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Ascensions and Transgressions: the Tales of Keris Dulmeadokht (Exalted game)

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Abyssals
  • Informational
    • Academia Nut said:
    Oh Keris.

    I suppose now would be a good time to ask if there have been any thoughts on what to do with the Abyssals in Kerisgame, what with the fact that you guys definitely want to get away from a lot of the stuff in canon.
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    At the core of things, Abyssals are the Vengeful Dead. They're a splat of obsession, of dark-fated antiheroes, and they're doomed characters who aren't going to live heavily ever after. Abyssals don't do ennui. They don't fall into decadence. They should be dead, and unless they cling to their driving obsessions, they lay down and die.

    For example, Abyssals don't have the same "offer at the edge of life and death" thing. The Abyssal dies. The Abyssal Exaltation is the only resurrection in the game. They die, and then up to three days later, they open their eyes again, their souls re-joined by the dark power of the Abyssal Exaltation. Every Abyssal is someone who, when dead, got their offer and went "Yes. I accept. I'm not done yet." There's no Redemption for them, either - not as something they can live through. Redemption always equals death, because every Abyssal took a dark bargain to cheat one of the fundamental laws of the setting, and if they redeem their Exaltation their souls simply pass to Lethe... as they should have long ago.

    Every Abyssal has a Monstrance, but they're not a magical artefact. They're part of the Exaltation. They're its grave marker, its tomb. They're the tombs of the Neverborn, in microcosm. Any Creature of Death that can attune to a Monstrance and avoid it destroying them gets to speak to the Abyssal in their sleep, contact them telepathically, and has a sorcerous tie to them - and has veto rights over who gets it next. It's basically the sorcerer's heart for an Abyssal. Ronin Abyssals either have to hide it away, or they become Siegfried and turn it into their Soul Edge, their cursed blade they can't let go of.

    Otherwise... Ability-based, but Mirror Charms aren't a thing. The Abyssal Charmset is built from the ground up to make you a villain/brooding antihero whose skill is grounded in his talent. It's less Ability-Direct than Solars, but probably more so than Sidereals - for example, Survival will let you turn into predatory beasts like giant wolves and vampire bats (because you are a master of the wild places that humans fear), while Lore has a lot of "history" things and might let you "kill" the memory of a person by destroying all icons and images of them so no one will remember they ever existed, a la the Egyptians.
     
  • Informational
    • Of course, 3e Abyssals will be not be nearly that cool or interesting.
     
    I have to say, I like the trope where two characters are talking in code about what happened in the past like happened early in this session- it gives a nice double-meaning to the whole conversation. :3
     
    Aleph said:
    This one. And her similarly-intense sense of taste (and smell, to a lesser extent) comes from here.

    Due to her weird paradigm and some sort of internal block that may be rooted in street-rat-born "always be alert and on-guard" instincts, she can't turn either of them off, and both have amusing stories of how she bought them, mega-succeeded on the next Reaction+Awareness roll she made and then basically fell over twitching from sensory overload.
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    I see Keris is an expert at succeeding too well.
     
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    A Silent Blade - Chapter 4
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    • SPEAKING OF SUCCEEDING TOO WELL

    ... have chapter 4. In which ES is a prick. Thrice. By first not giving me what I did want, then giving me something I wanted an enormous amount but couldn't have, and then finally giving me something I didn't really want but have no choice but to take and look after.

    Also he hit me with precision-targeted shots to the Art, the Greed and the Compassion in the space of one extended session. So mean.

    I will let him detail the mechanics, history and details of Keris's new acquisition - unless he wants to leave it to me, in which case I will get a Seasons-esque writeup done by the end of the week. Ish.

    Aaaaand extras!
    EarthScorpion: Hmm. Which Kerissoul is this good for?
    Aleph: hmm
    Aleph: very atmospheric
    Aleph: ... I think it's probably Pekhijira singing in the mists

    ...

    Aleph: Oh yeah, question.
    Aleph: So, Keris's Lance, right? It presumably has a god? But it spends basically all its time Beyond Fate, saturated in her Mythos bubble.
    Aleph: So how does that interact with its least god? Do its reports go anywhere? Does it make any?
    EarthScorpion: Didn't she vitriol-it? Or was that just the armour?
    Aleph: Just the armour, I think. She does poison her Lance a lot, but it works fine as it is. Not as complex as the armour.
    EarthScorpion: Hmm. Roll me Keris' enlightenment.
    Aleph: ... botch...
    EarthScorpion: Seriously?
    Aleph: : (
    EarthScorpion: Ho hum.
    Aleph: w-what was that for?
    EarthScorpion: Well, it certainly shows no signs of being affected by what Keris is doing to it.
    Aleph: ... ... ...
    Aleph: *paranoia*
    Aleph: I regret raising this topic : S
    Aleph: But I was more asking in general what happened to the reports of a least god when it's being used by something or is in a place Beyond or Outside Fate.
    EarthScorpion: Well, it's currently Outside of Fate, and has been... basically since Keris stashed it in her soul.
    Aleph: Yes. She's attuned to it, which presumably renders it inside her Mythos-bubble.
    EarthScorpion: It's not in Fate so the reports go nowhere.

