#an ceofhid

[greysfic]

THE SIXFOLD PACT

If the cultivation of a Pattern is alignment with the pillars of the world, it should be no surprise then that it tends to distinction and order. To structure and hierarchy, for all adherents of the Silver Tree must insist elsewise. To embrace the Sixfold Pact, therefore, is to reject the prison of category. It is to stand against the walls of heaven and deny the stone. To embrace the Sixfold Pact is to seek the dissolution of all that which divides and distinguishes, yet struggle always with adoration of the tyrant called I.

When you choose the Pact, any Pattern you had is lost. And how do you choose the pact?

Aine Rua says that when her village was raided and sacked by Imperial irregulars, when her wife was killed, when she found herself pressed in by leering mercenaries who tore at her clothes, she wished for the power to crush them all. And so she did.

Tall Tom says that when he was dying of famine and watched an imperial delegation leave his town with all the produce of their farms, he felt as if a voice spoke to him. Offered him revenge. He accepted.

Goldhorn speaks little of their initiation. They say that they stood on the cliffs of their homeland with their back to the sea, and their sword upraised before a band of sea raiders. And then they slew every last man and as they stood heaving choking breaths, sheathed in blood and rain, they felt something awaken. Something... approving.

When you take the Pact, you choose a Fomorian patron. Your progress is measured in Resonance, which is gained by acts which please your patron. Or perhaps please you. In a way, is there a difference? No one can agree if the Fomorians do exist, or did exist.

Balor of the Baleful Eye is the patron of excellence, martial prowess, judgement, and charisma. His Exemplars are marked by the burning eye. His Virtue is Excellence and his Ruin is Pride.

Indech King of Night is the patron of insight, artistry, guile, dreams, and strangeness. His Warlocks are marked by subtly eerie forms, dark eyes, movements that are just out of step with time. His Virtue is Grace and his Ruin is Indolence.

Conand of the Burning Tower is the patron of flame, craft, destruction, and revenge. His Ravagers are marked by great size and a horned brow. His Virtue is Justice and his Ruin is Vengeance.

Domnu Deep-Mother is the patron of tears, spite, curses, and betrayal. Her Witches are marked by emaciation, salt-rimed eyes, unnatural cold. Her Virtue is Clarity and her Vice is Despair.

Elatha the Throne of Want is the patron of seduction, beauty, desire, refinement, becoming. Their Cenobites are marked by beauty and physical malleability. Their Virtue is Temperance and their Ruin is Want.

Bres The Maker is the patron of industry, machines, systems, accounting. His Arbiters are marked by mechanisation. His Virtue is Control and his Ruin is Avarice.

HERE-AND-NOWHERE External Bua Sixfold Pact, Indech, One Turn, Transcendent Devil Art, Resonant

To be in two places at once is simple; it is impossible, and therefore never happened.

With this technique, the warlock creates a perfect duplicate of themselves of Eldritch energies. They must be unperceived by any other being to activate the technique. Once active, the duplicate operates autonomously but perfectly in line with the warlock's desires.

The effect ends when:

Either the duplicate or warlock uses a technique perceived by other beings

Either dies

When the first condition triggers, the warlock chooses which is real; this applies retroactively and the memories of both duplicate and warlock merge while one vanishes.

When the second condition triggers, the dead entity is revealed to have been the duplicate.

Masters can have up to three duplicates at a time based on their Circle Rank.

SHRIVING GAZE External Bua Sixfold Pact, Balorian, Sustained, Baleful

One eye--your third eye, if you have it--burns with the terrible revealing light of Balor. You can see through objects and people as easily as air. See right into someone's bones, right through a wooden wall. Curiously, lead blocks this power. Add your Resonance to Inuition rolls involving sight, and ignore Supernal Stealth effects.

Anyone subject to your gaze too often or too long sickens with a strange and incurable illness.

[greysfic]

The Way To Mag Mell

Humans have a knack for Pattern cultivation. Maybe it's centuries of compatible cultural understanding, maybe something in them yearns for an orderly universe rooted in things that make sense to them. Not all, of course; the Sixfold Pact could not exist elsewise. But enough. Few can grasp The Way.

A cat lives a long time. It survives, it hunts, it brushes past many humans and animals and trees. In time, enough time, it ceases to be merely a cat and becomes That Cat. And so it stumbles onto The Way, and as a consequence feels the gravity of knowledge yet hidden. More time passes, and now a cat in the shape of a woman hunts squirrels along a lonely patch of An Ceofhid. Drinks at a hidden little inn. Makes a few wary friends of travellers. This is but a step on the road, understand. To seem human is never the goal, though it can be the seductive stopping point. Eventually they will be a cat again. That Cat. The Cat. The end of The Way, for many, is to become and so cease to be, in a comprehensible way. When you become Cat, you are not a cat, but in all cats.

