General Exalted Thread
- Pronouns
- she/her
The other critical skill to bring up here is vetting. A lot of us are passable STs because we've found groups who appreciate what we bring to the table and recognise people we suspect would rub us the wrong way rather than trying to please everyone.
HamSandLich
MEAT WIZARD
- Location
- Somewhere in NOVA, possibly, maybe, presumably
- Pronouns
- He/Him
credit goes to @Lioness for the idea of the Salmalin as serving Sondok by retrieving relics stolen from her vaults
Sold to the Salmalin Cult in infancy, Harmonious Jade grew up in a hidden temple alongside children of similar backgrounds, learning the arts of stealth, acrobatics, and secret murder in the name of Sondok, She Who Stands In Doorways, demon-goddess of entryways and the treasuries of hell. A Southern thief-cult founded centuries ago to recover demonic artifacts for their mistress, the Salmalin had since expanded into mundane thefts and assassination, the high priests becoming venal and lazy crimelords. For most of her youth, Jade was a skilled but overlooked assassin-thief, her handlers wasting her talents on lesser heists and petty murders.
Frustrated at what she perceived as unworthy drudgery, Jade snuck into her own temple's vaults and discerned the location of The Eight Chambered Heart, a demonic relic that most of the cult thought lost to time. Discovering that the leadership of the Salmalin had been ignoring the Eight Chambered Heart in exchange for regular bribes from its current owner, Eldran Tabar, the Witch-Tyrant of Lock, Jade swore to recover it, slay its un-rightful owner, and revitalize the Salmalin.
Made headstrong by youthful zeal, Jade underestimated the defenses that Eldran Tabar had in store for the Eight Chambered Heart, nearly dying at the hands of bound spirits and outcaste bodyguards. Escape from the Lock would have been a miracle, and fortunately for Jade, a miracle was what she received, Solar exaltation filling her with the superhuman skill of a Night Caste. Though she failed to kill the Witch-Tyrant, she did manage to flee with both her life and the Eight Chambered Heart.
An exhausted but exalted Jade made her way back to the Salmalin Temple with the Eight Chambered Heart, certain that she could put her powers to new use in the service of her demon-goddess. She was dismayed, however, when she was received with chains and accusations of blasphemy, of violating vaults meant only for the cult's higher initiates. The revelation of her exaltation only gave her accusers an even stronger case against her. Brought bound and gagged before a sham tribunal, the corrupt high priests of Sondok sentenced her to death by sacrifice, to be carried out the next midnight. Incensed, Jade escaped while being escorted to her cell, fleeing the Salmalin Temple with what gear she could carry.
Now, making a living in Chiaroscuro as a freelance thief, assassin, and sometime heroine, she does what she can to clear her name and expose the high priests of the Salmalin, evading death-squads sent by her former masters. She keeps to her own personal code of honor when taking contracts, seeing reckless slaughter and unplanned looting as both pointless and artless, sometimes working for free if she feels that a client is deserving. In Jade's eyes, a true professional takes only what she intends and slays only those she's marked for death beforehand. She's not boastful, not openly at least, but there's a sense of smug (some would say naive) superiority to her that sometimes rubs more pragmatic and flexible criminals the wrong way. Heysha Black-Asp, bonded Lunar, frequent rival, and increasingly often ally of Jade, teases her that she's the most morally upstanding thief and killer for hire she's ever met.
Though she's been named an apostate against Sondok by her former masters, Jade is still pious in her own private way, keeping a small private shrine to She Who Stands In Doorways and thanking her for every unguarded passageway she encounters on jobs. She has no grudge against other Solars, as she sees it, the ancient deeds of her exalted predecessors have no hold on her. Nor does she have any particular loyalty to other demon princes or the Infernal Exalted, she is a cultist of Sondok alone. She still has a few friends among the cult's assassin-thieves who doubt the accusations against her. The Salmalin leadership have thus far managed to obscure the details of the debacle from the cult at large and persuade Sondok that Jade is a traitor. She Who Stands In Doorways has yet to intervene in the matter personally, trapped in hell as she is.
