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General Exalted Thread

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Kaiya said:
It's really not like any of those things, but you are, of course, free to change things for your table however you like.
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This comment is literally just saying that you disagree without any explaination of why, and then a reminder that yes, they can ignore and/or rewrite parts of the books that they've paid for, which is meaningless.

You've been pretty clear that you dislike most or all of 2E. You can ignore those parts and rewrite them! Does that somehow excuse those flaws?

If someone is complaining about how Raksi ruins the entirety of Lunars, then sure, they can probably just ignore or replace her and let the rest of the content stand on its own. Not necessarily, because maybe they're not the GM and the GM doesn't want to deal with random NPC tweaks, or the GM just introduces the character with this trait established and doesn't want to retcon it, or the GM really leans into this concept because they (wrongly) think its cool, or you are the GM but one of the PCs is the kind of guy who gets annoyed if you change anything from the books because they're playing a Lore 5 character and they're relying on RAW or something, etc. Changing setting details at a table isn't something that people are always free to do.

If someone is complaining about how Raksi's portrayed, which is what's happening here, saying that they can ignore and/or rewrite it is useless. Of course they can. If they end up using Raksi, they probably will. More likely though, as I tend to do for problematic content, Raksi will be ignored altogether. The rest of her writeup, which most of my PCs will have read, is contaminated by this. They'll remember her as Raksi the baby-eater. It isn't worth explaining how (and then why) the setting's been changed to my table to introduce her, and if I need to rewrite a character anyway I may as well just write up a new character who has more direct and interesting things to say about the campaign.
 
Kaiya said:
You do realize she doesn't do that because 'lolbabies' right? She's a monstrous witch-goddess, drawing on figures like Baba Yaga. She's fulfilling a mythic archetype that's very much appropriate for a setting such as Exalted. The inhuman magic user deep in the woods where civilized folk never go, spreading blessings and curses and eating babies. The setting would be lessened for lacking a Baba Yaga, bluntly.
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All right, I kept out of this the first time it came up, but the actual folkloric Baba Yaga didn't eat babies because power move, and the actual motivation for her doing so is practically the antithesis of Raksi's everything.

Baba Yaga believes that all people are polite, courageous, and truthful. Therefore, if a human she encounters fails to display those qualities, they aren't a person, they're some sort of weird animal; she then kills the wild beast that just broke into her hut, and because she's a thrifty soul, then makes sure no part of the animal goes to waste. Children often end up in her cooking pot because they're more likely to be rude/cowardly/liars when confronted with Baba Yaga than your average adult, not because of some twisted predilection for man-cub flesh.

Likewise, her perimeter fence is decorated with skulls because she's getting a little annoyed with all these human-shaped animals that keep breaking in, and there's only so many skull-based tools she can make before it starts getting ridiculous, so she might as well put them up and hope it scares the damn things off.

Baba Yaga doesn't serve you infant soup to try and freak you out - and if you did politely explain that the dish in question doesn't appeal to your palate, she'd probably just shrug and offer you something else. She's a fundamentally inhuman creature with an inhuman values system, not a petty dictator who eats children because she can, or because she uses it to unnerve potential allies, or whatever dumbfuck reason 3e came up with for her to eat babies.
 
Kaiya said:
I don't want all the big important NPCs to be redeemable features by modern morality, from my end. Long before edgy teenagers wrote crappy horror, humans literally stayed all night awake in vigil, praying to God to save them from monsters like Raksi. I don't think Raksi needs to be walked back. She just needs to be strong enough that you can't trivially oust her, so that PCs are gonna die if you decide to overthrow her. The wordcount isn't wasted, as long as it paints the story of a horrifying witch-queen of a terrifying jungle nation that lives in awe and terror of their monstrous goddess.
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I mean, fuck, why not just make her mythological Baba Yaga, exacting standards for personhood and all? That could be actually cool.
 
GardenerBriareus said:
I mean, fuck, why not just make her mythological Baba Yaga, exacting standards for personhood and all? That could be actually cool.
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Hmm, that could actually work, but rather than her, use it for Ma-Ha-Suchi. Who trains his pupils according to the etiquette of the high First Age, while also clearly willing to eat their faces if they don't use the right cutlery. Hannibal Lecter by way of a Dickensian headmaster, but with more wolf imagry.
 
