a special firmin organ.
  Intrusion-Sensing Method—Detects intrusions into the 
  firmin’s nest
  Landscape Hide—A firmin can hide within its nest
  Landscape Travel—The needles of a firmin cannot harm 
  it or impede its progress
  Materialize—Costs 50 motes
  Paralyze—As a Hold effect, a firmin may partially entrap 
  a clinched victim with its needle ichor, reducing her 
  non-reflexive dice pools by two
  Plague of Menaces—The firmin marks the target as an 
  enemy of all firmin from its nest
  Sense Domain—A firmin can sense the interior of its 
  nest
  Tracking—Firmin are expert at tracking enemies they 
  mark
  First (Ability) Excellency—Craft, Melee, Stealth, Sur-
  vival
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Craft
  Join Battle: 4
  Attacks:
  Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 6, Damage 3B, Parry DV 4, 
  Rate 3
  Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 5, Damage 6B, Parry DV 2, 
  Rate 2
  Clinch (spines): Speed 6, Accuracy 5, Damage 3L, 
  Parry DV —, Rate 1, Tags P
  Needle Sword: Speed 4, Accuracy 10, Damage 5L, 
  Parry DV 5, Rate 2
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  79
  Thrown Needle: Speed 5, Accuracy 5, Damage 4L, 
  Range 10, Rate 3
  Soak: 3L/3B (Needle-strengthened bones, 2L/1B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 4 
  Willpower: 8
  Essence: 2 
  Essence Pool: 60
  Other Notes: Firmin make unexceptional weapons for 
  themselves. If directed by an intelligent influence, firmin 
  can produce exceptional (but not perfect) equipment at 
  the same rate that mortals might produce normal weap-
  ons. Whenever a firmin (or someone using equipment 
  made from firmin ichor) is trying to be stealthy and the 
  light of Ligier or the Unconquered Sun is present, each 
  die on the Stealth roll that results in a one reduces her 
  successes by two.
  GILMYNE, THE DANCERS AT THE SAIGOTH GATES
  DEMONS OF THE FIRST CIRCLE, 
  PROGENY OF THE GUARDIAN OF SLEEP
  The gilmyne are dancers and performers of the 
  Demon Realm. Their own mythology states that the 
  gilmyne were always talented dancers, but they did not 
  transcend the limitations of that art form until one of 
  their number danced before the Saigoth Gates and was 
  blessed with knowledge of the Dance of Existence and 
  the Dance of Extinguishment. Exactly what the Saig-
  oth Gates were (or if they even existed) is unknown 
  in the Age of Sorrows. Savants among the Sidereals 
  tell of a continent called Saigoth lost to the Wyld 
  during the Great Contagion, but the gilmyne claim 
  to have danced at the Saigoth Gates long before the 
  first Solars were born. They also claim that the Saigoth 
  Gates separate the universe from that which is not 
  the universe. It is not a portal to the Wyld or even to 
  Oblivion, but to someplace beyond those places. What 
  this “someplace beyond” could possibly be is unknown 
  even to the gilmyne themselves. For the most part, 
  those who summon the gilmyne have little interest in 
  the esoteric and philosophical aspects of their belief 
  structure. The gilmyne are summoned to dance, and 
  they do so with abandon.
  Strictly speaking, a gilmyne resembles nothing so 
  much as a column of silver fire, but such is the demon’s 
  chimerical nature that an observer typically sees her as 
  one of his own kind—a human will see her as another 
  human, an elemental as another elemental, et cetera. 
  Only an attentive observer will notice that not only 
  does the gilmyne lack human features, she has no 
  facial features or even limbs. She is simply a column 
  of fire, but only the strongest-willed mortals can make 
  themselves see her as such. 
  Even those who perceive the gilmyne’s true ap-
  pearance cannot deny her grace, however. The gilmyne 
  were born to dance, with each sinuous and seductive 
  movement of their choreography reflected in the 
  lapping flames that form their bodies. The gilmyne 
  consider one of their number to be unlearned and 
  feeble if she knows fewer than 5,000 dances, and most 
  of any experience know far more. Save for the prodigies 
  of this breed, however, only two of the gilmyne’s in-
  numerable dances have magical properties: the Dance 
  of Existence and the Dance of Extinguishment. The 
  former brings the pain of living to the dead, and the 
  latter brings death to the living.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 2/2) Gilmyne are often sum-
  moned to entertain or to sway emotions through their 
  dances. A gilmyne is occasionally drawn from Malfeas 
  without sorcery when someone tries to force open 
  the legendary Saigoth Gates. However, no one has 
  attempted such a feat since the fall of Clepsys during 
  the Usurpation. If a gilmyne is forced to abstain from 
  dancing for more than a day, its player rolls one die 
  with a success inflicting one point of Limit.
  Motivation: To dance in celebration of the Saigoth 
  Gates.
  Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 5, Stamina 2; 
  Charisma 7, Manipulation 2, Appearance 5; Perception 
  4, Intelligence 2, Wits 4
  Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 5, Temperance 3, 
  Valor 5
  Abilities: Athletics 4, Awareness 2, Dodge 4, Integrity 2, 
  Investigation 1, Lore 1 (The Saigoth Gates +3), Martial 
  Arts 1 (Performing Kata +3), Occult 1, Performance 3 
  (Dance +3), Presence 3, Resistance 4, Socialize 1, 
  Stealth 4, Survival 1
  Backgrounds: Backing 1
  Charms:
  Essence Bite—The gilmyne burns what it touches (4L 
  damage, typically)
  Essence Plethora (x2)—20 extra motes
  Harrow the Mind—The dances of the gilmyne effect 
  the perceptions of those who view them
  Hoodwink—A gilmyne’s dance often leaves its wit-
  nesses enrapt
  Materialize—Costs 50 motes
  Mirror of the Infinite Wardrobe—The dancer appears as 
  what each viewer expects to see
  Principle of Motion—The demon typically has seven 
  banked actions
  Stoke the Flame—The gilmyne’s two efficacious dances 
  each provoke an emotional response
  
  80
  Words of Power—This represents the gilmyne Dance of 
  Existence, which damages the dead, and the gilmyne 
  Dance of Extinguishment, which damages the living 
  (both dealing 5L base damage, plus a -1 internal penalty 
  for each level of damage inflicted for six ticks)
  First (Ability) Excellency—Dodge, Martial Arts, Per-
  formance
  Second (Ability) Excellency—Athletics, Performance, 
  Presence
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Performance, Resistance, 
  Stealth
  Join Battle: 6
  Attacks:
  Touch: Speed 5, Accuracy 7, Damage 8L, Parry DV 
  4, Rate 3
  Soak: 4L/8B (Fiery form, 3L/6B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 6 
  Willpower: 7
  Essence: 3 
  Essence Pool: 85
  Other Notes: A gilmyne’s two efficacious dances 
  each affect only one member of the demon’s audience. 
  Hence, the dancer’s Stoke the Flame and Words of 
  Power Charms affect only a single individual, to either 
  invigorate or damage the target as appropriate. Beings 
  with a Dodge MDV greater than the demon’s (Essence 
  + Conviction) can pierce the gilmyne’s disguise just by 
  spending one Willpower. If the illusion is pointed out 
  to another, that person may spend a Willpower to see 
  the thing for what it is. Otherwise, the demon’s Mirror 
  of the Infinite Wardrobe requires either a Willpower 
  point or successes on a (Perception + Occult) roll 
  equal to the spirit’s Conviction (5) to overcome its 
  unnatural mental influence.
  LUMINATA, THE DEER THAT HUNT MEN
  DEMONS OF THE FIRST CIRCLE, 
  PROGENY OF THE LIVING TOWER
  From a distance, a luminata appears to be a white 
  stag of surpassing grace and beauty, and mortal hunt-
  ers who glimpse one cannot help but seek to run it to 
  ground. Pity those who would hunt the luminata, for 
  the hunter soon becomes the prey. Luminata delight in 
  the hunt above everything else, and they obsess over the 
  possibility of entering Creation to seek out the delicious 
  taste of man-flesh. They constantly search the boundar-
  ies of Malfeas for a weak place where they can squeeze 
  through, despite the oaths of their Yozi forebears.
  As much as a luminata might resemble a deer or stag 
  from a distance, no one who sees one up close could ever 
  be confused. The demon actually consists of nothing but 
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  81
  writhing white tendrils perpetually knotting together 
  and sliding over one another, marked only by two brown 
  eyes, cold and baleful. When the luminata finds its prey, 
  it leads the would-be hunter on a chase, drawing him 
  across dangerous terrain, through swamps and near the 
  edges of jagged cliffs. When the hunter is exhausted or 
  wounded, the luminata strikes, using Charms to confuse 
  or harry the hunter until it chooses to end the hunt 
  and advance on its prey. The tendrils that make up the 
  demon’s body explode outward in a mass of angry white 
  tentacles to pummel and tear at its victim.
  Oak, ash and rowan trees are the bane of the lu-
  minata. A single leaf or twig taken from one of these 
  trees burns the demon’s skin like fire. In many mortal 
  cultures, superstition demands that one who hunts 
  alone carry a sprig of one of these trees as a talisman. 
  Those mortals who confront a luminata without such 
  aids are likely doomed.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 2/3) Sorcerers typically sum-
  mon luminata to hunt and kill their enemies, or to 
  hound and harass enemies to soften them up for the 
  sorcerer herself to finish off (a tactic popular with the 
  Wyld Hunt). Unlike many demons, who slip through 
  the cracks of their prison by happenstance, the luminata 
  scour Malfeas constantly for weak points, exploiting 
  those they find to travel to Creation in search of prey. 
  A luminata wounded by weapons of rowan, ash or oak 
  in a scene accrues a point of Limit.
  Motivation: To hunt humans.
  Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 4, Stamina 4; 
  Charisma 0, Manipulation 3, Appearance 0 (5 from a 
  distance); Perception 4, Intelligence 3, Wits 4
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 5, Temperance 2, 
  Valor 4
  Abilities: Athletics 3, Awareness 4, Dodge 5, Integrity 1, 
  Investigation 1 (Recognizing Cracks in Malfeas +3), Mar-
  tial Arts 4, Presence 1 (Intimidation +2), Resistance 3, 
  Stealth 5, Survival 5
  Backgrounds: Backing 1
  Charms:
  Essence Plethora—10 extra motes
  Harrow the Mind—The luminata play with their prey’s 
  perception
  Hoodwink—The deer that hunt men make their prey 
  doubt what they see
  Landscape Hide—Within the forest
  Landscape Travel—Doubles rate of movement in forests
  Materialize—Costs 40 motes
  Principle of Motion—The luminata typically has five 
  banked actions
  
  82
  Stoke the Flame—The demon rattles its prey through 
  the hunt
  Subtle Whisper—At a distance, a luminata seems a stag 
  worthy of pursuit
  Tracking—Once the prey is chosen, there is little 
  chance of escape
  First (Ability) Excellency—Investigation, Stealth, 
  Survival
  Second (Ability) Excellency—Stealth, Survival
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Resistance
  Join Battle: 8
  Attacks:
  Tentacle Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 8, Damage 4L, 
  Parry DV —, Rate 1
  Tentacle Whip: Speed 5, Accuracy 9, Damage 5L, 
  Parry DV 4, Rate 2
  Soak: 4L/8B (Whipcord flesh, 2L/4B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 6 
  Willpower: 5
  Essence: 3 
  Essence Pool: 65
  Other Notes: A luminata’s Landscape Hide and Land-
  scape Travel Charms fail it in woods predominantly 
  made of oak, ash and or rowan. Weapons made of those 
  woods deal aggravated damage to the demon, which 
  it cannot soak.
  MAROTTES, THE HOPPING PUPPETEERS
  DEMONS OF THE FIRST CIRCLE, 
  PROGENY OF THE JEWELED AUDITOR
  Descended from bilious threads of Gumela’s 
  substance, an inactive hopping puppeteer resembles 
  a knotted ball of phlegm-soaked cord woven from 
  coarse hair. These creatures rarely remain still for 
  long, however, as they are consumed with an instinc-
  tual desire to alter their surroundings. Typically, they 
  unravel into dozens of gangly legs reaching up to 50 
  or 100 yards in length, extending from a coin-sized 
  central gnarl. These thin legs stretch or draw tight 
  individually, resulting in the demons’ eponymous gait. 
  Nonetheless, the creatures are expert at manipulating 
  their environment, pulling and lifting objects with 
  elaborate block and tackle techniques, and displaying 
  an idiot-savant mastery of architecture, landscaping, 
  masonry and woodwork.
  Puppeteers’ love of human babies is perilous, as 
  they have no comprehension of how to care for them. 
  Given the chance, they wrap an infant in a swaddle of 
  idle legs and turn those branches over to the hapless 
  child’s use. The thin slime that covers a puppeteer clings 
  tenaciously to their limbs, and traces of it are rarely 
  left behind. Vile in taste, this exoplasm is narcotic and 
  highly addictive, although few mortals are unfortunate 
  and wealthy enough to discover this. Such addiction is 
  dangerous, typically leading to fatal attempts to swallow 
  an inactive puppeteer.
  Heptagram sorcerers call these demons marottes, 
  based on records from the Dragon-Blooded sorcerers of 
  the Shogunate. Citizens of the Demon City simply call 
  them hopping puppeteers. Anyone who has watched 
  them at work, comically chaotic in movement yet 
  easily dangling dozens of construction pieces, can 
  readily see why.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 1/2) Puppeteers hate to be 
  summoned, and if one breaks free, it will happily kick 
  its summoner to death before rearranging the local 
  landscape according to its demonic vision. Sometimes, 
  when a concretion of hair develops into a bezoar, a 
  puppeteer is drawn into Creation without sorcery and 
  consumes it. A puppeteer cannot abide long periods of 
  idleness even when bound. For every full day it is not 
  allowed to craft, its player rolls one die with a success 
  inflicting one point of Limit.
  Motivation: To reshape everything to fit its ideas of 
  Yozi aesthetics.
  Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 4, Stamina 4; Cha-
  risma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 0; Perception 3, 
  Intelligence 1, Wits 3
  Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 3, Temperance 2, 
  Valor 4
  Abilities: Athletics 3 (Feats of Strength +10), Aware-
  ness 2, Craft (Earth) 5 (Architecture +2, Earthworks +2, 
  Masonry +2), Craft (Wood) 5 (Architecture +2, 
  Carpentry +2, Landscaping +2), Dodge 3, Integrity 1, 
  Martial Arts 1, Resistance 4, Stealth 1 (Hiding in Small 
  Places +3), Survival 1, Thrown 3
  Backgrounds: Backing 1
  Charms:
  Essence Plethora—10 extra motes
  Name 
  Damage 
  Toxicity 
  Tolerance 
  Penalty 
  Resources
  Puppeteer Exoplasm 
  1B/hour 
  3M 
  —/— 
  -1 
  ••• (when available)
  Special: If the drug has any effect on the target, she must succeed at a (Willpower + Integrity) roll or im-
  mediately take another dose.
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  83
  Form Reduction Technique—Fist-sized quiescent mass
  Host of Spirits—Weaker limbs cannot actually detach, 
  but may act to perform independent actions or to host 
  stolen babies
  Landscape Travel—Long strides across land double 
  speed
  Materialize—Costs 55 motes
  Measure the Wind
  Ox-Body Technique (x3)
  Wine of Infinite Heartbreak—A puppeteer subcon-
  sciously uses this Charm on anyone who partakes of 
  its exoplasm, but the drug is the social attack with the 
  shortfall of any resistance failure acting as the thresh-
  old of the attack. Given the drug’s relationship to the 
  victim, “enslavement” typically means the victim tries 
  to swallow the supply.
  First (Ability) Excellency—Athletics, Craft, Dodge
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Athletics, Craft, Resistance
  Infinite (Ability) Mastery—Craft
  Join Battle: 5
  Attacks:
  Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 5, Damage 6B, Parry DV 2, 
  Rate 2
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 5, Damage 3B (piercing), 
  Parry DV —, Rate 1
  (Note: With no “arms,” the puppeteer may not conduct 
  Punch attacks, but it can parry lethal attacks with its 
  Kick. The characteristics of thrown weapons vary ac-
  cording to whatever random object a puppeteer hurls 
  at an opponent.)
  Soak: 3L/5B (Slimy shell, 1L/1B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-
  2/-2/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 6 
  Willpower: 7
  Essence: 4 
  Essence Pool: 85
  Other Notes: While most First Circle demons are 
  treated as five mortal laborers for the purposes of 
  construction projects, a single puppeteer counts as a 
  workforce of 10.
  METODY, THE MALFEAN ELEMENTALS
  DEMONS OF THE FIRST CIRCLE, 
  PROGENY OF THE GRIEVING LORD
  Before he was the Yozi Malfeas, the King of the 
  Primordials proposed a sixth element called Theion To, 
  or vitriol. Passive and consumptive, vitriol was to be 
  a transcendent acid, but Gaia rejected its inclusion in 
  Creation. In the Demon Realm, vitriol is the only true 
  element, for all other native things come from the twisted 
  flesh of the Primordials. If Malfeas could not have his wish 
  in Creation, it has come to be in the Demon City.
  The metody are the misshapen “elementals” of the 
  Demon City. They vary greatly in appearance, ranging 
  from vaguely anthropomorphic blobs to ponderous six-
  legged beasts, with assorted shades of yellowed flesh and 
  tawny hides. When given reason, they might refine their 
  forms, appearing as exquisitely hideous horned homun-
  culi, melded animals or shapely humans. They are both 
  vicious and calm, confident in the slow dissolution of 
  their enemies. Few barriers can withstand their relentless 
  attentions. Yet, as the metody dissolves a foe, it often 
  takes on some of that enemy’s nature for a time.
  The pathway of the metody is worn by hissing acidic 
  footprints and the scent of brimstone. Where they can 
  find it, these demons display an innate control of the 
  Malfean element. In Creation, the absence of vitriol as 
  a true element means their Essence passively opposes 
  that of the world.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 1/2) Sorcerers who call the 
  metody are typically curious experimenters or those 
  who desire to remove some particularly enduring 
  obstacle. Sometimes, a metody is called to Creation 
  without sorcery when strong acid and rare yellow jade 
  are brought together. If a metody is confronted with a 
  thing it cannot dissolve, its player must roll one die, 
  with a success inflicting one point of Limit.
  Motivation: To dissolve all things.
  Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 5; Cha-
  risma 1, Manipulation 2, Appearance 1; Perception 2, 
  Intelligence 4, Wits 2
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 2, Temperance 4, 
  Valor 3
  Abilities: Athletics 1, Awareness 1, Dodge 1, Integrity 3, 
  Investigation 1, Larceny 1, Lore 1, Martial Arts 2, 
  Melee 1, Occult 2, Presence 1, Resistance 3, Stealth 1, 
  Survival 1
  Backgrounds: Backing 1
  Charms:
  Bane Weapon—The vitriol of the metody burns through 
  objects not made of the magical materials, ignoring 
  their soak and hardness
  Blessed (Element) Body—Vitriol heals and rejuvenates 
  the metody rather than harming it
  Elemental Domain—The metody dissolves into shape-
  less acidic foam that eats its way slowly through most 
  obstacles and damages most objects it touches. The 
  demon moves at one yard per five ticks, or slower when 
  eating through strong substances. This power costs six 
  motes and one temporary Willpower, and it lasts as long 
  as the metody concentrates and commits the Essence. 
  The demon is immune to any source of damage that 
  would not harm acidic foam, but it may not perform any 
  
  84
  other action (besides slowly consuming things) while the 
  power lasts. If a victim is somehow trapped within the 
  slow-moving vitriol, she takes environmental damage 
  as per an acid bath (see Exalted, p. 131).
  (Element) Dragon’s Embrace—The metody infuses the 
  target with the Essence of vitriol. “Beneficiaries” of 
  this Charm display strong personality traits similar to 
  those of the metody.
  Elemental Expression—Metody can affect naturally 
  occurring vitriol
  Essence Bite—The touch of the metody dissolves its enemies 
  (lethal damage, typically three dice, Elemental keyword)
  Materialize—Costs 50 motes. Every full day of the 
  Charm’s duration, the metody must spend another 
  five motes to remain materialized (one for each of 
  Creation’s elements).
  Measure the Wind
  Mirror of the Infinite Wardrobe—With effort, the metody 
  can accentuate its Shapechange with an illusion
  Shapechange—The elemental form of the metody is amor-
  phous, though its color and substance do not change
  Spirit-Cutting—Supplemented attack affects the im-
  material
  First (Ability) Excellency—Integrity, Martial Arts, 
  Resistance
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Integrity, Resistance
  Join Battle: 3
  Attacks:
  Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 6, Damage 2L*, Parry DV 4, 
  Rate 3
  Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 5, Damage 5L*, Parry DV 2, 
  Rate 2
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 5, Damage 2L*, Parry DV —, 
  Rate 1, Tags P
  * Vitriol: Unless the target is especially resistant to 
  acid, the target suffers lethal damage; otherwise the 
  damage is bashing.
  Soak: 9L/11B (Elemental nature, 6L/6B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 4 
  Willpower: 7
  Essence: 3 
  Essence Pool: 65
  Other Notes: In Creation, where their element is not 
  natural, all metody Charm use requires a surcharge of 
  one extra mote of Essence in a manner similar to a 
  Dragon-Blood using non-Aspect Charms.
  NORESORES, THE PASSION MORAYS
  DEMONS OF THE FIRST CIRCLE, 
  PROGENY OF THE WEAVER OF VOICES
  The scrolls of the Heptagram identify these strange 
  creatures as noresores, but they are more commonly 
  known as passion morays, nearly transparent gelatinous 
  eels that glide through the air seeking out emotional 
  memories for their sustenance. A passion moray is nearly 
  invisible on direct observation (requires a successful 
  difficulty 5 [Perception + Awareness] roll to spot one), 
  but its nervous system is visible in reflective surfaces 
  as a network of throbbing red veins. Noresores cannot 
  pass through metal, not even while dematerialized, and 
  tin, in particular, is a deadly poison to them.
  Passion morays feed upon passionate memories, but 
  they can be compelled through sorcerous bindings to 
  regurgitate memories and give them to their summoner. 
  If a passion moray consumes the memories of every 
  sexual encounter from a victim, she becomes a virgin 
  once more, both physically and spiritually. Many Yozi 
  cults prefer to sacrifice virgins to their masters and keep 
  passion morays to ensure the purity of their offerings.
  The passage of a passion moray through Creation 
  drains its surroundings of color. Where it sleeps on the 
  ground, a white figure-eight is left behind. When it lands 
  on a roof, a white smear remains. When it passes too 
  near an animal, the animal’s eyes become transparent, 
  blinding the poor creature and making its eye sockets 
  visible. Those who have been attacked by a noresore 
  find for weeks afterward that their blood no longer runs 
  red but is clear as water.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 3/3) Summoners often use 
  noresores for purposes of gathering material for black-
  mail (and/or fodder for their own sexual deviancy). 
  Occasionally, a noresore is drawn from Malfeas into 
  Creation by the purity of a being’s passion, whether that 
  passion is true love or abject hatred. A passion moray 
  gains a point of Limit when it is made to regurgitate a 
  memory of passions it has yet to digest.
  Motivation: To feed on passion.
  Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2; Cha-
  risma 1, Manipulation 5, Appearance 0; Perception 4, 
  Intelligence 1, Wits 2
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 4, Temperance 3, 
  Valor 2
  Abilities: Athletics 1, Awareness 2, Dodge 1, Integrity 1, 
  Investigation 1, Martial Arts 2, Presence 1, Resistance 1, 
  Socialize 1, Stealth 5, Survival 1
  Backgrounds: Backing 1
  Charms:
  Essence Plethora—10 extra motes
  Harrow the Mind—The demon may regurgitate one 
  victim’s passionate memory into another, making it 
  seem the memory belongs to the recipient
  Landscape Travel—The passion moray swims through 
  the air at three yards per tick (though it may “dash” 
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  85
  nine yards per tick if it takes no other action)
  Materialize—Costs 40 motes
  Memory Mirror—The noresore sifts through its target’s 
  mind to uncover memories of intense passion
  Mind-Knife Sacrament—The demon feeds on passionate 
  memories, erasing them from the target’s mind
  Worldly Illusion—The demon may regurgitate a memory 
  of passion so it may be experienced by others
  Second (Ability) Excellency—Stealth
  Join Battle: 4
  Attacks:
  Bite: Speed 5, Accuracy 5, Damage 2L, Parry DV —, 
  Rate 1
  Soak: 1L/2B
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 4 
  Willpower: 5
  Essence: 3 
  Essence Pool: 65
  Other Notes: Even when dematerialized, passion 
  morays cannot pass through metal (and it may be used 
  to wound or capture them). What’s more, the metal 
  tin is poisonous to noresores (Damage 3L, Toxicity 3, 
  Tolerance —/—, Penalty -4)
  PERRONELES, THE LIVING ARMORS
  DEMONS OF THE FIRST CIRCLE, 
  PROGENY OF THE GUARDIAN OF SLEEP
  One of the more useful First Circle demons (for 
  those who don’t mind being particularly close to their 
  summoned slaves), perroneles initially manifest as 
  puddles of gray or off-white ooze capable of sliding across 
  any surface under its own power. A perronele has no 
  eyes, ears or mouths naturally, but it can generate such 
  organs anywhere along its body at will.
  A perronele’s true utility comes when its summoner 
  allows the demon to slither across his body. Once 
  the perronele thoroughly coats its wearer, it forms a 
  strong but nearly invisible armor, which can be worn 
  underneath conventional armor or clothing. In order to 
  provide soak to its wearer, the perronele must be aware 
  of the attack, or at least of the likelihood of an attack. 
  Therefore, surprise attacks can bypass the soak granted 
  by wearing a perronele, and if the attacker is invisible 
  or otherwise capable of persistently reestablishing sur-
  prise, the perronele’s player must make a (Perception 
  + Awareness) roll to spot each attack. The flesh of 
  the perronele blends imperfectly with that of a mortal, 
  causing the wearer to appear pale or sickly. Recognizing 
  a perronele worn as armor requires a successful (Percep-
  tion + Awareness or Lore) roll at difficulty 3. 
  Some perroneles make use of their close proximity 
  to their masters to whisper corrupting words in hopes 
  of turning the summoner to the Yozi cause. Sensible 
  creatures, perroneles pursue such strategies only while 
  they are likely to succeed.
  When a perronele first tears free from Lucien’s 
  stomach, the Guardian of Sleep whispers to it. He 
  says, “I have seen you in the dreams of Sacheverell, 
  who knows of things to come.” Though usually loyal 
  to their summoners, perroneles thus fear ill omens and 
  recoil when confronted with them.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 3/3) Perroneles are usually 
  summoned to act as unobtrusive armor, though their 
  language mastery makes them excellent translators as 
  well. Living armors are sometimes worn by others of 
  Lucien’s progeny or servants when they enter Creation, 
  allowing these demons to escape from Malfeas as well. 
  When a perronelle is faced with an ill omen, its player 
  must roll one die for Limit.
  Motivation: To serve Lucien above all else.
  Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2; Cha-
  risma 2, Manipulation 3, Appearance 0; Perception 3, 
  Intelligence 2, Wits 2
  Virtues: Compassion 3, Conviction 4, Temperance 2, 
  Valor 5
  Abilities: Athletics 1 (Clinging to Host +1), Awareness 2 
  (Incoming Physical Attacks +1), Dodge 2, Integrity 1 
  (Loyalty to Lucien +3), Linguistics (Native: Old Realm; 
  Others: five additional languages) 5, Martial Arts 1, 
  Occult 1, Resistance 1 (Withstanding Blows +3), Ride 1 
  (Host +1), Stealth 2
  Backgrounds: Backing 1
  Charms:
  Essence Plethora (x2)—20 extra motes
  Materialize—Costs 45 motes
  Measure the Wind—The demon can gauge the danger 
  others pose to its host
  Shapechange—Allows the perronele to cover its host 
  and form mouths and sensory organs as needed
  Sheathing the Material Form—May add up to 5L/10B 
  soak, with Hardness: 5L/5B
  Spice of Custodial Delectation—The living armor gains 
  a mote of Essence at the end of any scene it has kept 
  its target safe from actual physical harm
  Wine of Infinite Heartbreak—The relationship between 
  the demon and its host is a symbiotic one
  First (Ability) Excellency—Linguistics
  Second (Ability) Excellency—Resistance
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Awareness, Linguistics
  Join Battle: 4 (5)
  Attacks:
  Bite: Speed 6, Accuracy 4, Damage 2L, Parry DV —, 
  Rate 1
  
  86
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 4, Damage 2B, Parry DV —, 
  Rate 1, Tags P
  Tentacle Slam: Speed 5, Accuracy 5, Damage 2B, Parry 
  DV 3, Rate 3
  Soak: 1L/2B to 6L/12B (5L/10B and Hardness: 5L/5B 
  from Charm)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 4 (usually does not dodge)   Willpower: 7
  Essence: 2 
  Essence Pool: 75
  Other Notes: A perronele suffers from a two-die internal 
  Awareness penalty when it has no visible sensory organs 
  manifested. It can manifest such organs anywhere on its 
  surface, but doing so makes spotting the demon much 
  easier (two extra dice to [Perception + Awareness] 
  checks made to do so).
  The being wearing a peronelle enjoys the demon’s soak 
  atop his own. There is no mobility penalty from wearing 
  the demon. Attacks that get through the peronelle’s 
  armor inflict damage on the demon (as well as its host 
  if it gets through that being’s soak as well).
  SESSELJAE, THE STOMACH BOTTLE BUGS
  DEMONS OF THE FIRST CIRCLE, 
  PROGENY OF THE KEEPER OF THE FORGE OF NIGHT
  Stomach bottle bugs resemble fist-sized beetles with 
  10 legs similar to those of a grasshopper. They possess 
  a dangerous appetite for tainted and putrid substances 
  and spend their most of their lives scouring the bod-
  ies of the Yozis of those things that might eventually 
  build up enough to cause harm to their masters. The 
  stomach bottle bugs sometimes discover veins of cor-
  ruption that sicken the Yozis, and thousands perish 
  only to have their tainted corpses devoured by their 
  kin. New sesseljae are born from the poisoned waste 
  until it is entirely consumed. Stomach bottle bugs not 
  busy with such work haunt the taverns of the Demon 
  City and plead for entry in childlike voices. They some-
  times manage to swarm the establishments, drinking 
  the alcohol from every bottle and from within other 
  demons. Many demons hate sesseljae for this and often 
  kill them on sight.
  Sesseljae make excellent surgeons, although ma-
  nipulating flesh and bone is more like play to them, 
  and they happily sing with their rear four legs while 
  they draw a body together as though it were soft clay. 
  The sesseljae can pass through the flesh of humans, 
  animals and demons as easily as air and swim through 
  it like water. This swimming sometimes stirs ripples in 
  the bodies they inhabit, and a moving bug occasionally 
  stumbles and awkwardly reveals a leg or mandible from 
  within its host. Sorcerers typically carry sesseljae in their 
  stomachs, as the demons may rest there indefinitely. 
  This has the added benefit that the demon will suffer 
  the effects of any ingested alcohol or poison in place of 
  the sorcerer. Interestingly, sesseljae are allergic to pure 
  substances: tears, seawater, silver, gold, salt and virgin’s 
  blood. Such things can seal them from a location or 
  even cause them harm.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 1/2) Sorcerers summon stom-
  ach bottle bugs for their ability to heal people and to 
  protect them from poison. Sometimes, without sorcery, 
  stomach bottle bugs are called to Creation when a region 
  is overcome with toxic substances. Forcing a sesselja to 
  resist devouring a toxin requires its player to roll one 
  die, with a success inflicting one point of Limit.
  Motivation: To devour tainted and corrupted 
  substances.
  Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 1; Cha-
  risma 2, Manipulation 1, Appearance 0; Perception 2, 
  Intelligence 2, Wits 2
  Virtues: Compassion 4, Conviction 3, Temperance 2, 
  Valor 2
  Abilities: Athletics 1, Awareness 1, Dodge 2, Integrity 3,
   Investigation 1, Larceny 1, Martial Arts 1, Medicine 5 
  (Internal Surgery +3), Occult 1, Performance 1, Pres-
  ence 1, Resistance 5, Ride 1, Stealth 4, Survival 1
  Backgrounds: Backing 1
  Charms:
  Benefaction—The sesselja gives the target one bonus die 
  to rolls to resist poison, resist disease or stop bleeding
  Creation of Perfection—The sesselja can perform 
  medicine even if it is inside a target, typically via 
  Landscape Travel
  Landscape Travel—A sesselja travels through flesh and 
  bone as easily as if it were air or water. The demon 
  may rest in a typical stomach without continuing use 
  of the Charm.
  Materialize—Costs 55 motes
  Spice of Custodial Delectation—Allowing a sesselja to 
  consume poison gives it one mote of Essence, although 
  it must resist the poison as normal
  Touch of Eternity—The sesselja can allow a mortal target 
  to resist poison and disease, and rapidly stop bleeding, 
  as an Exalt does
  Touch of Grace—The sesselja heals a living or demonic 
  target
  First (Ability) Excellency—Dodge, Integrity, Medicine, 
  Resistance, Stealth
  Second (Ability) Excellency—Medicine, Resistance
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Medicine, Resistance
  Infinite (Ability) Excellency—Resistance
  Join Battle: 3
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  87
  Attacks:
  Scurry Into Someone: Speed 5, Accuracy 4, Damage —, 
  Parry DV —, Rate 1
  Leg Slash: Speed 5, Accuracy 4, Damage 1L, Parry DV 2, 
  Rate 2
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 4, Damage 1B, Parry DV —, 
  Rate 1, Tags P
  Soak: 0L/1B
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 5 
  Willpower: 7
  Essence: 4 
  Essence Pool: 75
  Other Notes: Entering the body of someone who does 
  not want a sesselja inside her requires an attack roll, 
  although success causes no damage. Characters can 
  take a miscellaneous action to expel a stomach bottle 
  bug without a roll, but suffer one automatic level of 
  bashing damage if the demon resists. The tiny bits of 
  bone it carries away in the process are useful in making 
  potent talismans against disease.
  TEODOZJIA, THE LIONS SENT INTO THE WORLD
  DEMONS OF THE FIRST CIRCLE, 
  PROGENY OF THE KITE FLUTE
  This is the scripture of the teodozjia.
  People, and even the Exalted, die. Mountains crumble. 
  Even worlds do not live forever. Knowing these things, 
  and wishing to guide the mortals afflicted with their terrible 
  condition, the Yozis had the teodozjia created, to carry their 
  message into the world.
  The teodozjia transcend mortality. They have no 
  existence independent from their scripture. They share one 
  mind and one memory. If killed, they arise again from their 
  mother, Zsofika. If held captive for more than a year and 
  a day, they dissipate into mist.
  The lions sent into the world know no death. They know no 
  pain, for they have only one care: the scripture of the teodozjia. 
  They know no sorrow, for this scripture never dies.
  So must humans be: They must abandon their petty 
  cares for mortal things and, thus, become immortal. They 
  must forget the things of the world and the fire in their hearts 
  and join the teodozjia in celebration of eternity.
  So ends the scripture of the teodozjia.
  The teodozjia are the missionaries of the Yozi faith 
  and perhaps the most dangerous of all First Circle demons, 
  for in a sense, a teodozjia is almost impossible to truly slay. 
  Taking the form of great jade lions (who look suspiciously 
  similar to celestial lions save for the material that forms 
  their bodies), all teodojzia share a hive mind. What one 
  experiences is known to all, and if one is permanently 
  slain, Zsofika simply creates a replacement that is born 
  possessing all of its kinfolk’s collective memories.
  Although they are still First Circle demons, the 
  teodozjia hold a slightly higher status than most demons 
  of that category. They were created to spread the glory of 
  the Yozis across Creation, to turn humanity away from 
  the lies and deceptions of the traitor gods, and to pave 
  the way for the return of the once and future masters of 
  Creation. Their very existence in Creation is an affront 
  to the Incarnae and the other gods, and the demons’ pres-
  ence taints or destroys holy symbols. While the teodozjia 
  despise all priests of the traitor gods, they share a special 
  enmity with the priests of the Unconquered Sun. When 
  a teodozjia and a Zenith Solar confront one another, it is 
  rare for both to survive the encounter. Lunar savants say 
  that the teodozjia had a similar relationship with the lost 
  Waxing Moon Caste. It is unknown whether the teodozjia 
  are intrinsically hostile toward the Midnight Caste Abys-
  sals, as they have yet to encounter each other.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 2/3) These demons are often 
  summoned to access the knowledge available from their 
  hive mind. In addition, teodozjia are one of the most 
  powerful demons of the First Circle and are sometimes 
  summoned for their battle prowess. The lions sent into 
  the world are popular with akuma and Infernal sorcerers 
  because the demons’ very presence is an affront to the 
  gods. Rarely, a teodozjia will be drawn to Creation to 
  witness the renunciation of a devout holy man’s vows 
  or some great blasphemy. The very presence of a Zenith 
  Caste Solar causes a teodozjia to gain a point of Limit 
  (maximum one Limit a scene).
  Motivation: To destroy the faith of human beings, 
  causing them to waste away and perish.
  Attributes: Strength 5, Dexterity 3, Stamina 6; Cha-
  risma 4, Manipulation 4, Appearance 3; Perception 3, 
  Intelligence 4, Wits 3
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 5, Temperance 2, 
  Valor 5
  Abilities: Athletics 1, Awareness 3, Dodge 3, Integrity 3, 
  Investigation 2, Linguistics (Native: Old Realm; Oth-
  ers: five additional languages) 5, Lore 2, Martial Arts 5, 
  Occult 5, Performance 1, Presence 1, Resistance 6, 
  Socialize 2, Stealth 3, Survival 1
  Backgrounds: Backing 1
  Charms:
  Bane Weapon—Attacks inflict extra damage on sacred 
  objects
  Call—May communicate with other teodozjia through 
  their shared mind
  Essence Plethora—10 extra motes
  Materialize—Costs 65 motes
  Measure the Wind—A lion sent into the world can 
  smell weakness
  
