- Location
- Singapore
Because those solars were literally thousand year old Solars, with several being Primordial war veterans. They were mostly essence 6 or 7, or 5. Which are when any exalted becomes very, very scary.
General Exalted Thread
Imrix
Periodically Malevolent QM
Exalted are scary from Essence 2-5. Most of the Essence 6+ material has been badly written tosh. The Deliberative Solars required such measures because they were each paranoid god-kings with thousands of years worth of accumulated sorcery, artifacts, bodyguards, and fortifications. That's why the Usurpation was planned out to catch as many Solars as possible when they were separated from those advantages - and when it worked, the Solars died like chumps.
Well, probable, but being mobbed by dozens upon dozens of E4-E6+ DBs and/or being ganked by high Essence Sids with SMA charms (and other charms too) is likely a significant factor as well.
Imrix
Periodically Malevolent QM
Yep! They got lynch mobbed by people they'd dismissed as servants. They died like chumps.
- Location
- Singapore
I suppose I misunderstood then. But perhaps we have differing interpretations of "chumped"? Being caught unawares by dozens/hundreds of warriors several centuries old and/or fate ninja with several millennia worth of experience/power doesn't seem too scrub-like to me.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
It is if you consider all of them chumps.
Imrix
Periodically Malevolent QM
For me, the key point is that they couldn't make a fight of it. The Solars styled themselves as God-Kings, as Princes of the Earth, matchless and invincible, and then they got jumped by a lynch mob against which they were swiftly, brutally outmatched, so that all their vaunted power and excellence amounted to nothing.
- Location
- Singapore
Huh?
Is he referring to the Usurpation? Because I'm fairly sure that the Solars made a fight out of it.
- Location
- Ottawa
You sure about that?
Been a while since I read anything about the Usurpation, but as I recall the books make it out to have been quite a battle.
Sidereal corebook mentions that thousands of DBs and dozens of Sids (more than the Bronze faction expected) were killed in the Usurpation.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
...how, exactly?
Probably some of the more combat oriented Dawns/Zeniths/etc. The more Social/less combat oriented Solars were likely slaughtered with relative ease.
Bursting Eagerness Soul
Threadwalking Rating Machine
- Location
- Wisconsin
I'd put a lot of this on the fact that not every Solar is going to be combat specced, and of those that are, even fewer will actually have their gear on them at a celebration of peace, while it would be idiotic for any DB or Sidereal participating in the Usurpation to not be a fully prepared combat monster. Any Solar who was able to out up a fight likely did so rather well before being overwhelmed by the odds.
Last edited:
Yes, but if you trust the Sidereal death count figures given across the line, there's a fair chance that more Sidereals may have died in the Usurpation than existed.
I mean, they claim Silur killed "a full dozen Sidereal martial arts masters" in the Usurpation.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
- Location
- Singapore
triggering self-destruct sequences?
Suicide attacks by combat-specced dawns?
Twilights deciding that its time to release a spell to bring everyone with them?
dudes bringing their superweapons out of elsewhere and blowing them up?
Because say whatever you want about solars, they can get real scary.
Imrix
Periodically Malevolent QM
Yes. Which the Solars inevitably lost. "To make a fight of it" implies that the outcome was ever in doubt, and it wasn't. I mean, the Solars fought, sure, but they were never going to win. If the Usurpation was going to be averted, it would have to happen prior to the Calibration Feast.
If a combat-specced Solar goes up against a Usurpation Sidereal/DB kill-team, the Solar dies. Period. They die like a little bitch. They die face down in the mud, wailing incoherent questions like "why?" and "who?" and "how does my hair hurt?"
The ones that didn't go down like chumps? Those were the ones who died after the initial decapitating strike, because they didn't attend the Calibration Feast and remained holed up in their own cities, with their superweapons and fortresses and armies, which frequently included Dragonblooded loyal to them.
Last edited:
Salty
Shadow Cabal Assumptor Supreme
- Location
- Sun, Moon, Talia
- Pronouns
- I/Me
The reality of it was that the Slaughter at the Feast was not the whole of the Usurpation. Some Solars weren't there. Some of them weren't quite so off their guard. A very few managed to escape.