A sacred spring, named and venerated for generations by a small village, might waken to The Way. It forms a spirit-avatar, perhaps as simple as a column of water that seems to speak. Perhaps it becomes a small god to the village, or a feared thing, or is almost forgotten by all but itself. It too might seem human somewhere along The Way, but the end of the way is Spring, or Lake, or River. Eventually, ideally, but you know who stands in the way.

Among the Sidhe there are Courts. Courts of the Spring and Summer, o the Night and Day. There are roles and stations; The Jester Resplendant in Fallen Leaves, The Cloud-Shepherd, The Lady of the Lake, The Green Knight. A great many knights, in truth. Once an age, a new role might form, as a mortal walks The Way To Mag Mell. And what if there is no role to be filled? Consider Aoibheron.

Aoiberon is High King of the Sidhe. And why? Not for might nor virtue. Not by conquest nor inheritance. The meaning of Aoibheron is high king; the meaning of High King is Aoibheron. He is signifier and signified. And so a mortal walks the path, drawn by some strange gravity to kingship. To seek the suffering and hardship that shrives clean the mortal into a true monarch. An upstart human usurper faces Aoibheron. An upstart usurper casts down the High King and sits the throne. Aoibheron is upon his throne. He has always been upon his throne.

These are the strange melancholies and strange mirths of the Sidhe; not caprice, but legion. How many lives lived and lost and never lived? To be driven to hatred by a face you do not recognise and yet find loathesomely familiar. To be drawn in affection to a voice you do not know and yet recall. To look upon some blasted mound and weep tears that are not wholly your own.

This is the fate unforseen and unknown to those who follow The Way To Mag Mell; life eternal in a chorus of yourself.

[greysfic]

Imperial Culture and Roles of the Temples

I'll probably think of a better, more holistic way to organise this in future but for arranging my thoughts it'll do.

By sheer size and resouces, the Empire has cultivators in the four digits, but even so they get spread a bit thin. Any single temple tends to have one grandmaster, two to five masters, a dozen acolytes, and a few score initiates who may never awaken their brí. Imperial orthodoxy holds that the Patters are emanations of the Gods, with a few priests in some of the temples quietly holding that the Gods are the apotheosis of the Patterns.

The High Temple of Tinnidhe is the most overtly martial temple but fulfills a number of vital civic duties. Chief among them is firefighting - yes, if a priest isn't around you can form a bucket chain or call for an acolyte of the Bitter Wind, but cultivator from the Tinndhe temple can just come and extinguish fires with their buanna. Temples are also built with high towers where a signal fire can be lit. Mostly the temple loans warpriests to elite military units on campaign but there's less call for that these days. The temple also hosts weekly Fire Sermons at the grand hearths where they employ buanna to boost the loyalty of the citizenry.

The High Temple of the Bitter Wind handles water purification, assists in fisheries and coastal rescues, and maintains cold rooms for storing municipal food supplies. Supplicants might come for counsel against hardships, and the martial adherents are deployed to quell unrest. Since there a schismatic tendency in the temple who sanctify suffering as the catalyst for revolution, this can backfire.

The High Temple of Cumadóir has always been key to imperial function. The priests regularly walk the roads, using buanna to maintain them and major civic buildings. They also bless rooms full of labourers to improve performance, and shape materials by hand for more important purposes. Imperial officers, aristocrats, and members of the Imperial Family receive weapons and armour of impossible quality from the priest-smiths of the temple.

The High Temple of Rionnach is a bit of an outlier. In civic terms, they read the weather, gently nudge weather patterns to favour imperial provinces, and if necessary are called into battle when it's necessary to say 'fuck that guy in particular' with a lightning strike. Because Rionnach is a deity of both sacrifice and oneness, they're probably the most charitable temple while also embezzling donations from nobility and merchants who need a quick display of piety.

The High Temple of Beathunach blesses fields and livestock, including the maintainance of the famed Imperial cattle. They cleanse disease and offer healing to the citizenry. As intermediaries between the empire and Danu--herself intermediary for Beathunach--they wield a lot of political influence, especially in the southern empire.

The High Temple of Críochán handles burials, exorcisms, banishing of undead, and some legal matters where possible. If they can call a ghost to testify to a murder or settle an inheritance dispute, they do. When an imperial detachment is facing especially hard odds, a priest of Críochán is dispatched to raise the dead to fight again. They've also adopted some techniques from the Abysswalker sect, allowing them to travel across the continent in seconds, which is often used for pressing matters of security and intelligence.

