Difference between revisions of "Grace Blossom"

Revision as of 14:04, 10 November 2017

Where the blood of the Fair Folk falls upon the stable ground of Creation, sometimes a strange flower emerges, its petals twisting and intertwining, its colours bright and clashing. These flowers can be harvested, their highly poisonous nectar extracted as a bright golden-red liquid. Ingested, it births brief, intense hallucinations in its victims, lasting only moments before their minds drown in blood unable to cope with the chaos... an appealing effect for some would-be-assassins, but a difficult poison to deliver, for it refuses to intermix with anything else, instead remaining as bright swirls of glimmering red within any food or drink.

There is only one substance with which the nectar of a Grace Blossom can be properly combined: the blood of the virtuous. The first Exalted artificers, girding themselves for the Primordial War, discovered that when they mixed their own blood with the nectar of Grace Blossoms, an oil was created that could be used to season and infuse a work of artifice, an Exotic Component which provided the artifact and its Least God with the power of that Virtue... Valorous Goremauls swung with speed as they charged into battle, Convicted Daiklaves struck with irrepressible force as they brooked no hesitation, Compassionate armour shifted to protect its wearer from harmful blows, Temperate Power Bows steadied the hand and calmed the mind to send arrows perfectly to their marks.

Grace Blossom fell out of favour with artificers in the Golden Age and Shogunate Era, when the [[Raksha] did not spill so much blood within Creation’s bounds (and, some might quietly muse, the Virtues of the Exalted became lesser). This is the case in the present day as well, though between those eras one glowing exception: in the wake of the Great Contagion, virtuous artificers gathered the many Grace Blossoms blooming across Creation and crafted artifacts to serve the champions of the to come.

NOTE: For the Blossom’s purposes, a ‘virtuous’ character is one who has a Virtue rated at 4 or greater. 
Those who possess more than one Virtue at such a level may choose which Virtue they desire to evoke as they 
mix their blood with Grace Blossom, but the other Virtues may also manifest themselves in the final artifact, 
with unpredictable effects. The nectar will not mix with the blood of any being that is not virtuous, nor with
any other substance.