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Nine Oaks Lord

Terrestrial God of the Old Forest

Legends: The people of Del Roh have few records but many legends of the Old Forest, and its reclusive forest god. Some of those ancient tales say that when the first ships landed on the Isle of Kindicaran, the forest was much larger and covered the heart of the island whole. Only thin strips of land near the coast, the broad plain across the mountains, and the coastal basin near the bay that would eventually become the city of Kindi were completely bare of the sacred wood.

The Woods have ever been a strange and alien place, where trails twist upon themselves and every inch of the the woodland is full of hidden dangers. The forest has always been a sacred place, forbidden the touch of man, but there was a time -- long ago -- when the people of the city and the gods of the forest came to an accord. Paths were shown to men, that led them through the forest in safety, and leave was given for the gathering of lumber and the hunting of game. The only demand of the gods was that the forested ridge, along the north edge of the Island, was to be forever sacrosanct and that there the forest would always remain.

Over the ages since the accord, the forest was cut and cleared, and the island of Kindicaran became a vast open grassland that was slowly covered with verdant farmland. Yet always the people of the city left the sacred forest ridge to the Gods and the Gods alone.

Description: The Nine Oaks Lord has existed since the time of the Primordials, when he ruled over the entire island of Kindicaran. He was a potent god, but an isolated one, created for the sole purpose of watching over the sacred forest and seeing that all was as his masters desired it. When the Celestial Incarnae rose up against the Primordials, the Nine Oaks Lord simply waited within his forest and watched for what would come to pass. The final blow was struck, the Celestines ascended into Yu-Shan with those who stood by them, and the Exalted were given stewardship over the lands of Creation along with those Gods that remained.

Yet for the Nine Oaks Lord, nothing changed.

An age passed. The exalted grew their control over the world, building their Great City of Meru and raising their civilization to heights unimagined under the rule of the Primordials. Yet the small island deep in the west was ignored, and the Nine Oaks Lord simply watched these events at a distant with slowly growing interest. So it was that the Three Golden Idols? rose, as the most powerful Gods of the West were tainted by the essence of the Underworld and raged across the lands that they had once warded after. The Solar Exalted stood firm against the Golden Idols, and destroyed them and the threat they had posed, but only after great harm was brought to the West.

Every city and outpost in the West had been destroyed, and there was not an island throughout the entire direction that had not been ravaged. Not an island...except one. The Lord Venlo Deliano came into the Court of the Nine Oaks Lord, and spoke to him of change and growth, asking to build a great city upon his land of Kindicaran and so use it as his base to rebuild the West as had been requested of him by the Solar Deliberative.

So came the humans and the Exalted. The city upon the shore grew, and the civilization upon the island grew, and the forest shrunk -- and yet the lord of the Forest was content, for Venlo did give him essence and power and the right to walk into his city. The Court of the Forest God grew strong and the Nine Oaks Lord grew greatly in power over what he had once been. The change that had been invited in did not stop, and the island became a center of the West, through which all things flowed and the might of the old Forest god spread as well. When the monument of Gold and Power was raised into the Clouds, the lord of the Forest below stood upon its streets and marvelled at the sight of Creation unfurling out below him.

Recent History: Thousands of years, ages upon ages, had passed between the height of the Nine Oaks Lord power and the time when the Rohan Circle first discovered his sacred forest ridge. The fall of the First Age was a time rich in danger and potential, and the Nine Oaks Lord survived its fall better than perhaps many. He had lost power and seen friends die, and yet he had survived and prospered under the envious eye of a paranoid demigod.

It had been over 1000 years since he had seen one of the Exalted, when the Realm broke through the defenses that Venlo had laced around the island and the Solar Exalted came to rule once again over the Golden City that they had constructed. The Court of the Nine Oaks Lord quickly erupted into chaos as the Gods within reacted to the return of the Solar Exalted. Many hid, or even fled into the Wyld in blind panic. Yet the Nine Oaks Lord had learned to embrace change, and so he and those closest to him stood firm and yet flexible against the coming storm.

A year passed.

The Silver Water Dancer had the gift of foresight. She had known one thing; the coming of the Father of Darkness was inevitable. The Nine Oaks Lord had the gift of wisdom. He had known one secret that had escaped his sister; nothing is inevitable. He had survived the fall of the Primordials, the abandonment of his sacred duty, and even the Fall of the Old Realm. The Father of Darkness came and the Silver Water Dancer embraced him... She became Golden, and the Forest passed finally from memory. All his children perished. All his lovers perished.

