Age of Empresses

[Haku1]

It's quite likely that DBs -can- live forever as long as they keep making their Stamina + Endurance rolls. It's just that they typically encounter nasty ends with pointy daiklaves sticking out of their backs, or poisons in their food and drinks.


I suspect that there ARE Dragonblooded hermits in the middle of nowhere who have been alive since the First Age, possible even since the end of the Primordial War.


And I pity the poor fool who disturbs them, even if they are celestial exalted.

 

[Seiraryu]

No shit, Haku.  An Essence 7, millenia old Terrestrial is still a millenia old, and probably knows every single trick in the book.  And if he's been around since the First Age, he probably has more than a few Celestial Styles under his belt.

 

[Flagg]

I suspect that there ARE Dragonblooded hermits in the middle of nowhere who have been alive since the First Age, possible even since the end of the Primordial War.

I know this is nothing more than my own opinion, but that's completely retarded.


-S

 

[Forn Clakes]

Let's say that there was a Terrestrial from the First Age still around, from the Primordial Wars even, wouldn't they of objected to the Empress' reign from the start?


~FC.

 

[Haku1]

I suspect that there ARE Dragonblooded hermits in the middle of nowhere who have been alive since the First Age, possible even since the end of the Primordial War.

I know this is nothing more than my own opinion, but that's completely retarded.


-S

Why would it be retarted?


Think about it, according to the rules as they are. It's entirely possible. And this is assuming that said Dragonblooded didn't have a level 5 hearthstone to keep him immortal.


Joe Dragonblooded retires after the whole Primordial War, receives his pension and moves to a remote mountain.


He keeps making the roll to live longer, which is only difficulty 5. Easily doable with exalted die pools and charms, even if it's terresterial levels.


Sure, he'll tap out at essence 7, if he doesn't have some way of going over that limit.


The first age passes by him as he meditates away.


The ursuption happens, he lives thru that, because he wasn't near them solars or warring areas.


He might hear some word of the shogunate, but he shrugs and goes on meditating.


If he lives pass the contagion and fae invasion, there's nothing stopping him from continuing as he has for the past few milienia.


The odds are against this happening. But it CAN happen, this old man would be a -perfect- level 5 mentor.

Let's say that there was a Terrestrial from the First Age still around, from the Primordial Wars even, wouldn't they of objected to the Empress' reign from the start?
~FC.

Only if they know... and what can 1 exalt do? Even if he's a REALLY cranky old man...

 

[Flagg]

He keeps making the roll to live longer, which is only difficulty 5. Easily doable with exalted die pools and charms, even if it's terresterial levels.

It's retarded because that's a game-hack. It's obvious the designers intended DBs to crap out after 200-300 years. Your explanation that it's because most DBs "die by the sword" is fine, but it's totally unsubstantiated by canon.


-S

 

[Haku1]

He keeps making the roll to live longer, which is only difficulty 5. Easily doable with exalted die pools and charms, even if it's terresterial levels.

It's retarded because that's a game-hack. It's obvious the designers intended DBs to crap out after 200-300 years. Your explanation that it's because most DBs "die by the sword" is fine, but it's totally unsubstantiated by canon.


-S

It's a game hack, -if- you want to live forever.


Most dragonblooded wouldn't live that long. There may or may not be a hermit living in the mountains, older then heck... but they would be the super rare individuals.


This is assuming that the Dragonblooded don't go senile or encounter an unnatural death or don't have a die pool backed by charms.


Because if they don't have the charms to back them, eventually, they will roll bad on that most important roll that they need to make.


I mean you've got 600+ year old dragonblooded as per canon, Mnemon and that Wood aspect guy.

 

[Seiraryu]

Personally I like Haku's idea.  It does make for a perfect level 5 Mentor.  It's like the Exalted version of Yoda in the original Star Wars (Episodes IV, V, and VI).  The guy's in a remote planet, completely isolated and impossible to find unless you're meant to find him (as Luke ultimately is).

 

[Flagg]

I mean you've got 600+ year old dragonblooded as per canon, Mnemon and that Wood aspect guy.

