I was surprised that Keris had the forethought to not jump into the "wet cave." I kinda expected a "Jonah in the Whale" story there.

One thing I've been curious about: Echo gets to hit things through Keris' anima banner. Is that a special charm or ability? How are you representing that mechanically?

"The Life and Times of Krisity" continues to be my favorite parts of these updates, though. Nice to see some advancement of the other souls.
 
One thing I've been curious about: Echo gets to hit things through Keris' anima banner. Is that a special charm or ability? How are you representing that mechanically?

Echo is the Pantheon manifestation of Silence in Her Wake. Aleph chooses to manifest this Charm by having Echo show up and stab everything. Or in this case, whirl around like a top carrying a copy of the tesubo.
 
I was surprised that Keris had the forethought to not jump into the "wet cave." I kinda expected a "Jonah in the Whale" story there.
Keris had literally spent the entire invasion up to that point destroying anything she came across. Of course she was going to knock the door off its metaphorical hinges and toss a trio of grenades through the hole.

That it turned out the other side of the door was a giant's gullet was a satisfactory conclusion to this. Boom, splat. :p

And Echo isn't hitting things through Keris's anima banner, it's just that Keris usually flares to offset the cost of using SIHW.
 
Keris is a literal murder machine, she took on an army of Raksha and their king with little to no trouble and has secured a fuck load of Wyld-Essence for Ligier to work on his forge.

She is, however, not properly built to lead an army against magical foes with environmental or shaping effects; she lacks the AoE defenses that could counter-act against them (I don't think the Infernals have any in their books.) I can't say if she'd be a good commander while in the thick of it, her troops were forced back too fast to tell though her ordering them to fallback when it became obvious that they'd die otherwise is a good sign.
 
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Okay, shifting quickly away from Vicky vs The World round #158; Kerisgame 49 is up! In which... quite a bit happens. Keris's attempt at her first military command... sorta fails miserably, so she resorts to her trusty standard Plan B and murders her way through an entire Wyld Zone solo. I did very much like the boss raksha. He was really cool, and I loved his story and powers - though not enough to refrain from bashing his skulls in and letting Wyldeater devour him. And I will be attempting to write a SEEKING FUCK YEAH for her to achieve Enlightenment 9 on the five-day trip back across the Desert, as she wrestles with memories, philosophies and attractive men wearing very little clothing in her dreams.
Okay, random idea: Keris gets summoned by Louise [Familiar of Zero]. How badly do things go? Does Keris just kill Louise when she breaks out the riding crop? Does she just wander off before that?
 
Keris is a literal murder machine, she took on an army of Raksha and their king with little to no trouble and has secured a fuck load of Wyld-Essence for Ligier to work on his forge.
Honestly, this is the sort of memory that Keris probably shouldn't let Sasi see, though she wouldn't know that or understand why. Sasi is intellectually aware of the fact that Keris is incredibly lethal, but there's a difference between knowing it and watching her slaughter her way through an entire army of hungry fae on their home ground without being so much as scratched. If Sasi saw Keris's memories of this session, she'd probably be shaken and spend a while acting decidedly off and reassuring herself that Keris isn't a threat to her - possibly even finding excuses to be elsewhere for a while.
Okay, random idea: Keris gets summoned by Louise [Familiar of Zero]. How badly do things go? Does Keris just kill Louise when she breaks out the riding crop? Does she just wander off before that?
@EarthScorpion could probably give a better overview of the likely results of this - at least the short-term ones, since predicting Keris in the longer term is almost impossible. Firstly, Keris is very evidently not a commoner - she can do multiple kinds of magic, and is not at all shy about using them, and indeed in some cases can't actually disguise them. It would not take long for people to notice the prehensile hair that sometimes eats things, for instance, or the way she keeps pulling stuff out of thin air. So the riding crop would never come out. Louise wouldn't know what the fuck she was, but she'd definitely know she was a) magical and b) impressive. She's also female, and I doubt Louise would be as ready to whip a girl who, let's face it, is of a very similar build to herself than she is to whip an annoying baka commoner boy.

