Keychain #286-290

Teln said:
I swear, the very next game I'm in, I'm going to play Superman just to spite you all.
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Superman being a solar, then? I had a concept for an Air Aspect as Tony Stark a while back I should try and finish up.

Teln said:
Also, thank you for reminding me why I hate 40k.
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The Grimdark? Or the way it threadjacks everything?


Depends on what you make of it. My perception of the 40K verse hews closer to 'Ciaphas Cain' than to 'Ibram Gaunt'.


Exalted is at LEAST as full of horrible things as 40K is. You could fairly easily run a game where creation is a doomed, horrible place to live for absolutely everyone and No-one is happy. Ever. Conversely, it can be about epic heroes fighting for everyone against the evils of the world.


You can do a heroic 40k as well as a horrible creation. Depends on the writer and players.


I guess my point before the ramble started was that 40k Players aren't all averse to sunshine and happiness. I personally don't agree with the 'no one is happy EVAR' interpretation, but it varies by GM.
 
Crasical said:
I personally don't agree with the 'no one is happy EVAR' interpretation, but it varies by GM.
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But I thought in the grim darkness of the 41st millennium there was only war!


I think a 40k story with any shred of potential for any fleeting happiness is definitely an exception rather than the norm, myself. I recall first encountering 40k some time in my early teens, and being well impressed by the book's big long spiel on how you're an insignificant flickering speck in an an infinite void of tempestuous violence robbed of all but desperation and remembered by nothing but the laughter of dark thirsty gods.


And that's ok, you know? You can have strong, good, heroic stories in there, I just don't think they're likely to finish up with anything better than a "duty is done UNTIL NEXT TIME" sort of thing. But it's all good. Immersing yourself in the idea of that kind of world makes the real one seem really awesome.
 
Indulging in largely Fandom defined games such as the Touhou Project have skewed my perceptions to the point that I instinctively pick and choose from the bits of canon that I enjoy and largely ignore the rest. The book ends at 'happily ever after' or 'The battle was won' without me needing to go all fridge logic about how there are more battles to survive or about how the characters are going to get old and die after.


I'm perfectly content with bookending the story at 'And they defeated the Deathlords and Neverborn, and thus creation was saved' without appending 'But years later they where devoured by invading Fair Folk and died screaming'. Or 'The Chaos Invasion was thrown back by the heroic Cadian guardsmen' without 'But years later the tyranid came screaming through and devoured everyone'.


You're correct that any 'fleeting happiness' is an exception rather than the norm in 40K.


But you take the victories and happiness you can, y'know? And the idea that no Exalt in creation is ever really happy is a depressing one.
 
Or people actually like being imbued with ultimate cosmic might and find enjoyment in fighting for a just and good cause (however subjective such terms are). And peasants leave their homes to fight not because some Solar brainwashed them, but because the Solar reminded him of the things they have, the things they can have, and that these things are worth fighting for. And the forces of darkness and evil are too busy squabbling to truly threaten the world before the Exalted hold parliament and realise they're on the same side and save the world, convince the Neverborn to lift the Great Curse, and live happily ever after.


Also, Malfeas calms down a bit when he realizes that his body allows him to dance all day, something he couldn't before, She Who Lives in Her Name is permanently confined in her own personal infinite clockwork universe, where everything is perfect, Szoreny is turned right side up again, and the Neverborn finally get to slip into their beloved Oblivion, blessing their slayers for their mercy.


All of this is a perfectly possible, if not 100% conventional, interpretation of Canon Exalted. It's just not what most people like to game with.


Interpretation's funny that way.
 
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Naturally, the only two RPGs I own books for are Exalted and 40K Roleplay...


I tend to go for them in different moods, though. Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader are great for when I want to pull some freaky intrigue on people (I love the evil computer virus from one of the books), whereas Exalted as written has a far more optimistic tone- you can make a difference. I s'pose it helps that the setting's smaller- even if there were Solar Exalted-level 40K characters, the scale of the Galaxy is such that it's difficult to have much of an impact.
 
Teln said:
I swear, the very next game I'm in, I'm going to play Superman just to spite you all.
Also, thank you for reminding me why I hate 40k.
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Indeed.


