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Exalted Proposal


Dave ST

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Including the rest of the Character Creation Errata below:

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(note - I also notice I haven't done the specialties or intimacies but I imagine those can come after the initial issues are resolved)

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The following adjustments should be made for the creation of Exalted characters. These changes apply in whole to Solar, Abyssal and Infernal Exalted. Those marked by an asterisk also apply to Dragon-Blooded, Lunar, Sidereal and Alchemical Exalted character creation.
• Players may raise any of their character’s Abilities to five without spending bonus points.
• Players receive four specialties to distribute amongst their character’s Abilities.*
• Virtue dots may be purchased for 1 bonus point each. However, Willpower is calculated independently of Virtues.*
• Characters begin with Willpower rated at 5. Willpower may be increased at a cost of 1 bonus point per dot.*
• Characters may start with (Willpower + Compassion) Intimacies without spending bonus points.*
• When selecting Charms, players no longer need to choose at least five Charms from Caste or Favored abilities. The character may start with any ten Charms she meets the prerequisites for.
• Charms cost 4 bonus points, or 3 if they come from a Caste or Favored Ability.
• Players receive 18 bonus points at character creation.*
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Alright, I forgot about the Errata... technically he's legal then except: with the Anathema generator he's at 16 bonus points of 18 before you buy Enchanting Features.

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If you're using Anathema, keep using it, it's accurate. I forgot about the errata and just added up Hyo's character last night after a long day paper work filing.

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The program is awesome, I use it to design NPCs for my TT games since it drops everything into an easy to access PDF file.

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The character I made on it has an Dex and Dodge both of 3 and an essence of 4. 3+3+4 = 10/2=5. Anathema says the DDV is 4. The PC isn't equipped with anything that provides a penalty to his defense. I'm not sure where the problem is.

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Nevermind... I had him in a buff jacket.

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Wow I am just not paying attention to anything the last couple days.

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Hm! You're supposed to round up?

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Well, that might be good news for me then.

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Oy, I also want to say that Lunar knacks and charms are very hard to get used to after making solars only for so long. I keep asking myself, "Where's my cool throwing charms? Where's my awesome defense charms?"

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It's a completely different -philosophy- of character here. Still trying to get used to it. I think my latest build is MUCH closer to something that makes me happy though. More of a scouty sort than a ninja. Relying on shapechanging to give me muscle. I've been using Throwing for ranged, but I realized that it might not really work out well without the Solar Throwing charms...so...I dunno. Maybe I just won't worry about ranged.

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Plus, there's no good artifact throwing knives. :(

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How dare you forgeeeeeet???

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Boomerings are fairly cool...I will take another look. But for a character from the southern deserts, they may not be as appropriate.

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Then again, I am not married to that start location. Hm.

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And they DO return without a charm, which is a big deal.

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Don't worry about remembering the whole Errata thing, much of it has little to nothing to do with a starting Solars / Lunars / Sidereals campaign.

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Also, updated Kevere.

Net change: -1 Martial Arts, -1 Investigation, +1 Occult, +1 Performance.

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As a side note, Anathema is awesome. I don't know how I've run Exalted (on or offline) without it all these years.

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As a second side note, I've had time to consider. Would we as a group prefer a specifically in-person social type such as is designed or would we prefer one that works more behind the scenes with pamphlets and posters and the like for the most part? (It's largely the same design, but some things would be moved around to accomodate a stronger Linguistics and less focus on Appearance)

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~H

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The group will most likely be using Great Forks as a base of operations for the beginning since it's the most tolerable place for an Exalt in the Scavenger Lands. Plus they also have shrines to Luna and the Unconquered Sun.

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Sorry it took me so long to make this, I'll try and get the backstory finished tonight.

