Interest Check: Multiple ideas

since the Manse background is about manses outside the underworld, they can easily be manses your DL has no idea you might be attuned to them, or where they are.


if the abyssal in question was already plotting to escape, he could have stashed one or two artifacts in a manse somewhere in Creation, for just such a backup plan.
 
These are all proper Hebrew names. Each of the names (like Smith, Cobbler, Baker, Bushman) has a meaning. I have several selections, following the same acronym. The GM can pick whichever he likes best.


Taberah Heled Ashbea Nahbi Othni Sacar


Burning The world I Conjure Powerful Reward


Tebah Hamonah Asaph Nachon Ono Sered


Slaughtered Multitude Collector Prepared Strong Fear


Tiras Heled Apollyon Nephtoah Othni Seled


Crushing the world one that exterminates opened powerful exaltation.


Tahrea Hathath Ashbea Nachon Othni Shamed


Cunning Terror I Conjure Prepared Powerful Destroyer


-------


Always despised by his siblings, Jorath was the black sheep of his family. He delved into the arts early in life and gave the sweet embrace of death as often as possible as he grew up. He was banished from his home town of Whitewall after he accidentally killed his own mother in an attempt to murder his brother.


His Solar Exaltation came in the Fell as he fought off the undead and Fae there. However, he was not strong enough and he fell before the masses of his foes. Unfortunately he was offered a way out, by loosing his name, and serving the dread masters of the Undead, the Death Lords.


He served his new master for many years, but mostly as an object of experimentation. Thanos is the result of soulsteel bionic replacement on a massive scale. His bones are Soulsteel and unbreakable. His muscles, tendons, and ligaments have been replaced with black Jade and Soulsteel cables. This has made him unthinkably strong and unnaturally resistant to damage. However, the scares of the massive surgeries have also left their mark upon his body.


In an effort to escape the unbearable pain, suffering, and torture Thanos has decided to rebel against his master. This is unfortunately exactly what his master had planned. Thanos' escape and exploits will be the final field test.....


Daybreak Caste:


Heavy MA (Messiah Style) (6 charms)


Good Resistance (2 charms)


Shadowlands, 1 spell (An Abyssal version of Invulnerable Skin of Bronze, but it turns the skin a purplish onyx or obsidian color).
 
Axelgear said:
Well, obviously not Liege, no. However, your weapons could be recovered during the prison break and/or from where you kept them in Thorns or elsewhere in the Mask's territory before you leave. As for manses, there's no reason you could still be attuned but it is unlikely that you'd get to stay attuned. Familiars could be waiting for you outside the prison, having followed you there, and so forth. Followers might be more difficult...
You get the idea. Your options are there, you just have to be creative.
Click to expand...
By the rules, once you are attuned to a manse, there's only two ways to break it: death and 'breaking' the manse. So, unless it's worth it to the DL to 'break' a manse, there's no reason (outside of DM ruling) that a character can't have the manse background. A wily DL might even find a way to use said attunement to keep tabs on his wayward deathknight. :twisted:
 
Guys... manse means gem... unless you've always hidden the gem in the presence of your DL anyone could see it.
 
plenty of ways to hide the hearthstone. if you want to keep a certain Manse for yourself, all you need to do is be intelligent enough to unsocket the hearthstone where the DL or others might see, or have a skin-mount amulet.


BTW to Thanos-Infinity, I must correct you that the names you listed, for the most part are not proper Hebrew names, in fact, most of them are not even words in hebrew, and certainly they do not correspond to the english names you've listed.


Trust me on this, I'm from Israel.
 
BTW to Thanos-Infinity, I must correct you that the names you listed, for the most part are not proper Hebrew names, in fact, most of them are not even words in hebrew, and certainly they do not correspond to the english names you've listed.


Trust me on this, I'm from Israel.
Click to expand...
Your are completely correct, in that the names given are not written in that language. However, they are the 17th Century English equivalent in pronunciation, which is as close as I can get without actually being able to read/write the language myself. You can discuss the meanings with Rev. C.I. Scofield DD, his 8 consulting editors, and the 70 odd linguistic scholars and translators of King James of England.


Have a good day!
 
Oy! No need to get snippy, you two.


Also, there are other ways to assault a manse and break the attunement, such as having someone assault the hearth magically. Still, as you suggest, it might simply not be worth it.
 
I would think that for most DLs, breaking the attunement of most level 1 and 2 manses just isn't worth the trouble.
 
Axelgear said:
Oy! No need to get snippy, you two.
Also, there are other ways to assault a manse and break the attunement, such as having someone assault the hearth magically. Still, as you suggest, it might simply not be worth it.
Click to expand...
We're not snippy. And I did offer him in PM, and am willing to extend it to anyone else, to translate a name to proper hebrew. I've made use of it myself on occasion, just to give an exotic feel to a name.
 