Hence the entire point of this thread. However, I'm not satisfied with any answer than consists solely of dice mechanics.


-S

 

[Dulio Giovanni]

Hi name's Dulio, relatively new to the group though your topic just caught my eye so I could not resist getting a few thoughts in.


Anyways my guess goes that characters like Mnemon, Ragara and the Wood Aspect you guys are talking about I believe his name was Ragara Cynis Bhagwei mainly owe their extended life spans to good genetics, the Breeding background aside, being directly related to the Emperess who is a shogunate era dragonblood augmented by god who knows what some of that power is bound to trickle down when she squirts you out of her ass.


Now in the case of less fortunate members of the dynasty their relatively short lifespans could concievably be attributed to simple bad breeding, as the dynasty is technically one big inbred brothel more along the lines of the Giovanni Family in Vampire: The Masquerade genetically undesirable traits are bound to crop up at one point and given the level of inbreeding the Realm's dynasts have effectively forced the Longevity gene into recession so only a few people say those with Breeding 5(mechanically speaking) or higher could concievably manage to live more than 3 centuries in exalted cannon  though the span would be less for women who have lots of babies in quick succession say one every two years as even a Dynastic mother's body would give out after such stress.

 

[Jakk Bey]

It's a case of Murphty's Rules. No big whoop there.  There are plenty of examples of odd rules popping up that are somewhat aribitrary and even contradictory.

 

[Silence In Daylight]

Hmm, tying Breeding to the aging mechanic...will have to crunch some numbers to see how it works out.

 

[Dulio Giovanni]

Well mechanically there is no numerical correlation between Breeding and Long Life spans in any of the books provided. You can probably guess a person's cannon life span by looking at their breeding (Ragara and Mnemon have their's at 6) rating but beyond that there's nothing that helps in making those rolls to survive beyond 300. My exposition was entirely  for flavor purposes though if you can find a way to tie it to the rules kudos to you.

 

[arzi]

I suspect that there ARE Dragonblooded hermits in the middle of nowhere who have been alive since the First Age, possible even since the end of the Primordial War.

That actually gave me an interesting idea. What if there really was this guy who is not only been around since the Primordial War, but has actually chickened out of it. He thought that there would be no way to win the war and ran and has been living in isolation ever since. Even if he doesn't know it himself, he has managed to avoid the great curse this way.


The character would be rather Rincewindish in a way that he has made an artform out of self-protection, maybe even to the point that has allowed him to evade even death. Maybe he has now decided to return, or maybe the characters find him in some isolated slot amongst the Wyld, but in any case he has no clue what so ever about what's going on in the Creation. However, as probably the only Exalted without the Curse (Alchemicals not withstanding, of course) he could the the key to it's unravelling. Maybe even a Sidereal who can see through the errors of his brethren?


Of course it could be possible that he would actually be she, the Empress, who felt guilty after abandoning her peers in the Primordial War and came back to help against the Fair Folk threat. Then things got out of hand and before she knew she was the Empress of the Realm. Now, that the things began to look grim again (return of the Solars, appearance of Abyssals and whatnot) she decided its time to split for good. (a desperate attempt to tie in with the thread, huh )

 

[Dulio Giovanni]

Actually it ain't that simple and while surving since the Primordial War by being paranoid as hell is as easy as slapping on a Heartstone called Gem of Incomparable Wellness escaping the Great Curse is flat out impossible. Primordial Curses are sweeping in nature which means they are indiscriminate and will hit anything that falls within their set parameters no matter who they are individually or where they are and even Gods and Incarna are not exempt from this as evidenced by their inability to directly harm the Primodials and get rid of the Malfeans for good. So your Yoda type dragon blood really has no way out of it.

 

[Obsidian Soul]

The great Curse is a bit milder for DBs than the Celestial Exalts because DBs were the footsoldiers.  You don't waste a good curse on a spearcarrier, you get the generals.  Now, because the Yozis are vindictive, it did spill over some, but as DBs don't have any limit, they are affected by a lesser version of the great Curse.


