So, I'm looking at Astrology and Shaping side-by-side, and saying to myself, "Hm, Shaping is everything that I wanted Astrology to be. But it's all fairy. What to do?" Astrology as it stands is a nice way to construct small and interesting effects, but its large-Scope effects are obscure and ill-defined!
So I'm thinking about how I would construct a system that makes Astrology into a combat system like shaping, with wll-defined systems for its large-Scope effects. How to accomplish this? I will take the shaping combat chapter and denote the necessary changes to mechanics.
There is an essential division between using astrological combat competitively, against another Sidereal, and using it constructively, against the vagaries of Fate. This is approximately analogous to the difference between two Fair Folk contending with one another and a single Fair Folk contending against an unshaped.
In an astrological battle, two or more Sidereals each define a destiny that they would like to bring about, using the rules in the Astrology chapter of E:tS. They declare the College, Scope, and Duration of the destinies, and outline their general natures. We assume that the reason this battle is occurring is because the fates are mutually exclusive; there can be only one victor.
Each Sidereal must defend the destiny he desires; his Traits will determine what efforts the others must make in order to prevent that destiny, making their own destinies possible.
Fighting against paradoxes and the unknown horrors of the Outside is the other mode of combat; here, the Sidereal must defend his desideratum from the unpredictable forces of error and Fateless opponents. This is what Sidereals doing destiny planning and paradox troubleshooting are doing; depending on the factors at hand, the universe may not provide any resistance at all (You can trivially make your mortal friend Joe Fourpack better at cards), but a severe destiny tangle or a fateless opponent can be very formidable (It is much more difficult to inspire the young ladies of the Peach Gorge village to follow Immaculate teachings when Joe Lantern-of-Untruths, the seventh soul of Sacheverell, is in town stirring up cultish trouble).
This system assumes that minor blessings and curses succeed because they lack resistance; if your ST does not have reason to believe that your destiny machinations are opposed, assume success (with the appropriate amount of resources expended) or use the standard Astrology system. Generally, any effect powerful enough to incur Paradox is opposed by some non-trivial challenge.
There are surprising relationships between the sizes of destinies and how easy they are to defend. In general, a destiny with greater Scope is more difficult for opponents to bring down, as there tend to be many ways to bring these destinies about, but it is also more weight for the Sidereal to carry, and the largest of destinies bring with them the risk of Paradox. Increased Scope adds to a destiny's Health Levels, but smaller Scopes have more Soak; these congelations of specific details require more specifically targeted strikes to disable, but they are more fragile as well.
Increase the effective Scope of a destiny by the amount of Essence ranks exceeding 1 that the destiny must affect.
| Destiny Scope | |||
| Scope | Health Level Bonus | Soak Bonus | Notes |
| Individual: | +0 | +10 | |
| Individual Alone: | +1 | +9 | |
| Clique: | +2 | +8 | |
| Hamlet: | +3 | +7 | |
| Village: | +5 | +6 | Censure of peers |
| Town: | +8 | +5 | +1 Paradox Die |
| City: | +10 | +4 | |
| Principality: | +12 | +3 | +3 Paradox Dice |
| Dominion: | +13 | +2 | |
| Region: | +14 | +1 | |
| Astrological Direction: | +15 | +0 | |
Increasing the Duration or Power of a destiny decreases its immediate influence and stability, respectively. Long-Duration effects give the Sidereal a penalty to his Damage pool; a lengthy effect is less able to impede other destinies' occurring. High-Power effects sacrifice Soak; they are more elaborate and vulnerable to minor attacks. An effect with a simple trigger has two fewer Health Levels. An effect with an intelligent trigger has five fewer Health Levels.
| Destiny Duration | ||
| Duration | Damage Penalty | Notes |
| Month: | -0 | |
| Season: | -1 | |
| Year: | -2 | +1 Paradox Die |
| 10 Years: | -3 | |
| 20 Years: | -4 | |
| 3 Generations: | -5 | +3 Paradox Dice |
| 7 Generations: | -6 | Censure of Peers |
| 13 Generations: | -7 | |
| 30 Generations: | -8 | |
| 50 Generations: | -9 | |
| 100 Generations: | -10 | |
| Destiny Power | ||
| Power | Soak Penalty | Notes |
| Moderate: | -0 | |
| Strong: | -2 | +1 Paradox Die |
| Severe: | -3 | Censure of Peers |
| Overpowering: | -5 | +3 Paradox Dice |
Depending on the destiny's House, different Traits are used to calculate how effective it is in fate conflict, as reflected in the chart below. In the table, the term "House" indicates, "the character's highest rating in Colleges of that House."
| Destiny Attacks Summary | ||||
| House | Primary Trait | Damage | Soak | Health |
| The Barque | Stamina | Compassion | Dexterity + House | College + Endurance |
| The Lute | Manipulation | Charisma | Appearance + House | College + Linguistics |
| The Victory | Valor | Strength | Stamina + House | College + Resistance |
| The Ivy | Intelligence | Perception | Wits + House | College + Larceny |
| The Bier | Temperance | Conviction | Essence + House | College + Bureaucracy |
There is no analogue to travel in destiny combat.
These are precisely analogous to shaping actions, except that only initiates in Colleges may make destiny actions, and they may only make actions relating to that College. They can similarly conjure unlikely happenings and odd twists of luck, but unlike shaping actions, they are bound by the laws of the Loom.
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