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Abyssals, An End to All Things

An Exalted Third Edition fan work by Spooky Scary Abyssal

Prologue

Death is a friend of ours, and he that is not

ready to entertain him is not at home.
Francis Bacon, An Essay on Death

Principal writer:
Steven Gall (Spooky Scary Abyssal)
(Stevengall1@outlook.com)
This is an unofficial, fan-based work, created
with love and intended to be compatible with
Exalted Third Edition, published by Onyx
Path Publishing. Exalted, Abyssals, and all
other relevant concepts are copyright those
amazing talents. Please support the official
release.
Thanks to Momo and Myrido, for providing
me with the love of the game I have now, for
running such excellent stories, and for having
so much patience with the fact that I seem to
forget how to roll attacks every other session
and then forget how many motes I have
committed. I couldn’t do it without you guys.
Special thanks to Momo for keeping me sane
during the writing process.
Abyssals: An End to All Things is a fan-
based interpretation of the Abyssal Exalted
for Exalted: Third Edition.
This work is set with the task of performing
the following:
• Move away from the unhealthy
dichotomy of rebel/slave set forth in
2e so that Abyssal Exalted can be
awesome
4
• Differentiate Abyssal Exalted from
“Spooky Solars”, both in theme and
charms
• Emphasize the nature of death,
mortality, rebirth, and balance
intrinsic to the state of a Black
Exaltation
• Heavily expand upon the notion of
the “Chivalry of Death”, likely the
single greatest concept for Abyssals
to come out of the core book, and
make sure the profundity of this
concept is understood
• Define the context of the Abyssals in
fine detail, including the Deathlords,
the Neverborn, the Underworld, the
nature of Abyssal exaltation, and
other relevant facts, and modernize
these from 2e where Deathlords were
Bad Guys, Neverborn were Really
Bad Guys, the Underworld was a suck
place, and Abyssals in general just
really sucked to play and weren’t any
fun unless you deliberately played
like a troll and flat accepted your
character wasn’t going to have any
meaningful goals outside of striving
for redemption that wouldn’t get them
killed outright by everyone.
https://discord.gg/rkeZKgH
 After the Usurpation, it was decided
that a more permanent solution to the Solar
problem was required; Simply killing a Solar
freed his Exaltation to seek out a new host,
essentially restarting the problem from the
beginning. They also knew that the
Exaltations themselves were not something
that could actually be destroyed.
Given the choice between hunting
Solars forever and devising a cleverer way to
skirt the issue, the Sidereal Exalted hit upon
the idea of trapping the Exaltations somehow
upon a Solar’s death, preventing it from
reawakening in another. Thus they began the
construction of the Jade Prison, designed by
the brightest minds of the Sidereals to contain
the threads of fate that held the Exaltations in
creation.
The massive and ornate jade box had
no doors, no locks, and no way in or out
except through the Loom of Fate. Thus, when
a Solar died and the now dispossessed spark
came forth to be pared down and bestowed
anew, the Sidereals intercepted it and wove it
into the sealed gut of the Jade Prison.
Once all three hundred Solar sparks
had been captured, they sank the Jade Prison
into the deepest depths of the sea, in a
location only they knew, so that none could
ever find them again…
1
Unfortunately for the Sidereal
Exalted, the Deathlords eventually
discovered how to make Exaltations from the
Yozis.
The problem was that they required
Essence to make Exaltations. A deal was
struck for this knowledge: The Deathlords
would steal the Jade Prison, and upon its
retrieval, they would pay a third of the
Exaltations carried within to the Yozis, and
keep the rest.
Finding the Jade Prison was not
difficult; the Mask of Winters had taken a
lover who was a Sidereal, and she had fed
him information on the location of the Jade
Prison. The Deathlords, in an unusual display
of unity, fashioned a massive undead beast to
scour the sea floor, find the prison, and return
it to the Underworld.
This plan did not fully succeed; The
creature did dredge up the Jade Prison and
haul it back to the Underworld, but at some
point in its voyage it had developed the most
minute of cracks- But this is all that the divine
sparks of the Unconquered Sun’s will
needed. Upon breaking the Jade Prison open,
only one hundred and fifty sparks remained
inside, the rest having escaped into the world
to be reborn. True to their word, the
Deathlords handed over a third of the
remaining sparks, keeping a hundred for their
own Abyssal exalted.
2

The process of making a Solar
Exaltation into an Abyssal one is not
pleasant. In doing so, the spark is all but
snuffed out entirely, replaced by its new
form- And a terrible form it is indeed. The
Exaltation loses none of its potency, but what
emerges from the process is something
completely antithetical to what it once was.
A special vessel called the
Monstrance of Celestial Portion was
fashioned, created from designs produced by
studying the Jade Prison. This vessel was not
designed to imprison the spark, however- It
was designed to protect it from going mad
and fleeing before the process could be
completed. The spark would be placed inside,
and one by one, each spark would be exposed
to the raw energies of the void and the
unfathomable dreams of the undead
Primordials.
Necromantic rituals were performed
around each jar as it hung suspended over the
maw of the abyss and the seeping whispers of
the Neverborn wrenched its essence and
stained it black. The jar would shudder and
quake violently, the spark within thrashing in
agonized torment and horror, until finally, it
was still.
When the clattering was finished, the
jar was hauled back to their workshops and
unsealed, revealing the perfect fruits of their
efforts- Where once a radiant mote of
incandescent light existed, a black wisp so
dark that it seemed to absorb the light from
its surroundings remained. Each one would
wait momentarily, as if taking its first new
breath, and then vanish to perform the task it
had always done…
Seek out mortals to accept its power.
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Where is the Monstrance now?
With the Abyssal Exaltations
complete, one might wonder where
the device used to transform them is.
No one is quite sure; No doubt it has
passed through several Deathlords’
hands, but one thing is for certain: It
still exists, and it most certainly can
be used again…
Where a Solar exaltation chooses a
mortal who shows great potential in his time
of need, so does an Abyssal one. However,
unlike its luminous counterpart, an Abyssal
exaltation does not seek to fuel a mortal’s
heroism, taking his direst moment and
turning it into a glorious victory. Instead, it
preys on their hate, their anger, and their lust
for vengeance.
Abyssal exaltations enter a mortal at
the very instant of their death, when they
stand on the very cusp of the end and look
over the edge. The Neverborn whisper
through the medium of this black spark, and
make the mortal a promise: She will live
through her ordeal, and strike down those
who would slay her so.
There is no ambiguity in the promise:
To accept is to embrace a damnation so deep
and profound that there can be no
redemption, and there is no attempt to hide
this truth. There is also no compulsion to
accept; The entire scenario is centered on the
mortal’s free will, this one last chance to
avert the swinging scythe of the ever-present
reaper and direct it to their foes. Some
decline, but Abyssal exaltations are canny,
and they know their targets well enough.
 Indeed, it is only in this frozen
moment of time when the mortal’s soul is
clasped hand-in-hand with death are they
even worthy of such gifts. To be able to
accept an Abyssal exaltation, the
understanding of death the host possess must
be profound beyond mere words and ideas.
To understand it this fully, death is not a
subject of study; It is a romance. It cannot be
taught or explained, it must be experienced,
in the most intimate and deeply personal way
possible. Only once the mortal’s soul is fully
coiled in death’s loving embrace can it begin
to fathom the purity of an Abyssal
exaltation’s deathly essence.
Once the Mortal has made her
decision, one of two outcomes results. She
either declines, and immediately dies, as is
the natural course, or she accepts, and is
immediately dragged beneath the tide of grim
power that overwhelms her and drowns
4
within its black embrace forevermore. The
newly born Abyssal Exalt gasps her first
undead breath, and instantly erupts into her
fully-fledged, terrifying and magnificent
Iconic display. Her wounds might slam shut,
or gush unending rivers of blood, or worse,
and her black anima billows forth,
silhouetting the black caste mark that sinks
into her forehead, the color of the deepest
night. What follows is usually a wailing
torrent of bloodshed and slaughter as the
Abyssal wreaks terrible vengeance upon her
would-be slayers.
The reborn Abyssal Exalt then
wanders forth to spread the Chivalry of
Death. Many seek out the Deathlords,
pledging themselves to their service and
becoming Death Knights, while others seek
their own path through the wending paths of
life and death.

Before the beginning of the universe
there existed beings so unknowable and
vastly powerful that they can scarcely be
imagined, let alone comprehended. These
were the Primordials, progenitors of the
universe, shapers of Creation, and the cosmic
entities responsible for the existence of all
things. These idealistic beings dreamed
Creation from nothing, and everything within
it, but all was not to remain well. When they
deigned to leave Yu Shan to survey their
works, their presence left marks on Creation.
Where they went, reality was upheaved and
tortured in their wake like careless footsteps,
leaving the gods scrambling to undo the
existential nightmare that resulted from their
passing, as was their job. When the gods
created the Exalted to strike down the
Primordials, it was as much out of fear as
envy, and it set into motion a chain of events
that sealed the fate of Creation and birthed the
Abyssal Exaltation.
All things considered, the chain of
events that led to the creation of the Black
Exaltation was a cascade of failures. From the
Usurpation itself, to the imprisonment of the
Solar Exaltations, to the breaking of the Jade
Prison, the birth of the Abyssals was one
fraught with setbacks, delays, and
complications, yet as surely as Death’s
inevitable grasp, they were born.
Their future, however, is another
matter. The undying dreams of the Neverborn
are impossible to decipher, twisting whispers
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and maddened shrieks that defy the very
concept of understanding. They are beings so
far beyond the comprehension of mortals that
they cannot even imagine it. Upon their
deaths, the Neverborn became anathema to
the very thing they created, and now their
winding thoughts turn towards its
destruction, for truly, Creation is their prison,
and when it has ceased to be, they will be
freed.
The Primordials, despite their infinite
minds, never considered their own deaths.
When they built Creation, it was never
designed to handle the deaths of the
Primordials, as the Primordials were never
meant to die. When the Exalted rose up and
slew them, reality itself shuddered, wracked
with uncertainty and retching in horror as
something so wholly incompatible with its
very nature transpired. Yet, even so, the
Primordials did not die. Within their creation,
they are trapped in the instant of their demise,
the universe so unable to parse their end that
they are instead hung over the brink of
oblivion eternally until such time as the
prison around them is unmade, releasing their
tortured existences.
The Primordials, with their twisting
dreams and echoing thoughts, the very
paintbrushes they used to dream Creation
into existence, still have power, and in their
tortured focus whispered the idea to their
Deathlord servants to consort with the Yozi
to determine the enigmatic secrets of
Exaltation. The Abyssal Exaltation is in fact
6
designed after their own horrid state: To take that to enter the howling chasm of the Abyss
something and trap it in the instant of its and gaze upon them, experiencing but the
death, preserved perfectly, but still able to faintest murmur of their limitless depth,
think, feel and act. Abyssal Exaltations are irrevocably transforms the listener into
more stable and permanent than the ever- something horrifying and unrecognizable
fluctuating Wyld, a stark and unmistakable from what it once was, their very soul
avatar of the end of all things. Their black deformed into a wretched Nephwrack.
essence, dark as the lightless void, wreathed
in pure shadow wrought from the
unfathomable depths of oblivion itself, is the
will of the Primordials.
Abyssal exalts therefore owe their
power to these unknowable machinations. No
matter their personal outlooks, Abyssals
partake of the deathly soul of the
incomprehensible dead gods. They see death
in all things, and through both their own
frozen moment of death and that of their
patron Primordial, filter life through that
outlook, feeling on a profound level the ebb
and flow of the forces of life, the pulsing of
essence that composes all living things,
delicate and beautiful as butterfly wings.
Primordials rarely deign to actually
commune with their death knights, however;
They know there is no need. The creature
they have created is, by its nature, driven
towards its master’s ends. Even the promise
they offer at the moment of exaltation, when
time hangs frozen in the air and the closing
jaws of death stand buried in their throats, is
wordless- It is conveyed instinctually, the
potential Exalt understanding what their
acceptance means, and refused or accepted,
with the distant whispers of the Primordials
gnawing at her dying mind as she knows in
her heart what she must do. Perhaps the greatest failing of the
Primordials was the Games of Divinity. Were
And so they slumber, waiting it not for this all-consuming pastime,
patiently, for their ally is entropy, and an Creation might very well have become the
unwavering ally it is. They dream glorious paradise they had seemingly
unknowable dreams of dark madness, truths
and realities so profound and unimaginable

7
envisioned. Distracted by the games,
however, they were blinded to subtle yet
important problems within their own
creation, not the least of which was the nature
of life itself.
When they dreamed Creation, all
things had a purpose, and in their vast and
immaculate design, all things, from each
pebble in the river to the gods themselves, fit
together like uncountable tiny cogs turning
within an immeasurably complex machine.
Life, however, was the most significant issue
with this system, being able to change and
adapt, drifting outside of its intended role. No
creatures were more dangerous to this perfect
order than sentient life, for not only could it
change and adapt in order to alter its purpose,
it could do so of its own volition.
The gods were not built as such; They
were stewards, caretakers, and overseers,
tasked with maintaining the natural order and
repairing the damage left by the passing of
the beings that created it, whose potent
thoughts were as tortured howls which
twisted the world as they went, and the gods
had no means or ability to change their
station. Yet they, too, were tempted by the
games of divinity, and grew tired of fixing
reality. They neglected their duties in favor of
its allures, and thus was life allowed to
flourish and deviate from its purpose in ways
that were never intended or desired by the
Primordials, growing into a wild and chaotic
element whose existence threatened to
unbalance all of Creation.
This inattentive fault of the
Primordials would prove to be their ultimate
undoing, as the gods capitalized on their
masters’ lethargy. With the direction of Gaia
and Autocthon, two of the Primordials who
had grown disillusioned and malevolent to
their kin, the greatest among them designed
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the first Exaltations, and unleashed these
creations upon their masters. Thus were the
Primordials struck down.
The death throes of the Neverborn
changed reality itself, their death knell
shuddering Creation. This event created the
Underworld, and more pointedly, the Great
Curse suffered by all Exalted, a manifestation
of the dying Primordials’ anger finally
focused on their creation too late.
The Neverborn lie drifting listlessly
through their mad dreams of death, their
desire for nothing transforming their resting
place into Oblivion, a blank and eternal
nothing that devours all that enters it. Above
them hangs the Labyrinth, an ever-changing
nightmarish plane that reflects the dark
nightmares of the Neverborn. Above that lies
the Underworld, the dark mirror of Creation.
They hang in the nothing as dreaming
specks, whispering into the ears of their
servants. They know only one final truth: The
Abyss is the answer to all plights. The Wyld
offers the opportunity for limitless change,
growth, and life; The Abyss offers none.
Only it can contest that terrible power, and its
unquestionable certainty is the only thing
which can truly end their prison’s existence.
And yet, there may be another way.
Just as ghosts are held in a state of undeath
within the Underworld by their attachment to
Creation, unable to truly die until they accept
their own demise, so too might acceptance of
their own end free the Neverborn…
 Nephwracks
Particularly tortured souls that followed the call of the
Neverborns’ twisting dreams into the mouth of the
Abyss, Nephwracks were their first disciples. There
they meditate on the whispers of the Neverborn,
driven ever more maddened with the passing epochs,
preaching black sermons of the glories of dissolution
within the endless void. It is the Nephwracks that first
called the slain Primordials the Neverborn,
recognizing that such beings existed outside of time
as they knew it and were never born. Nephwracks are
the most zealous, and least reliable, servants of the
Neverborn, driven mad by the depths of their
slumbering masters’ contorting nightmares and acting
in incomprehensible ways to carry out what they
believe to be their will. Forever twisted by the reality-
transmuting effects of the shuddering dreams of their
dark masters, Nephwracks take on horrible and
tortured forms, anatomies as impossible to
comprehend as their mad and frenzied schemes.

9
10
 The origin of the Deathlords goes all
the way back to the Usurpation, that fateful
moment when the Solar exalted lost their
destiny and were hurled from their high
thrones. Whether the Neverborn exulted at
this comeuppance is unknown, but just as
they themselves were unprepared for their
betrayal, so too were the Solars wholly
unready for such a thing. The world was
plunged into a cataclysmic war which sent
untold numbers of souls screaming into the
underworld in fear. These souls fell into the
madness of the labyrinth, and roiled forth
singing the dark praises of their masters. The
Neverborn themselves, however, did nothing.
They did not swell at this bolstering of ranks,
nor did they rage at the creation of the Jade
Prison, a significant setback. They simply
continued to dream, as no armor, not even
that of fate, would hold forever.
This patience was well rewarded. The
Sidereals, in their haste, had foolishly handed
the Neverborn the single greatest weapons in
their arsenal by sending them the enraged
ghosts of powerful Solars not yet ready to let
go of their lives.
Slaying the Solars stripped them of
promises- Not the least of these was the
their exaltations, but their souls remained as
promise of revenge, the most efficacious and
potent as they had been in life. The most
powerful revenge possible. They would sit
determined of them screamed in impotent
upon thrones of the dead, and from them, rain
rage and wept bitter tears at the loss of their
eternal annihilation down upon the works
grand empires to the betrayers. These angry
they had been betrayed to preserve, traitors
and desperate ghosts heard the whispers of
now squatting in their glory and claiming the
the Neverborn, and had visions of great
power of the Solars for their own.