  88
  Principle of Motion—The teodozjia typically has nine 
  banked actions
  Spirit-Cutting—Supplemented attacks affect the im-
  material
  Weather Control—Limited to gathering dark clouds to 
  blot out the sun’s and moon’s light (costs no motes)
  Words of Power—The demon’s blasphemous words 
  cause physical harm
  Second (Ability) Excellency—Dodge, Linguistics, Martial 
  Arts, Occult, Resistance
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Awareness, Integrity, Lore, 
  Stealth
  Join Battle: 6
  Attacks:
  Bite: Speed 6, Accuracy 8, Damage 12L, Parry DV —, 
  Rate 1
  Claw: Speed 5, Accuracy 9, Damage 9L, Parry DV 5, 
  Rate 3
  Soak: 13L/15B (Jade flesh, 10L/9B; Hardness: 8L/8B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/
  Incap
  Dodge DV: 5 
  Willpower: 9
  Essence: 4 
  Essence Pool: 95
  Other Notes: In addition to the myriad Charms at their 
  disposal, teodozjia have access to a few unique abili-
  ties tied to their group mind and their unholy nature. 
  Each teodozjia has limited access to the larger mind 
  shared by the whole demon race. With a successful 
  difficulty 4 (Intelligence + Lore) roll by the demon’s 
  player, the lion sent into the world may briefly access 
  the teodozjia shared mind to learn any information 
  relevant to a situation at hand that is known by any 
  other teodozjia. The demons also defile holy objects 
  through their presence. Whenever a teodozjia comes 
  near a religious relic, reflexively roll the demon’s 
  (Essence + Conviction). The difficulty ranges from 
  3 (for objects without supernatural protection) to 10 
  (for objects blessed by the Unconquered Sun himself). 
  A successful roll means the object’s destruction. This 
  effect costs three motes (though it will continue to 
  happen even if all of the demon’s motes are expended) 
  and is not optional. It happens without a conscious 
  decision on the demon’s part (even occurring if it’s 
  not materialized). As a result of their unholy nature, 
  
  CHAPTER THREE • THE ROLL OF DEMONS
  89
  a form of feedback occurs when one of the teodozjia 
  comes into the presence of a Zenith Caste Solar. Make 
  a reflexive resisted (Essence + Conviction) roll for 
  the demon lion, while the Golden Bull’s player rolls 
  his character’s ([Essence + Conviction] x 2). Any 
  successes one garners above the other translates as 
  unsoakable levels of lethal damage. This effect also 
  costs the teodozjia three motes (again continuing to 
  occur even if all the demon’s motes are depleted) and, 
  like the previous effect, is not optional. The teodozjia’s 
  form arcs black lightning while the Zenith’s caste 
  mark burns as if he had expended four to seven motes 
  of Peripheral Essence. This effect occurs every three 
  ticks as long as the two antithetical beings continue 
  to confront one another.
  TOMESCU, THE CLAMOROUS CLOUD ARSENALS
  DEMONS OF THE FIRST CIRCLE, 
  PROGENY OF THE LIVING TOWER
  It is said that at the moment of its birth, a tomescu 
  knows the moment of its death. The image of its own 
  mortality burned into its consciousness, each tomescu 
  screams in pain twice a day. In Creation, this scream comes 
  at dawn and dusk. In Malfeas, where the light of Ligier is 
  unrelenting, the collective screams of the tomescu mark 
  a transition from day to night that would otherwise be 
  undetectable. Supposedly, one tomescu in 10,000 does not 
  feel the compulsion to scream in agony over its fate. Of 
  these, 99 out of 100 have been rendered feeble-minded by 
  some means or else have accepted doom with equanimity. 
  One out of 100 does not scream because it foresees the 
  glorious destiny that awaits it. Other demons fear these 
  sanguine tomescu above all other First Circle demons.
  The form of a tomescu cannot be discerned, for 
  each is perpetually surrounded by a thick fog from 
  which many-jointed limbs shielded with a green 
  insectoid carapace emerge, each usually ending in a 
  weapon of some sort bonded to the tomescu at the last 
  joint—swords, axes, sledges. A few limbs have bows 
  attached, while other adjacent limbs end in hand-like 
  extremities capable of notching an arrow. Ancient 
  texts depict the tomescu’s true form as resembling a 
  cross between a crab and a praying mantis, with dozens 
  of clawed limbs jutting improbably from all over the 
  
  90
  demon’s body. The tomescu have no love of violence, 
  living as they do with an innate understanding of their 
  own mortality, but they are quite skilled at it. Each 
  member of their race is born with its weapons at the 
  ready and a preternatural skill at using them.
  The tomescu are beloved by infernalists and akuma, 
  for the will of the Yozis is imprinted on the soul of ev-
  ery cloud arsenal. When called to Creation, tomescu 
  often break from their assigned tasks to perform some 
  strange, seemingly innocuous action such as rearrang-
  ing a road sign, sabotaging a peddler’s wagon wheel 
  or saving the life of a penniless street urchin. Such 
  actions seem random and often out of character for 
  a demon. Only years later does the tomescu’s minor 
  alteration of destiny take hold in a way that advances 
  the Yozis’ will. The altered road sign leads a traveler 
  to find a Yozi cult. The peddler’s out-of-control wagon 
  kills a mortal who would otherwise have grown up to 
  be a demon-hunter. The penniless street urchin grows 
  up to become a deadly Guild assassin… and later, an 
  Infernal Exalt.
  Summoning: (Obscurity 2/3) Despite their ambivalence 
  toward battle, tomescu are often summoned by sorcer-
  ers for that very purpose. Occasionally, a tomescu is 
  summoned into Creation when destiny is thwarted. 
  Unfortunately for the clamorous cloud arsenals, Sidereal 
  Exalted are often drawn to investigate such phenomena 
  as well, often making such a demon’s escape short lived. 
  Tomescu commanded by their summoners not to cry 
  out at dawn and/or dusk will still do so, but the demons 
  will gain a point of Limit.
  Motivation: To live for the moment.
  Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 4, Stamina 3; Cha-
  risma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 0; Perception 2, 
  Intelligence 2, Wits 4
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 3, Temperance 3, 
  Valor 5
  Abilities: Archery 4, Athletics 3, Awareness 3, Dodge 3, 
  Integrity 2, Investigation 1, Lore 2, Martial Arts 4, 
  Melee 5, Occult 2, Presence 1, Resistance 2, Survival 1, 
  War 2 (Solo Versus Mass Combat Unit +3)
  Backgrounds: Backing 1
  Charms:
  Essence Plethora—10 extra motes
  Foretell the Future—By listening to the air of Malfeas, 
  a tomescu gleans what the Yozis want to come to pass 
  and how it might best aid their plans
  Materialize—Costs 45 motes
  Natural Prognostication—A tomescu can see others’ 
  destinies as well as its own
  Spirit-Cutting—Supplemented attacks affect the im-
  material
  First (Ability) Excellency—Archery, Martial Arts, 
  Melee, War
  Second (Ability) Excellency—Athletics
  Third (Ability) Excellency— Archery, Awareness, Dodge, 
  Martial Arts, Melee, War
  Join Battle: 7
  Attacks:
  Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 9, Damage 3B, Parry DV 5, 
  Rate 3
  Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 8, Damage 6B, Parry DV 3, 
  Rate 2
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 8, Damage 3B, Parry DV —, 
  Rate 1, Tags P
  Axe Limb: Speed 4, Accuracy 10, Damage 8L, Parry 
  DV 4, Rate 2
  Sledge Limb: Speed 6, Accuracy 8, Damage 15B/4, 
  Parry DV 3, Rate 1
  Spear Limb: Speed 5, Accuracy 10, Damage 7L/10L, 
  Parry DV 6, Rate 2
  Straight Sword Limb: Speed 4, Accuracy 11, Damage 
  6L, Parry DV 5, Rate 2
  Self Bow Limb: Speed 6, Accuracy 8, Damage 5L*, 
  Range 150, Rate 2
  * Uses broadhead arrows.
  Soak: 8L/11B (Carapace, 6L/8B)
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 5 
  Willpower: 7
  Essence: 2 
  Essence Pool: 65
  Other Notes: Born and bred to effectively fight as in-
  dividuals against multiple opponents, tomescu receive 
  a free counterattack or parry (demons’ choice) at their 
  full dice pool for every attack made against them. A 
  clamorous cloud arsenal often reserves the use of its 
  sledge limb to times when it feels a battle is turning 
  against it, using the weapon to gain room to maneuver 
  or retreat if its deployment doesn’t immediately change 
  the tide of conflict to its favor. Although the demons 
  usually employ broadhead arrows, that is because those 
  are the arrows most commonly available. Unlike with 
  its other innate weaponry, a tomescu only possesses 
  arrows it gains in a mundane fashion, typically the 
  broadhead variety. If provided with different sorts of 
  ammunition, the demon may employ it to equal effect. 
  In addition to the limbs detailed here, tomescu feature 
  extremities resembling hook swords and seven-section 
  staves that they deploy almost exclusively to parry 
  with (even if those aren’t the limbs with which they 
  are currently attacking).
  
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  The dogma of the Immaculate Order states that 
  existence is a never-ending cycle of reincarnation, one 
  in which death is followed by divine assessment of the 
  character of one’s soul and then rebirth into a new life 
  commensurate with the degree of enlightenment at-
  tained in the former life. Once upon a time, that dogma 
  was even true. When the Primordials ruled Creation, 
  there were no such things as ghosts or the Underworld. 
  When mortals died, their souls were instantly scrubbed 
  clean of any of the spiritual detritus of their former 
  lives and then later reincarnated into new bodies via 
  automated Heavenly processes that modern ghosts refer 
  to as “Lethe.” The very idea of a deceased person’s soul 
  lingering on post mortem was unthinkable. If nothing 
  else, where would such a wandering spirit have to go? 
  Nowhere... at least until the Solars slew the Neverborn, 
  and in the process, created a new realm for such unhappy 
  souls to make a place for themselves.
  The precise manner in which the Underworld 
  came into existence is not definitively understood. 
  Savants who study the place generally believe that, 
  when the Neverborn were slain, their souls were too 
  great to be assimilated into the spiritual mechanisms 
  that oversaw the reincarnation cycle of lesser beings. 
  Instead, the Neverborn souls came to rest near the 
  Mouth of Oblivion, and the spiritual gravity of their 
  massive Essence-forms created a weak buffer between 
  Creation and Lethe. Mortal souls could still enter 
  Lethe and seek reincarnation—as the vast majority of 
  newly dead mortals have done throughout Creation’s 
  history—but for the first time in human existence, 
  the newly dead had a choice: to voluntarily enter 
  Lethe and be reincarnated or to cling to their former 
  identities as ghosts. 
  For most mortals, this choice was an easy one. For 
  the vast majority of Creation’s mortals, life is a long 
  CHAPTER FOUR
  CHAPTER FOUR
  THE UNLIVES OF GHOSTS
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  93
  journey filled with suffering and woe, and most mortals 
  enter Lethe without hesitation, ready to try again in 
  the next life. However, as agnostics have always noted, 
  there is no real proof in the modern era that the qual-
  ity of one’s former life has any positive effect on the 
  circumstances of her rebirth. Indeed, given the current 
  state of Creation and Heaven, it seems unlikely that 
  this is the case. The vast numbers of dead who enter 
  Lethe without any discernible manifestation as ghosts 
  are, according to such cynics, merely weak-willed sheep 
  who lack the emotional strength to even contemplate 
  a choice between Lethe and the Underworld.
  In any case, as the Underworld’s population grew, 
  new ghosts brought with them the memories of their 
  lives in Creation, and those memories helped shape 
  the Underworld into the dark reflection of the living 
  world that it is today. Those early ghosts quickly learned 
  that they could draw Essence from the adoration of 
  their living descendants. Initially, the Solar Delibera-
  tive disapproved of the existence of ghosts and sought 
  through various means to encourage mortals to choose 
  Lethe when their time came. As a practical matter, 
  however, the Deliberative could do little to curtail the 
  emergence of new ghosts in the Underworld. Moreover, 
  as the Solars became aware of the nature of Oblivion 
  and of the spectres who served it, they began to see 
  the value in a ghostly population whose citizens still 
  cared for their mortal descendants enough to stand 
  against Oblivion in defense of Creation. And so, the 
  Exalted created burial rites, many of which are still in 
  use today, that served to both prevent the lower souls 
  of the dead from arising as dangerous hungry ghosts 
  and also to empower those dead who could become 
  Underworld allies.
  THE SECOND LIFE
  Those dead who do find themselves in the Un-
  derworld are almost invariably disoriented by the 
  experience. At the moment of death, the connection 
  between body and soul snaps, and the soul is set adrift. 
  Confused and bewildered, the newly dead immedi-
  ately feel the subtle pull of Lethe. Most souls enter 
  it almost instantly and are carried away to their next 
  lives. Relatively few resist, fighting off both Lethe’s 
  insistent tugging and their own malaise. Of course, 
  “relatively few” in the context of the untold trillions 
  of mortals who have died since the Primordial War 
  still represents a lot of ghosts. Those ghosts who are 
  strong enough and determined enough to resist Lethe 
  may do so for hours, days or centuries, depending on 
  the ghost in question. Underworld savants claim that 
  
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  ghosts dating back to the Primordial War itself may still 
  abide, although such luminaries are reclusive indeed if 
  they still exist. Regardless of how long a ghost endures 
  in the Underworld, however, she will always feel the 
  relentless pull of Lethe as it seeks to draw her back into 
  the wheel of life.
  Exactly what gives a particular ghost the strength 
  of will to resist Lethe varies from person to person. The 
  nature of the ghost’s death is clearly one factor—a plu-
  rality of ghosts, if not an outright majority, consists of 
  those who died violently. The most common reason for 
  actively resisting Lethe is the need to resolve unfinished 
  business among the living, and few things motivate a 
  ghost to cling to her former life like avenging her own 
  murder. Other ghosts remain behind out of concern for 
  living beings who were foremost in the ghosts’ thoughts 
  at the time of death. For example, a mother who died 
  giving birth to her child might linger as a ghost to watch 
  over her newborn son throughout his life.
  THE UNDEAD CONDITION
  To be a ghost is to be a memory given form, a reflec-
  tion of who and what the ghost was in his former life. 
  The vast majority of ghosts appear exactly as they did 
  either at death or moments before it. Most ghosts bear 
  markings of some kind identifying the cause of death: 
  bruises about the throat for a strangling victim, a per-
  sistent cough for a tuberculosis sufferer, perpetually wet 
  skin for a drowning victim. While ghosts usually appear 
  much as they did in life (save for any death markings), 
  this appearance is a lie. The body of a ghost is not formed 
  of flesh, blood and bone. Instead, a ghost has a corpus, 
  a matrix of Essence attuned to the Oblivion-tainted 
  nature of the Underworld.
  Despite the presence of death markings, a ghost 
  usually does not bear the physical injuries associated 
  with her cause of death, or at least not to the point of 
  debilitating her in any way. A ghost who died of old 
  age may still appear stooped and wrinkled, but she 
  will move with the same alacrity and purpose of the 
  ghost of a much younger person. There are occasional 
  exceptions to the rule, however, especially in the case 
  of mortwights, ghosts whose deaths were so wretched 
  that the poor souls immediately became spectres upon 
  entering the Underworld. Many mortwights have grossly 
  deformed bodies, pitiful reflections of the ghost’s self-
  loathing and bitterness.
  For the most part, a ghost’s clothing is not actually 
  “real” in the sense that similar objects in Creation are. 
  Rather, such garments represent the memory of cloth-
  ing. A ghost’s attire is not something he chooses, at 
  least at first, but is instead a representation of what 
  clothing the ghost wore in life that served to define his 
  status and station. This attire is also a part of a ghost’s 
  corpus, and while the ghost may choose to change his 
  appearance, those garments in which he entered the 
  Underworld are never far away.
  Generally, a newly arisen ghost will wear either the 
  clothes in which he was buried, the clothes in which he 
  died or the clothes that best fit his station in life. For 
  ghosts of the poor, who represent most of Creation’s 
  mortals, the same simple robes might serve as all three. 
  A ghost’s clothing is one of the chief indicators of his 
  status in the Underworld. A beggar who dies penniless 
  in a Chiaroscuro alley will most likely wear the same 
  dingy, threadbare rags for the rest of his existence, 
  while a dead princess who is buried in her finest gown 
  will enter the Underworld in attire that speaks of her 
  higher station. In many ways, the Underworld is even 
  more stratified than Creation. After all, those who 
  truly want a better life for themselves always have the 
  option of Lethe. 
  While most ghosts wear only the clothing that forms 
  a part of the ghosts’ corpuses, other forms of clothing 
  do exist in the Underworld. Many cultures in Creation 
  sacrifice clothing (or at least valuable fabrics) in rituals 
  meant to commemorate the dead, and such apparel 
  crosses over into the Underworld as grave goods (see 
  pp. 105-106). Also, the Underworld itself has a limited 
  capacity to produce new clothing. For example, the 
  Kingdom of Dead Gradafes in the Northeast obliquely 
  ruled by the Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears is well 
  known for the production of wool sheared from great 
  herds of plasmic goats and alpaca. That said, in many 
  areas of the Underworld, most prominently Stygia it-
  self, the sale of clothing is heavily regulated, and new 
  clothing not a part of the ghost’s corpus is a luxury that 
  only the wealthiest and most influential dead can af-
  ford. For the most part, Underworld governments are 
  conservative and frown on social mobility, and so long 
  as a peasant farmer is forced to wear a peasant’s robes, 
  there is little chance for him to improve his station at 
  the expense of one of his betters.
  The corpus is not immutable, but it is definitely 
  difficult to change. A ghost’s corpus can be damaged, 
  but such damage functions more like damage inflicted 
  on an inanimate object than a living being. A ghost can 
  be cut, but she will not normally bleed. A ghost can be 
  bludgeoned, but he will not bruise. Damage inflicted on 
  a ghost will never heal naturally. Ghosts exist as patterns 
  of Essence, and once damaged, a ghost’s corpus can only 
  be restored through the process known as Slumber (see 
  
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  95
  p. 96). The one exception, albeit a common one, to 
  this immutability arises from the Shifting Ghost-Clay 
  Path Arcanos, which can be used to transform the 
  corpus of a disfigured ghost into the picture of health 
  or to change a spectre that still appears “normal” into 
  a creature of horror.
  chthonic ephemera that makes up the Underworld, as 
  opposed to the matrices of will and function that form 
  the bodies of Creation-bound and Heavenly spirits. 
  Ghosts possess Essence pools and can use them to fuel 
  Arcanoi, which are the specialized Charms available to 
  the dead. A ghost’s Essence pool is equal to the ghost’s 
  [Essence x 10] plus his [Willpower x 3] plus [(the sum 
  of his Virtues) x 2]. A ghost regains Essence at a rate 
  of 2 motes per hour spent resting normally or 3 motes 
  per hour spent in extreme relaxation, meditation or 
  Slumber. Ghosts also regain Essence through worship, 
  whether from living descendants or from other ghosts. 
  Ghosts can also steal Essence directly from other ghosts 
  through certain Arcanoi or by preying upon mortals 
  foolish enough to enter a shadowland and fall into 
  the ghosts’ power. Finally, a ghost may regain Essence 
  through her Fetters.
  When a ghost suffers damage to his corpus suffi-
  cient to reduce him below the Incapacitated level, the 
  ghost’s player must roll Willpower, adding one bonus 
  die for every two dots of Fetters the ghost still retains. 
  The ghost must get at least three successes or succumb 
  to Lethe. If the roll is a botch, the ghost succumbs to 
  Oblivion instead. If the roll is successful, the ghost 
  merely discorporates and then reforms sometime later 
  (usually one day per point of permanent Essence) at 
  the location in the Underworld that corresponds to his 
  nearest Fetter in Creation. When a ghost disperses and 
  reforms, he loses one point of permanent Willpower. 
  His player can buy the lost dot back as normal, but if a 
  ghost loses his last permanent Willpower, he is lost to 
  Lethe just as if his player had failed the roll. Certain 
  Exalted Charms are also capable of completely destroy-
  ing a ghost, eliminating any possibility of reformation. 
  Generally, such Charms send the ghost directly into 
  Lethe, except for Abyssal Charms, which usually send 
  them into Oblivion.
  All ghosts are considered Essence users and can at-
  tune to manses and artifacts as easily as any other Essence 
  user. Ghosts can attune to items made of jade or soulsteel 
  at the item’s normal attunement cost. The attunement 
  cost is doubled for orichalcum, moonsilver or starmetal 
  artifacts that were forged in Creation. Any activation 
  costs for such artifacts is likewise doubled. Ghosts never 
  gain any magical material bonus associated with any 
  attuned artifact, not even soulsteel ones. These rules 
  apply even to the ghosts of deceased Exalted. However, 
  a ghost can attune to an artifact made of orichalcum, 
  moonsilver or starmetal at the item’s normal attunement 
  cost if the item was originally forged in the Underworld 
  and was especially designed for a ghost to use. 
  HUN VS. PO
  Savants generally agree that the mortal soul 
  contains two components: the hun, or higher soul, 
  which is the seat of reason, memory and positive 
  emotions, and the po, or lower soul, which is the 
  seat of negative emotions such as anger, hatred 
  or pride. At the moment of death, the two facets 
  detach from one another. The hun either enters 
  Lethe or becomes a ghost in the Underworld. The 
  po remains trapped in its own corpse in Creation, 
  dormant unless someone is so foolish as to defile 
  its mortal remains or invade its burial space. In 
  such cases, the po can defend itself aggressively 
  by animating the corpse to attack such interlop-
  ers. These risen dead are not truly hungry ghosts 
  but have essentially the same traits. About one 
  percent of normal mortals leave behind po souls 
  capable of rising in this fashion. The odds are 
  one in ten for a slain heroic mortal, while the 
  po souls of dead Exalted will almost invariably 
  manifest to defend their corpses. Such lower souls 
  are typically much more powerful than normal 
  hungry ghosts due to the Essence on which the 
  soul has battened itself during life.
  A po may also become a true hungry ghost 
  in certain circumstances. Hungry ghosts most 
  commonly arise when the decedent was not 
  accorded proper burial rites for whatever rea-
  son or if the burial site is violated despite the 
  po’s best efforts to prevent it. However, hungry 
  ghosts may also arise spontaneously as a result 
  of extremely inauspicious astrological events or 
  even from the manifestation of a new shadowland 
  that happens to encompass the burial site. The 
  traits for hungry ghosts are described more fully 
  in Exalted, pages 317-318.
  ESSENCE
  Although ghosts are not quite the same thing as gods 
  or elementals, their forms are, like those other beings, 
  matrices of Essence. A ghost is simply a conglomeration 
  of Essence formed of memory and congealed from the 
  
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  PASSIONS
  The organizing force that congeals Underworld 
  Essence into the form of a ghost is represented by that 
  ghost’s Passions. Each Passion a ghost has represents some 
  piece of unfinished business that ties the ghost either 
  to the Underworld or to Creation. The higher a ghost’s 
  rating within a particular Passion, the stronger the ghost’s 
  commitment to the object of that Passion. A ghost’s 
  Passions are tied to his Virtues. Mechanically, for each 
  dot in Virtues that the ghost has at the time of death, 
  he gains one point in a Passion logically associated with 
  that Virtue. The player of the ghost can divide the dots 
  associated with a Virtue up among multiple Passions or 
  put them all into one extremely important Passion.
  For example, a ghost with Compassion ••• has 
  three dots to allocate among Passions which pertain 
  to people, places or things about which the ghost cares 
  due to his sense of Compassion. Examples might in-
  clude living family members, loved ones the ghost was 
  forced to leave behind or even new friends acquired in 
  the Underworld post mortem. That ghost could have 
  three 1-dot Passions, one 1-dot Passion and one 2-dot 
  Passion, or a single 3-dot Passion. The same rules apply 
  to the ghost’s other three Virtues.
  The chief value of a Passion is that it is what the 
  ghost activates in lieu of activating a Virtue. A mortal 
  with Compassion ••• can spend one point of Willpower 
  to channel his Compassion up to three times per story, 
  adding three dice to a dice roll on each activation. 
  Ghosts are, in comparison to the living, emotionally 
  stunted beings. Even though a particular ghost might 
  have a Compassion of •••, he cannot use that Virtue 
  to express his feelings as a mortal with Compassion ••• 
  might. Instead, whenever the ghost has an opportunity 
  to act compassionately with regard to a Passion associ-
  ated with that Virtue, he can spend a Willpower point 
  and gain additional dice equal to the Passion rating. 
  If, for example, a ghost does not have a Passion for a 
  particular mortal, he might choose to act to save that 
  person, but he would not be able to channel his Passion 
  to gain extra dice. 
  Passions are also important for regaining spent 
  Willpower. Since ghosts cannot channel their Virtues 
  as mortals do, they cannot regain Willpower from 
  rolling Conviction every morning. Instead, whenever 
  a ghost channels a Passion and succeeds on the roll 
  being enhanced, she can roll a number of dice equal 
  to that Passion’s rating. Each success causes the ghost 
  to regain one spent Willpower point. Although a ghost 
  can channel a Passion a number of times per story equal 
  to its rating, she can only regain Willpower through 
  channeling a Passion once per scene.
  FETTERS
  A Fetter is a person, place or object that physically 
  represents the ghost’s connection to the realm of the 
  living. Fetters actually exist in Creation but are rep-
  resented in the Underworld by small, portable objects 
  called representations. For example, a ghost’s gravesite 
  is almost always one of a ghost’s Fetters and might be 
  represented in the Underworld by a small plaque or 
  some similar bauble. Other Fetters might include nearly 
  anything that a particular ghost finds important from 
  his former life: a weapon, an unfinished work of art, 
  a beloved childhood toy or simply a still-living loved 
  one. Fetters, as their name implies, are the chains that 
  bind a ghost to the Underworld, allowing her to resist 
  the insistent pull of Lethe. When all of a ghost’s Fetters 
  no longer exist, the only things that can stop her from 
  entering Lethe are incredible reserves of Willpower ... 
  or being soulforged.
  As with Passions, each of a ghost’s Fetters has a 
  rating. The player of a ghost allocates points among 
  a certain number of objects or places in Creation im-
  portant to the ghost. The ghost gets a greater tangible 
  benefit from Fetters with higher ratings, but on the 
  downside, that means allocating more dots into fewer 
  Fetters, thereby making the destruction of any one 
  Fetter more disastrous.
  Fetters provide two principle benefits. First, Fet-
  ters permit a ghost to enter Slumber in order to heal 
  from injuries. Normally, ghosts do not require sleep, 
  although many of them choose to indulge out of habit. 
  By meditating either near or within a Fetter or simply 
  in the presence of its representation, a ghost can enter 
  a trance-like state that lasts for exactly eight hours 
  according to the Calendar of Setesh. When the ghost 
  awakens, his player rolls (Stamina + the rating of the 
  Fetter) and heals one level of damage per success. More 
  serious damage is healed first, aggravated before lethal 
  and lethal before bashing. As noted previously, ghosts do 
  not regain Willpower after sleeping as mortals do. When 
  a ghost Slumbers within a Fetter or its representation, 
  he physically merges with it. Doing so with a representa-
  tion is therefore potentially dangerous if the ghost has 
  no one to watch over it—if another ghost comes along 
  and steals or damages the representation, the ghost can 
  do nothing until his Slumber ends naturally.
  Fetters also serve as Essence batteries for their 
  owners. Once per day, a ghost can draw out of a rep-
  resentation a number of motes of Essence equal to the 
  
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  Fetter’s rating. If the ghost has the capacity to enter 
  Creation and actually visit his Fetter, he can withdraw 
  a number of motes equal to twice the Fetter’s rating. A 
  ghost cannot tap the same Fetter rating through both 
  the representation and the actual Fetter in the same day. 
  The motes available from a Fetter refresh themselves 
  every day at the moment of the ghost’s death. Only the 
  ghost for whom the object is a Fetter can tap Essence 
  from either the real world object or its representation. 
  Neither a ghost thief in the Underworld who steals 
  another ghost’s representations nor an Essence user in 
  Creation who discovers the existence of a Fetter can 
  draw out the Essence inherent in the Fetter. However, 
  an Underworld enemy can steal a ghost’s representa-
  tions for the purpose of blackmailing the ghost into 
  servitude, while anyone who can access the actual Fetter 
  can desecrate it and ruin it as a Fetter. Agents of the 
  Deathlords have been known to do both to influential 
  ghosts who balk at their masters’ wishes.
  The rating of a Fetter is not immutable. The physi-
  cal Fetter can be damaged or destroyed in Creation, and 
  doing so can reduce the Fetter’s rating, even to zero. 
  Simply looting a ghost’s tomb or grave can reduce its 
  Fetter rating by 1 to 3 dots. Generally though, only the 
  total destruction of both the actual Fetter and its repre-
  sentation can reduce a Fetter rating to zero. A destroyed 
  representation will reform at the Fetter on the next an-
  niversary of the ghost’s death, unless the actual Fetter has 
  also been destroyed, in which case the representation is 
  lost forever. Of course, even if a representation reforms, 
  the ghost must still be able to recover it from the actual 
  Fetter, a difficult prospect if the Fetter is somewhere in 
  Creation far from any shadowlands. A reformed repre-
  sentation is invisible, intangible and cannot be perceived 
  or affected by anything or anyone other than its owner 
  except through appropriate Charms.
  It is possible, through roleplay, to strengthen an 
  existing Fetter rating or to transfer it to another person, 
  place or thing. For example, if one of a ghost’s Fetters 
  is his still-living daughter, eventually the ghost may 
  risk losing the Fetter as she ages and dies. He can avoid 
  this problem by shifting his emotional connection to 
  the Fetter from his daughter to her own children, for 
  example. A ghost can also strengthen a Fetter’s rating 
  through the expenditure of experience points after role-
  playing regular interaction with the Fetter. Finally, the 
  Tangled Web Arcanos can affect a ghost’s relationships 
  with his Fetters, including their ratings.
  
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  ing love, and they are loath to give up those comforts 
  even in death.
  Consequently, the majority of ghosts continue 
  in the same sorts of trade patterns they followed in 
  life. Generally, those who farmed in life continue on 
  as farmers. Those who worked as craftsmen, barkeeps 
  and tailors in Creation soon find places to ply those 
  same trades in the Underworld. True, nearly everything 
  indigenous to the Underworld—the farmer’s rice, the 
  grapes that become the barkeep’s wine, the silkworm 
  cocoons that become the tailor’s silk—isn’t real in the 
  sense that analogous objects in Creation are. They are 
  actually the plasmic residue of rice paddies, vineyards 
  and even mulberry silkworms. Plasmic life forms such as 
  these function much like their real world equivalents, 
  however, and those who know the secrets of farming or 
  wine-making or silk production can function in death 
  as well as they could in life. 
  Much of the Underworld functions on a barter 
  economy. In areas with more sophisticated economies, 
  the local governments generally produce some type of 
  official currency, usually backed by Essence. Ghosts 
  with mortal worshipers receive Essence in the form of 
  easily tradable Essence tokens (see “Burnt Offerings” 
  on p. 108), and most Underworld governments levy 
  taxes on Essence rather than on actual income. Such 
  governments employ tax collectors who have mastered 
  various Arcanoi that permit the tax collector to strip 
  Essence from would-be tax evaders and to store it in 
  inanimate containers for easy transport. 
  PROFESSIONS OF THE DEAD
  Essence may be the currency that keeps the Un-
  derworld sky turning, but relatively few ghosts are so 
  worshiped and adored that they reap enough Essence 
  to satisfy all their needs without giving anything in 
  return. The vast majority of ghosts have at least some-
  thing resembling everyday jobs. For most ghosts, one’s 
  occupation was determined long before one’s death, as 
  the stagnant nature of Stygian society tends to pigeon-
  hole ghosts into the same societal roles they played in 
  life. Heroic ghosts may defy such expectations and find 
  what work they can. Some such ghosts even become 
  fantastically successful through their own ingenuity and 
  drive, but even they must struggle against the bigotries 
  of an entrenched, millennia-old society that views 
  them as nouveau riche at best and as arrogant threats 
  to the social order at worst. Common occupations that 
  might be available to a heroic ghost (other than the 
  Underworld’s two most common occupations—slave 
  or peasant farmer) include the following:
  DAILY UNLIFE
  The vast majority of the dead lead lives of quiet 
  futility. Such ghosts spurn Lethe because of their in-
  ability to let go of their past lives, but many ghosts 
  find themselves wondering just what part of those lives 
  is worth hanging on to. Is it not enough to spend 60 
  years as a rice farmer toiling in the fields of an unap-
  preciative Dragon-Blooded patron? Does such a farmer 
  really need to spend an eternity in the rice fields of the 
  afterlife, continuing the same drudgery while hoping 
  that something better comes along?
  For the great majority of ghosts, the answers to 
  these questions are both apparently “Yes.” As creatures 
  of memory, most ghosts feel compelled to continue the 
  same rote tasks that filled their living days. Ghostly 
  farmers still arise with the sun and tend to their farms, 
  growing food that no one actually needs to eat. Ghostly 
  beggars still sit in street corners, begging for change, 
  even though they no longer have any material needs 
  and no longer suffer from any of the afflictions that had 
  left them destitute in life.
  Not all ghosts fall into the trap of repetition, 
  however—heroic ghosts can free themselves from the 
  trap of living memories and forge new destinies for 
  themselves in the Underworld. Heroic ghosts are more 
  common in the Underworld than heroic mortals are in 
  Creation. This is apparently because of self-selection. 
  A heroic mortal is more likely to cling to his existence 
  than a less ambitious mortal and is therefore more 
  likely to resist Lethe. Once active in the Underworld, 
  heroic ghosts are also more likely to act in their own 
  rational self-interest rather than blindly following old 
  patterns of activity. Thus, they are less likely to simply 
  meander around ghost villages waiting for the armies of 
  the Deathlords or of the Underworld’s various warlords 
  or bandit-kings to come around to sack the place. Too 
  many common ghosts are content to simply do what 
  ghosts in authority tell them to do. Such ghosts too often 
  find themselves  facing the baleful flames of a soulforge 
  wondering where they went wrong. Heroic ghosts fight 
  for their afterlives, and while they are still a distinct 
  minority, such exemplary souls are far more common 
  in the Underworld than one might expect.
  GHOSTLY ECONOMICS
  Ghosts do not require food or drink. They cannot 
  suffer the effects of exposure in either raging blizzards 
  or the hottest deserts. Those freedoms do not prevent 
  ghosts from desiring food and drink and garments that 
  are pleasing to the skin. Creatures of habit, all ghosts 
  remember eating and drinking and sleeping and mak-
  
  CHAPTER FOUR • THE UNLIVES OF GHOSTS
  CHAPTER FOUR • THE UNLIVES OF GHOSTS
  99
  Artisan: Ghosts appreciate artistry in death just as 
  much as they did in life. A ghost may not need to eat, 
  but she still appreciates a delicious, five-course meal. 
  A ghost may not need to drink, but she can still admire 
  the bouquet of a fine wine pressed from carefully grown 
  plasmic grapes. Wealthy ghosts collect art, adorn them-
  selves with fine jewelry and expensive silks and raise 
  towering monuments to satisfy their own egos. Artisans 
  provide both the ingenuity and the labor that makes 
  all those things possible, whether as cooks, vintners, 
  jewelers, tailors or architects. 
  Astrologer: Some dead savants study the strange 
  constellations that light the Underworld’s night skies, 
  and while the science of Underworld astrology is not as 
  well developed as that practiced by living astrologers, it 
  does have its uses. Underworld astrologers can fashion 
  Labyrinth maps for would-be explorers. They can also 
  cast horoscopes that can predict the future of the dead, 
  allowing a ghost to determine the most auspicious time 
  to perform some action. Underworld astrology is highly 
  illegal in Stygia, presumably because the Deathlords fear 
  that hell-diver astrologers may give insights into their 
  plans to Sidereal spies. Although the risk is high, the 
  maps and horoscopes of skilled Underground astrologers 
  keep their services in great demand. The mechanical 
  rules for Underworld astrology are the same as those 
  outlined on page 138 of Exalted except that an Un-
  derworld astrologer can only divine the future of other 
  ghosts. Rules for creating Labyrinthine maps may be 
  found on pages 115-116 of The Compass of Celestial 
  Directions, Vol. IV—The Underworld.
  Banker: “Banker” within the context of Underworld 
  society refers to a ghost who specializes in Arcanoi that 
  allow for the direct manipulation and storage of Essence. 
  No matter how many Fetters a ghost has or how much 
  worship he receives from cultists, he is still limited in 
  how much Essence he can hold within his corpus at any 
  given time. With the Essence-Measuring Thief Arts 
  Arcanos (see pp. 133-136), it is possible to safely remove 
  Essence from a willing ghost and store it in some kind 
  of vessel, thereby freeing up space within the ghost’s 
  corpus so that he can store Essence received from other 
  sources. A rarer Arcanos known as Tenacious Merchant’s 
  Way (see pp. 153-155) allows a banker to manipulate 
  Essence more directly, as well as to manipulate other 
  Underworld currencies. Officially, most bankers are 
  employed by the Dual Monarchy or the various other 
  Underworld governments to serve as tax collectors. 
  Many bankers, however, choose to work “off the books,” 
  using their Arcanoi to help other ghosts to evade their 
  tax obligations. Other, more ruthless bankers work as 
  loan sharks, providing Essence to ghosts without ances-
  tor cults or powerful Fetters in exchange for services. 
  Bankers across Stygia have illegally conspired to keep 
  the most powerful Essence-manipulating Charms within 
  the exclusive control an informal banking guild, and the 
  leaders of this guild have thoroughly co-opted most of 
  the leadership of the Dual Monarchy’s clerics.
  Beast Tamer: A beast tamer is a ghost who is espe-
  cially skilled at the Savage Ghost Tamer Arts Arcanos 
  (see pp. 138-141), which allows the ghost to influence, 
  control and even permanently subjugate hungry ghosts. 
  Most wealthy or powerful ghosts keep one or more beast 
  tamers on staff as a sort of “master of the hounds,” while 
  necropoli of any size employ beast tamers to round up 
  any hungry ghosts terrorizing the area and, if possible, 
  turn them to more beneficial uses. Armies regularly use 
  tamed hungry ghosts as shock troops and rely on beast 
  tamers to make sure the hungry ghosts attack enemies 
  instead of friendly troops. Despite their obvious utility, 
  professional beast tamers are often distrusted because 
  of the widespread belief that the Savage Ghost Tamer 
  Arts were first invented by spectres. This belief may be 
  true—certainly the forces of the Labyrinth are swollen 
  with vast numbers of hungry ghosts. Beast tamers often 
  work along with masquers who moliate tamed hungry 
  ghosts into deadlier forms. For example, the barghest 
  hounds used by the Deathlord Walker in Darkness 
  during his frequent hunting excursions were fashioned 
  from the hungry ghosts of his former victims.
  Criminal: Crime is just as lucrative in the Un-
  derworld as it is in Creation. Even the simplest grave 
  good item can be worth a king’s ransom to a clever 
  pickpocket, and the houses of the wealthy dead are 
  no more impervious to cat burglars than those of the 
  wealthy living. With the right Arcanoi, a criminal 
  ghost can steal another ghost’s Essence just as easily 
  as he might her purse. Less skilled criminals serve as 
  hired muscle for banker loan sharks or monitors who 
  run protection rackets. 
  Haunters: A haunter is a ghost who is especially 
  skilled at the Terror-Spreading Art Arcanos (see pp. 
  156-160), as well as the Craft (Pandemonium) Ability. 
  As its name implies, the Terror-Spreading Art allows 
  its user to invoke horror and fear among the living. At 
  its lower levels, haunters use the Arcanos to frighten 
  or punish those among the living who have wronged 
  them. At its higher levels, the Arcanos allows the 
  haunter unparalleled access to Creation, even to the 
  point of affecting people and objects in the lands of 
  
