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And Taylor, who's French? Somehow, the Romans hated the Franks even more than they hated the Germanic tribes. Forget rhetoric, he would be surprised Taylor was capable of putting on clothes that weren't the bloody skins of freshly slaughtered animals. Although the bestiality would be right in line with his expectations.
Do we know she's French? I have seen people pointing out her name is proof she is of Hebrew descent, to German descent, but never French. Not claiming you are wrong, just that its a new one for me.
 
Do we know she's French? I have seen people pointing out her name is proof she is of Hebrew descent, to German descent, but never French. Not claiming you are wrong, just that its a new one for me.
From House of Names. Hebert is originally a German given name, turned French (Normandy) surname. One of the family moved to Quebec, Canada, and has spread in North America from there.
 
DRUNK WITH FIRE WE ENTER YOUR SANCTUARY
YOUR SPELL BINDS THAT WHICH WAS DIVIDED
ALL MEN BECOME BROTHERS BENEATH THE SHADOW OF YOUR WINGS​
It's your turn to make a disgusted noise, something like "Blergh."

"Hm?" Lisa asks.

"Simurgh just told me her True Name," you say sourly.

"I don't want to know!"
...curious what her true name is (since I thought the canon was Terror Drone x), and if this is a reference to something?

It was all you could do to hold in an aggrieved 'seriously?' when you realized as much. But, well, any control mechanism is better than none. You will fuck her, if it comes to that. You're both going to come out of this lean, mean, Endbringer-killing machines, no matter what it takes.
Confused why this is getting her so annoyed, considering she herself is the inverse (as shown with Shadow Stalker rape)

From House of Names. Hebert is originally a German given name, turned French (Normandy) surname. One of the family moved to Quebec, Canada, and has spread in North America from there.
Interesting. Curious about how the Hebrew connotation was made. It was probably close to a decade ago since I read that.
 
Yeah, also Panacea was in that meeting and she literally saw Taylor promise to fight Leviathan next time and backed it up by polygraph. Dunno where that information went.

Panacea understands that a) Taylor is pretending to be powerless on purpose, and b) telling anyone would be considered an unforgivable act of aggression, and result in mutually assured destruction. She doesn't understand why Taylor is doing this, but she doesn't have to. If Taylor's plan backfires and gets her killed, so much better.

Snuts couldnt bring himself to get descriptive with Taylor getting raped. But could when it was Taylor doing the raping.

For values of 'descriptive' that doesn't describe anything below the neck on any of the participants, I guess.

Hm. I don't remember any explicit mention being made of his tranquilizers in Taylor's rape kits. If he didn't disclose that by now, it sure won't look good later.

Shadow Stalker's tranqs had already left her system by the time she was captured.

I'm really holding out for an Abyssal charm, okay?

I promise that there will be abyssal charms. No splat left behind!

(I had originally penciled in Shattering Grasp for Faultline, but affirmative actioned it into Charm of Lesser Unmaking to give the dragonblooded some love)

...curious what her true name is (since I thought the canon was Terror Drone x), and if this is a reference to something?

ses figured out the reference.

Interesting. Curious about how the Hebrew connotation was made. It was probably close to a decade ago since I read that.

Hebert. Hebrew. Duh! Imagine not having the galaxy brain to make that connection.
 
I mean racism seeks to be one of the big selling points for Fascists? Especially in the eyes of white supremacists and neo nazis?

Like we know they arent the same thing, but gosh do they keep showing up together.

Edit: Maybe it's an american thing?
I think that's how it went: back then after WWII, everyone understandably didn't want a repeat performance. So studies were commissioned to determine as to what made the Reich so evil? What made regular people participate in atrocities by the thousands? Answers were obtained, but then it turned out that the key ideological factors that lead to violent and miserable society can often be found back home. The default response to inconvenient facts is to disregard them. So instead of using those findings, and correcting the way we view and treat people, the history lesson about WWII for the future generations became "fascism = racism = evil, don't be evil kids". (Depending on the country, "don't hate the gays" gets included in the message.)

Nowadays you can get away with most, if not all of the sins of the Reich, with little bad rep associated, if only you go about them without being noticeably racist. But that's okay - not like there's a shortage of methods and transparent excuses to exploit, abuse, and divide people, everyone manages just fine. The lack of widespread repressions in modern society can easily be ascribed to the lack of need for them, not to the ruling class having become more moral since then.

And we probably should conclude the discussion at this point to not inflate the thread :)
 
Hebert. Hebrew. Duh! Imagine not having the galaxy brain to make that connection.

Doh! This is it? This is the reason? Often I've been bewildered at the claim that Taylor is Jewish. Is it her hair, I wondered. Maybe the Hebert line comes from a Jewish enclave region of France. Maybe there's a famous Jewish person with the same name. But no. HEBert = HEB = HEBrew. I feel so betrayed. Also, very stupid.

Regarding Flechette, one convenient side effect of conspicuously dating a girl would be Quicksilver being taken off the E88 recruitment pool.