11
 Just as there is no lie in what would
become the offer of an Abyssal exaltation
(and indeed the Neverborn have never lied by
any account) there was no lie to the Solars.
The Neverborn did not promise them the
power to reclaim their lost empires, rebuild
their glories in Creation, or return to
dominion. Instead, they promised them the
power to destroy; The power to wreak terrible
vengeance upon their betrayers, the power to
tear down their empires, just as the betrayers
had torn down that of the Solars, to strip the
betrayers of their pride, glory, and dignity
before finally plunging Creation into the vast
expanse of the Void, laughing as their foes
wept and gnashed their teeth at the end of
everything.
How many accepted the offer is
unknown. Though there are three Deathlords
at large in creation, it is very likely there are
more that are simply biding their time. The
youngest and most idealistic Solars, and the
ones thus least corrupted by absolute
dominion, rebuffed the offer, but the most
powerful of them, the ones who had suffered
the greatest and understood they had no
dignity or righteousness left to lose, seized
this offer and with it willingly accepted the
curses and blessings bestowed upon them.
They descended through the depths of the
Labyrinth, and through great force of will
resisted the madness that gripped the
Nephwracks. They entered the twisting
nether that is the corpses of the Primordials.
In these darkest places, they offered loyalty
to their new masters, and the Primordials
gave them a rare gift- An infinitesimally
small mote of their own impossibly potent
souls.
This unfathomable insight resulting
from the fusion of a powerful Solar ghost and
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a speck of a Neverborn resulted in the birth
of the most powerful undead souls to ever
darken Creation’s threshold. The Deathlords
understood Necromancy as none else could,
weaving bone and flesh with the essence of
death to create monstrous servants, distilling
the essence of the grave’s rot to produce
virulent poisons that could kill mortals with
the barest vapor, and commune with and
comfort the dead in ways that none had been
able to before.
The Deathlords scattered across the
Underworld, still mastering their newfound
power and contemplating the insight they had
gained. Though these motes of the deathless
souls of the Neverborn bestowed upon them
immense power, these abilities were as
unfathomable to them as the Neverborn
themselves, and required more than mere
possession to wield. They disguised
themselves from their former supplicants,
and as they moved among the dead, they
began to truly understand their own position,
the plight of the condemned, and the true
depths of the treachery they had suffered. It
would be many years before they would rise
to power, and none dared reveal themselves
while the Dragonblooded still held sway,
wielding the very weapons the Solars
themselves had built. The Deathlords were
keenly aware of how powerful such things
were, and knew that deathlessness might not
even save them from their might.
This intimate connection with the
dead would shape the machinations of the
Deathlords- They were not given any
directive or plan, only power and
understanding of death, and set free to their
own ends.
 “Why do you shudder so? There is no need for such fear.”
The Autocrat struggled feebly to stand, staring defiantly at the Mask of Winters, but
quickly found the edge of the colossal Grimcleaver at his throat once more, the soulsteel singing
at the touch of his flesh. He looked up to the wielder, glaring into the deep crimson pools of the
eyes of his captor. Indomitable Grasp of Iron shook his head, a scowl etched across his massive
square jaw, tremendously muscular form hefting the gigantic weapon as if it were made of feather,
ghost-white hair swept back which, coupled with his piercing and predatory gaze, gave him the
distinct likeness of a bird of prey. The Abyssal flashed his caste mark- A circle with eight bars
arrayed like a sunburst, but the color of blackest night- with a sound like scraping steel.
The Mask of Winters glared at Indomitable Grasp of Iron. “This is our host, Iron. He
deserves our respect,” he scolded, waving the warrior’s weapon away. Indomitable Grasp of Iron
paused briefly, still glaring at the Autocrat, but obeyed.
“What do you want?!” the Autocrat spat, watching the Mask, who ignored him and instead
turned to face the city of Thorns, still ablaze, screams rising from the streets as the last remnants
of Thorns’ resistance fell before the swelling tide of undead soldiers. The Mask surveyed the city
from their vantage point at the top of the steps to the palace, and spoke softly.
“What did the Realm promise you?” The Mask of Winters queried him. “Was it prosperity?
Protection? Was it loyalty?”
The Mask turned to face him once more. “When the rest of these lands turned their backs
from the Realm, you remained loyal to them, and they showered you with gifts. Sadly, the
Dragonblooded are fickle friends. They have seen your plight, no doubt, and you now see the fruits
of trusting vipers. They are nowhere to be found.”
“The Realm will not let this stand! They will turn this place to ash before they let you have
it!” barked one of the Autocrat’s lieutenants. The mask regarded her curiously, then proceeded to
ignore her outburst. Outraged, she leapt to her feet, yanked a knife from her boot, and charged at
the Mask of Winters.
Indomitable Grasp of Iron raised his blade, but the Mask of Winters was faster.
The Mask did not even deign to look at her as he killed her, still staring gently into the eyes
of the autocrat. He gestured with one hand in her direction, and she split from groin to chin, a
roiling red mist bursting forth as her blood boiled within her body, and her corpse collapsed as a
pile of simmering gore a mere few feet from where she started with a gut-wrenching splat. The
rest of the Autocrat’s guards and nobles recoiled at the sight, several startled cries raising from the
kneeling crowd as they collectively leapt backwards.

13
 The Mask sighed, breaking the façade for an
instant. “Autocrat, I am trying to be civil about this.
Your servants are now openly attacking your
victorious foe, which is unwise to say the least.”
The Autocrat looked back and forth between
his former lieutenant and the Mask of Winters in
horror. “If you’re going to kill me… Just kill me
then!” he pleaded.
“Kill you? Of course not, how brutal.”
The Mask of winters brought his hands up,
and the Autocrat jilted upright, narrow bands of
blackness springing forth from his joints into the sky,
and moving his hands, the Mask of Winters walked
the Autocrat into the palace through his supplicants,
following not far behind.
Indomitable Grasp of Iron gestured with his
axe to the remaining crowd. “What do we do with
them?” he asked.
The Mask paused briefly, surveying them.
They looked around at each other fearfully, the
collective breath of all present quickening
considerably.
“They are free to go,” The Mask said
nonchalantly, and continued into the palace.
The nobles and guards present looked at each
other unsurely, while Iron simply shrugged at them,
slung his weapon, and followed his master inside, the
undead soldiers at their flanks shambling off down
the stairs into the streets to finish the job of winning
the city.
The Mask knew they would come. The
Realm. The betrayers. They would bring their might
to bear against the shattered jewel of Thorns and find
their forces wanting. He considered how long he
would simply wait; As long as he held Thorns, the
Realm was sure to gnash its teeth at this insult. The
Mask of Winters would let them. He is, first and
foremost, dead, and death’s patience is legendary.

14

Of all of Oblivion’s servants, the
Mask has proven to be the most pro-active.
Formerly a Twilight caste in the First Age,
the Mask has taken to Necromancy with an
efficacy few can match, and with this
prodigious talent, he raised up the mighty
undead walking fortress known as
Juggernaut.
An amalgamation of countless dead,
Juggernaut’s might was the staging ground
for the invasion of Thorns. Riding atop its
gargantuan form, the Mask of Winters
commanded the battle below, sending forth
unending waves of undead servants and
eventually his own Abyssal Exalted to
intercept the Dragonblooded which rode
forth to meet him.
This was the first time the Abyssals
had been officially recorded in Creation.
Before then, whispers circulated, dark rumors
of black-clad figures who wielded death and
were as likely to come to your rescue as they
were to slay you where you stood. No one
believed these stories, for no exaltations of
that scale had been performed since before
the First Age, but at the Battle of Thorns, they
knew.
At first, the Mask of Winters waited.
He rode Juggernaut to the city’s walls, his
armies of the dead and his Abyssal Exalted
holding back. When the Dragonblooded rode
forth from the city to meet this threat, they
were met with the Abyssal Exalted, who
slaughtered them wholesale, raining blows
from black steel daiklaves that rung like
death bells, flinging spells of pale ghostflame
that incinerated their souls, and vanishing
into the shadows only to reappear as a storm
of blades and chaos. The blood of the
15
Terrestrial Exalted was wept deeply into the
earth on that field, but for the Mask, a simple
takeover would not have been the right
course.
He could have taken the city right
then; He could have pulled the gates apart
like reeds with Juggernaut’s mighty fists, sent
his undead armies to swarm the defenders,
and used his Abyssals to carve a path straight
to the palace and slay the Autocrat, and he
might have, if it were not for one fact: Thorns
sent a missive for aid to the Realm. This
opportunity piqued his interest, and he
decided to indulge his own vindictive vice to
teach the people of Thorns a harsh lesson
about the Realm.
And so he waited, and sieged the city,
waiting for the Realm to betray them with
their absence. He sent seething black carpets
of chittering rats to devour the city’s food
while the rotting carcass of Juggernaut filled
the air with a fetid stink that sickened the
decadent and bloated city of Thorns. As the
city starved, they turned on each other, and
true to the Mask’s cynical predictions, the
aristocracy and military turned on their
citizens, hoarding what was left of the food
for themselves. While the people starved and
the armies and fat nobles tried desperately to
ration to themselves the crumbs that were
left, he released the city’s death knell: Pigs
carrying the Puppeteer’s Plague.
He released them by the score into the
city’s streets, and they were swiftly rounded
up by the nobility and military for
themselves, leaving the citizenry to wither
while they worried about their pampered
bellies. The decadent nobles and their
military toadies gorged themselves on these
morsels, and by the time they realized the
deception, it was too late. One by one, the
self-centered fools were slain by their own
undead skeletons, which angrily ripped their
way free of their screaming, witless hosts
only to immediately turn on the rest.
The people of Thorns watched in
despair and anger as the city’s elite
abandoned them, and when the Puppeteer’s
Plague was at its apex, they revolted. With so
much of the military that remained
succumbing to the Plague, they stood no
chance against the army of rebels that rose up
beneath them and cast the gates open,
welcoming the Mask of Winters into Thorns
to finish the job.
The Autocrat, along with his
lieutenants and personal court, was
untouched by the Puppeteer’s Plague or the
famine; Within the opulent palace they had
enough food to last the siege out for quite
some time… Especially if they didn’t share it
with anyone else. With the realities of the
Realm’s betrayal clear, the disillusioned
The Mask of Winters is not prone to
populace turned upon them next, and even
giving in to threats, but in all things, he seeks
some of the soldiery rose up after watching
to make a point. The Deathlord selected a
their lieutenants remain healthy and hale
champion from among his Abyssals, a Dusk
while they starved. In the end, the Mask
caste called Indomitable Grasp of Iron. He
might not have even needed to send in his
sent the Abyssal forward to face these
armies. He did, however, seething undead
adversaries alone, fully aware that the
swelling up like a nightmarish tide alongside
Dragonblooded stood no chance. The point
the rebel armies to sweep away the well-fed
he was proving is that the weapons of the
loyalists, Abyssal Exalted flanking the Mask
realm, the Dragonblooded, were outdated and
as he calmly strode to the palace steps,
obsolete in the face of the champions of
flashing daiklaves and wilting necromancy
Death.
turning aside all who would try to stop him.
As Indomitable Grasp of Iron hefted
There, atop the steps of the Palace, the
his mighty Grand Grimcleaver, its honed
last line of defense stood: Three
edge still stained red, the air hung still. With
Dragonblooded officers, the bodyguards of
a roar, the black-clad Dusk leapt forward,
the Autocrat. They bid the Deathlord to come
dragging the mighty axe blade in a shower of
no closer or they would slay him where he
sparks, and one by one, hacked the
stood.
Dragonblooded to red ribbons, his black

16
anima swirling about him as his glorious
butchery brought the champions of Thorns to
their knees and blessed them with the End. As
the final bodyguard lie broken on the ground,
Indomitable Grasp of Iron brought his axe
blade high, and drank in his opponent’s new
intimacy with death, studying his face during
his final ragged gasps for breath, then
slammed the colossal blade down upon him,
cleaving him, and the bricks beneath him,
neatly in twain.
The city of Thorns was therefore
taken by the Mask of Winters, and the
presence of the Abyssal exalted confirmed
within creation. This revelation sent Heaven
scrambling to figure out how this could have
happened, but unfortunately for them, death
keeps its own counsel. The Sidereal Exalted
sent one of their own, the Green Lady, to spy
on the Mask of Winters, unaware that this
Sidereal was in fact the lover of the Mask of
Winters, and the one who had told him about
the Jade Prison and where to find it in the first
place.
It is from the alienated rebels that
threw the gates open and cornered the
Autocrat that he drew his Thornguard, the
mortal soldiers that govern the city’s security.
They are wholly disillusioned with the Realm
and the aristocracy, fully understanding the
Mask’s important lessons.
The Mask of Winters commands what
is, by the reckoning of most, the largest
number of Death Knights. Abyssals in search
of answers and guidance in their rebirth tend
to seek out the most readily available
Deathlord they can find to gain insight into
their own nature, and this is usually the Mask
of Winters for those in the East and South.
The Mask is all too happy to oblige
these curious and eager souls, accruing a
sizeable force of them. Even so, the Mask of
17
Winters abstains from leaning too heavily on
them, reluctant to place them within his
command structure, preferring instead to
keep the counsel of his fellow ghosts so that
his death knights are free to pursue their own
deathly clarity. He does train and teach them
if they desire, offering his timeless tutelage to
these passionate lawgivers, though his
favored students are those of the Daybreak
caste, who take to the arts of Necromancy
with far more efficacy than the rest. In
exchange, he requires them to come when
they are called, issuing orders and commands
that his lesser confidants might not be
capable of completing reliably.
This is not universally true, however.
Red Iron Rebuke, the blind Moonshadow,
has been anointed regent of Thorns, running
the city itself while his master dwells within
the halls of Juggernaut’s fortress-body.
No one is quite sure what Mask of
Winters’s endgame is, but the most important
impact he has had among his own is that he
has brought the Deathlords into the focus of
the Realm. The other Deathlords are mostly
content to sit upon their thrones of death and
wile away eternity on their own pleasures and
schemes, and the Mask’s open warfare
endangers their own plans.
Though this section details only
a single Deathlord, The Mask of
Winters, there is no real way to know
exactly how many there are, as the only
requirement for becoming a Deathlord
is to be a ghost with the will and
fortitude to accept a piece of a
Neverborn soul without being unmade
instantly by the process.
18
 The underworld was created when the
Primordials fell. It is a second reality that
resembles Creation geographically, and then
becomes radically different in every other
way.
The Underworld’s vistas vary wildly
from haunting forests of silvery willows
flowing in an ethereal breeze, to dense,
leafless husks of barren trunks rotten nearly
to ash. The Underworld is much like the
Abyssal exalted themselves: Hauntingly
beautiful, forebodingly terrifying, and
everything in between.
The edges of Creation become the
Wyld. The edges of the Underworld simply
stop. Beyond its boundaries is the vast and
unfathomable Void, a black expanse of pure,
untainted nothingness. This oblivion wraps
above and below the Underworld as well, The Labyrinth can be compared to the
though the ‘sky’ of the Underworld does shift Wyld in several ways, though what causes its
with the day and night, its sky grey, yellow, shifting and reshaping is very different from
red, violet, or other odd washed-out color the Wyld. The Labyrinth’s form is a twisting
depending on location casting a murky, scape of dreams and nightmares, all dark and
gloom-laden glow across the Underworld foreboding, as the stuff the Underworld is
during the day, and presenting a dark and made out of is shaped by proximity to the
hazily-flecked sky bearing a blood-red moon Primordials. This happens quite slowly, and
at night. unless another entity such as a Nephwrack is
The Underworld stretches downward wielding these energies to actively alter
quite some distance before it begins to distort reality here, it does not change in perceptible
and twist, becoming the Labyrinth, a plane ways.
shaped by the dreams of the undead The Labyrinth is not beholden to the
Primordials. law of reality as mortals understand it, and
much of the Labyrinth even has “sky”, the

19
reaches of the chambers within defying
physics to become much larger than their
container. The sudden changes in the laws of
reality as imagined by the Primordials can be
extremely disorienting, and one can very
easily become lost in its depths as a result.
Relatively untouched areas of the
Labyrinth resemble the rest of the
Underworld, but with extremely exaggerated
or reality-defying features. Nephwracks
generally reside within the Labyrinth, using
their insight into the energies of their dead
masters to bend the Labyrinth into a shape
that they feel is ideal for them. As a result,
much of the Labyrinth is a tangle of
maddening non-Euclidean geometry and
shapes and forms insane beyond
understanding.
20
The primary residents of the
Underworld are ghosts. The Underworld is a
place of death, and there is very little here
which can sustain the living. Crops grow
already rotten, animals are almost always
undead, and the entropic nature of the Void
claws at them constantly, sapping their life.
But for the ghosts that well here, it is
where they feel at home. Creation is
unwelcoming for them already, the
oppressive sun holding back their forms,
requiring their precious essence to operate. In
the Underworld, however, they are
unhindered by such things. Its deathly
essence empowers them, and they are as solid
as they were in life here.
Typically, if a ghost leaves the
Underworld, they have a good reason for
doing so, for the reasons listed above. Of
course, they could also just be insane, or
hungry ghosts determined to prey upon the
living. Most ghosts, however, are simply
disenfranchised spirits to afraid of moving on
enter Lethe, tied to the world by their own
connections within it that they will not
release their hold of.
Abyssals Exalted are especially at
home within the Underworld. Here, they
respire essence readily, and the energies of
death are omnipresent. Some Abyssals have
made a home within the Underworld, going
to great expense to have the necessities of life
brought to them, or honing their essence to be
able to survive on what little is available.

Standing amidst a sea of black-
trunked maple trees with brilliant violet
leaves, the Ebon Temple stands. Carved of
dark grey stone with high-flying arches and
pointed roofs, this huge cathedral is a primary
place of worship for the dead. Many of the
offerings that are burnt in Creation are
received here, and an endless procession of
ghosts is always present.
The Midnight Caste named Cruel
Meridian also resides here, where she teaches
fellow Abyssals the art of Dread Pendulum
Style. This warrior priestess also keeps the
Ebon Temple safe from prying spirits and
ravenous Nephwracks who would claim the
offerings flowing in from Creation for
themselves.
21
Technically a Shadowland, Sijan is
worth noting due to its importance to death.
Many affluent spirits call the Underworld
surrounding Sijan their home, resulting in the
second largest city within the Underworld.
These spirits are often experts in one field or
another, and typically claim high prices for
their services.
The unofficial capitol of the
Underworld, which lies directly at its center,
analogous to the location of the Grand
Celestial Mountain in Creation. This
sprawling necropolis is where many
Deathlords still reside, playing politics or
pursuing their own goals. Stygia is easily the
largest city in the Underworld, and where the
vast majority of its ghosts reside, crowded
into the city in seething throngs. Stygia also
possesses the most direct route to the
Neverborn looming in the void below the
Underworld and the Labyrinth. At its center
is a massive depression that dips downwards
into a cavernous hole that goes directly
through the Underworld and the Labyrinth,
ending only at the Void above the Neverborn.
This yawning orifice is the primary means of
accessing the Labyrinth and the Neverborn,
though this information is relatively useless
to all but the Deathlords and the Nephwracks
who seek regular communion with their
undead masters.
Shadowlands are where the
Underworld and Creation merge. When
something dies in creation and leaves behind
a ghost, that ghost typically appears in the
Underworld at a roughly analogous location.
When something dies in a Shadowland and
leaves behind a ghost, it appears right there.
This is because a Shadowland is both
Creation and the Underworld at the same
time.
22
At dawn and dusk, the borders of a
shadowland change. Between dusk and
dawn, during the night, exiting a Shadowland
causes the one traversing the border to exit
into the Underworld. Between dawn and
dusk, during the day, exiting a Shadlowland
leads into Creation.
As a result, Shadowlands are the most
accessible way of moving between Creation
and the Underworld.
These ancient black stone rings are
engraved with glyphs. They harness the
properties of Shadowlands, existing in
Creation and the Underworld simultaneously.
While one is open, entering while in the
Underworld exits to Creation, and vice-versa.
The difficulty arises when attempting
to open one. It requires a small amount of
human blood, limiting their usefulness for
ghosts traveling alone.

