HalfTangible
Only half sane (it's less cringe)
- Location
- Valkyrie, Primus
Said it many a time, but a Solar charmset rewrite (probably in the form of a companion book) is one of the first things I'd want to do if I became CEO of Exalted somehow.
General Exalted Thread
- Location
- Right Where I Am
I recently reread some old discussion about the Daystar and some related stuff, and some people were saying that it didn't fit the feel, genre, tone, etc. of the setting and stories that they wanted out of Exalted.
I can absolutely get that. At the same time though, some old master covering a valley with mirrors so that he can pass his martial arts on to the Sun as it passes overhead before he dies is something that I would 100% call as coming from Exalted.
I can absolutely get that. At the same time though, some old master covering a valley with mirrors so that he can pass his martial arts on to the Sun as it passes overhead before he dies is something that I would 100% call as coming from Exalted.
Looking into starting an exalted essence game with people completely new to Exalted but experienced with RPGS . I was thinking thinking Solars,Lunars and Dragonblooded are fine for new players. However how much information should they know about the setting? In particular should anyone know about the Sidereals at all and their role in the ursupation?
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
I'm thinking if they're Silver Pact affiliated Lunars or Dragonblooded with the right background it should be plausible for them to be aware of the Sidereal's existence. Like if the Dragonblooded went to the Heptagram or something.
Maybe if the Solar has Cult of the Illuminated ties they'd know.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Legitimately this is something I love to write up. If you give me some idea of the characters and/or pitch, I would love to write up a one or two page summary of what they'd need to know to feel grounded. The general answer to all your questions is... it depends!
An educated Dynast should know more about the setting than a fisherwoman that's never left her home village whom Luna takes a fancy to one day. In general, no one outside of powerful Exalts or spirits should have a firm understanding of Sidereals. Sidereals are not unknown to the upper echelons of the Great Houses and Immaculate Order in the Realm, but your average Dynast or monk wouldn't even know the term. "Average" doesn't mean "always", though: there's reasons and options to allow some character to have better-than-normal grasp of Sidereals and/or the Usurpation if it would benefit your story.
Also because new players, it seems that I should stick with them not knowing sidereals so it would be a surprise when they appear.
Given this is Essence (aka 3e), the Silver Pact doesn't exist and the Cult of the Illuminated is three Sidereal's pet project and largely ran by mundane, well-meaning monks. I don't think the Heptagram has space in their regular curriculum for nonexistant people either; I'd actually guess the Immaculate Order, but I think that's limited to the highest levels, like temple heads and such, and there's a good chance you forgot the explanation you were given anyway. Plus, well, Immaculates are awkward for games with Solars/Lunars.
- Location
- Nova Scotia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The Silver Pact absolutely, 100% exists in 3e, and I'm not sure how you could possibly think otherwise if you're reading the setting material. Fangs at the Gate talks about it extensively.
I feel like that is an excessively slanted read of the CotI material in Charting Fate's Course, where the Sidereals supporting and working with it are still presented as being a significant group within the Gold Faction, and currently the single most powerful due to the Solar Resurgence.
The Heptagram is not going to teach you who a Sidereal is as part of its curriculum, usually, but Sidereals do sometimes literally teach their as guest instructors, as with the Cloister of Wisdom. It is pretty easy to just say that a Heptagram trained PC had a Sidereal mentor.
Edit: To be clear, you also will not forget an explanation about Sidereals existing, Arcane Fate gets rid of memories of specific Sidereals. I think you are getting this mixed up with what Arcane Fate does to written records on the topic.
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Depends how ADHD you are and also how reliant on actual written reminders you are tbh. The Twilight in my game decided to forget about Sidereals once she lost her written notes XD
- Location
- Nova Scotia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
That is still not a function of Arcane Fate at that point.
