[Exalted, ?] Most High

@Rihaku So, I can write Air, Fire, and Wood then? Ok I'll just do those then.

The question still stands for what Houses produce Air Aspects folks! @Orm Embar You seem to have a grasp of Exalted knowledge, do you have any thoughts?
An Earth Aspected Immaculate is very likely from Mnemon, but Rihaku already has him written up apparently. Wood might be V'neef or Cynis, I guess? We did manage to retroactively distort Beman's backstory to make him a more debauched and less challenging opponent, so perhaps there's potential there. Ledaal and Tepet are generally Air-Aspected, though there are a couple of Mnemon's households that lean that way, and Sesus and Cathak are both Fire.
 
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Have some viewpoints from the three OC monks that might make them amenable to negotiation, or not, as the QM decides.

#Fanwork
Sesus Birabok was not a happy monk. He had long been displeased with the existence of his distant cousin Ulyssian. The lad was a mark of shame on the entirety of House Sesus, and that was felt by no one more than those born of the household that dealt with Sesus' political interests. He had fought long and hard for the realm, for the Elemental Dragons, and to have a member of his house so blatantly unfavored was a tremendous humiliation. A humiliation that was only made worse by the young idiot's refusal to hide his shame. He had considered quietly killing the boy in the past to remove the blight upon the House, but Ulyssian never seemed to quite cross the line into outright heresy.

Then had come the strange news at Calibration. It seemed that the shame of House Sesus was in fact a prodigy, and one who had been chosen by Hesiesh while young and shown such promise that the eccentric Admiral Zao had chosen him as a successor. The Immaculate Order did not truly approve of Zao, but he was a great servant of the Realm regardless, and being chosen by him was a tremendous honor. Sadly, it wasn't all good news.

It seemed that there was some doubt as to whether Ulyssian had truly exalted or not. There were accusations of Anathema being thrown around by a young hot head named Resolute Flame. What was more Ulyssian had continued to abjure his family during Calibration, and instead cleaved once more to Admiral Zao, as he had apparently been doing for years.

Now, here Birabok was facing an unfortunate situation. Either he and his Brotherhood would kill the boy, proving him an anathema, or the boy would kill them, proving his status as Zao's successor. Whichever outcome House Sesus would lose either him, or a young prodigy. Granted, said prodigy could be an anathema, but the information declaring him as such was scanty, and his accuser had a negative history with Ulyssian. Then there was the swiftness with which his Brotherhood had been dispatched, it was suspicious as well. Sesus Birabok found himself almost wishing for an alternative to bloody combat. He did not like the feeling.


Nellens Ta was bemused. She wasn't sure quite what to think. Ever since she had been chosen by Sextes Jylis her life had been... odd. Life as a Dragon-Blood within House Nellens was somewhat atypical by Realm standards. They had a place of honor, but it was not the same as the other houses. It was that strange dichotomy that had eventually driven her away from her House and into the arms of the Immaculate Order. They were said to stand above the bickering of the Houses and meant to protect the Realm and Creation as a whole from all that would imperil it.

She had seen many things in her time as an Immaculate Monk, some beautiful, others terribly, and many both. She had always kept up with her former House, however far she had traveled it did not do for a tree to forget its roots. That was how she had first heard of Sesus Ulyssian. Her status as a member of a Perfected Brotherhood of Immaculate shikari had given opened connections that would have otherwise been closed. She had not known what to think of Sesus Ulyssian. He was apparently a mortal who had defeated that fool Benan single handed. A mortal defeating a dragon-blooded was unheard of, and possibly blaspehemy, but Benan was known for his own foolishness in that regard so she had taken the matter as a wash, and not expected to hear of Ulyssian again.

When her contacts within House Nellens had told her the House was after him as a possible husband to the heir of the house she had been of two minds about it. Her training as an Immaculate disdained mortals and their works, but she had been raised as a member of House Nellens, and she could understand why the young mortal would be attractive to them. Ultimately, it hadn't been any of her business though, unless and until something dire happened.

Sesus Ulyssian's exaltation as a Fire Aspect was apparently that dire happening. The accusations leveled by Resolute Flame were serious. The idea that an Anathema could be present at the heart of one of the Realm's most important institutions was terrifying. Even if Flame struck her as a hothead and a fool, and a cursory examination of his history showed great reason for him to hate the young Sesus, the accusation must be treated with due concern. That was why her Brotherhood was here.

Ta did not know whether this was the right course or not, but it was needful to determine the truth of Sesus Ulyssian, and she would do just that.


Ledaal Elaneef was not bored. As a child of House Ledaal she rejoiced in that lack, unlike some brutish Dragon-Bloods she could name. Though, it could perhaps be wished that the interesting things were not ones that threatened the stability of the Realm. She knew all too well that the current state of things was teetering most unstably. The solid bedrock of House Tepet had been destroyed, and the recent threat of the Deathknights showed that Creation and the Realm at its center were anything but safe and secure.

