PROTECTION FROM THE WYLD CREATING TALISMANS AGAINST THE WYLD
One degree of Enchantment allows characters to
More often than people want to use the Wyld, they
want protection from it. Since jade obelisks and reality
engines are in short supply, all of the peoples that live
near the Wyld have devised ways to protect themselves
from its effects. Even Wyld mutants seldom wish to gain
harmful mutations, or in fact, any new mutations at all.
The methods of protection are quite varied. Thaumaturges
can craft warding talismans. Shamans and summoners
can call upon local gods and elementals whose Charms
can protect a tribe from the effects of the Wyld.
TALISMANS
The thaumaturgical Art of Enchantment can create
warding talismans against the Wyld. One common sort of
talisman is carved from hard, fine-grained stone such as
agate or jade. These talismans look like plum-sized globes
or palm-sized plaques bearing stylized images of humans,
maps of Creation or sigils of Gaia, Autochthon, Luna
or other supremely powerful entities. Another common
type of talisman consists of fine cloth embroidered with
metal thread. When the Delzahn tribes of the South lived
near the Wyld, they embroidered copper, silver or golden
sigils and arabesque borders on their robes, the metal
depending upon the wearer’s status and the potency of
the robe’s protection. The Delzahn of Chiaroscuro now
live thousands of miles from the Wyld, but they retain
the custom. Either form has the Resource costs and
difficulties to create of any other warding charm (see
Exalted, p. 379).
PROTECTION RATINGS
Tribes that survive in the tainted lands or the
Wyld for more than a few years may combine both
talismans and blessings by spirits and generally
enjoy a +2 bonus to all of their rolls to resist the
Wyld. Often, chiefs, shamans, renowned warriors
and war bands that deliberately travel deeper into
the Wyld win or are awarded additional protections
that grant them between a +3 and a +5 bonus on
all rolls to resist the effects of the Wyld. One result
of these protections is that the shamans and the
leaders of tribes of Wyld mutants and beastmen
can go on vision-quests and power-quests into the
Middlemarches and return bearing both valuable
knowledge and a variety of deliberately chosen mu-
tations instead of coming back with blasted minds
and twisted bodies.
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create talismans that provide +1 die to rolls against both
mutation and Wyld addiction. These talismans also add
their bonus to all rolls for power-quests and vision-quests.
Two degrees of Enchantment let the thaumaturge increase
this bonus to +2 dice, and three degrees of Enchantment
raise the bonus to +3 dice. The bonus from a talisman
stacks with any bonus gained from protection by spirits.
However, multiple talismans are not cumulative: only
the higher bonus applies.
Masters of Enchantment can also create talismans
that provide complete protection against mutation and
Wyld addiction within the Bordermarches unless the
wearer botches the mutation or addiction roll. However,
because these talismans specifically protect bearers against
Bordermarches, the talismans offer no protection against the
deeper levels of the Wyld. Also, this protection does not
stack with ordinary talismans against the Wyld: a character
may wear one or the other, but not gain the benefits of
both. Such talismans count as one-dot artifacts.
HOUSE OF REFUGE (ARTIFACT •)
The most powerful protection available from thau-
maturgy can block the mutational and addictive effects
of the Middlemarches, and reduce Deep Wyld exposure
to Bordermarches level. These wardings, however, can
only protect a small, fixed location such as a hut. The hut
itself must be specially constructed with protective sigils
worked into its walls and ceiling. Small fetishes crafted
from wood, stone, shell, feathers and other materials
face each cardinal direction (with one on the center of
the roof), while a miniature obelisk incorporating a bit
of jade or moonsilver is buried beneath the center of
the floor. The House of Refuge covers (thaumaturge’s
Essence x 100) square feet. An entire hamlet might pack
into a House of Refuge during a Wyld storm or (for Bor-
dermarches communities) on nights of the full moon. If
the community is too large to fit in a House of Refuge,
the protection is usually reserved for the children.
WYLD WATCHES
Communities living in or near the Wyld often pos-
sess a talisman known as a Wyld horn or a Wyld watch
that warns of the Wyld’s approach, or (if used within the
Wyld) of the approach of a deeper level of the Wyld. Even
tribes of Wyld mutants who worship the raw power of
the Chaos do not want the roiling madness of the Deep
Wyld to sweep over them without warning.
All of these talismans are at least as large as a man’s
head and have a variety of methods of providing warning.