Nah. Most of Malfeas is Jenna Moran being Jenna Moran and doing Borgstromantic things.
The legacy code is things like how in Exalted 1e, Malfeas is not a Malfean and the Malfeans don't live in Malfeas.
General Exalted Thread
Nah. Most of Malfeas is Jenna Moran being Jenna Moran and doing Borgstromantic things.
The legacy code is things like how in Exalted 1e, Malfeas is not a Malfean and the Malfeans don't live in Malfeas.
I thought it was green, because of Ligier. Or is that only in Malfeas proper?
greensun
You shall all burn beneath my light!!!
Malfeas proper.
Carrnage
Human
- Location
- New Zealand
my personal headcanon is that there is always a green light resting on the horizon pointing the way to malfeas.
Dynamesmouse
Bzzzzzz
That would make it too easy to navigate, in my mind. Plus, Ligier is not infinitely bright.
I run on quite the opposite. The five day travel measures from "when you enter Malfeas" to "the moment when you see the gleam of Ligier on the horizon".
Cecelyne gave a weary older sister glare at Malfeas when he suggested that Ligier should be permitted to fill her night sky and told him 'fuck no'.
Romantic_Kaiju
Romantic Kaiju
- Location
- National Battlefield
I don't have 1st Edition, so what are the Malfeans? And why would you call a place Malfeas, and not have the people living there called Malfeans?
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The Malfeans were the Neverborn and IIRC, the term originated from the oWoD, which Exalted was originally the prehistory of before that got dropped..
- Location
- The end of all things
Incidentally so did the term Neverborn. They are one type of Malfean, along with the Onceborn.
Chloe Sullivan
Subdefective
- Location
- 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale CA
How does that even work?
The CORC/COOP is a Dyson sphere in Mage which is made out of translucent crystal , with of course a star, ie a flame in its center..
As an extension of my previous post earlier, something else which gets paid an unduly poor amount of mind is just to the extent the eight nations make war on eachother and in general. The 1e book makes it clear that though gremlins are rising in frequency, they are not the primary, or even fringe threat to address during a campaign, and the nations more aggressively vie amongst themselves for resources with raids and paying increasing sums to mercenary Estasia to halt military action before it ever starts.
But actual, legit fighting gets at best a brief sidebar in the Charm section of the 2e book, and even there is only mindful to make note of a tendency towards small-unit tactics. So in light of all that, some side-research and some assistance from @Shyft, hopefully this extended bit of noodling on the subject adds some interesting options to consider in the shape and attitudes of the Autochthonian war machine:
Conflict in Autochthonia:
The peoples of Autochthonia do not make war as the lands of Creation do, there are no vast sprawling spaces for armies to march in lock step or tranquil nights for armadas to lay siege under cover of darkness. Tight corridors and dangerous machinery wind throughout the Great Maker's body, creating copious bottlenecks, murder-holes and flesh-shearing hazards to dissuade massed fighting forces. Infiltration, misdirection and intelligence make up the bulk of any war effort, often meaning the course of entire conflicts are decided by a series of skirmishes over key resources rather than a prolonged battle.
There is an uncanny covert aspect to Autochthonian warfare which is often lost on outsiders, when an enemy force can ambush to crippling effect from literally any possible vantage point, including sightless depths and towering vertical expanses. In the dark, irregularly loud and tangled confines between the nations, gaining and maintaining visual contact is absolutely indispensable, both between a general and her enemy and to communicate effectively with her own command. At such high stakes, the best possible outcome is rarely an encounter at all, but the aggressor and defenders ghosting past the other with no hint of unusual passage.
