For starters, some idea that was considered potentially interesting for players by the GM may end up being frustrating/annoying/boring in the players' opinion in actual play. That's for a totally innocent 'GMs are not Solars and thus can make mistakes'. In a worse case scenario (one which should raise considerations about leaving/ending a campaign), a GM can be outright forcing his/her ideas of fun on others throughout the campaign.
What exactly do you mean by proactive/reactive here? In my (admittedly limited) experience, Exalted games tend to be very proactive in that they allow players great freedom in determining the means of solving any given problem they face, but fundamentally reactive in that these problems (and often, the player's goals) are set before them by the ST. I don't think I've ever been in a game that did not start by positing a crisis and asking the players how they react to it.
Most Exalted games I've played in or run start that way -- it's a great way to hook the PCs together -- and once that initial hook is complete transition into seeing what the PCs do next, with hooks provided only if they don't drive the story themselves.
Why? Infrastructure and investment provide assets, but they also create ties, responsibilities and demands. Infrastructure and investment is not the best solution to your problems, because it creates new problems. It's merely 'a' solution, and even that depends what your character is after. I see plenty of characters in my games who wouldn't be caught dead trying to build "infrastructure" because it's just irrelevant to what they want in life - and what they want in life is often of a rather personal nature, based on personal relationships or self-improvement. Admittedly, my Solar games are fairly recent, having only started since Ex3, so a lot of what I'm saying I base on Sidereals, Lunars and Dragon-Bloods.
Er, Salty Dog Method says it reduces external penalties "including DV". It says nothing about difficulties. Are there there charms that act as generalized difficulty(not penalty) reducers? Because to me it seems like those would already be too game-breaking to allow.
This is why my Malefactor Brilliant Eyes of Magnificent Lapis goes literally everywhere with an army of demons, wish empowered cultists and a full combat panolpy stored away in elsewhere at all times.
Right now I am playing a Dawn Single Point/Awareness master. Her main goal in life is to follow what she sees as the Way of the Sword, mainly by achieving mastery of her prefered combat style and her five senses, plus some generic self-perfection pursuit ("I want to be as fast as the wind and as strong as the tide...") Then she wants to pass those teachings on to others. Right now she has a small dojo in the Hundred Kingdoms. She will probably want a bigger dojo. She wouldn't mind being associated with kings and ensuring that the one kingdom in which she resides is relatively stable, and doesn't get invaded by foreign armies. Eventually her achiements are probably going to be some huge palace-sized dojo in which hundreds of disciples teach their own disciples and she is at the to top of the mentor hierarchy as some kind of wise woman. Probably she will trade her services to great princes, when she wants to practice her skills. Because of her meditative focus and emphasis on self-control, Essence fever is something she can keep under control.
Sometimes you gotta know when to fold' em.
Sounds like a government to me. What's all that about not needing a nation-state?
Now that sounds like no Solar I've ever heard of.
Bad news! You see, it happened miles away and days ago, and it took her one surviving disciple all that time just to get back and report to her! Luckily, he brought one of the blasphemer's personal effects with him, but...
Only if you're low conviction.
I only read the last two posts, so if there's a debate going on I have no context for it, but this sounds... pretty much like a mercenary nation state. I mean, you're describing Kung Fu Outer Heaven here. Wài Tiāntáng.
Sounds like a government minister to me.
Yes but Snow is not interested in any of that. She lives in a city; the farmers, traders and smiths already exist. They're already there, and they already feed nobles and armies and whatnot. She has a school. A big school, but she isn't creating a new government there. She's making that city more important, she is creating a place that will become a minor focus of trade and industry, and that will obviously affect the politics and economy of the region. But, uh... That's all. The local prince draws upon her disciples for elite soldiers, so has little reason to be threatened by her. She makes no claim to legal authority over her surroundings. She buys her food like every normal person, maybe in bulk price (probably her disciples actually have to feed themselves because bureaucratic overhead is complicated). She doesn't levy taxes. She doesn't have an army, ironically. She doesn't pass laws. She's an influential noblewoman whose actions affect the politics of her region. She isn't a prince.
"That guy killed one of my students and insulted my school, then ran away hundreds of miles out of my reach as fast as he could to hide in the heart of a Realm stronghold" isn't exactly something that makes you look weaker. It's an insult, yes, and it might call for retribution depending on circumstances, but it might not - your enemy already half-conceded that you were a terrifying mofo. If that retribution can be delivered by one Dawn going Roaring Rampage on some Terrestrial asses, then that is what happens. If that requires turning the students into an army and marching on a satrapy, that would both be out-of-character and insane.
