It's not like the Solars have much choice. Either they deal huge destructive blows to the Realm and force the Sidereals to deal with the consequences, they abandon everything they care about and flee to the very edges of Creation or they'll be hunted down and killed for the crime of exalting.
The Realm isn't
that much of a panopticon, back in the days when there were maybe six to eight Solars alive
period, they could get away with giving the impression of omniscience. But in the modern world with no Empress, the idea that they'll somehow lock on and hunt you down if you're keeping your head down is ludicrous.
Of course, most people don't know this, because the Realm is good at pretending they're in control even when they're not, and we're still in early days of the Solars getting unleashed, but even then, you have to get into the whole issue that Creation is very big and finding a Solar who doesn't want to be found is like finding a needle in a haystack.
Sure, they could pull it off pre Jade Prison being busted open, but that's because you could throw a hundred Dragon Blooded and a circle of Sidereals at every single individual Solar presently active, and track them down through sheer gross overkill. That's not an option in the current day and age.
There
are options other than "Commit megadeths or run to the edge of the world", it's just that Solar Exaltations favor going to people who aren't going to be terribly subtle about what they're doing.
And yes, sometimes you get someone getting Exalted in an utterly intractable position. Like that one Second Edition Abyssal who Exalted as a Solar right in front of the Silver Prince (And subsequently got forced into being an Abyssal because even the new Exaltation high can't let you stand up to a second edition Deathlord and their scene-long perfect defense bullshit and "Every Abyssal Charm that they have the slightest interest in mastering"). Another one of Third Edition's great ideas was to make it so that the Abyssal/Solar pipeline wasn't largely one way (Solars can become Abyssals relatively easily, but Abyssals can only become Solars with absurd effort. There's also the whole "Being an Abyssal doesn't automatically make you complicit in atrocities" bit. Sure, you're agreeing to play a part in the death of the world, but nothing's forcing that to happen
tomorrow, or on any terms other than your own.
Kind of got away from me, but the point is. "The idea that you have to commit atrocities or the Realm will get you" is very much more successful psyops than reality. It's a lot easier to track a Solar who comes to your center of power because they think they have no other choice than to launch a devastating pre-emptive attack on you to survive, than one who plays their cards right and builds their strength and influence legitimately and with a degree of discretion.