Regarding Crusader, wasn't he canonically hot for Purity? Purity ← Crusader ← Low Key (does T still use this name?) ← Aurelius love conga is absolutely hilarious. Very Roman.

Regarding romance, Smith is the only one of Taylor's aliases without a partner now. Since Armsmaster seems to be on the outs with Dragon, perhaps another middle aged male tinker could make his moves... no wait Dragon's powers have been copied already.
 
Purity ← Crusader ← Low Key (does T still use this name?) ← Aurelius love conga is absolutely hilarious. Very Roman.
Taylor's about to cuck the Emperor with her lesbian friend, too. I swear, this fic reads like she's collecting achievements.

*ding* - "Took on Clockblocker in melee, and won."
*ding* - "Yeeted a dragon"
*ding* - "Escaped from Protectorate holding cells by you own"

We should make a list, it'd be amusing
 
There only being one set of familial relationships in the conga line at least constrains us to the more sensible early Roman period.

It needs a few more cousins, siblings, and or aunts/uncles to really match Rome in its hedonistic heyday.
 
Doh! This is it? This is the reason? Often I've been bewildered at the claim that Taylor is Jewish. Is it her hair, I wondered. Maybe the Hebert line comes from a Jewish enclave region of France. Maybe there's a famous Jewish person with the same name. But no. HEBert = HEB = HEBrew. I feel so betrayed. Also, very stupid.

Regarding Flechette, one convenient side effect of conspicuously dating a girl would be Quicksilver being taken off the E88 recruitment pool.

Regarding Crusader, wasn't he canonically hot for Purity? Purity ← Crusader ← Low Key (does T still use this name?) ← Aurelius love conga is absolutely hilarious. Very Roman.

Regarding romance, Smith is the only one of Taylor's aliases without a partner now. Since Armsmaster seems to be on the outs with Dragon, perhaps another middle aged male tinker could make his moves... no wait Dragon's powers have been copied already.
I think it might have been in Worm, but it's much more likely a very, very old fic. One of the E88 thugs called her a Heeb due to the curly hair. (now known to be wavy hair) It caused her momentary panic at her identity being compromised. I think this was a fic because it would only have happened if you didn't know how her surname was pronounced. It's not Hee-burt, it's A-bear.

Piggot has a similar thing, Pig-o, not Pig-ot.
 
I think it might have been in Worm, but it's much more likely a very, very old fic. One of the E88 thugs called her a Heeb due to the curly hair. (now known to be wavy hair) It caused her momentary panic at her identity being compromised. I think this was a fic because it would only have happened if you didn't know how her surname was pronounced. It's not Hee-burt, it's A-bear.

Piggot has a similar thing, Pig-o, not Pig-ot.
Fairly sure that's canon, think it was Victor, as for mispronouncing her name: Ofcourse people butchered it, its one of the things kids could've done from the start.

Even odds teachers ended up doing it too because its how they keep hearing it day after day.
 
Hebert. Hebrew. Duh! Imagine not having the galaxy brain to make that connection.
Doh! This is it? This is the reason? Often I've been bewildered at the claim that Taylor is Jewish. Is it her hair, I wondered. Maybe the Hebert line comes from a Jewish enclave region of France. Maybe there's a famous Jewish person with the same name. But no. HEBert = HEB = HEBrew. I feel so betrayed. Also, very stupid.
You don't have to feel bad, there's more to this conspiracy theory than the rumors that lizard people run Brockton Bay.

https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/interlude-26/ said:
Whether the entity was somehow able to return to its original task or whether it continued carrying out Kevin Norton's answers in an attempt to find itself, the term fit.
"Zion," it spoke.
https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/colony-15-3/ said:
"Shut your mouth-hole, heeb," Othala snarled. "Butt out."
I felt my heart skip a beat at the 'heeb'. She knew my last name?
No. Heeb was short for Hebrew, not Hebert.
Consider these two. The big bad of the story, called Scion but properly named Zion, and the protagonist that goes against him, Taylor Hebert. The man made of gold who lost his wife in a collision, and the girl with dark curly hair, a too-wide mouth, and a father named Daniel who does labor organization. The physiognomy doesn't prove anything on its own, but the literary tropes check out.

Then, consider these two in light of one of the biggest themes of Worm, the internet and its world of masks and self-appointed heroes whose claim to authority arises from some variety of victimhood. Earth Bet, connected to the real world back in the 80s by Professor Haywire, communication between the two limited to a stream of information. The world visited by the Travelers, players of online video games. The sort of world where a grieving young girl could lose herself, permit cyber-bullying to spiral out of control until she's doing it right back, all the while experiencing her conflicts largely in a rich inner world where people are Heroes and Villains.

Finally, consider the next line in Colony 15-3.

https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/colony-15-3/ said:
I'm not Jewish, I thought.
Taken at face value this would mean that Taylor was not jewish, but there's a lot to unpack here. Not only is Taylor a notoriously unreliable narrator, but this isn't real!Taylor thinking to herself, we don't get to hear from her until the very last chapter. The character thinking to herself in this chapter is internet!Taylor.

