If you are thinking in terms of Autochthon 'upgrading' Dragonblooded, you are doing it wrong. Very, very wrong.
General Exalted Thread
What the literal fuck
Like, just slowly backing away from the dumb creepy shit for a moment have you considered the possibility that idk
Dragonblooded reproduction is as efficient as it's going to get within the design constraints of the Terrestrial Exaltation?
Like remember that Autochthonian Combat Solutions EXALT V.1.0.0 Test Type literally required like, dozens to hundreds of highly skilled technicians and like, a bajillion talents worth of magical materials to reproduce. Managing to get it so that you have self replicating Exalted for Autocthonian Combat Solutions EXALT V.2.0.5 Mass Production Model is a huge leap in capability.
fdsafdsafasdfdas
Arkievyes
- Location
- why should I
exactly! and people only ever talk about eugenics and breeding camps. the first generation in the primordial war was way creepier if you try to picture how creepy the guy who wrote it was. literally any other way would have been less creepy.
at least the breeding camp thing was more of an accident of how they'd set up logical sounding rules in a vaccum, but theres no other way to read the firstage sidebar. "dragonbloods are massproduced faceless minions" and "death by snoosnoo, dragonblood women have no self will and theres only one male"
maybe thats worth 6 extra months
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- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Ignoring the fact that this is literally taking a singular part of my post out of context to make your own post seem smarter (and utterly failing at that), you have still failed to explain how it would make more sense as well as the incredibly hard task to adress more than literally a cut-out snippet of the post I as well as @EarthScorpion made.
fdsafdsafasdfdas
Arkievyes
- Location
- why should I
there was nothing else in earthscorp's post to address. he just used way more words to say the bit that I snipped to avoid quoting a few paragraphs
and all your thing did was talk about themes(which I asked in what way this would change anything) and skipped to the modern era of "pregnancy isn't too annoying while blipping past "this is making fun of two sidebars" and "this is really only about addressing the 2e sidebar of being mass produced exalts, not the convenience of pregnancy in the modern age" and most importantly "this is a joke" portions of my post.
the harem thing is stupid partially because it doesn't even work. besides, theres more than whether the woman can fight while pregnant. if she dies the baby does too. if she left an egg back at camp the mortals can just finish keeping it warm without her.
and all your thing did was talk about themes(which I asked in what way this would change anything) and skipped to the modern era of "pregnancy isn't too annoying while blipping past "this is making fun of two sidebars" and "this is really only about addressing the 2e sidebar of being mass produced exalts, not the convenience of pregnancy in the modern age" and most importantly "this is a joke" portions of my post.
the harem thing is stupid partially because it doesn't even work. besides, theres more than whether the woman can fight while pregnant. if she dies the baby does too. if she left an egg back at camp the mortals can just finish keeping it warm without her.
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- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
There was plenty to adress, you have still failed to prove your claim of why this would make more sense.
fdsafdsafasdfdas
Arkievyes
- Location
- why should I
allegedly there were 999 females to 1 male so they'd breed faster and gia slipped spanish fly into the exaltations so they wouldn't do anything else for the first couple generations. 1 male can impregnate 1 female every 12 years. doesn't make sense and it's creepy/silly.
3e feeling the need for a special rule about the once every 20 years thing is even more silly.
there is literally nothing more i could possibly say on the subject, I'm not sure what you want from me
edit- I could add the bit about how there are too few dragonbloods in the world for even "one kid every 20 years" to make sense, and how the realm doesn't have the numbers to be as big as it is because devs lack a sense of scale. I forgot about that from earlier on cause it's not really related as more than a tangent (to a throwaway comment that you guys are taking way too seriously.)
no really. what else was there?
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- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Okay, so of two choices we can either:
- Add a ridiculously unfitting egg-laying ability to the Dragon-Blooded despite none of their themes pointing towards it.
- Ignore a stupid sidebar in a single book, not part of the original vision.
You are the one making this creepy. Some hack wrote a bad sidebar in an edition almost entirely written by hacks with creepy tendencies. You are treating it as word of god and extrapolating and making it all worse.
Stop: Stop
Stop: WHAT MADE YOU THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
what made you think this was a good idea?
Any time the discussion wanders around to 'Breeding Dragonbloods', it has potential to get weird. Caution would seem to be a good idea in that area. And then...
Hiding further creepy stuff in invisitext wins you negative attention, too. You're out of this thread for 96 hours. Don't do this again if you come back in.
Also:
Thread unlocked. Strict standards still are in force. For FSM's sake, try to keep discussions of Dragonblooded breeding less weird than this in the future.
Here it starts to go bad when asdfasdf decides he's going to start a weird derail about suddenly making DBs egg-layers.
And here's where he powerslides right into creepytown. Whenever your argument starts to turn on 'orgies', 'breeding camps', and trying to be cute by making it small, transparent text like we won't see it, you're probably into territory you shouldn't be in.
