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General Exalted Thread

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Unbanshee said:
Honestlty this sounds like it was written by a Cynis Sorcerer who's cranky that they don't get all the party invites they used to get before they got into demonology. There was never ever a watershed moment where public opinion turned against demons, because public opinion has always seen demons and their summoners as super sketchy.
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Ok.
 
Shyft said:
Welcome yet again to another session of Sunlit Sands!

Session 17 Log

We continue the 'marathon' scene of the previous sessions, resolving the final few meetings with the growing cast of characters in lovely Gem. Big props again to @Aleph for running the session.

Last session, we opened on Hinna revealing herself as a clandestine sorcerer in the Despot's employ. Amusingly though, she was not there on official business. No, her business was personal. As it gradually became clear, Hinna was a sun-worshiper!

Now, it's worth noting that even the Immaculate Order recognizes the Incarnae and includes them in prayer, but they believe that veneration of such gods should be done with humility and distance. Out in the Threshold, or further, you get more varied expressions of cult behavior. There's no reason why sun cults shouldn't exist, and Hinna, I got the impression, had a very 'secular' interest in the Holy Sun and the science behind his powers.

I like that Aleph used Hinna to reveal the concept of essence-trapping crystals, or to reinforce their existence. The idea is that the Storyteller should try to arm the player with tools and knowledge so that they can take actions. One of Exalted's bigger conveyance issues is that most players are conditioned to look at things in terms of their character sheet or Charms. That'll come up again later.

Further, Inks herself as a Solar does not actually have any organized opinion on the Sun as a god or how he relates to her, beyond what she knows of Immaculate propaganda and her own observations. Objectively, the Sun is a god, who can be prayed to, and like all gods, can but does not always reply to prayer. Inks has no moral, ethical or cultural drive to prolyetize for the Sun, except that cults have power, and she can use that power for more secular concerns.

Like, in Creation, you are supposed to, in my opinion, raise cults to gods for the purposes of getting those gods or cults to do something for you, not in a purely transactional sense, but still an operational one. A cult to the god of health can power the blessings and artifice in a magical hospital, for example.

Anyway, I'm not sure of Hinna's deeper motives yet, but she soundsinteresting...

One thing I'll point out for this session, is that it was very much a 'glut' of new content and objectives, as per Aleph's view that sometimes stuff just happens and the players have to deal. Done well it's fine, but as mentioned, the careful balance of screentime is critical.

Moving on from Hinna, Inks finally has a chance to examine Pipera's contract. As the session notes, there were some interesting clauses included, and we had an interesting, chararcterful conversation about it. Pipera's cagey, and Aleph deliberately wrote her so that Inks would have someone she had to win over, as opposed to just being blinded by beauty or intelligence. A challenge, in essence.

I'm not sure if Pipera is 'funny' yet, she hasn't quite hit that 'Gwenyth Paltrow as Pepper' level of artful snark, but she and Inks are still feeling each other out. I hope that as they get used to each other, they develop a strong personal dynamic.

I don't think Aleph expected Inks to get that much of Pipera's backstory in this first real day of working together, but I was happy to note that she had a backstory worthy of an Exalt. Drama, intrigue, lingering scars that built into cold vengeance.. Stuff of epics~

Finally, after out-of-game weeks, we get to see Ajjim and Pesala again, tigerdad and tigerdaughter. Aleph handled Pesala well, not forgetting her, but also making sure not to let the scene revolve around the child. Leaving the 'adults' to talk, Inks and Ajjim got down to business... Or would have if Ajjim hadn't done something silly like gotten himself infected.

with Green Sun Wasting.

This was an artful challenge on Aleph's part, because Inks only has medicine excellencies and Flawless Diagnosis. As mentioned in-log, I was debating keeping Ajjim in the baths and training up between sessions, or working hard to get medicine sooner rather than later.

Training times are crucial for challenges like these, because the ability to just pull a plot power out of thin air saps tension and generally makes the engagement perfunctory. Solars already have enough issues with Storytellers devising meaningful challenges. This was good because I had to evaluate cost and benefit of numerous approaches.

