Gems in the Wastes (Exalted/Warhammer Fantasy/CK2)

What's stopping the Solars from destroying them permanently? I mean, they were at the height of their power and were able to kill those who couldn't die. Why are the Heart-Eaters so special?
They're not, not anymore than Solar, Lunar and Sidereal Exaltations are. Autochthon made these things to be indestructible no matter what, so that the Primordials couldn't casually destroy them in response. Absolutely. Indestructible. No matter. What.

And if the Primordials couldn't destroy Exaltations, and the Sidereals couldn't destroy Solar Exaltations, how exactly were the Solars supposed to destroy Heart-Eater Exaltations? Solar Competence is powerful, but even it has its limits.
 
[X] Plan Snapping at Our Heels

And literally None of these threats are liable to cooperate with each other because none of them have reason to do so.
But they also lack strong reasons not to cooperate. Infernal could make a very convincing argument (as solarids are want to do) and the Hearteater could pawn a whole bunch of elves.

On the other hand, you can't Pawn a Supernatural Being I believe?
Essence 1 charms. Essence 3 if they are a spirit or ghost.

Even better they are more likely to focus on the local dark elves and chaos warriors because they are a much bigger and more prominent target and threat and it couldn't have happened to nicer people 😉
Giving the mind control Exalt free minions is a choice.

Eventually, the other Exalted decided that enough was enough, separated them from their Pawns so that they couldn't use them as a respawn point, killed them and scattered their opal bones deep into the Wyld, never to be returned.
You're better off just killing them and spreading their bones around literally everywhere in lead-lined safes at the bottom of the ocean everywhere.
Where did you get the idea those bones were scattered? The Hearteater section states they were locked in supermax safes deep in the Wyld. The seals on the prison only finally becoming undone with the great invasion of the Fair Folk. I don't see any section about the bones needing to be together to have the effect.

Infernal and Fair Folk, sure. While the people of Uluiru really don't like the fae, they've also had peace treaties and pacts with several before, so that's nothing new. The Infernal, while channeling the powers of Hell, could theoretically be persuaded, though it would be a lot more difficult.
"Bud, why are you here?"
"..."
"No, I mean why are you here in a besieged town on a desolate wasteland surrounded by enemies. You are a chosen of the gods, there is an entire world out there who does not know you and has not reconsiderations about you? What? Get rich? You want to get rich, go somewhere where trade is even a consideration. Where snow is not a daily consideration and food is freely grown. Do you want my job? Why? Underneath this crown I am a mayor, I run a town council. Go elsewhere and you will find emperors' with honor guards larger than my entire civilization with endless splendor. Go take their jobs. You have some grudge against Uluiru? It's gone! It's already gone... Just go."
...
 
They're not, not anymore than Solar, Lunar and Sidereal Exaltations are. Autochthon made these things to be indestructible no matter what, so that the Primordials couldn't casually destroy them in response. Absolutely. Indestructible. No matter. What.
It's funny that the Primordials were able to create something much more durable than them. I wonder what the Fae plan to do with Exaltations after the fall of creation? After all, these must be the last fragments of a stable reality that they cannot destroy.
And if the Primordials couldn't destroy Exaltations, and the Sidereals couldn't destroy Solar Exaltations, how exactly were the Solars supposed to destroy Heart-Eater Exaltations?
I was rather talking about completely destroying the personality or maybe putting a couple of curses so that they couldn't hide so effectively.
 
Where did you get the idea those bones were scattered? The Hearteater section states they were locked in supermax safes deep in the Wyld. The seals on the prison only finally becoming undone with the great invasion of the Fair Folk. I don't see any section about the bones needing to be together to have the effect.
...Dangit, I just realized that I was remembering Holden's prototype plans for them rather than the actual canon there. You're right, they were sealed away in the supersafes, but I do still like the idea that they only hold their power to Exalt when fully assembled, otherwise any Joe Schmoe who touches an ankle bone is going to get turned into a Heart-Eater, and that feels a bit too mean.
 