More hidden text and pure WTF. If you're posting phrases like 'uncontrollably horny elemental monstergirls that look 16 forever and demand you fill their glacially slow womb', really stop and rethink things. 25 points.
'Lol its just a joke bro' is not a license or a defense.
And here
you just start
making spaghetti and dicing people asking you 'What the hell?' into nothing. 25 points for spaghetti arguing and responding to people pointing out you're being creepy with 'lol just joking'. 'How is egg-laying a fetish?' is also hard to believe if you've spent more than 15 minutes on the internet, too.
Hiding further creepy stuff in invisitext wins you negative attention, too. You're out of this thread for 96 hours. Don't do this again if you come back in.
Also:
This discussion was already weird and fetish-ridden enough. Posting a 'This totally isn't porny lol!' Family Guy clip is the opposite of helpful or mindful discussion. 25 points, 4 days out, and never do that again.
Thread unlocked. Strict standards still are in force. For FSM's sake, try to keep discussions of Dragonblooded breeding less weird than this in the future.
Its also worth mentioning that only in 2e and past that point have literal-transhumans become anything remotely approaching a "path to power" in Exalted, as 1e was very staunchly opposed to mixing magical traits of any kind, purely to make a point about how Exaltation was both Unfair and Special. Unfair in the sense that the Celestial Incarna very specifically looked for whole and hale hosts, avoiding those mortals with major deformities, physical or mental disablement, crippling illness and the like (which Terrestrial bloodline simply did not care about, having the blood was its own measure of worthiness), and Special in the respect that it stood apart and beyond all other "lesser" forms of magic in the world, either by forcibly stripping it away, or self-selecting Out any Exalts who were saddled by such traits to be inherently weaker and less magically-capable than their peers for diluting their Essence thusly.
For example, in 1e Mutation points were a hazard imposed by the Wyld as often as a bonus, because Exalted mutants and half-breeds limited their Essence scores to a cap of 5 at the highest, and added the amount of their traits directly to any Supernatural XP costs like Increasing Essence or purchasing Charms. Which meant that your Solar Exalted cat-boy was adding the 3pt benefit of his tufted ears and balance-aiding tail to the base cost of (Rating)x8 to improve his Essence for a whopping (Rating)x11xp, and purchasing Charms at 11/13xp for Favored/Unfavored, moreso than even Dragonblooded. While this generally didn't effect a whole lot on the relatively short time-spans most games ran for, it Did establish that enhanced mutants attempting to work outside of the established themes of their source types would be overtaken eventually and simply never compete with their peers once you got into the long-game.
However as the game went on, Exaltation was forced to broaden out conceptually and take other forms of magic into itself, while other magical elements were either dropped or ignored entirely. Pervasive fan-perception that "the game is about the Exalted, therefore everything ends with Exaltation as only Exalts matter anymore" overtook the initial thought process of "the Exalted are unique, standalone elements introduced to an already magical world, blatantly defying most of its established rules." The lines grew a lot more blurry since, as rules like the as-mentioned inherent limits on mutants were forgotten or lost in editing, Charms were introduced that duplicated whole swathes of minor magics unto themselves in much more powerful ways and rendering the desire to play anything besides an Exalt somewhat moot on a mechanics level, not just thematically, while also forcing that type to subsume that minor theme into itself.
Incidentally, this is how we reach the point of "Solar Powers are Human-derived, but Humans can be A Lot of Things, therefore Solars Do Everything." So now there are a lot more "cheats" and theme-bending to make more character-concepts into Exalts, rather than flesh out those standing apart as distinct characters meant to compete against Exalts by cheating with base-level "lesser magics," and challenging that Special and Unfair place in the limelight, such as we've seen with the downplaying of thaumathurges, various godblooded, mortal heroes with vast stockpiles of wealth and salvaged magical tools and the like.
"Transhumanism through Exaltation/Exalt-magic is the Only Good magic" is something of an aftermarket graft to the entire arrangement, something to the detriment of the setting and the perception of Exaltation as a whole.
notanautomaton
I've got 99 quests, I've finished one
I've been obsessing over Forge of Destiny lately, and I was wondering if people would play in a quest that can be summed up as 'Xianxia Exalted shard?'
Also, would anybody be willing to offer feedback on said shard before I start the quest?
Also, would anybody be willing to offer feedback on said shard before I start the quest?
- Location
- Ottawa
Wow, that is surrealistically bad game design. Thank god it's gone.
- Location
- NOVA
I probably wouldn't play in, but would love to read such a quest and can offer some feedback based on the ones I've read, which do include forge.
AmineHsu
A worm, not a man, scorned and despised.
- Location
- NoVA
Wow, that sounds intensely unfun...
notanautomaton
I've got 99 quests, I've finished one
My initial thought is to make it more traditional Xianxia in the setting, based around the Terrestrial/Celestial divide. In traditional xianxia, Cultivators rule empires made out of multiple worlds (or something along those lines, I haven't read much traditional xianxia). So Terrestrials typically end up with world-spanning empires, while Celestials end up with multi-world empires, and so on. However, most Exalts end up pretty isolated from the common folk, so end up ruling with a loose hand, giving mortal kings a lot of power.
