Gunstar Autochthonia (Exalted AU)

[Rook Seidhr]

Four thousand years ago, the Exalted realized they were losing the Primordial War. In a desperate move, they took as many of their human followers as they could and boarded the world-jouten of their ally Autochthon, fleeing the Spiral that was their home for the depths of space. They left behind the Unconquered Sun, who had been beaten into submission and forced to swear fealty to the Universe-Emperor Theion; they left behind Gaia, who grabbed the near-fatally wounded Luna and fled the Spiral aboard her own comet-ship Gnosis. The Five Maidens stole the Loom of Fate from Heaven and integrated it with Autochthon's crystalline core, instituting the Seal of Five Divinities and the Samkhya Heresy Protocols to prevent the Primordials and the Sun from tracking the fleeing Exalted by the prayers of traitors and the cycles of Celestial Exaltation.

The Solar Exalted rule over the Eight Nations of Autochthonia. It is their transcendent mastery of magitech that is still forging Autochthon into the Gunstar, the perfect weapon-world by which the titans can be defeated and the Spiral retaken for humanity.

The Lunar Exalted serve their mates in a variety of capacities. When the Dragon-Blooded pilots of the Gunstar Defense Line launch their voidfighters against the hellstars of the Green Sun Princes, the Lunars are there, needing no ships but taking on the forms of countless space-behemoths they have defeated. When new artifact-implants must be installed in the deepest Reaches of Autochthonia, the Lunars are there, adapting to impossible extremes of temperature, pressure and gravity, defending the crews of technicians against those of Autochthon's internal components that have never seen the face of Man. When Voidbringer cultists seek to open the hatches of the great world-titan to dark forces from without, the Lunars are there, infiltrating and bringing them to justice.

Without the Arcane Fate, the Sidereal Exalted are what the Maidens meant them to be, trusted advisors to the Solars. They predict and shape the course of events within and without Autochthon, interfacing with the great titan's exmachina to reweave his Design.

The Dragon-Blooded bear the brunt of the fighting. The voidfighter pilots of the Gunstar Defense Line, the commanders of the ground troops who repel boarders and drill endlessly for the day that the Gunstar returns to the Spiral, the savants and sorcerer-engineers who assist Solars in their laboratories, these are all chosen from among the Terrestrial Exalted.

The Alchemical Exalted are the Champions of the un-Exalted masses of Autochthonia, at once the visible face of authority to the people, and the defenders and advocates of the people in the councils of the Exalted. They are the only Exalts who see and participate in the day-to-day work that keeps all of Autochthonia running.

The Infernal Exalted (strictly NPCs) lead the Primordials' space-navy. Led by the Conquered Sun, they harrass the Gunstar constantly, tracking it across the stars, ever seeking its destruction. When they cannot triumph by force, they board the Gunstar under cover of diversionary battles, then use their Charms to subvert the populace within.

The Abyssal Exalted (strictly NPCs) are…an enigma. Sometimes void-pilots have reported strange black voidfighters appearing seemingly from nowhere to come to their aid, savagely attacking the Primordial forces, then disappearing as suddenly as they came. However, such sightings often presage seemingly unrelated disasters aboard Autochthon. Are these strange beings friend or foe?

PCs would be experienced Solar, Lunar, Sidereal, Terrestrial or Alchemical Exalted, built with more than starting points; I don't have the details nailed down yet. Nor do I know yet how much of the rules-as-written I want to chuck out the window. I'm far more interested in setting, plot and character than I am in motes and ticks.

I will be posting at least every couple of days. Like most large group games, if you tend to go a week or more between posts, this is not for you. Players who drop out of contact without warning may have their characters turned into NPCs temporarily or (if the loss of contact is long enough) permanently in order to keep the flow going for those who remain active.

If you're interested, please reply, ideally but not necessarily with the type of Exalt you want to play and a few sentences' worth of character concept. If you have any questions, you can post a reply here, hit me up with a PM, or find me on YIM.

[Rook Seidhr]

Modified. No need to have a character concept ready in order to express interest. *facepalm* What was I thinking?

[Muse]

*Waves*  I'll coordinate with Malixie on a concept next time I see him.  Looking forwards to a chance to play. 

[avorae]

I am thinking of either a sidreal or a lunar for my character but not sure of which just yet.

[Zaer Darkwail]

Hmmm, I am at moment thinking between solar or dragon-blood, a kind of pilot ace/crackshot pilot type characther.

[Rook Seidhr]

This is from a YIM convo I just had with Muse:

Click for transcript

Muse: Do you have some idea of how expereinced you mean for us to be, or what sort of story you would tell?

Riveda: Well, I don't like the way experienced characters are created in DotFA, but I do want to start with (somewhat) experienced characters, especially for the lower tiers of Exalts who have to compete with Solars.

