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General Exalted Thread

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Accelerator said:
She is the principal of Hierarchy, which she means she wants the greater to become greater, and the weak to become weaker. She is the one that crushes rebels, the one that destroys those who would try to overthrow the system. She is the one that gives powers to kings and rulers.

Thus, what a second circle would want is for people to obey orders. For people to stay in their place. For people to stay in their place in society. But such a thing is rather abstract. I'm not sure on how to make a 1st circle demon for it. The best I can come up is a demon whose whispers makes everyone more subservient to their superiors, and for people to slowly lose free will, slowly becoming slaves.
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Enforcing order - Warriors of various stripes, fulfilling different specialized roles in a military force.
Expanding order - Musicians, orators, those who seek out those not in the order and seduce them into it.
Enhancing order - Bureaucrats, scribes, engineers. Those who build to make the order grander

But a 2CD can have VERY divergent goals from their parent primordial. Just too far removed. So for 1CDs I think tracing lineage is not as important as what purpose they have. Heck, I could see multiple yozis producing the same 1CD from convergent design to meet a common need.
 
Accelerator said:
She is the principal of Hierarchy, which she means she wants the greater to become greater, and the weak to become weaker. She is the one that crushes rebels, the one that destroys those who would try to overthrow the system. She is the one that gives powers to kings and rulers.

Thus, what a second circle would want is for people to obey orders. For people to stay in their place. For people to stay in their place in society. But such a thing is rather abstract. I'm not sure on how to make a 1st circle demon for it. The best I can come up is a demon whose whispers makes everyone more subservient to their superiors, and for people to slowly lose free will, slowly becoming slaves.
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I remember that someone came up with a couple methods of 3CDs creating 1CDs. The first was by siring a demonblooded mortal that then ascended to 1CD-hood and then became progenitor to a new race of demon - I haven't seen anyone make a First Circle Demon using that idea, but off the cuff I'd assume you could try to determine their nature based on what kind of person the race's first member was and how he related to his demonic parent.

The other was that Unquestionables (or even the Yozis themselves) can semi-unconsciously create 1CDs just in the course of their actions - one of the examples was a breed of living shield-scroll-things that form when Qaf speaks, because his words are so saturated with wisdom that the air itself takes form so that they may be recorded for all time. So you could have:

- Sancelinian 1CDs birthed from the discordant cacophonies that result from her ideological debates with one of Oramus' souls, creating minor demons that are designed to purge X-factors from things and reinforce existing infrastructure because they're instinctive manifestations of the fear that created them: the fear that Order and Purpose are meaningless before the mindless chaos of the cosmos, and that all things shall have their end.

- When Hidrae, the Scar of Empires, is driven from a portion of Malfeas, lingering remnants of her power impart the semblance of life on some of the city-flesh left behind, giving rise to twisted bogles of cracked black stone and oxidized brass which creep through the Demon City and chew away at its mightiest fortresses and grandest towers. They are her disdain for the powerful and beautiful wrought in stony flesh, and purging nests of the wretched things before they inflict too much damage on a Citizen's holdings is a common chore for Malfean serfs.

In other words, take the idea of how Primordials' beliefs are so metaphysically intense that they take on physical form and sapience and apply it to even passing emotional states - moments of happiness, fits of rancor, black moods, any of it can give rise to a demon or two, shed from their progenitor's vastness like a bead of sweat or a flake of dead skin.
 
RedV said:
Why do you think his current portrayal is very negative? I found his 2e portrayal lolz, though obviously not very protagonising. The Ebon Dragon is fun. He represents that heretical impulse that lies in the hearts of men, the devil whispering to Eve in the garden. He is interesting in his ability to transgress against the prevailing order. The constant betrayal part is funny and the memes it has spawned are part of what drew me into Exalted.

He's a very good antagonist to have and certainly can be interacted with more than Malfeas or Kimbery or SWLiHN.

I also really like his charms and Exellency (with the exception of Memory Poison Mastery which only suits certain characters).
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I think it depends upon what book in 2e.

How Ebon dragon was depicted in "Return of The Scarlet Empress" is an example of a negative depiction. Probably more negative than the Infernal manual?
Although the charms themselves from that book weren't really any more "evil" than compared to his core set.
 
Graypairofsocks said:
I think it depends upon what book in 2e.

How Ebon dragon was depicted in "Return of The Scarlet Empress" is an example of a negative depiction. Probably more negative than the Infernal manual?
Although the charms themselves from that book weren't really any more "evil" than compared to his core set.
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Hm. I haven't read RoTSE , so I am missing some part of his portrayal.

What was problematic about the Ebon Dragon in that book?
 
RedV said:
Hm. I haven't read RoTSE , so I am missing some part of his portrayal.

