Character:Viridian Inkwell

Caste: Defiler

Favored Yozi: Cecelyne

Concept: Transhuman explorer of the human condition

Motivation: Understand the human condition and share that understanding with others.

Intimacies: the written word (respect), belief that he can change (hope)

Urge: (Pyrian) Pass interesting data on to the Yozis and the Thing Infernal.

Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 5, Perception 5, Intelligence 5, Wits 1, Appearance 5, Manipulation 1, Charisma 1

Abilities: Occult 5 (Primordials +3), Survival 1, Performance 5 (Music +2), Craft (elemental/magitech/vitriol) 5 (Mind-Hand Manipulation +3), Linguistics 2 (Rivertongue, Old Realm, High Realm), Lore 5, Resistance 4, Investigation 5 (Trying to Understand People +2), Medicine 5, Integrity 5, Ride 1, Bureaucracy 1

Virtues: Temperance 5, Compassion 2, Conviction 5, Valor 1

Backgrounds: Manse 5, Savant 3, Artifact 4 (metasorcerous phylactery), Lunar Bond 5, Backing (She Who Lives in Her Name) 3, Cult 2, Influence (She Who Lives In Her Name) 1

(Manse: The House of the Oasis: This five-dot manse in Malfeas, aspected to She Who Lives in Her Name, was built for Viridian Inkwell by a troupe of artisans of the Second Circle as a gift to celebrate his mastery of the Adamant Circle of sorcery. It is maintained in his absence by several dozen highly-favored lesser demons, who are exceedingly glad to serve a master who is frequently tolerant and even more frequently absent. The House of the Oasis is a pleasantly-appointed townhouse on the edge of the desert, with a few gardens and springs, but its truly noteworthy feature is the summoning chamber with its sapient binding circle. The manse's hearthstone is the Legion-Calling Bead, which allows the bearer to benefit from the powers of the Host-Binding Circle manse feature and reduces the cost of spells that benefit from the Principle of Hierarchy's initiation by five motes, to a minimum of 10m.)

Charms:

General Charms: All Yozi Excellencies, <Yozi> Inevitability Technique, <Yozi> Mythos Exultant, So Speaks <Yozi>, Sorcerous Initiation of She Who Lives In Her Name (x3)

Malfeas Charms: Hardened Devil Body (x4)

She Who Lives In Her Name Charms: Factual Determination Analysis, Cosmic Transcendence of Temperance, Cosmic Transcendence of Conviction, Essence-Dissecting Stare, Counter-Conceptual Interposition, Ego-Infused Pattern Primacy (x3), Pattern-Restoration Touch, Wholeness Rightly Assumed (Crippling, Sickness, Poison), Mind-Hand Manipulation, Unseen Force Application, Force-Suppression Barrier, Crystal-Fire Barrier Technique, Principle-Invoking Onslaught, Constructive Convergence of Principles (x2), Tool-Transcending Constructs (x2), Experimental Acceleration Mastery, Composite Task Resolution, Genius Synthesis Technique, Conceptual Context Expansion, Error-Detecting Mode, Orthodox Mind Vocabulary, Orbital Impact Storm, Precision Thought-Force Exercise

Spells: Slave-Spawn Summons, Infallible Messenger, Peacock Shadow Eyes, Sapphire Countermagic, Fiend-Vassal Conscription, Enemy of Nature, Servant of Infallible Location, Open the Spirit Door, All-Commanding Oversoul Beckoning, Adamant Banishing, Winds of Confusion, Fountain of Fathomless Dreams, Adamant Countermagic, Chariot of the Blazing Sun

Combos: Unseen Hand Preparation (Mind-Hand Manipulation, Counter-Conceptual Interposition, Conceptual Context Expansion, Force-Suppression Barrier), Unknown Word Recitation (First Malfeas Excellency, Principle-Invoking Onslaught, Counter-Conceptual Interposition, Conceptual Context Expansion)

Essence: 5 Willpower: 10 Personal Essence: 25 Peripheral Essence: 57

Telekinetic Blade: Speed 5, Accuracy +15, Damage 5L piercing (aggravated to creatures of the Wyld), Parry DV 7, Rate 4, Range

Telekinetic Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy +15, Damage 5B, Rate 1, Range 14

Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/-4/-4/-4/-4/I

Spare XP: 1

Artifacts: (Metasorcerous phylactery, key to the demon city, skin-mount amulet, hauberk of bells, opened mind crown, precision goggles, divinity requisition badge [+7 to all prayers])

Viridian Inkwell was born a child of Great Forks, and was blessed at birth with an endowment from Livilla, a goddess whom his parents had loyally served. However, the God-Blood never lived up to the promise his enchanted heritage had seemed to offer, and the most prestigious schools of the city declared him unteachable. In truth, Inkwell suffered from a form of autism, which Creation's education systems were unequipped to handle. After a miserable experience in several academies, having suffered more than he could take from the ministrations of bullies or his parents perceived disappointment, Inkwell ran away from home at the age of eighteen. In the wilderness, a gethin appeared before him and offered him the chance to unlock his hidden potential. Viridian Inkwell accepted the offer and the Infernal Exaltation.

