A Deathlord's Diary

Additional Mountain Folk Artifacts

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 19:52:14 GMT

Given that the Mountain Folk are famed as artificers, I could have written an entire chapter full of cool toys. Unfortunately, I didn't have room to give you anything more than the basics, so I'm going to provide additional material on this journal. Please keep in mind that none of this stuff is canon. Also, please don't repost any of this stuff elsewhere. If you want to reference it, link back. Thanks. Oh, and as always, I welcome feedback and suggestions.

Stonemeld Gate (Artifact •••)

These white jade artifacts appear as geometric doorways up to ten feet tall and/or wide, with occult runes in Rocktongue adorning the entire surface in delicate filigree. Most often, the devices are shaped as arches, rings or simple rectangular doorframes, but they may feature stranger geometric configurations according to the aesthetics of their creator. In order to program and activate the gate’s magic, a character must first prop it against a flat stone surface and spend 20 motes (this is not committed). Spending this Essence causes the gateway to fuse to the rock, becoming a permanent extrusion of its structure. Through the lens of the device’s magic, the attuned character’s senses immediately extend through the rock into the earth, providing a limited clairvoyance duplicating the effects of the Charm Earthen Insight Method (Exalted: the Fair Folk, p. 252). The character’s awareness flows out along an unbroken conduit through the earth in an instant, trailing an artificial dragon line behind it. When the line intersects a space that is not filled with earth, it terminates and locks into place, programming the path of the gate. If the dragon line stretches more than a mile from the doorway, the Essence channel snaps and the character finds her senses returned back to the doorway so she can try again. This process repeats as many times as necessary to establish an acceptable path.

Once a character programs the course of a Stonemeld Gate’s dragon line, she must then set the parameters of use. By default, the basic setting allows any Essence user to trigger activation by touching the stone bordered by the gate and spending a mote of Essence. For greater security, a gate may be configured to require a spoken password or a combination of runes touched in a specific order (before allowing the Essence expenditure). Once a character defines all facets of the gate’s operation, the gate cannot be reprogrammed without first disabling it.

To “open” a Stonemeld Gate, a character must touch the rock and spend Essence, performing any necessary actions to satisfy security precautions. With all conditions met, ripples spread from the point of contact through the stone and an irresistible force pulls the character into the rock. Wherever she touches the earth, it becomes a viscous liquid that smoothly warps around her and settles back into place. This duplicates the effects of a Parting Stone Blessing (Exalted: the Fair Folk, p. 253), save that the character does not control her movement. Instead, she races along the defined path of the artificial dragon line at a rate of 150 yards per turn (approximately 100 miles per hour), gently emerging from the earth at the destination as if she had simply stepped out. Artisans often build Stonemeld Gates into their Manses, sometimes sealing away the entire structure in its own sealed cavern that can only be reached through one door (without boring through a mile of solid rock). Of course, such extreme deployment also means that the Manse has no way to recycle air and thus requires that all visitors have life support artifacts or Charms obviating the need to breathe, not to mention a second gate on the inside so the journey isn’t one-way. Less extreme placements provide excellent front gates for walls, provide a quick getaway or allow unconventional transport throughout layers of tiered structures.

Disabling a Stonemeld gate requires sufficient damage to the adjoining rock to pry it free (this stone has the usual soak and health levels of a stone wall; see p. 239 of Exalted). Unfortunately, the geomantic backlash caused by this brute force approach leaves the gateway useless until it has been repaired with the same effort required to create a level one artifact.

Numerous variations of the Stonemeld Gate exist. Some feature geomantic collectors so that they do not require Essence infusions to activate, but these level 3 artifacts only work inside Manses. Geomantic gateways typically feature more elaborate triggers, such as floors that suck enemies into oubliettes if they are not crossed in a specific way and other such traps. Superior gates built as level 4 artifacts extend their dragon lines up to 10 miles away or allow up to 5 different possible destinations up to a mile away. In order for a gate to link to multiple destinations, it must be programmed with separate triggers for each destination. Both types of level 4 gates may also feature geomantic construction if built to draw power within a Manse.

Exalted: the Fair Folk

Thu, 02 Dec 2004 02:36:45 GMT

This book is now in stores, featuring a chapter on the Mountain Folk that I wrote. Unlike the other chapters, this section is completely self-contained, like a book inside the book. I think it's nifty, but I'm horribly biased.

Reading through the various critiques, someone pointed out that they felt the MF Charms were kind of convoluted in a Lunar way. Thus, with the generous hosting of goldenh, I decided to give you the crude sketches I made when I was writing to keep track of the names. I has not put any information regarding the descriptions of the Charms. If you want that, you'll have to buy the book. Oh, and for the record, if this gets lots of hits, I'll need to find someone else willing to host the images. Volunteers can say so in comments.

Foundation Charms

1-5	Ox-Body Technique
6-8	Essence Satiation Method
9-11	Stone Still Lungs
12	Sleepless Rock Emulation
13	Eternal Jade Rejuvenation
14	Darkness-Piercing Technique
15	Sensory Focus Discipline
16	Pebble Among Boulders Stance

Enlightened Pattern

1	Glorious Prodigy Lesson	7	Studious Erudition Technique
2	Upon Strands Lightly	8	Language and Meaning Discernment
3	Mien of Compassion	9	Thought Speech Oration
4	Mien of Conviction	10	Conference of the Mind
5	Mien of Temperance	11	Incomparable Tutoring Method
6	Mien of Valor	12	Enlightened Pattern Mastery

Worker Pattern

1	Pillar of Compassion	12	Hundred Tool Technique
2	Pillar of Conviction	13	Transcendent Efficacy Instruction
3	Pillar of Temperance	14	Synergy of Purpose
4	Pillar of Valor	15	Industry and Forge Wisdom
5	Harvest Multiplying Labor	16	Crucible of Earthblood
6	Essence Aligning Treatment	17	Earthen Insight Method
7	Earth Yields Abundance	18	Stone-Breaking Touch
8	Faithful Servant’s Mien	19	Flowing Rock Stride
9	Eidetic Recollection Discipline	20	Parting Stone Blessing
10	Obedience Inculcation Method	21	Command the Earth
11	Incomparable Efficiency Trance	22	Worker Pattern Mastery