Iconics Revised: Harmonious Jade
Sold to the Salmalin Cult in infancy, Harmonious Jade grew up in a hidden temple alongside children of similar backgrounds, learning the arts of stealth, acrobatics, and secret murder in the name of Sondok, She Who Stands In Doorways, demon-goddess of entryways and the treasuries of hell. A Southern thief-cult founded centuries ago to recover demonic artifacts for their mistress, the Salmalin had since expanded into mundane thefts and assassination, the high priests becoming venal and lazy crimelords. For most of her youth, Jade was a skilled but overlooked assassin-thief, her handlers wasting her talents on lesser heists and petty murders.
Frustrated at what she perceived as unworthy drudgery, Jade snuck into her own temple's vaults and discerned the location of The Eight Chambered Heart, a demonic relic that most of the cult thought lost to time. Discovering that the leadership of the Salmalin had been ignoring the Eight Chambered Heart in exchange for regular bribes from its current owner, Eldran Tabar, the Witch-Tyrant of Lock, Jade swore to recover it, slay its un-rightful owner, and revitalize the Salmalin.
Made headstrong by youthful zeal, Jade underestimated the defenses that Eldran Tabar had in store for the Eight Chambered Heart, nearly dying at the hands of bound spirits and outcaste bodyguards. Escape from the Lock would have been a miracle, and fortunately for Jade, a miracle was what she received, Solar exaltation filling her with the superhuman skill of a Night Caste. Though she failed to kill the Witch-Tyrant, she did manage to flee with both her life and the Eight Chambered Heart.
An exhausted but exalted Jade made her way back to the Salmalin Temple with the Eight Chambered Heart, certain that she could put her powers to new use in the service of her demon-goddess. She was dismayed, however, when she was received with chains and accusations of blasphemy, of violating vaults meant only for the cult's higher initiates. The revelation of her exaltation only gave her accusers an even stronger case against her. Brought bound and gagged before a sham tribunal, the corrupt high priests of Sondok sentenced her to death by sacrifice, to be carried out the next midnight. Incensed, Jade escaped while being escorted to her cell, fleeing the Salmalin Temple with what gear she could carry.
Now, making a living in Chiaroscuro as a freelance thief, assassin, and sometime heroine, she does what she can to clear her name and expose the high priests of the Salmalin, evading death-squads sent by her former masters. She keeps to her own personal code of honor when taking contracts, seeing reckless slaughter and unplanned looting as both pointless and artless, sometimes working for free if she feels that a client is deserving. In Jade's eyes, a true professional takes only what she intends and slays only those she's marked for death beforehand. She's not boastful, not openly at least, but there's a sense of smug (some would say naive) superiority to her that sometimes rubs more pragmatic and flexible criminals the wrong way. Heysha Black-Asp, bonded Lunar, frequent rival, and increasingly often ally of Jade, teases her that she's the most morally upstanding thief and killer for hire she's ever met.
Though she's been named an apostate against Sondok by her former masters, Jade is still pious in her own private way, keeping a small private shrine to She Who Stands In Doorways and thanking her for every unguarded passageway she encounters on jobs. She has no grudge against other Solars, as she sees it, the ancient deeds of her exalted predecessors have no hold on her. Nor does she have any particular loyalty to other demon princes or the Infernal Exalted, she is a cultist of Sondok alone. She still has a few friends among the cult's assassin-thieves who doubt the accusations against her. The Salmalin leadership have thus far managed to obscure the details of the debacle from the cult at large and persuade Sondok that Jade is a traitor. She Who Stands In Doorways has yet to intervene in the matter personally, trapped in hell as she is.
Sunlit Sands, Sword of Amatarasu, Ascensions and Transgressions are all on Archive of our Own, Dreaming Sea Game, which me and Omi and Maugan and emeralis were talking about, is currently only on the Ascensions and Transgressions server, which I think has a standing link in that game's thread, or might be invite only, can't recall.
Sword of Amatarasu is a 3e/Essence game crossed over with Legend of the Five Rings, Ascensions and Transgressions is rooted in the demony side of Ex2, Sunlit Sands and Dreaming Sea Game are set in the South and Solar-focused, and oddly both doing merchanty stuff. I haven't actually read Sunlit Stands so I can't really convey much about it.
