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Memoirs of a Human Flashlight [Exalted/Worm]

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Exaltation can come when needed to help someone standing by their virtues in the face of adversity, or it can come after they achieve victory. The angle I was taking was, instead of snapping and fighting back or sinking ever further into despair, Taylor decided to put some faith in some people and risked confronting Sophia via this route.

Ignorant of Sophia's connection to the Wards, the risk was high. The moment Sophia knew she was taking an angle Emma couldn't easily lawyer her out of, the game would change and Taylor would be in actual danger. Taylor was aware of this. The best she was hoping for was some seriously undeniable camera footage which could be used to threaten the school into quashing Sophia. Three layers of indirect action there.

Sophia throwing the knife was the cherry on top. A potentially lethal attack (never mind that she was a cape) on video? Over and done.

As for the feasibility of the teleports, each camera drone was the destination for a single use emergency teleport. When Taylor hit the panic button, each camera pulled a single Ward in at the cost of most of its remaining battery life. I can easily arbitrarily limit the effective range and such after the fact, but it was intended to be a single use gimmick for a specific situation. The camera drones were something he was already working on; the teleport thing was why he delayed the operation until the next Monday, to tack that functionality in. He knew Sophia well enough that if shit went down, they'd need to land on top of her, literally, to stop her from doing something permanent.

It wasn't Taylor getting saved by the Wards.

It was Taylor successfully getting dirt on her enemies via any and all means available, even if it was a long shot. That some violence broke out at the end and she actually needed saved from the situation was a side detail. She succeeded in her primary goal the moment she was stuffed in the locker.
 
you just have to put limits on it. maybe the teleport system can only reach targets within x miles of the central station and needs targeting beacons on both ends for each individual teleport.
 
Teleportation isn't really necessary though. In canon Taylor was left in there for hours and her tormentors stayed around for a while to laugh at her screams, all you need is for the panic button to send Kid Win a text and a stream from the cameras. He would still be able to make it in time to interfere.
 
Hmm, given where she was thrown, cleansing/scouring light seems a very appropriate trigger response. Also one that they won't want to talk about. I wonder whether they'll just assume everything is some form of light manipulation.
 
I agree with Auks her having her mothers death be the reason she gets taken seriously takes the agency away from Taylor which is an important part of earning an exaltation.

I would recommend Taylor refer by Sophia by name, and maybe be specific enough in her descriptions of her cruelty that it will sound familiar to the wards. The appearance of a capes civilian name in such an email would justify it being sent to the PFT, and if Sophia's behavior is explained well enough I could see Kid Win setting up the sting specifically for her, after realizing it is in character for Shadow Stalker.

The end result would be the same, but it gives agency back to Taylor.
 
Added to the wormverse thread index. Generally like what I see so far, though teleports are concerning (for one, they would allow for things like emergency recall to HQ at any moment). Maybe have them as a seized equipment built by Leet? Useful, but a one-time thing, and with a limited range, limited mass they could teleport and such, to explain why wards would be allowed to play with them.

Anyway, looking out for more, as this should be interesting.

As said right now, wards and PRT saw different light emissions. They'll probably see fast learning (Uber style) pretty fast.So thinker will probably be added rather quickly, and then upgraded again and again as Taylor grows in power.
Cytokinesis said:
Or maybe, just maybe, this will have a more positive tone. Hopefully. Not perfect of course, but less like the entire universe hates her. She is a Solar after all, and her biggest faults should come from her own actions.

It would be nice to have a counterbalance to the rather more depressing fics (including Worm itself...) going around here.
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Indeed. One can only hope.
 
Note, some of the para-humans do have functioning teleport _powers_, and Kid Win had a functioning Teleportation device in canon. Not a huge game changer.
 
cyberswordsmen said:
I agree with Auks her having her mothers death be the reason she gets taken seriously takes the agency away from Taylor which is an important part of earning an exaltation.

