General Exalted Thread
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Right, but I know I've heard mention of 'Rivers' somewhere. Is that homebrew?
Salty
Shadow Cabal Assumptor Supreme
- Location
- Sun, Moon, Talia
- Pronouns
- I/Me
That's some very Earthscorpion homebrew, yes.
- Location
- U.S.
I mean, we had a DB character who was definitely main cast die of old age? It's something to remember as a tool, because the passing of time, especially when you timeskip long periods and some characters are DBs/X-blooded/Jadeborn/Enlightened Mortals/Constructs/
I mean, if you play Lunars, Lunar Elders are suuuuuuper useful when building a story. Good sources of backing, good sources of charms, useful as sources of infrastructure, questgivers, etc.
They also make interesting Extra boss stype encounters, low failure consequence social stuff, that sort of thing. It's not hard to have a lot of fun with them.
- Location
- London, England
Rivers of the Underworld is homebrew, yes -I think one of @EarthScorpion's ones?
On the lifespan thing, I quite like Dragon-Blooded being able to live for a few centuries, because it helps to reinforce the segregated and elitist nature of their society. They are the ever-youthful demigods who persist, glorious and bold, even as their mortal peers and relatives sicken and die all around them.
Basically an extra dose of classism draws me like a moth to the proverbial flame.
On the lifespan thing, I quite like Dragon-Blooded being able to live for a few centuries, because it helps to reinforce the segregated and elitist nature of their society. They are the ever-youthful demigods who persist, glorious and bold, even as their mortal peers and relatives sicken and die all around them.
Basically an extra dose of classism draws me like a moth to the proverbial flame.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Ah!
StoneArachnid, I summon thee!
@EarthScorpion
In your homebrew, what exactly are the Rivers and how are they distributed?
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Helpful, but it doesn't really explain what the Rivers are.
- Location
- Quezon City, Philippines
To explain using Stellaris terms, Domains are Systems while Rivers are Hyperlanes. That's how I imagine it.
Strictly speaking, it's actually just me taking the nWoD Underworld as a starting point and cross-breeding it with Sabriel, rather than the canon Exalted way of taking the oWoD Underworld as a starting point and removing most of its distinctive traits so it's just monochrome Creation.
I haven't read up on the oWoD or nWoD Underworlds, so I don't know how good they actually are when they function as they are supposed to, but personally I would prefer if the current Exalted Underworld and all its WoD influences got tossed in the trash and replaced wholesale. There is a diverse and rich mythos of the underworld, the afterlife, or just death-related stuff in general, and Exalted's Underworld evokes only a pittance of that mythos. Perhaps even worse, it fails to take things in a different direction from "land of the dead" and be a proper origin of mythological chaos and the disruption of the cosmic order.
- Location
- United States
Most games don't have humongous timeskips, and of the ones that do, having your PC die because of the olds is a bad thing unless the player wants that. In which case it's a narrative thing that doesn't require maximum ages for PCs. If I was playing a Infernal in a mixed game and there was a big old time skip, if the ST said "oh and Batu got old and died, roll up a new toon", everyone would throw a fit because it throws out all of the characterization established in earlier scenes out the window.
When you say main cast, do you mean a Player Character? Or just an NPC who was on screen a lot?
- Location
- U.S.
Well, mostly a PC? We don't have enough people to play the whole main party, and so we sort of collectively play all the characters, rolling, buying stats, deciding their actions, etc. I manage...2 or 3 characters usually? We just have more characters than people, and this was our solution, just...play more than one character.
QafianSage
Ascending Ape
- Location
- United Kingdom
Just a 1CD I came up with, progeny of one of Oramus' 2CDs from the Green Cherry Demonomicon. In terms of looks, the eoqianet somewhat resemble the Morrigi from the Sword of the Stars franchise - serpentine bird-dragons.
