Does the TAW's Outsider status count for this?
General Exalted Thread
It didn't kill them in the High First Age.
No Lunar has successfully activated the Realm Defence Grid in the Second Age, and certainly some have tried - and they tried in the Shogunate, too. It killed them all.
The Empress does not seem like a Solar style ruler to me. A Solar is more of an unquestioned God King whose will is law. Simply put, they are the state.
The Empress setup things so that everyone was competing against one another to keep them too busy to meaningfully contest against her. Certainly she was the beating heart of the state, by design. But she had to play a careful balancing act to ensure that nobody could contest her in order to enjoy near absolute power.
The Empress setup things so that everyone was competing against one another to keep them too busy to meaningfully contest against her. Certainly she was the beating heart of the state, by design. But she had to play a careful balancing act to ensure that nobody could contest her in order to enjoy near absolute power.
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I really like the description of the security procedures for the Realm defense grid. It seems like a well thought out system that is designed to ensure that the ultimate weapon is only used for the greater good of creation regardless of unexpected and unforeseeable changes. I can certainly see how it would continue to act as the foundation for the security of creation despite the radical changes in the social order and political system since its creation at the height of the First Age.
That said I also like that the security system is explicitly not perfect and can still be subverted or rendered unusable. It seems as if you could have a few interesting plot hooks with Sidereel, Yozi, Neverborn or other factions managing labyrinthine schemes to create a candidate that will fit the criteria of the security system while still being susceptible to outside influence or willing to act according to their agenda.
That said I also like that the security system is explicitly not perfect and can still be subverted or rendered unusable. It seems as if you could have a few interesting plot hooks with Sidereel, Yozi, Neverborn or other factions managing labyrinthine schemes to create a candidate that will fit the criteria of the security system while still being susceptible to outside influence or willing to act according to their agenda.
azoicennead
Overly-Affectionate Zombie Squad
- Pronouns
- He/They
That does not make the Realm
In fact, it's basically irrelevant to it.
You see, CK2 is about mortals. A game of CK2 will involve you playing a bunch of mortals. Playing a dynasty of mortals is just as much "properly play[ing] CK2 dynastic style" as a dynasty of Terrestrials. Hell, raising up a kingdom in the Hundred Kingdoms and surviving - possibly even growing - sounds exactly like CK2 with an Ireland start.
Terrestrials are better at this (because, y'know, Exalted), and can create a clear lineage and qualification for rule, but they don't have a monopoly on it - and the Realm doesn't have a monopoly on them.
So, yes, Terrestrials are the best Exalts for playing a CK2 dynasty. The Realm is not the one place where you can do so properly, and such a thing does not require involving Terrestrials.
Imrix
Periodically Malevolent QM
... Yeah, no. Most of Creation lacks the kind of large-scale empires that allows for the heavy duty intrigue and bloodline politics necessary for CK2. You can invent one, sure, but the Realm is the only canon nation that fits it, and the nature of the Terrestrial Exalted makes them definitely the best fit.
Remember, most nations in Creation are relatively small-scale city-states. Things like the Haslanti League are the exceptions.
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Actually, you don't need a large scale empire for the kind of intrigue and bloodline politics necessary for CK2. What you need is a type of inheritance law across a large area that gives people stakes in things and territories they don't actually own but could if the current owner ended up dead or married into their house.
And one way to do that is by moving the Immaculate Faith further towards being a catholic church expy that sets a ton of laws and customs in stone through sheer religious power, while at the same time removing most of the 'Creation is fucked' pressures exerted by outside factors.
The thing about CK2 intrigue is that it's all about family born intrigue. Dragonblooded are actually very good for this. If you turn the Immaculate Faith around a bit, turn up the number of unassociated Terrestrials in any corner of Creation to the point there's a few of them for every 1000 square kilometers of land and turn the Realm and Lookshy more strongly isolationist and unconcerned with or unable to interfere with the general goings on of Creation outside the Blessed Isle and their small corner of the Scavenger Lands, respectively, and there's suddenly an excellent breeding ground for ambitious families trying to gather power to themselves.
azoicennead
Overly-Affectionate Zombie Squad
- Pronouns
- He/They
Cough Ireland cough.
Cough Italy cough.
... But you don't need those. You just need to put the effort into creating characters that produce intrigue.
Imrix
Periodically Malevolent QM
Yeah, see, when I say 'city states', I mean smaller than that. Ireland would be a significant power in Creation. Think Dublin and the neighbouring small towns instead, maybe as much as the county of Leinster. Leinster today has about ten times the population of Ancient Athens.
