HamSandLich
MEAT WIZARD
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yu-Shan is also urban enough to the point where you could run a pseudo-cyberpunk game, which is neat
General Exalted Thread
Yu-Shan is also urban enough to the point where you could run a pseudo-cyberpunk game, which is neat
MiracleGrow
Miracles for only $19.99 [They/Them]
- Location
- DOOR STUCK DOOR STUCK PLEASE I BEG U
Good suggestions overall. I already have some goofy becuratic scenes planned out in my head.
But the overall premise for this game is that the heavens dragons recently got struck with a massive blow due to a job going bad. A job down in creation for a sidereal went horribly and out of the five dragonblood, only two made it out alive.
Their relationship ended on bad terms with their former employers and now they are suddenly without many allies in heaven. So far we decided that two of the players is the two survivors that goes down into creation to recruit new people into the heavens dragons. And the rest of the players are what ever horrid gremlins they pulled out of the trash to fill out their numbers.
But the overall premise for this game is that the heavens dragons recently got struck with a massive blow due to a job going bad. A job down in creation for a sidereal went horribly and out of the five dragonblood, only two made it out alive.
Their relationship ended on bad terms with their former employers and now they are suddenly without many allies in heaven. So far we decided that two of the players is the two survivors that goes down into creation to recruit new people into the heavens dragons. And the rest of the players are what ever horrid gremlins they pulled out of the trash to fill out their numbers.
Presumably in this scenario, at some point there was a fairly extensive number of Sapphire Circle-capable Dragonbloods because at that time, well, there was no such meme. Because sorcery tends to be most useful if you're heavily supported by infrastructure of some sort - armies, kingdoms, manses, etcetera - these people would presumably have had pretty extensive amounts of political heft. They wouldn't be shadowy figures hiding on the edges of society, they would be powerful political forces in their own right.
So what, Raksi just waltzed in, killed or discredited every single one of them, then magically managed to spread the idea that these dead Dragonbloods were all secretly evil demon-possessed monsters?
The simplest thing to do, by far, if you want DBs to have access to all three circles of sorcery is just let DBs occasionally bust out Celestial or even Solar circle spells at some points. Their smaller mote pools and the nature of sorcery as fundamentally large-scale and strategic means that on the scale of the player characters it doesn't matter much.
HamSandLich
MEAT WIZARD
- Pronouns
- He/Him
How Death Was Discovered
A Legend of Before......
A Legend of Before......
Before the Beginning, the Dreamers wandered through the primal forever, chasing for the Shining Answer. They had yet to know defeat or death, for those things had yet to be discovered. They fought always with the primeval chaos and drove it back every time, but the primeval chaos was not defeated, for it always returned, and it was not alive, and so could not die. In that time, whenever something of consequence was killed it merely came back after a short while.
One day, there came from afar, a thing which had not been discovered, spreading through the universe like a mass of molten metal. The River of All Torments, who bordered the tribe of the Dreamers, asked who it was. It declined to answer, and instead made war with the Dreamers for half an eternity.
At first, the war was of great interest for the Dreamers, a break from the monotony of Zen-Mu. They named their foe: The Devil Thousandweight, for its weapons and emanations were always impossibly dense and heavy. Unfortunately for the Dreamers, Thousandweight was not as sporting as they. After a short forever, Dreamers grew vexed with their tireless foe. Adrian, River of All Torments, was dammed by the bodies of broken emanations and the Pyrian Flame complained of the disorder that the enemy had brought. Kimbery tried to drown it, but it was so heavy it sank to the seafloor and walked across it to the rest of the Dreamers.
The heralds brought news of this to Theion the Holy-Tyrant, Universe Emperor and King of the Dreamers, in his cosmic court. When they heard of this, his subjects begged the Tyrant to descend to meet their foe in battle, but when Thousandweight emerged from Kimbery's depths, they found that the devil had draped leaden collars about Adrian and Kimbery and chained them to itself.
Thousandweight said thus, "From afar I have come, and you have named me Thousandweight. You are wrong, for my name is Defeat, and to meet me is to know me. Come, Holy-Tyrant, descend from your court and know Defeat."
The Universe Emperor saw then that he could not fight Thousandweight, for the devil spoke true. Though he had limitless power, if Theion met with Defeat on the field of battle, he would be the Holy-Tyrant no more. At an impasse, Theion spoke with his household.
"It is the Law that the Emperor cannot know defeat", cautioned the Endless Desert, and Theion knew she spoke true.
"Perhaps we could chain it to you, so that it will be your slave," said Autochthon and the Pyrian Flame, but the Tyrant knew that chaining himself to Defeat was a poor decision.
"I will trample it into dust!" proclaimed Isidoros, and set off to do so, but Thousandweight knocked him off course as he charged and sent him careening deep into the outer chaos. Theion knew he would not return in time to face Defeat.
"Who am I?" asked Mardukth, to which all present replied, "you are Mardukth." Which satisfied him for a time.
After much deliberation, they resolved to ask Oramus, The Dragon Beyond the World, who was the before-firstborn among them, for his knowledge, and he replied, "Thousandweight's weakness does not exist. No weapon we have can conquer Defeat."
