[Ages of Heaven] Preview 3: Devil-Stars and Divergent Emperor Vaidurya

I’ve been given a trio of previews for Agents of Heaven, the Sidereals Companion for Exalted 3rd Edition. Enjoy!

Devil-Stars

Devil-stars are towering beings of glittering, varicolored crystal, easily reaching 20 feet or higher. Beheld in aggregate they resemble a human skeleton with insectile features like compound eyes, chitin or mandibles, and vast razor-sharp wings. Looking at any specific component reveals its anatomy is disconnected, segments hovering barely apart. From just the right angle, they appear almost feminine in a strange way, like strange cousins to the Maidens. Around their waists hover shrunken stars, to serve as sustenance or vessels for their daughters. 

Hailing from across the Wyld, the devil-stars are ontolophages — subsisting on that which imposes and guides reality — that were drawn by Creation’s stars. After a chance encounter, they joined in the war against the ancients in return for feeding rights; yet after the war the Exalted Host betrayed them. 

For an age they warred against Heaven, until ultimately forced to surrender and sign the Black Moon Accord. This awarded them a portion of the Firmament and the right to sustainably harvest stars during Calibration and eclipses, but in turn imposed countless restrictions meant to keep them from threatening Heaven again. Though sovereign in their homes, they cannot travel without permission; their woven citadel-nests are queenless still, and filled with keening light-song. Gone are the glory days of sweet war and star-feasting that inspired their pneumatic sonatas; their society’s enduring superstructures are feeble and anemic. Their envoy to Yu-Shan, Yor Seven, has petitioned that time should warrant revisions to the Accord, but there is little interest in Heaven for such things. 

Though not malicious, devil-stars’ very beings are inimical to Creation-borne life. They must deconstruct things to understand or interact with them, rendering communication hazardous. And after millennia in the Firmament, they’re inextricably bound to the Loom of Fate; their reproduction requires descending to Creation and burying stars in its demesnes to parasitize, violently disrupting geomancy. Yet those who have communed with devil-stars find them to be complex and insightful beings, interested in the exchange of ideas, though alien and cold with little understanding of mortality or flesh. 

The following traits are common to all mature devil-stars, but some have unique powers, like the nefarious fugitive Mun Four below. Immature devil-stars have Essence 4 and lack Legendary Size, while some of the oldest devil-stars may rise to Essence 7-8 and transform into grander, stranger forms with high-Essence Charms and unique powers of the Storyteller’s design.

Essence: 5; Willpower: 8; Join Battle: 11 dice

Personal Motes: 100

Health Levels: −0×8/−1×8/−2×8/−4/Incap.

Actions: Feats of Strength: 14 dice (may attempt Strength 7 feats); Fly: 12 dice; Read Intentions: 7 dice; Resist Poison/Disease: 10 dice (see Living Star); Senses: 10 dice; Social Influence: 9 dice; Stealth: 6 dice; Wisdom of the Firmament: 8 dice

Appearance 6 (Hideous), Resolve 4, Guile 5

Combat

Attack (Wings): 14 dice (Damage 20/5)

Attack (Nova Light Javelin): 14 dice at short range (Damage 20/5) 

Attack (Claws): 12 dice (Damage 18L/5) 

Attack (Grapple): 10 dice (12 dice to control). Devil-stars make unopposed control rolls against smaller enemies, unless they use magic like Dragon Coil Technique (Exalted, 280.)

Combat Movement: 12 dice 

Evasion: 6; Parry: 7 

Soak/Hardness: 20/10

Merits

Living Star: Beings of the Firmament, devil-stars may move freely in three dimensions, are immune to mundane poisons and diseases, do not breathe, and ignore penalties from darkness, blinding light, heat, or cold. They halve damage from attacks based on heat or cold. 

Communication Dilemma: Devil-stars can understand all languages, communicating in flashes of light and high-pitched noises. This strains the mind; human characters who communicate with them for longer than a minute are exposed to a recurring environmental hazard, damage 1B/minute, difficulty 3, resisted with ([Intelligence or Wits] + Integrity). Characters may roll (Intelligence + Occult) against difficulty 3 to devise rituals that negate this hazard.

Legendary Size: Devil-stars don’t suffer onslaught penalties from smaller foes’ attacks, unless inflicted by magic. She can’t be crashed by smaller enemies’ withering attacks unless they have 10+ post-soak damage, although attackers gain the full amount of Initiative damage dealt. Smaller enemies’ decisive attacks can’t deal more than (attacker’s Strength + 3) levels of damage to her, not counting levels added by magic. 

Observer Effect: A devil-star’s direct attention is alien and unnerving. Imposing a −2 penalty to an observed character’s rolled actions. In combat, she chooses which character she is observing at the start of each turn.