The High Temple of Uaillín are the visible inquisitors, scholars, and propagandists. Mostly they preach self-improvement and ambition, but their buanna are useful for uncovering falsehoods and providing inspiration - ironically, less effectively for themselves. They illuminate for others and have to do the hard work on their own.

The High Temple of Ceadach is quite austere and little visited except for a couple of major holidays. This suits the priesthood. Ceadach is King of the Gods, and the Emperor is his mortal proxy; you show as much piety through respect to the Emperor as to the god himself. Ceadach also governs the Pattern of Ebon Night, which has suspiciously little theological value to the Empire or the average citizen. Since the sitting Emperor is expected to be a cultivator of the Night, heirs spend some time studying here. Temple acolytes are the spies and assassins of the Empire, the Emperors own hidden hand.

The High Temple of Ordúnach apply and enforce the geasa of the Empire. They can read Fate, and thus manipulate it. They are the more subtle intelligence and control arm of the Empire - supplicants come for divinations and receive advice that benefits the empire.

The High Temple of Meanmach serve as diplomats where they can go undetected as cultivators, propagandists where they cannot. They tend to the mental wellbeing of citizenry while also probing their thoughts for sedition, manage various festivals and celebrations, and sponsor approved artists while producing a certain amount of pro-imperial art themselves.

The High Temple of Aimsireach & Fairsín, the twin gods of Space and Time, handles navigation and cartography, logistics and history. Their more powerful priests can bend spend to travel vast distances more safely than other methods, but can't carry much with them.

The Bán Fianna are not a Temple per se - they are a small, elite cadre of Imperial soldiers who cultivate the Diamond Soul. A demanding and rarely sought path of ego dissolution, with buanna that negate other buanna. As such they are called to face powerful cultivators who oppose the empire, where they can deprive them of their powers and best them through honed martial skill.

The true home of Diamond Soul cultivation is the Abbey of the Empty Heart high in the Fin mountain range; an order of ascetics removed from the concerns of the world.

[greysfic]

The Mendicant Knighthood

Without heroes, the people will not rise, will not follow. Tyrants cannot be cast down alone. But how are the people to believe in a hero who does not act? Sing, Dragon-Star, of the wandering knight, who wields the axe of justice against the monsters of the night.

CAUTERIZE External Bua Golden Flame, Mendicant Knighthood, Instant

Deal 1 Condition damage to a wounded target, then multiply their Natural Recovery by your Alignment. This bua staunches bleeding.

MOLTEN EDGE External Bua Requires an edged, Attuned weapon. Golden Flame, Mendicant Knighthood, Attuned, Sustained

Superheat the edge of an attuned weapon, adding your Alignment in Penetration to all attacks.

BANISHER FLAME External Bua Golden Flame, Mendicant Knighthood, Instant, Cost 2

Project a blast of your inner fire, suffused with the golden glow of the Pattern, to destroy monsters.

When you take this bua, choose one: Fomorian, Sidhe, Vampire, Undead, Night-beast, Sea-Beast.

When hitting your chosen foe with this bua, reduce their Resistance by your Thresholds, and deal your Alignment in Damage.

SEARING INVECTIVE External Bua Golden Flame, Mendicant Knighthood, Instant, Cost 2

Many Knights Mendicant choose not merely to protect the people from undead, Fomoire, and other creatures - none too few hunt humans for crimes that have evaded imperial law and Dlí Ceofhid alike. This bua requires HEARHLIGHT, and many Knights Mendicant who use it choose rapists and murderers as their Abominations.

Speak words of condemnation at you target, triggering a Courage Test. If they quaver, the idea goes, they are guilty - but even someone unaffected by HEARTHLIGHT's burn might quail before an axe-wielding cultivator stomping out of the woods screaming accusations at them.

[greysfic]

DRAGON-STAR ROAR STYLE

Linked Skills: Athletics, Unarmed, Defense. For Rank 4 and above, Unarmed must specialise in Kicks.

Faction: None — taught widely, often by retired duelists, traveling masters, and village elders who learned it in a lost war.

Eldest of the so-called Fire Styles, this style embodies the relentless fury and focus of the fabled Dragon-Star. Traces of it can be seen in the other Fire Styles, but here is their foundation: agile footwork unpredictable as a flame, kicks like arcs of fire, and decisive power.

