Creatures of Want, Creatures of Am
(18)
First of all he from his shadow created the five types of ignorance called tâmisra (Ignorance),
andha-tâmisra (The concept of mortality),
tama (Nescience of the self),
moha (The illusion of the material/being matter),
and mahâ-moha (Craving or lust)1 (19)
Dissatisfied Brahmâ threw off this body of ignorance which was then seized by Yakshas and Râkshasas to serve as the darkness that is the source of hunger and thirst. (20)
Controlled by that hunger and thirst they ran after him in order to eat him and cried in their affliction: 'Do not spare him!' - Bhagavata Purana (3.20.18-20)
"This is true," said YISUN fondly, "but she carries with her the most powerful mastery, which is the hunger of desire. She is the Master of Want." - Kill Six Billion Demons, Pree Aesma and the Three Masters
So, Raksha in Exalted are dumb as shit.
You may have an alternative opinion but you're wrong. They took an interesting idea that tied neatly into the historical legend of the Rakshasa and fucking ruined it because the fucking authors they got didn't understand anything that wasn't overplayed fucking faerie with fucking courts.
Jesus christ they take agg from iron.
It is some seriously dire, singularly disappointing total horseshit. If you're gonna cop out and be yet another rando using fae then don't pretend you're doing something worth the ink it's fucking printed on to lure people in.
So, yeah, Exalted's take on Raksha. Dumb bullshit, even ignoring their mechanics. But once we've recognized that, how do we fix it? You can't just tear shit down and leave a gaping hole there, after all. Unless it's the first couple chapters of Infernals. Or something similarly dire.
Well, start from the legend and adapt it to Exalted.
So, you have the Rakshasa and the Yaksha. Yaksha can be basically ignored, for our purposes they aren't meaningfully different from the Rakshasa. The term Rakshasa itself, however, has two definitions.
The first is literally 'wild men'. Ultimately this is not a particularly common use of the word, though Adivasis and, in at least one case, the Nepalese were referred to as such. That said, for our purposes it'll be useful to refer to Wyld Barbarians.
The second definition is 'demons'. It's not quite a proper translation, Rakshasa really aren't analogous to Demons in the Judeo-Christian tradition or in the hordes of Fantasy settings that have plagued the twentieth and twenty first century. Still, it's the definition we want when we're referring to Rakshasa. Consummate shapeshifters, masters of illusion, beings of superhuman strength with mastery of magic and with impossibly strong wants.
And, when talking about Rakshasa, it's the wants that are important.
Pretty much all of the legends involving or about Rakshasa revolve utterly around their wants. Surpanakha's lust for Rama and Lakshmana results in her being maimed, then results in her selling Ravana on Sita. Ravana's lust for Sita leads to a titanic war that destroys his kingdom. Hidimba's desire for human flesh leads him to eat everyone who enters his forest, while Hidimbi's lust for Bhima leads her to turn on her brother and have him killed. Ravana's desire for kingship leads him to overthrow his brother, his desire to impress Shiva leads him to pull his nerves out and play a sick Veena solo on them. Rakshasa are defined by the strength that the five illusions have on them, and consistently it is maha-moha, uncontrollable cravings and lust, that are what define their tales. Rakshasa never back down from their pursuit of what they want, save to pursue some new desire, and this holds true not merely for villainous Raksha, but also for heroic ones. Hidimbi betrays her cannibalistic sibling not because it's the right thing to do or because she's disgusted by him, but because he tells her to help him eat a hot guy.
(There are obviously exceptions but largely you can slot them into this paradigm. Kumbakharna as desiring to serve Ravana, for example, and Vibhishana very carefully controlling his desires so that he's not compelled to act on much, and as such is one of the few Raksha in Ravana's court who do not deeply want to please Ravana. The few exceptions, perhaps including Vibhishana, would fit into an expanded paradigm involving the various illusions but I'll get to that later)
In Exalted terms, they're an entire species with five conviction, randomized other virtues, and they are completely unable to suppress conviction.
Quite obviously, they weren't always like this.
So, Exalted. In the beginning you have the Wyld and jackshit else. The Primordials are things, but the Rakshasa, as we know them, aren't. What would eventually be them exists, of course, but it has not yet been cursed with the beastly idiocy that will eventually make it a Rakshasa. It doesn't want anything, it doesn't fear death, it doesn't do much at all, really, save reflect on itself. It exists in a natural, eternal state of enlightenment, incorporeal, immortal, and eternally thoughtful in the non-space of the pre-creation Wyld.
Then the Primordials fuck it all up. They create. Things exist, properly, have definition. Linear time. Direction. Needs.
Wants.
The non-thing, perhaps curious, perhaps not given a choice in the matter, takes form. A million forms. A billion forms. It cloaks itself in flesh, instantly becoming an entire species, and in an instant it forgets what it once was. Where once was an immaterial, self-content, ever-knowledgeable, atman now there are a billion stupid greedy little creatures, each wrapped in a thousand little delusions:
I am. I am strong. I am wise. I am not you. We are different. I will die. I need this. I want this. This is important.
They rushed creation and her borderlands, these creatures, screaming for slaves, for worship, for food, for drink, for riches. They rushed it in their billions, running full force into the might of the Primordials, and were butchered for it. The Rakshasa, to a creature, were wiped out.