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  the living without actually manifesting (and risking 
  counterattack). Ancestor cults frequently employ the 
  services of haunters as the “stick” in their relations with 
  mortal worshipers (with the more beneficial Arcanoi 
  serving as the “carrot”). The various Underworld 
  militaries often use haunters to horrify and demoralize 
  their enemies. For instance, the Mask of Winters used 
  spectre haunters as the vanguard of his offensive force 
  in the sack of Thorns.
  Hell Diver: The term “hell diver” refers to a ghost 
  who trades in forbidden knowledge of the Labyrinth. 
  Some hell divers offer themselves out as guides through the 
  Labyrinth who can lead travelers to obscure Labyrinthine 
  kingdoms or simply help them to travel quickly through 
  the Underworld via a Labyrinthine shortcut. Others travel 
  the Labyrinth on their own to spy on the spectres in their 
  hidden lairs and provide intelligence to their ghostly 
  employers. Some parts of the Underworld that are near 
  Labyrinth access points hire out teams of hell divers to 
  clean out areas of spectres and hungry ghosts. 
  Marshal: The term “marshal” is the generic Un-
  derworld term for a ghost who has been appointed as a 
  magistrate, sheriff, peace officer or to some comparable 
  law-enforcement position. Almost all appointed marshals 
  study the Chains of the Ancient Monarchs Arcanos (see 
  pp. 131-133), which allows a ghost to act on behalf of 
  an Underworld sovereign. While not essential, most 
  marshals also have at least some skill at the Shadow 
  Constraint Craft Arcanos, which allows the ghost to 
  regulate and even manipulate the taboos and legal 
  strictures at play in the Underworld. The Keepers of the 
  Mandate appointed directly by the bureaucracy of the 
  Dual Monarchy are typically masters of this Arcanos, as 
  are the Dark Judges who serve the Silver Prince. However, 
  other marshals, especially those who serve as criminal 
  investigators, prefer the Scholarly Ways Arcanos, a more 
  obscure technique that allows a ghost to discern truth 
  from falsehoods and to compel the obedience of those 
  in her way. Although the term “marshal” usually refers 
  to an appointed law-enforcement agent, some ghosts in 
  larger necropoli actually make a living as private marshals 
  who act as professional bodyguards or who investigate 
  crimes on behalf of the highest bidder.
  Masquer: A masquer is a ghost who is especially 
  skilled at the Shifting Ghost-Clay Path Arcanos (see 
  pp. 141-146) and the Craft (Moliation) Ability. The 
  Shifting Ghost-Clay Path allows a ghost to alter her 
  own corpus or that of another. Various Underworld 
  governments employ Masquers as spies, assassins or 
  simply artisans of the soul. The Deathlord known as the 
  Bishop of the Chalcedony Thurible is known to retain 
  the services of an expert masquer who punishes ghosts 
  who have wronged him by permanently stealing away 
  their eyes, ears and mouths, condemning them to an 
  eternity spent blind, deaf, dumb and helplessly lost in 
  the Bishop’s vast Hidden Tabernacle. Private masquers 
  maintain boutiques in major necropoli, where they can 
  permanently alter the corpus of a customer into a visage 
  of indescribable beauty... for the right price. 
  Miner: The largest soulsteel mining operation in 
  the Underworld is in the heart of Stygia, where slaves 
  under the command of the Dual Monarchy descend 
  into the Mouth of Oblivion to mine the Labyrinth for 
  soulsteel ore. Other, smaller mining companies do exist, 
  however, as the Labyrinth is apparently coextensive 
  with the Underworld and can seemingly be accessed via 
  any sufficiently deep cave network. Although mining 
  the Labyrinth is an incredibly dangerous occupation, 
  it is also fantastically lucrative, especially for ghostly 
  prospectors who find veins of ore relatively near the 
  surface that can be mined without immediate fear of 
  spectral incursion. 
  Monitor: A monitor is a ghost who is exception-
  ally skilled at the Tangled Web Arts Arcanos (see pp. 
  150-153), which allows one ghost to perceive the Fet-
  ters of another ghost and even sever the connection 
  between another ghost and her Fetters. Doing the latter 
  is highly illegal in Stygia, but the Deathlords regularly 
  employ monitors to tamper with the Fetters of ghosts 
  who displease them. Since most applications of the 
  Tangled Web Arts cannot be detected by anyone who 
  does not also know the Charms of this somewhat rare 
  Arcanos, monitors also make very effective assassins who 
  can consign a target to Lethe with a well-timed touch. 
  In territories outside the control of either Stygia or the 
  Deathlords, small guilds of monitors often run protection 
  rackets, taking huge tithes in Essence in exchange for 
  not stripping their victims of all their Fetters. 
  Puppeteer: A puppeteer is a ghost who is especially 
  skilled at the Stringless Puppeteer Art Arcanos (see pp. 
  146-150). This Arcanos allows a ghost to possess the 
  body of a living mortal and thereby influence Creation 
  directly. The most skilled puppeteers in the Underworld 
  form a criminal guild that is active throughout the 
  Threshold. The Esteemed Fellowship of Master Pup-
  peteers has an informal relationship with the Guild in 
  which puppeteers possess or otherwise influence mortals 
  in areas near shadowlands in exchange for the Guild’s 
  help in advancing the interests of local ancestor cults. 
  Most of the Deathlords also use puppeteers as spies. 
  
  CHAPTER FOUR • THE UNLIVES OF GHOSTS
  CHAPTER FOUR • THE UNLIVES OF GHOSTS
  101
  After all, how can you detect a spy who hides deep in 
  the recesses of your own mind?
  Soldier: Warfare is as common in the Underworld 
  as it is among the living. There is always a need for more 
  bodies on the field of battle, and for a skilled soldier, 
  the Underworld’s various armies provide for more so-
  cial mobility than most other professions. True, there 
  is something of a glass ceiling in the Stygian Army, as 
  the highest-ranking positions are generally reserved for 
  ghosts who were generals in life, and those who died 
  before reaching such status are rarely promoted into 
  Stygia’s command structure. Outside of the hidebound 
  Stygian military, however, most political leaders are 
  more pragmatic and care less about how many medals 
  a general had when he died and more about whether he 
  can win. The Deathlords, in particular, actively recruit 
  ghost soldiers whose heroism in battle was squandered 
  by the incompetence of their generals.
  Soulsmith: Much of the Underworld’s economy 
  rests on the production of soulsteel, one of the magical 
  materials, which can only be produced by combining 
  shavings from the walls of the Mouth of Oblivion 
  with the melted corpus of a ghost. Forging soulsteel 
  is difficult for even the best smiths. Soulforging is, at 
  its base, a thaumaturgic ritual that requires the smith 
  to be skilled not only in Craft (Soulforging) but also 
  Lore and Occult. Master soulsteel smiths also receive 
  training in the Noble Craftsman Ways Arcanos (see pp. 
  136-138), which allows a ghost to manipulate soulsteel 
  more easily and even to reshape non-soulsteel artifacts 
  and grave goods. The most skilled soulsmiths are also 
  savants and artificers who combine soulforging with 
  Craft (Jadecrafting) to forge sophisticated artifacts.
  NECROPOLI
  Most ghosts tend to remain near the areas cor-
  responding to their burial sites. Since most burial sites 
  are part of larger cemeteries, the ghosts bound to these 
  cemeteries by Fetters often develop communal relations 
  and, eventually, communities. Many large cities in 
  Creation have correspondingly large cemeteries, and 
  the ghosts bound to those places form ghost villages or 
  even ghost cities known as necropoli. A necropolis is 
  in many ways just like a living town but for the obvious 
  difference that all of its citizens are dead.
  Each necropolis has its own unique character. In 
  general, though, necropoli that exist within the domain 
  of a Deathlord find their citizens bent to the will of that 
  ancient being. The Grand Necropolis of Stygia is full 
  of apostate and frequently embittered Immaculate wor-
  shipers who don’t understand where they went wrong. 
  
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  Necropoli at the outer fringes of the Underworld are 
  rarer, as the denizens of those territories are more likely 
  to be of barbarian stock. In the Underworld, the prac-
  tical realities of most barbarian cultures ensures that 
  ghost barbarians are nomadic—the Fetters of barbarian 
  ghosts are more likely to travel with the ghost’s living 
  nomadic descendants. Such ghosts value mobility 
  more highly than the advantages of a steady job in a 
  stationary necropolis.
  THE CALENDAR OF SETESH
  Originally, time did not pass in the Underworld. 
  The Underworld analog to the Unconquered Sun 
  hung low in the sky just above the horizon and con-
  tinued to do so for untold centuries, bathing the skies 
  over the Underworld with a dim reddish glow. Early 
  in the First Age, Setesh, one of the Dual Monarchs, 
  fashioned a great device called the Calendar of Setesh 
  that he hung in the sky above the Mouth of the Void 
  in Stygia. Then, Setesh and the other Monarchs bade 
  the people of the Underworld to pray to them. As the 
  people began to do so, the Calendar of Setesh began 
  to slowly move, and in sympathy, the Underworld sun 
  began to move across the sky over the course of the 
  Underworld’s first day.
  A massive, Essence-powered artifact, the Calendar 
  regulates the movement of the heavenly bodies in 
  the Underworld’s skies. When the Calendar does not 
  function, the passage of those bodies ceases. When the 
  nephwracks invaded Stygia, and the Dual Monarchs 
  were forced to flee their capitol, the Calendar ceased 
  to function for the duration of their exile, leaving the 
  sun fixed in place in its noon position. When they 
  returned, and Setesh reactivated the device, the sun 
  began to move again.
  The Calendar does more than regulate the sun’s 
  passage, however. At night, ghostly analogs of the moon 
  and the Five Maidens also creep across the sky, while 
  strange Underworld constellations turn in the heavens 
  just as they do in Creation. Those few Sidereals who have 
  had the opportunity to inspect the Calendar of Setesh 
  are certain it does not duplicate any of the properties 
  of the Loom of Fate, yet somehow, it does shape or at 
  least record the destiny of the Underworld’s denizens 
  in some fashion. Underworld astrologers are at least as 
  proficient at predicting the future of ghosts as mortal 
  savants are with the destinies of the living. With suf-
  ficient information, it might even be possible to gain 
  insights into the activities of the Deathlords. Doing 
  so would require the assistance of a ghostly astrologer, 
  however. For all their sagacity, the Sidereals are still 
  living beings, and even if one enters the Underworld to 
  examine its heavens, the movements of the stars in this 
  place are too erratic and inauspicious for conventional 
  astrology to comprehend. Only ghosts can perceive the 
  night sky in the Underworld clearly enough to cast 
  astrological horoscopes reliably. 
  Further complicating matters is the fact that astrology 
  in the Underworld is highly regulated due to its inherent 
  danger. Underworld savants can use astrology to identify 
  shortcuts across the Underworld landscapes... shortcuts 
  that can shave months off journeys by crossing into the 
  Labyrinth. Fearful of unrestricted travel through that dark 
  place stirring up the spectres in their nests, the rulers of 
  Stygia have all but banned the private study of astrology. 
  If the Calendar of Setesh has any true influence over 
  the destinies of ghosts, only the Deathlords know of it.
  SHADOWLANDS
  Essential for the development of ancestor cults, 
  shadowlands are areas where the Underworld and 
  Creation physically overlap. By day, a shadowland is 
  considered to be a part of Creation, and a ghost who 
  walks into the area of a shadowland from the Under-
  world and then exits again will find herself in Creation. 
  Ghosts are always solid in the Underworld and generally 
  immaterial in Creation (absent the use of Arcanoi). In a 
  shadowland, the situation is more complicated—ghosts 
  are immaterial in daylight but solid at night or when 
  completely cut off from sunlight.
  As a result, ghosts and mortals often use shad-
  owlands as meeting grounds, especially in the case of 
  revered ancestors worshiped by mortal descendants. In 
  the lands of the Tear Eater Tribes, mortal barbarians 
  regularly enter shadowlands and even travel through 
  the Underworld in the service of the lich-kings who 
  rule their society. Mortal villages near the great shad-
  owland of Marama’s Fell must constantly be on guard 
  for ghost raiders riding out of the shadowland by night 
  to prey upon their towns. On the other hand, nearly the 
  entire mortal population of the Skullstone Archipelago 
  lives within the web of interconnected shadowlands 
  that cover those islands, where they work, rest and 
  play alongside the ghosts of their ancestors, who work 
  all day in light-proof offices before leaving at night to 
  rejoin their families.
  In addition to affecting a ghost’s solidity, both 
  Creation and even day-lit shadowlands can adversely 
  affect his ability to regain Essence. During Calibration, a 
  ghost in Creation (as opposed to a shadowland) regains 
  Essence at half his normal rate, and during the rest of 
  the year, he cannot regain Essence in Creation at all. 
  
  CHAPTER FOUR • THE UNLIVES OF GHOSTS
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  103
  In a shadowland, ghosts regain Essence at only half the 
  normal rate during the day and at their normal rate 
  at night or during Calibration. Ghosts always regain 
  Essence at their normal rate while in the Underworld. 
  The living are similarly affected, regaining Essence at 
  half their normal rate while in a shadowland or while 
  in the Underworld during Calibration. Living mortals 
  regain Essence at their full rate if in a shadowland 
  during Calibration but do not regain Essence in the 
  Underworld at all except during Calibration.
  Ghosts cannot reproduce among themselves, but 
  ghosts with Essence •• or higher can breed with living 
  mortals if the two copulate within a shadowland. The 
  result of a ghost-mortal union is called a Ghost-Blood, 
  and such beings often develop a powerful rapport with 
  the ways of the dead. Some can learn Arcanoi and 
  even necromancy (which is beyond the capacity of 
  ghosts to practice). The Deathlords strive to recruit 
  Ghost-Blooded mortals into their forces, but many 
  Ghost-Bloods fear the enigmatic Deathlords and prefer 
  to seek their own destinies, whether in the Underworld 
  or in Creation. In either realm, Ghost-Bloods often 
  function as agents of their dead parents, serving as 
  priests to ancestor cults or as willing servants capable 
  of operating freely by day.
  TRADITIONS OF THE DEAD
  For all that its many peoples do to strive against 
  Lethe and Oblivion, the Underworld remains a stag-
  nant place. Every society in the Underworld clings to 
  endless cycles of activity, some of which have been in 
  place since the death of the Neverborn. Nowhere is 
  this compulsion to repetition more obvious than in the 
  Underworld’s many rituals and traditions. The oldest 
  and most important rituals in the Underworld are the 
  Stygian Rites, the system of ceremonies and rituals put 
  in place to support the Cult of the Dual Monarchy, 
  whose beneficence causes the Underworld’s dim sun 
  to cross the sky every day and allows the progression 
  of the seasons and the functioning of the destiny of the 
  dead. Some of the better known and more universal of 
  the Stygian Rites are as follows:
  The Calibration Rite: Since the Dual Monarchs 
  made their peace with the spectral invaders who had 
  previously conquered Stygia, the Calibration Rite has 
  been sacrosanct. All but the maddest spectres see the 
  utility in the daily, monthly and yearly cycles maintained 
  by the Calendar of Setesh, and the maddest spectres 
  are mercifully contained in the Labyrinth’s bowels. By 
  command of the Dual Monarchs (and reinforced by 
  the will of the Deathlords and presumably their mas-
  ters), no bloodshed is permitted during the five days of 
  Calibration—no warfare, no street crime, no violence 
  of any kind. It is said that deep in the bowels of the 
  Labyrinth, the screams and cries of the Infinite Prison 
  cease for five days, though none have ever been near 
  enough to listen and return to tell the tale. Nor is work 
  of any other kind permitted during this festival. In fact, 
  the spectres famously invite the Stygian dead into the 
  Labyrinth under flag of truce, promising to reveal the 
  wonders of their sunken society without fear of harm. 
  Few ghosts would dare enter the Labyrinth no matter 
  what promises a spectre makes, but every year, a few 
  ghosts, drunk on rice wine or blood, wander into the 
  Labyrinth. Surprisingly, most even return unharmed, 
  if not necessarily unchanged.
  On the last night of Calibration, at the stroke of 
  midnight, every source of fire in the Underworld and 
  the Labyrinth is magically extinguished. The last hours 
  of the old year are spent in contemplative darkness. 
  As the first dawn of the new year rises in the East, it 
  is accompanied by a tiny flame that burns in the right 
  hand of every prince, potentate and ruler in the Un-
  derworld. From these flames, candles and torches are 
  lit, and the light of the new year slowly spreads across 
  the Underworld.
  STATES OF BEING
  Whether in Creation, a shadowland or the Underworld, the living are always solid. Ghosts, on the 
  other hand, may be solid or immaterial, as follows:
  If you are a ghost 
  you are normally:
  in Creation 
  immaterial*
  in a shadowland while in daylight 
  immaterial*
  in a shadowland at night or out of sunlight 
  solid
  in the Underworld 
  solid
  * During Calibration, the cost to materialize is reduced by half. 
  
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  Sowing the Seed: Farmers throughout the Under-
  world celebrate a variation of this ritual at the start of 
  every planting season. The head of each household 
  sacrifices an animal, usually a plasmic heifer, in the 
  name of the regional ruler or some other figure of im-
  portance, and the animal’s blood is spread across the 
  planting fields to ensure a plentiful harvest.
  Harvest Rituals: An important part of the Cult 
  of the Dual Monarch (and one which has been sup-
  planted by the various Deathlord cults in many parts 
  of the Underworld), this ritual accompanies the end of 
  each harvest season. Usually, a portion of each harvest 
  is ceremonially left in the field as an offering to the 
  land itself, accompanied by a food offering to the local 
  political leaders.
  The Tradition of Hospitality: The tradition of 
  hospitality in the Underworld is so ingrained in the dead 
  that some cynics wonder if it is magically enforced. The 
  connections between the Dual Monarchy and the Solar 
  Deliberative throughout the First Age are well known, 
  and some conspiracy theorists suggest that the ancient 
  Solars wove a powerful set of social taboos into the very 
  fabric of the Underworld as a means of influencing the 
  behavior of a vast territory only nominally under their 
  control. Such paranoia is fully justified, as the Solar 
  Deliberative did exactly that.
  The tradition of hospitality dictates that no free 
  ghost anywhere in the Underworld may turn away an 
  unarmed stranger seeking shelter. For up to three days, 
  the host must treat her guest courteously and keep him 
  well fed. The guest must behave honorably and with 
  equal courtesy and is obligated to help defend his host’s 
  home. At sunset on the third day, the host’s obligation 
  ends, and she is free to show her guest the door, vio-
  lently if necessary. If the guest has offended or angered 
  his host, she is free to attack or otherwise seek revenge. 
  The obligation of hospitality ends automatically if the 
  guest harms any of the host’s family or household staff or 
  seriously insults the host in some way. If a ghost violates 
  the tradition of hospitality, even toward a ghost she 
  considers an enemy who seeks shelter, she suffers a -5 
  penalty on all Social rolls against other ghosts for the 
  next year and a day or until she has won the spurned 
  guest’s forgiveness freely given.
  The tradition of hospitality does not apply to 
  slaves, to sacrificial dead or to spectres. It does apply 
  to all free ghosts regardless of status, and a significant 
  percentage of the dead have learned to take advantage 
  of this tradition by wandering the Underworld, mooch-
  ing off wealthier ghosts for three days before moving 
  on to the next wealthy home. More dangerously, the 
  tradition applies to ghosts such as the Disciples of the 
  Abyss who are not spectres but who nevertheless wor-
  ship the Neverborn and Oblivion. Hosts confronted 
  by such ghosts seeking shelter must balance the curse 
  associated with spurning a guest with the risk of allow-
  ing such a tainted ghost into one’s home, where the 
  Disciple may seek to seduce the host and her household 
  into blasphemous beliefs or, worse, betray the home 
  outright to invading spectres.
  GIFTS FROM THE LIVING
  The true source of power for most ghosts (and for 
  almost all of the Underworld’s most powerful ghosts) 
  lies in the nature of ancestor worship. The Essence-
  generating capacity of worship was built into the very 
  fabric of Creation by the Primordials, who essentially 
  created the human race as a species of self-replicating Es-
  sence batteries who would fuel Creation’s functionality 
  through their veneration of higher beings. It is unlikely 
  that the Primordials ever contemplated the possibility 
  that dead mortals might endure as spirit-like creatures, 
  let alone that such creatures could take advantage of 
  the Essence-generating effects of prayer, but then, the 
  Primordials failed to predict a great many things where 
  the human race was concerned. 
  MEMORIAM
  Much like the little gods of Creation and Yu-Shan, 
  the spirits of the dead draw power from mortal wor-
  shipers, and many powerful ghosts draw strength from 
  the ancestor cults they patronize. Ghosts have several 
  important advantages over the gods, however. First, 
  unlike gods, ghosts can actively worship one another. 
  Nearly every ghost in the Underworld prays daily to the 
  Dual Monarchy that rules Stygia (if only at the pleasure 
  of the Deathlords). This worship is more than mere 
  religious fervor, and while ghosts do venerate the Dual 
  Monarchs for their important role in the history of the 
  Underworld, this worship provides tangible benefits for 
  the worshipers as well—the massive stores of Essence 
  provided by the Cult of Dual Monarchy power the great 
  Calendar of Setesh, without which the Underworld’s sun 
  would remain frozen in the sky and the seasons would 
  remain fixed. The benefits accrued through having living 
  and dead worshipers are described respectively by the 
  Ancestor Cult and Underworld Cult Backgrounds (see 
  pp. 118-119 and 121-122). Extremely powerful ghosts 
  may also have the Cult Background (see Exalted, pp. 
  111-112), but few outside the Deathlords reach such a 
  high level of influence over mortals in Creation.
  
  CHAPTER FOUR • THE UNLIVES OF GHOSTS
  CHAPTER FOUR • THE UNLIVES OF GHOSTS
  105
  Even more important to the dead, the prayers and 
  rituals performed by the living in the service of ghosts 
  can provide tangible benefits. Every sacrifice made in a 
  ghost’s memory manifests in the Underworld as a physi-
  cal gift that the ghost can use as she wishes. Clothing 
  ceremonially burned on an honored ancestor’s birthday 
  rematerializes in the Underworld, where the ancestor’s 
  ghost can wear it or trade it for other goods. Animals 
  sacrificed during the burial rituals of a dead barbarian 
  chieftain become part of his herd in the afterlife. Incense 
  burned in Creation crosses over to please the senses of 
  the ancestor in whose memory it was sacrificed. 
  Ghosts refer to such benefits accruing from the 
  devotion of living descendants as memoriam, and 
  for many ghosts, memoriam forms the only currency 
  worth having. Even if living mortals are so poor that 
  they cannot offer their ancestors more than prayers, a 
  few scraps of bread and a single burning candle, those 
  offerings still translate into gifts of Essence, edible 
  food and a light source to illuminate the Underworld’s 
  dark places. It’s not much, but it’s better than beggars 
  who die alone in alleyways and are simply tossed into 
  unmarked pauper’s graves. Ghosts worshiped by larger 
  mortal cults gain even more benefits in the form of 
  extra Willpower and Essence recovery.
  GRAVE GOODS
  Grave goods are the first and usually most important 
  form of memoriam a ghost receives. When a ghost mani-
  fests in the Underworld for any length of time—even if 
  she enters Lethe just hours later—any goods sacrificed 
  in her memory as part of her burial rites also manifest as 
  grave goods. To the benefit of ghosts, this manifestation is 
  idealized rather than literal. Items of paper or cheap wood 
  translate into gifts of exceptional quality. Objects covered 
  in gold paint become real gold. Even sacrifices of food have 
  value. A jug of wine buried with a dead body provides 
  the ghost with a magical jug that never runs dry, while 
  a simple basket of bread might become an Underworld 
  artifact that is perpetually full of nourishing loaves.
  All grave goods have unusual properties. Such goods 
  are almost always of exceptional quality, and all such 
  goods are generally self-repairing so long as they retain 
  their connection to the ghost in whose honor they were 
  sacrificed. In a sense, grave goods form a part of a ghost’s 
  corpus, and so long as the ghost endures and retains 
  possession of his panoply, those goods will recover from 
  any damage just as easily as the ghost himself can. Grave 
  goods can also be given away or sold, and provided that 
  such a gift was made willingly, grave goods continue 
  to grant their magical benefits to the new owner. As a 
  
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  result, even the humblest offering can transform into a 
  significant artifact in the Underworld, and such goods 
  can be quite expensive. However, like so much of the 
  Underworld, grave goods are tied to the realm of the dead 
  and disintegrate instantly and permanently if exposed 
  to the light of Creation’s sun. Grave goods can endure 
  sunlight while in the safety of a shadowland, however, 
  or even in Creation during Calibration.
  In addition to being gifted, bartered or sold, grave 
  goods can also be stolen. Stolen goods usually retain 
  their innate magical powers with two exceptions. First, 
  grave goods are only self-repairing while in the posses-
  sion of their true owner, whether the ghost to whom 
  they were sacrificed or some other ghost to whom the 
  goods were freely given. If a thief shatters his ill-gotten 
  sword, it will not regenerate for him. Second, grave 
  goods that come in the form of ever-replenishing food 
  or drink cease to provide those benefits outside the 
  possession of their true owners. If a thief steals a basket 
  of bread from another ghost, she can eat all the bread 
  as she wishes, but once it is gone, the basket will not 
  refill unless it is returned to its rightful owner.
  A Fetter representation may also be part of a ghost’s 
  grave goods. For example, when a soldier’s favorite blade 
  is buried with him, the same sword may appear in the 
  Underworld as part of the ghost’s panoply carrying the 
  benefits of both grave goods and a Fetter representation. 
  The original sword remains in the ghost’s grave as an 
  actual Fetter.
  EFFIGIES
  Effigies represent a particular subset of grave goods. 
  Generally offered by descendants and worshipers too poor 
  to sacrifice real food (or too squeamish to sacrifice real 
  people), effigies are small representations of people or 
  animals typically buried with the dead or else offered to 
  them as part of a burial rite. In the Underworld, such effi-
  gies manifest as golems in either humanoid or animal form. 
  Thus, a small wooden horse carved by a boy to sacrifice to 
  his dead father might manifest in the Underworld as a great 
  ebony stallion to serve as the ghost’s loyal steed, while a 
  queen buried with a dozen jade cartouches depicting her 
  ladies-in-waiting might awaken in the Underworld sur-
  rounded by 12 human-sized automata of pure jade.
  Typically, effigy servants and animals are intelligent 
  but lacking in both imagination and initiative. A golem 
  will obey any instructions from its ghost master to the 
  letter, but it will function poorly without oversight 
  and direction. A golem will also tend to lapse into 
  quiescence if separated from its master for too long. 
  As with any other form of grave goods, a golem can 
  be given away or sold, but if stolen, it will ignore any 
  instructions from the thief who stole it. Consequently, 
  the black market value of a golem is lower than one 
  might expect. A golem will obey a new owner to whom 
  it was sold or freely given. Effigies are highly durable 
  and unswervingly loyal to their masters. Generally, 
  the intelligence, durability and usefulness of a golem is 
  directly proportional to both the quality of the materials 
  from which the original effigy was created and also the 
  craftsmanship with which it was made. In some rare 
  cases, the devotion of the craftsman to the ancestor for 
  whom the effigy was made plays a role—a horse carved 
  from cheap wood with all the loving care that a six-
  year-old child can muster might well produce a golem 
  steed even more impressive than a similar horse made 
  from superior materials by a diffident master craftsman 
  who cared nothing at all for the one being buried.
  SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS
  Living animals sacrificed in memoriam to one 
  of the dead also become part of the ghost’s panoply, 
  manifesting in the Underworld as plasmic analogs 
  to the animals slain. The word “plasmic” is the term 
  used by denizens of the Underworld to describe the 
  memories of living nonsentient creatures, as opposed 
  to “ghost,” which refers to sentient beings, and “grave 
  goods,” which describes memoriam objects that were 
  never alive at all. 
  A sacrificial animal becomes a permanent part of its 
  owner’s panoply. Its loyalty is preternatural and absolute. 
  If the ghost’s favorite hound is slain, it will reform at its 
  master’s side the next day. It will never serve another 
  master, even if its owner actively wishes to sell it. It is 
  possible to steal a sacrificial animal away from a ghost 
  and imprison it, but it will fight viciously to escape and 
  return to its master, if necessary by “killing” itself so that 
  it can reform at its master’s side. In short, a sacrificial 
  animal can never be turned to the service of another 
  through anything less than powerful necromancy.
  As with grave goods, sacrificial animals are far 
  superior in death to whatever they were in life. A 
  broken-down nag sacrificed in honor of a fallen sol-
  dier might well become a magnificent war horse in 
  the Underworld. Sacrificial animals brought into the 
  Underworld gain the following benefits:
  • +1 dot to every Physical Attribute
  • +2 Willpower and Valor
  • an additional -0, -1 and -2 health level
  • -1 to the animal’s Control Rating with regard 
  to its owner and its owner’s servants (and a +2 to its 
  Control Rating with regard to anyone else)
  
  CHAPTER FOUR • THE UNLIVES OF GHOSTS
  CHAPTER FOUR • THE UNLIVES OF GHOSTS
  107
  All sacrificial animals are marked somehow with 
  the symbol of their masters. A bull slain in memoriam 
  of a bride of Ahlat might bear her name as a brand, 
  while a Northern barbarian’s hunting falcon might 
  bear a small collar with his mark on it. Whatever this 
  mark’s form, it invariably glows with an eerie blue light 
  to identify the animal’s master.
  Sacrificial animals do not require food or sleep. They 
  will neither age nor succumb to sickness or injury. If de-
  stroyed, the animal will always reform at its master’s side 
  within a day. If the master enters either Lethe or Oblivion, 
  his sacrificial animals cease to exist instantly. Sacrificial 
  animals cannot breed, and while healthy and clever, 
  they generally have neither human-level intelligence 
  nor magical powers. The exception comes in the form of 
  ghost familiars—a ghost who possesses the Familiar Back-
  ground possesses a ghost animal that may possess superior 
  intellect or unique powers. At least one Deathlord has 
  been experimenting with breeding ghost Familiars with 
  living animals to produce Ghost-Blooded animals, but it 
  is unknown whether this unholy union has borne fruit. 
  (Sijan Morticians’ Order succeeded in doing so decades 
  ago.) Purchasing a familiar as a ghost familiar adds +2 to 
  the Familiar Background cost of the creature.
  Sacrificial animals will follow their masters into 
  the living world through a shadowland, and in fact, will 
  generally refuse to remain behind unless bound in some 
  way by their masters. They dislike entering Creation, 
  however, and a sacrificial animal in the land of the living 
  increases its Control Rating by +1 due to skittishness. 
  Ghost familiars do not suffer this increase, however. If 
  a sacrificial animal is slain or destroyed in Creation, it 
  will reform as normal, but only if the ghost returns to 
  the Underworld before the next sunset. Otherwise, the 
  animal is permanently destroyed. Other than through 
  necromancy, this is the only manner in which a sac-
  rificial animal can be permanently destroyed while its 
  master endures.
  SACRIFICIAL SLAVES
  While deliberate human sacrifice is relatively rare 
  in Creation (at least in areas where the Immaculate 
  Order holds sway), needless death accompanies burial 
  rites far more often. In many cultures, the spouses or 
  concubines of influential personages are expected to hurl 
  themselves onto funeral pyres to join their lovers in the 
  afterlife. In the more fundamentalist of such societies, 
  expectation becomes requirement, and former lovers are 
  forcibly thrown kicking and screaming onto the funeral 
  pyres. In many savage lands, barbarian tribes without 
  the resources to feed extra mouths often regretfully slay 
  orphaned children too young to fend for themselves 
  during the burial rites for their parents. 
  In such cases, those slain as part of funereal rites 
  often find themselves in the Underworld bound to 
  act as servants to those in whose memory they were 
  sacrificed. Nor does such slavery arise solely from 
  sacrificial rites. The victims of the Varajtul cannibals 
  often fall helplessly into the Underworld to await the 
  coming of their devourers in whose service they are 
  now bound. Men and women alike slain by serial kill-
  ers knowledgeable of certain proscribed necromantic 
  rituals soon learn to their horror that death is not the 
  end of their suffering when they become bound into 
  slavery to their own killers.
  When one mortal is ritually slain for the glory of 
  another, she is considered a sacrificial slave. Upon 
  emerging in the Underworld, she has the same choice as 
  every other new ghost—accept Lethe or remain behind 
  in the Underworld. Those who choose the latter course 
  are bound into the service of those for whom they died, 
  and these sacrificial slaves can never again seek Lethe 
  while that master endures in the Underworld. If the 
  slave’s master himself succumbs to Lethe (or Oblivion), 
  the slave must roll her Willpower against a difficulty of 
  3 to resist following in his footsteps. A sacrificial slave 
  who endures past her master’s dissolution becomes a 
  free ghost, although she will still carry the marks of her 
  servitude, which will usually prevent others from giving 
  her the respect that a free ghost deserves.
  All sacrificial slaves are marked in some way with 
  the symbol of their masters. A favored concubine car-
  ries her lover’s symbol on her kimono. A serial killer’s 
  victim has his name carved into her forehead or on the 
  chains around her neck. A mother’s young son has her 
  mark embroidered on the back of his shirt. Whatever 
  the marking’s form, it is instantly recognizable to any 
  ghost in the Underworld as a slave marking.
  As with all grave goods, sacrificial slaves are of ex-
  ceptional quality. Each slave gains a point of permanent 
  Essence upon dying, as well as one extra dot in each of 
  its primary, secondary and tertiary Attribute categories. 
  A sacrificial slave also acts as a Fetter to his master, with 
  the rating determined according to the relationship that 
  existed between the two at the time of death. An elderly 
  unloved widow hurled onto a bonfire as an afterthought 
  at her husband’s funeral might have a Fetter rating of 
  •, while a queen’s most faithful retainer and bodyguard 
  might have a rating of •••••. The slave’s master can 
  drain Essence directly from the slave’s Essence pool with 
  a thought. The maximum amount that can be drained is 
  equal to the Fetter rating if the slave is out of the master’s 
  
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  sight or twice that if the slave is within sight. The 
  master can Slumber within a slave as if she were a 
  Fetter representation and treats her burial site as if 
  it were his own for Slumber purposes. A sacrificial 
  slave does not count as a Fetter for purposes of deter-
  mining how many bonus dice to add to the master’s 
  Willpower roll to resist Lethe. The slave does count, 
  however, as a Fetter for purposes of magical effects 
  (such as sorcery, necromancy or Arcanoi) that can 
  affect a ghost through his Fetters.
  Generally, a sacrificial slave is not automatically 
  bound to obey his master’s every command, but the 
  master’s player does gain a bonus on all Social rolls 
  against the slave equal to the Fetter rating. The 
  master also has the power to steal away the slave’s 
  Essence from anywhere in the Underworld or even 
  while one of the two is in Creation and the other in 
  the Underworld. While the master-slave relationship 
  endures, the two can always find one another at any 
  distance. A slave who runs away from his master still 
  retains all of the markings of his station, and most 
  ghosts will look down upon him as “lost property.” 
  Some ghosts may even seek to capture him in hopes 
  of claiming a reward from his master. Some obscure 
  burial techniques make the bond between master 
  and slave even stronger. For example, the strange 
  practices of the Varajtul cannibals ensure that a 
  mortal ritually cannibalized by one of the Varajtul 
  is magically compelled to obey not only his devourer 
  should she become a ghost, but any Varajtul ghost 
  he encounters in the Underworld.
  A master always retains the option of freeing a 
  slave. If she does so, all of the slave’s markings fade 
  away instantly, and he becomes a free ghost. In fact, 
  freed slaves almost always become heroic ghosts due 
  to improvements made to their Attributes and Es-
  sence due to the circumstances of their deaths. Some 
  rumors claim that the Deathlords have the means to 
  sever a master-servant relationship even against the 
  master’s will, and they use this power to lure power-
  ful slave ghosts to their banners. Even freed ghosts 
  retain the markings of their former status and will 
  often be looked down upon as “escaped property” by 
  other free ghosts. Throughout the Underworld, there 
  is a burgeoning black market demand for clothing 
  that can hide a former slave’s markings.
  BURNT OFFERINGS
  Burnt offerings are sacrifices made to the dead by 
  their living descendants. Whether part of a formal 
  ancestor cult or merely an effort to pay homage to a 
  
  CHAPTER FOUR • THE UNLIVES OF GHOSTS
  CHAPTER FOUR • THE UNLIVES OF GHOSTS
  109
  one singular advantage—ghosts enjoy it. For a ghost, 
  the blood of an animal or human being offered in her 
  honor not only confers an Essence benefit, it produces 
  a narcotic effect. Blood offerings are almost always a 
  part of thaumaturgic summoning rituals, and they can 
  enhance the effectiveness of necromantic spells designed 
  to summon or command ghosts. Mechanically, for 
  every level of lethal damage inflicted on the sacrifice, 
  the ghost gains a mote of Essence, but his MDV versus 
  attempts to control him through the ritual is reduced 
  by 1. If the sacrifice was of a human being, double the 
  number of motes the ghost receives and increase the 
  MDV penalty to -2. If the sacrifice was of one of the 
  ghost’s descendants, triple the number of motes and 
  increase the MDV penalty to -4. The number of health 
  levels that can be converted into Essence is equal to six 
  for heroic mortals and two for extras. There is no limit 
  on how many health levels an Exalt can sacrifice.
  While necromancy spells can be enhanced by blood 
  offerings, thaumaturgic rituals designed to affect the dead 
  almost always require such offerings. It is commonly 
  known across Creation that spilling fresh blood across 
  a newly dug grave helps ensure that the dead endures 
  as a ghost. Another commonly known ritual allows an 
  exorcist to bind a ghost permanently and helplessly 
  into his own corpse by wrapping him in a blood-soaked 
  shroud. When the city of Chiaroscuro sought to seal 
  its dead away behind barriers of salt, they first slashed 
  bloody wounds into the bodies of condemned prisoners 
  and then chased them into the city’s small shadowland. 
  Drawn like flies to the copious sweet blood, the ghosts 
  swarmed over the doomed prisoners, giving the city 
  guard time to lay the salt barriers that keep the dead 
  in place to the present day. 
  The rules governing the summoning and exorcism 
  of ghosts are outlined in Exalted, pages 315-316.
  fallen loved one, these offerings have tremendous value 
  to their ghostly recipients. The impact of a burnt offering 
  varies according to what is actually burnt, but generally, 
  there is a direct correlation between the value of the 
  item sacrificed and the benefit (usually in the form of 
  Essence or Willpower) that accrues to the ghost. The 
  vast majority of worshipers in Creation lack the wealth 
  to offer truly valuable things to an ancestor. Instead, 
  such worshipers carefully construct replicas of more 
  valuable goods out of wood or paper and sacrifice them 
  instead. This is surprisingly effective, as the sincerity 
  and belief of the worshiper is much more important to 
  the ritual than the actual value of the sacrifice.
  Regardless of what sort of sacrifice the mortal makes, 
  the benefit to the ghost is the same. No matter what 
  was burned in Creation, it appears in the Underworld 
  as a small black jade token with the ghost’s name on it 
  that manifests near where it was sacrificed in Creation. 
  With but a touch, the ghost who receives the token can 
  release the Essence or Willpower bound within it. Only 
  the original recipient of a token can tap it for Willpower. 
  Any other ghost who possesses a token can tap it for Es-
  sence, but doing so is inefficient for anyone other than 
  the true owner and causes the token to lose two motes of 
  Essence per mote taken by the possessor. Nevertheless, 
  tokens are easily tradable and valuable to anyone who 
  possesses one. Consequently, these tokens form the chief 
  currency in much of the Underworld, and both the Dual 
  Monarchy and several of the Deathlords collect tokens 
  as taxes from the ghosts under their jurisdiction.
  BLOOD OFFERINGS
  Not all human sacrifices result in sacrificial slaves, 
  and indeed, not all such sacrifices call for the death of 
  the sacrifice. Blood sacrifices are the easiest forms of 
  sacrifice, and while the reward from a blood offering is 
  less impressive than most other sacrifices, it does have 
  TOKEN VALUES
  Resources Cost of Sacrifice* 
  Benefit Imparted
  X 
  1 mote
  • 
  3 motes
  •• 
  5 motes
  ••• 
  10 motes/1 Willpower**
  •••• 
  20 motes/2 Willpower**
  ••••• 
  30 motes/3 Willpower**
  * If the sacrifice is merely a replica of a more valuable item, determine the Resources cost of the item 
  being imitated and reduce it by **. If the replica is exceptionally well made, reduce the value by only *.
  ** Each Willpower point tapped drains 10 motes of Essence from the token.
  