Muse: Are there any particular themes you enjoy for erotic aspects of the game? 

Riveda: Autochthonia is a world under constant siege. I imagine a certain amount of desperation is involved in romance and eroticism, people using each other to hold back the stress and fear of war for a few moments at a time. I also like the tension between the official "marriage" of Solar and Lunar vs. the reality that they may or may not be attracted to each other, may have other partners, etc.

Riveda: And there is the power of Exalted social fu to drag anyone into bed, willing or no. Or maybe I should say, "willing or soon-to-be-willing."

Muse: Are there any themes that will fall in line with your plot?   Directions for our motivations?  (Besides those obvious in the setting.) 

Muse: Star fighters?  Battle armors?  Ways to show up at formal functions nicely dressed and be equally ready for social challenges and assassins? 

Riveda: One of the good things about a pbp game is that PCs don't have to have as closely coordinated motivations as in a f2f game, because it's actually easier to split the party than to have everyone together.

Riveda: For Solars and Sidereals, at least, there is the aspect of having to play politics and fight a war at the same time. Lunars and lesser Exalted have a little more freedom to work.

Riveda: I don't know how much assassination there will be. This isn't DotFA, there's a war on and every Solar who gets backstabbed is a victory for the enemy.

Riveda: Voidfighters, Celestial battle armor, these are good things. I like magitech.

Riveda: But my #1 thing as a GM, in any system, is exploring the metaphysical underpinnings of reality. What are the Primordials, really? Why do the black voidfighters seem to be connected to dire portents in the absence of any obvious causality? How can the principles of the universe be bent to serve the cause of Good, or at least the cause of the Exalted? And are the Exalted really the good guys?

Muse: *nods* What do they call the—apparently brainwashed—Unconquered Sun? The Tyrant Star?

Riveda: Yes. Can He be rescued? How?

[AndyZ]

Possibly interested, but I need to come up with an idea.

[Malixe]

I~m here! Concepts brimming! Mr.Muse and I will have lots of stuff to talk about. Yes

[Meliai]

I picked up Shards from my FLGS yesterday and read through the Gunstar chapter. I'm a little fuzzy on a few things, but I haven't read up on Alchemicals before and judging by the context I suspect that will clear things up. I particularly liked the bits musing on the ethicality (ethicacy? ethicalness?) of turning Autochthon into the deathstar and the way mortal laborers are used.

Don't want to make a final decision before I've read up on the Alchemicals and Sidereals, but as of now I'm leaning towards fairly young, bleeding heart sort of Eclipse or Twilight caste struggling to reconcile the rather naive, idealized view of the Exalted she held as a mortal with the reality of their imperfections and the sacrifices and compromises even the most noble of them have to make due to the war.

[Muse]

This is what Malixie and I have come up with so far. 

   Some centuries ago, a hard working couple in the lower sections of the city of Classlat gave birth to a truly remarkable set of twin sisters.  Achingly beautiful, agile, intelligent, spirited and compassionate, these girls left their craft mason roots early in life.  They studied the arts of the dance.  By the time they came of age, they were equally capable of brining an audience to riotous applause, bittersweet tears, or sweats of lust. 
   In the middle of the greatest performance of their mortal lives, the girls exalted. 
   Since then, both girls have danced together whenever they could, but their duties have expanded their skills sets significantly.  Both work in propaganda, to keep the morale of the Gunstar high, but no exalt can content themselves with such simple duties.  The solar sister has taken up the study of sorcery while the sidereal sister works to emulate her formal exaltation, seeking to master the martial arts known as Sapphire Veil of Passion and Prismatic Arrangement of Creation. 

*  *  *

I like that idea, Meliai. 

[Zaer Darkwail]

Hmmm, so should I be dawn or night casted solar for ace pilot (night would focus mostly solo scouting missions while dawn would be squad leader type) or dragon-blood ace type? Help me decide guys....perhaps some sample 'drive' charms? Or is there drive skill at all in setting and which caste has it? Or does ride emulate it?

[Rook Seidhr]

perhaps some sample 'drive' charms? Or is there drive skill at all in setting and which caste has it? Or does ride emulate it?

There is no Drive Ability. Standard voidfighters (the sort mass-produced to be piloted by the Dragon-Blooded) use Sail Charms. It would be possible to design a custom 4- or 5-dot artifact "voidbird," intended for a Solar's use, that would be directed mostly by posture and muscle tension, thus making it a Ride vehicle.

[AndyZ]

Actually, Shards does use Drive and Firearms abilities.

[Rook Seidhr]

Actually, Shards does use Drive and Firearms abilities.