Personally, I myself like to make anti-heroes of all stripes (the genuine hero with a few major character flaws, the would-be knight in shining armor with a mind clouded by darkness, the guy who became a superhero for selfish reasons) but they are all fundamentally good people. They're just bad at the execution thereof at the start of the game.


Take my first ever Exalted character, for instance. He has a lot of the marks of the guy who probably didn't deserve his Solar status (misanthropic, badly traumatized throughout childhood, Guild-employed) but he hasn't allowed the shadows on his past to define him, and he's become a much happier person for it.
 
MorkaisChosen said:
even if there were Solar Exalted-level 40K characters, the scale of the Galaxy is such that it's difficult to have much of an impact.
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You are joking me, aren't you? You're joking!


All we'd need to do is rewrite the range charms (actually, you might not, at that.) The only thing you'd really need would be to rewrite the rules on Charms interacting with social group magnitude, because eventually you're going to want social and bureaucracy charms that affect entire star systems and regions of the galaxy.


Seriously, a Chapter of Imperial Space Marines with a Dawn-Caste Solar Exalt as Chapter Master would be essentially unstoppable. That would be a force capable of storming the Warp; wearing Tactical Celestial Dreadnought Armor, dual-wielding a Storm Prayer-Bolter in left hand and Grand Chainklaive in the other, with a pair of God-Kicking Power Boots for extra emergency ass-kicking. His or her (shut the fuck up, a female Solar is badass enough to lead a Space Marine Chapter, and if you don't like it, talk to the bolter) Lunar Mate would be using DBT with Moonsilver Celestial Battle Armor which retains it's identifying oricalcum pauldrons in any form and probably take the form of an anthropormorphized Greater Knarloc or a Krootox, or maybe a 'nid of some kind - or hell, anything from Catachan. Seargents would be Terrestrial Exalted, and the Librarian would be a Sidereal Chosen of Secrets well-versed in Terrestrial Circle Sorcery and with mastery of a martial art (possibly custom-made for the purpose) which can be practiced in ultraheavy armor and has a goremaul and shield as form weapons.


That said, I play Tau anyway, so while they're off fucking around inup the warp, I'll be over here, enhancing mah Greater Good and teaching the Tau how to stick a knife on the tip of their rifles in exchange for using my awesomesauce Solar skills to kick their industry into hyperdrive; when I'm not too busy taking the field and personally leading the Greater Good to victory.
 
Personally, I'd split the Exaltations up across the different races and factions. Tau have such a nice teamwork thing going that giving them the Terrestrial Exaltation just fits ever so elegantly.
 
Kyeudo said:
Personally, I'd split the Exaltations up across the different races and factions. Tau have such a nice teamwork thing going that giving them the Terrestrial Exaltation just fits ever so elegantly.
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They already name themselves after the elemental castes too.
 
ShadowDragon8685 said:
MorkaisChosen said:
even if there were Solar Exalted-level 40K characters, the scale of the Galaxy is such that it's difficult to have much of an impact.
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You are joking me, aren't you? You're joking!


All we'd need to do is rewrite the range charms (actually, you might not, at that.) The only thing you'd really need would be to rewrite the rules on Charms interacting with social group magnitude, because eventually you're going to want social and bureaucracy charms that affect entire star systems and regions of the galaxy.


Seriously, a Chapter of Imperial Space Marines with a Dawn-Caste Solar Exalt as Chapter Master would be essentially unstoppable. That would be a force capable of storming the Warp; wearing Tactical Celestial Dreadnought Armor, dual-wielding a Storm Prayer-Bolter in left hand and Grand Chainklaive in the other, with a pair of God-Kicking Power Boots for extra emergency ass-kicking. His or her (shut the fuck up, a female Solar is badass enough to lead a Space Marine Chapter, and if you don't like it, talk to the bolter) Lunar Mate would be using DBT with Moonsilver Celestial Battle Armor which retains it's identifying oricalcum pauldrons in any form and probably take the form of an anthropormorphized Greater Knarloc or a Krootox, or maybe a 'nid of some kind - or hell, anything from Catachan. Seargents would be Terrestrial Exalted, and the Librarian would be a Sidereal Chosen of Secrets well-versed in Terrestrial Circle Sorcery and with mastery of a martial art (possibly custom-made for the purpose) which can be practiced in ultraheavy armor and has a goremaul and shield as form weapons.