Well, I'm still waiting on a few people's concepts. I should probably get a board started, though...
 
Oh, yeah, I need to send something in for this...


I'm kind of drawing a blank at the moment, so I'll... try to give it some thought tomorrow.
 
Daimyo of the Ashen Road


Shachor, as he was called before his Black Exaltation, was a normal kid in the city of Kirigast. At least he appeared that way to outsiders. His parents were involved in a small ancestors cult, and even at a young age he was drawn to it, fascinated by the mystique and by death.


As he grew older, a new member arrived to the cult, a pale woman, who spoke softly, but whose words hit a chord in his heart. She spoke of the beauty of death, and the glory of Oblivion. some members of the cult shunned her, but she gained a position of power, and in a matter of two years became the leader of the cult, and then her plans really began to take shape. The cult was transformed into a death cult, and young Shachor readily agreed to kill any who opposed. She trained him how to stalk and hunt, and to kill with his bare hands, and she promised him great power: to enlighten him to the use of Essence. She would regale him with stories about supernatural martial art styles, and the boy was drawn like a moth to a flame.


He excelled at these studies, and became quite good, for a mortal in those arts. so much so, that he became one of the foremost assassins in the cult. One evening, the woman gathered the cult members, and decalred that they each have until dawn to go out and kill as many people as they can, and he who kills the most, and brings evidence for the kill, will have his Essence enlightened.


Shachor went out on a killing spree, but it was also calculated. He struck against anyone who wouldn't be missed, and against other members of the cult, gathering samples from them, and the samples they already gathered from their own victims.


Unbeknowest to him, two figures were also drawn to the carnage. An Immaculate monk, and a Lunar. Both chanced upon him, more or less at the same time, while he was taking a finger from another cult member, and the string of fingers that person already accumulated. The monk and Lunar began to battle amongst themselves, but as he tried to escape, one of them struck him down. As he was bleeding to death, he saw the Lunar strike down the monk, just as he lost consciousness. That was when he heard the whispers of the Mask of Winters, promising him revenge, and the secrets of a supernatural martial art. He agreed to the deal, and was Exalted.


His service with the Mask began well, and he studied the basics of Hungry Ghost Style, but soon he discovered something. The cult's leader was an abyssal, and she was serving another deathlord, he's not sure which, and it was the Mask who caused the Lunar to go there, hoping to crush his rival's plan, and gain a new servant to himself. After the Mask discovered he knew the story, he searched long and hard for the abyssal, and had him watch her suffer and break. He became disillusioned with the Mask, and made plans to set out on his own, serving the Neverborn on his own.
 
PMs, posting here, doesn't matter to me. With Hammercro out, I'm waiting for Whiteknight and then starting the selection process.
 
If you think you're going to be ready soon, would it be possible to give me an advance warning? I have my concept sorted out, I'm just not sure how much time I'll have tonight... if I need to, though, or if it just doesn't matter much, it shouldn't take too long to write up a basic summary. I just don't know if I'll be able to write anything particularly detailed before tomorrow.


EDIT: What castes do we have already?
 
I think I've given WhiteKnight more than enough time and consideration now, so I'm gonna start it up soon.


Caste applications so far:


1 Midnight


1-2 Day


1-2 Moonshadows


1 Daybreak


1 Dusk


I think there's a Dusk, I'm not sure. Shadow Red Claws, what caste are you going for?
 
I honestly have no idea what caste my character would be... I was planning to play a cynical, somewhat unreliable wanderer with a kind heart somewhere inside him, possibly, who joined the Mask of Winters on a whim without realizing just what he was getting into. But... the concept doesn't seem to fit any caste particularly well, from what I've read.


I guess I'll just try to rework it a bit into one of the ones that we might need, or at least one there might be room for.
 
You've definitely given him more than enough time. He's just a lazy bastard, you see.


Well, not entirely. Schoolwork, and all that... but yeah, more than enough time. A full application will be forthcoming very soon.
 
Speaking of that, how much detail should I try to write for my application?


...To be honest, what I already posted is basically what I had, so I might have to do a bit of thinking to write more.
 
Background:


Somewhere, on the other side of shadows, drifting in the dreams of unborn gods, there was a throne. The figure on it had no face, no form - it was merely an illusion of shape. Darkness given form and flesh.


Before the throne knelt the ragged figure of a man. Blood, dried to black on his corpse-pale flesh, ran like ebon tears out of the ruined socket where one eye had been, and over his hands and feet where ragged-edged holes pierced him through. He was slumped, like a puppet with its strings cut, and his long, thick tangle of black hair eclipsed his face. From the figure seated on the throne, words came - no, not words. Impressions. Commands. Orders. With each wave of thought-stuff that hit him, the kneeling figure shuddered like a tree in the high wind.