    ...

    <upon Keris getting the statue of Mela to the farmhouse and collapsing>
    Aleph: Hmm. End it there?
    EarthScorpion: Not end, but pause it?
    Aleph: Sure. Keris deserves a scenebreak to recover.
    EarthScorpion: Poor Keris. Heavy lifting while pregnant.
    Aleph: So was that, like. There all along? Or did you just come up with it off the top of your head for a "what would make Aleph's life hardest?" thing?
    EarthScorpion: I was thinking of what would survive well.
    Aleph: heh
    Aleph: hmm
    Aleph: ... Keris might risk having this out in her Saatan manor. If nothing else, it would convince Sasi to visit more frequently. : P
    EarthScorpion: Or of course, she could actually dismantle it and use the jade scales for something else. : p
    Aleph: BITE YOUR FUCKING TONGUE
    EarthScorpion: Oh, Keris. Haneyl when she finds out about this will only take it as carte blanche to steal other people's cultural artefacts and treasures.
    EarthScorpion: This will only end in Keris stealing the Eligin Marbles or their closest Creation equivalent.
    EarthScorpion: It's probably in Great Forks.
    Keris: "I was keeping them safe from Thorns."
    Sasi: "Thorns is over a thousand miles away."​
    Aleph: Keris: "Ah, the godfuckers don't deserve them anyway."
    Aleph: This is also only going to increase Little River's reputation of leaving for a season or so every year and coming back with something bullshit ridiculous.
    EarthScorpion: Keris: "And so I cleared out the Despot of Gem."
    Aleph: Pale Branch: "..."
    Pale Branch: "What. The fuck."
    Little River: "You like?"
    Pale Branch: "How."
    Little River: "Shenanigans. Hijinks. Also a fish cult."​
    EarthScorpion: Honestly, at this point Keris can just use a Minor Strategic Action to generate resources, with most of the time spend finding the location and scoping them out so she can cart off the vast amounts she steals
    EarthScorpion: ...
    EarthScorpion: Keris
    EarthScorpion: that makes you a thief who's using your thefts to subsidise being a pirate
    EarthScorpion: that's
    EarthScorpion: like
    EarthScorpion: double criminal
    Aleph: oh god stop it I'm laughing
    Aleph: truly, she has become Carmen Sandiago
    EarthScorpion: Sigh. Her first year in Saata in strategic time will probably mostly just be spent building up assets and making connections and looking after her kids. And of course, redoing her mansion.
    Aleph: Heh. She'll makes sure to sorcerously alter at least one room enough that it counts as a place she can bring things in and out of the Domain in.
    Aleph: Making goddamn swamps or lakes everywhere is too noticeable ¬_¬
    EarthScorpion: Heh, yes.

    ...

    Aleph: Hee. You realise, Keris will probably restring the crossbow with wire.
    EarthScorpion: Or with her own hair.
    Aleph: Yesss.

    ...

    <upon resumption>
    EarthScorpion: So, as it stands, Keris is exhausted as fuck and at a level 1 anima.
    Aleph: Well, if that was a scene change, her anima's guttered down. She is, however, still exhausted.
    Aleph: In fact she may be more exhausted now, if it's petered out
    EarthScorpion: Oh, indeed, yes, it has

    ...

    <upon hearing the sound in another farmhouse>
    Aleph: How close to her is the other farmhouse?
    EarthScorpion: Her... what?
    Aleph: ... her. You said it's in the one of the other farmhouses. Are we talking "literally next door", or "a short stroll away" or what?
    EarthScorpion: She. You mean "she". And it's a cluster of close together buildings, connected by ruined covered walkways.
    Aleph: "How close to she is X?" is not valid grammar.
    Aleph: That would be how close is she to X.
    EarthScorpion: Blagh
    Aleph: lol
    (Yes, I did indeed include that bit just to gloat about winning a grammar quibble against ES. : 3)

    ...