I'm unsure of how many tiers of Cultivation to have, though each 'splat' is limited in terms of how far they can grow under normal circumstances. For instance, a human might normally be able to reach 3/10. However, it's possible to reach higher by becoming less and less human. A Dragonblooded might be able to reach 6/10, but by becoming less human you can reach higher. And so on.
I'm not sure if I want there to be more than five Dragonblooded Aspects. On the one hand, there's more than five elements in the quest, even among the basic elements. On the other hand, there's more than five elements in base Exalted, (sun, moon, stars, death, the underworld pseudo-elements, the various Yozi elements, the Autocthonian elements, ect). I think I'm going to map things out both ways, and see how things work out.
The Quest would take place in the Scarlet Empire, the main Sidereal/Dragonblooded empire, and follow a young Dragonblooded Exalt as they try to rise in power and punch Anathema throats in. I'm thinking of doing an 'escape of the solars' thing, since that's easy to conceptualize. I'm not sure about much of the setting yet, and might want to bring things down to a canon style world (but probably larger) instead, just because it's easier.
I'm unsure of how many tiers of Cultivation to have, though each 'splat' is limited in terms of how far they can grow under normal circumstances. For instance, a human might normally be able to reach 3/10. However, it's possible to reach higher by becoming less and less human. A Dragonblooded might be able to reach 6/10, but by becoming less human you can reach higher. And so on.
I'm not sure if I want there to be more than five Dragonblooded Aspects. On the one hand, there's more than five elements in the quest, even among the basic elements. On the other hand, there's more than five elements in base Exalted, (sun, moon, stars, death, the underworld pseudo-elements, the various Yozi elements, the Autocthonian elements, ect). I think I'm going to map things out both ways, and see how things work out.
The Quest would take place in the Scarlet Empire, the main Sidereal/Dragonblooded empire, and follow a young Dragonblooded Exalt as they try to rise in power and punch Anathema throats in. I'm thinking of doing an 'escape of the solars' thing, since that's easy to conceptualize. I'm not sure about much of the setting yet, and might want to bring things down to a canon style world (but probably larger) instead, just because it's easier.
- Location
- Gladstone, OR
Yes friends, it is time yet again for Sunlit Sands! We missed last week due to issues that nobody wants to rehash, so we pick up today at Session 20!
Session 20 Log
Well, that concludes Sunlit Sands, Session 20!
On that note, does anyone have a preference for me creating an independent thread for this, or should I just keep it to this thread?
Session 20 Log
Now, As I tell Aleph later on in the log, I have a frustrating situation in meatspace- low agency, beholden to the whims of others, and far from the master of my own fate. Suffice to say, I was aiming for some pretty direct 'Get Shit Done' action in my pretend god-king games.
The session opens with an admitted indulgence on Aleph's part, but a well-spent one. Pesala is both adorable and a walking plot device, able to advance characterization with an incredible alacrity. This is a child character done Right, as opposed to monopolizing player attention.
Tiger-girl is totes adorbs. Non-zero chance I'll illustrate her at some point.
With a declared 'against-dead' Executive Assistant, and an Exorcist/EXECUTOR OF JUSTICE FOR THE OPPRESSED, Inks has suddenly taken in a windfall of good fortune. She has the drive, and now she has the talent to retale El-Galabi. Amusingly, Tatters and Pipera both have different attitudes towards the project, with the former being 'leave it alone' and the latter being 'when do we start?'
I had to do some log diving mid session, and from my interpretationof what Aleph already presented me, El-Galabi is kind of like a mini-mountain lord fiefdom, as far as what it could do for Gem. Arable land, potentially other natural resources, etc. It'd take a lot of work to really make it profitable though.
On that note, we discuss some of our mismatched understanding of Creation metaphysics and the idea of Shadowlands. I have deliberately not brushed up on a lot of the 2e mechanics in favor of trusting Aleph to present me with the necessary information to make informed decisions.
Now- this isn't to say that players shouldn't read setting books between games, or even setting books about the games they're in, but knowing when and how to implement that knowledge to enrich your play experience is a tough skill to master.
Related to this, is that Inks knows of two basic ways to remove Shadowlands- salt, which works but essentially ruins the land for farming, and Sorcery, of which she is only capable of Emerald Circle Sorcery. You'll note though that i personally default to writing TCS, CCS and SCS, despite that being one of Exalted's more clever 'propagandist' nomenclatures- Aleph almost always writes it as Emerald, Sapphire and Adamant Sorcery.
Anyway, the point is that Inks can use sorcery to cleanse the shadowland, and Aleph has now unlocked a thematic and mechanic notion that there are more than just the printed logical chains of spells rising up between the circles- not allthe time, but enough to be noted.