I accidentally misread a lot of things, my apologies. (I misread Silver Pact as Silver Faction somehow, among other things)
After thinking it through, what I intended to say was that while there are a lot of ways to be in an organisation in contact with the Sidereals, this does not necessarily mean you will be in contact with a Sidereal, or even if you do that you will know it is a Sidereal - there are a lot of reasons to limit this information to the highest levels (aka not starting PCs) and the Sidereals, more than any other widely held secret, have an additional layer of secrecy that makes it difficult to stumble onto them by accident, even if it doesn't strictly erase all records of them.
This does not prevent people from knowing about Sidereals but doing so is nontrivial and not an assumed part of the experience of a Solar, Lunar or Dragonblooded. If I was to try and pin it down, it would be less likely than being in the direct line of succession to a Great House.
Yeah, it was a joke about the specific wording used, since I did in fact have a player forget, it just wasn't because of Arcane Fate.
MiracleGrow
Miracles for only $19.99 [They/Them]
- Location
- DOOR STUCK DOOR STUCK PLEASE I BEG U
I mean I hate to be a bore here. But wouldn't Shogunate infrastructure be more relevant cause its just way more recent? Yea still 700+ plus years, but the usurpation was 3000-4000 years ago (I might be really off numbers wise, can't double check right now).
Have a cute version of my Lunar while I'm at it.
Have a cute version of my Lunar while I'm at it.
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- Location
- Nova Scotia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The Shogunate only lasted like 500 years, so much less than that.
I don't care much about 3e so I'm trusting this to be accurate Exalted all canon things
The Usurpation is "roughly R.Y. -750"
Start of the Shogunate calendar R.Y. -493
Standard start date R.Y. 768
So pre-Usurpation is 1500 years old while Shogunate-era is 750-(1100 or 1500 depending) years old
The Usurpation is "roughly R.Y. -750"
Start of the Shogunate calendar R.Y. -493
Standard start date R.Y. 768
So pre-Usurpation is 1500 years old while Shogunate-era is 750-(1100 or 1500 depending) years old
- Location
- Nova Scotia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I am kind of dubious about that first number unless someone who actually knows what they're talking about can produce a source.
mothematics
How wide is the concept of "you"?
- Location
- the bottom of a coffee cup
- Pronouns
- She/Her
This lists a ton of 3e eras and 3e-specific conceits that in many cases weren't there in past editions, though?
I found a source in the doc! from 2017 using (only?) Arms of the Chosen.
I think the "roughly R.Y. -750" is from 1/2e, check the other timeline.
I think the "roughly R.Y. -750" is from 1/2e, check the other timeline.
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- Location
- Nova Scotia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
An eight year old forum post by some guy is not a source, I am asking for a citation from one of the actual books. The post you're linking to doesn't even make the claim I'm expressing skepticism about to begin with.
It's okay that you're not knowledgeable about the 3e version of the setting, you shouldn't feel obligated to try and answer questions about it, and it is in fact kind of counterproductive.
Blaque
Resident Catblob
- Location
- SLC UT
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
The only date we have with the Shogunate was in Exalted: the Outcaste and repeated in the 2e stuff on it. It states the year on their calendar in those editions as Year of the Mouse, Bronze Era of the 11th Epoch of the Dragon-Blooded Shogunate. Each Era is 125 years, so that's 10 completed (1250) eras. Each 25-year epoch in an era has a metal associated with it, with Brozne being the first one. Year of the Mouse is the 11th year in any given epoch, so you add that to 1250 and so it's Shoguante year 1261 in effect. Subtracting 768 from that puts us at 493 years before the Realm where the Shoguante was started. Give or take since there's Year 0 and I'm not sure if that works or not the same.
But yeah, by that, Gaz is still right and the Shogunate was only 500 years in prior editions, and it is sitll written assuming that in 3e so far as I understand, though not stated outright.
But yeah, by that, Gaz is still right and the Shogunate was only 500 years in prior editions, and it is sitll written assuming that in 3e so far as I understand, though not stated outright.
HalfTangible
Only half sane (it's less cringe)
- Location
- Valkyrie, Primus
Aren't there multiple calendars in AT8D and the Realm?
