Ascensions and Transgressions: the Tales of Keris Dulmeadokht (Exalted game)
- Thread starter Aleph
- Start date
This, incidentally, is a very good example of how simple, methodical Realm bureaucracy can catch an unwary Celestial out. It doesn't have to all be Sidereal assistance or the like. Sometimes systematic checking of a population and checking for things like "people without residence permits" get you your catch. And of course, they're looking for anyone who can be pressured into turning informant, which is more information that people with Investigation Charms can put together.
Now, of course, this won't work against a professional Night who has perfect forgeries and everything ready, but the set of Celestials who have perfect cover stories and all the necessary papers is smaller than the set of Celestials who have some things in order, but have some holes in their stories and who normally rely on Excellencies and Charms to smooth over the holes - which then hits a problem when they don't realise that the Realm Magistrate keeps some outcaste friends in his retinue who don't walk around in clanking jade and armour.
Oh yes, the Realm Magistrate is very careful to stomp around in his shiny white jade armour and be blunt and stubborn and play up his natural bullish traits. It means everyone's looking at him. He trusts his friends to cover his weaker spots, because he's a DB and that's what DBs do.
Dynamesmouse
Bzzzzzz
Sasi, Help! I've become an informant of the Realm!
Bursting Eagerness Soul
Threadwalking Rating Machine
- Location
- Wisconsin
Because that will do wonders for her mood.
Dynamesmouse
Bzzzzzz
I told them that it was a Solar anathema leading a false flag operation disguised as a Fire Aspect that is working with the Lintha!
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
come on guys
if you think Keris is going to do any talking whatsoever
now that she finally has a problem she can solve with violence and zoom-zoom running
then I really don't know how to help you
Keris: "Sasi! I fixed the problem, they think it was the Lintha, and nothing of any interest whatsoever happened at all!"
if you think Keris is going to do any talking whatsoever
now that she finally has a problem she can solve with violence and zoom-zoom running
then I really don't know how to help you
Keris: "Sasi! I fixed the problem, they think it was the Lintha, and nothing of any interest whatsoever happened at all!"
NonSequtur
a body
I'd assumed you'd do everything in your power to avoid using the combat engine tho.
- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
But Aleph! That involves using the combat engine!
greensun
You shall all burn beneath my light!!!
Yeah, but they're four Terrestrials vs a combat focused Infernal Exalt who favours Adorjan and Kimbery, the two Yozi whose charm sets hammer on the big killers in the system. That is to say surprise attacks, flurries and more poison than you can shake a stick at.I'd assumed you'd do everything in your power to avoid using the combat engine tho.
While I doubt she'll be able to kill all of them in one go, but she'll do damage and force them onto the defensive, which means she'll be on the offensive and that just make her advantage ever greater. She doesn't even have to kill them all! Murder one or two and leave the others soaking up wound and poison penalties and then she can just zoom-zoom away.
Dynamesmouse
Bzzzzzz
World Weathering Incandescence + Racing Vitaris is basically the reverse Kool-Aid Man. Also the regular Kool-Aid Man, which is an excellent way of conducting offensive operations. Doors are for worms, and windows are for peasants. Real Exalts use walls!
azoicennead
Overly-Affectionate Zombie Squad
- Pronouns
- He/They
Don't forget Gravity Rebuking Grace, because floors are for plebs.
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Uh. You guys do remember that the idea here is to deflect suspicion away from An Teng and the Southwest, right? Not give the Realm proof positive of an Anathema in the region and also clue Heaven in to the existence of Infernals? Flaring - and a fight with four DBs would definitely involve flaring - is counter to what Keris wants, especially when they've already decided she's just a Lintha spy.
She's going to be using the combat system only as far as she needs it to Join Battle (and thus get the first action) then dodge like a maniac as she runs for it, keeping her anima suppressed so that they write it off as a demonically-gifted agile Lintha spy who didn't have any combat prowess.