Warrior Pattern

1	Compassion-Bolstering Meditation	13	Fivefold Embodiment of Red Jade
2	Conviction-Bolstering Meditation	14	Fivefold Embodiment of White Jade
3	Temperance-Bolstering Meditation	15	Arsenal Enhancing Technique
4	Valor-Bolstering Meditation	16	Battle Trance Focus
5	Green Jade Transformation	17	Precision Onslaught Method
6	Blue Jade Transformation	18	Charring Magma Blade
7	Black Jade Transformation	19	Living Jewel Armor
8	Red Jade Transformation	20	Reforging Travail of the Veteran
9	White Jade Transformation	21	Great Maker’s Champion
10	Fivefold Embodiment of Green Jade	22	Diamond-Shattering Blow
11	Fivefold Embodiment of Blue Jade	23	Inescapable Volcano Stance
12	Fivefold Embodiment of Black Jade	24	Warrior Pattern Mastery


1	Unfolding Pattern Intuition	11	Essence-Transfer Technique	20	Demesne-Binding Ritual
2	Interconnection’s Eye	12	Essence-Focusing Concentration	21	Geomantic Conveyance Glyph
3	Supernal Awareness of All	13	Dragon-Tangling Web	22	Pattern Rending Onslaught
4	Revelatory Sight of Design	14	Sign of Warding	23	Resplendent Dispersion Technique
5	Earth Shaping Discipline	15	Elemental Invocation Rite	24	Artificer’s Insight
6	Shaping Mind Concentration	16	Spirit-Calcifying Technique	25-27	Incomparable Forge Dominion
7	Incomparable Sculptor’s Trance	17	God Summoning Glyph	28	Great Maker’s Grasp
8	Living Earth Meditation	18	Emerald Unweaving Rune	29	Jade’s Egg Hatched
9-10	Manse Body Technique	19	Sapphire Unweaving Rune	30	Body Shaping Meditation
				31	Artisan Pattern Mastery

Also available is a revised Mountain Folk character sheet, complete with 7 dots for Abilities and a Divergence tracking slot. Once again, thank goldenh for throwing this together.

Hope you all enjoy!

--Michael A. Goodwin

Celestine High

Sat, 17 Jul 2004 23:09:35 GMT

From a conversation I had with RSB:

rebecca: You know, Peter Parker really would be a much better Solar than Lunar, except for the webbing.
Nephilpal: quite possibly
rebecca: So my theory is, the US snuck into Autochthonia and Exalted him.
rebecca: Probably hiding from Mars, who is normally quite chaste but is a bit too much for even the US when she gets Venus sickness.
Nephilpal: *giggle*
rebecca: And then Peter Parker stole an experimental Alchemical weblauncher Charm.
Nephilpal: *more giggles*
rebecca: She's his equal in battle, you know.
Nephilpal: and in bed?
Nephilpal: I kind of always pictured the Celestines as high school archetypes
Nephilpal: The US was the quarterback with the dazzling smile, and Venus was the head cheerleader who was really a total slut, but the ostensible gf of the sun. Gaia and Luna were titillating all with their taboo fling and everyone seceretly surmised or fantasized that Venus occasionally got in on the action. Mars had a big crush on Gaia, but she wasn't Gaia's type because she was always so bitchy and butch. Mercury was a bit vapid, but ran track and had flings with Primordial college kids when no one was looking. Saturn was a mopey gothgirl that the Sun was constantly trying to get in the pants of, but she wasn't having any. Of course, she was also sarcastically narrating the whole scene like Daria. Jupiter was the bookish nerd-valedictorian who had the whole librarian allure going for her. The sun would have nailed her, too, but just on general principle. Gawky and ever-awkward Autocthon had the biggest crush on her and everyone knew it, but she was so mysterious and into her books that no one knew what she liked.
rebecca: *giggle*
Nephilpal: I'm serious. Celestine High. That's vaguely how I've always pictured them.
rebecca: Makes sense!
Nephilpal: It also explains why Exalted automatically regress into teengae melodrama. It's built into them by their patrons.

--Neph

Burning Scythe Style

Tue, 25 May 2004 11:19:53 GMT

[UPDATE: May 27, 2004. At the suggestion of some, I swapped the costs of Dragon's Searing Bite and Gut Scissor Onslaught. I also changed the cost of Inexorable Holocaust Fury, removing the health level and adding 2 motes. I made tiny changes to Retribution of Supernal Imminence, clarifying that you could in fact augment the counterattack with other Charms if you had a Combo. Finally, I pointed out that the "one roll hits all" method for Inexorable Holocaust Fury permits stunt dice and Willpower to apply to every attack. I'm of two minds where that's concerned and I may drop the bit for Willpower. Stunts make sense. When you make a stunt that applies to multiple actions, you get the dice for all the incorporated actions. Generally, you can only apply a Willpower success/virtue dice to one action per turn, so adding in this clause gives a nasty power boost. Perhaps I should say that you can spend Willpower, but it only applies to one target in the sequence. Thoughts?]

[UPDATE: Sep 14, 2004. Lots of changes. I caught a spelling error in Twice-Forged Blade of Conflagration and dropped the cost of Symmetry of Razor and Flame by one mote. The more I saw the Charm used, the more I found it overpriced. More significantly, I redid Sheathed Beyond the World fairly substantially, making it more like Summoning the Loyal Steel than a weakened Void Sheath Technique. I think it's an improvement and it certainly flows better than what I had. I also clarified the utility of Throat-Ripping Grace and added a mote to the cost, although the effect is virtually unchanged. Dragon’s Searing Bite got a slight overhaul, letting you wait until the strike connects or misses to decide if you want to unleash the blast. Given the Willpower cost, it feels like a good change that fits the calculatingly cruel tone of the style. I upped the minimum Essence of Gut Scissor Onslaught to 3 from 2, as well as dropping the minimum damage effect. The bleeding power was doubled, but Exalted can resist it better. Dragon's Darting Kiss was too powerful, especially for an Essence 2 Charm, so I snipped the multiple action penalty reducer effect.]

Burning Scythe Style

Initially designed as a close-combat adjunct to Righteous Devil Style, this fearsome Celestial art employs razor-edged bayonets to cruel and deadly effect. A few of the style's techniques also work in conjunction with unarmed knife-hand strikes, though seldom as effectively. Owing to the design of this art, practitioners treat both firewands and bayonets as style weapons and may use their Martial Arts Ability for both modes of attack, but only when wielding a blade and gun integrated into a single weapon. Firewands lacking a blade may not be used, nor may any blades not affixed to a firewand. Burning Scythe Style is compatible with armor.