Offensive Charms

Grip of the Sky (10m, 1wp; Simple; Until grapple ends; Decisive-only; Essence 3): On a successful grapple, the devil-star lifts the target into the air; her Defense isn’t penalized from grappling and she can flurry normally while clinching.

Starfall Bolt (10m; Simple; Instant; Decisive-only; Essence 3): This Charm requires Initiative 10+. Make a decisive ranged attack against an enemy out to medium range, doubling 8s on the damage roll. Characters within close range of her target must also defend against her attack roll; on failure, they suffer five dice of decisive damage, doubling 10s instead of 8s. 

Star-Weighted Blow (8m; Supplemental; Instant; Withering-only; Essence 3): Grant a withering attack double 9s on the attack and damage rolls. If this deals damage, the devil-star may move her target one range band away from or towards her. 

Void-Scything Arc (7m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Withering-only; Essence 4): Make a single withering attack roll against all foes within close range. Choose one primary target; the devil-star only gains Initiative from him, plus one Initiative per additional target hit. Only the primary target may lose more than 5 Initiative from this attack. 

Weight of the Firmament (5m, 1wp [+5m per round or 10m, 2i]; Simple; Perilous; Until next turn; Essence 4): All characters within short range of the devil-star roll (Dexterity + [Athletics or Dodge]) at Difficulty 5. Characters who fail cannot take movement actions until the devil-star’s next turn. The terrain out to short range of her becomes difficult terrain. At the beginning of her next turn, the devil-star may pay five motes to maintain this difficult terrain effect, or spend 10 motes, two Initiative to terminate it, subjecting all characters within its range to a one-time environmental hazard with damage 6L/round, difficulty 6. Damaged characters are knocked prone. 

Defensive Charms

Immortal Crystal Vessel (10m, 1wp; Reflexive; Instant; Decisive-only; Essence 5): The devil-star rolls dice equal to her soak, unmodified by other effects. Each success negates one level of decisive damage. Once per scene.  

Tip Gravity’s Scales (6m, 1i; Reflexive; Instant; Uniform; Essence 3): While Weight of the Firmament is active, 1s and 2s on attack rolls against her subtracts success from both the attack and damage roll. 

Miscellaneous Charm

Devour the Stars (—; Reflexive; Instant; Essence 4): Drain power from a shrunken star, gaining the benefits of an Initiative Break and regaining two additional motes per turn until scene’s end. This causes anomalous backlash (Sidereals, p. 146) in the same area, and draws Heaven’s attention. Once per story.

Cosmic Vivisection Methodology (5m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence 3): With a flash of black light and a screaming sound, roll Read Intentions with 10 dice against a character within close range, adding three non-Charm successes. Success grants the devil-star complete knowledge of her target’s body, including any ailment, injury, condition, or the like that he may have; precise understanding of his Essence and potential supernatural nature; and knowledge of any magic he’s currently affected by or using. This is experienced as a moment of terrifying atomization for the target; he loses one Willpower and rolls (Stamina + Resistance) at difficulty 4. On failure, he spends the next minute (or action on his next turn in combat) indisposed as he retches and claws at his eyes.

Shroud of Starlight: (15m, 1wp; Simple; Indefinite; Psyche; Essence 3): Roll Stealth with three non-Charm successes against the (Perception + [Awareness or Integrity]) of all characters within long range. Success renders the devil-star invisible and impossible to detect with hearing. Mortals, animals, and lower-Essence unconsciously adjust their behavior to avoid her without knowing why. All characters within range suffer Observer Effect’s penalty. Characters confronted with direct evidence as to her presence may roll against her Stealth roll with +3 bonus dice to realize something is there, watching them. Taking overt action ends this effect.

Mun Four, General of the Ceaseless Starborne Onslaught

Mun Four commanded her sisters’ respect and Yu-Shan’s fear once, leading terrible raids across the Firmament on heavenly assets in breach of the Accord. Then she was captured and jailed under Pallian-Azar’s (Sidereals, p. 396) supervision. With time her infamy abated, the only mentions of her name found in historical records. Now Pallian-Azar has grown lax in his duties, and in his oversight, Mun Four has escaped. How she did so, and her current whereabouts, are mysteries that haunt the panicked Doorkeeper. 

Mun Four secretly wanders Creation in the guise of a mortal vagabond with stars hidden in her knapsack, voyeuristically curious about all she encounters. She’ll stare for hours at trees and bustling bazaars, asking passersby baffling questions about the world. Under powerful demesnes, she has already planted two seed-bearing stars — the first of five. When her children hatch, she hopes to carve out part of Creation as her redoubt for a new war against Heaven. Her children will cause increasingly destructive geomantic disruptions as they grow: first strange mutations in nearby living beings; then anomalous omen weather, followed by distortion in the Loom of Fate. Finally, they’ll hatch in a vast detonation of raw Essence. A lone newborn, confused and docile, might be managed peacefully. But should her entire brood spawn and be reared into soldiers, all of Heaven will tremble.