Because Estasia is the only nation to train and equip a sizable and professional army, when naked hostilities do arise among other nations it takes the form of select handfuls of organized militia, referred to as Batteries. Reputable populat workers are gathered under the direction of a veteran regulator or sodalt specialist to form a battery, drilled for high-pressure situations, the use of mission-critical related skills and quickly mobilized to the problem area. To preserve state security these scant few rise to the occasion blindly, briefed exclusively in the task to be done and any associated contact codes unique to that operation. Hand signals, flashing lights, even pipe-tapping techniques requiring the use of amplifier earpieces each have a distinct meaning to its nation of origin, and the Octet employ such codes infrequently to prevent familiarity of tactics between rivals.
Owing to the wide variety of civilian backgrounds and the intention to rapidly infiltrate and subvert a decisive location sooner than hold it for long as part of a protracted engagement, a battery will often be equipped towards the competencies of each member as a combat engineer than a seasoned warrior. The 'front line' of any battlefield shifts with these specialized teams, advancing and withdrawing like waves as objectives are completed or repulsed, with the most successful returning to redeploy when fresh orders are ready. Large conflicts can be composed of dozens of batteries working in tandem, preparing or eluding defensive perimeters as raiding clashes play out more akin to elaborate heists and blockade running than blood-soaked assaults and siegecraft.
Because of the cramped quarters and reduced number of personnel involved in a military action, the intimate nature of fighting in Autochthonia has dramatically motivated national attitudes with regards to wartime casualties and collateral damage. Most notably the utmost care is observed to avoid bloodshed against possible captives or malicious sabotage against vital local facilities, driven primarily by nations with such readily available and advanced arsenals as to make nonlethal military actions the norm. Traditionally though, sidearm utility swords are given at least one saw-toothed edge to snag and tear flesh or equipment straps rather than slice cleanly through, while crossbow bolts are kept shortened with cutting or shocking tips to prevent deep tissue injury but maximize inflicted pain. It is far from enlightened altruism that upholds the practice, but pragmatism built atop a longer and bitter history.
In the age before the rise to power of the Octet, war captives were offered up in handfuls as blood sacrifice to fuel special civic rites, thaumathurgically empowering Autochthon's great machines for another few months at best. With the arrival of more civilized times and the establishment of tripartite law, the outright butchery of yet productive workers is seen as the sole domain of the unpredictable tunnel folk upholding inscrutable superstitions of the Far Reaches, and in due course war captives are rounded up as hostages in international dispute.
As a missing fraction of a beleaguered workforce, these hostages are useful bargaining chips to trade for additional favors or valuable materials, becoming highly influential to the populat view over how deeply the tripartite leadership considers the well-being of its lowest members. In circumstances where one side has scored a truly decisive victory, these materials are typically the very same assets the two nations have had prior difficulty coming to an acceptable agreement on. Entire treaties have been written across the backs of war prisoners, debating the future wisdom of provoking such marked aggression than if more sensible terms had been levied to begin with.
Avoiding accidental strain or destruction to the Great Maker's body during combat operations unless absolutely necessary has similarly dire implications lurking behind it. While a foreign agency might consider the industrial landscape as much of a tool of warfare, snapping valves to redirect reservoirs of oil or steam, tearing down catwalks or damming smelting rigs can quickly lead to a far larger conflict than initially accounted for. Because while the primordial cannot regulate his own personal health, the independent constructs which inhabit his pathways and corridors are extremely thorough when it comes to removing parasitic or harmful elements.
If a fighting force is deemed a threat to nearby processes, Autochthon's elementals and custodians cease to acknowledge mortal stewardship of the area and converge en masse to exterminate all opposition regardless of allegiance, returning it back to complete management by machine spirits alone. Challenging this reclamation, and the lengths required afterwards to placate the offended spirits often far exceeds the gain to be had by making such a mistake, so pragmatic commanders wisely treat the Great Maker's internal environs as inviolable during times of conflict. But strategic use of surrounding terrain is not to be dismissed, because machines are still machines and may be guided by a gifted hand.