Now, Cost is a big thing with Aleph's style of STing- one I like, though every so often I wish she could be clearer with it up front- this isn't that she keeps secrets, she just hasn't practiced at ballparking a cost in game terms like I have, because I've been running 3-4 year long campaigns as ST, and learned the hard way how.
So cleansing with Emerald Circle is going to have a Cost, but unlike using Salt, it's going to have a surmountable cost, in keeping with the notion that Inks or a sorcerer in general is controlling great powers of the world with her will alone.
From that, Pipera and Tatters are nominally on board, and I take the opportunity to get things moving. A few sessions back, when we visited the Sun Market that in turn kicked off the Murder Plot, the slaver Inks encountered kept a Flame Duck and Fire Butterfly, the former collared, the latter in a cage.
As a brief overview, they're both Elementals in the 2e sense; Fire butterflies are vain, judgemental and flighty, App 4 and shallow. They're often bound as courtesans/bedwarmers, and they violently hate Gold, Orichalcum and things prettier than they are. (Gold and Ori being too pretty for them).
Inks is App 5. There is a reason why she did not personally release the Fire Butterfly.
Flame Ducks, meanwhile, are heroic, energetic and bombastic darlings, with a recognizable culture that adds some needed texture to their concept. This specific flame duck, however, has a bit of a tragic story.
After spending time tracking her down, threatening her new owner with vauge, Tatters-shaped implications, and buying the two elementals, Inks quickly determined that the elemental was 'newly formed' and then magically bound with those chains and collars as not to develop as a person. For those who don't know, most gods and elementals form more or less All At Once, with intact personalities and drives before developing even more personal affectations.
This spirit was denied that, specifically so that she could be a custom-designed slave.
I have to tip my hat to Aleph on this one, because it's such a simple thing that has awful implications. In hindsight, I wish I roleplayed a stronger reaction, but I wanted to keep things moving.
On the note of Moving, more mercantilism! We haven't settled down on specific rules yet, relying instead of ad-hoc judgement and rolls, but I labor industriously in the background because I love me some money games.
Anyway, After some hashing out, we start in Resplendent Water, and Aleph suggests that Inks focuses on local assets to grow and take over. Agreeing that its' a good idea, I turn with a will towards [Blank] Scorpion street- you'll notice I keep getting them confused, but hopefully when i control them, I will remember them better.
Aleph described Seventh Scorpion as 'dry' industries, manufacturing and raw material processing- note that a lot of fthe industrial effort in Gem is aboveground, as the cooler lava tube and cavern spaces are in high demand with low supply. Part of the genius of the cooling architecture procedure Inks developed is that it opens up more property for numerous kinds of use.
Moving on- Inks lives in Eighth Scorpion, which is 'wet' industries like tanneries, smoke houses, and so on, which is why the property value was so low originally. Eventually she's going to take all that over too, but right now, Seventh is where it's at.
Along the way, Inks employed Pipera to start looking at Banks, either to take over or to found her own- why do I want a bank? Because banks are a good asset to have that other people interact with- it's something that draws people to Inks; I want the NPCs of Gem to look at her as a financier as much as she is someone who needs money from them.
Finally, I get to use Harmonious Academic Methodology, which we severely houseruled as to avoid undue minmaxing- even then we kind of have a small problem with it, as it incentivizes small classes. We may have to review it later, but I trained about 10 people in 10-12 dots worth of stuff; Pesala now has Int 4 and Per 4. Remember, she's like five.
Fortunately, Ajjim stuck around for the classes too.
After the two business rolls, we resolved the season's worth of effort. Pipera got a great zinger in on Inks during that time as well.
Now, as it stands right now, in this game, Inks has multiple Resources backgrounds instead of just one, and has just acquired a new one, summarized as 'Seventh Scorpion Industrial Quarter', worth Resources 5.
Resources 5 - From our Houserules:
Equivalent to tens of millions $ per year / $30k - $300k a day
Large business (though still not a megacorp), or a multi-millionaire. Yeah, at this point whoever's on top is laughing.
One-time costs: Cost of a large rural or raw material property-asset, such as farmland or the deed to a rich, exotic mine. Cost to buy an existing masterwork craft; ancient musical instrument, historically significant sword, museum-quality art. Imperial jewelry (orichalcum and pigeon's-egg sized gems).
Ongoing costs: Running costs for a city hospital. Funding a fleet of caravans with regular trade routes.
Tying up a few more loose ends, Aleph gives me a heads up on potential paths to Mo' Money. Note that most everything so far is purely mundane endeavors- I'm not running a Factory Cathedral, or leaning hard on First Age Infrastructure or Shogunate Civic Works; This is all just straight time and effort.
The flip side of that however, is that Inks is vulnerable to magic on scale, as a competitor. Which may or may not come up.
Thinking aloud, my next step is probably going to be retrofitting or upgrading the local businesses according to Solar-derived principles and whatnot. It might not have as dramatic a return, but I like doing it and I figure it'd make the Despot happy too.
The last scene of the session went in a direction I had not fully expected, in which Inks invited Sulieman to dinner and to talk about business... and some pleasure.