Having secured Ajjim for the moment, the box he brought was interesting, revealing an Essence Token of sorts that was in turn, some malfean green flame. Valuable and dangerous, to say the least.

Overall, most of what I mentioned last post is relevant here- this was an exposition-heavy, 'done to' series of sessions. I wasn't exactly clear on scene divisions either, which may become more of an issue as I learn more scene-duration Charms.

However, now Inks can start taking the initiative back. Current plots include but are not limited to..

Murder plot/ghost exorcist
El-Galabi
Ajjim's green fire source
Hinna's research project
Pipera's standing demands to fight the malevolent dead
Designing better sandships
Building better sandships/shipyard
general artifice/sorcerous advancement.
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-What are the odds of Hinna being a Sidereal catspaw?
It's not been that long since Inks dedicated the baths to Venus, after all....

-Piper being a DB, I find it hard to believe that Inks will have been her first attempt at getting back at the Western Abyssalarchy; her description of Abyssals has the ring of bitter experience. Which suggests that Abyssal!Blackbeard and whoever his backers probably have her name on a list somewhere, assuming there isn't already a price on her head.

Alternately, she is also working for someone else to keep tabs on the new Solar.
A roving DB with lots of contacts would make a good, if unorthodox Wyld Hunt agent, and her mentioned charms do look as useful for an intelligence agent as they are for a PA. Don't think your GM is running things that way though.

Didn't actually realize that DB Linguistics charms had that kind of range; assuming she's E3(Essence minimum for Voices on The Wind) Piper can use Voice Carried Words to send a 25-word instant message 500 miles for 4m. And listen to a reply for 7m.That's kinda impressive.
Wonder if she was already a DB when her family/fleet died.

-TigerGramps and kid are always a nice touch; the kid brings a smile to my face each time.
Infernal essence tokens are none too common in Creation, so someone is probably looking for this little piece of salvage. Might be worth asking Gramps if it was in a container when he found it, which would give some indication to it's previous provenance.

I mean, if it wasn't in a container, then whoever it was meant for/previous owner is resistant to GSW. Which narrows the field down som.

-Lol Aleph spilling the beans.


Thanks for sharing.
And thanks to @Aleph for running.
 
shepsquared said:
So you should totally leave it somewhere for players to find and laugh about/get mislead by. Then they later meet the sorcerer, who got over himself or went whole hog into trying to reform the Immaculate Order and thus society and got locked up or something for it
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I suppose so.

Or one can always try to make a story of a sorcerer trying to ruin the drug trade, and ends up wrecking the city that is his home.
 
uju32 said:
-What are the odds of Hinna being a Sidereal catspaw?
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Uh, we have Hinna's writeup.

EarthScorpion said:
Hinna an-Reswah, the Heretical Alchemist
By day, Hinna an-Reswah is a prosperous assayer in Gem, who serves all comers who wish to ascertain the purity of foreign coins or the relative quality of firedust. She keeps a shop in one of the upper layers filled with lenses and acids and scales and other tools of the assayer's trade. She arrived in Gem a decade ago as a young journeyman and has thrived since then, marrying one of the Despot's scribe-scholars.

However, she has a hidden and forbidden side. Hinna is a member of the proscribed cult known as the 125 Golden Sinners, though she fled her master when he refused to teach her his demon-summoning arts. Her protests fell on deaf ears, and so to steal the power of the Anathema she stole several of his tomes - along with a fair measure of gold - and fled south. She has inducted her husband into the faith, and now stands as the head of a small cabal of the heretical cult.

With access to the knowledge of Gem, they believe it is possible to trap the power of the Sun just as firedust confines the power of flame. How this might be done is still a work in process. She has already managed to trap sunlight within an alchemically-treated diamond for several hours. Surely this is just the first step towards taking in more of the sun's power, just as the anathema did long ago. She looks for orichalcum now, because it is clear to her that an orichalcum mirror might be enough to confine the light. Of course, such a course of action is worthless without spiritual purity and so she takes countless potions and experimental reagents - some to stimulate her mind, some to purify her body, and some to seek to open the gates of her consciousness. When she is not working, she will often spend hours in a dream-state where she sees both spirits and things that are not truly there and struggles to tell them apart.

