After five long years, it's finally happened: you've become a creature of the night, a vampire, one of the Kindred that stalk the dark city streets of Boston.
...wait, what's with the creepy power aura? What's that mark on your forehead? And what's an Abyssal?
It's been five years since you discovered the dark underbelly of Boston. Five years since your regnant, your soon-to-be sire, found you and blessed you with the blood. Five years you've spent being prepared for this night, the night when you shed the mortal coil and become an immortal creature of blood and hunger.
You stand in a sun-proofed apartment that you call your own, to your chagrin. It's grimy, the walls are bare, there's not much furniture to be found beyond the essentials, and the whole place is about the size of a shoebox. You've neglected your living space in favor of service to your regnant, and it shows.
Speaking of your regnant, she's here with you, seated on the bed. She gives you a smile, and your heart skips a beat. How could it not when the most beautiful woman you've ever seen is going to remake you? With her flawless dark skin, hungry eyes, and sinful grin, she's a vision of beauty. Who wouldn't want her tender mercies?
Your soon-to-be sire's name is Leila Harrow, and she is...
[ ] A roguish Brujah who you impressed in a bar room brawl. She's spent the past five years honing your fighting instincts (Dusk Caste)
[ ] A charming Toreador who was taken by your music. She made you a ghoul after hearing your band play once, and has had you perform private shows at Elysium since (Midnight Caste)
[ ] A scholarly Tremere who taught a class you took in undergrad. She recognized your keen mind and guided you through understanding truths both mundane and occult (Daybreak Caste)
[ ] A secretive Malkavian who caught you robbing the wrong house. She's turned you from a common burglar to a silent killer (Day Caste)
[ ] An ambitious Ventrue who quietly watched you scheme and backstab your way up the corporate ladder. Under her guidance, you've become a ruthless politicker (Moonshadow Caste)
This is an Exalted/World of Darkness quest wherein you will be an Abyssal Exalt. It will run on the Exalted Essence system.
In Exalted Essence, all castes earn all charms at the same rate. There is no concept of charms being 'in caste' or 'favored.' Instead, the Caste vote will accomplish three things: it informs your initial build, it decides how you earn an Exalt Milestone (which is how you learn new charms), and it determines your anima effects. The castes are as follows:
Dusk Caste - The Dusk Caste build will favor combat prowess. Dusk Castes gain an Exalt milestone for engaging a significant foe in bloody combat. Dusk Caste anima effects make them more deadly in combat and personally intimidating, able to cow even things that shouldn't be able to feel fear.
Midnight Caste - The Midnight Caste build will favor personal charisma. Midnight Castes gain an Exalt milestone for intimidating or coercing a significant character or group. Their anima effects allow them to intuit the disappointments and despairs of other characters, easily inspire feelings of fear, peace, despair, or acceptance, and detect and punish lies and deceptions.
Daybreak Caste - The Daybreak Caste build will favor intellectual and necromantic ability. Daybreak Castes gain an Exalt milestone for using their knowledge to provoke conflict with or undermine a significant foe. Daybreak anima effects improve their ability to use the Craft and Sagacity abilities, as well as allowing them to intuit and exploit vital weaknesses.
Day Caste - The Day Caste build will favor stealth. Day Castes gain an Exalt milestone for committing a significant sabotage or infiltration. Day anima effects allow them to hide their anima, more easily perform feats of stealth and athleticism, hide their identity, and become an immaterial wraith.
Moonshadow Caste - The Moonshadow Caste build will favor political ability. Moonshadow Castes gain an Exalt milestone for making a deal with a significant character or group or sowing discord between significant characters or groups. Moonshadow anima effects allow them to learn the tricks of other supernatural beings, seal oaths and pacts with supernatural power, and ensure they are treated with hospitality while negotiating with supernatural beings*. Lastly, they can open portals to the Underworld.
*a note for those of you with the Exalted Essence rulebook: replace the phrase 'spirits, raksha, or ghosts' with the phrase 'non-human supernatural beings' in the active anima power of the Moonshadow Caste. This means it applies to vampires and werewolves, but not mages or Exalts
And you love her. You love her so much it hurts, you love her even more than you love the blood. Yet though your love for Leila is defining, though your addiction to the blood is a constant fixture in your life, there are other things that shape you. What are they?
