The Priest Survey was a single d100 to find out what the situation with your priests was. Low and things were bad, high and things were great, simple as. Except, well, then this happened:
Piety Actions
-[X][Piety] Survey the Spirit Court (DC 10+)
Roll: 52; Success
God Quality: 8
2nd God Focus: Martial
2nd God Worst: Stewardship
Gender: Male
Earth Elemental Quality: 96
Other Elemental Quality: 62
Speaking with Slumbering Star could be quite the pain, sometimes, so you often circumvented that by speaking to some of the other Gods. Even this was a rather rare occurrence, and had only decreased as time went on. When times got tough, you got tougher, rather than relying on the divine. As a result, whatever connections you might have had with the gods were gone now.
As were, it turned out, the Gods.
"What do you mean 'two?!'" you harshly asked Three-Color Edge, the God of Extravagant Armaments in Uluiru. He had the appearance of an obsidian-skin man with an outrageous peacock-esque helmet with a mane containing every color in the rainbow. His bronze armor had a cape connected on the shoulders made of similar plumage, and his famed sword with its hexagonal blade which shimmered in either red, blue or green depending on how the light struck it. And he was not pleased with your lack of respect in demanding answers from him.
"It is as I said." He said with a sniff. "Of every god worshipped in Uluiru, only two made the journey towards our current location: Myself and Slumbering Star. The others just vanished for reasons unknown." But, that, he-
"You are a god. They were gods. HOW do you not know what happened to them?" you whispered in rage, your wrath making you quieter rather than loud. Because really, gods do not up and vanish for no reason. They either stick to their worshippers, or they flee back to their… sanctums…
A new expression took over your face, aghast at the possibility that had presented itself to you. Three-Color Edge cringed at the look, guessing quite easily what you're thinking. Confirming it just by his expression.
The Gods. Your people's gods. Have abandoned you.
Rather than staying with your people as Cantata-of-the-Depths did, rather than sacrifice what they had to help their people, rather than doing their jobs, they chose to flee as cowards. Your body… stumbles, for a little bit, before one hand grips onto the back cushion of a nearby chair. You regained your balance physically, but not mentally. This…
…was an outrage.
In the end, you didn't explode with frustration, but you certainly weren't happy. Of the entire spirit court of Uluiru, only 2 actual gods remained, with some god-blooded mixed in here and there. You took in a deep breath, released it, and repeated this again multiple times. Eventually, your frustration cooled into disdain as a golden aura enveloped your body. Your caste mark displayed itself prominently as you looked back at Three-Color Edge, a shaky smile on his face.
"Well," he said with a start, "there is some good news at least."
"And that is?" came your curt remark.
"We're not missing a single Earth Elemental. Well," he corrected himself, "not every earth elemental. We're missing a certain Dragon, if you catch my meaning."
You nodded as you took in this information. That did make sense, Mountain Range-Tail the Elemental Dragon of Earth was more of a casual visitor to Uluiru rather than an actual permanent resident. But if every other Earth Elemental was still here- "That includes the Gem-Lords as well? All of them?" His more confident nod this time at least confirmed that not EVERYTHING had gone wrong here. You… might have skipped over the passenger list for the spirits while loading the boats, if you were being honest. While you might not have respected the gods very much, you did have some degree of respect for the Earth Elementals who dutifully provided blessings for your miners and craftsmen.
"What about the other elementals?" you asked. While the Earth Elementals tended to get more glory in Uluiru, the others couldn't be forgotten either.
Three-Color Edge answered readily, "Not everyone made it, but at least some for every element survived the journey. Particularly the Air and Water Elementals, due to how many were present in the first place." That made sense, with the nation being located up in the Northwestern corner of Creation, for those elements to be more present. Having some Fire Elementals to help with the smitheries and the Wood Elementals with the farms could still be important however.
In the end, while you were still furious at the lack of support from the divine, you were at least glad that some more dependable spirits had stuck around to help. Plus, you had an easy place to house the Earth Elementals, with the mountain range being relatively closeby.
Bonus to Earth Elemental Petitions increased to +20! Elemental Petition now expanded to include every element, with the following bonuses: Air (+10 to manage weather and ice), Fire (+5 to smitheries and sources of heat), Water (+10 to sailing and generating fresh water sources), Wood (+5 to farming efforts).
Three-Color Edge is available as a god you can petition for a blessing. The blessing must pertain to his Domain (Extravagant Armaments). No Other Gods Remain in New Uluiru.
-[X][Piety] Survey the Priesthood (DC 10+)
Roll: 38; Success
Priest Situation: Natural 100.
Variety (d6): 3, oh dear.
Secondary Variety (d4): 3, makes sense
Contrasting your rather explosive discovery in regards to the divine situation, your meeting with the priests went far more pleasantly. Everything seemed just fine, even with several of the priests distraught that the Gods they worshiped and assisted had just "left town" for brighter prospects. In the end, despite their setbacks it seemed like they still had full faith that the Gods (the two of them, you supposed) would still support the people until the end. You had your own doubts about that, but you did agree with them that the elementals were likely to be of great help.
