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Memento Mori (Exalted/40k)

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[X] The Penitent Gunslinger
[X] The Bitter Vigilante
[X] The Martyred Pilgrim
[X] The Unclean Champion
[X] The Turncoat Prince
 
[x] The Martyred Pilgrim
[x] The Forsaken Templar
[x] The Sacrifice Reclaimed

Edit: The pilgrim would be us as an avenging angel of the god emperor and the sacrfice reclaimed would be the imperial truth in it rarest form angel of the ominsiah sounds kinda banger!

Edit Edit : Angel of the omnisiah
 
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[X] The Penitent Gunslinger
[X] The Bitter Vigilante
[X] The Turncoat Prince

I favor the Gunslinger the most.
 
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[X] The Martyred Pilgrim
[X] The Forsaken Templar
[X] The Unclean Champion
 
[x] The Vengeful Commissar
[x] The Deathless Crusader
[x] The Sacrifice Reclaimed
[x] The Contemptuous Scribe
 
[X] The Penitent Gunslinger

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."

I'm just a sucker for this kind of narrative, you know?
 
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To explain my turn towards also voting for the Gunslinger, when I see Hive content I vote for Hive content because the Hives suck so fucking much.
 
[X] The Turncoat Prince
Born to the highest nobility, he lived his life amid unimaginable luxury, excelling among his peers in games of wit and blade and never dreaming of anything better. Then he ventured beyond the gilded walls and saw firsthand the misery that afflicted mankind. Resolved to change it he returned home, and for his heresy choked on poison at the family meal. Saved by darkest miracle, now he returns to play those childhood games anew, for the greatest of all possible stakes (Moonshadow)

[X] The Contemptuous Scribe
The tithe must be paid, but it need not be ruinous. That is what her heart whispered as she worked, exercising her best judgement for the common good, dreaming of fortunes shared and prosperity for all. For her weakness she burned atop a pyre of her own falsified reports, and from the ashes she rose anew, harsh wisdom in her heart. The universe is neither fair nor just, and so it falls to her to make it better, one letter and one corpse at a time. (Moonshadow)
 
[X] The Deathless Crusader
[X] The Forsaken Templar
[X] The Sacrifice Reclaimed
 
I appreciate all of these inspiring concepts and obviously I hope Maugan Ra would enjoy writing them enough to continue to write the quest. That said even knowing precious little about Exalted and the implications of each Caste choice I'm going to hope we can pick an origin that allows for a legacy better than an Abyssal monster promises. People treated well enough and given good enough morals can inherit a legacy better than whatever was actually intended from the flawed person who inspired them.

Maugan Ra said:
[ ] The Vengeful Commissar
She kills her own for the sake of victory, and clings to dogma in the night when sleep is hidden behind memories of dying friends. Her loyalty brings her nothing. She dies with her regiment, salving a nobleman's pride with the blood of a thousand heroes, and lifts undying eyes to the spires above. Are they not guilty in their kind? Do they not deserve her judgement? (Dusk)
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The Commissar understand the pointlessness of her position at the very end but this one doesn't interest me much except for the irony of it all. As a Dusk Caste she's a Champion, General and Warrior in bitter opposition to her original calling. It's something but less interesting than any of the other options. The most noteworthy part of this concept is the 'memories of dying friends' that at least implies there was more going on with her than simple fanaticism. She liked the people around her but continued on her path anyway.

Maugan Ra said:
[ ] The Penitent Gunslinger
He has nothing but death to offer, gleaming pistols and a heavy grox-leather coat. Hive scum they call him, duellist and killer, born into poverty and unknown to the sun. For the sake of an innocent he gives his life, and for a child's dream of justice he stands up once more. When they are safe, only then can he rest. (Dusk)
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Another Dusk Caste, which is simple but potent in a setting of 'Only War', As Hive Scum he's not part of the Imperial bureaucracy which leaves him ignorant of the details (if not the impact) of the crushing weight of the system . This isn't terrible, it's got a good core, but it still feels like a cool supporting character rather than a worthy protagonist.

Maugan Ra said:
[ ] The Martyred Pilgrim
In dusty robes and well-worn boots he travelled the galaxy, paying homage at the shrines and sharing stories with his neighbours. At the gates of the Grand Basilica he died, crushed with ten thousand others to make way for a Cardinal's motorcade. Alone among the crowd he rises again, to remind the holy of what they have so clearly forgotten - the Emperor protects the virtuous, and they no longer qualify. (Midnight)
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This one appeals to me just because this is a shard of the Emperor given a place by a humiliatingly murdered Faithful. The ignorance and coping complexes are a neat part of the story. A Priest-king, prophet and mystic fits the setting very nicely and strikes at the core of the Imperium's society's hypocrisy.

Maugan Ra said:
[ ] The Deathless Crusader
They trained her to hunt daemons, to wield her faith like a blade against all the monsters of the dark. When at last she faltered, body broken and spirit stained by war without end, they disposed of her and chose another. God saved her life and took her zeal, allowing her to see the truth of her masters, and her fury at their betrayal is unmatched. Squall though they might, she knows a monster when she sees one. (Midnight)
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This seems to be the Sister of Battle version of the above and that isn't bad, It's an improved version in some ways, the SoB are an established institution which (assuming she is a member) would add another story element to the quest. Every concept recognizes the Imperium's awfulness so far but this one has a pulpit culturally if nothing else.

