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This is an Exalted Shards game, with an alternate setting. The location is Earth, more or less as we know it, but with the return of all the gods, Yozi, Neverborn, and everything else we know and love (or hate) from Creation. Part of the story will be discovering how and why “Creation” disappeared along with the gods, and why they now return. For more information, please read the “Story” tab below. First, the important information for creating a character.
Character Creation:
Spoiler
Game Edition: Exalted 2 (with errata)
Allowed Books: All official Exalted books are allowed, along with the Ink Monkey PDF and The Hundredfold Facets of Enlightenment, although please let me know the source of any non-core items so I can look them up. Also, please download the free errata PDF!
Game Style: Each adventure might vary, but the main theme of the Solar game is world building/character development.
Homebrew Policy: I'll allow pretty much any additional content like artifacts or martial arts styles if I can look it over and approve it. I'm also open to suggestions on house rules.
Character Creation: Errata modified version.
Number of Players: 4-6
Exalt Types: There is a restriction on the Solar types in this game, unfortunately. Currently I only intend to have 2 non-Solars tops, and no two of the same type. This is both for game balance as well as keeping the game to the theme of world-building.
Additional character creation guidelines: I’d highly recommend you read the backstory tab below, but the short of it is you are one of the first new Exalted. Solars and Lunars receive visions that usually give them the barest of information about that they are and what their purpose is. If you’re interested in making another Exalt type, please contact me, there are some details I still need to work out for other exalt type PCs. All exalts have had around only two months two learn their skills, and many may not even be aware there are other exalts.
Story:
Spoiler
The world is in disarray. It seems the universe has a sense of irony, in that the end of the world everyone had been told over the past couple years was both true and false. On December 26th, multiple earthquakes occurred worldwide, striking without any regards to known fault lines, the result of old leylines awakening. Although the quakes were oddly localized and fairly minor in scale, moderate to heavy infrastructure damage has been reported in several parts of the globe.
The day after, the world was plunged into the darkness of Calibration. For five days nations of the world attempted damage control without the light of the sun. Further, many people reported seeing strange creatures or people during this time. Five Days Darkness was especially active in this time, eager to herald the return of the gods (and place himself in a good position as the first to explain and help humanity.) While he might have gained a few followers, most of those were too far gone mentally to spread the word, while others ran from his fearsome visage. After Calibration, events quieted down again, as if to give the world a reprieve. While most were focused on rebuilding the cities affected by the earthquake, a growing portion of people latched onto the supernatural as the only explanation for the last week.
It was in this new year that the Exalted returned. As one of the first new Solars, you have been imparted special knowledge by the Unconquered Sun himself. The vision differs for each Solar, but the important details are the same between each: it explains that the Earth was once Creation, and a great war caused the Earth to be shaped into its current form, and for the gods, the fair folk, even the neverborn to be forced into stasis for many years. It also explains the basics of the Solars, that they are the Princes of the Earth, imparted with the power of the Unconquered Sun himself. The Unconquered Sun gives very few details and little direction to his Solars, and his vision seems distant, as if it was a pre-recorded response.
The Dragon Blooded are not as lucky as the Celestial Exalted. The Terrestrials are drawn from normal people as well, but in much higher numbers. Without any existing Dragon Blooded to propagate, somehow the thinnest line of Terrestrial genes have awakened, mainly in young adults. Estimates place the number of Dragon Blooded awakened anywhere from the tens of thousands to as high as a hundred thousand. It is difficult to tell at the moment, as the only current publicly known Dragon Blooded used their powers accidentally. Without the discipline and training many Terrestrials are supposed to receive, these fully grown Terrestrials are dangerous to themselves as much as others.
It is February the 22nd. All of you, strangers or not, have gathered for one reason or another to be present for a speech near the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. The Speaker of the House, Casey Wakeman, has started lecturing to a crowd of people, with many reporters present. The subject of the speech is the new Dragon Blooded. The president has passed an Executive Order allowing for law enforcement to treat all Dragon Blooded as being deadly weapons at all times. Talks of people being arrested and detained sparked comparisons in the media to Japanese internment camps in World War 2. The Speaker of the House has sided with the President on the matter and is lecturing the crowd on the necessity for these supernatural events to be carefully analyzed for the safety and security of the nation. Many present have members of their friends or family detained for accidents they never intended to cause. The player characters present feel a growing sense of foreboding, one not coming from the crowd.