The Chosen of the Dead are very
much unlike the Solar Exalts they are
morphed from, and yet in many ways, still
similar. Solars embody all that is bright and
hopeful in this word, a wellspring of
optimistic fortitude from which one may
draw dreams of a bright future. Abyssals, by
contrast, are harbingers of the stark truth.
They compose dark sonnets, sing solemn
soliloquies to the shrouded night, and are a
celebration of all things dark and majestic, a
shadow moving hand in hand with death
through the waltz of life, embracing its
sorrows and joys, and partaking passionately
of its somber truths. They are diverse and
their outlooks and methods are as varied as
the chosen of Sol or the daughters of Luna.
Just as death takes many forms, so do they.
For every stoic butcher, there is a passionate
composer. For each cruel tyrant, there is a
gentle liege. For each deceiving trickster,
there is an honorable warrior.
Indeed, it may be that the Abyssal
Exalted are more in tune with what makes life
worth living than anyone else, for they alone
know the joy and despair of both worlds,
forever dancing with death, their souls locked
in the heavenly and traumatic moment of
expiry, and with this black paintbrush, they
spill upon the canvas of Creation their intense
passions for life as only one who has lost it
and yet at the same time still lives can
understand.
23
For them, life and death are a dark and
passionate drama, a tragedy and comedy in
one, and every breath, every heartbeat, is as
precious, fleeting, and fragile as the beating
wings of a butterfly, all the more bittersweet
when the fluttering finally stops, a
punctuation to the grand design so frail.
In the gentle repose of all things they
find beauty, and their hearts soar at the
immaculate weaving tapestries of spiders, the
solemn cries of wolves raised to a pale moon
shining against the star-flecked obsidian sky,
the gently wilting petals of roses atop stark
stone graves. All things dark and beautiful
are their domain, as are the tragedies
alongside them, and thus they find a woeful
splendor in the ashen bones of a vulture-
picked corpse or in bare winter trees, twisting
black boughs writhing skyward to uncaring
heavens, haunting reminders of mortality and
the bleakness of all endings. Death is part of
their very being, and it is a terrifying and
magnificent lover, enduring in its certainty
and grandeur, and they are but the pen by
which it writes.
Such truths mean that none should count on
the Abyssal’s revel in life to save them should
Death’s Lawgivers feel that the time to cut
the fragile thread of life one hangs by has
come, for to them, that beautiful end is a
blissful moment, and the pale majesty of the
final ragged breath is a grand crescendo that
marks the finale. They drink deeply of the
splendors of both life and death. This is what
it means to be an Abyssal Exalt, and a jubilant
suffering it is.
24

It might seem difficult at first to
reconcile a creature like an Abyssal as
something heroic, but it isn’t all that
complicated. Death is an important part of the
life cycle- Things die to make room for the
new. Abyssals respect what came before, and
recognize the state of death as being one
worthy of honor. Death can also solve many
problems. When an Abyssal whirls into a
group of bandits sacking a caravan, cascading
arcs of her grand daiklave painting the
scenery with blood as her graceful pirouettes
bring the honed soulsteel edge through them,
her slaughter saves the caravan. When she
publicly condemns, and then executes, a
tyrannical despot, her expertly-implemented
murder helps the people.
25
The wanton slaughter and wholesale
massacre of everything living is almost never
the agenda of an Abyssal. These things often
steel resolves and galvanize hearts, turning
people away from Death’s tender caress. On
the other hand, death expertly placed can
make those who witness it ruminate upon its
depths and meaning. Abyssals are also
natural ambassadors between the dead and
the living, and offering comfort to the living
loved ones of the dead is a function many
perform regularly. Through acceptance of the
fate of their departed, the living gain an
acceptance for death.
At the same time, Abyssals can be
wrathful and dispensers of vengeance,
turning the bastions of their foes into corpse-
strewn abattoirs, and nothing will save the
life of a person who wrongs an Abyssal.
Abyssals transcend mortal law and the rules
of Creation, being something so much more
than those around them, avatars of the one
force nothing can stop.
However, just as with any other
Exalted, morality and personal compass vary
wildly from an individual to another.
Assuming all Abyssals are horrific villains is
as foolish as assuming all Solars are righteous
heroes, but that does not mean that evil
Abyssals do not exist. Truly, they are quite
present, and they are horrifying when they
reveal themselves, reapers of all life and
ravaging destroyers of the works of man.
Even so, just as a monstrous Solar
might draw a heroic Circle to strike him
down, so too might an Abyssal whose
misguided zeal for death causes him to
become a horror bring down upon himself an
outraged Covenant seeking to slay him for his
heinous transgressions against the Chivalry
of Death.
 Many Covenants have a name. The
most widely known Covenant is the Order of
While many Abyssals walk alone,
the Onyx Chalice, a collection of five
many more are bound to each other by bonds
Abyssals, one of each Caste, that wander the
of oath, kinship, or shared purpose. These
breadth of creation. They spread the Chivalry
groups are called Covenants, after the grim
of Death by slaying monsters, purging the
agreement each Abyssal makes to his
Wyld, hosting marvelous funerals, and
fellows. The formation of a Covenant may be
leading the common people in revel of life’s
an official thing, with each member standing
fleeting majesties, then vanishing to their
around a campfire in night-drenched woods
next location. They always manage to slip
of the underworld beyond the eyes of mortals
away before a Wyld Hunt can be brought
and swearing solemn oaths, or it might be
down upon them, electing to never stay in one
something unspoken, forged in the heart of
place overly long… And to exterminate any
battle or hardship, instinctually known by all.
Immaculates that try to stop them from
leaving.

26
 Abyssals and the Wyld are natural
enemies, and it is quite ironic that Creation’s
greatest ally against the existential threat that
is the ever-encroaching Wyld is the Abyssal
Exalted.
The Wyld represents endless creation
and potential. It is formless, ever-changing,
and ephemeral. Death, on the other hand, is
permanent, unchanging, and concrete. It is
immutable, and wholly anathema to the
Wyld, which has no power over a force so
completely antithetical to its very existence.
Therefore, the Abyssal Exalted are
the best-equipped to repel and even purge the
Wyld from Creation. They are not immune to
the Wyld’s influence by any means, but they
do not typically become addicted to it as
others do, and their deathly essence is
especially potent at counteracting and
preventing its effects.
Most Raksha are inherently
suspicious of Abyssals as a result, as they Accepting death is a comfort, as any
have less real power over them beyond what Abyssal will tell you. Abyssals routinely hurl
they can offer materially. Likewise, Abyssals themselves at dangers and foes that can and
are suspicious of Fae, as they know most will snuff them out if given the chance, with
Raksha will attempt to harm them if they can, little fear or hesitation, as they know that if
if for no reason other than to drive them off. Death chooses this time to claim them, then
so be it, and they shall walk into the familiar
embrace of death gladly.
Abyssals know that Death is coming More likely, however, is that Death
for them as well. While it is still untested if will take their foe instead. Abyssals are grim
an Abyssal can die of age, they can most harbingers, the solemn promise of fate given
definitely be killed. Most have come to terms shape, and whatever their outlook, they are
with this fact, and revel in life while they still the embodiment of Death and all of its glories
have their stay of execution. They do so fully and tragedies, and formidable foes all of
aware that the day will come eventually them.
however, as it does for all things.

27

Abyssals must contend with more
threats than monsters and the Wyld, however.
Some of the most dangerous entities in
Creation are human in nature, and as a result
Abyssals are beset on all sides by potential
threats.
Abyssals and Solars tend to be
wildcard matchups. They are as likely to
attempt to kill one another as they are to work
together, and it is quite disturbing how well
they get along on many things. While their
philosophies are certainly different, they
exercise their wills in largely similar ways-
Death-defying feats of prowess, vengeance,
and exertion of their own desires upon the
world around them.
Abyssals and Lunars, as a general
rule, do not get along. This makes it
especially awkward then that Abyssals have
Lunar Mates as well, the bond between the
Lunar and Solar spark persisting through the
transformation of the latter. Lunars are
vibrant exemplars of life, in its wildest and
most untamed forms, and thus the Abyssal
exalted are seen at least as problematic, if not
outright threats.
While the Infernal exalted are still a
relatively well-kept secret in creation, the
Deathlords that handed over their share of the
solar sparks know they must have gone
somewhere. In the very rare occasion that an
Abyssal and an Infernal meet, the outcome is
typically determined by which one figures
out the other’s identity first. If the Infernal
28
figures out the other is an Abyssal, they will
attempt to manipulate them or at the very
least get them to go away before they damage
their plans or enact their own. If the Abyssal
figures out the infernal, they will almost
universally attempt to slay them
immediately. However, an Infernal and
Abyssal union is not unheard of, and if both
can come to terms with their starkly opposed
methods, they can be a fearsome
combination.
Sidereals have made it a top priority
to destroy Abyssals until they can contain
them and figure out what they are. Abyssals
exist outside of Fate, and their goals,
machinations, and effects on the world warp
it away from Fate with every step. Abyssals
are therefore a potential existential threat to
creation through their mere existence.
Sidereals hunt and kill Abyssals regularly in
an attempt to prevent them from becoming
powerful enough to become a legitimate and
active threat. Conversely, as strict enforcers
of Fate, Sidereals are natural targets for
Abyssals, who will likewise kill them
whenever they can get their hands on them.
There are perhaps no other two exalts
that understand each other as well as
Liminals and Abyssals. While Abyssal
methods and reasoning might lean a bit
extreme and nihilistic for Liminals, they
certainly share an understanding for the
respect of death and the need for pruning the
garden of Creation.
 First and foremost, you need to ask
your ST and your fellow players what kind of
game they wish to play. Will the game focus
on the themes of life and death that the
Abyssal exalted embody, perhaps doing the
enigmatic bidding of a Deathlord, or will it
focus heavily on the stories of the Solar,
Sidereal, Dragonblooded, or Lunar exalted,
or something else entirely? Will they be
searching ancient ruins for secrets of the first
age, or traversing the bizarre and
unfathomable plane of the Underworld? Will
you be freeing a city from the Realm, or
battling the Wyld?
One or two Abyssals can work well in
a mixed group, offering a dark foil to more
traditional Exalts and providing the group
with insights and connections they would not
otherwise have. In a game focused primarily
on the Abyssal Exalted, the opportunity to
explore the mysterious Neverborn
themselves, as well as the Deathlords, the
Underworld, and the myriad themes of life
and death that the Abyssal Exalted are avatars
of, presents itself.
29
When making a character, the first
question you must answer is “What do I wish
to be doing during the game?” What aspect of
the game allures you? Is there some particular
theme you wish to explore, or some particular
archetype you wish to play? Do you want to
be an enamored warrior-poet for whom life
and death sing like a tragic duet? Or do you
wish to be the type of Abyssal who revels in
the blissful ending of life that brings life and
death so intimately together? Once you have
an idea, make sure your concept will work
with the group and won’t render the game, or
the character, unplayable.
Once your concept is decided upon,
select the Caste that best fits them. The
Castes of the Abyssal Exalted are covered in
greater depth in the next chapters. Each caste
represents an Abyssal’s unique gifts and
reflects her method of solving her problems
and interacting with the world around her.
Finally, consider your Abyssal’s
loyalties. Abyssals under the tutelage of one
of the Deathlords are typically known as
Death Knights, and generally pay respects
and loyalty to this Deathlord, though the
exact level of dedication and personal
devotion a Death Knight feels for his
Deathlord varies wildly from Death Knight to
Death Knight. Abyssals may also eschew this
relationship, wandering the lands as Death
Pilgrims, finding their own answers to the
grand design of life and the mysteries of their
own deathly essence.

Just as the Solar Exalted, the Abyssal

Exalted divide their attributes into three
categories: Physical, Mental, and Social.
Each Attribute begins with one free dot.
From there, assign each category a role of
Primary, Secondary, or Tertiary.
Distribute eight more dots among
your Primary attributes, six more dots among
your Secondary attributes, and Four more
dots among your Tertiary attributes.
• Dusk: Archery, Awareness,
Abyssals may certainly start with Brawl/Martial Arts, Dodge, Melee,
Attributes at 5 dots, representing prodigious Resistance, Thrown, War
qualities they possess, but none may be • Midnight: Athletics, Integrity,
higher than 5. Performance, Lore, Presence,
Resistance, Survival, War
• Daybreak: Bureaucracy, Craft,
Like the Solar Exalted, Abyssals tend Integrity, Investigation, Linguistics,
to have skills they rely on that can be counted Lore, Medicine, Occult
on to be stronger than others. Their Caste, • Day: Athletics, Awareness, Dodge,
being a representation of their favored Investigation, Larceny, Ride, Stealth,
approach to problems, determines what Socialize
abilities they are most apt at understanding • Moonshadow: Bureaucracy,
and learning. Larceny, Linguistics, Occult,
Find your character’s Caste below, Presence, Ride, Sail, Socialize
and from the listed abilities, select 5 to be Additionally, select any 5 abilities to
your Caste abilities. be your Favored abilities. These are abilities
that reflect the unique learning and
experience your character has that she might

30
not share with the rest of her caste, and the
only restriction upon which abilities you can
select is that they cannot be an ability you
already chose as a Caste ability.
Finally, select one of your Caste
abilities to be your Supernal ability, the
singular defining skill of your character that
expresses their most prominent strength. This
will be the skill that the Exalt writes her
legacy with, the thing her talent is greatest in.
Once you have selected your Caste,
Favored, and Supernal abilities, divide 23
dots among your abilities. All abilities except
Occult start at zero dots; All Abyssals start
with an Occult rating of 1 naturally,
representing their innate connection with the
winding energies of death. Favored abilities
must begin play with at least one dot.
Finally, assign your character three
specialties to represent their focuses within
their skillset.
31
As with Solars, Merits represent
assets owned or commanded by the Abyssal
Exalt, as well as unique or exceptional traits
she possesses. You may select up to ten dots
of Merits at this stage. Remember that Merits
are just as tangible and woven into your
character’s story as her other abilities.
Unlike the Solars, who must forge
their own destinies with little guidance from
experienced mentors or organized allies, the
Abyssal Exalted have access to the
Deathlords, whose timeless knowledge goes
back to the First Age, and they are all too
eager to secure the loyalty of an Abyssal and
add them to the ranks of their Death Knights.
At this stage you must decide if your
Abyssal is a Death Knight or a Pilgrim. Death
Pilgrims wander the world much as the Solars
do, bestowed with great power but choosing
instead to seek their own answers to the great
questions of life and death rather than rely on
the Deathlords.
If your Abyssal is a Death Knight,
that does not necessarily mean that she is a
slave or cowering servant; Most Deathlords
prefer to let their Death Knights, especially
the youngest and least experienced, go forth
and apply their gifts in the world at large,
confident in their abilities, though how close
a Deathlord keeps any particular Death
Knight varies from one to another.
Instead, the Death Knight is simply
expected to follow the Deathlord’s directives
on the occasions they are given, and in many
cases, these orders are little more than a goal
that the Abyssal is told to achieve, and may
solve that issue’s problems in the way that
best suits them.
 Meanwhile, Death Pilgrims are not
scorned by their kin or the Deathlords, and
their self-reliance is well-respected as is their
intensely personal insight into their own
nature. While they might not be able to call
upon the resources and aid of the Deathlords,
an undeath spent searching one’s own soul
and wandering the world makes each one
formidable in other ways.
Death Knight characters should select a
Deathlord to serve under. This could be one
of the three detailed in this book, or another,
approved by your ST, and they have a two dot
merit of Backing with this Deathlord. This
Merit can only be increased or lost during
play- No part of character generation may
interfere with it. They then select one of the
following Boons and add these to their
character for free:
• Six dots of Merits from a combination
of Artifact, Command, Contacts,
Familiar, Followers, Hearthstone,
Influence, Manse, Retainers, and
Resources. None of these may
individually be higher than 3 dots.
This selection represents gifts of
wealth, relics, or leadership bestowed
as signs of good faith by the patron
Deathlord. Applicable choices may as
usual be selected more than once.
• Shadowlands Circle Necromancy and
the specialties [Occult (Shape Necro-
mancy)] and [Lore (Necromancy)].
This choice represents the tutoring of
a Deathlord in the art of Necromancy.
• Five Specialties and one ability dot
which, unlike the rest of the rules of
chargen, CAN take an ability to 4
before bonus points. This represents
advanced schooling and training to
sharpen the skills she already has.

32
 Death Pilgrims, on the other hand, are
more self-reliant, and call instead upon their
own experiences and skills to solve problems.
Rather than adding gifts or specialized
tutoring from a Deathlord, they instead add
skills and insights they have developed on
their own journeys. This does not mean that a
Death Knight is less learned, or that a Death
Pilgrim is more knowledgeable; The
distinction is that a Death Pilgrim has
33
cultivated a broader array of knowledge as
they have traveled.
Death Pilgrims select five dots of abilities
and an additional specialty. These ability
dots, much like the Abilities section of
character generation, cannot take an ability
above 3. These are the skills that their travels
have bestowed upon them, learned by
experiencing life and death in their own way.
 Abyssal charms are manifestations of
their deathly certainty, essence of the Abyss
flowing through them to be their weapon.
Abyssal charms are, however, quite similar to
Solar charms. Being the dark transmutation
of Solars themselves, they are capable of the
same great heights and prodigious
achievements, and are no less potent than
Solars in this regard. In combat, they are
easily on even footing, and in all other areas,
where there is a Solar expert, there is an
Abyssal one just as efficacious. Thus, an
Abyssal’s charms should likewise match her
legend.
Select fifteen Charms, keeping in
mind that each has a requirement of raw
talent and enlightenment- Death is a lover
who shares its secrets with its paramour only
as their romance blossoms into fullness.
If you took the Artifact Merit and
selected an artifact with Evocations, you can
select those as well, trading in one starting Intimacies are the codified elements
Charm per Evocation desired. Keep in mind of what is important to your character, be
the artifact’s history, legend, and ultimate they people, places, things, concepts, or
purpose—its powers should make just as ideals. You may start with as many
much sense for its legend as an Abyssal’s Intimacies as you desire, but you must have
Charms do for theirs. See pages 611-614 in at least 4, with at least one at Defining
the 3e core book for more information on intensity, at least one at Major, and at least
Evocations. one that is Negative in some way,
The same principle applies to martial representing something the Abyssal dislikes
arts and Necromancy. You can begin with or hates, as well as one Positive, representing
Martial Arts Charms and necromantic spells the Abyssal’s favor.
(assuming your character has the The children of Invictus Sol were
Shadowlands Circle Necromancy Charm), stricken with the wordless curse of the
trading them for starting Abyssal Charms on Neverborn, a curse which no longer lingers
a one-for-one basis. within the Abyssal, purified by the favor of
(For now just use Solar charms and the dead masters of creation- Indeed, it would
make them spooky, this is really high on the be rather odd for the servants of the
to-do list but is also a REALLY BIG project.) Primordials to bear the curse they delivered
upon their foes!