The Usurpation was not a battle. It was a war.
The Usurpation was not a battle. It was a war.
It is interesting to consider the impact that such high Sidereal casualties would have on the development of Creation and Yu Shan in the aftermath of the Usurpation. The Dragonblood of this era could restore their numbers with relative ease simply by waiting for the next generation to grow up but it could take centuries for new Sidereals to develop the vast power of an elder Sidereal Exalt. The Dragon-Blooded in the early Shogunate era would need only a relative short time to return to a pre-Usurpation level of power but it would take the Sidereal Exalted as a whole a very long time to rebuild their power. This would provide the Dragon-blooded with a decisive advantage and is another good explanation for why the Breaking of the Mask was necessary.
I would imagine that the surviving Sidereal exalted were also in a unique position as the inability of newly Exalted Sidereals to access reliable records on them following the Breaking of the Mask and the relatively small number of Elder Exalted who actually knew how everything worked gave a few individuals the ability to essentially recreate Sidereal society.
On a similar note Creation in the early Shogunate era was unique in that it was probably one of the few times in which powerful elder Sidereals were not able to use their pervasive powers and position in the Burea of Destiny to guide humanity. Cultural trends and practices that were subtly discouraged by the fate-bending powers of the Sidereals and the Burea of Destiny would have been allowed to flourish in the chaotic aftermath of the Usurpation. This could be one explanation for why the practice of Dragon-blooded breeding with humans ceased being taboo and as a point of origin for demonic influence in Creation.
I would imagine that the surviving Sidereal exalted were also in a unique position as the inability of newly Exalted Sidereals to access reliable records on them following the Breaking of the Mask and the relatively small number of Elder Exalted who actually knew how everything worked gave a few individuals the ability to essentially recreate Sidereal society.
On a similar note Creation in the early Shogunate era was unique in that it was probably one of the few times in which powerful elder Sidereals were not able to use their pervasive powers and position in the Burea of Destiny to guide humanity. Cultural trends and practices that were subtly discouraged by the fate-bending powers of the Sidereals and the Burea of Destiny would have been allowed to flourish in the chaotic aftermath of the Usurpation. This could be one explanation for why the practice of Dragon-blooded breeding with humans ceased being taboo and as a point of origin for demonic influence in Creation.
- Location
- Ottawa
You have a very unusual definition of "little bitch".
That aside, I don't think the Usurpation was as revenge-porn-y as you apparently want it to be. Both because of what the books say and because, personally, I dislike that sort of writing. Feels fake, ahistorical. Events are rarely so poetic or so psychologically indulgent.
- Location
- Singapore
I'm fairly sure that the Solar's gonna kill several of the kill-team.
That is, by definition, not a little bitch.
samdamandias
Apprentice Plane Wizard
The way I see it, a Space Marine should be somewhere between a Tiger Warrior and powerful spirit in terms of stats. Enought that on average they are better than an Exalt before charms.
And then the Solar pops Accuracy Without Distance and drops a Krak Grenade through the exhaust pipes of a tank at 300 meters, or manages to fire a Melta down the inside of the barrel at five times the maximum range for a Melta and watch the tank explode in a satisfying fireball.
I think the guy that ran Titan Princeps Quest or Inqusitor Quest might have something to say about this, since those were 3E solars in 40K
Last edited:
Imrix
Periodically Malevolent QM
/me rolls eyes
Every description of the Usurpation makes it clear that as far as the Solars were concerned, it came out of basically nowhere. They were blindsided by people within their own courts who had been preparing for this for years. You think it's 'fake' for people who are ambushed and blindsided at their very weakest to get stomped on? Uh-huh. No, this is just how Exalted works, because at its heart, the game has a respect for the cynical, pragmatic approach to fights. It's why surprise negators are so affordable, because the game understands that ambushing somebody is a really big force multiplier.
(And, seriously, 'revenge porn-y'? Whuh? Where did that come from?)
I don't think they would, frankly. And I think it wouldn't matter if they did.
Like, honestly, why should the Solars of the First Age go out like badasses? They're mostly old monsters, sick with arrogant madness and decadent power run amok, and, crucially, this isn't their story.
Last edited: