History Trivia / EXALTED

*** The backer PDF also spotlighted why having ProtectionFromEditors [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools is not always the best thing]], as the Charms chapter is commonly considered to be overly-long, bloated with unnecessary 'dice trick' charms that do little but make the players and Storyteller do more work (one obvious example is the Melee Charm Rising Sun Slash, which does nothing ''unless the player rolls a straight''), after having made a point of removing the majority of 2nd Edition's additional 'dice tricks' in the Infinite Masteries and Second/Third Excellencies. Craft, Brawl, Lore, and Socialize all have 48+ Charms, which basically everyone agrees is far more than is really necessary[[note]]To elaborate, a starting Solar could put all their chargen Charms into Craft, spend all their bonus points on Craft Charms, ''buy nothing but Craft Charms until they naturally reach Essence 5'', and ''still'' have not bought all of the Craft Charms[[/note]] and are often the first targets of anyone homebrewing different systems. Ultimately, it's considered to be a very good example of what happens when a very wordy writer gets to be immune to being very firmly told "No".

** Further to that, little to nothing is known about what the original concepts for the Exalts that became the Umbrals and Dream-Souled were, apart from them being tied to a line in an Infernal Exalted preview PDF from the 3e core Kickstarter about the Yozis Isidoros and Oramus creating their own Exalted, and the Yozis being disquieted by the results. When Vance and Minton took over, they basically had to reinvent them from scratch because they knew next to nothing about them. As for the Hearteaters, all they had of ''them'' was their name.

* FanNickname:
** Chejop Kejak: "Ketchup Carjack"
** The First and Forsaken Lion is more commonly referred to as the [=FaFL=].
** The Primordial She Who Lives in Her Name is almost universally referred to by her acronym, [=SWLiHN=]; one of the authors even bemoaned having to use her full name when writing ''Infernals'', since it wasted so much wordcount. And of course, many just call her [[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=swillin Swillin']].
** Gazellecarp: The capstone charm of the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Style transforms your character into a serpentine chimera whose features include a head like a gazelle foal and multiple carp fins down the sides.
** [[http://meluran.deviantart.com/art/DEMETHEMANIA-comic-53379022 DEMETHEMANIA]]: Demetheus, a big, burly Dawn Caste fighter. In his back story, he wrestled giant lions with his bare hands and won; thus a badass was born. He was also visibly inspired by The Rock.
** The signature Malefactor, wearer of the rather ''interesting'' take on a nun's habit, is referred to alternately as Hellnun or Bondage Nun. ([[AllThereInTheManual Her real name is Sulumor, by the way.]])
** "Her Redness" and "Big Red" for the Scarlet Empress.
** The Primordial Ramethus, who attacked in the Aftershock War (having optimized itself for combat), is frequently referred to (even by the game's freelance writers on the White Wolf forums) as Chungira, named after Jon Chung, who posts a lot about Exalted optimization.
** Even after receiving both a pre-ascension name (Sol Incarnate) and title of address (Ignis Divine, his equivalent of 'your majesty'), a large portion of the fan-base still prefers to call the Unconquered Sun "Sol Invictus." Even John Mørke admitted to wanting to use the term, in spite of being forbidden from canonizing it (in ''Glories of the Most High: the Unconquered Sun''). Some who favor it do so because a Latin name would help Sol fit in better with all the other Incarnae... others cite that as an excellent reason not to use it. The Sun does, after all, stand apart from the Moon and stars.
*** The Unconquered Sun is also occasionally called "Conky."
** The complete loser of a Primordial known as The Ebon Dragon sometimes has his name shortened to TED.
** After the agonizing delays for the Third Edition books, fans started calling the series Exalted: the Waiting.
* MoneyDearBoy: Revealed to be the reason why the Ink Monkeys stopped making new material -- they got greenlit to actually be paid for things.
* NamesTheSame: Just to be clear: the Void that afflicts Autochthon isn't the same Void as Oblivion. Autochthon's Void is a manifestation of his [[FanNickname robo-cancer]].
* OldShame: ''Scroll of the Monk'' and the much-reviled Void Avatar Prana for Ink Monkey Dean Shomshak.
* ProtectionFromEditors: Second Edition had an extremely hands-off approach, the Developer concluding that the writers would have better ideas without him interfering.
* RunningTheAsylum: In a case of Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, the addition of the Ink Monkeys and Errata Team Prime has led to a general increase in the quality of the rules and has been very well received on the White Wolf forum (seriously, saying you dislike them is FandomHeresy there now)- but see also BrokenBase. They have their detractors, some of whom get as vehement as the fans.
* ShoutOut: ''Exalted'' was initially promoted as the prehistory of ''[[TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness The World of Darkness]]'' (the old version), and references to this connection were made (in the form of shared terminology and some thematic overlaps) in gamebooks of both settings for a while, but the idea was dropped, especially with the 2nd Edition of ''Exalted'' and the end of the Old World of Darkness. Even prior to that, it was specified in the Storyteller's guide to be an optional possible interpretation, not a hard-and-fast fact. Some shared terminology, such as Stygia or Neverborn, also shows up across ''Exalted'' and the [[TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness new WOD]], thanks to the [=nWOD's=] inheritance of some [=oWOD=] terms.
** The parallel groups were: Solar Exalted - ''TabletopGame/HunterTheReckoning'', Lunar Exalted - ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'', Sidereal Exalted - ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'', Abyssal Exalted - ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'', Terrestrial Exalted - ''TabletopGame/KindredOfTheEast'', Fair Folk - ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheDreaming''.
** Other shared ideas include:
*** Malfeas - home of the ''Werewolf'' BigBad. The ''Exalted'' version bears more resemblance to ''Kindred of the East'''s Yomi, however.
*** The Scarlet Empress/Queen/Phoenix and the Ebon Dragon - prominent in ''TabletopGame/KindredOfTheEast'', and, according to some subtle references in ''TabletopGame/DemonTheFallen'' and ''TabletopGame/HunterTheReckoning'', they were the ''Hunter'' Messengers.
*** The Deathlords and the Neverborn - both prominent in ''TabletopGame/WraithTheOblivion'', though (typically) working on opposite sides of the divide there.
*** The Dragon Kings - name that the dinosaurs are remembered under by the Mokolé in ''Werewolf''.
*** Autochthonia - one of the ''Mage'' Technocracy's favorite places.
*** In the optional metaplot of ''Return of The Scarlet Empress'', the Ebon Dragon creates an enormous infernal artifact. The name of this artifact: [[TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse the Black Spiral]].
** Although showing up much later, 2e's Green Sun Princes use much of the same terminology as ''TabletopGame/DemonTheFallen'' (Torment, the names of their castes); 3e's have different names for their castes, based mainly on the spherical coordinate system.
** In 1st Edition, the Neverborn were referred to as Malfeans (another term for them from ''TabletopGame/WraithTheOblivion''). This confused people, because you had dead Primordials called MALFEANS and imprisoned (but still very alive) Primordials who lived in MALFEAS. They dropped the Malfean term in 2nd Edition to avoid that confusion.
** A few NWOD-specific references have slipped in, too. For instance, the mortal creators of the Alchemicals are known as demiurges (the name for those mortals who create [[TabletopGame/PrometheanTheCreated Prometheans]]), and according to WordOfGod, the Liminal Exalted are inspired by ''Promethean''.
*** Not to mention that ''[[TabletopGame/GeistTheSinEaters Geist]]'', the NWOD successor to ''Wraith'', features the Underworld heavily, and even talks about the Deathlords' iron rule over the world of the dead, and how the Sin-Eaters have no real chance to defeat such beings save in a battle of wits. On the other hand, there's no proof these are the same Deathlords, just that a similar concept is in play.
*** Liminals also have a Dark Mother, like the Beasts of ''TabletopGame/BeastThePrimordial''.