Shinku Yugure
Motivation: Restore the solars to their rightful place as rulers of creation
Aspect: Fire

Attributes
Str 3 Dex 4 Sta 3
Cha 2 Man 3 App 2
Per 3 Int 2 Wit 4

Abilities
Athletics 3
Dodge 3 (when unarmed)
Melee 1
Presence 2 (defying the established social order)
Socialize 2
Martial Arts 4 (fighting unarmed)
Integrity 3
Awareness 3 (sensing ambushes)
Resistance 2
Survival 3

Backgrounds: Mentor 3(sidereal sifu), Manse 1(gem of the calm heart), Artifact 3 (serpent sting staff, hearthstone amulet)

Charms: Tiger and Bear awareness, Tiger and Bear unity, Striking Cobra Technique, Serpentine Evasion, Snake Form

Virtues: Conviction 4, Compassion 2, Temperance 2, Valor 3
Willpower 8
Essence 3
Personal Essence Pool 11
Peripheral Essence Pool 27
Health Levels 7

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I'm looking forward to seeing why an Essence 4 Solar took it upon himself to enlighten a Terrestrial in the ways of Celestial Martial Arts before the pup even mastered a Terrestrial Style and has no Face whatsoever to speak of. I'm also looking forward to seeing where he found an Essence 4 Solar who managed to master 11 styles of Martial Arts so soon after the Solars returned to Creation...

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Ought to be a good read.

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From what I can tell, the rules won't let me learn a terrestrial style. I get five instead of seven charms because i chose a celestial martial art, and two of those go towards enlightenment charms. That leaves me with three charms, and according to p. 95 of the dragon blood book, they all of to be in the same style.

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I went with five ranks of mentor because on p.99 of dragonblood it says
"an outcaste with a Mentor 5 sifu who opts to learn Celestial martial arts [see sidebar on p. 95] get 5 Celestial Martial Arts Charms instead, all of which must be from the same elemental
tree"
I'd be more than happy to get a rank 3 mentor if that's okay with you
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Basically, it's summed up in the page 95 sidebar, as follows:

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ROGUE MASTERS
Out in the Threshold of Creation, nearly anything can happen, including an outcaste learning what Dynasts call Immaculate martial arts. Out here, however, there’s nothing immaculate about them. In the wilds of the Threshold, they’re more accurately called Celestial martial arts, and they’re taught by rogue monks and Anathema far more often than they are by members of the Order of Immaculate Dragons. If (and only if) a character has five dots in the Mentor Background (to represent a rogue monk or one of the Celestial Exalted who is willing to train him), the character may begin the game with Immaculate Martial Arts Charms. Such characters begin with five Immaculate Martial Arts Charms (instead of seven from Aspect or Favored Abilities), all of which must be from the same style. Like their Dynastic counterparts, outcastes are typically unable to learn Charms from another martial arts style until they have learned all the Charms from one style first. Characters who learn Celestial martial arts through such unorthodox means often demonstrate small, nigh-imperceptible stylistic differences in the way they practice their martial arts, which some Immaculate Monks find curious and others fi nd borderline heretical. Orthodox Immaculates will be very interested to learn where an outcaste learned his technique, and many become confrontational if they don’t consider the character’s training “legitimate.”

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So he can learn a celestial style, I'd just prefer it not be an Essence 4 Solar with 11 mastered martial arts (because really I could just the game about him and you guys would get bored fast).

If want, take sifu 3 and I'd prefer the Sufi be a terrestrial. A solar would be too potent.

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Here's the backstory I had planned, sorry it took so long to write out.

Background
Background: Shinku was born in a small village to the local huntsman and his wife. His father had just started to teach him how to hunt when he exalted and accidentally set his house on fire. Panicking, he fled into the deep woods, where he was found and taken in by a (not sure what kind of exalt anymore), who regaled him with stories of the glories of the First age and began to teach him to defend himself. Over the years, he has been completely indoctrinated to the cause of the Solars, and is dedicated to restoring them to their rightful place as rulers of creation.
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The idea was that his sifu wanted to make completely sure of his loyalty to the Solar cause. Killing his family was sort of a rite of passage to remind him that he might have to do some unpleasant things to aid the solars in their rise to power. Looking back it might be a little over the top, what do you think?

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Willing to slaughter your family is significantly more than a 'hint' of fanaticism. :)

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Just think in realish-world terms. Fanatics come in many shades. There's people who donate generously to churches or organizations supporting their cause. People who preach. People who join cults and become little more than human chattel in its service. And finally, way off in the deep end, the people who murder family members because of it. :) There's a definite hierarchy of fanaticism you can draw from.

