General Exalted Thread
Neall's heading it up.
Revlid(no idea what he's up to) is working on it, and some of the writers for different pantheons did an intro thingy.
Here, here, and here.
Other writers that I know about, but whom have not done interviews/introductions are Meghan Fitzgerald(writing the Tuatha) and Danielle Lauzon(Egyptian gods).
I also think Robert Vance might be working on it, but I'm not sure. Anyways, those are all the ones I know about and I've undoubtedly missed people.
- Location
- Ottawa
James Mendez Hodes...that's Lula, right?
- Location
- New York City
Yep.
Maudova Relic: Phalange of Omnibu’Shen
- Location
- Portland
Phalange of Omnibu'Shen
Please critique and offer suggestions.
Relic Wrackstaff (Longfang or Direlance works too), Artifact (·····)
This staff is carved from the blackened glass finger bone of Omnibu'Shen, The Keeper of Words of Power, Fallen Fetich Soul of He Who Bleeds the Unknown Word. The base of the stave is shod in starmetal etched with a single sigil of power, capped with a pair of orchalcum prods with an adamant sphere suspended between. Though impressive as the staff appears the most catching feature is the Moonsilver filigree along the shaft. Etched in the the most elegant old realm script is a story of a clever Lunar that ensorceled Omnibu'Shen with a riddle so complex and arcane that it drove him mad in the process of solving it. Finally solving the riddle, he inadvertently spoke aloud the answer, and that was the moment he realized it was a trap.Please critique and offer suggestions.
Relic Wrackstaff (Longfang or Direlance works too), Artifact (·····)
The answer was a curse, fueled by his own innate cosmic power, that reversed the fated outcome of the speakers next action. As a creature of pure silent contemplation his first spoken words railed against his very soul, releasing all of his power and secret words into the foundations of creation, breathing secrets that still lie there to this day. Some say the curse was the cause of his speech, that it inverting his essence, turning every aspect of his soul hierarchy against himself. The explosion of power released previously unknown syntax and semantics into the substrata of creation building the interface for some of the greatest and most terrible workings creation had ever seen.
Those that wield the stave claim it speaks in furious screams heard as if from a great distance and offers them visions from deep within it's primordial mind. Sometimes from the moment of death where all the words of power escaped from his skull at once, other times sigils, glyphs, and symbols overwhelmly poured across their vision and minds. These visions often come without warning and instill a an unspeakable rage within the wielder. However each image, word, and glyph imparts primordial power to the wielder reshaping their understanding of the foundations of creation.
A Celestial Exalt may spend 3 additional motes while attuning to the Omnibu'shen granting 1 point of syntax on a successful withering or decisive attack. In addition she gains 1 non-charm die to all forms of silent communication, spells, evocations, charms, and shaping effects that depict symbols, glyphs, sigils, or written works per tier of sorcery mastered.
Thematics, Function, and Consequences
Evocations of the Phalange of Omnibu'Shen follow several themes including words and language, rage, madness, sorcerous power, curses, deep understanding and contemplative enlightenment. The Shaping Rituals, Mysteries, and Absorptions tap into both his wisdom and insight as well as the insanity of Omnibu'Shen. A few Evocations and Shaping Rituals tap into themes and concepts from He Who Bleeds the Unknown Word, as well as hint at his reincarnated as Elloge the Sphere of Speech.
The effects produced by this relic twist the nature of creation to the wielders will causing threads of fate to twang and hum with its power shortly after it's use. Fate spiders and sidereals swear they see the threads shift but have been unable to determine if the fates are changing or what the source is. Were they to discover the Phalange and understand what it truly was, it would be immediately marked for extraction from it's owner and placed in a vault (or laboratory) in Yu Shan.
Evocations of Omnibu'Shen
Evocation Design Lines
3 Core branches Mixing at Essence 3 and 5 following a straight path from Transubstantiation of the Furious Soul.
Syntax for Reversals & Curses (Bitter Resentment and Trauma):, hindering opponents,
Syntax for Madness & Rage (Speech is Shame):
Syntax for Enlightenment & Cosmic Power (Righteous Indomitability):
Bleeding for Syntax: Bleed Power to Fuel Syntax creation.
