Bright Judgment lived upon a mountain in the North. The barbarian tribes knew this and worshiped her as the creator of their lands and a goddess of justice and bravery. Every year the tribes sent pilgrims up the mountain to bring offerings to her palace, though few ever made the journey, for no path existed to her sanctum and any that were made were annihilated by the lightning she commanded or avalanches from her thunder.
Still, despite her aloofness, the tribes still sought her out year after year. Those who laid eyes on her sanctum said it was a workshop of beauty and magnificence, where she crafted the lightning in the skies and forged her judgment to be delivered unto the world. They claimed she was as tall as a tree, or as beautiful as the sunset, or that she glowed with the brilliant light of justice. Their awe would inspire a new generation of pilgrims and the process would begin again the following year.
Bright Judgment cared little for the barbarians below. On the contrary, their yearly attempts to break into her forge were exhausting. The Twilight had build her workshop on the mountain to get away from people who wanted the amazing works she created, but all she desired was peace. When the fools climbed the mountain, she used her lightning favored weapons to strike them down, but sometimes still they made their way into her home.
It wasn’t until they stole her finest creation, a skycutter imbued with the hearts of 3 lightning elementals, and sealed with the breath of an earth elemental, that Bright Judgment finally gave up and abandoned her mountain forge. Some say she disappeared even further north into the Wylds. The barbarian stories claim that she was slain by other jealous gods of fire and wood and water. Either way, the forge went silent, and all the tribes had to remember her was the beautiful curved tool of blue-white metal that crackled with the power of the lightning they had taken.
Static Fulmination is a skycutter forged of blue jade with small filigree of white jade. It is patterned in lightning bolts and it causes hair to stand on end for those unattuned. It has a single hearthstone socket in the center, with the lightning bolt patterns arcing out from it.
A Solar or Dragon-Blood who attunes to Static Fulmination gains an extra point of initiative from each successful Withering attack against a target that didn’t take a movement action on their last turn.
Cost: 6m Mins: Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Uniform
Duration: 3 rounds
Prerequisites: None
Lightning is drawn to the earth, and Static Fulmination makes its enemies the conduit for such power. When the wielder of this artifact lands an attack enhanced by Impulse Anchor, the skycutter creates a link between the target and the ground beneath them. Thin crackling tendrils of electricity arc constantly between the target and the ground they are standing on when struck. The anchor does not move from that spot and the affected target feels themselves leashed through it.
Whenever the target makes a movement action away from that spot, the anchor drags at them, making the movement cost a point of initiative. The exception is that Disengage actions that return them to the anchored spot do not have the normal initiative cost and any outside actions (such as knockback) that force the target away from the anchor do not cost initiative.
Furthermore, the lightning causes small shocks in the target dulling their nerves when they are away from their anchored spot. At the end of each round, the target loses extra initiative equal to the number of range bands away from their anchored spot they are. Displacement caused by forced movement will still cause this initiative loss if the target ends the round away from the anchor. If the target is in Crash, all initiative burned away by Impulse Anchor each round is gained by the wielder of Static Fulmination, until the target recovers from Crash.
This evocation can only be used upon one target per activation and is not stackable. However, separate activations and commitments can allow it to be used on multiple targets. After 3 rounds, the anchor fades and the target is free to move as normal. This Evocation has no effect on any target that is not within Close range of a floor surface of some sort.
Cost: 5m (+1wp) Mins: Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Impulse Anchor
The master tugs on the leash, and the dog returns to his side. So too does the wielder of Static Fulmination keep its enemies in check. On the wielder’s turn, if a target under the effect of Impulse Anchor is 1 or more range bands away from their leash point, the exalt may activate Lightning Tether to instantly pull them back to the anchor. This ability beats most unmovable effects, but if contested by magic, roll the wielders (Wits + Thrown) with Essence automatic successes in the contested roll. Lightning Tether may only be used once per instance of Impulse Anchor per combat.
Lightning Tether also immediately renews the duration of Impulse Anchor on a target. For an additional point of Willpower in cost, it adds 3 rounds on to the end of the original duration making the total duration 6 rounds.
Cost: 7m, 1wp Mins: Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-Only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Lightning Tether
Those who underestimate the power of lightning will be struck down by its awesome power. When a target afflicted by Impulse Anchor is 1 or more range bands away from their anchor point, the exalt may target them with a Decisive attack that gains attack dice equal to the number of range bands away from the anchor point the target is. In addition, extra successes on the attack roll are converted to automatic successes in the damage roll up to a limit of the number of range bands away from the anchor point the target is.
Using Jolting Backlash ends Impulse Anchor on the target, and prevents them from being targeted by Impulse Anchor again for the rest of combat.