But really, none of that mattered. Not when a new priestess had suddenly appeared out of thin air and wished to speak with you. You hadn't heard of the previous priest who held her position dying, but considering his age that might not have been surprising. You had no reason to refuse a request to meet when you had the time to spare. Thus, you sent a messenger to tell her that you could meet the next day.
Early that morning, your guards informed you that she had arrived. With a wave of your hand, you let her in, and you could easily see the chocolate bundle of nerves she became just standing in your presence. This wasn't just normal nervousness when meeting with your kind, there was… something else at play here. Did she have something to hide? You narrowed your eyes just a touch, and her jittery body almost began to shake in fright. Eventually, after a short eternity of staring into eyes which refused to meet your gaze, you just sighed.
"If you are attempting to impersonate one of our priests, know that I will not punish you if you inform me now." Honestly, it was starting to be a bit pathetic at how much she flinched when you spoke. It wasn't even like you could punish her in your current position, not when the nation depended on every single individual left. So long as she wasn't trying to steal from the donation box, you really didn't care that she didn't have any proper credentials. Yet that statement didn't seem to relieve her stress, and even more confusedly, she shook her head in the negative.
"So, um, your… Highness?" Technically 'Majesty,' but she was obviously too stressed to think clearly. "So, you… you really are the king now."
That comment made you raise an eyebrow. "Indeed. I have been for several months now. Miss, you wouldn't have been away from Uluiru during that time, have you?" If she had been away on some form of pilgrimage, that could have been understandable. Land travel took quite a long time without any kind of mount, after all. Yet, something told you that still wasn't the case. It wasn't just how nervous she remained, especially as she shook her head no. It wasn't just the unlikelihood of that being possible in the short amount of time between when you first took the throne and then left on the ship.
It was the fact that she still looked at the tent around her with surprise, not at the extravagance of it (which was little, you were a more practical man than some), but at the fact that there was a tent at all. After several weeks of staying in this location, that seemed strange to hear. So what was her situation? "In that case, Miss, who exactly are you?"
Visibly gathering her courage over the course of a few seconds, she sighed, finally dispelling a small part of the tension which filled her tendons and veins. "My name… is Rising Dawn of the Hopeful Quartz." Bit of a handful, that one, but you had heard worse. "Three days ago, I remember speaking to your mother." WHAT. "And I… I think I might be some kind of Exigent…"
Surrounding her body was a soft orange glow, perfectly even with a black outline surrounding it. And the Caste Mark upon her brow… resembled that of a farmer's scythe.
Rising Dawn the Autumn Caste Getimian has joined your party! Thanks to the fact that this was still Turn 1, I was willing to allow some leeway with sudden Exalts popping up in your nation. From now on, it's going to be a lot more difficult for Celestials to occur. Terrestrials, ehhhhh…
Currently Lacking the Character Background/Interview, will learn more with time...
Rising Dawn of the Hopeful Quartz
Female
Essence 1
Autumn Caste
Best Stat: Piety
Second Best Stat: Martial
Worst Stat: Learning
Personality: Shy (+1 Piety)
Advantages: Martial Art (???)
Stat Scheme: Uses X - 5 for stats, but lowers the Difficulty of 1 task she works on by 10.
Author's Note: So, yeah, that's a thing. Those are all things. I'll be adding Rising Dawn as a potential advisor later, along with a proper interview once I've got something more solid on her story. Just based on her stats, I'm leaning towards "Joan of Arc Figure Whose Got Spaghetti Falling Out Of Her Pockets". Once she's added, I'll create another threadmark to let you all know in case you want to change your plans.
Oooh. Rising Dawn is super neat...I think we want to keep her for Hero work, though, where she can use her -10 on a bunch of different categories of action. Piety, Martial, Stewardship, and Combat at the very least. Rather than slot her in as an advisor.
For those who aren't familiar with some of the 3rd edition Lore, Getimians are kind of a parallel character type to Sidereals. They're an attempt by Oramus and Sacherrival (However that's spelled) to reverse enginer and duplicate Exaltation for their own use, which they immediately scrapped and buried after the first batch because they got hit by the Law of Diminishment and that scared the shit out of both of them. Each and every one of them is effectively a Hero of a parallel version of Creation that never actually happened for one reason or another, and Getimian Exaltation literally brings you into the Creation As Is Known.
Their magic is Weird Sidereal Esoterica, as you'd expect from an Exaltation developed by two of the Weirder Ancients, and they're the only other type that has native access to Sidereal Martial Arts and can push it to the absolute limits (Which is to say, they have access to the Enlightenment Keyword and can invent new Sidereal Martial Arts at the height of their prowess). The themes on their magic is best described as "Video Game Glitch Abuse". Like aiming for someplace that doesn't exist and just snapping back into view because reality rejects you being there and puts you in the nearest place (Which is where you were going in the first place), as well as pulling thoughts, feelings, and resources from the parallel Creation you hypothetically existed in.
You can also do Tsukishima memes where you can self-insert yourself into someone else's story and be the one who was Actually Responsible for things that happened and reality will just sort of shrug and go "I guess you're right then?", it's pandemonium and the fact we've got one in a foreign world is so fucking good for us. She'll be an absolute menace to a lot of people and isn't nearly as hamstrung as a Sidereal would be separated from access to the resources of the Bureau of Destiny.