Vote for a major virtue, a minor virtue, and a minor intimacy.
[ ] Major Virtue: Ambition (Write in what your ambition is)
[ ] Major Virtue: Compassion
[ ] Major Virtue: Courage
[ ] Major Virtue: Discipline
[ ] Major Virtue: Justice
[ ] Major Virtue: Loyalty (Write in who or what you are loyal to)
[ ] Major Virtue: Wonder
[ ] Minor Virtue: Ambition (Write in what your ambition is)
[ ] Minor Virtue: Compassion
[ ] Minor Virtue: Courage
[ ] Minor Virtue: Discipline
[ ] Minor Virtue: Justice
[ ] Minor Virtue: Loyalty (Write in who or what you are loyal to)
[ ] Minor Virtue: Wonder
[ ] Minor Intimacy: The Sabbat (Loathing)
[ ] Minor Intimacy: The Prince (Respect)
[ ] Minor intimacy: Write in
Exalted Essence has intimacies and virtues, things that define how your character thinks, what she believes, and how she relates to the world. You have major and minor intimacies and a major and minor virtue. You will start with a major intimacy of love towards Leila, a minor intimacy of vitae addiction, and one minor intimacy of your choosing. Likewise, you will vote for your major and minor virtues.
The virtues of Exalted Essence are Ambition, Compassion, Courage, Discipline, Justice, Loyalty, and Wonder. Note that if you choose Loyalty or Ambition, you must define the thing you're loyal to or ambitious towards. So a valid vote would be Major Virtue: Ambition (Become Prince of Boston) or Major Virtue: Loyalty (The Camarilla). The meaning of the virtues are as follows:
Ambition - you desire greatness through action, regularly setting goals for yourself and working to overcome them.
Compassion - you are empathetic, and often sacrifice of yourself in order to help others.
Courage - you thrive in adversity, viewing each new challenge as a chance to prove yourself.
Discipline - you value personal restraint and dedication, acting with precision and methodical thought.
Justice - you value (what you consider to be) virtuous, honorable, and righteous behavior and cannot abide wrongdoing of any kind.
Loyalty - you dedicate yourself wholly to someone or something that you value.
Wonder - you value learning, discovery, adventure, and exploration, viewing the world with a sense of wonder and curiosity.
Intimacies are relationships you have or beliefs you hold. A valid write in could be Minor intimacy: My mother (love) or Minor intimacy: "I am an apex predator". Taking a relationship as an intimacy tells me that you want that character to appear in the story. Feel free to define a character of your choosing to be the focus of an intimacy, whether that's someone from your mortal life, a ghoul, a vampire, etc.
"Ready for the main event?" asks Leila in a teasing tone.
Your mouth is too dry to speak, so you nod.
"Then quit wasting time and come here," she says, patting the bed next to her. You don't need to be told twice: you hurry over, nearly throwing yourself on the bed in your haste.
Leila chuckles. "There's a good girl," she says. "Now lie down."
You do as she asks, your heart beating a mile a minute. It occurs to you, faintly, that this will be the last time it ever does so.
Leila straddles you as you lie back, then leans down to give you a gentle kiss on the lips, feather-light. You lean into the kiss, hungry for more, but she pulls away with a mischievous smirk. Then her lips move down to your throat, just barely hovering above your exposed jugular. You ache for her touch, you need it, but you know from experience not to say anything. Your love doesn't like it when you tell her what to do.
"Are you ready?" she whispers. You can feel her breath on your neck as she speaks, and you yearn for something even more intimate.
"Yes," you whisper back. Then there's a sharp pain as her fangs pierce your soft flesh, and the rest is ecstasy.
It's euphoria, it's bliss, it's the second best drug you've ever had after the blood itself. The feeling of your life draining away is orgasmic, and you shudder and moan with pleasure. Then, after too short a time, your vision begins to fade, your body grows numb, and your heart gives a last, fluttering beat before stopping completely.
