TEXT: THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
  1 
  
  GLORIES OF THE  
  MOST HIGH  
   
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Written by Michael G oodwin, John Mørke, Holden Shearer  
  Additional Material by Neall Raemonn Price  
  Developed by Eddy Webb  
  Edited by Carl Bowen  
  Layout and Design by Brian Glass  
  Art by Groundbreakers Studio, Imaginary Friends Studio, Saana „Kiyo‟ Lappalainen, UDON and Melissa  
  Uran  
  Cover Art by Adam Warren  
  © 2009 CCP hf. All rights reserved. Reproduction without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbid- 
  den, except for the purposes of reviews, and one printed copy, which may be reproduced for personal use only. White Wolf  
  and Exalted are registered trademarks of CCP hf. All rights reserved. Glories of the Most High the Unconquered Sun, Luna,  
  the Maidens of Destiny, the Manual of Exalted Power the Lunars, the Manual of Exalted Power the Sidereals, the Manual of  
  Exalted Power the Abyssals, Graceful Wicked Masques the Fair Folk, the Books of Sorcery, the White Treatise, the Compass  
  of Terrestrial Directions, the Scavenger Lands, the West, the East, the South, the Compass of Celestial Directions, Yu-Shan,  
  Scroll of the Monk, Scroll of Heroes and Dreams of the First Age, Lords of Creation are trademarks of CCP hf. All rights  
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  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 supernatural 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  
   
   
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  THE MAIDENS OF  
  DESTINY 
         
  PERSONAGE AND PANOPLY 
  A mystery even unto the makers of the universe,  
  the Maidens were a known quantity before Creation  
  existed. Because of this, it has been said that the  
  Maidens are without origin. This is not entirely true.  
  The Maidens are the handiwork of the Primordials,  
  but they are omnitemporal, created in a future the  
  Primordials could not foresee and a past they do  
  not remember. 
  Long before Creation existed, Primordials were  
  the sole things of substance and definition within  
  the meaninglessness of the Wyld. As the Primordials  
  began to encounter one another in the depths of the  
  Wyld, their close proximity created a confluence of  
  factual existence and the earliest tenets of natural  
  law. It was through this reality-shaping interface  
  that concepts like time, space, matter and gravity  
  appeared, carried on the backs of five tiny sisters  
  calling themselves the Fates. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Although the Fates came about as a result of 
  immaculate superinduction, it was plain to the Pri- 
  mordials that the sisters were not a cosmic accident  
  but the evidence of intelligent design they had yet  
  to undertake. Most of the Primordials were merely  
  amused by the appearance of the Fates, but otherwise  
  ignored them as they continued with their plans for  
  eternity. Some Primordials, however, were filled  
  with dread at what the sisters portended, finding  
  their sudden appearance ominous, and the Dragon‟s  
  Shadow—who would become the Ebon Dragon—  
  hated them because their very emergence shattered  
  his designs on the architecture of fate.  
   
  Regardless of their dubious source, by the time  
  of the building of Creation, the Primordials had  
  fully incorporated the Fates into their plans for its  
  construction. When Luna split day into night, she  
  created a backdrop through which the Fates could  
  approach Creation and called out to them, awaken- 
  ing them from their slumber. At that very instant,  
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
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  the omnitemporal sisters merged at a single point 
  in time and reached the fullness of their evolution, 
  shedding their cryptic identity as the Fates to become 
  the Maidens. 
  At this point, the Primordials believed their 
  work to be complete. They saw the Maidens as the 
  product of their genius, designed solely to service 
  the Loom of Fate. But the Maidens had other ideas, 
  for the Maidens had known the Primordials in the 
  time before Creation and despised them for their 
  shortsightedness. Looking back/forward across the 
  ages, the then-Fates encountered Luna and the 
  Unconquered Sun, and seeing their dreams and 
  tragedies, fell in love with them from afar. 
  The Maidens set out on the perilous journey 
  through time to meet Luna on Creation‟s first night, 
  knowing they would be bound to act (mostly) im- 
  partially for the benefit of Creation but believing 
  they could steer the course of events in their favor 
  anyway. In the other Incarna, they saw kindred spirits 
  in an otherwise lonely existence comprised of dismal 
  titans and insane unshaped. They also saw in them 
  the potential to be rid of their noxious makers. 
  They could not, however, be certain of the 
  outcome. Where the Unconquered Sun was con- 
  cerned, oracular vision had a way of becoming 
  distorted as time spun itself in an orbit around his 
  crushing gravity. More importantly, the Maidens did 
  not foresee the Exalted, who formed an existential 
  hole in their vision. Most alarmingly, they failed 
  to foresee their own enslavement to the Games of 
  Divinity, proving that not even they could account 
  for everything that would happen. Even so, they 
  risked everything to stand beside the Unconquered 
  Sun in his revolution, and when the Exalted brought 
  an end to the Primordials, the Maidens saw the last 
  obstacle to their absolute control over Creation‟s 
  destiny removed. 
  Five millennia have passed since then, and 
  unlike any other era in their existence, those 5,000 
  years have had a significant effect on the Maidens. 
  For most of their existence, the Maidens were with- 
  drawn, dispassionate, robotic, inhuman; a cold and 
  decisive collective moved only by necessity. But 
  the Exalted, and the Sidereal Exalted in particular, 
  have had an amazing effect on them. By observing 
   
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  and interacting with their Sidereals and the other 
  Incarnae, the Maidens have begun to take on hu- 
  man traits, feelings and motives. They have even  
  gone against their own natures to break the laws of  
  destiny in order to follow their hearts—hearts being  
  something they very much didn‟t have previously. 
  TWINKLE, TWINKLE… 
  NEVER MIND. 
  When the Maidens officially came into  
  being, they represented the fullness of Pri- 
  mordial vision for Creation. No longer were 
  they a culmination of unrealized miracles  
  being beamed to the Primordials across  
  time, but five full-fledged Celestial Incarnae 
  bearing the hallmark of Primordial design.  
  Yet none could say who engineered them!  
  Some looked to Autochthon in suspicion 
  that they were his, but while Autochthon  
  agreed that he could have been their designer,  
  he could not confirm it. Others thought 
  Oramus might have had a hand in it, but  
  he was unable to answer, for the Maidens  
  were a known thing and thus beyond his 
  sight. The Dragon‟s Shadow rankled at the  
  sight of them, while secretly suspicious that  
  they might have been his own masterworks 
  gone awry and moving the course of things  
  independent of his control. As for the Maid- 
  ens themselves, when questioned on their 
  parentage, they always fielded the query to 
  Jupiter, and Jupiter wasn‟t telling. 
  THE FIVE MAIDENS 
  The Maidens of Destiny are often thought of and  
  spoken of as a unit. This is a convenient practice.  
  Together, they govern a common dominion, in the  
  form of destiny; together, they endowed a singular  
  variety of Exalted, in the form of the Sidereals. But  
  the Maidens are not one, and to think such is to  
  oversimplify. While they share a collective existence,  
  each Maiden retains an individual identity, to form  
  five distinct faces of an indivisible whole.  
  
   
   
   
  MERCURY 
  Rooted in the future and always moving forward, 
  even through time, Mercury is also the Maiden who is 
  least attached to the Games of Divinity. Although she 
  is still stricken by a crippling addiction, Mercury is 
  able to distance herself from the Games because she 
  plans most of her moves far in advance and 
  spends even less time taking her turns than the 
  Unconquered Sun does. 
  When playing the Games of Divinity, Mercury  
  is given to wearing saffron-colored robes tied with  
  deeper saffron sashes and ribbons. Her garments are  
  generously cut, but never to such an extent as to  
  invite scandal. In fact, of all the Maidens, Mercury  
  seems to take the least interest in her appearance.  
  Nevertheless, although her robes are smudged with  
  dust from hard travel, her bare shoulders and the  
  swell of her bosom carrying the faintest tinge of  
  perspiration, Mercury effortlessly commands the  
  gallery with her every smile, anecdote and tale  
  from the road. 
  Mercury appears as an athletic young woman  
  with hair the color of spun straw, which she always  
  makes some perfunctory attempt at dressing, usually  
  pulling it into a tail or pinning it up. She has been  
  famously known to carry with her a ladder of infinite  
  extension, which she can throw into a gap to form a  
  bridge or from the ground to a ledge to form a stair.  
  Her preferred method of climbing this ladder is to  
  hike up her skirts with both hands and run up it in  
  defiance of the laws of gravity. Needless to say, the  
  sight of the Maiden of Journeys using her ladder can  
  be quite disconcerting. She has even been said to  
  use it to leave Creation, using it to climb straight up  
  into the stars or to board the passing moon.  
  VENUS 
  Arguably the most well known and personable  
  of her sisters, the Maiden of Serenity is a legend in  
  her own time, beloved and hallowed by her divine  
  contemporaries as much as her countless worshipers.  
  Composed of a peace that surpasses understanding  
  with a gravity of magnetic calm so intense it pulls  
  one in and invites drowning, Venus is said to be  
  the most fascinating, intensely beautiful being in all  
  existence, but such words fall short of her truth. 
   
   
   
   
  Yet she is not an utterly pacific being. Her gusts 
  of laughter can be raucous, her alleluias can set fire  
  to the coldest hearts, and her passions can burn  
  brighter than the stars. Hers is the peace after the  
  rage of the storm. She is the release of tension, the  
  end of frustration, she who conspires toward the  
  bliss of all things. Venus is the maker and breaker  
  of hearts, she who gives love and takes it away.  
  When her serenity is broken, her defense of love is  
  so fierce that it has, at one point, even given the  
  Unconquered Sun pause. 
  Venus appears as a woman at the height of  
  nubility, clad in cerulean gowns that mold to her  
  every perfect curve, swoop and line. Her hair, equally  
  blue, cascades down her body, to blend with her  
  gowns in a rise-and-fall onrush of blue on blue that  
  simulates the crushing hypnotism of the Elemental  
  Pole of Water. Her natural scent is a perfume that  
  is both aphrodisiac and hallucinogenic, and she is  
  given to interact with those illusions that spring up  
  in the minds of those intoxicated by her presence.  
  Fantasies involving her sisters are among her most  
  common offerings. 
  Venus is commonly attended by a number of 
  floating, shifting azure wisps, like both ribbons and 
  prayer strips. When she shirks her garments to wander in 
  the nude, these bands follow her, conveniently 
  providing the barest modicum of decency. On the 
  occasions she‟s been observed to do battle, she uses 
  these ribbons as weapons. 
  MARS 
  It has been said that the Maiden of Battles is the  
  most terrifying of the Maidens—ruthlessly pragmatic,  
  quick to take offense and caring little for those mortals  
  questionably blessed by her presence. Nothing could  
  be further from the truth. It is because the Maiden  
  of Battles cares so much for the lives she is affecting  
  that she is so terse. Any business not having to do  
  with battles, contests or war distracts her from her  
  careful planning and causes her savage irritation. In  
  truth, the destinies she weaves depict the death of  
  millions, and the gravity of this burden is not lost on  
  her. Only Jupiter knows that Mars holds the lives of  
  soldiers sacred and honors in her heart those fighters  
  she commends to the tender mercies of Saturn.  
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
  5 
  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Mars favors several guises, each of them cor- 
  responding to an archetypal role she assumes. 
  In all of them, she is a red-headed woman with 
  blood-stained hands. Her most common role is 
  that of the general, in which she wears lacquered 
  red armor, carries a dire lance and has a number 
  of head-dresses set with wigs of human hair spun 
  from soldiers since time immemorial. She has been 
  known to appear as a judge in scarlet robes with 
  an iron mask to preside over honor duels, Gate- 
  way matches and other crucial contests. She also 
  commonly appears as a sifu in a scarlet qipao, her 
  hair worn in an extravagantly long braid and laced 
  through with quipu, each knot binding some of 
  her knowledge so that she does not inadvertently 
  kill her pupils. In these forms of authority, Mars is 
  at her most alien and frightening, but how could 
  she not be? Hers is a cold, alien wisdom, and in 
  these roles she must pass her knowledge down to 
  lesser vessels who are not gifted with her under- 
  standing of samsara. 
   
   
  6 
  It is in her fourth guise that Mars is at her most 
  human (and subsequently, the guise in which Mars  
  is least likely to be seen). It is that of the soldier,  
  in which she wears perfunctory armor and carries a  
  slashing sword and round shield. As a soldier, Mars  
  is not assuming a role of authority, but rather epito- 
  mizing the Thousand Correct Actions. In this form,  
  Mars is a comrade-in-arms, seeking to understand  
  and reproduce the fraternity or sorority that soldiers  
  feel when they are made kindred in battle against  
  a common enemy. 
  JUPITER 
  Apocryphal legend has it that alone among  
  the  Maidens,  Jupiter  once  had  no  dominion,  
  but simply existed as the caretaker of her sisters.  
  One day she happened upon a terrible Primordial  
  behemoth in the frigid lands near the Elemental  
  Pole of Air, set to guard all the secrets in Creation.  
  She posited to the beast that she knew a secret it  
  did not. Scoffing, the beast answered her with a  
  challenge, proclaiming that its mastery of all things  
  
   
   
   
   
  hidden was perfect and complete. She asked it 
  what the nature of her divine domain might be. 
  The beast opened its maw, and no answer came 
  forth. Flustered, it retreated to its cave, and began to 
  rummage through all the secrets in Creation and 
  beyond, discarding them over its shoulder as it 
  went. Jupiter calmly stood outside the cave, 
  picking up each secret as it was cast out into the 
  snow. Finally, when the cave was empty, the beast 
  slumped back outside to admit defeat—but the 
  Maiden was no longer there. 
  When asked about the veracity of this tale, 
  Jupiter simply smiles, as is her way. 
  Jupiter is the oldest of the Maidens, and her  
  looks reflect that, if only slightly. Seemingly on  
  the cusp of middle age, Jupiter radiates maturity,  
  experience and mystique. Her all-knowing air and  
  her distracted demeanor work together to arouse  
  a subtle provocation in the hearts (and bodies) of  
  those who see her. Having no end of suitors, the  
  Maiden of Secrets is the eternal focus of intrigue  
  and obsession throughout Yu-Shan. Yet none can  
  allege to have claimed her hand, for Jupiter knows  
  how much value there is in withholding herself  
  as an unattainable secret. 
  Jupiter wears multi-layered robes of white,  
  emerald and jade, through which unknown things  
  slither and leap just beneath the surface. Affixed  
  to her skirts are hundreds of keys that seal away  
  some of the world‟s greatest secrets, even from  
  her mind, so that she cannot be forced to reveal  
  them. Her hair (also green) is typically adorned  
  with dozens of tiny bells. These she once used  
  to call the other Maidens, when they were still  
  children. Now that they are grown, the bells serve  
  another purpose, announcing the approach of her  
  sisters. When Mercury approaches, the bells of  
  Jupiter either jingle like sleigh-bells or ring like  
  the bells of naval ships and dinghies. When Venus  
  is close, they have the peal of wedding bells, and  
  when Mars is imminent they ring with the sound  
  of hammer on anvil. When Saturn draws nigh,  
  the bells of Jupiter toll like somber iron funerary  
  bells, striking terror into those to whom Jupiter  
  is paying a visit. 
   
