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

==House of the Golden Barque of the Heavens==
*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 Golden Barque of the Heavens Style of the Astrological Houses is well known for its emphasis on movement as the key to both defense and offense. Its students take control of a battlefield by being in exactly the right place at exactly the right time.
*'''Weapons and Armor:''' Charms of this style treat attacks with knives, war boomerangs 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:''' Practicioners of this style find that having high Athletics and Ride abilities are often quite useful to this continually moving and flowing style of combat.
*This Style is one of the five Styles of the Houses Sidereal
*The Charms of this Style are considered native for the Chosen of Mercury, the Maiden of Journey.
===Journey of Forever in One Step===
*'''Cost:''' -; '''Mins:''' Martial Arts 1, Essence 1; '''Type:''' Reflexive
*'''Keywords:''' None
*'''Duration:''' Permanent
*'''Prerequisite Charms:''' None
*The fate threads of battle are tread upon lightly, but with assurity, by the practitioner of the Golden Barque of the Heavens Style. In fact, any movement they make is done so more swiftly then opponents can account for. The character adds his Martial Arts score to any calculation of combat movement (ie. a standard Move is Dexterity+Martial Arts in yards, a Dash is Dexterity+6+Martial Arts in yards). This Charm also enhances movement by personal mounts and vehicles the character directly controls.
===Dash of Saturn===
*'''Cost:''' 1 mote per action; '''Mins:''' Martial Arts 2, Essence 1; '''Type:''' Reflexive
*'''Keywords:''' Combo-OK
*'''Duration:''' Up to (Martial Arts) actions
*'''Prerequisite Charms:''' Journey of Forever in One Step
*The Seer has learned to blend continuous motion and his great speed with every moment of combat. While this Charm is active a Dash is a (2/-1) action and any flurry that includes Dashing has its multiaction penalties decreased by 1. Each mote spent confers this benefit for one action, but the character cannot spend more motes than her Martial Arts rating.
===Campaign in Conviction Stance===
*'''Cost:''' 5+ motes; '''Mins:''' Martial Arts 2, Essence 1; '''Type:''' Reflexive
*'''Keywords:''' Combo-OK
*'''Duration:''' One scene
*'''Prerequisite Charms:''' Journey of Forever in One Step
*Those who emulate the Maiden of Journeys learn the benefit of picking the path of their actions and then travelling down them to their sure conclusion. Whenever this Charm is active and the character channels his Conviction, the character rolls his 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 his Conviction 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 his task without channelling his Conviction then this Charm does not affect the channelling.
===Jaunt of the Journeying Maiden===
*'''Cost:''' 2+ motes, 1 willpower; '''Mins:''' Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; '''Type:''' Reflexive
*'''Keywords:''' Obvious
*'''Duration:''' One scene
*'''Prerequisite Charms:''' Journey of Forever in One Step
*Saffron essence flares around the martial artist, giving him the fate of a wanderer with an unerring sense of direction through battle. For the rest of the scene, the character can ignore a number of penalties. Every two motes spent activating this charm removes one point of penalty from the character's actions in a single tick, first removing external penalties and then internal penalties with multiaction penalties removed last. Multiaction penalties ignored are spread as evenly as possible across the character's actions (if a character with 8 motes invested in this charm had no other penalties to account for flurried two attacks then both would lose 2 points of multiaction penalty, if the character flurried three attacks then each would lose 1 point of penalty except one attack that lost 2). The maximum number of penalty points that can be ignored is equal to the character's Essence. Additionally, the character is never fatigued by battle or travel while this charm is active. 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 - The Dragon-Blooded''', though so long as the character is not in armor they would receive these bonuses).
===House of the Golden Barque of the Heavens Form===
*'''Cost:''' 6 motes; '''Mins:''' Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; '''Type:''' Simple (Speed 6, DV -1)
*'''Keywords:''' Form-type
*'''Duration:''' One scene
*'''Prerequisite Charms:''' Dash of Saturn, Campaign in Conviction Stance, Jaunt of the Journeying Maiden
*With gleeful anticipation, the character takes a stance emulating that of Mercury herself when she makes her Sign over a long journey to be swiftly travelled. While he uses this Charm, the character's actions all have their speed decreased by 1 (to a minimum of Speed 2 on any action) and any Dash actions are increased by +4 yards per tick. Additionally, while this Charm is active, uses of Dash of Saturn are enhanced to make Dashes (1/-1) actions.
===Spokes of the Ship's Wheel===
*'''Cost:''' 5 motes; '''Mins:''' Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; '''Type:''' Supplemental
*'''Keywords:''' Combo-OK
*'''Duration:''' Instant
*'''Prerequisite Charms:''' House of the Golden Barque of the Heavens Form
*No fortress or armor is impenetrable and if one can take the time to study it then its gaps seem as wide as the spokes on a ship's wheel. Take the time or be fast enough to attempt all possibilities at once. Master's of this charm learn to attack in such a blur that they touch every side of an opponent at once, but they only push through with force when they feel empty defenses. By using this Charm, the martial artist enables a single martial arts attack to slide right past an opponents defenses. The attack is treated as piercing and if it would have been piercing from some other source (such as another charm or using a piercing weapon) then the attack ignores armor altogether.