Traits 

Mun Four also has the following unique traits:

Actions: Deflecting Suspicion: 10 dice; Feats of Strength: 14 dice (may attempt Strength 10 feats); Fly: 14 dice; Geomantic Knowledge: 11 dice; Read Intentions: 8 dice; Resist Poison/Disease: 10 dice (see Living Star); Senses: 10 dice; Social Influence: 9 dice

Intimacies

Defining Principle: All of existence is a series of complex problems, of which threats to my existence are the most satisfying to solve. 

Defining Principle: My brood will redefine the parameters of our conflict with Heaven.

Major Principle: Dismantling and studying organic matter pleases me.

Major Tie: The Black Moon Accord (Frustration)

Minor Principle: The conditions of Creation’s life perplex and intrigue me.

Charms 

Blind Maiden’s Guise (6m; Simple; Indefinite; Essence 5): Adopt a human guise, suppressing the effects of Legendary Size and Communication Effect, and increasing Stealth pool to 8. This form is a short, dark-skinned woman with dark hair. Her eyes are starlit voids, disguised behind smoky quartz spectacles. Mun Four can speak any language she hears for one minute; however, this is largely mimicry devoid of true understanding. Both her Social Influence rolls and influence rolls against her suffer the –3 penalty for lacking shared languages unless she’s actually taught a language. This ends automatically after her first –1 health level is filled.

Champion of the First Twilight (10m, 1wp; Reflexive; One scene; Essence 5): Roll Join Battle twice when entering combat, noting each result separately. The lower is her starborne Initiative track, which grants a second action per turn that must be used to attack. This attack can’t deal more than 5 withering or 3 decisive damage. Attacks against her may target either track. Crashing the starborne track suppresses it until next she achieves Initiative Break, whereupon it resets to base. For all purposes other than awarding Initiative Break, Mun Four only counts as crashed if both tracks are dropped below 0 Initiative.

I Stand Eternal (—; Permanent; Perilous; Essence 5): Any time a withering attack is reduced to minimum damage, gain one Initiative. Once per scene, gain one Willpower when a withering attack against her rolls no successes.

The Ancient Enemy (1wp; Supplemental; Instant; Essence 5): By calling on ancient fragments of fate consumed in the great war against Heaven, reduce the target number of a roll by three. Once per story. 

To Stand in the Sky (5m; Supplemental; Instant; Essence 4): Add two automatic successes to a roll or +2 to a static value. While at medium range or higher from the ground, increase this by two.

Divergent Emperor Vaidurya (Starmetal Warstrider, Artifact §•••••)

Sorcerer-engineers have rarely observed the natural properties of large, unworked deposits of starmetal, simply because so few exist. The anonymous Old Realm treatise Divine Mechanics records experiments performed on a singularly large meteorite deposit, and the many anomalies surrounding the crater. Sufficiently concentrated deposits of starmetal, the author concludes, interfere with the probity of fate itself, snarling the Loom and causing unpredictable rifts in local space.

Rather than separating the deposit to disperse the phenomenon, the author of Divine Mechanics goes on to record the process by which they intentionally amplified it, hollowing the meteorite into an armillary-fuselage through which these spatial rifts could be weaponized. This formed the core of the warstrider Divergent Emperor Vaidurya.

During the Solar Purge, Vaidurya was piloted by the Shieldbearer Oden-Bal as she led the Dragon-Blooded assault on the Aphelion Fastness, annihilating its five gates and transporting assassins within. Vaidurya’s uncanny weapons systems scarred the land, but Oden-Bal was horrified to see that the damage to fate was much greater. After restoring it, she demanded that Vaidurya be sealed deep within the Crimson Panoply’s armories and never used again. Though her colleagues have not disrespected her wish since she died, there has been increasing discussion on the point of late.

Although almost 40 feet tall, Vaidurya is unusually slender and delicate for a warstrider. It’s largely composed of glossy white stone-like material and unbreakable glass filigreed with fine starmetal arabesques. Its six overlong arms and bulbous abdomen evoke a spider-like appearance.