Throat-Ripping Grace
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: None

Guided by Essence and cold fury, the Exalt’s bayonet slices a deft arc toward the target’s vulnerable areas. Use of this Charm adds the character’s Essence to the accuracy of her weapon, provided she strikes unarmed with her hands or wields a bayonet. Because Throat-Ripping Grace enhances the weapon rather than the character’s action, the accuracy increase is not considered a Charm bonus and does not count against any dice limits that usually apply (such as Attribute + Ability for Solars and Abyssals or Attribute for Lunars).

Dragon's Searing Bite
Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Extra Action
Minimum Martial Arts: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Throat-Ripping Grace

The Exalt stabs with his blade, then discharges a blast of flame into the wound at point-blank range. The magic of the Charm keeps any of the fire from spilling back to harm the attacker or anything he carries. Characters may only activate Dragon’s Searing Bite when striking with a bayonet, although they may wait until the strike is completely resolved before deciding to activate the Charm. Regardless of whether the first strike hits, the Exalt may immediately follow it up with a shot from his firewand against the same target using his full dice pool. If the bayonet strike actually penetrates all defenses and hits (although it need not inflict damage), the victim cannot dodge or parry the firewand blast without the use of a Charm or other magic. Even with a defensive Charm, the victim adds the Martial Artist’s Essence to the difficulty of all defense rolls.

Burning Scythe Form
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Dragon's Searing Bite

The Exalt lowers her arms and bows her head, eyes closed in serene reverence. In this moment of contemplation, her face is a mask of expressionless calm. When she opens her eyes moments later, every muscle pulls taught with carefully controlled fury. She moves as a clockwork killer, cold and horrifyingly precise in every slash and burst of flame that devastates her enemies. While employing this Charm, the martial artist’s attacks with a firewand or bayonet prove especially painful. Any being who suffers actual levels of lethal or aggravated damage from such an attack has a minimum wound penalty of the Exalt’s Essence for as long as any of these wounds remain unhealed or until the end of the scene (whichever comes first). Any magic or other powers that negate wound penalties still function normally for victims of this Charm.

Symmetry of Razor and Flame
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Burning Scythe Form

By attuning her mind and Essence to principles of destructive balance, the Exalt ignores the offhand penalty when wielding a firewand in both hands for the rest of the scene. This benefit also applies to use of the offhand firewand's bayonet, but not to unarmed strikes with the offhand.

Gut Scissor Onslaught
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Symmetry of Razor and Flame

Armed with a bayonet in each hand, the Exalt lunges and sweeps her arms together, crossing his blades in a shearing blow. The savage attack rips gaping wounds in the target that bleed profusely. In some cases, the Charm actually disembowels victims, leaving them to clutch helplessly at their spilled entrails as they collapse and die. When using Gut Scissor Onslaught, the Exalt’s player makes a single attack roll that incorporates both bayonets (without concern for offhand penalties). The raw damage of the attack is doubled after applying all bonuses, but before applying the victim’s soak or other damage reductions (such as from starmetal armor).

If an attack augmented by this Charm inflicts any actual levels of damage, the wounds fountain gore. Until the cuts are stanched or healed (Exalted, p. 233), the victim suffers one level of unsoakable bashing damage for every full turn of bleeding. Even Exalted and similarly durable beings find such injuries hard to close with force of will alone, increasing the difficulty of the Stamina roll to 2 or requiring half the usual number of successes needed on a Wits + Medicine roll to treat the injury by conventional means (rounded down). Even if victims suffer repeated attacks with this Charm, they do not hemorrhage any faster.

Characters wielding a single bayonet may still use Gut Scissor Onslaught, but cannot perform the maneuver correctly. As such, they gain the advantage of rapidly bleeding wounds, but do not double the damage of the attack.

Dragon's Darting Kiss
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Burning Scythe Form

The martial artist strikes faster than the eye can see, his blade transfigured to a nimble blur of pain. When activated in a turn, this Charm adds the Exalt's permanent Essence to his initiative. For the rest of the turn, the character's quickened movements aid all unarmed knife hand strikes and all attacks with a bayonet. Opponents cannot even see his blows coming, adding 2 to the difficulty of any and all defense rolls. Characters may only use this Charm once per turn.

Sheathed Beyond the World
Cost: 2 motes per weapon
Duration: Indefinite
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Dragon's Darting Kiss

Tendrils of glowing smoke emerge from the barrel of the Exalt’s firewand, coiling back to obscure it in a haze of burning light. The cloud parts and dissipates in the span of a heartbeat, banishing the weapon Elsewhere. The Exalt may summon the weapon back to the same hand by reactivating Sheathed Beyond the World, but the character must have her hand free to receive the weapon as it appears in a flash of smoking Essence. Should the Exalt perish with any weapons banished, they are lost forever. Sheathed Beyond the World may simultaneously banish and recall two firewands if the Exalt is so armed, but no character can have more than two weapons stored Elsewhere with this Charm or sheathe any weapons not permitted by Burning Scythe Style.

Retribution of Supernal Imminence
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Burning Scythe Form

When faced with a quicker opponent, the Exalt meditates on the precious span between breaths. Through the lens of this Charm, her perception of time dilates so that the world appears to move in slow motion. Everything except her attacker appears jagged and caricaturized, a haze of meaningless colors receding from her attention. The aggressor remains painfully clear, every line and curve of his form noted with emotionless detachment. Within this surreal distortion, the Exalt's own movements feel painfully sluggish. She raises her weapon to intercept him as she must, and by the barest fractions, she moves faster. From the perspective of her attacker and the world, she preempts his movements with impossible speed.

Exalted may only activate this Charm when they perceive an attack declared against them, and only if the aggressor is within range of their weapon. Furthermore, the Exalt must not have attacked earlier in the turn, whether through an standard action or by means of this Charm. Finally, she must have a valid weapon for Burning Scythe Style in her hand. If she does not have a weapon in hand, she may summon one through a Combo with Sheathed Beyond the World to satisfy the requirement. If the Exalt meets all these conditions, she strikes the attacker with her bayonet or shoots him with her firewand as desired. Her player uses her full dice pool in either case, resolving the attack normally (augmented by any valid Charms incorporated into a Combo). If the martial artist reduces her aggressor to Incapacitated or below, his attack automatically misses without a roll. Even if he remains standing to finish his strike, he suffers a dice penalty to his attack roll equal to the number of actual health levels of damage inflicted. This penalty stacks with any wound penalties as appropriate. Storytellers should note that this Charm does not actually count as a dice action, and therefore does not inhibit a character's defensive actions or options. Also, Retribution of Supernal Imminence counts as a form of counterattack. As such, characters may not deploy any other counterattacks in response to this Charm.