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  CHAPTER FIVE • GHOST CHARACTER CREATION AND TRAITS
  CHAPTER FIVE • GHOST CHARACTER CREATION AND TRAITS
  111
  CHAPTER FIVE
  CHAPTER FIVE
  GHOST CHARACTER 
  GHOST CHARACTER 
  CREATION AND TRAITS
  CREATION AND TRAITS
  While heroic ghosts are more common in the 
  Underworld than in Creation, they still represent a 
  fraction of all ghosts. Such characters are giants among 
  the sad, hollow spirits who make up the bulk of the 
  dead, and their power and passions allow them to 
  forge their own destinies post mortem. But for all their 
  ingenuity and force of will, even the most puissant of 
  heroic ghosts is no match for the Deathlords and their 
  Abyssal servants.
  The steps below outline the rules for creating a 
  heroic ghost who is already one of the Underworld’s 
  dead when the series begins. Such a heroic ghost may 
  have been a heroic mortal in life or may have been an 
  extra who, after her tragic demise, found a new purpose 
  and a second chance for greatness in death. Rules for 
  converting a heroic mortal character who dies into a 
  heroic ghost are outlined on page 113.
  STEP ONE: CHARACTER CONCEPT
  The first step for creating a heroic ghost is the 
  same as that for creating an Exalt or a heroic mortal: 
  finding a character concept. The character should feel 
  like a real, three-dimensional person with an interest-
  ing backstory and compelling goals. A heroic ghost 
  should have an appropriate Motivation, usually one 
  closely tied to his Passions. Such a Motivation might 
  be: avenge my murder, see to it that my children live 
  happy lives, complete and publish my unfinished play. 
  Ghost characters regain Willpower from achieving goals 
  appropriate to their Motivations. However, if a ghost is 
  so successful in pursuing her Motivation that she fulfills 
  it completely, her player must roll Willpower (plus one 
  die for each Fetter point the character has) and get 
  at least three successes to avoid the character falling 
  to Lethe. If the roll succeeds, the ghost can alter her 
  
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  Motivation to allow her to continue her ghostly exis-
  tence. For example, a ghost with the Motivation “avenge 
  my murder” who succeeds in killing her murderer might 
  change her Motivation to “punish all murderers.”
  Common ghosts rarely have the capacity to switch 
  to new Motivations after fully resolving their old ones. 
  Such ghosts who resolve the principle dilemma of their 
  afterlives almost invariably enter Lethe. 
  STEP TWO: CHOOSING ATTRIBUTES
  Prioritize Attributes as normal. Divide six dots 
  among the three primary Attributes, five dots among 
  the three secondary Attributes and four dots among 
  the three tertiary Attributes.
  Common ghosts have only four dots to divide among 
  their three primary Attributes and only three each to divide 
  among each of the secondary and tertiary categories.
  STEP THREE: CHOOSING ABILITIES
  Heroic ghosts have 25 dots to distribute among 
  their Abilities. No Ability rating can exceed 3 without 
  spending bonus points. A heroic ghost can choose one 
  Ability as a Favored Ability. No other Ability can ever 
  be rated higher than the ghost’s Favored Ability. A 
  heroic ghost can purchase specialties as normal.
  Common ghosts begin with only 16 dots to distribute 
  among Abilities. Common ghosts never have Favored 
  Abilities and rarely have more than a single specialty.
  STEP FOUR: ADVANTAGES
  Both heroic and common ghosts select Virtues as 
  mortals and Exalts do: divide five dots among the four 
  Virtues. No Virtue rating can exceed 4 without spending 
  bonus points. Ghosts do not suffer from any form of the 
  Great Curse, not even if the ghost was an Exalt in life. 
  Heroic ghosts have eight dots to distribute among 
  Backgrounds, while common ghosts have only five. 
  Ghosts who previously lived in areas where the Im-
  maculate Philosophy held sway are limited in some of 
  the Backgrounds available to them. Such ghosts cannot 
  possess ratings in the Ancestor Cult or Grave Goods 
  Backgrounds above 1. Regardless, no Background can 
  be raised above 3 without spending bonus points.
  Heroic ghosts select six Arcanoi Charms from among 
  the Charms in Chapter Six. Common ghosts begin with 
  only two Arcanoi Charms. Ghosts may not learn the 
  Charms of Exalts or spirits. Ghosts do not retain any of the 
  Charms they knew in life, although the Deathlords seem to 
  flout this rule and some savants suspect that the Neverborn 
  might be able to permit the ghosts of Essence-wielders to 
  once again deploy any Charms they knew in life.
  STEP FIVE: FINISHING TOUCHES
  A ghost’s Willpower is equal to the sum of his two 
  highest Virtues. A heroic ghost begins with Essence 2, while 
  a common ghost begins with Essence 1. Ghosts do not 
  have Personal and Peripheral Essence pools. Instead, they 
  have a single pool, which is calculated as follows: (Essence 
  x 10) + (Willpower x 3) + (sum of all Virtues x 2). 
  For each dot that a ghost has in each of his Virtues, 
  he gains one point in a Passion logically related to that 
  Virtue. The Passion dots associated with a specific Virtue 
  can be divided up among multiple Passions, or they can 
  all be spent on one very important Passion. All ghosts 
  begin with five dots worth of Fetters, although this may 
  be reduced in the case of ghosts who possess the Age 
  Background. No single Fetter can have a rating higher 
  than 3 without spending bonus points, and the total of 
  a ghost’s Fetter dots cannot exceed his (Willpower + 
  Essence). This cap may be further reduced if the ghost 
  has any dots in the Age Background.
  All ghosts have seven corpus levels that function 
  exactly the same as health levels. Some Arcanoi can 
  grant additional corpus levels.
  Heroic ghosts have 21 bonus points to spend, while 
  common ghosts have only 15. These points can be spent 
  to raise traits or to purchase new Arcanoi Charms.
  THE SPARK OF DEATH
  The finishing touches of a heroic ghost character 
  are not unlike those of an Exalt. Generally, the life 
  of either character might be the same right up until a 
  seminal life-changing event, which for Exalts is rep-
  resented by Exaltation and for ghosts by, well, death. 
  The fundamental questions up until that point are the 
  same: What does your character look like? What sort of 
  personality does she have? What quirks or superstitions 
  guide her? Who does she care about (whether friend or 
  foe)? What was her childhood like? What motivates 
  her to do the things she does?
  Death adds a new dimension to a character, how-
  ever, and raises equally important questions that define 
  the heroic ghost:
  • Death: How long ago did you die (most likely 
  within the last few decades but possibly centuries or 
  even millennia ago)? What were the circumstances 
  surrounding your death? Before that point, what were 
  your attitudes toward death, and how have they changed 
  post mortem? What sorts of death markings do you carry? 
  Are you angry over your death, or have you accepted the 
  reality of death with some equanimity? What memories 
  of your life are most important to you?
  
  CHAPTER FIVE • GHOST CHARACTER CREATION AND TRAITS
  CHAPTER FIVE • GHOST CHARACTER CREATION AND TRAITS
  113
  • The Underworld: Where in the Underworld 
  do you make your home—a Stygian district, a bustling 
  Threshold necropolis, the lonely wastes inhabited only by 
  outlying barbarian tribes or someplace else? Are you from 
  a culture that venerates ghosts as ancestor spirits, or are 
  you a former Immaculate worshiper wondering where you 
  went wrong? What are your views on the Dual Monarchy, 
  the Deathlords and/or whatever system of government 
  rules your little corner of the Underworld?
  • The Dead: Who are your friends, allies and 
  enemies among the dead who surround you? How do 
  you feel about the ghostly condition? Do you prefer the 
  dead to the living? 
  CONVERTING EXALTED AND HEROIC MORTALS TO HEROIC GHOSTS
  Creation is a dangerous and violent place for Exalts and heroic mortals alike, and death is an inevitable part 
  of existence for such larger-than-life characters. With Storyteller discretion, a character who is slain in the course 
  of a story may become a ghost in the Underworld. Converting a living character to a ghost works as follows:
  • The character’s Motivation changes to something appropriate to a heroic ghost.
  • Attributes, Abilities and Virtues remain the same as they were at the time of death.
  • All Backgrounds possessed at the time of death are lost. The ghost may gain appropriate dots in 
  Ancestor Cult, Familiar, Grave Goods or Resources depending on what sort of burial he receives and how 
  his friends and family respond to his death over time. At the Storyteller’s discretion, the player may be 
  allowed to simply convert lost Backgrounds into additional Experience at a rate of one-to-one.
  • The ghost’s Essence is reduced by one dot to a minimum of Essence 2.
  • A new ghost loses any Charms he possessed in life. The one exception is Ox-Body Technique, which 
  translates into additional corpus levels post mortem (as if the ghost possessed the Arcanos equivalent to 
  that Charm). A new ghost does not begin with Arcanoi but can purchase them with experience points.
  • The ghost gains five points in Fetters and Passions according to his Virtues.
  • The ghost’s new Essence pool is recalculated to take his new status into account.
  • The Living: Do you still have living descendants 
  or even immediate family members? What is your view 
  toward them? Fondness? Pity? Contempt? Is there any-
  one among the living that you actually love?
  • Fetter and Passions: You know what your Fet-
  ters and Passions are, but why are they so important 
  that they keep you from Lethe? Do you cling to this 
  existence because you fear judgment for your past life? 
  Do your Fetters represent sources of guilt for things 
  you did wrong in life, or are they things you care about 
  so much that you sacrifice your own reincarnation to 
  watch over them in Creation?
  
  114
  1111111111111111111111111 4
  • STEP ONE: CHARACTER CONCEPT
  Choose concept and Motivation.
  • STEP TWO: SELECT ATTRIBUTES
  Note that all Attributes start with one dot before 
  you add any.
  Prioritize the three categories: Physical, Social, 
  Mental (6/4/3)
  Assign dots to Physical Traits: Strength, Dexter-
  ity, Stamina
  Assign dots to Social Traits: Charisma, Manipula-
  tion, Appearance
  Assign dots to Mental Traits: Perception, Intel-
  ligence, Wits
  • STEP THREE: SELECT ABILITIES
  Select Favored Ability
  Choose Abilities: (25—none may be raised above 
  3 without spending bonus points)
  • STEP FOUR: SELECT ADVANTAGES
  Choose Arcanoi Charms (6), Backgrounds 
  (8—none may be higher than 3 without spending 
  bonus points, and ghosts from Immaculate regions 
  cannot buy Ancestor Cult or Grave Goods above •) 
  and Virtues (5—none may be higher than 3 without 
  spending bonus points)
  • STEP FIVE: FINISHING TOUCHES
  Record Essence (2), Willpower (add the total of 
  the two highest Virtues—may not start higher than 8 
  unless at least two Virtues are 4 or higher), Essence Pool 
  ([Essence x 10] + [Willpower x 3] + [the sum of Virtues 
  x 2]) and corpus levels (7, plus any gained through 
  Arcanoi). Choose Fetters (5) and Passions (total dots 
  equal to Virtue ratings). A ghost can never have more 
  than (Willpower + Essence) dots in Fetters.
  • BONUS POINTS
  Bonus points (21) may be spent at any time during 
  character creation.
  BACKGROUNDS
  • Age—How long you have walked among the 
  dead and what secrets you have learned from 
  your journey.
  • Allies—Aides and friends who help in tasks.
  • Ancestor Cult—Mortal worshipers who provide 
  you with burnt offerings.
  • Artifact—The wonders of the dead.
  • Backing—Standing and rank in an Underworld 
  organization of power and influence.
  • Contacts—Information sources and friends in 
  high places.
  • Familiar—An exceptionally potent sacrificial 
  animal.
  • Followers—Ghosts who look to you for leader-
  ship.
  • Grave Goods—The value of your burial panoply.
  • Influence—Your pull in the Underworld.
  • Mentor—A teacher and instructor.
  • Resources—Material goods and money.
  • Underworld Cult—The veneration and worship 
  of other ghosts.
  CHARACTER CREATION SUMMARY
  BONUS POINT COSTS
  Trait 
  Cost
  Attribute 
  4
  Ability  
  2 (1 for a Favored Ability)
  Background 
  1 (2 if the Background is 
  being raised above 3)
  Specialty 
  1 (2 per 1 if in a Favored 
  Ability)
  Virtue 
  5
  Willpower 
  3
  Essence 
  12
  Arcanos Charm 
  6
  Fetter 
  3
  
  CHAPTER FIVE • GHOST CHARACTER CREATION AND TRAITS
  CHAPTER FIVE • GHOST CHARACTER CREATION AND TRAITS
  115
  GHOST TRAITS
  For the most part, creating a ghost character is 
  exactly like creating an Exalted or mortal character. 
  However, ghosts do have access to some special pow-
  ers unique to the dead, as well as specialized Abilities 
  and Backgrounds relevant to a character who resides 
  in the Underworld.
  NEW CRAFTS
  While most Abilities work the same for ghosts 
  as they do for mortals, the dead have access to five 
  specialized Craft Abilities. Two of them, Craft (Ja-
  decrafting) and Craft (Necrosurgery), are rare among 
  the living. Two others, Craft (Moliation) and Craft 
  (Pandemonium), are unknown among the living, 
  as they are useful only in the application of certain 
  ghostly Arcanoi. Finally, Craft (Soulforging), while 
  technically within the capabilities of mortals, is virtu-
  ally unknown among the living save those who serve 
  the Deathlords.
  CRAFT (JADECRAFTING)
  Trait Description: This Ability permits a ghost 
  to shape jade in the Underworld. Jade is slightly more 
  common in the Underworld than it is in Creation, 
  since so many grave goods manifest as jade when in-
  corporated into a ghost’s panoply. Additionally, jade is 
  found naturally in the Underworld, although it must be 
  mined from the Labyrinth along with unalloyed soul-
  steel. Ghosts who have studied the art of jadecrafting 
  can repair or even reshape jade artifacts and can craft 
  artifacts from jade ore. Jade is too fragile to be manipu-
  lated through soulforging but too hard to be moliated. 
  Consequently, only the specialized techniques of the 
  jadecrafter are useful in reshaping it. The province of 
  savants as well as smiths, a jadecrafter’s rating in Craft 
  (Jadecrafting) can never exceed either his Occult or 
  his Lore Ability ratings.
  Specialties: Grave Goods, Jewelry, Magical Artifacts, 
  Ornamental Weaponry
  Trait Effects: Someone with Craft (Jadecrafting) 1 
  can take a grave good and render it useful in the Under-
  world, carve raw jade into a useful shape or evaluate the 
  worth of a jade item. Someone with Craft (Jadecrafting) 
  3 can create useful jade implements, devices and chains, 
  or incorporate jade into a simple Underworld artifact. 
  Someone with Craft (Jadecrafting) 5 can create jade 
  jewelry good enough to please a Deathlord, infuse a jade 
  item with Essence or incorporate jade into complex 
  Underworld artifacts.
  CRAFT (MOLIATION)
  Trait Description: This Ability represents training 
  in Arcanoi that permit one ghost to alter the corpus 
  of another. Although superficially indistinguishable 
  from mortal flesh, a corpus is actually a matrix of pure 
  Essence shaped by the memories of the ghost herself. 
  Moliation refers to the process whereby a masquer 
  interferes with that matrix, allowing him to alter the 
  ghost’s appearance, turning her into a figure of beauty or 
  of nightmare. Charms that carry the Moliation keyword 
  require the ghost to use the Craft (Moliation) Ability 
  for optimal effect.
  The Craft (Moliation) Ability, in and of itself, 
  does not enable one ghost to reshape another’s corpus. 
  It simply represents the technical knowledge of how to 
  do so. Actually reshaping corpus requires appropriate 
  Arcanoi, most commonly those Arcanoi collectively 
  referred to as the Shifting Ghost-Clay Path. A character 
  knowledgeable about Moliation who does not possess 
  such Charms cannot alter another ghost’s form but can 
  detect the use of Moliation in another and can advise 
  another ghost who does possess such Charms in how 
  best to deploy them. Mechanically, the player of a ghost 
  who is being advised in his use of Moliation Charms 
  by someone with a higher Craft (Moliation) rating 
  gains a +1 die bonus to his roll. On the other hand, 
  the player of a ghost who attempts to use a Moliation 
  Charm without possessing any dots in Craft (Molia-
  tion) is limited to dice equal to the ghost’s Attribute 
  in making the Moliation roll.
  Specialties: Armor, Disguises, Masks, Monstrous 
  Forms, Weaponry
  Trait Effects: Someone with Craft (Moliation) 
  1 can detect the use of Moliation in others, add or 
  remove a feature crudely, or create a lifelike mask. 
  Someone with Craft (Moliation) 3 can create a mask 
  that inspires fear, create useful weaponry or craft a ghost 
  into a new shape. Someone with Craft (Moliation) 5 
  can reshape a ghost into an armored killing machine 
  or create masks so lifelike that none may recognize the 
  ghost’s true identity.
  CRAFT (NECROSURGERY)
  Trait Description: Necrosurgery is the art and 
  science of preparing a corpse for use in necromantic 
  rituals. Ghosts themselves, somewhat ironically, cannot 
  use necromancy (although Deathlords and nephwracks 
  can, one of many ways in which they violate the natural 
  order). However, a ghost trained in necrosurgery can 
  perform all of the preparation work that comes before the 
  actual casting of a necromancy spell, and many beings 
  
  116
  111111111111111111111111116
  capable of performing necromancy employ necrosurgeon 
  ghosts as helpers. For example, the Skullstone govern-
  ment employs thousands of state necromancers in its 
  College of Necrosurgery—the demand there for zombie 
  slaves is so great that living necromancers would never 
  be able to keep up if they did all the work themselves. 
  Necrosurgery is also the Ability used to repair and 
  maintain existing necromantic artifacts.
  Specialties: Combat Necrosurgery, Quick Repairs, 
  Skeletons, Spine Chains, Zombies
  Trait Effects: Someone with Craft (Necrosurgery) 
  1 can identify a necromantic creation, prepare an 
  animal or human corpse for reanimation into a com-
  mon zombie or skeleton slave, make minor repairs to a 
  damaged undead, or perform all the prep work for any 
  Shadowlands Circle reanimation spell. Someone with 
  Craft (Necrosurgery) 3 can prepare a human corpse for 
  reanimation into a sophisticated zombie (such as one 
  with limited self-awareness or one preprogrammed for 
  some kind of specialized work), embalm a human corpse 
  so that the resulting zombie might pass for human at a 
  distance, prepare the corpse of a life form larger than 
  a human or perform all the prep work for any Laby-
  rinth Circle reanimation spell. Someone with Craft 
  (Necrosurgery) 5 can prepare a human corpse so well 
  that the resulting zombie might pass for human unless 
  closely examined, prepare multiple corpses designed to 
  be raised together as part of the same undead creature 
  (such as a spine chain) or perform all the prep work 
  for any Void Circle reanimation spell.
  CRAFT (PANDEMONIUM)
  Trait Description: “Pandemonium” is the term 
  used by ghosts for Arcanoi-based effects that permit the 
  dead to directly effect Creation itself. Most commonly, 
  Pandemonium allows a haunter to create horrors, illu-
  sions and nightmares, although some Pandemonium 
  Charms allow the ghost to physically affect Creation 
  through telekinetic effects. Charms that carry the Pan-
  demonium keyword require the ghost to use the Craft 
  (Pandemonium) Ability for optimal effect.
  The Craft (Pandemonium) Ability, in and of itself, 
  does not allow the haunter to create Pandemonium 
  effects. Instead, it merely represents the knowledge of 
  how to do so. Actually creating such nightmares requires 
  appropriate Arcanoi, most commonly those Arcanoi 
  collectively referred to as the Terror-Spreading Art. 
  A character knowledgeable about Pandemonium who 
  does not possess such Charms cannot affect Creation 
  in such a way, but can advise another ghost who does 
  possess such Charms in how best to deploy them. Me-
  chanically, the player of a ghost who is being advised 
  in his use of Pandemonium Charms by someone with 
  a higher Craft (Pandemonium) rating gains a +1 die 
  bonus to his roll. On the other hand, the player of a 
  ghost who attempts to use a Pandemonium Charm 
  without possessing any dots in Craft (Pandemonium) is 
  limited to dice equal to the ghost’s Attribute in making 
  the Pandemonium roll.
  Specialties: Ichors, Insects, Scuttling Things, Shape-
  less Horrors, Striking Physical Objects
  Trait Effects: Someone with Craft (Pandemonium) 
  1 can detect another’s use of Pandemonium, create 
  a simple illusion or affect the living world in minor 
  ways. Someone with Craft (Pandemonium) 3 can cre-
  ate a complex illusion involving more than one sense, 
  manifest a horror of some sort or engage in strenuous 
  poltergeist activity. Someone with Craft (Pandemo-
  nium) 5 can birth a flood of devouring locusts or reach 
  into the Mouth of Oblivion.
  CRAFT (SOULFORGING)
  Trait Description: Soulforging is the process by 
  which the souls of the dead are melted down and then 
  shaped into useful items or are used to produce soulsteel. 
  First, the corpus of a ghost is carefully heated with 
  soulfire crystals so that it can be reduced to a viscous 
  state without damaging its integrity. Once liquified, the 
  corpus can be smelted with other materials and then 
  worked into any shape appropriate to conventional 
  metalworking. Soulforged items normally have the con-
  sistency of mortal steel. However, if the liquified corpus 
  is smelted with molten ore taken from the Labyrinth, 
  the result is soulsteel, one of the magical materials… 
  and the only one that screams when struck with the 
  smith’s hammer. 
  Proper soulforging is a highly specialized art that 
  requires rarified equipment, access to Labyrinthine 
  materials and a willingness on the part of the soulsmith 
  to condemn another ghost to eternal torment. Under-
  standably, soulforging is a heavily regulated art. The 
  Dual Monarchy has no interest in seeing its citizens 
  snatched off the streets to provide raw materials for 
  unlicensed soulsmiths, and even the Deathlords do 
  not tolerate soulsmiths in their territories who work for 
  anyone other than the Deathlords themselves. Full usage 
  of Craft (Soulforging) requires a hammer and anvil of 
  soulsteel or jade (each Artifact ••), an Essence forge 
  (Artifact •, plus Resources •• to keep the forge hot 
  with Essence) and a steady supply of souls.
  Specialties: Armor, Art, Construction Work, Soul-
  steel, Weapons
  
  CHAPTER FIVE • GHOST CHARACTER CREATION AND TRAITS
  CHAPTER FIVE • GHOST CHARACTER CREATION AND TRAITS
  117
  Trait Effects: Someone with Craft (Soulforging) 
  1 can identify and appraise the workmanship of a soul-
  forged object, properly melt a soul, make a basic sword 
  or simple item, or create sturdy construction materials. 
  Someone with Craft (Soulforging) 3 can create a unique 
  weapon, build a device with multiple moving parts from 
  soulforged elements, create a flexible chain or create 
  a soulforged item that can use Essence. Someone with 
  Craft (Soulforging) 5 can create a functioning automa-
  ton, make an artifact weapon, do soulforged filigree 
  work, or create and work with soulsteel.
  GHOST BACKGROUNDS
  Some Backgrounds are not available to the dead, 
  while others function differently for the dead than 
  they do for the living. The following Backgrounds 
  function for the dead essentially the same way they 
  do for mortals: Allies, Backing, Followers, Influence, 
  Mentor and Resources.
  Allies are typically the character’s ghost peers, 
  but they may be mortal shaman or thaumaturges with 
  whom the ghost has a mutually beneficial relation-
  ship. Backing most commonly comes from the support 
  of some Underworld ruler, but it might come from a 
  powerful ancestor cult or from a ruler in Creation al-
  lied with the Deathlords. Followers are usually other 
  less powerful ghosts but may represent particularly 
  obedient cultists. Mentors are most often older, more 
  experienced ghosts, but it is not uncommon for spirits 
  (especially minor death gods), Exalts, Deathlords and 
  even more unusual beings to mentor ghosts. Resources 
  in this context represent the currency and trade goods 
  of the Underworld, while Influence represents authority 
  within a political, military or economic entity within 
  the Underworld.
  New and altered Backgrounds are described below:
  AGE
  The vast majority of ghosts resolve their Passions 
  and Fetters (either willingly or unwillingly) and move 
  on to Lethe or to Oblivion fairly quickly. Some ghosts 
  do so within a few hours after dying. Most often, a ghost 
  will move on after a few years or even decades. A few 
  luminaries, however, are much older, having resisted 
  the insistent pull of Lethe and the twisted temptations 
  of Oblivion for centuries or longer. Few ghosts can do 
  so unscathed, however. Very old ghosts find their Pas-
  sions dimmed and their Fetters lost to the relentless 
  march of history. 
  Mechanically, this exchange is represented by the 
  Age Background, which permits a ghost to essentially 
  trade dots in Passions and Fetters for extra bonus points 
  that can be used to purchase other traits. However, age 
  doesn’t just reduce the integrity of a ghost’s connection 
  to Creation, it reduces his capacity to strengthen that 
  connection. Typically, a ghost may never have more 
  than (Willpower + Essence) dots in Fetters. Each dot 
  of Age reduces that cap even further. Thus, although 
  the player can purchase new Fetter dots with the ac-
  quired bonus points to replace those traded away, an 
  aged ghost is still limited in just how many new dots 
  he can get.
  Because Age has the potential to be game unbalanc-
  ing (especially in games where only one or just a few 
  players play ancient ghosts), no character may possess 
  the Age Background without Storyteller approval.
  Trait  
  Effects:
  X  
  Like the vast majority of the Underworld’s 
  citizens, your character is a fairly young ghost 
  who died less than 50 years ago. Her Fetter 
  dots are capped at (Willpower + Essence). 
  She begins with the normal five free dots 
  in Fetters, and her Passions are equal to the 
  total of her Virtue dots. 
  • 
  Your character died within the last 250 years. 
  Gain +5 bonus points. She begins with only 
  four free dots in Fetters, and she cannot have 
  more dots in Fetters than (Willpower + Es-
  sence - 1). Her starting Passions are equal to 
  (sum of all Virtues - 1).
  •• 
  Your character died within the last 500 years. 
  Gain +10 bonus points. She begins with only 
  four free dots in Fetters, and she cannot have 
  more dots in Fetters than (Willpower + Es-
  sence - 2). Her starting Passions are equal to 
  (sum of all Virtues - 2).
  ••• 
  Your character died within the last 750 years 
  and is probably one of the Contagion dead. 
  Gain +15 bonus points plus one free dot in 
  Influence (Underworld). She begins with 
  only three free dots in Fetters, and she cannot 
  have more dots in Fetters than (Willpower + 
  Essence - 3). Her starting Passions are equal 
  to (sum of all Virtues - 3).
  •••• 
  Your character is respected and feared by those 
  who know of her. She died sometime since 
  the Usurpation and is most likely one of the 
  Shogunate dead. Gain +20 bonus points plus 
  two free dots in Influence (Underworld). She 
  begins with only three free dots in Fetters, and 
  she cannot have more dots in Fetters than 
  
  118
  11111111111111111111118
  (Willpower + Essence - 4). Her starting Pas-
  sions are equal to (sum of all Virtues - 4).
  ••••• Your character is one of the oldest surviv-
  ing ghosts in the Underworld. Even the 
  Deathlords are wary of her reputation and 
  puissance. She died during the High First Age 
  and clearly remembers the Solar Lawgivers 
  of old (although for good or ill depends on 
  her own history). Gain +25 bonus points plus 
  three free dots in Influence (Underworld). 
  She begins with only two free dots in Fetters, 
  and she cannot have more dots in Fetters than 
  (Willpower + Essence - 5). Her starting Pas-
  sions are equal to (sum of all Virtues - 5).
  ANCESTOR CULT
  A significant number of mortals regularly pay hom-
  age to you by burning effigies and valuables in your 
  memory. At lower levels, this may represent family 
  members who mourn your passing. At higher levels, it 
  may represent entire nations who regularly commemo-
  rate your great deeds. An active ancestor cult provides 
  you with both Resources and Essence in the form of 
  burnt offerings as outlined on pages 108-109. Essence 
  gained through an ancestor cult does not directly enter 
  the ghost’s Essence pool (except at the ••••• dot 
  level). Instead, burnt offerings translate into Essence 
  tokens that materialize in the Underworld, where they 
  can be recovered by the ghost to whom the offering was 
  made. However, the flip side of having worshipers is 
  that they generally expect their prayers to be answered. 
  Ancestor cultists expect guidance or 
  aid from revered ancestors, if not ac-
  tual help against intrusions 
  from local gods or 
  the Immaculate 
  Order. 
  In or-
  der to reap 
  the benefits of 
  burnt offerings, 
  a ghost must be 
  able to reach the 
  Underworld ana-
  log of the altar where 
  the offerings are made, 
  since Essence tokens and 
  other blessings manifest 
  there after being sac-
  rificed in Creation. If 
  the altar in question is in a public place, tax assessors 
  working for the local Underworld potentate will almost 
  certainly be on hand to take the ruler’s portion.
  At the Storyteller’s discretion, once per story, a 
  player may roll his character’s Ancestor Cult Back-
  ground. If the roll succeeds, the player may increase 
  his character’s Followers or Resources rating by one 
  for a single action. This represents the ghost calling 
  upon his living followers to aid him in whatever goal 
  he pursues. 
  Trait  
  Effects:
  X 
  No one ever makes offerings in your name. 
  You are effectively forgotten by the living 
  world.
  • 
  Your character’s spouse or perhaps a few 
  children remember him regularly. His cult 
  offers him Resources • in burnt offerings 
  every few days and the occasional Resources 
  •• offering. A ghost whose cult resides on the 
  Blessed Isle or anywhere else with a strong 
  Immaculate presence cannot maintain an 
  ancestor cult above this level without it suffer-
  ing persecution at the hands of the 
  Dragon-Blooded religion.
  •• 
  Your character is held 
  up as an honored an-
  cestor by an entire 
  family line or by a small 
  extended fam-
  ily. His cult prays to him regularly, offering 
  a Resources • burnt offering every day, 
  Resources •• offerings at least once a 
  week and a Resources ••• offering on 
  major holidays. At least once a year, 
  his cult sacrifices an effigy of some 
  type in his honor.
  ••• A very large family or even a small tribe 
  venerates your character as a revered ances-
  tor, regularly telling tales of exploits from 
  his living days. Alternatively, perhaps he 
  was the founder of a small town or a hero 
  to a small nation. He receives Resources •• 
  burnt offerings every day and a Resources ••• 
  offering several times a year on holidays and 
  anniversaries important to his life. Much is 
  done in your character’s memory, and children 
  are sometimes named after him. Once a year, 
  his cult may send him a new grave good with 
  a mortal Resources cost no higher than •••. 
  This new grave good is ritually burned just 
  like any other burnt offering, but the item 
  111111111111111111 8
  wever, the flip side of having wo
  made. How
  enerally expect their prayers to be
  that they ge
  Ancestor cultists expect g
  aid from revered ancestor
  tual help against intru
  from local gods o
  the Immaculat
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  the b
  burnt 
  a gho
  able to
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  log of the 
  the offering
  since Essence t
  other blessing
  othe
  ere after
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  rificed in C
  ands of the
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  if not ac-
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  w
  typ
  ••• A ve
  
  CHAPTER FIVE • GHOST CHARACTER CREATION AND TRAITS
  CHAPTER FIVE • GHOST CHARACTER CREATION AND TRAITS
  119
  ARTIFACT
  Ghosts purchase artifacts under the rules 
  outlined on page 111 of Exalted. The dead receive 
  no magical materials bonus when using items made of 
  the magical materials, and they pay double the attune-
  ment and activation costs for orichalcum, moonsilver 
  and starmetal artifacts. Artifacts in the possession of 
  ghost characters will most likely be the creation of 
  soulforging, jadecrafting or necromancy, although some 
  characters may have simple Creation-made artifacts 
  such as daiklaves or magical armor. A ghost can never 
  have an artifact rated higher than ••• without special 
  Storyteller approval.
  CULT
  Theoretically, it is possible for a ghost to have 
  a cult powerful enough to confer the benefits of the 
  Cult Background as outlined on page 112 of Exalted. 
  In fact, this is partially figured into the Ancestor Cult 
  Background—ghosts with Ancestor Cult •••• auto-
  matically gain the mechanical benefits of Cult •, and 
  ghosts with Ancestor Cult ••••• gain the mechani-
  cal benefits of Cult ••. Thus far, only the Deathlords 
  are known to have gained the benefits of higher cult 
  ratings. Characters who acquire such extremely potent 
  cults retain the benefits of Ancestor Cult as they apply 
  to burnt offerings but gain the Essence and Willpower 
  benefits of Cult •••+ as appropriate.
  For example, a ghost character with Ancestor Cult 
  ••••• who manages to take his cult to the next level 
  itself is directly translated into a physical 
  object in the Underworld instead of merely 
  being converted into an Essence token.
  •••• 
  Your character is one of the founders of a 
  mighty clan or tribe, or perhaps the founder 
  of a small nation or a major city. There is a 
  public altar set up for him, and his cult has 
  a full-time priest who exhorts worshipers 
  to venerate him. He receives Resources 
  ••• burnt offerings every day and 
  Resources •••• offerings on ma-
  jor holidays (or simply when 
  worshipers seek his favor). 
  Once per season, he may 
  receive a new 
  grave good with 
  a Resources 
  cost no higher 
  than •••, or once per 
  year, he may receive a new grave 
  good with a Resources cost no higher than 
  ••••. The strength of his cult’s veneration 
  fortifies his will—every day at the exact 
  moment he died, he regains one spent 
  temporary Willpower point.
  ••••• Your character was the founder of a great 
  nation or a hero of millions. Children are 
  regularly named after him, and his temples 
  have entire staffs of full-time priests devoted 
  to his worship. He receives burnt offerings 
  worth Resources ••• every day and Re-
  sources ••••• offerings on major holidays. 
  Every few weeks, a particularly devoted 
  worshiper will make a Resources •••• of-
  fering in hopes of gaining your character’s 
  favor. He may receive a new grave good with 
  a Resources cost no higher than ••• once 
  per month, or he may receive a new grave 
  good with a Resources cost no higher than 
  •••• once per season, or he may receive 
  a new grave good with a Resources cost of 
  ••••• once per year. He regains one spent 
  temporary Willpower point every day at the 
  moment of his death. Also, he recovers an 
  additional two motes of Essence per hour, 
  which is added directly to his Essence pool 
  instead of manifesting in the form of tokens. 
  At this level of cult, he is on the verge of 
  godhood. Be advised that actual gods are 
  probably taking notice.
  ARTIFACT
  Ghosts purchase artifacts under the rules
  outlinedonpage111ofExalted.Thedeadreceive
  lated into a physical
  orld instead of merely
  an Esseence token.
   of the founders of a
  or perhaps the founder
  major city. The
  he
  h re is a
  im, and his cult thas 
  xhorts worshipers 
  eives Resources 
  ery day and
  ngs on ma-
  y when
  or). 
  y 
  w
  th 
  ces 
  gher 
  ce per 
  a new grave
  s cost no higher than 
  his cult’s veneration
  y day at the exact
  g
  than 
  year, he m
  
