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FIVE DRAGONS , ONE ULTIMATE TRUTH STYLE

The style known as "Five-Dragons, One Ultimate Truth Style" was created during the height of the Shogunate by an exceedingly powerful Terrestrial called Li-Kao. He was a middle-ranked officer surviving still from near the end of the Primordial War, younger than Saibok Gauto by 150 years; Li-Kao was higher enough in rank to have afforded magical means of extending his life before his mind began to dim. All throughout the First Age, if there was one thing Li-Kao had, it was time, and all that time he devoted solely to honing his martial and spiritual prowess. As a result, by the time of the early Shogunate, Li-Kao had already become the first Immaculate Grandmaster and further, he had mastered all of Creation's elements entirely. Anys Syn took great interest in him and decided to take the old Terrestrial under her wing, teaching him as many styles as he'd learn. As the Terrestrial's power and knowledge grew, he came to challenge Anys Syn's teachings. LiKao did not believe in the Dragon Paths; he found them biased and incomplete, for he thought true enlightenment laid in the mastery of no single element but in all of them; and yet he knew that not everyone could master the Five Dragon Paths as he had done. This led him to the realization that having mastered the five elements had a deep impact on him and Li-Kao noticed he no longer needed aids to extend his life-span and this took him on a quest all across Creation, studying and training in every mortal and supernatural style he did not already know. Li-Kao wandered Creation for a hundred years, he spent twenty years in each pole, before retiring to a desolate island somewhere to the west of the borderland Sea. The island; Gorin, was peculiar for being the only place in Creation with overlapping demesnes; one of every aspect. A geomantic wonder studied by generations, nobody had been able to cap the demesnes due to the influence of the others. And for another four hundred years, Li-Kao sat there, and he meditated and he worked on what would become this style. And so, having been absent for five hundred years, Li-Kao suddenly showed up at the Carnival of Meeting, ready to showcase his new knowledge. He entered the martial arts competition, only to end in the finals with a young Sidereal who had just begun learning the very basics of the Prismatic Arrangement of Creation; due perhaps to his vast experiences; Li-Kao trumped over the young vizier and won the tournament. And yet, something still was amiss. His style lacked a Pinnacle. One final shred of knowledge to wrap it all together and give it real meaning. And so came to pass that the winner of the competition requested as his prize nothing else than audition with Parad, The Left Hand Of Power. For hours they talked; about the Dragon-Blooded, about their glorious beginnings and it was Parad who helped Li-Kao finish his style, in hopes that with it the other Terrestrials might rise to be what he knew they had once been. By now the Shogunate was coming to a close and the Leader of the Bronze Faction had an idea of events to come. He realized both how important the Immaculate Order was to be in coming times, and how big a threat Li-Kao and his heretic style might become to it. One night, before The Contagion had taken its first victims, Chejop Kejak made sure that Parad's hopes never came to realize.

Weapons and Armor:

Five Dragons, One Ultimate Truth is a purely unarmed style and it is not compatible with the use of any sort of armor, not because of mobility but because Li-Kao saw them as a crutch, and while some rumor the style could be used with brawling aids like the Cestus, the Iron Boot, the Fighting Gauntlet or their artifact equivalents, Li-Kao would never have taught the style to one who relied on such.

PERVADING ESSENCE METHOD


Cost: 2m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 2) Keywords: Combo-OK, Leader 4 Duration: Instant Prerequisite Charms: None The first lesson a student of Essence will learn is that Essence permeates everywhere and is part of everything; this Charm comes from the internalization and emulation of that universal fact. This Charm is invoked in Step 2 of attack resolution as a defense against an unexpected attack. The attack is now expected.

FIST-FORMING TECHNIQUE
Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental Keywords: Combo-OK, Leader 3, Obvious Duration: Instant Prerequisite Charms: Pervading Essence Method Essence is the energy behind life, and nurturing as it is, it can also be a terrible thing: Practitioners of this style quickly learn to throw their fists with the force of an erupting demesne. This Charm supplements an unarmed attack and doubles its base damage (not counting extra successes) during step 7 of attack resolution. Additionally, the attack inflicts lethal damage instead of bashing.

LIFE-CHANGING INTERNALIZATION
Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 5) Keywords: Combo-OK, Leader 5 Duration: Instant Prerequisite Charms: Pervading Essence Method "Everything is Essence." Most peasants know this is true, and yet only those most enlightened can truly grasp its meaning, such is the nature of sorcery. Likewise, though his opponents may see the student of this style, they find themselves unable to connect a single blow. This Charm adds the martial artist's (Essence) to his PDV against a single attack.