Twice-Forged Blade of Conflagration
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Retribution of Supernal Imminence

With almost reckless imprecision, the Exalt points his firewand in the general direction of an opponent and shoots. In place of the usual torrent, the flames condense into a white-hot corona around the weapon's bayonet. This aura lasts until the end of the turn and does not damage any part of the weapon. If the martial artist strikes with the bayonet, he adds dice equal to the firewand's base damage to the raw damage of the blade. This enchantment ablates with use, cumulatively losing two dice of bonus damage with every strike that hits a target. Characters may only use this Charm on the same weapon once per turn.

Inexorable Holocaust Fury
Cost: 12 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Extra Action
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Gut Scissor Onslaught, Sheathed Beyond the World, Twice-Forged Blade of Conflagration

At the culmination of Burning Scythe Style, an Exalt reaps the implacable devastation and horrid elegance of her technique. With Burning Scythe Form active, she darts into a mass of enemies and unleashes the full might of her wrath. The effect of this Charm extends through a circle whose radius equals the Exalt's permanent Essence in yards, centered on the location where she activated the Charm. Within that circle, she strikes a vicious cascade of slashes with her bayonet, one to every possible target in gory succession. By default, she strikes every animate target within range whether hostile or friendly, but she may spend 1 additional mote beyond the base 10 for every target she wishes to exclude. The martial artist's player should make one attack roll, applying the result to every target separately. Stunt dice may benefit this roll and apply to each target as do dice or Virtue-channeling successes obtained through Willpower expenditure. Each victim may parry and/or dodge as normal, but the results of such defenses only subtract from the attack successes levied against that character.

If necessary, the Exalt's player delineates the exact sequence of the attack in order to apply effects such as Twice-Forged Blade of Conflagration. Martial artists can explicitly place Inexorable Holocaust Fury in a Combo with Dragon's Searing Bite despite the fact that both Charms share the Extra Action type. In such a case, the Exalt delivers the fiery coups de grâce to the last victim in the cascade only.

Exalted Chibis

Thu, 22 Apr 2004 00:34:26 GMT

Courtesy of Melissa Uran's sketch and Kiru Banzai's coloring, behold such incomparable cuteness as Should Not Be^TM:

Are you shaking with fear yet?

--Neph

Crafts

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 18:43:57 GMT

(Comprehensive List of Craft Abilities for Exalted)

Damn, I'm such a geek. I made this for my own use, but I thought you all might like it. Feel free to suggest everything and anything I missed. This is theoretically current as of Blood and Salt.

Key
AB:A = Aspect Book: Earth BaS = Blood and Salt Bo3C = Book of Three Circles CoW = Creatures of the Wyld Ex = Exalted Ex:Ab = Exalted: the Abyssals Ex:O = Exalted: the Outcaste Ex:S = Exalted: the Sidereals ECS = Exalted Storytellers Companion GoD = Games of Divinity KoH = Kingdom of Halta RoR = Ruins of Rathess ScS = Scavenger Sons ToT = Time of Tumult

Key

AB:A = Aspect Book: Earth
BaS = Blood and Salt
Bo3C = Book of Three Circles
CoW = Creatures of the Wyld
Ex = Exalted
Ex:Ab = Exalted: the Abyssals
Ex:O = Exalted: the Outcaste
Ex:S = Exalted: the Sidereals
ECS = Exalted Storytellers Companion
GoD = Games of Divinity
KoH = Kingdom of Halta
RoR = Ruins of Rathess
ScS = Scavenger Sons
ToT = Time of Tumult

Alphabetical List with Page References

Architecture (Bo3C, p. 104-108; Ex, p. 246; GoD, p. 116;
KoH, p. 56; RoR, p. 34; ToT, p. 62, 79)
Armoring (Bo3C, p. 123*; Ex:O, p. 65)
Artifice (CoW, p. 104)
Carving (CoW, p. 48; Ex:O, p. 91)
Breeding (BaS, p. 95)
Calligraphy (Ex:S, p. 130, 206, 207, 218; ToT, p. 117)
Clockworks (RoR, p. 36)
Courtesan (GoD, p. 119)
Domestic Service (ToT, p. 69)
Dowsing (BaS, p. 78)
Dragon Armor* (AB:A, p. 80; Ex:O, p. 65)
Farming (CoW, p. 26; Ex, p. 136; GoD, p. 40)
Fate**** (Ex:S, p. 63, 104, 143-145, 209, 219)
First Age Weapons*** (AB:A, p. 79, 84; Ex:O, p. 48-49, 65)
First Age Mechanisms*** (Ex:O, p. 62)
Flying Machines (GoD, p. 28; RoR, p. 70)
Forest Care (KoH, p. 27)
Forgery (ToT, p. 93)
Gem-Cutting (Ex, p. 136)
Glamour**** (BaS, p. 118; Ex, p. 286, 287; KoH, p. 61, 63, 65; ScS, p. 137, 138, 140)
Herbalism (RoR, p. 43)
Home Repair (ToT, p. 93)
Jadecrafting**** (Ex:Ab, p. 130, 234)
Jeweler (Ex, p. 340)
Landscaping (GoD, p. 116)
Lapidary Appraisal (BaS, p. 109)
Leatherworking (Ex, p. 136)
Magical Devices (AB:A, p. 78)
Manses (ToT, p. 93)
Mask Making (GoD, p. 27)
Masonry (CoW, p. 94)
Metalworking (Bo3C, p. 123*; Ex:O, p. 49; GoD, Fine Metalwork p. 28; RoR, p. 34, 45**, 47, 89**)
Moliation**** (Ex:Ab, p. 130, 232, 234-238; KoH, p. 58)
Necrosurgery (Ex:Ab, p. 130, 188, 226)
Needles (GoD, p. 113)
Pandemonium**** (Ex:Ab, p. 130, 233, 238-242; KoH, p. 58)
Poetry (CoW, p. 108)
Sculpture (BaS, p. 81; CoW, Sculpt p. 97; Ex:O, p. 128; ToT, p. 93)
Shaman (ScS, p. 26)
Skin-Changing (CoW, p. 23)
Skinner (CoW, p. 128)
Smithing (Ex, p. 136; GoD, Smith p. 96)
Soulforging**** (Ex:Ab, p. 130, 233)
Stoneworking (CoW, Stone-Carving p. 70; GoD, p. 116; KoH, Stonework p. 56)
Swordsmithing (Bo3C, p. 123)
Tanning (KoH, p. 54)
Torture (ToT, p. 118)
Traps (CoW, p. 31, as Hunting Gear and Traps p. 102; GoD, p. 32)
War (Ex:O, p. 46, 65)
Warstriders* (KoH, p. 87)
Weaponcraft (ToT, p. 114)
Weaving (BaS, p. 106; Ex:S, p. 60; GoD, p. 96)
Webwork (EsC, p. 74)
Wonders (GoD, p. 102)
Woodworking (GoD, p. 116; KoH, p. 53; ScS, p. 142)
Wyld**** (CoW, p. 116)