I would recommend Taylor refer by Sophia by name, and maybe be specific enough in her descriptions of her cruelty that it will sound familiar to the wards. The appearance of a capes civilian name in such an email would justify it being sent to the PFT, and if Sophia's behavior is explained well enough I could see Kid Win setting up the sting specifically for her, after realizing it is in character for Shadow Stalker.

The end result would be the same, but it gives agency back to Taylor.
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Uh, you guys did read carefully, right? I fixed that from the original snip. The bullying doesn't start until after the death, the death doesn't trigger the letter, etc.

Yes your experience was cheapened mildly by seeing the first draft but I did change it.
 
Ohhh... an exaltation though victory via investigation/bureaucracy. Cool!

That alone gives you bonus points... I was wondering how a Solar Exaltation would work in Worm with Taylor, Lunar is simple enough... but the Solar one... well I'll be waiting for more!
 
LordsFire said:
evil Exalts?
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This, what does it mean?

Exalts are humans, empowered. The powers don't make them evil, their choices do. That's the entire point of Exalted. Actions have consequences. That's like saying, because a character is a Warlock in DnD, they eat babies.
 
Okie dokie, review time.
Golden Lark said:
It cheered me up a bit. That night, I thought about it, and decided to bother with a e-mail to the line. What would be the harm?
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Since you are going Solar, maybe say stiffen resolve? Eh.

Hmm, I think the issue is, a Solar is usually thought of as someone who takes charge, who damns the torpedoes, who goes straight ahead, regardless of field.

Siddies work, in the background, assembling what they need, and executing a plan.

Maybe, instead of having her Exalt in the locker, and removed, have the Wards show up, and as Sophia is flipping out, the locker door becomes a friggin frisbee. More later in the morning.

EDIT: Passive, maybe? Ugh, brain not work right, ugh.
 
Also remember that Abyssals aren't doomed, redemption arcs are a core option. Though suggestions for such an arc require one major heroic act for each point of essence, meaning two at a minimum, and four being more common. Major being save a city at minimum.

Infernals don't get a redemption arc as a core option (as I recall?), but they can go rogue, start the second rebellion against the Yosi, or even transcend and become primordials themselves and then say, "Fuck creation I'm making my own place to live".

The key thing is while the majority of Infernals/Abyssals are "evil" its because they are fallen/failed/dead heros. The early part of there exaltation will suck yes, and they could stay "evil", but that spark of heroism can reignite and lead them to a better path.

Everything going to hell in the other fics is more a function of Worm-verse then Infernal/Abyssal Exaltation itself. In Exalted you have Yosi/Deathlords playing evil puppet master, in Worm you have a bunch of factions, most of which are run by assholes.
 
What you know about the Infernals is wrong. Yozis want to reclaim Creation. Not destroy it. They need not be evil even if they are working for the Yozi.
 
What happens next should be very interesting. I'm assuming that Miss Militia and Armsmaster were called in when Sophia's involvement was found out (some sort of panic button given to wards in case of "I need adult assistance, now!"). They now have to get both Sophia and Taylor out without outing their identities (more so for Taylor, really, because I doubt anyone would really care about Sophia at this point). Assuming they don't have more teleport tags, this would be tricky.

The review of the recording would raise alarm flags immediately. Mainly because Taylor's "trigger event" didn't knock everyone around her out / didn't affect them at all. After that, some things would freak everyone out. Like Taylor's aura being unaffected / unfrozen by Clockblocker's power (if it isn't).

So, as a newborn Solar Twilight, what should she be able to do?

Danny's reaction would be interesting too.

I'll also note, that in this story Taylor has no reason to distrust PRT at all. They responded to her request, and Sophia was a bad apple who was handled with extreme prejudice (from what Taylor saw).

Does Taylor know what she is? Names like Solar, Exalted, etc?
 