Eoqianet, the Astrologers Alate
Demons of the First Circle
Progeny of the Death of Princes
The Death of Princes can enter Creation without a sorcerer's summons only when certain esoteric signs appear in the sky. However, Tzale's crusade against the great and self-declared good cannot wait for stargazing, and so he created the eoqianet to monitor the skies of Creation for him, to determine when and where he will be able to emerge. To allow them to better accomplish their quest, he deliberately disseminated information of their capabilities across the Demon City, along with instructions to convey such to sorcerers or, better, lesser demon-summoners in Creation . To such mortals the eoqianet are said to be astrologers, navigators and star-gazers without peer, and such they are (among mortals and demonic serfs, at least). However, even as they read the stars for their master or mistress they record the lay of stars and comets in their minds for later relation to their ultimate originator.
In form, the Astrologers Alate seem fierce and terrifying with their dark-feathered, serpentine bodies that can stretch for a dozen yards and eight-limbs – four legs tipped with eagle's talons, two arms with four-fingered hands and two great wings. Their heads are those of noble birds, corvine beaks and magnificent crests adding to the impression of might. However, their bones are hollow and their muscles weak, and on top of this this they weigh little more than a child, and can easily be shoved, pushed or carried. They can fly and can do so swiftly and with grace and manoeuvrability, but must always be cautious of Creation's winds, on which they can occasionally be simply blown away. When the Astrologers must fight they do so from range wherever possible and many are excellent archers (though their weak arms make them better suited to armaments such as the crossbow or blowpipe), aided by their dark and sparkling eyes that see much and miss little – especially shiny or sparkling things, which they adore and often weave into their feathers.
However, the Astrologers do not stop their stargazing while in Hell, and many know at least one or two things that Orabilis would cast them into the sky for. Consequently, the breed has a near-pathological fear of Hell's chief censor and it is a rare Astrologer who does not keep a shrine to the End of All Wisdom to which they sacrifice daily, hoping to avoid his eyes and touch. Orabilis himself dislikes the breed, and takes any opportunity to make screaming stars of them.
Summoning and Usage: The eoqianet are most often summoned as astrologers and navigators, or occasionally as scouts. They have also gained a reputation for knowing strange and esoteric facts, although the Astrologers' terror of Orabilis means that convincing them to give up such knowledge is a challenge, even with the aid of sorcerous binding, as they fear that one day they may be considered a race of traitors should they give up too many secrets, an occurrence which could end only one way – genocide. Their erudite minds and relatively human-like manner have made several the talking partners and even confidantes of sorcerers, aided by their impressive miens - so much the better for impressing the ignorant.
An eoqianet may slip the bonds of Hell when a student of astrology puzzles over a strange conjunction or unforeseen occurrence, descending from the heavens on great wings to offer its opinion.
Eoqianet, the Astrologers Alate
Demons of the First Circle
Progeny of the Death of Princes
The Death of Princes can enter Creation without a sorcerer's summons only when certain esoteric signs appear in the sky. However, Tzale's crusade against the great and self-declared good cannot wait for stargazing, and so he created the eoqianet to monitor the skies of Creation for him, to determine when and where he will be able to emerge. To allow them to better accomplish their quest, he deliberately disseminated information of their capabilities across the Demon City, along with instructions to convey such to sorcerers or, better, lesser demon-summoners in Creation . To such mortals the eoqianet are said to be astrologers, navigators and star-gazers without peer, and such they are (among mortals and demonic serfs, at least). However, even as they read the stars for their master or mistress they record the lay of stars and comets in their minds for later relation to their ultimate originator.
In form, the Astrologers Alate seem fierce and terrifying with their dark-feathered, serpentine bodies that can stretch for a dozen yards and eight-limbs – four legs tipped with eagle's talons, two arms with four-fingered hands and two great wings. Their heads are those of noble birds, corvine beaks and magnificent crests adding to the impression of might. However, their bones are hollow and their muscles weak, and on top of this this they weigh little more than a child, and can easily be shoved, pushed or carried. They can fly and can do so swiftly and with grace and manoeuvrability, but must always be cautious of Creation's winds, on which they can occasionally be simply blown away. When the Astrologers must fight they do so from range wherever possible and many are excellent archers (though their weak arms make them better suited to armaments such as the crossbow or blowpipe), aided by their dark and sparkling eyes that see much and miss little – especially shiny or sparkling things, which they adore and often weave into their feathers.