Yet the Nine Oaks Lord, in the end, won. Within the womb of the Dawn Caste, Schuyler, lay the seed of his power, and within an acorn plucked from his heart, lay the secret of his resurrection. Stronger than he has been in ages, the Nine Oaks Lord prepares...

...for he knows what is to come.

Nature: Conniver
Attributes: Strength 6, Dexterity 9, Stamina 14, Charisma 5, Manipulation 6, Appearance 4, Perception 5, Intelligence 6, Wits 7
Virtues: Compassion 4, Conviction 3, Temperance 4, Valor 3
Abilities: Athletics 7 (In Trees +3), Awareness 3, Brawl 5 (Tree limbs +2), Bureaucracy 2, Craft 4 (Tree-crafting, Wood-crafting), Dodge 6, Endurance 3, Linguistics 2 (Old Realm; Seatongue, Rohan), Lore 5 (Isle of Kindi +2, Del Roh +1), Medicine 5 (Natural Medicine +2), Melee 5 (Tree-weapons +3), Occult 5, Presence 6 (Inspiring Mortals +2), Resistance 4, Socialize 5, Stealth 6 (In Forests +2), Survival 7 (In Forests +3), Thrown 4.
Backgrounds: Allies 1 (your...currently shattered...Court), Artifact 5 (Weapons and Armor forged from the Trees!), Contacts 3 (Southern Courts, Southeastern Courts, Eye and Seven Despairs), Cult 3 (the cult of Rohan; one willpower/24 hours, and 3 motes/hour), Followers 3 (Nine Subsiary Oaks), Influence 3 (an Important God to the Rohan), Manse (4; the level-five Demense upon which you regrew your Forest), Resources x (currently VERY poor...) Merits n' Flaws: Secret (3pt flaw)

Cost to Materialize: 73 motes
Base Initiative: 16
Attack:

Other Notes:
The Nine Oaks Lord's name is more than just a title. Full details on these subsidiary Elemental-Selves is available in The Nine Oaks?, but for now a few points should be made. First, these "Elementals" are not actual elementals - they are a part of the Nine Oaks Lord. Second, the Nine Oaks Lord can fully command all nine Elementals without difficulty OR he can manifest and command his godly form normally. If he wishes to be fully in control over all 10 bodies, however, he has to split his pool. This requires one action to control all 9 elementals, and then whatever other actions the main materialized god wishes to perform.

Despite the great potential of having a maximum of 10 bodies, the Nine Oaks Lord usually keeps him various elemental selves in widely disparate locations. He has been known to occasionally attack a single target with as many as three Oak Elementals, but never commits all of them to a single battle if he has a chance. Most who know this would suspect that the God is weakened if more than a few of his Elemental Forms are damaged. The actual truth of the matter is much more complicated and interesting.

The Nine Oaks Lord is immortal, on a limited scale. So long as one of his elemental forms survives the God himself can spring back fully into existance. This is how he pulled off "the Acorn Trick", allowing him to rejuvination himself and recreate the Forest. However, unless the God has a handy unborn God-Blooded child to shunt most of his power into, it normally takes him 100 years to fully reform after being nearly killed. Every additional Elemental Form that survives his death reduces this number by a decade, to a minimum of 20 years.

the Charms of the Nine Oaks Lord

Note, some of the Nine Oaks Lords charms temporarily lower his Essence. This charms are listed as having an Essence cost, as follows: 1 Essence/month, 1 Essence/season, or 1 Essence/year. It takes the listed amount of time for the Nine Oaks Lord to recover from such drain. These charms also temporarily lower his Physical Attributes by 1 for the indicated time period.