* Ex:O notes on p. 65 that Craft (First Age Weapons) is the skill used to design, maintain and repair most sophisticated First Age weapon systems like dragon armor and warstriders. This rule retroactively modifies appropriate references to Craft (Metalworking) and Craft (Armoring). In addition, the skills Craft (Dragon Armor) and Craft (Warstriders) are entirely obsolete and should be treated as specialties of Craft (First Age Weapons).
** Ex:O notes on p. 62 that Craft (First Age Mechanisms) is the skill used to design, maintain and repair skyships. This rule retroactively modifies references to Craft (Metalworking) as denoted by the double asterisk.
*** Characters cannot have a higher rating in Craft (First Age Weapons) than their Lore or Occult. This same rule presumably holds true for Craft (First Age Mechanisms), although that is not stated by the text.
**** These Craft Abilities represent supernatural capabilities unique to their practitioners. Craft (Glamour) belongs to the fae and their progeny. Craft (Moliation) and Craft (Pandemonium) are the skills used in conjunction with the Arcanoi of the Shifting Ghost Clay Path and Terror Spreading Art, respectively. Only beings capable of learning Arcanoi may use these Abilities except perhaps as a theoretical exercise. Craft (Fate) is the province of the Sidereal Exalted and the divinities who work in the Bureau of Destiny, and does little good for anyone without access to appropriate Charms or astrological Colleges. Presumably, this restriction also falls on Craft (Wyld), though this isn’t stated.

Fair Warning: Everything from here on out is personal speculation and interpretation rather than canon.

Crafs I use in my series: (Skip the Long-Winded Explanations)

Architecture This one appears all over the place. It’s a given.
Breeding This is a deliciously clever Ability. I was going to fold this into Lore — and I suppose you could, but I can definitely see the Craft in this.
Calligraphy This feels more like a Linguistics Specialty than a separate Ability, but Sidereals makes such a big point of it that I’m loath to do away with it.
Carving I’m of two minds about Carving (and similar variants like Sculpture). On the one hand, these “form” type Crafts fall neatly under the respective Craft focuses dealing with the material worked by the form. For instance, Stoneworking is an act of carving and possibly sculpture by definition. Should a person who knows how to carve wood also carve stone? Of course, should a character’s ability to stab with a knife have any bearing on swinging a daiklave? Obviously, this is a game and it would be silly to get caught up in unnecessary minutiae. However, the precedence of other Abilities seems to suggest that Crafts should be reasonably broad in their implication. Thus, the other side of the argument votes in favor of keeping the broader options of these Crafts open for players. If you want to carve a block of wood, you can use Woodworking or Carving, whichever has a higher rating. The advantage of Woodworking is that you know all the other details and means of transforming wood through art, while Carving gives you the ability to carve in other mediums.
Clockworks Spiffy! This is a great Craft for Varangians, Mountain Folk and Autocthonians.
Courtesan Where does the craft of sex fall? The actual act would seem to be a variable function of Athletics, Endurance or Performance under most circumstances, while the business side of prostitution would fall to Bureaucracy as normal. Socialize would probably govern seduction attempts. Honestly, I see a place for this Craft if only because it’s a tasteful answer that doesn’t force a would-be Don Juan to blow 10 Ability points.)
Domestic Service Hey, cool! Your very own Alfred — or Renfield, for that matter. This catchall set of seneschal and butler skills makes a good Craft, though not one that is likely to see play outside of NPCs. I see fun potential for Imbue Amalgam, however. J
Farming Another basic standby like Architecture.
Fate Kind of necessary for Sidereal games, wouldn’t you say?
First Age Weapons Yay! Magitech!
First Age Mechanisms I’m not quite sure what separates this from First Age Weapons. I suppose it’s a matter of scale and intent. FAM would cover big vehicles and systems or those that had a non-military function. That’s just speculation, mind you.
Flying Machines Skyships are tended by First Age Mechanisms, so I guess this Ability encompasses airships and mechanical flying devices rather than those flown by Essence-driven super-science. More Da Vinci, less Escaflowne.
Glamour Where would the fae be without this?
Jadecrafting Plainly necessary, wouldn’t you say?
Jeweler This covers a niche skill, with applications for Hearthstones.
Landscaping I can’t think of anything else to cover this.
Leatherworking This fits right along with all the other material-working Crafts.
Metalworking This is one of the default Crafts, perhaps the most widely-referenced one in all the books.
Moliation Kind of necessary for ghosts.
Necrosurgery Yay! Frankensteinian monstrosities! Ok, admittedly, I’m biased.
Needles This is extremely and unduly narrow for an Ability, but it makes sense for the demons in question. I understand why they have the Craft, but I wouldn’t give it to anyone else.
Pandemonium Oh, the horror! The horror! More, please!
Sculpture See Carving.
Skin-Changing See Needles. I understand why the critters have this, but I’m not about to give it to anyone else. If you want to mess with skin, take leatherworking or necrosurgery.
Soulforging Duh.
Stoneworking This is a good default catch-all.
Traps My first response was to fold this into Survival, but I can also see how an engineer who built deathtraps for a building wouldn’t necessarily know anything about roughing it in the wild. I’ll buy it. Survival still covers most wilderness snares, though, especially in the context of hunting.
War This is fairly important.
Weaving I buy it. This is a good basic Craft.
Wonders This is great for Makarios, considering what he does with it. I’m not about to let this fall into anyone else’s hands.
Woodworking Another basic Craft. Good.
Wyld Looking through the powers for the Illuthrita, I don’t even see why they have this Ability. Still, it’s fairly harmless as long as no one else has access to it.