There was much sorrow and wailing among the Dreamers then, for they knew their eldest brother spoke the truth. Many among them succumbed to Defeat then, but the Emperor did not, because he was the Emperor, and he knew one of his subjects had not been defeated. He bade this last Dreamer to come forth
Wordlessly, the final Dreamer crawled forth on his belly towards the Emperor. All the while he made several mewling gestures of utmost humility, and that the rest of the court thought that he too was defeated, but the Emperor knew that such a show was merely a deception. The Dreamer before him was the Dragon's Shadow, and he was rarely seen among his siblings, for he was an ill omen to be sure.
Said the Dragon To Be; "Sister-Brothers, have no fear. If Thousandweight's weakness has yet to be found, we simply must find it. I will do it in your stead, for I too, do not yet exist."
The Emperor had little choice but to acquiesce, and gave the Dragon's Shadow his blessing. Oramus gave his brother a map to everything that hadn't been discovered, and set him on his way.
Snickering that his sister-brothers had finally been forced into relying on him, the Dragon's Shadow capered beyond the lands of the Dreamers into the Unknown. Wicked though he was, he was still loyal to his sister-brothers, though his loyalty was tinged with the desire to see all the other Dreamers in his debt. So consumed was he with this fantasy that he accidentally ran into a door of black iron.
When his head finally stopped spinning, he saw a maiden in purple offering her hand to help him up. As she hauled him to his feet, he asked, somewhat deliriously "Who might you be?"
"I'm not quite sure," she replied, "I don't think I exist yet."
The Dragon's black heart soared, for he believed he had found a kindred spirit. He had long wanted for another to call his bride, and all the other Dreamers he asked had rejected his proposals. Briefly drunk with the possibility of love, he stammered, "W-will you do m-me the favor of-"
Before he finished, the black iron door opened inward, groaning loudly on its hinges. Behind the door was a yawning void, and from that void spoke a voice, barely above a whisper; "Enter"
"What is this place?" asked the Dragon's Shadow, as he and the maiden looked at Oramus' map. There, on the parchment, they saw a faded drawing of the iron door, as if Oramus had tried to blot it out from his map of the unknown: The World That Never Was.
The Dragon became nervous and looked back from where he had come, but the maiden, for reasons she didn't quite understand, grabbed him by the claw and walked through the door. The Dragon was so bewildered that he did not notice the iron doors closing until it was too late.
They found themselves in a vast, dark cavern, which swallowed all light. Now was the Maiden's turn to be bewildered, for she had, before now, possessed the gift of foresight, yet this place was utterly, completely unknown to her. The Dragon, on the other hand, being a shadow, was quite at home in the darkness. Absentmindedly holding hands with the maiden, he led them onward, deeper into the cave.
They had been wandering for some time when they came upon a fellow traveller, an odd man with mismatched clothing. He introduced himself as Forgetfulness, though he said others called him Renewal.
The Dragon's Shadow introduced himself, and the maiden curtsied and apologized for not being able to tell Forgetfulness her name. The Dragon asked Forgetfulness, "Do you know where I might find something that can conquer defeat?"
Forgetfulness stroked his chin in thought, and replied, "I think i've seen something like that, deeper in. If you let me come with you, I might remember more clearly. I'll need to hold onto your tail so I can keep up though."
The two agreed and set off to explore the rest of the pit. Later, the trio came upon a strange small woman with iron screws for teeth. As before, they made introductions, and the strange small woman introduced herself as Old Age, though she was sometimes called Wisdom.
Again, as before, the Dragon asked his question, and Old Age replied, "What you seek lies deeper still lad, I can show you the way, but only if you give me a ride."
The Dragon was at first indignant, but the wizened woman shook her cane at him and gave him a look with her eye and he meekly let her clamber onto his back. She thanked him for being a good lad and gave him a hard candy for his trouble. The group then once again set off into the unknown
It was then that the party found themselves at the ledge of a yawning abyss. Though they were in a dark cave already, at least before they had a sense of solid ground beneath their feet. Neither of the others that the Dragon and maiden had picked up knew what to do next.
"Need some help?" a voice asked, and the party turned to look behind them. What they saw was a fellow traveller. The maiden thought they were hideous, the Dragon thought they were beautiful.
"I am Uncertainty, though some call me Luck" said the newcomer, "and I heard that you're looking for something that can conquer Defeat."
The Dragon, perking up at this, said "You heard right! Do you know where I can find it?!" He had begun to grow worried for his sister-brothers.
Uncertainty nodded. "Turn around and peer deeper," he instructed, and as they did, Uncertainty pushed them into the abyss and jumped in after them.
The fall was so long that the Dragon nodded off into sleep. When he awoke, he found himself alone in a blasted, wasteland of a universe. All around were motionless bodies, some of them he knew, others he did not. He poked the one next to him to wake them up, but they could not be roused. It was then that the Dragon knew a deeper fear than he had ever known before.
He wandered, for a span that was beyond time, searching for a way back. Just as he was about to give up, he heard a voice whisper, "I can help you get back, but only if you carry me with you."
