Dice Shadows of the Setting Sun (OOC)

[Esbilon]

I built my character around the assumption that we would start out in whitewall and work on problems related to that area, so I'd be a bit disappointed if we did something completely different.

 

[D. Rex]

I dont mind Whitewall being a starting area. Works great for Afureru, seeing as that the homestead she has taken as an adopted home is likely closer to Whitewall than to Fortitude.


However, Whitewall would probably not like her very much considering Whitewall might have been close enough to have suffered raids from Fortitude.

 

[Teh Frixz]

Whitewall seems a civilized enough starting-off point then, hopefully, the cult has some pull in the area and there’s enough trouble to get into for all of us, I’m all for starting there. But I’m all for starting anywhere. And by civilized I mean, we probably wanna eventually look into the yearly trading of souls for protection with the Fair Folk in the area.

I would like to see if anyone in the city has enough hutzpa to say anything negative towards Afureru if she’s that disliked by the populace!

 

[Esbilon]

I dont mind Whitewall being a starting area. Works great for Afureru, seeing as that the homestead she has taken as an adopted home is likely closer to Whitewall than to Fortitude.


However, Whitewall would probably not like her very much considering Whitewall might have been close enough to have suffered raids from Fortitude.

*Ahem* Repeat after the broken record. Creation is huge. Fortitude and Whitewall are separated by 1865 miles as the crow flies which includes a mountain range inhabited by a hostile lunar. If you take the road, it's 2917ish miles. These are absolutely enormous distances!

 

[Sherwood]

Yeah, the Blessed Isle is larger than North America, and it doesn't look that big on the map.

 

[Rykon]

*Ahem* Repeat after the broken record. Creation is huge. Fortitude and Whitewall are separated by 1865 miles as the crow flies which includes a mountain range inhabited by a hostile lunar. If you take the road, it's 2917ish miles. These are absolutely enormous distances!

I had to double-take on those figures. I thought it was 300-350ish, then I remembered that I was thinking of Pneuma. Either way, the distance in a bronze age setting is excessively massive. Even cutting some corners with travel by ship it's a couple weeks at least of nonstop travel.

 

[WlfSamurai]

Whatever timing had to happen, let’s say Whitewall is where you all end up for our start, one way or another. We don’t have to worry about the details at this moment.

But Whitewall will be our start.

Tagging: Esbilon , Epiphany , Rykon , Sherwood , Funnier President , Random Word , Teh Frixz

 

[Esbilon]

I had to double-take on those figures. I thought it was 300-350ish, then I remembered that I was thinking of Pneuma. Either way, the distance in a bronze age setting is excessively massive. Even cutting some corners with travel by ship it's a couple weeks at least of nonstop travel.

Yeah. In Ex2, there were canonically 700,000 inhabitants in Whitewall. Excluding the various ambassadorial staff, I would be shocked if as many as 100 had seen Fortitude of knew anyone from there. I would also be unsurprised to find that less than 100,000 of them could even pinpoint it on a map. And Whitewall has like the best education system in the North.

 

[Teh Frixz]

I'm actually shocked that the Fair Folk are only taking a dozen a year in return for not attacking the trade routes with a mortal population that large. I thought it'd be a city of 40-50,000 tops. The more I delve back into the lore and setting of Exalted, the more I'm continually amazed at how much of a playground they gave to the PC's. Better than a lot of games I've seen lately.

 

[Random Word]

Okay, now the puzzle I have to solve is how the savants of Whitewall have missed a pair of incredibly powerful Manses on their doorstep for two thousand years. That's really implausible given the Syndics were around when they were built. So maybe the question I really have to answer is, 'If the Syndics and Whitewall know these Manses exist, why the hell haven't they been using them the entire time?'

Reasons to visit Whitewall are easy once I solve that - the two simplest being to petition the Syndics to teach her, since she can learn to wield their powers and she knows they can banish disease, and to recruit a whole bunch of people from underton to come work all the new fields.

