Exalted/Charms/Sources

Malfeas
The fallen King of the Primordials is arrogant, cruel and given to excessive displays of obvious force for the chance to show off and the sadistic joy he feels when enemies and allies look upon him in awe and terror. He is vast and full of hate toward those who betrayed and imprisoned him, seeking vengeance with indiscriminate callousness to the collateral damage he inflicts on the innocent. The Demon City is resilient and strong enough to lift the world or crush it underfoot. The green fires raging in his heart blight the very Essence of everything they touch, marking the world with his wrathful glory. He holds authority over all things wise enough to bow before the world’s creators. Characters may apply this Charm to any actions in which they choose the ostentatious or overkill approach over merely adequate solutions. Any intentional subtlety or display of restraint makes this Excellency inapplicable, including adding less than half the maximum possible dice bonus to a roll (rounded down). Note that force does not necessarily equate to violence. A forceful seduction in which an Infernal confidently orders a prospective paramour to accompany him rather than cajoling or flattering her can benefit from this Charm just as readily as a stomp delivered to a prone enemy’s face. Strangely, the power of Malfeas may also enhance any Performance action to dance or create music. These are the secret pleasures of the Demon City that embarrass Ligier.

Cecelyne
The Endless Desert is patient and deliberate. She holds back, amassing resources until she can overwhelm her opposition. Her law places thestrong over the weak, celebrating a doctrine of arbitrary and capricious hypocrisy. She demands reverence from allies and enemies alike and works terrifying and wondrous miracles to expand her worship. She is deeply insightful into the desires and failures of others and owns those whose wishes she fulfills. She borders everything and eternity, so everyone comes to her in time. Her heart overflows with desolation, turning all around her to literal or metaphorical wasteland. When her patience runs out or her plans reach fruition, her rage is sudden and shocking. Characters may apply this Charm to any actions in which they build on prior planning and effort to succeed more thoroughly or carefully. Cecelyne’s Excellency also assists actions that give others what they want in order to influence and ultimately own them. She also helps punish those who break a deal or betray their loyalty to the Infernal or his laws. The Charm may assist any attempt to amass or jealously protect resources that are directly useful to the Exalt’s established plans, but has no power to help spur-of-the-moment whims, acts of meaningless self-indulgence or displays of truly selfless altruism. The Endless Desert helps Infernals endure unrelentingly harsh conditions, whether physical or social, as well as resist challenges to their long-term plans. The Charm does not help characters resist random misfortune, nor can it thwart actions of those advancing an agenda unrelated to the Infernal’s long-term goals.

She Who Lives In Her Name
The Principle of Hierarchy is methodical and meticulous. She analyzes every variable and chooses the most efficient and orderly method by which to achieve victory. Her utilitarianism is absolute and consistent as clockwork. She is as brilliant as she is alien, cold and unfeeling. Her violence is dispassionate and perversely pure, unmotivated by sadism and yet capable of systematically disassembling every obstacle in her path without the slightest remorse. She builds and improves structures of all kinds and abhors chaos, randomness and free will in all its forms. She finds excessive 106 effort wasteful and prefers to apply the minimum exertion necessary to attain the desired outcome. Her directives are fascist and totalitarian, but ruthlessly fair. She has no moral restraint against deception, nor any attachment to honesty, but her nature must choose the most expedient method even when it is not the solution that best matches her talents. She demands perfection, especially from herself. Characters may apply this Charm to actions that create new order or reinforce existing order in any way, as well as actions that encourage others to join and loyally follow any hierarchical organization. She Who Lives In Her Name enhances efficient actions that demonstrate appropriate use of force; her power does not aid half-hearted or excessive efforts. Showing empathy for individuals invalidates that action for enhancement, though empathy toward society or another collective structure is permissible. The Charm enhances actions carried out methodically and logically but not improvised or unconventional solutions. Spreading chaos is never allowed, but ineffective organizations and policies may be dismantled to pave the way for a better order.

