After the solidifying of the Shogunate era, the great Dragon-blooded general Han-Shu, veteran of the great war, went to the master smith of his armory and asked for one last miracle. Han-Shu had been friends with the steady Shal’atai for over a hundred years, and had grown reliant on her impressive patience and steadfastness in both smithing and friendship.
Han-Shu asked for a weapon to strike fear into the hearts of the rogue spirits that roamed Creation. A symbol of order and obedience that would show the gods who ruled now. Shal’atai, who was nearing retirement, could not refuse her lifelong friend and accepted this one final task. Her earth-favored blood warmed at the thought of such a magnificent project.
Journeying to the oceanic West, Shal’atai sought untouched sources of black jade. It took five years and many bloody battles with the savage lintha pirates and Wyld beasts for her crew to find an untapped vein. However, she found that the jade lacked stability and melted to liquid within a day of being mined. So, the earth-aspect built a forge, there on a lone island. The jade needed to be worked immediately or else it would not survive.
It took ten years to get the consistency right, and by the time she had, her pure vein of jade had run dry. Shal’atai despaired that her masterpiece may not be completed and she would fail Han-Shu, her friend. That night, a cloaked stranger entered the camp, wandering in from unknown parts. He offered friendly conversation and little else and was gone the next morning.
No one could remember much more about the stranger, but Shal’atai discovered a rock of strange shimmering ore on her worktable. She had never seen such wondrous material before, but ask she worked with it, she found it perfectly suitable to complete her work. With fine filigree and grips of this strange star-like metal, the black jade goremaul was completed and gifted to Han-Shu as a retirement gift.
Crowning Coercion is a black jade and starmetal goremaul, with two hearthstone sockets, one in the grip and one at the crown. It has been passed down through the ranks of Dragon-blooded for generations, often as a gift for military service, sometimes as a reward for accomplishments among the Immaculate Order. It is a weapon of those who would bring the gods and spirits of Creation to heel, and its reputation in those ranks is legendary.
Solars, Sidereals, and Dragon-Blooded who attune to Crowning Coercion learn Discarnate Prominence for free immediately.
Cost: -- (2m) Mins: Essence 1
Type: Permanent (Reflexive)
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent (One Scene)
Prerequisites: None
Crowning Coercion is strongly attuned to the realm of spirits. It is naturally drawn to interacting with ethereal beings. As such, once Discarnate Prominence is learned, the goremaul permanently phases slightly out of synch with the material world. With this evocation, only the attuned exalt and immaterial beings can touch the Crowning Coercion, allowing the wielder to strike ghosts, gods, demons, and other immaterial creatures so long as they are not solid. Discarnate Prominence does not confer the ability to perceive immaterial beings.
For a 2 mote surcharge, the wielder can force Crowning Coercion to solidify for a scene, allowing it to interact with the material world.
Cost: 5m Mins: Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Discarnate Prominence
The exalt strikes Crowning Coercion against a surface, and a resonating bell tone resounds through the air. This evocation emanates the exalt’s will into the air, making it a command. The exalt rolls an Instill action with (Essence) automatic successes against all spirits within medium range. This instill action suffers no penalties for multiple targets and treats the targets as playing upon a minor intimacy in the roll.
Each affected spirit is given a minor Intimacy of awe, curiosity, fear, respect, or another emotion as appropriate towards the weapon and its wielder. Spirits are compelled to somehow make their presence known to the exalt, though they do not have to materialize to do so. The wielder of Crowning Coercion may play upon this intimacy with further social influence.
If the exalt strikes Crowning Coercion against a material with properties pertaining to the spirit’s purview or component essence (such as a tree for a wood elemental, or a riverbank for that waterway’s resident God) this Intimacy forms as Major. If the exalt strikes the root of the spirit’s power (such as the entrance to god’s sanctum or a ghost’s material corpse/grave) the given Intimacy forms as Defining.
If not acted upon, this Intimacy fades at the end of a scene. However, if the spirit is convinced the exalt is worthy of this emotion, it could become adopted by the spirit.
Cost: 4m Mins: Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-Only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Resounding Summons
The weapons of the gods are feared by the gods. Primal Duress grants a Decisive attack double 10’s on the damage roll.
If the target has an Intimacy granted by Resounding Summons, the attack ignores hardness equal to the strength of the intimacy. Furthermore, this intimacy is increased in intensity once per round that Primal Duress is successfully inflicted upon them. If the Intimacy is already at Defining, a further blow extends the duration of the Intimacy to a full day.
Cost: 7m, 1wp Mins: Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-Only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Primal Duress
Crowning Coercion is more than a mere tool of the chosen, it is a symbol of their authority. The goremaul and its wielder commands the gods themselves. By activating this evocation, the hammer glows with silver-blue light and nearby targets with a Defining Intimacy inflicted by Resounding Summons instinctively know they have a choice. The exalt will swing that hammer and the target can either swear an oath of service to the exalt that lasts up to one month, or suffer the wrath of the Crowning Coercion.
If they accept the oath, the hammer inflicts no damage upon impact, but instead reforges the Intimacy created by Resounding Summons. It becomes binding similarly to an Eclipse caste oath, and any social influence that contradicts the Intimacy becomes unacceptable influence. If the target refuses the oath, the hammer smashes into them with terrible wrath, dealing aggravated damage and adding (Essence) automatic successes on the damage roll.