 

[WlfSamurai]

Okay, now the puzzle I have to solve is how the savants of Whitewall have missed a pair of incredibly powerful Manses on their doorstep for two thousand years. That's really implausible given the Syndics were around when they were built. So maybe the question I really have to answer is, 'If the Syndics and Whitewall know these Manses exist, why the hell haven't they been using them the entire time?'

Reasons to visit Whitewall are easy once I solve that - the two simplest being to petition the Syndics to teach her, since she can learn to wield their powers and she knows they can banish disease, and to recruit a whole bunch of people from underton to come plow all the new fields.

I just noticed you have two manses. Is that in your backstory? I haven’t read it yet.

 

[Esbilon]

Okay, now the puzzle I have to solve is how the savants of Whitewall have missed a pair of incredibly powerful Manses on their doorstep for two thousand years. That's really implausible given the Syndics were around when they were built. So maybe the question I really have to answer is, 'If the Syndics and Whitewall know these Manses exist, why the hell haven't they been using them the entire time?'

Leaving aside for a moment that 2 5 dot manses is a pretty incredible set of merits for a starting solar, I think the obvious solution is to place them in the Winter Folk's Wyld Zone just north east of the city. Perhaps the artifact that tested for a divine leader was not as broken as they thought and actually kept the Wyld at bay, and once your character Exalted, those protections fell away.

 

[Random Word]

Is that in your backstory? I haven’t read it yet.

If you had, I would be deeply concerned about your telepathic abilities, and would think about very politely asking you to leave my head.

I'm thinking of writing it down today, but broad strokes I'm thinking two elemental dragons of wood and fire fall in love ages ago, and after ages together end up laying down their lives to delay a Raksha crusade in the High Shogunate while a Sworn Hearth retreats to fortify the defenses. The Raksha Noble is so impressed with their valour he entwines their bodies together in death and makes a monument to their legend before passing on. When he's eventually driven back by some Daimyo or other's personal intervention the Hearth builds a pair of Manses out of the stone pillar that encompases their bodies, one Fire Aspected and one Wood Aspected. The Fire Aspected manse has healing hotsprings, drawing water up from the ground, heating it beside magma channels and enriching it with healing and life-giving minerals and nutrients drawn from deep in the earth, then the water descends the Wood Aspected manse to water and heat its thousands of gardens before erupting from the base as super nutrient rich springs.

The hearthstones are the Permanent Summer stone and the Super Harvests stone. The Wood Aspected Manse has seed vaults full of exotic plants you don't usually see in the north, and the climates to grow them in small quantities.

I was thinking it was lost during the Balorian Crusade and the Realm never found it again, so a Wyld pocket makes sense.

 

[D. Rex]

*Ahem* Repeat after the broken record. Creation is huge. Fortitude and Whitewall are separated by 1865 miles as the crow flies which includes a mountain range inhabited by a hostile lunar. If you take the road, it's 2917ish miles. These are absolutely enormous distances!

So I have heard...

From city to city it is 1865 miles.

Border to border its about 560.

I wasn't talking about invading the city. The Territories are still close enough to be considered neighboring. And conquering or looting hordes are notoriously mobile. Amd it really depends on how expensive GM wants Fortitude to reach out.

At best. At best. The north west of the whitewall territory might get a few raids. More likely Pnuema would see a few coastal boat raids.

With those mountains, any western expansion would require some Hannibal levels of conviction. Anything like those would be too much trouble without better unification of the Fortitude territory and some real planning.


Yet. Fortitude is canonically trouble. Has when it gets on a roll, it is big enough trouble where the Realm or other power has to step in.



Furthermore, this isn't a single raid. But multiple years of it. A good five or six years that Afureru has spent gaining a reputation. And even if the Fortitude armies never went east of the mountains, word would have traveled. A maybe they would not have reason to be as the China did of the Mongols. But they would have reason to be concerned.




