Ok, I need to know where this plot point is going

[The zombie cat]

Ok, I need to know where this plot point is going (exalted)


Ok, the question in short form. What memories would Lytek give an abyssal to inspire it to be good.


In long form. My PCs (solar) captured a rather unsavoury abyssal  and decided to take him to Lytek in the hopes that he would be able to restore the shard (they had previously learned that they are corrupted solar shards) and they mentioned that they had another abyssal that was trying to work against her death lord. I then had the great idea (and therefore so did Lytek) to mix up a set of old memories from better times (I decided that the death lord had left most of the usurpation memories intact, they are not pleasant, especially with a death lord putting the worst possible spin on them) in the hope that they would inspire her.


Now I need to know what memory’s he would have chosen. The abyssal is of the midnight cast so the memories came from a zenith and where chosen to inspire one that believes she had been betrayed by her circle and by creation (obviously the second part was true) I have established that Lytek dose not have access to the memories from the incarnation immediately prior to the usurpation so he cant just fit in corrections to the facts. He dose have access to the memories of every incarnation threw the old realm, the primordial war and before. So what would you recommend?


Edward

 

[Moonsilver]

I know little of the process here, but restoring a shard to Sol is just a matter of restoring old memories? Seems a bit odd.

 

[The zombie cat]

No, the memories don’t restore the shard, they are intended to influence the current host so they will try to work towards that goal. Show it is worth while and such. Think of it as a really complicated social attack to create an intimacy towards becoming a solar.


Edward

 

[Persell]

I think he would remember solar integrity charms and wouldn't bother. Afterwards he would go to Sol and say "boss, we gotta talk".

 

[Persell]

Lytek also has nothing to do with Abyssal shards anymore.  They don't come back to his cabinet on death, they go to their Monstrances.  It's why he's got such a hardon for trying to get his hands on one.


Lytek, as far as I know, can't influence a shard in any way while it's still in the host body.  It's not his nature or purpose.

 

[The zombie cat]

Regarding affecting exaltations while within a host. I quote from Lytek’s description on page 144 of Yu Shan 2ed “he has stores of memories from previous exaltations within the vaults of his office and can show them to one of the exalted, or graft it to their spirit without their knowledge, triggering flashbacks to previous incarnationsâ€

 

[Persell]

Now we move to things that are only true in my game. Lytek prepared a drink such that the memories it contained would be grafted to whatever exalt consumes it (thus getting around the problem that he has no influence on abyssals). He himself is about 95% certain that grafting uncorrupted solar memories to an abyssal will not be fatal (but he isn’t all that fused is an abyssal dies in his experiment).

I'd make him very concerned about it indeed, since he doesn't have a Monstrance to study the shard, and it's not all that easy to get his hands on an Abyssal for experimentation, no matter how powerful a god he is.  He can't redeem jack shit if it's back in the Underworld and safely out of his reach.

He dose not expect the experience to be pleasant' date=' and he doesn’t know about the whispers background. [/quote']
Why wouldn't he?  It existed in the First Age, primarily granted by a really powerful, really twisted artifact called the Black Mirror that was found in the Western area of Amphios (DotFA: Lands, p120).  It unequivocally kills any mortal that peers into it at the end of a scene where they writhe in agony and screaming in tongues as their soul shatters apart.  Exalts that look into it see themselves twisted and dark, with their caste mark appearing charred on their foreheads in the reflection.  Actually -using- the mirror makes their real caste mark char, takes away their ability to use their Solar Charms, makes them creatures of darkness as well as creatures outside fate, and gives them a dot of the Whispers background per use, up to a max of 5.  All the other effects last until the Solar's next Limit Break, but the Whispers background is permanent.


Granted, this N/A artifact was locked away in the Heirophant's personal collection and the secret of its terrible nature was entrusted to a very few Solars, and it's entirely possible that they never informed Lytek or any of the Celestial gods at all.  However, it does come to mind that in order to know the effects of the Black Mirror, someone has to have used it, likely several times.  I think the gods of Yu-Shan would notice if Solars suddenly stopped appearing in the Loom of Fate, and were becoming injured by their Zenith compatriots' animas.  And I think Lytek would have noticed memories of the Neverborns' whispers as he was trimming up returned shards for reExaltation.

