General Exalted Discussion VI: Ascendancy Mantle of the Playground

[Xefas]

It works because "Oh **** guys, wouldn't it be awesome if the Ebon Dragon was taking over the world and we got to punch him in the face?"

[Lord Raziere]

Sounds like a normal sympathetic connection to me....

[Lix Lorn]

@ Xefas: xD

I think it's just that the SE has metaphysical ownership of the blessed isle. She is hailed as queen of hell. Therefore, the isle is hell.

[Recaiden]

@ Xefas: xD

I think it's just that the SE has metaphysical ownership of the blessed isle. She is hailed as queen of hell. Therefore, the isle is hell.

If that were the case, the wedding wouldn't be necessary, would it?

[golentan]

Also, in that case the other yozis could get out as well.

[Turalisj]

Except Eddy planned on closing the door on them.

[Qaera]

Except Eddy planned on closing the door on them.

What did Ed and Edd plan on doing?

~ ♅

[Tavar]

I haven't read the material in question, but isn't one of the key part of the plan that artifact wedding band? The one that makes the wearer into the Ebon Dragon, in some way? If so, here's how I see it.

Marriage is a joining of two people, on such a deep level that they become one. The Band runs partially on this principle, allowing the Empress to become the Dragon. Once this step is complete, the Dragon is the owner of the Sword of Creation. As part of his ownership, he can freely go to his domain.

[Turalisj]

And because he purpose her on the throne, Kejak is the key to screwing up creation.

Exalted: plans are 500% more complicated than needed.

[Kris Strife]

So, no one wants to try making the only DJ packed with the power of the sun?

[Lix Lorn]

If that were the case, the wedding wouldn't be necessary, would it?

Well, she's not the queen until she marries him. She's the fiance of hell.

Also, in that case the other yozis could get out as well.

Ah, good point. Okay, dunno then.

[Incendius]

The issue you are running into is that the title "Queen of Hell" is misleading. Unless you mean to suggest that the Ebon Dragon has metaphysical leadership of all the other Yozi's (haha), the Scarlet Empress is more properly "Queen of the Ebon Dragon's Portion of Hell".

[Lix Lorn]

Oooh, that makes sense. Maybe that's it.

[Callista]

Hi, I'm new! :)

Anyway, I've got a question I hope you guys have some insight on. I'm a new Exalted player in a group of five people. It's a good group; we're having a lot of fun.

However, there's this potential problem I'm not sure how to respond to. We're all playing Solar exalted except for one guy, who's playing an Abyssal. The Abyssal player is a pretty competent role-player, which means that it's working out fine so far; in fact, I don't expect any RP problems, because the character's personality is pretty laid-back. He doesn't actively seek to cause death... it just kind of happens when he's around.

The issue is that three out of the four of us are playing characters with Compassion primary, and I'm kind of worried that we'll end up with a feedback loop between his Resonance and our Limits. My character, for example, becomes pretty much helpless if she sees too many innocents suffering. Of course if the Abyssal player helps too many innocents, his Resonance goes up and innocents start suffering again, which pushes our Limits up...

How do we work it so we don't end up as a bunch of constantly out-of-control crazies?

[Guancyto]

Welcome!

Let's see here. Well... defending life is bad, but having it kind of be the tangential result of what he was doing anyway shouldn't be. If he happens to accidentally put himself in a situation where he has to beat up a bunch of dudes, the fact that they were mugging some helpless man before he happened by is incidental. Putting the fear of Oblivion in them to the point where the muggers and the muggee all run away in terror and forget about what they were doing is also good.

Meanwhile if a bunch of Solars are helping people, he shouldn't get Resonance for just neglecting to stop them. Neverborn can't expect a deathknight to do everything.

This is really all up to your ST, but the best counter to Resonance is usually being clever about it.

If he does build up too much, he can voluntarily release it; when not in a life-or-death situation, Stigmata means spending some time healing the resulting wounds, and Branding just means isolating himself for a day while the effects of it wear off. Blight and Conduit are nasty, which is why a player-driven Resonance eruption is better than letting it track up to 10.