As for canonically, DBs can survive for a long time.  The Empress is one of the few listed examples, but there may be anywhere from 30,000 to 80,000 DBs in Creation (there are 10,000 Dynasts, which is what most people think about when they talk about numbers of DBs.)  There is no reason, mechanically or canonically, that there couldn't be a few dozen DBs out there older than the Empress.  They just don't care about the power.  They have other motivations than absolute power.  They might be master artificers who know the secret to making level 4 and 5 artifacts with a core of jade.  They might be the first Immaculate Monks, kept alive by the Bronze Faction in case they need to bring out the big guns (DBs, no matter how good, are disposable, Bronze Faction Sidereals are not).  They might just be crafters that have spent millenia perfecting one art.  They might be martial artists whose only goal is to become the best martial artist in Creation.  It doesn't matter because they are NPCs who might as well be forces of nature.  If you want to kill off Bull of the North or some one like that, you find 'The Old Master' who will train you in the right methods.  Its classic anime and manga.

 

[Flagg]

there may be anywhere from 30' date='000 to 80,000 DBs in Creation[/quote']
Where did those numbers come from?


I think the canonical estimate is closer to 11,000.


-S

 

[Obsidian Soul]

There are three to four hundred million mortals in Creation (I found that in Sidereals) and, out of that population, anywhere from one out of every five thousand to one out of every ten thousand of them are DBs (Outcaste, the section on Lookshy).  As for canonically, they only state that there are 10,000 Dynastic DBs (there are more DBs associated with the Realm, they are either Outcastes that serve the Imperial Legions or the Immaculate Order [probably 2000 total from the numbers given of the Stairs training area and an assumption that only one-in-five Outcastes would go to] and the Cadet branches of the Houses around the Inner Sea [probably 2000, though there are no firm numbers]) and 2000 Lookshy DBs.  Right there, there are canonnically 16,000 DBs.  The other 14,000, based on the lower population estimates, would be thinly spread across Creation, in groups of a few dozen to a few hundred, either directly ruling their local area or one of the powers behind the rulers.

 

[Persell]

Thought  I'd add in that I simulated a roll (assuming a Dice poll of 14 on average


And he passed it 15 times.


so Mr Dragonblooded lives to see his 4th century.


Also I thought up a charm myself that would grant a dragon blooded longevity but not immortality


A resistence charm that would subtract 2 from the aging roll thus likely allowing him to live for at least a millenia.

 

[Haku1]

Indeed... see, it's possible for DBs to live a long time, it's just that mathematically, without the use of charms, you'll eventually fail or botch if you don't end up with a daiklave out of your back.

 

[Jukashi]

Sorcery.


It says right out in the DB book that sorcerers live longer, though perhaps not by much, just by using terrestrial-circle sorcery. And it was hinted somewhere that the Empress could use the celestial circle. The sidereals certainly can, and being advisors to the most powerful dragon-bloods even with the empress gone, they can probably see to it that their favourites last a long time, without needing peaches or anything of that kidney.

 

[Flagg]

I suppose the simplest explanation is just that the Sidereals, ensconced as they are into the Bureau of Destiny, have just pulled strings to make sure the Empresses thread doesn't get snipped by the pattern spiders. After all, that is ultimately what would kill her.


-S

 

[Jakk Bey]

That and the island sized axe that will imbed itself in her head...

 

[Solfi]

It has been hinted in several places (not to mention all rumours about her seeming immortality) that the Empress has used some sort of life-extending measures to keep herself in the game.


What those life-extending measure actually are is besides the point. You can create any number of possibilites with a bit of imagination.

• Her attunement to the imperial Manse and the Realm Defense grid.
  
• Life extending drugs. Several examples of such can be found in various books.
  
• Sorcery
  
• demonic bartering
  
• divine favour

How she does it seem beside the point. *That* she does it, is highly likely (give her age). And the reason why Creation is not littered with First Age / Shogunate DB:s is simply that it should never be easy to acquire immortality. Or even life-extending agents.

 

[Flagg]

• demonic bartering

I first read this as "demonic bartending". I thought you might need your head checked

it should never be easy to acquire immortality. Or even life-extending agents.

Exactly, which is why I think any explanations based solely on dice-mechanics are stupid.


-S