Having made a passing glance through the Sidereals book, I still don't seem to have a grip on the mechanics of how Sidereal astrology works for the purpose of augury. Without getting too crunchy about it, can anybody explain to me, in brief, how Sidereals go about divining stuff, and their limitations in doing so (in other words, if you undergo Solar Exaltation, how much time does it take before those sneaky bastards find you?)
Sidereal predictions
- Thread starter Persell
- Start date
I'm a bit of a nube myself, but I can at least speak to the Exaltation issue. I think that as soon as one Exalts, that person becomes invisible as far as using the Loom of Fate or other divination techniques to locate him, because the ability to manipulate Essence allows one to defy destiny.
However, as large expenditures of Essence cause snarls in the workings of Fate, Sidereals are able to pinpoint where Essence-users like Solars are running amok. They can probably also track Solars indirectly, through their effects on the destinies of the unExalted.
But I've also read somewhere that they can predict with varying degrees of accuracy where and when an Exaltation will take place?
Which sort of relates to a question I had... if the criteria for Exaltation is to some degree known to Sidereals, such as the UCS tending to choose stupendous badasses, or Luna choosing survivors, and the Maidens choosing with an eye toward their own portfolios, could the Sidereals simply pick over Fate and watch out for individuals displaying these criteria before they Exalt, surveil them for awhile, and swoop in when they do?
And I don't have a Sidereals book handy, but I believe that is how the Sidereals do it when it comes to finding potential or budding Sidereals so they can bring them to Yu Shan for schooling before they Exalt? So why don't they do that with the other types? Am I missing something important?
However, as large expenditures of Essence cause snarls in the workings of Fate, Sidereals are able to pinpoint where Essence-users like Solars are running amok. They can probably also track Solars indirectly, through their effects on the destinies of the unExalted.
But I've also read somewhere that they can predict with varying degrees of accuracy where and when an Exaltation will take place?
Which sort of relates to a question I had... if the criteria for Exaltation is to some degree known to Sidereals, such as the UCS tending to choose stupendous badasses, or Luna choosing survivors, and the Maidens choosing with an eye toward their own portfolios, could the Sidereals simply pick over Fate and watch out for individuals displaying these criteria before they Exalt, surveil them for awhile, and swoop in when they do?
And I don't have a Sidereals book handy, but I believe that is how the Sidereals do it when it comes to finding potential or budding Sidereals so they can bring them to Yu Shan for schooling before they Exalt? So why don't they do that with the other types? Am I missing something important?
wordman
Two Thousand Club
The short answer is that it happens at the speed of plot, and that you won't find the answer in a book.ThesaurusRex said:
All of the mechanical bits in the books about astrology use the time honored RPG method of "predicting the future": they don't predict the future, they actually make it happen. Or close to it, anyway. Suppose, for example, that a sidereal character "predicts" that a certain region will show an increase in cattle production this year. What actually happens is that the character builds a mechanical effect on the region that essentially results in the prediction coming true.
Large, plot-level predictions like "when and where will a solar exalt" or "what is the possible future of Creation" are beyond the scope of these rules and are basically treated as story elements. So, the answer is "whenever you want".
Based on the canonical history, it is likely that predictions of solar exaltation were pretty accurate. They, therefore, probably still are when people bother to make them. At present, even though they might still have the capacity to make such predictions, there are a number of reasons why they may not be doing so.