Blaque
Resident Catblob
- Location
- SLC UT
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
We mostly get the Realm's calendar and what year it is for them. We also get Autochthonia's calendar in the Alchemicals book. Otherwise timelines, which normally just given broad statements like "Contagion" or "First Age" or whatever rather than any dates before RY 1.
EDIT: nevermind, fixed it myself, sorry>be me
>working on a concept for a RCW game
>starts with a wedding between Cathak and Mnemon scions as suggested in Heirs
>see this post
Well I know who the Cathak bride is now, stealing!
Loklear looks mischevious... also when I initially looked at her I thought the sewn-on sleeves were sewed-on arms and thought 'Liminal?' before reading the name.
I like Ein, reminds me a bit of my Delzhan assassin. The cloak looks almost like tattered wings and from the look on his(her? their?) face, the situation is dire.
Alia looks beautiful, confident and impossibly smug. I'm not sure whether to fall in love or punch her.
Patricia looks like she won a staring contest with the abyss and I mean that in the best possible way. Kinda reminds me of Malzahar for some reason.
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- Location
- my house
So I want to take a minute to talk about technological aesthetics and the appeal of "uplifting" a fantasy setting. (If you are in a certain discord you may have already seen this, but the first post was me right before bed and this is me laying it all out there. Plus that one keeps getting derailed by discussions of historical reality, when I am talking about tropes and genres and how people implement them).
It is not uncommon, at least in the circles I am in, for RPG players to be a very particular type of stem-head/military history nut. I don't mean this derogatorily (lord knows I am one of them). The particular kind of person who gushes over military hardware and talks about how modern military tactics are superior because we wouldn't be dumb enough to put our commanders on the front line where they could be shot. Thankfully, a lot of this has toned down as those same people have educated themselves and learned why people in the past have done things. But these people still exist, and it is, IMO, still a prominent strain in our cultural zeitgeist.
These are the same people who were pushing for the late 2e magitech stuff, and the same people who exalted created Firewands for (both so they could have guns, and to prevent them from adding guns into Exalted).
And it is not uncommon, IMO, for these same people to want to start an industrial revolution. They look at the Twilight, your sorcerer/scientist/genius and think "If I were super smart I would use my big brain to kickstart the industrial revolution and bring guns and tanks and democracy into the setting and conquering the world."
Understandably, this can be very upsetting for all the other people trying to play the game. People who signed up to play in a unique fantasy setting and resent their fellow players for turning it into a game of Guns n' Goblins.
And I think the game has, rightly, attempted to stop exactly this thinking off by creating Firewands. A weapon which tells players "guns don't exist, don't try to invent them, here is something with the same aesthetics for you to play around with."
But I also think that "creating widespread technological changes to the setting which alter society" is a valid playspace for Twlights. One which fits their mythic inspirations. After all, Shennong's creation of agriculture did at least as much to alter chinese society as the industrial revolution did to change English society.
And so I have been thinking about technology, and aesthetics, and how these things interact and the conclusion I have come to is that (one of) the big issues that introducing "technology" into Creation (in the very specific way stem-heads want to) is that ends up making our heroes less... special. Because we have a tendency to think of technology in terms of raising the skill floor for activities, and allowing 10 untrained schmoes to do what normally only a hero could accomplish. This is seen a lot with players introducing guns to the setting (yeah, your hero used to be strong but now I can swarm him with 100 peasents with muskets), but you see it with a lot of other technologies as well. Both Negima and Naruto have sequel series where magic spells have been comodofied into something you can buy at the store (and thus threatening to kill the idea of ninja/wizards who gain their skill through training), Mage the Ascension has a whole backstory about the Technocracy inventing science and using that to depose of wizard-kings, etc.
And so one way to still allow players to implement technological "uplifts" of Creation (or to introduce this yourself as a DM) might be to focus on technology which works in tandem with practiced skill, rather than obviating it. Things like Warstriders which mimic a wielder's movements and essence flows (and so the best pilots are also the best warriors), essence canons which work by amplifying the qi blasts of the wielder (and so still need a trained essence user), etc etc.