Deconstructing internet!Taylor through the lens of Worm Internet Theory, her crusade against Scion was not a cosmic-scale comic book battle, but something much more personal. Daddy Issues, arising from their shared trauma and consequent alienation. This helps explain why internet!Taylor does not think of herself as jewish: her alienation from Danny has also disconnected her from her heritage. Add that to the general disconnection of the youth of today from the traditions of the past, and it makes perfect sense.

The best part is that Worm Internet Theory fits Charm Learning Shard like a glove. Examined this way, CLS is like a slightly-late Worm tenth anniversary edition, updated for the last decade of the internet, where everything is now "something something Nazis".
 
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Regarding romance, Smith is the only one of Taylor's aliases without a partner now. Since Armsmaster seems to be on the outs with Dragon, perhaps another middle aged male tinker could make his moves... no wait Dragon's powers have been copied already.

Taylor told Dragon she had a wife when working with her as Smith.

So one thing I've seen mentioned in the chat is that while demon summoning is usually very productive for Exalted it'd be bad fore Taylor to try doin so due to lacking the protection of something called the surrender oaths. Given how her Shard has managed to simulate a bootstrapped version of just about every other part of being an Exalted I'm wondering if her power could create a fake s surrender oath by Mastering any demons she summons?
 
With Leviathan come and gone and reconstruction efforts under way, starting to wonder if it's S9 time. Lots of good powers to grab, and with the attrition rate the Nine experience it'll be important to learn them ASAP.

Initial guesses, with no training time info,

Jack Slash: Irresistible Salesman Spirit. His crowning moment of glory was trolling Scion.
Bonesaw: Science of Mutation. That's so her jam.
Siberian: I couldn't find it, but isn't there an infernal doppleganger charm?
Mannequin: Eternal Embalming Preparation. It feels right.
Crawler: Viridian Legend Exoskeleton. Stretching a bit, but the fluff about getting a better version that adapts would work.
Shatterbird: Death of Obsidian Butterflies. Whiffed once on this already, but it fits. Make Sophia clean them up.
Burnscar: something from the fire-aspected Dragonblood? I know zilch about them.
Cherie: Husband-seducing Demon Dance. Taylor needs husbando. Something from presence would probably fit better.
 
With Leviathan come and gone and reconstruction efforts under way, starting to wonder if it's S9 time. Lots of good powers to grab, and with the attrition rate the Nine experience it'll be important to learn them ASAP.

Initial guesses, with no training time info,

Jack Slash: Irresistible Salesman Spirit. His crowning moment of glory was trolling Scion.
Bonesaw: Science of Mutation. That's so her jam.
Siberian: I couldn't find it, but isn't there an infernal doppleganger charm?
Mannequin: Eternal Embalming Preparation. It feels right.
Crawler: Viridian Legend Exoskeleton. Stretching a bit, but the fluff about getting a better version that adapts would work.
Shatterbird: Death of Obsidian Butterflies. Whiffed once on this already, but it fits. Make Sophia clean them up.
Burnscar: something from the fire-aspected Dragonblood? I know zilch about them.
Cherie: Husband-seducing Demon Dance. Taylor needs husbando.

Cherish has gotta be Cash and Murder Games. I'm not following why you went for VLE for Crawler instead of Scar-Writ Saga Shield right above it. The infernal doppelganger charm isn't a fit for Sibby, I'm going to guess Four Magical Materials Form for Siberian-level Brute rating rather than guess a Master minion making effect. Bonesaw is absolutely Science of Mutation, 100% agreed.
 
Cherish has gotta be Cash and Murder Games. I'm not following why you went for VLE for Crawler instead of Scar-Writ Saga Shield right above it. The infernal doppelganger charm isn't a fit for Sibby, I'm going to guess Four Magical Materials Form for Siberian-level Brute rating rather than guess a Master minion making effect. Bonesaw is absolutely Science of Mutation, 100% agreed.
Scar-Writ Saga was right there... above the page break on my pdf.

Cash and Murder Games has the fate keyword, wouldn't it be nerfed against creatures native to a universe outside Creation? "cannot inflict unnatural mental influence on such creatures".
 
Cash and Murder Games has the fate keyword, wouldn't it be nerfed against creatures native to a universe outside Creation? "cannot inflict unnatural mental influence on such creatures".

That would be extremely weird to rule that way. Personally I'm assuming "outside of fate" to mean "Is unprecoggable". There have been many many many pages of acrimonious arguing about this exact topic, though usually it's the other way around with people arguing that Exalt OCPs should be immune to Worm precog powers rather than Worm natives being immune to Exalted charms. But yeah she's a natural Scion trigger running on the Shard network. It'd be extremely dumb for charms to just fail to function entirely.

There's just no way that Taylor is gonna miss out on the best Master power in the setting. I mean, fuck, Implicit Construction Methodology works just fine and that also harnesses fate. It even makes precognitive Prayer Strips! I'm personally guessing that Cherish and Bonesaw are the only S9ers that she's actually going to be able to get powers from unless commenters are right and she really is going to do a "Join the S9" arc.
 