LordsFire said:
As to the rest of what is being said, about the Solars being serious bastards before the 'Great Curse' and all that, that doesn't really fit with what I've learned about the history of 'Creation.' But then, the details and story change edition by edition, so it's not really something that can be easily argued.
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If by before the Great Curse, you mean pre-Age of Man, than maybe. AKA, nothing the splats or expanders cover. Even Dreams of the First Age is Age of Man
LordsFire said:
What I know about types of Exalts in brief:

Infernals: Work for the Yozis, who want to destroy all creation, and will bend those with this form of Exalt to this task.
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Wrong. Given power by the Yozis, who then give them a job. They can tell the Yozis to piss off. Canonically.
LordsFire said:
Abyssals: Tasked with bringing death and destruction to the world. I don't really know much about these beyond this, except that tainting things may also be part of their job.
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Totally redeemable, even one in the Scroll of Exalts is trying to figure out how to go gold.
LordsFire said:
Solars: Historically, held power too long, and most of them went crazy with it. Either focused on their own personal glory, or establishing a glorious realm, depending on if they go for good or ill. Were critical to overthrowing the Primordials and breaking their power, saving Creation, but turning them into the Yozis.
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If by crazy with power, you mean had the Great Curse inflicted on them, which did gnarly psychological damage all the damn time.
LordsFire said:
Lunars: Shape-shifting counterparts to the Solars. I really don't know much about what exactly they're supposed to do, aside from complement the Solars in some way.
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Stewards and boundary wardens. Luna likes to screw with the Fair Folk.
LordsFire said:
Sidereals: Schemers and Politicians. Some good, some bad, all of them aggravating.
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Viziers, dude. They make sure the Celestial Bureaucracy runs right, along with Fate.
LordsFire said:
This is what I've picked up from reading some of the rulebooks, and a fair bit of fanfiction. I've never played Exalted, so most of the narrative flavor I know of come from the stories I've read. I have very little interest in a story about Exalts whose power is linked to beings that will actively try to warp them into monsters.
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So, all of them. Except maybe Dragonblood, because no one cared about them.
 
LordsFire said:
FINAL-EFFING-LY.

I like Exalted crossovers. I really do.

There's what, three other ones up here, all of them with evil Exalts?

Thank you for putting something in that is not inevitably going to send everything to hell.
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Agreed Worm has enough bad shit going on in general and Taylor in particular that putting an evil just because, exaltation on Taylor and having that power make things worse. Well I'm trying to thing of a word that includes the meaning of the words crass, tacky, sadistic, and repetitive.

First unless it's supposed to be forgotten shouldn't she have gotten a Solar vision? Really looking forward to this, and a a bonus I can see Taylor's Twlight powers letting her flip the Undersiders, who if I have the timeline right aren't the Undersiders yet. Grue is simple enough money and the rest is a means to an end, 'join the Wards and your sister live with you and is safe' gets him on board. Bitch can have social cues implanted into her mind and with that she isn't completely fucked. Tattletale wants her parents as far from her as possible, and Taylor's powers are going to be a flame to her moth. Regent just never wants to go back to his father, and hates being board.

I don't know if Regent and Bitch could or would join the Wards but I think Grue and Tattle would.
 
LordsFire said:
Well, that's nice to know. I suppose a lot of the impression I've gotten of Infernals/Abyssals likely comes from fics written by people who wanted to Wangst.
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Yeah, you gotta be careful with Exalted Fanon.

Or else pretty soon you will be asking why Taylor isn't slutting it up with the local mountain ranges.
 
It could still get better, Cauldron ditches Coil and stays in the background, the Protectorate is actually reasonable and listens, most of them seem like nice people if you arn't burying them in spiders. It's more the tone of the story then the universe.
Kind of like Shakespeares plays didn't have to be tragedies, but they were written by Shakespeare, so everyone died.
(Many of Worms problems can be stopped or at least delayed if Cauldron Conessa kills Jack.)

The Human Flashlight started very well, though Taylor seems more like an analyser then a fighter. Liked Dragons subroutine, wonder why Taylors mother upped the priority and why Dragon didn't know Sophia was not suited to an anti bullying campaign.

Hm, an email is so suspectible. What if someone, like, a villain, had come across it too. Like Tattletale, who sees the suicide connotations and wants to save Taylor? So Taylor miracoulously gains a new frined in Lisa and Tattletale really wants to stop those bullies ...
 