Gentle persuasion of nearby systems and attendant ex machina by a trained thaumathurge may change the entire course of an encounter. Triggering an unexpected flare of lightning from a junction box to blind an enemy unprepared with arc-protectors, aligning crossbow fire between the temporary cover of man-sized pistons, or even spirit-calling a large custodian to wander through the center of a skirmish on its way to a designated repair point, all of these options and more leave the battlefield as it was found but still offer notable advantages.
Efficiency and control rule the day in war, as with every aspect of Autochthonian life. It is never the question of who can kill the most or quickest, but who achieved as many of her intended goals with a minimum of resources expended for the trouble for both sides.
Structural Integrity:
Champions are not above strict rules of warfare either, even striding through pitched skirmishes like wrecking engines. To field an Exalt for the purpose of laying waste to civilian targets within the borders of another nation, even if those individuals were mobilizing as part of a battery offensive, is viewed by all the Octet as a display of unchecked aggression against the opposing nation's economic and manufacturing stability. As a result the full strength of an Alchemical exalt in a battle comprised of mortals is significantly curbed, compared to the powers she can wield indiscriminately against supernatural beings.
This handicap is well-known enough among the tacticians of the eight nations to create a standard practice of forming "living walls" to try and deflect or bottleneck the movements of a Champion across open spaces. Though not always successful in controlling the battlefield, attempting to minimize exalted involvement by putting mortal lives at immediate risk can often prove to be a critical distraction when pushed at a key moment. It has also encouraged an unusual practice of "counting coup" among mortal soldiers facing Alchemical exalted in combat. Carrying such incredible strength and skill, a Champion fully prepared for an engagement is the most dangerous foe the average mortal will ever witness firsthand.
Landing a blow or barehanded touch on such a powerful opponent and escaping unscathed, or without being lost in a moment of awe and disabled for capture, is thought to be a deed on par with securing an important objective or standing tall in the face of impossible odds. Batteries bond as units recounting these accomplishments during downtime rest-hours and to earn the respect of peers, though it is regularly tempered with the acknowledgment that such foolhardy acts may well lead to becoming another hostage someday in the attempt. Worse still would be unduly crippling one of the Alchemical's major Charms, forcing her to lash out with less than optimal safety measures in place.
But the battlefield presence of a Champion is by no means a negligible factor, and the most common reason for an assembly to be retrofitted for warfare is to counteract the legion-subduing powers of a rival nation's exalts before the tides turn out of favor. Clashes between Alchemical exalted are treated as meaningful and honorable duels in many situations, if rather improvised because the rules of engagement between such beings are even more severe than against any mortal combatant. Barring sudden administrative miscalculation, an exalt will already know her opponents long before she was ever even deployed, as opposed to meeting her equal number out in the field and advancing from there.
The amount of construction time, technical engineering, training and infrastructure support embodied in one of the Champions means she represents the entirety of her home nation's industry base. Which means any deliberate, violent death of one Champion at the hands of another is treated with equal weight as a declaration of total war. Each exalt must tread lightly where her fellow Champions are concerned, because both act with the intentions of the national tripartite looming in the backdrop. Therefore these skirmishes are rarely pursued beyond first blood or crippling injury before disengaging, breaking away to manage other sections of the battlefield instead. In all other respects however, this remains one of the rare instances where an Exalt need not hold back the extent of her power.
When there is no other alternative but to bring an inevitable conclusion to a standoff between Champions, standard tactics follow disarming or crippling her foe's capabilities at completing objectives. This is never as easy as it sounds, thanks to the inhuman sturdiness of the Alchemical frame and Charms, so even these short bursts of staged violence can be frightfully brutal simply to take her foe past the breaking point. Divested of her primary means for influencing the battle, withdrawal to another portion of the fight as a supporting role is the only possible option, even for unduly headstrong exalted.
These "mission kills" can become legends unto themselves, forming long chains of give and take rivalries lasting generations between the nations. In this way, a Champion becomes seen as the true face of her homeland, and a figure for the masses to decry or rally behind when a new crisis comes to light.
