NonSequtur
a body
Keris supports R2P confirmed.
Kalaska: ""
Kalaska: "Yay!"
Kalaska voices her approval, thus enshrining the right to protect in law?
General Exalted Thread
Kalaska voices her approval, thus enshrining the right to protect in law?
- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Obviously.
Now Keris is totally recognized as a sovereign state.
Pretty much exactly what Keris' reaction is going to be, yes. It's not a coincidence Kalaska rather resembles an unexalted girl in a household full of Terrestrials who clings to the rules because rules are meant to keep her safe from her bullying cousins and siblings. And Sasi neglects her "I'm scared and I need control" side, because she hates being scared and needing control - which means, of course, that her issues on that front get worse.
Matters are made even worse because Sasi isn't on good terms with her coadjutor, so all her souls are crammed into a space the size of a large house, so they basically get their own room and not much more. Kalaska desperately tries to hide that she's living basically in a cramped apartment where there's usually at least one set of people shouting at one another when she gets letters from Haneyl, who's going on about how hard it is to build a castle on a swamp and how she's setting up a new town and wondering if Kalaska has any advice about building temples to yourself.
(The moral of this story is that Keris actually gets quite a few benefits from her whole-hearted embrace of her soul pantheon, and so despite the fact that she looks like an out of control mess, she's actually remarkably emotionally stable and happy in herself and her personality facets mostly bicker and squabble like siblings, rather than truly hating each other. Meanwhile, Sasi, who looks so perfect and controlled on the surface is basically a mess who channels her neuroses into passing as stable and many of her souls genuinely loathe each other.
And a lot of this has its roots in the fact that Keris had nothing before she Exalted, so as a GSP she's gained wealth, respect and a family. But Sasi had all these things, lost everything, and as a once-devout Immaculate has had to warp her own heartfelt beliefs so now being an Anathema is a good thing and Creation is meant to be ruled by demon-kings - or else she'd have killed herself. Being a Celestial ex-Dynast fucks you up.)
notanautomaton
I've got 99 quests, I've finished one
Come play in my Worm quest.
Honestly, I've often thought that getting free skills is part of the point of Exaltation.
To put what @Jon Chung is saying in more poetic terms, what makes a hero a hero is not their skills but their mindset - their determination, their epic Motivations, their focus, the way they actually care about and engage with the world rather than running with the flow.
The point of an Exaltation is to take someone like that and give them the power to actually enforce their visions, to grant that wish for better or for worse. To paraphrase MoEP Sids, an Exalt is a master of their favored abilities from the moment they take their Second Breath. What makes them Exalted - what makes them worthy, insofar as Exaltation goes to those worthy at all (because as is often pointed out Exaltations are not fair) - is what they go on to do with that power.
Exaltations take people who could be great - whether for good or ill - and give them that opportunity, that chance, at making their dreams come true.
To put what @Jon Chung is saying in more poetic terms, what makes a hero a hero is not their skills but their mindset - their determination, their epic Motivations, their focus, the way they actually care about and engage with the world rather than running with the flow.
The point of an Exaltation is to take someone like that and give them the power to actually enforce their visions, to grant that wish for better or for worse. To paraphrase MoEP Sids, an Exalt is a master of their favored abilities from the moment they take their Second Breath. What makes them Exalted - what makes them worthy, insofar as Exaltation goes to those worthy at all (because as is often pointed out Exaltations are not fair) - is what they go on to do with that power.
Exaltations take people who could be great - whether for good or ill - and give them that opportunity, that chance, at making their dreams come true.
Well, Sasi's issues are worse because she has Issues, but they're certainly more typical of the forms one's demons might take. Keris has legitimately put a lot of effort into shaping hers so they think in a nearly human way - they're not human, but they can pass as gods or demonblooded. Sasi's ones are a lot more... pure around their central theme. It's not like Rathan, who went "Wow, those orca-beastmen are super cool. I really like orcas! They're way better than fish because they sing prettily and they're clever and they breathe air!" and so he's got a principle of liking orcas which is... basically nothing to do with his theme, but it means he's more humanised.
Like, peeking behind the curtain for a moment, my mechanics for soul hierarchies are basically there to encourage Infernals to voluntarily go crazy for the sake of power. It's a carrot to encourage their players to make their characters into people driven by massive, heroic drives because they want to add a new
Soul hierarchies are going to fight. It's basically inevitable, because they're personified Principles rated at 4+. Those are massive, major drives in a person's psyche, so they come into conflict. Average mortals have one or two Principles at that level which aren't "Survive". It's one of those deliberate emergent products to encourage Infernals to be crazy, because each Principle you get at 4+ lets you get another 2CD or 3CD that you can summon and that by definition want things that part of you wants! Fuckin' sweet!