** To start with, the massive runaway success of the Kickstarter immediately led to the book's expected length ''doubling'', and pushed back the expected release by quite a lot, [[BrokenBase which annoyed quite a lot of fans]]. (Subsequent ''Exalted'' Kickstarters learned from this, instead putting added material in a companion book.) One of the stretch goals was helping the developers of Anathema, a character creator/manager for second edition, to develop a version for the new edition. Absolutely none of the money went towards supporting the Anathema developers. After a post by the main developer in 2016 about not having time to work on it, the project fell silent.

** To start with, the massive runaway success of the Kickstarter immediately led to the book's expected length ''doubling'', and pushed back the expected release by quite a lot, [[BrokenBase which annoyed quite a lot of fans]]. (Subsequent ''Exalted'' Kickstarters learned from this, instead putting added material in a companion book.)

** 3E also had three Exalted types conceived as foils for the Lunars and Sidereals, bringing some of their themes into relief; the [[NonIndicativeName Hearteaters]] and Umbral Exalted were to be Lunar foils, while the Dream-Souled were to be Sidereal foils alongside the Getimians. However, introducing new Exalted types incurs a certain trade-off, both in that time and effort needs to go into writing their books rather than the previously established Exalted, and in their potentially complicating the setting through interactions with the established Exalted. When Vance and Minton took over, they came to the conclusion that Lunars didn't need foils given their dynamics with most of the established Exalted (one-time seconds of the Solars unwilling to return to that position, with the Lunar bond with the Solars also carrying over to the Abyssals and Infernals as corrupted Solars, and long-standing adversaries of the Dragon-Blooded and Sidereals), and Sidereals didn't need another one on top of the opportunities raised by the introduction of the Getimians and Exigents. So they decided to have them be [[LooseCanon optional canon]], included in an appendix to the Exigents book (it doubling as the make-your-own-{{splat}} book), laying out their themes, concepts and backstories, and describing their Charmsets in sufficient detail to homebrew them, with an option of getting upgraded to their own splatbook depending on reception. For the curious, all three are featured on pages 54-55 of the 3E core; the woman with the aurora is a Hearteater, the man tormented by a shadow-monster is an Umbral Exalt, and the man in a toga is a Dream-Souled.