Inkwell understands that his Yozi masters have a hard time conceptualizing the reality of other beings. He doesn't really understand them himself. It is therefore his self-appointed mission to understand the complexities at the heart of personality and self. He has attached himself to a circle of Celestial Exalts, thinking that this group will provide him with plenty of opportunities to see free will in action and give him plenty to do. If they want to expunge the forces of the dreaded Neverborn from Thorns, hey, it keeps the Althing happy, and it gives Inkwell time to tinker around in the back rooms

Inkwell emerged from his Chrysalis Grotesque with an almost unrecognizably handsome face and body, of which he could previously have only dreamed. His hair is a pale shade of gold and his eyes are a limpid gethin green. He is prone to remain very still while thinking, and then explode into a frenzy of action, possibly ill-considered. The confidence with which he moves during manic periods sometimes causes casual acquaintances to underestimate how awkward he feels during his more common melancholy phases. Unique Charms

Composite Task Resolution

Cost: ---, Mins: Essence 4, Type: Permanent, Prerequisite Charms: Experimental Acceleration Mastery

She Who Lives In Her Name subordinates lesser minions to her will, optimizing the efficiency of her projects through delegated division of labor. This Charm upgrades Experimental Acceleration Mastery. If the Infernal activates it to speed the process of crafting an artifact while receiving an assistance from aides, she may increase the rate by which her work is multiplied by an amount equal to the number of automatic successes she receives on the roll from their assistance, to a maximum multiplier of (Essence x 5). At Essence 5, he may double the effective number of automatic successes he receives for determining the bonus he adds to his multiplier.

Genius Synthesis Technique

Cost: ---, Mins: Essence 4, Type: Permanent, Prerequisite Charms: Composite Task Resolution The Principle of Hierarchy need not possess every imaginable competence; this division of labor is what subordinates are for. If the Infernal receives aid from an Essence-using assistant while crafting an artifact, he reduces each of the minimum Ability ratings required to create it by one dot. With the aid of a master artificer (one whose assistance adds at least four automatic successes), he instead reduces the prerequisite minimums by two dots each. If the Infernal receives aid while building a manse, he may reduce by three dots the total number of dots he must allocate among Craft, Lore, and Occult with a supernatural assistant, or by six dots with a master artificer’s help. At Essence 7, the Infernal also increases the number of automatic successes any assistant provides to a crafting roll by one.

Conceptual Context Expansion

Cost: 4m Mins: Essence 2 Type: Reflexive Keywords: Combo-OK, Compulsion, Social Duration: Instant Prerequisite Charms: Factual Determination Analysis

The Principle of Hierarchy coldly sorts all that she perceives and comprehends into ordered patterns, devising theories and laws to logically explain the world around her. Should she lack sufficient information to reach such conclusions, she can respond only with frustrated anger and boundless curiosity, probing and analyzing until she understands all. The Infernal may activate this Charm whenever they hear another character verbally make any statement. She reflexively rolls (Perception + Investigation) as a social attack against that character's Dodge MDV. She need not speak, instead telepathically implanting a replicated thought-form of her own curiosity in the target's mind–a command to explain.*

If she succeeds, that character must completely state all information necessary to understand the targeted statement. This includes contextual details, background information, the meanings of any unclear phrases or idioms, and all other data needed to understand everything that he meant in making the statement. If the targeted statement was a lie of omission or a half-truth, the character must supply any information he willingly withheld, spoiling his deception. However, if he outright lied, he only need supply details necessary to understand the false statement–outright errors in data lead to corrupted understanding. This Charm can only analyze statements willingly made by a character–if they are compelled to speak by unnatural mental influence, it is ineffectual. The target may resist this unnatural mental influence for a cost of two Willpower. He intuitively understands that his mind is being controlled, although he must successfully resist the Charm, either by successfully exerting his MDV or by paying Willpower, and be able to perceive the Infernal in order to understand that she was responsible.*

A second purchase of this Charm at Essence 3 allows the Infernal to discreetly probe minds. Instead of compelling her target to verbally state all clarifying information needed to fully understand the statement with this Charm, the Infernal may choose to instead rip the knowledge from his mind, instantly understanding all information he would have supplied through a telepathic bond. The target may still resist this mental influence normally. However, even if he successfully resists the influence exerted by this subtler mode of the Charm, he does not recognize the Infernal as being responsible for his psychic violation. While he knows that some unknown force has attempted to control his mind, he does not know who or what exerted the influence on him unless he uses Charms designed for that purpose. In addition, the Infernal may now use this Charm to target statements that are made telepathically, in addition to those that are spoken.