I’m throwing out or subsuming the following Crafts in my games for a variety of reasons:

Armoring Pick up metalworking or something more broadly useful. This makes more sense as a Specialty.
Artifice This oblique reference in the entry on Brass Legionnaires doesn’t really work for me. There shouldn’t be a single Craft to make/repair Artifacts. That’s just asking for problems. Artifacts are precious enough that characters should have to work for it, using the most appropriate Craft for the task.
Dowsing This is a function of Survival. Yes, the same could be said of Calligraphy and Linguistics, but Dowsing appears once in a softcover while Calligraphy appears in two books (one of which is a hardcover). I therefore exert unfair bias to nix Dowsing.
Dragon Armor First Age Weapons canonically makes this obsolete.
Forest Care Why is this a Craft? Isn’t this a function of Lore and/or Survival? I’d be inclined to go with an Ecology specialty for Lore and leave it at that.
Forgery Last I checked, this is a function of Larceny.
Gem-Cutting I’m subsuming this into Craft (Jeweler).
Herbalism No sir, I don’t like it. This belongs as a specialty of medicine and maybe Lore, but not a separate Ability.
Home Repair I’m folding this into Domestic Service, with any serious repairs handled by Architecture.
Lapidary Appraisal I’m subsuming this into Craft (Jeweler), right along with Gem-Cutting.
Magical Devices I think I’d fold the creation of Icemind into First Age Mechanisms, even though it isn’t actually an example of First Age technology. Makes more sense than inserting a new Ability, especially one with such frighteningly broad utility. See Artifice, above.
Manses Creating or repairing Manses is a tripartite function of Craft (Architecture), Lore and Occult. That’s pretty clearly established. Now, I can totally buy a specialty in Manses for Craft (Architecture), but that’s as far as I’ll go.
Mask Making This is awfully narrow. I realize that the deity in question makes masks and that’s it, but I’d make this a specialty for carving.
Masonry Between Architecture and Stonework, I think this is covered.
Poetry Ick. Calligraphy aside, Linguistics specialties should stay Linguistics specialties.
Shaman Um, what is this supposed to cover exactly? Shouldn’t any shamanistic creations be a duel function of Occult and another appropriate Craft?
Skinner This is a function of leatherworking or necrosurgery, not an Ability unto itself.
Smithing I’m folding this into metalworking, except in the reference to Alveua (who damn well ought to be able to forge anything because she’s just that cool.)
Swordsmithing Way too narrow. I’d make this a specialty of metalworking.
Tanning I’m folding this into Leatherworking, with Tanning reserved as a potential Specialty.
Torture The act of torture is either a matter of Investigation (for the interrogation end) or Medicine (to administer torture) or a combat Ability (to beat the crap out of someone).
Warstriders See Dragon Armor.
Weaponcraft Yikes! I’m vehemently opposed to any Craft that lets you make whatever weapons you want. That should depend on what you’re making said weapons from.
Webwork This is a Weaving specialty.

Craft Abilities Permitted in my Series
Common	Restricted	Unique
Architecture Breeding Calligraphy Carving Clockworks Courtesan Domestic Service Farming First Age Weapons* First Age Mechanisms* Flying Machines Jeweler Landscaping Leatherworking Metalworking Necrosurgery Sculpture Stoneworking Traps War Weaving Woodworking	Fate Glamour Jadecrafting Moliation Pandemonium Soulforging	Needles Skin-Changing Wonders Wyld

* Cannot exceed rating of Lore or Occult.

Characters Main Page

Fri, 27 Feb 2004 19:21:12 GMT

Here are a few non-canon characters written for my own amusement and/or my ongoing series:

The Pharoah of Scouring Sands in the Oasis of His Regret (Deathlord)

--Neph

Artifacts Main Page

Fri, 27 Feb 2004 19:00:20 GMT

I wrote the following canon artifacts:

Soul-Heart (• Kingdom of Halta, p. XX)
Sky-Cutter (•• Kingdom of Halta, p. XX)
Vengeful Thunder (N/A Kingdom of Halta, p. XX)

I'll put the appropriate page numbers in when I go home and get them.

Here are a few non-canon Artifacts written for my own amusement and/or my ongoing series:

Arrow Monsoon Quiver (•••)

--Neph

Arrow Monsoon Quiver

Fri, 27 Feb 2004 18:38:07 GMT

This artifact serves as an endless source of enchanted arrows, but is particularly devastating in conjunction with a powerbow. Obviously, certain Charms obviate the need for such an artifact, but the enchantment and ability to generate arrows without using a Charm for the turn leaves it marginally useful even to accomplished archers of the Chosen.

--Neph

Arrow Monsoon Quiver (Artifact •••)

This quiver appears as a thin rigid tube of First Age alloys inset with tracery forged of the Magical Materials. Each depicts unique iconography or imagery appropriate to its Material. Adjustable leather straps allow the quiver to be strung across the wearer's back or hung from her belt.

The Arrow Monsoon Quiver only holds a single arrow. For anyone not attuned to the quiver, this arrow remains firmly stuck and cannot be removed without the destruction of the artifact. Bearers attuned for a cost of 3 motes may draw the arrow as easily as from a normal quiver, determining the type of ammunition as they draw it. Upon doing so, the artifact reflexively drains one of the bearer's motes to create a replacement. Arrow Monsoon Quivers can create any of the four conventional types of ammunition: target, broadhead, fowling or frog crotch. They cannot create more specialized forms of ammunition, though greater versions of this artifact may well be capable of such. Additionally, the enchanted arrows dissolve into light a second after impact and provide the same Magical Material benefits as powerbows of the same Material as the quiver. These benefits stack with the actual benefits afforded to a powerbow when fired from a magical weapon.

The Pharaoh of Scouring Sands in the Oasis of His Regret

Wed, 25 Feb 2004 21:28:41 GMT

This is a new Deathlord I came up with. He's vaguely Egyptian in his motif, but he dispenses with the well-worn bandaged/desiccated mummy concept. He's complicated and tragic, but no less evil in his ultimate ambitions than any of his colleagues. He is definitely different, though. I hope you enjoy him as much as I enjoyed imagining him.