   
   
  SATURN 
  Seated close at hand to the Unconquered Sun  
  or lingering in the shadow of Luna, Saturn hopes  
  to be overshadowed by the majesty of her peers. In  
  a painting, she hopes to be the object to which the  
  eye is least drawn. In a fete, she moves through the  
  room like living smoke, stealing breath and cutting off  
  thoughts mid-sentence, unforgettable in an instant  
  and forgotten in the next. The Maiden of Endings‟  
  self-imposed obfuscation is a necessary one, for the  
  distraction of her presence makes life difficult to  
  live. And so she rides the arm of the Unconquered  
  Sun and follows after Luna, holding the train of her  
  garments and making her sign against that which  
  the Argent Madonna must hunt. 
  When playing the Games of Divinity, Saturn  
  appears to be a strikingly beautiful young woman with  
  white hair, wearing a violet gown with a split that  
  bares her leg and a pair of shears affixed to her thigh  
  by a garter. At the table, she composes herself with a  
  silent, knowing wisdom that is somewhere between  
  mirth and hauteur, and very rarely does she appeal to  
  or even deign to notice the gallery. Instead, her eyes  
  constantly shift from player to player. It has been  
  said that Saturn is almost as taciturn as Jupiter, but  
  that is a fallacy because Saturn‟s actions and words  
  are remembered only by those remarkable enough  
  to contain a strong sense of the Maiden from mo- 
  ment to moment. Even then, a strong memory of  
  Saturn is a stuttered one, consisting of broken images  
  of movement and stillness and blurs of sound that  
  sometimes contain audible words. 
  THE MAIDENS’ STELLAR FREIGHT 
  While  the  Maidens  each  have  their  own  
  wondrous treasures, it is perhaps more telling of  
  their influence over Creation to examine the vari- 
  ous wonders Exalted artificers have created while  
  claiming divine inspiration from one or another of  
  the sisters. 
  KITE OF MERCURY (ARTIFACT • • )  
   
  This deceptively powerful artifact resembles a  
  Dynast‟s summer kite at a glance. Closer inspec- 
  tion reveals its lightweight, razor-edged starmetal  
  frame and steelsilk covering, often dyed with murals  
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
  7 
  
   
   
   
   
   
  KITE OF MERCURY  
  Speed    Accuracy 
  Damage     Rate 
  Range 
  Minimums     Attune     Tags 
  4 
  +2 
  +4L 
  2 
  30 
  Dex ••• 
  5 
  — 
   
   
  depicting some famous historical journey. Mercury‟s 
  kites may be wielded as weapons in battle, darting 
  out on the end of their unbreakable tether to slash at 
  a wielder‟s enemies or ridden to glide great distances 
  (tripling the distance of an attuned user‟s jumps). A 
  character riding a kite of Mercury never takes damage 
  from a fall, no matter how far she drops. 
  HEAVENLY ECSTASY AIDES (ARTIFACT • ) 
  “Heavenly ecstasy aide” is a broad catchall 
  name used in the Realm for any artifact with no 
  useful purpose outside the bedroom. This category of 
  artifacts encompasses a broad variety of alchemical 
  body oils, “clothing” that reveals and hides flesh in 
  patterns geomantically calculated to increase sex 
  appeal and erotic toys incorporating the magical 
  materials into their construction, including such 
  marvels of artifice as quaking white jade beads and 
  green jade phalli which provide physical feedback 
  when attuned. These devices serve to demonstrate 
  the inventiveness of the gods and Exalted in pursu- 
  ing greater heights of physical indulgence. Heavenly 
  ecstasy aides are illegal to own or create in the Realm, 
  ostensibly on the grounds of being a gross waste of 
  valuable jade and alchemical reagents. In practice, 
  most Dragon-Blooded households own at least one 
  or two such items, and House Cynis is infamous for 
  its stockpiles. Such collections are politely ignored 
  until the Empress‟s magistrates need a convenient 
  pretense to shake a household down in a particularly 
  humiliating fashion. 
  BANNER OF THE CONQUEROR (ARTIFACT • •
  • • ) 
  The Realm and Lookshy covet these prized relics 
  of the First Age, which take the form of a signal flag, 
  its silk a flat crimson by default. When attuned for 
  10 motes, the flag instead displays the house mon, 
  personal insignia or iconic anima of its wielder, as 
  desired. Swung in battle, the flag‟s edge cleaves foes 
  in twain (treat as a grimcleaver). If carried by the 
  leader of a complementary unit in mass combat, the 
   
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  unit enjoys perfect morale. With a successful prayer 
  to Mars, a mortal may carry and wield a banner of the 
  conqueror as though it were attuned at no cost. The 
  Maiden of Battles pays the cost of the attunement 
  herself. This secret is carefully guarded by the Great 
  Houses and the Lookshy Gentes alike. 
  REVELATION BLINDFOLD (ARTIFACT • • )  
   
  This wonder takes the form of a green silk blind- 
  fold, woven around a secret known to only one living  
  being and passed on by a dying breath. To properly  
  prepare a revelation blindfold, this breath must be  
  caught between the lips of the one dying and the  
  ear of the listener. The difficulty of such a feat is the  
  primary reason for the rarity of these artifacts.  
   
  Revelation blindfolds cost five motes to attune,  
  and must be worn constantly for any benefit to  
  be granted. For the first (11 - Essence) days after  
  donning the artifact, the wearer suffers all normal  
  penalties for blindness and no benefits. At the end  
  of this period, she aligns with the deeper secrets the  
  world around her is trying to impart. Her blindness  
  penalty disappears, and she constantly benefits from  
  an effect identical to All-Encompassing Sorcerer‟s  
  Sight. She may also reflexively use the spirit Charm  
  Measure the Wind as an innate power at no cost  
  on any individual who speaks to her. Another full  
  adjustment period is required if the blindfold is  
  removed for any reason. 
  RINGS OF SATURN (ARTIFACT • • • • )  
   
  These dread artifacts, of which only three copies  
  are said to have ever been created, take the form of  
  delicate starmetal loops worn around the knuckles.  
  They show hypnotic striations in their surfaces from  
  the methods used to forge them, and are ice cold to  
  the touch. A punch enhanced with Saturn‟s rings  
  uses the normal traits for such an attack, save that  
  it ignores Hardness, inflicts piercing damage and  
  drains one point of Willpower from any target with  
  an Essence rating lower than the wielder. Against  
  
   
   
   
   
  mortals or targets with a permanent Essence rating five  
  or more dots lower than that of the wielder, a successful  
  hit causes instant death as a Shaping effect. Rings of  
  Saturn cost six motes to attune.  
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY  
  Five goddesses weave the destiny of the universe.  
  Autochthon once remarked in faint awe to a Sidereal  
  that he wished he had made them, and no other titan  
  takes credit for doing so. The Ebon Dragon consid- 
  ers the goddesses a blight upon his invention of fate,  
  meddlesome pests who keep time from assuming the  
  shape he would impose upon it. He suspects another  
  Primordial forged them in secret just to spite him,  
  since that is what he would have done. The most likely  
  explanation is that existence itself brought them into  
  being to keep watch over it, but the likeliest explana- 
  tions seldom apply to fate‟s keepers.  
  There could have been other Maidens long ago.  
  There could be Maidens yet unborn. In one legend,  
  the unknown Maiden of Wisdom stood in the path of  
  the Three Spheres Cataclysm and doused its fires with  
  her Essence, shattering herself forward and backward in  
  time to spare some part of Creation. According to other  
  stories, the Maidens mourn sisters fallen and entombed  
  in the Orrery of Arainthu, adding the mystery of their  
  Chosen to the speculation why Sidereals number only  
  100 to the 300 of the other Celestial Exalted. As in so  
  much else, the Maidens are more enigma than answer,  
  pledged to guard the future against the present and  
  never forget the lessons of the past. The strangeness  
  of the Sidereal Exalted pales before the strangeness of  
  their patrons, but in each day that dawns anew, the  
  victory of the Maidens stands over chaos and entropy  
  and the unknown threats they alone witness.  
  Motivation: Mercury: “Make sure all things go where  
  they should.” Venus:  “Make sure all  things  come  
  together as they should.” Mars: “Make sure all things  
  come into conflict as they should.” Jupiter: “Ensure  
  the preservation of all knowledge for the time it must  
  be known.” Saturn: “Make sure all things end as they  
  should.” The Intimacies of the Maidens are strange and  
  rarely appear to make sense to other beings when the  
  goddesses deign to share them. Yet, the five share the  
  following common attachments: the Tapestry (Awe),  
  the future  (Hope), the present  (Delight), the past  
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
  9 
  
   
   
   
   
  (Satisfaction), Oblivion (Horror), Other Maidens 
  (Camaraderie), the Fivescore Fellowship (Exasper- 
  ated Affection), Autochthon  (Wary Gratitude), 
  Gaia (Respect), the Yozis (Sorrow), Luna and the 
  Unconquered Sun (Uneasy Friendship) and pattern 
  spiders (Pride). 
  Attributes: Strength 10, Dexterity 15, Stamina 10, 
  Charisma  5, Manipulation  15, Appearance  10, 
  Perception 20, Intelligence 15, Wits 15 
  Virtues: Compassion 4, Conviction 5, Temperance 4, 
  Valor 3 
  Abilities: All Maidens: Athletics 10, Awareness 10 
  (Noticing What Is Actively Hidden +3), Craft (Fate) 10 
  (In Accordance With Motivation +3), Dodge 10, 
  Integrity 10  (Ignoring  Questions  +3),  Lore  10 
  (Shinmaic Theory +3), Occult 10 (Samsara +3), 
  Presence 10  (Confusing  Explanations +3), 
  Resistance 10, Survival 10; Mercury: Ride 10, Sail 10, 
  Thrown  10; Venus: Linguistics  10  (Native: Old 
  Realm, Flametongue, Forest-tongue, Guild Cant, 
  High  Holy  Speech,  High  Realm,  Low  Realm, 
  Riverspeak, Rocktongue, Seatongue, Skytongue), 
  Performance 10, Socialize 10; Mars: Archery 10, Me- 
  lee 10, War 10; Jupiter: Investigation 10, Larceny 10, 
  Stealth 10; Saturn: Bureaucracy 10, Martial Arts 10, 
  Medicine 10; The Maidens can boost their Abil- 
  ity  ratings  with  Fateful  Puissance  Integration 
  (see below). 
  Backgrounds: As Incarnae, the Maidens have virtu- 
  ally limitless access to requisition the resources of 
  Yu-Shan and Creation, giving them ratings of 5 or 
  even N/A in any pertinent Background. Of particular 
  note, they have Cult N/A restoring eight motes of 
  Essence and one mote of Willpower per hour from 
  the prayers devoted to them and the cosmic vastness 
  of their dominions. 
  Sorcery: The Maidens are naturally initiated into the 
  Emerald and Sapphire Circle through their numinous 
  power, giving themselves spells as needed with the 
  Charm Library of Inner Truth (see p. 14). 
  Charms: As Essence 10 deities, the Maidens have 
  All-Encompassing versions of virtually every divine 
  Charm not unique to singular beings, subject to the 
  limitations of each Maiden‟s purview. They have no 
  Excellencies or other Ability-enhancing Charms 
  beyond those unique to their panoplies. They also 
   
  10 
  cannot use any of their Charms to directly contest 
  their knowledge of samsara, so they cannot use a  
  defensive Charm to stop an attack they know must  
  happen or attack someone with lethal force who  
  has a role yet to play in the saga of existence. The  
  Maidens are versed in every conceivable Blessing  
  and Curse and may issue permanent versions of  
  either as many times per year as desired, spending  
  30 motes in lieu of permanent Willpower to do so.  
  Notable capabilities include 10 purchases each of  
  Essence Plethora, Reserve of Will and Ox-Body  
  Technique and a Materialize cost of  100 motes.  
  Their Hurry Home teleports them from anywhere  
  governed by fate to anywhere governed by fate and  
  may be used reflexively as a form of perfect dodge  
  against any undesired effect rather than requiring a  
  simple action when teleporting to the Loom of Fate,  
  even against undodgeable effects. The Maidens have  
  an unusual relationship with the martial arts (see  
  Many-Flowering Lotus on p. 14). 
  Auspicious Panoply of Destiny: These Charms  
  belong to the Maidens alone. No one else can  
  learn them. To the degree it matters, they have  
  a minimum Essence of 10. Except as noted, each  
  Maiden has all of these Charms, though each uses  
  them differently. 
  Samsara’s Inviolate and Subtle Hand: The Maid- 
  ens‟ Charms are virtually undetectable unless the  
  keepers of fate wish otherwise, even to Essence-based  
  perception. If a Charm contests this subtlety, the  
  Maidens apply a flat 20 successes in the roll-off to hide  
  their work. The Maidens also treat all mental influ- 
  ence that would make them betray their Motivation  
  as an unacceptable order and cannot knowingly act  
  against their Motivation of their own free will. This  
  defense also applies retroactively to instantly shatter  
  any ongoing externally imposed mental influence  
  in the moment it comes into conflict with their  
  Motivation. Finally, the Maidens can reflexively  
  commit 10 motes to make themselves immune to  
  all Poison and Sickness effects, all negative effects  
  from hazardous environments and all hostile Shaping  
  effects. Doing so also purges their bodies of all such  
  deleterious effects already in their system.  
   
  Righteous Answer of Catechism: This Charm is  
  similar to the Unconquered Sun‟s Charm of the  
  
   
   
   
   
  CHARM CONCEPT: SAMSARA  
  The Maidens see a fate beyond fate, the ebb and flow of the shinmaic substrata defining existence.  
  Termed samsara, this pattern is arbitrary but never random, sublime in its beauty and horror. The  
  design has neither guiding intelligence nor coherent moral imperative behind it, but it empowers  
  the Maidens with knowledge that enslaves their actions. What they see in it, they cannot help  
  but act to bring about. If destiny and fate are the grand architecture that the Maidens and their  
  servants construct, samsara is the ultimate blueprint which defines the “as things should” in each  
  Maiden‟s Motivation. It is also more, because samsara can predict events not normally subject to  
  divination, such as the actions of beings outside fate and events the Maidens cannot influence.  
  In this, it is a numinous mystery that contains an infinitude of otherwise inaccessible truths.  
  Not all things are contained in samsara. Some events happen that the Maidens do not fore- 
  see. In part, this is a limitation of each Maiden‟s purview. Mars no more knows where things  
  must go than Mercury discerns future conflicts. The highest levels of the Perfected Lotus and the  
  divinatory Charms of the Sidereal Exalted see even less, touching and manipulating the pattern  
  without truly perceiving it. Jupiter theorizes that the sleeping Yozi Sacheverell truly sees the shape  
  of things to come, and so lies trapped in hopeless inaction by the futility of predestination, but  
  samsara itself is silent on the matter. Ultimately, the Storyteller chooses whether a given event  
  is even eligible for divination in samsara and needs not apply any measure of consistency beyond  
  whether it serves his story to have the Maidens aware of and working toward a particular outcome.  
  For example, if a future plot in the series involves the death of the Unconquered Sun, that event  
  could be excluded from samsara to catch even Saturn by surprise. If she knows, however, then  
  she becomes part of the conspiracy.  
  Obviously, samsara cannot directly account for the actions of protagonists whom the Sto- 
  ryteller does not control. While Storytellers can work around this limitation by modifying the  
  script, such as killing the Most High tomorrow if the heroes save him today, doing so would di- 
  rectly attack the core principle of Exalted that protagonists always matter. Unless the Storyteller  
  has established great trust with the players such that they can be sure a scripted event will give  
  them more options to matter than it takes away, taking this approach will most likely bring the  
  game to a screeching halt. A more elegant solution is to keep the Maidens‟ knowledge of samsara  
  largely invisible to the players, allowing the goddesses to anticipate how the story actually plays  
  out rather than tying them to a specific vision. Where it appears at all, samsara best serves stories  
  as the inscrutable rationale for the Maidens‟ actions, no more intrusive than the weird agendas  
  of other mighty spirits. 
   