You've died.
It's... strange. You didn't expect to be conscious between your death and the Embrace. Yet here you are, floating bodiless in a black void. Leila never mentioned anything like that. But then, you know your love kept secrets from you, so that's no surprise.
Do you want to survive? Do you want power?
The words skitter across the surface of your mind like cockroaches fleeing the light, and you would gasp if you still had a body. What's this? Is this the blood speaking to you? Because if so, the answer is yes. Yes, a thousand times yes, you don't intend to face true death here.
Will you surrender your name, your fate, your place among the living? Will you labor to do death's work?
This is... not what you expected, and you're growing nervous. What happens if you say no?
...what happens if you say yes?
It doesn't matter. If this is the blood, of course you'll say yes. If this isn't the blood, something has clearly gone wrong, and you can't afford to say no.
Then rise again, dead girl. Rise again, Deathknight. Rise again as...
[ ] Abyssal Title: Write in
Celebrant of Blood
All Clad in Tatters Came the Mountebank Knight
Shoat of the Mire
Seven-Degreed Physician of Black Maladies
He Who Walks on Laughter
The Rightful Heir by Red Iron Rebuked
There is a 12 hour moratorium on voting. Please vote by plan. A valid plan would be structured as follows:
[ ] Example Plan
-[ ] A roguish Brujah who you impressed in a bar room brawl. She's spent the past five years honing your fighting instincts (Dusk Caste)
-[ ] Major Virtue: Loyalty (The Camarilla)
-[ ] Minor Virtue: Discipline
-[ ] Minor Intimacy: The Sabbat (Loathing)
-[ ] Abyssal Title: The Flowery Name Which is Writ on Gravestones
This is an idea I've had for a while now, I'm just finally getting around to writing it. This quest will run on Exalted Essence rules rather than Exalted vs. World of Darkness, but I'll steal some lore from the latter.
A note on canon: World of Darkness has a LOT of canon, some of it contradictory. Not all of the splats play nicely with each other, and there's lots of metaplot and canon npcs to deal with. So here's what my canon will be: I'm using the Vampire 20th, Mage 20th, Werewolf 20th, and the Wraith 20th core rulebooks for lore (though this quest WILL be set post 6th Great Maelstrom). Anything not found in those core books is up in the air. I may decide to use it, I may not.
So, for example, Boston. It's got a book which describes it, Dark Colony. I do not own that book, and I won't be using it. I've got my own thing cooking with what Boston will be like, so don't expect any characters from that book to appear here.
In regards to Vampire metaplot, the following are true: the Week of Nightmares happened, so the Ravnos are dead. Some Assamites are in the Camarilla, while Gangrel are not.
Any other questions you have about metaplot, canon, how I'm implementing WoD stuff using Exalted Essence, or anything else, feel free to ask.
The Abyssal Exalted are forever denied a place among the living, and are often overcome by their deathly natures. When the Great Curse triggers for an Abyssal, it frequently results in some sort of obsessive behavior regarding death: enforcing hierarchies that place the dead above the living, studying ghosts and corpses, mourning in graveyards, etc.
For an Abyssal, the Great Curse has the following triggers:
Whenever you act against your major virtue, you trigger the Great Curse.
Whenever you act against one of your major intimacies, you trigger the Great Curse.
Whenever you attempt to exist among mortals as a member of the living, you trigger the Great Curse.
Whenever you acknowledge the name you had in life or a similar aspect of your mortal life, you trigger the Great Curse.
Caste: Dusk
Essence is a measure of your raw power. Higher essence gives you more motes, more hardness, and allows you to learn more powerful charms.
Motes are spent or committed to fuel charms. Spent motes are gone until you restore them, committed motes are gone until you end the committed effect. You gain 1 mote at the beginning of any non-combat scene and at the end of any combat scene, and regain half your motes after a scene spent resting, meditating, etc. You also regain 1 mote per turn in combat.
Anima is how brightly you're currently glowing. There are different thresholds of anima. Different anima effects activate at these different thresholds.