34
 Instead, the Abyssal Exalted suffer
from a state of Dissonance. This metric
Your descent is nearly complete-
determines the closeness that the Abyssal
Only a few details remain. All Abyssals start
Exalt shares with death. Death is a jealous
play with a default Essence rating of one dot,
lover, and should the Abyssal neglect its
a default Willpower rating of five dots, and
attention, it will claw at her ever tighter until
seven Health Levels (-0, -1, -1, -2, -2, -4, and
she experiences a dissonance, the sudden
Incapacitated). An Abyssal’s Personal
manifestation of death’s despair and anger at
Essence Pool is ([Essence*2]+10), while
the Abyssal’s drifting from its caress. For
their Peripheral Essence pool is
more information about Dissonance, see
([Essence*8]+26).
chapter eight.

Abyssals were mortals before their

You have 15 Bonus Points to enhance
dark rebirth, and Exaltation does not erase
your character with at any point in character
who they once were- It merely paints it with
creation, which can be spent to improve or
its inviolable truths and bleak joys. Even as
purchase nearly anything (With the one
powerful as they are, they are still prone to
critical exception of the Backing of your
moments of weakness and indecision, the
Deathlord, should you choose a Death Knight
vast and unconquerable mysteries of death
boon). These can be useful to strengthen a
ever gnawing at them. What were they like
specialization, or to shore up weaknesses
before their second breath? What did people
your character has that you might not want.
think of them? What did they think of others?
However, different things have different
Who were their friends and enemies? What
costs, as shown below:
about their culture or their faith? How does
TRAIT BP COST this conflux of ideals influence who the Exalt
Primary/Secondary attribute 4 per dot is today?
Tertiary attribute 3 per dot A Black Exaltation is not something
Caste/Favored ability 1 per dot accepted lightly. It causes an intimate and
irrevocable change in a person’s soul, and
Non-Caste/Favored ability 2 per dot
they exit the other side of their grand rebirth
Specialty 1 as children of the grave, something wholly
Merits 1 per dot antithetical to hope and life- Yet their minds
Caste/Favored charm 4 remain their own. How do they feel about
this? Do they see it as a necessary curse, a
Spell (Occult c/f) 4
tragic fate they accepted for a reason, yet
Spell (Occult not c/f) 5 tragic nonetheless? Perhaps they think the
Evocation 4 opposite- There has been no greater joy than
Willpower 2 per dot the promise of the forever dance with death,
which has only made the succors of life
sweeter with its presence.

35
 Generally speaking, the merits from
the core book should be fine. A few changes
to how things work are not amiss, however.
The Abyssal may also buy the
following battlegroups:
••• A Size 2, Might 1, Elite Drill battlegroup
with Perfect Morale- Typically some form of
undead soldiers like high-quality zombies or
skeletons.
•••• A Size 3, Might 1, Elite Drill battlegroup
with Perfect Morale.
••••• A Size 4, Might 1, Elite Drill battlegroup
with Perfect Morale, or a Size 3, Might 2,
Elite Drill battlegroup- This is something like
Veteran War Ghosts or powerful undead
monsters.
As these options are all undead,
renewing their numbers generally requires
Necromancy, either to bind more ghosts or
raise more corpses.
36
The Abyssal may also take less-
intelligent Creatures of Darkness and less-
intelligent undead as familiars.
••
The Abyssal has a special bond with
the darkness, and she may ruminate on it for
enlightenment. She hears the whispers of the
Neverborn at the back of her mind when she
concentrates, divining purpose amidst the
madness.
Once per Story, she may spend a 12-
hour period meditating on the whispers. After
this, the ST offers her some sort of esoteric
information about her current quest, or
perhaps a new one, that would help her
further her current goals.
As the light withers and fades, shrinking behind the mountains and seas
before the ever-present dark, the creatures coddled by it huddle around
candles and torches in the vain hope that feeble light will shield them
from the encroaching blackness. This will not save them from the Dusk
Caste, whose arrows, blades, and fists are as inevitable as the
descending night. As warriors, they are unequalled, representatives of
the violent End, bringing screaming death with them wherever they go.
They leave behind fields of battle stained crimson, the blood of their
enemies wept deeply into the earth beneath shattered corpses. The Dusk
Caste are the hammer by which Death asserts itself, the representation
of the purest and most direct path to an intimacy with death: Sharpened
steel. The intense passions of the heat of battle move them deeply, each
stroke of their killing implements a brushstroke upon a magnificent and
profound canvas painted in all the hues of life and death intertwined.
Most Dusks were warriors long before their rebirth, but some have been
called to war by other means. For each soldier or mercenary, there is an
unfortunate traveler forced to defend herself from highwaymen, and
instead of failing and being slain, took the Black Exaltation.
Dusks are generally the most skilled combatant in an Abyssal circle,
leading the charge and delivering death where her blow lands. If a
situation calls for a violent end, the Dusk will deliver it.
Anima Banner: The Caste Mark of the Dusk is an eight-barred sunburst
of deepest black, looming on the brow. Dusk Caste anima banners are
often intense red tinged with dark blue and black, the colors of the sky
as night overtakes the withering day.
Anima Effects: Since the beginning of time, violence has been the
surest way to introduce someone to the intimacies of death, and the
Dusks are avatars of this certainty, sharpening their already implacable
killing potential to nightmarish levels. See page 38.
Caste Abilities: As the undisputed masters of combat, the Blades of
Death show potential in Archery, Awareness, Brawl/Martial Arts,
Dodge, Melee, Resistance, Thrown, and War.
Sobriquets: Setting Suns, Blades of Death, Children of the Bleeding
Sky, Night Wolves, The Unfeeling (Derogatory)

37
Do you see it? This scenery,
painted beautiful in blood? I
wish you could see it like I do.
Maybe you will. Let’s find out.

38
The apex of night settles deeply over Creation, its depths unfathomable
and its scope limitless to all who gaze into the obsidian nothing. So
complete is it that no light exists which can dispel its grasp- There is
only the silent dark. So then are the Abyssals of the Midnight Caste,
exemplars of the night’s unending majesty. These warrior poets and
dark priests are unrivaled orators, but it is their actions which forge the
night. Nephwracks and Ancestor Cultists may be complacent with
sermons and simple offerings, but the Deepest Darks are vessels of the
majestic and impenetrable veil of the night who deliver the glories of
the sleeping darkness through action. Order and stability are the
Midnights’ duty, and they fulfil it zealously.
Some Midnights lived deeply devoted lives before their dark rebirth,
leading their ancestor cult in prayer and offering and upholding their
most sacred traditions, but many were also deniers of the truths of death,
their souls moved by their new enlightenment.
The Midnight are, to the doubt of none, the most in tune with the
essences of life and death, reveling in its splendors, moved by its
tragedies, and standing as unyielding and unquestioning avatars of the
permanency and peace of death, and ensure that their circlemates never
lack for inspiration or direction in the intimacies of the darkness.
Anima banner: A Midnight Caste Mark is an infinitely dark circle,
resting as the night upon the brow. Midnight anima banners are black
and deep violet, the colors of the darkest night.
Anima Effects: The inviolable truths of death and the unyielding and
immutable nature of the void sit deeply within the essence of the
Midnight, wholly incompatible with the forces of the Wyld, ever-
shifting and constantly in flux. He is also the avatar of the natural order,
asserting unconditional justice. See page 39.
Caste abilities: Midnights are exemplars of order, unflinching and
unquestionable, an inspiration by surety of will. They excel in Athletics,
Integrity, Performance, Lore, Presence, Resistance, Survival, and War.
Sobriquets: Deepest Darks, The Implacable, Creation’s Pallbearers,
Shields of the Night, The Ruined (Derogatory)

39
 There is only one truth: All
things must end. Life exists in an
eternal struggle in which loss is
the natural outcome. Once you
accept this, it is a happy thought.

40
The secrets of the dark are the province of the Deathlords, and even
they do not know everything; After all, the Abyss has no end, and
neither does the depth of the secrets hidden beneath the surface of the
world. To the Abyssals of the Daybreak caste, these secrets are always
calling, their whispers always just at the edge of reach. It is their calling
to uncover these secrets, sharing in their black truths and unfathomable
wisdom. They are among the greatest minds in Creation, perhaps even
able to surpass the mighty Deathlords, and they will not be contained
within chirugeons’ laboratories, necrotic workshops, or ancient
reliquaries- These secrets will be yielded to them only through
discovery.
Many of the Mourning Skies were well educated in life, but more
important than knowledge possessed is the drive to uncover more.
Whether they are necrosurgeons, occultists, or spiritual mediums, the
Long Shadows are defined by an endless drive to discover and learn,
the hungering abyss always seeking more secrets to fill itself.
Daybreaks often do most of their Circle’s deeply intellectual work,
reciting ancient secrets to discover a barrier’s key or decipher an
assassin’s employer. They often provide their circle with undead
servants and deathly magic, or create profound tools made for their
allies.
Anima Banner: The Daybreak Caste Mark is an ebon circle on the brow,
filled at the top and empty below. Daybreak animas are a vibrant
cascade of dark violets, pinks, and pale golds, the color of the blood-
streaked receding night.
Anima Effects: Holding within their palms the secrets of death, Death
itself will stay its hand when the Daybreak’s time comes, and she may
bind undead to her will. See page 40.
Caste Abilities: A Daybreak is clever, sharp, and cunning, always
searching the darkness. She is adept at Bureaucracy, Craft, Integrity,
Investigation, Linguistics, Lore, Medicine, and Occult.
Sobriquets: Mourning Skies, Long Shadows, Abyssal Frost,
Whispering Spiders, Boneweavers, The Unnatural (Derogatory)

41
 Your first mistake was assuming I was
just some mortal necromancer. Your
second was following me here. I have
a few friends for you to meet…

42
There is no better place for the enemies of truth to plot than within the
light. Hidden in plain sight, the darkest things take place in broad
daylight, light being a rather ineffectual deterrent to those determined
to perform vile deeds, content that no one will ever think to look
beneath their own noses. They are wrong. The Abyssals of the Day
caste walk upright amidst the brightest radiance, fighting the self-
righteous and the sanctioned abusers within their own false sense of
security, the light being a more welcoming hunting ground for them
than their prey would ever suspect, using the arts of spycraft and
assassination to bring their targets low. While many believe them to be
slipping further from the embrace of Death, the Lightstalkers know that
what they do is what must be done.
Day caste are well-acclimated to thinking outside of the realm of the
norm. Many are unnervingly jubilant and joyful, and soak up all of life’s
carnal pleasures and death’s vibrant releases, but beneath the surface
lies an undercurrent of razor-sharp wits and deductive skills, often
formerly mortal investigators or guards who got a little too close to the
truth, but the Death Jesters could come from virtually any walk of life.
Day caste are infiltrators, assassins, and investigators, at home hiding
in plain sight or slinking across the rooftops in the night, their true
home, doling out well-placed deaths and providing intel for their circle.
Anima Banner: A Day’s Caste Mark is an empty black circle on the
brow. Day Caste animas are dark grey with flashes of pale yellow, the
color of an overcast day’s sky.
Anima Effects: It is as difficult to find a Day Caste in a royal court as it
is to find the Abyss in the noonday sky. Light bends to conceal them,
and their very anima conspires to keep their location and identity
hidden. See page 42.
Caste Abilities: Days are versatile in their subtlety, and show promise
in Athletics, Awareness, Dodge, Investigation, Larceny, Ride, Stealth,
and Socialize.
Sobriquets: Lightstalkers, Death Jesters, Daywalkers, Forbidden
Lovers, Death’s Masquerade, The Unwelcome (Derogatory)

43
 Tick, tock. You just keep
going, like a little clock, just,
tick tock, tick tock. Well, time
always runs out, friend. What,
did you think no one would
find out? Those are some
really interesting plans you
like to tick-tock.

44
There are few events in Creation more awe-inspiring or rare than a lunar
eclipse. The moon itself bows to the eternal reign of the night, dimming
feebly before its unquestionable majesty, recognizing its authority and
welcoming its glory. It is the duty of the Moonshadow to spread such
communion between the dark and light. As diplomats, they travel the
breadth of Creation and the Underworld, communing with all contained
within the designs of the Neverborn. The accords they sign bring the
influence of the night with them, encouraging others to partake of the
darkness, sharing its delights and grandeur. As ministers, they govern
with certainty and unerring skill, spreading the glories of death through
their influence. A Crowned Void is ever confident, sure, and agreeable
to all challenges.
Understanding is a rare thing between the darkness and the light. Their
insights are the keys to understanding the peace and harmony of death,
and they share this desire for unity with all they meet- But they also
understand that sometimes, for two sides to get along, one must be dead,
and they take the role of arbitrators and executioners as well.
Moonshadows tend to speak for their Circlemates, and even Death
itself, delivering the Circle’s will with sure intent and unwavering
certainty to even the most suspicious or tentative, asserting the force of
Death as unerringly and as unquestionable as the night.
Anima Banner: The Moonshadow Caste Mark is a disk within a circle,
both of blackest darkness. Their animas are the color of the brightened
stars against the blood moon- Deep violets, vibrant pale greens and
white-blues, and black as the dominant night.
Caste Abilities: A Moonshadow is as comfortable in regal courts as he
is in the wilderness, prepared to speak with the living, dead, and more.
He is proficient in Bureaucracy, Larceny, Linguistics, Occult, Presence,
Ride, Sail, and Socialize.
Anima Effects: Like the triumphant night which rules unquestionable,
the Moonshadow caste has authority over the glories of the world, and
binds it together in peace with Death. See page 41.
Sobriquets: Crowned Voids, Voices of Night, Wheels of Eternity,
Quills of the Underworld, Singing Ravens, The Condemned
(derogatory)

45
To forget one’s ancestral spirits
is tragic. They suffer without
you, and you without them. I
would be more than happy to
arrange an audience, if you wish,
and you can see for yourself.

46
As an Abyssal taps into her own deathly
nature, her soul is suffused with darkness,
declaring her glory to the world. Abyssals,
just as the Solars, possess an intensely
powerful Anima banner, invocation of their
dark prowess eventually unfolding it to the
world. At its peak, an Abyssal Exalt’s banner
is a gracefully dancing play of shadow and
light visible for miles, darkening everything
in its umbral grace.
An Abyssal’s anima is a dark depiction of her
deepest connections to life and death. The
Anima of a Midnight warrior priest might
loom like an unyielding blackness, its dark
umbrella casting an ominous shadow over all
within it. As he spends essence, the shadows
swirl into form and intensity, bands of violet
streaking through it as it colludes into deathly
clarity as a symbol of the great wheel of life
inscribed with litanies for the dead. As he
makes proclamations, billowing incense
smoke fills the air, and ghostly choruses sing
a haunting, distant aria. The Anima of a Day
caste might cast his outline in a hazy black
and gray, obscuring his form as the light tries
in vain to land upon him. As the display
intensifies, he might cast bizarre reverse
shadows, his radiant unlight turning light
against itself.
Abyssal animas intensify just as Solar ones
do, and have similar anima levels, with the
biggest difference being the way it affects the
Abyssal themselves.
47
The Abyssal’s anima is invisible to the
senses, hiding her Exalted nature. This is the
default level where an Abyssal’s anima rests.
The Exalt’s anima swirls and pulses, marking
her outline with its billowing haze. Her Caste
mark appears on her brow, its abyssal shadow
penetrating anything placed over it. Her
Abyssal nature is plainly obvious, and
flickering spectral light licks at the edges of
her features, inflicting a -3 penalty to stealth.
The Exalt’s anima blossoms into fullness,
subsuming her Caste mark into its majesty,
though the mark may reappear when she uses
powerful charms. Licking threads of purest
black coil from her body, dancing through the
air as they fade. Anything caressed by her
anima may become cold to the touch, and tiny
living things like flowers or insects might
wilt and fade at her passing. Pale, ghostly
light dances over her form, casting her
features in light and shadow that dance over
her. Stealth becomes impossible.
/
The Abyssal’s anima erupts into a grand
display of iconic majesty, unfolding into the
grand imagery chosen by the player- One
Abyssal warrior’s anima may depict a
brightly glowing skull wreathed in white
flower petals and pale ghostflame, while a
necromancer may be surrounded by the
images of skeletal masqueraders dancing to a
haunting melody. This evocative display then
collapses into a pillar of absolute darkness
with flecks of the Abyssal’s anima color
flashing along it, stretching high into the air.
Its blackness is so absolute that it is plainly
visible even against the night sky. This level
casts the area around the Abyssal in shadow,
creating magical darkness out to short range
that does not affect animate things, including
the Abyssal. She stands out in stark vibrancy
against the all-consuming darkness, lit by
unseen motes of ghostly light that dance and
flash around her form, casting a haunting,
ever-shifting glow over her. The darkness
cast by her own or another Abyssal’s anima
banner never inflicts darkness penalties on
her on the occasion that it might.

A character’s anima is the most intimate

display of essence, and it grants her access to
a few minor miracles by itself. Where anima
effects enhance a dice pool, they do not count
as dice added by a Charm.
By feeding a mote of Essence into her anima,
an Abyssal can invoke the following effects:
• The Abyssal may negate 1 point of
penalties due to nonmagical darkness for
a single roll as she subsumes the essence
of the night.
• The Abyssal may cause her Caste Mark
to appear and display itself for as long as
she desires.
• At -2 Dissonance, Abyssals can use
special effects. See page 43.
Additionally, each Caste has its own effects:
• At Requiem/Iconic anima display, the
Dusk steals half her Essence (round up)
in Initiative from the target of a Decisive
attack once per turn, after the attack hits
but before damage is dealt.
• For ten motes, all of the Dusk’s combat
and movement charms with outstanding
reset conditions are automatically reset.
This effect can only be used once per day,
becoming available again next sunset.
• The Dusk Cast inspires terror in her foes.
Half her Essence score (round up) to dice
to all intimidating social influence. She
may also intimidate targets which do not
feel fear, such as automatons, golems,
and certain Wyld creatures.

