Mass Effect was fun, right? Well, imagine playing it with Exalted-tier powers.
Mass Effect: Rising Sun is a Play-by-Post Game hosted out of Creative Freedom, and run by the users Specious and Anansi. Merging the Mass Effect universe with the Exalted setting, the game runs parallel to -and often overlapping with- the main storyline of Mass Effect. The game was inspired by the Glorious Shotgun Princess, and begins at roughly the same point: namely, Collectors blowing up an Alliance ship.
Only thing is, this time the Collectors are blowing up a run-of-the-mill warship. And doing so happens to Exalt John Del Pilar to the Zenith Caste. Aaaaand piss off the sleeper-cell Infernal Scourge Donovan Esone. Things pretty much go downhill for the Collectors and their Reaper-Neverborn bosses from there.
Shoutouts and references tend to be a staple to posts, especially when Specious is involved. Ostensibly he and Anansi are college students, but they tend to make quite a few dated references.
Specious and Anansi have stated “the plan is to play out Mass Effect 3 Exalted style, then play the Citadel DLC as 'Casino Night'. From there we hit a Reclamation arc, then start setting hopping. Home-Shard exalted, Gunstar Autocthonia, Warhammer 40k, anything is possible once you have access to the Well of Urd.” Thus far they have begun the Genophage mission, working alongside Shepard to emancipate the Krogan Female.
There have been five players total so far, but only Anansi and Specious have remained constant. One player dropped out due to time issues, one quit due to a lack of interest, and a third just joined recently. Time will tell if the pattern will continue.
Codex Post that gives some background to the setting
This RP provides examples of:
- A Handful for an Eye - Followed by a grenade to the crotch.
- Action Girl - Shepard. As a Terrestrial Exalted and a Shout-Out to the Roseblack from Exalted, this was to be expected. As if being Shepard wasn't enough.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot - Averted with Vertigo and Joyeuse. Vertigo acts like a kid but still does his job, while Joyeuse amplifies Del Pilar's snark into stereo.
- Played straight with Ta’akozoka, an Eldritch Abomination made into a robot.
- All Anime Is Naughty Tentacles - In this setting, the Ebon Dragon is also called the Ebon Kracken. It has also been implied that the Scarlet Empress is still going to be a thing.
- And I Must Scream - Poor little Vertigo got shunted into Beyond during the initial Reaper assault on Earth.
- To put that into perspective, the Beyond is the plane of reality where everything that does not or cannot exist, does.
- Animated Armor - Vertigo is mentioned to be able to do this.
- Arch-Enemy - Del Pilar is starting to have this with MASCARA DE LOS INVIERNOOOOS!
- Armor and Magic Don't Mix - Averted. All of the Exalts wield Essence to an extreme degree, and Del Pilar wears the heaviest armor of the lot.
- Ascended Extra - Bau. Minor ally in a Mass Effect 3 side mission? He is now a Sidereal.
- Blood Knight - Judging from some of Specious' posts, all exalts have some degree of this, but Esone and Talyth Cirok tend to embrace the madness. Esone's martial art style actually encourages it.
- Calling Your Attacks - Del Pilar does this quite often while using Solar Hero Style. Esone does it occasionally early on.
- Deadpan Snarker - Del Pilar.Del Pilar: It's a technique that's been passed down my family for generations, Shepard. See those drones? They're choking the passage and they can't give chase. Ceilings are too low for them to fly, and they can't walk.'Shepard: And that means?Del Pilar We use our legs.Shepard: Our...legs?Del Pilar: RUN TO THE HILLS! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!
- Enemy Mine - It's hard to tell how much of this is the mindset of the Infernal characters. They're helping the Citadel races against the Reapers, but the Yozi...
- Enigmatic Minion - Esone is implied to have been this before meeting Del Pilar. He knows the Yozi are crazy, but he's been playing along until he has enough of a power base to strike out on his own.
- The Face - Del Pilar has been called this repeatedly.
- Flat "What" - Frequently used, especially by Del Pilar.
- Foe Romance Subtext - Maiden of the Mirthless Smile appears to have a twisted lust for Del Pilar
- Freudian Trio - Vertigo, Esone, and Sabaton are shaping up to be this.
- Genius Bruiser - Del Pilar.
- Ham-to-Ham Combat - Any time Del Pilar and Mask of Winters fight.
- Healing Factor - Esone has a ridiculous one. Apparently he stacked as many regeneration charms as he could find, bringing the regeneration of everything short of head shots down to a few seconds.
- Bloody Murder - Similarly, his blood is a combination of Szorney sap (thus poisonous), Kimbery water (thus caustic), Hegra rain (hallucinogenic and just as poisonous as Sozorney's sap) and contains every illness he has ever imbibed (Metagaosian). Further, the Kimbery aspect makes it highly pressurized. Cut him at your own peril.
- Hearing Voices - Sabaton, Esone's Unwoven Coadjutor. Alternates between the Evil and Insane variants.
- Homicide Machines - Ta’akozoka. Technosquid, anyone?
- Hopeless Boss Fight - The Neverborn assault on Earth. The Exalts do some serious damage to a Reaper or two, but still know enough to run at the first chance.
- Humongous Mecha - Black Hole Sun and Czerak each summon one during the Earth fight.
- Incredibly Lame Pun - At least one in every post.
- Specious is a Pungeon Master
- Instant Armor - Del Pilar's armor 'Gold Experience' can vanish and reappear at will.
- Knight in Shining Armor - The whole basis of Del Pilar's character, although his actions tend towards the Pragmatic Hero.
- Partially literal. Orichalcum is VERY shiny.
- Large Ham - MASCARA DE LOS INVIERNOOOOS!
- Lightning Bruiser - Esone. He's fast, capable of dealing ludicrous amounts of damage, and can heal most ailments within seconds. Of course, he can't take a hit and in a protracted fight he's mediocre at best.
- Majorly Awesome - Del Pilar and Shepard. For all the title of 'Commander' implies an armchair general, both get up-close and personal with the enemy.
- Nigh-Invulnerability - The Abyssals thus far have all been equipped with Immortal Malevolence Enslavement. As long as there is one living Reaper, these jerks are just going to keep coming back.
- Fate Worse than Death - In this setting, the Reapers are not just Neverborn that can move. They are a legion of mobile Neverborn that are MADE OF VOIDTECH. Necrotic zombie-demiurge plague!
- One-Man Army - All of the Exalts, although Esone can do this literally. Del Pilar practically took out the Collector Base on his own.
- Reference Overdosed - Shaping up to be this.
- Retcon - Esone switched from being a Malfean Scourge to an Orphidian Scourge. He explains this away in a discussion with his inner voices."Eddie lent us to Malfeas, and it's easier to deal with the King's ego if we say we work for him."
- The Sneaky Guy - Esone claims to be this, although being in the middle of a war zone has made it difficult to show. Bau tends to pull it off more frequently.
- Summon Bigger Fish - SUMMON THE ALASKAN BULL MAW
- Switch-Out Move - Used by Esone and 042 during the Earth fight. Attempted again on Sur'Kesh and met with miserable failure.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill - Several.
- Esone's anima banner inflicts cancer post-mortem.
- Del Pilar tends to do this with Crashing Wave Throw.
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else! - Esone has several charms that allow him to do this, primarily Loom-Snarling Deception and Eldritch Secrets Mastery. One wonders why he didn't just use the latter from the get-go.
- The Voiceless - Black Hole Sun. He is based after the Meta after all.
- White Male Lead - Partially averted; Del Pilar is fully Filipino, and one of the more prominent characters.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity - Esone is averting this. Mostly. We think.