Hinna is a demonologist, self-taught from the books she stole from her master all those years ago. Her proficiency is limited, but she is competent with what little she does know. Her most useful familiar is the stomach bottle bug she keeps trapped in a circle of tin and salt in her hidden workroom. When she tests her concoctions on herself or one of her followers, it is the stomach bottle bug that purifies their blood or organs if things go wrong. She would be dead from her work with mercury amalgams if it was not for that demon. She keeps a suttogaskes in her workroom, feeding it the blood of rats and mice, and she has called on a neomah a few times - most notably to conceive her two children, for her testing of alchemical potions on herself has left her infertile. Her elder daughter seems normal - apart from her dark eyes and a hint of lilac to her skin - but her infant son has shaggy red hair and an ape-like posture.

Appearance: Originally from the coastline north-west of Gem, Hinna has adopted many of the styles of Gem. She dresses in loose green and blue garments, but always has prominent gold jewelry - including most notably an amber bindi. This is a secret marker of her cult, indicating their desire to steal the power of the anathema. She is in her thirties, and her dark hair would be streaked with grey if she did not dye it with her own alchemical tinctures. Still, she is aware she is getting older and her desire for the immortality of the Solar anathema is growing more pressing.

Traits:
Styles: Gilded Alchemist Style 7, Furtive Heretic Style 6, Demon-Calling Ritualist Style 4
Known Infernalist Rituals: Beckon Stomach-Bottle Bug, Beckon Whispering Knife, Beckon Neomah
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EarthScorpion said:
The 125 Golden Sin Brotherhood

The Immaculate Order teaches that long ago, the wicked sinners of the Anathema stole the power of the Sun and the Moon and become terrible demon-empowered sorcerer kings who kept their golden boots pressed against the throat of the world. The intent of these teachings is to justify the reign of the Dragonblooded. However, many heresies through the years have taken another interpretation; that power can be stolen from the gods to become terrible demon-kings. Such heretics consider this to be an entirely admirable goal.

The 125 Golden Sin Brotherhood is one of these heresies, located in cities along the Southern coastline. The sect is a mystery cult of alchemists who have spread along the trade routes of the Realm-dominated cities. Outwardly, they pretend to be assayers and scholars who study elemental transmution. Some of the more skilled members of the group have actually managed to turn a profit from the creation of gemstones and life extension elixirs, which makes them valuable to the lords of these cities.

However, the cult treats the teachings of the Immaculate Faith as their path to obtain Sun-stolen immortality. The 125 in their title refers to the sacred number that is said to be how many of their masters can successfully steal the power of the Anathema before the Sun is extinguished. As a result, in private the Golden Sinners experiment with crystal-trapped sunlight, strange and exotic brews from the far South, and even demonology. After all, is it not said that the Blasphemers had power over demons and achieved their fell works by calling on the forces of Hell? Their studies with sunlight ironically give them better defenses against demons than many misguided demon summoners for the light of the sun trapped within a diamond or a sunstone can inflict agonising pain on an out of control demon, forcing it to flee. The cult takes this as evidence that they are on the right path.

The teachings of the Golden Sinners proclaim that an ascetic lifestyle similar to that required by Immaculate monks is required to purify the self and prepare it to contain stolen power. They eat only unflavoured food, and consume only boiled water, tea and coffee. Stimulants are permitted, for they are said to excite the mind and lead it to new conclusions. However, as they are alchemists they also imbibe a large array of drugs they prepare, trying to broaden the mind in great psychotropic rituals. Through this pattern of abstinence and revelatory exploration, they can semi-reliably awaken the essence of students who maintain this practice and study for several years.

A student who cannot achieve enlightened essence will never rise up the cult. Those who do obtain enlightenment, however, are said to have stolen a fraction of the power of the Sun and are part of the way towards becoming an Anathema. However, the true masters of the sect are those who have initiated into the arts of sorcery. Such individuals, it is felt, are very close indeed to becoming true Anathema. These masters have often made pacts with demon lords so lesser spawn of Hell obey them when summoned, and invoke both the green sun of Hell and the golden sun of Creation in their rituals. However, other masters avoid such arrangements and instead seek out and occupy Solar-aspected demesnes and manses, seeking to absorb the sun's power from such sacred places. The divide between the infernalist Golden Sinners and the ones who shun such dark power has led to civil war within the sect more than once.