Could she kill all four of them? Most probably. But if killing the magistrate served her goals, she'd have done it back when she first arrived in An Teng.
She's going to be using the combat system only as far as she needs it to Join Battle (and thus get the first action) then dodge like a maniac as she runs for it, keeping her anima suppressed so that they write it off as a demonically-gifted agile Lintha spy who didn't have any combat prowess.
Could she kill all four of them? Most probably. But if killing the magistrate served her goals, she'd have done it back when she first arrived in An Teng.
Dynamesmouse
Bzzzzzz
Heaven doesn't know about the Infernals? It's hard to believe that they're collectively a subtle bunch.
Infernals are new. And I mean, until the Empress disappeared didn't even exist. Heaven does have some indication that the Yozi are up to something and have acquired some mighty champions indeed, but for the most part Infernals are and remain unknown players. And not least of which because the Solars are free and messing things up, and their dark, necrotic cousins have taken Thorns and slaughtered everyone.
It's not that Infernals are subtle. It's that everyone else is even less so and drew the attention of Heaven earlier.
- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The Infernals are completely new and unprecedented. They are generally, you know kept in Hell, and thus Heaven does not have the opportunity of learning of them.
Carrnage
Human
- Location
- New Zealand
also the sidereals currently have an escalating civil war in the realm to deal with, and the return of solars, and their own internal politics are getting riled up, and abyssals are making their move.
Yes. One of the big things is that the Abyssals and the Solars are busy being a giant red light to the very limited working time of the Sidereals. Meanwhile, Infernals are Beyond Fate and that means a lot of the "noise" of their activities gets lost in normal Loom disruptions.
And in Kerisgame, there's another, more subtle element to the plan of the Unquestionables that largely gets missed by even many of the Infernals. The Infernals are being filtered by their capacity to work in densely populated areas without being seen. The ones who can work in dense areas, like Sasi - and now Keris has made it onto that list - get placed in stable placements to subvert societies and conquer them from within. The ones who aren't viewed as so subtle get other roles - there's Testolagh [1] who's been put conquering a land Heaven cares so little about it's pock-marked with Wyld Zones, and there's Naan, who's basically a roving troubleshooter/troublebeater/trouble-eater who gets sent to do highly destructive things to target locations and then withdraw - and if people saw an anima banner which combines fire-wreathed black and grey vines, that's very hard to connect to rumours of other sightings of green fire animas.
Also, recall that Kerisgame uses "akuma" to mean "behemoth native to a Yozi Mythos" and there have been Unquestionable-made akuma who resemble Exalts somewhat before. Take the Glowing Ones of Ligier, for example - exquisite machine-men whose lead-lined chests are filled with his light, who have something that resembles an anima banner when they fuel their inner flames so they even shine through lead (and cause Green Sun Wasting). They're not Exalts, because they lack several of the key characteristics, but they can fight at a Terrestrial level and they're a known thing. Heaven won't leap to "green anima banner = YOZI EXALTS" - not when they have "Oh shit, there's a cult that's been gifted with a Glowing One by the crown-prince of Hell".
[1] Who is honest, brave, forthright, genuinely heroic and honestly too good for Sasi, but about as subtle as a green-fire-wreathed brick to the face
Rise of a Pirate Queen - Chapter 13
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
In tribute to the masterpiece of poor planning, I feel I should offer the logs of how Keris got out of her sticky situation - which also involved being in the middle of four angry Dragonblooded!
She did rather better, as you can see in today's Kerisgame, session 69 of the published logs.
yes yes, hurr hurr
no, there was none of that kind of 69ing in this session
(pervs)
What there was, however, was Vali.
