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Exalted: Dreams of Exaltation - Possible Exalted Game


Krul

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I'm considering an Alchemicals game taking place in the unusual city of Loran, the one farthest from the rest of the various societies, right where the pole of Oil and Metal metal meet, checking to see what kind of interest folks might have in an Exalted Alchemical game.

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Fair enough, I tend to find Sidereals and Dragon-Blooded less interesting myself, I rather like Alchemicals, Solars and Lunars however. Abyssals and Infernals are also cool, but I don't think I'd want to run a game revolving around them, sense as groups, they tend to have rather malicious desires with regards to others. Now, a cross-exalt game might be interesting, and I may have other exalts eventually(after/if the Seal is broken), but that's not where I want to go at this time.

Besides, Alchemicals are more interesting, in my view, then some of the other exalts.. rather exalting at some heroic moment, they are made.. reborn if you will. Furthermore, an Alchemical is usually crafted for a specific purpose, though they will of course, move far beyond that purpose as they grow and evolve. They are humans souls transformed, and given enormous transhuman potential.. rather then ones imbued with the power of the mightiest of gods, the raw fury of the elements, bound to serve oblivion or corrupted to serve the twisted Yozis.

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I wouldn't mind Alchemicals, as long as it's a jaunt into Creation to help protect the Maker. I think that it's more comfortable if the main part of the setting is used.

Jameson: Krul said in chat that 2nd Ed is the plan.

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Do people have to play an Alchemical? I just don't think playing a machine/robot exalted (let's face it, they're contructs) is very much fun. I prefer flesh and blood characters with passion and heart over colt lifeless golems who are, in the end, just slaves to Autochthonia.

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Alchemicals can and do have passion and heart, they are not cold lifeless golems, and they arn't slaves to Autochthonia, at least not until clarity reaches the 8-10 level.. and even there, they can have emotional attachments, if they serve the exalts motivation. In fact, they are the one group, within the realm of the machine god, who are expected to be passionate, unique, eccentric and spontaneous, mortals are expected and required to exercise more self control.

Besides, Clarity is more or less a choice, an Alchemical doesn't gain any should they chose to, before Essence 6 unless they install certain charms, and even at essence 10, as a city, only only has to have Clarity 5.

That said.. I suppose I can edit my intentions somewhat, I'll just have to step up my intentions, I hadn't intended for Loran opens its own access to Creation though the Seal of Eight Divinities, until a bit further into the game. Doing it this way, Loran will be in the process of creating an access point to creation when the game starts, but not quite have opened it. Loran's first Alchemicals will be the leaders of the expedition into creative of course, and the access point will be either in the west or the east, somewhere near water.

And, if I'm going to allow other pc exalts, I'm going to give some initial bonuses to Alchemical characters over other exalted types. They will even be ones that make sense, like an extra array of charms, and perhaps some free dots of artifact.

Also, Jeremy is correct, 2nd Edition.

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Quote:
And, if I'm going to allow other pc exalts, I'm going to give some initial bonuses to Alchemical characters over other exalted types. They will even be ones that make sense, like an extra array of charms, and perhaps some free dots of artifact.


Uh, why? I'm confused on that one. Why do the Alchemicals get a ton of free stuff over the other PC aside from the obvious reason that you seem to like the Alchemicals a whole lot.

If anything the other Exalts, if they manage to work together, would be a great benefit to the Alchemicals because ther are no Vats in creation and the means of making a facility is not easy, incredibly expensive, and requires things that the Alchemicals will most likely have no idea how to attain them.

Alchemicals have no real way to disguise what they are, they appear freakishly inhuman and it's obvious. With the Wild Hunt out there and the people living in fear of the Terrestrials, a band of Alchemicals would not last long without a few 'natives' watching their back.

Alchemicals suffer social penalties at Clarity 3 and it grows from there. It's not optional, Virtues effect them, Charms with the Exemplar tag on them affect Clarity, getting rid of it is not as easy as you made it sound, or at least it wasn't meant to be. Especially for a group of Alchemicals who are in Creation, surrounded by a bunch of humans who would not rarin' to go and associate with the freaks (Which means human contact would be incredibly difficult, which raises clarity).

