Exalted 2.5-Infernals

[Zaer Darkwail]

Well, I have both regular FATE flaw but also there is flaws&merits which have actual rule mechanic element (example intolerance vs ugly people I have to roll temperance or else I go literally insult barrage/hostile vs them to point I can murder someone just being ugly). Vice other hand gives penalty to my temperance rolling and need successfully roll temperance or succumb to the vice.

Anycase cities or places to check out in North; I want check the city state of the north (than the islands). But I am fine with what others prefer :).

[Rajah]

Having an idea of where we're starting is good. I vote the five closest islands and the city-state nearest to them in the North. :)

You just voted for both options. :p

I vote islands. I like islands.

Well, I have both regular FATE flaw but also there is flaws&merits which have actual rule mechanic element

I think RSG is saying we're not using flaws & merits at all - just one Flaw, which is similar to a Trouble in FATE.

[ExisD]

It'll be a little bit before I can say too much about Wounds Style (need to reference stuff because of numbers changes, et. al) but do want to chime in with this reminder. Flaws are being done FATE-ish, so you have one and it grants good stuff when it occurs.

But while I'm looking up stuff, what do people want to see more, the five closest islands or the city-state of the North closest by?

I'd vote for more info on the islands.... even though my character has no good means of reaching them besides hiring someone or using charms to manage something.

[RSGAlex]

Oh, both will be explained. I'm just going to be limited to my phone for the next day or so, which makes more than one a bit of a pain.

Similarly, Urges won't be finalized but if people want to either give me ideas on how much it may chafe their character Or pitch some, I won't be adverse. Just slow in responding.

[Re Z L]

I'd probably vote for the islands as well  :)

On another note, since someone seems to have already chosen to use Black Claw I might not be using Laughing Wounds after all  ;D

I think I'll probably be exploring some Cecelyne and Malfeas charms--wish granting, society/cult building, and green fire wielding specifically.

[Zaer Darkwail]

I think RSG is saying we're not using flaws & merits at all - just one Flaw, which is similar to a Trouble in FATE.

That would be quite a pickle for me to edit the sheet then if that's the case  :-\ . Just want RSG confirm it once he can post in other format than using a phone :P.

[eternaldarkness]

I'm going to pass on this one after all. I just remembered how not fun exalted is to actually play, especially online with a ton of custom content. I'd brave it for Sidereals, but not infernals. Have fun guys!

[Empyrean]

Re ZL: It sounds like we might have two cult-builders then. My character primarily has Cecelyne charms, with a little bit of Ebon Dragon for hiding what she is.

What are we doing for transportation? Should one of us get a airship or something?

[Zaer Darkwail]

My char has agatae as a mount (demonic familiar), so his own mobility is covered but cannot cover the group (I doubt agatae can carry more than 2-3 people at time).

[Empyrean]

My character has Wings of the Raptor for both flight and social-fu purposes. And a Hemisphere of Underwater Respite so we can have an undersea base.

[ExisD]

I was planning on using a combination of Larceny and Pleasure is Business to find transportation when it's needed, even though it may not be the most efficient means.

[RSGAlex]

Well my computer finished the boot time scan approximately a long-fuck-ton sooner than expected, so I'm on it. And yeah, one Flaw (which if you want it to be one of the canon M&F flaws that's not barbarian it can be) which works like a FATE Trouble. And because I have a working keyboard, I'm going to do both the islands and the city-state.

Dalanth Ganharva

Dalanth Ganharva is often considered, by foreigners, to be one of the Realm's satrapies in the North. It's a reasonable assumption, as they see money changers of the Realm, a number of places bear inscriptions in the tongue of the Realm, and the current lord is known to entertain traveling Dynasts with lavish feasts. Those foreigners are wrong, as the five-hundred-thirty-five year succession of (seeming divinely) empowered madmen and women has never once been part of the Realm and (so locals claim) never bent knee to the Realm.

Those locals are technically correct. Through diplomacy, ostentatious but cheap gifts, and ridding the current dynasty of the selfish ghost of a former lord, the Realm has gained frequent gifts and aid from the rulers of Dalanth Ganharva for far less than the food spent for a single legion's wing.

The current ruler is Lord Neti the 12th,  Charan, and has passed the honor of holding the ancestral weapon of the rulers of the city-state on to his wife, Lady Neti, Neo Damega, a minor house patrician. By technicality, the use of the god-bludgeon means that rule has descended upon Charan's wife, but few wish to press the matter as she may not be able to lift it and manifest the smashing head made of woven essence.

Economically, it the city is a place for the more independent places of the West and North to do discrete trade with the Realm, and the city itself employs only a small navy. The current lord and lady of the city are instead focusing on building up their army to expand their claims, with a focus on arming their soldiers against the two largest problems to their claims, the dead and the wyld-folk.

For this reason the foundries of the city make iron day and night and a small academy of necromancy has been... discretely opened.

Their territorial claims cover great swaths of land mostly unopposed. The claims to the north have yet to recover from the predations of the fair folk, to the east the claims are mostly shadowland, and only small parts of the land to the south belong to the Realm. How the satrap deals with the claim is still unknown, but many in the city think that it will be given up for iron and steel.

The inhabitants of the city, due to strange mixtures of Realm-ish phraseology and Immaculate teaching blending with local legends, tend to avoid the use of proper names of locations and spirits outside of titles as proper names are seen as a kind of icon for abstract things.

Five Islands

Of the five closest islands to Dalanth Ganharva, two of them are considered part of the city proper, and are connected by great, many miles long walls that once formed a great enclosed harbor for the city. They are referred to in Dalanth as being the Great Far North and Great Far South of the city. Unfortunately, while the skills that built the walls were exceptional, the materials weren't. A century ago raiders crashed a ship into the southern wall and broke through. The hole remains to the current day.