* RunningTheAsylum: In a case of Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, the addition of the Ink Monkeys and Errata Team Prime has lead to a general increase in the quality of the rules and has been very well received on the White Wolf forum (seriously, saying you dislike them is FandomHeresy there now)- but see also BrokenBase. They have their detractors, some of whom get as vehement as the fans.

** To start with, the massive runaway success of the Kickstarter immediately lead to the book's expected length ''doubling'', and pushed back the expected release by quite a lot, [[BrokenBase which annoyed quite a lot of fans]]. (Subsequent ''Exalted'' Kickstarters learned from this, instead putting added material in a companion book.)

** + The Unconquered Sun is also occasionally called "Conky."

** The Unconquered Sun is also occasionally called "Conky."

** The Primordial She Who Lives in Her Name is almost universally referred to by her acronym, [=SWLiHN=]; one of the authors even bemoaned having to use her full name when writing ''Infernals'', since it wasted so much wordcount. And of course, many just call her [[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=swillin Swillin']]

** The Primordial Ramethus, who attacked in the Aftershock War (having optimized itself for combat), is frequently referred to (even by the game's freelance writers on the White Wolf forums) as Chungira: named after Jon Chung, who posts a lot about Exalted optimization.

** They also have a Dark Mother, like the Beasts of ''TabletopGame/BeastThePrimordial''.

** To start with, the massive runaway success of the Kickstarter immediately lead to the book's expected length ''doubling'', and pushed back the expected release by quite a lot, [[BrokenBase which annoyed quite a lot of fans]].

** The strange mechanical world of Autochthonia was originally going to be in the core, but was cut for space. We did eventually get to the world of Brass and Shadow, but it's been an optional addition for the entire run of the game. (That said, ''Exalted Essence'' is slated to have the Alchemical Exalted playable from the get-go.)

** At one point in development, TheFairFolk were supposed to be Lunars gone wrong, driven insane by prolonged exposure to [[PrimordialChaos the Wyld]]; the Fair Folk went on to become their own thing, while the chimera filled the slot of Lunars gone wrong.

** 3E also had three Exalted types conceived as foils for the Lunars and Sidereals, bringing some of their themes into relief; the [[NonIndicativeName Hearteaters]] and Umbral Exalted were to be Lunar foils, while the Dream-Souled were to be Sidereal foils alongside the Getimians. However, introducing new Exalted types incurs a certain trade-off, both in that time and effort needs to go into writing their books rather than the previously established Exalted, and in their potentially complicating the setting through interactions with the established Exalted. When a new dev team took over, they came to the conclusion that Lunars didn't need foils given their dynamics with most of the established Exalted (one-time seconds of the Solars unwilling to return to that position, with the Lunar bond with the Solars also carrying over to the Abyssals and Infernals as corrupted Solars, and long-standing adversaries of the Dragon-Blooded and Sidereals), and Sidereals didn't need another one on top of the opportunities raised by the introduction of the Getimians and Exigents. So they decided to have them be [[LooseCanon optional canon]], included in an appendix to the Exigents book (it doubling as the make-your-own-{{splat}} book), laying out their themes, concepts and backstories, and describing their Charmsets in sufficient detail to homebrew them, with an option of getting upgraded to their own splatbook depending on reception. For the curious, all three are featured on pages 54-55 of the 3E core; the woman with the aurora is a Hearteater, the man tormented by a shadow-monster is an Umbral Exalt, and the man in a toga is a Dream-Souled.

*** Not to mention that [[TabletopGame/GeistTheSinEaters Geist]], the NWOD successor to Wraith, features the Underworld heavily, and even talks about the Deathlords' iron rule over the world of the dead, and how the Sin-Eaters have no real chance to defeat such beings save in a battle of wits. On the other hand, there's no proof these are the same Deathlords, just that a similar concept is in play.

*** Malfeas - home of the ''Werewolf'' BigBad. The ''Exalted'' version bears more resemblance to ''Kindred of the East''s Yomi, however.

*** Malfeas - home of the ''Werewolf'' BigBad.

*** The Dragon Kings - remembered by the Mokolé from ''Werewolf''.

** The (former) Ink Monkeys have a lot of enthusiasm for the game. And all the Ink Monkey material was written up for free. Although it has been discontinued as the writers are now the line developers--and now have a production schedule of paying work for the line--it did a good job of keeping interest and enthusiasm, both positive and negative, up.