Not all of the backgrounds presented in Shards use Drive or Firearms. Gunstar specifically states that it does not. (first bullet point under "Character Creation in Gunstar Autochthonia," page 40)

[Zaer Darkwail]

Hmmmm, at moment I am leaning now towards somekind scoundrel.....bit Han Solo combined with Space Cowboy deal. So a night caste solar with unique twinked spacecraft which has knack for adventure, excitement and also larceny activity (mostly smuggling stuff altough I wonder is there any purpose in said activity in 'deathstar'?).

[Rook Seidhr]

(mostly smuggling stuff altough I wonder is there any purpose in said activity in 'deathstar'?).

Yyyyeah. I'm wondering the same thing. From where would you be smuggling it, for one thing? Or to where?

Running some kind of criminal empire inside Autochthonia would be possible, I suppose—but it would also be treason against the war effort.

This is more like Battlestar Galactica than Star Wars. There's not a lot of room for Han Solo types.

[Zaer Darkwail]

Well, perhaps smuggler in sense that he can fly his ship to other planets/worlds, steal/loot some supplies (perhaps from green sun princes themselves by usign disguise charms) and then smuggle them back to 'deathstar'? So he does not run criminal activity but more a independant daredevil do antics which may annoy solar deliberate/military because he runs risk getting caught and so become interriogated. So in essence kind reckless night caste solar who refuses settle in for military lifestyle.

[Rook Seidhr]

Well, perhaps smuggler in sense that he can fly his ship to other planets/worlds, steal/loot some supplies (perhaps from green sun princes themselves by usign disguise charms)

Wow. That would be extremely dangerous. I don't think you could make a habit of it. A starting character probably could not pull it off even once, and if he did, he'd be censured by the Deliberative for taking such a risk.

I'm sorry, I don't think this is a viable character concept. You need to rein in your character's disobedient tendencies a bit. Think Starbuck, not Han Solo.

[AndyZ]

Not all of the backgrounds presented in Shards use Drive or Firearms. Gunstar specifically states that it does not. (first bullet point under "Character Creation in Gunstar Autochthonia," page 40)

My mistake.  Sorry.

[Zaer Darkwail]

Hmmm, ok. Rebellious sort scoundrel then who was as normal mortal a local scoundrel who when he was exalted forced to join military as it was his so called duty. Well he could not avoid military life but he decided not change at all by his new spot in military. His favorite hobby included racing with vechiles and those talents lend well for flight squadron or his case a solo pilot seated figther which is somekind prototype which was deemed as failure because dragon-bloods could not attune to it (but solars could). Because of his attitude problems he does not 'fit' into command position but he is ace pilot and so asset in situation where most solars do not dare to go; in aerial battles (instead use mech suit or such).

Assuming in above I understand that dawn castes are more back row commanders than front line usually.

[Muse]

  while the dragon blooded are clearly the front lines of the space force, i certainly haven't read anything to say that the dawn caste stay out of it? 

  I mean, it uses the same "lead from the front" mass combat rules. 

[Rook Seidhr]

Muse is correct. The Dawn Castes (and other flight commanders—there's no reason any Solar can't have enough War, Sail and Archery to command a voidfighter wing, if that's their inclination) lead from the front, except for the highest generals, who direct the entire defensive formation through their Sidereal staff.

A Night Caste pilot might be put in charge of a fleet scouting element, sent on long-range reconnaissance with only two or three Dragon-Bloods backing him. That assumes he's able to deal with subordinates even though he constantly butts heads with his superiors?

[Zaer Darkwail]

My char can deal subordinates while butts heads with higher command (and solars in general who think themselves far above their mortal subjects). He example bunks and hangs out more with dragon-bloods and mortals than with solars (which most he thinks are full of themselves). He resented solars because far too often facing the nastier examples seen during his mortal years and he has not changed his opinion about them in general. Having more respect to dragon-bloods.

[Meliai]

Alright, I'm all read up now (poor Autochthon ) and definitely going with the Solar.

Since it sounds like Muse and Malixe are going pretty social/manipulation heavy I'm going to swap my primary and secondary focuses and have her be more of a technician with a diplomatic streak instead of vice versa. I'm thinking she works as a Troubleshooter of sorts, going wherever there are technical troubles too difficult for the mortal workers to deal with. Savant background and Lore/Occult/Craft to fix things that've gone bad, socialize and bureaucracy to calm things down afterwards and and of course some combat skills so she doesn't get slaughtered when things inevitably go bad.

Twilight would fit her skills best but Eclipse fits her personality and goals better, so I'm going to hold off on solidifying things a bit longer to see what other castes we get.

[avorae]

I think I finally have an idea for my character. I am thinking of a Lunar planetary scout. Once the group discovers a new planet it would be my character's job to actually scout it out for useful resources.