Cash and Murder Games has the fate keyword, wouldn't it be nerfed against creatures native to a universe outside Creation? "cannot inflict unnatural mental influence on such creatures".
No, because Taylor doesn't have an exaltation shard, just a power that emulates one. As such, it wouldn't just the loom of fate, just copy what the loom would usually do.
 
No, because Taylor doesn't have an exaltation shard, just a power that emulates one. As such, it wouldn't just the loom of fate, just copy what the loom would usually do.
It's splitting hairs to be sure, but would a "charm learning shard" really spend the mass to learn the whole mechanics behind a monstrously powerful artifact like the Loom of Fate? Or would it just do the part of the charm it was supposed to, such as with Taylor's experience with Lung's power. It's not usable the way she wants, but it's still there.

That would be extremely weird to rule that way. Personally I'm assuming "outside of fate" to mean "Is unprecoggable". There have been many many many pages of acrimonious arguing about this exact topic, though usually it's the other way around with people arguing that Exalt OCPs should be immune to Worm precog powers rather than Worm natives being immune to Exalted charms. But yeah she's a natural Scion trigger running on the Shard network. It'd be extremely dumb for charms to just fail to function entirely.

There's just no way that Taylor is gonna miss out on the best Master power in the setting. I mean, fuck, Implicit Construction Methodology works just fine and that also harnesses fate. It even makes precognitive Prayer Strips! I'm personally guessing that Cherish and Bonesaw are the only S9ers that she's actually going to be able to get powers from unless commenters are right and she really is going to do a "Join the S9" arc.
Implicit Construction Methodology does not have the fate keyword.

This is super nitpicky and obviously subject to DM ruling, but... as-written the 'fate' keyword indicates a charm that has great power over creatures "born of Creation", because they are subject to a super-artifact, the Loom of Fate. Sidereals p125. Natives of the Worm universe almost certainly are not natives of Creation, because the cosmology discussions about gods indicated a world without the immense number of gods inherent to Creation. Something about Fenrir easily convincing machinery to dematerialize, I think.

As for the question of anti-shaping charms vs powers, I love that shit. Who knows how it works? My best guess, anti-shaping should be scoped to powers that violate the Manton limit without being 'mind control' powers. Blasters/Brutes/Shakers? Dodge it or soak it. Mind control? Use the charms that defend intimacies. It's not a distinction that seems to exist in Worm, where pushing electrons is pushing electrons, but that's how the charms worked in their universe of origin.
 
Implicit Construction Methodology does not have the fate keyword.

ICM explicitly says it harnesses fate in its text. It functions, therefore fate exists. Why would keywords be more important than the text of the charm? Also pre-cog powers exist in Worm. There's nitpicky and then there's "Going full Bill Clinton to try to buffalo the DM". It's just such a non starter. It's nitpicky in the way "It's possible to pull Shakespeare while casually browsing the library of Babel" is nitpicky. I don't know if you're intentionally trying to argue the position for the thrill of trying to argue or if you genuinely think there's a chance that Taylor could learn CaMG and have it not function.
 
ICM explicitly says it harnesses fate in its text. It functions, therefore fate exists. Why would keywords be more important than the text of the charm? Also pre-cog powers exist in Worm. There's nitpicky and then there's "Going full Bill Clinton to try to buffalo the DM". It's just such a non starter. It's nitpicky in the way "It's possible to pull Shakespeare while casually browsing the library of Babel" is nitpicky. I don't know if you're intentionally trying to argue the position for the thrill of trying to argue or if you genuinely think there's a chance that Taylor could learn CaMG and have it not function.
I am intentionally trying to argue the position until it's time to run errands.

Keywords > flavor text when determining mechanics, that's literally the only thing the keywords are for. That's not trying to scam the DM, it's trying to play the game as-written, accepting a hard limit on a charm which is otherwise tremendously powerful.

... I don't know why they wrote a charm that says "harnesses fate" in the first sentence but didn't put the keyword in. Maybe they left it out by accident? Or maybe the fluff uses the lower case fate to indicate something more general and less potent than the Loom of Fate.

Edit: Shower thought: isn't the Simurgh the local equivalent of the Loom of Fate? Perhaps Fate tagged charms directly manipulate her, or even better, issue a request that she make changes.
 
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B.06
Although you are the power behind the throne, your control isn't perfect. Purity doesn't know that she's a minion. As far as she knows, she just feels gratitude and respect towards you for the obvious reasons. She's happy to juggle schedules to have you be guarded by Crusader, because Crusader is her most trusted sub-minion. But she also sees nothing wrong with guarding you herself, when that would involve less juggling.

You're not about to explain to her why this isn't ideal for you, so you just have to accept it. Oh woe is you, to have to occasionally study Purity instead.

She's is a bit of an experiment on your part, actually. See, you already have quite the number of hours sunk into studying Glory Girl. Hours that you're never getting back, because you'll have another non-violent encounter with Glory Girl shortly after hell freezes over. But what if you could combine your insights into two similar capes, to construct one complete power?