I'll reserve judgment on Raksi until I see her actual write-up. At this point I don't know if Raksi is eating children with every meal while being a cackling supervillain ala previous editions, or it's more like "I will even go so far as to target and devour the children of my political rivals as an incentive not to fuck with me"

The former is pointlessly psychotic. The latter is, admittedly, also needlessly cruel, but real life groups have also targeted family members of enemies to deter opposition even if it didn't involve outright cannibalism.

At the very least, they also gave Mnemon one of her better depictions thus far, though I think a lot of prior authors just weren't able to avoid the temptation to make her Literally Azula.
 
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grommile said:
Terrifying transmortal shapeshifting witch who can eat people to add their form to her shapeshifting inventory: this is good.

Terrifying transmortal shapeshifting witch-queen who can eat people to add their form to her shapeshifting inventory and has a human-sacrifice cult built up around her: this is better.

Terrifying transmortal shapeshifting witch-queen who can eat people to add their form to her shapeshifting inventory and has a human-sacrifice cult built up around her that involves her being given babies to eat: this is starting to be misguided.
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i mean there's a very clear reason you're just not seeing here, but i think it's pretty obvious. rakshi eats babies...

TO STEAL THEIR FORMS

STARRING ALEC BALDWIN AS

RAKSHI, QUEEN OF FANGS IN



make lunars negotiate with a literal infant, what a power move
 
Literally just make it a rumor of shit she does and split the difference so you can have it if you want it and not if you don't.

"They say the Queen of Fangs keeps her subjects on edge. Keeps them worried. Sometimes she has to remind them why she's in charge and they're not: she's crazier and meaner than they are and will do anything to keep her power. She's so barking mad she'll even eat a baby like an overripe grape just to show you that she'll do anything at all.

Of course, you don't have to believe that. It's just a rumor. It might not even be true."
Omicron said:
my gifts are wasted upon you losers

I am commenting live from an exclusive Lunar playtest but let's talk about fucking Raksi in This, The Year Of Our Lord 2018
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i'm not terribly interested in the 3e lunars, sorry :V

(your stories are interesting though!)
 
One of the most respected religious offices in Quetzalli's culture is the position of Coyalxhauma. It is the purpose of these men and women to emulate the terrifying Tyrant Lizard Goddess they revere, and then to parse the useful lessons they can learn from the rest of her frighteningly destructive existence. Quetzalli earned her name by being scarily in tune with The Feathered Death, to the point that when she Exalted, her totemic form was a Tyrant Lizard.

And now she's here to help! :D

(Solars/Infernals are still my favourites, but 3e Lunars are fucken hype.)
 
GardenerBriareus said:
All right, I kept out of this the first time it came up, but the actual folkloric Baba Yaga didn't eat babies because power move, and the actual motivation for her doing so is practically the antithesis of Raksi's everything.

Baba Yaga believes that all people are polite, courageous, and truthful. Therefore, if a human she encounters fails to display those qualities, they aren't a person, they're some sort of weird animal; she then kills the wild beast that just broke into her hut, and because she's a thrifty soul, then makes sure no part of the animal goes to waste. Children often end up in her cooking pot because they're more likely to be rude/cowardly/liars when confronted with Baba Yaga than your average adult, not because of some twisted predilection for man-cub flesh.

Likewise, her perimeter fence is decorated with skulls because she's getting a little annoyed with all these human-shaped animals that keep breaking in, and there's only so many skull-based tools she can make before it starts getting ridiculous, so she might as well put them up and hope it scares the damn things off.

Baba Yaga doesn't serve you infant soup to try and freak you out - and if you did politely explain that the dish in question doesn't appeal to your palate, she'd probably just shrug and offer you something else. She's a fundamentally inhuman creature with an inhuman values system, not a petty dictator who eats children because she can, or because she uses it to unnerve potential allies, or whatever dumbfuck reason 3e came up with for her to eat babies.
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Baba Yaga stories tend to be diverse, but most of the ones I've heard ascribe at least some maliciousness to her, no matter her actual morality. Sometimes it's used as a morality tale to teach children certain concepts like lying - much like you described her - and sometimes it's to act as a representation of the inherent danger of deep woods and the strange things found there.