The art trains the legs especially, to emulate the reach and power of the dragon's tail. A Dragon-Star practitioner sweeps, kicks, and crashes through guards. They do not retreat, and they do not strike from behind.

RANK 1 — DRAGON'S INHALATION FORM

Stance Technique. First draw inward, to explode outward.

Settle weight onto the lead foot, rear leg coiled, hands low and open.

While in this stance:

Your first attack each round gains +1 die.

Your kicks count as +2 Offense.

You cannot benefit from cover, concealment, or attacks from stealth. You stand and face the foe.

You may use the Feint Action for Dodges and Parries, not only Attacks.

Entering the stance is free at the start of combat or on your turn. Re-entering after leaving costs 2 Combat Pool.

Buanna channel: You may activate Surge of Flame freely as you enter or re-enter this stance. While the flame burns, you may channel Steel Betrays through any Attack made from this stance.

RANK 2

Dragon's Descent

When you move into melee range with an enemy on your turn, you may make one attack against them as part of that movement. Add +1 die to the attack for each Range Band you crossed before striking.

Buanna channel: You may channel Surge of Flame through the attack, applying its damage potential as bonus Damage. Alternately, you may activate Surge of Flame during the movement step, lighting up mid-stride.

Ember: Landing this attack (any damage dealt) earns an Ember.

Dismissive Dragon Claw

Parry with +1 Defence; if you feinted a Dodge on a prior exchange, add 2 dice.

Buanna channel: You may activate Steel Betrays to heat a parried weapon on a successful parry.

Ember: On a successful parry, earn an Ember.

RANK 3

Furious Tail Lash

When an enemy successfully defends against your unarmed attack (their successes meet or exceed yours), you may immediately spend 2 dice from your Combat Pool to make a follow-up kick against them. This attack does not count against your Dexterity attacks-per-round limit. The defender defends normally.

Buanna channel: You may channel Surge of Flame through the follow-up kick, adding its damage potential as bonus Damage. The defender's guard was committed elsewhere; the flame arrives where the block isn't.

Ember: Landing this follow-up kick (any damage dealt) earns an Ember.

Wing-Borne Step

Dodge with +1 Defence; if you feinted a Parry on a prior exchange, add 2 dice. On a successful dodge, you may move 1 Range Band as part of the dodge.

Buanna channel: You may activate Surge of Flame and project it like an afterimage to damage the enemy on a successful dodge.

Ember: On a successful dodge, if you make an attack action later in the same round, earn an Ember.

RANK 4

Sweeping Tail Strike

A low, hooking kick. Make a kick attack at -2 Damage. If you score 2 or more net successes, the target is knocked Prone in addition to taking damage. Prone targets suffer the Offense/Defense gap penalty (effective -2 Defense until they spend an action to rise).

Buanna channel: Surge of Flame leaves a trail of flame behind and spreads to a 200cm diameter — enough to envelop a fallen body. A target knocked Prone in the flame suffers Burning Damage.

Ember: Landing this technique (any damage dealt, or knocking the target Prone) earns an Ember.

Dragon Claw Flurry

Declare the use of this technique; make three or more Attacks of at least 3 Combat Pool each. These count as a single attack for Dexterity cap purposes, but resolve as distinct attack rolls. A successful Parry against any kick in the chain interrupts the technique — remaining kicks do not occur, and the Combat Pool committed to them refunded by half.

Buanna channel: You may project Surge of Flame as a ranged attack on each kick, consuming one duration of the flame per kick projected.

Ember: Earn one Ember if any kick in the Flurry deals damage.

RANK 5 — CAPSTONE

A Dragon-Star practitioner builds toward the finishing blow across the whole fight. Lower-rank techniques generate Embers when used successfully; the capstone consumes them.

Ember tracking: Embers persist on you until spent or until the encounter ends. They do not stack from the same technique used twice on the same target in the same exchange — each Ember must come from a distinct successful application. After a capstone is invoked (hit or miss), all Embers are spent and may be built again.

World-Sundering Dragon Roar

A devastating axe-kick channeling the righteous wrath of the Dragon-Star toward the obliteration of a named enemy.

Requires 3 Embers. Spend all Embers and make a single kick attack against the target. For each Ember spent, the attack gains +1 die and +1 Damage. The attack ignores 3 points of Soak.

If used by an Aligned cultivator against a target they have named aloud at the start of the fight, damage is doubled by sanctified geas.

Buanna channel: Any buanna the cultivator can channel through a kick may be channeled through this strike, with their normal effects. The capstone is the moment where the art and the cultivation fully fuse; the cultivator pours their fire into the kick, and the kick already does what it does.