The Realm has purged and destroyed their sects in many cities, but the fractious nature of the cult makes it hard to eradicate. The higher-ranking members of the sect know that they are all in competition with one another, for only so many people can take power from the Sun before he dies. As a result, ambitious young prodigies will often take a number of cultists and set up in another city, abandoning their master to chase after a new breakthrough that they are certain will allow them to take the power of the Anathema for themselves. Immaculate monks across the Southern coast pay very close attention to new scholars in town, for fear of this pernicious sect.

So far no member of the sect has Exalted yet, but with the increasing number of Solar Exalted appearing in modern Creation the chance that one of them will "succeed" has increased dramatically. Should they be discovered by a cunning Solar - or Infernal or Lunar - it may be possible to sway large swathes of the sect into the devout followers of their Anathema buddhavista. Such a master will need to be wary of the number of infernalists within the sect, many of whom have already damned themselves in service to the Yozis.
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Broken25 said:
Uh, we have Hinna's writeup.
*SNIP*
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Welp.
No way that's going to end badly at all.
Of course, I assume the details of Aleph's Hinna has been modified a little from what's extant; this one does not feels more like a worshipper than a striver after the Creation version of the philosopher's stone.
 
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@Broken25, @uju32: Yeah, so that thing where you alert my player to possible behind-the-GM-screen facts about characters I've introduced that he doesn't remember the writeups for.

Please don't do it. The spoiler tags are there for a reason.
 
Hmm.... something to ask.

I have an idea for a demon. A beetle/ bug, that hops around, and can curl up. Just like normal fleas/ whatever that bug is that hooks onto its bottom and then flings itself into the air. It's basically Malfeas's desire for everything to burn, rendered down into miniature. So these beetles, who reproduce through fire, has their greatest wish is to hit something and die, exploding in a massive gout of flame that causes burns and creates a bonfire.

Demons within Malfeas find warrens of these beetles, who burrow into the surrounding rock and basalt. Then, using dance and song, lure them out of their burrows to dance in the streets of malfeas, until they collapse from exhaustion. Then, singing a lullaby, they wrap each bug in clay, making sure that nothing breaks the clay to wake it up.

They then put these clay pots/ pills into slings, and throw them at enemies. When the clay wrapping breaks apart, the bug awakens, and joyous to find someone close to them, fling themselves onto the poor demon and explodes, killing him/ her/ it. The demon dies, and sometimes, beetles are born from his corpse.

now, 2 problems. Fjrst, is the name. second, is the damage. Its a first circle demon that basically acts as living ammunition. What damage should it cause?
 
Corpse-Slave Animation Altar
Price: 60m, 1+ sacrifice; Circle: Sapphire; Anchor: (Any) 4+
Target: Altar + (Essence x 10) yard radius
Spell Duration: Until the next full moon; Casting Duration: 6 hours
Essence Aspect: Necrotic, Metagoyin, Lunar; Favoured Aspect: Necrotic

The Immaculate Order knows of vile magics used by the Dead, the witches of the Moon and the spawn of Hell which create a cursed altar. Any corpse left near this wicked place rises from the grave as a hollow mockery of what they once were.

Ritual: The sorcerer spends at least hours creating and sanctifying an altar which must be in-theme for the Essence Aspect and the Anchor. The ritual must involve the sacrifice of at least one sentient being. Each additional sentient being sacrificed reduces the Price by 5m per victim, to a minimum of 20m. At the end of the ritual, he rolls his (Intelligence + lower of Occult or Medicine) at difficulty 3.

Mechanics: Once the ritual is complete, every corpse within (Essence x 10) yards rises. As long as the spell remains active, any corpse brought into the affected area or character who perishes in the radius animates after (corpse's Stamina) minutes.