Your passive anima effect is aways on. This means you can slay up to your Essence in trivial characters on your turn. Against nontrivial targets, your decisive attacks that hit always deal at least 1 damage.
Your active anima effect activates at 3 or more anima. When you flurry influence actions meant to intimidate, demoralize, or otherwise frighten a foe, you reduce the flurry penalty by two on each action. You may intimidate even mindless targets, such as zombies or robots.
Your iconic anima effect activates at 10 anima. Once per turn, you may respond to an attack with a counterattack. If successful, you gain your Essence in bonus successes to damage during your next attack against the target.
The above are your health boxes. They fill with damage from left to right. The number next to each box is your wound penalty: at that level of damage, you take that penalty in lost dice to all actions.
Soak allows you to cancel damage from decisive attacks. 1 soak = 1 point of damage canceled
Defense is the number of successes that an opponent must meet or exceed to accrue power (on a withering attack) or do damage (on a decisive attack)
Hardness is the amount of power an opponent must have in order to perform a decisive attack against you. More Hardness means you are harder to get a good hit against.
Resolve is your defense against social influence. When a character attempts to persuade you, instill an intimacy, etc. they have to beat your Resolve. Your Resolve can be modified by your virtues and intimacies.
Major Virtue: Courage
Minor Intimacy: Trish (Best Friend)
Minor Virtue: Justice
Major Intimacy: Leila Harrow (Love)
Minor Intimacy: "I'm addicted to Vitae"
Force 4
Finesse 2
Fortitude 3
You use one attribute in every roll. The different attributes correspond to different ways to approach a problem: do you brute force it? Do you try and handle it cleverly? Or do you tough it out?
Generally, I will simply use the highest rated Attribute you have for a given roll unless I simply cannot justify it.
Close Combat 5
Physique 4
Athletics 3
Awareness 3
Presence 3
Sagacity 2
Ranged Combat 2
Integrity 1
War 1
The list of Abilities in Exalted Essence is as follows:
Athletics: your athleticism and speed.
Awareness: your ability to notice details, spot ambushes, use your physical senses, etc.
Close Combat: your ability to fight in melee, both armed and unarmed.
Craft: your ability to create items, food, works of art, etc.
Embassy: your ability to navigate large scale or complex social structures like bureaucracies. May also be used to determine if you can understand a foreign language.
Integrity: your mental fortitude and ability to resist manipulation. Increases your Resolve at 1+ and 3+
Navigate: your ability to navigate the world and use any mode of transport, from flying a helicopter to riding a horse.
Performance: your ability to use artful expression, such as speeches, music, dance, or the written word. Your primary social skill for influencing groups.
Physique: how physically tough and strong you are. Increases Soak at 3+.
Presence: your ability to influence people, your sheer force of persuasion and personality.
Ranged Combat: your ability to fight at range with any weapon.
Sagacity: the nerd skill. This governs your knowledge of medicine, sorcery, computers, academics, etc.
Stealth: your ability to move unseen and perform underhanded or criminal acts
War: your ability to command others, as well as your tactical acumen.
Excellencies (add the given Ability's rating in dice to a roll for that Ability. Excellencies cost 1 mote):
Close Combat
Close Combat Charms
Flow Like Blood (You can commit 1 mote to increase your defense against close range attacks by 1, also stealing 1 power on successful defense)
Many-Attacks Technique (You can spend 2 motes to make two Close Combat attacks instead of one. The first attack does not have the flurry dice penalty)
Iron Whirlwind Attack (Neither attack has the flurry dice penalty)
Soul-Drinking Bite (You can drink blood to restore motes)
Physique Charms
Ox Body Technique (x1) (You have more health. Can be purchased up to Physique times)
Tertiary Merits
Contacts (Emergency Services)
Secondary Merits
Allies (Leila Harrow)
Merits are assets like fame, wealth, an artifact, etc. They add dice bonuses to relevant rolls depending on their rating: tertiary adds 2 dice, secondary adds 3 dice, and primary adds 4 dice.
