ITT: You Discuss Being Exalted

Exalted is a game where one of your main antagonists is Death, Creator of the Underworld. Except there's several of him, probably six or seven. Oh, and he's got 13 dread henchmen, one of whom was probably you at some point in time.

Your other antagonist is Cthulhu from Hell x12. You took his balls, literally, and now he wants to get even. On one hand, you threw them in jail for all eternity. On the other, they've spent all their time carving shivs for when your stupid ass gets too close to the bars.

Did I mention Magical America/China regularly trains and sends ninja-monks out for you personally? Ninjas specially trained in asskicking? Which, if they won't work, they keep giant colorcoded gundams and suit of power armor as backups.

Oh, and the Transformers have united under Unicron who has robo-aids, and are kinda hoping you may let them move in with ya, please and thank you.

The Jedi have corrupted Heaven and usurped your rightful place as the Masters of Everything - but nobody can remember them.

You're probably married and chances are your wife is a thousand year old voodoo queen with powers born of madness interested in hooking back up maybe.

Illegal aliens are jumping the border to take your job. Except the aliens are Magic Tropers, they're banned by God, the border is the edge of reality and the job is your soul.

Your best friend from your last life and while growing up now seeks to cover all the lands of Middle Earth in darkness, if he can just find this damn ring.

Your worst enemy from this life lost again and will come back next time with all the powers of Hell while transforming into one of the damned creators of the world. When he commits enough HERESY!, he will finally attain Daemonhood and go dick around in the Warp somewhere.

And your God has the world's biggest crack habit, and needs some serious rehab.

And yet… something in the nature of the Alchemical Exalted calls out to the Exalts of Creation. Reaching deeper than words, the presence of an Alchemical provokes some form of deep resonance. The Exaltations of Creation’s Chosen recognize their precursors and remember why they exist.

If the Exalted of Creation must fight the Alchemicals, they will fight the Alchemicals. If they are challenged, they will defend themselves. If they witness the technological wealth of Autochthonia, they might move to take it. Their behavior is not altered, and their minds remain their own. As always, the Exalted are passionate, haughty and prone to sweeping action before deep contemplation. And yet… should a quiet moment arise, in the court, on the battlefield, when one of the Chosen faces down an Alchemical counterpart with proper time and mood to reflect on things, there exists a vague sense of recognition. To stand in the presence of an Alchemical matching one’s Exaltation is, in some ineffable manner, to stand in the presence of the sacred.

Then the pressures of the Time of Tumult reassert themselves. The blade falls. Harsh sanctions are threatened. Betrayals continue as planned. But the memory of that moment remains

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ALCHEMICAL SYNERGY

Exposure of Creation’s Chosen to Alchemicals of the proper caste produces a number of minor side-effects. Alchemicals have no knowledge nor sense of their impact on other Exalted, and most Exalts are able to easily dismiss any strange feelings engendered by an encounter with the Machine God’s Chosen. Still, the return of the Alchemicals in some way completes the alignment of the Exalted. This influence is real, and over time, it could work to shift the destiny of both Autochthonia and Creation.

Abyssals: An Abyssal in the presence of an Orichalcum Caste feels a significant turmoil in her soul. The Black Exaltation roils, as though pressed to remember things best forgotten. She might feel a vague sense of loss and of longing to walk a path she knows not how to find. When next she sleeps, she is likely to be harried by visions of a previous incarnation as a Solar.

Green Sun Princes:By default, the Infernal Exalted do not experience any emotional response to their Alchemical predecessors. Yet, a Green Sun Prince who possesses the Past Life Background is likely to have his dreams affected in the same manner as a Solar if exposed to one of the Orichalcum Caste. Moreover, while in the presence of a member of that caste, the Infernal’s Dodge MDV is considered to be two lower than normal for the purpose of Past Life rolls. Additionally, regardless of their Backgrounds, the Primordial nature of Alchemical Exaltation resonates with that of the Green Sun Princes. While in the presence of any caste of Alchemical Exalt, the players of Green Sun Princes who must roll Essence for violating their Urge (see The Manual of Exalted Power—The Infernals, p. 80) ignore one success on that roll. This effect can reduce an Infernal’s Limit gain to zero points, as her nature as a burgeoning Yozi asserts itself above her chains of servitude to her masters.