   
  same name (Glories of the Most High: The Un- 
  conquered Sun, p. 9), but prayers to the Maidens  
  do not create a conduit for their ranged attacks.  
  Also, it is not their usual practice to send messages  
  to their Chosen at the moment of Exaltation. When  
  a Sidereal prays to his patron Maiden and asks for  
  enlightenment that is congruent with her vision of  
  samsara, she may pay (30m, 1wp) to gift him with  
  any Sidereal Charm, a dot of an astrological College 
   
   
  or a dot of Essence as a Training effect, bypassing age 
  limits on the last. She cannot do so if he is already  
  in experience debt. Samsara wisely does not permit  
  this gift except in dire circumstances, especially with  
  regard to the Maiden‟s rarely used power to scribe a  
  new Sidereal Charm into the firmament. Using this  
  Charm, all five Maidens can ritually unlock Sidereal  
  access to astrological Charms, after which responses  
  to enlightenment prayers can bestow them as well.  
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
  1
  1 
  
   
   
   
   
  The rite by which they sealed these techniques at 
  the end of the Primordial War is not repeatable 
  without catastrophic and irreversible damage to 
  the Loom of Fate. 
  Strands Within Strands: By reflexively paying one 
  mote, a Maiden can intuit the answer to any one 
  question samsara permits her to know. This answer 
  must help her uphold her Motivation, but the Charm 
  is not otherwise limited in the information it can 
  impart. “What do I most need to understand right 
  now?” is a valid question. 
  Ordained Saga Triumph: Whenever a Maiden suc- 
  ceeds on an action in which she performed a stunt and 
  that stunt resonated with her Motivation, she doubles 
  any motes or Willpower she chooses to recover as 
  a reward. She may immediately pay any Willpower 
  points received this way to reflexively regenerate 
  two levels of bashing damage or one level of lethal 
  damage. She may extend this same benefit whenever 
  she witnesses a successful stunt that resonates with 
  her own Motivation performed by another character 
  by reflexively paying three motes, broadening the 
  options for rewards the character who performed 
  the stunt may receive. Maidens automatically know 
  when a witnessed action is eligible for this blessing. 
  Unlike other beings, the Maidens cannot perform 
  stunts to enhance actions or other rolls that have 
  no possibility for failure. Thus, they cannot stunt 
  in conjunction with using Cosmological Constant 
  or when declaring success (or an opposing action‟s 
  failure) with As Fate Decrees. 
  Fateful Puissance Integration: The Maidens can 
  consult the infinite wisdom of samsara, reflexively 
  committing one mote per dot to temporarily raise any 
  Ability up to a maximum rating of 20 as a Shaping 
  effect. Abilities with trait prerequisites (such as Craft 
  [Magitech]) require these prerequisites to be met as 
  normal. Temporary dots last as long as the commit- 
  ment sustaining them and are considered part of the 
  Maiden‟s natural rating during that time. Conferring 
  Linguistics grants whatever languages the Maidens 
  wish to incorporate at the time they give themselves 
  those dots. The Maidens can also bless anyone inside 
  fate they can perceive, committing Essence as usual 
  for the Charm to provide temporary Ability dots up 
  to the usual maximum for the target. 
   
  12 
  Cosmological Constant: This Charm is similar to 
  the Conviction power of the Unconquered Sun‟s  
  Charm Perfection Beyond Imagining (Glories of  
  the Most High: The Unconquered Sun, p. 11),  
  but permanently ensures success on all actions that  
  support the Maiden‟s Motivation and applies only  
  a flat 20 successes to roll-offs against effects that  
  contest this supremacy. Join Battle, Join War and  
  Join Debate actions are always considered to support  
  a Maiden‟s Motivation. This Charm also enhances  
  Virtue rolls supporting the Maiden‟s Motivation.  
  (For example, Mars is dauntless in necessary strife;  
  the love of Venus is all-encompassing for those she  
  would unite.) Using this Charm, the Maidens can  
  successfully accomplish all Craft (Fate) actions nec- 
  essary to maintain the entire Tapestry, but doing so  
  requires the undivided attention of all five goddesses  
  in one place within fate. 
  As Fate Decrees: Whenever the Maidens wit- 
  ness or engage in an event that requires a dice roll,  
  they may reflexively pay one mote to reset the  
  target number of that roll to anything from 4-9 as  
  a Shaping effect. This Charm may be activated in  
  any attack step in which a roll occurs to affect that  
  roll. By also paying one Willpower, the Maidens can  
  impose automatic failure or automatic success on all  
  dice in lieu of an actual roll. An automatic result  
  is not eligible for reroll. Automatic failure makes  
  sure that no modifier or effect can cause the roll to  
  generate more than 0 successes, and may similarly  
  reduce a static value (such as a DV) to 0 for one  
  event in which it is applied. Automatic success can  
  double a static value for one instance of use. Rolls  
  for other Essence 10 beings and all beings outside  
  fate may not be adjusted by this Charm, nor can  
  the rolls of those whose traits are protected from  
  Shaping attacks. Roll-offs for Charm conflicts are  
  also ineligible for modification. 
  Infinite Realignment of Destiny: The Maidens can  
  mark anyone they can perceive within a mile using  
  this instant Simple Charm, paying (10m, 1wp) that  
  is not committed despite the ongoing effect. This is  
  an unblockable and undodgeable attack. The target  
  must be inside fate and not immune to Shaping-based  
  trait alteration. If successful, the Maiden chooses a  
  narrow subset of her own Motivation (“Fight De- 
  
   
   
   
   
  mons!” for Mars, by way of example) and selects a 
  target number ranging from 4-9. Whenever the target  
  takes a rolled action using any Attribute or Ability  
  that directly supports the selected Motivation, the  
  target number of that action adjusts as directed. If  
  the target is invalid at that point, the destiny falls  
  off. Otherwise, fates imposed by this Charm last  
  until Calibration. No being can have more than one  
  instance of this Charm applied to it. Trying to add  
  another makes the old one fall off. In its secondary  
  use, Infinite Realignment of Destiny can target  
  non-Primordial beings outside fate, tangling their  
  Essence in destiny‟s weave so they become part of  
  fate until Calibration. 
  Whispers of What Must Be: The Maidens can pay  
  (5m, 1wp) as a simple (Speed 3, -0 DV) action to  
  speak a social attack to one target they can perceive.  
  This can be done in personal combat time as well  
  as social combat, and no one other than the target  
  hears the suggestion. This unnatural influence is  
  both an Illusion and Compulsion effect, implanting  
  a suggestion to take one action that directly supports 
   
   
   
   
  the Maiden‟s Motivation. Resisting this suggestion 
  must be done at the time of implantation and costs  
  a number of Willpower points equal to (11 - target‟s  
  Essence; maximum 5). Otherwise, whenever any  
  combination of designated trigger events occurs,  
  the target must take whatever single action the  
  Maidens commanded and believes it to be his own  
  volition. He may, alternatively, be commanded to  
  stop or avoid a particular course of action when  
  triggered, in which case he may not repeat that ac- 
  tion for the rest of the scene. The target need not  
  be aware of the trigger events, as long as they are  
  known to samsara. Each Maiden can implant only  
  one suggestion per target. Trying to apply another  
  removes the first. Otherwise, the suggestion waits  
  indefinitely until triggered. 
  Like Spiders Alert: The Maidens cannot ever be  
  surprised by any danger, and attacks against them  
  are never unexpected; samsara can override this  
  protection to conceal a threat. They also recognize  
  whether anything is part of fate or outside it upon  
  perceiving it. This Charm also allows the Maidens  
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
  1
  3 
  
   
   
   
   
  to reflexively spend (15m, 1wp) to restart any given 
  scene by having witnessed the “rewound” events as 
  a vision in samsara that can offer insight when they 
  “actually” play out the scene. A given scene can 
  only be restarted once per Maiden and cannot be 
  rewound if any being outside fate acted to disrupt the 
  vision. In light of this power, the Storyteller should 
  take note of the static traits and variable traits (like 
  mote pools) for all participant characters at the be- 
  ginning of every scene in which the Maidens take 
  part. Finally, each Maiden can reflexively shift her 
  senses to any location inside fate as though she were 
  at that location, but her shifted perceptions fail to 
  notice anything outside fate. 
  Arsenal of Fate: By reflexively paying motes equal 
  to the rating of a starmetal artifact weapon, a Maiden 
  can visibly weave strands of luminous fate into that 
  item as a Shaping effect. Repeated use and separate 
  commitment can create any number of weapons. The 
  conjured artifact appears in the grasp of any being 
  the Maidens can perceive and wish to gift (including 
  themselves) and is considered attuned by all wielders 
  as long as committed Essence continues to sustain 
  its existence. In addition to basic starmetal magical 
  material bonuses, weapons created with this Charm 
  bring any being they strike into fate for the rest of 
  the scene. Arsenal of Fate cannot create anything 
  more complex or powerful than a grand daiklave, 
  but it can form a weapon in time to make an armed 
  parry against an attack. 
  Many-Flowering Lotus: By reflexively commit- 
  ting one mote per Charm, the Maidens can draw 
  enlightenment from samsara to temporarily endow 
  themselves with Martial Arts Charms from any 
  style. They must give themselves all required trait 
  minimums and Charm prerequisites to advance 
  through a style, and they do not gain sutra benefits 
  for Sidereal Styles since they do not truly internalize 
  the teachings. They may, however, use these Charms 
  as divine Charms for the purposes of not needing 
  Combos. Mastery conferred by Many-Flowering 
  Lotus fades upon releasing the motes sustaining 
  it. The Maidens are incapable of learning Martial 
  Arts Charms in any permanent fashion. Like the 
  Primordials, they belong to other principles. 
   
   
  14 
  Library of Inner Truth: By reflexively committing 
  one mote, the Maidens consult the wisdom of samsara  
  to temporarily teach themselves a single Emerald  
  or Sapphire Circle spell. They may also learn and  
  cast Abjuration of the Maidens, Adamant Circle  
  Banishment, Adamant Countermagic and Winds  
  of Confusion  (see The Books of Sorcery, Vol.  
  II—The White Treatise) despite lacking Adamant  
  initiation. (Replace the usual display of the last with  
  the appropriate chromatic hue as they unleash the  
  mind-shattering mysteries of samsara.) Alternatively,  
  they can bestow a spell on anyone inside fate they  
  are touching who knows the appropriate initiation  
  Charms. Knowledge of a conferred spell lasts as long  
  as the commitment sustaining it. Repeated use of this  
  Charm can endow beneficiaries with vast sorcerous  
  knowledge. The Maidens can, but do not bother to,  
  learn sorcery in a permanent fashion. They have  
  more important matters to which to tend.  
   
  Resplendencies Beyond College: The Maidens can  
  appear as any thing or type of being that is or ever  
  has been part of fate, cloaking all information about  
  them at all to fit the disguise, including magical in- 
  formation such as Essence and destiny. Taking a form  
  does not modify a Maiden‟s traits unless she chooses  
  to apply less than her full power to a task. Piercing  
  this perfect disguise is impossible by mundane means.  
  Charms that would reveal the Maiden‟s true self face  
  a flat 20-success barrier in the roll-off. One extremely  
  important limitation of this Charm is that it cannot  
  be used to copy specific entities. The Maidens can  
  take any part they devise in the service of samsara,  
  but they may not steal a role that has already been  
  cast in the grand play of events. Pretending to be  
  nothing is a valid use for this Charm, in which case  
  the Maiden goes undetected to all perception for as  
  long as she maintains this disguise. The attacks of an  
  undetectable Maiden are automatically unexpected  
  unless the target uses a Charm or stunt to augment  
  his defense. An undetectable Maiden is likewise  
  a valid target only for stunt or Charm-enhanced  
  attacks and imposes a -5 external penalty to these.  
  Beings outside fate automatically recognize that  
  the Maiden is not what she appears, but they still  
  perceive the Charm‟s disguise. This recognition is  
  
   
   
   
   
  enough to void the stealth benefits of seeming to 
  be nothing. 
  Starfall Path Unveiling  (Mercury): Whenever  
  Mercury uses Hurry Home, she may spend any  
  number of Willpower points. Doing so allows her  
  to teleport any number of individuals inside fate  
  whom she can perceive, with a Magnitude no greater  
  than the number of Willpower points spent. This  
  Magnitude can encompass any number of scattered  
  individuals and complementary units. Teleporting  
  individuals thus is a Shaping attack. Unlike a mere  
  Banish Charm, Mercury can send individuals to  
  immediately dangerous destinations and can send  
  each transported individual to a separate designated  
  location within fate, if so desired. This Charm ignores  
  and shatters any spells warding against teleportation  
  of lesser power than Adamant or Void Circle as a  
  specialized form of countermagic. Beings transported  
  by the Charm flash away and arrive in beams of yel- 
  low light resembling a shower of shooting stars.  
   
  Ever-Loving Connivance  (Venus): Whenever  
  Venus hits a target with a physical or social attack,  
  she may instill a positive Intimacy in him toward any- 
  thing she desires as an unnatural Emotion effect. Blue  
  starlight flickers in the target‟s eyes as the Intimacy  
  takes hold. If the attack hits multiple beings, each  
  Intimacy may be determined separately. Resisting  
  the creation of this Intimacy costs five Willpower,  
  in addition to any Willpower paid to resist the  
  usual effects of a successful social attack enhanced  
  by this Charm. The order in which resistance costs  
  must be paid in the case of stacked influence is up  
  to Venus. She can deliberately choose an Intimacy  
  that directly opposes the target‟s Motivation to force  
  Willpower drain. 
  Blessed Legion’s Bloody Halo (Mars): By paying  
  (15m, 1wp), Mars can reflexively infuse with her  
  Essence a complementary unit of Magnitude  3+  
  that she can perceive. For as long as she maintains  
  this commitment, glittering red stardust surrounds  
  and blows in nebulous whorls behind the cadenced  
  tread of the perfected army. This aura adds +10 to  
  the unit‟s Close Combat, Ranged Attack, Close  
  Combat Damage, Ranged Attack Damage, Drill,  
  Might, Armor and Morale. Mars can use separate 
   
   
   
   
  activations to enchant multiple units with this 
  Charm. The blessing lasts as long as the unit re- 
  mains in formation together or until withdrawn by 
  terminating the Charm. 
  Prying Veil of Discretion (Jupiter): Jupiter keeps  
  her own counsel. She treats all mental influence  
  that would make her believe anything untrue or  
  divulge information to others as unacceptable orders  
  and contests all Charms that would reveal informa- 
  tion about her or her actions (such as whether she  
  is telling the truth) with a flat 20 successes in the  
  roll-off. Green light glitters in her eyes whenever  
  this Charm blocks an effect and she is aware of the  
  attempted intrusion as though it were Obvious to  
  her senses. She can always choose to comply, but  
  she can‟t be made to do so. The Maiden of Secrets  
  can extend this same protection to all beings inside  
  fate within a 10-mile radius by reflexively commit- 
  ting 15 motes. For a second 15-mote reflexive cost,  
  the shield hardens to block all unnatural mental  
  influence regardless of its intent, stopping attempts  
  at control as readily as mental prying. As a result, it  
  costs 30 motes total to shield an area with the greater  
  defense. Extant unnatural influence temporarily  
  abates in the presence of a greater shield, but returns  
  when the protected character moves out of range or  
  Jupiter withdraws her protection. What the Maiden  
  of Secrets hides from others is an open book to her.  
  Jupiter can glean all secrets of any mind currently  
  protected by this Charm in samsara through use of  
  Strands Within Strands (p. 12). 
  Final  Cessation’s  Edge (Saturn):  Whenever 
  Saturn hits a target with a physical attack, she may  
  replace the normal effects of the hit with a Shaping  
  effect that offers several options. If she is feeling  
  merciful, she may induce dreamless unconscious  
  that lasts up to one week, during which nothing  
  can wake the target. If she is less merciful, the target  
  instantly dies in whatever manner Saturn decides,  
  up to total disintegration of physical form into a  
  burst of violet stardust. Such death is not a physical  
  transformation, as the dispersion of Essence occurs  
  to the victim‟s corpse following imposition of death.  
  Beings slain this way pass on to Lethe if able or  
  their Essence disperses back into the natural flow of  
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
  1
  5 
  
   
   
   
   