Also, yes, so much this. Though step one is still always putting yourself out there, finding a chat that agrees with you and finding people there you like, ect ect.
So how do god bloods work in Essence or 3E?
Had a concept for an old 2E character that was a demon blooded that I wanted to port over. And was curious how close I could recreate the idea.
Had a concept for an old 2E character that was a demon blooded that I wanted to port over. And was curious how close I could recreate the idea.
The new Sidereals manuscript provides rules for applying an x-blooded template to a character, and for what an Exalted godblooded gets:
So, mortals born to a god have 10 motes, 3 Charms appropriate to their parent but which have the Eclipse keyword, rising at 4 and 5, can buy more with XP/bonus points, and you might feel like being generous and making their Essence pool Essencex10.
What was your demon-blooded? I homebrew a lot for my game and already have a fuckton of x-blooded mechanics and such in the background. If you want, gimme the concept and what you want them capable of, and I'll take a swing at porting them to Ex3 tonight, and you can see if they look good to you.
That's awfully kind of you Miss.
Thank you for the offer.
Unfortunately, I didn't get too far in terms of the sheet itself, just had a rough idea for a back story and some ideas for merits and demerits they'd have. Was just trying to see how transferable something like the Walking Nightmare mutation from Scroll of Heroes would be.
Apologies if I gave the impression I had more to work with.
- Pronouns
- she/her
Absolutely. You can get a little help from a friend's recommendations but it's better to put yourself out there because mistakes are the best teacher. I like how on Valentine's Day a lot of what we're saying potentially doubles as dating advice.
I've always had a fondness for the potential in artifacts.
Ones I really liked from 2E were Arms of multiple Manipulation.
They'd probably not be as useful in 3E or Essence due to the change in extra limb mechanics, but I think I'll attempt to port them once I get my head around the systems again.
Wonder if someone has a compilation of artifacts from 2E ported to Essence or 3E.
Ones I really liked from 2E were Arms of multiple Manipulation.
They'd probably not be as useful in 3E or Essence due to the change in extra limb mechanics, but I think I'll attempt to port them once I get my head around the systems again.
Wonder if someone has a compilation of artifacts from 2E ported to Essence or 3E.
- Location
- A nondescript grave
Theres a compilation of published material here that you may find helpful.
It'll be under the artifact tab
Shadlith
Mad Magician
- Location
- The Universe
As a forever GM, I would absolutely be up for a Round Robin Exalted campaign so I can get a chance to play DX.
HamSandLich
MEAT WIZARD
- Location
- Somewhere in NOVA, possibly, maybe, presumably
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Generations of the Gods
As all Creation knows, the gods are immortal and ageless, a century is but a blink of an eye to divinity. And yet, few gods would claim to have existed since the very beginning of the world, and of that number, even fewer would be telling the truth. The gods reproduce just like any other form of life, and though they loathe to admit it, they too can experience true death. Over the eons, broad generational groupings of the gods have emerged as elder divinities retire from public life or as great upheavals cause mass deaths in the spirit world. The following are rough categories and descriptions:
The Generation of Sorrows
The newest generation of divinities, and in Creation by far the largest, this is the generation of gods that arose after the Contagion and Crusade, descended from the survivors of those catastrophic events. Born into the tumult of the Age of Sorrows, these gods have lived the entirety of their lives in a world marred by the passing of two apocalypses. Many are still in their youth, even if that youth spans centuries.In Creation, the gods of this generation are the most common for mortals to encounter, and are often the most in-tune with humanity. With the connections between Yu-Shan and Creation in disarray, many of the terrestrial gods of this generation have little direct contact with Heaven. A sizable percentage of them selectively or entirely ignore Yu-Shan's authority, and a small but growing number are wholly ignorant of its existence. Some uphold celestial duties and offices passed down to them by their elders, others carve out new pantheons and godly fiefdoms contrary to the order of Heaven.
In Yu-Shan, this generation is defined by widespread unemployment and poverty, with corruption and calcification in Heaven's top-heavy ministries providing few opportunities for advancement save for those already born into the godly aristocracy. Those who do find employment do so in an environment where corruption has been widespread for centuries. For some it is simply natural, the way things have been since as long as they can remember. For others it is something to rise against, a reminder of the entrenched abuses of their elders.