To find an accused Anathema in the heart of the Realm in this manner was worrisome indeed. It showed that things were even less secure than she had thought. Elaneef did not quite think that such a thing warranted the presence of a full Perfected Brotherhood though. And the manner in which they had been ordered to resolve the issue was unnecessarily violent. Surely things could be dealt with in a more reasonable fashion! This WAS a place of great influence in the Realm after all, and battle was not the only way to prove ones virtue. This conflict could shape the minds and thoughts of all who viewed it.

Elaneef would not have the Immaculate Order thought of as thugs. They performed a valuable service to the Realm, and were far more than mere fighters. True, that was a large part of their work, but they also helped to set precedent across the Realm and interpreted the wishes of the Immaculate Dragons for all those that lived there. Too often in these days of dissolution had she found herself dismissed for her status as a Monk rather than revered. That it had happened at all was a disgrace upon all of the Children of the Dragon.

She had not heard of Sesus Ulyssian before her Brotherhood had been briefed for this mission, but the information had painted a somewhat odd picture to her. His actions as a putative mortal were somewhat objectionable, though his defeat of that embarrasment Cynis Benan was much appreciated. That idiot needed taking down a peg or ten, and the whole Order knew it. Elaneef was inclined to believe the best of him just from that.

Still, the dangers of an Anathema in the Imperial Naval Academy had to be addressed. She would prefer to deal with things in an intelligent manner, but it seemed that insert Earth Aspect's Name would have his wish for combat granted. A pity, there were other means available to the Immaculate Order than main force and it would have been pleasant to use them here, for all the Realm to see.

Word count 1248
 
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Vote tally:
##### 3.21
[X] Accept
No. of votes: 10

inawarminister, Van Ropen, Gaudy Guise, Pipeman, TheOtherSandman, meianmaru, Guile, CharlBaal, trekbook, Dark Lord Bob

[X] Accept
[X]War-Saint
-[X] Flash of Steel (Damage component)
No. of votes: 9
Usernames, CrawlingChaos74, Diller, Quest, aja318, me.me.here, inventive alias, Delwgun, Brekouh

[x] War-Saint
-[x] Flash of Steel (Damage Component)
No. of votes: 2
Emerald Oracle, Fumbles

[X] Accept
[X]War-Saint
No. of votes: 1
Destrark

[X] Negotiate
No. of votes: 2

Vitaris, 1986ctcel
 
I didn't make them less capable per se, but I did make them all theoretically open to reason. I wasn't thinking about how Fanworks altered Beman's combat status that way. Whoops?
 
Okay, less than half the playerbase has voted. This could still turn around! If it looks like Accept is going to win for sure, though, I'll split it into the [ ] Reckless Disregard and [ ] Full Commitment votes, for how much XP you spend. The Storm Armor of Shogun Feng will soon be available to you as well!
 
[X] Accept

I would say I feel a bit guilty to vote for this, but sadly I don't. 70% isn't great odds but Honestly! They dare to insult our pedigree, to barge in here, making insinuations on the word of a half-wit? It seems they need to be shown who the Dragons truly favor, and perhaps the Sesus will realize their folly in attempting to subvert the holy cause of the wild hunt with their prevaricating when we head over there as later for some follow up honor duels! Show them who truly inherited the founders blood by way of deeds, rather than timorous bureaucracy!

Anyway right now I'm leaning towards going all in with the flash buys, but I'll have to think about it a bit more, Security did win over Adventure, so perhaps I should honor that by picking the much riskier course? It's a paradox?
 
[X] Have Zao Expel Them - The safest option by far, Zao will essentially trade prestige and influence Realm-wide in exchange for additional time. He can maybe delay another two or three months before the costs become prohibitive. Zao won't kill them.

Seriously people we would be spending more xp flash buying things for the fight than we would get from it.
 
[X] Accept - Caution you who sow the wind, for you shall reap the whirlwind. They believe that if it comes to blows, they will easily prevail. And perhaps against almost any days-old Solar, they would be correct. But you are Odyssial, who was Lord Strategos of the Exalted Host, and your blade has cut down Titans. Let them come, the dragons of earth and fire. You will show them what true power is. [+100,000 XP, Immaculate accusations are utterly defeated for several months if you prevail]
 
Y'know I honestly don't know which way to vote. I was leaning towards Accept for awhile there, but then I spent a while getting inside of the theoretical heads of three of these mooks and I don't want to horrifically murder them anymore. I'm probably going to abstain unless we get some good stunts one way or the other or inspiration strikes.
 
[X] Have Zao Expel Them - The safest option by far, Zao will essentially trade prestige and influence Realm-wide in exchange for additional time. He can maybe delay another two or three months before the costs become prohibitive. Zao won't kill them.

Seriously people we would be spending more xp flash buying things for the fight than we would get from it.
Well yeah, the gain from choosing that option isn't in the XP.

Anyways, why Expel them? That's a terrible choice that costs a great deal in its own way - Negotiate if you don't want to fight.
 