Some would argue that Purity and Glory Girl are not very similar at all, but consider: They are both all about flying and projecting light. Glory Girl's projection was admittedly twisted emotion-wards because she hooked up with Gallant before she triggered, but she shares a family with Brandish and Laserdream and Photon Mom and Flashbang. Wait no, Flashbang married into the family. Before or after triggering? You don't remember. But the theory is sound! The New Wave family power is very much like Purity's at its base.

Yes, your power expression is affected by what capes you hook up with before triggering. Scientifically proven. No idea why or how, but who's even trying to make sense of powers at this point? Certainly not you. Though you sometimes wonder if there's an alternative universe where Aurelius's power isn't gold-related at all, because he never hooked up with Smith the orichalcum Tinker.

---

Yes, you're still going after Crusader, even with Flechette offering herself up for your use. You're not going to put all your eggs in one basket like that, not when you know how far from the original your copy of a power can land. But, sometimes you get interrupted.

Usually it's some concerned member of the rank and file, worried that you're overexerting yourself. You don't even know how much of that is them being overprotective, and how much is them correctly judging how much a mortal girl your size can safely do. But your power was already making you unreasonably strong, and all the exercise you've been getting lately certainly isn't making you any weaker. It's gotten to the point that you have to stop and think before picking things up, to make sure you're not outing yourself as a Brute.

Sometimes it's Rune, trying to get you to go flying with her like in the old days. You have to remind her that you both have work to do.

"When did you become such a stick in the mud?" she demands. "Sulking isn't going to get your powers back!" Then she winces. "No, I didn't mean that. I'm sorry."

Today, the interruption is of a more exciting variety. "Capes!" comes the cry from ground level. Without thinking you grab one of the exterior I-beams and swing yourself around to the outside of the building frame. With your feet planted against the beam and your fingers gripping the edges, you start sliding down.

It's not something you'd want to try without superpowers - your Brute strength to maintain your grip, your Brute durability to deal with the friction heating your work gloves to an uncomfortable degree, and graceful crane stance to handle the exciting part where you have to let go every time you pass a cross-beam, and resume your grip below it before you fall. But it's not something a mortal couldn't do, if they were a professional climber and/or a bit nuts.

About halfway down it occurs to you that you have very limited options for dealing with hostile capes while remaining mortal-compliant, but, um, you don't think you can actually stop at this point. Well, when you can't abort a poorly chosen course of action, all that is left is to double down on it.

You're moving at a fair clip when you reach the ground, and you make sure to absorb the impact with bent knees despite graceful crane stance making that unnecessary. Mortal-compliant, see? The way you peel off your gloves and shake your fingers through the air to cool them is entirely sincere, though. But you very deliberately do not make any humorous 'ouch ouch ouch' noises, and when you turn around to face the intruders, your face shows no trace of hesitation or concern.

"Clockblocker. Iscariot," you greet them calmly.

"It's 'Chariot'," the newest Tinker in the Wards complains.

"Isn't that what I said?" you ask, frowning slightly.

You actually beat Crusader's ghosts to the ground, but as if to punctuate your words half a dozen of them arrive to hover threateningly in a loose circle around the heroes, brandishing a variety of insubstantial stabbing implements. Crusader himself doesn't show up though, seemingly content to let you do the talking.

"You'll have to excuse him," you tell the suddenly tense heroes. "Having members of a rival gang show up unannounced has a way of making people jumpy."

"We ain't no rival gang!" Chariot protests.

"We're not rivals any more?" you exclaim happily and with no trace of sarcasm whatsoever. "That's great news!"

Clockblocker shakes his head at your question, or possibly at his colleague for handing you a setup like that. "Off the record? Yeah, pretty much. As long as you keep order and rebuild, and keep your race war boner in your pants, we're too busy to deal with you right now. On the record: Die nazi scum." He delivers that last message in a thoroughly unenthusiastic monotone.

You consider the capes before you. While their official unofficial stance may be one of noninterference, having Wards patrol the very edge of Empire territory like this clearly demonstrates that their unofficial unofficial policy is to provoke an incident that lets them attack you in self defense. Because not poking the bear would be dangerously close to saying that it's OK to be white.

Or perhaps 'waving a red flag in front of a bull' is a better metaphor. Because while Clockblocker's costume doesn't leave a single inch of skin exposed (and you happen to know that beneath it he sports that most caucasian of phenotypes, the redhead), Chariot's heavier but less comprehensive Tinker-armor reveals him to be black. The point being that the color of the flag doesn't actually matter. Sure it might be the single best heuristic for determining the content of your character, but heroes are already assumed to be hostile and belligerent by default. In this instance the metaphorical bull is colorblind, and the red flag just looks good to the audience.

"Well, I appreciate you coming by to visit, then," you tell Clockblocker politely, waving for the ghosts to provide them an exit route. The bull is also not going to charge into the matador's sword today. "But I'm afraid wolf freezing is no longer on the menu. You understand, I'm sure."

