Khantalas
Member
In the First Age, Creation was ruled by the Solars, Chosen of the Unconquered Sun, by the virtue of being Exalted by the king of Yu-Shan and the greatest heroes of the Primordial War. However, as time progressed, the Solars slowly became detached, cruel, uncaring and inhuman. Seeing this growing insanity, the Sidereals cast their vision into the future in a great gathering and came up with two visions for the fate of Creation. In one, the Sidereals would speak of their fears to the Solars, and if they were able to control themselves in the face of this epidemic madness and if the Sidereals could keep their excesses in check, Creation would be all the more glorious for it - but a single mistake, and it would all shatter and break down. In the other, called the Vision of Silver, the Sidereals would speak to the Lunar mates of the Lawgivers instead, and have them usurp the throne of Creation from the mad god kings the Solars had become. Creation would be lessened, but forevermore intact. So, one Calibration roughly fifteen centuries ago, the gathered forces of the Silver Pact, the Five-Score Fellowship and the Dragon-blooded host who were more loyal to themselves and their Lunar lords than their Solar masters struck at the Solar Deliberative, eliminating their rule in one great blow, gathering their Exaltations in a prison of jade and casting it into the bottom of the oceans of the West. Then the Lunars were elevated into the role of masters of Creation, and the Sidereals became their ever-present but hidden advisors, slowly fading and becoming forgotten by even the Lunars due to the breaking of the Mask. The Dragon-blooded remained the nobility of the Blessed Isle, although given much greater powers and privileges due to their masters becoming half as powerful and numerous than they used to be.
Since then, many things have happened to Creation that could have destroyed it, but the vision of the Sidereals proved true, and the leadership of the Silver Pact got it through the disaster of the Great Contagion and the Balorian Crusade, as a young Lunar took control of the Sword of Creation, banished the invading Fair Folk and took her role as the Silver Empress of the Blessed Isle, the first among equals in the Silver Dynasty created afterwards. While some Dragon-blooded, particularly those of the Seventh Legion, disagreed with the rule of the Silver Empress and left the Blessed Isle to create the Dragon-blooded nation of Lookshy, most swore allegiance to the Silver Empress, creating the greatest nation since the Usurpation. While lacking the reach and power of the Solar Deliberative, Creation nevertheless survived comfortably.
However, a few years ago, someone or something broke the Jade Prison and released the Solar Exaltations trapped within, causing the return of the Solars, much to the dismay of the Lunars, who felt the draw of their Solar mates in their hearts once more, and their Sidereal advisors, who had not planned for this eventuality. Marked as Anathema all those years ago, the Solars had difficulty displaying their power at first, but they quickly proved themselves greater than the prowess of the Silver Dynasty and became a rising power in Creation. What is worse is that the Silver Empress disappeared roughly around the same time, with no remaining Lunars able to unlock the secrets of the Sword of Creation once more, and new threats that were not heard of before, such as the Deathlords who conquered the cities of Gem and Thorns and the Abyssal Exalted, arose in the Solars' wake.
In this dark time, a pack of very young Lunars felt the call of the Solar bonds too deeply to ignore them, and defected from the rule of the Silver Dynasty in search of their mates, hoping Creation would be better if they were to rule as they did in the First Age and that they could alleviate the madness of the Solars. These Lunars are the heroes of this story.
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Another alternate Creation! Yay! But this time, the Lunars rule instead of the Dragon-blooded, and you are Lunars on the side of the returning Solars. For this game, I will take no fewer than three Lunars, and possibly a single Solar, Sidereal and Terrestrial, up to a total of six players.
There are a few house rules due to the nature of the setting as well as my personal preferences.
- Everyone gets 25 xp to start with.
- The original five Lunar Castes from the First Age still exist, and there are no moonsilver tattoos. Which also means there are no tattoo artifacts, no Wyld limit, no chimeras and no immunity to physical shaping effects.
- All Lunars have one extra dot of artifact made of moonsilver, free of charge (so if you have three dots in artifact, you can have a 4-dot artifact, as long as it is made out of moonsilver, or a three-dot non-moonsilver artifact and a one-dot moonsilver artifact).
- Lunar Exalted use these character generation rules.
- All PC Lunars have 4 dots of Solar Bond, free of charge, and can raise it to 5 for the cost of one background dot or bonus point.
- Essence 3 (and only Essence 3) costs 5 points for Solars (and Abyssals and Infernals, if they are allowed) and 7 points for other Exalted.
- All Dragon-blooded get EITHER one free dot in War and one dot in Archery, Martial Arts, Melee or Thrown OR one free dot in Socialize and one dot in Investigation, Performance or Presence.
- Solars (and Abyssals) get 5 free Excellencies chosen from their Caste and Favored Abilities, Sidereals and Dragon-blooded get 4 free Excellencies chosen from their Aspect, Auspicious and Favored Abilities, and Lunars get 2 free Excellencies chosen from their Caste and Favored Attributes. You can only have one free Excellency per Ability or Attribute. (Infernals, if they are allowed, will have all current and future purchases of First [their Caste's patron Yozi] Excellency for free.)