In a Pyramid (Temple) formation. With each tier requiring the Bleeding Evocation plus the one before it, and the at each sorcerous tier they must intermix themes.
Transubstantiation of the Furious Soul
Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Perilous
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Terrestrial Circle Sorcery
Bleeding the unbound potential of their own exalted soul into the interface of Omnibu'Shen it swells with arcane syntax. On any turn in which the Solar wields Phalange of Omnibu'Shen in combat she may convert 1 point of initiative into 1 point of syntax(nx), up to a maximum of her essence+1 per turn. If the wielder joins battle with a higher initiative than all opponents this evocation may be activated reflexively.
Special Activation Rules: Rather than being bought with experience, Transubstantiation of the Furious Soul is learned after first time the wielder gains a crash break in combat.
Burning Sigil Strike
Cost: 2m, 2nx; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Uniform
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Transubstantiation of the Furious Soul
By channeling syntax through the core of the Phalange the sigils on the shaft burn with a brilliant crimson light pulsing at the striking plane. This evocation is activated after the attack is rolled but before damage is applied, increasing the minimum damage by the sorcerers tier of sorcerous initiation.
Syntax(nx)
Sorcerers wielding Omnibu'Shen in combat have a number of ways of generating and storing energy into the interface, the adamant sphere capping the stave, this energy is called Syntax(nx). The staff can store up to the attuned sorcerers Intelligence + Occult in syntax a time and absorbing into the interface after a scene. Syntax can be converted into sorcerous motes reflexively on a 2:1 bases or be spent to power its evocations at a 1:1 ratio.
Trembling Lips Curse
Cost: 1nx per attack; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Uniform
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Burning Sigil Strike
As the wielder's mind erupts in a cascade of forgotten pain, fragments of Omnibu'Shen's death curse escape from her lips. The words explode from her throat in a horrifying death scream, allowing her to make attacks against enemies using the statistics of Omnibu'Shen rolling Dexterity + Occult, removing the default accuracy bonus, and adding the thrown (short) tag.
Vallation of the Vulgate
Cost: 2nx per attack; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Transubstantiation of the Furious Soul
Written in the foundations of cosmic laws states that none-shall violate the whole of the primordials and with this evocation the stave and wielders names become conterminous in its passages. Those that attempt to perform an attack against the wielder that would permanently alter her mind, body, or soul into something that could not wield the Phalange of Omnib'Shen automatically fail. In addition the attacker must spend 1 willpower to prevent the backlash of energy emanating from the staff from causing a minor if not similar effect on the attacker, repeated inverted attacks have a communicative effect on attackers. Treat this evocation as if it the wielder and staff met the criteria in Destiny Manifest Method Ex3 Core Pg. 304.
Oeuvre of Inversion
Cost: 5m, 2nx per tier; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Trembling Lips Curse
Binding the Shinma of separation and the principle of identity into a blurred glyph within the interface she breaks the lines of reason and comprehension to all who would act upon her. Anyone, friend or foe, attempting to take action on the wielder or staff suffers a shaping effect that reduces their potential, the wielder may lower an opponent's maximum natural dice pools by a maximum of wielders tier of sorcerous initiation +1. This does not affect static numbers such as Defense or Resolve, only rolled effects. Anyone that has learned the silent language from Incuculate of the Unknown Word is immune to this effect.
Calibration of the Icon
Cost: 5m, 3nx; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Vulgate of Inversion
While the sorcerers anima is at the bonfire level or higher she may infuse her display with new meaning. Her iconic anima is transformed as complex diagrams, symbols, equations, and a maddening litany to the creators of the universe and the wielder writes itself upon her aura. If the wielder is unarmored it grants essence + (sorcerous tier) soak, and (Sorcerous tier) hardness. If she is wearing armor or under the effects of some other power granting her soak and or hardness she gains a bonus to soak and hardness equal to her sorcerous tier. In addition each time a decisive strike is landed against her while the Icon is active she receives 1+ damage dealt syntax. This effect increased the maximum amount of syntax by the wielders essence score temporarily so long as CotI is active. If her anima flares from dim to iconic in one turn she may activate this evocation reflexively. Similarly if her anima is reduced to glowing level or lower the effect of the Evocation end.
