#exalted challenge

[mwritesink]

Retroactive Submission: Challenge 6

fulfilling THIS challenge: Use a song to inspire an Exalted character

Song: “Zombie” by The Cranberries

Before celestial exaltations leave Lytek’s office, he prunes them of the older memories that cling to it. However, there are a few that are fated to not be as pruned as the others, so that the lessons learned can stick through the ages. At least one holder of such and exaltation would wish these memories gone.

They call themselves Bramble Thorn, after the place their memories center on, and how those memories tangle together. Thorns, they know, has always been a place of conflict. Mask of Winters is only the latest in the cycle of conquerers. 

This era’s Bramble Thorn exalted as a Sidereal Chosen of Battles. just as the armies of undead controlled by Mask of Winters finished taking the city. The Bramble Thorn previous died attempting to stop a Hekontaire from harming a group of children. Even so, they hadn’t quite seen the children. In their mind, it was their family. Except that it wasn’t, it was the family of the Bramble Thorn even before them. 

Back and back and back, the fate of the Bramble Thorn is to die protecting another in the heat of a battle, becuase they see the memories of their previous incarnation in the innocents they are saving. The dissonance between “then” and “now” in their mind is what creates the opening for their death. 

[mwritesink]

Retroactive Exalted Challenge Redux 1

filling this! challenge: recast one of your characters as a different Exalt type

Putting this one up with my retroactive entry for the other exalted challenge 1 since it’s dealing with the same character: Tepet Sandara, Solar to No-moon Lunar. 

When the gossipers and influence mongers of the Blessed Isle spoke of the Lunar Anathema, they spoke in stereotypes. Drooling, animalistic, barbarians with hordes at their back that lived on teh edges of creation. Fitting beasts for the Wyld Hunt to slaughter. There is one voice that agrees louder than the rest. not too much to give cause to notice, but enough to solidify that they are a loyal citizen of the Realm. This voice, of course, belongs to the one lunar that is hiding in their salons, their parlors, their inner sanctums. 

To some she is a minor scion of house Ragara, another three believe her to be of House V’Neef, and more would claim Ledaal or Cathak or Cynis. All of them know her without knowing her by her skin tight silver bracelets and choker. None of them have yet suspected that she is a spy and saboteur, protecting the Realm as best she can from its worst elements within it. 

Sandara, once Tepet Sandara, is one of Creation’s Stewards, and she has chosen the Blessed Isle for her stewardship. 

----

The core of Sandara that i’m keepign from changing her from Solar to Lunar is that she tries her utmost to be a loyal citizen of the Realm. Yes, she knows that there are problems in her home, but that doesn’t mean that she’s going to throw over her home when she can think of no place that is better. As a lunar, Sandara exalts a lot earlier than she would for being a Solar, in her late teens instead of her mid twenties, so she’s a lot less compromising in her ideals, and a little less nuanced. She’s able to grow into nuance, of course, but it’s with an entirely different perspective that is more “I must protect my home” than “I must improve my home.” 

Lunar!Sandara would also have a lot more outside support than Solar!Sandara, even if her relationship with the Silver Pact is very ... touchy. She’s more than willing to call on them for a favor when she needs pure muscle. They’re more than willing to call on her when they need to infiltrate some noble’s court. However, she will sabotage any lunar’s plan on the Blessed Isle if said plan will put it’s common citizens, or members of her former house, into danger, and every other member of the Pact knows that. 

[mwritesink]

Retroactive Exalted Challenge 1

Fulfilling this challenge: revisit and edit your first character

What’s actually kinda funny is that i’ve been in the process of this for a bit before I found out about @shiftingpath‘s exalted challenges and asked if I could do them even though the actual challenge dates have long past.

My first character is Tepet Sandara, I made her for 2ed while I was in high school. Did a lot of character creation then, but not any playing sadly enough. Originally, she was the twin sister to Tepet Lisara who exalted as a Zenith Solar the day of the eclipse that coincided with the Scarlet Empress disappearing, and kept it hidden for years until she was forced to run from home.

Looking back, omg mechanically she was a mess becuase I pretty much stuck whatever I thought was cool from the DB book then reapplied that to a dynast raised Solar (she had training equalling having attended the Palace of the Tamed Storm and the Spiral Academy) and also my favorite martial arts style from Scroll of the monk: Dreaming Pearl Courtesan style. Overall, she was a loyal citizen of the Realm, but she also wanted to revive her country and home to be better than it had been. I’ve been trying to re-tool her for 3ed and have come up with two options. 

option one: Sandara masquerades as a mortal member of the lower house in the Deliberative, even after her Exaltation, while also studying DPC martial arts. Supernal Performance, with specialties in dance and storytelling. She’d give her speeches on the deliberative floor in the form of a story. One of her goals is to help her house regain some of it’s lost status, while also attempting to reform her home’s government. 

option two: Sandara is still a student of DPC Style, but her main occupation is that she’s a tutor of sorts for dynastic children before they are sent to a primary school. the tutoring is how she’s able to come into contact with long time crush Cynis Denovah Avaku, and her best friend Memnon Caras Minata, Avaku’s wife. Of course, the only reason that she’s in this tutoring roll at all is becuase it’s a low-key way for house Tepet to accrue a series of small favors with various factions of the other houses. And Sandara’s access to dynastic children helps with her other goal of trying to reform her country by teaching righteousness to it’s future leaders

[shiftingpath]

I haven’t had time to work on my Exalted Challenge at all this week. I’m pushing the due date back to Saturday the 13th. Take a look and see if you have any ideas to recycle canon NPCs!

[shiftingpath]

Exalted Challenge Redux 6

Welcome, returning submitters and newcomers alike, to the Exalted Challenge! Everyone is free to participate through whatever medium you prefer; writing, statting, and art are all totally valid options. Please have your submission posted (and tagged #exalted challenge) or reblogged from this post by Monday June 8th. I will be out of town on the weekend, so you’ll have a few extra days to work on this one! On the 9th I’ll collect the submissions, publish them in a separate post, and set a new challenge.

Creation has been populated with hundreds of characters for us, samples from every corner of the world and beyond. Mortal, exalt, spirits, every race of being. They’re meant to be tools for us to use, discard, or adapt for our own stories, and for this challenge we will be focusing on the latter.

This week, you will take an existing canonical NPC from any Exalted book and rework them for a different purpose. Try to keep their basic core concept, but change their location, caste, goals, affiliation, or any other key trait to adapt them for a different use than the one they were written for. Feel free to accompany your ideas with art, writing, character sheets, cosplay... anything you want to use to anchor your new NPC into their new role.

Feel free to ask me if you have any questions. Good luck, have fun, and see you in two weeks (plus a few days)!

-Path.

[musingbetweentherolls]

Exalted Challenge 5 - The Hollow Hearted, The Darkling Blade and The Gloamling Watchers

Like much on The Ebon Dragon, the behaviours and whereabouts of his fetich soul, Blagoy, the Hollow Hearted, are relatively hard to come by, especially in Malfeas itself.  This was not good enough for the Exalted of the First Age, and hence, the Scroll of Limbs includes much on the topic, and of the more known demons that descend from Blagoy, the Hollow Hearted.  Blagoy often manifests as a 12 year old human boy with velvety black skin, along with white hair and eyes. He has horns curving out from his forehead, made of tainted soulsteel, and usually has a smile on his cherubic face.  He is clothed only in a toga of blackest, insubstantial night, woven from the very darkness of his greater self.  Whilst the lesser demons of hell know nothing of what Blagoy spends his time doing, those lower in the hierarchy, such as his seven Second Circle souls and those who are close to them knows that he works tirelessly to make the Reclamation happen.  But in very indirect ways, because above all else, Blagoy represents the inner essence of The Ebon Dragon.  That is, he is a coward, and he has never felt fear like he felt when he was very nearly ritually vivisected at the conclusion of the Primordial War, like the fetich souls of so many of his fellows.    It is said that Blagoy’s obsession with fear began then, and lead to his study of Necromancy, amougst other things, and hence, among those who know of his…activities, he’s considered an amoral monster.

Blagoy, The Hollow Hearted, Fetich Soul of the Ebon Dragon Demon of the Third Circle. Is the Ebon Dragon's cowardice and lack of virtue, his empty inner self. Obscurity 5/5  Summoning - Was very rarely summoned, even in the Old Realm, due to being too unreliable in most roles. Motivation: To have others return Creation to its rightful rulers at his behest. Intimacies – The Ebon Dragon, darkness, trickery, fear    negative - The virtuous Traits: 25 dice to everything, 30 to social. If opposed by virtue, reduce dice pools to 15 Virtues; Compassion 1, Conviction 1, Temperance 1, Valour 1 Essence - 10--pool ~250m Willpower 10, Summoning Resistance 4 Charms- --Can channel TED's charms for the cost of 1 perm wp. --Creates crippling fear from all those born mortal, -10i pen, 5wp to resist umi, those reduced to 0, if mortal, die instantly, their lower soul bound as Balgoy's pet. If Exalted, a Shaping and Emotion effect locks away all of their essence powers as despair overtakes them.  Sorcery - Knows sorcery of the Emerald, Sapphire and Adamant Circles , as well as some Necromancy of the Iron circle and can teach spells to any who can learn. Instruction costs a dot of virtue, permanently removed as Crippling effect, removal causes roll off, defence causes roll off. - Many others.

One of the most prominent Second Circle demons associated with Blagoy is Azara, his Indulgent Soul.  She spends her time mostly within her fiefdom, administering it as she sees fit, and indulging in all the beautiful acts that she approves of, whilst punishing those that she deems unbeautiful.  Everything Azara does or does not do is a tribute towards beauty, or a punishment for the lack of it.  However, Azara has a very alien understanding of what constitutes ‘beauty’, and hence can be unpredictable.    But true to her progenitor, she does not rule directly.  Instead, she has a puppet council of First Circle demons, some of them her own progeny, other not so, all of them living in terror and fulfilling her wishes to the best of their abilities.  On the occasions where Azara appears in person, she typically has a gang of hungry ghosts on leashes, necromantically bound to her will, so to spread fear among those who would dare challenge her.  Her fiefdom isn’t an expansionist one, but she guards her borders carefully.

Azara, The Darkling Blade, Second Circle Demon, Indulgent Soul of The Hollow Hearted Summoning-(Obscurity 4/6)- When a lover kills another in the pitch dark of the no moon, with no witnesses, sometimes Azara sees the kill and can slip through into Creation to punish an unbeautiful act.  For beautiful kills, she tends not to, and merely watches. The light of the sun discorporates her body and sends her back to Malfeas.  Sorcerers summon her to assassinate their enemies, or as a bodyguard, occasionally as a teacher, but anyone who she kills must be someone who the sorcerer has no positive intimacies for, otherwise she gains a point of limit. Motivation:  Collect memories of perfect kills , intimacies-assignation, ED and Blagoy, darkness, empty islands, black vegetation, beauty, betrayed lovers, the death of love, falling in love, disguises, her infernal Fiefdom,  ghosts, Attributes- Strength-6 Charisma-5 Perception-6           Dexterity-9 Manipulation-8 Intelligence- 7     Stamina-6  Apperance-8 Wits-6 Abilities- Athletics 4, Archery 4(Marmoral Cannon+1),Awareness 4, Bureaucracy 2(her fiefdom +3), Craft(Earth)2(Sculpture+1), Craft(Wood)3, Craft(Air)4, Craft(Water)3(Poisons+2)Dodge 5(In Shadowy Illumination+3), Craft(Vitriol)4, Investigation 6(Reading Motivation+1), Integrity 3,Larceny 5(Disguise+2), Linguistics(Old Realm, Riverspeak, Seatongue, Skytongue, Forest-tongue, Flametongue)5,  Lore 5(Secrets+1), Martial Arts 4, Melee 5(Darkling+3),  Occult 5(The Darkness+1, Sorcery +1, Necromancy +1), Performance 3(Prayer to Yozis +1), Presence 4(intimidation+2), Resistance 2, Socialize 6(Lies+3), Stealth 5(In Darkess+2 ,In Shadowed Light+1 ), Survival 6(Tracking+2), Thrown 4, War 3(strategy+1)

Backgrounds- Ally 1, Backing (Ebon Dragon)3,  Cult 2, Artifact 3,  Artifact 1/Sapience3(Inkling), Resources 5, Artifcat 2, Influence 2(The House of Lovely Ends), Manse 3(TED-The Darkling Tower),Manse 1(Vitriol- Fountain of Pain), Followers 5(ghosts + her own twisted progeny), Join battle- 10

Charms-   -Measure the Wind -Materialise - 75m - -Infinite Melee Mastery(temp) -Third Dodge Excellency -Landscape Travel(conviction)- In shadows -Infinite Dodge Mastery(temp) -Stoke the Flame(temp)- Azara can make others see the beauty in things -Landscape Hide(temp)- Into an area that has been in untouched by sunlight in the last 25 hours. -Mirror of the Infinite Wardrobe(conviction)- All Enc -Paper Tiger Arrangement(conviction)-Create shadows that move as she wills -Loom Stride(conviction)- Can stride into Fate also, if she wishes. -Second Stealth Excellency(conv) -Infinite  Stealth Mastery(temp) -Shadow Dragon's Embrace(compassion)- Makes trgt CoD, -2i in bright light as well as benefits. -Foretell the Future(compassion)- Beseech the Hollow Heart for his plans -Amethyst Awareness(compassion) in the darkness -Tracking(compassion)-All enc -Memory Mirror(compassion)-Finds information towards her goal -Hand of Destiny(compassion)- Enact the plan of the Shadow of All Things. -Essence Plethora x2 -Principle of Motion - Ox-Body-Technique(valour)x 2- -Meat of Broken Flesh(temp)-fails if opposed by Holy magic. -Scourge(valour)- (charm cost)m/(artifact's level*2)m+1wp to remove defensive magic/unattune artifacts -Paralyse(valour)- Can create many Poisons -Hurry Home-- back to her manse -Reserve of Will x 2 -Spirit-Cutting(valor) -Divine Prerogative(valour)-cannot betray the wedding plans of The Ebon Dragon -Material Tribulation Divestment- to avoid retribution.

-Terrestrial Circle Sorcery - Emerald Countermagic, Corrupted Words, Disguise of the New Face, Shadow Summons, Death of Obsidian Butterflies, Invulnerable  Skin of Bronze, Stormwind Rider

- Iron Circle Necromancy - Iron Countermagic, Hungry Creeping Shadow, Rune of Sweet Passing, Shadow Prison Amulet, Death Inversion Loop, Summon Ghost, Banish Ghost, Raise the Skeletal Horde, Black Candle Visage, Piercing the Shroud,

- Dodge DV-10(12 in shadows) -DDMDV-9 Virtues- Compassion 3, Conviction 3, Temperance 5,  Valour 4 Essence--6 - Pool - 119m (6m attuned) Willpower -9(11) Attacks- Clinch - Spd6, Acc 13, Dmg 6B, - , Rate 1, Tags P Punch- Spd 5, Acc 14, Dmg 6B, PDV 8, Rate 3 Inkling- Spd 4, Acc 19, Dmg 9L/2, PDV 9, Rate 3, Tags-O -- -2e/+2PDV in shadowy illumination, Small Marmoreal Cannon-Spd 6, Acc 16, Dmg 10B/2, Rate 1, Tags O-- 2m per shot, Health levels--    -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/Inc Soak - +15L/18B soak, 3L/3B Hardness (+12L/12B Shadowy Body, +3L/3B Hardness) Other Notes -  Enjoys eating herself, having a Carnifex Guild demon slave chop her in two and into a living copy(her) and a dead one(dinner). This is her Ally1.  Her Wings of Night are a soft mantle of almost silent(diff 5 to hear) shadow which allows the user to fly at twice their land speed. A hearthstone can be placed into it's  depths. attune 5m, Inkling, Azara's Infernal short daiklaive has a powerful demonic intelligence bound within. 8m attune, Inkling (Artifact 1, Sapience 3). Short Daiklaive-  Urge - To love the darkness -First and Third Melee  Ex -Hurry Home- 1m ref to return to wielders's hand -Bane Weapon- A dmg vs humans -Third Awareness Excellency -Natural Prognostication- Know the significant Ess 3 -- Azara rules her own Fiefdom, via proxy, her identity unknown,  and The House of Lovely Ends, which is a two city-block sized mansion/assassin training facility, and she rules from the central pit, which is also her manse.  It is a place of black vegetation, and various First Circle demons which play tragic poetry for her amusement, (also to keep away Adorjan, as many are of her descent).  She largely leaves rulership into the hands of her ally and pets, a cadre of first circle progeny,  Her 3 dot manse , her command tower is aspected towards The Ebon Dragon, produces a Freedom Stone, which she sets into her Wings of Night, her other hearthstone is from a brass fountain of vitriol constructed in a square, which produces a Demon-Maggot Stone which she has socketed into her Small Mammoreal Cannon, a spear sized helltech weapon which she owns, but is not part of her panoply.

 One of her favourite breeds of progeny are the Thryskars, the Gloamling Watchers.  These 4ft tall, clawed, scaly humanoids have lizard-like tails and the head of a fly, its segmented eyes a rich, glossy black.  Azara created them a few centuries ago to serve as sentries and spies for her fiefdom.  They reproduce by creating cocoons in a shadowed, hidden place and then, after a season, two Thryskars emerge.

Thryksars, The Gloamling Watchers Demon of the First Circle -Created by Azara as spies and sentries. Obscurity(4/5)-Concieved around three centuries ago, they are largely unknown due to lack of commincation within Creation's demonologist societies, no mentions in first age texts.  It is not known if they can enter Creation without a summons. Motivation-To watch from the shadows Attributes- Strength- 2 Charisma - 1 Perception - 5 Dexterity--3 Manipulation -3          Intelligence - 2 Stamina -3 Appearance-2 Wits - 2 Abilities- Athletics 3, Awareness 5, Bureacracy -3,  Dodge 3, Martial Arts 3, Occult 2, Larceny 4, Lore 2, Presence 2(Causing fear+2), Resistance 2, Socialise  2(Lies+3), Survival 3,  War 1 Backgrounds- Backing 2, Charms- -Measure the Wind -Materialise -Tracking(comp) - -Intrusion-Sensing Method(Comp)- Areas that the Thryskar guards. -Shapechange(conv)- Can turn into either a dark haired, dark skinned human, or a black  feathered bird -Mimic of Tongues(comp)- -Loom Stride(conv) - Can walk from shadow to shadow. -Frist Larceny Excellency(conv) -Harrow the Mind(temp) - Can force a victim to reveal information, fear based. -Subtle Whisper(temp) -Landscape Hide(temp)- Can disappear into a shadow that has been there for at least 25           hours -Spice of Custodial Delectation(temp) - When spying - Ox-Body Tech(valour) -Material Tribulation Divestment(valour) - Removes Sickness and Poison effects. -Essence Bite(valour) - Inflicts 4L dmg to all who touch it, as icy shadows surround it. -First Dodge Excellency(valour) - Hurry Home - Back to where it entered Creation or to Azara's fiefdom. - Malediction(valour) - Against those who impede it's mission -First Martial Arts Excellency(valour) - Virtues- Compassion 2 , Conviction 3, Temperance 4, Valour 3 DMDV - 5 DDV- 5 Essence- 3  pool- 75m Willpower-7  Attacks -   Claws - Spd 5, Acc 7, Dmg 4L, PDV 4, Rate 3. Tags N Clinch- Spd 6, Acc 6, Dmg 2B, Rate 1, Tags N Soak- 7L/8B soak(Shadowy Body +5L/5B soak) Health levels- -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/Inc

[shiftingpath]

Exalted Challenge Redux 5: Demon Hierarchy

Folks love demons amirite! We’re missing a few, so keep an eye out in the #exalted challenge tag! I’ll add them to the post when they come in. I figured it was best to give the titles as stingers here instead of the names, so you can get a hint of their nature before running into them...