--Neph

The Pharaoh of Scouring Sands in the Oasis of His Regret

History and Domain

The Deathlord known as the Pharaoh of Scouring Sands in the Oasis of His Regret controls no shadowlands. He alone among his peers claims no foothold upon Creation or even the Underworld, dwelling far below the skeins of fate and the passing moments of Setesh in a hidden cavern of the Labyrinth. The vast grotto of his kingdom stretches many hundreds of miles, dimly lit by constellations of soulfire gems in the domed ceiling far above. Usually, these parodies of stars glitter coldly and distantly as in deepest moonless night. From time to time, one of the jewels absorbs a stray current from the Underworld and flares with pearlescent luster, casting a radiance that can reach the brightness of the full moon. Below the false sky, the black sands of the Obsidian Desert fill the bottom half of the ovoid chamber. Megalithic stone statues and obelisks jut from the sea of dust and powdered glass like drowning men, their majesty slowly swallowed and forgotten in quiet offering to Oblivion's hunger.

The Obsidian Desert is a nation of spectres. Most tribes dwell in a semi-nomadic existence, their makeshift cities of multicolored tents springing up wherever the oases of Demesnes stain the sand with blood and Labyrinthine flora. When the Essence dries, the tribes move on and rebuild elsewhere. Most of these spectres are Disciples of the Abyss, guided by nephrack priests who worship Oblivion through its embodiment in the Obsidian Desert. All give fealty and prayers toward the one structure that does not sink, a bone white pyramid over three miles high at the exact center of the cavern. The colossal Manse extends far into the sand, its foundations drinking of the inauspicious geomancy of the Obsidian Desert.

Within the Ivory Pyramid, the Pharaoh of Scouring Sands in the Oasis of His Regret is both emperor and prisoner. He reigns as king and god over the desert, the undisputed master of the elements. With a word, he can open gaping sinkholes or summon the jackal shades that prowl the unsettled wastes of his lands. With a gesture, he whips the razor sands to a maelstrom and shreds the tribes that offend him. His eye sees where he wills to the very edges of his land. And yet he does not leave his Manse. He cannot. The Obsidian Desert is more than his kingdom; it is also his god and captor.

Long ago, the Primordial was a lush oasis in the deep reaches of the South, a living island of jungle amidst the fiery wastes. Spirits and strange races older than mankind lived harmoniously and prosperously, isolated from the rest of Creation. Yet the Exalted found and slew the heart of the jungle in their war of conquest and left its people to perish beneath the furnace of the pitiless sun. The Malfean fell through the world and came to rest in Labyrinth, diminished and transformed from a life-giving island to the desolation of its antithesis. In time, spectres discovered the Obsidian Desert and found it hospitable compared with the barrens of the caves. They sensed the presence of power and scuttled as ants upon the surface of an uncaring god.

For the whole of the First Age, the tribes of spectres made their home in the Obsidian Desert. For a time, they roamed solely as nomads, following the scent of blood in the dry air. They made war upon one another and some tribes perished, but the desert was vast and provided subsistence for all who wandered. Nephrack mystics walked into the dunes and prayed, and some returned as prophets of the sands. They gathered their peoples and commanded that they journey to the edge of the desert and quarry stone. Caravans carried these hewn monoliths back to the places of mystic revelation. Upon these holy sites, they raised great monuments. But these sank, such that none of the earliest wonders remained a mere century later. Always they built anew, each tower and statue achingly beautiful in its unique splendor and equally doomed. Little changed with the long millennia. The tribes sent raiding parties back through the fissures of the Labyrinth to capture ghosts. These toiled as slaves, dragging and placing rock until Oblivion claimed them and they joined the tribes.

Far above, the Realm of the Exalted flourished and waned, its gilded wonder festering with debauchery and the seeds of treachery. Into the sunset of the Solar Deliberative, a child of the deep South found Exaltation in the dunes. His restless heart burned with memories of lost lives, and the Eclipse roamed the world many times over. He was handsome and ever young, sailing and riding and even flying to the four corners of Creation and beyond. Always, he returned to the oasis his sorcery had claimed from the Southern sands, his private paradise away from the ruthless politics of the Deliberative. When the Usurpation came, Dragon-Blooded hunters tracked him across the dunes, led by the stars and the Chosen of the stars to the Solar's hidden gardens. They slew him in his palace, butchering his harem and children and slaves to erase his name. Yet he lingered past death, restless and vengeful.

The Obsidian Desert called to the Solar ghost, unveiling itself as the flower of the desert long faded to dust. It offered power and revenge, and its seductions stirred the passions of the slain Exalt. The ghost followed the whispers of the voice and its tantalizing visions, journeying through the bowels of the Labyrinth until he found the land of monoliths beneath eternal night. He crept past the sprawling cities of tents and the ragged camps of ghosts dragging their burdens of stone and despair. At the heart of the desert, he found the echo of his ruined paradise and marveled as hope filled him again. Then the voice spoke again, shattering all hope with mocking laughter. It revealed that the first incarnation of the Solar had led the slaughter of the Primordial oasis, and now his ghost would pay the price of that murder. The oasis crumbled upon itself, sucked into a gaping sinkhole as four great spikes rose through the sands. The teeth of the desert's maw closed together with a crash of thunder and finality, forming the Ivory Pyramid. Within the Manse of teeth, the ghost could not escape into Lethe or Oblivion. Instead, the power of the Neverborn inscribed itself upon his soul, granting all the power he could ever need to claim revenge against the Dragon-Blooded. That was the Malfean's most terrible cruelty, for the Deathlord could not leave the pyramid. Whenever he tried and however he tried, the walls closed against him and shook with distant laughter. When at last he surrendered, the obstructions parted once more to reveal the tantalizing lure of doors and balconies leading out into the cool sands.

Unable to escape his prison, the Deathlord distracted himself with the arts of sorcery and necromancy. In life, he had been a mighty sorcerer, though his changed condition forced him to relearn much of what he already knew. He had nothing if not time. With practice, he learned to tap the malevolent geomancy of his manse and ultimately reach his mind and senses throughout the desert. He moved as a ghost among ghosts, unable to feel or find satiation in his wandering clairvoyance. His projected Essence remained invisible and intangible, a wisp like a faint breeze. With practice, he learned to form images of himself from shadow and dust, but these apparitions remained without form or flesh. He proclaimed himself god and king of the spectres, The Pharaoh of Scouring Sands in the Oasis of His Regret. He obliterated all who opposed him, but remained distant and aloof from his adopted people. From time to time he would invite select nephracks to the Ivory Pyramid, sometimes as guests and other times as subjects of cruel experimentation. Those who returned to their people spread his power and the conviction of worship empowered him. Yet the Pharaoh would often retreat into isolation for years or decades or even centuries at a time, lost in his art while time raced on faster than it flowed through Creation.