But actual, legit fighting gets at best a brief sidebar in the Charm section of the 2e book, and even there is only mindful to make note of a tendency towards small-unit tactics. So in light of all that, some side-research and some assistance from @Shyft, hopefully this extended bit of noodling on the subject adds some interesting options to consider in the shape and attitudes of the Autochthonian war machine:
Conflict in Autochthonia:
The peoples of Autochthonia do not make war as the lands of Creation do, there are no vast sprawling spaces for armies to march in lock step or tranquil nights for armadas to lay siege under cover of darkness. Tight corridors and dangerous machinery wind throughout the Great Maker's body, creating copious bottlenecks, murder-holes and flesh-shearing hazards to dissuade massed fighting forces. Infiltration, misdirection and intelligence make up the bulk of any war effort, often meaning the course of entire conflicts are decided by a series of skirmishes over key resources rather than a prolonged battle.
There is an uncanny covert aspect to Autochthonian warfare which is often lost on outsiders, when an enemy force can ambush to crippling effect from literally any possible vantage point, including sightless depths and towering vertical expanses. In the dark, irregularly loud and tangled confines between the nations, gaining and maintaining visual contact is absolutely indispensable, both between a general and her enemy and to communicate effectively with her own command. At such high stakes, the best possible outcome is rarely an encounter at all, but the aggressor and defenders ghosting past the other with no hint of unusual passage.
Because Estasia is the only nation to train and equip a sizable and professional army, when naked hostilities do arise among other nations it takes the form of select handfuls of organized militia, referred to as Batteries. Reputable populat workers are gathered under the direction of a veteran regulator or sodalt specialist to form a battery, drilled for high-pressure situations, the use of mission-critical related skills and quickly mobilized to the problem area. To preserve state security these scant few rise to the occasion blindly, briefed exclusively in the task to be done and any associated contact codes unique to that operation. Hand signals, flashing lights, even pipe-tapping techniques requiring the use of amplifier earpieces each have a distinct meaning to its nation of origin, and the Octet employ such codes infrequently to prevent familiarity of tactics between rivals.
Owing to the wide variety of civilian backgrounds and the intention to rapidly infiltrate and subvert a decisive location sooner than hold it for long as part of a protracted engagement, a battery will often be equipped towards the competencies of each member as a combat engineer than a seasoned warrior. The 'front line' of any battlefield shifts with these specialized teams, advancing and withdrawing like waves as objectives are completed or repulsed, with the most successful returning to redeploy when fresh orders are ready. Large conflicts can be composed of dozens of batteries working in tandem, preparing or eluding defensive perimeters as raiding clashes play out more akin to elaborate heists and blockade running than blood-soaked assaults and siegecraft.
Because of the cramped quarters and reduced number of personnel involved in a military action, the intimate nature of fighting in Autochthonia has dramatically motivated national attitudes with regards to wartime casualties and collateral damage. Most notably the utmost care is observed to avoid bloodshed against possible captives or malicious sabotage against vital local facilities, driven primarily by nations with such readily available and advanced arsenals as to make nonlethal military actions the norm. Traditionally though, sidearm utility swords are given at least one saw-toothed edge to snag and tear flesh or equipment straps rather than slice cleanly through, while crossbow bolts are kept shortened with cutting or shocking tips to prevent deep tissue injury but maximize inflicted pain. It is far from enlightened altruism that upholds the practice, but pragmatism built atop a longer and bitter history.
In the age before the rise to power of the Octet, war captives were offered up in handfuls as blood sacrifice to fuel special civic rites, thaumathurgically empowering Autochthon's great machines for another few months at best. With the arrival of more civilized times and the establishment of tripartite law, the outright butchery of yet productive workers is seen as the sole domain of the unpredictable tunnel folk upholding inscrutable superstitions of the Far Reaches, and in due course war captives are rounded up as hostages in international dispute.