  Creation, though beings such as Deathlords and many 
  Primordial behemoths regenerate as normal from 
  this demise. Inanimate objects are simply destroyed 
  outright. If Saturn uses this Charm to affect a unit 
  she hits, she knocks every member unconscious or 
  slays them as desired. Only individuals shielded from 
  the Shaping remain, though the Storyteller should 
  permit any special character with such a defense to 
  have activated it as they watched her obliterating her 
  way through the ranks. This Charm can also enhance 
  a social attack calling for an end to discussion on 
  any designated matter. Targets of the attack must 
  pay five Willpower or the unnatural Compulsion 
  effect forces them to halt discussion on that topic 
  or any closely related topic (as adjudicated by the 
  Storyteller) and not resume such conversation for 
  one day. A final power of this Charm is similar to 
  Titan-Unleashing Clarion (Glories of the Most 
  High: The Unconquered Sun, p. 12), but Saturn 
  can summon only Yozi jouten. 
  Join  Battle:  25  (always  wins  via  Cosmological 
  Constant, above) 
  Attacks: 
  Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 16, Damage 10B, Parry 
  DV 9, Rate 3, Tags N 
  Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 15, Damage 13B, Parry DV 7, 
  Rate 2, Tags N 
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 15, Damage 10B, Parry 
  DV —, Rate 1, Tags C,N,P 
  Soak: 5L/10B 
  Health Levels: -0/-1x16/-2x16/-4/Incap 
  Dodge DV: 18  Willpower: 10 (20 points) 
  Essence: 10 
  Essence Pool: 250 
  Other Notes: Should another character somehow 
  inherit the destiny and panoply of a Maiden fol- 
  lowing her unimaginable demise, use the same rules 
  as for the Unconquered Sun (Glories of the Most 
  High: The Unconquered Sun, p. 14). Unlike the 
  Unconquered Sun, the Maidens are not particularly 
  suited to directly scaling up or down their power. 
  Given their utter dependence on and obedience to 
  the whims of samsara, however, a strict and cruel 
  future severely limits their capability to act just as 
  a loose and flexible vision empowers them. More 
  than any other beings in the Exalted setting, the 
   
   
  16 
  Maidens depend upon plot for power, and plot does 
  not always go in their favor. 
  ENTOURAGE 
  The Maidens of Destiny comprise the best- 
  known sisterhood in Creation. Although they work  
  closely with the many Sidereals and gods under  
  their command, the Maidens‟ truest confidants and  
  companions are each other. Their sorority is an un- 
  breakable bond and the subject of much legend.  
   
  To understand the Maidens, one must see them  
  as a unit. Any single act that greatly affects the  
  course of destiny will eventually pass through the  
  domain of each of the five sisters. In the event of a  
  great war, for example, while it might be Mars who  
  assigns nations into alliances against one another  
  and signs off on which battles will be won and which  
  will be lost, and who will be the ultimate victor, she  
  does not work alone. If an entire line of kings will  
  be obliterated at the war‟s climax, Saturn is there.  
  If cities are sacked into rubble and entire histories  
  are lost, if brother turns upon brother in the final  
  hectic moments of a siege, and if a bodyguard is  
  paid to betray his general at the start of a skirmish,  
  Jupiter sees and hears all. And what are wars if not  
  epic struggles to move supplies, troops, and massive  
  amounts of money and information across long  
  distances? Mercury knows. When a war finally does  
  come to an end, Venus must preside over the peace  
  that comes in the wake of pandemonium, which she  
  does with relish. 
  The  five  are  not  bound to act  in concert,  
  however,  and  sometimes  one  Maiden  will  act  
  singly on behalf of the whole, creating a conflict  
  in the sisterhood-collective. For example, Venus  
  has repeatedly proposed a marriage of the Maidens  
  to the Unconquered Sun. On every occasion, the  
  Unconquered Sun has accepted her proposal only  
  for Saturn to break off the engagement before the  
  wedding. These sorts of disagreements are not an  
  anomaly or malfunction in the Maidens‟ design, but  
  rather just another expression of their upholding the  
  laws of fate. When it seems Mercury might finally  
  best the Unconquered Sun in a footrace, Saturn trips  
  her without fail and without explanation. Jupiter  
  
   
   
   
   
  knows it is because Saturn would loathe seeing any 
  of her sisters best Ignis Divine where she has, at so 
  many Carnivals of Meeting, failed, while the Loom of 
  Fate itself insists that the Unconquered Sun can- 
  not be defeated. 
  Aside from one another, the only true peers of  
  the Maidens are their fellow Incarnae. Although it  
  would better serve the cause of destiny if the Maidens  
  did not care about Luna or the Unconquered Sun,  
  they find that, against their better judgment, they  
  cannot help but regard the sun and moon as their  
  peers, allies, friends and sometimes more. Saturn  
  struggles against these bonds of affection most of all,  
  for she knows that they, like all things, must end  
  in time. Jupiter is aware of the unwanted feelings  
  afflicting the Maiden of Endings but is kind enough  
  not to speak of them. 
  Extensive information on the Maidens‟ divine  
  subordinates may be found in The Compass of  
  Celestial Directions, Vol. III—Yu-Shan and The  
  Manual of Exalted Power—The Sidereals. Not all  
  of the sisters‟ servants are as well known as the heads 
   
   
   
   
  of the five divisions of the Bureau of Destiny. One of 
  the most numerous and least-seen is detailed here. 
  AURICHIM AND ARGENTIM 
  Even at the apex of the First Age, the upper 
  boundaries of Creation remained sparsely explored 
  and imperfectly understood by Exalted astronomers. 
  Although the Incarnae had given their Chosen rul- 
  ership over Creation, the mightiest gods remained 
  possessive of their dominion over the vast, distant 
  reaches of the sky, and left the aurichim and argentim in 
  place as guardians of the starry vault. 
  The aurichim acted as the roving eyes of the  
  Unconquered Sun during the Time of Glory, serv- 
  ing to warn the Most High of incursions against the  
  boundaries of Creation. Ignis Divine invariably no- 
  ticed such threats before his faithful servants brought  
  their warning, but he thanked them regardless. Luna,  
  more easily distracted, sent her argentim to track the  
  movements of Creation‟s enemies within its borders,  
  that she might hunt them at her leisure.  
   
  In the wake of the Primordial War, the Incarnae  
  ordered their servants to continue patrolling and  
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
  1
  7 
  
   
   
   
   
  safeguarding the wide empty spaces of the celestial 
  void, and they continue in that task to this day. 
  The aurichim speak to the Unconquered Sun less 
  and less over time, though few have dared to sug- 
  gest that he has forgotten about them. They are 
  zealous beings by nature, and even the most lax 
  and dispirited among them have dared little more 
  than to occasionally make the long descent down 
  to Creation‟s cloud layer, to briefly take their leisure 
  among the cloud people. 
  The argentim are another matter. They no 
  longer serve Luna, having been wagered and lost 
  in a bet against the Maidens during a Carnival of 
  Meeting in the early First Age. Rather than scouting 
  out Creation‟s enemies, they have been reassigned 
  as guardians of the constellations. (The Maidens 
  specifically expressed a desire not to see a certain 
  lamentable incident involving the Mask repeated 
  elsewhere.) They also guard the secret anomalies of 
  the darkest reaches of the starry void, of which they 
  are forbidden to speak. 
  Aurichim and argentim are  solitary  beings, 
  spending most of their time patrolling the vastness 
  of the celestial realm far above Creation. They 
  inspect the ceiling of the world to make sure it is 
  in good repair, sweep for intruders, gossip about the 
  movement of the heavenly bodies and lament the 
  departure of the Unconquered Sun to Yu-Shan. 
  Occasionally, they do battle with bizarre wonders 
  or horrors pulled into Creation in the wake of the 
  moon‟s nightly return from the eastern Wyld. Few 
  have ever visited Yu-Shan or seen one of the Exalted, 
  and most are intensely curious about these storied 
  beings, whom they are intended to bar from disrupt- 
  ing the cycles of the heavens. Argentim often land 
  on the passing surface of the moon and attempt to 
  entice truculee to share news or gossip from Cre- 
  ation‟s surface, which they then carry back to their 
  brethren and the aurichim. Truculee invent at least 
  as much news as they report, so the guardians of 
  the celestial void are perpetually ill informed about 
  matters on Creation‟s surface. 
  Aurichim appear as tall men and women with 
  bronzed skin and armor, 10 feet in height on average, 
  with blank golden masks for faces and expressive 
  eyes. They fly about on wings made of geometric 
   
  18 
  patterns forged from pure sunlight. Argentim are 
  similar, but silver to the gold of the aurichim, and 
  their wings, formed of bent moonbeams, now gather 
  steady coatings of shimmering stardust from their 
  dalliances with the constellations. 
  Sanctum: The aurichim make their homes in a series  
  of recessed apartments cut directly into the ceiling  
  of the heavenly vault, though they are rarely in  
  residence. The current sanctum of all argentim is a  
  spatial anomaly in the darkness between the Rising  
  Smoke and the Sorcerer, a void within the void,  
  which they fear to enter and of which the few among  
  their number who have entered will not speak.  
  Motivation: Safeguard the celestial void against  
  intruders. 
  Attributes: Strength  8, Dexterity  8, Stamina  8; 
  Charisma 4, Manipulation 2, Appearance 4; Percep- 
  tion 5, Intelligence 3, Wits 3 
  Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 5, Temperance 3, 
  Valor 4 
  Abilities: Archery 4 (Bow of Light +1), Athletics 3 
  (Flight +3), Awareness 5 (Distant Things +3), Dodge 3, 
  Integrity 5, Lore 2 (Celestial Void +2), Melee 5 
  (Spear of Light + 1), Occult 2 (Secrets of the Stars +1), 
  Performance 2, Presence 3, Resistance 3, Survival 1 
  (Celestial Void +3), War 2 
  Backgrounds: Backing (Incarnae) 2 
  Charms: 
  Amethyst Awareness 
  Bane Weapon—Attacks against unauthorized intrud- 
  ers inflict aggravated damage. 
  Banish—The  powerful  Charm  used  by  celestial 
  guardians deposits unwanted intruders on the face 
  of Creation, far below. 
  Divine Prerogative—Guardianship of the celestial  
  void. 
  Essence Bite—Functions only during the day for 
  aurichim, and only at night for argentim. 
  Essence Plethora 
  Hurry Home—Returns the spirit to its sanctum.  
  Intrusion-Sensing Method—The argentim use this  
  Charm to detect tampering with any of the con- 
  stellations. 
  Landscape Hide—Aurichim sometimes take their 
  rest within a passing comet when they need to get 
  from place to place.  
  
   
   
   
   
  Landscape Travel—Celestial guardians fly through 
  the starry vault at twice normal movement speed. 
  Materialize—Costs 55 motes 
  Measure the Wind—The celestial guardians evalu- 
  ate  intruders  for  proper  authorization  from the 
  Incarnae. 
  Ox-Body Technique (x2) 
  Principle of Motion—Aurichim and argentim usually 
  keep seven actions banked. 
  Sheathing the Material Form 
  Touch of Eternity—Allows recipients to respire the 
  thin, cold air of the celestial void without difficulty 
  (-4 internal penalty to all actions otherwise). 
  Touch of Grace—Used to perform light maintenance 
  on the roof of Creation. 
  Second  (Ability)  Excellency—Archery,  Integrity, 
  Melee 
  Third (Ability) Excellency—Athletics, Awareness,  
  War 
  Infinite (Ability) Mastery—Archery 
  Join Battle: 8 
  Attacks: 
  Spear of Light: Speed 5, Accuracy 16, Damage 16L, 
  Parry DV 8, Rate 2 
  Bow of Light: Speed 6, Accuracy 14, Damage 13L, 
  Rate 2, Range 350 
  Soak: 14L/17B (Celestial armor, 10L/9B; 
  Hardness 8L/8B) 
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/- 
  2/-2/-4/Incap 
  Dodge DV: 8   Willpower: 7 
  Essence: 4 
  Essence Pool: 85 
  OBSERVANCES 
  The average mortal in Creation understands that  
  the Maidens are responsible for fate and destiny, but  
  grasps little of the significance of this fact save for  
  the great power of the five sisters. Misconceptions  
  range from the notion that the Maidens are impartial  
  caretakers of a preordained global destiny, to the  
  laughable idea that they manually control the actions  
  of each and every mortal in Creation. Regardless,  
  they are well-known beings, and their influence over  
  the various cultures of Creation is vast.  
   
  Mercury is widely considered to be a patron of  
  merchants and sailors, and she receives more prayer 
   
   
   
   
  from the Guild than perhaps any other source in 
  Creation, including Varangia. Rare indeed is the  
  merchant caravan or wagon that does not have  
  her symbol carved somewhere on it. But she is not  
  merely the mistress of merchants. Couriers‟ bags are  
  traditionally painted a bright yellow in recognition  
  of Mercury, and the lemon-yellow jackets worn by  
  riders for the Imperial Post are a clear nod to the  
  Maiden‟s power. Generally, any individual who is  
  traveling, or who is moving goods, services, ideas or  
  culture from one place to another is likely to attempt  
  to invoke Mercury‟s blessing over his venture. 
  The symbolism of Venus can be found marking  
  the most sacred and profane aspects of Creation.  
  On the lighter side, cerulean is the almost-universal  
  color of weddings in Creation, and it is traditional  
  in some regions for a newly married couple to  
  spend its first night sleeping (assuming any sleep- 
  ing is done) on blue sheets. Blue ribbons hanging  
  from a house‟s eaves symbolize the recent birth of  
  a couple‟s first child in much of the Threshold.  
  The wide-brimmed hats worn during mid-day  
  rests throughout the hottest parts of the South are  
  decorated with blue bands. 
  Blue is also the color of brothels and the primary  
  hue in the attire of more expensive harlots. Most  
  houses of ill repute that can afford to advertise dis- 
  creetly do so by hanging out a blue paper lantern,  
  and the pleasure barges of House Cynis often fly blue  
  sails (when they care to be identified as such).  
   
  Mars often sees her symbol painted on the shields  
  of soldiers marching to war. But that same mark is  
  also often painted or cast into anvils in ironworks  
  throughout the Threshold where Fair Folk incursions  
  are a problem. Even the aniconic Realm‟s foundries  
  maintain the practice of painting their doors and  
  roofs red. Furthermore, there is a significant trend in  
  Dragon-Blooded depictive art featuring the Maiden  
  of Battles to show her wearing hairstyles popularized  
  by the Scarlet Empress. The Empress has never been  
  known to publicly condemn this practice.  
   
  Jupiter is widely worshiped by scavenger lords  
  who entreat her to give up a portion of her secrets. She  
  is a popular figure in Threshold artwork, and a statue  
  of her, blindfolded and contemplating a closed book,  
  may even be found in the entry hall of the Heptagram.  
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
  1
  9 
  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Libraries are often decorated in shades of dark green 
  intended to mollify the Maiden of Secrets and pre- 
  vent her from growing wroth at the idea of so much 
  information being offered so freely. 
  More unexpectedly, she is also widely worshiped 
  by pirates. The Lintha in particular make lavish 
  yearly sacrifices while asking that she keep the secret 
  routes through the sargasso sea around Bluehaven 
  from falling into the hands of their enemies. Lesser 
  freebooters also attempt to propitiate her in the 
  hopes that their buried loot and hidden ports will 
  not be uncovered. 
  Saturn is invoked in funeral rites throughout 
  Creation. She is also called upon at graduation 
  ceremonies, rites of transition into adulthood and 
  often by sailors about to depart to sea. Soldiers in 
  the West worship her more commonly than they do 
  Mars, for Siakal urges them to cast enemies into the 
  hungry sea, and so naval battle is associated with 
  death more often than conquest. The most expensive 
  physicians often incorporate lavish sacrifices to Sat- 
  urn into their consultation fees, attempting to bribe 
   
   
  20 
  her simultaneously to stay her touch from the lives 
  of their patients while ending their afflictions.  
   