They're not, not anymore than Solar, Lunar and Sidereal Exaltations are. Autochthon made these things to be indestructible no matter what, so that the Primordials couldn't casually destroy them in response. Absolutely. Indestructible. No matter. What.
Autochthon didn't make them in 3e is the thing, that is a 2e/2.5ism. Which I prefer lore-wise for many reasons but this is a 3e game mainly from what you have said.
 
...Dangit, I just realized that I was remembering Holden's prototype plans for them rather than the actual canon there. You're right, they were sealed away in the supersafes, but I do still like the idea that they only hold their power to Exalt when fully assembled, otherwise any Joe Schmoe who touches an ankle bone is going to get turned into a Heart-Eater, and that feels a bit too mean.
That just heightens their tragedy. I read it as the skeletons hold together very well so you don't accidentally trip over just one bone. Its the whole skeleton or nothing.

The problem with being able to break apart the skeleton is, that is there are ~ 126 bones (assuming they died without broken bones) in the human body and at least 200 Heart-Eaters. That moves the story from tragedy to absurd quest.

*Assemble one complete skeleton of a Hearteater from all over creation and the Wyld. ?/126."

"Why is this not working doctor! I was told there was great power in assembling these bones. I spent my life since I was an adult assembling these. I walked fought bandits in the south, sharkmen in the west, pirates in the north, and a very drunk god in the east. I am an old man this is my last chance to do something great."
"Let me see".
...
"Looks like at least a forth of these bones are from different people. And that is only the ones I could tell."
"How many skeletons have opal bones!?"
"You should just be happy your quest only deals with intact bones."

I imagine this as the worst collection quest in a Bethesda game.

I was rather talking about completely destroying the personality or maybe putting a couple of curses so that they couldn't hide so effectively.
The personality erasure would work not have much of an effect beyond the current Heart-Eater, their successors would keep their pre-exalted personality to be corrupted by the Hearteaters twisted nature. The curse would probably not hold past the death of the sorcerer, the victim, civilization, the civilization after that, and over a few thousand years in a safe in the Wyld, at ;east.

"Besides all the Hear-eaters are dead, and their bones sealed away with protections from the whole of the Exalted host where no one can reach them. The problems is functionaly solved, unless some very dramatic changes happen."
*Cue great Ursapation.*
*Cue Fair Folk invasion*
 
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Sango's Character Sheet (Main Character)
Name: Sango Soul-Gardener, Youngest Son of Queen Ulu
Exalt Type: Solar
Caste: Twilight
Supernal: Occult
Essence 3
Age: 30
Anima Slots: [X][ ][ ] (As of Turn 3)

Stats:
Martial: 15
Diplomacy: 14 + 1 + 1 = 16
Stewardship: 13
Intrigue: 12
Piety: 7
Learning: 17
Combat: 16

Courtesy of @Archon7 , with some modifications and explanations:

Sango is a young man who looks to be in his early-20s. He has dark brown skin which has been polished to a copper sheen due to his explorations in sorcery. He possesses white hair due to an unfortunate alchemical accident in his youth, which he keeps close-shaven to avoid a repeat. He has golden eyes which were inherited from his mother, they sometimes glow when his Anima Banner is active. He often wears a cape made from leopard skins, an expensive gift from his mother purchased from a trader from the Far East.

In it's initial stages (1 Slot Filled), Sango's Anima Banner takes the form of a gold-and-red glow outlining his body. His Caste Mark, a half-filled golden sun, appears on his forehead.

With heavy use (2 Slots Filled), Sango's Banner expands into an bright aura which nothing can hide. Its gold-and-red coloration now has traces of purple and blue on the edges, much like the setting sun. His Caste Mark disappears, but can sometimes flash when he digs deep into his reserves.