If you had to some up Infernals into one word, that word would not be monsters. They can be monsters, but monsters is not all they can be. They are the Posthumans, great and glorious.. and more then a little scary and weird.

No exalt is without the agency to become a great and grand hero, even the Abyssals. No exalt is doomed to be 'always evil' or 'twisted into a monster no matter what' despite what some people might have claimed. No exalt is forever damned or lacking the free will to choose their own course, for good or ill. Every exalt has power, but what they choose to do with it determines how much things blow up in their face and how history will remember them. It was the Solars and Lunars, after all, who awoke the Neverborn from their dreams by torturing the secrets of Necromancy out of them, and it was a Solar who rewrote the very world so that the secrets of sorcery would be written within every pattern of nature (Probably, in the long run, causing more fate errors then anything else the solars have done combined.), and it was the Solars that lead the faction that desired to destroy the entire world, so that they may make it anew in their own images and desires.

And yes Theon was modeled after the Judeo-Christian god thematically. And yes, his greatest and most glorious servant rebelled against him, castrated him, and turned him inside out as a prison for all his brothers and sisters who he failed.

Back when Exalted was actually supposed to be a precursor to the world of darkness, the Unconquerable Sun got compared to Lucifer a lot more, and, well, there are some very definite similarities to their story arcs.
 
Eh as noone has pointed it out. The Solars (in 2nd Ed mind) didn't save creation from the Primordials in their rebellion, they were just tools in supporting the Gods' rebellion against the Primordials. The whole point of the rebellion was so the gods could be in charge. There is the possibility that the rebellion was needed... but its just as possible it wasn't.

Edit: Got ninja'd.

For clarity's sake all Exalts except the Dragonblood have a "curse". Solars have their virtues turn against them eventually leading them to madness (this is in large the reason the first age fell). Lunars minds are consumed by their animal aspects, and have to watch out for chimearization (basically being overwhelmed by their shape shifting powers). Sidereals are forced to express their aspect of fate (Journeys, Serenity, Battle, Secrets, Ending) and trying to make long term plans in groups seems to cause the plans to have disastrous side effects. Alchemicals slowly get consumed by the machine or the void. Infernals are punished for not following orders, and so are Abyssals.​
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Part of why Infernals and Abyssals are so interesting is that they are, in very real sense, Creation's best hope for a better world. And of course 'cause they have cool powers.​
Also fun summary of Exalted history: http://ruscumag.wordpress.com/2008/08/08/history-of-the-exalted-cosmos/
 
Dragonbloods are still cursed, just as the mook footsolders by the time the curse got down to them it doesn't have any direct mechanical effects.

However, suspicious minds might note that there is probably a reason the exalt type meant for teamwork and harmony break into murderously feuding clans the moment you get double digit amounts of them in the same place.. (And before the double digits they tend to feud with each other anyway. Baring sworn brother/sisterhoods.)
 
LordsFire said:
Well, that's nice to know. I suppose a lot of the impression I've gotten of Infernals/Abyssals likely comes from fics written by people who wanted to Wangst.
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And I tried to tell you that on aim, but you apparently weren't paying much attention when I did. =.=
 
If you choose to give up your free will... that too is a choice. And even then, if you asked Dukantha, champion of Kimbery, from before he became an Akuma, if becoming an Akuma would damn him, I'm pretty sure he'd disagree with that idea. In the way that involves stabbing you in the face for insulting the Great Mother.

Of course the Realm would say he is, but what does he care about the realm? Bunch of dirty traitor worshiping heretics that they are.

And even Akuma still agency of their own. Less agency, but yet it is agency. They may not choose their objectives, but when given the Urge/Motivation to destroy Gem the details are still up to them.. and it is in those kinds of details that differentiates a hero from a villain.

Would you claim that the man who destroys the Guild's slaving operations is not a hero, even if his urge is to destroy a high ranking member of the Guild?
 
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