  Most gods and Sidereals, better informed than  
  Creation‟s average mortal, believe that the multi- 
  tudes of prayers directed to the Maidens are cast forth in 
  absolute and utter futility. The pattern spiders are 
  keyed to respond to only a very few authorized prayers and 
  do not alter their weaving of destiny otherwise. As 
  these prayers are known only to authorized mem- 
  bers of the Bureau of Destiny, then, every mortal 
  who begs Saturn to stay her hand or entreats Venus to 
  smile upon him wastes his breath. 
  Such is the belief of the well-informed denizens  
  of Heaven. They might be surprised to learn the  
  truth. Ten thousand prayers may be cast to the ears  
  of the Maidens without stirring them from their  
  course, and then ten thousand times that number  
  again. But every now and then, for reasons none  
  other than the Maidens themselves could explain, a  
  prayer will catch the attention of one of the sisters.  
  When this happens, the Maiden in question almost  
  invariably descends to Creation to investigate in  
  
   
   
   
   
  person, and just as invariably does so in an unas- 
  suming disguise. Mercury prefers to wear the guise  
  of a wandering mendicant, dock worker, refugee  
  or retired merchant. Venus often plays the role of  
  the minor noble, runaway slave, disgraced monk  
  or harlot. Mars prefers to investigate matters of  
  Creation in the form of a mercenary, blacksmith,  
  proreus or hunter. Jupiter walks among mortals  
  assuming the role of a librarian, cutpurse, Gate- 
  way champion or a mourner at the funeral of an  
  accomplished scavenger lord. Saturn is stirred to  
  make the fewest visits to Creation, and generally  
  does so as a vartabed, orphaned child, world-weary  
  gambler or black crow. 
  GIFTS TO THE CHOSEN 
  Alone among the Incarnae, the Maidens hand- 
  crafted the Charms of their Exalted and affixed them to 
  the stars of the 25 constellations. They have only 
  rarely added to this gleaming roll of aptitudes, the last 
  instance being in the earliest days of the First Age. 
  They have never been known to remove a Charm 
  from the reach of their Chosen. In all likelihood, it is 
  not within their power to do so. 
  But neither is it within the power of the Viziers  
  to craft new Sidereal Charms for themselves. As a  
  result, their self-improvement has focused on the  
  development of a wide array of esoteric martial  
  arts styles which, at the end of the Second Age of  
  Man, leave them the undisputed masters of such  
  secret techniques. 
  CRANE STYLE 
  Developed by Sidereal Exalted during the Pri- 
  mordial War as a means of teaching newly Exalted  
  Celestials the ways of martial arts without risk of  
  deadly training accidents, Crane Style emphasizes  
  defensive maneuvers, restraint and empathy for  
  opponents. The style does not permit armor, but  
  considers hook swords and war fans (as well as the  
  magical versions thereof) as unarmed attacks for  
  the purposes of its Charms. Most commonly, these  
  weapons are wielded paired, as a one-winged crane  
  is considered highly inauspicious. In the Second  
  Age, the main practitioners of this Celestial martial  
  art are Gold Faction Sidereals who run the train- 
   
   
   
   
  ing camps of the Cult of the Illuminated, applying 
  the style‟s techniques to their original purpose as 
  they prepare Solar Exalted to face the enemies of 
  Creation. 
  FLUTTERING CRY OF WARNING 
  Cost: 1m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; 
  Type: Reflexive (Step 2) 
  Keywords: Combo-OK 
  Duration: Instant 
  Prerequisite Charms: None 
  The clumsy hunter might strike from ambush,  
  but the crane is not fooled. This Charm may be  
  activated in response to any unexpected physical  
  attack targeting the martial artist or anyone within  
  (Martial Arts x 10) yards of her. Yet, the target of the  
  unexpected attack must not have made any physical  
  attack previously in the scene (counterattacks are  
  permitted). If the target is valid, the attack loses  
  the unexpected quality and its target may defend  
  against it normally. 
  EMPOWERING JUSTICE REDIRECTION Cost: 
  3m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; Type: 
  Reflexive (Step 2) 
  Keywords: Combo-OK 
  Duration: Until next attack 
  Prerequisite Charms: Fluttering Cry of Warning  
   
  Crane stylists do not initiate hostilities—they  
  finish them. This Charm may be activated in re- 
  sponse to any physical attack targeting the martial  
  artist and notes the attacker and the number of  
  successes rolled for the attack prior to applying the  
  martial artist‟s defenses. Whenever the martial artist  
  next makes an unarmed attack or counterattack roll  
  against the noted attacker, her roll adds a number  
  of extra successes equal to those noted. An attack  
  enhanced with these successes inflicts its usual  
  type of damage, but the actual levels applied to an  
  enemy in Step Ten convert into bashing damage  
  that cannot spill over past Incapacitated to impose  
  lethal wounds. If an enhanced attack inflicts any  
  levels of damage, the opponent is automatically  
  knocked prone by the force of the blow. Reactiva- 
  tion of Empowering Justice Redirection resets the  
  noted aggressor and number of successes, replacing  
  any prior activation.  
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
  2
  1 
  
   
   
   
   
   
  SIDEREALS, REVISITED  
  For convenient reference, corrections and updates to several existing Sidereal Charms are 
  compiled here. All Charms are from The Manual of Exalted Power—The Sidereals.  
   
  Fateful (Ability) Excellency (p. 127) has the Combo-OK keyword.  
   
  Dreaming the Wild Lands (p. 136) has the Shaping keyword.  
  Implicit Construction Methodology (p. 143) may be applied to only a single roll per project.  
   
  Duck Fate (p. 143) may be employed to avoid any harmful effect (including all undesired  
  physical, social, mental and spiritual influence), regardless of applicability or the scope of the at- 
  tack, as long as the Sidereal‟s player succeeds on the Charm‟s activation roll. It fails only against  
  Limit Break and Pattern Bite. Duck Fate‟s fallible activation roll is considered a unique Flaw of  
  Invulnerability.  
  Serenity in Blood (p. 155) applies its listed Willpower cost only the first time it is invoked 
  during the character‟s action.  
  Of Horrors Best Unknown (p. 168) has the Shaping keyword. To clarify, it brings creatures 
  outside fate inside fate for a year and a day, while its target-number-modifying curse lasts for only the 
  first scene in which the net‟s criteria are met.  
  Soft Presence Practice (p. 170) has a duration of one scene and is a simple Charm. 
  Supernal Awareness (p. 174) has a duration of one scene.  
  (Virtue) Essence Replenishment (p.178) no longer provides motes for channeling a Virtue once 
  that Virtue has been channeled a number of times in a day equal to its rating.  
   
  Blade of the Battle Maiden (p. 182) may apply its purchased dice to attacks or Parry DV, as  
  decided at the time of activation—not both at once.  
  Unless otherwise specified, Sidereal Charms that leverage mental influence cost one Willpower to 
  resist. The following Charms require two Willpower to resist:  
  Adopting the Untamed Face (p. 136), Favorable Inflection Procedure (p. 145), Life Without 
  Compunction (p. 149), You and Yours Stance (p. 150), Force Decision (p. 156).  
   
  The following Charms require three Willpower to resist:  
  Becoming the Wilderness (p. 136), Sky Spirit Demand (p. 137), Song of Spirit Persuasion (p.  
  148), Avoiding the Truth Technique (p. 163), Masque of the Uncanny (p. 165), Icy Hand (p.  
  176), Underling Invisibility Practice (p. 176), Unwavering Well-Being Meditation (p. 178).  
  The following Charms require five Willpower to resist:  
  Neighborhood Relocation Scheme (p.144), Abandoned Words Curse (p. 145), Ice and Fire 
  Binding (p. 148), Shun the Smiling Lady (p. 149), Spirit-Binding Battle Pattern (p. 161), Of 
  Secrets Yet Untold (p. 167), Ceasing to Exist Approach (p. 172).  
  Spirits may not resist Terminal Sanction‟s (p. 176) Servitude effect. 
   
  CRANE FORM 
  Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple 
  Keywords: Form-type 
  Duration: One scene 
  Prerequisite  Charms:  Empowering  Justice 
  Redirection 
   
  22 
  The crane is not a violent animal, it is an el- 
  egant one. While this Charm is active, the martial  
  artist ignores the off-hand penalty for actions while  
  wielding paired form weapons. If wearing clothing  
  with long, flowing sleeves, she adds one to her Parry  
  DV (and her clothing will never be torn or stained  
  by using it to parry attacks), and her barehanded  
  
   
   
   
   
  attacks gain the R tag. She automatically succeeds 
  on all Athletics checks to retain her balance and  
  exerts no effective weight on any solid object, al- 
  lowing her to balance on a pine tree‟s needles or  
  run across a spider web as readily as firm ground.  
  The Charm doubles the dice bonus (but not actual  
  level) of all stunts made to enhance unarmed Mar- 
  tial Arts actions and allows such stunts to recover  
  a Compassion channel in place of other awards if  
  the action succeeds. Finally, all damage inflicted  
  by the martial artist‟s unarmed attacks is limited  
  to bashing injury as per the effects of Empowering  
  Justice Redirection. 
  HUMBLING ENLIGHTENMENT COMMENTARY 
  Cost: —; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 2; 
  Type: Permanent 
  Keywords: None 
  Duration: Permanent 
  Prerequisite Charms: Crane Form 
  The grace of the crane inspires those who bear  
  witness to it. A martial artist who knows this Charm  
  may enhance her unarmed Martial Arts attacks  
  and parries with the same descriptions as a social  
  attack, provided that her spoken words analyze her  
  opponent‟s fighting techniques and offers helpful  
  advice to improve them. Thus, comments by play- 
  ers speaking in character provide a one-die stunt, et  
  cetera. Social and conventional physical criteria do  
  not stack as such, though a combination of visual  
  and literal poetry may certainly net a higher stunt  
  award at Storyteller discretion. 
  As a secondary benefit, if the martial artist takes a 
  dramatic action lasting one minute in which she 
  spars with a single individual, both combatants 
  treat that minute as a day of training time for the 
  purposes of purchasing dots of Martial Arts, Martial 
  Arts specialties or Martial Arts Charms. This accel- 
  eration is not a Training effect and does not allow 
  purchase of traits the combatant‟s player lacks the 
  banked experience points to afford. 
  KINDLY SIFU’S QUILL 
  Cost: —; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; 
  Type: Permanent 
  Keywords: None 
  Duration: Permanent 
   
   
   
   
  Prerequisite  Charms: Humbling Enlightenment 
  Commentary 
  Gentle masters write their lessons in bruises,  
  not cuts. While a character with this Charm has  
  Crane Form active, he does not need to spend a  
  Willpower point to channel Compassion to enhance  
  an unarmed Martial Arts attack or parry. Moreover,  
  whenever he does channel Compassion this way to  
  improve an attack, he also adds the dice bonus from  
  the channel to the attack‟s raw damage and he may  
  choose to arrange inflicted bruises as calligraphy  
  upon the victim‟s skin when inflicting any levels  
  of damage. 
  CROSSED WINGS DENIAL 
  Cost: (0+)m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; 
  Type: Reflexive (Step 2) 
  Keywords: Combo-OK 
  Duration: Instant 
  Prerequisite Charms: Crane Form 
  What monster kills so beautiful a bird? This  
  Charm may be activated in response to any physical  
  attack of which the martial artist is aware, allowing  
  her to make a perfect unarmed parry even against  
  unblockable attacks. Doing so costs a number of  
  motes equal to the number of times she has acti- 
  vated Crossed Wings Denial previously in the scene.  
  Use of this Charm prevents the martial artist from  
  making any physical attacks on her next action as  
  a special flaw of invulnerability. Counterattacks are  
  not similarly prohibited. 
  FEATHER-STIRRED ARROW DEFLECTION 
  Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; 
  Type: Reflexive (Step 9) 
  Keywords: Combo-OK, Counterattack 
  Duration: Instant 
  Prerequisite Charms: Crossed Wings Denial  
   
  With a mighty beat of its wings, the crane  
  shames feathers bound to shafts. They understand  
  the lessons that their archers do not. This Charm is  
  an unarmed (Dexterity + Martial Arts) counterat- 
  tack that may be activated in response to any ranged  
  attack with a solid projectile. The projectile may  
  strike the martial artist or not depending on her  
  defenses, but regardless, the counterattack hurls the  
  projectile at an armed character no farther away  
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
  2
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  than the distance between the original attacker and 
  the martial artist. The target of this counterattack 
  need not be the attacker who prompted it. If the 
  counterattack hits, it inflicts no damage, but the 
  opponent is automatically disarmed and the weapon 
  flies five yards away in a direction of the martial 
  artist‟s choice. 
  BEAK SPEARS FROG 
  Cost: 4m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; 
  Type: Reflexive 
  Keywords: Combo-OK, Counterattack 
  Duration: One Scene 
  Prerequisite Charms: Crane Form 
  It is the nature of a crane to grab a frog that 
  passes beneath its beak. It is the nature of Crane 
  Style to strike those who strike first. A martial art- 
  ist using this Charm cannot make physical attacks 
  against other animate beings, but this prohibition 
  does not extend to counterattacks. While Beak 
  Spears Frog is active, however, the character may 
  respond to any physical attack against him in Step 
  Nine with a single unarmed counterattack, provided 
  he can reach the attacker to do so. Counterattacks 
  made this way suffer an internal penalty equal to 
  the multiple action penalty of the attacks to which 
  they respond, but are otherwise made at the char- 
  acter‟s full dice pool. 
  WINGS SPREAD TO SKY 
  Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; 
  Type: Reflexive 
  Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious 
  Duration: One action 
  Prerequisite Charms: Beak Spears Frog 
  Majestic and beautiful is the soaring crane. In 
  activating this Charm, the character extends his 
  arms to either side, hands pointed down, and glides 
  up to (Martial Arts x 5) yards in any direction. If 
  this path terminates in midair, he remains suspended 
  in defiance of gravity for the duration of the Charm 
  with enough mobility to dodge without actually 
  moving from his location. He cannot reactivate 
  Wings Spread to Sky until his DV refreshes. The 
  Charm may be used to abort a fall safely or rise 
  higher from the apogee of a jump. If used to pull 
  away in response to an attack, the attack resolves 
   
   
  24 
  normally before the martial artist moves. Defensive 
  gliding can interrupt a flurry if the martial artist 
  moves out of the attacker‟s reach, ensuring that 
  successive attacks automatically miss. 
  When Wings Spread to Sky ends, the character  
  glides another (Martial Arts x 5) yards or less in  
  any direction before gravity resumes its hold upon  
  him. This can allow him to land safely from a great  
  height or deposit him on a safer perch. Termina- 
  tion of the Charm can also close the distance  
  to an opponent to deliver an unarmed attack or  
  counterattack  (effectively extending the reach  
  of the attack). Closing to strike this way doubles  
  extra successes for the purposes of calculating the  
  attack‟s raw damage, but only the first attack in a  
  flurry enjoys this bonus. 
  WISDOM OF THE CELESTIAL CRANE  
  Cost: —; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; 
  Type: Permanent 
  Keywords: Holy 
  Duration: Permanent 
  Prerequisite Charms: Kindly Sifu‟s Quill, Feather- 
  Stirred Arrow Deflection, Wings Spread to Sky  
   
  The crane is a sacred animal. How much more  
  so are the masters who understand its ways? Upon  
  learning this Charm, the martial artist converts all  
  Combos solely containing Crane Style Charms into  
  the experience points needed to acquire them. Com- 
  bos containing Charms outside the style remain.  
  Through the Wisdom of the Celestial Crane, the  
  character can activate any Combo solely contain- 
  ing Crane Style Charms as though she knew that  
  Combo and she considers Crane Form Combo- 
  OK for this purpose. She does not need to spend  
  Willpower to activate a Combo intuited through  
  this Charm. Finally, if she is using Crane Form,  
  whenever an unarmed attack she makes inflicts  
  any levels of damage to a creature of darkness, that  
  being also loses a Willpower point. Victims who  
  lose their last Willpower point this way instantly  
  form an Intimacy of love for Creation. 
  CRYSTAL CHAMELEON STYLE 
  This ancient Celestial martial art dates back to  
  the Primordial War, when it was innovated and used  
  by the Chosen of Mercury to help deliver vital mes- 
  
   
   
   
   
  sages despite overwhelming Primordial opposition. 
  Demons and Lintha alike were left blinking and 
  confused as practitioners quickly blurred through 
  their blockades, leaving only footprints and corpses to 
  mark their passing. 
  It is still strongly favored today for its mixture  
  of surprise and speed. Those who have fought a  
  Blinding Prism (as practitioners of this style are  
  known) rarely know precisely what hit them, and  
  that suits the needs of the Viziers of the Second Age  
  perfectly. Unbeknownst to its Sidereal inventors,  
  the style is also widely popular in Autochthonia.  
   
