Where does the imagery of Cecelyne's worldform jouten come from originally? I know in the cosmology metaphor it's the imagery of the surface of the moon or an asteroid, but I was just reading Equal Rites by Sir Terry Pratchett, copyright 1987, and the climactic scene takes place in a cold, infinitely large desert, outside the world, where demons come from, which a careless sorcerer has wandered into. There are just so many references to all the sand in that place being silver, I'm wondering if there's some common mythic source or what.
"A jade talent is a thin slab of jade weighing 68 pounds."
A Jade Talent is roughly scored to form eight rectangular bricks, with the Imperial Treasury's seal lightly scored on each of the resulting panel facets. The minting date and identifying number are also carved into one or each side of the slab. Some Talents, particularly illegal ones, are unmarked as while the penalty of owning unmarked Jade is confiscation and a hefty fine, the penalty for forging the Treasury's marks is death. By its weight a Jade Talent is worth 12 Bars or 1,536 Obols, but on paper it is worth 8 Bars or 1,024 Obols as a third of its weight is "lost" into Jade powder. The resultant powder is used to craft Jade-steel arms and armour. Physical Talents do not tend to circulate due to difficulty in transportation and enormous value. They either sit in a vault and are traded on paper, are used for building manses, or cut into smaller denominations.
Jade Bar is a brick-shaped block of Jade with the seal of the Imperial Treasury lightly scored on each face, and is further scored to represent eight smaller strips of slabs of Mina. It is labelled with a carving date and a serial number to discourage fraud. It weighs about eight and a half pounds, and is worth about eight and a half Minae depending on exact weight. On paper it is worth exactly eight Minae. Like the Talent, it is rarely used as physical currency.
Mina weighs slightly more than a pound, and is a slab of Jade about three inches wide, six inches long, and a quarter-inch thick. It is scored in half-squares, and each half is further scored into eight closely spaced circles, into a total of 16 circles. On the other side of the circles are scored the seals of the Imperial Treasury. By weight, a Mina is worth about three Shekels, on paper it is exactly two Shekels.
Shekel is a thin square slab of Jade graven with eight circles with the seal of the Imperial Treasury scored inside them on its square side and milled around its thin edges to discourage Jade shaving. A Shekel weighs about nine or ten ounces, and on paper is worth eight Obols.
Obol always weighs an ounce, and is used as a balance weighs by herb-merchants and drug dealers to demonstrate accurate measurements. The coin is about an inch in diameter, and about 3/8th of an inch in thickness. One side is graven with the seal of the Imperial Treasury, while the other bears an image used during the time of the carving.
Bit is an illegal modification of the Obol, created by cutting it into four pieces. While it is illegal, the law is not enforced due to its usefulness. Peasants, believing in Jade having innate magical properties, often drill a hole in a Bit and carve symbols on them and wear the result as a charm. Surprisingly they represent roughly 40% of the active Jade coinage in the Realm.
It is illegal for peasants to possess even a single Bit of Jade.
Exalted 2nd Edition: Corebook also has images of the Jade currency: all six of them.
Exalted 3rd Edition: Corebook also has images of Jade currency, but they are useless as they show the pieces of Jade as thick lumps: "Talent", "Minae" I presume, and "Shekel" and some Obols
Calculating from a Mina's size, a Talent is roughly 48x24 inches/4x2 feet or roughly 122x61 centimetres (3 inches x 8 (Mina->Bar) = 24 x 2 (Bar->Talent) = 48, 6 x 4 (Mina/Bar-> Talent) = 24) in width and length, and I'd say somewhat thicker than Mina's 1/4th inches thickness due to the scorings it has gone through. Maybe ½ inch to an inch in thickness.
I posted this in the Questions thread, but I thought it might be okay to post it here as well.
"A jade talent is a thin slab of jade weighing 68 pounds."
By its weight it's worth 12 bars, but on paper it is worth 8, as a third of it is "lost" into Jade powder, mostly during the Shekel->Obol process, and the resultant powder is used to craft artifacts.
The images in 3e CRB pages 78-79 are bloody useless, as they show the pieces of Jade as thick lumps when a Talent and proceeding parts are supposed to be roughly as thick as Obols.
("Talent", "Minae" I presume, and "Shekel" and some Obols)
According to 2e CRB page 358 an Obol weighs an ounce and has an inch of a diameter. The book also has a much better picture of the different Jade currency on page 359 than the 3e CRB's are.