The thing is, Inks is a lot more like Rankar or Janissa in how she views sex and relationships- maybe not transactioinal, but more benignly self-serving. I actually forgot that Sulieman had a strong commitment to his ideal of 'True Love', and that's part of what makes his character endearing and entertaining- i had no interest in eroding that, but at the same time, I was interested and confident in actually portraying a mutual relationship.
So what I initially intended as a fun, flirtatious punchline quickly became a discussion on the nature of relationships and how being an light-hearted tease and flirt can have unexpected consequences. Inks had already given Sulieman a 'free-spirit' speech a few sessions ago, but his commitment to his own ideals is strong.
And, amusingly, Sulieman's stubborn adherence to that keeps earning him points in my eyes and Inks's eyes. It's an odd psychological quirk, and why the phrase 'Hard to Get' actually bears a bit of weight. Or maybe I'm talking out my ass, I can't be sure anymore.
Either way, I made a point going into this scene that I wanted to advance Inks and Sulieman's relationship- maybe not to the level he wanted, but to make an objective move forward. Now, I'd be foolish not to acknwoledge the fact that baring supernatural involvement, Sulieman will only live a four or five score years, and after a burst of downtime, Aleph may yet quitely mention that Sulieman passed away on distant shores, or was claimed by the hazards of his profession- who can say?
Because Sulieman is... not yet an asest on my character sheet, there's an almost psychological switch I have to keep touching to remember that he is a person (or a model of a person in Aleph's head) and that I as a roleplayer want to model Inks as a well-rounded character as well. That's part of the fun and challenge of playing an RPG. Because he's not an asset, I don't have the compulsive need to protect or control him, and I am simultaneously more open about his fate being in Aleph's hands, and actively desiring to influence that fate.
Or, put more simply, Sulieman doesn't have plot armor, and may never have it. Inks would likely give him in-setting armor though.
The session opens with an admitted indulgence on Aleph's part, but a well-spent one. Pesala is both adorable and a walking plot device, able to advance characterization with an incredible alacrity. This is a child character done Right, as opposed to monopolizing player attention.
Tiger-girl is totes adorbs. Non-zero chance I'll illustrate her at some point.
With a declared 'against-dead' Executive Assistant, and an Exorcist/EXECUTOR OF JUSTICE FOR THE OPPRESSED, Inks has suddenly taken in a windfall of good fortune. She has the drive, and now she has the talent to retale El-Galabi. Amusingly, Tatters and Pipera both have different attitudes towards the project, with the former being 'leave it alone' and the latter being 'when do we start?'
I had to do some log diving mid session, and from my interpretationof what Aleph already presented me, El-Galabi is kind of like a mini-mountain lord fiefdom, as far as what it could do for Gem. Arable land, potentially other natural resources, etc. It'd take a lot of work to really make it profitable though.
On that note, we discuss some of our mismatched understanding of Creation metaphysics and the idea of Shadowlands. I have deliberately not brushed up on a lot of the 2e mechanics in favor of trusting Aleph to present me with the necessary information to make informed decisions.
Now- this isn't to say that players shouldn't read setting books between games, or even setting books about the games they're in, but knowing when and how to implement that knowledge to enrich your play experience is a tough skill to master.
Related to this, is that Inks knows of two basic ways to remove Shadowlands- salt, which works but essentially ruins the land for farming, and Sorcery, of which she is only capable of Emerald Circle Sorcery. You'll note though that i personally default to writing TCS, CCS and SCS, despite that being one of Exalted's more clever 'propagandist' nomenclatures- Aleph almost always writes it as Emerald, Sapphire and Adamant Sorcery.
Anyway, the point is that Inks can use sorcery to cleanse the shadowland, and Aleph has now unlocked a thematic and mechanic notion that there are more than just the printed logical chains of spells rising up between the circles- not allthe time, but enough to be noted.
Now, Cost is a big thing with Aleph's style of STing- one I like, though every so often I wish she could be clearer with it up front- this isn't that she keeps secrets, she just hasn't practiced at ballparking a cost in game terms like I have, because I've been running 3-4 year long campaigns as ST, and learned the hard way how.
So cleansing with Emerald Circle is going to have a Cost, but unlike using Salt, it's going to have a surmountable cost, in keeping with the notion that Inks or a sorcerer in general is controlling great powers of the world with her will alone.
From that, Pipera and Tatters are nominally on board, and I take the opportunity to get things moving. A few sessions back, when we visited the Sun Market that in turn kicked off the Murder Plot, the slaver Inks encountered kept a Flame Duck and Fire Butterfly, the former collared, the latter in a cage.
As a brief overview, they're both Elementals in the 2e sense; Fire butterflies are vain, judgemental and flighty, App 4 and shallow. They're often bound as courtesans/bedwarmers, and they violently hate Gold, Orichalcum and things prettier than they are. (Gold and Ori being too pretty for them).
Inks is App 5. There is a reason why she did not personally release the Fire Butterfly.