What was problematic about the Ebon Dragon in that book?
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The elements of him being the Nemesis get turned up to eleven, to the point where it's just cartoonish evil instead of regular opposition. He becomes this loser who just kinda wants to be a Sephiroth-like ultimate being, who wants to make a world where his evil is law, free will exists to be trampled on, and suffering is the underpinning of everything. He kind of self-sabotages, with his own souls turning on each other because it's in their nature. To put it bluntly, though it's entertaining, he stops being interesting and just becomes an unsympathetic obstacle who just won't die.
 
EarthScorpion said:
Rather than having lots of interactions with Compassion, Adrian interacts with Conviction. She uses it to resist any pain (and turn wound penalties into bonuses), and avoid anyone swaying her from her obsessions. Tragic Love Amusement is replaced with something that lets her form desire-based Intimacies at a whim - Freedom Lets Go doesn't exist, but she has something which lets her transform her desires into new desires if she sees something more interesting. She's not a murder-buddha - she's a murder-Buddhist demon, a creature of vice and attachment.
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Clearly one of Adrian's Third Circles is the Shepard.

(Although that would make the name a Half-Life reference I am actually referencing Mass Effect here, what with the high-Conviction main character who spends tons of time doing random sidequests because they show up and are interesting).
 
MJ12 Commando said:
Clearly one of Adrian's Third Circles is the Shepard.

(Although that would make the name a Half-Life reference I am actually referencing Mass Effect here, what with the high-Conviction main character who spends tons of time doing random sidequests because they show up and are interesting).
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The Shepard's favourite shop in Yu Shan was demolished by the victorious gods, and the Bureau of Endings is built atop it.
 
Parabola said:
The elements of him being the Nemesis get turned up to eleven, to the point where it's just cartoonish evil instead of regular opposition. He becomes this loser who just kinda wants to be a Sephiroth-like ultimate being, who wants to make a world where his evil is law, free will exists to be trampled on, and suffering is the underpinning of everything. He kind of self-sabotages, with his own souls turning on each other because it's in their nature. To put it bluntly, though it's entertaining, he stops being interesting and just becomes an unsympathetic obstacle who just won't die.
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Informative, thank you!

I can see how ascribing him such a motivation would be very off putting- the Ebon Dragon exists to transgress and oppose, making him plot for mere world domination is weird.

I am surprised at the self sabotage, though it is in theme- didn't he basically 'win' by having Sol killed at the end? (I think this was true?)
 
His plan involves using the Empress to take over the Blessed Island, nuking the Blessed Island into oblivion (weakening UCS because the dust blots out the sun), having Sol killed in his weakened state, becoming the replacement for the Pillar Of Earth somehow, ????, PROFIT
 
GardenerBriareus said:
The other was that Unquestionables (or even the Yozis themselves) can semi-unconsciously create 1CDs just in the course of their actions - one of the examples was a breed of living shield-scroll-things that form when Qaf speaks, because his words are so saturated with wisdom that the air itself takes form so that they may be recorded for all time.
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Cecelyne outright has charms that allow you to create 1st circle demons.
 
AmineHsu said:
His plan involves using the Empress to take over the Blessed Island, nuking the Blessed Island into oblivion (weakening UCS because the dust blots out the sun), having Sol killed in his weakened state, becoming the replacement for the Pillar Of Earth somehow, ????, PROFIT
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Sydonai said:
Rewriting the Elemental Earth Essence with his own, I think he thought that since all of the other Poles have Dragons then being a Dragon himself would let him replace one...
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Ebon Dragon:
In my defense, I was drunk at the time.
 
MJ12 Commando said:
Clearly one of Adrian's Third Circles is the Shepard.

(Although that would make the name a Half-Life reference I am actually referencing Mass Effect here, what with the high-Conviction main character who spends tons of time doing random sidequests because they show up and are interesting).
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Going off the half-life mention, Gordon Freeman would easily be a Scourge-caste Infernal. Never speaks, extremely killy, and can move so incredibly fast that he can cross a desert, a military base and an alien universe in half an hour.
 
Ok, so I was reading a wh40k fanfic.

Then I saw this. One of the antagonists, gave sacrifices to Nurgle, saying. "One hundred years. I wish this world to pass one hundred years in the space of a day. One hundred years to build weapons, ships, supplies... One hundred years to create new Astartes from the captured slave population. One hundred years to build a great fleet and army to launch in the Plague Crusade."