Othe rPC Exalts (who are not Alchemicals) do however count as human contact, which would assist in keeping the Golem's Clarity score from rising (beyond what it's already at thanks to high essence or charms or suppressed virtues).

Just my opinions, I could be wrong. Personally, I'd rather not play an Alchemical.
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Actually, regarding the no way to hide what they are at least, your incorrect, there are several appearance charms that let them appear as mortals completely.

However, the rest of it your correct on, mostly at least, though clarity isn't quite as big of a problem as you suggest, while some of their better charms are exemplar, there are plenty of charms that are not. Besides, with the exception of the protocol and martial arts charms, almost any charm can be removed and replaced with a different one, which can be an advantage, and a problem..

As to my reasons, to fully install a new charm, and a new slot for a charm, a alchemical has to spend 12 xp.. and in creation, they are going to have to return to the vats in order to reinstall charms.. now, it only costs 6 to have a replacement charm, but that means you have to go back to the vats, uninstall and replace your charm with a different one, unless you have the right protocol and a clarity of 4. Additionally, the only charms they can learn without going back to the vats are Martial Arts styles, and all Martial Arts charms cost 11 XP, sense they never have favored abilities, only favored attributes. Not as big of a deal within the realm of Smoke and Brass, but in Creation, it's something of a problem.

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So, if I play a Dragon-Blood the weakest of all the Exalts who pay the most in XP for every increase (12 for Charms, 10 for Aspect Charms) I get a whole ton of free stuff since obviously the Alchemicals and everyone else will have a decided advantage over me?

Awesome.

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Actually, a ton of free stuff not quite what I was thinking, sense I don't believe I'd give the Alchemicals more then the equvalent of 4-6 background points, likely around 5, which would just be like raising bg points to 20.

In any case, I'm not sure yet about any pcs below the celestial level exalts... and if I do, I might actually give them a bit of a bonus...

As to liking exalt types, my favorites, in order.. are Solar/Lunar, Alchemical, Infernal, Dragon-Blooded, Abyssal, and Sidereal. I put the / between solar and lunar because my liking for them is almost the same, I love the potential and possibilities regarding them, but in terms of fluff, origin, basis and possibilities, I like Alchemicals best.

**********

If I do this, I'm going to want one Alchemical for each other exalt type... and additionally, I'm not going to want to see more then one renegade (infernal or abyssal), and yes, if you want to play one of those two, they must be a renegade. Also, it would be much cooler, and more interesting, if Alchemical caste and mortal Exalt type matched. [starmetal to Sidereal, Moonsilver to Lunar, etc.]

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I may be wrong, but I suspect you're setting yourself up for frustration with that kind of of expectation before you've even gotten any real submissions. Supppose only 1 or 2 people want to play alchemicals when all's said and done?

Will you change your mind at that time, or just decide not to play after all?

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Dave: Actually, I've seen it done once or twice, in an interesting manner, I ran one game where a renegade abyssal managed to achieve redemption, becoming the worlds only solar without a limit break.

However, in a mixed exalt game, you may have a point, Dave, I'll give it some thought. That would limit PCs to about 4 types though, with what I'm thinking presently, Alchemicals, Solars, Lunars, and Sidereals.

SalmonMax: Well, I'd prefer 2-3 alchemicals in a mixed exalt game, sense I want to focus on the realm of Authochithia, and of course, Alchemicals interacting with creation. A grand quest into creation, then into the heart of the Machine God, deep within to heart of the elemental pole of Crystal, and then back out to Creation and Yu Shan could be a lot of fun. It requires a bit of adjustment to the original idea I had, though, but that's alright.

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Krul: In that case, might I suggest this mini-idea. The PCs (except for one or two willing PCs, if there are those) are not Alchemicals, but are various Exalts trying to understand and uncover more about the Alchemicals currently making way into creation.

Therefore, you get part of your conceptual goal, and there's much more room for players to pick other Exalts they'd prefer.