Error-Detecting Mode

Cost: – Mins: Essence 2 Type: Permanent Keywords: Compulsion Duration: Permanent Prerequisite Charms: Conceptual Context Expansion

She Who Lives In Her Name cannot comprehend the concept of deception. Accurate data is correct. Inaccurate data is an error to be corrected. There are no other possibilities. This Charm upgrades Conceptual Context Expansion. If the Infernal uses it to target any statement that is an intentional lie or deception, it compels the speaker to elaborate the truth of the matter, rather than simply clarifying his own lie. In addition, if the Infernal activates Conceptual Context Expansion to target any statement that she knows is a lie, either by making a roll to read the motivations of a character or through magic, its cost is reduced to two motes.

Orthodox Mind Vocabulary

Cost: – Mins: Essence 2 Type: Permanent Keywords: Social Duration: Permanent Prerequisite Charms: Conceptual Context Expansion

She Who Lives In Her Names obsessively analyzes and criticizes all information, qualifying and quantifying the empirical accuracy and objective moral value of each separate fact. If her compulsive calculations indicate that any input is undesirable, it is immediately rejected and redacted. This Charm upgrades Conceptual Context Expansion. If the Infernal successfully uses it in Step 2 of a social attack in order to analyze any spoken mental influence, she may perfectly dodge the unwanted influence, even if it is undodgeable. She must pay two motes to do so if the influence aligns with any Virtue the Infernal has rated at 3 or higher. She must also pay this surcharge to defend against any attack that she knows is true, whether by rolling to read the motivation of the speaker or through magic.

Orbital Impact Storm

Cost: 5m; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Simple (Speed 3, DV -0) Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Sorcerous Duration: One scene Prerequisite Charms: Mind-Hand Manipulation

Creation was built to reflect the glorious order embodied by She Who Lives In Her Name, from the movement of the constellations to the closed circle of life and death. Taking up the least expression of the Pyrian Flame’s perfect motion, the Infernal becomes a reflection of this truth.

Upon activating Orbital Impact Storm, the warlock seizes a clattering maelstrom of loose objects from the surrounding environment—stones and chairs, dinner plates, hammers, broken fence-posts, and any other nearby bric-a-brac (objects carried by individuals and all attuned artifacts are exempt from being appropriated in this manner, as are objects too large or heavy for the average adult mortal to lift with one hand). If necessary, the Infernal may even rip cobblestones loose from streets or bricks from walls, inflicting (Essence) levels of unsoakable damage in the process; objects and structures with a soak greater than 8L are immune to such vandalism. This Charm cannot be activated if the Storyteller decrees that the environment lacks appropriate objects to work with, though players are reminded that two-point stunts allow dramatic editing of the scenery.

The seized objects hang in midair for a moment. Then the newly-formed constellation of debris begins to orbit the Infernal at ever-increasing speeds, pulverizing those foolish enough to attempt to close with the warlock. This constitutes an environmental hazard (Damage 4L/action, Trauma 2) covering a sphere with a radius of (Essence) yards around the character. Even blunt objects inflict lethal damage at the speed generated by Orbital Impact Storm. Opponents may safely navigate the storm if their Dodge DV is higher than the Infernal’s (Willpower x 2). Additionally, it becomes difficult to target the Infernal through the whirling maelstrom, as blades are knocked askew and arrows snapped in half before they can reach her flesh; attacks suffer an external penalty of (Infernal’s Essence / 2, round up).

Normally, action-interval environmental hazard exposure resolves after the victim's DV refreshes but before anyone acts on the tick. However, the storm created by this Charm damages victims after resolving all actions taken during the tick, meaning that characters agile enough to avoid the debris must take care not to penalize their Dodge DV to the point that they get hit.

Unlike most Sorcerous Charms, the warlock may deactivate Orbital Impact Storm voluntarily. This may be done peacefully with a diceless miscellaneous action, freezing the suspended objects in place a split second before dropping them. Alternately, she can reflexively pay 5 motes to hurl shrapnel in all directions as a one-time environmental hazard (Damage 5L, Trauma 3) with a radius of (Willpower x 5) yards. This terminates the Charm and does not count as a Charm activation. Opponents may avoid the debris outright if their Dodge DV is higher than the Infernal’s (Willpower + Essence).

Essence 3+ Infernals can purchase this Charm a second time, extending its duration to one day (or indefinite with Essence 5+).

Precision Thought-Force Exercise

Cost: —; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Permanent Keywords: Obvious Duration: Permanent Prerequisite Charms: First She Who Lives In Her Name Excellency, Mind-Hand Manipulation

She Who Lives In Her Name feels something like pity for humans. They are crippled amputees, incapable of reaching beyond their physical forms. It isn't really pity, of course, but rather an acute and targeted awareness of her superiority and the necessity of upgrading lesser beings to her specifications. The Green Sun Princes who learn this Charm perform a great service, serving as honored prototypes of humaniform transmogrification even as they civilize themselves. This Charm permanently upgrades Mind-Hand Method in the following ways:

● The Charm may be used to protect others with Defend Other actions out to its maximum range rather than the usual (Dexterity rating) yards. ● The Charm can be used to deliver Touch effects as though the emanated force is part of the Infernal's body. ● The Infernal adds +2 to his Parry DV using Mind-Hand Method while taking a Guard action. With Essence 4+, this benefit also applies while using Defend Other to protect someone.