However, the Astrologers do not stop their stargazing while in Hell, and many know at least one or two things that Orabilis would cast them into the sky for. Consequently, the breed has a near-pathological fear of Hell's chief censor and it is a rare Astrologer who does not keep a shrine to the End of All Wisdom to which they sacrifice daily, hoping to avoid his eyes and touch. Orabilis himself dislikes the breed, and takes any opportunity to make screaming stars of them.
Summoning and Usage: The eoqianet are most often summoned as astrologers and navigators, or occasionally as scouts. They have also gained a reputation for knowing strange and esoteric facts, although the Astrologers' terror of Orabilis means that convincing them to give up such knowledge is a challenge, even with the aid of sorcerous binding, as they fear that one day they may be considered a race of traitors should they give up too many secrets, an occurrence which could end only one way – genocide. Their erudite minds and relatively human-like manner have made several the talking partners and even confidantes of sorcerers, aided by their impressive miens - so much the better for impressing the ignorant.
An eoqianet may slip the bonds of Hell when a student of astrology puzzles over a strange conjunction or unforeseen occurrence, descending from the heavens on great wings to offer its opinion.
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- Location
- Ottawa
There's a lot that I like about this, but I think you missed an opportunity to have Underworld domains that aren't echoes of Creation or nightmares of the Neverborn. There should be afterlives in the Underworld; Earth has a million imaginary after-death realms, each stranger than the last, and it's a crime that nothing similar exists in Exalted's underworld.
Creation's Underworld isn't an true afterlife, it's an infected wound on top of Creation's Reincarnation system.
- Location
- my house
So who's everyone's favorite Yozi charmtree?
I'm a big fan of Malfeas'. Its does, imo, the best job at demonstrating the antognistic nature of Infernal charms. Its easily and readily apparent how using them makes you the bad guy because every power is designed around being an evil over lord. More than that though its filled with powers which while mechanically beneficial are clearly based on anime and video game villains. By rage recast let's you "reveal your true form!" Instead of allowing you to turn into a super saiyan for instance.
I'm a big fan of Malfeas'. Its does, imo, the best job at demonstrating the antognistic nature of Infernal charms. Its easily and readily apparent how using them makes you the bad guy because every power is designed around being an evil over lord. More than that though its filled with powers which while mechanically beneficial are clearly based on anime and video game villains. By rage recast let's you "reveal your true form!" Instead of allowing you to turn into a super saiyan for instance.
- Location
- Ottawa
Azrael
Sakura Saber
- Location
- Throne of Heroes
Revlid's Metagaos followed by Adorjan and Malfeas.
- Location
- U.S.
Prooobably Revlid's Eloge? It's suuuuuuuuuper weird. But oh my god so fun, and it shows a lot of interesting...sideways-ness? That Yozi should, IMO, have.
I've also seen Szoreny stuff from a few places around that seems pretty good, and Kimbrey, if you add some homebrew, in particular the Genesis charms, has a lot of fun potential.
Revlid did excellent work on a lot of Yozi's, honestly.
- Location
- my house
This sounds interesting. What do you mean by sidewaysness? Mind giving some examples?
This conversation was exactly what I was talking about earlier. The Underworld fucking sucks as an afterlife and/or Land of the Dead, but if you say, "but its actually a festering wound on proper reality," well, it fucking sucks as one of those too.
- Location
- U.S.
Her charms revolve around words, language and narrative. They do the things you expect, perfect understanding of written words, ability to transmit meaning regardless of language. Then the fun stuff, like conjure objects by talking about them, or turning an object into pure language and using that as a tattoo. Oh, and you can do it to people.
She also has an interesting take on stealth and disguise, with charms to take up a roll tied to some prop, and be unnoticed in her role. This can be suplimented with the ability to manipulate others in line with her role, or to leave a fake body as one role dies and she assumes a new one, or turn into a Hellforged Wonder capable of enforcing a narrative on the wielder.
QafianSage
Ascending Ape
- Location
- United Kingdom
Ah, the I-Just-Watched-Soul-Eater Shintai.
