This artifact was created during the Shogunate Era by the Sidereal Stone Lotus. It was never meant as a weapon upon its creation, but rather as a tool to help the dying earth of Creation. The horn was to call down gentle rains and winds to help the crops during droughts, and was used as such until a Dragon-Blooded conqueror took notice of it and hunted down its wielder.

From that moment, Stone Lotus' creation was corrupted, used in ways it was not meant to. Rang again and again, soaking the fields and covering the sun, it became a tool of destruction in the hands of a conqueror. Upon the death of the Dragon-Blooded, it was decided that it should be taken where it would cause no problems - in the deep north, where its call would simply turn into snow. It was placed in a temple high upon a mountain, where it stayed under the protection of monks for decades before the temple was destroyed by an unexplained incident.

Within the heart of the mountain, the horn froze for centuries, and its nature was changed to become the dangerous thing it is now.

Evocations of Winter’s Heart

When attuned to Winter’s Heart, one of the wielder’s fist (usually the off-hand) starts to slowly freeze and harden, becoming a solid fist of glacial black ice up to half his forearm. This process is painless and the user retains full use of his hand, which is now considered a Smashfist for combat purposes. This hand can explicitly hold Winter’s Heart and fight without penalties. The wielder also gains [Essence] non-charm successes to resist cold-related environmental hazards.

Eternal-Ice Defense

Cost: 4m Mins: Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: -
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: None

Letting the essence of ice and winter flow within her, the exalt’s flesh turns white and her veins blue. Her breath is visible, as during winter, and her whole body becomes frozen to the touch. For the duration of this Evocation, the Exalt gains the effects of a mundane heavy armor and reduces damage dealt to her by fire-related attacks by [Essence] levels.

Glacial Howl

Cost: - Mins: Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: None

This evocation unlocks the Glacial Howl gambit to its user, which freezes opponents hearing the deep echoes of Winter’s Heart. The wielder must sound the warhorn to use the following gambit:

Glacial Howl (Difficulty 3 - Charisma+Performance): This gambit targets everyone within Short range of the user. Roll a single undodgeable attack against every target. Success applies a penalty of [Essence] to all physical actions for 2 turns plus a number of turns equal to the difficulty of any current environmental hazards based on cold temperatures. If there is a hazard based on hot temperatures, the penalty lasts for a single turn.

Winter’s Call

Cost: 10m, 1wp Mins: Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Glacial Howl

Channeling the horn’s Essence into a single note of chilling awe, the Exalt shakes the sky and the elemental balance around him, invoking a snowstorm over the following scene. If a hot environmental hazard is currently active in the scene, it’s difficulty is lowered by one on each subsequent turns until it hits 0, at which point the hazard is nullified and huge black clouds start to form in the sky. Over the next minute, the skies have turned black and the wind starts to howl around the user of Winter’s Heart. Snow starts to fall over the scene, and the temperature drops drastically, quickly turning the scene into a snowstorm. This creates an Environmental Hazard based on cold, with a damage of 2L/minute and a difficulty of 1. On each interval, increase the difficulty by 1 until it reaches the user’s Essence, at which point it stabilizes and stays active for the scene. This storm affects everything within Extreme range of the point where the Exalt invoked it.

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