The form of zombie produced depends on the Essence Aspect of the spell. Necrotic aspect creates zombies as described in the Exalted corebook. Metagoyin essence creates grey walkers as described in the Metagaos Charm Hungry Harvest. Lunar essence infects the corpse with strange biting insects and silver wasps who puppet it, creating zombies that are not Creatures of Death or Creatures of Darkness, but are Outsiders.

Even if they are slain, the zombies will reanimate if left within the area around the altar. This does not cure any Crippling damage they took. Additionally, Necrotic zombies do not reanimate if slain by Holy effects, grey walkers if slain by fire or their corpses are burned, and Lunar zombies if their heads are destroyed.

If the altar is destroyed, every zombie goes on a rampage, attacking anything that moves (including the other zombies and the sorcerer), before collapsing dead at the end of the scene. Emerald Circle Countermagic instantly slays any single zombie. Sapphire Circle Countermagic must be directed at the altar, but instantly destroys the altar and all zombies animated by the spell.

Effects: The zombies made by this spell cannot move more than (sorcerer's Essence) miles from the altar. They obey the sorcerer as if they were a bound demon, but can only understand simple commands or orders. Unless ordered otherwise, they will try to drag any corpses they encounter into the area around the altar.

If this spell is cast using Necrotic essence in a Shadowland or the Underworld, as a Favoured trait the Duration is increased to Indefinite as long as the altar remains in a shadowland. Additionally, the zombies remain animated as long as they are within the same shadowland as the altar, even if that would take them outside the normal range of the spell.

Example Spells:

Tomb-Marker of the Neverborn (Aspect: Necrotic; Anchor: Whispers): To build such a marker to the rotting corpses below existence imbues the lesser dead with some of their own putrid activity. Zombies made with this charm whisper fell things in Old Realm and scrawl blasphemies on walls with bony fingers. Those who pay too much attention to either can develop Whispers of their own.

Clarion Reaper's Return (Aspect: Necrotic; Anchor: Artefact): Those who we defeat, we own. This dark creed is held by many of the Dead and the deathknights have embraced it. Planting down his bloody sword in the chest of a sacrifice, he calls on the spirits of those he has slain to return to this world.

Witch-King's Call to Arms (Aspect: Lunar; Anchor: Backing): Service to one of the dark witch-kings of the Threshold passes beyond death itself. Drawing on the oath of his servants and his dominion over the very land, the Lunar builds a hive around one of his foes and orders countless squirming things to wear the skin of his fallen servants and his enemies alike.

Instrumental Communion (Aspect: Metagoyin; Anchor: Cult): "Whoever eats his fruit and drinks his blood has eternal life, and he will raise us to become part of his glory." So teach the cultists of Metagaos. The sorcerer leads a sect in building an altar, and channels their prayer and suicides to tear open a hole in the world and let a tiny branch of Metagaos out, which entwines the altar and reaches out to puppet the dead.


ok i may have been watching the best friends lp of dead space 2
 
Aleph said:
Still doesn't really need to be Malfean.
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doesn't really need to not be either. if the guy wants a malfean sling bug why not /shrug
veekie said:
Drinking the bathwater....lewd.
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it's like human soup, but too cold to make a proper broth so it's actually nothing like that
Accelerator said:
You know what?
Nevermind homebrew. I'll just sit down and read all this.

So, if i may... what did the first age society think of primordial war veterans?
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that crusty old bastard who rattles his diclave and tells me not to be so swlihn in how I manage an teng?
 
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asdfasdf said:
that crusty old bastard who rattles his diclave and tells me not to be so swlihn in how I manage an teng?
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I had an idea for a story.

A solar, fighting within the primordial war, is cast out into the wyld during its seath throes.

Fighting off the fair folk, he managed to find himself back in Creation...

Only to find himself during the first age, having missed the war, and is now currently wondering why the people around him are suddenly bowing and scraping in fear.
 
Accelerator said:
I had an idea for a story.

A solar, fighting within the primordial war, is cast out into the wyld during its seath throes.

Fighting off the fair folk, he managed to find himself back in Creation...