It is not uncommon, at least in the circles I am in, for RPG players to be a very particular type of stem-head/military history nut. I don't mean this derogatorily (lord knows I am one of them). The particular kind of person who gushes over military hardware and talks about how modern military tactics are superior because we wouldn't be dumb enough to put our commanders on the front line where they could be shot. Thankfully, a lot of this has toned down as those same people have educated themselves and learned why people in the past have done things. But these people still exist, and it is, IMO, still a prominent strain in our cultural zeitgeist.
These are the same people who were pushing for the late 2e magitech stuff, and the same people who exalted created Firewands for (both so they could have guns, and to prevent them from adding guns into Exalted).
And it is not uncommon, IMO, for these same people to want to start an industrial revolution. They look at the Twilight, your sorcerer/scientist/genius and think "If I were super smart I would use my big brain to kickstart the industrial revolution and bring guns and tanks and democracy into the setting and conquering the world."
Understandably, this can be very upsetting for all the other people trying to play the game. People who signed up to play in a unique fantasy setting and resent their fellow players for turning it into a game of Guns n' Goblins.
And I think the game has, rightly, attempted to stop exactly this thinking off by creating Firewands. A weapon which tells players "guns don't exist, don't try to invent them, here is something with the same aesthetics for you to play around with."
But I also think that "creating widespread technological changes to the setting which alter society" is a valid playspace for Twlights. One which fits their mythic inspirations. After all, Shennong's creation of agriculture did at least as much to alter chinese society as the industrial revolution did to change English society.
And so I have been thinking about technology, and aesthetics, and how these things interact and the conclusion I have come to is that (one of) the big issues that introducing "technology" into Creation (in the very specific way stem-heads want to) is that ends up making our heroes less... special. Because we have a tendency to think of technology in terms of raising the skill floor for activities, and allowing 10 untrained schmoes to do what normally only a hero could accomplish. This is seen a lot with players introducing guns to the setting (yeah, your hero used to be strong but now I can swarm him with 100 peasents with muskets), but you see it with a lot of other technologies as well. Both Negima and Naruto have sequel series where magic spells have been comodofied into something you can buy at the store (and thus threatening to kill the idea of ninja/wizards who gain their skill through training), Mage the Ascension has a whole backstory about the Technocracy inventing science and using that to depose of wizard-kings, etc.
And so one way to still allow players to implement technological "uplifts" of Creation (or to introduce this yourself as a DM) might be to focus on technology which works in tandem with practiced skill, rather than obviating it. Things like Warstriders which mimic a wielder's movements and essence flows (and so the best pilots are also the best warriors), essence canons which work by amplifying the qi blasts of the wielder (and so still need a trained essence user), etc etc.
MiracleGrow
Miracles for only $19.99 [They/Them]
- Location
- DOOR STUCK DOOR STUCK PLEASE I BEG U
My one suggestion is that if you add more tech to the setting, is go off in different angles and make it a bit unusual.
Like I stole so much shit from Dishonored for my Whitewall game. Don't have guns, but we do have people patrolling the streets and massive long legged contraptions with bows that tap into Whitewalls demense that blast you with explosive lightning. There is weird mechanical things out and about but I ditch any form of metal to it. Instead making them beings formed from pure muscle. Thousands of tightly bound tendrils that keep them bound and moving.
I like to encourage my players to go off and weird and unusual directions when it comes to 'advancements'.
Like I stole so much shit from Dishonored for my Whitewall game. Don't have guns, but we do have people patrolling the streets and massive long legged contraptions with bows that tap into Whitewalls demense that blast you with explosive lightning. There is weird mechanical things out and about but I ditch any form of metal to it. Instead making them beings formed from pure muscle. Thousands of tightly bound tendrils that keep them bound and moving.
I like to encourage my players to go off and weird and unusual directions when it comes to 'advancements'.
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