[Emperors of the Fading Suns] [Emperors of the Fading Suns] Projects Discussion

[cyl]

Test of Survival at age 18?

That would be an idea.


But festivals, theater's plays, or monuments with yearly ceremonies to reinforce education could be enough.


What is important is that no one forgets the ones who had to die to get them to where they are.


If Malek was more manipulative and interested, he would say "and not forget what we did for them", but that's not his style.

Stuff like this is why I've always asserted that Solars make the best villains in the Exalted setting. It's almost impossible to use their high Essence charms and not be a monster.

I did say "act", not "be".


When you take on a public service where I come from, there are a lot of things you have to do to become the neutral impartial representative of the state.


For example, you can't be a public servant and show signs that you are a believer of a religion in France.


Wear ostensibly a cross, a tattoo, a kippah, or a scarf to cover your hair or your face and you get fired.


We have been having the same debate with public schools & public space and secularism, and that started more than a 100 years ago when we decided to get rid of the influence the religions had on the state.


We won't have the same debate in the exalted setting because the gods and spirits are ever present, but that will not change the fact that public service works pretty much like the military.


You have a hierarchy, directives, procedures and orders you have to follow supposedly to reach the greater good.

 

[CrazyIvan]

I did say "act", not "be".


When you take on a public service where I come from, there are a lot of things you have to do to become the neutral impartial representative of the state.


For example, you can't be a public servant and show signs that you are a believer of a religion in France.


Wear ostensibly a cross, a tattoo, a kippah, or a scarf to cover your hair or your face and you get fired.


We have been having the same debate with public schools & public space and secularism, and that started more than a 100 years ago when we decided to get rid of the influence the religions had on the state.


We won't have the same debate in the exalted setting because the gods and spirits are ever present, but that will not change the fact that public service works pretty much like the military.


You have a hierarchy, directives, procedures and orders you have to follow supposedly to reach the greater good.

My wife is a member of the civil service here in the United States, and I know a staggering number of them. While it is structured, and has a significant number of rules, I think asserting it works pretty much like the military, or civil servants are interchangable parts, is vastly overstating things.

 

[cyl]

Obviously, because we're talking IRL public servants... and US public servants.


Things work very differently than in Europe over there.


The interchangeable parts doesn't apply to IRL, but could apply to Exalted, considering the level of education we can give people and the powers we wield.


Anyhoo, I defended the idea enough already, if no one likes it, then I suggest we focus on a way to protect whatever system we put in place.

 

[Arynne]

Flicker's been pushing people with skills to organize into guilds/unions and take responsibility for things like stockbreeding, medicine, food production, etc. Maybe we could just expand that a little? A Water Lodge to handle wells, aquifers, irrigation, sewage and sanitation? A Book Lodge to produce paper and ink, and keep records?

 

[cyl]

Pretty much like clans / castes / corporations then.


You want to make that a family trade or keep it open ?

 

[Arynne]

In a society without much higher education, and where everybody, including kids, works most of the time, family trades will exist by default. If we want social mobility, we need schools.

 

[cyl]

Meh school is overrated, we have the ability to compress years of specialized training to a few weeks and obtain similar results.


The question is: do we want to go the slow natural way, or do we want to use and abuse our powers to get to where we want to the fastest way possible ?


Considering the pressure we're under, I'd say let's do it the lunar way, using our powers to build something strong and resilient from the start and then kicking back to let the little monkeys handle their shit later on

 

[Arynne]

If we want social mobility, I said. Schools are a way for people to escape being locked into the exact same profession as their parents before them. Otherwise, the only training you have comes from your parents, and they can only teach you what they know. And we cannot personally instruct every child born in the Cross, forever. So we need a school system.

 

[cyl]

Ach, that was another french thingy.


I should have searched social mobility first before replying, my bad.


Us frenchies call that "social ascension"... so I thought by mobility you meant "adaptability".


As in "people can take on different jobs in different areas of expertise throughout their lives and depending on the need of the dominion"... more like horizontal mobility.


I think in our situation parents and de facto appointed teachers will teach kids themselves and exalts will take the more promising to take them to the next level in a few years, but in a non so distant future we'll have to consider building a proper school system indeed.


Right now I'd rather focus on more pressing issues, like the Behemoth dying of cancer, the Primordial slipping away, protecting ourselves against our enemies, stabilizing the Scavenger Lands as much as possible, and building the cornerstones of the Empire.