[] Plan: Rose blooms at midnight
-[] A charming Toreador who was taken by your music. She made you a ghoul after hearing your band play once, and has had you perform private shows at Elysium since (Midnight Caste)
-[] Major Virtue: Compassion
-[] Minor Virtue: Wonder
-[] Minor Intimacy: The Sabbat (Loathing)
-[] Abyssal Title: One who blooms among the bloody roses
[] Plan Compassionate is the Grave
-[] An ambitious Ventrue who quietly watched you scheme and backstab your way up the corporate ladder. Under her guidance, you've become a ruthless politicker (Moonshadow Caste)
-[] Major Virtue: Compassion
-[] Minor Virtue: Wonder
-[] Minor Intimacy: The Sabbat (Loathing)
-[] Abyssal Title: Emissary of Unquiet Dreams
Reasoning
WoD and especially Vampire is built as a world in which you do not really want to go in guns blazing. As an Exalt we will be able to, but being a skilled diplomat is a way to gather power and advance without the elders noticing their peril. Essence one, they can definitely kill us, Essence 2, it gets iffy. the higher we go the more likely we are to make them kneel.
This would be a unwise virtue to take had we been something other than a Celestial Exalt, but we are that. We can make the merciless world on the brink of the apocalypse bend. And there are a lot of people living dead and undead in this world that need compassion
It's a pretty cool and magical world out there
They are pretty loathsome
I'm trying to avoid the worst of the edginess here because our character does not seem like they are very tragic, they were fine with being a vampire after all
[] Plan: Frank Underwood
-[] An ambitious Ventrue who silently watched you as you schemed and backstabbed your way to the top of the corporate hierarchy. Under her guidance, you have become a ruthless politician (Moonshadow Caste)
-[] Major Virtue: Discipline
-[] Minor Virtue: Ambition (Creation of a new vampiric society)
-[] Minor Intimacy: Chaos Aversion: You detest disorder and lack of structure, believing that only through order and discipline can true greatness be achieved. This aversion motivates you to assert control where others fail.
-[] Abyssal Title: The Architect of Darkness
Epic phrase to bless them:
"I am the architect of every shadow that looms over this city. While others play with pieces, I build the board. I do not seek power for what it offers, but for what it allows me to destroy and remake. Chaos is the spark of the weak, but order... order is the flame that forges empires, and I am the fire that burns in the darkness."
Honestly, having a Necromancer in a world with tons of undead just makes sense.
[X] Plan Master of the Damned
-[X] A scholarly Tremere who taught a class you took in undergrad. She recognized your keen mind and guided you through understanding truths both mundane and occult (Daybreak Caste)
-[X] Major Virtue: Wonder
-[X] Minor Virtue: Discipline
-[X] Minor Intimacy: I love discovering all the secrets held in the arcane
-[X] Abyssal Title: The Twice-Cursed Factotum
@Blackstarbor There's a moratorium on votes for the next 11ish hours! Also, when you can vote, you'll want to remove that - on the first line so the whole plan can be counted correctly
[] Plan: I'm Her
-[ ] A roguish Brujah who you impressed in a bar room brawl. She's spent the past five years honing your fighting instincts (Dusk Caste)
-[ ] Major Virtue: Compassion
-[] Minor Virtue: Justice
-[] Minor Aversion: Evil (Punish all evildoers)
-[] Abyssal Title: Eight-fold Bringer of Final Mercy
I'm trying to avoid the worst of the edginess here because our character does not seem like they are very tragic, they were fine with being a vampire after all
It's worth noting you've been blood bound for 5 years and it's clearly led to you neglecting your own life (as evidenced by your grimy, tiny apartment and the fact that at least two of your 3 starting intimacies has to do with your being a ghoul), so like, there's definitely some tragedy here. It's just not as in your face, "oh woe is me, I am one of the damned!" as some other vampire characters can be.
Your character thinks she's happy and that her life (soon to be unlife) is good. Whether or not that's true, well...