"-and she called him 'Iscariot'. She pretended she misspoke, but I'm sure it was deliberate."

"Yes?" Miss Militia is polite, but clearly confused.

"You know, as in Judas Iscariot?"

"Oh!" She frowns in thought. "But how did she know? And why did she tell us? Are they making a move against Coil?"

She's clearly talking to herself, but I'm not ready for this conversation to be over!

"Wait, Trevor is a traitor? And you knew? When were you going to tell us?"

I remember what Vista said to me just before she left: 'If you ever want to know something people don't want you to know, talk to Low Key.' I just nodded at the time, but now I understand.

---

Your copy of Crusader's power works the way you hoped it would, but not as well as you hoped it would. Yes, your otherwise mundane steel knife passed right through the breastplate you made Sophia wear, and the tip came back out bloody. But you still felt significant resistance pushing it through, and as a result the wound is nowhere near as deep as you would like.

You wipe the knife clean and try again. And again. Different angles, overhand vs underhand grip... no matter how you stab her it's a bitch and a half to punch through the plate. Sometimes you don't even draw blood.

Still, it's a start. Unlike what you see in the movies, without the power your thrusts barely even leave a scratch on the breastplate as they slide off. It does inarguably pass through steel to damage the fleshy bits beneath in a manner decidedly supernatural. If you pick up more Brute strength to put behind the blow, and/or more Striker powers to layer on top of it... like maybe Flechette's power, if that one fizzles too. All in all, you're not going to complain.

"Did you really need me for this?" Alec complains in your stead.

"It's literally impossible to make her wear something she doesn't want to wear without you. She just kept phasing through the breastplate when I tried."

---

Oh. You can fly now. That's certainly something Purity and Glory Girl have in common. Maybe you should have remembered what usually happens when you come up with clever plans. Maybe if you hadn't been so clever, you'd have building-collapsing force-lasers a few days from now. Instead you can fly, and you're having a hell of a time getting used to the controls.

Yes, you said 'controls'. It's really weird. Flight is like the second most common superpower (after, ironically, force-lasers), so how come your version is so bad? Purity and Glory Girl just have to think 'up' and gravity can go suck a fat one, but you get to manifest a... a sort of magic hovercraft? An invisible force that controls your position relative to the ground? That attaches to your right hand, and you control by minute twitches of your fingers.

It's really finicky, and no matter what you do you can't seem to rise more than ten-ish yards off the ground. Top speed is about, well, about car-fast, you think. Which beats walking, but is a far cry from airplane-fast. And despite you calling it a hovercraft just now, it can't actually hover. If you don't keep moving the whole thing destabilizes and you fall down. Luckily you were trying to imitate Crusader's ghost's 'swoop down and hover threateningly' maneuver when you found that out, and only fell a couple of feet.

Your powers have certainly been underwhelming lately. With 'flight' like this you won't even be able to clear most rooftops. Unless... oh. Turns out your position doesn't have to be relative to the ground. Any solid surface will do, horizontal or no. Less hovercraft, more antigravity-tether-thing? At least you can 'climb' any building in your way as long as you stay within ten yards of it.

Wait. You said 'a solid surface' just now, didn't you? But you don't actually know that. You're going to have to test it out on the convenient liquid surface right next to your chosen testing spot (you are, of course, back at the boat graveyard), and probably end up taking a bath in the ocean.

---

You don't end up taking a bath. Turns out pessimism is not always warranted, and your not-hovercraft can negotiate liquid surfaces just fine. Still, you're not exactly looking forward to aerial combat with this thing. If something were to jostle your steering hand... You return to shore and turn the power off and on again, trying to attach it to your left hand instead. It works. The steering is even wobblier this time, but at least this way you'll have your dominant hand fr-

Oh. You were so upset at being clever earlier that you didn't realize you were being dumb. Since when have you only had two hands? You toggle the power again, this time attaching it to a mind-hand.

Suddenly your flight is an extension of your mind, like a normal cape! You do couple of celebratory loops and rolls, flowing smoothly from one maneuver to the next with the absurd dexterity typical of your mind-hands. Okay, whoa, slow down. Your brain is having fun, but your stomach didn't like that last maneuver so much.

You switch to a more sedate, upright mode of flight as you ponder another idea: Mind-hands come from the heart. Physically, you mean. The glowing tendrils emerge from the center of your chest. If you were to make it really short - really short, so short it doesn't emerge from your chest?

You watch as the tendril withdraws and the last hint of glow vanishes beneath your clothes. But the mind-hand is still active, still controlling your movements. The tiny spatial distortions tickle a bit, but it means non-Poltergeist identities will be able to use this mode of flight. As long as you keep moving (and/or constantly bob up and down instead of hovering in place) you'll be able to pass for a normal (if fidgety) flying cape.

Yeah, okay, you can work with this. You give the results of your little cape-combining experiment a solid meh out of five. Not going to try that again with anyone important.