The Dragon almost agreed immediately, but even he knew not to trust mysterious whispering voices.
"Who are you?" he asked, looking around with a jaundiced eye.
"I am what you've been looking for all this time. I am the weapon that can conquer Defeat," said the voice.
The Dragon followed the sound of the voice and saw that came from a motionless form atop a pile of unmoving bodies. Atop that pile, he saw a weapon, and he knew that the shape and name of the weapon was Death. And there, atop the pile of what he now knew were corpses, was his own lifeless body, with Death jutting from his heart. And from the mouth of his own corpse he heard secrets that should not be known.
It was then that the Dragon went mad. Grasping Death by the hilt, he smote his unliving form. He cut it up and reduced it to ash. Then he turned to the rest of the wasteland and unleashed Death upon it. He destroyed the bodies. He struck the air and he smote the ground. He killed space and he murdered time and found himself once again at the edge of the abyss he had fallen into.
He took Death and he cut his way out of the World That Never Was, dicing the black iron door into countless pieces. Laughing and screaming, he fled from that place and left the way open for the others to follow. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the maiden in purple and he saw that she too, had Death in her grasp.
Back at the Dreamers' cosmic court, The Devil Thousandweight, whose true name was Defeat, had bound nearly all the Dreamers in leaden bonds, weighing them down and laughing at its own strength. It had the Emperor by the neck, and was set to clap him in fetters so he would be Emperor no more, when the Dragon's Shadow, howling with laughter, burst through the doors of Theion's hall.
"Who the hell are yo-", Thousandweight never finished its question, for the Dragon's Shadow fell upon it and smote it with Death, whispering the secrets that his own corpse had told him into its ear. The Dragon diced Thousandweight into so many pieces that it became like a fine mist. With a flick of his tail, the Dragon dispersed Defeat across the cosmos, never again to return as The Devil Thousandweight, though perhaps in other forms.
At first the Dreamers made to congratulate the Dragon, but then they saw the crazed glint in his eye and the thing he had brought back with him. Theion took one look at the ugly weapon his brother had used to vanquish Thousandweight, and ordered the Dragon to get rid of it. At first, the Dreamers thought the Dragon would not do as the Emperor said, but the Dragon smiled, and struck Death against the floor and shattered it into countless pieces. The Emperor asked what the Dragon wanted as a reward, but the Dragon was already on his way out the door, leaving the court aghast at the scandal.
The Dragon's Shadow knew that he could not kill Death, merely share it with the world, chortling merrily as he left. Between bouts of laughter, he repeated one of the secrets his corpse had told him: "Life Brings Death! Death Brings Life! "
One day, there came from afar, a thing which had not been discovered, spreading through the universe like a mass of molten metal. The River of All Torments, who bordered the tribe of the Dreamers, asked who it was. It declined to answer, and instead made war with the Dreamers for half an eternity.
At first, the war was of great interest for the Dreamers, a break from the monotony of Zen-Mu. They named their foe: The Devil Thousandweight, for its weapons and emanations were always impossibly dense and heavy. Unfortunately for the Dreamers, Thousandweight was not as sporting as they. After a short forever, Dreamers grew vexed with their tireless foe. Adrian, River of All Torments, was dammed by the bodies of broken emanations and the Pyrian Flame complained of the disorder that the enemy had brought. Kimbery tried to drown it, but it was so heavy it sank to the seafloor and walked across it to the rest of the Dreamers.
The heralds brought news of this to Theion the Holy-Tyrant, Universe Emperor and King of the Dreamers, in his cosmic court. When they heard of this, his subjects begged the Tyrant to descend to meet their foe in battle, but when Thousandweight emerged from Kimbery's depths, they found that the devil had draped leaden collars about Adrian and Kimbery and chained them to itself.
Thousandweight said thus, "From afar I have come, and you have named me Thousandweight. You are wrong, for my name is Defeat, and to meet me is to know me. Come, Holy-Tyrant, descend from your court and know Defeat."
The Universe Emperor saw then that he could not fight Thousandweight, for the devil spoke true. Though he had limitless power, if Theion met with Defeat on the field of battle, he would be the Holy-Tyrant no more. At an impasse, Theion spoke with his household.
"It is the Law that the Emperor cannot know defeat", cautioned the Endless Desert, and Theion knew she spoke true.
"Perhaps we could chain it to you, so that it will be your slave," said Autochthon and the Pyrian Flame, but the Tyrant knew that chaining himself to Defeat was a poor decision.
"I will trample it into dust!" proclaimed Isidoros, and set off to do so, but Thousandweight knocked him off course as he charged and sent him careening deep into the outer chaos. Theion knew he would not return in time to face Defeat.
"Who am I?" asked Mardukth, to which all present replied, "you are Mardukth." Which satisfied him for a time.
After much deliberation, they resolved to ask Oramus, The Dragon Beyond the World, who was the before-firstborn among them, for his knowledge, and he replied, "Thousandweight's weakness does not exist. No weapon we have can conquer Defeat."