In their mad scramble to emphasize the danger of the Blades of Death, the
Immaculate Order have named the Dusk Caste as The Unfeeling, stoic and uncaring
butchers who slaughter hundreds of innocent lives wholesale without provocation
or need in a vain effort to stir their long-dead emotions. Only the Dragonblooded,
whose might is just and tempered, stand against these horrific monsters.
48

• For one mote, the Midnight’s anima leaps
from her hand to a corpse she’s touching,
wrapping it in bands of shadow. This
power perfectly preserves the corpse for
up to one year, and if the corpse has a
ghost, immediately calls it to that
location. In addition, the Midnight may
perceive the strongest Intimacies of the
deceased and may choose to accept them.
When she is ready, she may pay one
mote, touching a target of those
Intimacies to pass on feelings of peace,
love, and assurance, shedding them in the
process. She may also transfer them to an
object, allowing it to convey comfort or a
sense of duty to the subject. Conversely,
she may touch someone who caused the
deceased to suffer, paying one mote and
rolling ([A social Attribute] + Presence)
with three automatic non-Charm
successes against their Resolve to transfer
pain suffered by the deceased back on the
one who caused it. The Storyteller is free
49
to dictate the length and weight of such
attrition.
• For 10 motes, one Willpower, the
Midnight channels her Essence into an
aura of deathly certainty, surging around
an attack. This power supplements a
successful decisive attack against a fae,
creature of the Wyld, or spirit or lesser
god of Creation, preventing the Abyssal’s
Initiative from returning to its base value
after the attack. When the Midnight’s
anima is at Requiem, reduce the cost of
this power by five motes and ignore the
Willpower. This power may only be used
once per day, resetting when the night is
at its deepest.
• For seven motes, the Midnight may order
a dematerialized ghost to manifest using
a (Charisma + Presence) persuade action
with (Essence) automatic successes. All
ghosts inherently recognize the lawgivers
of Death’s authority over the forces of
death and are compelled as if by a
Defining Intimacy, but may still have
Defining Ties or Principles which counter
this advantage. If successful, the
Midnight’s very command materializes
the ghost and renders it visible and
tangible, regardless of time of day or
location, and the ghost does not need to
pay any associated cost.
Fearful of the implications of Creation’s Pallbearers, the
Midnight Caste have been retitled by the Immaculate
Order as The Ruined, horrific prophets and zealous
harbingers of death and darkness, imposing their
wickedness on the weak and the ignorant. Only the
Dragonblooded, truly righteous followers of the
Immaculate faith, stand against their pervasive evil.

• For five motes, the Daybreak summons
forth the aspect of Death itself to stay its
hand, reflexively reducing the raw
damage of all Decisive attacks against her
by [Essence] for one turn. At the
bonfire/iconic level, this power activates
itself automatically at no cost. This effect
doesn’t stack with other magic that
reduces decisive damage, but it can be
used during Initiative Crash.
• For 10 motes, one Willpower, the
Daybreak’s anima flares green and violet
and consumes her body over the course of
the round. On her next turn, she vanishes
into her anima and ceases to exist. If the
Exalt moves or suffers knockdown before
the action is completed, it fails and the
effect is wasted. After using this power,
the Daybreak will not reappear until the
following sunrise. When she does, it will
be at a place of death within 10 miles of
her vanishing point, chosen by the
Storyteller. She might appear at a
50
graveyard, a monument, a major
battlefield, a noble’s opulent tomb, a
shadowland, etc.
• For 10 motes, the Daybreak may touch an
Essence 1-3 undead creature or ghost,
conjoining its Essence to her anima. Roll
Intelligence + Occult against the crea-
ture’s Resolve. If successful, this creates
a pact that changes the undead into her
familiar, allowing her to target it with
applicable Survival Charms. In addition,
the Daybreak can reflexively summon the
undead instantly for three motes, drawing
it through the Essence of the world to
appear beside her. She may banish the
creature again, reflexively, for free,
returning it to the tides of oblivion that
suffuse the Underworld until needed. The
Twilight may have up to (Essence)
undead familiars bound in this fashion at
once. Certain powerful undead such as
Nephwracks can break this compulsion if
they desire, necessitating some form of
compromise, bargain, or cooperation on
the Daybreak’s part.
Mortified by the black powers of the Boneweavers, the
Immaculate Order has branded the Daybreak Caste as The
Unnatural, wielders of black and harrowing secrets never
meant to be wielded, utterly twisted monstrosities whose
predatory intellect knows no end to its hunger. Only the
Dragonblooded, upholders of wholesomeness and purity in
mind and form, stand resolute against their horror.
 in increasing frequency in objects and
patterns, haunted by the ever-present
gaze of the one he betrayed.
• The Moonshadow has diplomatic immu-
nity when treating with the enemies of
Death. So long as the Moonshadow ap-
proaches them on legitimate business of
some kind, lesser gods, spirits, the demon
princes of Hell, and Fair Folk who attack
the Moonshadow or her companions
without just cause, or deny them hos-
pitality, are instantly struck deaf, blind,
and numb until the Moonshadow lifts the
curse willingly, performs her stated
business then leaves, breaks the peace, or
allows a week to pass, whichever comes
first. No magic exists which can undo or
prevent this curse. Beings struck by this
curse may be attacked and even slain by
the Moonshadow or her allies without
breaking the protections. Such beings
• For 10 motes, one Willpower, the
may still attempt to provoke members of
Moonshadow sanctifies an oath she has
the Abyssal’s embassy into breaking the
witnessed. The Exalt touches the oath-
peace, voiding this effect’s protection.
givers (or their words, as they pass
through the air), her caste mark flashing • The Moonshadow represents all the
imperceptibly. If she wishes, her anima subtle movements of Essence in death,
briefly flares, swirling with the words and the strange and self-referencing powers
runes by which Death has given her the that stir when night merges with day.
right to arbitrate such matters. Moonshadows can learn the Charms of
spirits, Fair Folk and similar supernatural
• Oath-givers who break pacts sanctified
beings which have the “Moonshadow”
by the Moonshadow (including the Exalt
keyword for eight experience points each
herself) are subject to a terrible haunting
(See page PAGE).
which manifests as a Derangement which
gradually increases in intensity over the
duration, one year and one day. The
details of the haunting are devised by the
Outraged at the sway of the Singing Ravens, the
Story-teller, ideally reflecting the oath
Moonshadow Caste has been declared The Condemned by
broken. A woman who breaks a hos-
the Immaculate Order as foul deceivers of fell omens and ill
pitality oath might find herself beset by
deeds whose lies and corruptions can turn honest men into
steadily worsening horrifying nightmares
slavering thralls with but a whisper. Only the Dragon-
featuring those she turned away withering
blooded, compassionate and fair rightful rulers, stand
to ash, while a man who murdered the one
unmoved by their vile treachery.
he swore to protect will see his likeness
51

• For two motes, the Day can dampen her
anima, treating all Peripheral Essence
expenditures as if they were Personal for
one instant.
• For three motes, the Day can reduce the
dice pool of an incoming social action
that targets her Guile by [Essence]. These
motes are always considered Personal,
regardless of the pool they’re spent from.
• When the Day’s anima is at the
Requiem/iconic level, it wraps around
and suffuses her form, hiding her figure
and masking her visage in shadow. She is
merely a fearsome silhouette shrouded in
all the hues of clouds. It becomes
impossible to discern her identity. This is
considered a perfect effect, and cannot be
pierced by Eye of the Unconquered Sun
(see p. 273 of 3e core) or other all-seeing
magic.
52
When a Solar and an Abyssal meet, and both
are at their Iconic displays, the two anima
fields seek to overtake the other if they are
enemies, or join together in harmony if they
are allies.
When an Abyssal and a Solar fight, their
animas collide and roil where they meet,
boiling darkness and searing light twisting
and churning angrily as they seek to
overpower their counterpart. An Abyssal
defeating a Solar might have their anima
rolling over him, surrounding him until he is
the only point of light remaining as the
shadow closes in around him, while a Solar
defeating an Abyssal might have his anima
blasting forth, casting the Abyssals anima as
a stretching shadow that narrows behind him
until it is all but gone.
When an Abyssal and a Solar fight side by
side, a sort of union between the light and
dark is formed, resulting in a gloomy light lit
by the brilliant colors of the sun and the
flickering glow of the night, a passionate
interplay of light and dark that cavorts
uproariously where they meet.
Cursing the predation of the Daywalkers, the
Immaculate Order has christened the Day Caste as The
Unwelcome, creatures so depraved they adopt the
likeness of light to hide their darkness so they may prey
upon the unwary, murdering and torturing their
innocent victims for their own sadistic joys before
silently moving to the next tragic target. Only the
Dragonblooded, unafraid and unyielding to the terrors
of the dark, stand against their craven malice.

The curse that plagues the Exalted is a legacy
of the Neverborn, a wordless moment of
anger focused. The Abyssals, however, are
different. The whispers of the Neverborn and
the influence of the Abyss have cleansed the
Abyssal Exalted of the curse.
Instead, they are forever intertwined in
Death’s loving embrace. Death is a jealous
lover, and should the Abyssal stray too far
from its tender caresses, the essence of death
within them will become distraught, the
disenfranchised energies weeping sorrow-
fully at the waning affection of the Exalt it is
bound to. Once this reaches a crescendo, its
despair turns to anger, and it forcefully
reasserts itself upon the Abyssal’s psyche.
This is called a Resonance, and once death is
satisfied that the Abyssal has remembered
her affections, her Dissonance fades. Once
she reaches eight points of Dissonance, she
experiences a Resonance.
Resonances are not unpleasant for the
Abyssal. As death brings the Exalt back into
its welcoming embrace, the Exalt is reminded
of the surety of death. Though traumatic, they
feel pleasant, or at least insightful. After a
Resonance, the Exalt resets to full temporary
Willpower. Once the Resonance ends, the
Exalt loses all points of Dissonance.
As the Exalt gains Dissonance, Death’s
scorn becomes ever more apparent,
manifesting in different ways as it tries to
rein in the Abyssal and either remind her of
what she is or punish her for her infidelity.

Dis. Effect
In addition to -1’s benefits, she may feed a mote into her Anima to empower them to more potent heights- Flame
near her might turn black or violet, glass might frost over, her eyes might burn with ghostly fire, her voice might
ring like death bells, and her shadow might twist into monstrous forms and act on its own, among other harrowing
-2 effects. She may use these displays to augment social actions, gaining one die to Threaten, Inspire, or Persuade
actions with an appropriate stunt using these abilities. In addition, she always adds 1 to her Resolve when someone
attempts to erode a death-oriented Intimacy she holds.
Minor deathly phenomena surround her at will, such as candles snuffing out or guttering when she enters a room, the
-1 air growing cold around her, her eyes emitting a faint glow, the sound of faint chimes as she speaks, a malformed
shadow, and other supernatural effects.
0 Nothing.
Minor harmful effects may occur in her presence, such as the spoiling of food, the sickening of small animals,
1-4 strings of bad luck, and other effects that might get attributed to coincidence... But the Abyssal knows the true
source of these misfortunes.
In addition to more frequent 1-4 effects, more dangerous and personal harmful effects manifest, such as feelings of
5-7 illness, terrible visions or nightmares, a reflection which stares back angrily, and other ill omens and deathly
sensations as death tries to force the Abyssal’s attention back to itself. This is likely to inflict a temporary
Derangement until brought back below this level.
53 She may begin coughing up black ichor, she may
1-4 effects are basically constant. 5-7 effects are frequent.
8 constantly feel like she is about to die, she might feel the blow that should have killed her when she exalted at all
times, and at a time the ST decides, a Resonance will occur.
Unlike the limit track of most Exalts, the
Dissonance track can actually go into the
negatives, representing that the Exalt has
fully embraced her lover and through this
union her deathly presence may become
stronger when she wishes. Also unlike other
limit tracks, Dissonance tops out at 8, and
the lowest is -2. The base Dissonance is still
0, however, and this is where she resets to
after a Resonance.
Listed are some examples of Resonances, and
the ST selects an appropriate one based on the
scenario. The ST is also free to make up one
and use it as well. Any Resonance is ended
early if the ST decides that adhering to it
would cause the Abyssal to defy the Chivalry
of Death.

The Exalt is consumed with an all-

encompassing existential sorrow, and this
black mood drives her to places of death to
grieve and study the dead, seeking to rekindle
her understanding of death. This Resonance
lasts for one scene. Nothing except self-
defense will stir the Exalt from her somber
retreat, ending it prematurely.

The Exalt is driven deeply into the

understanding that death ails all wounds and
ends all sorrows. She delivers the peace of the
grave to any who seem to be suffering or in
pain for whom no immediate and lasting
recovery seems possible, mercifully killing
them before their misery can continue. This
Resonance lasts for one session, but being
forced to kill something she has a Major or
Defining positive tie towards will end it
prematurely before the killing blow can land.
The Exalt becomes sure of the temporary
nature of all things in the face of the Void,
becoming cold and calculating. She is treated
as having no intimacies whatsoever and
makes decisions based purely on prag-
matism. This imposes a -2 penalty on all
social rolls, and this Resonance lasts one
session. It may be ended prematurely if her
purely logical thinking would lethally
endanger someone or something she holds a
Major or Defining positive tie towards.

54
Unlike Solars, who have a specific limit
trigger, Abyssals instead maintain the
Chivalry of Death, a concept which is less a
self-imposed ruleset and more like a
codification of the motivations that compose
their essence. It is their humanity which
causes them to both defy and obey it, and
working against it causes them to defy their
own essence. When they do this, they roll
Dissonance Dice, and for each success on
each die they gain a point of Dissonance. In
all things, they must spread the influence of
death, and below are the core tenets.
The Abyssal may only spare the life of an
enemy if sparing that life would cause the
enemy to gain a higher opinion- Positive or
negative- Of death. Sparing a foe without this
causes the player to roll a Dissonance Die.
Moonshadows may ignore this rule- For
them, sparing a life might give them a social
or political advantage to spread their
influence.
The Abyssal must visually convey the
messages of death, wearing funeral garb,
morbid imagery and adornments, and other
such trappings of death. Wearing anything
obviously visible and clearly made of
Soulsteel fills this requirement. The Abyssal
may go one scene without fulfilling this
requirement before accruing Dissonance.
Every scene afterwards where she shuns the
visage of death she rolls a Dissonance Die,
and for each scene after rolls an extra per
scene (2 die for two scenes, 3 for three, etc.)
Days may ignore this rule- They know their
true allegiance, and it is ideal that their quarry
does not until it is too late.
55
The Abyssal should not answer to the name
she held in life. Rebirth is an intimate thing,
and the creature that emerges from the Black
Exaltation is antithetical to what it once was.
Her own name therefore has power against
her. Acknowledging her original name as
hers causes her to roll a Dissonance Die.
Daybreaks may ignore this rule- The secrets
of the dead have no power over them.
The Abyssal should respect the state of death.
Corpses, bones, and body parts used as
soldiers, decoration, or threat displays should
be used tastefully and respectfully, especially
trophies, as the glories of death should not
repulse the onlooker- This drives them away
from it. When deciding to display a dead
body or part of one in a sickening way, they
must roll a Dissonance Die.
Generally speaking, anything clearly revolting. In place of
spearing rotting corpses on pikes, instead preserve and place
them resting peacefully in neat rows. The message is clear-
These men are dead for resisting, but instead of instantly
turning in disgust, the enemy will likely bury their comrades
and respect the Abyssal, spreading an intimacy with death.
Dusks may ignore this rule- The end they
bring is full of violence, and they may display
this proudly.
The Abyssal should not interfere with death
or its results. They should neither attempt to
permanently destroy a ghost or Nephwrack or
help them achieve Lethe, else they roll a die.
Midnights may ignore this rule- As the
ultimate arbiters of death’s message, they
alone have the authority to declare an end to
a ghost’s service to death.
There are myriad ways for Abyssals to accrue
Dissonance, and the effects of Dissonance
can be quite daunting. Fortunately, death is
ever welcoming, even of those who stray, and
there are multiple ways to lower Dissonance
as well.

The Abyssal must not only defeat a powerful

enemy, but also break their will, wholly
asserting the dominance of the End. The
enemy must lose their will to live. Physical
torture may not achieve this goal- Their
psyche must accept death, not simply seek to
escape pain. Completing this goal removes a
point of Dissonance. If this happens in sight
of that enemy’s followers and it moves them
to despair as well, remove another. 1/Story.

Death’s influence is spread in positive ways

as well as overt fear and despair. When the
Exalt helps the angered loved one of a
deceased person accept that person’s death
and be at peace with it, the Abyssal removes
a point of Dissonance. 1/Story.
There is perhaps no more sustaining
influence for Death than the Ancestor Cults.
Whenever an Abyssal helps to grow or
empower an Ancestor cult in a significant
way, or protect one from destruction, they
remove a point of Dissonance. If they form a
brand new Ancestor Cult in an area that has
never had one or has had the old one stamped
out, they also remove a point. If the new
Ancestor Cult springs up in direct defiance of
a force that strictly forbids it and it takes
significant root, remove another. This may
only happen once per story, per Cult.
Whenever an Abyssal completes a Major task
for a Deathlord, powerful Nephwrack,
prophecy of death, or some other source of
goals stemming directly from the influence of
death, she removes a point of Dissonance. If
the task was Defining, she removes two
points of Dissonance instead.
If the Abyssal lands a killing blow that causes
the target to become an Abyssal Exalt, in
light of this immeasurably momentous
occasion she resets to 0 Dissonance if she had
a positive amount. If she had -1, she moves to
-2, and if she had -2, she gains 2 temporary
Willpower.

56
 Much like other Exalted, Abyssals
have expressions of power identified as
Charms.
In the sense of how they
manifest, they are more similar to Solar
charms than Sidereal ones, being less hard
rules and specific operations than a
categorization of their effects. Abyssal
Charms are as varied as their wielders;
Essence Projection Technique may manifest
as a streak of ghostly light carrying them
forward for one Abyssal, or as a cloud of
boiling black smoke they leave in their wake
for another. The effect, however, is the same;
The Abyssal was in one place. Now they are
in another.
In most cases, however, Solar charms
fit the bill mechanically. Charms detailed
here are alterations or replacements to
existing Solar charms, and qualify as that Living-only: A charm with this tag can only
charm for prerequisites. Otherwise, you can affect living targets. This is typically for
simply re-style Solar charms to fit. charms that affect training or learning, which
Most Abyssal Charms, unlike many undead notoriously have trouble doing (And
Solar charms, are very obvious when in use. improving undead is better done with
Swirling shadow, motes of ghostly light, an necromancy anyway).
unnerving chill- Death manifests itself Undead-only: A charm with this tag can only
readily. Using Personal Essence negates this, affect undead targets. This is typically for
however, but the fact remains- Abyssals find charms that bolster certain familiars or for
it much more difficult to hide their true nature medicine and craft charms relating to
than their Solar and Infernal counterparts. assembling complex undead creatures.