Hm... if you guys are wiling to somewhat stifle your long-term potential by buying a bunch of Evocations with Normal XP, there is actually one Charm in Ambition's arsenal that would make this fight basically a guaranteed win. It's near the capstone of the the Celestial Evocations, though, so you'd have to commit basically all your XP, plus you'd need to be E3. I think you can do it with 960,000 total, which you pretty much already have. But again, your long-term potential would be messed up.

EDIT: Miscalculated, you actually need 960,000 XP.
 
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Fanwork# with 420 words


"Her form was lacking the last time we met; I doubt that footwork has improved." Zao's lecture continued even as the Immaculate Brotherhood looked on. "Aim your strikes at the breastplate, not the joints. That plate was intended to thwart the typical countermeasures against armored foes."

Ulyssian carefully laced his left boot, his face schooled in the placid alertness of the ideal student. Most of his class maintained an impressive attentiveness while Zao explained the executioner's flaws, but Hero was clearly too upset to manage a poker face. His heroes, the glorious masters who protect all of creation from the unending threat of Anathema, here! And they were set to kill or be killed by his very best friend! The former farm hand visibly quivered with tension, made worse and worse by the growing fury of the shikari.

"Should you lose track of their sniper, look to the east. His tendencies are disgustingly cliche."

After the agreement to settle this matter in an immediate duel, Feng offered to equalize the battle by loaning his plate to his student. The Headmaster accepted that Ulyssian would not leave their sight, and promptly declared that no foolish duel would interrupt his efforts to educate. Nilul appeared to be the most devotedly studious of the crowd, going so far as to take written notes. Though her attempts to ask questions were ultimately ignored in Zao's monologue.

"He favors Arrow Frog Venom, so you should purge your system immediately if you fail to avoid an arrow."

Moon's focus on the lecture was total, in an effort to avoid anxious thoughts or actions so early in their ruse of ambivalence toward eachother. She hoped that Zao would forgive her, should she have to repay Ulyssian's rescue.

"Her scars were not born of chance or ill luck; she over commits when a decisive opportunity appears." It was a small wonder that Zao had met all of these Exalts, but much happens in a millennium. "Present for her an appealing flank, and she will fall on your blade."

Ulyssian settled the last component of Zao Feng's Storm Armor into place. He felt his essence settle as the harmonization completed, but his mind was elsewhere. The austere boundaries of the room fell from his view, faint murmurs and breath from his classmates left his hearing, the memorized instructions of his teacher's lecture submerged under the rising tide of his calculated focus. Five near-peerless masters of the Immaculate order made up half of his world, and his Ambition the rest.
 
[X] Accept
[X]War-Saint
-[X] Flash of Steel (Damage component)

Hope this works out. I'm willing to flash buy some stuff to make it a better match up.
 
[X] Accept - Caution you who sow the wind, for you shall reap the whirlwind. They believe that if it comes to blows, they will easily prevail. And perhaps against almost any days-old Solar, they would be correct. But you are Odyssial, who was Lord Strategos of the Exalted Host, and your blade has cut down Titans. Let them come, the dragons of earth and fire. You will show them what true power is. [+100,000 XP, Immaculate accusations are utterly defeated for several months if you prevail]
 
Okay, it has become abundantly clear that some form of Accept, with or without negotiation at the fore, is going to succeed. In that case, let's differentiate between the two options:

[ ] Reckless Disregard - Maintain your long-term potential by entering only with the Charms you acquired from training. Your chances of victory are good, with appropriate write-ins, but not spectacular. However, if you succeed, you will be far more powerful in the long term. If you prevail, you will continue your training at the Academy, and have the opportunity to interact with your friends.

[ ] Full Commitment - Despite the massive cost to your long-term power, it's simply too important for you to win now. The death-bearing intensity of this moment crystallizes a lifetime of battle, and you draw out immense ability in the moment, at the cost of your future strength. Spend all your available XP to flash-buy as many Charms and Evocations as possible. If you prevail, you will likely soon discover that training has extremely marginal benefits, and will be sent onto missions. After accounting for the 4 Charms and 1 Evocation you have already bought, you will be able to buy an additional 4 Charms and 6 Evocations (or 1 Charm and 9 Evocations, etc), making victory all but assured.

If Full Commitment wins, we'll discuss what Charms and Evocations you can get. But, I don't want to bias things against Reckless Disregard by giving details yet.
 
[X] Reckless Disregard

The stunts are starting to come in so the chances are looking up.

If we went full commitment, would we be stronger than Infernal Ulyssian was after martyred training by Zao?
 
[X] Reckless Disregard - Maintain your long-term potential by entering only with the Charms you acquired from training. Your chances of victory are good, with appropriate write-ins, but not spectacular. However, if you succeed, you will be far more powerful in the long term. If you prevail, you will continue your training at the Academy, and have the opportunity to interact with your friends.

I'll probably change my vote when paranoia gets to me, but for now, I like our chances.
 
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