There was much sorrow and wailing among the Dreamers then, for they knew their eldest brother spoke the truth. Many among them succumbed to Defeat then, but the Emperor did not, because he was the Emperor, and he knew one of his subjects had not been defeated. He bade this last Dreamer to come forth
Wordlessly, the final Dreamer crawled forth on his belly towards the Emperor. All the while he made several mewling gestures of utmost humility, and that the rest of the court thought that he too was defeated, but the Emperor knew that such a show was merely a deception. The Dreamer before him was the Dragon's Shadow, and he was rarely seen among his siblings, for he was an ill omen to be sure.
Said the Dragon To Be; "Sister-Brothers, have no fear. If Thousandweight's weakness has yet to be found, we simply must find it. I will do it in your stead, for I too, do not yet exist."
The Emperor had little choice but to acquiesce, and gave the Dragon's Shadow his blessing. Oramus gave his brother a map to everything that hadn't been discovered, and set him on his way.
Snickering that his sister-brothers had finally been forced into relying on him, the Dragon's Shadow capered beyond the lands of the Dreamers into the Unknown. Wicked though he was, he was still loyal to his sister-brothers, though his loyalty was tinged with the desire to see all the other Dreamers in his debt. So consumed was he with this fantasy that he accidentally ran into a door of black iron.
When his head finally stopped spinning, he saw a maiden in purple offering her hand to help him up. As she hauled him to his feet, he asked, somewhat deliriously "Who might you be?"
"I'm not quite sure," she replied, "I don't think I exist yet."
The Dragon's black heart soared, for he believed he had found a kindred spirit. He had long wanted for another to call his bride, and all the other Dreamers he asked had rejected his proposals. Briefly drunk with the possibility of love, he stammered, "W-will you do m-me the favor of-"
Before he finished, the black iron door opened inward, groaning loudly on its hinges. Behind the door was a yawning void, and from that void spoke a voice, barely above a whisper; "Enter"
"What is this place?" asked the Dragon's Shadow, as he and the maiden looked at Oramus' map. There, on the parchment, they saw a faded drawing of the iron door, as if Oramus had tried to blot it out from his map of the unknown: The World That Never Was.
The Dragon became nervous and looked back from where he had come, but the maiden, for reasons she didn't quite understand, grabbed him by the claw and walked through the door. The Dragon was so bewildered that he did not notice the iron doors closing until it was too late.
They found themselves in a vast, dark cavern, which swallowed all light. Now was the Maiden's turn to be bewildered, for she had, before now, possessed the gift of foresight, yet this place was utterly, completely unknown to her. The Dragon, on the other hand, being a shadow, was quite at home in the darkness. Absentmindedly holding hands with the maiden, he led them onward, deeper into the cave.
They had been wandering for some time when they came upon a fellow traveller, an odd man with mismatched clothing. He introduced himself as Forgetfulness, though he said others called him Renewal.
The Dragon's Shadow introduced himself, and the maiden curtsied and apologized for not being able to tell Forgetfulness her name. The Dragon asked Forgetfulness, "Do you know where I might find something that can conquer defeat?"
Forgetfulness stroked his chin in thought, and replied, "I think i've seen something like that, deeper in. If you let me come with you, I might remember more clearly. I'll need to hold onto your tail so I can keep up though."
The two agreed and set off to explore the rest of the pit. Later, the trio came upon a strange small woman with iron screws for teeth. As before, they made introductions, and the strange small woman introduced herself as Old Age, though she was sometimes called Wisdom.
Again, as before, the Dragon asked his question, and Old Age replied, "What you seek lies deeper still lad, I can show you the way, but only if you give me a ride."
The Dragon was at first indignant, but the wizened woman shook her cane at him and gave him a look with her eye and he meekly let her clamber onto his back. She thanked him for being a good lad and gave him a hard candy for his trouble. The group then once again set off into the unknown
It was then that the party found themselves at the ledge of a yawning abyss. Though they were in a dark cave already, at least before they had a sense of solid ground beneath their feet. Neither of the others that the Dragon and maiden had picked up knew what to do next.
"Need some help?" a voice asked, and the party turned to look behind them. What they saw was a fellow traveller. The maiden thought they were hideous, the Dragon thought they were beautiful.
"I am Uncertainty, though some call me Luck" said the newcomer, "and I heard that you're looking for something that can conquer Defeat."
The Dragon, perking up at this, said "You heard right! Do you know where I can find it?!" He had begun to grow worried for his sister-brothers.
Uncertainty nodded. "Turn around and peer deeper," he instructed, and as they did, Uncertainty pushed them into the abyss and jumped in after them.
The fall was so long that the Dragon nodded off into sleep. When he awoke, he found himself alone in a blasted, wasteland of a universe. All around were motionless bodies, some of them he knew, others he did not. He poked the one next to him to wake them up, but they could not be roused. It was then that the Dragon knew a deeper fear than he had ever known before.
He wandered, for a span that was beyond time, searching for a way back. Just as he was about to give up, he heard a voice whisper, "I can help you get back, but only if you carry me with you."
The Dragon almost agreed immediately, but even he knew not to trust mysterious whispering voices.