TEMPESTUOUS ESSENCE OF MELA

Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple (Speed 5, DV -1) Keywords: Form-type Duration: One scene Prerequisite Charms: Fist-Forming Technique, Life-Changing Internalization With this form, students emulate the swiftness and unpredictability of air-aspected essence. Their enemies know better than to anger the martial artist, lest he explodes like thunder. Until the end of the scene, the martial artist doubles his movement speeds and doesn't take a DV penalty for dashing; he also may ignore coordinated attack penalties. Additionally, while this Form is active, if one of his attacks causes knockdown, the roll to resist it is made at a difficulty equal to the Martial Artist's (Strength).

ENDURING ESSENCE OF PASIAP


Cost: 7m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple (Speed 6, DV -0) Keywords: Form-type, Obvious Duration: One scene Prerequisite Charms: Fist-Forming Technique, Life-Changing Internalization Earth-aspected essence is like the mountain, resisting the wear and passage of time with patience and strength. Practitioners of this style meditate on the strength of the mountains and with an imposing kata, take on some of their strength. While this form is active, the Martial Artist adds his (Martial Arts) rating to his natural bashing, lethal and aggravated soaks. Additionally, he may reduce wound penalties by his (Essence) for the duration of the scene. As a final benefit, the Martial Artist may parry lethal attacks without aid of a stunt and his attacks inflict lethal damage instead of bashing. Soak provided by this charm is incompatible with any sort of armor.

FIERY ESSENCE OF HESIESH


Cost: 7m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 4; Type: Simple (Speed 4, DV -1) Keywords: Form-type Duration: One scene Prerequisite Charms: Fist-Forming Technique, Life-Changing Internalization Fire burns, that is its very essence. Flames raze everything in their path, and when nothing is left to burn, they wither away. Practitioners of this style emulate the all-consuming flames and become a truly terrible sight to see, as they slay every enemy that lies in their wake. As long as this form remains active, the Martial Artist reduces his multiple-action penalties by his (Essence), to a minimum of one. Additionally, he reduces the speed of every attack by one, to a minimum of three. As a final benefit, double the onslaught penalty the Martial Artist inflicts on his enemies.

FLOWING ESSENCE OF DANAA'D

Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 4; Type: Simple (Speed 5) Keywords: Form-type Duration: One scene Prerequisite Charms: Fist-Forming Technique, Life-Changing Internalization Water flows and adapts, striving to fill every nook and cranny; stagnant water is the same as dead water. So students of this style move and flow like the currents of essence they imitate, always adapting and finding opportunity where none should be. For the duration of this form, the Martial Artist may ignore onslaught penalties. Furthermore, he adds his (Martial Arts) to the Accuracy of all his attacks, which can only be blocked with the aid of stunts, charms or other magic.

NURTURING ESSENCE OF SEXTES JYLIS


Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple (Speed 5, DV -1) Keywords: Form-type Duration: One scene Prerequisite Charms: Fist-Forming Technique, Life-Changing Internalization The essence of wood is the essence of the forests, of the animals, of the human race, the very essence of life itself, always hungry for growth and experience. By comulgating with wood, students of this style are granted a deep connection with the natural world and other humans. While this form remains active, the Martial Artist reduces any external penalties imposed upon him by the environment by an amount equal to his (Essence) and may resist environmental damage with his (Stamina + Martial Arts). Additionally, for the rest of the scene, he may spend 3m and make a Reflexive Defend Other action targeting anyone within (Dexterity + Martial Arts) yards. While this form is active, no penalties apply to the Martial Artist's DV during a Defend Other action; the character may still not use his DV to protect others from unblockable attacks without the aid of a stunt or some kind of magic.

DISRUPTIVE DRAGON-HAND
Cost: 6m Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 9)

Keywords: Combo-OK, Counterattack, Crippling, Obvious Duration: Instant Prerequisite Charms: Tempestuous Essence of Mela, Enduring Essence of Pasiap, Fiery Essence of Hesiesh, Flowing Essence of Danaa'd, Nurturing Essence of Sextes Jylis. In Creation, Dragon Lines mark the ebbs and flows of essence throughout the land. And where they join are born demesnes, places of great power. Likewise, the human body has meridians that govern its inner energies. By combining geomantic knowledge with martial acumen, the Martial Artist strikes one crucial spot and wreaks havoc in his opponent's body. This Charm may only be activated on Step 9 of Attack resolution if the Martial Artist successfully defended on Step 5. When using this Charm, the Martial Artist blocks his opponent's attack with a powerful blow directed at a key meridian in the opponent's body that inflicts an appropriate amputation effect as per Exalted p.152. The limb is not actually amputated, and its full use is recovered after a number of days equal to the Martial Artist's (Essence).

