Exalted Essence

[HairyHeretic]

This is just a quick check to see if the interest would be there for a (probably) one off Exalted Essence story set in the North, to get an idea of how the system works.

Allowed Exalt types: Solars, Lunars
Considered on a case by case basis: Dragonbloods, Sidereals, Getimian, Liminal, Exigents
Not allowed: Abyssals, Infernals, Alchemicals

I'm looking to keep things fairly simple and straightforward for an initial test of the system, so limiting the available types this time around. I'd prefer the majority of the group be Solars, since this fits the story best, but am open to a minority of other Exalts.

Anyone else want to give Essence a spin?

Plot:
It began quietly, as many things do.

Whispers.

Rumours.

That somewhere to the North of Rubylak, in the mountains that even the hardiest forests couldn't cling to, that a veritable trove of artifacts from the First Age had been uncovered.

It was a lost tomb.

No, a town swallowed by the earth.

No, a city, lost beneath the ice.

Rumour flew on the wind, and many powerful eyes turned north. The Guild. The noble Houses of the Realm. Scavenger Lords and mercenary companies, and everyone who had an eye for a treasure .. as well as those who would profit from the ones that rushed northwards.

Of course, the truth of what was found would only be found far closer to the source, and so yet another group decided to make it's way northwards.

One with a far more personal link to those dreams of the First Age ..

[AndyZ]

Is the book out yet?

[HairyHeretic]

The backer version certainly is. I'm not sure if its been generally released yet.

[Revelation]

Slapping some interest on here. You say you're looking for Solars so I'll play as one! A lunar might be fun but I would prefer to go with ST wishes too. Maybe a dawn caste to keep things simple.

[HairyHeretic]

I'm okay with Lunars, but I still like to have the majority of the party as Solars, partly since I expect them to overall get more use in the game, so I want to see how they play, and secondly because that best fits the story I have in mind.

[Angie]

Ah hell, I've been jonesing for a game. Might revisit one of the first characters I ever did, a Zenith Caste. I have no clue how Essence is different than what came before so this ougha be good.

[HairyHeretic]

Is the book out yet?

Funnily enough I got a backer email there this evening. It talks about them updating it with the feedback gathered before it goes live, so no, full version isn't out yet. The backer kit version is probably 99% of what the full one will be, so certainly enough to test with.

[Wheresmycow]

I'd like to signal my interest.  Since Solars are my preferred Exalt type, not hard for me to play one at all.  I also tend to favour Dawn BUT I can really do anything and fill.

[HairyHeretic]

Does anyone other than me have the backer pdf yet?

[Revelation]

I do.

[Wheresmycow]

I also have it.

[HairyHeretic]

Cool, that's not so bad then. You can help keep me straight on the rules when I mess something up :)

[Empyrean]

I'd like to play, if you'll have me.

I'm thinking a Twilight or maybe an Eclipse. :)

[HairyHeretic]

Alright, sounds like we have enough interest to make a go of it. I'll remove the interest check from the title a bit later, and flesh out the story idea some more.

[HairyHeretic]

Okay, update the first post with a short blurb.

[Wheresmycow]

So, of the castes mentioned so far, no one has said Night, so I'll play one.  Gonna comb through the charms to see what would be neat to use and make a character around that.

[Muse]

Is Zenith available please? :)


A whimsical Hastlani priestess and prophet, Frost Rose sees her exaltation and the use of essence as entering a state between dreaming and waking, and bringing the first into the second. 

History:     In the dead of winter twenty years ago, Dapple Winter Morning lay with her husband Fires of the Heart in a poor hut in a haslanti town--the Greenfield of Seven Stars.  The fire was banked to conserve fuel, but they had each other and they shared a polar bear skin blanket.  After they made love, Dapple slept and dreamed of a rose spun of frosted ice, radiant in the noonday sun. 

   She knew by this sign that she had conceived a daughter. 

   Nine months later Frost Rose was born in a tent on the open ice, in the middle of a seal hunt, for Dapple could not afford to spend a season idle, and others already had all the work in the town. 

Fires of the Heart saw that his daughter had a firm grip and a loud cry.  As she suckled hungrily at her mother’s breast he touched his wife’s shoulder, “You’ve given me a strong daughter.”   

Frost Rose did indeed grow up healthy and happy, hunting on the glaciers with a crossbow and sailing in the ice holts.  Though never as tall or powerful as her mother, she was courageous, compassionate, intelligent, and curious.  Her parent’s could not afford an education for her, but taught her everything they knew.  This had more to do with folklore and the hard realities of the tundra than scholarship, but they had enough letters between them to teach her how to read. 

Anima:      A snow white unicorn with a brilliant golden horn that shines with the radiance of the sun.  An owl sits upon her back, a hair cavorts about her feet, and a crow sits ominously in the background. 

Motivation:    Vanquish the nightmares so that dreams may flourish in the waking world. 

[HairyHeretic]

Anyone else got a concept more firmly in mind yet?

[Angie]

Anyone else got a concept more firmly in mind yet?

I don't even have the rules so I'll just back out, you guys have fun.

[HairyHeretic]

I know not everyone is going to have the rules yet, but we can work around that if you still want to play :)

[Empyrean]

I have Canaraya. She's from a lower-class Haslanti family, but was gifted with great intelligence. Her family did everything they could to get her out of the poverty trap, and she wound up as an apprentice shipwright. She worked her way up to being a master shipwright and engineer, working on the League's airships. During a routine patrol, the military ship she was on was attacked by sky pirates and the ship was going down. She Exalted as a Twilight Caste solving an impossible problem that turned what would have been a fatal crash into something everyone walked away from.

Not sure what she's been up to since, but I envision her as a maker of artifacts.

[Angie]

I know not everyone is going to have the rules yet, but we can work around that if you still want to play :)

I'll consider it. I haven't played Exalted in awhile so I don't really have any concepts ready to go. EDIT actually I think I got one. It's going to involve a second in command disagreeing with an immoral order from their leader and fighting the whole damn squad, I'm just trying to decide if I want the squad to be bandits or imperial troops at the moment.

[Empyrean]

Can I create my own custom manse and hearthstone? I'm working on Canaraya, and I think Hearthstone will be her primary merit, but none of the existing greater hearthstones really feel right to me.

[HairyHeretic]

I'm sure we can figure something out, or convert something up. What do you have in mind?

[Empyrean]

The thought I had was that, when her ship went down and she Exalted, she crashed it in some high mountains. The force of the impact broke through the snowpack and revealed a beautiful hidden valley, lush and fertile. And within the valley is a manse. Solar or Wood aspected, that fuels all this fertility. She instinctively claimed the manse, and within it found a working First Age airship (maybe her Artifact?), which she used to get herself and her crew back home to the Haslanti League. Which would lead to her third merit: Influence within the League as a war hero/savior.

The problem is that I don't know what a good Solar or Wood greater hearthstone would be.