  Weapons  and  Armor: Crystal Chameleon  
  style treats attacks made with the spear, rope dart,  
  weighted rope and their artifact equivalents as  
  unarmed for the purpose of its Charms. It is in- 
  compatible with armor. 
  Complementary Abilities: To properly execute  
  the lightning-fast movements and sudden ambushes 
   
   
   
   
  of the style, practitioners must have at least three 
  dots spread between Stealth and Athletics. 
  JUST ANOTHER BRANCH DECEIT 
  Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 2; 
  Type: Supplemental 
  Keywords: Combo-basic 
  Duration: Instant 
  Prerequisite Charms: None 
  Radiating Essence through his chakras in a  
  precisely controlled array, the character breaks light  
  around himself, creating intermittent highlights  
  of illumination and shadow throughout the area  
  which help draw attention away from himself. This  
  Charm may supplement an attempt to reestablish  
  surprise (see Exalted, p. 156) during combat, add- 
  ing three automatic successes to the attempt. If the  
  character enjoys more than 50% hard cover due  
  to the environment at the time of activation, the  
  Charm provides four automatic successes instead.  
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
  2
  5 
  
   
   
   
   
  The martial artist must still have the opportunity to 
  attempt to reestablish surprise in the first place. 
  This Charm is known in Autochthonia as One 
  Wire Among Many. 
  LIGHT-TREADING TECHNIQUE 
  Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; 
  Type: Reflexive 
  Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious 
  Duration: One scene 
  Prerequisite Charms: None 
  Extending her anima in an ablative envelope 
  around her, the martial artist eases her passage 
  through the world. She adds her Martial Arts rating 
  in yards to her Move and Dash actions, and raises 
  her Dodge DV by one against ranged attacks. 
  FLASHING PASSAGE 
  Cost: 2m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; 
  Type: Supplemental 
  Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious 
  Duration: One action 
  Prerequisite Charms: Just Another Branch Deceit, 
  Light-Treading Technique 
  Collapsing her Essence into pure forward mo- 
  mentum, the martial artist briefly blurs and disappears 
  from sight. This Charm supplements a Dash action, 
  which may not be part of a flurry. The total distance 
  the character travels is quadrupled after all other 
  modifiers, and she cannot be seen or targeted while 
  moving. This Charm‟s stealth element explicitly 
  fails without provoking a roll-off against effects that 
  would allow others to notice an otherwise perfectly 
  invisible character. 
  CRYSTAL CHAMELEON FORM 
  Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; 
  Type: Simple 
  Keywords: Form-type, Obvious 
  Duration: One scene 
  Prerequisite Charms: Flashing Passage 
  The martial artist strikes her anima banner, frac- 
  turing it into a shifting prism. It becomes impossible 
  to precisely fix her location, imposing a -2 external 
  penalty on all attacks directed at the character. She 
  is always considered to meet the requirements to 
  attempt to reestablish surprise during combat while 
  this Charm is active. 
   
  26 
  FLASHING LEAVES EVASION 
  Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 2; 
  Type: Reflexive (Step 2) 
  Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious 
  Duration: Instant 
  Prerequisite Charms: Crystal Chameleon Form  
   
  Putting on a sudden burst of speed, the martial  
  artist melts into a blur as an attack closes in on her,  
  briefly disappearing and reappearing to evade the  
  blow. This Charm sets an incoming attack‟s successes  
  to 0 in Step Three after all other modifiers. This  
  does mean that rerolls (which occur in Step Four)  
  may allow an attack to bypass this form of defense.  
  This weakness is considered to be a special flaw of  
  invulnerability. Flashing Leaves Evasion does not  
  function against attacks that are undodgeable or  
  unexpected. 
  This  Charm  is  known  in  Autochthonia  as 
  Shadow Among Shadows. 
  SHATTERED CRYSTAL REBUKE 
  Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; 
  Type: Reflexive (Step 9) 
  Keywords: Combo-OK, Counterattack, Obvious 
  Duration: Instant 
  Prerequisite Charms: Flashing Leaves Evasion  
   
  Subjected to attack, the crystal shatters, wound- 
  ing its attacker rather than defending itself. This  
  Charm may be invoked in response to an attack,  
  whether it strikes the martial artist or not. The  
  character vanishes in a blur of speed, reappearing  
  behind his attacker. This movement allows for  
  a reflexive attempt to re-establish surprise. This  
  action does not impede resolution of the original  
  attack in any way, and is considered to be a form of  
  counterattack. If the martial artist is the target of  
  a flurry, she may invoke this Charm in response to  
  only the final attack in that flurry. 
  RAZOR-EDGED PRISM ASSAULT 
  Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 2; 
  Type: Extra Action 
  Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious 
  Duration: Instant 
  Prerequisite Charms: Crystal Chameleon Form  
   
  Accelerating into a flickering blur of unleashed  
  violence, the Blinding Prism strikes a foe from  
  
   
   
   
   
  many angles, moving so fast that her attacks seem 
  to occur simultaneously. The character launches a  
  flurry of (Essence) unarmed attacks at her full dice  
  pool against a single opponent. This flurry ignores  
  Rate and has a total Speed and DV penalty equal to  
  the highest of any single attack in the flurry. These  
  attacks all impose a coordinated attack penalty on  
  the target‟s DVs equal to the total number of attacks  
  in the flurry. 
  DEATH FROM NOWHERE METHOD 
  Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; 
  Type: Supplemental 
  Keywords: Combo-OK 
  Duration: Instant 
  Prerequisite Charms: Razor-Edged Prism Assault  
   
  In one moment the battlefield is serene; in the  
  next, the martial artist has already struck. This deadly 
  Charm may be used to supplement an unexpected 
  unarmed attack, doubling any levels of damage 
  inflicted in Step Ten. 
  STEPPING BEYOND LIGHT PRANA 
  Cost: 10m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; 
  Type: Reflexive 
  Keywords: Obvious 
  Duration: One scene 
  Prerequisite Charms: Death from Nowhere Method, 
  Shattered Prism Rebuke 
  The martial artist focuses her Essence into her  
  lungs then breathes it out into her anima, which  
  shivers into a kaleidoscope that expands to in- 
  termittently flicker through an area with a radius  
  of (Essence x 50) yards, roughly centered on the  
  martial artist and moving with her. While this em- 
  phatically announces the Blinding Prism‟s general  
  presence, it also conceals her precise location. She  
  becomes invisible, imposing a -2 external penalty  
  on all attempts to precisely locate or target her with  
  attacks. This invisibility fails during any tick when  
  the martial artist attacks, voiding the protection it  
  affords during that moment. 
  SAPPHIRE VEIL OF PASSION STYLE 
  This ancient Sidereal martial art is popularly  
  known among the Viziers as “the twice-mastered  
  art.” The less crude interpretation of this moniker 
   
   
   
   
  refers to the style‟s history. Legend has it that Sap- 
  phire Veil of Passion style was originally invented by  
  Entwined in Night‟s Shadows, a Chosen of Secrets.  
  But he was selfish and proud, and refused to teach  
  the style he had invented. He never took a student  
  or produced any records, and its mysteries died with  
  him. Centuries later, it was re-created from second- 
  hand accounts and first-hand insights by an ambitious  
  Joybringer to settle a bet with Ma-Ha-Suchi, and  
  has remained a favored possession of the Chosen of  
  Serenity ever since. 
  Sapphire  Veil  of  Passion  was  derived  from  
  extensive first-hand study of that most ancient  
  and enduring fascination of the human race—sex.  
  Its masters weather the ribald jokes and off-color  
  commentary of their younger contemporaries with  
  patience and good humor. Those who face them in  
  battle discover that these martial artists have turned  
  their focus inward upon the hottest of flames and  
  have tempered it into an exceedingly fine weapon.  
  They do not jest about the style afterward.  
   
  For more information on Sidereal martial arts,  
  see Scroll of the Monk. 
  Weapons  and  Armor: Charms of this style 
  treat attacks made with the urumi and its artifact 
  equivalent, the floating ribbon, as unarmed attacks. 
  This style is not compatible with armor, but is tra- 
  ditionally used with a buckler. 
  The Student’s Sutra of Desire: Once, there was a 
  lusty maiden… 
  INTO INFINITE DEPTHS 
  Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; 
  Type: Reflexive 
  Keywords: Combo-OK 
  Duration: Instant 
  Prerequisite Charms: None 
  …who desired the ideal lover. 
  Clearing her mind of all but the sensation of  
  the moment, the martial artist cuts her gaze across  
  an opponent. In so doing she sees him anew, with  
  unsurpassed clarity. The character immediately  
  gains the following knowledge about one indi- 
  vidual: what manner of being the target is (Solar  
  Exalt, god, raksha, etc), which martial arts styles  
  he knows at least one Charm from, which martial  
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
  2
  7 
  
   
   
   
   
  THE FLOATING RIBBON (ARTIFACT • • )  
  The urumi is a rare martial arts weapon—a sword with an extremely long, flexible blade,  
  wielded like a hybrid of sword and whip. Its artifact equivalent, known as the floating ribbon, pos- 
  sesses a nine foot long, silk-thin blade of alloyed magical material attached to a carefully weighted  
  handle. The blade has a heavier tip, allowing it to be deftly wielded to make sudden stabbing at- 
  tacks, or to guide the path of the blade. The wielder may also reflexively pay one mote to extend  
  the length of the blade out to a distance of 10 yards for a single attack. The urumi‟s weapon traits  
  are repeated here, for convenience. More information on the spring-sword may be found on page  
  156 of Scroll of the Monk.  
  URUMI  
  Speed    Accuracy    Damage    Defense    Rate    Mins 
  Cost 
  Tags 
  5 
  +1 
  +3L 
  -2 
  2 
  Dex ••, Mrt •••• 
  •• 
  — 
  FLOATING RIBBON 
  Speed    Accuracy    Damage    Defense    Rate    Mins 
  Attune    Tags 
  5 
  +3 
  +5L 
  +0 
  2 
  Dex ••, Mrt •••• 
  5 
  R 
   
   
  arts styles he knows up to the Form-type Charm, 
  which martial arts styles he has mastered, whether 
  he has any Intimacies toward the martial artist, and 
  the nature of those Intimacies, if they exist. 
  For the rest of the scene, the martial artist 
  gains a +2 bonus to her DVs and MDVs against 
  any opponent she has evaluated in this manner. 
  Into Infinite Depths may be activated as an innate 
  power, which does not count as a Charm activation 
  if Sapphire Veil of Passion Form is active. 
  ETERNAL INFATUATION DANCE 
  Cost: 8m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; 
  Type: Reflexive (Step 2) 
  Keywords: Combo-OK, Counterattack, Obvious 
  Duration: Indefinite 
  Prerequisite Charms: None 
  She flirted her way across Creation, 
  Taking attention to imply invitation, the 
  character is able to quickly close with those who 
  draw her notice. This Charm may be activated 
  in response to any social or physical attack. 
  The martial artist vanishes in a swirl of collaps- 
  ing sapphire ribbons, appearing one yard away 
  from her attacker. In the case of long-range 
  social attacks (such as those delivered through 
  sorcery), the Charm‟s maximum allowable range 
   
  28 
  of movement is (Essence x 20) miles. This action 
  incidentally acts as a perfect dodge upon activa- 
  tion against physical ranged attacks of which the 
  martial artist is aware, assuming the attack can be 
  dodged. Subsequent ranged attacks during the 
  remainder of the Charm‟s duration must be 
  defended against normally. 
  As long as the martial artist does not volun- 
  tarily move away from the individual whom she 
  activated Eternal Infatuation Dance to approach, 
  she may stay within one yard of him at all times, 
  regardless of his movement rate or any exotic 
  movement abilities employed. 
  The initial movement granted by this Charm is 
  considered a counterattack. This Charm may not be 
  invoked more than once per action. 
  YELLOW DRAGON FLIGHT 
  Cost: 13m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; 
  Type: Supplemental 
  Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious 
  Duration: Instant 
  Prerequisite Charms: None 
  courting handsome boys 
  Wild ribbons of yellow and scarlet power blaze  
  around the character‟s attacking limb. Channeling  
  her understanding of the male principle of Essence,  
  
   
   
   
   
  the martial artist enchants an unarmed attack with ag- 
  gressive, penetrating power. The attack is considered  
  unblockable, ignores soak derived from armor, and in  
  addition to inflicting standard damage, ignites a num- 
  ber of the target‟s motes equal to the martial artist‟s  
  (Essence x 2). These motes are not only lost, but also  
  immediately applied as raw lethal damage which ignores  
  armor, but is soaked separately from the original attack.  
  If the target lacks sufficient Essence, or lacks Essence  
  at all, this aspect of the attack is wasted.  
  BLACK DRAGON COILS  
  Cost: 5m, 3wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4;  
  Type: Reflexive (Step 2)  
  Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious  
  Duration: Instant  
  Prerequisite Charms: Yellow Dragon Flight  
   
  and smiling girls.  
  Stepping back from determined opposition, the  
  martial artist swirls with onyx ribbons. Channeling  
  her understanding of the female principle of Essence,  
  she enhances an unarmed parry against any attack  
  she can perceive, even unblockable attacks, render- 
  ing the defense it provides perfect. Additionally, the  
  martial artist regains one channel of any Virtue of  
  her choice for every five motes or fraction thereof the  
  opponent spent on the blocked attack. For example,  
  if an opponent spends one to five motes, the martial  
  artist regains one channel. If an opponent spends six  
  to 10 motes, the martial artist regains two channels  
  (one for the first set of five motes, and another for  
  the remainder in the second set of five motes).  
  DISSOLUTION OF VALUE  
  Cost: 15m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4;  
  Type: Reflexive  
  Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious  
  Duration: Indefinite  
  Prerequisite Charms: Eternal Infatuation Dance, Into  
  Infinite Depths  
  She attended great debauches, but quantity did not  
  satisfy.  
  Rooting herself in the midst of her opponents,  
  the martial artist‟s anima erupts into a series of  
  spiraling ribbons that brush aside the attacks of  
  her foes. While this Charm persists, no penal- 
  ties of any kind may reduce her DVs. (As always,  
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
  29 
  
   
   
