Editing Once more with feeling/Custom Martial Arts (section)

==House of the Forbidding Manse of Ivy==
*Just as the other kinds of Exalted, the Sidereal Exalted possess their own distinctive style of supernatural martial arts. Actually, they possess their own distinctive styles of martial arts, there are five such styles - one style for each caste of Sidereal. The Maiden of Endings, in her supernal excellence at understanding the destiny of martial arts, worked with each of her sisters to craft a style for each of their chosen and with her understanding of all things martial art created an art for her own chosen. Each set of chosen can learn their Maiden's style with no instruction, purely on understanding of their own Essence, and the Chosen of Endings, as those chosen to have a destiny fully tied to martial arts, can learn any of these five styles without instructions.
*Of course, the Seers do not speak of any of these as a "Sidereal Hero Style" of supernatural martial arts. Instead, they call the Martial Arts Charms they received from each of their Maidens as the Style of her Astrological House, giving them the Golden Barque of Heavens Style, the Cerulean Lute of Harmony Style, the Crimson Panoply of Victory Style, the Forbidding Manse of Ivy Style, and the Violet Bier of Sorrows Style. The Sidereal believe these were the first of all supernatural martial arts, but often engage in lively debate about which may have been created first. The Chosen of Endings are often torn between claiming that theirs was created first as the Maiden of Endings is the supreme martial artist and claiming that theirs was created last in the most advanced form from the understanding granted by creating the prior.
*The five styles of the Houses Sidereal are Celestial martial arts. Sidereal sifus could teach any of them to anyone who could learn such martial arts - most notably, other Celestial Exalted or Dragon-Blooded trained as Immaculate martial artists - but long ago the Five-Score Fellowship made moves to keep their secrets safe from spreading far from their rightful place with the Maidens' Chosen. The Forbidding Manse of Ivy Style of the Astrological Houses produces students that know just when to appear and which target is the lynch pin to their opponents plans. Its students are known for their guile and their ability to take on a multitude of opponents simultaneously to focusing on their true target.
*'''Weapons and Armor:''' Charms of this style treat attacks with natural weapon enhancers (cesti, fighting gauntlets, iron boots, and razor harnesses), seven-section staves and wind-fire wheels (as well as all of their artifact versions) as unarmed attacks. These Charms do not function if the character wears armor.
*'''Complementary Abilities:''' This style is based thoroughly enough in the concept of Secrets that a high Stealth ability is recognizably essential to the full and potent practice of the style. Knowledgeable practicitioners, with high Lore abilities, often seem to leave the most terrifying impression on their foes as they find the most useful piece of information to bring to bear just in time to lock their opponents down.
*This Style is one of the five Styles of the Houses Sidereal
*The Charms of this Style are considered native for the Chosen of Jupiter, the Maiden of Secrets.
===Ending of Precipitous Strife===
*'''Cost:''' -; '''Mins:''' Martial Arts 1, Essence 1; '''Type:''' Reflexive
*'''Keywords:''' None
*'''Duration:''' Permanent
*'''Prerequisite Charms:''' None
*The character trains herself to sense the secret yearnings of combat. She reacts twice as quickly to surprises as an opponent expects as if her destiny could not be waylaid by such simple ruses. This Charm doubles the character's unmodified dice pool to recognize concealed attacks.
===Embrace of Jupiter===
*'''Cost:''' 1 mote per action; '''Mins:''' Martial Arts 2, Essence 1; '''Type:''' Reflexive
*'''Keywords:''' Combo-OK
*'''Duration:''' Up to (Martial Arts) actions
*'''Prerequisite Charms:''' Ending of Precipitous Strife
*Knowledge is at its most powerful when it is held tightly in secret, at least this is the view of the Maiden of Secrets and is seen readily in the Martial Art that emulates her understanding. While this Charm is active a character can maintain a previously made clinch on an opponent even after letting go. Paying for this charm forces the opponent to remain held and inactive for up to (Martial Arts) extra actions. The attacker cannot crush or throw her victim using this Charm. The victim can attempt to break free normally each action as if the attacker were maintaining a grapple with the original number of successes. The character can only hold one opponent with this charm at any one time. Each mote spent confers this benefit for one action, but the character cannot spend more motes than her Martial Arts rating.