As to Keris's reaction... I dunno. We'll assume that this is a fusion and Old Realm is hanging around in Halkeginia so that she can, you know, communicate at all. Given that, she'll blink for a bit and probably be somewhat confused as to what's going on and where she is. She'll almost certainly talk her way out of Louise trying to kiss her and seal the familiar pact if it's explained to her, possibly by dint of bopping her on the head when she tries (if she can't communicate, she lets the pretty girl kiss her and then things get decidedly awkward as her Shaping/mental defences trigger against the Gandalfr brand being applied).

If she can sense a place where Cecelyne touches Halkeginia with her anima power, she'll head there immediately and that'll be that. If she can't, she'd probably hang around the academy on the basis of "not having anywhere to go" and "if anyone can send me back, it'll presumably be this lot". From there, the plot basically crashes into a wall and explodes, because AGSItV does enough damage to it with a chargen Exalt who has no idea of what she is, and Keris at this point is an experienced Green Sun Princess and sorceress built on almost 600xp who has a lot of strong opinions that she's not shy about expressing and no real peer-level opposition in Halkeginia that can stop her.
 
Okay, random idea: Keris gets summoned by Louise [Familiar of Zero]. How badly do things go? Does Keris just kill Louise when she breaks out the riding crop? Does she just wander off before that?
RIP In Pieces, Halkegenia.

Okay, shifting quickly away from Vicky vs The World round #158; Kerisgame 49 is up!
-snip-
Bonus bits:
Aleph: ... hahahahaha
Aleph: This is a Wyld zone full of Hungry Men
Aleph: of wendigos and cannibals and flesh-eaters who hunger eternally to slake their infinite appetites for blood and meat
Aleph: and Keris has a Charm that makes you roll the lower of Temperance and Compassion to be able to attack her.
Aleph: If these things actually have Virtues
Aleph: they are probably going to be Temperance 1
Aleph: and this is going to be hilarious
Please excuse the drool. I'd like to hear more about this charm.
 
I read those Charms. Then remembered they belong to Kimbery's Charmset and I shuddered. I mean, it's Kimbery: it basically means an infinitely deep ocean of acid is moe. You can't get more wrong than that :jackiechan:

If you read between the lines, Cytheria is the Flame the Sea marched against, and from the Intolerable Burning Truths that were burned into Kimbery, we can see some patterns. Like Mother Before Daughter. And her crippling fear of fire that means she can't use it with her sorcery.

She's an abuser, yes, but between the lines she's just treating others how she was treated.
 
If you read between the lines, Cytheria is the Flame the Sea marched against, and from the Intolerable Burning Truths that were burned into Kimbery, we can see some patterns. Like Mother Before Daughter. And her crippling fear of fire that means she can't use it with her sorcery.

She's an abuser, yes, but between the lines she's just treating others how she was treated.
...Okay, that is an unique interpretation. Not sure how accurate (reading between the lines is not my forte), but unique.
 
(I don't think the Infernals have any in their books.)

I don't recall any in particular, but I can think of a few places they could fit.

Malfeas, obviously. Maybe something branching off of Demon Emperor Shintai? You're already capable of magnanimously allowing your servants to survive witnessing your glory, so obviously some other asshole trying to go against your decision to allow them to live just plain isn't gonna fly.

Cecelyne is another one. Probably also building off her Shintai, the one that turns you into a moving desert. You are the environment and your dudes are under your protection.
 
I don't recall any in particular, but I can think of a few places they could fit.
From the Kimbery Excellency: "... [Kimbery] is capable of martyring herself to be the one in pain. Because her depths hold no lasting generosity, she demands payment proportional to her sacrifice."

So, entirely possible for her to have Charmtech that protects her children at the cost of shedding her own blood (lhl cost) that increases their loyalty as a Compulsion or Emotion effect and makes them unable to betray her or flee.
 
January Exalted Update

Hello Exalted 3rd backers:

RichT here. Right now, I'm awaiting word from the Devs that all of our corrections were made by Maria, all the art we had redone was changed, and no problems have arisen in the layout based on the changes. Once we get that all clear, we'll send the book out to get its index created, and we will be on the way to a finished PDF and able to create the files for the PoD and traditionally printed (the Deluxes) versions.