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Hmm, that might work, Jeremy, though I may still give a special incentive or two for someone who plays an Alchemical. Actually, doing it this way I'd go along with the following idea: every major nation, and some of the smaller ones manage to open up thier seal into creation somewhere, but they all open up to different parts of creation, leaving the locust invasion to hit just about all of the various poles of creation, throwing a wrench in everyone's plans.

I'd still base it intially out of the Metropolis of Loran, intially, which would open up in the great lake west of the grey river, and Rathess, and south of the Scavenger Lands. I'll also have to figure out where all of the other nation/states of Authochithia open up.

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Autochthonia, from the Greek- auto, "self, one's own" and chthonios, "in, under, or beneath the earth." I've always found it interesting to look up names in fantasy and RPG settings for additional layers of meaning. smile

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Locusts is the generic term that is given to Authochithonia's when they first show up in creation.. in part because to some degree they are like locusts, seeking any resources they can. And initially, taking everything back to their cities, including people.

Ok, having thought it over, these are the exalt types available to players: Alchemicals, Solars, Lunars.. and seriously, I'd like to see at least two alchemical PC's, but I'll work with what I get.

The game will start in the City of Loran, just before Loran opens into creation herself, but after the other cities of Authchithon has.

Alchemicals will start with the equivalent of 15 extra freebie points (for a total of 30). The extra points are only available to be spent on attributes, backgrounds and charms/arrays. This is due to Loran spending more time and resources in the process of creating their first Alchemicals, to try and maximize efficiency, with the encouragement of the city herself.

Solars will exalt in one of the following ways.. within the city itself, as one of the people of Authchithia meeting the heroic requirements of a solar shard, which will mean considerable upheaval in itself, both within the soul of the new exalt, and to the society around them. Or as a heroic mortal from creation, who escaped one of the other cities, and managed, by luck, chance and heroism to make his or her way to Loran, and exalted in the process, which will bring a different kind of upheaval.

Lunars are another matter, they should either be a casteless who exalted, surviving extreme odds, within Loran, with a strange unknown deity attending their exaltation in some manner or another (sense Luna touches all of her chosen in their exaltation). Or a Lunar who made his/her way into Authchithonia, and due to circomstances, found their way to Loran a bit after they activate their first batch of alchemical exalts and preparing to open their own gateway to creation.

Setting

Loran - The Achemical Metropolis of Moonsilver, is an Alchemical herself, who like all Alchemicals who reach a certain level of enlightenment, evolved into a living city. She is a series of semi-transparent moon silver domes and spheres that extends from the top of the elemental pole of Metal up into the elemental pole of Oil. The domes and spheres are connected by flexible tubular scaffolding. The nation fields a number of small and large scale submersibles to explore their environment for valuable currents of rare oil and resource rich nanocoral beds. Loran herself, is a city of deep and unusual beauty, in part due to the fact her evolution is guided by a motivation to evolve in the most unique and ascetically pleasing cities in Authochithia, and of course, she also possesses sufficient Clarity that efficiency is very important to her as well, but not so much as she might (5-7 range)

Loran has also been, during her various rebirths a rather adaptive individual, in her various incarnations, and this might be why she was guided to such a unique transition into a metropolis by the Divine Ministers, in particular the most progress and innovative oriented of the ministers were involved in selecting the location of Loran, namely Debok Moom, Kadmek and Noi, though truthfully all of the Divine Ministers find the city interesting from one viewpoint or another, and all of them are watching the growth of this small nation.

On another level, with some encouragement from Loran herself, who has pointed out the need for more alchemical operatives to the assembly within the city, sense after all, she is the city, and can’t really move, at least not yet, although Loran has begun adding a few municipal charms to make her fully mobile submersible city, within the vast reaches of the Elemental Pole of Oil, this project will take another decade however, to carry out in an efficiently and proper manner. And while she does have a few Avatars that can act within and even on the outskirts of the city, the majority of her attention must remain upon the city itself. Additionally, Loran believes that even an few Achemicals can add to her peoples efficiency and safety, and increase greatly increase city moral, thereby increasing efficiency. Especially as they are about to open their own access point into creation proper, and to extend diplomatic trade relations to some of the more distant city nations of Authochithonia, it's of critical importance.