The Shogunate Generation
The Shogunate was a time of great social unrest and upheaval. While not as devastating as the Usurpation at its inception or the twin calamities at its conclusion, it was a time of constant unease. With the phenomenon of Immaculacy going through its early growing pains and attempting to impose its cosmology on a world that still remembered a time before the Shogunate, the gods born during this era have acquired a penchant for flexibility.In Creation, gods from this generation are all lifelong survivors, those who have endured through the constant wars of the Shogunate, the Great Contagion, and the Raksha Crusade. For some, the apocalypse never ended, the paranoid gods sequestering themselves in fortified temples and sanctums. Those who have a public presence are often fixtures in mortal religions, they may not always be in charge of their local pantheon but they are generally more accessible for mortals than their elders, while having greater experience and perspective than younger gods. Those of this cohort who ignore Yu-Shan often do so through the lens of viewing it as unreliable, its inability to come to Creation's rescue during the Shogunate's end marking it as unworthy of their obedience.
In Yu-Shan, gods from this generation fill the bulk of the Celestial Bureaucracy's lower and middle positions, mediating between entrenched older divinities and younger gods. Finding success in adaptability, this generation has a reputation for quiet reliability, though detractors accuse them of sycophancy. Those gods of this cohort who came to the celestial city as refugees following the Contagion and the Fair Folk Crusade and the loss of their purviews sometimes have positions as go-betweens for Yu-Shan and terrestrial spirit courts, while others eke out tenuous existences in heaven's legal gray areas.
The Generation of the Old Realm
Largest generation of the gods, the majority of this cohort keeps to Yu-Shan, with only a relative minority residing in Creation. Old enough to remember the wonders of the First Age, the current state of Creation usually elicits shock or dismay from these gods, though plenty view the Solar Purge as a necessary evil.Gods of this generation who are present in Creation are usually very experienced but somewhat eccentric. Either lifelong inhabitants of the terrestrial realm or expatriates of Yu-Shan, they typically have a very broad set of experiences and backgrounds. Many lament the state of Creation, having memories of a much greater and wider world. Some agreed with the Usurpation and some opposed it, but most are disapproving of the chain events that followed in its wake. Some have adapted well to the new age, finding positions as the heads of terrestrial pantheons or respected elder spirits. Others find themselves forgotten and lonely, stuck in a world that has no place for them while mourning a past they no longer believe in.
In Yu-Shan, these gods are among the most entrenched and most prominent. Dominating most of the offices of import in the heavenly city, these gods have centuries if not millennia of experience in the business of the Celestial Bureaucracy. While many are completely ignorant of modern Creation outside the most basic facts, their familiarity with the celestial city is unparalleled. Distant and increasingly divorced from the realities of the terrestrial world, many participate in complex codes of etiquette, ritualized games of intrigue, and elaborate power plays, the ripple effects of which can influence Creation in ways both subtle and overt.
The Dawn Generation
Eldest of the gods, the divinities of this generation are among the oldest living beings in the known universe, having existed since the Divine Revolution and the Time Before. Most have either died, retired, or become nigh immovably entrenched in the upper echelons of the Celestial Bureaucracy. These spirits do not overwhelmingly prefer to reside in Yu-Shan over Creation or vice versa, in fact a significant number of them are rather difficult to find, having retreated to distal sanctums or simply disappeared without a trace. The Celestial Incarnae are a part of this generation, as are many of the more influential members of their individual spirit courts.Born in a more primordial age, the perspectives of these gods are often abstract in a way that even other divinities have trouble comprehending, a trait that usually becomes more pronounced the older the god happens to be. Many spend centuries engaged in esoteric pursuits or mystical exercises, speculated by some to be an emulation of the primeval dance of the ancients and powers of the Time Before.
Those of this generation who maintain a more active and public presence seem larger than life and somehow timeless, with younger gods either admiring them or resenting them. While usually able to interact with mortals and other gods in a way that is comprehensible for both parties, they sometimes lapse into episodes of arcane musing, casually referencing events from out of legend and esoteric lore as if it were nothing more than tearoom banter.
