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General Exalted Thread

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HalfTangible said:
I know she's not gonna get in trouble (and even if she could she could get out of it with a roll or two) but hypothetically.
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I don't recall if it carried over, but I quite liked the 2e stance where Hell's laws affected demons and anyone else was unaffected, for better and for worse. They had strangers specifically for handling legal documents on behalf of demons. It was a good bit. So in short, the demons get shafted.
 
DanZapman said:
I don't recall if it carried over, but I quite liked the 2e stance where Hell's laws affected demons and anyone else was unaffected, for better and for worse. They had strangers specifically for handling legal documents on behalf of demons. It was a good bit. So in short, the demons get shafted.
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I favor the fan idea (I think ES had something to do with shaping it, maybe?) that the Laws of Cecelyne are entirely classist. If you're low on the totem pole, then you can get murdered for having a leaky roof because hey, you could use the dripping water to measure time; if you're a Citizen, then the only way you'll ever get busted for clock-use is if multiple other Citizens (or an Unquestionable) use that as part of their pretext for conquering/assassinating/humiliating you.

Some places make use of Malfeas-dwelling mortals in order to try and bypass some of the Laws. Others do things like rely on that one FCD race that can memorize any document they eat, and thus can relate the Laws of Cecelyne because while they did eat the documents, they never actually saw the Forbidden Azure. Both groups are kidding themselves if they think that the protection offered by these workarounds is anything more than a matter of convenience or inattention from those with power.
 
GardenerBriareus said:
I favor the fan idea (I think ES had something to do with shaping it, maybe?) that the Laws of Cecelyne are entirely classist. If you're low on the totem pole, then you can get murdered for having a leaky roof because hey, you could use the dripping water to measure time; if you're a Citizen, then the only way you'll ever get busted for clock-use is if multiple other Citizens (or an Unquestionable) use that as part of their pretext for conquering/assassinating/humiliating you.

Some places make use of Malfeas-dwelling mortals in order to try and bypass some of the Laws. Others do things like rely on that one FCD race that can memorize any document they eat, and thus can relate the Laws of Cecelyne because while they did eat the documents, they never actually saw the Forbidden Azure. Both groups are kidding themselves if they think that the protection offered by these workarounds is anything more than a matter of convenience or inattention from those with power.
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That's not really a "fan idea," more like a plain reading of the actual canon text. Compass: Malfeas p. 48 says
Article:
Naturally, demons of greater rank and power get away with a lot more than serfs do. For instance, Cecelyne forbids demons to own any sort of clock. Nevertheless, a mighty lord such as Octavian could own a roomful of the finest Varangian chronometers and say he kept them only as art objects. Conversely, a serf could be destroyed on grounds that a drip of vitriol-rain inside her hovel constituted a water-clock.
 
Sanctaphrax said:
Commissioning art is cheaper than you might expect; many people who think they can't afford it, can.
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I mean, when the commissions I make are somewhere in the ballpark of 100-200 dollars to get a full body image, and 40-50 for a half-body, well...

That's kind of hard to justify on maybe 200 discretionary dollars a month.
 
It varies from artist to artist as well as how detailed/complex the art is.

It's not *super* expensive, esp if you go for like a half-body sketch option, but like Alectai said, it can be hard to justify if your income is low/nonexistent.
 
I'm pretty darn lucky that I got the chance and ability to do so. If you want to get a commission, I highly recommend that you go for a commission sheet that shows your characters full details. It makes your life way fucking easier later.

On the topic of laws in hell, I always been fixated on them cause of a really stupid encounter I ran. It was basically Malfeas Judge Judy, but mixed with arena combat and blood sports. Where managing to beat the person suing you to death is a method of getting out it. But the Judge makes completely ridiculous situations for the court to take place in, and often makes dumb and strange rules at the drop of a hat. Its consider absolute peak entertainment in the upper levels of hell.

I thought of that in three seconds while ST'ing and just fucking ran with it.
 