A few other things I’d like to say:
Although it uses the Shards of the Exalted Dream book, and I have quite a few of the books )and love to talk about the rules, if you are new to the game, please feel free to make a sheet. Other than a small section of the Shards book, all you need is the base Exalted book and you’re good to go. Just send me (or anyone else that offers, I’m honestly a very inexperienced ST) a message if you have any questions.
This game is intended to be a primarily Solar game, mainly because of the theme of this first game as world building, and also because it is easier to balance around one exalt type. Please note that there are a few spots open, but I will place a slight emphasis on building at least a partial Solar circle. That said, it would be terrible for me to create a setting and make it Solar only. Sooner or later, I’d like to make additional game, possibly with a co-ST. My next idea I’d love to run is a full mecha styled game with dragon blooded Warstrider pilots. So with that said, if Solars aren’t your thing, there will be other options later on.
Houserules
Spoiler
Abilities
Linguistics - Barring special circumstances, players can't create a character trained in one of Creation's language families. Instead, they will use on from Earth, the list is as follows:
Romance (covering languages such as Spanish and French)
Germanic (German and English)
Sino-Tibetan (Chinese and Burmese)
Altaic (Turkish, Japanese, and Korean)
Afroasiatic (covers languages in north Africa to the Middle East)
and ***** Congo (covers languages mostly in south Africa)
For any languages not covered in here feel free to look up language families on the internet and use those instead.
Craft is one ability, instead of five. In order to use each type of crafting, you purchase a specialty for that type.
Backgrounds
The Manse Background is not allowed at the start of the game. At the start of the game, no manses are active, and the position of leylines has changed so that the demanse locations are completely different.
Several other backgrounds, such as Mentor, will face story restrictions. You can still take Mentor for example, but you have a much smaller pool of Mentors since there are no older Exalted. If you have any questions on if a background is allowed or how to fit it into the setting, just let me know.
Exalt Specific
Lunars no longer need moonsilver tattoos or suffer chimerism. Moonsilver Tattoos are a 2 dot artifact.
Charms
Each initiation charm that grants a new circle of sorcery also allows one free purchase of a spell from that circle.
Each dot of stamina grants one free purchase of Ox-Body Technique. Ox-Body Technique cannot be purchased in any other way.
At character creation, exalts receive 5 free excellencies. The exception is Infernals, who receive one.
What with manses and artifact, especially modern artifact? Do they exist, can be created or don't exist at all? Should we rob a museum or profanate a temple to have one, or just *poof* can write in the sheet without complications?
And languages? I guess they are "french, japanese, english", not "guild cant, old realm, seatongue"?
The Salinian Working is still present and in full effect. This means that any spell from Creation will still exist in some form or another, and the Five Ordeals carry as normal. No current human is capable of performing thaumaturgy, but the rituals and occult lore on Earth may have some roots in true thaumaturgy.
Most systems from Creation can be assumed to carry over to Earth. For example, the rules for the dead and spirits now apply. The dead can now rise as ghosts or zombies, and in areas where massive amounts of death occurs at once, a shadowland can grow.
There will be a few exceptions, but there is a lot to sift through so I'll explain what doesn't carry over when we get to it. For example, the Raksha are nowhere to be found, yet. No Raksha freeholds are present on Earth and there is no presence of the Wyld to be found at all. Additionally, Lunars no longer require their moonsilver tatoos and no longer suffer chimerism. As in the Shards book, Lunars must purchase the tatoos as a 2 dot artifact if they want them anyways.
Ah, and I forgot to explain an important part of character building. So, Earth is, as far as you can tell, made from Creation itself. While completely unrecognizable, there still remains hidden many secrets from the First and Second Ages (and maybe the Third?). In most cases, they will show up away from populated areas, as if hidden away by fate. Most artifacts found at the start will have belonged to a previous incarnation or have some connection to your exaltation, but it isn't required. Costs are as normal. Demanses exist but sadly no manses have been build yet. Maybe the ruins of a manse might be hidden somewhere, but the re-emergence of the leylines will have made them nonfunctional since the demanse locations are different.
Yes, character creation will use Earth languages, and old Creation languages can be learned later on. I'll have to change how Linguistics gains languages. For now the fix is one language per specialty, one free specialty per rank in the skill. That might change if it doesn't keep up with the number of languages.
Just as an aside, there is no "Fire Tongue" or the like in Creation. It is a group of related languages spoken in the South. So to keep the broadness the languages granted would be language families such as "Romance". Wikipedia has a nice map.
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Many, many thanks to azuyomi244 for the avatar.