The cost of this is that you have another 4+ principle that's driving your behaviour like a Virtue and punching holes into your MDV if other people know about it.
So, look at Sasi. She's got "They Can't Hurt Me If I'm In Control", "Indulge in the Finer Things", "Learn the Secrets of the World", "Become the Power Behind The Throne", and "I Am An Anathema-Priestess And That's A Good Thing". All of these things are driving her at a level equal to or greater than a 4 dot Virtue. This is why she has a breakdown when something goes wrong and all her plans are thrown out of order. This is why she really hates squelching around the countryside and is miserable when she gets too far away from places with hot baths and fine wines. This is why she pokes her nose into thing she shouldn't, that she's so driven to control An Teng and that she's genuinely fanatical as being a priestess of the Yozis. And these drives often come into conflict.
Testolagh wouldn't have so many high-level Principles, because bluntly he's a lot saner and more well-balanced than Keris or Sasi put together - and he hasn't experimented with this Charmtech, either. But if he had demons, they'd be more like Sasi's "2CD-alikes" than Keris' "sitcom characters who happen to be powerful demons".
greensun Charm Homebrew: Aegis of Blue Law
greensun
You shall all burn beneath my light!!!
So, revised Cecelyne Soak Charm.
Cost: (+3m)
Mins:Essence 3
Type: Permeant
Keywords:Obvious
Duration: Permeant
Prerequisite Charms: Counter-Pronouncement Of Enthymemic Law
Cecelyne rides into battle with no armor beyond the laws she has written. They offer surer protection than any crude iron or hammered steel. Whenever the Infernal uses this charm prerequisite, they may pay an extra 4ms, the spoken law forming into blue characters of Old-Realm of solidified law that hover just above the Infernals skin.
This armor of legalese adds (Essence + Lore) to the Infernals soak against all banned actions, so a ruling of 'none shall harm the Prophets of the Yozi' would apply the increased soak against general attacks, while another of 'fire is forbidden from burning the Green Sun Princes' would apply to flame attacks and fire based environmental effects, while against Orchalicum being used against the world's makers would apply to the Solar's Grand Daiklave or a spat curse against peasants harming their masters would apply to an entire revolt.
Mins:Essence 3
Type: Permeant
Keywords:Obvious
Duration: Permeant
Prerequisite Charms: Counter-Pronouncement Of Enthymemic Law
Cecelyne rides into battle with no armor beyond the laws she has written. They offer surer protection than any crude iron or hammered steel. Whenever the Infernal uses this charm prerequisite, they may pay an extra 4ms, the spoken law forming into blue characters of Old-Realm of solidified law that hover just above the Infernals skin.
This armor of legalese adds (Essence + Lore) to the Infernals soak against all banned actions, so a ruling of 'none shall harm the Prophets of the Yozi' would apply the increased soak against general attacks, while another of 'fire is forbidden from burning the Green Sun Princes' would apply to flame attacks and fire based environmental effects, while against Orchalicum being used against the world's makers would apply to the Solar's Grand Daiklave or a spat curse against peasants harming their masters would apply to an entire revolt.
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Well, trufax - her soul is larger than the Federated States of Micronesia, and only slightly smaller than Singapore.
(Krisity is a theoretically absolute monarchy, let down only by the fact that the absolute monarch doesn't involve herself in most of the day-to-day running of the place. As a result, it's actually practically a feudal society, ie everyone feuds all the time with each other)
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@EarthScorpion , I've been wondering, how do Appearance modifying charms like Demonic Primacy of Essence, My Dark Lady and Endlessly Wailing Flutist interact with Kerisgame Hacks?
Darmani
Cast in the name of Pod, Ye Go Ninty
- Location
- Lansing
I assume he also has a sex drive. If he was just a guy doing a job despicably he'd be Vetinari. Its key he isn't. He has the FLAWS of a human with too much power at the head of an age/seniority based heirarchy not oddly void of them while doing all that other stuff too. Any relationship he'd have would be rife with disgusting power dynamics and abuse. That this one is explicitly with one of his proteges (btw far from a rare occurence in the culture of exalted it was all but venerated in the DB books in parts) adding yet ANOTHER factor to the splinter of the Gold Faction... helps.