As a missing fraction of a beleaguered workforce, these hostages are useful bargaining chips to trade for additional favors or valuable materials, becoming highly influential to the populat view over how deeply the tripartite leadership considers the well-being of its lowest members. In circumstances where one side has scored a truly decisive victory, these materials are typically the very same assets the two nations have had prior difficulty coming to an acceptable agreement on. Entire treaties have been written across the backs of war prisoners, debating the future wisdom of provoking such marked aggression than if more sensible terms had been levied to begin with.
Avoiding accidental strain or destruction to the Great Maker's body during combat operations unless absolutely necessary has similarly dire implications lurking behind it. While a foreign agency might consider the industrial landscape as much of a tool of warfare, snapping valves to redirect reservoirs of oil or steam, tearing down catwalks or damming smelting rigs can quickly lead to a far larger conflict than initially accounted for. Because while the primordial cannot regulate his own personal health, the independent constructs which inhabit his pathways and corridors are extremely thorough when it comes to removing parasitic or harmful elements.
If a fighting force is deemed a threat to nearby processes, Autochthon's elementals and custodians cease to acknowledge mortal stewardship of the area and converge en masse to exterminate all opposition regardless of allegiance, returning it back to complete management by machine spirits alone. Challenging this reclamation, and the lengths required afterwards to placate the offended spirits often far exceeds the gain to be had by making such a mistake, so pragmatic commanders wisely treat the Great Maker's internal environs as inviolable during times of conflict. But strategic use of surrounding terrain is not to be dismissed, because machines are still machines and may be guided by a gifted hand.
Gentle persuasion of nearby systems and attendant ex machina by a trained thaumathurge may change the entire course of an encounter. Triggering an unexpected flare of lightning from a junction box to blind an enemy unprepared with arc-protectors, aligning crossbow fire between the temporary cover of man-sized pistons, or even spirit-calling a large custodian to wander through the center of a skirmish on its way to a designated repair point, all of these options and more leave the battlefield as it was found but still offer notable advantages.
Efficiency and control rule the day in war, as with every aspect of Autochthonian life. It is never the question of who can kill the most or quickest, but who achieved as many of her intended goals with a minimum of resources expended for the trouble for both sides.
Structural Integrity:
Champions are not above strict rules of warfare either, even striding through pitched skirmishes like wrecking engines. To field an Exalt for the purpose of laying waste to civilian targets within the borders of another nation, even if those individuals were mobilizing as part of a battery offensive, is viewed by all the Octet as a display of unchecked aggression against the opposing nation's economic and manufacturing stability. As a result the full strength of an Alchemical exalt in a battle comprised of mortals is significantly curbed, compared to the powers she can wield indiscriminately against supernatural beings.
This handicap is well-known enough among the tacticians of the eight nations to create a standard practice of forming "living walls" to try and deflect or bottleneck the movements of a Champion across open spaces. Though not always successful in controlling the battlefield, attempting to minimize exalted involvement by putting mortal lives at immediate risk can often prove to be a critical distraction when pushed at a key moment. It has also encouraged an unusual practice of "counting coup" among mortal soldiers facing Alchemical exalted in combat. Carrying such incredible strength and skill, a Champion fully prepared for an engagement is the most dangerous foe the average mortal will ever witness firsthand.
Landing a blow or barehanded touch on such a powerful opponent and escaping unscathed, or without being lost in a moment of awe and disabled for capture, is thought to be a deed on par with securing an important objective or standing tall in the face of impossible odds. Batteries bond as units recounting these accomplishments during downtime rest-hours and to earn the respect of peers, though it is regularly tempered with the acknowledgment that such foolhardy acts may well lead to becoming another hostage someday in the attempt. Worse still would be unduly crippling one of the Alchemical's major Charms, forcing her to lash out with less than optimal safety measures in place.