There are also multiple versions, since Baba Yaga is primarily a russian folkloric figure, like Baba Roga for more southern slavic tales. The general concept of old woman of the woods exists in most cultures, and Baba Yaga exists as a particularly popular one. Personally I find Koschei/Kost the more interesting figure, but to each his own.
 
Spear said:
Baba Yaga stories tend to be diverse, but most of the ones I've heard ascribe at least some maliciousness to her, no matter her actual morality. Sometimes it's used as a morality tale to teach children certain concepts like lying - much like you described her - and sometimes it's to act as a representation of the inherent danger of deep woods and the strange things found there.

There are also multiple versions, since Baba Yaga is primarily a russian folkloric figure, like Baba Roga for more southern slavic tales. The general concept of old woman of the woods exists in most cultures, and Baba Yaga exists as a particularly popular one. Personally I find Koschei/Kost the more interesting figure, but to each his own.
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Who's kost and why is she more interesting?
 
rogthnor said:
Who's kost and why is she more interesting?
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Kost is simply another name for Koschei. I prefer his tale because while it does have a moral in it, its moral is 'You should listen to the warrior-princess who married you, you thick fool of a man.'. To give some context, Koschei is released because Prince Ivan/Ivan the Fool specifically opened the door his wife told him not to open, and through bumble headed kindness released the evil deathless sorcerer who would then kidnap his wife.

Really, Ivan is not very bright in general. Notably he acquires aid in some versions of the tale from Baba Yaga herself, for when Koschei uses his magic horse and Ivan needs something that can keep up.
 
Spear said:
Kost is simply another name for Koschei. I prefer his tale because while it does have a moral in it, its moral is 'You should listen to the warrior-princess who married you, you thick fool of a man.'. To give some context, Koschei is released because Prince Ivan/Ivan the Fool specifically opened the door his wife told him not to open, and through bumble headed kindness released the evil deathless sorcerer who would then kidnap his wife.

Really, Ivan is not very bright in general. Notably he acquires aid in some versions of the tale from Baba Yaga herself, for when Koschei uses his magic horse and Ivan needs something that can keep up.
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Isn't the moral of the story really "Don't marry someone nicknamed 'the Fool'?".
 
EarthScorpion said:
Isn't the moral of the story really "Don't marry someone nicknamed 'the Fool'?".
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Heh, funny you should say that. It comes from archetypal storytelling, in that some characters become iconic for their behaviors and said behavior is associated with said character.

His nickname isn't the Fool, but there is a Ivan The Fool. It's a common name, and the most notable characters who hold said name are Ivan the Prince and Ivan the Fool. If a character in a story is supposed to be noble yet naive, he'll probably be called Ivan as a shorthand, the same goes from a character that relies on the whims of fate and luck to get him out of the situations created by his own foolishness.

It's not absolute of course, since the Prince displays foolhardy behavior, yet notably through good fortune and making allies manages to make it through to the end with a few blunders.
 
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Umm... guys? I got a confession to make.

You know the first circle demons? I collated them all, and then put them all into a thread on onyxpath. Is that ok?
 
(shrug)

I mean it probably would have been more appropriate to just... make one post where you give the demon's name and a link to the post if they want to read up on them instead of copy/pasting a bunch of other people's work so that a thread goes from 1/2 a page long to 6 pages.
 
Sanctaphrax said:
Copy-pasting is good, redundancy helps protect against data loss.
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Yeah. You have no inkling of true despair until you click on a dozen links of first circle demons and have them all come up as 'error 404'

Curse the destroyed wiki...

Sanctaphrax said:
I definitely approve of what he did there, but I'm not sure why he did it in a ten-post thread from four years ago.

Why not start a new thread?
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That's the funny thing. I'm sure I did. Then I realized that I couldn't find it anymore. So I went 'fuck this shit' and then necroed.

Anyway, guys, I got 4 demons I'm searching for.

1. That oily black puddle that acts as lubricant, that likes tight spaces and heat, made by Octavian to maintain his machines

2. Insects that absorb sound and acts as grenades

3. Snakes with tongues that can knock you unconscious

4. Some first circle demon here. I forgot the details.
 
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