"Who are you?" he asked, looking around with a jaundiced eye.
"I am what you've been looking for all this time. I am the weapon that can conquer Defeat," said the voice.
The Dragon followed the sound of the voice and saw that came from a motionless form atop a pile of unmoving bodies. Atop that pile, he saw a weapon, and he knew that the shape and name of the weapon was Death. And there, atop the pile of what he now knew were corpses, was his own lifeless body, with Death jutting from his heart. And from the mouth of his own corpse he heard secrets that should not be known.
It was then that the Dragon went mad. Grasping Death by the hilt, he smote his unliving form. He cut it up and reduced it to ash. Then he turned to the rest of the wasteland and unleashed Death upon it. He destroyed the bodies. He struck the air and he smote the ground. He killed space and he murdered time and found himself once again at the edge of the abyss he had fallen into.
He took Death and he cut his way out of the World That Never Was, dicing the black iron door into countless pieces. Laughing and screaming, he fled from that place and left the way open for the others to follow. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the maiden in purple and he saw that she too, had Death in her grasp.
Back at the Dreamers' cosmic court, The Devil Thousandweight, whose true name was Defeat, had bound nearly all the Dreamers in leaden bonds, weighing them down and laughing at its own strength. It had the Emperor by the neck, and was set to clap him in fetters so he would be Emperor no more, when the Dragon's Shadow, howling with laughter, burst through the doors of Theion's hall.
"Who the hell are yo-", Thousandweight never finished its question, for the Dragon's Shadow fell upon it and smote it with Death, whispering the secrets that his own corpse had told him into its ear. The Dragon diced Thousandweight into so many pieces that it became like a fine mist. With a flick of his tail, the Dragon dispersed Defeat across the cosmos, never again to return as The Devil Thousandweight, though perhaps in other forms.
At first the Dreamers made to congratulate the Dragon, but then they saw the crazed glint in his eye and the thing he had brought back with him. Theion took one look at the ugly weapon his brother had used to vanquish Thousandweight, and ordered the Dragon to get rid of it. At first, the Dreamers thought the Dragon would not do as the Emperor said, but the Dragon smiled, and struck Death against the floor and shattered it into countless pieces. The Emperor asked what the Dragon wanted as a reward, but the Dragon was already on his way out the door, leaving the court aghast at the scandal.
The Dragon's Shadow knew that he could not kill Death, merely share it with the world, chortling merrily as he left. Between bouts of laughter, he repeated one of the secrets his corpse had told him: "Life Brings Death! Death Brings Life! "
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God and the Snake
A Swamp of a Human Being
An early quest where they're hired by a bigwig divine loanshark to shake down the 'hard cases' for their payments could be pretty fun: It gives you an excuse to send them all across Yu-Shan to get a feel for the city, gives them a fairly sedate setting to kind of vibe off of and get a feel for each others' characters (as well as their own), and it's a chance to introduce a bunch of weirdo NPCs that your players might enjoy.
And for a Yu-Shan game, the Carnival of Meetings can be a pretty fun setting down the line. Being hired to try and make the carnival a bit of a disaster for the Court of Seasons (but not enough to actually get arrested yourself) might be fun, as could be just using it as a general set piece: I hold that How Five Days of Darkness Stole Calibration is and always will be a valid quest.
- Pronouns
- she/her
It's debatable how direct any of these conversations were.
She never talked to a 50 mile long dragon of shadow who told her about his evil plans, she spoke to people from her past who were varying degrees of out of character and was never sure if the Ebon Dragon assumed those forms or conjured those people from her subconsious.
Another Saatan festival.
Zayardival
(22-28 Descending Wood)
The fearsome hurricane-goddess of the Anarchy, Zayard, is an aged woman whose hair is stormcloud-grey and whose temper flashes into violent rage like lightning. She is mother and grandmother to many of the lesser weather-deities of the South West, and for that reason the entire season of Fire is her dominion. Once she was more kindly, but her favourite son eloped with a northern wind-god and refuses to speak to her, so she shows only contempt to mortals. In Saata, as with many of the other archipelagos of the region, life runs by the demands of the sea and thus hurricane season is a perilous time when many refuse to travel long distances. When Zayard rages, cities can be levelled and fields flooded.
The entire last week of Descending Wood is given over to Zayard, in an attempt to avert her rage and as a festival it is second only to Calibration in scale. On the first day it begins with a grand procession led by the matriarch of House Sinasana riding on an imported elephant which traces out the major by-ways of the city, meeting and greeting the people of the city. Great fires are set atop the Anabalim and other old stone buildings, where perfumed woods are burned in honour of Zayard.
In later days, flowers are scattered to the winds, great musicians compliment the goddess's wisdom and generosity, and actors and dancers put on grand masked performances in roofless theatres all to demonstrate that she should not turn her wrath on Saata. Some of the plays incorporate elements designed to demonstrate how rival cities and enemies of House Sinasana would be much better things to target. The female heads of households dance at the intersections of streets around bonfires, casting offerings into the flame so that the smoke may ascend up to Zayard's clouds, and this is taken with such seriousness that even elderly women will try to dance on their own, or be carried by younger dancers.