 

[Persell]

Secondly I am curious as to what he would want to talk to sol about and how he would get an audience.

I imagine it being along the line of, "boss, see... that is some pretty fucked up stuff going on with those abyssals. can't we hand those solars that pesky third circle level spell for getting rid of the abyssal taint and an endowment to cast it?"


sol: "dude, i am the god of heroes and they are my posse, they gotta earn it."

 

[Solfi]

Now we move to things that are only true in my game. Lytek prepared a drink such that the memories it contained would be grafted to whatever exalt consumes it (thus getting around the problem that he has no influence on abyssals). He himself is about 95% certain that grafting uncorrupted solar memories to an abyssal will not be fatal (but he isn’t all that fused is an abyssal dies in his experiment).

I'd make him very concerned about it indeed, since he doesn't have a Monstrance to study the shard, and it's not all that easy to get his hands on an Abyssal for experimentation, no matter how powerful a god he is.  He can't redeem jack shit if it's back in the Underworld and safely out of his reach.

... unless he does have one (see Yu-Shan comic-splat where Lytek is questioned on the whereabouts and mission of the Ghost-Blooded Sidereal signature character).

 

[The zombie cat]

Now we move to things that are only true in my game. Lytek prepared a drink such that the memories it contained would be grafted to whatever exalt consumes it (thus getting around the problem that he has no influence on abyssals). He himself is about 95% certain that grafting uncorrupted solar memories to an abyssal will not be fatal (but he isn’t all that fused is an abyssal dies in his experiment).

I'd make him very concerned about it indeed, since he doesn't have a Monstrance to study the shard, and it's not all that easy to get his hands on an Abyssal for experimentation, no matter how powerful a god he is.  He can't redeem jack shit if it's back in the Underworld and safely out of his reach.

He dose have another abyssal, the one the PCs gave him, he intends to do a short series of experiments on it before ripping out the exaltation and attempting to repair it. (I figure if the siderials can build a device to imprison essence shards then lytek can keep hold of an abyssal shard if he is standing by to catch it at the moment of death).


The memory implantation is intended for another abyssal that is actively working with the PCs. Lytek doesn’t really /have/ that one so he would not be inconvenienced should it die.


Edward

 

[Nightmare of Fallen Kings]

As far as what the memories could be, you could have the fully restored memories show that they were not in fact betrayed by their circle, but that their circle sacrificed their lives trying to protect the character. If that's not good enough, you could always pull the "love conquers all" card and have another member of the circle they had believed betrayed them turn out to be their husband/wife who not only sacrificed themself to save the character, but died in their arms proclaiming their eternal love for them and swearing to return to them when they reincarnate.

 

[Malekith]

Just wondering, since there was no trimming, would it make sense that abyssals actually have more memories from their past life?

 

[Flagg]

Yes it would -- but that's probably an oversight on the part of the developers.


You could rationalize a reason why they don't retain their memories. "Consumed by Oblivion" or somesuch.

 

[The zombie cat]

I had been assuming that the death lords trimmed out some bits, or the never born consumed them. In either case some of the memories where removed but those left where chosen to aid the cause of destruction, not creation.


The problem for my purposes is that lytic doesn’t have them, so he cant use memories of the immediately previous incarnation.


Edward

 

[Zaramis]

I let all my Abyssals in my chronicle have more or less intact memories of their earlier reincarnations unless they are likely suspects to try for some sort of redemption - many of the Abyssals can then remember the crazy biznatches they became in the first age and the madness that often took them on murderous or wicked sprees, and realize the greatness of Abyssal exaltation, how they are repaired from their flawed Solar selves and instead made to serve a higher cause, to remove the wickedness of Life and Solars in the world Or that's one of my theories about it.. at least some Abyssals retain their memories.