===Lightning Crashes Against the Mast===
*'''Cost:''' 5 motes; '''Mins:''' Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; '''Type:''' Reflexive
*'''Keywords:''' Combo-OK, Obvious
*'''Duration:''' Instant
*'''Prerequisite Charms:''' House of the Golden Barque of the Heavens Form
*The martial artist has learned to bounce their footsteps through the fatestrings of creation in such a way that each step launches them further along their path than any mortal eye can keep up with. They use the mighty speed this produces to devastating effect in battle. When this charm is used a character can enhance their defenses and their offenses. When used against an incoming attack the character can add his Martial Arts score to the DDV calculation because of his blinding speed and at the end of the tick he can be standing anywhere within five times his normal move distance away from his starting point. When used to enhance an attack the character can move up to five times his normal move distance on the tick of the attack, adds (Martial Arts + Essence) to the raw damage, and adds (Essence) to the minimum damage of the attack because of the amazing momentum built up. The character must move at least 5 yards to make use of this charm, if it is used in a flurry of attacks then the character must move at least 5 yards before each attack he wishes to apply it to. Movement can be to any end point they can see that is on a solid position to stand and does not have an immobile barrier in the way (the character could jump to the roof of a building, run across a river, or smash through a window into a house, but couldn't suddenly be in the hearthstone room of a manse unless they could see an open doorway to it).
===Weapons Obey the Captain===
*'''Cost:''' 7 motes, 1 willpower; '''Mins:''' Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; '''Type:''' Extra Action
*'''Keywords:''' Combo-OK
*'''Duration:''' Instant
*'''Prerequisite Charms:''' House of the Golden Barque of the Heavens Form
*The masters of this style learn to command the essence of the journey in all of their actions. They can command their weapons, be it fist or war boomerang or any other at their disposal, to be at several points on the journey of an attack simultaneously. This charm allows the character to make a single attack roll that is applied against up to Essence enemies within range of the attack, which is only immediate foes for a fist but can be quite far with a Skycutter. Targets apply their DVs individually as normal. The martial artist counts the extra successes from his attack twice when adding them to his raw damage total, and he rolls damage seperately against each target (based on how well their DVs defended them).
===Master of the Serpentine Pathway===
*'''Cost:''' 10 motes, 1 willpower, 1 lethal health level or 1 aggravated 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:''' Spokes of the Ship's Wheel, Lightning Crashes Against the Mast, Weapons Obey the Captain
*Masters of this style achieve a perfect balance between the reality of the journey they walk through life and the metaphor of the journey they walk as a martial artist. With this charm the martial artist opens himself to the Blessing of the Maiden of Journeys into a form fitting a master of movement and combat; the form of a dragon. The form does not match that of any type of Elemental Dragon and gods that see this form often avert their eyes only willing to call it a Lesser Celestial Dragon and that with much pressure. The Dragon has glistening starlight like a moonless sky across its form, with highlighting ripples of yellow essence (or for Sidereals the color of their anima tinted with yellow if not Chosen of Journeys) trailing each star as the Dragon moves. The martial artist's Dragon form is typically not as large as even the Lesser Elemental Dragons, but they are covered in thick scales, have a jaw filled with rows of teeth, and have very developed prehensile hands - ready to carry weapons built for humans and yet still ending in adamant-hard claws. The character's Physical Attributes become equal to (Essence+2), she develops armored scaling equal to Soak +12B/+16L/+16A with Hardness 10, her bite is a weapon with Speed 6, Acc+0, Dam+7L, Def -, Rate 1, each clawed hand becomes a weapon with Speed 5, Acc+0, Dam+3L, Def+0, Rate 2, and she develops the Creation-Spanning Flight ability allowing her to fly at 500 mph (combat Move of 240 yards per tick) and swim at 200 mph (combat Move of 100 yards per tick).
*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 Rambling 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 Serpentine Pathway. This charm acts as an augmentation to the Sidereal Ride Charm ''Riding The Dragon''. While the Prayer Strip for Master of the Serpentine Pathway is active the cost of Riding The Dragon is reduced to 15 motes plus 1 temporary willpower and at the end of that Charm's duration the Lesser Elemental Dragon changes back into the person, animal or minor god it once was without being burnt out by the charm's use. The character's acquaintance or familiar maintains its intelligence, though also recalls the torturous process of being forced into the form of a Lesser Elemental Dragon and an equally painful reversal.
*'''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 Serpentine Pathway 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 Rambling Maiden===
<i><pre>Once, there was a maiden...
...who was fond of bright lights...
...who was a seeker of far sights...
...who once heard a lullaby used to wake the dead...
...who once bought a house just to rest her head...
The maiden said, "It is not just...  Oooh!  Butterflies!"</pre></i>