You could do intrigue and bloodline politics confined to a single city, yeah, but you'd be competing for internal positions instead of counties and baronies.
Hazard's approach would absolutely work, though. You don't have to shake up the setting too much to do CK2 style politicking... But it's not a natural fit for the majority of Creation outside the Realm.
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azoicennead
Overly-Affectionate Zombie Squad
- Pronouns
- He/They
The majority of Creation is a blank canvas.
The Hundred Kingdoms are far better for CK2 stuff, anyway.
Aaron Peori
Rest in Peace
You (points) go stand in the hall. No. Bad.
Creation should not have a Christianity analog and if it does it should be twisted Malfeas references.
Also, the Immaculate Faith is very much not a Christianity analog because its all about reincarnation and proper relations with spirits. They can't impose rules through sheer religious weight because they are in a constant struggle against the Hundred Gods Heresy, Celestial and Infernal cults and ancestor worship. You can't have the wonderful conflict generated by these five competing for prayer if you give the Immaculates a superposition in the religious conflict that they would need to be dictating terms for inheritance.
It really wouldn't. Maybe a regional power, sure, but a significant power... hah.
Let's put things in perspective, here- the Realm is roughly equivalent to America in the scope of the power it wields (although it is significantly more controlling in the areas it has influence). It's not a Great Power, it's a Superpower. This, however, does not preclude regional power.
Biigoh
Tanuki
- Location
- Tanukia
http://www.theredepic.com/Web Images 2/Pieces/Exalted World Map 1 85dpi.jpg
So... erm... guys... Map for 3E looks pretty nice.
So... erm... guys... Map for 3E looks pretty nice.
notanautomaton
I've got 99 quests, I've finished one
slowpokememe.jpg
Biigoh
Tanuki
- Location
- Tanukia
I'm going off of what the kickstarter page gave me... auuuuu
notanautomaton
I've got 99 quests, I've finished one
That maps been out for months at least. I might even remember seeing it last year.
Sucal
The Devil’s Cut
- Location
- Bottom of the barrel
Random ideas I want to do number 506!
Infrastructure/political based game set in the Fallout world. Might work better as an Alchemical game set in a Exalted Modern/Fallout Fusion (thus giving a reason other then magic swords to try and make deal with AutocthonWorshipping Brotherhood or scavenging in first age manses known otherwise as Vaults.
Infrastructure/political based game set in the Fallout world. Might work better as an Alchemical game set in a Exalted Modern/Fallout Fusion (thus giving a reason other then magic swords to try and make deal with AutocthonWorshipping Brotherhood or scavenging in first age manses known otherwise as Vaults.
Imrix
Periodically Malevolent QM
And? You don't need to be the Realm to be a significant power when the Haslanti League is a major nation. Sure, it doesn't have influence on the other side of the world, but it's almost certainly the dominant polity in its region. When so many countries in Creation are single-city states or thereabouts, a country of four provinces, thirty-two counties and around ten cities would be a major player in a wide area.
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It looks higher quality than the ones I've seen, but then again I haven't been digging for them.
For a christianity analog? That'd fit.
I didn't mean turning the Immaculate Faith into a christianity expy. I said and I meant turning it into a catholic church expy. Which means a religious authority wielding extraordinary secular power that can and does dictate traditions and customs over very large swaths of land lead by a central power that is not afraid to wield its power to force rulers local and foreign to bend to its will.
The Immaculate Faith would have the advantage of the backing of much of the Dragonblooded Host, which grants it a lot of supernatural muscle when it comes to dealing with minor spirits and performing religious wars against the various heretical cults dotting Creation. You can still do the whole 'religious intrigue and strife' thing though. The Middle Ages are strewn with major and minor religious wars against heathens and heretics, and some of them lasted for decades before getting crushed at great cost.
Chloe Sullivan
Subdefective
- Location
- 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale CA
I was thinking of doing a game modeled after Firefly/Outlaw Star/Black Lagoon/Cowbow Bebop. A small ship, a crew of misfit wanderers. Where in creation would suit such a game?
River travelers in the 100 Kingdoms would be something new compared to the standard offer of "the West" Else, Duneships in the South as that is after all how admiral Sand back then made his name. The North would use sleeds and interact mostly with the barbarians so the lack of bigger towns might be a problem there, unless they are quite active in regards to spirit courts and rakasha.
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Play Heaven's Reach, the space opera Shard, which supports literally all that and is frankly a setting without a bunch of the setting problems of Creation (like the Elder Problem).
A hacked version of that is what Ravana Quest uses.
Sucal
The Devil’s Cut
- Location
- Bottom of the barrel