I thought about this before, the only problem I have with the language family idea is that, unlike Creation, the language families on earth cover a disproportionate amount of area (mainly romanic and germanic). That said, it's not a game balance concern, just a style one. Since it's a simpler way to keep track of languages, if enough players would prefer that method we'll use that one.
Oh, and yes, this game will be using charms and abilities Shards of the Exalted Dream, so yes on using Drive/Firearms.
I thought about this before, the only problem I have with the language family idea is that, unlike Creation, the language families on earth cover a disproportionate amount of area (mainly romanic and germanic). That said, it's not a game balance concern, just a style one. Since it's a simpler way to keep track of languages, if enough players would prefer that method we'll use that one.
Oh, and yes, this game will be using charms and abilities Shards of the Exalted Dream, so yes on using Drive/Firearms.
That is also to an extend the case in Creation as well. Low Realm serves as essentially English in Creation such that in all but the most remote settlements you are almost assured of finding someone who knows it. Rivertongue is similar due to the River Province being the Guild's heartland.
If someone on Earth knew English, Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, and Arabic they could speak to almost anyone on the planet much like how someone in Creation who knew the four directional languages and Low Realm could do the same.
Sorry, I like analyzing world building elements.
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Many, many thanks to azuyomi244 for the avatar.
I enjoy it as well, part of the fun of making the setting was figuring out how things from Creation would mesh into the modern world, and how to tie together the various myriad plots in Exalted back into a modern Earth setting. I think that part of the fun for players will be seeing how these two settings interact, or how they can combine the old tech and the new for their own unique direction to the world.
Anyhow, you make a good point, so we'll use modern language families for now. Hopefully by the end of today I'll compile a list of rule changes in the first post for easier access, so as I work out the details of the setting more rules will be added.
I've got a few ideas that I think would work, but the badwrongfun of a self insert is ~so~ alluring...
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I seem to have the ability to misinterpret the most obvious of meanings and to completely miss the points of statements for no obvious reason. Just a warning.
I'm also interested, and I'm fairly sure I have a character type in mind already - a military sort of individual with the motivation of 'Forge the Dragon-Blooded into an army to stand against the darkness'.
I'll probably go with a Night Caste, mostly because the theme and setting seem to suggest a degree of discretion might be in order. Though a Dawn would also fit the intended character idea quite well. Hmm.
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"Not trusting me might be the smartest decision you made since getting off of your horse."
Kharal Zhou, Fire Aspect of Lookshy:
Image and avatar by Ifni, who is rightly awesome.
I'll allow Firearms and Vehicle artifacts, just have to do some deft writing to fit it in. If you don't have the requisite crafting abilities, you could always justify it as part of your exaltation, being a burst of divine inspiration. I also like the idea that another Twilight made the artifact. I'll accept pretty much any reason as long as it's consistent with Exalted, which gives you a pretty broad base. Independent I-AM core from a vault hidden in your basement took over your car? Sure, why not? The game will scale up pretty quick in terms of artifacts and manses to make up for the beginning. The early part of the game will mostly be the PCs interacting with fellow Exalts who would also be new and low on Creation-era tech. And the mundane Earth governments, of course. Dealing with mortals will be interesting, given that Exalts are wholly unexpected in modern society, but then, humans have made a lot of advances since the Third Age.
Deciding how to build will be part of the story, too. You could hunt for first and second age tombs and manses, petition Yu-Shan for lost archives, search your past incarnation's memories, even create wholly new artifacts and rediscover from scratch.
Oh, and Justyn, it's good to be back
As for your character idea, they say write what you know, right? Many of the characters I made for this game are based in some part off my personality or experiences. Then again, there's something to be said for making your character into his or her own person. Or just cribbing off of your favorite stories... there is that saying about the difference between a good writer and a great writer.
The advances of the world have simply made it easier for Exalts to take over. Wise-Eyed Courtier method can hit obscene numbers of people and without exalts or maximized humans to resist nations will fall quickly to the new Golden Rulers.
Socialize is and was the equivalent of strategic weaponry to mortal populations. As written you can take a random homeless man off the street, buy him a meal while you talk about how you would be a great president, use the charm and WHAM suddenly tens of millions of people now have the conviction to vote for you.
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Many, many thanks to azuyomi244 for the avatar.
Tweaked my character concept a bit. A famous assassin, with a reputation for killing with their bare hands rather than any particular weapons (easier to sneak your fists into a building than a silenced pistol...), who Exalted as a Night Caste and got the generic message from the Unconquered Sun about how he was now divinely charged with guarding the world from the shadows and rooting out the creatures of darkness wherever they might hide.