Once we have a stable economy and less immediate threats and problems to solve, we'll be able to look into that and spend the proper amount of PP and design cool stuff.

 

[cyl]

... not that it has to stop us from discussing what we plan about education, because that can always be an interesting conversation.

 

[JayTee]

Time to follow through on my promises to fortify Cross to hell and back. Per Xarvh's request, I'm outlining what exactly I'm building in the Science! thread.


The basic gist of it is the Exalted equivalent of a modern day battleship made of Magical Materials, similar to the USS Iowa, with the following differences:


1: It flies


2: It's Little God is semi-awake, allowing it to function perfectly with only a small crew (7-10 people)


3: Essence Canons. Essence Canons everywhere.

 

[xarvh]

@JayTee: just not to get crazy with the mechanics, what is the closest canon-ish vehicle that you can find?

 

[JayTee]

There aren't a lot of them, weirdly. Most Exalted ships are troop transport vessels than dedicated warships. The closest I can get you is the N/A Artifact Battlecruiser on page 46 of Wonders of the Lost Age. Although frankly in my opinion it doesn't really qualify as N/A. It's Artifact 5 at best.


EDIT: Actually scratch that, Artifact 4


(The vehicles in that book suck )

 

[cyl]

Essence canons require... well, essence.


Most have to be powered by batteries or a HS... what's your plan for gathering and harnessing that much power?


- steal all the HS you can find ?


- power batteries with essence users ? (meaning we have a finite quantity of shots)

 

[JayTee]

That's another reason those ships all suck, because no one thought to build the equivalent of a magical engine that only requires refueling every few weeks or so, like a real world engine.


Hearthstone power is for idiots.


EDIT: Actually you do have a point that scaled up artifact guns from Shards would be a lot better than Essence canons, especially since this is basically just a magical material version of a real world battleship. I'll go with that instead.

 

[CrazyIvan]

I have warship stats for a First Age airship that are based on the "Lookshy Combat Airship but slightly better" if that would be useful?


Also, no, Hearthstone power is not for idiots. It has a very specific, very useful function. Namely, it keeps your First Age battleships out of the hands of folks without Manses.

 

[CrazyIvan]

- power batteries with essence users ? (meaning we have a finite quantity of shots)

Demons.


Seriously. For one game I designed a gun that consumed demons at ammunition.

 

[JayTee]

Yeah, those stats would be useful, thanks.

 

[CrazyIvan]

*starts digging*

 

[xarvh]

Also, guys, remember that Siham must be IN the Wyld, not NEXT to it in order to shape.


You may need to find a way to bring the Wyldborn thing from the Wyld to Creation or some other work around.

 

[cyl]

Demons.
Seriously. For one game I designed a gun that consumed demons at ammunition.

Though totally awesome, the time to "build" the ammo and to spend it is hardly worth it me thinks.

 

[xarvh]

Depends how often you have to shoot. A nuke takes a lot of effort to build but its effects are pretty ehmm.. "good"?

 

[JayTee]

Also, guys, remember that Siham must be IN the Wyld, not NEXT to it in order to shape.
You may need to find a way to bring the Wyldborn thing from the Wyld to Creation or some other work around.

Xarvh, where exactly are you getting this? I'm looking at the description for Wyld Shaping Technique right now and I'm not seeing anything that implies this.

 

[xarvh]

If it is not there I am stating it outright as ST fiat.


First and foremost, because I have to keep a balance.


If the game becomes too easy and too One True Path, it ceases to be interesting VERY quickly.


Both for you and for your partners whose influence on the game would dwindle compared to yours.


Second, because it would rape consistency inside out and drag her abused corpse around the streets of storytelling, then feed it to the demons of Hollywood Blockbustersness.


First Age Twilights didn't sit out of Wyld Gates shaping the shit out of them, not as their preferred crafting method at least.


If they had, 1 million of Dragon Bloods wouldn't have been enough to stop them and destroy most of their creations.


Why?


Bear in mind that the Rule of Cool has its Pacific Rim Limit, mostly because in such a complex game, if I want to players to make any sense of it and be able to navigate its reality I have to keep it VERY consistent.

 

[CrazyIvan]

Though totally awesome, the time to "build" the ammo and to spend it is hardly worth it me thinks.

Mass summoning of First Circle demons is a fairly mundane activity. The key, like with any vessel, is not to leave port without a full um...magazine.


And think of what a hold full of Neomah would do for crew morale!