Backer: Cameron Starkel

Attunement: 15m

Soak: 15; Hardness: 10

Damage track: −0×10/−1×5/−2×5/−4×5

Speed bonus: +2

Hearthstone Slot(s): 2

Era: Dreams of the First Age

Standard Armaments

Straight Sword: +3 ACC, +12L DMG, +1 DEF, OVW 5

Darts: Close +5 ACC, Short +4, Medium +3, +10L DMG, OVW 3, Poisonable

Unarmed: +5 ACC, +10B DMG, +0 DEF, OVW 3, Grappling, Natural, Smashing 

Evocations of Divergent Emperor Vaidurya

While piloting Vaidurya, its pilot counts as having the Extra Limbs Merit (Exalted, p.166), and is considered an enemy of fate (Sidereals, p. 154). Pilots awaken Beneath a Wayward Star for free when first attuning to Vaidurya. 

Beneath a Wayward Star

Cost: 5m; Mins: Essence 2

Type: Simple

Keywords: None

Duration: Instant

Prerequisites: None

Vaidurya’s armillary-shrine hums and its six arms work through a rapid series of fate-warping gestures as it rewrites the causal relations of local space.

Vaidurya swaps the location of any person or object the pilot can see within medium range with another such person or object of roughly equivalent size. Targeted objects must be freestanding. Translocation happens instantly without crossing any intervening space. Vaidurya can move this way by swapping itself with another target the size of an adult human or larger. Unwilling targets may resist with a difficulty 5 (Dexterity + Dodge) roll. Successfully resisting means the target doesn’t move, but the object or character they were supposed to swap with teleports into close range with them.

The pilot can pay a one-Willpower surcharge to instead target two points within medium range and swap everything within close range of those points. Unwilling targets roll to resist individually.

Resonant: This Evocation can be used reflexively if it moves Vaidurya. This uses its movement action.

The Dichotomous Sword

Cost: 8m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3

Type: Supplemental

Keywords: Decisive-only, Dissonant

Duration: Instant

Prerequisites: Beneath a Wayward Star

With a cutting motion, Vaidurya divides space along a two-dimensional plane.

Vaidurya makes an unblockable decisive attack with any combat Ability against an enemy within short range. This ignores cover, and attack roll extra successes convert dice of damage to automatic successes, maximum (Essence).

Alternatively, Vaidurya can make an automatically successful feat of demolition to perfectly split any non-magical object within short range, ignoring Strength minimums. This waives the Evocation’s Willpower cost.  

Dissonant: This Evocation is limited to close range. 

Acausal Disjunction Break

Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3

Type: Reflexive

Keywords: Resonant

Duration: Instant

Prerequisites: Beneath a Wayward Star

When Vaidurya seems to be in danger, it can simply instantiate a world where such a thing is impossible.

Vaidurya can clash an attack from within medium range with a (Wits + [Craft or Occult]) roll, doubling 9s. Success lets the pilot swap her attacker with another person or object within medium range as per Beneath a Wayward Star, with no roll to resist.

Resonant: This Evocation can clash ambushes.

Reactionless Engine Cascade

Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 4

Type: Simple

Keywords: None

Duration: One hour

Prerequisites: Acausal Disjunction Break

Vaidurya blurs its form into a flickering wraith, blinking rapidly between existence and non-existence.

Vaidurya doubles 9s on movement rolls and can teleport to its destination when moving a range band instead of physically moving, ignoring difficult terrain and obstacles. When swapping Vaidurya with an inanimate object using Beneath a Wayward Star, her range increases to long. 

Outside of combat Vaidurya multiplies its overland speed by (pilot’s Essence) and inflicts a –5 penalty against attempts to track it. If the pilot renews this Evocation when its duration ends, she waives the Willpower cost.

Divergence Overdrive: Thorns of the Heavenly Tree

Cost: 15m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 5

Type: Simple

Keywords: Decisive-only, Resonant

Duration: Instant

Prerequisites: The Dichotomous Sword, Reactionless Engine Cascade

Vaidurya clasps its six hands together and opens them to reveal annihilation. A web of spatial rifts radiates outward, dividing and displacing all they touch.

Resonant: Only characters resonant with starmetal can awaken this Evocation. 

Vaidurya’s pilot makes an unblockable decisive attack against everything within medium range, dividing her Initiative equally between all non-trivial targets and adding (Essence) automatic successes to each damage roll. Terrain within the radius is destroyed as per The Dichotomous Sword. Damaged targets can be swapped with each other or pieces of damaged terrain as though targeted with Beneath a Wayward Star, and cannot roll to resist. 

The destruction of the ground causes this area to become difficult terrain. Until the end of the pilot’s next turn, anyone else attempting to move through this area is exposed to a difficulty 5, Damage 5L hazard from the dispersing rifts.  

Using this Evocation snarls fate in the area, and will lead to a future narratively relevant anomalous backlash (Sidereals, p. 146).

Reset: Once per story. Sidereals can reset this with a special prophecy (Sidereals, p. 143) that represents untangling the fate snarls around the warstrider with a difficulty of 5 and a goal number of 10. This doesn’t cost experience points.