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General Exalted Thread

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Accelerator said:
SARKANY, THE EVER-GROWING HOARD
~FIRST CIRCLE DEMON, PROGENY OF THE TEMPTER OF MEN

Many are the riches of Malfeas. Trees of gold, are common here, the precious metal growing like plants. Shrubs of silver, where if you were not careful, you would cut yourself on the soft metal leaves. Demons, wonders, exotic and infernal fauna and flora, and the various substances composed from the world-bodies of the Yozis.

But, amongst the most exotic of them are the Sarkany. Their blood when exposed to air becomes precious dragon-amber. Their scales, composed of precious jewels and metals. Their breathe stinking of brimstone and vitriol. Their hide, composed out of diamond and metal, impervious to nearly any weapon. Their minds, brutal and cunning. Their claws, dextrous and lethal. Yet, heroes constantly search for the Sarkany. For slaying one brings unimaginable riches.

Each Sarkany starts out small. When young, they can fit into a man's hand, and they possess a single egg-sized jewel or talent of gold. It is weak, compared to other demons, and hides in a safe place. Perhaps an abandoned ruin, or a lonely mountain cave. Its scales dare shed, and during that, blood flows, and become coins and amber and precious stones. The bigger the dragon, the bigger the scales, and the greater the treasure. And as it grows in size and Essence, its intelligence grows. A Sarkany that has grown enough will begin to craft its hoard. Jewels are polished to a brilliant shine using the vitriol they drool from their mouth. Gold and silver are melted down under firey breathe, and under the work of surprisingly dextrous talons, they begin to work the metals. Under the infernal prowess of the demons, precious raw metal becomes intricate jewellery, whorls, chains, bangles, and other trinkets inset with the precious jewels and amber that also descended from the dragon itself. Each a Magnus Opus of a master mortal smith. The older the dragon, the more precious the trinkets and baubles in its pile.

And most precious of all, are the artifacts. Shining arms and armour. Daiklaves and spears made of Electrum, and armour made of jade-steel.

The greed of men know no bounds, and they would always try to steal the hoard of the Sarkany. Whether by stealth, force, guile, or speed. But alas, to no avail! A man, leaving his companions behind as a distraction, stole a chain inset with rubies the size of his eye. A month later, and he had been struck down with incurable leprosy, and no matter how much he spent he could not cure it, nor pay for the company of others. A thief in the night stole a gold coin, and dropped it. This drew the attention of one of his victims, and upon being caught, was sentenced to lose his hands. He now sits forlornly in the corner, looking at the gold coin which had cost him so much. The hoard of a Sarkany is cursed, and no one may profit it while it lives. Only by killing the beast, can the hero enjoy his reward.

But it is no easy task to slay a first circle demon. The breathe of a Sarkany is terrible. Its eyes and ears and nose, sharp as razor wire. Its claws, terrible and rending. And to make it worse, the hoard it lays on can be counted on to be part of its body, and so the heroes have to contend with the fact that the very treasure they seek is now also trying to kill them.

And so they die, and their corpses are devoured, along with any equipment they find. There, their lost hopes, their dreams, their bodies, and their souls, are alloyed with whatever they had on their bodies, and within the belly of the Ever-growing Hoard, something new is forged. Until with a burp and a cough, the Hoard spits out a new addition to its pile of treasure. Perhaps a shield made of Jade-steel. Perhaps a sword of Celestrium. Perhaps a sword of enchanted steel. No matter. More will always come.

Summoning: Foolish sorcerers summon the Sarkany to gain their riches. Impossible, as they cannot lift the curse from their treasures nor give it away freely. More often, they are summoned as master jewellers and goldsmiths, or to analyse the worth of a treasure. The Sarkany find other uses as sentries and guards, their talents that let them defend their hoard also letting them fight off any number of attackers or spot any thief, unleashing wave after wave of molten gold and impossibly-hard diamond.
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One thing you might want to consider is having them feast on gold and precious materials. This gives them to engage in typical dragon behavior like sacking the kingdom and stealing their treasure.
 
rogthnor said:
One thing you might want to consider is having them feast on gold and precious materials. This gives them to engage in typical dragon behavior like sacking the kingdom and stealing their treasure.
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Yes but... they excrete gold.

