Hello all! The idea for this popped into my head the other day so I wrote it up as a worldbuilding contribution for my gaming group, and figured I'd share it here in case it's useful for anyone else.

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The Morning Manse

Earth Manse •••••

The Morning Manse is part of a large estate, located in a rural part of the Blessed Isle, to the north of the Plains of Rusted Iron. Although Realm scholars believe it may date to before the Uprising, the Manse is a fortified manor harmonious with the style of early Shogunate architecture, and its sprawling layout encircles a massive training yard in its centre. The manse itself is flanked by a bevy of outbuildings and the estate as a whole can house a significant number of troops.

The Scarlet Empress came into ownership of the Morning Manse early in her reign, and the nature of the hearthstone has been unknown ever since. However, she does permit occasional use of the Manse by others, including various of her children and grandchildren, and prominent scions of the Realm, particularly the militarily-inclined. Access to the Manse is granted only for a set time, anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of seasons, and is typically considered a sign of her favour or her inclination to invest in a promising officer. In her absence, the Manse has lain silent.

The Manse features all the trappings and geomantic capabilities one would expect of a manse of this type, but its main value to the Realm lies in the vast training area encircled by the manor’s perimeter, modestly referred to as ‘the Courtyard’.

The majority of the Courtyard is open terrain, although several areas nearest the manor are paved plazas. It contains a significant number of training dummies which can be configured like sparring partners, a dojo training yard, or a mock battlefield; they are sculpted of white jade and accented in soulsteel, and mimic the shape of armoured warriors.

The training dummies are functionally indestructible and, when activated, will perform rudimentary ‘animations’ in a simulacrum of real warriors. However, their true benefit is that they count as valid targets for any charms or spells which require a living being as a target; multiple activated dummies can be deployed together to count as a valid subject for charms affecting mass-combat units (i.e. groups or units with a Magnitude). This, combined with the typically indestructible manse construction, creates an environment where Exalts can fully practice their Charms, including those that normally require a person or people as valid targets for the Charm to activate.

As well as providing an opportunity for an Exalt to come to grips with what a Charm can do, reducing unfamiliarity and uncertainty in the field, the manse confers another advantage: training times to learn or develop a new Charm are halved for Exalts who do their training in the Courtyard, provided there is at least one person in residence who is attuned to the manse.

Hearthstone

The Awakened Warrior Stone (Earth, •••••)

This hearthstone augments the use of the Terrestrial War charm, Phantom-Warrior Horde. This Charm allows a Dragon-Blood to fill the area around her with phantasmal soldiers made of pure elemental essence matching her own Aspect. The Awakened Warrior Stone allows the holder of the hearthstone to summon these troops as physical beings with the ability to engage in combat, rather than phantasms for psychological warfare alone. This is an optional choice and the hearthstone owner may still choose to use the Charm in its normal form instead.

The summoned physical troops form a unit of standard soldiers with a Magnitude equal to half the Essence of the Dragon-Blood who summoned them. They last for a scene and will engage in combat or other military actions (such as guarding or defending), before dissolving in a showy but non-damaging display of elemental essence. Phantom soldiers who are killed in combat similarly disappear in an Essence display.

The Dragon-Blood cannot activate further uses of the Phantom-Warrior Horde charm while any of the summoned troops from the hearthstone-enhanced activation remain.

If the Dragon-Blood has already developed any subsequent custom Charms building on Phantom-Warrior Horde which have a similar effect to this Hearthstone, use of the Awakened Warrior Stone instead adds (Essence/2) to the Magnitude of the unit summoned by the Charm.

Optionally (at the Storyteller’s discretion) the Hearthstone may also augment Celestial charms with the same metaphysical basis/fundamental function.