Besides that, there are Charms. Faithful Killer's Reprieve is a nice one, letting him drop one point in lieu of regaining Willpower from sleep, which basically means setting himself down to 0 again during any downtime. Underworld Executioner Stance (Scroll of Errata) lets him shank nephwracks, Abyssals and Deathlords alike without getting pinged for Sins of Death.

[Xefas]

Wait until it becomes a problem. Then, collaborate with everyone to steer the story into a dramatic climax where the madness of the Exalted overwhelms everyone, friend is pitted against friend, and no matter who wins, the end is vicious and tragic, relating a moral of the price of power, the frailty of the human condition which could not even be alleviated with supernatural efforts, and the sad truth that all good things come to an end. Revel in the tragedy, and feel accomplished that you told a good story, and that your story reached a satisfying conclusion before it became stale. Then, look forward to starting a new, fresh story with your group, and look towards doing an even better job next time.

[golentan]

So, I'm trying to work out the basic amenities to be found in an alchemical city (specifically Xexas), and even more the benefits provided by Municipal Charms and AIs. I figure that while space is at a premium in the city, the fluff makes it clear that power and resources are very much not. Some of the charms I've got at the moment include:
The Panacean Amphorae: This collection of green jade cannisters and pipes forms the core of Xexas's only hospital. The vats can be programmed to produce and administer a wide variety of treatments by the city's surgeons and can also serve as a diagnostic tool for a person interred. The entire complex is adjacent and connected to several food processing plants and provides the population with a steady supply of anti-carcinogens and antidotes for some of the more common poisons and ailments associated with the omnipresent taint in the air.

The Carrier of Harmonic Thoughts: This web of starmetal nerve fibers connects the AIs of the city and several terminals available to the public, allowing hologlyphic communication between distant parts of the city and producing a subtle posthypnotic suggestion pattern encouraging social order in users. Xexas also has the ability to remotely monitor any terminal in the city and pass on worrisome data to the regulators.

The Spine of Victory: The city's chief defense against gremlin attack, this soulsteel station at the bottom of the central tower monitors essence patterns within a 10 mile radius and is capable of directing massive bursts of red essence lightning against hostiles, vaporizing most threats.

The Hallowed Condensation Arrays: Attached to Xexas's air purifiers, this large soulsteel factory both serves as a regulator for the Great Maker's atmospheric processes and the source of many of the raw materials employed by the city: reclaiming materials (mostly oil but also some base metals) from the smoke as it is filtered.

Additional non-charm amenities include essence powered heating, lighting, a tram and lift system. I've also decided since Xexas was Gulaki that the food is good, spicy and varied and tribal distinctions play into society, but the city is much more uniform and dour in terms of it's fashions and attitude towards celebration. Any suggestions for further items to include? (I'd like to have a charm that ties into the airship fleet but can't think of a reasonable one not covered by existing features).

[DragonSinged]

With the Autocthon books coming out, I kind of realized another one of those "misconceptions about Exalted you don't really notice that you have" that I have, mainly being that - well, I don't really know anything about Autocthonia, but I really do think of the place as being all contained in a giant underground complex, filled with citizens who hate communists (but may actually all secretly be communists), run by Friend Computer.

I suppose the only part that really affects my vision of Autocthonia is the "underground" part, because it actually threw me off when golentan mentioned airships. I was all, "They have airships underground?" and then I was all, "Wait.. is Autocthonia underground?"

[TheCountAlucard]

filled with citizens who hate communists

Not in this case.

run by Friend Computer.

Afraid not in this case, either.

"Wait.. is Autocthonia underground?"

Nope, it's in Elsewhere.

[golentan]

As Alucard says, it's elsewhere. It's a giant metal sphere, so there is no sky, but most of the folks there live in large (miles across) open pockets, so there can be a lot of open space as long as you stay out of the cramped reaches. And there's an ocean at the top (made of oil) and at the bottom there's this colossal pocket which contains a perpetual storm (made of smoke) which is where the city I was talking about is with the airships.