    <Upon seeing the ghost is a little girl>
    Aleph: So, uh. Question. Without effects like Grave-Ash Scattering Breeze, what happens to a ghost that gets killed? Is it sucked into Oblivion, or does it go on to Lethe? Or is it situational? To Keris's best knowledge, obv.
    EarthScorpion: Without a spirit killer, the ghost either re-forms, falls to Oblivion, or passes on. Keris isn't sure what makes what happen because she's not very educated in ghosts, but she did learn that when she learned about killing ghosts.

    ...

    Aleph: So, hmm. Basically two choices. Keris can either try to erode Kerisa's Fetters and convince her to pass on, or... yeah. Adopt a ghostly familiar.
    EarthScorpion: Or do MAGIC SCIENCE on her and try to turn her into a 1CD or something.
    Aleph: Indeed.
    Aleph: ...
    Aleph: Sigh.
    Aleph: KERIS
    Aleph: STOP ADOPTING CHILDREN
    Aleph: ESPECIALLY CHILDREN THAT YOUR SON IS GOING TO TRY TO EAT
    EarthScorpion: Clearly
    EarthScorpion: Keris needs to pull out Rounen or Sagi or another kerub and have them be her playmate
    EarthScorpion: And yes, she is a very strong-willed little madame and no, she is not susceptible to normal persuasion of "your mother and father aren't coming back" because it's one of her fetters, along with her corpse.
    Aleph: she's basically an illiyeen, isn't she? : P
    EarthScorpion: Not really, no. She's just a hardened nugget of willpower for a five year old who got her chest caved in with a clawed backhand from a wyld beast.
    Aleph: Oh, yes. Let me just check what Keris's hatred of Wyld things is at.
    Aleph: Yeaaah, I think this is probably a scene spent pushing it up from 2 dots to 3.
    EarthScorpion: It'd be more than 1 scene to do that - it requires multiple scenes to elevate a Principle
    Aleph: Yes, I know. This is a scene spent raising it. It'll need two or three more, but I am noting it as definitely a step towards doing so.
    EarthScorpion: She knows a bit more about the Shogunate than even she knows, too, because not only does she have day-to-day life, but the other ghosts that used to be here before each of them passed on in turn told her things because there wasn't much to do.
    EarthScorpion: She's probably been alone for a century or more
    Aleph: poor thing
    Aleph: Oh, and don't think I didn't catch that casual reference to the cinema
    Keris: "The what now?"​
    EarthScorpion: Hmm. How would a five year old describe a cinema? "It's a big room you go in and there's a film up on the screen and you sit in seats and watch it."
    Keris: "Oh. Like a play? You watch actors?"
    Kerisa: "No, stupid, there actors are in the film."
    Keris: "Hmm, so you trap a demon in a film and make it appear on the wall as a way of recording plays..."​
    Aleph: ... Keris would probably hear "film" as in "bubble membrane"
    EarthScorpion: Oh gods, it probably turns into the opera scene from Star Wars.
    Aleph: : D
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  • Threadmarks
    • Man, Keris really needs to work on her concentration. She sees a couple unexpected things and almost completely loses sight of the goal.

    Now, it seems to me that you're fluffing Keris' virtues by having one of her souls bring it up, like when Calesco stopped you from re-killing the ghost. To ignore that, would you still have to burn WP or could you use a social defense to ignore Calesco?
     
    Peanuckle said:
    Man, Keris really needs to work on her concentration. She sees a couple unexpected things and almost completely loses sight of the goal.

    Now, it seems to me that you're fluffing Keris' virtues by having one of her souls bring it up, like when Calesco stopped you from re-killing the ghost. To ignore that, would you still have to burn WP or could you use a social defense to ignore Calesco?
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    Calesco is bringing it up because Keris's compassion twisted around her heart and yanked. You'll note that she froze and dropped her weapon before Calesco even got a word out. She would need to spend WP to suppress, and Keris was exhausted from the tension of sneaking around all those DBs and couldn't muster up the will.
     
    Well that was heartrending.

    Is turning a ghost into a 1CD even a thing that's remotely possible?
     
    pheonix89 said:
    Well that was heartrending.

    Is turning a ghost into a 1CD even a thing that's remotely possible?
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    I would guess no, because being a demon is not the same as being dead. Runs right up against the no resurrections rule. On the other hand, that rule exists to make consequences matter, so Keris could use Yozitech and Kimbery charms to fuse the girl with a spare po inside a grown body. Wouldn't be her, but Keris wouldn't know that!
     