  120
  1212121212122121221212212121220
  (veneration over an entire region) still gets the burnt 
  offerings that he had been receiving, but instead of 
  regaining an additional two motes of Essence per hour, 
  he regains an extra three motes per hour. He can also 
  now regain a spent temporary Willpower point once 
  ever 24 hours as a reflexive action in addition to the 
  point regained automatically at the moment of death. 
  If the ghost’s cult grows even larger—even to the point 
  of becoming a Creation-wide phenomenon—he can 
  receive the benefits of Cult •••• and Cult •••••. 
  As a practical matter, the Realm, if not the forces of 
  Heaven itself, will attempt to destroy any cults that 
  become so widespread. Also, in order to maintain Cult 
  ••• or higher, the ghost must effectively live as a god, 
  residing not in the Underworld but in Creation in a 
  very strong Fetter, a manse or a demesnes. As a result, 
  no ghost character may ever take Cult ••• or higher 
  without express Storyteller permission.
  FAMILIAR
  Ghosts may not have living familiars. If a living 
  person’s familiar is sacrificed during her burial rites, 
  it is possible that the familiar may cross over as part 
  of her panoply. At character creation, purchasing an 
  animal as a ghost familiar adds +2 to the cost of this 
  Background. This is because in addition to serving as 
  a familiar, the familiar provides the benefits associated 
  with a sacrificial animal, such as improved Attributes 
  and loyalty (see “Sacrificial Animals” on page 106). 
  At the Storyteller’s discretion, a ghost 
  may be able to develop a post-mortem 
  bond with a plasmic life form such that 
  the creature serves as a familiar. Do-
  ing so adds +1 to the normal cost of 
  having a familiar. Such a plasmic 
  lty (see Sacrificial Animals  on page 106).
  and loyal
  At the Storyteller’s discretion, a ghost
  may be able to develop a post-mortem
  bond with a plasmic life form such that
  the creature serrves ass a familliar. Do-
  ing so adds +1 to the normal cost of 
  having a familiar. Such a plasmic 
  familiar does not provide the benefits that a sacrificial 
  animal would, but it does have the typical powers of 
  a ghost animal. 
  GRAVE GOODS
  The term “grave goods” most commonly represents 
  the panoply of personal effects and treasures buried with 
  the ghost’s body that accompany her into the Underworld, 
  although ghost characters with sufficiently high levels of 
  Ancestor Cult sometimes receive valuable sacrifices in the 
  form of new grave goods on special holidays. Although 
  valuable, grave goods are not Resources because they do 
  not replenish themselves except while in the possession 
  of the ghost with whom they were buried. A sold or 
  stolen grave good is potentially a useful item, but it will 
  eventually wear out or, in the case of an animal, return 
  to its true master. A ghost with a high enough Resources 
  rating may purchase the grave goods of others, but the 
  life span of such goods diminishes rapidly once they are 
  removed from their former owner.
  Trait  
  Effects:
  X 
  Your character has no grave goods. Was he 
  a pauper or a devotee of the Immaculate 
  Philosophy? Or was he simply tossed naked 
  into an unmarked grave by the bandits who 
  took everything he had?
  • 
  Your character has basic grave goods—one 
  decent suit of clothing, a simple weapon and 
  perhaps some tasty food.
  •• 
  Your character has more elaborate grave 
  goods—a suit of armor, several suits of clothing, 
  jewelry and miscellaneous personal goods such 
  as books, toys, games or multiple weapons.
  •••  
  Your character was a wealthy mortal who 
  cared enough about the afterlife to pay for an 
  expensive Sijanese funeral. Or perhaps he was 
  a barbarian from the icewalkers, the Tear Eat-
  ers or some other tribe with strong ancestor 
  cults whose family wanted him looked after in 
  the next life. He has many suits of good cloth-
  ing, a dozen exceptional weapons, a larder 
  full of fine food and a chest full of Essence 
  tokens (the equivalent of 100 Essence/10 
  Willpower in burnt offerings). He has seven 
  animals/servants, divided up among sacrificial 
  animals, effigies and sacrificial slaves.
  •••• 
  Your character’s funeral was a ceremony 
  out of legend. His tomb is so grand that a 
  copy of it probably came with him into the 
  Underworld to serve as his residence. He has 
  
  CHAPTER FIVE • GHOST CHARACTER CREATION AND TRAITS
  CHAPTER FIVE • GHOST CHARACTER CREATION AND TRAITS
  121
  one in which both the worshipers and the ones being 
  worshiped are all ghosts. The most famous Underworld 
  cult is undoubtedly the Cult of the Dual Monarchy, which 
  is worshiped by almost the entirety of the Underworld. 
  The Dual Monarchy’s cult is so strong and far-reaching 
  that it literally powers the sun across the Underworld 
  sky. Less dramatically, most ghosts of any political power 
  or influence demand worship from their inferiors. Ghost 
  peasants venerate ghost kings, mortwights worship 
  nephwracks, citizens of Stygia worship the rulers of their 
  respective districts, and so forth. Also, two Underworld 
  cities, Stygia and Sijan, receive such adulation that many 
  ghosts gain the lesser benefits of this Background just 
  by residing there. Unlike the higher levels of Ancestor 
  Cult, an Underworld cult provides no Willpower benefit, 
  but it does provide huge reserves of Essence to those at 
  the top of a cult’s pyramid.
  Trait  
  Effects:
  X 
  No one in the Underworld worships you.
  • 
  Your character’s peers and household offer her 
  small prayers. Regain one additional Essence 
  per hour. Long-term residents of Sijan often 
  gain this level of Underworld Cult through 
  the city’s ambient reverence.
  •• 
  A hundred or so ghosts call your character their 
  patron and bow down in her honor. Regain 
  two additional Essence per hour. Long-term 
  p
  g
  all the weapons, clothing, armor and food he 
  could ever want. If his was a nautical culture, 
  he has a sailing vessel of some kind. He has 
  a score of sacrificial animals, up to 100 effi-
  gies and a dozen or so sacrificial slaves taken 
  from the wives, concubines, servants and 
  bodyguards who died to commemorate his 
  funeral. He has 150 Essence/15 Willpower 
  in burnt offerings.
  ••••• Your character’s funeral was a national event 
  in a country that went spendthrift in his honor. 
  The Morticians of Sijan still talk about the effort 
  that went into the spectacle. He is fabulously 
  wealthy in terms of personal possessions. He 
  drifts along the rivers of the Underworld on 
  his personal yacht with its crew of effigy sail-
  ors. His tomb is a mansion, complete with a 
  stable of horses (both sacrificial and effigy). He 
  has entire herds of sheep or cattle, complete 
  with dozens of effigy shepherds. He has 1,000 
  warrior effigies, and his ghostly entourage of 
  sacrificial slaves numbers 30 or more. He has 
  250 Essence/25 Willpower in burnt offerings. 
  MANSE AND UNDERWORLD MANSE
  In theory, a ghost can attune to a manse just like 
  any other Essence wielder. In practice, there just aren’t 
  many available for them to attune to. Every known 
  Underworld manse is under the direct control of a 
  Deathlord. In fact, the vast majority of Underworld 
  manses were built by Deathlords using unholy necro-
  mantic techniques to overcome the fact that there are 
  few natural demesnes in the Underworld. 
  Consequently, if a ghost character has posses-
  sion of a manse, it is as a plot device rather than as a 
  Background trait, since the ghost holds possession only 
  through the sufferance of a far more powerful being. 
  In the unlikely event that a ghost found himself in 
  a manse within Creation, he could theoretically use 
  that manse as a sanctum in much the same manner as 
  a spirit if he had appropriate Arcanoi to allow himself 
  to materialize in Creation.
  UNDERWORLD CULT
  While ghosts commonly receive worship from 
  mortals via ancestor cults, some ghosts actually receive 
  worship from their own peers. An Underworld cult is 
  
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  121212121212121212121212122
  residents of Stygia often gain this level of Un-
  derworld Cult through ambient reverence.
  ••• 
  Several hundred ghosts view your character 
  as a spirit lord. This is the appropriate level of 
  Underworld Cult for the average nephwrack 
  temple head, the founder of a clan among the 
  dead or the ruler of a dead city-state. Regain 
  three additional Essence per hour from the 
  prayers of your character’s underlings.
  •••• 
  Your character has several thousand ghostly 
  worshipers. Perhaps she is the leader of a large 
  kingdom of the dead or head of a great and 
  mighty family. Or perhaps she was one of the 
  heroes of old, drawing Essence from the am-
  bient reverence that the ancient legends still 
  carry. Regain four additional Essence per hour 
  from the prayers of your character’s cult.
  ••••• Your character’s cult is comparable in size to 
  that of a Deathlord, a Stygian district ruler 
  or the lords of one of the great empires of the 
  dead. Regain five additional Essence per hour 
  from the tens of thousands who worship your 
  character’s name.
  WHISPERS
  The Whispers Background is customarily available 
  only to Abyssal Exalted and to spectres. At the Story-
  teller’s discretion, it may be available to heroic ghost 
  characters who actively worship the Neverborn or who 
  have suffered some horrific brush with them from an 
  earlier incursion into the Labyrinth. The cost for purchas-
  ing this Background is higher for heroic ghosts than it 
  is for Abyssal Exalted—such characters must spend two 
  Background points per dot for the first three dots of this 
  Background and three Background points for the fourth 
  and fifth dot. The experience point cost for increasing the 
  ghost’s Whispers rating is doubled. Furthermore, a ghost 
  character cannot improve his Whispers rating without 
  pursuing some sort of vision quest within the Labyrinth 
  as a way of communicating with his dark lords.
  The Whispers Background is detailed more fully 
  in The Manual of Exalted Power—The Abyssals, 
  pages 100-101. A brief description of its mechanical 
  benefits follows:
  • Once per scene, the ghost can spend one Will-
  power point and substitute his Whispers rating for an 
  Ability rating.
  • Once per scene, the ghost can spend one Willpower 
  point to glean clues and other information from the dreams 
  of the Neverborn. To do so, the ghost’s player must succeed 
  at a (Perception + Whispers) roll. More successes yield 
  clearer and more extensive information. The effective 
  number of successes may not exceed the character’s Whis-
  pers rating (excess successes are wasted). Failure results 
  in distorted or false information that leads the character 
  astray. Storytellers should strongly consider making the 
  rolls in secret so players can’t ever completely trust the 
  results. Queries outside the purview of Whispers result in 
  automatic failure. Open-ended questions such as, “What 
  is my purpose?” are a perfectly reasonable way to trigger a 
  Storyteller-directed vision. Inquiries into the future can 
  reveal only what the Neverborn want or plot to happen, 
  not what will definitely come to pass. Glimpses of these 
  plots can provide valuable insight to anyone attempting 
  to further or thwart these ambitions, though.
  • A character’s presence at significant events 
  that further the agenda of the Neverborn may trigger 
  a reflexive activation of Whispers to understand the 
  event, but these undirected visions are Storyteller-
  controlled plot devices and do not cost Willpower. For 
  example, the first meaningful interaction between two 
  characters with Whispers often causes them to experi-
  ence visions of each other as their shared connection 
  to the hive-mind nightmares of the Labyrinth triggers 
  momentary psychic feedback.
  • A character can use Whispers as a guide to where 
  the Neverborn believe her actions could further their 
  goals. She attunes herself to the murmurs of the Nev-
  erborn and lets them lead her where they will. Usually, 
  these inducements lead those who listen to places and 
  times where a single death could devastate a community 
  or thwart important plans for Creation’s health and 
  defense. Alternatively, they might lead to a village ripe 
  for recruitment into an ancestor cult or as other possible 
  minions. Long-lost and well-guarded artifacts are another 
  option. (Really, this use of Whispers is an invitation to 
  the Storyteller to provide a short side adventure.)
  Trait  
  Effects:
  X  
  Your character has yet to feel the direct touch 
  of the Neverborn.
  •  
  Your character hears the faint murmur of 
  dead gods from time to time. These murmurs 
  provide fragmentary clues heavily cloaked in 
  metaphor and symbolism, all true but rarely 
  understood except in hindsight.
  ••  
  Your character feels the rustle of eldritch hor-
  rors skittering through her brain. Her visions 
  can abstractly explore any topic through figura-
  tive depictions but only provide clear images 
  drawn from the character’s own memory and 
  experiences. These wandering glimpses of the 
  
  CHAPTER FIVE • GHOST CHARACTER CREATION AND TRAITS
  CHAPTER FIVE • GHOST CHARACTER CREATION AND TRAITS
  123
  past provide supernatural insight and hunches, 
  effectively allowing the player to get clues 
  from the Storyteller on how to put known 
  information together to address the question 
  at hand without receiving a straight answer.
  •••  
  Your character has attained communion with 
  her terrible masters. The character’s visions 
  are incomplete, but often fill in critical details 
  the character might have missed. These vi-
  sions aren’t enough to answer the question 
  outright, but they certainly provide a good 
  foundation to begin an investigation or find a 
  new lead in the absence of other evidence.
  ••••  
  Your character drowns in the omnipresent 
  nightmares of the Neverborn. Her visions 
  are mostly complete and either use literal 
  depictions or obvious symbols. This level of 
  contact can answer many questions outright, 
  but it does not provide supplementary informa-
  tion to expand the inquiry beyond the actual 
  wording of the question, nor do these glimpses 
  explore other points of view or any indirect 
  connections. Storytellers should feel free to 
  present incomplete truths to misdirect players 
  who come to rely on Whispers as a crutch to 
  avoid or bypass plot rather than expand their 
  involvement and awareness of the story.
  •••••  Your character has transcended sanity and 
  all vestiges of humanity in obeisance to 
  Oblivion. Visions are agonizingly clear, 
  revealing subtle contextual details and 
  tangentially related facts the character 
  might never have thought to consider, plus 
  unambiguous awareness of the Neverborn’s 
  wishes related to the topic. 
  INNATE GHOST POWERS AND LIMITATIONS
  In addition to their ghostly Arcanoi, all of the dead 
  have innate powers and limitations as an inherent part 
  of the ghostly condition. The following powers and 
  limitations are common to all ghosts
  ACUTE SENSES
  The dead have remarkable acuity in all their senses, 
  especially where sickness, disease and other deathly 
  conditions are concerned. Any ghost gains an automatic 
  success on all Perception-based rolls and two automatic 
  successes on any Medicine-related rolls to spot or diagnose 
  an illness in a mortal. The downside of this attunement 
  to death is that ghosts see decay in every living thing in 
  Creation. To a ghost’s senses, every freshly bloomed rose 
  
  124
  12121212121212121212122121224
  it horizontally—only vertical movement requires Es-
  sence. Also, a ghost never takes damage from falling 
  from any height while in Creation.
  While in the Underworld, while in a shadowland 
  by daylight or while materialized (such as through the 
  Weighted With the Anchor of Flesh Charm or similar 
  magic), the rules stated above do not apply. The solidi-
  fied ghost cannot pass through any solid object. She 
  may be attacked normally while materialized, and she 
  takes falling damage as normal.
  WHISPERS OF OBLIVION
  The Neverborn are not the only whisperers in 
  the Underworld. Incomprehensible murmurs rise 
  from the Abyss and echo within the darkest recesses 
  of the Labyrinth. They also penetrate Creation at 
  a few supremely cursed and evil locations.
  These Whispers of Oblivion consume the 
  sanity of ghosts, requiring a roll of (Integrity + 
  Willpower) at difficulty 5 to avoid infection. Players 
  of infected ghosts repeat this roll for each day of 
  the ghost’s existence thereafter. Failure compels a 
  ghost to commit atrocities against existence unless 
  the ghost spends one Willpower point to stave off 
  the unnatural mental influence. Ghosts who give 
  in to their monstrous urges regain one Willpower 
  point from the experience (though they cannot 
  raise their Willpower points above their normal 
  maximum). Once a ghost submits to Oblivion’s 
  voice a total number of days equal to her Willpower 
  rating, she becomes a spectre and can nevermore 
  resist the monstrous impulses that guide her damned 
  existence. The new spectre’s Motivation shifts to 
  something suitably unpleasant, even as Oblivion 
  consumes all Intimacies based on love, friendship 
  or other positive emotions.
  Common ghosts infected with the Whispers 
  of Oblivion are damned. Eventually, they will give 
  in to the monstrous gibbering that claws at their 
  minds and souls. Heroic ghosts have a chance at 
  salvation. Instead of spending one Willpower to 
  stave off the effects of this infection, a heroic ghost 
  has the option of spending three to purge herself 
  of Oblivion’s taint. When she has spent a total of 
  30 Willpower in this manner (and spending only 
  one Willpower at a time does not count toward this 
  total), she shakes off the Whispers of Oblivion for 
  good... or until she is next directly exposed to the 
  Abyss and becomes infected once more.
  carries on its petals the stink of its own eventual rotting, 
  and every newborn babe’s cries carries the death rattle 
  of an elderly man’s last gasps. Even in the lands of the 
  living, the dead cannot escape death, and most ghosts 
  find Creation to be a profoundly dreary place.
  IMMATERIAL STATE
  The default state for a ghost in Creation (or in a 
  shadowland during the day) is to be intangible and 
  invisible. A ghost in Creation can pass through any non-
  magical barrier with ease, and she cannot be harmed or 
  even perceived save through magical attacks or senses. 
  Ghosts have limited control over this intangibility—
  mainly to the extent of ensuring that they do not fall 
  through floors or sink to the bottom of a body of water 
  unless a ghost actually wishes to do either. Similarly, 
  a ghost can sit on a chair in Creation without falling 
  through, but the weight of her touch is insufficient to 
  even disturb any dust on it, let alone cause the chair to 
  creak or its cushions to depress. If a mortal subsequently 
  sits in the chair while the ghost rests on it (or indeed if 
  any large object passes through an unprepared ghost), 
  the effect is unnerving to the ghost but otherwise inflicts 
  no physical effect on either.
  By default, a ghost will stand atop the surface of 
  a body of water, which she must ride as if she were a 
  mortal on particularly unsteady terrain (-1 to -5 internal 
  penalty on all Dexterity-related rolls while standing 
  on or moving across the surface of a body of water, 
  depending on how rough the seas are). By spending a 
  single mote, a ghost can reduce her density and sink 
  instantly to the bottom of whatever body of water she 
  stands upon, whereupon she can walk around the bot-
  tom with no difficulty. By spending a second mote, 
  the ghost can terminate this reduced density, instantly 
  popping to the water’s surface.
  Similarly, a ghost is, by default, solid with regard 
  to whatever solid surface he stands upon. By spending 
  Essence, a ghost can allow himself to fall through a 
  floor to any open areas below. The cost for this aspect 
  of ghostly intangibility is one mote per every 10 feet of 
  solid matter to traverse vertically. Thus, one mote is 
  sufficient to fall through a second-story floor into the 
  first-floor room below, while three motes is required 
  to fall through the earth that separates an open field 
  from a subterranean cavern 15 feet below. The same 
  Essence expenditure allows a ghost to float back to 
  whatever location above he has just left, but only from 
  the spot where he “landed” after falling through the 
  intervening matter. A ghost never has to spend Essence 
  to traverse solid matter so long as he can move through 
  
  CHAPTER SIX • ARCANOI
  CHAPTER SIX • ARCANOI
  125
  
  126
  12121212121212121212122121226
  Patient, studious ghosts can learn Charms unique to 
  their spectral state and Underworld surroundings. Such 
  Charms are either individual tricks common across the 
  lands of the dead or they’re building blocks in longer 
  cascades that are taught only in certain places or to 
  certain strata of Underworld society. A longer cascade 
  is known as an Arcanos, and each Arcanos has a name 
  that signifies what its Charms make possible.
  At character creation, a ghost receives six Charms, 
  which can come from the common list or from any 
  Arcanos the player and Storyteller deem appropriate. 
  Thereafter, the character can learn any common ghostly 
  Charm independently. Doing so requires a number of 
  days of training equal to the Charm’s minimum Virtue 
  rating. For Charms from the Arcanoi, however, a ghost 
  must have a tutor who can teach them to him. Learn-
  ing a new Arcanos Charm requires a number of days of 
  training equal to the Charm’s minimum Virtue plus its 
  minimum Essence. Creating a new ghostly Charm takes 
  four times as long as learning an established one.
  It is important to note that ghostly Charms can 
  never be part of a Combo. Ghosts themselves cannot 
  ever use more than one in a given action, and non-
  ghost characters who learn ghost Charms (such as 
  Moonshadow Abyssals) cannot include said Charms 
  in Combos with their own natural Charms. Also, the 
  Obvious keyword applies only when both the ghost and 
  the supernatural effects of the Charm he’s using are si-
  multaneously detectable with mundane senses. Finally, 
  ghosts do not have access to Excellencies. Excellencies 
  are the purview of the Exalted and the gods, whereas 
  ghosts are lesser creatures even than mortals.
  CHAPTER SIX
  CHAPTER SIX
  ARCANOI
  ARCANOI
  
  CHAPTER SIX • ARCANOI
  CHAPTER SIX • ARCANOI
  127
  COMMON GHOSTLY CHARMS
  These Charms are available to any ghost with the 
  will and patience to learn them. They’re among the 
  first that all lone scholars develop independently. In 
  Underworld regions where knowledge of the Arcanoi is 
  stamped out by authoritarian bullies or is simply lost in 
  tumultuous political upheaval, these arts are the ones 
  most quickly rediscovered in the aftermath or taught by 
  insurgents from beyond the fringes. Most are singular 
  tricks, but a handful either build on one another or link 
  into short cascades.
  ASSASSIN’S SUBTLE ESCAPE
  Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Temperance 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple (Speed 3, DV -1)
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One 
  hour per suc-
  cess
  Prerequisite 
  C h a r m s : 
  None
  Ghosts who are incorporeal can move through solid 
  objects with ease. Ghosts with this Charm, however, can 
  physically become one with solid objects in the land of 
  the living and hide within them. As the ghost lays his 
  hand on the object, the player rolls (Manipulation + 
  Craft). The Craft Ability he rolls depends on the type 
  of object. He can hide inside only discrete, mundane 
  objects that are not constructed of (and do not incor-
  porate) any of the magical materials. Also, the object 
  must be at least as large as a comb, and no larger than 
  a yeddim’s howdah. Once he is safely absorbed into the 
  object, he remains there for a number of hours equal 
  to the activation roll successes.
  While he’s within the object, the character can-
  not be detected by any mundane means, nor can he 
  be harmed. He’s vaguely aware of what goes on around 
  the item, but specific information is beyond his reach. 
  (He could detect people moving around in the room 
  where he’s hiding, and he could infer from their move-
  ments that they were looking for him, but he wouldn’t 
  be able to tell who they were unless they spoke and 
  he recognized their voices.) If the item within which 
  he’s hiding is damaged, he suffers no damage himself. 
  If damage resulting from fire, pulverization or magic 
  affects the item, though, 
  y
  Duration:One 
  hour per suc-
  cess
  Prerequisite 
  C h a r m s :
  None
  be harmed. He s vaguely aware of what goes on around
  the item, but specific information is beyond his reach. 
  (He could detect people moving around in the room
  where he’s hiding, and he could infer from their move-
  h
  h
  h d
  d h
  ld
  f
  f
  h
  ments that they were looking for him, but he wouldn’t 
  be able to tell who they were unless they spoke and 
  he recognized their voices.) If the item within which
  he’s hiding is damaged, he suffers no damage himself. 
  If damage resulting from fire, pulverization or magic 
  affects the item, though, 
  
  128
  121212121212121212122121228
  the character becomes aware of it as a faint sense of 
  alarm. Should any of those three sources destroy the 
  ghost’s hiding place, the ghost is sent to Lethe.
  A ghost using this Charm ends it prematurely if he 
  exits the item in which he’s hiding before the duration 
  lapses. If he wants to hide in that item again (or move 
  to a better one), he must activate the Charm again.
  MOTIVATED SHELL
  Cost: 8m, 1wp; Mins: Valor 3, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Six ticks per success
  Prerequisite Charms: Assassin’s Subtle Escape
  A ghost can use this Charm’s prerequisite to hide 
  within an object in the living world, but while she’s in 
  there, she’s effectively trapped. Even if the object can 
  move, she can’t move it. With this Charm, however, 
  she can manipulate the object from within. First, she 
  must let herself be absorbed into the object using As-
  sassin’s Subtle Escape. Activating this Charm requires 
  a second (Manipulation + Craft) roll along with the 
  new activation cost. For each success on the roll, she 
  can control the object’s actions for six ticks.
  While she’s in control, the ghost can make the 
  object do anything it normally could do or be made 
  to do by hand. If someone else fights her for control 
  of the object—if, for instance, the ghost hides within 
  a wheelbarrow and tries to snatch it away from the 
  filthy peasant who’s pushing it out toward the cow 
  fields—pit the other person’s (Strength + Athletics) in 
  a contested roll against the ghost’s player’s activation 
  roll. Whoever’s roll has more successes decides what 
  the object does.
  RIDE THE MYSTIC VESSEL
  Cost: 3m; Mins: Valor 3, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple (Speed 6, DV -1)
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One action per success
  Prerequisite Charms: Assassin’s Subtle Escape
  This Charm grants the character the ability to use 
  Assassin’s Subtle Escape to hide within objects made 
  of the magical materials. To use it, his player rolls the 
  character’s Valor. The new capability remains in effect 
  for a number of subsequent actions equal to successes 
  on the roll. In one of those subsequent actions, the 
  character may then activate Assassin’s Subtle Escape 
  to attempt to inhabit an item made of one of the five 
  magical materials. The ghost then remains within the 
  magical object as per a normal use of Assassin’s Subtle 
  Escape. (The extended duration of this Charm exists to 
  allow the player an extra attempt if he should fail the 
  first activation roll for Assassin’s Subtle Escape.)
  If the magical object is rated Artifact •• or higher, 
  the ghost cannot inhabit it unless it is made of jade or 
  soulsteel. If the object is rated Artifact •••• or higher, 
  the ghost cannot hide within it at all. If the object is 
  currently attuned to someone, the ghost cannot hide 
  within it at all, regardless of its Artifact rating.
  ANGRY TRICKSTER GHOST METHOD
  Cost: 5m; Mins: Conviction 3, Essence 3; 
  Type: Simple (Speed 5, DV -2)
  Keywords: Obvious
  Duration: Varies
  Prerequisite Charms: Assassin’s Subtle Escape
  Venting her rage on the world around her, the 
  ghost causes loose objects to rise into the air and swirl at 
  dangerous speeds in a five-yard radius. A single success 
  on a (Conviction + Melee) roll activates this Charm 
  and sustains the whirlwind until the character’s next 
  action. Additional successes can either increase the 
  radius of the effect by five yards or increase the dura-
  tion of the effect by five ticks. Once the ghost has set 
  the storm in motion and set its size and duration, she 
  may act normally on subsequent actions.
  The number of successes on the activation roll also 
  count as a number of attack successes against which 
  anyone caught in the whirlwind must defend himself 
  every five ticks that the whirlwind remains in effect. 
  Anyone who can’t successfully defend himself suffers 
  four dice of damage. (The predominant type of debris 
  determines the type of damage.)
  The Obvious keyword applies only when the ghost 
  is corporeal and visible when she activates this Charm. 
  The whirlwind itself is still very much in evidence if an 
  immaterial ghost activates the Charm, but if the ghost 
  is not detectable by mundane senses, the source of the 
  flying detritus is not self-evident.
  DARK STEED MASTERY
  Cost: 1m per die; Mins: Conviction 1, Essence 1; 
  Type: Supplemental
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  The ghostly steeds of the Underworld do not handle 
  like living mounts do. They don’t spook as easily at 
  roadside distractions or balk at daunting obstacles. Rid-
  ing such steeds, therefore, takes special training and a 
  little getting used to. This Charm—a favorite of ghostly 
  cavalrymen, messengers and explorers—augments the 
  special knack it takes to master an Underworld steed. 
  
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  129
  A rider can add one die to his Ride dice pools per mote 
  of Essence he spends, up to a maximum equal to his 
  Essence rating.
  This Charm works only on ghostly mounts and 
  only in either the Underworld or a shadowland. It has 
  no effect whatsoever on living mounts. It has no effect 
  on mounts in Creation unless the rider uses the Evoke 
  the Ancient Clay Charm called Manifest the Dark 
  Steed to make his ghostly mount appear in Creation. 
  At the Storyteller’s discretion, this Charm can be 
  used as normal when a ghost rides a mount animated 
  by necromancy (provided controlling the construct 
  requires a Ride roll).
  FORMER LIFE DESTRUCTION TECHNIQUE
  Cost: —; Mins: Temperance 4, Essence 4; 
  Type: Permanent
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Permanent
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  Unlike the other common Arcanoi Charms, this 
  one isn’t a classic that reiterates spontaneously time 
  and again. It’s a relatively recent trick introduced to 
  dead society by the Deathlords. The trick’s widespread 
  popularity among students of the Arcanoi is what makes 
  it common.
  Once she learns this Charm, a ghost strips away her 
  name and replaces it with a new title or pseudonym. 
  Thereafter, she gains a four-die bonus to actively resist 
  any sorcery or necromancy effect that relies on her for-
  mer name. It also grants her a +2 bonus to her MDVs 
  when someone tries to use her former name against her 
  to influence her behavior.
  MOON’S COLD GLOW
  Cost: 2m; Mins: Conviction 1, Essence 1; 
  Type: Simple (Speed 3, DV -0)
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One night per success
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  The Underworld is a bleak, gloomy place. The most 
  common weather patterns alternate oily rain with omi-
  nous, gray fog with stiff winds that carry minute flecks 
  of bone dust. Overhead, the sky is perpetually overcast, 
  leaving it up to the Calendar of Setesh to divide day 
  from night. Ghosts caught out in bad weather without 
  a light source are effectively blind.
  With this Charm, however, the ghost can see 
  as well in the darkness of the Underworld as any of 
  the three Full Moon entries on the Sample Visibility 
  Conditions table on page 135 of Exalted, regardless of 
  however much worse the visibility conditions actually 
  are. The Charm functions just as well in Creation or 
  a shadowland as it does in the Underworld. In any 
  location, it functions only at night. The player rolls 
  (Perception + Conviction) to activate the power, 
  which remains active for a number of nights equal to 
  successes on the roll.
  OX-BODY TECHNIQUE
  Cost: —; Mins: Conviction 1, Essence 1; 
  Type: Permanent
  Keywords: Stackable
  Duration: Permanent
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  A ghost can have this Charm a number of times 
  equal to her Conviction rating. Each time she purchases 
  it, she gains two additional -2 health levels.
  POLE THE BLACK DEPTHS
  Cost: 1m per die; Mins: Conviction 1, Essence 1; Type:
  Supplemental
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  Using this Charm allows a ghost to better perform 
  tasks that call for a Sail roll, whether he’s working the 
  tiller of a Stygian canal barge or he’s the captain of 
  black-sailed trawler dredging the depths of the Sea of 
  Shadows. This Charm gives him a one-die bonus per 
  mote of Essence spent to supplement a Sail roll, up to 
  a maximum number equal to his Essence rating.
  This Charm works only in the Underworld or a 
  shadowland, as the fluid dynamics of clear water of the 
  living world are quite different from those of the water-
  ways of the dead. If a ghost is a part (or the head) of the 
  crew of a vessel brought into Creation with Conjure the 
  Defeated Vessel or Sunken Admiral Technique (from 
  the Evoke the Ancient Clay Arcanos), the player can 
  augment his Sail rolls while the character is aboard 
  the vessel.
  PYRE SMOKE FORM
  Cost: 2m; Mins: Temperance 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple (Speed 6, DV -0)
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Six ticks per success
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  In their natural environs, ghosts are just as materi-
  ally solid as mortals are in their homes in the living 
  world. With this Charm, however, a ghost can make 
  herself incorporeal even in locations where she should 
  naturally be solid (such as the Underworld). Activating 
  the Charm requires a (Stamina + Temperance) roll. 
  