So, Vali. The soul that came from Countless Cities Clotting, which Keris got back during Lilunu's painting session. Which means that yeah, he's been around for a while. However, Vali has several other Charms that are integral to him, so what happened was that Countless Cities Clotting formed a geode-womb around him under the Ruined Coast that began to spread metal seams all through the area. It also began to build up pressure inside. As Keris got more of the Charms that went into him, the pressure grew, his body developed and he came closer and closer to waking. The second she got the last one; Cracked Cell Circumvention, he woke up, decided he was very unhappy at being confined, and started trying to punch his way out.
What are those Charms? Well, the most important ones are Countless Cities Clotting, Racing Vitaris and Cracked Cell Circumvention, though By Pain Reforged, Scar-Writ Saga Shield, Destruction Begets Creation and Forged in Fury are also under his sway. Vali is Keris's desire for freedom; her refusal to ever be chained again. But as a Malfean soul associated with toughening up to stop the world hurting you; he finds himself with a paradox - his own growth limits him. He's power from the pressure of confinement; the way that Keris is always most effective when furiously attacking something that's holding her back - and just as she constantly finds new obstacles, Vali's is a confinement that he can never entirely escape. When he moves, it's often in stuttering bursts of speed; build-ups of pressure and power that give way to explosive movement and just-as-sudden stop. He grows heavier and more massive the faster he moves, and when he stops the excess power keeps going as lightning - which in Krisity is caused by the thunder, not the other way around.
He's also Sasi's son, which surprised even us! If you'd asked us a month ago, we'd have said that his "father" was in fact Kasseni; deeply associated with confinement and slavery in Keris's backstory. But we realised that Keris left her behind a long time ago - and then the argument with Sasi and the entirely unwitting lead-in to Keris actually being legit captured proved a perfect time to have him be born as her son. As a result, he's Haneyl's full brother and the other half of Malfeas - the brassy metal to her green fire. The new area of the Domain, on the border between Ruin and Sea, is a mineral-rich maze of towering cliffs, looming pillars and enormous stalagmites that will come to be called the Spires. There is a lot of mining potential in the area, though Vali's essence and the clash of hot air from the Ruin and cold air from the Sea mean that it's almost always stormy, and there's an ever-present rumble of thunder and accompanying lightning above. Soon to move into it will be his keruby; the much-loved and very cool spark jockeys.
Sigh. I need to update the Krisity writeup in that doc with the Meadows and Spires. Bleagh. Later.
What are those Charms? Well, the most important ones are Countless Cities Clotting, Racing Vitaris and Cracked Cell Circumvention, though By Pain Reforged, Scar-Writ Saga Shield, Destruction Begets Creation and Forged in Fury are also under his sway. Vali is Keris's desire for freedom; her refusal to ever be chained again. But as a Malfean soul associated with toughening up to stop the world hurting you; he finds himself with a paradox - his own growth limits him. He's power from the pressure of confinement; the way that Keris is always most effective when furiously attacking something that's holding her back - and just as she constantly finds new obstacles, Vali's is a confinement that he can never entirely escape. When he moves, it's often in stuttering bursts of speed; build-ups of pressure and power that give way to explosive movement and just-as-sudden stop. He grows heavier and more massive the faster he moves, and when he stops the excess power keeps going as lightning - which in Krisity is caused by the thunder, not the other way around.
He's also Sasi's son, which surprised even us! If you'd asked us a month ago, we'd have said that his "father" was in fact Kasseni; deeply associated with confinement and slavery in Keris's backstory. But we realised that Keris left her behind a long time ago - and then the argument with Sasi and the entirely unwitting lead-in to Keris actually being legit captured proved a perfect time to have him be born as her son. As a result, he's Haneyl's full brother and the other half of Malfeas - the brassy metal to her green fire. The new area of the Domain, on the border between Ruin and Sea, is a mineral-rich maze of towering cliffs, looming pillars and enormous stalagmites that will come to be called the Spires. There is a lot of mining potential in the area, though Vali's essence and the clash of hot air from the Ruin and cold air from the Sea mean that it's almost always stormy, and there's an ever-present rumble of thunder and accompanying lightning above. Soon to move into it will be his keruby; the much-loved and very cool spark jockeys.