Over the first century of his reign, the Pharaoh's mind explored the Labyrinth and the Underworld, but his gaze could not pierce into Creation. Even the shadowlands remained hidden by day and blurred by night. He established a presence in Stygia along with the other Deathlords, and with them he planned the murder of the world. Among their dread council, he was viewed as a distant advisor and savant who hid his secret imprisonment behind a mien of detachment. He radiated patience, though he hated his brothers and sisters for their freedom. For all that the Pharaoh allied himself toward common nihilism, he hungered for the annihilation of his brethren almost as much as he desired the final murder of the Obsidian Desert.

With the second alliance and the creation of the Abyssal Exalted, The Pharaoh of Scouring Sands in the Oasis of His Regret feels the unfamiliar stirrings of hope in his withered heart. He only possesses five Abyssal Essences, unable to exert sufficient political power to obtain a greater number. Four of these Essences flutter helplessly behind the bars of their Monstrance of Celestial Portion, prisoners even as their master. With his inability to reach into Creation, the Pharaoh has experienced great difficulty finding candidates to Exalt. He must reach out, following the threads of living Essence and destiny in shadowlands by night, slipping past the wards and watch of his brethren. His eye roams, searching restlessly for other restless souls hovering at the brink of death. It is a delicate and frustrating search that has only yielded a single result so far, the Day Caste known as Eye of the Hungry Sands. The deathknight serves as a combination of spy and recruiter, continuing her master's search for other mortals to Exalt and Solars who might succumb to the whispers of the Obsidian Desert.

Visage and Powers

The Pharaoh of Scouring Sands in the Oasis of His Regret looks much as he did in life, preserved for all time in a state of indeterminate youth somewhere between adolescence and adulthood. His dusky olive skin bears a deep tan as though from long years spent beneath the sun, while his black hair frames his thin-boned face in cherubic ringlets. His brown eyes hold the sorrow to drown the world if he wept, though he hides his suffering when he must behind a mask of inhuman stoicism. When he laughs or smiles, the joy is infectious and dangerously innocent. When angered, he reveals his true nature as blue pyreflame blazes in the empty sockets of his eyes. He remains handsome but alien, an artful effigy of a man.

The Pharaoh wears a simple white linen skirt and extensive orichalcum jewelry. The Hearthstone of the Ivory Pyramid sits in a torc upon his throat, while coiled serpentine bracelets set with jewels adorn his arms. He carries no weapons because he needs none but his magic. The Obsidian Desert will not let him perish, mending his most grievous wounds in the span of heartbeats.

In addition to his vast panoply of Charms and artifacts, the Pharaoh is likely the most learned sorcerer and necromancer of the Deathlords. He has no legions of military might as the First and Forsaken Lion or the Mask of Winters, nor the scores of Exalted claimed by the Silver Prince and the Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears. He has only himself and his magic, and nothing to occupy his eternal imprisonment but the accumulation of more magic. He has little use for the spectral tribes of his nation, save to dine upon the banquet of their fearful worship and repel those few interlopers he might otherwise have to waste his time exterminating.

Objectives

Unsurprisingly, the chief ambition of The Pharaoh of Scouring Sands in the Oasis of His Regret is securing his own freedom. He yearns to feel the sun on his face again, even if he must then put out that light and plunge the world into a night as dark as his current realm. He craves revenge on the Obsidian Desert for imprisoning him, but also knows that the Malfean's power is the only thing sustaining his existence. Ideally, he would like to conquer and break the Neverborn to his own will, enslaving it as it has enslaved him. It knows his hatred and either does not care or savors his pain, completely assured of its own invulnerability.

In addition to his primary goals, the Pharaoh has many lesser ambitions. He craves knowledge and power and any means to acquire more of either. He also hates the other Deathlords as competitors and for being less cruelly damned. He hates the Exalted for being what was taken from him, and especially the Dragon-Blooded for his murder. He does not understand forgiveness and cannot conceive of letting go of old grudges. After all, he has an overabundance of time and nothing to fill that time except research and plotting. Much like the Yozis with whom he often allies, he has grown exceedingly good at plotting over the course of his long imprisonment. The only alternative to patience is madness, and he tried that already and found it unfulfilling. He has returned from that abyss to contemplate another, and now his Abyssal Exalted shall be his hands and eyes in the world so long denied to him.

Resources and Weaknesses

The Pharaoh of Scouring Sands in the Oasis of His Regret controls one of the most remote and well-defended citadels of all the Deathlords. His Malfean domain is at once strength and liability, the source of his vast magical power and his inescapable prison. In order to reach him, enemies must traverse the hazards of the Labyrinth and then fight their way through tribes of fanatical spectre cultists, packs of jackal shades and finally the might of the unliving desert itself as it hungrily devours all who would cheat it of its ultimate revenge. At the last, an invader who fought past and broke through the fortified walls of the Ivory Pyramid would face a well-prepared enemy capable of drawing upon an arsenal of artifacts and nearly unlimited reserves of Essence to fuel his magic. Finally, time flows differently in the Obsidian Desert, generally between two and three times as quickly as elsewhere. This gives him even more time to plan and research. These advantages make the Pharaoh extremely dangerous and give him a phenomenal defensive advantage. On the other hand, he lacks the ability to exert appreciable power across a distance. He has few agents or servants in the Underworld beyond the borders of his insular domain, and only a single deathknight pursuing missions in Creation. Furthermore, he cannot even peer into Creation and has no reliable and encompassing intelligence upon which to base his plans. His isoation is further compounded by the fluctuating time dilation of his realm relative to the world outside, making it impossible to follow the calendar without difficult measurements and experimentation. Also, despite the Pharaoh's surprisingly good working relationship with the princes of the Demon Realm, they are loath to visit him in the jaws of a Malfean lest they tempt the Neverborn's hunger. Perhaps the single greatest weakness of the Pharaoh is his utter dependence on the Obsidian Desert. Should anyone find a means of slaying the Neverborn, its death would surely claim the Deathlord as well.