Dice Exalted Essence: The Young Exalts and the Sea OOC

[Psychie]

So I see we have an alchemical, two dragon blooded, and a sidereal. Interesting choices.

 

[jaydude]

Psychie
Yeah, I mostly just gave the others free reign to decide on the Circle's composition, as long as it wouldn't cause the Circle to immediately break apart. One of the things I like about Essence is the number of splats it provides right off the bat. Anyway, let me know if you need help.

EbonChevalier Random Word Rykon Sherwood
Character sheets seem to be in order as far as I can see.

 

[Rykon]

Welcome to the group Psychie

Our circle's still got a bit of tension based on backstories, but let us know if you have any questions about group dynamic.

 

[jaydude]

I'll leave it up to you jaydude for what happens with the remaining 5 successes, if anything.

I reckon I'll have it so that the leftover successes simply disappear.

 

[EbonChevalier]

Random Word Your character would be pissed that Tulak opposes and fights against the realm. But what did she expect he didn’t grow up getting feed realm propaganda

 

[Psychie]

Right now, I'm tempted to go with a Lunar since I know them so well, but I am also leaning towards the Getimian Exalted, since they have the shiney new Exalt smell.

 

[Random Word]

Random Word Your character would be pissed that Tulak opposes and fights against the realm. But what did she expect he didn’t grow up getting feed realm propaganda

Oh absolutely! Please don't mistake my pointing out a potential source of inter-character tension as me saying you're doing anything wrong as a person. Any given outcaste has at best coin toss odds on whether they're positively disposed to the great houses of the Realm. Your character is great and makes perfect sense, and if I were writing a Lunar, Solar, Infernal, Outcaste, Gold Sidereal, etc my character would likely be completely supportive of everything your character was doing.

When I point out that Rykon's and my characters are unlikely to get along with someone who beats up or kills monks and Realm soldiers and citizens, I only do it so we're all on the same page and no one is shocked or surprised if our characters don't choose to work together unless forced to by outside circumstances.

Lots of fantastic stories have protagonists who don't get along. Perhaps this is the story of how, forced together by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, our characters learn to forgive each other and forge some kind of understanding. Or maybe the moment there's no greater danger to ally against we turn on each other or part ways until forced back together.

Does that make sense?

 

[Random Word]

Oh! I also want to add I'm super accommodating and enjoy making characters. I made a bronze Sidereal because at the time only Rykon and Sherwood were in with what I presumed was a Dynast and an Alchemical (which is pretty neutral to everyone). If that doesn't fit the group anymore (especially if Psychie wants a Lunar or Getimian, neither of whom are traditionally BFFs with Sidereals ) I can easily make a Getimian, Solar, etc to fit in with the story we're telling.

 

[Rykon]

I can try and overhaul the backstory to my character as well to something without lingering connections to the Realm. I'd really just be changing intimacies and family name. That said, I'd prefer to preserve his current history if possible, despite it being troublesome to get along with.

 

[EbonChevalier]

Rykon Random Word I got no problem with our characters having opposing view I just wanted to under stand your characters better

 

[Random Word]

Perfect . That was my only purpose in pointing out the potential for conflict. Let me know if there's anything you'd like to know about my character. Her opinions on the Dynasty are... complicated .

And Psychie, I'm not trying to block your character concept. I'm open to compromise or modification. Since our characters are very newly Exalted, I feel like any antipathy towards Getimians is more rumours of "They're bad, they'll probably try to kill you, but you probably won't meet one any time soon." For a young Sidereal, Lunars are definitely a much scarier threat. Solars are a problem because raised in the Realm so Anathema (which goes double for Lunars, who have killed a lot more DBs than Solars). Getimians, though, are a new potentially scary thing with no personal edge to it. I feel like that's the easiest psychological barrier to overcome for a young Sidereal. If your heart is set on Lunar or Solar, we can probably work something out to avoid murder, but it will be trickier.

 

[Rykon]

If Sojiro is ever informed of the Empress's personal involvement in his house's downfall and is persuaded to believe it, then some attitudes may relax a great deal. Basically to the effect, "If they are willing to lie to us once to throw us into the meat grinder... who's to say what is fact versus fiction?"

I don't know if he or his house at large is at that stage yet, but I'm running with the assumption of not yet.

 

[EbonChevalier]

Let me know if there's anything you'd like to know about my character. Her opinions on the Dynasty are... complicated .

How does she feel about Dragonblooded and people don't want to live under the empresses Iron Heel?