- New fields of Craft can be opened by paying the cost of a one-dot Craft specialty. Anyone who buys dots in Craft starts with one free field.
- There are only 9 fields of Craft: Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Wood, Glamour, Magitech, Vitriol and Genesis. Any other Craft ability either uses another Craft, the lower of Craft and another ability, or Lore.
- Sorcery and necromancy initiation Charms grant one spell of the appropriate circle for free.
- Flaws are allowed on a provisional and case-by-case basis.
- Artifact reinforced breastplate costs 2 dots, while artifact articulated plate and superheavy plate cost 3 dots.
- Homebrew Charms are allowed on a case-by-case basis as long as you provide me the source and ask for my approval.
Any takers?
Since then, many things have happened to Creation that could have destroyed it, but the vision of the Sidereals proved true, and the leadership of the Silver Pact got it through the disaster of the Great Contagion and the Balorian Crusade, as a young Lunar took control of the Sword of Creation, banished the invading Fair Folk and took her role as the Silver Empress of the Blessed Isle, the first among equals in the Silver Dynasty created afterwards. While some Dragon-blooded, particularly those of the Seventh Legion, disagreed with the rule of the Silver Empress and left the Blessed Isle to create the Dragon-blooded nation of Lookshy, most swore allegiance to the Silver Empress, creating the greatest nation since the Usurpation. While lacking the reach and power of the Solar Deliberative, Creation nevertheless survived comfortably.
However, a few years ago, someone or something broke the Jade Prison and released the Solar Exaltations trapped within, causing the return of the Solars, much to the dismay of the Lunars, who felt the draw of their Solar mates in their hearts once more, and their Sidereal advisors, who had not planned for this eventuality. Marked as Anathema all those years ago, the Solars had difficulty displaying their power at first, but they quickly proved themselves greater than the prowess of the Silver Dynasty and became a rising power in Creation. What is worse is that the Silver Empress disappeared roughly around the same time, with no remaining Lunars able to unlock the secrets of the Sword of Creation once more, and new threats that were not heard of before, such as the Deathlords who conquered the cities of Gem and Thorns and the Abyssal Exalted, arose in the Solars' wake.
In this dark time, a pack of very young Lunars felt the call of the Solar bonds too deeply to ignore them, and defected from the rule of the Silver Dynasty in search of their mates, hoping Creation would be better if they were to rule as they did in the First Age and that they could alleviate the madness of the Solars. These Lunars are the heroes of this story.
_/_/_/_/
Another alternate Creation! Yay! But this time, the Lunars rule instead of the Dragon-blooded, and you are Lunars on the side of the returning Solars. For this game, I will take no fewer than three Lunars, and possibly a single Solar, Sidereal and Terrestrial, up to a total of six players.
There are a few house rules due to the nature of the setting as well as my personal preferences.
- Everyone gets 25 xp to start with.
- The original five Lunar Castes from the First Age still exist, and there are no moonsilver tattoos. Which also means there are no tattoo artifacts, no Wyld limit, no chimeras and no immunity to physical shaping effects.
- All Lunars have one extra dot of artifact made of moonsilver, free of charge (so if you have three dots in artifact, you can have a 4-dot artifact, as long as it is made out of moonsilver, or a three-dot non-moonsilver artifact and a one-dot moonsilver artifact).
- Lunar Exalted use these character generation rules.
- All PC Lunars have 4 dots of Solar Bond, free of charge, and can raise it to 5 for the cost of one background dot or bonus point.
- Essence 3 (and only Essence 3) costs 5 points for Solars (and Abyssals and Infernals, if they are allowed) and 7 points for other Exalted.
- All Dragon-blooded get EITHER one free dot in War and one dot in Archery, Martial Arts, Melee or Thrown OR one free dot in Socialize and one dot in Investigation, Performance or Presence.
- Solars (and Abyssals) get 5 free Excellencies chosen from their Caste and Favored Abilities, Sidereals and Dragon-blooded get 4 free Excellencies chosen from their Aspect, Auspicious and Favored Abilities, and Lunars get 2 free Excellencies chosen from their Caste and Favored Attributes. You can only have one free Excellency per Ability or Attribute. (Infernals, if they are allowed, will have all current and future purchases of First [their Caste's patron Yozi] Excellency for free.)
- New fields of Craft can be opened by paying the cost of a one-dot Craft specialty. Anyone who buys dots in Craft starts with one free field.
- There are only 9 fields of Craft: Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Wood, Glamour, Magitech, Vitriol and Genesis. Any other Craft ability either uses another Craft, the lower of Craft and another ability, or Lore.
- Sorcery and necromancy initiation Charms grant one spell of the appropriate circle for free.
- Flaws are allowed on a provisional and case-by-case basis.
- Artifact reinforced breastplate costs 2 dots, while artifact articulated plate and superheavy plate cost 3 dots.
- Homebrew Charms are allowed on a case-by-case basis as long as you provide me the source and ask for my approval.
Any takers?