   
   
  inapplicability is not a penalty.) Characters at- 
  tacking her from behind in a press also do not 
  gain a free unexpected attack. Dissolution of 
  Value automatically ends if the martial artist 
  moves more than one yard from the point where 
  she activated this Charm. 
  SATISFYING IDLE FANTASY 
  Cost: 10m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; 
  Type: Reflexive 
  Keywords: Combo-OK, Emotion 
  Duration: One scene 
  Prerequisite Charms: Dissolution of Value 
  Finally, she met a mirror. Realizing she had learned 
  nothing, 
  Wrapping herself in self-indulgent dreams of 
  her own triumph, the martial artist denies oppo- 
  nents the ability to hold themselves superior to her. 
  No penalties may apply to her dice pools when she 
  attacks any character she has evaluated with Into 
  Infinite Depths during the course of the scene, save 
  for multiple action penalties. Additionally, when 
  any of her attacks inflict damage, the target must 
  pay one Willpower or accept an Intimacy toward 
  the Sidereal. (This Intimacy represents lust if ap- 
  propriate to the character‟s gender preferences, 
  uneasy fascination otherwise.) 
  SAPPHIRE VEIL OF PASSION FORM 
  Cost: 13m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5; 
  Type: Simple 
  Keywords: Crippling, Form-type, Emotion, Obvious 
  Duration: One scene 
  Prerequisite Charms: Black Dragon Coils, Satisfying 
  Idle Fantasy, One complete Celestial martial art 
  the maiden was satisfied. 
  The martial artist executes a languid kata, 
  hesitates a moment, and then erupts into a shud- 
  dering battle pattern. Her anima unfolds into a 
  towering, shifting array of cerulean and sapphire 
  ribbons, which twine about her body even as they 
  strain for the sky. She levitates a finger‟s length 
  above the ground as she moves, incidentally gain- 
  ing perfect balance and the ability to move safely 
  over hazardous terrain. Players of all characters 
  who possess any sort of Intimacy toward her, 
  positive or negative, must fail a Compassion roll 
   
  30 
  or pay one Willpower per attack made against 
  her. If she manages to strike any character who  
  possesses no Essence or Willpower (non-Essence  
  users are not evaluated for current Essence, only  
  Willpower) with an unarmed attack, that char- 
  acter is immediately rendered unconscious for  
  (attacker‟s Martial Arts) hours as a Crippling  
  effect. Finally, she gains five motes whenever her  
  DV refreshes. 
  SOMEONE ELSE’S CONSEQUENCE 
  Cost: 15m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5; 
  Type: Reflexive (Step 10) 
  Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Shaping 
  Duration: Instant 
  Prerequisite  Charms: Sapphire Veil of Passion  
  Form 
  The Elder Sutra of Desire: One morning, the 
  maiden awoke… 
  Advanced students of the Sapphire Veil of  
  Passion are among Creation‟s more careless fighters  
  (and lovers), unconcerned with the consequences of  
  their actions. This Charm may be activated when  
  the martial artist successfully strikes an opponent  
  with an unarmed attack, levying one of the follow- 
  ing effects: 
  • The martial artist immediately terminates the 
  effects of all unnatural mental influence from which 
  she suffers, transferring them to her target, who must 
  then deal with them as he is best able. 
  • The martial artist immediately terminates the 
  effects of all Poison and Sickness effects from which 
  she suffers, transferring them to her target. 
  SILKEN ROPE TRICK 
  Cost: 15m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5; 
  Type: Reflexive 
  Keywords: Combo-Basic, Emotion, Obvious 
  Duration: One scene 
  Prerequisite  Charms: Sapphire Veil of Passion  
  Form 
  …to find herself wearing a leash and collar. 
  Moving through a swift kata, the martial artist  
  weaves sapphire threads out of her own Essence,  
  which quickly knot around her. She is unable to  
  take Dash or Jump actions while this Charm is in  
  effect. More beneficially, she adds her Martial Arts  
  
   
   
   
   
  rating in successes to all rolls to establish or control 
  a grapple. Any character who enters a grapple with  
  her (even one who initiated the grapple by attacking  
  the martial artist) automatically gains an Intimacy  
  of lust toward her, regardless of standard sexual pref- 
  erences. This unnatural Emotion effect costs three  
  Willpower to resist, or two if the character is not of  
  the sex to which the target is normally attracted.  
  Finally, all rolls by opponents to establish control  
  of a grapple suffer an external penalty equal to the  
  martial artist‟s Appearance if her last action was to  
  hold an opponent. 
  JOY IN OWNERSHIP 
  Cost: 20m, 2wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5; 
  Type: Reflexive 
  Keywords:  Combo-OK,  Illusion,  Servitude, 
  Touch 
  Duration: Instant 
  Prerequisite Charms: Silken Rope Trick, Someone 
  Else‟s Consequence 
  She could not recall when or where she had acquired 
  such fetters. 
  The martial artist gently touches a target she has  
  rendered unconscious during the scene, manipulating  
  the flow of his Essence through the chakra points  
  known as the gates of desire. Upon awakening, the  
  target gains a second Motivation to “Love and obey  
  (the martial artist).” Her memories are also altered so  
  that she believes the martial artist is an old friend or  
  lover (whichever is appropriate to her normal sexual  
  preferences). Memories that might contradict this  
  belief are suppressed. 
  Resisting this unnatural mental influence re- 
  quires that the target spend three Willpower within 
  the space of a scene, over a number of scenes equal to 
  (10 - target‟s Essence). While Joy in Ownership 
  remains in effect, the target is metaphysically con- 
  sidered to be the martial artist‟s property. 
  SAPPHIRE BINDING PATTERN 
  Cost: 16m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5; 
  Type: Reflexive (Step 10) 
  Keywords: Combo-basic, Obvious, Shaping, Stack- 
  able 
  Duration: Instant 
  Prerequisite Charms: Joy in Ownership 
   
   
   
   
  She set about to follow the leash, 
  This Charm may be invoked to enhance a hold 
  during a grapple. Spinning ribbons of sapphire Es- 
  sence around her target, the martial artist impedes 
  her Essence flows for the rest of the scene. One of 
  the following effects is applied: 
  • All of the target‟s actions are reduced to 0 dice  
  if not supplemented by a Charm or stunt.  
   
  • A mote surcharge equal to half the martial  
  artist‟s Appearance is added to all of the target‟s  
  Charms. This effect may be applied only to targets  
  of lower Essence. 
  • The target‟s Dexterity is considered to be 0 
  for the purpose of calculating Move and Dash ac- 
  tions, and his Strength to be 0 for the purpose of 
  calculating Jump actions. 
  These effects last until the end of the scene, and 
  this Charm may be re-applied to the same target 
  over the course of repeated hold actions in order to 
  inflict additional effects. 
  MEMORIES OF INTIMACY 
  Cost: 15m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5; 
  Type: Supplemental 
  Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious  
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
  3
  1 
  
   
   
   
   
  Duration: Instant 
  Prerequisite Charms: Joy in Ownership 
  pursuing it past a line of all her former lovers, 
  Try as they might, the martial artist‟s former 
  conquests cannot shake that status. This Charm 
  supplements an unarmed attack, rendering it un- 
  blockable and undodgeable if any of the following 
  criteria apply to the target: 
  • The martial artist has defeated the target in 
  combat at some point in the past (defined as hav- 
  ing rendered the target unconscious, or the target 
  having voluntarily admitted defeat or surrendered 
  to the martial artist on the field of battle, even if 
  only in a sparring match). 
  • The target carries an Intimacy of any sort for 
  the martial artist. 
  • The martial artist owns the target. 
  • The target suffers from any Crippling effect 
  inflicted by the martial artist. 
  If two or more of these criteria apply to the 
  target, the attack is also considered unexpected. 
  THOUSAND DESIRE RIBBONS 
  Cost:  —  (+10m,  1wp); Mins: Martial Arts  6, 
  Essence 6; Type: Permanent 
  Keywords: None 
  Duration: Permanent 
  Prerequisite Charms: Memories of Intimacy, Sap- 
  phire Binding Pattern 
  and found that it resided in her hand. 
  Coming to understand the pinnacle of desire, 
  the martial artist steeps himself in the incon- 
  sequential motives that shift the world. This 
  Charm allows the martial artist to pay a (+10m, 
  1wp) surcharge when activating Sapphire Veil 
  of Passion Form, upgrading it with the following 
  capabilities: 
  • The martial artist gains the ability to solidify 
  and control the sapphire ribbons of her anima, 
  treating them as starmetal floating ribbons. Each 
  time her DV refreshes, she gains a pool (equal to 
  half her Essence) of reflexive martial arts attacks 
  with these ribbons, which she may unleash at any 
  time using her full dice pool. This pool refreshes 
  along with her DV, and may not exceed  (Es- 
  sence/2) actions. 
   
   
  32 
  • The range on all urumi or floating ribbons 
  the martial artist employs extends to (Essence x 10)  
  yards. No motes need be paid for this benefit.  
   
  •  Any  character  wounded  by  an  urumi  or  
  floating ribbon wielded by the martial artist feels  
  the pain transformed and transported into a kind  
  of transcendent ecstasy. The distraction from this  
  overwhelming sensation changes all wound penalties  
  from internal to external until the end of the scene,  
  as a Crippling effect. 
  SECRETS OF THE MAIDENS 
  The function of the Loom of Fate was largely  
  automated in the wake of the Primordial War,  
  by request of the Maidens. But the Primordial  
  Autochthon was not the only one who instituted  
  changes to the engine that drives Creation. Rec- 
  ognizing that the Yozis were sealed away and the  
  might of the Solars would be sufficient to safeguard  
  Creation, the Maidens repurposed their Chosen  
  as custodians of a temperamental cosmos, no  
  longer needing them to serve their previous role  
  as weapons of unlimited warfare. As a result, the  
  greatest potentialities lurking in the Loom of Fate  
  were sealed by the Maidens themselves, render- 
  ing the most dangerous and instability-provoking  
  astrology used during the Primordial War inert.  
  Rumor and speculation have swirled around these  
  “lost arts” ever since. 
  Two elements of the rumors are true, at least:  
  The lost arts did indeed possess power beyond that  
  of standard Sidereal astrology… and they were  
  very, very dangerous. Now, as the Time of Tumult  
  rumbles on and Creation tilts toward the turning of  
  the Age, it is possible that the safety locks on the  
  Loom will be disengaged, either by the inscrutable  
  hand of the Maidens… or the desperate actions of  
  rogue Viziers. 
  GREATER ARTS OF ASTROLOGY 
  If and when the seals on the Loom are broken,  
  the Greater Signs of the Maidens are upgraded so  
  that their cost in permanent Essence and Willpower  
  naturally replenishes at a rate of one dot per month,  
  but add five automatic points of Paradox to their  
  invocation cost.  
  
   
   
   
   
  More importantly, the astrological Charms 
  of  the  Primordial  War  become  available 
  once again. 
  The “#p” in the cost of astrological Charms  
  are the number of Paradox points accrued on  
  invocation, as the Pattern Spiders are forced to  
  deal with the terrible causality errors provoked by  
  the magic. Astrological Charms do not require com- 
  mitted Essence for effects with a Duration longer than  
  Instant. They do count as Charm activations, but  
  may never be placed in a Combo. They all have  
  the Shaping and Fate keywords. They have no  
  prerequisite Charms. 
  Each use of an astrological Charm globally  
  imposes a cumulative -1 external penalty on all  
  Craft (Fate) rolls by all characters in existence for  
  one week after invocation. Without truly excellent  
  justification, any unauthorized use of astrological  
  Charms would constitute an offense of Severity  
  8 depending on the circumstances. Astrological  
  Charms cannot be used by creatures of darkness.  
   
  Finally, the experience costs of certain Charms  
  changes for Sidereals: Auspicious and Favored  
  Sidereal Charms cost nine experience points, or  
  11 experience points otherwise, while Celestial  
  and Terrestrial Martial Arts Charms cost only  
  eight experience points, or 10 experience points  
  if Martial Arts is not Auspicious or Favored. As- 
  trological Charms cost eight experience points for  
  the Colleges corresponding to a Sidereal‟s Caste,  
  and 10 experience points otherwise. The cost of  
  Sidereal Martial Arts Charms does not change.  
  Viziers are immediately reimbursed the experience  
  point difference for already-purchased Charms, the  
  better to quickly learn new astrological Charms.  
  Sidereals may develop new Charms for the Greater  
  Arts, once these Charms are unlocked.  
  SATISFACTION IN EMPTINESS 
  Cost: 5m, 4p; Mins: The Gull 4, Essence 4; 
  Type: Simple 
  Keywords: Fate, Shaping 
  Duration: One month 
  The impermanence of the world wears down  
  the spirits of those sworn to preserve it. Only in  
  letting go do they find peace. While in effect, this 
   
   
   
   
  Charm renders the Sidereal immune to all Emotion 
  effects that seek to produce any feeling other than  
  simple happiness or joy-in-living. The Vizier may  
  waive the Charm‟s Paradox cost and extend its  
  Duration to one season if he voluntarily abandons  
  an artifact that he owns at the time of activation.  
  He must leave it behind in some place where it  
  cannot be easily retrieved (abandoning a daiklave  
  in a crowded market swarming with thieves, for  
  example, or casting it into the ocean), and instantly  
  loses all mystical rights of ownership. Intentionally  
  coming into possession of the item again in the  
  future provokes immediate Pattern Bite.  
  INEVITABILITY WITHOUT FINESSE  
  Cost: 7m, 1p; Mins: The Mast 3, Essence 4;  
  Type: Simple 
  Keywords: Obvious, Fate, Shaping 
  Duration: Instant 
  Grasping the skein of fate in his fist, the  
  Sidereal forges an unalterable path between his  
  killing intent and the heart of an opponent. The  
  Vizier makes an attack at his full dice pool with  
  the offensive Ability of his choice. This attack  
  is unblockable, undodgeable, and strikes with a  
  threshold of at least 0 successes for the purpose  
  of calculating raw damage, even if it should have  
  otherwise missed. No attack may strike the Sidereal  
  until his next action. 
  WITHOUT TEMPTATION 
  Cost: 12m, 2p; Mins: The Messenger 3, Essence 5; 
  Type: Simple 
  Keywords: Obvious, Fate, Shaping, Touch 
  Duration: One year 
  With a firm touch, the Sidereal coats his own  
  destiny or that of a target in an ablative sheath of  
  Essence, preserving it against efforts to pervert the  
  natural hierarchy of master and servant established  
  by She Who Lives in Her Name and perpetuated  
  by Heaven. 
  Upon invoking this Charm, the Sidereal names  
  a master-and-servant relationship between two  
  individuals. The target of the Charm must be the  
  servant in the proposed relationship; the master  
  needs not be present, and no preexisting relationship  
  of any sort between the two is necessary. For the  
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
  3
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  duration of the Charm, the target treats all mental 
  influence that would cause him to betray his new 
  “master” as an unacceptable order. He may, of his 
  own will, still act against his “master‟s” interests. 
  COERCION BY ANY MEANS 
  Cost: 5m, 1p; Mins: The Lovers 2, Essence 4; 
  Type: Simple 
  Keywords: Obvious, Fate, Shaping 
  Duration: One scene 
  Passing a hand across his eyes, the Sidereal is 
  no longer fooled by society‟s subtle distinctions 
  in the application of uneven force—they are all 
  the same to him. For the rest of the scene, when 
  the Exalt is in control of a grapple, he may opt to 
  inflict standard Emotion, Illusion or Compulsion 
  attacks rather than crushing to inflict damage. These 
  attacks are natural mental influence costing one 
  Willpower to resist, but they bypass MDV and are 
  considered automatically successful. Bound by the 
  Sidereal‟s superior strength, the target finds herself 
  powerless to reject his words. 
  SINGULAR PLUMAGE RIOT 
  Cost: 2m per Magnitude, 1wp, 5p; 
  Mins: The Peacock 4, Essence 5; Type: Simple 
  Keywords: Obvious, Compulsion, Fate, Shaping 
  Duration: Varies 
  Violently wrenching destiny into a tangle 
  around himself, the Vizier draws in those who 
  share some commonality with him and forges 
  them into a weapon. The character names one 
  trait about himself, with roughly the same level 
  of specificity as an Ability specialty (Storyteller‟s 
  discretion—appropriate examples include “blue 
  eyes,” “red hair,” “born in Chiaroscuro” or “wearing 
  a turban”). He then spends two motes per dot of 
  desired Magnitude, up to a maximum Magnitude 
  equal to his Essence. All extras who meet this 
  criteria and who do not consider the Vizier an 
  enemy immediately approach the character and, 
  over the course of a minimum of five long ticks, 
  form into an unordered complimentary social or 
  military unit which the Sidereal leads. If there 
  is an insufficient number of valid extras in the 
  immediate vicinity, the nearest valid extras drop 
  what they are doing and trek to the location where 
   