 

[Random Word]

Uhh, okay, it's complicated. On the one hand, since arriving in Yu Shan and learning the 'truth' about Futile Blood from her Sifu, she thinks great grandma is a conniving backstabbing monster who either condoned or actively conspired to get the majority of her family killed. It's hardly new that great grandma is a conniving backstabbing monster, but previously she was the conniving backstabbing monster on our side. 'Our side' has rather abruptly changed in bewildering ways she's still processing. She still believes in the Realm as an institution, because something has to hold Creation together and Heavens above she's learned the situation is so much worse than she ever thought it was as a Dynast, and it already looked grim. On the other hand, she's furious with the rest of the Dynasty for throwing her family under the bus and then tearing up the Legions, the single greatest force holding Creation together, and wants revenge for their short-sighted petty self-serving games when the world is on fire. She would gladly cast the rest of the Dynasty into the dustbin of history and put her family on the throne (no, no, but for real this time) if she could.

She still believes barbarians are barbarians. Little isolated independent groups doing their own thing in idyllic independence will do nothing to stop the next Balorean Crusade or Thorns. She firmly believes the Legions are the backbone of Creation's defense, given how cowardly Heaven is about deploying the Aerial Legion. Anyone who stands against the Legions stands against the collective defense of Creation. Anyone unwilling to pitch in to the collective defense of Creation is in their ignorance jeopardizing the survival of everyone. In her opinion the Realm is being poorly governed, and she places the majority of this blame on the other great houses. Tepet has always kept the ascetic martial tradition that makes them, in her mind, the ideal rulers of Creation. Choose a tithe sufficient to fund a force capable of defending all Creation. Levy it honestly, accurately, evenly, and without corruption. Spend it on arming and training enough Legions to cover all Creation. The ruling class devotes their life to martial perfection to protect Creation, and largely leaves Creation to its own devices so long as the Tithe is paid on time. No waste. No excess. The price of freedom and security, paid honestly and fairly.

Learning the truth about Anathema was a bit of a shock, but she still reflexively hates and fears Lunars, and especially Solars after a gang of them butchered so many of her relatives. Lunars and Solars may be powerful, and Lunars sometimes do useful things in defending Creation from outside threats, but they spend so much time and energy tearing down the Legions and the infrastructure of the Realm that they do more harm than good for the survival of Creation. Her hatred of Anathema is more emotional than logical. It will take time for the implications of a less biased more detailed account of history to sink in. The bit about, "They'll kill you on sight while you're trying to save the world, so you'd best do unto them before they do unto you" stuck, though.

If a Solar or Lunar said they wanted to sign up for the Legions it would turn her brain off for a few seconds while she tried to process the conflicting emotions. If she actually believed them, she'd have to sit down and think really hard about it, but she feels pretty strongly that anyone who is willing to volunteer for the defence of Creation and can learn discipline ought to be allowed to serve, so as unsettling and frightening as it might be, she would probably give them a chance.

So she simultaneously considers anyone hellbent on goals other than, "Defend Creation," (Like, say, "Tear down the Realm to rebuild it properly!", or "Fight the Realm Civil War so our side can rule it properly!") to be whiny children throwing counterproductive tantrums and in the process interfering with the adults doing the difficult work of keeping the people of Creation alive, and also totally wants to tear down the Realm to rebuild it properly and win the Realm Civil War so her side can rule it properly. She contains multitudes.

The insecurity of having her world torn apart three times in less than a decade (First Futile Blood, then the disappearance of great grandma, and finally the disastrous end of her suicidal expedition to the West to try to recover a family relic that ended with her not dead but in Heaven) has taught her that she needs to amass power as quickly as she can until she can exert enough control over her world to prevent things like this from happening again, and extend that security to everyone else.

She's had a lot to take in over the last year.

 

[EbonChevalier]

Honestly that's the most reasonable stance a realm supporter can have. But she has an astounding amount of faith in government systems if she thinks no one will try to skim anything off the top. Or lie.

 

[Random Word]

Oh absolutely, but she's a Tepet Chosen of Battles . She thinks with enough discipline and judicious application of violence you can solve any problem, including graft. Her reasoning goes vaguely:
Snake rots from the head so...
1. Get rid of Ragara and Cynis.
2. Teach everyone proper Tepet discipline and honour.
3. ???
4. No More Profit!

 

[jaydude]

Hey all.

So Psychie has a Lunar, and Random Word and Rykon both have Dynasts (or Dynasts with complicated feelings in Random's case). This could be quite interesting.

 

[Random Word]

Hey all.

So Psychie has a Lunar, and Random Word and Rykon both have Dynasts (or Dynasts with complicated feelings in Random's case). This could be quite interesting.

 

[Rykon]

Oh absolutely, but she's a Tepet Chosen of Battles . She thinks with enough discipline and judicious application of violence you can solve any problem, including graft. Her reasoning goes vaguely:
Snake rots from the head so...
1. Get rid of Ragara and Cynis.
2. Teach everyone proper Tepet discipline and honour.
3. ???
4. No More Profit!

Clearly, House Tepet needs to align itself with its more agreeably Shogunate-minded kin in the 7th Legion, assimilate Threshold Cadet lineages, and exact a new purge of their own.