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It feels over the top to me. It begs the question: If sifu required this...why did your character go along with it?

Is that who you really want your character to be?

On a wholly tangential note, this is why Exalted could qualify as a crapsack setting. With social charms, a Solar could easily convince any mere mortal to do just this.
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On a wholly tangential note, this is why Exalted could qualify as a crapsack setting. With social charms, a Solar could easily convince any mere mortal to do just this.

Not entirely. Characters have intimacies and a Motivation. No amount of Social Charming someone can cause them to defy their motivation unless their will is broken. Thankfully the process of breaking someone will is long and arduous and not something that can be done in the confines of normal social combat, it takes days and is not easily done. It's very hard to break an Exalt. Intimacies help defend them from others coming in and forcing them to wreck their lives because someone else thought it might be funny to use a social charm on them.

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People think Social Combat is an easy catch all way to get themselves out of anything and destroy other's Willpower pools. It's not. Social combat works on long ticks. Some players think they can simply use social charms to talk themselves out of any situation or to convince anyone to do anything for them. It's not that easy. Bribing a guard, fast talking your way out of a situation... these are are not Social Combat actions, they are skill rolls that use standard actions.

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Social Combat is only useful in unique one-on-one situations (like a DB Salon), or when you're actually try to sway a large group of people, like speaking before a senate or a committee.

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People in my games who use Social Charms as a standard 'charm person' for everyday life in my games find themselves disappointed.

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I was going for a hint of fanaticism but I think I poured in too much essence of Peleps Deled. I'll tone it down a bit.

Thanks for all the feedback by the way, its really helpful.

What you're dscribing is something a lot similar to The Cult of the Illuminated, the Gold Faction's mortal (and Exalted) movement in Creation to restore the Solars to power. Now, we all know Peleps Deled would slit his momma's throat for offering an 'interpretation' of the Immaculate texts, come to understand that he was designed to be a badass that the characters pitied, not respected. Why pity him? Because he's so fanatically loyal and has been drinking the Immaculate Kool-Aid for so long that he can't see the forest through the trees. His way is the only way, and that's his greatest weakness.

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The Cult of the Illuminated don't need mindless drones like him, they need people with all their faculties intact. If your PC has been sitting around suckling a Solar teet and drinking deep their Kool-Aid then you're just another a whack job fanatic who is prolly going to do something crazy... like murder his family in the name of the returned Solar 'Gods'.

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The upside is that Sifu's are NPCs, and NPCs fall under the ST's perview for reasons just like this. :) Your Sifu is Shoshun, Keeper of the Winding Way. He is a Gold Faction Sidereal of some standing and a master of Celestial Martial Arts. Once you Exalted he approached you (why your PC fled into the woods when he just became a god among his people is unknown to me), and showed you a path on which you could walk that would eventually aid Creation in helping the Solars. It took your PC nearly 15 years of training to prepare his essence to flow properly for the instruction of the Celestial Martial Arts and you've just started on your path to its mastery. For you 'initiation' you weren't asked to kill your family, you were instructed to pit your skills against that of Immaculate Monks on a pilgrimage to Gray Falls (the last bastion of the Dynasty in the Threshold) who were transporting a relic of significant religious value to the Immaculate Order.

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When you and the the other Illuminated launched your attack against them it was during the battle that you discovered your sister had also Exalted into a Wood Aspect and had been discovered as a Lost Egg and sent to be with the Immaculate Monks of Gray Falls as a way of allowing her family to regain some face after her brother Exalted and fled from his duties to the Realm. The two of you battled, but there was no need to kill her (or any of them, you were just there for the relic), and upon your return your Sifu declared that you were to be a part of the Gold Faction and awarded you artifacts befitting your new station. On the up side, your family is doing a lot better financially since they've had two of their children suddenly Exalt in last several years... now if they could just find her brother.

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How fanatical you are is up to you, but if you're a lunatic evangelist trying to get the world to addicted to the Solar kool-aid while you're out murdering families and raping barn yard animals all for the 'glory of the Solar Kings!' then the Solars'... prolly kill you themselves, as a mercy for your soul. :P

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Huh. I love this game... Well, here's my offering then, fresh from the Rev stamp o' approval.