I mean its not like the Empress isn't sexually abusive. Panther has a history of drugs, sex, and violence. Swan is the reincarnation of Don Draper if he was a two fisted troubleshooter.
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There is a difference between the master who wants to spend all his time improving his craft quietly in his dojo and the master who wants to take those skills and smite evil. The second one is going to attract exaltations even if the former is stronger because he is more likely to use that power in the ways the gods want exalted to behave (i.e. primodial killing). Which is what they want them for. A dead exalt gets replaced quickly one who sits on his ass can stay out off the battlefield for much longer.
Chloe Sullivan
Subdefective
- Location
- 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale CA
I believe it was already mehtioned that Sasi sees Keris as super beautiful because of DPE and doesn't see mortals as attractive anymore
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
She doesn't just see Keris as beautiful, incidentally. Keris's voice is lovely to her ears, her natural scent is really nice, her skin feels luxuriously decadent, etc. A lot of their personal time involves Sasi quietly stroking Keris's hair or skin with her super-sensitive mind-hands and enjoying the feeling as Keris works on art.
Far more importantly, how many of the theoretically infinite number of them does she use?
Frakir's brother
Goodbye.
- Location
- The Sea of Trees
So I was reading @Revlid's Isidrios charmset, and I noticed something amusing.
Is literally:
"BDB: Don't do the thing." (Blue Desert Bitch)
"Mr. Pig: Imma gonna do the thing!"
STUBBORN GOD-BEAST INDULGENCE
Cost: 6m or 3m or 0m; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Indomitable Hedonism Drive
Isidoros is not to be denied. He smashes through walls and barriers, true, but his ability to shrug off less physical restraints is just as impressive. This Charm can be activated in response to any mental influence that would force the Infernal to abandon, postpone, or restrict himself in any activity. This includes persuasion rooted in the idea that a given activity is impossible or inappropriate. He immediately gains a desire appropriate to that activity, and perfectly parries the mental influence with an open declaration of his intent to fulfil that desire.
This Charm's cost is reduced by three motes if the Infernal already possesses an appropriate desire, or if the subject of the desire is immediately present in the scene. These reductions stack.
Cost: 6m or 3m or 0m; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Indomitable Hedonism Drive
Isidoros is not to be denied. He smashes through walls and barriers, true, but his ability to shrug off less physical restraints is just as impressive. This Charm can be activated in response to any mental influence that would force the Infernal to abandon, postpone, or restrict himself in any activity. This includes persuasion rooted in the idea that a given activity is impossible or inappropriate. He immediately gains a desire appropriate to that activity, and perfectly parries the mental influence with an open declaration of his intent to fulfil that desire.
This Charm's cost is reduced by three motes if the Infernal already possesses an appropriate desire, or if the subject of the desire is immediately present in the scene. These reductions stack.
"BDB: Don't do the thing." (Blue Desert Bitch)
"Mr. Pig: Imma gonna do the thing!"
- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Why must he have a sex drive? Asexality is a thing (hint hint that's me), and Kejak doesn't really strive me as a person who would spend time on sex when he could spend it on other far more important things.
Also: Desus is stupidly written, will ignore.
Even if he has a sex drive(though given the terminology I think it's at least somewhat likely that he does), I don't think that alone is enough to suggest that he will abuse his power in such a way. Especially in such a way that's very liable to explode in his face. You can have relationships with creepy undertones/power dynamics without it being someone using magical powers to make the other person into a sex slave.
Darmani
Cast in the name of Pod, Ye Go Ninty
- Location
- Lansing
Fine, he didn't use a love spell. He used the fact he's head of political secret cult, hundred of years older, her boss AND educator and directed how she was to live her life through a combination of orders, grooming (not just child abuse assumption) and oh yeah fate weaving. Other than that no other violations done.
Salty
Shadow Cabal Assumptor Supreme
- Location
- Sun, Moon, Talia
- Pronouns
- I/Me
Dude, I get that you have a rock-hard throbbing hateboner the size of which Stanewald could not surmount as regards Carjack, but you don't need to turn literally every facet of his life into him being a mustache-twirling villain.
Let the fucking character stand on his own. He's already the man responsible for everything that has happened since the Usurpation. You don't need to smear him with everything else you can throw at him too.
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When I said you didn't need magical powers to do stuff like that, I kinda meant that you didn't need magical powers to do stuff like that.