[ ] Plan: Cute Nerd Wizard
-[ ] A scholarly Tremere who taught a class you took in undergrad. She recognized your keen mind and guided you through understanding truths both mundane and occult (Daybreak Caste)
-[ ] Major Virtue: Wonder
-[ ] Minor Virtue: Compassion
-[ ] Minor Intimacy: The Sabbat (Loathing)
-[ ] The Vestal of the Burned Library
I am contractually required to attempt to increase the number of cute female nerds with apocalyptic power in the universe, I have no choice in the matter.
It's worth noting you've been blood bound for 5 years and it's clearly led to you neglecting your own life (as evidenced by your grimy, tiny apartment and the fact that at least two of your 3 starting intimacies has to do with your being a ghoul), so like, there's definitely some tragedy here. It's just not as in your face, "oh woe is me, I am one of the damned!" as some other vampire characters can be.
Your character thinks she's happy and that her life (soon to be unlife) is good. Whether or not that's true, well...
I'm a fair bit more familiar with Exalted than I am WoD, but this looks super interesting nevertheless.
The unrelenting devotion to Leila kind of shifts a lot of my initial plans. One day, I'll swear I'll finally make that Vampire firefighter -- it's too funny of a character pitch to not have.
Actually, why not? A ghoul I don't think has the fear of fire, and working in emergency services would give a nice, neat external explanation on why our apartment is shit, as well as our odd hours and our fucked up appearance. Working in emergency services also is a very useful thing for more supernatural reasons -- it gives us a very nice tap on the heartbeat of the city, if at least the mortal awareness of it, an venue to quickly react to emergencies that might be supernatural-related, and IC access to corpses and such.
And if it turns out that they are afraid of fires, well, there's still being an EMT or a Paramedic. The latter pays pretty decently too -- being a firefighter is kinda eh in pay if at least it cuts your expenses a lot unless you work in a very fire-prone place like Cali lol. EMT pay is a joke though (assuming you're not a volunteer).
But yeah, emergency services is pretty nocturnal -- I think it blends well.
[ ] Plan: Somebody Call 911?
-[ ] A roguish Brujah who you impressed in a bar room brawl. She's spent the past five years honing your fighting instincts (Dusk Caste)
-[ ] Major Virtue: Courage
-[ ] Minor Virtue: Justice
-[ ] Minor Intimacy: Best Friend (Best Friend)
-[ ] Abyssal Title: Strider Of The Maelstrom Of Life And Death
I think the core of the pitch is pretty self-explanatory, but in short -- I'm always really a sucker for characters who save lives with one hand and end them with others. I'm not too big of a fan of being an assassin though, so no for the Day Caste, haha. But yeah, the ability to kick ass and take names being paired with strength in adversity while being tempered with (the PC's view of) honorable and just conduct. This I think is pretty nicely paired with the intent of the character.
Best Friend serves as an anchor, in a sense, and I like PCs that have firm friendships -- it implies sustained effort to keep it up, and an element of choice in both parts.
Abyssal Title is because I totally hacked the name "Maelstrom-Strider" and it pretty much entitles what I have in mind for the character.
If I'm getting too far ahead of myself for the QM, then that's fair! I'll nix the plan, but I think it's got good hooks and a fun concept.
Actually, why not? A ghoul I don't think has the fear of fire, and working in emergency services would give a nice, neat external explanation on why our apartment is shit, as well as our odd hours and our fucked up appearance. Working in emergency services also is a very useful thing for more supernatural reasons -- it gives us a very nice tap on the heartbeat of the city, if at least the mortal awareness of it, an venue to quickly react to emergencies that might be supernatural-related, and IC access to corpses and such.
And if it turns out that they are afraid of fires, well, there's still being an EMT or a Paramedic. The latter pays pretty decently too -- being a firefighter is kinda eh in pay if at least it cuts your expenses a lot unless you work in a very fire-prone place like Cali lol. EMT pay is a joke though (assuming you're not a volunteer).
Ghouls are not afraid of fire, no, and neither are Abyssal Exalts. Might still go with the EMT or paramedic route though, on account of the fact that your character was anticipating becoming a vampire and thus would have had to quit a firefighting job. It doesn't really make sense to keep a job as a firefighter when you think you're about to develop a severe phobia of fire.
