Ship Preserving Introduction
Cost: None Type: Permanent
Duration: Permanent
Keywords: Anima
Mins: Sail 1, Essence 1 Prereqs: None
Whenever the Dragonblooded boards a ship he may pause for one minute on the gangplank, performing a small prayer to Danaa’d and introducing himself properly to the least gods of the ship. The least gods acknowledge the Dragonblooded’s presence and his right to be on the ship. From that point forward the Dragonblooded’s anima flux damage will not harm the ship, its rigging or any of its necessary equipment. The least gods accept the Dragonblooded’s anima and protect the ship from him. If a Dragonblooded leaves a ship for more than a day he must perform this ritual again. Most often, Dragonblooded naval officers perform this ritual together when setting sail on a new ship and the ritual has grown to encompass the ship’s captain and officers. Even Dragonblooded who don’t know this Charm are expected to engage in the ritual, though for them it has no mechanical effects.
This ritual takes too long to perform during most combat situations. Then again, boarding parties of Dragonblooded often don’t care if their opponent’s ships are burned.
River-to-Highway Meditation
Cost: None Type: Permanent
Duration: Permanent
Keywords: Anima, Cooperative
Mins: Sail 2, Essence 2 Prereqs: None
The Dragonblooded officer need not concern himself with mundane barriers like rivers, moats, lakes or oceans. Using this Charm, the character spends 3m and for him water becomes as solid as ground, he may move across it as if it were firm, stable land. He will not sink into the water under any circumstances unless he cancels this power first, which can be an issue if he falls from great height onto normally soft water. Especially choppy or quick moving water such as whitewater rapids or a storm-tossed sea probably counts as unstable footing. This power last for one scene, or about one hour outside of combat.
By spending an additional willpower when activating this power, the character can extend its benefit to a number of allies equal to a Magnitude 1 unit. Additional Dragonblooded can cooperate, activating this power to enhance a unit of Magnitude equal to the number of Dragonblooded participants.
Attempts to use this power to cross the Inner Sea with a large army are considered foolish and near suicidal, most Dragonblooded officers would run out of Essence or Willpower long before reaching the other shore, though tales persist in popular Realm literature, however.
Submariner Commando Style
Cost: None Type: Permanent
Duration: Permanent
Keywords: Anima, Cooperative
Mins: Sail 4, Essence 2 Prereqs: River-to-Highway Meditation
While the Water-aspect Terrestrials have unprecedented freedom of movement in water using this ability often requires leaving their allies and armies behind. This power allows the Dragonblooded to bring a force underwater. By spending five motes the character may grant a unit of Magnitude 1 the ability to breath underwater with the same ease they do so on land. This Charm also grants those who benefit from it the confidence to do so, they will not hesitate to enter the depths. This effect last for one day.
If multiple Dragonblooded evoke this Charm cooperatively they can affect a unit of Magnitude equal to their total number.
Ship Moving Chanty
Cost: None Type: Permanent
Duration: Permanent
Keywords: Anima, Cooperative
Mins: Sail 5, Essence 3 Prereqs: River-To-Highway Meditation, (Any) Sail Excellency
Not even the deadest calm can prevent the Dragonblooded from sailing to war. The Dragonblooded who uses this Charm must move to the very prow of a ship, there he assumes a wide stance and begins to sing a prayer in Old Realm to Danaa’d. Then with a large gesture of his hand he moves the ship forward. This power ties the Dragonblooded into the Essence of water, spreading his anima into the waves below. He actually moves the water the ship is in, creating a current that carries the ship in whatever direction he wishes. While this Charm is normally used in still water it can be used to fight an existing current as well.
To use this power the Dragonblooded must spend 1m for every 3 points on the Strength + Athletics chart it would take to push the boat he is in (don’t forget to include the passengers and cargo). Once he spends that many motes the ship begins moving, traveling at the Dragonblooded’s Essence x 5 in yards/tick for a duration of one hour, at which point he must use this power again. Storyteller’s can feel free to increase the cost of this power by one to five motes if the character is working against a particularly strong current. The Dragonblooded must remain at the prow of the ship for the duration of this power and can only perform other actions if he takes at least one Miscellaneous action every time he acts to direct this Charm.
Multiple Dragonblooded can use this power. Simply pool the total motes spent by all participants to determine the maximum size of the ship that can be moved.
Ship Master’s Intuition
Cost: 5m Type: Simple (Dramatic Action)
Duration: Indefinite
Keywords: Stackable
Mins: Sail 3, Essence 2 Prereqs: (Any) Sail Excellency
By spending one hour exploring a ship, communing with its spirits and otherwise familiarizing himself with its operations and idiosyncrasies the Dragonblooded gains a masterful understanding of it. He spends five motes and gains a Specialty “While Aboard (specific ship)”. This specialty adds one die to all Athletics, Awareness, Dodge, Resistance and Sail rolls (and static values), so long as his feet remain on the ship. The Dragonblooded may uses this Charm to increases the effective specialty, but as usual no combinations of Specialty dice can ever exceed +3.