Flame Ducks, meanwhile, are heroic, energetic and bombastic darlings, with a recognizable culture that adds some needed texture to their concept. This specific flame duck, however, has a bit of a tragic story.
After spending time tracking her down, threatening her new owner with vauge, Tatters-shaped implications, and buying the two elementals, Inks quickly determined that the elemental was 'newly formed' and then magically bound with those chains and collars as not to develop as a person. For those who don't know, most gods and elementals form more or less All At Once, with intact personalities and drives before developing even more personal affectations.
This spirit was denied that, specifically so that she could be a custom-designed slave.
I have to tip my hat to Aleph on this one, because it's such a simple thing that has awful implications. In hindsight, I wish I roleplayed a stronger reaction, but I wanted to keep things moving.
On the note of Moving, more mercantilism! We haven't settled down on specific rules yet, relying instead of ad-hoc judgement and rolls, but I labor industriously in the background because I love me some money games.
Anyway, After some hashing out, we start in Resplendent Water, and Aleph suggests that Inks focuses on local assets to grow and take over. Agreeing that its' a good idea, I turn with a will towards [Blank] Scorpion street- you'll notice I keep getting them confused, but hopefully when i control them, I will remember them better.
Aleph described Seventh Scorpion as 'dry' industries, manufacturing and raw material processing- note that a lot of fthe industrial effort in Gem is aboveground, as the cooler lava tube and cavern spaces are in high demand with low supply. Part of the genius of the cooling architecture procedure Inks developed is that it opens up more property for numerous kinds of use.
Moving on- Inks lives in Eighth Scorpion, which is 'wet' industries like tanneries, smoke houses, and so on, which is why the property value was so low originally. Eventually she's going to take all that over too, but right now, Seventh is where it's at.
Along the way, Inks employed Pipera to start looking at Banks, either to take over or to found her own- why do I want a bank? Because banks are a good asset to have that other people interact with- it's something that draws people to Inks; I want the NPCs of Gem to look at her as a financier as much as she is someone who needs money from them.
Finally, I get to use Harmonious Academic Methodology, which we severely houseruled as to avoid undue minmaxing- even then we kind of have a small problem with it, as it incentivizes small classes. We may have to review it later, but I trained about 10 people in 10-12 dots worth of stuff; Pesala now has Int 4 and Per 4. Remember, she's like five.
Fortunately, Ajjim stuck around for the classes too.
After the two business rolls, we resolved the season's worth of effort. Pipera got a great zinger in on Inks during that time as well.
Now, as it stands right now, in this game, Inks has multiple Resources backgrounds instead of just one, and has just acquired a new one, summarized as 'Seventh Scorpion Industrial Quarter', worth Resources 5.
Resources 5 - From our Houserules:
Equivalent to tens of millions $ per year / $30k - $300k a day
Large business (though still not a megacorp), or a multi-millionaire. Yeah, at this point whoever's on top is laughing.
One-time costs: Cost of a large rural or raw material property-asset, such as farmland or the deed to a rich, exotic mine. Cost to buy an existing masterwork craft; ancient musical instrument, historically significant sword, museum-quality art. Imperial jewelry (orichalcum and pigeon's-egg sized gems).
Ongoing costs: Running costs for a city hospital. Funding a fleet of caravans with regular trade routes.
Tying up a few more loose ends, Aleph gives me a heads up on potential paths to Mo' Money. Note that most everything so far is purely mundane endeavors- I'm not running a Factory Cathedral, or leaning hard on First Age Infrastructure or Shogunate Civic Works; This is all just straight time and effort.
The flip side of that however, is that Inks is vulnerable to magic on scale, as a competitor. Which may or may not come up.
Thinking aloud, my next step is probably going to be retrofitting or upgrading the local businesses according to Solar-derived principles and whatnot. It might not have as dramatic a return, but I like doing it and I figure it'd make the Despot happy too.
The last scene of the session went in a direction I had not fully expected, in which Inks invited Sulieman to dinner and to talk about business... and some pleasure.
The thing is, Inks is a lot more like Rankar or Janissa in how she views sex and relationships- maybe not transactioinal, but more benignly self-serving. I actually forgot that Sulieman had a strong commitment to his ideal of 'True Love', and that's part of what makes his character endearing and entertaining- i had no interest in eroding that, but at the same time, I was interested and confident in actually portraying a mutual relationship.
So what I initially intended as a fun, flirtatious punchline quickly became a discussion on the nature of relationships and how being an light-hearted tease and flirt can have unexpected consequences. Inks had already given Sulieman a 'free-spirit' speech a few sessions ago, but his commitment to his own ideals is strong.
And, amusingly, Sulieman's stubborn adherence to that keeps earning him points in my eyes and Inks's eyes. It's an odd psychological quirk, and why the phrase 'Hard to Get' actually bears a bit of weight. Or maybe I'm talking out my ass, I can't be sure anymore.