MiracleGrow said:
I'm pretty darn lucky that I got the chance and ability to do so. If you want to get a commission, I highly recommend that you go for a commission sheet that shows your characters full details. It makes your life way fucking easier later.
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Noted for the future. I've done a few commissions in the past but not "commission sheets" (I assume you mean like the paper doll concept art stuff)

MiracleGrow said:
On the topic of laws in hell, I always been fixated on them cause of a really stupid encounter I ran. It was basically Malfeas Judge Judy, but mixed with arena combat and blood sports. Where managing to beat the person suing you to death is a method of getting out it. But the Judge makes completely ridiculous situations for the court to take place in, and often makes dumb and strange rules at the drop of a hat. Its consider absolute peak entertainment in the upper levels of hell.

I thought of that in three seconds while ST'ing and just fucking ran with it.
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See that actually sounds like a fun Infernal story. Coming from someone who has less than zero interest in Infernals or Hell.
 
... So where can I find info for the Jadeborn? Particularly those in the Realm.

One of my Deeb players gave themselves a Jadeborn mechanic and apparently "people of glass and crystal" screams "Mountain Folk" to that player but I thought the mountain folk were essentially fantasy dwarves made of magical materials?
 
Ah, I thought you already had info on Mountain Folk, my bad. I don't recall if they have a 3e book yet given they're still working on core splats, so Scroll of Fallen Races and Debris of Fallen races from 2e may be your best bet.
 
HalfTangible said:
... So where can I find info for the Jadeborn? Particularly those in the Realm.

One of my Deeb players gave themselves a Jadeborn mechanic and apparently "people of glass and crystal" screams "Mountain Folk" to that player but I thought the mountain folk were essentially fantasy dwarves made of magical materials?
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They're both actually, they're just sorted like ants are into a designated subtype when they're excavated.

There's Workers and Soldiers which are your typical Dwarf-analogs, and then you've got Artisans which are more elfin looking living statues of glass and crystal.
 
Alectai said:
There's Workers and Soldiers which are your typical Dwarf-analogs, and then you've got Artisans which are more elfin looking living statues of glass and crystal.
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Hrm. Interesting.

So... in the game I'm running, my three players are Realm outriders, going to repair portions of the Realm Defense Grid that have been neglected with time. They're going south to their first one, the Forge Of Ages, just a few miles outside of Chiaroscuro.

Part of the idea for the forge was that the manse would require authorization from the Empress herself to reach the deeper parts that the group would need to access. Which, obviously, the group does not have. So they would be attacked by automatons made of Chiaroscuro glass and crystal; I'd planned on them being like crystalline humanoid creatures (think those polygon models from SuperHot but clear glass instead of red) and some vaktri for fun.

Then they brought up the Mountain Folk and Jadeborn and since once of the players has a Jadeborn Mechanist that I'd forgotten to do anything with yet (we're like 2 weeks in) I thought it'd be more interesting and cohesive to bring them in.
 
HalfTangible said:
Hrm. Interesting.
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You then have the fan imagining of the Mountain Folk/Men of Jade/Jadeborn (the names are interchangeable) not being bound by a humanoid body plan - so you could have Jadeborn who are essentially sapient sci-fantasy mining equipment, like a giant spider with backhoes for pedipalps and an ore-grinder in its abdomen. In that specific milieu, Jadeborn that look human were generally created to act as envoys to humanity, or as a way for their creator to commemorate a human friend/ally (the latter was much more common before the Usurpation, as you might imagine).


HalfTangible said:
Part of the idea for the forge was that the manse would require authorization from the Empress herself to reach the deeper parts that the group would need to access. Which, obviously, the group does not have. So they would be attacked by automatons made of Chiaroscuro glass and crystal; I'd planned on them being like crystalline humanoid creatures (think those polygon models from SuperHot but clear glass instead of red) and some vaktri for fun.

Then they brought up the Mountain Folk and Jadeborn and since once of the players has a Jadeborn Mechanist that I'd forgotten to do anything with yet (we're like 2 weeks in) I thought it'd be more interesting and cohesive to bring them in.
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Honestly, you could keep the crystalline automatons and still have Jadeborn be involved. While this might be fanon, there's an issue of iterative decay with how the Men of Jade create more of themselves: each 'generation' tends to be lesser than the last, and in my own brainstorming about the Mountain Folk I've often imagined Jadeborn who get desperate for alternatives to their conventional reproduction.