---

Testing a power like Flechette's for the first time demands some caution. Rather than attempting to infuse something you hold, and potentially having it cut through your fingers, you carefully brush your finger against a pebble on the ground. Nothing happens. You blow out your breath in a great sigh. It's one of those powers.

Ok, so pebbles don't work. Maybe it's limited to weapons? You've heard of stranger Manton limitations. You put your knife on the ground and poke it. Nope. Knife held in mind-hand? No. Knife carefully held with only your thumb and pinky finger? No. Knife wielded normally? No.

You hear a faint scrabbling sound, and a terrible suspicion hits you. A mind-hand snaps out and captures the rat that was making the noise. Another murine sacrifice on the altar of power testing, huh? You bring the it in close, reach out a finger and tap it with Flechette's power. The rat stops existing.

Huh. You somehow got things mixed up, and managed to apply Crusader's Manton limitation to Flechette's power? Perhaps sleep is not quite as optional as you thought? On the plus side, you just fucking deleted a rat! Deleted! None of this 'it can penetrate armor, but not very well' or 'it can fly, but not very high' bullshit. It's Flechette's power in all its glory, you're just skipping the 'imbue weapon' step and going straight to 'murder'.

Yeah, you're missing out on the utility of being able to destroy objects, but the charm of unmaking already has you fairly well covered on that front. It's not that big of an issue. No, the big issue that humans invented crossbows for a reason: It's really nice not to have to stand next to the people trying to murder you back.

You find and delete another rat, confirming that it is, in fact, limited to touch range. You can't even channel it through your mind-hands, you have to actually touch the rat with your actual hands. No ranged combat for you.

You spend some time berating your power/brain. No, of course this is fine! So what if your version of the Endbringer-slaying power is useless against Behemoth, whose aura kills anyone who ventures within 30 feet, or the Simurgh, who can fly into space? It's Leviathan you wanted revenge on, right? It's perfectly good against him, for 'closing to melee range with one of the fastest Movers in the world (who is also one of the deadliest Shakers and Blasters)' values of perfectly good.

Weeeell, your power-instincts say, there might be something more to it. You should try it again. Fine, whatever. You track down yet another rat. This time, you call on the power very, very slowly, straining senses you can't describe to feel what is going on. And there is something there, another mode of operation? This time you twist the power sideways(?) as you bop the rat.

The rat turns into a cat.

What? No, seriously, what? What the fuck, power?

===

Charms:
Taylor: All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight, Terrestrial Circle Sorcery
Tattletale: Know the Soul's Price
Bitch: Spirit-Tied Pet
Aegis: Ox-Body Technique
Browbeat: Shaping the Ideal Form
Dragon: Implicit Construction Methodology
Kid Win: Industry and Forge Wisdom
Lung: By Rage Recast
Vista: Mind-Hand Manipulation
Cricket: Mantis Form
Faultline: Charm of Lesser Unmaking
Labyrinth: Hell-Walker Technique
Othala: Verdant Emptiness Endowment
Rune: Sometimes Horses Fly Approach
Shadow Stalker: Bloodless Murk Evasion
Miss Militia: Nightmare Fugue Vigilance
Circus: Graceful Crane Stance
Ballistic: Crack the Sky
Crusader: Shell-Cracking Atemi
Purity: Eagle-Wing Style
Flechette: Pattern Spider Touch

Shell-Cracking Atemi lets you ignore Hardness - but there's still Soak to worry about (Soak is 'this much damage is subtracted from your attack', while Hardness is 'you must be this tall to even roll for damage').

Eagle-Wing Style is a relatively shitty flight power simply for balance reasons - a sufficiently cinematic 'guy with big sword' type character might be able to leap up and bisect an eagle-wing stylist, but would be completely helpless against an archer hovering 100 yards above him. Thus, it carefully prevents you from rising too high, using two-handed weapons, or hovering.

Pattern Spider Touch lets you reach straight into the matrix code (in Exalted it's called 'the Loom of Fate') of someone you hit with an unarmed strike, and more or less arbitrarily rewrite or delete them. Usually delete.
 
Pattern Spider Touch lets you reach straight into the matrix code (in Exalted it's called 'the Loom of Fate') of someone you hit with an unarmed strike, and more or less arbitrarily rewrite or delete them. Usually delete.
So Taylor is now, with regards to Endbringer fights, "Drive me closer! I want to hit them with my sword fist!" girl?
 
What are the limitations of Pattern Spider Touch? Are transformation effects permanent?

For example, if she used it on Theo, could she give him a makeover to get rid of his weak chin, pudge, and add six inches or so of height?

If she turns a person into a rat, do they retain their human mind or is the ratification more thorough?
 
"...It didn't until you laid it out like that just now." Lisa rubs her chin and works her power. "I mean, it's not impossible that he's simply the strongest Thinker in the world, stronger than everyone else combined. There's precedent in other classifications."

You nod. Legend among Blasters, Siberian among Brutes.

Congratulations Taylor. You're the Striker 12 now.

What are the limitations of Pattern Spider Touch? Are transformation effects permanent?