However! That is speculation. I guess a lot of what would determine anything is WlfSamurai what does 3 dots regional influence of a infamous warrior and a scary nickname net Afureru? And what reach did you want the Fortitude armies to have?

 

[Random Word]

Leaving aside for a moment that 2 5 dot manses is a pretty incredible set of merits for a starting solar

Hmm, I could make it one 5 Dot Manse that yielded a second 4 Dot Hearthstone, but I don't think that really helps. I could toss the whole idea out if it's too grandiose. WlfSamurai Let me know if having super fertility Manses is too much, or a bad fit for the story as it's shaping up. I haven't put pen to paper, so tossing things out and starting from a new angle is easy.

 

[Esbilon]

Hmm, I could make it one 5 Dot Manse that yielded a second 4 Dot Hearthstone, but I don't think that really helps. I could toss the whole idea out if it's too grandiose. WlfSamurai Let me know if having super fertility Manses is too much, or a bad fit for the story as it's shaping up. I haven't put pen to paper, so tossing things out and starting from a new angle is easy.

The Syndics already bless the area around Whitewall, so it is a bit redundant.

From city to city it is 1865 miles.

Border to border its about 560.

What do you base this on? Fortitude is a single fortress-prison, why would you suppose it controls an area on the size of France? Whitewall controls a vally in a radius of about 20 miles and the Traveller's Road going south about 200 miles, but not the area around the road.

The Territories are still close enough to be considered neighboring

They're really, really not. Unless you're literally the mongol horde, raiders don't range very far at all. And there is no mention of Fortitude being a great nation of steppe nomads since it's, you know, a fortress-prison. And hell, even the mongols didn't raid hundreds of miles into foreign contries, they raided dozens of miles into foreign countries, and then conquered said contries.

Yet. Fortitude is canonically trouble. Has when it gets on a roll, it is big enough trouble where the Realm or other power has to step in.

1) Only in the region surrounding it. Whitewall is not part of that. 2) Only once every few generations.

Furthermore, this isn't a single raid. But multiple years of it. A good five or six years that Afureru has spent gaining a reputation. And even if the Fortitude armies never went east of the mountains, word would have traveled. A maybe they would not have reason to be as the China did of the Mongols. But they would have reason to be concerned.

I mean, if you absolutely want to be notorious in a place that has zero reason to know who you are, I have neither the will or ability to stop you, but I hope I've demonstrated that you certainly don't need to. Now if the campaign were set in Grieve - a mere 800 miles away (the distance from the tip of Scotland to Paris) - I might agree that this would be an issue, but Whitewall is way further away, particularly because it's inland. You can't sail there, and no one without very good reason to would make the journey on foot.

 

[Esbilon]

I should add that the reason the Realm takes offense when Fortitude gets uppity is (assuming this hasn't been changed from Ex2) that their slave-state satrapy of Dehenna lies immediately south of Fortitude. That's a place where the worst of Fortitude's criminals would probably be notorious.

 

[Random Word]

The Syndics already bless the area around Whitewall, so it is a bit redundant.

I agree, of all the locations in the North, this character concept probably makes the least sense right beside Whitewall. I came up with it when it sounded like we were going to be in an original place in the North, largely because it looked to me like Rykon was looking for a place to settle down and create a new polity and I thought it would be fun to be the magical reason why it succeeded spectacularly where so many failed.

I think the blessings I would be bestowing would significantly outdo what the Syndics can provide, but that doesn't change the fact that I'd be directly competing with the Syndics' cult doing basically exactly what they do - but better because Solar - right next door, which isn't a thematically or narratively fantastic space. Let me go back to the drawing board and see what else I can come up with.

 

[D. Rex]

The Syndics already bless the area around Whitewall, so it is a bit redundant.

What do you base this on? Fortitude is a single fortress-prison, why would you suppose it controls an area on the size of France? Whitewall controls a vally in a radius of about 20 miles and the Traveller's Road going south about 200 miles, but not the area around the road.