Maugan Ra said:
[ ] The Forsaken Templar
Born with the psyker's gift, she was taken to Terra and leashed to the Throne, despised by those she was called upon to serve. Ignorance killed her, burned alive by zealots uncaring of all she had sacrificed in desperate loyalty, and the flames that seared her flesh took with them the last of the limitations she would accept. She will make it right. She will save mankind. (Daybreak)
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This one really interests me, someone exploited to the point of death by the Imperium's institutions with a Daybreak (scholar, necromancer, craftsman) exaltation could hit on some of the most interesting contradictions

Maugan Ra said:
[ ] The Sacrifice Reclaimed
The red priests do not know him. They have never been forced to live in the dirt, to scavenge and improvise in the name of keeping a child fed, but he has. It takes him years to die, starving by inches in the shadow of golden spires, and his last thought is of those forsaken who depend on him. To rise again is a surprise, but the chance it offers is welcome. No longer will he feed a village and call himself content, not while billions starve and suffer on worlds without number. What use is knowledge, if it does not make the world a better place? (Daybreak)
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This hits on some of the most cutting criticisms of the Imperium. No matter how horrible the sacrifices made to endure the empire can't recover as long as it's core tenants are so awful. As long as that's the case the whole thing is pointless and this character realizes that. He has the potential to really change things but even if being one of the common people works on some levels I'd prefer the protagonist to have represent one of the core archetypes of Imperial authority.

Maugan Ra said:
[ ] The Bitter Vigilante
He serves the law as its mailed fist for decades, growing slowly bitter as the truth becomes increasingly undeniable - The law binds, but it does not protect. He turns upon his masters; cruel nobles, corrupt magnates and monstrous lords all fall before his crusade, before at last it ends where he knew it would. An arrest, a trial, and then an execution. Waking in the mortuary with his flesh whole once more, he knows he has been spared for a purpose. Justice will have what it is owed. (Day)
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I love the idea of an embittered Arbites turning on corruption and suffering the inevitable price of that. Even if an Arbitrator isn't involved in the economic or military side of the Imperium they're intimately involved in civil society in a way few others are. This could be a fantastic concept to toy with on a lot of levels.

Maugan Ra said:
[ ] The Unclean Champion
Born with twisted flesh, she lived her life under perpetual sentence of execution, a filthy wretch who betrayed the Emperor by her mere existence. Swiftly she learned to hide, for in anonymity was survival for her and her community both, until one day the powers that be grew tired of mere rhetoric and burned her ghetto to the ground. She pulled herself from the ash with nothing but a list of names that none other would remember, and she will not rest until they are honoured as martyrs in every church. (Day)
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It feels like a contradiction to love this so much but I do. Even if the Mutant doesn't have the kind of wider perspective of the Imperium or invoke the respect from others I'd like she's going to explore a level of Imperial society that's been neglected. I would be delighted to see Maugan Ra write this just for the sake of it. An uprising of the most oppressed underclass in the worst regime imaginable is an inspiring concept by itself.

Maugan Ra said:
[ ] The Turncoat Prince
Born to the highest nobility, he lived his life amid unimaginable luxury, excelling among his peers in games of wit and blade and never dreaming of anything better. Then he ventured beyond the gilded walls and saw firsthand the misery that afflicted mankind. Resolved to change it he returned home, and for his heresy choked on poison at the family meal. Saved by darkest miracle, now he returns to play those childhood games anew, for the greatest of all possible stakes (Moonshadow)
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A class-traitor noble works on a lot of levels, it's interesting, the protagonist would have perspective and have a lot of relevant skills. Those skills are amplified by the Caste, Moonshadows are apparently the diplomats, lawyers and politicians which would be extremely relevant to a reformer. The familial murder angle is somewhat intriguing but how engaging will yet another asshole Imperial Noble dynasty be? Even with Maugan Ra's talents can they be made multi-faceted enough that the family connection will be dramatic enough we won't just be calling for their deaths?

Maugan Ra said:
[ ] The Contemptuous Scribe
The tithe must be paid, but it need not be ruinous. That is what her heart whispered as she worked, exercising her best judgement for the common good, dreaming of fortunes shared and prosperity for all. For her weakness she burned atop a pyre of her own falsified reports, and from the ashes she rose anew, harsh wisdom in her heart. The universe is neither fair nor just, and so it falls to her to make it better, one letter and one corpse at a time. (Moonshadow)
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This is pretty much everything I'd want from this quest's core concept, an Administratum drone with a heart and a highly informed perspective of the Imperium's society. She might lack in the military skills the setting requires in it's leaders but that's her only shortcoming. The detail of being burned with her own reports is just so perfectly Imperial it earns another point as well.

[X] The Penitent Gunslinger
[X] The Bitter Vigilante
[X] The Unclean Champion
[X] The Contemptuous Scribe
 
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[X] The Vengeful Commissar
[X] The Penitent Gunslinger
[X] The Martyred Pilgrim
[X] The Deathless Crusader
[X] The Turncoat Prince
 
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