When not holding back (3 Slots Filled), Sango's Banner briefly takes the form of an ever-spreading golden garden, filled with bush and vine-fruits as far as the eye can see before soon collapsing into an enormous pillar of light. His Caste Mark and iconic display sometimes reemerge when appropriate.
Exalted: You have been endowed with divine power, granting you longevity and potency. You gain +20 to all rolls against disease and poison and cannot die of such without magic involved. Your wounds heal easily, and rarely with any complications. You gain a "Chosen" Trait as part of this ability.
Chosen of the Sun: The Unconquered Sun has endowed you with his glory, placing you above all others. You add your stats directly to relevant actions, rather than (Stat - 10). You may learn Solar Charms. You critically fail on ANY action that rolls a 1, or any action you get personally involved with on 1-3.
Sorcerer of the First Circle: You have crossed the first threshold and begun your journey on the path to magic. You may learn Terrestrial Circle Spells and undertake Sorcerous Workings.
Sorcerer of the Second Circle: You have climbed higher than most, cementing your place among the stars. You may learn Celestial Circle Spells. You suffer no penalty for taking on Celestial Workings.
Warlord: You command a personal battalion, among the greatest soldiers which mortal men can provide. You have access to a Size 2 army, and can train regular soldiers to that level if below strength.
Royal Family (Uluiru): You are directly descended from the Queen, and that means any children you have will become part of that bloodline. Has no known effects currently.
Compassionate: You are known for your kindness, and perhaps your generosity. +1 Diplomacy. Influences your critical failures.
Teacher of Magic: You are experienced in instructing others in how to achieve the First Circle of Sorcery. +1 Diplomacy. Unlocks actions to teach others about Sorcery.
Arcane Mark (Invulnerable Skin of Bronze): Your skin takes on a bronze hue, showcasing your copper transmutation. Enemies attempting to strike you in melee combat suffer -10 to their rolls.
Arcane Mark (Second Circle Demon): Your authority over demons grants you some command ground when speaking with those not under your control. You gain +10 to rolls to speak with demons not summoned by you. Does not apply to daemons.
Spirit-Drawing Oculus (Occult): Breathing deeply, the Solar takes in their Anima Banner and expels it out as power. When all Anima Slots are filled, once per turn can choose to either:
  • Cast a Terrestrial Circle spell for free and with no roll required.
  • Open up 1 Slot, reducing the Critical Fail Threshold, but it cannot be used for overwork this turn.
Terrestrial Circle Spells:
Death of Obsidian Butterflies (Combat; DC 30)
  • Creates a cloud of large obsidian-winged insects which splatter themselves onto the ground, creating a hailstorm of supernaturally sharp glass.
  • Hits large groups of characters, including flying units.
First Circle Demon (Non-Combat; DC 30)
  • Allows you to summon a Demon of the First Circle at night. Restricted use during mini-turns.
  • Lasts for 1 year and 1 day (4 turns), or until completion if ordered to do 1 specific task.
Flight of the Brilliant Raptor (Combat; DC 30)
  • Conjures a bird from blue flame which travels a far distance before exploding.
  • Hits a single target from a distance with a powerful explosion.
Invulnerable Skin of Bronze (Combat; DC 40)
  • Transmutes your skin into bronze, heavily improving your durability at the cost of increased weight.
  • Reduces the rolls of any enemy attacking the sorcerer with physical attacks by 20. Immune to contact poisons. Weights the caster down heavily and prevents swimming, but does not otherwise impair mobility.
Stalwart Earth Guardian (Combat; DC 20)
  • Creates a boundary which protects those inside and pushes foes back via earth tremors. Lasts for 1 day.
  • Grants those within the field protection against ranged attacks, reducing those enemy rolls by 10. At the start of each turn, enemies must roll to resist an (Essence x 10) DC roll. On a failure, they cannot advance forward, and those inside the barrier are alerted to the enemy's presence.
Celestial Circle Spells:
Second Circle Demon (Non-Combat; DC 60)
  • You summon a Demon of the Second Circle on the night shrouded by the New Moon. Unavailable during mini-turns.
Never-Melting Ice (4-dot Adamant + Blue Jade Cuirass; Medium Armor)
  • Properties: UNKNOWN
 
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Sorcerous Working Rules
Another proposal for sorcery, specifically Workings this time.

Workings are just like normal turn actions, they just have the [Sorcerous] tag in their description. You may assign either yourself, a significant Sorcerer or a group of minor Sorcerers (like your students) to handle the Working, using their bonuses instead of whoever would normally do so. Generally, a Working will only take a Turn's worth of time to be completed... assuming everything is to your liking.