The offerings of the pirate princes who live by the sea are no less generous. During the festival great feasts are held in their island estates, inviting the poor and downtrodden as a sign of moral virtue to please the goddess. Boat-races are held around the island, to the cheering of the guests on the coastal estates. A captain who does well in these races can earn a commission from one of the watching pirate princes. New clothes are bought with the earnings from Wood - usually the most prosperous time of the year in Saata - and worn to impress Zayard.
For a ship to be at sea during Zayardival is thought by Saatans to tempt the goddess's fury, and draw her eye. A captain who risks this is a foolhardy man who will likely find it difficult to recruit new crew during the next year. The flip side of this is that the Saatan character respects those loved by the gods, and should such a captain and her ship last the next year without major misfortune, Saatans will assume Zayard has shown her favour and look to them for dangerous late-season voyages.
Zayardival
(22-28 Descending Wood)
The fearsome hurricane-goddess of the Anarchy, Zayard, is an aged woman whose hair is stormcloud-grey and whose temper flashes into violent rage like lightning. She is mother and grandmother to many of the lesser weather-deities of the South West, and for that reason the entire season of Fire is her dominion. Once she was more kindly, but her favourite son eloped with a northern wind-god and refuses to speak to her, so she shows only contempt to mortals. In Saata, as with many of the other archipelagos of the region, life runs by the demands of the sea and thus hurricane season is a perilous time when many refuse to travel long distances. When Zayard rages, cities can be levelled and fields flooded.
The entire last week of Descending Wood is given over to Zayard, in an attempt to avert her rage and as a festival it is second only to Calibration in scale. On the first day it begins with a grand procession led by the matriarch of House Sinasana riding on an imported elephant which traces out the major by-ways of the city, meeting and greeting the people of the city. Great fires are set atop the Anabalim and other old stone buildings, where perfumed woods are burned in honour of Zayard.
In later days, flowers are scattered to the winds, great musicians compliment the goddess's wisdom and generosity, and actors and dancers put on grand masked performances in roofless theatres all to demonstrate that she should not turn her wrath on Saata. Some of the plays incorporate elements designed to demonstrate how rival cities and enemies of House Sinasana would be much better things to target. The female heads of households dance at the intersections of streets around bonfires, casting offerings into the flame so that the smoke may ascend up to Zayard's clouds, and this is taken with such seriousness that even elderly women will try to dance on their own, or be carried by younger dancers.
The offerings of the pirate princes who live by the sea are no less generous. During the festival great feasts are held in their island estates, inviting the poor and downtrodden as a sign of moral virtue to please the goddess. Boat-races are held around the island, to the cheering of the guests on the coastal estates. A captain who does well in these races can earn a commission from one of the watching pirate princes. New clothes are bought with the earnings from Wood - usually the most prosperous time of the year in Saata - and worn to impress Zayard.
For a ship to be at sea during Zayardival is thought by Saatans to tempt the goddess's fury, and draw her eye. A captain who risks this is a foolhardy man who will likely find it difficult to recruit new crew during the next year. The flip side of this is that the Saatan character respects those loved by the gods, and should such a captain and her ship last the next year without major misfortune, Saatans will assume Zayard has shown her favour and look to them for dangerous late-season voyages.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Second Session with my Playtesting group. The first part was focused on how the Player Characters spent a month time skip, what changes they made on the world, what they were doing, which is all about the Project subsystem.
One player established a wide-spanning Spy Network. Another started training the city guard in his martial arts, and another expanded his cult.
It all seemed to go along pretty well!
The second part involved the introduction of the....comedic relief antagonists. A pair of vain Fae who rammed their ship into their transport vessel.
The Player Characters managed to convince the Fae out of starting "a totally rad fight involving zombie pirates and maybe a Kraken", and instead challenged them to a Pose-Off competition.
The Player Characters pulled out all their stops and completely smashed the Fae in one turn.
------
So the Project system seems to be working well, with maybe a few tweaks, but I am a bit concerned about the Encounters system. I think I need a better way to have a challenged opposition Encounter.
I am also a bit concerned the PC's completely stomped in one round, but I did also throw them a softball this time around. And they did pull out all the stops, so....Another test will probably be necessary to see if that was the reason.
Players had a blast though, which I'm happy for.
One player established a wide-spanning Spy Network. Another started training the city guard in his martial arts, and another expanded his cult.
It all seemed to go along pretty well!
The second part involved the introduction of the....comedic relief antagonists. A pair of vain Fae who rammed their ship into their transport vessel.
The Player Characters managed to convince the Fae out of starting "a totally rad fight involving zombie pirates and maybe a Kraken", and instead challenged them to a Pose-Off competition.
The Player Characters pulled out all their stops and completely smashed the Fae in one turn.
------
So the Project system seems to be working well, with maybe a few tweaks, but I am a bit concerned about the Encounters system. I think I need a better way to have a challenged opposition Encounter.
I am also a bit concerned the PC's completely stomped in one round, but I did also throw them a softball this time around. And they did pull out all the stops, so....Another test will probably be necessary to see if that was the reason.
