I'm really not fond of the stuff ES goes with where everything is just distilled where all the Exalted are just a hunter killer weapon system gone rogue and basically nixing the whole "Righteous champions of the gods" bit of the Exalted when everything has to be systematized to all about that "design" about fighting the war that is completely irreverent to the vast majority of games. Really sucks out a lot of cool ideas that don't fit within that mold for character concepts; for example think Gordan Ramsey is a perfectly valid example to draw for inspiration of Solar.
Well, the point of that interpretation is that it's a matter of perspective. Exalted are
both champions of the gods
and hunter-killer systems. Exalted has spent a lot of time contextualizing the mythic and supernatural with understandable or entertaining metaphor. We as readers
understand the idea of emergent behaviors, cognitive science and philosophy that went into creating the 'conditions' of Exaltation as a hunter-killer system. We're shown that, so we can interpret and comprehend Autochthon's genius alongside the Incarnae's own considerable contributions.
To the man-on-the-ground, the Exalt, he is as much a champion of the gods as a handy vector for a dispassionate semi-autonomous weapon.
Now, the
really interesting part, which is where your Ramsay notion comes in, is that Exaltation did not seek out soldiers or warriors or anyone even remotely aligned with the Incarnae's causes- that all happened later under direct action by the Incarnae and their agents. Oh sure there were exceptions like Alhat giving the Sun a list of potential heroes to Exalt, but for the most part, Exaltation sought out
heroes. They were trained, yes, likely indoctrinated, but if you have a vision of a standardized, regimented block of 300 solars and 300 Lunars, I cannot help but think that's in error.
My point is, the wide and varied metaphor of Exalted is for us to
draw out themes and impressions, instead of locking down. Like, if you did not have the cynical, unvarnished angle of 'Hunter Killer System', or realizing that the Gods were
devices that happened to have enough of a personality to understand they weren't happy in their lives, you wouldn't get to do anything special with the backstory or characterization. You wouldn't get to say that your Ramsay Solar, given power to slay the titans, now is confronted with the fact that he has the ability to be
the best chef ever... But he always has to contend with the history that everyone around him knows that he holds a terrifying weapon.
Meandered a bit- what I'm trying to say is that the Exaltations were created as a weapon, but their broadness and applicability in more domains than that was unexpected and unplanned, but not necessarily unwelcome.
A good example of this cynicsm in action is the heavenly view of Love, as characterized by Venus- I'm sure you've run into it before, but to summarize. Love is slavery, and inherently unfair or unequal. You are
always giving of yourself to someone else's needs before your own, and we are intended to understand what Venus thinks and acts based on this behavior.
By the same token, Venus's nature reveals a blindspot- Love is always one-sided, one directional... but two people can love each other, and to them, it's
perfectly equal.