Shaping Rituals
The relic of Omnibu'Shen resonates with world shaping power. Those that attune to it and gaze into the sphere experience a terrible enlightenment as the fragment of Omnibu'Shen's soul that still survives in its heart, speaks primordial words of power blasting open the doors of her soul. To the wielder, the world is redefined as an arbitrary system of of interacting symbols that she can manipulate through its syntax. These sorcerers tend to see everything in terms of symbols and communication: map and territory, call and response, rhetoric and games.
Sitting in silent contemplation of the complexity of the laws that govern creation, sorcery, and its primordial creators. Her will is eroded as she loses herself in the endless diagrams, sigils, and equations that make up the foundation of the cosmos. By burning a willpower, she may roll (Intelligence + Occult) gaining essence + success sorcerous motes. These motes last until the dawn of the next day (or equivalent if not in creation).
Writing a sutra about Omnibu'Shen and the fate of the written word the sorcerer expands the mythos of the fallen primordial soul. This takes no less than one hour and at the culmination of the ritual she consumes the writing and internalizes the story tuning the words into a prayer to herself and the staff. She rolls ((Charisma or Manipulation) + Linguistics) each success grants 1 sorcerous mote that lasts for up to a week. She may only have one such set of motes at any one time, and subsequent uses of this ritual replace previous ones.
When the sorcerer takes the first shape sorcery action to begin casting a spell and stunts it with a description of how she casts the spell through the Phalange or draws on its power, she gains (stunt rating + 2) sorcerous motes towards completing this spell. This benefit can only be received once per scene. Stunts to enhance spells with spoken or written components do not count against the once per scene limit.
Mysteries (Other Benefits)
Inculcate the Unknown Word (Merit ··)
The presence of the the Phalange of Omnibu'Shen inculcates an understanding of language into the wielder so deep that she may learn to communicate without words to any being that understands Old Realm. This language is a series of gestures, ticks, postures written into the foundation of all spiritual beings. She may teach this language to any that gaze into the interface of Omnibu'Shen willingly.
Semantics of Sorcery (Merit ····)
Initiates of Omnibu'Shen intuitively understand the semantics of the primordials sorcerous construct. By manipulating the syntax of the language of the shinma she is able to devise new versions of the spells she already knows. She may changing one aspect of its manifestation such as the shape of its area, point of origin, underlying substance or elemental nature. The spell costs the same amount of sorcerous motes and cannot be more powerful than the base spell. The experience cost and training time to invent and learn the new spell is half the normal amount.
Absorbing Shinmaic Syntax (Merit ···)
Those that witness the mind of the Omnibu'Shen and absorb his maddening vision also touch upon his enlightened understanding of the complexity of the universe. By witnessing a sorcerous spell of working of a circle in which she can normally attain she gains an immediate understanding of what she witnessed. This grants the sorcerer the ability to learn any spell she has witnessed by parsing out the structure of the spell costing the normal amount of experience but taking twice the training time. In addition the difficulty to detect and discern the location of any sorcerous working is lowered by 1 to a minimum of 1.
This can also be found on google drive
Edited to reflect changes present in original document
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
A few questions about undead, occultism and Ancestor Cults in particular.
1. Is it possible for ghosts to inhabit or empower objects that hold significance? (Staves, cloaks, masks and amulets in particular.) If so, could they possibly speak through them to the wearer?
2. Can the Dead teach the living charms, sorcery, thaumaturgy or alchemy? (My question is do they retain enough knowledge to pass it on.)
3. Can Ancestor Cults live on without their descendants?
4. What kinds of things can occultism, geomancy and alchemy accomplish? The sourcebook is very vague on this.
1. Is it possible for ghosts to inhabit or empower objects that hold significance? (Staves, cloaks, masks and amulets in particular.) If so, could they possibly speak through them to the wearer?
2. Can the Dead teach the living charms, sorcery, thaumaturgy or alchemy? (My question is do they retain enough knowledge to pass it on.)
3. Can Ancestor Cults live on without their descendants?
4. What kinds of things can occultism, geomancy and alchemy accomplish? The sourcebook is very vague on this.
Disclaimer: I'm a more casual player than the people who usually homebrew or answer inquiries on this thread, so I can only answer questions 2 and 3, and I might be wrong on those, but I'll try to help.
Ghosts can technically teach all those things to people who can learn them, they even remain capable of using Sorcery, Martial Arts, and Thaumaturgy of levels ghosts can learn. Native Charms of the type of being they were before dying are more tricky, because they can't actually use them, so all they can do is give you the theory behind them without examples. Generally, this means that they can only inform someone capable of recreating the charm on their own that it exists and what they should aim for when trying to do so, but if it was a signature technique of theirs in life, they may have a mechanically identical version of it as a Panoply Charm. If they do, they then count as a full teacher of it. Even if they don't and can only give the theory, though, knowing what you want to create and thus actively working on it tends to be better than most untaught Exalts are, and it only takes a few weeks to learn it.
Ancestor cults don't need to be related to the ghost they are praying to in any way, so yes. The reason they're called that is because the single most common reason for people to start praying to a ghost is because it is the ghost of a family member who can and probably will help them. If a ghost manages to recruit people who do not have any relationship to them into a cult, though, it works just as well as if they were family.
Aaron Peori
Rest in Peace
1: Yes, inhabiting objects is a ghostly power.
2: The Dead can teach anything they recall from their life but they might not always recall useful skills. The formerly Exalted dead can teach Charms they no longer can use.
3: This is a contradiction,m without the living descendants the ancestor cult would not exist. The ghosts that were a focus of it may continue to exist, but the cult itself is gone. Though its possible, I suppose, for the ancestor cult to worship ghosts that are not technically their ancestors (either via deception, deal making or duress).
4: Occultism is just a term for 'thing handled by Occult rolls" so that basically includes identifying magic (Charms, sorcery, thaumaturgy) and magical beings (Exalts, spirits including demons, ghosts, gods and elementals, fair folk and other strangeness) and knowing their basic traits. Occult will let you know that fair folk are weak to iron or that the guy with the shining sun brand on his forehead is Not To Be Messed With. Geomancy can have wide ranging effects on the local environment such as making a region more fertile or less and so on as well as creating, empowering, weakening and destroying demenses and creating, controlling or destroying shadowlands and wyld tainted lands. It requires massive public works to accomplish that may take generation along the lines of building giant dams, leveling mountains and so on. On a personal level, it can make a house more comfortable to live in. Alchemy can create various tinctures and tonics from poisons to restoratives as well as refine the Magical Materials.
- Location
- Pittsburgh, PA
I think he meant "is there something special about being worshiped by blood relations that make ancestor cults possible, or is the organization we're calling an 'ancestor cult' better defined as 'any ghost (or ghosts) who draws power from being prayed to by the living'".
- Location
- Spain
Honestly, i would rule that a ghost can stay sanner* if it's worshipped by their descendants than by random people, since the essence has a more fitting resonance.
A ghost worshipped as a god or a patron saint should warp over time to be a personification of what their worshipers see them as.
*(this is a very relative term, but still).
Well, a ghost with an ancestor cult probably develops charms themed around it. So the old matron who's watched over her family for ten generations has power over her descendants that she wouldn't have over unrelated mortals, and she can use that power to both protect her family and force them to be her cult.
Queshire
Wants a pink flamingo for their lawn.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Eh, I'm not sure. Ancestor cult just seems like a term of convenience to me. I don't think it would change anything if it was a Hero cult worshiping some local legend, seeing the dead as something like saints or something like that. Whatever the form of the cult there's presumably some reason for the worship.
samdamandias
Apprentice Plane Wizard
Huh. So in this case, Solar War is about being the shiny general who leads from the front, while Sidereal War focuses on getting small forces into the right position at the right time. Hitting memetic CREEEEEEED would be about the middle probably, and being able to pull Deathmark-esque ambushes closer to the end.
(In 40K, Necron Deathmarks have a special rule that lets them deep strike onto an enemy unit that tried to deep strike, and then attack out of turn. They aren't that good statwise, but they can really screw up somebody else's plans.)
- Location
- Singapore
A question. Actually, several.
1. How possible is it for alchemicals to have Wyld-cauldron technology?
2. What do you think of the dragonblooded having cooperative craft charms, where several terrestrials working on the same project allows them to make artifacts at 4 dots or higher?
3. i found a thing. What do you think of it? Rebuilding the Realm: Terrestrial Style - Onyx Path Forums
2. What do you think of the dragonblooded having cooperative craft charms, where several terrestrials working on the same project allows them to make artifacts at 4 dots or higher?
3. i found a thing. What do you think of it? Rebuilding the Realm: Terrestrial Style - Onyx Path Forums
Generally-speaking, not very, because it isn't in their wheelhouse to straight-up warp reality into any shapes they wish. Partially this stems from having no access to the Wyld or anything similar to it as precedence, and partially from the fact that manipulating the Wyld on a single-actor scale does very little to advance their primary themes, Infrastructure and Stability.
The Alchemical solution to this would look more like an extended geomancy Thaumaturgy project than a Wyld-shaping Charm, attempting to lock the shape of reality through the use of some kind of resonant grid of jade and crystal components seeded throughout the area, and working with the resulting shape-frozen landscape rather than manually terraforming it. Its the Alchemical deal to need to lay down groundwork in place of declaring things just Be.
- Location
- Singapore
Can they do it in Pure Chaos/ Pretty darn deep in the wyld?
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Alchemicals have a God Machine Protocol (their Sorcery equivalent, for reasons of robo cancer Alchemicals can't safely use proper Sorcery) that lets them use Wyld Shaping Technique. It requires access to the Wyld. Which doesn't exist in Autochton.
So basically the Protocol is gathering dust in the archives and noone knows it.
So basically the Protocol is gathering dust in the archives and noone knows it.
- Location
- Singapore
Well, since they can use it, and I extrapolate they can use wyld cauldron tech.... I think....
basically, I was thinking about the jadeborn, and then Authchon's flight from creation into Elsewhere, and how the loss of contact with the Wyld is slowly killing him due to lack of materials. So I was thinking..... what if instead of fleeing the Solars by jumping into Elsewhere, he grabs dragonblooded, mortals, the jadeborn, and then runs away into the Wyld. Deep enough, that hopefully the Solars would not be able to find him, or wouldn't bother to. Then using Demiurges and the People of Adamant, he then creates Alchemical exalted. Then uses them to build a new Creation. Then starts building up an army using Dragonblooded and Alchemical exalted, using the Wyld around him. Either for self-defense, when the Solars start looking for him, or for payback against the Solars for backstabbing him.
Yeah yeah, I probably got a few things wrong, but what do you think of the idea?
Yeah yeah, I probably got a few things wrong, but what do you think of the idea?
I know I lay a lot of blame at the feet of the Alchemicals 2e book, but honestly the treatment of Weaving as "Super-Sorcery minus Demon Summoning but plus a grab-bag of random bullshit we wanted Alchemicals to have but didn't want to try justifying through physical-Charms yet also something apparently every high-level Machine God has access too, while clearly going against the stated intent of the Alchemical Charmset" is among the worst and most egregious examples of it.
It happened in 1e because the Weaving section was given about 8 pages of spells to make its case for being a distinct practice wholly separate from Sorcery, and doubling down on "Sorcery but Better" has honestly done it no favors in return.
Sucal
The Devil’s Cut
- Location
- Bottom of the barrel
Eh
I dunno.
I could potentially see ways to make Weaving different to Sorcery without too much extra work, at least assuming it doesn't become another initiation. With the 3e system at least, you can double down on the 'it has been carefully codified to avoid contamination' aspect by ensuring it doesn't have any other of the benefits that come from being a sorceror (ie initians, rituals, 'freelance' casting), only being able to be the hard codified prefined stuff.
I'd give the Machine Gods access to proper sorcery though, make it an element of risk yet reward in dealing with them (or with them needing to gain an Alchemicals aid in dealing with a side effect).
Sorcery and Martial arts will always be the special snowflake ablities wise though, for Alchemicals and Sidereals alike
- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Supported in canon actually; the Eye of The Fire Dragon is a level-five Artifact made by ten Dragon-Blooded artificiers working in tandem.
- Location
- Singapore
But any actual charm for that?
- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
None, though I might write some when I don't have to type on a phone.
- Location
- Singapore
Ok bro.
Damn.
This might be derail, but how does normal training times in exalted for mortals and exalts compare to real life?