Players had a blast though, which I'm happy for.
HamSandLich
MEAT WIZARD
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Tepet Namat, one of the Yamabushi Spirit Warriors of the Tepet Legions, mountain weirdo
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HamSandLich
MEAT WIZARD
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Just a guy who fights spirits. The Yamabushi are a specialized class of mystical warrior-diplomats meant to deal with spirits for the Tepet Legions, either through negotiation or combat. They're a remnant of the Shoganate and Tepet's heterodox Melaist school of the Immaculate Philosophy
HamSandLich
MEAT WIZARD
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Have a Deathknight in a hanbok-inspired outfit. My headcanon is that a lot of northern satrapies take cues from Korea.
Cherry Blossoms represent the transience of life. Therefore, it is 100% appropriate to treat pink clothing as Trappings of Death for Abyssals
Cherry Blossoms represent the transience of life. Therefore, it is 100% appropriate to treat pink clothing as Trappings of Death for Abyssals
- Location
- Wingmaiden's Reach, the Near Roofs, Town
- Pronouns
- She/Her
This logic is sound and I am totally stealing it, and not just because I am so tired of Abyssals in black.Have a Deathknight in a hanbok-inspired outfit. My headcanon is that a lot of northern satrapies take cues from Korea.
Cherry Blossoms represent the transience of life. Therefore, it is 100% appropriate to treat pink clothing as Trappings of Death for Abyssals
Honestly, while cherries have the best symbolism for it, I wonder if cut or pressed flowers in general might not make good Abyssal accessories.
HamSandLich
MEAT WIZARD
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Cherry Blossoms, Spider Lilies, Regular Lilies, Petunias, etc. Flower Language has a ton of good aesthetic to draw from
- Location
- my house
I support this headcannon
- Location
- my house
Corpseflowers
grommile
nasty-minded old cynic
- Location
- NERV-Mercia
- Pronouns
- Traditional/Animate
Chinese traditional mourning wear is white
- Location
- Nova Scotia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I really like this piece from Fangs at the Gate for that. Coincidentally, also a hanbok.Chinese traditional mourning wear is white
Mind you, I will also never get tired of Abyssals wearing black.
HamSandLich
MEAT WIZARD
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I've been doing a daily Exalted Art challenge for october, and today's challenge was Favorite Charm
So here's a bishie using Harmonious Presence Meditation
So here's a bishie using Harmonious Presence Meditation
HamSandLich
MEAT WIZARD
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Exalted Art Challenge - Favorite Incarna: Sol Invictus
Exalted Art Challenge - Favorite Incarna: Sol Invictus
The mouse is a nice touch.
Nay! Render unto them gifts of peanut butter and the planting of concealing ground cover that they might linger near to you and give favorable report of your virtue unto the Most High.
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
Well my interest check got a like. For context, my endgame for my current 2e campaign is thus:
1. Reform the Yozi
1a. Go Devil Tiger
2. Get everyone in Creation onto either an island in the Wyld or Autochthon.
3. Crack Creation open like an egg, releasing and healing the reformed Yozi and the outnumbered Neverborn.
4. Build a new creation with blackjack and hookers.
Because my Devil Tiger themes will include Inheritance, Learning and Growth, my contribution to NeoCreation is basically Cultivation.
You can learn things directly related to your dao at favored rates and things not too opposed at unfavored rates, but favored ones are a better investment because they count towards your XP Investment thresholds as if they were full price.
Exalts are still OP since they have larger and more powerful charm pools, earlier access to sorcery and martial arts and just need to hit the minimum age to Essence up instead of the normal requirements. On the other hand, the XP requirements mean that anyone who got there the hard way is a lot more versatile.
One big thing is that it's technically a lot easier to follow a completed Dao since you don't have to invent everything yourself, but it basically locks you into the lowest levels of the 8th stage because someone's already occupying that slot. Of course, the XP requirements mean most people won't get that far anyway but it's relevant for protags.
Also note that each level requires progressively more XP than they'd get from their annual income before death to have that whole "life and death experiences temper you" thing where if you're not adventuring, you don't get enough XP to rank up before you die. I'll probably have something like pills that can increase your XP threshold but that's a classic case of "gold on the outside, rot on the inside" since you don't actually get the superpowers/artifacts/whatever that come with that.
I'll also probably have it so you can reset to E2 and pick a second dao. Reset enough times and you'll be as good as a Devil Tiger'd GSP.
1. Reform the Yozi
1a. Go Devil Tiger
2. Get everyone in Creation onto either an island in the Wyld or Autochthon.
3. Crack Creation open like an egg, releasing and healing the reformed Yozi and the outnumbered Neverborn.
4. Build a new creation with blackjack and hookers.
Because my Devil Tiger themes will include Inheritance, Learning and Growth, my contribution to NeoCreation is basically Cultivation.
Note: You still need to be enlightened to E2 before you can start cultivating.
Terrestrial Realms: Have access to Terrestrial Martial Arts and Emerald Circle Sorcery without Exaltation.
1. Essence Gathering: E2, basically just saturating your body with Essence until you hit critical mass. Lifespan=150 Years. Requirement to rank up: Learn a form-type charm.
