Under the Silver Dynasty (Need Some Help)

[Khantalas]

I just had an idea for an alternate Creation, but I seem to be drawing a blank on the changes that would have occurred if that happened, so I came here to ask you.


Namely, what would have happened if the Lunars were a part of the Usurpation instead of a victim of it? What if there was a Vision of Silver where Creation had a Vision of Bronze?


In this alternate Creation, the Sidereals would approach the Silver Pact for help in dethroning the Solars, explaining their fears and appealing to the Lunars' self-interest: without the Solars they are so closely bonded to, the Lunars could rule openly and as they wished, instead of being subservient to their Solar mates. Some, feeling genuine affection for their mates, disagreed with the Sidereals. Most, however, came to realize the growing madness of the Solars and the potential of a world under their rule. During the Usurpation, instead of leaping to their mates' defense, these Lunars would be the ones to strike the killing blow after the Dragon-blooded hordes would weaken the Lawgivers.


However, I don't quite know how things would go afterwards. The most obvious change would be a distinct lack of the Scarlet Dynasty and a rather more elevated level of magitech, but what else would be different?


Help?

 

[Luck1]

Wouldn't this mean all 5 castes still exist? And that tattoos are not needed?


I picture the Thousand Streams River (that is what it's called, right?) being the driving force of how nations are formed. Because of this, the realm could still exist, or maybe the shogunate is still around, maybe the blessed isle is a huge shadowland. Anything could happen, but I think the one common theme would be that Lunars are viewed as the stewards of Creation rather than anathema.


Also, I don't imagine the immaculate philosophy would exist, since the Sidereals have no need to prop up the terrestrials in this scenario.

 

[Haku1]

Hmmm... how would the lunars deal with the fact that they don't have a good defense against the Wyld? ie no Tattoos and seemingly no charms to just say 'no' to the wyld that solars and such have?

 

[Khantalas]

Laughing at the Teeth of Madness gives a blanket immunity to shaping effects for Lunars.

 

[Haku1]

Erm... where is that charm from again? @_@


Memory is like swiss cheese... ;

 

[Khantalas]

Glory to the Most High.

 

[Haku1]

Glory to the Most High.

Nice... :lol:

 

[cyl]

Have you considered... beastmen dragon blooded ?


I mean the lunars could use the best of both world, and as the DotFA books suggest, the snakemen were created the old fashionned way.


Without resorting to barbarism and tribal culture (considering there never was an exile into the Wyld), the bestiality of the Lunars could have been expressed to forging races of beastmen, which could be a nice basis for masses of followers, and mixed with Dragon Blood, you could have nobilities here and there (since beastmen are physically superior to humans)... of course this would mean very few preservation of the Bloodlines of the DB but heh... who never wanted to see a flaming tigerman ! 8)

 

[Haku1]

Ahh... Cyl is treading the road to pokegirls or some such... :lol:


But yeah... you COULD end up with the major houses being mostly beastmen dragonblooded. It being a sign of them being descended from the Silver Empress (or one of the lunars, but those are usually not mentioned or are 'minor' houses/patricians)

 

[Khantalas]

Have you considered... beastmen dragon blooded ?

I did, but due to the mechanics of power inheritance in Exalted, it would take a lot of effort to make it work, and even then it would be easier just to breed Dragon-blooded the old fashioned way.


For example, an Essence 4 or higher Lunar will always create a Lunar Half-Caste, rather than a Dragon-blooded, unless he breeds with a Solar-level Exalt. For beastmen to be created outside the Wyld, you need a Charm that requires Essence 6, so you need to either conceive in the Wyld, to which the Dragon-blooded have little resistance, using an Essence 3 or lower Lunar, or you need to breed for generations, hoping the dragon's blood will show up in enough beastmen that you can breed them to a higher level or purity. Especially since beastmen and Dragon-blooded are not interfertile, and you can't just get two of them in the sack together to create a beastman Terrestrial.


So, yes, I have considered it. Perhaps a bit too much.

 

[MorkaisChosen]

That still leaves you open to have a House descended from the Silver Empress (I'm assuming she's got Essence 6+, of course). She hits the sack with a few DBs, and BANG! Flaming monkey-people or whatever.

 

[Khantalas]

That still leaves you open to have a House descended from the Silver Empress (I'm assuming she's got Essence 6+, of course). She hits the sack with a few DBs, and BANG! Flaming monkey-people or whatever.

The problem is, of course, they would have very, very weak Blood. Most would be lucky to have Breeding 2, with the overwhelming majority not even having any dots in Breeding. And it would take several generations before the Terrestrial Exaltation would show itself. It would be an extended eugenics program with little payoff compared to normal Terrestrials.

 

[MorkaisChosen]

What'd happen if the Lunar they were breeding with was born to a high-Breeding Dragonblood family but happened not to Exalt...?

 

[Khantalas]

Nothing worth mentioning. Having Terrestrial bloodline is binary in non-Terrestrials: you either have it, or you don't. The beastmen conceived would still be a Lunar half-Caste with Terrestrial bloodline. It would, however, allow for potential Dragon-blooded beastmen without a Lunar mating with a Terrestrial, just with even less potential of creating a worthy bloodline.

 

[cyl]

You just need a few unrelated dbs males and females with a strong breeding and a few beastmen to start a bloodline.


The children of a DB and a Beastman will have the best of both worlds, and if you throw enough DB high breeding blood in the bloodline through careful breeding programs, you'll get a few high breeding Dragon Blooded beastmen.


Limit the reproduction of Dragon Blooded between them, hyper mix some beastman blood instead of human, and within a century or two, all of your DBs will have beastman traits, since there will not be any other candidate for exaltation.


Now remembers, between the usurpation and the present time, some 3000 years have passed... that's a lot of centuries so... please, do not limit your imagination...


Air aspected hawkmen for the win !!! :mrgreen:

 

[Khantalas]

Dragon-blooded are not interfertile with beastmen, though. So you always have to start with a Terrestrial and a Lunar.

 

[cyl]

Are you sure about this infertility ? I mean it's not something I remember...


Isn't there a celestial circle spell allowing you to create new species ?

 

[Sanguine1]

Okay I'm not sure this would work but could you get a Neomah to make a child using the flesh of a Terrestrial and Beastman. I know they can make children where it would normally be impossible but I'm not sure if the parents have to actually be of interfertile species.

 

[Midboss]

Yes but doing that on a grand scale seems rather hard to implement in practice.


Another issue which I can't help thinking about is that lunars are also victims of the great curse, although not just quite at the level of solars. That's gonna leave a mark I think.

 

[Haku1]

It's not a curse. Luna meant for us to behave like this. ^_-


It's not a curse. Our elemental-ness makes us behave a certain way. ^_-

 

[Khantalas]

Another issue which I can't help thinking about is that lunars are also victims of the great curse, although not just quite at the level of solars. That's gonna leave a mark I think.

So are Terrestrials, but since both were seen as subservient to the Solar Exalted by the Primordials, the Great Curse did not affect them nearly as hard as it affected Solars and Sidereals.


Of course, Sidereals' curse is very subtle, so they never noticed their version of the curse. But they did notice the madness of Solars, where they overlooked the curse of the Lunars and the Terrestrials.