DEMESNE-UNCAPPING TECHNIQUE
Cost: 8m, 1w; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Simple (Speed 6, DV -1) Keywords: Combo-Basic, Obvious, Shaping Duration: One day Prerequisite Charms: Disruptive Dragon-Hand A demesne is capped following a set of incredibly delicate and complex laws to balance and control the powerful essence flows running through it. The situation is not different for essence-wielders, whose control of essence can become compromised under the wrong circumstances. Exploiting this knowledge, students of this style take a firm, wide battle stance and punch seven successive cardinal spots in the opponent's chest, completely wrecking the balance of essence in the opponent's body. The result is a phenomenon similar to Essence Buildup. When using this Charm, the Martial Artist makes an unarmed attack with his full dicepool against a single opponent, if the attack is successful, the defender must then roll his (Willpower + Essence) against a difficulty of the attacker's (Essence + the attack's extra successes). If the aforementioned roll succeeds, and until the end of the day, the defender must pay a 1m surcharge whenever he spends essence. On a failure, the character loses a mote of Essence each time his DV refreshes and he gains an iconic-level anima flux as per the rules on the MoeP: DB, p. 122, with the only exception that the defender is not immune to his own anima flux, this effect lasts until the end of the day and only activates as long as the character has essence left in his pools. On a botch, the character suffers the same effect as if he had failed the roll, but instead of one, he loses a number of motes equal to his (Essence) whenever his DV refreshes.

MOTE-EMULATING STRIKE
Cost: 4m, 1w, 1hl; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 4; Type: Simple (Speed 5-8, DV -1) Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious

Duration: Until next action Prerequisite Charms: Disruptive Dragon-Hand In the rare circumstance that motes of essence become involved in physical processes, they will always follow the path of least resistance to their flow. Li Kao elaborated this technique in an attempt to emulate that universal principle. The martial artist sacrifices a piece of his physical form and for an instant is able to visualize the essence flows inside his target, enabling him to strike at his opponents' very souls. Immediately after activating this Charm, the Martial Artist suffers an unsoakable level of bashing damage and must spend three ticks performing a meditative kata. For the duration of said kata, the Martial Artist may see and strike immaterial beings; however, if any nonreflexive actions are taken before the kata is finished, this Charm ends immediately without any further effect. If the Martial Artist is able to complete the kata, he may then execute an unarmed attack using his full dice-pool plus three bonus dice, on any targets within (Martial Arts + Essence) yards, including dematerialized beings. Such a strike is spiritual in nature, constructs or other beings that do not have a soul or similar are immune to it. Further, the attack is unblockable and undodgeable by physical means but may be defended against using Dodge MDV. If the attack is successful, it is piercing unless the target is wearing an armor made of the magical materials or using armor provided by Charms. Finally, the attack inflicts aggravated damage instead of its usual type. As a side effect of The Martial Artist straining his perceptions to deliver such a blow, after using this Charm and until his DV has refreshed twice, the Martial Artist suffers a -1 internal penalty to any non-reflexive actions he takes.

THE ULTIMATE TRUTH


Cost: (2m); Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Permanent Keywords: Obvious Duration: Permanent Prerequisite Charms: River-Damming Blow, Mote-Emulating Strike Students who learn this Charm attain the pinnacle of understanding possible for those whom are denied the blossom of the perfect lotus. While true that everything is essence, it's also a universal fact that essence cannot be created or destroyed, only changed. And it's this what keeps creation running, endless and seamless changes in its essence from one form to another, from one life to another, back and forth. For in the end, even the miracles performed by the Exalted are impossible without essence. Having internalized this lesson, Li Kao's students emulate the essence flows in all things and are able to switch from one state to another almost effortlessly. A Martial Artist who learns this Charm and has activated one of this style's forms gains the ability to reflexively switch between any Form-type Charms he knows. He may make use of this benefit only once per tick, at the cost of two motes. He must also keep committing the cost paid to the original form charm lest whatever form he is currently donning falls apart. Martial Artists who use this charm cannot use it to switch to Sidereallevel forms with this Charm even if they are capable of using them normally. Additionally, this Charm expressly disallows the use of form-weapons and armor with whatever Form the Martial Artists uses.

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