He was wondering how on earth he was meant to do that when a similar looking individual turned up, only seemingly comprised of pure shadows instead. Basically, I've taken Five Days Darkness as a Mentor, and my motivation is 'Forge the Exalted into an organisation that can stand against the darkness'. Gives me a decent reason to interact with just about any other kind of Exalted or important power player, while staying true to the original concept.
Would you object to me using backgrounds from other books for a Solar character? The Dragon-Blooded background 'Connections', as an example, is a good way to represent the fact that my character is likely quite well known and influential in the criminal underworld, but not especially important outside of it.
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"Not trusting me might be the smartest decision you made since getting off of your horse."
Kharal Zhou, Fire Aspect of Lookshy:
Image and avatar by Ifni, who is rightly awesome.
The advances of the world have simply made it easier for Exalts to take over. Wise-Eyed Courtier method can hit obscene numbers of people and without exalts or maximized humans to resist nations will fall quickly to the new Golden Rulers.
Socialize is and was the equivalent of strategic weaponry to mortal populations. As written you can take a random homeless man off the street, buy him a meal while you talk about how you would be a great president, use the charm and WHAM suddenly tens of millions of people now have the conviction to vote for you.
Or, you can just get a bunch of other Exalts together and have a nice old fashion coup d'état. As for effectiveness, just go and ask Theion Malfeas how the last time the Exalted came onto the scene and decided they were in charge went. Or, if you value your life and soul, don't.
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I seem to have the ability to misinterpret the most obvious of meanings and to completely miss the points of statements for no obvious reason. Just a warning.
I'm hesitating between multiple character concepts - the GIGN (French SWAT) officer turned Dawn Caste who wants to maintain rule of law in this chaotic era while keeping innocents from getting killed, the UN diplomat turned Eclipse Caste who wants to peacefully unify humanity, the CIA agent turned Night Caste who wants to maintain world security in the face of this rapidly changing world...Should I propose multiple character sheets?
Sun - Well, I believe the intent of the ST was that there would only be one of each Caste in the game, and I've just about finished up my Night Caste. If you go for the Dawn caste, I'd personally be interested in linking back stories together - the cop and the assassin, working together by order of the Unconquered Sun. But whatever works.
On which note, here's that character sheet of mine. I have just realized that I wrote it assuming the popular house rules were in effect - namely, free Excellencies and bonus Ox-Body charms depending on your Stamina. If they aren't being used, let me know and I'll edit the sheet. Otherwise, here we are:
Name: Henry Jones Exalt Type and Caste: Solar Night Caste Anima: A rearing golden snake
Motivation: To forge the Exalted into an organization that can stand against the darkness.
Background: A legendary assassin turned covert operative and almost-hero.
Virtues:
Compassion *
Conviction ****
Temperance **
Valor **
Intimacies:
Law Enforcement (Respectful opposition)
Assassins (Competition)
Contracts (Sacred regard)
Five Days Darkness (Reverence)
Other Exalted (Familial support)
Children (Fondness)
Leaves room for four more
Languages:
Germanic (English native)
Romance (French and Spanish etc)
Bonus Points and XP: Bonus Points:
7 to raise essence to 3
-7 for flaws
4 to raise willpower to 9
2 to raise Martial arts
2 to raise athletics
1 to add speciality to dodge
3 to buy another charm
5 to raise firearms
Flaws:
Code of Honour 2 - Cannot lie to or betray anyone I think of as an ally without failing a conviction check.
Major Oath - Never abandon a sworn contract or undertaking.
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"Not trusting me might be the smartest decision you made since getting off of your horse."
Kharal Zhou, Fire Aspect of Lookshy:
Image and avatar by Ifni, who is rightly awesome.
Last edited by Maugan Ra : 10-02-2012 at 01:25 PM.
I am vacillating between Twilight and Twilightish Zenith.
The basic idea is a non-practicing junkie working his way through night classes so he can become an electrician. Faced with his terrible financial situation, self-administered rehab, and terrible prospects he was understandably depressed.
When Calibration hit he decided something. It didn't matter if he didn't matter. He was more then his situation and circumstances. He was himself and he was the one who got to decide what that meant. That state of mind, so close to an ideal Solar's is what attracted the Exaltation from him.
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Many, many thanks to azuyomi244 for the avatar.
Last edited by Exthalion : 09-24-2012 at 03:27 AM.
