Crunch/Manses
From Greenthings
Manses
.===Title===
Description<brPowers and Flaws<brAssociated Backgrounds<br
The Campanile of Celestial Completion (L.5 Solar, Celestial)
Description
The product of a now-very-long-dead friendship, this Manse has been deeded to the line of Exaltation of a certain Chosen of Endings since at least the middle of the First Age. The original builder- probably an Eclipse, given, but the details are fuzzy and no one's looked it up in centuries- created it as a giant tower of all five magical materials, primarily orichalcum, intertwined in elaborate patterns; while large portions of this framework are still there, over time, sections have been used, broken off, or "requisitioned for emergency use", being replaced with a hodgepodge of other materials. While no one has yet allowed it to become unstable for obvious reasons, it's now a lot more fragile. (Whether this is... symbolic of something... might be an interesting question.)
The Manse itself has a number of powers. For one thing, it's actually sentient. Its personality is at least partly based on that of the Solar who created it (whatever that was), but it's got some amount of free will, and has had quite a bit of time to develop, so it may not be quite the same. Not that anyone living knows- it hasn't announced its presence in quite some time, and certainly not since the Usurpation. Whether this is due to damage, personal preference, a reaction to the personalities of its later Hearthstone-bearers, or some strange plan of its own, is impossible to tell. Regardless, it seems to be a secretive sort.
In addition, it shares a Sympathetic Dream Link with the Hearthstone-bearer, has the ability to speak via Mela's Sweet Whisper, contains a Guardian of unknown origin which usually manifests through creative use of the Glorious Halo of Hesiesh, and a number of Magical Conveniences. The hearthstone itself is a Stone of Final Rest.
Powers and Flaws
Level 5 Solar Manse, Stone of Final Rest (4). Base stats: (5x2) + Fragility 2 (x2) + -1 Hearthstone level (1) = 15. Powers: Sentient (5), Guardian (3), Mela's Sweet Whisper (2), Glorious Halo of Hesiesh (2), Sympathetic Dream Link (2), Magical Conveniences (1).
Associated Backgrounds
Potentially, Ally, maybe Backing.
Chained Silence (Abyssal L.2, Underworld)
Description
A hundred-foot-or-so natural formation of obsidian carved carefully and subtly into the statue of a person of unknown gender writhing in agony. The statue is wrapped head-to-toe in a cable made from thin wires of soulsteel and starmetal wrapped around a core made of the congealed screams of the dying. The Hearthstone forms in a hidden slot where the mouth would be. Held by the Walker in Darkness.
Powers and Flaws
Chained Silence, Lv. 2 Abyssal Manse (Ghostwalker Crystal, **)
Associated Backgrounds
Hah.
Fortress of the Mist Glade (Air L.2, Creation)
Description
A three-story building in the Northeast seemingly made of colored mist, the walls, floors and ceiling seeping from and shaped by an intricate glyph carved into the cold rock of the ground. The center of the third floor is devoted to a spectacular hanging garden, a strange combination of hothouse plants and several "species" of growing ice. The attuned owner seems to be absent...
Powers and Flaws
Level 2 Air Manse, Crystal of the Frozen North (2).
Associated Backgrounds
Maybe Enemy, Resources. Stuff you can do with what it grows.
Love Is What You Make From It (L.3 Sidereal, Creation)
Description
Built as a Sorcery sacrifice, a man rejected poured his love, his love's corpse (not his fault), and five of what were fated to be the last years of his life into this Manse. A precise, runic hedge-maze in the shape of a prayer to the Maidens as a whole, roofed with grand wooden arches and covered in a thousand kinds of beautiful and useful flowers. Sound takes on a softer quality, the temperature is always mild, black iron benches, tables and the occasional gazebo are scattered throughout, and there is a distinct aura of peace and calm about the place.
The Divine Observatory occupies the inner set of circles, and the altar to Venus occupies the Hearthstone room.
Powers and Flaws
3-dot Sidereal Manse (Luck Transaction Jewel 2). Concept: garden-manse. Conveniently close to wherever we are without being particularly obvious in any way.
(3x2) +1 (Hearthstone reduction I) +4 (Fragility II) = 11 points. Temple Manse (-3), Geomantic Subtlety (-2), Divine Observatory (-2), Mela's Sweet Whisper (-2), Comfort Zone (-1), Magical Conveniences (-1).
Associated Backgrounds
Necessary Reflection (Lv.? Lunar, Creation)
Description
In a valley nowhere near anything that would seem of interest, within a broad, mostly infertile plain where low grassy bump-hills break up into over onto a field of scattered white rocks, there's a deep, still pond. It's not a terribly big pond, maybe the size of your typical peasant house, but it's clean and clear and springs from an underground river. Most of the time, that's all it is...
Through some trick of angle, the moon reflects through the pond from moonrise to moonset; and when Luna reaches her fullest phase, a deep diver can find an entrance, concealed perfectly every day and every other night, that sparkles like the night sky. Deep within the soft white rock below the pond are halls and passageways, seemingly worn away by the water into a series of coral-branching passageways that range from big enough for a dog to crawl through to room-sized. Circling back in on itself, any living being within the Manse can only leave during the full moon's time, just as nothing can get in.
Powers and Flaws
There's got to be some sort of accessibility drawback here, seriously. Also some Wyld Revocation and hidden-manse stuff and enlightenment things.
Associated Backgrounds
Ally 3
Penthouse of the Heavenly Host (L.3 Sidereal, Celestial)
Description
Through the back room and up a dusty stairway in one of Yu-Shan's most famous alehouses lies a far more subtle attraction: a plush, private, well-stocked Manse perfect for just about any kind of entertainment the Hearthstone bearer or their guests can dream up.
Powers and Flaws
Lv.2 Sidereal Hearthstone.Maintenance (must entertain every X period... though the bar below it counts), Magical Conveniences (1), Well-Flavored Aspect (1), Geomantic Subtlety (2), Subtle Breath of Sextes Jylis (2), etc.
Associated Backgrounds
??
Angel's L.4 First Age/ExoWoD Lunar Manse
Angel's L.1 ExoWoD Fire Manse
Other