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Edit: Just found the errata on the 2nd page of this thread. Apoligies if I mess up.

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Name: Kaede Startouched



Age: 25

Gender: Female

Description: Strictly average in looks with long brown hair, purple eyes, and the scrawny 5‘3 build of a working scholar, Kaede is quick to offer a reassuring smile to anyone who looks like they need a friendly ear or helping hand. Generally indifferent about her appearance unless she has to care, she lavishes effort on keeping her hair clean and styled, her ’one true vice’. There is a deep, abiding sadness in her eyes between smiles though, especially when the Ronin Sidereal is soaked to her elbows in blood trying to keep a life from slipping between her fingers before it’s time.

History: Born to wealthy merchants in the Halta League, Kaede is the third eldest of five sisters, growing up in a household that celebrated personal achievement. Her sharp mind hungered for information, albeit increasingly information on fallen cities and lost cultures and tragic wars. She loved it, recounting what she was learning at the dinner table with oblivious gusto. It took a stern talking-to by her mother to get Kaede to realize how off putting her morbid hobby was to her family and peers. So she put a stopper on it for the next few years, started to get known as the ’chipper one’ again, even as she started to focus her studies on death on a more personal scale. What did make the difference between a fatal sword wound and a scar, after all?

Kaede was apprenticed to the local healer, learning and working to master a difficult and emotionally draining trade she was starting fall in love with, fascination becoming concern and concern commitment. Her master was called to administer aid to a returning troop of Halta soldiers and prisoners fresh from one of the Bull of the North’s crusades and she went with him. What she saw struck her to her core, and in the midst of stressful triage and groaning patients she didn‘t know they could all help, her Exaltation struck her with all the force of an emotional thunderbolt.

The 17 year old saw images of a man clad in armor and weapons that screamed in woe flashing at a body that was and was not her own. The her that was not her fought back with skills and powers straight out of the domain of the divine and the exalted but it wasn’t enough. She died, sliced to chunks and bleeding out only to awaken back in her own flesh and looking up at her mentor, awash in a glow that came from a mark on her forehead.

Things happened rapidly from there. The new Sidereal was shuttled to the central city of the Halta League and the protection of Ever-Blooming-Lotus, a divine subordinate of Golden-Eyed Horst. Amidst a crash course in the realities of Exalted living in a gilded cage, Kaede struggled to cope with an intermittent cascade of memories, far from all of them good, and the fact so few of the people she could help now would remember her face. Even her family was forgetting the few visits home she was permitted. Kaede needed to get out. Somewhere new. Especially if other Sidereals came for her through her old friends and family. With Ever-Blooming-Lotus’ help, she managed to secure her own freedom and passage to the Scavenger Lands, where she eventually put down roots in Great Forks, working to help those she can and improve herself so that she can help more people live out their time in full and pass on painlessly when their time comes.

Concept: Merciful Death

Motivation: To ease suffering on her terms and no one else’s.

Anima: A somber violet aurora of ethereal incense

Caste: Chosen of Endings

Attributes:
STRENGTH: 2
DEXTERITY: 3
STAMINA: 2

INTELLIGENCE: 4
PERCEPTION: 3
WITS: 4

APPEARANCE: 2
MANIPULATION: 3
CHARISMA: 4


Abilities:
Medicine (Auspicious) 5 (First Aid Specialty 2)
Integrity (Favored) 2
Resistance 3
Occult (Favored) 3 (Magical Disease Specialty 2)
Stealth 2
Dodge (Favored) 3
Lore (Favored) 3
Socialize 2
Presence 2

Melee 2

Backgrounds: Ally 2 (Ever-Blooming-Lotus), Resources 2, Acquaintances 3 (Forks Healer’s Guild)

Charms: Optimistic Security Practice, Impeding the Flow, Mark of Exaltation, Telltale Symphony, Essence Overwhelming (Medicine), Peaceable Conclusion, Smooth Transition, Terminate Illness