Also, autocthonia is not run by friend computer. An individual city might be run like that if the city contracted gremlin syndrome though.

And if you asked them if they hated communists they'd ask "what's that?" And when you described it they'd ask "Wait, there are other ways to live then communism?" Though to be fair Claslat (while still very communist) has kind of experimented with capitalism light in the form of the glot market.

[Recaiden]

With the Autocthon books coming out, I kind of realized another one of those "misconceptions about Exalted you don't really notice that you have" that I have, mainly being that - well, I don't really know anything about Autocthonia, but I really do think of the place as being all contained in a giant underground complex, filled with citizens who hate communists (but may actually all secretly be communists), run by Friend Computer.

I suppose the only part that really affects my vision of Autocthonia is the "underground" part, because it actually threw me off when golentan mentioned airships. I was all, "They have airships underground?" and then I was all, "Wait.. is Autocthonia underground?"

It isn't Paranoia. It does have a mostly underground feel to it, but there are large open spaces, like the Poles of Smoke and Steam, and some areas within the pole of metal.

[golentan]

Okay, I've also decided that the city is beset by (what else would you expect in a city) winged rats. I'm also thinking that I'm going to have the stillbirth crisis have ended about 2 months prior to game start (I assume no difficulty figuring out what that means should the PCs get past the quarantine layer) and as a sidenote am preparing a suitable and unusual antagonist: an early adventure will (I hope) be a run with the scavenger fleet during which some poor soul will get left behind and go to truly heroic lengths to survive the pole...

Do you think blight zones count as Wyld for the purposes of permanent limit? I think they should.

[Callista]

Hey, guys, thanks for the advice :)

I think we have it somewhat worked out--the Abyssal player is starting to focus mostly on people who really deserve to die (death cultists, currently--and not the nice "let's remember our ancestors" sort), which is okay with the rest of us. We're mostly Compassion-primary, but nobody actually has Compassion 5, which means none of us flips out if we have to kill an enemy. (Bleh, I hate reducing colorful personalities down to Virtue numbers. But the shorthand is good enough, I guess.)

Is this kind of thing common?--mixing Abyssal and Solar characters in the same group?

And a rules question: If one of us is an Abyssal, are we still considered a proper circle?

[Lix Lorn]

And a rules question: If one of us is an Abyssal, are we still considered a proper circle?

I don't THINK it makes a mechanical difference, but if it does, I'd assume yes.

[Callista]

I'm not sure about mechanics either, but it might make a difference in the meaning of the prophetic dreams we've been getting. That, or it's indigestion because our cook only has one dot in Craft... :P

[TheCountAlucard]

That, or it's indigestion because our cook only has one dot in Craft...

Eh, I wouldn't count on it. Remember, 0 dots in an Ability just means you've not had any real training in it; either that, or every bachelor who's whipped up ramen before mysteriously has a dot in it. One dot's almost certainly good enough to not screw up basic dishes; now, if he's trying to prepare fugu or something else that's hazardous, yeah, you'd better tell him to hold off on that until he's got five dots and a Specialty as well.

[Xefas]

High dots in Craft probably also covers plating and other presentation elements, such as knife-work, in addition to recipe creation, proper mise en place, and multitasking in the kitchen.

[Turalisj]

Question came up in my game: would crafting modern electronics fall under preexisting areas?

[TheCountAlucard]

Question came up in my game: would crafting modern electronics fall under preexisting areas?

Probably Magitech.

Do you doubt me? Let's look at it for a second.

Craft (Fire) is about working with metals, ceramics, et cetera. In general, it's used for stuff like swords and whatnot.

Craft (Air) is about working with very fine details, things like paintings or gemcutting.

Craft (Magitech) requires you have dots in both these things before you can work with it. Among other things, it references circuits, capacitors, et cetera; they just typically toss in the word "Essence" or the names of magical materials.

[Recaiden]

Question came up in my game: would crafting modern electronics fall under preexisting areas?

You'd have to do a lot of explaining to small gods.