They're really, really not. Unless you're literally the mongol horde, raiders don't range very far at all. And there is no mention of Fortitude being a great nation of steppe nomads since it's, you know, a fortress-prison. And hell, even the mongols didn't raid hundreds of miles into foreign contries, they raided dozens of miles into foreign countries, and then conquered said contries.

1) Only in the region surrounding it. Whitewall is not part of that. 2) Only once every few generations.

I mean, if you absolutely want to be notorious in a place that has zero reason to know who you are, I have neither the will or ability to stop you, but I hope I've demonstrated that you certainly don't need to. Now if the campaign were set in Grieve - a mere 800 miles away (the distance from the tip of Scotland to Paris) - I might agree that this would be an issue, but Whitewall is way further away, particularly because it's inland. You can't sail there, and no one without very good reason to would make the journey on foot.

Basing them on the little dotty lines on the map you showed. Its a border of something. I do not have handy a great amount of geographical information on various cities, regions, inhabitants, etc. And have also not had the benefit of playing through several edition to accumulate the knowledge of.

Judging from what i have read. I dont think Fortitude is anywhere close to being like the Mongol horde. But I would say that it this would be an instance of it getting close to the "once in a few generation" sort of events.





And actually, I would much rather that Whitewall wasn't effected by her notoriety. I brought up the matter because I was concerned if Whitewall might be close enough for that to matter. As I was assuming that we were going to take place north of the north.

With three dots of influence, I am not sure how far "regional" extends. Combined with the sorbiquet merit that insinuates deeds being widely known. As one of my prime concerns was not wanting Afureru's backstory consequences to just bleed into Zoya's like that.

 

[Sherwood]

And all I want to do is beat people up with my bear hands.

Get it? Bear. Hands! Ha!

 

[D. Rex]

And all I want to do is beat people up with my bear hands.

Get it? Bear. Hands! Ha!

This is where psychie would pretend be disgusted by your pun.

Then say that you were being "unbearable"

 

[Rykon]

Only to be followed by a grizzly expression of agony.

 

[Rykon]

I agree, of all the locations in the North, this character concept probably makes the least sense right beside Whitewall. I came up with it when it sounded like we were going to be in an original place in the North, largely because it looked to me like Rykon was looking for a place to settle down and create a new polity and I thought it would be fun to be the magical reason why it succeeded spectacularly where so many failed.

I think the blessings I would be bestowing would significantly outdo what the Syndics can provide, but that doesn't change the fact that I'd be directly competing with the Syndics' cult doing basically exactly what they do - but better because Solar - right next door, which isn't a thematically or narratively fantastic space. Let me go back to the drawing board and see what else I can come up with.

I still do want the character to build his own dominion. However, I'm content with that being a milestone around E2, with E1 defining an arc where he explores and stretches his limits as a warrior on his own merit. After all, I need point space to justify his reputation and authority.

In light of the delayed establishment of a regional powerbase, I hope you can salvage the core of your character concept. Perhaps the manses could be a known quantity but presently out of reach. Something that might require a rare catalyst of a sort to awaken from dormancy, possibly in parts. Alternatively, a secret passphrase (not unlike the Mines of Moria), only to unseal a slumbering horror that would require a circle of celestials to lay low before the prize within could be claimed. Or even some combination of the above depending on how enthusiastic the ST feels about weaving an adventure out of what was once mere backstory.

 

[WlfSamurai]

Hang tight, guys. There’s a ton in here to address and I want to make sure we do.

 

[WlfSamurai]

Okay, couple things here I need to clear up.

1. Random Word , do not rework yet. I like the idea you have. And, while 2, 5 dot manses is insane in some ways, the way you're using them is fantastic. And I'd like to play that story out, if we can.
2. Yes, the whole Fortitude --> Whitewall thing doesn't happen. It is too far and over terrain that wouldn't make sense for a group of criminal gangs to raid over. BUT! Again, D. Rex , I like that you're character is infamous in the region and has a great story along with it.