And this happened:
A mere 24 hours as the rest of the universe would measure it New Barbarus snapped back into the same twisted reality as the rest of the Eye of Terror. Or as real as the Eye ever got. Where before a handful of battered and damaged Battle Barges had hung in orbit over a swampy desolate world, now the orbit of the world was filled with ships and industrial complexes, while the world below glowed with the fires of industry. What had been a barely populated swamp world had been turned into a hellish mix of swamp and industrial wastelands. Glowing forges burned through night and day, consuming raw materials and lives as they produced the materials for a Legion at war. In orbit shipyards were filled with new warships and transports, while around them were those completed earlier.

At the start of the day the Death Guard fleet had been a few battered ships, the remainder of their fleets after decades of war. Now new monstrous battleships and battlecruisers lay in squadrons, surrounded by phalanxes of cruisers and destroyers, while swarms of frigates moved around protecting them. The Death Guard fleet had not been so strong since just before Isstvan V. Yet it wasn't just the fleet that had been rebuilt. The halls and passageways of the ships both new and old rung with the heavy tread of Astartes. Tens of thousands of new (and already rotting) Death Guard Legionnaires strode the decks of the ships ready for the fight, while around them thralls chosen from the damned souls of the planet below rushed to do their bidding.

On the deck of his new flagship the Grandfather Nurgle, the Daemon-Prince Mortarion nodded in close to approval at the site on the monitors below him. His Legion had been rebuilt, and better with New Barbarus now fully geared up to support the Legion he had a steady stream of new warriors and weapons to keep him supplied. Never again would his Legion face extinction through the attrition of the Long War. He didn't say a word but merely glanced at the captain of the ship and the orders were whispered and gurgled out. The fleet began to break orbit, forming into it's separate components and task forces as it did so.

The Death Guard were returning to the War...
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If you were a Solar exalted, and you wished to buy yourself a hundred years to rebuild and regroup, how would you do it? A solar sorcerous working? Hacking the loom of fate? The eye of Autobot?
 
Accelerator said:
If you were a Solar exalted, and you wished to buy yourself a hundred years to rebuild and regroup, how would you do it? A solar sorcerous working? Hacking the loom of fate? The eye of Autobot?
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If I had an E5+ circle, I'd attempt to take a loyal population of mortals into Deep Wyld, where the Sidereals/Deathlords are unlikely to find us. Wyld Shaping Technique can substitute very well for building artifacts and our enemies won't be prepared for us to attack 60 years later. With investment into Solar Integrity it is unlikely that we would personally be changed too much (though we'd need to make Artifacts/Charms to protect the mortals).

It doesn't actually stop time, but your enemies still won't be prepared for the armada returning and I'm sure we can deal with the Fey. Ideally I'd do something like what happened in the Balorian Crusade with the Pole of Wood so that we don't need to worry about stabilizing the settlement everyday and so our enemies are too busy dealing with the fallout of a missing Elemental Pole and waste their time putting out those fires.
 
What about a sorcery spell that uses some kind of wyld shaping to massively accelerate time in a location?
 
Accelerator said:
What about a sorcery spell that uses some kind of wyld shaping to massively accelerate time in a location?
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Should be possible with Adamant Circle, but 100 years/ 1 day seems like too much for a spell that can be performed regularly. If it's around 5 days/ 1 day of real time (for around, like 10, 000 people, with the Solar needing to recast it each real time month) then it should be fine.

I'm not sure how that would work with the people needing to eat five times as much, and other resources needs, but if you stockpile resources it should be fine.

Note that this is very noticeable and people will want to know what's going on. Do this in a solitary Demense if you must.
 
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AmineHsu said:
I suddenly have the image of SWLiHN creating a species of demon that is a parody of Solars/Exalts in general, vaguely human looking creatures that are British, ugly and stupid except in their ingenuity at destroying all order and beauty they encounter...
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Decathropes?
 
AmineHsu said:
I suddenly have the image of SWLiHN creating a species of demon that is a parody of Solars/Exalts in general, vaguely human looking creatures that are British, ugly and stupid except in their ingenuity at destroying all order and beauty they encounter...
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There is a unique monster that is a bit like a parody of a solar.

He is a Hecatoncheire called "Loras the Death Sun".
 
In exalted 3rd edition, a Ambition 3 Adamant Circle Working can 'cast a city sized region out of time and space' and specify when it will return, so you certainly could make your city reappear in a hundred years.

As to altering the flow of time in your city., that's a much harder and more thornier issue. As mentioned a couple of times in this thread, specifically ES's talk about why he doesn't want physical transportation into a Infernal's Tiger Empire, is that well...you want your Exalts to interact with the setting. Allowing a Solar a 'hundred years to react to the problem' is going to be toxic for that unless there is some way that Sidreals or such can get in and stop your Solar from giving himself infinite time compared to the rest of the setting...for the same reason you don't want your solar to move off into the mountains and just grind out crafting rolls until he's Exalted Twilight Tony Stark.
 
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