    Frakir's brother said:
    I would guess no, because being a demon is not the same as being dead. Runs right up against the no resurrections rule. On the other hand, that rule exists to make consequences matter, so Keris could use Yozitech and Kimbery charms to fuse the girl with a spare po inside a grown body. Wouldn't be her, but Keris wouldn't know that!
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    Resurrection isn't allowed.

    Faking it is allowed.

    Doing things that look sort of like it is allowed.

    And splat-shifting a hun soul into a 1CD or akuma* falls under things that look sort of like resurrection but aren't. It doesn't do a damn thing to bring back the original girl, because that ship sailed the instant the hun and po stopped being connected. It just shifts the ghost of the girl to a MUCH better splat.

    *ES definition
     
    There's that one Third Circle of the Ebon Dragon in the Green Cherry Demonomicon who specializes in souls and necromancy. If anyone would know how, it would be him.
     
    Three Instruments of Krisity
  • Informational
    • As in Malfeas, so in Krisity reigns one commonality - music is the vice of demons, and among all their arts and actions it is the only one ever untouched by malice. But the musical traditions of Krisity are only loosely linked to Hell through its harpist-queen - and more loosely still to those of Creation. The inhabitants of this infant-realm have thus devised many strange and novel instruments under the lax-handed reign of their oft-absent empress. Three such contraptions are described below - though no guarantees can be made as to the skill of any citizen found playing them.


    Glasslute
    The glasslute has become a well-known sight in the Sea and Isles of Krisity since its invention by the Prinz Zanara. It is one of the many unique, original instruments the young monarch has created, both alone and with the aid of various siblings. The glasslute was born from a collaboration with Prince Rathan, who popularised it in the Sea and Isles after Zanara tired of its novelty. It was received enthusiastically, perhaps because of the ease with which it can be produced by luvegya, and is now widely used.

    A typical glasslute is a glass or ice structure about a metre in height, and vaguely resembles a humanoid figure with wings drawn back behind them - indeed, Zanara's original was sculpted to look like a bat-winged human that had torn off its own face. Most, though, only suggest the resemblance in their general silhouette. The glasslute consists of four sections:
    • The leg is the supporting pillar; a flared base and fluted column that supports the rest of the glasslute.
    • The body is the central section; an ovoid which connects to the wings on one side and has a number of tone holes on the other. These open into cavities within the body, and are opened or closed using foot pedals at the base of the leg.
    • The wings, or fins, extend back from one side of the body, parallel to one another. Long, rippling planes of glass that boast various spines and ridges; it is customary for the body to be tilted forward slightly to counterbalance them, giving the glasslute the look of a winged figure bent in prayer.
    • The head sits atop the body, with another cavity that opens from the top. The head may have one concave face or several - the number is always odd, and glasslutes with more than five faces are rare.
    A glasslutist plays their instrument by way of a bow similar to a violin; generally constructed of wood or glass and strung with seaweed. The bowstring must be damp, and brine is generally used for this purpose. Sitting to one side of their instrument at the juncture between body and wing, the glasslutist draws the bow across the spines and ridges of the wing while manipulating the pedals. Their free hand is used to fret the wing in the manner of a violin or guitar as a secondary modulation to the sound, or to employ a small metal rod to tap out ringing chimes. By angling the bow to draw across both wings at once; chords may be produced.

    Sound is therefore produced by the vibration of the wing - akin to a finger on a wineglass - by reverberation within the body cavities that the head amplifies further, and by resonant impacts on striking surfaces. In this way, the glasslute contains elements of the violin, the flute, and even the bell or cymbal. Larger glasslutes tend towards a deeper, fuller sound, and at least one szulo-owned example is three metres in height. A glasslute can be "tuned" to its owner's pleasure by fully or partially filling the internal chambers with water - a personalisation that the Prinz Zanara did not invent and was delighted to discover their citizens using.


    Rowdah
    A brainchild of Vali and his elder sister Eko; the centre of a rowdah looks like a drum - a sealed cylindrical box. On one flat side - the base - is the strap by which it is held to the body, around its curved edge is wrapped a brass horn, and eight tuning-fork striking hammers are arranged in a half-circle around the face; poised over the valves of the horn. A foot-crank fits into an indentation at the edge of the base, and is attached to a pull-cord and fan within the drum.

    To play it, a rowdahman first extends the foot-crank from the base. The action of the pull-cord drives the fan inside the drum, which in turn produces a constant tone from the horn. Then the rowdahman uses the keys on the face to operate the hammers. As each hammer strikes, it closes a valve on the tube, altering the harmonic of the horn-tone - but it also impacts the tuning-fork hammer, creating a second sound of complimentary pitch. A held valve will quickly dampen the fork and render its note similar to a damped piano key, while a tapped valve will ring like a bell.