So, let me clarify a few points that I never really did. I've played games with most of you over many years. And I think ran a few games for many of you. But, some things about me and this game in particular:

1. Against Sherwood 's very good and sage advice, I am a character-driven MC/ST/GM/DM. Meaning, my games are really OUR games. And I want you to tell them WITH me. This isn't me dictating a story to you. This is the story about your characters.
   1. Hell, there may be times I ask you to tell me about stuff! That's your time to add to the world!
   2. Also, it's up to you to choose what you do in the game!
2. I, unfortunately (or fortunately depending on who you ask), have been RUINED by modern game design. That is story-first, narrative, usually-indie games. However you want to call them. I call them hippy-dippy games, often. Just to make fun of myself. Why do I point this out? Well, because:
   1. I'm not interested in "balance" or worried about "power-gaming". In the end, it all ends up being story. In theory, you can't be "too powerful" to deal with. I'm the effing ST. I can just say you're dead, right? BUT! Everything has to be played out in-game or through the story. Have two manses? Great! Tell me how and why. How does it fit into who your character is and what they do? And remember, just because they're on your sheet and you paid points for them doesn't mean they're magically protected. They are assets ready for the taking. (Sorry, Random Word , that was just an easy example)
   2. There is no such thing as meta-gaming and there is no such thing as hiding behind "well that's what my character would do!". No. This is our GAME. And in it, we decide what happens and how. And in it we say, "Hey! I want to be there!". And I say, "Cool! You're there! Now what do you do, though!?" I mean, if you're 800 miles away, you're not going to be there. But, within "reason" let's make it fun and awesome. Also, we're here to have fun telling a cool story. You are your character and your character is you. Think free-form style: don't do it if it would upset the other player's fun. Permission.
   3. With above, I'm going to do a lot of zooming-out. I'll be feeding you information at a larger scale. Then we can frame up scenes we really care about and jumping into those.
   4. I'm a fan of the PCs! Yeah, I'm gonna throw some crazy shit at you, but you're demi-gods and I want to see you shine! Show us how awesome you are!
   5. I don't sweat the small stuff (see above with the being in scenes and stuff). Meaning, this is a pretend game about half-gods who's ancestors killed world-makers where time is measured in scenes. Does it really matter where you take a poo? Realism doesn't exist because...it's not real!
3. Also! I don't know all the Exalted lore! I've been playing since 1e in 2002 and I'm still surprised all the damn time. And 3e turned a ton on its head. So, I plan on making a decent effort, making my own stuff, and drawing on 1e and 2e stuff where needed.

Okay, I swear, I'm putting the soapbox away! Okay. There. It's gone.

None of that was directed at anyone or about anything that's happened in the thread here. I just wanted those that don't know me to better understand where I'm coming from when I give the answers I do. So it's not a shock, yeah?

I hope those points don't dissapoint anyone. I want you all to have the game YOU want.

Now, with all THAT garbage in mind. Let's talk about what we want this thing to start out as. I made a mistake. I had two sets of conversations going about this game at the same time in parallel in different places. And I mixed up what I said where.

But it's okay! Let's just ask:

I see two options for our start:

1. Everyone piles into Whitewall and we start there together making a mess out of it
2. We have two or three separate starts
   1. Whitewall
   2. Random Word 's...two manse...farm...nation?
   3. And maybe the wastes between Fortitude and the Mountains where D. Rex in known as some devil-lady?

Maybe somewhere else, too?

So, what do you guys think? Which should we go for? I mean, we have 8 people playing. We can split it up without issue or pile on.

Thoughts?

Also, I absolutely love the characters you guys have made so far. I'm so excited to see the stuff they do!

Tagging again so no one misses my BS:
Esbilon , Epiphany , Rykon , Sherwood , D. Rex , Funnier President , Random Word , Teh Frixz