57
A note on Abyssal subtractors: Other
exalted add values to their own actions;
Abyssals remove values from their targets.
Note that that is all this is; Reducing an
enemy’s Defense to 0 does not classify the
attack as ‘unblockable’ or ‘undodgeable’ for
instance- It just means that the target’s values
are dramatically lowered. Additionally,
under normal circumstances, reducing a
target number to less than zero causes the
value to be counted as zero during the roll.
58
Due to the entropic nature of Abyssals,
however, if Abyssal magic reduces the target
number into the negatives, she gains full
advantage against the negative value.
For instance, if she reduces a target’s
defenses to -1, then rolls an attack that gets 5
successes, it counts as 6 net successes.
Abyssals are as potent as the Solars
they mirror, and their excellency operates
identically. For one mote per die, they may
increase their dice pool up to
[Attribute+Ability] for any ability they have
at least one dot in, and they can increase their
static values (Such as Parry or Evasion) by
one point per 2 motes, no more than doubling
the original value.
 Three Fingers ran. Pumping his legs,
he looked behind himself. The black
silhouette on the street had moved to a
rooftop overlooking the thoroughfare. It was
little more than a speck now.
He stopped to catch his breath, still
looking at it. Even in the dark, he could see
the shadows licking like smoke off her form,
her glimmering crimson eyes glinting
beneath the hood that obscured everything
else. The crossbow she had raised was at her
side now. Three Fingers grinned. The woman
must have known he was too far away to hit.
Three Fingers pulled one of the coins
he had stolen out of his pocket, and smugly
flipped it into the air. He felt a sudden pain in
his chest, and looked down; A shaft of pure
shadow penetrated straight through him,
connected to the distant speck by a black Archery governs the use of
chain. He felt himself being dragged down crossbows, bows, flamepieces, and other
the street back toward the speck as it reeled projectile-launching weapons that use their
him in, the chain snaking back into the own force to propel a piece of ammunition or
woman’s arm as it pulled. The coin clattered a blast of energy a great distance.
to the ground as Three Fingers slid down the
street.

Archery was pretty easy because a lot of the effects in Archery

translate pretty well to an Abyssal theme without much modification.
I did know that one effect I wanted to have was a ranged grapple, and
thus we have Soul-Shackling Spike. Other than that, Solar Archery
charms feel, mechanically, very translatable to an Abyssal theme,
with some style or visual modifications to really sell them.

59
 Horror Strike goes off like a spectacular flare that
can be seen for miles—every target using
Replaces Fiery Arrow Attack
shadows for cover within two range bands must
Cost: 2m; Mins: Archery 4, Essence 1 roll Stealth, with a -2 success penalty to the
Type: Supplemental attempt, or be revealed. Every natural light source
Keywords: Decisive-only out to Medium range is then immediately
extinguished.
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Phantom Arrow Technique
Charging her arrow with Essence, the Exalt fires
a shot composed of searing blue-white ghostfire
that screams through the air like a burning comet.
If the arrow strikes flammable materials, a violent
azure blaze instantly seeks to consume the struck
object. This fire is supernatural, and while it does
not spread uncontrollably like normal fire, it
cannot be put out by anything other than magic.
When used in a decisive attack against a target, it
adds one automatic success to the damage roll. If
the attack does at least three health levels of
damage, the target catches on fire, and must
contend with (Abyssal’s Essence) lethal dice of Replaces Seven Omens Shot
damage every turn until he’s able to extinguish
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Archery 5, Essence 3
himself or remove the source of the pyreflame
(Typically the arrow itself). Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Accuracy Without Distance
Replaces Dazzling Flare Attack
Focusing the surety of death, the Abyssal runs out
Cost: 3m; Mins: Archery 5, Essence 2 the target’s hourglass, pulling closer the moment
Type: Reflexive of his death and simply being the one who strikes
Keywords: Decisive-only that killing blow once it has arrived. The Abyssal
Duration: Instant must take a special “long aim” action—an aim
action lasting three rounds—against a single
Prerequisite Charms: Pyreflame Arrow
target in order to use this Charm. Invoking The
The Abyssal shoots from her heart; the arrow is Final Nail converts the normal +3 bonus dice
part of her. She can reach forth, and imbue the from aiming into three non-Charm points of
arrow with the wrath of all-consuming Death, Defense reduction and adds any extra successes
transforming the arrow into a screaming swarm on the attack roll to the attack’s raw damage.
of ghostly skulls that soar across the battlefield Accuracy Without Distance can shorten the
like an undead meteor. This Charm can only be action by a single round, but may only add a
activated on an attack supplemented by single non-Charm point of defense reduction for
Pyreflame Arrow; when the attack generates at each round shortened. Killing an opponent with
least one 10, this Charm reduces the target’s this Charm awards the Abyssal one point of
defense against that attack by 1, and for each 10 Willpower.
in the attack roll it increase the raw damage of the
attack by 1. As the name suggests, Screaming

60
Replaces Revolving Bow Discipline
Cost: 8m, 1wp; Mins: Archery 5, Essence 3 Change to Heart Eating Incineration: The
Type: Simple soul is not destroyed by this attack (and thus
Keywords: Decisive-only does not trigger a Dissonance die.)
Duration: Instant Clarification to Dust and Ash Sleight:
Prerequisite Charms: Phantom Arrow Technique Essence 5 repurchase returns defense
The Lawgiver imbues her shot with the reduction, as per the prerequisite.
overpowering essence of the Void. The Exalt
fires an arrow bound to her hand with a chain
made of shadow which ensnares the target on
impact. If the target’s hardness would prevent
damage, roll damage anyway (but don’t deal
any). If the attack hits, the target is automatically
grappled and the Abyssal gains control for a
number of rounds equal to the amount of
successes on the damage roll minus the target’s
remaining Willpower, minimum 1. Therefore, if
she rolls 10 damage dice and gets 4 successes,
and the target has 2 willpower, the Abyssal gains
control for 2 rounds. The Abyssal does not suffer
the penalties for grappling. The Abyssal can use
her combat action to restrain/drag the target,
which does not expend rounds of control or
require the Abyssal herself to move, or send her
essence surging down the chain to Savage her
target using [Strength + Archery].

At Essence 4+, the Abyssal can also use her

combat action to perform a throw or slam.

61
62
 Silvered Blood of the Moon raised his
blade, baring his glimmering fangs at the
shadow chasing him. His golden eyes
struggled to keep track of the blur wreathed
in shadow that sped toward him, the crimson
pinpricks of light emanating from behind the
figure’s mask locked onto him. The figure
erupted into a haze of black smoke as it
flashed between the rooftops to get closer,
and Silvered Blood of the Moon snarled at the
emissary of death now revealed.
He pulled the reins on his dozen-
legged serpent, and it tore off across the
rooftops, splintered shingles sent flying as the
colossal beast clambered atop the city.
Silvered blood of the moon gazed backward
to find his pursuer, which sped toward him,
footfalls leaving pools of ink-black darkness,
and it vanished in a cloud of smoke. He stared
behind himself, trying to find his attacker,
and felt his mount lurch to a halt, shrieking.
He whipped around to find his
pursuer now in front of him, blade buried to
the hilt in his mount’s head as it collapsed Athletics governs physical superiority
atop the roof. With a flash, the figure was through speed, strength, and balance.
upon him, and the enraged Raksha found
himself in a deadly struggle against this
harbinger of darkness.

Athletics was a unique challenge because I needed to

represent the supernatural nature of Abyssals… But Solar Athletics
charms already do that pretty well mechanically. A few charms were
therefore changed to really exemplify this, but Abyssal Athletics is
largely unchanged from Solar Athletics.

63
Replaces Monkey Leap Technique Replaces Onrush Burst Method
Cost: 3m; Mins: Athletics 2, Essence 1 Cost: —; Mins: Athletics 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental Type: Permanent
Keywords: None Keywords: None
Duration: Instant Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None Prerequisite Charms: Lightning Speed
The Exalt surges her dark essence through The Abyssal uses her foe’s attempts to evade
herself, letting it carry her forward in a streak death against her, pressing death’s
representative of her anima. Using this technique, inevitability down upon them with each fateful
a Solar may teleport forward or straight up one step. On successfully rushing an opponent, the
range band to a location she can see, even if there Exalt gains an amount of phantom Initiative
is intervening scenery. An Abyssal using this which does not affect her position in the turn
Charm can easily appear at the top of a twenty order or increase her actual initiative; Instead,
foot wall or cross a Stygia street over rooftops, it adds its value in damage to the next Decisive
without having to roll. This Charm counts as the attack the Abyssal makes. This value is equal
Abyssal’s movement for the turn. If the Abyssal to the amount of threshold successes the
continues to warp to a different range band each Abyssal won the rush action by. If the rushed
turn, the cost is reduced to one mote after the first opponent makes a withering attack against
activation. her and deals damage, this phantom initiative
is drained before her actual initiative.
If the Exalt knows Living Wind Approach,
using that charm adds [Essence] phantom
Replaces Foe-Vaulting Method
initiative to this charm.
Cost: 3i; Mins: Athletics 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Graceful Crane Stance,
Essence Projection Technique
Like a black nightmare, the Abyssal flashes
through her opponent as a whirling shadow. At
close range, if the Exalt has higher Initiative
(before cost) than her foe, she may use this Charm
on her turn, rolling Dexterity + Athletics against
her opponent’s Parry. If successful, she dashes
through her target, creating an opening, and may
make a surprise attack (see p. 203, core) inside of
them or at their back. This Charm may only be
used once per combat, but is reset by landing a
decisive attack and building Initiative to 6+.

64
Replaces Ten Ox Meditation Replaces Demon-Wasting Rush
Cost: 2m, 3 successes per point; Mins: Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Athletics 5, Essence 3
Athletics 5, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Keywords: None
Duration: One feat Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Increasing Strength Prerequisite Charms: Racing Hare
Exercise Method
The Abyssal infuses an object with entropy, No matter how quickly the light travels, it
withering and eroding it until its rotten or finds the darkness has beaten it there and is
corroded husk weighs barely anything and has
already waiting. An Abyssal with this Charm
no strength left. This Charm supplements an
can activate it when successfully overtaking
attempt to lift or break something, allowing
the Abyssal to attempt an action with a
an enemy that is disengaging or withdrawing.
prerequisite beyond her current Strength She appears in front of them in a whirling
rating. Pay two motes and roll the Exalt’s burst of shadow, making an immediate
(Strength + Athletics) as normal, reducing the reflexive Decisive attack that does not
feat’s Rating by one point per 3 successes paid consume her action for that round and ignores
as needed, until the Abyssal meets the Hardness.
prerequisite. Note that she must still have
enough successes remaining, after reducing
the rating, to meet the difficulty requirement
of the feat. The object returns to normal after
the feat has been completed.

65
 They had escaped, but even so, Red
Scar Tribute ordered his men to stay quiet.
The caravan headed to Fortitude they had hit
was a lot more difficult to knock over than
they had anticipated, and it was all because of
their guard. He still got shivers thinking
about that colossal axe swinging in great arcs
through his men, streamers of blood flowing
like fountains with each swing, and he wasn’t
about to let himself be followed.
They had taken every precaution, and
there was no way they could be found within
this abandoned labyrinth. Even so, he got the
uneasy feeling he was being watched, but
figured it would pass. He ordered his men to
finally stop and set up camp so they could
count the haul, the gnawing feeling of unease
still eating at the back of his mind.
He let himself relax, until eventually,
he heard slow footsteps down the
labyrinthine hall. He shushed his men,
waiting for them to pass, but they kept
approaching. His heart sank as a broad, Awareness governs the ability to perceive the
black-clad figure strode through the world around oneself with the senses.
doorway, Grimcleaver in his hands, azure
eyes shining from beneath his metal mask…

This was difficult to the point I couldn’t think of anything

good to do with it. Almost every action I could think of would have
been better as a Socialize charm. I did find some inspiration and made
a couple charms that I hope will work alright.

66

Replaces Sensory Acuity Prana
Cost: 6m; Mins: Awareness 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Abyssal’s senses heighten, the spike of
essence drawing out the vibrancy in life’s
smallest details. The Abyssal’s senses are
heightened and attuned to minute motions
and sounds, dim and noisy conditions. She can
differentiate between subtle tastes and
textures with only the slightest variation. Thus
sharpened, it is more difficult for characters to
escape her notice, or to deceive her hunting
senses. For the rest of the scene, the Exalt’s
Awareness rolls reroll 1s until they fail to
appear. She sees in complete darkness
perfectly, suffering no penalties whatsoever
from nonmagical darkness, and gains
[Essence] non-charm dice when rolling
against the effects of magical darkness.
Replaces Surprise Anticipation Method
Cost: —; Mins: Awareness 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Life-Revel Essence
Prana
Upon learning this technique, the Abyssal can
feel the life or death essence of creatures
around her. Nothing blocks this property
except magic that wards against scrying.
Whenever the Abyssal is within Long range of
a living creature, an undead, or a creature of
the Wyld, her relevant senses will zero in with
deadly focus on the source of the essence,
enhancing her Awareness to make the
creature known to her. Breath of the Void has
67
two functions. First: for every 9 she rolls on an
Awareness check to locate a creature, she
gains a single mote of Essence, and for every
10 she gains two. This charge of Essence can
only be used to offset the cost of activating
Awareness Charms to reveal a creature. Any
creature revealed with this charm is identified
to the Abyssal if she has encountered it before,
or its type of she has not. Additionally, because
she can discern the identity of a living creature
based on its essence, all her rolls to contest
disguises gain double 7s, as long as the target
is disguised as someone she has met. Second:
her senses function even when she is asleep or
Incapacitated, allowing her to use any of her
Awareness Charms subconsciously. A creature
revealed to the Abyssal while she is asleep or
unconscious automatically revives her,
allowing her to react.
Replaces Eye of the Unconquered Sun
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Awareness 5, Ess 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Awakening Eye + Any
3 non-Excellency Awareness Charms
Abyssals represent the omnipresent and ever-
imposing reality of inevitability, and the
reaper sees all, and all is his domain. While this
Charm is active, the Exalt’s eyes glow with
unholy power. She may view any location within
[Essence] miles by looking directly at it, seeing
that place as clearly as if she stood there,
bypassing intervening objects. Only areas warded
from scrying remain darkened to her sight.
Anyone upon whom the Abyssal spies using this
Charm gains a vague feeling of being watched if
his player makes a reflexive (Perception +
Occult) roll at difficulty 5. Only those with
appropriate forms of Essence-based perception,
however, can actually recognize and understand
the Charm at work.
68
 Brawl governs bare-handed fighting,
including striking, kicking, and grappling,
but for Abyssals, it is also used to directly
channel deathly energies to and from a target.

This was really fun. I knew I wanted to do a lot more with grappling,
as there was a lot of potential there for Abyssal Brawl. Moving ABV’s
replacement into Grapple, I feel, really helps solidify this. This is the first
charmset where there was enough room to really work my spooky magic.
Note that despite replacing One with Violence, Soul-Siphoning Touch
requires Unbreakable Grasp instead of Falling Hammer Strike.

69
Replaces One With Violence
Cost: —; Mins: Brawl 5, Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Unbreakable Grasp
Abyssal brawlers are warriors of pure force,
carried by a deep and profound understanding
of death, able to channel its energies through
their iron grasp and tear the enemy’s essence
from the body of their foe and into their own.
This Charm enhances the act of driving a target
into initiative crash with a Brawl or Martial
Arts attack, awarding her motes equal to (her
Essence or three, whichever is higher).
Replaces Striving Aftershock Method
Cost: 3m; Mins: Brawl 5, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Dual
Duration: Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Soul-Siphoning Touch
Channeling her essence through her limbs, the
Abyssal sprouts black, razor-sharp hooked
talons from her fingertips, allowing her to
rend her target limb from limb with little
effort. Her Withering attacks deal an
additional point of post-soak damage, her
Overwhelming becomes her Strength if that
would increase it, and her decisive attacks deal
aggravated damage.
She may pay 1wp to end this charm when she
deals damage with a Decisive attack, ripping
her foe apart. She either doubles her Raw
damage for the attack or inflicts a Crippling
penalty on her target equal to half her Essence
(Rounded up), target’s choice. This charm may
only be used once per scene.
70
Replaces Superior Violent Knowledge
Cost: 4m; Mins: Brawl 5, Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: One grapple
Prerequisite Charms: Talons of Death
The Abyssal’s deadly grasp crushes her foe’s
life force with terrifying effects, ravaging her
body and numbing her mind, ripping her foe’s
strength from their body and suffusing their
own with it.
When winning a control roll against a target
and gaining two or more rounds of control, she
may activate this charm. She temporarily
decreases her target’s natural soak, attack
rolls, defenses, and raw damage on Withering
attacks by 1. This effect lasts until the end of
the grapple. The Abyssal then increases her
own Physical attributes by 1 dot each
temporarily. They may exceed 5 this way, but
do not count as natural dots. This ends once
the grapple ends.
Replaces Inevitable Victory Meditation
Cost: 1 dam/mote; Mins: Brawl 5, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Withering-Only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Husk-Draining Grip
The Abyssal is an all-consuming void that
seeks to be filled, taking from her foes
whatever she can. She opens her mouth,
inhaling her target’s essence as they are
helpless to fight back.
The Abyssal makes an unarmed withering
savage against a grappled target. After dealing
damage, she may pay a point of the initiative
gained from the attack to instead regain 1
mote. If she crashes the target, she may also
pay initiative from the crash bonus. If the
target has a mote pool, they lose half the however. Furthermore, Void-Born Prophecy
amount of motes that the Abyssal stole. If they Manifestation makes the Abyssal as
do not, then for every 5 motes taken by the indestructible as Death itself. For the duration
Abyssal, they must roll an Aggravated damage of the Charm, no amount of withering damage
die. can crash her unless it is delivered from close
range. If the Abyssal knows Orichalcum Fists
of Battle, she may activate that Charm and its
prerequisite reflexively when she assumes
Replaces Ascendant Battle Visage this Charm, paying only six motes and ignoring
Cost: 15m, 3a, 1wp; Mins: Brawl 5, Essence 5 the anima and Willpower cost to do so. In
Type: Reflexive addition, Unbreakable Grasp’s cost is halved. If
she knows the Charm River-Binding Wrath,
Keywords: None
she may store grapple or control successes to
Duration: One scene use on other grapple or control rolls.
Prerequisite Charms: Supremacy of War If she kills a target with a Decisive Brawl attack
Meditation while this charm is active, she tears its essence
Channeling her anima through her form, the from their body as a glowing orb, crushing it to
Abyssal takes on the aspect of the reaper, consume it and fuel her wrath. This charm’s
becoming a manifestation of purest death, mote cost is retroactively reduced by the
dark and twisted, her unholy form drifting Essence rating of the slain foe, refunding the
across the field of battle like a killing breeze, motes immediately and reducing the
her ephemeral and flowing movements commitment. The commitment cannot be
reaping all it sees. During this charm, her reduced below 0 like this, though she will
anima will never rise to Iconic or fall below continue to gain motes by consuming the
Burning, the shadow of death surrounding her essence of her foes.
as it whirls through the air. During this time,
the Exalt may fly and hover at her normal
speed. Directing an attack at her costs 1i, and
Disengage and Withdraw actions taken by foes
within Short range of her gain only a single
success from tens. She may rush enemies up to
two range bands away, which drags the target
closer to her rather than moving her. She may
move two range bands as long as she is moving
directly toward an enemy.
So powerful is the aura of death she exudes
that all enemies within Close range of her are
subject to a special Environmental hazard that
deals Withering damage. The difficulty of this
hazard is equal to her [Essence], with a
damage value of 4. If they are grappled by the
Abyssal, they automatically fail the difficulty
roll. The Abyssal gains this initiative, but may
not gain more than [Stamina] per round. She
may apply Ever-Consuming Maw to the
damage done by this aura with no cap,

71
72
 Awareness governs the ability to perceive the
world around oneself with the senses.