Nope, no complaints from me. Love the hooks here, this gives me something to build off of beyond just mechanical stuff. You've clearly put some thought into what kind of character you want to play beyond just her caste, and I really appreciate that.
Ghouls are not afraid of fire, no, and neither are Abyssal Exalts. Might still go with the EMT or paramedic route though, on account of the fact that your character was anticipating becoming a vampire and thus would have had to quit a firefighting job. It doesn't really make sense to keep a job as a firefighter when you think you're about to develop a severe phobia of fire.
Nope, no complaints from me. Love the hooks here, this gives me something to build off of beyond just mechanical stuff. You've clearly put some thought into what kind of character you want to play beyond just her caste, and I really appreciate that.
Makes sense! Looking at the Wiki, the Courage Check for being trapped in a burning building looks to be a 9, so even with someone who's evidently very courageous, it would imply certain character things for them to stick with that job. Some positive, and definitely some negative, I'm certain, lmao, so I'm cool with whichever route you take if this plan makes it.
And yeah, I like to give my GMs a little more room to play with by habit, so I'm glad you liked it!
The quest dedicated to Abyssal Exalts is quite interesting.
Since we have awakened among the society of vampires, while possessing unusual and powerful powers, there will most likely be a lot of intrigue around us.
[ ] Let these Foolish Ambitions Rise.
-[ ]An ambitious Ventrue who quietly watched you scheme and backstab your way up the corporate ladder. Under her guidance, you've become a ruthless politicker (Moonshadow Caste)
-[ ] Major Virtue: Ambition (To hold the power to shift society to your own whims)
-[ ] Minor Virtue: Loyalty (Leila Harrow)
-[ ] Minor Intimacy: The Sabbat (Loathing)
-[ ] Abyssal Title: The Flowery Name Which is Writ on Gravestones
I figured that as someone who was Ghouled for 5 years, a combination of the Blood Bond and whatever genuine emotions would be mixed into the addiction would make Leila Major Intimacy, or give our Protagonist so major Loyalty to her. As for the Minor Virtue, well I figured that Soft power would be our Goal before becoming a Ghoul and has taken a backseat to whatever Leila wanted after the blood bond has taken affect.
I figured that as someone who was Ghouled for 5 years, a combination of the Blood Bond and whatever genuine emotions would be mixed into the addiction would make Leila Major Intimacy, or give our Protagonist so major Loyalty to her. As for the Minor Virtue, well I figured that Soft power would be our Goal before becoming a Ghoul and has taken a backseat to whatever Leila wanted after the blood bond has taken affect.
Ah, just as a note, you WILL have a major intimacy of love towards Leila regardless of the vote. It was hidden in a spoiler box, so you may have missed it, but here's the relevant text in the update:
You can still choose to have a major virtue of loyalty towards her though! That just means you're going all in on this blood bond thing, and also might imply that some of your feelings would persist even without the blood bond.
Ah, just as a note, you WILL have a major intimacy of love towards Leila regardless of the vote. It was hidden in a spoiler box, so you may have missed it, but here's the relevant text in the update:
You can still choose to have a major virtue of loyalty towards her though! That just means you're going all in on this blood bond thing, and also might imply that some of your feelings would persist even without the blood bond.
This sounds really fun, especially when she realises we aren't a vampire at all and are something much scarier that's in love with her so her only real option is to keep riding the tiger.
Honestly, having a Necromancer in a world with tons of undead just makes sense.
[] Plan Master of the Damned
-[] A scholarly Tremere who taught a class you took in undergrad. She recognized your keen mind and guided you through understanding truths both mundane and occult (Daybreak Caste)
-[] Major Virtue: Wonder
-[] Minor Virtue: Discipline
-[] Minor Intimacy: I love discovering all the secrets held in the arcane
-[] Abyssal Title: The Twice-Cursed Factotum
Ah, just as a note, you WILL have a major intimacy of love towards Leila regardless of the vote. It was hidden in a spoiler box, so you may have missed it, but here's the relevant text in the update:
You can still choose to have a major virtue of loyalty towards her though! That just means you're going all in on this blood bond thing, and also might imply that some of your feelings would persist even without the blood bond.