Either way, I made a point going into this scene that I wanted to advance Inks and Sulieman's relationship- maybe not to the level he wanted, but to make an objective move forward. Now, I'd be foolish not to acknwoledge the fact that baring supernatural involvement, Sulieman will only live a four or five score years, and after a burst of downtime, Aleph may yet quitely mention that Sulieman passed away on distant shores, or was claimed by the hazards of his profession- who can say?
Because Sulieman is... not yet an asest on my character sheet, there's an almost psychological switch I have to keep touching to remember that he is a person (or a model of a person in Aleph's head) and that I as a roleplayer want to model Inks as a well-rounded character as well. That's part of the fun and challenge of playing an RPG. Because he's not an asset, I don't have the compulsive need to protect or control him, and I am simultaneously more open about his fate being in Aleph's hands, and actively desiring to influence that fate.
Or, put more simply, Sulieman doesn't have plot armor, and may never have it. Inks would likely give him in-setting armor though.
Well, that concludes Sunlit Sands, Session 20!
On that note, does anyone have a preference for me creating an independent thread for this, or should I just keep it to this thread?
notanautomaton
I've got 99 quests, I've finished one
Salty
Shadow Cabal Assumptor Supreme
- Location
- Sun, Moon, Talia
- Pronouns
- I/Me
Really? Xianxia? You sure you know quite the kind of genre you're proposing to get into with this?
notanautomaton
I've got 99 quests, I've finished one
I feel like you're being more than a little condescending here. Suffice it to say that I do.
- Location
- NOVA
My first thought on this is, which of the settings do you want to have primacy? If it's xianxia, you could have Celestial Exalts be those who start out on a higher world, occasionally showing up within the lower world for reasons unknown. They could also represent different martial paths, of which ascending is the same as truly exalting.
Humans having to become higher by becoming less human or Exalting would also make sense to me.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Its own thread would be nice. Makes it easier to track.
- Location
- United States
Shaping Ritual: Marked by the Court of Secrets
The streets of Champoor teem with criminals and thugs, all bearing the tattoos that announce their gang allegiance to all who can read them. Instantly recognizable to any being that has spent nearly any time within Champoor, the Court of Secrets has it's own collection of identifying markers that often are branded into the flesh and sometimes souls of those who would become the thief-priests of Champoor. Though not unheard of, it is rare for one so marked to turn against the Court of Secrets. While they are unable to revoke their mark and it's associated benefits through sorcery or guile, there is no end of loyal thugs and cutthroats in Champoor who will do the Court's dirty work for the chance to receive its blessing in return.
Shaping Rituals
The Court of Secrets is a transactional faith, offering a sorcerer power in exchange for the sacrifice of blood and wealth. The sorcerer may make a prayer roll (Charisma + Performance, difficulty 5 minus the Resources value of any sacrifices offered along with the prayer) seeking power from her patrons. Success grants her sorcerous motes equal to (her Essence + extra successes on the roll). If the sacrifices were stolen, one bonus success is added to the prayer roll. These motes last for the duration of the story, and can be spent towards any spell she casts. She cannot sacrifice for power more than once a day, and receiving new motes replaces any granted by past sacrifices.
The sorcerer learns the secrets of crafting the charms and runes favored by the umbral gods and benthic elementals within the Court of Secrets. Crafted from whalebone, iron and inscribed with runes in pigment made from dried kelp, salt and night blooming flowers, it is a difficulty 2 (Intelligence + Craft) roll to make a charm dedicated to one known spell. Doing so takes several hours and must generally be done in darkness or shade. If the sorcerer incorporates an appropriate charm into the description of a stunt while channeling sorcerous motes, she gains sorcerous motes equal to the stunt's rating.
The sorcerer draws power from shadow and darkness, weaving it into her spells. Whenever she begins a scene in darkness or shadow heavy enough to qualify as concealment for attempting stealth, she gains three sorcerous motes, which last until the end of the scene and can be spent towards any spells she casts. Additionally, whenever she takes a shape sorcery action to shape a spell while in stealth, she gains an additional sorcerous mote as long as the spell's target is unaware of her. She also receives these benefits while under the night sky during the new moon or Calibration, even without being concealed.
Other Benefits
The Mark: As part of their initiation, the Court of Secrets brands their Thief-Priests in an occult ritual held on the night of the new moon, where the sea meets the shore. The sorcerer may unlock Evocations from this brand that allow her to manipulate or gain power from shadows, darkness, and subversion as well as evocations that let them share these blessings with favored mortals in some manner.
Mark of Vice (Merit ••): The mark of the Court of Secrets throbs and whispers with faint whalesong to the sorcerer, leading them into the presence of vice and wickedness in the eyes of legitimate authority. Any tracking rolls the wearer makes to pinpoint or chase down some aspect of the local criminal underworld, or some other den of iniquity and wickedness, and peril enjoys double 9s.
Shadow Adept (Merit ••): The sorcerer reaches out and the shadows answer. Any roll to undertake a sorcerous working by the thief-priest the involves the summoning or use (but never banishment) of shadows, darkness or subversion enjoys double 9s.