Same XD It's got amusing overlap
Ask the folks of this thread who might wanna play! See about gathering a new gaming group! You've got lots of potential players, and Round Robin is good for getting to play!
I'm a big fan of the phrase, "largely comprehensible."
- Location
- Mexico
This is very interesting and I like the difference between the actual games and "the mythic past" where actions were grander and with greater splendor. But its like with the fights of DBZ, Vegeta first action in the series was to destroy a planet with two fingers yet as a Saiyan God he can comfortably fight in an arena of a mile long at most. What I get from that is that "spectacle" is not the same as "power" but it can influence it a lot (for example, Record of Ragnarok has a terrible problem with having the strongest warriors fight in the second fight, which has cast a shadow in the rest of the story, over 90% of it), but one way you can manage it is changing what skills constitute greater actions and that, after the second age, mythic actions just simply can't be done because might and wonder are just that depleted. Solars are as powerful (or might be) as their ancestors, but they simply lack the material to create and transform.
Also
This is wrong. The Gods died hundreds of Billions of years before Zoss (thirty Kalpa by Michael reckoning) even entered the wheel, well after the 777,777 universes were created. The Gods died by creating the song that birthed the multiverse and/or by going insane (like Aesma ripping herself apart). They had nothing to do with the multiversal war. In many ways, even before the Multiversal war, the universes were already in profound decay from the time of the gods; it's just that the Demiurges moved from "decay" into "corruption" and "degradation".
Also
This is wrong. The Gods died hundreds of Billions of years before Zoss (thirty Kalpa by Michael reckoning) even entered the wheel, well after the 777,777 universes were created. The Gods died by creating the song that birthed the multiverse and/or by going insane (like Aesma ripping herself apart). They had nothing to do with the multiversal war. In many ways, even before the Multiversal war, the universes were already in profound decay from the time of the gods; it's just that the Demiurges moved from "decay" into "corruption" and "degradation".
- Location
- United States
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Was reminded of Ixcoatli and, thinking about it, it is a little strange to me that the current devs have sworn off working on it because they feel its a little too close to the Warhammer Fantasy thing of making the only Central/South American representation in their setting be reptile-people. I feel like the solution to this potentially problematic thing of portraying a Central/South American culture as solely inhuman has already been handled by 3e Lunars taking great care to show that beastfolk cultures are basically the same as the baseline human cultures; they're not like the inhuman Saurus and Skinks of Warhammer's Lustria, they're just people trying to get by like everyone else. Also, they appear to be adding other places with inspiration from indigenous American cultures; IIRC, the Fire Aspect from the Dragon-blooded book is the ruler of a nation that appears to be fairly Central American in inspiration.
It's just a shame to me, it's the biggest mortal empire in the Far East and I feel like it'd be interesting to have more page count devoted to it.
It's just a shame to me, it's the biggest mortal empire in the Far East and I feel like it'd be interesting to have more page count devoted to it.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
IMO you can easily fix it by making them beastmen who chose to become beastmen because Aesthetic. An entire culture of obligate scalies.
- Location
- United States
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Most 3e beastmen cultures start off like that; the most common way for a beastman lineage to begin is that a Lunar warps a demesne or a patch of the Wyld into a proving ground, where the victors are mutated into a beastman matching the Lunar's spirit shape, and these mutations are explicitly hereditary. Chances are, the snake and raitonfolk of Ixcoatli had human ancestors who decided to do a Double Dare physical challenge for a shot at true scaliedom.
Also, could be possible that the people of Ixcoatli still have access to the Beast-Soul Awakening Crucibles (or Crucible, singular, if it originates from a single chimeric Lunar that was a snake-raiton); the Charm can persist after the death of the Lunar who made it so long as no one caps it over with a manse or Wyld Shapes the part of the Wyld its in.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
You could probably just do it with alchemy too. On that note, I'd kill for a form of alchemy in Exalted that pulls heavily from the mystical 'perfection of self, etc' the IRL version centered around.
Isn't there Sorcerous Initiation that's basically just that?
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Yeah, but that's it. There's no rules or even fluff for how you get there or even what it looks like or what kind of person chases it.