    Rowdah performances are part horn, part piano, part chime and part bagpipe - and are usually played at considerable volume. They are most used in the Spires, where there is a strong culture against composed music - improvised performances are the vastly-preferred norm. A rowdahman who cannot "make it up as they go" is seen as missing half the point and most of the fun. Percussion is a frequent accompaniment from fellow performers and audience alike; be it drums and cymbals or simply clapping and stamping.

    Most rowdahs are only half a metre across, so as to be easily handled and transported around the cramped conditions of the Spires. While brass is the most common material for the horn, the drums and fans are usually put together from anything to hand - stone, metal, wood or even bone. This has the helpful side benefit that the base of a rowdah makes an excellent blunt instrument - and should it be damaged on a skull too hard to break, it's easy enough to replace.


    Thrinpipes
    The piping hum of the thrinpipes is heard over the rolling hills of the Meadows and through the lush thickets of the Swamp; born as the instrument was from Princess Haneyl's friendship with her sister Calesco. The fretted guitar-like neck of the thrinpipe is seven-stringed, and has a blowpipe running along its underside. The blowpipe splits into a fan of seven that curve outward from the musician, each of which has one of the strings passing through it. Air passing down each fan pipe is blown across the string, making it vibrate, and a set of valves just past the junction allow the fanpipes to be opened and closed.

    The thrinpipe is a two-handed instrument; one hand operating the valves while the other frets. Each string is of a different thickness, and their tension can be adjusted by tuning pegs slightly below the mouth of the blowpipe. From top to bottom, a standard thrinpipe is two thirds of a metre in length - though thrinbiepipes exist as smaller, higher-pitched versions that are half the size. Wood is the best material for a thrinpipe - though fierce debate exists over which trees make for the best sound - and the strings are generally made from Swamp-grown treesilk. The personal instruments of the two Princesses, of course, are strung with their mother's hair.

    An unforeseen but perhaps predictable consequence of the thrinpipe's shape is that they have been greatly adopted by sziromkeruby. Though petal-cherubs have as little musical talent as any other of their kind save zenekeruby, a quirk of the internal acoustics of an unstrung thrinbiepipe renders it capable of splitting a sziromkerub's fire-spit into as many as seven projectiles - albeit somewhat weaker than the original attack. To hungry petal cherubs who have spied a flock of dorpheasants peacefully draining the sap out of a treeroot, this presents a fantastic way of downing two or more birds with one figurative stone.

    Most thrinpipes have carvings along the pipes to personalise and distinguish them as their owner's property. Decorations - such as tied-on ribbons, pressed flowers, glued-on paper bearing short stories or carefully affixed lucky stones - are likewise common. While some thrinpipes are minor artpieces in and of themselves, the overall effect of the average thrinpiper's eclectic mixture of tokens and trinkets renders their instrument something out of a magpie's heaven. Accordingly, they are prized among young keruby who have yet to understand the difference between a shiny instrument and the ability to play it.
     
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    • Well those are certainly different, although I suppose there is a question of what precedents were used to generate the degree of complexity all of these embody, as they all have multiple components drawn from simpler instruments. So are there just straight up guitars, flutes, drums, violins, etc. out there, and they're just less popular than these mashed up instruments once they are implemented?
     
    Academia Nut said:
    Well those are certainly different, although I suppose there is a question of what precedents were used to generate the degree of complexity all of these embody, as they all have multiple components drawn from simpler instruments. So are there just straight up guitars, flutes, drums, violins, etc. out there, and they're just less popular than these mashed up instruments once they are implemented?
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    Honestly, it's probably because all of these are personal inventions of Keris's souls, who have a window into the outside and can see Creation's instruments. And are all overperforming little shits.
     
    Aleph said:
    Honestly, it's probably because all of these are personal inventions of Keris's souls, who have a window into the outside and can see Creation's instruments. And are all overperforming little shits.
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    Also, just as pertinently, they have Dulmea filling the City with Hellish instruments that they can see, steal, and decide to "improve". Which, as they are still small children in some important ways, tend to include welding them together and doing things that a child does when told to come up with a new instrument, only they have reality-warping power to make it work out.
     
    Aleph said:
    Honestly, it's probably because all of these are personal inventions of Keris's souls, who have a window into the outside and can see Creation's instruments. And are all overperforming little shits.
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    True.

    On a side note, the first one is basically a glass armonica, and I'm not sure whether that's intentional or not. Could you clarify that?
     
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