Should we just make another one? A troll? A monster that likes the smell of precious things and robs them?

Besides, it's just a first circle demon. It can't sack kingdoms.
 
Accelerator said:
Yes but... they excrete gold.

Should we just make another one? A troll? A monster that likes the smell of precious things and robs them?

Besides, it's just a first circle demon. It can't sack kingdoms.
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I could see them eating small quantities of "natural" precious materials in order to accelerate their hoard's growth, because the little blob of gold/silver/uncut sapphire/whatever acts like the "seeds" in a cultivated pearl farm - more of that particular precious substance generated by the sarkany start to form around it within the beast's guts, as like attracts like, ultimately producing better treasures (or at least more sizable ones.)
 
rogthnor said:
Any of them. One in trying to work with now is one to justify the "giant rats in the basement" starting quest, will probably also have one which justifies getting gold from its corpse
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So on this podcast I was listening to they were talking about how back in the day they used to have rat-catchers, who would literally go out and catch rats, sometimes with their bare hands, and then get payed by the head.

So, I would imagine that the "giant rats in the basement" quest likely stems from a perfectly mundane activity and profession that existed in real life, and probably already exists in Creation, except the rats are really big.
 
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ichypa said:
So on this podcast I was listening to they were talking about how back in the day they used to have rat-catchers, who would literally go out and catch rats, sometimes with their bare hands, and then get payed by the head.

So, I would imagine that the "giant rats in the basement" quest likely stems from a perfectly mundane activity and profession that existed in real life, and probably already exists in Creation, except the rats are really big.
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....but...like...why pay a guy to catch rats when you could, like, just have a cat?
 
The Glass Preachers

Demons of the First Circle

Progeny of Urom


Within The City of Denok, Urom rules as both King and God. Great cathedrals play host to throngs of adoring demons who prostrate themselves before his light. Their fervent prayers ring out at all hours, a musical counterpoint to his all-pervading light. It is the job of the Glass Preachers to ensure this continues.



In form glass preacher look like men with draconic features made of spun glass who glow from within with a terrible green light. In The City they bear these proudly, and travel unclothed so that all may see their light. In the mortal world however, they know the value of discretion, and robe themselves in waddling clothes to better hide their nature.

Glass preachers have no thoughts of their own, they merely reflect the thoughts of their greater self. While they do not share his skills or knowledge, they share his opinions and moods. Should he change his mind, so shall they.



Sorcerers summon The Glass Preachers for their mastery of the arts of worship, and their skill at rhetoric. Given proper time and support they may easily create a cult which worships the sorcerer, or improve the essence flows of one already existing. If the sorcerer has no interest in worship however, they also make admirable firebrands and demagogues. Many a sorcerer has used them to stir up rebellion or discontentment among their enemies.

Glass Preachers gain a point of limit for every day they spend without extolling the worship of Urom, and sorcerers are advised to keep an eye on them, lest they create a cult to his worship
 
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rogthnor said:
The Glass Preachers

Demons of the Third Circle

Progeny of Urom


Within The City of Denok, Urom rules as both King and God. Great cathedrals play host to throngs of adoring demons who prostrate themselves before his light. Their fervent prayers ring out at all hours, a musical counterpoint to his all-pervading light. It is the job of the Glass Preachers to ensure this continues.



In form glass preacher look like men with draconic features made of spun glass who glow from within with a terrible green light. In The City they bear these proudly, and travel unclothed so that all may see their light. In the mortal world however, they know the value of discretion, and robe themselves in waddling clothes to better hide their nature.

Glass preachers have no thoughts of their own, they merely reflect the thoughts of their greater self. While they do not share his skills or knowledge, they share his opinions and moods. Should he change his mind, so shall they.



Sorcerers summon The Glass Preachers for their mastery of the arts of worship, and their skill at rhetoric. Given proper time and support they may easily create a cult which worships the sorcerer, or improve the essence flows of one already existing. If the sorcerer has no interest in worship however, they also make admirable firebrands and demagogues. Many a sorcerer has used them to stir up rebellion or discontentment among their enemies.

