Ultimate Fidelity

Ultimate Fidelity (••••, Tempesta •••)

 * Action: Extended, 1 minute/roll, threshold = 11 - Belief
 * Dice pool: Resolve + Occult
 * Cost: 1 Willpower dot
 * Duration: indefinite

The original Sworn Guard and the One-Who-Became-Storms swore this oath when they stood before the gates of the last city of the Kingdom, alone against the hordes of the Darkness. And they retain it. The Alhambrans know nothing of it; why would those treacherous curs know anything about loyalty or devotion? This was an oath of the Army of the Kingdom, not the soft weaklings who betrayed it from within. Outside observers suspect that the Goalenu Ban may have evolved from this Charm, baked into their very essence by their death in its service.

When using the Charm, the Noble chooses one of her Aspirations to elevate into her Cause. The Aspiration must not be a trivial or simple goal; for example, “Kill the six-fingered man who killed my father” is a valid target, while “Buy some milk from the shops” is almost certainly not. The Noble repeats her Aspiration over and over again, drumming the words until they become all-consuming. The Charm is complete when the scars blossom across her chest, spelling out the Cause for all who would see. The Noble gains an Entwined Destiny Merit aimed at advancing the Cause; finding a list of men with six fingers, finding which one he is, finding where he lives, watching his routines, breaking into his house, and attacking him would all be actions which would benefit from this. In addition, the Noble cannot be dissuaded; she doubles her appropriate Resistance Attribute against any attempts, whether mundane or supernatural, to prevent her from fulfilling the Cause. This covers things like torture, which would double Stamina, just as much as Composure might be used against magical mind-control or mundane persuasions.

However, the Cause consumes those who have willingly sworn it. When faced with a choice between advancing or fulfilling the Cause, or taking another action, the Noble rolls Resolve + Composure. If she fails, she may perform the other action; otherwise she must continue with the Cause, and ignore the other situation, even if it would seem to be more important to an objective observer. This obsession replaces the normal drawback of the Merit; the Noble doesn’t suffer a penalty to her actions if she does manage to set the Cause aside.

Once the Cause has been accomplished, the Noble regains the Willpower dot lost when swearing to it. If it becomes impossible to attain the Cause for any reason (say, the six-fingered man dies before they can get their revenge), not only does she not regain the Willpower dot, she must roll Resolve + Composure, with each success inflicting one point of resistant aggravated damage, as her soul tears itself apart in coruscating flames that erupt from her mouth and burn at the tongue that swore an oath it could not uphold.

Proxy

 * Requires Tempesta ••••
 * Cost: 2 Wisps from the Noble, 1 Willpower dot from the target

The Noble may use the Charm to seal another person to a Cause. The target is affected as if he had cast it himself.