Furthermore, the city is having some troubles similar to the rest of the societies and nations within Autochithon, though their location, outlook and distance from the other nations, has minimized these problems to some degree. However, they are suffering from a number of problems and issues that truly only Exalted can truly deal with. The city has finally gathered enough resources to create a batch of Alchemicals, and the Tripartrate Assembly has agreed to the necessity of creating an assembly of Alchemicals, the first such assembly of Loran.

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Cool, a Plot Weaver, tactical adviser is definitely something that Loran would need and desire.

To clarify the setting for folks, a number of other city/nations have opened portals into creation proper at this time. This is what allows Celestial Exaltation's to enter Authochithon, but only Solar and Lunar ones, Sidereal ones are still bound to areas where the Loom of Fate dominates, and Dragon-Blooded are bound to a genetic strain, which doesn't exist in Authochithon.. yet. This allows such to begin in the distant and unusual city/nation of Loran.

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To better help folks get a feel for the world of Autochthon, the following is a cross section of Autochthon. It should be noted, each of the poles is as large as the elemental poles of creation, larger in some ways, sense this is a 2-D cross section of a 3-D world. Metal is where the mortal cities are, most are centrally placed, Loran is right on the edge, where Oil and Metal meet.

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On a different note, allowing Merits and Flaws from the Scroll of Heroes. Additionally, Loran is a Moonsilver alchemical, which means Lunars within the city, are going to be dealing with the effects of Alchemical Synergy, just by being inside the city.

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We've played a lot of Exalted, and I was wondering what book gave the rules for Celestial Exaltations occurring within a Primordial realm (which is outside Fate, as far as I remember)? I don't remember reading anything about it, but if I missed it somewhere, I'd be interested in picking up the reference material for our collection!

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Page 41 of the Alchemical Book covers Exaltation within his realm, it only covers his realm though, not places like the underworld or within Malfeas. Essentially, it takes interbreeding to insert the blood of the Dragons into the Autochthonias, and Sidereal exaltation require the presense of the Loom of Fate.

However, all of the other types of exalted can occer within, once the seal of 8 divinities is broken in any part of Autochthon. Meaning that the Autochthonia's will be dealing with invasions of a different kind, soon enough. Solars, Lunars, Abyssals and Infernals may exalt within the Machine God.

Of course, after some thought, I agreed with Dave, I'm not having Abbysals or Infernals as part of the PC's.. I prefer to keep them as enemies, which is why it's Solars/Lunars and Alchemicals only.. for the time being.

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Alchemical Synergy is a special effect Alchemicals have on certain kinds of Exalts. In essence, the presence of an Alchemical of the right caste (Moonsilver to Lunar, Orichalcum to Solar, etc.), has them have a strange, almost holy effect on one another.

Lunars, for example, remember why Luna Exalted them, and the things they have chosen to Steward are brought into the forefront of their mind. When the Lunar dreams, they are likely to dream of things they have safeguarded, in this life and previous ones, as well as dream of their solar mate. Additionally, casteless lunars ignore one success every time they roll thier characters Wyld taint die pool, and they reduce the effects of Limit break by 1, for each Moonsilver Alchemical present, this can make it so that they don't go into limit at all.

Solars have similar effects, which does mean that a solar in the presence of 10 Orichalcum castes will not go into limit at all, and is likely to often recall the words of the Unconquered Sun when he or she was exalted.

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No, in essence, the entire world is a metal underground.. though the Crystal pole has growing crystal forests, and crystal mountains even, and a vast ocean of oil, etc. Luna, however, can manifest anywhere, should she so chose, she is after all, the goddess of unpredictability, chance and luck, among other things.

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I'm still torn between NightCaste ninja, and Full Moon lunar warrior...

And now I'm thinking a Twilight Caste sorceror would have a great motivation to go to Autochthon...

...

Ok, this post is really without much purpose. It's really just to bump my post count over Justin's. smile

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