   
  34 
  the Charm was invoked, even if doing so requires 
  long and dangerous travel. This is an unnatural 
  Compulsion effect, which cannot be resisted. Once 
  formed, the unit persists for one scene, at which 
  point it dissolves. 
  REMEMBERING THE BEST TIMES 
  Cost: 13m, 3p; Mins: The Pillar 3, Essence 4; 
  Type: Simple 
  Keywords: Fate, Shaping 
  Duration: Until Calibration 
  Those who regard the Vizier well find that  
  he is never far from their hearts, like it or not.  
  All characters who hold a positive Intimacy  
  toward the Sidereal at the time of this Charm‟s  
  invocation find that for its duration, that Inti- 
  macy cannot be permanently removed. If lost or  
  altered, the Intimacy reasserts itself an hour after  
  the next sunset. This Charm cannot be invoked  
  during Calibration. 
  ANGRY MAIDEN MANTLE 
  Cost: 3m, 0p; Mins: The Gauntlet 2, Essence 4; 
  Type: Simple 
  Keywords: Compulsion, Fate, Shaping 
  Duration: One day 
  Shaping her Essence profile into a rough like- 
  ness of her patron Maiden, the Sidereal gains great 
  power over her ostensible inferiors. She may spend 
  one Willpower to command gods with a permanent 
  Essence rating lower than her own, as though she 
  were their direct divine superior (see Exalted, p. 
  295). This also causes her to accumulate one point of 
  Paradox per command, and would constitute at least 
  a Severity 4 offense if used to order a god to 
  perform some illegal or inappropriate action.  
  UNDERSTANDING ECSTATIC WAYS 
  Cost: 11m, 3p; Mins: The Shield 5, Essence 4; 
  Type: Simple 
  Keywords: Emotion, Fate, Shaping 
  Duration: One day 
  The Vizier wraps himself in the destiny of the  
  exotic outsider. For the next day, it is impossible  
  for any violent action he undertakes to give offense,  
  either to his victim or to witnesses. He may assault  
  the Tri-Khan of Chiaroscuro, pick fights with  
  random merchants or even murder a village head- 
  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  man‟s wife in broad daylight. No one will become 
  upset or angry with him, understanding that these 
  are simply the Sidereal‟s strange foreign ways. This 
  Charm does not protect the Vizier from the legal 
  repercussions of his actions, should someone feel 
  obligated to arrest him out of duty. Understanding 
  Ecstatic Ways constitutes an unnatural Emotion 
  effect costing three Willpower to resist. 
  MAIDEN AND GAMBLER STANCE 
  Cost: 7m, 5p; Mins: The Spear 4, Essence 5; 
  Type: Simple 
  Keywords: Obvious, Fate, Shaping 
  Duration: One scene 
  A good soldier and a good Sidereal both under- 
  stand that their own actions are only the smallest  
  of the many forces that guide the course of their  
  destiny. Trusting to fate and his own legend, the  
  Sidereal snarls the thread of his own destiny around  
  himself, then waits to see if it will form a shield or  
  a noose. Upon invoking this Charm, the Sidereal 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  picks out an opponent. The players of the Vizier 
  and his selected opponent make contested Essence  
  rolls. If the Sidereal‟s player wins or draws, the  
  Vizier automatically dodges all attacks his selected  
  opponent makes against him for the rest of the  
  scene, even unexpected or undodgeable ones. If the  
  opponent wins, all of the Vizier‟s instant-duration  
  Charms have their cost raised by three motes for  
  the rest of the scene. 
  OLDEST SECRET REVEALED 
  Cost: 6m, 1p; Mins: The Guardians 3, Essence 4; 
  Type: Simple 
  Keywords: Fate, Shaping 
  Duration: One month 
  All secrets are identical from the perspective  
  of one who does not know them. If wisdom is a  
  better thing than ignorance, then all knowledge  
  should be indivisible as well. Exploiting this unique  
  insight, the Sidereal cross-strings the threads of  
  his destiny, multiplying his competence. For the  
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
  35 
  
   
   
   
   
  duration of this Charm, the character‟s First, 
  Second, Third and Fateful (Ability) Excellen- 
  cies may be applied to any Ability residing under 
  the auspices of the same Maiden. For example, a 
  Sidereal could use his First Presence Excellency 
  to enhance a Melee roll, because both Presence 
  and Melee are Abilities under the auspices of 
  Mars. He could not, however, use his First Pres- 
  ence Excellency to enhance a Martial Arts roll, 
  as that Ability is governed by Saturn. 
  BENDING THE MIRROR 
  Cost: 14m, 4p; Mins: The Key 4, Essence 4; 
  Type: Simple 
  Keywords: Fate, Shaping 
  Duration: One day 
  The Sidereal inverts his own destiny at the 
  point where his soul and his Exaltation are joined. 
  For the duration of this Charm, the Vizier gains 
  perfect recall of one of his Exaltation‟s previous 
  incarnations. To invoke this Charm, the charac- 
  ter must know the name of the previous life he 
  is attempting to assume. He does not gain access 
  to additional Ability dots or other traits—merely 
  the opportunity to retrieve lost wisdom. While 
  under the effects of this Charm, the Vizier can- 
  not remember his own identity or Motivation, 
  though his Intimacies and personality remain 
  unchanged. When the Charm ends, the character 
  immediately forgets everything he learned from 
  his former incarnation. Writing down important 
  revelations before the Charm‟s duration elapses 
  is strongly suggested. 
  WELL-SCHOOLED PEDANT DEFENSE 
  Cost: 9m, 1p; Mins: The Treasure Trove 3, Essence 4; 
  Type: Simple 
  Keywords: Fate, Shaping, Social 
  Duration: One day 
  Wise stewards of an ungrateful cosmos have no 
  need to trouble themselves with the interjections 
  of the ignorant and unlettered. While this Charm 
  is in effect, the Sidereal is immune to natural 
  mental influence from any character whose Lore 
  or Intelligence is lower than her own. She also 
  reduces the cost to resist unnatural mental influ- 
   
   
   
  36 
  ence from such sources by one Willpower point (to 
  a minimum of zero). 
  DEAD MAN’S STAND 
  Cost: 2m, 1p; Mins: The Corpse 3, Essence 4; 
  Type: Simple 
  Keywords: Fate, Shaping 
  Duration: One scene 
  Mastery of destiny cannot avert death, but  
  it can at least ensure a dignified passing. While  
  this Charm is in effect, the Sidereal does not lose  
  consciousness if his Incapacitated health level fills  
  with bashing or lethal damage, nor does lethal  
  damage proceed into his Dying health levels.  
  Instead, once his Incapacitated health level has  
  filled with lethal damage, subsequent damage  
  converts existing lethal damage to aggravated.  
  If the Sidereal‟s Incapacitated health level fills  
  with aggravated damage, he is mortally wounded  
  and begins dying as normal. If slain, this Charm  
  ensures that the Vizier‟s corpse remains relatively  
  intact and dignified enough to allow for an open- 
  casket funeral. 
  AN END TO DARKNESS 
  Cost: 30m, 2wp, 9p; Mins: The Crow 5, Essence 5; 
  Type: Simple 
  Keywords: Obvious, Fate, Shaping, Touch 
  Duration: One week 
  Laying a hand upon a consenting demon, the  
  Sidereal transforms that spirit into a god. The demon  
  is immediately removed from its governing Yozi‟s  
  soul hierarchy as though slain with Ghost-Eating  
  Technique, and no longer retains any metaphysi- 
  cal link to the titan of which it was once a part.  
  Although subjected to many alterations, including  
  shifts in personality, Charms, and other traits (all  
  at the Storyteller‟s discretion, as the Sidereal has  
  no say in these changes), the new god retains its  
  previous Essence rating and memories, and often  
  many traces of its former nature. The more power- 
  ful a demon is, the less it is likely to be changed by  
  transformation into a god. 
  Demons of the Second Circle or higher must be 
  made subject to fate before this Charm will 
  function on them.  
  
   
   
   
  CROSSING PLUTONIAN SHORES 
  Cost: 20m, 4p; Mins: The Haywain 2, Essence 4; 
  Type: Simple 
  Keywords: Fate, Shaping 
  Duration: Indefinite 
  The Sidereal solemnly makes the Lesser Sign 
  of the Maiden of Ashes. She becomes a creature of 
  death and respires Essence accordingly. This 
  Charm remains in effect until the character is next 
  touched by the light of the sun. 
   
  FATED WEAPONS 
  These  rare  weapons  may  be  legally  
  created only after a direct petition to the  
  Maidens themselves, for they require remov- 
  ing a living strand of destiny from the Loom  
  of Fate to be forged into the artifact. Fated  
  weapons use the same traits as a normal 
  starmetal weapon artifact of the desired  
  type, such as a daiklave or grand grimcleaver,  
  with one of the following modifications as 
  an additional benefit: 
  • If the weapon inflicts damage on a  
  creature outside fate, that being is brought  
  into fate for the rest of the scene. All attack 
  rolls made with the fated weapon against a  
  being it has brought into fate are made at  
  a default target number 6 while the target 
  remains so. 
  • Attack rolls made with the fated 
  weapon against creatures outside fate have a 
  default target number 6. 
  • Attack rolls made with the fated  
  weapon against a specific category of crea- 
  tures outside fate (valid categories include 
  beings of the Wyld, the Underworld, Mal- 
  feas or Autochthonia) are made at a default 
  target number 5. 
  The Artifact rating of a fated weapon is 
  its normal rating plus two dots. 
   
   
  SACRED RITES 
  The Maidens, collectively, are more strongly 
  associated with thaumaturgy than perhaps any other 
  gods in the Celestial Bureaucracy are. The entire 
  Art of Astrology is considered their property. But in 
  addition to allowing mortals to sometimes glimpse 
  the destinies planned for them in the stars, each of 
  the Maidens has contributed a few sacred rituals to 
  Creation to assist the universe in its necessary 
  progression—or at least, this is what they say. The 
  Maidens are occasionally known to claim destiny‟s 
  mandate to mask their own desires. 
  THE ART OF THE DEAD 
  Proper Funerary Practices (1, Manipulation, 3,  
  three hours): Various societies throughout Creation  
  have dozens of variations of this rite. Most West- 
  ern isles attempt this ritual, though many lack a  
  sufficiently knowledgeable priest. Even the Realm  
  habitually works a variant on these thaumaturgic  
  funeral practices into the last rites given to its Ex- 
  alted dead. The funerists of Sijan know virtually  
  all recorded versions of the funerary rites of Saturn,  
  and are willing to perform them for an appropriate  
  fee. Properly performed, this ritual encourages the  
  spirit of one who has died in the last three days  
  to peacefully pass on into the next life. While it  
  regrettably has no influence over the individual‟s  
  po soul, the rite does carry considerable weight  
  with the hun of the newly dead. If the target of the  
  ritual passes on into the Underworld as a ghost, he  
  is immediately subjected to a powerful unnatural  
  Compulsion to pass on immediately into Lethe.  
  Resisting costs three Willpower. 
  THE ART OF GEOMANCY 
  Tripping the Steel (0, Wits, 2, five minutes): Used  
  throughout the Threshold and occasionally, illegally,  
  within the Realm, this ancient ritual sanctifies duels  
  in the eyes of the Maiden of Battles. The two par- 
  ticipants state terms and delineate the field of battle  
  according to the ancient forms. (The precise proto- 
  cols differ; there are many small regional variants on  
  this rite.) If successful, the Essence of the battlefield  
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
  3
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  itself holds the duel that follows sacrosanct. Any  
  individual who breaks its terms or interferes in its  
  outcome finds that the next time he enters battle,  
  any 10s rolled count as only one success. (For non- 
  heroic characters, when they are next in battle, a  
  failed roll will become a botch instead.)  
  THE ART OF HUSBANDRY  
  First Greeting (1, Perception, 1, five minutes):  
  This simple ritual is practiced in countless Thresh- 
  old communities to name newborns. It must be  
  performed within one day of an infant‟s birth.  
  Beseeching the Maidens for their wisdom, the  
  thaumaturge intently examines a newborn child,  
  attempting to discern the name that would most fit  
  the plans destiny has laid out for it. While it is de- 
  batable whether Heaven cares what any individual  
  mortal is called, success on the ritual‟s activation  
  roll grants the practitioner a flash of insight and  
  a name. If that name is granted to the infant, the  
  child enjoys a +1 bonus on all Resistance rolls for  
  its first year of life.  
  Harmonious  Union  (0,  Charisma,  1,  one  
  hour): Small variants of this marriage rite are used  
  throughout Creation. A successfully performed  
  ceremony not only makes a union between two  
  beings (regardless of their sex) legally valid in  
  the eyes of Heaven, it also increases the likeli- 
  hood that the first child conceived by the couple  
  (assuming they are a man and a woman) is free  
  of defect or disease. It also grants a bonus die on  
  all Temperance rolls by the couple to avoid any  
  temptations that might endanger their union  
  throughout its first year.  
  Sundered Union  (0, Charisma,  1, five min- 
  utes): While Venus holds the various marriage  
  and partnership rites of Creation to be sacred to  
  herself, Saturn claims dominion over the small,  
  cold legalisms that end such unions. In its vari- 
  ous cultural iterations, this rite is short and curt.  
  Properly performed, it legally dissolves any existing  
  romantic union between the subjects of the ritual  
  in the eyes of Heaven, as long as the individual  
  in the partnership with the highest Essence score  
  consents. (There exists a standing exception from  
  First Age law which has never been stricken from  
   
   
  38  
  
   
   
   
   
  the rolls of Heaven. No divorce or annulment 
  involving a Solar Exalt and a non-Solar entity is 
  legal or valid unless the Solar in question consents, 
  regardless of respective Essence ratings.) The two 
  newly divorced individuals suffer a  -1 external 
  penalty to all Compassion rolls with regard to one 
  another for the next year. 
  THE ART OF WARDING AND EXORCISM 
  Scarlet Passage Idol (2,  Intelligence, 3,  six 
  hours): It is a sad truth of the Second Age that  
  even the wealthy and the mighty must contend  
  somehow with the dangers of the Great Western  
  Ocean. The Dragon-Blooded cannot adorn their  
  ships with red-haired mastheads, for to do so would  
  be to admit the power of the Storm Mothers and  
  would violate the Immaculate Philosophy. Instead,  
  through a painstaking ritual, thaumaturges prepare  
  small feminine wooden idols for their clients, hair 
   
   
   
   
  stained with rare red dyes and body stained yellow 
  to acknowledge the power of Mercury. Secreted 
  away somewhere within a ship, the idol negates the 
  power of Storm Mothers the same way a red-haired 
  female masthead would. An idol retains its power 
  for one season, at which point it must be repainted 
  and re-enchanted. 
  Things Best Lost  (2, Intelligence, 2, thirty 
  minutes): This ritual helps the thaumaturge hide  
  some object small enough to be lifted with one  
  hand. It requires that she smear the object with  
  a mixture of dust and the sap of certain trees that  
  grow only in the Western Bordermarches before  
  concealing it. Performed successfully, the rite  
  consigns the object into the care of the Maiden of  
  Secrets, imposing a -2 external penalty on all rolls  
  to uncover the object‟s hiding place for one week  
  per threshold success.  
   
  THE MAIDENS OF DESTINY 
  39 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Storyteller [multi]/Exalted/Glories of the Most High/The Maidens of Destiny.pdf