Does taking the Second Breath uh, purge the Blood Bond? If that's the case, that might get really interesting really fast, combined with the Essence rush that newly Exalted folks have
(If they do in this canon -- I'm not too familiar with Exalted Essence either, I'm more familiar with 2e canon-ish and 3e mechanics lmao, and am very much an amateur on the latter)
Does taking the Second Breath uh, purge the Blood Bond? If that's the case, that might get really interesting really fast, combined with the Essence rush that newly Exalted folks have
(If they do in this canon -- I'm not too familiar with Exalted Essence either, I'm more familiar with 2e canon-ish and 3e mechanics lmao, and am very much an amateur on the latter)
So because this is a crossover, there's no canon ruling on whether or not taking the Second Breath (or Last Breath, in your case) purges the blood bond. I'm going to rule that it does not, mostly for Doylist rather than Watsonian reasons.
Firstly, the blood bond gives you some direction in the early game, when you're still coming to grips with the setting and characters and figuring out your own goals. You've got a clear objective of "do what Leila wants, promote her interests," which is useful to me as a QM when you're starting out and haven't had time to establish goals for yourselves (alternatively, it gives you an objective of "break the blood bond", which is still useful to me as a QM for much the same reason).
Secondly, it gives you another character in the setting to care about (or hate), it gets you invested in the wellbeing and/or downfall of this one NPC, which is again useful for the start of the quest when you don't know anybody yet.
Thirdly, as you mentioned, suddenly purging the blood bond would get... interesting in what I think is probably a bad way, at least to start out. If your first act as a "kindred" is murdering your sire, you'd probably get a blood hunt called on your ass as soon as someone found out. That means spending the early game as a fugitive, trying to remove yourself from kindred society rather than getting entangled within it, which is the opposite of what I want.
Lastly, I think it's really funny for this random vampire to suddenly have a blood bound demigod of death and murder that she doesn't know what to do with that's just following her around like a lost puppy. Shit will be hysterical when everyone catches on to the full implications of what's happened here.
So because this is a crossover, there's no canon ruling on whether or not taking the Second Breath (or Last Breath, in your case) purges the blood bond. I'm going to rule that it does not, mostly for Doylist rather than Watsonian reasons.
Firstly, the blood bond gives you some direction in the early game, when you're still coming to grips with the setting and characters and figuring out your own goals. You've got a clear objective of "do what Leila wants, promote her interests," which is useful to me as a QM when you're starting out and haven't had time to establish goals for yourselves (alternatively, it gives you an objective of "break the blood bond", which is still useful to me as a QM for much the same reason).
Secondly, it gives you another character in the setting to care about (or hate), it gets you invested in the wellbeing and/or downfall of this one NPC, which is again useful for the start of the quest when you don't know anybody yet.
Thirdly, as you mentioned, suddenly purging the blood bond would get... interesting in what I think is probably a bad way, at least to start out. If your first act as a "kindred" is murdering your sire, you'd probably get a blood hunt called on your ass as soon as someone found out. That means spending the early game as a fugitive, trying to remove yourself from kindred society rather than getting entangled within it, which is the opposite of what I want.
Lastly, I think it's really funny for this random vampire to suddenly have a blood bound demigod of death and murder that she doesn't know what to do with that's just following her around like a lost puppy. Shit will be hysterical when everyone catches on to the full implications of what's happened here.
That makes sense, yeah. It's not like we can IC seek out a Monstrance either, I think.
Actually, I'm curious -- what is an Abyssal Exalt in your canon / Exalted Essence? Considering this is a Vamp quest, I assume they do need to consume blood and dead flesh to regain Essence, and there is a name giving up stuff, but are we going to have to balance Deathlord Orders and Leila orders? Is there a Monstrance that can be destroyed to make us a "free" Exalt and stop the Resonance? Is there a Resonance?
Considering this is a modern world, the Sins of Life are gonna get really awkward considering how hard we're going to have to renounce our living name, etc. Same for maintaining positive pre-Death intimacies.