I think you're assigning significantly more motive than would actually be the case. Given what we know of him, I'd say it's more that he was always available for her, made an extra effort to be pleasant around her, and so on. Basically, he almost certainly doesn't need to go out of his way to force someone to like him: his write up generally talks about how he's a really good socialite. That doesn't mean the relationship is good, or that there aren't really troubling things regarding how things went down or why he's invested in the relationship. But it doesn't have to be because the character is written like 2ed Ebon Dragon.
- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
But why?
Why would he do all of this?
Like seriously, why would I Chejop Kejak, who has played politics that would put the Scarlet Court to shame, since before the birth of the Shogunate, who has a kill-count that would make most Abyssals call me a merciless butcher, who has such a profound knowledge of martial arts that I may well define the face of the martial arts world whenever I actually visibly perform a kata, go to such an effort for a single woman I want to fuck.
I mean, I could have sex with maybe Anys Syn who I can actually kinda connect to and who is almost my equal in the fighting arts, or some other Sidereal, but no I just gotta tap that Gold Faction booty for some reason.
Why?
Occam's Razor dictates that this is pretty retarded, it's too complicated and has waaaaaaaaaaaaay too many moving points to seem sensible. Amusingly I actually prefer @Aaron Peori's "if Tammiz Ushun's reincarnation agrees with me, I'll have been right all along" vision, because even though I disagree with the underlying principle, at least he still fucking acts like a human being instead of a "sidereals are evil bastards" wind-up doll.
Aaron Peori's vision gets the fact that he's not a nice person, but it also gets that it can't make him too much of a not-nice-person, because if it does that, you lose what makes the character interesting and might as well call him Jafar anyways.
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"Appearance" is simply a result of Styles for Presence/Expression which play off your looks. Sasi has an appearance Style based around the fact that she's very much in line with the traditional ideas of Earth-aspected beauty in the Realm, Keris has one based around the fact that she's a mongrel [1] who manages to look exotic basically wherever she goes, and so on. Since they're regular Styles, you avoid Sexy Wasp Syndrome (since Styles are narrower).
So, basically, you have to convert Charms on a Charm by Charm basis to preserve their original intent - you can't just straight port them, sorry.
DPoE basically does two things. Firstly, it makes other people's Appearance-based styles inapplicable to you, because you don't find physical appearance attractive. Instead, people with higher Enlightenment than you get "phantom" Style dots equal to the difference in your Enlightenment (subject to the usual cap). Notice that under the Enlightenment System, Infernals are much better off than in canon when dealing with this because they're starting off with higher Enlightenment than 99+% of stuff in the system, so you don't get the canon problem of "shit, that's a sexy Essence 4 teodozija and I'm an Essence 2 Infernal". Instead, they basically find other Celestials and powerful gods and demons and so on potentially attractive. So you're getting a pretty good deal from this Charm, if you don't mind hitting Enlightenment 10 and finding no one in the setting is hotter than you and that everyone who isn't E10 is an ugly peon.
My Dark Lady (and other Charms that remove the cap on difference in Appearance), I tend to convert by changing them so they instead reduce the number of scenes by one you need to build/destroy a Principle in someone else in some limited area related to the intent of the Charm. So My Dark Lady, which is basically the "I'm a noir femme fatale Charm", reduces the number of scenes required to build desire-Principles towards you or towards vices you offer, or to reduce people's Virtues. It's the Charm for the beautiful woman who walks into a grizzled PI's office with a murder case, and he finds himself falling for her even though he knows she's trouble.
(It's not an intercourse Charm, because "sex" is less important to a noir femme fatale than desire. It helps you make people want you, or want the things you offer, so you can use them as patsies - and it makes it easier to corrode their virtues so their moral principles don't get in the way of you using them and discarding them.)
Endlessly Wailing Flutist probably doesn't get anything, because "Use Performance in place of Appearance" is basically a side benefit attached to this Charm to allow your mad hobo musicians to not have to be supermodels just to captivate people with their music. Since you don't need to be a supermodel to be socially effective with the Kerisgame attributes, there's no need for it.
[1] If you converted her parents' ethnicities into Earth ones, her father would look basically Persian and her mother looks Somalian, so Keris is sort of Afro-Iranian. Then Haneyl and Vali have some of Sasi's sort-of-Chinese look in them, Rathan has a Slavic edge, and Echo and Calesco are... um, Reidorjani.
- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
But why would you want to?
Maybe you just don't get a buzz from them.