"SPEAK, LITTLE CORPSE-PUPPET"


"SPEAK, AND SING US YOUR TALE."


"SPEAK, SO THAT WE MAY KNOW IF YOU ARE A WORTHY VESSEL OF OBLIVION."


The kneeling figure began to sway back and forth, like a tree in a high wind. Softly he began to chant in a low, keening voice, a song of loss, wrath, rage, and illimitable hatred. Madness danced behind his one good eye as he lifted his head, his gaze staring blankly as the words flowed out of him as if of their own volition.


Born of earth and born of stone.


Born of dragon's blood and bone.


A puppet, wrapped in barb-jade strings.


Now the puppet his own tale sings.


Sheathed in silk from breast to bower


Watching eyes in every hour


Subtle tongues and subtle knives.


Walled in whispers, wrapped in lies.


Behind the masks, With cunning hands


The Eldest sat a' weaving plans.


As puppet danced across the stage


her hands were clenched in fists of rage


She railed against the puppet's glee


burned his motley, bade him flee


loosed against him hunter's fang


then in the night, his screams they rang


Bound and trussed, and broken bare


body limp in night's cold air


the ravens came for eye and tongue


and then the jester's life was done.


But ravens fled and jester woke.


in silent skull the voices spoke.


from bloody cross, down and down


came jester 'fore the void-wrought crown.


And if this tale should please thee, lords


then bid the jester join thy court


with eye and tongue and bitter glee


to hasten shadow, and darkness see


Until stars burn down to ashes cold


and all embraced in true night's fold.


pray, listen to thy lyric lark


and he'll see that all goes dead and dark.


The words flowed, and they were more than words. Images seemed to flash about the kneeling figure's head, conveying their meaning more fully than the few short stanzas should been able to. A young man, the scion of one of the Realm's most influential houses - but a disgrace to that house, obsessed with a life of his own choosing, of acting, revels, and glorious decadence. The will of the Realm's most formidable matriarch that sent him to an early grave, courtesy of a jealous cousin who crucified him and left him for the ravens.


And then... a reawakening. A dark rebirth and a long, bleak trip through sunless lands, a journey longer than the life-ages of creation, yet shorter than the space of two heartbeats, and a tale told in the dark before a throne of a god-that-was-not.


It seemed an eternity, but at last, something happened. The kneeling figure slowly rose, a new power investing its limbs as it grinned grimly in the darkness. Something gleamed where its missing eye had once been. Something great and mad and utterly terrible, yet compelling. And the figure began to laugh, as the shadows closed over it.


Mechanics:


Name: Grim Foole in Shadowed Motley ("Grim")


Exalt Type and Caste: Abyssal Moonshadow Caste


Motivation : To be free of the mastery of the Neverborn and a power in his own right.


Background: See Above


Attributes


Physical


Strength â—â—


Dexterity â—â—â—


Stamina â—â—


Social


Charisma â—â—â—â—


Manipulation â—â—â—


Appearance â—â—â—â—


Mental


Perception â—â—â—


Intelligence â—â—â—â—


Wits â—â—


Abilities


Archery


Martial Arts


Melee


Thrown


War


Integrity â—â—â—


Performance â—â—â—â—â— [2 BP]


Presence â—â—â—â—â— [3 BP] (Seduction +2)


Resistance â—â—


Survival


Craft


Investigate


Lore â—â—â—


Medicine


Occult


Athletics


Awareness â—â—â—


Dodge


Larceny â—â—


Stealth â—â—â—


Bureaucracy


Linguistics â—â—â— (Old Realm, Rivertongue, High Realm native)


Ride


Sail


Socialize â—â—â—â—â— [3 BP] (Lying +2)


Backgrounds


Artifact â—â—â—â—â— (Urd-Born Eye) [4 BP]


Manse â—â—â— (Gem of Grace)


Artifact â— (Hearthstone Amulet)


Artifacts and Equipment


Charms


Performance


Second Performance Excellency


Soul-Dessicating Style


Irresistable Succubus Style


Presence


Second Presence Excellency


Dread Lord's Demeanor


Killing Words Technique


Socialize


Second Socialize Excellency


Exquisite Etiquette Style


Imprecation of Ill Manners


Bitter Sweetness of Betrayal


Join Combat:


Defenses


Dodge DV: 3: ( 3Dex + 0 Dodge + 3 Essence)/2 = 3


Parry DV: 2 : (3 Dex + 0 Melee + 0 Defense) =


Health: -0/-1/-1/-2/-2/-4/Incapacitated


Mental Defenses


Dodge MDV: 7


Parry MDV: =5


Virtues


Compassion â—


Conviction â—â—â—â— (Raise by 1) [3 BP]


Temperance â—â—â—â—


Valor â—


Virtue Flaw


Intimacies


Willpower: â—â—â—â—â— â—â—â—


Essence


Permanent: 3


Personal:


Peripheral:


Committed:


Bonus Points (25/25)


Raise Permanent Essence to 3 [7 BP]


Raise Conviction by 1 [3 BP]


Artifact (Urd-Born Eye) [4 BP]


Enchanting Features [4 BP]


Increased Abilities [6 BP]


Specialites [2 BP]


Merits


Enchanting Features [4BP]


Flaws


Oath of the Shattered Voice (8 Points)


Permanent Caste Mark (2 Points)


XP:


Custom Artifact: The Urd-Born Eye (â—â—â—â—â—)


Blind in one Eye:


the character is blind in, and may be missing, one eye. The player of a one-eyed character


suffers a two-die penalty on all vision-based Perception rolls made for the character and a three-die penalty on all ranged attack rolls made for the character due to his lack of depth perception. Also, an attacker in close quarters may try to attack the character from his blind side. The attacker’s player must roll (Wits + Martial Arts or Melee) roll, opposed by (Wits + Martial Arts or Melee) rolled by the character’s player. Any successes the attacker gains over the character subtract from the character’s DV against the next attack.


The Urd-Born Eye, or the Eye of Urd, is Grim's own eye, placed for nine days within the Well of Urd. A gift upon the event of his black Exaltation, the Eye absorbed but the tiniest fraction of the Well's power - but even that fraction is enough to make it a truly awesome artifact. The eye holds powers of both knowledge and madness, and blurs the line between both. Though blinded to the mundane, the eye now sees beyond the gross material, and can make others see enough to drive them mad. But whatever the Eye's gaze rests upon, the knowledge gained is always Grim. The Well of Urd is not a wholesome thing to look upon, even for the Abyssal Exalted.


The eye has several different functions, divided into two categories:


(Note: The Inward gaze is mechanically identical to the five-dot version of Whispers, with a single bonus die on the roll, as well as different scope and results as described below.)


The Inward Gaze - Using this power requires the expenditure of a Willpower point, and allows the bearer to tap into the power of Urd to attempt to glean knowledge in one of three broad categories. In all cases, the mechanical effect is equal to the use of Whispers with a five-dot ranking


Gaze of the Past - An attempt to gaze into the past is an attempt to discover secrets. The user nominates a person, place, or thing and attempts to divine a secret about it - With enough successes, the secret should be something potentially useful. Failures, of course, provide obscure or even false information, culled from other Creations too divergent from the user's own to be of any use.


Sight of the Now - This function of the Eye attempts to see into a creature's present heart. The use of this ability could reveal any sort of strongly-felt desire - from the creature's deep-seated sexual urges to a craving for a particular foodstuff.


Glimpse of the Future - The Glimpse of the Future is an attempt to delve into the myriad twisting paths of future probability probing other realities for a glimpse of what might come to pass. This ability might target a person, place, or thing, and in general, the more successes, the more important and more relevant the glimpse becomes.


The Outward Gaze: The Outward Gaze lacks the subtlety of the Inward, but its power to shatter the minds and souls of those who dare to look into the abyss is undeniable.


The Open Eye of Infinity: Using this power costs 1wp and up to 10m, and effects all enemies within visual range of the user - even blindness or complete darkness is no defense, for the whispers of the Well tear into the victim's very mind and soul. Upon activation, the user unveils the eye, making an attack roll equal to (Willpower + 5), with every 2m spent providing one extra success. After subtracting the target's MDV, each success left over removes one point of willpower from the target's temporary pool. A mortal character reduced to 0 willpower is utterly destroyed - though they may well rise as undead after such a traumatic demise. Creatures of the Wyld meet a similar fate - their infinite possibility shattered utterly upon the bleak rocks of certainty, snuffed out like a candle in the wind. A character with Exalted or otherwise supernatural essence simply becomes catatonic, drifting into a nightmare-wracked coma wherein they experience countless deaths and torments of their other-world selves.
 
Axelgear said:
I think I've given WhiteKnight more than enough time and consideration now, so I'm gonna start it up soon.
Caste applications so far:


1 Midnight


1-2 Day


1-2 Moonshadows


1 Daybreak


1 Dusk


I think there's a Dusk, I'm not sure. Shadow Red Claws, what caste are you going for?
Click to expand...
I also presented a Dusk
 
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