The Base DC for a Working is its Ambition in 3e + 10/20/30, forming 3 different DCs. These different DCs take the place of Finesse, with the first ensuring that your basic goal is accomplished, and the last ensuring that everything is to your specifications. If your Sorcerer is initiated into a Circle above what the Working requires, they reduce the total DC by 20 per superceding Circle. If it's beyond their initiated Circle, they instead suffer a DC increase of 20 per Circle.

Terrestrial Circle:
  • Ambition 1 (DC 15/25/35): Draw up a wellspring, flatten a hill, etc.
  • Ambition 2 (DC 20/30/40): Uplift an animal with human intelligence, etc.
  • Ambition 3 (DC 30/40/50): Enchant or curse a field with fecundity or mutation, etc.
Celestial Circle:
  • Ambition 1 (DC 35/45/55): Bestow useful but limited supernatural abilities on subjects, etc.
  • Ambition 2 (DC 40/50/60): Extend or reduce the harvest season of an area by a month each year, etc.
  • Ambition 3 (DC 45/55/65): Establish a permanent portal between two realms, etc.
Solar Circle:
  • Ambition 1 (DC 50/60/70): Completely transform the ecology and temperature of a biome, etc.
  • Ambition 2 (DC 60/70/80): Allow a city to move under its own power or be bigger on the inside, etc.
  • Ambition 3 (DC 85/95/105): Create small changes to all of reality, etc.

If you succeed on a Working's first or second DC, you can choose to devote an action next turn to further refine it, rolling against any remaining DCs + 10 per extra attempt. Every failure to achieve the first DC for a sorcerous working reduces the DCs of future attempts by 10 as your Sorcerers spend more and more of their time confronting the issue, so long as they do not move on to other projects. Critical Failures do not mean that you cannot undertake the action again, but it does reset all progress and introduces a future problem you will need to take into account.
 
I knew the Solar's and exulted in general were fucking terrifying in the context that if you dropped the Imposible Army of the Exulted in 40k in middle of the Eye of Terror they would have high double-digit odds of successfully laying siege to the realms of the chaos gods, beating them senseless before dragging them out of the rubble of their domains in chains and executing them but it's another thing to have it spelled out in detail of how they could pull it off
 
Hmmm. What Ambition is cleansing our lands specifically of Chaos Taint and thus its mutating effects on our people? Is it doable at Cekestial level? Trying to get a feel for limitations here, as well as just wanting to do that.
 
Hmmm. What Ambition is cleansing our lands specifically of Chaos Taint and thus its mutating effects on our people? Is it doable at Cekestial level? Trying to get a feel for limitations here, as well as just wanting to do that.
The only example that I can find of that is Solar 1 for 100 miles worth of territory. I imagine that if you go smaller scale the Ambition would go down as well, but that's still quite high.
 
Check. I was thinking Celestial 2 or 3 based on the examples, which seems possible then. Okay, cool.
If I had to give an estimate (keeping in mind that this is far from settled), I would posit a Celestial 2 working for 1 square mile, which really isn't enough for most purposes besides maybe a hospital floor, and Celestial 3 for 10 square miles. You might need to spend multiple turns securing your territory this way if you want to fully purge it of its mutagenic traits.

Again, I'll need to double check stuff to be sure, all the example in 3e core provides on the subject was "Wyld Zone," so I don't know if that just downgrades the Wyld level or completely removes it entirely. If the latter, you might be able to settle with a level reduction instead for a lower Ambition.
I wonder if there is a Second Circle demon who can just hoover up all that mutagenic magic?
Not sure. It's probably not impossible, since the Primordials did make Creation from the Wyld, but I don't know of any.
Sad I missed the start of this, but shall watch closely!
Happy to have you on board!
 
I think it's more "Secure a basecamp first that makes Sense, and go from there". 10 Square Miles isn't a lot, but it'd at least be enough to set up a preliminary settlement for.
 
Also, if we're summoning a 2cd, it'd probably best be a fighty one, because holy shit do we need a Big Stick to fend off the tide of evil vikings.

EDIT: Sondok would actually be an excellent choice, she's very fighty, specializes in Security, and isn't especially skilled in Intrigue. We'd basically be asking her to do something fully in her nature by having her secure a perimeter from hostiles, and she's hilariously good at deterring assault and punishing aggressors.
 
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