But, of course, the thing that was the Rakshasa's source, the atman, cannot die. So they returned from whence they came, became cloaked in flesh again, not as their old forms but as new beings entirely.
And, self-ignorant, they rushed into creation's borders once more and were slaughtered.
This learning period was a long, slow, brutal process. The Rakshasa that ran into creation invariably died, then simply became new, different Rakshasa, having learned less than nothing in the process. The few that didn't run into creation often died anyways, hunted by a bored primordial, or its devas, or a god, or one of the other things that lurk in the Wyld, or even other Rakshasa.
Still, over time fewer Rakshasa died diving into creation's borders. Survivors, those who found something that they wanted deep in the Wyld and pursued it long enough to miss the purge, those that were lucky enough to dodge hunts and similar threats, began to thrive and multiply. They built little empires over things they Wanted, had children, pressed newly incarnated Rakshasa into service. Yes, they would generally be wiped out, but the atrocious casualty rates of the Rakshasa Kingdoms were less than the complete annihilation that faced those who blitzed creation. So, the kingdoms survived. They didn't thrive, not in the Primordial's creation, but they survived.
Then the Primordials fell.
The new Regime were far less powerful than the Primordials. Yes, they were powerful, yes, they killed the vast majority of Rakshasa who approached creation, but they could be talked with. They had failings. They overlooked little things and made deals. Sold slaves for ingredients, for the bodies of other Rakshasa. Sure, they toppled kingdoms that got too big, sure, they killed the invasions, but they filled wants, and that's what matters. Maybe with some other power, in some other time, this would be the prelude to some sort of long-term infestation or subversion, but not with the Rakshasa. Too power hungry, too backstabbing. Where one gets her claws in, another's waiting to stab her in the back and take what she owned.
So they remain a small thing. Less so if you're sold to them, but ultimately no-one really cares about the powerless.
Then the Solars fall, the Lunars flee, the Great Contagion ruins the Shogunate. In normal circumstances this wouldn't change much for the Rakshasa. Raiding would increase massively, of course, a thousand imperialistic empires desperate to sate the wants of teeming, insatiable subjects, but the Exalted would remain too strong, and the Rakshasa too weak, for it to truly work. They would fight each other as much as they did creation, self-sabotaging in an orgy of violence the likes of which the world had not seen since the First Age.
But, ultimately, the Great Contagion came at the best possible moment for the Rakshasa, for something unique had happened to them. Kubera, a Rakshasa of immense power, who had shed many of his wants in a maniacal drive for enlightenment, left his place under a Banyan tree blessed with glorious purpose in the process. He forged the Rakshasa into one nation, demanding unity from the myriad Rajas. Many did not join him, survived assaults or were too inconvenient to reach, but most did. And for the first time in History the Rakshasa were One.
The invasion is infamous, the Kuberan March. The establishment of Aloka, and, when all seemed lost, the Ascension of the Scarlet and the death of Kubera.
Now we have Raksha in the modern day. They've a better position than they ever have before, the infrastructure of the Shogunate is gone, the Realm weak and fractious, Creation fighting a thousand myriad threats. But their chance, the fleeting, glorious reign of Kubera, has come and gone. Never again will the Raksha unite into the Scourge of the Gods, rampage across creation in pursuit of their insatiable wants. They're back to normal. Feuding. Fighting. Raiding. Powerful, perhaps, but always at war with each other, always attacking one another for an advantage or some bizarre obsession.
Mechanically, I'd stat Rakshasa either as Spirits with Spirit charms relating to shapeshifting, illusion, and massive strength (And no ability to dematerialize) or as Aberrant Novas. They have a distinct love of Artifacts, with many using shit they grabbed during the fall of the First Age, or their own, Raksha made inventions. Their Intimacies are all ranked in order, from most important to least. They have Compassion, Temperance, and Valor, but no Conviction. In all ways, a Rakshasa is treated as a Conviction 5 creature incapable of channeling or suppressing its conviction. Conviction trumps any other Virtue in case of a conflict, while higher ranked intimacies always trump lower ranked intimacies. A Rakshasa can, and will, instantly backstab anyone in pursuit of its wants (Though obviously it will attempt to satisfy both wants).
Of note are human servants of the Rakshasa, labelled in the core book as Wyld Barbarians. They remain as they are in canon, humans living in the Wyld. Often thralls or citizens to some Rakshasa, making up the bulk of their armies, but occasionally independent.
Player characters can expect to interact with Raksha in a variety of ways, from a constant threat at creations borders, to valuable trading partners with a variety of valuable artifacts, to allies who are fanatically loyal if you know their levers. Allying with one Raksha against another is normal, human Raksha can be a valuable tool and source of manpower, and for a Solar fearing the Hunt a Raksha ally can be a literal lifesaver.
(Also Raksha and their impossible wants are valuable exotic materials for artifact Creation.)
1 The untranslated terms provided here are, frankly, pretty difficult to translate meaningfully. They're technical terms bound deeply into the morals of Hindu Mythology and Hindu/Buddhist ideals behind enlightenment and the soul. I've provided an idea in the parantheses above, but they're not going to be 100% accurate.