Lord of the Forest

Growing-Life Branch

• Tree Balm: The God spends 7 motes as a Simple action to restore a tree to health, fully healing any damage it has suffered and ending any negative effects it might be suffering form. The tree to be healed must be "alive", but the Nine Oaks Lord can be bring a tree back if even its roots still cling to life.
  • Ever Green is a very advanced Simple charm that allows the Nine Oaks Lord to maintain the health and good condition of his forest as a whole. The god can spend 5 motes to effect up to his (Essence x100) trees, curing any poisons, diseases, or other negative effects set upon them. A tree treated with this charm will also fully recover, in time, from even the most horrible damage such as that from excessive logging. The Nine Oaks Lord has more advanced versions of this charm: he can heal (Essence x 1000) trees at a time for 20 motes and a willpower, or millions of trees (the entire forest) for 30 motes, 2 willpower, and 1 Essence/month.
• Maze of Thorns is a Reflexive charm that costs 12 motes, and can only be used once per turn. It allows the God to encourage the rapid growth of vines, bushes, or other undeergrowth as he wishes. This undergrowth can form a barrier (maximum soak of 4L/8L and 12 health levels), make clinches (+3 to accuracy, +2B damage adder), or even to make Brawl attacks (+3L damage). A single invocation of this charm can create a barrier up to (Essence x10) square yards maximum, and its clinches/brawl-attacks can affect anyone in the entire area.
  • Flowering is a Reflexive or Simple charm. If used reflexively, it costs only a single mote, and allows the God to cause a single plant to flower or grow fruit. If used as a simple charm it costs 5 motes and allows the God to bring an entire bed of flowers to life and cause them to bloom.
• Oak Lord's Touch is a Simple charm that costs 15 motes and causes a tree to grow on the spot. The Nine Oaks Lord must touch a piece of earth to use this charm, and a sapling appears almost instantly. This tree grows at a vastly accelerated rate, and is fully grown by the end of the scene and mature by the end of the day. It thereafter grows normally.
  • Greedy Forest Hand is a Simple charm that costs 20 motes, 1 willpower and allows the Nine Oaks Lord to simply gesture and cause up to his (Essence x5) trees to grow before him. These trees grow even faster than with Oak Lords Touch, and are fully grown by the end of the week and mature by the end of the month. The trees thereafter grow normally.
    • Forest Rejuvination is a Simple charm that costs 30 motes, 2 willpower and 1 Essence/year. It requires an hour of meditation, and allows the God to cause numerous different types of trees to take root and grow in an extended area. This area cannot be greater than the Gods Essence in square miles, and the trees grow to maturity quite quickly. They are fully grown by the end of the season and mature by the end of the year. The trees thereafter grow normally.
• Merciful Balm is an advanced version of Tree Balm that can work on any living thing. The Simple charm costs 10 motes to affect plants other than trees, or 10 motes, 1 willpower to work upon animals or humans. Merciful Balm's healing is not as perfect in effect; the God can roll his Essence + Compassion, and heal one health level of damage per success. This charm also cures most poisons or diseases.

Twisting Path Branch

• Hidden Paths is a Simple charm, with a duration of Indefinite. It has a cost of 2 motes per +1 to difficulty, and increases the difficulty for anyone travelling the forest to find their destination. This cannot increase the difficulty to navigate the forest beyond the Gods Essence score without the benefit of more charms, and affects everyone not protected by Envoy of the Forest.
  • Shadowed Grove is a Reflexive charm, with a duration of One Week. It costs 10 motes, and doubles the difficulty penality to find one particular landmark within the Forest. The God can shadow a number of landmarks, at any one time, equal to his Essence rating.
    • Forest Turns Inward is a Simple charm, with a Duration of One Day. It costs 15 motes, 1 willpower and affects one individual within the boundaries of the Forest. That target finds all paths closed to him, every turn pushing him outside of the Forest. He has to have a perfect or semi-perfect navigation charm to be able to navigate through the Forest at all. Otherwise he wanders around aimlessly for some time, and then finds himself outside the forest.
  • Crossed Trails is a Reflexive charm, with a duration of One Day. It costs 12 motes, 1 willpower, and affects one individual within the boundaries of the Forest. Any failed Navigation roll that target makes counts its total successes (prior to difficulty) toward reaching another location in the Forest of the Gods chosing.
• Eyes of the Forest is a Reflexive charm, with a duration of Instant and a cost of 7 motes. It allows the Nine Oaks Lord to make a Perception + Temperance roll to find any individual within his forest, with a difficulty determined by how isolated he is. A lone target deep in the forest, moving with the aid of Stealth charms and trying to avoid the notice of animals, is difficulty 5. A target calmly walking through the Forest without care is only difficulty 1.
  • Forest Awareness is a Special charm, with a Permanent Duration. It has two functions. Whenever a stranger with an Essence greater than 1 enters the forest, the God can spend 3 motes plus the cost of Eyes of the Forest to attempt to locate him with that charm. The God can also spend 3 motes whenever the forest is in danger, to locate that danger perfectly.
  • Envoy of the Forest is a Reflexive charm, with a duration of Instant. The charm costs 5 motes, and marks a given God, Exalt, or other individual as a friend of the Forest. The Nine Oaks Lord knows the location of that individual whenever he is within the Forest, and can choose to lower or eliminate any charm-based difficulty penalities from this tree for that individual. The Nine Oaks Lord can use this charm at any time to remove an Envoy Mark from an individual.