But the battlefield presence of a Champion is by no means a negligible factor, and the most common reason for an assembly to be retrofitted for warfare is to counteract the legion-subduing powers of a rival nation's exalts before the tides turn out of favor. Clashes between Alchemical exalted are treated as meaningful and honorable duels in many situations, if rather improvised because the rules of engagement between such beings are even more severe than against any mortal combatant. Barring sudden administrative miscalculation, an exalt will already know her opponents long before she was ever even deployed, as opposed to meeting her equal number out in the field and advancing from there.
The amount of construction time, technical engineering, training and infrastructure support embodied in one of the Champions means she represents the entirety of her home nation's industry base. Which means any deliberate, violent death of one Champion at the hands of another is treated with equal weight as a declaration of total war. Each exalt must tread lightly where her fellow Champions are concerned, because both act with the intentions of the national tripartite looming in the backdrop. Therefore these skirmishes are rarely pursued beyond first blood or crippling injury before disengaging, breaking away to manage other sections of the battlefield instead. In all other respects however, this remains one of the rare instances where an Exalt need not hold back the extent of her power.
When there is no other alternative but to bring an inevitable conclusion to a standoff between Champions, standard tactics follow disarming or crippling her foe's capabilities at completing objectives. This is never as easy as it sounds, thanks to the inhuman sturdiness of the Alchemical frame and Charms, so even these short bursts of staged violence can be frightfully brutal simply to take her foe past the breaking point. Divested of her primary means for influencing the battle, withdrawal to another portion of the fight as a supporting role is the only possible option, even for unduly headstrong exalted.
These "mission kills" can become legends unto themselves, forming long chains of give and take rivalries lasting generations between the nations. In this way, a Champion becomes seen as the true face of her homeland, and a figure for the masses to decry or rally behind when a new crisis comes to light.
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That's... really thought-through- and yeah, Autocthonian combat's going to be a lot more small-unit actions than in Creation (which is called out in Compass: Autocthon, IIRC).
The idea that the Eight Nations would specifically avoid attacking vital infrastructure was something I hadn't thought of, but also makes sense.
The idea that the Eight Nations would specifically avoid attacking vital infrastructure was something I hadn't thought of, but also makes sense.
Roadie
A plate full of blins and a cat nearby.
Here's the exciting news about the Ex3 core from the Monday meeting notes post:
Now we can look forward to CCP doing eight approval passes.
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Well thought out and plausible.
Nice work.
Not necessarily though.
It was mentioned in Compass that during one war a Patropolis (Estasian, I think) was forced to drop a major part of it's infrastructure to destroy an invading force of humans.
And that repairs still hadn't been completed years later.
Of course, there are exceptions, like the Elemental War between Sova and Yugash.
Or the(alleged) plans to terminally sabotage Project Razor by rival nations once it established proof of concept.
UrsaTempest
Don't Panic!
So long they stick to 2020 release, I am content.
Salty
Shadow Cabal Assumptor Supreme
- Location
- Sun, Moon, Talia
- Pronouns
- I/Me
Thanks. I wasn't aware they had such an open policy.
Dynamesmouse
Bzzzzzz
I'd say the first stage "caste mark" doesn't apply a stealth penalty. You could cover your caste mark with a bandanna without it shining through.
Here's what I was thinking of:
I was thinking 5 motes and adding [your essence]/2 to the difficulty.
- Location
- Spain
Way too powerful. This hack makes combat mote regen imposible without anima flare, and allowing it (even if slowly) makes nights too powerful i think.)
This seems better. Thanks.
So, in 3e what would be the implications of bringing back Immanent Solar Glory for all the Abilities that used to have it? It was very strong in 2.X because of the rocket tag nature of combat, but with lethality being largely fixed you don't need the motes as bad. But since mote generation in general has been reined in, would it be too much?
samdamandias
Apprentice Plane Wizard
Powerful second circles, When they are feeling generous, they allow their retinue to ride upon them.
Great. Now I'm actually going to try and do a write-up of them.
Do they still have the "Nobody gets any information beyond the fact that I'm a Solar" effect?