Adorjan
The Silent Wind is restless, always in motion andnever satisfied. She expresses theinevitabilitythatbad things happenregardless of who you are or how many backup plans you have. She is catastrophe and calamity, the unconsidered variable that shreds the best-laid plans of Yozi and Exalt alike. She kills because it is her nature to hurt everything she touches, not because she revels in suffering. More than any of her siblings, Adorjan is insane and encompasses contradictions. Adorjan scours her enemies,breaking them to enlighten them, even if the lesson proves fatal. Her actions display vicious whimsy, especially toward the complacent and comfortable. She loves purposeful chaos that exposes the flaws in systems and lays low the proud, but she abhors chaos for the sake of chaos as much as she abhors stasis. She is a balancing force of wickedness against the excesses of the righteous. Her depredations inspire heroes to reach their full potential through the crucible of tragedy, invariably ruining their lives in the process. Greatness is the worst curse her touch imparts. She inflicts more pain on those she loves than those she hates. No one expects her. She refuses to be understood and torments those who try. This Charm can enhance any action that causes unexpected or sudden harm, such as surprise attacks or attacks that are part of flurries. Actions that create ongoing discomfort or take away sources of comfort also fall under the purview of the Silent Wind. Socially, her attacks tear away Intimacies rather than building them, teaching people to let go of attachments and worries rather than continue meaningless cycles of love or vengeance. The behaviors she compels are mad and invariably disturbing, but she does not care how the minds of others break. Adorjan’s power may be applied to any actions that help tear down structured society or spread anarchy, regardless of the reasons or methods for doing so. The Charm can’t assist actions that are planned in great detail in advance, though it is permissible to do something whose consequences will not manifest until a later time. Actions motivated by insanity may only benefit from Adorjan’s touch when there is some greater and immediate purpose behind them (even if the meaning isn’t communicated to other characters). The Silent Wind embodies the madness of the freed mind, not an idiot’s babbling.

Ebon Dragon
The Shadow of All Things is Other, not wholly of the world nor fully alien to its precepts like the Neverborn. He is self-indulgent and without conscience but can be trusted to act with enlightened self-interest at all times, making him the most dependable and trustworthy of the Yozis so long as those dealing with him don’t forget his nature. He corrupts and seduces others away from virtue and honor because these concepts are poisonous to him rather than because he wants to enlighten or enslave. He genuinely believes the universe should be darkened until it approaches his unholy perfection, but his warped magnanimity hides a deeper and greater hatred of all light—literal or metaphoric. The Ebon Dragon is hollow, assembling his semblance of identity from lies, copied mannerisms and observed vices, constantly recreating himself in the image of whatever offends and frightens his adversaries the most. Moreover, he is The Nemesis, finding greater joy in thwarting the dreams of others than advancing his own agenda. Where as the Silent Wind brings agonizing freedom to others, the Ebon Dragon can’t abide his own restraint, whether by prison walls or social mores. This Excellency enhances actions that attack morality, break established moral codes or cheat in lieu of playing fair. This includes mostcriminalacts, except in societies where crime functions with the knowledge and quiet approval of the reigning government. Direct and intentional violations of the laws of Yu-Shan or the dictates of Cecelyne always offer chances for antagonism. The Shadow of All Things gleefully turns heroes into villains or reveals to a self-styled heroine how her actions were actually villainous all along. While a character with this Excellency experiences confinement or restraint, the Charm can only enhance actions that help him break free from that immediate imprisonment until he has done so. The Charm also can’t assist actions that knowingly help anyone else more than they help the Infernal, even when he still stands to profit a great deal. A third limitation is that the character can’t use the Charm when being honest, unless revealing a horrid truth that will hurt or debase the listener. Finally, all actions must show subtlety, if not outright guile. Choosing a brazen course of action over a subtle one forfeits any opportunity to use this Charm. In these restrictions, the Ebon Dragon’s Excellency offers the most and least freedom of any Yozi.