===Transcendence in Temperance Stance===
*'''Cost:''' 5+ motes; '''Mins:''' Martial Arts 2, Essence 1; '''Type:''' Reflexive
*'''Keywords:''' Combo-OK
*'''Duration:''' One scene
*'''Prerequisite Charms:''' Ending of Precipitous Strife
*Those who emulate the Maiden of Secrets learn the benefit of tempering their actions to become an unforseen complication to their enemies. Whenever this Charm is active and the character channels her Temperance, the character rolls her Essence against a difficulty of that virtue and, if successful, does not use up a temporary willpower or a use of that virtue while still gaining the appropriate number of bonus dice from the channelling. If the character is in a Limit Break or Flawed Fate associated with this virtue, then roll Essence+Willpower against a difficulty of the virtue. This Charm costs 5 motes to activate for the scene, but when channeling her Temperance the character can reflexively (not counting as a Charm use for the action) gain bonus successes up to her Essence score on the roll for this Charm at a cost of 2 motes per success. The character must face true adversity in order to enjoy this Charm's benefits. If the character could easily succeed at her task without channelling her Temperance then this Charm does not affect the channelling.
===Shroud of the Secret Maiden===
*'''Cost:''' 2+ motes, 1 willpower; '''Mins:''' Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; '''Type:''' Reflexive
*'''Keywords:''' None
*'''Duration:''' One scene
*'''Prerequisite Charms:''' Ending of Precipitous Strife
*Emerald essence glimmers around the martial artist as she fades into obscurity, giving her the fate of a secret to terrible to behold. For the rest of the scene, miscellaneous actions to reestablish surprise lose their associated DV penalty and when flurried with an attack the multiaction penalties are 1 less than usual. Additionally, every two motes spent activating this charm adds one success to all attempts to use Stealth and to detect the use of Stealth by others, to a maximum of Essence sucesses added. These bonuses only apply if the character does not wear armor (even if the character uses Charms that permits armor, such as from their Melee charm tree or the Earth Dragon Style of Martial Art described in ''Manual of Exalted Power: Dragon-Blooded'', though so long as the character is not in armor they would receive these bonuses).
===House of the Forbidding Manse of Ivy Form===
*'''Cost:''' 6 motes; '''Mins:''' Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; '''Type:''' Simple (Speed 6, DV -1)
*'''Keywords:''' Form-type
*'''Duration:''' One scene
*'''Prerequisite Charms:''' Embrace of Jupiter, Transcendence in Temperance Stance, Shroud of the Secret Maiden
*With contemplative grace, the character takes a stance emulating that of Jupiter herself when she makes her Sign over a secret newly discovered and then hidden away. The character learns to read the subtle nuances of every gesture a foe makes and to make this understanding flow directly into instinctual actions in combat. While she uses this Charm, the character can automatically make a clinch counterattack against any foe she successfully defends herself against in hand-to-hand combat and all foes that attempt to clinch her or take control of her grapple on them are forced to use the lower of their Dexterity or Strength to make their grapple check. Additionally, the character makes all grappling clinch attacks and inactive actions she is forced into by foes' successful clinches one tick faster than usual.
===The Shadow Behind the Mask===
*'''Cost:''' 1 or 2 motes per object; '''Mins:''' Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; '''Type:''' Reflexive
*'''Keywords:''' Combo-OK
*'''Duration:''' Instant
*'''Prerequisite Charms:''' House of the Forbidding Manse of Ivy Form
*A master of secrets must have a place that is wholly his own and hidden from all others. The emulators of Jupiter must learn to carve a hiding space from a piece of his own soul and thereby keep their most dangerous and powerful secrets in reserve. This charm allows the martial artist to secretly hide up to their Martial Arts score in objects in Elsewhere. It costs 2 motes to activate this charm and place an object in Elsewhere, but only 1 mote and a reflexive action to bring them back into their hand or on their person. Objects sent away return to exactly the position they were in before leaving allowing for several useful ways of representing the secret that was hidden.
*''(Examples: Yozi Crushing Yentu wants to slip through several identities in an afternoon so he first puts on a monk's robe before sending it to Elsewhere, then puts on a guard's lamellar armor before sending it away, and finally puts on the clothing of a Dragon Blooded courtier before sending it away; now any of these can be recalled and YCY will be wearing them just as before. YCY also wants to get into the good graces of a certain king and he knows that assassins are going to shower the king's envoy with arrows later this week (YCY hired them), so he takes an arrow and shoves it into a non-vital spot on his body before sending it Elsewhere; now as the arrow storm starts and he leaps in front of the king he can recall the bloodied arrow to have a realistic wound without worrying about it hitting something important!)''
===The Door Behind the Key===
*'''Cost:''' 4 motes; '''Mins:''' Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; '''Type:''' Reflexive
*'''Keywords:''' Combo-OK
*'''Duration:''' Instant
*'''Prerequisite Charms:''' House of the Forbidding Manse of Ivy Form
*One cannot know secrets without knowing what is well known and a master of secrets knows full well all that is occuring around them. When the character is involved in a grapple, she can use this Charm to swing her partner around and into the way of an incoming blow. The partner can use their full PDV against the attack, but if the attack is successful then the raw damage is split evenly between the two grappling characters in Step 7, before applying soak.