** Even after receiving both a pre-ascension name (Sol Incarnate) and title of address (Ignis Divine, his equivalent of 'your majesty'), a large portion of the fan-base still prefers to call the Unconquered Sun "Sol Invictus." Even John Mørke has admitted to wanting to use the term, in spite of being forbidden from canonizing it (in Glories of the Most High: the Unconquered Sun). Some who favor it do so because a Latin name would help Sol fit in better with all the other Incarnae... others cite that as an excellent reason not to use it. The Sun does, after all, stand apart from the Moon and stars.

** Although showing up much later, the Green Sun Princes use much of the same terminology as ''TabletopGame/DemonTheFallen'' (Torment, the names of their castes).

*** Not to mention that [[TabletopGame/GeistTheSinEaters Geist]], the NWOD successor to Wraith, features the Underworld heavily, and even talks about the Deathlords' iron rule over the world of the dead, and how the Geists have no real chance to defeat such beings save in a battle of wits. On the other hand, there's no proof these are the same Deathlords, just that a similar concept is in play.

** This culminated in April of 2017, a ''year'' after the release of 3rd Edition, when both Holden and Morke, the remaining lead developers, were summarily replaced by Eric Minton and Robert Vance. Almost immediately after being instated, the pair almost incidentally revealed gaping holes in material that was assumed to be nearing completion - while the exact situation remains ambiguous, it can probably be safely assumed that Morke and Holden's project development talents are not necessarily equal to their writing skills.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: There are a few things that are know to have appear have Second Edition carried on a little longer.
** ''Scroll of the Monks Volume 2: Scattered Lotus Petals'' was announced at [=GenCon=] 2011, with a target release date of November 2012, but Exalted Third Edition was announced in July 2012 so this book was cancelled.
** In ''Dreams of the First Age: Lands Of Creation'' introduced the ancient Linthia, who had their own charms, but before this happened third edition was announced.
* WordOfGod: One of each of the sample characters in the First Edition Castebooks is deliberately a depiction of what the Immaculate Order claims the Solar Exalted to be. Most of the time, it's fairly obvious, as they're either obviously evil (Havesh for Night, Fehim for Twilight), insane (Mirror Flag for Eclipse), or both (looking at you, Dawn Caste Lyta.) The Blasphemous Zenith, on the other hand, is Wind, who is easily one of the kinder, more level-headed NPC's we've been shown... and he's also a former Immaculate Monk-turned-devout-sun-priest.

*** Not to mention that [[TabletopGame/GeistTheSinEaters Geist]], the NWoD successor to Wraith, features the Underworld heavily, and even talks about the Deathlords' iron rule over the world of the dead, and how the Geists have no real chance to defeat such beings save in a battle of wits. On the other hand, there's no proof these are the same Deathlords, just that a similar concept is in play.

* RunningTheAsylum: In a case of TropesAreNotBad, the addition of the Ink Monkeys and Errata Team Prime has lead to a general increase in the quality of the rules and has been very well received on the White Wolf forum (seriously, saying you dislike them is FandomHeresy there now)- but see also BrokenBase. They have their detractors, some of whom get as vehement as the fans.

** ''Scroll of the Monks Volume 2: Scattered Lotus Petals'' was announced at {{GenCon}} 2011, with a target release date of November 2012, but Exalted Third Edition was announced in July 2012 so this book was cancelled.

*** The backer PDF also spotlighted why having ProtectionFromEditors [[TropesAreNotGood is not always the best thing]], as the Charms chapter is commonly considered to be overly-long, bloated with unnecessary 'dice trick' charms that do little but make the players and Storyteller do more work (one obvious example is the Melee Charm Rising Sun Slash, which does nothing ''unless the player rolls a straight''), after having made a point of removing the majority of 2nd Edition's additional 'dice tricks' in the Infinite Masteries and Second/Third Excellencies. Craft, Brawl, Lore, and Socialize all have 48+ Charms, which basically everyone agrees is far more than is really necessary[[note]]To elaborate, a starting Solar could put all their chargen Charms into Craft, spend all their bonus points on Craft Charms, ''buy nothing but Craft Charms until they naturally reach Essence 5'', and ''still'' have not bought all of the Craft Charms[[/note]] and are often the first targets of anyone homebrewing different systems. Ultimately, it's considered to be a very good example of what happens when a very wordy writer gets to be immune to being very firmly told "No".

** ''Scroll of the Monks Volume 2 Scattered Lotus Petals'' was announced at {{GenCon}} 2011, with a targer released date of November 2012, but Exalted Third Edition was announced in July 2012 so this book was cancelled.