Magic-Places Branch

• Heart of the Forest is a Simple charm, and lasts one year. It costs 20 motes, 3 willpower and must be used in a location deep within the Forest. While the Heart of the Forest exists, the Nine Oaks Lord gains great power within it. Specifically, he gains +Essence in dice to Physical or Social rolls within the Forests Heart, and heals all bashing or 1 lethal damage per turn. The Heart of the Forest is a silent groove, pierced by multiple shafts of sunlight, empty of all wildlife.
• Altar of Green Jade is a Simple Charm, and lasts one year. It costs 20 motes, 2 willpower and must be used in a location deep within the Forest. The Altar of Green Jade is a focus of the Nine Oaks Lords crafting magic, and allows him to forge powerful artifacts of natural materials. He needs no tools while using the Altar, and can double his Craft ability for crafting rolls. The God weakens himself with each artifact he chooses to make with the Altar, loosing 1 Essence/season. The Altar is a bare hill of green in the midst of the Forest, crested with a Green Jade Altar.
• Silver Spring is a Simple charm, and lasts one year. It costs 20 motes, 1 willpower and must be used at the location of Silver Water Dancers death. The Silver Spring is beautiful, and serene, a place of perfect place. Anyone who wishes violence must fail a Compassion roll to do so, and even then they suffer one botch sometime during the battle. This charm is not native to the Nine Oaks Lord but was taken by him from his sister, in hopes of one day rejuvinating her wholely.

Might of the Tree-Lord

He's Pretty Badass, Really...

• Tree Walk is a Reflexive charm that costs 15 motes, 1 willpower. It allows the Nine Oaks Lord to step through a tree, and emerge anywhere within his Sacred Forest, or at the side of one of his Elemental forms. The Nine Oaks Lord can only use this charm within Creation itself, and cannot use it to reach Malfaes, the Underworld, or other locations -- even if one of his Elemental forms is to be found there.
  • Tree Step is similar to the above charm, however it is a Simple charm. It costs 20 motes, 2 willpower, and allows the God to travel between any two trees he wishes. These Trees must be within his (Essence x5) in miles.
• Perfect Resilience is a Reflexive charm, that costs 8 motes. It allows the God to soak any attack that successfully hits him down to 1 damage dice, regardless of the attackers minimum damage.
  • Second Breath is a Reflexive charm, that costs 12 motes, 3 willpower. It allows the God to fully heal his damage, crumbling to nourishing ash and being reborn from the soil at any distance up to his Essence in yards away.
• Take Root is a Simple charm, that costs 6 motes, 1 willpower. The God firmly roots himself into the ground, resisting all knockback or knockdown. He requires a Difficulty 7 Strength + Athletics roll to uproot again. While he is rooted, the God regains 2 motes of Essence per hour, gains +1 to his Strength and Stamina scores, and heals one health level every fifteen minutes.

''The Might of TREE FORM!

• Form of the Tree is a Simple charm that costs 7 motes, and has a duration of One scene. While in this charm, the Nine Oaks Lord looses access to any armor or weapons. However, he gains +12L/+10B soak, and access to mighty tree-limb attacks that he can use with either Brawl or Melee (+3 accuracy, +7L damage, +2 defense, +5 speed, Rate 4). These tree-limb attacks are considered Piercing, and the soak-bonus is considered both natural and aggravated soak.
  • Strength of the Elder Oak is a Simple charm that causes the Tree Lord to grow stronger, and tougher both! When this charm is used the God (who must be in the Form of the Tree) actually grows larger. This charm gives the character +1 to his Strength and one -0 health level for every 6 motes spent at activation, to a maximum of an Essence point bonus to either.
  • Changing Seasons Approach is a Reflexive charm that costs 10 motes. Each time the character uses the charm he may pick one of the following Approaches:
    • Winter Approach: The Tree-Lord's limb-talons become long and sharp as talons, and the God gains three automatic successes on all damage rolls, while his bark becomes ice-hard and the God halves all damage he takes after soak.
    • Summer Approach: The Tree-Lord becomes infused with strength and vitality, doubling his Strength score and healing two health levels every turn of combat.
    • Spring Approach: The Tree-Lord becomes light and springy, able to move quickly and with great speed between multiple combat approaches. He gains two extra actions per turn, which he may use however he wishes.
    • Autumn Approach: The Tree-Lord's limbs and truck become slinger and unencumbered by leaves, and the God his Essence in bonus dice for all Dodge actions. The God can use this bonus as a reflexive dodge, if he so wishes.