Glass Preachers gain a point of limit for every day they spend without extolling the worship of Urom, and sorcerers are advised to keep an eye on them, lest they create a cult to his worship
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First circle!

ichypa said:
You gotta balance the risk of starvation and plague with the risk of being accused of witchcraft.
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Wait. So that cat thing wasn't just a funny myth? They try believes that?
 
Sydonai said:
It's no different from posting a bounty on any other "pest" animal.
edit:
Also why is it always rats, why not Emus?
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Cause they can fuck your shit up.

Be warned that the emu is armed and dangerous... OK, actually, it's footed anddangerous. ... If you spot the emu, please do not try to approach it as it uses its feet to defend itself. The feet have toenails that are like a knife and combined with its powerful legs, can cause severe injury.
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rogthnor said:
The Glass Preachers

Demons of the First Circle

Progeny of Urom


Within The City of Denok, Urom rules as both King and God. Great cathedrals play host to throngs of adoring demons who prostrate themselves before his light. Their fervent prayers ring out at all hours, a musical counterpoint to his all-pervading light. It is the job of the Glass Preachers to ensure this continues.



In form glass preacher look like men with draconic features made of spun glass who glow from within with a terrible green light. In The City they bear these proudly, and travel unclothed so that all may see their light. In the mortal world however, they know the value of discretion, and robe themselves in waddling clothes to better hide their nature.

Glass preachers have no thoughts of their own, they merely reflect the thoughts of their greater self. While they do not share his skills or knowledge, they share his opinions and moods. Should he change his mind, so shall they.



Sorcerers summon The Glass Preachers for their mastery of the arts of worship, and their skill at rhetoric. Given proper time and support they may easily create a cult which worships the sorcerer, or improve the essence flows of one already existing. If the sorcerer has no interest in worship however, they also make admirable firebrands and demagogues. Many a sorcerer has used them to stir up rebellion or discontentment among their enemies.

Glass Preachers gain a point of limit for every day they spend without extolling the worship of Urom, and sorcerers are advised to keep an eye on them, lest they create a cult to his worship
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So, you got a Google Doc Compendium like everyone else yet?
 
Shyft said:
So some time ago- long enough that I don't even know where in the thread it is, I posted some drafted rules for modelling regions. In hindsight I realized I made several mistakes (which I outlined as part of this doc).

With that in mind, I present a streamlined, 2nd-draft take of Region Rules for Exalted (or any game really). I encourage questions and want to explore test cases so I can fix any issues that crop up.
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This seems like exactly what I was looking for on some Craft charms I was thinking up earlier. It gives a mechanical grounding for surveying lands for mass production and national project type stuff. Something like "The Solar can focus the Resources/Cult/Backing of this Locale into making his Giant Golden Statue".
 
Peanut-007 said:
This seems like exactly what I was looking for on some Craft charms I was thinking up earlier. It gives a mechanical grounding for surveying lands for mass production and national project type stuff. Something like "The Solar can focus the Resources/Cult/Backing of this Locale into making his Giant Golden Statue".
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Glad you like it! I don't know if it's going to have the mechanical legs for that specifically- I don't want to use the 'travel' layer mechanics to handwave meaningful gameplay. But you do you at your table. Lemme know if you have any other thoughts!
 
GardenerBriareus said:
I could see them eating small quantities of "natural" precious materials in order to accelerate their hoard's growth, because the little blob of gold/silver/uncut sapphire/whatever acts like the "seeds" in a cultivated pearl farm - more of that particular precious substance generated by the sarkany start to form around it within the beast's guts, as like attracts like, ultimately producing better treasures (or at least more sizable ones.)
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Here's another idea. Let's make another demon. Maybe some kind of.... clam? Pearls? Shellfish? Obviously, something exotic or something has to occur, cause these are first circle demons.

Maybe the pearl can be ground up to be used as liquid luck?
 
