Ways for Solar Exaltation

[Thorn Darkblade]

Okay, I know the core book says Exaltation usually occurs from either extreme emotional or physical trauma (i.e, life or death combat), or from things like extreme exposure to sunlight...any other ideas for Solar Exaltation? One of the ideas I got was from exposure to large amounts of Orichalcum. Would that seem like a decent reason?

 

[riven5]

Sure, why not.


The old "Life and death combat" thing is a little tired anyways.

 

[Jakk Bey]

You might want to look closer at the idea of emotional trauma. Say at the death of a loved one, and not neccessarily in combat.


The loss of one's mother or father, at the cold hand of starvation, or illness. Finding out that you've been duped into betraying all you've ever loved for a few silver coins, and watching them be carted off slaves. The intense desire to fix and stop that kind of harm from befalling anyone else, the grief or rage that can accompany these events could also be used for a trigger.


Finding out that your father isn't your father, he hadn't died before you were born, but was some random Dragon Blooded ragamuffin, barely blooded, who'd dallied with your mother, and who'd killed your mother's husband, and raped her while his body cooled beside her.  That might get the blood a racing wouldn't it?


Getting left at the alter, your bride to be leaving you to become a courtesan in the Realm. You find out after you declare your love before your entire village, and her little sister comes to tell you that she's left for the pleasures of real men, Exalted men, and you'll never measure up to that, never amount to anything, just a dirt farmer on a hillside, and you'll die, your name forgotten while hers is traded lips of neigh immortals who'll pleasure her more than you ever could dream of. Might have a moment there, an epiphany, a glimpse of a greater destiny?


It's how folks deal with these times of stress, not the stress in and of itself that is the key.


The key is revealing in a moment an essential part of yourself, a quality that the US is interested in.  You show yourself in that moment worthy to serve. That doesn't just mean brave, swinging a blade, or in deep doo doo, but a moment when your soul is bared close, naked, and all of your hopes and dreams are raw.  Your nobility, your purpose, your ambition, your mettle, whatever that the US may want to forge into a weapon, to turn you into a paragon for others to follow.


What moment will show the character best as a paragon, an ideal?  It's not just in combat, but combat against impossible odds, for the right cause, for the right reason, with tenacity, with courage, with fear that is put aside to save others, whatever it is, it shows the character to be worthy. And it's that moment of choice that is important, not just the scenario alone, but what makes the character a good choice to be Exalted?


In the case of emotional stress, you can show the nobility, or the desire for revenge or for justice, the concern for others, the rage at their treatement. All of these things can be used and seen as a moment of extreme epiphany, and with an open spirit that they accept the assistance of the Unconquered Sun.  Not just sitting down next to a pile of Orichalcum, but a moment of revelation coupled with it. Take the moment to prove that you deserve to be Exalted, to be open, to be a hero.

 

[Persell]

Wow Jakk. That was excellent, I don't think I could have ever put it so eloquently.

 

[Andrew02]

People who turn into Solars tend to be really damn good at things. Exposure to a lot of orichalcum probably isn't going to prove much. It's kind of like one of those old stories about ants or something turning into giants by being next to plutonium or something radioactive.


You could Exalt as a Solar after winning a race. You ran the fastest, hardest, and best. Or maybe not. Maybe you know there's another runner out there trying to impress his father. He's running hard, almost as hard as you. He's coming close, pushing himself hard, but he'll come up short because you're better, faster, stronger, and have better endurance. And you can see the other runner's father in the crowd, and you can see the seed of disappointment about to bloom. So you fake exhaustion. You start to slow. The other runner sees this, and pushes, digging deep and scraping the bottom of the barrel of his reserves like a mother fucker. You let the other guy win because for you, it is simply another notch on your belt. But for the other racer, it means the world.


You could Exalt after a year-long series of business dealings at the moment when the last rival to your monopoly signs on the dotted line that you own him, his dog, and all of his business. You are now the undisputed king of bananas in the West. And now that you're in control, you're going to turn things around. The thugs who went around to break the knees of those who refused to sell, or didn't meet quotas? You run their sorry asses out of town. You start paying the farmers more than two dinars to rub together. You pay them enough so they don't have to feel ashamed their children are clad in rags and can only eat every other day if they are lucky. You find work for all of the unemployed people who've fell on hard times using new and innovative business models.


Just . . . don't read Castebook: Night. For the most part, they're bad people that seem to have been written up for the express purpose of serving as examples for, "Solars aren't always good people doing good things."

 

[Persell]

One of the players in my ancestor campaign chose to exalt by sacrificing a bull calf to the sun. That, in itself, shouldn't make people exalt, but his position and intention was a little different from most people. First of all he is the third son of a very powerful shaman who holds the traditions of the ancestor worship in a firm grip. He looks very much up to his father, but being the third son he is overlooked most of the time. He was also the third to exalt in the city over the span of a summer. Finally he was pretty excellent at many things. So this persons capabilities and circumstances pared with his drive to be someone and do something pared with his willingness to defy an ancient belief system and commit heresy by sacrificing a calf to a god (and not the dead) made the Unconquered Sun notice him.