Ex - I'd say Zenith fits that better than a Twilight caste. Very much about a decision of inspiration and will, rather than the burning drive to acquire knowledge and use it that you'd expect from a Twilight.
Oh, and everybody, remember to put at least one point into Lore. Because otherwise you're illiterate, and that can get embarrassing if you didn't intend to make your character that way.
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"Not trusting me might be the smartest decision you made since getting off of your horse."
Kharal Zhou, Fire Aspect of Lookshy:
Image and avatar by Ifni, who is rightly awesome.
Ex - I'd say Zenith fits that better than a Twilight caste. Very much about a decision of inspiration and will, rather than the burning drive to acquire knowledge and use it that you'd expect from a Twilight.
Oh, and everybody, remember to put at least one point into Lore. Because otherwise you're illiterate, and that can get embarrassing if you didn't intend to make your character that way.
I agree. I hope to flesh him out a bit more then, "Guy who had existential revelation."
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Many, many thanks to azuyomi244 for the avatar.
Last edited by Exthalion : 09-24-2012 at 04:20 AM.
If you wouldn't mind a bit of critique, it's really better to buy dots with your bonus points rather than charms. Those last two dots of Willpower only cost one bonus point each, but they cost a total of 34 experience (16 for the 9th, and 18 for the 10th) to raise up.
Think of it as an investment: how many charms can you buy with 34 xp? (The answer is 4 caste/favored, 3 other. And if you take Swallowing the Lotus Root, that's 8 TMA charms... well, 6 if you take STLR into account for that cost too.)
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I seem to have the ability to misinterpret the most obvious of meanings and to completely miss the points of statements for no obvious reason. Just a warning.
looks very intresting - iam leaning towards a Dawn, i need to think about this some more. oh - and i see you are using more or less "our" world and not the one in shards?
i probably missed it but do we get any free charms like the standart 5 free Excellencies or similar (if it was menitoned and i missed it - sorry).
looks very intresting - iam leaning towards a Dawn, i need to think about this some more. oh - and i see you are using more or less "our" world and not the one in shards?
i probably missed it but do we get any free charms like the standart 5 free Excellencies or similar (if it was menitoned and i missed it - sorry).
Various other common houserules I like:
Condensation of Craft
Free spell with Initiation charms
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Many, many thanks to azuyomi244 for the avatar.
So are we using the houserules, or it's just gamers-to-be proposal? :-P
Second question, what about story? Long, short? Only Motivation maybe? 0_O (better not :-P) I'm asking because I don't see story of Henry - maybe we should send stories by PM?
I'll be getting around to doing the rest of Henry's intimacies and the proper background soon-ish. Was just concentrating on getting the crunch done first.
And while I know that xp-wise, it's better to put points into dots rather than charms, I wanted a decent start in a martial arts style. Considered going with the Ebon Shadow style, which fits with my mentor, but went for Solar Hero in the end because it's just so much fun.
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"Not trusting me might be the smartest decision you made since getting off of your horse."
Kharal Zhou, Fire Aspect of Lookshy:
Image and avatar by Ifni, who is rightly awesome.
Essence 2
Compassion 3, Conviction 3, Temperance 3, Valor 4
Willpower 10
Intimacies: Justice, Rule of Law, France, Democracy, The principles of "liberty-equality-brotherhood", Human Rights.
Backstory: Alexandre was born to a middle-class Parisian family. Studying the French Revolution in the 8th grade, he fell in love with the ideas of the Lumières, with the concept of human rights, with the republic's ideals of "Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood". That fascination remained with him over the years, even as he came to see the uglier side of the world more clearly. As such, he decided he wanted to protect society in what ways he could; joining the police and being an additional "good cop" seemed like the best way for him to make a difference. He joined the Gendarmerie Nationale - part police, part military.
Morane made for a decent gendarme for a while, noted for his cool-headedness and professionalism. No less importantly, his superiors realized he had a good head for tactics and top-notch marksmanship, and recommended him to the GIGN, the Gendarmerie's special forces division. He spent several years there, proving himself on several occasions.
Then, the five days of darkness arrived. Mass panics. Rioting in the streets. Lieutenant Morane led his squad from hotspot to hotspot across the capital, trying to prevent loss of life, fighting where necessary, negotiating where possible, evacuating civilians, never stopping to rest. After 72 hours, the rest of his squad had fallen to sheer exhaustion, but he kept going on sheer willpower, always trying to deal with one more crisis. It was in this state that he had a vision of the Unconquered Sun, who tasked him with protecting the world, and gave him the means to do so. Morane spent the next two days still on the job - reports of a golden glowing man were generally dismissed in the chaos of the riots.