That she's also capable of Celestial Circle Sorcery is also a fantastic asset, given how skilled our PC is as a teacher in that field.
They're an attempt by Oramus and Sacherrival (However that's spelled) to reverse enginer and duplicate Exaltation for their own use, which they immediately scrapped and buried after the first batch because they got hit by the Law of Diminishment and that scared the shit out of both of them.
If I recall correctly (and I could be wrong here), they were less scared about the law of diminishment and more because it turns out that these things played havoc with parallel worlds / timelines. That is what scared them enough to seal them away.
Also, have Rising Dawn if she were an anime girl (she's got dark brown skin and hair, but just imagine for a minute):
EDIT: Just checked Crucible of Legends, seems we're both right @Alectai
CoL, pg. 153: "Created in the Divine Revolution, the Getimians were jointly born of the ancients known as Oramus and Sacheverell, who sought to create their own champions to counter the warriors of the gods. The cost of creation and the nature of the new Exalted horrified their patrons, and the Getimian Exaltations were sealed in the stronghold of the ancients as a result.
If I recall correctly (and I could be wrong here), they were less scared about the law of diminishment and more because it turns out that these things played havoc with parallel worlds / timelines. That is what scared them enough to seal them away.
Also, have Rising Dawn if she were an anime girl (she's got dark brown skin and hair, but just imagine for a minute):
For those who aren't familiar with some of the 3rd edition Lore, Getimians are kind of a parallel character type to Sidereals. They're an attempt by Oramus and Sacherrival (However that's spelled)
And to this day I find them to shit. They are the least interesting idea they could of done, and picked they two Primcordal what would never be scared even with that Law in mind.
The funniest thing here is, there's usually a huge disconnect between Getimians and the rest of the setting that makes it hard (Not impossible, but awkward) for them to cooperate with a lot of other people.
But... Well, everyone else is in the same boat she is, nobody's at home, and in shared suffering comes shared resolve.
Honestly, at this point it's better. Our students working together as a team are likely better Learning advisors than any individual Exalt we'd be likely to get, so high Learning would've been a bit wasted at this point.
Yeah, everything being said about her makes me even more certain we want her as a troubleshooter, not an Advisor. So we can assign her to specific missions rather than her being busy purely on Piety stuff.
Yeah, everything being said about her makes me even more certain we want her as a troubleshooter, not an Advisor. So we can assign her to specific missions rather than her being busy purely on Piety stuff.
If she's basically going Full Bocchi, then we probably don't want to push her into interacting with Normal People more than she has to, so yeah, an agent would probably be best.
The funniest thing to me is that her Diplomacy is actually quite decent, she's just so anxious that she can't properly apply it.
It's the same "Adorable Severe Introvert" rizz that Bocchi has, she's just so cute in how she fumbles her words that it draws extroverts to her like candy.
Hilariously, for one action per turn, by the numbers, she's tied for best diplomat with Sango himself. She's similarly, on a pure numbers basis, our best at Stewardship and Intrigue for that one action. The situation with Martial and Combat is a bit more complicated, but she's very solid at both (though our Earth and Fire Aspects are likely superior at Martial a lot of the time, and I'm not sure about her and our Wood on combat stuff...Sango will generally beat either), and her Learning actually isn't bad at all...again, on that one action per turn where reality glitches and she gets a -10 to the difficulty. She's also tied for best in Piety even without that bonus, but I think the ability to use her as a go-to agent is far too great to shackle her to one category of action.
This is an informational post to let you all know that Rising Dawn's section was added to the Turn 1.5 Post. If you would like to make any changes to your plans with this new character, please do so sooner rather than later. Her section also contains a more filled out version of her stats.
This is an informational post to let you all know that Rising Dawn's section was added to the Turn 1.5 Post. If you would like to make any changes to your plans with this new character, please do so sooner rather than later. Her section also contains a more filled out version of her stats.
Where does it say Getimians can invent Sidereal MA? While I don't have the backer pdf for Sidereal, both the manuscript and Essence specify that only Sidereals can invent Sidereal MA or learn without a mentor. Also, we are not martial artist so we are missing the requisite MA experience.
The funniest thing here is, there's usually a huge disconnect between Getimians and the rest of the setting that makes it hard (Not impossible, but awkward) for them to cooperate with a lot of other people.
But... Well, everyone else is in the same boat she is, nobody's at home, and in shared suffering comes shared resolve.
Seems like it's just a (off screen) catch up period would solve that issue in terms of clearing up confusion, along with the occasional reference to noodle incidents. I mean yah, many would want to change the status quo, but so would many Celestials anyway.
Honestly, I really should restrict it in some way, but since I didn't do that for Sidereals, it feels a bit mean to do the same for an Attribute Exalt Type. Still, applying to literally everything feels wrong. So, compromise:
She apply the benefit as a Hero to her assigned action every other turn. That way she's not some sort of "Solve Everything Solution" to your problems.