This was difficult to the point I couldn’t think of anything

good to do with it. Almost every action I could think of would have
been better as a Socialize charm. I did find some inspiration and made
a couple charms that I hope will work alright.

73
 Ringed Oak Branch opened his eyes.
Standing over him was a man clad in leather
garb with a hood and a beaked mask,
gathering medical tools. The last thing he
remembered was being attacked by a
mercenary from an ally, he and…
“My brother!” he yelled, trying to bolt
upright, looking around. He saw his brother
there on a table next to him. He wasn’t
moving. The doctor put a hand on his chest
and forced him back down. He reached to
slap away the mysterious man’s hand, only to
find his right arm did not respond. In horror,
he looked at the stump where it used to be.
The doctor put a needle in his arm,
and he went limp and numb. He watched as
the doctor carefully removed his brother’s
right arm, and attached it to his own stump,
and watched it slowly transform into his own.
The doctor looked down at him.
“His death was not in vain. He is with
you now forever. If you would like to think
Medicine is used to treat and diagnose
of it this way, he will be the one that strikes
maladies, diseases, poisons, and trauma to the
the blade of vengeance through his killer
body of a creature.
should you choose to hunt him. Rest.”
Ringed Oak Branch’s vision went
blurry, then dark. His brother would have
vengeance.

This was so fun. At first it was a challenge, but it occurred to me: Abyssals see the body differently. To a
Solar, the body is something holy. To an Abyssal, its just a collection of pieces which, as long as most of the pieces
work, the end result is a functional body. As a result, all that Abyssal medicine really needed was to exemplify that
the body is a disposable meat husk, whose pieces can be taken out and put back as needed. The only purpose of a
body is to contain a soul, and so Abyssals take a much more academic (and macabre) outlook on medicine.

74
Replaces Wound-Mending Care Technique
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Medicine 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One hour (Possibly more)
Prerequisite Charms: None
Through thorough academic trial, the Abyssal
categorizes and analyzes details about an
organism, down to the supernatural. She may
spend an hour (Or more, if the creature is
particularly large) dissecting a creature and
making thorough notes about the minutiae of
its physical operation and any ailments that
have befallen it. The physician gains a library
of dissected creatures and analyzed diseases
and poisons.
After dissecting a creature as outlined above, she
populates this library with, at the very least, the
creature’s species. Basic humans are all the same
species, though wyld mutants, beastmen, exalts,
and other altered humans are their own
categories. The Physician is assumed to
understand the bodies of Humans and Abyssal
Exalts by default, as well as any other species
and/or poisons and diseases associated with the
species appropriate for backstory and intimacies.
If the creature was poisoned or diseased at the
time of the dissection, she also adds the disease
or poison to the library, tied to the creature.
Whenever the physician makes a Medicine roll,
she can cite an entry in this library. If her
anatomical knowledge would apply in the
situation, she gets double 9s on the roll.
Additionally, when performing basic medicinal
wound care on a creature, she may activate this
charm and roll [Intelligence + Medicine] and then
consign the target of such a roll to bed rest for 24
hours. If the creature is in her library, she also
automatically detects if it is under the effects of a
disease or poison she has tied to the species in her
library. At the end of that 24 hours, the target
regains a number of Lethal or Bashing health
levels equal to the successes on her roll.
75
Replaces Wound-Cleansing Meditation
Cost: 10m; Mins: Medicine 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Living-Only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Insight-Extracting
Anatomical Study
The Abyssal is an experienced chirurgeon,
now deeply familiar with the subjects of her
study and capable of performing more
personalized work. This charm allows the
Abyssal to cut out mangled or damaged flesh,
leaving healthy flesh to work as a base. The
patient is then ready for the physician to
replace it or reattach a limb using the
prerequisite. This allows her to treat damage
even if it is Aggravated, as she simply removes
the wounded tissue and replaces it. This
procedure typically requires one hour. To
replace eyeballs, ears, lungs, or other highly
sensitive and complex organs with the
prerequisite, she requires the charm
Wholeness-Restoring Meditation.
When using this charm, in order for it to be
successful and not do even more damage to the
patient, the Abyssal needs healthy tissue to
replace the tissue taken with, or a healthy limb or
organ to replace the lost one with. This can come
from a donor of the same species, or a fresh
cadaver of the same species (Or, in the case of a
limb, the original limb). If a donor is used, the
procedure of removing their tissue leaves them
with a number of Lethal health levels equal to
those of the primary patient, though he
automatically receives the benefits of the wound
care of Insight Extracting Anatomical Study for
free as the Abyssal carefully extracts his flesh in
ways that will easily heal.
The Abyssal will attune the new flesh to the
primary patient’s body over the course of the
prerequisite, and it will change shape, skin color,
musculature, and structure to match the lost tissue
exactly. The patient(s) will be scarred by the
treatment (Barring those with Exalted Healing or
effects that govern their shape), but they will have
full functionality back.
Replaces Instant Treatment Methodology
Cost: 2m; Mins: Medicine 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Body-Reassembling
Preparation
This charm allows the Abyssal physician, now
familiar with replacement of intricate body
parts and an in-depth understanding of the
flesh, to create her own. Within a jar of
nutrient rich fluid, typically vegetable juices,
she plants the seed of a new flesh-construct,
then seals the jar. Nurtured by her own
essence, the lifeless flesh in the jar grows into
76
a shape predefined by the Abyssal. This could
be a limb, a mass of eyes, a heart, a slab of
muscle tissue and skin, or any other body part
that could fit in the jar. This takes
approximately one week, and the mote cost of
this charm is not committed- It is simply paid
up front. These body parts are stark-white and
have no identifiable characteristics but are
extremely easy to attune to the essence of a
patient. As such, these parts can be used for
Insight-Extracting Anatomical Study + Body-
Reassembling Preparation. She is also not
obligated to use the entire Phylactery- If she
only needs a hand but has an entire arm, she
can discard the bicep; If she only needs a lump
of muscle and skin, she can discard the hand.
After being removed from the Phylactery, the
limb must be attached within a few minutes or
it will wither and become useless.
When using a body part created with this charm
for the prerequisite, the procedure is shortened to
a few seconds as the new organ or limb
miraculously absorbs the essence of the patient
and grafts itself to them with the help of the
physician, mutating and twisting to the shape of
the owner’s previous body part within just a few
moments. After this is completed, the XP cost of
this charm is refunded and the Mortal Phylactery
is considered expended. This typically still
requires tools, but with an appropriate stunt, it
might not- For instance, the Abyssal might grasp
the patient’s heart and yank it from his chest, then
quickly slip the new one into place, squeezing the
arteries together, whereupon it starts beating
immediately.
An Abyssal physician may have a number of
Mortal Phylacteries equal to her [Essence +
Medicine, halved (round up)]. If she has a
Medicine specialty for growing flesh, she may
have an additional one as well.
Replaces Wound-Banishing Strike
Cost: 3m 2xp; Mins: Medicine 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Mortal Phylactery
Genesis Procedure
Delving deeper into the art of flesh-genesis, the
physician successfully generates a Mortal Coil
Simulacrum. This is effectively an entire human
grown in a vat. It is not alive, has no awareness,
and is essentially a smooth, stark-white corpse
with no real defining features. Its essence is too
frail and specialized to be used in necromancy;
Instead, it works the same as a Mortal Phylactery,
except that it can provide any part, at any time.
The physician removes it from the nutrient vat,
cuts out the part she needs, and treats it as a part
extracted from a Mortal Phylactery. She can then
put the body back into the vat and seal it, and over
the course of the next week, the body will regrow
the removed part.
Unlike the prerequisite, the motes ARE
committed to this. If for any reason the Mortal
Coil Simulacrum is destroyed or ruined, the XP
cost is refunded and the motes are released. She
may only have one of these.
77
Replaces Anointment of Miraculous Health
Cost: 10m 1wp; Mins: Medicine 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Living-Only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Mortal Phylactery
Genesis Procedure
The Abyssals’ practiced blades sculpt flesh,
sorting the damaged and useless from the
functional and creating a perfect medium to
replace the extracted flesh. This charm
operates identically to Body-Reassembling
Preparation, except that it takes only a simple
action, and also includes the action of
replacing the missing flesh and hastily
attuning it, allowing her to instantly remove a
number of lethal, aggravated, or bashing
health levels equal to her Essence. This is a
slapdash procedure, meant to treat
emergencies, and she may only use it once per
character, reset by that character recovering
all of her health levels fully.
Replaces Body-Sculpting Essence Method
Cost: 4m, 1wp; Mins: Medicine 5, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Living-Only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Triage-Administering
Haste
The perfect movements of the Abyssal’s hands
are near-mechanical, the precision of knife to
flesh incomparable, informed by her
encyclopedic knowledge of the body. Flesh
knits effortlessly and near-instantly, as if
recovering from paper cuts rather than
traumatic war-wounds as the Abyssal funnels
her own essence through the channels that
attune flesh to the owner’s essence patterns.
Whenever she performs a medical procedure
using a Mortal Phylactery or part of her Mortal
Coil Simulacrum, the recovery time for the
procedure is reduced to several seconds. If it Change to Wholeness-Restoring Meditation:
would ordinarily leave scars, the recipient
Upon learning this charm, she may use Body-
may opt to not receive scars instead,
Reassembling Preparation to enable the patient to
regardless of if they are mortal or not. It can
receive a new sensitive organ like new eyeballs,
also be used in conjunction with Triage-
ears, sinuses, or internal organs via Insight-
Administering Haste to instantly reset it after
Extracting Anatomical Study, allowing the
it is complete, though she may only do this
Abyssal to restore such faculties more simply.
once before they fully heal.

Replaces Touch of Blissful Release

Cost: 5m; Mins: Medicine 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Living-Only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Flawless Diagnosis
Technique
With a few well-placed punctures, pressure
points, and stints, the Abyssal can
permanently alter a creature’s chakras to
release them from pain and misery, at a lethal
cost later. The Abyssal may only use this
charm on a willing target that understands the
charm’s full effects, is too far gone mentally to
be unwilling, or is in enough misery and pain
that they wish to die. The Abyssal then,
through a brief procedure, permanently
damages the target creature’s chakras.
The affected creature no longer respires essence
correctly, preventing it from regenerating motes
entirely, but the symptoms of any disease, poison,
malady, defect, or other painful anomaly are
alleviated completely, and they can no longer
spread any disease they have. They experience a
euphoric rush for the rest of their brief existence
and are free and unhindered to do whatever they
want for this time. At the end of [one week +
creature’s essence days], they suddenly die, their
limited reserve of vital essence depleting entirely,
and no magic or effect can prevent or delay this-
Even the Abyssal himself is not capable of
reversing the effect.

78
 “What are you doing here?” the crow-
masked man crooned at Unfaltering Stone
Shield. The Immaculate monk regarded him
sternly, towering over the small figure.
“I have heard an ancestor cult has
taken root here, and I have come to restore
the proper and healthy order,” he replied,
staring down the bridge of his nose at the
diminutive figure. “Out of my way.”
The masked man exploded in a gout
of black shadow, writhing about him like a
tornado, and black crow quills swirled about
him. Unfaltering Stone Shield stumbled
backwards at the anathema’s display, and
then it stopped. Perched atop a stone, the
figure now stood, ink-black feathers
protruding from his robes, hooked raven feet
grasping the rock. The mask had fused to his
face as a cruel beak, and it towered over him,
awash in dark energy, its eyes gleaming like
Presence is used to make Persuade, Inspire,
embers. Unfaltering Stone Shield quaked in
and Threaten actions, and influence the
terror, unable to control the waves of horror
emotions and thoughts of others.
that washed over him as the monster stared
him down.
“M-More will come!” he stammered.
The creature laughed, its voice now
raspy and shrill.
“Good.”

The first Abyssal I played was a Presence supernal. It was very underwhelming because of the
way that particular charms, specifically Terrifying Apparition of Glory, operated. They were
extremely binary in nature- Either the enemy flees, or nothing happens. I wanted to address this and
make more flavorful Abyssal charms that exemplify the fear they create.

79
 for group influence or wordlessness. Trivial
opponents who fail this check flee, unless they
Replaces Enemy-Castigating Solar Judgment
pay 1wp. Nontrivial opponents instead must pay
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Presence 5, Essence 3 1wp to direct an attack at her, overcoming their
Type: Supplemental fear of provoking something so terrifying. Once
Keywords: None this effect has been resisted once, they may ignore
it for the rest of the scene.
Duration: Instant
Creatures out to Medium range take a penalty to
Prerequisite Charms: Impassioned Discourse
their Resolve against the previous effect equal to
Technique, Majestic Radiant Presence
half of the Abyssal’s essence.
The Exalt sears her target with the caustic force
Creatures out to Short range must pay 1i to direct
of her judgment. This Charm supplements a
an attack at the Abyssal, even if they have resisted
social influence roll or an attack against a Wyld
the Threaten action. If they are crashed, they
creature or god, lowering its Resolve or its
waive this cost. Trivial opponents who previously
Defense by one. If the attack is decisive, the
resisted the effect at Medium+ range are subject
damage is aggravated. If the influence is
to it again if they enter this range, or the Abyssal
successful, it costs an additional Willpower to
moves close enough to them to put them in this
resist. In addition, if this Charm is combined with
range. If they previously resisted, however, they
other Charms or magic which harm creatures of
take this particular check only once during the
darkness, then the Abyssal may use this Charm
scene. If they fail it this time, they must pay
against characters or ideas for whom she has a
another WP to resist.
Defining Tie of hatred, even if they are not gods
or Wyld creatures. This makes those targets Creatures at Close range are overwhelmed by the
susceptible to the effects of all such Charms for Abyssal’s pure void-essence. They must pay 1i to
one instant. attack anything except the Abyssal, and if they are
crashed, they may not make attacks- The only
thing they may do if crashed is attempt to gain
distance from the Abyssal or activate non-
Replaces Terrifying Apparition of Glory perilous charms. The only exception is if the
Cost: 8m, 1wp; Mins: Presence 5, Essence 3 attacker applies non-excellency charms to the
attack- Such exceptional foes my still fight if they
Type: Reflexive channel their essence in such a focused way,
Keywords: Perilous though any initiative gained from a withering
Duration: One scene attack generated in this way is reduced by half the
Prerequisite Charms: Majestic Radiant Abyssal’s Essence, rounded up.
Presence
The Abyssal becomes an icon of pure terror, the
ultimate essence of the void pouring into the
world and manifesting itself through her. The
Abyssal activates this charm when her anima is at
Bonfire. Being near the Abyssal is a horrifying
experience beyond the capacity of words to
describe, the dead calm of the void enveloping
her and tearing at their very will to live.
Any creature out to Long range that can see her is
subjected to a reflexive Threaten action every
round. This threaten action receives no penalties

80
 While under the effects of the prerequisite, the
Abyssal closes her chakras, funneling the pure
will of the Void into her own body, allowing
the twisting nightmares of the Underworld to
shine through her form. She ends the
commitment to the previous charm and
replaces it with this one, and her form
temporarily twists and convulses, becoming
something wholly nightmarish, so traumatic
to gaze upon that men can be driven to suicide
by their terror within just a few moments of
simply seeing it, preferring to take their own
lives than be forced to endure her hellish
presence. This monstrous vision of the
Abyssal’s appearance is defined by the player
but offers no mechanical function other than
what is outlined by this charm. Any creature
that can see her suffers half of the Abyssal’s
Essence in penalties to her Resolve against her
single-target Threaten actions and she may
frighten creatures ordinarily immune to fear,
supernatural or otherwise. In combat, any
creature that does not direct an attack at her
with their action loses 1i.

At Essence 5+, when the Abyssal reaches

Bonfire again, she immediately resumes the
effects of The End of Everything
Embodiment for free, with all of its effects
Replaces Countenance of Vast Wrath reset- Anything that resisted previously must
Cost: 6m, 3a; Mins: Presence 5, Essence 4 resist again. If this charm AND its
Type: Reflexive Prerequisite are active, intelligent trivial
Keywords: None opponents that fail the Medium-range
Duration: One scene threaten action commit suicide instead of
Prerequisite Charms: The End of Everything fleeing, death being the quickest escape,
Embodiment while unintelligent ones (Such as animals)
simply die of stress immediately.

81
 “Stop that woman!”
The market guard of Gem sped down
the alley past countless nightly wanderers,
each seeking exotic pleasures and goods in
the moonlight. Their quarry, a redheaded girl,
rounded a corner, and they followed suit.
As they turned to continue their
chase, the girl was waiting, blade drawn. She
grinned at them. “Are you really going to risk
your lives over one silly trinket?”
“Come on, girl. We can’t let thieves
get away. What will the merchants think of
that? Put that weapon down, or we’ll make
you regret it.”
She beckoned with her off hand, and
the guards lunged forward. She swatted aside
their blows, until finally one hit its mark.
The girl’s form flowed like smoke,
and the color drained away, leaving behind a
black silhouette with gleaming red eyes. It
lingered a moment, then dispersed. Stealth is used to evade detection from
others, and to establish the ability to make
The guards stared in shock. Over the
Surprise and Ambush Attacks.
rooftops, they heard a faint, girlish laugh
fading into the distance.

Stealth really feels like one of those areas where the writers simply ran out of ideas. As
a result, we have a tree that does almost nothing interesting, and instead just showers the player
with tons of dice, rerolls, dice tricks, and free initiative. I hate this about a lot of Solar trees,
but Stealth is undoubtedly the worst about this, and I wanted to replace a lot of the MORE
DICE BETTER with actual interesting effects.