The streets of Champoor teem with criminals and thugs, all bearing the tattoos that announce their gang allegiance to all who can read them. Instantly recognizable to any being that has spent nearly any time within Champoor, the Court of Secrets has it's own collection of identifying markers that often are branded into the flesh and sometimes souls of those who would become the thief-priests of Champoor. Though not unheard of, it is rare for one so marked to turn against the Court of Secrets. While they are unable to revoke their mark and it's associated benefits through sorcery or guile, there is no end of loyal thugs and cutthroats in Champoor who will do the Court's dirty work for the chance to receive its blessing in return.
Shaping Rituals
The Court of Secrets is a transactional faith, offering a sorcerer power in exchange for the sacrifice of blood and wealth. The sorcerer may make a prayer roll (Charisma + Performance, difficulty 5 minus the Resources value of any sacrifices offered along with the prayer) seeking power from her patrons. Success grants her sorcerous motes equal to (her Essence + extra successes on the roll). If the sacrifices were stolen, one bonus success is added to the prayer roll. These motes last for the duration of the story, and can be spent towards any spell she casts. She cannot sacrifice for power more than once a day, and receiving new motes replaces any granted by past sacrifices.
The sorcerer learns the secrets of crafting the charms and runes favored by the umbral gods and benthic elementals within the Court of Secrets. Crafted from whalebone, iron and inscribed with runes in pigment made from dried kelp, salt and night blooming flowers, it is a difficulty 2 (Intelligence + Craft) roll to make a charm dedicated to one known spell. Doing so takes several hours and must generally be done in darkness or shade. If the sorcerer incorporates an appropriate charm into the description of a stunt while channeling sorcerous motes, she gains sorcerous motes equal to the stunt's rating.
The sorcerer draws power from shadow and darkness, weaving it into her spells. Whenever she begins a scene in darkness or shadow heavy enough to qualify as concealment for attempting stealth, she gains three sorcerous motes, which last until the end of the scene and can be spent towards any spells she casts. Additionally, whenever she takes a shape sorcery action to shape a spell while in stealth, she gains an additional sorcerous mote as long as the spell's target is unaware of her. She also receives these benefits while under the night sky during the new moon or Calibration, even without being concealed.
Other Benefits
The Mark: As part of their initiation, the Court of Secrets brands their Thief-Priests in an occult ritual held on the night of the new moon, where the sea meets the shore. The sorcerer may unlock Evocations from this brand that allow her to manipulate or gain power from shadows, darkness, and subversion as well as evocations that let them share these blessings with favored mortals in some manner.
Mark of Vice (Merit ••): The mark of the Court of Secrets throbs and whispers with faint whalesong to the sorcerer, leading them into the presence of vice and wickedness in the eyes of legitimate authority. Any tracking rolls the wearer makes to pinpoint or chase down some aspect of the local criminal underworld, or some other den of iniquity and wickedness, and peril enjoys double 9s.
Shadow Adept (Merit ••): The sorcerer reaches out and the shadows answer. Any roll to undertake a sorcerous working by the thief-priest the involves the summoning or use (but never banishment) of shadows, darkness or subversion enjoys double 9s.
RedV
Refuelling
- Location
- Right here
First, Exalted as a setting is fairly close to the easternish aesthetic required to run a xian xia. The setting is gorgeous and very nice for that.
The Exalted themselves, however, don't really fit into such a paradigm. The fact that the Exalted exist makes the power metagame something that can be imbued or given, not power that is made through human effort. So my major recc here would be to remove the Exalted and say that the UCS instead "opened up the paths of cultivation" to mankind or something. Treat the Dragonblooded as bloodlines of the Elemental Dragons, treat all workers in Yu Shan as Gods and ascended cultivators and treat Yozi servants as akuma and behemoths. Rework Deathlords as powerful ghosts and Abyssals as evil cultivators.
Charms and other exalted concepts like no all powerful elders, as well as power tier templates don't really hold up well for xianxia, where absolute effects aren't very common and it is an accepted fact that powerful people live long lives and become stronger throughout, mostly.
If you want to use a dice based system I recommend that you adapt Legends of the Wulin which is pretty good about the skills and system part, treating each rank as a rank of cultivation. The rank bonuses will have to be adjusted to make them more overwhelming to properly represent the disparity between ranks of cultivation, but it is a fair and workable foundation. I would have recommended Weapons of the Gods instead since I feel that the colours metagame serves Xianxia better and is fun, but I have lost my copy.
Next we must look at the cultivation system you wish to implement. I need to know whether or not martial arts will be a major component* .
Also , if you like the idea of :
1) elemental essence like in WoTG or 2) cultivating spirit familiars within yourself and gaining their innate abilities or 3) strengthen your destiny and energy and use that to warp fate to do what you want, I'll try and elaborate a system on it.
*ie: does it require training in mortal fighting to be a fighting cultivator or does your enlightenment and wizard training make you competitive as a battled