Reef Avoiding Instinct
Cost: 3m, 1wp Type: Simple
Duration: Indefinite
Keywords: None
Mins: Sail 3, Essence 2 Prereqs: Third Sail Excellency
The master sailors of the Dragonblooded never ground their ships. This Charm grants the character a preternatural instinct for everything near the ship, allowing him to avoid treacherous currents, hidden reefs and other hazards with ease. To use this Charm the Dragonblooded must be helming the ship. This Charm prevents any Sail roll made to steer the ship form botching. This Charm also informs the character whenever he is about to attempt a sailing manoeuvre that may result in damaging his ship as well as exactly how difficult the roll to avoid the damage would be and informs him far enough in advance that he can choose to abort the action. If he does attempt the manoeuvre, he may activate the Third Sail Excellency once at no cost, even outside a combo, if he fails to make a critical roll that would otherwise result in damaging his ship.
Example: Peleps Marina is steering his trireme through a series of shoals in an attempt to sneak up on a pirate base. His Reef Avoiding Instinct informs him that he could ground his boat unless he rolls four successes on a Wits + Sail roll. Choosing to enter the shoals infested water anyway he makes his Sail roll and gets three successes. He chooses to evoke the Third Excellency to reroll, hoping to get the four he needs. Even if he botched the second roll, he would still only suffer the effects of a normal failure.
Rain Luring Song
Cost: 15m, 1wp Type: Simple (Dramatic Action)
Duration: Instant
Keywords: Cooperative, Obvious
Mins: Sail 4, Essence 3 Prereqs: Reef Sensing Instinct
Using this Charm, the Exalt alters the weather. He spends one hour singing to the spirits of air and water and over the course of that hour the weather overhead steadily changes. The character can move the weather up or down one stage on the following chart. The chart contains the following information: Speed Multiplier – the amount the speed of wind-powered vessels is effected by the wind, Sail Penalty – the external penalty applied to all Sail (and Athletics based swimming) rolls, Damage – the amount of damage applied to any vessel in the area rated at (damage levels)/time increment. A successful Sail roll negate that damage for one time increment.
Dead Calm: Speed Multiplier x0, Sail Penalty -0, Damage None
Light Wind and Rain: Speed Multiplier x0.5, Sail Penalty -0, Damage None
Regular Wind and Rain: Speed Multiplier x1, Sail Penalty -0, Damage None
Heavy Wind and Rain: Speed Multiplier x1.5, Sail Penalty -1, Damage None
Storm Winds and Rain: Speed Multiplier x1, Sail Penalty -3, Damage 1L/scene or hour
Monsoon: Speed Multiplier x0.5, Sail Penalty -5, Damage 1L/minute or long tick
Once the Exalt changes the weather for his area the change persists until the weather restores itself to normal, so if the Exalt whistles up a monsoon then it will persist until the monsoon blows itself out. This could be hours or days depending on the conditions in the area. An Exalt may not use this Charm more than once per day, though this is a legal limit imposed by the Bureau of Season rather than an actual physical limit. Any Dragonblooded who did so would likely find himself the subject of severe consequences. How the Bureau would respond to an Eclipse of Moonshadow using this Charm has yet to be tested in this age. Similarly using this Charm within ten miles of the Blessed Isle is considered a crime. This Charm has no effect if used in an area more than 10 miles away from the open ocean. Generally speaking, this Charm effects an area ten miles across, though the effect may spread after it is evoked (a conjured storm could move or grow, for example).
One Dragonblooded of each Aspect may activate this Charm at the same time, shifting the weather one additional stage up or down per aspect participating over the course of the one hour. In this way five Dragonblooded could take a dead calm to a monsoon in an hour, or vice versa.
Elemental Path
Cost: 15m, 2wp Type: Simple (Dramatic Action)
Duration: Indefinite
Keywords: Obvious, Elemental, Combo-Basic
Mins: Sail 5, Essence 4 Prereqs: Rain Luring Song
This Charm is a dramatic action to chart a course or create a navigable route. The Exalt takes one hour, consulting any charts or navigation instruments he has and meditating upon the five elements. At the end of that time he comes back with a course for a ship to follow. The player rolls Intelligence + Sail. For every success he achieves the character creates a course that will cut one hour of his travel time, to a minimum of one hour. This Charm has no effect on trips that would take one hours or less to complete.
This Charm works by mapping the dragon lines of the area, the rivers of elemental force that connect two locations. The Dragonblooded steers a ship into this river and is carried along by this flow, moving at the same speed a summoned elemental does when moving to its master. The time required is more a factor of learning how to navigate the intricate web of Dragonlines than any actual time spent navigating them. To outside observers the ship and crew seem to vanish in a shimmer of Essence, only to reappear near their destination. Only those who can see Essence flows (such as from artifacts or All Encompassing Sorcerer’s Sight) can see the ship passing through the area. To those aboard ship they appear to be sailing through the region as normal and will even experience a subjective time as if the trip had taken the normal amount of time, but find themselves arriving at their destination hours earlier than expected. This Charm cannot actually send a ship to an area it could not normally reach (a landlocked lake or the quicksilver canals of Yu Shan, for example).
This Charm works best when used in the Dragonblooded’s native direction. Add their Essence in auto successes to the roll if their trip begins and ends within the appropriate direction of Creation (for Earth Aspects this include the Inner sea, for Air aspects it includes iceboat and airboat trips in the north and for Fire aspects it includes travel on the sea of sand).