Virtues: Compassion 4, Conviction 2, Temperance 2, Valor 2

Merits/Flaws: Past Lives 4, Nightmares 1, Wanted 2 (Yu-Shan Recruitment Officers)

Derived Values:
Join Battle: 3
Willpower: 7
Essense: 3
Personal Essence Pool: 12
Periferal Essence Pool: 34
Soak: 2 Bashing/1 Lethal

Health Levels: -0, -1, -1, -1, -2, -2, -2, -2, -4, Incapacitated

Bonus Points: +1 Essence (10), +1 Virtue (3), +2 Medicine Skill Dots (2), +2 Willpower (2), Past Lives 4 (4), Wanted 2 (-2), Nightmares 1 (-1)

XP Earned:
XP Spent:
XP Purchases:

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I'm pondering the idea of an honest-to-Unconquered Sun sociopath Zenith who has the kind of mental damage necessary to want to take over creation to impose Order and Peace over the chaos and bloodshed that is Creation as it stands with the Realm coming to pieces.

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Annnnd here she is! I'll add in the background soon, but it's not a complex story. She lived in Grand Forks with her brother and sister, exalted while out doing odd jobs, was found and taken in quickly by a lunar pack living not overly far off. After fond farewells and leaving her siblings what money she had, she went off to learn to be a lunar. Came back every so often to keep an eye on her relatives, but never revealed herself so as not to link herself to them. After a while she started patrolling the trade roads, keeping them clear of bandits and occasionally guiding some lost soul to somewhere safe, or otherwise intervening on strangers' behalfs. She squared this with the lunar philosophy by intervening just once for someone. After that, they should be aware of what flaws led to their near-encounter with death and could grow and improve from it.

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I figured she could have met one or more of the other PC's in the course of her 'duties.'

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NAME: Eilessa, the White Tiger
Concept: Cunning Warrior and Scout
Player: Max Motivation: Safeguard the people and independence of the Scavenger Lands
Phase: Full Anima: Tiger drawn in sketchy silver lines around a nimbus of light.
XP Total: 0 Remaining: 0

ATTRIBUTES:
Str: ***
Dex: *****
Sta: ***
Cha: **
Mnp: **
App: ****
Per: ****
Int: **
Wit: ***

Health:
-0 x1
-1 x2
-2 x2
-4 x1
Incap x1

Willpower ***** **
Base Dodge DV((Dex + Dodge + Essence)/2): 6
Base Parry DV ((Dex+Martial Arts+Def of wepn)/2): 6
SOAK: 1L/3B Hardness, Mobility -0, Fatigue 0

Attack (Human)
Punch: Spd 5, 11 to hit, 3B damage, parry 6
Kick: Spd 5, 10 to hit, 6B damage, parry 4
Skycutter: Spd 5, 12 to hit, 8/3L damage, 70' range, returns on anything but botch

Join Battle: 7

ESSENCE: **
Personal: 16/16
Peripheral: 30/30
Committed: 4

ABILITIES:
Athletics ***
- Climb *
Awareness ****
Dodge *****
Integrity ***
Martial Arts *****
Thrown ***
- Boomerang **
Larceny ***
Linguistics **
Stealth ****
Survival ***
- Jungle *
Investigation *
Lore *

Backgrounds:
Heart's Blood **
Resources *
Mentor **
Artifact **

CHARMS:
Second Dexterity Excellency
Second Stamina Excellency

Humble Mouse Shape
Deadly Beastman Transformation

Wasp Sting Blur
Twin Fang Technique
Golden Tiger Stance
Armor Forming Technique

COMBOS:

INVENTORY:
Skycutter
Stuff

LIMIT BREAK: Curse of the Hungry Wolverine

VIRTUES:
Compassion: **
Temperance: **
Valor: **
Conviction: ***

Intimacies:
Grand Forks **
The Hart (Mentor) **

TRUE FORMS
Spirit: White Tiger
Str ***** *
Dex ***
Sta *****

War Form:
Str ****
Dex ***** *
Sta ****

Gifts: Talons, Fur, Night Vision, Wolf's Pace, Tail

HEART'S BLOOD
Cat
Dog
Rat
Snake
Horse
Mospid
Raiton
River fish

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