Meanwhile, here is the status of additional EX3 projects.

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)
•Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)
•Ex Backer Charms (Exalted 3rd Edition) Being playtested.

Redlines
•EX3 Quickstart (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Second Draft
•Arms of the Chosen (Exalted 3rd Edition)
•The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)
•Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)

I talked to our Exalted music suite composer the other day, and after several large life upheavals and moving into a new music studio, he is working on the Lunars theme.

Thanks!
 
From the Kimbery Excellency: "... [Kimbery] is capable of martyring herself to be the one in pain. Because her depths hold no lasting generosity, she demands payment proportional to her sacrifice."

So, entirely possible for her to have Charmtech that protects her children at the cost of shedding her own blood (lhl cost) that increases their loyalty as a Compulsion or Emotion effect and makes them unable to betray her or flee.
Hm, it would probably branch off from Fathomless Poison Heaven, it already has the charm tech in place. So anyone who is benefiting from Kimbery's good graces can be further protected from hostile shaping effects at the cost of a single lHL, as the Infernal cries in anguish and claws at her own flesh, slashes her palm open or her blood boils in her veins. Everytime the Infernal defends a person from a shaping attack, said person gains or reinforces an intimacy of grateful love or some such.
 
Name: The Courtiers Friend
Artifact 2
Attune: None

Designed and employed by Dynastic socialites with an eye towards privacy, the Courtier's Friend is a conversation or 'kissing' chair. Two seats edged in Blue Jade, facing the opposite directions share a common armrest, facilitating easy communication.

Aside from being comfortable and able to withstand Terrestrial Animas, the seats conceal what the occupants have to say. Either occupant can spend 4 motes to activate this effect for the scene. Mundane Awareness and Investigation actions to listen in or read lips are considered inapplicable. Efforts backed by magic or superhuman senses, such as Keen Hearing Technique add +4 to the difficulty of the roll.

However, this same privacy prevents characters from observing what's going on around them, applying the same restrictions when characters direct their attention outward.

A three-dot version of this artifact can function as a Thousand-Comfort's Lounge, transforming into any paired configuration of seats imaginable.

Name: Majesty's Grand Table
Artifact 1
Attune: None

This artifact is an ironwood table, with many variants and dimensions. They all share the common trait of having inset blue jade markers for seating. The smallest variants can seat six people, while the largest are reputed as being able to seat a hundred feasting Exalted. It was rumored that one such table was commissioned for the Calibration Feast, and it was destroyed during the Usurpation.

The enchantments woven into the artifact ensure that all voices speaking at the table carry equally and do not interfere with each other. Two people at the furthest ends of the table could speak in normal tones and hear each other without issue. Or, a dozen people could all share a single conversation, leaving out those who are focused elsewhere.

This same effect applies to sounds outside the table, suppressing unwelcome noise but allowing music and other entertainments to be fully appreciated.

However, the magic of the table is highly specific- if guests are not seated properly at the marked locations, the enchantments falter and provide no benefit. Footmen and waiters must also stand at specific points around the table marked by carved instructions for their voices to be heard.

Two-dot versions of this artifact allow whoever is seated at the head of the table (marked with a more ornate placement decoration), to silence or amplify speakers. They may invoke this power by spending 1 mote each time they wish to change permissions.
 
Yeah, but you could port it over as a Malfeas one. Heck, it might even be one of the three in his Charmset that are explicitly available as Malfeas charms.
If you're including "could port it over," then any Yozi could have one, because that's homebrew land.

And the Theion Charms Malfeas possesses are explicitly nonfunctional, as they're the ones that give him Ruvelia.
 
If you're including "could port it over," then any Yozi could have one, because that's homebrew land.

And the Theion Charms Malfeas possesses are explicitly nonfunctional, as they're the ones that give him Ruvelia.
Except there is a sidebar in the middle of the Theion Charmset listing the Charms in it that Malfeas does still have explicit, functional access to with only cosmetic changes.
 
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