===The Fist Behind the Guardian===
*'''Cost:''' 4 motes; '''Mins:''' Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; '''Type:''' Supplemental
*'''Keywords:''' Combo-OK
*'''Duration:''' Instant
*'''Prerequisite Charms:''' House of the Forbidding Manse of Ivy Form
*The essence of a secret is that it is something that has truly happened, but that no one knows about. Masters of this style learn to make their attacks as secrets from all. This charm allows the character to launch a single undetectable attack. If the character uses a weapon they could unsheath, strike and then sheath again without any noticing. Unless the target has a magical means of detecting unexpected attacks, this attack automatically counts as unexpected. If the target does have such means then a normal Dexterity + Stealth versus the target's Wits + Awareness is rolled with the user of this charm gaining their Essence in automatic successes and the target gaining any appropriate bonuses from their attack detecting charm.
===Master of the Shining Darkness===
*'''Cost:''' 10 motes, 1 willpower, 1 lethal health level or 1 agravated health level; '''Mins:''' Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; '''Type:''' Simple (Speed 6, DV -2)
*'''Keywords:''' Combo-OK, Fate, Obvious, Prayer Strip
*'''Duration:''' One scene
*'''Prerequisite Charms:''' The Shadow Behind the Mask, The Door Behind the Key, The Fist Behind the Guardian
*Masters of the Style of Secrets become a sort-of balance point to the universe; for every action there is a reaction, for every point there is a counter-point, for every known thing there is a secret. With this charm a martial artist has moved beyond the grapple of bodies to grappling the very truth of their opponents existance. Every successful clinch attack against a foe banishes that foe to Elsewhere. A foe grappled into Elsewhere can be acted on with a Crush or a Hold as preferred by the martial artist, but the enemy is gone from the battle field and the martial artist is not restricted at all from defending herself from other attackers. The martial artist may flurry her actions to make further grapple Crush attacks against Elsewhere held opponents (as well as act on other enemies), but otherwise they are kept in a Hold trying to break the grapple against the number of successes that originally trapped them. If the foe should surpass the martial artist's number of successes on the grapple crush attacks used against them or the original number of successes holding them, if they are only being held, then they break free of Elsewhere to fall prone on the ground next to the martial artist. Foes that do not break free can either be released at the martial artist's leisure (as crushed corpses or hopefully subdued foes) or when the charm ends, whichever comes sooner. The character may hold up to (Essence) foes trapped in Elsewhere with this charm. In addition, while this charm is active the character automatically adds (Essence) successes to grapple checks and damage rolls from grappling.
*Using a prayer strip is not necessary with this Charm, since it represents the culmination of a Celestial martial art, but a Sidereal who knows this Charm can ''augment'' it with a prayer strip (hence the use of the keyword). The character uses a strip on which is written the Scripture of the Observing Maiden, infusing the strip with Essence when she activates the Charm and affixes the prayer strip to her own hand. When the character does this she exchanges the level of Lethal damage for a level of Aggravated damage while activating Master of the Shining Darkness. This charm acts as an augmentation to the Sidereal Lore Charm ''Transcendent Hatchet of Fate''. While the Prayer Strip for Master of the Shining Darkness is active the cost of Trancendent Hatchet of Fate is reduced to 12 motes plus 1 temporary willpower and changes its type to Reflexive when used against foes who has been grappled into Elsewhere. This synergy also removes the limit on how many foes can be held in Elsewhere.
*'''Note:''' The prayer strip aspect of this Charm can only be used by Sidereals, or by Eclipse or Moonshadow Castes who learn Master of the Shining Darkness as a Sidereal Charm rather than as a supernatural martial arts Charm. This is part of the Sidereal Exaltation, not the training in Martial Arts and Essence control that underlies the other Charms of the style.
===The Scripture of the Observing Maiden===
<i><pre>Once, there was a maiden...
...who was born to great destiny, "Rulership of all or understanding of all," was proclaimed by the astrologers.
To gain her the rulership of all, her parents shielded her from all the worries of the world.
She knew no poverty, no plague, no death, no unhappiness...  But she slipped from her home to learn.
She saw the poor and was worried, the diseased and became frightened, the dying and felt dead inside.
Then she saw a man concentrating on his sutras, neither demeaned nor ill, but content; a scholar.
"To know the world is to see it truly," she said.</pre></i>