So, just for example, this manse could have a Shogunate-era Jadeborn as its sole remaining overseer/handyman, and he's been whiling away the centuries there experimenting with other ways of imbuing life into lifeless matter. The crystalline automatons are prototypes of the child he hopes to make someday, relying on some obscure (and possibly mistaken) occult process to use the adamas of Chiaroscuran glass as a superior substitute for jade.
 
Big Mountain Folk fan here.

The Jadeborn were made by Autochthon from the spirits of Raksha that were trapped in stone was Creation was born. They take after him, being excellent craftsmen with a magitech theme. Back in the First Age the Exalted forced Autochthon to lay something called the Great Geas upon them, which bound them underground so that they could never threaten the dominion of the Exalted. As a (possibly accidental) side effect, it damaged their souls. Now they come in three types, Workers, Warriors, and Artisans. Most Workers and Warriors are unenlightened, which makes them weaker and dumber and less magical.

Their subterranean civilization is advanced, but deeply unfree, and under constant threat from the Darkbrood. Who are, like them, underground remnants of races that were once mighty. There's a war on, and no reason to expect it will ever end.

Under the terms of the Great Geas they can only be above ground if they're under Exalted command. The Realm has a treaty with them that, among other things, gives the empire command over a thousand Jadeborn soldiers. It would make perfect sense to throw some technicians and/or guards for the Realm Defense Grid in there, and said technicians/guards might well respond violently to apparently-unauthorized Terrestrials "intruding" on the manse. They could literally be the statues you had in mind, or else have built them.

(That's all from 2e, to be clear.)

GardenerBriareus said:
Honestly, you could keep the crystalline automatons and still have Jadeborn be involved. While this might be fanon, there's an issue of iterative decay with how the Men of Jade create more of themselves: each 'generation' tends to be lesser than the last, and in my own brainstorming about the Mountain Folk I've often imagined Jadeborn who get desperate for alternatives to their conventional reproduction.
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Yes, that's fanon. Part of EarthScorpion's homebrew. Nothing wrong with homebrew, though.
 
GardenerBriareus said:
You then have the fan imagining of the Mountain Folk/Men of Jade/Jadeborn (the names are interchangeable) not being bound by a humanoid body plan - so you could have Jadeborn who are essentially sapient sci-fantasy mining equipment, like a giant spider with backhoes for pedipalps and an ore-grinder in its abdomen. In that specific milieu, Jadeborn that look human were generally created to act as envoys to humanity, or as a way for their creator to commemorate a human friend/ally (the latter was much more common before the Usurpation, as you might imagine).
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Different strokes I admit. I remember talking to Neph on some of his original drafts on it back in the day and apparently at a point, imagined them less obviously dwarfy and more like, Neanderthals made of stone for the Warriors at least.

I kind of always ran with that and the fact Jadeborn were kind of in the fluff in 1e and 2e a sister species to humans in a way. So the Artisans looked pretty idealized human (made of stone still, but like, to Uncanny Valley level perfect like some sculptures can get), while Warriors and Workers physically looking like off-shoots of early human branches who nonetheless co-existed with modern humans at a point. Namely Warriors as neanderthals and Workers as H. florensis. Another one if I remember right was something on fresh Warriors and Workers looking pretty blocky/unrefined and over time working and fighting "ground-out" into something more towards those forms. I also made a point that their artifice often had a ceramic look to things, lots of smooth white plates, polished lenses, sharp angles, and little if any visible metals. So a bit less the form being alien and more being opaque to humans who would look at a piece of Jadebonr equipment out of context and wonder how the hell it worked or what the hell it did.
 
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Mountain Folk mostly need a mechanical overhaul.
It seems desirable to keep them basically "player character shaped" but their scene-length virtue based dice adders never really worked and I'm not convinced that attributes and abilities exceeding 5 (especially as an alternative to dice adders) doesn't appear to have been a good idea since 1st edition.
 
Lioness said:
Mountain Folk mostly need a mechanical overhaul.
It seems desirable to keep them basically "player character shaped" but their scene-length virtue based dice adders never really worked and I'm not convinced that attributes and abilities exceeding 5 (especially as an alternative to dice adders) doesn't appear to have been a good idea since 1st edition.
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I mean I've been jonesing for a Player Splat that Delinates Caste-Equivalents based on Attribute+Ability and ISN'T just Exigents in dumb cosplay.

Mountain Folk might be able to scratch that itch.
 
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