Sigh. I need to update the Krisity writeup in that doc with the Meadows and Spires. Bleagh. Later.
Extras, as usual.
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Been enjoying the story for a while, and looking forward to more. Also; this Vali character seems pretty cool.
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hah! Not intentional; we've had him in mind for quite a while. Heh.
Undead-Spaceman
Skeleton Supreme
- Location
- Somewhere in Orbit
Considering the way Vali had changed from both your and ES's initial conception of him, how has Keris' other souls changed since their creation? Going along that line, were there also any alternate souls you had thought up before settling on the current ones?
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Calesco had a fair amount of shift, but that was mostly in appearance - she's far more Adorjan's daughter than she started out, and wears Ogi's features mostly as a reminder and a disguise. Rathan's character development literally just got a hammer taken to it, and we're a lot happier with it now - it makes him a lot more interesting and should hopefully give him greater narrative focus as we start implementing it (his sisters show up a lot more than him for various reasons, one of which is that they simply have more interesting internal dynamics). And Zanra is basically in a constant state of flux, which is amusingly appropriate for them.
There haven't really been any other souls that we planned and then discarded, though. Keris will stabilise at ten, though she may develop lesser (and quantifiably different from an in-universe perspective) non-Pantheon souls who don't have the same humanity, familial relations to her or humanoid forms as the current ones - a great centipede-road that winds through the Empire, for instance, which might be a Third Circle but isn't metaphysically her child and doesn't have a humanoid form.
What else? Well, hmm, to start with, Echo was just something that happened. She was a cute little cat-smart wind-waif that existed in the Devil Domain as the Silence in Her Wake representation. And Keris wasn't sure whether she was her sister or her daughter or her echo or what.
Then Keris started playing with her and teaching her things and handing her to Dulmea to try to teach her to do angyalka things. And at about that point, Echo sort of solidified as a daughter rather than a little sister. At that point, she's a little flighty waif who appears, tries to communicate through mime, and who writes badly spelled notes in the ground using her finger.
Then Echo somehow wound up becoming notably smarter than Keris. We're not entirely sure how that happened, because... it just clicked, somehow. Some of it was related to how Echo worked out how to make 1CDs before Keris did. A lot of it was also related to the development of Echoese, which is actually Adorjan's telepathy Charm - that meant that suddenly Echo could express complex thoughts, and, uh. I might have found it hilarious for her to explain sophisticated concepts through mime - and everyone to understand her because she's just that good at miming.
Some time later came the realisation that with Threat Monitoring Excitement, Echo experiences the world like SUPERHOT. Complete with everything being white and red, and time only moving when she moves. This means that the reason she acts like she has ADHD is that everything else is going far too slow for her, and she runs around all the time so she can get to the future where the interesting things are happened. And at the same-ish time, Echo sort of not only understood what she was, but also accepted some things that Keris doesn't even know yet.
(And which she isn't telling Keris, because Echo is utterly terrified of 'Big Sister' - which is what she calls the Csend, Adorjan's fetich soul - and she's terrified Big Sister would find out if Keris showed any sign of knowing what Echo knows.)
...
Now, by contrast, Haneyl basically sprung fully formed, with her complex interplay of her three-element nature and the way that she's both Keris' self-improvement soul and her greed soul because Keris considers self-improvement to be something you can do only when you aren't wanting for the basics in life. Some of this may be because Aleph accuses Haneyl of being a "standard ES Lead Female Character". I don't know what she means by that, honest.
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
... and from us chatting about literally that post right there, some of Echo's future characterisation and development just clicked into place perfectly.
Someone observing Keris from an outside perspective must find her behavior incredibly disturbing and illogical. It seems as if the majority of her recent actions have been directly motivated or at least heavily influenced by the solipsistic need to manage the immature components of her soul.