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  If it succeeds, the ghost remains incorporeal for six 
  ticks per success. Yet although she is incorporeal, the 
  character remains as visible as she normally would be 
  in that location.
  A ghost who is incorporeal can move through solid 
  objects at will. That is, she won’t fall through the floor 
  of the second story of her home if she’s just walking 
  around up there, but she can plunge down through 
  the floor for a quick getaway. She can dive through 
  walls or doors or startled onlookers, or pull herself up 
  through ceilings with all the grace her (Dexterity + 
  Athletics) pool allows. The only surfaces that prove 
  impenetrable to incorporeal ghosts are ones that are 
  specifically warded against such shenanigans and the 
  solid ground beneath their feet.
  BREEZE-CARRIED ASH FORM
  Cost: 5m; Mins: Conviction 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple (Speed 6, DV -0)
  Keywords: Obvious
  Duration: Six ticks per success
  Prerequisite Charms: Pyre Smoke Form
  With this Charm, a ghost can fly through the 
  air—i.e., he can take Move or Dash actions in all 
  three dimensions. To activate the Charm, the player 
  rolls (Dexterity + Athletics). Each success lets the 
  character fly for six ticks. The only hitch is that the 
  character must be incorporeal while he’s flying. He 
  must, therefore, be either in Creation and not manifest 
  or in his natural environs and using the prerequisite 
  Charm. (The Obvious keyword applies only to the 
  latter circumstance.)
  If the character has not landed by the time this 
  Charm wears off, his momentum carries him for just 
  a moment—long enough for a stunt, but not much 
  else—then he falls. If the character is incorporeal, he 
  plummets earthward toward either solid ground or the 
  highest solid object between himself and it and crashes 
  into it. If he hits solid ground from a great height, he 
  suffers no damage but explodes into a poof of ectoplasmic 
  dust that takes a single miscellaneous action to re-form 
  into the shape of his body.
  The trouble starts when the character is using the 
  prerequisite Charm to allow himself to use this Charm 
  to fly in a location where he is naturally solid. If this 
  Charm’s duration lapses while he’s in flight, things could 
  work out poorly. If he comes down before his use of Pyre 
  Smoke Form runs out, he’s got nothing to worry about. 
  If he crashes after his Pyre Smoke Form Charm wears 
  off, he takes damage normally based on how far he fell 
  when Breeze-Carried Ash Form wore off.
  SCENT OF SWEET BLOOD
  Cost: 1m; Mins: Compassion 1, Essence 1; 
  Type: Simple (Speed 3, DV -0)
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One scene
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  The blood of living creatures is powerful and almost 
  intoxicating to the dead. With it, ghosts can be sum-
  moned, appeased or even bound. The dead rely on this 
  Charm to locate this precious substance. With just a 
  moment’s concentration, a ghost with this Charm can 
  detect the warm, sweet smell of blood spilled deliberately 
  or even oozing from open wounds. The blood must have 
  come from a living animal, a mortal or an Exalt, though 
  the blood need not be fresh when the ghost smells it. 
  The “donor” need not even be alive when the ghost 
  smells the blood, so long as he or she was alive when 
  the blood came out.
  While the character uses this Charm, she can smell 
  spilled animal blood at a range of one half mile per dot 
  of Essence she has. She can smell a mortal or Exalt’s 
  blood at a range of one mile per dot of Essence. Strong 
  winds, overpowering odors and a very large or very 
  small amount of blood can all affect the range at which 
  a character can detect the scent. No roll is required, 
  though. The character automatically learns the direc-
  tion of and distance to any site of spilled blood within 
  her range. She can’t discern such things as what type 
  of creature shed the blood, how much blood has been 
  shed or how long ago the bloodshed occurred.
  TWO-WORLD VISION
  Cost: 2m; Mins: Conviction 1, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple (Speed 6, DV -2)
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Six ticks per success
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  This Charm allows a ghost to peer from his location 
  in the Underworld into the corresponding location in 
  Creation. (The realms exist in such perfect parallel that 
  every place in the Underworld outside the inner slopes 
  of the Abyss has a corresponding site in Creation.) 
  This vision lasts only temporarily, and it works only 
  one way. Someone in Creation whom the ghost in the 
  Underworld can see with this Charm cannot see the 
  ghost. By the same token, a ghost in Creation cannot 
  use this Charm to look back into the Underworld. Also, 
  the Charm works only when it’s night in Creation.
  Activating this Charm requires a successful (Per-
  ception + Occult) roll, after which it lasts for a single 
  action. That is, the ghost can see into Creation for 
  
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  131
  only those six ticks it takes for his DV to refresh after 
  he activates the Charm. While the ghost looks into 
  Creation, he cannot see what transpires around him in 
  the Underworld, though his other senses still function 
  normally there.
  UNCONSCIOUS SPEECH
  Cost: 1m; Mins: Conviction 2, Essence 1; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Compulsion
  Duration: One action
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  This neat little trick allows an incorporeal ghost in 
  the living world to speak through a nearby living being. 
  The ghost must “touch” the living being, and that being 
  must be capable of speech. The character spends a mote 
  of Essence as the player rolls (Dexterity + Performance). 
  If the roll succeeds, the target says what the ghost wants 
  him to say in up to as many words as successes garnered 
  on the roll. At that point, the target’s player is allowed 
  a reflexive (Intelligence + Occult) roll. If the roll fails, 
  the target remains unaware (and subsequently unwilling 
  to believe) that he said anything. If the roll succeeds, 
  he realizes what’s happening.
  If a character realizes a ghost is trying to speak 
  through him, he may spend a Willpower point to resist 
  each subsequent use of this Charm against him from 
  the same ghost. Or he could allow the ghost to speak 
  through him. If he does so, the ghost’s player need not 
  roll and may communicate one full sentence per mote 
  of Essence spent. The willing target can hear and un-
  derstand the words spoken through his mouth, but he 
  cannot speak while the ghost speaks through him.
  WHISPERS OF THE LIVING
  Cost: 3m; Mins: Conviction 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple (Speed 6, DV -2)
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One minute per success
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  Similar to Two-World Vision, this Charm extends 
  a ghost’s sense from the land of the dead to the world of 
  the living. Using this Charm, the ghost can hear what’s 
  going on in Creation (out to the limit of his normal 
  hearing) from the spot parallel to his location in the 
  Underworld. As with Two-World Vision, Whispers of 
  the Living functions only during Creation’s night and 
  only in one direction. While the ghost listens in on 
  Creation, he cannot hear what’s going on around him 
  in the Underworld.
  Activating this Charm requires a successful (Per-
  ception + Occult) roll. It lasts for a number of minutes 
  equal to the number of successes on the roll. Therefore, 
  it behooves one who wants to be able to see and hear 
  Creation from the Underworld to activate this Charm 
  first, as this Charm lasts longer.
  CHAINS OF THE ANCIENT MONARCHS
  Use of this Arcanos is fairly evenly distributed 
  across the Underworld, though those in charge of its 
  many dominions strictly regulate its use. It is primarily 
  a tool of suppression and dominance used by the en-
  forcers and peacekeepers of the dead. From the dread 
  arbiters of the Dual Monarchy to the bullyboys of the 
  weakest Deathlord’s most rural shadowland outposts, 
  those who know this Arcanos use it to see that their 
  masters’ will is done.
  SOUL ANCHOR
  Cost: 2m, 1wp; Mins: Temperance 2, Essence 1; 
  Type: Simple (Speed 4, DV -0)
  Keywords: None
  Duration: 10 minutes per success
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  When a ghost activates this Charm, an oppressive 
  pall falls over the surrounding area, weighing down 
  those who try the hardest to escape. For 10 minutes 
  per success on a (Charisma + Temperance) roll, no 
  one within 25 yards of where the ghost activated the 
  Charm may use supernatural abilities to move faster 
  than they could on an unassisted Dash action.
  The ghost who used the Charm and any affected 
  being with a higher Essence rating than that ghost may 
  spend a Willpower point to ignore this Charm’s effects 
  for the scene.
  MONARCH’S GLORIOUS BRILLIANCE
  Cost: 3m; Mins: Conviction 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple (Speed 5, DV -1)
  Keywords: Crippling, Obvious
  Duration: Five ticks
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  The character pulls a shroud of her Underworld 
  master’s authority around herself, which blazes as a 
  blinding white corona until the character’s next action. 
  During the day in the Underworld, this light is visible 
  up to a mile away. At night, it can be seen all the way 
  out to the horizon.
  When the light appears, the player of anyone within 
  20 yards who looks at the ghost is allowed a reflexive 
  (Wits + Resistance) roll. The character is temporarily 
  blinded for 15 ticks, minus five ticks per success on the 
  roll. Even if the resistance roll garners enough successes 
  to mitigate the effect entirely, the character must still 
  
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  refrain from looking at the ghost using the Charm 
  until the eerie brilliance has died down. As such, that 
  character is still effectively blind with regard to the 
  ghost using this Charm.
  (Blindness is discussed on p. 152 of Exalted.)
  ESSENCE BINDING
  Cost: 5m; Mins: Conviction 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Obvious
  Duration: Five ticks per success
  Prerequisite Charms: Soul Anchor
  Invoking his master’s name and authority, the 
  ghost extrudes icy chains from his palms that bind his 
  foe’s hands or feet. These chains—the links of which 
  are shaped like the characters of the ghost’s master’s 
  name—whip around the foe’s limbs in an instant, cinch 
  tight and seal themselves together at the ends.
  The ghost’s target must be in close-combat range, 
  and both parties must be corporeal at the time. The 
  ghost must also decide when he activates the Charm 
  whether he wants to bind the target’s arms or legs. 
  Activating the Charm is an attack that uses the ghost’s 
  (Dexterity + Bureaucracy) pool with a +2 Accuracy 
  bonus. This attack can be dodged normally or parried 
  with a stunt. If the attack succeeds, the target’s arms are 
  bound firmly at her sides or her legs are bound tightly 
  together. A character whose arms are bound can move 
  only her hands and fingers, while a character whose legs 
  are bound can move, dash, swim or jump only one-fifth 
  her normal distance.
  The binding chains last for five ticks per success 
  on the attack roll, not taking the target’s defenses into 
  account. (Dodging or parrying this attack is an all-
  or-nothing proposition.) Breaking the chains before 
  the duration elapses is possible, though it is a feat of 
  strength akin to snapping iron manacles. (See Exalted, 
  p. 127.) If the target breaks out of the chains, parries 
  them successfully or dodges them when they come at 
  her, the chains shatter into dust.
  SNARE THE FLEEING THIEF
  Cost: 5m; Mins: Conviction 3, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Crippling, Obvious, Touch
  Duration: One minute per success
  Prerequisite Charms: Essence Binding
  When a ghost uses this Charm, her master’s name 
  or other identifying symbol appears on her palm, which 
  she then uses to strike her target. Doing so adds an 
  
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  133
  Accuracy bonus equal to her Bureaucracy to a normal 
  Martial Arts attack. If this attack succeeds—i.e., is not 
  successfully dodged or parried—it inflicts no damage 
  but instead envelops the target in a shining outline of 
  white light. This light slows the target down consider-
  ably so he can’t get away.
  For a number of minutes equal to threshold successes 
  on the attack roll, the target can move only one-fifth 
  his normal speed, no matter how he’s moving. This 
  Charm doesn’t affect Dexterity-based actions that rely 
  on hand-eye coordination, just locomotion.
  ESSENCE LASSO FORM
  Cost: 6m; Mins: Conviction 3, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Obvious
  Duration: Five ticks per success
  Prerequisite Charms: Essence Binding
  This Charm functions in almost every way exactly 
  the same as its prerequisite. However, it now works at a 
  range of up to 10 yards per dot of Conviction the ghost 
  has and cannot be parried.
  NET
  Cost: 7m; Mins: Conviction 3, Essence 3; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Obvious
  Duration: One minute
  Prerequisite Charms: Snare the Fleeing Thief, Essence 
  Lasso Form
  Shouting the name of the master she serves, the 
  ghost casts a net of Essence chains over an area, trapping 
  everyone within it. She selects a target point somewhere 
  within five yards per dot of Conviction she has, then 
  spends her Essence as her player rolls (Dexterity + 
  Bureaucracy). If the roll succeeds, everyone within five 
  yards of that spot must try to leap to safety—comparing 
  their Dodge DVs to the successes on the activation 
  roll—as black chains suddenly writhe out in all direc-
  tions from the target point. Anyone who can’t get 
  out of the way is considered inactive as if trapped in a 
  hold for one minute. The ghost who used the Charm 
  is unaffected by it. Anyone in the affected area whose 
  Essence is higher than the ghost’s can spend a point of 
  Willpower to shrug out of the chains.
  ESSENCE-MEASURING THIEF ARTS
  The detection, manipulation and theft of the pre-
  cious commodity of Essence are the purview of this 
  Arcanos. Very little checks the greed of those who 
  practice it except the distrust and suspicion of their 
  neighbor ghosts.
  AURA-READING TECHNIQUE
  Cost: 2m; Mins: Temperance 1, Essence 1; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One scene
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  When sentient beings such as ghosts, gods, demons or 
  Exalts channel and store Essence within them, it affects 
  the color of the aura they emanate. When a ghost learns 
  this Charm, he trains himself to perceive and interpret a 
  being’s aura, granting him an idea of how much Essence 
  is currently stored within that being. Doing so requires 
  a successful (Perception + Larceny) roll.
  A ghost using this Charm cannot share his aura-
  perception with anyone else—other than just describing 
  what he sees. He can read the aura of any being in his 
  presence, regardless of ambient light, as long as he already 
  knows the being is there. The Charm’s effective range is 
  equal to the character’s entire field of vision. If a being is 
  committing motes to an item or an effect, those commit-
  ted motes count toward the total for as long as the being 
  maintains the commitment. Items do not emit their own 
  auras, however, even if they are innately magical or attuned 
  to target beings. The color visible in the aura reveals the 
  number of motes the being contains, as follows:
  Color Motes
  Black 
  0
  Indigo 1–5
  Green 6–10
  Yellow 11–20
  Orange 21–40
  Red 
  41+
  DELICIOUS ESSENCE SCENT
  Cost: 3m; Mins: Temperance 1, Essence 1; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One scene
  Prerequisite Charms: Aura-Reading Technique
  Where Aura-Reading Technique is a passive sense, 
  this Charm is more active. To use it, the ghost spends 
  three motes of Essence as her player rolls (Perception 
  + Awareness). If the roll succeeds, the character can 
  smell when any living source of Essence—i.e., any living 
  being—comes within 100 yards of her for the rest of the 
  scene. When she detects living Essence thus, the ghost 
  can attempt to follow it back to its source.
  Following Essence by scent is easier the more potent 
  the source is. To track the Essence, the ghost’s player 
  
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  rolls (Perception + Temperance). The difficulty equals 
  (4 - target’s Essence), minimum 1. If the roll succeeds, 
  the ghost is aware of the target’s relative distance and 
  permanent Essence. Once the ghost has the scent, il-
  lusions and disguises cannot hide her target from her. 
  Only effects that mask the target’s Essence outright 
  block the ghost’s perception.
  ESSENCE-DEVOURING GHOST TOUCH
  Cost: 3m; Mins: Temperance 1, Essence 2; 
  Type: Supplemental
  Keywords: Touch
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Delicious Essence Scent
  Ghosts have good reason to fear other ghosts who 
  know this Charm, though other beings have little to 
  fear from it. With the Charm, a ghost can disrupt the 
  Essence that flows through a fellow ghost and cause 
  it to dissipate against the target’s will. The user of 
  the Charm does not draw the dissipated Essence into 
  himself, but it’s often just as well that his opponent 
  doesn’t have it either.
  To use the Charm, the ghost must touch his target 
  as the player rolls (Manipulation + Larceny), difficulty 
  2. (Touching the target requires an unarmed [Dexterity 
  + Martial Arts] roll if that target attempts to avoid the 
  touch.) Every threshold success causes two motes of 
  Essence to evaporate from the target’s pool.
  This Charm works only on targets of a ghostly 
  nature.
  FEEDING THE LAMPREY’S APPETITE
  Cost: 1wp; Mins: Temperance 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One scene
  Prerequisite Charms: Essence-Devouring Ghost 
  Touch
  With this Charm, a ghost can keep motes of Essence 
  stripped away by Essence-Devouring Ghost Touch from 
  going to waste. She absorbs motes taken from ghostly 
  opponents with the prerequisite Charm, using them to 
  replenish her own Essence pool.
  When a ghost successfully uses Essence-Devouring 
  Ghost Touch during a scene in which she has activated 
  this Charm, the player is allowed a reflexive Temper-
  ance roll. (This reflexive roll does not count as a Charm 
  use.) If the roll succeeds, the ghost absorbs half of the 
  motes that she successfully stripped away. The ghost 
  can absorb only those motes that she herself stripped 
  away with the prerequisite Charm. She cannot exceed 
  her maximum number of motes with stolen Essence.
  RAVENING LIFE-FORCE HUNGER
  Cost: 4m, 1wp; Mins: Temperance 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Supplemental
  Keywords: Sickness, Touch
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Essence-Devouring Ghost 
  Touch
  The moment a ghost learns this Charm, all creatures 
  with Essence have as much reason to fear him as his 
  fellow ghosts did when he learned the prerequisite. The 
  ghost can now use the effects of Essence-Devouring 
  Ghost Touch on the living, on gods, on demons and 
  on the Exalted. Doing so requires a touch, as well as 
  the same (Manipulation + Larceny) roll at difficulty 2. 
  The main difference is that the ghost must be manifest 
  and corporeal, as must his target, in order to use this 
  Charm.
  If the target is capable of channeling Essence, each 
  threshold success on the activation roll strips away 
  two motes of Essence. These motes do not automati-
  cally transfer to the ghost, nor are they susceptible to 
  absorption by Feeding the Lamprey’s Appetite. If the 
  target cannot channel Essence, this Charm disrupts her 
  life force directly. The player of the affected character 
  rolls (Stamina + Resistance) at difficulty 3. If the roll 
  succeeds, the character survives but blows out a shud-
  dering breath that steams bright white regardless of the 
  temperature. If the roll fails, the character’s time grows 
  short. By sundown or sunrise (whichever comes first), 
  chills and auditory hallucinations incapacitate her. If 
  a character with at least three dots of Medicine does 
  not successfully treat her, the victim will die within 
  a number of days equal to her Stamina. Treatment 
  involves an (Intelligence + Medicine) roll, difficulty 
  1, on behalf of a qualified character.
  BLOOD-DRINKING THIRST
  Cost: 1wp + (1wp per activation); Mins: Temperance 2, 
  Essence 2; Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One scene
  Prerequisite Charms: Ravening Life-Force Hunger
  Activating this Charm is a simple action that 
  requires the expenditure of a point of Willpower. 
  Thereafter, during the scene it remains active, the ghost 
  can reap a hearty harvest of the motes she strips away 
  from her victims using either Essence-Devouring Ghost 
  Touch or Ravening Life-Force Hunger.
  If the ghost uses either of those two Charms suc-
  cessfully, the player may spend a point of Willpower 
  and make a reflexive Temperance roll. (This roll does 
  
  CHAPTER SIX • ARCANOI
  CHAPTER SIX • ARCANOI
  135
  not count as a Charm use.) If the Temperance roll suc-
  ceeds, the character absorbs all the motes her preceding 
  use of Essence-Devouring Ghost Touch or Ravening 
  Life-Force Hunger stripped away from the victim. She 
  can absorb only those motes she personally stripped 
  away. As with Feeding the Lamprey’s Appetite, she 
  cannot exceed her maximum number of motes with 
  stolen Essence. If she uses Ravening Life-Force Hunger 
  on a target who cannot channel Essence, subsequently 
  using this Charm’s effect grants no benefit.
  BLENDING THE STREAMS OF ESSENCE
  Cost: 6m; Mins: Temperance 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Supplemental
  Keywords: Touch
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Essence-Devouring Ghost 
  Touch
  What a ghost with this Charm’s prerequisite can 
  take away, so can he bestow. He must touch another 
  ghostly character, which requires an unarmed Martial 
  Arts attack if that character resists, and spend six motes 
  of Essence as the player makes a Temperance roll. If 
  successful, the ghost can then force a maximum number 
  of his remaining motes equal to his Willpower through 
  the connection. If the recipient is willing to accept 
  them, she absorbs the transferred motes, adding them 
  to her own pool. If the recipient is not willing to take 
  them, the motes dissipate from the point of contact as 
  a faint steam and are wasted. The same thing happens 
  if the ghost attempts to transfer Essence to any non-
  ghostly creature, regardless of how willing the recipient 
  might be to take it.
  A ghost cannot give more motes than the recipi-
  ent’s maximum, and he cannot leave himself with less 
  than one mote.
  FEEDING LIFE’S FOUNTAIN
  Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Temperance 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Touch
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Blending the Streams of 
  Essence
  When she is manifest and corporeal, a ghost can 
  transfer some of her Essence to a living recipient, just 
  as she uses the prerequisite Charm on fellow ghosts. 
  The roll and limitations of this Charm are the same as 
  they are for Blending the Streams of Essence, and the 
  ghost much touch her intended recipient. The recipient 
  must still be willing, as well.
  If the recipient is an Essence channeler, he absorbs 
  the motes into his pool as normal. If the recipient can-
  not channel Essence, the ghost’s Essence augments 
  the character’s health for a number of days equal to 
  (ghost’s Essence x motes transferred). While this benefit 
  lasts, the recipient gains one automatic success on all 
  (Stamina + Resistance) rolls to resist illness or poison-
  ing. This Charm also mitigates any fertility deficiency 
  or reproductive difficulty short of literal sterility that 
  would normally make conception difficult. (For rules 
  on handling Essence exchange with characters with 
  two Essence pools, see page 155.) 
  FERTILE SOUL ENDOWMENT
  Cost: 10m, 1wp, 1lhl; Mins: Temperance 3, Essence 3; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Touch
  Duration: One scene
  Prerequisite Charms: Feeding Life’s Fountain
  It is thanks to this Charm that the Ghost-Blooded 
  exist, as it allows ghosts to impregnate living women. To 
  use it, the ghost must be corporeal and must be in either 
  Creation or a shadowland. During the scene in which 
  the Charm is active, the ghost and the mortal woman 
  need not actually copulate (though they certainly can), 
  but they must share at least a long, passionate kiss. 
  Either a male or female ghost may use this Charm, but 
  the living partner must be female.
  During the embrace, at a moment of the ghost’s 
  choosing, the ghost’s player makes a reflexive (Tem-
  perance + Essence) roll against a difficulty equal to 
  the living woman’s Essence. If the roll fails, nothing 
  happens. If the roll botches, the woman is stricken 
  sterile unless her player succeeds on a reflexive 
  (Stamina + Resistance) roll, difficulty 2. (Exalted 
  and other supernatural beings do not risk sterility.) If 
  the activation roll succeeds, the woman conceives a 
  Ghost-Blooded offspring. Regardless of the outcome, 
  the scene is considered to be over after the attempt 
  at conception.
  The mother carries the child of a successful concep-
  tion to term normally. The Essence spent activating this 
  Charm remains committed until the child is born or the 
  pregnancy otherwise ends. The ghost cannot willingly 
  end this commitment. Even the ghost’s destruction does 
  not release the Essence.
  One sinister implication of this Charm’s effects is 
  that only the ghost need be cognizant of its use. The 
  living partner need be neither aware of it, nor willing 
  to submit to it.
  
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  13131313131313131313131313313131336
  FILLING THE PRECIOUS VIAL
  Cost: 7m (+ 1wp); Mins: Temperance 3, Essence 3; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Blending the Streams of 
  Essence
  With this Charm, a ghost siphons off a portion of his 
  Essence and seals it in some sort of inanimate container 
  for later use. The best and most common containers are 
  soulfire crystals (see The Manual of Exalted Power—
  The Abyssals, p. 215) and Essence-containing gems 
  (see The Manual of Exalted Power—The Abyssals, 
  p. 215), though other container designs are allowed. 
  Vessels suitable for holding Essence are usually small 
  and as delicate as glass, however, so it behooves one to 
  handle them with care. Breaking a container causes an 
  explosion that inflicts one die of raw (lethal) damage 
  per mote stored on anyone within 10 feet.
  To fill a suitable container, the ghost spends seven 
  motes to power the effect and concentrates a number of 
  his remaining motes to be stored in the palm of his hand. 
  He then places the container there as his player rolls 
  (Perception + Larceny) at difficulty 2. If he succeeds, 
  the motes are absorbed into the container and stored 
  there. If the ghost then spends a Willpower point to seal 
  the container, the motes remain inside until someone 
  takes them out. If he doesn’t spend the Willpower, one 
  mote leaks out of the container per day.
  NOBLE CRAFTSMAN WAYS
  Ghosts trained in this Arcanos are the preeminent 
  craftspeople of the dead. With it, a ghost can work the 
  relic materials of grave goods and use soulsteel like an 
  expert deathknight artisan.
  SOULSTEEL SCREAM
  Cost: 1m; Mins: Compassion 1, Essence 1; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Touch
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  This Charm enables a ghost to discern information 
  about the history of either a single piece of soulsteel or 
  a soulsteel artifact—i.e., one for which soulsteel is the 
  predominant magical material. He need only touch 
  the metal a moment and close his eyes as his player 
  rolls (Perception + Craft). The Craft Ability required 
  is determined by the type of object in question.
  If the roll succeeds, the player may ask the Storyteller 
  one straightforward question per success regarding the 
  object’s past. These questions can include information 
  about who has used the object, how the object was 
  used and events that transpired around the object even 
  when it was not in use. Items that are relics of things 
  destroyed in Creation contain information regarding 
  their existence in Creation as well.
  The character receives all the answers to the player’s 
  questions in an instantaneous flash of information. 
  People around him hear only a brief scream from the 
  souls forged into the metal.
  SOULSTEEL SHAPER
  Cost: 1m; Mins: Conviction 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One day
  Prerequisite Charms: Soulsteel Scream
  Any ghost who dwells near an Underworld soulsteel 
  refinery and manufactory covets this Charm above all 
  others. Having it elevates her from rank-and-file wraith 
  who could be folded into a soulsteel artifact herself some 
  day to valued assistant condemning her fellows to that 
  hellish eternity for her own sake. Using the Charm 
  allows a ghostly technician to act as a competent aide 
  in building soulsteel artifacts.
  Normally, a single ghost with minimum ratings of 
  3 in Lore, Occult and a relevant Craft Ability would 
  count as “mortal” assistants (per the guidelines on p. 
  29 of The Books of Sorcery, Vol. III—Oadenol’s 
  Codex) when she helps a master artisan craft soulsteel. 
  With this Charm, a ghost who doesn’t meet the Ability 
  qualifications can still count as a “mortal” assistant. If 
  the ghost is already qualified, using this Charm allows 
  her to count as a “supernatural” assistant instead.
  The ghost who uses this Charm better understands 
  the techniques and tricks of working only with soulsteel. 
  She can’t use this Charm to better help build artifacts that 
  use other substances as the primary magical material.
  GRAVE GOODS SHAPING TECHNIQUE
  Cost: 2m; Mins: Conviction 3, Essence 3; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One day
  Prerequisite Charms: Soulsteel Shaper
  It is a well-known fact that items buried with the 
  dead materialize in the Underworld as grave goods, 
  crystallizing from the strange Essence of that realm as 
  exact copies of their living-world counterparts. Using 
  this Charm, a ghostly artisan makes grave goods’ Es-
  sence malleable, allowing him to reshape such items 
  into new forms. He can add supplementary materials 
  
  CHAPTER SIX • ARCANOI
  CHAPTER SIX • ARCANOI
  137
  to the new item for support or decoration, so long as 
  he doesn’t exceed 10 percent of the original object’s 
  mass. He can also break the original object down into 
  smaller individual items, so long as each new item 
  consists of no more than 90 percent of the original 
  material. As long as he abides by those restrictions, 
  he can fashion a completely new and fully functional 
  item (or set of items) from the original’s materials. 
  The resulting item(s) retain any magical properties 
  the original had, though every individual piece in a 
  matching set made from a single item must be together 
  for those magical properties to function.
  Changing a single grave goods item into a new 
  form takes seven days per dot of the Grave Goods 
  Background the original item represents. The ghost 
  may spend the required Essence in a lump sum up front 
  or spread the cost out day by day. He may pay off the 
  balance at any time.
  SOULSTEEL REBUILDING TECHNIQUE
  Cost: 3m; Mins: Conviction 3, Essence 4; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One day
  Prerequisite Charms: Soulsteel Shaper
  This Charm is similar to Grave Goods Shaping 
  Technique in that it lets a ghostly artisan change one 
  item into another (or into a set of smaller ones). The 
  items in question in this case, though, are soulsteel 
  artifacts rather than simply grave goods. The restric-
  tions on mass and composition remain the same as 
  for Grave Goods Shaping Technique, and it likewise 
  takes seven days to complete the transformation per 
  dot of Artifact the original item represents. The new 
  item retains the magical properties of the original. 
  If the finished product is a set of smaller items, the 
  original’s magical properties function only when all 
  the items in the new set are together.
  The new artifact a ghost creates cannot be of a 
  higher Artifact value than the original was. A ghost 
  cannot use this Charm, for instance, to re-forge a 
  reaver daiklave into a thinner grand daiklave or a 
  dire chain into a long powerbow. Use the guidelines 
  on pages 13-18 of The Books of Sorcery, Vol. III—
  Oadenol’s Codex to compare the relative power of 
  a proposed new artifact to the original.
  SOULSTEEL FORGING
  Cost: 5m; Mins: Conviction 4, Essence 4; 
  Type: Simple
  
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  131313131313131313133131338
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One day
  Prerequisite Charms: Soulsteel Rebuilding Technique
  No matter how skilled a ghost with the pre-
  requisite Charm is at transforming one soulsteel 
  artifact into another, it’s much harder to work raw 
  soulsteel into fine artifacts. Under normal circum-
  stances, only Exalted artificers have that capacity. 
  With this Charm, however, the ghost internalizes 
  the knack for working the metal, twisting the Es-
  sence and torturing the imprisoned souls into the 
  proper shapes.
  Forging items of soulsteel takes just as long as 
  forging similar objects of normal materials, which 
  can require ghosts to activate this Charm again 
  and again until the project is finished. When the 
  work is done, the item has all the standard abilities 
  of its designed form, as well as the basic soulsteel 
  bonuses. (See Exalted, pp. 387 and 390 for the bo-
  nuses soulsteel grants to close-combat and ranged 
  weapons and to armor.) This Charm does not al-
  low a ghost to imbue a new artifact with any other 
  magical properties or powers as an Exalted artificer 
  would be able to do.
  SOULSTEEL MINER’S SENSE
  Cost: 5m; Mins: Conviction 3, Essence 4; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One hour per success
  Prerequisite Charms: Soulsteel Rebuilding Tech-
  nique
  A ghost with this Charm can use it to locate 
  the black, argillaceous ore of the Labyrinth that is 
  one of the two main components of soulsteel (the 
  other component being souls). When the ghost 
  activates this power, the player rolls (Perception 
  + Craft [Earth]). For every success on the roll, the 
  ghost gains a keen internal sense of where the near-
  est unmined deposit of the ore can be found. This 
  sense manifests by reducing the difficulty to find or 
  mine the soulsteel ore by one. If this bonus reduces 
  the difficulty to 0, the ghost can walk right to the 
  vein of ore with his eyes shut and tell exactly how 
  deeply in the Labyrinth’s wall it is buried.
  This sense works only while the ghost is in the 
  Labyrinth himself. If he leaves the Labyrinth for any 
  reason before the power’s duration expires, he must 
  reactivate it once he reenters the hellish maze if he 
  intends to keep searching.
  SAVAGE GHOST TAMER ARTS
  When a person dies, his savage po (i.e., his hungry 
  ghost) remains nearby to look after the body. When 
  the body rots, the hungry ghost drops into the Un-
  derworld where it runs wild either alone or in packs. 
  With this Arcanos, a more intelligent ghost can 
  subdue and tame these hungry ghosts and use them 
  like leashed hounds.
  TASTE THE DEMON WIND
  Cost: 2m; Mins: Valor 1, Essence 1; Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  This Charm is integral to the practice of taming 
  savage wraiths, as it lets a ghost know where and in 
  what number hungry ghosts can be found. It’s also a 
  handy Charm to have for any ghost who doesn’t relish 
  the idea of being caught unawares by packs of these 
  dead predators. When the ghost actively, intentionally 
  extends his senses to make himself aware of nearby 
  hungry ghosts, his player rolls (Perception + Pres-
  ence). If the roll succeeds, the ghost receives a sense 
  that extends over a range determined by the number 
  of successes, as follows:
  Successes 
  Range
  1 
  100 yards
  2 
  250 yards
  3 
  500 yards
  4 
  one mile
  5+ 
  five miles
  Within that range, the ghost can tell the number 
  and location of all present hungry ghosts. This aware-
  ness manifests as a sound (like faint howling that no 
  one else can hear), a smell (like rotting remains) or a 
  sudden frisson of cold down the spine. Once the ghost 
  is aware of the hungry ghosts, he remains aware of them 
  for as long as they remain in the range determined by 
  his successes. He does not gain any awareness of hungry 
  ghosts who enter that range after the Charm is activated 
  or who leave that range then return.
  CALL THE RAVENING HOUND
  Cost: 8m, 1wp; Mins: Valor 2, Essence 1; 
  Type: Simple (Speed 4, DV -1)
  Keywords: Compulsion
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Taste the Demon Wind
  If a ghost is in trouble, is very confident or is a 
  villain bent on causing havoc, she can use this Charm 
  to summon nearby hungry ghosts. As the player rolls 
  
  CHAPTER SIX • ARCANOI
  CHAPTER SIX • ARCANOI
  139
  duration lapses, any hungry ghosts who are already 
  in pursuit won’t necessarily give up the chase. New 
  hungry ghosts won’t necessarily join in the chase 
  either, though.
  DIVERSION OF THE SAVAGE HUNTER
  Cost: 12m; Mins: Valor 2, Essence 1; Type: Simple
  Keywords: Illusion
  Duration: One scene
  Prerequisite Charms: Call the Ravening Hound
  For the young ghost or neophyte ghost tamer, Taste 
  the Demon Wind is the best means of avoiding regret-
  table entanglements with savage hungry ghosts. If you 
  know where the hungry ghosts are, you can avoid them 
  from the start. Those who can’t avoid drawing hungry 
  ghosts’ attention, however, must rely on this Charm. 
  With it, the wraith makes herself imperceptible to every 
  hungry ghost in the vicinity.
  To use the Charm, the ghost stands perfectly still 
  and spends the required Essence as her player rolls (Per-
  ception + Presence), difficulty 2. On a success, hungry 
  ghosts can no longer see, hear or smell the character. 
  If she attacks one of them, however, that hungry ghost 
  once more becomes aware of her presence.
  Some ghosts who have been marked by Ferocious 
  Predator Beacon can use this Charm to mitigate its 
  effects for one scene. The affected ghost must have 
  a higher Essence rating than the one who put the 
  mark on her had at the time the mark was levied. 
  Thereafter, any time the affected ghost’s activa-
  tion of this Charm exceeds the successes rolled to 
  inflict the mark, the affected ghost hides the mark 
  for one scene.
  TAME THE WICKED APPETITE
  Cost: 8m; Mins: Valor 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple (Speed 3, DV -0)
  Keywords: Emotion
  Duration: One scene
  Prerequisite Charms: Diversion of the Savage Hunger
  Using this Charm instantly renders nearby hungry 
  ghosts as docile as lambs, whether they’re stalking prey, 
  guarding their mortal remains or worrying victims’ bod-
  ies to ribbons at the time. Affected hungry ghosts stop 
  what they’re doing immediately and remain calm for the 
  rest of the scene unless someone tries to do them harm. 
  If anyone inflicts damage on a hungry ghost under this 
  Charm’s effects, said effects end instantly.
  Using this Charm requires a (Charisma + Presence) 
  roll. A successful roll affects hungry ghosts within 10 
  yards per dot of Valor the ghost has, up to a maximum 
  determined as follows:
  (Manipulation + Presence), the ghost throws back her 
  head and lets out a terrible, shrieking howl that can be 
  heard as far away as the successes on the roll indicate. 
  Any ghost who has this Charm recognizes the sound, 
  as will any character in whose presence the Charm has 
  been used before.
  When this horrible call goes out, every hungry ghost 
  in range stops what it’s doing and howls in response—
  as a miscellaneous action, when that’s relevant. Those 
  nearest the one who sent out the call, up to a maximum 
  determined by successes on the roll, then turn and make 
  all due haste toward the origin of the summons. (If only 
  one or a small handful of hungry ghosts from a larger 
  pack bolt, the others might follow as well.)
  The number of successes on the activation roll 
  determine the range over which the call can be heard 
  and the number of hungry ghosts compelled to respond 
  as follows:
  Successes 
  Range 
  Hungry Ghosts
  1 
  100 yards 
  1
  2 
  250 yards 
  2
  3 
  500 yards 
  4
  4 
  one mile 
  8
  5+ 
  five miles 
  20
  FEROCIOUS PREDATOR BEACON
  Cost: 10m, 1wp (1xp or 2xp to extend); Mins: Valor 4, 
  Essence 3; Type: Simple
  Keywords: Compulsion, Obvious, Touch
  Duration: One hour
  Prerequisite Charms: Call the Ravening Hound
  To use this Charm, the ghost touches his target as 
  the player rolls (Manipulation + Presence), difficulty 
  2. (Touching the target calls for an unarmed Martial 
  Arts attack if the target is wisely unwilling to stand still 
  for it.) If the roll succeeds, a ghastly white handprint 
  outlined in red appears on the target’s chest and back, 
  visible through any clothes or armor he’s wearing. The 
  beacon lasts for one hour. If the player spends one expe-
  rience point when he activates the Charm, the beacon 
  lasts for a year. If he spends two experience points, it 
  is permanent. The Essence that empowers this Charm 
  is committed if the ghost uses it for only the standard 
  one-hour duration. If the player spends experience 
  points to extend the duration, however, that Essence 
  is no longer committed.
  While the beacon exists, all hungry ghosts in 
  line of sight are irresistibly compelled to hunt down 
  and devour the target. They give chase until either 
  they’re destroyed or they lose the scent. When the 
  
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  Successes 
  Hungry Ghosts Affected
  1 
  1
  2 
  3
  3 
  5
  4 
  10
  5+ 
  20
  When the normal duration of this Charm lapses, 
  the ghost can spend a mote of Essence to extend the 
  duration for another hour. Doing so affects all the 
  hungry ghosts that were calmed by the original roll. If 
  the character needs the hungry ghosts for longer-term 
  service, the player may spend an experience point in 
  addition to the cost of activating the Charm. Doing so 
  makes the calming effect permanent. Even inflicting 
  damage on an affected hungry ghost does not make it 
  revert to its savage ways, though it will defend itself.
  COMMAND THE HUNGRY DEVIL
  Cost: 8m, 1wp; Mins: Valor 3, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Compulsion
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Call the Ravening Hound
  While it can be useful in a pinch to summon and 
  rile up nearby hungry ghosts, doing so is mostly an 
  exercise in convenient chaos. When surrounded by 
  hungry ghosts, it’s more useful to make them follow 
  orders. This Charm enables a ghost to do just that.
  The ghost need only spend the motes and Willpower 
  and issue a single, simple command—anything from 
  “Stop!” to “Flee!” to “Rip that woman apart!” to “Jump 
  off this cliff!” to “Destroy each other!” or anything she 
  can imagine. The player rolls (Manipulation + Pres-
  ence), difficulty 2. Threshold successes determine how 
  many of the present hungry ghosts obey the command, 
  as follows:
  Threshold Successes 
  Hungry Ghosts
  0 
  1
  1 
  3
  2 
  5
  3 
  10
  4 
  20
  5+ 
  30
  The hungry ghosts all follow the same command 
  immediately, to the best of their ability and with no 
  regard for their own potential destruction. The com-
  mand must be a simple one, however. If the order is 
  too complex—such as, “Fight each other one by one 
  in order of weakest to strongest!”—the hungry ghosts 
  can’t follow it. Instead, they pause in confusion for 
  one miscellaneous action then resume whatever they 
  were doing before.
  DUST COMMANDS LITANY
  Cost: 12m, 1wp; Mins: Valor 2, Essence 3; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Compulsion
  Duration: One scene
  Prerequisite Charms: Command the Hungry Devil
  This Charm builds on its prerequisite and functions 
  exactly the same way. The only difference (other than 
  cost) is that it allows the ghost tamer to issue simple 
  commands to all the hungry ghosts allowed by the 
  activation roll’s threshold successes for the rest of the 
  scene. Also, the ghost tamer can extend the duration 
  of the effect for another scene at the end of each scene 
  by spending an additional mote of Essence.
  GHOSTLY HARNESS EXERCISE
  Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Valor 3, Essence 3; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Servitude, Touch
  Duration: One month
  Prerequisite Charms: Tame the Wicked Appetite, 
  Command the Hungry Devil
  A ghost with Tame the Wicked Appetite can calm 
  hungry ghosts, but she can’t give them commands. A 
  ghost who also knows Command the Hungry Devil 
  can calm hungry ghosts and give them commands but 
  can’t train them and make them her own. Even if she 
  makes the duration of Tame the Wicked Appetite 
  permanent, all she winds up with are calm, intractable 
  hungry ghosts who don’t do what they’re told. Only 
  this Charm allows a ghost to truly make hungry ghosts 
  willing and able to be trained.
  To use this Charm, the ghost need only touch 
  the head of a hungry ghost, which could require an 
  unarmed Martial Arts attack if the ghost hasn’t used 
  one of the prerequisite Charms first to get the hungry 
  ghost under control. When the Charm is activated, 
  the hungry ghost forms an instant bond with its new 
  master. The hungry ghost won’t attack its master for 
  any reason, even under supernatural compulsion, and 
  it will respond to her training. That is, the hungry 
  ghost can now be trained by the ghost who used this 
  Charm on it, whereas it could not be trained at all by 
  anyone before.
  Training takes one month and lasts thereafter until 
  the hungry ghost is destroyed. The ghost tamer can train 
  as many hungry ghosts at a time in the same month as 
  1
  1 
  5
  3 
  20
  5+ 
  1
  0 
  5
  2 
  20
  4 
  