Morane has not reported his new abilities to his superiors yet. He is still trying to decide what he's supposed to do with them. For now, he is considered the hero of the hour, and was decorated for his actions during the crisis; he is watching the news closely, trying to see where the wind turns.
So, basically, he's "honest cop" meets "special forces" with a touch of "Captain America if he was French".
Serena Smith (Modern)
Caste: Eclipse
Concept: Idealistic UN diplomat.
Motivation: To unite the world peacefully.
Essence 2
Compassion 5, Conviction 2, Temperance 3, Valor 2
Willpower 10
Intimacies: Justice, Freedom, Human Rights, Helping people, Her family, Peace, Internationalism, Cats, The space program
Backing 3, Influence 1, Resources 3
1st Firearms Excellency
2nd War Excellency
2nd Integrity Excellency
2nd Performance Excellency, Respect-Commanding Attitude
2nd Presence Excellency
Shadow Over Water, Seven Shadow Evasion
2nd Lore Excellency
2nd Bureaucracy Excellency, Speed the Wheels
2nd Linguistics Excellency, Sagacious Reading of Intent
2nd Socialize Excellency, Mastery of Small Manners
Merit: Paragon of Compassion. Some of the people Serena has met have claimed she lacks conviction, but they have often changed their tune - Serena's compassion for the people who need her help can give her incredible drive.
Flaw: Code of Honor (3). Although she's technically a politician, Serena considers lying to be a Big Deal. Social structures are dependent on trust between people and the ability to communicate. Every lie told chips away at that trust. As such, she will not tell a lie unless she considers it absolutely unnecessary.
Serena's mother was a refugee from Cuba; her father, a Caucasian GI from Washington DC. The two met, fell in love, and had three children (Serena is the eldest, with a brother 4 years her junior and a sister 3 years younger still). Serena grew up in a fairly politically-aware environment, and was not long to take an interest in the big picture and worthy causes herself.
In high school, Serena would become popular without even trying - a sunny disposition and natural friendliness did all the hard work for her. She quickly became aware that the school's social environment could be rather cruel to many of the students; she took it upon herself to try to change that, sometimes subtly, sometimes overtly. As she came to understand, fostering tolerance and kindness was easier said than done...and yet, so vitally important. The experience helped shape her political views and motivations (sometimes to the delight, and sometimes to the consternation of her parents, who are generally a good deal more conservative than her). After getting her diploma, she set off to college, with the intent of working in politics to do on a global scale what she had attempted on a local one.
It was this mindset that led her to work for the UN. In recent years, she's become a diplomat for the organization. She tries to make sure everybody gets along and listens to each other. She tries to foster compromise and understanding. She tries to help human rights and avoid loss of lives where she can. Of course, there has only been so much she could accomplish...but a few moderate successes have earned her some credit in the UN and some political circles.
When Calibration hit, Serena was stationed in China. What had been a generally calm assignment became extremely tense as, in the panic of the five days of darkness, some factions in the Chinese government tried to enforce China's claim on Taiwan with military force. Serena spent several exceedingly tense days trying to calm everyone down and convince all sides to adopt a "wait and see" attitude. In the end, she managed to avert an armed conflict (for the duration, at least)...which led her to receive a vision from the Unconquered Sun, explaining to her that she was a Solar, and all that it entailed.
Serena's exaltation was not exactly discrete, and while the public at large is not aware of it, witnesses included UN staffers, as well as Chinese, Taiwanese and American officials. She has also been rather open with her family about the whole thing. For now, she is still testing her abilities, but what she has seen so far leads her to believe that her dreams of world peace might actually be within reach...
Notes: Serena's never owned a gun in her life, but her father made sure she at least knew how they worked, and she loved playing laser-tag with her friends in high school, hence her Firearms skill. Her job at the UN has at times required coordinating with military forces and understanding the situations involved, hence her War score.
Serena is a huge cat lover. She's owned at least one cat at every point of her life. She also has a certain love for stargazing and amateur astronomy; the fact that people have walked on the Moon, or are manning the International Space Station at this very moment, can still fill her with wonder after all these years. This is one of the reasons she has always enthusiastically supported space programs of every kind.
In short, she's an ultra-charismatic compassionate figure trying to get the world to play nice with each other.
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[2e]Exalted Modern: The Fourth Age of Man