There is little of interest on either of the islands.  A lighthouse, a small garrison, and a farm was built on each by a previous Neti's decree, but the farms grow little and there are no great raids in recent years. With each year that passes the snowflowers claim a bit more of the farmland, some claim spread by plotting fair folk. Only the most dedicated of map makers knows the islands names, which locals believe attracts the monsters of the wyld, seeking to turn Creation's lands into Chaos.

The uninhabited island of Juniper is the furthest of the unconnected islands and has little to offer beyond juniper trees, wild life, and privacy. Two companies keep small camps to harvest the fruit of the trees and occasionally hunt the animals there, but the island's shape and seafloor offer several points of landing around it's circumference.

The island of Snowflame lies furthest away from anything but the ice sheets and Juniper. It would make a good outside point of departure for its cove and rich soil. Two problems keep the island from falling into the hands of Dalanth or the Realm. The first is that it is inhabited. The natives of Dalanth say it is inhabited by demons of ice and flame. The men of the Realm say that it is personed by men and women warped into unnatural forms by the uncapped demense of a volcano that lies at the heart of the island. The demense is, of course, the second problem as its influence quickly turns any unfrozen water on the island into hot volcanic ashes.

The last island, now called Waste but once called Leeward, was quickly inhabited once the richness of the lands of Shanarinara was announced to the world, as a would-be diviner claimed that Leeward would bring equal richness to Dalanth. It was quickly abandoned as the island showed no such wealth and currently is home to a small outpost that makes claims of cityhood. Some search the island hoping for a vein of jade, but most attempt to make money trading with far ranging ships from the West or the natives of nearby Rajtul (well, relatively nearby).

[Zaer Darkwail]

Okay, so one flaw which can give BP but functions also as FATE system trouble trait (which gives XP). That case I take my vice trait then.

[RSGAlex]

Just one flaw which works like a FATE Trouble. Sorry for not being clearer, but I guess I misread. (And also spent a bit too much time with the two spoiler above. And I need to edit something out of that last paragraph now that I look at what I forgot to remove.

[Empyrean]

I'm not familiar with FATE. Taking a Flaw gives us extra points?

[RSGAlex]

If it comes up in game and is an inconvenience, Extra EXP.

[ExisD]

As of finding there's an infernal version of Swallowing the Lotus Root, I've partially fixed the travel issue.... Assuming Sky can be obvious about it because it's by means of By Rage Recast and growing wings.

[Zaer Darkwail]

Okay, edited my sheet and I got all things I wanted (just needed swap purchase ability dots with BP and backgrounds through XP instead to get just bit extra XP needed to get things which I wanted). So now flaw shenanigans besides FATE one.

[Zaer Darkwail]

Oh, and should mention I got friend of mine play both of my allies (run them both as his own chars, however he may not always be able to post so time to time I NPC my allies when needed).

[RSGAlex]

For the three characters that I see, I have three proposal Urges for their players to consider... or counter-propose.

For Empyrean, I don't see a Motivation, or at least missed it in three re-reads, so I'm not too sure how this one may conflict. Urge (Isidorite): Bring the Coastal Satrapies to rebellion. Explanation: While there's not a motivation, I see a goal and this one dovetail with it. And also provide a problem.

For ExisD, you said something that will chafe later on, so how about (Pyrean) Destroy the Divine Cult of the Hunter's Spear. Explanation: It should bring Empty Sky into contact with several divinities, some laudable, some loathsome, and some even bear those appellations from perspectives other than Hobo-chan's.

And for Zaer, I propose a twist on one of the sample Adorjani Urges. Remake anything that offends your aesthetic sensibilities... or destroy them. Explanation: For some reason, beauty, aesthetics, and the like caught in my mind when thinking of your character. And so with a little change I think it's something that can both be a boon and a spur for becoming the master of your own Urge.

[Zaer Darkwail]

It sounds quite suitable adorjani urge; either turn ugly people beautiful or something what I find pleasing to my own image or destroy/ruin them :).

[ExisD]

That sounds like a pretty good urge on my end.

[Empyrean]

The urge sounds pretty good. I'm thinking her Motivation is: "Rule in decadence and splendor unheard of in Creation, Yu-Shan, or Malfeas, and be adored for it."

Background wise, I'm thinking she comes from the Traitorspawn of Luthe. The descendants of the Dragon-Blooded who killed the Solar Queen Amyana. They live as despised slaves. The way I'm thinking right now, is that she was an exceptionally pretty slave who worked her way into the confidences of some of the overseers and plotted a rebellion. Things went to hell and she abandoned her revolutionaries to save her skin at the moment when an Infernal Exaltation was nearby. Held in prison afterwards to be sacrificed by the cult of Leviathan that rules the city, the demon contacted her. It wasn't a hard sell.

So once she Exalted (with Amyana's Exaltation no less), she fought her way out and escaped to the surface. And now she wants to gather power, followers, and wealth. Basically she wants to become powerful, go back to Luthe, claim it for her own, and use it as a base for the Reclamation. Getting the Coastal Satrapies to rebel (and to worship her) would be a a fitting Urge on her way to her goal. :)

[ExisD]

On backstory, how much should we know about each other before game start?

Sky's fairly low key, for a very unsubtle infernal anyway, but that doesn't sound like it'll be true for any of the others so far.

[RSGAlex]

I figured that absent working together in the past, everyone knows a short introduction  (veracity not guaranteed ) and one at least somewhat impressive event of the past. Veracity still not guaranteed, but more likely.