82

Replaces Perfect Shadow Stillness
Cost: 3m; Mins: Stealth 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Abyssal is one with the shadows, able to
bend them to her will. With her action, she forms
a duplicate of herself composed of black and grey
shadows which rolls like smoke within Close
range. When first created, however, it looks
exactly like the Abyssal, only revealing its
shadow nature when physically interacted with,
at which point the color swirls away and is
replaced by a shadow with gleaming eyes. The
decoy cannot move from the location it was
created but can be made to mimic movements and
even her other charms. It is not solid, and any
physical interaction with it reveals it to be
ephemeral in nature. When creating the Decoy in
combat or while being chased, the Abyssal rolls
83
Stealth. Enemies that fail this roll believe the
decoy to be the Abyssal until the first time they
interact with it, and also lose the real abyssal in
the process. If the Abyssal has already entered
some form of cover by the time they figure it out,
the Abyssal is considered hidden, and uses the
previous stealth roll as the one enemies must
defeat to locate her.
She may have a number of Shadow Essence
Decoys active equal to her [Essence]. If she
moves further away than Short range from a
decoy, it dissipates. Exposure to powerful
magic that dispels illusions, including such
charms as Eye of the Unconquered Sun,
causes the decoy to dissipate as well.
Replaces Stalking Shadow Spirit
Cost: -; Mins: Stealth 4, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Shadow Essence Decoy
The Abyssal may instead choose to summon
her Shadow Essence Decoy at a location
within Short range that she can both see and
there is an unobstructed path to. Enemies that
see her do this know the decoy is not her, but
if the Abyssal is already in stealth, they may
believe the decoy to be her if they fail a
Perception + Awareness roll against the
Abyssal’s Stealth roll. If they have not dealt
with a Shadow Essence Decoy yet in this
scene, they automatically fail this roll,
believing the decoy to be their quarry.
Additionally, the Abyssal may throw her
voice to any Decoy, speaking through it
instead of her own mouth. At Essence 4+, she
may also use her simple action to move the
decoy up to short range. It will run, leap, and
even mimic charms as normal to get where
she wants it to go.

Replaces Invisible Statue Spirit
Cost: 4m; Mins: Stealth 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Shadow Essence
Decoy
Pulling at the shadow essence of her decoy,
the Abyssal draws herself into it, and replaces
her own form with its essence. By focusing
on one of her decoys, she swaps places with
it. If the decoy is still in its undiscovered
state, she makes a stealth roll immediately,
gaining an automatic success. If this stealth
roll defeats an onlooker’s attempt to defeat it,
she is considered in stealth and the onlooker
does not notice the swap, believing the decoy
to be her.
Replaces Blurred Form Style
Cost: 8m 5i; Mins: Stealth 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Lost in Darkness
Feint
Pulling forth her own dark essence into
something tangible, the Abyssal summons
forth a decoy that is material and solid, and
therefore deadly. This charm operates
identically to Shadow Essence Decoy, except
that the Decoy it summons has an initiative
track. The decoy has a profile identical to the
Abyssal, with the following exceptions:
84
-It is always counted as using a mundane
weapon, regardless of the creator’s actual
weapon.
-It is always considered as wearing mundane
armor, as above.
The Dark Warrior is created with 5 initiative
in its Initiative pool. If the Dark Warrior is
crashed, it dissipates. Gambits against it
always fail, and it cannot be grappled.
Decisive attacks destroy it if they deal any
damage. Forces and impacts meant to move
it fail unless they deal more than 20 dice of
raw damage, at which point the shadow is
destroyed instead. If it is capable of making
ranged attacks, it may only make them out to
Short range. It may not take any actions
except Full Defense and Attack actions, and
its actions and defenses cannot be enhanced
with the Abyssal’s charms.
The Abyssal may use her combat action to
make one of her Dark Warriors attack, and
she may flurry this with a second combat
action as long as both combat actions are to
make two different Dark Warriors attack.
Alternatively, she may make a combat action
to attack, and flurry it with another combat
action as long as the second action is also to
make a decoy attack.
At the start of each of her turns, she may
reflexively absorb any number of her Dark
Warriors, turning it into a cloud of dark
essence that flies back to her, gaining all
initiative it has and adding it to her own pool.
When a Shadow Warrior hits an enemy with
a withering attack, if none of her opponents
know where she is, half of the initiative the
Shadow Warrior would gain is instead
immediately transferred to the Abyssal, and
the Abyssal then gains [Essence] initiative.
 victim’s terror, she strikes true, launching a
Decisive attack from stealth as long as she has
Replaces Stalking Wolf Attitude
re-established stealth against the target at
Cost: 5m; Mins: Stealth 4, Essence 1 least once.
Type: Simple Each time she attempts to re-establish Stealth
Keywords: Mute against this target, she gains a mounting -1
Duration: Indefinite penalty to her stealth rolls to do so, and if she is
discovered, fails to re-establish Stealth,
Prerequisite Charms: Blinding Battle Feint
voluntarily leaves concealment, or terminates the
The Abyssal is the shadow of death, cutting her charm without making a decisive attack, the
target’s life away piece by piece. While initiative gained by her most recent successful re-
concealed from a target, she hones in on its establishment of stealth is lost.
vital essence, feeling the ebb and flow of the
frail strand of mortality that ties it to this
world. The Abyssal ignores the -3 penalty for
moving while concealed. When she makes a
Withering attack against her target and then
re-establishes stealth against it, she gains an
amount of Initiative equal to the bonus
successes on her Stealth roll to re-establish
stealth. While using this charm, she may flurry
the attempt to re-establish stealth after her
attack, flashing forward, striking, and then
flitting into the darkness. At the apex of her

85
86

Abyssals may be relatively new to
Creation, but they are as apt as any other
Exalt to invent and perfect new and
interesting ways to strike down one’s foes.
Understanding the principles behind entropy
and its endless march forward, as well as the
nature of the eternal back-and-forth of life
and death, the Midnight Caste Cruel
Meridian devised this martial art to
exemplify its virtues.
87
Dread Pendulum Style is compatible
with all armor, and uses the Flail and Grand
Flail, as well as their Artifact counterparts, as
Form weapons. It may also use a shield
offhanded, which many aspirants do. This
style cannot be used unarmed.
Being relatively new, the style has not
had much chance to catch on in Creation.
This does not mean it is impossible to learn-
Only that you must actually find a teacher
who has mastered the style and is willing.
The first and most obvious route is to
learn the style directly from Cruel Meridian
herself. This, however, is certainly not the
easiest approach. Cruel Meridian resides
within the Ebon Temple, within the
Underworld itself. There, she trains
Aspirants, those who seek to learn of her
philosophy and martial arts.
The most famous of these are the
Order of the Onyx Chalice, who are all
masters of Dread Pendulum Style. The Order
is a full circle of Abyssals who travel
Creation, spreading their philosophy of dark
romance and chivalry wherever they go.
They have been known to take Aspirants
themselves from time to time, if the Aspirant
can prove themselves.
Finally, the weapons used are
beginning to become popular with the
warrior-priests of Sijan, likely due to a
Daybreak caste who has settled there named
Curling Velvet Rose. He is a master of the
style, and may take pupils if convinced.
 The shadows stretch far away
into a horizon we cannot see.
We move towards it, yet never
shall we prevail. Eternity is
the true victor in all things.
We are merely an ebb and
flow along its slumber, that
shadow that stretches ever on.
So come, my children. Sorrow
is your tale, but it was all a lie.
There is not despair nor joy
here. I yield only truth.

-Cruel Meridian

88
 Artifact armor recovers naturally at the end
Cost: 1m 1i; Mins: Martial Arts 1, Essence 1 of the scene.
Type: Reflexive This charm's soak reduction may stack until
the target's armored soak is 0, but the
Keywords: Withering-only, Perilous
mobility penalty does not stack. Armor
Duration: Instant reduced to 0 soak is not destroyed, but
Prerequisite Charms: None provides no protection even as its mangled
husk continues to burden its wearer.
The first thing an aspirant of Dread Pendulum
Style learns to master is her iron grip.
When targeted by a Withering attack, the
Aspirant increases her MA-based Parry by 1.
If she successfully parries the incoming
attack, she does not take Onslaught from the
attack, instead reflecting the point of
onslaught back onto her attacker.

Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Ess 1

Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Withering-Only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The aspirant masters the cumbersome weight
of her weapon, transforming it from a crude
but effective cudgel into an instrument of
destruction. With a mighty swing, she stoves
in breastplates, shatters joints, and tears
chain- Heavier armor suffers the most under Cost: 10m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Ess 2
her shattering blows. Type: Simple
This charm supplements a Withering attack. Keywords: None
If the attack hits, the target's armored soak is
Duration: One Scene
reduced by half of the aspirant's Strength,
rounded up. If the attack then deals any Prerequisite Charms: The Steady March of
damage, the armor's basic structural integrity Time, Pouring Hourglass Attack
is compromised, increasing its mobility The aspirant assumes a stance of looming
penalty by 1 (if light or medium) or 2 (if certainty, standing upright, leaning forward,
heavy). and stepping with slow, heavy footfalls as she
Mundane armor must be repaired to regain begins to swing the head of her form weapon
lost soak and remove the mobility penalty. in tall arcs at her side. Its low swing may

89
cause it to scrape the ground as it passes, its
metallic wail singing a steady metronome.
She is ready to unleash this built up force at
any moment, waiting for the perfect moment
to release the colossal weight of her swings
and punish her foes for every misstep. If her
anima appears, anything that moves does so
with perfect rhythm with her weapon’s
rotation, almost mechanically, as if keeping
time and pace.
Form weapons gain the Smashing tag. She
may delay her action for free. Parrying an
attack gives the aspirant Tempo State.
As long as Tempo State is active, the aspirant
gains 1 Overwhelming and increases the raw
damage of her Withering and Decisive
attacks by 1.
Tempo State can be expended in place of the
Willpower cost of any Dread Pendulum Form
charm. Dread Pendulum Charms also
90
typically receive a bonus or change function
if paid for with Tempo State. If paying for a
charm with Tempo State, Tempo State’s
passive bonuses are lost before any rolls are
made.
Tempo state may also be expended to act first
on a new round, or immediately whenever the
aspirant decides within the turn order, though
not if she has already acted on that round.
This charm may be activated reflexively
upon winning Join Battle or parrying an
attack that rolled 10 or more dice to hit her.
Cost: 3m 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Ess 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Dread Pendulum
Form
Having mastered her own iron grip, the
aspirant then punishes her opponents when
they are at their weakest, placing the chain of
her form weapon in the path of her enemy’s
weapon and letting momentum do the rest.
She then tears her foe’s implement from their
hand while her own is still wrapped around it,
hurling the object beyond reach and hope.
When targeted by an attack, the aspirant may
activate this charm. She launches an
immediate reflexive Clash attack, which does
not count as her combat action for the round.
If she wins the clash, she does not deal
damage. Instead, she counts as having
succeeded at a Disarm gambit.
Tempo State: The Aspirant adds her
Strength in dice to the clash attack roll. If she
successfully disarms her foe, if they are using
a Mundane weapon, it is destroyed, shattered
by the biting grip of the aspirant’s form
weapon. An Artifact weapon is instead torn
from the owner’s anima as well, breaking the
attunement of its wielder and throwing it to
short range as normal.
Cost: 2m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Ess 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Dread Pendulum
Form
Her form weapon is familiar in her hands, and
she has become used to redirecting its weight
in motion, a weapon considered clumsy and
random by most a precise killing instrument
in her hands. When she applies extreme force
to her blow, it no longer costs her footing, the
surety of her step maintaining her powerful
stance even as she redirects her weight
forward.
91
While in Dread Pendulum Form, when
making a Smashing attack with a form
weapon, she may instead activate this charm
to waive the smashing attack’s Defense
penalty and Initiative cost.
If she is not in Dread Pendulum Form, she
may activate this charm to make a smashing
attack despite not having the Smashing tag,
though she must pay the Defense and
Initiative cost as normal.
Tempo State: This charm costs a single mote
and does not consume Tempo State.
Cost: 1m 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Ess 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Withering-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Dread Pendulum
Form, Steady Tempo Doctrine
Once an opponent loses their balance, they
are an easy target as the aspirant crushes them
with heavy-handed blows that splinter bone
and pulverize flesh.
When crashing a foe with a withering attack,
the aspirant may choose to forfeit the crash
bonus to instead inflict a temporary crippling
injury on the target. This crippling injury
imposes a -2 crippling penalty to all of the
target’s actions until he is healed.
This can affect the same target multiple
times, but crippling injuries after the first
only impose a -1 penalty each, and the
cumulative crippling penalty cannot exceed
the aspirant’s Strength.
Tempo State: Do not forfeit the crash bonus.
 the object that was demolished, maximum
Cost: 3m 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Ess 2 [Strength * 2]. This damage may be Lethal if
the object destroyed was particularly
Type: Supplemental
dangerous, such as a spiked barricade or a
Keywords: None Chiaroscuro Glass window.
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Dread Pendulum
Form, Steady Tempo Doctrine
The shattering blows of the aspirant’s form
weapon crash down like an angry star falling
to an unprepared ground, the colossal force of
its impact reducing anything unfortunate
enough to be in its path to shrapnel. The gates
of Heaven could not keep her out if she
wanted in, and those that witness the wasting
of their safety are struck with the realization
of the impending doom. The surer they were
of their security, the worse their dread.
This charm supplements a Feat of Strength to
destroy a fortification, gate, or other object
meant to keep her out. She automatically
counts as meeting the strength requirement to
attempt the feat, and she uses [Strength +
Martial Arts] on the roll. If she succeeds in
destroying the object, enemies out to medium
range that witness this are subject to a point Cost: 3m 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Ess 2
of Onslaught, plus an additional point per 3 Type: Reflexive
successes required to destroy the object that Keywords: Withering-only
was demolished.
Duration: Instant
This Onslaught penalty is a supernatural fear
effect, and thus if the target is immune to fear, Prerequisite Charms: Dread Pendulum
if the aspirant does not have some way of Form, Rippling Moment Discipline
frightening creatures immune to fear, they are The winding grip of her form weapon can be
not affected. applied to larger targets as well, granting an
Tempo State: The demolition is impressive effective lever to control a target as the biting
in scope and destructive power. Everything head clamps down and the chain ensnares.
within Short range of the demolished object Turning your back on an aspirant of the
or structure except the aspirant is subject to Dread Pendulum is therefore often seen as an
an immediate environmental hazard with a unwise mistake, as the aspirant lashes out at
difficulty and Bashing damage value equal to her foe’s exposed defenses as they attempt to
the number of successes required to destroy flee.

92
When a foe at close range attempts to Pendulum Form. This charm may only be
Disengage or Withdraw, the aspirant may activated once per scene.
activate this charm to contest the attempt with Tempo State: The aspirant adds her Strength
her [Dexterity + Martial Arts]. If she to the attack’s raw damage, and the attack
succeeds, she grapples her opponent. The ignores the target’s Hardness. Before the
control roll gains an amount of dice equal to damage is rolled, she may pay 1 mote per
the net successes on the opposed roll. level to convert Bashing health levels the
Savages, throws, and slams also use Martial target already has to Lethal health levels. If
Arts. the target has a charm or ability that cuts off
Tempo State: The target is also knocked lethal or bashing damage at a certain
prone if the aspirant wins the roll. For the threshold, such as The Tower Still Stands, the
duration of this grapple, the Restrain/Drag first time it could trigger against this instance
action does not forfeit rounds of control, and of damage, it cannot. If this instance of
can be flurried with a Throw or Slam. damage could trigger it a second time, it can
activate as normal. This use also requires
Dread Pendulum Form to be active, and ends
it upon completion.
Cost: 8m 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Ess 3 Example: When fighting Octavian, Ashen
Type: Simple Sorrow Sky uses this charm. She deals
Keywords: Decisive-only enough damage to strip his -0 health levels
Duration: Instant and spill over into his -1 health levels.
Octavian cannot activate The Tower Still
Prerequisite Charms: Dread Pendulum Stands since this is the first time it is eligible
Form, Continuous Momentum Approach, to be activated against this instance of
Waning Hours Technique
Time runs out for everyone, and when the
aspirant’s foe is at her weakest, the hourglass
stops. In a single, weighty arc, the head of her
weapon comes falling upon her foe like a
hammer of judgement, tearing through
shattered armor, weakened flesh, and
pulverized bone.
The aspirant makes a decisive attack against
her target which deals Lethal damage instead
of Bashing. If the target is prone, the attack
roll gains cascading tens, rerolling them until
they no longer appear. If the target is
currently suffering any crippling penalties,
their dodge is 0, and if they have been
disarmed during the scene, their parry is 0.
This charm may only be used if Dread
Pendulum Form is active, and it ends Dread

93
damage, allowing the damage to spill over.
However, the damage she deals is also
sufficient to deplete his -1 levels as well, and
then spill into his -2s. He CAN activate it this
time, as this is the second time it would be
possible, stopping the damage from
overflowing into his -2 health levels.
Flails are so cool and are criminally
underrated. I knew I wanted to add flails as
a weapon (see next section) and wanted to
try my hand at a MA, so I figured… Why
not both? I feel pretty happy with the way
this MA turned out, honestly, considering
its my first attempt at making one.
94
Cost: 5m 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Ess 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Dread Pendulum
Form
Dread Pendulum Form is the surety of the
swing, the unconquerable march of time,
unassailable and undeniable. At its apex, it is
overbearing, overwhelming foes with its
sheer force, leveling all before it. When
adopting Dread Pendulum Form, the
Aspirant may tap into this supernatural
determination to become a force of the
universe manifested. Her spinning form
weapon casts cascading showers of sparks as
it rakes the ground, and it shrieks ominously
with each revolution, enveloped in a corona
of flame the color of her anima.
Spending Tempo State also reduces the Mote
cost of the associated charm by 2, to a
minimum of 0. While Tempo State is up, she
embodies perpetuity, and she gains 1i from
being the target of a Withering attack. This
initiative is gained before damage is rolled.
As long as Eternal Revolution Poise is active,
The Steady March of Time’s Initiative cost is
waived, and she may pay the cost of a
Smashing attack twice to knock a foe back a
range band and prone at the same time. She
may use Steady Tempo Doctrine twice to
cover both costs. Finally, she may also use
her combat action on her turn to generate
Tempo State.
 There are a few new weapons
available here to choose from, following the
same rules as those in the Exalted core book
(With Mundane weapons starting on page
580).

Typically, a heavy weight with spikes,

blades, knobs, or other protrusions attached
to a handle by way of a length of chain. They
afford the user a great deal of leverage, and
are made to smash apart armor.
Tags: Bashing, Melee, Piercing, Flexible

A larger, two-handed version of the flail, this

may sport several heads, or one very large
one. These weapons are typically too
cumbersome to use without special training,
but in the hands of those trained, they are
terrifying.
Tags: Bashing, Melee, Two-Handed,
Piercing, Reaching, Flexible

95
Their large, ornate heads are usually forged
in the shape of a skull, the sun, or other
generally round (and extremely dangerous)
object, and forged of one of the five magical
materials. The amount of force they generate
with a swing is incredible, capable of
pulverizing even the heaviest armor with its
wrecking swings.
Tags: Bashing, Melee, Piercing, Flexible
96
Iconic of the practitioners of Dread
Pendulum Style, Grand Grimstars are artistic
masterpieces forged to crush all opposition
with their momentous swings, shattering
anything that stands in their way with their
colossal weight.
Tags: Bashing, Melee, Two-Handed,
Piercing, Reaching, Flexible