That said, I play Tau anyway, so while they're off fucking around inup the warp, I'll be over here, enhancing mah Greater Good and teaching the Tau how to stick a knife on the tip of their rifles in exchange for using my awesomesauce Solar skills to kick their industry into hyperdrive; when I'm not too busy taking the field and personally leading the Greater Good to victory.
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Even a Solar can't be in more than one place at once, can they?


(I realise I'm probably about to get told how they can...)
 
Obsidian Shards of Infinity style does have Draw Forth One Shard, which can make clones of the target that are slightly different in one small manner, but otherwise identical, and can be used on yourself. Did we mention they are permanent, until killed? The duration otherwise just refers to how long the user has control of the clones they made. Also, there's the next charm in the same tree that allows one to make entire clone armies, though that's only scene long, so doesn't serve the same role. Solars, Sidereals, Abyssals, and Lunar Akuma are all capable of learning such at Essence 6, Martial Arts 6. If they get up to Martial Arts and Essence 7, and progress further in the style, they can even use a charm that makes the essence cost of all Martial Arts charms, like, say, these...zero, while it is activated.


Lunars have the knack Ant and Starfish trick, which allows one to split them self into a number of weaker form, splitting their Essence among them, with none allowed to have less than an Essence of 2. It's an Essence 7 Knack, so at minimum requirements you can have one Essence 3 and two Essence 2 copies of you running around, instead of just one Essence 7, though this isn't generally as useful as one Essence 7 individual, if you need to be at two or three places at once, it's totally viable.


An Eclipse or an Akuma can also learn Host of Spirits, and create a number of weaker copies of them self. An Essence 6 Dragon Blooded with Mantle of Elemental Fusion can work with an Elemental Dragon or weaker Elemental that knows Host of Spirits and use it as well. Similarly with any custom God, Demon or Elemental charms as appropriate, such as Tien Yu's Legion of One.


Similarly, a Celestial Exalt or Akuma can learn Imbue Amalgam and create servants with a number of their abilities to send out and handle various things they them self cannot be present for.
 
Wow, and here I was just going to say that Commanding the Ideal Celestial Army could probably have an expansion charm that allows the Solar not just to extend the range, but act as "Front Commander" for all his units.
 
MorkaisChosen said:
So basically, I'm completely wrong.
:lol:
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Don't forget the Lunar Chimerism knacks that allow you to:


a) Hunt a mortal creature


b) Eat it and take its form, and


c) Keep that form as a separate body that still has your mind controlling it!


Chimerae pretty much become "The Thing" once they've progressed far enough. And that's even available to PCs - as long as you take that Greater Curse +5 flaw (and are ALWAYS halfway to Limit Break).
 
I think I speak for all of us when I say:


Whew.


I was starting* to worry you were about to go the way of Exterminatus Now - first it was pushing back the update a few hours, then half a day, then more than half a day, then the whole day, then the whole weekend, then maybe we'll have it done on monday, now it's "weekends... Maybe."


And by "whew" I mean "oh crap, this is how it starts, isn't it?"


*Not meant to implied that any worries have been averted.


Other than that... Is Secret's fear going to be Ten Winds?
 
And we still don't know what Marena's 'thing' is.


Anyway, I think its going to be herself; she's afraid of not being strong enough when the time comes.
 
It strikes me that I haven't really mentioned or alluded to what Marena did to pass the Fear trial. There hasn't really been space in the comic for it. That sort of thing's probably in there in the Silver Pact initiation, though, right? The Lunars don't take no sissies.
 
I like how worried secret looks in the last panel, as if geometry is one of the more terrifying things in her life.


Although it seems more likely that she's scared of the trial and is hoping it's something not so bad like math.


Ruined the funny for myself. Damn.
 
ShadowDragon8685 said:
Other than that... Is Secret's fear going to be Ten Winds?
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It looks like around midnight, theres a circle carved into the ground.


I'm guessing its Swiss Army Knife of the First Circle time.
 
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