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  she can afford to affect with this Charm at the begin-
  ning. Once the hungry ghosts are trained, she can issue 
  simple commands to them without using Command the 
  Hungry Devil. The hungry ghosts remain unwilling to 
  attack their master for any reason and will even come 
  to her defense if they know she’s in trouble. Unless the 
  master trains them otherwise or keeps them tightly in 
  check, they treat everyone else the way hungry ghosts 
  normally would.
  SPIRIT-HANDLING LEASH
  Cost: 5m, 2wp; Mins: Valor 3, Essence 3; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Obvious, Touch
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Ghostly Harness Exercise
  This Charm allows a trainer of hungry ghosts to 
  turn over control of hungry ghosts tamed with the 
  prerequisite Charm to new masters. He must touch 
  the hungry ghost’s head and the new master’s hand 
  at the same time, as an evanescent leash of Essence 
  extends briefly from one to the other. Thereafter, the 
  new master commands the hungry ghost as if she were 
  the one who had used Ghostly Harness Exercise on the 
  hungry ghost in the first place.
  Thereafter, the hungry ghost will not attack its new 
  master for any reason, and it follows the new master’s 
  simple commands without the new master having to use 
  Command the Hungry Devil. The hungry ghost will also 
  refrain from attacking its former master unless its new 
  master commands it to do so. It does not follow its former 
  master’s commands, however, unless the former master 
  uses Command the Hungry Devil or Dust Commands 
  Litany. (Even then, the former master cannot command 
  the hungry ghost to harm its new master.)
  Only the current master of a hungry ghost can 
  use this Charm to transfer ownership to a new master. 
  The current master need not be the same person who 
  used Ghostly Harness Exercise on the hungry ghost 
  to train it, though. The ghost tamer who most recently
  used Ghostly Harness Exercise on the hungry ghost is 
  considered to be the hungry ghost’s former master for 
  this Charm’s purposes. Therefore, if one ghost tamer 
  receives a hungry ghost from another trainer, it be-
  hooves him to retrain the hungry ghost himself (with 
  the prerequisite Charm) before he transfers ownership 
  to a new ghost.
  SHIFTING GHOST-CLAY PATH
  No longer locked in the prison of ever-degrading 
  mortal flesh, the ghostly corpus experiences a remarkable 
  degree of freedom post mortem. The most astounding 
  expression of that freedom is the newfound malleability 
  a ghost’s body takes on, allowing it to be reshaped into 
  
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  a different form. It is with this popular Arcanos that 
  such transformations are accomplished.
  Only ghosts can be transformed with these Charms, 
  though a ghost using the Puppeteer’s Masterful Hand 
  Charm (see p. 148) can cause changes made by this 
  Arcanos to temporarily transform the flesh of his pos-
  sessed host.
  WAXEN GHOSTLY FLESH
  Cost: 5m; Mins: Compassion 2, Essence 1; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Moliation, Obvious, Shaping
  Duration: One scene
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  This Charm makes possible any cosmetic change 
  the ghost can imagine. With it, the ghost can change 
  his height, girth, tone, color and appearance in any 
  way he sees fit. He is capable of any change on the 
  spectrum of human variation and beyond. As the 
  ghost spends the requisite Essence, he pushes and 
  pulls on his features, molding them like clay. With 
  concentration, he can change the color of his flesh in 
  any way he pleases, even adding an iridescent sheen to 
  its surface. The ghost can even add inhuman features 
  or hide human characteristics.
  Using this Charm requires a (Dexterity + Craft 
  [Moliation]) roll. (See p. 115 for a full description of 
  that new Craft Ability.) The difficulty varies based on 
  the complexity of the change. Changing one’s skin, hair 
  or eye color is difficulty 1. Changing a facial feature is 
  difficulty 2. Altering one’s body shape is difficulty 3. 
  Fashioning a nonhuman feature is difficulty 4. Any 
  change imaginable is possible, though with certain 
  restrictions. The primary consideration is that the 
  ghost must reshape himself into a form with a roughly 
  equivalent mass as his original form. Second, the ghost 
  cannot grant himself natural weapons, natural armor 
  or superhuman capabilities. The ghost can reshape his 
  arms into wings, but that won’t allow him to fly. He 
  can change his narrow mouth into a gaping lamprey 
  maw, but his bite attacks inflict no more damage than 
  usual. Finally, the new form must remain roughly hu-
  manoid. The ghost cannot use this Charm to literally 
  transform himself into a ghostly animal or a chair or 
  what have you.
  At the end of the scene, the ghost’s reshaped cor-
  pus flows back into its original shape. The ghost can 
  forestall this automatic transformation for one hour by 
  spending a Willpower point. Every hour thereafter, the 
  ghost may spend another Willpower point to forestall 
  the change for a subsequent hour. The Essence he 
  spent to affect the change remains committed until 
  the duration lapses.
  NINE TERRORS VISAGE
  Cost: 6m; Mins: Compassion 3, Essence 1; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Emotion, Moliation, Obvious, Shaping
  Duration: One hour
  Prerequisite Charms: Waxen Ghostly Flesh
  With a little practice, a ghost develops a repertoire of 
  effective façades for use in different situations. Some are 
  terrifying, some are beautiful, and some are just disguises. 
  The ghost need only spend a day designing and shaping 
  a façade for later use. Designing a new visage requires a 
  successful (Intelligence + Craft [Moliation]) roll. (See 
  p. 115 for a full description of that new Craft Ability.) 
  Physically creating the designed visage requires a suc-
  cessful (Dexterity + Craft [Moliation]) roll, difficulty 2. 
  When the character is satisfied with her new visage, she 
  spends the requisite six motes of Essence to lock in that 
  visage. Thereafter, she can assume that visage instantly 
  by spending the Essence to activate this Charm. The 
  chosen visage then remains in place for one hour. The 
  ghost can extend the duration at the end of the hour by 
  spending one Willpower point. She can do so again at 
  the end of each subsequent hour. The Essence remains 
  committed until the duration lapses.
  Aside from an array of normal faces, the ghost can 
  also create unique visages with special Emotion effects. 
  Doing so increases the difficulty of the roll to physi-
  cally create the façade by 2. Sample effects a ghost can 
  generate include:
  • Fearsome Visage: Anyone who sees the ghost’s 
  face is overcome by terror. Affected characters’ players 
  must make successful Valor rolls for their characters. If 
  a Valor roll fails, the character flees the scene in abject 
  terror. If the character is forced to fight the ghost wearing 
  such a hideous visage in self-defense, his player suffers 
  a -2 internal penalty to all rolls.
  • Unsettling Physiognomy: The ghost’s face 
  is either so outright disgusting or so subtly wrong in 
  proportion that people who look on her are deeply 
  troubled by what they see. Unless an onlooker’s player 
  succeeds on a Willpower roll, the onlooker suffers a -1 
  internal penalty for the rest of the scene for any physi-
  cal action. This penalty results from either nausea or 
  overwhelming unease, depending on just what makes 
  the ghost’s face so unsettling.
  • Vision of Loveliness: Seeing the ghost’s won-
  drously beautiful face calls for a Temperance roll. If that 
  roll fails, the ghost’s beauty entrances the character. 
  
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  143
  For as long as the ghost wears that façade, the character 
  suffers a -2 penalty to his MDVs to resist doing as the 
  ghost wants. He’ll even take his own initiative to do 
  what he thinks the ghost would like.
  A character attempts to resist the Emotion effect 
  of a ghost’s use of Nine Terrors Visage once, the first 
  time he sees it in a scene. If he resists successfully, he is 
  thereafter immune to that visage’s Emotion effect. If he 
  fails, his difficulty to resist that ghost’s use of that visage 
  increases by 1 the next time he sees it after that scene. 
  If the character fails to resist the same visage from the 
  same ghost four consecutive times, he can no longer 
  even attempt to resist its Emotion effect until his Mo-
  tivation changes or he undergoes some other significant 
  psychological metamorphosis. If a character is Exalted, 
  however, he resists the visage’s special effect at the same 
  base difficulty every time, regardless of how many times 
  he might consecutively try and fail to do so.
  YIELDING SPIRIT FORM
  Cost: 4m; Mins: Compassion 2, Essence 1; 
  Type: Reflexive (Step 8)
  Keywords: Moliation, Obvious
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Waxen Ghostly Flesh
  In combat, the ghost suffuses his corpus with Essence 
  that makes it malleable and slightly fluid, allowing it to 
  soak up a measure of an attack’s kinetic energy harm-
  lessly. In Step Eight of combat resolution (see Exalted, 
  p. 149), the ghost activates this Charm and his player 
  rolls (Dexterity + Craft [Moliation]). (See p. 115 for 
  a full description of that new Craft Ability.) Every 
  success on this roll adds to the character’s appropriate 
  soak total against that attack.
  Attacking a ghost who’s using this Charm is similar 
  to attacking a wet clay effigy. Fists and weapons deform 
  the ghost’s corpus but don’t significantly damage it. 
  Arrows punch through it and come out the other side. 
  The ghost still feels these injuries, but only abstractly. 
  No matter how badly beaten out of shape the ghost’s 
  body is, limbs that suffer no actual damage thanks to 
  this Charm still function as normal. The deforma-
  tions caused by attacks that inflict no damage flow 
  back into their original shape in two ticks per level 
  of damage soaked.
  STEELING THE SPIRIT
  Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Compassion 2, Essence 3; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Moliation
  Duration: One day per success
  Prerequisite Charms: Yielding Spirit Form
  Many Charms of this Arcanos allow the ghost to 
  make useful changes in her corpus, but those changes 
  don’t last very long unless the ghost spends massive 
  amounts of Willpower. This Charm allows a ghost to 
  extend the effectiveness of Charms that enable her to 
  reshape herself. Once the ghost has activated such a 
  Charm, she then activates Steeling the Spirit with the 
  proper expenditure of Essence and Willpower. The player 
  then rolls Willpower. For every success on the Willpower 
  roll, the effects of the transformation Charm last for one 
  day, rather than the Charm’s listed duration.
  A ghost can use this Charm only on effects that 
  change her own corpus, but those changes can be ones 
  either she or someone else imposed on her flesh. A ghost 
  cannot extend the duration of the soak-boosting effects 
  of Yielding Spirit Form with this Charm.
  GHOST-DEVIL FORM
  Cost: 10m; Mins: Compassion 3, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Moliation, Obvious, Shaping
  Duration: One scene
  Prerequisite Charms: Nine Terrors Visage, Steeling 
  the Spirit
  Similar to Nine Terrors Visage, this Charm allows 
  a ghost to design a transformation that he can later 
  adopt instantaneously when circumstances call for it. 
  Rather than just changing his face for the occasion, 
  though, he can reshape his entire corpus, exceeding the 
  limitations of Waxen Ghostly Flesh. His new form can 
  sport natural weapons or armor. It can include extra 
  sets of fully functional limbs. It can be up to twice the 
  ghost’s normal size (though it can’t be much smaller 
  than the ghost’s original size), and it can be completely 
  inhuman. Special effects such as those made possible 
  by Nine Terrors Visage are also available here. Some 
  of the traits for special features a ghost can create with 
  this Charm include:
  Special Feature 
  Traits
  Additional Eyes 
  +2 on all visual-based Perception 
  rolls
  Affecting Visage 
  Per the Nine Terrors Visage 
  Charm
  Armored Hide 
  +2L/+2B, stackable with worn 
  armor
  Claws 
  Speed 5, Accuracy +1, Damage 
  +3L, Defense +1, Rate 2
  Extra Arms 
  Offsets multiple action penalty (see 
  Exalted, p. 124) by one per extra set 
  of limbs (to a maximum of three)
  
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  Fanged Maw 
  Speed 6, Accuracy +1, Damage 
  +4L, Defense –, Rate 1
  Huge Size 
  Two extra -2 health levels
  Prehensile Tail As per one set of extra arms
  Spikes 
  Successful unarmed Martial Arts 
  attacks on the ghost inflict 3L on 
  the attacker
  Suckers 
  +4 dice on clinch attacks
  A ghost must design his expression of Ghost-
  Devil Form before he can wear it. Designing the 
  form requires a successful (Intelligence + Craft 
  [Moliation]) roll. (See p. 115 for a full description 
  of that new Craft Ability.) The base design time is 
  one day, plus an additional day per special feature 
  the final form will contain. Once the ghost has 
  designed the form, reshaping himself in that image 
  for the first time requires a successful (Dexterity + 
  Craft [Moliation]) roll. The base difficulty of the 
  roll is 3. Each special feature requires an additional 
  (Dexterity + Craft [Moliation]) roll, difficulty 2. 
  Once the ghost is satisfied with the form he’s cre-
  ated, he spends the requisite 10 Essence to lock in 
  that form. Thereafter, any time he wants to take 
  on his new form, he may spend the same amount 
  of Essence to activate the Charm and transform 
  instantaneously. He remains in that new shape for 
  one scene unless he then uses Steeling the Spirit 
  to extend the duration.
  A character may have as many different 
  locked-in expressions of Ghost-Devil Form as 
  he pleases, so long as he designs and physically 
  fashions each one separately.
  WEIGHTED WITH THE ANCHOR OF FLESH
  Cost: 20m, 2wp; Mins: Compassion 5, Essence 3; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Moliation
  Duration: One hour
  Prerequisite Charms: Ghost-Devil Form
  This is the Charm many ghosts use to manifest 
  physically in Creation. It’s expensive, but it requires 
  no roll. (In shadowlands, it doesn’t even cost Will-
  power points.) To use it, the ghost simply spends 
  the requisite points while she’s present in Creation. 
  The weight of her former living body settles on her 
  corpus once more as she becomes both visible and 
  solid. Keep in mind that the ghost becomes physical 
  in whatever form her corpus is currently in. If other 
  Charms in this Arcanos have been used on the ghost’s 
  body (even Ghost-Devil Form), the transformed 
  body is the one that manifests.
  
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  CHAPTER SIX • ARCANOI
  145
  The ghost can then interact physically with the 
  living world, and physical attacks can damage her body. 
  Her injuries bleed when she’s wounded, though her 
  blood vanishes when it is no longer in contact with 
  her body. If inflicted damage “kills” her, her physical 
  body collapses then dissipates into the Underworld.
  This physical shell lasts for one hour, and the char-
  acter can extend the duration by an additional hour per 
  additional Willpower she spends on the effect. (The 
  Essence remains committed until the duration lapses.) 
  She is still a ghost during that time, however, so she is 
  still susceptible to effects that apply to ghosts.
  STOLEN WAX DISCIPLINE
  Cost: 5m, 1lhl; Mins: Compassion 3, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Moliation, Obvious, Shaping, Touch
  Duration: One hour per dot of Essence
  Prerequisite Charms: Waxen Ghostly Flesh
  This Charm allows a masquer to apply the effects 
  of Waxen Ghostly Flesh to another ghost’s body. The 
  target ghost must be willing to be transformed, and 
  the artist must mold and reshape the target’s body 
  physically, like a potter working wet clay. The roll 
  for, difficulty of and possible scope of alterations are 
  the same as for Waxen Ghostly Flesh. All changes 
  last for one hour per dot of Essence the masquer 
  has and cannot be extended by spending Willpower 
  points. Extending the duration requires the target to 
  use Steeling the Spirit or the artist to use Prison of 
  the New Form.
  BROKEN MOLD STRIKE
  Cost: 7m; Mins: Compassion 3, Essence 3; 
  Type: Supplemental
  Keywords: Moliation, Obvious, Touch
  Duration: Instant (or one hour)
  Prerequisite Charms: Stolen Wax Discipline
  This Charm allows one ghost to inflict hideous 
  damage to another in combat—tearing off, boiling 
  away or knocking apart her victim’s corpus. Broken 
  Mold Strike supplements an unarmed Martial Arts at-
  tack that must successfully connect with the victim. If 
  the attack does connect, the attacker’s player makes a 
  reflexive (Strength + Compassion) roll. Then, rather 
  than the attack’s normal raw damage, the supplemented 
  attack inflicts raw damage equal to (Willpower + 
  [Strength + Compassion] roll successes + attack’s 
  threshold successes).
  SHAPING THE OBEDIENT SERVANT
  Cost: 9m, 1wp; Mins: Compassion 3, Essence 3; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Moliation, Obvious, Shaping, Touch
  Duration: One day
  Prerequisite Charms: Ghost-Devil Form, Stolen Wax 
  Discipline
  Shaping the Obedient Servant allows a masquer 
  to apply the range of changes made possible by Ghost-
  Devil Form to a willing ghost. Just as with Ghost-Devil 
  Form, the ghost must first design the new form then 
  apply it to the target. The rolls and difficulties for each 
  are the same as for Ghost-Devil Form. Completing 
  implementation of a new form costs nine motes of 
  Essence and one Willpower point. Once the artist has 
  designed a new form, he can apply it to as many other 
  willing ghosts as he can afford to. The appropriate 
  (Dexterity + Craft [Moliation]) rolls—see page 115 for 
  a full description of Craft (Moliation)—are required 
  anew for every subject (as is the activation cost), but 
  so long as the design doesn’t change, the design roll 
  need be made only once.
  Once a ghost implements the designed changes 
  upon his subject, the new form lasts for one day. The 
  subject cannot switch her form back unless she has 
  Charms that allow her to reshape her corpus. Also, 
  the imposed form is not considered to be “locked in” 
  like a ghost’s own personal use of Ghost-Devil Form 
  would be. If the subject wishes to take that same 
  form again after the duration elapses, she must have 
  someone with this Charm reshape her. If the subject 
  wants to use Ghost-Devil Form to re-create the shape, 
  she must design the form herself from scratch. The 
  subject may, however, extend the effects of the Charm 
  as the artist completes the transformation. Doing so 
  requires the expenditure of experience points, as well 
  as a successful Willpower roll. One experience point 
  extends the duration to one month. Two points makes 
  the duration one year, and three points make the ef-
  fects permanent.
  The masquer commits the Essence to maintain his 
  transformed creation unless the subject spends experi-
  ence points to increase the duration of the effect.
  PRISON OF THE NEW FORM
  Cost: 12m, 1wp; Mins: Compassion 4, Essence 3; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Moliation, Touch
  Duration: One week per success
  Prerequisite Charms: Broken Mold Strike
  With this Charm, a ghost reminds another ghost’s 
  flesh of the static nature it had in life. The ghost must 
  touch her target, which requires an unarmed Martial 
  
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  Arts attack if the target is unwilling, and spend the 
  requisite Essence. If the touch makes contact, the 
  ghost’s player rolls (Stamina + Compassion). The 
  target’s player makes a reflexive Conviction roll to 
  resist. For every success that the attacker’s player’s roll 
  gets in excess of the target’s resistance roll, the target’s 
  form becomes inviolable for one week. The target can 
  still take damage, but he cannot be subjected to any 
  Shaping effects that alter his corpus while this effect 
  lasts. (He does still suffer from attacks supplemented by 
  Broken Mold Strike and enjoy the protection granted 
  by Yielding Spirit Form.) Any pre-existing Charm 
  effects that have already altered the target’s corpus 
  remain in place for the duration of this Charm if this 
  Charm’s duration is longer than the duration of the 
  pre-existing effect.
  THE STRINGLESS PUPPETEER ART
  Ghosts who wish to interact with the world of the 
  living but don’t wish to put themselves in physical 
  jeopardy doing so rely on this Arcanos. With it, they 
  slip into the flesh of the living and either ride their 
  hosts passively or exert total control over them.
  SPIRIT-CATCHING EYE TECHNIQUE
  Cost: 2m; Mins: Compassion 1, Essence 1; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  Dutiful ghosts who practice this Arcanos are ob-
  ligated by their Underworld lieges to remain vigilant 
  for abuses of this power by their less scrupulous peers. 
  This basic Charm grants them the ability to carry out 
  that obligation. With it, a character can spot another 
  ghost hidden inside someone else’s body.
  Upon activating the Charm, the character sees 
  in his mind’s eye a pale light emanating from within 
  the body of every ghost in his line of sight. If a ghost 
  is hiding inside another character, the ghost’s face 
  overlays the other character’s face like a luminous 
  mask. If the character sees a passenger ghost revealed 
  thus, the player may make a reflexive (Perception + 
  Awareness) roll at difficulty 2. If the roll succeeds, 
  the character recognizes the ghost whose face he sees. 
  Otherwise, all he can tell is that a ghost is hitching 
  a ride.
  The light the character with this Charm sees is 
  not visible to anyone else. Therefore, ghosts revealed 
  by it are not automatically aware that the character 
  can see them.
  SOUL-WHISPERING EMPATHY DISCIPLINE
  Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Compassion 1, Essence 1; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One scene
  Prerequisite Charms: Spirit-Catching Eye Technique
  By paying close attention for a moment to a target 
  in her line of sight—be that target ghost or mortal—
  a ghost can perceive that target’s thoughts. As the 
  character spends the requisite points, the player rolls 
  (Manipulation + Awareness). The difficulty is equal 
  to the target’s Essence. If the roll succeeds, the ghost 
  hears the target’s surface thoughts as if the target were 
  whispering them in her ear.
  This mental eavesdropping lasts for one scene at the 
  base activation cost. At the end of that scene, the ghost 
  may extend the duration for another scene by spend-
  ing another Willpower point. The ghost can maintain 
  contact thus until either she runs out of Willpower or 
  contact is otherwise broken. Death or injury to the 
  target breaks contact, as does injury or any significant 
  distraction to the ghost. (Spending Willpower for any 
  other reason than maintaining this Charm’s effects 
  counts as a significant distraction.) Until one of those 
  things happens, though, the ghost can listen in on the 
  target’s thoughts regardless of how far away and out of 
  sight the target goes. Essence spent to power this effect 
  is committed until the duration lapses.
  Being able to hear someone’s surface thoughts is 
  not the same as being able to telepathically ransack a 
  target’s mind. If the ghost wants to learn some specific 
  piece of information, she’ll have to wait until the target 
  thinks of it on his own. It’s perfectly fine to arrange 
  circumstances that cause the subject of interest to occur 
  to the target, though.
  Most targets never even realize anyone else is listen-
  ing in on them. If the target is Exalted or has more than 
  two dots of Compassion, though, he gets the uneasy 
  sensation that he’s being watched.
  SKIN-RIDING PRANA
  Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Compassion 1, Essence 2; Type:
  Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One scene
  Prerequisite Charms: Soul-Whispering Empathy 
  Discipline
  Activating this Charm is the same as for activating 
  its prerequisite, calling for the same conditions and 
  the same roll at the same difficulty. Likewise, it works 
  on ghosts or mortals, and both Exalts and targets of 
  
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  and attempt to either break the compartment open or 
  break the item within. Breaking the compartment open 
  requires inflicting at least three unsoaked levels of lethal 
  damage with a specifically targeted attack. Likewise, 
  either the ghost herself or someone who has the ghost 
  in her power can cut the compartment open outside 
  of combat, though doing so still inflicts three levels of 
  unsoakable lethal damage. Broken Mold Strike (see p. 
  145) can cause the compartment to rupture with just a 
  single level of damage, but the attack must still target 
  the compartment intentionally. Finally, if the ghost is 
  willing but lacks the Essence or the time to remove the 
  stored item naturally, she can allow another ghost to 
  use Stolen Wax Discipline to painlessly pull back the 
  flesh enclosing the compartment.
  MORTAL-SHADOWING TECHNIQUE
  Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Compassion 2, Essence 1; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Touch
  Duration: One hour
  Prerequisite Charms: Soul-Whispering Empathy 
  Discipline
  This Charm is one step away from outright posses-
  sion. With it, a ghost steps directly into a mortal’s body 
  and rides around therein, experiencing everything the 
  mortal feels. Making entry requires first a touch and 
  the expenditure of the activation cost. (The touch 
  could require an unarmed Martial Arts attack if the 
  prospective host actively resists.) As the ghost makes 
  contact, the player rolls (Dexterity + Awareness), at 
  a difficulty equal to the host’s Essence. If the roll suc-
  ceeds, the ghost melds with the target and becomes 
  undetectable except by such Charms as Spirit-Catching 
  Eye Technique. A target who is aware of the ghostly 
  passenger can spend a Willpower point to try to expel 
  the uninvited guest. Doing so requires the host’s player 
  to win a contested Willpower roll. If she succeeds, her 
  character expels the ghost from her body. If she loses, 
  the character must endure the ghost’s presence for the 
  duration of the Charm.
  While the ghost shadows his host, he experiences 
  all of the host’s sensations as his own, including taste 
  and the sense of touch. He can also share the space with 
  other ghosts who use this Charm on the same host, so 
  long as all the other ghosts are merely passive observ-
  ers like him. If the host is injured, the ghost feels the 
  damage and suffers an equal amount of bashing damage 
  to his own corpus. If the host is killed, the shadowing 
  ghost is ejected from the body automatically. Otherwise, 
  the ghost remains for one hour. He may increase that 
  sufficient Compassion have an unaccountable sense 
  of being watched. Instead of allowing the ghost to 
  listen in on the target’s surface thoughts, however, this 
  Charm lets the ghost sense what most of the target’s 
  own senses observe.
  For the duration of this Charm, which can be 
  extended as per Soul-Whispering Empathy Discipline, 
  the ghost can see, hear and even smell what the target 
  does in addition to what he himself can. These phantom 
  sensations are only vague and suggestive unless the 
  ghost concentrates on them to the exclusion of his own 
  surroundings. Paying full attention to both the target’s 
  senses and his own requires a successful reflexive Wits 
  roll every action the ghost takes. Failing the roll means 
  he loses details from his target’s senses as he’s forced 
  to pay closer attention to his own environment. For 
  this reason, many ghosts who use this Charm regularly 
  to spy on their targets retreat to a safe location upon 
  establishing contact—one either well hidden or pro-
  tected by trusted guards.
  SIX DEMON BAG
  Cost: 5m, 1wp to create, 3m to eject; Mins: Compassion 2, 
  Essence 1; Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One day
  Prerequisite Charms: Spirit-Catching Eye Technique, 
  Skin-Riding Prana
  A ghostly smuggler, assassin or courier who uses this 
  Charm makes a part of her body into the eponymous 
  container. Drawing a fingernail along her corpus, she 
  causes a hollow, nigh-undetectable chamber to open up. 
  This empty space can be up to one cubic foot in area, 
  and it can open into any part of the ghost’s body. (The 
  body part’s size limits the size of the space, of course.) 
  When the ghost puts an item to be hidden into this 
  space and seals her corpus back over it, her flesh looks 
  as whole and normal as ever. Storing objects in this 
  ingenious hiding place imposes a +4 external penalty 
  on any other character’s attempts to locate concealed 
  items on the ghost’s person. An observer who uses 
  Spirit-Catching Eye Technique as he searches the 
  ghost’s person will see the hidden object through the 
  ghost’s corpus.
  Removing an object from its hiding spot can be easy 
  or quite painful. At the end of the day, the empty com-
  partment opens, and the item pops out as the Charm’s 
  duration expires. The ghost may spend three motes of 
  Essence to eject the item herself before then. Other 
  methods are less gentle. If an attacker knows where the 
  item is hidden, he can use a stunt to target that area 
  
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  duration to one day by spending an extra Willpower 
  point, keeping the Essence committed until he leaves 
  the mortal’s body.
  The intimacy of contact this Charm provides is 
  sufficient for a ghost with the Fertile Soul Endowment 
  Charm (see p. 135) to impregnate a mortal woman.
  INTANGIBLE GUARDIAN PRESENCE
  Cost: —; Mins: Compassion 2, Essence 3; 
  Type: Permanent
  Keywords: Stackable
  Duration: Permanent
  Prerequisite Charms: Mortal-Shadowing Technique
  Once a ghost enters a mortal or corpse body, this 
  Charm bolsters that vessel and makes it more durable. 
  Similar to the various Ox-Body Technique Charms, 
  this one adds health levels, though only to the body 
  the ghost is either shadowing or possessing outright. For 
  each time the ghost has purchased this Charm, the body 
  in which she is the passenger or puppeteer receives one 
  extra -0 and -1 health level. These health levels apply 
  only to the host body, and only while the ghost is within 
  it using Mortal-Shadowing Technique or any possession 
  Charm that descends from it. When the ghost departs 
  the body, the extra health levels disappear, taking any 
  damage marked in them away.
  The ghost can buy this Charm as many times as 
  she has dots of Compassion.
  PUPPETEER’S MASTERFUL HAND
  Cost: 7m, 2wp; Mins: Compassion 3, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One hour
  Prerequisite Charms: Mortal-Shadowing Technique
  If a ghost just wants to ride around in a mortal’s body, 
  feeling the sensations of life once more, he uses Mortal-
  Shadowing Technique. If that ghost wants to take total 
  control of his mortal host, he uses this Charm instead. 
  He must already be riding within the mortal through 
  the prerequisite Charm, after which he can attempt to 
  exert total control. Doing so calls for an expenditure of 
  the listed Essence and Willpower, as well as a successful 
  (Dexterity + Compassion) roll. The difficulty of that 
  possession roll is equal to twice the host’s Essence.
  Success on the possession roll ejects any other 
  ghostly passengers from the host’s body and breaks any 
  other ghosts’ connections granted by Soul-Whispering 
  Empathy Discipline or Skin-Riding Prana. The host’s 
  consciousness is subsumed as well, leaving the host 
  unaware of what her body is doing. The possessing ghost 
  can exert either his own or his host’s Strength, Dexter-
  ity, Charisma or Perception—whichever is higher. He 
  relies on the host body’s Stamina and Appearance and 
  uses his own Manipulation, Intelligence and Wits. He 
  can exert any of his own Abilities through the host’s 
  body as well. If the host has more dots than the ghost 
  in an Ability that has to do with some physical activity 
  or quality (such as Melee or Presence, respectively), the 
  ghost can exert the host’s higher traits. If the Ability 
  is purely mental or social, though (such as Occult or 
  Socialize), the ghost must use his own traits.
  While the ghost possesses his host, he can use his 
  Arcanoi as the Charms’ normal circumstances and 
  conditions allow. Even transformation Charms such as 
  Ghost-Devil Form are allowed. (These physical changes 
  lapse the moment the ghost leaves the host.) Costs for 
  Arcanos Charms come from the possessing ghost’s Es-
  sence pool. If the host is Exalted, the ghost has no access 
  to the host’s Essence pool. He can use any artifacts to 
  which the Exalt was already attuned, however, and he 
  benefits from any current magical effects that already 
  apply to the Exalt’s body. He cannot access the Exalt’s 
  Charms. If the Exalt has reflexive defensive Charms, 
  however, the Exalt’s player may still activate those 
  Charms for his possessed character as circumstances 
  necessitate. (Essence costs for those Charms come out 
  of the possessed host’s Essence pool.) The Exalt himself 
  is not activating these Charms consciously. His instinct 
  for self-preservation is simply taking over.
  Possession granted by this Charm lasts for one 
  hour. At the end of that hour, the ghost may extend 
  the duration for another hour by spending a Willpower 
  point. He can do so again at the end of each subsequent 
  hour. The player must succeed at a new (Dexterity + 
  Compassion) roll each time, though. If he doesn’t, the 
  ghost is ejected. The Essence that activates the Charm 
  remains committed until the ghost leaves the body.
  NEMISSARY’S RIDE
  Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Compassion 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One day
  Prerequisite Charms: Mortal-Shadowing Technique
  This Charm allows a ghost to possess a host as per 
  Puppeteer’s Masterful Hand, only it works on human 
  corpses rather than living beings. As the ghost spends the 
  requisite Essence and Willpower, the player must succeed 
  on a (Strength + Compassion) roll, difficulty 1. If the 
  roll succeeds, the ghost becomes one with the corpse, 
  animating it with her own Attributes and Abilities. 
  Once she’s in, the ghost may exert her Arcanoi through 
  
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  CHAPTER SIX • ARCANOI
  149
  the body, but any attunements or reflexive Charms the 
  previous owner of the body might have had in life are no 
  longer available. The body has a mortal’s seven health 
  levels (-0/-1/-1/-2/-2/-4/Incapicated). The wounds that 
  ended the body’s former life do not contribute to these 
  wound penalties. Damage inflicted on the possessed 
  corpse makes the body harder to control, though, as 
  does unchecked rot that occurs before possession.
  In choosing a corpse to possess, the ghost must be 
  aware of the effects of putrescence on a prospective 
  vessel. In temperate climates, a corpse exposed to the 
  elements lasts about seven weeks before it starts to 
  come apart. A corpse in the frozen North or arid South 
  might last months instead. A body left to rot somewhere 
  more humid might last only two or three weeks. After 
  that grace period, the body loses two permanent health 
  levels every day as the flesh and sinew holding the limbs 
  together comes undone. When it has no health levels 
  left, it is no longer suitable for possession.
  This Charm lasts for one day, which does not contrib-
  ute to the aforementioned natural process of decay. When 
  the day is up, the ghost may pay the activation cost again 
  to extend the duration to one week. She can do so week 
  by week for as long as she can afford the cost. Extending 
  the duration in this way even once is very hard on the 
  corpse, though. While it won’t decay while she’s still in 
  possession of it, the natural process of decay catches up 
  rapidly once the nemissary has been in possession of the 
  body for more than a week. After that first week of pos-
  session, the body falls to pieces all at once when the ghost 
  finally leaves it. Thereafter, no one else can use this Charm 
  on that body. The ghost’s Essence remains committed to 
  this effect until the nemissary leaves the body.
  THE EMBALMER’S ART
  Cost: 15m, 2wp; Mins: Compassion 2, Essence 3; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Indefinite
  Prerequisite Charms: Nemissary’s Ride
  This Charm refines its prerequisite, making it 
  easier to perform and less damaging on the possessed 
  corpse. First, the possession requires no roll, and it 
  lasts for as long as the ghost commits the Essence. 
  Second, while the ghost uses this Charm to possess a 
  corpse, the natural process of decay is halted. When 
  the ghost finally leaves the body, decay resumes at its 
  natural rate as if the intervening time of possession 
  had not occurred. The decay rate does not catch up 
  to the body as it does after one week under the effects 
  of Nemissary’s Ride.
  Also, when the ghost activates this Charm, he 
  may commit additional Essence to bolster the corpse’s 
  durability. For every three additional motes he commits 
  when he activates this Charm, he adds one -2 health 
  level to the corpse vessel. These additional health 
  levels last as long as the possession, though they may 
  be added only when the Charm is activated. The levels 
  are also compatible with those provided by Intangible 
  Guardian Presence.
  INSTAURATION OF THE FLESHLY VESSEL
  Cost: Varies; Mins: Compassion 3, Essence 4; Type:
  Reflexive
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: The Embalmer’s Art
  Rot is one of those unavoidable inconveniences 
  nemissaries have to deal with on the job. With this 
  Charm, however, they can repair damage caused by 
  violence or natural decay. Every four motes of Essence 
  the ghost spends reverses one day’s worth of rot. As 
  described under Nemissary’s Ride, an exposed corpse 
  degrades day by day after a grace period determined by 
  the climate. Four motes spent to empower this Charm 
  repairs damage caused by one day’s post-grace-period 
  decay. It can also roll back that grace-period count-
  down. With enough motes, a character can return a 
  badly decayed corpse to the pristine condition it was 
  in the moment after it died. To use this aspect of the 
  Charm, the ghost must be possessing the corpse already, 
  rebuilding it from within.
  The second aspect of this Charm allows a ghost to 
  heal damage the corpse sustains while she’s in posses-
  sion of it, though at the painful expense of her corpus. 
  For the cost of only one mote, the ghost can dissolve 
  one health level of her own body to repair one health 
  level of damage to her corpse vessel. The damage can 
  be bashing or lethal; the type she heals is the type she 
  takes. The ghost cannot use this Charm to heal damage 
  from aggravated sources, from fire or from magic that 
  specifically ruins undead flesh—such as Blazing Solar 
  Bolt or the Dazzling Flare effect of Essence Arrow At-
  tack. (See Exalted, pages 192 and 189 for descriptions 
  of those Charms.)
  DEAD FUR CLOAK METHOD
  Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Compassion 3, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Indefinite
  Prerequisite Charms: Nemissary’s Ride
  
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  This Charm refines its prerequisite such that 
  the ghost can now possess the corpses of animals. 
  The roll to possess the corpse is the same, as is the 
  restriction that the body must still be reasonably 
  intact. Animals larger than a full-grown wolf are too 
  difficult for a ghost to control properly, as are those 
  smaller than a rat.
  While he’s in control of an animal’s corpse, the 
  ghost uses the animal’s Attributes and his own other 
  traits. He can also use any natural capabilities of the 
  animal’s form, such as a bird’s ability to fly or a shark’s 
  deadly grace in the water. The possession lasts for as 
  long as the ghost commits the motes.
  DRIVE THE NECROTIC COLOSSUS
  Cost: 10m, 1wp, 1xp; Mins: Compassion 3, Essence 4; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One day
  Prerequisite Charms: Nemissary’s Ride, Dead Fur 
  Cloak Method
  Nemissaries use this Charm to animate large corpses 
  that exceed the limitations of its prerequisites. With 
  it, the nemissary can animate a humanoid corpse up 
  to eight feet tall and weighing up to 400 pounds. He 
  can also animate the corpse of a large natural animal 
  or necromantic war machine, either of which can be as 
  big as a mansion. Much larger corpses or necromantic 
  corpse-constructs, such as the Mask of Winters’ horrible 
  Juggernaut, are too large for any single nemissary to 
  pilot. Animating such tremendous masses of necrotic 
  flesh requires teams of nemissaries who all know this 
  Charm working in concert.
  TANGLED WEB ARTS
  This Arcanos deals with the ties of his Passions that 
  bind a ghost to his Fetters. With these Charms, a ghost 
  is able to monitor, defend and manipulate those ties.
  WORLD-BRIDGING MEDITATION
  Cost: 4m; Mins: Temperance 1, Essence 1; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  Using this Charm requires a moment of quiet, 
  peaceful contemplation. As the ghost remembers his life 
  and thinks about those things that gave his existence 
  meaning, he considers the connections that chain 
  him to his current state. In this meditative state, the 
  ghost senses the current status and condition of those 
  connections—i.e., his Fetters.
  