 

[jaydude]

EbonChevalier Psychie Random Word Rykon Sherwood
It would seem we've got all our characters ready to go.

I'll try and get an introductory post up sometime soon. Thinking it'll be just after the initial bombardment by the Feathered Whale, with the five of you getting back to your feet in the midst of the rubble. Thinking also that the five of you will start off split into two groups; Maya, Tulak and Garret in one area, Sojiro and Ijara in another.

As for the city itself, I'm figuring it'll just be a homebrew Realm satrapy. Sojiro can be there on Realm business, while Ijara can be there in her capacity as a Chosen of Battles, assisting the satrapy's forces in planning the destruction of local pirates or something. Maya and Garret can be there to spy for their respective factions, with Tulak perhaps known to Garret, the outcaste having come to identify the Silver Pact as the ideal faction to unify the West against the Realm. Of course, if any of you have any ideas on what your characters could be doing here, you are more than welcome to voice them.

 

[Random Word]

I'd like to request Heaven assigned Ijara specifically to stop this rampaging behemoth from trashing the West by organizing a defense. It makes things narratively simpler if she doesn't have to write to Heaven and ask to abandon her mission to follow the main plot, and this is clearly reaching the scope of a problem worthy of the Bureau's attention. This thing isn't in Destiny and it's escalating from making the odd ship disappear to making the odd city disappear. That's got to have caused a few snarls in the Loom.

Oh, and for her Secondary Backing (Bureau of Destiny) what does she get assigned to support her mission, if anything? Something that lets her walk on water or disguise herself might come in handy, but I'm open to whatever you think the Bureau judged auspicious.

 

[jaydude]

I'd like to request Heaven assigned Ijara specifically to stop this rampaging behemoth from trashing the West by organizing a defense. It makes things narratively simpler if she doesn't have to write to Heaven and ask to abandon her mission to follow the main plot, and this is clearly reaching the scope of a problem worthy of the Bureau's attention. This thing isn't in Destiny and it's escalating from making the odd ship disappear to making the odd city disappear. That's got to have caused a few snarls in the Loom.

Okay. My plan was to have Ijara get word that she'd been reassigned to the matter of the Feathered Whale after the attack, since it would be the first time the Behemoth's been seen since before the Scarlet Empress came to power. But yeah, we can go with your idea.

Oh, and for her Secondary Backing (Bureau of Destiny) what does she get assigned to support her mission, if anything? Something that lets her walk on water or disguise herself might come in handy, but I'm open to whatever you think the Bureau judged auspicious.

You can take an Infinite Resplendence Amulet as a Lesser Wonder if you like. It'll give you a two-dice bonus to relevant rolls, much like the Collar of Dawn's Cleansing Light. You can also take another Lesser Wonder that'll let you walk on water in the manner of the Water Aspect's Surface Skimmer Anima Effect (Pretty sure there are things that do this in other versions of Exalted, but I don't have my materials on hand right now, so feel free to suggest something).

Other than that, I think it's safe to say that the Bureau would be willing to provide you with a degree of funding for this mission. Given the secretive nature of the Sidereals, you can treat yourself as having a Secondary Resources Merit, but it's solely for expenses you can justify as being related to the Feathered Whale.

 

[Psychie]

A quick question regarding the wording of the Ox Body Charm.

The Exalt increases her base Soak by one. She also gains an additional −1 level. This may be purchased a number of times equal to the character’s Physique, which counts as a Charm repurchase. Gain additional health based on the character’s Exalt type mode. The Soak increase only applies once.
Lunar: The Exalt gains an additional −1 and −2 Health level. Lunars may purchase this a number of times equal to Fortitude.

It clearly says that I get a -1 and a -2 health level, but the way it reads, it seems to indicate that it gives a total of 2 -1's and 1 -2 health levels. Is that correct, or is it only the line of the -1 and -2 given in the Lunar-specific section?

 

[jaydude]

A quick question regarding the wording of the Ox Body Charm.

The Exalt increases her base Soak by one. She also gains an additional −1 level. This may be purchased a number of times equal to the character’s Physique, which counts as a Charm repurchase. Gain additional health based on the character’s Exalt type mode. The Soak increase only applies once.
Lunar: The Exalt gains an additional −1 and −2 Health level. Lunars may purchase this a number of times equal to Fortitude.

It clearly says that I get a -1 and a -2 health level, but the way it reads, it seems to indicate that it gives a total of 2 -1's and 1 -2 health levels. Is that correct, or is it only the line of the -1 and -2 given in the Lunar-specific section?

I'd say it's 2 -1's and 1 -2. For me, the key line is "Gain additional health based on the character’s Exalt type mode".

 

[Psychie]

Thanks. I'm almost done with the final details of Garret and will have him finished soon.