For example, if she used it on Theo, could she give him a makeover to get rid of his weak chin, pudge, and add six inches or so of height?

If she turns a person into a rat, do they retain their human mind or is the ratification more thorough?

Once, changes to the Loom of Fate could change anything in Creation. The pattern spiders, which tend the Loom, no longer permit swift and drastic changes, but that potential remains. With a successful unarmed attack, a character can use this Charm to fundamentally change his target, reweaving the structure of the target's existence. Doing so causes one of the following effects:
• Transforms the target into a beast, robbing him of her mind and shape.
• Transforms the target's flesh into one of the five elements: a breeze, a fl ame, a stone or statue, a pool of water or even a living tree. The target remains alive and aware, but unless she is an elemental of the relevant type, she can take no actions (though the martial artist could transform the target into an elemental).
• Grants the target a new life and identity as any sort of non-Primordial creature (other than an individual who already exists). The target instantly develops appropriate social relationships, seamlessly integrating into the life of any appropriate entities save creatures of the Wyld, beings outside the pattern of fate and spirits on or above the levels of the Five Maidens. (If the Sidereal uses this Charm to transform a person into a Lunar Exalt out in the Threshold, the local beastmen and barbarians "remember" the character as if she's lived her whole life among them, but Luna will not be fooled. Also, the character would gain no Charms beyond those she already possessed, though any Charms she has and her anima display will visually correspond to those appropriate to her new form.) These effects are permanent, and the victim forgets her old life.
• Unmakes the target utterly. In the unlikely (though not unprecedented) event that a targeted Primordial fails to use a perfect defense, that Primordial becomes a Neverborn. Any other target instantly ceases to exist, in life and in the afterlife, as the strands of her Essence come apart and scatter.
The Shaping effect replaces the normal damage of the attack.
The reapplication of this Charm or extremely potent powers such as the Endowment spirit Charm can immediately return targets to their original form. Targets transformed into other people and back might have diffi culty recovering their old memories, though. Nothing can remake the unmade, however, even transforming a second target into a replica of the unmade one.

To answer your questions in order:
Yes it's permanent.
Probably not?
Turning someone into a beast explicitly robs them of their mind, though there are alternate options for letting them remain alive and aware.
Transforming them into someone else has a bit of weirdness to it in that they keep all their powers and stats of their old character sheet, but history is rewritten with them as their new life and identity, even if it would fall apart in short order if you tried turning a dog into the President of the United States. You could transform Leviathan into a moe anime girl who loves all living things and she'd keep her powers. Similarly you could turn a hapless victim into an Endbringer, and everyone would believe they were an Endbringer, and he'd look like an Endbringer, but he wouldn't have any of the powers of one.

In other news wow that Crusader charm has nothing to do with Crusader's power. Damn did Taylor take her "I can influence the outcome" thing to the next level with that one.
 
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Congratulations Taylor. You're the Striker 12 now.

To answer your questions in order:
Yes it's permanent.
Probably not?
Turning someone into a beast explicitly robs them of their mind, though there are alternate options for letting them remain alive and aware.
Transforming them into someone else has a bit of weirdness to it in that they keep all their powers and stats of their old character sheet, but history is rewritten with them as their new life and identity, even if it would fall apart in short order if you tried turning a dog into the President of the United States. You could transform Leviathan into a moe anime girl who loves all living things and she'd keep her powers. Similarly you could turn a hapless victim into an Endbringer, and everyone would believe they were an Endbringer, and he'd look like an Endbringer, but he wouldn't have any of the powers of one.
Holy shit, that's wild. Striker 12 indeed...

Is the Charm capable of effectively resurrecting someone by transforming a victim into a perfect replacement?
 
Holy shit, that's wild. Striker 12 indeed...

Is the Charm capable of effectively resurrecting someone by transforming a victim into a perfect replacement?

By Exalted rules there's "No such thing as perfect resurrection" as a hard setting rule and the Charm does have a "no copying people that already exist" clause that might apply to people who are dead, buuuuut honestly yeah probably. This is Worm's cosmology after all. She'd have to reapply Spirit-Tied Pet to golden-retriever Bubbles, and honestly there would probably be noticeable signs that it's a replacement goldfish if she looked closely. But she could probably totally turn Leviathan into a loyal Fenrir-clone complete with Levi-chan's old powers. I wouldn't bet on PST working for making replacement goldfishes personally but it's possible.

EDIT: Double checked the mechanics, it doesn't work

"Look at any photograph or work of art. If you could duplicate exactly the first tiny dot of color, and then the next and the next, you would end with a perfect copy of the whole, indistinguishable from the original in every way, including the so-called 'moral value' of the art itself. Nothing can transcend its smallest elements."
— CEO Nwabudike Morgan, "The Ethics of Greed"

http://nobilis.me/quotes:pattern-spider-touch

Relevant exposition on how PST works from the exalted devs. Yes you're right that is headache inducing to try to wrap your head around. You're reaching into the Matrix and editing the item-ID of the target rather than rewriting the whole thing manually and that causes a lot of weirdness.
 
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