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  CHAPTER SIX • ARCANOI
  151
  Achieving the peace necessary to use this Charm in 
  a disruptive environment requires a successful Willpower 
  roll. When the character is relaxed enough, using the 
  Charm requires a (Wits + Temperance) roll. If that roll 
  succeeds, the ghost chooses one Fetter and learns about 
  its current condition. This information is general and 
  vague, and it concerns only one Fetter per activation 
  of this Charm.
  DEATH-AVOIDING MONITOR
  Cost: 4m, 1wp, (1xp or 2xp to extend); Mins: Temper-
  ance 1, Essence 1; Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One week
  Prerequisite Charms: World-Bridging Meditation
  A ghost with more training in this Arcanos can 
  apply more vigilance to a Fetter than this Charm’s 
  prerequisite allows. With Death-Avoiding Monitor, 
  the ghost concentrates on the important person or 
  object and spends the motes and Willpower to activate 
  the Charm. (The Fetter need not be in her presence 
  at the time.) The player then rolls (Perception + 
  Temperance). If the roll succeeds, the character gains 
  an ongoing background awareness of the subject’s 
  condition. She need only think about the Fetter to be 
  informed of its condition.
  This awareness lasts for one week. If the Fetter is 
  a physical object, the ghost is aware of whether and 
  how it is altered, damaged, repaired or destroyed. If 
  the Fetter is a person, the ghost knows about changes 
  in the person’s condition including injury, illness, 
  death, pregnancy or significant changes in emotional 
  makeup. Spending one experience point at the time 
  of activation extends this Charm’s duration to one 
  year. Spending two experience points makes the 
  effect permanent. The character can activate Death-
  Avoiding Monitor as many ongoing concurrent times 
  as she can afford, but she can check in on only one 
  Fetter at a time.
  The Essence that empowers this Charm is com-
  mitted if the ghost uses it for the standard one-week 
  duration. If the player spends experience points to 
  extend the duration, however, that Essence is no 
  longer committed.
  EXTENSION OF THE FRIENDLY GAZE
  Cost: 6m; Mins: Temperance 2, Essence 1; 
  Type: Reflexive
  Keywords: Touch
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: World-Bridging Meditation
  Ghosts who have no experience using this Arcanos 
  must rely on comrades (or entrepreneurs) who know this 
  Charm. With it, a ghost lays hands on a fellow wraith 
  and gets a sense of the condition of one of that wraith’s 
  Fetters. This information is comparable to that granted 
  by World-Bridging Meditation, though that Charm’s 
  meditative calm is not required. The ghost need only 
  touch the wraith for whom he’s checking in. He can 
  even take this information without the other’s consent 
  as long as he can touch him. (Touching an unwilling 
  target requires an unarmed Martial Arts attack.)
  Once the ghost has touched a target, his player 
  makes a (Wits + Awareness) roll. The difficulty is (5 - 
  the Fetter’s rating), with a minimum difficulty of 1. If 
  the roll succeeds, the ghost gains insight equal to that 
  granted by World-Bridging Meditation. Only the ghost 
  who uses this Charm gains this insight. Also, the ghost 
  can look in on a specific Fetter only if his wraith target 
  is willing to have him do so. If the target is unwilling, 
  the ghost can look in only on the Fetter with the highest 
  rating, no matter how many of the target’s Fetters the 
  ghost knows about. The Storyteller chooses between 
  Fetters of equal ratings.
  VEIL-PIERCING BINDING
  Cost: 5m, 2wp (1xp or 2xp to extend); Mins: Temper-
  ance 4, Essence 2; Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One week
  Prerequisite Charms: Extension of the Friendly 
  Gaze
  Once a ghost successfully uses Extension of the 
  Friendly Gaze on another ghost, she may use this 
  Charm on her immediately following action. Doing 
  so grants her target of Extension of the Friendly Gaze 
  a continual background awareness of the Fetter on 
  which she just checked. This awareness is identical 
  to the awareness granted by the Death-Avoiding 
  Monitor Charm. Establishing this link requires a suc-
  cessful (Perception + Temperance) roll, difficulty 2. 
  Thereafter, the target need only concentrate a moment 
  to become aware of the Fetter’s current condition as 
  if the target had used Death-Avoiding Monitor on 
  his own Fetter.
  If the ghost who used this Charm so desires, she 
  can grant herself the same awareness of a target’s Fet-
  ter as she grants the target. Doing so requires an extra 
  threshold success on the activation roll. Thereafter, 
  during the duration of the effect, the ghost may look 
  in on her fellow wraith’s Fetter at any time by spending 
  one mote of Essence.
  
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  This Charm’s effects last for one week. The ghost 
  can extend the effect to one year by spending one ex-
  perience point at the time of activation. Spending two 
  points makes the effect permanent. The Essence that 
  empowers this Charm is committed if the ghost uses it 
  for the standard one-week duration. If the player spends 
  experience points to extend the duration, however, that 
  Essence is no longer committed.
  MARK OF THE RELENTLESS HUNTER
  Cost: 6m, 1wp (1xp or 2xp to extend); Mins: Temperance 2, 
  Essence 2; Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One week
  Prerequisite Charms: Death-Avoiding Monitor
  This Charm grants yet more information than 
  either Death-Avoiding Monitor or Veil-Piercing 
  Binding. With it, a ghost chooses a Fetter (either one 
  of his own or one that’s currently subject to his use 
  of Veil-Piercing Binding) and forges a strong mental 
  connection to it. Having done so, he can thereafter 
  sense its location and direction for the Charm’s dura-
  tion, even across the boundary between Creation and 
  the Underworld.
  Forging this link requires a successful (Perception 
  + Awareness) roll. The difficulty is 1 if the Fetter 
  belongs to him; 2 if it belongs to someone else. (He 
  can target someone else’s Fetter only if he’s currently 
  aware of that Fetter through the use of Veil-Piercing 
  Binding, though.) If the roll succeeds, he can get a 
  mental fix on the item’s location and direction with 
  just a moment’s thought.
  Mark of the Relentless Hunter lasts for one week or 
  until the Fetter is destroyed. Spending one experience 
  point at the time of activation extends that duration 
  to one year if the Fetter is not destroyed before then. 
  Spending two experience points makes the effect per-
  manent. In that case, even the destruction or death 
  of the Fetter might not break the connection. If the 
  Fetter appears in the Underworld as a ghost or a relic 
  of an object, the ghost who used the Charm can still 
  track it. The Essence that empowers this Charm is 
  committed if the ghost uses it for the standard one-
  week duration. If the player spends experience points 
  to extend the duration, however, that Essence is no 
  longer committed.
  SENSING THE DELICATE STRANDS
  Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Temperance 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Extension of the Friendly 
  Gaze
  A ghost with the Extension of the Friendly Gaze 
  Charm can learn valuable information about another 
  ghost’s Fetters. She does so only at that other ghost’s 
  sufferance, though. If she tries to raid an unwilling ghost 
  for information, she gets information about only a single 
  Fetter. Plus, she’s got to get close enough to touch the 
  ghost, which opens her up to the same risk if her target 
  has Extension of the Friendly Gaze as well.
  With this Charm, however, the ghost can learn 
  much more about a target and with much less risk. To 
  do so, the ghost looks at a target wraith and spends 
  the activation cost as the player rolls (Perception + 
  Occult), difficulty 3. If the roll succeeds, the ghost 
  learns basic information about one of the target’s Fet-
  ters, including that Fetter’s nature, its appearance, its 
  connection to the ghost, its distance from the target 
  and the direction in which it lies. A successful roll 
  also allows a new roll at the same difficulty. If that roll 
  succeeds, the ghost gains information about another 
  of her target’s Fetters. Each successful roll gives new 
  information (starting with the target’s most important 
  Fetter and working down from there) and allows an 
  additional roll.
  If a roll to use this Charm fails, the ghost cannot 
  use Sensing the Delicate Strands against that same 
  target again for one full day.
  CHAIN-SHATTERING DISCIPLINE
  Cost: 6m, 3wp; Mins: Temperance 3, Essence 3; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Sensing the Delicate Strands
  To use this wicked power, a ghost must first use the 
  prerequisite Charm to ferret out information regarding 
  a target ghost’s Fetters. Having done so, he physically 
  takes hold of the metaphysical bond between target and 
  Fetter and snaps it in two. Breaking the bond requires 
  a (Strength + Temperance) roll, at a difficulty equal to 
  the sum of the target’s Essence rating and the object’s 
  Fetter rating.
  If the link does break, the object or person is no 
  longer a Fetter for the target. No supernatural effect 
  treats it as such, and the Fetter provides no benefit for 
  the target. The target is instantly aware of this loss, 
  even if she had no supernatural perception of the Fet-
  ter active at the time. If the target’s player does not 
  succeed on a reflexive Willpower roll when the Fetter 
  
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  CHAPTER SIX • ARCANOI
  153
  bond is broken, the target becomes catatonic with 
  despair for a number of days equal to the attacker’s 
  Temperance rating.
  If a ghost is so inclined, he can use this Charm to 
  break his connections to his own Fetters.
  WEAVER GUARDS THE LOOM
  Cost: 3m; Mins: Temperance 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Reflexive
  Keywords: None
  Duration: One day
  Prerequisite Charms: Sensing the Delicate Strands
  Once a ghost learns how to sense the bonds of 
  other ghosts’ Fetters, she becomes all the more keenly 
  aware of her own. If someone else tries to look in on or 
  manipulate her Fetters with supernatural effects (such 
  as Sensing the Delicate Strands), this Charm makes the 
  intrusion known to her. Weaver Guards the Loom does 
  not grant automatic protection or retaliation against 
  such effects, but it can grant an idea of where the source 
  of the trouble is.
  Activating this Charm requires a simple (Intelli-
  gence + Awareness) roll. It lasts for one day, after which 
  the ghost can reflexively renew it. While it’s active, 
  the ghost’s player is allowed a reflexive (Perception + 
  Temperance) roll any time another character attempts 
  to detect or monitor one of the ghost’s Fetters. If that 
  roll succeeds in such an instance, the player is allowed 
  a reflexive (Perception + Occult) roll, difficulty 3. If 
  that roll succeeds, the ghost knows who is looking in on 
  her Fetters and gets a rough idea of where that person 
  is. The person doing the spying remains unaware that 
  the ghost is onto him.
  FARMER DEFENDS THE UNHARVESTED FIELD
  Cost: 5m; Mins: Temperance 3, Essence 3; 
  Type: Reflexive
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Weaver Guards the Loom
  When someone attempts to spy on or tamper with 
  the Fetter bonds of a ghost with this Charm, the ghost 
  strikes back viciously. If the ghost has activated Weaver 
  Guards the Loom, and its effect successfully reveals to 
  him that someone is spying on or tampering with the 
  bond between himself and one of his Fetters, the ghost 
  may reflexively activate this Charm in response.
  In order to be eligible to use this Charm, the ghost’s 
  player must have succeeded on Weaver Guards the 
  Loom’s reflexive (Perception + Temperance) roll to 
  detect the intrusion, as well as the subsequent (Percep-
  tion + Occult) roll to identify the source. Using this 
  Charm then calls for a (Wits + Temperance) roll. If it 
  succeeds, the ghost inflicts five dice of lethal damage 
  on the offender, which the offender can soak only with 
  his natural, unarmored soak. As a result, the offender’s 
  attempt to monitor or tamper with the Fetter bond 
  automatically fails before it takes effect (even if the 
  backlash inflicted no actual damage). Also, blood leaks 
  from the offender’s eyes, ears and nose for one minute 
  per level of damage she suffers.
  TENACIOUS MERCHANT’S WAY
  The economy of the dead is not entirely one of 
  coins and gems. Ghosts also trade in artifacts, relics 
  and grave goods. Most precious to them is Essence, the 
  focus of this commercial Arcanos.
  JANGLING COIN POUCH SENSE
  Cost: 1m; Mins: Temperance 1, Essence 1; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: 10 minutes per success
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  The ghost cocks his ear and spends a mote of Essence 
  as his player rolls (Perception + Bureaucracy). If the roll 
  succeeds, the character can hear the faintest clinking 
  of coins or rustle of scrip around him. That is, he can 
  automatically detect the presence of nearby money. It 
  can be currency from the living world, official money 
  from the Underworld or “hell money” sacrificed by the 
  living to departed relatives, as well as currency created 
  by other Charms in this Arcanos. The sense lasts for 10 
  minutes per success on the roll. The character cannot 
  automatically tell how much money exists in a given 
  location, but he can gauge the relative sizes of separate 
  amounts of money.
  EARNEST CREDITOR TECHNIQUE
  Cost: 3m; Mins: Compassion 1, Essence 1; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Touch
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  This Charm simply allows a ghost to transfer motes 
  from her Essence pool to someone else. She need only 
  touch the target, which might require an unarmed 
  Martial Arts attack if the target resists. Two of the 
  three motes spent to activate the Charm transfer to the 
  target, who can be a ghost, a mortal, a god or an Exalt. 
  The ghostly creditor can transfer only two motes at a 
  time per activation of the Charm.
  
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  motes to spend. The “donor” need not be willing for this 
  Charm’s purposes, however. The ghost need only touch 
  the target and spend three motes of Essence as the player 
  rolls (Conviction + Larceny). Touching an unwilling 
  target requires an unarmed Martial Arts roll.
  On a successful roll, the ghost takes one mote from 
  the target per success. While this Charm is debilitating 
  to the target, it is not necessarily profitable for the bold 
  thief unless her player rolls well.
  REDIRECTED PRAYER PATH
  Cost: 1wp; Mins: Temperance 2, Essence 3; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Jangling Coin Pouch Sense
  When a ghost’s living descendants burn certain 
  goods (or paper replicas thereof) as an offering to 
  the ghost’s memory, black jade tokens bearing the 
  ghost’s name appear in the Underworld parallel to 
  the location in the living world where the burnt of-
  ferings were made. These coins are known as “hell 
  money.” The ghost whose name is on the hell money 
  can draw Essence and Willpower from it. The amount 
  is determined by the value of the sacrificed object. 
  CAREFUL DEBTOR STANCE
  Cost: 1wp; Mins: Conviction 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Touch
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Earnest Creditor Technique
  This Charm allows a ghost to take motes of Es-
  sence from a willing party with motes to spend. The 
  ghost need only touch his creditor, and the creditor 
  must be willing to allow the ghost to withdraw Es-
  sence. The ghost then spends one Willpower point 
  as the player rolls (Conviction + Bureaucracy). For 
  every success on the roll, the ghost may take one 
  mote of Essence.
  This Charm fails if the prospective creditor is 
  unwilling to transfer Essence.
  BOLD THIEF’S WAY
  Cost: 3m; Mins: Conviction 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Reflexive
  Keywords: Touch
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Jangling Coin Pouch Sense
  This Charm is similar to the previous one in that 
  it lets a ghost take Essence from another being who has 
  
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  CHAPTER SIX • ARCANOI
  155
  A ghost can still draw Essence (but not Willpower) 
  from a hell money coin with someone else’s name on 
  it, but not as many motes as he could if the coin were 
  addressed to him.
  If a ghost knows this Charm, however, he can 
  appropriate another ghost’s burnt offerings as they 
  appear. To do so, he need only be within five yards 
  of the spot in the Underworld where the hell money 
  will appear. While the offering burns in the living 
  world, the ghost spends one Willpower point as his 
  player rolls (Manipulation + Larceny). If the roll 
  succeeds, the hell money appears with his name on 
  it and is his to use to its full potential. The ghost 
  for whom the hell money was originally intended 
  is out of luck.
  If more than one ghost wants to appropriate a 
  burnt offering as it’s being made, the hell money 
  goes to whichever character’s player achieved more 
  successes on the activation roll. In the event of a tie, 
  contesting players should roll again. Characters are not 
  aware when their use of this power is contested, but 
  that fact is usually self-evident to the loser. If a ghost 
  with this Charm has reason to suspect that someone 
  else is trying to appropriate his legitimate burnt offer-
  ings, he can use this power himself to try to make sure 
  his hell money goes where it’s supposed to.
  CANNIBAL CALL
  Cost: 1wp; Mins: Temperance 3, Essence 3; 
  Type: Reflexive (Step 10)
  Keywords: Touch
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Bold Thief’s Way
  This Charm allows a ghost to steal from a victim 
  not Essence or offerings, but that victim’s very corpus. 
  The attacker grapples her target and devours as much 
  of his ghostly flesh as possible, replenishing her corpus 
  at her victim’s expense. For every two health levels 
  of damage the attacker inflicts on her target with a 
  bite, the attacker can heal one level of damage to her 
  own corpus.
  Unless the attacker has had her jaw and teeth 
  reshaped to allow for a reasonable attack, biting a 
  victim is not a very effective combat maneuver. A bite 
  attack from a normally shaped human mouth has the 
  following traits: Speed 6, Accuracy -2, Damage +0L, 
  Defense –, Rate 1. Attacking with a bite also reduces the 
  attacker’s Dodge DV by two, rather than the standard 
  -1 DV penalty for a normal Attack action.
  An attacker must inflict at least two health levels 
  of damage with a bite before she can activate this 
  Charm. (She must inflict damage in multiples of two 
  in order to recoup multiple health levels.) If she inflicts 
  only one level of damage, or none at all, she need not 
  activate the Charm, hence its reflexive nature.
  SECRET IMPERIAL MINT TECHNIQUE
  Cost: (2m per dot), 1wp; Mins: Temperance 3, Essence 3; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Bold Thief’s Way
  This Charm allows a ghost to crystallize his Es-
  sence into coins of local currency, whether he’s in the 
  Underworld or Creation. (He must be fully physically 
  manifested to create money in Creation, though.) To 
  use this Charm, the ghost’s player rolls (Intelligence 
  + Larceny) as the character spends one Willpower 
  point and a variable amount of Essence. If the roll 
  succeeds, the ghost creates enough money for a single 
  purchase at a level of Resources equal to one dot per 
  two motes spent. That is, if the roll succeeds and the 
  ghost spends two motes, he creates money sufficient 
  for a single Resources • purchase. That’s enough for, 
  say, a good short sword. The ghost can create only an 
  effective number of Resources dots equal to or less than 
  his Temperance rating.
  The money this Charm creates is real, legitimate 
  local currency. The ghost can keep it for as long as he 
  pleases. Until he spends it all or otherwise gets rid of 
  it, however, he cannot use this Charm again to create 
  more money.
  GIVING AND TAKING ESSENCE
  Since most Essence-using characters have 
  only a single Essence pool, the Charms that allow 
  for the transfer or theft of Essence between par-
  ties are fairly straightforward. When a character 
  involved in such a transfer or theft has both a 
  Peripheral and a Personal Essence pool, however, 
  an additional level of distinction is necessary.
  When a ghost gives Essence to a character 
  with two Essence pools, that Essence goes into the 
  recipient’s Personal Essence pool first, then into 
  the recipient’s Peripheral Essence pool when his 
  other pool fills up. When a ghost takes Essence 
  away from a character with two Essence pools, 
  he takes it first from the character’s Peripheral 
  Essence pool, then from his Personal Essence 
  pool when the other pool is empty.
  
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  TERROR-SPREADING ART
  The dead did not give this Arcanos its name, for 
  its Charms are not designed for the singular purpose 
  the name implies. Mortals who have suffered at the 
  hands of furious masters of this Arcanos, however, 
  would attest that no other name does this collection 
  of Charms justice.
  CORPSE-FED RADIANCE
  Cost: 2m; Mins: Conviction 1, Essence 1; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Obvious, Pandemonium
  Duration: One scene
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  Forcing back the heartless darkness of the Under-
  world, the haunter emanates a wan light from his body. 
  This light can be pale white or any single color at a 
  time, and it shines with the intensity of late dusk in a 
  clear sky. If two ghosts shine light of the same color, the 
  intensity increases to that of early dusk. The more ghosts 
  who work together, the brighter the light is. When up 
  to seven ghosts shine at the same time, their light is as 
  bright as midday in the trackless desert.
  A ghost can use this Charm in the Underworld, the 
  living world or shadowlands. The haunter need not be 
  physically manifested for the light to be visible.
  BLACK BREATH OF THE ABYSS
  Cost: 8m; Mins: Conviction 1, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Obvious, Pandemonium
  Duration: One scene
  Prerequisite Charms: Corpse-Fed Radiance
  As the ghost spends the Essence to activate this 
  Charm, eerie blackness pours out of her mouth and 
  nose and runs from her eyes like tears. This blackness 
  is as empty and dark as the space between the stars, 
  and it extends in a pulsing, quivering sphere 10 feet in 
  radius around the ghost. Ghosts can see through this 
  darkness clearly, but no actual light can move in or out 
  of it. Anyone caught inside the radius of effect suffers a 
  -2 external penalty to all rolls to take physical actions, 
  and ranged attacks from one side of the boundary of 
  darkness cannot be made against targets on the oppo-
  site side. Only time (i.e., a scene), choice (namely the 
  ghost’s) or the manifestation of a Solar’s anima banner 
  can dispel this cloud of darkness.
  Normally, the bubble of darkness remains in place 
  for the duration and affected characters can move out 
  of it after a successful (Wits + Awareness) roll, which 
  suffers the -2 penalty imposed by the darkness. If the 
  haunter spends a Willpower point when she activates 
  this Charm, though, she can move the cloud of darkness 
  around as she desires as a miscellaneous action. She 
  can move the center of the cloud as far as her natural 
  Move distance per miscellaneous action.
  PAINTING THE SUNSET PICTURE
  Cost: 4m; Mins: Conviction 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Illusion, Obvious, Pandemonium
  Duration: One scene
  Prerequisite Charms: Black Breath of the Abyss
  This Charm allows a haunter to hone his con-
  trol over light and darkness into an ability to create 
  detailed illusions. Such illusions are somewhat basic: 
  they tend to periodically flicker or blur slightly, and 
  they appear translucent in strong light. Nonetheless, 
  they are three-dimensional images with a full color 
  palette, and they can be as large or as detailed as the 
  haunter desires.
  Creating an illusion with this Charm requires 
  a successful roll of (Wits + Craft [Pandemonium]). 
  (See p. 116 for a full description of that new Craft 
  Ability.) The difficulty of a basic illusion, such as an 
  image of the haunter as a young man, is 1. A more 
  complicated image, such as a re-creation of the scene 
  where the haunter was murdered, is difficulty 2. A 
  huge and richly detailed image, such as a faithful re-
  creation of a Solar’s palatial manse, is difficulty 3. At 
  the end of the standard duration, the character can 
  spend one Willpower point to maintain the illusion 
  for an additional hour. He can do so again and again 
  as each hour elapses. The ghost may also create as 
  many individual illusions as he wishes, though doing 
  so requires a separate activation of the Charm for 
  each illusion. Finally, the haunter may create these 
  illusions in the Underworld, shadowlands or Creation. 
  If he’s in Creation, he need not manifest physically 
  to create an illusion. The Essence for each illusion is 
  committed until the illusion dissipates.
  MIDNIGHT CANVAS UNFURLED
  Cost: 5m, 1wp (5m per additional sense); 
  Mins: Conviction 3, Essence 2; Type: Simple
  Keywords: Illusion, Obvious, Pandemonium
  Duration: One scene
  Prerequisite Charms: Painting the Sunset Picture
  Like its prerequisite, this Charm allows a ghost to 
  create a convincing illusion. The roll is the same, as is 
  the range of difficulty based on the complexity of the 
  image. Where Painting the Sunset Image creates only 
  an immobile image, though, Midnight Canvas Unfurled 
  
  CHAPTER SIX • ARCANOI
  CHAPTER SIX • ARCANOI
  157
  creates an image capable of moving at the haunter’s 
  command. The haunter can either cause the image to 
  slide across the landscape in three dimensions just as 
  if she were lifting and repositioning a model, or she 
  can cause it to appear to move under its own power. 
  Illusions created with this Charm move as fast as their 
  creators wish. The ghost can “program” the illusion at 
  the moment of its creation to take a set of repetitive 
  actions, or she can micromanage its movements with 
  consecutive miscellaneous actions.
  The illusion lasts for one scene, and the duration 
  can be extended by spending one Willpower point 
  per hour of extension. While the image exists, it 
  normally affects only the sense of sight. For every five 
  additional motes the haunter spends to activate the 
  effect, however, she can cause the illusion to affect one 
  additional sense. She could, for instance, make it talk 
  or emanate a horrid stench. She could even grant it 
  an illusory solidity and texture, though she could not 
  cause it to inflict damage.
  As with Painting the Sunset Canvas, the ghost 
  can create illusions in the Underworld, a shadowland 
  or Creation, and she need not be materialized in order 
  to do so. The Essence required to create the illusion 
  remains committed for as long as the illusion exists.
  THE ICHOR CAULDRON
  Cost: 6m; Mins: Conviction 3, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Obvious, Pandemonium
  Duration: One hour
  Prerequisite Charms: Midnight Canvas Unfurled
  An old standby of ghostly pranksters and special-
  ists in spreading terror, this Charm allows a haunter to 
  summon up liquids from nowhere. These liquids can 
  be any harmless substance from water to blood to ink 
  to dribbling phlegm. Powerfully deleterious substances 
  such as acid, poison or flammable oil are not allowed, 
  but less immediately harmful substances such as weak 
  wine or slippery grease are fine.
  When the ghost activates the power, he can 
  summon up to 10 gallons per dot of Conviction he 
  has. The liquid comes from any place in the ghost’s 
  line of sight, seemingly out of thin air, and its flow 
  cannot be blocked. It lasts for one hour, drying, clot-
  ting, evaporating and conforming to the shape of its 
  container just as is normal for the substance. When 
  the hour is done, the substance disappears as if it were 
  never there. Nonetheless, any damage it might have 
  caused, such as ruining a sand sculpture or making a 
  document illegible, remains.
  MESSENGER OF THE GRAVE
  Cost: 4m, 1wp; Mins: Conviction 3, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Obvious, Pandemonium
  Duration: One hour
  Prerequisite Charms: The Ichor Cauldron
  With a momentary exercise of will, the haunter 
  creates vermin to carry out her will. She can create a 
  scarab, rat, spider, snake or other creature of similar 
  size, with all the basic traits and capabilities of a nor-
  mal animal of the same type. The creature follows her 
  mental commands to the best of its ability, and while 
  it can’t do anything a normal creature couldn’t do, it 
  is smart enough to understand and follow her orders. 
  Vermin created thus can have (and use) fangs, claws 
  or stingers like any other member of their species, but 
  they carry no venom and are completely sterile.
  Creating vermin with this Charm requires a 
  successful (Wits + Craft [Pandemonium]) roll. (See 
  p. 116 for a full description of that new Craft Abil-
  ity.) Creating an insect or other very small creature 
  is difficulty 2. Creating a creature the size of a rat is 
  difficulty 3 and is the limit of this Charm’s capability. 
  The animal lives for one hour, though the creator can 
  extend this duration by additional hours by expending 
  one additional Willpower point per hour. When the 
  duration expires, the animal dies on the spot, leaving 
  a perfectly natural corpse.
  The ghost need not be physically manifested to 
  create vermin in the lands of the living. She need only 
  be present there. Essence used to create the vermin 
  remains committed until the creature dies.
  SIX PLAGUE SUMMONS
  Cost: 20m, 2wp; Mins: Conviction 3, Essence 3; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Obvious, Pandemonium
  Duration: One hour
  Prerequisite Charms: Messenger of the Grave
  While this Charm’s prerequisite creates only a single 
  verminous specimen, Six Plague Summons calls forth a 
  horde of them. Creatures summoned thus are ravenous 
  and excitable, which makes them less able to follow 
  complex or subtle orders. Of course, this power isn’t 
  exactly an expression of subtlety in the first place.
  To activate the Charm, the haunter spends the 
  required Willpower and motes as the player rolls (Wits 
  + Craft [Pandemonium]). (See p. 116 for a full descrip-
  tion of that new Craft Ability.) The ghost chooses the 
  type of creature before the roll, which sets the diffi-
  culty. Creating mice or smaller creatures is difficulty 2. 
  
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  HAND OF THE WIND
  Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Conviction 1, Essence 1; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Pandemonium
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Corpse-Fed Radiance
  This Charm allows a haunter to perform a physical 
  action that affects the world while she is not physically 
  manifested in it. (It works only in Creation or during 
  the day in a shadowland.) Without manifesting, she 
  goes through the motions of taking the action, spend-
  ing three motes of Essence and one Willpower. Her 
  player then makes a roll appropriate to the action. If 
  the roll succeeds, the action occurs just as if the ghost 
  were fully physically manifested, although the haunter 
  remains invisible and intangible.
  Hand of the Wind allows a ghost to affect the 
  world with only one action, though that action can 
  include a necessary preliminary effect. The haunter 
  could, for example, snatch a dagger off the floor and 
  throw it as one action. She could dip a quill pen in a 
  handy pot of ink and write a simple sentence with it 
  as a single action. She could step in front of a beloved 
  living descendant who’s under attack and punch the 
  attacker in the face as a single action. Alternatively, 
  Creating larger vermin up to the size of rats is difficulty 
  3. After achieving the difficulty, the threshold successes 
  determine how large the horde is, as follows:
  Threshold Successes 
  Number of Creatures
  0 
  10
  1 
  50
  2 
  250
  3 
  1,250
  4 
  6,250
  5+ 
  So. Damn. Many.
  As with vermin created by Messenger of the Grave, 
  these creatures can have their normal fangs, claws or 
  stingers, but they carry no venom and can conceive 
  no offspring. Unlike that Charm, they can carry out 
  only one set of simple orders, such as “Devour him!” 
  or “Destroy these crops!” or “Swarm over everyone in 
  this village!” If they manage to carry out their orders 
  completely before the duration of the Charm expires, 
  they run wild, obeying the dictates of their ravenous 
  hunger. At the end of the hour, they die off rapidly, 
  leaving tiny carcasses strewn all over the place.
  A haunter can use Six Plague Summons in the 
  Underworld, a shadowland or Creation. He need not 
  be physically manifested to create a horde in Creation; 
  he need only be present.
  
  CHAPTER SIX • ARCANOI
  CHAPTER SIX • ARCANOI
  159
  she could snatch that descendant’s weapon out of 
  the mortal’s hand and use it to parry a single attack 
  directed at that mortal.
  Actions the ghost takes with this Charm rely on 
  the ghost’s normal traits just as if she were corporeal 
  and taking the action physically. They also provoke 
  any reactive traits onlookers possess (such as DVs or 
  reflexive Charms). Any action the haunter takes thus is 
  considered unexpected, however, unless onlookers can 
  somehow accurately sense her while she is intangible 
  and invisible.
  STRIKE OF DEAD HANDS
  Cost: +5m, +1wp; Mins: Conviction 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Permanent
  Keywords: Pandemonium
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Hand of the Wind
  Having this Charm permanently enhances a ghost’s 
  ability to use Hand of the Wind. When a haunter uses 
  the prerequisite Charm, he may spend five additional 
  motes of Essence and one point of Willpower to activate 
  this enhancement. In so doing, he doubles his Strength 
  for purposes of affecting the physical world while he is 
  incorporeal and invisible. This increase in power lasts 
  for only the single action granted by Hand of the Wind, 
  and he cannot activate it except when he’s using Hand 
  of the Wind. If he’s attacking someone with Hand of 
  the Wind and using this Charm’s effect, the damage is 
  automatically lethal, and the haunter cannot pull his 
  punch or otherwise soften the blow in any way.
  FLYING TIME TECHNIQUE
  Cost: 8m, 1wp; Mins: Conviction 3, Essence 2; 
  Type: Extra Action
  Keywords: Pandemonium
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Strike of Dead Hands
  When a haunter uses this Charm, she suddenly 
  seems to flit back and forth from place to place faster than 
  the eye can follow. To the ghost’s perception, people 
  around her seem to move sluggishly, like drowning men 
  or dreamers trapped in hellish nightmares.
  To use this Charm, the haunter spends the requisite 
  motes and Willpower as her player makes a reflexive 
  (Intelligence + Craft [Pandemonium]) roll. (See p. 116 
  for a full description of this new Craft Ability.) The 
  character receives one extra action per success on the 
  roll, up to a maximum limited by her Essence rating. 
  This Charm is a normal extra action Charm per the 
  description on page 182 of Exalted.
  STAGGERED DARK STARS MOVEMENT
  Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Compassion 4, Essence 4; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Pandemonium
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Flying Time Technique
  Flying Time Technique allows a haunter to com-
  press indefinable instants of time in such a way that 
  he moves faster than everyone else; this Charm allows 
  him to manipulate the Calendar of Setesh such that 
  he is completely separate from the flow of passing 
  time. When the ghost activates the Charm, he feels 
  momentarily lighter than air as the landscape around 
  him blurs indescribably. An instant later, the sensation 
  fades. The ghost remains in the same place where he 
  activated the Charm, but much more time has passed 
  than he experienced. To onlookers, the haunter seems 
  to disappear, only to reappear in exactly the same spot 
  much later in exactly the same condition he was in 
  when he left.
  Using this power requires a successful (Intelligence 
  + Occult) roll. For every success the roll garners, the 
  character may disappear for up to 30 minutes. He 
  determines up front the entire amount of time he’ll 
  skip, and he has no knowledge of what happens in the 
  intervening time. The ghost cannot use this power 
  to move backward in time, only forward. Also, since 
  this Charm relies on the ghost’s connection to the 
  Calendar of Setesh, he cannot use it anywhere but in 
  the Underworld.
  HOURS LIKE AUTUMN LEAVES
  Cost: (6m + 1wp) per person; Mins: Compassion 4, 
  Essence 5; Type: Simple
  Keywords: Pandemonium, Touch
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Staggered Dark Stars Movement
  This Charm functions exactly like its prerequisite 
  except for the cost and one key difference. Now, not 
  only can the haunter move herself forward in time 
  by separating herself from the Calendar of Setesh, 
  but she can also move other ghosts forward with 
  her as well.
  To use this Charm, the haunter must spend six 
  motes of Essence and one point of Willpower for 
  herself and that same cost again for each additional 
  ghost she wants to take with her. (She must skip 
  ahead with the group, or the Charm fails.) The player 
  then makes the same roll as for Staggered Dark Stars 
  Movement, and successes determine how far ahead 
  the group can skip. Every member of the group skips 
  
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  ahead the same amount of time. The ghost using this 
  Charm must be touching everyone she wants to take 
  with her who is unwilling to skip ahead. (Those who 
  are willing need not be touching her, but they must 
  be within 10 yards of her.)
  As with Staggered Dark Stars Movement, this 
  Charm functions only in the Underworld.
  EBON GRASP OF OBLIVION
  Cost: 30m, 3wp; Mins: Conviction 3, Essence 3; 
  Type: Simple
  Keywords: Obvious, Pandemonium
  Duration: One scene
  Prerequisite Charms: Black Breath of the Abyss, Strike 
  of Dead Hands
  As the haunter activates this horrid power, dark-
  ness flows from his eyes, ears, nose and mouth, coating 
  his body in the impenetrable black that exists at the 
  event horizon of the Abyss. This blackness completely 
  obscures the character’s features, though it clings to 
  his body and trails faint streamers in its wake as the 
  character moves.
  For the rest of the scene, dozens of jet-black 
  tendrils lash out from the character’s tenebrous body 
  in a five-yard radius to attack anyone nearby. The 
  haunter’s player rolls a single (Strength + Martial 
  Arts) attack, against which every character in the 
  radius must defend him- or herself. (These tendrils do 
  not distinguish between friend and foe.) Each such 
  attack roll counts as a (Speed 6, DV -1) action. A 
  successful attack inflicts (Strength + 2) levels of lethal 
  damage. If such an attack strikes a victim down to 
  Incapacitated or below, several of the tendrils wrap 
  around the fallen target in the next action and drag 
  her toward the attacking ghost’s black body. Doing so 
  takes two independent miscellaneous actions (mean-
  ing the other tendrils continue to attack as normal). 
  A character can attempt to pull a downed comrade 
  free of the tendrils, engaging in a contested Strength 
  roll with the haunter—all while dodging the other 
  tendrils’ attacks, of course. If someone does not rescue 
  a fallen character in the space of two miscellaneous 
  actions, the fallen character is dragged into the at-
  tacking ghost’s body as if that ghost’s silhouette were 
  a hole in space itself. If the victim is pulled through 
  that hole in space, she is cast into the Abyss.
  While a haunter uses this Charm, he’s not entirely 
  in control of himself. He becomes an extension of the 
  death wish of the Neverborn who orbit the threshold 
  of dissolution, wanting only to pull in and devour 
  anything that resists the call of Oblivion. The most 
  he can do of his own will is cover distance at his 
  normal Move or Dash speeds. Otherwise, he cannot 
  attack targets himself, nor can he defend himself. 
  Although the tendrils’ attacks use his traits, they 
  act only on the blind idiot volition of the Never-
  born. Fortunately, although the ghost cannot dodge 
  or parry attacks made against him, the tenebrous 
  shell of Oblivion that surrounds him adds 6L/12B 
  to his soak and a like amount of Hardness. Also, if 
  a weapon is not made of one of the magical materi-
  als or is not otherwise supernaturally enhanced, it 
  inflicts bashing damage against the character using 
  this Charm. (Note, the weapon, not the attack, must 
  be supernaturally enhanced.)
  If a ghost is destroyed while using this Charm, 
  he implodes and plummets into the Abyss.
  
  ISBN 978-1-58846-447-7  WW80304  $24.99 U.S.
  THE BOOKS OF SORCERY, VOL. V — THE ROLL OF GLORIOUS DIVINITY II
  THE BOOKS OF SORCERY, VOL. V — THE ROLL OF GLORIOUS DIVINITY II
  www.white-wolf.com/exalted
  This fifth of Exalted
  Exalted’s five 
  Books of Sorcery explores 
  the nature and powers of 
  the myriad of ghosts and 
  demons that have endangered 
  Creation since the Primordial 
  War. Eschewing the Cycle 
  of Reincarnation, ghosts are 
  an affront to the natural 
  order, bringing more power 
  to the Neverborn through 
  their very existence, and 
  even more so through the 
  ancestor cults, which promote 
  ghost worship. Demons, 
  meanwhile, are the spawn of 
  the imprisoned Yozis, called 
  forth from Malfeas to do the 
  will of powerful sorcerers 
  or escaped into the world 
  where they might cause 
  havoc and do the will of their 
  trapped progenitors. Will the 
  returned Lawgivers succeed 
  in curbing these spirits’ effect 
  on Creation, or are even the 
  Solars endangered by the 
  machinations of these beings 
  and their dire masters?
  This book includes:
  •  An examination of the art of 
  demon summoning 
  • Stats for a myriad of demons
  • Complete rules for playing heroic 
  ghosts, including their unique 
  Charm sets, the Arcanoi
  WHITE WOLF
  WW80304
  PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
  9 781588 464477
  52499
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Deduped  Shit/Exalted 2E/[WW80304] The Books of Sorcery, Vol. V - The Roll Of Glorious Divinity II.pdf