Shyft said:
Glad you like it! I don't know if it's going to have the mechanical legs for that specifically- I don't want to use the 'travel' layer mechanics to handwave meaningful gameplay. But you do you at your table. Lemme know if you have any other thoughts!
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This isn't so much to handwave it as to actually let Charms play around with that stuff. As it stands Charms don't really have a model for interacting with macro-scale stuff like that, I can't say that say "Whispers of Unkowing Prayer", a charm where I insert a word into a language that counts as a mini-prayer to my Solar, will give me x-cult if it's spread to y-culture. This lets me mechanize that a bit more which can be used to make it more meaningful and consistent.

While it would probably turn out to Diffusionist for my tastes while actually modeling the spread of ideas between cultures and peoples that can be reworked a bit at my table.

Getting Nexus slang to be the opening to your sutra should be harder and more rewarding then getting some random barbarian tribe saying it.
 
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Peanut-007 said:
This isn't so much to handwave it as to actually let Charms play around with that stuff. As it stands Charms don't really have a model for interacting with macro-scale stuff like that, I can't say that say "Whispers of Unkowing Prayer", a charm where I insert a word into a language that counts as a mini-prayer to my Solar, will give me x-cult if it's spread to y-culture. This lets me mechanize that a bit more which can be used to make it more meaningful and consistent.

While it would probably turn out to Diffusionist for my tastes while actually modeling the spread of ideas between cultures and peoples that can be reworked a bit at my table.

Getting Nexus slang to be the opening to your sutra should be harder and more rewarding then getting some random barbarian tribe saying it.
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No, no, I understand what you were going for - I meant more like... in my opinion, an Exalt shouldn't get a casual macro-scale Solve-It button. I agree that there *should* be Charms that work with these rules, but under conditions like 'You have to have authority over these assets'- but partly why I'm hesitant about that, is bluntly the point of Solars is to do human things, not arbitrary magic things.

Like, please correct me if I am wrong, but what I was taking away from your off-the-cuff idea was 'I pay 10m and suddenly All These Backgrounds-in-Potential are now working for me'. Wheras my perspective is "I want people to fight over backgrounds and where they're located, and I want people to take the time to do game actions that put them on their sheets'.
 
Shyft said:
No, no, I understand what you were going for - I meant more like... in my opinion, an Exalt shouldn't get a casual macro-scale Solve-It button. I agree that there *should* be Charms that work with these rules, but under conditions like 'You have to have authority over these assets'- but partly why I'm hesitant about that, is bluntly the point of Solars is to do human things, not arbitrary magic things.

Like, please correct me if I am wrong, but what I was taking away from your off-the-cuff idea was 'I pay 10m and suddenly All These Backgrounds-in-Potential are now working for me'. Wheras my perspective is "I want people to fight over backgrounds and where they're located, and I want people to take the time to do game actions that put them on their sheets'.
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Ah no that would be bad. More "I pay ten motes and my Solar sees there's gold in them there hills, he wants to get it out" or "My Solar's cult speaks a language whch prays to him, he wants to spread this language through trade" and this system lets me say how hard it is to do that, how much time it's going to take, and what it's going to get them. Its not Potential-Backgrounds turn to Player-Backgrounds so much as allowing them to utilize backgrounds on that scale in a more agreed upon way.

Charms for this stuff would be things like "Efficient Supply Chain Method" , "Masses Educating Curriculum", "Term Coining Tounge" and things to that effect. You don't suddenly pop a background into existence but you do use them more competently then before.
 
Peanut-007 said:
Ah no that would be bad. More "I pay ten motes and my Solar sees there's gold in them there hills, he wants to get it out" or "My Solar's cult speaks a language whch prays to him, he wants to spread this language through trade" and this system lets me say how hard it is to do that, how much time it's going to take, and what it's going to get them. Its not Potential-Backgrounds turn to Player-Backgrounds so much as allowing them to utilize backgrounds on that scale in a more agreed upon way.

Charms for this stuff would be things like "Efficient Supply Chain Method" , "Masses Educating Curriculum", "Term Coining Tounge" and things to that effect. You don't suddenly pop a background into existence but you do use them more competently then before.
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.... resource detecting prana? Introduce a resource that you suddenly found in the place?
 
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