1e's Manacle and Coin gives on page 105 Obol's weight at an exact ounce (they are mentioned to be commonly used as measuring weights due to the exactness), about an inch in diameter, and a thickness of about 3/8ths of an inch.
Largest piece of Jade currency that's given physical diameters is the Minae, which is about three inches wide, six inches long, and 1/4th of an inch thick along with a weight of "slightly more than a pound." This makes the true value of one about three Shekels, even if on paper it is worth two.
Manacle and Coin also has images of the Jade currency on pages 104 and 105.
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He didn't know anything about exalted. But I told him 'Men In Black but Early Modern Age', and he just nailed it perfectly.
I always imagined Chosen of Journeys having the most simple utilitarian clothes of the sidereals. Since they well, are all about long distance travel and such.
Drown the Moon is complete. Champoor has survived Calibration night and the convergence of the Silver Pact. Mad ambition has been thwarted, power given to the deserving, and punishment delivered to the wicked. Let us sing, one and all, as Luna soars through the sky to watch down over us! Lets us dance and revel beneath their sight, knowing that life is as ever-changing and mercurial as they are. That we, ourselves, are no different. We wear a thousand faces, all of them just as honest and deceptive as the rest, but each and every one of them is real.
For a wise woman once said that the moon is a reflection. And, if you get lost within it, sometimes you might even find yourself.
I want to thank all my fellow players for joining me on this endeavor. @TheOneMoiderah, who played the wonderful ball of hedonism and excitability that is Wren. @TenfoldShields, who played the cool and cunning Orochi tightening his coils around Champoor. @Gargulec, who played Illia who was once Curio in a tale of growth and self-discovery. @EarthScorpion, who played the amiable and devious Vo-Bian trying to survive in a world full of monsters.
And finally, I want to thank @mothematics for running this game and showing us her vision of Creation. It is a world of wonders and horrors without ending, of great victories and bitter tragedies, and she wove all of these together in a tapestry that delighted, astounded, and sometimes even terrified. It is no small thing to bring a story to a close, to have all the actors take their bows and bring the curtains down. No small thing at all, and worthy of praise.
So I thank you again, my dear friend, from the bottom of my heart. It was a true delight to play in your campaign. I hope I have the chance to be part of another.
It's been awhile since I looked, but I remember thinking that the thing about using charms of different elements affecting your anima and some effects only working or working better with an unmixed anima seemed a bit clunky from just a read through. Might make more sense in play.
Drown the Moon is complete. Champoor has survived Calibration night and the convergence of the Silver Pact. Mad ambition has been thwarted, power given to the deserving, and punishment delivered to the wicked. Let us sing, one and all, as Luna soars through the sky to watch down over us! Lets us dance and revel beneath their sight, knowing that life is as ever-changing and mercurial as they are. That we, ourselves, are no different. We wear a thousand faces, all of them just as honest and deceptive as the rest, but each and every one of them is real.
For a wise woman once said that the moon is a reflection. And, if you get lost within it, sometimes you might even find yourself.
I want to thank all my fellow players for joining me on this endeavor. @TheOneMoiderah, who played the wonderful ball of hedonism and excitability that is Wren. @TenfoldShields, who played the cool and cunning Orochi tightening his coils around Champoor. @Gargulec, who played Illia who was once Curio in a tale of growth and self-discovery. @EarthScorpion, who played the amiable and devious Vo-Bian trying to survive in a world full of monsters.
And finally, I want to thank @mothematics for running this game and showing us her vision of Creation. It is a world of wonders and horrors without ending, of great victories and bitter tragedies, and she wove all of these together in a tapestry that delighted, astounded, and sometimes even terrified. It is no small thing to bring a story to a close, to have all the actors take their bows and bring the curtains down. No small thing at all, and worthy of praise.
So I thank you again, my dear friend, from the bottom of my heart. It was a true delight to play in your campaign. I hope I have the chance to be part of another.
Congrats on finishing the game. Man even if I hadn't been reading the transcripts on A03 this would make me super interested in the story. Since I have read the story I am even more hyped to see what's to come.
Congrats on finishing the game. Man even if I hadn't been reading the transcripts on A03 this would make me super interested in the story. Since I have read the story I am even more hyped to see what's to come.
From what I have read of the game you did amazing work creating a unique and vibrant atmosphere, congrats.