2. Foundation Building: E3, enhancing your comprehension (whether conscious or instinctive) of the world and the self. Lifespan=150 Years. Requirement to rank up: Get Perception to 5.
3. Dao Seeking: E4, considering and experimenting with different ways to view the world that will eventually form a Dao. Lifespan=150 Years. Requirement to rank up: Develop five themed charms as potential root charms. (Non-chosen charms will be turned into XP upon breakthrough)
Celestial Realms: Access to Celestial Martial Arts and Sapphire Circle Sorcery without Exaltation.
4. Core Formation: E5, integrating your selected Dao into yourself. Lifespan=150 Years. Requirement to rank up: Invent a CMA based on your Dao. XP Investment=1000.
5. Dao Tempering: E6, refining your Dao and deepening your understanding of it. Lifespan=300 Years. Requirement to rank up: Invent 50 Daoist charms. XP Investment=1800.
6. Dao Embodiment: E7, Forming a body of pure essence aligned with your Dao, before finally shucking your mortal flesh. Lifespan=700 Years. Requirement to rank up: Invent a Shintai esque charm that will become your base state upon breakthrough. XP Investment=3600.
Primordial Realms: Have access to Sidereal Martial Arts and Adamant Circle Sorcery without Exaltation.
7. Saint Enlightenment: E8, align yourself with Samsara. Lifespan=1200. Requirement to rank up: Master 5 SMA styles. XP Investment=5500
8. Origin Ignition: E9, begin integrating your dao into the shinmaic substrate (may cause issues if someone at similar or higher stage cultivator has a similar but conflicting Dao). Lifespan=2500. Requirement to rank up: Invent an SMA based on your Dao. XP Investment=9000
9. Primordial Actualization: E10, basically become a shitty Primordial. Lifespan=Yes.
Terrestrial Realms: Have access to Terrestrial Martial Arts and Emerald Circle Sorcery without Exaltation.
1. Essence Gathering: E2, basically just saturating your body with Essence until you hit critical mass. Lifespan=150 Years. Requirement to rank up: Learn a form-type charm.
2. Foundation Building: E3, enhancing your comprehension (whether conscious or instinctive) of the world and the self. Lifespan=150 Years. Requirement to rank up: Get Perception to 5.
3. Dao Seeking: E4, considering and experimenting with different ways to view the world that will eventually form a Dao. Lifespan=150 Years. Requirement to rank up: Develop five themed charms as potential root charms. (Non-chosen charms will be turned into XP upon breakthrough)
Celestial Realms: Access to Celestial Martial Arts and Sapphire Circle Sorcery without Exaltation.
4. Core Formation: E5, integrating your selected Dao into yourself. Lifespan=150 Years. Requirement to rank up: Invent a CMA based on your Dao. XP Investment=1000.
5. Dao Tempering: E6, refining your Dao and deepening your understanding of it. Lifespan=300 Years. Requirement to rank up: Invent 50 Daoist charms. XP Investment=1800.
6. Dao Embodiment: E7, Forming a body of pure essence aligned with your Dao, before finally shucking your mortal flesh. Lifespan=700 Years. Requirement to rank up: Invent a Shintai esque charm that will become your base state upon breakthrough. XP Investment=3600.
Primordial Realms: Have access to Sidereal Martial Arts and Adamant Circle Sorcery without Exaltation.
7. Saint Enlightenment: E8, align yourself with Samsara. Lifespan=1200. Requirement to rank up: Master 5 SMA styles. XP Investment=5500
8. Origin Ignition: E9, begin integrating your dao into the shinmaic substrate (may cause issues if someone at similar or higher stage cultivator has a similar but conflicting Dao). Lifespan=2500. Requirement to rank up: Invent an SMA based on your Dao. XP Investment=9000
9. Primordial Actualization: E10, basically become a shitty Primordial. Lifespan=Yes.
Exalts are still OP since they have larger and more powerful charm pools, earlier access to sorcery and martial arts and just need to hit the minimum age to Essence up instead of the normal requirements. On the other hand, the XP requirements mean that anyone who got there the hard way is a lot more versatile.
One big thing is that it's technically a lot easier to follow a completed Dao since you don't have to invent everything yourself, but it basically locks you into the lowest levels of the 8th stage because someone's already occupying that slot. Of course, the XP requirements mean most people won't get that far anyway but it's relevant for protags.
Also note that each level requires progressively more XP than they'd get from their annual income before death to have that whole "life and death experiences temper you" thing where if you're not adventuring, you don't get enough XP to rank up before you die. I'll probably have something like pills that can increase your XP threshold but that's a classic case of "gold on the outside, rot on the inside" since you don't actually get the superpowers/artifacts/whatever that come with that.
I'll also probably have it so you can reset to E2 and pick a second dao. Reset enough times and you'll be as good as a Devil Tiger'd GSP.
- Location
- Ottawa
Very 2e of you.
It's actually striking how well 2e lines up with Xianxia, ideologically.
It's actually striking how well 2e lines up with Xianxia, ideologically.