Only to find himself during the first age, having missed the war, and is now currently wondering why the people around him are suddenly bowing and scraping in fear.
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Depending on how it's written the scenario has potential.
 
Conjured Blade said:
Depending on how it's written the scenario has potential.
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Yeah.

I kinda wish to see his reaction to the heartwind isle and the jadeborn.

Imagine that. Your war buddies. The one that made your really cool shit. Your bros. The children of the one who made you an exalted? Crippled and maimed. Just like the yozis. The Great Maker? Gone. Probably fled in fear/ disgust.

The Sun? Gone. Uncontactable.

Your war buddies? Dead, worse than dead, or insane. And all these newfangled exalted basically told all their lives that they were righteous and could do no wrong...

And then there's the mortal attitude towards exalted.

Worse of all? 90% of creation is gone. Poof. Nothing. Including concepts and ideas. You now only have one tenth of your previous life even possible. Or worse if its like gunstar. From whole galaxies to a place smaller than a planet
...

I'll be surprised if the guy lasted a week
 
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Honestly, the "90% of everything" figure was kind of bullshit, only showed up in one place, and is more or less solely there for the purpose of blocking off games set in the Primordial War pointlessly, because nobody was running them anyway.

Personally, I ignore it and just say that the Whispering Pyre nuked somethings out of existence, but not on the same scale. Perhaps there were whole civilisations of nonhuman allies (like the Dragon Kings) whose citadels were clustered in what is now the Scavenger Lands, and were bitten out of the shinma and written out of history entirely. Maybe there was once a continent that sat in the West, heavy and fortified; the first bastion that the Exalted reclaimed in the fight for Creation, of which there is now no sign that it ever was. Maybe originally... well, you get the idea. Three spheres could be three countries, or a small continent, or a whole race and their ancestral lands - something entirely removed from history which will never be known and is a genuine and painful loss... but "literally 90% of all existence" is just stupid.
 
Aleph said:
Honestly, the "90% of everything" figure was kind of bullshit, only showed up in one place, and is more or less solely there for the purpose of blocking off games set in the Primordial War pointlessly, because nobody was running them anyway.

Personally, I ignore it and just say that the Whispering Pyre nuked somethings out of existence, but not on the same scale. Perhaps there were whole civilisations of nonhuman allies (like the Dragon Kings) whose citadels were clustered in what is now the Scavenger Lands, and were bitten out of the shinma and written out of history entirely. Maybe there was once a continent that sat in the West, heavy and fortified; the first bastion that the Exalted reclaimed in the fight for Creation, of which there is now no sign that it ever was. Maybe originally... well, you get the idea. Three spheres could be three countries, or a small continent, or a whole race and their ancestral lands - something entirely removed from history which will never be known and is a genuine and painful loss... but "literally 90% of all existence" is just stupid.
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I can kind of see that?

The Three Spheres Cataclysm seems important more as part of establishing SWLIHN as being so dedicated to hierarchy that she would kneel before the rebellious servants who mutilated her beloved brother rather than defy it. In that manner, it gives readers a direct statement of how Primordials are beholden to their Mythoi.
 
GardenerBriareus said:
I can kind of see that?

The Three Spheres Cataclysm seems important more as part of establishing SWLIHN as being so dedicated to hierarchy that she would kneel before the rebellious servants who mutilated her beloved brother rather than defy it. In that manner, it gives readers a direct statement of how Primordials are beholden to their Mythoi.
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The main problem with it is that you are completely incapable of comprehending a place which is 90% conceptually different to the setting you are in. If that bit of dumb fluff is true, you should be worshipping SWLiHN for creating the universe you are living in, for whatever came before is a meaningless black box of pointlessness. Did you actually fight in a Primordial War? Who the fuck knows, maybe the Unicorn Exalted did it with the power of [incomprehensible sparkly bullshit]. Maybe "unicorns" were twelve-dimensional recursive toroids. Does it matter? Praise the Principle of Hierarchy, creator of the world.

As ways go to make Primordial War games unplayable, that was a particularly stupid way of going about it, and is another wonderful example of 2E freelancer insanity: a good line developer would have shitcanned it.
 
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