So I'm reading through What Fire Has Wrought, and I'm looking at the craft charms, and it doesn't look like they're boss enough to actually build a warstrider. Even with the signature charm that increases the terminus, I'm just not seeing how they manage it. Especially since the excellency is just a dice adder and not also a dice trick.
Has someone math'd it out to see if its actually possible?
So I'm reading through What Fire Has Wrought, and I'm looking at the craft charms, and it doesn't look like they're boss enough to actually build a warstrider. Even with the signature charm that increases the terminus, I'm just not seeing how they manage it. Especially since the excellency is just a dice adder and not also a dice trick.
Has someone math'd it out to see if its actually possible?
Its been a while since I ran the numbers but I seem to recall it was possible but required more than the average number of successes. Though that might been been based on my specific character.
I'm not sure how they changed them from the manuscript phase, but the discussion of thought changes back then would have resulted in Air and Water Aspects being completely unable to craft Artifact 5s.
Ok, this is really a Second Edition Forums question, but...
Total Annihilation, the solar circle spell, reached 5 miles into the sky, with a 50 yard radius. It can expand 10 yards per second, for (Ex5) seconds.
At E10, this is 550 yards... a third of a mile, give or take. It's a pillar of fire. Ok. But it's less than a square mile of area... at E10.
Why do people keep referring to it as a "city-killer?" I understand the nuke references- it's Sunfire, from the sun who like green and Wasting Sickness. It's also a massive Pillar or Heavenly Fire.
But citykiller? This thing could maybe destroy a few city blocks. Sure, we have huge cities. SO DOES CREATION. Worse, without skyscrapers, Creation's cities are more spread-out.
So, what gives? Is it just the auto-association of "nukes?"
Ok, this is really a Second Edition Forums question, but...
Total Annihilation, the solar circle spell, reached 5 miles into the sky, with a 50 yard radius. It can expand 10 yards per second, for (Ex5) seconds.
At E10, this is 550 yards... a third of a mile, give or take. It's a pillar of fire. Ok. But it's less than a square mile of area... at E10.
Why do people keep referring to it as a "city-killer?" I understand the nuke references- it's Sunfire, from the sun who like green and Wasting Sickness. It's also a massive Pillar or Heavenly Fire.
But citykiller? This thing could maybe destroy a few city blocks. Sure, we have huge cities. SO DOES CREATION. Worse, without skyscrapers, Creation's cities are more spread-out.
So, what gives? Is it just the auto-association of "nukes?"
It's true that Total Annihilation won't usually wipe a major city entirely off the map with one casting, but unlike Rain of Doom it'll reliably take out even magically-reinforced fortifications, and doesn't depend on specific timing, or uncontested access to the entire perimeter. If you really want to kill a city with it in one shot, aim at a manse, then let essence buildup from the resultant uncapped demesne provide the necessary miles-wide devastation.
If the city somehow doesn't include a manse, or you can't get close enough, and your ST isn't willing to apply some other comparatively minor but more widespread collateral damage outside the exact wording of the spell's effect... aim for the strongest or least-mobile defensive point, or some key piece of infrastructure like a shipyard or dam, and be prepared to either cast it more than once, or send in a small army to finish the job. With the right terrain and other measures to delay escape, Total Annihilation has a decent chance of killing a circle of celestial exalts right through their paranoia combos, and that's no small thing - a city might collapse economically even without much direct property damage if their powers were the main thing propping it up.
If you just want more area per casting, there are various tricks to increase effective Essence for spellcasting purposes, and a Metasorcerous Phylactery could be used to triple or even quadruple the duration, effectively increasing the horizontal radius of devastation by the same factor. Or find some way to cast it deep underground, then simply allow things to collapse into the resultant sinkhole.
I'm not sure how they changed them from the manuscript phase, but the discussion of thought changes back then would have resulted in Air and Water Aspects being completely unable to craft Artifact 5s.
Also: It's nice to know about Rain of Doom (I wonder what people in Creation do when someone runs at superhuman speeds in a huge circle around their city? It's Solar Circle, so it's rare, but that's the kind of spell that inspires legends... and safety protocols).
What I was curious about originally was the reason people were referring to it as a city-killer... which makes less sense when there's a city-killer in the core book. Now, though, I'm wondering where EarthScorpion's version is. And plotting the destruction of Gem. I have been compelled! GEM MUST DIE!