The Good Blood of the Sands, the Champion of Eternities, and the Rune-Soaked Remnants, Cecelyne (nightmarework)

The Invisible Night Sky, the Incomparable Pleasure Spire, and the Butler Crabs, Malfeas (magicturtle)

The Mother of Monsters, the Sedition Portrait, and the Miasma Slugs, Kimbery (shiftingpath)

The Catalogue of Iniquities, the Unthinkable, and the Watching Swarms, She Who Lives in Her Name (morkaischosen)

The Cancer Serpent, the Anodyne Alchemist, and the Eaters of Sorrows, Metagaos (winterwombat)

The Anchor of Sins, the Subtle Whirlwind, and the Wandering Chaos, Adorjan (xxxdragonfucker69xxx)

The Voice of Perfect Crystal, the Spinner of Diamonds, and the Jewelled Ribbons, She Who Lives in Her Name (viridian-sun)

The Star of Release, the Knowing Merchant, and the Bauble Birds, Cecelyne (trappedinavelociraptor)

The Hollow Hearted, the Darkling Blade, and the Gloamling Watchers, Ebon Dragon (musingbetweentherolls)

Take a look at the submissions and share them around, then get ready for the next challenge, which I’ll post later today!

-Path.

[trappedinavelociraptor]

My first Exalted Challenge! A set of Cecelyne demons. My inspiration for this doesn’t go much farther than “Verdant Emptiness Endowment is rad” and so most of the credit must really go to shiftingpath.

All things strive, driven by the hope that things can be better, even the pitiable demons of Malfeas. Many of the them voice these hopes as silent prayers to Yvahaine, the Star of Release, who twinkles beyond Ligier’s light. The downtrodden are countless and so the prayers flow thickly. The number she takes note of are, by comparison, vanishingly small. But still they pray and they hope. Yvahaine is drawn to prayers for release from oppression, wishes to escape hierarchy or torment. Rarely, she grants them, in her own way. Demons who wish elevation of station get just that, joining Yvahaine in the sky, twinkling beside her brother Orabilis’ foolish scholars-turned-stars.(Whether or not this is an improvement varies from demon to demon.)

The wisdom of Cecelyne is the wisdom that all things can be bought by the rich and powerful, and Cassitannus, the Knowing Merchant, Defining soul of Yvahaine, knows the prices exactly. He takes the form of a bedraggled, vulture-headed merchant traveling the silver wastes of Cecelyne, offering all manner of wares and services to those making the journey. Twisting his long neck this way and that to focus his beady eyes on a mark, he possesses nearly unrivaled insight into the wishes of his customers, and an inventory of wares certainly unable to be acquired in Creation. Many interesting and unique things can be found in the eclectic collection piled high in his cart, but all come with a price scaled to the desire he can sense within a customer. Cassitannus is willing to bargain, but those who haggle with him often wish they hadn't, as fine print and hidden catches reveal themselves, snared on turns of phrase and his customers' own idioms ("I'd give anything for…").

He is well known to sorcerers, given that one who passes through Cecelyne often enough is bound be be accosted by him eventually, offering them all manner of strange goods to aid their occult studies. The Knowing Merchant is occasionally summoned to provide such esoteric goods, but just as often brought forth to help advise tradesmen in their bargaining. Knowing that your customer would easily be willing to pay double what you were about to ask for is a valuable thing indeed.

Cassitannus favors customers under duress and often seeks out travelers lost in the Endless Desert, offering them directions and supplies at exorbitant prices. To aid him in finding these special clients, he takes unsellable scrap (mostly tin) and minor trinkets, crafting them into Gaudgaw, the Bauble Birds. These creations of mottled tin and shiny rubbish are able to ride upon the prayers to Yvahaine, using them like thermals to scan the Endless Desert for lost travelers to alert their progenitor to.

They are rarely found outside the Endless Desert, but have been known to be sent into Malfeas as messengers when Cassitannus is acting as a go-between or broker for other parties. They see occasional use by sorcerers in the deserts of Creation, as their ability to track down the lost or escaped is without match, as the Gaudgaw are naturally drawn to the desperate desire such travelers are beacons of.